#a big part of my efforts to catch up is due to y'all

[theolsuspendisbelief]

Just read all of Songs of Wind and Woe and thoroughly enjoyed it :))) fantastic job you’re doing gods work feeding the dorym nation

Heyo! Thanks so much for reading and reaching out! I'm really glad you liked it!

I like to think of it like a potluck and it was my turn to bring some brownies. So many great fics in the tag that have made me smile, so when the writing itch struck I knew I wanted to do something big as a thanks!

Songs of Wind and Woe on AO3 here!

[vicxy]

Pick A Pile Reading: Choose a Villainess 🥀🃏

Hello everyone, I decided to come up with this PAC for you guys to read as I go through all your asks. I’m really sorry for not being able to release it sooner, and thank you to those who are supportive. As you can probably guess from the title, the topic of this PAC is: What kind of villain would you be? I hope this will be to everyone’s liking, please leave some feedback so I can improve! This is meant to be a lighthearted (?) PAC for entertainment purposes, so don’t take it too seriously :) Please keep in mind this is a general reading so some might not resonate. I will also add a small part with things I think you need to hear.

“A hero will sacrifice you for the world, but the villain will sacrifice the world for you.”

Choose the pile(s) you are drawn to. Happy reading!

☾ Pile one: The Enchantress

I see a yellow gemstone for this pile, some of you might resonate with that? Maybe Opal? 7, 9 or 20 might be important numbers for you. Virgo, Pluto, Fire, Aquarius, and Moon energy here. Quite a lot of sword energy too. Capricorn, strong Jupiter, Libra, and Air dominants here too. I see that as villains, some of you could be quite scheming, not really in a bad way though. Wise beyond your years, you have a lot of foresight, and are probably the types to plan a coup or be the mastermind behind things. Maybe Junko from Danganronpa but with less of the crazy. The ones who are desperate for knowledge, but might have went about it in the wrong way. As a villain you might not show yourself much. I got “cartographer?” You might be sensitive to criticism, and hate it when you are questioned by your minions. The second type of villain I see from this pile is the sneaky type? Not the mastermind of the “main” villain, probably the one who betrayed the heroes’ side for the villains’. It might be because you didn’t feel included or like you were part of the heroes’ side. As a villain, you could be good at gathering information and using manipulation in order to achieve your goals. A spy, perhaps an assassin. Lowkey gives me Sasori (Naruto) vibes. The last type of villain I see here are the types who can get too hung up on things. Unable to let go, they let their past mistakes consume them and they turn evil, possibly to run away or to avoid something, possibly their past situations. Self conscious and unable to face their true self. In the past, the people in this pile could have had bad habits limiting their personal growth. Right now, some of you could be quite stressed. You should take a break and pamper yourself; impulsive as it may seem, it would be the best for you in the long run. The future is promising for this pile but roadblocks or conflicts right now need to be removed / resolved in order for you to advance. Good luck!

☾ Pile Two: Harley Quinn

Leo, strong Mars and Air, Pisces, Cancer, Libra, Moon, Mercury. The first type of villain I see here is the stubborn type. The ones who fight doggedly until the end even when they know they’re wrong.Quite impulsive, you could start fights easily and that could get you into trouble. Enemies are made easily. Some of you could be passive, or too defensive. On the other hand you could also be the type to give up easily, but mostly I see stubbornness. The second type of villain I see here is one of my favourites. If I could put it in one word, it would be smooth. Jesper from Shadow and Bone vibes. Intelligent, social, charming. Probably the type of villain to have their eyes everywhere, you know what is going on at all times. Also the type of villain to have a glib tongue, easily talking your way out of things / trouble. May be particularly interested in puzzles, mysteries, and mind games. Good at strategy. The third and last type of villain I see here is the type that can be perfectionists. Probably not villains by choice, these people are very avoidant. You probably dislike conflict, and try to avoid them, which can cause even more problems for you. Maybe the type to lie about something and lie more and more as to cover the lie. Eventually it snowballs. You could be idealistic as well, so you try to create a “perfect” world. Which is to say, your ideal one. In the past, a lot of you might have been unsure of where to go or what to do, but you could’ve been enlightened by something or someone recently and now know what to do. Trust yourself. Right now, I think that some of you could just have gone through something important or great in general. The efforts you’ve been putting in will pay off, so hang in there. In the future, some of you could be leaving from toxic relationships. You will also be more decisive, and in control of your life. 5, 6, 7 and 10 could be important numbers for some of you.

☾ Pile Three: Cruella

Lowkey weird but I saw the anemo symbol for this pile so maybe some of y'all play genshin impact? (pls if y'all do dm me I'm ar 55 with nothing to do) Strong Taurus and Mercury here, Cancer, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Jupiter, Saturn. The first type of villain I see here is the one who was always known as the outsider. Down on their luck and probably weren't the types to get opportunities from others. There is something lacking in these people's lives, yet they don't know what it is. Reliant on others. These are the types of villains who victimize themselves and make you pity them, but stab you in the back right after with no sympathy whatsoever. The second type of villain I see here is somebody with very low self esteem. They might not have a sense of self direction and let themselves get used by other villains? Probably afraid of failure and disappointing others. On the other hand, this villain could also be opinionated and arrogant. Especially reckless, they are mostly bark with no bite. The type to give you threats but gets defeated in an instant 💀 They could also be the type to want recognition, maybe even obsessed with success. That will be their downfall. The last type of villain I see in this pile is the dramatic type of villain. The ones who make a mountain out of a molehill. Probably the ones who try to take things too far, or like putting on a big show with their abilities. They could also be the whiny type, the ones who get mad when they don't get what they want. Unresolved anger issues too. Lastly, they could be the villains who had gone through some kind of transformative experience in their life to make them this way. In the past, you could have felt very "stuck" and bored with your own life. You could also have lessened interactions in your social life due to responsibilities. Try letting loose sometimes. You could have also neglected some serious issues which you needed to face. For some of you who have been struggling or anything like that, rest assured that things will blow over soon. Hang in there, and remain grounded. For those of you who have put effort into something, I see that the rewards you get might not be up to your expectations. At least now you know what is worth you investing your time in; sit back and reevaluate your situation.

OKAY I'm finally done, it's almost 1am and I'm gonna catch some sleep. I really really hope this was alright, good day everyone! Please leave feedback so I can improve, I have a feeling this one is quite bad lmao. 💖 thank you for all the support thus far!

[buckypcrker]

mission as usual // i love y'all 3000 challenge

hi everyone! this is a submission for @pagesoflauren's i love y'all 3000 challenge. i saw this come up on my dash and figured i would do a prompt (or two, maybe). i haven't written anything in quite a bit, and the inspiration may as well have slapped me in the face. here is the link to her original post!

pairing: Clint Barton x James "Bucky" Barnes [WinterHawk]

warnings: hurt/comfort, possible fluff overload, typical canon violence

prompt: "Who did this to you?"

word count: 1.5k

Mission As Usual

After most Avengers missions the tower became chaotic. The brisk footfalls of new agents discussing upcoming missions. Stark's R&D engineers tweaking and updating weapons and transportation vehicles. The medical staff taking care of patients and preparing for those who would be coming from other missions.

You could say that the Avengers were a kind of group who believed in self-sacrifice — even if it was a subconscious effort — and the worst of the bunch had to be one-Clint Barton.

Clint had this streak of consecutive medical visits post-mission going — he was currently weighing in at 62, and that's not counting the various clumsy accidents he gets into in the tower.

But the only problem he truly faced was getting past his mother-hen of a boyfriend. Bucky meant well, truly. He just can't help it when he gets his Sargent voice going and telling Clint to "be more careful".

"He was like this with me when we were kids", Steve had laughed, "glad to see that hasn't changed."

The only difference is Steve Rogers was the most sickly kid in all of Brooklyn, hell, all of New York and Clint was just a huge, self-sacrificing klutz.

Missions with just himself and Natasha were rare nowadays. They hung out all the time in the tower regardless, but there was nothing quite as special when they got to team up against HYDRA or former members of the Red Room.

Half the time that they were out in the field they were back to back watching each other's six. Clint's bow always drawn tight with an arrow and Natasha's batons buzzing in her hands. No one worked quite as in sync as the two of them, well, unless you look at Steve and Sam Wilson.

Their mission this time was tracking down a rogue HYDRA agent who escaped their grasp during their last roll in the mud with the whole team. Seemed simple enough. In, out, get the guy, interrogate, and have time to catch a new episode of The Blacklist.

As most injuries to the Avengers happen, one minute Clint was in a Mexican stand off with the HYDRA agent, Natasha coming up from behind, and the next his face was slammed down onto the asphalt.

His ears were ringing, head throbbing. There's another one, he must've called backup. Clint slowly pushed himself up to his knee, blood trickling down his temple. He flung his head around, seeing his attacker coming back for another blow.

Clint ducked under his leg that was out to kick him and snatched a knife from his boot, swiping at the back of the man's knee. A hiss sounds above him as the agent joins Clint on his knees, slamming his knee hard into his stomach.

All of the air that was in his lungs rushes out, and he's sitting hunched over, suffocating, and trying to regain his breath. "I'm supposed to be watching Nat's six", he thinks.

He finally returns to his feet, wheezing but breathing better than he was. His and Nat's grunts are heard as they continue to fight the HYDRA agents. In due time, Clint knocks out the agent by kneeing him in the head and Nat had apprehended the other.

"Alright Squad Four come in for clean up." Nat says briskly into comms.

Two quinjets land, and suddenly the steps Clint needs to take to get to them seem so impossible. Thankfully, Natasha comes up next to him and helps him to bear his own weight. Bless her and her red head.

A few SHIELD agents rush out of the first quinjet armed and with handcuffs to apprehend the HYDRA agents. The second one that Nat leads him towards has a pilot and a few medical techs to give them a basic once over before Bruce and Dr. Cho can get to them at the tower.

The flight from their mission site to the tower pass by in a total blur. Clint is fading in and out of consciousness, his head is throbbing, and everything hurts.

"Mr. Barton, sorry to interrupt," one of the med techs signs, "your hearing aids were damaged during the fight, Mr. Stark is going to have to make some new ones for you."

"Aw hearing aids, no." Clint says slurred and he knows he's a bit loud due to not being able to hear himself.

Landing at the tower winds up being more of an affair than usual. With Clint's lack of hearing, he had no clue what was happening. Lips were impossible to read as hurried conversations occurred around him.

Of course, Bruce and Dr. Cho tried to gang up on him and force him onto a gurney, hell, at least a wheelchair to wheel him to an exam room. As the sharpshooter does, he makes a big stink with slurred words and glassy eyes.

Natasha had pushed him into a wheelchair anyway.

Clint really just wanted to crawl into a vent and hide until he felt better — and maybe pop a few ibuprofen tablets too. But there he was, post-checkup with Bruce, sitting on the counter in the communal kitchen.

As with most of Clint's now 63 consecutive medical visits, bandaids were on multiple parts of his face. He was also sporting some nice bruises on his stomach and temple where his head had been slammed into the ground.

He looked and felt like he was hit by a truck filled with 17 elephants, and then ran over by a train. Ok, maybe he was getting a bit dramatic now.

Nonetheless, he was sitting with Natasha, Tony, and Peter — this new spider-child that he swears Tony picked up off the street and he has to stop calling him 'Mr. Hawkeye, sir'. His injuries were on full display, only because after having to cut Clint's shirt off to give him that once over Bruce didn't even want to try and get a shirt back on the poor man.

"You know, I know I'm an asshole, but you look like shit, Legolas." Tony snarks as his hands move quickly.

"Thanks, Tony. You are so sweet to get me a glass of water." Clint pulled this master guilt-tripping look that always got to Tony and like their game always goes, the short man retrieved what Clint wanted.

And that sure put a large grin on his face. Ow, it hurt... damn bruises. It also helped when he saw Peter laughing and the shaking of Nat's head as she sipped from a wine glass.

Everything was finally settling down, and as he got sucked into a tough game of Angry Birds on his phone, he was stunned at the sudden movements in his periphery.

Looking up — and completely missing his shot with the bird that was simultaneously a bomb — he saw Bucky rushing at him, pressing into his space between his legs. Words were tumbling out of his mouth but Clint couldn't begin to comprehend them. Too much, too fast.

"Buck, no aids, they broke." Clint signs quickly.

He watches Bucky's face change from concerned and kicked puppy to an angry scowl and back in two seconds. His metal hand reaches to cup Clint's cheek, the archer immediately pressing into his hold.

"Who did this to you?" Bucky signs with his other hand, face serious.

"HYDRA agent. Thought there was one, turns out it was two." Clint sighs in exhaustion.

Clint watches as his boyfriend looks him over, grimacing at the bruising and the bandages covering him. He knows Bucky worries when he goes on missions without having him as a backup, and this just further proved that.

He watches as Bucky turns to Tony and say something, but Clint doesn't bother to try and follow along to the conversation. He looks to Steve and Sam, both dressed in their running gear, the sweat on their brows, and they share a knowing look.

Clint was about to be put on bed arrest by one Bucky Barnes. So much to his plan of hiding out in the vents.

He watches Sam mouth 'Buck, overreacting again', and shakes his head with a fond smile. As much of a pain he was when Clint was hurt, he found it very endearing. At times when Clint had been injured way worse, Bucky had helped him into a warm bath to soothe his aches and pains, massaging his scalp, and rambling to him about his day.

Bucky taps Clint's knee twice, their signal to pay attention so they can see each other signing, he looks up into his steely blue eyes and catches a small smile on his face.

"How many now?" Bucky signs with a smirk.

"63, and counting!"

"Stop that Clint Frances."

"You did not just middle name me."

"Hm, whatcha gon' do about it doll?" Bucky smirks, signing something vaguely inappropriate as their friends had cleared out the room to give them privacy.

"Nothing. Although, I could use some good ole Bucky-bear cuddles." Clint smiled softly, looking at his boyfriend lovingly.

"Of course, I'm always going to take care of you. No matter what."

Even with Bucky's overprotective nature, Clint still couldn't help but blush at the affection from his boyfriend. He knew he still had to face the upcoming Sergeant speech, but in that moment, nothing else really mattered as he sat in Bucky's arms.

[rileymcdaniels]

✢ for a good memory that makes them smile - for Riley

Sundays in June in Harlan mean potlucks out on the lawn behind the church. Everyone brings a dish or two and some drinks to share, and the men lounge in the sun with beers and cigarettes until the ladies have everything settled. Then, everyone goes into the shade of the church to fill their plate and then marches right back out to sit at the picnic tables or right on the grass. The kids get up and run around, sometimes down the trail a while because there's a creek, and it's nice to splash around on a hot day.

And that's where Riley McDaniels, all of seven years old, finds herself. Down at the creek during the potluck. Except she's alone because her brother pushed her into the creek and left with his friends. She knows the way back, it's not a big deal, but as she gets back up to her feet, it feels kind of like a big deal.

There's mud on her face and shorts from catching herself on the small muddy bank. As she takes stock of herself, it starts drying under the hot sun and gets itchy. Her clothes are almost all the way wet from landing in the creek. She wants to start heading back up the trail, but her leg hurts, and when she looks down, there's a big cut on her knee from where she landed.

She's seven years old, not a baby, so she's not bothered by the blood or anything. But it does kind of hurt, and seeing it does kind of make her sad. Her brother is the meanest person in the world and not just for this. There's a lot of other stuff he does that scares her. She tries not to think about it.

But Riley just sighs and goes back to the creek to get the mud off of her hands and legs and wash off the blood that's trickling down her calf, not that her efforts make it stop. She's seven, not a baby, but a shameful part of her feels like she could just start screaming over this because she's mad and it hurts and Mama ain't gonna care, she'll just get mad that Riley got her clothes dirty even though it ain't her fault at all.

Riley's so frustrated and getting madder, but she's distracted from all that when she hears someone approach and startles as she turns around.

"Afternoon, Miss Riley," says Raylan Givens, who is eighteen and off to college in a few months (college!) and is the nicest person in Harlan, Kentucky, and in all of Kentucky as far as she's concerned. Raylan smiles at her but tilts his head with confusion. "What manner of trouble had you falling down?"

"I mostly tripped," she lies, "but my brother also kind of pushed me, not that anyone will believe me." She fiddles with her long braid only to find that it's unraveled due to her fall. She barely restrains herself from stomping her foot.

"I believe you," Raylan says, and it comes out so easily like he thinks it would be strange to think anything else. "I got sent down to check on y'all and passed by your brother and the Davis boys. I know their type."

Riley tugs the elastic out of her hair to try and rebraid it herself. "It was an accident," she maintains because she has to, she can't let people think badly of her brother. "It happens."

"it shouldn't," he says, and Riley stops her braiding to look up at him.

She cant read his expression. Nobody has ever looked at her that way. Ain't nobody ever spoken so quietly to her, either. But it makes a tiny something in her gut feel warm even as the rest of her fidgets.

"Here, missy, let me rebraid your hair. Mamas always get so whipped up when your hair's a mess or your clothes are wrinkled, don't they?"

Riley turns her back to him without thinking about it, her shoulders relaxing. She agrees but doesn't nod because that would mess up the braid.

It's nice. She likes having someone else do her hair. She doesn't have sisters, just her brother, and sometimes she has a hard time making friends. People don't like her very much. But Raylan has always been nice to her. He says hi and asks her about school like he actually wants to know.

And he's good at braiding hair, it seems, because he's already done and she didn't feel a painful tug even once. She beams as she turns around.

"Thanks, Raylan!" she chirps, pulling her braid over her shoulder so she can fidget with it. Mama gets mad, but Riley feels calmer when she runs her fingers over it, circuling around the different bumps of the brake.

"Well, it's certainly braided, though I can't speak for quality." Raylan smiles back at her. "Want to walk with me back up to the food? I saw some really big cookies."

Riley nods excitedly and slips her hand into his because it makes her feel warm and calm.

It won't occur to her until much later in her life that this is one of her favorite memories of her childhood because it's one where she felt safe.

@theseourbodiesrp

[survivorisladelasmunecas-blog]

Rites Of Passage - Day 78

(Here is some music to listen to while reading this)

Enfado Tribe (Cole, Jaiden, Eddie, Matthias, Dylan)

AJ -  Putting you all the same because I didn’t get to play with you guys in the beginning. If y’all didn’t go it would have been my tribe and I would not be here so thanks for losing? Again, sorry.

Brandan -  Cole,Jordan campaigned hard to get you back into this game. From what I read of your bio I believe you would have either became a massive threat or you would have ended up like my friend Nin: All bark no bite and a second boot. You seem cool though.  Dylan, Hey Halloween, why do you have to be so racist to not let us pick you to come back? I mean really?  Eddie, You know I tried to get you back into the game, because you seemed cool and I hated the argument between bring in Tyler or.  Jaiden, From what I heard of everyone you seemed like a mess. Literally, the entire tribe ruled out bringing you back in from the get go. Don’t know what you did to do that, but yeah they really didn’t want you in. Matthias, You know, during that last challenge I completely forgot you were in the game XD, I literally had NO idea who you were. I want to get to know you though.

Eva -  Matthias, Not gonna lie I was DREADING seeing you on the cast bc after Bora Bora I was definitely kind of rude to you and I'm sorry about that! I definitely wish we'd gotten a chance to play together just to make up for all of that. Cole, Dylan, Eddie, Jaiden, I've never met you guys and we didn't get any chance to speak so I really don't have anything to say! Sorry <3

James - Matthias, Never really got to interact, a victim of the slaughter. Jaiden, Might have caused a mess if you got a foothold in the game since you're a bit of a schemer which could have shaken things up. Eddie, My original partner in Newfoundland, once again I watched as you got booted first ;_; Dylan, I was excited to potentially play with you but it just wasn't in the cards I suppose. Cole, Never really got to interact, a victim of the slaughter 

Shea

AJ -  Hope you are doing okay actually.

Brandan -  You know you seemed cool, and then you quit, and I heard why from a close friend of mine, and to be honest I’m kind of happy you left

Eva - Hope you are okay

James -  Hope everything is alright with you surrounding the reasons for your quit

Victor

AJ -  I heard a lot of things about you going into the season, a lot of really good things so when I saw you out first I was SHOOK. Sorry bud!

Brandan -  I honest to god though you didn’t deserve to go the round you did. You tried so hard in that challenge and I thought you would have stayed! Well I guess the idol’s fucked you over, but it’s a game, I think we can all say fuck Dustin for the roulette of idols.

Eva -  Another Bora Bora person ahhhh. Just like Matthias I wasn't excited to see you but in hindsight I'm sure that was an overreaction.

James -  RIP victor @ all those idols getting played.

Aidan

AJ -  OMG AIDAN <3 Voting you out was really hard because it was the first tribal but you also self-voted so I don’t feel that bad….

Brandan -  You were so inactive you got voted out unanimously with an idol in your pocket. Like what the hell dude.

Eva -  Never got a chance to meet up with y'all!

James -  Never really got to interact with any of you.

Zack

AJ - Zack/Seamus, Putting you both together because I see you both as the same. Both big threats in a tribe that didn’t really want to play. Sorry!

Brandan -  Don’t know much of you, other than you got a ton of praise for coming back and playing. I don’t know much about my tumblr survivor history however I’ll try to catch up.

Eva -  Never got a chance to meet up with y'all!

James -  Never really got to interact with any of you.

Seamus

AJ -  Zack/Seamus, Putting you both together because I see you both as the same. Both big threats in a tribe that didn’t really want to play. Sorry!

Brandan -  : I honestly thought that you would have either survived the tribe or left much earlier due to you being the only winner in the game. In your vote out I thought Connor was a gonner. Turns out I was wrong. Good game.

Eva -  Never got a chance to meet up with y'all!

James -  Never really got to interact with any of you.

Steven

AJ -  After you went I figured that my original tribe was going to be targeted (which was and also wasn’t the case) but I heard that you kinda just disappeared. Hope you are doing well!

Brandan -  Ditto everything I said about Aidan. Except you lasted longer, and you were my last pick I believe.

Eva -  OMG I don't think you ever accepted my contact request but RIP! I think you were probably busy which I can definitely relate to :v

James - Started on Brown then went to Yellow.

Ricky

AJ -  LMFAO. Okay Ricky you were causing way too much shit for no reason and when I found out that you all were doing Andrei I had to take that opportunity to take you out. You had too many connections and were stirring the pot for no reason. Sorry!

Brandan -  Fr om what I heard from others you and Billy were like this huge duo premade whatever schablang. So ultimately I’m a bit mixed on you. You seemed cool, but I’m glad you're out. So much confusing emotions.

Eva -  Never got a chance to speak to you either!

James -  Another person I was never on a tribe with, rip idols

Jacob

AJ -  UGH Jacob why did you have to get 3 strikes! I missed having conversations with you and was so happy when we slayed the scavenger hunt to beat 15th place! Miss you!

Brandan - The amount of knowledge I know about you is so little that I only remembered you due to your skype picture. A Serperior. Yeah not a good impression, and then you go and get yourself medevaced.

Eva -  omg THE Jacob Albright what a king. I don't think we've ever had a chance to play more than like, two days worth of game together but what a god.

James -  We were together for a good part of the pre-merge yet... I still don't think we ever interacted? I don't know if you interacted with anyone? Your presence was quite an enigma leading up to your evacuation.

Jevvon

AJ -  Jev ill be honest, I don’t know why I refused to vote you. You were very inactive and didn’t have a computer but I thought you were a really nice person. Hope everything is going well in the U.K

Brandan -  I AM SO FUCKING GLAD I PUT YOU ON THE OTHER TRIBE. I expected you to go WAY earlier than you did because of you lack of computer. Why you were never voted out I will never know. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a computer. It will help you in the long run if you play another one of these games. Thank you.

Eva -  The first Negacion to go! We were such a great starting tribe but I definitely didn't get to know you as well as the others sadly.

James -  Your self voting yourself into a tie and eventually out of the game was pretty lolzworthy and was a pretty fitting end to your story.

Tyler

AJ -  : Flop bitch! JK! We slayed the premerge together and then I think things got too busy in life for you so that’s where the 3 strikes come in. I’m not sure if you leaving hurt or helped me but I hope you are doing well!

Brandan -  All I know about you is that you tried to vote me out, you didn’t talk fucking game with anyone, you were useless, and you got medevaced. I was honestly sad to see you go, only because everyone was gonna target you first vote XD.

Eva -  OMG your idol play being the thing that put me on the lagoon...well, it was my own fault but still, it's so funny thinking back on that.

James -  You were a mess of an ally. It was fun playing with you for the hot second we were together on a tribe but you really did get all those strikes over literally nothing LOL. N e ways your evac probably helped me in the long-run so I'm not to sad hehe.

Monty

AJ -  I voted for you 2 or 3 times and I don’t regret it. You didn’t really care about this game and caused unnecessary drama. Bye!

Brandan -  Okay so I heard all these rumors about you being a big threat and all of that stuff and I honestly thought you were too passive to pull it off. Give or take you did get idoled out and eventually lost in the Lagoon but yeah, I think you are a good player, you just need to believe in yourself more.

Eva -  Ahhh it sucks that you just didn't have time for the game anymore (again: relatability) but I did enjoy the one talk we got to have at the lagoon!

James -  Another player I never interacted with, must suck to know you were so close to merge only for 3 people to essentially quit right when it hit ;_;

Jordan 

AJ -  omg Jordan. You caused a LOT of waves in the last two rounds in this game that kinda set up how the merge would play out. I really wish you didn’t give up on the lagoon but im happy I got to see you play this game!

Brandan -  Jordan my friend. I tried so hard to save you. SO. FUCKING. HARD. I literally tried blackmailing Bodhi and everything but at that point he was too close to Austin (Look how that turned out XD). I think I’m the only person in this game that actually knew you at heart, your a cool dude, amazing personality, and overall fun to be around. Hopefully you let everyone know your true self so they all don’t think of you as a pathological liar <3

Eva -  Another Bora Bora rep <3 your argument with Austin is by far the most interesting thing that ever happened at the lagoon and I was gagging the whole time.

James - You were a bit of a bitch to me but at the end of the day I am sorry I didn't use an idol on you. I was a bit paranoid and the last minute aspect of it all had me overthinking it. However you did stop trying at the lagoon when 10 minutes of effort would have won you immunity so I don't feel that bad!

Connor

AJ -  DAD!!!!!!!! I miss you so much omg. I’m really happy that I got to meet you during this game because you are such a sweet person. Can’t wait to send you random snaps all the time!

Brandan -  You know I never understood why you hated me. Maybe it was just because I refused to lay down and die. Maybe it was because I snapped at you when I knew you wanted me out. I don’t know. But you and I had a little rivalry throughout the early portion of the merge, and I campaigned HARD to get you out when you did. Didn’t work out the way I intended but hey, I still won out. Maybe sometime we can sit down, have some hot cocoa, and maybe become friends :).

Eva -  You definitely came in to the lagoon with a lot to say and plenty on your mind. I actually spoke more to you than a lot of people in the game which is weird in hindsight but you were a lot easier to carry a conversation with than some.

James -  We never really talked until a couple hours before the tribal you went at where your tone kinda turned me off. I saw you as a solid vote against me so that was pretty much the reason behind getting you out though at the end of the day.

Lil AJ

AJ -  WE GOT TO PLAY TOGETHER THIS TIME! Ugh when I saw you on the cast I was so happy yet so sad because I knew we would be paired together. Im glad we were because even though we didn’t spend a lot of time in the game together, I had a lot of fun strategizing and scheming with you <3 Love ya!

Brandan - You were literally the only person I was blunt about voting off. At the point I told you my mind was set in stone, and I figured I just be honest with you than extend false hope. I hope you find happiness with your puppy! Even though I only knew you for 3 days, you seemed really cool :)

Eva -  ughhhh this really sucked. When the four of us knew it was the last lagoon and someone had to go I had a really hard time actually deciding who to vote for. I wasn't going to turn on Andrei no matter what and I didn't want to vote Brandan either so it came down to you :/. At least you returned the favor so it felt a bit less crappy, still sucked though!

James -  I thought for sure you were gonna return from the lagoon but then you got robbed at the very end ;_;

Jay

AJ -  I honestly think this should be flipped. Jay I thought you had what it took to win. This boot was such a shock to me. I thought you would be the last person from our tribe in this game. You are a strong threat in any game you are in (BBHELL, Tumblr Survivor, etc.) Im so happy we finally got to bond over a game together and I’m excited to talk to you in a few days!

Brandan -  There are so many words I can use to describe you it’s not even funny. All of them are positive, but what can you do. You were a seriously good player, and I understand Austin’s decision to target you instead of someone else. I seriously appreciate you giving me an immunity necklace that brought me back in, it was super nice of you. Even though it kind of did fuck you over that tribal.

Eva -  oh my god there is soooo much I can say about you Jay, you were probably one of the first people I truly aligned with when we swapped together. I put a lot of trust into you and I was genuinely excited to return from the lagoon to play with you and some other people. But needless to say, It's Complicated starring Meryl Streep. I'm sure we'll discuss it at length either when I join jury or I'm at FTC!

James -  You were a huge player in this game, I viewed you as being one of if not the most well connected player. Pretty much the full package, just so happened we were on different sides come merge.

Matt

AJ -  We never really got to talk this game but you seem cool! H.A.G.S! No but seriously im sorry that you went inactive but that is kind of what I relied on that round. Hope you are doing well!

Brandan -  Matt my buddy! I’m sorry that you left on a self vote huge blindside. I honest to god though no one in their right fucking mind would take you out. Seems like I was wrong huh? Oh well, you were funny and a truly nice guy. I hope you're enjoying ponderosa! And let me know how that thing with your boss went you never told me the resolution!

Eva -  You were probably my favorite person to talk to on OG Negacion. We actually stayed together for the whole game before I Cirie'd myself so I saw you as one of my top people in this season. But we definitely fell out of touch later on and I'm sure you have a lot going on right now so it's no surprise.

James -  - You were a fun presence throughout the game and it was fun to see someone not take themselves too seriously. Hope everything is okay as you're apparently still mia ;_;

Austin

AJ -  LMFAOOOOOO. Austin you know from BBHell that we really don’t mesh and this game proved otherwise. I think we were both on the same page that we needed to keep lying to each other but keep each other close at the same time. It was fishy. You are a really strong player in all aspects of the word but you leaving made me VERY happy. Enjoy jury!

Brandan -  Okay here we go. Austin, I love you personality wise. I think you truly are an amazing guy, with amazing stories and that stuff. However, at the point of your vote out you just lost trust with everyone, which is why you got voted out. Although I didn’t vote for you that round, I tried to spare you from that vote. However… people had other ulterior motives. Other than one of your plans getting me sent to the lagoooooooooooooooooooon and yelling at me after the Jordan vote you are really cool :).

Eva -  Not much to say here :v just kidding! Austin I'm sure you still see me as some manner of snake. I definitely don't think I am and hopefully, like Jay, we can discuss it at length later on but for now I'll say I definitely had your back and trusted you with some pretty important things :v

James -  At first I was a bit hesitant to FULLY trust you with how messy the round was when Brandon went home. However, I am glad we got on the same page because the next 3 rounds it was fun the way we schemed together even when things seemed super hopeless.

Billy

AJ -  Ok this was a tough one. I won’t go into the details of why I flipped just yet but it was one of the hardest choices I had to make in this game. Billy, from the swap I knew that we were going to be close allies. Despite us voting against each other for majority of the votes, you were someone that I knew I could be real with and that you would be real back. I miss you so much and I can’t wait to talk to you soon! Enjoy Kohl’s!

Brandan -  My dude! I didn’t flip on you! You were actually a really cool guy, and one of the people I connected with most in this game. You just seemed so… genuine, it was a breath of relief that I desperately needed. I think your grandpa would be really proud of you if you ever did this shit in real life, I think you give his memory a good name.

Eva -  We were never really aligned in the game but by the time we actually started talking to each other I found you to be a pretty cool guy. We actually have a lot in common and idk, regardless of how the game turns out I can definitely say getting to know you a bit was a fun aspect.

James -  - We had a bit of an adversarial relationship early on in the merge. I was genuine about potentially working with you but unfortunately it never really panned out. At the end of the day I know you're a nice guy though and our interests just never fully aligned.

Andrei

AJ -  My last OG Abatimiento <3. This vote was difficult too. However Andrei, you overlapped in a lot of groups and I had a strong feeling I wasn’t in your long term game. Despite that, I loved getting to meet you in this game Andrei. You are such a sweet and kind person and I hope that we can continue to talk after the game.

Brandan -  You know I never really understood why you tried to turn on me. I thought I was being honest with you and straightforward. Either you saw me as a threat or I just didn’t say something, I don’t know. But I wanted you to stay longer, you were really cool to be around. Upupupupupupu~~~~

Eva -  Ugh you going home started my spiral of being depressed with this game! You were probably my bestie in this game. We're closer to each other in age than we are to some of these others, we have a lot of the same interests, and I just enjoyed our talks. Definitely gutted when you left and I wish I'd been able to change it.

James -  You were a fun presence in the game after you returned from the lagoon. At the end of the day I just viewed you as a bigger threat than Brandon which led me to vote you out.

Renee

AJ -  Renee…. We got to meet right at the merge but we never really talked game for most of the merge. It was a weird feeling. However, you are a very sweet person and you are the QUEEN of Dustin’s seasons!

Brandan -  You are super sweet, and honestly I can’t say a bad thing about you. You were just like this bright little ray of sunshine, and even though everyone else literally said you didn’t talk to them, I didn’t see that at all. I’m sorry things ended the way they did, but you are an amazing person, remember that.

Eva -  Had my legacy advantage been transferrable you know 100% I would've given it to you. I wanted you to stay in so badly! I like avoid speaking whenever I can but even I was able to muster up the courage to try to change the way the vote was going. Absolutely devastated to lose you for sure.

James -  - Us coming together with Eva at final 8 was genuinely one of if not my favorite moment in the game and at the time I was being genuine about it. Then I remembered about the legacy advantage and your potential ties with Andrei and my path to the end which kind of changed my thoughts. I am probably the one you were referencing at tribal about ignoring you since I lowkey did ghost you that round and that was probably a mistake on my part along with the deception at final 7 so for that I am sorry.

Bodhi

AJ -  Last one! Bodhi I loved us bonding over how much we both despised Austin. If you two were secretly working together for real im not sure but I enjoyed the conversations. Overall, Bodhi you were a strong player in this game and a huge threat to win it all. I hope you are surviving on jury and I cant wait to talk to you soon.

Brandan -  Well I’ll put you out of your misery. I was the third. I absolutely adore you as a person, and you are one of the coolest guys here. However, you were also very strategic, and made a lot of votes happen. I’ve wanted you out for a while, and hey, it happened. I still feel bad for the way you/Austin broke apart but hey, partly my fault. I hope you two get back together!

Eva - I think this marks the third straight time I just didn't vote correctly at all. We had a lovely call before the vote that I enjoyed and I completely saw your POV but apparently the others didn't! I definitely would've gunned for you next because you played a great game, though.

James -  If someone asked me during some of the early merge rounds that we would be working together during the late-game then I would have thought they were crazy. They way you can think thought situations is actually very tactful and that pretty much cemented my view of you as a huge threat. It was cool though to talk to you more one on one past your tribal persona though.

[thesportssoundoff]

Ten Rando Thoughts After A Big Boxing Weekend

Joey

May 8th, 2017

1- I think we all knew that Chavez Jr/Canelo was going to be an easy (sort of ) win for Canelo Alvarez but I feel like we all had hopes it'd be a little bit of a lot of fun. The problem, at least as it pertains to fun, is that Chavez Jr didn't bring his end of the bargain. As much as it is to see cool to see Canelo whip off combinations and show off his blink and you'll miss it improved defense, JCC Jr simply didn't show up for the big one. Now part of that is obviously due to Canelo but everything from the alleged gameplan (and I refuse to believe Nacho Beristain, a HOF trainer if there was one, would've ACTUALLY thought this gameplan) to the execution to the adaptability of JCC Jr was flat out painful. JCC could have and should have done a lot of things differently BUT perhaps, in the end, it merely boils down to the idea that one guy was there to win backed by super athletic talent, great coaching and vastly underrated technical skill vs a guy who was hoping to win backed by a superstar father, Bob Arum's ATG promotional push, a very limited on paper skill set and noway near enough talent or technique to truly compete. Now having said that...

2- While it didn't bother me, I don't know if I would've appreciated Max Kellerman and company essentially laughing at me for purchasing this event had I paid the full price. I thought Lampley, Jones and Kellerman all did a great job on the whole but Max's continuous almost verbatim "JCC Jr is all marketing banter and promotional push" type shtick probably made people who paid a lot of money for this event feel pretty dumb. Not that JCC Jr didn't do more than his part in that department already, mind you!

3- I mentioned this to the people watching the event and in hindsight, I feel even more confident in it. Talking about JCC Jr in shape is like talking about BJ Penn going back to 155 or Rampage with abs or whatever. It doesn't matter. It will never matter if he's in shape if the guy is shot. Even if you dislike JCC JR, there was a time where he was if nothing else a bundle of energy and body work. He was not a bad fighter; more of a lucky one who seemed to always catch the breaks lucky fighters normally get. When that's gone, it doesn't matter what shape he's in because the jig is basically up. BJ Penn, Rampage, JCC Jr, there reaches a point where it's no longer about what shape you're in and it's more about the tools or lack thereof you possess.

4- Bob Arum has said in the past that boxing undercards don't matter and yeah, he's pretty much right. Having said that, if you give fans SOMETHING underneath, even if that something is just a brawl between two B level guys or in the case of Matthyse/Lemeuix, you give us a B level slugger in a fight where he can throw down and show off a little vs relatively evenly matched opposition and see what happens! All we want are quick and painless appetizers to get us to the main course.

5- Going  back to Bob Arum right quick, IF we actually get Canelo-GGG (and until it happens, I'm going to live in this prepare for disappointment in the event of a joyous surprise),this feels like the first time in a LONG time that Bob Arum will feel completely out of the loop as it pertains to the big picture of boxing. He's essentially left with three fighters who move serious stroke and two of them will arguably never be big PPV movers (Crawford and Lomachenko). The third one is a guy who has seen his stock basically erode in such a tragic fashion in Manny Pacquaio who is fighting some guy in Australia in front of what I'm assuming will be a less than captivated PPV audience. Golden Boy Promotions may be laughable at times when they do things and outright sad when Oscar De La Hoya's continuous struggles with sobriety became public knowledge but they have the biggest active draw in the biz (Canelo), the ability to on paper make a fight with anybody and seemingly good standing with HBO and Showtime as well. They also have an ESPN deal which is SOMETHING at least. Assuming their financial situation can clean itself up somewhat, they've got momentum. As much as we all laugh about the PBC, Al Haymon's obviously got a grip on this sport that's undeniable. European promoters have bigger and bigger hands in the mix, complete with at least one major show a year that does insane gate numbers. Yvon Michel, Lou Dibella and Kathy Duva all feature prominent roles in boxing and so does Arum----but man does it feel like he's sort of out of the loop here. Top Rank feels almost like it's become the forgotten brand of boxing after competing for so many years with the likes of Don King, GBP, Main Events and so on so forth.

Now a lot of this is simply bad luck. A lot of the Top Rank stable at the top half were guys who all fell off at the same time (Pacquaio, Cotto to an extent, Sergio Martinez, Kelly Pavilik, Juan Manuel Lopez, JCC Jr, Nonito Donaire and so on so forth) and even if they weren't PPV movers, they were attention getters. Arum has plenty of great fighters in his stable and he has connections and working relationships with just about everyone but its so weird to see big fights being made and Bob not being apart of the discussion. Over the years, Arum has almost seemed like a guy who did things with an angst for everyone from the media to his own customers and it's such a strange dichotomy to see him almost hanging on the outskirts. Maybe it's a rebuilding year or maybe Top Rank is missing what everyone else seems to be relatively hitting on. It's definitely a weird year so far for the Bobfather.

6- Using that line of logic, I WONDER if Bob would maybe make peace with his hated rival Dana White to try and work together to put together Manny Pacquaio/Conor MCGregor as an acceptable back up plan if Floyd/Conor falls through.

7- SPEAKING of that fight, if GGG vs Canelo legitimately pushes Floyd/Conor out of existence into 2017 and Conor returns to MMA to, ya know, defend his titles? I think we need to put Golovkin and Alvarez in the boxing and UFC Hall of Fame at the same time.

8- I don't know if I should be concerned about this (probably I'm betting) BUT if one of these ABC orgs complicates the fucking picture of this mega fight, I will be writing my congresspeople in protest of such a national catastrophe.

9- There has been scuttlebutt from some folks about the pomp regarding the announcement of Golovkin/Alvarez. Allow me to discuss some anecdotal evidence that may or may not shape a picture for y'all. Friend of mine owns a restaurant that was showing the fight. He told me the house was fuller than usual----but the clientele was not the same as a UFC event or even one of the big WWE events. "Boxing isn't dead but it's fanbase is a dialysis machine away from being dead" was his joke to me and it's something you hear ALL the time. Boxing draws an older audience like pro baseball does,, in fact when Thurman/Mitchell had their AWESOME fight that did an amazing number, the average age of the viewer was trending way close to 55 than ever before. It's an old audience-----and something like this, even if it may be a little too hokey or as I read a few people writing "WWE/UFC esque", it's still something different. Maybe it fails but there's NOTHING wrong with appealing to a younger crowd that's all into cool video packages and shock value. You can do it once or twice and it won't hurt the legitimacy of boxing if such a concept even exists. Just watch the fight if the wackiness offends you.

And let's furthermore be 100% honest here. Canelo as an A side and Golovkin as an A side have NEVER done seriously big business in comparison to Floyd or Manny or Oscar or so on so forth. Without Floyd or Cotto (a proven A lister with the benefit of a Mexico/PR buzz), it's believed Canelo has topped out at 450K (I trust Iole over Dan Rafael on the Khan number) with other shows like Angulo, Lara and Smith all dancing between 250K and 375K or so. A far cry from Floyd and Manny were either actively toppling or dancing around 1M PPV buys. Golovkin's PPV offerings have been really, really, really poor for a fighter who is all action, has the big fight mystique and is the darling of hardcore fans and casual TV viewers alike. We love to believe styles make fights and all that but sometimes you gotta try big for big fights. You have to put a little effort into this game because contrary to popular belief for most boxing scribes, putting Canelo and GGG on a poster and shouting "SO BUY IT!" is not going to work. This is the biggest fight boxing can make at this time-----so it needs to do really well and really well is not 600K or below. This should sell 1,000,000 PPVs. Let's fucking try to promote this thing like it can accomplish that.

10- One thing which came up recently was the idea that JCC Jr finessed the boxing audience for his entire career and I find that grossly unfair. Dude debuted with no amateur fight experience and Arum had him basically main eventing like 20 fights into his career vs fighters who were at the time way better than he was. JCC Jr is a victim of his name and in some ways his own laziness but you know what?  The attempt to make him a superstar did him no favors either.

[theworstbob]

the thing journal, 4.9.2017

scattered thoughts on the things i took in over the last seven days. this week: hannibal s3, bad cop/bad cop, the lobster, netflix teen mystery drama (yeah i’m not gonna type the name out, i ain’t finna deal with a fandom), joey bada$$, the big nowhere, win it all

1) Hannibal, season three: Boy, we sure did spend half the season stumbling aimlessly around Italy, didn't we? No no no, give me another abstract montage with fun camera tricks and eight layers of symbolism, Mr. Neftali, I was gonna say, it's been a few scenes since we've had a montage, when are you gonna deliver another one? FUCK IT! THERE AIN'T GONNA BE A SEASON FOUR! INDULGE ALL YOUR WORST IMPULSES! The show picked up once it got to the Red Dragon plot, and one would have to imagine that is due to the fact of, um, the plot existing at that point?, but I think this show took these characters about as far as they could go. This was a good place for it to end. I'm not sure how far they could have gone having everyone speak to Hannibal through a wall for 13 episodes (it was starting to get tired even after a few episodes here). I did enjoy the Red Dragon episodes, that was the Hannibal I loved in the first two seasons, and it built well toward the ultimate ending (or penultimate ending, yay post-credits sequence, do set up that fourth season, no no no definitely gonna happen). Not Hannibal at its best, but close enough and still good enough when it was On that it I'm still OK calling Hannibal one of my favorite series of all time.

2) Not Sorry, by Bad Cop/Bad Cop: I DERIVED VALUE FROM A DIVE INTO YOUTUBE COMMENTS I went into the comments under a Bombpops song just to see what they were like, and they weren't... as bad as I expected? Not good, but at least not explicitly hateful. But someone in the comments mentioned this band, and I was intrigued enough by the name to check 'em out. (I check out new-to-me bands if they're recommended by a trusted source or if they have a dope name.) And that YouTube comment was right, this album fucking rules. "Cheers" is another item in the long list of things I love named Cheers, the closer is superb, and just, there's so much punk/rock goodness, and I can't believe I heard about them via a fucking YouTube comment.

3) The Lobster, by Yorgos Lanthimos: yoooooooooooooooo My chief disagreement with this film is that it's sort of a waste of a fantastical premise. Maybe I'm just spoiled by BoJack Horseman, but I think the premise that single people are turned into animals was mostly wasted, didn't provide for any interesting background jokes, didn't create moral dilemmas when the woman asked the dude to catch rabbits, was barely even a concern through the second half of the film. It only sticks out because so much of the rest of the film was executed superbly. I loved where the film took the main part of the premise (you have to find a mate, you have to share one defining characteristic with that mate; on the outskirts of civilization are Loners). The dialogue is so stilted and unnatural and performed in a highly mannered way, and once you get to the Loners and there's this woman speaking freely and naturally, it really adds to The Leader's power (and that's such a fucking cool performance, too, on its own), and it makes it more pronounced that the dude and the woman never quite break from their practiced way of talking, never quite breaking from the society that instructs, "This is what love is. Loneliness is dangerous." It's also some of the bleakest comedy you'll ever see. It's an odd fit for John C. Reilly's big ol' heart, but he makes it work as he always does, and MY GOSH THE HEARTLESS WOMAN. I WANT A WHOLE MOVIE ABOUT WHAT THE HEARTLESS WOMAN GOT UP TO BEFORE COLIN FARRELL CAME ALONG.

4) Netflix Teen Mystery Drama, s1, cr. Brian Yorkey: So, one good thing, I loved how the show delineated Today from Yesterday, making Today cold and Yesterday warm. It's a simple thing they did, but it gave the show a distinct look and let them do some neat visual stuff with the flashback structure, like I'm not sure I stick with this show if it weren't such a cool thing to look at. Because fucking yeesh. This is a show about stupid people who keep secrets. Literally the entire show doesn't exist if any character told the truth to anyone else in this show at any point. Half of this show is one character saying to another, "I can't tell you that yet" or "I'm not at liberty to discuss that" or "You'll have to find out for yourself" or "This stays between us." I'm hesitant to say it's bad writing, these are TV professionals and I’m a yutz with a blog, but I found it highly disagreeable. And that sucks that the show was written like this, because there's something great about this idea of how kids hurt each other without realizing what they're doing because they’re idiots who don’t know how to be people. I thought it was fascinating that, as these horrible things were happening to the main girl, they kept cutting to the main dude being on the margins, observing the events but not doing anything helpful, and if the show had a tighter focus and could have followed that arrow more closely, it would have been so much better for it. I know this was based on a novel, and while I will likely not read the novel, I have to imagine the novel is better, because the novel doesn't have to fill 13 hours of television with All The Things ALL THE THINGS and pad itself out by having people lie to each other until it is time to make the revelation ("Why can't you tell me now?" "Because you have to wait." "For what?" "Episode nine." Like if you won't be real with each other at least be real with me), and it can be about just The One Thing. That sounds so much better than this show, which feels overstuffed and, I just, I have to ask, season one? Season one. Are you kidding me. How are you going to find 13 more hours in this universe, about these people. Like, I'm good. It's like Broadchurch, I will respect that there's other seasons, but I think y'all did what you came to do in the one. Honestly, between this and the American Psycho musical, I have no idea how Next to Normal is so good. (Compliment sandwich! The main girl was a really cool character, and it was so easy to imagine this being a show about Natalie from N2N in an alternate timeline. Also, I kept count, the exchange "Hey." "Hey." appears in this show four times.) Wow that was hella paragraph for something I wasn't keen on.

5) ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$, by JOEY BADA$$: Hey. White man, here, trying to offer critical assessment of an album called ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$. ...Maybe it's not my place. I mean, it's not really my place to offer criticism on, um, anything, but ESPECIALLY an album about what it's like to be black in America, and not just the Trump America (though he's not happy about that, either), but in an America that has always hated black people, Trump only making that subtext text. I kept thinking "break-up album with America," but that sounds reductive, as did "To Pimp a Butterfly with mainstream ambitions," and while I don't wanna reduce this, I DO still want to say those things. It's good stuff. That's all I can say, really. (Also, there’s a spate of pop artists trying to get by with all-caps names or song titles. This absolutely earns the ability to slam that Caps Lock key. You hear this shit, PARTYNEXTDOOR? This is all-caps music.)

6) The Big Nowhere, by James Ellroy: One good thing about The Thing Journal is that I have an excuse to read physical books on the bus AND read all the books my dad has been giving me for Christmas the past few years! I'll cop (ha!) to not being overly invested in the plot. Oh, boy, a story about a serial killer who's into some weird sex stuff, that's new to me, no tell me about the perverted twist that made the killer what he is, oh wow so fucked up. What I really loved this book was the realistic version of Los Angeles in the 1950s, what with the cops walking around spouting racial slurs as people do heaven and hide their homosexuality. We always get caught up in the notion that the '50s were a more innocent time, our nation is currently being run by people who want us to take us back in time, but like people were doing fuckin' heroin in the '50s. The '50s were shitty, too. I found spending time in this version of Los Angeles valuable. It's a gritty cop drama, sure, but it more than earns its grit. This has been Bob! Attempts To Review a 30-Year-Old Novel Set 60 Years in the Past!

7) Win It All, dir. Joe Swanberg: So one of my favorite lyrics of all time, I can't remember if I've brought this up here or elsewhere but I'm prolly gonna bring it up again, is from Frank Turner's "Recovery:" "Broken people can get better if they really want to/At least, that's what I have to tell myself if I am hoping to/Survive." While only having seen two of his works, this and Drinking Buddies, I feel comfortable saying Joe Swanberg has a deft handle on depicting the person from that lyric in film. My initial impression was that the film didn't do enough to prove the main character deserved redemption (minor spoiler, insofar as this film has a plot, but he does sort of spend the entire film lying to the woman he's falling in love with), but the more I've thought about it, the more I'm thinking, who am I to decide who deserves redemption? He's trying. At no point in his life has he not been trying. He is aware he has made bad choices, and he is keenly aware of his flaws. (His reaction to the contents of the bag is priceless. Jake Johnson is a treasure.) If he makes an honest effort, why shouldn't he get better? No one deserves to be broken, either.

[itkmoonknight]

ITK Newsletter, no. CX: ISLA RA SESSIONS - Featuring Guest John Harrison

Hello Dear Loonies!

Welcome back to the ITK newsletter which had gone missing for a while. As a matter of fact, the episode had been missing last week, and if it wasn’t for the generous effort made by both High Priests Rebecca and Connor, episode 118 would not have been dropped in time as well! Yes, there have been some turns in life which had made it hard for me to focus on the show and without getting too much into it, I just wanted to spend as much time with my family as I could. It was a tough couple of weeks, but I now feel ready to continue making the best damn possible Moon Knight podcast out there!

So, this coming weekend, I’ll be dropping an ISLA RA Session which I had recorded in early October. I’m only half way through editing it now, but it’s a handsome sized episode and it was again, a massive amount of fun - I hope you enjoy listening to it…!

PHASE OF THE MOON: WAXING CRESCENT (due to scheduling delay, this is slightly out of sync with what we're meant to do)

ISLA RA SESSIONS - JOHN 'DOC' HARRISON FROM TV PODCAST INDUSTRIES

I've always wanted to get the boys from TV Podcast Industries on the show as I'm huge fans of theirs, and after having Chris and Derek on the show, having the chance to speak to John about his desert island books - amongst other things - had been so special and thoroughly enjoyable.

Admittedly, I’ve not conducted an ISLA RA session with Chris, but it could be argued that his and my almost 3 hour episode we had when he guested on two chat about Spidey, was the genesis for the ISLA RA sessions. It was a peek behind the podcasting host facade and a chat about what Chris loved about Spidey and comics. It wasn’t long after that, that I decided to delve into more stories from Loonies, and voila - the ISLA RA Sessions were created!

So, there’s plenty to look forward to with John’s chat - as always, we conducted our chat in and around the Moon Knight corner of the universe…so this time around, we’re at Gena’s diner. Later on, we head out to some other locations - but I’ll leave that for you to discover when you hear the episode!

John's Top 4 Isla Ra (Desert Island) Comics: ???

As always, we aren't giving anything away! Below you'll find encrypted links to John's books. These will be in the show nots as well, but if you want to prepare for the show and discover what books John has chosen - and read them ahead of our discussion - then look no further than below - 

JOHN'S TOP 4 ISLA RA BOOKS:

John's Top Pick

John's 2nd Pick

John's 3rd Pick

John's 4th Pick

FANTASY COMIC LEAGUE - OCTOBER PROGRESS

Oh boy, it's been a bit quiet on the FCL front, but we finally got the cards in for the progress this month, and I must say Tommy has returned with a vengeance!

Looks like he'll no doubt take out this month as he has an unbeatable lead it seems...I'm still in the mix, and hopefully if I can just hang in the top 2 every month, then I'm in with a good chance to take out overall.

However, Tommy and Jason are making good ground and in particular kudos to Jason for his maiden season...he's one to watch! Dustin and Chad unfortunately have drafts (like myself....c'mon Wolvie!!!!) who haven't fired...but anything goes int he last week of October, so you never know!

Below are the progress cards for our #ITKMoonKnight division for you perusal!! I think the big player this month surely has been The Thing from Contagion...plenty more points to be racked up by ol' blue eyes!

Well done Tommy - you'll be the man to beat in the coming months!!

THE COLLECTIVE NEWS

Another plug to our fellow Collective members! I'll try and make this thing a regular thing, so you fair Loonies are in the loop with all these other great podcasts out there, which we highly recommend!

As some of you know, The Collective are a band of like minded podcasters who formed a few years ago now to act as a supportive network for one another not only in promoting each others' shows, but also as a creative hive, where we bounce ideas off one another as to how to improve our shows.

We've crossed over more than once now with other shows, and I know from listening to all of them, that they are highly entertaining and fun to listen to!

I've got a few recommendations which I'll list here, and each newsletter I hope to give a shout out to the recent episodes of these great shows.....I've actually got a couple of other recommendations from a podcast which isn't a part of The Collective (but I reckon they should be!)

All further information on all the shows can be found in teh link at the bottom of this page...

Anyway, here's just a few of what's happening in Collective-Town....

A shoutout to Paul from The Collected Edition with their recent release of a review of the Warren Ellis Moon Knight run! Check out Episode 49 - Moon Knight ...highly entertaining and informative!

Although not part of The Collective (maybe I'll ask if he wants to join), good friend Scott Weatherly from 20th Century Geek released two Moon Knight-centric episodes! I had the fortune of guesting on Part 2 as well... Check out Episode 89 - Spotlight on Moon Knight Part 1, and Episode 90 - Spotlight on Moon Knight Part 2 for all your Moon Knight needs!

Upcoming guest John Harrison & the other boys from TV Podcast Industries have been covering the recent release of the TV show 'Watchmen', which seems to be getting rave reviews...I gotta catch up myself, but after I do, I'll be sure to tune in to these fantastic hosts to get their take!....Check out discussions on Episode 1 and Episode 2, plus they also have a couple of other episodes based on feedback and a prelude to the TV show....Top quality stuff!

Our good mates over at Inner Demons - A Ghost Rider Podcast have released their 46th episode, reviewing a couple of recent releases and a couple of classics. Always fun, always great to hear these guys (incidentally, Brian, one of the hosts, features on a Terminator retrospective on 20th Century Geek Podcast as well....check it out if you can!)...Check out Episode 46 - 'Unoriginal Sin' for their latest and greatest!

Be sure to always check out the Capes & Lunatics Newsletter for all their shows. These guys are more prolific than a Catholic rabbit...so instead of showcasing all their shows here, it's better to get it at the source! I was also honoured to feature on The Quantum Zone for Part 6 of their review for Operation Galatic Storm too... it'll be up and dropping in a month or so I think...

Sons of the Dragon - An Immortal Iron Fist Podcast have also released an episode - Episode 101 is a review of Contagion issues #2 and #3... I bet these guys are happy that the Contagion event is Iron Fist-centric! Can't wait to chat about the final two issues with them on their coming episode too...but be sure to listen to their latest to get up to speed!

Finally, can't NOT shout out The Signal of Doom Podcast featuring good mate, David Finn. This episode, their latest, has the return of Connor McKenna (host of Sons of the Dragon - An Immortal Iron Fist Podcast and fellow host for Last Sons of Krypton - A Superman Podcast)....these guys are heaps of fun to chat with in their own right, so when they are together...BOMBS are set off!! Check out Episode 137 for their latest show...The Signal have also just released a Patreon Page, so I highly recommend checking it out and considering becoming a patron to gain exclusive episodes form The Swamp!

Oh, final, FINAL plug will be for Last Sons of Krypton - A Superman Podcast. Since I've been away, Connor (my valued co-host) has been keeping the show running and has been getting guests from The Collective and elsewhere to come on and chat Superman...I'd be remiss to not mention the latest offering...Episode 29 - Return of The Phantom King is a cool review on a Halloween-esque issue with Superman. Guesting is Tyler Patrick from The Krypton Report....Worth a geeze!

CONTACT US!

You can always chat or leave feedback to us - 

We absolutely LOVE to hear from you, and will always address and give you shout outs on the show, so please don't hesitate to drop us a line!

We've got various social media outlets and we use these to read Loony comments on the show - if you DON'T want your comments broadcast, please just add, "(DNB)" at the end of your comment, and we'll be sure not to broadcast it. We'll pick a few comments from here and discuss on the show!

Email: itkmoonknight@gmail.com

Podcast Page: http://intotheknight.libsyn.com

Facebook Page: Into the Knight - A Moon Knight Podcast

Facebook Group: Into the Knight - A Moon Knight Fan Base

Twitter: @ITKmoonknight

Discord ITK Server: ITK Server

GetVokl : Into the Knight Welcome Room

Well, that'll do me for this here return newsletter for y'all!! Thanks for sticking by us, and don't forget....it won't be long before the TV show hits, so buckle in, stake your claim and be sure you're the one who can say, "I've been a member waaaaaaaayyy before it bcame way more popular!" :P ....ok, I might be reaching for the stars there...but I just want to say, thanks for all the support!!

Catch you very soon (i.e after the pre-recorded episode which drops this coming weekend...ahh, y'know what I mean!)....I'll be more active on our social media platforms again...so looking forward to chatting with you!

May Khonshu Watch Over the Denizens of the (K)Night,

Rey

Proud Member of The Collective

  Remember! You can buy your official ITK merchandise at ...ITK Store Front @ TeePublic

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