#youtube channel: monsters madness and magic

[therogerclarkfanclub]

Transcript of Roger's interview with Monsters, Madness, and Magic.

For those who prefer to read (or read along with) the interview.

WARNING: SUPER LONG POST AHEAD

"Alright folks, welcome to the Monsters Madness and Magic Podcast, I'm your host Justin here with a quick word before we dive in. In this episode I chat with actor Roger Clark about life in Ireland, theater, Arthur Morgan, Frankenstein, Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption, motion capture and more. Also if you're listening to this and you feel so inclined, please leave us a review really helps out a lot. Anyway that's enough of the bulls*it, without further ado, here you go."

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"Hold up there, son. Now, this here town is filled with all kinds of monsters, madness, and magic so, how about you just leave the killing to the killers, and just get out of my damn way!"

"Greetings boils and ghouls, this is your comrade the Crypt Keeper here, reporting dead from the Sanctuary of the Strange.

Tonight's macabre myth is a fright-filled feature, one overflowing with Monsters, Madness and Magic."

MMAM: Take us back in time to when you were a youngster, you know, were you a book reader, fort builder, troublemaker, or all the above?

ROGER: Man well, when I used to go to the library all the time in summer vacations. I would read Beverly Cleary a lot, I'd read Roald Dahl, I got big into adult books so I was reading Stephen King by the time I was nine or ten, it was a little weird.

When I was in Ireland some of the books they wouldn't let me take out they'd be like “Oh no you can only take this out you only take books out with with the purple sticker on it that comes from the child section” So of course I went and got the purple sticker and I just popped it on Mario Puzo's The Godfather and then they checked— I'm a 9 year old reading The Godfather. I loved books, I always— I still do although I don't— now it's mostly for professional reasons I read, I don't read for leisure as much as I used to.

MMAM: When did you start the audio book venture?

ROGER: I started it when I was a kid. My dad used to do— before we moved to Ireland, my dad used to do newspaper for the blind, for the Star Ledger in New Jersey— in the state of New jersey and I would often help him as a child you know, 7-8 years old, go over to— he would record and they would— I remember the machine that they had, it would record about 6 cassettes simultaneously, it would read the star Ledger newspaper for people who are blind or visually impaired and they would get the cassette in the mail weekly and I would help cut out the articles that they chose to record, and then when we moved over to Ireland my dad brought it over there and joined up and on the West Coast of Ireland to for the Sligo Champion.

So that was my first foray into it, but as far as narrating is concerned I started that a little bit over a decade ago.

MMAM: When you made that initial move to Ireland was that a culture shock for you, was it— do you remember it being difficult for you to transition?

ROGER: I remember— we were there every summer. So I knew the place, but it was a culture shock still. We were only there for summers I never went to school there, I never spent more than a couple of weeks at a time there before

But I was too young to really appreciate how much of a culture shock it really was, that was probably for the best, I stuck out like a sore thumb so much so that I kind of got rid of the Yankee accent as quickly as I could, but still there's still some left you know there's enough left that when I'm in Ireland I sound American and when I'm in America I sound Irish or in some Americans don't they don't even know where the hell I'm from.

MMAM: I could definitely pick it up. Is there a Eureka moment that you can point to early on, maybe a play or performance you saw that sort of ushered you into the art?

ROGER: You know that I don't remember any one specific moment but I do remember first time I performed for kindergarten, there was 26 students in the class so for some reason, [the teacher] decided to do the personification of the alphabet and everyone was a specific letter and I was "Z", at first I thought that sucked but then I realized I got to close the show.

There was a lot of Eureka moments, I can't say any one stands out more than the other but I was always involved in amateur dramatics all the way through high school and before.

We used to do this stuff called the pantomime in Ireland which is a very popular Christmas show that they do in the UK and Ireland, it's a lot of like fairy tales with a lot of songs and dance and lots of musicals, lots of cross dressing.

There's always the Dame, who dresses up like— there's a guy who dresses up as usually the mother of the hero and then the hero is usually a woman playing a boy, very long tradition in the UK, we started doing that in the West Coast of Ireland for an organization called The Clear Dramatic Society that I would say it was if anything that was maybe one of my larger influences.

I started out in theater, now everybody calls me a voice actor which I'm very proud to be a voice actor but the funny thing is that Red Dead wasn't voice acting! Everybody says it's— but you know, everybody calls performances and gaming "voice acting" [and] 10, 15, 20 years ago, that was the case but it's kind of not the case any longer you know, the performance capture is as much of a part of it now if not more so, but when your work gets misrepresented though that can be problematic.

Everybody thinks if I was just in a sound booth from doing Arthur for five years you know that can actually impede my opportunities for on camera stuff because they don't understand the similarities of the performance capture and film have with each other, it's actually quite a bit in common, much more so than voice acting and film, you know.

One of the reasons Red Dead that took so long to make is because we were putting on those spandex suits with the shiny balls on and we were doing those scenes, and we rehearsed them, and we perform them until the director was happy, so it was very very similar to film or TV in that, you know, your colleagues are there, and you're you're bouncing off of each other just like you would on stage or in front of the camera and you keep doing it until it's right, that's why it took so long. Had we just been in a booth, it would have done up been done a lot quicker but, I think a lot of the little idiosyncratic details and they would have been glossed over, you wouldn't necessarily have discovered as much stuff in the sound booth by yourself as when you're out there with your friends and colleagues working on the “organicness” so the scene, for lack of a better word, I know “organicness” is not a word.

MMAM: Specifically with Red Dead I was just telling Ben, you know, I think the reason that "Voice Actor" comes out of people's mouths initially is because that's the most common practice you know, what Rockstar did and what you guys with Red Dead is not necessarily common, that's why it’s so good.

ROGER: And it’s still changing now I mean, voice acting is not going away, and some of Red Dead was voice acting I would say maybe about 10% of my work was in a booth, but that was a lot of in-game dialogue like with when you're traveling on horseback from one location to another, that would have been done in the booth. But more and more of it now is being done by Performance Capture.

Myself and Ben, you know, we've tried to do what we could to help spread awareness about that, ‘cause if you guys are kind enough to say, "I loved what you did, I really appreciated the work" you know at least we could say is, "well here there's a little bit more about what the work actually was" 'cause I love it! I love performance capture, I think it's such a fascinating medium, you know, it's in many ways it's got more freedom than film and TV because the same location can be so many diverse, vastly diverse places. I mean we would be— when we were doing Red Dead we'd be in Colter in the morning and then that evening— afternoon we're doing scenes in Saint Denis and it's the same stage, it's the same sets where [there] would be pipes and scaffolding you know all the sets would be dimensionally accurate. But we wouldn't know what it actually looked like until they animators would show us on a computer screen, but then that was invaluable, it gave us reference and then we were able to really create the environment, create the atmosphere you know, you wouldn't be swatting flies away from your face if you're up there in Colter.

Colter is the place where you have to be wading through the snow, and you have to walk accordingly you know, so we found lots of little tricks to bring forth those details to make it more authentic and to make it more immersive for the player, I think.

MMAM: We appreciate it for sure. Just to back up a little bit Roger, you did mention that you studied stage in Wales, what was the catalyst that made you eventually come back to the States?

ROGER: I had been working in the UK for about a decade. Most of it was theater with a lot of voice over thrown in too 'cause like you know having lived in so many different places I was able to do a few different accents but the impetus to move back to New York, you know, I felt like I had kind of plateaued in London I felt like you know I was booking Irish roles and I was booking American roles I wanted to get my teeth sunk into Shakespeare and it was really hard to book those jobs because the English would, you know, they stick to their own really, and they would sometimes you try to be honest and you walk into the room and your natural accent and they would think “No, this guy this guy obviously can't do it”, but so I thought “You know what? I've still got this US passport, I was still born there, why not go back and have a little bit of a stab at it over there?” and I never looked back 'cause it opened up my pigeonhole quite a bit 'cause then instead of just doing Irish and American roles now I was getting the British roles too and I was able to do Shakespeare [and] my opportunities expanded, not just because of, I think, there was more work but also because of the type of roles that I was being offered.

So yeah, I started off-Broadway and I moved back to New York City in ‘08 started working off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway pretty quickly, which was great and then you know, the voice over never really went away, those jobs always were coming and going and whatnot and in 2013 is when I first started working for Rockstar Games.

MMAM: Was Broadway a goal of yours?

ROGER: Yeah, I love to do Broadway. I've done off-Broadway a few times now, never quite— I've auditioned several times for Broadway, I'd love to do Broadway yeah.

MMAM: As someone who worked in London a lot, is there a major difference working on stage in the US as compared to the UK?

ROGER: All audiences are different culturally. We would tour Europe a lot and I would always be fascinated to see which jokes the French would laugh at as opposed to the Germans you know, and I think there's definitely a bit of that going on with the Brits and the Americans to you know.

Broadway is a great place and I think what London has in comparison would be— probably be the West End, so it caters to tourists a lot. You know, you've got some really really high-class productions in both places.

You know the American audiences are wonderful, but I found like, gosh you know, I've been doing it now for over 20 years and I have found that the advents of mobile phones and I'm getting more and more popular it's funny you'll see all the flashing screens or what what's even worse is you'll see their their faces lit up in their phones.

I remember once I was doing a show in Florida, and you know we all know Florida is pretty well known for this retirement community.

This particular show we would walk on in a blackout and the curtains were already drawn at this stage and I would always see all the lights flashing from the oxygen tanks, but they were great! they were great you know because these are all educated old folk you know and they probably lived in New York half of their lives, they're all half of them are snowbirds you know, right so they would actually be really great audiences! it was just that first moment where all the flashing oxygen tanks.

I hate to say it no the worst audiences are probably schoolkids, they’re the most honest too though, if you suck they'll they're the first ones to tell you, so in a way that they can be quite unruly when they want to be yeah.

MMAM: So what were some of your favorite roles to play personally on stage?

ROGER: Well, I did Macduff for a very long time, I enjoyed that immensely that's the problem with my favorite Shakespeare play. You know I got to have a big fight at the end of it with claymores chop off Macbeth’s head.

I also did a stage adaptation of Frankenstein I've played the monster that was a lot of fun cool yeah 'cause some of it was taken verbatim from Mary Shelley's book and there's this great scene then that where the monster grabs Dr. Frankenstein and drags him up to this mountain up in the Alps and he basically gives them the ultimatum he says, "you made me and then you just abandoned me" which really was a sh*tty move, and so he gives him the ultimatum he's just create a mate for me that's what you owe me, you just created me and abandoned me and I'm so lonely now if you don't create a girlfriend for me I'm gonna kill your family, it's quite a crazy scene and it's brutal and it's one of the most interesting things about this scene is that unlike the cinema versions of Frankenstein that we're so familiar with, is the monsters very articulate and he's as intelligent as Frankenstein himself at this stage, and he has learned to become eloquent and his vocabulary is it's on the same level as Doctor Frankenstein, so it becomes quite a philosophical argument that was one of my favorite bits.

I like doing Biff Loman from Death of a Salesman, that was a lot of fun, and you know I have to spend a lot of roles, Arthur really is, I mean I think I'm always gonna be known for that one, I'm very grateful for that.

Unlike a lot of stage stuff, that one was made out of thin air between myself and the writers and the animators, that one was created out of thin air, nobody had done Arthur before so there was a lot more freedom involved in creation of it or at least you were starting from scratch anyways which was an exciting thing.

MMAM: What were you into creatively when it comes to movies and stuff that you would consume growing up?

ROGER: Well, Abbott & Costello was one definitely. I loved movies, me and my dad would watch movies all the time, he got me into westerns, he was a John Wayne guy and me being rebellious obviously I was a bit more into the spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood. As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate John Wayne and I think actually there's more John Wayne in Arthur than there is Clint Eastwood, because Clint Eastwood was kind of too stoic, he hardly said anything so I think John but John Wayne had that kind of dry, sardonic wit that I think Arthur took a page or two from that, and John Wayne you know he just had to kind of drawl […?????...] the way they would speak and move it was a bit of a swagger I think that I thought Arthur took from that.

Another really big influence was, a lot of people don't— Toshiro Mifune, I don’t know if you heard of him but he was in a lot of Kurosawa movies, he was in the Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, he was like Kurosawa's go-to leading man, he played a lot of samurais. He was amazing 'cause he could be terrifying one minute and then funny the next and you know samurais and outlaws and a lot in common specially wandering ronin samurai's, the ones that were like clanless and leaderless, you know, they're just walking from village to village, there's a lot of similarities between that and the Wild West, and I think George Lucas picked up on that and the Yojimbo and Sanjuro they eventually went on to become remakes and in the spaghetti western world they went on to become A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, so the comparison between samurai feudal Japan and the Wild West in the US is definitely has been picked up by a few people.

Another big influence too is Rob Wiethoff who played John Marston, you know, if for no other reason I know I couldn't really do what he had done or at least try to recreate it word for word I thought I thought “no that that's not gonna work”. Cuz I was a huge fan of the first Red Dead myself and (MMAM: great voice!) I loved it! And don’t get me wrong, I mean Jack Marston great too but I sure didn't like playing as him, I miss John! I miss John, and it really changed my playing style too 'cause like once John - spoilers! - you know meets his end at the first Red Dead Redemption I just became a total outlaw bastard as Jack, I was on the rampage you know, I was an angry young kid you know, my parents are dead and I've gotta get these feds you know for what they did, so I was nasty and I thought to myself “You know, I hope people don't feel the same way about Arthur” and that second trainer came out and introduced Arthur Morgan as the lead in Red Dead Redemption 2, I did see a few comments and “Arthur who?!”, “we don't get to play as John man this sucks!” and to be totally honest with you I fully understood their feelings on that. Thankfully a lot of the fans seems to have given me a chance.

MMAM: So Roger how did your first screen opportunity, professional screen opportunity happen for you?

ROGER: Well I trained in the capital of Wales, which is part of the UK just West of England, and I went to drama school there in Cardiff, and I think my first foray into film was in Cardiff, first like doing student films as much as you do, and then some extra work for the local television there, there was a channel called S4C, they did a lot of stuff in Welsh which is kind of a Celtic language, it's like Irish Gaelic [but it's] Welsh but I would be an extra and a lot of those, I wouldn't have a clue what anyone was saying, I was just standing there they told me to stand, and then eventually I migrated to London you know because that's where more was the work was.

I started working on some British TV shows, you know bits and bobs really, most of my experience has been theater and performance capture, and voice over I would love to get into film and I am I'm starting to produce some of my own stuff now.

You know it's a very different beast the lens like the tiny focal point where millions and millions of your audiences is. On stage the audience is there, but I'm on camera the audiences right there, it's the tiny tiny pinpoint then you have to conscious of that I think when your performance where your audience is looking at you, you know.

MMAM: I've spoken with a lot of actors that started in theater that initially struggled with that transition of toning themselves down because they don't have to reach the background anymore.

ROGER: That's true, yeah, and you really do, is that's exactly everything, the camera picks up everything, sometimes you just have to think it and then the eyes will show it. On-camera less is definitely more it does take some work but I still think that theater is the best place to start off because you learn in real-time what works and what doesn't, you've learned and the timing is still similar you know if you're doing comedy or whatnot the timing is still similar, it's just the grandioseness of your performance like as you say, to make sure that guy in the back row can hear you.

Any aspiring actors should start off on stage, there's no filters between you and your audience they see exactly what you're doing and you can learn— if you if you learn to listen to them as much as they're listening to you, you can't help it get better because of that.

MMAM: I'm looking at your credit list Roger and something that— a show that I haven't thought about in a long time, I Shouldn't be Alive, I think they used to come on Discovery Channel, am I right? So were you one of those dramatizations where you know you got eaten by a shark, or a lion, or something...

ROGER: Mine was sharks yeah along time ago now. We filmed that in the Canary Islands and in Malta, it was nice locations, but yeah, that was a while back now, that was done when I was in the UK and came out on the Discovery in the US, I believe, that was when I was in the UK.

MMAM: So let's talk right [there] a little bit. Was that your typical audition or was it a 'right place, right time' situation for you?

ROGER: My agent knew that I like performance capture for gaming, cuz I had done it before so when she saw the breakdown she said “Are you up for this? I think you are” and I said yeah, I didn't know what it was. They're all the same title when you're auditioning, they're all called “Untitled Videogame Project”, and sometimes even they don't even tell you the studio, and in this particular case I knew it was Take Two but I didn't know it was Rockstar Games.

I was a little bit suspicious when they said to come in wearing cowboy boots and to have kind of a West Texan drawl, ‘cause it's just by pure serendipity I had just finished the first Red Dead Redemption about a month before this happened so I was like, “huh that's funny, I wonder if it's Red Dead” but I didn't get an answer to that question until maybe the second or third audition, by that point I knew it was Rockstar Games.

You know, it was it's very similar to a lot of other auditions, except one of the few differences was, usually you get the sides, or the lines, in advance, but with this one; no, you had to you showed up and then they gave you the page once you signed in, which has its advantages and disadvantages you know, and I think from their perspective they wanna see how quickly you can learn copy because a lot of the times you getting last minute rewrites you know, that happens a lot so I think they wanted to see how quickly you could learn something and also, of course, you know confidentiality is so important in the gaming industry they don't want— especially if it's for an existing franchise, you know, they don't want anything spoiled for the fans I want the fans to enjoy it as much as they possibly can when it first comes out, you know, so that was one of the differences from a typical audition.

And then we were working on it a while before I even got offered a contract you know, because you know, performance capture in a video game as much as it is similar to film and TV, there are a lot of differences too, and one of the differences is that as an actor, your contribution to a video game takes up a smaller piece of the whole pie than it does on film or TV, you know; what the animators do, and what the designers do, and what the engineers do, and even down to the QA guys, the guys who were looking for bugs day in, and day out, all of that stuff is vital for the development of the game and you need a bigger— a much much bigger team than on a film— most films, so that's another big difference.

But I'm just I'm so passionate about performance capture because I love the freedom, and I've seen the technology get better and better over the years too and as the technology gets better, more freedoms are given to the actor and you can do more, and as long as you learn to appreciate your animators 'cause they're— the animators on Red Dead 2 were just as valuable to me as the directors were, because they were able to answer all the questions that I had like what time of day is this? where— what's the geography? what's the weather like? so often the animators were answering those questions instead of the directors, so you know I just love the whole premise of working on a game, it's different from film you know.

In film the audience is a spectator, but in gaming the audience is a participant you know, it's more immersive in my opinion, [I don’t think many] people would argue with that.

23:29

MMAM: No, I mean you don't get to control the guy in the movie, you don't get to decide if he shoots the guy in the head. So were you given much direction for the voice of Arthur? where they kind of guide you? Or did you nail it?

ROGER: I was doing theater at the time during the whole audition process and my dresser, one of my fellows have helped me out with costume he was from Flagstaff, AZ, so he helped me a little bit and the only thing I heard from them was kind of like a West Texan, and I think some West Texan did end up with Arthur but there's some southern in there too like Louisiana, Arkansas, and I figured that was OK to have a bit of both you know, because he had traveled a lot from a young age and considering that the Red Dead the world is kind of like our world but not geographically the same, I mean it's funny you know there's references to New York and Tahiti and whatnot, but when you look at the map it's totally fictional.

So I figured that consistency was more important than any geographical accuracy to our country— to the real United States you know. He's got the soft R’s sometimes, you'll say “shoar” you know, but then other times he's quite Texan, he's kind of hard on the [R’s] you know, and that's I was going for Lubbock 'cause I've been— I'd worked in Lubbock for a while, and this feller from Flagstaff, AZ helped me out a lot too. We were doing it for five years, I would often get a little paranoid I'd be like “oh God, do I sound the same as I did three years ago?” and I'm like well let's see, and then we replay something from three years ago and I’d been like “Oh OK thanks, thanks, yeah” that was a valuable asset.

And then you got people like Rob Wiethoff and just talks in his normal voice, he's from Indiana I mean he is John Marston, he opens his mouth and that’s John. So he didn't have that problem you know.

Right. And you hear Ben Davis talk and he sounds almost exactly like Dutch

ROGER: There are similarities, yes, there are definitively.

You guys did a five years of motion capture? that's what you said?

ROGER: For Red Dead 2 yeah, and for the original cast even longer yeah, but for me five years.

Five years. Were you ever a bit worried or nervous when the game comes out we get like man I hope this is good just playing the game.

ROGER: Yeah I was terrified. ‘Cause we had no idea, we're working in complete secrecy, our NDA's were so strict and [????] that was a double-edged sword, because the advantages of that we were able to work completely unhindered, we were able to focus and concentrate just on the work and there wasn't really any distraction like people weren't calling me up 'cause they didn't know who I was so I was able to focus on it, but then the Con part of that is you know, what we did the amount of footage we put down, I think cutscenes alone, or you know or all the footage that we got as close to 9 or 10 hours they said about five maybe five seasons of a TV show? But we had no idea how it was gonna be received, there was no audience input, it was just all dumped on October 26th, 2018 for the world to enjoy or not. So we had to trust each other a lot, I had to trust the Rockstar team who had been through all that before with GTA and the first Red Dead and what and all their other amazing titles. So I had to trust them but yeah we had no idea.

I mean I remember thinking at the time as long as it's regarded as a worthy successor to the first one I'll be happy you know, as long as it's sold like as many or close to as many copies as the first one I'll be happy, and we far exceeded that.

MMAM: Oh yes. So when you first start playing, when does it finally coming over you like when you start to realize “Oh man this is really, really good”

ROGER: I don't know. I don't wanna admit to myself that it was good. I enjoyed it immensely.

Well, there was a lot of hype building up to it. I remember all those billboards popping up all over the world and people started for years you know, because of my NDA I wasn't able to tell anyone what I was working on. I would just say you know “it's a video game” after a couple of years people started to think I was he's talking out of my arse you know. [They’d go] “Are you still working on that video game Rog?", "Yeah", “How long has it been now? three years? four years? one video game?”, "OK yeah", "You know, if you're not working, we still love you pal, we think you're awesome you know, you don't have to create makeup jobs just to impress us?”

That conversation happened a few times and then the trailer came out in the billboards came out and people were like... "it's not that one, is it?" I'm like, I still couldn't say it! Once it got released— a few days after release, and once the reviews started coming in I was like “Oh OK, I guess people like it”.

28:05

MMAM:

Obviously you enjoyed the first Red Dead, you enjoy playing the game yourself. When did you when did you realize that for yourself when you're sitting there playing the game, that as a fan, that you enjoyed it?

ROGER: Oh I guess I knew I was going to enjoy it 'cause I’m huge Rockstar Games fan, I remember [I’ve always] been a fan of theirs since the first GTA, like when you were looking down from the Birds Eye view.

I remember that playing that in college, I knew I was gonna like it even if it was you know to look at the work, and not just our work, but look at all the other departments, like I mentioned before all the stuff that they had been doing in tandem with us, but unknown to us, so I was really excited to see how all of those departments worked synergized with each other, but I guess once the reviews started coming then I was like “holy cow, OK, I guess people are enjoying this” For an artist you can't ask for anything more than that, to have you work enjoyed on a scale like that it's really a dream come true to have an audience that large enjoy your work, it really is amazing.

29:04

MMAM: I mean you did a great job man, you deserve all the accolades you've gotten in regards to Arthur. I've played this sh*t out of that game and I love this sh*t out of that game and you did a great job.

Thank you man, cheers. It's probably gonna be on my gravestone and I'm totally happy with that.

MMAM: So what was the most difficult part for you about becoming Arthur, I mean aside from the five year NDA?

ROGER: Honestly, crouch running. Because you know no two studios do it the same way, but I did sometimes you'll have multiple performers during the performance capture, you'll have one guy doing the end game animations, and then I'll have the actor during the cutscenes that happens a lot, but I did everything apart from major stunts, so I all the end game animations is me and crouch-running was a *itch, that was hard.

It was like couple of days of it, because your first your crouch— you’re stealth crouch walking, then you’re crouch walking, then your crouch running, then you gotta do all those with one pistol, then you gotta do it with two pistols, then you do it with a shotgun, then you do it with a rifle, then you do it with a knife, and you do it holding a stick of dynamite, like my thighs were killing me man.

Rough on the knees….

ROGER: It’s a workout but yeah, that was the hardest part. Another hard part too, is just trying to wrap my head around— I had worked in gaming before, you know so I was familiar with the medium, but nothing at the same at this level, so I was trying to wrap my head around the differences between playing the lead in a game and a film or TV show ‘cause I knew that the player was going to be responsible for my behavior in a lot of situations, and I knew that there was going to be a 'Good Arthur' and a 'Bad Arthur' depending on on how they played and that was mostly binary, but it was kind of a spectrum too, and we did different scenes if, you know, if the player had low honor we would do different scenes and if they had high honor it would be another different scene, but sometimes they were the same scene and that was a challenge, because then I knew I had to come up with a performance that was ambiguous enough so that it would make sense either way, but yet still be truthful to Arthur.

So that was a bit of a juggling/balancing act that was kind of tricky but hopefully, I think, yeah that was but it was a great challenge, it was an interesting challenge.

MMAM: Does Roger Clark’s Arthur Morgan lean more towards High or Low Honor?

ROGER: It's called ‘Redemption’ right? I think the story is more rewarding if it's High Honor. Plus you don't have all the bounty hunters chasing after you all the time and things cost less in stores, if you have High Honor you don't pay as much for stuff. I think, you know, the beauty of it is Rockstar gives you the freedom to do it whatever way you want, but I think a High Honor playthrough is encouraged, and that should be too, I think it's more rewarding, the hint is in the title of the game you know?

MMAM: And if things do get hairy you can always resort to what you have to do you know.

ROGER: Oh yeah, and then you know and sometimes it's fun to shoot up Valentine and just leave no survivors, but if you do that just go to Saint Denis and say hello to everyone for 20 minutes you'll be fine, throw a few [fishtag?], pet a dog, no problem!

MMAM: You just mentioned you know you've worked with other video game studios before, so you can compare and contrast a little bit for us? You don't have to name a specific studio, but what is the level job from video game "Studio A" to Rockstar.

ROGER: Rockstar was is definitely top shelf. I was blown away by their level of technology compared to other studios that I have worked with.

Of course time had a factor of that too it been like a couple of years and the technology was advancing very fast, but the team all the team behind Rockstar, all the creatives and all of the tech guys and women are so talented, and so intelligent, and they we were all there and we all had a common goal and that was to create the best video game that we could so that was awesome.

Of course you know it's a very large organization too, you know sometimes it would take a while to get a clear answer from someone you know sometimes they had to go through the the levels to get an answer for some stuff you know, in other studios you don't— you can get a bit of a quicker response but for the most part I was just blown away by everyone's talent and commitment.

MMAM: So five years as Arthur. Can you take us through when you guys are recording those final moments? 'cause I believe been said before as he's walking away he's Dutch, he's actually crying, what was that moment like for you?

ROGER: We did those four endings for Arthur's you know right we did them in the fourth year I believe, and I had known it was coming for four years 'cause pretty early on we did the Thomas Downes mission— the debt collecting mission with Downes when he coughs in Arthur’s face, and that was a very specific stage direction so I was like [heck on him?] here and I'm Googling when the cure for TB was found when I put two and two together and they confirmed.

So for four years I knew what was going to happen to Arthur but I didn't know specifically how we would get our sides and usually a week or two in advance usually like a week in advance we would get our sides so I got them after four years of waiting to see how it would happen. I was very nervous 'cause I wanted to give the this characters goodbye justice, you know, I've been working on him for four years at this point. I was attached.

The first ending we did was the one where Ben was bawling his eyes out, he says he was I didn't see it, I was too busy dying! That one was that one was pretty nerve-wracking, I was very very nervous ‘cause I wanted to do it justice. It was the one High Honor helping John up on the mountain and then shortly after we did the Low Honor version of that where Micah gets you in the face and then we did the two alternative endings for when Arthur goes back to get the money. That was done in about a week and we might have returned back to do a one or two tiny little bits a few months afterwards.

But the first one the high honor helping John that was really hard, but then once I did that the other three were easier.

MMAM: Have you seen influx in your audiobook opportunities since the release of Red Dead?

ROGER: You know it's funny, yeah lot of— I'm just— I'm very— I love to work and I am hugely grateful for any and all opportunities that come my way, the opportunities that have come my way post Red Dead or not the ones that I was expecting but at the same time I'm very grateful for them you know if it weren't for audio books I don't know what I would have been doing during COVID ‘cause there was nothing else going on!

So I was very grateful for that and then I was able to work from home and be with my kids, do all those zoom school classes, right Colin?

Oh yeah! My wife is a teacher, we know all about those...

ROGER: Oh my gosh, I mean, let me say to your wife, after kind of helping her do her job for two years my I take my hat off to [her].

Oh I’ll let her know!

ROGER: Yeah, and a lot of a lot more gaming opportunities has come which I love, and I love working on— I love performance capture so much so I'm working on a game now with Troy Baker as a matter of fact, and oddly enough I mean there's some stuff I can't discuss, but this one was funny because the NDA wasn't as strict.

It's a Sci-Fi thriller set on Mars it's called Fort Solis and you can catch a trailer for it right now on YouTube. Solis is spelled S O L I S just so you know.

There was a lot of fun working with Troy we're still working on it, I don't know when it's gonna be out yet, there's talk of next year but you know, nothing official has been sent out yet, but it was a real joy working with Troy and I think hopefully we're gonna knock your socks off when it comes out.

But I just love working for on all of those opportunities that have come my way. I missed being in front of the camera though you know, it's funny I had more auditions on camera before Red Dead came out back when nobody knew who I was. The funny thing is that again I think a lot of people still think it's all done in a booth, that's one of the reasons why we've been trying to raise awareness about it because it's what Andy Serkis did on Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes it's the exact same thing.

MMAM: We're raising motion capture awareness here, so we're doing.

ROGER: The funny thing is like something you know some people get angry when I tell them though, that's the weird thing. It's like, "Thank you so much! Would you believe it you know most of it actually wasn't voice acting?" [and they're] like, "what do you mean? what are you talking talking about?!" They get angry— they get angry at me then! And then they tell me what my job was, 'cause they've been like, you know, some people— we still save voice acting it's like, I still call Pepsi 'Coke' sometimes.

MMAM: Yeah it's just a traditional term you know people think cartoons, guy standing in a booth doing voices, it's just that kind of thing.

ROGER: You know and there is nothing wrong with that either, and I do that a lot and I love it you know, but it's just a totally different beast, totally different beast.

MMAM: Right. Motion Capture sounds closer to theater than voice work.

ROGER: Yeah I would say so. The challenging thing voice acting is, it's usually just you, especially since COVID, it's just you and your life experiences and you've only got one tool to come up with a character and that is your voice. So in many ways I find P-Cap easier but I love the challenge of voice acting too, I really enjoy that as well.

MMAM: So Roger what's the best acting advice that someone has given you throughout your career?

ROGER: Oh man. I’ve heard so much. You gotta learn how to deal with rejection. Every ‘No’ brings you closer to your next ‘Yes’, and you book 100% of the roles that you were meant to book, you know.

It's hard, you can't take it personally, even though it is kind of is personal. You have to figure out a way not to take it personally and you know it's a fickle industry, talent is no guarantee, hard work is no guarantee, it's mostly luck and you still you know even [with] luck there's no guarantee, sometimes you need a certain combination of all three.

Now the best advice that I had ever been given is just “Work Begets Work”, that's where I've always stuck to, work begets work, because if you throw enough sh*t at the wall something will stick, eventually.

Well said. Have you seen any movies recently that have moved you?

ROGER: I liked The Batman, that was great. I watched it in IMAX and when that Batmobile starts up man, my seat was vibrating! What else? I saw Elvis, it was OK, Elvis was OK, the music is great.

But something that really blew me away? You know what I really enjoyed recently? It was Severance. It's on Apple+, Apple TV, it's a great show, that's awesome. Ben Stiller directed the whole thing, I really enjoyed that TV series’ first season, it's got nominated for loads of Emmy’s, Severance was awesome.

I had my wife [going like]: “How many things we got subscribed to now?” Oh well, OK I might check that out.

Yeah, we just had to get Hulu to watch Pray, I don't know if you've seen that but that's really good.

Pray?

It's new predator movie.

OOOOOOH YES!! And it's set in the past, right?

Mmm-hmm. 1700s. Is very Red Dead-y. You’d probably like it yourself.

ROGER: I’m gonna check that out. You know I really like— I love all of those ones, but the one that I enjoyed the most and didn't expect to was the one with Adrian Brody, I think it's called Predators.

MMAM: Yes, most recent one before this one I believe.

ROGER: That one was a lot of fun. We gotta do Predator v. Aliens next. I know there's been quite a few graphic novels of that, and I've enjoyed all of them, I think it's only a matter of time we should get out on film though.

MMAM: I think there was a Predator versus Alien movie that had Lance Hendrickson in the early 2000s.

You’re right, there was, there was!

MMAM: Another one. Why not another one?

Only one Predator survived.

MMAM: Yeah yeah yeah, giant—

And then the woman, right?

MMAM: Yeah, the giant alien brood mother at the end, they were running from it I think that's how they ended it.

And the jet just burned her, I remember it now, yeah. Those aliens are nasty.

MMAM: So Roger, is there anything on the horizon that you can tell us about without getting in trouble?

ROGER: Fort Solis! And there’s a couple of other games too, but I can’t talk about. But watch this space, if you wanna watch— keep an eye on my socials, I’m at rclark98 on Twitter and rollingrog on Instagram, and I just started Tiktok ‘cause gosh, you know, life isn't interesting enough without [more] social media and I'm RogerClarkActor on that one and I make a lot of announcements of my upcoming stuff on there.

I've started producing some short films, and we're doing the rounds with festivals with that right now and yeah, there's a lot of stuff coming up and I'm excited for y'all to see.

That's good news, but Roger has been great talking to you I'm gonna let you go get back to your family and go eat dinner and all that good stuff.

ROGER: Awesome! Yeah, I enjoyed it. Thanks for asking Justin. Alright you have a great evening.

Take care.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Top 3 Are HEATING UP

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Dec 2023 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Honestly, 3 are neck & necking for top position! They are all so good in different ways. But The Sign had me hooting with laughter this week, so it scooped #1.

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 4 of 10 - This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, paranormal, fated mates, mystery, suspense, slasher, and horror. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. I have no idea what I’m watching but I’m ON this ride. Is it a roller coaster? Is it a haunted house? Is it a twirl & hurl? Is there candy floss? Am I even tall enough? Who tf cares. All through the second scene, I was laughing. It was legit funny. Billy has great comedic timing. Guess he’s not just a pretty face.

Everyone should be watching this. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it.

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 6 of 12 -  Yech. August may be one of GMMTV’s least likable characters ever (and that is saying something). Meanwhile, MOAR language play! They spoiling me!

Mhok letting Day go then walking away at the party hurt so bad.

Argh this show is great!

Ep 6 so that kiss was right on schedule. I’m looking forward to the boyfriend eps before doom & pain in the new year. Carry on GMMTV. 

Speaking of...

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 2 of 12 - Oh they’re great. It’s great. It’s paced oddly, moving quickly through most of the key scenes of the original JBL in these first 2 eps. I think it’s intending to encompass more of the manga series than that one did. Which is good, cause that will get us all the way to The Library Kiss (TM). It's the best kiss in the manga. I also like the sides in this show (better than the JBL version). 

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 8fin - What a lovely slightly unhinged little show. Tew, can we talk? Un-ironic suspenders, that takes courage. Also, the revolver was a crazy gun choice. 

Final thoughts:

This show is just as ridiculous as its title. About a gaymer who falls in love with one of his in-game teammates, who just happens to be a IRL gangster. A real gangster, the kind that actually kills people regularly. The lead pair is doing their best with a ridiculous story and shoddy script, but I enjoyed it. Although I was grateful it wasn’t very long, what we got was oddly satisfying if, frankly, a little bit silly. Recommended. 8/10 

That said, what's important about this BL is not the show, but the production and style. Let me explain... no, too much, let me sum up.

This is a chimera BL. Regarding characters: it has Japan's style otaku + Korea's style gangster + Thailand's style friendship group. It used Thai talent + Korean money (Kakao) & IP (adapted from a manwha) but aired on a Chinese channel globally (iQIYI). I'm delighted by the eclectic insanity of this production and truly doubt that any other genre but BL could ever produce like this. It's like diplomat's BL and it's the great wonder of our age that it happened at all. This BL deserves its place in the history books on production alone, even if that place is only in the footnotes. A remarkable little monster.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - The sides are… messy. Using the same actor for the old bf is… odd. But in the end, this show leaves me smiling. Which means, I like it despite myself. 

Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 4 of 6 - It's decent. It’s basically what I wanted Antique Bakery to be when I first watched that way back when (not to mention Bite Me). But there’s been so much BL since then that, for some reason, this is falling flat. I think it’s moving too fast for a Thai series. Although, say what you like, Ohm has to be one of the best soft kissers in the industry. He's just good at mouth tenderness.

Ugh, that doesn't sound right. But you know what I mean.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 7 of 10 - I love how First is so upset when Sprite starts chatting and being nice to Koh. Sprite is just a sweet easy-going likable boy. I enjoy Sprite as a main character, he’s a bubbly little communicator. And they had a cute kiss.  

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 5 of 14 - Because there was more Alan and Jeff and they were more key to the plot I was more into this ep. I do compare it to green smoothie down the pants in the Trash Watch.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 3 of 12 - Look OffGun are truly great. But I’m just not sure we need them in BL anymore. That said, it’s nice to see Off as "the one with the crush" for a change. Also, this show is only good when OffGun are on screen together, otherwise it kinda, well, sucks.

Night Dream (Sat YT) ep 1 of 6 - Cafe setting featuring a cook and a writer. *Seems awfully familiar.* Except these two are exes and this is a reunion romance. It’s stiff and very pulp but not bad (no crap sound effects) and I am a sucker for a reunion romance. That said, Rookie Thailand is not to be trusted, proceed with caution.

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 12fin - I'm grateful this is over. It was tense but for the wrong reasons - sadness and confusion. This final episode was fine, but that’s because it was mostly them being together + flashbacks. Plus all the familiar actor faces of the grown-up friends (hi, Karn my lovely, still stunning I see). But 2 of 12 episodes is not enough for the 10 of suffering and confusion that came before.

In conclusion:

A man is killed on his 10th anniversary resulting in a time paradox, for which the only solution is him never meeting his childhood sweetheart until later in life. Both lovers cycle back to the past at different ages, so that they each become their own 1st & 2nd great loves, but every time it ends in pain, until each also endures 10 years of separation. Finally it gets fixed, but leaves them with multiple memories of time's failures like temporal PTSD, and everyone around them has chronic deja vu. Me? I got both. This is one of those BLs that is high-quality with great acting but poor story. If you like your BL dwelling, maudlin, and tense due to angst and suffering, then you might enjoy this. But I just regret it, 6/10. Recommended only if you like confusing time travel emo pain.

In which case, just watch Tokyo in April is... instead. Give over Thailand, Japan does it better.

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 6 of 8 - While our main couple isn’t working for me... the side couple isn’t working for me either. I really wanted to give LeoTai a chance, this is the 3rd show I’ve seen them in, and still nope. I like Jade a lot more when he’s sad. He’s a much more pleasant screen experience depressed. I would like him to stay hurt for a couple of eps, just so I can enjoy this show a tiny bit more. But then he just goes unhinged again. Argh. I just don’t like it. 

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Pisces of Me ep 17 of 24 - Codependent boyfriends in middle school planning for high school dealing with stuff. Including other boys being into them. 

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 5 of 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. DNF 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - It’s cute but I don’t think BL in this short format is Taiwan’s strength these days. And this is quite slow and dull. Perhaps they should have whacked it down to 6 eps, not 10.

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 8 - This is one of those JBLs that I should like on paper but is failing me. The drag bit was ridiculous but handled gently. The kiss was… well… something wasn’t it? It’s all very odd. I like the photographer cutie character. 

It's Airing But...

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). I don't think even the perfect single dimple can motivate me to watch. Word is... it's terrible.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if it's safe.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed with ep 1. Been told I shouldn't bother.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until after it completes its run next week.

Dear Kitakyushu (Thai/Japan movie) in theaters in country only, I know nothing about distribution.

Behind the Shadows (Korea movie) this is a historical I was interested in, but I've been told they kill the gay so I'm OUT.

Next Week Looks Like This

Still coming:

12/23 Dead Friend Forever (Thai horror) iQIYI

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED). With the end of the year upon us I'll do an "announced for 2023 but never happened list" soon.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

He so pretty.

I forgot how likable TayNew are, and frankly I think New is a better version of this role for me, personally. I like him a lot. He's a conscientious sweetheart. And a good egg. (Cherry Magic)

Ah the rooftop my old friend. (Last Twilight)

I would like to point out that it's no accident the naga's sex dream happened in the shower, he's a water creature after all. (The Sign)

(Last week)

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: vampires

Listen, vampires are a classic for a reason, but they have also been done to death (pardon the pun) to the point that finding books that are creative with the premise can be a bit of a slog through tired old tropes. Hopefully this rec list can be to a bit of help for all vampire fans out there wanting something fresh!

For details on the books, continue under the readmore

Previous rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding

Really cool sci-fi worldbuilding

Dark sapphic romances

Mermaid books

Sci-fi vampires:

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler my beloved, literally you cannot go wrong with one of her books. Fledgling follows what at first seems to be a ten-year-old amnesiac girl, who finds out she is in fact a decades old vampire on the run from others of her kind. The vampires here are a separate species from human, not supernatural, and are as a whole very fascinating and unsettling. Come in prepared for fucked up power dynamics.

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Vampires and aliens and questions of the nature of consciousnesses, oh my. Not a vampire novel so much as a scifi novel about aliens in which there also happens to be vampires (one of which is captain of a spaceship sent to explore an alien ship just entering the solar system). Another example of vampires as an entire separate species, but more horror focused than Fledgling. No, seriously, this book will fuck you up, highly recommend if you're okay with a lot of techno babble and existential horror.

Peeps (Peeps duology) by Scott Westerfeld

Young adult. Vampirism as a sexually transmitted parasite that turns most people into bloodthirsty monsters. Cal is an asymptomatic carrier working to find other infected before they hurt people, including his own former girlfriends. But there is something else lurking in the dark, an ancient enemy of the vampire parasite...

Post apocalypse vampires:

The Hallowed Ones (The Hallowed Ones duology) by Laura Bickle

Young adult. Katie is an Amish girl eagerly awaiting her rumspringa, when she gets to try out the outside world. But before she has the chance, something happens to the Outside; a nearby town is wiped out, and something evil stalks the night. To protect their community, the Amish elders decide that no one can leave and no one can enter the sacred ground that makes up their home. That is, until Katie finds an injured young man and decides to help him.

The Company of Death by Elisa Hansen

Wild mix of genres, where a zombie apocalypse has struck and vampires gather up humans to keep their food source from going extinct, a robot travels across America with a young man she's tasked to keep safe, and former-vampire-hunter-recent-zombie Emily teams up with Death himself to stop the apocalypse. Features bi and ace characters! Bonus rec: the author also runs the youtube channel Maven of the Eventide, where she talks about various vampire media. Check it out!

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden trilogy) by Julie Kagawa

Young adult. Another zombie apocalypse (well; feral vampires) scenario in which vampires gather humans up to keep their food safe. Allison Sekemoto hates vampires, but when she ends up on the brink of death and is offered a way out, she has no choice but to take it. Hunted by a mad vampire and forced to flee the relative safety of her city, Allie must enter the post-apocalyptic outside world and team up with the free humans roaming there, seeking a cure for the undead plague that ravages the world.

Urban fantasy vampires:

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Queen of fucked up gothic horror, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, comes for vampires in this gritty novel following Domingo, a garbage collecting street kid in a Mexico City where vampires walk the streets. His life gets turned upside down when he meets Atl, a vampire descendant of Aztec blood drinkers who’s on the run and needs all the help she can get.

Sunshine by Robin McKinnley

Urban fantasy on a level of its own, where dangerous magic exists alongside humans. It keeps you guessing and much is left unexplained; if you want clear answers and explanations to everything you might be disappointed, but if you want a world that feels mysterious and dangerous and lived in you'll probably like it. It follows a baker who, after getting kidnapped by vampires, gets embroiled in a dangerous struggle and has to team up with one of them to survive. The vampires here are really inhuman and unsettling.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Young adult. After vampirism swept the land, special Coldtowns were built to quarantine anyone bitten, whether they have turned or not. After having survived a massacre at a party in which her ex-boyfriend got bit, Tana sets out with him and mysterious vampire to reach the nearest Coldtown, not knowing if she’ll ever be able to leave it again.

Modern vampires:

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Swedish literary novel set in the 1980s. Follows twelve-year-old Oskar, a troubled and bullied boy who befriends his new neighbor, Eli. But there’s something strange about Eli, such as her only coming out at night. Also available as two separate movie adaptations (I highly recommend the Swedish original; the American remake is perfectly adequate standard horror fare, the original is a masterpiece).

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

Literary novel following Lydia, who’s grown up as a vampire under the thumb of her mother, who’s been obsessed with self-hate over their existence as blood drinkers. Finally on her own for the first time in her life, Lydia moves to London hoping to make it as an artist. But surviving alone as a vampire is harder than expected. Slow and fairly light on plot, but utterly captivating.

Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde

Young adult. After Kerry saves a young man from three attackers who claim he's a vampire, she's drawn into a dangerous game and forced to work with a manipulative vampire. Pre-cursor to the modern ya vampire genre, Companions of the Night utilizes many of the same tropes but in very different ways, making it a unique experience.

Historical and fantasy vampires:

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Dracula inspired novella, following Constanta, who’s turned from a medieval peasant to an undead bride. As time passes the relationship between Dracula and Constanta grows all the more strained and potentially dangerous. Teaming up with his two other consorts, she seeks to unravel her husband's secrets. Sapphic and polyamorous.

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

Having escaped from slavery in the 1850s, young Gilda is taken in by a vampire, and eventually finds herself turned as well. Consists of a series of novellas following Gilda throughout the centuries, from the past to the present to the future. It’s also sapphic!

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

In a world where the rich drink blood to preserve their health, Marion applies to a position as bloodmaid in a notorious noble house far from home. Suddenly showered with luxuries and debauchery, Marion soon gains the interest and favor of Lisavet, countess of the house. A fresh take on the idea of vampires and deliciously dark sapphic romance.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Ancient vampire is on the hunt for a new partner, none of which tend to last long.

My Soul to Keep (African Immortals series) by Tananarive Due

I keep seeing this one described as a vampire book, and once stumbled on the description "almost a vampire book" and listen by now I'm simply curious to see what it's about.

Team Human by Justine Larbelestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Young adult. As far as I can tell, a satire on typical ya vampire romances.

The Madness Season by C.S. Friedman

*chanting* vampires in space vampires iN SPACE

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

Young adult, sapphic. Three vampire girls turned and abandoned by the same vampire get together to stop him from turning yet another girl.

The Balance of Fates by Raquel Raelynn

Young adult, sapphic. A girl enters a competition against vampires and werewolves, complicated by her feelings for one of her vampire competitors.

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

Theme tune composer and musician Ron Wasserman has recalled the time he “fooled” Eddie Van Halen, after the electric guitar icon asked him for pointers on how to play his Power Rangers theme.

Wasserman was recently interviewed on YouTube channel Monsters, Madness and Magic about a career spent penning themes for ’90s kids classics like the X-Men series, when host Justin Young asked about the specifics of his most famous theme.

“Power Rangers, from ‘we need a theme’ to completion took two and a half hours,” says Wasserman.

“It was just a great night: I just bang the thing out. Then when they said, ‘Fox loves it!’ I asked, ‘Who are we going to get to sing it?’ It was the first thing I ever sang on like that and they said, ‘No, it's you!’ And that took off a whole new career for me of doing of screaming incorrectly into a microphone.”

In the same interview [credit to Killer Guitar Rigs for the spot], Wasserman then corrects a common misconception about the guitars on the track – revealing that it’s mostly done on keys. What’s more, he says, if he had you tricked, well, you were in good company…

“All that stuff you heard, except for some of the lead guitar later on, all of it’s done on a keyboard,” says Wasserman.

“It fooled everybody. My highest compliment on that is [that] I had a band called Fisher with my ex-wife. And Eddie Van Halen, his wife Valerie Bertinelli was a big fan of the band, so she put one of the songs in a movie she was doing. She said, ‘Come on up to the house.’”

“So we came up to the house – the estate, the compound! I was talking to Eddie for a bit and he handed me a guitar and he said, ‘I had to learn that damn riff for Wolfie. Show me how you played it!’”

“And I went over to the grand piano and said, ‘Don't kill me!’ And he said, ‘Alright, good job…’ So I fooled the master. I can't imagine how it fooled him but it fooled him, so I'm fine with it.”

[yogsandchaos]

Fuck it! Niche Minecraft Youtuber to watch if you like specific Dream Smp Characters! I have a lot of beloved niche Minecrafters I love and struggle to raise attention for so I have decided that I'm finally going to make this list, it’s an incomprehensible list hanging on by threads! but its a list!

Do you like Jschlatt? Do you like Evil, Capitalism, and Drama? Try William Strife! The Corporate Evil Overlord Capitalist with plenty of evil and dramatics a-plenty. One of the, if not the, original Minecraft Capitalist characters! With a hatred of magic, a love of money and tech, and the inability to ever be wrong Strife has managed to craft a hilarious yet oddly engaging parody of Capitalist America. Going strong for nearly a decade you may actually recognize him if you were in the Fallout scene back in the early 2010's for his guides! Strife has done plenty of Minecraft though and it's one of the things he's most known for. If you don't mind long run series mixed with some mod tutorial stuff I highly recommend checking out Solutions in Chaos for his infamously hilarious interactions with one Alex Parvis. Though if you don't have much time or tolerance for long run series his most recent series of Solutions and Order along with Crossroads may be something to enjoy. Or if you just like dick jokes you could just visit his streams, that's always an option as well.

Are you a fan of Wilbur Soot and Karl Jacobs? Do you crave death and rebirth and the horrors it brings but also a multiverse worth of interconnected yet not connected at all stories? Try Lyinginbedmon! Storyteller of a multiverse of themselves and our resident Master of Horror this Fox has dozens of stories and falls from glory to share. Do you wish to watch a Shinto Priest delve deeper into corrupting magics and slowly begin to wonder just how much the gods are hiding from them? Try Yokai Village! Do you want to watch a man trapped in early 2010's Nether struggle to survive and uncover a deeper story then they ever thought was there? Nether Expedition! Do you want to watch a Maid deal with the zombie apocalypse? Try Maid-ing Do! Do you want to watch a banished Werewolf Knight turned mercenary deal with their vampire racism? Knight of Fangs! Do you want to see the life and fall of the Witch in the Woods going from charming if odd neighbor to a betrayed horror monster seeking nothing but vengeance for what has done to them? Chaosville Season 2 and then Witch in the Woods! Or if you want something a bit shorter you can watch a Fae deal with a dragon witcher and strange magics effecting them, there is always the ongoing Clockwork & Memory.

Do you like Eret? Do you like a royal air and a sense of duty? Intense shitpost mixed with intense dramatic moments? Try Kirindave! Admittedly a bit of a weaker connection but that's just goes to show how enigmatic the Storm Sage really is. With a good sense of story telling and the charisma of something you really should not trust Kirin is quite a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately they haven't done much Minecraft on their own channel in awhile and their content is much more focused on mod exploration along with being an admin of various servers then actual plot. However you will feel when that plot hits, there's a reason their fans tend to portray their character as a god. If you want to learn why you don't mess with the forest, I recommend Minecraft The Hard Way, but if you want a bit more plot in your learning of mods, Sunless is quite a good even if it never got a proper ending.

Do you like Ponk and Foolish? Do you like gorgeous builds mixed with strange yet curiosity inducing lore? Do you like mad science/doctors? Try Lucian V. Ghost! With several series under their belt and the smoothest British voice I've ever heard Lucian specializes in short series with lots of Lore and high production values. With their series Ghost Labs and the sequel and still in-progress Ghost Industries, enjoy videos about strange mods with an immensely hilarious cast. If you want something a bit more SMPish though, Chronobreach and it's on going sequel World of Madness is a great introduction to the strange and morally dubious lore of Ghost Industries. They also have the ongoing series Unlikely Reunion that is nothing but lore, and cool robots.

[not-siri]

I told y’all I’d do a pointless commentary on ”Tsst”. Let’s go. Controversial opinions and a bit of a hot take about Liane coming through. Oh, and it turns into another dumb overly descriptive analysis near the end. TW for a singular graphic image from the series.

Haha, good old Cartman. Back when he’d casually make some fucker dismember himself offscreen for insulting his weight. Stuff like this is the reason I think Cartman’s criminal record is worse than what we’re treated to onscreen.

Yes Liane, cry me a fucking river about your the out of control kid you made. 🎻

I love it when you can’t tell whether Cartman is trying to act normal for a hot second or just being a dick.

Cartman’s songs are always amazing, even if they’re just like ten seconds long and to make someone stop crying.

Nanny 911? You should know that’s not gonna do anything for this kid, Mackey.

A kid literally trying to restart the Holocaust? Nothing ol’ Nanny Stella can’t fix, apparently.

Damn why is Stella so THICC?

Bri’ish Carmen?

It pisses me off to fucking hell and heaven that a certain incredibly shitty YouTube puppet channel used this premise. Fuck the unnamed creators of the unnamed video in question.

Woah, how did Cartman do that? I wish I had the escape magic he does when I was a kid.

You’re right that you shouldn’t get on his level, Liane. Looks like Cartman taught you right to be respectful and obedient.

The virgin Nanny Stella getting called out for being a virgin by the, unfortunately enough, not virgin Eric Cartman.

This new lady is thicc too

Nah lady, we’re gonna see a new Super Nanny. Namely, one that eats her own shit in a mental hospital.

Is she wrong though?

WOOOO! The king is here!

Hell yeah, you’re the dog whisperer! Now go train that psychotic, obese fourth grader and his perverted, antisemitic mom!

Friendly reminder that Cesar’s technique also allegedly works on actual kids

Yeah Cartman, you’re just big boned. And later in the episode, your bones shrink.

Does she love you, Cartman? Eh, debatable at the time of this episode.

Cesar just brought out Cartman’s equivalent to fucking cocaine.

The only real reason to watch this episode:

He’ll be back, soon he’ll see, that he’s a dependent homeless little pussy (People who get the reference deserve all the Cheesy Poofs in the world)

Side commentary, I think if Cartman has anyone in that town who’s truly loyal to him in the current season, it’s Clyde.

Valmer. Sad when some huge bitch with small, detailed eyes from the real world knows Jimmy better than you, Cartman.

Craig is the best.

Proof that the vaccine didn’t make Liane artistic right there.

Yay another tsst pose.

Good for you with controlling him, Liane. Now since I’ve seen this episode, I have a reason to get mad at you at the end.

Thanks to the art style, we’ll never know what Cartman saw in that mirror. His own self being bossed around by his mother? A very slightly slimmed face? Some semblance of decency in his eyes?

See, Cartman could do well in school if he gave two shits. He’s not entirely inherently book-dumb.

Look here, Liane knows full well what a monster her son is. And she knows at this point in the episode what she needs to do to keep him on his positive path. This is important.

Cartman looks less fat now, and taller. I think he’s the second tallest fourth grader.

I see Butters’ surprise at his plan. From his experience, it goes the other way around.

Cartman is being really two-faced about his love for Hitler here…

While I don’t condone assisted matricide over her bossing you around, technically I imagine ol’ Jimbo would happily give Stan a gun. Also, just a few episodes back Cartman had a gun. Couldn’t he hypothetically just lend it to him? Basically, that line sucks.

Look at Stan’s eyebrows. This must be one of the few times he was the one most concerned about Cartman’s twisted bullshit rather than Kyle. Stan also has the best relationship with his mom of the kids in that room. Connection?

Just. This scene. It’s actually dramatic and perhaps telling of Cartman’s psyche and worldview. Now I’m gonna get mildly serious.

Cartman is trying to kill his mother. Usually, he only physically hurts/attempts to physically hurt specific people if it’s a) protecting his massive yet fragile ego or b) in a mutual physical fight. Why is he trying to hurt his mom?

Seemingly, because she’s not obeying him anymore. I wanna elaborate on this with a theory: he largely sees her in a twisted light- as not really a person, more a servant. A servant who mainly asks for his validation in return. As such, she is expected to serve his greedy, spoiled, unhealthy self and protect his enormous ego from the insecurities of everyday life (being fat, cruel, hated, etc). That’s the arrangement. (Hell, if he wholeheartedly meant what he was saying about how she apparently doesn’t love him anymore, then that’s his perception of a normal mother-son relationship.) And now the arrangement he’d been raised and gotten comfortable under was being taken away. Liane isn’t being validated by him anymore, she’s not protecting him in the aforementioned sense, and he’s changing away from his lifestyle of narcissism, cruelty, and laziness. Cartman doesn’t like that, so tries to end the whole shebang by offing the source of the now invalid, uncomfortable relationship. (A bit like what he attempted to do to Heidi in “Sons A Witches”... this kid is truly twisted.)

Or he just likes playing the victim. Or both. Idk

Then we see him wonder whether he really should. Maybe I don’t have the right to kill my mom. His suppressed, perhaps deliberately self-neglected conscience is coming out. I think that would have happened in a case where he would try to kill his mom even without Cesar’s help. And it’s just more proof that, technically speaking, Cartman is in fact not a sociopath.

But here’s where Cesar does come in next. Because of his behavior changing due to him, Cartman is so conflicted in the first place. (I think he quite possibly could have gone through with it if it weren’t for Cesar.) First, I’m gonna say that his “evil side” in this scene is a sort of metaphor. The joke seemed to be an allusion to some evil being controlling him usually, but it probably shouldn’t be taken literally due to its being a joke. Rather, I’d like to argue that it also represents the cruel, despicable Cartman we had gotten to know before this episode, who he really is so to speak. And his “good side” is popping up too, representing the decent, self-aware human being he could have been and we knew for about a minute.

We have his “evil side” telling him that he can kill his mother, because he can do whatever with her. And the “good side” is disagreeing, and saying things like maybe all these changes are good for me. Maybe… the world doesn’t revolve around me? And that idea is so alien, so impossible to Cartman’s self-centered, evil-dominated little mind that he nearly goes mad, and his “good” and “evil” are in war, seeing which side to him will prevail.

The next morning, we see which side won the war. A mother by the name of Liane Cartman is about to ask her son about a knife and paper towel roll in her bedroom, when she sees a calm, well dressed, self-sufficient little boy studying before his school day while eating a healthy breakfast, which he did all on his own. She tears up with joy, for that’s her son.

Liane then goes to see Mr. Millan, a man who had been helping her and keeping her company. She proudly told him about her child, and then asked him whether he would like to go on an outing with her. Millan rejects the offer, telling her that his job is done and that he must go back home, then leaves.

And happy fun validation-with-no-strings-attached times are over for Liane, and so is my ability to have a lot of sympathy for this woman. I already made several points and allusions to this point in the episode. You see, Liane learned something today. She learned that in order to have a normal, healthy child, she’d need to treat him as such. (Now here’s where my unpopular and very low opinion of Liane shines through next.)

But fuck all that, she needs her stupid validation. Fuck her son, fuck his chance at being a normal person, fuck his health, literally fuck the whole world.

Now, FYI I wouldn’t be as harsh on Liane with what she did here if it were just an eventual slip back into the old routine. Old habits die hard, I couldn’t fully blame her if that were the case. But given what she learned/knew and then so immediately and in such an extra manner (telling him they’ll go to KFC and she’ll buy two toys) it must be so deliberate that it hurts.

And I must emphasize, Cartman’s choices are still his choices. From an omniscient POV, Liane is just his Freudian Excuse. And while Liane is an enabler to the point of manipulation, it was still ultimately Eric’s choice to go back to his old ways.

[ilseofskadi]

Magical Idol Girl Keqing AU

So Keqing’s english VA has done a ton of english covers of anime songs on youtube for like 10 years (i’ve listened to a few back in the day but didn’t know it was her until recently) and a lot of them are from idol animes/games. I’d link to her page but I’d like for this post to take off tbh lmao but her channel is called MewKiyoko and if you like english covers they’re cute!

But anyway, I’ve been thinking about magical girl tropes lately for some reason and this idea just came to me while listening to her covers. One genre of Magical Girls is Magic Idol Singer and naturally my brain just grabbed on to these two topics and went wild

I’m gonna put my thoughts under a cut, but just know this au is ganqing but i’m also open for like any f/f ship because i love them all like what about moqing? how about xinyan/keqing? maybe i’ll throw in one-sided qingguang? perhaps another dash of one-sided hu tao/keqing? background beiguang? anyway i’ll continue before i just end up listen femslash ships kalsjdghkjhg

i’m thinking Keqing is a solo singer

ganyu is probably an old friend from middle school who Keqing hasn’t seen since middle school graduation or something

most likely their age range is late teens? most magical girls are preteens to teens and a lot of idols start as teens so idk about the ages

Keqing gets her powers randomly one day but it’s centralized in a certain mic (in the beginning)

like, at first she can only use magic (electricity of course) while using the mic kinda like a wand or maybe a sword

later on her magic will probably manifest on its own very slowly and with a lot of accidental use that she has to somehow keep secret (despite a strange amount of static coming off her fingertips and light bulbs bursting when she gets really mad/embarrassed

in the music industry Keqing is introduced by Ningguang who probably hears her singing in a karaoke bar or something idk; Ning isn’t a singer herself but she acts as like a manager/secretary/scout/whatever

Ganyu is also a manager/secretary/scout/whatever who Keqing eventually runs into and is suddenly hit with her old crush feelings

Mona is a lone witch who has been doing her own thing until she notices a spike in magic use and goes to investigate

Mona ends up somehow joining as another idol in the same company as Keqing so they end up working with/around each other fairly often

Keqing doesn’t realize Mona has magic or knows she has magic despite all of Mona’s terrible hint dropping (Keqing is, at this point, still panicking over 1. having magic and 2. realizing that she has to use magic to fight monsters or whatever the enemy is, so she’s a little busy right now Mona thanks)

Xinyan is part of a strange duo with Barbara. they’re advertised as being opposites, like angel and devil type thing, but Keqing finds that Xinyan is just as nice as Barbara. Keqing doesn’t work with them often but they run into each other often and help each other out. when Keqing was starting out Barbara and Xinyan would give her all sorts of pointers and tips and just generally trying to include her and make her feel welcome

hu tao is a rival/rebel/rogue witch who shows up in battles. at first hu tao just heckles keqing but sometimes she helps her out when her wants/needs align with Keqing. at some point they have to fight each other and after that she becomes a friend. hu tao also joins as an idol but refuses to work with anyone other than Keqing and she’s not very serious

[coffee-chaos]

k i did a reed900 thing

I've added a youtube channel to make the Reed900 playlist and I regret nothing. It’s one and a half hours of mostly electronic, semi-retro, semi-soft music and with a slight pinch of deep chill bass. Hope someone will enjoy it. Please, tell me if it’s not working, I’m a dumbass with technology and could’ve fucked it up.

The Man who Made a Monster by Dance with the Dead - kinda an intro for Nines who is tough and shit but not limited to darkcore only.

The Wolf by SIAMÉS - the very beginning when Nines appears in Gavin’s life.

Eyes of Madness by Dance with the Dead - the growing anger and frustration due to Nines being so very convenient thus threatening to Gavin.

Coffin Dance synthwave/retro 80s remix - Gavin is pissed and exhausted, he’s trying to get a distraction while they have to stick together for whatever reason.

It’s Mine by Mystery Skulls - tensioned angst as Gavin tries to show Nines his place, or more how tiny and unwanted it is.

She Wants Me Dead by Cazzette - more angst as they are involved in activities together.

Ghost by Mystery Skulls - angst softening to mutual poking & inner jokes as they actually make a good team but don’t mention that.

Watching You by Dance with the Dead - growing mutual curiosity and unnoticable fundament for trust; I loooooove imagining them driving in the night to this song.

Paralyzed by Mystery Skulls - Nines catches feelings, trying to sort things out without leaking anything.

Cartoons and Vodka by Jinkx Monsoon - Gavin slightly opening up.

Moonshine by Caravan Palace - questioning how they feel about each other. 

No Lullaby by SIAMÉS - processing feelings, getting flashbacks, more questioning for both.

Broken (acoustic) by lovelytheband - half confessions and trying to back up.

As You Get High by SIAMÉS - silent admiration and support, cause feelings are complicated and overwhelming, and it seems easier to do things without admitting them.

Sleepless by Cazzette ft. the High - guess it goes to something gone wrong, shutting hearts up and getting rough again.

Supersonics by Caravan Palace - sleep deprived Gavin laughs at himself in the bathroom pointing out he can’t get Nines out of his head.

Fear by SIAMÉS - doubts doubts doubts.

Banshee by Dance with the Dead - screaming in the night, waiting till dawn to text your partner.

Kickstart My Heart remix by Dance with the Dead - Gavin reconnecting to his heart with Nines by his side.

Messed Up by june - more processing feeling and understandig their place in each others’ lives.

White Flag by Delta Heavy - surrender to your partner and apologise for being an asshole, please.

Nameless World by Skip the Use - mutual healing and ‘we’ll get there’ mood. 

Slow Dance With You Adventure Time cover by Ashe - what else to say, they are happy about small things.

Into the Night by Nero - the freedom having your person and being someone’s trusted one.

Hellbent by Mystery Skulls - sharing thoughts, exploring something deep & raw you know.

Peanut Butter Jelly by Galantis - soft poking, caring and exciting shared experiences.

Magic by Mystery Skulls feat. Brandy and Nile Rodgers - more showering each other with affection and not being afraid to expose feelings.

Summer Nights by SIAMÉS - the happy ending I guess, cause they deserve one in whatever AU they are.

[smiledip1515]

TMNT 2014/2016 Headcanons: Love Language

Since the boys are very different from one another, I feel like they all have their own style about when it comes to being in a relationship and expressing their love for their partner. All of this information was inspired by Psych2Go’s video “The Five Types of Love Languages” on YouTube.

Raph: Physical Touch

- Raph is much too aware of the fact that he’s a 6’5” walking, talking, giant mutant turtle

- It pained him for the longest time that he would most certainly never find someone to spend the rest of his life with

- When he met you, it lit a spark of hope inside of him

- It’s your touch that brings him down to Earth when he’s too in his head, or too fired up about something

- It doesn’t even have to be much, just a light hand on his arm to calm him down

- Raph would never admit it to his brothers or anyone else, but he loves to cuddle

- After a long night at patrol, he wants nothing more than to come home to you and just snuggle in bed together

- If he sees you on the couch in the lair, sometimes he’ll just pick you up and toss you over his shoulder to bring you to his room

- *tosses you over his shoulder* “Where are we going, Raph?”

- “Oh, you know” *sexy smirk*

- Many people might think that Raph is the type of turtle to want a lot of sex, as his brothers often think that you and him spend all your time in his room or at your place doing just that

- But really Raph is just a soft baby who wants to be loved

- “You’re such a softy”

- “I AM NOT!”

- “Do you want to stop cuddling then?”

- “. . .no . . .”

- *playful eyeroll* “Softy,”

- Though Raph does enjoy having sex with you very much as well ;)

- It’s just another way to express the intimacy and love you have for one another through touch

- As the two of you fall asleep in his bed, it’s then that Raph’s heart is full and he’s in a state of total bliss

- He also likes it when you massage his shoulders after a long day of training

- Constantly says that you have “the magic touch”, it succeeds in making you blush every time he says it

- Doubly so if he says so in front of his brothers

- Raph constantly fears the day that you “come to your senses” and realize that he’s a monster and you deserve so much better than him

- He is scared of hurting you so that you no longer want him to touch you or that he’d make you so mad that you’d never want to touch him

- If that day ever came, Raph’s heart would shatter into millions of tiny pieces

Mikey: Quality Time

- Mikey is a very outgoing and a VERY loving turtle

- He needs an outlet to channel is constant high-energy into, and he does so with those close to him; his family and friends

- To Mikey, spending time with those that he cares about is the ultimate gift and it’s how he views love

- The fact that you would take the time out of your busy, human life to come and see him and his brothers, makes Mikey’s heart explode out of his chest

- He gets so excited when you text saying that you have a couple pizzas and are coming over to see him

- Even if you guys just eat, talk and watch movies, which is a common occurrence between the two of you, it means the world to orange-banded terrapin

- “This is like the best day ever!”

- “Mikey, we do this every weekend,”

- “Doesn’t matter, it’s still the best day ever”

- Sometimes, Mikey will come over to your place unannounced when he’s feeling really down in the dumps, lonely or if his brothers are fighting

- You’ll let him stay the night and just cuddle with him until he’s feeling better

- Of course, this is difficult if you have roommate(s) or if you still live with your parent(s), but you make it work

- “I hate it when Raph and Leo fight,”

- “I know, but I’m here for you, Mike. Stay as long as you need, we can do whatever you want.”

- “Thanks Y/N,”

- You just being there with him is very healing for him

- When you have to cancel or reschedule your hangouts Mikey gets really disappointed,

- And if you made plans with him and end up blowing him off, he’d be DEVASTATED 

Donnie: Giving and Receiving Gifts

- Donnie is very skilled when using his hands, and no, I’m not talking about in the dirty sense for this instance ;)

- He is a very talented inventor and engineer and has made some very impressive things for him and his brothers over the years

- Don is very proud of these things and he wants to show them off to you, it’s why one of the reasons he loves giving gifts

- He’s a giant, almost 7-foot, mutant turtle that lives in the sewers and money is not something that he has an abundance of

- He can’t take you on fancy dates or buy you expensive things but he will make up for all of that with the effort and thought that he puts into making gifts for you

- Donnie gets so excited when Christmas or your birthday or Valentine’s Day comes around because then he has an excuse to go all out on gifts, but he’ll make you something at any point in the year just because

- His favourite part is watching you open whatever he whipped up for you in his lab, though it’s also anxiety-inducing for him because he tends to overthink everything

- *In his head as you open your birthday present* “Oh my god, they’re opening it! Oh my god what if they don’t like it? What if it’s not good enough? What if they laugh at me? What if they hate me after this?”

- “I love it!!!”

- “Oh, thank god!”

- Because he is a perfectionist, Donnie will spend hours on just one present for you

- In his mind, if it is something that will make you happy, then he’ll put over 1000 hours into a present for you

- It worries his brothers sometimes, the dedication he has for a project for you

- “Anyone know why Donnie was sleeping during meditation today?”

- “Y/N’s birthday is coming up,”

- “Oh, that makes sense,”

- Anything less than a genuine, heartfelt and beaming reaction from you upon opening your special gift will cause him to spiral and overthink once again

- He then will start a whole new project just for you since his last one was a “disaster”, overworking himself even more

- You or his brothers then have to step in and make him realize that you loved what he made you and that he can go get some sleep now

- Donnie also loves receiving gifts from you; on holidays or just as a little “saw this and thought of you” on any given day

- He’s not a materialistic guy, he loves presents because it shows that you were being thoughtful and thinking of him

- When you get the perfect little something for him, it shows that you know him really well and went out of your way to make sure that he got it

- It doesn’t matter how expensive a particular gift is, what matters to him is that you were considerate enough to take the time to think about what would really make him happy

Leo: Words of Affirmation

- Leo is the one who has always had these high expectations put upon him, some by his father and some by himself

- He is always seeking approval from his family

- When he is told that he is doing something right, it is reassuring and makes him feel good about himself

- Leo’s relationship with you has similar patterns

- Any positive words or encouragement that you give him about his training, how he’s doing as a leader, or just in general will be well received

- Kind of has a praise kink, I guess then?

- He always blushes whenever you give him compliments, especially on his appearance

- Make sure to tell him over and over again how pretty his eyes are, how sexy his smile is, how fine his muscles are and how he is a piece of art to you

- Was OVER THE MOON the first time you told him you loved him

- He literally almost passed out when he heard the fateful words

- “Leo, babe? You okay?”

- “Um, yeah. Just, uh, could you repeat what you said?”

- *very confused* “That I love you?”

- *blissful swoon*

- Promises mean everything to the turtle in blue, he will hold you to the promises you make with him

- To Leo, your word is your bond and if you break that bond, you better watch out

- He would NEVER trust you again

- Also, does not do well with yelling from you, especially if they’re insults

- It makes him feel worthless and like a failure, that he does not deserve you

- If you need to have a serious discussion with him about something, it’s best to do so by sitting him down and breaking it to him gently, not by yelling

[kaiowut99]

GX Finalized Subs Update!

Since it’s been a while since releasing 64 and all 😳

So after [somewhat] smoothing over hecticness at work, I’ve already updated episode 65’s script and applied most of the animation fixes I’d worked on, but there’s one last fix (I’ve mentioned it a bit, it’s the thing with Mad Dog Inukai’s Multiple Slime being in Attack Mode but shown with its card in Defense Mode as Chimeratech Overdragon attacks it, and trying to fix it to remove the card) that I’ve had noajenk (go sub to his great YGO YouTube channel!) set to work on.  We had also planned to recreate that Duel Magazine back cover with the Phantasms so I could translate it, but after a week or two of that and trying to get someone to get us a render of Uria’s anime card artwork, I eventually had a blast of motivation and was able to work with the dub’s blank edit to get that taken care of, so that’s the only thing left.

But between some IRL work prospects and work on his videos, he understandably didn’t have much time to get to it immediately--not a problem, though, since I went ahead and got episode 66 done (it being a clipshow was helpful).  And since I had a fair amount of footage fixes to add back from the flashed-back-to episodes (as well as a few new ones to add back to those episodes, and also translating the notice Napoleon leaves for our Red-dormers about dueling Ed in the preview for 67), I figured that’d buy him some time.  Now, I’ve finished everything for 66; I’ve checked in with him about this, and he should be able to handle it in the next two weeks or so.

This kinda works out perfectly, since I was going to take a quick break after 66 to do some housekeeping on previous releases; I’m planning to post softsub MKVs of the finalized episodes thus far over on NAC (and updating the older ones Zeratul had provided there), along with updating the scripts a bit to stylistically match things as of late Season 1 or so (capitalizing “Magic/Trap Card” and “Monster,” no comma in, say, “...the Magic Card Power Bond,” etc) so I hopefully shouldn’t have to go back to those again.  Once that’s done, I should be able to get work done on 67 and 68 while noajenk finishes that fix and work towards a possible four-episode release drop to make up for some lost time.  So, uh, keep an eye out for that, haha.  (And if it turns out the fix might not be possible, then I’ll get 65 and 66 out; in the meantime, I’ll probably queue up some more posts soon to show off the revised subs from 65 and some from 66.)

tl;dr finishing touches for 65 in progress, 66 is done, keep an eye out for some housekeeping re-releases on NAC, and maybe finalized!65-68 dropping in a few weeks 🙂

[lime-be4n]

;)

Shuffling could be heard in the background but it was almost as if he was adjusting himself, almost sporadic and ill-prepared, though he gave it plenty thought beforehand; thus, the camera was on, and he appears to just be frozen. He runs his hands through his hair and laughs a bit. “ God, what am I doing?” his gruff voice groused, nervous hands instinctively hovered over his keyboard as he stared blankly at the not yet recording camera. A twitch. Then another. Those very hands now sat comfortably in his lap as he bit his lip in an unfavorable mix of anticipation and gut-wrenching terror. Blue eyes were momentarily lost behind dark lashes as he took a deep breath in-- 4,3,2..-- then out. He could do this. He needed to do this. Not for everyone else, but for himself. To grow-- he had to stop himself and let out a breath of amusement at the personal pep talk. Ok, smiles on-- no smiling? Smiling. No smiling-- 

As if his own hands were tired of his indecisiveness, a click of the mouse and the appearance of a small red dot had Jon’s mind reeling. Act natural, okay, normal like any other human being.  No more clowning around. That earned him another chuckle. Well, maybe if he were to make eye contact with the camera it wouldn’t be as bad, or would it be worse? Just imagine the camera in its underwear... Wait, nevermind. Ok… here goes… and from the show-stopping buildup that one could only imagine being accompanied by drums and fanfare, led to the very first word(s) that Jon would say to his fans in person (sort of). The English language offered many things; a multitude of combinations that all boiled down to the introduction of the century. That anticipated and oh so magical word was...: “Uh”. Welp, that was it. He’s got nothing. That was the extent of his genius and severely unhelpful mind. 

“So, this is me.” almost instinctively his hand goes to his nape, eyes avowedly avoiding everything but the textured bamboo wood flooring that was installed months ago. “I... uh... I know the fact that I’m not actually a raccoon crime-fightin’  hero or a giant hockey-masked serial killer, uh, clown is pro’lly disappointin’, more-so for myself than for you guys” an awkward smile, a camera glance, then back to the bamboo. At that moment, Jon swore that the bamboo flooring could rival any attention-seeking object or person. Or at least, that’s what Jon told himself as his gaze avoided contact with the camera like it was the motherfuckin’ plague. He can’t keep doing this, he needs to assert himself. With a hefty sigh, he sat forward, arms resting on his legs but stabilizing his head and looked directly at the camera. 

A void, he’s staring at a void. Just like the people who’ve pushed him down, opposed him solely to spite him, gave him shit--  a void of an unwelcoming and bone-chilling cold derived from harsh diction that every YouTuber has, at some point during their channel, had to face...but was it ever this bad? Could anyone anywhere truly empathize with the emotional and mental strain that people-- no, monsters have caused him? Have submitted him to? Would it escalate upon the uploading of this video? Oh god… oh god oh f uck…  the chime of his new phone drew him from the stupor. Who would text him at this time? His family most definitely were asleep, and he (purposefully) lost contact with his friends, and God knows Luke would only call. He seized the device, Whomest’t’ve… Evan. 

God, this man, he’s going to give him a kiss if anything comes of this. Unknowingly, a smile etched onto his face, courage filled his lungs and he set the phone down realigning himself back into the same assertive position and gave the camera a straight face. Time for a change.

“ As y’all know, some things are goin’ to be changing around here.” breathe, “ and it’s not the audio quality.” the inside joke didn’t lighten the mood. His face portrayed a disappointed look, not that he could see. “I want y’all to take this seriously because this is going to be enforced.” He took another breath,” and don’t take anythin’ the wrong way, this isn’t directed toward anybody specific,” he closed his eyes, it was getting a little harder to breathe, but he has to make it through this. “I want everyone to get along, and I know that’s impossible but try? Okay?” A subtle smile, whether it was to encourage the audience or himself, he’ll never know. “ And second, please respec’ my friends! I know they make stupid comments but, they’re still my friends and I know they’re joking, so hearin’ someone else flip their shit is kinda off…” He gave off a self-conscious look, bashful in a way; But something (almost) light-hearted turned sinister, and instantaneously “ I understand that y’all’ve been curious ‘bout me, but that needs to come to an end now.” He didn’t yell, he made sure of it but he made sure that he was heard. To some, he was a disappointed parent, not mad but disappointed, to others he was the quiet kid who took everything but said something against one person. Overall? Bone-chillingly terrifying. 

“I want my life on-line and in real-life to be separate. Unless I say or mention somethin’, I don’t want y’all to be lookin’ into it. Whether or not you guys listen, it will continue to be that way. And I’ll make sure it’s enforced. I hope I’m making myself clear.” His arms, now crossed, were cold despite the long sleeves. He wanted to hold himself but resisted the urge. “I know that may sound like a lot but just like how I help y’all, I need y’all to help me by understanding and respecting my decision and I don’t want to ramble on ‘bout a past that’s behind me...,'' He was frustrated, to say the least, and confused on what to say. He doesn’t want to spill out on the whole world, yet it’s usually what it takes to change it. “Listen, I just, I don’t, I think, AGHhh!” Why has this drought of words stopped pouring out? He just needed to breathe and speak words… Now his mind can’t even think. He takes a deep breath, hold, blow, hold, in, hold, out. Okay, back into the groove. “I need y’all to understand that, I had a troublin’ life, In real life, and while it’s completely behin’ me. I don’t want to have that mixing to my online life, ‘cause it has nothing to do with it and while it shouldn’t have an effect on me, because it doesn’t, I don’t want anything changing. Better or worse. And I’m okay with that. I'm already happy with what I have and I don't want to change that.” He sits up straight, emphasizing his surprising height. “So please, don’t change my happiness. I’d appreciate it.” He smiled a crooked smile with smiling eyes, both closed. A wholesome finish that ended with the same outro, and newfound home screens and desktops for the fans.

[therogerclarkfanclub]

Interviewer: “You miss every shot you don’t take” Rob: "That's the truth man, that's the truth. And the other thing, too, that goes along with that, that I really enjoy to think about, is that as far as we know we only have one life, and we're living it right now. So what are you waiting for? Go do it! whatever it is, enjoy it! Live! that's how you become an actor *wheeze*" 😂

Excerpt from Rob's interview with Monsters, Madness and Magic, Episode #157

Listen to the entire interview on MM&M's YouTube Channel

[tenaflyviper]

Halloween Specials Youtube Playlist:

WNUF Halloween Special (1987)

Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktacular (2003)

Scary Godmother: Revenge of Jimmy (2005)

Elvira's Halloween Special (1984)

Elvira's Halloween Special (1986)

Monster Mania with Elvira (1997)

Bride of Monster Mania with Elvira (2000)

The Elvira Show (1993)

Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors (1986)

Vincent Price's Once Upon a Midnight Scary

Vincent Price's Dracula (1982)

An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe, starring Vincent Price (1970)

Horror Hall of Fame, hosted by Vincent Price (1974)

Horror Hall of Fame II (1991)

Halloween with the Addams Family

Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)

The Night That Dracula Saved Halloween (aka The Halloween that Almost Wasn't) (1978

Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971)

The Midnight Hour (1985)

The Mystery of Dracula's Castle (1972)

The Wickedest Witch (1989)

The Worst Witch (1986)

The Last Halloween (1991)

Vincent and Frankenweenie

Marc Summers' Mystery Magical Tour (1988)

Weinerville: ”Haunted”

Eureeka’s Castle: “It Came from Beneath the Bed”

The Adventures of Pete and Pete: “Halloweenie”

You Can’t Do That on Television: “Halloween Episode”

Halloween is Grinch Night

Witch's Night Out

Claymation: Comedy of Horrors

The Devil and Daniel Mouse

The Canterville Ghost (1988)

The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile

Casper's Halloween Special

Bunnicula the Vampire Bunny

The Trouble with Miss Switch

Miss Switch to the Rescue (1982)

The Great Bear Scare (1983)

Mad Mad Mad Monsters

The Real Ghostbusters: "When Halloween Was Forever"

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show: “Count Koopula”

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show: “Koopenstein”

Monster in My Pocket: “The Big Scream”

Garfield in Disguise

Bobby's World: “The Night of the Living Pumpkin”

Eek the Cat: “HallowEek”

Camp Candy: “Scare Package”

What-a-Mess' Halloween Stories

Tales from the Far Side (1994)

Tales from the Far Side II (1997)

Toonsylvania

Billy and Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween

Underfist: Halloween Bash

The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: “Wrath of the Spider Queen”

Billy and Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure

Ed, Edd, and Eddy's Boo Haw Haw

Camp Lazlo: “Hallobeanies”

Chowder: “The Spookiest House in Marzipan/The Poultrygeist”

Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned

Happy Tree Friends Halloween-a-Thon

Horror Nights: The Art of the Scare

Travel Channel's America's Scariest Halloween Attractions

Travel Channel’s America’s Scariest Halloween Attractions 2

Halloween Crazier

There are also a couple of other specials, plus some 80's Halloween TV commercial compilations, and a couple of classic videos of the Banana Bus Squad playing some Gmod "scary" maps.

Bonus Playlist: Horror and Halloween-Themed Darkwave, Darksynth, Retrowave, Synthwave, Chiptune, and Lo-fi Hip Hop

Happy Halloween!

[ultsoobins]

tdc:magic prompts

New Rules:

you have a personal debt to settle with one of the members and decide to do so in the only way you both know how: after-school dance battle

you’re both professional racecar drivers and meet up at nights to race each other around the track for practice. problem is, neither of you can ever agree on who won

he’s the student council president. you’re the national honor society president. both of you want your club to be in charge of the winter formal and start an inter-club prank war to get the better of the other and win 

he smokes and you’ve been desperately trying to get him to quit by replacing his cigarette packets with industrial sized bags of lollipops 

you get matching tattoos

9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)

he found a stray animal and kept it as a pet in your shared apartment. it’s weeks until you realize that whatever that thing is, it isn’t a dog

your best friend is marrying his. you’re the maid/man of honor, he’s the best man. you hate each others’ guts... or at least you think you do

it’s midnight and you’re wandering the halls of your boarding school until he pulls you into a storage closet and tells you to be quiet 

you take a road trip with the boys 

Roller Coaster

it’s 1978 and you both have the hair to match

you guys are new age ghostbusters and are exploring an abandoned amusement park and literally everything possible goes wrong 

he holds his birthday party at a roller rink because for some reason he thinks you’re really good at roller skating and wants to impress you. neither of you know how to roller skate 

your respective friend groups dared you each to spend the night on an apartment complex rooftop. neither of you know that all of your friends coordinated to force you guys to be alone together for a whole night. for some reason it doesn’t cross either of your minds until the very end

he tries to win you one of those huge animals at the state fair but you end up winning it for him

Poppin’ Star

it’s summer and you’ve spent every single day at the pool because the new lifeguard is quite possibly the cutest guy ever... that is, until, one day, his best friend sits in for him and you realize that said best friend is even cuter and for some reason easier for you to approach 

he works at a boba tea shop and makes you try the special every time you walk in even though you already have a drink you swear by 

it’s 3 a.m. and you two have a group project due by the start of first period so you’ve been on skype for 7 hours already. somehow, only half of your project is done so far

you take a hot air balloon ride with him mid-summer and it’s where he officially asks you to go out with him 

you find out that you’re allergic to lemon-lime soda in the worst possible way and he’s the only one there to witness it

Can’t We Just Leave The Monster Alive?

you’re freshly graduated and living in new york city in a super small but still beautiful apartment. you strike up a great conversation at your local coffee shop with the guy who, as it turns out, has moved into the apartment right under yours

it’s halloween and you swear the same guy has come to your door dressed in like 5 different costumes already. turns out he’s the cute one from the back of your math class who’s trying to win a bet with his friends 

you’re both famous youtubers and switch channels for a week for fun 

he does slam poetry about everyday items and you can’t help but fall in love after he writes an artistic diss track about your least favorite vegetable

Magic Island

you guys have been broken up for a bit and your friend signs you up for one of those youtube series that are like “a broken up couple talks about their relationship” 

one of you is in the armed forces and the other is so torn up over deployment that they don’t go to see their s/o ship off

you work at a flower shop and he’s your best friend so you help him make bouquets for his s/o even though you’re madly in love with him 

he’s a movie star and you’re an extra on set but he finds you insanely cute and asks one of his friends on the crew to get your number for him

20cm

he’s a greaser and you’re a soc. do i really have to say anything else 

you’re his tutor but he can’t learn shit from you because he spends an inordinate amount of time just staring at random facial features of yours he finds insanely cute. it’s flattering but you want him to pass so you make him learn from someone else... though you do promise him a date

you’re professional ballroom dancers and each others partners

he gets his motorcycle license and shows up outside your place at 11 p.m. the same day to take you on a tour of the city. you both end up at the place you first met 

he’s 20 centimeters taller than you and finds it so insanely funny that he, as yearbook editor, puts ‘20cm’ almost imperceptibly small in the very corner of your senior year picture 

you meet under the stars

Angel or Devil 

you’re an angel, he’s a devil, and you’re both assigned to the same person (or vice versa - you’re a devil, he’s an angel). you argue with each other to the point where your person starts ignoring both of you, and that’s when you decide to band together to get your person to listen to you again

he steals a loaf of bread from your bakery but you can’t be mad because you realize it’s to feed street orphans. that, and you realize pretty quickly that he’s actually the prince, no matter how much he tries to disguise himself 

you’re medical interns and neither of you have slept in what has to be 3 days at the very least. you fall asleep on him while you’re both supposed to be taking a 10 minute break and he doesn’t want to wake you so he distributes your patients among any interns that pass you guys by

you call someone to fix your microwave and he’s the one they send 

[dirigibleplumbing]

concept: an Avengers TV show that takes place in a new universe where it’s kinda the 1960′s and kinda 20 years into the future. There are flying cars and smartphones, Janet has a beehive hairdo and a hit Youtube channel, Hank and Tony build AIs and use showy holograms but there are still phone booths and rotary phones all over, people Steve knew from WWII and some who even fought in WWI are still alive but not because of magic or super-science just because, Namor has little wingies on his feet and brings tentacle monsters to fight everyone at Avengers Mansion. There are episodes that are kinda just medical dramas about Donald Blake where he has to duck out to do Thor things offscreen and shenanigans ensue. Stark Industries looks like the penthouse lovechild of Mad Men and an Apple store. Steve’s helmet has ridiculous wings coming off the sides in 3D. 

The Iron Man armor definitely has roller skates. 

[theyoganews]

TheYogaNews.com:Spooky Spectacular: Super Yoga! | Cosmic Kids 👻🎃

New Post has been published on https://theyoganews.com/2021/09/24/theyoganews-comspooky-spectacular-super-yoga-cosmic-kids-%f0%9f%91%bb%f0%9f%8e%83/

TheYogaNews.com:Spooky Spectacular: Super Yoga! | Cosmic Kids 👻🎃

If you love Halloween, you’ll love our Spooky Spectacular: Super Yoga! 👻 🌈 Watch our videos ad-free on the Cosmic Kids app: https://app.cosmickids.com ⭐ Subscribe to the Cosmic Kids YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/cosmickidsyoga

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Let’s get spooky and score some magic yoga points with 5 minutes of monster game-style yoga! This is Cosmic Kids SUPER YOGA – the Spooky Spectacular! With special Halloween yoga poses for you to copy and learn. Watch out for the skeleton dance in the middle! Shake your bones! 🦴💀

Super Yoga videos are 5 minute fast-paced yoga-based workout for kids. They get the wiggles out and help build knowledge of all the kids yoga poses.

A fun challenge for memory, coordination and information processing. We see the pose picture come down the screen and land in the bubble-o-meter. We do the yoga pose and hold it for the amount of time it takes to get the precious points! There’s always a mad moment of some kind in the middle – in this one we have the much loved SKELETON DANCE…and at the end we lie down to enjoy receiving all the goodness of our exercises! Ahhhh! Bliss.

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🌈 All our videos are ad-free on the Cosmic Kids App! 🌈https://app.cosmickids.com 🎬 The complete Cosmic Kids video library. 📱 View on any computer, TV, smartphone and tablet. 🚸 Safe viewing: no commercials, links or suggested videos.

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✨ Get your FREE Kids Yoga Posture Poster! ✨

Yoga Pose Universe Poster

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📗 Learn to teach kids yoga with me! 📗

Learn

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🎁 Buy Cosmic Kids DVD’s, gifts & books! 🎁 https://cosmickids.com/shop/category/books-gifts/

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