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blackpink-jane · 6 months ago

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ㅤㅤㅤ°ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ𖤐 ִֶָ 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐄 𓂃 profile 🧷

( moodboard cred: @lorlita )

。　　　　✧　everything is figureoutable !　⁺　　。

— BIRTH NAME ੭ go minri

— CHANGED NAME ੭ hwang jane ❪ since. '06 ❫

— CHINESE NAME ੭ zhao shengyue

— JAPANESE NAME ੭ hayashi yukicho

— NICKNAMES ੭ yue ❪ c-friends ❫, chocho ❪ dad, j-friends, jisoo ❫, honey ❪ jennie ❫, honey unnie ❪ rosè, lisa ❫, twinie ❪ chungha ❫

— hangul ੭ 고민리 → 황제인

— hanzi ੭ 趙勝岳

— kanji ੭ 林幸蝶

— NAME MEANINGS ੭ jane, God is gracious _ shengyue, rising moon _ yukicho, snowy morning

— BIRTHDAY ੭ 9th February, 1996

— ZODIAC SIGN ੭ aquarius

— CHINESE ZODIAC SIGN ੭ rat

— HEIGHT ੭ 170 cm ❪ 5'6" ❫

— WEIGHT ੭ 65 kg ❪ 143 lbs ❫

— BLOOD TYPE ੭ O

— GENDER ੭ female ❪ she/her ❫

— SEXUALITY ੭ bisexual

— RELATIONSHIP STATUS ੭ taken ❪ since. 2020 ❫

ㅤㅤㅤ🎀 | 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 ⊱ 🐈‍⬛

— MBTI ੭ entj / entp

— TRAITS ੭ independent, diplomatic, open-minded, energetic, impatient, ambitious, outgoing, confident, competitive, passionate, creative

— LIKES ੭ hugs, animals, waffles, makeup, dancing, martial arts, yoga, jogging, reading, playing video games, formula one, rugby, cars

— DISLIKES ੭ bananas, bright lights, spring season, insensitive people, snorers, knitting

— HOBBIES ੭ reading, baking, drawing, playing video games, go-karting, pottery, painting, jogging, annoying her twin brother eli, stealing her brothers clothes

ㅤㅤㅤ ❄ | 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐑 ⊱ 🌬

— COMPANY ੭ YG Entertainment ❪ 2012 - present ❫, Valor Entertainment ❪ 2024 ❫

— ACTIVE SINCE ੭ 2015

— TRAINEE PERIOD ੭ 2012 ‐ 2016 ❪ 3 yrs & 4 mths ❫

— GROUP ੭ BLACKPINK ❪ 블랙핑크 ❫

— DEBUT ੭ 2016

— STAGE NAME ੭ JANE ❪ 제인 ❫

— REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI ੭ 🦁

— INSTAGRAM ੭ diaryofjane ❪ personal ❫ ; valorent.official ❪ business ❫

— TWITTER ੭ diaryofjane ❪ personal ❫ ; valorent.official ❪ business ❫

— TIKTOK ੭ diaryofjane ❪ personal ❫ ; valorent.official ❪ business ❫

— YOUTUBE ੭ Valor Entertainment

— WEVERSE ੭ diaryofjane_

— SOLO DEBUT ੭ 2021

— ACTING DEBUT ੭ 2015

— APPEARANCES ੭ high society (jang yoonha, 2015), fight for my way (choi aera, 2017), what's wrong with secretary kim ? (kim miso, 2018), my name (yoon jiwoo, 2021), the kings affection (crown prince lee hwi, 2021), shang-chi and the legend of the 10 rings (xu xialing, 2021), the 355 (lin misheng, 2022), sweet home (lee eunyu, 2020-2023), a good day to be a dog (han haena, 2023), upgraded (ana, 2024)

— CHOREOGRAPHED FOR ੭ blackpink, treasure, taeyang, enhypen, aespa, le sserafim, boynextdoor, txt, ive, monsta x, joohoney, taylor swift, stray kids, seventeen

— PRODUCED FOR ੭ blackpink, txt, treasure, nct, aespa, selena gomez, niall horan, superm, ive, one direction, jeon somi, itzy, le sserafim

ㅤㅤㅤ 🌺 | 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 ⊱ 🍃

— MOTHER (adoptive) :

੭ Birth Name ; hwang luhua ❪ 황루화 ❫

੭ Chinese Name ; zhao luhua ❪ 趙露華 ❫

੭ Japanese Name ; hayashi natsumi ❪ 林なつみ ❫

੭ Birthday ; 28th June, 1974

੭ Occupation ; café owner

੭ Residence ; london, england

੭ Relationship Status ; married ❪ since. 1994 ❫

੭ Children ; 3

— FATHER (adoptive) :

੭ Birth Name ; hwang wijeong ❪ 황위정 ❫

੭ English Name ; kenny hwang

੭ Birthday ; 17th September, 1974

੭ Occupation ; head engineer for McLaren F1 Team

੭ Residence ; london, england

੭ Relationship Status ; married ❪ since. 1994 ❫

੭ Children ; 3

— BROTHER (adoptive) :

੭ Birth Name ; hwang jin ❪ 황진 ❫

੭ Chinese Name ; zhao mingtao ❪ 趙明濤 ❫

੭ Japanese Name ; hayashi kurotori ❪ 林黒鳥 ❫

੭ Birthday ; 9th February, 1996

੭ Occupation ; idol

੭ Residence ; seoul, south korea

੭ Relationship Status ; unknown

੭ Children ; 1

— BROTHER (adoptive) :

੭ Birth Name ; hwang junho ❪ 황준호 ❫

੭ Chinese Name ; zhao haoyu ❪ 趙浩宇 ❫

੭ Japanese Name ; hayashi isagi ❪ 林いさぎ ❫

੭ Birthday ; 9th February, 1996

੭ Occupation ; idol

੭ Residence ; seoul, south korea

੭ Relationship Status ; taken ❪ since. 2023 ❫

੭ Children ; 0

— NEICE :

੭ Birth Name ; hwang cheonsa ❪ 황천사 ❫

੭ English Name ; angel hwang

੭ Chinese Name ; zhao shuijing ❪ 趙水晶 ❫

੭ Japanese Name ; hayashi hanami ❪ 林花見 ❫

੭ Birthday ; 10th October, 2021

੭ Occupation ; school ❪ private ❫

੭ Residence ; seoul, south korea

ㅤㅤㅤ🥀 | 𝐅𝐔𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 ⊱ 💋

𝐢. she is the tallest member of blackpink.

𝐢𝐢. jane refers to herself as a triplet, as both her adoptive brothers share the same birthday as her, and so they were raised as being referred to as triplets ! ( junho and jin are fraternal twins).

𝐢𝐢𝐢. she is the most extroverted in the group, and often finds great joy in embarrassing her fellow members in the public eye.

𝐢𝐯. miss girl is severely allergic to tomatoes – and she genuinely despises them, names them her greatest (and only) weakness in this world.

𝐯. jane has 2 cats named mochi and rari; she really wants her third pet to be a dog, and she plans to get one soon.

𝐯𝐢. a coffee enthusiast and cocktail connoisseur – like, she's actually quite skilled in mixology.

𝐯𝐢𝐢. she absolutely adores musicals, and cannot sit through a movie that is more than 2 hours long, her short attention span just does not allow it.

𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢. within formula one the teams he's always supported since falling in love with the sport at 10, is mclaren – and in terms of her favourite rugby team, it's the all blacks, new zealand's national rugby team.

𝐢𝐱. jane is legally blind and cannot see a single recognizable object without her glasses or contacts – my girl lives in a world of shapes.

𝐱. her biggest scandal in her career was being in a rumored fist-fight with seventeen's the8.

#blackpink 5th member #blackpink in your area #blackpink is the revolution #blackpink lisa #blackpink jisoo #blackpink jennie #blackpink #blackpink rose #imnameimswrld #blackpink-jane

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elizabeth-mitchells · 1 year ago

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it’s sooo fucking funny to me being out here shipping lottielee and lottienat because laura lee and natalie literally could Not be more different

they played soccer. were blonde in 1996. and are dead now. that’s it

do NOT remind me they're dead!!!!

but yeah you're so right!!!! it's so much fun fr. no other show/movie has had me shipping all the characters together left and right like yellowjackets. i'm so completely invested in both lottielee AND lottienat, and there's still space for so many more ships

but on the lottielee and lottienat subject specifically. i love it so much!! the duality of lottie matthews! one girl that's so sweet, and peaceful, and spiritual, and kickstarted the sanctification of lottie. and then one girl that keeps lottie grounded with her feet on the ground, human and reasonable. and in their own ways they care so much about lottie and they're so protective. but also! lottie loves both so much! lottie starts a cult around the memory of laura lee, she bows down and kisses natalie's hand, she treasures laura lee, she admires natalie, she misses laura lee 25 years later, she kidnaps natalie just to protect her. my god there's so much love there!!!

and why stop there!! natalie and lee seem like they couldn't be more different, but we should all be talking about natalee as a ship or as best friends. because you know laura lee wouldn'ttolerate people talking shit about natalie, and you know natalie would punch anyone that made fun of laura lee, laura lee would feel safe to take risks and break rules if natalie is with her to keep her safe and never mock her, and natalie would let down her guard and not feel the need to act tough or act like anything at all when she's around laura lee!

okay i got carried away but you get my point!!!

#thank you SO much for this ask i love to talk about my fav ships and my fav girls and !!!!!#yellowjackets #lottienat #lottielee #natalee #lottie matthews #natalie scatorccio #laura lee #answered #rainbowrobin

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best-movie-ever-tournament · 8 days ago

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Chicago:

This really showed what a movie musical could do. The way it cut between the realistic depictions and theatrical or vaudevillian acts to show people's inner life? It captures the kind of thing theatre can do, but even more: like there's no way to do things like the puppet-master shot in We Both Reached For The Gun.

Regarded as one of the best musical to film adaptions of all time! It also arguably kick started the how movie musical adaption craze of the early aughts.

Muppet:

A classic story with the platonic ideal of a pirate ship and the most charming crew of puppets. Also, Tim Curry absolutely chews the scenery as Long John Silver.

#tournament poll #best movies tournament #muppet treasure island #chicago 2002

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1997thebracket · 1 year ago

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Round 2B

Note: this is our threeway matchup to even the numbers going forward! The two highest-voted films will both proceed, and the third will be eliminated.

Space Jam: Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam! What happens when one of the biggest athletes in the world tries his hand at acting-- alongside the Looney Tunes, no less? A confusing but lovable cinematic treasure. In the half-animated comedy Space Jam, basketball legend (oft-cited as the Greatest of All Time) Michael Jordan and the Tune Squad face off against the dastardly Monstars for their intergalactic freedom. Space Jam was the first film produced by Warner Bros Feature Animation, and although it was first released theatrically in the US in November of 1996 it would go on to gross over $250 million during its global run into 1997, making it the highest-grossing basketball movie of all time until 2022. From the slapping soundtrack to the classic jersey designs now coming back into retro-rotation, Bugs and his crew could not feel more firmly planted in the sensibility of the decade. Space Jam also features Wayne Knight of Seinfeld fame flattened in a truly haunting use of crude CGI. Look up 'flat Newman' if you've forgotten.

Austin Powers: Let’s keep this bracket groovy, baby! Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a spy spoof film released in 1997, written by and starring Mike Myers and featuring Elizabeth Hurley, as well as known names in the spy movie business Michael York and Robert Wagner. It was the first introduction of the titular icon-to-be Austin Powers, a free-loving secret agent who was cryogenically frozen in the 1960s, returned to us in all his velvet-suited snaggle-toothed glory in the ‘90s to face his nemesis once more. Parodying James Bond and copycat spy films as well as '60s pop culture, the movie would spawn two sequels and novelizations all sharing a similar sense for fashion, gags, and Austin’s recognizable catchphrases. As completely goofy as the film and its legacy is, critics were mostly favorable, with the New York Times writing "The film's greatest asset is its gentle tone: rejecting the smug cynicism of Naked Gun-style parodies, it never loses the earnest naiveté of the psychedelic era." (This is presumably an embarrassing typo: it’s shagadelic, Yorkie baby!)

Men In Black: Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow. Men in Black is a sci-fi comedy, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, which would go on to spawn a franchise after the success of the 1997 film. It centers around a secret government agency known as the Men in Black, tasked with monitoring and regulating extraterrestrial activity on Earth; these agents, notably our protagonists Agent J and Agent K, protect humanity from aliens living among us and ensure the world remains oblivious to their existence. The franchise was praised by critics and audiences alike for its unique screenplay, action sequences, and the humor and chemistry of the lead actors. Over the years, Men in Black has expanded to include multiple sequels, an animated series and spin-offs, all contributing to its enduring popularity as a cheekier take on the sci-fi genre.

#austin powers #mike myers #men in black #will smith #tommy lee jones #space jam #michael jordan #the looney tunes

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artistrichardhfay · 18 days ago

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Article: "Merfolk: Sea People of Folklore and Legend"

Featured in the lore of many human cultures, merfolk were said to be people of the sea, although some resided in freshwater. In their most usual form, these beings appeared humanoid from the waist up and pisciform from the waist down. However, some chronicles and tales presented variations from this standard. At times hostile, at other times helpful, merfolk interacted with land-dwellers in various ways. Certain stories even spoke of marriages between merfolk and mortals, unions that could produce lines of human descendants. With potential links to ancient gods, goddesses, and monsters, merfolk have been a fixture of human legends for ages, but some accounts suggest that they are more than mere creatures of legend. Surprisingly enough, various historical records describe actual encounters with these aquatic entities, According to some reports, such encounters have even persisted to the present day.

The origins of merfolk lore might be as murky and difficult to plumb as the ocean depths themselves, but possible precursors to the merfolk of later chronicles and tales may be found in ancient myths and legends. Oannes, god of wisdom who granted the ancient Babylonians the gift of culture, appeared as a human-fish hybrid (Sykes & Kendall, 1993). The Philistine god Dagon and the Syrian goddess Atargatis were also depicted as prototypical merfolk (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). Mythographer Robert Graves traced a connection between mermaids and sea-born goddesses Aphrodite and Marian (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). The Greek scholars Nicholas Polites and Stilpon Kyriakides argued that the mermaid of modern Greek lore, the gorgona, shares features with the siren of Classical Greek myth (Simpson, 1987). Notwithstanding the fact that medieval authors did conflate the sailor-luring siren of ancient lore with the northern mermaid, Classical depictions portrayed the siren not as half-woman, half-fish, but as a monster that possessed a woman’s head and torso atop a bird’s body (Rose, 2000).

Although the true nature of alleged links between ancient gods and merfolk of later times may be doubtful, there is no doubt that such beings feature in folklore and legends around the world, from Ireland to New Ireland, New Guinea. The usually peaceful Irish merfolk known as merrows wore magical red caps that allowed them to shape-shift and travel back-and-forth between their undersea realm and dry land (Rose, 1996). The Manx mermaid ben varrey exhibited two conflicting natures, one a benevolent finder of treasure, the other a malevolent enchanter of men (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). The handsome Danish merman havmand treated those mortals he encountered with kindliness, while his female counterpart havfrue could be either helpful or harmful (Rose, 1996). Like the sirens of ancient myth, the alluring Swedish mermaids called sjörå entranced boatmen at sea and destroyed both mortals and their vessels (Marriott, 2006). The cannibalistic mermaids of Portuguese tales went one step further and devoured those lured into their watery abode (Marriott, 2006). The far more benevolent ningyo of Japanese lore brought peace and dispelled bad luck (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). Clad in cowrie-shell jewelry, the bonito maidens of the Solomon Islands acted as caretakers of both bonito fish and lost ivory fishing hooks (Rose, 1996). The singing ri of New Ireland tradition resided among the mangroves and along the strand (Rose, 2000). On the east coast of Canada, the halfway people of Micmac legends alerted courteous fishermen of impending storms (Rose, 2000).

Merfolk through the ages and across the globe have traditionally appeared as humanoids with fishy tails, exemplified by the beautiful-but-deadly comb-and-mirror-wielding sea maiden of the English folk song “The Mermaid” (Briggs, 1978), but there are variations to this tradition. The 1st century author Pliny described mermaids as being completely scaly head-to-tail (Rosen, 2008). The medieval Irish Annals of the Four Masters told of a truly monstrous mermaid said to have measured a whopping 160 feet long (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). Another oversized mercreature featured in a report made to Bishop Pontoppidan of Bergen in 1719 that described a human-faced seal-like beast 28 feet long (Rose, 2000). Male merrows appeared downright hideous in aspect, possessing green-coloured hair, teeth, and skin, pointed red noses, and piggy eyes (Rose, 2000). On occasion, the Danish havmand was said to have had blue skin (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). Instead of looking like a human woman from the waist up, the Japanese ningyo could appear as a huge fish with a woman’s head (Rose, 2000).

Along with the varying physical descriptions of merfolk, different human cultures expressed different views regarding what merfolk symbolised. In medieval Europe, mermaids represented deceit and were believed to be in league with the Great Deceiver himself, the devil (Rose, 2000). Additionally, the medieval church considered mermaids to be symbols of vanity, lust, and the soul-endangering aspects of femininity and sex (Rosen, 2008). In Tudor times, the word “mermaid” became synonymous with the word “prostitute” (Franklin, 2002). Conversely, the Afro-Brazillian Batuque cult saw their aquatic jamaína and imanja as intermediaries between mortals and angels (Rose, 1996). The Japanese thought of their ningyo as a positive entity, a protector of the land (Matthews & Matthews, 2005).

As has been touched upon above, merfolk in various locales and circumstances sometimes dealt with land-dwelling mortals in a less-than-beneficial, or even outright malevolent, fashion. The otherwise friendly male merrow named Coomara captured the souls of drowned sailors in cages in the mistaken belief that he was performing a good deed sheltering the souls and keeping them warm and dry (Croker, 1882). Mermen of a more baleful nature were believed to conjure terrible storms and sink ships (Rose, 2000). At times, the female of the species also acted in a destructive manner; the subject of the folk song “The Mermaid” sent a ship of doomed souls to the bottom of the ocean (Briggs, 1978). The Norwegian havfine herded the waves and wrecked vessels foolish enough to be caught asea when storms rolled in (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). The Scottish lake-dwelling mermaid encountered by the youthful Laird of Lorntie proved to be a downright bloodthirsty creature that would have feasted on the young laird’s blood had his loyal servant not pulled him from the loch’s waters (Briggs, 1979).

Of course, not all merfolk treated humans poorly; some had favourable and even intimate dealings with humankind. According to Danish lore, a prophesying havfrue foresaw the birth of Christian IV of Denmark (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). In one Scottish story, a young man learned how to cure his ailing love with an infusion of mugwort when a mermaid surfaced and sang of using the herb to prevent the girl’s death by consumption (Briggs, 1978). A mermaid that rose from a Renfrewshire pool as a funeral procession crossed a stream advised the mourners how to use both mugwort and nettle to ward off fatal illness (Briggs, 1978). In the tale “The Old Man of Cury”, a stranded mermaid rescued by an old man granted her saviour the gift of healing (Briggs, 1978). The title mortal of “Lutey and the Mermaid” was rewarded with similar benefits when he aided a mermaid, but found himself lured into her watery abode nine years later (Briggs, 1978). Along with knowledge of healing herbs, rescued mermaids could also warn of impending storms (Rose, 1996). On occasion, female merrows wedded mortal men and gave rise to a line of human descendants who possessed webbed fingers and scaly legs (Briggs, 1979). A mermaid was said to number among the ancestors of the McVeagh clan of Scotland (Franklin, 2002).

Apart from marriages and other relations between merfolk and mortals, some stories told of humans transformed into sea people. According to a popular Greek legend, Alexander the Great’s sister Thessalonike turned into a mermaid when, grief-stricken by the death of her conquering sibling, she attempted suicide by throwing herself into the Aegean Sea (DocumentaryMakedonia, 2013). Lí Ban, the pagan subject of a 12th or 13th century Irish tale, underwent a magical metamorphosis from human woman to mermaid after the majority of her kin were drowned in a flood (Ó hÓgáin, 2006). According to a certain Irish legend, pagan crones became mermaids when Saint Patrick expelled them from the land (Franklin, 2002). In the Samish story of Ko-kwal-alwoot, a maiden became enamoured with a merman who insisted on taking her as his bride and who eventually transformed her into a sea-dweller like himself (Matthews & Matthews, 2005).

Beyond the myths, legends, and folktales about merfolk told over the centuries by many different storytellers around the globe, sailors and fishermen across the ages have reported real-life sightings of fishy-tailed humanoids. Christopher Columbus wrote that he spied three less-than-lovely mermaids off the coast of what is now the Dominican Republic in January 1493 (Salaperäinen, 2016). In 1560, the bodies of several mermaids netted off the coast of Ceylon underwent dissection at the hands of a learned physician who concluded that, externally and internally, the anatomy of the merbeings resembled that of humans (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). Henry Hudson recorded that two of his crewmen spotted a white-skinned black-haired mermaid in 1608 (Cohen, 1982). In 1723, a Danish Royal Commission tasked with proving that merfolk existed only in myths and legends ended up running across an actual merman near the Faroe Isles (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). In 1830, residents of the isle of Benbecula in the Hebrides found the body of a small dark-haired white-skinned mermaid with “abnormally developed breasts”, perhaps the same creature that had been seen and injured at Sgeir na Duchadh a few days earlier, washed ashore at Culle Bay (Munro, 2016). Three years later, natural history professor Dr. Robert Hamilton described the capture of a short-haired monkey-faced mermaid offshore of Yell in the Shetland Isles (Munro, 2016). During a few notable summers around 1890, hundreds of eyewitnesses claimed to have seen the so-called Deerness Mermaid, a black-headed white-bodied creature that appeared like a human when swimming in the waters of Newark Bay, Orkney (Towrie, n.d.).

Believe it or not, in certain regions of the world sightings of and belief in merbeings have persisted right up to the present day. In 1947, an elderly Hebridean fisherman reported sighting a mermaid combing her hair near the shore of the Isle of Muck (Matthews & Matthews, 2005). In June 1967, passengers aboard a ferry travelling past Mayne Island, British Columbia, observed (and one snapped a photograph of) a blonde-haired dimple-faced mermaid with the tail of a fish or porpoise sitting upon a shoreside rock (Obee, 2016). In January 2008, several South Africans who had been relaxing near the bank of the Buffelsjags River at Suurbraak claimed they encountered a river-dwelling mermaid with white skin, black hair, and hypnotic red eyes known locally as the Kaaiman (Pekeur, 2008). In 2009, dozens of eyewitnesses caught sight of a mermaid porpoising and performing aerial acrobatics off the beach of Kiryat Yam, Israel (“Is a Mermaid”, 2009). As recently as 2012, workers at a dam in northern Zimbabwe insisted that mermaids were to blame for mysterious malfunctions and refused to continue their work until the harassing entities were appeased with a traditional beer ritual (Conway-Smith, 2012).

Merfolk number among the most widespread of legendary beings. Diverse cultures around the world have told stories of aquatic humanoid beings with piscine tails. Tales handed down from generation to generation attest to mankind’s relations with merfolk, for good or ill, throughout the ages. Perhaps such lore is merely the product of human imagination, but what are we to make of reports of actual sightings? Historic and more recent claims of seeing mermaids or mermen could be chalked up to mirages, misidentifications, hoaxes, or even mass hysteria. For instance, Columbus might have spied a trio of manatees. Witnesses who saw a mermaid on Mayne Island may have actually seen a human girl posing with a fake mermaid’s tail. Men who refused to continue work on a dam in Zimbabwe due to interference from mermaids might have fallen victim to mass hysteria. Whatever the truth of the matter, belief in merfolk has endured over time and continues to endure, in some locales, to this day. Regardless of the reality, merfolk continue to have a place in the hearts, minds, and imaginations of their land-dwelling mortal counterparts.

References

Briggs, K. (1978). The vanishing people: fairy lore and legend. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

Briggs, K. (1979). Abbey lubbers, banshees, and boggarts: an illustrated encyclopedia of fairies. New York, NY: Pantheon Book.

Cohen. D. (1982). The encyclopedia of monsters. New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Company.

Conway-Smith, E. (2012, February 12). "Zimbabwe mermaids appeased by traditional beer ritual". PRI. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org.

Croker, T. C. (1882/2008). Irish fairy legends. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.

DocumentaryMakedonia. (2013. May 24). The legend of Thessalonike, a mermaid who lived in the Aegean sea [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHSOj...

Franklin, A. (2002). The illustrated encyclopedia of fairies. London, England: Collins & Brown.

"Is a mermaid living under the sea in northern Israel?" (2009, August 12). Haaretz. Retrieved from https://www.haaretz.com.

Marriott, S. (2006). The ultimate fairies handbook. London, England: Octopus Publishing Group.

Matthews, J., & Matthews, C. (2005). The element encyclopedia of magical creatures. London, England: HarperElement.

Munro, A. (2016, March 16, updated March 17). "The myth of the Hebridean mermaid". The Scotsman. Retrieved from https://www.scotsman.com

Obee, D. (2016, January 8). "Dave Obee: mermaid had no legs, but story does". Times Colonist. Retrieved from https://www.timescolonist.com/

Ó hÓgáin, D. (2006). The lore of Ireland: An encyclopaedia of myth, legend and romance. Woodbridge, England: The Boydell Press.

Pekeur, A. (2008, January 16). "Mysterious ‘mermaid’ rises from the river". IOL. Retrieved from https://www.iol.co.za.

Rose, C. (1996). Spirits, fairies, leprechauns, and goblins: an encyclopedia. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Rose, C. (2000). Giants, monsters, and dragons: an encyclopedia of folklore, legend, and myth. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Rosen, B. (2008). The mythical creatures bible. London, England: Octopus Publishing Group.

Salaperäinen, O. (2016). A field guide to fantastical beasts. New York, NY: Metro Books.

Simpson, J. (1987). European mythology (library of the world’s myths and legends). New York, NY: Peter Bedrick Books.

Sykes, E., & Kendall, A. (1952/1993). Who’s who in non-classical mythology (Rev. Ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Towrie, S. (n.d.). "Monsters of the deep: mermaid accounts and sightings". In Orkneyjar: The Heritage of the Orkney Islands. Retrieved from http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/mer...

(Article originally published Jan 5, 2020, in Altered Reality Magazine)

#writers #writers and poets #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #nonfiction #article #merfolk #merbeings #mermaids #mermen #folklore #legend

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autolenaphilia · 10 months ago

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Broken Sword: the Shadow of the Templars

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is a point-and-click adventure game by Revolution Software from 1996.

Broken Sword is an attempt to tell a serious conspiracy thriller/mystery story, with a complex plot and intelligent writing. Yet one that isn’t too serious and has plenty of humor and told with colorful visuals reminiscent of 2D animated movies.

It starts with a murder and bombing in Paris that our player character, the american tourist George Stobbart witnesses and narrowly avoids being killed by. And he decides to investigate the mysterious killing. He teams up with french photojournalist Nico Collard, and they soon discover a complex conspiracy involving the Knights Templar and their lost treasure.

Broken Sword is very much an amalgamation of its various influences, with there being clear influences by Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,various stories and myths regarding the Knights Templar, and Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Gabriel Knight overall is the most obvious influence, which is not surprising, because it was one of the few prior attempts to create this kind of serious mystery adventure game. The protagonists are even a comedic blonde-haired american man and a dark-haired intelligent woman. Yet it does synthesize its various influences into something that feels fresh.

The story and writing is excellent. It is a story that treats its audience like adults and respects their intelligence. So it isn’t afraid to drop in references to things like Alfred Jarry’s play King Ubu. And the writing carries this learning lightly, with a genuinely witty sense of humor. It’s one of the funniest games I ever played.

And you need the humor, because this kind of conspiracy thriller stuff needs a certain tone to work well. It needs to take itself and its characters seriously enough that there is some genuine tension, yet not take the conspiracy theories too seriously. And Broken Sword manages this balancing act well. The conspiracy theory about the knights templar is used to provide the story with a dramatic weight drawn from history, and combines that with modern paranoia about the chaos caused by global neoliberal capitalism, yet it never takes that stuff too seriously. I like the Eco-inspired reveal that the modern evil conspiracy isn’t actually ancient, it just pretends to be and wants to appropriate the power and prestige of the templars. And the game knows how to keep the conspiracy stuff just fantastical enough to remind us that this is a fantasy, without being too over-the-top for the game’s serious tone.

It’s not the same as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, where both the author and his most ardent fans took The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail conspiracy theory underlying the novel’s plot as fact. Broken Sword is often suspected of being an influence on The Da Vinci Code, which might be true, but might be a case of similar influences on both works. Broken Sword does reference The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail several times, characters are named Plantard and Lobineau, although the Jesus bloodline idea isn’t part of the actual plot, like it is in Gabriel Knight 3. What I would argue however is that Broken Sword is the kind of intelligently written conspiracy thriller that Dan Brown wants to write, but isn’t capable of writing.

The game is not perfect. The characters in the Syria sections rely on ethnic stereotyping that hasn’t aged well, even if I like the boy who learned english from Jeeves and Wooster tapes. And while George is far more likeable in this regard than Gabriel Knight, his closest predecessor, his infatuation with Nico does go into creep territory at one point very late in the game. These are both things that director Charles Cecil himself regrets. Still, I very much enjoy the writing in this game.

The fairly grounded if humorous tone of the game is reflected in the gameplay too. The game is very standard point-and-click adventure, no surprises here. But the game’s puzzles are largely devoid of the moon logic that could sometimes be a problem for contemporary adventure games, a design decision that reflects Broken Sword’s tone. The puzzle design is fairly simple, but therefore fairly intuitive. And that makes for a rather fun game to play. There are a few dodgy puzzles, but overall this game feels fair.

This is an adventure game where you can die, at multiple points in the story. And this does work to make the gameplay reflect the tension of the game’s thriller plot, by having actual stakes, game-overs, that George can actually die. And true to the game’s tone, they can be funny too. And while your progress can be set back quite a bit by a game-over if your last save was a long time ago, that’s perfectly fine. It has a point in creating tension. And there are no Sierra-esque “dead ends” or unwinnable situations that I could find, of the type “the player missed an item they need to progress, but can’t go back for it, so they are stuck,” so the game doesn’t become too hard. Those are not fine, and they are thankfully not in Broken Sword.

Finally the game’s presentation is top-notch all around. The graphics on a technical level is nothing spectacular by today’s standards, it’s fairly low-res 2D graphics. But by 1996 computer technology had progressed to the point that Revolution could use more detailed and slicker-looking 2D art than the pixelart of many previous point-and-click adventure games, and they took full advantage of that. The art design of this game is excellent. This game looks gorgeous, especially the lovingly-detailed backgrounds. Broken Sword has this warm and colorful cartoon-like look to it, reminding me of traditional 2d animated movies and the Tintin comic books. And the game’s animated cutscenes fit fairly seamlessly with the rest of the game, due to artstyle consistency (not always the case with video games), and help with the animated movie feel.The animated movie feeling is so convincing because Revolution Software hired people with that kind of experience to do the game’s art and animation, such as Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen who worked for Don Bluth, or Roslind Allen who had actually worked for Disney on the Ducktales movie.

They similarly looked outside the video game industry when it came to the game’s music. The game’s composer Barrington Pheloung had composed music for various theatrical films and television shows, most notably Inspector Morse. And Pheloung composed an excellent soundtrack, that helps with the game’s epic feel, and the music is actually performed by an actual orchestra, instead of just using MIDI as many game soundtracks did at the time.

The game is fully voice-acted, which was becoming standard at the time, but the high quality of the voice acting is anything but common, not even today. The accents are often dodgy, but in a fun way. The standout actor is of course Rolf Saxon as George Stobbart, which would turn into the role of a lifetime for him. He would reprise in all future Broken Sword games and he feels irreplaceable as George.

Broken Sword: the Shadow of the Templars was a huge success, and remains popular and beloved to this day. It spawned a franchise that is still on-going. It feels like a point-and-click adventure game milestone. And this is despite it not being a very innovative game, there is little in the gameplay, story or presentation that we haven’t seen before. As a game, it really doesn’t do much that we haven’t seen in its predecessors in the genre by Lucasarts or Sierra or even Revolution Software’s own previous games, like the excellent Beneath a Steel Sky.

Broken Sword is still an adventure game classic that deserves its accolades. That’s because it does what it does very well, with a minimum of flaws. The game is not all that original in concept, but the execution is of the highest quality. It manages to become a classic milestone game by that alone.

Broken Sword is such an enjoyable experience to play that it feels like a benchmark of quality for point-and-click adventure games, one that is rarely met. In fact, Revolution Software’s Broken Sword sequels haven’t really reached the heights of the original, as much as I like the second and even the third game in the series.

Revolution haven’t even been able to fully recapture the magic in the game’s remaster from 2009, the Director’s Cut, which is overall a weaker version than the 1996 original. It adds puzzles and entire sections of the game where you play as Nico, but they don’t add much to the story. These additions are artificially grafted onto the original and feel like it, as they detract from the pacing. It reveals how tight the original game design and pacing is. The new art is by the great Dave Gibbons, but similarly it clashes with the original art. The new animations are worse too, often looking like a cheaply made motion comic compared to the movie-like original animations. The remaster also removes things, including bizarrely censoring the blood and violence in cutscenes. It’s a weird decision that maybe has to do with the fact that the remaster was created for the DS and Wii consoles, made by the sometimes aggressively family-friendly Nintendo. This also included removing the ability for George to die and get a game-over, removing the tension that created.

However, if you buy the Director’s Cut on GOG, it includes the original MS-DOS version of the game as an extra. And that version is easy to get running on non-dos systems with Scummvm. And this is something I recommend you do, it’s a great game.

#my writings #game review #broken sword #broken sword: the shadow of the templars #point and click adventure games

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goyountokki · 2 months ago

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Go Younjung's Movies and Series Recommendation

It is known among fans that actress Go Younjung loves to spend her spare time watching movies and share her watching list through instagram posts. Let's check out all the movies and series that Go Younjung has recommended.

Fight Club (1999)

Synopsis An unnamed narrator (played by Edward Norton) who is discontented with his white-collar job forms a "fight club" with a soap salesman Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt), and becomes embroiled in a relationship with an impoverished but beguilingly attractive woman, Marla Singer (played by Bonham Carter). This movie is based on the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk <Fight Club>.

The Big Short (2015)

Synopsis In 2008, Wall Street guru Michael Burry realizes that a number of subprime home loans are in danger of defaulting. Burry bets against the housing market by throwing more than $1 billion of his investors' money into credit default swaps. His actions attract the attention of banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), hedge-fund specialist Mark Baum (Steve Carell) and other greedy opportunists. Together, these men make a fortune by taking full advantage of the impending economic collapse in America.

The Lives of Others (2007)

Synopsis In 1983 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), doubting that a famous playwright (Sebastian Koch) is loyal to the Communist Party, receives approval to spy on the man and his actress-lover Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck). Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, then faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria and orders Wiesler to get the playwright out of the way.

Seven (1995)

Synopsis Set in an unnamed, crime-ridden city, Seven's narrative follows disenchanted, nearly retired detective William Somerset (Freeman) and his newly transferred partner David Mills (Pitt) as they try to stop a serial killer from committing a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins.

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Synopsis While out hunting, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the grisly aftermath of a drug deal. Though he knows better, he cannot resist the cash left behind and takes it with him. The hunter becomes the hunted when a merciless killer named Chigurh (Javier Bardem) picks up his trail. Also looking for Moss is Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), an aging lawman who reflects on a changing world and a dark secret of his own, as he tries to find and protect Moss.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Synopsis It is the first year of Germany's occupation of France. Allied officer Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) assembles a team of Jewish soldiers to commit violent acts of retribution against the Nazis, including the taking of their scalps. He and his men join forces with Bridget von Hammersmark, a German actress and undercover agent, to bring down the leaders of the Third Reich. Their fates converge with theater owner Shosanna Dreyfus, who seeks to avenge the Nazis' execution of her family.

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Synopsis While racing toward the town of Red Rock in post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) encounter another bounty hunter (Samuel L. Jackson) and a man who claims to be a sheriff. Hoping to find shelter from a blizzard, the group travels to a stagecoach stopover located on a mountain pass. Greeted there by four strangers, the eight travelers soon learn that they may not make it to their destination after all.

Gran Torino (2009)

Synopsis Retired auto worker and Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) fills emptiness in his life with beer and home repair, despising the many Asian, Latino and black families in his neighborhood. Walt becomes a reluctant hero when he stands up to the gangbangers who tried to force an Asian teen to steal Walt's treasured car. An unlikely friendship develops between Walt and the teen, as he learns he has more in common with his neighbors than he thought.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Synopsis In mid-1980s Texas, electrician Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is stunned to learn that he has AIDS. Though told that he has just 30 days left to live, Woodroof refuses to give in to despair. He seeks out alternative therapies and smuggles unapproved drugs into the U.S. from wherever he can find them. Woodroof joins forces with a fellow AIDS patient (Jared Leto) and begins selling the treatments to the growing number of people who can't wait for the medical establishment to save them.

Becoming Who I Was (2017)

Synopsis After being identified as the reincarnation of a venerated Buddhist master, young Padma Angdu makes an arduous journey with his aging guardian from Northern India to Tibet to find his rightful place in the world.

American Psycho (2000)

Synopsis In New York City in 1987, a handsome, young urban professional, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), lives a second life as a gruesome serial killer by night. The cast is filled by the detective (Willem Dafoe), the fiance (Reese Witherspoon), the mistress (Samantha Mathis), the coworker (Jared Leto), and the secretary (Chloë Sevigny). This is a biting, wry comedy examining the elements that make a man a monster.

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Synopsis Young Salvatore Di Vita (Salvatore Cascio) discovers the perfect escape from life in his war-torn Sicilian village: the Cinema Paradiso movie house, where projectionist Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) instills in the boy a deep love of films. When Salvatore grows up, falls in love with a beautiful local girl (Agnese Nano) and takes over as the Paradiso's projectionist, Alfredo must convince Salvatore to leave his small town and pursue his passion for filmmaking.

Django Unchained (2012)

Synopsis Two years before the Civil War, Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave, finds himself accompanying an unorthodox German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) on a mission to capture the vicious Brittle brothers. Their mission successful, Schultz frees Django, and together they hunt the South's most-wanted criminals. Their travels take them to the infamous plantation of shady Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), where Django's long-lost wife (Kerry Washington) is still a slave.

Monster (2003)

Synopsis The film follows serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a street prostitute who murdered seven of her male clients between 1989 and 1990 and was executed in Florida in 2002. It stars Charlize Theron as Wuornos and Christina Ricci as her semi-fictionalized lover, Selby Wall (based on Wuornos's real-life girlfriend, Tyria Moore).

Black Mirror (2011)

Black Mirror is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. The series explores various genres, with most episodes set in near-future dystopias containing sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series is inspired by The Twilight Zone and uses the themes of technology and media to comment on contemporary social issues.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a 2018 American Western anthology film written, directed, produced, and edited by the Coen brothers. It stars Tim Blake Nelson, Tyne Daly, James Franco, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Heck, Grainger Hines, Zoe Kazan, Harry Melling, Liam Neeson, Jonjo O'Neill, Chelcie Ross, Saul Rubinek, and Tom Waits. It consists of six vignettes set on the American frontier.

We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011)

Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) is a travel writer/publisher who gives up her beloved freedom and bohemian lifestyle to have a child with her husband, Franklin (John C. Reilly). Pregnancy does not seem to agree with Eva, but what's worse, when she does give birth to a baby boy named Kevin, she can't seem to bond with him. When Kevin grows from a fussy, demanding toddler (Rocky Duer) into a sociopathic teen (Ezra Miller), Eva is forced to deal with the aftermath of her son's horrific act.

Stranger Things (2016)

(Picture above is drawn by Go Younjung herself)

Set in the 1980s, the series centers around the residents of the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana, as they are plagued by a hostile alternate dimension known as the Upside Down, after a nearby human experimentation facility opens a gateway between Earth and the Upside Down.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) are hitmen with a penchant for philosophical discussions. In this ultra-hip, multi-strand crime movie, their storyline is interwoven with those of their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) ; his actress wife, Mia (Uma Thurman) ; struggling boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) ; master fixer Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel) and a nervous pair of armed robbers, "Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer).

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

During World War II, 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield) and his family leave Berlin to take up residence near the concentration camp where his father (David Thewlis) has just become commandant. Unhappy and lonely, he wanders out behind his house one day and finds Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish boy of his age. Though the barbed-wire fence of the camp separates them, the boys begin a forbidden friendship, oblivious to the real nature of their surroundings.

Bleak Night (2010)

Bleak Night is a 2010 South Korean coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Yoon Sung-hyun. The film is about a father's search for answers following his son's death, and the shifting dynamics at play among three high-school friends.

Chernobyl (2019)

Chernobyl is a 2019 historical drama television miniseries that revolves around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed.

Gone Girl (2014)

In Carthage, Mo., former New York-based writer Nick Dunne and his glamorous wife Amy present a portrait of a blissful marriage to the public; when Amy goes missing on the couple's fifth wedding anniversary, Nick becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance; the resulting police pressure and media frenzy cause the Dunnes' image of a happy union to crumble, leading to tantalizing questions about who Nick and Amy truly are.

Before Sunrise (1995)

On his way to Vienna, American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets Celine (Julie Delpy), a student returning to Paris. After long conversations forge a surprising connection between them, Jesse convinces Celine to get off the train with him in Vienna. Since his flight to the U.S. departs the next morning and he has no money for lodging, they wander the city together, taking in the experiences of Vienna and each other. As the night progresses, their bond makes separating in the morning a difficult choice.

Joint Security Area (2000)

Joint Security Area is set in the Korean Demilitarized Zone separating the countries of North Korea and South Korea and revolves around a fatal shooting incident involving soldiers from both sides, which leads the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission to investigate and gradually unveil the unexpected truth.

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

American automotive designer Carroll Shelby and fearless British race car driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary vehicle for the Ford Motor Co. Together, they plan to compete against the race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.

Memories of Murder (2003)

In 1986, Park (Song Kang-ho) and Cho (Kim Roi-ha) are two simple-minded detectives assigned to a double murder investigation in a South Korean province. But when the murderer strikes several more times with the same pattern, the detectives realize that they are chasing the country's first documented serial killer. Relying on only their basic skills and tools, Park and Jo attempt to piece together the clues and solve the case in this thriller based on true events.

Million Dollars Baby (2004)

Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran Los Angeles boxing trainer who keeps almost everyone at arm's length, except his old friend and associate Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman). When Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) arrives in Frankie's gym seeking his expertise, he is reluctant to train the young woman, a transplant from working-class Missouri. Eventually, he relents, and the two form a close bond that will irrevocably change them both.

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Vassili (Jude Law) is a young Russian sharpshooter who becomes a legend when a savvy polical officer (Joseph Fiennes) makes him the hero of his propaganda campaign. Their friendship is threatened when both men fall in love with a beautiful female soldier (Rachel Weisz). As the battle for the city rages, Vassili faces the ultimate challenge when the Nazi command dispatches its most elite marksman (Ed Harris) to hunt down and kill the man who has become the hope of all Russia.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

In 1963, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre as sheep herders in Wyoming. One night on Brokeback Mountain, Jack makes a drunken pass at Ennis that is eventually reciprocated. Though Ennis marries his longtime sweetheart, Alma and Jack marries a fellow rodeo riders, the two men keep up their tortured and sporadic affair over the course of 20 years.

Check the next recommendation post here

#goyounjung #고윤정 #goyoonjung

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thecreaturecodex · 2 years ago

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Trunko

“New Trunko Design” © deviantArt user Kryptid, accessed at his gallery here

[The appearance of a sea monster on the shore of Margate, South Africa, attracted some press attention at the time. The Daily Mail covered it, and from there the story appeared in Charles Fort’s Lo! , where he dismissed it as a hoax. When Charles Fort thinks your paranormal phenomenon is a hoax, you know it’s built on flimsy evidence. The Margate Monster gained popularity, and its current name, in the writings of Karl Shuker, who resurfaced the story and put it into several popular books (like 1996′s The UneXplained, which is where I first heard of it). To his credit, Shuker continued to do research and follow up on the story, and when photographs appeared (as opposed to just reprints of the article), he was savvy enough to recognize the actual Trunko as a globster, the catchall category of mutilated carcasses interpreted as sea monsters.

Pathfinder already has globsters, but I wanted to make a Trunko that represented the fantastical creature alive, if it were actually some sort of hairy white sea elephant. My concept draws on Opabinia (my favorite Cambrian weirdo) and the orangutan crab]

Trunko CR 5 N Vermin This creature looks something like a furry whale, except that it has rippling fins running along its sides instead of separate limbs. It has a paddle-like tail at one end, and at the other, a short but very flexible trunk ending in a clasper.

A trunko is a large aquatic invertebrate found in cold seas. They are related to anomalocarids and opabinias, with a trunk like structure used to pull food into an underslung mouth. They eat primarily zooplankton, which they gather by literally swimming through their masses. The hairs covering a trunko’s body are sticky, and the trunko can groom itself at its leisure to remove and consume the various marine invertebrates glued to it. These hairs also act as a defensive mechanism, gumming the jaws of sharks and orcas.

Trunkos are social creatures who live in mixed-sex pods. They are ovoviparous, carrying eggs internally that hatch to release free-living young. The young are born sticky, and can feed themselves almost immediately, but remain in their own pods until full grown. The undulating fins of a trunko allow it remarkable dexterity in the water, and they often live in areas with strong winds and currents, too choppy for ships to sail through easily. As such, they are rarely seen by landlubbers and have something of a mythical air.

Trunko CR 5 XP 1,600 N Huge vermin (aquatic) Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +6 Defense AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 size, +4 Dex, +6 natural) hp 67 (9d8+27) Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +5 Immune vermin traits Defensive Abilities sticky Offense Speed swim 60 ft. Melee slam +10 (1d8+9) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Statistics Str 23, Dex 19, Con 16, Int -, Wis 15, Cha 6 Base Atk +6; CMB +14; CMD 28 Skills Perception +6, Swim +18; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Swim Ecology Environment cold aquatic Organization solitary, pair or shoal (3-12) Treasure none Special Abilities Sticky (Ex) A trunko’s body is covered in thousands of sticky hairs. Any creature coming into contact with a trunko must succeed a DC 17 Reflex save or be smeared with glue, being entangled for 1d4+1 rounds. This glue is sticky in air, salt and fresh water, but a pint of strong alcohol dissolves it. The save DC is Constitution based.

#trunko #globster #sea monster #cryptid #cryptozoology #world tour #south africa #pathfinder 1e #opabinia

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zzthekaiju · 4 months ago

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Best of the Reptiles in Media - 05 - Draco

Back again with some new scaly beasts to gush over! And for this entry, we're talking about everyone's favorite mythological beast...DRAGONS!

If there's someone out there who doesn't like dragons, odds are that they are very dead inside...or afraid of giant reptilian beasts that fly and breathe fire. And to be honest, it's not hard to be a bit frightened by the prospect. In typical European folklore, the dragon is a loathsome, dangerous monster that ransacks kingdoms and steals away maidens while hoarding tons of treasure (kind of like your typical national ruler, but that's beside the point). In most western cultures, dragons are a symbol of pure evil, mostly due to their correlation with serpents (we'll have some snake representation for one of these entries, don't worry). But just as the dragon was symbol of greed and wrath, so too was it one of bravery and power. And as civilization grew, we came to see dragons as a number of things. Sometimes, we preferred that maybe they don't have to be the bad guys (though most eastern cultures had done that already). And out of all the heroic dragons that came out of this better mindset, I think the best out of the lot is the star of 1996's "Dragonheart". The noble Draco.

The plot of this film is that the dragons are just about dead. All because of a very human error. A dragon was tasked with healing a prince named Einon from a fatal wound by bounding his own heart to his. It worked, but the prince, now a king, turned out to be a vicious tyrant. His mentor, Bowen, was enraged by what he perceives as the dragon's heart corrupting Einon, and he vows to destroy his whole kind. Eventually, all but one dragon remains.

But one thing leads to another, and Draco points out that the dragon-slaying thing has become a zero-sum game. If he wins, he looks forward to just hiding and fighting slayers again. If Bowen wins, he's out of a job. So he provides Bowen a third option...pretend slaying. As in, act like he and Draco are fighting while conning villagers out of their money. It's...not really that noble, but it beats losing a livelihood or being stuck in a cave.

However, there comes a point where neither Draco or especially Bowen can hide from how bad things have become under Einon's reign, and they must put aside their differences to free the land from tyranny.

Part of what makes Draco such a good character AS WELL as a good dragon is that he's brimming with personality. They could have easily gone for the "wise yet stoic beast of legend" angle and made him perpetually stone-faced. After all, he has the visage of such a being (and what a visage it is, seriously he's one of the better-designed western dragons out there). But instead, he's a witty and almost sly sort who enjoys a good bout of comedic banter and barbs when it comes to his partner Bowen. The great late Sean Connery makes it so that his voice both commands respect and sounds like the kind of charming gentleman you'd expect from one of Sean's more recognized roles, if you know what I mean.

Not just from a comedic standpoint, but even though he was the one who came up with the whole scheme, he contrasts with Bowen in that the latter is a jaded washout who threw away his role as a knight of the Arthurian Old Code while he still holds dear the old ways of chivalry. Though despite being that ignored angel on Bowen's shoulder, he doesn't act like the man is lesser for his disillusionment. "You sound like someone who tried." he says in response to Bowen saying that nothing can bring the Old Code back. Just the way he says it, man. He isn't even angry, just empathetic.

But yeah, for the most part, I love Draco for how hilarious he can be. The animators and Mr. Connery clearly had a lot of fun with him.

I can't go without mentioning how Draco's story ends, sadly. Because he's bonded with Einon, he has to die so that the monstrous king does to. And Bowen, long after getting his groove back as a knight, has to be the one to do it. The scene where Draco begs him to strike him down is just harrowing...but it comes to pass, and everyone, hero and audience alike, is saddened by it. But Draco is still with us. In the stars, amongst the souls of other noble dragons in the Draco constellation that he was named after.

Rest assured, Draco won't be the last dragon we see in these entries, but he's by far the one who's had the most impact with me. He's intimidating, but he's funny. He's wily at times, but more noble than any of the human cast combined. And as for the sequels/prequels this film got, at least they carried on the tradition of western dragons as characters instead of monsters, though none come close to him (Drago comes close in my opinion, at least).

Until then, we look to the stars. For the inspiring spirit of Draco is there for those who know where to look.

#best of the reptiles in media #ramblings #dragons #dragonheart #draco

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coasthq · 1 year ago

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[ A SINGLE PACKAGE HAS BEEN DELIVERED. INSIDE IS A LETTER FROM THE PROFESSOR THAT READS ]

hello and good morning libertalia !

is the humidity here in india treating you well ? for me mumbai has been an absolute whirlwind of excitement and adventure !

the chaos of the bustling streets is mesmerizing. honking horns, colorful saris, and the scent of street food filling the air create a symphony of sensations that is uniquely mumbai. i beg you all to try pav bhaji or panni puri at any of the local food stands. the culinary scene is unforgettable.

the people here are incredibly warm and welcoming. connecting with the locals has allowed me to earn a firm insight about their lives and cultures. one family was kind enough to extend an invitation to their daughter's wedding. enclosed in this package you will find the invitation as well as a short description of the bhavnani family.

the bhavani's kindness is an extension of my own. though i understand their wealth may make your mouth water more than the pav bhaji i mentioned earlier ; i expect all of you to act on your best behavior. no thievery , no scams. but alas the warning may be mere words to you all.

signed, the professor.

[ UNDERNEATH THE LETTER IS A RED BOX CONTAINING INDIAN SWEETS AND A GOLD ACCENTED WEDDING INVITATION. IT READS ]

please join us at a reception to celebrate the wedding of DIMPLE & VIKRAM

FRIDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER 2023

8:00 PM ONWARDS

HOSTED AT THE BHAVNANI ESTATE, MUMBAI

[ THE LAST ITEM IN THE PACKAGE IS A DOSSIER OF THE BHAVNANI PATRIACH ]

AKSHAY BHAVNANI is an indian billionaire businessman who is currently the chairman of assurance industries. assurance is a multinational conglomerate that deals in energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, and more. they are the largest public company in india earning a net income of $9.2 billion. akshay inherited the business after his father's passing in 1996. since then, assurance has found itself in multiple controversies. most recently, they are being investigated for stock manipulation, criminal conspiracy, and corruption.

akshay's only daughter dimple will be marrying vikram singh at his multi-million dollar estate right here in mumbai. guarded well, the bhavnani estate is littered with priceless artifacts, art, and jewels. while none of which are useful in finding avery's treasure, they are just as appetizing for those in search of treasure.

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION.

welcome to our first event ! we kept it simple as this event is meant for our characters to get to know each other ; as well as establish where our characters are at the moment.

the event is a formal event. all characters should be dressed to reflect that. unlike western weddings , the bride will be dressed in red. not white. your character should refrain from wearing red !

our event will begin when in character interactions do on FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22ND @ 12:00 PM PST.

all event starters should be tagged: at:eventone

if you'd like to post your characters outfits: at:outfits

the event will last FIVE DAYS. it officially ends on TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH.

#at:event

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moonlightreal · 1 year ago

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Night World: Spellbinder

Let’s talk about Blaise!

Spellbinder stars the blonde, animal-loving nice witch Thea and her cousin the dark haired seductress Blasie. LJ Smith was clearly revisiting Faye and Diana here, though with Thea being the protagonist she couldn’t be quite as ethereal and perfect as Diana.

Blaise is very much Faye. She is described like a lioness, dark haired and curvy, able to get guys just by existing. And then she convinces her crowds of paramours to do more and more extreme things to prove their love. Guys ditch their girlfriends, give up treasured possessions, and commit crimes for her sake. And Blaise’s attention leaves them damaged. One of her past followers turns up in a horror scene in the book and his mind was clearly broken by his experience with Blaise. Another ex tried to burn down the school to prove his love.

Blaise says, “When they give in completely there’s a ‘pop’ like a balloon breaking…. And after the pop, they just kind of collapse, and everything they are, their whole self, just sort of pours out in this internal hemorrhage. And after that, of course, they’re useless. Like a stag that’s too old to mate. they’re just—over.”

It seems like Blaise is just talking emotion here, not magic. I don’t think she’s sucking the boys’ souls to fuel her spells or anything, she just likes ruining lives. And ye gods Ms. Smith is a weird writer. You can just tell she really imagined herself into the emotions inside Blaise’s terrible brain, it’s amazing. Ms. Smith is no Pratchett, nobody is, she’s no Garth Nix, but she’s got something.

There is one moment that hints that Blaise might be unhappy with her life of being awful. A boy grouchily asked, “What do you want?” and Blaise is momentarily taken aback and says, “Nothing I can have.”

What could it be that she wants? I assume in Ms. Smith’s mind this is a hint that deep down Blaise wishes she could experience actual love, with a partner who loves her for herself rather than being blinded by her sex appeal. Maybe by pushing her followers to more extreme acts of devotion Blaise is hoping to find one who stands up to her and can be her equal. But if that’s the case, why is she chasing human boys rather than witch boys?

Spellbinder tells us that witches in the Night World tend female. “More girl babies are born and more survive to grow up.” so every make witch has plenty of female witches interested in him. Maybe Blaise with all her beauty and charm can’t compete. Or maybe male witches can see that she is in fact a horrible person and run like hell.

But there’s another possibility. Blaise wears a tuxedo to the school dance. This isn’t proof of anything; straight girls can wear tuxedos too, and Blaise is very clearly out to seduce boys in her red silk bow tie and cummerbund. But is it possible that what she really wants, and can’t have, is a female partner?

This was 1996 when being gay was not accepted like it is today, but I would think it would be accepted among witches. “Sisterhood is the strongest bond there is—for a witch.” And if there are more women than men and the Night World witches tend to see humans as vermin so it makes sense to pair up between themselves. So why would Blaise think she could never date a girl?

One possibility is that witches need to marry other witches to have witch babies. We never really learn how the magic is passed down and there are definitely some witches with lots of human ancestors, but maybe you’re more likely to get a baby witch out of two parent witches. Which would make it more sensible to detach biological parenthood and active parenthood, let witches choose a bio-dad and a father for their children separately, live in mom-munes or harems, all kinds of unconventional families… all of which are too wild for 1996.

The other possibility I thought of is that witches could have a “hetero only” rule to stay under the radar in human society. Being different could get you noticed and that could get your magic noticed. Maybe some witch once delivered magical justice on some bigot and almost revealed the whole Night World. Witches go to great pains to hide their magic; familiar animals have been outlawed so outlawing unusual relationships makes sense.

I don’t really think Ms. Smith meant for Blaise to be gay. I think she was aiming for hetero and leaving things vague in case Blaise got her own book later. But I do think Blaise being gay is a valid headcanon if that’s the way you want to go. Blaise never did get her own book so her fate is left to our imagination.

#night world #lj smith

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ancestorsalive · 7 months ago

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Replica 1500 year-old thatched hut. In 1993, an intriguing discovery surfaced at the northwestern tip of Great Bernera island, located in Scotland's Western Isles. Great Bernera, a small island connected to the Isle of Lewis by a road bridge, harbors the settlement of Bostadh, nestled at its northern edge. The area boasts a quaint beach, a picturesque semi-circle of pristine white sand surrounded by rugged rocks.

During a storm, a section of the dunes bordering the coast was exposed, revealing the presence of stone structures concealed beneath the sand. In response to this exciting revelation, archaeologists conducted a thorough excavation of the site in 1996. Just below the surface, they unveiled remnants of a Norse settlement, but even more thrilling were the hidden treasures lying deeper beneath the Norse buildings.

Atop the Norse buildings, an astonishing revelation emerged – eight Pictish or Iron Age houses lay hidden beneath. These houses boasted a distinct figure-of-eight shape, comprising a sizable circular structure connected to a smaller circular extension through an internal doorway. Often referred to as 'jelly-bean' houses due to their unique form, the larger section served as the primary living space, while the smaller end likely served as storage.

Fascinatingly, each hut interconnected with its neighboring structures through tunnels. The discovery at Bostadh bore striking similarities to the renowned stone village of Skara Brae on Orkney, albeit the former dated back to a more recent period, approximately 500-700 AD, with evidence suggesting it was likely closer to the latter end of that timeframe. What set the Bostadh village apart as truly remarkable was the immaculate preservation of its contents within the sand, extending up to the top of the walls.

The sand acted as a guardian, safeguarding the ancient relics and insights into the lives of its past inhabitants, offering a remarkable window into history.

Image Credit: Rob Farrow.

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ariel-seagull-wings · 2 years ago

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COMFORT MOVIE CHALLENGE: MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND

@thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @angelixgutz @moonbeamelf @world-of-puppets @princesssarisa @softlytowardthesun @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @amalthea9

Released in 1996, his is the second Muppet feature film directed by Brian Henson, based on a classic work of literature and released in partnership with the Walt Disney Company (before the aquisition of the Muppet franchise by Disney was really officialized in the early 2000s), after 1992′s The Muppet Christmas Carol.

This time adapting the famous children’s pirate adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, they cast the human actors Kevin Bishop as Jim Hopkins, Tim Curry as Long John Silver, Billy Connoly as Billy Bones, and Jennifer Saunders as tavern owner Mrs. Bluveridge, while the Muppet actors are Kermit the Frog as ship Captain Smollet, Miss Piggy as Smollet’s fiancee Benjamina Gunn, Sam the Eagle as Mr Arrow, Fozzie Bear as Squire Trelawney and the duo of Gonzo and Rizzo as eighteen century versions of themselves.

Meant as an energetic adventure and musical comedy movie for the whole family, the film is quick to extablish the characters of Jim Hopkins, Gonzo and Rizzo as three on their luck tavern workers.

Rizzo is sardonic and prefers a life of comfort, safety and plenty of food, while Jim (who here is portrayed as a young orphan of both parents) and Gonzo dream of excitement travelling trough the seas.

One of the clients of the tavern, former pirate Billy Bones, dies, leaving the map to find the treasure of Pirate Captain Flint to Jim, while pirates burn the tavern down.

So the trio goes to ask the rich Squire Trelawney a ship to search for the buried treasure. Squire Trelawney, a person of unconventional mind that confindes in an imaginary friend who lives in his finger, called Mr Bimbo, is excited with the idea, and presents to them the ship called Hispaniola, that shall be comanded by Captain Smollet and his right hand man Mr Arrow.

Among the crew that Squire Trelawney hires for the travel, Jim, Gonzo and Rizzo meet the ship cook Long John Silver, a charismatic man with a dark sense of humour, who becomes a close friend of Jim.

The young boy, naive and longing for a father figure, becomes trusty of Long John, while Gonzo and Rizzo, neglected by Jim, feel something is off with the cook, because before dying Billy Bones had warned them to beware of a one legged man, a description that fits Long John, who has only one leg and walks with a cane.

Jim is the normal every person who acts and is a surrogate for the audience, that gets emerged in the colorfull world of the port, the ship and the island.

You get a nice balance of chaotic meta humour of the 70s version of the Muppets with dramatic acting and character focus that would become strong in the 90s.

While the main cast of characters is firm in being their roles and invested in their emotional conflicts, you get little fourt wall breaking jokes like rat tourists visiting the location in modern atire right while the movie is being made, Statler and Waldorf as two wood ship figureheads who makes about the movie and a small cameo of the Swedish Chef dressed as a parody of an island native preparing to cook the imprisoned Rizzo, Gonzo and Smollet while the vegetables say to the audience “Well, how did you expected we would put him in the movie?”

And being a Muppet movie musical, you can expect well elaborated numbers presentings fun, beautifull, catchy songs the somber opening villain song“Shiver my Timbers”, the I Want song “Something There”, the epic “Sailing for Adventure”, the hilariously random “Cabin Fever”, the intimidating “Boom Shakalaka”, the romantic ballad “Love Led Us Here” and the dancing relaxing reggae “Lover Power”, courtesy of none other than Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley.

This colorfull, age of sail musical fantasy with Muppets gives a strong atmosphere that reminds of the joy of summer.

There is an entertaining combination of character drama, action, a touch of a horror atmosphere, romance and the goold old comedy that only the Muppets can, and it now enters in the list of my favorite movies, that is probably the best pirate movie ever made.

#tumblr mutuals #comfort movie challenge #fandom musings #the muppets #muppet treasure island 1996

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chillwildwave · 1 year ago

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Introducing… Corey Hernandez, my 4*Town Oc.

Hi there, 4Townies, while I’m coming up with a few more Headcanons for the group, I decided to create an OC during the time being who is going to be in the rest of the story, so without further a do, let’s get into it!

This is Corey Hernandez, he is a 23-year old Mexican-Canadian who is aspired to be a famous actor in the future, at the moment, he is at university to get a bachelor’s degree in acting so that he could make it big in Hollywood someday.

He is known by many for being a private and quiet person, he’s the type who is willing to help others whenever they needed it most, he’s also know by people as a person who is willing to change the world and is a good listener however, when it comes to socialising and making new friends, Corey can be hard to get to know when you first talk to him due to his introverted personality and the fact that he is very private and hesitant at times.

Now that I talked about his personality, let’s get onto the backstory!

So, Corey Hernandez was born in Toronto, Canada on April 12th 1979 to Mexican parents, his family life is pretty much like any other child, he had annoying siblings that tried to drive him nuts, his mother and father were extremely supportive throughout his lifetime but they were worried for the rest of his life as they noticed that he feared change, if there was anything that Corey couldn’t stand…

It was change!

So, at the age of 5, his parents gave him a talk about dealing with change when he was asked to join a primary school, from the looks of it, beads of sweat caressed his face, his heart was already in frantic mode in a few seconds, you could tell he wasn’t ready for it yet, but his parents said that they know that going into the big world is scary at times, and it’ll be OK, and they know that Corey will be fine with their final words being that he should be brave as this is a big challenge for him and he should learn to accept it!

During his time at primary school, he found a love for acting after attending Drama class, this would later on change everything in his life, because this was where his comfort zone was, when his parents first came to his first ever school play, they noticed that Corey was different on stage because of his boisterous personality as a character who he played.

It was also at that time when his parents took him to drama classes every Saturday since they found out about his dreams of being an actor and also, as a way for him to make new friends, one of them, would be a pop star in the future...

It was Robaire who he met at the drama school when they were asked to work as partners for a mini play of two pirate thinking of a way to steal treasure from a cave, when Ro tried to say hello, Corey didn't say anything since he was a private person and wasn't ready to talk yet. Despite this, Ro tried to get him talking by discussing their interests but Corey still wouldn't speak to the point where he told his parents about the school day and the fact that this boy wanted to talk to him but wasn't ready to yet.

He also told them that during drama school, people were worried about him since he sat at the other side of the room while everyone else was together, like he didn't know what to do with himself...

That is until 1996, when at age 16, on his next year at drama school, he met Robaire again with even more confidence and said hello to him for the first time, this was when during the years that came forward, he learnt how to challenge himself into speaking to new people even though it could be eerie by being brave and confident to get out of his comfort zone. After he said hello, him and Robaire started talking about their interests and just like that... They became best friends, this was also when Ro look deeper into Corey's perspective of the world around him and why he didn't speak to him in the first place.

This was because he was only shared his deepest thoughts with his family, not anyone else as he feels like they're the ones with the most support in his entire life, and he also didn't feel ready to be an actor in Hollywood when he got older since he believed that the world around him was judgmental and harming.

But luckily, Robaire understood him from then on to the point where Corey listened to Ro's story; he actually wanted to be an actor before his mother wanted him to be a singer after singing at his cousin's wedding, since then, she was constantly pushing him to be in the world of fame while also getting him to keep his imperfections in a box as a way to impress her and to look more "presentable" to the audience; he was also struggling to figure out his identity at the time. Corey also understood his flaws and told him that there was no need to hide them because everyone slips up sometimes and it's alright, it's what makes him a person.

During the years of their friendship, they would meet up outside Ro's house, they would go out shopping for clothes, they would go to an empty dance studio to rehearse for Ro's career and Corey's play, and during those times, their bond was so close to the point where Corey gave him a hug every time they said goodbye...

But during 2001, Corey and Ro went to a French restaurant as a "date" according to Corey himself, after the date, him and Robaire shared a passionate kiss outside, after that moment, he asked Ro how he felt if they took their relationship to the next level, this made Robaire's tummy turn around like a ball, he nervously replied by saying that he was ready to be his boyfriend (this was after he came out as bisexual).

Since then, in 2002, Corey was invited to the studio to write "Nobody Like U" as 4*Town's first single from their third album "Breaking Free", he couldn't really go since he was coping with his grandpa's cancer diagnosis and that he feared that he wouldn't live long enough since his grandpa was pretty much the coolest person alive, so for a few days, he stayed at home until his grandpa felt better.

But...

When Corey found out that his grandpa succumbed to his disease, a misty grey cloud hovered over him as tears gently raced down his cheeks, it was there that he wasn't ready to write the song yet since he was still dealing with his grandpa's death. However 3 days of mourning, he managed to cope with it quickly by meditation, writing his thoughts in his diary and being supported by the rest of his family, during this time, he was ready to go into the studio!

After "Nobody Like U" became a rousing success, Corey's lyrics helped 4*Town cement themselves as legendary superstars! Since then, he remains as their main songwriter while also on his way to earn a degree in acting!

As for his relationship with Robaire, well, since they're now boyfriends, Aaron T, Z Jesse and Tae were extremely supportive of them together, especially Ro's mom although their relationship is private during what was called "The 4*Town Craze."

And that is my OC here, who'll be part of my upcoming story about 4*Town from my own perspective, what I aim to do with this story is to show that celebrities are just like us and I also would like to showcase the dark side off the music industry while also showing that not everyone gets along very well as a group but in the end we come together to solve each other's problems.

That's all for now, I would like to hear you thoughts about my OC, what did you love about him, what makes him a relatable and realistic character, what could I do to improve my writing and what name would you use to ship Robaire and Corey?

Let me know, on the comments below or via message!

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