#Robinson Illinois

[elijones94]

The northern lights are beautiful!

[unteriors]

W Walnut Street, Robinson, Illinois.

[connectparanormal]

Ghosts in Robinson Woods

The mysterious Illinois location of Robinson Woods is well-known for being a paranormal activity center. This region, which is a part of the Cook County Forest Preserves, has long captivated locals and paranormal aficionados with its haunting stories in addition to its natural beauty.

The past of Robinson Woods adds to its haunting reputation. Alexander Robinson, a well-known Native American leader, received the land in the nineteenth century. Many people believe the documented paranormal activity in the woods is due to the burial of Alexander Robinson and his family.

Visitors frequently report strange occurrences such as unfamiliar lights, spectral apparitions, and unexplained noises. Others claim to have seen figures resembling Native American spirits, and others report seeing a strange white-clad woman who vanishes upon her approach. These sightings add to the woodlands' image as a haunted place, attracting paranormal enthusiasts.

The mood of Robinson Woods itself seems to support these stories. The deep forest, with its tall trees and isolated trails, creates a setting that unleashes imaginations. Even skeptics, however, cannot ignore the eerie atmosphere that occasionally permeates the woods, especially at night.

Paranormal investigators who visit the location have also reported experiencing electronic voice phenomena (EVP). These recordings frequently feature voices and sounds that seem to have no discernible origin, strengthening the idea that Robinson Woods is a place where the line between the material and spiritual realms is genuinely thin.

Some claim that the ghosts of Chief Robinson and his family, who are allegedly keeping watch over the country they once loved, are the cause of the activity. Others speculate that the hauntings could be the result of the troubled spirits of local people who have tragically died.

Robinson Woods is still a well-liked location for hikers and nature enthusiasts in spite of the unsettling stories. It is a special place for anyone looking for adventure and a close encounter with the paranormal because of the attraction of its natural beauty and the excitement of its haunted past.

The unexplained activities at Robinson Woods continue to captivate and perplex everyone who visits. Regardless of one's belief in ghosts, the anecdotes and encounters connected to this Illinois woodland contribute an intriguing chapter to its past, stimulating conjecture and curiosity.

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

Fa la la 2024!

It’s that time of year when Santa comes down the chimney, lights cover trees, tractors, and a big star lights our barn! The holiday season has arrived. Everyone may celebrate differently, but I thought I’d share some of what makes me jolly! Holiday Prep When possible, I like to complete shopping early, get the tree up and decorate to enjoy the twinkle of the Christmas lights from Thanksgiving…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lauren Egan at The Bulwark:

SEC Nation

When Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin arrived in Florida’s 6th Congressional District over the weekend to campaign for Tuesday’s special House election, his expectations were in check. Sure, Josh Weil—the Democratic candidate running for the seat that opened up when Rep. Mike Waltz left Congress to be President Trump’s national security advisor—has raised a truly impressive amount of money. And yes, Democratic voters appear to be looking for an outlet for their angst. But the Northeast Florida district hasn’t sent a Democratic representative to Congress in over forty years, and it supported Donald Trump by more than 30 points in November. Party officials said that Martin’s visit wasn’t just about the special election. Rather, it was a recognition that as more Americans move to the South, the party has to step up its game in the region. “It’s not by accident that I’m here in Florida right now actually canvassing in the Florida 6 election, or that I’ve been in Houston and Georgia already,” Martin said in an interview with The Bulwark before heading out to knock on doors. “There’s going to be a complete seismic shift as it relates to congressional power. . . . We cannot be caught flat-footed as a party. We have to be prepared to meet that moment.”

Thanks to a decades-long flood of cross-country migration from states like California and New York to states like Texas and Florida, the South has emerged as an economic, political, and cultural powerhouse. Tech companies are relocating to Austin; movies are increasingly being produced in Atlanta; and more students from the Northeast are attending SEC schools—and then staying in the South after graduating—than ever before. The region accounted for more than two-thirds of all job growth across the United States since early 2020, and it now contributes more to the national GDP than the Northeast does. All of that means that the South is on track to make historic gains in the 2030 census. Florida and Texas are projected to gain four or more congressional seats, while North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee could each gain a seat. Meanwhile, reliably blue states like California could lose as many as five; New York might lose three. Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin could also see declines. All told, nearly four in ten Americans could hail from the South by the next census, according to a recent Brennan Center analysis. That not only means the path to a House majority runs through the South—it also means the party’s reliance on the “Blue Wall” will no longer be viable in future presidential elections. (The number of Electoral College votes a state gets is determined by how many congressional districts it has.) [...] Some state officials are skeptical that the resources will flow. Local leaders in the South have complained for years that the donor class and the DNC have not invested enough in state parties. They’ve watched national leaders talk a big game about flipping Texas or making Georgia reliably blue without putting in the work to reach those goals, such as by building out a robust on-the-ground staff that knows the region’s political landscape. “What makes me sad is that it does not matter how many times we scream it, we aren’t being heard by the people who control our party,” said Mondale Robinson, founder of the Black Male Voter Project and mayor of Enfield, a rural town in eastern North Carolina. “Building a new Blue Wall and pathway to 270 that includes Southern states—that’s going to require work in counties that we’ve never seen Democratic candidates go to.” [...] Democrats in the South argue that despite the region’s conservative tilt, the challenge confronting their party isn’t insurmountable. The population boom, they note, is largely the result of black, Latino, and Asian people moving to the region—demographics that the party has historically done well with, although they lost some ground to Donald Trump in the last election.

With more and more people relocating to the South, the 2030 US Census projections reveal that Southern states will be the beneficiaries, while the Midwest and the Northeast will lose out, thus hampering the Democratic Party’s chances at future election success (at least going by their current coalition) unless changes are made.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Protests lay the groundwork for future progress

February 18, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

On President’s Day 2025, hundreds of thousands of Americans marched in protest against Trump’s ongoing coup. From Manhattan to North Hollywood, from Denver to Springfield, Illinois, from Washington, D.C. to Seattle, Washington, Americans made their voices heard. Coverage in the major media was subdued (at best) and non-existent (at worst). See, e.g., NYTimes, Thousands Gather on Presidents’ Day to Call Trump a Tyrant. (Accessible to all.) Although the Times said that “thousands” attended the protests, one reader estimated that there were 50,000 protesters in Manhattan alone.

A dozen readers sent me photos of rallies they attended, but most photos were not suitable for publication because they prominently featured the faces of protesters. The photo below (with blurred faces) shows the protest in Springfield, Illinois:

The size of the rallies is less important than the number of protests across the nation, and the number of protests is less important than the fact that the protests took place at all. All resistance movements must begin somewhere. We will never know which protest—or protester—will serve as the spark to ignite the flame of a massive national movement.

For more than a century before Rosa Park’s courageous act of resistance brought the fight for equal rights to the attention of all Americans, Black men and women were refusing to comply with restrictions on “Whites Only” segregation in public transportation. See Because of Them We Can, Meet The Black Women Who Refused To Give Up Their Seats Before Rosa Parks. As described in the article,

While these women definitely sparked the bus boycott, there had been a century of resistance against segregated public transportation. More than 100 years prior, schoolteacher Elizabeth Jennings was also arrested for traveling in a whites only section of a streetcar in New York City. During her trial, she was defended by lawyer Chester A. Arthur, who would go on to become the future United States President. It was Jennings’ trial that led to the desegregation of New York’s street cars. Frederick Douglass had also protested a few years prior, being kicked out of a whites-only train car in 1841. Similarly, baseball legend Jackie Robinson also once refused to move to the back of the bus and was court-martialed as a result.

The key to achieving victory is not to give up, to persist, to endure, and to abide. We are on the right side of history and represent the majority of Americans. It is only a matter of time before the protests and boycotts reach critical mass and become self-sustaining reactions that will become unstoppable.

To everyone who turned out on Monday, thank you, thank you, thank you! Keep up the great work. You are heroes of democracy!

DOGE seeks access to Social Security and student loan borrower information

Musk and his team of government-sanctioned hackers have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payments system. Over the President’s Day Weekend, Musk demanded access to Social Security beneficiary information, causing the acting head of Social Security to resign. See HuffPo, Social Security Head Steps Down Over DOGE Access Of Recipient Information: AP Sources.

Musk and his team apparently secured sufficient access to begin posting misleading information about the recipients. Musk incorrectly asserted that tens of millions of recipients were engaged in fraud because they were marked as “deceased.” Musk misleadingly suggested that some beneficiaries of Social Security are listed as 150 years old.

There are two things wrong with Musk’s statement. First, it proves that Musk is mucking around in private information about our social security benefits. Second, it shows that he is monumentally ignorant. See Nancy Altman in The Hill, Opinion: Elon Musk is coming for your Social Security.

Altman writes,

Both Musk’s ignorance and his anti-Social Security playbook were on full display Tuesday, when the shadow president talked to reporters in the Oval Office. In trying to convince us that our extremely efficient Social Security system is rife with fraud, he unknowingly proved how economical its administration is, when he asserted, “just cursory examination of Social Security and we’ve got people in there that are 150 years old.” No one born 150 years ago is still receiving benefits. But here is where Musk is showing his ignorance: Let’s take the example of a person who is issued a Social Security card as an infant and dies at age 10, never having received a penny of benefits. Social Security doesn’t waste taxpayer dollars finding that information and cancelling their Social Security number — this would be prohibitively expensive and wasteful. Moreover, most adults who die leave behind spouses and children, including adult disabled children, who may be eligible for benefits for many years based on the decedent’s earnings record. Therefore, that record may remain active for a very long time. For example, the last person to receive a Civil War pension was a veteran’s disabled daughter, who died less than five years ago — in 2020.

The problem with Musk rifling through data he doesn’t understand is this: He can suggest he has discovered fraud in just a few words: “We’ve got people in there that are 150 years old.” That lie takes three paragraphs to refute. But that is our challenge, so we must educate ourselves to be effective messengers of the truth.

Musk is now training his sites on student loan borrowing data. Late Monday, a federal judge in DC refused to grant an emergency restraining order barring Musk from accessing information on borrowers of student loans. See University of California Student Association v. Acting Secretary of Education | Memorandum and Order. The judge ruled that the student association had failed to make a “clear showing of irreparable harm” because the DOGE staffers have an obligation to prevent disclosure of the borrowers’ information.

Of course, we have seen that once information is in the hands of Musk, he operates under no constraints in publishing information to create the false impression that his team has discovered fraud, waste, and abuse.

If Musk or his team discloses private information beyond the permitted uses, it will be too late for injunctive relief to be effective. The judge failed to recognize (or acknowledge) that Musk isn’t playing by the rule book—and has failed to protect innocent borrowers whose information is now a pawn in the hands of bad actors with a history of misusing private information to suggest fraud where none exists.

DOGE lays off FAA employees

Three weeks after the largest US commercial aviation disaster in decades, the Trump administration is laying off FAA personnel charged with maintaining air traffic safety and systems integrity. See Trump Begins Firing FAA Air Traffic Control Staff Weeks After Fatal DC Plane Crash | HuffPost Latest News.

Per HuffPo,

The firings hit the FAA when it faces a shortfall in controllers. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.

Trump administration claims Musk is not a DOGE employee

Several states have filed suit against Elon Musk alleging that he is operating in violation of the Appointments Clause in ordering budget cuts and layoffs. In a responsive court filing, the White House claims that Musk (a) is not an employee of DOGE and (b) has no authority to order any cuts or layoffs. See Reuters White House says Musk is not DOGE employee, has no authority to make decisions. The White House claims, instead, that Musk is merely communicating the president’s directives.

If the state Plaintiffs can obtain the communications between Musk and Trump, those communications will likely show that the White House court filing is filled with lies. Trump isn’t ordering Musk to do anything. Musk is a rogue agent doing what he wants and telling Trump after the fact.

The fact that the White House has resorted to lies to conceal the truth of Musk’s role indicates that the White House knows that Musk is operating in an illegal matter in violation of the Appointments Clause.

The complaint is here: New Mexico et. al. v. Musk et al., and the declaration asserting that Musk is not an employee of DOGE is here: Declaration of Joshua Fisher.

Concluding Thoughts

Do not create unnecessary pressure by imposing unrealistic expectations on yourself. Do what you can and trust that others will carry their fair share of the burden. Every action is significant, no matter how small it may seem in isolation. We are not fighting this battle alone but as a part of a mass resistance campaign. Contribute what you can, when you can, and be proud of your contribution.

Everyone who showed up at a protest on Monday should pat themselves on their back, as should everyone who wrote a postcard, posted truthful content on social media, wrote a letter to the editor, or encouraged a fellow activist who needed a boost. We are truly in this fight together. We each have our part to do. Let’s do it—without fear or guilt or second-guessing. Every act—successful or not—becomes part of the groundwork for our future progress.

Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[diskaywrites]

WHUMPTOBER 2024

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 #𝟏: 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐉𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐱 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐎𝐟: 𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐝𝐝, 𝐂𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐲 (𝐨𝐜), 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧

.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽..✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽..✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽..✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽..✽✦✽.◦.✽

𝐼𝑓 𝑇𝑎𝑛𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.

The answer had left David Finlay's mouth before he could even truly consider what he was being asked. The interviewer for New Japan Global had asked about the matches he would want to wrestle in AEW, about a potential match at the upcoming Wrestle Dream show in January. It had started with a joke about fighting Tony Khan in a Dog Pound match for his money, before his mind drifted to the man he had banished from New Japan once before. The name hung heavy without ever being uttered, everyone would know who he meant.

And judging by the glares from the rest of the War Dogs as he entered the locker room, so did they.

"Is something the matter, boys?" David questioned as he sat his bag on one of the plastic chairs in the room, raising an eyebrow.

"Ya ain't ever gonna be over the tosser, hm?" Gabe Kidd's nostrils flared, a look of disgust in his ice blue eyes, "No matter what, it's always gonna come back to-"

"He could have meant someone else," Cal, ever the dutiful younger brother, scoffed with a shake of his head, "he could have meant Juice."

Clark laughed, looking up from the video he was watching on his phone, "Sure. Sure he meant Robinson. I got some oceanfront property in Illinois I'd like to sell ya while I'm thinkin' about it, Cal."

The laugh shared between Clark and Gabe made David hot under the collar of his leather jacket, and his hand flexed and unflexed at his side. "The two of ya done? Ya have your laugh out?"

"It's not 𝒐𝒖𝒓 fault 𝒚𝒐𝒖 realized too late ya ain't nothing without Jay White," laughed Gabe with a casual shrug of his shoulder.

David rounded on Gabe, shoulders squared back as if he wanted to start a fight, "What was that, Kidd? You got something you want to say to my face?"

Gabe was never one to back down and he moved in closer, standing toe-to-toe with David, "You ain't nothing without Jay White."

The rational part of David wanted to admit that Gabe was right. He hadn't felt the same since he had sent Jay packing from the company. Jay and David had come up together, they should still be together. An even deeper part of his soul knew why. The moments spent between the two in private, the closeness of the New Zealander had been the only thing he had truly wanted in life. It had been his own pride, his own hubris, that had meant David couldn't admit that he loved Jay White.

It was David's own pride that sent his palm careening into the side of Gabe's face, the crack of the slap echoing loud in the empty room.

Clark and Cal were the first to move, Cal getting between David and Gabe while Clark held Gabe back with a tight grip to his arm, "Don't forget who the leader here is!" David shouted past his brother with a snarl.

Gabe was barely being held back by the cowboy, thrashing in his grasp like a man trying to get out of a straight jacket. "Don't hit me! Don't you fuckin' hit me for sayin' what you ain't man enough to say!"

"C'mon, man," Cal was practically dragging Gabe from the locker room, "Let's get a smoke, yeah? Let's calm down and get a smoke."

As soon as they were out of the room, Cal turned to his brother. Those cold brown eyes examined David for a moment, as if trying to decide what to say, "It's true, isn't it?"

David ducked his head, turning away from Cal, "I-"

With a grip to his brother shoulder and with surprising strength, Cal turned his older brother to face him again. "Ya didn't just slap Gabe over a rumor. Do you. Love. Jay White?"

With every poke to the chest, David took a heaving breath. He wanted so badly to lash out again, but he knew it wouldn't do anything but cause a fight he had no one to save him from. "More than anything."

There it was, his soul laid bare. He loved Jay White. He had always 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 Jay White. It was the only thing he had been unable to admit to the War Dogs, to even himself. David half expected Cal to laugh, to mock him, but he knew that wasn't his brothers style. Instead, Cal's hand squeezed his shoulder as an act of comfort.

"Then tell him."

[bravetemptation]

In The Name of Being Honest

Back at his desk, Louis closed his eyes for a moment, trying to settle into the reality of this. He was leaving the UK for only the second time in his life. Suddenly, the holiday he took in Spain three summers ago felt like it paled in comparison. He was going to the U.S. - for work, it was true, but still - alone. He’s been all for seizing the moment when his boss has been looking at him with a gaze of steel, but now he felt vaguely nauseous.

Louis took several shaky breaths, feeling like the air was being sucked from the room, and opened the Manila folder, laying it flat on his desk. His breath caught as he saw the destination, centered in a large, black dont at the very top of the first page:

Robinson Publishing - Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.

~~~~~

After two years of living in an everlasting cycle of work, sleep, and regret, Louis finds himself wandering brand new streets perpetually haunted by the ghosts of his past.

The Chicago Fic.

By therogueskimo (me) and @sunflouwerhabit

•

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Epilogue

This fic is now complete 🩷 thank you for reading

[eye-catching-tma-headcanons]

i've got a few headcanons to offer.

melanie king is a big fan of the hit fps video game ultrakill.

jonah magnus was half-irish but elias bouchard isn't, so he kind of had to lose whatever remained of that aspect of his identity.

peter lukas is finnish, i know this because i am, and all finnish people just sort of are like that.

simon fairchild's favourite album is hawaii: part II by miracle musical, for both the vast aspects of it and because it's a concept album where the main character's name is simon.

gertrude robinson back in the day was like a film noir detective hunting down avatars while also having sexual tension with every girl she fought and she'd say shit like "nothing personal, montageu. a true archivist is married to the job." for fun

1: Ever Since She Was A Child She Knew… She Was Always Meant To Be An Avatar Of The Slaughter

2: he keeps a few Irish keepsakes around his office, and his only excuse is that he “thinks Irish people are just neat”

3: Finland IS the Lonley. It’s like the I Suffer From Mental Illinois but Finland

4: he claims to be “The Original Simon” and everything else was just named after him

5: she spoke with the Archivist Static but not for compulsion, just for dramatic effect

[blackmarket-playlists]

Shoegaze Favourites – hear what's hot! This playlist, refreshed regularly, features my top 30 shoegaze tracks of 2025. It's all about highlighting the best under-the-radar bands (mostly) you might miss in my other huge playlists. From dreamy to heavy, soft to grungy, these songs are all killer. Think of this as your shoegaze starter pack, a taste of the best new music. Enjoy!

Artist: Labyrinthine Oceans (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) 

Song: pinch (released on ep 'lost on the ocean‘, Jan 21)

Artist: Seashine (St. Louis, Missouri) 

Song: Waves (released March 21, taken from their great debut album, self-titled)

Artist: Shades of Violette (Washington, D.C., US)

Song: Spiritsense (released March 29, taken from their 2nd album 'Spiritsense'). The album's opener, that perfectly embodies the feeling of shading.

Artist: FRGMNTS (Lund, Sweden) 

Song: 2 a.m. (debut single released Feb 25, and on the fantastic debut album 'The sound of letting go‘, released Mar 1.) Intense soundscape with a horn section.

Artist: Hannah Robinson (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) 

Song: Who I Am (single, released Mar 14)

Artist: Steve Queralt and Emma Anderson (UK)

Song: Lonely Town (single, dropped Mar 26) When the bass player for Ride meets the co-founder of Lush…. Simply beautiful

Artist: Atlantic Canyons (New Hampshire, US), feat. Pultixima & Lohm

Song: Cut The Collar (single, released Mar 12)

Artist: Mannequin Flowers (London, UK)

Song: Validation (single, released Mar 18) Incredible song with a kicking guitar tremolo at 3:40, and an exploding guitar at the end.

Artist: rocket rules (Melbourne, Australia)

Song: add up all the chances (taken from the 3-pc ‚immediately and without hesitation‘, released Mar 7). 'Jangle Shoegaze‘, wonderful.

Artist: Nuevos Mundos (Madrid, Spain)

Song: Si Quieres Saber (taken from the phenomenal debut album (self-titled), released Mar 7). Dramatic orchestral sound with horns!

Artist: fetters in use (Saint Petersburg, Russia)

Song: Thin Skin (single, released Feb 7)

Artist: Future Fiires (Tucson, Arizona, US)

Song: New York (single release Jan 17, also on the fabulous ep 'the city‘, released Feb 21)

Artist: Truck Bed (Richmond, Virgina, US) 

Song: Puzzles (debut single, released Jan 31) Dreamy emo-alt rock!

Artist: Sea of Days (Brighton, UK)

Song: Wound (title song of the album, released Mar 14). If The National meets 90s Shoegaze.

Artist: Winter Gardens (Brighton, UK)

Song: Anthropocene (single, dropped Feb 26). Best synth driven shoegaze!

Artist: Kallsup (Örebro, Sweden)

Song: Forever (single, dropped Feb 21)

Artist: Cats Of Transnistria (Helsinki, Finland)

Song: Basement (taken from the hypnotic album 'IV‘, released Mar 21)

Artist: Zabriskie (Zurich, Switzerland)

Song: Underwater (taken from the debut ep 'All Things Become Light“, dropped Mar 21)

Artist: Go With Strangers (California, US)

Song: I’ll Miss You, Never (released as single on Jan 17, also on the great album 'Ave, Reverie‘, dropped Mar 21)

Artist: Wild Dive (Cologne, Germany)

Song: The Calling (single, released Feb 14). Finest new wave gaze

Artist: Joyful Forfeit (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, US)

Song: Left-Handed Cursive (new song, dropped Feb 5 on the 4-pc ep). Post rock? Emo? Gaze? Whatever – amazing!

Artist: Deer Fang (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada)

Song: Left Unseen (single, dropped Jan 17, also on the ep 'Bloom‘, dropped Feb 28). Melds elements of grunge, shoegaze and alternative rock!

Artist: flowersatherfeet (Chicago, Illinois, US)

Song: home (taken from the great debut album 'elegy‘, released Feb 14)

Artist: Picture Postcard (Dublin, Ireland)

Song: October (debut single, dropped Feb 28). Heavy gaze!

Artist: OSNOVA (Los Angeles, California)

Song: Climbing Dues (single, dropped Jan 24)

Artist: Grief & Bliss (Southern California, US)

Song: Endless Circles (taken from the ep 'Suicical Summer Rider‘, released Mar 13)

Artist: nebenschau (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Song: Too Soon (taken from the ep 'II‘, released Mar 3)

 Artist: Seatemples (Chile)

Song: Midnight Ride (taken from the album 'Los Templos Marinos‘, released Feb 14)

Artist: waltzerr (Seattle, Washington, US)

Song: PCH (single, dropped Mar 21)

Artist: SONYA (Budapest, Hungary)

Song: Side Of You (single, dropped Feb 21)

Artist: Bleedstone (Louisville, Kentucky, US)

Song: King Baby Reigns (single, dropped Jan 6). Gazing into the psychverse soaked in sludge and sizzurp

Artist: No Culture (North Alabama, US)

Song: Shithouse Rat (single, dropped Jan 24). Heavy!

[steveinscarlet]

One for the Joe Hoes methinks!

Full text under the cut

"WE'RE THE LEAST OFFENSIVE BAND AROUND!"

Reckons all-round nice guy JOE ELLIOTT, but that doesn't stop the hugely successful DEF LEPPARD getting a slagging from the likes of Black Crowe Chris Robinson. Is it jealousy cos the Leps were the first band ever to sell seven million albums back- to-back, or do even the band themselves think they've wrung and sung themselves dry with their latest multi-million seller, 'Adrenalize', and the mammoth tour that's accompanied it? ALISON JOY stowed away aboard the band's mini-bus (no limos here!) to try to discover the way the land lies...

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1992 will not be remembered as one of the greatest days in the lives of Def Leppard- especially vocalist Joe Elliott. Still not completely recovered from the bout of pleurisy which caused him so much trouble a couple of months ago (and still knocking back eight tablets a day to keep it under control), Joe has also been struck down with every singer's nightmare - the sore throat.

Despite half-hearted attempts not to talk too much (difficult for one so vocal) and several visits to a flight case stocked full of everything from plasters to paracetamol, tonight's show in Champaign, Illinois is a bit of a duffer. The rest of the band play a blinder, but Elliott's below-par performance results in the set being cut short to try and save his voice.

Post-show, Joe pours himself about a quarter of a pint of whisky and states an intention to get "bolloxed drunk" and forget all about it. The problem is, with Leppard's inflexible touring schedule, there's just no recovery time when you're below par.

As Joe explains, "When we do two gigs in a row, I have no problem. When we do three, it's a lot harder. I'm not singing Billy Idol vocal lines that are dead easy - I'm singing demanding stuff, and it takes a lot of breath. When your throat gets screwed up it swells, which means less air gets in, which means you have to use your lungs more; it's very tiring."

Add to this the many hours Joe spends doing interviews, local radio, warming up and travelling, and it's easy to see why he can't just tuck himself up in bed with a Lemsip and sleep it off. It pisses him off that the audience pay part of the price for his illness, in paying to see a sub-standard Def Leppard performance. Fortunately, the crowd at Champaign's Assembly Hall are sympathetic, and respond by singing even louder to help him through.

ACTUALLY CANCELLING a show, however, is out of tha question.

"We've never cancelled a gig on the day," explains Elliott, "it's always been 48 hours notice. We've only ever cancelled two gigs because of me: Nottingham in '83, and on the last tour I dislocated a rib in Belfast and spent two nights in hospital. I had to have an epidural after the Nottingham show, it was so bad, and I had this big Velcro waistband holding my ribs in place. I did the next six or seven shows like that, and had to go to the doctor every day for injections."

Apart from that, there've only been a couple of other health disasters meriting cancellations; one when drummer Rick Allen had tendonitis in his arm, and another when guitarist Phil Collen was suffering from glandular fever. At that second show, two people returned their tickets and 500 turned up to try and buy spares.

As Joe explains, "You've got 58 people on the road for 18 months. It's a physical impossibility for nothing to go wrong. When it's the singer who's ill, though, it's just so much more highlighted." Suddenly laughing, he adds, "Mind you, it'll probably do us a bit of good to sound out of tune now and again, cos everybody thinks we've got everything on tape! At least Champaign proved we do f**k up!"

LEAVING THE ASSEMBLY Hall, the band and entourage surprise the fans waiting outside by getting not into a fleet of limos, but squashing into a small mini-bus. Def Leppard do not fart around in limousines, instead preferring the friendly banter of the small bus, and tonight talk is of the show, Joe's voice and, natch, football.

I'm perched at the back next to guitarist Viv Campbell, who offstage wears his hair in a very interesting ponytail which sits right on the top of his head. It is, he reckons, "convenient". Viv's planning to move back to Ireland soon, after a few years' exile in Los Angeles, meaning he'll be much nearer to Joe's home studio.

Up front, Joe turns round, points at Viv and laughs, "He's worked with Lou Gramm, David Coverdale and Ronnie Dio and now he's lumbered with me!" Self- deprecation? They got it!

When the mini-bus pulls up at Champaign Airport, Def Leppard's plane is waiting in the snow. The small plane - certainly more functional than glamorous - is what enables the band to play every corner of America in a very short space of time. The flight is a short hop to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the temperature is hovering at around minus 10. Although the next day is a day off, the band turn straight into bed for some well-earned rest most likely in preparation for the five-a-side football match that's been arranged!

DESPITE THE fact that Def Leppard are successful, down-to-earth blokes, some people just can't resist putting the knife in, and as Joe Elliott himself admits, "I don't know one person in the music business, apart from Brian May, who actually likes us". Indeed, The Black Crowes' Chris Robinson made a completely unprovoked attack on the Leps in Kerrang! recently: how does that kind of thing make Joe feel?

"Well," he ponders, "I've got to look at it from two points of view. There's a part of me that says it's unprofessional, but this is the most unprofessional business in the world anyway. Everybody knows that controversy sells. We've slagged bands off in the past, when we were about the same age as Chris is, so I can't really have a go at him for it.

"If Chris Robinson doesn't like Def Leppard, fine; I still like The Black Crowes, and I'm not gonna not like them just because he doesn't like us. They're retrospective, trying to go back and be The Rolling Stones, while we've been criticised for trying to push things into the future. As much as I like them, though, if I was in that kind of mood, I'd put 'Exile On Main Street' on instead, because it's much better. "The only people who like us are kids that come to concerts and buy records, and that suits me fine. I'd much rather do a show in front of 16,000 screaming kids with no musicians ligging than be one of those bands who everybody in the business likes. I remember when everybody was sucking up Lenny Kravitz' arse so much it was like they all wanted to give him an enema! Yet the guy couldn't fill the Marquee! I'd much rather have it the other way round."

STAYING WITH all things critical, what would be your response to people who label you as sexist because of songs like 'Make Love Like A Man' and 'Personal Property'?

Joe sighs a long, hard sigh, then finally says, "The way I look at it is that you're portraying a role on every song you sing. Phil Collen wrote 'Miss You In A Heartbeat', and when I sing it, it might be a song he wrote about his wife, but I don't sing it to his wife, I sing it on his behalf to his wife, and to anybody else that wants to hear it.

"When I do 'Let's Get Rocked', I'm pretending to be Bart Simpson, but when I did it I was 32 years old. Warren Mitchell is not Alf Garnett; Alf Garnett is a sexist, Warren Mitchell is an actor playing a sexist. When we do those songs, we're just portraying a vibe. 'Personal Property' is not sexist, I don't see how anybody could think it is. All it's doing is putting a woman on a pedestal, and you just end up with these typical skinhead, dungaree-wearing women saying, 'Sexist crap'. Get a life! It's just four minutes of rock 'n' roll - and we're the least offensive band around!

"We would never sing 'Back Off Bitch', but did anybody have a go at Axl? No, because they're too busy trying to figure out his personality. With us, I guess there's nothing else to look at..."

THE FOLLOWING day's show at Brown County Arena, Green Bay presents a different band to the one who limped home in Champaign, and their relief is evident. Everything runs according to plan and the crowd are, to quote that song, hysterical.

Fan hysteria is something Def Leppard have had to deal with for a few years now, and there are plenty of tales to tell about band members arriving at hotels to find naked women in their beds, or people who barge into their rooms and refuse to leave. Just what, to Joe Elliott, is the price of fame?

"No throat most days!" he laughs, before continuing, "No, I can live with 98 per cent of it, because this is what I want. The most painful thing about this whole situation is that all your friends become phone friends, I don't get to see United (Sheffield, that is), and because this is an expensive tour and we have to do five shows a week, I occasionally suffer from throat problems.

"We have never had bodyguards, because the way that you project yourself is the way you are responded to. We've always tried to project ourselves as a bunch of normal guys who can prove that you can sell 15 million albums and not have to vomit on a preacher man, beat people up, piss in aeroplane seats, rape women... whatever you've got to do to prove your 'macho-ness' and get publicity.

"The reason Guns N' Roses are so big is that they've got good songs and a bad boy image. What small amount of bad boy image we had died with Steve, and he'd be the first to admit that he didn't sell one record with his image as a bad boy.

"As for the privacy thing, well, I could walk through a shopping mall tomorrow and maybe six people would stop me. So I sign six autographs - big deal! If somebody's following me, though, I get pissed off. I don't like upsetting fans, but some people are so fanatical you can tell them to f**k off and they'll still buy your next LP!"

AND DEF Leppard have sold more than a few. With every album from 'High And Dry' onwards selling on a multi-million scale, sceptics might wonder just how much longer the band can keep up their astonishing success. So how many more albums will Def Leppard make, and can they keep producing those multi-million sellers?

Joe: "Well, if we've got 10 more years in our career, that means two albums! No, I don't know. This one's ('Adrenalize') not gonna sell as many as 'Hysteria', though, I can tell you that now. That one was a phenomenon; it happens once in a lifetime.

"I'd be happy if we sold three million every time. Sales don't bother me much; I'm financially secure, so I'm not motivated by money - I'm motivated by being a better singer than I was on the last album. The challenge on the next record is to see how Viv's songwriting fits in with ours."

So you're not planning a sudden retirement?

"No - though I would hate to see happening to us what happened to bands like Uriah Heep or individuals like Billy Squier, who just disappeared off the face of the earth, because I think we're better than that. I'm not too happy about the fact that we put an album out every four but if somebody said, 'Would you go back and change the way things have gone?', then other than Steve dying, no, I wouldn't. We were the first band ever to do seven million albums back-to-back (with 'Pyromania' and 'Hysteria') and if this one does it, we'll be the first to do three."

AND WITH 'Adrenalize' getting close to six million sales right now, Leppard look poised to break another record and once more rubbish the cynics who say they should pack it in.

An' for Leo fans in Britain, this year still holds a bit of promise. January 18 saw the release of 'Heaven is' as a single, and word has it that the band will also headline an outdoor gig at Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield in September. The latter has yet to be confirmed, but you can guarantee that if Def Leppard are the hosts it's sure to be one hell of a party...

[elijones94]

🦌 I saw some deer on the run during my evening bike ride. 🚲

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.12

Holidays

Bra Day (Japan)

Darwin Day

Flip Flop Day [also 3rd Friday in June]

Gamma Day (Illinois)

Georgia Day (US)

Gold Rush Day (Australia)

Hug Day

Immanuel Kant Remembrance Day

International Darwin Day

International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers

International Day of the Prevention of Violent Extremism As & When Conducive to Terrorism

International Day of Women’s Health

Janet Jackson Appreciation Day

Lady Jane Grey’s Ghost Appearance Day

Lincoln's Birthday

Lost Penny Day

Love a Mensch Day

Makha Bucha Day (Thailand)

Memorial Day of 1990 Dushanbe Riots (Tajikistan)

Moresdag (Mother’s Day; Norway)

NAACP Day

Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial Day (Booneville, Indiana)

National Freedom to Marry Day

National Hump for a Day, Day

National Productivity Day (India)

National Women’s Day (Pakistan)

Oglethorpe Day (a.k.a. Georgia Day; US)

Paul Bunyan Day (Bangor, Maine) [also 8.10]

Peanut’s Remembrance Day

Pick A New Love Song Day

Red Hand Day (UN)

Rhapsody in Blue Day

Robinson Crusoe Rescue Day

Rubber Galoshes Day

Safety Pup Day

Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Day (Canada)

Susan B. Anthony Dollar Day

Tourism Day (Taiwan)

World Cholangiocarcinoma Day

World Lidar Day

Youth Day (Venezuela)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Hot Tea Day

National Biscotti Day

National P.B. & J. Day

Plum Pudding Day

Nature Celebrations

Common Knotgrass Day (French Republic)

Justiça Procumbens Day (Pure & Simple; Korean Birth Flowers)

Independence, Flag & Related Days

The Baillium Empire (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Chile (Declared from Spain, 1818)

China (Became a Republic after Overthrow of Manchu Dynasty; 1912)

Commonwealth Day (Gibraltar)

Savannah, Georgia (Founded; 1733)

Sexistan (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Union Day (Union of Burma Founded; 1947)

New Year’s Days

New Year for Trees (Tu Bishvat; Judaism)

2nd Wednesday in February

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Waste-Not Wednesday (UK) [Wednesday of Go Green Week]

Watermelon Wednesday [2nd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Workout Wednesday [2nd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 12 (2nd Week of February)

Borrowed Days (Scotland) [thru 2.14]_

Festivals On or Beginning February 12, 2025

Cheongwoldaeboreum, a.k.a. Korean Folk Festival (North Korea)

Great British Beer Festival Winter (Rotherham, United Kingdom) [thru 2.15]

Kosher Food and Wine Experience (Oxnard, California)

Lantern Festival (China) [Day 15 in Month 1]

National Farm Machinery Show & Tractor Pull (Louisville, Kentucky) [thru 2.15]

Taiwan Lantern Festival (Taoyuan, Taiwan) [thru 2.23]

Watertown Winter Farm Show (Watertown, South Dakota) [thru 2.15]

Feast Days

Aesop (Positivist; Saint)

Anthony Kauleas, Patriarch of Constantinople (Christian; Saint)

Ariadne’s Labyrinth Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Benedict of Aniane (Christian; Saint)

Bruno (Muppetism)

Choes Day (Day of the Cups; Ancient Greece)

Damian of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Darwin Day (Pastafarian)

Diana’s Day (Ancient Rome)

Diana’s Day — Protection of Wildlife (Pagan)

Ethelwald of Lindisfarne (Christian; Saint)

Eulalia (Christian; Saint)

Feast of the Seven Founders of the Service Order

Feast of the Three Saints — Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian (Orthodox Christian)

Festival of Artemis (Goddess of the Hunt; Ancient Greece)

Festival of Pitooyage (God of gaming & chance; Oaxaca, Mexico)

Fritter Thursday [Day after Ash Wednesday]

High Confiscation of Property (Church of the SubGenius)

Julian the Hospitaller (Christian; Saint) [travelers, innkeepers & circus performers]

Ludan (Christian; Saint)

Marina (Christian; Virgin)

Martyrs of Abitinae (Christian; Martyrs)

Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Sacrifice to Dionysos (Ancient Greece)

Storm-Days begin (Celtic Book of Days)

Tales of Kelp-Koli (Shamanism)

Hebrew Calendar Holidays [Begins at Sundown Day Before]

Tu Bishvat (New Year for Trees) [14-15 Shevat]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 15 (Ren-Zi)

Day Pillar: Water Rat

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Open Day (開 Kai) [Auspicious]

Holidays: Lantern Festival (元宵节)

Full Moon [2nd of the Year] (a.k.a. ... 

Bony Moon (Cherokee)

Budding Moon (China)

Daeboreum (Great Full Moon; Korea) [1st Full Moon of Lunar Calendar]

Eagle Moon (Traditional)

Grain Moon (South Africa)

The Great Fifteenth [Lunar Calendar]

Hunger or Hungry Moon (Alternate)

Ice Moon (Celtic)

Little Famine Moon (Choctaw)

Naval Full Moon Poya Day (Sri Lanka)

Raccoon Moon (Traditional)

Snow Moon (American Indian, North America, Traditional)

Southern Hemisphere: Barley, Corn, Dog, Grain, Red, Sturgeon, Wyrt Moons

Storm Moon (England, Neo-Pagan, Wicca)

Trapper’s Moon (Colonial)

Secular Saints Days

Darren Aronofsky (Entertainment)

Max Beckman (Art)

Tex Beneke (Music)

Terry Bisson (Literature)

Judy Blume (Literature)

Omar Bradley (Military)

Rolf Brem (Art)

Charles Darwin (Science)

Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué (Literature)

R. F. Delderfield (Literature)

Jean Effel (Art)

R. Buckminster Fuller (Architecture)

Steve Hackett (Music)

Roy Harris (Music)

Abraham Lincoln (Politics)

Ray Manzarek (Music)

Michael McDonald (Music)

George Meredith (Literature)

Joan Mitchell (Art)

Thomas Moran (Art)

Zoran Mušič (Art)

Anna Pavlova (Dance)

Christina Ricci (Entertainment)

Bill Russell (Sports)

Julian S. Schwinger (Science)

George Simenon (Literature)

Marie Vassilieff (Art)

Franco Zeffirelli (Entertainment)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 43 [14 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [11 of 57]

Premieres

All in Fever Say Aye or The Emotion is Carried (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 204; 1963)

Andy and Min Have a Caller (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Andy’s Holiday (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Animals, by Pink Floyd (Album; 1977)

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, by Richard Hofstadter (Non-Fiction Book; 1963)

Emperor Hymn (a.k.a. Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser), by Joseph Haydn (Austrian Anthem; 1797)

The Automobile Ride (Fleischer Goldwyn-Bray Pictographs Cartoon; 1921)

Beanstalk Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1955)

The Best of Luck (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Blast from the Past (Film; 1999)

Blow-Up and Other Stories, by Julio Cortázar (Short Stories; 1968)

The Blue Umbrella (Animated Pixar Short; 2013)

Boomerang Bowler or Boris Makes a Comeback (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 203; 1963)

Bunny Mooning (Fleischer Color Classic Cartoon; 1937)

Centennial, by James A. Michener (Historical Novel; 1974)

Chester’s Cat (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Crazy Town (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1954)

A Dangerous Girl (Keen cartoon; 1917)

Deadpool (Film; 2016)

Dracula (Film; 1931)

English Settlement, by XTC (Album; 1982)

The Further Adventures of Hardrock Dome (Paramount-Bray Pictographs Cartoon; 1919)

Give ‘er the Gas (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Groundhog Day (Film; 1993)

Homeward Bound, by Simon & Garfunkel (Song; 1966)

Hop On Pop, by Dr. Seuss (Children’s Book; 1963)

Il Cuspidore (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

The International (Film; 2009)

I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, by Dick Powell and Alice Faye (Song; 1937)

Kittens’ Mittens (Car-Tune Cartoon; 1940)

Life Is Beautiful (Film; 1999)

The Lyin’ Hunter (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1937)

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (Film; 2021)

The Masked Ball (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Maybe I’m Amazed (Live), by Paul McCartney and Wings (Song; 1977)

Michigan State University (School; 1855)

More Than You Know, recorded by Mildred Bailey (Song; 1942)

Moving Pictures, by Rush (Album; 1981)

NAACP (Civil Rights Organization; 1909)

On Golden Pond (Film; 1982)

On the Avenue (Film; 1937)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Film; 2010)

Pink Pest Control (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1969)

Pluto’s Housewarming (Disney Cartoon; 1947)

Porky Chops (WB LT Cartoon; 1949)

Progress (Heasrt-Pathe News Cartoon; 1918)

The Promoters (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Rear Window, by Cornell Woolrich (Short Story f.k.a. It Had To Be Murder; 1942)

Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin (Musical Composition; 1924)

Rhythm Lullaby and Bubbling Over, by Earl Hines & His Orchestra (Songs; 1935)

Robocop (Film; 2014)

Rolling Around (The Gumps Wallace Carlson Studio Cartoon; 1921)

Roundabout, by Yes (Song; 1972)

Run to the Hills, by Iron Maiden (Song; 1982)

School Daze (Film; 1988)

The Shot Heard Round the World or The First National Bang (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 98; 1961)

Sign of the Unicorn, by Roger Zelazny (Novel; 1975) [The Chronicles of Amber, #3]

The Son Shower (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1928)

The Space Rat or Of Mice and Menace (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 97; 1961)

The Squaw Man (Film; 1914) [1st Film made in Hollywood]

Stay Tuned (WB Cartoon; 1993)

Strictly Ballroom (Film; 1993)

Studebaker (Automobile Company’s 1st Sale; 1902)

The Swooner Crooner (Blue Ribbon Hit Parade Cartoon; 1949)

Taft Playing Golf (Criterion Komic Kartoons Cartoon; 1915)

Tapper (Videogame; 1984)

Times and Patowmack Packet (Newspaper; 1789) [1st D.C. newspaper]

Tom Turk and Daffy (WB LT Cartoon; 1944)

Untamed Heart (Film; 1993)

Vermont Gazette (Newspaper; 1781) [1st Vermont newspaper]

We Give Pink Stamps (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1965)

Whoops! I’m a Cowboy (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1937)

Zoolander 2 (Film; 2016)

Today’s Name Days

Benedikt, Eulalia, Gregor (Austria)

Zvonimir, Zvonko (Croatia)

Slavěna (Czech Republic)

Eulalia (Denmark)

Alma, Alme, Elma, Elme, Elmi (Estonia)

Elma, Elmi (Finland)

Félix (France)

Benedikt, Eulalia (Germany)

Meletios, Meletis, Plotinos (Greece)

Lídia, Lívia (Hungary)

Alessio, Eulalia, Pilerio (Italy)

Karlīna, Karline, Līna (Latvia)

Benediktas, Deimantė, Eulalija, Mantminas (Lithuania)

Randi, Randulf, Ronja (Norway)

Aleksy, Benedykt, Eulalia, Julian, Laurenty, Modest, Nora, Radzim, Trzebisława (Poland)

Meletie (Romania)

Perla (Slovakia)

Eulalia (Spain)

Evelina, Evy (Sweden)

Ulas (Ukraine)

Abra, Abraham, Abram, Bram, Darwin, Ibrahim (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Braydon Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 43 of 2025; 322 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 3 of Week 7 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 23 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 15 (Ren-Zi)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 5 Amshir 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Hackberry (Feb 9-18) [Day 4 of 10]

Hebrew: 14 Shevat 5785

Islamic: 13 Sha’ban 1446

Julian: 30 January 2025

Moon: 100%: Full Moon

Positivist: 15 Homer (2nd Month) [Aesop)

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 7 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 54 of 90)

SUn Calendar: 13 Gray; Sixthday [13 of 30]

Week: 2nd Week of February

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 24 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 29 of 29)

Schmidt Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 18 of 27)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 24 of 28)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Capricornus (Day 25 of 28)

[sunflouwerhabit]

IN THE NAME OF BEING HONEST

the chicago fic | therogueskimo & sunflouwerhabit

Louis Tomlinson / Harry Styles

General Audiences | Complete | 123K

Back at his desk, Louis closed his eyes for a moment, trying to settle into the reality of this. He was leaving the UK for only the second time in his life. Suddenly, the holiday he took to Spain three summers ago felt like it paled in comparison. He was going to the U.S. - for work, it was true, but still - alone. He’d been all for seizing the moment when his boss had been looking at him with a gaze of steel, but now he felt vaguely nauseous.

Louis took several shaky breaths, feeling like the air was being sucked from the room, and opened the manila folder, laying it flat on his desk. His breath caught as he saw the destination, centered in a large, block font at the very top of the first page:

Robinson Publishing - Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.

~~~

After two years of living in an everlasting cycle of work, sleep, and regret, Louis finds himself wandering brand new streets perpetually haunted by the ghosts of his past.

Cowritten with the talented, brilliant, lovely @bravetemptation

Ex-Best Friends to Lovers | Unrequited Love | SO MUCH PINING | Infidelity (not between Louis and Harry) | Emotional Hurt/Comfort | Second Chance Romance | Based Heavily on Louis Tomlinson’s “Chicago” - Blame Louis not us! :-)

[justforbooks]

The career of the actor Andre Braugher, who has died of lung cancer aged 61, was benchmarked by two performances in police dramas a generation apart. In the groundbreaking drama Homicide: Life on the Street, from 1993 until 1999, he played Detective Frank Pembleton, whose drive immediately made him the anchor of an impressive ensemble cast led by Yaphet Kotto and Ned Beatty. He drew a younger audience with the comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-21) as Captain Ray Holt, who takes over a chaotic homicide squad and whose intensity again makes him the heart of the show.

Braugher’s deep, resonant voice and seemingly effortless control drew the respect of all he worked with. David Simon, creator of Homicide and The Wire, said: “I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors. I’ll never work with one better.” His classical training, at the Juilliard School in New York, made him a regular at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, and indeed his portrayal of Henry V in 1996 won him an Obie (the off-Broadway equivalent of the Tony awards).

He brought the projection of the stage to the small screen. Pembleton was the master of “the Box”, or the interrogation room. He explained to his rookie partner in Homicide (played by Kyle Secor), it was “salesmanship … as silver tongued and thieving as ever moved used cars, Florida swamp land or Bibles. But what I am selling is a long prison sentence.” He dominated those small scenes, but the episode Subway, with Vincent D’Onofrio as a character pushed between subway trains, who will die once the trains are separated, was a two-hander whose intensity might have come from the stage of Beckett, Pinter or Mamet.

In Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as Holt, he played it straight in two senses. The adage of comedy being funniest when played straight gained resonance from Braugher’s ability to show the audience with a gesture or line-reading that he, like you, got the joke. But Holt is also gay. His gayness is never an issue, except as motivation for his progress within the police. It was as if Pembleton were stepping into Kotto’s “Gee” Giardello, a black man with an Italian father who was determined to rise in a white-dominated department.

This drive reflected Braugher’s own background. In the tough neighbourhood of Austin, on Chicago’s West Side, both his parents worked for the government; his father, Floyd, was a heavy equipment operator for the state of Illinois, and his mother, Sally, worked for the US Postal Service. He recalled he might have “pretended I was hard and tough and not square”, but he won scholarships to the Jesuit St Ignatius College prep and then to study mathematics at Stanford University, California. After walking into a student production of Hamlet, and playing Claudius, he decided he wanted to act.

Another scholarship took him to Juilliard. He graduated in 1988 and almost immediately was cast in a TV revival of Kojak, as his assistant. His first film role came in Glory (1989); he was so impressive as the educated Thomas Searles, forced to serve as a private soldier in the all-black regiment commanded by his white friend, that Hollywood came calling, but the parts were standard stereotyical roles. His father had questioned how a black actor would make a living, and Braugher later explained: “I’d rather not work than do a part I’m ashamed of.”

He played the lead in a TV movie, The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990), playing Robinson, the first African-American player in major league baseball, who earlier in the 1940s, as a US army lieutenant, had refused to ride in the back of a segregated bus; and appeared in another TV film, The Tuskegee Airmen (1995). He was an egotistical actor in Spike Lee’s Get On the Bus (1996), about the Million Man March on Washington DC the year before. In 1998 he won his first Emmy award for playing Pembleton; he was nominated 11 times, and won his second in 2006 for his role in the miniseries Thief.

After Homicide, he starred as a doctor in Gideon’s Crossing (2000-01), as a cop in Hack (2002-04), as a car dealer in the comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age (2009-11) and as the captain of a submarine which goes on the run after he refuses to obey orders to fire nuclear missiles in Last Resort (2012-13). He had another series of remarkable two-handers in a recurring role as Hugh Laurie’s psychiatrist in House, was a defense attorney in episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and voiced Governor Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz in the animated comedy BoJack Horseman.

He made the most of supporting roles in films such as Primal Fear (as Richard Gere’s investigator), Poseidon (captain of the sinking liner), Salt (as the US secretary of defense) and most notably as a New York Times editor in She Said (2022), covering the Harvey Weinstein scandal. He also starred in 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002), the story of the unionisation of Pullman railway porters, who were always called “George” by passengers.

Braugher admitted that his career “could have been larger, but it would have been at the expense of my own life”. He lived in suburban New Jersey with his wife, the actor Ami Brabson (who played Pembleton’s wife in Homicide). He said he wanted his three sons, Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley, raised in a “true context”, away from being a movie star’s offspring in Hollywood.

He is survived by his wife and sons, his brother, Charles, and his mother.

🔔 Andre Keith Braugher, actor, born 1 July 1962; died 11 December 2023

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INRD SD90 @ Robinson, IL por Daniel Tatjenhorst Por Flickr: Just west of the Illinois route 1 intersection, INRD 9004 leads the NTHW 15 towards Palestine yard where it will drop off some freight before finishing the trip back to Hiawatha. This was a neat train because it's the new and the old coming together to work this train. INRD 9004 East - INRD NTHW 15 INRD Indianapolis Sub - MP 127.3 Robinson, IL June 15, 2023