#MONSTER TRUCK MADNESS 2

[retrocgads]

UK 1998

[n64retro]

Monster Truck Madness 64

Microsoft / Edge of Reality / Rockstar Games Nintendo 64 1999

[mr-nutt]

Just gotta love that raw energy and hype in that performance

[eruden-writes]

Choosing the Bear - Part 1 (Shifter x Human)

Inspired by the Man or Bear in the Woods question/meme.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 (coming soon?)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

If you found yourself at night in a forest �� somewhere that made bumfuck nowhere look like New York City – would you choose to be alone with a man or a bear?

Bambi Rose Barker was stuck in the middle of both answers. Literally.

She stood stock still, eyes wide, chest heaving and aching for air while her stomach lurched. Moments earlier – or maybe half an hour ago, she couldn’t tell – she had managed to escape her kidnapper’s cabin with the man hot at her heels. It had been a mad dash through the night, dressed in only a tank top and a pair of daisy duke shorts and choking down pain as her bare feet slammed over rocks, branches, and uneven terrain.

Luckily, a full moon cast light over the world, so Bambi wasn’t exactly stumbling without sight. Fumbling through the forest without shoes was still a bitch on the soles, but she simply gritted her teeth and continued forth.

When she caught sight of the bear a few yards ahead, her racing feet and thoughts froze. She couldn’t really be seeing a bear, right? Under the moonlight and swirling starlight, she squinted. But it was hard to deny that the bright white creature was anything but a bear.

Her adrenaline shifted from fleeing her pursuer as she slowed to calculating whether ursine or man was a larger threat.

Behind her, the man howled as he tromped through the mountainside forest, “Bambi, get back here! I just wanna talk things out!”

It wasn’t the first time she’d had a man chasing her with a shotgun. Growing up in the country, with little to do except get in trouble, Bambi and a group of friends often found themselves running off into the dark, being threatened by an angry elder with a shot gun.

The man tailing at her heels wasn’t crochety Mrs. Jenkins, who was more bark than actual bullet.

No, she was well-acquainted with Duke Walker. They’d grown up in the same town and known each other forever.

There was one key difference between Duke and the other men of Hartwell: his family owned the little town. By and large, he was better off than most people in Barfield and he got away with a whole helluva lot more than the average folk.

Which included stalking, as Bambi had learned over the last two years of their separation. He was about to add kidnapping and possibly murder to the list, as well.

But Duke was a human. A five-foot-eleven-inch human that might have a chance to be reasoned with.

Whereas the bear…

Well to start with, it looked about as tall as the Wicked Warrior from the Monster Truck Derby her pa used to take her to when she was a kid. Which had to be at least ten feet tall, though maybe kid Bambi was coloring her memories. It didn’t help that the bear looked to weigh just about as much as the Wicked Warrior to boot.

To end with, judging from the size and coloration, it looked like a polar bear. As in one of the few creatures that actually saw humans as a viable snack.

While Bambi hadn’t been an ace at high school geography, she was pretty damn sure the Appalachian Mountains were too far south for a polar bear.

Confusion warred with uncertainty, keeping her frozen in place as the bear lowered onto all four paws. A faint part of Bambi’s mind realized it had been rooting around in a tree and, a little hysterically, she wondered if polar bears ate honey.

Just as the bear lumbered closer to Bambi, Duke crashed through the brush behind her. The flaps of his flannel button-up, unbuttoned, flared behind him as his white tank top nearly glowed in the moonlight. “Christ, woman! I told you I just wanted ta’ talk and you gotta go and make a scene—“

Jolting, Bambi spun toward Duke. It would’ve been a lie if she didn’t take some satisfaction in watching awareness dawn on his as he finally saw the bear. He paled to a shade almost as white as the creature, gripping his gun tighter. She watched the knot in his throat bob, fear freezing him momentarily in place.

For some reason, seeing Duke like that sparked something inside Bambi. Balling her fists, she nodded toward the gun in his hands. “If you just wanna talk, Duke, why do you got a gun with you?”

Her words made Duke snap his attention back to her, eyes wide with horror and anger. “Now’s not the time for all that! Do you not see the hulking white beast behind you!?”

“I do, but it ain’t threatening me with a damn gun and it hasn’t been the one stalkin’ me for years and kidnapping me,” she spat back, though she very pointedly shifted so her back wasn’t to the bear or the man.

A chuff from the bear startled her attention back to it, her heart tripping in her chest. She glanced toward it, risking eye contact that could very well end her life. The bear’s head slightly tilted toward her, ears giving a twitch, but it didn’t growl or lift a lip in a snarl. Even without the signs of imminent danger, Bambi’s heart thrummed in her chest.

Albino, she thought. The white bear couldn’t be a polar bear, it had to be albino! But didn’t albino animals have red eyes? And no pigmentation in the rest of their body? She swallowed as her eyes dropped from the creature’s dark eyes to its black nose.

The cock of Duke’s rifle snagged Bambi’s attention back toward him. Finally, a growl burbled up from the bear and she heard it shift, could feel it rising up on its hind feet. Apprehension prickled over her body, finding Duke lining up a shot through the scope, lip curling as he snarled, “You need to back away from that damn thing! Don’t you got any sense?!”

A sudden surge of protectiveness overcame Bambi as she took a step closer to the armed man. “Duke Walker, put down the damned rifle! It wasn’t doing a thing before you started threatening it.”

“Don’t you Duke Walker me! It’s a—“

Before Duke could finish his retort, the huge bear crested the distance faster than Bambi would have guessed. Stunned, she couldn’t even shriek as the bear descended on Duke, huge paw arcing down to swipe at the rifle. She only heard the man give a startled cry before a loud, piercing gunshot rang out. With a clatter, the rifle went flying and Duke stumbled back, bloody gouge marks trickling down his arm and chest. Another growl warbled from the bear as it stood up straighter.

As Duke turned tail and sprinted back the way he came, the bear didn’t pursue. It merely stood, as if watching the man disappear into the woods.

And suddenly, Bambi realized she was alone with the hulking beast. As quick and quiet as she could, she began sidling away from the creature, mentally trying to determine which direction she should run to avoid Duke. However, the bear shifted toward her and she realized, with a start, that red blossomed along its fur.

Duke had shot it.

With a  groan, the bear lowered down to all four, its torso seemingly heaving.

Sense and compassion held Bambi locked in place, part of her wanting to check on the creature while the logical side of her told her to bolt. Besides the fact it could be a polar bear – there’s no fucking way it’s actually a polar bear, Bambi’s logical side snarked – it was injured, meaning it had both a hankering for human and was likely scared while in pain.

Before Bambi could decide what to do, a smaller figure crashed through the tangle of forest. “Dad! Dad! What’s goin’ on? Did you hear that gunshot?”

The little figure paused, eyes widening and voice softening with worry, “What happened to you?”

With a jolt, Bambi realized she recognized the voice. Squinting, she took a step closer. “Mercy? Mercy Clements?”

Startled, the girl turned toward Bambi as she hovered near the bear. The light of the moon caught her wide hazel eyes, casting them with a silver sheen. Like a fish, her mouth opened and closed, obviously trying to come up with something to say.

Wait, she’d said ‘dad’ thought Bambi. And then she had ran toward the bear, asking the creature what happened. Bambi’s gaze flicked from the bear to the girl and back to the bear, a perplexing suspicion taking root. There was no way to confuse a behemoth like that for a human, even in the dark.

“Zeke?” Bambi narrowed her eyes, focusing on the bear. There was no way the bear was Zeke Clements. There was no way the bear was anything other than a bear!

Something in the bear’s demeanor flinched – or so Bambi thought – and her denial wavered.

[hazeystar]

why buddie is better than tevan

let's talk buddie

Yea, that’s clickbait, welcome to the real topic:

The difference between Buddie and Tevan, the lack of media literacy, human decency, and common sense within the fandom (I need a shorter title)

We’re gonna start with a topic and end with the same topic, but it’s necessary to say twice. Buddies or Bust (or BoBs as they will be referenced) are absolutely ridiculous. There’s no other way to say it, some of you really only care about a few specific opinions, you shoot down any other possibilities, and really don’t have that much normal human interaction outside of the (some harmful) posts you make online.

I’d also like to clarify, my problem doesn’t lie with all Buddie fans. Like the ship you like, I don’t really care. I have a problem with those who bash Tommy (and the Tevan fandom) just because he’s not Eddie.

Let’s start with the argument that Tommy is a bad person. The points that get brought up the most are that he was racist and an awful person to Howie and Hen while they worked together under Gerrard. I raise you the counterpoint that Tommy has apologised to Howie about this, and by the time we see more of their past together in the ‘Bobby Begins’ episode, it’s easy enough to assume they are friends at this point. 

Oh, but Aeris, we didn’t see him actually apologise-

Again, we did. Just because we didn’t physically see and hear the words ‘I apologise’ come out of his mouth does not mean it didn’t happen. Part of interacting with media is, you know, not getting everything mansplained to you, so with a little bit of context, and the jumbled timeline, it’s not too hard to figure out that Hen, Howie, and Tommy were friends by the time the latter moved to Harbour. “Love Actually, monster trucks, craft beer” from Tommy and the rest was history for friendship. Or are we also forgetting that Howie called him way back when they needed water dropped on a house burning in a gas fire?

Moving on. Season 8, episode 5.

This gets brought up a lot within the fandom, especially with the BoBs on why Eddie is better, or yada Tommy is too gay (Jesus) so we’re just making the entire episode its own section. 

First off, the initial hospital scene. Scene set: Buck in the hospital bed, Eddie in chair with newspaper, Tommy walking in.

Point 1: ‘Tommy with the visitor badge vs Eddie’s ‘husband privilege’’

Easy answer: Tommy very clearly said ‘I came as soon as my shift ended’ ergo, he came as fast as he could. Eddie on the other hand, is on duty with Buck, they were brought in while on duty. I’ve never been in the hospital, but it’s not that hard to see the difference as to why Tommy had to get a visitor’s badge.

Point 2: Billy Boils Story 

Yes, they both laughed, and let’s not lie, you absolutely would to. We all would. That was kind of the point of the line. If the argument you’re trying to make is “Well, Tommy laughed so obviously he doesn’t respect Buck” I raise you that Eddie was literally laughing too. So by your logic, Eddie also doesn’t respect Buck. “But he laughed in a husband way.” That… literally doesn’t make sense. Next question.

Moving onwards. The reaction to Buck waking up with boils. I think there’s a key difference here between Tommy and Eddie because Eddie can’t even look at Buck at the station later on in the episode. Tommy on the other hand… well the ‘Well, that’s not true’ line is enough explanation. Next point.

Another thing, less on 8x5 specifically but along the lines with that episode and 8x6. I don’t even want to say the word I’ve seen to describe it, but it boils down to Tommy’s ‘accent’. I sincerely hope that the people who use the word don’t actually say that to someone’s face because I think I’d lose the sliver of faith I have left for humanity. It’s ridiculous, it’s definitely offensive, people are somehow getting mad at the fact that Tommy is ‘acting gay’ when, spoiler alert, he is gay. *shocked pikachu face*. It’s not new information, it’s a fact of his character, and the fact that he is comfortable being himself around (checks note) ah yes, his boyfriend speaks volumes to his character and the relationship itself.

I’m moving towards the line between fanon and canon. Canonically, Buck and Tommy have a relationship. Canonically, Buck is bisexual, Tommy is gay, and Eddie is straight. Oh, but Aeris, Eddie said he was straight the same way Buck said he was an ally. Buck is on his first date with a man after he had the most life changing kiss in his own kitchen by that same man. He’s flustered and nervous and Buck very obviously rambles when that happens, which is why he also says he and Tommy are going to pick up hot chicks after their dinner.

Second counterpoint: Buck was literally kissed, he was on a date with a man he was into and hadn’t really processed what that meant yet.

Eddie on the other hand is not kissed, he’s not on a date, the context of the social situation is different. Eddie doesn’t flirt with the hot priest or show any interest or attraction to him. He sets a boundary when he thinks the hot priest is hitting on him.

Canonically speaking, Eddie needs one thing and it’s not a queer awakening, it’s some damn therapy. If I have to hear one more time that it’s the catholic guilt or the repressed gayness that makes him act the way he does with all of his past girlfriends- it’s ridiculous. Canonically, he’s an awful partner. Just look at the treatment of Marisol. Can’t even move in with her, emotionally cheats on her with the doppelganger of his dead wife. That last part is a ridiculous sentiment on its own and you want to put him in a relationship with Buck? Eddie’s a mess, needs long overdue therapy to get over Shannon, and you know, maybe stay away from relationships for a while, because they obviously aren’t going well.

Buck is finally at a place in his life where he’s had actual character development, and at this point, deserves a love interest who won’t screw him over in any way. If we actually think about it, the way Eddie would treat Buck in a relationship is no different than how he treats any of his other partners. Him being gay literally fixes nothing because the problem isn’t with repressed homosexuality, that just isn’t a thing with Eddie. Canonically, he isn’t repressed, he’s just a shit partner. (I mean, honestly, do BoBs even like Buck or are you guys just trying to prove a point? Because Buck would not fare well in a relationship with Eddie, and frankly, with some of the things I see, Buck basically gets reduced down to a glorified babysitter and not like a bloody boyfriend).

Okay, away from characters for the last bit. Let’s talk treatment.

Frankly, it’s unbelievable how many people actually don’t give a shit about what they post online. I’m sure you can find them literally anywhere, but some people are downright vile when it comes to anything about Tommy. The amount of death threats you can find against just Tevan fans is ridiculous. A friend shared with me a few screenshots of what they had found. I had no words. Then of course, the stuff against Tommy and Lou is also utterly offensive. This man got to come and play a character that was loved by a lot of people, and I’m not saying it’s on the BoBs if he never comes back… but I also wouldn’t be shocked just because of the backlash I’ve seen. Like even with just the New Year’s post on the 911 account- it’s awful guys. Like the comments are so mean for no reason. And then just in general on Twitter-

Twitter is a hell scape and this proves it. Like there are real people behind these screens, and no one needs to read that they deserve to die

It’s a show, it really isn’t possibly that deep, at the end of the day, Buck, Tommy, and Eddie are all characters in a show we watch in our free time. Because, you know, there’s a life outside of fandom. 

Anyways, TLDR, if you really think about it, Eddie wouldn’t be a good partner, BoBs need to get a grip on reality, maybe we should be a little less hateful online, and

live laugh love Tevan <3

[jadevine]

Have watched MAD MAX: FURIOSA and I am struck by several excellent things:

1) The Ancient Roman/Greek aesthetic of Dementus’ gang and pre-crazy Immortan Joe, and the attention to costumes for everyone’s gang/clan/settlement in general. A+++ for the costumes again! Is it just me, or does the Green Place feel Wild West/frontier with all their blue/indigo denim, long skirts, and their rifles/shotguns, and walking around barefoot??? Even considering shoes are rare in the apocalypse, you don’t put all of those elements together, along with a theme of PEACHES, and expect folks from the States to NOT immediately think “country,” lol.

2) The medieval/“fall of Rome” feeling. Dementus’ motorcycle chariot is Greek/Roman, obviously, but his procession to the Citadel is a REALLY medieval show of power/people all carefully filing down the road behind him on motorcycles. Everyone’s got their own fiefdoms, and the war style is given a medieval feel with skirmishes, long-ranged weapons, and trading “hostages” (especially Furiosa) in exchange for good behavior.

3) Neon colors bursting out of the endless orange desert, or shiny and chrome metal versus rusty and old metal! It’s like “a desaturated photograph with a single pop of color,” but for the whole movie, and I love it! Another thing that imitators forget about when they fall into the “real is brown and dirty” trope is that people are people, and they will TRY to look nice, even in the apocalypse.

4a) The detailed body language. Dementus has at least one herald/signaller, folks are constantly signaling each other from a distance, and everyone seems to automatically gag/muzzle or cage an excessively violent person. Even in the apocalypse, some people are clearly considered too far gone, and biting is frequent ENOUGH that people watch out for it. People also know to just wait for a clearly angry/traumatized hostage to start talking again, or that some people don’t talk at all (whether because they physically can’t, or they just stopped due to trauma). Everyone also inspects a new person to check for disease/injury.

4b) The shifting/forgetting of spoken language. On the surface it sounds like the standard trope of “after the world ends, everyone forgets how to talk good,” but they haven’t forgotten JUST YET. History Man still remembers how to read, and the various gangs/settlements clearly have their own dialects. Military orders are distinct, and Dementus and the History Man are especially well-spoken throughout the film. (Besides making good use of Chris Hemsworth, Dementus was also an adult when the world ended, so he is constantly using ALMOST-right words.)

5) Heights! Cliffs, towers, the long range weapons, the diggers, and kites/gliders! It gives the fight scenes a three-dimensional feel and the impression that even the SKY isn’t safe. Sky-octopuses or metal buckets swooping down on you??? A+! Also terrifying! Related: Dementus’ gang sure uses a lot of monster trucks that are twice the size of everyone else’s cars. Durability aside, I wonder if the expense of these vehicles (especially in the apocalypse) is another symptom of Dementus being a) arrogant and needing to feel “bigger” than everyone else, b) desperate to fill the void of his family’s deaths with cars/killing, and c) an excellent fighter who unfortunately knows nothing of logistics, and he drains everything/everyone around him. He uses THREE motorcycles for his chariot, and using a monster truck in battle also means you need more gas and more metal/rubber for repairs.

6) THEY KILLED MY BOY JACK! 😭

7) Several POC characters, whose faces we can see! We are also Mad Max fans, so it’s nice to see them even as supporting characters ❤️

There is a A LOT more to talk about, but in general: This movie is shiny and chrome!

[thegoldheartlocketandkey-blog]

911 Spoilers Season 3: You’ve been warned. 😅 Buddie Rewatch

Episode 6-7

Episode 6: Monsters

Crow Rescue; No Buck or Lena. The 118 wearing sunglasses and being matchy matchy. Eddie points out how he’s never heard of a crow attack. Hen points out they are typically docile unless provoked.  

Something that is insignificant to the plot, but makes me strangely happy is something that was pointed out to me a while back and I remembered while watching this rescue. If you look very closely Eddie goes from wearing boots to slippers. It must have been a long shooting day.

Buck shows up for his first day back to work. He was expecting a friendly welcome, but got the cold shoulder from everyone in the firehouse. There is no welcome back banner like he had expected.

Side note, there are so many random firefighters in the 118 that we know nothing about. I wonder how they feel about the core group.

Hen surprises Buck with a small cake and welcomes Buck back. Buck admits to missing everyone and asks Hen how the fertility treatment is going. I really enjoy seeing Buck and Hen’s friendship, but this shows us how much Buck has missed because of the lawsuit.

Eddie walking into work, tired and bruised up.  Buck sees the cut/ bruise on Eddie’s elbow and asks him if he is okay. Eddie instantly annoyed gives him a bullshit response about playing with Christopher. Buck tries to have friendly banter; Eddie is having none of it and gives Buck attitude.

Buck is visibly confused but Chimney interjects by welcoming Buck back.  Eddie and Buck stand 2 feet apart as Bobby tries to do the morning brief.  The alarm goes off and Buck is told to stay behind and man the house.  Buck is standing there disappointed.

Bobby is instructing Buck on the rules and procedures of dealing with trick or treaters. Buck is confrontational and asks Bobby how much longer is he going to continue to punish him. Bobby responds back with when he finally develops patients.

Chim approaches Buck right after and repeats Booby’s sentiments. That he has to suck it up and be patient, and work a little harder. Eventually, Bobby will take him back.

Buck knows that Chim is right and tries to shift his attitude to be more eager and willing to work thru this situation, but there is no covering up Buc’s over all disappointment. Buck walks away semi defeated

Eddie approaches Chimney out of nowhere, as Chim is going to have a mental break down over a crow that no one else seems to see. Eddie looks at Chim likes he’s lost it and walks away.

Buck is bored handing out candy and getting sassed by a boy in a prisoner’s costume. This boy basically hit all of Buck’s insecurities. The 118 seems to be coming back from an emergency as this is happening.

Bobby hops out of the truck and tells Buck nice work. This moment can be seen as Bobby giving Buck a light jab, Not intended to be malicious but it could be taken as such.  

Buck calls out for Eddie and asks him if he wants to help out. Eddie wants nothing to do with Buck and basically tells him that he can handle it on his own, just how he wanted with the lawsuit.

Terrible Parents who treated their kids like prisoners; Eddie observing the area pissed off about the living conditions those poor kids where in. Every one is absolutely disgusted with those parents.

Hen taking a moment to talk to Bobby about Buck and how he needs to stop punishing him, by giving in or transferring him out.

Buck and Eddie walk towards each other. Eddie planning to just walk past him. Buck deciding that he’s not allowed to just do that and asks Eddie if this is how their relationship is going to be, if he’ll just continue to ignore him.

The camera changes and captures the moment they speak; they are visibly divided.

Eddie is not having it. Eddie doesn’t know what Buck wants from him. Buck vocalizes that he wants him to talk to him, “even if it is just to say you are still mad.”

Eddie was bout to walk away, but quickly turns back around to face Buck and say, “I’m not mad. I’m---” he pauses and takes a second to reevaluate what he’s going to say.

Eddie proceeds to tell him how his decision to pursue that lawsuit affected him what could that do to us.

Buck closes the gap between them and tries to justify why he did what he did and how he was feeling. Eddie arms cross, biting his lip, looking directly at Buck, listening. Buck admits to not wanting to hurt anyone while looking directly at Eddie.  Eddie quickly pointing out that Buck is too focused on himself and not the team.

Buck agrees with him and goes on to discuss how he was afraid of being left behind. Eddie seemingly understanding Bucks anger.  Buck asks for Eddie’s forgiveness. Eddie with zero hesitation forgives Buck. Buck seemly surprised and relieved by how quickly Eddie forgives him. There is this look in his eyes that I can only describe as desire, but not in a lustful way, it’s a wholesome look.

Let us take this moment to discuss how Eddie could not forgive Shannon, he struggled to forgive her, but easily forgave Buck.

Eddie warns him not to do it again and they give each other a hug. This hug is supposed to be big, but Eddie cuts the hug short with a slight groan. Buck is confused by Eddie pulling away. I was confused by Eddie pulling away, and then I realized he must be hurt from street fighting, because Eddie is readjusting himself.

Before Buck could process what was happening, Bobby approaches him, Eddie takes this moment to awkwardly get away.

Bobby wants to tell him something. He hesitates and instead sends him home early. Buck is not too happy about this.

Buck is at a gas station where he sees the man imbedded in a windshield. He goes into action and proceeds to rescue the woman and man who where obviously injured. He unknowingly cuts himself in the process and doesn’t realize it until a paramedic points it out to him.

Bobby goes to the hospital to see Buck. Buck is surprised to see Bobby. Bobby finally sees Buck is ready to be a firefighter. They go out for Breakfast. It feels like things will be getting back to normal.

Episode 7: Athena Begins

No Buddie. Amazing episode nonetheless. I teared up at the end of the episode. All the begins episodes are so emotional. I also think I tend to tear up the most in any Athena related emergencies.

[runjumpkauf]

The Amazing Candy Canyon Kingdom (Super After)

(Of Course, Spoiler Alert! Watch This V.D.O.(Virtual, Dynamic, adventurOus.) And If You Know Me And Gooseworx Well, You Can Understand This Lolli-Post.)

Howdy, Everyone! I Told You Before, I've Been Waiting For This For A Long, Long Time, So I'm Going To Be Watch This For The Next Three Days. But I Couldn't Waitin' Three Days. (Cuz I Like Caine And Pomni)

This Digital Amastic (Amazing And Fantastic) Show Is Goin' To Have Episode 9. Because Jax's Voice Actor, Michael Kovach Wanted Episode Featuring The Sea.

Also, I Found 6.4 Another-Advanced-Adventurous-Advantages In This Eclair-Pisode.

1. It Was Revealed Why Caine Sent Pomni The Nervous Clown, Jax The Dreaded Hare, Ragatha The Jax Caller, Kinger The All-Possible King, Gangle The Smiley-Misery-Saddery-Tear Master. (Zooble Did Not Join This Adventure. Because She Hated It.) Because Candy Canyon Kingdom's Most Valuable Resource, Maple Syrup Been Robbed! (I Was Shock-Prised Again, I Like Maple Syrup. Personally, I Like Chocolate Maple Syrup The Best.)

2. Brand New Goofy Characters. They're So Geeky As A Gloinks! Gummigoo Is Leader Of "The Syrup Bandits". They're Tryin' To Steal The Maple Syrup Truck. Princess Loolilalu Is The Queen-Shaped Princess. She Is Cheered By The Mannequins Of The Candy Canyon Kingdom. And My Favorite Character In This Kingdom Is "Fudge Monster", "Fudge"! He Can Doin' Too Acrobatic Fudge-Moves! With Melting Voice, Interesting Design, Ravenous Mouth, Blobby-Spits. And Totally Greatest Dinner END!!! (I'm Not Jax. Just, Whatever.)

3. Dashing Mad-Maxing Truck Scene. Rollcake Truck VS Snack Truck! It Was Such A Cool Scene! Jax's Waffle-Zooka Shot The Max. Gummigoo Shift The Engine To "Rocky Road". Max's Continuity Poses To Follow The Snack Truck. Gummigoo's Western Tough-Voices. Pomni's Double Swearing With Ugly Faces. (Jax, You Booty...! (Yes, I 'Hear'ded.) Are You Guys Trying To (Small Boink Sound)UCKING KILL ME?!) Kinger's Life Buoy And Anchor With Ropes. Drift-Fallout! And Fudge-Splorch!

4. Gummigoo And Pomni In Literally Digital World Scene. There, Gummigoo Realized That His, His Family, His Memory, And His Life Were All Just A Fake. I Thought This Sounded Weirdo-Noncence. But I Understood His Felling Feelings A Little. And The Scene Where Pomni Was By His Side Persuading And Comforting Him Felt Quite Fainting Paint. Kaufmo's Funeral Too.

5. Jax Seems To Have Become Twice Or Thrice As Evil Genius! He Wants More Violence. He Blamed Gangle. Hate Wholesome. He Think Bad Point Is A Great Point. He Hope Most Among The Worlds Caine Creates Is, "One Big, Final Battle. Bloodshed. Death. CHAOS!" And Unbelievably Disappointed By Fudge Monster's Death. He Didn't Even Attend Kaufmo's Funeral. And Fudge Monster Revived, Kingdom Doors Opened, And Candy Canyon Kingdom Was Turn Into CANDY CANYON KILLDOM!! What Can I Say, I Think He's Becoming More And More Like Me. (Not A Joke) Except For Blaming. I Have No Complaints There.

6. Do You Watch The "POMNI WAKE UP TIME TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE"? In This V.D.O.(i said, Virtual, Dynamic, adventurOus.) Showing Kinger With A ShotGun! Jax's Minimum Wage Labor! Orbsman! Recorder! Ghosts! But Episode 2, There Were No ShotGun And Minimum Wage Labor And Orbsman, Recorder, And Ghosts. Well, I Understand Because I Gets Complicated If Glitchworx Put All Of This At Once. I Hope Episode 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, And 9.

6.1. Zooble Always Replaces Its Zooble-Parts Every Hour And Day, And Stores The Parts In The "Zooble Box".

6.2. Who Knew Gangle Could Drive A Truck? I Guessed Jax.

6.3. Do You Know About "Fudge"? Fudge Is A Soft Sweet Candy Made From Sugarly Sugar, Buttery Butter, And Milk. It Resembles Caramel, They're So Brown Like A Thick Mud.

6.4. JAX!!

And That's All I Know About The Amazing Candy Canyon Kingdom And Other Things I Found.

Episode 3 Is Said To Be Zooble's Episode, And Since I Find Out Zooble Was A Tattoo Artist Before Joins The Amazing Digital Circus. There's A Possibility That The Amazing Digital Zooblore Will Be Based On This Past.

And It Looks Like Episode 3 Will Come Out Around September Of October.

SO LOOK FORWARD TO IT!

[TO BE CONTINUED IN THE AMAZING MYSTERY OF MILDENHALL MANOR!]

P.S. https://www.glitchprod.com/thewackywatch

P.S.2. (Not A Playstation2)

P.S.3. (Not A Playstation3)

P.S.4. (Not A Playstation4)

This Is The Triumph.

[stuff-diary]

Top 10 movies watched in 2024

Now it's time for my 2024 movie ranking. As always, I count all the films I've seen for the first time this year, even if they were released earlier. And just so you know, I had a really hard time picking the definitive position for the top 3. Let's go!

10-Theater Camp (2023, Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman)

This charming little comedy burrowed its way to my heart, to the point that I couldn't not include it. Deserves much more love.

9-Challengers (2024, Luca Guadagnino)

One of the most fun movie-watching experiences this year. Fantastic acting, directing, editing and score.

8-Look Back (2024, Kiyotaka Oshiyama)

Despite its simplicity, it manages to hit you like a truck. Tatsuki Fujimoto's genius is further boosted by Oshiyama's filmmaking.

7-Under the Silver Lake (2018, David Robert Mitchell)

Mitchell's work always enthralls me. This particular film is not for everyone, but I definitely vibed with its unabashed strangeness.

6-Love Lies Bleeding (2024, Rose Glass)

I love me an unhinged queer romp. Glass doesn't shy away from anything and that makes for an unforgettable experience.

5-The Substance (2024, Coralie Fargeat)

A no-holds-barred movie that goes all out in order to tell its message. Fargeat's talent never ceases to amaze me.

4-Anatomy of a Fall (2023, Justine Triet)

Basically the perfect legal drama. It's pretty long, but it managed to keep me hooked from beginning to end.

3-Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024, George Miller)

Thank god Miller got to make at least one more movie set in this universe. Pure filmmaking excellence in every way.

2-Monster (2023, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

I feel like I've thought about this movie pretty much every day since I watched it. Haunting is probably the best word to describe it.

1-All of Us Strangers (2023, Andrew Haigh)

Few films have resonated with me as much as this one. I just felt so... seen, like it was specifically made for me. I had to give it first place.

And that's all, thanks for reading!

[anactualfruit]

I have completed the 90s shelf of my collection! Annoyingly, eBay sellers sold me fake copies of Banjo Kazooie and Paper Mario but its still complete and playable.

When I was 3 my mom rented an N64 from the local video store, Family Video (this was basically Midwest Blockbuster but green and red instead of yellow and blue). She rented me 2 games along with it, Rugrats Scavenger Hunt and Monster Truck Madness. Being hardly even sentient and completely unable to read I spent my time just sort of staring at the title screens thinking I was doing something with the controller. Because of it being the subject of not only my earliest memories with video games but one of my earliest memories over all, the N64 and this era of video games are extremely important to me.

[storyofmychoices]

Blades 2 Inside Choices Blog: Blades of Light and Shadow 2

We’re so happy to be back in action with the gang we know and love! Where does Blades of Light and Shadow 2 pick up after the first book’s ending?

Emi: I will say that we don't pick up where you're expecting. 

Kathleen: Unless you were expecting to get hucked out the back of the plot truck and onto the action highway at 80mph. (Fury Road theme plays)

Lil: (is overtaken by the Two Towers theme)

Emi: But rest assured, our original four love interests are back and dealing with their own challenges. 

Lil: And they’re definitely going to need help with those challenges whether you’re romancing them or not. Though we support all variations of ‘mancers here. Mono-, multi-, and necro- . 

Emi: Also they get some new looks that can best be described as "sleeves are B.S."

Jay: Don’t forget “badass pirate coat important”.

What kind of new main characters will we meet in the sequel? Or perhaps, any new love interests?

Jay: There is a strange but familiar hooded figure…whose hotness level was of great discussion.

Lil: He’s very constructive with his feedback. And a monster from Book 1 returns, but not in a way you expect. 

Emi: I think we all know I'm obsessed with Valax. I mean, she's a badass purple lady who only has one sleeve. Obviously that makes her my wife.

Tom: EMI YOU HAVE TOO MANY WIVES!!!

Kathleen: Idk I'm still mad that hot scorpion lady didn't win the monster contest.

Lil: Sky whale supremacy how dare. 

Kathleen: Okay I am excited about the dwarves and goblins though. New dwarf friend is just A+ chaos babe and I love her.

Emi: Honestly though, my fave character is the one who's "head empty, no thoughts, falls over a lot."

Making this sequel has been a labor of love. Does the book team have any must-tell stories/bloopers during production?

Jay: There was an accidental floating dwarf? And too many battles with code. Writers, please don’t do it to me again. I cannot take it. The while loop will win.

Kathleen: During one of my editorial passes I had to give Emi a note like "Okay when we first meet the Big Bad maybe we should use that moment to establish that she's really imposing/scary instead of just going off about how hot she is."

Emi: I may have made too many Aerin memes that are now weekly traditions for our team.

Danielle: I was instructed to design a character with “Vision as a hotness bar” as a guide, I ignored them and used Jeff Bridges instead 😏. 

Jay: Danielle also came up with some incredible filenames, my favorite being “tentacle_monster_buff”.

Danielle: It’s accurate, is it not?

Are there any elements that you are particularly proud of?

Tom: The Shadow Realm was fun to make! Think the Upside Down, but more purple. And to make all the awesome new weapons and armor work with the outfits took 150 unique assets! You’re welcome.

Danielle: My first full book!

Lil: The lore guide for Blades was 60 single-spaced pages before we started adding things that came up during active production. I’m really pleased with how much actually ended up being discoverable in the book itself, so be sure to explore every nook and cranny of Morella and beyond! Because they are filled with beauty and chaos. 

Emi: I cannot tell you how many spreadsheets we made to keep track of things. I mean, the outline alone was 100 pages!

Jay: My code built 😭. And that my production planning got it to you a little earlier than y’all had anticipated hehe.

At the end of the first book, we seemed to have wiped out the forces of evil for at least a day or so. What kind of dangers will we face in the second edition?

Lil: Evil never sleeps y’all. It gets its coffee from Aerin. 

Kathleen: (Aerin, walking up to the counter): "I have a large non-fat birthday cake latte with caramel drizzle and four shots of espresso for (squints at label) ...Emile?"

Lil: In all seriousness, you’re really getting it from all sides in this book. There’s rival factions, shifting leadership, societal upheaval, and monsters. So. Many. Monsters. (Thank you for giving us the Shadestalker, by the way. Can’t wait for you to meet the beefy boy.) 

Kathleen: One cool scary thing about book 2 is that THIS TIME, IT'S PERSONAL (like instead of you and your buds racing against bad guys to collect the magic things, you've now got a villain single-mindedly hunting you down so she can steal your <REDACTED> for use in her evil plans).

Emi: Kathleen may have called me out for it but our Big Bad is hot! Both literally and figuratively!

How much do you love QA?

Lil: SO MUCH.

Emi: Pour one out for our poor QA folks who have had to test what is the most complex book we have ever done! You are the real heroes!

Jay: QA peeps are my saviors!! Their work alone cures my anxiety.

Kathleen: Gawd I would be lost without QA my grammar is a disaster

Erin: Everyone on the Blades team is so wonderful to work with. I also tested Book 1, and to be able to contribute to Book 2 means everything to me. It’s absolutely a labor of love.

We know that years of hard work and passion went into this book. What would the Blades team like the readers to take away from this sequel?

Emi: So Kathleen and I actually helped to brainstorm the entire Blades world back when it first came into being, so it felt like coming full circle to be back and expanding it in new and fun ways. I was already in love with all of these characters and they're even closer to my heart now. I can't wait for you all to see what we've come up with!

Jay: Y’all better like it! This book has taken years off my life. *lies down on floor* (But seriously, we’re as excited about Blades 2 as all of you and hope that it brings as much joy to you as it did for us to make. I think the best word to describe the team as we wait for September 1st is giddy.)

Danielle: I hope you like our art :).

Tom: If you don’t, please keep it to yourself, artists are fragile :’} 

Lil: I was one of the few people who was new at Choices when I began working on this book, and it was truly an honor to see this thing come together. These are the minds that brought you The Crown & the Flame, The Cursed Heart, Wake the Dead, and the first Blades. It was amazing to go from watching them work as a fan to taking this epic journey together. 

Kathleen: THE REAL VILLAIN WAS THE IMPERIALISM WE MADE ALONG THE WAY

Lastly, how much does the team love Aerin?

Kathleen: I DON'T love Aerin he KIDNAPPED my WIFE.

Danielle: Which one…

Emi: Aerin is my sweet baby boi with a little dose of evil. He should be protected at all costs but also really needs to go to therapy. I live for the angst of him and Raine though. It's so juicy.

Danielle: Aerin has caused me, personally, a lot of pain.

Lil: Really, one of the fun things about the book is you can decide how much pain Aerin causes you. Unlike us.

Jay: He haunts my dreams and my Wednesdays.

Danielle: Livid and sad and livid and sad

Thank you team for taking us through the fantastical production journey of the Blades of Light and Shadow 2! We can’t wait to dive in and meet up with the gang. Launch day is so close!! 

Thank you, readers, for supporting us and our book teams!

<3 The Choices Community Team

[retrocgads]

UK 1998

[niirialnox]

NOT. READY

Episode 17;

Oh lord not Captain Chim 🙄🤣

Eddie waiting for a sign? HOW ABOUT A 6'2 MUSCLED GOLDEN RETRIEVER, HUH?

Aww Buck misses his dad at the station (and not cause Chim is a monster lmao)

Everyone misses dad lmao

STOP HARRY COMING TO BOBBY FOR ADVICE MY HEART 🥺🥺

If this man falls in this vat of chocolate somehow I swear to god. . .

OH GOD DAMMIT WHAT AN IDIOT

Sometimes I wish Maddie went back to being a nurse now that Doug is gone (mostly cause imagine her constantly having to see Buck hurt in real time? Now I need a fic of Maddie being a nurse in LA. . .) but I love her as a dispatcher

OH GOD NOT THE FREDDIE BOMBS STARTING

Oh boy Eddie is so bad with words LMAO but it makes him so much more attractive

WAIT I FORGOT THIS WAS THE SHANNON DEATH EPISODE KLJFJLKGFJLKGJLKSD

I love how much Josh loves Maddie by bringing all those people (I guess that includes Gloria) she helped together to show her how much of a difference she makes

AS MUCH AS SHANNON MAKES ME MAD I WISH SHE LIVED 😭😭

You can see how much Eddie's husband wants to comfort him 😭 BUT THAT BOBBY HUG KILLED ME

God I love Chim and Hen's friendship so much

Episode 18;

I. AM. NOT. READY. FOR. THIS 😭😭😭

Ugh Helena and Ramon 🙄🙄🙄 GET OUT OF HERE. YOU TELL THEM EDDIE

CHARISMA CARPENTER? HELLO?! CORDELIA WHATCHU DOIN' HERE?!

PLEEEEEASE NOT HIM BEING SCALPED 🤣🤣

Eddie being a car guy is super sexy also

Gross Ali ugh please go away 🤮

NOT A MAGGOT IN HER FACE PLEEEEEEASE I HATE IT HERE LMAO

PLEASE BUCK WITH HIS BUGS LMAO

WAIT THE INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS THINKING EDDIE AND BUCK ARE A COUPLE LMAAAAAAAAAAAO

NOT READY NOT READY NOT READY NOT READY

The people helping get the truck off of Buck ALWAYS makes me cry my eyes out

I WISH BOBBY WENT WITH HIM IN THE AMBULANCE

God I am not ready for this arc plus the tsunami and the lawsuit I'm gonna HATE IT

Eddie should be kissing Buck not you Ali 😡

Also Maddie and Carla friendship is something I did not know I would need in my life

ALI I COULDN'T HATE YOU MORE. AND HOW DARE YOU CALL HIM EVAN

Madney Madney Madney Madney YEEEEES

As much as I feel for Buck about wanting to get back to work I wish he would just think of himself and his health for ONCE

EDDIE GETTING HIS SHEILD YEEEEEES. Chris giving him his helmet MY HEART

Buck being so happy for his man 🥺🥺

BUCK PLEASE WHY THAT BIG OF A BITE OF CAKE?! lmao

ATHENA IN THAT DRESS? She's so gorgeous

And that's a WRAP on season 2! God I love this show SO much! As I have said many many times, I am NOT looking forward to this next arc cause I dunno if my heart can handle it 😭

[theknucklehead]

For those who don't know, AVGN has his own video game made by developers who are close friends with him, it's a side scrolling shoot-em-up platformer with NES style graphics and tons of call backs to his reviews of various different games. Now I could go through every one of those references, but this post would end up being way too long so instead I'm gonna focus on select moments that I particularly enjoyed from AVGN Adventures (1 & 2 Deluxe)

The Browntown section of the game in question is a reference to the NES Ninja Turtles game, but this moment in particular is based on a jump he struggled with for so long until he found out you can just walk across it.

The Assholevania is all a reference to Castlevania, including Nerd's opening line which is quoted from Simon's Quest whenever the game transitions from day to night.

At the very start of Dungeons & Dickholes, the first ladder you see leads to a very elaborate death trap, this is a reference to a joke he made in his Super Pitfall review regarding the first ladder you see in that game being a beginner's trap.

The penultimate stage Virtual Insanity is red & black just like the graphics on the Virtual Boy.

One of the new bonus levels in the deluxe version features a massive truck named after the game of the same Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.

The boss battle for Dungeons & Dickholes is actually a reference to Cinemassacre's Monster Madness; The Giant Claw a 1957 horror movie with a laughably bad looking movie monster, and Nerd's quote is from the movie as everyone refers to the monster being as big as a battleship.

In the original 2nd game, the boss battle of Area 52 was the badguy in the AVGN movie, but for some reason they changed it to instead look like Darth Vader turning into a scorpion which is a reference to the Star Wars Famicom game.

This is a double reference here: the first is regarding the "Freddy's Coming" screen that appears in A Nightmare on Elm Street for NES (complete with the trademark attached). The other is Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees being called Jimmy and Bimmy which was a translation error in Double Dragon III (They misspelled Billy's name)

Fred Fuchs is still in the Deluxe version, but this time he's played by Gilbert Gottfried which he guest starred as in the Life of Black Tiger review.

And finally if you get a game over, the game over screen is written out the same way as it was joked about in his Friday the 13th on NES review.

[alvinmichaelmurphyseville]

My Christmas list this year.

1. More people accepting me for being myself

2. A lifetime supply of gummy worms

3. To be trusted and valued and praised for all my achievements

4. A toy monster truck. (Not a baby truck! A remote control one!)

5. Some new art supplies for my comics

6. A family vacation that’s something besides camping

7. A mad scientist alien slime making kit

8. Maybe a PS5 if Santa’s feeling generous

9. A color coded binder organizer. Classic Alvin destroyed my last one.

10. Fidget toys galore!

[michelleelizabethtanner]

Do you think Beth really believed Rio was coming after them after the truck thing in 1.09? I always just assumed she was jumping to conclusions and was so far out of her depth ("He looked at me funny"), but was there something else to it? Did she really want to take him down deep down?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the ask! Idk if I have a super good answer though. I’ve always considered this scene more based on the mistakes Rio made in underestimating Beth’s reaction. IDK why I haven’t thought more in-depth about why she behaved the way she did.

Unless I’m misremembering, everything in that episode showed her anger, and none of her actions around Rio signified fear. I don’t think she was even jumping to conclusions about what he might do to them. I think she was just mad. Yet another man putting her in her place, taking away her power and her financial “security” because he decided her life for her. So she retaliated. Her “we’re good people” excuse was just a cover to get her girls on board. It’s the line she uses all the time to manipulate people (including Rio.) “I’m a good person. I’m a mother. I eat at P. F. Chang’s.”

The fact that this woman can never think through the consequences of her choices surrounding Rio truly astounds me. She cannot be so stupid to blindly lash out and expect nothing to happen to her. I’ve been kind of thinking about this irritating aspect of her behavior. The ways in which she hurts Rio over and over, even once she sees the actual hurt on him, she doesn’t stop. Contrast that with how she enables Dean over and over, who has a proven track record of lying to her and actively harming her. So it makes so little sense why she would lash out, even contrary to her own wellbeing, in this particular situation. She couldn’t have expected that he would be imprisoned forever just because she gave up some laundering details. So what then? Was it a cry for his attention? A cry to be seen? It’s gotta be. Her nihilistic tendencies come through so strong around Rio. He brings it out in her. So it’s like she doesn’t even care what happens to her, as long as he keeps looking at her, as long as she’s feeling that power he makes her feel.

Which brings us back to what was so polarizing about Beth to so many viewers — she’s selfish af. She doesn’t want to be. She’s torn. She keeps thinking if she just does one more shitty thing to Rio, she will prove her goodness to the universe. Prove that she’s worthy of having a husband who’s faithful, and children who don’t struggle with emotional disorders, and friends who choose her even over their own husbands. This woman has been abandoned and scarred so deeply in her formative years that she’s absolutely desperate to matter and to be chosen. (Kinda like someone else we know.) But Rio seems to be her one “safe space” to be herself. “Just being myself.” And while that may sound romantic (and it IS), it’s also toxic af because for her to be “herself” she has to all the time behave abusively (ugh, I hate that word because it isn’t quite accurate to their dynamic but idk what other thing to call it… maybe retaliatory?) toward Rio. He feeds the monster that she hides from others. He isn’t a “good person” so it’s fine for her to take her trauma out on him. And he keeps coming back for more. And he keeps wanting her despite it. It’s that good old cycle of abuse, continually perpetuated. They find so much warped validation in each other they can’t quit.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent. Sorry about that! These asks are so helpful in getting me back into a Brio state of mind. Reminds me how I love analyzing them. 😊 Makes me wanna not work and write Brio stories (that I’ve been stagnant on for like 2 months now 😩)