#an alle krieger project

[beaztbazzboss]

Hi I miss y'all

[mrholzarkandco2]

Renard’s potential Pokemon team (just a hypothetical)

for @kr9vorebeazt

[mazes-and-the-madness]

Hello, I read your post about you making peace with Taylor never coming out but doesn’t that scare you that maybe what you think is not true at all? Like, Taylor is actually straight. Same goes for Camila/Camren. That possibility scares me, ai am not delusional, I just wish the truth gets revealed before I die or something

Lauren Jauregui. Sophie Turner. Dove Cameron. Lilly Singh. Taylor Tomlinson. Billie Eilish.

What does this seemingly disparate list of women have in common, you may ask? I knew that all of them were queer before they officially "came out." But before that, so many (straight) people said I was "crazy," "projecting," "wishful thinking," and Lauren's favorite word, "delusional." Yet in every single case listed above, I got the last laugh. Trust me, there's much more where that came from.

The truth is, gaydar is real. Queer women can just sense when a celebrity is one of us, even when we have to wait YEARS to be proven right. Take the US women's soccer team, for example. Tobin Heath and Christen Press only JUST explicitly confirmed their relationship, but queer USWNT fans had suspected since 2015-2016. Same with Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris before them. Although they're no longer together, fans could tell they were a couple since the early 2010s despite them not coming out until 2019. And if social media as we know it today had existed in the time of the Spice Girls, I'm sure we would have figured out that Mel B and Geri Halliwell were a thing.

Whenever my gaydar "fails," it's because a celeb I thought was straight turns out to be queer (think Lili Reinhart and Ashley Benson), never the other way around. Over the years, I've learned to trust my instincts, which is why I'm as confident as I can possibly be about Taylor and Camila. You or anyone else have the right to believe that they've been straight this whole time, but I personally cannot wait to add them to the list above one day.

[leveloneandup]

Christen Press on potential Angel City sale: ‘It allows the club to continue to professionalize’

Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, are close to purchasing a controlling stake of Angel City FC. There’s no public timeline for when the deal will be done. Still, the new ownership group — and the numbers around their investment, somewhere in the ballpark of $300 million — has reignited discussions about NWSL club valuations and the rapid growth of women’s soccer here in the United States.

Angel City forward Christen Press, who was also the team’s first signing, spoke to The Athletic on her way to training on Wednesday morning. Immediately, she noted she was following the potential sale through media reports herself. Her reaction — and that of her fellow players — was one of excitement.

Press said those numbers shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Not if you’ve been paying attention, anyway.

“When you start to see valuations as a player, and as someone who has a very vested interest in the business of women’s sports, there’s two things,” she continued. “First thing I think is, ‘Hell yeah.’ This is exactly how it should be, right? On our podcast, we just talked to Ali Krieger about how, as a novice broadcaster, she’s making more money than she did as a player. These types of sales and deals are working towards changing that.”

For her second point, Press said that Angel City has gotten a lot right through the first few years in the league. Whether that’s game day experience, business, or community, all of those things are already working.

“They also have a lot of things that they need to get right, and a sale like this is a lot of money to the club,” Press said. “It allows the club to continue to professionalize and push the envelope in terms of the expectations for women’s sports. I do think Angel City recognizes that they have a lot of room to grow on that end.”

Press called the team a “zero to one project,” but one that needs a different level of funding to go from one to two. That’s along the same lines as what one early investor told the Los Angeles Times in March when the news broke that Angel City was considering selling a controlling stake.

“What’s been built at Angel City in three short years is nothing short of incredible. And in high-growth companies, it is absolutely normal to step back and look at ‘what do we need to continue this growth?’” Sarah Harden, CEO of Hello Sunshine, said. “This board has determined that this is the right time to bring in a new major investor. That’s it. That is the story.”

Of course, Angel City hasn’t been the only NWSL team to explore a sale — though they have the more positive distinction of exploring a move willingly. Also in March, San Diego Wave FC made headlines for setting a new record, with the club’s principal owner Rob Burkle agreeing to sell to the Levine Leichtman family at a total valuation of $120 million. The valuations of NWSL teams are being watched on a global scale as well. For instance, Chelsea has started to explore the idea of selling a minority stake in their women’s team, using Angel City’s previous valuation of $180 million as their benchmark.

“All of the measures of women’s sports right now are growing, and I think the NWSL is at the forefront of a lot of that,” Pete Giorgio, who leads Deloitte’s global and U.S. sports practice, told The Athletic in March. “Those large valuations and these large transactions validate both the foresight, but also the investment that a lot of people made in the first place.”

As women’s soccer analyst Kim McCauley pointed out, Michele Kang received plenty of questions when she seemingly overpaid for the Washington Spirit in 2022. Kang had originally offered $21 million for the controlling stake in the team. She closed the deal at $35 million, which only two years ago seemed like an absurd number.

Seattle Reign FC finally wrapped its sale last month, with the Seattle Sounders and Carlyle Group taking over the club for $58 million (that club’s sale was the result of John Textor’s takeover of Lyon and a sole focus on the men’s team, with Olympique Lyonnais also sold to Kang). Before that, the sales of the Chicago Red Stars — a total bid of $60 million, with $35.5 million as the purchase price — and Portland Thorns FC at $63 million were also finalized, with both of those changes coming following the league’s abuse scandal.

“If you have an ownership group that needs to be out, it’s actually really hard to compartmentalize, and I think we’ve seen that in the Chicagos and the Portlands, how it’s affected the players,” Press said. For her, it’s different in Los Angeles, as she pointed to the regular presence of owners and investors at games. “For this, it’s only positive. We know our ownership group.”

The NWSL is going through an incredible transformation. Even with the positive impact of some of those changes and investments, it’s not hard to understand why some fans and supporters might get a little nervous about this much money coming in and how it might change the sport. Some of those changes are deeply necessary and some will absolutely affect the culture of women’s soccer in America.

Press has been part of what she called “a generation of change”, whether that’s on the USWNT with their fight for equal pay and a new collective bargaining agreement, or her NWSL career, which started in 2014 with the Red Stars. “I can’t even remember what that first field that I played on in Chicago was called, but I was driving out of the city for an hour and a half to get to some turf field.” The Red Stars’ home field was at Benedictine University; in 2014, the team had an average attendance of 2,949.

“I don’t think we want to hang on to those memories,” Press said. “There is absolutely a connection between those of us who have been fighting for improved standards in the league and our fans because the fans have had so much influence in that fight and our success. It really has bonded us with our community in a way that it feels like we’re all doing this together.”

Press isn’t worried about that bond being lost. She believes it’s trending in the right direction, especially as players have a lot less to worry about off the field and can step directly into stardom. Players that turn into superstars have to be supported though, by brands, by teams, through marketing and the media.

“That’s storytelling and that’s investment, so as it continues to grow, there is a huge opportunity for the relationship with the fans to transform. And because we continue to find ourselves in a fight for legitimate valuations and for fair pay and for equality, we’ll be able to maintain such a strong tie to the fans that help us achieve these things.”

There are more immediate goals for Angel City to accomplish, even with the potential sale to the Bay-Iger group in the works. On the pitch deck, acquired by Semafor, the first of the new ownership group’s guiding principles is “Improve team performance, player support and retention,” which also includes the tangible goal of building a new facility that could serve as the team’s HQ and training site.

While Angel City is currently in 11th place in the NWSL, they’re only three points off the playoff line cutoff. They’ll face Gotham FC in their final match before the league takes an extended break for the Olympics.

Press said the team can rely on the existing trust between the players and ownership group to allow the sale process to play out as it should and not have it overshadow the urgent need for three points on the field — at home — this weekend.

“The entire focus of the group is on the game,” she promised.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Smithsonian Magazine:

Long absent from Yosemite National Park, peregrine falcons are making a comeback with help from some unlikely allies: rock climbers.

Rock climbers and peregrine falcons could easily be at odds, since they both flock to the sheer granite cliffs of the 1,169-square-mile California park. The presence of climbers can disturb nesting falcons, and rock climbing is listed as a potential threat to the species. But instead, humans and birds have forged a unique partnership that has allowed peregrine falcons to flourish after decades of decline.

This week, the National Park Service and the Yosemite Conservancy provided an update on the peregrine falcon recovery within the park. In the spring of 2024, naturalists counted 17 breeding pairs—a nearly 113 percent increase from the eight pairs counted in 2009—as well as 15 nests and 25 chicks. Since 2009, 51 total nesting sites located within Yosemite have produced 385 baby birds.

“Peregrines are at the top of the food chain and the most susceptible to contamination,” says Frank Dean, president of Yosemite Conservancy, to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sam Whiting. “So to have them bounce back to this degree is a sign of the health of the entire Yosemite ecosystem.”

Peregrine falcons are the world’s fastest animal, reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour when they dive from great heights to catch their prey. These majestic birds live on every continent except Antarctica, seeking out rocky cliffs to build their nests and raise their young.

Once abundant around the world, their numbers began to dwindle after World War II because of the use of pesticides like dieldrin, aldrin and DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane). Dieldrin and aldrin are toxic and killed the birds outright, while DDT weakened chicks’ eggshells, lowering their odds of survival.

At the behest of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, climbers once again scaled El Capitan writes the Mercury News’ Lisa M. Krieger—but this time, they collected samples of eggshells from the nest and brought them back down for testing.

The eggs were delicate and thin, so researchers decided the best course of action was to incubate them in a laboratory, then return the hatchlings to the nest. Rock climbers helped with this, too, much to the chagrin of the protective peregrine falcon parents: As the climbers carefully removed eggs or replaced chicks, the falcons dive-bombed them—one bird even struck a climber’s backpack.

“Just when I thought I was going to die, they would flare their wings above my neck and glide off, just inches from me,” says Ken Yager, one of the climbers who helped with the efforts and the founder of the Yosemite Climbing Association, to the Mercury News.

Yager’s story illustrates how climbers were willing to “risk all” to help the birds, as Rob Roy Ramey II, a biologist and climber who helped with the project, told Outside’s Ula Chrobak in 2018.

[theinternetisaweboflies]

Jägermeister

Chapter Seventeen: Black Market

PPDC-43-CA-10963842491 ATTN: UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF INTERNAL OVERSIGHT SERVICES  HONG KONG SHATTERDOME BUNKER 47B (17-B-3) 01/23/25 1441  TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT ORCON Classified by: LER-OPNS-IDH Dated: 2025JAN23 Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals

R. MORI: Excuse me! 

DOG HOWLING 

R. MORI: I need to see the Marshal immediately! 

DOG HOWLING 

S.O. TEBUTT: He’s in a meeting with the Secretary General!

DOG HOWLING 

R. MORI: It will only take [unintelligible]!

DOG HOWLING 

S.O. LINDUM: You can’t just [unintelligible]!

DOOR OPENING

DOG HOWLING 

S.G. KRIEGER: What the [unintelligible] is going on?

DOG HOWLING 

S.O.: TEBUTT: Ranger Mori is here to see you, sir!

DOG HOWLING

S.G. KRIEGER: I’m in a meeting! 

DOG HOWLING

R. MORI: I’m so sorry to interrupt, Secretary General! It’s Max- He won’t stop crying! 

DOG HOWLING

M. HANSEN: Come here, you ugly old mutt. 

R. MORI: I think he’s missing his master.

M. HANSEN: Yeah, I know you miss him, Max. I do too. Thank you, Ranger Mori, I’ll take him from here. Dismissed. 

R. MORI: Yes, sir. 

DOOR CLOSING

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: Oh, that’s right. I don’t believe I’ve expressed my condolences yet. 

HANSEN: Thank you, Secretary Krieger. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Please, call me Dustin! There’s no need to be so formal when it’s just the two of us!

M. HANSEN: Oh, well, thank you, uh, Dustin. You can call me Herc. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Of course, Herc!

M. HANSEN: I’m sorry about Max, and once more, I’m really sorry for being so late. There was a fire in the men’s loo off the Jaeger Bay. I don’t know why they called me. I’m not that kind of bloody Marshal. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Don’t worry about it! I know what it’s like to get bothered with a problem well below your paygrade! 

PAUSE

M. HANSEN: Right. Well, enough small talk. Why don’t we get down to brass tacks? 

S.G. KRIEGER: You're a straightforward guy. I like that. I’m the same way. 

M. HANSEN: Glad to hear it, Dustin.

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: Since the end of the war, there have been talks to dissolve the PPDC. I know, that’s gratitude for you, but people want to put the war behind them. If we want to save the PPDC, we need to restructure it as a fully civilian organization, bringing everything under my umbrella: Security, Medical, transport- even the eggheads in the science division. 

M. HANSEN: To do what exactly?

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: Robots for Humanity. 

M. HANSEN: I beg your pardon?

S.G. KRIEGER: Just picture it. Jaegers rebuilding the regions around the Pacific Rim that were most damaged by the kaiju. We would rebrand as the Pan Pacific Development Corp. Wouldn’t even need to print new mugs. 

M. HANSEN: You want to use Jaegers to.. build houses? I think they’re a bit better at knocking ‘em down, mate. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Oh, it would mostly be for publicity, of course. We don’t want robots taking away people’s jobs! Just kidding, but we can get labor for cheap with the Wall of Life project now defunct. The Jaegers would ostensibly be to bring in donors, but we would keep development going, just in case the kaiju came back. 

M. HANSEN: The Breach is closed. 

S.G. KRIEGER: For now. Even if it’s closed for good, well, there have always been wars of one kind or another. How long do you really think we can all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, Herc? Soon enough, peacetime will come to an end. There will be war. Jaegers will be used to fight it. By the time that happens, the UN will have ceded control of the PPDC to the United States of America.

M. HANSEN: Wh- What? Why would they do that?

S.G. KRIEGER: We have a plan in place, but I’ll be honest: If we could bring the Jaegers directly into the U.S. Armed Forces, it would turn our ten-year plan into a five-year one. The only reason we were going to jettison the military division was because we knew Pentecost would never go for it, but I think you might be different, Herc. You know how the world works. You could still have a place at the new PPDC. Now, I know you’re technically Australian, but you don’t have to be.  

PAUSE

M. HANSEN: That’s very generous of you. I feel obliged to accept. 

S.G. KRIEGER: I knew it. I’ve never gone wrong trusting my gut. 

M. HANSEN: Do you really think people will let the U.S. take control of the PPDC like that?

S.G. KRIEGER: Of course they will! We stopped the war. Everybody knows Mori ejected before the payload was delivered. That was our guy! An American! Not to mention your Dr. Geizer. I will admit, I didn’t anticipate his level of celebrity, but well, if anything… people love a martyr even more. 

M. HANSEN: What are you saying?

S.G. KRIEGER: Don't act naive, Herc. I thought you were supposed to be the war-hardened vet. The doctor is an important asset, but we aren’t unrealistic about his chances for long-term survival. We’ll tell everyone it was a tragic consequence of his drift with the kaiju. It'll barely be lying. 

PAUSE

M. HANSEN: Let me make sure I understand. Dr. Geiszler is part of this- our plan?

S.G. KRIEGER: It’s called Operation Keepsake. Well, his involvement was also unanticipated, but now we’re hoping to use him to understand the hive mind. That was how he put it in his official report, right? A hive mind. Fascinating stuff, I’m sure. Of course, I didn’t understand most of it myself, but I got the gist. If two humans can pilot a 250-foot Jaeger, just think about what we could accomplish by applying hive mind technology.

PAUSE

M. HANSEN: So that’s why you asked Dr. Geiszler to meet you off-site.

S.G. KRIEGER: Well, he could hardly disappear from the hotel either! We needed to take custody of him, officially, but we needed an excuse to do it, since he was about to be cleared by medical. Fortunately, the Buenakai were already providing us with a Kaiju brain. All we had to do was pay them a little extra. 

M. HANSEN: Then why did you raid the bunker?

S.G. KRIEGER: Oh, well, that’s not important. The import-

M. HANSEN: Oh. I get it. They cut you out. You were used to the American Buenakai, who come from Kentucky and have never seen a Kaiju outside the 1:100th scale statues in their megachurches, but this wasn’t them. This was the Hau Wong Buenakai, who saw the double event and didn’t blink. Basically, they took the ransom and tried to kill the hostage anyway. Did I get that right?

S.G. KRIEGER: Well, of course the Chinazis sold us out, but we had everything under control.

M. HANSEN: So now you’re going to make Dr. Geiszler drift with the kaiju brain again. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Exactly!

M. HANSEN: Which is exactly how the damn doomsday cult was planning to reopen the Breach.

S.G. KRIEGER: That’s completely different. Besides, with the hive mind on our side, we could take the fight to them!

M. HANSEN: Well, I can see why you’re so keen on the idea of the hive mind.

S.G. KRIEGER: I knew you would be-

M. HANSEN: Considering you don’t seem to have one of your own. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Excuse me?

M. HANSEN: Well, you did just monologue your evil plan. The cult didn't even do that.

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: You- You’re making a big mistake, Marshal. You have no idea what you’re going up against. It'll be your word against mine, and Representative Taylor is an old col-

M. HANSEN: Actually, it’ll be your word against the both of ours. 

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: What- What are you talking about?

M. HANSEN: Secretary Taylor isn’t going to want anything to do with you if this recording goes public.

S.G. KRIEGER: You bugged the damn dog?

M. HANSEN: He has a name, you know. 

S.G. KRIEGER: Officer Tebutt! Get-

M. HANSEN: Before you try anything especially stupid, you should know that I took some precautions. I had Dr. Gottleib handle the cybersecurity, so this recording is already backed up to the cloud. If he doesn't enter a code once a day, the news goes straight to the UN and TMZ. You should also know that he is a very punctual man. 

S.G. KRIEGER: This is blackmail! 

M. HANSEN: I’m so glad you understand.

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: What do you want?

M. HANSEN: Dr. Gottleib will keep entering that code on three conditions. One: You leave the Hong Kong Shatterdome now. Two: You resign from the PPDC tomorrow morning. Three: You never come near me or mine again.

S.G. KRIEGER: You- You’re just a damn grunt. I should have known you wouldn’t understand politics. You forget that I still have a piece in the game.

M. HANSEN: This isn’t a damn game, mate.  

S.G. KRIEGER: I still have your man. 

M. HANSEN: No, you don’t. 

PAUSE

S.G. KRIEGER: Dr. Geizer-

M. HANSEN: Dr. Geiszler is safe and sound. You can check in with the officers you assigned to him, if they pick up for you. The Security Office is still under my command, and more importantly, they’re my goddamn comrades- brothers, sisters, and siblings-in-arms, every last one of them. We were here at the end of the world, while you were cooling your heels Stateside. I may not understand politics, Dustin, but I don’t think you understand war.

...

@lastdaysofwar

[spacedewey]

2024: The Year In Music by Some Guy

Unlike most outlets, I wait til the year is actually over to discuss what happened, because despite the conventional wisdom that no one drops anything of note in December, you never know when SZA is going to wait until the week before Christmas to release an album. Again. And it's officially the same album the 2nd time, but with an entire new 15-track album bolted onto the front for cynical streaming financials-based reasons. But you know. You can't count out December anymore.

As always, I make a list of my favorite albums, rather than a "best of" list. Best of lists are stupid. There are as many "best of" lists are there are people with ears, and they're all correct. Better to frame it as things I enjoyed the most, I think. More rambling and an actual list below the cut.

2024 was a weird music year for me. It's a year mostly characterized by artists I love releasing records I didn't really connect with. In the past, you'd've heard me raving about the likes of Cassandra Jenkins, Allegra Krieger, Iress, Erik the Architect, Charlotte Day Wilson, Lucy Rose, Touché Amore, Delta Sleep, Middle Kids, Brother Ali, Latto, St. Vincent and so on, but this year... I don't know that any of them made a bad album, but none of them made something I had to listen to over and over.

A lot of the albums that didn't do much for me were huge critical successes, too. Critics raved that Nilufer Yanya had found her groove on 3rd album My Method Actor, which apparently means they've been clamoring for her to make a record where all the songs kind of sound the same, but not me. Nick Cave finally crawled out from under the totally understandable grief from all the loss in his life the last 10 years and produced the worst album of his career, an album so bad I struck it from my memory and forgot to even mention it here on my first draft, released to thunderous applause. English Teacher's debut EP was one of my favorites in 2022, but while I found this year's This Must Be Texas just fine, they've been showered with a truly insane amount of praise and awards for such a new band. Happy for them, tho! I think they're great.

Even Kendrick Lamar, by the time GNX managed to finally come out and make the whole Drake beef feel like an extended marketing campaign, presented his least ambitious project since 2005, fully half of which sounded like inferior versions of "Not Like Us." Is it bad? No. Is it great? Definitely also no, but you wouldn't know that from its rapturous reception. I really hate finding myself agreeing with Pitchfork, but they were basically the only people saying, "Hey, this is actually not so great," and it's true. It's not bad. It's got a couple pretty great songs on it. But it's pretty dumb, and from an artist who's always seemed to put so much thought and care into his work, even when he was young and unknown and had a much smaller budget, that feels tossed off to me. Yelling "mustard" is funny, but GNX had me kind of missing the wildly problematic and overwrought Mr. Morale, even. That album was mostly pretty bad and proudly platformed a serial abuser as its co-star,* but it was very ambitious. GNX is both only ok and not very ambitious, and I think that may be worse. But, I guess, as Andre 3000, he of last year's most overrated, emperor's-new-clothes-ass album, once said, "kinda sour cuz my favorite group ain't comin wit it, but I'm witcha cuz you probably goin thru it, anyway." There's always next time.

*Which sure didn't help Kendrick in the beef once things got personal, in my view, but no one actually cared as long as they saw Drake getting slammed... You can say "Drake is a pedophile" all you want, and he probably is, but Kodak Black is definitely a rapist and a violent lunatic who can't go 2 weeks without getting arrested, and Kendrick apparently loves that guy, so... Some of us have been waiting to hear Kendrick and Drake go at it since 2013, and we got 1 shot from each artist before things devolved into mudslinging based on highly personal accusations both camps would later claim were based on fake information they fed the other side, and it really made things less fun very fast to me. The best rapper vs. the biggest rapper should have been the World Series of beef, and instead it turned into a bunch of bullshit, in the end. Kendrick won, and he was always going to win. I wanted to enjoy the exhibition. End tangent.

On the other hand, Pearl Jam and Opeth released late career shockers better than anything they'd done in ages. Pearl Jam's Dark Matter bests anything they've made in 24 years, at least, and Opeth's The Last Will And Testament is their first real success since 2008, and in both cases, I never expected it, and it was very cool. And to my earlier point, is The Last Will And Testament the best album of 2024? Almost certainly not. Was I so happy to hear a beloved group I'd basically counted out make something great that I was listening to it every day, sometimes more than once? I sure was! And that's how the ranking works. The Cure and Dark Tranquillity released solid additions to their storied catalogs, Heems made a welcome return to rap with not one, but two good records, Moses Sumney was singing in the rain in a video, he brought R&B back!, it certainly wasn't all bad for people I already liked.

As is increasingly common, new and new-to-me artists ranked very high on my list. The Last Dinner Party, Rosie Tucker, Nadine Shah, Charm of Finches, Flyana Boss, RiTchie, Muchi, GloRilla, Upon Stone and Baby Rose all put out really remarkable records, to me, at least. I only checked out Katy Kirby because she was touring with Allegra Krieger, and her Blue Raspberry was my favorite of 2024 for most of the year.

Hip hop was once again the most represented genre in my collection, as it tends to be. Cakes da Killa continued the movement in hip hop to reclaim house music as black music with huge success on one of the most fun albums of the year. JPEGMafia made literally all the most insane beats of 2024, all in one album. As a rapper he's pretty good, but as a beat maker, he is in a class by himself, weird, abrasive, shocking and hilarious. A December entry by the always welcome Smino further proves you shouldn't release your "best of" list in November. I was surprised to enjoy Future & Metro Boomin's ludicrously bloated 2nd hatin'-ass album in 3 months more than the first. When Tyler, The Creator released CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST 3 years ago, I saw a reaction (I think at AV Club?) that went something like "This album is as great as Tyler fans tried to tell you all his previous albums were." Harsh, but fair. Tyler has always been a lot of promise and charisma waiting for a good album, and it finally happened. This year's CHROMAKOPIA is not as good, but it's still very good. A lot was going on.

Big year for Kendrick's former labelmates at TDE. Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q turned around downswings on Soulburger and Blue Lips, respectively. Doechii's first full-length was worth the wait. SZA's Lana wasn't as good as SOS, but it was still really good. SiR continues to not really do anything for me, but no record label can have a perfect roster.

(I hit the image limit)

What a pleasure for Heems to return to rapping. After the collapse of Das Racist, he seemed to struggle some, though most of his solo projects were excellent, and then he quit. But to hear him back, making great music and sounding like he was having fun doing it twice in one year was really cool.

But the big winner in hip hop for me was Denzel Curry. His King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2 was as fun as rap got this year. Adding 5 songs and re-releasing it as KING OF THE MISCHIEVOUS SOUTH was weird, but I liked the songs. But also, he was everywhere, stealing songs on records by JPEG Mafia, Your Old Droog, Powers Pleasant, Kid Cudi, Jasiah, Maxo Kream and PlayThatBoiZay. Stellar year for Curry fans.

I don't know what constitutes "rock" music anymore, but for music with guitars that isn't metal or country or folk, there was a lot to like this year. Honeyglaze! Their 2nd full-length, Real Deal, was a pretty dramatic departure from their excellent 2022 debut, but in a good way, taking them down new musical paths and upping the energy. Similarly, Lightning Bug followed 2021's dreamy A Color of the Sky with a much more raucous album on No Paradise, and yet it worked perfectly. Rosie Tucker's UTOPIA NOW! had some of the best commentary on living in this era I've ever heard, bar after bar that made me go "oh shit." But nothing was topping Katy Kirby's Blue Raspberry for me. Delicate, intricate, with themes and lyrics that repeat through the songs, a really rewarding album experience.

Almost every year, it seems like the mainstream music press get together in some room somewhere and decide which metal release to heap praise on while ignoring literally everything else in the genre. Sometimes they at least pick a good one, as when the whole world shouted the praises of Deafheaven's Sunbather in 2013. This year's selection, Blood Incantation's Absolute Elsewhere, is a pretty unremarkable blend of prog noodling and riffs that sound like other bands, and I don't get it. Also, this year, Rolling Stone missed the meeting, choosing Kerry King's widely panned, I Can't Believe It's Not Slayer-sounding "solo debut" as the only metal album on their best of list, seeming even more out of touch than usual.

Sort of a less interesting year in metal, to me, despite a few big hits. Charcoal Grace is Caligula's Horse's best album, and a pretty stunning portrait of a family torn apart by someone getting lost to antivaxxer-type conspiracies, which I don't think a lot of people would expect from a metal album. Similarly, Dark Tranquillity's Endtime Signals is a record essentially about most governments failing their people in 2020, and what better topic than that is there to write angry music about? "Unforgivable betrayal in the hour of our need, no quarter for this treachery, no mercy for the lost." Fuckin' tell em, boys. Upon Stone's pitch perfect impression of the 90s melodic death metal style Dark Tranquillity pioneered continues a revival of that style I am loving. Beyond that, a lot of good albums, but not really great ones. It's the theme of the year.

What is it with BADBADNOTGOOD where their records have gotten less and less interesting, but their joint projects with others have stayed high quality? Their EP with Baby Rose this year was phenomenal, but their own Mid Spiral project was pretty forgettable. The only way you can get what you want out of them is if another artist asks for you.

Nadine Shah's Filthy Underneath initially hit for me as a fun, unpredictable album driven by a wry wit, so finding out it's all about her cracking up and going to a mental institution was kind of shocking. The album cover depicts the story of the song "Greatest Dancer," which sounds like a lot of fun and is about sitting alone in your dark home, crying your eyes out over a TV dance competition because your emotions are out of control. I don't think there's been such a jarring content-to-sound relationship since Elvis Costello's prime material.

I read in some article that the Last Dinner Party was getting hype as "the next Wet Leg" before they dropped Prelude to Ecstasy, and that sounds utterly insane to me, given how different the groups are. Their sort of baroque, ornate, dramatic sound couldn't be much more different from Wet Leg's (excellent) sneering punk sarcasm, but it also really charmed me, and the songs are top notch.

I think Better Lovers' debut EP was better than this year's Highly Irresponsible, honestly, but it's still a supergroup that truly lives up to the name, and they still put out a fun hardcore record. Will Putney continues to bring new flavors to the music of most of the former members of Every Time I Die, and it's easily Greg Puciato's most enjoyable post-Dillinger Escape Plan project. I need to see them live. I don't know if my ancient body would survive the mosh pit, but I'd be in there.

Is A LA SALSA a pretty safe album after the more experimental Mordecai for Khruangbin? I mean, yeah. But if you're into the thing they do, they really do it. I accidentally saw them twice this year, when they added a a make-up show near me after I'd seen them elsewhere, and it was great both times.

Another supergroup that really did it for me was Les Amazons De Afrique, an assemblage of great female singers from around the continent doing music in a variety of sounds. That was one of the most fun albums of the year to me.

That seems like a reasonable segue to mentioning Meklit's long-awaited return with Ethio Blue. It doesn't have the upbeat, celebratory feel of her incredible 2017 When The People Move, The Music Moves Too, but it retains the joy and the soul of that album, and it's just great to hear her again after so long.

So many artists over the years have seemed to follow a delirious, fun, upbeat first album with a downer 2nd one, and so it was with Remi Wolf's Big Ideas. I like it, but the wildness of Juno is replaced with an audible hurt and disaffectedness that just doesn't scratch the same itch.

Asake's 3rd album in 3 years was a real surprise. His previous album was basically just more of the same after his first, but on Lungu Boy, he's trying a bunch of new sounds and styles outside of the amapiano world he's been taking over, and they all work. A crew of international guest stars add still more unique flavors, and you get an album as unpredictable as it is enjoyable.

Charm of Finches was new to me this year, but the sisters' perfect harmonies over intimate, spare music really works. It kept bringing me back as the year rolled on.

What else? Swamp Dogg's Blackgrass was his 4th album in a 4th different genre in 8 years, and that's amazing at 81. I wish Cowboy Carter had been about half as long, it would've been a lot better without all that "for streaming" filler. Becky G's 3-album transition from pop music to traditional Mexican music across the last 3 years, ending with this year's ENCUENTROS, was really something to hear, that album is great. No idea what she'll do next. Seems like every year there's a band trying on the shoegaze thing that works for me, and this year it was From Indian Lakes. Foreign Hands' note-perfect copy of the early 2000s hardcore sound might not be groundbreaking, but I'm a sucker for that shit and I love it. Flyana Boss have a vibe like a cross between Beastie Boys and early Cool Kids, just super fun. I just really enjoyed hearing Latto rhyme "Georgia peach" and "gorgeous beach" this year. Every outlet that talked about Cassandra Jenkins' album mentioned the Clams Casino lyric, and they were right to do so. I wish I'd been more excited about Beth Gibbons' solo debut. I liked it, but I only liked it. I can't believe I listened to two different albums released in 2024 that contained covers of "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaac, but it happened. I could keep rambling indefinitely, probably. I think I'll stop there. Here's the actual list.

Opeth, The Last Will And Testament Katy Kirby, Blue Raspberry The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy Denzel Curry, King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2 Upon Stone, Dead Mother Moon Baby Rose & BADBADNOTGOOD, Slow Burn EP Nadine Shah, Filthy Underneath JPEG MAFIA, I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU Honeyglaze, Real Deal Charm of Finches, Marlinchen In The Snow Lightning Bug, No Paradise Asake, Lungu Boy Ab-Soul, Soul Burger Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal Better Lovers, Highly Irresponsible Pearl Jam, Dark Matter Schoolboy Q, BLUE LIPS Cakes da Killa, Black Sheep Caligula's Horse, Charcoal Grace Rosie Tucker, Utopia Now Dark Tranquility, Endtime Signals Foreign Hands, What's Left Unsaid Smino, Maybe In Nirvana Moses Sumney, Sophcore From Indian Lakes, Head Void Tyler, The Creator, Khromakopia Heems & Lapgan, LAFANDAR Kendrick Lamar, GNX Remi Wolf, Big Ideas Flyana Boss, This Ain't The Album Les Amazones d'Afrique, Musow Dance Meklit, Ethio Blue EP Swamp Dogg, Blackgrass Khruangbin, A LA SALSA English Teacher, This Could Be Texas Beyonce, Cowboy Carter LOMA, How Will I Live Without A Body? Becky G, ENCUENTROS Nilufer Yanya, My Method Actor Lucy Rose, This Ain't The Way You Go Out Rema, HEIS Kali Uchis, ORQUIDEAS Muchi, YOU DON'T LOOK SO GOOD Wheel, Charismatic Leaders Oak, Ash & Thorn, Our Grief Is Thus

[newmusicradionetwork]

Olivia Dolphin’s Witch Pop Album Transforms for the ‘Better’

Artist Olivia Dolphin recently released her highly anticipated sophomore album, Better. This project is a deeply personal – yet relatable – exploration of self-growth, transformation, and reclamation, combining elements of alt-rock, witch pop, and orchestral rock to create a sound that is as haunting as it is empowering. Following the success of her debut album Lion-Hearted Blood and recent singles like “Quiet Girls,” Dolphin continues to solidify her place as a rising force in the Rhode Island music scene and beyond. Her self-produced multi-genre shows feature a thoughtful blend of artists across all styles and backgrounds. This momentum has created buzz not only for Dolphin, but also the flourishing local arts community that fuels her. B-Side Guys praised her recent releases, saying Dolphin “crafts a sound that’s both atmospheric and fiercely resonant, marking a significant evolution in her artistic journey…she’s poised for recognition far beyond Rhode Island’s borders.” Better represents a culmination of Dolphin’s experiences, relationships, and reflections over the past several years, captured through a meticulously crafted collection of tracks. The project was recorded at Big Nice Studio in Dolphin’s hometown, with Emma Newton as co-producer and recording engineer. Newton’s ability to capture the emotional depth of Dolphin’s songwriting is evident throughout the album, particularly on orchestral tracks like “Once Again” and “Wanted.” The album also features contributions from musicians Johnny McMahon (bass guitar), Jeff Kidd (harmonica), Emily Dix Thomas (cello), Luke Leheny (guitar), Sam Jaksa (drums), and Charlie Larson (clarinet, saxophone). The project was mastered by Bradford Krieger, with photography by Maurisa Mackey and vinyl graphic design by Brittany Lizotte. Drawing inspiration from artists like Hozier, Florence and the Machine, and Billie Eilish, the world of Better is one of contrasts and dualities. It’s the red poppies growing amidst dark woods, the flicker of candlelight in a storm, the quiet of an empty room after a long day. The album’s lyrical content reflects Dolphin’s journey through her twenties, exploring the complexities of relationships, mental health, and self-acceptance. More about Olivia Dolphin: Hailing from Providence, Rhode Island, Olivia Dolphin bewitches audiences with her singer-songwriter prowess, skillfully infusing her discography with themes of community, embracing self-love, and practicing perseverance. With tracks steeped in poetic lyricism, Dolphin’s music possesses the remarkable ability to transform universal experiences into deeply personal and relatable moments. Effortlessly weaving together elements of indie pop and alternative rock, Dolphin crafts a sound that is as distinctive as it is irresistible, leaving listeners spellbound and hungry for more. With two feline friends by her side and her piano at the helm, she aspires to cultivate an inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels embraced in their uniqueness. Her debut album, Lion-Hearted Blood, earned her the title of “Stellar Songwriter” from Motif Magazine, affirming her position as a prominent figure in the Rhode Island music scene. With her sophomore album, Better, out September 20, Dolphin eagerly anticipates a year filled with forging connections with both new and longtime fans. Connect with Olivia Dolphin:  Instagram | TikTok | Youtube | Website | Spotify Read the full article

[emilybluntsource]

Emily Blunt Circling Steven Spielberg’s Next Summer Tentpole At Amblin & Universal – The Dish

After earning an Oscar nomination for her work in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt might have found her next job, with a director who inspired not only Nolan but a generation of filmmakers. While a deal has not closed, sources tell Deadline that Blunt is in early talks to star in Steven Spielberg‘s next film at Universal and Amblin, marking the first time the A-lister has worked with the iconic director.

The project is described as a two-hander, so Blunt would be playing one of the leads in the project. Based on a story by Spielberg, the film has his longtime collaborator David Koepp penning the script, with Kristie Macosko Krieger producing. Plot details have been kept under lock and key.

Universal has dated the film for May 15, 2026, landing it in the summer tentpole zone Spielberg practically created with such films as Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It would mark his fist major summer release in quiet some time.

While Blunt never has starred in a film directed by Spielberg, he has been a fan going all the way back to when she starred in the Amblin-produced 2016 adaptation of The Girl on the Train. Since then, the three-time Oscar winner has been a fan, especially of her most recent film for Universal, The Fall Guy, in which she starred opposite Ryan Gosling.

For Blunt, this would add to the list of great directors she worked with over the years including Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Rob Marshall, Doug Liman and Rian Johnson.

The Quiet Place star continues to deliver the goods after she earned her first Oscar nomination last year for Nolan’s blockbuster Oppenheimer. She is shooting A24’s The Smashing Machine opposite Dwayne Johnson with Benny Safdie directing.

via dateline

[elegiaclilies]

On this evening in 1968 they were gathered together in uneasy symbiosis to make their third album, and the studio was too cold and the lights were too bright and there were masses of wires and banks of the ominous blinking electronic circuitry with which musicians live so easily. There were three of the four Doors. There was a bass player borrowed from a band called Clear Light. There was the producer and the engineer and the road manager and a couple of girls and a Siberian husky named Nikki with one gray eye and one gold. There were paper bags half filled with hard-boiled eggs and chicken livers and cheeseburgers and empty bottles of apple juice and California rosé. There was everything and everybody The Doors needed to cut the rest of this third album except one thing, the fourth Door, the lead singer, Jim Morrison, a 24-year-old graduate of U.C.L.A. who wore black vinyl pants and no underwear and tended to suggest some range of the possible just beyond the suicide pact. It was Morrison who had described The Doors as "erotic politicians." It was Morrison who had defined the group's interests as "anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, about activity that appears to have no meaning." It was Morrison who got arrested in Miami in December of 1967 for giving an indecent performance. It was Morrison who wrote most of The Doors' lyrics, the peculiar character of which was to reflect either an ambiguous paranoia or a quite unambiguous insistence upon the love-death as the ultimate high. And it was Morrison who was missing. It was Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger and John Densmore who made The Doors sound the way they sounded, and maybe it was Manzarek and Krieger and Densmore who made seventeen out of twenty interviewees on American Bandstand prefer The Doors over all other bands, but it was Morrison who got up there in his black vinyl pants with no underwear and projected the idea, and it was Morrison they were waiting for now.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Excerpt from The White Album: “The White Album,” by Joan Didion.

[beaztbazzboss]

All my priest ocs are have their own past, some are changed a lot, some are just staying the same but personality

[suchananewsblog]

Brittany Furlan Walks Back Pamela Anderson TikTok Joke After Backlash: "I Don't Sweat the Comments"

Image Source: Getty / Bryan Bedder / MTV VMAs 2021, Kurt Krieger / Corbis Brittany Furlan is letting everyone know she’s OK in the wake of Pamela Anderson’s documentary and memoir. Furlan, who is married to Anderson’s ex-husband Tommy Lee, addressed her feelings about the two projects in a Feb. 3 TikTok, assuaging any worries about her well-being. “Don’t worry about the people that are saying all…

[major2501]

Living in the Fray: Chapter Ten

'Yes Chase fans we can confirm that the con Andrea Toles is in fact armed. Our cameras did detect her earlier on stealing this fine katana from a New Edo resident, which she is now putting to good use. And as you all know, Cassandra Krieger is a prolific sword fighter so if Toles can keep up with her, we may have a brilliant show on our hands! A Con facing off against a hunter like this is a rare occurrence so you better not miss this!'

'Come on guys! The boss is on again!'

Justin shouted to the rest of the crew who were milling about the recreation room of the Osiris. Michael come running back in with his service trolley now full of drinks and a small ice bucket. Devin and Tony who were playing pool put down their cues, ready to come back to their game later while the twins who had gone playing video games in their quarters returned after they received a Chase notification on the holowatches about Krieger finding another con. Zach however had left hours before to go get ready for his stupid date.

'If you're just joining us now, Captain Cassandra Krieger is now currently facing off against con Andrea Toles in a swordfight. Toles did however manage to catch Krieger first in a serious show of aggression by repeatedly hitting her in the face with what appeared to be a garbage can lid. Toles retreated for a moment when Krieger managed to throw her off but she returned with a stolen katana. To whoever has had their katana stole, we aim to return it to you as soon as possible.'

The frighteningly cheerful voice of Chase host Paul Adams rang through the rec room as he provided commentary on what was going on. The live footage of Krieger standing face to face with Toles filled the whole screen with another feed popping up soon after in the corner with a feed from another drone camera that had flown in to capture the ensuing fight from another angle.

The crew of the Osiris made themselves comfortable on the couch and grabbed their drinks, waiting with baited breath for their boss to unleash whatever she had planned. Of course Krieger could just easily draw one of her guns and shoot Toles, but the con had purposely stolen a sword and was now facing Krieger with it in her hands ready to attack. She was out to kill Krieger and get herself a reduced sentence if she managed to accomplish a hunter kill; she'd get a few years knocked off her time and if she was flashy in how she did it she would probably get some cell luxuries. Toles was thinking some real make-up and an endless supply of chocolates whenever she wanted then. Maybe even her own cell and cable TV if she went all out.

Michael watched his boss closely on screen as she effortlessly drew her sword out of its sheathe attached to her belt, draping a touch down her left hip. The camera drones had settled in position to get the best footage. Krieger held the sword in both hands and carefully raised it, positioning the handle just in front of her; vertically from the side of her right shoulder.

'Does the boss know what she's doing? I mean she's standing like she is.' Michael asked the crew. It earned a few chuckles from them. He only asked because he recognised the stance the Captain was in as he was made to take martial arts classes as a child. He remembered his idiot brother used a sword in his "extracurricular" activities but he really didn't want to think about that right now.

'Dude that sword isn't just for show.' Tony laughed. 'The Captain and Ronson have been doing Kenjutsu for years now, this silly bitch doesn't know what she's let herself in for.'

'She'll win, she always does.' Jess said.

'We have money riding on her, we do it all the time she knows this.' Faye continued, holding up her holowatch showing the holographic projection of a betting website that had just updated with "Krieger Vs. Toles."

The crew continued to watch as Andrea Toles readied herself with the sword she had stolen. She held on with both hands out in front of her and the tip of the sword pointing toward Krieger's head.

------

'I should've bashed your fucking head in with a brick.' Toles barked at Krieger. The women began circling each other, a fair distance between them.

'Charming.' Krieger replied. 'Hindsight's a bitch though ain't it?'

'Not when you have a sword.'

'Why didn't you attack me with that first? Seems pretty stupid not to.'

'Not my style.'

'Ah you're more the bludgeoning, pushed my hubby down a marble staircase, dropped a breezeblock on his head kinda girl. Gotcha.'

'I have my ways.'

Krieger smirked. She and Toles continued to circle around, not giving any indication that one was going to attack first. A small gathering of people had started to form a safe distance away and were staying relatively quiet as they watched the women in their stand-off. It was a one off opportunity to see a fight like this in the flesh involving Krieger as she didn't actually use her sword that much. Maybe on special occasions like this where she had a convict brandishing a sword at her and it was being broadcast on television. She had to chuckle to herself though, with the woman brandishing a sword at her. She figured that Toles wasn't all that proficient with weapons after being told that it "wasn't her style" and that she'd much rather come at her with a paving slab or a hot iron.

Toles had reacted slightly to the advancement of the few Chase camera drones and the crowd that had started to gather. Krieger stayed exactly how she was, never taking her eyes off Toles and keeping her arms locked in place still holding her sword upright. The Con was now starting to panic slightly with everybody watching her. She was hoping to just off Krieger as quickly as possible so she could go back in to hiding for a bit but now; with all eyes on her and Krieger standing resolute and alert, she was starting to feel the pressure. She just knew that if she tried to run then Krieger would be on her like shit sticks to a blanket. Toles knew now that she had cornered herself in to a situation she wasn't likely to win.

'Fuck it.' Toles whispered under her breath. Acknowledging she had probably made a terrible mistake with a sigh. She raised the sword and charged at Krieger with all the force and might she had in her. She slowed down to a near stop in front of Krieger and swung the katana straight at her head, but missed by a mile as she had simply stepped out of the way; Toles fell forward slightly to which Krieger landed her boot in the woman's back sending her down to the ground.

'Was that it? You're not trying.' Krieger said as she scuffed her left boot in the dusty ground.

Toles growled as she hastily got herself to her feet. She didn't even dust herself off before flying in to some kind of attack. She came at Krieger again, attempting to slash her with the tip of the sword whilst trying to maintain some kind of distance in order to protect herself. Krieger had already raised her sword and effortlessly parried the attack. Toles had tried pushing her back but Krieger was firmly planted where she stood.

The Con had decided enough was enough as she was getting fed up with what she thought were forceful attacks not landing or even phasing Krieger in the slightest. But that was her own fault for stealing a sword and not a damn gun or something. Heck she had more chance of dropping a bathroom sink on Krieger from a dizzy height and actually hitting her with a sword.

Toles took a deep breath to try and compose herself, noticing that pretty much everyone in the crowd that had gathered were now recording everything either through their ocular cameras or through their holowatches. At least now everybody in the whole galaxy could have footage of her making a complete fool of herself before Krieger finally snuffed her; she was surprised that Krieger had let her live for this long. In fact, Krieger toying with her was probably payback for her repeatedly smashing her in the face with a bin lid.

Toles charged at Krieger for what was probably going to be the last time. She slashed randomly from left to right, upwards and downwards. Krieger just parried every swing as if she was in a sparring match with her and not an actual fight.

'Any last words?' Krieger grunted as her sword clanged away with every hit.

'Yeah I'm just pissed I didn't steal a gun to fucking kill you.' Toles heaved. She was running out of energy now, the sword was pretty heavy and she had been thrashing it around for a while now so it was really taking it out of her.

'No worries. I'll have them write that on your headstone.'

Krieger had barely moved her body except her arms. She quickly shifted in to a different stance and burst out toward Toles with frighteningly quick speed and accurate cuts. She hit Toles first across the stomach, swiping from right to left making a deep cut that started gushing immediately. The con dropped the sword from the pain and held her arms straight across her abdomen as if she were trying to keep her guts from escaping. Within a second Krieger had already drawn her sword out to the far left and with a little bit more force flung her katana to the right; instantly slicing through Toles' neck with absolutely no resistance.

The Con's body and now separate head dropped to the ground in a gushing, bloody mess; the sword she had in her hand previously that had clattered to the ground beside her was still as clean as when she found it. Krieger crouched down beside her body and casually wiped her katana blade across her back to clean some of the blood off. Her face never faltered as she heard some cheering coming from the crowd behind her along with what sounded like some people throwing up. This was most likely their first beheading or maybe they really did not have the stomach for this at all. Satisfied that her sword was clean enough, she gently slid it back in its sheathe.

'Well done babes.'

Ronson was awake and chatting away in Krieger's head.

'Thanks choomba. Still number one.'

'What was her problem anyway? Sounded like she had summat to prove.'

'Probably.' Krieger spoke aloud. 'Con's actively trying to kill Hunters don't happen so often but from what I can gather, it sounds like when they thrown back in the slammer they'd gain some notoriety as well as some perks.'

'I guess so, they survive a Chase AND kill a hunter? Jesus that's bragging rights and clout on fucking steroids in jail.' Ronson replied.

'How's it going your end bubbeleh?' Krieger asked as she fidgeted around in her pocket for her smokes, producing the packet and lighting one swiftly. She decided to start walking away with haste before the crowd started pestering her for photos and autographs.

'Fine. Nobody in here seems to be up to much, or they're asleep. Erik's seems to be entertained by you though.'

Krieger said nothing in reply to that.

'So, I suggest you go back to that safe house and get some rest. Frank's probably gonna up his game now you got a second kill and as for Freddie... well we don't really know what he's up to. Oh, a clean-up team should be there soon to remove the body.'

'Good, at this rate they'll end up cleaning the whole street. I've never seen so many people barfing before.'

'Ahh witnessing their first kills in the flesh, how precious.'

------

Jess and Faye were sat with coy little smiles on their faces. Toles' death by beheading was going at some pretty decent odds, the other options being disembowelment, death by blood loss or even gunshot. The twins now found themselves about twelve thousand credits richer each. A shopping trip would soon be planned with their extra pocket money, probably during the trades holiday after the Chase had finished.

Everybody on board the ship whistled and cheered at their bosses second kill of the Chase. But after realising what time it was they all decided it was time to go home and agreed to meet up again on board the ship for breakfast, which Michael was cooking at half past eight. They could all then watch the show together.

Jess and Faye had already ordered a ride to their apartment just outside of the main town centre in an area known as Ginza Two which was a trendy area. Justin and Tony lived in Little Denenchofu which was the most suburban area in all of New Edo and was fitting for them as it was a nice area, had decent schools and was safer than anywhere else for their families. Devin and Michael lived in different apartment buildings just opposite from each other. It was in walking distance so while everyone else ordered cabs; they took a walk out in the balmy evening.

'How are you finding it here now?' Devin casually asked Michael as they strode side by side through the streets, still relatively busy with people out drinking and partying.

'Great!' Michael answered enthusiastically. 'I think I've landed on my feet really, I'm grateful.'

'Good, it's been great having you on the crew. It's been even better with our food situation too, the Boss and Ronson aren't exactly great with that side of things.'

'Yeah I figured as much.' Michael chuckled. 'I'm just happy I'm finally getting a chance to do what I want.'

'Well that is one good thing the Boss does, she let's you do what you're good at.' Devin mused. 'She took me in as an engineer with pretty much hardly any working experience on ships like the Osiris.'

'That's pretty cool though. Employers hardly want people who haven't had like, years of actual experience.'

'Yep. She has a bit of a soft spot for people who are a bit out of luck, especially if they've been mistreated in some way.'

Michael knew all about that. He was a grunt in the army and every other job he'd had in his life and spent most of it being shit on in some way or other. Nothing was really expected of him during school either. The only person who ever believed in him was his mother, God rest her.

'This is me anyway. Have a good night Michael, I'm looking forward to your breakfast tomorrow.' Devin held out a fist to him, which Michael bumped with his own.

'Same to you man. See you in the morning.'

Devin walked in to his condo building whilst Michael crossed over the road to his. He turned round and glanced down the street for a moment, smiling slightly before he walked inside his condo. He wasn't in the most morally correct of jobs but at least he had one. One that he could do what he wanted. Sure he cooked in the army but even then he still had to do as he was told and didn't really have free reign, but now he had what he wanted. And people who appreciated his work. He knew his mother would've been proud that he was happy and didn't end up like his brother or father even. Life was good for Michael with his new family.

[female-buckets]

I think pinoe brings fewer fans than youd expect. She gets a lot of attention and a lot of casual fans, which is why the storm feature her so much. shes gonna end up on espn/bleacher report and casual fans will follow, but actual pinoe fans/stans? Fewer than you would think id guess. Shes pretty much disliked/tolerated in wider woso fans, the ones who would follow her to the w, and certainly doesn't have as big a fandom as press/heath/krieger/harris.

I still don't think you're grasping the difference in scale between women's basketball and women's soccer. You're telling me Megan's divisive among soccer fans. She's a heel. But she's a heel with 2 million followers though 🤔

Here's the biggest stars we've got...

less than half of Megan's following. Paige might lose a lot of her following when she leaves the NCAA. The same thing happened to big college stars like Taurasi, Candace Parker, and Stewie. Liz has followers because she's an underwear model. I don't even want to get into that. And despite losing her college stardom, CP's done okay for herself by women's basketball standards.

Sabrina has... more than Sue. Okay then. EDD has a decent following.

Aja? Even with all her media projects she's at 350k. BG too. Stew has even less. She was the greatest NCAA basketball player ever, male or female. But that was 5 years ago. See how quick that college following dries up?

Everyone else is 100k or under.

The scale of these two sports is just different. I'm just telling you guys we can't help you. If women's soccer needs help, WNBA fans aren't gonna make a difference. But if 10% of women's soccer fans watched more than 5 WNBA games a year, that would make a huge difference.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

sketchpage headverse update, World War II era:

so originally, I was just gonna do Wraith, but ended adding Neil Sinclair/Subject Zero from Project: Superman and a metahuman each for the Axis Powers.

Wraith: arriving on Earth in response to a mathematical SOS Formula, Wraith quickly found himself at odds with Wonder Woman and the Justice Society over differing ideas on justice and how to best protect humanity, mostly from itself. This culminated in a bloody, drag out brawl between Wraith and Diana in Japanese Airspace, as she did everything in her power to prevent the alien “hero” from slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians. While she was distracted, the US military would drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, largely proving Wraith’s point. Once the second bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Diana gave up on Man’s World yet again, and vanished. Wraith returned to his base—The Machine—and waited for her to return.

So obviously a couple big changes here, mostly that Wraith was a. known to the public in 1945 and b. a Wonder Woman villain circa the Golden Age instead of a Superman villain/ally (?) in the modern day. I don’t think I ever actually finished Unchained because every time I try to read it my eyes kinda glaze over. Wraith does emerge in the modern day, now in connection with Neil Sinclair (now William Rudolph’s other grandkid), who instead of getting modified with Kryptonian DNA, gets metagene therapy from Wraith. They develop a sort of parent-child bond, as Wraith does what he can to train Neil and curb their more vicious instincts heightened by their new powers.

of the Axis characters, Legionary is an Italian hero who’s actually at odds with Mussolini’s government and trying to protect civilians from both the Italian and American militaries. He’s Alphonso Giovanni, the Batmen of All Nations member, though in this version he was always a heavy guy bc idk I think more fat superheroes would be cool and I think the shorthand of “Legionary got heavy and lazy/complacent and that gets him murdered” is…not great. He does still eventually get Merc’d by a Black Glove operative, but that’s more to do with his advanced age and he puts up a good fight before he goes.

Ubermensch—known in America and Britain as Captain Nazi—is Albrecht Krieger, a ten year old Hitler Youth who was selected by High Command’s occult division to receive the “blessing” of a shard from the Rock of Eternity, provided by Vandal Savage. Albrecht is a fervent Nazi, well aware of the Final Solution, and generally just a fucking monster. He actually gets progressively worse as the war comes to end and after, thrown through the Bleed in pursuit of Shazam, coming into contact with his new masters, the Eternal Reich of Earth-X.

The last character here…is complicated. While Asami Koizumi is the modern Samurai, there was a Golden Age Samurai: the Demon Lord Oda Nobunaga. Revived in the early days of the war, Oda currently actually travel too far beyond the Japanese Archipelago without risking a return to his deceased state. Being largely uninvolved with the war effort was frustrating for the revived daimyo, who instead focused his efforts on exploring mysticism and Buddhist tenets in an effort to increase his power and gain the capacity to explore the wider world. He came into conflict with Wraith as well, their so-called “War of Demons” being among the most destructive meta human battles in the Pacific Theater. It was Diana’s selfless attempt to join their final fight that allowed Oda to realize the truth of himself: Oda Nobunaga had been dead for centuries, he was merely a revenant with that man’s face. Wind Dragon, the man who had abandoned his past, sealed his himself away. A young history student, Toshio Eto, would discover the Wind Dragon years later and use its power to become the Silver Age Samurai, before his student, a meta human named Asami Koizumi, would succeed him in turn.