#New Kings - Lockdown - 20

[jtl-fics]

Happy Wip Wednesday!!! I'm coming in so much later then I typically do but can I get some New Kings please and thank youuuu

1/29/25 WIP Wednesday (CLOSED) | New Kings AU

When he gets the text back that they’re at a bar that Seth had sworn off of months ago he pauses. He blinks down at the notification from his friends and types a response back.

Seth:

Can we meet somewhere else? U know how I feel about that place.

Melody:

Dude dont be a baby. You know they have the best hook-ups on the good shit 2.

Melody:

If you manup ill even by u ur 1st hit

Seth swallows thickly as he stares down at the text.

WIP Wednesday for 2/5/25 is OPEN here.

[diamond-rozie]

regular boy: daniel wayne

masterlist/link to ao3

summary:

“Reporting live from Gotham City!” The reporter spoke “Here at the scene of the crime where Dr. Collin Kilye, renowned geneticist, has shot himself and has been declared dead by the paramedics. Dr. Kilye is suspected to be responsible for the purposeful switching of newborns between families under his care, where an estimated over 500 babies have been swapped in the last 20 years of his employment here. Based on the information provided to the Gotham PD by Nightwing and Batman, the vigilantes investigating the crime, we are led to believe that Nightwing has been investigating this case after an anonymous tipoff of Dr. Kilye’s suspicious activities. After a month and a half of investigating, Nightwing reason to believe the Dr. Kilye of malpractice and came to his office to investigate-” - Dick had learned that people never know a situation as well as they assume they did. Dick had always assumed that he wouldn’t be one of those people. He was a detective, a Bat, the first Robin. The case file in front of him glared tauntingly. Danny Fenton; Birth Parents: Bruce Wayne (father) and Clarissa King (mother). Status: Alive

chapter 01: breaking news

tw/cw: mentions of infant death and fictional medical procedures

dick: 25 jason: 20 danny: 16 tim: 16 steph: 17 cass: 15 duke: 17 damian: 13

Danny sighed, stepping through the front door and into the empty living room not bothering to turn on the lights and tossed his hoodie onto a nearby sofa. Normally Jazz would have berated him for being messy, or maybe Mom would have nagged about Danny being older and needing to clean up after himself. But Jazz was off studying neurology at Harvard. And his parents had gotten an “an amazingly irrefutable offer, Danno” to work at Dalv Co. under their new ecto-technologies sector, that partnered closely with the GIW. So they were usually busy with that. 

Not that Danny wasn’t glad to have time apart from his parents. After what Danny only referred to as The Chicago Incident, he could barely stand being in the same room with them. Danny kept quiet about what happened. He hadn't told anyone, not Sam or Tuck or Val or Wes and especially not Jazz. He couldn’t. He’d only managed to survive thanks to the timely aid of Fright Knight and Firebolt (a ghost friend he made when he was stuck in the Ghost Zone during the GIW’s six-month Martial Law lockdown- but that was a story for another time). 

Leaving his shoes somewhere by the door, Danny made his way into the kitchen, perusing through the remnants of edible material. The equipment in the basement would have been collecting dust if Danny hadn’t taken his liberties with it. Apart from his newfound and unbounded freedom that he regarded with gratitude, Danny even began dabbling in cooking real people food. And it was definitely because he wanted to and not because he was sick of microwavable food, Jazz. 

With Danny’s rendition of chicken alfredo ready, he ate in front of the TV. He flipped through a few channels before just landing back on the news. He half-listened to the anchor telling him about the incoming weather front before the screen abruptly changed, flashing a bright red Breaking News sign for a moment before panning over to a lady in front of what looked like a crime scene. 

“I’m Jenifer Blair, reporting live from West Gotham City with Z News!” The reporter spoke urgently over the loud sounds of police and ambulance sirens in the background. “Here at the scene of the crime where Dr. Collin Kilye, renowned geneticist, and lead researcher at West Gotham General Hospital, has shot himself and has been declared dead by the paramedics. Dr. Kilye is suspected to be responsible for the purposeful switching of newborns of families under his care. It is estimated that over 500 babies have been swapped in the last 20 years of his employment here. Based on the information provided to the Gotham PD by Nightwing and Batman, the vigilantes investigating the crime, we have been told that Nightwing has been investigating this case after an anonymous tipoff of Dr. Kilye’s suspicious activities. After a reported month and a half of investigating, Nightwing had reason to suspect Dr. Kilye of malpractice and came to his office to investigate where--”

The sudden sound of his phone ringing brought Danny back to his living room. “Hey, Tuck,” Danny answered, lowering the volume of the TV. 

“Danny! Dude! Have you seen the news story of Batman and Nightwing’s recent bust?” Tucker asked, his voice radiating fanboy excitement. 

“Wasn’t it mostly just Nightwing?” Danny raised an eyebrow at his friend, even though he couldn’t see it. “Batman showed up later.” 

“Yeah, well, Batman and Nightwing-”

“Nightwing and Batman.”

“Okay, whatever- but isn’t this totally insane? It’s like Parent Trap- but illegal.”

“That’s not what happens in Parent Trap.” Danny pointed out for the sole purpose of being annoying. 

“It’s the essence, Danny!” Tucker groaned. Danny could practically hear him rolling his eyes through the phone. “We’re still on for the new Doom game tonight?” 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. The others come by yet?” Danny put his plate in the sink. 

“I’m adding them to the call.” 

On the third ring, “‘Sup Fenton ‘n Foley. Ready to get your nonexistent butts handed to you?” Val goaded, already hyped for their game. 

“Hey! I’ll have you know I have a very nice butt. And Danny’s isn’t anything to scoff at either-” Tucker snapped only to be cut off by Danny.

“Okay! Thanks for the defense, Tuck.” Danny stepped in quickly before the conversation took a turn he did not want to witness. 

--- 

Dick was alone in the BatCave, working out the final details of his case before sending it off to be released publicly. In all of Dick’s years as Robin to Nightwing, this case was easily one of the most disastrous to the general public. Given that it was his case, Dick wanted to make sure it went smoothly. Or as smoothly as telling a family their child isn’t biologically theirs can go. 

Sorting through the files and pairing up the families with the correct child was relatively easy, thanks to the incredible details Dr. Kilye stored in his files. If the circumstances were different, Dick would have been amazed at how much data the doctor managed to keep collecting for 568 different subjects of his experiment. Silently praising himself for having already made his way through about half the files, Dick stretched his neck as he clicked the View Next button. 

In his line of work, Dick had learned that people never know a person or situation as well as they thought they did. Dick had been confident he wouldn’t be one of those people. He was a detective, a Bat, the first Robin. He knew better than to assume anything. The file that showed up next was chilling proof that he was wrong. For a Bat, the past never stayed in the past. 

File Number: 6678

Date of Birth: 12 February 20XX

Name: Thomas Wayne Jr 

Assigned Mother: Clarissa King (missing) 

Assigned Father: Bruce Wayne (alive)  

Biological Mother: Madeline Fenton (alive) 

Biological Father: Jack Fenton (alive) 

Medical Conditions: 

Malformations of the heart and lungs

Unidentified chemicals present in blood test

Updates and Notes: 

Deceased on 23 February 20XX (11 days old)

The memories he managed to keep buried for years seized Dick’s senses, and he was back in the hospital waiting room at age 9. None of the others had known about the time Bruce and Thalia had tried to work things out and had given having a family together a try. No LoA business. No Bat or JLA. Just regular(ish) people in a regular(ish) family. 

It had gone well for the months before Talia had become pregnant. Even most of the pregnancy had gone smoothly. Dick got to be in an actual family again after the death of his parents. They had dinner together. Talked about their day. Watched movies together.

But then Talia had gotten sick, and the baby ended up coming out a little early. The doctors had told them it was normal and that the baby would probably still be healthy. So Alfred sat in the waiting room with a nervous Dick, excited to meet his first-ever little brother. He’d always wanted a little brother. Bruce came to the waiting room after making Dick and Alfred wait forever and told them they could come in now. Talia, under the alias Clarissa King, was asleep when they entered. 

Bruce had told them the doctors had taken Thomas to get cleaned and do a few check-ups. Dick remembered the anxious but excited look on Bruce’s face as he kept glancing at the door, ready to pounce the second the doctor would come back with Dick’s new baby brother. 

Except that never happened. 

When the doctor came back into the room, he had a clipboard in his hand, not a baby. The Doctor told them to follow him, and they went inside a room with a bunch of machines in it, and in the middle of the room was Dick’s baby brother.

The baby was mostly bald, but he had little bits of black hair on his head, like Bruce and Talia. Dick wondered what color eyes the baby would have. Talia had green eyes, but Bruce and Dick had blue eyes. Alfred had said the baby needed a lot of rest and that’s why he was sleeping so much. Dick would be a good big brother and wait patiently until his baby brother woke up. 

But the baby had to stay in the hospital for 10 whole days since Bruce had told Dick that his brother was really sick. Dick would check the nursery to make sure it was ready for his brother before Alfred would take him to the hospital to visit. Dick’s baby brother hadn’t been awake any of those days and Dick never got to find out what color his eyes were. 

On the eleventh day, they didn’t go to visit. When Dick asked Alfred why, the butler had walked him to the patch of loose dirt in the backyard marked with a little piece of rock with his brother’s name on it. 

Dick had seen that type of rock with his parent’s name on it before. 

It meant that he was gone, and Dick would never get to see him again. 

When Bruce had introduced Jason Todd and said he would stay with them in the manor, that was the first time Dick had truly ever been betrayed by Bruce. 

Jason wasn’t his brother. Thomas was. But Thomas wasn’t here. Jason may get to say he was Bruce’s son too, but he didn’t get to know about Thomas. 

Not letting his childhood tears deter him from his new goal, Dick quickly found the associated file. Dick’s heart pounded in his chest while his breath was still stuck somewhere in his throat, 

File Number: 77563

Date of Birth: 12 February 20XX

Name: Daniel Fenton 

Assigned Mother: Madeline Fenton (alive) 

Assigned Father: Jack Fenton (alive) 

Biological Mother: Clarissa King (missing) 

Biological Father: Bruce Wayne (alive)  

Medical Conditions: 

Normal Birth

Age 12: Electrocuted 

Hospitalized for 24 hours. 

Developed Acute Bradycardia 

No follow-up medical procedures 

Updates and Notes: 

Prefers “Danny” 

Dick looked over the file again and again. His baby brother was alive. He had come back. 

Should he tell Bruce? Obviously, that was a dumb question. How should he tell Bruce? 

Well, Richard Grayson was nothing if not tactful. He pulled out his phone from his jacket pocket, pulled up both files next to each other on the large screen of the Bat Computer, snapped a picture, and clicked send. Bruce was supposed to be having dinner with some important business people or whatnot, so Dick decided he should flee the scene before the Big Bad Bat found him, not wanting to know what his wrath would bestow on him. Heaven forbid, Bruce might even talk about emotions.

He closed all the files, stored them in a flash drive, and wiped them from the computer. After all, this was his case, and he’d be the one to see it through. Dick was right in front of the elevator when the doors opened to reveal Tim.

“You’re done?” Tim asked, raising a suspicious brow.

“I have a flight to catch.” Dick said, “I need to pack.”

“Is it for a case?” Tim asked, putting his phone in his pocket. 

“Yeah. Be the bestest brother ever and cover for me?” Dick pleaded, flashing his signature smile.

“Why should I?” He huffed already a few feet away from where Dick stayed. 

With a smirk, “‘Cause you don’t want Bruce to know what taking the Batmobile out for a ‘joyride’ was really for,” Dick said with a smirk. 

Tim turned around, alarmed. “Fine, I’ll cover. But you better not tell.” Tim hissed at him.

“Scout’s Honor.” Dick winked before catching the elevator. 

“You weren’t even a Scout.” He heard Tim complain before the doors fully shut. 

Three hours later, Dick landed in Chicago, Illinois and hailed a cab to take him the rest of the 1-and-a-half-hour drive to Amity Park. Where Thomas  Daniel Danny lived. Dick hadn’t exactly planned this whole excursion through, which wasn’t very trained-by-Batman of him. But Dick knew how to do things by the nose when he needed to. 

He had used the time in the plane to finish the rest of the files, which he completed quickly with his ultimatum in mind. Dick purposely ignored every notification vibrating in his pocket knowing he would be facing the wrath of either Tim or Bruce. 

But now he was sitting in a car for one-and-a-half hours with nothing to look out for except the darkness of the night and a relatively empty road. He opened his phone to 56 messages and missed calls. He scrolled through the groupchat, ignoring it when it was just talking about regular stuff. Next, he opened his messages from Tim. 

Timbers: Dick.

Timbers: what did you do?????

Timbers: when you said cover I thought you meant for patrol or smt 

Timbers: not whatever beef Bruce apparently has with you??

Timbers: I demand compensation!!!

Timbers: [1 video]

Dick opened the video Tim sent him. It was 90 seconds of security camera feed from right above the elevator. Bruce’s hair was disturbed from his usual well-done look he kept for business meetings and his tie was undone. He stormed towards the Bat Computer where Tim was doing whatever Tim does on the computer. Despite being dressed in business attire, Dick could practically see the flurrying of the Batman cape behind him as he walked. Bruce whipped the chair Tim sat on around to face him so fast that Tim nearly fell off. 

‘Where’s Dick?’ The camera was a bit far but still picked up Bruce’s echoing voice. To Dick’s surprise, and seemingly Tim’s as well, Bruce didn’t seem mad. Disgruntled, alarmed, slipping from sanity? Yes. Genuinely angry? Not quite. It made Dick feel a little guilty. Only a little, though.

‘I dunno,’ Tim said, still reeling from the surprise attack. 

Bruce pushed Tim’s chair away from the computer, scavenging through the files, no doubt looking for the files on Thomas and Danny. Unfortunately for Bruce, every single one of those files was secure in Dick’s jacket pocket. Bruce would come to realize that soon enough, as he took a shaky breath and stepped away from the screen.

The video ended. 

That explained the 12 missed calls from Bruce. Dick debated calling him back. No doubt Bruce would ask for an explanation. An explanation he still has yet to come up with. 

Deciding this was a problem for future Dick, present Dick decided he would let himself doze off for the rest of the cab ride to his destination.

[aroace-spec-empire]

History of the AroAce Spec Empire (So far)

(Will update as I rummage through this blog and find posts/events that are considered as important history bits-)

2024

Note: At some point Luxembourg and the AroAce Spec Empire signed an agreement. Luxembourg would help with the invasion of Europe if they got Greenland

May 1 - The AroAce Spec Empire is founded during the Great Bot War Of 2024

May 1 - Almost immediately after being created, the Empire joins the Great Bot War of 2024 on the side of Aspecs

May 2 - The Empire hosts a vote to decide which European country to invade first

May 7 - The Empire reveals a map of Europe covered in dots + Promises to give Northern Ireland to Ireland

May 7 - A vote is made to decide which type of government the Empire should have

May 7-8 - The AroAce Spec Empire decides to not invade France, due to the founder Crystals la Bubble Tea (@/crystalsandbubbletea) being intimidated by them

May 9 - Draft of the AroAce Spec Empire Constitution is created

May 9 - Voting to decide which European country to invade first ends, with Denmark taking the overwhelming majority of the vote

May 13 - Czech Republic offers an alliance to the AroAce Spec Empire

May 15 - The Alliance between the AroAce Spec Empire and the Czech Republic is made official

May 16 - Canada and the AroAce Spec Empire form an alliance

May 16 - The King's Lomatia becomes the National Flower of the AroAce Spec Empire, while Garlic bread becomes the official food

May 16 - A poll just to be silly opens. The poll is for deciding if the Empire should be renamed to Peanut AroAce Spec Empire or Peanut Spec Empire after the Empire was called a peanut twice

May 17 - The USA and the AroAce Spec Empire form an alliance

May 17 - Luxembourg has to remind the AroAce Spec Empire about the agreement

May 17 - Ikea joins the AroAce Spec Empire

May 17 - AroAce Spec Empire and France open up discussions for a possible alliance

May 17 - Crystals la Bubble Tea thinks about making May 17 a national holiday known as "National Update Day", depends on the majority vote though-

May 17 - It is revealed that Crystals la Bubble Tea isn't a government official, due to the AroAce Spec Empire being an anarchy country. Instead they are responsible for polls and writing the constitution

May 17 - Antarctica and the AroAce Spec Empire become allies

May 17 - Arby's and the AroAce Spec Empire are officially chill with each other

May 18 - The Empire made a Discord server

May 20 - A new list of proposed alliances is made. The countries on the list are Germany, Turkmenistan, and Australia

May 20 - Crystals la Bubble Tea announces that they won't be in public as much for a while (AKA finals happening)

May 20 - Alliance with Australia has been confirmed

May 20 - Crystals la Bubble Tea goes out hunting for bots on the ace tags, they find none. This isn't enough for them, as who knows when the bots will be back?

May 21 - The Denmarks know about the plans to invade Denmark, causing Crystals la Bubble Tea to contemplate their life choices

May 21 - The Empire takes a bite out of the flag of Scotland and immediately regrets it

Aug 7 - The Empire faces increasing concern due to both France's losing their memories. Crystals la Bubble Tea goes into hiding

Aug 12 - The Empire gets their memories wiped. Crystals la Bubble Tea thinks about making the empire go into lockdown to prevent further memory loss

Some time between Aug 12 and Aug 19 - The Empire gets it's memories back

Aug 19 - The Empire and Communist America form an alliance

Some point in August - India and the Empire form an alliance

Aug 30 - The British Empire and the AroAce Spec Empire form an alliance

Sept 1 - The AroAce Spec Empire starts the invasion of European Countries

Oct 2 - The Great Bot was is presumably over

[fireheartwraith]

Okay so rounding up

"D" is the name of the enemy that was defeated 800 years ago by the 20 nations who would then form the world government

A leader from one of these nations, Queen Lily of Alabasta, ALSO was a "D" and chose to not move to Mary Jois

She somehow arranged for the poneglyphs to be spread out throughout the world

These poneglyphs hold knowledge of what really happened in this conflict, of the ancient weapons, and how to get to Laugh Tale via four red Road Poneglyphs

Laugh Tale probably holds the answers and the "key" to the dawn of the world

There's a prophecy or something that Joy Boy, aka the Sun God Nika, will come back after 800 years and lead the world to this new dawn

The poneglyphs were made by the royal family of Wano, who then closed its borders instead of joining the world government

The Gum Gum Fruit is actually the Human Human Fruit – Mystic Type: Nika and the government changed its name to try and prevent Joy Boy from awakening

But Zoan Devil Fruits have a will of their own and so it evaded the government for centuries and eventually made its way to Luffy, who has known awakened his power

Wano also has SOME kind of connection to the origin of the devil fruits since Sea Prism Stone, which can nullify their powers, come from there

Vegapunk speculates that Devil Fruits are connected to alternate universes and human will and dreams ??

The Op Op Fruit is another Devil Fruit that the government wanted because it is considered "the ultimate devil fruit" since it can give someone immortal life at the expense of the user

The Empty Throne, which is supposed to be empty, is actually not and is filled by someone the Five Elders call "Imu-sama"

Imu was the name of one of the First Twenty so Iva speculated that maybe someone used the Op Op fruit to make them immortal, and so they have been ruling the world in secret for 800 years

The government has one of the ancient weapons and used it for the first time in recorded memory to wipe Lulusia off of the map

King Cobra of Alabasta learned too much and was killed but not before passing on a message to Sabo, who witnessed the whole thing

CP-0 kidnapped Princess Vivi of Alabasta because one of the Celestial Dragons wanted her as a pet

Wapol, who also witnessed the whole thing, was running and accidentally helped Vivi escape

They both are taking shelter with Morgan at the World Economy Journal base

Fujitora wants to take down the system and sided with the revolutionary army to help the slaves escape

The Warlord system is abolished and in its place the navy is using the Seraphim, artificial humans made using the blood of the seven warlords augmented with Lunarian blood

Lunarians are an ancient tribe that lived where Mary Jois is now located and were hunted to near extinction

The government wants to kill Vegapunk because they found he had been researching the Void Century

Saul is alive and probably in Elbaf

The Kid Pirates were destroyed by Shanks

The Heart Pirates were destroyed by Blackbeard, but Law managed to escape with Bepo's help

Using Chopper's Rumble Balls, Minks are now able to go Sulong for a short period of time even during the day

Sentomaru betrayed the navy to help Vegapunk escape

York betrayed the Vegapunks

Egghead is on lockdown and there's a bunch of ships on the way, including Admiral Kizaru and one of the Five Elders

Bonney is having a breakdown

Toki was from 800 years ago and from Wano and had been time traveling to the future looking for a certain event (why did her family leave Wano??)

Princess Shirahoshi is one of the ancient weapons (Poseidon) since she can talk and command the Neptunians

Momo can also do that I'm pretty sure and so can Luffy

Garp is captured by the Blackbeard pirates and pretty critically wounded

Is fhat it?? Did I miss anything or got anything wrong?? Man I've got a headache

[samantitheos]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

AND IT'S STILL WEDNESDAY (a first). Thank you @blue-disco-lights and @wehangout for the tag. <3

Name and A03 handle: sam / ms_gallavich [cringe]

Current Location: living room couch in my new apartment. the upgrade from my last apartment is actually insane. i'm quite pleased.

Favourite picrew: any one in which i am channelling my lord and saviour, mickey milkovich. par exemple:

What's one thing you want in a picrew? uhh...good piercing options?

Favourite thing you’ve created (or seen created) for the fandom? as cringe as it is now several years removed, i was at one time one half of a very elaborate long-form mickey/ian rp on instagram that we regularly maintained throughout most of the "dark years" (2017-2019) when we thought s07e11 was the last time we'd ever see gallavich on screen. i feel like it brought a wide swath of the fandom together at that time, and it was a lot of fun.

less cringe, i like these two embroideries lol.

Why is it your favourite? gallavich embroidery got me through the pandemic lockdowns tbh. i taught myself stitches watching youtube videos and would work on pieces while binge watching different shows. (remember tiger king and squid games? lol. wild. feels like a lifetime ago.) made me feel at least semi-productive. also i love skeletons, so obvi that one is dear to me lol.

Did it come easily or was it hard to create? i am straight garbage at doing the lettering. i also rip out and restitch sections a lot.

Last ao3 fic you commented on? definitely left an unhinged comment on @suzy-queued's A Song Only You Can Hear fairly recently.

Biggest WIP heartache you’ve ever experienced? Grayola's Things Beyond Mistake was a punch to the tit, i won't lie. and i walked into anomalously's Promised Land with eyes wide open, knowing it was abandoned, and yet... 🥲i'm still subscribed to about 20 others i am still holding out hope for... 🥲🥲

Favourite trope or head cannon you like included in a fanfic? it would probably be easier to name the tropes i don't like lol. love a good soulmate fic. and got to love "only one bed" hehe. slow burn and friends to lovers/mutual pinning too. just inject that straight into my veins.

Least favourite? i wouldn't say it's a trope, but i strongly dislike fics where they sleep with other people. don't care for mpreg either. or mcd (unless its something supernatural wherein they are only dead temporarily -- then i love it).

Secret or surprising kink or trope? most surprising would be abo (minus the mpreg), since i had never even heard of it until about a year after i started reading fic. thank god for that comprehensive abo primer on a03 lol.

Describe how you feel after you’ve created something new? "i'm deleting this 30 seconds after i post unless someone likes it"

Top hype man you have that always helps you get across the finish line: i'm a lone wolf these days.

It's been a bad day, you turn to the fandom and you _____? start rereading something old written by one of my og favs.

(e.g., @loftec, @wehangout, @goodkwuestion, @gallavichy, @palepinkgoat,

@beckyharvey29, @the-rat-wins, @biblionerd07, @crimson-bebop, @captainjowl,

andchaos, mellow_yellow, MintSauce, Violet_Jones, lilbatfacedgirl, romanticalgirl, anomalously, horror_business, 09cityskylight, so many more that i missing that i now have anxiety lmaoooo)

Tagging a few people and extending the invite to anyone who would like to play. <3 @jademickian @transsexual-dandelions @ms-moonlight-inn @mickeym4ndy @sweetbee78

[no-goodbyes-no-regrets]

so the incoming Dutch government has (among others)

a prime minister who is not a member of a political party but basically just someone who knows the right people to get him a nice job, former head of immigration and naturalisation services

a health minister/deputy PM who used to be a member of a white power/neo nazi forum and strongly opposes late term abortion.

a minister in charge of trade and international aid (as in aid sent to other countries from the Netherlands) who wanted to cut that aid significantly or even get rid of it altogether to pay for a hair brained plan to lower health insurance costs here a few years ago, who is (or was i'm not entirely sure) a board member for an even more racist and unhinged Dutch version of fox news, believes in some ass backwards conspiracy theory that the "elite" are trying to "replace" the population with non white/non western (Jewish!) people but claims that is not nazi rhetoric but a "factual description of a demographic development" , pro zwarte piet (loooong story but basically she's pro blackface)

a minister of immigration who also believes in the replacement conspiracy theory, is also racist, has referred to Islam as despicable. She's been called out on spouting nazi bullshit and just went "it's possible it's a nazi thing, I don't know, I don't really care/think about that"

a speaker of the house who also believes in the replace conspiracy theory and has mentioned it several times as an mp. He also complained about being sick of talks about slavery when there was a discussion on whether or not the (then) prime minister and the king should officially apologise for the Dutch slavery history. July 1st is Keti koti in the Netherlands - which celebrates the end of slavery and remembers those who lost their lives during it (kind of like Juneteenth in the US) and there is an 'official' celebration/memorial service in Amsterdam where normally at least some politicians would show their face and speak. The organisation has said they don't want Bosman (that's his name) there because he's a racist asshole. He's planning to go anyway.

an MP who blatantly denies there is famine in Gaza and says 2000 aid trucks enter the Gaza strip every week.

the leader of that ^ gang who is bffs with Viktor Orbán (Hungarian PM) and the American republicans (that should tell you enough), who was going to make sure there would be 'less Moroccans' in The Hague after winning local elections there, has insulted Islam on various occasions throughout the past 20 or so years, and wants to ban people from having dual citizenship except that one guy in his own party he kinda forgot about

The daughter of an immigrant who opposes immigration and wants to stop people from bringing their family here when they've officially been told they can stay. The EXACT same law that allowed her father to bring her and her mother and siblings here after he left Turkey when she was a kid. She also claims hundreds of thousands of people do this every year - which is bullshit, but she 'didn't do it on purpose' so it's ok.

a minister of housing who actively opposed building plans in her city. And also who nobody takes seriously because she got kicked out of her old party for openly criticising their covid policies during lockdown. Comedians love her because she says stupid shit all the time that they can use to make fun of her.

the leader of the farmers party who can't do maths, won't let anyone run the numbers on her party's plans because it's "not important what things cost or how they'd be paid for"

So yeah - the country is going to shit!

[themswritinwords]

Past/Current/Next WIP Game

This looked way too fun, so I'm hopping on an open tag from @blind-the-winds. Gonna no-pressure tag @northernrosewritings, @hayatheauthor, and, of course, passing on the open tag! (That means you!)

Rules: past is a WIP you stopped working on/finished; current is a WIP you're currently working on; next is a WIP you want to write

Past

I was gonna go for Ethan Ellis, since it's the only one that's officially done in the sense of "in a publishable shape and currently being queried." But then I thought about my first love, Shadows of Flame.

It's post(-near)-apocalyptic high fantasy, wherein the King's right hand man, Ayris, is living a lie. For his own safety, of course, but a lie nonetheless. See, Ayris can do magic. If he'd been around 20 years ago, this would have made him one of the Irriman. Only around 20 years ago, one of the Irriman went off the deep end and tried to take over the known world. She nearly succeeded, too. After having murdered, subsumed, mind controlled, or otherwise squashed all opposing Irriman voices, stealing all their magic for her own in the process, she marched her army of unfailingly loyal supernatural freaks across the continent, steamrolling everyone and everything that wouldn't submit to her rule. An alliance between the three largest and strongest nations managed to stop her. By stop her, I mean kill her. Which is great news, unless you're Ayris. Because not only has he lived his whole life having to hide his powers for fear of getting murdered as a potential threat, it turns out it didn't work. She's back, and she's got her sights set on revenge-- and Ayris.

If we go back to the earliest iterations, I've been working on this one for 15 years. Of course, I don't want anyone going back to those earliest iterations, and I will start torching old notebooks to make sure that doesn't happen. But my point is that I have a special place in my heart for Ayris. I was working on this one in its current unfinished iteration when I had my child 4 years ago, but put it on hold just after covid lockdowns when I realized the pacing I'd had set out just wasn't working. There was more to it than that, but that was the biggest issue I couldn't seem to get past. So I shelved it. But you can't keep a good WIP down, so it'll soon be out of "past" and into "present," and I'm so excited! I've figured out what needs to change, I have a plan, and I even have most of an outline. (Amazing what 2 years on the shelf will do, eh?) But it's gonna have to wait, because....

Present

The Rockbridge Experiment. Urban fantasy meets Southern Gothic, with just enough "dude that's messed up" to toe the line of horror crossover.

Evan Grant is a detective. For now, anyway. She was pretty close to quitting altogether, especially when she got this assignment. Fae in the human district. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, as it turns out, and none of it in the way she expected. When she's paired up with a half-dwarf and a dying elf to solve a string of kidnappings and murders, Evan's whole belief system gets put to the test. The elf just so happens to be able to see the future, which might be handy if they weren't living in a world where magic was hunted to extinction several thousand years ago. Worse, those kidnappings and murders are starting to smell an awful lot like a drunken uncle's favorite dinner table conspiracy theory- that there's folk out there running horrible experiments to try and bring magic back. Evan and her new partners have to solve these cases quickly and quietly, or risk upsetting the delicate balance of human-Fae relations, quite possibly unpausing a particularly uneasy cold war. Add in an undead (maybe possessed) terrorist, the literal monsters in the shadows, and a millennia-old, quite-possibly-all-powerful baddie pulling strings they didn't even know existed, these kids are about to have one heck of a time.

"But wait!" I hear you cry. I thought that was one of the finished ones! And to that I say, "you're right! But I'm rewriting it!" Not editing, rewriting. Why? Because the first draft was, I kid you not, 365k words.

And yes, I may have had three separate alpha readers binge it in less than 3 days and come back asking where the sequel is, and yes, I spent a long time crying in the shower about how much I didn't want to change a dang thing because do you have any idea how long it takes to write 365000 words??? But as much as I love my slow-burn, takes-its-time, thoughtful-exploration-experience version, it's never getting published like this. Hard stop. It's just not. It took a lot of shower tears, but I've accepted that.

I've also learned a thing or two about the craft of storytelling since finishing it the first time, as well as over the course of finishing it the first time--- my writing style matured a lot from the front half to the back, and it unfortunately shows. So did my understanding of story structure, my characters, my own worldbuilding, etc. So I know now what's extraneous and where I want these characters to go, and I had just enough alpha reader feedback to know what landed the way I wanted it to and what didn't. I know what I need to do to make it as tight, coherent, and impactful as possible. So rewrites are underway, and we're not stopping til we've chopped this sucker at least in half! Which isn't to say it's gonna become a novella, not by any means. My best estimate right now is still sitting around 120k, but at least that's within the realm of "non-debut normal-ish" for the genre.

Future

I could cheat and say Shadows of Flame again, because I'm gonna start working on that one as soon as I get Rockbridge settled. But I like having two or three active non-editing WIPs at a time, so I'll also put in a plug for my next brainworm hyperfixation, which I'm currently calling "Fantasy Escort Mission, but with Babies, Goats, and Demons."

Okay, there's only one each of those, but our protagonist Ayla Severin, gets saddled with all three. She only knows about the baby and the goat, though, because the demon is bound to the baby's bodyguard. Why does the baby have a bodyguard, you ask? Because it's the infant prince of the neighboring kingdom. With whom Ayla's country is at war. Because a rebel faction framed Ayla's nation for the murders of the entire royal family. The baby, however, escaped (thanks, bodyguard!), and is living proof of the framing. If Ayla's team can get the prince back to the members of government who weren't part of the coup, they might be able to stop the war and bring the rebels to justice. Unfortunately, the only possible way they're getting across enemy lines without getting caught is through a wilderness so inhospitable that both countries gave it up as hopeless decades ago. That would be hard enough for an elite force of highly-skilled commando soldiers, but this is a baby we're talking about. An orphaned baby, and orphaned babies have to eat, so along comes the milking goat. And the demon? Well, it's certainly not going to be making things any easier, but just what it is up to is anyone's guess. Ayla gets to sort all of that out while also battling her own, less literal demons-- the grief of losing her little family, and the guilt that comes along with it.

So keep a look out in the next few months for early brainrot re: my many Plots, Schemes, and Homemade Blorbos, because I'm super excited about literally all of these!

[lonely-soul-02]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/noel-gallagher-interview-oasis-reunion-high-flying-birds-l02r389l

Noel Gallagher: ‘Oasis reunion? Liam hasn’t called, but I’m free the back end of 2024’

Aweek or so before Noel Gallagher meets me at his studio in King’s Cross, the Oasis reunion rumour mill went into overdrive. In March, Gallagher’s younger brother Liam wrote on Twitter of returning to his frontman duties: “It’s happening.” In a radio interview in May, the rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead’’ Arthurs said: “I’m ready.” Then came reports that Knebworth had been booked for four nights in 2025. So I begin our interview by asking Noel: “What’s happening?”

“Liam ain’t called,” the band’s 56-year-old leader, songwriter and guitarist says, sitting deep in a sofa, an unmoving, authoritative presence with cropped grey-black hair, wearing Levi’s. “I’m not expecting him to, because he’s full of shit and very disingenuous with his beloved Oasis fans. I say to him, ‘Get somebody to call somebody my end. Let’s see what you’ve got to say.’ Guess what? My phone has not twitched once.”

According to him, there is a simple reason why his problem child of a brother will not pick up the phone. “He knows for a fact that should someone call me, and I go, ‘You know what? F*** it. Let’s do it,’ then he has to actually stand in the same room as me. Then it will be, ‘All right, dickhead, how you doing? Before we go any further, there’s a few things I have to say to you.’ That’s when the arse will fall out of his trousers.”

On top of that unhygienic scenario, an Oasis reunion would have to be off the scale in brilliance to not be a massive let-down. The end came in April 2009 when Liam threw a plum — and then, more dangerously, a guitar — at his brother before a concert in Paris, and that was 14 years ago.

“If it’s going to happen, Liam has to pull it off. It’s got to be the best it has ever been. But he’s one of these guys and they’re ten a penny, particularly up in Manchester, the bully, who when you put it on ’em and say, ‘Come on then, let’s see what you’ve got,’ start doing a lot of harrumphing.

“Liam is like a violent version of Arthur Fonzarelli. So I’ll say it again: I’m free, back end of 2024. He could even video himself calling me. That would be good for his little f***ing Twitter feed. But since then he’s gone quiet. Funny, innit?”

All of this feels particularly relevant because the new album by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is the older, wiser, sadder cousin of Oasis’s world-changing 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe. Council Skies has a reflective mood that draws not just on memories of Gallagher’s childhood in northern Manchester, but also his situation as a multimillionaire rock star dealing, for the first time in his adult life, with things going very wrong indeed.

There has been a divorce, health issues, and the psychological aftermath of a global pandemic and ensuing lockdown. Perhaps that’s why a handful of the songs, Dead to the World and I’m Not Giving Up Tonight in particular, have that hymnal, bittersweet quality of the Oasis classics Live Forever and Don’t Look Back in Anger. Oasis meant so much to people because they offered defiance against the everyday grind. Council Skies harks back to that feeling.

“I always thought there had to be a price to pay for happiness,” Gallagher says of his situation. “I’ve had over 20 years of absolutely no turbulence in my life whatsoever and I kept thinking, ‘It cannot be this great, all the time, until it comes to the end and I go, may as well die now and end up in Heaven.’ It turns out I was right. Luckily, as an artist you get to write about it.”

Dead to the World is one of those songs that Gallagher has a special knack for, which don’t do anything hugely different from what has gone before yet capture a universal feeling in a signature melancholic, soaring fashion. You wonder if the best material comes out of the most difficult times in his life.

“For sure, and right now it is the most uncertain time I’ve ever had,” he says. “It seems I peaked in my forties, because the moment I hit 50 it’s been one thing after another: personal issues, health issues, the city we love [London] going down the toilet. Definitely Maybe was born out of anxiety, thinking, this is the one shot we’ve got, we can’t f*** it up. There’s something similar here. Uncertainty is at the heart of it.”

Oasis took that uncertainty and made people feel, for one small moment, like they really might live for ever. “People will never forget the way you made them feel. I’ll never forget how the La’s or the Stone Roses made me feel. You can’t go back to 1995 because things cannot be the same — parents grow old, your cat dies, things rust — but the feeling remains and there is something beautiful in that. That’s why Dead to the World is up there with Live Forever. It’s just a different version of it.”

Gallagher grew up, by his own description, as a loner, estranged from his frequently violent father, Tommy, after his Irish parents’ divorce and taking solace in his bedroom in the Manchester suburb of Burnage, where he taught himself guitar and learnt to write songs by listening to the Beatles, Slade and T. Rex. While Liam was busy being the good-looking lad about town, the carefree kid who never second-guessed himself, Noel worked on an escape route via rock’n’roll.

“I didn’t invent anything,” he confesses. “I had good taste in music, a cool record collection, I could write a melody simple enough to make it work and it was 50 per cent inspiration and 50 per cent copying. It was a Tuesday night, raining, when I went into the rehearsal room and said, ‘I’ve just written the greatest tune of all time.’ We started Cigarettes & Alcohol and Bonehead went, ‘You can’t get away with that.’ ”

Bonehead was referring to the fact that Cigarettes & Alcohol is essentially Get It On by T. Rex after a trip to the off-licence, of which Gallagher says: “It’s not like I was expecting nobody to notice.” The genius of the song was in its celebration of working-class hedonism; the idea that you may as well live for the moment in the absence of any deeper meaning or nobler purpose. “That’s why Oasis were the modern-day Slade. They didn’t give a f*** either.”

Oasis’s take-no-prisoners assault targeted a few victims along the way, the most frequent being Phil Collins. What did Gallagher have against the balding king of 1980s smooth pop? “He kept the Jam off No 1 with You Can’t Hurry Love,” he reveals.

“I thought, ‘Once I get there, I’m not going to let him get away with that.’ The best thing about the Phil Collins thing is that Liam got accosted by his children one day because they thought he was me. They had a pop at him, saying, ‘Why are you always having a fing go at our dad?’ When I heard about it I thought, ‘I really hope someone filmed it.’ Anyway, f Liam. And f*** Phil Collins and all.”

As for Oasis becoming the biggest guitar band since the Beatles, Gallagher thinks it was down to a lack of artifice. “Oasis had a laddish, yobbo image, built in the image of the singer, but look at footage of Knebworth [two nights, 1996, two and a half million ticket applications] and you’ll see loads of girls down the front.

“Melodically it spoke to the masses, lyrically it spoke to people our age, and everyone looked at Bonehead and went, ‘If he can do it, any f***er can.’ My guitar rig at Knebworth was a piece of plywood, an on-off switch, and a tuner. It keeps going now because kids recognise the real deal. Oasis will never make another record, but if we put a tour on sale it would destroy everything.”

It makes you wonder if a band like Oasis, who summed up both the meritocratic possibilities of the New Labour 1990s and the black-humoured cynicism of Britpop, could happen today. Gallagher is adamant they could not.

“We would be killed before we even started,” he says with a sigh. “What made Oasis great was that we were moody c***s, a bit wild, and back then labels were run by amazing characters like Alan McGee of Creation and Jeff Barrett of Heavenly who loved the chaos.

“On the ferry to Amsterdam, when everyone got nicked [1994, first European tour, too much champagne and Jack Daniels, fights break out, Liam Gallagher goes on a Benny Hill-like rampage through the casino] I called McGee to tell him what happened and he went, ‘Brilliant.’ Nowadays, the label would wait to see what the public perception was before throwing you under the bus. And the word ‘career’ was never mentioned once. You were in a band. That was enough. And we could pull it off when we went on stage.”

Not always, though: In 1994 Oasis played the legendary Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, shortly after taking what they thought was cocaine but which turned out to be crystal meth. It resulted in the band members playing different songs at the same time before attacking each other. “Ringo Starr was there that night,” Gallagher remembers. “He walked out. One of the Beatles comes to see the new Beatles — and it’s shit.”

Gallagher thinks the music industry no longer has faith in itself, with labels monitoring how well an artist is doing with the public on TikTok and YouTube before taking a punt. “Can you imagine going up to someone in 1993, when [jokey indie duo] Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were smashing it, and saying, ‘Got this idea for a band. Couple of gobshite brothers from Manchester, bang into cocaine, lager and shagging birds, ripping off the Beatles and T. Rex.’ ‘Oh no, thank you. I’d rather have Fruitbat and Dickhead from Carter, jumping about in shorts.’ Don’t focus-group anything! People are stupid! That’s how we ended up with Brexit. Now they will usher in AI. There is no hope for the world.”

How could we not mention AIsis, a virtual band with a “lost” Oasis album, conceived by some thirtysomething musicians who took Noel’s tunes and Liam’s elongation of the word “sunshiiiine” and got artificial intelligence to do its stuff? Needless to say, it hasn’t gone down well with the real-life human at the heart of it all.

“AI: made by robots, listened to by shitheads,” he summarises, before saying in comically pathetic tones: “ ‘Have you heard Ringo Starr singing She’s Electric?’ You’re all f***ing idiots! AI did a cover of Morning Glory and it sounded like shit indie music to me, but I can guarantee you the record companies are already buying up the technology.

“The label doesn’t want the artists to write the songs because they want to employ songwriters. Now the songwriters will be out of business because they’ll employ a robot to do it. You know what? I’m 55 and I don’t give a f***. AI is not going to put me out of the game. It is just going to make your life a little bit shitter.”

Whether Oasis or AIsis will be the first to fill the public’s desire for that much-talked-of reunion, Gallagher has the sanctity of his studio, the reassurance that his children, Anais, 22, Donovan, 15, and Sonny, 12, share his opinion on modern music (“The 1975 wear a guitar and get voted best rock band at the Brits. I’m going to the kids, ‘Is it me or is this shit?’ And they’re going, ‘Dad, it’s f***ing awful’ ”) and the creative satisfaction of making the best solo album of his career. Easy Now, a lonely ballad about strangers passing on the way to work and wondering about each other’s lives, has a mix of grandeur, hope and longing similar to the Oasis favourite The Masterplan.

“I can already picture a sea of lads in Scotland with their tops off, having it to Easy Now,” Gallagher says. “Usually, when a song starts sounding like Oasis I’ll go, ‘This is just a shit version of Supersonic.’ Now I’ve written a song that is a bit Oasisy but it is actually up there with them.”

Gallagher sounds like he has made his peace with Oasis, having made a solo album that doesn’t shy away from the quality that made people fall in love with his old band in the first place. Now he just needs to make peace with Liam and the next chapter in the Gallagher saga will begin.

“A new generation recognises how Oasis wasn’t manufactured,” Gallagher concludes, before heading off because Manchester City have a Premier League game. “It was chaotic, and flawed, and not technically brilliant. Blur did it all with a nod and a wink, but we were rough and ready guys from a rehearsal room and people recognised it. If we did go out and tour again, playing not just to blokes in their fifties but to the kids . . . We’d blow their f***ing minds.”

Interview behind a paywall. Anon, thank you SO much for sharing the content of the interivew.

Noel really wants to fend off any divorce claims on an Oasis reunion, or he really wants to see Liam lose it on Twitter again.

*sigh* Here we go. Isolated quotes:

“Liam ain’t called."

“I’m not expecting him to, because he’s full of shit and very disingenuous with his beloved Oasis fans. I say to him, ‘Get somebody to call somebody my end. Let’s see what you’ve got to say.’ Guess what? My phone has not twitched once.”

“He knows for a fact that should someone call me, and I go, ‘You know what? F*** it. Let’s do it,’ then he has to actually stand in the same room as me. Then it will be, ‘All right, dickhead, how you doing? Before we go any further, there’s a few things I have to say to you.’ That’s when the arse will fall out of his trousers.”

“If it’s going to happen, Liam has to pull it off. It’s got to be the best it has ever been. But he’s one of these guys and they’re ten a penny, particularly up in Manchester, the bully, who when you put it on ’em and say, ‘Come on then, let’s see what you’ve got,’ start doing a lot of harrumphing.

“Liam is like a violent version of Arthur Fonzarelli. So I’ll say it again: I’m free, back end of 2024. He could even video himself calling me. That would be good for his little f***ing Twitter feed. But since then he’s gone quiet. Funny, innit?”

"Anyway, f Liam. And f*** Phil Collins and all."

And finally we get to the core of it all:

“I always thought there had to be a price to pay for happiness...”

Fic writers are going to have a field day with that last one.

With my Oasis conspiracy theory hat off, It certainly does seem as if Noel is deliberately sabotaging any chance of reconciliation. But then he might say Liam did the sabotaging with his uncomplimentary tweets that began with the 'meet him or fuck him off' tweet that came from out of the blue, kickstarting the media spat.

He's using the strongest language to date in this interview, but he's also contradicting himself as usual. Liam is apparently a violent bully but he is also afraid of standing in the same room as Noel.

I also sense a lot of projection. The implication that Liam would somehow not be match fit, or not be able to 'pull off' an Oasis reunion is completely laughable when he's pulled off two nights at Knebworth on his own. This is all Noel's insecurity. Noel is afraid of not being able to pull it off. Because Noel would have to pick up his guitar, assume his old role and solo again. Over the years, he has become self-conscious about his guitar playing. He said that he left behind his ability to play guitar solos in Paris the night of the fight. It wouldn't matter that the songs are old and all he has to do is rehearse them. Noel is afraid of not measuring up. Noel is the one afraid to stand in the same room as Liam.

To be honest, I think they'd both be afraid of meeting each other and that's entirely normal. After 14 years, of course they'd be apprehensive, anyone would be. This is why I wish there were a mutual friend of both, who loves them both equally, and has both their best interests at heart to help them through a reconciliation process. Debbie has said it's not her place to intervene, but that's a hard disagree from me. If people continue to leave them to their own devices instead of trying to support them, the estrangement and conflict will drag on.

Update:

Not taking any bait today, good on you Liam!

[oliverfinalmajorproject]

Final Major Project - Thoughts 16

Protest Songs

Among social movements that have an associated body of songs are the abolition movement, prohibition, women's suffrage, the labour movement, the human rights movement, civil rights, the Native American rights movement, the Jewish rights movement, disability rights, the anti-war movement and 1960s counterculture, art repatriation, opposition towards blood diamonds, abortion rights, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, the LGBT rights movement, animal rights movement, vegetarianism and veganism, gun rights, legalisation of marijuana and environmentalism.

Martin Luther King Jr. described the freedom songs this way: "They invigorate the movement in a most significant way... these freedom songs serve to give unity to a movement."

EXAMPLE IN EAST-ASIA

China

Chinese-Korean Cui Jian's 1986 song "Nothing to My Name" was popular with protesters in Tiananmen Square.

Chinese singer Li Zhi made references to the Tiananmen Square massacre in his songs and were subsequently banned from China in 2019. Three years later, during the anti-lockdown protests in China, this was used as a protest song across YouTube.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong rock band Beyond's "Boundless Oceans Vast Skies" (1993) and "Glory Days" (光輝歲月) (1990) have been considered as protest anthems in various social movements.

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Les Misérables' "Do You Hear The People Sing" (1980) and Thomas dgx yhl's "Glory to Hong Kong" (2019) were sung in support of the movement. The latter has been widely adopted as the anthem of these protests, with some even regarding it as the "national anthem of Hong Kong".

Philippines

From the revolutionary songs of the Katipunan to the songs being sung by the New People's Army, Filipino protest music deals with poverty, oppression as well as anti-imperialism and independence. A typical example was during the American era, as Jose Corazon de Jesus created a well-known protest song entitled "Bayan Ko", which calls for redeeming the nation against oppression, mainly colonialism, and also became popular as a song against the Marcos regime.

During the 1960s, Filipino protest music became aligned with the ideas of Communism as well as of revolution. The protest song "Ang Linyang Masa" came from Mao Zedong and his Mass Line and "Papuri sa Pag-aaral" was from Bertolt Brecht. These songs, although Filipinized, rose to become another part of Filipino protest music known as Revolutionary songs that became popular during protests and campaign struggles.

South Korea

See also: Music of South Korea and Korean protest songs

Commonly, protest songs in South Korea are known as Minjung Gayo (Korean: 민중 가요, literally "People's song"), and the genre of protest songs is called "Norae Undong", translating to the literal meaning "song movement". The starting point of Korean protest songs was the music culture of Korean students movements around 1970.[66] It was common in the 1970s~1980s, especially before and after of the June Democracy Movement in 1987, and associated with against the military governments of presidents Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo Hwan reflecting the will of crowd and voices of criticism of the day. From the middle of the 1990s, following the democratisation of South Korea, Korean protest songs have lost their popularity.

Taiwan

"Island's Sunrise" (Chinese: 島嶼天光) is the theme song of 2014 Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan. Also, the theme song of Lan Ling Wang TV drama series Into The Array Song (Chinese: 入陣曲), sung by Mayday, expressed all the social and political controversies during Taiwan under the president Ma Ying-jeou administration.

Thailand

See also: Phleng phuea chiwit

In Thailand, protest songs are known as Phleng phuea chiwit  ("songs for life"), a music genre that originated in the '70s, by famous artists such as Caravan, Carabao, Pongthep Kradonchamnan and Pongsit Kamphee.

[naddpod-arc-tournament]

Hexbloods

Episodes: Hexblood, The Would Be King, Killshot, The Prophet Gideon, Cindersworn, The Petty King of Outerborough

Oops all monks! We meet our new new heroes the Hexbuds: illeist kensei Jabari Hightower, motivational speaker Corbeau “The Crow” Babineaux, and plant enthusiast Tarragon Snakeroot. The three warriors come out of retirement, get embroiled in the ongoing power struggle for the Petty Kingship of Outerborough, and learn some truths about their mom.

Highlights:

Improvised sneak mission, featuring Jabari’s extreme overkill and the side flap maneuver

Intro chaos continues. Acrostics, songs, “Hey there, centaurs–”

Entering the grove and meeting Glada the frost giant

“It’s not about speechin’, it’s about listening, and talking– and you know, when you speak, people listen, but when you stop listening, that’s when they really start to understand, you know what I mean?” “No.”

“Can I put my croc on his chest, so he can’t sit up?” “……Your croc?”

West Precinct

Episodes: Flesh and Blood, Too Late, Broken Bonds, Lockdown, Sirenloch

The Third Mates resurface into the politics of West Precinct. Two family reunions go awry, and the trio uncover a conspiracy, infiltrate a compound, face some unexpected enemies, and fight to protect the people of Sirenloch from horrors.

Highlights:

Fia animates Spoony for the first time

Zirk confronts Stella– “When will it be enough?!”

Split party fight with Moxora and Cain, Fia saves Zirk from the edge of death and Bukvar is lost

Hank’s jean jacket, aka the worst Nat 20 in the history of the podcast

From google form submission: “Hank Jr and Henry interactions in ep 28 “Lockdown” and ep 29 Sirenloch” (Ed. note: I found the texts I sent to a naddpole friend when first listening and my heart is hurting again: “I’m having emotions about hank hogfish jr– this is the second time he’s seen hank sr and both times murph describes that he feels immediately relieved and safe now that his dad is here, before remembering how hurt and mad he is”)

[mirandamckenni1]

CASEY CALVERT: Tiger King Parody, Imposter Syndrome, & BDSM | The ADULT TIME Podcast With Bree Mills In this episode, host Bree Mills chats with longtime friend and Adult Time Ambassador Casey Calvert! First introduced to the world of adult entertainment through a university lecture, Casey discusses her namesake professor and her transition from fetish model to award winning actress, writer, and director. Casey and Bree relive their early memories of meeting in the industry, Casey’s early Adult Time projects as an actress, before discussing Casey’s foray into directing for Adult Time’s studio GIRLSWAY. From directing 'Cougar Queen: A Tiger King Parody,' the complications of sexting, and THAT infamous custom video, tune in to hear Casey and Bree talk full-circle moments, keeping track of your bodycount, and SO MUCH MORE! ABOUT ADULT TIME: Adult Time is a digital subscription platform for a new era of adult entertainment. We are a brand built by people who believe in a future where mature audiences can safely, securely, and proudly have a place in their lineup for premium adult content. In addition to our addictive programming, Adult Time is dedicated to creating a personalized content experience for all our viewers with 400+ channels, 60,000 episodes, and VR and interactive toy integration. THE ADULT TIME PODCAST: Casey Calvert: https://ift.tt/t13pz67 Bree Mills: https://ift.tt/fD9G02v Podcast Website: https://ift.tt/dI5CJFl Apple Podcasts: https://ift.tt/EDkhnQa Spotify: https://ift.tt/zGQc4S3 More Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrl2wwrIXahpSfP2VOPQ79aH9F7Xa_cPl YouTube Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/@AdultTimeHQ/shorts TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:34) First Meeting Memories (00:55) First Work Experience (03:37) Character Dynamics (04:12) Industry Inspiration (06:01) Casey's Journey into the Industry (08:18) First Encounter with Porn (10:27) AD BREAK: SPUN | A Girlsway Original Film (11:27) Media Influence on Sexuality (12:30) Learning About Sexuality (13:17) Contact with Professor (14:26) Early Set Experiences (15:45) Transition from Performer to Director (18:07) Spiegel's Influence (19:09) The Wise Old Sage of Porn (20:34) Transitioning Roles (21:41) Lessons Learned in Directing (23:09) Biggest Lessons in the Industry (24:34) Value of Performer Perspective (26:00) AD BREAK: THE BOTTOM FLOOR | An Adult Time Original Film (26:40) Adrenaline of Winning (28:02) Impact of Awards on Imposter Syndrome (30:28) Unique Custom Requests (31:27) The Stamp Collection Custom (32:35) The Heart of Custom Work (33:36) Current Custom Work (34:43) AD BREAK: Home Sweet Home | A PURE TABOO Original Film (36:03) Returning to Girls Way (36:58) SPUN Feature Film (38:42) Cougar Queen and Directing via Zoom (40:04) Creative Adaptation During Lockdown (40:33) Shooting Remote Projects (41:05) Fan Reactions to Remote Content (41:31) Challenges of Remote Filming (42:10) Adventures in the Studio (42:52) Industry Misconceptions (43:34) RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS (44:20) Preferences in Relationships (44:50) Sexting vs. Phone Sex (45:26) Imposter Syndrome in Sexting (47:35) Role Play Scenarios (48:02) Tracking Sexual Encounters (49:31) Monthly Reconciliation Process (49:50) Identifying Frequent Collaborators (51:02) Closing Thoughts on Casey's Journey SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/@AdultTimeHQ?sub_confirmation=1 #adulttime #streaming #movies #tv #entertainment #tvshows #film #shortfilm #caseycalvert #lesbianfilm #podcast #adultpodcast via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCLl1KZQdcg

[jtl-fics]

New Kings, most amazing writer? Happy New Year!

1/1/25 WIP Wednesday (CLOSED) | New Kings AU

Well too bad for Allison, he’s not a natural blonde, just a bottle one. 

He grabs his phone and makes a call to the only authority that matters in the desolate wasteland that is the Palmetto Tower. 

“Seth, dude what’s up?” Reggie the RA of their floor greets and Seth can hear that he’s already enjoying a buzz.

“Dude, I need you to get me out of my dorm. My team has barricaded me in.” Seth explains.

“Wait…what? Why would they do that?” Reggie asks but Seth can hear him shuffling about, likely pulling on pants for the first time today.

Check out this week's options: HERE

[bystreetlight]

Apparently it's the 21st of December so I better do this!!

1. What did you do in 2023 that you hadn’t done before? Went to a therapist, went to a Grand Final at the MCG, participated in the inaguration of a Governor and the swearing-in of a Premier…

2. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not this year!

3. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.

4. Did you travel? Where did you go? Best holiday memory? Went to Mildura twice (in March and December) and had THREE actual HOLIDAYS (to Brisbane in May, King Valley in September and Adelaide in October). Best holiday memory was the amazing vibes in Brisbane, a city I've always treated with disdain but turns out it's actually quite cool and I enjoyed it thoroughly?!?!? And seeing Chromeo in Adelaide.

5. Best thing you bought? Even though we "bought" it in 2022 we only got our new car in May and that was definitely the highlight of the year 🚗

6. Where did most of your money go? Savings? Mortgage repayments? When our hot water service died and we had to replace it? Far out when did I get so fucking old 😭

7. What do you wish you had done more of? I feel like I got the balance right in a lot of areas this year so I can't really think of anything!

8. What do you wish you had done less of? Stressing about rain and bad weather THANKS PTSD!!!!

9. What kept you sane? Having a job that I enjoy and an awesome team! I had to spend a lot of time back in the office this year and that made it a lot easier!!

10. What drove you mad? When Finland got robbed at Eurovision. When the Premier resigned during Grand Final week and I had to work my tits off instead of enjoying the week. When our car kept taking longer and longer to get delivered.

11. What made you celebrate? Seeing Collingwood win a Grand Final IN PERSON! The Matildas amazing run at the Women's World Cup!

12. What made you sad? Andre Braugher dying, the genocide in Gaza, the Yes referendum failing so fucking miserably, Rafa missing the entire year through injury.

13. How was your birthday this year and how old did you turn? It was a Wednesday so I worked from home and no one in my new team knew it was my birthday and I didn't say anything so it was very uneventful! Went and saw &Juliet that weekend which was fabulous! I turned 39.

14. What political issue stirred you the most this year? Probably the referendum. Best not to think about it.

15. What was the best meal you ate in 2023? The sandwiches from Sardinas are genuinely the best sandwiches I've ever eaten in my life.

16. What would you like to have in 2024 that you didn’t have this year? I would love to leave the country but if that's the only thing I can think of it seems very self-indulgent, especially in this economy!!!

17. What date(s) from 2023 will be etched in your memory and why? 5-8 May - went to Brisbane for MAGIC ROUND and it was truly a life-changing experience.

18. What song will remind you of 2023? Dance the Night - Dua Lipa.

19. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I think so! My resolution was to look after myself after forming some bad habits during the Lockdown Years™. I got back into pilates and have been pretty good with exercising and eating well and keeping on top of all my boring health responsibilities! I also wanted to do an insta post each month and to read more books and I achieved both of those! Next year I think I'm going to make a fun resolution. I want to take more photos or do something creative on the regular.

20. Did you suffer illness or injury? I developed eustachian tube dysfunction after an ear infection, which has not gone away and FUCKING SUCKS. Otherwise I think I've kept pretty well this year. And I've managed to avoid getting c*vid again which is a miracle.

21. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? A bit happier, mainly because this time last year we had no car and we'd just been robbed hahahaha. ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner, although as every year that I fill this thing in goes by I feel like it's less about being thin and more about just being fit and healthy! iii. richer or poorer? Richer? Marginally?

22. How will you be spending Christmas? I have 10 days off over Christmas/New Year, which I was "strongly recommended" to take as I have "excess leave" lol. Christmas Day at the in-laws as per usual, then maybe a day at the cricket, maybe a beach trip or two, and hopefully some sleeping past 7am?!?!

23. What was your favourite movie? PAST LIVES. My god. As someone who often drifts off into nostalgia and 'what-ifs' and thinking about people I cared about in my younger years this movie floored me.

24. What was your favourite TV program? The final season of Succession DESTROYED me. I still think about it on an almost daily basis which is probably unhealthy 😂. Also loved The Last of Us, S2 of The Bear, the final season of Reservation Dogs, The Newsreader, Alone Australia, Beef until everyone in it got cancelled…and I just started Yellowjackets (late to the party) and I'm obsessed with it!!

25. What was the best book you read? Crossing the Line by Nick McKenzie. And I'm about halfway through Still Life by Sarah Winman which I am LOVING.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? I feel like I flogged some old favourites this year (hello Chromeo as my top artist on Spotify Wrapped hahaha), rather than getting into anyone new...

27. What did you want and get? A holiday! THANK CHRIST! And for my period to stop after having a Mirena put in late last year 🥳🥳🥳

28. What did you want and not get? To recover properly from a traumatic experience that has left me sometimes crippled with anxiety. I suppose there's always next year hahahahah.

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023? I genuinely tried not to spend too much on clothes this year but I had to step up my work outfit game for my new job which was sort of annoying? I don't really know what my 'concept' was though…trying not to get sucked in to 90s trends that I lived through the first time that didn't warrant a second go?

30. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny together on SNL, Arian Moayed until he came out as an Isr*el apologist, several NRL footballers that I'm not inclined to admit to publicly…

31. Biggest achievement this year? Not killing myself when we had to wait 7 months for our car and had to walk and get the bus everywhere and it truly sucked my will to live.

32. Biggest disappointment this year? When our amazing lawnmowing man closed his business and we had to try and find a new person and it's been a fucking nightmare!!!!

33. What is the one thing that would have made you more satisfied? If Tim and Dale had got together on The Newsreader. I'm going to say that every year until I'm dead.

34. Best new person you met this year? The kookaburras that live in the park next to work don't really count but I'm putting them anyway. And Boyd Cordner.

35. A valuable life lesson you learnt this year? They say a change is as good as a holiday but actually a holiday is the only thing as good as a holiday.

[kickmag]

Jalen Ngonda Announces Debut Album & Drops Video For Come Around And Love Me

Jalen Ngonda starts summer with the '60s soul-styled single "Come Around And Love Me" from his forthcoming debut album. The Daptone Records artist released the video today vide that he stars in with his guitar. The Marvin Gaye influence is a warm throwback feeling that Ngonda confidently brings into the 21st century. He describes the tune in a press statement: 

"It was written in late 2021 as soon as it was possible to fly to the USA after lockdown I jumped on a plane and we got to work! The song is about taking a chance in spite of the surrounding doubts.”

The DC native who makes London his home, recorded "Come Around And Love Me" in Brooklyn with producers and arrangers Mike Buckley and Vincent Chiarito of Charles Bradley's Extraordinaires. Ngonda's proudly claims his love of Motown and classic soul and those sounds will be on his debut. The album is also named Come Around And Love Me and has a release date of September 8th. He is going on a tour of some European cities this summer more than 20 North American cities in the fall. Tickets are available for both tours.

   Tour Dates

09/05 - Asheville, NC @ Grey /Eagle

09/06 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West

09/07 - Durham, NC @ Motorco

09/08 - Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern

09/11 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair

09/12 - Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy

09/14 - Baltimore, MD @ 8x10

09/15 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat

09/16 - New York, NY @ Racket

09/18 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe

09/19 - Detroit, MI @ El Club

09/21 - Evanston, IL @ SPACE

09/24 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line

09/27 - Denver, CO @ Globe Hall

09/28 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre

09/30 - Ft. Collins, CO @ The Armory

10/01 - Salt Lake City, UT @ State Room

10/03 - Boise, ID @ The Olympic

10/05 - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou's

10/06 - Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre

10/07 - Portland, OR @ The Jack London Revue

10/09 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel

10/10 - Sacramento, CA @ Starlet Room

10/11 - San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Brew

10/14 - Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers

10/15 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah

10/16 - Phoenix, AZ @ Last Exit

10/18 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Arts Collective 

10/19 - Austin, TX @ Empire Garage Control Room

10/20 - Houston, TX @ Axlerad

10/22 - Nashville, TN @ Basement East

11/01 - Glasgow, SCT @ King Tut’s

11/02 - Liverpool, UK @ Jimmy's

11/04 - Birmingham, UK @ O Institutes

11/06 - Bristol, UK @ Exchange

11/07 - London, UK @ Jazz Cafe

11/08 - Rotterdam, NL @ Bird

11/09 - Paris, FR @ Cafe De La Danse

[xaveria]

I am so fascinated with the throuple thing how did that happen if you feel up to talking about it if not i totally understand. The guys are dating each other too? How do the dynamics work?

haha no worries i used to be really curious about this sort of thing before it happened to me!

so, i have been married to my husband danny for quite some time (coming up on our six year anniversary yay!) and together we are working on a series of scifi novels called neokosmos. i bring this up because of course neokosmos is involved in this story sdfjhsdf

so one day in early 2020 (yeah, during covid lockdowns, what better time) a guy shows up in the neokosmos discord! his name is brian and he is 30, which we are really excited about because a lot of the people in our community are in their early 20s and danny and i were in our late twenties at the time (i'm 30 now) so we were very interested in making a friend our age! he's an awesome writer and he had amazing takes on our characters and story and so naturally i was like okay i can't let this just be a fan relationship i need to befriend this guy outside of the server! next thing you know he is writing for us, because i can never shut up about neokosmos and he is just as obsessed with it as i am.

hilariously, when we first started writing together and getting close we made a pact to "WHATEVER WE DO, DON'T FALL IN LOVE..." which... in retrospect, is exactly what you should say to someone if you want them to fall in love with you. whoops!

the three of us ended up talking every day, playing minecraft together, and chatting on discord all the time. and when we pushed our minecraft beds together... we knew something was there...

danny and i already knew we were both polyamorous so this wasn't really like a shocking revelation that we would develop feelings for someone. then one day we got the fateful BRIAN CONFESSION LETTER, he confessed fully expecting that he would be rejected and we surprised him by being like YEAH WE ARE DOWN and the three of us quickly became a triad!

so yeah, all three of us are mutually dating each other. it started off as like, married couple with a mutual boyfriend sorta deal but obviously each combo of us has our own sort of dynamics and relationship with each other. personally i get so much joy out of seeing my two partners love each other and i know danny and brian feel the same way about our various pairings.

and it all just works! being with brian has made our lives so much better and living together has been a dream. because the relationship between danny and i was already so strong it was very easy to adapt to this new dynamic and the three of us are all extremely happy now.

and if you're wondering, we have a big king sized bed we CAN all sleep in, but brian prefers to sleep in his own room so sleeping arrangements are pretty easy hahaha.

i hope that answers your question! i'm happy to answer anything else about being in a triad. it's not something we were like actively seeking out it just kind of happened! life is crazy.

[themedicalstate]

A Year Like No Other

1. Brooklyn, N.Y., April 20 Bodies were stacked in a refrigerated trailer at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. More than 20,000 New Yorkers died in the spring surge of coronavirus infections. Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

2. Queens, N.Y., April 1 Paramedics worked to resuscitate a coronavirus patient at a hospital. The borough emerged as the center of New York City’s raging outbreak. Philip Montgomery for The New York Times

3. Washington, Oct. 24 Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg set up over 220,000 white flags as part of an art installation outside the D.C. Armory to represent the nation’s death toll from the coronavirus at the time. Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

4. Houston, July 15 A coronavirus patient on a ventilator at Houston Methodist Hospital. During the summer surge, the hospital created new virus wards, hired traveling nurses, and ramped up testing efforts. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

5. Mexico City, June 24 Workers burned the coffins of Covid-19 victims after their bodies had been cremated. Mexico had one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the world. Marco Ugarte/Associated Press

6. Wantagh, N.Y., May 24 Olivia Grant hugged her grandmother, Mary Grace Sileo, through a plastic drop cloth hung on a clothesline. It was their first contact since the start of the lockdown caused by the pandemic. Al Bello/Getty Images

7. Manaus, Brazil, May 25 Rows of newly dug graves at a cemetery in Manaus, the Brazilian Amazon’s biggest city, where at one point every Covid-19 ward was full and 100 people a day were dying. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

8. Manhasset, N.Y., April 19 Eliana Marcela Rendón was comforted by her husband, Edilson Valencia, as her grandmother, Carmen Evelia Toro, 74, lost her battle against Covid-19 at a hospital on Long Island. Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

9. Newark, Del., April 30 A nurse took a moment in a massage chair in an “oasis” room at Christiana Hospital, set up to give stressed medical workers a breather. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

10. Coventry, England, Dec. 8 Medical workers cheered for Margaret Keenan, 90, after she became the first person in Britain to receive the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. “I feel so privileged,” she said. Pool photo by Jacob King