#Unusual Olympic Sports

[aers-radio]

The European Tram-Driving Championships.

You read that right.

[greatunironic]

eddie wakes up in a strange room. this was not particularly unusual for him, historically: he’d spent most of his twenties waking up in new and interesting places (including a handful of jail cells). but after eddie, the label, and the los angeles superior court system decided it would be best if he stopped drinking and doing blow, it stopped being such a regular occurrence.

so it’s almost alarming to him, now, to be blinking up at an unfamiliar cement ceiling with the raging bitch of all headaches and generally feeling like he got hit by a truck, got whiplash in a crash with the way his neck aches. he’d think he was hungover like all those times before except for how sharp the pain is, bright.

he worries, briefly, he’s relapsed, or someone’s slipped him something. but he remembers what him and the boys had been up to, before this, and he thinks it’d’ve been a strange night indeed if someone roofied a c-list (b-list if he’s feeling charitable) musician at a fucking frozen four game.

because yeah, eddie remembers: they’d been third row, watching the wisconsin ladies clean up and cheering for jeff’s kid sister like she was about to get olympic gold. (she probably would, someday. her and that mayfield girl who played defense were looking down the barrel at a 2026 run apparently.

eddie’s been to a handful of games over the years, when touring and recording allows them to go. he’s resolutely never been a sports guy but he’ll admit, when pressed, that live hockey is pretty dope. to say nothing, of course, of how jeff would probably murder them all in their sleep if they didn’t rep the red and white for lottie.

(and also — and this is between eddie and his god alright — but lottie’s coach? standing back there in his suit, hair styled and dialed, snapping his gum, yelling at the refs? kind of doing it for him, okay. worth the price of admission, even if the tickets weren’t free.)

when he thinks harder — which hurts too — the last thing he clearly remembers was someone from the beavers scoring, bringing their lead to 5-1, and a slapshot from the other team getting out over the boards and nearly taking out some lady’s popcorn. someone behind them in the seats said, “jesus they’re getting desperate, eh?”

then shit goes dark on him, not even a fade to black, but a full on smash cut, roll credits black, and the post-credits scene is where ever the fuck eddie is at the moment. it smells like human and cold and icy hot, so obviously, he thinks, he died and went to hell like all the church ladies said he would back in hawkins, or probably just a locker room. what the fuck?

he blinks at the ceiling, at an interesting water stain on the cement texturing. he’s in the middle of wondering where the rest of his band has gone if he’s here alone, fucking abandoners, when a sweaty redhead with the bitchiest expression he’s maybe ever seen enters his field of vision.

“you’re alive,” she says.

eddie blinks again. “why do you sound so disappointed?”

“yo coach!” she shouts, already on the move away from him. “he’s alive!”

he tries to sit up, but that makes the pain in his head worse, and also draws attention to the fact that his back also hurts. he squeezes his eyes shut and makes a truly embarrassing noise of pain — if pressed, he’d call it a whimper — and a pair of big hands land on his shoulders.

“out, out ladies i got this! hey!, hey, man, don’t move just yet,” says big hands.

“yeah, no problem, i don’t want to anymore,” eddie says. he stirs up the will to open his eyes again and very nearly slams them back shut. because of course the person staring down at him is fucking coach hottie snackycakes himself. he’s even better looking in person, too, big droopy eyes, lips as pink as his bubblegum, and shiny, jesus christ. he’s still got eddie by the shoulders, hands warm through the thin cotton of his flannel and tee — because eddie’s always been more fashion than sense, wayne always said, and it’s even worse now that the paps are on him—

“oh, fuck this is gonna be all over tiktok later, isn’t it?” he moans.

“maybe not.”

“don’t lie.”

“listen, eddie — it is eddie, right?” asks coach hottie. “i’m steve. coach harrington. faughnsie — lottie, i mean — she said you’re eddie. her brother’s guitarist? what do you remember?”

“more like he’s my singer,” he says, “but sure. and not much.”

“well, you’re gonna be okay,” says coach hottie — steve. “it really wasn’t that bad, and it was probably too fast for anyone to get it, unless they already had a camera on you. you took a puck to the head when one popped up. i’d apologize but it wasn’t one of my girls who did it, so. anyway — you weren’t out for long, which robbie says is good — she’ll get a look at you in a second — but you got your bell rung pretty good. and you’re gonna have quite the shiner, trust me.”

“speaking from experience?”

“oh, yeah. closer and faster too.” he gently raps his head with his knuckles. “too many concussions too early ended my nhl days, in fact.”

“oh. oh shit, sorry, i—“

“don’t worry about it, man, it happens,” he says. “and if it hadn’t, i wouldn’t be here.”

“at the frozen four.”

“yeah, sure, that too.”

“what?”

“what?” steve waves him off. “anyway, i’m just glad to see you up, ish, and talking. looked pretty scary, from the bench.”

“i really don’t remember,” says eddie. “but i’m sure i’ll see it on tiktok later, like i said — at least, my unconscious, bleeding form.”

“i got up there pretty fast, so i doubt it,” says steve.

eddie blinks, twice. “you—?”

“you were behind my bench, and you. well,” he says with a shrug, but he’s clearly a little embarrassed, finally putting those hands away — weapons of eddie destruction, he thinks — and shoving them into his pockets of his tight slacks. “i should be getting back out there.”

“do you? you’re murdering them pretty good, unless i black out and missed them getting four more goals,” eddie says.

the corners of steve’s eyes crinkle when he smiles. eddie thinks he might just pass out again. “no, we’re still gonna cinch it, i think. looks bad, though — first time coach missing the final period so’s he can hit on the cute musician who got his clock cleaned by the biscuit.”

“oh,” he says. swallows. “uh.”

steve’s crinkly, smiley eyes go wide. “unless—“

“no less!” eddie shouts and then immediately winces. at a better, less damaging to his more than slightly concussed noggin, volume, he says, “more, actually. because pretty sure i shouldn’t be left unsupervised, and i’ve clearly been abandoned by the band, so—“

“so,” says steve.

“coach, two minutes!” someone calls.

“so, i was hoping maybe i could keep hitting on the hot hockey coach back at his?”

“i’m at the ramada inn,” he says, “and i got tape to watch for the finals.”

“i live for room service,” eddie tells him seriously. “and i’m suddenly very into wisconsin sports teams.”

“coach! go time!”

“yeah?” he asks.

“yeah.”

“COACH!”

he jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “i gotta — but, uh, later?”

“pick me up in twenty?”

“probably more like half an hour, with stoppage,” he says.

someone bangs on the door. “COACH!! let’s boogie!!”

with one last look, wide eyed and smiling, steve leaves. eddie watches him go. he’d heard hockey players were caked up but lord — eddie is about to convert to a new religion, or maybe found one, over the stretch of those slacks.

“damn,” he says quietly.

“gross,” a woman says. eddie startles and looks to the side, where a lanky brunette with a bob and an undercut is staring at him, unimpressed. she’s in some get up that screams athletic trainer, and there’s a white board in her hand.

“how long have you been there?” he asks.

she raises an eyebrow. “long enough, and honestly, i don’t know if that counts as a you rule for him, or a you suck for you,” she says and does not elaborate when he asks. “also don’t look at him like that. it’s steve. he’s basically my sister.”

“yeah? any tips then?” asks eddie. “i promise i’ll only use them for good. well. mostly.”

“god,” she says with an expansive eye roll. “you’re gonna be a nightmare, aren’t you?”

a cheer goes up outside the room as the teams, presumably, take the ice again. eddie, head throbbing, concussed, embarrassed, grins. “sure hope so,” he says.

[ladycharles]

Occasionally JK Rowling says or does something so offensive to my sensibilities that I must speak. Sadly, today is one of those days.

This post, and the "male" she is referring to is a cis woman boxer from Algeria. There is an unconfirmed report that she might have an intersex condition in which one's chromosomes are XY. She may not even have this condition, but even if she does, it does not mean anything but that she has an unusual DNA quirk. We do not call Tom Cruise a woman for having an extra X chromosome, for example (nor would I expect Rowling to accept it if he decided to compete as a woman in the Olympics).

Now Rowling, upon being pointed out that she essentially pulled the twitter equivalent of Austin Powers punching that old lady because she "looks rather mannish", moves the goalpost. She claims, against evidence, that she an unfair advantage, going so far as to imply that simply by competing with a rare condition this woman has cheated.

This might seem bizarre coming from a self professed FEMINIST. It is the contention of anti trans "feminists" like Rowling that womanhood is being erased and destroyed by "trans ideology"; Yet here a cis woman achieves a olympic victory and they accuse her of being a man, of cheating. They erase her achievement, they erase her womanhood.

The subtext is racist and misogynistic - a strong Algerian woman with features that do not reflect Western beauty standards is being denied the very womanhood that TERFs claim to protect. She has lost to women before, she has no clear advantage... Yet by virtue of her looks and a possible rare genetic condition, she is now a "man" and a fraud.

This doesn't surprise me, and I suspect that anyone who has had to deal with TERFs will agree. But in case anyone is shocked here's my take:

TERFism has always been a reactionary movement. While it draws from second and third wave feminists and has an ideology on paper, any space with TERFs will tend to feature mad crusades accusing cis women of being trans on looks, attacks against sex workers that are harsher than those on the men who make that industry dangerous, few towards actual men, and a sense of outrage that trumps any real ideology.

It is feminism much like how "National Socialism" was socialist. And like the Nazis did with socialism, it uses the idea of feminism to legitimize attacks on perceived enemies while preserving the status quo. For TERFs that's traditional gender roles, which they have twisted into something that protects women rather than subjugates them. (This is not to say TERFs are Nazis, but it is a decent comparison because fascism is the ultimate reactionary ideology; full of symbolism and mythology yet devoid of any substance but machismo and hate.)

In a nuanced, good faith society, we might discuss trans women in sports using science to determine whether there are unfair advantages, and consult stakeholders and experts in sport and biology. We might study if chromosomes do impart an advantage, and weigh that against the other myriad genetic advantages like long reach or faster muscle gain to determine if there is any problem with current regulations. We might not do these things too, considering we have gone the entire history of sport without a single women's league collapsing from secret "male" invasion.

In Rowling's world, we first attack the winning woman as a "man in disguise" and rail against her without evidence. We have people replying "just look at HIM, he is clearly male". We have people writing violent revenge fantasies in which the Algerian woman gets beaten by a man or a gang of women to "teach her a lesson"... and JK does not once jump in to say any of it is inappropriate or hurtful to women who happen to have androgynous features, like some less fanatic people sharing the story have done.

When this is how their "ideology" reacts to an apparently "male looking" woman winning, we have to ask whether the liberation of women was ever the goal.

And the one thing that makes it all make sense, IMO, is that it's the lashing out that's the point. These people seem to enjoy calling a cis woman a man in much the same way they enjoy calling a trans woman a man. They enjoy the feeling of power as together they act cruel towards a woman who had the audacity to beat a white European. They seem to relish the ability to present themselves as feminists in one breath while brutally harrassing and demeaning women. Unlike ordinary bigots, they constantly bring up their crusade, as if they're growing dependent on the thrill. The cruelty, as they say, seems to be the point.

The danger of these ideologies is really becoming obvious ahead of the US election. Years of social media bubbles and astroturfing have made people like Rowling convinced that they are a silent majority, ironic for people who can't shut up.

Times like this I think are important reminders of where this can really lead. They may spin about being gender critical or concerned about women when the pressure is on; This is what these people do when they think they can get away with it.

This is the dark heart of their movement, beating loud enough to hear.

[emilybeemartin]

Just to tie in my two themes this month----

Additional notes, because poll options apparently limit their characters:

Frodo finds great peace in watching the tides rise and fall throughout each day. He attends all the ranger programs on birds and seashells and fills pages with sketches and poetry.

Sam meticulously selects postcards in the gift shop for each of his friends and spends a whole morning writing and addressing them. He also buys Junior Ranger hats for his kids and a variety of Appalachian jams for Rosie.

Park rangers launch a Missing Person search for Aragorn when they realize his car's been parked at Avalanche Creek for three days. The search runs for almost a week before he comes strolling out the opposite side of the park, supporting one of the SAR techs who twisted an ankle during the search.

Legolas is first drawn to Olympic for the towering, mossy temperate rainforests, but the ground goes out from under him when he steps onto Second Beach for the first time. He spends an entire day watching the light and tides shift on the sea stacks, and he leaves feeling both full and hollow, like a bell that's just been rung.

Mammoth is only Gimli's first stop on a cavern tour, followed by Jewel and Wind Caves and Carlsbad Caverns. Wind Cave is his favorite for the unusual formations. He makes an obnoxious tween boy cry in Carlsbad for breaking off a speleothem.

Boromir is on a tour of military parks. He asks so many questions to the intern working the info station at Fort Sumter the kid has to go find the park historian. His favorite site is Vicksburg because that place was buckwild, though he silently judges one of the reenactors for his clumsy handling of a black powder rifle.

Merry also makes stops in Jurassic and Dinosaur National Monuments. He watches every park video, takes selfies in front of all the fossil exhibits, and earns his Junior Ranger badge at each one. He buys a keychain for Pippin.

Pippin actually gets four citations, mostly for trying to stick his hands in mud pots. He doesn't mean anything by it---he's just so delighted and curious about the bizarre landscape. He winds up with several thermal burns and dumps a king's ransom in the donation box on his last day.

Gandalf gets dinged by rangers for not paying the $5 fee for Trunk Bay, but he acts senile until they eventually decide to drop it. He gets postcards from everyone and responds to none of them.

Faramir and Eowyn are traveling together and do many of the same hikes and rides, but they do have some different preferences off-trail. Eowyn drags Faramir to a rodeo and the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole, and he goads her into Ranger Shelton Johnson's living history programs on the Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite.

Eomer is bike-packing on his sport cruiser motorcycle. He goes to Roosevelt south unit for the wild horse herds but ends up spending half a day watching a prairie dog town. He takes 400 photos of them, mostly blurry, and texts them to Eowyn.

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

Yuri On Ice AND figure skating nerds might appreciate that this weekend, the NHK Trophy is taking place in Yoyogi Stadium, which is the location where Viktor won his 5th consecutive World Championship

The real stadium vs. the anime version:

... and from above - a sight we don't get to see in the anime.

The venue from the inside real vs. anime:

If you look closely, you can even spot the two big ventillation tubes on the left right below the curved ceiling.

It's not that unusual for a figure skating event to take place in one of the venues that were used for YOI because there are only so many suitable venues for figure skating competitions available. In 2021, the Rostelecom Cup was held in Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi where the Grand Prix Final of tears happened. The Beijing Olympics in 2022 and the 2023 Grand Prix Final were held in Capital Indoor Stadium where Yuuri and Viktor kissed for the first time. And the 2022 Skate Canada was held in Mississauga, just like the Skate Canada in YOI-- and those are only the competitions since I've started following the sport.

By the way: the 2021 NHK Trophy was held in Yoyogi Stadium as well.

However, every time a real figure skating event takes place in one of these places, it feels magical. As if the world of YOI and the real world connect and the universe feels a bit more complete.

[missmisandrytabletalk]

Just came on here to say that Imane Khelif IS a woman. You can be gender critical and still have some common sense that the Olympics doesn't permit trans individuals to take part in this category of sports. All athletes are subjected to a few gender tests before they even apply to compete in boxing. And it's literally Algeria we're talking about here lol.

Moids accusing a woman of being a man just because she doesn't have a physique and features of a woman that aligns with their fantasized conventional standards. Though the white crocodile tears were definitely a cherry on top.

The general public loves to jump on the bandwagon without doing any research about the chances of what might that person be suffering from. There has been some claims that she suffers from DSD (Disorder/Differences of Sex Development) in which a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female or male. They can have unusual chromosome patterns, atypical genitalia size or difference in the development of testes or ovaries. In her case, she has testosterone levels higher for an average woman but then again it also depends on how much responsive your body is to that particular hormone. She might be an intersex individual but certainly NOT a trans person. Even if you look at her childhood pictures, it was quite apparent that she was born a girl.

Honestly speaking, gender testing system itself shouldn't be really relied upon. Human anatomy is complex and I reckon a simple blood sample doesn't really give us the bigger picture. This situation is a clear embodiment of it, and the Olympics team & IBA is to be solely blamed for this controversy. Anyway, congratulations to her for this glorious feat!

[uzumaki-rebellion]

Soon come..."His New Coach"

Summary:

Misha Livingston's family have been trailblazers in basketball since she was a little girl. Her grandfather was recently inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, and her father is the head coach for the Dallas Mavericks. Misha is an Olympic gold-medal basketball champion and a former WNBA player turned coach. When she's given the opportunity take an assistant coaching job in the NBA, she's pit against a popular player Terry Richmond, a former marine who has recently made the unusual leap into professional sports. Terry struggles with instant superstardom that may hinder Misha's ability to coach her new team into another championship. A chance encounter on a remote island in the Maldives shows Misha that she has the power to get Terry back on his game.

[rogueddie]

professional swimmer Steve who makes it to the Olympics. Gareth, teasing Eddie for his sudden and unusual interest in sports. but they go to the Olympics, where Robin recognizes them, who then introduces them to Steve. Gareth just dead stares at Eddie the entire time, making him even More flustered- but it gets Steve on the same page, who then turns the flirt on.

[totallynotsilversora]

Can we appreciate and analyze how impeccable Vash’s skills as a marksman is bc I hadn't noticed anyone talk about it in length and this gif literally drives me insane:

Content warning: mentions guns / gun and shooting below the cut because otherwise this analysis would be moot.

This is coming from someone who used to only shoot air rifles for sport like how you'd see it in the Olympics with paper targets!

Ok so as I’ve said I've shot guns before (not at anyone ya sickos) and believe me when I say that Vash has such a good steady aim his arm doesn’t even bend when he moves it - he moves it from the shoulder/ his waist to keep that arm straight and relaxed as possible, which is crazy because that gun looks like a BRICK made of solid metal. There's no way that thing is light, there's definitely some weight to it, but the way he moves it is smoother than most people I've seen lift a credit card.

Now it’s not unusual in sport to have at least some tiny weight on the end of the barrel to keep it steady and act as a counterbalance but that’s like Olympics, not a fight. Vash may be superhuman but I don’t think carrying a cross like the Punisher would make fighting any easier, so it’s safe to say holding a decently heavy chunk of metal filled with lead isn’t easy either (I’m pretty sure the humans we’ve seen so far held their guns with two hands either due to weight or stability and they're not so smooth anyways).

So him tracking someone with a gun like that in only ONE HAND is kind of impressive even at that close range bc it doesn't matter how many times you hit your mark, your barrel would NOT be as steady as Vash in that gif unless you're this gif of Kobeni from CSM:

Even that scene in episode 3 when Vash is aiming at Knives (which I can’t find a good gif of) he doesn’t move the barrel at ALL until he has to lift it and follow Knives’ head. No shaking, no wobble, not even the SLIGHTEST figure 8 you’d normally get when you aim down a barrel - it’s a smooth turn of his wrists following Knives’ head up.

And that’s all from EXPERIENCE. Look at the two gifs below:

You can literally see how much he’s improved since he lost his arm - he’s expectantly super wobbly compared to the last gif in episode 2. He notably doesn’t “force” the gun to stay in one spot and aim where it needs to be - he raises it then let’s it “settle” on where he’s aiming to shoot before firing. A good shooter knows how to aim and take the shot before they lose the target w/o moving (called “following through”), but a great marksman knows that when it comes to shooting you should never fight against the body’s natural tendencies to move the way it wants to even when you’re aiming at something because you’re less likely to wobble or move when your body is relaxed and comfortable. Moving it away from that position will cause you to quiver and inevitably try to return to that same comfortable position against your will. That’s not just something you pick up on naturally - you have to LEARN that shit.

Which means Vash literally took the time to either completely unlearn every single one of his body’s natural ticks in order to shoot like a pro OR he learned how to work along with each one so his aim was always on point. Either way, it took him 150 years of practice to reach that level and it definitely paid off for him I think!

There’s a bunch of other ticks I noticed, too, like him keeping his trigger finger on the side of the gun if he’s not aiming to shoot anything in that moment but still has the gun in his hand so he doesn't accidentally misfire:

Or how he never keeps one eye closed bc the twitching WILL make you shake and lose focus so he always keeps both eyes open when aiming so he sees better:

But this post is long enough as is and I think we all get the idea that he’s that fricking good at using a gun.

TL;DR Studio Orange did a fantastic job convincing me that Vash is an INSANELY GOOD marksman and this is coming from someone who used to shoot air rifles for sport and had an incredible coach who would also agree with me and say this guy’s aim is surreal if he ever watched this show. Also his reload speed is absolutely demonic too like what the actual hell-

EDIT: added that scene from episode 3 just to show you guys what I meant (sorry it's low quality but you get it!!! Also the fact he's keeping his finger on the trigger bc he knows how unpredictable Knives is and could strike him down at any moment just shows how confident he is at keeping his hand steady bc if he were shaking he would DEFINITELY have misfired by now).

[csuitebitches]

Skiing - a beginner’s guide

I first went skiing in Switzerland with my friends nearly 10 years ago and I loved it. The feeling of the wind on my face, the speed, the adrenaline- it was exhilarating.

I’ve compiled a basic list of ski events, a semi-scandalous article and some of the best destinations in the world as well as some budget friendly ones.

Socialite ski events:

Snowboxx:

Since it launched in 2013, winter festival Snowboxx has been growing in popularity - and it involves flying out to the Alps for a week-long ski party.  It takes place in Avoriaz ski resort, Morzine, France each March, and this year saw a superstar lineup of artists performing in the mountains, including ex-Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, Becky Hill, Jax Jones, Sonny Fodera and Andy C. 

The combination of partying to some of the world's best DJs, with the unusual day-activites of skiing and snowboarding, are making many turn away from the summer festival circuit in favour of the winter one. 

Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel , Austria:

The Hahenekamm ski race weekend in Kitzbühel is arguably the biggest alpine ski event in the world. The world’s best take on the iconic Streif downhill track, which is historically the toughest ski race track on the World Cup circuit. A lot of the speed skiers consider winning races here as a bigger honour than the Olympics. As a spectator, the atmosphere is electric with fans around the world admiring some breathtaking ski racing.

X Games, Aspen, USA:

The world’s best freestyle skiers and snowboarders compete annually in Aspen. The event is a prestigious honour to win amongst action sports athletes and has propelled careers. Spectating the event is excellent because you can see most of the action from the viewing areas. The halfpipe events in particular are excellent to watch for this reason.

European Snow Pride, Tignes, France:

Tignes is home to Europe’s biggest gay ski week, with the European Snow Pride. Each day has a theme with nights of brit-pop to superhero days. Many international DJs are invited to play each evening party in the resort’s local clubs and bars.

Slightly scandalous tales: Things I Never Knew About Skiing Until I Was a Private Instructor in Aspen

Really interesting read. I was thoroughly entertained.

Popular ski destinations:

1. Whistler Blackcomb, Canada

Whistler makes it onto pretty much every ‘World Top 10’ list when it comes to ski resorts

2. Niseko, Japan

Located on the northern island of Hokkaido, this Japanese skiing destination is a snow-covered paradise. With a huge 15 metres of average snowfall, it’s no wonder that Niseko is the country’s premier ski resort.

3. Zermatt, Switzerland

As the highest resort in the Alps, it’s got the views. The incredible peak of the Matterhorn can be seen from just about anywhere on the slopes! It also boasts the greatest vertical drop in Switzerland, and there’s all year round skiing at the Matterhorn Glacier.

4. Courchevel, France

The resort is a part of the world’s largest alpine ski area, offering more than 600 kilometres of terrain and interconnected ski runs across 10 summits. The snow here is well-groomed, and there’s a legendary black run that’s considered to be one of the trickiest in the world.

5. Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy

Known only to the most dedicated, well-travelled skiers prior to the 1956 Winter Olympics, Cortina is a hidden gem in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains.

6. Baqueira-Beret, Spain

It may be a surprising destination for skiing, but Baqueira-Beret in Spain is one of the best places in Europe where you’ll find value for money for a ski holiday. You’ll be able to find affordable accommodation as well as some of the finest tapas restaurants in the country.

7. Ylläs, Finland

The arctic landscapes of Lapland are perfect for skiing. If you dream of snow-dusted trees, the magic of the Northern Lights, or the glow of the midnight sun, Ylläs is a unique winter resort that you won’t want to miss. As Finland’s largest ski resort, it’s got everything you need.

Budget friendly destinations

1. Vogel, Slovenia

An ideal spot for couples or families, this Slovenian spot is a truly beautiful and peaceful ski area. Overlooking Lake Bohinj, Vogel is part of the Triglav national park.

2. Livigno, Italy

Duty-free zone Livigno offers excellent slopes for intermediate skiers. But advanced skiers and snowboarders will be kept busy too – especially if they’re keen to explore off piste.

3. Poiana-Brasov, Romania

Poiana Brasov is Romania’s biggest mountain resort and certainly one of the nicest. The fairytale slopes, flanked by pine trees, are the perfect place to take your skis. With more than 24km of ski runs, there’s plenty to explore.

4. South Korea -Muju Deogyusan Resort

Muju Deogyusan Resort in Jeolla province is only 3 hours away from Seoul. So, if you want to spend your holiday skiing and still enjoy the city of Seoul, this is the place to go.

5. Niseko Ski Resort

Located in Hokkaido, Japan, Niseko Ski Resort boasts a total of four different resorts but with linked ski area. A single pass would give you access to all four resorts. One of the resorts, Mt. Resort Grand Hirafu has been officially named as Japan’s number one snow resort due to the wide array of activities offered.

6. India - Gulmarg

Gulmarg is a rare gem in the Himalayans that will undoubtedly take your breath away with its picturesque beauty. However, skiing in Gulmarg, Kashmir is not for the weak-hearted as the terrains are not suitable for beginners - to add to that, the ski lifts carry you to the highest point in the Himalaya at 13, 780 feet!

7. China - Nanshan Ski Resort

80km away from Beijing, Nanshan Ski Resort is perfect for skiing and snowboarding as the snow are neither too hard nor too soft.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

https://x.com/JenCarsonTaylor/status/1815631752557187242?t=s9Gq7ursloCduiUiv0E9kA&s=19

it appears it'll be funded privately, has this happened before?

No idea.

But it's not unusual. There are tons of events every year everywhere that aren't supported by public funds. Like the Olympic Games are privately financed. Like Earthshot.

All it means is that Harry needs to wine, dine, and schmooze a bunch of corporate sponsors to pay for Birmingham 2027 - which is what he did, along with William and Kate, in 2014 for the first games.

So like I said in April: it's do or die time for Harry to prove himself as Invictus's patron. If he can bring in the corporate sponsors to fund and put on Birmingham 2027, then Invictus Games can probably limp along for a few more years but I think we'll see the games scale down and the charity realign to support community events. (And in fact, we're already seeing the Games scale down - Vancouver is having both summer and winter sports, but in 2027 they're back to summer sports; the snowsports are one-and-done probably because they thought there'd be more money but it's clear there isn't. Not anymore.)

[batsysquared]

The controversy going on with the Olympics right now is completely and utterly horrific. It is a bubbling cauldron of intersexism, transphobia, racism, and misogyny. And it's not new! This is a story that has played out before - not just in the Olympics, but in various situations even outside the realm of sporting, all across the world. When it comes to intersex people, the utter social dissection and public humiliation for not being Proper is a story that marks our very births, the one that begins from the day we're born, and every time it comes up it is deeply entwined with all of these other prejudices. But this time, there's one thing that different. The (alleged! completely alleged!) medical proof that's landed in their hands has enabled them to show plain and bare that they never cared about anything but their hatred of The Undefinable Enemy, and anyone who is sufficiently marginalized can be placed in that box when narratively convenient. To me, a person who ticks every box on display here, this was obvious - and I'll be putting aside the racism and plain misogyny for now since those are already well covered. But as far as interphobia goes - we've never fit in the category of "cis", whether we consider ourselves to be men or women, and frankly people have a hard time wrapping their heads around us being trans, excepting people who just hate trans people for existing. It's because of this that many intersex people just want to be seen as normal - and, wouldn't you know it? That's a talking point that TERFs and other various transphobes use to pretend they just care oh so much! "Oh, don't bring up those poor people! They just want to be normal boys and girls just like us, they're just rare, unique, disgusting victims of a birth defect! Not perverted and ill freaks like you!" So now, nobody has an excuse for missing what they really think when they say this: the second they can find alleged proof that a woman isn't correctly a woman - the people who manage to acknowledge that intersex and trans aren't the same thing go ahead and talk about how she's a failed man and ought to be treated as such. "It's unfortunate that she has this horrific genetic affliction," they say, "but, well...a man is a man." So much for being treated normal, right? But less obvious before this incident was that every time, every time, they missed what any intersex person ever meant by "wanting to be normal". And of course, it's because they never cared. Our struggles are only brought up solely to shoot down the arguments trans people and allies make that involve us, never to actually consider us or acknowledge the intersexist systems that the occasional trans person or ally will accidentally support. No, again, that'd involve caring. If they did, they'd understand that the plea to be treated normally is a plea to simply be considered as the thing the intersex individual wants to be considered as, without any scrutiny or "buts" or "you poor freak, we need to fix you", regardless of whether they choose to be a man or a woman or both or neither.

Yet even when they're afforded the grace of male or female, it is never without scrutiny. Every day we're questioned, even for those of us not aware of what we are. The societal push against our normality is so stark in every conversation we have about masculinity or femininity and its expectations that these pressures are often the only reason intersex people even learn they're intersex! The circumstances of their birth are hidden from them, a footnote in a surgical record, and they later have some other "problem" that must be fixed. Sometimes this problem that really affects them in some tangible life-altering medical sense, and sometimes it only does so as a result of society saying "hey, are you sure you're the thing you know you are and that we said you are? because damn you're hairy/tall/short/strong/chiseled/soft/tragically micropenised/possessed of breasts of an unusually small or large size for what you Ought To Be!". And of course, either way, once they're adults it's their prerogative to correct whatever they want! But that doesn't excuse the way that society treats this as an expectation of us, and no amount of societally enforced self-loathing changes the fact that it is an expectation, even when this false sympathy is expressed for our plight. (And, you know, if they cared about what intersex people want or the plights we go through, they'd spend less time crying about the nonexistent problem of children being "mutilated" by the trans menace and more about the very real and constant tragedy that is coercive surgical sexual assignment of literal newborns, but lol. lmao.)

My solace here is that now these incidents can be pointed at as evidence that the cry of "don't use intersex people as a shield!" is hollow concern trolling - and also that it makes clear how important liberation from both gender and sex as rigid categories are for, well, everyone, but for intersex people in particular. I'd also hope to see less "oh so transphobia only matters when it affects a cis person" pop up when intersex people get smeared into bloody streaks across the ground, as if women who do wish to fit in the category of "cis" but fail to be considered as such by society due to the circumstances of their birth don't also feel the constant daily sting of transmisogyny - or as if transphobia simply misses people for whom the terms "afab" and "amab" are most relevant. Being both trans and intersex, my experience has been that the discriminatory line here is about as thin as it gets.

But, well, one of these revelations is more important than the other, so I'll settle for not being a toy to be played with by fascists over being slapped by casual intersexism from people that at least recognize we should be working together. Sometimes that's the most one can ask, yeah?

[stellocchia]

Maybe platonic Undyne & Sans? They have to socialize with each other with Alphys or Papyrus as a buffer.

The rules for the requests are on This Post.

Hell yeah! I basically never see stuff for those two, so I'll gladly write something.

---

Life on the Surface had been great for the most part. The monsters had mostly settled around Mount Ebbott as humanity at large was still suspicious and hostile toward them, but their lives were decidedly better out of the Underground.

Sans had dropped all of his previous jobs in favor of becoming a science teacher in the newly-opened mixed elementary school (both monsters and human students were allowed, but teachers were still predominantly human, so getting a job there hadn't been easy. He'd needed some help from Toriel who was an English teacher there as well as one of the founders).

Papyrus had gotten a job as a line cook at a local fast-food place. Couldn't be happier. Alphys was working with a team of scientists to study the technology of the Core and possibly export it to the surface.

And Undyne was the captain of the monster division of the police force. She'd worked hard for that to get opened up, and had needed to plead with the King for some help with the diplomatic aspects of the whole thing. Her and Alphys had also gotten married.

Overall, the four of them had remained close despite the dramatic shifts in their lives. So much so that they met up every Friday evening after they were all done with their jobs.

Usually, they met at Alphys and Undyne's place. Undyne was always there first, followed by Papyrus, followed by Sans (who always made sure to take a lengthy afternoon nap not to get there too early), and Alphys came in last.

That particular Friday, Sans had forgotten to take his nap so he'd arrived unusually early. Undyne was still preparing some snacks for the evening (some charred black sludge that probably would have been unedible for them had they had taste buds. Alphys sure was glad the food was always finished by the time she arrived). Paps was still nowhere to be seen, he still had an hour or so to the end of his shift.

In Sans' defense, he did try to ask if it was better for him to come back later, but Undyne just rolled her eyes and dragged him in, lifting him up and setting him down on the kitchen table so they could chat as she cooked.

It went just as well as you may imagine...

"Did you watch the Olympics, Sans? Humans sure find bizarre ways to test their physical prowess! I would have won every category!" Undyne boasted.

Sans sheepishly looked down, fidgeting with his hands. "I don't really watch sports" he confessed.

"Oh... right. Well, have you seen any new interesting series? I've been watching a lot of stuff whenever I get the time" Undyne continued, still with just as much passion as she had for any other topic. She was such an energetic person, it was admirable.

"I only really watch TV when we watch anime together".

"Right... well, anything fun at work?" Undyne tried, yet again. This time more hesitant.

"Uhm... the kids are cool. But I'm pretty sure one of the other teachers has been trying to poison my coffee for a couple of weeks now".

Undyne's eyes went wide. "Wha- Sans! You should go to the police for something like that!".

"I don't have any organs and the poison isn't magic. It just falls right through me" he shrugged casually. "No harm in letting the poor guy make a fool of himself a bit more".

"You- right, okay". Silence falls between them for a long moment, before Undyne sighs. "You're a difficult person to talk to".

Sans snorted. "Yeah. That's why I let Paps do all the talking usually. You can't be a scientist without having social anxiety".

"Hm... well, ever thought of seeing a therapist about it? Alphys has been going, and it has been helping her. I've also been doing an anger management course, and that's been neat too. Just saying, you don't gotta struggle forever" she offered him an encouraging smile, and it made Sans actually want to consider the offer.

His and Paps' finances were a bit tight, but perhaps he could figure something out. "Maybe. Thanks 'dyne. You're cool as always".

She grinned. "Of course I am! Who do you think taught Papyrus so well?"

[terrence-silver]

Terry says to his beloved "I can give you anything and everything" and beloved says "I want a baby" how would the different era of Terrys handle this situation?

---

― Ironically, Twig, or rather a young Terry, probably heard this demand from his own parents, or at least his father, as soon as he returned from Vietnam, and maybe even before that, at a ridiculously young age; Leave that whole army shebang behind. Take over the company. Take over the family business. Expand it. Don't neglect all the privileges that were given to you in the pursuit of idle, hippy-dippy nonsense. Be the man you were always supposed to be. Give us some grandchildren who can do the same one day. Those were, in a nutshell, undoubtedly the basic tenants he might've grown up with (give or take), because those are usually the tenants more or less every traditional parent has for their kids. So, when beloved lets Terry in this period in his life in particular know that they want a baby with him, it doesn't come as a tremendously big surprise because it was somehow always a given it would happen one day --- only difference is, Terry actually has someone he absolutely desires to produce progeny with probably even more than beloved does themselves, so children might come about as a result of this relationship awfully quickly precisely because Terry wants to 'leave the whole Vietnam thing behind' just as he was advised to do, and move on --- become stronger, better, more accomplished, not bogged down by what he survived. He wants to crystallize. Get in control of his circumstances. Overcome. He is in pursuit of transformation. This is a very raw era in his life, though. And while he wants this baby to symbolize the turning of a new page there's always the looming shadow of freshly acquired PTSD still hanging over him like a dark cloud where he's convinced he'll, for the lack of a better word, fuck up somewhere where fatherhood and family is concerned; a fact perhaps outweighed by his devotion, love and eagerness to please as he stays true to his word and gives beloved everything they want. Everything. Even legacy. In spite of his complicated state of mind right about now, he's more boyishly excited for a child than beloved could ever be because he just adores the idea. It's one of the purest sources of joy he's had since the war.

― Terry Silver in the 80's literally just goes ahead and fucks beloved on the spot when they respond to his 'I can give you everything and anything' with 'I want a baby.' You want a baby? Okay. Fair enough. Not a second's to be wasted. Might as well get down to business right about now because time's money. Emphasis on the NOW. Cancel all appointments, Margaret! He does it, right there, on the floor. On nearby furniture. In the tub. In the steam room or the sauna. On the desk. In front of staff. All around the mansion. In the dojo. In the backroom of some event. In the back of his Rolls Royce. On top of the Rolls Royce. And in the weeks to follow? Sex in unusual and outlandish places shamelessly and perversely becomes a ritualistic norm, happening as often as a couple of times a day or as much as is needed for someone to get knocked up. Well, beloved said they wanted kids, and this is how kids are made. Yes. Terry treats the whole thing like running an Olympic Marathon with an Olympic torch in tow or training for some sort of extreme sport and it truly takes quite a bit of willpower, stamina, determination and strength to keep up with him, but that's what one gets when they wind him up --- it becomes pretty impossible to unwind him. It doesn't matter, though, because he's gleeful, enthusiastic, titillated, turned on and he isn't one for empty talk. He truly says what he means and means what he says. He wasn't here promising beloved that he'll give them 'anything' purely to seem fanciful. It's not just some corny line for him. This guy? He entirely meant it. And with such an intensity of force and conviction that he could genuinely have beloved pregnant within weeks, or as quickly as nature allows, because he won't stop until it happens. The only thing he and beloved will stop for is to eat, drink, bathe, rest (a little), so he could train, keep up his endurance and core power and so they could get back to fucking post-haste, often going as far as multitasking and doing above-mentioned activities simultaneously with having sex on the clock. Turns out, people can fuck, drink, bathe, rest and train at the same time if they're committed enough to a cause, and Terry Silver sure is committed.

― That's all old man Terry ever wanted. For years. Decades, in fact. That is, pretty much, the one regret of his life; not having children. In plural, you'll notice. So, when beloved suggests it with such fervor to him, it's like all of his life so far suddenly clicked into place. He is on the verge of having everything --- quite literally everything. Someone who loves him for him and wants to have his kids even when they're offered every other material possession in the world by him freely. No. Beloved picked having his babies instead. In a society where everyone's out to use everyone (and Terry could write a dissertation on the subject, trust and believe) this is a monumental occasion; a proof of beloved's worth and steadfast nature. Of their loyalty towards him. Of their love. That they're in this with him for all the right reasons. That they're not out here to use them, but rather, that they're here to build with him, so, in effect, if this was ever a test, him asking them what they want him to give them, beloved passed with flying colors. If it was possible for him to love them even more, he does now, after such a statement and it is pretty hard to describe, in a short post, how profoundly emotional Terry would be hearing this; to the degree he'd almost hesitate for a second, because what if it's too late now, at this stage in his life? What if he cannot stay in control of how long he'll have with his figurative kids even if they are born? What if it's beyond his power to pick and choose how many years are ahead of him? What if his joy is fleeting and it'll slip out of his hands like water? The idea of not having the upper hand and the authority in these decisions is infuriating and harrowing, intermingled with this overwhelming desire that --- no --- he should think large and take what he wants. When he wants it. He's always had what he wished for out of life and now should be no different, so after a period of self-reflection, brooding and I dare even say depression comes a newly found state of genuine fulfillment for Terry. He gives beloved the babies they both so dearly wanted and that guy, well...he's legitimately happy.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hi!! do you know of any celebrity aus? either one of them or both of them being famous please! 💚💚💚 have. great day

Hey Nonny!!

Okay I was going to break down a list for you but then I realized that "Celebrity" is kind of a broad term, and I've done a few lists across the years that can fall into this category:

Celebrity AU (Community Recs)

Musician Sherlock (Oct 28/19) (Community Recs)

Sports AU

Actor AU

Olympics AU

Royalty AUs (MFLs)

Moulin Rouge AU

Ballet Dancer AU (MFLs)

Plus this fic that I'm currently reading that can fall into this category too:

Sherlock Holmes Live by emilycare (E, 488,496 w., 73 Ch. || Theatre AU || Immersive Theatre, Romance, Slow Burn, Fake / Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Bisexual John, Demisexual Gay Sherlock, Alternating POV, Falling in Love, Eventual Case Fic, Soft Sherlock, Panic Attacks, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with Happy Ending, Pining John) –  Down on his luck John Watson answers an advert for a paid role in an experimental play. Enter William Scott with a most unusual proposition: help him test run a two person immersive experience, oh and by the way there is sex and romance involved.

====

If you have a specific "brand" of celebrity that you'd like me to break it down further for you, please don't hesitate to ask!! (even if it's an update to one of the old lists!)

[illiophop]

GO and Statue Significance

Anyone noticed the statues? Three in particular, which take center stage quite literally in Seasons 1 & 2. We have:

Crowley and his "wrestling" demon and angel, which had pride of place in his flat.

Gabriel's graveyard statue portrait

Aziraphale's marble bust

Because nothing in the set seems accidental and because the statues are so lovingly and prominently displayed, I think it's worth lavishing some attention on them and think about why the characters chose them/like them/display them. This is gonna get academic, for which I'm sorry/not sorry!

Some background on what we know about each statue, with much thanks to @fuckyeahgoodomens for lots of info regarding #1 and #3 statue origins. The wrestling demon and angel is an original work, based upon the Uffizi statue "The Wrestlers." The original is dated to the age of Augustus after a Greek original, which depicted two men engaging in an Olympic sport called Pankration which is described as "an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules." (Make of that what you will).

Gabriel's statue is particularly fascinating. Typical monumental-sized angel statuary with a large cross either has the cross placed above, and the angel below, carrying it, or the angel crouching while embracing the cross. In either composition, it is the cross which is the focal point. In Gabriel's statue, we see the Cross in a non-dominant position, whereas Gabriel's face is the focal point. Also important to note - in traditional angelic statuary, Gabriel is usually depicted as a herald with a horn, and not with a cross at all.

Aziraphale's statue bust original is located in the Louvre, and is called "The Victorious Athlete." It dates from around the time of Crowley's statue, perhaps a century or so later. It is also Roman and it is most likely an idealized figure, not a Greek portrait. Greek-style hair and features came back into fashion in the Roman first century AD, when the Emperor Hadrian fell in love with a Greek youth, Antinous.

My theory is that each statue represents how its owner sees themself and their purpose. In other words, an allegory that allows us to understand the events of S6 and each respective character's actions.

Crowley: Crowley's statue elevates the beauty of eternal tension between dark and light. It's a spiritual and also a very physical, fleshly beauty. More tension. There is definitely sexuality in that piece as well (a few of us have noticed, including Neil!) Each figure pushes the other to their best effort and is, in turn, shown at its best. And each figure is defined by its engagement with the other.

Gabriel: The statue is a clear portrait, unlike the other two (highly unusual for angelic statuary). The whole composition serves to allow the viewer to look, and admire, Gabriel's face. The hope of a resurrection of the dead, as represented by the cross, is completely sublimated to angel portraiture! Pretty extreme stuff for a graveyard, tbh, and reconciles nicely with Gabriel's complete disinterest with the Second Coming.

Aziraphale: His bust is meant to serve as an idealization and embodiment of qualities of the ancient athlete, summed up in the word arete, a term describing "a maximum of ability and potency for action (optimum potentiae); a man’s effectiveness and skill in goodness." Not making this up, btw, this is a widely accepted view of why such idealized statuary was created to represent ancient Olympic athletes - they were literally offerings dedicated to Gods at sanctuaries in Olympia, Delphi and elsewhere.

Such arete encompasses Aziraphale's goal and purpose, and it makes sense that the bust would be displayed so prominently in his bookshop. In S1, it dangled a medallion presented to him from Heaven in 1800. It is interesting that Aziraphale's medallion is missing from the bust in S2 - has it been stripped by Heaven after the events of S1?

Because Crowley has been stripped of his flat, we have no idea what happened to his wrestling angels statue but we no longer have it in S2 as an allegory to access and reference. Is this because he has evolved in his self-definition and that of his relationship with Aziraphale? We cannot know until we have an opportunity to see his flat again, and whether it is still in place.

We know that Gabriel uses his statue as narcissistic reinforcement and a date spot. With his escape from earth, we expect that it will retain little value to him, shed as a narcissist sheds all supply once it is of no use.

But what has happened to Aziraphale's bust in S2 E6? We see Crowley methodically put everything back together exactly as it was after the Ball/Demon incursion, but we don't see the bust go back in place. What is the significance to its absence in the Kiss scene, and the following one with Metatron? I don't know, but I wonder if this is not foreshadowing to indicate that Aziraphale's self-conception is going to be radically altered as a result of his going to heaven. He is not going to come back the same angel, and his allegory is going to have to change with him!