#and for 6 euros might i add

[lumioluna]

was upset today so i got myself a little something

[sgiandubh]

OMG! I can practically see her pulling at her pearls in indignation and fury! I wonder how many wet dreams he rejected her to result in this anger 🙃🙄😜 https://www.tumblr.com/maximumwobblerbanditdonut/747779411400671232/public-intoxication-sh-was-invited-to-the-landcon?source=share

Dear Pearl Clutching Anon,

This woman is the worst mythomaniac and the most pathetic know-it-all of the entire fandom. Mark me: probably a sock account of one of the Mordor sopranos, who'd like to play it cool otherwise. She is an impostor, pretending to be a Scot. But her grammar and spelling recurrent mistakes point to anything else but an English native speaker.

Prized and praised as she is by the dim-witted, she is living proof of the fact that you cannot reasonably and endlessly pretend to be an expert in hair implants, cocktails/bartending, audiovisual production, copyright, alcohol sales and pretty much everything in between. To me, she is at her most pathetic when she pretends to analyze the legal intricacies of the French regulations applicable to public alcohol tasting events.

What happened, in fact, at the Landcon 6 whisky tasting?

Ok. So, this was announced by the French organizers on March 5th and presented as a limited audience event, priced at 350 euros.

This idiot's comment is absolutely priceless:

She would be surprised to find out that, unlike the US, there has never been any Prohibition decreed in France (Hell would have frozen). Even more interestingly, the only venues where French law specifically prohibits alcohol tastings and sales are enumerated very clearly in regulations far above her intellectual abilities:

The main idea is that you cannot sell/organize alcohol tastings in public health venues (hospitals, clinics, etc), rehabilitation clinics (d'oh!) - both for alcohol and drug addictions -, schools, youth summer camps, sports arenas, swimming pools or any other public or private sports venues.

(Source: French Public Health Code, https://www.dalloz.fr/documentation/Document?id=CODE_CSPU_ARTI_D3335-1&scrll=CSPU022225&FromId=CODES_SECS_CSPU_TALPHA)

To these limitations, the French national professional organizations add, as best practice, the following: churches, cemeteries, prisons, military barracks, railway/public transport facilities (including depots).

(Source: Vin & Société's Guide juridique de la dégustation/Tasting Legal Guide - https://www.syndicat-cotesdurhone.com/upload/article/file/202103guidejuridiquedeladegustation-60658bb9468b4.pdf)

To my knowledge, Landcon's venue was neither a cemetery, nor a church (the latter could be, however discussed: wee & lame joke, btw). And for that poor woman's information, you would not need an exemption, but a permit, or licence. In current French law, there are four such sale permits, ranked from I (soft drinks, such as Orangina) to IV (all drinks, including spirits). The fabled Licence IV (also the name of a beloved 90s French kitschy music group, LOL) is now impossible to obtain and if you want to have one, you have to buy the venue (cafe, nightclub, bar, bistro, restaurant or buvette) that had it issued first, many moons ago.

That problem solved, we would have to further analyze the type of event hosted by the Landcon. Was it a tasting or a sale, according to French regulations?

If it was a tasting, no licence is needed. If it was a sale, you might need a temporary licence, granted by the Mayor, provided you have notified them at least 3 months before the event. These are also famously hard to get and very sparingly granted, too.

Because tastings are an exception, they are strictly defined by French regulations as 'free alcohol consumption' and their regulations are excruciatingly detailed. Procedures and limitations vary according to the type of event: sports, tourism promotion, markets and fairs, public gatherings or cultural events (which is the one that seemed the closest to our situation). But a cultural event-cum-tasting would have to be completely free of charge (no paying access tickets), in order to be exempt from any legal obligation. This was not the case, as we know there was a rather steep, 350 euros fee, to be able to attend it:

(Source: Vin & Société's Guide juridique de la dégustation/Tasting Legal Guide - https://www.syndicat-cotesdurhone.com/upload/article/file/202103guidejuridiquedeladegustation-60658bb9468b4.pdf)

That new activity was certainly not a tasting, as defined by French law. An amateur could then conclude, that S's event was, in fact, a disguised sale and that he is either a sinister fool or a filthy conman.

The trouble is, French legislation tolerates one single, overruling exception to everything I wrote above: sale by the producer of said alcohol. It is to be found (or rather interpreted - and it has been so by myself AND the French professional organizations), in the Code Général des Impôts/ French Tax Code:

To avoid a tedious legal translation, the idea is that if you do not sell your own produced booze, you are automatically considered as a stockist/trader and as such, subject to alcohol sales' regulations. If the Landcon organizers would have sold/promoted Laphroaig, for example, they would have needed the permit. But hosting a paying tasting event organized by SRH, promoting SRH's whisky and which profits entirely belonged to SRH is a sale by the producer, as defined by French law, not needing a permit:

(Source: Vin & Société's Guide juridique de la vente/Sales Legal Guide - https://fgvb.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Vin-et-Societe-Guide-juridique-de-la-vente-19042021.pdf)

So: even if the tasting event was, in fact, a sale, French law allows a producer to sell his own alcohol, for promotion purposes as a side event, with no further need to obtain a permit. And this is exactly what their legal team rightfully advised them to do and completely what I would advised them to do, too.

That woman is so often and in so many ways completely wrong, that she is absolutely ridiculous. She (and also her other Big Friend) should perhaps stop pretending to be whatever they are not. Infantilizing, bullying and snarling at people does not help with their credibility.

Such women are genuine Frauds and absolutely despicable. People spend years fucking their eyesight in law school and we do not joke about interpreting and reading legalese. Ever. But to see idiots pretending to know just because they fucking used Google for ten minutes is just infuriating: it took me two hours to find the exception and another two to write this comment.

I hope this long, tedious answer was helpful, Anon.

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

Any predictions for Worlds?

My prediction for Worlds is that it's unpredictable. 😁 I assume that you wanna talk the men competition? (I can talk about all other disciplines as well, but that would take too long here)

I'd say there are 4 contenders for the Gold medal at Worlds Ilia, Shoma, Yuma and Adam.

Let's take a look at the Season 2023/2024 Best Scores:

1. Ilia Malinin (6 quads FS) - 314,66 (GPF23)

2. Yuma Kagiyama (3 quads FS) - 307,56 (4cc23)

3. Adam Siao Him Fa (4 quads FS) - 306,78 (GPFra23)

4. Shoma Uno (4 quads FS without all combos) - 297,34 (GPF23)

And the Personal Best Scores:

1. Ilia Malinin - 314,66 (GPF23)

2. Shoma Uno - 312,48 (Worlds 2022)

3. Yuma Kagiyama - 310,05 (Olympics 2022)

4. Adam Siao Him Fa - 306,78 (GPFra2023)

I think the SP will be key and who makes less mistakes. A mistake in the SP can cost the title. The free skate however will decide who will win.

Let's take a look at each of the 4:

First don't underestimate the current World champion! I know Shoma doesn't have the highest season scores and even his PB is behind Ilia's but Shoma has one thing that none of the others have, which is experience under pressure. Shoma is 26 years old and around in his 9th senior season, there is no one that can beat him on that. As Shoma's season best scores aren't as high imo he has the highest potential to improve his scores by miles. I think for the SP Shoma is quite save. Out of 4 SPs this season he hit 4 clean skates! For his free skate we have to take into consideration that so far this season he had no complete BV, he always missed one jumping pass bc he popped one of them. The q's have also been a problem this season yet he still was 2nd at GPF despite of it. Shoma's BV is 3rd highest if he's not going back to 5 quads, but his PCS will be the highest unless he makes serious mistakes. Also Shoma performs usually best when he's not the favorite. So never count him out! Shoma paces himself usually for the big competitions but Shoma seems to have new boots, so it's a bit of a gamble to say where his consistency might be.

I did this calculation after GPF23, where a realistic score for a clean free skate could be around 211+, which is higher than anyone's.

As a big Shoma fan I ofc want Shoma to win a 3rd world title and I think that's also within the possibilties.

I think it's undeniable that Ilia has the highest BV and therefore the highest scoring possibilty, but I actually doubt that possible score will be much higher than what he got at the GPF. Ilia is also the one of the 4 with the lowest PCS. The SP is going quite well for him this season, but a 4A in the SP would be very risky and could also cost him dearly if missed. Of course a clean 6 quad free program will be hard to beat and the 4A seems to add PCS as well, but still his PCS hold him back a bit. Imo Ilia's PCS are still too high but that high TES give you high PCS is nothing new in skating and we have to be realistic that his PCS will only increase. Yet Ilia was again not very convincing at US Nats and it's reported that he's struggling with his new boots. Could also be that Ilia peaked too early to win...

Adam is quite similar case as Ilia with the PCS but his BV is not as high though Adam is also training a 4F and might include it into his program, what would upgrade his BV. Adam's SP has been a bit of a problem under pressure, yet also if he is clean he would place 4th after the SP if Yuma, Shoma and Ilia are clean. I think Adam's scores this season are quite maxed out judging wise. He never scored as high before and he got those scores with clean skates. I think that Adam may have peaked a bit too early in the season, his Euros performance was less than stellar and he never was in a position to win a World championship. We should not underestimate the difference in pressure. I actually think if everyone goes clean it would be Adam who is 4th.

Yuma has the lowest BV of the 4 contenders, but almost as high PCS as Shoma. His GOEs are probably the best out of the 4 contenders which makes up for less difficulty. You can see that if you compare Yuma's 3 quad 4cc free skate score with Ilia's 6 quad free skate score, that they are almost the same score despite Ilia's massive BV. With the high from the 4cc win Yuma definetly gained confidence yet without devaluing his win the mental game is quite different when you're not competing among the best. At JNats Yuma showed an unusual mistake in the SP I guess because of the pressure and at Worlds 2022 he also made very uncharistic mistakes under pressure. Yet the way he presented himself this season and condidering the judging at 4cc I would say Yuma is a favorite to win.

I don't want to make a final ranking what I think will happen because usually Worlds has very unpredictable results. I mean Junhwan Cha was not on the favorites list to win Worlds 2023 yet he was very close. I would not be surprised if the men event is a hot mess and someone totally under the radar lands on the podium.

Even if I ofc have my wishes all I really wish for is an exciting and fair competition. That's all. Another title for Shoma would be great but anything that happens now is a bonus and 3 world titles one after the other is pretty high expectation. Shoma is not underestimating his rivals nor do I, but you better should not underestimate Shoma as well. 😊

[rolorules]

Random Rolo Ramblings 6: Kururugi and Canon

My intention was to write a few lines about the relationship between Rolo and Suzaku and post them around Suzaku's birthday. Well, it did not happen quite like that, but here they are. Admittedly, there is not really much to write about as far as the series canon goes, and here I would already like to digress a little: By '(series) canon' I mean everything that is officially part of the Code Geass story (people, places, events) as it unfolds in the TV series, not the recap films, which divert from the series canon and partly tell a different story. You can consider them a form of Code Geass elseworld or parallel universe/alternate timeline (apparently Genesic Re;CODE did that) or just see them as a separate movie canon which includes Lelouch of the Resurrection. (Correct, 'canon' is the second main topic of this article.)

As far as the Geass series canon goes, it certainly includes R1, R2 and also Akito the Exiled. I would also add the picture dramas, but that is a matter of debate and one could argue that their canonicity is not on the same level as that of the series' episodes. There are also the drama CDs, but, like I wrote before, these are just too far out there to be part of the official story. There may be official books that Sunrise considers canon, but my personal philosophy is that when we talk about films or TV shows, only what's on the screen is canon.

So what about Suzaku and Rolo? If we follow the show's internal chronology, they first meet in the final scene of Akito the Exiled. We get two reaction shots of Suzaku's face, first when Rolo enters the room, accompanied by the two Geass Order guards, then after he tells him that Charles has 'granted' 'Julius Kingsley' another audience. (By the way, look how tall he is in comparison to Suzaku. Must be the boots.) In both cases, Suzaku looks both quite angry and extremely wary. In the first case, Suzaku even makes a hard-to-define moaning sound that sounds both apprehensive and annoyed. In other words, he does not seem happy to see Rolo at all. He might be uncertain at first whether the rescue party are friend or foe, but even after Rolo has made it clear that they are on his side, he looks as happy as an employee who hates his boss and is told that he can go back to work now. This may have nothing to do with Rolo as a person, but with the unpleasantries that await Suzaku and Lelouch, but to me this look also says "Who's that creep they've sent to pick us up?"

Luckily, there are no hard feelings between Suzaku and Rolo in R2 despite this encounter, and this is obviously because R2 was produced before Akito. There is only one conversation between Suzaku and Rolo (and Villetta) in the OSI's secret control room, (which I have covered before, more than once, actually). While Rolo and Villetta have more or less always treated each other as equals, Suzaku clearly acts as the one in charge. Everyone is very polite, but Suzaku seems to be doubtful about the effectiveness of their surveillance, which triggers a response from Roll that makes him appear a little offendes, but secretly he is certainly worried that Suzaku might find out that Lelouch has regained his memories (and that he has changed sides). In a different world, to Star Trek, they may be friends, at least they don't hate each other, but in this situation, Rolo mostly regards Suzaku as a threat, which is why he even offers Lelouch to kill him. When Suzaku arranges a phone call with Nunnally to figure out whether Lelouch has regained his memory, Rolo thwarts his plans with his time-stopping powers. Apart from that, we see him giving Suzaku wary sideways glances, and that, to my knowledge, is about it. Not much, given the fact that older official artwork often shows Lelouch, Suzaku and Rolo as a kind of love-hate-whatever triangle.

What I would really like to know is what happened between the trio's journey home from Euro Britannia and Rolo's/Suzaku's arrival at Ashford. Didn't they have any conversation about 'Julius' resp. Lelouch? It would have made sense for Suzaku to brief Rolo about Lelouch's character traits so that he knows how to handle him and how to play the role of the little brother convincingly. Moreover, the Vincent's design is based on the Lancelot's, would Suzaku not be the perfect tutor for Rolo as a Knightmare Frame pilot? That would also explain Rolo's piloting skills. (Wouldn't it be fun if Lloyd was also involved? Maybe Rolo had a reason to call him "pervy four-eyes" in that infamous sound episode.)

Of couse there is that slightly weird scene in the second recap movie where Bismarck introduces Suzaku to Rolo (who is dressed like an accountant and looks as if he hadn't had any sleep for a week and not seen any daylight for a month, quite the contrast to his Akito outfit and posture) and Villetta. Here it is made more obvious than in R2 that Suzaku is in charge of the operation. In this scene it is also acknowledged that Suzaku and Rolo have met before, and maybe Suzaku's bad memories are the in-story explanation for Suzaku's so bluntly (and rudely) addressing Rolo's faulty Geass, which is one of the things I hated about this scene, the other one being Rolo's new alias ('Nebiros'/'Neblos'). Rolo's resentful look is more than understandable. I know why the writers made Suzaku say that: they needed a quick way to establish Rolo's weakness, but it still seems so out of character for someone like Suzaku. (I like Suzaku thanking Rolo for rescuing them better, even though he did not look particularly grateful when Rolo freed him and Lelouch from prison.) Villetta's defending Rolo and praising his skillfulness, on the other hand, is perfectly in character for her. Anyway, this scene does not contradict series canon, so I can potentially accept it as "this is what happened" to fill a gap in the story, I'm just not sure if I want to.

Which is why I am now turning to the readers. How do you personally deal with the canon problem, in Code Geass and otherwise? After all, reboots, recaps, remakes etc. are a pretty common phenomenon in the world of anime and elsewhere. Do you want to have a rigid canon or do you like to see alternate/new/fresh versions of the same story? What is your personal Code Geass canon, the two seasons of the TV show, Akito, the recap films, Lelouch of the Resurrection, the mobile games? Please let me know and thank you for reading all this, these articles are called "ramblings" for a reason.

P.S. Sorry for mostly using screencaps that I have used before.

[armchairfootballer]

England’s Harry Kane Problem

Shortly after picking up his silver medal, Harry Kane walked past the UEFO Euro trophy, draped in red and yellow for victors Spain. Despite his record as one of the greatest strikers in the modern game, Kane emerged from yet another major tournament without a trophy — a well documented curse that his plagued him at both the country and club levels.

Some find it funny; others sad. Regardless, in our minds we know that a curse can't really exist (can it?), which makes the reality even more extraordinary. Is it fair for the football gods to bless someone with so much talent and individual success, but forever bar them from glory?

Of course, Kane isn't unique in this regard. Despite being named one of the greatest players of the 21st century, Socrates' closest reach to a major trophy was as runner up in the 1983 Copa América for Brazil. Likewise, two-time Capocannoniere winner Antonio DiNatale could muster only a 2nd-place finish with Italy at the 2012 Euros. But Kane's litany of achievements far surpasses the efforts of both.

The injustice might be more forgivable or understandable if Kane's ego had consistently got in the way of his team's success. It's not a stretch to think that a superstar's self-assuredness could hinder the team dynamic and cost them victory, particularly if it kept happening wherever he went.

But that's not the case with Kane. He's a team player and surely makes England better... or does he?

Lessons from Euro 2024

Kane shared the Euro 2024 Golden Boot with 5 others as the tournament's top scorer. Still, I doubt many would say he had a great tournament, by his standards, anyway. Like much of the England team, most of his play was dull and lacked creativity. He scored from 6 feet out against Denmark — the kinds of goals you pay strikers like Harry Kane to score regularly. His extra time winner against Slovakia was of the same ilk — a header from 3 feet out after an England corner. He'd add another from the penalty spot against the Dutch.

You could validly attribute Kane's relative lack of goals to the irregularity of delivery from his teammates. But there was something else worth noting about England's performances during the Euros...

England played better when Kane wasn't on the pitch.

In five of England's seven matches, manager Gareth Southgate withdrew Kane before the end of proceedings. Kane, who turns 31 this month, is used to playing a full 90 for club and country. But obviously, Southgate new that there were other tactics available to him. And he was right to explore them.

Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins added some much needed creativity to the pitch when subbed on. Others substitutes like Ivan Tony and Eberechi Eze added speed and urgency. England looked their best when their next generation of talent was taking the reins. Why?

Well, when you have a prolific striker like Kane, in a sense, you build a team and a strategy around them. This is easier to do in a club setting where you have more control over your membership, as opposed to international football, where your available talent pool is significantly more restrained (even for a team like England).

With this style of play, your success depends on the fitness and form of your star player. Even with characters like Bellingham and Saka, England's style with Kane on the field isn't designed to bring out the best in them — part of the reason they contribute much more to their club teams. But something new comes alive when England adapts to Kane's absence.

How does Southgate move forward?

And herein lies Gareth Southgate's dilemma moving forward. How do you reconcile these strategies? How do you utilize your star striker and yet develop this new crop of talented players who are aching to contribute if given the chance?

We've seen this unfold in some respects with Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo — and not for the better. The last two national managers for Os Navegadores have bent the knee to Ronaldo. Make no mistake, I don't envy their situation. How do you ensure that you utilize one of the greatest players of all time who clearly still has gas in the tank and can change a game in an instant, while adapting your game for the other excellent players who may be better suited for the moment, but you'll never know.

Southgate's challenge is not entirely like Roberto Martinez's problem in Portugal, in that Kane is by no means past his prime. He still has a few years at which he will be at the top of his game. So, do you bench one of the world's most prolific strikers to facilitate a new approach?

Surely, the answer must lie somewhere in the middle. But that is for greater minds that mine to figure out. England can only hope that Southgate is up to task. Harry Kane will need to hope for the same if he wants to finally put his hands on some silverware.

[waru-chan8]

So I think I own you this post.

What is El Desafío?

It’s a talent show where famous people (singers, chef, sportsperson, actors, actress, writers, TV presenters, etc) show off skills that are far away from their normal skills. They also face personal challenge such as facing their fear of highs, been burn alive or drawn

Those challenge are often physics but there are others that consists in learning to play an instrument or learning a dance (one had the pan one, and dancing in the water while is ‘raining’) or moving heavy vehicles (pushing a quad up 11 stairs, doing a complet turn in a 2x2 space and down or move a lorry over glass cups without braking) or learning to shut a weapon. There’s also a face off between 2 different contestats.

All concursants need to go though a challenge called apnea, that consist to hold your breath underwater as long as you can.

How do they won?

Each gala, after all challenge the jury (Santiago, Juan and Pilar) gave points from 1 to 7 and 10 that gets put together, and each gala accumulates to the others. The one in the top is going to win.

What do they win?

Each gala the contestat with the most points get a 6000euros* to donate to whatever cause or NGO they want.

After all the galas (10), the winner gets 30000 euros to donate to an NGO or a cause they want and a BMW car for them.

*+500 euros each 30s that manages to stay underwater the apnea contestant.

Apparently there 10 galas. They are broadcast Fridays 10 p.m Madrid time, and if I can watch them on time, I’ll live blogging it with El Desafío lb, just in case you want to block the tag. I won’t be able to post Jorge’s bit until Saturday-Monday.

As I get to know more about the program, I’ll be going updating this because this is my first time watching it.

Jorge’s challenge so far:

Gala 1: Face off - duel in the heights against Flo, he wins

Gala 2: The human torch. They are going to set Jorge on fire.

Gala 3: Disco GP. Apparently is a dancing/singing one (?) Jorge will be the main character of his own musical!

Gala 4: Extrem aim/accuracy. Jorge will learn how to shoot

Gala 5: apnea

Gala 6: Drone pilot

Gala 7: Films Percussion

Gala 8 - Semifinal 1: Face off - still ring challenge against Laura Escanes. He wins

Gala 9 - Semifinal 2: dancing treadmills (he will dance on treadmills)

Gala 10 - Final: tightrope walker

I’m going to add also the apnea challenge here.

Gala 1: Ana  Guerra - 2 minutes 27 seconds (they add 2500 euros)

Gala 2: Flo - 3 minutes 30 seconds (they added 3500 euros)

Gala 3: Jorge Blanco - 4 minutes 13 seconds (they added 4000 euros)

Gala 4: Laura Escanes - 3 minutes 40 seconds (they added 3500 euros)

Gala 5: Jorge Lorenzo - 3 minutes 33 seconds (they add 3500 euros)

Gala 6: Boris Izaguirre (but he might not do it as he suffered a stroke while recording el Desafío) No apnea this gala

Gala 7: Rosa López - 4 minues 40 seconds. The new all record for this challenge. (they add 4500 euros)

Gala 8 - Semifinal 1: Mariló Montero - 4 minutes 8 seconds (they added 4000 euros).

Gala 9 - Semifinal 2: Boris Izaguirre - 1 minute 16 seconds (they added 1000 euros)

Gala 10 - Final: there’ no apnea

Edit: For those who read the translation. I did my best, but I’m sure there are better translations,, They are nosy as hell and very one speaks over everyone. They use a lot of surprise expression that are difficult to translate in English. And on top of that, Juan, one of the judges is a pain in the ass to translate. He likes to use very long and complicated words and he starts the sentences in 3 different ways. He also uses a lot one expression that there’s no way I can translate it directly to English and I think I translated in in several different ways.

Anyway, I do my best with them.

[annestravels]

Days 21 & 22, San Martín del Camino and Astorga

The corn fields end at the doorstep of Astorga and with little fanfare, the Meseta is behind me. To the north I can see the mountains of Asturias and to the west those of Galicia, where I am headed next. Tomorrow the climbing begins as I move toward the highest elevation of the trip later this week, and likely cooler temperatures and rain, as Galicia is known as the Scotland of Spain.

Last night at a country hostel I discovered what might be my new favorite wine brand - “Peregrino” - as well as my new favorite pedicure design shown on a fellow pilgrim. Just ignore the bandaids covering all the blisters……

It is amazing how even when carrying all your belongings on your back and walking 15-20 miles a day with a life turned upside down, there is a daily pilgrim routine most of us have fallen into.

I arise at 6 and quietly pack up and leave my hostel around 6:30. This gives me a jump on some quick miles while it’s still very cool, with the bonus that I see the sunrise behind me at 8. After a couple of hours I am usually able to find a cafe or bar where I grab a hearty breakfast. I am burning thousands of calories a day and need to refuel often. One restaurant owner declared that I was “scrawny” and asked if she could please add extra ham and eggs to my Salmorejo - this actually happened. So I have abandoned my plant based diet for now and I am eating what is readily available. In Spain, that’s often something involving pork.

Check out today’s spread featuring jámon Serrano and tomato purée with olive oil to top off the bread. Breakfast of champions! Or at least, of Camino walkers.

Refueled, I settle in for 4-5 hours more of walking, check into my hostel by 2, shower and wash all my clothing by hand and hang it in the sun. It dries in an hour.

I seek out more calories, typically in the form of the “menú del día”, my new favorite thing in the universe.. For around 15 euro I get a first and second plate of food along with bread, dessert and wine or a drink. Whaaaaat? It’s a total feast. I am in love with this daily meal.

Afterwards there is time for exploring, if the feet allow, mass, possibly a pilgrim blessing in the local church and general chill time with new friends. Lights out at 9 and REPEAT the next day!

And did I mention I have walked over 500 kilometers? Just sayin’……

[monotoneprowess]

Day 6: Day Trip to Siena!

Today we took the train up north to the lovely town of Siena! It's a gorgeous town with a population of a little over 50,000 (compared to Florence's almost 400,000!)

While it on the smaller side of cities, I absolutely want to go back because all the history and charm of the place had me absolutely captivated.

₪₪₪₪₪₪

Our first major stop of the day was the Siena Cathedral, or the Duomo di Siena. It's a church whose patron saint is the Virgin Mary, and is noticeably more gothic then the other cathedrals we've been to so far.

(Altar at the Duomo di Siena, ignore the other person taking a photo I thought it was funny.)

Now the Duomo di Siena is a wonderful church like most others we've so far, containing statues of various saints and bishops, tombs of important religious figures, and an insane amount of gold.

Honestly it was my favourite so far as the columns (which you can see the edges of in the photo) were striped! As instead of being made of a single piece of stone, they were made by stacking multiple pieces of marble, so they decided to add stripes which I love, I'm a big fan of stripes.

Also you can notice at the very top there are busts of various figures, which a friend and I found out were 176 busts of various popes! The one with a vague golden halo in the center of the altar is Jesus Christ, to the right of him is Saint Peter holding the keys to Vatican City, and then it continues onwards from there, wrapping around the whole church. It was amazing, and yet I heard almost nobody talking about it.

₪₪₪₪₪₪

Besides the Duomo di Siena, a couple of friends and I made a quick pit stop at the torture museum. Not on purpose or anything, we just passed by it on the way to our actual destination and had time and 10 euros in our pockets and decided why not.

It was deeply upsetting, as you might expect a museum about torture devices to be. I don't regret going but yeah, we were all very awkwardly laughing about it.

(The Inquisition symbol cast in bronze, located the Museum of Torture in Siena. Quite literally the only thing I feel comfortable showing.)

₪₪₪₪₪₪

While most of the day was spent wondering the city talking to friends, it was an absolutely amazing day. Got to see another cool church, and got to be uncomfortable around new friends which I think strengthened our bond by bonding over the inherent trauma of learning about history.

[missspringthyme]

February 24th, 2024

Spent most of today either doing my taxes or playing sims. It took me awhile to hunt down the w2 for the internship I did last summer, but in the end it's worth it for the refund babey!

Last year my taxes were a nightmare. I somehow made enough that I actually had to pay taxes (it was like $20 or something but that still stung) and I also found out that somehow the name linked to my social security number was straight up wrong for my entire life and no one caught it until I was 21 and the IRS fucking rejected my tax filing. Insanity. I remember having the most infuriating phone call of my life where the woman on the other end didn't seem to believe me when I was telling her that Singapore is a city state so it's both the city and the country. She just kept saying "you can't just tell me the country ma'am, I need to know the city you were born in". It also meant that I filed my taxes late because I had to physically go to an office in the US and change my name. Awful awful awful.

Anyway the refund I'm getting this year is enough that if I play my cards right, I might actually be able to have money in my account at the end of the month! Crazy! I'm very happy. A part of my refund is some tax credit I'm getting that's h3lping me offset my Roth Ira contributions, which is crazy because I contributed more last year ($25 a month babey!). I wish the US was a normal country that just calculated the bill for you.

Another thing I did today was buy a Bluetooth computer mouse with the last remaining day of my prime trial. I have one in the US, but it vanished somewhere in my dad's house. Additionally having one that doesn't run on batteries would be more convenient for me. I need a wireless mouse because my laptop only has one USB port which is spoken for by my external hard drive when I'm doing anything with MATLAB. my supervisor told me to bring a mouse next time which would be no big deal if I had a 2nd USB port. What's funny is when I was looking at laptops for my undergrad they all talked about how it was important to have the right ports. I took that seriously and got a laptop with the appropriate variety and number of ports, only to use 1 USB. So when my laptop starting wigging out 6(!!) days before i left for my masters, I got the first laptop I could find with decent ram at a decent price. Secure in the knowledge that everything is done through online file sharing and clouds. One USB port would be enough. Now look at me, 20 euros poorer because I had to buy a wireless mouse. I like them better than wired ones anyway.

For kitchen tales, I had a nice little moment with German American this morning where she kinda got the zoomies and was giving lots of younger sibling energy. I like this side of her, and I'm trying to get it out of her more often. Eventually, I'll plan something with her 1 on 1. When I finally finished my taxes and emerged for dinner, the Australians, Finnish roommate, and Spanish neighbor were all watching Austin Powers so I sat and watched the last 3rd of the movie. I got asked if hooters is actually "like that". Somethings been up with authentic Australian but I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm worried that maybe last night we teased him a little too much about maybe getting a free tattoo at the event our building was putting on. I meant to apologize to him today but I never saw him alone. Tomorrow is dnd, and I need to tell him if he wants to add in a class of warlock he'll have to earn it through roleplay, so maybe I can work it in then. Speaking of, tomorrow will be my first time with battlemaps. Wish me luck!

[elch-im-ausland]

Sunday Feb. 18 2024

I woke up a bit late but that's okay cuz it's Sunday! And nothing happens on Sundays in Germany... except for the Flohmarkt at the Mauerpark in Berlin. I took the tram just a couple stops away from where I'm staying and arrived at the market. Then I got a dirty chai latte and a currywurst for breakfast (very tasty with hot sauce and different kinds of mayo it was D-Lux!) and I walked around for a few hours.

There were lots of vendors selling coats and I wish I didn't live so far away because I have been dying to have a long fur-lined coat (of which there were many) but I really don't have any space so I ended up buying a leather bomber-style jacket to replace my really ratty denim coat I wear all the time.

As much as I love love love my denim coat and I've had it for a few years it's not very warm and the cuffs are so stringy and it's just not the best coat so I'm going to remove my patches and pins and leave it in Germany where it can have a new life hopefully and I will try not to think about how inanimate objects have feelings and how sad my coat will be that I am leaving it behind.

But I'm excited about the leather jacket. I think it will mark a new chapter in my life and although I am a bit saddened by the fact that leather is not really a pin-friendly material I have so many (some (my mother) might say too many) other jackets to redistribute my pins and patches onto, and I will continue the hunt for the long fur-trimmed coat of my dreams.

Back at the flea market I also bought a silver ring with a face on it for 6 euro, a record of Nena's Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann 12" dance mix for 10 euro, and a button down t shirt for 2 euro. Then I got a cup of Sahlab and another currywurst and went home because I had to pee and there were no public restrooms.

I met one of my host's roommates, he was really friendly and somehow spoke the exact German that I understand like he didn't use big words idk it felt like talking to a german teacher who understands your level of german. So that was nice.

That night I went to the Berlin Independent Film Festival (not to be confused with the Berlin International Film Festival aka the Berlinale, however I recently bought tickets to 2 films that are being shown at the Berlinale so yay! but it's really annoying that they both take place at the same time and have similar names cuz I keep getting them mixed up).

The movie I saw was Lichtenberg by Carl Bessai. It was at the Babylon Theater and it was very good! It is about 5 different time periods during the last century in an apartment building in the Berlin neighborhood Lichtenberg. The eras where 1920s, 1940s, 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. The cast was small and they played different characters in each time period. And then at the end of the movie there was a short Q&A panel at the front of the theater with the cast and director which was a bit awkward since I had a front-row seat so everyone was standing like 4 feet away from me eep! Apparently the director (who is from Canada) wrote the script and then the cast (all German) decided that it was a bit dry so they improvised every scene so it felt more organic and personal so it was a bit like a stage play in that respect. It's not on Letterboxd yet so I haven't been able to add it to my list rip

Then I came home and went to bed because I was sleepy.

[m1dfielder]

Jo liked to think he was of the mentality that fit the club, always. He wanted to fine, everything was for Bayern in the end. Fight and play until the last breath, they were who they were and that was all they needed. He only did what he could for the better of the team and his teammates, trying to be the leader after Alex and Thomas as he knew what they saw in him. Now he was afraid he'd have to prove that all again to the new coach. He'd tried to with the last one, to the best of his ability, and it never seemed to stick. Of course he knew Jordi knew him, more than their last coach did, but that had been as a player and player. Had things changed since then? He supposed in the end that was why this conversation was taking place, seeing where Jo could see himself playing in this new system. The question about his position, the possible change, had been expected but it hadn't entirely been where he thought it would be. "I'm seeing that." Jo replied, his expression was one more of thinking than anything else as it tilted to the side. He never thought about himself in that position before, being an 8, but it might just work. He already was a 6 and a right back in his mind so why not add another? Why not make him a weapon in multiple fronts? It was smart, he just hoped he wasn't going to fuck it up. No one had really thought about or approached him on the possible shift to an 8 but he wasn't going to say no if it meant he was able to stay on the team instead of being sold. So, what was the harm in saying he'd try it out? A small, slightly nervous smile tugged at the footballer's lips as he nodded. "I guess I did. But I expected to do that, I am more than ready to work and if that means trying and getting ready for a new position then I will do that." It was an honest answer and he knew that Jordi didn't have to question it. "Oh, I mean yeah I was hoping to extend it. But I told the board I wasn't going to talk to them about it yet until after the Euros are finished. And I wanted to see how this played out."

@diemauer

          he  always  liked  the  midfielder's  attitude.  so  ambitious  and  had  one  tough  demeanor.  which  was  needed  with  the  game.  not  to  mention,  joshua  showed  great  leadership.  he  already  had  plans  in  his  mind  on  captains  in  the  future.  especially  knowing  that  eventually  ,  their  star  goalkeeper  would  retire.  not  something  he  wanted  to  really  think  about  but  that  day  would  come.  and  the  next  in  line  for  that  captain  armband  was  most  definitely  jo.  jordi  had  it  all  planned  in  his  head.  but  that  was  all  besides  the  point.  it  was  the  now  and  this  upcoming  season  that  was  what  needed  to  be  focused  on.  with  team  rebuilding  and  summer  transfers  ,  he  was  going  to  be  quite  the  busy  man  over  the  next  few  months.  even  more  after  the  euro.    this  was  going  to  be  bayern's  season.  at  least  he  hoped  to  undo  the  damage  that  last  season  had  caused.    ❝    I  know  you  all  do  .  and  that's  what  I  plan  to  do.  there's  going  to  be  a  lot  of  changes  i'll  be  making.  from  formations  to  having  some  of  you  men  try  out  different  sets.  ❞  he's  watched  the  midfielder  play  several  times  ,  even  playing  at  his  side  just  before  his  retirement.    sure  ,  Jo  killed  it  being  right  back  but  trying  him  as  attacking  midfield  was  something  he  wanted  to  do.    and  Jordi  had  some  questioning  him  on  that.    he  had  faith  though  in  Joshua.  it  was  worth  a  shot  and  if  it  didn't  work  out  ,  well    there  was  right  back.  however  ,  something  told  him  that  he'd  be  a  very  great  eight.    a  small  laugh  came  from  him  as  he  nodded.  ❝    you're  catching  on  before  I  even  have  to  say  too  much.    ❞    the  coach  teased  .      ❝  but  precisely.    so  after  the  euro  has  ended,  prepare  to  work.  ❞  his  stare  remained  on  the  midfielder  before  him  ,  waiting  to  see  his  reaction  to  his  offer.    ❝    we  can  try  it.  I  don't  see  why  it'll  harm  anything.  which  brings  me  up  to  my  next  question  ,  you've  got  another  year  in  your  contract.    have  you  thought  about  extending  it  ?  ❞                  

[tommyspeakycap]

The John stones imagine is so cute !!!

Thank you so much!! I know no one asked but he’s another little fluffy stones fic :)

Perfect

“Where you off to?” John asks, his voice soft and smooth as it always was when speaking to you. His voice was also lowered so he isn’t waking up the rest of the boys on the same floor like he usually might. He was typically very loud, very boisterous and very animated. But he was quieter today, for you and for the sake of everyone’s morning temper. His eyes track you slowly as you roll out of bed with a groan before disappearing out of his eye line.

Or rather, out of the sight of the macbook camera that allows him to see you on the screen of his own laptop. “Pee.” You state simply, making John chuckle ever so slightly as he settles back down into the comfortable hotel bed, his head resting up on plush pillows with his laptop placed on top of the duvet that covers his stomach. He flicks through his phone momentarily while you were away, his mind wandering off into an dreamland where he could be with you. Of course he adored playing for his country, that much was a given. But he much preferred that when you were able to be with him every day wherever he traveled to as opposed to all the way back home or somehow worse, only allowed to see him at the end of games with about 10 feet of seating barricade between you.

He longed to hug you, to feel your lips on his and to feel something that was so entirely new that he hadn’t ever had the chance to feel it. Something that had only been able to be described to him in painstaking detail by you.

His little baby’s fluttering kicks as he or she grows in your stomach each day without him there.

“This baby is kicking the crap out of my bladder,” you announce the second your back in the frame of the camera, shuffling across the bed uncomfortably until you lay down in your back with the laptop set on the bedside table. “Footballer like daddy, eh?” You tease, drumming the pads of your fingers gently over the large rounded shape of your stomach. The 7 month old foetus responds with what you think is a foot, but you can’t truly be sure. John looks on through the screen in absolute awe. He wishes to every or any god that he could be there with you, getting to experience these things by your side. Instead, he had been gone in the Euro 2020 campaign for 6 weeks and as a result, felt like he had literally missed so much in your pregnancy.

He was genuinely petrified you would go into labour while he was in a foreign country or playing a game and he doesn’t find out until he’s missed it. It’s his worst nightmare, but you’ve reassured him that it’s incredibly unlikely given the fact his last game is in two days time and you’re only just going into your 8th month. You wanted to find out the gender together and there hadn’t been a time where that was possible, so there was a sweet baby shower set up for the week John gets home and to say he was excited would be the worlds biggest understatement.

“Maybe, maybe.” John hums, eyes trained on you as you lift up your shirt and angle the screen so he had a full view of the large bump. “Definitely tall like his daddy though.” He adds, making you giggle loudly as you turn to face him on the screen. One of your eyebrows quirks upwards as a smirk sets itself onto your lips. “He?” You tut, laughter lighting up your tired eyes. John nods, very certain. “Gut feeling.” He shrugs, you laugh again. “Alright mystic preg, we’ll see.” You taunt playfully, matching his teasing tone. He throws his head back laughing the way that he does, echoing your “mystic preg.” in his deep accented rumble.

“Well what do you think?” He retorts, watching your shrug the best you can from your laying down position. You turn your eyes to the ceiling now though, mind dancing away in thought. “I dunno,” you hum in response. “Suppose I’ve spent more time thinking about us as parents y’know? Me and you and a little person. Who they’ll be, what they’ll look like. All that stuff. Crazy isn’t it?”

John nods. You speak so wistfully, like you’re off in the dream that he was in only a few minutes ago. Like you’re both there, in it together. He’s still to build that crib and Hendo promised he’d come round and help out once they got home with that and the car seat fitting. Pretty much everything else had already been done, insistently by John and Kyle while you and Annie watched on cautiously while chatting baby names. The excitement to have baby Stones here in your arms, with you both, was so unreal. It was so overwhelming and it did often make you tear up with those pregnant hormones raging through you.

“Boy or girl,” John starts, wishing he could reach out and wrap his arms around you and press a kiss to your temple like he ordinarily, almost routinely, would have done. Wishing to use one hand to wipe away your stray tear that makes its way out of the corner of your eye, and feel the life you created kicking at his other hand. He’s desperate for that. “Doesn’t matter. They’ll still be most perfect baby ever made.” He says softly, his voice full of truth and excitement. “And they’ll have the best mum ever, in the whole world.”

“Don’t-“ you sniffle, “You’ll set me off and I won’t be able to stop.”

John snickers, but it does hurt his heart that he can’t comfort you in the physical way that he usually would, “Just a couple more days, baby, then we’re all together again.” He says as you yawn for what felt like the millionth time since you started the call. It was hard enough to sleep with an already very big, very heavy baby sitting on your organs and playing the piano across your ribcage with their feet. But to also have to sleep without John just made everything a million times worse for you. Of course, had he been there you probably would have kicked him off the bed at least once every night for sleeping soundly while you lie uncomfortably full into the wee hours of the morning. “I can’t wait for you get home to do that thing again.” You murmur, words slurred ever so slightly by the sleepy looseness of your tired lips.

“What thing?” John queries, his eyebrows furrowed to crease a comically confused crease in his eyebrows that you only see though half shut eyes. “Like the thing?” He says, almost gawping.

Your eyes snap open, a snort breaking past your lips. “No, you dirty sod!” You yelp, “there’s no room for anything else anywhere near there until your son is earthside.”

“Aha! So you do think it’s be a boy!”

“Bastard.”

John’s chortle echos through the laptop speakers, making you giggle softly along with him. His laughter had always been contagious and you do hope that no matter who your child comes to be, that they have his laugh. It always lightens your mood.

“I meant the lifting the bump thing, you dirty git. Y’know the one we seen on tik tok that worked wonders for this back pain I’m getting from your abnormally large genes.” You smile with a roll of your eyes. You were certainly a lot bigger than most people were at your stage of pregnancy and the level of pain you were feeling in your back when doing anything but laying completely flat and still was immense. Fern, having known the pain of carrying the baby of a man who exceeded 6”2, had been on hand to offer that lift when all the WAGS were together before, during and after the games. She said it was something she and Harry did all the time, but your belly had now exceeded what she was capable of lifting without putting her own back out, while John would have little problem helping out.

Even if he did have a problem, he wouldn’t dare vocalise it. He was truly willing to do anything he could to make you more comfortable. He honestly wished he could have been there to help you more often, he loved the intimacy of supporting the weight of your baby for as long as his arms could hold it, helping to lessen the struggle even if only by a smidge. The level of relief he watched on your face when he had lifted your belly in his large hands carefully earlier on in the pregnancy, just short before he left, was immense. He wishes he could do more.

“You’re exhausted, baby.” He coos softly, “You need to go to sleep.”

You’re quite clearly falling asleep in front of him and it is nearly 12, but he can tell you don’t want him to miss the active baby and you just want to be in his presence even if you can’t actually be in his presence. “We miss you though, John.”

He loves that. Could certainly get used to it, the ‘we’. You and the baby you share. His perfect little family.

“I’m right here.” He says, wishing he could reach out and stroke your hair softly like he so often does. “I’m not going anywhere, I’ll talk to our little baby, calm him- or her! While you sleep. Sound good love?”

He sees you nod, but you say nothing as you allow your eyes to close. John talks in a quieter voice, hushed words that he hopes his growing baby can hear. He talks about how much he loves you, how he’ll spend his life loving you and showing this little baby exactly what love looks like. He talks about the love he already has for his baby and tells the story of his you first met. It was the most beautiful the you could ever have imagined drifting off to.

Faint, fluttering kicks of the precious little life in your stomach as they listen to the words of their doting daddy talk all about just how much he loves their beautiful mama.

The first thing he does at the end of that Italy game, despite the loss, is search for you. He needs to find you, needs to hug you and needs to feel those kicks against his hands. It’s Trippier who points you out, finally, and John barrels towards you. He slows, almost stops as he stands in front of you in an 2xl England shirt with Stones printed in big red letters across the back, swollen belly stretching the material. His hands fall onto the temporary home of his little one, happy and warm inside as he ushers you out of the rambunctious crowds into the very quiet tunnel.

“We’re so proud of you!” You beam, hot salty tears pouring down over your rosy cheeks just like his do. You don’t know if the tears are from the ache of such a close loss or from that fact that he had missed you and your baby so, so much. Either way, John’s a known crier, so it could very well be both. There was also a significant number of tears when you first felt the fluttering kicks of the little baby growing in there, but you were riddled with hormones. Emotions were just everywhere.

“I missed you so much,” John rushes, pressing firm kisses against your lips, pulling back to speak only to kiss you again. He can’t get enough of you. John peppers kisses all over your face as he tells you how much he loves you, how happy he is to see you.

“And you,” he coos softly, even more tears sliding over your lash line as you get the first sound of the baby voice he swore up and down he wouldn’t have. “Daddy missed you so much, and loves you so, so, so much baby. Mama and daddy love you so much.” He’s crouched down on those long legs so he’s eye level with your bump, able to press his lips in scattered kisses over the material of the shirt. In response, he gets a firm kick and what feels like to you is some hand movements. Then an elbow is jutted up into your ribcage that steals the air from your lungs and makes you double over ever so slightly.

John grabs your hand, tangling his fingers through yours in order to lead you carefully through the tunnel to a little quiet room.

“Right, turn around.” He instructs. You shoot him an incredulous look with a firm glare to follow. “Buggar off, Stones. I told you the other day-“

“Now who’s the dirty sod, eh?” He teases, using your own words against you from only a few days ago as you realise what he was meaning.

“Not the mother of your child, I’d hope Mr Stones, or you’ll be sleeping on the street tonight.” You snip firmly, no amount of missing him could take over those pregnancy irritations and if he got on the wrong side of pregnant monster you, then he was in for it.

You do turn around as told however as you realise what it is that he wanted to do, and you are fucking thankful for it when he wraps those strong, long arms around you. They reach under your stomach, linking his hands together to get a careful and gentle lift under your belly. The sound of relief you make is one John doesn’t think he’s ever heard from a human before. There was so much relief in your face and written into the expressions of your body that John almost never wants to let go, never wants you to have to bare all that weight by yourself again. “That’s perfect.” You all but whimper. John chuckles.

“(Y/n)?” John hums, his voice that telling questioning tone you know so well.

“Mhm?”

“You called me Mister Stones just then, and said baby Stones the other day.” He notes, his words not making any real sense to you in this moment of pure bliss.

“So?” You simply lilt in return as you enjoy the relief for the muscles in the base of your back.

“Well, if it’s alright with you I’d really like to call you Mrs Stones?”

You crane your neck to look at him with his chin resting on your shoulder. The smell of his sweat mixed with his deodorant and aftershave is so familiar to you that it almost makes you cry again just at the thought of having him there. “Mrs (y/n) Stones,” John tests, pretending as though he hasn’t been thinking about his surname replacing yours in the space following your given name since the very first time you wore his shirt to a match. It’s all he’d thought about for years and now was the perfect time to make it final. The Stones family.

“I’d love that,” you sniffle with even more tears. John laughs, but his eyes and cheeks are just as wet as yours.

“Mr and Mrs Stones,” he beams, his eyes drifting back down to the baby in the bump of your belly who’s weight he still supports. “And our very own baby stones.” You add, much to his overwhelming and unadulterated joy.

“It’s perfect.”

[studyvibes]

Hello guys so I thought it would be nice to translate an interview with Maneskin which is originally in Russian.

Thank you @teatrodellavita for sending me the link for the interview ❤️

So to warn you all before you read the translated interview, this is translation everything from Russian to English so all the maneskin answers were basically translated x2 (Italian -> Russian -> English) so there might be some Chinese whisper/telephone effect. Also I struggle with Russian idioms/metaphors so I’ll note them if they are during the interview.

I’ll leave the link here so you can follow the time stamps all of the questions. Also I tried my best making a nice structure which was hard because this whole post was written on tumblr mobile app

https://youtu.be/16NIbGDcycI

(I’ll be writing in personal notes to explain some parts in italic and bold)

So the video starts with the host making a parody of 80s Italy video promoting a vinyl. I am not sure, correct me if I am wrong, but I think that’s a reference to their New Years special episode. I skipped parts of the host talking because I don’t see it relevant to the Maneskin interview. Also I’d like to note that if you want to compare the host he is similar in hosting style like Jimmy Kimmel, he trying to ask questions with a bit of humour

[2:02] Host: Our guest, the winners of Eurovision: Maneskin!!!

[2:08] Maneskin performing I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE

[4:59] Host: Maneskin!!! *clapping*

Damiano: Thank you

Host: Thank you! Grazie! (Says other random Italian phrases, which I don’t know how to spell)

[5:21] Host: I was informed that on Yandex Music in our country (YandexMusic is a streaming service) you became more popular than Billie Eilish. You are the most popular band/group in the country based on streaming your music.

Host: Tell me how do you feel about Billie Eilish? Are you happy that you surpassed quiet singing woman from America (he didn’t mean it in harsh way more like a joke way)

Victoria: Poor Billie

Damiano: We really like her. There isn’t any competition with her, it’s not that important. But we are happy that our audience is here.

*audience clapping*

[5:55] Host: (said something that I couldn’t hear because of the clapping)

Host: You know, thanks to you we noticed how much in TV and Russia we see rarer and rarer people come/visit in leather and lace

*audience laugh in the background*

Host: And honestly speaking, looking at you we realize how much we miss it, we lack it, you have very very beautiful costumes/outfits

Damiano: thank you very much

Host: it just lacking blue and then a bit we’ll have a russian flag

*audience laugh*

[6:31] Host: what are your thoughts/feelings of Russia? What are your thoughts/feelings of meeting your fans? Where did you go? You are already a couple of days here, what did you like?

Damiano: Very pretty. It is very rare when we could go for walk, we saw the Red Square. The public is very warm so we appreciate/it’s very nice.

Victoria/Damiano (Not sure if this translated part was from Victoria or Damiano): We received a lot of Vodka as gifts

Ethan: and chocolate

Host: In this country you are the first people to receive vodka as a gift. (I think it’s sarcasm because I know a lot of people who received vodka as a visitor/ gifted vodka for visitors)

*audience laughs*

Host: but it’s ok, maybe it’ll become a tradition.

[7:04] Host: Tell me, a bit, for all of us who know you after the Eurovision. How was the band created? Who first joined the band. Am I right that Thomas, Victoria, you *pointing Thomas and Victoria* you first then Damiano joined? Tell us

Thomas: We went to the same school, and during that time we met each other. Then Damiano joined our band and then we made the band. A lot of different people came to us - we were looking for a soloist and drummer

Victoria: and during that time Damiano joined us.

Victoria:We choose Damiano because he was the only who could actually sing

Thomas: and then later Ethan joined the band. We found him *pointing at Ethan* on Facebook

Host: So you wrote something that you are looking for a drummer right? How did it happen? What did you write, what to write so I can join you as the 5th member with accordion

*audience laughing*

Ethan: Accordion is a bit difficult instrument *audience laughing* to use in rock music, but you can send us your resume, we will look at it.

[8:35] Host: We have a question from our band called ‘фрукты (Fruits)’ which is performing already 10 years. So the question is: you, just like the band Fruits, started from street performing, right? Like outside nearly at the streets of Via de Corso in Rome?

Damiano: Yes

Host: When you performed outside did you already wear the same costumes/outfits? How much as an estimate did you earn a day? It’s very interesting, a lot of bands will travel to that street, to repeat your journey.

Victoria: We dressed worse

Damiano: We dressed the style of hippie, but we earned a bit of money. One time, one boy came up and dropped for us 20 euros. It didn’t matter on the day, and one time a guy/young man came up and dropped 50 euros in to our box.

*Host pointing at himself proudly, audience laughing*

Victoria: So it was you!

Host: Oofcourse

Victoria: We thought we saw your face somewhere before.

*audience laughing*

Host: Of course guys, I left the boutique and thought hmmm what do I do with useless money, ofcourse.

[9:50] Host: Also about the band Fruits I just can’t not say it, Damiano, when you turn to your profile, *asking camera men to move the camera close up to the soloist of the band Fruits* *we see her side profile* I think during your childhood you both were separated, you look so alike. Damiano, maybe you have relatives in this country.

Damiano: *Damiano laughs*

Damiano: Maybe

*continues laughing*

Host: maybe, maybe

Damiano: It is possible, my dad was in Russia. *Damiano starts to laugh more, audience and laughing and clapping, camera goes on the soloist of the band Fruits smiling looking shy/embarrassed*

Host: She has the exact same story, her mother was visiting Italy

[10:23] Host: I can’t stop talking about your costumes/outfits (positively). And that you returned us faith/hope in Italian music in our country, which we really really love here, but also faith/hope in rock music. You are a group which uses more than one guitar and doesn’t used a drum machine and suddenly became very popular that we grateful for you because the word rock appeared and returned thanks to you.

Host:It is clear that you love rock music which is now considered the past rock and know the history of rock music. If you were offered to be able to go to a concert from the past, from any band, where would you want to go? Each one of you

Damiano: maybe the performance of Queen, would’ve been fun to see

Host: Victoria, which band and which performance?

Victoria: hmmm...possibly David Bowie, his tour.

Host: Ethan?

Ethan: If it was possible to return in the past, I would’ve traveled to the Woodstock

Victoria: he has has there contacts/ connections

*Damiano imitates smoking and laughs*

Host: oh I can’t repeat that after you

Host: and Thomas?

Thomas: I would go to the 70s for Jimi Hendrix

[12:00] Host: Where do you buy your clothes? Like from the basics, so I arrive to Rome and I have more than 50 euros, thank god, and I want to buy clothes. Where do I buy the clothes?

Maneskin (I wasn’t sure who’s comment the translator translated): just in the stores

*audience laughing*

Damiano: There is nothing funny *Damiano smiling* It’s true *He starts laughing*

Host: I’ll be honest I haven’t been in Rome for a very long time. But it’s in vintage stores right?

*Maneskin agreeing*

[12:30] Host: I have a very important moment, it is that you for the first time..mm.. finally brought back what we all missed and exactly that is bright and beautiful, outlined dignity male makeup on stage. Speaking of this..... talking veryyy slow so they can translate them quickly... speaking of this, I have a small favour/request ... *he kinda goes of track for a second* who does the make up, do you do it yourself?

Maneskin: no no

Damiano: no we have makeup artists, actually one makeup artist, very talented, well done. Between all of us, Victoria is best as makeup.

Host: Yeah, but with Victoria it’s understandable, it’s clear that she start trying makeup sooner than you did.

Host: I have an offer, imagine you don’t have your makeup artist and you have a person who urgently needs makeup applied. I would like to ask if you, Damiano, and the member could apply the makeup on my face? I honestly don’t know what you need to apply to makeup *he is opening palettes of makeup*

*Damiano stands up walking towards the host

Host: (in English) Thomas if you wanna, you know help, please.

*Thomas joins Damiano*

Host:(back in Russian) Victoria you can hint them

Translator: She (Victoria) said that you (Host) choose the wrong helpers

*audience laughs*

Host: Yeah? Then come join

*Victoria and Ethan join*

(Ok here it goes messy cause they are all talking and the translator instantly translates so I might have mixed up)

*Victoria points at some makeup product (can’t see which one)*

Host: This one?! Victoria...

Damiano: wait, I’ll go first, first add a bit of eyeliner

*Damiano applies eyeliner under the eye of the host*

Victoria: you started under the eye, you should’ve started from the top

Host: *joking* I’ll also always start with this line

*Victoria smiling shakes her head, audience laughing*

Damiano: Its the type of makeup you wear when you go grocery shopping

*Audience is laughing, host tries not to laugh while Damiano is applying eyeliner on him*

Host: I was actually planning to go grocery shopping

*Thomas and Victoria start applying eyeshadow on different parts of hosts face*

Host: Sto-wha- already other parts being applied?

*Audience laughing*

Host: Ok guys... but..

Host: Ethan is it ok? Your the only one I can trust in this group

Support host in the background: he’ll need to be returning home (as a joke implying he needs to look decent when he leaves the studio)

*Victoria applies makeup on the host lips*

Host: Also lips?! Hmmm

Ethan: you look good

Damiano: close your eyes *applies upper eyeliner*

Damiano: (in English) I don’t know what I am doing

Host: (in Russian) you don’t know what you are doing? No, that’s too late to tell me.

Damiano: (in English) that’s why we have a makeup artist

Host: (in Russian) no, wait, now your make up artist will say why am I even needed by this band.

Ethan: just a final touch *applies eyeshadow on the tip of the hosts nose, and walks away with two thumbs up*

*host laughs and then picks up mirror to look at the work*

Host: not bad guys, to be honest, not bad.

Damiano: (in Italian) No it’s true, look how pretty he is, very pretty

Host: guys I want to tell you one thing: never fire your make up artist

*audience laughing*

Host: Thank you for your visit and we are very grateful for your performance

Host: And what can I say, we are waiting here and with the whole company will to you concert. Grazie mille

————————————

Ooooooff that took wayyyy longer I planned, it was hard because I had to relisten some parts to know who actually said, like it is easier when it’s only one person cause I get to translate quicker.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this translation, if you have any maneskin interviews in Russian or German (warning: my German is a bit ruff from lack of practicing) which you would like me to translate, message me :)

[allergekko-arts]

Terms of service and additional info under read more:

My commission queue

READ BEFORE COMMISSONING:

I WILL draw:

- animals (anthro, feral, pets, any species ok) - humans - original characters - mild to moderate gore - nudity (commissioner must be 18 or older)

Ask first about:

- ships - real people - fanart of existing medias - sexual themes (commissioner must be 18 or older) - heavy gore (commissioner must be 18 or older)

I WILL NOT draw:

- anything promoting hate speech - overly complicated mecha and armor; I'm just not very good at it - illegal NSFW scenes (r*pe, incest, anything involving minors)

TOS:

- By commissioning me you agree to my terms of service, even if you have not read them through. - I have the right to refuse any commission I’m not comfortable with. - The commissioner is allowed to reupload the finished artwork to their social media, provided that they give proper credit and my signature is clearly visible in the picture. They can also print out the artwork for PERSONAL use. - If the commissioner wishes to use the artwork in personal mugs, t-shirts etc, contact me and we can discuss it. - The commissioner is not allowed to use the artwork for commercial purposes. - Payment is upfront in Euro (€) or USD ($) via Paypal invoice only (for people living in Finland, bank transfer is accepted). Do not send me any money before I have sent you the invoice. I will only start working on your commission once the payment has come through. - In case I will not be able to finish the commission, you will be refunded fully. Otherwise, refunds are not available.

TOS for any NSFW pieces:

- Commissioned artwork counts as NSFW, if it contains any of the following: heavy gore (visible organs, large amounts of blood or injuries), both sexual and non-sexual nudity, sexual themes, fetishes - When commissioning any artwork with NSFW themes you have to be 18+ years old, no expectations. This goes for all the people involved with the commission (e.g. the piece is a gift for a friend) and the characters. I will not be drawing any NSFW pieces involving underage characters, even if the characters are not involved with anything sexual. - I am not here to shame, but like with any of my commissions, I have the right to refuse anything that makes me uncomfortable.

CUSTOM DESIGNS - When ordering a custom design, feel free to provide me with any ideas you have, be it color palettes, existing characters, specific features etc. Or I could surprise you, if you’d like! - You can request as many changes as you want during the designing phase. - Once you’re happy with your new design, you’re free to alter it to fit your individual style and add accessories, but I would prefer you kept the design as is. If you see something you dislike, let me know and I can redesign the character for you. - Please credit me for the design.

HOW TO COMMISSION

   1.      Start by contacting me via any of my socials. Please be patient if I don’t answer right away, I might live in a different time zone than you!

   2.      Provide me with a visual OR a detailed written reference of the character of your choice. Feel free to add anything from specific color palettes to expressions to pose ideas if you have something specific in mind.

   3.      At this point I give you the price of the commission and add any extra fees for background, complicated designs etc. if necessary.

   4.      If we agree on the price, I will start working on a rough sketch. At this point you can ask me to change anything in the piece from little details to even a completely new pose. Please keep in mind that after this stage I will not be doing any changes to the commission unless it is my mistake (e.g. I forget a detail of your character that is visible/written down in the reference). When you’re happy with the sketch, I will send you the invoice via Paypal.

   5.      After the payment has come through, I will start working on the piece. You’re free to ask for updates anytime, but I would ask you to please be patient and keep in mind the estimated deadline I give you.

   6.      Done!

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

And now I’ve watched episode 3 of Walker because of reasons. (You guys asked, that’s reasons.) #2

If you guys haven’t seen part 1, go see it immediately. Because of reasons. This time, reasons is Slutty Glitter Cowboy Stripper. No, it’s not a joke.

Yeah, I’m not sure what’s happening either.

I can’t believe they’re airing cowboy strippers in Supernatural’s air slot and Dean Winchester isn’t there. I think this is why they had to kill Dean, because otherwise he would have ripped through the CW’s show layout and appeared in Walker sponteneously, instantly adopting Walker’s entire family and friends as his own and single-handedly implementing the depolicement of the state of Texas, with Castiel rolling his eyes at him in the background while he murders ICE agents at the US-Mexican border.

*slides the CW a twenty euro bill* so I have an idea for season 2 of Walker

Anyway, there’s this lady Walker and Ramirez are doing a stakeout on, a woman called Torreto who is presumably part of some criminal organization since they’re doing a stakeout on her, and who’s bisexual given she was being entertained by a lady and a guy at a strip club. Which is like, fine, not problematic at all, alright.

So the stripper straddles her and is like ~wanna come with me in the back, and she’s like ~maybe another time, and he’s like ~torreto i saw cops outside you probably wanna come to the back with me, and she’s like ~mmm yeah that sounds like a good idea. We were rooting for you, slutty glitter cowboy stripper! We were all rooting for you! Or not.

Meanwhile, Walker has horrible car manners.

Also, he asks her how her parents were to her growing up, which is a question you normally ask to people you’re not close to when you want to do some small talk. For some reason she brings up a friend she had some ~crazy teen years~ with, called Garrison, which doesn’t make me think of angels in Supernatural, no, I am a normal person.

But then people start coming out of the strip club, but not Torreto. So they go in.

Torreto is not there, so Walker just stops the first person he sees and he’s literally like ~excuse me, do you know if there’s someone in the back. The visual is hilarious

“Excuse me, sir, have you seen my brother from another show, I suspect he might be here”

Give me a spinoff about this strip club.

Anyway, the guys answers, “No, why, you two interested?” to which they immediately answer “no!” at the same time, and share a look which makes me think we’re supposed to be like ~~ooh, talking in unison moment! or something...?

Meanwhile their truck gets stolen, and Walker yells that his bobblehead is in there. Cue disgruntled Jared face.

Oh man. We are at the title card. It’s less than 6 minutes. This will never end.

It was night, now it’s day, and Stella and August are walking around Austin. He’s mimicking David Attenborough, describing the teenagers around them as though he was doing a documentary about animals.

Two girls approach them, bringing up a party that’s taking place tomorrow. She says it’s not the best idea with her court date approaching. The girls are like, your dad can figure something out, he’s an elite ranger or something and also owes you for disappearing for a year. She’s like, he’s being kind of cool, I don’t want to ruin this, and the girls “call BS” because this is like “the best party of the year”.

Ruby, the girl August has been hanging out with, appears and August goes from “nah the party is not my thing” to “I’ll totally be there” in like 0.02 seconds.

I cannot overstate how much I am not interested in high schooler drama.

Meanwhile, at the Walker Seniors’ place, Walker’s parents are preparing the table for a family dinner. From their banter we can infer someone’s who ~is like family although he isn’t “blood”~ is coming for dinner and Grandpa Walker doesn’t like him at all and actually expects the guy to steal their china and bourbon. “It’s been years, could you please give him a chance?” Grandma Walker says, and he accepts, although she grabs the fancy bourbon from behind his back.

Meanwhile, at the police station, all the cops are having a briefing about Torreto, the woman at the strip club. She apparently steals weapons all over Texas and sells them over the border at triple the cost. Remember that Torreto escaped from Walker and Ramirez because she stole their truck while they were inside the strip club. Ramirez is worried she’ll already become the laughingstock of the precinct.

Uh. James plays security camera footage from outside the strip club. Walker and Ramirez’ truck was stolen by Torreto and the cowboy stripper himself.

Obviously the other cops laugh when Ramirez admits it was her truck.

James tells them to find Torreto, find the truck, and find out who the naked cowboy is.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Then Walker drives home, and as soon as he gets out of his car, you know how in the Supernatural pilot Dean gets into Sam’s apartment and wrestles him before revealing it’s him to ~test if his fighting skills are rusty and laughs when Sam realizes it’s him? Alright, now think intensely and guess how Walker’s like-a-brother best friend is introduced. Think intensely! It’s really difficult to guess!

Something something about violence and male intimacy except this is too ridiculous to, you know, write something serious about it.

“Oh, man!” the guy laughs, lying on the ground where Walker threw him. “The look on your face!”

“You son of a-”

“Oh, c’mon man, don’t talk bad of a mother I never knew.”

I’m facepalming soooo hard. This is the first thing we learn about him (well, after the fact that he definitely stole something from the Walkers’ house in the past), that he never knew his mother!

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

GUYS

I AM SO SORRY

I am faceblind I didn’t realize

THE GUY IS THE STRIPPER

I REPEAT

THE “DEAN BUT IN JARED PADALECKI’S MIND” CHARACTER IS THE SLUTTY GLITTER COWBOY STRIPPER

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

I SWEAR MY HANDS ARE COLD AND CLAMMY

I AM EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS NO WORDS EXIST IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE

Oh my god guys. I am so sorry.

“You did your touchdown victory dance before you stole my partner’s truck!” Walker exclaims. “I should arrest you right here and right now!”

The guy acts like he has no idea what Walker is talking about, and says he’s in town to see his best pal.

Walker keeps accusing him, but then his mother appears, super thrilled to see him, and Walker lets is go.

They’re at dinner (NotDean brought wagyu steaks, which obviously means he does crime for a living) and Walker’s mother tells him to say grace, which he does in a semi-serious, semi-mocking way. Obviously NotDean does not believe in god, but he’s grateful for the people around him.

Stella calls him uncle, in case you missed that this is supposed to be a friend whom Walker loves likeabrother.

He talks about jobs he did here and there, and Walker and his brother tease him asking if he’s been to some prisons around the country. Stella doesn’t get the joke and NotDean explains it to her, adding, “now, from what I hear, I’m not the only outlaw in this family”. Grandpa Walker leaves the room.

NotDean asks Stella if she’s going to the bonfire (the party they were talking about earlier) and tells her that her mother started the thing when they were young. She didn’t know that. This is supposed to be a Meaningful moment.

Meanwhile the stolen truck is found... at Walker’s ranch. Gasp! What a shocking turn of events.

NotDean gives Stella advice on how to act in court to get on the judge’s good graces, “which means acting”. “Please don’t get legal advice from a criminal” walker’s brother Liam says. Is the gay brother also a NotDean of sorts, to be fair? Well, CriminalNotDean tells her to dress her best and cry. ActualbrotherNotDean tells her to use the correct legal arguments. Walker just stops them, quoting something Ramirez said earlier in the episode, “nobody benefits from the easy route”. Stella is like, what does that mean, which, mood, but Grandma Walker interrupts bringing in a plate of different hot chilis. Apparently they have a tradition of a competition. Which we don’t even see. Boo.

Ramirez finds the truck... right outside the Walkers’ house. Grandpa Walker, who’d gone outside, points a rifle to her and she explains what she’s doing there. They introduce themselves and she is like, sir why is the man who stole my truck inside your house? “Wife invited him to dinner.”

She’s like, I need to arrest him. But he’s like, I bet there’s not enough evidence to arrest him, or my son would have done it. Join me for steak and burbon in the bunkhouse! As one does. So they have wagyu and bourbon together, and she asks him what’s the guy’s story.

So NotDean and Walker grew up together, NotDean had a rough life, “my wife has a soft spot for strays, she can’t give up on him”. But Grandpa Walker doesn’t feel the same. He tells her that she cannot arrest him tonight, but it’s only a matter of time before the guy gives her enough rope. He adds that Walker has a blind spot for faces from the past, and needs someone to fix that.

Meanwhile dinner’s over and NotDean calls a uber. He and Walker arrange to meet the next day and hang out like old times. Eventually, Walker tells him that if he is involved in this case, he will have to take him down. “Theoretically, if you catch me.” They do a manly hug with manly pats, and the guy leaves. “Theoretically, go to hell,” Walker says after he’s left.

The next day, NotDean brings Walker to a storage in the middle of nowhere... full of cursed objects, no wait, wrong show. What’s inside the storage is the red Mustang. Walker is shocked that he hasn’t lost it in some bet - which apparently is how he got the car from Walker in the first place. Now NotDean says that, after everything Walker’s been through, he deserves a chance to win it back.

Glowy flashback of Walker and his wife in the car, right after the scene in the beginning of the episode. They bet it during poker night, decision of Emily, because Walker is “starting to get attached to her”. Emily teases him for calling the car a she, and Walker decides to call the car Stella.

They gave their daughter the name of a car they lost at poker.

Oh. She tells him she’s pregnant.

So, apparently, they had their first daughter when they were broke, to the point they had to try and get money at poker for a bigger place and baby things. That’s... kind of irresponsible.

Meamwhile, Ramirez goes to James to tell him about the thing, but James already figured NotDean was involved, because apparently stealing things and returning them is just something he does. “Why are you so calm about this?” she asks. He says because they cannot pin anything on him. Questioning him could scare the big crime lady. So he tells her to just keep an eye on him. “Walker, Torreto or Hoyt [NotDean]” she asks. “Yes” he answers.

Blah blah. I apologize, I’m being too detailed. I’m just bored by this. Ah, a butcher’s truck was stolen right after the strip club thing, guess where NotDean got the wagyu steaks.

Walker and NotDean go to the bar with the bartender who’s their friend, and NotDean flirts with her. They start playing poker, when Ramirez arrives, and has some banter with NotDean and spills some glitter on him that she found in the truck. He buys her a drink and she arrests him for trying to bribe a police officer. Walker is shocked.

At the precinct, he says they cannot prove he’s working with big crime lady. But she brings up he stole the wagyu steaks.

She calls him out for trying to be everyone’s friend even if they do something wrong, also with Stella.

She says she can hold NotDean for 24 hours, long enough to figure out the big crime lady’s plans. Common trope in cop shows. Arrest someone without proof, you have to release them after 24 hours, but the cop finds proof and bam, forgiven for arresting someone without proof.

I know you’re bored, I’m bored too.

Actually, nope, it goes differently and kind of worse. In the interrogation room, Ramirez offers NotDean a deal: he tells her where the big crime lady’s weapon deal is happening, and walks free. He points the location on a map and he compliments her. Walker is watching from the cameras and is shook.

Meanwhile the bonfire is happening, and Stella is there with her girl friends. So is August, breakdancing to impress girls. We don’t care.

Meanwhile, a lot of cops in serious cop gear surround the location NotDean pointed at. Nobody’s there, though.

What is there, is the red Mustang with the creepy bobblehead in it and a letter from NotDean that says he gives him the car back because it was always his wife’s.

Walker figures out where the deal is actually happening - the storage where the red Mustang was before.

Meanwhile, at the bonfire, August is drunk on booze he stole from Grandpa Walker and brought to the party. He asks Stella if she’s trying to drive their father away, breaking the law and all, he asks if she wants him to leave again. Then he throws up. She calls Walker but he obviously doesn’t answer. So she calls her uncle, who’s doing shopping with his partner or something. They’re buying cake? Doing cake testing for their wedding? Maybe.

Meanwhile, NotDean calls Grandma Walker to tell her he cannot go mushroom hunting with her tomorrow but needs to leave town, and he’s sorry to let her down again. She tells him that just because his family’s bad, doesn’t mean he is too. “You saved my boy, and I’ll never forget that” she says. Oooh, that’s so intriguing!, nobody says. They share a cute moment and then he hangs up, while the weapon deal goes down around him.

Uncle Liam and his partner pick up the kids, and Stella asks him if he’ll be in court with her tomorrow. He says he can’t, because it’s her father’s decision to make.

August turns up music and they all sing in the car. It’s funny how everyone’s got better chemistry with everyone else except with Walker. I know it’s, like, on purpose for plot reasons, but still, Walker’s interactions with everyone feel so stilted compared to anyone else. And it’s not the other characters are that compelling.

The police arrives at the location of the weapon deal, and NotDean gets arrested trying to steal the truck again. Ramirez gives a speech how that’s hard but it’s the right thing to do. Walker makes a comment about tough love, implying Stella needs to get that too.

The next day, they leave for Stella’s court thing on the red Mustang. It took Walker three episodes, but now they also have a cool classic car to show off! Yay! *eyeroll*

Meanwhile, Grandma Walker and Grandpa Walker have a conversation about their failing marriage or something.

Ramirez goes to the bar to apologize to the bartender for arresting NotDean. They have a drink together and if lesbians were watching this they’d start shipping them, but no lesbians are watching this. They’re wiser than me.

Stella got like a gazillion hours of community service and her license suspended. She’s upset, but since she has her license for one more day he teaches her how to drive the Mustang.

Wait. Americans don’t learn to drive normal cars when they get their license?? They only learn to drive cars with automatic gear?? What the hell??

They drive while August runs after the car to get over his hangover or something.

Would be a cute moment if the entire thing wasn’t so cheesy and weird.

Well. We know NotDean is a recurring role so we’ll see more of him. (Well, I’m not sure I will be there to watch, because this is boring af.)

This episode used all its interest coins in the strip club scene and then became dreadfully boring. I don’t even have some witty line to close this post.

This was a rollercoaster that went my brain go through a blender in the first six minutes or so and then killed the remaining braincells through boredom.

That’s it guys. What can I say. This is the CW’s Walker. Yee.

[firespirited]

Today i did water bottles, helped sis make pie with leftover apples and tried to get the dogs used to splashing around in a small old sink tub, they didn't like getting their paws wet so we did bobbing for frozen apple pieces.

Video essays i enjoyed (watched a bunch of 20 minute ones at 1.25 because I'm not in the mood for hours on [specific nuances through time of specific bigotries] or [trendy grift] :

This guy patiently explains why Anglo-Saxon doesn't mean much to brits, it's a chaotic part of our chaotic beginnings. I just tell people they don't understand how 23 and me works, sold their dna to shady people and got 'standard euro mutt' .

Shaun articulates exactly what i feel about Ex Machina (except that i'd want to add that sentient intelligence in machines may not manifest in a way that we can directly translate to human concepts, the law is not ready. Human rights aren't even enshrined let alone sentient rights) .

If anyone knows a channel that goes into ya-adult tv from the early 90s onwards: reviews, analysis, critique I'd love that especially stuff like Dark angel, Dresden files Constantine, Stargate and all the syfy, bbc and cbc stuff.

There's a whole new set of deep dives into video games, anime and cartoons every week but I don't game, I'm picky about cartoons (SU was pretty good, i do prefer a batman tas) and can't watch subs without being close to the monitor, I kinda wish I could get into that, people put a lot of thought into it.

I don't like to pirate recent movies worth supporting (disney can rot tho) so MANY currently relevant video essays by people I respect are off limits until a bunch of films get to digital release in France: 17 months from theatrical release. You can bypass it for netflix with a vpn but anywhere else sees the french address on my paypal or creditcard and denies purchase. It's a protect the industry thing, like not homebrewing. Might make no sense but they do have to invest a portion of the money made back into film, you'll often see studio canal or pathé on films. That's money from french people going to cinemas and using canalplus for a 15 oh wait lmgt 6 month release window.