#[It's been a long. long year. the worst corrie and I have ever had to endure. including 2020.]

[the-harvester]

Hematite Headshots!

[Little note in the tags from the mods <3]

[calamity-aims]

siiiiigh im going to regret this but day 4 with Drift?

Hiiii Gaea! @kkrazy256 also asked for day 4 so I smashed their guy Rem in there too! This may make little to no sense to anyone else though hfdjksahgajlsh

Day 4: sensory deprivation, hallucinations, "you're still alive in my head"; 685 words

“It’s…not going to be pleasant,” Remedy said. His voice was as flat as ever, but with a rare undercurrent of apology that made Drift’s eyes widen. The CMO of the Coruscant Guard was a tough old bastard, never apologizing for anything and running his medbay with an iron fist. Hell, Drift had seen him go toe-to-toe with Fox more than once, and Fox was scary.

So Drift could only assume this bacta dip was going to suck space balls.

“I can’t put you under,” Remedy continued. “Your system is still coming off the spice and stims and whatever fucked-up concoction that excuse for a medical practitioner gave you -” here Remedy’s eyes tightened slightly, as they always did when Pharma was mentioned - “so you’re going to have to be awake in the tank.”

Drift would nod, if he could, but his recently re-implanted artificial spine was a searing line of pain down his back, so he said nothing as the CMO went on.

“You won’t be able to see, hear, or move. Whatever you do, kid,” he said, pinning Drift with an intense gaze from behind his glasses, “Don’t panic.”

At the time, Drift hadn’t understood what he’d meant. It was just a dip in a bacta tank, right? True, Drift had never actually been in a bacta tank - Remedy guarded the two tanks the Corries had been allowed like a space dragon of legend, only using their limited supplies on the very worst of cases.

But still. How bad could it be? Maybe Drift could even get some sleep. Imagine that.

—

Drift did not get some sleep. The residual stims, spice, and Pharma’s serum kept his system humming, a shaky sort of wakefulness that set his teeth on edge.

Being submerged in bacta was nothing like the water training exercises on Kamino - the fluid around him was almost heavy, restricting his movements as though he were an insect set in amber. He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear; Drift floated through space, totally alone.

Not alone.

Drift flinched - it was all he could do, with every limb weighed down and nearly immobilized. His jaw clenched under the oxygen mask. He would just - pretend he didn’t hear that.

He drifted. Heh. Drifted. That was funny –

You’re even more of an idiot than I thought.

No, nonono. He was not losing it in here. Losing it was postponed until a later date. He would not panic, he would just breathe, and breathe, and breathe, and ignore the voice that sounded so familiar–

Awww, c’mon, don’t ignore me. Don’t you miss me?

No. Who would?

That supercilious voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, somehow. Well, Remedy, for one, it hissed. Do you really think he’ll forgive you for this?

I didn’t kill you, Pharma. He did.

He did. But you pushed him to it, didn’t you? All this could have been avoided if you weren’t such a braindead fool. It’s all your fault. His pain is on you.

He – there wasn’t any other way –

People do seem to have to keep fixing your mistakes, don’t they, Drift? First your batchmate Wing, now Remedy…tell me, how long do you think it’ll be before you get him killed, too?

Shut up.

Are you a betting man? I’d put long odds on him even making it to the end of the year, with your track record. 

Shut UP! You’re fucking dead, Pharma, so just shut the fuck up.

Dead? Of course. But here in your mind, I’m still alive. 

You’re just a hallucination. Just a figment of my imagination–

You may be right. But that doesn’t mean I’m not telling the truth. Pharma’s voice seemed to come from everywhere somehow, enveloping Drift in its poison. 

Now. Shall we begin where we left off?

Where we left o–

Agony. A searing line of pure pain traced down the length of Drift’s spinal implant, like a scalpel cutting into his flesh. Like when Pharma had cut into him to tear the implant from his body, leaving Drift bleeding out and useless on the floor.

No. No, not again.

Yes, Pharma’s voice said with glee. Again.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I am utterly disgusted.

My expectations for this episode were low, but holy fuck. Tonight’s episode has to be one of the most sickeningly offensive pieces of television I have ever watched in my life - it might even be worse than the COVID episode where they killed Noel off but it was all for Connie’s white guilt* and wasn’t actually about Noel at all. (* - I know Amanda Mealing is biracial, but Connie is written as white and that was very relevant to that particular episode, so.)

Lev’s death is legitimately the worst “bury your gays” I have seen since Rana on Coronation Street two years ago. And the Rana situation was absolutely horrible, so that’s saying something. (Rana was a queer Muslim woman from a homophobic family, who spent a long time struggling with her identity and being rejected by those around her because of it, then finally came to terms with her queerness... only to be killed off in a roof collapse on her wedding day to the woman she loved. For those of you who don’t watch Corrie. It was truly sickening.)

The thing, I suppose, that really reminds me of Rana here is that both she and Lev were essentially punished by the narrative for being gay (or possibly bi in Rana’s case - it was never specified, but that’s not the point here). Rana was about to get married to a woman - she died horribly before she got to say her vows. Lev had just finally come out and rejected his homophobic father - hours later (in-universe), he dies horribly before he gets to be happy with himself.

What message did that send to viewers in Rana’s situation, and what message does it send to viewers in Lev’s situation? It sends the message that being gay is a failure, that it’s something you deserve to be punished for. Something you deserve to die for.

I am horrified at this story choice. Lev is from a country where people are regularly killed for being gay. And the Casualty writers think it’s okay to kill him off immediately after he finally accepts himself?!

So much for an issue storyline. So much for raising awareness of how LGBTQ+ people are treated in Russia. No, when it comes down to it, Casualty never gave a fuck about Lev or even the real life people in his situation at all. They’ve gone and killed him off so his abusive homophobic wife can cry about it.

What. The. Hell.

Fenisha’s death was no better, either. They’ve gone and fridged her, a biracial woman character, so a white man character can cry and have some manpain. (Not that this is actually any good for Ethan’s character, either. It’s just more unnecessary torment for him, too. So no one even wins here!) She had barely been on the show for a year, she’s only recently had a baby, she was looking forward to a future with her fiance.

And they killed her off? They robbed her of the chance to ever see her son grow up? They robbed her of many happy years with her husband? Just for more misery?

How sick and exploitative. Both Fenisha’s and Lev’s deaths are utterly sick, exploitative, and bigoted, and I am so, so angry and disgusted at this show right now.

[letterboxd]

In Focus: The Truman Show.

Inspired by Letterboxd data that revealed it to be a lockdown favorite, editor-at-large Dominic Corry looks at the ever-evolving importance of contemporary masterpiece The Truman Show.

It has long been apparent that The Truman Show is an unnervingly prescient film. The story of a man who becomes aware that his superficially idyllic life is, in fact, a live-streamed television show has gone from being high-concept to every-day.

Thanks to the three Ps—the prevalence of mass urban surveillance, the proliferation of reality television and the pervasiveness of video in social media—the notion of cameras filming our every move is no longer a paranoid fantasy, but real life. The twist being that, for the most part, we all willingly signed up for it, and did all the filming ourselves. As Yi Jian saliently observes in his review: “Not to get all ‘we live in a society’ on Letterboxd but I know a person or two in real life that would actually give anything to trade lives with Truman, it do be like that sometimes”. It indeed do, Yi Jian.

So it’s something of a cliché at this stage to point out how we are all living in some version of the The Truman Show, and you don’t have to be a member of the royal family to feel that way. Yet, somehow, the film has become even more pertinent over the last eighteen months. And it’s a pertinence reflected in the massive uptick in viewership for the film as seen in Letterboxd activity.

During the month of February 2020, the last moment of the Before Times, The Truman Show had a modest 1,235 diary entries. That number tripled in April of that year, by which time the seriousness of the pandemic had become clear. And by July, deep in the worst of the pandemic, Truman fervor peaked, with a further 178 percent leap over April’s numbers, firmly placing it in the top 200 films watched by our members in a year of lockdown. (By the way, ‘diary entries’ mean activity where the member has added a watched date; many thousands more also marked Truman as ‘watched’ in those dark months, but didn’t specify a date.)

It’s not difficult to imagine why we might become more interested in revisiting this eminently re-visitable film. During lockdown, social media—including Letterboxd—took on a greater presence in terms of how we communicated with each other. We got used to seeing footage of faces more than actual faces. We were all the stars of our own ‘Truman Show’, and simultaneously the audience of everyone else’s ‘Truman Show’.

Christian Torres boiled it down effectively when he wrote: “Now every movie I see seems to be related to my life in quarantine. I am Truman and I want to escape.” And Sonya Sandra eloquently captured the film’s increased contemporary significance in her review: “This is a real-life daylight horror film. The best kind. Even more relevant in 2021 than ever. We are all Truman, we all want to find what is real in our fake lives filled with media, capitalism and ideology. And it’s our job to fight the storm and get to the truth of it all. Nothing is real, everything is for profit, and everyone is selfish. Go out and find what is real, because it’s definitely not here.”

With its deft, dazzling blending of the profound and the humorous, the optimistic and the cynical, it’s difficult to think of anything released since The Truman Show that comes as close as it does to being a modern-day Frank Capra movie. It’s hopeful, but has its eyes wide open. There’s a darkness in the themes of the film that is never replicated in the colors on display.

While everyone involved delivers career-best work, we must principally credit the triumvirate of talent at the center of the film: director Peter Weir, screenwriter Andrew Niccol and star Jim Carrey.

Star Jim Carrey and director Peter Weir on the set of ‘The Truman Show’ (1998).

Weir is a director who inspires much online love whenever his name is mentioned, but he isn’t really mentioned all that often. Or at least as often as he should be. The Australian filmmaker has delivered masterpieces across multiple genres, and it’s extremely sad that he hasn’t directed a movie since 2010’s not-quite-true World War II drama The Way Back, arguably one of his lesser works. That’s also, insanely, one of only two movies he’s made since Truman, the other being Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the wide and rabid affection for which regularly kicks up on Twitter (not to mention demand for a sequel).

Weir doesn’t do many interviews, and while this 2018 Vanity Fair article marking Truman’s twentieth anniversary has many quotes about the film’s modern relevance, Weir doesn’t offer any commentary to that effect, presumably preferring to let the work speak for itself—though in this 1998 interview he did talk about the relationship between the media, the general public and the people we become fascinated with, as a “complex situation”.

The Vanity Fair article does, however, reveal a fascinating ‘what if’ scenario relating to Christof, the god-like director of the in-movie TV show played by Ed Harris, who offers up a pile of pretentious auteur clichés: mononymous, beret, etc. (beyond the whole god thing, that is). When Dennis Hopper, originally cast in the role, wasn’t working out, Weir considered playing the role himself, which would’ve added yet another meta layer. It brings to mind how George Miller styled Immortan Joe (played by Hugh Keays-Byrne) after himself in Mad Max: Fury Road, or how Christopher Nolan’s haircut shows up in most of his films.

Ed Harris as Christof in ‘The Truman Show’ (1998).

And, at one point, it could have gone mega-meta. Weir, in the 1998 interview, talked about a “crazy idea” he had, a technical impossibility back then but easily achievable with live-streaming now. “I would have loved to have had a video camera installed in every theater the film was to be seen [in]. At one point, the projectionist would … cut to the viewers in the cinema and then back to the movie. But I thought it was best to leave that idea untested.” Imagine.

Weir also played a role in helping to shape the originally much more overtly dark screenplay into the cheerier (on the surface at least) shooting script, which is solely credited to fellow antipodean, New Zealand-born Niccol, also a producer on the film. Both men have done the majority of their work in America, but it’s tempting to credit the film’s tone-perfect sense of heightened Americana to the degree of separation offered by their foreign provenance. In any case, it’s clear that open-air mall designers were paying attention.

Niccol’s original screenplay made his name in Hollywood, and revealed a storyteller excited by big ideas. He moved into directing with the smaller-scale Gattaca, released a year prior to Truman (itself delayed to meet Carrey’s availability). Niccol’s subsequent filmography includes several legit bangers (Lord of War hive step up!), and his endearing dedication to lofty allegories in a genre setting makes him an increasingly rare breed in Hollywood.

Like Weir, he is not the greatest fan of giving interviews, but the Vanity Fair piece quotes him making an interesting point: “When you know there is a camera, there is no reality,” thereby making Truman “the only genuine reality star.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by MusicMoviesMe, who writes that “‘Truman Show’ beats all other reality shows out there like Bachelors, Survivors and Kardashians. Come on, when you know there’s a camera at your tail, there’s no reality. So yes, Truman beats all reality shows out there bar none!”

The role was perfectly suited to Jim Carrey’s affected mannerisms, and his status as one of the world’s biggest stars meant he could relate to Truman more than most people. Then, at least. Nowadays, of course, we are all Truman.

“It is always incredible to see how far The Truman Show was ahead of [its] time,” observes The Closer79. “In a world where celebs are monitored 24/7 and we are showered with unnecessary private information on the web, where talent-free wannabes become famous and where you sometimes [wonder] what kind of surreal show society you are in—Truman and his fake show life cleverly have anticipated all of this. Only Truman knew nothing of his luck and he was granted an escape from his glass prison. We don’t really have this possibility… Aren’t we all Truman? Sometimes even voluntarily…”

Austin Burke concurs: “I have always known that I really enjoyed this film, but I had no clue that it would hold up so well years later… Could this be because the strange world that he finds himself in is far more similar to our world today? Possibly, but the idea and themes are so much more relevant now compared to when this originally released.” And while DallasFrance is conscious of piling on about the film’s prescience, his review highlights how there really is no limit to the film’s meta qualities:

“Instead of writing a review about how this film predicted social media, or how we’re all Truman, or yadda yadda yadda, I’ll instead fixate on the miraculous fact that two absolute legends were cast as primary viewers of the Truman Show:

1. The old lady from The Running Man who starts betting on Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger). ‘He’s one bad motherf*cker!’

2. The villain from The Karate Kid Part II:

‘Live or die, man?!’ ‘Die!’ ‘Wrong!’ *hooooonnnkkk*

I’ve never seen either of these actors in any other roles. With the second one, I felt like I was watching a character from my childhood watch a character from his childhood come to realizations about the characters in his childhood. So actually… the movie’s really about me.”

Never change, LB membership.

We are all generally pretty aware of how ahead of its time The Truman Show was, but that doesn’t lessen its impact. Maddie’s review shows that there’s always some new angle to consider: “Imagine being an extra in this movie… You would be an extra, playing an actor, playing an extra. Think about that long enough and tell me that doesn’t make you want to walk into the ocean.”

Kev goes even further: “Watching other people watch somebody else while also watching that person while also watching the person watching over that person is a great reminder that watching is weird, and to be watched is to not own yourself. Don’t watch, don’t try to be watched. Just live.”

Or perhaps Will encapsulates the film’s ability to present an ever-evolving message best, writing that, “clearly, this is video proof that we live in a simulation.” Beyond mere prescience, The Truman Show is a telling mirror to whatever era it is viewed in. Its message will continue to evolve.

Now that we’re finally (touch wood) emerging from the pandemic, it will be fascinating to see what The Truman Show has to say about its audience and the world they live in, in years to come. Rest assured, it will be well-documented by you, the Letterboxd audience.

Also: can Peter Weir please make another movie? Like, seriously.

Related content

A Meta-Reality: Robert’s list of layers of film in life and life in film

Follow Dom on Letterboxd

[thesportssoundoff]

Lists ‘N Stuff: 00s Heavyweights

Lists ‘N Stuff: 00s Heavyweights

I’ve been watching a lot of boxing. A lot. Too much even. Originally it started out of my desire to catch up on fights I had missed after I dipped out on boxing in the late 90s before getting back into the sport around 2007 or so. It eventually delved into a deep dive on what basically amounts to the last 20-30 years in combat sports. Given my love of things like lists, I figured I’d do one. Doing a list for the HWs in the 90s was genuinely a lot of fun because it meant re-watching a bevy of classic fights with classic characters. Doing one for 2000 to 2009? Well....Well ya know. Inarguably  the worst division in all of boxing for its entire run of the 2000s, this was not easy BUT by the grace of God and plenty of rumchata, I survived. Here we go! 

Honorable Mention:

John Ruiz- I was not going to put John Ruiz on this list. Even as a Puerto Rican, I couldn't go that far. Ruiz's trilogy with Evander Holyfield are among some of the worst fights ever and he was styled on by natural light heavyweight Roy Jones Jr where the only competitive fight that night was Norman Stone fighting with whoever was refereeing. He did beat Andrew Golota (and I think that was a fair call), he lost to James Toney, lost to Ruslan Chagaev and honestly probably got jobbed vs Nikolai Valuev. Ruiz deserves a lot of credit for doing the best with what he had but consider that he fought in TEN straight title fights by the big four and only finished one of them and went 5-4-1 with a ton of split decisions in there and tell me he deserves a spot on this list.

Evander Holyfield- The 2000s were arguably most sad in the HW division because Evander Holyfield was still fighting for titles well into his 40s. Holyfield went 6-6-1 in the 2000s with a trilogy with John Ruiz, wins over dudes like Fres Oquendo and Vinny Madalone and losses to James Toney, Nikolai Valuev (in a fight I thought he won), Larry Donald, Chris Byrd and Sultan Ibragimov. Holyfield was just sort of there in the 2000s with nobody ever really letting him go away because he was one of the divisions few remaining stars. It's not pretty.  

Jameel McCline- It kind of gets lost because of how bleh he was but McCline was a pretty solid HW during the 2000s. He was pretty much the epitome of a big dude journeyman tough guy spoiler. He gave tough guys to Sam Peter, Chris Byrd, Calvin Brock and John Ruiz when he was a bit more focused of a fighter plus has wins over Shannon Briggs and Michael Grant. If two fights had gone his way (the Peter fight could've been stopped on Earth 2 and I thought he beat Byrd) then maybe McCline sneaks on this list.

Nikolai Valuev- Some guys are too big to fail but Nikolai Valuev was too big to succeed.  His natural size limited how good he could be and unfortunately for Valuev, he was a boxing gimmick from start to finish. Valuev struggled endlessly whenever he got a step up in competition and seemed to always wind up on the right end of a close decision. Boxing's funny like that. The Valuev end came against Ruslan Chagaev but he managed to win another title and eventually fight David Haye in the crowning ceremony of the Hayemaker as a HW.

Oleg Maskaev- Fullest credit to Maskaev who started out the 2000s with a 2-3 record and went on a killer run to eventually find himself set up with a fight vs Hasim Rahman. Losing throughout the entire fight, Maskaev ralled in the 12th round and stopped Rahman to become a champ 10 years after the start of his career.

1- Wladimir Klitschko Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 22-2 Record in title fights- 17-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 6-1

"Wladimir Klitschko looks so good, you wonder what's wrong with him." That's the line Larry Merchant uttered prior to Klitschko's fight vs Corrie Sanders. It was the same fight where Merchant pretty much washed his hands of Klitschko after Corrie Sanders wiped the floor with him and exposed Wlad's questionable chin and recovery chops. Turned out all Wlad needed was Emmanuel Steward to basically rebuild him from the ground up, focus on protecting his chin and using one of the HW division's best jabs ever to keep scared opponents at bay and set up a perfect right hand. Wladimir Klitschko is unfortunately a victim of the times and of a style that led to a lot of stinky fights with barely satisfying conclusions. It's unfortunate because I truly believe regardless of era, Wladimir Klitschko has the skills to be top 10 quality in any time period. The Steward led Klitschko was just a perfect boxing machine and very few guys had the chops to sort of get through that. In the 2000s, Wlad beat and fought everyone and the only guy on this list to beat him was Brewster in a fight where Lamon just basically refused to go away. Wladimir has over Ibragimov, Chagaev, Peter, Byrd twice and Brewster in a rematch. I don't think he would've beaten Lennox Lewis but he would've probably wiped the floor with anybody else on this list and that includes Vitali if only because Vitali was in various stages of broken for most of the early 2000s and once they reached the end of the decade, Wlad's athleticism was so much far beyond anybody else in this division. You don't have to like it (and I don't blame you if ya don't!) but Wlad's one of the greatest HWs ever and the best of the 2000s.

2- Vitali Klitschko Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 12-2 Record in title fights- 6-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-2

I'm totally fine if you have Lennox Lewis OVER Vitali Klitschko in your top 10 rankings. It's a justifiable and fair enough argument to be clear. I'm putting Vitali over Lennox because even with a little under four year long break, Vitali fought more and in a way Vitali fought the best of both worlds. He fought the dying days of the late 90s HW explosion and then came back and fought at the end of the Klitschko legacy era. Vitali's wins are actually not that impressive in theory as Sam Peter is not as highly regarded as I would have him and his second best win after that is either crude South African banger Corrie Sanders or then undefeated HW Chris Arreola. Guys like Danny Williams, Vaughan Bean, Ross Purrity, Orlin Norris and Larry Donald are good wins to have but any credible top 10 HW for his era should handle those guys well. Vitali Klitschko's resume might've looked even better had he stuck around for those three years and either gotten his Lewis rematch (which I truly believe he would've lost) or just beaten up on the John Ruiz, James Toney, Hasim Rahman and Andrew Golota's of the world. He's my #2 HW of the 00s.

3- Lennox Lewis Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 6-1 Record in title fights- 6-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 2-1

The ONLY reason Lennox Lewis is SO low on this list is because he wasn't around for much of it. Lewis retired in 2003 after a controversial fight against Vitali Klitschko and....I honestly think the Klitschko fight is really overblown to the legacy of Lennox Lewis. It's often hyped up as Lewis retiring after a really tough fight because he knew he couldn't beat Vitali or what have you but in truth, Lewis was well on his way to stopping Vitali anyways before the cuts. Furthermore Lewis was fat and happy and had pretty much retired before the fight even began anyways. The only thing that stopped Lennox from pretty much wiping out the rest of the HW division for much of the 2000s was that Lewis made his money and didn't want to have some B-Hop esque run where he beat up on limited competition well into his 40s. Lewis' 2000s run features Frans Botha, the corpse of Mike Tyson, Vitali and David Tua. An argument can be made that if Lewis doesn't get smelted by Rahman (a win he'd eventually get back), he could be arguably one of the top 3 heavyweights ever.

4- Chris Byrd Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 11-4-1 Record in title fights- 5-2-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-2

The general argument I have (or feel I have) is that once you get outside the top 3 HWs, you're sort of open to interpret the top of the HW division however you so wish. Chris Byrd is my #4 HW if only because of his ability to stick around as a slickster boxer who managed to win fights at HW despite having absolutely zero pop in his hands. Hell if anything Bird should be this high just because of how lucky he was (theoretically) throughout his career. He survived close calls against Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline, he managed to not suffer a knockdown at any point in a 12 round fight against eternally hard puncher David Tua, he was getting wiped out on the cards vs Vitali Klitschko and then won the belt because Vitali tore his shoulder. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good although Chris Byrd was arguably both of those at the same time. Chris Byrd ended the 90s getting smelted by Ike Ibeabuchi and then once the decade turns to the double zeros, Byrd went 8-1-1 with wins over Vitali Klitschko, Evander Holyfield, Jameel McCline, Fres Oquendo and DaVaryll Williamson. His losses in the 2000s were to Wladimir Klitschko twice, Alexander Povetkin and Shaun George at the very end of Byrd's run. He's my #4 HW.

5- Sam Peter Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 33-3 Record in title fights- 5-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 2-2

Sam Peter is actually a pretty damn cool success story. While he became a meme on boxing sites, Peter went from being a poor kid growing up in Nigeria to a HW champ of the world despite his many limitations. Maybe Peter was just a beneficiary of a vacantly empty heavyweight division but that's also unfair to him given the work he put in to even get to that point. Peter fought both Klitschko brothers, James Toney twice, the underrated Jameel McCline and veteran HW Oleg Maskaev and racked up a 4-2 record throughout that time. Peter wasn't the most talented dude but he was tough, gritty and hit really damn hard.  Two of his losses during this era were to the Klitschkos so that accounts for something. WHONEX indeed.

6- Lamon Brewster Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 13-4 Record in title fights- 4-2 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-1

Maybe it's not a great sign for the HW division that Lamon Brewster is up this high. Actually I think it's fair to wonder how good Lamon Brewster could've been had he not suffered a torn retinae against Sergei Liakhovich in one of his last real "big" fights. Brewster wasn't the most naturally gifted boxer but he hit really hard, had enough cardio to go hard in fights and was the sort of dude who could get anybody out early. Until Tyson Fury's masterclass, the last guy to beat Wladimir Klitschko was Lamon Brewster in a rock 'em sock 'em sort of fight where he was getting beat up early and then rallied to drop Wladimir en route to a stoppage victory. Brewster hurt his eye really badly against Sergei Liakhovich and was never the same afterwards, basically ending his relevancy before he had even hit his mid 30s. The Liakhovich fight by the way is one of the gnarlier HW fights you'll see and sort of gets lost in the shuffle given how dismal the division was during this time period.

7- James Toney Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 13-2-1 Record in title fights- 1-0-1 (1) Record against other fighters on the list- 0-2-1 (1)

Let's be fair now. James Toney doesn't belong on this list because he probably should've never been a heavyweight. It's never a good sign when Jim Lampley refers to you as a "Fat tub of goo" before your first title fight in the weight class but alas. Toney started the 2000s off beating Visiliy Jirov in one of the greatest fights ever and then jumped all the way up to HW to face Don King's batch of merry men at the top. As such Toney fought Holyfield (and beat him decisively), Rahman twice (and I thought he lost one and would've won the other if not for a headbutt) and John Ruiz in a fight he won decisively but popped for steroids of all things. Toney's resume has a lot of fluff in it at heavyweight (HAR HAR) but the fact he was still able to be competitive despite probably being at most a cruiserweight is pretty awesome. Toney vs Sam Peter I is also one of the best fights of the 2000s if you want to see an underrated HW banger.

8- Ruslan Chagaev Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 23-1-1 Record in title fights- 3-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 0-1

So funny story but Ruslan Chagaev was a big reason why I got back into the HW division. Watching him mid afternoon on Fox Sports upset generally bad Nikolai Valuev made me want to watch the heavyweights again, primarily because it meant in theory that I didn't have to read about how Valuev had stolen yet another fight in Germany. Chagaev's career is pretty much married with injuries and stop starts as torn ACLs, hepatitis (!) and other medical ailments led to him fighting on again off again later into the 2000s. Chagaev wasn't the most skilled HW out there but it's fair to wonder how much better (or worse) his resume would've been had he stayed healthy enough to fight guys like Lamon Brewster, Sultan Ibrabimov and Wladimir Klitschko far earlier in his run. I thought he cleanly beat guys like Valuev and Vladimir Virchys but I also thought Chagaev lost to John Ruiz for whatever it's worth.

9- Hasim Rahman Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 13-5-2 Record in title fights- 2-4-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 1-3

I don't have a great way to say this but basically it was never a good thing in the 2000s when you the likes of Hasim Rahman, John Ruiz, James Toney and Andrew Golota in a title fight. It usually meant you were about to be robbed of your time or your money with either a shitty fight or a quick stoppage. Hasim Rahman dominated the early 2000s in terms of title fights and title opportunities and our reward for that was a lot of weird bad fights and "What the fuck?" isms. So how did Rahman make the list? Partially because "The Rock" fought everybody and anybody and did well enough in almost all of those fights. To his credit, Rahman's record also has some victimhood in it. I thought he beat David Tua (and was robbed of a knockdown) when the judges gave him a draw and I thought likewise against James Toney (I had it 7-5 Rahman) but he once again got a draw. Who knows if he would've beaten Evander Holyfield if Holyfield didn't basically headbutt him to death in their fight. He beat respected dudes like Kali Meehan, Corrie Sanders and Monte Barrett during this time period. The biggest reason he's on this list? The KO win over Lennox Lewis. Even if Lewis eventually rectified that, it happened and Rahman's one of two guys to finish Lennox Lewis. That helps push him up on the top 10 list.

10- Sultan Ibragimov Record in the 00s (Jan 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009)- 22-1-1 Record in title fights- 2-1 Record against other fighters on the list- 0-1

If this was strictly about skills, Sultan Ibragimov would be ranked so much higher. Ibragimov was genuinely great and adapted his style from a stay busy all activity fighter to a more defensive oriented counter striker with quick hands. He, like most heavyweights of this era, just lacked the power to put folks away and lacked any semblance of urgency. Ibragimov rose up the ranks quickly and wins over 90s names like Shannon Briggs and Evander Holyfield put him on this list. The reason Ibragimov isn't ranked higher? That god damn Klitschko fight. Arguably the worst heavyweight fight ever, Ibragimov basically threw jabs for the first six rounds and then nothing beyond that. It pretty much killed Wlad as an attraction in the United States and dude didn't return to the Garden for seven years.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 29/05/2021 (Eurovision, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Galantis/David Guetta/Little Mix, Anne-Marie & Niall Horan)

What better way to celebrate the end of a week in which I have been consistently ill and surprisingly busy? Sixteen new arrivals, of course! Shoot me, but first, congratulate Olivia Rodrigo for her second #1 as “good 4 u” gets the album boost to overthrow “Body” this week. I can safely say I think it’ll be there for a while. Let’s just start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Sixteen new arrivals and therefore, kind of a bloodbath. Why are there sixteen new arrivals? We’ll get to it. Other than six new arrivals from last week, we have a couple other drop-outs, the notable of which being those that spent five or more weeks in the UK Top 75 – which I cover – or those that peaked in the top 40. Therefore, those include, rather ironically on Olivia Rodrigo’s album week, former #1 “drivers license” (only dropping out because of a silly UK chart rule that only allows three songs per lead artist on the chart), as well as “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals, “Another Love” by Tom Odell, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK, “Heartbreak Anniversary” by Giveon, “Tonight” by Ghost Killer Track and D-Block Europe featuring OBOY and “Miss the Rage” by Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti. I’m not complaining about most of this, sorry, Giveon.

We have no returning entries – thankfully – so instead we can just focus on notable falls and climbers. I guess we’ll start with notable losses, songs that dropped five or more spots from their placement last week, and of course we do have a few of them at least as a result of, say it with me, sixteen new arrivals. The first few of these are all harsh drops because of ACR, which happened to coincide with the rest of the chaos, including “Little Bit of Love” by Tom Grennan at #24, “BED” by Joel Corry, David Guetta and RAYE at #25, “Friday” (Dopamine Re-Edit) by Riton and Nightcrawlers featuring Musafa & Hypeman at #26, “Peaches” by Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon at #29 and “Let’s Go Home Together” by Ella Henderson and Tom Grennan at #33. We also have the losses for J. Cole staying surprisingly slim with “My Life” featuring 21 Savage and Morray at #27, “Pride is the Devil” featuring Lil Baby at #28 and “Amari” at #35. The rest are mostly just expected continuous fallers, like “Wellerman” by Nathan Evans and remixed by 220 KID and Billen Ted at #44, “Nice to Meet Ya” by Wes Nelson and Yxng Bane at #46, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S at #50, “Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)” by Fred again.. and the Blessed Madonna at #51, “Ferrari Horses” by D-Block Europe featuring RAYE at #53, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals at #57, “Seeing Green” by Nicki Minaj, Drake and Lil Wayne at #58 off of the debut, “All You Ever Wanted” by Rag’n’Bone Man at #61, “Martin & Gina” by Polo G at #63, “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic at #64, “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max at #65, Travis Scott’s remix of HVME’s remix of Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps” at #67, “Addicted” by Jorja Smith at #68, “Beautiful Mistakes” by Maroon 5 and Megan Thee Stallion at #70, “Sunshine (The Light)” by Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Amorphous at #73, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #74 and finally “Believe Me” by Navos at #75. Phew.

Now what’s interesting is that we have nearly just as many gains, and they’re pretty unique, big surges in most cases, starting with “Cover Me in Sunshine” by P!nk and Willow Sage Heart at #52 thanks to the album boost that also prompted P!nk’s “All I Know So Far” to creep into the top 40 at #39, “Build a Bitch” by Bella Poarch at #32 off of the debut, “Starstruck” by Years & Years at #31 thanks to a bizarrely uncredited Kylie Minogue remix, “Little More Love” by AJ Tracey at #21, “Didn’t Know” by Tom Zanetti at #20, “Higher Power” by Coldplay at #19, “Black Hole” by Griff at #18, Majestic’s remix of Boney M.’s “Rasputin” at #16, “Good Without” by Mimi Webb soaring into the top 10 and hence becoming her first at #10, and Olivia Rodrigo getting her third thanks to the album boost as “deja vu” is at #4. I think that’s more than enough that needs to be said about music that was already on the chart last week, so welcome back to the part of this series where I get either increasingly frustrated or exhausted every time I have to list another song.

NEW ARRIVALS

#72 – “Life Goes On” – PS1 featuring Alex Hosking

Produced by PS1 and Mark Alston

So, what better way to start sixteen new arrivals? A generic piano-house club track, of course. PS1 is a New York DJ and for this track with a 90s-esque piano and synth melody, bassy drop and tight, bland percussion as well as oddly-mixed anonymous female vocals made to sound robotic regardless of genuine emotive performance, he’s enlisted Australian singer Alex Hosking as well as co-songwriting from hit-makers GOODBOYS, both of which make remarkably little difference to the fact that despite being a faux-inspirational club track, this song is incredibly joyless and flailing in as pathetic and one-note of a fashion as possible. Yes, that is one exhaustive sentence chugging on as long as possible, but there’s no better way to parallel this disposable garbage than that.

#71 – “What a Time” – Julia Michaels featuring Niall Horan

Produced by Ian Kirkpatrick and RKCB

Niall Horan coincidentally has two unrelated female-male duets debuting with him in this week. Thankfully, Julia Michaels only has the one track debuting, and for the love of God, I can’t even figure out why she has the one, as this is a track from a 2019 EP that flew massively under every radar except seemingly mine as whilst I have listened to this EP, I cannot remember for the life of me liking any of it besides “Anxiety”, which makes sense since Michaels is at best an uninteresting songwriter and at worst an insufferable vocal presence. Regardless, I’m going to assume the surge is due to TikTok or some kind of residual Niall Horan hype, whatever there is of that, and look at this song two years after the fact. Well, for what it’s worth, I appreciate the vaguely folkish guitar riff, even if it’s going to be drowned out immensely by Michaels’ approach to vocal takes, which is to put as little effort into that first take and then multi-track enough for it to sound listenable, particularly on that bizarrely unfitting chorus in which reminiscing on a wonderful, intimate time with your partner is demonstrated by rote piano chords, an awkward string swell and distant, reverb-drenched incoherency on the vocals. I guess I do like the switch in the final chorus as she changes “what a time” to “what a lie” to emphasise the bitterness of that break-up, but I don’t think that bitterness has to soak the entire master because this song is dripping in apathy that I just don’t have any time for personally in my pop power ballads. Wait, Niall Horan was on this song?

Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Whilst I may not do a special episode on this blog for the Eurovision Song Contest, I’d be lying if I didn’t confess to watching and enjoying it every year. This year’s, the first since 2019 for obvious reasons, was hosted in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and was won by an Italian rock band, with the United Kingdom infamously receiving zero points yet somehow more applause than Israel’s performance. Telling. It’s not all politics though, obviously: the reason songs win is not just the lighting, stage presence, vocal performance or grandiosity, but rather the songs themselves, or at least ostensibly so. The winner this year didn’t have the best of any of those factors in my opinion – no, not even the politics – so it’s clearly about a mixture of this success criteria. This year had some particularly good songs and the most consistency out of Eurovision in a while, naturally leading to quite a few new arrivals, also factored in by the charts being weak, so we essentially get an album bomb. Let’s pile up every new arrival related to Eurovision and talk somewhat more briefly about each song, starting with...

#66 – “Dark Side” – Blind Channel

Representing: FINLAND

The Finnish entry this year is one of two heavy rock entries, both of which charted, and this is a genre represented by about one country annually. There’s always a Gothic-influenced or industrial-esque band in the shortlist or national finals if not the semis and international final, but it doesn’t stop them from being some of the most interesting Eurovision contesters. It’s in English and came sixth with 301 points. Is it any good? Well, it’s far from bad with that pumping electronic groove before it’s crushed by metallic, distorted and rather ugly guitars that remind me of, if anything, scene-era nu metal and crunkcore, especially due to the clean and growling vocal dynamic. The song is still anthemic as all hell and if we ignore the dog barking and stuttering vocals, as well as the fact that these vocalists don’t have that much grit to their performance, we can appreciate the clamouring rock track this is, and I’d be lying if I said that final chorus isn’t pretty epic. Next!

#62 – “Voilá” – Barbara Pravi

Representing: FRANCE

The French entry this year is one my staunchly Italian nationalist online friend immediately had a distaste for, and as someone with British citizenship, I am also legally obliged to give this Worst of the Week. Sorry, Barbara but traditions are traditions. It’s in her native French and came second overall with 499 points. Is it any good? Well, like many French entries and French pop songs in general, it’s in a chanson style that adapts very well to the modern western art-pop sound, as Pravi’s cooing vocals are at full focus in the mix as they skate around more subtle pianos, wonderfully elegant strings and this wistful tone that may or may not make sense for the content. What? I’m not learning a word of French past what was grained into me during primary school. Overall, I think this is a pretty great song with a lot of that almost Bjork-esque swell especially in Pravi’s vocal performance that I think makes for a pretty excellent listen, especially by the time that abrupt finish hits. I’d probably prefer it being a bit less minimal and scattered so the hook hits harder but overall this is one of the best Eurovision entries this year. However, she is French so, next!

#59 – “SHUM” – Go_A

Representing: UKRAINE

The Ukrainian entry, always successful enough to get to the finals, was particularly hyped up prior due to its... eccentricity and ended up in fifth place with 364 points. It’s in their native Ukrainian so they might as well be garbling acid both verbally and as a written text, so I guess I have to judge it on the fact that this is pretty bonkers, with a charismatic and energetic vocal performance that yells over triumphant bassy horns perfectly blended with the 80s bass synths but not so much with those chirping flutes that, whilst cool on paper, kind of just give me a headache when faced against this thumping dance beat that remains decidedly strained for most of its runtime, and annoyingly so as it means the song never has that cathartic of a release, at least to me, but what drop it has ends up deconstructed and janky in something that might fit on PC Music but I’m not sure it does on Ukrainian Eurovision. This has something there, but I’m not into it. Sorry.

#47 – “Embers” – James Newman

REPRESENTING: United Kingdom

A catastrophic loss is British culture at Eurovision, and it’s not the first time in this century that we’ve gotten the infamous null points. James happens to be related to the more noteworthy John Newman, but that didn’t avoid a “nil points catastrophe”, coined by Jochan Embley, who reviewed the song for the Evening Standard and is now set in stone as an utter fool as his quote predicting that not to be the case this year is now forever preserved on the Wikipedia page for this very song. Nice one, Embley. We finished at twenty-sixth and Newman should honestly be glad this embarrassment is charting. The worst part of this whole ordeal is that the song’s actually fine and definitely representative of British pop music with its 90s-esque piano, bassy drop and anonymous vocal performance – if any of that sounds familiar – and I do love the plastic brass added here for the sake of bombast. It’s nothing interesting, and a tad too long considering how little it does with its musical premise, but it’s not worse than half of any given Eurovision. Maybe next year we submit a UK drill song, I’m sure that’ll get the people going. Tion Wayne, do you want to take a flight to Italy in 2022? Maybe bring Young Adz here while you’re at it; that could truly be a fascinatingly out of place Eurovision entry but at least one of these countries – probably Russia – would vote for it. As for now, at least this was funny to see absolutely bomb, and Graham Norton become increasingly hopeless for its success as the night went on.

#43 – “10 Years” – Daoi Freyr

REPRESENTING: Iceland

One part of this guy’s backing band tested positive for COVID-19 so they had to isolate and just show the dress rehearsal again but it didn’t stop them from charting and delivering a pretty damn unique entry, as Iceland is known for doing nowadays. It’s all in English and finished in fourth place with 378 points, and is it any good? Well, for one of the whitest concepts in television, this is the whitest song of this year’s entries, starting with some gentle violins before abruptly careening straight into this Daoi Freyr guy monotonously droning over bass-heavy nu-disco straight out of the 2000s with a level of irony balancing out whatever sincerity there is in the quasi-R&B breakdown, and, you know, it’s fun, at least? I do think the stage performance is remarkably more interesting than this funktronica mess in the studio, but this is catchy and inoffensive, two good ways to get people to care about your song in Eurovision, so it makes sense. Also,  that chiptune synth-solo borderline saves this song, even in all its brevity.

#17 – “ZITTI E BUONI” – Maneskin

REPRESENTING: Italy

So third place didn’t chart – sorry, Switzerland – but we do obviously get the winner charting as high as the top 20. The chart’s weak and the lead singer’s hot and probably does cocaine – it’s a recipe for success, especially when they probably have mafia connections and can threaten or buy their way into the charts. Unrealistic and possibly xenophobic stereotypes aside, this is the Italian entry and whilst I was personally gunning for Portugal, who came twelfth, I can see how this gathered 524 points, even if they had to censor the lyrics for the sake of the contest, not that I can tell because I do not know a lick of Italian. Sorry, Ignacio. Anyway, this song kicks ass and rather disrespectfully at that, as the lead singer breathily sings over garage rock-esque guitar licks and some pretty manic drumming that delivers not only a catchy hook but an undeniable groove, assisted by some slick rapping that comes out of the blue in the second verse and honestly fits the song – and the singer – a lot better than it has any right to. Congratulations, Italy – you’ll be paying out the ass for the next contest. Ciao!

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Well, that got a lot out of the way. Not all of it, though.

#60 – “Topshottas Freestyle” – Potter Payper

Produced by Chucks

Potter Payper is basically some guy from Barking, East London, and that’s all you need to sign a record deal with the same label that has Stormzy on payroll so that’s why he’s here. With that said, there’s something deeper here, or at least in the first few lines of this singular verse – without a chorus – in which Potter Payper narrates a street lifestyle, far too common for young working-class British men, retelling what is probably his truth about the consequences of ignoring motherly advices and finding yourself in a situation surrounded by gang violence, drug trafficking and all the paranoia that comes with it. Of course, he then brags about his wordplay, gunplay and fashion, and the rest of the verse just feels aimless with nothing exactly restraining the meandering checklist of clichés, and zilch returning it back to what I thought was going to be the point of the song. I guess this trap beat is okay but this same acoustic guitar and oddly-mastered bass is so common and uninteresting that I find it hard to care. I don’t have an issue with British music being Americanised as that’s just the result of musical evolution and the sharing of culture, but when the only way you can tell this isn’t from the States is the accent does make me question why this is charting amongst Dave and AJ Tracey instead of Lil Baby and Gunna.

#56 – “GANG GANG” – Polo G and Lil Wayne

Produced by Angelo Ferraro

Polo G, after just having the biggest hit of his career with the US #1 hit “RAPSTAR”, follows it up with a Lil Wayne collaboration and thanks to a busy and just misguided release date and timing, it makes a lot less noise than it should. It absolutely deserves that level of attention too, with its chopped-up borderline ambient melody that creates  a perfect foundation for this high-energy bass-heavy trap beat as well as Polo G delivering a lot more energy than on “RAPSTAR” (to the point where I think that’s the reason why his actually interesting songs don’t do as well). The chorus has a pretty great melodic switch-up by the end and whilst the flows are pretty rote, it’s hard to say they aren’t smoothly delivering all of the flexing and gunplay pretty typical of Polo G, and if anything that’s what it’s missing: an extra layer of depth, not that I care of course, because Lil Wayne’s on it. Wayne has been astonishingly great on features recently and this is one of his most impressive features to the point where I could barely write about it on first listen, with some of his slickest flow switches ever and whilst the content doesn’t get any more interesting than pouring his heart out for his lean, his pure charisma outshines anyone who could have been on this track and this means this ends up pretty excellent in terms of 2020s trap-rap. I don’t know when that Polo G album is coming but I hope it has more of this. Also, for the love of God, Wayne, keep this energy up for the next album. I’m begging you.

#42 – “SUN GOES DOWN” – Lil Nas X

Produced by Roy Lenzo, Omar Fedi and Take a Daytrip

As his follow up to “MONTERO”, we have a new, decidedly less sexual Lil Nas X hit debuting again surprisingly low on the chart considering the last single’s success, finally delivering in the musical department as for me, there’s a constant conflict between wanting to like Lil Nas as a character, performer and personality rather than actually enjoying any of the guy’s music. Last time I talked about Lil Nas, I did bring up the Pitchfork album review that questioned if he really liked music and whilst it’s funny, I do see how Lil Nas could have perhaps taken Pitchfork to heart as a result as he practically explains his love of popular music as a way for him to feel like he belonged in a community, which is especially meaningful for a man constantly left alienated because of his own mental health issues as a teenager and struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality, to the point of suicidal thoughts. I just love how the verse ends on a happy note where makes the leap of faith to come out and how now he’s proud of himself, he wants to make sure his fans are proud of him since they’re the people who got him there. For me, those last lines recontextualise the chorus as becoming less about contemplating death but more about ascending to a happier place and rejecting all your struggles that you’ve overcome. It helps that this is all sang pretty soulfully over an almost emo guitar melody with some basic flows but gorgeous multi-tracked vocal melodies accentuated by strings that elevate this song even higher, even if it seems underdeveloped. Sure, it doesn’t have that second verse, but does a victory lap need a re-over?

#38 – “Mask” – Dream

Produced by Perish Beats and Banrisk

Nope.

#22 – “Our Song” – Anne-Marie and Niall Horan

Produced by TMS

Okay, so this is a duet where two ex-lovers – only in the song – attempt to get over each other but end up hearing a song they held special to their relationship and all of the memories and pain comes flooding back. Without the youthful exuberance of Taylor Swift’s song of the same name, this duet should carry some bitterness and resentment but mostly capture a hesitant nostalgia... and despite being oddly Niall Horan-dominated, I guess it does that pretty effectively, or at least would if Niall wasn’t crushed by a misshapen trap beat that drowns this pathetically fluttering guitar loop into a mush that not even Anne-Marie can over-sell. Everything here is so utterly basic that it kind of screws itself over by trying for any energy or passion, and therefore kind of just doesn’t. I’m glad.

#9 – “Heartbreak Anthem” – Galantis, David Guetta and Little Mix

Produced by Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback, David Saint Fleur, Thom Bridges, David Guetta, Mike Hawkins, SONDR and Johnny Goldstein

It really speaks to the power of Little Mix that even with only three members and only one of them not expecting a child, they can bring Galantis back of all people. Although given that Galantis is already a duo, I fail to see why David Guetta needs to be here, and the same can go for any of the other seven credited producers of this song, which actually only includes one half of Galantis! I question if a song ever needs that many, despite the fact that in reality they probably contributed zilch to the song each, just enough to get a pay check. None of that should matter, however, if the song isn’t good and I’ll admit this is far from the worst that any of these guys have delivered, with a string melody and swell not unlike 2015-era house Galantis themselves made, and vocal deliveries from the girls that sound like they were located in vastly different locations from each other (to the point where anyone harmonising with Perrie sounds really awkward regardless of how many vocal manipulation effects you can put on them). For seven producers, that’s inexcusable, but as a song, it’s just a shallow post-break-up song that kind of feels like a dig towards Jesy if anything (although I hope it isn’t). I’m not a fan – I never was going to be – but it works for what it is as this colourful house jam, and not much else. This is Galantis’ first top 10 since 2016, by the way. Yeah, Little Mix are that big.

#7 – “traitor” – Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Dan Nigro

It couldn’t have been “brutal”? Or “hope ur ok”? Okay, well, if we’re going to have the dullest track on the album bar one I guess we’ll go with the one that follows the “drivers license” formula to a T but without as much passion in the vocals, without as much interesting songwriting quirks and with a whole lot of rote fluff removed far from any indie-girl influence that undercuts what is essentially a teen-pop product. I’m not going to pretend I cannot get caught up in melodrama and embrace that, but this is a slog of a ballad with an almost sing-song, condescending vocal melody in that chorus, multi-tracked and studio-produced to rid her of any of that natural rasp she has when singing live. The song is about being annoyed by an ex finding someone new and the more toxic thoughts that come with being the ex-girlfriend in that situation, but with decidedly low stakes this time around that just make her more unlikeable than relatable. I’m sorry, I didn’t think that album was half-bad at all, but please don’t make this the post-release hit.

#3 – “Butter” – BTS

Produced by Ron Perry, Rob Grimaldi and Stephen Kirk

See, I value my personal information, and I don’t know about you but I’m as scared of these guys as I am Nicki Minaj stans, or Minecraft YouTuber stans, or serial killers, so whilst I doubt my platform is extensive enough to reach that level, I also know that these people are so online that they could easily find me somehow somewhere. With that said, just to clarify, when I say I wish I could “Nope” myself out of this one like I did with Dream because I have consistently little to say about this band, it’s not because I in any way dislike BTS or the band members within, or their record label that manages them and many other K-pop bands which I also do not dislike, or, because I’ve seen this happen, East Asians in general. Is that enough stalling to just say I don’t care about this basic pop fluff? When BTS are in Korean, their lyrics aren’t embarrassing and their production tends to be more experimental or at least catchier, more interesting. I like a fair few Korean BTS songs as a result but I just do not see the appeal in making another stiff, cleanly-produced 80s-esque funk-pop song with some chiptune synths that are admittedly kinda cool other than getting on US radio. There’s some interplay between the boys here but it just leads to a pretty homogenised track where none of them have enough personality to shine through, not even SUGA and RM on the tacked-on rap verse that so awkwardly ends. The synth solo sounds perfectly out of an era of dated 80s synths that I’m not sure anyone other than Bruno Mars actually had nostalgia for, and not even some pretty vocoder can save it. The writing is too clumsy, the production’s not equipped to handle it and there’s not much to speak of in terms of performance. I fear for my life when I say it but I think this is actually pretty bad.

Conclusion

Okay, so, we’re finally finished with this week and God, I’m glad, as there’s not that much quality here to speak of, although what is here is here in droves, so Best of the Week gladly goes to Polo G and Lil Wayne for “GANG GANG”, with “Sun Goes Down” by Lil Nas X following closely behind as an Honourable Mention. In terms of Worst of the Week, it doesn’t actually go to they who shall not or he who should not be named, instead going to the pathetic “Your Song” by Anne-Marie and Niall Horan, with a Dishonourable Mention going to BTS for “Butter”. It’s just “Dynamite” again but with considerably less reason to exist. Here’s this week’s top 10:

If I make it to next week, who knows what’s coming? This is a slower week – hopefully – and I don’t think black midi will chart, though it’d be comical, so I’ll hold off on predictions and just thank you for reading. See you next week!

[natsubeatsrock]

FITAGAPEOInTP - Part 3

Finally, I Talk About Gajevy And Piss Everyone Off In the Process 

This is the finale to my three-part series about Gajevy. I’m not sure I made it clear that it would be three parts, but here we are anyway. If you haven’t already, check out the first part about Gajeel and the second part about Levy. It’s important that you understand my thoughts concerning both before you get to this post; I can’t stress this enough.

Should Levy have forgiven Gajeel? Even to the point of having a romantic relationship with him? Unsurprisingly, this is one of the biggest arguments that exist in the Big 4 Fairy Tail ships and your stance on that determines your stance on Gajevy as a whole. 

To be clear, I've already said that my stance on this issue is that, while it wasn't particularly well handled, I don't think it's unreasonable that Levy could have forgiven Gajeel, outside of Stockholm Syndrome. While I've explained how I think it was handled badly, I feel that a post is necessary to answer the obvious question: What would convince me that it's reasonable for someone to forgive someone else who hurt you in such a terrible and personal way?

Some of my long-time followers may know of my followers may know of my own personal religious beliefs, but I don't want to use that many religious allusions in this post.

In a post last year, I said that I was a bit of a pessimist. I personally don't believe in the amazing human spirit. If anything, I believe more in the infallible human ability to mess things up. I don't think that we're good at heart. I think that it's a miracle that we've gotten as far as we have.

However, I believe that part of the reason that we are able to grow as a species is that we are able to look at where we've failed in the past and learn from our mistakes. It's easy for us to talk about how White Europeans instituted the African Slave Trade, but it's important to remember that slavery ended in the West, at least partially because of the efforts of White Europeans and Americans. And it's because we've ended slavery in the West, we care about modern-day slavery in other parts of the world. (theoretically)

I think that the notion that we messed up in the past requires us to acknowledge our mistakes but recognize that we aren't responsible for our mistakes. I'm not, as an American responsible for Japanese internment camps during WWII, considering my parents emigrated from another country. However, I ought to recognize that was a pretty messed up thing to have in our history books and work towards similar events not happening again (theoretically).

As I said in the last post in the series, forgiveness involves not holding the wrong of the actions against the transgressor. I feel as though true reconciliation doesn't happen by ignoring our problems, any more than healing doesn't happen by ignoring illness. For real forgiveness to happen, one has to acknowledge they've been wronged but not hold the wrong against the person.

Now, the question at hand is whether or not it's reasonable for anyone to be publicly humiliated and physically assaulted and not hold it against the person who did it to them. Again, I'll admit the gap of time between the action and ultimate forgiveness was short and its presentation was not done well and if that's the problem you have, I understand. But is the fact that it happens at all terrible and unrealistic?

One the one hand, I'd like to believe that people are more than even the worst that they've done. That even though people are probably terrible, we're able to recognize that we've made mistakes in the past and we ought not to make the same ones twice. That, and I'm sorry some of you need to hear this, people in my country that voted for Trump last year and recognize that it wasn't in their best interest probably shouldn't be made fun of, especially if you want them to listen to you in the future. I want to believe that we're able to accept that people make mistakes and recognize they ought to change and be willing to acknowledge the genuine change that is happening or has happened inside of them.

On the other hand, I know about Corrie ten Boom.

For those of you who don't know (read The Hiding Place), she was a Christian woman who lived in Germany during the Nazi regime and was famous for hiding Jewish people in her house from the police. Eventually, her family was captured for their "crime" and Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were taken to one prison camp and transferred to another. While she was able to come out of the experience alive, her sister wasn't able to do the same. Long story short, she was eventually able to meet with one of the people who was a guard at one of the camps. Long after the war, he became a Christian and, hearing that she was a prisoner at a camp he was a guard in, asked for her forgiveness. 

She did, but I wouldn't mention this story if it were a particularly easy thing to have done. She describes it as "the most difficult thing she's ever had to do." If you have a good knowledge of European history, you can probably tell that the Nazis we have to worry about today, while not good, are nowhere near as bad as the ones from actual Nazi Germany. Imagine witnessing their cruelty firsthand and being asked to forgive one. The only reason she seems able to do so at all, as I interpret what I know of the situation, is because Corrie recognized that God had forgiven him for what he did, so she ought to forgive him as well.

Now, to many people who read those last two paragraphs, it sounds insane that anyone could possibly believe that such a thing is possible. It seems crazy that anyone could actually forgive a real-life Nazi for personally victimizing them and their family. 

And that's my issue. 

The majority of people probably wouldn't forgive a person for doing something even close to that painful to them. Stories like this, where people are able to forgive people who are guilty of committing heinous acts against them, are in the minority and are hilariously counter to how the vast majority of us believe that we ought to go about these situations. Whether or not they should be, more likely than not, depends on your religious beliefs; at the end of the day, that's the way it is.

Again, it's a big reason why your opinion of Gajevy depends on your take on the "should Levy have forgiven Gajeel" debate. Because, for as light as the fandom usually makes of the situation, what Gajeel did was really terrible. He destroyed a guild hall, beat up and publicly humiliated three guild members, and captured and tortured a fourth guild member, specifically to get a rise out of the person who was going to rescue them. The average person wouldn't forgive him for it and wouldn't be seen as a terrible person for not doing so. 

But do I think that a person who was a victim of some of those actions could find it in their heart to forgive them for their actions? I want to believe that someone could see genuine change in a person and do so, even as I know how hilariously improbable that may seem. Because, even as much as I don't believe in humanity to make the right choices most of the time, I hope that there are people out there to see how even those responsible for terrible things can see good in them.

In Conclusion:

Gajevy is kind of a mess of a ship. One character is probably one of the best-written characters in the series. The other one might just be the one of the worst. While I don't think that their romance stayed in the oven long enough, the fact that it happened at all doesn't feel as terrible to me as it may to many other fans of the series.

Thank you for reading this series. See you in the new year!

[thedarkestgreys]

Get to know me meme

I was tagged by one of the Greats @thatgirlnevershutsup thank you love!

Rules: answer the questions in a new post and tag 10 blogs you would like to get to know better.

a - age: I’ll be 27 on Monday b - birthplace: Corry, PA c - current time: 6:31pm d - drink you last had: Kiwi Sandia La Croix e - easiest person to talk to: My Noodle Sisters @jillypups @sarahcakes613 @sassyeggs74 and @vanillalu for certain, my #PETTYSQUAD co-member @lydiia-martins and that guy I’m married to IRL he’s pretty great yall. Also I have no problem going into @misshoneywheeler or @thefairfleming chat and ranting about Things, it’s always fun! f - favorite song: “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson is my go to jam 97% of the time. g - grossest memory: Considering I work with small children it probably involves bodily fluids guys, so just use your imagination.  h - horror yes or horror no: That’s a bit fat NO. NOPE NOPE NOPE. i - in love?: 😍😍😍 sure am! j - jealous of people?: Not generally no. k - This is clearly missing instructions, so how about this. My legal first name has two K’s where most people spell it with C’s (there is also a H at the end because my parents are so extra.) l - love at first sight or should i walk by again?: Attraction for sure but you probably gotta walk by several times. m - middle name: Danielle n - number of siblings: I have one sister, a twin brother and then two more younger brothers.  o - one wish: to be a published author someday. Now I just gotta write a book! p - person you called last: My Mommacita q - question you are always asked: I hear “Why?” about 1300 times a day. Thanks two year olds! r - reason to smile: We’re headed to Baltimore/DC for a long weekend! s - song you last sang: Obnoxiously sang the Star Wars theme to my husband. t - time you woke up: 7:00 am u - underwear colour: Tan with black polka dots.  v - vacation destination: Anywhere warmer than here! w - worst habit: I bite my nails when I’m anxious; x - x-rays: It’s been a really long time since I’ve had one, but a ton my ankles in the past.  y - your favorite food: Apple’s or strawberries and every pasta ever tbh. z - zodiac sign: Scorpio

Tagging: WHO EVER WANTS TO DO THIS!

[gardenpeony71-blog]

Ask Sam Mailbag: 01.18.19

After watching the Lakers game and reviewing box score from the loss to the Nuggets I see a team with no go-to guy and no special playmaker who can score and get others shots and make them better, no defense, no shooting. Where do we go from here with this team?

Craig Chandler

Sam: Hey, what about how difficult it is to do one of these Ask Sam columns on a nine-game losing streak? Anyone thinking about me! So, how about looking at it this way: There's no great way to consider what's been going on with the Bulls lately other than to reassure you that,

The sun'll come out Tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow There'll be sun Just thinkin' about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs And the sorrow 'Til there's none When I'm stuck a with day That's gray, And lonely Carrying a nine-game losing streak and feeling eek! I just stick out my chin And Grin, And Say, Oh My The sun'll come out Tomorrow So ya gotta hang on 'Til tomorrow Come what may Tomorrow, tomorrow maybe they'll win tomorrow You're always A day Away

Quvenzhané Wallis with an assist from Sam Smith

I do not profess to be a NBA coach evaluator but it seems to me this team is not playing up to its potential. There certainly appears to be enough talent on this team to accidently win a game once in a while. The players seem upset about this especially after the Denver loss. I think it is not too early to judge Coach Boylen. From afar it seems this team is not responding to his coaching. My question is while I am a full fan of Paxson, I wonder why not name Boylen interim as most teams do instead of giving him a two year contract?

Dwayne Corry

Sam: I need to straighten at least that out. Jim Boylen did not get an extension. He was on an assistant coaching contract through the 2019-20 season matched with Fred Hoiberg, which is standard. When an assistant is promoted to head coach whether called interim or not it is routine for the assistant to be given a slight bump in salary—same as Larry Drew in Cleveland—for the additional duties and responsibilities. Boylen got that as soon as he acceded to the job as does every coach in that situation. He was already under contract through the end of next season and still is with the appropriate addition for being asked to do more as would be with any of us in most any job. I don't disagree with the absence of an interim title because your statement to the players should be we are serious and this isn't a substitute teacher, so put away your spit balls and whoopee cushions (what? they don't do that anymore?).

OK, it doesn't look like it sometimes, but a Western Conference trip in the midst of trades, injuries and reworking a playing system in the middle of the season isn't exactly a stable time. The Bulls say after every season everyone is evaluated and I assume that will be the situation again. But Boylen also has not had a training camp or a chance to hire his own staff or much consultation about personnel. Tough to judge.

I know you don't pay too much attention to college hoops, what are your thoughts about Zion? I know a guy who knows a guy that says he may not be worth a long term investment due to his style of play and weight... his knees may not hold up. I personally think he may be a tweener... he may be too short for a power forward and he may be slow/ heavy for small forward. Great athlete and great college player, but I don't see him being close to a superstar in the NBA. if we end up with him, where does he play? Can he play small forward? We already have 2 guys at power forward in Markannen and Carter.

Joe Dobrzynski

Sam: If he's as good as many suggest, then he plays wherever he wants. True, I don't watch much college ball—lately the NBA ball I have been watching has been bad enough—but I have ventured to a Duke game on occasion and see some flaws, like shooting, though I have yet to give him a physical. A lot of top picks don't work out. It happens. No matter what the NBA GMs say now, everyone wanted Greg Oden and not Kevin Durant. The kid looks like he could be a star, and, especially for the Bulls that's what they lack. I like Markkanen and LaVine a lot, and believe if you get them a star to attract some attention instead of all of it going to them they will be much better. Maybe the Duke kid does fade out. Who knows. Remember Brandon Roy who went from Rookie of the Year surprise to high school coach? But the draft is about taking a chance on a star. There are no guarantees. He looks to be the biggest star in this draft. I'd have no hesitation. And imagine if I were actually watching.

Can your remember NBA players from former generations who seemed way too athletic and powerful for their body to handle the rigorous of the league longterm? D-Rose comes to mind, Zion scares me, Larry Johnson? Jordan and Lebron do not really qualify to me, they are exceptional athletes as well, but their bodies did not seem as freakish as Zion's and Rose's jump, stop and acceleration ability was off the charts.

Sven Ruppert

Sam: Injuries are bad luck; Zion would be good luck.

Pundits everywhere, including those attached to the Bulls, are all salivating over Zion Williamson - and the Bulls are fast amassing a record that could make ZW a possibility in the next draft. My question is - in terms of fitting in with the Bulls - is Zion more of a short 4 on a team that seems all "4ed-up", or more of an oversized 3 who will have trouble guarding smaller, quicker players at that position? (a Jabari Parker with less range?). I know he's a talent, but who sits when he takes the floor and is he a Boylen-kind-of-guy?

Dennis Novak

Sam: I can see where the fan interest is going. As I suggested, I'm fairly confident he's Boylen's type of guy. It's not that difficult to fall in love with someone special.

What a great job the Nets have done so far this year. After arguably the worst NBA trade ever in 2014 it appeared the Nets would take a decade to recover. They traded away their draft picks for 2014, 2016 and 2018. In addition Boston got to swap picks with them in 2017. Success didn't seem possible until they could finally get their draft picks from 2019 going forward. The playoffs, maybe in 2024. Halfway through the season and they are 23-23 after winning an amazing game against the Rockets. The GM, coach and team are to be congratulated. The are an incredibly resilient bunch of unrecognizable and discarded players. Treveon Graham, Joe Harris, Rodeons Kurucs, Jarret Allen and D'Angelo Russell were their starting lineup against the Rockets. Against the Rockets they were down by 14 with a few minutes to go in regulation and tied it. In overtime, they were down by 6 with about a minute to go and won it. They help define resilience. This team finally has their own 1st round pick this year and chose winning to tanking. They have skipped the tank to build a winning culture. Kudos to a really great team. Can you make your magic now happen for the Bulls?

Bruce Roberts

Sam: Well, it has been my philosophy in avoiding the indignity and fraud of losing on purpose because losing makes you a loser. I fear it is occurring with the Bulls to some extent, though I am facing some ambivalence considering the two months lost to injuries and the coaching change and the hole so deep that perhaps it might be best for the rest of this season to not try so hard. Though I wince when I even think about it. The losing model guarantees you nothing, and I agree, good for the Nets for putting a very nice team together. But their problem with some good trades—and I still count the Jimmy Butler one good for the Bulls—is that they have yet to have that transcendent star and are last in the league in attendance. Maybe in free agency this summer? Winning is a curious thing. It only seems understandable when you examine the successful teams. But that is the best team I've enjoyed from Brooklyn since the '56 Dodgers.

After reading your take on Jabari Parker being back in the rotation after their loss to the Lakers, it made me think back to when you've said you're not a fan of his demeanor towards the media. Too terse, always on the defensive, etc with Zach Lavine being basically the polar opposite. That said, It made me wonder who have been some of your favorite players to speak to over the years?

Nicholas Hill

Sam: First regarding Jabari; his attitude and demeanor were awful when he came to the Bulls. Why, I never could figure. All everyone said was he was different, but not evil. Actually, since the benching, which wasn't a great idea, and in the return he's been much better. The point wasn't so much he wasn't cooperative. There were plenty of guys to talk to who are terrific people; but it was the way he was answering simple questions with defiant, one word answers. It's mire an insult to people at their jobs, failing to give respect to someone's job. Jabari never once was asked back then an unfair or even probing question. Anyway, he's been fine lately, if not detailed. All just about everyone in media really asks for is simple decency.

The truth is there are so, so many really good people in the NBA, kids who came from difficult backgrounds who are grateful for the opportunity, friendly, savvy and eager to help. Some of my favorites over the years for being open, outgoing, helpful and friendly were Elton Brand, Larry Bird, Steve Kerr, Magic Johnson, Phil Jackson, Joe Dumars, Kyle Korver, Jerry West, Jordan (pre-championships), Isiah Thomas, Johnny Kerr, Joe Caldwell, Chet Walker, Horace Grant, Charles Barkley, Mack Calvin, Wayne Embry, Brent Barry, Grant Hill, Bill Cartwright, Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and too many more I'll regret leaving out.

I really don't have an opinion on Boylan yet as a coach, but I have read "experts" opinions on the internet which feel the Bulls young talent is not developing since he took over (They were all hurt under Hoiberg so nothing to really compare). Do you feel there is acceptable growth in the Bulls players as individuals and as a group under the watch?

Jason Doll

Sam: I know from being a parent we shouldn't monitor growth by the week or month. I know it's different in sports, and there have been some setbacks the last month or so. But let's be real, as it were. It's a month with a new coach, players off injuries having lost their preseason and yadda, yadda. I know no one likes hearing it and a losing streak headed to the bottom of the league and a succession of blowout losses is depressing. We saw plenty of good things from LaVine pretty much until the coaching change and plenty from Markkanen, who came back strong against the Nuggets. The glimpse showed you he has a lot of stuff. Carter is that tough guy the Bulls always talk about. The Bulls talk about growth, too, but I assume they mean over a season and not a losing streak. We should know a lot more by summer when the Bulls make Williamson player/coach/primary stockholder and the new team logo.

The Wolves (while not amazing) have twice as many wins as the Bulls while playing in the Western conference. Meanwhile, the Bulls are actually worse this year. If the future success of the Bulls (drafting Zion) has nothing to do with the assets/players acquired in the Butler trade doesn't that mean GarPax lost that transaction?

Matthew Ruth

Sam: Curious way of looking at that. Though I am going to Williamson's Hall of Fame enshrinement in September. I think the Bulls would make that deal again, and I'm fairly sure the Timberwolves would not, and certainly not Thibodeau, which probably would mean he still was working there. I'm still on board for LaVine, Markkanen and Dunn for Covington and Saric.

I'm interested to see what happens the rest of this season. Apparently, Boylen will be gradually introducing more pace. Let's see how Dunn plays as that happens.I think he's a very solid player and that he can play faster than we've seen. But can he see the court well & drop dimes on the run? Can he take more 3's and still make a good % of them? It's hard to assess his fit into an offense they aren't really running yet. Hopefully, we'll know enough after 39 more games to make a sound decision. For that matter, if we draft a point guard it can still be a competition for the starting job. Dunn would be an awfully strong player to have coming off the bench. The great teams have player like that – who might start elsewhere – on their benches. Why not us? But from the Nuggets game there's no doubt in my mind now that the tank is on. Boylen's comments are a dead give-away. Yes, it's "a season of discovery"… yet another one. Anyway, I'm giving the game ball to RoLo – 17 & 6 in 19 min. on 8-10 shooting plus some nice intangibles. Everybody else mostly stunk.

Art Alenik

Sam: When the season started the No. 1 question on most lists was Kris Dunn, and I think it still is. The Denver game was disappointing—yes, in many respects—the way Dunn made a point after the Lakers game of apologizing, which I didn't think was necessary as bad games happen, but then didn't do much again. End of bad trip, altitude, a team making 20 threes. It may have looked worse than it was. Dunn has had some very effective games, and his numbers are respectable at 12.5 and 6.5 coming off missing two months. But I'm still having difficulty figuring out what he exactly is in this era of high scoring, hot shooting point guards.

I don't think sixth man is a horrible thing, though many NBA players, like Parker, have disagreed. It seems like a nice way to make a living. Having a guy like Dunn coming in as a combo guard may be the stuff of an excellent team. I don't think the Bulls have fully made up their minds on Dunn and it's hard to get a read from Dunn about how he'd deal with such a competition and situation because he is so guarded. Hey, he's a guard in case you missed that one. I get it. He's only played a bit more than a month, so it's not so much the tank as many of the the questions don't have answer yet.

Who is Zach Lavine as a ball player or are you still waiting to see? He is having a good statistical year and the team is not winning. I see a talented offensive player with an innate ability to score and on the defensive end someone who will not be a difference maker. Will he be more than a great scorer? Is it fair to start the Jamal Crawford comparisons and if that's the career he has, is it good enough for the Bulls to continue to keep him on their rebuilding roster? If he continues to put up just under 24, 4, and 4, will there be serious suitors on the trade market? Is he the person the Bulls should be building a team around or will his need to have the ball on the offensive end, hinder the progression of young players?

Tim Koncel

Sam: I don't think it's either you're Michael Jordan or James Harden or you're Shaun Livingston. I like Zach as a player a lot. Many don't like him as much as I do. I don't worry about the defensive component as much since James Harden seems to have done OK without it. Yes, Harden is a build around, and maybe Zach isn't quite that player, but he makes tough shots, takes tough shots, can get to the basket and is a good shooter and great athlete. Who are the Bulls to say that's not good enough for them? Enough with these Shaquille Harrisons and David Nwabas who compete like crazy. That's not the NBA. Maybe it's the NBA bench, but they're in every draft. In the second round. Zach has a chance to be a star, and those are the players the Bulls need to be accumulating. Zach has flaws, but this is his first full season back after his ACL and has never started more than 47 games in an NBA season at 23 years old. I think the Bulls these days are pushing him toward too much two-point play, and he's a willing player trying to do what is asked. My guess is he's not so sure it's what's best. But he's trying to be a good teammate and professional. The Bulls could do a lot worse. And have. More often than not, someone else's spouse or date isn't exactly who they seem from your vantage.

Its not so much the recent turmoil that has made me anxious about the rebuild it's just that even on a "good" night (not getting blown out at Utah on 2nd if back to back), the way the bulls are losing - take 9 more shots shoot a decent percentage but make 9 fewer 3s - is troubling given both the analytics or really, math (you can score more counting by 3s) and trends in the nba. In other words - isn't the urgent need drafting or signing guys who either can hit the 3 or have potential to be good 3 point shooters. I suppose if valentine can come back he would fit that description.

Guy Danilowitz

Sam: I'm fairly sure that's obvious to them as well. Yes, they could use some Valentine, and Holiday made threes (in streaks). I'd look at it as a larger issue if this were the final version of the team. I've mentioned the need for a wing player who can make plays off the dribble and shoot, a backup big man, preferably a defensive seven footer to tag team with Wendell Carter Jr., perhaps a point guard and, certainly, shooting. I'm not sure how the team sees it, but I can see Carter, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine as core players going forward. There may be others, but they're still on audition regarding play or salary. There's another high draft pick coming and a big money free agent or two this summer. Probably not one of the top two, but I believe a good player and maybe two. I don't see Markkanen or LaVine yet as that No. 1 option to build around, so they have to show as well, and they still are very young. Can you get a No. 1 in the draft? Maybe. If not in free agency, what about an ensemble and a lead like Dirk Nowitzki, who was good enough to be the best player on a title team and several close. Markkanen could be that good. If this were Year 4 I'd be more worried. There are a lot of moves still to make.

The Bulls now reportedly refuse to buy out lopez if he cant be dealt knowing he is going to the Warriors. Will garpax throw away a couple million over this fight and not buy him out since he obviously has zero trade value? Or is he the head of the "leadership council" so someone we need to play out his contract? Maybe we can do lopez a favor a favor, give him his entire salary in a buyout so we can get another extended run of felicio playing 20-30 minutes a night....need to see how his development is coming along again....or just burn that money too with asiks and jabaris and cam paynes and play carter jr 48 minutes a night?

Jake Henry

Sam: OK, you’re frustrated and needed to lash out and vent. I’ll wait a bit. OK, ready? Carter was almost out for six weeks, it seemed the other day, so what was the hurry to offload Lopez? And then he was. The Bulls late Friday said Carter actually could miss two to three months after further reevaluations of his injury by hand specialists when the team returned to Chicago. And so now perhaps surgery. Another bad break in a broken season. But more than that this is a larger issue for the NBA that it won’t face; it’s another rich get richer, and the Bulls aren’t rich now. What some top teams apparently are doing—I can’t say I know for sure the Warriors are among them—is telling agents to get their players released or bought out for a small amount and they’ll bring them in on a minimum to give them some money back and then they can add playoff money and maybe be on a title team and their team gets nothing because these teams won’t trade because they are waiting for the buyouts.

So a team like the Bulls trying to get something for a player like Lopez or Jabari Parker gets shut out and the team like maybe the Warriors or Celtics or Raptors or Rockets gets to pick up a player without giving up anything. The NBA has said it wants to level the playing field for all teams and open up trade opportunities, but this buyout period inhibits trades and discriminates most against losing teams like the Bulls trying to add a player or draft pick. The NBA should eliminate the buyout fraud period because it helps just the few top teams, and the Bulls are right to say they won’t grant a buyout because it is being used against them by the top teams to help hold them down. It baffles me why anyone would be mad at the Bulls other than maybe Lopez’ family. And since when are fans upset because the Bulls won’t be able to make more money? Talk about entering Bizarro world.

With your comments on how sloppy Gobert was and with what should be a realization that, against the better 7 foot centers, Wendell Carter may always be overmatched, I have to respond to a comment you made a couple of weeks ago regarding a player who is truly a top 3 center in the league, Nikola Jokic.

After watching him destroy Portland with a 40/10/8 performance, I think that you need to make an effort to actually watch a few Nuggets games so you can make a more informed assessment. In doing so, he totally outplayed the guy who should be the Bulls starting center, Jusuf Nurkic, who is averaging 15.2/10.2/1.36Blks in just 27 minutes per game. Jokic 19.7/10.2/7.6 with a career .356 3PT% is far more valuable to his team than any other center including Embiid. His 21 career triple doubles in 270 games places him second all time behind Wilt's 78 which, if he stays healthy until he is 30, he will eclipse.

Peggy Flynn

Sam: So why would the Bulls want Nurkic if Markkanen actually played as well as Jokic Thursday? And as one correspondent from above mentioned, it was game ball for Lopez playing against Jokic. Jokic is terrific. Yes, I did see the Nuggets play. And, unfortunately, up close Thursday. They're pretty good; if they think they are contenders, Golden State straightened that out earlier in the week. But they've built a very good team; good for them. Yes, I know, the snarky Nurkic thing is the Bulls deal to move up in the draft to take Doug McDermott. The Nuggets took Nurkic, whom they traded for Plumlee, and Gary Harris. They obviously did better, but it's only fair to judge at the time. And I know not a single Bulls fan ever wrote me asking that the Bulls please draft Nurkic. And moving up in the draft from outside the lottery to inside the lottery is always viewed as a coup and was that night. What's so great about Nos. 16 and 19? Like to have those picks again this season instead of a lottery pick? The Bulls were at least aggressive in search of talent. It didn't work out. It happens in the draft a lot. But it made sense. I still can't figure out why Doug can't make more shots.

Anyway, as for Jokic, he's really good. I agreed that. All I believed, and I still do, is he's not an MVP candidate and maybe a top 20 NBA player. Which is very good. The Bulls would like to have a top 20 player. But he's still not even been in one playoff game in his career and has been playing pro ball five or six years. It takes actually being on the winning team in one playoff game before I make someone a top 10 player and MVP candidate. He's having a terrific season. I'd still like a look at his games this spring. Get back to me then. I can be persuaded.

While I used to enjoy the three-point shot I've come to dislike them over the past five years or so as the league as gone so heavily towards them. I don't so much mind that the big man has been de-emphasized, though I wasn't rooting for that either. The NBA has always been my favorite sport/league to watch as it has the best athletes in the world, and because they're not wearing helmets or padding, you can really see that athleticism displayed every game. All the three-point shooting has reduced the number of times per game that players are attacking the hoop and thus displaying their otherworldly natural talents. Of course they still do so some, but now it seems the top goal is to draw contact and a foul and actually attempting to make the shot is just a bonus. Much like baseball has become too much about home run, strikeout or walk, basketball is too much three point shot or free throws. I may be a bit hyperbolic but the emphasis on efficiency in sports - which I understand makes sense in terms of impacting winning - is making them less aesthetically pleasing and thus less fun to watch.

Steph Curry is great and fun to watch, but in terms of his natural athletic and physical talents, where do you think he'd have stacked up in the NBA of the 80s and 90s?

Cameron Watkins

Sam: I feel like the sergeant driving the car in the MASH movie who was always grumbling, "Damn Army" about the behavior of the crazy doctors. Damn Analytics! Again! But relax, not nearly as bad as baseball. I always say great players would be great in any generation and it goes backward as well. Curry wouldn't have the freedom to roam like he does, and some coach would bench him for shooting way out there. Back then they made you throw it inside or sit down no matter how many you made in practice. But Curry is much more clever with the drive than just his shooting. He would be a player like Cleveland's Mark Price, who was a small man and great shooter and one of the best pick and roll guards I ever saw. At least before Steve Nash. Price was a great shooter and multiple all-NBA player and would have been many more if not for injuries. But playing with a seven footer in an era of great centers, his major responsibility was to make his center look better than him. That would have been the difference for Curry, who would have been an All-Star, and better than his dad, who could shoot about as well, but couldn't dribble.

What is Boylen doing with these rotations? We leaves the starters in deep each game, evidenced by the game against the Nuggets when Lavine, Dunn, and Markkanen were all on the court with 6:30 left in the 4th down 35. Also, in the beginning of the 3rd, (which is when most teams go on their run) Boylen usually keeps the starters in for the first 8 minutes with no subs, allowing the Bulls to get blown out. The lineup of Dunn, Lavine, Hutch, Markkanen, and Carter is -29 in terms of point differential. This is not something that should be happening with the talent. It's time to stop allowing the starters to continue to make mistakes and let the rest of the bench contribute, as they have recently outplayed the opponent's bench

Adam Richard

Sam: Venting, also? I've gotten plenty today. I'm not sure you want to see Selden, Harrison, Felicio and Blakeney against Denver's starters. I'm not getting as much mail asking for them to play more as much as you you may think.

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/ask-sam-mailbag-011819

[pacificbaby]

200 things

200: My crush’s name is: Dan 199: I was born in: California 198: I am really: Tired 197: My cellphone company is: Verizon (in the US), 3 (in the UK) 196: My eye color is: Brown 195: My shoe size is: 8 194: My ring size is: 6?? Maybe 7 idk 193: My height is: 5′6 192: I am allergic to: Puns 191: My 1st car was: ‘90 VW Golf 190: My 1st job was: Fruit Stand 189: Last book you read: Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur 188: My bed is: Messy 187: My pet: Taz 186: My best friend: Corri probably 185: My favorite shampoo is: Aussie 184: Xbox or ps3: Ps4 yo 183: Piggy banks are: Defective 182: In my pockets: Nada 181: On my calendar: Essay due dates 180: Marriage is: Scary 179: Spongebob can: Fuck off 178: My mom: Dissapointing  177: The last three songs I bought were?: LOL probably adele 176: Last YouTube video watched: Garcina Cambogia weigh loss 175: How many cousins do you have?: Too many 174: Do you have any siblings?: One 173: Are your parents divorced?: Nah 172: Are you taller than your mom?: Nah 171: Do you play an instrument?: Flute, piccolo, ukelele, guitar,  170: What did you do yesterday?: Netflix Marathon [ I Believe In ] 169: Love at first sight: Yes 168: Luck: Yes 167: Fate: Yes 166: Yourself: Nah 165: Aliens: Nah 164: Heaven: Yes 163: Hell: Yes 162: God: Yes 161: Horoscopes: Yes 160: Soul mates: Yes 159: Ghosts: Yes 158: Gay Marriage: Yes 157: War: No 156: Orbs: No 155: Magic: No [ This or That ] 154: Hugs or Kisses: Hugs 153: Drunk or High: Both?? Drunk probably 152: Phone or Online: Phone 151: Red heads or Black haired: Black Hair 150: Blondes or Brunettes: Brunettes 149: Hot or cold: Cold 148: Summer or winter: Winter 147: Autumn or Spring: Autumn 146: Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate 145: Night or Day: Night 144: Oranges or Apples: Apples 143: Curly or Straight hair: Curly 142: McDonalds or Burger King: McDonalds 141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk Chocolate 140: Mac or PC: Mac 139: Flip flops or high heels: Flip flops 138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: sweet and poor 137: Coke or Pepsi: coke 136: Hillary or Obama: Obama 135: Buried or cremated: Buried 134: Singing or Dancing: Singing 133: Coach or Chanel: Chanel 132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Kat McPhee 131: Small town or Big city: Big city 130: Wal-Mart or Target: Target 129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Ben Stiller 128: Manicure or Pedicure: Manicure 127: East Coast or West Coast: WEST COAST BEST COAST 126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas 125: Chocolate or Flowers: Flowers 124: Disney or Six Flags: Six Flags 123: Yankees or Red Sox: (Giants) [ Here’s What I Think About ] 122: War: Bad 121: George Bush: Dumb 120: Gay Marriage: Should always be legal 119: The presidential election: fUCK THAT 118: Abortion: It’s a woman’s choice 117: MySpace: I never want to think about my myspace page lmao 116: Reality TV: Fake but funny 115: Parents: Shouldn’t control everything 114: Back stabbers: No second chances 113: Ebay: Mildly sketchy 112: Facebook: Everyone’s compelled to be on it 111: Work: Necessary  110: My Neighbors: Too loud 109: Gas Prices: Better than they’ve been 108: Designer Clothes: Stupid 107: College: Needed 106: Sports: Overrated 105: My family: Disappointing 104: The future: Scary [ Last time I ] 103: Hugged someone: a month ago?? 102: Last time you ate: 5 hours ago 101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: a few weeks ago 100: Cried in front of someone: A few years ago, probably 99: Went to a movie theater: Two weeks ago 98: Took a vacation: A month ago 97: Swam in a pool: Over a year ago 96: Changed a diaper: Never 95: Got my nails done: Six months ago 94: Went to a wedding: 10 years ago 93: Broke a bone: Never 92: Got a piercing: A year ago 91: Broke the law: lmao today 90: Texted: hour ago [ MISC ] 89: Who makes you laugh the most: Sara 88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: I’ve already left home, so many times 87: The last movie I saw: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: Going home and driving 85: The thing im not looking forward to: Senior Project 84: People call me: Intimidating, honest 83: The most difficult thing to do is: Open up to someone 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Never, but I definitely should have gotten some 81: My zodiac sign is: Scorpio 80: The first person i talked to today was: Taylor 79: First time you had a crush: 1st grade haha 78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Taylor 77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: At dinner earlier 76: Right now I am talking to: Traci 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: Fuck if I know 74: I have/will get a job: When I get back to the US 73: Tomorrow: Must write Essay 72: Today: Netflix? 71: Next Summer: Find grown-up job 70: Next Weekend: Essay Writing 69: I have these pets: 1 Cat, 2 adoptive cats 68: The worst sound in the world: Cutting things 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: it changes 66: People that make you happy: Corri, Sara, Taylor 65: Last time I cried: Today lmao 64: My friends are: good 63: My computer is: reliable 62: My School: good 61: My Car: amazing 60: I lose all respect for people who: Cheat on their significant other. 59: The movie I cried at was: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 lol 58: Your hair color is: Brown 57: TV shows you watch: Teen Wolf, PLL, Reign, TVD, KUWTK 56: Favorite web site: youtube 55: Your dream vacation: New Zealand 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: physical or emotional? getting tattooed / when he left. 53: How do you like your steak cooked: Don’t really eat steak... well done? 52: My room is: Messy AF 51: My favorite celebrity is: Niall Horan 50: Where would you like to be: Portland 49: Do you want children: No 48: Ever been in love: No 47: Who’s your best friend: Corri, Sara 46: More guy friends or girl friends: Girls 45: One thing that makes you feel great is: Long drives 44: One person that you wish you could see right now: Dan 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: No 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: No 41: Have you pre-named your children: Yeah, even though I don’t want them 40: Last person I got mad at: Jay 39: I would like to move to: Los Angeles / Portland / London 38: I wish I was a professional: photographer / youtuber / singer [ My Favorites ] 37: Candy: Snickers 36: Vehicle: Range Rover Evoque / Kia Soul 35: President: Obama 34: State visited: California 33: Cellphone provider: Verizon 32: Athlete: Steph Curry 31: Actor: Dylan Obrien 30: Actress: Adelaide Kane 29: Singer: Ed Sheeran 28: Band: One Direction 27: Clothing store: Torrid 26: Grocery store: Safeway 25: TV show: TVD 24: Movie: Don’t have one! 23: Website: Youtube 22: Animal: Raccoon 21: Theme park: Six Flags 20: Holiday: Forth of July 19: Sport to watch: Soccer 18: Sport to play: Tennis 17: Magazine: Rolling Stone 16: Book: Milk and Honey 15: Day of the week: Saturday 14: Beach: Trinidad State Beach 13: Concert attended: Kehlani 12: Thing to cook: Tortellini 11: Food: Pasta 10: Restaurant: Sushi Tao 9: Radio station: Live 95.5 8: Yankee candle scent: Honeysuckle and Jasmine 7: Perfume: Seduction - Victoria’s Secret 6: Flower: Cherry Blossoms / Wildflowers / Roses 5: Color: Purple 4: Talk show host: James Corden 3: Comedian: Gabriel Iglesias 2: Dog breed: Golden Retriever 1: Did you answer all these truthfully?: Yas

[torentialtribute]

Where it’s all gone wrong for Leicester Tigers as they go up for sale

Leicester Tigers the most decorated club in English rugby history – are up for sale.

An admission that the once-great institution – who have won 10 Premiership titles and two European Cups – is failing to keep up with the Premiership big boys?

If not that it is certainly the next stage in a sorry saga that has been playing out for the last three years.

A steady decline of poor performances, a loss of identity and a succession of sackings accelerated Leicester's decline last season – their worst ever.

And now the club has put itself up for sale, hoping to be bought out for around £ 60m, reset and renew, Sportsmail asks: where has it gone wrong for Leicester?

Leicester Tigers have announced that the club has put up for sale for a reported £ 60m

THE PERFORMANCES

Having made the Premiership play-offs every year between 2005 and 2017 – including making nine finals in a row – Leicester fell spectacularly last season.

They finished a desperate campaign in 11th, 10 points clear of Newcastle, beating the Falcons very late in the season to save their bacon.

Hammering at the hands of Exeter Chiefs (twice by 30 points), Gloucester, Bristol, Saracens and Sale made it a harrowing season.

Geordan Murphy's side narrowly escaped relegation last season – as they finished 11th

Before the 52 -20 home defeat by the Chiefs when it looked like Leicester might be for the drop, the club chairman Peter Tom was a walking fit the press box and motion a noose around his neck.

The gallows humor did not make Leicester's concession of their most points in a league game since 1988 any easier to take – and fans made their feelings known to Tom as they walked out of Welford Road that day.

Tom, along with a board including a chairman , chief executive, head of recruitment and director of ru gby or head coach all having a say in major decisions is known to be cluttered.

Peter Tom is part of a hierarchy at Leicester that have seen major decisions become cluttered

Most concerning to the Tigers faithful has been the lack of backbone on the field at Leicester.

A club once feared for its gnarly, brutal and uncompromising pack now had a boy-band backline – of Ben Youngs, George Ford, Matt Toomua, Manu Tuilagi, Jonny May and Telusa Veainu but creaked loudly up front.

Long gone are the days of the ABC club front row, Martin Johnson, Ben Kay, Neil Back, Lewis Moody, Martin Corry and the like.

Neil Back was an integral part of the Tigers best days during a 15-year spell at the club

THE EROSION OF A FORMIDABLE CULTURE

It was the Youngs brothers – Ben and Tom – who admitted it during the last season's decline

Asked in an exclusive Sportsmail interview in April whether the Tigers aura had gone, Tom said candidly: "I would say we have.

" With Leicester one of the things you get is expectation to win something, "he explains.

" We've tried to succeed in doing what has happened in the past. "

Ben Youngs (left) and his brother Tom have admitted that Leicester have lost their aura

With Ben adding: "I wouldn't disagree that we have lost our identity and our aura.

" When you have lost as many games as we have at Welford Road you do lose something

'As players scratch your head. For a while we have looked at short-term fixes. "

No one fears Welford Road now. Leicester loses 15 or 22 league games last season – with their last gasp loss to Bath on the final day their 10th defeat of the campaign at home in all competitions.

Leicester loses 15 of 22 league games last season in a season to forget for the Welford Road side

THE PLAYER DRAIN

Tigers have managed to keep fans happy with a few big-name acquisitions – like May and Toomua (who has now since left) – but have lost many who have starred elsewhere.

Harry Thacker, a hooker at Bristol, has been a revelation in the west country. Vereniki Goneva left in his 30s and went on to be crowned Premiership Player of the Year when Newcastle pipped Tigers to fourth in 2018.

Ed Slater was swapped for May that year and joined Gloucester – he never wanted to leave his boyhood club and now is a cornerstone or a vastly better pack at Kingsholm.

All were allowed to leave with little coming in to replace them properly.

Leicester have snapped up at least for next season some forward grunt, with no-nonsense Argentina lock Tomas Lavanini, Crusaders' flanker Jordan Taufua and Munster back-rower Jaco Taute coming in.

Hooker Harry Thacker has been a revelation at Bristol since leaving Leicester last summer

THE SACKINGS

It has been a revolving through at the top. Richard Cockerill was sacked in January 2017 at the beginning of Leicester's limp – and since there have been three other head coaches.

Cockerill, before he went, had been undermined by the board bringing in the former All Black Aaron Mauger. The Kiwi was thought to be the man to transform Leicester from their beat-em-up style to a side that could wow in attack too.

But the messages all became confused, the pair did not bond at all and it was Cockerill who went – much to his ire.

Leicester legend Richard Cockerill was sacked as their head coach in January 2017

The 48-year-old is now in charge of Edinburgh – where he is excelling with the Scottish side

Soon, though, Mauger was out too. There was a bizarre scenario where it was announced he would be sacked the morning after winning Leicester their first trophy for four years – the Anglo Welsh Cup – in March 2017, and then asked to speak to the media the following day.

With just five games left in the season Mauger was devastated, described the conversation where he was told he would be inside as 'letter' and when asked if he felt let down, he had to pause, bite his lip and simply say : "I am disappointed I am not going to be here for the rest of the season."

Matt O'Connor – the bad-cop to Cockerill's bad-cop when the pair coached Leicester to three league titles between 2008 and 2013 – was brought back. The Australian failed spectacularly with the head coach job and was turfed out one game into the next season after a 40-6 defeat on the opening day to Exeter.

The players were livid that plans had been ripped up after a week. Later last season Ben Youngs said: 'You set yourself up with a bit of a task straight away when you make a change after one game. You can't spend 12 weeks getting a whole game plan, a philosophy in place and then get rid of it after one game and then expect a magic wand to come in. "

Aaron Mauger replaced Cockerill but was sacked himself just two months later in March 2017

Matt O'Connor just lasted one game in charge last season – to sum up Leicester's fortunes "class =" blkBorder img-share "/>

Matt O'Connor just last one game in charge last season – to sum up Leicester's fortunes

The unprecedented early sacking brought legendary club full-back Geordan Murphy into interim charge.

After a letter bounce in results he signed to become full-time head coach in December 2018, but results quickly slumped with Leicester losing 10 of the last 12 matches of the season.

Rumors now swirl about whether a big-hitting director or rugby, like Australia coach Michael Cheika, will be brought in above Murphy next season.

Murphy is now in charge but there is speculation that he could be demoted for someone else

THE FINANCES

Leicester are not the only Premiership club losing money hand over fist. Every side in the league – apart from Exeter who continues to make a small profit – do.

The Tigers had the third highest turnover in the Premiership – or £ 19.7m based on their 2017 accounts – but also had the third highest wage bill, or £ 12m and losses are increasing.

Based on their 2018 strategic report 'rugby income' has dropped from £ 5.9m to £ 5.4m between 2015 and 2018, season ticket sales have slumped by 1,200 in the last four seasons down to 14,027 for 2017-18 and commercial income has dropped by more than £ 1m since 2014.

Tigers still spend up to the £ 7m playing squad salary cap, but while they made a profit of £ 479,000 back in 2015, the last three sets of accounts have shown increasing losses – or £ 424,000, £ 686,000 and £ 991,000.

That's not a unique situation in the Premiership, however, why league chose to sell a 27 per cent stake in private equity firm CVC – the company that tarted up Formula 1 then sold it to Liberty Media for £ 6bn – giving them each a windfall or around £ 13m for next season.

Indeed Chairman Tom said in the statement that confirmed Tigers were up for sale that: 'CVC's investment in Premiership Rugby has created a unique opportunity – catapulting the sport into the public consciousness like never before and broadening its appeal to potential investors. It is our duty as a Board to explore the Club's strategic options and assess the best possible ownership structure to benefit from the changes ahead and off the pitch. "

At least Leicester avoided relegation. Without stating the obvious that would have been a monument to the most successful club in the country.

As Sportsmail reported at the end of the season the Tigers stars had no relegation release clauses, so many would have had to stay in the Championship on big money, and once the league's parachute payments had run out if they did not return next season Leicester would have been faced with a catastrophe.

The Tigers announced on Tuesday that they are up for sale as they look to reshape their future

WHAT NEXT?

Former coach Pat Howard oversaw a review of the club at the end of the season, and now Leicester have decided that they should try and sell up.

With the CVC money they now have no debt and see this – looking positively – as a way to catapult themselves back to the top.

But gathering clouds of uncertainty hang on Welford Road. There is huge uncertainty at this stage about the future direction of the club.

What is certain is the playing squad – at least in the short term – should not be affected.

Rugby is not like football where new owners come in and completely revamp the backroom staff and playing squad. With players locked into contracts, and a salary cap to adhere to there is little wiggle room for next year.

Any new owners can't come in and splash the cash straight away.

But they must be charged with rediscovering the Tigers' bite on and off the field.

Leicester are looking at rebuild and their pitch as their gradual decline continues

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[ultrasfcb-blog]

Dan Evans set to return at finish of medication ban for taking

Dan Evans set to return at finish of medication ban for taking

Dan Evans set to return at finish of medication ban for taking

‘I made a mistake’ – Evans admits failed medication take a look at

“In case you noticed the ruins it left behind, you would be fairly assured I will not take that drug once more.”

Final April, a month after reaching a career-high rating of 41, Britain’s Dan Evans failed a drugs test at an ATP occasion in Barcelona. He had taken cocaine out of competitors 4 days earlier.

This weekend, the 27-year-old will try to qualify for the ATP Challenger Tour occasion in Glasgow, having been awarded a wildcard by the Garden Tennis Affiliation on his return from suspension.

Evans is stuffed with remorse.

“It is a stunning drug, and it isn’t simply in sport – it is horrible in life. It is a life-ruiner,” mentioned Evans on the Scotstoun Tennis Centre.

“It is like drink-driving – everybody is aware of you should not drink-drive. I took it. I knew beforehand I should not have. It is unlawful for one, by no means thoughts me being a sportsman.

“It is the worst factor I’ve ever carried out. It is a stunning factor to do, it is let down many individuals. Not simply that, it is introduced undesirable press to tennis.

“God is aware of what among the greats of the sport thought when that kind of factor comes into the headlines.”

Evans might have confronted a four-year ban however that was lowered by the Worldwide Tennis Federation (ITF) as a result of cocaine isn’t performance-enhancing and it was taken out of competitors.

The ITF mentioned Evans “promptly admitted his violation” and it accepted his account that the substance was solely nonetheless in his system as a result of “leftover” cocaine had by chance blended with permitted remedy within the “identical pocket of his washbag”.

‘There’s been some horrible moments’

Evans says he didn’t play tennis for eight and a half months, and left his racquet at his dad and mom’ home so he was not haunted by the sight of it.

He returned to coaching in late February, and says he was “horrible” in a “horrible” first session again.

Evans has handed a lot of the previous 12 months on the golf course, and away from social media. There was a vacation in Marbella, which he says was low-key, however he spent more often than not in Cheltenham along with his girlfriend Aleah, typically struggling to fill his days.

“I used to be saying to my girlfriend how lengthy a working day truly is: 9 to five is an extended, very long time,” he mentioned. “Daytime TV isn’t good.

“It wasn’t simple, there’s some horrible moments in these 9 months. Initially I used to be heartbroken to not be enjoying tennis.

“There is not that a lot you are able to do within the day when different individuals are working.”

One thing else Evans discovered tough was telling family and friends about his indiscretion.

“It is only a horrible dialog, whoever it is with,” he mentioned.

“There’s that many individuals that help you, even when it is a textual content on the finish of the match, or they keep up whenever you’re enjoying in America and are knackered for work the subsequent day.

“The embarrassment you set your girlfriend’s mum by way of, her dad and mom, that is not what they need their daughter spherical, is it? And you then’ve bought your mum at work, or my sister at work.

“It is not a state of affairs I hope anybody might be in once more.”

Dan Evans factfile Born 23 Could 1990, Birmingham Turned professional 2006 Finest Grand Slam performances Australian Open: 4R (2017); French Open: 1R (2017); Wimbledon: 3R (2016); US Open: 3R (2013) and (2016) ATP Tour titles 0 ATP Tour finals 1 (Sydney 2017) Profession prize cash £1,053,266 2017 prize cash £319,132 Highest world rating 41 – March 2017

Evans, who in fine condition in observe on Friday, is with out a coach and has not selected his schedule for the subsequent few weeks.

He’ll face compatriot Ed Corrie, the world quantity 427, on Saturday.

Evans is unranked, and admits to many doubts, however believes he can battle his method again into the world’s prime 50.

“If my physique holds up, I believe so, until the sport has significantly moved on in a 12 months,” he mentioned. “Seeing the older guys do nicely, that was the one factor I used to be actually searching for after I wasn’t enjoying.

“I had doubts daily and I nonetheless have doubts now, and there’ll nonetheless be doubts till there are two digits subsequent to my title.

“A 12 months’s a very long time, particularly after I was doing nothing. I most likely will not really feel stress like I’ve within the final 12 months. Successful tennis matches, or dropping tennis matches, will not be such a giant deal.”

Evans wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not he had ever taken medication earlier than final April, however says he has been examined 4 instances since returning to coaching on the Edgbaston Priory Membership in Birmingham.

He has additionally advised his story in two movies, which the LTA will distribute to gamers as a part of its drug training programme.

His wildcard for Glasgow was awarded after he handed a spread of bodily, medical and dietary exams set by the LTA.

The organisation’s chief govt, Scott Lloyd, says additional help might be forthcoming so long as Evans retains his aspect of the discount.

“If he continues to do this, then we wish to assist him make that street again to the highest of the sport,” mentioned Lloyd,

“We have now zero tolerance to doping, however what I believe Dan has proven us to this point is that he’s completely keen and attempting to do this to one of the best of his capacity.

“He must earn his method again into the tour, and I believe he desires to exhibit that, too – I genuinely do.

“This isn’t about handouts, that is about offering the chance.”

BBC Sport – Tennis ultras_FC_Barcelona

ultras FC Barcelona - https://ultrasfcb.com/tennis/3009/

#Barcelona

[jenmedsbookreviews]

Well … not the best week to be fair, for many reasons and none of the them related to books. But you don’t want to hear about that. For one thing, it is boring and for for another, if I don’t commit it to a web page I can deny all knowledge if I fainlly snap and commit some form of criminal offence … Highly unlikely but you never know how far your patience can be stretched before you snap.

Anyway – back to the books. Mixed week there too to be fair. I kind of had a bit of a random one to be fair, neither good nor bad. After last week, it was all rather pedestrian. I was at home all week, but was probably less productive than ever when it came to the blog. Funny how that goes isn’t it? By less productive, I mean I read less. I actually managed to prepare ten blog posts yesterday so it’s not all bad. Sort of …

Part of my post prep has been the collation of my bookvent list for 2017. This is where I try in vain to narrow down my favourite reads of the year to a managable list that can be conveyed over the 24 days leading up to Christmas. It has been really hard this year as, with the blog being more established, I have been really lucky to be given the opportunity to read some absolutely stonking titles, many of which would probably have passed me by otherwise. Ive got through 193 books so far this year (18 Mr Men I hasten to add) so how do you narrow that down to a top ten?

The answer is – you don’t. Mine is going to be a top 25/27 or so 🙂 My blog – my rules. Get over it ;p

Book post wise – I had a couple of lovely little packages through my door this week from Avon. First up – Perfect Death by Helen Fields. Can’t wait to get stuck in, but I may have to re-gift the red wine that came with it as I’m tee-total. I also received a copy of The Cover Up by Marnie Riches. Loved Born Bad so I can’t wait to see what Paddy, Sheila, Conky and co have been up to.

Purchase wise I’ve been very good. To my knowledge. I always say that then take a look at Amazon and realise what a complete lie that is. Turns out this week, it is actually true. Go figure. I really am having a slow book week. I pre-ordered The Collector by Fiona Cummins. High on my tbr this one, I have a physical copy from Harrogate, but needed a copy for the kindle too … I also ordered The Crime Writer’s Casebook. Saying nothing in the hope you don’t spot this … And finally I pre-ordered Last Cry by Anna-Lou Weatherley. I like a good pre-order, me.

NetGalley wise it was just the one –  While You Sleep by Stephanie Merritt. It’s not out until March so there is even a small chance I’ll have read it by publication date 🙂 IN my defence it did sound really good…

No new audio. I know – I’m slipping. But I did promise myself a bit of an end of year wind down so I guess this is the start of it right here.

Reading wise, a bit of a mixed bag. Finished an audio bookHe I had started a few weeks back and read three new books. Not my greatest week, but not the worst either.

Books I have read

Her Best Friend by Sarah Wray

You couldn’t have done anything to save her. Or could you?

Sylvie Armstrong has been running from her past for twenty years – until her mother’s death forces her to return to her home town, along with her newborn daughter.

Overwhelmed by grief in her childhood home, Sylvie tries to block out the memories that surround her – but then someone leaves a gift on her doorstep: a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket.

This locket belonged to Sylvie’s best friend, Victoria Preston – and she was wearing it the night she died. Now it’s back in Sylvie’s life…and it soon becomes clear that somebody knows what really happened to Victoria.

Sylvie has to know the truth. But is she in terrible danger?

An intriguing and engrossing psychological thriller which sees Sylvie faced with a few terrible home truths when she returns to the town in which she grew up, the one where her best friend Victoria lost her life. I’ll be sharing my full thoughts on the book as part of the blog blitz tomorrow, but you can order a copy of the book here.

…

Without Trace by Simon Booker

YOUR DAUGHTER IS MISSING. WHO CAN YOU TRUST? A gripping psychological thriller for fans of Tom Bale, Harlan Coben and Angela Marsons.

Morgan Vine has devoted her years of her life to campaigning for Danny Kilcannon’s release, after his dubious conviction for his wife’s murder. 

At long last, he’s released.

With nowhere to go, Danny comes to rely on Morgan and her impetuous teenage daughter, Lissa.

Then Lissa goes missing.

When it’s your own child on the line, who can you trust?

This is my token audio book fo the week. This is quite an addictive story, where you never know quite who to trust and, in fairness, will be completely blindsided by what comes to pass. It wasn’t as I was expected at all, and I must have goen through a dozen possible scenarios of what had happened before finally discovering the truth. No wonder Morgan didn’t know who to trust. I had no scooby either. I’ll be sharing my review very soon, but in the meantime you can order a copy of the book here.

…

Cold Christmas by Alastair Gunn

In the small village of Cold Christmas there’s a church that faces the wrong way . . . What has it to do with the three dead men found in a London flat?

DCI Antonia Hawkins has a killer to catch. Only she can’t predict what is waiting for her at the end of the chase.  Nobody remembers the young men entering the abandoned London flat a few weeks ago. Nobody cares if they left.

Until the unbearable smell of decay.

DCI Antonia Hawkins is called in to view the dead men; three, lying neat in a row. There’s no damage to the bodies, no obvious cause of death. Is this a suicide pact? Or is that just how it’s meant to look?

If there is a link between the three very different men then Hawkins needs to find it, and fast. Because unless she does, more are going to die. And they might not all be strangers.

No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Gah. This book! That ending. Just no. Argh. Faced with a potential triple homicide with no clear cause of death, DCi Antonia Hawkins is faced with her toughest case yet, one which will push her, and her relationship with Mike Maguire, to their limits. Drugs or something worse, this is just another reason for Hawkins to hate the festive season. I’ll be sharing my thoughts at the end of the week but you can buy your own copy here.

…

The Usual Santas – Short Story Collection

Finally: the perfect stocking stuffer for the crime fiction lover in your life! With a foreword by CWA Diamond Award-winner Peter Lovesey, these eighteen delightful holiday stories by your favorite Soho Crime authors contain laughs, murders, and plenty more.

This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming  reminders of the spirit of the season.

Nine mall Santas must find the imposter among them. An elderly lady seeks peace from her murderously loud neighbors at Christmastime. A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to Christmas dinner with a stranger. Niccolò Machiavelli sets out to save an Italian city. Sherlock Holmes’s one-time nemesis Irene Adler finds herself in an unexpected tangle in Paris while on a routine espionage assignment. Jane Austen searches for the Dowager Duchess of Wilborough’s stolen diamonds. These and other adventures in this delectable volume will whisk readers away to Christmases around the globe, from a Korean War POW camp to a Copenhagen refugee squat, from a palatial hotel in 1920s Bombay to a crumbling mansion in Havana.

Includes Stories By (In Order of Appearance): Helene Tursten, Mick Herron, Martin Limón, Timothy Hallinan, Teresa Dovalpage, Mette Ivie Harrison, Colin Cotterill, Ed Lin, Stuart Neville, Tod Goldberg, Henry Chang, James R. Benn, Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis, Sujata Massey, Gary Corby, Cara Black, Stephanie Barron and a Foreword and story by Peter Lovesey.

A perfect collection of festive crime short stories. Some of these stories really did make me chuckle, especailly Mick Herron’s short story, The Usual Santas. That one had me chuckling so hard on my flight to Dublin, I’m sure I saw the woman next to be shuffling away in her seat. I’ll be reviewing very soon but you can bag a copy of the book right here.

…

That’s it. Not too shabby but not too clever either. Blog wise, it was another busy ish week with posts every day. You can catch up on the links below.

#BlogTour: Hell To Pay by Rachel Amphlett

#BlogTour: The Perfect Victim by Corrie Jackson

#FestiveReads: The Advent Killer by Alastair Gunn

#BlogTour: CWA Short Story Anthology – Mystery Tour

#BookLove: Jill Culiner

#Review: Give Me The Child by Mel McGrath

#FestiveReads: The Deaths of December by Susi Holliday

The week ahead is equally busy. Blog tours through until Wednesday for Kierney Scott’s Now You See Me, Sarah Wray’s Her Best Friend and BK Duncan’s The Last Post. I also have a Q&A’s with Chris Whitaker and Louise Jensen in the countdown to December’s First Monday Crime panel and the start of my #bookvent countdown. I can’t wait.

There will be less reviews from me over December as I’m planning a little bit of a slow down and catch up with real life. That doesn’t mean I won’t be around as I’ve some fabulous blog tours planned, as well as my #bookvent countdown. And keep your eyes peeled later this week for a special Christmas competition. Even when I’m on a go slow, I can’t quite stop. It’s genetic I think …

Have a fabulous week of reading all. I’m going to go and lie in a darkened room. Well … at least until Wednesday. I’m off to a Christmas market on Wednesday. Go figure …

JL

Rewind, recap; Weekly update w/e 26/11/17 Well ... not the best week to be fair, for many reasons and none of the them related to books.

[everettwilkinson]

HOUSE TAX VOTE TODAY … TRUMP to the Hill, where he’ll see the GLORY of HC-5 — RON JOHNSON comes out against GOP tax plan — HANNITY: Let the people of Ala. decide on Moore — CORNYN, MURPHY make gun database deal

Good Thursday morning. BIG DAY — HOUSE REPUBLICANS have their tax bill on the floor. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP heads to HC-5 — their Capitol basement meeting room — to hold a rally, of sorts, for the House tax bill. He’s scheduled to talk around 11:30 a.m. SPOILER ALERT: the House will pass their bill quite easily. Democrats won’t vote for it. The ease with which this is getting through has surprised some House Republicans. We don’t expect Trump to appear publicly with any lawmakers at the Capitol, though. OUR QUESTION: Will Trump have Republicans to the White House to celebrate like he did with the health care bill before it exploded in the Senate? … Rachael Bade and Heather Caygle with more on the state of play in the House http://politi.co/2juEqXW

— FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH: This is a big internal victory for Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Rep. Patrick McHenry, the chief deputy whip, and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady. But it’s just the first step. Reconciling this bill with whatever comes out of the Senate will be another tricky test.

Story Continued Below

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BUT … IN THE SENATE

— “Republican Sen. Ron Johnson Opposes GOP Senate Tax Package,” by WSJ’s Siobhan Hughes: “Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said he opposes the Senate Republican tax package, becoming the first GOP voice of dissent that, if it gains momentum, could force significant changes or jeopardize the party’s goal to pass the bill before the end of the year. ‘If they can pass it without me, let them,’ Mr. Johnson said in an interview Wednesday, adding that the plan unfairly benefits corporations more than other types of businesses. ‘I’m not going to vote for this tax package.’” http://on.wsj.com/2zGwOIj

— GOP SENATORS TO WATCH … John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Bob Corker of Tennessee

THE BACKSTORY — “How Cotton brought Obamacare repeal back from the dead,” by Seung Min Kim and Jen Haberkorn: “Sen. Tom Cotton was about to enter the White House early this month to discuss immigration policy when he got an unexpected call from President Donald Trump to talk about a different topic. For days, the Arkansas senator had been working behind the scenes to persuade Republicans that reigniting a battle over repealing Obamacare in the tax fight wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. But Trump, still smarting from GOP’s failures to dismantle the law whom Cotton had first pitched on the idea four days prior, needed little persuading.

“‘I am with you 1,000 percent on this,’ Trump told Cotton over the phone. Trump tweeted twice that Republicans should repeal the mandate, putting pressure on the GOP to tuck it into tax reform despite widespread dismissiveness the idea was greeted by at the time. That Nov. 2 conversation illustrated how the GOP rank-and-file methodically coaxed their leadership to embark on what seemed – and could still become – a fool’s errand to try again to take down Obamacare. In a surprise move, Senate Republicans said Tuesday that they would repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate in their tax plan, using the savings to plow into more tax cuts.” http://politi.co/2AJTeFq

THE BIG QUESTION… HOW LONG CAN THIS LAST? — “Conservative outside groups hold fire on tax bill ahead of first vote,” by Nancy Cook: “As Congress rushes to pass the biggest tax reform legislation in three decades, high-powered business and conservative groups are holding fire on provisions they don’t like in order to avoid derailing the vote. The kumbaya attitude emanates in large part from a sense of desperation among Republicans who believe the party needs to show voters and donors a concrete victory ahead of the 2018 midterms or risk losing control of one or both chambers of Congress, say strategists and conservative activists. ‘It is kind of unreal,’ said one Republican lobbyist. ‘People know this is a freight train coming, and they are doing everything they can to get their stuff on it rather than stand in front of it.’” http://politi.co/2jvctiO

IVANKA SPEAKS — “Ivanka Trump says child tax credit ‘not a pet project’,” by AP’s Catherine Lucey: “Trump says she and husband Jared Kushner, a fellow White House adviser, have no plans to return to their old New York City life any time soon. ‘It’s definitely not short-term,’ Trump said.” http://bit.ly/2A2qfR3

— LOOKING TO 2018: “Tax reform may doom Trump infrastructure plan,” by Colin Wilhelm: “The tax reform bill set to be voted on Thursday by the House of Representatives could kill any chance of the Trump administration’s trillion-dollar infrastructure plan ever happening. At best, House support for the plan would signal lukewarm backing among Republicans for President Donald Trump’s ambitions. At worst, the bill would effectively end the funding structure that the administration touts as a way to reach its $1 trillion target and minimize the burden on taxpayers. The House bill ends tax breaks for private activity bonds, a key part of public-private partnerships in projects ranging from roads to low-income housing. The administration has said it wants to leverage those partnerships to reduce the direct cost of the president’s building plan.” For Pros http://politico.pro/2hwszo8

COMING ATTRACTIONS … THE END OF THE YEAR FIGHT — “Republicans stall budget talks for tax reform,” by Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan: “Hill Republican leaders are slow-walking negotiations for a year-end budget deal with Democrats, adamant that tax reform must come first – even if the spending battle drags out until year’s end. Top aides to the ‘Big Four’ – Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer – have been engaged in tightly held discussions for weeks, but they remain unable to reach an agreement on a ‘topline’ number for government funding bills for the next year.

“Democrats insist on ‘parity’ in any spending deal; they won’t agree to raise strict budget caps for defense spending without an equal boost to domestic funding. Republicans, so far, refuse to cave on the issue. Pelosi accused Republican leaders of dragging their heels on the matter, suggesting they were trying to push a $5 trillion-plus tax cut package through Congress before they reach a spending agreement, multiple sources said.

“Pelosi also told her colleagues on Wednesday that she won’t sign off on any funding bill that doesn’t increase both domestic and Pentagon funding by the same amount. The California Democrat said she and Schumer have both rejected the latest GOP positions during the leadership-only discussions.” http://politi.co/2z758wR

****** A message from Chevron: Advanced technology is helping us find safer ways to deliver energy. We’re piloting a program that uses drones to monitor tanks and pipelines. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zydcU4 ******

QUOTE OF THE DAY — CORRY BLISS, executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, to Elena Schneider: “There are certainly incumbent members out there who need to work harder and raise more money if they want to win. They’re fundamentally not prepared for how they’re about to be attacked.” http://politi.co/2iZg7xb

2020 WATCH — SPOTTED last night at the Fringetree restaurant at the Westin: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Martin O’Malley and Pete Buttigieg.

SIREN — “Hope Hicks may hold the keys to Mueller’s Russia puzzle,” by Darren Samuelsohn: “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is preparing to interview the woman who’s seen it all: Hope Hicks. She’s been part of Donald Trump’s inner circle for years, first at Trump Tower and then as an omnipresent gatekeeper and fixer who could get emails or other communications directly to the boss during the 2016 campaign. As a senior White House adviser and now as communications director, she’s been in the room for moments critical to Mueller’s probe, which has grown to include the president’s response to the Russia investigation itself.

“Hicks’ history with Trump makes her one of the more useful witnesses for Mueller as he looks for insights into the president’s habits and moods. She also is one of the few people well positioned to recount the president’s reactions at various moments as the Russia scandal has sidetracked his presidency – including the Mueller appointment itself. Mueller’s decision to request an interview with Hicks – who hasn’t been named in any criminal wrongdoing – also indicates he’s reached a critical point in the overall investigation, according to former prosecutors and veterans of past White House investigations. Typically, conversations with such senior level aides are saved for near the end of a probe.” http://politi.co/2mwKekL

TRUMP INC. — “Taxpayers pay legal bill to protect Trump business profits,” by USA Today’s Nick Penzenstadler: “Taxpayers are footing the legal bill for at least 10 Justice Department lawyers and paralegals to work on lawsuits related to President Trump’s private businesses. Neither the White House nor the Justice Department will say how much it is costing taxpayers, but federal payroll records show the salaries of the government lawyers assigned to the cases range from about $133,000 to $185,000. The government legal team is defending President Trump in four lawsuits stemming from his unusual decision not to divest himself from hundreds of his companies that are entangled with customers that include foreign governments and officials.” https://usat.ly/2jv0TnG

S.O.S. … THE LATEST ON MOORE — “GOP leaders weigh drastic plan to save Alabama Senate seat,” by Alex Isenstadt and Eliana Johnson: “Republican leaders are exploring a dramatic remedy to salvage the Alabama Senate seat as fresh polling shows Roy Moore’s prospects fading fast. With less than four weeks until the special election and no sign that the party’s besieged nominee will exit the race, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his top advisers are discussing the legal feasibility of asking appointed Sen. Luther Strange to resign from his seat in order to trigger a new special election. McConnell aides express caution, saying they’re uncertain whether such a move, one of several options being discussed, is even possible. …

“New GOP polling obtained by POLITICO suggests that Moore is cratering. A survey conducted by the [NRSC] after allegations emerged that Moore had engaged in sexual misconduct with teenagers showed him trailing Democratic candidate Doug Jones by 12 points. Other recent polling has the race closer.” http://politi.co/2iZeWxM

M.I.A. — Republicans expected Trump to address the Moore situation Wednesday, hoping he would exert some pressure on the Alabama Republican to drop out of the race. So far, he’s stayed mum.

— IS HANNITY CHANNELING TRUMP’S THINKING? … @seanhannity at 11:12 p.m.: “I lived in Alabama-love the people. THEY will sort through the issues before them and decide. Not DC, McConnell, or Commentators, THE PEOPLE!”

DOWN BALLOT IMPACT — “Republican Governors Seek to Avoid 2018 Damage From Trump, Moore,” by Bloomberg’s John McCormick: “Republican governors and their donors — still reeling from GOP losses last week in New Jersey and Virginia — are trying to distance themselves from their party’s problems and plot a 2018 strategy to protect their state-level dominance. At the annual Republican Governors Association meeting in Austin, Texas, party officeholders downplayed those defeats and dismissed the political fallout of President Donald Trump’s historically low approval ratings and lack of legislative accomplishments. They brushed aside questions about the potential long-term consequences from growing sexual misconduct allegations that have engulfed Republican U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore in Alabama. …

“Thirty-six states will hold gubernatorial elections in 2018, with 26 of those now controlled by Republicans. In those races, which often have trickle-down effects on legislative and local elections, Republican candidates will have to decide just how closely to embrace Trump and distance themselves from an unpopular Washington.” https://bloom.bg/2ATPv9i

DRIP DRIP — “Two more women describe unwanted overtures by Roy Moore at Alabama mall,” by WaPo’s Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard and Alice Crites: “Gena Richardson says she was a high school senior working in the men’s department of Sears at the Gadsden Mall when a man approached her and introduced himself as Roy Moore. … His overtures caused one store manager to tell new hires to ‘watch out for this guy,’ another young woman to complain to her supervisor and Richardson to eventually hide from him when he came in Sears, the women say. Richardson says Moore — now a candidate for U.S. Senate — asked her where she went to school, and then for her phone number, which she says she declined to give …

“A few days later, she says, she was in trigonometry class at Gadsden High when she was summoned to the principal’s office over the intercom in her classroom. She had a phone call. ‘I said “Hello?”’ Richardson recalls. ‘And the male on the other line said, “Gena, this is Roy Moore.” I was like, “What?!” He said, “What are you doing?” I said, “I’m in trig class.”’

“Richardson says Moore asked her out again on the call. A few days later, after he asked her out at Sears, she relented and agreed, feeling both nervous and flattered. They met that night at a movie theater in the mall after she got off work, a date that ended with Moore driving her to her car in a dark parking lot behind Sears and giving her what she called an unwanted, ‘forceful’ kiss that left her scared. … Moore’s campaign did not directly address the new allegations. In a statement, a campaign spokesman cast the growing number of allegations against Moore as politically motivated. ‘If you are a liberal and hate Judge Moore, apparently he groped you,’ the statement said. ‘If you are a conservative and love Judge Moore, you know these allegations are a political farce.’” http://wapo.st/2jtXgyn

— AND MORE …. “New Roy Moore accuser: ‘He didn’t pinch it; he grabbed it,’” by Anna Claire Vollers in AL.com: “A Gadsden woman says Roy Moore groped her while she was in his law office on legal business with her mother in 1991. Moore was married at that time. … According to [Tina] Johnson, he asked questions about her young daughters, including what color eyes they had and if they were as pretty as she was. She said that made her feel uncomfortable, too. Once [legal] papers were signed, she and her mother got up to leave. After her mother walked through the door first, she said, Moore came up behind her. It was at that point, she recalled, he grabbed her buttocks. ‘He didn’t pinch it; he grabbed it,’ said Johnson. She was so surprised she didn’t say anything. She didn’t tell her mother. …

“In 1982, Kelly Harrison Thorp was working as a hostess at the Red Lobster restaurant in Gadsden. She was 17 years old and a high school senior. One day Roy Moore came into the restaurant, and she recognized him. … Thorp said Moore asked her if she’d go out with him sometime. ‘I just kind of said, “Do you know how old I am?”’ she recalled.‘And he said, “Yeah. I go out with girls your age all the time.”’ http://bit.ly/2AMW7oV

— @MooreSenate: “An Open Letter to @seanhannity” http://bit.ly/2yL0sZ2 … @VaughnHillyard: “New–> The Alabama GOP is maintaining its support for Roy Moore. In its steering committee meeting tonight, the prospect of removing Moore as the party’s candidate did not reach the point of a vote.”

SHOT — @MooreSenate: “Dear Mitch McConnell, Bring. It. On.”

CHASER — NRSC executive director Chris Hansen (@tankcat) replies: “Bring It On is a movie about high school cheerleaders”.

DEPT. OF ODD BEDFELLOWS — “Senators forge deal to improve gun background database,” by Seung Min Kim: “A bipartisan group of senators has struck a deal to bolster a federal database used to check the backgrounds of gun buyers in the aftermath of several recent mass shootings. The new legislative push is led by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), two powerful figures in their respective parties when it comes to gun policy. Though their bill has not been formally released, it targets the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which both senators have said is deeply flawed.

“Their plan is twofold, according to two sources familiar with it: One is to incentivize states to send more information about criminal histories to the system, known as NICS. States usually aren’t required to do so, unless their own laws mandate it or they have to do so to receive federal funding. It would also make sure that federal agencies follow through on their own requirement that they send information to the database. The new plan would beef up the federal mandate and include punishments for agencies that don’t comply, according to one of the sources.” http://politi.co/2hyYJit

CLINTON WORLD — “‘What About Bill?’ Sexual Misconduct Debate Revives Questions About Clinton,” by NYT’s Peter Baker: “The cultural conversation about women, power and sexual misconduct that has consumed the United States in recent weeks has now raised a question that is eagerly promoted by those on the political right just as it discomfits those on the political left: What about Bill? While Fox News and other conservative outlets revive years-old charges against Mr. Clinton to accuse Mr. Moore’s critics of hypocrisy, some liberals say it may be time to rethink their defense of the 42nd president. Matthew Yglesias … wrote on Vox.com on Wednesday that ‘I think we got it wrong’ by defending Mr. Clinton in the 1990s and that he should have resigned. Chris Hayes, the liberal MSNBC host, said on Twitter that ‘Democrats and the center left are overdue for a real reckoning with the allegations against him.’” http://nyti.ms/2hDQ2r5

— “Clinton hits back at possibility of Uranium One special counsel,” by Brent D. Griffiths: “Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has slammed President Donald Trump for suggesting that a special prosecutor investigate her role in the Uranium One deal, a current cause célèbre among conservative commentators and some House Republican lawmakers. ‘Taking myself out of it, this is such an abuse of power and it goes right at the rule of law,’ Clinton told Mother Jones in an interview posted Wednesday night. ‘As secretary of state, I went around the world bragging about America’s rule of law. … If they send a signal that we are going to be like some dictatorship, some authoritarian regime where political opponents are going to be unfairly, fraudulently investigated, that rips at the fabric of the contract that we have that we can trust our justice system.’” http://politi.co/2ALzTnj

WHO MIGHT REPLACE CORDRAY — per Lorraine Woellert, Zach Warmbrodt, and Daniel Strauss: “Republicans are floating a handful of agency critics as contenders for the post, including Cordray’s biggest foe, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas. … Keith Noreika, the outgoing acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has also been mentioned, along with Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University. Both have fiercely opposed the bureau’s approach to regulation and enforcement and would face long odds of being confirmed, but could serve as interim directors without Senate approval. Brian Brooks, an executive vice president and general counsel at Fannie Mae who worked with Mnuchin at OneWest Bank, and former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum are also mentioned as candidates to lead the bureau.” http://politi.co/2iZP7Or

CLICKER — @WardDPatrick: “President Trump stops his speech to search for water cc: @marcorubio” http://bit.ly/2zOlrM8 … @marcorubio: “Similar, but needs work on his form. Has to be done in one single motion & eyes should never leave the camera. But not bad for his 1st time”.

SPORTS BLINK — “NEW YORK (AP) – Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals wins third Cy Young Award and second straight in National League.”

PHOTO DU JOUR: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza’s signatures, on Nov. 17 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington D.C. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

MICHAEL GRUNWALD in POLITICO Magazine, “The IRS Is Building a Safe to Hold Trump’s Tax Returns: Departed tax chief John Koskinen explains why even he can’t see Trump’s taxes—and why we should ‘beware the collapse of the IRS’”: “Koskinen doesn’t share those concerns—not because of his faith in Trump, but because of his faith in the IRS staff and the strict rules governing the integrity of its audits and investigations. Koskinen basically believes the IRS and its professional culture are virtually impregnable to political agendas. He hasn’t spoken to Trump or anyone in the White House in 2017, even though he’s known the president since they negotiated the sale of the Commodore Hotel in New York City in 1975. He’s never looked up Trump’s tax returns—legally, he can’t, and neither can any other IRS employee who isn’t working on them—and says the agency not only keeps them in a locked cabinet in a locked room, but is replacing the cabinet with a safe.” http://politi.co/2hDbk8h

SUSAN GLASSER in the New Yorker: “Karl Rove Has Seen the Enemy and He Is Steve Bannon”: “Yet Bannon, clearly, has got under Rove’s skin. Rove ticked off a list of candidates whom he said showed Bannon’s amazing ‘bad judgment’ and constituted what, to his mind, amounts to a parade of horribles: Grimm, that ‘convicted felon’ from New York; the ‘despicable’ Tom Tancredo for governor in Colorado; the ‘hapless’ Danny Tarkanian, a five-time failed candidate running against Senator Dean Heller in Nevada. ‘These are the people he’s backing and thinks can both win and then govern?’ … The Republican war is on, and Rove is quite clear on just who is the enemy. ‘Bannon is a side show,’ Rove replied after one too many questions about the strategist trying to claim his mantle. ‘Trump is the real issue.’” http://bit.ly/2zMAdTD

BUSINESS BURST — Fortune has named Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang its 2017 Fortune Businessperson of the Year. Also on the list — 2: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon … 3. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff … 4. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos … 5. Ulta Beauty CEO Mary Dillon. http://for.tn/2hDiA3U

****** A message from Chevron: Advanced technology is helping us find better and safer ways to deliver energy to America. We’re piloting a program that uses drones, HD imaging, and thermal mapping capabilities to monitor Chevron wells, tanks, and miles of pipeline. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zydcU4 ******

DESSERT — “Leonardo da Vinci Painting Sells for $450.3 Million, Shattering Auction Highs,” by NYT’s Robin Pogrebin and Scott Reyburn: “After 19 minutes of dueling, with four bidders on the telephone and one in the room, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ sold on Wednesday night for $450.3 million with fees, shattering the high for any work of art sold at auction. It far surpassed Picasso’s ‘Women of Algiers,’ which fetched $179.4 million at Christie’s in May 2015. The buyer was not immediately disclosed. There were gasps throughout the sale, as the bids climbed by tens of millions up to $225 million, by fives up to $260 million, and then by twos.” http://nyti.ms/2A2w1Cd

— NYMag art critic Jerry Saltz: “I’m no art historian or any kind of expert in old masters. But I’ve looked at art for almost 50 years and one look at this painting tells me it’s no Leonardo. The painting is absolutely dead. Its surface is inert, varnished, lurid, scrubbed over, and repainted so many times that it looks simultaneously new and old. … Why else do I think this is a sham? Experts estimate that there are only 15 to 20 existing da Vinci paintings. Not a single one of them pictures a person straight on like this one.” http://bit.ly/2zJFo8X

MEDIAWATCH — “Koch Brothers Said to Back Time Inc. Deal Talks With Meredith,” by NYT’s Sydney Ember and Andrew Ross Sorkin: “Time Inc. is said to be in talks to sell itself to the Meredith Corporation, in a deal backed by Charles G. and David H. Koch, the billionaire brothers known for supporting conservative causes. Talks between Time Inc., the publisher of Time and People, and Meredith, the publisher of Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens, fizzled this year. The new round of negotiations, motivated by the surprise entry of the Kochs, could lead to a quick deal, according to people involved in the discussions. The Kochs have tentatively agreed to back Meredith’s offer with an equity injection of more than $500 million.” http://nyti.ms/2hAXB1C

— “Matt Drudge jabs Bannon over Roy Moore, prompting internal Breitbart fury,” by CNN’s Oliver Darcy: “In a tweet, Drudge linked to a Daily Beast story that said Bannon recently had second thoughts about supporting Moore. ‘A lesson on leaving politics to the professionals,’ Drudge wrote. … [S]taffers at Breitbart … were seemingly taken aback by Drudge’s jab. ‘Wow,’ wrote Breitbart White House correspondent Charlie Spiering, linking to Drudge’s tweet in an internal Slack message obtained by CNN. ‘Is that accurate?’ ‘FACTUALLY INACCURATE,’ replied Matthew Boyle, Breitbart’s Washington editor. ‘FAKE NEWS. MATT DRUDGE IS PEDDLING FAKE NEWS.’ … ‘Not true. Bannon is not turning on judge moore. Bulls***.'” http://cnnmon.ie/2ildQx2

TRANSITIONS — Adam Kincaid is launching a consulting firm called Cornerstone Solutions. He most recently was special projects director at the RNC and is an NRCC and RGA alum.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks. How he’s celebrating: “Tonight I’ll be having a quiet dinner at home with my wife and son. Definitely a great bottle of wine and cake are on the menu. Friday night my daughter comes home from college and since my wife’s birthday was Tuesday we’ll all celebrate both birthdays at Rasika. All of this though is merely a precursor to what will be a GREAT birthday present, watching the NFL leading Philadelphia Eagles destroy the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. FlyEaglesFly.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2AKrmRA

BIRTHDAYS: Elizabeth Drew is 82 … Jay Newton-Small, co-founder and CEO of MemoryWell and a Time and Bloomberg alum (hat tip: Ben Chang) … Hannah Hankins, VP of Civic Advisors … Meg Campbell … Lisa Camooso Miller, partner at Reset Public Affairs … USA Today reporter Fredreka Schouten … Jillian Rogers of DOL … Michael Levi, Obama and CFR alum … Carly Coakley of Blue Engine Message & Media (h/t Matt Moon) … Jim Boyle, partner at Boyle Public Affairs … Kevin Herzik … Michelle Nunn, CEO of CARE USA (h/t Jon Haber) … Adrienne Schweer, SVP of Forbes-Tate Partners and an Ash Carter alum … Caroline Emch … Samir Paul … Ashley Dejean of Mother Jones … Heritage’s Ken McIntyre …

… Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is 37 … Melissa Winter, Michelle Obama’s first hire in 2007 who remains her chief of staff in the family office (h/t Katie McCormick Lelyveld, who was Michelle’s second hire) … Michael Smith, executive director at My Brother’s Keeper Alliance … James Joyner … Ron Blackwell … Patrick Ryan is 63 … Dale Pfeifer … Griffith Waller … Shanti Shoji … Jennifer Eileen Giglio … DiAnne Owen Graham … Raul Damas, partner at Brunswick Group … Christopher Kilian Peace is 41 … Paul Rodriguez … Seth Obed … Edelman’s Mike Reuscher … Rachel Cothran … Melody Johnson … Robbi Dickens … Mike Reynard … Marty Ryan … Seth Obed … Paul C. Barton … AARP alum David Pepper … Zerlina Maxwell … Libby Gerds … Jason Perkey (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from Chevron: Advanced technology is helping us find better and safer ways to deliver energy to America. We’re piloting a program that uses drones, HD imaging, and thermal mapping capabilities to monitor Chevron wells, tanks, and miles of pipeline. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zydcU4 ******

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 09/01/2021 (Justin Bieber, SZA, Jason Derulo)

Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to 2021 on REVIEIWNG THE CHARTS – or I guess you could call it “Season 4”. I’m going into this year with cautious optimism – that goes for pop music, mind you, and not actual world events which I suspect will just get even direr as the years go on. For 2021 on the charts, I’m hopeful and I hope that’ll show in this next year as I’m in a better place than ever, partly thanks to my decision to renew this series in the Autumn, and we’ve got a busy week – or year – ahead of us. I can keep up with new releases every Friday like I used to and generally kick myself back into a routine with all these musical hobbies. I stay cautious in my optimism for 2021’s pop music because frankly, looking at this top 20, I can’t say I like a lot of this at all. I mean, I guess I’m fond of some of these tracks but I suspect a fair few of these songs to have their last shred of success this Winter and not turn out as year-long hits. I can’t say that for our #1, which is “Sweet Melody” by newly-collapsed girl group Little Mix, the fifth credited #1 for the group and their first since 2016’s “Shout Out to My Ex”. Admittedly, I feel like Little Mix ends here, hopefully with a bang as this was one of the few bonafide smash hits that lasted through Christmas, and I see it lasting a couple more weeks at #1 as a good send-off because I don’t predict the band getting back together without Jesy anytime soon... not that I care about pop-group politics, of course. On that note, let’s divert to our rundown. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

There is a single song in the UK Top 75 – which is what I cover – that has not gained, returned or entered for its first week, and that’s “Love is a Compass” by Griff from Disney’s Christmas advert down to #50 – it’ll be gone next week, but I honestly don’t really understand why it lasted an extra week. Maybe Soul and Disney+ had something to do with it, because I cannot see this getting consistent streams. Otherwise, look: I’m not mentioning every single drop-out because I would just be repeating every single drop-out because I would just be repeating all of the Christmas songs that I’ve already listed every single week since late November. I will say this: “Last Christmas” by Wham!, last week’s #1, is gone from the top 75, alongside “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey, “This Christmas” by Jess Glynne, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Justin Bieber, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues featuring the late Kirsty MacColl, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens, “Step into Christmas” by Elton John, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé are all gone despite staying in the top 10 in last week’s awkward grouping of holiday trite and regular pop. Everything else I’ve said over the last few weeks in the returning entries and gains sections, Christmas-wise, is gone, and I don’t want to list any other drop-outs, including even all of last week’s new arrivals. The only other notable song dropping off from the chart that’s not explicitly Christmas-related is Liam Gallagher’s charity single “All You’re Dreaming Of”, and that’s not exactly a surprise to anyone. Okay, so for our returning entries and gains, I’ll list them in some kind of janky order. Starting with returning entries, the category that fits most of these songs is: “year-long hits that have had one final and brief second wind after the holiday season that will later be replaced as Spring comes”. This includes “Giants” by Dermot Kennedy at #75, “Breaking Me” by Topic and A75 at #74, “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek at #71, “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande at #70, “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch at #68, “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa at #67, “Lighter” by Nathan Dawe and KSI at #61, “Ain’t it Different” by Headie One featuring AJ Tracey and Stormzy at #60, “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” by Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo and remixed by BTS at #58, “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi at #56, “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion at #47, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #46, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles at #41 and “Looking for Me” by Paul Woolford and Diplo featuring Kareen Lomax at #39. Our next category is: “really old – and massive - songs riding off the coattails of a weak chart for a cheap additional week to add to their repertoire”. This includes “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper at #73, “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong at #72, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran at #66, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at #64, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #45, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I at #38, and I guess even “Train Wreck” by James Arthur returning big at #18. Our third category consists of: “mostly more recent and decently-sized hits coming back because they’re still popular but won’t be re-peaking any time soon”. These include “Gnat” by Eminem at #69 (although you’d be stretching to call that a hit exactly – would have been without Christmas), “Show Out” by Kid Cudi, the late Pop Smoke and Skepta at #62, “Lasting Lover” by Sigala and James Arthur at #57, “Princess Cuts” by Headie One featuring Young T & Bugsey at #55, “no body, no crime” by Taylor Swift featuring HAIM at #54, “pov” by Ariana Grande at #52, “Tick Tock” by Clean Bandit and Mabel featuring 24kGoldn at #51, “Diamonds” by Sam Smith at #49, “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion at #44, “Plugged In Freestyle” by A92 and Fumez the Engineer at #43, “champagne problems” by Taylor Swift at #42, “What You Know Bout Love” by the late Pop Smoke at #36, “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra at #34, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #33 and “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco at #32. Our last category consists of songs that returned and peaked this week, including many in the top 40. These include “You’re Mines Still” by Yung Bleu and remixed by Drake at #59, “All Girls are the Same” by the late Juice WRLD at #53 (still very strange to see that song from 2017 peak nearly four years later), “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals at #48, “SO DONE” by The Kid LAROI at #40 (more on him later), “The Business” by Tiesto at #31 and “Golden” by Harry Styles at #26. These are the most important returns because they signify what could be coming down the line for our genuine Winter hit parade, or at least the post-Christmas half of it. What might better show this are our gains, however, as these songs were sticking through the holiday season and took advantage of it this week to poke through even higher in the top 40 and often top 10. We have “Forever Young” by Becky Hill at #35, “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus at #29, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #27 (as soon as I can stop saying that full song name the better), “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber at #25, “No Time for Tears” by Nathan Dawe and Little Mix at #24, “HOLIDAY” by Lil Nas X ironically up to #23, “positions” by Ariana Grande at #22, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper at #21, “Loading” by Central Cee (still growing on me) at #20, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #19, “Dynamite” by BTS at #17, “Mood” by 24kGoldn and iann dior at #16, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #15, “Really Love” by KSI featuring Craig David and the Digital Farm Animals at #14, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd still here at #13, “willow” by Taylor Swift at #12, “Prisoner” by Miley Cyrus featuring Dua Lipa at #11, “Paradise” by MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy at #10, “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #9, “34+35” by Ariana Grande at #8 and “WITHOUT YOU” by The Kid LAROI at #7. I can reassure you I’m overjoyed about that last one – not because the song is good, quite the opposite, I just like having easy targets ready for the end of the year when I actually end up doing a worst list. Oh, and that’s not the end of it: “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd is at #6, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby is at #5, “Whoopty” by CJ is somehow at #3 and finally, “Afterglow” by Ed Sheeran is at #2. We already mentioned “Sweet Melody”, so now finally, it’s on to our new arrivals. What did you gain from reading me list sixty-odd songs in rapid succession with minimal commentary? Nothing. What did I gain from it? Whatever’s just above nothing, but as is the UK Singles Chart in early January.

NEW ARRIVALS

#65 – “Your New Boyfriend” – Wilbur Soot

Produced by Wilbur Soot

Before I put two and two together, I was incredibly confused to who this guy was and why he was charting – he’s doing particularly well on Spotify for this indie singer-songwriter, right? I did one quick  Google search – literally typing in “Who is Wilbur Soot” – and soon found out that I actually already know the guy from “SootHouse”, a YouTube channel I think I might even be subscribed to. Huh, I guess that shows how faceless social media platforms can be – his name is in the videos and I should have assumed from “Soot” but that missed me until now. Right now he’s part of that whole worryingly popular group of content creators that tread the very thin line separating Minecraft let’s-players from commentary YouTubers and Twitch streamers from paedophiles. I’m too old to understand any of this garbage but from what I see trending on Twitter all the time, it seems toxic and frankly I don’t want in any part of that. I don’t want to have my grandparents’ graduation photos leaked to the Internet alongside my address, thank you very much, so I think I’ll distance myself from the whole “Internet celebrity” and just talk about the music. This is the last in a trilogy of E-boy indie-pop songs, because of Goddamn course that exists. Song number-one, “I’m in Love with an E-Girl” is a dreary acoustic duet that forgets that comedy songs are supposed to be fun or witty, relying on obscure inside jokes and references to recently-outed paedophiles. I do like some of the jabs later on about romanticisation of mental illness and Chevy’s voice is really nice, whoever that is, but it’s too little too late to be a worthwhile track. Now for song #2, “Internet Ruined Me”, which is a slightly livelier rendition of what is pretty much the same song, with lyrical gems like, “My Twitter feed’s like my brain ‘cause I have it on dark mode.” At least it feels like a more honest attempt at a song, but song #3, “Your New Boyfriend”, the one that’s charting, is obviously the most realised out of these acoustic demo skits, with some pretty sweet piano melodies and Wilbur getting into his comically struggling high register to depict his naivety as a teenager when attempting to get into both a long-term relationship and career as an entertainer. Sure, the song’s janky and awkward, but the chorus has a genuine punk groove, even if it wants to stop to interject ad-libs for no reason and kind of ruin whatever momentum is there in the first place. By the second verse, the punchlines devolve to “No homo, though” and though I do like how those horns sound, they are somewhat clouded in a messy mix that does not help Wilbur out vocally at all. Chevy’s background vocals do help here and add a lot to the floaty atmosphere of the song, and, okay, I’ll admit: the song’s good, if a bit ridiculous and almost Weezer-like in lyrical content... but hey, I like Pinkerton, and there’s certainly enough pointless noise in this song to fit the criteria, so... Goddamn it, I have to recommend this one. Let’s just date this episode – and song – even further by requesting Carson and Pyrocynical hop on a nonce-rock remix, perhaps. Bring Dream along too.

#63 – “Reminds Me of You” – The Kid LAROI and Juice WRLD

Produced by Aaron Joseph, Theron Thomas, Sam Sumser, Sean Small and Dr. Luke

Oh, and speaking of sex crimes by men in places of power, welcome back, Loctor Duke, Tyson Trax, or as I prefer, (alleged) rapist. I don’t like to get too moralistic on this show because it is about the music but I cannot think of any person who would in their right mind know of “Praying” by Kesha and still want to collaborate with this waste of space who uses his monopoly on pop songwriting to continue raking in cash from vulnerable young singers, to the point where I’m not sure if I can truly blame artists for ending up with Dr. Luke production or writing credits... oh, wait, yes, I can! I don’t let Saweetie, Doja Cat or even Kim Petras off the hook for actively collaborating with Luke seemingly in defiance of, you know, moral decency, so I definitely won’t give The Kid LAROI a pass, especially if he and the label are going to use this as another opportunity to milk the passing of a genuinely talented man in Jarad Higgins, or the late Juice WRLD, for the sake of a chart hit for this bumbling Australian wannabe and a sexual predator. This is not the first time, either, but I’ll admit the story gets fuzzy, as Kim Petras did reveal that this performance from Juice was in the studio as she was recording a song, supposedly, that is – I have no hesitation to say I think stories could be made up by record labels to make whoever’s involved look a tiny bit less of an ass. Oh, and by the way, this isn’t even originally a Kid LAROI and Juice WRLD track. Let’s talk about “Reminds Me”, a pretty mediocre Kim Petras song where she blatantly imitates Juice on a trap-pop instrumental that’s just pitiful, as is her vocal delivery that makes lyrics Juice clearly wrote unconvincing. Kim Petras isn’t doing a homicide, I mean, I hope she isn’t. So now we’ve got a “reimagination”, “revamp”, “remake” – or to put it realistically, remix – of an already worthless, disposable song made by a sexual predator and its enablers, spat on by The Kid LAROI’s unforgivably gross delivery where he essentially covers the Kim Petras song and does even a worse job of it, mixed bizarrely – especially in the vocal department – and topped off with a tacked-on Juice WRLD demo verse, so lazily put together that they just repeat his verse to awkwardly lead into an anti-climactic chorus where Juice is nowhere to be found. Everyone involved in the making of this song lost whatever shred of respect I had for them in the first place for putting this out – and that doesn’t include Juice, who’s clearly being mismanaged post-mortem. If The Kid LAROI sticks around, don’t forget this and don’t forget everything he’s done – intentionally or unintentionally – to heartlessly pinch pennies out of Juice’s legacy.

#37 – “Goosebumps” – Hvme

Produced by HVME

I’d make the easy, cliché joke that this isn’t living up to “goosebumps” by Travis Scott featuring Kendrick Lamar, but... this IS “goosebumps” by Travis Scott featuring Kendrick Lamar. HVME is this boring faceless nobody—I mean, “mysterious” Spanish DJ who made a garbage deep house remix of a pretty decent Travis Scott song, but not using the original vocals and stems, which would have probably made this listenable, but instead covering the song himself, stripping of it of Travis’ original energy that carried the eerie trap instrumental and pretty pathetically attempting to replicate the “Straight up!” ad-lib. The mix is fine but puts way too much emphasis on all the swooshing and nothingness synths that do little to get in the way of the typical pumping bass-line you hear in this type of house, and, yeah, this is pitiful once again and reeks of no-effort dance music made in a bedroom you wouldn’t even hear bumped in clubs. He doesn’t even try and re-sing Kendrick’s verse – good – and his attempts at picking up Travis’ masterful flow from the original is comical at best, to the point where I genuinely laughed out loud as his measly “brr-brr-brr” sound effects. I don’t understand why this is so high, yet it has 112 million Spotify streams as his only release on the platform, and I can only assume this is thanks to Ministry of Sound and some Lithuanian record label (don’t ask; I don’t know either). I don’t see this surviving January, thankfully, so you can say goodbye to this guy and his awful, awful cover for good... hopefully.

#30 – “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” – Jason Derulo and Nuka

Produced by Nuka

I don’t think there’s any “Tampa Beat” to speak of so Jason Derulo, are you just putting “(Blank) Beat” at the end of all of your songs now? What do you even gain from that? Except there is a “Tampa Beat” – unlike Jawsh 685’s original track, however, it wasn’t called that. Nuka is a New Caledonian producer and she made a song called “4 Bryleans (WayzRmx2018)”. Alright, well now it’s the “Tampa” beat, because I’m sure Florida is close enough to a French territory in Oceania, right? Maybe he’s talking about the ghost town in Australia, or the... small Transylvanian mountain. Okay, I’ll stop kidding myself: this title is complete nonsense. At least he asked for the sample before using it this time, and if Derulo makes careers out of this, then I’ll be glad for these underground Oceanian producers. The difference is here it just feels lazy and co-opting a style he’s clearly not in tune with for the sake of hits for himself. It would make more sense for him to keep on working with Jawsh if he really had good intentions for producers out there in the Pacific. Anyway, much like the title, this song, produced by someone who claims to make the best cheesecake in the Pacific (which I wouldn’t think is that hard of an award to claim), is nonsensical. It’s stuck in 2014 with gross synth leads, clipping percussion and finger-snaps straight out of DJ Mustard’s older stuff, along with what I guess is the sound of the Pacific: Jason Derulo doing fake accents over incessant horns and over-produced garbage that seems like its sole purpose is to annoy... and I liked “Savage Love”! I think my favourite part of this production is when he pitches the horn line down for the verse and then it comes back mid-way through as annoying as ever, even if this mix is crowded enough for you to just barely ignore it. Derulo isn’t doing much here either other than straining his voice for a belt no-one asked for and having a complete dissonance between verse and chorus in terms of lyrical content. Oh, and there’s a copious amount of remixes that are all garbage. The instrumental’s on Spotify too under “Waterfall”, so I guess that adds another name to the list of names this song has for no reason. At least with “Savage Love” I got to hear BTS drop F-bombs, this is just worthless.

#28 – “Good Days” – SZA

Produced by Los Hendrix, Nascent and Carter Lang

I came into this episode all optimistic and ended up just moaning about sex crimes and Jason Derulo but I think if there’s going to be any shred of true quality from our new arrivals, it’s the new SZA track that’s shaping up to be genuinely big organically on radio and streaming, “Good Days”, from that new album, whenever Top decides he’s going to let her release it. I’m not the biggest fan of SZA; you probably don’t remember that she ended up on one of my worst lists a couple years back, although that’s mostly at the fault of Travis Scott more than her. This doesn’t mean I’m not excited to hear from her, though I did like some of the stuff off of CTRL, particularly “Prom” and “20 Something”... and, yeah, in terms of what I want from contemporary R&B, I’m not mad at “Good Days” at all, though it’s going to take a lot of growing on me because I immediately hate this mix and production, which relies on slick, lo-fi guitars being drowned out by overweight percussion that sounds organic but pretty unfitting and awkward amongst the reverb-drenched vocals and unrecognisable mix that doesn’t compliment SZA’s at times awkward delivery. That’s a shame to say because I think she harmonises well with co-writer Jacob Collier, especially on the chorus, where she wishes for good days ahead, which is lyrical content I can get behind: coming out of a bad place and knowing you have no authority over your future but wishing for good days regardless. When the synths come in after the third verse at about three minutes and SZA’s voice disappears from the mix, becoming less overbearing than it is, I can appreciate the song more and especially when that final chorus comes in... except there isn’t a final chorus to leave this song off with much of an impact, rather just a tacked-on instrumental section that felt like Jacob Collier was tasked with just extending a snippet, which given how the song was teased in “Hit Different”, might actually be the case. I like the lyrics a lot, and do think it picks up after the song practically ends, but I’m not sure about this right now, and could see it growing on me as good days either become more imminent or drift even further away.

#4 – “Anyone” – Justin Bieber

Produced by watt, The Monsters & Strangerz and Jon Bellion

I’ve done a lot of writing and reviewing this week so I’m glad I can sum this up in a few sentences. Justin Bieber is an overexposed hack who I cannot feel any emotional connection towards at all, so him continuing to make any art is moot. This song has a loading screen of a synth melody, and that’s before that really ugly chorus that Bieber really can’t save with his Auto-Tuned whine of a voice, alongside acoustic guitars that clearly do not blend well. Jon Bellion’s production at the end of this just barely saves it by doing some kind of 180 shift into slow synth-pop, clearly coasting off of the Weeknd’s success in the same style without realising what made his record worthwhile. Camila Cabello recorded a demo that I’m glad isn’t the official version because her squealing would not sound good here either; really, I think Bellion could have kept this to himself but he knows he would put a lot more effort and character into his own lyrics than this – he would also write an actual bridge for his own album, I’d hope. It isn’t catchy, it isn’t intriguing and it is gutless, like Bieber has been for the past two album cycles and I guess it’s not changing this time.

Conclusion

What a downer for my optimism about pop music going forward this was! Even the best songs here I feel mostly ambivalent on, to the point where I can give Wilbur Soot of all people Best of the Week for “Your New Boyfriend”, which shocks me since I thought SZA would run with it, although “Good Days” does grab the Honourable Mention. Worst of the Week should be a toss-up if it weren’t for the fact that The Kid LAROI exists so he can get that for “Reminds Me of You” featuring the mangled remnants of whatever’s left of the late Juice WRLD’s Google Drive folders full of demos and leaks. I suppose Dishonourable Mention can go to HVNE for “Goosebumps”, but I’d understand it for anything else here. Here’s this week’s top 10:

Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more rambling – I swear I’m not usually this angry – and I can’t really predict anything going forward either, other than unfortunately more Dr. Luke, but we’ll see what the charts decide to bring us next Saturday when it comes. I’ll see you next week.

[foreverrhapsody]

Holby City S01E07

“Take Me With You”

people taking knocks at Nick Jordan’s wandering eye gives me life OMG YOUNG DUNCAN PRESTON he still speaks with the same inflections, bless him so many heart transplants just being thrown around here omg idk who he is but evidently this one guy was in death in holy orders, one of the best miniseries ever because jesse spencer plays a young troubled priest in it omg “is it serious?” “I’m afraid it is, yes” how many times have those words been spoken on this show

“so we’ve got to hang around here until someone croaks and we get their heart” so blunt about it, but yeah basically aw, the guy is so concerned about his partner. something must be off. soooo much talk about beds. it’s like high stakes retail or something. duncan preston is so cute OMG those stairs. They’ve been around THAT long? That’s amazing continuity. (or else the BBC is really cheap.) (i’m blaming the BBC lol) should this guy be so lucid after having a heart attack oooh, this guy’s sexism, fuck off, idc if you’ve had a heart attack, women can totes be doctors “I’m going to complain!” “oh that’s a new one, a patient complains about first class treatment.” heh omg this patient complaining about being brought in to hospital, he’s kinda funny, even if he is sexist and grumbly aw nooo, poor woman. getting her kid dumped on her by the child minder. omg that was the WORST hiding ever, I don’t even know how it worked. she’s a cute kid tho. lmao she just got pawned off on a rando. OOoh! Mr. Meyer has a daughter! Oooh, Nick Jordan is getting the reins. All these old timey medical devices, it’s cool. (okay, not SO old timey, it was only a little less than 20 years ago, but still) this blood looks like red jello, or something like jello but not quite, NO. It looks like canned cherry pie filling, but only the goop, not the cherries this guy looks vaguely like tahmoh penikett, the doctor? in blue scrubs. idk his name yet. where did he even come from? LMAO michael french just carrying the child around. i bet lots of ovaries were ovulating when this episode first aired. OMFG. “this is the nerves center in here. This is where the big bad wolf lives!” Dr. Meyer growls as he walks by. CUUUTE. “one of yours?” LMAOOOO. dr. meyer’s snark kills me. (side note: i want chocolate.) oh my god get this guy out of there, he’s so distressed, he needs to calm down a little. oh noooo, i bet she’s going to die. this poor man isn’t going to be able to take it. :( MAN. all these people are just gonna break when their partner dies. :( “the one thing we’ve learned from all this is to be honest with each other. Talk to me.” yo, honesty on these kinds of shows... very rare. hm, the partner kind of looks like a rounder dan stevens “i would never put you down as the dad type” HMMMM who is the curly haired guy. i always forget his name even tho he randomly pops up. AW. grumpy sad guy survived. “Promise me she won’t die.” “We can’t.” damn oh geez :( OMG the guy that played Mick played a random Dingle in one episode on Emmerdale. And quite a long run on Corrie as... Trevor Dean? Idk who that is. Oooh, fuck off, curly ramen haired guy? go away and let her do her job.

Number of Characters I Recognize: 0 (this is not counting characters that I know from previous episodes of early Holby City, it only includes characters from episodes of current Holby City and Casualty that I’ve seen before.) Number of Actors I Recognize: 4 (Tess Stephenson, Phyllis Logan, DUNCAN PRESTON OMG, and Michael French.) Best Scenes: Dr. Meyer growling at the right time, Duncan Preston being Amazing all through the whole episode, the scenes with grumpy old guy who didn’t want to go in to hospital but who ended up a little happy in the end