#49 years of being awesome

[johnnydany]

September 1974 49 Years Of Being Awesome 49th Birthday Gift T-Shirt

Get your styles: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/48867722-september-1974-49-years-of-being-awesome-49th-birt

[wilwheaton]

hello mr wil wheaton when you were my age (like exactly i think) you were filming stand by me

I turned 13 during production, so if you're about to become a teenager, I hope you'll let me offer some thoughts that I wish an adult had shared with me, then?

I know this is a wall of text, and giving someone this much of your attention is a HUGE ask. Maybe bookmark this for another time, if you're not into hearing an old man talk.

I wrote this a few days before I turned 50. Thank you in advance for listening, and I wish you a life filled with joy, unconditional love, kindness, and adventure.

Hey everyone! An old man is talking!

In seven days, I will be 50 years-old. This is ... weird. I do not feel the way I expected I would feel when I was approaching 50, nor do any of my friends. The only time I feel like I'm middle-aged is when my body does some bullshit that takes me down for hours because I had the nerve to stand up quickly. And I really hate it when I have to use the flashlight on my phone to see a menu. I mean, at that point, I may as well be dropping my pants for free and singing the Old Gray Mare.

Anyway. This has been on my mind for a little bit, so I had something to say when someone used my tumblr ask me thingy earlier this week:

Q: I hope I'm as cool as you when I'm 49. I'd like to think I'm taking the right steps towards that version of myself. A: So I'm not sure I'm cool, but I do know that I don't suck, and that it's a choice I make every day. I desperately wish someone in my family had told me, or shown me by example, that getting older doesn't mean getting stupid and boring and stuffy and extremely uncool. I wish I'd known that, because I spent all of my life until I was in my 40s feeling like there was this day coming very soon when I would have to stop listening to punk, stop playing video games, put on a suit, and start yelling at kids for no good reason. I didn't know that you don't have to suddenly stop being who you are and become something or someone you hate, just because of a certain age. I know that's super obvious, but to young me, it was not. My dad was an asshole, my mom never showed up for me. Directors and people on set had been treating me like a thing for my entire life. I got yelled at for no reason from adults who knew better almost every day. Most of my elementary school teachers were authoritarian, evangelical assholes. All of these different adults, consistently, shut me down and made me feel like I didn't matter, the things I liked were stupid, and my opinions were invalid because of reasons I didn't understand because I was a dumb kid. So I presumed that when you got to be a certain age, that's what happened. I didn't want to be that, at all, and I was sincerely afraid of the day it would happen. But as I got older, I discovered that all that stuff I hated about adults doesn't automatically happen. Those adults I just mentioned all made a choice to be an asshole. I just didn't know it. I was in my early 20s when I did a movie with a cinematographer who was, I think, 45 at the time. He was the coolest, kindest, most artistic dude I'd ever known. He mentored me and we had epic fun making great art together. I remember telling him, "I'm not afraid of being in my 40s like I used to be. I didn't know you could still be cool." It's sad, that I grew up in such a toxic environment, and didn't know any of these things. So, 9 days before I turn 50, here are a couple things I have figured out: You know who sucks when they hit 49 and 50? People who sucked when they were 20 and never grew up. You know who is an asshole at 49 and 50? Yep. Someone who was an asshole as a kid and never experienced consequences for being an asshole. Hitting middle age has been awesome for me. Other than the aging of my body and its reluctance / refusal to do what I want it to do, I love everything about it. I wish I hadn't spent so much of my life being afraid that, when I hit 50, it was all over. Because honestly it's kind of just starting. The coolest stuff in my life to date has all happened in the last ten years, and I'm so grateful that it coincided with me figuring out a lot of shit so I could enjoy it.

The best part of getting older, by several thousand light years, is the part where we figure out how to stop putting up with other people's bullshit, and we contract our social circle until it's only populated with a VERY few people who deserve us. And I am incredibly grateful for these occasional opportunities to be a 49 year-old dad who can say all the things that would have been reassuring for 19 year-old me to hear (he wouldn't have understood, but 29 year-old me would have remembered, and he would have understood. I think.) I sincerely hope someone hears it and finds it helpful. Anyway, you're gonna be fine. Just remember that being cool, kind, honest, honorable, reliable, listening and showing up … they are all choices. If you want to be cool when you're 49, make the choice and set the example for someone to follow you. Treat kids the way you wanted to be treated when you were young. Listen to them when they offer you the privilege, because that means they trust you, and you have credibility with them. Be a mentor. Be supportive. Show up. Make a choice to be the person you need in the world, and never stop being that person. Start today, and when you're nearing 50 like I am, hopefully you'll remember who you needed right now, so you can be that person to someone else in the future. You're already asking the right questions and taking the first steps. I believe in you. You've got this.

Okay, if you've come this far, perhaps you'll follow me a little bit more, and read a thing I wrote about talking to students just a tiny bit older than you, which contains my core values.

Be honest. I’m a very old man, relative to y’all, and I’ve learned that the only currency that really matters in this world is the truth.

Be honorable. This dovetails with number one. You attract to yourself what you put into the world. Dishonorable people will take everything from you and leave you with nothing. Do your best to be a person they aren’t attracted to.

Work hard. I don’t mean, like, at your crappy minimum wage job you hate. I mean do the hard work that makes relationships work, that gets you ahead in your education, that gets you closer to your goals. Everything worth doing is hard. Everything worth doing requires hard work. Sooner or later, you’re going to run into something in your life that’s really hard, and you’ll want to give up, but it’s something you care so much about, you’ll do whatever you can to achieve it. It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be less hard for someone who has practiced doing the hard things all along, than it is for someone who doesn’t know how to do the hard work because they’ve always chosen the easy path.

Always do your best. Even if you don’t get the result you wanted, doing your best — which will vary from day to day, moment to moment — is all you can ever do. We tell athletes to leave it all on the field. Whatever your version of that is, do it.

This is the most important one. This is the one I hope you’ll all hear and embrace. This is the one I hope you’ll share with your peers: Always be kind.”

When I read number 5, I looked up at them. I was so happy to see a classroom filled with teenagers who were all listening intently, even the ones I thought had tuned me out. “Here’s the thing about being Kind, versus being Nice,” I said. “I have interacted with lots of nice people who are incredibly unkind. Why is that? How do you choose to be nice but not kind?”

I pointed to my head. “This is where nice comes from,” I said. Then, I put my hand over my heart. “This is where kind comes from.” I put my hands out, like, “get it?”

There was this collective gasp of realization that I did not expect, at all. One kid said “Oh damn!” I saw a few kids look at each other like the trick had just been explained to them. They heard me. They really, really heard me. And it was amazing.

Okay, that's all. If you're still here, thank you for giving me so much of your time and attention. I hope you'll come back in a few years, and let me know how you're doing.

[karlachian]

baldur's gate 3 wyll ravengard grand duke coronation tumblr simulator

🩸 bloodlover

he said WHAT about me

🦴 jonfromshop

i love <3 that we are livign in this day and age of baldurian politics. this is fucking awesome

2,235 notes

🪼 slenderweaver

TWENTY. FOUR.

#AND WHAT WAS I DOING AT TWENTY FOUR. FUCKALL!!!!!

6 notes

🪡 tailormadewares Follow

now why is the coronation happening in the middle of the night. some of us have jobs!

🐦‍⬛ ulderravengard Follow

the new duke consort is kind of like an evil stepmother but for the city

🦴 jonfromshop

AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE READING OUT THE GREAT LAWS RIGHT NOW LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO

4,458 notes

🌊 tavalina

very extremely proud of one of my best friends in the whole world wyll ravengard. can't make it to the coronation because of the whole bein g stuck in hell with my wife thing can a sweet mutual please. keep me updated.

🐺 simfolicity Follow

duke consort astarion lastname has clearly micromanaged the whole thing and ulder ravengard and him might be trying to kill each other during the ceremony. wyll is just happy to be there i think

🌊 tavalina

oh okay so business as usual

🏹 highharper

business as usual

49 notes

💋 bladethatthang

why is NO ONE talking about the geopolitical ramifications of the future grand duke being engaged to marry a CLEARLY evil looking mean cunt of an elf. not to MENTION the problematic age gap.

🩸 bloodlover

mad because he's fucking me and not you????????

💋 bladethatthang

i genuinely wish we all had died with the elder brain

🪡 tailormadewares Follow

HERITAGE POST

#bringing this back for coronation day

38,493 notes

🪼 slenderweaver

i;m sorry. wyll ravengard is TWENTY FOUR YEARS OLD? HE SHOULD'VE BEEN AT THE ELFSONG

🛎️ i-live-in-the-dumbwaiter

quite famously he was at the elfsong. like i understand where you're coming from but that was a whole thing. he was very polite about ordering food at 3 in the morrow in the sense that he didn't. do that.

🪼 slenderweaver

oh so now we are fucking doing elfsong pedantics about the TWENTY FOUR YEAR OLD RUNNING OUR CITY.

348 notes

📦 zhentingthatrim Follow

this is so fucking stupid i WANTED to do a coup a mutiny an overthrowing even today during the coronation but no one wants to fucking do revolution anymore. you say can we PLEASE try and kill the new grand duke for trade opportunities and freedom of will. and then they will say well why would i want to do that. wyll ravengard is soooooooooo handsome and sweet and nice. trying to kill him would be RUDE. WE USED TO BE A FUCKING CITY.

🩸 bloodlover

bunk 42, flaming fist barracks, basilisk gate

📦 zhentingthatrim Follow

AYO?????

🔥 florricking Follow

open the door

8,376 notes

✨ princessofhousenightstar

do your required reading you little wretches and understand that i am here fundamentally to talk about wyll where he can't see it. i love the man but sometimes i like to keep things to myself. anyways doesn't he look sooooooo dashing in his coronation outfittttttttt 🥰 i made ittttttt

🪼 slenderweaver

does anyone remember when this was an embroidery blog

🏹 highharper

you are a strange strange little man astarion

#HOW has he not found this blog yet is the question i think

16 notes

🩸 bloodlover

i want ulder ravengard dead

🗡️ bladeoffrontiers

:(

🩸 bloodlover

i want ulder ravengard mildly inconvenienced

🐦‍⬛ ulderravengard Follow

we are literally tumblr mutuals. for your evil and nefarious purposes no doubt.

🪡 tailormadewares Follow

we're all going to fucking die

6,459 notes

🦴 jonfromshop

wh

the grand duke isn't an option because he always sweeps.

[leodette]

Hello! Would it be possible to get some Max + 49? Thank you very much!

no. 49 - holding onto the other’s shoulders for support

Please, I’ve Been On My Knees | MV33

fandom: Formula 1

pairing: Max Verstappen x OC (not named)

names/faceclaims: -

summary: she needs small helpful hand before leaving for FIA Award Ceremony

warning: -

requested: yes / no

**********

“Baby, did you see my phone?” Max yelled from the bedroom, looking around for the familiar case with a cat face on it.

“It’s in my clutch already, Maxie. So you wouldn’t loose it,” his girlfriend answered, walking out of the bathroom, applying the final layer of lip oil.

They were in Baku, at the annual FIA Award Ceremony. Basically said - if you were a rookie, or top 3 in the championship, you had to be there. Max attended the ceremony two times already, claiming his two world championship trophies, but he was always accompanied by a family member. Either his mom, or his grandma, or his sister. This year it was the first time he would have his girlfriend with him. They met at the last year’s ceremony, her being the daughter of one of the patrons. Flashforward, and this year she was by his side, her father sending her in his stead.

She was hiding her dress from him, murmuring that it was a surprise and he didn’t need to match since he only needed a black tuxedo and a black bow tie. But despite that, Max knew that his girl would look awesome, and that was confirmed when she entered the room, closing the pocket mirror and looking at him. Max was like he saw a ghost - mouth open, not able to think properly. Because he didn’t expect a long silver gown that covered her body like a waterfall, with a deep cutout at the back that almost showed the top part of her gorgeous bum.

“Did the dress come with a sleeping mask as well?” he asked finally, coming to his senses. She stopped in her tracks, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Why a sleeping mask?”

Max smirked. “Hope you don’t expect me to allow anyone else to ogle you,” he put his hands on her waist, pressing a kiss on her neck.

“Oh stop it you muppet,” she giggled, pushing him away.

“Note to self - don’t allow her to spend so much time with Norris, his vocabulary rubs on her,” Max murmured under his breath while picking his suit jacket, throwing it over his shoulders and taking her bag.

“Shall we go?” he offered her his arm, but she she smirked.

“You want me to go barefoot? Seriously?” she motioned for a pair of silver heels on the other side of bed, making a step in their direction.

“Don’t,” Max stopped her, picking the shoes and lowering himself on one knee in front of her, gently grabbing one of her soft calves.

“May I?” he looked up at her. She had her lip between her teeth, blushing slightly.

“Mhmmm,” she hummed and grabbed his shoulders for stability when he lifted her leg and put the shoe on her foot, tying the satin ribbon around her shin.

“Second one, please baby,” Max motioned for the other leg, and she lifted it on his command, allowing him the same treatment as the first time. He tied the bow, not too tight but not too loose, and pressed a kiss on the inner side of her knee.

Her breath hitched.

“Behave,” she whispered breathily, and Max smirked, knowing well what affect he had on her.

And he wanted to continue when his phone in her bag pinged, announcing the arrival of their car. It broke them out of the heated bubble, the pair exchanging smiles before finally picking all their necessities and walking out of the room, her allowing Max to lock the door.

[brookesophelias]

think about how

each five total time i read The Hunger Games Trilogy, the more times I THINK "WE WERE ROBBED" when it comes to Haymitch Abernathy & Gale Hawthorne.

IMAGINE

Gale Hawthorne: the resourceful hunter who thought his 42 slips would give him so much more than... well, nothing. (his family is still wanting, the girl he's crushing on doesn’t see him like that. HE'S A COAL MINER JUST LIKE HIS FATHER TO KEEP HIS MUM ALIVE).

of course, Gale's angry because the Capitol says all he has to is play The Game & he'll be full. But he never gets to play. He has all this anger at his government, for the sickness he sees. so much that it blinds him & all he yearns for is revenge. REVENGE is the only thing that lights him up these days!

he has no empathy for Victors—as he's unaware Haymitch doesn't allow anyone clean or cook for him, doesn't understand Haymitch sleeps with a knife every night for 25 years, & gets through the days drunk because he knows every tribute District 12 lost, the all 49 tributes he fought—when they have all the money & food he ever could dream & don’t do anything with it.

(Gale never knew Peeta's mother beat him for throwing bread to Katniss, doesn't realise Mrs. Undersee's maiden name is Donner).

so when Katniss wants to run into the woods with everyone AND Gale, Gale's (only?) sees "Loverboy," "the Mayor's daughter," as well as the single town Victor who trips on live TV like a drunken idiot.

therefore,when Alma Coin lures Gale into making Rebel weapons, he's enthralled. He is finally doing something useful with his skills & IT'S AGAINST SNOW? sounds awesome!!

it's not his fault President Coin wants to usurp Snow & is using anti-Hunger Games rebellions to do so. it's not his fault Primrose Everdeen is dead.

ok, but there’s Haymitch: resident Quell Victor who begrudgingly lets Hazelle in his Victor’s Village house. Hazelle, with her young children & whose son is pretending to be Katniss' cousin?

i mean (honest) gale/katniss is a major damage to the star-crossed lovers angle

is it because he could see young Gale in himself? where Gale is skilled in building & planning & hunting, Haymitch knows methods & truly making something from for nothing

does Haymitch look at Gale's broken body after Thread whipped him & know that the younger man is already more than physically broken without even stepping foot in the Games?

does Haymitch just wish he could drill into Gale Hawthorne's cocky head that being angry at the Capitol is great motivation, just not how he's going about it.

Haymitch would probably give a month's worth of his winnings for life to Gale, just to hug the younger man and tell him: i see you, your effort, your determination to stop suffering?

the thing is: Gale believes he'd be able to survive the arena and still be himself & Haymitch knows that nobody can do that—not Maysilee; not even Peeta.

in all reality, Gale was just a kid that hungered for more than he received in return.

[cheesecakeislazy]

Hey, I hope you have a nice day. I also hope you enjoy MORE FUCKIN HEADCANONS WOOOOOOO

Sally Headcanons

1. While yes, Sally loves the color pink, it isn’t actually her favorite color. She doesn’t have one. She loves blue, green, purple, all colors.

2. The only color Sally dislikes is orange, due to this, she hates oranges and tangerines

3. Sally has the body of a 7-10 year old, yet she is mentally older.

4. Despite the fact Sally is mentally 16, she still has childlike characteristics within her mindscape

5. Sally has a hard time trusting adult men; females and younger males are more trustworthy to Sally

6. Mr. D (Sally’s teddy bear) is a normal teddy bear

7. Every single person inside the mansion has seen Mr. D move on his own; nobody knows how or why as Slender has confirmed it has no supernatural tendencies within it

8. Sally likes to watch Bluey

9. Sally likes to hang out with BeN, Jeff, and Toby; viewing all three of them as older brothers

10. Jeff and Sally hang out the most

11. Sally used to have a little kid crush on Ben; Sally no longer views BeN that way because she thinks that dating is gross

12. Sally is AroAce in my AU, because despite physically being 7, she’s mentally around 16

13. Sally constantly asks Slender for a puppy

14. Sally hates wearing socks

15. Sally also hates wearing shoes of any kind

16. Sally doesn’t leave footprints anywhere, not in snow, mud, anything.

17. When Sally has tantrums Jeff calls them her “poltergeist attacks”

18. When upset, Sally can make objects levitate.

19. Sally usually throws the objects she levitates, due to the fact the objects are usually plates, vases, cups, and Toby- Damage is always present after a Sally tantrum

20. Sally cannot levitate objects on command.

21. Sally calls Slender “Mr. Slenderman”

22. Sally gave Slender a white mug that had “#1 Mr.Slenderdad” written with black sharpie on it

23. Sally isn’t an innocent little girl, she also loves to commit war crimes

24. Sally usually kills creeps, molesters, perverts, etc.

25. Sally has constant bruises and cuts on her from her death

26. The wound on Sally’s head eternally bleeds forever, it’s annoying but she’s gotten used to it

27. Slender puts bandages around her head to somewhat stop the bleeding

28. Sally and Jane argue a lot

29. Jeff managed to convince Sally that Jane is a bitch

30. Sally is a Princess Peach main in MarioKart

31. Sally is one of the few people that Ben likes to play board games with because she doesn’t destroy the game board/pieces

32. Sally likes to play house and dress up

33. Sally serves real tea and desserts at her tea parties

34. Sally doesn’t really know how to defend herself, so she can’t go on intense missions or go on missions alone

35. Sally is 4’5

36. Sally needs to be babysat whenever a majority of the mansion is on an expedition

37. Babysitting duty is rotated around the mansion

38. Jane hates babysitting duty because Sally never listens to her

39. Jeff is rarely on it but when he is, he loves it

40. Most of the proxies see Sally extremely often but don’t really know her

41. If given the chance, Sally will cling onto Slenderman all day

42. Sally loves Ben’s brownies (the not weed ones)

43. Sally loves chocolate chip cookies

44. Sally and Lulu are decent friends

45. Sally and Lazari have play dates together

46. Sally and Lazari share a room in the mansion

47. Sally and Smile dog have a complicated relationship

48. Sally loves Smile Dog because he’s a dog and constantly tries to play with him

49. Smile dog.. is an intelligent dog that usually wants to be left alone; he doesn’t hate Sally he just finds her a lot to deal with

50. Sally used to be really bad at painting nails, now she’s actually quite good at it due to BEN teaching her

51. Sally likes to draw and finger paint

52. Sally’s art skills are the same of a preschooler (aka fucking awesome)

53. Sally has a bad habit of randomly falling asleep; Slenders arms, Slenders tentacles, tea parties, while standing up, taking a bath, etc.

54. Sally likes fruit punch and grape juice

55. Sally likes to say Fuck (Jeff taught her)

[deadpresidents]

Can you tell us more about James A Garfield and is there any media of him that you recommend? All I know is the book by Goodyear..

I always say that Garfield was one of the big "What if?" Presidents in American history had he not been assassinated. He was a fascinating character and could have been the transformational leader that propelled the United States through late-Reconstruction and the Gilded Age in ways that the other Presidents between Lincoln and McKinley were unable to do. Garfield was young (just 49 years old when he died), energetic, charismatic, absolutely brilliant, and aggressively progressive. He had ideas and the ability to implement them instead of simply being a steady hand. And, like JFK in a way, he brought his young, attractive family to the White House and that could have helped him lead the country in a different direction than his less engaging contemporaries who immediately preceded and succeeded him like Grant, Hayes, Arthur, Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. Garfield also had a somewhat mystical quality to him that I also believe would have captivated many Americans in an entirely new manner than most Presidents. The fact that he was only President for 199 days -- most of which were spent fighting for his life after he was shot -- is one of the great missed opportunities of American history.

For more on Garfield, the C.W. Goodyear biography that you mentioned, President Garfield: From Radical to Unified (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), is the most recent (published in 2023) and fresh look at his life and career. But there are several others that I'd highly recommend checking out:

•Garfield by Allan Peskin (BOOK | KINDLE), was published in 1978 and, for many years, was the best, most in-depth full-fledged biography on Garfield. It's still a must-read, in my opinion. •Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield by Kenneth D. Ackerman (BOOK | KINDLE), was published in 2003, and is an excellent look at Garfield's shocking nomination and election in 1880, brief Presidency, and tragic assassination. •Touched With Fire: Five Presidents and the Civil War That Made Them by James M. Perry (BOOK | KINDLE), was also published in 2003. It's not a full biography of Garfield, but a look at the five Presidents who saw combat during the Civil War -- Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley -- and how those experiences shaped them. •Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by the always-awesome Candice Millard (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), was published in 2011 and it is the definitive book on Garfield's assassination. It's a detailed illustration of the shooting that wounded Garfield and his brutal, two-and-a-half -month-long battle to attempt to survive his wounds -- a battle that was ultimately lost largely due to the botched medical "care" that the President received after he was shot. Candice's book reads like a novel and it's apparently the basis for the upcoming Netflix series, "Death by Lightning" featuring Michael Shannon, Betty Gilpin, Matthew Macfadyen, and Nick Offerman.

Also, PBS's American Experience released a fantastic, two-hour-long documentary on Garfield's assassination in 2016 called Murder of a President, which was also partially based on Candice Millard's book. I'm pretty biased when it comes to American Experience, which I believe is a national treasure, but Murder of a President is especially good. I don't know if you can watch it directly from the PBS American Experience website right now, but you can find the film on sites like iTunes and Amazon Prime.

[kick-a-long]

My friend puts together end of the year album rankings. I asked him if I could share it here and it’s pretty awesome. Check it out.

Best Albums of 2024

1. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks (A beach house up in Buffalo and a houseboat docked at the himbodome)

2. Rosali - Bite Down (Rosali and Jim Schroeder’s guitar explosions)

3. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood (my spine’s a rotting 2x4)

4. Advance Base - Horrible Occurences (intruders and ghosts)

5. The Decemberists - As it Ever Was, So it Will Be Again (wait for the reapers to mow)

6. Geordie Greep - The New Sound (jazz rock for creeps)

7. Mount Eerie - Night Palace (winter on a vacation island)

8. Cindy Lee - Jubilee (geocities Twin Peaks)

9. Chelsea Wolf - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (goth metal trio hop)

10. Foxing - Foxing (Carson MTV, Bizkit NYE, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK)

11. Merce Lemon - Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild (seeds between all my teeth)

12. Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch (a decaying lost record)

13. Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us (I Scream Piano)

14. Jack White - No Name (like a White Stripes)

15. The Smile - Wall of Eyes (like a Radiohead)

16. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (Prog metal for waking)

17. Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future (sadness as a gift)

18. This is Lorelei - Box for Buddy, Box for Star (all fucked up)

19. Fontaines D.C - Romance (an inhaler for a panic attack)

20. The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All I Know (1 in 1000 beach boys imitations sound this good)

21. Glass Beach - Plastic Death (the soundtrack to Metropolis)

22. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown (Portis-folk)

23. Los Campesinos! - All Hell (a psychic wound)

24. Katy Kirby - Blue Raspberry (cancer has entered the chat)

25. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World (a fragile thing)

26. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven (loud bark, soft bite)

27. Hurray for the Riff Raft - The Past is Still Alive (two weeks just to catch the Buffalo)

28. Friko - Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here (Bright Eyes-core)

29. Being Dead - EELS (Godzilla Rises)

30. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk (chill wave pop)

31. Father John Misty - Mahashmashana (an accidental dose with a drop of Imagine Dragons)

32. Arab Strap - I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore (bliss?)

33. Cloud Nothings - Final Summer (reliable post-hardcore)

34. Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer (Sophisti-Kate Bush)

35. Tyler, the Creator - Chromakopia (intruder noid)

36. Tucker Zimmerman - Dance of Love (the idiot’s maze)

37. Christopher Owens - I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair (welcome back Chrissybaby)

38. Ben Seratan - Allora (screaming guitars)

39. Fred Thomas - Window in the Rhythm (a guitar left in the rain)

40. Jake Xerxes Fussell - When I’m Called (don’t place your affections on a green growing tree)

41. The Smile - Cutouts (like a Radiohead)

42. Young Jesus - The Fool (shit, I feel like a million bucks. I think I’ll take the bus down to New Orleans. Yeah I think I’ll buy some drugs)

43. Storefront Church - Ink & Oil (Scott Walker-core)

44. Parannoul - Sky Hundred (Korean shoegaze)

45. MGMT - Loss of Life (a bubblegum dog)

46. SUMAC - The Healer (Sludge Metal for sleep)

47. Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves (spinning these morning)

48. Haley Heyndrrickx - Seed of a Seed (a garden)

49. Sour Windows - Revival of a Friend (Midwest emo)

50. Dummy - Free Energy (Baggy Madchester)

[reignoftiramizu]

The Kingmaker Histories S3 EP4: CRIMINAL HONEYMOON (Someone says the title.......)

You heard that right. Someone says the title in Kingmaker s3 ep4 "criminal honeymoon". And IM about to say a lot more good things about Kingmaker s3 ep4 below the cut... Its livereaction time. I ate a baked potato. (Thats unrelated but it was good.) Anyways. SPOILERS BEWARE.

The kingmaker insaneness S3EP4

Hardest openings always in Kingmaker…. MORETZ MY FAV, I LOVE the strawberry conserves being compared to real blood. Also Henry’s nervous delivery is making me lose it. The “… no??”

“Mrrooh…. It was the same tree. It was just moving.” Love telephone’s delivery *TELESPHORE STOP AUTOCORRECTING

Also Colette’s little AGH! After being grabbed to be used as a lamp by Eisen is too cute. I love my girlfailure (she could literally just breathe and I’d call her a girlfailure. I am mean)

IM AT WORK ILL UPDATE THIS LATER (EDIT: Its a few days later and Im back. Back to continue my kingmaker review)

6:00 CALL BACK TO KNOCK TWICE FOR NO

POSTAL SERVICE WORKER APPRECIATION Thank you kingmaker. • AMIRA IS TOO KAYUTE. CORACIAS’s voice is fucking INCREDIBLE TOO LMFAOO

“…but there exists a marriage licence for the pair dated in 1903, the same year in which several establishments in Rossenwasser were hit with bank robbers. The perpetrators were never officially confirmed.” Love this bit. Amira and Coracias I know what you are (criminals) • ASHLEE CRAFT. WE LOVE KARL. “a self-proclaimed criminal not known for any significant criminal exploits” WE LOVE KARL “His name most commonly appears on police reports for pulling out his gun over trivial disputes such as a store not honouring his coupon” WE LOVE KARL • TELESPHORE: SAYING “Look at him. How dangerous can he be?” about Karl THE DELIVERY IS SO FUNNY • EISEN FALLING TO HIS KNEES AND YELLING “BABY.” ABOUT THE VAN. STILL MY FAV BIT THE WAY TAQI FUCKING SAYS “BABY” HAS ME ON THE FLOOR IDK WHY • The sound design of Eisen changing the tires. Meg holy fuck that was cool. And Eisen’s “OH YEAH.” This has to be in some “best parts of kingmaker” compilation it sounds so metal (literally Half harf harf) • Awesome Cerphon noise I want it as my text tone • Love the Historians infodump about cars and when they were invented • Love Colette trying to mend a relationship (No shes not shes causing mischief. Shes causing mayhem LITTLE IMPISH COLETTE. LOVE HER.) and the music in the background. I love the music chosen to go here LOL • Eisen “Wouldja quit tapping yer foot or Ill shove it up yer arse” 🗣 • “Shes just a girl right. You can find them anywhere. Theres one waving her arms right up the road” AND IT BEING COLETTE. MY FAV BIT TOO • Leave Coracias for dead Thank you • AMIRA’S “OW! … WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!” LOVE THE DELIVERY TOO when her pinky gets blown off. • 29:49 SHE SAID THE TITLE • “I’ve been practicing” Colette you will be so so good at blowing up heads I believe in you girl. All food service workers wish they had what she had. Colette can you teach me how. And can you put me in contact w Ariadne Id like to have my own kingmaker please.

[theprogrockbstheorist]

HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY GEDDY!!!!

(meme credit to u/rtphokie on reddit)

OH, AND WHAT’S THAT?!?! IT’S ALSO THE 49th ANNIVERSARY OF NEIL PEART JOINING RUSH?!?!

In order to celebrate these wondrous occasions, I have compiled 70 reasons why I love Rush (especially Geddy):

70. They don't have any unlistenable albums. I can put on any Rush album and at the very least enjoy it, which is saying a lot!

69. ANDDDD they have 19 studio albums!!! 167 songs!!!

68. Alex's iconic Hall of Fame induction speech.

67. The movie I Love You, Man. The main plot of that is just two guys geeking out about Rush and then going to see them in concert.

66. The Bb5 in "Cygnus X-1 Book 1: The Voyage". For the record, the other famous Bb5 sung by a male singer in rock is the high note in "Bohemian Rhapsody", sung by Roger Taylor.

65. Geddy's range in general. Say what you will about his voice, but he had range.

64. Their pre-concert videos.

63. "Hey baby it's 7:45 and I need to go to bed soon, let's fuck"- In the Mood. The debut album was something else, man.

62. They wrote songs during soundcheck when they were on tour. This includes songs like "Tom Sawyer" and "Chemistry".

61. They went to a Yes concert while recording Caress of Steel, and almost quit making the album. I, for one, am very glad they didn't!

60. The "rap" in "Roll the Bones". Sit back, relax, get busy with the facts...

59. Gene Simmons thought they weren't into women because they didn't want to party with KISS. True story!

58. They listed their baseball positions in the liner notes for Signals.

57. Neil wrote lyrics to a song using only anagrams. The song is called "Anagram (For Mongo)", and is on the album Presto.

56. They thanked themselves in the liner notes for Hemispheres. Listed as Dirk, Lerxst, and Pratt, ofc!

55. They would challenge themselves to write last-minute songs. Results of this experiment include "Hand Over Fist" from Presto, and "Malignant Narcissism" from Snakes and Arrows.

54. The mere existence of "A Passage to Bangkok". I wonder what their thought process was to put a song about smoking weed around the world after a 20-minute long dystopian prog rock epic...

53. "La Villa Strangiato". Just... everything about it.

52. The kimonos. You know the ones!

51. Their nicknames for each other!! (see above)

50. They had the second-longest stable line up in rock music! The only ones with a longer stable line up was ZZ Top.

49. They had a 40-year career! Even longer if you include pre-Neil and their adventures since the R40 tour.

48. The synth era. I unapologetically love 80s Rush, especially Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows.

47. "The Necromancer" basically being self-insert Tolkien fanfic. I wonder who the "three travelers" are supposed to be... OH WAIT!

46. They're giant nerds. All prog bands are, but they are especially nerdy.

45. Hugh Syme's awesome album covers. He did every single one from Caress of Steel onwards, barring the front cover for Snakes and Arrows.

44. The 7/8 section in "Tom Sawyer". That was my first intermediate bass line! Thanks, Geddy!

43. They're Canadian icons. Unironically, they're the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions "Canada" to me.

42. The horribly cheesy, terrible, but also really funny music video for "Time Stand Still". That song, btw, might be my favorite 80s Rush song, and is probably in my Top 5.

41. The triple-entendre pun of Moving Pictures. They're filming a movie (moving picture) of people moving paintings (moving pictures), while someone is getting moved by the scene (moving...pictures...).

40. They quote the 1812 Overture in the overture for "2112".

39. Geddy taught Les Claypool how to properly play "YYZ".

38. The Permanent Waves era glasses!

37. The opening of "Xanadu".

36. The weird stuff Geddy would have on his side of stage after he stopped using amps. This includes rotisserie chickens, washing machines, dryers, and popcorn machines.

35. "Music by Lee and Lifeson, Lyrics by Peart" on almost every single Rush song.

34. The ending of "Spirit of Radio". OF SALESMEN!!!

33. Their inside jokes. Example: The Bag.

32. They took French classes together, and began announcing their songs in French in Quebec.

31. The progressiveness of Counterparts. What other 40-year old rockstars were talking about healthy relationship boundaries and openly supporting gay people in 1993?

30. Their vaults are practically empty because they scrapped songs that weren't up to their standards. This is why we have no sub-par Rush material!

29. Choosing to end their careers with grace.

28. Ending the last show of their career with "Working Man", the song that got everything started.

27. "Dreamline"--"Learning that we're only immortal / For a limited time".

26. Geddy and Alex inducting Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

25. Then, of course, Geddy playing "Roundabout" with Yes during their induction! (Unfortunately, he did not play his Rickenbacker :( )

24. No decisions were made regarding the band without it being unanimous.

23. "Closer to the Heart". To me, that song is like a musical representation of their friendship, and it always leaves me with a warm, fuzzy feeling after listening to it.

22. Neil's books. Ghost Rider, in particular helped me get through a rough time earlier this year.

21. Geddy's Big Beautiful Book of Bass. I love that thing, and I am looking forward to his memoir in November!!!

20. That incredible Rickenbacker. I know it hasn't been his main bass since the early 80s but...

19. All their other creative projects. Geddy and Alex have a solo album each, Alex is involved with Envy of None rn, and Neil had his blog.

18. All their other stage interactions.

17. "ATTENTION ALL PLANETS OF THE SOLAR FEDERATION! WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL!" -"2112". Just... all of "2112".

16. They got me into prog. I wouldn't have this blog right now if it weren't for Rush.

15. The Lifeson chord. The F#7add11 voicing that you can hear in so many of their songs (it's the opening to "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres").

14. Neil's drumming. They call him The Professor for a reason!

13. Geddy's bass playing. And his singing. And playing keys. And... yeah, we would be here all day!

12. The Dinner with Rush video. I make daily references to this that no one notices...

11. "The measure of a life / is a measure of love and respect"- "The Garden". The final song on their final album, and possibly the most amazing closer of all time.

10. Their charity work. IIRC, this includes giving away the aforementioned rotisserie chickens, as well as various fundraisers.

9. Their constant strive to improve themselves. Including Geddy working with a vocal coach, Neil working with Freddie Gruber, and of course, disavowing that Ayn Rand shit.

8. They give me something to strive towards, both as a musician and as a person. If I could make records half as good as Rush, and handle the fame with half the grace that they did, I would consider myself well-accomplished.

7. Neil's lyrics inspired me to get back into writing.

6. They inspired me to become a musician, and to pursue a career in music. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have stayed in choir or picked up bass, and I would've never considered a career in audio technology.

5. Their music helped me bond with my dad.

4. Geddy talking about his family's story of survival during the Holocaust. I think that's really important to talk about.

3. Other Rush fans. Well, okay, some of them like to brag about how many concerts they've been to, or tend to be a little gate-keep, but most of them are really chill people.

2. Their music helped me get through the toughest times in my life. Without getting too personal, I even credit them with saving my life on multiple occasions.

However, what I admire about Rush, above all else...

1. Their friendship with each other.

Once again, happy birthday Geddy! Your music has inspired me in so many ways, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.

[johnnydany]

October 1974 49 Years Of Being Awesome 49th Birthday Gift T-Shirt

Get your styles: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/48813376-october-1974-49-years-of-being-awesome-49th-birthd

[foreststarflaime]

Prompts 49, 3, 18, and 10 for dragons

Ooo interesting! I’m assuming you mean dragons in general so I will go with that o7 ty for the ask! Love this more abstract one

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

Well I love so many of the general traits that this is hard! Hmm it’s between love for riddling-talk and hoarding for me I think. Hoarding because I love toying with the extent of what that can mean when I’m writing dragon characters—it can be anything, not just gold. Hehehe >:)

3. What first drew you to this character?

Smaug? Smaug. Honestly it’s been so so long that I don’t really remember—like early early school—but I believe Smaug was the first major dragon I encountered, and I absolutely fell in love with him! Also my best friends (2 of which are still my best friends) at the time were also super into dragons, so that fed the fire. It was mainly me and @fridgefanatic going back and forth obsessing in games and drawing, and then we discovered Wings of Fire and that just made the obsession 10x worse

18. Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

Hmm hard one. I do love my hurt/comfort no matter who it is. But for dragons, I love them just being awesome in general. So depends on the specific character ig

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

Yeah, always have (with something this general it’s so hard to do this avoiding the projecting part so oops in advance). I mean in the game Fridge and @stargazing-zani and I always played at recess I was a dragon, so. It goes deep and very far back. Probably part of my nonbinary-ness, but I’ve preferred understanding myself through the lens of dragons for a very long time. The hoarding thing is like how I love things—obsessively and all-or-nothing, whether it be hyperfixations on media/characters, or attaching myself to friends (sorry mutuals you’re being hoarded now I don’t make the rules). My senses have always been very…sensitive, especially with my eyes and light, so before I knew what being neurodivergent was I went hehe dragon. I adore riddles, used to make riddle games for my friends every year for my birthday. I’ve always tended to be somewhat solitary, so that too. And I’ve always wanted to be fierce—partially why I took up sword-fighting. Yeah that was a lot of projecting but it’s so deeply ingrained by now that it’s hard to separate out what is and isn’t lol

[gerbiloftriumph]

Floating Castle Liveblog (first read)

The King's Quest series has been graced with a very silly and very wonderful trilogy of adapted novels, and of them all, the first is my favorite. I have read it more times than I should, and liveblogged my musings on Goodreads in real time, er, multiple times.

Below is my first readthrough. Follow along with my initial, baffled, but ultimately delighted, self. Obviously, spoilers for an objectively terrible but subjectively amazing video game novelization from the 90s.

(and if you want to read the Floating Castle yourself, well, [I'm sure there are avenues online] but you didn't hear that from me)

May 7, 2018 –

page 0

Let it be officially known: I am terrifically excited to read this, and a little nervous, too. Please be good. Please be good. But please don't be SO good that I want to break my wallet trying to get a copy of See No Weevil. [side gerbil note: at the time, one of the only copies of See No Weevil, the third book in the series, available for purchase online was selling for $8k. No, that's not a joke.]

page 6

I miiiight be wrong, but wasn't Merlin's Mirror blank for all the years Alexander was missing, too? I have a feeling I read that somewhere...eh. I should read the actual game manuals sometime.

page 9

It's a touch on the fluffy side. A whole paragraph is dedicated to Alexander getting out of bed. But, let's be clear, that fluff worked really well a few pages ago with the storm, so. Plus, it's from the 90s, so. For some reason fantasy from then seems to be fluffy

page 10

You out of shape magician boy, you. Then again, 4 deep flights of castle steps (probs rough flagstone, rather uneven) is probably hard to climb, so. Fair.

page 14

Graham is such a good king. Like. Really really good.

page 26

Come on, magician prince. You can think of somethiiiing.

page 18

Sir Brian of House Blessed, I presume.

page 40

A: Oh, you stuck Graham's soul in a crystal? Very Ocarina of Time of you. What year did this come out? B: ...why is this actually kind of a good book? Like, from an honest fantasy novel perspective, not just a King's Quest adaptation perspective, it's actually not that bad. Slightly dated with its fluffy descriptions, but I've read plenty of worse fantasy before.

page 47

I didn't expect to enjoy a magician turning into a tree as much as I am, and I love Alexander being all good and diplomatic and not swearing anyone out for Cyril's complete uselessness.

page 49

I wonder how old Alexander is. I don't think it's said. How far past Manannan are we? Has KQ5 happened yet? These are not crucial questions, and yet. I'm curious. Do we know about Crispin? He's probably fractionally more useful than Morowyn. But only fractionally, cos he's still mostly useless.

page 54

Alex (paraphrased): So. All I have to do is sneak into Telgrin's evil doom castle, figure out where he hid a crystal of undetermined size with King Graham's soul in it, steal it (it had better not be car sized), sneak out without getting caught, and get home before his empty body dies, and you can put the soul back in? Cyril (quote): Oh, yes. Almost certainly. Probably. I think. Sounds like a PLAN, guys. Let's go!

page 54

Addendum to the above REALLY AWESOME PLAN. Do it before Telgrin tortures Graham's soul into hideous unrecognizability. Y'know. No pressure or anything.

page 58

I like Cyril. Road trip with the boys!

page 65

What sort of spooky ringwraith nonsense....

page 74

That’s....that’s just lembas bread. Literally just lembas.

page 81

Okay, there’s a thing I don’t like. Little episodic things periodically happen but so clumsily. I think it’s to give Alexander “items” to solve later puzzles, like the games. Direct quotes here: “Good apple,” Cyril said. “Very good.” “Sweet.” “Mmm.” And that’s the end of the exchange. Like. I get it, apples will probably be important later but. That dialogue is less than riveting

May 8, 2018:

page 87

"He’s going to try to ride a kelpie. I’ve never been so excited about a plot development in all my life!

page 108

I very much enjoyed that bit with the ogre, and now we’re hiding in barrels to sneak in. This book is like, nothing but all the best possible Fantasy Highlights.

page 123

Also, I’m fond of this exchange: “You are an evil man.” “So it has been said.” Telgrin shrugged. “Personally I’ve always found that such abstractions do not apply well to the real world. They make matters that are by their very nature complex seem rather too simple, don’t you think?” “Evil,” Alexander repeated."

page 133

Ewwww what is that thing. That’s a horrible beastie.

page 139

Where was he? Yes. Who was this beside him? Yes. Alexander those are not answers to your questions.

page 146

“All I’d have to do is wait until Telgrin is out of the room, step through the mirror, reclaim my father’s soul, and return through the mirror.” Alexander *liked* this plan."

page 162

It's absolutely just The Best Parts of Any Fantasy shoved together in one frantic ball of fury, with maybe three pages at most devoted to each new Fantasy Segment. I'm so into it. It's not a challenge to read by any stretch--I'd say it's middle grade fiction level--but, like, yo. It's crazy fun so who cares. (darn it, book, you broke my theory about where Telgrin had stuffed Graham. Boo. I was enjoying my guess.)

page 163

If my baby boy has broken his arm punching this ringwraith there will be hell to pay from me. I will protect this scarf-wearing lad at all costs. I say, when he's probably my age and knows at least a little magic and how to use a sword and has no problem crawling around dungeons and enemy castles.

page 165

Alexander is SUCH a pile of snark. Yeah, this is going well, he thinks. Now we have *four* knights chasing us.

page 168

“Cyril, I really don’t think—“ “*Enough.* there’s no time for discussion. Prepare yourself.” “No, Cyril, I— Aieeeeeeee!” Boys please

page 170

Are you KIDDING. It took us ages to get INTO the castle. And now we’re stuck outside again. P sure Telgrin is going to raise security after that debacle and kerfuffle you just caused.

page 175

Cuss the ever loving frick out of that tree root. You’ve earned a little less-than-princely reaction after this hell day.

page 181

Graham’s been soul-less for about a week at this point if I’ve added up right. He can wait a bit more, probably.

page 183

THIS IS NOT A HELPFUL SOLUTION TO THE MANY PROBLEMS AT HAND.

page 185

“Did you speak, Sir Frog?” “That’s Prince Frog to you.” Alex, please reign back the sass a little bit. You’re not helping matters.

page 194

We’ve found a princess, convinced her to smooch, he turns human again, and the first thing she says is “but....you’re *beautiful.*” Agreed, yo.

page 204

He’s been walking around with a hat this whole time? I hope it has a feather in it.

page 219

My baby Grahaaaaaam. Sorry about the week of agonizing torture. We came quick as we could. That whole scene with you and Telgrin was so cool and you’re so brilliant and I love your stupid regal face. Also. This exchange; “What happened?” “I’m not exactly sure. All I know is that Telgrin came uncomfortably close to killing me.” Y’know, no big deal.

page 223

"It opened its eyes, blinked, and said, “Hmph. What’s happening? Where am I?” “It’s all right, dear,” the first head said. “Go back to sleep. I am just going to kill this man here.” “Oh, that’s all right, then.”

page 228

I’m amazed Telgrin hasn’t raised hell and panic after losing Graham and his staff. Like. This isn’t a good event for our villain but we everyone seems remarkably calm.

page 231

“Is *everyone* in Daventry this obstinate?” Yes. You messed with the wrong royal family, tbh.

page 234

I love this. I love this book. In ways I cannot express because truly it is not a good book and yet. And YET. The setting is phenomenal, the cast both old and new entertaining, the language occasionally dips beyond melodramatic into actually decently lyrical, the action is relentless, and EVERYONE IS SASSY. Be it Alexander, Graham, this new princess, Telgrin. Everyone.

page 243

“I don’t suppose that you’ll tell me what you were up to.” “I don’t suppose.“ The sass is too strong. It’s blinding. I don’t want this book to end.

page 248

“You know, Alexander, I am not normally given to strong emotions. I do not often make declaration of animosity, for these do not agree with my usually thoughtful and scholarly nature. I must, however, tell you that I hate you.” The sass.

page 249

“The wonderful thing is, I have the power to make it all come true. All of it – the pain, the disfigurement, the death. I tell you, sometimes it’s a truly marvelous thing to be me.” Stars above I’m dying this is so good

page 250

This book is amazing. I am dying.

page 252

No, seriously. I am actually laughing out loud at this point. I love this. “She shall marry me unwillingly, or not at all!“

page 255

“Oh, I see the way of it. It’s blame-everything-on-Telgrin time, is it?” It hurts. My joy hurts too much. I’m crying with joy.

page 260

Cool guys don’t look at explosions.

page 269

This castle even has murder holes. Like. This is actually a good solid piece of fantasy, with accurate castles.

page 273

“I could attempt to fly you down.” All in all, Alexander thought he would rather just jump."

page 293

Graham is such a flirt.

page 297

No there’s no more page to turn!!!!!! Nooooooo I want moreeeee. .....aahHahdhsbdjdhdbuebfjxi.

May 8, 2018 – Finished Reading

five stars out of five stars

[dorothydalmati1]

Obscure Animation Subject #160: Glitter Force

Remember Pretty Cure? It’s an awesome anime franchise with a bunch of action, memorable characters and beautiful animation. Now, the series had different incarnations per year but the core heart is still the same. Now, what if I told you the series was dubbed before? The first season of the first incarnation did get its own English dub simply named Pretty Cure, season 2 wasn’t dubbed unfortunately. However, that was only in Canada. It wasn’t introduced in the States until 2015, when Saban and Netflix created an English dub based on Smile Pretty Cure!, under the title Glitter Force.

This title change was actually met with backlash among Pretty Cure fans, as the first season of the original was dubbed with the Pretty Cure name attached. However, this could be understandable in my perspective as different incarnations of Pretty Cure usually have different protagonists. While the original series had 48 episodes lasting from February 5, 2012 to January 27, 2013, this dub had 8 episodes cut and was split into two seasons, lasting from December 18, 2015 to August 26, 2016. Although 8 episodes isn’t the majority of the series, it resulted in plot holes with character development lost. You wanna know why 8 episodes have been cut? It’s because Saban want this dub to look AMERICANIZED, REMOVING JAPANESE REFERENCES, AND EDITING OR REMOVING EMOTIONAL SCENES JUST TO MAKE IT APPEAL TO LITTLE KIDS! Does that sound familiar to what 4Kids did to One Piece? I mean sure, the series is targeted at kids, and its original Japanese version did originally air on TV Asahi on Sunday mornings where children would be watching, but that’s because what Japan views kid shows is actually different when compared to the US. I’m actually okay if the names were changed as long as the content isn’t altered much, and yet there's a lot of alterations resulting in a lot of plot holes and character development being lost.

Really aside from the terrible Americanizing and cuts, the voice-acting is god-awfully annoying and don’t fit the characters at all. There are also very unnecessary pop culture references like a reference to The Wizard of Oz in one episode. It also tries to hard to be cool and hip with kids with slang such as "besties", "epic win", and "selfies". There’s also some unnecessary screen dimming as a way to reduce seizures but it ends up being a distraction, and besides, the original Japanese version wasn’t flashy due to the Dennō Senshi Porygon incident. So yeah, pretty bad. There are some good things it did like introduce Pretty Cure to a Western audience, and some of changes actually making sense such as in episode 9 were in the farewell note the class gives to Lily, Cornelius (the artist who bullied Lily in episode 3) apologizes for making her cry, something that was never done in the original, but it’s not saying much. Although it was panned by critics, the series did successful enough to the point where Saban decided to dub the next Pretty Cure series under the name Glitter Force Doki Doki.

The original version was titled as Doki Doki! Pretty Cure, which lasted for 49 episodes airing on TV Asahi from February 3, 2013 to January 26, 2014, in the same timeslot as its predecessor. Saban produced the English dub under the Glitter Force Doki Doki name, lasting from August 18 to November 10, 2017. It carries many of the same issues its predecessor had, awful Americanization, bad voice-acting, dimming in some scenes amongst other reasons. However, it’s actually a lot worse when compared to its predecessor, as it actually has little to no connection to it, I mean the shows are mainly standalone aside from the Pretty Cure branding, none of the events in the previous series get mentioned, at all. And just when you thought that 8 episodes getting cut off from its predecessor is bad enough, well, this dub cuts a stunning 19 EPISODES FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSION, NOW BRINGING IN JUST 30 EPISODES! Some were even cut because they had too many references to Japanese culture. This caused even more continuity errors and missing character development. In response to the failure of the series, Saban filed for bankruptcy, selling most of its assets to Hasbro, and shuttered operations on July 2, 2018. Hasbro still owned the English rights until licensing for both series expired by 2024, resulting in Netflix removing them from the service. Toei now owns the full rights to both series, indicating that both series will be streaming on Crunchyroll English subbed in the future.

It’s no wonder that Saban had to be killed off really, and it’s a shame because they gave us classics like Digimon and Power Rangers. Too bad its founder, Haim Saban, is a complete homophobe and is also pro-Israel. Remember, SAVE PALESTINE FOLKS!

[niceness-before-knives]

Hi!

5, 33, and 49 for knives pls 👀

He seems awesome and i wanna know more about them

Ah! Thank you so much! :D This totally makes my day! <333

5. What was life like for Rook before joining the Veilguard?

In a word, carefree. Knives grew up in Treviso with his mother, who was something of a seer. She had been sent to Dairsmuid when her magic showed, and it was a good choice since it's definitely geared a bit more towards spirits. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see wisps and a spirit hanging around their small house.

Knives' father is something of a pirate too, so more often than not, he was out on the sea but where he made it back to Treviso, it was always like a little festival. Both of his parents are very carefree and wild souls, so life was honestly a series of followed whims.

(Minor tangent, but this is kind-of why Knives said yes when he got recruited by the Crows. Carefree is nice, but being aimless less so. And while the training was nothing short of torturous, working towards something that would be their own was its own odd delight.)

I imagine in the every day, Knives spent a lot of time wandering and working. His natural attitude feels very aimless and float-y, so he was great at staking out his contracts without tipping off people. Watching people in the every day is a big pastime of his, as well as visiting galleries and seeing local artists and bards at work. He's deeply fascinated by and a bit in love with life in every joyful and regretted moment. So, why not try to experience life in every shade, every color, every tone~

(Poor Solas is just trying to destroy the world he sees as such a mistake, and Knives is just waxing poetry about couples reuniting on the docks on Treviso in fervid and loud displays, effortlessly breaking up over coffee after thirty years of strain, a toddler imitating the bard in the market and 'how can you not see the beauty in all of that? Are you so blind in your own grief and doubt? It's beautiful, every rotting and every blossoming moment. Beautiful.')

33. What do fear demons look like to Rook?

Oh! This actually stumped me for a bit! o: Knives isn't terribly afraid of most things. He'd be in love with motions of terror just as much as anything else, as long as he saw a moment of relief in the future.

Like, Knives even thinks of the Hossberg Wetlands are beautiful in their own way, lol.

That being said, they doesn't enjoy thunderstorms at all much. As soon as they hear a clap of thunder or sees a flash in the sky, they're politely excusing themselves to go hide under something sturdy. It's all the stories their dad excitedly told, about storms at sea and the crashing waves and flooding lower decks and Knives' mind is like just 'nope'.

…which is when the actual fear lies. Being trapped. Knives' life has been very carefree, but his parents' less so. He's heard the stories about his mother's religious upbringing and the suffocating words she uses when she rants about it. Trapped. His father had a whole life planned out under the Qun, and then his magic showed up and he was called a Saarebas instead and his life ended all but ended until he escaped.

The idea of being trapped, to not be able to experience life, is honestly the definition of terror to Knives. So, it shouldn't be surprising that's what the fear demons draw from.

Stitched lips, bonded arms, small rooms, lights flickering through cracks in the walls. A denied life. A life Knives could've had if even one thing happened differently.

49. What will always make them laugh?

Oh my gosh! Knives laughs when he's happy, the purest form in love there is. So. Passion, just passion. Just, regale Knives with something that you find interesting and talk from the heart with passion and joy, and Knives is pure giggles and the quietest little laughters. It's so lovely? Look, there's a theme in these and it's Knives just loves to love. He loves seeing it in other people, eyes lighting up in delight and how many words get stumbled over in excitement, or all the pauses as someone tries to find the perfect way to explain.

…I think it sometimes (more than sometimes, maybe) comes off as rude, especially around new people, but it isn't to Knives. o: They're like half-way in love with you, and just can't contain the joy bubbling inside~~

And thank you again for the questions! I really do appreciate them. <3

[cattimeswithjellie]

Stream Recap, Rendog 07/09/24

Not too many recaps this week, it's a busy week! I was gone all weekend for my 20th anniversary (yes, I have been married longer than quite a few of you have been alive), and now I have family coming to visit, but here's this Ren stream I started before I left and just finished up. In this stream, Ren gathers material for his autosmelter!

00:00 Ren opens the stream in video-with-music mode, running the countdown clock and bopping around the server to do various pre-stream chores. The title for today’s stream is “Gathering Stuff For A New Project” and Chat is happy to speculate as they filter in.

5:40 Ren turns down the music and greets the chat, welcoming them to the Tuesday stream. It’s been a week since he streamed because the Skulk Crane sucked the life out of him while he was building with it. He vastly underestimated the amount of copper required to make 500 copper trapdoors! He starts the day by checking to see if the shop actually made any money. He would be surprised. There have been no sales. Ren remembers that this is actually the worst permit in the world to have because nobody in the entire world (except Cubfan) ever does anything with skulk! It looks cool on its own but does not go nicely with any other block in the game. The skulk enthusiasts in Chat are hurt by this slander. Ren wishes he’d gotten at least one sale. Gem is doing a magic theme, maybe she will buy some in the future. Terrible sales aside, he’s very happy with the build, which is really very pretty and impressive.

9:50 Ren checks the diorite shop (no sales) and beacons (some sales) and thanks subs and donos. Today’s plan is a new project! He showed Chat a preview last week, but he’s going to build an autosmelting facility! His current facility is terrible and he has to smelt _so much_, so it’s time for a newer, bigger, better smelter. He warns Chat that among other things, the new build needs over 900 quartz blocks, so he’s got his work cut out for him.

13:40 A chatter has been subscribed for 11 months. Ren loves the number 11, it’s his favorite sub month number and also his birthday! He reminds Chat that his birthday is 10/11 and he will be seven years old. That is so old! Chat is impressed. ((It is not clear whether this is just a random bit or whether Ren is counting his age in dog years, which would make him 49 on his upcoming birthday.)) Chat encourages Ren to go to Impulse’s quartz shop and save himself a lot of grinding. Ren says that being an adult is 70% boring and 30% awesome, with the 70% subsidizing the 30.

16:00 Ren begins laying out his workspace. He has done the whole thing in creative already and sent it off to get a schematic made. He hopes to be able to show it off soon! Ren remembers he wants to give Cherrifire and Foxxology the Artist Badge, but he doesn’t know how to do it. Chat helps him out. He does it successfully, he and Chat are very proud. He gives one to Sanistratus as well, then realizes he has no VIPs. How has he been streaming so long with no VIPs? He is the worst streamer ever. He tries to make his Hermit friends VIPs, but none of them are watching right now and can’t be targeted. He tells Chat to remind him, then begins collecting quartz in his Gigaplex villager complex.

21:30 Ren is not sure if he wants to show Chat the finished creative mode version of the autosmelter before it’s really built. He sort of wants to in order to get Chat’s help with naming the building. He thanks more subs and donos and talks with a chatter about their new PC. He greets his mods and welcomes in the new chatters still filtering in. He wants to get as much as possible from the villagers, but he also has a ton of quartz tucked around in random chests that he hasn’t sorted well. Ren spent all his diamonds on copper for the Skulk shop, so he does not really have much to buy Quartz with. He needs 15 stacks of quartz, but he has 16 stonemasons to meet the need.

27:30 Quartz collection is going surprisingly well for the moment, and Ren realizes he may need more to do in this stream. He thinks about completing the tunnel to his farmer trading hall, a project he partially completed and then ran out of juice on. A chatter points out that Ren should be selling conduits, Ren remembers he’s supposed to be selling conduits but wonders if anyone will buy. Chat points out that Impulse wanted a conduit last week but had to make one because no one was selling.

29:30 Ren finishes his quartz collecting and waffles about showing off the autosmelter. Chat wants to see it and Ren lets himself be persuaded. He opens his creative world and quickly faces the sky to preserve the surprise, then turns on shaders for maximum effect. He slowly and theatrically pans downward onto… nothing, because he is facing in the wrong direction. He quickly looks back up and spins around, then pans down onto the beauty and majesty of the new autosmelter. Chat stops laughing long enough to admire the new autosmelter. Ren explains that he didn’t want to just make a big square smelter, his design has an interesting shape and lots of moving parts that make it look cool and satisfying. It’s not a huge smelter, 32 furnaces, and needs to be manually loaded for that Gigacorp feel. He shows chat how the autosmelter works, then notices something is not working in the model smelter and fixes it. The most interesting part of the system is that the furnaces feed into a system of droppers that spit the items out and down through an observation window before being collected into chests.

37:40 Ren smelts a bunch of cobblestone to show Chat how the autosmelter will work. Chat very much likes the way the items rain down and fall into the collection hoppers. He does some troubleshooting on locked hoppers and takes suggestions for names from Chat. “Hyper Ore Thermonator” is a strong contender.

42:50 Ren heads back to the server to hunt for the next ingredient, four stacks of light blue concrete. Ren has three stacks already. He greets other Hermits online (Grian, Zedaph, Skizz) and goes shopping for concrete at False’s shop. In chat, Zedaph remarks that Xisuma’s cam account is hot. Skizz agrees that it is likely the best looking one. Ren explores the shop while thanking subs and donos, he finds that there is no light blue concrete available. He buys white powder and decides to dye it. Chat hears background noise on the stream, Ren says his neighbor is mowing the lawn. He dyes the powder and goes to make the concrete in a pond, then takes a break to fly back to his storage room and fetch a cauldron just to point out how much better it would be if throwing concrete powder in a cauldron would make concrete.

48:00 Chat suggests Giga-HEAT as a potential name, the Hyper-Efficient Alloy Thermonator. Ren likes it very much Ren decides it will be the GigaHEAT-1 or maybe the GigaHEAT Facility. He decides that to keep the lore orderly, he should review all his existing names and see if there’s a way to keep some kind of pattern going. He has the GigaCorp Hangar Bay, the GigaCorp Terra-M1, then the GigaPlex, then the GigaTruck. The naming conventions are a mess! He considers the GigaCorp H.E.A.T Station. (Hyper-Efficient Alloy Thermination) Chat likes the Thermonation Station.

52:00 Ren returns to the storage area and decides that corporate rebranding over time is the cause of the naming differences between builds. He collects white concrete and looks around for the wood to make acacia trapdoors. He doesn’t know why False complains about his storage system, he only had to look in two buildings to find his trapdoors! He gets trapdoors and sandstone slabs, then powered rails. He needs more gold and heads for the gold farm, where there is one single block of gold available. Nothing is spawning in the farm at all. Ren is confused until he remembers that Xisuma is online. When Xisuma is online, nothing works! He flies up to the AFK platform anyway, whereupon piglins begin to spawn. Ren apologizes for his aspersions on Xisuma’s good name. He takes the opportunity for a short ad and bio break.

1:00:20 Ren returns from his break and checks in on the amount of gold that has accumulated. He got 11 blocks of gold in 3 minutes, not bad at all! He doesn’t need tons of gold, so that should do. Ren heads home and thanks subs and donos. He talks with Chat about who does and does not get served ads during ad breaks. Advertising on Twitch is not actually very lucrative. YouTube either, really. He finishes the powered rails and goes onto quartz slab. He might charge at the door for use of the autosmelter, but give free use passes to a few select Hermits. He moves on to quartz stairs, then briefly quails at the 107 hoppers. He convinces himself that it’s not really thaaaat many hoppers, compared to what other people do. He can always lagbust it later.

1:07:40 Off to the Gigaplex for black terracotta. A chatter tells Ren to give himself a compliment. Ren stutters for a moment, then says he’s a pretty good cook. Chat offers many other ideas for compliments. They know many good things about Ren! Chat also wants to talk about baked watermelon again, but Ren hates that. Baked watermelon disturbs him in his soul. Grape soup, too. Smooth quartz is next, but that’s the acutal reason he wants an autosmelter in the first place! He hates smelting quartz. A chatter drops subs, Ren thanks subs and donos. He welcomes the new Gigacorp employees, telling them of the many benefits of working for Gigacorp with only the small caveat of being plugged into a Giga-building for the rest of one’s life. The description of how this happens is nothing Chat wants to hear. Chat does want Gigacorp merch though, so Ren takes Chat down a Google rabbit hole of possible merch designs.

1:18:00 A chatter makes a big donation with a Do-Not-Read message, which accidentally triggers the text-to-speech. Ren dives in and catches it before it gets to far and warns chat that Rosie does not understand DNR and will read any dono above ten pounds. He talks with Chat about trainers and retro shirts in Gigacorp colors. Chat is into it. Ren is Googling without a net, Safe Search turned off, but so far so good. He really likes the 80s style knit polo shirt. Chat thinks it looks like a dad shirt. Ren says of course it does, dads are from the 80s these days. Ren doesn’t have the selling power to do a whole line of merch, but he’s pretty sure he can do one or two things successfully. Chat agrees with merch, but think Dads may also be from the 90s these days.

1:26:00 More materials gathering! Ren has most of the next few things he needs, though he has to smelt even more quartz. He does more farmer trades and buys more quartz. Chat is coming up with more merch ideas for Ren. Ren thinks about a Gigacorp tin lunchbox. Chat is into it. Ren thinks about a Gigacorp calculator. Chat doesn’t think calculators are still a thing. Ren thinks about a Gigacorp Casio Watch. It would be difficult, but would be a cool piece of merch. Economies of scale might not be in his favor. A chatter sends a dono with a gently sarcastic message about how often Ren talks about merch without making merch. Ren admits that is true, but he can’t afford to take a loss on merch. He has to be really careful.

1:36:00 Ren smelts his stairs and thanks subs and donos. Speaking of merch, he has a new exclusive preview for something coming soonish! He can’t show too much and he can’t talk about it, but he can show a little, little bit. He shows Chat an image of what appears to be the top 25% of a plush Rendog, which is mostly a Ministry hat with diamond band, some curly hair, and the top of pointed ears. He tells Chat he will not be answering questions, this is all they get. He is nearly done with gathering supplies, good progress is being made! Ren is better about this than he used to be, getting stuff together first makes it so much easier to build than finding something every time you need it. He is down to items he only needs one stack of, so the gathering is going quite fast now.

1:46:00 Ren reorganizes the shulkers and then goes for the last bit of stuff, including the 32 actual furnaces the autosmelter requires. He realizes he may not have enough redstone, and does a time check with the chat. Some chatters are just waking up (10am Pacific) while some chatters are up very late. He realizes he doesn’t have enough lightning rods, but he cannot possibly give even more money for copper to Xisuma! Xisuma already has all his diamonds! Pearl shows up in Chat and Ren tells her to stay put so he can VIP her. He does so successfully and is satisfied, but does not know if VIP actually does anything. Chat explains that it makes Pearl a Very Important Person. (One clever chatter suggests Pearl is a Vertically Inverted Person) and that it’s basically just a free sub but it also allows her to talk in emote-only chat like mods do. Ren thinks that’s an abuse of power waiting to happen and laughs about it. If Chat bothers him he can make them emote only and only Hermits and mods can talk, perfect! He also thinks about who else he needs to make VIPs, and whether some of the OG chatters should be VIPs. That will be for a future stream.

1:55:00 Back to the item collecting! Except Ren wants to show Pearl the crane he spent all his copper on, and Iskall shows up in chat and needs VIPped! Pearl somehow runs afoul of the automod in Chat and gets timed out, then logs onto the server to tell Ren about it. Ren admits that his Twitchbot is very grumpy and decides to just mod Pearl so she’s immune to the bot. He VIPs Iskall, Jono and Cub. Iskall lets him get some copper from his chests. Ren realizes that nobody can be a VIP and a mod, and that Mod Pearl is no longer VIP Pearl. He does not like this. Chat points out that Mods are Very Important by default. Ren decides to keep Pearl a mod so the automod has no power over her. He realizes he also needs to remod Iskall and Jono. Now it all makes sense! He knows why he has no VIPs, because he makes all these people mods instead!

2:04:00 Back again to item collecting! Ren is deeply, deeply pained at the idea of using waxed copper trap doors for anything. He goes back to the creative world in the hopes that maybe there aren’t actually copper trapdoors in the design, but it turns out they are there and they look cool, so Ren cannot bring himself to exclude them. He shows new arrivals the autosmelter, which is broken again, and fixes it. The torches he placed earlier to unlock the hoppers has broken the loader. He hastily backs out of the creative world and decides he will fix that later. He gathers more items while still complaining about the lack of sense in the mod/VIP dichotomy on Twitch.

2:11:00 Ren needs a bunch of redstone blocks that he definitely doesn’t have. He thanks subs and donos and reminds Chat that he has no diamonds to purchase redstone and redstone components. He collects up all the rest of the things he needs, which are generally in his chests. He notices chat talking about court cases and demands to know if he is being taken to court for anything. He should not be taken to court, he insists, because he always follows all of the rules of the server. In fact, he used to be the king of the server! They can’t take him to court! Chat is not sure, but they are somewhat concerned that Doc might be trying to divorce Ren. Ren thoughtfully considers the possibility of divorcing Doc and suing for half his diamonds. The trial was extremely stressful, after all, and Ren has not been the same person since. The press was also extremely critical of his lawyer’s performance! Chat hates the idea of this divorce and thinks Ren should sue Skizz for emotional distress instead.

2:16:00 Ren gets so caught up in court talk that he breaks one of his soul campfires. He replaces it and threatens to sue Chat for their intimations that his lawyer was wooden. He needs hay bales and goes to sneak some from Beef’s fields. Chat points out that Doc doesn’t have as many diamonds this season because he’s only taking payment in sand. Ren doesn’t really want sand. But Ren’s farms are going great, producing so many pumpkins and melons! Ren does replant the wheat fields, claiming this is one of the great unwritten rules, along with not farting in the bank. Chat may have been breaking that latter rule. Ren is appalled to hear that some chatters also break wind in the cinema. Chat is fascinated to hear that Ren goes into the bathroom to fart. Ren doesn’t want to talk about it and changes the subject to the weather. It’s windy.

2:24:00 Ren grows some acacia trees to get the fence gates he needs, still castigating Chat for their farting habits. Ren has some surprisingly complicated rituals for farting in public. Chat is pleased to be appalling. Ren tries to make a detector rail by memory and gets almost there. He has everything except the redstone blocks that he needs for the GigaH.E.A.T Station. He’s going to build it on top of the chicken coop, which is no longer needed.

2:30:00 Ren drops into the Giga-Truck, has a seat in the driver’s chair and goes to F5 mode to address the Chat. He thanks subs and donos one more time and says it’s time to call it a day. He wants to get an episode out very soon, but the smelter build may take longer than he thought. He thanks Chat, raids into SoupForEloise and ends his stream.