#San Diego State Dance Team

[news-buzz]

Saweetie Reunites With Dance Team AT SDSU Homecoming News Buzz

Saweetie was eating the gworls up as she reunited with her alma mater’s dance team at San Diego State University. The ‘NANi’ rapper joined the diamond squad for their homecoming celebration. RELATED: Saweetie Recalls Being Broke Before The Fame, “Couch Surfing” & Living Out Of Her Car (WATCH) Icy Girl Reunites With San Diego State University Dance Team On Sunday, October 27, Saweetie dropped a…

[gurutrends]

Saweetie Rejoins San Diego State Dance Team For Special Homecoming Performance

Saweetie has relived her college days, thanks to a special homecoming performance alongside the dance team at her alma mater, San Diego State University. In a video posted to Instagram by 21Ninety on Sunday (October 27), the Icy Girl can be seen leading the SDSU Diamonds as they perform to her hit single 2019 single “My Type.” The video was shared alongside a throwback clip of Saweetie during…

[meazalykov]

dance moms

laura freigang x dancer!reader

summary: after moving back to germany, to escape the chaos you've suffered in the states, you meet a photographer (who happens to be a footballer as well.)

a/n: if you don't know what the american reality show "dance moms" is, I'd do some basic research in order to understand the first part of this fic <3

growing up at the ALDC felt like being in a pressure cooker. 

you were only two years old when your mom, isla, moved the both of you from germany to pennsylvania in the united states. 

she put you in dance classes as soon as she could. at first, it was exciting—you loved the way your body could express emotions through movement. you loved gaining flexibility and having a routine. you loved performing and getting to put on pretty costumes. but that changed the moment dance moms came into the picture.

at just eleven years old, you were pulled into the chaotic world of reality TV. cameras followed your every move, every mistake. 

abby lee miller’s constant critiques weighed you down, her screaming echoing in your head long after rehearsals ended. she changed since the cameras started filming her. 

“you’ll never be good enough if you don’t push harder, y/n!” she’d shout during practice, her words biting deep into your skin like needles.

there were moments where you had solos. those were the dances you loved the most. you always scored very well and got on top of the pyramid whenever maddie wasn’t. 

sometime during season four, there was a significant moment that didn’t leave your mind for a while. 

you stood in the wings at a competition in san diego, your chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath after your solo. the adrenaline rushed through your veins, but it was dulled by the sinking feeling in your stomach. 

you’d stumbled on one of your turns—something that wasn’t like you at all. but it was there, clear as day, right in front of the judges and the audience. and now, you were about to face abby.

as soon as they announced the results, you knew it wasn’t going to be good. 

second place. you’d lost to maddie. again. but what made it worse was that you weren’t just up against anyone—this was a week where you were up against the candy apples. abby’s biggest rivals. 

this meant that her mood was already sour, and you knew this was going to tip her over the edge.

the second you stepped into the dressing rooms, abby’s gaze was already locked on you, her face a storm of frustration and anger. 

she didn’t even wait for everyone to sit down before coming at you.

“second place?” abby barked, her voice sharp as a whip. “second place, y/n? you know that’s not acceptable. not here!” 

you flinched but kept your head down, your heart racing. you wanted to explain—to say that the stumble was a mistake, something you couldn’t control—but you knew it wouldn’t matter. not to abby.

“what happened out there?” she demanded, sitting down in her chair, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. 

“you stumbled on a turn, y/n. a turn! something you should be perfect at by now.”

you swallowed hard, your throat dry. “i know, abby. i’m sorry. i—i just—”

“sorry isn’t good enough,” abby cut you off, her voice dripping with disappointment. “you don’t get to be sorry when you’re given this great opportunity! maddie would’ve never done that and her first place showed that!” 

the mention of maddie stung more than anything. it always felt like you were in her shadow, no matter how hard you worked. no matter how much you tried to prove yourself. 

abby’s golden girl could do no wrong, and you were left picking up the pieces when you didn’t measure up.

“you’re better than that,” abby continued, pacing back and forth in front of you. 

“you’re one of my best dancers, but today? you danced like an amateur. you embarrassed me, y/n. you embarrassed this entire team.”

her words hit you like a slap, and you felt tears prickling at the corners of your eyes. you didn’t want to cry—not in front of abby, not in front of the other girls—but it was hard to hold it in.

“abby, i’m—”

“don’t say you’re sorry again,” she snapped, her voice rising. 

“i don’t want to hear it. i want you to do better. no more mistakes, no more excuses. if you want to be a star, you need to act like one. and today, you didn’t.”

you stood there, frozen, trying to keep your emotions in check as abby continued to berate you. 

it felt like the weight of the world was crushing you, and all you wanted was for the ground to swallow you whole.

finally, after what felt like an eternity, abby huffed and shook her head. “go. i don’t want to look at you right now.”

with those final words, you turned and walked away to get ready for the group dance, your body feeling heavier with every step. 

backstage before the group, you caught maddie’s eye, and she gave you a small, sympathetic smile. but it didn’t make you feel any better. nothing could right now.

you wanted to scream, to cry, to ask your mom why she let you stay in this mess, why she let abby tear you down like this. 

your mom stood by you and seemed like your biggest supporter. but as the years passed and you became a fixture on the show, you started to wonder why she allowed it. 

why she let abby break you down, week after week. 

“mom, why do we keep doing this?” you asked one evening after a particularly brutal competition weekend. 

“why do you let her treat me like this?” 

“it’s for your future, y/n,” isla had said, eyes clouded with hope—or maybe guilt. 

“you’re going to be a star.”

but that wasn’t how you felt. you didn’t want to be a star anymore. 

after six seasons on dance moms, you were burnt out. drained. you’d lost your passion for dance, the thing that once gave you joy now filled with dread. 

when you turned sixteen, you’d had enough. 

“i can’t do this anymore,” you told your mom one night after another exhausting filming day. “i want out.”

isla had hesitated, but eventually, the both of you left the show. the cameras stopped rolling, but the damage had already been done. 

the chaos, the constant pressure to be perfect—it stripped you of any love you had for dancing. you couldn’t even look at a dance studio without feeling a knot form in your stomach. 

you grew distant from your mom too. it was hard to understand why she had put you through it. 

“why didn’t you just protect me?” you’d whispered one evening, tears filling your eyes. but isla didn’t have an answer that made sense.

by the time you turned 19 in 2019, you were desperate for a fresh start. you packed your things and moved back to frankfurt germany, your birthplace. 

germany felt different—calmer, quieter. your mother didn’t come back with you which relieved you.

it was exactly what you needed. 

over the next few years, you dove into therapy, trying to unpack the trauma of your childhood. it was slow, difficult work, but through it, you discovered a few other hobbies like photography, and ceramics. you went to university too.

and then, suddenly, almost unexpectedly, dance found its way back to you. 

therapy helped you see it differently—no longer as something tied to pain, but as something that had once been yours. something beautiful. 

by 2022, you were back in the studio, dancing again, feeling lighter than you had in years.

you built your own studio in a nice neighborhood in frankfurt. you weren’t a dance instructor now, maybe someday, but you used the space to practice or hire (emotionally available) dance instructors to help you.

one afternoon, while you were in the middle of a lyrical practice, your friend macy and her sister, sara, showed up at your studio.

the three of you had become close since you moved back to germany. 

macy went to your university before you both graduated. she had nice tan skin and long raven colored hair. 

her older sister sara is a footballer who plays for frankfurt frauen. sara was like an older sister to you, while macy was your confidant. 

“y/n, you’ve gotta hear this,” macy said, leaning against the doorframe with a grin.

you wiped sweat from your forehead, raising an eyebrow. “what now?”

“sara’s photographer friend wants to take pictures of you, specifically, for her portfolio, she’s been keeping up with your instagram content!” macy explained. sara nodded in agreement.

“you know, someone who can capture those insane moves of yours,” sara chimed in with a laugh.

you hesitated for a moment, but to your own surprise, you agreed. “okay, sure. why not?”

both macy and sara looked shocked. 

“wow, that was easier than i thought it would be,” macy said, her eyes wide.

“yeah, thought we’d have to convince you a little more,” sara added with a chuckle.

two days later, you found yourself at a field location, waiting for the photographer. 

the sun was setting, casting a warm golden glow over the area, when you saw her—laura freigang. 

she was taller than you expected, with an easy smile and a camera slung over her shoulder. you couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was, and you made a mental note to ask sara about her later.

“you must be y/n, i’m laura” laura said, walking up to you.

“that’s me,” you replied, feeling a little flustered as her eyes met yours. 

the shoot started, and laura was immediately in her element, capturing your movements with film. she had a way of making you feel comfortable, encouraging you to move naturally. 

“that’s perfect, just like that,” she’d say, her voice soft but confident. the tone of her voice made you feel a certain type of way as well.

you danced freely, twirling and leaping in the open field, and every now and then, you’d catch her smiling at you from behind the camera. 

there was one moment where laura calls you out for something, 

“where are you from in america?” laura asked. 

this was during a water break after shooting yourself doing high kicks and pirouettes.

“i was born here, but i lived in pennsylvania after i turned two. for a while i lived in california but that was until 3 years ago, when i moved back here.” you swallowed, thinking about the distant memories of your childhood. 

“pennsylvania! i went to penn state for a while!” laura says, surprised. 

“that is so cool!”

afterwards, there was definitely some flirting going on—small comments, lingering looks. after the shoot wrapped up, laura lowered her camera, looking at you with a playful glint in her eyes. 

“you know, this was fun. thank you for doing this for me. we should do it again sometime… maybe over dinner?”

you blinked, caught off guard but quickly recovering. 

“are you asking me out on a date, laura freigang?”

she smirked. “i guess i am.”

you smiled. “okay, i’m in.”

two days later, you were sitting across from her at a cozy restaurant, the low hum of conversation filling the air. 

the two of you clicked instantly, talking about everything from the shoot to your different interests. halfway through the meal, you said something which confuses laura. 

“do you have other hobbies beside photography? you seem like a pretty busy woman.” you smirk. 

“i’m sorry?” laura’s eyebrows raise. 

your eyes widen, afraid that you said something that is offensive.

“wait i’m sorry– its just sara tells me that you’re a photographer so i wondered if you do other things. do you go to another uni here after you left penn state or if you do modeling or–” you pause as laura giggles. 

“i’m flattered that you think i am a model– but i play for frankfurt and the german national team with sara...”

your eyes widened in surprise. how did sara not tell you this? she just made it seem like laura was just a photographer in frankfurt.

“wait, seriously? you’re a footballer and a photographer?”

laura grinned. “yeah. i like to keep busy.”

you couldn’t help but laugh, feeling more flustered than you’d like to admit. 

“that’s... really impressive,” you said, feeling a little shy under her gaze.

as time passed, you started going to laura’s games, cheering her on from the stands. 

your bond deepened with every date, every conversation, until one day, laura asked you to be her girlfriend inside of her living room.

the soft glow of the floor lamp laura has casting a warm light over her space. you sat on her couch, legs curled under you, a half-empty cup of tea resting on the table in front of you. 

you’d spent the evening like this, just talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. but now, a comfortable silence had settled between you, the kind that felt intimate without needing to be filled.

laura sat beside you, her arm resting along the back of the couch. you could feel the warmth of her presence next to you, and every so often, your hands would brush when one of you reached for something or shifted in your seat. 

each touch sent a small spark of electricity through you, a reminder of the feelings you’d been harboring for her since that photoshoot months ago.

“you’ve been quiet for a bit,” you finally said, glancing over at her, noticing the way her jaw clenched slightly, like she was trying to find the right words.

she looked at you, her eyes soft but searching. “yeah, i’ve just… been thinking,” she said quietly, her voice low and a little hesitant.

“thinking?” you asked, your heartbeat quickening just a little. you couldn’t help but wonder what was going on behind those light colored eyes of hers. “about what?”

she took a deep breath, turning her body slightly toward you. the air in the room shifted, something heavier settling between the two of you. “about you,” she said, her voice steady now, like she had finally made up her mind about what she wanted to say.

your breath caught in your throat, and you felt your chest tighten. "me?" you asked softly, not sure where this was going, but the intensity in laura's gaze was undeniable.

“yeah, you,” she repeated, her eyes not leaving yours. 

“we’ve spent a lot of time together these past few months, nearly everyday, and i’ve really gotten to know you. i didn’t expect to feel this way when i first met you at that shoot, but,” she trailed off, her hand moving to gently take yours, her thumb brushing lightly over your knuckles. “i can’t stop thinking about you.”

your heart raced as she spoke, her words settling in the space between you like a confession you’d been secretly waiting for but never expected to hear. 

“laura…” you started, but the words caught in your throat, your emotions tangled up in the moment.

“i know this might be a lot,” she said, her grip on your hand tightening just slightly, “but i really like you, y/n. i don’t want to keep dancing around it anymore.” she paused, her eyes softening as she looked at you, her vulnerability laid bare. 

you both giggled at her pun before she spoke, 

“can i be your girlfriend?”

“what wait?” you were surprised. 

“will you be my girlfriend!?”

for a moment, you couldn’t speak. your mind raced with thoughts of every moment you’d shared, the way she made you feel without even trying, the way her presence made the world seem quieter, more bearable. 

you’d known this was going to happen someday, but hearing her say it out loud made it all feel more real than you’d imagined.

“yes,” you finally said, your voice barely above a whisper. but the word hung in the air like a promise, and the smile that broke across laura’s face made your heart feel like it might burst. “yes, i’d love to.”

her smile widened, and she leaned in, her forehead resting against yours for a moment, the closeness of her sending a shiver down your spine. 

"yay," she murmured softly, her breath warm against your skin.

your fingers intertwined with hers, and for the first time in what felt like forever, you allowed yourself to let go of the fears, the doubts, the baggage from your past. 

in that moment, it was just you and laura, your hearts laid bare, and the quiet understanding that something beautiful was beginning between the two of you.

you chuckled softly, pulling back just enough to look at laura fully. “how about i cook for you? tomorrow night?” you suggested, your eyes sparkling with excitement. 

"i’m pretty good in the kitchen."

laura raised an eyebrow, smirking. "oh really? a dancer, a university graduate, and a chef? you're just full of surprises."

you grinned, leaning in closer, your voice dropping to a playful whisper. “you’ll have to find out for yourself.” 

and as she pressed a soft kiss to the back of your hand, you couldn’t help but feel like this was exactly where you were meant to be.

it didn’t take long for fan pages to catch on. suddenly, everyone was talking about how one of their favorite childhood dancers was now dating a german footballer. 

fans were floored and happy for you-- but to you, it was surreal in the best way. 

as you sat next to laura after one of her games, her hand wrapped around yours, you couldn’t help but think that despite everything—despite the chaos of your past—you’d finally found happiness. 

my masterlist is here if you want to read more!

a/n: wrote this two months ago but i wasn’t sure if i liked the writing and the concept😭 ill still post it anyways

[ofstoriesandstardust]

what they’ll say about us (j.h.s.)

a/n: this is my new hockey AU! i danced and ice skated as a kid but was only ever able to do it recreationally and i know nothing about hockey so this has taken some research but there is still going to be inaccuracies. please bear with me! a lot of this will be explained as the story progresses but in order to understand this story, you need to know that the reader is Bradley Bradshaw’s little sister. Goose lives but Carole dies of cancer when Bradley was 8. Goose left the Navy to care for his kids, but Maverick and Ice stayed & are still in the Navy at the time of this story (me writing Icemav in again lol). also, Charlie had a promising ice skating career that she gave up for her contract work - she ends up re-locating in San Diego to work as a coach. Cyclone is ex-Navy and coaches a hockey team (because I said so). that should be everything; please enjoy!!

summary: (Re-)Meeting Jake Seresin and every moment after. 

touch | main masterlist | top gun: maverick masterlist | house of gold masterlist 

warnings: food mentions, mentions of depression, parent death, cheating, i did research but i still made shit up anyways

word count: 2,354

The cool bite of the air around the ice nips at your skin as you push away from the edge of the rink, calling out for your duo partner. He turns, offering you a grin. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite Bradshaw.”

You smirk, accepting his hug as you glide over to him.

Just three months younger than you, you and Tyler had skated in the rink together forever, it seems like. There wasn’t a day since you had started skating in the first place where the two of you hadn’t skated together, whether it was competitive or performative or just for fun. 

Off the rink, the two of you had known each other since you were in diapers practically. Bradley befriending Natasha Trace on the first day of kindergarten had meant the Trace and Bradshaw families were fast friends. 

Tyler had been an ever-present constant. His family had been there since your Mom’s cancer diagnosis, even though you were far too young to remember those years, and everything that came after. It was his family who had suggested you take your ballet training and put it towards something useful when you got diagnosed with depression at just 11. It had been you Tyler had come out to when you were 16. 

As you had gotten older though, as your skills progressed, your coach, Charlotte Blackwood, had pulled you for more solo performances every year. She talked a big game, planting ideas of the Olympics and national titles into your head, much to your father’s dismay. She knew you had the most potential when you stepped out on the ice alone, commanding everyone’s attention to you and you alone. 

Meaning that this year would be the first time in a few years that the two of you would skate a competitive piece together, along with a solo piece. When Charlie had told you the news, calling to schedule the practices, you had been thrilled.

You hadn’t seen Tyler as much as you would’ve liked over the last year, focusing more on your routine that would end up making you one of the highest-ranked skaters in the state of California than you did anything else, including your graduation from high school. 

Charlie always told you to have your eye on the prize, to think long-term, and you knew exactly what long-term she was thinking of.

Charlie didn’t need to know just yet that somewhere eulogy the way your long-term had diverged from hers, a whole new goal on the horizon. 

“How was New York?” You ask, pulling away from him. 

He shrugs. “You know how it is.” 

You laugh, reaching out to nudge his shoulder. “Actually, I don’t know how it is. Never been to New York, remember?” 

He gives a half-shrug as he grins. “Well, maybe you will someday soon. You still thinking about Juilliard?” 

You nod. “Yes, but shush about that in front of my brother. And Charlie. No one knows I’ve been talking to one of their scouts. It’s a surprise.” 

He tilts his head. “Surprise or secret?”

“Secret.” You say, giving him a look. “And we aren’t discussing Juilliard anymore, so quit asking me about it.” 

He sighs, nodding as he accepts your statement. “Speaking of your brother, I heard from Nat that the team’s getting a new co-captain.” 

You raise an eyebrow. 

The accomplishment your brother treasured most in this world was leading his team as their Captain for what would be the third year in a row. The team had done well under him, looking up to him and following his lead, even beating out the rival team for a spot at the regional tournament last year. 

Having to give up that sole responsibility to share with someone else was not something he would take lightly. 

“Brad’s not gonna be thrilled.” You pause, biting your lip as you think through his words again. “Wait, how does Nat even know about that?” 

“Coach Simpson texted their group chat to warn them of their new arrival today. Bradley got the text while he was at my house.” 

You furrow your eyebrows, a pit settling in your stomach at the look in his eyes. “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this that I’m not gonna like?” 

Tyler offers you a knowing grin, crossing his arms. “Word on the street is that it’s Jake Seresin.” 

-

The sound of lockers opening and closing echoing through the locker room greets his ears. He takes a deep breath for the storm he’s about to walk into, shouldering the locker room doors open. Simpson’s already waiting for him, glancing up from his watch. 

“Ah, Seresin, you’re right on time.” 

“Hey Coach.” He says, taking a step forward into the locker room as the team takes notice of his presence. “Thanks for having me and letting me join.” 

“Well, I’d be a fool not to take someone of your caliber, kid.” Simpson clears his throat, cutting off the muttered whispers echoing through the row of players. “As you all saw in my text to you earlier today, we are joined by a new co-captain this season. I expect you all to treat him as you would any other player. Bradshaw-” Simpson calls out, waiting for the brunette to meet his eye. “I expect you to behave in the way I demand from my captains. That means no fights on and off the ice. Do we understand?” 

Bradley nods, even as the way his eyes narrow at Jake says otherwise. “Yes Coach.” 

“Good. Any rivalry that the two of you might have had between one another is behind you, do you understand?” 

“Yes Coach.” Both he and Bradley say, pulling themselves up to their full heights. 

Simpson sighs, in a way that signals he probably knows trying to get Jake and Bradley to put their differences behind them is futile. 

“Welcome to the team Jake.” 

-

Your face dropped. 

“No.” 

Tyler smirks, nodding his head. “Yes. your favorite-” You make a noise of disgust in the back of your throat. “-rival captain has come to join the team this year.” 

You groan, reaching up to rub your temple. “I don’t even know what to say to that.” 

“I’m just not sure what’s going to be worse. The fact that he knew you personally and still kept Robinson’s cheating a secret or the absolute beating your brother is going to give him.” 

“I never should’ve dated Brett.” You mumble. 

He snorts. “Dating someone on the rival team was not one of your smartest decisions, I’ll give you that.”

“I’m not ever going to live it down, am I?” 

He sighs, shaking his head. “’M afraid not.” 

“Okay, you two.” Charlie voice echoes form across the ice. “Sorry I’m running behind, there was a bit of confusion as to who had the ice and for how long today.” 

“’S okay.” Tyler calls out. “Baby Bradshaw and I were just getting caught up on the drama of the new hockey captain.” 

You toss him a withering look while Charlie sighs. “Don’t even mention their new Captain, Trace. You know how I feel about the two of you hanging around Cyclone’s team.” 

“I’m never dating another hockey player ever again, cross my heart hope to die.” You saw, raising a hand. 

“Why would you, after the hell Robinson put you through?” 

“That’s enough Ty. Have you guys warmed up yet? I want to start in on our choreography for the routine as soon as possible.” 

“I warmed up before I got on the ice.” 

“Same here.” 

“Great. Take a couple laps you two, and then we’ll be getting into the skills.” 

The two of you push off, skating away from her. 

“Well, you excited to be back? Even with Juillard on the mind?” 

“I said we weren’t talking about that anymore. As of this moment, forget I ever even told you about it. But yes, I’m excited to be back on the ice. Never stops feeling like home.” 

-

He claps Javy on the shoulder as he walks past. “Good to see you Machado.”

The man squints at him as he walks past. “Saw you last night, Jake.” 

He chuckles, shaking his head as he steps over the bench in between Javy and another player known by the nickname Fritz. “That you did Machado.” 

Javy shrugs, standing up as he pulls his locker open. “That happens when you live together. You know, you see one another.” 

He pushes the man’s shoulder as Javy laughs. He pulls the locker next to Javy open after Javy gives him an affirming nod from the questioning look Jake shoots him. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you a plaque with your name on it soon enough. Then everyone will know exactly which locker belongs to the esteemed Jake ‘Hangman’-” 

“Seresin.” 

Both he and Javy turn, facing Bradshaw. Bradley’s drawn up to his full height, eyes dark, voice firm. Fritz mumbles something under his breath, earning him a nasty look from the brunette. 

“Yes Bradshaw?” He says, forcing a sickly sweet smile. It’s polite, but it’s fake, and everyone in the locker room knows it. “How may I help you?” 

“Don’t get too comfortable here, Seresin. You’ll be out of here before you can say boo.” 

He cocks his head. “Is that a threat?” 

“It’s a promise.” 

-

“Ay, Charlie! You were supposed to be off the ice fifteen minutes ago!” Cyclone shouts as you skate past. You pause, slowing down as you turn to see the approaching hockey team. 

She narrows her eyes, skating over to the edge of the rink. “We have it for another fifteen minutes. I checked.” 

“That’s not possible.” 

She tilts her head. “Can’t help it if you got your ice times mixed up Coach.” 

“Bradley.” You hiss. Your brother turns his head away from the normal occurrence of the two coaches bickering to where you’re standing on the ice. “Are you still driving me home after practice?” 

He nods. “Yes, because Dad’s having dinner with Ice and Slider tonight, remember?” 

You nod. “Yeah, I vaguely remember him telling me that.” 

He shakes his head. “Jesus, I think you need to pay attention more when Dad talks to you.” 

“I don’t think it’s a matter of paying attention. Dad really only communicates with me via group chat.” 

“You’re so dramatic, you know that right?” 

“Baby Bradshaw.” A voice calls from behind your brothers shoulder, the boys moving to reveal Jake Seresin. Bradley half-turns, giving Jake a look that would put him six feet under. Jake doesn’t seem to care too much, his gaze burning you as he holds eye contact. “Good to see you again.” He says, offering you the charming smile he offers any girl he’s trying to woo. 

You would recognize the mega-watt smile from anywhere, memories of him flashing it to girls who was trying to bed at after-game celebrations you shouldn’t have been at in the first place flashing through your mind. 

“Funny Seresin, can’t say the same about you.” 

His hand flies up to his heart. “Ooo, you wound me baby. Dost thou really hate me so much?” 

“Hey!” Charlie calls, catching your attention. She snaps towards the ice where Tyler is practicing his triple quad jump. “Go.” 

You sigh, skating away from the ice. Distantly, you hear Reuben chuckle. 

“Man Seresin, if you’re gonna survive on this team, the first and foremost thing you need to know is to stay away from Bradley Bradshaw’s baby sister.”

-

You yawn, tucking your knees up to your chest as you realize your phone is about to die. A quick glance up to the rink tells you that they are deep into a play, and even if they got off the ice at that exact second, it’ll be at least another half hour before Bradley’s ready to leave. 

You click the device off, slipping it into the side pocket of your bag as you curl further up into yourself. A dying phone was a problem that could not be solved without a phone charger and you were straight out of luck there, having left yours on the floor of your bedroom this morning. 

You could probably sleep, the practice running into the late hours as you waited for your brother to finish up. You close your eyes, the sound soft of the whistles and hockey sticks a comforting noise, a familiar one you welcome as you begin to doze off.

“Hey.” A voice calls, and you yawn again as you blink, clearing the sleep from your eyes. You look up to see your coach pulling her car keys from her bag. “You’re not home yet?” 

You shake your head, stretching out your legs. “No, not yet. Simpson kept them late. Again.” 

“And your Dad?” 

“He went to dinner with Uncle Ice and Sli. You know how it is.” She nods, frowning slightly as she glanced at the time on her watch. 

“They’re still out at- 11:33?” 

You shrug. “I didn’t think to ask. I’ve waited later for Brad.” 

You would’ve asked had you not already known he wouldn’t have responded.

She sighs. “Well, I’ll drive you home, okay? It’s late and I know you have ballet early in the morning.” 

You nod, grabbing the bag of gear from the bench it was resting on as you waved a hand to your brother. He caught the movement, raising a hand back, before he focused in on practice, zeroing in on the play. 

“You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?” 

You shake your head as Charlie holds the door of the rink open for you. “No. I think Brad and I were just gonna eat leftovers or something when we got back to the house.” 

“Well, how about we stop at McDonald’s on the way to the house?” 

You raise an eyebrow at your coach. “Oh, it’s a McDonald’s night, now is it?”

She offers you a soft smile. “Why not? It is the first practice of the season. Might as well reward yourself before the hard work begins.”

You don’t miss the fact that Jake’s eyes are on you the whole time. 

[velvetsands]

2023: year of ticking things off and getting dreams realised

- won an inaugural new investigator award named after the man who actually inspired me to pursue immunology

- scored a patent approval for my research

- went to amsterdam with my lab, absolutely hated the city but the conference was great

- travelled to a village in belgium and hung with my ancestral relatives, visited my grandfather’s childhood home and had everyone come from near and far for a dinner in my honour. so many tears shed, it has been a childhood dream of mine

- experienced an incredible safari through the serengeti (#celinedion), meet/dance with a maasai tribe, and managed to climb the world’s tallest freestanding mountain followed a couple days in zanzibar

- writing my thesis was surprisingly easy (~4mos) with no corruptions or referencing errors, super proud of my work and my team

- finally my turn to be a conference wag in hong kong, what a superb country(!!!!) so much to do, nightlife, restaurants and the jockey club went above and beyond for everything

- finished my phd thesis with some incredible final results and scored a dean’s award (top 10%) v cool

- moved from sydney to adelaide to be with my love which was tough but ever so rewarding, we did long-distance for 18mos so it was high time

- i started going to the gym almost daily, i tend to my herb garden (a dream), bake and hang out with cats

- currently wfh/a sahg writing my manuscript which is apparently fantastic but i almost cannot bear to look at it anymore

- i was so sad to leave sydney but slow living is truly worth the hype

- we finally scored some funding for a clinical trial after years and yeaaaaaaars of begging so watch this space

- started taking my skincare and haircare more seriously and it has paid off laaaawwwddd

- i feel so adult now and i do soooo many adult things but hey look, i’m 30 in a few weeks so i need to stop thinking i’m still 23 lol

- tall poppy syndrome is a vvvvvv real thing

2024:

- we’re moving to saudi arabia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehehehehe

- the compound is gorgeous and it will be a wonderful adventure

- actually makes me sad as i adore all of my partner’s colleagues

- but first i have my best friend’s wedding and i have to present to a STADIUM full of people in san diego

- oh and turn 30! yay!

- now that i don’t have to read journal papers anymore, i have the time to read non-fiction and would like to keep that up

- publish my manuscript publish publish publish

- leaning into the fact that happiness is only a state briefly entered into, it is not a constant state of being

- but that doesn’t mean life has to be monotonous either, just roll with the punches

- drink less alcohol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- work on correct gym form!!!!!!!!!!

- look inwards for validation first

- be sure to keep in contact with friends, no matter how seemingly draining it is and how much you put it off, you always feel better after it so just make the call and or return the text

- genuinely be compassionate to and understanding of yourself

- continue to cultivate my relationships (specifically with my partner) and ensure needs are being met both ways

- improve sleep hygiene as my next self-care item to tackle

[cvpdancehub]

My take on dance teams:

Having started my dance journey by auditioning for my high school’s all-female hip hop team, my view of this hobby has grown and developed to be competitive and cooperative. I have never danced until tryouts, so dancing never started for me as something I simply did by myself for fun. Right off the bat, after getting on the team, we were skillfully trained, physically conditioned,and mentally strengthened to be competent enough to learn and perform choreography for school performances and high school dance competitions. My dance captain’s mantra was “you are only as strong as your weakest link.” and this motivated everyone to push each other to our fullest potential. Friendly competition within my high school team was always present and healthy because of this. Bonding days were also planned to strengthen our teamwork, as well as make sure we’re still having fun doing what we love. My high school dance team experience encouraged me to audition for outside community dance teams, as well as the dance team I’m on currently in at my university. For me and most of my fellow dancers I know today, high school dance teams were what introduced them to competitive dance.

During my last year in high school, I joined an community dance team called iLL Habits. This outside team was more prestigious, competitive, and professional, as it consisted of the best dancers from different high school dance teams around the southern region of San Diego. The competition within the team was definitely not as friendly. iLL Habits had professional choreographers, unlike my high school, so meritocracy based favoritism was inevitable. This professional dance team felt very intimidating and pressuring, but despite all this, seeing the final result of the set made me feel so proud to be part of it at all. The production always surpassed my expectations, and being part of this team has taught me to trust the process, and to really work hard to deserve your spot.

After entering San Diego State University, I joined VSA Modern, a hip hop dance team in my college. Some of my old teammates in iLL Habits promoted this team to me as they became part of it after they graduated high school as well. I joined this team to be able to simply dance on the side while finishing university. I didn’t expect much from it, but the competitive drive some of the dancers brought here was contagious. Collegiate teams offered diversity as university students came from different parts of the country, even different parts of the world, and with them their different dance styles and background. Some dancers from my collegiate dance team were also part of bigger professional adult dance teams, so being exposed to that level of skill inspired me. Collegiate dance teams are also more lenient because it consists of adults who are already disciplined and mature for the most part. Everyone on the team has different goals in dance, but we all come together to do what we are passionate about. Being in dance teams emphasizes that dance is not simply a hobby, for some it can be a lifestyle.

[polikszena]

Title: Beginner friendly

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick

Characters: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, Maggie "Letdown" Miller(OC)

Relationships: Rooster x OC

Rating: General

Summary: One night at the club La Cubanita, Rooster spots an unexpected guest.

Notes: Okay, this is really random, because I wrote half of this on my way home from last week's dance party and finished it later. This is a small additional chapter to a Top Gun-fic of mine, For a little bit of sunshine.

Beginner friendly

"I've got you a drink. You looked like you'd need one," Rooster said when Maggie joined him at the bar. Her cheeks were rosy, her lips curled up and sweat was glowing on her collarbone. She was wearing a flowy blue top with a pair of skinny jeans and her dancing shoes.

"Thank you," she said, beaming at him.

"They're keeping you busy tonight," he stated.

"As expected," she said, "since I told my groups there would be more beginner friendly songs in this party. And beforehand I convinced Jackie to play more beginner friendly songs," she added, throwing a glance at the DJ. "At least they dare to ask me for a dance. Cheers," she raised her glass.

Rooster raised his own and they both drank while watching the couples on the dance floor until something made the aviator choke on his beer.

"Holy shit," he mumbled.

"What is it? A dreadful outfit?" Maggie wondered.

"Worse," he said, leaning forward to take a closer look. Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him, and it was just a lookalike as he wasn't the only tall and well-built, dark-haired fifty-something in San Diego. But it was dedinitely him, dancing with a woman in a dress with printed roses on it. "Cyclone."

Surprisingly, Maggie's face lit up.

"Where?" she wondered, her eyes now searching for the vice admiral.

"Two o'clock, with the woman in a dress with roses," he told her.

"That's Mrs Cyclone," she said when she spotted them in the crowd.

Rooster nodded his head and they both started watching the older aviator. It felt so odd to see him like this: wearing his civilian clothes, in a club in San Diego, dancing salsa.

"He's a bit stiff, isn't he?" Rooster said as Cyclone led his wife back to the open position, concentrating to keep the beat. He could see his mouth moving as he was probably counting out loud: one, two, three, five, six seven.

"He's still a beginner" Maggie pointed out. "We've all been there."

"I know, but it's kind of nice to know that there is something I'm at a more advanced level than him," he admitted. "It's like finding out that your Math teacher roots for the same team as you and it makes you see him more like an actual human being."

"Or start doubting your sports choices," Maggie said.

"Or that."

About two songs later, Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson led his wife off the floor and when they spotted Maggie at the bar, they decided to join her. They didn't even seem to notice Rooster next to her. A grin broke out on the dance instructor's face, being genuinely happy to see them, but at the same time she felt a little awkward as in the class they were on a first name basis with everyone by default, while he was Rooster's superior.

"I'm so glad you could come!" she said, deciding not to say any names.

"Good evening, Sir," Rooster greeted him with a nod, and Maggie noticed that he had straightened his back a little more.

"Lieutenant," Cyclone turned to the aviator with a smile. "I didn't know you danced as well."

"For quite a few years now," Rooster said. "Although I havent' been doing it very often until recently," he added, throwing a glance at Maggie who smiled at him.

"Well, let me introduce you to my wife, Barbara," the vice admiral said. "Honey, this is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, one of the aviators who succeeded in our latest mission."

"I've heard a lot about you," Mrs Cyclone smiled at the young man. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Actually, I came to ask Maggie for a dance," Cyclone said. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"Not at all," Maggie said.

"In that case, may I have this dance?" the aviator asked, and when she said yes, he led her to the dance floor.

As much as he wanted to see Cyclone with Maggie, Rooster found it awkward to stay alone at the bar with the vice admiral's wife, so instead, he turned to her:

"May I, Mrs Simpson?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.

"Yes," the woman said, " and please, call me Barbara," she added as they walked to the dance floor.

Beau "Cyclone" Simpson was visibly nervous as they started to dance which surprised Maggie a little, knowing how confident the aviator was at his job, on the other hand, she knew how nerve-wracking it was for a beginner to ask the teacher for a dance. When they would have to lead steps to someone way more experienced than him and there would not be anyone to tell them what the next step would be. She tried to be at ease with him, pretending she hadn’t noticed his mistakes and just enjoying the dance, hoping that it would make him feel more relaxed. However, after he led her a perfect coca cola turn (something they learned in their last class), a wide grin broke out on Maggie’s face - she couldn’t help it. Seeing her changed expression, the aviator startled a little.

“Sorry if I messed it up,” he said.

“No, you didn’t,” Maggie assured him. “It was actually great. That’s why I was smiling.”

Poor man, she thought to herself, this must have been extremely hard for him. Not only dancing with his teacher as a beginner but having his subordinate witnessing all of it. It must have been excruciating for him. Still, he asked for a detailed review of his performance once the song ended. He came here to practice after all.

“Lieutenant Bradshaw is an amazing dancer,” Barbara Simpson told her husband when he and Maggie joined them at the bar. She was glowing, with an ear-to-ear smile on her face, just like any woman after a good dance.

“It seems you’re a man of many talents,” the vice admiral stated.

“And even more practice, Sir,” Rooster said. “Would you like to see it?”

Cyclone raised a brow at the question, but then he smiled and nodded his head.

“Sure.”

Then the mustached aviator turned to Maggie and asked her for a dance. He couldn’t hide his smug smile as he led her back to the floor, ready to show his superior how to dance salsa.

“For a moment I thought you’d ask him to dance,” Maggie admitted as they returned to the floor.

“I think he did, too,” Rooster said with a chuckle.

“Just don’t intimidate him too much,” she told him when they stood into position.

“Maybe a little bit,” Rooster said and began to lead.

[lboogie1906]

Norman Ellard Nixon (October 11, 1955) is a former basketball player who played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers. He played with Scavolini Pesaro in Italy. Nicknamed “Stormin’ Norman”, he is a two-time NBA All-Star. He won two NBA championships with the Lakers in 1980 and 1982.

He was born the third of three sons to Mary Jo and Elmer Nixon, in Macon, Georgia. The three boys were raised with the help of their maternal grandmother and great-aunt. They were raised in the Methodist church, where he became an usher.

He played basketball and football in high school at Southwest High School. He was named to all-state in both sports. In football, he played defensive back and tailback. He was offered a free-agent tryout by both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys. He was senior class president and named as the starting guard on the Georgia All-State team. He led Southwest to the state high school basketball championship. He was on the track team, where he ran the 440-yard dash, and won a regional title in the high jump at 6 feet, 5 inches. He played the trumpet and was on the yearbook staff.

He became a sports agent at Premier Management Group Inc. He established his firm, Norm Nixon & Associates.

With his wife, he founded the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Culver City, California. He concentrated on several business ventures. He served one season as a radio commentator for the Clippers and was an analyst for KABC-TV’s NBA post-game shows.

He was hired by Fox Sports West to take over as studio color analyst for all Lakers home games. He worked during pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage.

He married actress/producer/director/dancer Debbie Allen (1984.) They have four children, Tristan Fuller-Nixon and DeVaughn Nixon (sons of Nixon), and two together: Vivian Nixon, who became a dancer, and Norman Ellard Jr., who became a basketball player. His sister-in-law is actress/director/singer Phylicia Rashad. His biological sister is Elaine Nixon Blash. He and Allen appeared in the film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh. His son DeVaughn portrayed him in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[epacer]

Local News

New opportunities for students at Crawford High School

Crawford High School threw a grand kick off ceremony Monday morning for it's first day back to school.

Cheerleaders lined up to welcome their classmates back, the Junior ROTC led a morning ceremony with the pledge of allegiance, and school leaders gave speeches to set a positive tone for the new year.

Principal Dr. Reashon Villery and senior student leaders discussed new opportunities for students to make the most of the year ahead.

Jannelle Garcia, a senior and president of the student government, as well as captain of the cheer team, said she and her team were planning many new events for the school's social calendar over the summer.

"We haven't had a couple of Spring Fling dances in a couple of years, so we really want to push that because we also wanted to one last year," Garcia said.

Garcia said she's aiming to end her last year at Crawford High School on a high note, and she hopes her class doesn't let "senioritis" take over.

Dr. Villery also shared some exciting, new programs at Crawford High.

"One of the first programs we would like students to participate in is our PE Swim program. As a result of a tragedy a couple years ago, one of our students drowned, and we wanted to turn that tragedy into triumph," Villery said.

Villery said the PE Swim program will teach water safety and lifeguard skills, so students can go on and try to attain Junior Lifeguard jobs in the future.

Additionally, Villery announced the introduction of an EMT program. "We found that a lot of our male students expressed an interest in becoming a paramedic after high school," she said.

There will also be more opportunities for students who want to pursue a career as an attorney one day. Villery said the school is continuing its law program where the students can learn about the legal system in a classroom-courtroom setting.

"Our goal is to merge what the students are learning in law with our restorative justice practices, and how to help students resolve conflicts," Villery said.

Superintendent Lamont Jackson addressed cell phone use with students Monday morning.

In light of the Los Angeles Unified School District's recent ban on cellphones, Jackson said there are no plans for San Diego Unified to follow in their footsteps, as long as the students adhere to the policies of their teachers and their schools.

He also encouraged students to be mindful of their mental wellness and to use their phones in moderation.

Across the district, San Diego Unified said it is also extending its PrimeTime after-school program, which is now being offered at every elementary school. The program partners with community groups to offer activities for TK through 8th-grade students

The district is also growing its middle school sports program, and its Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) program which provides play-based learning for four-year-olds.

"We are continuing to grow our TK program. San Diego Unified has really led the state in making TK available for all four-year-olds, irrespective of your birthday. This year we're expecting close to 5,000 TK students," said Shana Hazen, president of the San Diego Unified School Board.

Hazen said there are still opening left for the UTK and encouraged parents interested in enrolling their four-year-olds to contact their local school for more information. *Reposted article from 10 News by Dani Miskell on August 12, 2024

[pacificbeachgym]

From Beginner to All-Star: How to Become a Cheerleader with No Experience and Limited Flexibility

Cheerleading is a fun and exciting sport that anyone can join, even if you have no experience or limited flexibility. At pacificbeachallstargyms.com, we believe everyone has the potential to become an all-star cheerleader. Here's how you can get started.

Find the Right Cheerleading Classes in San Diego

First, you need to find the best cheerleading classes in San Diego. Look for classes that welcome beginners and focus on building skills from the ground up. At Pacific Beach All-Star Gyms, we offer beginner-friendly classes that teach you the basics, like jumps, stunts, and dance routines. Our experienced coaches will guide you through each step, ensuring you feel confident and supported.

Join Cheer Gyms in San Diego

Joining a cheer gym is a great way to immerse yourself in the cheerleading world. Cheer gyms in San Diego provide a supportive environment where you can train and improve your skills. At Pacific Beach All-Star Gyms, we have state-of-the-art facilities and a welcoming community. You'll have access to the best equipment and resources to help you grow as a cheerleader.

Look for All-Star Cheer Gyms Near Me

When you're ready to take your skills to the next level, search for "all-star cheer gyms near me." All-star cheerleading is a competitive level of cheer that involves more advanced skills and routines. Our gym, Pacific Beach All-Star Gyms, offers all-star cheer programs designed for athletes of all levels. Whether you're a beginner or have some experience, our programs will help you reach your full potential.

Work on Your Flexibility

Even if you start with limited flexibility, you can improve over time. Our classes include flexibility training to help you become more limber and agile. Stretching exercises, yoga, and consistent practice will gradually increase your flexibility. Remember, everyone progresses at their own pace, so be patient with yourself.

Stay Committed and Have Fun

The most important part of becoming an all-star cheerleader is to stay committed and enjoy the process. Cheerleading is a team sport that builds friendships and fosters a sense of community. At Pacific Beach All-Star Gyms, we emphasize the importance of teamwork, dedication, and having fun.

If you're in San Diego and looking to start your cheerleading journey, visit us at pacificbeachallstargyms.com. Our cheerleading classes in San Diego are perfect for beginners, and our cheer gym provides everything you need to succeed. Join us today and discover the joy of cheerleading!

[cspasfan15]

https://nyunews.com/news/2024/04/08/nyu-admission-rate-class-of-2028/?fbclid=IwAR2uFudcXL0R3ahovB16ZWrNofaLZn-WMpIGS9UyZLGfhv6v25TV5l19JZY

looks like NYU is actually 8% and here are more of your missing ones

Berklee 54.2%

Grand Canyon University 78%

University of Iowa 86%

Iowa State 90.2%

San Diego State 39.3%

Texas A & M 62.6%

UCSB 26%

i love ur spreadsheet because i am in 9th grade and it helps me to see which colleges are going to be really hard and then maybe also some choices of safety schools and also which ones have dance teams vs dance bfa programs so it is really really helpful thank you for doing it

Thanks for the stats and I'm glad this is helpful!

[rockstarlimosd]

Elevate Your Corporate Events with Rockstar Limos

Luxury on Wheels - Our party buses are more than transportation; they're a mobile party venue with luxurious interiors, comfortable seating, and premium amenities.

Endless Entertainment - Enjoy state-of-the-art sound systems, LED lighting, and even a dance floor to keep the party going during transit.

Corporate Excellence - Impress your clients and employees with an unforgettable experience that showcases your commitment to excellence.

Tailored Packages - We offer customizable packages to meet your specific needs, ensuring every detail is perfect for your corporate event.

Experienced Chauffeurs - Our professional chauffeurs are dedicated to providing a safe and enjoyable journey for your team.

Are you ready to take your corporate events to the next level? Contact Rockstar Limos today to discuss your party bus rental and make your upcoming event truly unforgettable! 🚌🥳 #CorporateCelebrations #PartyBusRentals #RockstarLimos

[twentythousandvolts]

Skrillex From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Skrillex Skrillex in 2011 Skrillex in 2011 Background information Birth name Sonny John Moore Born January 15, 1988 (age 33) Los Angeles, California, U.S. Genres EDM[1]brostep[2]dubstepelectro houseEDM trap moombahtonpost-hardcore Occupation(s) DJrecord producermusiciansingersongwriter Years active 2004–present Labels AtlanticBig BeatOWSLAAsylummau5trapSumerian Associated acts From First to LastJack ÜDiploDog BloodBoys NoizeForeign BeggarsEllie GouldingHikaru UtadaZedddeadmau5IncubusJustin BieberPoo BearTHEY. Website skrillex.com Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer and songwriter. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and in Northern California, he joined the American post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead singer in 2004, and recorded two studio albums with the band (Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count, 2004, and Heroine, 2006) before leaving to pursue a solo career in 2007.[3][4] He began his first tour as a solo artist in late 2007. After recruiting a new band lineup, Moore joined the Alternative Press Tour to support bands such as All Time Low and The Rocket Summer, and appeared on the cover of Alternative Press' annual "100 Bands You Need to Know" issue.[5]

After releasing the Gypsyhook EP in 2009, Moore was scheduled to record his debut studio album, Bells, with producer Noah Shain. He ceased production of the album, however, and began performing under the name Skrillex, distributing the My Name Is Skrillex EP for free download on his official MySpace page. Subsequently, he released the Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP in late–2010 and More Monsters and Sprites EP in mid–2011, both of which have since become moderate commercial successes. On November 30, 2011, he received five Grammy Award nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and won three: "Best Dance/Electronica Album", "Best Dance Recording", and "Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical".[6] On December 5, 2011, the BBC announced that he had been nominated for their Sound of 2012 poll.[7] On December 12, 2011, he was also named MTV's Electronic Dance Music Artist of the Year.[8]

Skrillex has won eight Grammy Awards, more than any other electronic dance music artist.[9] Skrillex has collaborated with Diplo and Boys Noize to form the groups of Jack Ü and Dog Blood respectively. It was announced on Moore's 29th birthday, he reunited with From First to Last and released a single named "Make War". In 2017, Skrillex produced and mixed 8, the eighth studio album by rock band Incubus.[10] In July 2017, Skrillex released another single featuring debuting solo artist Poo Bear.[11]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 From First to Last 2.2 Dog Blood 2.3 Jack Ü 2.4 2004–2007: From First to Last 2.5 2008–2013: Solo career and extended plays 2.6 2014: Recess 2.7 2016–present: Collaborations and return to From First to Last 3 Influences 4 Personal life 5 Discography 6 Filmography 7 Awards and nominations 7.1 Grammy Awards 7.2 Kids Choice Awards 7.3 MTV Video Music Awards 7.4 Annie Awards 7.5 DJ Magazine top 100 DJs 7.6 Electronic Music Awards 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Early life Moore lived in the Highland Park neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles,[12][13] but was brought to the Forest Hill neighborhood of San Francisco at the age of 2, where he attended elementary school. At the ages of 9 and 10, Moore attended a boarding school in the Mojave Desert LV, but eventually moved back to Northern California. Both of his parents were Scientologists.[14][15] He was adopted at birth by family friends of his biological parents and did not find this out until he was 15.[16] By the time he was 12,[citation needed] his family moved back to his birthplace of Northeast Los Angeles. There he enrolled in a private academy school specializing in arts, the school used some of L. Ron Hubbard's teachings.[17] Later he was home schooled at the age of 14 due to bullying. In 2004, he learned he was adopted[18] and dropped out of the program when he was 16.[19][20] While a young teenager in Los Angeles, Moore would attend punk gigs in Mexican American neighborhoods in East and South Los Angeles, and later at electro club raves in the downtown's Silver Lake and Echo Park neighborhoods.[21][22]

Career From First to Last

Skrillex's logo Main article: From First to Last From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. The band is composed of lead vocalist Moore, lead guitarist Matt Good, rhythm guitarist Travis Richter, bassist Matt Manning, and drummer Derek Bloom.[citation needed]

Dog Blood Main article: Dog Blood Dog Blood, a side project by Skrillex and Boys Noize, was formed in 2012. Their debut single, consisting of the songs "Next Order" and "Middle Finger", was released on August 12, 2012, on Beatport and iTunes. The song "Next Order" managed to top Beatport's Techno chart.[citation needed]

Jack Ü Main article: Jack Ü Jack Ü is a duo made up of Skrillex and Diplo. Jack Ü's debut performance took place at the Mad Decent Block Party in San Diego on September 15, 2013, which is a nationwide tour that record label Mad Decent puts together to showcase different artists signed to the label.[23] Diplo announced the project by releasing the Mad Decent Block Party lineup with Jack Ü playing at multiple stops on the tour. After some guessing by many of who Jack Ü was, Diplo finally came out to reveal that "Jack Ü ... means Skrillex and Diplo together".[23]

2004–2007: From First to Last

Sonny Moore in 2008 In 2004, Moore contacted Matt Good of From First to Last about playing guitar for the band on their debut album. After flying out to Georgia, Moore was heard singing by three studio producers, Derrick Thomas, Eric Dale, and McHale Butler, and was then made lead singer, with Good playing guitar. In June 2004, Epitaph Records released the band's first full-length record with their new bandmate, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count. After performing on several successful tours, two being the Vans Warped Tour and Dead by Dawn tour, they began recording their second album, Heroine with producer Ross Robinson. The album was released in March 2006 on Epitaph. With high record sales once again, the band found themselves part of many successful tours, until Moore started suffering vocal problems, causing the band to resign from several tours. After going through a successful vocal surgical procedure, Moore informed the band he would be permanently resigning to work on a solo career. FFTL's last show performed with Moore was in their hometown of Orlando at The House of Blues while touring with Atreyu.

Moore announced he had left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. He then launched a Myspace page displaying three demos ("Signal", "Equinox", and "Glow Worm"). This led to Moore's first performance since his leaving From First to Last. On April 7, 2007, alongside harpist Carol Robbins, Moore played several original songs at a local art building. After months of releasing demos via Myspace, Moore played on the Team Sleep Tour with a full band. The tour also featured supporting acts Monster in the Machine and Strata. Moore made several demo CDs available on this tour, limited to about 30 per show. These CDs were tour exclusive and were packaged in "baby blue envelopes", each with a unique drawing by Moore or bandmate.[24]

2008–2013: Solo career and extended plays

Skrillex in 2012 In February 2008, Alternative Press Magazine announced the second annual AP Tour, with All Time Low, The Rocket Summer, The Matches, and Forever the Sickest Kids, as well as Sonny Moore. The tour started in Houston, Texas on March 14 and went through North America, ending in Cleveland, Ohio on May 2, with the majority of the shows being sold out. All bands playing the tour would be featured on the cover of Alternative Press Magazine's annual 100 Bands You Need to Know special, and would be interviewed on the Alternative Press Podcast. During this tour, Moore's line-up consisted of Sean Friday on drums, Christopher Null on guitar, and Aaron Rothe on keyboards. On April 7, 2009, he released Gypsyhook, a digital EP, which featured three songs and four remixes. Also included was "海水" ("Kaisui"), a Japanese version of "Mora". Physical copies of the EP were available at his shows. After going on tour with Innerpartysystem and Paper Route and opening for Chiodos on their European tour, Moore performed at Bamboozle on May 2. He performed on Bamboozle Left's Saints and Sinners stage on April 4. He toured with Hollywood Undead in April 2009 performing under the band name Sonny and the Blood Monkeys, with Chris Null (electric guitar), Sean Friday (drums, percussion, and beats) and Aaron Rothe (keyboards, synthesizers, programming, and turntables). Moore has stated that the album Bells will not be released.[25]

In 2008, Moore began producing and performing under the alias Skrillex at clubs in the Los Angeles area.[26] The name, according to Moore, has no meaning and was "a stupid old online AOL screen name".[27] Previously, he had been known on the Internet as Twipz.[28] On June 7, 2010, Moore released his official Skrillex debut EP, My Name Is Skrillex as a free download.[29] Moore provided programming and vocals for UK metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon on their third studio album, There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret.[30] Later in the year, Sonny began a nationwide tour with deadmau5 after being signed to mau5trap recordings and released his second EP, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

(L to R:) Porter Robinson, Zedd, and Skrillex performing at SXSW on March 16, 2012 Moore kicked off the "Project Blue Book Tour" in 2011 with support from Porter Robinson, Tommy Lee and DJ Aero as well as appearances from Sofia Toufa for a new song, "Bring Out the Devil". Skrillex unveiled several new songs on this tour including "First of the Year" (formerly known as "Equinox"), "Reptile", and "Cinema" (remix of a Benny Benassi track). "Reptile" was featured in the TV commercial for Mortal Kombat 9, and "First of the Year (Equinox)" is featured on More Monsters and Sprites, his follow-up EP and remix companion to Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. In April 2011, Spin premiered "Get Up", an exclusive new track from Korn that was produced by Skrillex. Korn made the track available for free download via their Facebook page.[31] On April 15, 2011, KoRn joined Skrillex on stage for his set at Coachella 2011. On April 18, 2011, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEA) development studio Naughty Dog released a trailer[32] for the multiplayer component of their PlayStation 3 game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, featuring "Kill EVERYBODY" from Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

In June 2011, "More Monsters and Sprites" was released on Beatport, an EP consisting of three original tracks, including "First of the Year (Equinox)" and two versions of his original track "Ruffneck". The track "Ruffneck Bass" had been leaked on the internet months prior which used the same sample as in the new "Ruffneck" tracks on the EP. Skrillex released a music video for "Rock n' Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)" on his official YouTube page on June 20, 2011.[33] On August 17, 2011 Skrillex announced his label, OWSLA.[34]

Skrillex performing live at the 2011 Ottawa Bluesfest "The label's first releases will come from Bristol-based dubstep producers KOAN Sound, electro-house newcomer Porter Robinson from North Carolina, singer-songwriter Alvin Risk, and San Francisco-based M Machine (formally Metropolis)."[35] Skrillex released a music video for "First of the Year (Equinox)" via Spin.com on August 19, 2011. In late August 2011 it was released that he would be appearing Knife Party's first release, collaborating on "Zoology", a Moombahton style track. A preview was released on YouTube. In late September 2011 he created the track "Syndicate" as promotion for the video game of the same name. Kaskade's 2011 album Fire & Ice features "Lick It", a collaboration between Kaskade and Skrillex. The video for Skrillex's song "First of the Year (Equinox)" appears on the first episode of the Beavis and Butt-head revival.

On November 8, Skrillex stated that he intended to release an album, Voltage. Skrillex gave fans more info about Voltage in RockSound Magazine after a photoshoot for the cover and doing an extensive interview on his tour.[36] For unknown reasons, however, the album was never released, however on December 21, 2011, Skrillex unveiled the Bangarang EP for a Beatport release on December 23, then on August 12, 2012, his new side-project formed with Boys Noize called Dog Blood released an EP called Next Order/Middle Finger. On November 6, 2012, Skrillex released a limited edition triple vinyl box set.[37] Skrillex composed the song "Bug Hunt" for the 2012 animated film Wreck-It Ralph, as well as making a brief cameo as a DJ in the film's first act, and in December 2012, "Make It Bun Dem" is used in as a looped variant during the single-player mission 'Kick the Hornets Nest' in the video game Far Cry 3. He composed the score for Spring Breakers with Cliff Martinez.

2014: Recess Skrillex confirmed at a show in January 2013 that he would release a new LP in the summer.[38] On January 2, 2013, Skrillex released his 7th EP, Leaving, on the OWSLA subscription service, Nest IV.[39] He later released the single "Try It Out" with Alvin Risk.

On March 7, 2014, an App titled "Alien Ride" was put up on Apple's App Store which contained a secret folder with 11 hidden objects and a countdown ending March 10 at 6:30EST. Moore's website was updated with the App's picture on the front page and it was later revealed the folder contains Google Play and iTunes url's which eventually were revealed to be 11 new songs available to stream that comprised his debut LP, titled Recess. The album was made available for pre-order at midnight and was released on March 18, 2014.

2016–present: Collaborations and return to From First to Last Skrillex was getting into the K-pop industry by collaborating with the girl group 4Minute. On January 25, 2016, Cube Entertainment released the tracklist and individual teaser images for the members. The first track, "Hate", was composed and arranged by Skrillex.[40]

On January 15, 2017, Moore tweeted "Happy Birthday" with a link to a new From First to Last song which featured Moore on vocals.[41] He later joined the band in Emo Nite LA for the first time in nearly a decade.[42] In 2017, he released the songs "Chicken Soup" with Habstrakt, "Would You Ever" with Poo Bear, "Saint Laurent" with DJ Sliink and Wale and "Favor" with Vindata and NSTASIA.

In July 2018, Skrillex teased fans by collaborating with Missy Elliott on a snippet nicknamed "ID", a release date for the single has yet to be announced.[43]

On October 8, 2018, Skrillex uploaded a photo to Twitter showcasing a collaboration between him and English DJ and producer Joyryde, later posting a video teaser of the song to Instagram.[44][45] The collaboration, "Agen Wida", was officially released on October 19, 2018.[46][47] On October 24, 2018 on Instagram, he previewed the song "Arms Around You", a collaboration featuring XXXTentacion, Lil Pump, Maluma and Swae Lee. The full single was released on October 25, 2018.[48]

Skrillex, Poo Bear, and Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada collaborated on "Face My Fears", an opening song for the video game Kingdom Hearts III. The single was released on January 18, 2019.[49][50]

On July 18, 2019, Skrillex released a two-track EP, Show Tracks, consisting of "Fuji Opener" featuring Alvin Risk and "Mumbai Power" featuring rapper Beam.[51][52]

Influences Moore has cited Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails[53] and the Doors[54] as early influences. Moore stated in an online interview that he is a longtime fan of Warp, a label whose roster includes notable electronic artists such as Aphex Twin and Squarepusher.[55] In an interview for Daft Punk Unchained, a 2015 documentary about the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, Moore said he was first exposed to electronic dance music after attending the duo's highly praised 2006 Coachella set.

Personal life In a 2015 interview, Moore stated that although his parents practiced Scientology, he does not. He explained that music consumes most of the time he could theoretically devote to religion.[14] His mother died in June 2015.[15]

Discography Main article: Skrillex discography Studio albums Recess (2014) Filmography Let's Make a Spaceship (2014) Moore partnered up with Red Bull to produce a documentary titled "Let's Make a Spaceship". It premiered on October 11, 2014, at 10 p.m. CT at the ACL Festival after his headline performance.[56] His performance and documentary, and others' performances are available for stream at Red Bull TV's website.[57]

Awards and nominations Grammy Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2012[58] Himself Best New Artist Nominated "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" Best Dance Recording Won Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites Best Dance/Electronica Album Won Benny Benassi featuring Gary Go – "Cinema (Skrillex Remix)" Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Won "First of the Year (Equinox)" Best Short Form Music Video Nominated 2013[59] "Bangarang" Best Dance Recording Won Bangarang Best Dance/Electronica Album Won Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix) Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Won 2016[60] "Where Are Ü Now" (with Diplo and Justin Bieber) Best Dance Recording Won Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü (with Diplo) Best Dance/Electronic Album Won 2017[61] Purpose (as a featured artist, producer & engineer) Album of the Year Nominated "Purple Lamborghini" (with Rick Ross & Beat Billionaire) Best Song Written for Visual Media Nominated 2019[62] "Midnight Hour" (with Ty Dolla Sign & Boys Noize) Best Dance Recording Nominated Kids Choice Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2017 Himself Favorite DJ/EDM Artist[63] Nominated MTV Video Music Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2012 "First of the Year (Equinox)" Best Electronic Dance Music Video[64] Nominated Best Visual Effects[65] Won 2013 "Breakn' a Sweat" Best Visual Effects[66] Nominated 2015[67] "Where Are Ü Now" (with Diplo featuring Justin Bieber) Best Visual Effects Won Best Art Direction Nominated Best Editing Nominated Song Of The Summer[68] Nominated Annie Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2013 Wreck-It Ralph Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production[69] Won DJ Magazine top 100 DJs Year Position Notes Ref. 2011 19 New Entry [70] 2012 10 Up 9 2013 11 Down 1 2014 9 Up 2 2015 9 No Change 2016 9 No Change 2017 16 Down 7 2018 21 Down 5 2019 21 No Change 2020 15 Up 6 Electronic Music Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2017 "Purple Lamborghini" (with Rick Ross) Single of the Year[71] Nominated See also List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists

[polikszena]

For a little bit of sunshine - Chapter 2

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick

Rating: Teen and up audiences

Summary: He is one of the country’s best naval aviators, she is a dance instructor and a writer. He has been called back to Top Gun for an extremely dangerous mission, she is battling her insecurities. They meet at a bar. This is their story.

Relationships: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Female OC

Chapter 1

Chapter summary: Rooster learns something new about Maggie while she realizes that hard work eventually does pay off.

Songs: Ironic by Alanis Morissette

Word count: 2153

A/N: Thank you for the reblogs and the likes on the first chapter! :) Also, this thing about the dance classes in the Navy Base is entirely my headcanon, it doesn’t exist in real life (they wouldn’t exist in the story either if Maggie’s father wasn’t a vice admiral).

Chapter 2 - La Cubanita

A smile touched Maggie Rose Miller’s lips as she looked around the club and saw people gathering on the dance floor. She was standing next to the DJ set wearing a red dress with a flowy skirt and dancing shoes, observing the forming crowd. She spotted Phoenix next to two other aviators with the call signs Payback and Fanboy. A smile touched Maggie’s lips as her friend waved to her. She had mentioned she would have this workshop in the club La Cubanita, but she wasn’t expecting Phoenix to come. Yet she was happy to see her and her colleagues there.

Besides being a romance writer, Maggie was also working as a dance instructor. It all started during her college years when she got a job as a receptionist in a dance school and fell in love with salsa so much that over the years she became an instructor. She wasn’t considering making a career out of dancing until another company bought the publishing company she was working for and they terminated her contract. As the saying goes, when a door closes, another one opens, because that was what gave Maggie the push to apply for a teacher training course. That was also the time when she finished her first novel and started sending it to publishers. And now she was a certified dance instructor, specialized in Cuban salsa, but she was also trained in ballroom dances as well. She wouldn’t be able to train competitive ballroom dancers, but it was enough in the social field. She did that training after she gave a crash course to sailors and other Navy people before the Navy Ball a few years ago after her father found out that his subordinates could not dance. It started as a single course, but then the officers found it useful and it became a regular thing. She met Phoenix on a course like this and now it felt nice to see aviators in her workshop again.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turning around she saw her fellow instructor and long-time dance partner, Toni Álvarez, a San Diego-born Cuban guy in his mid-thirties.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Maggie flashed a smile at him and nodded her head. “Let’s do this!”

***

Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw couldn’t care less about the salsa workshop when he arrived at La Cubanita that night. He only came to this place to unwind, to keep his thoughts off Maverick, the mission, his father. He didn’t want to go to The Hard Deck to listen to Hangman’s mocking. He knew it would lead to a fight which wouldn’t help with his chances to be part of the team to eliminate that uranium factory. Not to mention that he didn’t want to get banished from the bar either as Penny wasn’t a big fan of fistfights.

Too early, he stated in mind, realizing that the workshop was still on, but at least he had some time for a drink before hitting the dance floor. Surprisingly, he found Bob, Phoenix’s Weapon Systems Officer and roommate at the bar, sipping a glass of orange juice. Rooster wasn’t expecting him to be in a club like this, but who knew, dancing might be Bob’s secret talent.

“Phoenix and the others are in the workshop,” the WSO told him, gesturing towards the dance floor.

Rooster didn’t take long to find her, paired up with Payback, and he also noticed Fanboy with a brunette girl.

“Now let’s try it with music, okay?” he heard the instructor’s voice which drew a smile on his face as he recognized her. And he had to admit, she looked great in red.

“That’s Maggie, Phoenix’s friend,” Bob told him.

“I know who she is,” Rooster said, still smiling. Maggie the murderer.

Once the workshop ended, Maggie joined the aviators and they went to the bar together to find Bob who wasn’t on his own anymore.

“Hi Maggie,” Bob waved at her, smiling. “Do you remember Rooster?”

Seeing the mustached aviator, the dance instructor froze for a moment. Then, as she recognized him, a grin broke out on her face. Although not exactly for being happy to see him. She was, but what made her even happier was realizing that she hadn’t even thought about him in the last few days. Not a single thought. Which was remarkable, because in the past , whenever Maggie Rose Miller crossed paths with an attractive man who showed even the slightest interest in her, she tended to develop a crush on them, or sometimes worse - to fall in love with them way before anything could have happened between them.

Love was just another field for Maggie to be a disappointment in. All of her close friends were already married with children, while she felt like she couldn’t get a date to save her life, which was quite ironic for a romance writer. Had Alanis Morissette known about this, she would have put it into her song.

It took her a long time to change the ways she thought about love and romance (in real life, not in her novels), a lot of hard work to get to the point of meeting someone attractive and not imagining every possible scenarios to run into him anywhere in the city and not spending hours thinking about how much she didn’t want to overthink it. Despite she hadn’t said it out loud, she was so desperate for love, for real romance that she clinged on even the smallest sign of affection. And now she was facing the mustached piano guy in a Hawaiian shirt whom she had an interesting conversation with, but whom she didn’t even think about even though she found him attractive. Maggie felt like she was cured of a disease.

“Of course, hello!” she finally said, still smiling, still being over the moon for not thinking about him.

“Didn’t know you were a dance instructor,” the aviator said, unable not to smile back at her. Although he might have wiped it off if he knew the real reason why he was smiling that much. “I thought you were a writer.”

“The two things don’t exclude each other,” she told him.

He couldn’t argue with that. At this moment the party officially started and the DJ began to play some salsa music that called the dancers to the floor. Unexpectedly, Rooster held his hand out to Maggie.

“May I?” he asked.

“Aren’t you afraid to dance with the teacher?” she teased him.

“I like challenges.”

“Good to know that,” Maggie said with a smile, taking his hand and they headed to the dance floor.

She was curious what he would do as most Top Gun pilots thought they could dance when they were actually on the same level as one’s uncle after five shots of tequila at a wedding reception. There were exceptions, of course, but nine out of ten cocky hotshots who thought dancing workshops were derogatory, belonged to Top Gun.

Rooster, however, seemed to be one of the exceptions. Maggie didn’t know his opinions on workshops, but he definitely could dance. In fact, he was a lot better than she had expected. If it made him any nervous that she was on a more advanced level, he didn’t show it. He didn’t know all the different steps, but he could lead the ones he knew smoothly and with confidence. He’d be every girl’s dream in a beginner class, she thought with a small laugh. A good leader, with warm (and dry) hands, and on top of that, he was good looking as well. And seemed to enjoy dancing. So did Maggie. She had a smile for everyone she danced with, but a good partner could make her glow, no matter which level they were on. She still couldn’t wipe the smile off her face when Rooster led her back to the others after the song ended. She couldn’t help but notice that he was grinning like an idiot as well.

“How’s the murder going?” the aviator asked when he sat down next to her sometime later.

“Not very good, because you’re still here,” she joked after taking a sip of her drink.

“You’re the one keeping me alive,” he pointed it out, “as you’re the murderer.”

“Only because you dance,” she said. “And you do it pretty well. And you’re a Top Gun pilot. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Well, I’m a terrible cook,” he told her while eating a handful of peanuts from the bowl in front of them. “And I hope you’ll never be in my team in Pictionary.”

A smile touched Maggie’s lips and she found herself wondering if he was just being modest (which wasn’t like a prototypical Top Gun pilot at all) or if he was indeed bad at drawing.

“You cannot be much worse than me,” she said. “I even struggle with stick figures. I’m a disappointment in Pictionary.”

“Is this why they call you ‘Letdown’?” he wondered.

Maggie had to take a sip of her virgin mojito to swallow the self-deprecating jokes that were about to leave her mouth once Rooster mentioned her call sign.

“No-one really calls me like this,” she admitted, “as it’s not an actual call sign.”

It was given to her by one of the aviators in the first group she had ever taught to dance. His name was James Preston with the call sign “Bel Ami”. He told her it was not possible that she was the only one in the room without a call sign and the rest of the group joined him in convincing her to get one. He asked him what was her most defining quality and she said “Disappointment” without thinking which made the whole group go quiet as they weren't expecting such an answer. She tried to brush that off with a joke that it would be too long when James came up with “Letdown” as a synonym and she gladly accepted it. Of course, she had a huge crush on him. She could still recall his smile, but instead of that warm and fuzzy feeling it once gave her, now she only felt a wave of embarrassment. Perhaps it was time to choose a new call sign for herself, even though that would be against the rules, but she wasn’t a pilot, was she?

“But do you know what never disappoints?” she asked, changing the topic, chasing the memory of James “Bel Ami” Preston out of her mind.

“What?” he asked as he shoved another handful of peanuts in his mouth.

“Poison. There are many different kinds and they are not very easy to find. You can put it into someone’s food and they wouldn’t even notice it,” she told him with a mysterious smile then she slowly shifted her gaze to the bowl which made Rooster choke on his peanuts.

For a moment he thought she was serious (he even spat some peanuts out) but then she burst out laughing.

“I’m so sorry, I just had to do this,” she apologized while still shaking with laughter. “I was just joking, I wouldn’t actually poison you. God, you should have seen your face!”

Rooster tried to look cross with her as he was sweeping the salt and the peanuts off his jeans, but he failed as a grin broke out on his face, followed by a chuckle that turned into laughter.

“Fair enough, I was asking for it,” he said, as it was him who started talking about murder and then the peanuts… he had to admit, he would have done the same in a reverse situation. “But for this you have to teach me a new step,” he told her. “Right now.”

“You deserve it,” Maggie said, getting up from her chair, still laughing.

A few hours later, when they walked out of the club, Rooster offered Maggie a ride home.

“I would love to take it, thank you, but I don’t want to walk back to my car tomorrow,” she smiled, gesturing towards a small turquoise Honda in the parking lot. “Maybe next time. Goodnight, Rooster,” she said then headed to her car.

“How can I know there will be a next time?” he asked.

Maggie’s smile grew wider as she turned back around. Digging into her bag she pulled out a flyer of the dance school with the list of the classes held on the Navy Base. She folded it in four then walked to him and put it in his shirt’s pocket.

“There,” she said. “Now you’ll know where to find me.”

Then she went back to her car, making an effort not to look back. She knew it would be extremely hard not to overanalyze everything that had been said and done that night or not to imagine every possible scenario of where this could go, but Rooster wasn’t the only one who liked challenges.

Chapter 3

[aion-rsa]

25 Best Sports TV Shows

https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/TV-High-School-Travel-Guides.png?resize=400%2C400

Sports stories have traditionally belonged to the movies. Something about the rhythms of competition, in which an athlete or team trains, plays, and then either wins or loses, is a natural fit for the film world’s three act structure.

Television, with its multiple episodes and seasons, is often more discursive and therefore less viable for truly great sports stories. Thankfully, that all seems poised to change. While some sports TV shows have found success in the past, now the medium has really kicked things up a notch. Sports stories like Brockmire, Ted Lasso, Cobra Kai, and more are not only welcome on television, but an essential part of the cable and streaming landscape. 

Read more

TV

The United States of TV High Schools

By Alec Bojalad

Movies

The Best Sports Documentaries To Stream

By Scott Fontana and 2 others

With that in mind, it’s high time we pay homage to TV’s great sports programs. What follows is a list of 25 of the best sports TV shows of all time, hand selected by Den of Geek (i.e. me: the arms-crossed weirdo in the picture at the bottom of this article). 

It’s important to keep in mind that these are the best scripted sports TV shows. Television is, of course, no stranger to live sports and the various programs that surround them. Consider these unscripted American sports shows as honorable mentions: Hard Knocks, Last Chance U, Ken Burns’ Baseball, The Last Dance (and most other 30-for-30s), Cheer, Inside the NBA.

Enough of the undercard, now onto the main event. 

25. Red Oaks

Amazon Prime’s Red Oaks examines the bougie tennis lifestyle of the 1980s. It all comes through the lens of David Myers (Craig Roberts), a college student looking to pick up some cash by taking a summer job at an upscale Jewish country club in New Jersey. Sports stories and coming-of-age stories fit particularly well because the end goal of each one is usually growth. It’s hard to say whether David grows during his time at Red Oaks, but he certainly changes over the series’ three seasons. 

24. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers

A TV show based on Disney sports movie behemoth franchise The Mighty Ducks was all but an inevitability, particularly when the major conglomerate secured its own streamer in Disney+. We’re all lucky then that The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers turned out to be quite good rather than completely perfunctory. The show is bold enough to recast its Ducks’ franchise as the villains and to rally around the radical idea that youth sports should be fun. 

23. One Tree Hill

At first glance, One Tree Hill doesn’t seem too different from the other teen shows of its era on The CW (though The CW was still “The WB” for One Tree Hill’s first two seasons). It’s about high schoolers in a small town, doing high school things. Where One Tree Hill excels (at least in its early, still high school seasons) is the introduction of basketball as a storytelling crutch. Half brothers Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) have a turbulent enough relationship to begin with. What better way to contextualize that relationship than through the high stakes lens of high school basketball?

22. Lights Out

Not to be confused with the 2016 horror film of the same name, Lights Out is a boxing series from FX that ran for one excellent season in 2011. Holt McCallany (best known now as Agent Bill Tench on Mindhunter) stars as retired heavyweight champion Patrick “Lights” Leary. Despite displaying signs of neurological trauma from his career, Lights can’t help but want to return to the ring for one more shot of glory (and to pay off his family’s many debts). Lights Out is a sad, elegiac little story about how one man who sees a sport that broke his brain as the only realistic option for success. 

21. Big Shot

Big Shot premiered shortly after its bigger-named Disney+ cousin The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. And while Game Changers made a slightly bigger splash, Big Shot might be the better sports show. The story follows Marvyn Korn (John Stamos), a tempermental basketball coach who ends up at an elite all-girls prep school to shepherd its basketball program. Big Shot runs through all the tried and true tropes and beats of sports stories and does so with aplomb. Consider it Hardball meets Hoosiers with plenty of Stamos charm. 

20. Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper

Sports are somewhat incidental to Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper’s mission. Sure, lead character Mr. Cooper (Mark Curry) is a former Golden State Warriors basketball player turned PE teacher. But like its TGIF programming block peers, this show is a charming hangout comedy with few lasting conflicts to speak of. Still, you don’t spend that much time in a gym without some three-pointers and lay-ups. 

19. Coach

Before Craig T. Nelson was Mr. Incredible (or made this truly amazing televised statement), he was best known for portraying the title role in ‘90s ABC sitcom Coach. In fact, many of our archetypical perceptions of what makes a football coach likely come from Nelson’s portrayal of Coach Hayden Fox (who first coached for a fictional NCAA football team and later an NFL one). This is a man whose skill at molding young athletes belies his lack of skill at…well, everything else. Ultimately, Coach is a worthwhile multiseason experience in which a grown man grows up.

18. Kingdom

Kingdom is probably the best sports TV show that you’ve never heard of. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. That’s just the kind of thing that happens when a show is damned to languish on AT&T’s ludicrous “Audience Network”. Kingdom is set in an MMA gym and captures all the drama provided in the heightened world of mixed martial arts combat. The show is blessed with some great characters and an even better cast. Frank Grillo (Captain America’s most annoying foe, Brock Rumlow), Kiele Sanchez (Lost), Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights), Jonathan Tucker, (Justified)  and Nick Jonas (yes, that Nick Jonas) all make their mark on the series.

17. The White Shadow

Premiering in 1978, CBS’s The White Shadow was uncommonly progressive for its time. The series follows Ken Reeves (Ken Howard), a white NBA player who retires after a knee injury and elects to take up coaching at Carver High School in South Central Los Angeles. Coach Reeves’s team is made up primarily of Black and Hispanic players and the show deals with the social ills of life in the inner city. It’s also quite funny and charming and features a commitment to realistic basketball scenes.

16. The League

FX comedy The League works as a sports show (and as a TV show in general) because it has a deep understanding of sports from a fan’s perspective. Sure, fans watch collegiate and professional sports to marvel at the athleticism, training, and skill on display. But more importantly, they watch sports to have something to talk about with their friends. Though the participants in the titular fantasy football league at the center of The League grew up as friends, who’s to say they would have stayed friends so long without this league keeping them together? Ruxin (Nick Kroll) is an asshole. Andre (Paul Scheer) is annoying. And Taco (Jon Lajoie) is, well…Taco.

15. Rocket Power

If the ‘90s taught us anything it’s that extreme sports are sports too, man! Rocket Power is a lovely little slice of life Nick Toon that follows four kids in a fictional California surfing community. Otto Rocket, Reggie Rocket, Maurice “Twister” Rodriguez, and Sam “Squid” Dullard spend their days skateboarding, surfing, playing street hockey, and occasionally snowboarding. It’s a wonderful ode to childhood and all the athletic activities that make the day (and years) go by far too quickly. 

14. Luck

If things shook out differently, perhaps Luck could have been considered one of the five or so best sports shows of all time. All of the pieces were in place. This 2012 HBO series had the right creative team (created and run by Deadwood’s David Milch and starring Dustin Hoffman with a pilot directed by Michael Mann) to go along with an intriguing premise (complicated characters’ lives intersecting at a horse track). But alas…the dead horses. Oh so many dead horses. Despite stringent safety measures put in place, Luck lost three hoof bois during filming of its first season and was canceled shortly thereafter. May they all rest in peace.

13. All American

High school is a turbulent time in all our lives. And when the high stakes world of competitive football is added in, things can only get more intense. The CW’s All American opts to take the world of high school football and opts to add in a welcome dose of sociopolitical commentary. This series is loosely based on the life of former New York Giants linebacker Spencer Paysinger and follows his character “Spencer James” as he is recruited from South L.A. to play for the affluent Beverly Hills High. The show wisely understands that sports (particularly when they involve Black teenagers) are a marvelous portal to explore American society. 

12. Pitch

Cruelly cut short after just one season of 10 episodes, Pitch is the kind of sports show that will inspire sports stories for years to come. This baseball series for Fox comes from Dan Fogelman (This Is Us) and Rick Singer. It follows the saga of Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury), who becomes the first woman to play in Major League Baseball when she’s called up to pitch by the San Diego Padres. Pitch was blessed with an excellent cast including Bunbury and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a veteran catcher nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career. More interestingly, it was blessed with an actual MLB licensing deal. There are no silly fictional teams in this show like the Tuscaloosa Barn-Burners or the Helena Hellcats. It’s all real MLB team names and logos, adding to the realism of a cool premise.

11. Ballers

Of course, Elizabeth Warren’s favorite show has to be on this list. Ballers has a bit of an unearned reputation for being cringe thanks to its ridiculous name and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s delightful cornball energy. In reality, this is an exceedingly watchable TV show and one that examines the corporate side of professional sports quite well. It’s also noticeable for being most viewers’ introduction to eventual Tenet star John David Washington. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

10. GLOW

Is professional wrestling a sport? Vince McMahon would argue that it’s “sports entertainment.” I would argue that that’s more than good enough to get the excellent GLOW on this list. GLOW tragically fell victim to Netflix’s whimsical cancellation procedures. Why the almighty algorithm decided a show needed to be canceled after it was already renewed is beyond me. But don’t let that sour three seasons of superb sportsy storytelling. GLOW follows the fictionalized rise of the very real “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling” and it centers it on the conflict between two former best friends, Ruther Wilder (Alison Brie) and Debbie Eagen (Betty Gilpin). GLOW differs a bit from the usual sports fare in that the “sport” at its center wasn’t necessarily plan A for the athletes. But the experience of watching the ladies train, grow, and succeed is pure and sublime sports story stuff.

9. Cobra Kai

Cobra Kai absolutely could have been phoned in. The streaming world runs on nostalgia and there’s nothing more sweetly nostalgic than The Karate Kid franchise. Instead, this Netflix series changes the original franchise’s perspective by focusing on the “villainous” Cobra Kai dojo and re-examines things from Johnny’s point of view. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka deserve credit for embodying realistically adult, yet flawed versions of their original characters. Equally deserving of credit though is a whole host of young actors bringing the martial arts to a whole new generation. 

8. Blue Mountain State

A lot of the shows on this list are, let’s say, reverential to the sports, teams, and athletes they cover. Spike comedy Blue Mountain State is decidedly…not. This series, following the Mountain Goats football team for the fictional college Blue Mountain State, understands that not all depictions of athletes have to be saints. Sometimes college football player can just be the big dumb animals you want them to be. Through three seasons, this show developed a cult following that would follow it over for a lifetime of reruns on Netflix. Blue Mountain State is crass, dangerous, and entertaining, not entirely unlike football.

7. Sports Night

Speaking of being reverential to sports…like all Aaron Sorkin-created TV series, Sports Night can be a bit full of itself sometimes. That only works when the topic at hand, like the federal branch of the U.S. government, is consequential. Thankfully, sports can be pretty important sometimes too! This late ‘90s show follows the goings-on at a Sportscenter-esque news program hosted by Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) and Casey McCall (Peter Krause). It has all the witty dialogue you’d come to expect from a Sorkin venture. And if you can make your way through the inexplicable laugh track of the early episodes, you will find a mature, entertaining show that properly understands and contextualizes professional sports’ role in American society. 

6. Survivor’s Remorse

Survivor’s Remorse came into the world with two strikes against it. One is a bizarrely overwrought name, and the other is that its home network, Starz, isn’t a given on many cable packages. Still, this LeBron James-produced comedy is shockingly one of the best sports TV shows ever (and perhaps still the best creative venture James has been involved in yet). This story follows NBA athlete Cam Calloway (Jessie T. Usher) as he tries to balance the business and basketball aspects of his life. At first the show focuses on Cam’s guilt for having got out of his impoverished neighborhood when so many couldn’t (hence, the show’s title), but ultimately it evolves into a family comedy drama featuring some truly remarkable characters and performances like Cam’s cousin and manager Reggie Vaughn (RonReaco Lee) and his baller half-sister “M-Chuck” (Erica Ash). Even Monica Rambeau herself, Teyonah Parris, is a part of the proceedings. 

5. Playmakers

Sometimes I can’t even believe that Playmakers is real. Surely, this ESPN series about a fictional football team in a fictional league that is clearly the NFL was just a post-9/11 fever dream we all endured together. Alas, Playmakers was real and it was awesome. This series follows the players on the Cougars as they navigate a football landscape filled with ripped-from-the-headlines strife including Performance enhancing drugs, good old-fashioned drugs, domestic abuse, concussions, and more. The series even introduces the outing of a gay player more than a decade before Michael Sam and Carl Nassib revealed their sexual orientations. Naturally, Playmakers was canceled when the NFL intimated to its broadcast partner ESPN that it wasn’t too pleased with the content of its show. And enraging the National Football League alone is enough to make this an all-time classic.

4. Eastbound & Down

Eastbound & Down creator and star Danny McBride isn’t necessarily a huge fan of baseball. But he is, thankfully, a huge fan of weirdos and creeps. When McBride discovered just how bizarre and poorly behaved certain flamethrowing relief pitchers could be, Kenny Powers and the show around him was born. The baseball “action” in Eastbound isn’t much to write home about. The show isn’t too concerned with the results of any given baseball game and McBride always looks like he’s throwing a javelin and not a baseball. It’s still a phenomenal saga about athletes that dives into Paul Bunyan-esque tales of legendary misbehavior that fame encourages. It’s no coincidence that in the follow ups to Kenny Powers, McBride has delved into megalomaniacal vice principals and bejeweled, sweaty televangelists – all different aspects of the white American male id.

3. Ted Lasso

Of all the sports shows in the TV canon, none feels more like a traditional sports movie than Ted Lasso. This Apple TV+ series plucks an American football coach-fish and gently places him out of water in the English Premier League. The affable Lasso (Sudeikis) is charged with reversing the fortunes of EPL side AFC Richmond. Little does he know, however, that spiteful owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddington) is counting on him to fail, Major League style. Ted Lasso isn’t interested in reinventing the wheel. Instead it perfects it. This is a tale of relentless optimism and unconditional positive regard. Ted breaks the mold for what we expect from coaches, which is probably why so many actual coaches are fond of the show. Simply put: sports stories can’t be done much better than this one. 

2. Brockmire

Sometimes commentators like to bemoan the modern state of baseball. What was once American’s pastime has now supposedly fallen behind things like football and videogames in the pop cultural pecking order. Then along comes something like Brockmire to teach us that baseball as a continuous, seemingly eternal American presence is just as vital as ever. In a career-defining role, Hank Azaria plays disgraced baseball broadcaster Jim Brockmire. Once at the top of his game, an on-air drunken meltdown loses him his job and his sanity. In season 1 of this superb IFC show, Brockmire returns to the booth, this time for an independent league team in Morristown, Pennsylvania. The four seasons that follow are one big love letter to not only baseball, but the messy human experience itself. It’s rare that you get something this funny and this affecting. The fact that it’s wrapped in a stylish diamond-shaped bow is just icing on the cake. 

1. Friday Night Lights

Not only is Friday Night Lights the best sports TV show of all time, it’s hard to imagine it ever being supplanted from its throne. Simply put, Friday Night Lights is a sports television masterpiece. Each of Friday Night Lights’ five seasons (save for the writer’s strike-shortened second) fully capture the ecstasy and agony of high school football in a small Texas town where high school football is the only thing that matters. Friday Night Lights doesn’t shy away from the unsavory institution that is big time high school athletics.

The series opens with a life-changing injury before following it up with tales of corrupt boosters and garden variety West Texas racism. And yet, the show never looks down on its characters. If winning state is important to Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler), Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), Smash Williams (Gaius Charles), and Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan), then it’s important to us too. In fact, when Friday Night Lights is really rolling and the W.G. Snuffy Walden’s Explosions in the Sky-style soundtrack is swirling, you might not recall anything ever mattering to you as much as the Dillon Panthers or the East Dillon Lions winning a football game. Clear eyes, full hearts, absolutely cannot lose.

The post 25 Best Sports TV Shows appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3zuH9T4

[horrorkingdom]

Quiet

I never saw the ocean till I was nineteen, and if I ever see it again it will be too goddamn soon. I was a child, coming out of the train, fresh from Amarillo, into San Diego and all her glory. The sight of it, all that water and the blind crushing power of the surf, filled me with dread. I’d seen water before, lakes, plenty big, but that was nothing like this. I don’t think I can describe what it was like that first time, and further more, I’m not sure I care too.

You can imagine the state I was in when a few weeks later they gave me a rifle and put me on a boat. When I stopped vomiting up everything that I ate, I decided that I might not kill myself after all. Not being able to see the land, and that ceaseless chaotic, rocking of the waves; I remember thinking that the war had to be a step up from this. Kids can be so fucking stupid.

I had such a giddy sense of glee when I saw the island, and it’s solid banks. They transferred us to a smaller boat in the middle of the night, just our undersized company with our rucksacks and rifles and not a word. We just took a ride right into it, just because they asked us to. The lieutenants herded us into our platoons on the decks and briefed us: the island had been lost. That was exactly how he put it. Somehow in the grand plan for the Pacific, this one tiny speck of earth, only recently discovered and unmapped, had gotten lost in the shuffle; a singularly perfect clerical error was all it took. It was extremely unlikely, he stressed, that the Japanese had gotten a hold of it, being so far east and south of their current borders, but a recent fly over reported what looked like an airfield in the central plateau.

We hit the beach in the middle of the night. I’d heard talk of landings before, and I’m not ashamed to tell, I was scared shitless. I don’t know quite what I expected, but it wasn’t we got, that thick, heavy silence. Behind the lapping of the waves and the wind in the trees, there was… nothing, no birds, no insects. Just deathly stillness.

Another hundred yards deeper into the eerie tranquility of the jungle, we stopped in a small clearing for the officers to reconvene, and it was obvious even they were spooked. I wasn’t a bright kid, but I knew enough to know that something was very wrong. It was like the whole island was dead. I remember I could only smell the sea, despite the red blossoms dangling from the trees.

It wasn’t an airfield, on top of the plateau. I can’t tell you what it was, because I’ve never seen anything like it, and I don’t think anyone ever will. If I tell you it was like the Aztec pyramids, but turned upside down, so that it sank like giant steps into the earth, you’d get the basic idea of it, but that somehow fails to capture the profound unearthliness of the structure.

There was no sign of individual pieces in the masonry, it appeared to have been carved out of a single immense block of black rock into a sharp and geometric shape. It was slick and perfectly smooth like obsidian, but it had no shine to it. It swallowed up even the moonlight, so that it was impossible to see how deep it went, or even focus your eyes on any one part of it, like it was one giant blind spot.

Our platoon drew the honor of investigating the lower levels, so we descended the stairs as the rest of the company surrounded the plateau. We took the stairs slowly and carefully after the first man to touch one of the right angle edges slit his hands down the bone.

At odd intervals down the steps, there were several small stone rooms; simple, empty, hollow cubes of stone with one opening, facing the pit in the center. There was no door that we could see, and with the opening being four feet of the ground, you’d have to put your hands on that black razor sharp edge to climb in into it.

We circled the descending floors, shining our lights into each of the small structures; They contained the same featureless black walls and nothing else. No dust, no leaves and other detritus from the jungle, the whole monument was immaculate, as if the place was just built; but that couldn’t be right. The whole structure felt incalculably old to me somehow, despite having no way to articulate the particular reasons.

Down near the bottom you could see that it simply sloped away into a darkness that swallowed the flashlights. We tossed first a button and then a shell casing down into the pit, and waited in the unearthly silence, but no sounds returned. No one spoke, we simply turned away from the yawning abyss and continued our sweep of the bottom rung and the last of the small structures.

The body in the back corner was almost invisible at first in the thick shadows, but the long spill of drying blood reflected the light of our flashlights, and it led right too him. He was coiled tight, arms around his thighs, and his face tucked into his knees. You could see badly he was cut, his clothes opened in ragged bloody tatters to reveal the pale skin and bone beneath it. He may have been dressed in a Japanese uniform, but it had been reduced to ribbons; I only had few seconds to look at him before we heard the first shots.

It echoed like the buzzing of faraway insects in the still jungle, swallowed almost instantly by the blanket of quiet. By the time we reached the top, the rest of the company had vanished. There were shell casings on the ground, and the hot smell of gunpowder in the air, but they were gone. The trees were deathly quiet around, there was not a trace of the nearly fifty other men that had come ashore with us. I could taste bile rising in my throat as panic threatened to cripple me; I felt crushed between the yawning pit and razor edges on one side and the dead jungle and the pounding ocean on the other. The silence rang in my ears and I struggled to still myself.

They were just inside the jungle, waiting for us. They came out from between the trees with all sound of a moth, simply sliding into our view.

I can try to tell you what I saw, the same as I did to the army doc on the hospital ship when I first woke up, and again half dozen other various officers over the following months, and you’ll have the same reaction they did; that I was a dumb country rube suffering from heatstroke and exposure and trauma. That I was crazy.

You know me. You know I’m not crazy. And I remember every second of that night with crystal clarity.

The thing, the first one that caught my eye, was wearing the skin of a Jap soldier, all mottled with the belly distended from rot. The head drooped, useless and obscene on the shoulders, tongue swollen and eyes cloudy. I could see where it was coming apart at the ill-defined joints, with ragged holes in the drying flesh. At the bottom of each of these raw pits was blackness, deeper than the stones of the buildings; a darkness that seemed to churn and froth like an angry cloud.

The thing moved suddenly, the head snapping and rolling backwards as it dashed towards us. I had my rifle clasped tightly in my hands, but it simply didn’t occur to me to fire. All I could do was gape silently at the macabre sight bearing down on us, and think absurdly of my mother’s marionettes.

A gun went off beside me, and I turned to see a dozen more of the horrors darting silently in on us. Among them were a few more rotting and swollen forms, but the majority wore the same uniforms as us, and were pale, fresh, and soaked in blood. More bullets zipped through the air, and I saw the grisly things hit again and again, but they never slowed. I caught a glimpse of the First Sergeant’s vacant glassy eyes as his head dangled limp from his shoulders; I saw the great ragged wound in his back and the shuddering darkness that inhabited his corpse when he leapt just past me without a sound, landing like a graceful predator onto the soldier beside me. The others around me began to drop in a silent dance of kinetic energy and blurred motion

I was on the track team in high school, and it could have got me to college. I didn’t need an invitation. I just ran. I ran blind through jungle, caroming of tree trunks; I ran until I saw the ocean, and it struck a new ringing note of terror in me. I don’t remember actually deciding to swim, but when I turned back to the tree line, I saw one of the white and bloody things emerge, running on all fours, the hands splayed wide and the back contorted and cracked in an impossible angle.

To this day, the mere thought of the ocean still brings on a cold sweat, but that night I let it embrace me, let the tide drag me out to sea, if only to bring momentary relief from the impossible monolith and terrors on the island. The days I spent drifting off shore and blistering in the sun were a welcome release from the silent island.

I never saw the war. They sent me home as soon as I recovered.

It was comforting in a way, when I thought no one believed me. It allowed me to believe that it never happened, that it was a product of my mind. But as I got older, I’ve found that it is pointless to lie to anyone, especially yourself. I know what I saw.

Someone else believed me too. I’ve seen maps of where they tested the hydrogen bombs in the South Pacific.

—

Credited to Josef K. (aka entropyblues).