#Music Website Development Company

[contentwritings-posts]

[sargeantposting]

ARTICLE: The Florida Man of Formula 1 (2023)

Source: Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times Series: F1, 2023

Logan Sargeant, the only American driver in Formula 1, is zipping around the narrow streets of Baku, Azerbaijan, at roughly 200 miles an hour. His head bounces inside the cockpit as a wheel shudders over a rumble strip. It’s hard to hear over the banshee shriek of his V6 engine, carrying three times the horsepower of a run-of-the-mill Porsche Carrera.

Then the noise stops, and Baku vanishes. We’re inside a low-slung brick building nestled in the Oxfordshire countryside. The track, projected onto a CinemaScope-sized wraparound screen, was a mirage, part of a sophisticated training simulator. (F1 rules prohibit driving the real cars between races.) Mr. Sargeant climbs out of a replica driver’s seat wearing athletic pants. He won’t need a fireproof suit until later.

In three weeks’ time, Mr. Sargeant will do this for real: wind whipping his visor, G-forces of up to six times his body weight pressing on his neck, the ever-present threat of a catastrophic crash as he is watched by roughly 70 million people around the world. For now, it’s time for lunch. “Is chili bad for you?” he asks, digging into a bowl at his team’s commissary. “I don’t think it’s that bad.”

Williams Racing, in Grove, England. It was founded in Oxfordshire in the 1970s, but it’s now an American subsidiary: a Manhattan private equity firm, Dorilton Capital, bought the company in 2020 for an estimated $200 million.

F1 teams employ hundreds of employees and spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing the world’s most sophisticated racecars.

Reaching Formula 1, the highest level of international motor sport, is a big step for Mr. Sargeant, 22, a South Florida native who began racing rudimentary cars known as karts at 6 years old and this year joined the Williams Racing team as the first full-time American F1 driver since 2007.

For Formula 1 itself, finding a hometown hero for American fans is a giant leap.

Although it is enormously popular in Europe, F1 struggled for decades to break into the United States. That began to change in 2016, when the sport was purchased for $4.4 billion by the Colorado-based Liberty Media, owned by the cable magnate John Malone. Liberty ramped up its social media — F1 had barely kept a YouTube page — and backed a popular Netflix documentary series, “Drive to Survive.” Once geared toward aging white men, F1 now has a younger and more diverse fan base. American TV viewership is up 220 percent from 2018, and the sport made $2.6 billion in revenue last year.

Still, a subset of F1 devotees complain about what they see as an overemphasis on entertainment and ginned-up drama. Under Liberty, they argue, pure racing is taking a back seat to cheap tricks to reel in casual viewers. And they often use a dirty word for it: Americanization. “It is becoming more and more like Formula Hollywood,” Bernie Ecclestone, the 92-year-old Briton who built F1 into a global business, griped last year. “F1 is being made more and more for the American market.”

The backlash reached a crescendo at last week’s Miami Grand Prix, which was added in 2022 as a showpiece for American fans. In a prizefight-style pre-race ceremony, the rapper LL Cool J introduced the 20 drivers one by one amid swirling smoke and a squad of cheerleaders. Nearby, Will.i.am conducted a live orchestra playing the rap song he recently recorded with Lil Wayne as part of a “global music collaboration” with Formula 1. (The lyrics rhyme “Max Verstappen,” the name of the sport’s top driver, with “your champion.”)

“Pandering to the American audience is killing @F1,” wrote one fan on Twitter, echoing criticism that bubbled up across numerous F1 websites. Even the racers complained: “None of the drivers like it,” groused Lando Norris, a Briton who drives for McLaren. Undeterred, Liberty announced that the bombastic pre-race sequence would be featured at several more grands prix this year.

In the United States, F1 has long been associated with a certain European mystique, most famously, the louche glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix.

In the United States, F1 has long been associated with a certain European mystique. Its drivers race across the Ardennes forest (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium), the plains of Lombardy (Italy’s Autodromo Nazionale di Monza) and, most famously, the louche glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix. The sport’s stateside image could be summed up by the 2006 comedy, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” which featured Sacha Baron Cohen as a pretentious French F1 driver named Jean Girard, a snooty Eurotrash foil to Will Ferrell’s macho NASCAR cowboy.

In 2023, F1 can feel a bit more Ricky Bobby than Jean Girard. In Miami, drivers circled a track built in the parking lot of the Dolphins football stadium, past an artificial Monaco-style “harbor”: blue-painted asphalt topped with ersatz yachts. A new Las Vegas race in November will have cars zooming down the Strip past Caesars Palace. Meanwhile, traditional races in France and Germany are gone.

Katy Fairman, a journalist based in Brighton, England, who runs the F1 podcast “Small Torque,” said she was surprised by the spectacle when she attended a race in Austin, Texas. “There were girls with pompoms,” she said. “I remember watching it and thinking, Oh my gosh, this is so different from anything I’d seen F1 do in a long time.”

Ms. Fairman conceded that some Europeans find the American hullabaloo “tacky.” But she added: “When it’s something to do with America, I think Europeans are quite judgmental. I think it’s just a bit of lighthearted fun. You guys like to have a party.”

The arrival of Mr. Sargeant, who grew up about an hour’s drive from the Miami racetrack, has spurred new interest, including a profile and photo shoot in GQ, and he’s happy to play the part. “What’s up America, let’s bring that energy!” he shouted to the cameras after LL Cool J introduced him as “the local boy done good.”

But as with F1, there are growing pains. In Miami, Mr. Sargeant finished last, his race ruined on the first lap when he damaged a front wing. After the checkered flag, he apologized to his team, his voice barely a whisper: “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe it.”

Weeks earlier, in an interview in England, Mr. Sargeant had demurred about the pressure of wearing the stars and stripes. “I try not to get too caught up in the talk of the role of ‘first American,’” he said. “It’s still very early for me, and I have a lot to learn still.”

If Mr. Sargeant doesn’t perform, there are dozens of drivers eager to take his spot. “At the moment,” he said, “I just have to worry about staying here.”

For a globe-trotting athlete, Mr. Sargeant can be soft-spoken and endearingly self-conscious. 

‘I just want to get back in the gym.’

Before his tough Miami weekend, Mr. Sargeant was asked how he would celebrate a top 10 finish. “Honestly, it might sound lame, but probably just go back to my house and get in my bed for another night before I go back to London,” he replied. “That’s all I want to do.”

For a wealthy, handsome, globe-trotting athlete, Mr. Sargeant can be soft-spoken and endearingly self-conscious. It’s not unusual for someone who, like a tennis prodigy or Olympian gymnast, has devoted their life since childhood to a sole pursuit.

Mr. Sargeant was 6 when he and his brother Dalton got a kart from their parents for Christmas. “No one in the family was really even that much into racing,” Logan said. “We just picked it up as a hobby, something to do on the weekend.” He began winning junior races around the country — too easily. To reach the next level and pursue Formula 1, he’d have to leave behind his friends and beloved fishing excursions for life on a different continent: “We just needed a higher level of competition, and at the end of the day, that was in Europe.”

Mr. Sargeant left Florida before his 13th birthday, bouncing between Italy, Switzerland and Britain as he raced on the European junior circuit; in 2015, he became the first American to win the Karting World Championship since 1978. “As a kid, it was tough,” he recalled. “Coming from Florida, being outdoors all the time on the water, great weather — it was literally vice versa.” He eventually settled in London, where he spends most days working out with a trainer. “I get away from a race weekend, and I just want to get back in the gym,” he said. “I hate that feeling of leaving slack on the table.”

It is incredibly difficult to nab a seat in Formula 1. Today’s drivers are physical dynamos trained to optimize their reflexes and performance levels down to how well they can withstand jet lag — critical in a sport that this year will include 23 grands prix spread over five continents. F1 teams employ hundreds of employees and spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing the world’s most sophisticated racecars. But it’s ultimately up to the driver to execute.

It also helps to have money. Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion and F1’s only Black driver, is an exception, having grown up on a London council estate. Many F1 competitors are the sons of multimillionaires (and some billionaires) who can bankroll pricey travel and high-tech cars.

Mr. Sargeant falls into the scion category. He hails from a wealthy Florida asphalt shipping family. His uncle, Harry Sargeant III, is a former fighter pilot and onetime finance chair of Florida’s Republican Party who has been sued by the brother-in-law of King Abdullah II of Jordan and whose name turned up, tangentially, in the 2020 impeachment of former President Donald J. Trump. (Harry was not accused of any wrongdoing.)

Logan’s father, Daniel Sargeant, worked alongside Harry until the brothers had a falling out. In a 2013 lawsuit, Harry accused Daniel of misdirecting $6.5 million in corporate funds “for the purpose of advancing the international cart racing activities” of his sons, Logan and Dalton; that litigation was eventually settled.

In 2019, Daniel Sargeant pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to foreign bribery and money laundering charges related to his business dealings abroad. He is free on a $5 million bond and is awaiting sentencing. A Williams spokesman said that Logan Sargeant was not “in a position to comment” on any of the legal matters involving his family.

In F1, none of this particularly stands out. The mother of Mr. Sargeant’s Williams teammate, Alexander Albon, was jailed in Britain for swindling millions of pounds in fraudulent sales of high-end cars. A Russian racer, Nikita Mazepin, was booted from the sport after his oligarch father, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin, was sanctioned following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

James Vowles, the Williams team principal, said in an interview that he hired Mr. Sargeant for his speed, not his U.S. passport. “I’m incredibly pleased that the sport is growing in America, but I think it would be anything but disingenuous to say that Logan’s here for any other reason than I think he’s got this pure talent,” he said.

In his F1 debut in Bahrain in March, Mr. Sargeant finished 12th, outpacing this year’s two other rookies. “He has this insatiable desire to be better, to want more,” Mr. Vowles said. “He’s a perfectionist, and I like that in him.”

Tooting around in a Vauxhall Astra

Britain, where Formula 1 originated in 1950, remains the sport’s spiritual home, where most of its 10 teams are based. Williams was founded in Oxfordshire in the 1970s, but it’s now an American subsidiary: a Manhattan private equity firm, Dorilton Capital, bought the company in 2020 for an estimated $200 million.

It was an important cash infusion for a team that had struggled to keep up with rivals. Manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz pour enormous resources into their F1 teams, which double as an elaborate global marketing campaign and an in-house innovation farm; tech developed for F1, like engines that recycle braking energy as an accelerant, can trickle into consumer vehicles.

Formula 1 car simulators at the Williams Racing factory.

Formula 1 drivers practice on sophisticated training simulators.

The Williams campus is a humdrum brick pile that could be mistaken for an office park — a far cry from McLaren’s space-age complex an hour’s drive away. Many F1 teams provide their drivers with a high-end sports car for personal use; Mr. Sargeant commutes in a Vauxhall Astra, a compact.

Even the team’s sponsors are relatively down-market; whereas the official watch of Ferrari is Richard Mille (starting price: $60,000), Williams has a deal with Bremont, whose timepieces retail for significantly less. (On a recent visit, a Williams press aide was quick to extract a spare Bremont watch from his pocket and ensure Mr. Sargeant was wearing it whenever a photographer hovered.)

Given the huge costs, corporate partnerships are crucial to F1, part of the reason the American market, with its abundance of affluent consumers and wealthy brands, has proved so tempting. Gerald Donaldson, a journalist who has covered F1 for 45 years, recalled how cars were gradually taken over by corporate logos starting in the late 1960s.

“Marlboro paid all the Ferrari bills, including the drivers, for many years,” he said in an interview. “There are eager companies who want the publicity.” Mr. Sargeant’s car features ads for Michelob Ultra beer and an American financial firm, Stephens. In Miami last weekend, beachgoers spotted an airborne banner reading “Go Logan!” alongside the image of a Duracell battery.

Last year, the Miami race was viewed on ABC by 2.6 million people, the biggest American audience for a live F1 telecast. Ratings for this year’s race fell about 25 percent, perhaps a result of a duller-than-usual season dominated by one team, Red Bull.

Still, viewing data show that F1 is expanding beyond affluent cities associated with elite sports: In 2022, its top five American TV markets included Asheville, N.C., and Tulsa, Okla. ESPN is clearly betting on more growth. When the sports network renewed its broadcast rights last year, it agreed to pay $90 million annually — up from the $5 million-a-year deal it signed in 2019.

Liam Parker, a former adviser to Boris Johnson who now leads communications at F1, said the sport was intent on rectifying past mistakes. “We were too arrogant,” he said. “We couldn’t understand why the American fan base wasn’t falling in love with us.” But he also pushed back on the complaints that Liberty’s efforts to raise the entertainment factor had stripped F1 of something essential.

“This whole argument of ‘Americanization,’ it’s a very crude way to describe things,” he said. “We shouldn’t ignore things that can improve things for new and core fans. It’s about giving people more choices in the modern era. It’s modernization of access to everyone.”

Mr. Hamilton, arguably the biggest celebrity of the current F1 lineup, has offered his own endorsement of Liberty’s approach. “I mean jeez, I grew up listening to LL Cool J,” he told reporters in Miami. “I thought it was cool, wasn’t an issue to me.”

For all the debates over elitism, good taste and corporate rap collaborations, the core appeal of F1, when you get right down to it, may be something simpler — something Mr. Sargeant got at when asked in the interview if he had loved cars as a kid.

“I absolutely love driving, as you can imagine,” he said. “But to be honest, I’m not one of those people who studies cars and, you know, likes to know every detail of every single car. It doesn’t really interest me.”

“The part that interests me,” he concluded, “is driving them as fast as I can go.”

Eliza Shapiro contributed reporting from Miami. Kitty Bennett contributed research. Michael M. Grynbaum is a media correspondent covering the intersection of business, culture and politics.  A version of this article appears in print on May 14, 2023, Section BU, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Florida Man Of Formula 1.

[easternmind]

Junko Kubota joined the team at Synergy Inc. shortly after graduating from Tama University in 1993. After her debut interactive CD-Rom Four-Sight was released in 1995, she began developing another project expanding on the concept of cryptic geometry and optical illusions titled アベラシオン (ABERRATIONS). Planned for release in 1997, the only known screenshot can be found in the Synergy catalogue included with Zeddas: Horror Tour 2. Several mentions are made in the archived versions of the Synergy website, as well. The project was probably cancelled as the company merged with Tsukuda around this time, shifting its line of business strictly to publishing PC software.

Very little is known about her work afterwards. In the early-to-mid 2000s, she kept a website for her design label, Iconographician. In her blog, MneMe Fragments, she describes herself as an independent 3DCG designer. She updated it until 2014, mostly with posts about her favourite music albums and movies.

It is important for me to highlight the fact that I only became aware of this page because Haruhiko Shono shared it with me. Regrettably, only fragments have been archived at IA.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090309082830/http://www.iconographican.com:80/mneme/

Another reference is a shared blog, also hosted at Jugem, apparently from a 3DCG class that she taught. Some posts refer to her as 'professor', and mention how keen she was when it came to providing film suggestions to her class. The above renders can be found there.

https://vancg.jugem.jp/

I am currently pursuing a few other leads and will update this post in the event that I am able to find any additional noteworthy information.

[mariacallous]

Stories about AI-generated political content are like stories about people drunkenly setting off fireworks: There’s a good chance they’ll end in disaster. WIRED is tracking AI usage in political campaigns across the world, and so far examples include pornographic deepfakes and misinformation-spewing chatbots. It’s gotten to the point where the US Federal Communications Commission has proposed mandatory disclosures for AI use in television and radio ads.

Despite concerns, some US political campaigns are embracing generative AI tools. There’s a growing category of AI-generated political content flying under the radar this election cycle, developed by startups including Denver-based BattlegroundAI, which uses generative AI to come up with digital advertising copy at a rapid clip. “Hundreds of ads in minutes,” its website proclaims.

BattlegroundAI positions itself as a tool specifically for progressive campaigns—no MAGA types allowed. And it is moving fast: It launched a private beta only six weeks ago and a public beta just last week. Cofounder and CEO Maya Hutchinson is currently at the Democratic National Convention trying to attract more clients. So far, the company has around 60, she says. (The service has a freemium model, with an upgraded option for $19 a month.)

“It’s kind of like having an extra intern on your team,” Hutchinson, a marketer who got her start on the digital team for President Obama’s reelection campaign, tells WIRED. We’re sitting at a picnic table inside the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, and she’s raising her voice to be heard over music blasting from a nearby speaker. “If you’re running ads on Facebook or Google, or developing YouTube scripts, we help you do that in a very structured fashion.”

BattlegroundAI’s interface asks users to select from five different popular large language models—including ChatGPT, Claude, and Anthropic—to generate answers; it then asks users to further customize their results by selecting for tone and “creativity level,” as well as how many variations on a single prompt they might want. It also offers guidance on whom to target and helps craft messages geared toward specialized audiences for a variety of preselected issues, including infrastructure, women’s health, and public safety.

BattlegroundAI declined to provide any examples of actual political ads created using its services. However, WIRED tested the product by creating a campaign aimed at extremely left-leaning adults aged 88 to 99 on the issue of media freedom. “Don't let fake news pull the wool over your bifocals!” one of the suggested ads began.

BattlegroundAI offers only text generation—no AI images or audio. The company adheres to various regulations around the use of AI in political ads.

“What makes Battleground so well suited for politics is it’s very much built with those rules in mind,” says Andy Barr, managing director for Uplift, a Democratic digital ad agency. Barr says Uplift has been testing the BattlegroundAI beta for a few weeks. “It’s helpful with idea generation,” he says. The agency hasn’t yet released any ads using Battleground copy yet, but it has already used it to develop concepts, Barr adds.

I confess to Hutchinson that if I were a politician, I would be scared to use BattlegroundAI. Generative AI tools are known to “hallucinate,” a polite way of saying that they sometimes make things up out of whole cloth. (They bullshit, to use academic parlance.) I ask how she’s ensuring that the political content BattlegroundAI generates is accurate.

“Nothing is automated,” she replies. Hutchinson notes that BattlegroundAI’s copy is a starting-off point, and that humans from campaigns are meant to review and approve it before it goes out. “You might not have a lot of time, or a huge team, but you’re definitely reviewing it.”

Of course, there’s a rising movement opposing how AI companies train their products on art, writing, and other creative work without asking for permission. I ask Hutchinson what she’d say to people who might oppose how tools like ChatGPT are trained. “Those are incredibly valid concerns,” she says. “We need to talk to Congress. We need to talk to our elected officials.”

I ask whether BattlegroundAI is looking at offering language models that train on only public domain or licensed data. “Always open to that,” she says. “We also need to give folks, especially those who are under time constraints, in resource-constrained environments, the best tools that are available to them, too. We want to have consistent results for users and high-quality information—so the more models that are available, I think the better for everybody.”

And how would Hutchinson respond to people in the progressive movement—who generally align themselves with the labor movement—objecting to automating ad copywriting? “Obviously valid concerns,” she says. “Fears that come with the advent of any new technology—we’re afraid of the computer, of the light bulb.”

Hutchinson lays out her stance: She doesn’t see this as a replacement for human labor so much as a way to reduce grunt work. “I worked in advertising for a very long time, and there's so many elements of it that are repetitive, that are honestly draining of creativity,” she says. “AI takes away the boring elements.” She sees BattlegroundAI as a helpmeet for overstretched and underfunded teams.

Taylor Coots, a Kentucky-based political strategist who recently began using the service, describes it as “very sophisticated,” and says it helps identify groups of target voters and ways to tailor messaging to reach them in a way that would otherwise be difficult for small campaigns. In battleground races in gerrymandered districts, where progressive candidates are major underdogs, budgets are tight. “We don’t have millions of dollars,” he says. “Any opportunities we have for efficiencies, we’re looking for those.”

Will voters care if the writing in digital political ads they see is generated with the help of AI? “I'm not sure there is anything more unethical about having AI generate content than there is having unnamed staff or interns generate content,” says Peter Loge, an associate professor and program director at George Washington University who founded a project on ethics in political communication.

“If one could mandate that all political writing done with the help of AI be disclosed, then logically you would have to mandate that all political writing”—such as emails, ads, and op-eds—“not done by the candidate be disclosed,” he adds.

Still, Loge has concerns about what AI does to public trust on a macro level, and how it might impact the way people respond to political messaging going forward. “One risk of AI is less what the technology does, and more how people feel about what it does,” he says. “People have been faking images and making stuff up for as long as we've had politics. The recent attention on generative AI has increased peoples' already incredibly high levels of cynicism and distrust. If everything can be fake, then maybe nothing is true.”

Hutchinson, meanwhile, is focused on her company’s shorter-term impact. “We really want to help people now,” she says. “We’re trying to move as fast as we can.”

[voltageapps]

Three new Switch otome games by Voltage Inc. are under development! 🎮

2024 NEON MAFIA & Kaleido Tower

2025 Vampire Hunter

Website: Click Here

NEON MAFIA (ネオンマフィア)

Staff

Director: Ichika Shiina (Voltage Inc.)

Illustrator: Takao (Voltage Inc.)

Scenario: Ririka Yoshimura

Popular Works: Cupid Parasite, Gensou Kissa Enchanté, Hamefura Pirates, DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE,BLOOD, Shiro to Kuro no Alice, DesperaDrops, Matsurika no Kei

Backgrounds: Studio COCOLO

Popular Works: Code Geass, Demon Slayer, Detective Conan, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Rage of Bahamut, Re:cycle of Penguindrum, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Tada Never Falls in Love, A Whisker Away

Music: Shunsuke Tsuchiya

Popular Works: even if TEMPEST, Black Wolves Saga, Another Eden, Bad Apple Wars

Theme Vocals/Lyrics: Shihoko Hirata

Popular Works: Persona Series, even if TEMPEST

Love Interests (so far)

Gante Lowd: Avenger in Faith

Zhang Hiyok: Outlaw Drunk on Emptiness

Sodyk Mun: Scheming Bellwether

Sun Maslo: Singularity who Questions Reason

MC

Liu Kroa: Mastermind who Transports Fate

Kaleido Tower (カレイドタワー)

Staff

Director/Scenario: Ayane Ushio

Popular Works: even if TEMPEST, Norn9, Juuzaengi, The Wizard's Promise aka Mahoyaku

Illustrator: Tana Khaki

Popular Works: even if TEMPEST, Birushana, Hamefura Pirates

Costume Design: UNICO INC.

Popular Works: even if TEMPEST, a lot of Voltage Love 365 titles

Backgrounds: Shizui fen

Music: Hayato Asano

Popular Works: Atelier Series, Blue Reflection Series

Theme: DUSTCELL

Love Interest and MC (so far)

Vampire Hunter (ヴァンパイアハンター)

Staff

Director: Nachi (Voltage Inc.)

Scenario: Yuzuki

Popular Works: Paradigm Paradox, Dream Meister and the Recollected Black Fairy aka Yumekuro, Shuuen no Virche, The Lucky Princess of Temirana and the Tragic Knights aka TsuiTsui

Illustrator: Norita

Popular Works: even if TEMPEST, Beast Darling! Backgrounds: Minoru Akiba > Popular Works: Pokémon Series, Trigun, Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy, Grand Blue, Magical Girl Site

Music: Yamato (Heart Company Ltd.)

Popular Works: Free!, A3!, Ensemble Stars, GYROAXIA from BangDream, D4DJ, IDOLM@STER, Uma Musume, SHOW BY ROCK!!

Theme: 9mm Parabellum Bullet

Love Interest and MC (so far)

After her family is killed, MC becomes a vampire hunter out of revenge.

Sorry if there's any mistake or missing info in the thread. Stay tuned for more information and follow @Voltage_Switch on X/Twitter!

We also have a Discord server to hype on these games, even if TEMPEST, and many Voltage Inc. otome games!

Join us: https://discord.gg/voltageinc

[beautifullache]

🦄The Sims 4🦄

🍟Fast Food Careers🍔

💕EARLY RELEASE: 5.31.2024💕

McDonald's

3 days of PTO

McDonald’s is proud to be one of the most recognized brands in the world, with restaurants in over 100 countries and billions of customers served each year. As the global leader in the food service industry, we have a legacy of innovation and hard work that continues to drive us. Today, we are growing with velocity and are focused on modernizing our experiences, not to make a different McDonald’s but to build a better McDonald’s.

We are a people business just as much as we are a restaurant business. We strive to be the most inclusive brand on the planet by building diverse teams who create delicious, feel good moments that are easy for everyone to enjoy. Joining McDonald's means thinking big on a daily basis and preparing for a career that can have impact around the world.

Crew Member

Janitor Custodian

Shift Manager

General Manager

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

Taco Bell

3 days of PTO

Taco Bell restaurants have a variety of job opportunities to suit you. Whether you want to pursue a career with us or utilize our career opportunities to start chasing your dreams, we want to be a part of your story. Additionally, we continue to evolve our benefits for employees. Here's just a taste: free meals, competitive pay, flexible scheduling, paid time off, performance bonuses, education support, and career growth opportunities.

Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., (NYSE: YUM), is the nation's leading Mexican-inspired quick service restaurant. Taco Bell serves made to order and customizable tacos, burritos, and specialties such as the exclusive Doritos® Locos Tacos, gourmet inspired Cantina Power Menu and lower calorie Fresco Menu. The company encourages customers to “Live Más,” both through its food and in ways such as its Feed the Beat® music program and nonprofit organization, the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens. Taco Bell and its more than 350 franchise organization have nearly 7,000 restaurants across the United States that proudly serve more than 36 million customers every week.

CASHIER

KITCHEN / COOK / FOOD

FOOD SERVICE / FOOD PREP

SHIFT MANAGER / HOURLY MANAGER

GENERAL MANAGER

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

Wendy's

3 days of PTO

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ: WEN) is the world’s third largest quick-service hamburger company. The Wendy’s system includes more than 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the U.S. and 29 other countries and U.S. territories worldwide. To learn more about the brand, visit our website: www.wendys.com When everyday people sort through all the ‘spin’ there is one quick-service restaurant that is ‘A Cut Above’… that’s Wendy’s … we stand for honest food … higher quality, fresh, wholesome food … prepared when you order it … prepared by Wendy’s kind of people … people that believe this is My Wendy’s … we do it Dave’s Way … we don’t cut corners. We work hard with honesty, integrity and a true sense of respect for one another. And we take time to give something back to our communities. We are looking for individuals with a track record of achievement who are seeking an opportunity to make an impact in an evolving, growing organization. We are committed to providing “A Cut Above” development experience to help star performers achieve their full potential, while providing a great employee experience.

Crew Member

Cook

Assistant Manager

Manager

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

DOWNLOAD NOW

[qipsir]

Bill 702 was passed in America. Here's what it means

This is what you're gonna do:

You're gonna go to the app store and you're gonna download Cwtch. It's an end to end encryption app that was developed by Tor Browser, aka the Onion Browser

On your computer, you're gonna download Firefox and you're gonna get all the security stuff you can. I recommend Ghostery and Privacy Badger as well as Facebook Container. You're gonna get a cookie auto-deleter and you're going to go to Google Takeout, download all your data, delete ALL of your files and documents, and find somewhere else to put them. A USB drive if they're memories, LibreOffice or a platform like Reedsy if it's creative works that you are actively working on and/or will need to share.

You're going to use DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, or Oceanhero. I know there are other alternatives search engines, but these three are the best I've found. Bonus that the latter two use searches to fund planting trees and cleaning the ocean respectfully(?).

You're gonna get sliding covers for your phone AND computer cameras, or at least find a way to cover them that's easily removable for video calls.

You're gonna switch from Gmail to Proton Mail, and Proton has a free VPN too. You're gonna get both of those. You're gonna get Tor Browser browser too because you can never be too careful (it has a built in VPN).

You're gonna get MP3 players and download your music from Spotify and YouTube - which also means you can technically separate art from artist because on MP3, you can listen as many times as you want without financially supporting them.

You're not gonna pay for Netflix or Hulu or Disney+ or anything like that anymore. I'm not saying you should use these but there are websites out there like SFlix that have so many movies and shows FOR FREE and you "TOTALLY SHOULDNT USE THEM WITH A VPN BECAUSE PIRACY IS WrOnG". How dare you steal from exploitative, multi million dollar businesses that don't care about their workers smh..

If you are in support of Palestine, you are going to download the app No Thanks!. It has a regularly updated list of all companies that support Israel and evidence/articles to back it up.

If you get a chance, go watch The Great Hack. It's a fantastic documentary that lets you see inside the world of psychological manipulation through the world of advertisement and influence.

Stay safe out there. Please. Every moment that you are alive and thriving is another moment they are losing.

[izicodes]

hi! if its not too private could u talk a bit about ur new job? im curious about what kind of tasks you do since its a music company (are u working on their website?). and is it a short term thing like working on a single project or is it possible to work in a company like that "permanently"? that company's vibe looks much more enticing than the typical tech jobs i see! im still a bit lost on the type of tasks i can do and places i can work at as an aspiring frontend web developer. sorry if its too forward, no need to answer if ur not comfortable! thanks anyaway :)

Hiya! 🩶

"Could u talk a bit about your new job? I'm curious about what kind of tasks you do since it is a music company"

Yeah, when I told my family I got a tech job at a music company, they were like ???, but tech is every industry! For my company, it is working on their internal websites, similar to my old job! The websites the public doesn't see unfortunately haha~ Tasks right now are the small easier ones since I just started so mini features to add~! 😅

"Is it a short-term thing like working on a single project or is it possible to work in a company like that "permanently"?"

It is a permanent position, so it would be a blessing to work for a long time since everyone is so fun and chill to be around! 🥰

"That company's vibe looks much more enticing than the typical tech jobs I see!"

My old job had a completely different vibe to my current job! I enjoy going to work now and they are super welcoming and inclusive, and care about everyone's well-being and productivity. I don't feel pressured and not 'scared' to ask stupid questions... like I did today... haha~ I don't know if it's because music companies are all chill and cool but I love my job right now!

"I'm still a bit lost on the type of tasks I can do and places I can work at as an aspiring frontend web developer."

Every industry needs web developers. The various companies would either hire a solo developer or a tech company to build their websites or they have an in-house team (like my job now and my old job) to build the frontend technologies for the company. You could fit into either the 3 categories: solo freelance developer or work in a tech company that gets paid to build and give to the clients, or work in a company's in-house tech team!

Tasks would be like (from my experience):

"Stakeholder/manager wants a new feature on the company's public website or internal website, you and/or the team work on it for the next month and deploy it."

"A user noticed an error on this page, fix it please,"

"We need a redesign for the entire web app, the next 6 months we see to working on it"

"We noticed that switching the entire web app from using .NET to Angular would be better, we will begin workshops on learning Angular and then begin rebuilding the web app" [this example was from my old job]

Obviously, everything is broken down a lot further into manageable chunks to work with. You need the ability to work with other people, have a good workflow, and good understanding of the technologies you are/will be working with to achieve the team's goals~!

Hope this helps~! 🙆🏾‍♀️🩶🙌🏾

[wildfernflower]

Who are Sam and Cait in Hollywood-c list-to have the narrative that lasts 8 years !!

Marilyn Monroe married a playwright Arthur Miller !

Why doesn't Caitriona Balfe marry a musician Tony McGill ?!

Anon, sorry for late reply. I see you’re making rounds. I’ve recognized you, you sent an ask to @sleepwakerepeat3 just yesterday absurdly suggesting there’s a parallel between the marriage of M. Monroe and A. Miller, and that of Cait and T. I have read that post:

and it has motivated me to finally reply to your ask, although I’m quite busy.

I’ll express my opinion about T’s occupation. To begin with, he’s not a musician, his official job is music producer. This information appears repeatedly in all media and press, is being rewritten by the journalists from old articles to the new ones, yet no source exists that provides current or even old but reliable data about his job. That’s the first red flag – why literally no single solid information about his job can be found anywhere? As a supposed music producer, he is totally anonymous. A person working in the music/entertainment industry these days is expected to have a professional website and/or IG account and a public, well documented and officially available career pathway: education background (list of schools/high schools they graduated from), list of their skills, and work experience including professional achievements, projects they have successfully managed, list of musicians/bands they worked with, etc. A music producer strives to be known and recognizable in the industry, wants to be perceived as a professional and makes his/her qualifications and achievements public in order to gain the trust of future clients and develop his/her career. None of the above is known about T. Just have a look at his Linkedin account:

It's empty, it doesn’t mention even he’s managing The Fratellis. The website of his company Numb Music doesn't exist.

Let’s compare the content of T's account to that of Nigel Brown, tour manager of The Fratellis:

The difference is striking, isn’t it? You can clearly see by yourself, these public records don’t lie.

Doesn’t it look suspicious to you, Anon? Is that really what one should expect from the professional music producer and his career nowadays? No single word about his education, skills, projects, cooperations, accomplishments. No website, no IG account. Would you like to cooperate with a man with the unknown skills and experience, and entrust him managing your band or coordinating your music career? Me personally would consider him a scammer if I were a musician and saw his account.

Does T hide his skills and achievement? That would be unreasonable and simply harmful for his career. Or perhaps he doesn’t have any?

One can speculate what T’s truly doing for a living (and you surely know what these speculations are about if you have come here) but I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts he’s not and never has been a music producer and doesn’t have any real job or own career. Music producer is a feigned occupation that has been invented for the fans and media/journalists in case they ask and have to include the respective data in the articles. If something is repeated and passed on many times, it becomes true, because no one bothers to verify its authenticity; that’s what the people who created the myth of T being a music producer counted on, and they’ve achieved their goal. Of course there must be very specific purpose(s) why this fictional occupation has been pushed so hard. Don’t you think it’s a cover to divert from what T is really doing?

In the post I’m referring to in the beginning, blogger @mariaae compiled a list of A. Miller's achievements. He was famous already during his lifetime, was a recognized playwright, an intellectual. He surely could impress and attract women. I guess, Marylin considered his personality interesting and challenging.

Ask yourself Anon, do you see any parallels between A. Miller and T, or between the two said relationships?    

[magicalgirlsirin]

an oral history of vocaloid

ive seen a lot of (very misguided) discussion about vocaloid/vsynth in regards to AI voices discourse, so i thought it would be a good idea to sit down and explore vocaloid as a software, as well as mentioning other software of the same genre, to give people who dont really know much a better understanding

first and foremost: i dislike AI voices that are in unregulated spaces right now. actors who are finding their hard work end up on some website for anyone to use without compensation is devastating, and shows a lack of respect for the effort it takes in the field.

however, vocaloid has a much longer history that pre-dates these aggregate sites. vocaloid software was first released in 2004, and was initially marketed towards professional musicians. vocaloid's second version of the engine, however, decided to broaden the market towards general consumers, pitching it as helpful software to those who wanted to produce music, but didn't have the personal skill or ability to have someone else sing for their music (range, note holding, etc). amateur musicians wouldn't know how to direct someone to tackle a lyric persay, but using software would be easy to learn and they would learn the terminology associated with certain performance decisions.

in vocaloid 2's era, miku was released. miku's voice provider is Saki Fujita, a well respected voice actress who actually does a lot of work in anime as well as video games! the popularity of miku is its own separate post of history, but the explosive nature of it, i would argue, is the reason that vocaloid and other commercial voice synthesizer software ultimately ended up geared towards all consumers instead of just professional musicians. (crypton and yamaha did absolutely still cater to professional musicians, having private or non released banks only for certain companies/contractors to use though).

flash forward, and technology has developed way further. in 2013, cevio released, and in 2017, synthV debuted. by this point, vocal synthing has expanded from just singing software to also include software intended for just speaking (voiceroid by AHS software) and the idea of an AI bank to improve the quality and clarity of voice banks is becoming more feasible.

however, i wouldnt say the developments in AI voices came strictly from this side of things. in fact, i distinctly remember back in the early 2010s, people were using websites with voice models of characters like glados (portal) and spongebob. these audio posts were seen as novelties, and admittedly theyre fun just to mess around with (and people often find the spongebob rap music that yourboysponge makes to be pretty well done!), they do lead the way to better developed technology that doesnt compensate the artist...

so back to vocaloid. the thing about vocaloid (and all vocal synthesizers) is that contracts are in place to give appropriate time and compensation, along with permission to even use the person's voice. saki fujita continues to update miku's voicebank because she is being paid well to do so. this can be said for all vocal synth products. because these companies (crypton, ahs software, internet co, etc) specialize in making these tools and products for it, they have the appropriate knowledge on what proper compensation looks like. a random person grabbing a "raiden shogun genshin ai voice" model has none of those things. the voice actress doesnt get money off of that. its stolen work. AI can be used ethically, but it has to be done with regulation.

im leaving out specifics on certain vocaloids/vsynthesizers since its tangential to this post at best, but im making this so people have a better understanding of the history and intended usage of vocal synthesizer software. thank youuuuu

[beardedmrbean]

Apple has been fined €1.8bn (£1.5bn) by the EU for breaking competition laws over music streaming.

The firm had prevented streaming services from informing users of payment options outside the Apple app store, the European Commission said.

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Apple abused its dominant position in the market for a decade.

She ordered the US tech giant to remove all the restrictions. Apple has said it will appeal against the decision.

The European Commission's decision was triggered by a complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify, which was unhappy about the restriction and Apple's 30% fee..

Ms Vestager said Apple had restricted "developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem".

"This is illegal under EU antitrust rules," she said.

However, Apple said it would appeal, adding there was no evidence consumers had been harmed.

"The decision was reached despite the Commission's failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast," the company said in a statement.

"The primary advocate for this decision, and the biggest beneficiary, is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden.

"Spotify has the largest music streaming app in the world, and has met with the EC [European Commission] more than 65 times during this investigation," it said.

Spotify attacks Apple's 'outrageous' 27% commission

Spotify called the fine handed out to Apple "an important moment" and said it sent "a powerful message" that "no company, not even a monopoly like Apple, can wield power abusively to control how other companies interact with their customers".

Apple said the Swedish company pays no commission to them as it sells its subscriptions on its website and not on the app store.

Spotify had argued that the restrictions benefit Apple's rival music streaming service, Apple Music.

Digital Markets Act

In January, Apple announced plans to allow EU customers to download apps outside of their own app store, as the introduction of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) drew closer.

The aim of the European Union's DMA is to help competition in the technology sector and to try to break down the stronghold the likes of Apple and Google have on the market.

The tech companies were given six months from August last year to comply with a full list of requirements under the new legislation, or face a fine of up to 10% of their annual turnover.

The firms have until later this week to comply with a raft of changes announced since the start of the year, as Apple, Meta and TikTok pursue challenges to aspects of the law.

Law professor at EDHEC, Anne Witt, told the BBC the DMA will have a "significant impact" on the way designated platforms operate within the EU.

"It is a more effective but also much blunter legal tool in the fight against market concentration in the digital economy," she said.

Last week, Spotify and 33 other companies operating across a wide range of digital sectors wrote to the European Commission with a renewed attack on Apple's "lack of compliance" with the DMA.

"Apple's new terms not only disregard both the spirit and letter of the law, but if left unchanged, make a mockery of the DMA and the considerable efforts by the European Commission and EU institutions to make digital markets competitive," it said.

[he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle]

Get to Know Me Tag

Tagged by the feisty @lurkingshan, thanks Shan!

Do you make your bed?

Kinda. After my divorce, I bought lovely new bedding and happily made my bed every morning for like a year. Then I got lazy. I sorta half-ass it, where I fluff my pillows and pull up sheets and straighten the blankets and bed spread, but it's not photo-worthy or anything.

What’s your favorite number?

3. I like triads and trinities. In fact, I named my first dog Trinity. And I had three children!

What is your job?

I’m an author. I have 4 non-fiction books published under my given name and 15 fiction books published under a pseudonym. Many of my books were best sellers. Despite this fact, it is not enough to pay the bills. So I supplement my income with speaking engagements, teaching classes, and running a handful of websites, one of which is a wholesale distribution platform for artisanal imported foods. Basically, I'm self-employed and keep myself busy doing anything that interests me.

If you could go back to school, would you?

No. While I love learning and don't mind taking the occasional class to be introduced to a cool skill (like making stained glass!), I absolutely refuse to do any more higher education than I already have. I was sorta super nerdy at school because of an eidetic memory, so I collected degrees in Biblical Studies, Philosophy, Greek, Linguistics, and Russian Literature before I finally realized I didn't want to be a perpetual student.

Can you parallel park?

Nope. I learned how to do it to get my Driver's License over 30 years ago and have literally never had to use the skill since.

A job you had that would surprise people?

Hmmm. My job-jobs were all pre-children so people are surprised when they find out I ever had any since my last one was decades ago. But I didn't just have a few, I had a LOT of jobs because I finished school early and had to pay for my entire university education myself because of poor parents, and I think that's the most surprising thing. I was a waitress (14-16), a shop clerk (16-18), an acquisitions librarian's assistant (18-19), a bank teller (20), a digital librarian for a major software development company (20-21), a language tutor (18-21), an adjunct professor (22-24), a houseparent in a boy's home (24), and a cog in the county tax assessor's office (24-26). I also volunteered as a translator for Doctor's Without Borders and as a suicide prevention counselor for LGBTQ youth. At 26, I had my first child and became self-employed.

Do you think aliens are real?

Possibly, but I struggle to believe humans have ever interacted with any.

Can you drive a manual car?

Yes!

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Cop shows. I agree ACAB, but I love love LOVE the testosterone-fueled fantasy world of shows like Hawaii Five 0.

Tattoos?

None. I didn't want any at first because all the tattoos I'd seen on old people didn't age well thanks to saggy skin, wrinkles, etc. Now I kinda wish I'd had at least one.

Favorite color?

Dark azure.

Favorite type of music?

I LOVE IT ALL. If you live long enough, you discover awesome music in every genre. Like, I thought I hated heavy metal, but then I discovered the album Pale Communion by Opeth a decade ago and loved literally every single song!

Do you like puzzles?

Yes, but I don't make the time to do them.

Any phobias?

Heights. Absolutely terrifying.

Favorite childhood sport?

Cross country! I ran on my varsity team in HS and continued it through college.

Do you talk to yourself?

No. I am so quiet. On the weeks I don't have custody of my kids, I have sometimes had weeks where I work exclusively from home and don't interact with another human person beyond text messages and emails. When I finally speak out loud for the first time in days, the sound of my voice is jarring and unfamiliar.

What movies do you adore?

About Time. The Royal Tenenbaums. Shawshank Redemption.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee! I used to be more of a snob about it, but I recently fell in love with Korean instant coffees and THEY ARE SO GOOD. HOLY SHIZNITS.

First thing you wanted to be growing up?

A teacher in a foreign country.

I haven't been keeping track of who tagged who, so I'd like to tag @absolutebl @juneviews @twig-tea @sorry-bonebag @stefanyd @waitmyturtles @disaster-j @cooloddball @spicyvampire and @norahastuff If you'd like to play and I didn't tag you, please do!! Be sure to tag me so I can read your post.

[leelee120000]

Looking Back On: Fall Out Boy, “Folie à Deux”

April 12, 2020

“Folie à Deux” came out when I was eight years old. Fall Out Boy (FOB) was a band I enjoyed but it wasn’t my favorite yet. That didn’t occur until 2010 when I got my first laptop and suddenly had access to play any music I wanted. After countless times listening, I came to think of it as one of the most musically intricate and well-developed albums FOB has ever produced. However, “Folie à Deux” didn’t sell well and ultimately contributed to FOB’s hiatus.

There is a plot in “Folie à Deux,” however, it is very hidden and not really understood without the additional “Fall Out Toy Works” comics, which was published in ‘09 and continued into ‘13. The comics are mostly unknown by many which makes talking about them all the more fun. 

“Fall Out Toy Works” was created by Pete Wentz of FOB, Darren Romanelli and Nathan Cabrera. It is written by Brett Lewis and illustrated by members of Imaginary Friends Studios. The story is a cyberpunk tale set in futuristic LA centered around a gynoid (female android) named Tiffany, the Toymaker’s perfect creation. Think “Pinocchio” meets “Pygmalion.” 

Baron is the main antagonist and his company controls the production of pretty much everything in Los Angeles, even the weather but he has no control over his relationships. He asks the Toymaker to create a robot wife for him, named Tiffany. Talking about the story any farther without spoiling the ending is hard.

The trade paperback and webcomic version both had the final page of issue 5 removed, which changed the entire tone of the ending. (It is relatively easy to find online, though.) There are so many things that the comics explain, even the meaning of the album’s cover art: the bear is a boy robot named Crybaby.

To promote “Folie à Deux,” the whole label of Decaydance Records artists did a mixtape of demos and custom songs called “Welcome to the New Administration.” The promotional campaign began on Aug. 18, 2008, when Decaydance’s website was supposedly hacked by a shady group called “Citizens For Our Betterment.”

The link led to the group’s website which was red, white and blue. Links on the page were blocked needing specific IP addresses to work. The Decaydance site was normal the following day. 

The Citizens for Our Betterment web page was updated every day, many posts referring to Nov. 4, the same day as the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The locked links were gradually opened and by Aug. 24, one link led to a page saying “FOB – The Return – November Four” in large big bold letters.

This caused some fans to believe that Fall Out Boy would release their new album on Nov. 4. Others theorized that this was another one of Pete’s attempts to raise political awareness as he previously held a rally for then U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama. Members of FOB members are publicly democrats. 

Many bands from the Fueled by Ramen label posted on MySpace that same day with the title “Welcome to the New Administration.” Every post contained the word ten. On Aug. 25, the Citizens for Our Betterment website was redirected to the band’s Friends or Enemies page. On which was an image of a voting booth and ballots with the names of several Decaydance artists. 

By clicking on each individual ballot, there was an audio clip from the band reading past posts on the Citizens for Our Betterment website. A mixtape was then made available for download. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUZKSsP8Sdo

As for the album itself, the album “Folie à Deux” itself is perfectly gapless as every song fades into the next. It starts with a hidden track called “Lullabye.” It’s a charming track featuring just acoustic guitar and Patrick singing. “Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes” is the first official song. The hook goes: “I’m a loose bolt of a complete machine. What a match, I’m half doomed and you’re semi-sweet.” These lines set the tone of the album with industrial elements and dark storytelling. The world of the Toymaker and how it intertwines with the music. 

“I Don’t Care” kicks off with a classic rock tone, and the accompanying music video is zany and weird. Gilby Clarke from Guns N’ Roses starts the video by saying, “what the hell happened to rock and roll? Eyeliner? Energy drinks? And no guitar solos? I’ve taken sh*ts with bigger rock stars than them!”

The video is filled with miscellaneous sights. There’s the infamous spaghetti cat clip, band members dressed as nuns, Joe flashing people – and it ends with everyone removing a mask and being a different rock star. Clarke himself reveals himself being Sarah Palin in the end, winks.

It’s an all-round weird video. A reminder that ‘08 was a different time, but all and all it fit into the political climate.

Next on the album is “She’s My Winona,” named after actress Winona Ryder. It is a true bop and a slower-paced song with the chorus of “hell or glory, I don’t want anything in between. Then came a baby boy with long eyelashes. And daddy said ‘you gotta show the world the thunder’.”  

This is followed by “America’s Suitehearts” with its nightmare carnival aesthetic that really adds to the story of the album and causes a lot of the nonsense to make sense. 

“Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet,” in which the beat goes hard but the lyrics go harder, follows. It’s a song blatantly about infidelity within a relationship. Considering Pete Wentz’s divorce, it’s safe to assume that this was somewhat based in reality. 

The music video is labeled as “A Weekend At Pete Rose’s,” and is on the old FriendsOrEnemies YouTube channel. In it, Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith carry Pete’s dead body around the city. 

“The (Shipped) Gold Standard” is a sad masterpiece about fearing loving another person. This was written before gay marriage was legalized and at a time where the LGBT+ community found safety within emo music and the Fall Out Boy fan base because FOB supported them. 

“(Coffee’s For Closers)” is a song about lost faith, and it hits hard especially with its placement behind “The (Shipped) Gold Standard”. 

“What A Catch, Donnie” has a music video and it’s an odd, nostalgic chronicle of the band’s (at the time of the video’s creation) seven-year history. Filled with memorabilia for other music videos, the video shows Patrick saving his fellow bandmates, as well as Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith. The end of the song includes lines from Fall Out Boy’s most iconic songs at the time. 

“27” jumps the pace back up to fast rock and fades into (all songs fade, but this is the best fade on the record) my favorite song on the album, “Tiffany Blews.” The song makes almost no sense at all lyrically but musically it slaps. The best explanation I can give is that it’s about a hot girl. Lil Wayne has a spoken section that is my favorite part. “Not the boy I was, the boy I am is just venting – venting. Dear gravity, you held me down in this starless city.” It’s such a perfect moment of breath in a nonstop album.

Next is “w.a.m.s.,” which is an acronym that has never had a confirmed meaning. But, the bass in it is so good, and the ending’s stripped vocals are as well! 

“20 Dollar Nose Bleed” is about drug abuse. It includes vocals from Brendon Urie and ends with a creepy poem by Pete Wentz. “It’s not me, it’s you, actually, it’s the taxidermy of you and me / Untie the balloons from around my neck and ground me / I’m just a racehorse on the track, send me back to the glue factory…”

“West Coast Smoker” has the futuristic synth sound that ties the whole album together and that sound is on full display. The vocals pulsing with the music is almost spiritual. I’m skipping the remixes and acoustic versions off of the deluxe version. Instead, I’m hopping over to the bonus tracks. 

“Pavlove” is criminally underrated, and such a good song. The heavy rock cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” is also wonderful.

I love this album because every song in it is amazing – it goes without saying, “Folie à Deux” is my favorite album by my favorite band. 

LeAnne McPherson

[taanoir]

Nicole flew to Henford for a visit with Blake. They were both happy to see each other.

They spent time catching up on life. They found that their interests had diverged. Nicole still loved music, dancing, going out to clubs and had followed her dreams into the tech industry.

After Blake moved to Henford he made friends with a group of locals that were into football. He still loved music but he spent most of his free time working out or playing pick up matches with his friends. He would hang out with his friends but usually at someone's house, he wasn't really a club person. Too much noise, too many people.

They spent most of their time at the house. Blake's Mom, Poppy, was happy to see Nicole as well. She asked about Nicole's sister's and her Uncle's. Nicole gave them the run down on Tiffany's budding writing career and Jennifer's robotics competitions.

Her Uncle's were both doing well. Uncle Milo was still painting but he had picked up a job teaching art for the City, she thought he was looking for something to do with his time. He taught classes through the Community Center, his favorites classes were for the Gilbert County Memory Care Facility.

Uncle Gene was still running his business, they had transitioned over the years and were now focusing on hosting websites and providing storage space for businesses. More companies are wanting business websites, so they pay to have the site hosted remotely. It's a steady business and gives him and his team more time to develop new things.

Nicole also met Poppy's husband Alfred, he was very friendly and funny. Poppy had left her job in accounting in San Sequoia and become a homemaker in Henford. Alfred had a good position with the Bank of Henford, which was partly responsible for how they met. Blake worked at a local gym as a trainer but Alfred had gotten Blake's brother Josh an entry level job with the Bank. Josh had gotten his degree in finance but Blake didn't think college was for him. Blake still though Josh was a jerk, some things don't change.

They had always enjoyed playing chess together in San Sequoia, Blake was out of practice but they played a few games the night before Nicole headed back .

They both promised to keep in touch but the visit answered the question that had hung over them both, "did I miss the one?". They found they were still friends but nothing more, the trip gave them both the ending they needed.

[scarred-serafina-fan]

Willa TV Project – Robert Beatty Books

I was avoiding posting about this until I saw something a little more official but it's a whole page on his official website so I guess that's as official as it gets

But basically they are finally adapting his books to the screen the company that he is teamed up is surprisingly entertainment one not disney who owns the rights also it's just willa that's being adapted not serafina for reasons I'm not very clear on

Anyways this whole thing is just odd even beyond the whole serafina is not being adapted they're straight cutting to book four of the series and disney doesn't seem to have much if anything to do with it

For a little context in the south within a certain vicinity of ashville (like reaching into other states) the serafina series was marketed HARD everyone knew about it and was supporting it this whole tv show deal tho has been very quiet I've only really seen rumblings of it from the far corners of the internet

They also said in that link above filming locations are not determined yet and this is just me speculating but it does not sound like they are planning on filming it in the smoky mountains again odd that whole area is pretty popular for film projects even hunger games filmed in the Appalachian Mountains so I hope they're gonna film there but idk again I haven't heard ANYTHING

But finally I want to talk about the group that's making it Entertainment One with Amy Adam's Bond Group Entertainment

Entertainment One is kinda interesting when I started looking into them they have things like Peppa Pig dungeons and dragons and insidious they apparently started as a music distributing company that made the switch to movie distribution a few years later and in 2016 a British tv broadcaster ITV plc offered to buy them out for $1.3 bill which they rejected because it was "fundamentally undervalued" the whole time they are pretty much acquiring different other smaller companies left and right and they have a large investment in Quibi I guess? But in mid 2019 Hasbro brought announced that they were apparently acquiring Entertainment one for $4 bill (according to Wikipedia) when hasbro obtained them tho it seems they started making plenty of cuts like laying 10% of it's film and television staff (again number is from Wikipedia) and many branches of the company were straight up closed and by 2022 has brought announced they were planning on selling the company to lionsgate but by the time deal closed last December Entertainment one had already closed its distributing branches in most countries including England and lionsgate bought their assets for $500 mill so safe to say is a dying company that probably won't even last long enough for this project to happen (they were also split into three different separate companies)

Amy Adam's Bond Group Entertainment on the other hand is interesting in a different way according to deadline the company will work mostly with best selling book ip yeah "WILL" seems like this company has not done a whole lot yet the company was only even first launched in 2019 deadline also lists off willa of the wood as one of the things they have in development yeah the show that has basically no buzz is named as one of the biggest things they have in development the company has also very obvious been relying on the name of Amy Adam's so far I mean there's a whole paragraph about her specifically in link to Robert beattys website above

Idk just seems like they have these two companies one that's standing on its last leg and another that's just starting and they're starting halfway through the series it's just odd I'm not letting my hopes up yet because honestly I'll just be happy if it ever even comes out I first heard about this thing a WHILE ago and it's been pretty quite so who knows

[yesstaffnurse1]

Rogue’s Gallery

I stared sullenly at Fiona as the blonde bespectacled specialist nurse took picture after picture of me while I glared at her over the tape gag she had pressed so firmly over my mouth. My hands were also tied behind my back, and my ankles were similarly bound as I looked up at the night nurse who had surprised and captured me, just as I was in the act of downloading the formula for the anti-ageing drug Vitalean which my research lab had developed, aiming to sell it to commercial companies desperate to get their hands on it.

“These are for a rogue’s gallery I’m going to post on every pharmacy, research and medical website I can find, Terry,” Fiona told me with a slightly smug smile on her handsome features, “warning them not to touch you with a barge pole! Hopefully it will be enough to end your career - even after you’ve got out of prison!” I continued to glower at the self-satisfied grey-uniformed witch who had bound me. “Fmmp oppph, bmmmph!” I told her. She just laughed. “That’s why I gagged you, sweetie!” she grinned and dropped her phone into the pocket of her uniform dress at last. “Now are you ready for a little walk of shame down the corridor to the security office?”

“Ggg tggn hll!” I retorted. “Whatever, babe!” remarked Fiona, crouching to untie my feet before she hauled me off to face the music.

Source: Nurses Uniforms and Ladies Workwear on Flickr