#Hoop City

[c4ptianmcd3rp]

Multifandom contest entry for Instagram

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[idembroiderthat]

I aim for Raylan Givens’ level of chill. I always give too many hoots. Also, please watch Justified: City Primeval. Having Raylan back on the screen is a gift.

Also please rewatch OG Justified. Just to be thorough.

[luxurysystems]

|| Coffee, tea or me, baby? Touché au lait. // My opening line might be a bit passé. ||

[notbecauseofvictories]

*taps gently on your window* you said you like the history of chicago? do you have any fun facts specifically related to the history of chicago as the original and eternal capital of pinball? any tidbits that ideally would beyond those found in a typical timeline of pinball history? (ignore this ask if you don’t know anything and/or aren’t interested in the topic ofc)

Weirdly enough, I do! Maybe not a lot, but I know that---much like alcohol---Chicago tried to ban gambling and gaming periodically throughout the 20th century. And I know that---also like alcohol---they failed, completely and utterly.

For those of you not in the know, Chicago technically "banned" pinball games from the 40s to the 70s. Technically, the city enforced such prohibitions.

Technically.

Due to selective enforcement and honestly, people just straight up ignoring the law, Chicago became a powerhouse of gaming activity anyway. Pinball games were part and parcel of that process. I'm talking about Chicago Coin, which was founded in the 1930s, but didn't achieve true success until they started churning out pinball games in the 1960s and 70s. Bally Manufacturing was into pinball games and slot machines long before it ever sold tennis rackets and activewear. Williams Electronics/WMS industries hit the jackpot in 1981 when it produced Defender. (The company has since moved to Las Vegas.) There's a whole complicated history to explore, and I highly encourage everyone to do so.

However, my absolute favorite bit of writing about the city and its symbiotic relationship with pinball is this Chicago Reader piece. It's very clearly an elegy to a dying art form---written in 2005, it's clear that the world of pinball machines is passing away. Still, it loves the arcades of old. Even today pinball games represent an enormous, significant weight on the fabric of the city; sitting in my apartment right now, I'm about a 10 minute walk away from the nearest pinball machine. (Maybe less, I haven't been to every bar in my neighborhood.)

In short, there's a reason that the Pinball Expo has been happening here since 1985---Chicago is the uncrowned queen of the flippers.

So who cares if John E. Cassidy tried to ban them, or that there was an even older 1895 prohibition against mechanical gambling devices? They're as Chicagoan as ketchup-less hotdogs, and complaining about construction on the Kennedy.

[sierrale8ne]

THIS IS NEW YORKKKKKKK

[sspacetravelss]

A day off for a lil cat living her best life ❤️🥰

[darrinjoakley]

MJ

[darklight-owl]

Highlights from the Mother Mother concert because I'm still crazy abt it

Listen idk where to start because the second it started i became the irl version of that one guy in ATLA who starts cheering and foaming at the mouth and faints

The theater was tiny so we were SUPER close to the stage. Got a full view of everything it was perfect

The guitar solos went CRAZYYYYY how does this man do that

Problems my fucking Beloved. Everyone was screaming.

Body was hands down the best song. The energy from the stage was just unmatched.

Ryan darling I know you didn't mean it but giving that whole speech about how much you love Chile and how cool the Santiago fans have been and then immediately singing Dirty Town was unintentionally hilarious.

By the way can I talk about how sweet Ryan Guldemond was. He put a chilean flag around his shoulders. He gave this whole speech about how they want to keep coming back here and how if there's any young artists in the crowd he wants to watch THEM perform someday. He engaged with the audience a lot and after the concert he stayed onstage for a while to shake hands with people. At one point people started chanting "mijito rico" I don't think he knew what the fuck we were saying but he still went "thank you ☺️" that was funny.

Anyway I got a newfound appreciation for Sleep Awake. Molly's voice is angelic and it's so sweet how the song was written especially for her.

I also have a new appreciation for Verbatim despite the fact I already liked that song because nothing compares to screaming your lungs out after the first chorus with a stadium full of people

Little Pistol caught me off guard, it's not one of the most popular songs but it's one of my favs. Kinda sad they shortened it but it was beautiful regardless.

My only criticism is that it was so SHORT. I could have kept going for an hour more tbh but I guess touring is very tiring so I get it. Amazing experience happiest I've ever been I wanna go back

[littletreats]

hooping

baltimore, md, usa (october 2024)

minolta maxxum 7000 | kodak ultramax 400

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

The amount of talking and negotiating I'm doing with this landlord is giving Andrew Garfield as Jonathan Larson talking to the electric company. Y'know?

[baypics]

Well look who decided to pull up behind me in San Francisco? 🚌🏀💨

[snkrbonbon]

Hoop York City x adidas Crazy 8 Low

[idembroiderthat]

Raylan: Well, I suppose if I allow myself to be sentimental, despite all that has occurred, there is one thing I wander back to…

Me: 🥺

Boyd: We dug coal together.

Me: 😭

A 4x4 inch embroidery of the very grand Boyd Crowder.

[wowbright]

Things I enjoy doing on my walk around the neighborhood:

Eating fruit off the street trees (juneberries and cherries currently)

Saying hello to the crows

Checking out the little free libraries

Judging people I don't know for having big houses

Judging people I don't know for having big lawns where a house or multiple tiny houses could be built to help drive down this city's ridiculous housing prices

Judging people I don't know who have little ugly lawns instead of gardens or mini meadows

Sniffing roses

Petting neighborhood cats (while judging their owners for not supervising them)

Saying hello to the dogs who bark when I walk by

Looking for salal I can eat when it gets ripe

Seeing red crocosmias

Wondering why no one around here seems to put out perennial divisions as free for the taking, and instead put them in little pots with price tags and a lock box for you to put your money

Watching hummingbirds fight with each other

[somespacedustart]

Grayscale portrait of Carmen Mendoza, an OC of mine. Based on the lore of the game City of Heroes, she has preternatural control over plant life and uses her powers to grow weed.

AMA if you want to know more about her!