#Megan's 80s adventures

[108garys]

Matches & Magpie

A 1920s flapper through the lens of a 80s circus and a pyro jester? But it's the same person ending up in the circus through radically different life paths

I couldn't pick what to put first so I put them together, close ups and more explanation on Megan's Harum Scarum eras undercut

Matches(pyromegan)

After being the sole survivor of her family's house fire and sevreal years under reverend Carson's roof, being seen as a charity case and troubled child by the town. Kept strictly in line while her trauma is left unattended, eventually she hits a breaking point where she intentionally burnt down the Reverend's home, killing him.

After fleeing town and being 15 in 1975 she comes across the Harum Scarum sideshow where her love of fire was turned to entertainment. In this time she felt like she had a family who understood her and even saw Eliza as a mother figure. After a decade of circus life she set her third significant fire in 1985(yes the circus burnt down twice in the pyromegan timeline), in her horror of potentially killing a second family, one who understood her and had her for arguably as long as the Clarkes, she fled both too afraid to see who lived or to face the survivors(her previous fires had no other survivors). So at 25 she's had a very strange time of it clearly

Also I kept the ashy under eye from some of her other pyro designs, chose gold/black for how it'd reflect and move in her act(note, set well before Silas was born)

Magpie(Megan's 80s adventures)

In a no fire timeline her resentment towards her parents builds up over her forced mentoring by the Reverend and her feelings of invisibility, by 1978 she decides to work a summer job at Hackett's quarry to get away from little hope for a time, she loved it, loved the younger Hacketts who she acted as older sister to and made a lot of friends. She clashed with Constance because she's not going to sit back with her bs and by the end of summer she's a legal adult and realises she has other options. After a much longer series of events between being roommates with a camp friend and a big blank check of whatever else, she joins the circus and it's one in a long list of wild whims she's pursued. Her persona is far more "lovely assistant" than anything but she'd have a range of acts, it's admittedly less fleshed out because it's less archetypal than the jester. Her costume is blue/silver I wanted something that would look good under a spotlight, having used stripes in the first design I wanted checkers on the dress and her gloves/stockings are silver to give a better stage presence and the costume itself should allow for more movement than expected

@kassiekolchek22 @delurkr @tatjana-fantasy @blubary @qusok @kagoa @kindheartedgummybears @ctrvpani @unhingedlesbear @mybrainrotforreal @tinynightmarewoman I find it funny that of my three distinct surviving Megan au timelines, the somewhat Gothy Megan from the hector Clarke au is the only one who didn't join the circus lol(Also working on something for Eliza😉)

[luckyshinyhunter]

Having trouble finding some films to watch, especially now that it's pride month?

Well have no fear, because I have some that is recommended, whether queer or queer-coded, these are movies you should watch.

Despite being forgotten or criticize being "woke", Strange World is a underrated gem that join the list of underrated and forgotten disney films such Lightyear, Treasure Planet and Atlantis.

It has an gay main character and a diverse cast including an 3-legged dog. Inspired by classic sci-fi adventure film in the 50's and 60's, Strange World is fun adventure film about an generation of a family dealing with their own faults, also opening a door of possibilities with it's lore.

Freaky is a fun twist on the classic "Freaky Friday" trope, telling the story of a teenager who swap bodies with a serial killer, thanks to a mystical artifact.

Co-written and directed by the guy who also made Happy Death Day, Freaky delivers some gore-filled kills and feel good laughs while offering some parts of queer identity along with a gay character who proud of who he is.

The Fear Street trilogy itself not only joined the list of amazing horror films in 2021 but also an spot of queer horror.

It follows an romance of two lesbian teens in the 90's not only dealing with homophobia but also a ancient connected curse of the town of Shadyside.

Chalked with nostalgia of classic horror films like Scream, Friday the 13th and The Crucible.

Fear Street wins fans over with it's violent kills, remarkable characters, talented performances, and great and relatable queer representation.

Jennifer's Body introduced an another horror icon and bisexuality.

Megan Fox plays Jennifer Check who was possessed by a demon and targets on guys after being sacrificed by an fame-hungry band.

Tho Jennifer is not a lesbian, but the films does show that she is interested in both boys and girls, claiming she goes both ways and has some interest in her friend Needy, even kissing her too.

The cult classic not only has an amazing bisexual icon but tackles heavy themes such as assault, exploitation and the female gaze.

Bottoms is a must watch masterpiece, chaotic, brutal and gut-bursting funny, the film follows two high school friends that made a fight club to just hook up with two popular cheerleaders.

With an ridiculously unhinged final act, meet cute romance, and jokes that have you laughing your butt off. This 2000's coded movie is a a treat to start off the month.

After rewatching it again, Arlo has queer heavy themes if you think about it. Looking back, one of the film's characters, has some queer-coded hints about him.

I'm not going to spoil on the titular character, I think you should watch the film in order to get what I'm saying.

Other than that the film has an amazing soundtrack and has colorful characters as well.

Luca definitely is a queer film without a doubt. Focusing on two young sea monsters, spending an unforgettable summer in the town of Portorosso on the Italian Riviera.

It's themes of self discovery, chosen families, homophobia and acceptance.

This emotionally sweet sea-filled tale is a instant classic with a pretty much Canon couple too.

Robot Dreams also has hints of queer companionship and also is a story of loneliness, the film's out now, you definitely think you should see it.

Based off the comic in 2007, Robot Dreams is set in the 80's of New York City.

A lonely dog assemble and befriends a robot in a dialogue-less journey of friendship, love and rusted parts.

There's no surprises are a lot of clear queer-tonic themes in the films, especially among the two main characters, Robot Dreams is a perfect way to spend your summer.

Last year, Nimona was not only one final goodbye from Blue sky studios but is a part of the best films of 2023.

No surprise that the creator of the graphic novel also did Netflix's She-ra, the film is heavy on not only disability but also gender identity and transphobia.

it's a film that everyone will enjoy, thanks to it's commentary and electrifying performances by the cast, combine with pretty metal animation, Nimona is the film you should definitely watch.

🏳️‍🌈Happy pride month, hope all of you have a great day, and let me know on what think of these films.🏳️‍🌈

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Weeks in Review (September 10-30, 2023)

I adore Godzilla Final Wars, but it's a movie with an identity crisis, unsure whether it wants to be headlining a Toho Champion Festival or mesmerizing American teenagers at a mid-aughts multiplex. @spacehunter-m's Final Wars 2004: The Year We Make Corn-Tack gives it a strong tug in the first direction, whittling the runtime down to 77 minutes and replacing most of the music and sound effects. She was inspired by Space Warriors 2000, of all things; as she put it, both films are "largely comprised of nonstop, monotonous action." As in that bizarro Ultraman compilation film, the kaiju trash-talk each other. It makes you wonder why Ryuhei Kitamura didn't at least bring back the speech bubbles from Godzilla vs. Gigan. Kaiju fan edits are rare, and this is in a class all by itself. Download it here.

Shigeru Kayama's novelizations of Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla Raids Again are out—hopefully the first of many to come. My copy only arrived on Saturday, so I haven't had the chance to read the whole thing yet, but I've made it through Godzilla. It's interesting to see Kayama, who wrote the initial treatment, take another swing at the story after the film was finished. He puts back moments like Godzilla eating a cow and attacking a lighthouse, and is also more overt with the wartime allusions. There's an incredible moment where Dr. Yamane muses that studying Godzilla and learning his secrets could be Japan's way of redeeming itself after "caus[ing] a great deal of trouble to people throughout the world." Note that these are novella-length, so much less in-depth than the novelizations of American Godzilla films you might be used to (Godzilla Raids Again is less than 80 pages). The book ends with an afterword by translator Jeffrey Angles contextualizing the tales.

Godzilla: War for Humanity continues to be a standout IDW miniseries. There's a new and very weird monster in the second issue, plus a no-nonsense Mothra (she tries to recruit Godzilla to fight Zoospora by shooting him in the back of the head and dragging him into the ocean in front of Minilla).

I've also got to mention the solicitation for another Godzilla Rivals installment, due December 20. Nola Pfau is writing, Megan Huang is illustrating.

Jen Onça is not excited to start her new, fast-paced fast-food career at Minilla Burger, but she'd much prefer a mundane day to the sudden return of Megalon! The monster brings destruction, trapping Jen in a forgotten lab deep beneath the restaurant with only the half-built form of Jet Jaguar to help her get out! She must repair the robotic defender to save herself and the city, but first she needs to escape the rubble trapping her in this tense adventure!

Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo, Yoshikazu Ishii's follow-up to Attack of the Giant Teacher, has also been picked up by SRS Cinema. No release details yet. I can't really speak to the film either, since it screened at the same time as Yumiko Shaku's panel at G-Fest, but as you can see from the poster, it's set during the pandemic.

The GAMERA -Rebirth- Gyaos has joined Godzilla Battle Line as an unusual sort of swarm unit. Your first summon of the match calls forth two sub-adults, and by the fifth summon you're sending out two sub-adults and three adults, still for four energy. They're probably the best swarm in the game, though still highly vulnerable to AOE units like Godzilla '01. I'm having fun with them in the Challenge Battles.

Notzilla, one of the sharpest kaiju comedies out there, is unexpectedly getting the graphic novel treatment. Mitch Teemley is adapting his own screenplay, with art by Zumart Putra. The comic is already finished, although I'm not clear on how folks who didn't back the Kickstarter (which wrapped on September 11) will get it. Useless trivia: the terrific cover above (one of four) is by Ben Dunn, who wrote the How to Draw Manga book I poured over in middle school.

After Troll shattered Netflix streaming records (according to Netflix), it's not super surprising that the company wants a sequel. Priority one: coming up with a title that's not Troll 2. Screenwriter Espen Aukan and director Roar Uthaug will both return.

Toy highlights of the past few weeks:

After confusing everyone by teasing its silhouette the day before April Fools', Tamashii has fully unveiled an S.H.Monsterarts Godzilla '72, a rare Showa figure from the line. It comes with two heads, one of them bloodied (see above). Due at the end of February.

After finally running out of ways to repaint their mold of Hedorah's Perfect Stage, Bandai is making a Movie Monster Series figure of the kaiju's Landing Stage. A Godzilla Store exclusive, it'll be released October 25.

After over two years, Funko is releasing a trio of Godzilla Singular Point Pops. Hopefully they go all-out with this show—it's not like there's any other plausible way for a Satomi Kanahara figure to exist.

[nadiajustbe]

A music band HMC AU, but no one actually plays in this band.

See, Howell was put there because of his connection to Suliman, the band's main singer and guitarist (Justin is the second singer and sometimes adds some sparkle, and there are rumors that they are together, but no one can be sure because it's the 80s), with the addition of Megan's screams about how Howell can't find a decent job. Well, he did. And there he's...no, not playing. He's not even a full-fledged member, a he was born an unmusical Welshman and he's terribly upset about it, but still carries that guitar with him, just for it to be. And he tells all the others, especially the girls he's courting, how cool he is and how strong his connection to this cool Suliman's band is, but in reality he's usually just there. He hangs around backstage, gets ready for hours in front of the mirror only to sit at a table eating sandwiches and complaining about his incredible life because yet another woman, whose name he will forget tomorrow, doesn't like him. Oh, and of course, he does some orders, paperwork, sometimes helps with lyrics or costumes, calling himself an expert in everything (but he especially loves costumes, yes).

In general, he lives his best and worst life, sharing Welsh jokes with Suliman™.

Michael got there as a 15-year-old orphan who desperately needed some money. Howl was undoubtedly the author of the idea to invite this unknown sad boy, who had been sitting on the bench for an hour after the concert had ended. He decided to try his hand at mentoring, to elegantly take the boy "under his wing," but it didn't work out well, to put it mildly. Because, although Michael's job is to actually carry things back and forth and be Howl's second assistant, in fact, it is he who is trying to be the voice of reason for this piece of Welshman, because "you can't spend money on another guitar you can't play because Ben bought a new one for himself. No, I don't recommend buying a skull either."

(He complains about this to their local fiery red cat with yellow and blue eyes named Calcifer, who purrs as if he agrees, and then stares at Howl with his eyes burning eyes)

Sophie was miraculously put there by Fanny, because in all universes, Sophie Hatter is destined to be exploited for labor for a pittance because of Fanny. She was personally assigned to the task of sewing costumes, hats, and general decor, and in fact, she was the only one of this team who seemed to have a clear job in this under-troupe. However, over time, she accidentally moves away from hats and becomes (of her own free will) the cleaning lady behind Howl's mess, oops...

At first, she behaves quite quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to herself: she is the eldest of the three, and it is her fate to be stuck somewhere here, behind the scenes and out of the spotlight of the good life and fame, without even thinking about regrets. But over time, seeing how much the crowd really doesn't care about her, and perhaps after breaking a few bones and walking around with a cane, she finally decides to screw it all and goes on all kinds of adventures.

And - oh, yes - she and Howl can't stand each other. So much so that from the moment Sophie arrives, they can't stop arguing about the fit, or the colors, or the look of the performance, or the fact that the little hint of a bathroom they're given was designed for the band members, not for Mr. Howell Jenkins, who has already spent hours in his home shower. And, of course, Sophie continues to involuntarily look at Howell's writing and threaten to remove the spiders he has safely hidden somewhere in the corners, for which she will be called "Ms. Nose" by him (she responds by calling him a slither-outer because, God, man, when are you ever going to face anything but your own reflection?)

Of course, one day she finally finds the moment to go into the bathroom for a second to get something she needs and accidentally mixes the cans of dye Howell left there (it feels as he just leaves his stuff in the bathroom like that on purpose to make Sophie complain, about how his trash shouldn't be there) and OH SURE, the day after that she has to stay up all night cleaning up the scene after Howell throws a horrible tantrum, smashing everything in his path, with good-natured Michael helping her. (And, OF COURSE, this idiot will then say that the color is actually not bad and go on about his business)

And - finally - they can't stand each other so much that they can't spend a second

not to get into a fight with each other (and just be without each other, it seems), so much so that it took Sophie a long time to lose her confidence that all her feelings for him were solely because of the professionally tailored suits she makes, which he always steals from Suliman and Justin, and that stupid damn smile. So much so that they end up kissing somewhere in a secluded corner right before the eyes of the unfortunate spiders.

Obviously, they can't stand each other enough to repeat it more than once.

[sunevial]

Talvakri's Guide to Adar

Explore and defend the Land of Earth-Sky!

Far from the Five Nations and the dragonmarked houses of Khorvaire lies the continent of Sarlona, home to rich psionic traditions and the Unity of Riedra. It is also home to Adar, the Refuge, home of the kalashtar and one the last bastions standing against the tyranny brought by the Dreaming Dark.

Though first introduced in the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and expanded upon in Secrets of Sarlona, Adar as a nation has not been revisited since. Talvakri's Guide to Adar both expands on existing lore and introduces new elements to the country, painting a rich and vibrant picture of its people, traditions, and current struggles. A millennia of warfare has changed the fabric of the nation, and it needs heroes now more than ever to break the never-ending siege and free Sarlona from its ongoing nightmare.

Written by gold-best-selling author Megan Caldwell with platinum-best-selling author and designer Anthony Turco, Talvakri's Guide to Adar has options for DMs and players looking to tell and explore Sarlonan stories and characters including:

67 pages detailing Adar's people, cultures, religions, major cities, and adventuring sites.

2 maps produced by Vani Srinivasan

9 original player ancestries

2 original lineages in the style of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

7 new subclasses

7 new feats

80 pages worth of statblocks

New equipment, tools, magic items, and more!

Do you have what it takes to adventure in the nation once called the Land of Earth-Sky? Talvakri's Guide to Adar and its many mountains await!

---

Hi so I wrote a giant tome for the Eberron campaign setting and you should check it out. It has sad gays and explicitly queer characters and diversity in skin tones

And also it's basically a campaign setting for under $25 bucks

And also I lost my sanity in making it

You should buy it, it's great

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (30 Jun-6 Jul 2024)

d20: nsbu asking the real questions

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 The Long Hangover (CoffioCake) - 55K of SuperBat identity porn goodness

😊 Cloaked in Gold (kaistrex (weishen)) - 57K, sterek soulbites/soulmate AU - enjoyable, esp the worldbuilding details

😍 the other side of this wide night (mellyflori) - 50K, kaysanova modern mortal AU - accidental pocket dial of a bathroom graffiti'd phone number - great set up, great execution, highly enjoyable read

🙂 pull apart the dark (togina) - 78K, stucky, Steve gets de-aged while the WS still in a pretty feral stage of recovery - read for stucky bookclub

💖💖 +182K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

jpl!buck series (middyblue (daisyblaine)) - 9-1-1: buck/tommy, 25K - absolutely delightful AU where Buck is a technical engineer at JPL

The Street Food Jobs (SwordAndStars (SwordAndStarsWriting)) - Leverage: Gen (but with definite ot3 overtones), 17K - Five times street food played a role in a job, and one time the street food WAS the job. Featuring pretzels, shawarma, bao, Scotch Eggs, breakfast burritos, paletas, pizza, and Eliot Spencer frequently questioning his life choices.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

QI - series U, e5-11

Um, Actually - s9, e10

Independence Day (1996)

2024 AKC Diving Dogs Challenge

The Martian (2015)

Smartypants - s1, e6

D20: Never Stop Blowing Up - "And That's Whirred Up" (s22, e2)

D20: Adventuring Party - "When You're Here, You're La Familia" (s17, e2)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Re: Dracula - June 30: Devils of the Pit

Re: Dracula - July 1: Strong Life

Consider This - The evolution of Pride

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Gilbert Baker Mural

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - New York City’s Black Oyster King

WikiHole - Aunts (with Brandon Scott Jones, Mary Holland and Eugene Cordero)

⭐ Vibe Check - The Ultimate Dom featuring ALOK

It's Been a Minute - Defining 2024 so far; plus, why brands 'de-woked'

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Big Duck

Inheriting - Carol & the Los Angeles Uprising: Part 1

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on Megan

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Shaun Cassidy Radio • 1970s

The Partridge Family Radio • Popular

Relaxing '80s Rock

[thebookofm]

Recommended Reading

Here is a list of books, both prose and graphic, that I think are worth checking out. All of these books are speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, alternate reality, et cetera), since that’s essentially the only genre I read. Entries followed by a ♥ are my extra-special favorites. The ones marked with an H won at least one Hugo Award. Those marked with a Q contain prominent LGBTQ+ characters or issues.

Lighter Science Fiction

Douglas Adams: The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy and its first two sequels, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Life, the Universe and Everything. The Hitchhiker’s Guide is a landmark work in SF comedy and is a must-read. If you are an audio listener, then I suggest starting with the 1978 BBC radio play, which was the original version of this story. (If you like THHGTTG, then check out Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and its sequel.) ♥

John Scalzi: Any of his SF, especially the Old Man's War series and the Interdependency series (The Collapsing Empire and its sequels). Scalzi’s work, with few exceptions, is not only very funny, but also includes some good science-fiction-y “big ideas.” If you are a fan of Star Trek, then his novel Redshirts, which won a Hugo, will be of particular interest. Interestingly in some of Scalzi’s recent work, such as Kaiju Preservation Society and the Lock In series, he never revels the gender of the main character. Almost all of Scalzi’s audiobooks are read by Wil Wheaton. Wheaton does a great job, but his voice does tend to make the listener imagine the main character as a man, even when there’s no textual evidence to support that imagining. ♥H

Martha Wells: The Murderbot Diaries (All Systems Red and sequels), winner of the 2021 Hugo Award for best series. Despite the name, this series of five novellas and one novel follows a human-bot hybrid (not a robot) security unit (SecUnit) as it struggles to protect its stupid humans while coping with social anxiety and finding time to watch soap operas. Plus, it doesn’t really murder all that often. The series is very funny, but it is also a surprisingly serious and insightful examination of sentience, autonomy, and living with neuroses. Wells, who identifies as neurodivergent, will write three more Muderbot books, beginning in November 2023, as part of her six-volume deal with Tor. I particularly enjoy Kevin R. Free’s narration of the audiobooks. I’m counting these books for LGBTQ+ representation because Murderbot is nonbinary and asexual, but since it isn’t human (and doesn’t want to be), nonbinary and/or ace readers (whom I assume to be human) may not find themselves reflected in Murderbot’s experience. ♥HQ

Scott Meyer: The Authorities series (The Authorities and Destructive Reasoning), Master of Formalities, and Grand Theft Astro. Meyer’s books are all hilarious, fun adventures. The Authorities books follow a privately funded taskforce created to investigate crimes that the police cannot solve. Megan Sloan is one of my favorite detectives in fiction. Master of Formalities follows a protocol expert in a far-future monarchy. My favorite gag in this book occurs when someone becomes his own uncle. Grand Theft Astro is a heist story with Meyer’s trademark humor. If you enjoy these books, check out his Magic 2.0 series, which is described in the Lighter Fantasy/SF Mashups section. Luke Daniels, who narrates all of Meyer’s audiobooks, does an excellent job with these stories. ♥

Ernest Cline: Ready Player One. This book is great fun, especially for those that remember the ��80s or enjoy the popular culture of that era. The audiobook is narrated, very appropriately, by nerd icon Wil Wheaton.

Andy Weir: The Martian and Project Hail Mary. The Martian is the basis of the very faithful film adaption (which I also recommend), and it is super-realistic science fiction with a lot of jokes. Project Hail Mary feels much like The Martian (though far more speculative) at first, but a third of the way in, a major plot development shakes up the story for the better. ♥

Dennis E. Taylor: We are Legion (We are Bob) and sequels (the Bobiverse series). This series begins with the dark premise of the protagonist being uploaded into a von Neumann probe and launched into deep space, but it’s actually very funny. Ray Porter does a great job narrating the audiobooks.

More Serious Science Fiction

David Brin: Startide Rising and The Uplift War. In this universe, sentient species modify or “uplift” presentients to help them bridge the gap to sentence, after which the “client” species is indentured to its “patron” for 100,000 years. Humans, once discovered by the Five Galaxies civilization, only escape indenture because they have already uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins, making humans the lowest-ranking and most hated patron species in the known universe. These books have great worldbuilding and aliens that are very well developed in terms of both biology and culture. The other Uplift books are also good, but these two, which each won a Hugo, are my favorites. ♥H

David Brin: Glory Season. This novel is an amazing extrapolation of an agrarian society built on parthenogenesis. The main character is a rare “variant,” a person who wasn’t cloned but was instead conceived sexually via one of the tiny number of men on the planet. She and her twin must find roles in society without the benefit of membership in a clan of genetically identical women occupying an established niche. Plus, there are fun puzzles and Conway’s Game of Life. ♥

Vernor Venge: A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. In this universe, the laws of physics vary with the average density in the galactic “neighborhood.” Thus, while the Earth lies at a point where only sublight speeds and human-level intelligence are possible, farther out in the plane of the galaxy and especially off the plane, superluminal speeds and superhuman intelligence can be achieved. Also, on one planet in the “Slow Zone,” there is a race of wolf-like beings who are not individually sentient but who achieve sentience (via ultrasonic communication) in groups of four to six. These books have spectacular worldbuilding, well conceived aliens, and some very compelling science-fictional “big ideas.” Can be read in either order, but publishing order (as listed above) is likely best. Each novel won a Hugo. ♥H

Vernor Venge: Across Realtime. This volume is a compilation of the novels The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime as well as the novella The Ungoverned. These stories revolve around an interesting technology for altering how time passes.

James S. A. Corey: The Expanse series (Leviathan's Wake, eight sequel novels and several shorter works). Fairly hard science fiction based on a politically strained three-way balance of power in a solar system that is confronted with terrifying alien technology. This series is the basis for The Expanse TV/web series, which I also recommend. The Expanse won the 2020 Hugo for best series. ♥H

Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice and sequels (The Imperial Radch series). A far-future story in which a sentient ship formerly controlling and inhabiting many human bodies is now confined to a single human body (and with its ship self destroyed). These books attracted a lot of attention because the Radchaai language only uses female pronouns, and thus the gender of many of the characters is never revealed, but there's a lot more to this story than that. Ancillary Justice won basically all the awards offered in 2013. Leckie’s novel Provenance and her upcoming Translation State take place in the same universe but follow new characters. ♥HQ

Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace. A new ambassador (with the old ambassador’s memories shoved into her brain) is appointed to represent a “barbarian” space station to the “civilized” Teixcalaanli Empire, where she becomes embroiled in a succession crisis and meets people with names like Three Seagrass (my favorite character) and Eight Antidote. Eventually, she must also negotiate first contact with sentient aliens. These books are an interesting examination of imperialism and language. Both novels won the Hugo Award. HQ

Becky Chambers: The Wayfarers series (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and sequels). This anthology series explores different cultures and locations in a well developed galactic civilization. Wayfarers won the 2019 Hugo Award for best series. HQ

Lighter Fantasy/SF Mashups

Scott Meyer: Off to Be the Wizard and its sequels (the Magic 2.0 series). These books are science fiction disguised as fantasy. An amateur hacker discovers a computer file that can be edited to change the real world. Within 24 hours, everything goes wrong, and he flees from the FBI to medieval England, planning to set himself up as a wizard using his new capabilities. That plan doesn’t go well, either. These books are laugh-out-loud funny and may be of particular interest to computer scientists. The audiobooks’ narrator, Luke Daniels hilariously brings the text to life. ♥

More Serious Fantasy/SF Mashups

Tamsyn Muir: The Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, and Alecto the Ninth [not yet published]). Charles Stross described the first novel as “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” Honestly, I’m not sure whether to put this series under the “Lighter” or “More Serious” heading. There is a lot of humor, especially in the first book, but there is also quite a lot of horror and sadness. The second novel will absolutely gaslight you, forcing you to question your own sanity, but you’ll be glad you trusted Muir before you reach the end of the book. I can’t imagine anyone other than the excellent Moira Quirk narrating these books. ♥Q

John Scalzi: The God Engines. This novella, in which humans use enslaved gods (defeated enemies of their own god) to power their starships, is almost the only Scalzi work without a large dose of humor. It’s very good, though.

Anne McCaffrey: The first six Dragonriders of Pern books. (I've only read the first six.) These are science fiction disguised as fantasy and are classics in the genre. Far in the future, on an agrarian planet that has forgotten its history, humans ride sentient, telepathic dragons into battle against deadly spores that fall from the sky when another planet in an extremely eccentric orbit comes close.

Lighter Fantasy

Nicholas Eames: The Band series (Kings of the Wyld, Bloody Rose, and Outlaw Empire [not yet published]). Mercenary bands are the rock stars of the fantasy world in which these novels take place, attracting rabid fans and touring huge arenas. These books certainly have strong elements of humor, much of which is focused on the central conceit, but there is also a lot of action and pathos to be had. Both published books a great fun to read, and I’m looking forward to reading the third.

Tamsyn Muir: Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower. This novella subverts fairytale tropes and comments on gender roles while delivering an outsized dose of Muir’s trademark dry humor. Moira Quirk is hilarious as the audiobook narrator. I’m counting this book for LGBTQ+ because one of the characters doesn’t identify with any gender and because the story examines gender roles. ♥Q

Travis Baldree: Legends and Lattes. A female orc warrior retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop. "What's coffee?" everyone asks. This novel is well crafted, full of interesting characters, and very cute. My friend @novelconcepts aptly described it as “a beautiful warm hug of a book.” There's even a tiny touch of WLW romance, if you’re into that. Baldree is writing a prequel. Q

More Serious Fantasy

Brandon Sanderson: All of the series and standalone books that are set in the Cosmere (rather than on some alternate Earth). Mistborn: The Final Empire is probably a good place to start. The Stormlight Archive (The Way of Kings and sequels) is my favorite series of Sanderson’s, but each of those books is >1300 pages or >45 hours in audio form, so it may not be the best place to start. Era 2 of the Mistborn series (set 300 years after the Era 1) is probably the most fun. Sanderson also has many books not set in the Cosmere that are more than worth reading. His method of taking a break from writing is to write on a different series, so, every year, he puts out ~400,000 words worth of material (3-4 normal novels or a single Stormlight book). If you listen to the audiobooks of the Stormlight Archive, I recommend getting the hardcopy as well, since the art included really helps bring the world of Roshar to life. ♥

Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora and sequels (The Gentleman Bastard series). Great worldbuilding of an original fantasy world with dark humor. Lynch finally completed his first draft of Book 4 (of 7 planned) in May 2019 after a 4-year delay, so I’m hoping it will be available eventually. I’m starting to give up hope, though.

China Miéville: Perdido Street Station. Very rich worldbuilding. Very, very dark. Don’t read this book if you aren’t interested in depressing storylines. Miéville’s other work is just as inventive and, in his word, “weird” as this one.

N. K. Jemison: The Broken Earth trilogy (The Fifth Season and its sequels). These books have an intriguing premise, extensive worldbuilding, and an interesting writing style. These novels won the best-novel Hugo for three consecutive years, which no author had done before. HQ

Alternate Reality (Including Alternate History and Steampunk)

Elizabeth Bear: Karen Memory. This novel follows a lesbian prostitute as she teams up with a lawman in a steampunk version of a Seattle-like city in the Pacific Northwest. I also enjoyed Bear’s space opera series, White Space (Night and Machine). Q

Cherie Priest: Boneshaker and its sequels (The Clockwork Century series). Steampunk + zombies = fun. This story begins with a plague of zombification erupting out of Seattle, and it finally provides a reason for Steampunks to wear goggles. ♥

Ian Tregillis: The Mechanical and its sequels (The Alchemy Wars series). Alchemy + steampunk robots + a little philosophy.

China Miéville: The City and the City. See the Detective Stories section of this document. ♥

Felix Gilman: The Half-Made World. Steampunk mixed with fantasy. Also, sentient, demon-possessed firearms.

Mary Robinette Kowal; The Lady Astronaut series (The Calculating Stars and sequels). This universe is an extremely hard-science-fiction alternate history in which a catastrophic event dramatically accelerates the space program. The Lady Astronaut of Mars, a short story, is chronologically last but was written first. There’s also a short story called “We Interrupt this Broadcast” that comes chronologically first but isn’t closely connected to the rest. Kowal’s second job is audiobook narrator—she narrates Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series, for example—and she narrates all these books herself. Interestingly, Kowal’s third job is puppeteer, so she’s pretty busy.

Scott Westerfeld: The Leviathan series, as described in the young-adult section of this list. ♥

Detective Stories in Speculative-Fictional Settings

Scott Meyer: The Authorities and Destructive Reasoning. See the Lighter Science Fiction section. ♥

John Scalzi: Lock In and its sequel, Head On. This series of detective stories takes place in a world where a disease has left millions of people “locked into” paralyzed bodies and forced to use remotely operated mecha to interact with the world. Scalzi never reveals the gender of the main character, leaving it up to the reader’s imagination.

John Scalzi: The Dispatcher series. As of a few years ago, if someone is intentionally killed, they stand a 99.9% chance of recovering with their body reset to a few hours earlier, which makes murder more difficult, but not impossible. Dispatchers are licensed to kill—I mean dispatch—people before they can die from injuries or illnesses, thus giving them a second chance. One such service provider gets caught up in illegal dispatches and a series of mysteries.  

Brandon Sanderson: Snapshot. Two detectives are sent into a snapshot, a detailed simulation of an entire city and its millions of inhabitants on a specific day, to investigate a crime.

China Miéville: The City and the City. This book is amazingly thorough exploration of a ridiculous premise: two cities occupying the same space. This novel is probably my favorite of Miéville’s books. ♥

Richard K. Morgan: Altered Carbon. A murder mystery with an SF “big idea” at its core. The basis for a Netflix series that I haven’t seen.

Superheroes and Supervillains in Prose

Brandon Sanderson: Steelheart and sequels (The Reckoners series). This is a young-adult series in which all super-powered people, called Epics, eventually turn evil.

Seanan McGuire: The Velveteen series. This series is McGuire’s funniest work and is available for free here, but I recommend buying the books to support the author. McGuire also has a number of other fantasy series under her own name as well as some SF/horror series under the pen name Mira Grant.

Comics and Graphic Novels

Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson: Paper Girls. This 30-issue comic follows four newspaper-delivery girls who get swept up in a temporal war on Hell Day, 1988. They travel to the ancient past and the far future, meet their adult selves, and learn a lot about themselves in the process. The comic was adapted into an excellent Amazon Prime series, which is a bit more character-focused than the plot-driven comic. Both comic and show are recommended. ♥Q

Ryan North: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. This comic was my favorite ongoing superhero series until its recent ending. Firstly, it’s hilarious. Secondly, since Doreen Green (Squirrel Girl’s alter ego) is a computer-science student, there are a number of gags about coding and math. Thirdly, the heroine usually solves her problem not by beating up the villains, but by empathizing with them, understanding their problems, and helping them find nonviolent solutions. Since the series ended with Issue 50, it’s quite possible to read it all. ♥

N. D. Stevenson: Nimona. This mash-up of fantasy and science fiction is not only filled with humor but also includes a surprising amount of sweetness. Q

Various authors: Lumberjanes. This young-adult comic series follows a group of cabin-mates at a summer camp for girls—excuse me, “hard-core lady-types”—as they encounter a surprisingly high frequency of supernatural phenomena over one time-dilated summer. This comic wrapped up its run after 75 issues. Q

Alan Moore: Watchman. There’s a reason many people point to this graphic novel as an exceptional example of the genre. Honestly the way the story is told is more interesting than the story itself, but the storytelling is well worth the price of admission.

Short Stories in Speculative-Fiction Settings

Various authors: Metatropolis and its sequels. This series of anthologies is a near-future look at how cities (and green spaces) might evolve.

John Scalzi: Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City: Prologue. Trust me, read this hilarious fantasy parody for free here.

John Scalzi: Miniatures. A collection of very short science-fiction stories.

Young-Adult Speculative Fiction

Brandon Sanderson: The Rithmatist. In an alternate United States (so not in the Cosmere), geometric drawings are used to defend the world against an onslaught of 2D creatures. If you listen to the audiobook, I strongly suggest buying the hardcopy as well, since the drawings included play such as strong role in the story. I also suggest the Reckoners series, listed above, but The Rithmatist is my favorite non-adult story from Sanderson. ♥

Scott Westerfeld: Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath. This series takes place in an alternate-history WWI, where one side uses steampunk mecha, and the other relies on genetically engineered animals. There’s a bonus epilogue online, for those how can’t get enough. The hardcopy contains some very nice illustrations. The companion Manual of Aeronautics provides much additional (full-color) artwork, though the character descriptions in the last few pages contain major spoilers. ♥

Mark Lawrence: The Book of the Ancestor trilogy (Red Sister, Grey Sister, and Holy Sister). On a world being buried under ice, an orphan with magical powers joins others like her training to become warrior nuns. Q

Myke Cole: The Sacred Throne series (The Armored Saint and sequels). In a land ruled by a religious tyrant who claims to have defeated devils from another plane, a teenage girl must fight to protect those she loves when the emperor’s vicious zealots arrive at her tiny village. Plus, there’s a steampunk mecha suit. The age of the protagonist points toward a young-adult audience, but this book has far more violence than is typical of YA novels. Q

T. Kingfisher: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. “T. Kingfisher” is a pseudonym used by Ursula Vernon for young-adult and adult titles. This book follows a very minor wizard whose magic only works on dough. The story is full of humor and heart, and there’s more than a little (bread-based) action as well.

Anne McCaffrey: The Harper Hall Trilogy: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums. These books are a subset of McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, which is discussed eleshere.

Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games series. These books are the basis for the kids-killing-kids battle royale film series.

Children’s and Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction

Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events. Very well done, but also very dark. The Netflix series based on the books is also quite good.

Ursula Vernon: Castle Hangnail. This adorable story follows a would-be wicked witch who applies to fill a vacancy at the titular castle.

Brandon Sanderson: The Alcatraz series (beginning with Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians). These books take place on an alternate Earth (thus not in the Cosmere) where most of the world is run by a cabal of evil librarians. There’s a ton of fun adventure and silly humor, which my son loved when I read them to him as an 8- to 9-year-old. Be sure to get the later printings with art by Hayley Lazo; her work is great.

Kazu Kibuishi: The Amulet series (beginning with The Stonekeeper). A portal-fantasy graphic novel with beautiful art and an interesting, magical setting.

[marine-indie-gal]

Now before anyone dares to come up to Me and ask Me a simple question that I'll answer easily...Yes, I'm a Pegasister. 

I remember when back in my hey-days of the Golden Age of the early 2010s, I was completely obsessed with My Little Pony (being that it was one of my actual first fandoms alongside with TAWoG), mostly around with The Fourth Generation (Friendship is Magic). However, somewhere in my Pre-Teens, I remember discovering its actual history being that it was actually popular around in the 80s as a Toyline. Also, another thing that I remembered the times that as a young kid who is still a Pegasister to this day, I used to watch some G3 Movies and even that G3.5 Movie, "Twinkle Wish Adventure".

I have been seeing the recent generation (G5) that has been streaming on Netflix lately (only a little bit but not too much since I actually stopped watching FiM after Season 4 a long time ago as a kid and it turns out I completely missed out on everything ever since I felt done with MLP for a long time). Now that my Pegasister energy has been coming back to Me lately, I have been recently on a binge-watch to the actual very first generation around in the 80s (because I live for Old-Decade Classic Fantasy Nostalgia), Generation One.

In the First Generation to MLP, there were actually Human Characters in it despite that the first show itself actually really did had some Dark Moments which G4 and 5 brought some aspects from but I never really considered the first version of MLP to be that "Girly-Girl" since there were a lot of Fantasy Franchises with its epic dark moments in kids media.

Especially for an interesting fact that the Main Ponies (most notably the Mane 6) were actually based off of the First Ponies around in the 80s (Posey was an Actual MLP Character and main inspiration for Fluttershy before Posey even became her own character in G5). And even some of the characters (Applejack, Spike, Tirek, and Grogar) were actually a thing around in the 80s despite not including a lot of other characters that G4 brought some of the G1 characters in (Bray, Hydia, Hydia's Daughters (Draggle and Reeka), Catrina, Squirk, Lavan, Arabus, Zeb, Night Shade, Moochick, The Grundels, ect.) and of course, my most favorite characters from the First Series despite one of them that did make a cameo in Equestria Girls...The William Kids (Danny, Megan, and Molly).

After seeing some much interpretation of how that the First Human Children looked if they were to appear in the G4 Style, it was my turn to shine as I figured why not to my personal take on Megan Williams and her Siblings if they were actual characters in "Friendship is Magic" rather than have one of them be some kind of cameo-joke in one of its Modern Spinoffs.

My Little Pony (c) Hasbro G4 Interpretations of Danny, Megan, and Molly Williams (c) Me

[praphit]

Guardians Vol 3: A fatty, salty gift.

(No Spoilers)

May I be honest be with you? I’ve been thinking about letting my PMB card (Proud Marvel Bitch) expire.  I know. I KNOW. Perish the thought, right??

I've been defending Marvel throughout all of the recent tough times. 

While errbody out there was talkin smack, I defended you, Marvel!

When people said "Thor 4" was too goofy & had tone problems, 

I said "LOOK, this dude just got his body back, his lady back, and his hammer back. Let him have some fun! Quit being a grump!"

When people said that "The Multiverse of Madness" suffered from too much CGI. 

I said "LOOK, it's called THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS! It's about a fight between a Magical Doctor of Strangeness and a Super Witch! Give me ALL of the effects & colors! There can't be enough CGI! How were y'all expecting anything other than an overload of all of that?! You just want them to duke it out in one room, throwing Skittles and glitter at each other??!"

When people said that She-Hulk didn't have no business twerkin with Megan Thee Stallion.

I supported that badly CG'd booty! "If ya got it, shake it!" is what I said.

And then, "Ant-Man 3 happened.... 

THEN, J.Majors had his... alleged... issue...

THEN, I saw that "The Marvels" trailer... a movie that no one is asking for... 

I wouldn't say that my faith in Marvel is broken, but doubt has certainly crept in.

Can these Guardians of Vol 3 restore my faith? - maybe, but it ain't gonna be easy.

They're kind of a mess right now. Rocket is playing what I call "The Secret Sadness Game". 

Have you ever played that game? -  I bet you have. It's when something is wrong with you; you're very sad, but you're not letting anyone know about it. It's a horrible game. Nobody wins in that game, but it's apparently popular these days, with social media making us all pretend to be happy, dignified, and pretty all of the time. So, popular that Mantis is playing that game a lil bit as well.

Drax is too simple-minded to play that game 

(side note: Dave Bautista [Drax]  said that Marvel dropped the ball concerning Drax's story. And I couldn't agree more. There's a lot to explore with his back story, but... I'm hoping that they'll either reboot the Guardians cartoon series or give Drax a "What If... " story. That show really likes depressing people; here's a golden opportunity.)

Groot is... 

well, Groot.

And Nebula (whom I LOVE!) 

is grumpier than a lot of us Marvel fans have become. To be fair she has to keep all of these bozos together while Peter aka Starlord is getting drunk and dropping F-Bombs. 

He still hasn't gotten over Gamora.

I was going to be a jerk and say that he should have gotten over her by now, BUT I forgot that she’s kinda dead, but kinda not... (#ComicbookUniverseProblems)

It's hard to move on when your lover IS dead, but... still around, kinda, you know?? (If you actually don’t know, then... wow, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do)

I know (in the Christmas Special) they brought Peter the gift of Kevin Bacon to cheer him up, but maybe they should have brought him a woman. A good 80's star like he likes... maybe Heather Locklear 

or Kathy Ireland. Remember her?

Not the best message though, I guess - "If you're depressed, then simply drown yourself in booze and pretty women (whom only exist to make you happy :)." But, he's kinda there anyway.

Like I said, they're a mess.

But, if one thing can bring family together it's tragedy.

Something bad happens to one of The Guardians, they sober-up the Starlord, wash his mouth out with soap, and they're off on an adventure!

Mostly a typical Guardians jam. I know some have complained about too many laughs while serious things are going on, but they kinda started all of that in the MCU. And to be fair, if you have survived as much as they have, perhaps you'd be laughing more in the face of danger as well. I loved the comedy duo of Mantis & Drax. And the... unromantic comedy duo/toxic partnership of Peter & Gamora.

  And with Nebula (WHOM I LOVE!) in the middle of it all... PERFECTION.

The colorful new worlds and creatures we meet are cool. And the CGI is excellent. I don't know where those artists were when She-Hulk and MODOK were being created, 

but whatever:) The action is excellent!  A lot of murdering going on here for a PG-13 rating, when you stop and think about it, but I loved every non-drop of mostly non-existent blood.

The stuff that's different is the darker tones in here. There's some serious drama happening in this film. Of course we have more of Peter’s brokenhearted ass, but there are a lot of family dynamic stuff here as well. There's plenty of funny bickering between them, but it's also covering up some pain that the movie gets into.

Plus, we learn about Rocket's origin. That's when things get really dark and cruel. His past sucked. You WILL get emotional.  Especially when in his story we meet our villain

THE HIGH EVOLUTIONARY.

He brings new meaning to the word "Narcissist", and you will hate him. There's a lot to hate. He's pretty much getting his Dr. Frankenstein on, using parts from animals, humanoid creatures, and robotics. His victims suffer much and he don't give a SHIT!

Bradley Cooper (Rocket) is good! I always forget that he's part of the Marvel Universe. I was kinda hoping that Rocket's origin included being Bradley Cooper, but had his brain removed and put in a raccoon. And maybe something similar with Groot

Some dark stuff, but also a lot of LOL moments. I think they maneuvered the tones well.

I do wish that we got more of my main woman Debicki!

  And like many, I had hoped for more Adam Warlock, but I know time was tight in that regard. 

That's prob my main complaint about the film - TIME. It's 2hrs and 30 mins ----- TOO LONG, and yet the endings for these characters seemed rushed. Like... where they end up, individually, makes sense, but it feels like we skipped some emotional steps.

This is Rocket's story, and it's full of laughs, feels, and bad ass action! I really enjoyed this movie! PMB card renewed!

Grade: B+

What made this movie extra enjoyable for me was the news that someone dies in this movie (NOT a spoiler. I already told you about all of the murder. Murder always begats more murder, kids.

Any explosion near The Guardians --- NOOOO! One of them gets shot --- NOOOOO! Any time one of them was alone --- NOOOO! Eating a delicious, fatty, salt encrusted meal---- Heart Disease, NOOOOOO! On the toilet ---- isn't that how Elvis died? or is that a myth? People die that way though.

. What an interesting way for a Marvel character to die. “We'll all remember when Mantis crapped herself to death.” :)

NOOOOOOO!

Although, anxiety-inducing, it was certainly a more exciting way to watch. It was a kind of a gift. A gift which I now leave with you.

[108garys]

Megan's 80s adventures

OK now that I've done one singular sketch of Megan's 80s adventures in the no fire timeline, I'm curious what wild things people headcanon she would have done throughout her 20s

Again the senerio is "Megan gets out of little hope as soon as she can to go see what's out there" so drop your thoughts, objective mistakes and crimes are accepted

[katlimeart]

Made in 2018 + 2019

If you’ve seen this anywhere else, I posted it back on my deviantArt when it was made.

Mario girls cosplaying as characters from various cartoons

1. WHOOPette Cheerleader - requested by marcusperez824

2. Molly Williams (My Little Pony 80s cartoon) - requested by nr18plus

3. Sheherazade (My Little Pony 80s cartoon) - requested by danfrandes

4 + 5. Megan Williams (My Little Pony 80s cartoon) - requested by nr18plus

6 - 10. Babs Bunny (Tiny Toons Adventures) - requested by flutterbunny76

[yessadirichards]

What's streaming this week: Donald Glover, Run-D.M.C., 'Choir' and bye to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

LOS ANGELES

The final, cringeworthy season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and a documentary on Run-D.M.C. are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Donald Glover starring as a spy in the new TV series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and a documentary about the making of the charity megahit “We Are the World.”

— Regardless of whether you think the 1985 charity anthem “We Are the World” is great or not, the making of it is fascinating. Director Bao Nguyen got access to never-before-seen footage and new interviews with Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper to help tell the story of how famous musicians, including Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder, got together one night for a marathon recording session. Nguyen told the AP in a recent interview that “The Greatest Night In Pop" humanizes "some of these icons that we’ve sort of idolized over many generations.” It’s on Netflix.

— So Greta Gerwig didn’t get a best director nomination, but the good news is that the Criterion Channel has a new series starting Thursday about some of the “Lady Bird” and “Barbie” director’s favorite films. Gerwig’s “adventures in moviegoing” includes David Lean’s “Brief Encounter,” Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes,” Max Ophüls’ "The Earrings of Madame de…” and Claire Denis’ “Beau travail.” The channel also has a series on “Interdimensional Romance” with films like “A Matter of Life and Death,” “Wings of Desire,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and both versions of “Solaris.”

— And for those who were curious about “Dicks: The Musical,” but not enough to bite the bullet on a movie ticket, it will be streaming on Max starting Friday. In an article about the movie out of the Toronto Film Festival, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that this “Dadaist riff on ‘The Parent Trap’ … may be the most demented riff on a familiar story yet. The film … has been called the most gonzo movie of the year. It’s lewd, ridiculous and surreal. Hanna-Barbera was an inspiration.” Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson star alongside Bowen Yang as God, Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

— Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Clash, Beastie Boys — what do these legendary artists have in common? They owe much to Lee “Scratch” Perry, a pioneer of the dub music scene celebrated as one of reggae’s founding fathers. Perry (real name Rainford Hugh Perry) died in 2021 — but during the pandemic, he worked on new music material, which will be posthumously released in his final album, “King Perry,” out Friday, Feb 2. It features guest performances from Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong. The final track, appropriately titled “Goodbye,” is Perry’s final vocal recording — an ambitious and celebratory song that features Perry repeating his farewell over and over again. It’s a fitting coda, and still an experiment, bringing his reggae into synth wave, drum’n’bass, big beat, and electronica. Even in death, Perry is looking towards the future.

— When you’re done streaming “The Greatest Night in Pop” (see above), stay in the musical mid-’80s with “Kings from Queens: The RUN DMC Story.” This Peacock original documentary offers a close look at the early days of Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell's revolutionary group — finding inspiration in the streets, bringing hip-hop to the masses, and, in doing so, validating and legitimizing what will soon become the most popular style of music — and assisting in turning it into a billion-dollar business. Let’s face it, “It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time,” is both an earworm for the ages — and some astute musical analysis.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

— The new Amazon Prime Video series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is not your 2005 “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Instead, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star as two stranger spies who meet and are required to marry for their cover. The series was created by Glover and Francesca Sloane, who says she looked to reality TV like “Love is Blind” and “90 Day Fiancé” for inspiration. All eight episodes will be ready to binge on Friday.

— “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fans are pretty pretty pretty disappointed because the show begins its final season on Sunday, on HBO. The irreverent comedy stars Larry David as a fictionalized version of himself who lands in awkward situations at every turn. Recurring favorites Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Cheryl Hines, and J.B. Smoove will be back.

— A new Disney+ docuseries called “Choir” follows the Detroit Youth Choir — who first made a splash appearing on “America’s Got Talent” in 2019 — as members audition and prepare to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York. All six episodes drop Wednesday.

— UK comedian Sir Lenny Henry used his own family history to create “Three Little Birds,” a BritBox series that follows three women moving from Jamaica to London in the 1950s. Henry says the show’s immigration story is universally relatable because all immigrants understand that it’s difficult to start over and build a new life. “Three Little Birds” premieres Thursday.

— Past seasons of National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology series covered Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin. Season 4 focuses on two civil rights legends, the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. “Genius: MLK/X” delves into each man’s formative years, rise to influence and differing philosophies. The first two episodes drop Thursday on National Geographic. It will also stream on Hulu and Disney+.

— Don’t worry, “Dateline” hosts, your jobs are safe. For now. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of “Jersey Shore” has entered the chat. He’s hosting “Statute of Limitations,” a new true crime show where everyday people who have committed nonviolent crimes tell their story. (Think: A thief who used a hot air balloon as a getaway vehicle.) What’s more, their statute of limitations has run out so they’re free and clear to talk. In 2019, Sorrentino served eight months in prison for lying on his taxes. “Statute of Limitations” will be available to stream beginning Thursday on platforms including Tubi, YouTube and The Roku Channel.

— Alicia Rancilio

— England’s Rocksteady Studios built its reputation on 2009’s dazzling Batman: Arkham Asylum. Alas, the developer is turning to the dark side of the DC Universe with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Rather than soloing as the Caped Crusader, you’re now invited to team up with friends as members of Task Force X: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark. What do they have against Superman, the Flash and their buddies? Well, Brainiac has brainwashed the superheroes and now it’s up to the supervillains to save Metropolis. You can expect guest appearances by the likes of Lex Luthor, the Penguin and the Riddler, and publisher Warner Bros. Games is promising a steady flow of downloadable scoundrels in the future. The brawling begins Friday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

[the-firebird69]

I don't understand what the problem is yeah I do you all think that he's some sort of money tree or something that he's never been I've never been one either and you do it to me and you lose if anything you're going to get a fight and it's going to ruin stuff and you don't want to work you don't want to play you just want to be a disgruntled old senile piece of s*** there's too many of you here and people have to start getting rid of you

Megan Merkel

You think they get sick they can't afford to treat their water or filter it and a sun says there's too many of this these idiots the world is in Jeopardy because of that and they should put micro plants for treated water in the neighborhoods and it's something you can do and you need carbon but they have carbon replacement filters but really if you treated well with salt with chlorine and then salt and you flush the water no you you filter it after but there is something you do in between it's like an osmosis system it takes the solids out and the filters don't clogged up and we have many filtration kits and systems and people can start buying and building them for their neighborhood and it's a worthwhile adventure because people don't have money to do it on their own and it can be made for an apartment complex and people can pay like a condo for you maybe $5 a month we'll cover the filters and after a while it would pay for the system but it is something that's really worth it and the people who manage it can take part in it and enjoy it there's no way to separate the shower from other things would have to filter all the water which is another idea but really they do it at grocery stores and our son had that idea and people should be aware you can go to the grocery store and you can get one of those big two and a half gallon no it's 5 gallons of water and it's treated it's much better for you than tap water and it is a lot cheaper but it's heavy you need to have a vehicle so this would probably be the best for apartments to start and we're going to try and get it as a requirement cuz it's just not working for anyone and there are some systems that work very well the osmosis system and they're pretty very very powerful they do a lot of water

Thor Freya

And yeah John remillard Tommy f sees you and your idiots and the threats and he is going to come down on you as are the quasi or empire and others for your messing with still

Olympus

You like his idea and what's going into effect in the '80s and they slow down on it people got paranoid but everybody in the neighborhood is going to be responsible for it right now it's not getting cleaned at all

I can't believe it is another great idea but we had it out there and it did work there's a lot of things at work and they have to be done and have to be started up now

Hera Zues

[lake2]

I want

1. A stylist to help me get the style I want

2. Narrow down my wardrobe

3. More storage space

4. Someone to clean my house and car

5. An updated house

6. No debt

7. All of the Funkos I want

8. All of the Harry Potter Legos

9. All of the Pokémon cards I want

10. Fully paid trips to Pokémon tournaments

11. A Pokémon mentor

12. All the shoes I want

13. My dog to get along with more people

14. Someone to motivate me to read

15. Sleep better

16. A personal trainer

17. A girlfriend

18. Someone to cook healthy food with

19. More time with my brother

20. My dad to actually notice our needs

21. More money

22. More vacations

23. Better classroom

24. Better athletic facilities for my teams

25. More coaching development t

26. More coaches

27. More safety and rights as a queer person

28. A running buddy

29. Someone who motivates me to spend more time outside

30. More getaways

31. My car grill fixed

32. My piercing to not have a bump

33. More tattoos

34. Not have finer nails

35. Someone to motivate me to shower

36. Straighter teeth

37. A new night guard

38. Someone to do my laundry

39. My dog to get washed and nails clipped and ears cleaned

40. My dog not to lick his paws raw from allergies

41. New windows in my house

42. A small camper

43. A 2-door Jeep Wrangler

44. No body hair

45. No boobs

45. Less feminine physical features

46. Someone who always wants to play board games

47. Someone more adventurous than I am

48. My friends to actually want to spend time with me

49. Perfect vision

50. No more Sports injuries

51. Run a marathon and qualify for Boston

52. Be good enough to qualify for Pokémon Worlds

53. Enough athletes to score points, and do well

54. More recognition

55. More resources to get the training I need for my job

56. My therapist back

57. My mom back

58. My depression and anxiety to get better

59. Motivation to work toward getting my depression and anxiety better

60. Better psychiatrists office

61. Lose 20 pounds

62. Be more fit

63. No environmental allergies

64. No food intolerances

65. Climate change to be reversed

66. Live in a country/world that actually cares about people and not just profit

67. To meet Brie Larson

68. To date Brie Larson

69. Younger people in politics

70. Being confident with my gender identity in all aspects of my life

71. More accepting people in the world

72. Be less self absorbed

73. Not have to take medicine

74. My thumb to feel better

75. Able to process my childhood

76. Able to process my assault

77. Apologize to everyone I have hurt

78. Spend more time with friends

79. Meet Nikki Hiltz

80. Meet Megan Rapinoe

81. Motivation to go to the gym

82. Able to get my bike on the rack by myself

83. More time to do things I enjoy

84. See more concerts of bands I like

85. Unlimited school resources

86. More relationships with my neighbors

87. More queer spaces in my area

88. Better ways to meet queer people than toxic dating sites

89. Faster internet

90. A new screen protector

91. Be better at hydration

92. My dog to live as long as me

93. Stronger muscles

94. More knowledge

95. More opportunities to speak Spanish

[stormcrow513]

If I was an evil witch living in pony land, I know the new my little ponies call it like equestria which is such a cute fucking pun,

but this is brought on by me being high and thinking about how I associate roses with winter and realized that's because of beauty and the best, cause I thought that rose in the glass was the most beautiful magical thing I'd ever seen, and all the winteryness of that movie,

Then somehow thinking of old movies I loved as a kid brought me back to my little ponies, I grew up in the 90s but I had a lot of 80s stuff that got handed down to me, so I'm talking old school original flavor ponies

Now

my second favorite ponies movie was em the one where the witches make this purple ozzze stuff that is swallowing all of pony land,

My favorite was the one where the ponys are being turned into dragons and firefly goes off and gets stuck a well and Megan finds her, I it was the first one I'd seen my eldest sister had that movie and gave it to me, cause I was her favorite sister,

Anyway it was my favorite but this gal who was friends with my other older sister and she would pass down things to me she didn't want cause she didn't have a younger sibling only an older brother, so I got the ozze one from her,

So I'm thinking about this movie and I was like man if I was an evil witch in pony land, I wouldn't be cursing the ponies I'd have fled this mesrible fucking shit hole world to a beautiful clean magic world with pastel talking ponies,

Look I wanted to live in pony land soooo fucking bad as a kid like no wonder I was never taken on a magical adventure as I kid, cause the kids go home at the end and they would had to drag me out kicking and screaming,

So anyway I am a wicked witch I do bad shit,

I flee from this world to magical pony land,

I fucking love it here this is ideal,

I throw cruses at my enemies in my old world, watch their suffering on my magic mirror while petting my deep purple 'evil' dogs or cats evil laughing with ma,

cause obviously I'd bring ma and the animals and since their my pets and I'm the evil witch they'd turn purple,

So anyway yeah I'd love my pony neighbors but since I'm and 'evil witch' so they have to stop me cause their good and innocent and don't understand c-ptsd

So I give em some over the top evil plot to follow while my evil minions are in my home world taking a knife to my sister's tires for the third time that moth and another one is breaking the plumbing in her house,

So yeah hi guys I am super hi, and still not ready to come back and chat cause I'm hulking out but I also miss posting about shit like this, and I hate scheduling post or queing em cause I forget also paranoid they'll get randomly deleted before I post em,

So,

Might start posting to take my mind off shit, as things are bad things have always been bad but,

I don't know I think shits about to go super bad for a bit,

Kinda I will die on this hill is going down,

So I'm gonna post my shit maybe get back to rebloging but I likely won't be up to lots of chatting and may just abruptly stop posting at times