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govindhtech · 9 months ago

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Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2: A Powerhouse Mobile Workstation

Lenovo Thinkpad P16

With the addition of the newest Intel Core Ultra processors, an 8 GB RTX 3000 Ada Generation workstation GPU, and a 400-nit display option, Lenovo has updated the ThinkPad P16. The rest of the laptop, however, is essentially the same as the model from the previous year, save from some noteworthy internal upgrades.

With Intel Raptor Lake vPro CPUs, up to an RTX A2000 GPU, and a 16-inch 800-nit WQUXGA panel, Lenovo first unveiled the ThinkPad P16 last year. Lenovo is bringing a few significant upgrades this year while maintaining the same chassis.

Thinkpad P16 gen 2

First off, an RTX 3000 Ada Generation GPU and an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU are the maximum configurations available for the ThinkPad P16 i Gen 2. The Raptor Lake Core i9 processors that the Core Ultra 9 185H is replacing don’t perform any better, but the CPU does have a faster NPU, a far more capable iGPU, and increased efficiency. The RTX 3000 Ada Generation GPU, which has 20 TFLOPs of computing power compared to the RTX 2000 Ada’s 14.5 TFLOPs, will, however, deliver the significant performance boost. This board is located in the high-end ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 SKU (Get it now on Amazon).

The ThinkPad P16 G2 also boasts 4 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage with two 2 TB drives running in RAID 0/1 and up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory.

Next up, the 400-nit, 100% sRGB display option is a new addition to the Gen 2 ThinkPad P16 lineup of products. A 400-nit 100% sRGB option with an FHD+ resolution, an 800-nit UHD+ panel with 100% DCI-P3 coverage, and two FHD+ panels with 300-nit 45% NTSC alternatives with and without touch input are now available to users.

The ThinkPad P16 G2 is nearly identical to the previous generation model, with the same chassis, port selection, 90 Wh battery size, 65.00 x 262.00 x 24.66 mm dimensions, and 2.22 kg (4.9 lbs) starting weight, save from these changes and the removal of the red strip at the back.

Lenovo Thinkpad P16 gen 2

A powerful mobile desktop and workstation combined into one

Processors from the Intel Core HX Series with Intel vPro options

Allows for separate graphics with NVIDIA RTX

Fast memory and storage, together with excellent WiFi possibilities

Stunning display options, such as OLED touchscreen

renowned MIL-SPEC dependability, ThinkShield security, and ISV certification

Made without the use of plastic and with recycled materials

Features of Intel 16-inch ThinkPad P16 Gen 2

Incredibly strong and completely portable

The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 is a powerful mobile workstation and desktop combined, designed for today’s professional on-the-go. It has a special daughterboard that supports NVIDIA RTX discrete graphics and is powered by the newest 14th Gen Intel Core HX-Series CPUs or the Intel vPro Platform with 13th Gen Intel Core HX-processors. Additionally, it offers an Ultra Performance Mode to quickly complete the most resThinkPad P16 Gen 2ce-intensive activities and a dual vapour chamber for enhanced cooling.

Set it up how you like

The ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (16′′ Intel) offers lightning-fast memory and high-performance storage for users who require more power. This transportable workstation has 230W of power supply support, so it can be set up to suit any requirement. Additionally, it features numerous connections for all of your devices and a variety of wireless options to provide you with the best possible connectivity no matter where your job takes you.

The details are everything

With its complete numeric keypad and illuminated, spill-resistant keyboard, the ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (16′′ Intel) makes typing and number crunching safer and easier from anyplace. It also includes Dolby Voice and Atmos, which provide excellent audio. An OLED touchscreen display option is available for more precision. Its wide aspect ratio provides more screen real estate for the money, and it supports stylus pens (separately offered). Additionally, the human presence recognition feature of the optional FHD Hybrid IR camera will notify you of any possible shoulder-surfers.

Dependable and long-lasting

Designers, developers, and others can rest on the ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (16′′ Intel). It has over 200 quality inspections and MIL-SPEC certification to ensure it can work in the toughest conditions. It also offers multiple ISV certifications, ensuring workload-optimized programme performance. Additionally, this mobile workstation has earned its green stripes due to its recycled component content and plastic-free packaging.

safe with ThinkShield

Because ThinkShield protects the ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (16′′ Intel), security need not be compromised for on-the-go power. Your mobile workstation and data are secure no matter where you travel thanks to features like a self-healing BIOS that can restore previous system settings, a biometric fingerprint reader for easy one-touch login, and a discrete Trusted Platform Module (dTPM) that encrypts your data.

ThinkPad P16 Gen 2

Savour VIP assistance

Lenovo Premier Support Plus provides VIP IT support to solve issues faster. Get immediate access to knowledgeable professionals that offer unvarnished, consistently effective answers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, your new equipment is completely covered by Premier Support Plus’s Accidental Damage Protection since life occurs and things like laptops falling, coffee spilling, and power surges happen.

Since life happens

Coffee spills, laptops fall, and power surges occur. Rest assured with Accidental Damage Protection.This optional protection package with a fixed fee and term helps to reduce the cost of unforeseen repairs. It reassures you that they have your back when you need it most, which is maybe even more significant.

Astute Performance

The individuals that designed your PC are the best people to tweak it! Lenovo Smart Performance in Vantage will identify and fix security and performance problems, improve PC performance, and shield your device from dangerous infections.

Read more on govindhtech.com

#lenovo #lenovothinkpad #laptop #gen1 #gen2 #news #technology #technews #technologynews #technologytrends #govindhtech

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thegeneralsnotebook · 2 years ago

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An Adventure in Deckbuilding #231: Spike, Crystal Hero (Purple/Yellow Midrange) [Harmony]

Spike, Crystal Hero

Reaching

My intended vacation that I announced in the most recent post ended up being a bit longer than a week, as what started with a distraction from a wonderful holiday combined with a general malaise about having to build once again with this terrible Mane. However, eventually I said to myself that I would pick this series up again once the second Prize Wheel increment was legal to work with, so now here we are. And guess what? This is the last Crystal Games Mane that we’ll have to deal with. That’s not to say that there aren’t still some quite questionable ones left on the list, but this will likely be the last time that I just have no idea at all what to do with a card.

Spike here represented the first time that a card designer tried to push Purple in the weird direction of “Play some troublemakers, but don’t play control or Farm”. (It wouldn’t be the last time either, but it still hasn’t worked.) Add to that the usual problems with the entire Mane design philosophy of Crystal Games, and we’ve got a card here that, ah, fails to inspire.

In that sense, it’s good that I waited until I had a whole bunch of new cards to try out so that I could pick one and try designing a deck around it. And, like the name suggests, it’s a bit of a reach to take one with five requirement in what will be our off-colour and imagine that we can start from there, but that’s exactly what we’re doing this week.

Antoine is a card from PW2 with a lot of potential, so long as you can keep it fed with Critters to retire. There are two “natural” ways to do that in the cards that I’m most familiar with: Raptor Raiser to get things started so long as there’s a big Troublemaker in play, and Fluttershy, Birds of a Feather if you already have some number of Critters in play. (Remember that she herself is a Critter as well, so you get one at least for that. But certainly you’re hoping for far more.) Once that is rolling, then Antoine’s discount can be applied to a good variety of things. Even when it’s used on a 2-cost Friend, that’s still a 50% discount, after all. And since using Antoine’s ability doesn’t require anything to get exhausted, we can use it as often as we like, so long as we don’t run out of Critters.

Now that was all well and good, but the real reach came in trying to support all of that heavy Yellow with a Purple Mane, and a Purple Mane that is probably never going to flip too. This means, for example, that the usual stalwarts of Singing Barrel and Rushed Makeover are going to be less useful than usual, especially if we’ve lost Buckball Strategy and Spike is back to 1 Power. Thank goodness, then, that we have some pretty good Friend-based entry in the Fond Memories cycle to lean on. Changeling Citizens is also here, but usually won’t be a great option unless we have some Purple Friends out as well.

So we add up all of that, and then realise that we still need tools against Troublemakers and Resources, and then we get into the tortured process of cutting this deck down. Of the cards that got left in, those Troublemakers might stand out as fairly strange inclusions, especially since there’s only 4 of them, which isn’t enough to flip Spike. The logic goes like this: we want to have a few Troublemakers to act as springboards for Raptor Raiser, since I think that she is the easiest way to get a big pile of Critters on the board without much extra work. Then I think, if you need to have just a few Troublemakers in your deck, you’re better off going for Villains, for the extra utility of frightening the opponent’s stuff, and the occasional points you might get for them. Likely you end up sideboarding a number of them out if you expect the opponent to be playing Troublemakers. But if the opponent is aggro, then a well-timed Villain can be a nice piece of interaction to have.

A late inclusion to the deck was Portal, after I realised that there actually are a number of things in this deck that I’d like to flicker. Raptor Raiser, of course, but also Sanctuary Patients, and Birds of a Feather itself (to use her ability a 2nd time in one turn).

Of course, I’m sure that this deck is still trash even with all of that. But maybe, with a Mane that actually contributes something, there could be hope for something like this in Adventure. I am interested in the concept, which is all that I shoot for in these decks.

As I said at the top of the post, that is it for the Crystal Games Manes. That’s a huge sigh of relief for me. Next week we’ll have our third deck for Queen Chrysalis, Overt Operations.

#mlp:ccg #deckbuilding #adventures in deckbuilding

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cityofdreamsrp · 2 years ago

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WELCOME TO GARDALAND PARK, DREAMERS!

All guests will take a short hour and twenty-minute plane ride from the island of Capri to Gardaland Park -- situated in the Italian city of Verona!

Gardaland Park is the No. 1 Amusement Park in Italy, the longest-running in the country, and one of the largest in Europe!

The Amusement Park is organized in themed areas that conjure up (through careful and detailed scenic reconstruction) the world of history and geography, space and fantasy. All rides at Gardaland Park offer a special combination of adventure, dream and fantasy, and the great variety of rides and shows are able to satisfy a very wide audience: from early childhood to adolescence to senior citizens, from groups of teenagers to families.

Fun is guaranteed for the little ones in all the themed areas - from Peppa Pig Land and Prezzemolo Land to Fantasy Kingdom. Pure adrenaline is guaranteed for daredevils with Oblivion, Blue Tornado and Raptor, the most feared rides! Adventure lovers can instead challenge the fury of the rapids in the heart of the jungle, escape from Atlantis and join the legendary Arctic Mammoth convoy!

Find out more about the different rides, places to eat, and more at Gardaland’s website! A handful of rides can also be found underneath the cut!

Looking for a thrill and adrenaline rush? Check out these intense roller coasters, perfect for any adrenaline junkie!

BLUE TORNADO:

Prepare for take-off and experience the thrill of high speed aboard a supersonic jet. Let yourself go in the high-altitude atmosphere that only Gardaland's most iconic roller coaster can offer you. Between spins, turns and accelerations, it will be the most exciting ride you've ever taken!

OBLIVION:

A mysterious space-time conduit connects Planet Earth to another space and time dimension; its gravitational field is so powerful that it sucks everything in, and down there you can see the black hole! Oblivion invites you to face your fears, and as you linger, teetering on the edge of the vertical drop roller coaster, you have a moment to savour what is to come. You know you shouldn't look, but you won't be able to stop yourself from taking a look at the colossal vertical jump! Prepare yourself to plummet from a dizzying height, at breakneck speed, in a vertical dive to oblivion.

RAPTOR:

Reveal your inner daredevil on the winged roller coaster. Let yourself be kidnapped on a thrilling flight! On side seats suspended in the void, you will steer clear of a long series of obstacles, trying to escape the relentless predator.

SHAMAN:

Climb aboard Gardaland's legendary roller coaster and ride through the mysterious Dreamcatcher. You’ll find yourself on the back of a great eagle, on a spectacular flight into the mysterious spirit world of the American Indians. Experience the adrenaline rush of a double death ride: venture on this extraordinary journey and return safely to reality, leaving the evil spirits behind.

SPACE VERTIGO:

Bacteriological alert! The only way out is to escape to the top of the 40-metre launch tower and plunge into the void.

If you’re looking for an adventure in the park, these rides might just be for you!

JUMANJI - THE ADVENTURE:

READY FOR AN EXCITING ADVENTURE? ENTER THE WILD WORLD OF JUMANJI ON A DANGER FILLED JOURNEY WHERE ONLY YOU CAN LIFT THE CURSE!

Experience the Jungles of JUMANJI in your own 4x4 off-roader and navigate your way through dangerous animals, falling obstacles and a mighty stone giant! Return the sacred jewel back to the fabled shrine in a race against time to save Jumanji!

FUGA da ATLANTIDE:

Challenge the wrath of Neptune and venture out in search of the lost civilisation of Atlantis. On board large boats, you will discover majestic temples, portals, arches, inscrutable warriors and prove your courage with two dives from a height of 12 and 17 metres!

A fantastic attraction to discover, together with friends or family, the adventure and fascination of the mythical, mysterious and vanished island.

MAMMUT:

A huge mammoth is chasing you! Don't delay, explorer: take your place on the speedy polar convoy! The escape route is never the easiest. With more than 1000 metres of track, 3 steep climbs and 16 sudden changes of direction, the trip will offer you incredible and unparalleled emotions.

JUNGLE RAPIDS:

Climb aboard the large rubber dinghy and, following the current of the rushing rapids, let yourself be carried away on an expedition! Discover the mystery of ancient civilisations and temples and enter the cave of a majestic erupting volcano under the watchful eyes of buddhas and jungle animals. A crescendo of surprises for adventurers of all ages!

CINEMA 4D EXPERIENCE:

A new experience awaits you at the 4D cinema which will now also screen Aquaman™: The 4D Experience®, a special version of the blockbuster film from Warner Bros. You can live out the adventures of powerful DC superhero Aquaman and, thanks to the special effects and 3D high definition images, be carried away to the undersea world of Atlantis as you become a protagonist in this exciting story. Using his extraordinary strength and speed, Aquaman will undertake a mission to prevent a war between the worlds under the sea and on land, thus saving our planet.

Diana, an Amazon princess of superhuman strength, leaves Paradise Island, along with American pilot Steve, to free humanity from the horrors of World War II and bring peace to the human world.Put on the glasses and join her on her mission! 'Wonder Woman - The 4D Experience' will take your breath away!

COLORADO BOAT:

Climb up onto the floating logs and let the current carry you down the Colorado River! Among the rugged landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by forests of tall conifers, you might not notice the steep waterfalls. Let yourself be surprised and refreshed on one of Gardaland's most popular attractions!

KUNG FU PANDA MASTER:

Clap your hands and stamp your feet, strike a pose, look ahead and get ready for some really exciting challenges. Only by overcoming the twists and turns of Kung Fu Panda Master can you truly be the next Dragon Warrior!

I CORSARI: LA VENDETTA DEL FANTASMA

It’s too late to escape, so all you can do now is enjoy the journey through the stormy seas in pursuit of the Ghost Ship of the Pirates. Descend into the hold and join the Pirate crew. The greatest galleon of the seven seas awaits you ready to set sail on an extraordinary adventure revamped with video mapping, music and special sound effects!

#cityofdreamsevent #codgoestoitaly

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defensefilms · 3 years ago

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Defense Films Lists His Favorite NBA Championship Runs

The 2020/21 NBA season had as memorable and as fitting of a conclusion as this season could have offered and the extent to which I enjoyed the Bucks post season journey to a championship got me thinking of playoff runs I enjoyed either witnessing or going back and watching.

So it’s time to get nostalgic as Defense Films presents his favorite championship runs in NBA history.

5. Fo Fo Fo- 1983 Philadelphia 76ers

Moses Malone’s now infamous “fo, fo, fo” could have easily turned into a meme.

Going in to the 1983 playoffs, one would have easily guessed that Magic Johnson and the Lakers, who were looking to go back-to-back, were the favorites to win again. Especially after they had beaten 76ers 4-2 in the NBA finals of 1982.

Moses however was a quietly confident guy, and he knew that he was the difference and the missing piece that the Sixers didn’t have that year.

Malone and Erving’s Sixers backed the “fo, fo, fo” claim by sweeping Bernard King’s New York Knicks in the first round. The Conference Finals brought Sidney Moncrief’s Milwaukee Bucks, who although they were able to win a game, ultimately succumbed to the same fate, getting beaten 4-1 in the series.

In the final, it was the rematch that Philly had waited for all year long. The Lakers were at the beginnings of the Showtime dynasty at this point but Pat Riley was already making a name for himself and many felt this would be his coming out party. They would have to wait for that.

That Lakers-Sixers finals is really just a feast for Sixer fans. “This is what we look like when we’re great” kinda thing.

The Lakers stars still did their thing but were neutralized somewhat. Kareem still dropped buckets but he didn’t dominate the games with Moses hounding him in the low post and out-rebounding him so much the Lakers would often crash the boards with 4 players.

That year the Sixers had 2 great scoring guards in Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney. Their ability to handle the ball and make shots off the dribble was absolutely crucial and gave the Sixer dominant inside scorers in Erving and Malone and outlet while presenting defenses with another option they had to guard when the Sixer offense looked like it was breaking down.

Andrew Toney would average 18.8 points and 4.2 assists in that playoff run and Maurice Cheeks would follow suit with 16.3 points and 7.0 assists per game.

The Sixers would over power the Lakers in the ‘83 finals. Moses Malone would force Kareem Abdul Jabbar to expand more energy than any opponent and where Jabbar was used to catching his breath on the defensive end, Malone would hound him when battling for rebounds and with post ups of his own.

The 1983 76ers would cap what was perhaps, the most dominant playoff run of the decade.

4. 2004 Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons in 2003-04 were brought together by a series of misfortunes and most of them appear to have been the Wizard’s misfortunes.

Head coach Larry Brown had left the Philadelphia 76ers having lost the NBA finals in 2002.

Richard Hamilton had been drafted by the Washington Wizards in 1999 and had found his way to Detroit in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse.

Chauncey Billups was drafted 3rd overall by the Boston Celtics in 1997 and then played for the Raptors, Nuggets and Timberwolves before ending up in Detroit and was even considered draft bust at this point.

Ben Wallace had been drafted by the Wizards in 1996 and hadn’t been a regular starter until joining the Orlando Magic in 1999 and his most notable contribution to that organization was being part of the trade that saw Grant Hill move to Orlando.

All this along with Detroit drafting Tayshuan Prince in 2002 culminated in one of, if not, the greatest, defensive NBA team of all time. However they still weren’t the complete team yet.

The way their playoff journey ended in 2003 put that on display in painful fashion. Getting swept by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals, which was actually the reason Larry Brown was brought in and Rick Carlisle was fired.

In the beginning of the 2003/04 season, the Pistons were staking their claim as contenders. Then Pistons General Manager and former Piston, Joe Dumars made the trade that saw Rasheed Wallace join the team after just one game in Atlanta.

With that they were now complete and the nucleus of a defensive juggernaut was spawned.

Their post season began with a gentleman’s sweep of Michael Redd’s Milwaukee Bucks. Then things got really interesting in the 2nd round when the Pistons matched up with a familiar foe in the previous year’s Eastern Conference champions, Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets.

A tense and tight 7 game series, saw the Pistons finally get their revenge and vanquish the Nets in game 7. To add insult to injury, the Brooklyn Nets were held to just 69 points scored total, in the entire game. Worse yet, Jason Kidd had 0 points in that game 7.

What followed in that year’s Easter Conference Finals against the Pacers who were lead by Jermaine O’Neal, Ron Artest and a 38 year old, Reggie Miller. The two teams would trade wins over the first four games of the series before the Piston won a pivotal game 5 in which Rip Hamilton would drop a monster 33 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. What happened in game 6 was one of the lowest scoring playoff games in NBA history as the Pistons closed out the series 69-65 and take a place in the NBA Finals

Low scores were becoming a staple of this particular championship run but the analysts and odd makers predicted that this Pistons team would lose to the dynasty and 3 time champion, Los Angeles Lakers.

However those Lakers did not have anywhere near the chemistry that these Piston had and the Pistons stunned the basketball world by winning game 1. Kobe Bryant and Shaquil O’neil both had big scoring games in that game with 24 and 34 points respectively but something was amiss with these Lakers.

A sense of calm appeared to be restored for the Lakers when they won game 2 by 99-91. Then the flood gates opened in game 3. A miserable night for the Lakers in which Kobe had 11 points and Shaq had just 14.

The Lakers wouldn’t win another game that series.

Their lack of chemistry laid bare for all to see as the Pistons just routinely made them take tough shots and would get easy shots because of it.

Chauncey Billups was named Finals MVP that year, after averaging 21 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds. He made himself known as the big shot maker for this team that season ad it was rightly rewarded.

With that arguably the greatest defensive NBA team of all time had made history.

3. 1971 Milwaukee Bucks

In 1969 the Milwaukee Bucks changed the course of their franchise’s history by drafting Kareem Abdul Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor. They also drafted Bob “The Greyhound” Dandridge and Kareem’s UCLA running mate, point guard, Lucius Allen.

They didn’t win it all the 1970 post season, losing to the eventual champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Division finals. They fixed their weaknesses that off-season and brought in legendary point guard and the original triple-double king, Oscar Robertson.

The Milwaukee Bucks set new records in the 1970-71 season. Coached by Larry Costello, they would leap forward into the 1 seed of the Western Conference with 66 wins in the regular season and they didn’t stop there.

Larry Costello’s Milwaukee Bucks were uncompromisingly efficient in 1971. They had 7 players that finished with better than 46% in field goal percentage.

This Bucks team was so dominant that they only lost 2 games in their entire playoff run.

They handed the San Francisco Warriors a gentlemen’s sweep in the Conference semifinals before repeating the trick against Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain’s Los Angeles Lakers in the next round.

Kareem’s duel against Wilt Chamberlain in that series was the absolute stuff of legends. Wilt absolutely tested the young gun, averaging 22 points, 18.8 rebounds and 2 assists. However it was not enough. The early 1970′s were the first signs of a changing of the guard and Kareem was the face of a new generation of NBA centers. He was the first to truly out perform Wilt Chamberlain and overpower him offensively by utilizing the sky hook. Kareem would average 25 points, 17.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

They did not take any such mercy against Wes Unseld’s Baltimore Bullets in the finals, beating them via a 4-0 sweep to become NBA champions.

2. 2019 Toronto Raptors

This one was painful as all hell when they beat the Sixers in a game 7 but the consolation prize for me was watching Masai Ujiri, Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka lift a championship. Gotta take your wins where you can.

After the 2017-18 playoffs the Toronto Raptors were in a bad place

They had been eliminated via a sweep once again at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Head coach Dwayne Casey had been fired and DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry’s performances meant that, one, if not both, would be on the trade block.

It was not an empty threat.

San Antonio Spurs star player, Kawhi Leonard had become discontented with the organization that weened him in to the league and was probably the most controversial player in the league when Toronto GM, Masai Ujiri traded DeRozan for him and worse yet, Kawhi would only have 1 year on his contract before entering free agency.

It turned out to be one of the best gambles in sports history.

It’s crazy when you think of it now but more people should have foreseen how this team had the makings to do something special.

Along with Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors also acquired shooting guard Danny Green from San Antonio. Then halfway through the season, they traded, center Jonas Valenciunas to Memphis in exchange for Marc Gasol.

Now that’s a roster featuring two former defensive players of the year in Kawhi and Marc Gasol and you’re adding Serge Ibaka, Danny Green and Kyle Lowry to that equation.

Plus Toronto General Manager, Masai Ujiri had been developing talents like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Fred Vanvleet and Norman Powell, who were all starting to blossom at the same time.

Their depth also allowed them to accommodate Kawhi Leonard’s eccentricities as far as managing his injuries throughout the course of the regular season, which we now know is all important if Kawhi is your best player.

The Raptors journey began with a sweep of the Orlando Magic is the first round before they faced the Philadalphia 76ers in a classic series, that ended in heartbreak for me personally.

The Jimmy Butler-led 76ers under Bret Brown, were not a well oiled machine like the Raptors but we punched above our weight enough to force a game 7 and the most heart-wrenching buzzer beater in NBA history, courtesy of Kawhi Leonard.

To prove, the Raptors were not merely lucky, they would go on to face the 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, in the Eastern Conference Finals and after going down 0-2 in the series, they would win the remaining four games.

That year, the Raptors carried the hopes of the entire NBA and many predicted that the Golden State Warriors were still the favorite in the Finals that year, despite having lost Kevin Durant to injury.

The Raptors would stun the Warriors in game 1, with Pascal Siakam’s 32 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists but the Warriors would bounce back in game 2.

Then came the two statement games of the series as the series went to Toronto and in games 3 and 4, the Raptors would bludgeon the Warriors with size and scoring at the basket. Serge Ibaka had his best game of the series in game 4 with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks.

The Warriors did well to hang in and win game 5 in the Scotia Bank Arena but game 6 was one of the best close out games you’ll ever watch from a team in as far as collective contributions. Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, all scored more than 20 points to help Kawhi Leonard close out the series and win the Toronto Raptors’ first ever NBA championship.

Kawhi’s sojourn was rewarded with a Finals MVP award and more importantly, Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka, joined the hall of African NBA champions and Masai Ujiri, the first African general manager to build a championship team.

1. 1994-95 Houston Rockets Go Back-To-Back

Many people have discredited this team’s championship run but had it been a fluke or truly worthy of an asterisk then they wouldn’t have repeated as champions in 1995. Michael Jordan’s retirement was his own choice and I don’t think people put enough emphasis on how rare it is for a team to win back-to-back championships.

Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets were ahead of their time in as far as how the roster was built. A low post scorer surrounded by 3-point shooters was a unique mix at the time. A pick-your-poison type of offense that made the best of it’s most potent threat.

The Rockets would enter the 1994 playoffs as a 2nd seed and overcame Clyde Drexler’s Portland Trailblazers in the first round before beating Barkley’s Phoenix Suns in the conference semi-finals and then Karl Malone’s Utah Jazz in the Conference Finals. Bear in mind those are all Michael Jordan and the Bulls finals opponents for a good stretch of the 90′s, so does discrediting this title run make any sense if you think Jordan is the greatest of all time?

The Rockets would go on to play the Patrick Ewing-led Knicks in the Finals and that game 7 would cement Hakeem Olajuwon as an all-time great center. In a grueling series, Hakeem would finish the decisive game 7 with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Vernon Maxwell had his best game as a Rocket finishing with 21 points and 4 assists to give the Rockets their first NBA championship as a franchise.

Things got rough for the Rockets in the 1994-95 season.

These Rockets were no longer clicking on all cylinders and the hype and excitement of being champions had clearly not worn off yet.

So the brass made the decision to trade Otis Thorpe for Hakeem Olajuwon’s college buddy, Clyde Drexler. The other Rockets players bristled at this, most notably shooting guard Vernon Maxwell, who was so vexed, he would leave the team after the all-star break.

The Rockets entered the 1995 playoffs as a 6th seed and faced the mammoth task of facing John Stockton and Karl Malone’s Utah Jazz who had finished the season as the 3rd seed in the Western Conference. Hakeem would average 35 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4 assists in that series and his running mate Clyde followed suit averaging 25.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists for the series. Kenny Smith was the other big contributor in that series, he averaged 17 points on 63% in 3-point percentage.

The Rockets would then go on to play a 7-game series against Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns. High flying point guard, Kevin Johnson had two 40 point games in this series, the second of which was in game 7 but was in vain as the Houston Rockets would win game 7 by a single point and a final score of 115-114. Clyde Drexler and Hakeem each dropped 29 points in that game 7 but the guy that gave them the juice that night was backup point guard, Sam Cassel who dropped 18 points and 7 assists and of course Mario Elie’s “kiss of death”, the clutch shot that decided the series.

Next came the series that turned Hakeem Olajuwon from NBA great to mythical status.

San Antonio Spurs center, David Robinson was named the MVP of the 1995 season and let just say Hakeem felt otherwise. What followed was an absolute masterclass in scoring at the center position and Hakeem proceeded to put on a 6 game display of dominance against Robinson who infamously said “that as crazy as it sounds, I think I’m guarding him as well as I can”.

The Rockets would win the 1995 Western Conference finals 4-2 and the young, up and coming Orlando Magic, lead by Shaquille O’neal and Penny Hardaway awaited them in that year’s finals.

The young, upstart magic were no match for a team that was ready to raise their game to the championship level and repeat as champions. The series would end in a sweep and the Rockets would hoist the Larry O’Brien for the second year in a row.

While Shaq would hold his own against Hakeem Olajuwon, he would not stop the eventual Finals MVP in a series where Hakeem averaged 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

This run is why Hakeem is still widely considered the best international player in NBA history.

#nba #nba history #nba playoffs #hakeem olajuwon #julius erving #ben wallace #kareem abdul jabbar #pascal siakam #serge ibaka #moses malone #rasheed wallace #chauncey billups #rip hamilton #kawhi leonard

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starrose17 · 5 years ago

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How about a geraskier Battlestar Galactica 2004 AU? No matter what fandom I’m in I ALWAYS resort to a BSG!AU. Cos there is so much angsty love potential (warning for a bit of non-con too).

Jaskier is a singer brought up from Caprica to perform on the Galactica in her retirement ceremony. He’s dating Geralt whose a Viper pilot, and the CAG, and doesn’t know Jaskier is arriving, everyone’s been grinning and keeping it secret from him as they haven’t seen each other for a few months with Geralt being on duty here.

Geralt is doing a flyby for the ceremony and is only listening in on Adama’s speech and entertainment through his viper (I reckon older!Ciri is a viper pilot too, took her under his wing when she first signed up. And hell let’s make Yen one too, ex-wife, but remaining good friends). He hears Jaskier start to sing and suddenly Ciri and the others are teasing him over the radio as he tries not to grin at hearing his loves voice (the others being the other witchers).

Back on the Galactica Jaskier hurries to Geralt’s quarters where he and the others are drinking in celebration. As soon as Jaskier arrives everyone starts wolf whistling as Jaskier leaps in Geralts arms and kisses him deeply, and Geralt is just raising his middle finger to everyone as Jaskier kisses him and then tells them all to fuck out his cabin, he has a thorough ravishing of a welcome to attend to.

“You didn’t tell me you were performing here.”

Jaskier grins, “That would be the point of a surprise.”

Geralt then fucks him senseless after two months of not seeing him, and its all love and cuddles and wonderfulness and then of course, the cylons attack.

(The rest under the cut because this got bloody long.)

Throughout the chaos as the plot goes on Geralt proposes to him, but before they can get married Jaskier shoots Adama, because he’s the sleeper agent cylon here and has no idea. His plot basically follows Boomers.

Starbuck tries to torture information out of him (like she did with Leoben in the series, trying to drown him etc), and Jaskier insists he is not a cylon he can’t be it’s not possible and is freaking out and just constantly asking to see Geralt. But Geralt won’t see him, Geralt is having his own crisis, of how could he have been fucking a cylon all this time?! And not fucking him but...he loved him, and it made him feel sick and furious and fool for being led on. At this stage he’s too blinded by anger and humiliation to realise of course he still loves him completely, but he’s gonna realise that too late.

Starbuck continues to painfully interrogate Jaskier, and in the end in tears Jaskier says, “If you were told, right now, that you were really a cylon. Would you suddenly know all their secrets? Would you know everything about them? I don’t know anything!!! Please...stop hurting me...”

Getting nothing out of him it’s decided to throw him out the airlock, and he’s terrified and shaking as he stands there all alone as the others watch the through the glass window into the control room.

“Any last words?”

And he just stands there, hands and feet still cuffed, and he starts to sing. His voice is small and terrified, but he’d always sung, and the song he sings is one he wrote for Geralt, back when they first met, he wants his last thoughts to be of the happier time, and not one where Geralt can’t even bare to come and see him. And the doors open, and Jaskier is sucked out.

The fleet jumps away, and it’s just Jaskier frozen body alone in space, until a cylon baseship FTL’s in, and suddenly a new Jaskier in a new body is gulping lungfuls of new air as he fights his way out of that goopy liquid and bolts upright, surrounded by others cylons, and just looses his mind that he really is a cylon.

Back in the fleet time has passed and the Pegasus had arrived, boasting of capturing their own cylon agent and keeping him prisoner on board. They’ve got a lot out of him but still need more, and they specially request Geralt. Geralt wonders why on earth they want him, he has been depressed and angry and moping ever since Jaskier, and no one really trusts him because of who Jaskier was, so this was a chance to prove he really was human.

As they take him on board the officers are joking on how much they’ve tortured this one, making into a game, starving it, forcing themselves on it, after all its just a ‘toaster’ you can’t rape metal, laughing at how real and good it feels though. Geralt is turning his nose up at this feeling bad for this cylon already, they’d all seen how human these models are, perhaps they did feel pain.

They take him into the same cell as in the show, the white room with the glass large glass wall, and in the middle of the floor lays another Jaskier model, wearing nothing but a white bedshirt that barely covers his arse, and Geralt stares. There are bruises everywhere, arms, neck...thighs...his wrists are red raw, he’s thin and broken and already shaking in absolute terror at the sight of the officers. His blue eyes are wide and red and filled with agony and a wish for death.

Geralt is so shocked he can’t even move, he can’t think of anything but his own Jaskier, he can’t see anyone but his own Jaskier, and he’s filled with anger. But, he goes in with a tray of food that they gave him, and promises him he wont hurt him, hating how this Jaskier tries to curl in on himself as though waiting for a beating immediately. Geralt put the tray near him on the floor, and then backs away, sitting against the glass wall as the officers leave them alone.

“It’s not a trick,” Geralt said quietly, hot tears threatening in his own eyes, “I’m not going to take it away at the last second. It’s yours. I’m just going to sit here. You don’t have to say anything. I’m just going to be here with you.”

And slowly, very very slowly, a thin hand and a thin wrists edges its way cautiously forward, taking a single slice of apple and quickly bringing it back to his mouth, taking small, tiny bites, as though wanting to savour it not knowing it he’d be allowed to take another.

This plot follows the series, so this Jaskier, with Geralt’s help, eventually blows up the Pegasus killing himself as well, because no matter how much Geralt helped him, told him of his own Jaskier, he couldn’t live with that they’d done to him. It’s never traced back to Geralt for helping, and life goes on, except Geralt has a new sympathy. He’s not on the cylons side don’t get him wrong, he never would be, but perhaps there was a way of working together, to stop all this killing.

HIS Jaskier, the one in the the new body, comes aboard Galactica with some other models to do exactly that, a truce, and no one was expecting him, and Jaskier cautiously gets off the raptor looking around at all these people he knew, and he locks eyes with Geralt, and Geralt can’t breath, because he sees the recognition in Jaskier’s eyes. It was his Jaskier. A(n already) long story short Geralt apologises so much for not being there for him, and Jaskier is understanding, he was revealed to be a cylon after all, oh he’s still hurt, terribly hurt, but Geralt just holds him and tells him all this time without him has been hell the things he’s seen he just wants this all to stop and he loves him he loves him so much and will he please, please, “Marry me, please, I still want to if you do.”

Jaskier starts crying in the first happiness he’s felt for ages and they make love and it feels like home again. Except the “truce” is a lie, unknown to Jaskier, and they all get arrested. Alone in his cell some of the guards decide to take a leaf out of the Pegasus book and go in with their hands on their trousers and have the terrified Jaskier bent over the desk before Geralt suddenly walks in and fuck everyone is dead in seconds as he bashes their brains in against the walls and he takes Jaskier’s hand and they run and go into hiding together.

And yeah, I dunno, somehow Jaskier becomes a key player in taking down a cylon baseship with Geralt’s help (perhaps what boomer did with the bomb but was aware of doing it unlike her) and he’s sort of welcomed back, by Adama himself. People still find it hard to trust, and he has to do everything he can to prove he is on the human side (when the virus attacks the firewall system he attaches the lead into his arm to help like Boomer did), but yeah, they get married and Ciri and Yen and the others who knows him and know Jaskier are the first the properly welcome Jaskier back, and it’s a little family and Jaskier is so happy and they all work together to try and stop the war.

#geraskier

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galacticbugman · 5 years ago

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Colorado Fun! Summer 2019 Part 1: Prehistoric Adventures

Greetings from Colorado! It was sure a wild trek I took a few weeks ago. It was so cool to visit some of the old hot spots and the new places. This was a photo of me taken at one of my favorite Dinosaur Museums. This place is called the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. It has a lot of cool things in it. It may be a small little place but it has quite the collection. Here I am behind a model of a Megalodon’s Jaws. These suckers got huge. They wouldn’t have to bite just to swallow you whole. I am so tiny compared to this set of Shark Chompers. It was kind of freaky yet cool. I got a lot of neat photos so lets get started. Just a warning you will be hearing and reading a lot of Jurassic Park related stuff in this posting.

Okay so you know I can’t pass up a Jurassic Park post it is one of my favorite movies of all time. This one is at the same place as the Meg jaws. This poster I am next to is an authentic original Jurassic Park (1993) Poster. I have all the movies and now the original books. Jurassic Park has had a big impact on my life and I enjoy the whole series. The movies are great and the books are even better. I have been a big fan and no trip to a Dinosaur museum is never complete without some references to classic Dinosaur films from the Sliver Screen. Did you notice my clothes? I thought you did. Yep I wore my Jurassic Park button down and my Jurassic World Raptor shirt for this trek. I went all out and even wore my fossilized Shark Tooth Necklace. I always have a theme when I got to certain places or at least I try to.

On the other side of the theater area they have another authentic poster from my favorite JP movie in the series. This is an original poster from The Lost World: Jurassic Park which came out in 1997. This was so cool to see posters from the two best Jurassic Park films ever created. I really enjoy finding Jurassic Park based things. I just crazy about stuff like this. I really enjoy the novels that Michael Crichton wrote back in the 90s as well as the movies. I like both types of media and I know that when this movie came out many fans of the book were pretty outraged by the movie not being like the book like we saw with the first movie which did follow pretty close to the book with a few plot differences and things. Jurassic Park for me is one thing I really enjoyed growing up with I have some of the Toys, a Jurassic Park bed sheet set, all of the movies that does include the Jurassic World stuff. I have the Lego Jurassic World Video Game for the Nintendo 3DS, I have played countless Jurassic Park games including the Rampage Edition, the NES Jurassic Park game, the SNES game, I have played the demo for Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, I have played Jurassic Park Builder for Android, Jurassic World the Game, and Jurassic World: Alive. i even have the Jurassic Park: Danger board game. I am just a huge fan of this and have several shirts and things that I wear pretty often. I wasn’t able to watch the films until I was older. I was I was about ten or eleven when I was finally able to watch the films. Ever since I was able to watch them my mind was blown and I became an instant fan. Of course I did collect the toys way before I saw the movies I have several that I might post in post of their own in a collection of my collectibles that I have collected over the years of being a huge fan of many things. Still a pretty cool find in one of the coolest museums on the planet.

One of the coolest things about this museum is that they have the third Largest Tyrannosaurus-Rex. It used to be the second almost topping Sue; but in recent years there is another one that has been discovered to be even taller than Sue. Still this monster is one of my favorite dinosaurs and has always been my favorite since I was kid and it is one of my favorites in the Jurassic Park franchise. Tyrannosaurus-Rex was not really an active hunter but more of a scavenger. It’s teeth are kind of dulled out and only used for ripping and swallowing whole instead of chewing. What is the deal with the tiny little stubby arms you ask? It has been up for debate for years but some thing that they played a part in the mating ritual of this species but we are not too sure about that. It is just speculation which paleontology is all about. Still a fantastic and giant creature from the last Cretaceous period.

One of my favorite shark fossils is this one. This is an almost complete spinal region and skull of a shark. It maybe the only one in existence so far as we know. This is kind of a really interesting rarity. As we know Shark skeletons are made of cartilage and it often breaks down and deteriorates after a while but in this is one of those rare fossils of cartilage. It is kind of neat and this shark may looks small but it is pretty large. The photos don’t really do it justice than experiencing these fossils in person. Lets look at another cool fossil shall we.

What is this weird creature? Is it an alien? Well it is from a time very different from our own. This is the Giant Ground Sloth and my brother and I saw this guy being put together on a display stand. This is one of the weirdest creatures. You may have heard of the Horse Apple or Bois De’ Arc tree. Well the horse apple was a favorite food of this species as well as the mammoths that lived here thousands of years ago. This one was pretty young and just a little taller than me. I am about 5′ 9″ and these guys could get up to ten foot tall so this guy was not even close to being done growing. This guy is kind of a weird dumpy animal but it is quite interesting to look at. It was kind of cool to see all kinds of extinct animals other than Dinosaurs. There was a bunch of neat stuff at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

As a huge Jurassic Park fan I couldn’t help but notice this skull hanging in the prehistoric wing of the museum. You may recognize it from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. This guy is the Stygimoloch AKA Stiggy in Jurassic Park. Sorry to bust your bubble on these guys but they can’t actually ram each other or solid brick wall. These guys would shatter their skulls if they were to do that. These guys may have used their heads to amplify noise or to show off for the ladies. These guys are still pretty cool to look at. I saw this and was instantly familiar with it. Stiggy is one of my favorite Jurassic World Dinosaurs for the chaos at the auction scene when we was running about causing panic and confusion to buy Owen Grady some time. This was one of the coolest fossils in their collection. This is the first one of these I have seen in any museum collection.

A cool battle scene between an Allosaurus and a Stegosaurus. You might think of a Stegosaurus to have a pretty good defense due to those big thick bony plates; however this is simply not the case. The plates are actually very thin and were possibly only used for mating purposes. This made the plates more like a blood filled cookie. Still they did have their famous weapon the Thagomizer which was used as a weapon and could really do some damage. I will never forget the scene in The Lost World: Jurassic Park when Sarah Harding gets attacked by the family heard after her camera messes up when she is photographing the baby causing it to sent of an alarm call. Stegosaurus is a huge dinosaur and will always be one of my favorites. Fun Fact: In the first Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton instead of using a sick triceratops like they did in the film it was actually a sick Stegosaurus that Dr. Harding was caring for when the Toyota Land Cruisers came up to that point on the tour. That was one of the biggest differences in media but the same thing was going on with both animals in both forms of media.

A close up of a Stegosaurus Thagomizer.

A cool Hadrosaur fossil that was also at the Denver Museum. They had a lot of cool fossils but I didn’t get a chance to photograph them all. There was just too much and so little time to see the whole museum but heck it was really cool to see some of the Jurassic Park superstars in this museum. Hardrosaurus was not in Jurassic Park but this was one of the first dinosaurs I ever learned about. These guys are also known as Duck-bills for their goofy looking mouths. Dinosaurs had some of the coolest features from weird headgear, to weird mouth shapes, to their wild arsenal of weapons. Even in the time of the dinosaurs biological warfare was very weird.

A rather cool replica I got on the trip was this cast of a Raptor claw. I am a huge Raptor fan and adding one of these to my collection was really cool. My collection is now in a nice display cabinet with some of my Jurassic Park toys in the mix just to make it more interesting. Fossils are just one of my favorite things to collect and even though this is a fake it is still a nice edition to my educational collections and too I got it reminded me of Alan Grant’s Raptor Claw from Jurassic Park (1993) and I am a huge JP Raptor fan. I will be doing a top ten Jurassic Park Dinosaurs post soon to show you what my top 10 pics are after the trip photos. So stay tuned more animals and stuff to show you from Colorado as my Colorado trip review continues.

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larryfanfiction · 6 years ago

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Movie! AU

🎬 The Proposal by curlshire (20k)

Louis is a tetchy editor and Harry is his unfortunate assistant. After Louis is threatened with a demotion, he quickly makes plans to fake a marriage to Harry. (Based off the movie The Proposal)

🎬 Supposed to Be by kikikryslee (26k)

“I’m making a movie for a film competition, and I want you to be in it,” Harry told Louis. “I think you would be a great leading actor in it.” “Why?” “Because it’s you. I mean, who wouldn’t want to know all about the amazing Louis Tomlinson? It would be a great movie.” “You don’t have some weird crush or, like, secret obsession with me, do you?” Louis asked. Harry bit his tongue so he didn’t say “Ew, I have standards.” He didn’t think that would go over well. Of course, that was assuming Louis understood what that meant. — Or, the Geek Charming AU where Harry’s a film geek, Louis’ a popular jock, and they both need each other to get what they want.

🎬 If I Should Stay by gloria_andrews (31k)

Louis is a television actor who suddenly needs a bodyguard. Harry is the bodyguard he ends up hiring.

A fic loosely based on the classic 1992 movie The Bodyguard.

🎬 Elysian by wonderlou (81k)

“What could be it, Niall?” Harry asks gently with a sigh. He slouches down further into his chair, crossing his arms lazily across his chest. He is bored. He has been bored for five years straight, but even more so now that his one interest has shut himself out entirely. Harry had not even heard from Louis, not since last night, not since he had gotten on his nerves so much that he was torn between knocking him out and smiling in surrender to the slight awe he felt. Louis is opinionated like no one he’s ever seen, but his voice is honeyed; high-pitched and indignant. Harry is nothing short of entranced.

Or, Harry is running out of time to fall in love, but with Louis, it seems as if there’s all the time in the world.

🎬 Because You Saw Me When I Was Invisible by supernope (32k)

A (not so) loosely-based Princess Diaries AU, in which Harry finds out he’s the heir to the throne of a country he’s never even heard of.

🎬 Dangerous Liaisons by IWillSingWithYou (42k)

Niall is the master of deceit and Harry is the master of seduction. Louis is just a very strong willed male model who happens to be straight. When Niall tells Harry he wouldn’t be able to seduce Louis, the bet is on, but Niall’s schemes are hard to avoid.

🎬 Leave Before The Lights Come On by Velvetoscar (15k)

Louis’ never had a one night stand in his entire twenty-one years of existence. Not once. That is…until now. And OF COURSE this is how it happened.

🎬 Let’s Fall in Love in a Place You Want to Stay by embro (134k)

A George of the Jungle / Tarzan AU where Louis is a model who meets Wild Man Harry in the Congo. He was raised by apes and barely speaks a word of English and turns Louis’ life upside down.

🎬 If You Wanna Try Me On by zimriya (18k)

To be fair, Harry’d been half asleep when Niall convinced him to put in his CV in the first place. Like, Harry wants to be a proper serious journalist–he’s not about to give up that dream in favour of becoming a personal assistant at a fashion magazine, or…whatever. Harry’s not actually all that sure what Tomlinson Styles even is, beyond his ticket to fame or any of the other things Niall’d spouted off at him, but when he shows up for the interview and is unceremoniously shoved into an office with the Tomlinson part of that equation, all Harry can really think about is that he would like to be a Tomlinson-Styles.

…or the Devil Wears Prada AU that no one wanted. Sort of.

🎬 when the city shines (like the sun at night) by fondleeds (37k)

In a different universe, a parallel dimension in which Harry is a braver version of himself, maybe he’d cup the back of Louis’ neck softly and melt their mouths together.

Maybe they’d tread on light feet up to Louis’ room because the house would be empty and they’d just kiss-and-kiss-and-kiss until their lungs burst, and then Harry would press his face into Louis’ neck and whisper I know you’re Blue, and Louis would do the same in turn, breathe that sentiment into Harry’s skin like a relief, and all the bad weight would lift, just the hot pressure of feeling so much remaining.

Love, Simon AU.

🎬 Now In A Minute by thealmightyavocado (150k)

13 feels like yesterday for many people, but for Louis it actually was.

More than anything in the world, Louis Tomlinson dreams of growing up. Simply skipping over all of the awkward, embarrassing years of teenage existence and getting on with life. Real life.

So when thirteen-year-old Louis wakes up in the body of his thirty-year-old self, he expected everything in his adult life to be picture perfect. And maybe it is. He has it all…or so it seems.

Except his favorite person and lifelong best mate, Harry Styles, is totally missing from the equation and Louis doesn’t understand why. He has a lot of catching up to do and as adult life turns out to be more than what he bargained for, Louis can’t help wondering why a life that seemed so perfect, feels so empty.

Or the 13 going on 30 au that should have been done years ago.

🎬 got the sunshine on my shoulders by hattalove (124k)

five years ago, harry styles left his tiny home town to make it big as a recording artist. he didn’t have much regard for what he left behind - a life, a family, and a husband, who woke up one morning to find him gone.

now, harry has everything he could possibly want: he’s rich, famous, and adored by everyone he meets, including his boyfriend. but when said boyfriend proposes to him, he’s forced to face the uncomfortable facts of his past - and louis, who’s spent the last five years returning every set of divorce papers harry sent him.

(or, an au based on the movie sweet home alabama.)

🎬 like cabbages and kings by you_explode (60k)

When Louis was a kid, he had a series of very vivid dreams about a place called Wonderland. There were rabbits wearing waistcoats and talking cats and ridiculous tea parties, and amidst all the absurdity, there was a boy. A boy with dimples, big green eyes and the sweetest soul Louis has ever known. Louis has always kept a place in his heart for that boy and for his funny dreamworld, and when he’s twenty-five and his life falls apart, it turns out Wonderland might not be so imaginary after all.

🎬 You Drive Me Crazy (but it feels alright) by MrsStylinson (102k)

Bridget Jones’ Diary AU.

“Harry is not short for Harold,” he corrects, his voice as thick as molasses. He lowers his eyes to Louis’ sequined lapels, rubbing one between two fingers. “Is this small or extra small? It looks lovely.”

Louis breaks away from his grip with a petulant huff and pushes him back with two fingers.

“You’re mocking me. Again.”

Harry smiles and it’s a real honest swoop of his lips this time. Louis’ stomach swoops with them.

🎬 Just a Walk in the Park by comingbackhometoyou, forehead (124k)

It’s 2015, the first time dinosaurs walked the earth in over 65 million years. The multi-billion dollar company, Twist Corporations, is planning a summer opening for their world changing attraction, “Jurassic Park”.

They take an interest in the history making duo of Dr. Louis Tomlinson, a stubborn paleontologist, and his partner, paleobotanist Dr. Liam Payne, giving them the chance of a lifetime to work for the new theme park. Louis is apprehensive, but Liam has a “gut feeling” that it will change their lives. He isn’t wrong.

Featuring Niall as the top engineer to get the park up and running, Zayn as the raptor expert, and Harry as the grandson of one of the most influential men in the world.

🎬 Drowning In Your Eyes by smittenwithlouis (45k)

“Capt’n Styles, are you certain of this? They be attracted to man-made light.” “What is? Sharks?” The young blonde asks in terror. “Worse than sharks, lad. There’ll be flesh eating mermaids upon us in minutes, mark my words!” Paul huffs as he continues to wave the bright lantern in front of him, “And Captain Styles here, has us bait!” Or: The Pirates of the Caribbean inspired au where Harry is a fierce pirate who holds the heart of a beautiful merman.

🎬 everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold by sarcasticfluentry (49k)

Inception-inspired AU. Louis Tomlinson is the most respected and skilled extractor in the dream-sharing business; together he and his point man Zayn have been hired countless times to steal hundreds of valuable secrets straight from the minds of CEOs and politicians. One day, a mysterious and wealthy client contacts Louis and Zayn, offering them triple their normal rate in exchange for successfully completing a job that other extracting teams have deemed "impossible.” The one catch is that this client wants the very best - so he’s decided to team Louis’ skills up with those of Louis’ most hated rival, another highly-respected extractor named Harry Styles. Can Louis and Harry work together to complete the job and get the payout, or will they lose their minds along the way?

🎬 Friendly Neighborhood Spideypool by shitucute (18k)

“Don’t fuck with me, I’m not in the mood.” Louis’ got the urge to punch him in the face, but he knows deep down that if anything it’ll just add fuel to Harry’s innuendo fire.

“You know I only fuck you, not with you. There’s a difference. It’s slight but still there.” He’s joking, but it’s sincere in a way that only Deadpool could make it. It gives Louis a strange mix of emotions, his body doesn’t know whether to fill with butterflies or to knee Deadpool in the balls again for insinuating them fucking.

or, Harry is Deadpool and Louis is Spider-Man and they’ve got way too much history

🎬 Paint The Sky With Stars by kiwikero (62k)

On 10 April 1912, Harry Styles boards the finest ship the world has ever seen. Still grieving the death of their mother, he and his sister are being sent to America to live with a callous uncle who cares more about his business connections than family. Harry prepares himself for a long, disappointing voyage alone in his stateroom.

Louis Tomlinson has borrowed and saved, and finally has enough to purchase a Third Class ticket to America. With all of his belongings in a single ruck sack, he boards the Titanic filled with hope for a brighter future. Never one to sit still, he can’t resist exploring the massive ship, and soon goes sneaking into First Class in a stolen steward’s uniform.

By a twist of fate, Louis finds himself in Harry’s stateroom, entranced by the most attractive man he’s ever laid eyes on. He keeps returning day after day, even if he doesn’t understand what it is about Harry that continues pulling him in. That’s all right; Louis has a week to figure it out, and Harry is plenty willing to help.

Except they don’t have a week. They have four days. Because on 15 April, their entire world will be turned upside down.

Or, the historically accurate Titanic AU with a happy ending.

🎬 The Dead of July by whimsicule (117k)

Being an Avenger means continuing to be Captain America and smiling and being honorable for the public and Harry does his best. But it doesn’t give him time to figure out who he is supposed to be once he takes off his uniform and puts the shield to the side. Just being Harry had always involved Louis, and Harry fears he doesn’t know how to exist without him.

or: Harry is Captain America, and Louis’ been dead for 70 years.

🎬 through struggles, to the stars by thedeathchamber (80k)

Louis is a Starfleet captain trying to find his place in the universe. Harry is a prince just trying to do what’s right. A Star Trek-inspired AU.

🎬 Who Painted the Moon Black by throughthedark (95k)

“People died,” Harry whispers so quietly Louis strains to hear. “People died, and I killed some of them. How does life just go on after something like that?”

Louis shakes his head. “I don’t know. It just does.”

Hunger Games AU where Louis Tomlinson is district six’s victor from the 69th Hunger Games and Harry Styles is district seven’s victor from the 72nd Hunger Games.

🎬 It Had To Be You by FullOnLarrie (45k)

Harry and Louis are strangers who share the long drive from Chicago to NYC after college. They don’t have anything in common, don’t get along, and at the end of their trip, they’re both glad to say goodbye.

During a chance meeting five years later, they find that nothing has changed, and they part ways expecting never to see each other again.

Ten years after their post-college road trip, Louis and Harry meet once again, but this time they become friends. Eventually, things get complicated.

A When Harry Met Sally AU.

🎬 Fool’s Gold by freetheankles (55k)

Leaflet for Over Again Inc.

“In relationships, there are three types of people: those who are happy, those who are unhappy but accept it and deal, those who are unhappy and in denial.

Handling this last category is our job: we are professional couple breakers.

To reach our goal, we use all means necessary.”

Or the Arnacoeur AU in which Harry is scheduled to be married to Liam in 10 days and Harry’s mother hires Louis and his team to break them up.

🎬 Light My Fire, Blow My Flame by messofgorgeouschaos (98k)

“In New York, you can be a new man.” Broadway actor Louis Tomlinson has it all. An amazing flat, a wonderful friend group, a Tony under his belt, and the world at his fingertips. Yet there’s one thing that’s missing. And it might be in the shape of the curly haired lawyer who becomes Zayn’s new roommate.

Or, the One Where…. Louis is a Broadway actor, Harry is a newly graduated lawyer, Liam is a radio DJ, Zayn is an English Professor at NYU, and Niall is a music producer. A Friends AU.

🎬 King of wishful thinking by Star_Henderson (38k)

“Don’t umm don’t get on the bus, come inside.” Louis blurted the words out, speaking quickly.

Harry looked startled.

“Just. Look I don’t know if I want..” Louis scrubbed his face with his hand. “I’ll pay for your time. Just come in.”

Harry stepped away from the bus stop and the bus sailed straight past.

“What’s umm what do you guys make these days?”

Harry shuffled his feet. “Depends. Like two hundred an hour.”

Louis hummed. “Reasonable.” He gestured towards the hotel. “Come up for a drink or some room service or something.”

Harry scraped the toe of his already scuffed boots on the floor. “You don’t have to do this, I feel like… like you’re a nice person who feels bad but it’s fine. I get it. You don’t have to make it up to me.”

Louis stared at Harry. It’d been so long since he’d even spoken to a guy let alone hung out with one. He’d enjoyed the banter and the flirting.

“Come up.” Louis’ voice was soft.

Harry’s face bloomed into a smile. “Ok.”

🎬 Supposed to Be by kikikryslee (26k)

🎬 The Edge of the Stars by casuallyhl (16k)

Louis laughed. “You think you can convince some random guy to want to go out with me?”

“Oh baby,” Jay chuckled. “I can convince all of the UK to want to go out with you.”

Or, a Meet the Parents AU where Harry is the man of Louis’ dreams, and it’s up to Jay to convince him to date her son.

🎬 Keep on Dreaming, This is Hollywood by popfly (31k)

Louis Tomlinson, a pop star manager, makes his way to LA with a pop star (and his new music demands) and a very busy schedule.

Harry Styles came to Los Angeles with a dream and ended up sharing a flat and an occupation with a male prostitute from Ireland.

What happens when Louis meets Harry, and makes him an offer he can’t refuse?

AKA A Pretty Woman AU where Louis is the high-powered businessman and Harry is the hooker. No, there is no necklace scene, but there is definitely piano sex.

🎬 a promise lives within you now by sarcasticfluentry (45k)

A Lord of the Rings-inspired Middle Earth AU. Louis is an Elven prince, next in line to become King of Mirkwood, and Harry is the orphaned Human boy who grows up alongside him. They fall in love, but Louis’s obligations to the throne, Harry’s mortality, and impending war threaten to tear them apart.

🎬 don’t be afraid, it’s only love by threewhitehorses (14k)

A proposal!AU where Louis is at risk of being deported back to England and Harry just really wants a promotion.

🎬 I won’t be afraid (Just as long as you stand by me) by larrycaring (49k)

Harry leads an ordinary life, and he’s totally okay with it.

So, of course, when it all changes and he learns he is the actual Crown Prince of a whole country he’s never heard of, he doesn’t welcome the news with open arms.

Thankfully, Louis is there by his side, and that? That, will never change.

or a Princess Diaries AU that I just really, really needed to write. No regrets.

🎬 There’s Such a Lot of World to See by crinkle-eyed-boo (125k)

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Harry asks, thumbing at Louis’ hip. “Like what?” Louis asks breathlessly. “Like you’ve seen a ghost or summat,” Harry muses. “You did it all the time the other day and you did it just now.” Louis swallows hard, studying him intently. “You remind me of someone,” Louis says softly, tucking a curl behind Harry’s ear. “Someone I lost.”

Louis has seen a great many things throughout his travels in time and space, but only one he can’t explain: He keeps meeting the same boy, who says the same thing to him each time. The boy should be impossible.

Maybe he is.

A love story that defies the boundaries of space and time. Doctor Who AU.

🎬 Music To My Eyes by twoshipstiedup (23k)

A closeted actor and a struggling musician meet one night.

They fall in love.

A Star is Born AU

🎬 After Hours by Velvetoscar (26k)

Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are the bane of each other’s existences. Unfortunately, they’re already in love–even if they aren’t completely aware of this minor detail.

[A “You’ve Got Mail” AU]

🎬 Simply Irresistible by Rearviewdreamer (12k)

Louis only comes to town to start up a successful restaurant, but finds he can't quite leave once the job is done. Though, that might have more to do with him falling for his quirky neighbor than anything else.

A fic loosely based on the movie Simply Irresistible. A silly and funny movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar about witchcraft, cooking, and sex that everybody needs to watch at some point in their lives.

🎬 A Study in Love by Rearviewdreamer (24k)

Louis knows everything about everyone which has put him at a great and weird advantage over nearly all of them since the very beginning. He can solve any puzzle before most people know where to begin. He is rarely perplexed, mistaken, or wrong, and obviously, Louis is never ever surprised. And yet, his new flatmate after a very long string of failed ones has Louis questioning how he ever did any of it without him.

#movieau #movieauma #ma #moviema #masterpost

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truck-runningboards · 1 year ago

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What Makes Raptor Series Running Boards Essential for Trucks & SUVs?

Pick-up trucks and SUVs are not just any ordinary vehicles; instead, they are the lifestyle of adventure, utility, and versatility. As a truck or SUV owner, you must pride yourselves on customizing your rides to improve their functionality and style.

One such accessory that has garnered immense popularity among truck owners is the Raptor Series running boards. Please read this blog post and know how they can elevate and help you improve your driving experience:

Accessibility –

Pickup trucks offer a superior level of ground clearance, which can be challenging for you to climb in and out of the vehicle. Raptor Series running boards offer smooth and hassle-free access to the cabin for both drivers and passengers.

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Safety –

Safety is a significant aspect for every truck owner, especially while entering and exiting their vehicles. Raptor Series running boards are specifically designed with non-slip treads or stepping pads, ensuring optimal grip even during wet or muddy conditions.

This unique feature significantly minimizes the risk of slipping and falling while offering a secure platform for individuals of every age. In addition, the running boards work like a barrier that helps in preventing damaging the vehicle's body accidentally. These running boards work like protection against door dings and scratches caused by footwear or debris.

Durability –

The pickup trucks allow you to travel through rough terrains and endure demanding tasks more efficiently. Raptor Series running boards are built from premium materials like heavy-duty aluminum or stainless steel.

These accessories are well-known for their exceptional strength and resistance to corrosion, making sure that the running boards can withstand the harshest weather elements and off-road adventures. With Raptor Series running boards, you can get complete peace of mind knowing that their investment will last for years to come.

Personalization –

Personalization is another reason behind considering these running boards. They provide a comprehensive range of customization options to match personal preferences. These running boards are available in different finishes like black powder-coated or polished stainless steel.

However, you can match the running boards to the overall aesthetic of your vehicles. This customization helps you add a unique touch of personal style and create a cohesive look that complements the overall design of your truck.

Easy Installation –

Raptor Series running boards provide you with straightforward installation processes. These running boards are specifically designed to match specific truck models, ensuring precise and hassle-free installation without any additional modifications. You will be provided with clear instructions and included mounting hardware so that installing Raptor Series running boards is easy.

Final Conclusion:

Are you thinking about investing in Raptor series running boards? If yes, then you should look no further than Running Board Central. Our running boards will help you improve the practicality of your vehicle and its overall aesthetics. Invest in the right running boards and take advantage of their convenience, safety, and durability and enjoy traveling in your truck like never before.

#Running Boards #Raptor Series Running Boards

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little-droid · 5 years ago

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LittleDroid's Long Overdue Animorphs Re-Read: Book 1 – The Invasion - Part 1

My name is Jake. That's my first name, obviously. I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere. Everywhere. And if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, and then . . . well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to people who resist them is too horrible to think about.

If there's one thing that sticks in my mind about the Animorphs books, it's this framing device. Each book is written in the first person, from the point of view of one of the main characters telling us how they can't give away too many details, in case the bad guys find them. Each one opens with one character giving their name and telling you it's far too dangerous to give you any more identifying information. As a kid reading these, it was compelling. A little part of me always wondered if the stories were true, and the books were a convenient ploy on behalf of the Animorphs to get the word out.

Jake tells us he can't reveal who he is, or where he lives, and that his life was normal up to one Friday night at the mall.

The book introduces the main cast quickly, and doesn't waste any time toying around establishing their characters. Everyone jumps off the pages right from the get go. There's Marco, Jake's cynical and sarcastic best friend who thinks he's suaver than he really is. There's Tobias, a bit of a dreamer who gets bullied at school for being weird and having a rough home life. There's Rachel, Jake's cousin, who's fashionable, tough and an amateur gymnast. There's Cassie, who's quiet, earthy and an animal lover (and who Jake has a crush on that he refuses to do anything about!).

We don't get a huge sense of who Jake is as a person just yet. Part of that is these books are short and this one has a lot of introductory material to cover. Part of it is Jake falls into the standard 'everyman' character trope. He's serious, dependable, and we find out he recently didn't make the basketball team. Aww.

Before we get into the story properly, I want to say I'm impressed with the cast diversity in this series. Cassie is black. Marco is Hispanic. We find out later that Jake is Jewish. And while there's no explicitly queer characters on paper (there are two characters later who are confirmed by Word of God to be in a queer relationship), I imagine this has more to do with the limitations of children's publishing in the late nineties rather than a lack of intent on the part of the authors.

Especially in a sci-fi series, it's too easy to fall into the trope of space adventures being a thing for cishet white boys. Kudos to Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant for writing something a wide range of kids could recognise themselves in.

Our characters decide to walk home together from the mall and take a short cut through an abandoned construction site they've all been told they're not allowed inside. They banter back and forth, Rachel teasing Jake for implying the girls need looking after on the way home, Cassie smoothing things over. Tobias spots a brilliant light shooting across the sky.

I looked at Tobias and he looked back at me. We both knew what we thought it was, but we didn't want to say it. Marco and Rachel would have laughed, we figured.

But Cassie just blurted it right out. "It's a flying saucer!"

The kids stand stunned. They nervously debate just what the hell is going on and whether they should run before they find up, right up until the ship lands ten feet away from them. The ship is described as "about three or four times as big as our minivan" and has structural damage as if it's been in a fight.

It's Tobias who attempts to communicate first, and everyone receives a response they can only hear in their minds.

Tobias tried again. "Please, come out. We won't hurt you."

‹I know.›

Telepathic aliens? Nine year old me thought this was amazing. Heck, thirty year old me still thinks this is amazing. I blame nostalgia.

The spacecraft opens and we get our first glimpse of an Andalite. These are our 'good guy' aliens, and look like a blue and tan deer centaur with a scythe bladed scorpion tail, no mouth and an extra set of eyes on stalks on top of their heads. Five stars for quality alien design. No Star Trek style rubber foreheads here.

This did also contribute to the nightmare of costume design that was the not-anywhere-near-stellar Nickelodeon adaptation, but we don't talk about that.

The next section is fairly exposition heavy, which is to be expected. This is the introductory book in a long series. There's a lot of groundwork to lay before the real meat of the plot gets going.

The Andalite is dying, and explains that he's here because Earth is in the midst of a covert invasion by a parasitic race called the Yeerks. Grey slug aliens that crawl into the heads of other sapient creatures and take over control of their brains. Evil space cordyceps. The Andalites have been fighting back against them and their takeover, but they were massively outgunned and lost the battle in orbit. They were able to get a message back to their home planet for reinforcements, but those could take over a year to arrive.

Without anyone else to turn to, the Andalite asks Jake to retrieve a blue box from his ship. Jake also finds a little holographic picture of the Andalite's family in his ship and contemplates how sad it is he's dying so far from home, which upset nine year old me greatly.

The Andalite offers to give the kids a piece of technology to help them hold out against the Yeerk invasion until help arrives: the power to physically transform into any animal they can touch.

No one is thrilled about this. Marco points out “this whole thing is nuts”, which becomes a bit of a catchphrase for him over the rest of the series. He's who you count on to point out when things are getting ridiculous. It's Cassie who agrees first, but before the others can get on board, Yeerk ships appear overhead.

Out of time, they each touch one side of the blue box.

‹Go now,› the Andalite said. ‹Only remember this - never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatest danger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.›

Aside from the antagonists, the two hour time limit becomes one of the main sources of tension in the series. Having a countdown on being forced to morph back to human complicates their missions and adds a layer of logistics that ramps up the tension in almost every book to come.

Speaking of antagonists, it's at this point we're introduced to our main villain: Visser Three. The only Andalite to ever be taken over by a Yeerk, and the only enemy also capable of morphing.

I would like to go on record here to say I adore Visser Three. He's a first class graduate of the Disney school of maniacal villainy, with honours in pompousness and chewing the scenery. He's the epitome of petty, vicious egomaniacs. He's Darth Vader on deer legs.

Enemy ships descend. The kids flee and hide. Tobias lingers for a moment beside the dying Andalite before being sent running. The rest of the plot exposition happens while the kids are crouched behind a half-built wall, praying they don't breath loud enough to get caught.

Visser Three disembarks from his Blade ship along with his hordes of underlings. We're introduced to two more alien species, both controlled by the Yeerks. Hork-Bajir: huge bipedal raptor-esque creatures covered in blades from top to toe. And Taxxons: ten foot long centipedes with jelly-like, red eyes, and a voracious appetite for any living thing they can devour.

From the get go, you get the sense this isn't ever going to be a series where the odds are on our protagonists' side. The Yeerk forces are overwhelming and relentless. No-one is considering making a dashing stand against evil and hoping good will save the day. The kids are terrified. It's all they can do to stay hidden and hope they'll get out alive.

Visser Three gloats over the fallen Andalite, taunting him about how his ship has been completely destroyed and no-one else is left. We learn the good Andalite's name, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, and that he's a Prince, some kind of military hero. He doesn't rise to Visser Three's taunting, and we're treated to the first of the Visser's many classic villain speeches.

‹What do you want with these Humans?› the Andalite asked. ‹You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?›

‹Because there are so many, and they are so weak,› Visser Three sneered. ‹Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us. We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost.›

Elfangor's response to this is to whack Visser Three with his tail blade and gouge a chunk out of his shoulder, and honestly? Good for him. Unfortunately Visser Three retaliates by having his ship disintegrate Elfangor's space pod, morphs into a monster that can only be described as a gargantuan mouth on tree trunk legs and eats Elfangor alive.

Yep, you read that right. See, up until this point, nine year old me was still convinced they were somehow going to save the alien and have an alien friend to go with them on space adventures. That's how adventure books work, right? Nine year old me quickly had to learn this series wasn't going to pull its punches. At all. Nine year old me had some growing up to do.

Nerves get the better of Marco after listening to psychic screams of an alien he just met being chewed into kibble, and he throws up, inadvertently giving away their hiding spot. Cue searchlights and armed soldiers. The kids run, splitting up to scrape a marginally better change of some of them getting away. Jake stumbles into an empty building and only manages to escape by literally tripping over a homeless man who the Yeerks murder in his stead. It's not explicit in the text, and Jake hopes the man gets away, but the Yeerks are bringing the heads back for identification. I think it's safe to say that guy is dead.

Jake keeps running and doesn't look back.

#animorphs #little-droid's animorphs reread #the invasion #k a applegate #michael grant

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rlxtechoff · 2 years ago

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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galacticbugman · 6 years ago

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What are My top ten favorite Movies and TV shows ???

Hi everyone you for a while now you may have caught on by reading my nature blog that I am kind of a nerd for more than just nature. I am now opening my blog to more than just nature but at about all my interests as a whole. You may think of me as more of a naturalist but there is a whole side of me that I would like to talk about.

It is convention season for all of us Nerds. The Dallas Fan Expo will be starting in Dallas pretty soon which I will not be able to attend this year but I am going to a con this year with my brother. I thought it would cool to talk about my top 10 favorite TV and Movie franchises to kind of give you a window into the other part of my life that I hold most near and dear. Note that these franchises are not necessarily in the correct order because I can’t really decide which ones are my true favortie as a whole. (Hint I go over this in earlier posts.) So lets get started.

Cartoons! are one of my favorite things to watch when I am in need of a good laugh so I nearly always turn to a few like Talespin, Darkwing Duck, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Pokemon (only up to seasons 1-8) or a whole load of others. One has earned its place really near and dear to my heart and that would be this fan favorite

Who doesn’t love a good runabout with the Warner Brothers Yakko, Wakko, and the Warner Sister Dot on the 90s classic Animaniacs. I grew up in the 90s and absolutly loved Animaniacs from the start. Ever since I was little I was obsessed with the WB kids block and this show had me laughing the whole time. It makes fun out of pop culture as a whole, has catchy songs, goofy wit, classic slapstick, and tons of references and entertaining songs. I love this show and have gone back and watched many of the episodes and the truth is they still have me nearly laughing till I am on my butt doubled over. I love their jabs at Star Trek, Disney films, and many of the other things I watched as a kid. That is not all they make fun of they make fun of artists and many other icons from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I didn’t realize just how much stuff they make fun of but every time I watch it I am always finding something new to laugh out loud with. I enjoy watching the others to the series like Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toon Adventures, Histeria, and Freakazoid. I have always been a fan of the whole line up of the spin offs but I don’t always revisit them as much as I do as this one.

When I was a little boy I always wanted to grow up and be a Paleontologist. I loved dinosaurs with a passion. I was about four years old when I first said Paleontologist the correct way and that is what I told people I wanted to be. I was a big fan of Land Before Time growing up and I also liked the Disney Sitcom Dinosaurs, as well as Disney’s movie about Dinosaurs called Dinosaur. It was back in about 2005 or 2006 and I was finally allowed to watch Jurassic Park and it’s sequel The Lost World Jurassic Park. My aunt had both on VHS and I popped the first one in to the VCR player and didn’t quite know what to expect but this film had me at the moment Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant saw that Brachiosaur. I loved the story, the characters, and most of all the dinosaurs. It is a classic for any science fiction nerd or dinosaur nerd. I am a big fan of Steven Spielberg works and Jurassic Park and all of its sequels including Jurassic World and its sequel have always been a big part of my movie watching experience. If I had to rank them from best to worst The Lost World would always come first. For some reason I loved that one as a movie better than any of the others for some reason. I didn’t necessarily like the book that was called the Lost World that I read in high school but I did love the book called Jurassic Park both written by the late Michael Crichton. Next would be the original, then Jurassic World would be next, followed by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and then Jurassic Park ///. I have always been a big fan of them but Jurassic Park /// was kind of awkward but don’t get me wrong it is starting to grow with me the more I watch it even with the hidden Lore that the latest two movie sites have put out. I was a little befuddled with the last entry in the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom but I thought it was an okay movie and I have a feeling that it will lead up to a better follow up story. I tend not to really be overly critical when it comes to the franchise as a whole because most of what we get comes from the pages of the two novels as a whole. So Jurassic Park is and always shall be one of my favorites. If I feel like I am in the mood to have a movie in the dark night. I will most likely watch a Jurassic movie or the first Jaws film which I also love but I only like the first Jaws movie and somewhat like the second one but the last two are just downright terrible and I am not a huge fan of those unless I just want to watch them to get a good cheesy laugh out of them. I have a lot of Jurassic park themed stuff. I have two egg toys one featuring the injured T-rex baby from lost world and a raptor from JP///, I have Pop! figure of Blue, and have the Jurassic Park: Danger Board game, the a few shirts and a a hoodie and a few other things from earlier films as well as all of the movies on DVD.

So when I was a kid my greatest obsession was Star Wars that was the main thing that I would watch and collect memorabilia and action figures from. However after the release of Revenge of the Sith it began to run kind of thin with me and I was not much as a devoted fan anymore. I mean I read the Expanded Universe stories which I love better than this Disney stuff that they have been spewing out for the last few years. However back in 2009 the new Star Trek reboots were just coming out. I went down the cereal aisle and found ads for Star Trek with limited edition Beam Up badges so I decided to see what it was about. I had never really been a big fan of Star Trek. I would only watch it occasionally when my parents would watch it but I hardly understood it. They watch the later series with Jean Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, and Katherine Janeway as the captains. I decided to watch my first full Star Trek episode called the “Corbinite Maneuver” In an instant I was hooked. I started with the the Original with William Shatner and it instantly became a big time obsession. I bought some more cereal and collected cut out tokens so I could send away for a Star Trek uniform Tee shirt which I still have to this day. I went on to watch the first six Star Trek movies, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, (sorry folks was not a big fan of enterprise) but I was totally hooked. In high school I even learned how to speak a little bit of Klingon. Mostly if I speak Klingon now I am singing Klingon opera like the “victory song”, the “battle anthem”, or “Klingon Drinking song”, or the song that they sing on the night before one’s wedding sung on the Deep Space Nine Episode “You are cordially invited” which is one of my top picks for that series. I am a huge fan of Deep Space Nine more than anything for its dark under tones and more serious manner. It tends to be the darkest series of the first five series. Don’t get me wrong Voyager had some pretty crazy and dark twisted episodes but my goodness is it good. I also got to meet a few Star Trek cast memebers along the way as I became more into wanting to go to more nerd conventions.

Here I am with Captain Kirk himself at my first ever Dallas Fan Expo in Dallas TX. I was so excited to meet William Shatner and get this photo taken with the second Captain of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701. It was a truly awesome experience. I also got to meet Brent Spiner who played my favorite TNG character Data. I also got to meet Nichelle Nicholes. I got both her’s and Brent’s autograph. It was quite fun to go to those cons. I went three years in a row to the Dallas expo. My last time was in 2016. It was so cool to meet the rest of the people I met like Veronica Taylor from Pokemon, Christopher Lloyd from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Cyber Chase when he played the Hacker, I also Met Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Castle I am now watching his current show on ABC called the Rookie which me and my aunt are both obsessed over right now. I also met Dean Cain from the Superman series Louis and Clark, I also met Bill Farmer who plays Goofy on most of the modern Disney stuff, Jim Cummings who played Darkwing Duck, Winnie-the-pooh, Ed the Hyena on Lion King, and many other characters from most of our childhoods. I also met a few others but my goodness I have met a lot. So Star Trek to say has become one of my favorites surpassing Star Wars even though I have not been too sure about the new Discovery show. I am more of purist when it comes to Star Trek but that is just me. That doesn’t mean that the Reboots and Discovery have a few redeeming qualities I am just saying I like the way it intended to be. I since have collected books, a few models of a couple of the USS Enterprises like the original, D, and my personal favorite E, along with a model of Spock, I also made myself a do it yourself tribble because I am a huge fan of that episode Trouble with Tribbles as most of us Trekkies do. I still like Star Wars so don’t get me wrong I still have all my old Star Wars toys and things so that will never truly go away but I am still more toward the pre-Disney era and think that the legends are the only canon in my book. I still like both and each one brings something to the table so there is no reason to totally be at odds with each other when it comes to our two respective fandoms.

Next is one of my favorite British TV Shows that I have grown to like since the year 2014 when I went to my first Dallas Fan Expo.

Doctor Who will always be one of my all time favorite Time Travel shows. I have to admit when my mother watched this on TV when I was younger on PBS. It scared the pants off me. I hated the show at first. I was born with autism and some of the weird off set and loud noises from the original run episodes really bothered me with my audio issues with my ears. It took me a long while to develop a taste for this classic bit of BBC programming. I have watched PBS shows all my life from Keeping up Appearances, Are You Being Served, and many of the other British Sitcoms but I never really got into their science fiction stuff I was more into their comedies like Monty Python’s Flying Circus and what not but I gave it another go and instantly got into it. You may think that I started with what we call the NuWho but I began to watch the Third and Forth Doctor series from the 1970s working my way to number 5, 6, 7, and then I watched the movie with the eighth Doctor, and then got into the new stuff. Tom Baker, David Tenant, Matt Smith, John Pertwee, and Peter Capaldi were among my absolute favorite Doctors. The stories are insane and and very fun. They deal with a lot os issues saw into day’s world. It almost reminds me of Twilight Zone and Outer limits some of the time with a few of the stories but has its own vibes and style to it. I love the show and have a few Tee shirts, a 11th Doctor fez, a replica of 10′s sonic screwdriver, the Lego Tardis set along with the Lego Dimensions add on packs with the 12th Doctor, K-9 (who is by far my favorite side character of the series), I also have the Dalek and Cyberman add ons. I have a couple of other things like a 4th Doctor pop figure too, as well as a Doctor Who 4th Doctor scarf and blanker which I often wear and have when I am watching a marathon or when I am down with a cold or sick with something else. So yeah I am a huge fan of this but was not too impressed with the writing from the last Doctor’s run it wasn’t the Doctor being a woman or the acting which I though the change was very interesting and I had no problem with it but I just feel the writing could have been done a little differently. However I was sad we didn’t get a Christmas special last year so that broke tradition with the Doctor Who show. Still I don’t mind travailing with the good Doctor when I watch the show. It is an emotional roller coaster and a thrilling story of a mad man in a blue box.

One of my other favorites and one of my regular go to movies and Cartoons is the Men In Back franchise. I am a fan of both the live action and the series they used to play on the WB kids block. Men In Black has always been one to get me laughing my head off. My favorite character is Jay because for me I kind of find his antics way off point for what Kay is trying to teach him to be. Jay is never low key about trying to keep things about global destruction low key like the MIB do. Jay always has the best lines and is kind of a good ball compared to his partner Kay. I first saw Men In Black movies in the early 2000s but I watched the series when I was a kid. I often revisit the series because I like how it was done. Dark a little bit, sarcastic absolutely, and full of action you bet. The cartoon doesn’t have a lot of deep seeded issues or things to reflect on like the movies do. The movies always get me to thinking and always having me laugh my head off till I nearly puke. Seriously every time the Worm Guys come on the screen I am on my butt nearly double over. They are my favorite aliens of the series in both the cartoon and live action universes. These films are just my kind of weird. I like Ghostbusters too for the same reasons there is a lot of fun characters, crazy villains, tons of gross out moments that either make you gag or laugh, and there is a lot of action involved. Seriously this film has it all space cops, evil human challenged aliens, and tons of shiny things. This series is a must for any science fiction fan. It is just simply put a fun series. I don’t know how the next one is going to go seeming that Agent K and J are not going to be in this film so far as I know but I will go see it just to see what they do to the franchise as we explore another branch of the MIB. I have all three on DVD and have some old wendy’s toys back when the cartoon series was out. I love this series too because in a few episodes in the cartoon and in the first movie they had to deal with Space Bugs so that kind of made me into it more. I love the whole fight scene with Edgar and Jay’s antics it was kind of a funny fight scene with an awesome gross out with the slime at the end when the space roach gets blown to bits. I find the episodes in the cartoon featuring the bugs funny. All of that has a great blend with sci-fi and comedy. Some of the cartoon stuff is pretty dark but heck man I still love it for what it is worth.

Space Jam was one that I loved from the moment I saw it for the first time in the 90s. I have always been a Looney Tunes kind of guy. I love the classics, Tazmania, Loonatics Unleashed, Duck Dodgers, and I really didn’t think the Looney Tunes Show was all that bad in fact I think over all it was good but I still think they should have made a few changes to a few of their characters. I love the straight to DVD movies too. Space Jam is one of those films that is kind of off the rails but it is one that all 90s kids like to be honest. I have always been a fan of the blend with cartoon characters intermingling with humans and interacting with them. It is a fun movie and I really enjoy watching it. I have it on DVD and watch it often. I love the sport of Basket Ball I used to play it when I was young on a little league team and love to watch the Dallas Mavericks play so seeing a blend of two of my favorite things blended together is kind of fun. There are a lot of funny moments in this film and a few classic references to a few other movies. When I watch a new movie I always love to see what kind of other references I can find and laugh when I figure out what they are. Space Jam is one of those that is a fun film and sometimes fun films don’t get a lot of good press with critics but there is nothing wrong with watching a fun film. Sometimes life needs to be taken a little less serious and you need a good laugh or just need to take you mind off things and this is one of those films that is just down right ridiculous but we love it. Shoot I can watch this basket ball match between the Tune Squad and the Monstars anytime over and over again.

Another one of my absolute favorites is this Toony Mystery film. Roger Rabbit is one of the few cult classic movies that I have seen and for me I love this one. I love mysteries I read a lot of mystery books like A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and I have not been a stranger to reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery. I find this movie to be more for older kids but it has always appealed to me for its fun nature and its really interesting blend of Noir style with cartoon characters. It is one of my favorite crossovers using mainly Warner Bros., Disney, and Universal characters along with the original characters like Roger Rabbit, his wife Jessica, Baby Herman, the Weasels, and Benny the Cab. the one scene in this whole film that makes me laugh extra hard is the Droopy Bellboy scene were Eddie is entering the appartment building trying to track down Jessica but is actually following a bonkers Toon Named Leena who looks like Jessica but is not Jessica at all. The elevator scene is so funny the way that Droopy looks so emotionless and says his lines while Eddie gets flattened and then flung up to the ceiling. I am a fan of a lot of classic cartoons and Droopy is one of them so that is why I laugh so hard at that scene and I have been known to do an impression of him when I enter an elevator with my family. That"going up sir, mind you step sir, hold on sir, have a good day sir” line has always stuck with me. Now I watched this as a child and any fan of this movie knows how terrifying Judge Doom was toward the end. For me the most horrifying scene in this movie (and I am sure I speak to most of the fans of this here when I say) The most horrific scene for this movie (SPOILERS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THIS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM TURN BACK NOW.) Is where Judge Doom and Eddie get into the epic battle and Eddie grabs a tub of glue and Judge Doom breaks it open and winds up getting stuck to the end of the steamroller and instantly flattened. That is not what makes it so freaky it is when Roger yells to Eddie to look then you see a flattened Doom start to peel himself off the ground and start to flop around trying to get his balance. His partial Toon features are only freakier to whitness the burning red eyes, the high pitched voice that could break glass, the eye daggers, the arm saw makes him a formidable foe and one of the creepiest characters in this film. However besides that it is one of my favorites because I laugh and I think it is another one of those fun and silly films. I also like that is one of those very special films that allow for other film groups to correspond with each other. I feel that we need more films like these where characters from different franchises come together. I don’t think we will get another film where Mickey and Bugs, or Daffy and Donald share the same screen time ever again on the same playing field but that is another reason why I get a kick out of this film it is not totally one sided a lot of characters are in this movie sharing the spotlight from different film industries which still amazes audiences today. And too I like the crazy wit of Roger. I have actually played the NES game for this film but have never really completed it.

Okay so now we are getting into more down to earth comedy which I do like. A friend in college a couple of semesters back told me about this movie after I told him that I was a naturalist and a birder. This movie is about the annual Big Year that happens every year. It is a comedy of three men trying to get the most amount of birds in a calendar year. It is one of my favorite nature based hollywood films. If you get into to birding though and want to see this movie DO NOT TAKE THIS MOVIE FOR SCIENCE ACCURACY! It will drive you nuts. It is a great movie about birds and many people who watch it are bird watcher and members of birding clubs like I am but there are many birds that are out of place in this film but heck it is still a fun movie to watch and get a laugh out of. I watch it every time during the new year or before a big birding event. Sometime I will watch it before the Christmas bird count or before I go to volunteer for the Great Backyard Bird Count. I love this movie for many reasons it is heartfelt, has birds and I love birds and have over 170 on my life list so far. It is also just a good film to watch if you are a nature lover. It is funny but has a good message to it. It is one that is good for the whole family. I like it because I like all three of these actors. I watch a lot of their material often. Steve Martin has always been one of my favorite actors for his roles in Cheaper By the Dozen, Pink Panther 1&2, my personal favorite The Three Amigos, among others. I think this is another one that is really fun I know I say that a lot but this one is kind of cool because it really does show what birder do minus Owen Wilson’s character being kind of a big jerk to everybody in this film. It shows a day in the life of a birder in most cases and what we do when we are caught in certain situations in a more comedic way but it is till a reflection of ourselves when we travel and when we all get together and go birding. So this movie really hits close to home for me. It is neither a cartoon or a science fiction it is a comedy and a pretty good one too. So I give this one a spot on my list.

I mentioned this one earlier but this is one of the only horror movies I have ever gotten into. I had not seen the movie previously to 2010. I have seen bits and pieces and to be honest I was only a small kid when I saw the bits and pieces and this film creeped me out big time. In 2010 in one of my classes in high school we all got DVDs and my teacher knowing how much I loved animals gave me this one. I was not really allowed to watch it I lived a pretty sheltered life but I watched it and I was totally blown away (no pun intended to the ending). This film was truly amazing and one I watch again and again. I love sharks and I know this shark is viewed as a bad guy preying on poor beach goers who are just trying to enjoy themselves while having a swim at the beach. I really like the Matt Hooper Character portrayed by Richard Dryfuss. My grandmother said it must have been devine intervention that I saw this film because it made me study the truth behind sharks, shark attacks, and made me develop a new appreciation for sharks. This film may have scared the pants off of me when I was younger and may have scared everyone that went to go see it back in the summer of 1975 or who read the novel by Peter Benchly which I have read back in high school around the same time I read the two Jurassic Park Novels. This film is by far one of the darkest films and maybe the darkest film I will ever watch all though Star Trek: First Contact was really dark in some spots but I liked it. Jaws for me was fun and had a lot of nice dark undertones especially when you get to Captain Quint’s famous USS Indianapolis speech. The movie is good and reflect heavily on the 1916 shark attacks even though it happens on an island that doesn’t exist and the setting of the attacks was changed but it was meant to be a fictional story but it does have echos of the events that played out during the summer of 1916. I love this movie for many reasons but it was really well played out even as it turned out to be one of the toughest movies to make and was almost never made. I love the characters in the movie. I can see why they changed them from their book counterparts all of the characters were not that likable and were jerks to everyone it seemed. The movies puts heart into to some of the situations that play out and has a deep suspense theme to it. Number 2 was the one I enjoyed the second most. Number three I can’t even take seriously and number four only has that one genuinely terror scene at the beginning then it is a complete cheese fest. Don’t get me wrong I am one for cheesy movies I love a lot of the cheesy stuff from the 60s, 70s, and 80s but Jaws isn’t one that I would associate for trying to be totally cheesy then it turned out to be. I know they were just milking it for all it was worth but it was really unnecessary because the rest of the films didn’t take anything from the source material like you see in Jurassic Park. That is why I don’t criticize Jurassic Park that much because all of that stuff comes from the pages of the book. Jaws only does it justice one time then totally goes down hill from there. That is why I say that there will never be a movie with a shark half as good as Jaws one. Jaws one was tops for shark movies but no one has come even close from trying to break the cheese barrier. The Meg came a little close but not too close. So yeah Jaws still holds the record for being the best shark film.

Okay now I am getting into some Superhero stuff. I bet you are wondering who like better DC or Marvel. Well I like both but I only like certain things from DC. DC I only like for the 1960s Batman TV show even though it was a campy series I still loved it and love to laugh at it and watch it just for fun. I also like the Michael Keaton stuff like Batman 1980 and Batman Returns; Don’t judge me on this but I also like to watch Batman & Robin and Batman Forever just for the cheap giggles and laughs. I also like the first four Superman Films, the original Wonder Woman series, and the early DC comics and things. I am not one for the darker films that much. I am just not that kind of guy. However I do love the Marvel comics and the Marvel cinematic Universe. What is a nerd without liking superheroes. This is one of my favorites. I first saw an ad for this trailer at the Dallas Fan Expo in 2014 and I instantly wanted to go see it. It looked funny and the song “Hooked on a Feeling” was played and I love that song just as much a Peter Quill so yeah I had to see it. I love things about renegades and rebels on the loose like Star Wars, Firefly, and several western flicks like Young Guns I&II and several others. Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorites for its sarcastic nature (I like a lot of stuff with sarcasm for my family tends to be pretty sarcastic and me I tend to be a wise guy sometimes and like to smart off so I would fit right along with the Guardians of the Galaxy crew if I was able to) The humor in this film is my kind of humor and the action is good; but what gets me with these films is the connection these outlaws have with each other and how they over come their troubles and woes. They were “losers” but they found strength with each other even if they were contemplating to kill each other at some points in the film. They still had their issues but isn’t that what happpens in a family. I love the story of the first one and love the follow up. These films have a place on the list because to me I can relate. My grandmother had cancer and died from it much like Peter’s momma at the beginning of the film and My grandmother got me hooked on a lot of the stuff that she got me into like vintage black and white comedies, old songs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So there was a deep connection I had with these films that really hit me hard minus the being abducted by aliens thing. So this film is one of those that makes me think about my own life in certain ways.

So these are my top movie and TV show picks. You may see that I have a lot of things that are relate-able to my sense of humor and my life and the way I work. So there is much more to me then just picking up a camera and going on a hike. No I am a pretty big nerd in the long run. I have not go into Anime that much I do like some but I don’t really like a whole bunch of it. It has always been hard for me to get into. Normally I like comedies, western cartoons mainly classic cartoons and things, I am also into a lot of science fiction. Just to name a few other things I am into (Lord of the Rings, I am somewhat of a slight Hobbit guy, Battlestar Galactica 1978, Godzilla most of the films, King Kong, Scooby Doo and many other Hanna Barbara Cartoons, the Chronicles of Narnia, a whole multitude of Disney films from the past to today. Just to name a few things)

So until next time I am Galactic Bug Man. Live Long and Prosper and I will see you on the trail. This transmission ends.

and May the Force Be With You! Good Night Everybody!

#movies #interests #who framed roger rabbit #jurassic park #star trek #space jam #guardians of the galaxy #the big year #jaws #men in black #mib #doctor who #nerd #geek #fandoms #comedy #adventure #cartoons

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truck-runningboards · 2 years ago

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highbuttonsports · 4 years ago

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Toronto Blue Jays’ Joe Carter 1993 toronto blue jays world series champions - Bing images

Our Team

Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some…well maybe not this season (hopefully though). For some of us, snow is still on the ground and the cool air of winter is still biting our breathe. However, that doesn’t mean baseball isn’t still warming our hearts and our minds. A lot of Jays fans can easily relate to this sentiment, especially those of us that reside north of the border. As “Canada’s team”, there is a strong sense of pride associated with touting that moniker. Toronto is the only franchise in the MLB that has the distinction of being their country of residence’s only one. It really fosters an us against them mentality. It’s a David vs. Goliath thing. A little brother vs. big brother thing. A Superman vs. Batman thing. You get the point.

There’s a long-standing history of the Canada vs. U.S. rivalry rooted in sport. Every December/January brings about the World Junior Championships for hockey with each country perennially battling for the gold medal (the U.S. took it home this past tournament). International women’s hockey has predominantly been a Canada/U.S. fight for top spot since it’s inception. As well, the Olympics has provided many instances of our countries’ amazing rivalry. There was Canadian track star Donovan Bailey’s beating of American Dennis Mitchell in the 100m race at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta (in world record time no less). More recently, Canadian ice dance darlings Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue “got smoked” (Scott’s words) by U.S. rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White at the 2014 games in Sochi. Then there is perhaps the best non-baseball example of this good-natured battle in the 2019 NBA Championship by the Toronto Raptors. That was the first NBA title to leave American soil and that wound is still fresh. In fact, many talking heads south of the border still refuse to give the Raps any credit for that win. The prefer to focus on all of Golden State’s excuses (classic sore loser behaviour). All of these are just a sample of the friendly yet heated rivalry that exists between our great nations.

When it comes to baseball that is no different. I am of a certain age to vividly remember everything about the Toronto Blue Jays’ historic rise to the top of the baseball world in 1992. It was the first time the World Series had been played outside of the U.S. in the history of the league. This is America’s past time we are talking about after all, so having a team from Canada trying to take that from them made it about more than just baseball. It’s not as if the Jays came out of nowhere though. They had won the American League Eastern Division title for the second consecutive season and third time in four years coming into the series. So, it was no fluke they were there threatening to take the title out of the U.S.A. for the first time ever. As well, Atlanta Braves brought that annoying swagger with them having lost in the World Series the previous year. They were hungry, a little cocky, and the favourites. After all, what were these guys playing out of a hockey country doing thinking they could be champions of the baseball world? Of course, this story could not be written without mentioning the Game 2 fiasco involving the Canadian flag. Before the game started, during the performance of the National Anthems of the United States and Canada, the U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard accidentally flew the flag of Canada upside down. It was an accident and the Marines went out of their way to apologize while insisting they were honoured to carry it ahead of game 3. That doesn’t mean it didn’t add some extra vitriol to an already contentious battle between the two countries. It perhaps may have even sparked the Jays, as after losing game 1 they went on to win games 2,3, and 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Atlanta wasn’t going to just lay down though as they fought back in game 5 winning convincingly 7-2. This set up a dramatic game 6 back in Atlanta in front of 51,000+ chanting and chopping Braves fans. If you were a Jays fan back then like me that brutal Atlanta tradition was like nails on a chalk board. Game 6 was a back-and-forth tight pitching duel with the Braves tying the game up in the bottom of the 9th to stave off elimination. After both teams failed to score in the 10th, the Jays jumped out to a 4-2 lead on a Dave Winfield double plating 2 runners. That was the legendary Winfield's first career World Series extra-base hit, and at 41 he was the oldest player in baseball history to record one in the World Series. Atlanta caught a break in the bottom of the inning on a fortunate mid hop bounce to short, turning a sure double play into a 1st and 3rd with nobody out situation. After a sac bunt made it 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, a forced play at 1st on a ground ball scored a run reducing the Jays lead to 1. It was that moment that Atlanta announced the speedy Otis Nixon as a pinch hitter. He was one of the fastest players in the league and a fantastic bunter. Knowing this, Toronto countered with bringing in a right-handed pitcher. It is much easier for a righty to field of bunt towards 1st base since they fall off the mound naturally in that direction. Even though a bunt is not very common with a runner at 3rd and 2 out, with Nixon at the plate it was a big possibility. That’s exactly what happened too. Otis bunted, Timlin fielded the ball perfectly, and dished it to Carter at 1st for the final out. That secured the 1st World Series title in Blue Jays franchise history as well as the 1st title to leave the USA.

If that didn’t rile up American baseball aficionados enough, they definitely didn’t get any happier the following year. 1993 brought the Blue Jays back to the World Series to defend their title against the Philadelphia Phillies. This time Toronto meant business and they were the favourites. It was up to Philly to unseat the champs, but the Jays weren’t having any of that notion. They won game 1 of this go around to put themselves in the driver’s seat. The Phillies tied the series at 1-1 by winning game 2, but that was as close as they would get going forward. Even though they fought back with a shut out in game 5 to force another game, it was the battle tested Jays who finished the series off in epic fashion in game 6. This moment is engrained in all Canadians, not just baseball fans. As iconic as the Golden goal which says a lot for a bunch a hockey loving hosers. Just thinking about it again gives me goose bumps. Our boys were down 6-5 going into the bottom of the 9th with feared closer Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams coming into the game to try and push it to a deciding game 7. To say it started out terribly for him is an understatement. He walked future hall of famer (and still holder of the record for most stolen bases all time) Rickey Henderson to begin the inning. That put the heat on him to get the ball to the plate as quick as possible. In order to do that, Mitch used the slide step method. He had never used that move before in his career, but with the uber dangerous Henderson at first, he couldn’t risk giving up a stolen base. That caused him to be out of sync in his delivery and resulted in diminished velocity and control. After the next batter flew out, another future hall of famer in Paul Molitor singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out and Joe Carter coming to the dish. Queue the music everyone! That’s when Joe hooked a 2-2 pitch over the left corner wall for a back-to-back World Series winning 3-run homerun and forever immortalizing himself in baseball lore.

It doesn’t get much sweeter than that in sport. What makes those moments even bigger is the connotations of national pride and excellence. It’s no secret that the U.S. has a great reputation of success when it comes to sport. The country houses 4 of the 5 highest grossing sports leagues in the world while having a stranglehold on the media coverage. They are usually the favourites and have the hardware to back that up. That’s why whenever us simple snow-covered folks (up here North of the world’s longest unprotected border) have a chance to wave our flag or sing our Anthem in victory, we do it proudly and loudly. It’s what we hope to be doing later this fall when the 2021 Jays take the field with the highest hopes they have had in years. Not since a certain bat flip 6 years ago perhaps. But we don’t need to go there…do we?

By: Jaymee Kitchenham

#blue jays #toronto #toronto blue jays #baseball

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