#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.

[weaselandfriends]

Have you written your thoughts in Infinite Jest anywhere? I'm interested in your thoughts on it and DFW's work in general, since you mention him alongside the classics as influences on you, and seem to consider him the most recent "Important Author" in the history of literature.

I've read all three of David Foster Wallace's novel, including the posthumous Pale King, but it's now been over a decade since I read Infinite Jest. It might be time for a reread.

Infinite Jest has a reputation, especially in literary circles, as "the book posers who don't read books read." The stereotype is your young, 20-something male, who has never read a book in his life, who either reads Infinite Jest or pretends to read it for the cred of looking intelligent. This has led to most of the literary circles I've frequented to hate the book, though it's always been difficult for me to get out of them what they hate about the book ITSELF, rather than this perceived demographic of people who read it. (At best, I've gotten some of them -- all of whom were drug users themselves -- to accuse Infinite Jest's anti-drug messaging as being akin to a Reefer Madness PSA.)

The Infinite Jest reputation has simmered down in recent years. I think Blood Meridian is replacing it as "the book young men who don't read say they read." I can fully imagine it receiving a similar backlash founded entirely on its readership rather than its merit as a work.

Infinite Jest itself is somewhat strange as a work. Despite being the foundation of post-postmodernism, it really has little in common even with people who directly knew and were influenced by DFW, like Jonathan Franzen or Dave Eggers. It is a work that borrows heavily from Pynchon, and its rejection of Pynchonian postmodernism is done primarily through rather oblique thematic and structural processes rather than through a difference in style or tone. Infinite Jest's grand trick is being played on the idea of the postmodern anticlimax, where a work ends abruptly and deliberately unsatisfyingly. Pynchon did this a lot, especially in Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow, where he refused to elaborate on the massive conspiracies that drive the plot, and where most characters simply ebb out of the narrative by the end. In Infinite Jest, the trick is almost so basic as to be facile. The book begins with about 100-200 pages of disorienting, contextless scenes, most of which makes little sense to the first-time reader. But after the book ends, with a Pynchonian anticlimax, the reader can go back to those first 100-200 pages and realize they are a flash-forward set after the end of the book that explains the results and outcomes of most of its major mysteries and plot threads.

I say this is basic, but the whole reason I know about Infinite Jest was because I was recommended it in college by a stereotypical "Only reads Infinite Jest" guy who was entirely unaware of this trick, and who wholeheartedly believed the story simply ended with no resolution and had no further explanation. He thought this was awesome.

Infinite Jest's structure rejects postmodernism while being, aesthetically, postmodern, and I've always found that to be a more sophisticated reaction to postmodernism compared to the myopic and inward-looking autofiction that has become extremely popular in the current literary landscape. DFW rejects postmodernism's cynicism and nihilism, its inability to find order in the infinitely complex modern world where no absolute truth exists, and does so not by sealing itself away from that infinitely complex modern world into a small-scale personal narrative that is blind to anything beyond the narrator's immediate perspective but by embracing it fully. In this way, Infinite Jest is similar to later works like 2666, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Spider-Verse, Homestuck, Umineko, maximalist works that nonetheless try to make sense of that maximalism (to varying degrees of success), and not similar to the insular family dramas of Jonathan Franzen, even though Franzen was DFW's personal friend and acolyte. And like most of those works, Infinite Jest has a pop cultural vibe to it, embracing so-called "low" culture without shame or remorse. (This was another criticism my literary circles gave of it, that it was too "middlebrow.") I am increasingly coming to believe that pop culture is the new domain of the avant garde, that the most unique and ambitious works are coming from that sphere. Maybe not the forefront of that sphere -- I'm not talking about the MCU here -- but in its fringes.

[chartreuseian]

So I got inspired by @sweetteaandpie's comments on this post and did a thing!

I don't feel awesome about it (the last month or so I've been really struggling to feel good re writing and the like, if we're being honest) but the thought of train fic idiot bbys wandering the Louvre 130+ years in the future made me smile a bit so we're leaning in and hoping for the best. May go back and edit it to post later, but for now this will do.

Day 49, 281

Shifting her weight, Helen stifled a sigh and did her very best to focus on the enormous painting hanging before her. It was almost precisely as she remembered it and the nostalgia alone was enough to make her smile, but it was hard to think much on that when she could feel his eyes on her face.

Again.

She crossed her arms and took in a breath through her nose.

“Nikola,” she murmured warningly. He hummed beside her, shifting a little so that his arm brushed hers.

With a huff, she turned to him, but he was too fast (he was always too fast) and by the time she was looking at him, he was looking at the painting, his expression smooth and innocent. It made her want to pull his ear or pinch his side (or slide her hand into his hair and drag him to his knees but the gallery was a little too populated for such a thing) but she settled for rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

Then he did turn to her, his eyes wide and shocked.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, cocking his head.

“Stop staring at me,” she hissed under her breath and he blinked, apparently determined to play innocent.

She turned back to the painting, but it was hard to let the glorious mix of colours overwhelm her when she felt entirely too aware of the insufferable vampire by her side.

“I’m not staring,” he murmured, jostling his elbow against hers. Biting her tongue against the comment about the unsuitability of said insufferable vampires as husbands, Helen slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, shooting him another dark look as she did so.

Nikola ignored her, instead leading them around the other patrons who milled about. The crowds were growing and, even though it was still early, Helen got the impression that in a few hours the entire museum would be packed to the brim with holidaymakers.

In truth, she knew it wasn’t really fair to compare it to their first visit and Nikola seemed to be relishing the excuse to hold her closer than she might have otherwise allowed, but still she almost thought their little excursion to be a waste of a day.

After all, she’d been perfectly in favour of remaining in their enormous hotel suite.

They wandered aimlessly for a few minutes and as their steps carried them into a new part of the museum, Helen found her annoyance fading somewhat. It was helped, of course, by Nikola’s warm and steady presence against her side and the fact that he couldn’t shoot surreptitious glances at her while they navigated the crowds.  

Their pace, however slowed as they approached a new array of cabinets and Helen found herself learning forward, intrigued by the ancient artefacts on display. Nikola’s arm fell away from hers as she stepped forwards, though she could feel him hovering just behind her.

“I think that’s the one we found with Howard,” Helen murmured, pressing a finger to the glass as she peered down at the display. “And perhaps that one…”

Nikola hummed his agreement, but offered no further response as Helen continued to inspect the delicately carved creatures. In fact, until she caught sight of his shimmering reflection in the clear glass of the display, Helen all but forgot that he was there.

And that she was annoyed at him.

Her husband was, once again, looking not at the artefacts he’d dragged her to see, but at her.

Helen straightened up, turning on her heel as her hands fell to her hips.

“This is ridiculous,” she scolded, narrowing her eyes.

Nikola’s politely innocent expression faltered for a moment.  

“You wanted to come here,” she reminded him, jabbing at his chest with one finger. “When I said we only had a day in Paris, you insisted on coming here of all places.”

He frowned, no longer playing at innocent but not quite sensing the direction of her frustrations yet. Helen pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Why are we here, Nikola?”

He opened his mouth, clearly ready to protest her ire (and something in her chest flared at the opportunity he was giving her to punish him later) but a small gaggle of children surged around them then, one particularly tiny critter scurrying between them to press its face against the glass. Their mother followed quickly, giving Helen and Nikola an apologetic look as she pried her children away but Helen merely smiled, taking Nikola’s elbow and guiding him away from the melee.

When they were no longer surrounded, he offered her his elbow once again.

The urge to push it away was strong, but she suffocated it, instead telling herself that having him close would at least prevent the ridiculous staring. When they started walking again, she squeezed his arm.

“Why are we here?” she asked him again, letting her nails dig in. He shuddered slightly beside her, but offered no other sign of being affected by her words.

“It’s our anniversary,” he began, though he almost sounded defeated to her.

“Nikola…”

“And I thought it might be nice to relive some of our honeymoon,” he tried. Helen sighed and shook her head.

“You’re only making this worse for yourself,” she said softly, smiling at an elderly couple (though more and more Helen was finding the whole concept of ‘elderly’ laughable – there was no one alive as old as they were) who smiled at them in passing. “Be truthful with me, husband.”

Nikola’s sharp intake of breath made her heart bound about against her ribs but she refused to give him any further satisfaction.

“You-u said,” Nikola breathed, his arm tense against hers, “this was where you… where we…”

She stopped them in front of the entrance to another room, the wide arch marked out in rich timber. Before them was a crowd, far thicker than in the other rooms they’d visited, but over their heads she could make out a statue that rose above the onlookers on a plinth.

Turning to look at Nikola, she was gratified to find that, for once, his eyes were not on her.

Slowly he turned to her too, his eyes wide and shining. All at once her frustrations disappeared and the scheme she’d been dreaming up to make him suffer for what she suspected must be an attempt to distract her from the wonders of the Louvre faded into nothingness.

They moved forwards together, lingering on the very edge of the crowd and as the people around them elbowed one another in an attempt to get a picture of the Venus de Milo in the centre of it all, Helen found she only had eyes for her husband.

He looked back to the statue briefly, then towards her again, his free hand moving to cover hers where it rested against his forearm.

“You’re still more beautiful,” he murmured, his voice so low that there was no hope that anyone else in the room might hear it. “Always more beautiful.”

Helen shuddered, leaning forwards as the past and the present blurred together. She could see her new husband standing where her partner of more than a hundred years was, see the innocent seduction of him twining around the blazing desire her Nikola never failed to take advantage of. She could see their beginning and the mess of it all alongside the beautiful, perfect mess of their lives that they’d created together and all at once she was seized with the same blazing sense of certainty that had captured her heart all those years ago.

Shifting to free herself from his embrace, Helen raised her hands to his shoulders, holding tightly as his hands came to rest, as they always did on her waist.

“Helen,” he breathed and she smiled, no longer worrying about who saw them or about whether such a thing might be right or wrong. She felt both miles away from her younger self who had been freed only momentarily from the constraints of the world they lived in, and remarkably close to her, entirely caught up in her desire not just to have Nikola as her husband, but to be his entirely.

“I love you,” she said. Loudly. Clearly. “Always, Nikola.”

His eyes were shining at the words she hadn't been able to say back then as he pulled her closer, his smile making her entire body hum with current.

“Until the end of time,” he murmured in reply and Helen nodded, grinning a little herself.

And then, because she could (because she must) Helen Magnus kissed her husband and forgot everything in the world except for him.

[bergdg]

Analyzing Invention: Year of 2024

It’s been another year for the Inventor's Fair, a Magic: the Gathering card design contest blog here on Tumblr. Like all the past years, each week there have been awesome submissions, stunning designs, and marvelous interpretations. I couldn’t be happier being a member of this great collective.

For the uninitiated, each week, a design challenge is announced on the blog and members of the community create cards meeting the design specifications. At the end of the week, a few winners and runner-ups are selected from the submission.

So let’s take a look at the data – what was 2024 like for the Inventor’s Fair?

Art. Katerina of Myra's Marvels. Illustrated by Gaboleps

The Contests

This year, there were a total of 50 contests (51 if you include that the last contest of 2023 started on Dec 31). Most of the year, the contest was judged by either the veteran @abelzumi or by @spooky-bard, who made their judge debut in February 2024 in a contest known as “The Origin.” Together, they helmed 38 of the contests, with the remainder being led by @loreholdlesbian, @follower-of-liliana, @gollumni, and @mistershinyobject.

Throughout the 50 contests, there have been a total of 1,108 entries, which averages to 22 entries per contest. This is down from the previous 2 years, with a grand total of 1,367 entries in 2022 and 1,234 entries in 2023. The contests with the highest number of entries were “Common Wonders” (June 30th) and “Submit” (Nov 17th) with 30 total entries. The contests with the lowest number of entries were “My Better Half” (Feb 11th), “War Never* Changes” (Mar 10th) and “Spoiled for Choice” (June 16th) with 16 total entries.

The title for Most Submissions goes to @nine-effing-hells, who managed to submit a design for EVERY SINGLE contest this year. Additional shout-outs go to those who submitted 40+ times (@bergdg, @izzet-always-r-versus-u, @helloijustreadyourpost, @hypexion, and @misterstingyjack) as well as those who submitted for the first time or returned this year (51 entrants!): a quick hello to our most recent: @justicefortyvarkell! In total, there were a total of 119 unique entrants this year.

Line Graph of the Number of Entries Per Contest. Blue dots represent the number of entries for a contest, and the green line represents the 3-contest average.

The Submissions

As mentioned above, there were a total of 1,108 submissions this year as part of the 50 contests. Let's dig into some of the details.

Card Type (Submissions can be in multiple categories)

Creatures: 528

Enchantment: 184

Sorcery: 171

Instant: 150

Artifact: 107

Battle: 16

Land: 11

Planeswalker: 3

Once again, Creatures takes the crown. Enchantments got a nice boost with Rooms being a new subtype, helping push Enchantments into 2nd place this year.

Mana Value

MV 3: 311

MV 4: 253

MV 2: 236

MV 5: 107

MV 1: 82

MV 6: 61

MV 0: 23

MV 7: 22

MV 8: 7

MV 9+: 6

It's always fun to see a bell curve happen in real life. Here, we have it centered on Mana Value 4. This is similar to previous years.

Rarity

Rare: 475

Uncommon: 358

Common: 152

Mythic: 123

Once again, Rare entries were the ultimate winner. It's always fun to design those splashy cards. But, you can never count out Uncommons, the workhorses of any deck, who came in second.

Color Identity (At least partial of the listed color)

Black: 372

Blue: 344

White: 340

Red: 329

Green: 251

Colorless: 45

Once again, Green is the least designed for color, way behind the rest of the pack. The rest are within 50 entries of each other, with Black keeping the Monarch for the second year in a row (Red last held the crown for 2022). Mono-colored designs held to almost the same pattern, with just a swap between white (120) and blue (117).

Color Identity: Pairs Top 3

Orzhov (WB): 60

Dimir (UB): 53

Rakdos (BR): 49

Color Identity: Shards and Wedges Top 3

Esper (WUB): 10

Grixis (UBR), Jeskai (URW), Mardu (RWB): 8

In both the 2 and 3 colors, it's also comes to no surprise that Black played a major role.

Finally, let's take a look at folks who have been selected as Winners / Runner-Ups this year. Instead of looking at total times selected, I'll be listing it by the "batting average," or the number of times selected by the total number of their entries.

Top 5, by "Batting Average" (And selected at least 5 times)

@reaperfromtheabyss: 0.53, with 40 entries

@nine-effing-hells: 0.52, with 50 entries

@bergdg: 0.47, with 45 entries

@corporalotherbear: 0.47, with 36 entries

@izzet-always-r-versus-u: 0.45, with 44 entries

Special shout-outs to a few of the participants who, although they didn't submit many times, they sure packed a punch!

@nyxbird: A perfect 1.00 batting average, with 3 entries

@deg99: 0.75, with 4 entries

@brookeuwo and @genericaura: Both 0.500, with 4 entries

Art. Team Pennant. Illustrated by Anna Fehr

Special Request: Legendary Cards

At the request of @xenobladexfan, let's do a little deep-dive on the Legendary Cards submitted this year.

Out of all the entries, we had 190 submissions (~17% of the total) that were Legendary (or partial Legendary, such as The Intrepid Albamarl // Find the Scoop from @reaperfromtheabyss).

Let's do a quick break-down!

By Type

Legendary Creature: 152

Legendary Enchantment: 10

Legendary Artifact: 8

Legendary Artifact Creature: 7

Legendary Enchantment Creature: 4

Planeswalker: 3

Legendary Creature // Other Type: 2

By Rarity

Rare: 100

Mythic: 71

Uncommon: 17

Common: 2

And by Color Identity (At least partial of the listed color)

White: 83

Red: 78

Black: 72

Blue: 70

Green: 64

Colorless: 3

The most designed color identities for Legendary Cards were Mono-White, Gruul (RG) and Orzhov (WB), each at 14 entries. Looks like Green got a little win here!

In total, 66 entrants submitted Legendary designs, with a special shout-out going to @misterstingyjack, who made the most (13).

Art. Heroes Podium. Illustrated by Willian Murai

Finale

Well, I think that sums up this year. As always, it's always fun participating in the @inventors-fair. If you've wanted to try your hand at designing cards for Magic, come join us! And if it's been a while, come on back :).

See you in 2025! Maybe it will be the Year of Green. ;)

[petrichorium]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PLUVIIII!! 🎉🎉🎉 thank you for being a part of this community, I love your big brain and lovely presence and it always makes me smile when I see you on the dash!!!! I hope you have an awesome day and a wonderful new year of life! MWAH! - @yinyuedijun

🥺 thank you mao!!! these kind words mean so much to me coming from you 🫶🏻 assigning you a one piece man is. so hard your type is such an enigma to me and i fear there is no solidly chinese coded island for me to point you towards 💔 thus I am going to give you. two.....

Firstly I think sometimes u are drawn to very like. boy-next-door types. thus I fear the guy im gonna start with is a blond bc its "Black Leg" Sanji:

(5'11, 21 yrs old)

Sanji is burdened by not just one but Two tragic backstories, the second involving a horrible father who experimented upon him and his three other quadruplet brothers (who tbh are a bonus addition to this assignment bc i think u wld write one hell of a toxic romance w one of them....) but more importantly he is a malewife! he cooks he cleans he will dote on u hand and foot!!! sure hes a perv and will probably steal ur underwear but even that's kinda cute if u think about it. When he's not Doing Too Much he's actually quite charming, being one of the strongest members of the straw hats and in some ways one of the sharpest too.

THE NEXT OPTION was a bit difficult because i love u and i did not want to let an awful man be ur assignment but alas...... u need a toxic one....... and perhaps this is personal indulgence but your toxic age gap assignment is kuzan 🫶🏻

(9'9, 49 yrs old)

Formerly known as Aokiji, Kuzan was a marine admiral who was trained by the legendary Hero of the Marines, vice admiral Monkey D. Garp. He defected, however, and has since joined up with Blackbeard to become one of his commanders. Kuzan is a complex guy currently, to put it quite simply, having a mid-life crisis; he dedicated his life to the marines for seemingly ambivalent reasons, only to be complicit in horrors he now evidently regrets and culminating in him being passed over as Fleet Admiral in favor of his peer. Now he's experiencing a crisis of faith and a lack of direction that's led to him joining one of the most brutal and ambitious pirate crews out there, and battling his former mentor...... good luck!!!

[baileypie-writes]

~My Thoughts on Wonderful Pretty Cure! - Episodes 46-50~

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

Episode 46 - Meeeerry Christmas!:

This was a pretty typical Christmas episode. I don’t have much to say about it.

We did get some foreshadowing for Zakuro possibly being reformed or purified. I’m really curious if she’s gonna be present for the final battle or not.

I was super happy when we got that adorable moment between Satoru and Iroha. They love each other so much. It would be awesome if Iroha continues to wear that necklace for the rest of the season.

Besides all that, this episode was pretty stale.

My rating for this episode:

6/10 - D-

~~~~

Episode 47 - A Gaou New Year:

And so it begins. The final battle.

To be honest, the only thing I’m expecting is to see a giant wolf. Final battles in Pretty Cure always seem to have some giant monster to defeat. But other than that, I have no idea what’s gonna happen.

I’m glad that Zakuro is starting to come to her senses. Hopefully she can get Gaou to listen to her.

That’s all I have to say for this episode!

My rating for this episode:

7/10 - C-

~~~~

Episode 48 - Gaou’s Friends:

Niko down! Things are just getting worse here. Gaou took her power, and I don’t know what he’s gonna do with it.

But more importantly, that plot twist?! Hello?!

I can always predict the plot twists in Pretty Cure, but I didn’t see this one coming at all! So the whole time, it was just Subaru!

Now everything’s turning into a forest. I hope the Pretty Cure are gonna be okay!

My rating for this episode:

8/10 - B-

~~~~

Episode 49 - Your Voice:

This one was so sad.

Komugi got hurt, and even though I knew she was gonna be okay, I was scared for her. Iroha didn’t help either. She just made me more sad.

Also, Subaru having a whole mental breakdown was hard to watch. I was just waiting for him to be purified, so it would stop.

Next, the abrupt and disappointing transformations of Satoru and Daifuku. It happened so fast, and it didn’t last long either. Like at least give us an actual transformation sequence. But hey, I had convinced myself it wasn’t gonna happen at all. So I guess I should be more grateful.

Now, Subaru’s purified. So all we have to do is wait for the finale. I’m really hoping it’s gonna be a good one!

My rating for this episode:

9/10 - A-

~~~~

Episode 50 - Wonderful Forever!:

Well, it’s over. I still can’t believe it’s been a year already.

As usual for Pretty Cure, the last episode was both heart wrenching and heartwarming. I fully expected that the pets would lose their ability to speak and transform into humans once everything was over. But it was still sad to watch.

Iroha’s pain was so realistic. She felt as though she had lost Komugi, even though she was still there. It just wasn’t the same when she couldn’t talk.

I’m glad the mirror stone granted the animals the ability to speak again. I’m also satisfied that they couldn’t turn human. I feel it’s a good choice, because things still aren’t 100% the same as they used to be.

As for the baton pass, I really liked it! Cure Idol’s little cameo was so cute! Also, I’m assuming that little ribbon Cure Wonderful gave her has something to do with the show. I can’t wait to find out!

Anyways, here’s to the end of yet another season, and the start of a new one!

My rating for this episode:

9/10 - A-

~~~~

Final score for these episodes:

78% - C+

My final thoughts for this season are coming soon!

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[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.

[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

[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)

[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.

[supernaturaldrafts]

Everything that did lead to Misha tweeting "You're not crazy"

Date format: YYYY MM DD. Timestamps on these screenshots are all over the place because they were taken by people from different time zones, but I managed to piece this chronologically. In my descriptions under screenshots I'm using time from the Pacific time zone (Pacific Standard Time / UTC + 8), because most people involved in these conversations were residing in this time zone.

2013 09 20 - Adam Glass (one of the writers for SPN) on twitter:

6:35 AM AdamGlass44: Re:queer bating. The writers are a diverse group of open minded people from all walks of life. We write what feels right. It is not our job 6:37 AM AdamGlass44: To tell you how to feel. We present. Much like a musician and a song. Our audience large and diverse as we are. So we speak to many and 6:38 AM AdamGlass44: Hope that their is something for everyone to connect. For us to define love or what you feel about two characters is not our job. We love 6:40 AM AdamGlass44: All our characters and do our best to tell an entertaining story. We love these characters and our fans. And would never hurt any of you. 6:45 AM JetFighterF35: Yet you've defined love for many relationships. RT @ AdamGlass44 For us to define love or what you feel about two characters is not our job. 6:49 AM AdamGlass44: @ JetFighterF35 ask any musician to define a song and they will tell u it means a lot things but most importantly, what did u get out of it? 6:49 AM cruznsky: @ AdamGlass44 I think the problem is, it's the queer relationships that don't get defined, but hetero relationships do. 6:50 AM cruznsky: @ AdamGlass44 I am ok with whatever happens, you guys are awesome, but that's what I keep hearing.

10:21 AM AdamGlass44: But I do not appreciate me or the writer's being called something that I have fought my whole life against. We have many gay friends, family 10:23 AM AdamGlass44: and workers in our lives. And the utmost respect for the LGBT cause. But I did not create these characters so they are not mine to define. 10:24 AM AdamGlass44: I know that is not good enough for some. But that is the truth. I write these characters for not any one group, but all. And I hope that you 10:25 AM AdamGlass44: All can see a little bit of yourself in them, as I do when I write them. Peace. 10:26 AM AdamGlass44: Last thing to say about this. I do not speak officially for #SPN just myself. I loving writing these characters for myself and the fans.

2013 10 09 - Jensen spoils the ending of 9x03, but I guess that most fans didn't saw this interview: “Cas doesn’t have the power that he needs to defend himself or to protect himself or to protect us, so Dean literally has to sit down with him and be, like, ‘you gotta go’. That then sends Cas out on his own to fend for himself, which we come to find out…I think in the last episode [episode 7], we come to find out where he’s been and what he’s been doing and that’s pretty funny.”

2013 10 14 - Adam Glass introduced Chad Kennedy to the fan base: https://twitter.com/chadfkenn

5:44 PM AdamGlass44: Ok #SPNFamily u all need 2 say hello & follow @ chadfkenn. Chad covers our show 4 WB an is not only our partner in crime but a REAL fan too. 5:48 PM AdamGlass44: Basically, @ chadfkenn hears every story we do and gives us notes on it. So send him some luv, he truly cares and knows his #SPN lore. 6:21 PM AdamGlass44: @ rthompson1138 @ chadfkenn That's why he needs a 1000 followers by manana. And please send all complaints to him. Guess I'm getting notes now

At that time Chad's twitter header looked like this:

Info from Chad's Linkedin profile: Director in the department of Current Programming in Warner Bros Television in years 2011-2018 and Senior Vice President of the same department in years 2018-2021.

2013 10 15 - Fans are still debating whether or not the "I love you" line form 8x17 that got replaced with "I need you" was romantic or platonic, and whether it was a good decision or not. Also a new promo for episode 9x03 dropped. It contains a scene of Castiel kissing April, so fans are concerned about it being his love interest for more than one episode.

2013 10 16 - Robbie Thompson (another writer) refuses to give any spoilers about destiel (all tweets seems to be deleted since then):

rthompson1138: i don't comment on anything that may or may not happen in ANY aspect of the show so peeps keep watching #sorry #supernatural

2013 10 17 - New promo pictures for 9x03 where April stabs Castiel. The likelihood of her being a permanent love interest drops to zero, so part of the fandom is calm again.

2013 10 22 - Episode 9x03 aired. (written by Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner) In USA this episode was not airing in all states at once. The mainland USA was divided into two feeds:

• when it was 6 PM in the Pacific time zone, 7 PM in the Mountain time zone, 8 PM in the Central time zone and 9 PM in the Eastern time zone - the first feed would be broadcasted in the states that are in the Central and Eastern time zones.

• when it was 8 PM in the Pacific time zone, 9 PM in the Mountain time zone, 10 PM in the Central time zone and 11 PM in the Eastern time zone - the second feed would be broadcasted in the states that are in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

(although some selected states from the Mountain time zone have chosen to be included in the first feed. was there a third feed for Alaska and Hawaii??? no idea) That means that people from the second feed had two hours to read spoilers on the internet.

Some fans were displeased with some plot points in this episode (for example the April and Castiel sex scene, Dean's reaction to Cas having sex, Dean telling Cas to leave the bunker) and deemed this an episode that sank the possibility of canon Destiel (whether or not they were right or overreacted is another topic). When the second feed started, Chad decided to join fans in their discussions on twitter:

8:01 PM @ chadfkenn: This will not end well 8:09 PM @ xceteras: @ chadfkenn No Kidding. East coast viewers already found that out in abundance! Sad how platonic Dean/Cas seem to have ended up. 8:10 PM @ chadfkenn: @ xceteras oh, c'mon!!! 8:15 PM @ xceteras: @ chadfkenn Woah wasn't expecting a response! Not sure which you object to though- that it seemed platonic, or that platonic is sad? 8:16 PM @ chadfkenn: @ xceteras i'm always listening 8:24 PM @ xceteras: @ chadfkenn Well that addresses the first part but not the second. Thanks for listening though. I appreciate it. 8:25 PM @ chadfkenn: @ xceteras It's the community's comments about Dean and Cas being platonic. But what you do with slash fiction is your biz… #supernatural 8:29 PM @ xceteras: @ chadfkenn Which community says what? Confused. Slash fiction is great but it would mean a helluva lot to me to have an actual bi lead char. 8:35 PM @ chadfkenn: @ xceteras I support the idea of bi lead chars. But on this specific show, it is not our intention for these chars. Clearer? #supernatural

8:36 PM @ M_Bow: @ chadfkenn If the show does go platonic with them, it will lose a LOT of viewers--the destiel fandom is huge! 8:37 PM chadfkenn: @ M_Bow the show goes long enough, I suppose anything is possible. Keep watching? #supernatural 8:40 PM @ M_Bow: @ chadfkenn You just said there was no intention of making the characters bisexual. Which means to me that the show intends to queerbait. 8:45 PM chadfkenn: @ M_Bow that would be awful if it were true. I hope you don't believe that. I do believe they have a closer-than-friends rel #supernatural 8:46 PM @ M_Bow: @ chadfkenn Going there would be groundbreaking and historic for television. 8:53 PM @ chadfkenn: M_Bow you are preaching to the choir. I STRONGLY support better representation of the gamut of sexual orientation on TV. I hear your frust.

8:?? PM @ mrstserc: @ chadfkenn Also I can no longer recognize reapers as reapers. Why the abrupt changes? Are they supposed to be angels? 8:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ mrstserc reapers have always been angels. That was revealed in a later season - this season we'll see other angels with specializations. 8:?? PM @ sdder574: @ chadfkenn @ mrstserc confirmed as canon in Faith, In My Time of dying. Appointment is Samarra Dean had to die to contact death and reaper 8:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ sdder574 @ mrstserc after The Fall, many of the established and assumed rules… We have more to learn about angels #supernatural 8:?? PM @ mrstserc: @ chadfkenn @ sdder574 That only works if we abracadabraed Reapers - who weren't angels s1-7 - into angels. 8:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ mrstserc @ sdder574 we est that reapers were angels some time ago. When the episode ends I'll find the ref or apologize #supernatural

8:37 PM @ xceteras: @ chadfkenn Thank you, that's very clear. I appreciate it a lot. Would have loved to have heard it earlier, but now is better than never. 8:38? PM @ Arielle_san: @ chadfkenn @ xceteras Oh must u say so with such certainty? We know it's not a priority but the hope of D/C means a lot to many of us lgbt fans 8:50 PM @ chadfkenn: @ Arielle_san @ xceteras I'll put it this way: don't know if we'll ever go there, but don't know for sure that we never will… #Supernatural 8:51 PM @ chadfkenn: @ Arielle_san @ xceteras …And if it served the story, I would support it. #supernatural 8:52? PM @ batalene: @ chadfkenn @ xceteras I'm glad you were honest, we were needing it. It would be nice if someone had said it earlier. But thank you, really. 8:53? PM @ destiel_my_otp: @ chadfkenn Thank you for your honesty. Wish @ rthompson1138 @ adamglass44 @ TheJimMichaels had just come out and said this months ago.

9:02 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn I hope you understand that a LOT of viewers feel jerked around right now. 9:04 PM @ chadfkenn: @ JJ9892 honestly? - I was completely unaware that this was a thing. You know I only got wise to this community a week ago, rt? #spnfamily? 9:05? PM @ F__k_YEAH: @ chadfkenn @ JJ9892 Chad, seriously? You want us to buy THAT excuse? Like… for real? 9:06? PM @ M_Bow: @ chadfkenn @ JJ9892 the Destiel fandom is the hugest faction of all the spn fandoms, and growing stronger every day. 9:07? PM @ M_Bow @ chadfkenn @ JJ9892 Many destiel fans are LGBTQA fans who feel very, very hurt and upset right now. We just want validation for once!

For the next hour or so, Chad was only reading what people were sending to him, trying to understand fandom's reaction. Some examples of what people were sending to him:

9:05 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Explain to me why even implying canon Dean and Cas is so threatening to this show when even casual viewers have been seeing it 9:07 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Explain why the chemistry was written that way and allowed fans to feel that way when we've clearly been made to feel stupid. 9:07 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn And explain why the press Destiel has been getting has been so positive when you all have no intention of the dreaded bi. 9:10 PM @ LureaGrey: @ JJ9828 @ chadfkenn Oh but Warner Bros doesn't monitor the press!! They had no idea Destiel was a thing!!! 9:13 PM @ eviljunglechick: @ LureaGrey @ JJ9828 @ chadfkenn They want to dangle the carrot in front of D/C viewers because our passion gets them lots of press. 9:12 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Dean/Cas is as big as Mulder/Scully. Your show knows. They've all led us by the hand allowing us to have hope.

9:12 PM @ AdamGlass44: I've spoken in detail about this so u know how I feel. As 4 @ chadfkenn it be ashamed to lose him here, he is 1 of #SPN biggest supporters. 9:14 PM @ kurooscoffee: @ AdamGlass44 @ chadfkenn At least now we know where we stand. say thanks to Chad for his decency to tell us the truth.

9:16 PM @ JJ9892: It's great to know @ cw_spn#Supernatural gives press and holds hands of viewers who love Destiel but never intend to do anything with it. 9:19 PM @ JJ9892: @ AdamGlass44 Can you understand why we feel alienated & lied to now? I'm not trying to be confrontational. I'm just trying to have dialogue. 9:30 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Know what it's called when writers use repeated romantic tropes and encourage viewers with no follow through? Queerbaiting. 9:44 PM @ chazzy__320: @ JJ9828 @ chadfkenn I don't think he's gonna come and say the romantic love tropes aren't there bc we're not ignorant. We do our homework! 9:33 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn It's not even that it won't happen. It's that the powers that be encouraged us. Now you're saying lol just kidding! Never! 9:37 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Do you know the writers say it's not their job to define love? That it's interpretation? Do you understand that we feel lied to? 9:39 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Show has admitted putting hints in episodes before. Were we being used for press and ratings? What was the point? 9:49 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but you know what? This proves a clear disconnect between the show and the fans. 9:52 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Literally thousands of people are ready to walk away from the show because we feel used and lied to. Look at tumblr.

9:56? PM @ AriannaPetricho: @ AdamGlass44 He might be a nice guy. and an amazing supporter of the show but he wasn't supportive of ALL fans 9:57 PM @ AdamGlass44: @ AriannaPetricho It's hard to make everyone happy, isn't? With that said it is nobody but the creator and showrunner's job to answer those 9:58 PM @ AdamGlass44: @ AriannaPetricho Questions. You do all understand that we are here to support as much as possible but we cannot spoil or define anything. 10:01 AM nex day @ AdamGlass44: @ AriannaPetricho It's 3 eps in, we got a whole season. Wait and see. Last I'm tweeting about this. I've got a new story to break. Excited.

And this is what the other side of the fandom was sending him on that day:

9:18 PM @ [redacted]: @ chadfkenn If the show hadn't fed these fans delusions and just focused on bros then they wouldn't have gotten so entitled and obnoxious. 10:00 PM @ [redacted]: @ M_Bow @ chadfkenn let the LEAVE, they don't care abt the show at all, not worthy of being called fans, real fans will always stick 00:39 AM @ [redacted]: @ chadfkenn what if wincest becomes canon instead of Destiel? did you know there is a whole faction that want to see the brothers fuck? 00: 56 AM @ [redacted]: @ chadfkenn I can send you tons of Sam/Dean incest fic to show how they would make "sense" as more than brothers. ;) 2:41 AM @ MrPRMurphy: @ chadfkenn is practically my bro. we're both patronizing shits to bisexuals under the guise of supporting everyone

After reading all of this, he responded:

10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: Still reading, but need to clarify: i don't belv sex ornt needs to "serve story." But this idea is new vs my exp of these chars. Carry on. 10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ violue I haven't started looking yet. Can I respond tomorrow? 10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: I have never been pitched Destiel. If it were pitched, and the story made sense, I would not block it. I do not create story. 10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ Yotsubii I never said bisexual characters couldn't happen on SPN. There is not, nor has there ever been, and issue with lgbtq chars 10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ Yotsubii I was speaking specific to the chars of Dean and Castiel, as they were who I was asked about. 10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: Damon Lindelof was right. 10:?? PM @ chadfkenn: @ Millie_Hillie there are only 140 characters and I had no idea...

Then he got a few more tweets directed at him:

10:24 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn I hope you take all of this back to the show runners. There's clearly a breakdown between us and them. 10:26 PM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn Many people assoc. with the show have provided Dean/Cas hints in the show. It's the biggest ship on TV. 00:20 AM @ JJ9892: @ chadfkenn This is why better communication needs to take place. A huge portion of the fan community feels very alienated now.

People were mostly nice in their conversations with Chad, and it was more of different fractions of fandom fighting witch each other, but everyone was tagging him in their tweets, so he had enough. He also spoiled that reapers are angles, and the biggest offence: he was giving here statements about the future of the show without any approval from other people from WB, so they advised him to temporally deactivate his twitter account.