#|| top ten mistakes on 2020- THIS

[renthony]

In Defense of Shitty Queer Art

Queer art has a long history of being censored and sidelined. In 1895, Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was used as evidence in the author’s sodomy trials. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the American Hays Code prohibited depictions of queerness in film, defining it as “sex perversion.” In 2020, the book Steven Universe: End of an Era by Chris McDonnell confirmed that Rebecca Sugar’s insistence on including a sapphic wedding in the show is what triggered its cancellation by Cartoon Network. According to the American Library Association, of the top ten most challenged books in 2023, seven were targeted for their queer content. Across time, place, and medium, queer art has been ruthlessly targeted by censors and protesters, and at times it seems there might be no end in sight.

So why, then, are queer spaces so viciously critical of queer art?

Name any piece of moderately-well-known queer media, and you can find immense, vitriolic discourse surrounding it. Audiences debate whether queer media is good representation, bad representation, or whether it’s otherwise too problematic to engage with. Artists are picked apart under a microscope to make sure their morals are pure enough and their identities queer enough. Every minor fault—real or perceived—is compiled in discourse dossiers and spread around online. Lines are drawn, and callout posts are made against those who get too close to “problematic art.”

Modern examples abound, such as the TV show Steven Universe, the video game Dream Daddy, or the webcomic Boyfriends, but it’s far from a new phenomenon. In his book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, queer pop culture analyst Matt Baume writes about an example from the 1970s, where the ABC sitcom titled Soap was protested by homophobes and queer audiences alike—before a single episode of the show ever aired. Audiences didn’t wait to actually watch the show before passing judgment and writing protest letters.

After so many years starved for positive representation, it’s understandable for queer audiences to crave depictions where we’re treated well. It’s exhausting to only ever see the same tired gay tropes and subtext, and queer audiences deserve more. Yet the way to more, better, varied representation is not to insist on perfection. The pursuit of perfection is poison in art, and it’s no different when that art happens to be queer.

When the pool of queer art is so limited, it feels horrible when a piece of queer art doesn’t live up to expectations. Even if the representation is technically good, it’s disappointing to get excited for a queer story only for that story to underwhelm and frustrate you.

But the world needs that disappointing art. It needs mediocre art. It even needs the bad art. The world needs to reach a point where queer artists can fearlessly make a mess, because if queer artists can only strive for perfection, the less art they can make. They may eventually produce a masterpiece, but a single masterpiece is still a drop in the bucket compared to the oceans of censorship. The only way to drown out bigotry and offensive stereotypes created by bigots is to allow queer artists the ability to experiment, learn through making mistakes, and represent their queer truth even if it clashes with someone else’s.

If queer artists aren’t allowed to make garbage, we can never make those masterpieces everyone craves. If queer artists are terrified at all times that their art will be targeted both by bigots and their own queer communities, queer art cannot thrive.

Let queer artists make shitty art. Let allies to queer people try their hand at representation, even if they miss the mark. Let queer art be messy, and let the artists screw up without fear of overblown retribution.

It’s the only way we’ll ever get more queer art.

_

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[absolutebl]

Hi ABL! I was wondering if you have recs for bl couples where a younger seme/top aggressively pursues an older, initially-unwilling uke/bottom?

I realized this trope was my absolute JAM when I fell hard and fast for Wei Zhiyuan x Wei Qian, Sun Boxiang x Lu Zhigang, and Yongjie x Xingsi. Bonus points for age gap, stepbrothers trope or the older uke being endlessly indulgent?

I mainly watch China and Taiwan bls, so I’ll love anything from there. I’ll take recs from other countries too, they might become my first foray into non-mandarin bls

I know this is a somewhat specific request so thank you sm if you manage to come up with anything! I really appreciate all the work you put into this blog ☺️💜

Oooo MY FAVORITE!!!

Hyung Romances! (wrap-up post)

I call these hyung romances because that's like noona romances but gay.

Specifically you said:

younger seme aggressively pursues an older initially-unwilling uke

I am utter TRASH for this! YES PLEASE!

Minato’s Laundromat

Japan 2022 GaGa 

AKA Minato Coin Laundry AKA Wash My Heart! AKA Minato Shouji Koin Randorii AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry

Younger seme older uke, very clearly yaoi derived dynamic, 10 year age gap. I love this show so much. This is by far the best long running example that really dwells on this trope, Shin is very much the aggressor also very much still a high school kid. Minato is very much NOT. 

Old Fashion Cupcake 

Japan 2022 Viki & GaGa 

Also from Japan, another 10 year gap, and a flipping genius version. This time both parties are older, so there’s less of a stigma around the age gap, but there is stigma about the one being the other’s boss. 

This show had me from the moment they broke the egg yolk with the chopsticks in the opening credits for episode one. It’s about a younger man with a long cherished crush on his boss (ten years older and going through a mid life crisis) who decides to save and seduce said man with pancakes. It’s wholesome, comforting, sexy, and a very necessary narrative about still having hope, interests, and openness to affection at any age. It’s coming of age/queerness packaged in a subtle critique of expectations around masculinity and love and loneliness... and it’s beautiful. Full review. 

Lovely Writer

Thailand 2021 YouTube 

Sib is quite a bit younger than Gene and defines aggressive pursuer. Gene is out of university and established in his career, Sib is still in college.

Thailand criticizes itself and the BL industry while simultaneously giving us classic seme/uke with great chemistry in a one-two punch of “we love it, but are we supposed to? and must we think this hard, yet enjoy it SO MUCH?” This show won’t appeal or make sense to those who don’t already have at least some Thai BL watching experience. What Lovely Writer does, at heart, is reexamine Thai BL has done to queerness, but in a very gentle way that has more to do with Thai BL growing up than any actual queer authenticity. It’s not parody or pastiche, but it is self reflective and trying to correct for some chronic mistakes. Whether it is ultimately successful in this matter is going to depend on the watcher’s relationship to BL and queer identity. But that’s what makes this show beautiful, interesting, and thought provoking. And I, for one, applaud the effort even if I didn’t personally connect to the characters.

Oxygen

Thailand 2020 YouTube 

Thailand’s first real stab at this dynamic as a main couple and it so worked for me. There are many who find this BL too slow and wooden, but I loved it. 

I think of this as a paragon of Thailand’s softer BL style, since Oxygen uses every BL trope in the playbook for one of the gentlest lowest angst BLs ever made. This one showcases how far Thailand is moving BL from its yaoi roots, and is a prime example of the sweet “new BL” model for which Thailand is the main advocate (Korea is liking it a lot these days too, tho). My first watch along. 

SOTUS

Thailand 2016 YouTube 

Guess who started this trope in Thailand? Yeah, sometimes I forget too. But they are not just classic sunshine/tsunder but classic younger/older. Just not by much.

This is the BL that launched a hundred BLs. No literally, it was SOTUS’s international success that pretty much built the Thai BL industry into the juggernaut it is today. People have baggage around SOTUS, I have nostalgia. Trigger warning on bully hazing. Review here. 

En of Love: Tossera 

Thailand 2020 YouTube 

Younger boy wants to court older boy and does and… that’s it. No really that’s the WHOLE STORY. There is actually no angst, drama, or, indeed plot. But are they the softest bois ever to BL as a main couple? Yes they are.

*pulp warning*

Private Lessons

Korea 2020 GaGa 

A BL short from Strongberry that I love, it's age gap and teacher/student (catnip por moi). The chemistry is slightly off though, but stil I do love this one for the dynamic. Certainly worth watching especially if this is your trope since it's like 8 minutes long and very stylish.

MingKit MarkKit

2 Moons (VERY side dish) YouTube 2 Moons 2 YouTube (major side dish) Gen Y (leads) Gen Y 2 (sides again in LTR) 

Thailand’s premier version of this dynamic I just lumped them all into one category. Only in 2 Moons 2 are they played by different actors, otherwise it is all KimCop, and who can complain about that? If you want to watch specifically for this dynamic than go for Gen Y. Trash watch here. 

SIDE DISH CORNER

Not Me (DanYok)

DanYok is an age gap, but it isn’t really the point or the plot of their romantic arc

Don’t Say No (LeonPob) 

Leon and Pob qualify. That’s all I have to say about that. 

HIStory 3: the BL that shall not be named (BoXiang & ZhiGang)

Also appear in HIStory 4: Close to You

The side characters in H3:MODC (and cameos in H4) BoXiang & ZhiGang have a huge age gap, 12 years, and it is a big deal for their relationship. When they start out BoXiang is a desperate himbo high school kid and ZhiGang is a small business owner. BoXiang’s friends tease him more for his lust over such a much older man than for being gay. 

Bonus on this one, there is some very high (and it's Taiwan so) very well done heat. That said, the main couple will, in fact, wreck your psyche for life. Proceed with caution.

THE THAI PULPS

You’re My Sky (SanAei)

Side could (and only good part of this show) SanAei are a classic uni age gap pairing. San is a bit of a spoiled rich kid jock who identifies the older nerd character as HIS and is just like, MINE. That’s MY elder gay. 

Brothers (KhunKaow) 

This is not a good show, but side couple Khun & Kaow are great in it. Khun is in university and Kaow has a small baking business.

Top Secret Together and Love By Chance both have sub plots of high school boys pursuing college ones, but the one didn’t go anywhere and the other went very very bad, so yeah… no. Although I would personally LOVE to see this done well. 

BONUS POINTS ROUND

Stepbrothers trope

HIStory 4: Close to You (sides)

YongJie is quite a bit younger than XingSi, not sure on the specifics but he’s in middle school when XingSi is in high school and still in college when XingSi has his own business.

Addicted has the stepbrothers trope but not the age gap.

Older uke being endlessly indulgent

Future

Thailand 2023 YouTube 

Based on a y-novel by Faddest (En of Love) about an engineering student and a dentist (shocker). This is just a soft sweet cotton candy fluff piece about a younger boy who pursues an older boy and then manufactures silly gay drama. Nothing wrong with that. But I don’t think this style of BL really appeals to a very large market share. Will I rewatch it? Sure. Will anyone else? Nope.

If you want your endlessly indulgent older gay, this is the you crack, they made if for you.

*pulp warning*

Manner of Death

Thailand 2021 WeTV

It’s not really relevant to the story, but Tan is younger. Not only that, he’s Bun’s friends younger brother. Bun is very indulgent, but in a grown up way.

I like MoD a lot but I’m conflicted over it being actual BL. It’s a great gay romantic suspense, although the mystery element is its weakness. MaxTul, the Kings of chemistry, are, of course, perfect and perfectly cast, but their romance thread is more a distraction than an addition. Still, I could watch them make-out the phonebook. Watch along here. 

Seven Days

Japan 2015 grey 

AKA Seven Days: Monday-Thursday AND Seven Days: Friday-Sunday Japan

Seryou kinda counts as the pursuer, but the dynamic is very very weak in this one. Still the way he asks to use Yuzuru’s first name (so CHEEKY) and the way he says “senpai” in SUCH a cute way makes me so happy. And Yuzuru is NOTHING is not indulgent, it kinda defines his character. I mean he just LETS him call him by his FIRST name... right away.

Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses. 

Just Taiwan

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line

2018 Viki 

Seme uke is VERY weak with this one but the younger character is certainly the pursuer. It’s SO GOOD. 

Lin Pei Yu directs this is a sports romance (volleyball) with a good boy/bad boy pairing, and mu favorite of the HIStory franchise. There is no clear seme/uke. Ostensibly it's high school set but Taiwan doesn't care about age appropriate actors. It's a very soft sweet romance with some ridiculously easily overcome conflict. There's great kisses but it's medium heat. The side dishes are the stepbrother trope but they’re very tame, and there’s no other triggers. It's not just my favorite of the franchise, it’s one of my favorite BLs with a perfect happy ending.

Kiseki: Dear to Me

2023 Gaga

The mains are a major age gap, but I always forget because they def don't look it. Also, Taiwan, so very weak seme/uke. Still there is age gap, he's in high school and our gangster is out of college and in the workplace.

The plot is totally ridiculous and slightly unhinged, but that’s normal for Taiwan. It involves all the tropes under a very casual framework of gay mafia gangs + food = love. Absolutely every character is queer. There’s a gum-ball machine of cameos, elder gay rep, great chemistry from all pairs, and a KILLER side couple. As a result Kiseki is a poster child for Taiwanese BL, and I happen to love Taiwanese BL. Bonus? They also managed to END IT WELL, which we cannot expect from Taiwan.

(Triggers for knife play, child abuse, lingering trauma.)

Unknown

2024 YouTube

Unknown is a wonderful BL with a pitch perfect portrayal of long term pining, age gap, and the stepbrothers trope. The acting and chemistry are ON POINT (especially from the leads) which made the resulting characters very believable. When it dwells in intimate family drama, it's stunning. It's slightly less successful when it leaves the home and goes gritty. Still, those are mere quibbles. This is an excellent show, one of Taiwan' s best.

As you see above I mostly had to take you to Japan and Thailand for this one. Considering your preferences try Japan first, it's closer in DNA to Taiwanese stuff, but it won't go as high heat. If you want the heat, you'll need to try the Thai stuff (or the ones from Taiwan you haven't seen). I would start with Lovely Writer.

Okay I think I have given you enough and, unless I miss my guess, I may have tempted you to try some Japanese BL.

Comes to the weirder (and weird hair) side. We have pancakes.

Yeah I think you should watch Old Fashion Cupcake.

EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH OLD FASHION CUPCAKE!!!

(source)

This post dated May 2024, not responsible for hyungs that sling after that date.

[the-ball-is-round]

I will always support the USWNT, and not to be dramatic, but I think this is what heartbreak feels like.

I’m just gonna be so honest. This is not the USWNT that I fell in love with ten years ago. And Vlatko as a coach has been an absolute disgrace to the history of this team. We aren’t getting past Sweden. It just won’t happen.

-The fact that we have had three years to rebuild this team after 2020 and this is what we have to show is horrendous.

-The fact that we haven’t been in a battle with our federation the way other teams have been and this is what we have to show is horrendous.

-The fact that we have more resources and more money than any other women’s team and this is what we have to show is horrendous.

-the fact that we have been world champions for eight years and ranked number one by FIFA for over a decade and this is what we have to show is horrendous and a disgrace to the legacy of this team.

This is just so disappointing. Sure, the players haven’t been as individually brilliant or consistent as we’re used to (in fact they were absolutely terrible individually against Portugal and they have lost all their ability to play with energy and are making increasingly inexcusable mistakes), but the blame for this failure lies with the coaching staff.

- There is no fire or desire to win in this team. The team keeps saying ‘they gave everything’ and I just don’t think that’s true. And it’s hard to watch these players not give it their all when we all know they can achieve so much more.

- our young players are so unprepared on this scale, and our team doesn’t know how to play with each other because Vlatko refused to make any decisions about anyone in the past three years until two months ago. How can a team play well then they’ve never played together?

- Vlatko doesn’t play players where they’re good. Sure Crystal Dunn and Emily Sonnett are good outside backs. But they are absolute beasts in the midfield. Sure Julie Ertz was good in center back when she last played it in 2016, but she is an absolute hazard for other teams in defending mid.

- they haven’t actually made any formation or structural changes since Jill Ellis left. You can’t keep the same tactics for four years and not expect teams to dismantle them.

- They’ve shown a serious inability to tactically adapt to different opponents within the flow of a game.

- They aren’t using the bench players. For years we’ve said that the US has the most talented bench in the world. Why aren’t they being used? To be so far into this tournament and to have not used eight of your players is just bad resource management.

- His lack of substitutes in a game is so worrying in this age when we’re seeing so many injuries. It’s just so frustrating when he doesn’t even try to make changes throughout a game.

- And to top it all off, Vlatko is so massively delusional about this team’s success under his management. He keeps saying “we got the job done”. You didn’t. You hung on by a thread and the only reason you succeeded was purely based on luck. You can’t make positive change if you don’t acknowledge where your problems are.

I will always back the USWNT. Besides what they’ve done in the past on the field, their off the field impact has been immense and I will always be proud of them for that. They have absolutely changed this sport for the better, and I will stand by their work for equal pay, the queer community, and people of color.

But reflecting on this tournament, what little girl is going to be inspired by this performance?

[thegeminisage]

ok, now that i've watched all of tos (none of the movies yet...) i am going to do the top ten worst and best episodes, according to Me. they are as follows:

WORST EPISODES

10. the savage curtain - idk who thought putting abe lincoln in a cage match with the vulcan version of ghandi against like, ghengis khan and space hitler would be a good idea. but it wasn't. i did like seeing the vulcan father of logic though like "im gonna go sacrifice myself for peace" ok king

9. i, mudd - all of the mudd episodes are bad. he's not charming at all whatsoever. however, this one is better than the other one because uhura gets to pretend to sell out kirk and they're SOOO cute about it. her little giggle when he PICKS HER UP BY HER SHOULDERS and tells her how proud he is. PLEEEEASE

8. charlie x - the entire premise of this episode is that the bad guy is just autistic. and then they make him live on a planet without people because he can't adjust to normal life ???

7. shore leave - obvious racism of this episode aside, the faux-irish jig that played while kirk was being menaced by his extremely unfunny old bully nearly drove me over the edge. we DO love a good mccoy death fakeout tho

6. a piece of the action - if i had any interest in gangster films before this it's all gone now. that being said. i loved when kirk drove the little car. he was so bad at it. he was so happy.

5. mudd's women - like he's literally just selling women?? and the plot twist is that secretly they're ugly?????

4. who mourns for adonias - this is just "what if ALIENS build the pyramids bro" except for the 1960s. nail in the coffin for this one was kirk proudly declaring they didn't needs gods - because they already had the One God, thank you very much!

3. the paradise syndrome - WHY WOULD YOU HAVE NATIVE AMERICANS MISTAKE KIRK FOR GOD. WHY. like i know why but Why. i think the very worst part of this episode was that it had an amnesia plot that would have FUCKED if you had simply removed the people. if there hadn't been people in this it would've been in my top 10 episodes. i think this broke me.

2. the omega glory - this is the same as the last episode except there's no amnesia, and also the "native americans" are white cosplayers who worship the american flag and mistake kirk for god because he can recite the pledge of allegiance yes really. if i had a nickel for every time this happened i'd only have two nickels etc etc at least kirk didn't knock anybody up in this one ig

1. patterns of force - why would you make your two jewish leads wear swastikas and then literally be whipped by nazis. i know he's such a bad person but not even william shatner deserves that. number one worst episode everyone says it's omega glory but it's this one

BEST EPISODES

10. plato's stepchildren - this episode is hard to rank because like it's both good and bad. the torture scenes were genuinely upsetting, especially the ones at the end w/ spock & nurse chapel, because they weren't just violence being inflicted on tied up guys, but they were SUPPOSED to be upsetting, like it was literally the point. and also this episode bears the distinction of THEEE kirk & uhura kiss. literally historic.

9. the trouble with tribbles - i feel like everyone's heard of this but it really is as good as everyone says. sometimes 1960s humor doesn't translate to 2020s humor but it was genuinely hysterical start to finish. also, the distinct trilling sound was so imprinted in my brain i recognized it in the 2009 movie where i had never registered it before.

8. the naked time - aside from the KING SHIT george takei pulled with the fencing this episode also contains the "i am in control of my emotions [sobbing]" moment and kirk & spock LITERALLY having a slapfight. this episode has everything. an absolute masterpiece

7. the empath - i feel like this paired with "the world is hollow and i have touched the sky" really made me a Bones Understander. i feel a little bad about that bc everyone says the characterizations in s3, or actually that the season as a whole, is kinda shaky? but i watched without knowing that and i feel like i Get It now. also, this was the only score i went and relistened to on spotify

6. tholian web - the spock & mccoy episode ever. there's so many things to say about this from the death fakeout to kirk's little space suit but what TRULY got me was the instant and totally nonverbal agreement to lie straight to kirk's face to both preserve personal dignity and troll the shit out of him (while chekov and sulu are like also silently laughing as they listen in no less). what this episode made me realize was that it's a good thing they argue all the time and make kirk play referee because if they were on the same side kirk wouldn't stand a chance. like he'd be finished.

5. the city on the edge of forever - ok, so, this episode made me feel like i was having a mental break. the time travel. spock's little hat. when he watches kirk kiss edith and then goes back into their room to pretend he didn't see anything. mccoy and kirk basically hugging at the end when edith bites it.

4. requiem for methuselah - the first time i watched this i was kinda like :/ because how does kirk fall in love with a woman in FOUR HOURS? that aside the ending scene blew my tits clean off. i paced around my house for like 30 minutes going "what the FUCK was that" because i couldn't simply lie down and sleep after seeing it. rewatching the episode with uh. new context made me like it a little better. but even if it had been garbage the last scene shook me so thoroughly it would still need to be on this list. i'm getting wound up just thinking about it. number one most shocking tos moment.

3. the dagger of the mind - look, i understand that this episode was technically just run-of-the-mill stuff as far as everybody else is concerned but they put james t kirk in a little brainwashing machine. and the machine was shaped like a chair. and it gives people amnesia sometimes. i don't know how i'm expected to behave normally

2. this side of paradise - this is the episode where a flower jizzes on spock and gives him feelings. and look: it's really funny, and there's a lot to love about it. but the ending where kirk hurls verbal abuse at spock for a solid 92 seconds WITHOUT STOPPING followed by: spock beating the shit out of him until he gets his logic back. i have rewatched this perhaps 1,000 times at minimum. what the fuck were they doing

1. conscience of the king - this episode got me into this mess. i don't think i can elaborate further without significant self-incrimination. let's just say what happened was i thought "oh i'll just watch this one tos episode for context for the fanfiction" and one month later i'm writing fic about [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT

ok, that's my list. i thought about doing honorable mentions for episodes that had scenes i liked even though the overall episode didn't make it into my top 10. but then i realized that would mean recapping basically the entire series and this post is already too long. i do have to give the pon farr episode a shoutout though because even though so much of it was offputting there was literally a titty window in kirk's shirt. like, it's the pon farr episode. ok NOW i'm done

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Mar 8, 2024

Today is the fifth anniversary of the publication of Titania McGrath’s acclaimed book Woke: A Guide to Social Justice. I created this intersectional activist and slam poet in order to satirise this new intolerant and authoritarian identity-obsessed religion and its stranglehold on society. Having seen so many posh and entitled activists berating working-class straight white people for their privilege, I could think of no more appropriate reaction than mockery. Even Harry Windsor was at it. And he’s an actual prince. 

Five years on, and I cannot decide whether I find it funny or depressing that so many of Titania’s ideas in that book ended up becoming reality. Nothing that Titania was ever able to suggest has not eventually been outdone by real-life activists. It is as though they were reading her book for inspiration. 

For instance, in a chapter from Woke entitled “Towards an Intersectional Socialist Utopia”, Titania makes the following observation:

“Capitalism, after all, is a singularly male phenomenon. The ultimate symbol of capitalism, the skyscraper, is nothing more than a giant cock on the horizon, fucking the heavens.”

Sixteen months after the book was published, this article appeared in the Guardian:

Or what about this passage from a chapter in Woke called “White Death”? Here, Titania calls out Hellen Keller for her white privilege:

“Consider, if you will, the example of white American author Helen Keller (1880–1968). Even though she was left deaf and blind following an illness as a baby, she still managed to study for a degree, write twelve books and travel the world to give lectures. This kind of privilege is staggering.”

Compare this with an article that appeared in Time magazine over a year later, in which the author writes:

“However, to some Black disability rights activists, like Anita Cameron, Helen Keller is not radical at all, ‘just another, despite disabilities, privileged white person,’ and yet another example of history telling the story of privileged white Americans.”

And how about this tweet from October 2019, in which Titania had some advice for dog owners:

The subsequent outrage ensured that the tweet went viral. And just a couple of months ago, a leading pet talent agency in the UK called Urban Paws was asking owners whether their cats or dogs identified as “gender neutral” or “non-binary”. 

After the backlash, the company claimed that it was a mistake. But the specific addition of a “gender identity” category on an application is hardly the equivalent of a typo. 

And what about this article on the website of Vet Help Direct?

And then of course we have PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the world’s leading animal rights organisation, which posted the following call to arms on Twitter to “end speciesism”:

“Evolve your language. Unlearn how we’ve been taught to think of other animals. They’re NOT an ‘it’ and should never be talked about like objects.”

It’s about time that somebody took a stand for non-binary pigeons.

This is by no means the only example of Titania’s ideas being enacted by woke activists. Here are my top ten examples of when her absurd demands became reality…

On 22 December 2018, Titania called for biological sex to be removed from birth certificates.  

On 17 December 2020, the New England Journal of Medicine concurred.

On 1 October 2019, Titania suggested that young women should be encouraged to travel alone in rural Pakistan.

On 12 October 2019, Forbes Magazine concurred.

On 15 October 2018, Titania argued that Winston Churchill was worse than the Nazis.

On 11 February 2021, Churchill College at Cambridge University concurred.

On 19 September 2018, Titania criticised Julie Andrews (aka Mary Poppins) for chimney soot blackface.

On 28 January 2019, the New York Times concurred.

On 29 April 2019, Titania pointed out that scientists have yet to discover the difference between men and women.

On 24 March 2022, USA Today concurred.

On 22 January 2019, Titania called for the Oscars to prioritise diversity.

On 12 June 2020, the Academy concurred.

On 30 January 2019, Titania accused Laurence Olivier of a hate crime for his performance as Othello.

On 9 October 2021, the University of Michigan concurred.

On 2 May 2020, Titania criticised the NHS for appropriating the LGBTQ rainbow flag.

On 6 May 2020, Forbes Magazine concurred.

On 6 June 2019, Titania demanded an option on social media to mute white males.

On 14 July 2020, Instagram concurred.

On 12 September 2019, Titania argued that scientists cannot possibly know whether ancient skeletons are male or female.

On 18 July 2022, gender activists concurred.

Titania McGrath’s Woke: A Guide to Social Justice is available to buy here. It’s also available on audio book and Kindle.

==

This ideology has become so deranged that it's not possible not parody it anymore. Anything you propose in jest today, they'll take up in sincerity tomorrow. Which shows how performative, directionless and unserious they are.

The Civil Rights and Gay Rights movements had specific aims: eliminate segregation, ensure all laws are race-neutral, that opportunities and resources are available regardless of race, decriminalization of homosexuality, recognition of same-sex partnerships the same as opposite-sex partnerships, including marriage. They were specific, measurable and could be ticked off as they fell.

Woke idiots have no damn clue what they're after. And all they can show us is the stupidest, most petty, most insane non-issues that telegraph to the world they have no real problems to complain about. Elimination of all skyscrapers? A lawsuit over who owns the rainbow? (Fundamentalist Xians would like to get in on that.)

They're just making this crap up as they go along, fighting for who can be the most offended and screaming about their imaginary hurt feelings to garner attention and control.

Why did we ever pay attention to this lunatics?

[nctyena]

Fans' Favorite Moments YenaxMembers #4

YenaxTen

Ten's Family

So, this is not completly a Ten Yena moment but he mentioned on one of his instagram lives that , whenever Yena goes to his hometown for a concert she always visits his home too. She sends him lots of photos and brings back some homemade food from her mom. Later she shared some sweet pictures for fans and they loved it.

[UnCut] NCT 2020 "Resonance" MV Behind The Scene

She loves to watch him dance. Everyone knows that. When the iconic kick happened and Ten accidently kicked the camera she was so hyped.

"God he is a legend. Even his mistake looks perfect. Oppa why are you so cool?"

Ten was acting unfazed at first but the more she went on he shyed away.

[STATION] TEN "PAINT ME NAKED" MV Behind The Scene

Yena showed up with a lot of drinks and food to congratulate him and everyone.

"Yena!"

"Ten!"

"Yena!"

"Okay. I bought you some stuff."

"So cute. Come here say hi to the camera."

She had a face mask and a cap on her head.

"Your face isn't showing at all."

"You show off enough for both of us."

Ten covered his chest with his arms. Then she stood in front of him and kneeled a little so her head could be right in front of his chest.

"I got you bro."

"They already filmed me Yena."

"Still."

YenaxWinwin

127 Moments

Yena couldn't spend much time with Winwin in 127. But the little time they had were filled with sweet moments. She wasn't smothering him like some others did but whenever she decided to be more affectionate he would let her. And even cling right back.

Protective Winwin

One time when they were shooting a photoshoot together she wore a colorful dress. It wasn't anything she hadn't wear before but the dress had a little cut at the top. When the stuff members were praising her he realised it and put his arm around her shoulder, hugging all the way to her other shoulder. Covering her top slightly. Throughout the shoot they posed like that.

Solo Winwin

She shares members solo songs on her socials all the time but it's different with Winwin. Whenever he has a solo shoot , show , interview she always shares it, reacts to it... When he finally made his debut as an actor she was almost faster than SM to promote it.

[just0nemorepage]

Elysium Girls || Kate Pentecost || 400 pages Top 3 Genres: Fantasy / Young Adult / LGBTQIA+

Synopsis: In this sweeping Dust Bowl-inspired fantasy, a ten-year game between Life and Death pits the walled Oklahoma city of Elysium-including a girl gang of witches and a demon who longs for humanity-against the supernatural in order to judge mankind.

When Sal is named Successor to Mother Morevna, a powerful witch and leader of Elysium, she jumps at the chance to prove herself to the town. Ever since she was a kid, Sal has been plagued by false visions of rain, and though people think she's a liar, she knows she's a leader. Even the arrival of enigmatic outsider Asa-a human-obsessed demon in disguise-doesn't shake her confidence in her ability. Until a terrible mistake results in both Sal and Asa's exile into the Desert of Dust and Steel.

Face-to-face with a brutal, unforgiving landscape, Sal and Asa join a gang of girls headed by another Elysium exile-and young witch herself-Olivia Rosales. In order to atone for their mistake, they create a cavalry of magic powered, scrap metal horses to save Elysium from the coming apocalypse. But Sal, Asa, and Olivia must do more than simply tip the scales in Elysium's favor-only by reinventing the rules can they beat the Life and Death at their own game.

Publication Date: April 2020. / Average Rating: 3.73. / Number of Ratings: ~820.

[acrazybayernfan]

What is your top 10 most memorable Bayern’s matches? (by that I mean matches that immediately comes to your mind to you when you think about Bayern, matches of which you know the score and the story by heart because they marked you) And then tag ten other Bayern's fans : )

The 8-2 against Barca in 2020 for obvious reasons.

The second game of the semi against Atletico in 2016:  probably one of my first and main football trauma (I watched the matches against Barcelona the year before but I was still kind of a soft football fan at the time, so this one was the first elimination I lived while being fully implicated, and god it hurt. Thomas missing this penalty will always haunt me. We were so much better and still unable to score that little goal aaargh)

The second game of the quarter final against real in 2017: Manu being incredible (this stop against CR7 is just insane!) and the nightmare of the end, the red card for Arturo, the offsides goals, Manu’s injury… It was a different feeling of injustice than the one of the match against Atletico, because I couldn’t say that we should have deserved to win, but I could say that we for sure didn’t deserved things to end like that

Chelsea (3-0) in 2020: For me the best Bayern game of this season and the epitome of Hansi’s football. The way we were able to press, to constantly apply pressure on the opponent, to attack again and again and again in quick perfect movements, our ability to go from our goal to Chelsea’s goal in a few seconds, so swiftly, and how everyone in the team was implicated, that was beautiful.

Actually, both games of semi against Real in 2018 but especially the second one: I had so much hope for this match, how naïve I was! I still don’t know how we’ve lost this one, all the injuries, all the mistakes but still you can’t convince me that we weren’t better than them.

The first match against PSG in 2021 (3-2): Strangely, it’s one of my favourite Bayern game and the first time I actually cried because of a football match. For me it was a real classic tragedy, it felt as if we were not battling against PSG but against fate, which was something sad but beautiful and great. I have never been so proud of this team before, never so proud of the fact that we chose to play our game even if it meant that we were going to lose, so proud of how much the boys tried. This image of Thomas bleeding was so terrible and so admirable. There was greatness and nobleness in this match.

The 4-0 against Stuttgart in 2021: A red card for Davies after ten minutes and we played the rest of the game at 10 against 11. At the end of the first half we were leading 4-0. The ability of the team to react and adjust to the situation was so remarkable. And Thomas… oh god I think it’s one of the greatest game of his career, the way he organized everything and guide everyone, I was in awe. And Leroy was soooo good in this match!!!

The match against Chakhtior in 2015 (7-0): the first half of this match is probably one of the best football I have ever seen. The ball was flying between the players but it was not the slow and boring thing that Pep football could be sometime. There was rhythm and movements and understanding between the players, it was so smooth, so flowy, and it looked so easy… that was art for me.

The return game against Juve in 2016 (4-2): Allegri’s football against Pep’s football, no central defender left in the team and Thomas last minute goal, and then the way we turned it all around… that game was crazy.

The game against Roma in the group stage in 2014 (6-0): I think it’s the first Bayern’s game I watched, after discovering the german nt during 2014wc. I didn’t watched it in live because I didn’t knew how to do that but watched the replay after seeing the result and I enjoyed it so much !

 I'm tagging @gxtzeizm, @thomas-mvller, @thommi-tomate, @fabioquartararhoe, @probayern, @antibayern, @miroslavcloset, @miasanmuller, @pancsaa, @sztrapacska

[thewolveswolf]

First of all?? Badass answers to those last ones and congratulations on doing some of the hardest shit out there! Lavender earl gray is top ten choice of tea!!

Have some more 19, 26, 39

wah!! thank you! 2020-2023 have been hands down the hardest time in my life so far. i also made some ridiculously huge mistakes but also learned some ridiculously important lessons so... i mean it's probably worth it, right? 🤷‍♀️

19. zombies or vampires? vampires! (and i genuinely think @mrghostrat would move out if i said anything other)

26. do you believe in aliens? i oscillate between the idea that 'the universe is so infinitely big that of course there has to be other life' and prof. brian cox's view that 'we don't truly know the statistical likelihood of life existing anywhere else (even as single cell organisms) and so maybe us existing is so mindblowingly rare & statistically unlikely that we're actually totally alone in the universe' both options terrify me

39. is there wise words you live by? why worry twice which hilariously and annoyingly is from a fantastic beasts film, but it really resonated with me

do i succeed at living by these words? *looks at my chronic anxiety* no i do not. but do i try to? yes. yes i do.

[prelude-numero-2]

A french article about Melitina's situation which is very alarming.

English translation (made on Deepl sorry):

The grotesque situation of Staniouta, a Belarusian opponent exiled in France

At 28, the Belarusian Melitina Staniouta (14 world medals) had to leave her country for speaking out against the current government. She has found refuge in France and works in a club in Rueil-Malmaison, but is confronted with the administration and international sanctions against her country.

We meet her in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine), where she teaches rhythmic gymnastics, the sport that made her a star in her country. Melitina Staniouta has been retired since 2016 and a 5th place at the Rio Olympic Games, but she remains first and foremost the granddaughter of a great Soviet actress who gave her native Belarus a whopping 14 world medals between 2009 and 2015 (5 silver, 9 bronze).

And it is unexpected to find her in this club in the Paris region, explaining the basics to very young gymnasts who obviously do not know what the constraints of top level are. But the young woman's situation is a terrible paradox. Forced to leave her country because she dared to speak out against the government, forced to flee Ukraine just before the invasion of Russia, supported by her Belarusian neighbour. Forced to survive in France because our administration is slow to issue her with papers and she is confronted with international sanctions against Minsk. A Kafkaesque situation, as absurd as it is oppressive.

"Sport is a school that teaches you to accept your mistakes so that you can correct them. But what mistake did I make?" Melitina Staniouta asks herself. Disillusioned. And goes back over her history. Her track record, the fact that she speaks five languages, has opened doors for her. Since 2016, she has been alternating between MasterClasses all over the world and a television programme dedicated to everything to do with outstanding sportsmen and women. I wanted to highlight everything that contributes to performance, she says. The coaches, the physiotherapists, the psychologists, but also those people behind the scenes like the caretaker of our gym who could offer me an apple from her garden just to get me to smile."

While she admits that her political consciousness has long been at half-mast, it was a rude awakening on the eve of Aleksander Lukashenko's fraudulent and disputed re-election in 2020. "If I didn't care about my country, I would have probably turned a blind eye. But I can't, I won't" she said. I have to share the violence, these horrible videos and what is happening in the 21st century in this tiny country in the centre of Europe"

At the time, the government's repression was terrible, even deadly, against the tens of thousands of Belarusians who took to the streets of Minsk. Major sportsmen and women were called to witness, the tennis player and former world number one, Victoria Azarenka, spoke of "heartbreak" but refused to say more. Other less silent voices were raised, with more than 400 athletes signing an open letter to declare the elections invalid.

Melitina Staniouta turns her Instagram account into a chronicle of police violence against civilians. "My boss saw it, and I was fired. I knew what I was risking by posting this kind of comment in Belarus. But I don't regret anything, I will never change my decision even if my parents were also punished: they lost their jobs because of me."

Of course, she first tried to find a job in Minsk. "People asked me why I didn't open a school. But it's impossible. Business is not welcome in Belarus, where almost everything is controlled by the government. There are no clubs." So Melitina Staniouta decided to leave the country. She went into exile in Kyiv, made friends there, and became sufficiently well known to start collaborating with the gym world, but also with magazines as a model.

"After 2020, the Belarusian diaspora spread to Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania. People used to say that there were more Belarusians in Kiev than in Minsk," she smiles sadly. Because in February, when war was in the air and Ukrainians were still only joking about it, wanting to believe that it would remain a threat, friends advised her to flee. "I couldn't go back to Belarus, I could have been imprisoned, killed. I booked a hotel in Barcelona until 1 March and left three days before the Russians invaded" says Melitina Staniouta.

The trouble is that she soon runs out of money, her credit card blocked. Unable to access her accounts because of international financial sanctions against Russian and Belarusian nationals. "It's a frustrating and intractable situation because I have a Belarusian passport. Everyone judges me on this passport, not on who I am, what I think, what I've done" the young woman exasperated. She decided to post a long message on her social networks to explain her situation and find a job. She received sixty offers from Australia, the United States and all over Europe. But then the administrative issue arose, as her tourist visa expired after 90 days.

"In Spain, where rhythmic gymnastics is very popular, I was able to tell my story to the media and two lawyers eventually contacted me to help me for free. They told me that I could apply for refugee status. But this application takes time, sometimes more than a year, and you are not allowed to work in the meantime for at least six months. To be honest, it sounds stupid to me, but it's the law" Melitina Staniouta agrees. Another option is explained to her, the "talent passport" that exists in the United States, the United Kingdom and… in France. A multi-annual residence permit issued in particular to artists or highly qualified people, valid for four years and renewable.

A still precarious situation

"I had written a long email to the French embassy in Spain to explain who I was, what I was going through, my wish to get this talent passport. At first they told me that I had to go back to Belarus, to the French embassy there, which I can't do. So I insisted and they finally told me that, yes, I was in the category of 'exceptional' people. That made me happy, because I wanted to find a legal opportunity. So I was given a temporary visa for three months while I applied for a residence permit at the prefecture. This is what I did when I arrived in Nanterre at the end of March. I provided the documents, all the diplomas… But I'm still waiting. For seven months now, I've had this pink paper, this provisional residence permit which proves that the process has started. And I can work. But that's all."

Hosted by a club official, Melitina Staniouta came up against the administration. She worries about the progress of her file and is systematically rebuffed by the Prefecture. "They tell me to wait until I receive a text message" she despairs. Worse still, she has scoured Paris looking for a bank that would accept her application, because she needs to open an account to receive her salary. But I don't have the right passport, nor the right residence permit" she says with exasperation. I only have cash, I can't rent a flat. But I have money, a flat, a car… But in Belarus. I feel so frustrated. I have never cried in my life, because a sportsman doesn't cry. But now… I don't ask for anything, just to be able to work and live decently"

Proudly, Melitina Staniouta intends to fend for herself, to find her own solutions. But she is aware on a daily basis of the infernal spiral that is damaging her. By choosing the talent passport, I thought I would speed things up, but I was probably wrong," she says bitterly. I feel like I'm wasting my time. The prefecture asks me not to apply so often, but it's my life. And I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel"

She hesitates for a moment, smiles sadly: "In Rio, the conditions were really rotten, we lived in our windowless rooms with cockroaches, huge Brazilian cockroaches. A real nightmare. I promised myself that I would do everything to never go through that again, to always have a choice. Six years later… I take care of myself, not to get sick, because I don't have social security. I'm not complaining, I'm adapting, I've learnt French, I'm doing my best for the club that took me in… But I don't see any prospects."

Article written by Céline Nony, 1/11/22

[bayernteen]

I’m not going to lie, the past few days have been emotional, and I still don’t have the words to explain all of this. Now that we are in the middle of car launch season and the rumours are slowly dying, I don’t even know how I’m going to explain this. But here we are, and despite me being late to reactions when it comes to announcements, I can finally explain my reaction to this announcement: Lewis Hamilton is going to Ferrari starting from the 2025 season.

I was pretty shocked at the announcement at first, but after doing some research, I found out the reasons behind this, and I immediately knew that it was time. To see that the Mercedes Benz board decided to not let him become ambassador after the contract extension has really angered me to the core, and I don’t even know if I can trust them, nor the team principal any longer. And the fact that John Elkann decided to give Lewis a lifetime contract with benefits of helping out his causes, shows that there is a good chance of going to a new and top team, and that announcement came at the perfect time, but also at the worse time when we are kicking off the 2024 F1 season.

I’m not going to indicate any more reasons of why there are many mistakes from the past two seasons, and I wish I could no longer support the Mercedes Benz board nor the Mercedes F1 team, but just because I’m mad at the team, doesn’t mean that I’ll stop supporting them. At the same time though, because I’m currently in my final year of studies, 2024 is marking the end of an era for myself and Lewis. Therefore, after many days of thinking and numerous support for the team, I have decided that this year will be my final year of supporting the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team before the move to Ferrari next year.

I feel so incredibly grateful to have supported Lewis since 2020, and I will be supporting him for some time till the end of his F1 career, but this time I will be continuing the support for Formula 1’s top and most popular team of all time: Scuderia Ferrari.

I’m very proud of Mercedes for all the hard work they have put into bringing home 8 constructors championships and 8 drivers championships, but most importantly for putting the brand back on the map. They have returned to the sport after a 55-year hiatus and have become one of the most popular F1 teams to date. I want to thank Toto for all the hard work and leadership despite some hard times, the people at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth for creating the best cars in the business, and to the late Niki Lauda who supported them in good and bad times, and we still truly miss him.

I also want to say a huge thank you to the drivers who have been alongside Lewis: Nico, Valtteri and George for supporting Lewis over the past 12 years. I also want to thank the fans, my family and all the followers who have been with me for the past four years.

But as Lewis stated: “The time is right to make a change and take on a new challenge.” I know how much it felt to go a new F1 team, and I saw Lewis go through that phase in 2013. Way back, Mercedes was a backmarker team before Lewis arrived, but after ten years we have seen the best transformation in F1 history. Of course it the same feeling with Ferrari, but they are in the mid-table. I’m excited to see what Lewis brings to the team and what they can do together. So please give them the time to bring Ferrari to winning ways, especially with the new regulations coming in 2026.

During my time when I supported Mercedes, I actually had a dream of owning a G-Wagon, but seeing the costs of the car and realising that I cannot continue my dream further of getting the dream car beyond 2025, I had a good test run of what it felt to be inside a G-Wagon, and all of that would’ve not happened in the first place if it wasn’t for the greatest F1 driver of all time. So, I’ve managed to save the best for last. I want to say a BIG thank you to Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Thank you Lewis for helping us in difficult times, especially in a difficult time in my life when I couldn’t even make it that far in my studies. Thank you for being a passionate driver, not just with thirst traps we see on our IG stories, but with amazing energy that makes me smile. And thank you for giving us an opportunity to rise back on top like you did for the past twelve years. I am so so proud of you for all the effort you have done to become the greatest of all time, and I can’t wait for the next chapter in 2025.

But right now, we’re heading back to work, and we have a lot to prove that we can go back to winning ways, so let’s finish the adventure with Mercedes on a high. May God bless us and protect us during this season, and may we enjoy this journey to the fullest.

Still we rise team! Still we rise!

Take care! 😊

[dustedmagazine]

Learning to go out again:  Jennifer Kelly’s 2022 in review

Meg Baird plays Chicago

Meg Baird calls it “people practice,” the ordinary skills that we require to interact successfully with other human beings. Small talk, the appropriate amount of eye contact, a certain minimal degree of comfort in crowds: these are all things that eroded in the pandemic.  And going even further, I’d add we ran short of “leaving your living room practice,” the difficult process of readjusting to unpredictable environments again. I got really bad at that in 2020 and 2021.

So, while 2022 was, in many ways, a joyous return to the norm, it was also deeply uncomfortable. Again and again, I’d show up far too early to shows and avoid talking to strangers.  I’d mistake soundchecks for music. I’d get bands mixed up and think the opener was the headliner or at least the second band. It was like I’d never been to a show in my life.  But gradually, over a year that was really genuinely rich in opportunities to see live music, I started to remember why I loved it — and how to be marginally less annoying to everyone around me. And I got to see some wonderful performances.

There was James Xerxes Fussell’s intricately re-arranged Americana on the eve of a blizzard in January and Jaimie Branch’s mesmerizing Anteloper just a month or so before she died. Our local festival, Thing in the Spring, once again delivered incredible abundance with Lee Ranaldo, Myriam Gendron, Jeff Parker, Tashji Dorji and others all taking turns on the stage. I experienced the twilight magic of Bill MacKay and Nathan Bowles on a back porch in Northampton as the bats darted overhead, as well as the viscera-stirring low tones of Sarah Davachi at a three-story-tall pipe organ at Epsilon Spires in Brattleboro. I got to see one of my very favorite bands, Oneida, at a club in Greenfield, MA, late in the year. I saw my friend Eric Gagne’s band Footings expand Bonny Prince Billy’s songs into epic, twanging bravado. Yo La Tengo came to my tiny little town and tore the place down.  In Chicago for my birthday weekend, I got a chance to hear Meg Baird and Chris Forsyth at a whiskey distillery on the Chicago River. It was a great year. I’m so glad I was there for it.  

It was also an exceptional year for recorded music as, honestly, it always is. Here are the records I enjoyed the most in 2022, but don’t pay too much attention to the numbers. The order could change tomorrow, and I may very well discover more favorites in other people’s lists.  (We’ll have a Slept On feature at some point early in 2023.) I’ve written a little bit about the top ten, but you can find longer reviews of most of them in the Dusted archives. I’ve linked these where available.

1. Winged Wheel—No Island (12XU): An underground-all-star remote collaboration melds the hard punk jangle of Rider/Horse’s Cory Plump, the unyielding percussion of Fred Thomas, the radiant guitar textures of Matthew J. Rolin and the ethereal vocal atmospheres of Matchess’ Whitney Johnson in a driving, enveloping otherworld. Just gorgeous.  

2. Oneida—Success (Joyful Noise): The best band of the aughts has dabbled in all manner of droning, experimental forms in recent years, but with Success, they return to basics.  “Beat Me to the Punch” and “I Wanna Hold Your Electric Hand” are gleeful bangers.  “Paralyzed” is a keyboard pulsing, beat-rattling psychedelic dreamworld. Success is Oneida’s best album since Secret Wars and maybe ever. (I wrote the one-sheet for Success, but I would feel this way regardless.)

3. Cate Le Bon—Pompeii (Drag City): Eerie, madcap Pompeii refracts pandemic alienation through the lens of ancient disaster, floating narcotic imagery atop herky-jerk rhythms.  Abstract and experimental, but also sublimely pop, Pompeii haunts and charms in equal measure.  

4. Destroyer—Labyrinthitis (Merge):  Dan Bejar is always interesting, but the COVID lockdown seems to have shaken him loose a bit. Labyrinthitis is typically arch, elliptical and elegant, but also a bit unhinged. Hear it in the extended rap that closes “June” or in the manic disco beat of “Suffer” or oblique but perfect wordplay in “Tinoretto, It’s for You.”  

5. Horsegirl—Versions of Modern Performance (Matador): Horsegirl elicits a lysergic roar that’s loud but somehow serene, urgent but chilled. The trio out of Chicago were everywhere suddenly and all at once, as sometimes happens to bands, but on the strength of “World of Pots and Pans” and “Billy” I suspect they’ll stick around.  

6. Jake Xerxes Fussell—Good and Green Again (Paradise of Bachelors): An early favorite that refused to fade, Good and Green Again considers old-time music from a variety of angles, often incorporating more than one version of a traditional tune in a seamless way.  The music is lovely, made more exquisite still by James Elkington’s arrangements, which are subtle, right and unexpected.  

7. Lambchop—The Bible (Merge): Stark and lavish at the same time, The Bible catches Kurt Wagner at his morose and mesmerizing best. Surreal sonic textures—including orchestral flourishes and autotuned funk beats—wreathe his weathered baritone, as he traipses through ordinary landscapes turned strange and warped.  

8. The Weather Station—How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars (Fat Possum): Tamara Lindeman drew on Toronto’s vibrant jazz community to form her band for this sixth album as the Weather Station. The band improvised alongside here as it learned the songs. As a result, these songs have the usual pristine folk purity, but also a haze of late night sophistication in elegant runs of piano and pensive plucks of bass.  

9. The Reds, Pinks and Purples—Summer at Land’s End (Slumberland): Glenn Donaldson is pretty much the best at bittersweet jangle pop right now, and this wistful, graceful collection of songs about life’s dissatisfactions is every bit as good as last year’s Uncommon Weather. Plus it’s got a seven-plus minute improvised guitar piece right in the middle, what’s not to love?

10. Tha Retail Simps—Reverberant Scratch (Total Punk): Montreal’s Retail Simps make ferocious garage rock with a bit of soul in its tail feathers. “Hit and Run” sounds like a lost Sam and the Shams b-side and “End of Times – Hip Shaker” with having doing exactly that. If they ever remake Animal House, here’s the band. 

25 more albums I loved: 

Non Plus Temps—Desire Choir (Post-Present Medium)

Joan Shelley—The Spur (Important)

Mountain Goats—Bleed Out (Merge)

The Sadies—Colder Streams (Yep Roc)

Spiritualized—Everything Was Beautiful (Fat Possum)

Superchunk—Wild Loneliness (Merge)

Hammered Hulls—Careening (Dischord)

Kilynn Lunsford—Custodians of Human Succession (Ever/Never)

Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin—Ghosted (Drag City)

Green/Blue—Paper Thin (Feel It)

E—Any Information (Silver Rocket)

Sick Thoughts—Heaven Is No Fun (Total Punk)

Pedro the Lion—Havasu (Polyvinyl)

Pan*American—The Patience Fader (Kranky)

Weak Signal—War & War (Colonel)

Frog Eyes—The Bees (Paper Bag)

Pinch Points—Process (Exploding in Sound)

LIFE—True North (The Liquid Label)

Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena—West Kensington (Three Lobed)

Wau Wau Collectif—Mariage (Sahel Sounds)

Vintage Crop—Kibitzer (Upset the Rhythm)

Anna Tivel—Outsiders (Mama Bird)

Chronophage—S-T (Post-Present Medium/Bruit Direct Disques)

Sélébéyone— Xaybu: The Unseen (Pi)

Zachary Cale—Skywriting (Org Music)

Jennifer Kelly

[bllsbailey]

Of Course, Biden Needs to Test This Before His Crucial Debate With Trump

No wonder why the Biden team departed so early to Camp David for debate preparation. The White House summoned all the top Democratic strategists and advisers to ready the president as best they could against former President Donald Trump. Before they could review any of their attack lines or soundbites touting this administration's little legislative record, they need to ensure Biden can stand for at least 90 minutes. That’s not a good thing for a president we’ve been told is vivacious, a night owl, and sharp as a tack: 

Some in the media have already tried to make the point that these debates are unfair to Biden. I’m not kidding; MSNBC played the ‘obstacles so high’ card to defend the president of the United States. It’s unfair for the president to debate like this. Is it because he’s too old? 

I’m hoping Trump destroys Biden but with graceful brutality. Don’t interrupt or be too overly aggressive, which was Trump’s mistake during the first debate of the 2020 election. The wind is already at your back, Mr. Trump. Let Biden talk because there’s a good chance he’ll short-circuit. Let Biden make his shoddy talking points about how he’s a job creator, and then, line-by-line, calmly eviscerate these points. 

It's Trump’s debate to lose. All the former president has to show is that he’s energetic, can throw and take punches, and take down his opponent in a presidential manner. Think Reagan’s ‘There You Go Again’ or how he expertly destroyed the talking from Mondale about his age in the 1984 debate. It’s a moment where Mondale admitted he knew he had lost the election. 

As much as I would love an ad hominem attack, refrain from attacking and let this old man spew lies that cover his thin, unremarkable presidency that’s been marred by incompetence, chaos, and abject failure. 

Think Stanley Cup Final, Mr. Trump. It’s a seven-game series. It’s a long slog. Don’t exhaust everything on the first go-around. And if Biden has a brain fart, don’t get overly excited, just carry on as if nothing happened. The voters already know Biden is too old. Let his own faults and mental health failures be broadcast uninterrupted to the tens of millions watching. Trump’s reserved disposition in not attacking during such a situation might even win over some moderates who are again fence-sitting due to the former president’s ‘bull in a China closet’ reputation. Prove them wrong. Trump tried throwing haymakers 24/7 four years ago, and it hurt him more than it helped. 

Still, Biden needs to practice standing without keeling over—and we’re supposed to believe that this man can do the job.

I also don't think it's going well at Camp David:

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[delhinewsinenglish]

Liverpool avoids damaging defeat to Man United but drops points in three-way race for the title

Having ended Liverpool's quadruple challenge, Manchester United looked set to deliver a major blow to Jurgen Klopp's hopes of bowing out at the end of the season with a second Premier League title.

Time will tell how damaging a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday will be to the Merseyside club in the three-way fight at the top, but it could have been so much worse if not for Mohamed Salah's late penalty.

“We should have won the game, that is clear,” Klopp said. “As far as I'm concerned, we have a point more than we did before.”

It wasn't only the prospect of defeat at the home of Liverpool's fiercest rivals that felt so significant, but the nature of it.

Klopp's team had totally dominated by raining down shots on United's goal in a mismatched first half, but only managed to lead 1-0 at the break through Luis Diaz's goal.

The atmosphere totally changed when Bruno Fernandes struck a stunning equalizer from inside the center circle after a Liverpool mistake and Kobbie Mainoo curled a superb shot into the top corner to give United the lead.

After victories for Arsenal and Manchester City on Saturday, Liverpool was heading toward a second defeat to United, after losing in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup last month.

That was until Aaron Wan-Bissaka's reckless lunge at Harvey Elliott led to referee Anthony Taylor pointing to the spot and Salah converting.

The draw moved Liverpool level on points with first-place Arsenal, but behind on goal difference. City is a point behind in third in an ever-tightening title race.

“You shouldn't do what we do today constantly, that won't be enough. Definitely not,” Klopp said.

Klopp said in January that he would step down at the end of the season. He has already led Liverpool to the English League Cup and the club is still in contention to win the Europa League. Klopp is hoping to win the Premier League title for a second time after ending the club's 30-year wait for the trophy in 2020.

United has been a bogey team for Liverpool this season — with two draws in the league and victory in the FA Cup.

Arsenal still has to travel to Old Trafford in the league, but Klopp predicted a similar performance by United would be punished by Mikel Arteta's league leader.

“I'm really sorry to say it, but we should have won both games and didn't. That's our fault,” Klopp said.

UNITED FIGHTS

Erik ten Hag needed a performance from his players in front of new co-owner Jim Ratcliffe.

A desperately disappointing week had seen his team blow winning positions in stoppage time at Brentford and Chelsea to deliver blows to United's chances of qualifying for the Champions League.

While this was another late setback, United's response to being totally outplayed in the first half will have provided some encouragement to the manager.

“When you put yourself three times in a week in a winning position, just before the end of the game, but then drop points, it is very disappointing,” Ten Hag said.

Pressure is on Ten Hag to salvage a campaign that has failed to live up to expectations. Ratcliffe is overhauling United's soccer operations in an attempt to end its wait for the title, having last lifted the trophy in Alex Ferguson's final season in 2013.

That won't happen this year, but Ten Hag could still win the FA Cup with his team playing second-tier Coventry in the semifinals later this month.

He still has hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, with fifth place potentially being enough, dependent on how English teams perform in Europe this season.

“We will keep fighting and we have to do the same and learn from the moments,” Ten Hag said.

LATE DRAMA

On Thursday, it was Chelsea pulling off a late comeback to stun United.

On Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino's team was on the wrong end of stoppage-time drama as last-place Sheffield United fought back to earn a 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane after Ollie McBurnie's equalizer in the third minute of added time.

Chelsea twice squandered the lead after opening the scoring through Thiago Silva and going in front again through Noni Madueke.

While Sheffield United looks almost certain to be relegated this season, it showed fight in front of its home fans.

Jayden Bogle leveled the game in the first half before McBurnie's late effort.

“Today is not about finding excuses, in the last few minutes we needed to kill (the game), that is the reason we are in the position we are," Pochettino said. “We are scoring and the problem is we are conceding a lot, we are going to keep working and believing."

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Tottenham moved up to fourth after a 3-1 win against Nottingham Forest to take charge of the race for the last guaranteed Champions League place.

Spurs moved above fifth-place Aston Villa on goal difference and also has a game in hand on its closest rival.

Forest, meanwhile, missed the chance to move further clear of the relegation zone and is above 18th-place Luton on goal difference alone.

An own-goal from Murillo put the hosts ahead at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before Chris Wood leveled for Forest in the first half.

But two goals in the space of six minutes from Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro after the break sealed the win for Ange Postecoglou's team.

Source Blog :- Liverpool avoids damaging defeat to Man United but drops points in three-way race for the title

[manybcdthings]

Name: Cole Foster

Age & Birthday: 44 years old, September 20th

Gender/Pronouns: Cis Man He/Him

Birthplace: NYC, New York

Time in Hollow Cove: Yet to Arrive

Species: Werewolf - Packless

Role: Trainer / Soldier

Positive personality traits: Disciplined, Resilient, Adaptable, Resourceful

Negative personality traits: Hyper-Vigilant, Detached, Traumatized, Distrustful

ABOUT

You didn't really think 2020 was the first time the CIA and intelligence agencies ever knew about the Supernatural, did you? There's theories that this isn't the first war between humans and the supernatural. Nor are the facilities rising through the country the first of their kind, documents and any proof of war and research long since buried. Your cute neighbors wouldn't know a thing about it, obviously. But, right at the top, specialized task forces and departments focused on investigating and managing supernatural threats for years.

A secret segment of the special forces formed within the U.S army. Warfare Operations and Logistics Force (WOLF) focused on training wolves to be highly skilled and volatile killers to use for human advantage. They would sweep through packs of wolves, staging the kills and attacks as hunters or vampires and taking children to shape their young brains prior to their first shift. It was where Cole's story began, barely even ten years old and suddenly being raised in a cold facility with endless training and programs that fine tuned his personality to become operational as a killing wolf.

To fix something into the perfect shape, it needs to be broken. That's the military way, and the wolves underwent years of training akin to torture. When strong enough, when broken enough, they were used in the most dangerous extraction or anti-terrorism forces unaware they were always the collateral damage in the eyes of the army. Living a life not too dissimilar to prisoners, mainly isolated from any other existence except living and breathing being agents and soldiers. But man never learned his lesson that the thing closest to him often turns against him. When the Supernatural war began in 2020, the army's perfect killing machines could sense there was something off from the declaration of a transfer to a new facility.

Without a word needed to one another, the wolves tore through the humans staying true to the act now, ask questions later training they were given since children. And questions were certainly answered when the wolves found documentation of abandoning the WOLF team and killing all agents within it. They also discovered documents depicting other teams similar, and the wolves decided to path their way to Canada in order to extract them and save them from their fate.

Survival has been easy and just second nature to the soldiers, remaining together through their journey to the first facility on the list and liberating it. They continued doing the same, numbers growing and sometimes lessening over the years. But the mission has always been the same, to gather together specially trained Supernaturals and ultimately combat against the army in whatever way they can. Since they're not afraid of being on the front line, it simply felt like another day at home.

Recently, some of the group were separated during a facility liberation but they had strict strategies in place for such occurrences. To reconvene at the next facility, which Cole has been traveling to by himself and surviving alone with no issues. Until he was almost captured by vigilantes when he tried to pick through an abandoned safetown. A mistake on their part truly, but the commotion led him into the path of two witches who arrived just as the last human was killed. Injured and in need, reluctantly, of assistance, Cole accepted their help and made a hesitant promise to help them find their missing witches in return.

[eurovision-revisited]

2000 Stockholm - Number 21 - Subsonica - "Tutti i miei sbagli"

Pavarotti! No, it's Subsonica being introduced by Pavarotti at Sanremo! Subsonica are a group from the Turin alternative scene, influenced by the Chemical Brothers among other bands. They mixed their second album in the UK and have a distinctly British sound as well as a fondness for vocal effects on the the singer's two mics.

Their second album, Microchip emozionale, was released later in 1999. That album went on to feature in Rolling Stone magazine's top 100 Italian albums ever, but notably didn't include this song, the one that launched them into the big time. Tutti i miei sbagli (All My Mistakes). It's an orchestral backed - well this is Sanremo - alt-rock anthemic song that is full of drama and fury. And regret. This is a relationship gone wrong song, the pain is still raw as is the instrumentation, with staccato strings sawing away even as the bass and percussion of the band drive onwards with unstoppable force. It's a crowd pleaser to be sure, one of those made to be played exceptionally loud at big gigs.

It doesn't seem to have interested the Sanremo audience. It finished 11th of the sixteen songs competing in 2000. However Sanremo disappointment does not equal commercial failure. This song went on to be the band's big hit in the Italian charts - so big that it was included on the re-issue of the album some years later. This appearance was the starting gun on Subsonica's trajectory upwards for decades to come.

In the 23 years since this, they've released eight more albums bringing the total to ten, had a major bust up with their first record label and management, toured extensively, won a couple of MTV music awards for best Italian artists and even released some home-produced horror films. Their last album was out in 2019 and the last tour occurred in 2020. Hopefully they'll produce more music in the future.

Just imagine this on the stage in Stockholm. RAI! What are you doing?