#annie lennox gets nothing huh

[ladykailitha]

Grief (A Friend Indeed) Part 5

Thank you for all the great responses to this story it really means a lot.

Now they are doing a singing thing in this chapter, it's not that chapter yet. This is a prelude to that. Plus, I wanted to have Steve sing "Somebody' by Depeche Mode off the same album him and Lauren were talking about in the last chapter. Change the pronouns and it's definitely about all things Steve loves about Eddie.

I also added Lauren singing "Here Comes the Rain Again" from the suggestion in the poll because it's such a great song.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

***

Steve questioned the wisdom of going out to a bar their first day in Ashland, tired as both Eddie and he were. But at the same time it was also nice to get out and just have fun.

Apparently Danny’s brother Hal ran the joint so Lauren, Eddie, and he could come in. As long as they didn’t try and get booze they were fine to do anything else. Pool, darts, and even a little stage for people to sing.

Hal told them that he tried to get one of those newfangled karaoke machines but that they were on back order until Christmas. But they were more then welcome to sing their heart out to jukebox in the corner.

Lauren got up there and sang Here Comes the Rain Again by the Eurythmics.

“Falling on my head like a new emotion,” she crooned, just as low and melodic as Annie Lennox. “I wanna walk in the open wind. I wanna talk lovers do. Want dive into you ocean, is it raining with you?”

“Are all you Munsons talented in the music department?” Steve asked Eddie as he watched Lauren continue to belt out the song.

Eddie laughed. “No. I don’t know about my dad, but Wayne can’t carry a tune to save his life.”

“Maybe he’s talented in other ways,” Steve said with a wink. “Who taught you how to play guitar?”

Eddie ran his tongue over the top row of his teeth. “He did.”

“Uh huh,” Steve said with a grin. “And who bought you your first guitar?”

He sighed. “He did.”

“Sounds to me like he’s a good teacher if nothing else,” Steve finished with a grin.

“God you’re so annoying when you’re right,” Eddie huffed.

“That’s because I rarely am and so when that happens, I get to gloat.”

Lauren came bouncing back to the table. “Who’s next?”

“Toss you for it?” Steve said.

“You’re on.”

Eddie pulled out a quarter. “Heads or tails?”

“Heads.”

Steve watched as the coin sailed into the air and Eddie deftly catch it in his large hand. He slapped in on the top of his other hand.

“Tails!’ Eddie crowed. “You’re next, pretty boy!”

Steve leaned over and looked at the coin. He rolled his eyes and marched over to the jukebox, beginning to pour over the choices. He picked one and walked up to the stage.

He grabbed the microphone as the first notes came through the tinny jukebox speakers.

Eddie watched in awe. He had never heard Steve sing. Not really, fooling around in the car and being annoying for the kids wasn’t the same as what he was seeing in front of him.

“Did you know he could sing like that?” Lauren asked, not taking her eyes off the stage. “God, he could make money off that voice.”

Eddie could only agree. “I’ve never heard him like this.”

“She will listen to me when I want to speak about the world we live in and life in general,” Steve sang, his eyes half closed as he leaned into the microphone, one hand raised. “Though my views may be wrong, they may even be perverted she’ll hear me out and won’t easily be converted to my way of thinking. In fact, she’ll often disagree, but at the end of it all she will understand me.”

Lauren looked over at Eddie. “You know this is on that album him and I were talking about earlier. The Depeche Mode one.”

Eddie turned to her. “The one with the song he listened to a billion times?”

She nodded. “It’s called Lie to Me. It’s where the album title comes from. That girlfriend, the one with the dead friend, she really fucked him up, didn’t she?”

Eddie sighed. “I wasn’t there for that. We didn’t become friends until way after that. But yeah, I’m beginning to see exactly how much she fucked him up.”

She looked up at Steve crooning the last lines of the song. “Do you think if the world was different he would have changed the pronouns of the song?”

Eddie looked back at Steve as he bowed to thunderous applause. “You know, think he just might have.”

He stood up and greeted Steve with a hug. “Holy shit, man. That was amazing. Where did you learn to sing like that?”

Steve just blushed. “It’s your turn now.”

He went up to Hal and whispered something to him. Hal nodded.

Eddie got on stage and Hal came from behind with a small amp and a black-bodied electric guitar. He handed the guitar to Eddie and then began fiddling with the amp.

“Hey, guys,” Eddie said into the microphone. “Some of you might remember me, I’m Hal’s nephew, Eddie and I play metal.”

He started the opening riff to Run to the Hills and belted out the lyrics. Everyone was on their feet in an instant, Steve and Lauren with them.

Steve was cheering and laughing. It was nice to see Eddie play again after that horrific spring break from literal hell.

As soon as he was done he handed the guitar back to Hal and stepped off the stage.

“You are a beast, Eddie Munson,” Steve said, pounding him on the back when he got back to their table.

Eddie shoved his hair into his mouth to hide his blush. “Thanks.”

Steve ordered another round of sodas for them as they got to talking about their musical influences and who they would love to meet.

It hit ten o’clock and Hal was ushering them out as well as couple other under-aged kids who were there playing darts.

Once they hit the pavement Steve asked about it.

“Anyone under twenty-one always gets kicked out at ten,” Lauren explained. “It’s always been one of Uncle Hal’s rules since he bought this place when I was ten.”

Eddie nodded. “He doesn’t want anyone getting hurt for when the alcohol really starts flowing.”

“Too bad the funeral wasn’t next week,” Lauren said, shoulder checking him. “Then you could’ve stayed later.”

“Your birthday is next week?” Steve asked. “Why didn’t I know that?”

Eddie blushed.

“Because this weirdo doesn’t like to celebrate his birthday,” Lauren teased.

“Look,” Eddie said, “having a summer birthday sucks, okay? Especially if all you have is school friends who don’t give you their phone numbers or their addresses so you can invite them. And by the time you get old enough for that not to be a problem, you just don’t care anymore.”

Steve nodded. “I can understand that. My parents never really celebrated birthdays and by the time I got friends that wanted to celebrate, I learned very fast that it was for my big house and the expectation of an even bigger party.”

“Ouch,” Lauren said with a wince. “Maybe you two should pick a date to be your birthdays and celebrate whenever you want. It doesn’t have to be the actual date you were born. A lot of people that have birthdays on holidays and on leap years do it that way.”

“Oohh,” Steve said to Eddie, “yours should be March 27th.”

Eddie threw his head back and laughed. “Then when would yours be?”

Steve thinks about for a moment. “Either 3rd or 12th of November I guess.”

“Why those dates?” Lauren asked looking between them in curiosity.

“The third is when I chose my found family over a life of peace,” Steve explained.

“And the 12th?” Eddie asked.

Steve scoffed and shook his head. “That was the day I knew I was meant for more in life then dodging bad parents, letting my friends be assholes, and smoking and drinking my life away. I didn’t realize it then, of course. But yeah, that day means a lot.”

Eddie closed his eyes. “Steve...”

He shook his head. “It’s fine. I don’t miss who I was.”

Lauren was even more confused because they seemed to be talking about something deeper than what was actually said.

“This has to do with all the bullshit Hawkins went through, right?” she asked. “The lab, the gas leak, the earthquake. That’s what you’re talking about?”

Eddie and Steve looked at each other and nodded.

“Something like that,” Eddie confirmed.

*

The next morning while Steve was on the phone with Robin, Lauren dragged Eddie into her room.

“Look, you don’t have to like the music,” she explained handing him a cassette tape.

Eddie looked at the tape. Some Great Reward by Depeche Mode, he sighed.

“But at least listen to it,” she said. “I have it queued to that song he mentioned, Lie to Me. Even if you don’t listen to the rest of it, I think you should hear that one. I think you’ll learn more about your friend.”

“Laurie...” he said with a sigh. “If he wanted me to know, he would have told me, don’t you think?”

“That depends,” she said. “Do you like his ex?”

Eddie reared back is head with a frown. Did he like Nancy? He guessed well enough. He had come to respect her, at the very least. He liked Steve more, sure. But yeah, if she called to go see a movie, he wouldn’t turn her down.

“Yeah, I guess.”

Lauren grabbed him by the arms and maneuvered him to sit on her bed. “I have known Steve for less than twenty four hours and I can already tell he’s the most self-sacrificing idiot since Jesus fucking Christ.”

Eddie opened his mouth to protest, but she raised an eyebrow and he was forced to concede her point, waving his hand at her.

“So believe me,” she continued, “when I say that he hasn’t told you shit about what went down with his ex is because he doesn’t want to ruin things between you and her.”

Eddie nodded. “I know it’s a big fucking ask...” he sighed. “But see if you can find out what happened, maybe he’ll tell you and you can at least give me advice on how to navigate that mine field so I’m accidentally blowing up shit.”

Lauren nodded. “I can’t guarantee shit, but yeah, I’ll try.” She sat down next to him and leaned around to look him in the eyes. “He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

Eddie clasped his hands together and nodded, pursing his lips.

“Does he know about your…certain proclivities?” She looked up at the door to make sure no one was around.

He did the same and then nodded again, not trusting himself to speak.

“And he’s okay with that?” Lauren pressed.

“His best friend is gay and encouraged me to come out to him, too,” Eddie said. “He’s a really good dude.”

Lauren pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. “Are you in love with him?”

Eddie sighed. “Yeah, yeah I am.”

Then they heard running up the stairs and suddenly Steve was the door.

“Hey guys,” he said. “Penny told me to come get you both, she needs help preparing for the wake tonight.”

Eddie and Lauren shared a glance.

“We’ll be right there, Stevie,” Eddie said with a smile.

Steve nodded and dashed back down the stairs.

“Do you think he heard?” Lauren asked, staring at the place Steve was once standing.

Eddie just shrugged. He couldn’t have, could he? They heard him come up the stairs, after all.

Right?

***

Pt 6|Pt 7|Pt 8|Pt 9|Pt 10|Pt 11|Pt 12

Some people love having a summer birthday. Growing up, I most certainly did NOT. As for the dates Steve brings up Nov. 12 1983 is the day he chose to run back inside the Byers house and battle a demogorgon. Nov 3rd 1984 is when Dustin intercepts Steve's apology to Nancy to help him find Dart. Both are very significant to Steve in his journey to be a better person.

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @messrs-weasley @goodolefashionedloverboi @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @emly03 @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @vecnuthy @littlewildflowerkitten @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @gutterflower77 @genderless-spoon @hel-spawn @ellietheasexylibrarian @anne-bennett-cosplayer @mamafaithful @yikes-a-bee

[bluebellswood]

Preludes

1. West Prelude (West + East)

Location of Festival: City of Wealth, Heavenly Imperial Palace?

Akira and Chloe being worried while Shylock Murr and Rustica.. if u lived that long nothing worries u much anymore HAHHAHA

Chloe is so gonna get bald from stress from these grandpas

Rustica losing sense of time even tho he's a mid range wizard age afdsnjfdg NO im surprised he even remembered that since his memory us like a goldfish

When Antonio said Akira had no charms and the Eastern wizard all went huh together.. they so cute.. thanku for getting angry on Akira's behalf uuuueu piennn

I like the display where Shino Faust and Nero responded to the situation and what they should have done

>Shino? Getting rid of humans. Eastern

>Faust? Being prepared and leading. Central

>Nero? Getting someone stronger to deal with it since the weaker ones have no power. Northern

Old Murr stubborn. Doesnt want to cooperate bc he wants to continue his research on gambling

Old MurrShy. What else do I have to say

Shylock betting his bar and current Murr losing the gamble...

Old Murr gave up and

WHY? BC SHYLOCK'S BAR IS IMPORTANT TO HIM... his favourite... he cant lose it

oh god it hits so different after second anni... knowing that it is where he turns to where he hits rock bottom.. when he has no one else, when he has nowhere else to go to.......... shylock and his bar is murr's constant..........................................

2. Central Prelude (Central + South)

Location of Festival: Mesa, cursed ancient city. Oz (+figgy) destroyed the place... spirit cursing them (tbf the city hunts wizard so I think its only far. karma)

Owen's eyeball protected Cain <3

Moment of danger and Arthur remembered his childhood with Oz... god..... when Oz said he prayed for

Wizard king, the Devil, the strongest Wizard, he has all the power in the world and he stilled prayed for Arthur's happiness and health because its something he cant control even if he wants to grant Arthur it--- wants to prevent Arthur from suffering and going through hardship.... that is all he wanted from the world.

also oh my god Oz being scared of Arthur dying before him....

Oz sounded so urg i dont know whats the word. desperate? so like urggjdfgndgdngslkdg

FUDGE MITHRA LIZARD TELLING MITILE TO RUN AWAY AND GOING NOPENOPENOPE IS SO FUNNY man aint dealing with this shit TT

Lennox telling Figaro he's a better person than Figaro the funniest shit ever. Yes, tell him what he deserved.

But I rlly like Lennox's words. Even if Figaro and Oz are Northern wizards at the core, their nature does change.. people's nature change but they're still them at the core (what am i cooking)

Oz found Arthur and starts to appreciate peace and whatnot

Figaro being protective for the Mitile and Rutile...... (tbh i cant say much on this part bc while he is protective he is also. scratches head. figgy things)

Login Story, AJSDJDAJ SNABAKA AGAIN.

Futago sensei: we lack something

Owen: Cream. I could eat more cream.

Futago sensei: NO. we lack teamwork. locking everyone up till u compliment each other

Sanbaka: lets fight them so we can get out of the room. its better than complimenting each other (thats a form of teamwork... i guess....)

OK BUT THE EAST ONE SO WARMING... FAUST SENSEIIIII... ordering everyone to rest bc he knows Shino and the like will push themselves bc they dont know their limit yet ueueueu looking out for everyone... sensei ever...

2. East Prelude (East+ North)

oh i think it’s been a few weeks since i reread so my thoughts are all jumbled up now but East Prelude is indeed my favourite

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

Eleven things I noted about CR2E86 “The Cathedral” and the Talks Machina about it :

the bizarre coincidence of watching the episode after the ExU:Calamity finale, where Matt and Brennan used almost the same decor of their grandiose maps... also all of the talks about the Betrayer Gods and Ioun and the Divergence... anyway I got ExU:Calamity on my brain, can't you tell

I really hope Annie Lennox is a Critter as well.

The battle map is SO PRETTY !! I don't like the Catholic Church as a structure, but they really went off witht the stained glass, and I love me some good stained glass.

The image of Caleb's Cat Claw breaking through the window : awesome.

ASHLEY'S BAAAAAAACK !!! I love that she does a victory lap across the studio, even though right now Yasha is fighting against the Mighty Nein.

Oh no, the imagery of Yasha attacking Beau, and then stabbing her almost-corpse on the ground (taking 2 death saves) 'evokes an image you've seen once before"... the parallelism with Molly...

Caduceus is the MVP of this fight. They did it, those crazy kids did it, now Yasha's free and "There's nothing but the storm, vengeance and hope" (what a good line !)

I don't have anything clever to write, this fight was just very tense.

Whaaaaaat ???? Obann the Punished ???? Liam and Laura, in very small voices : "Did shit just get worse ?"

Huh, interesting, Matt compared Obann and Yasha to the Purple Man and Jessica Jones, a show that I liked very much - even though the Purple Man was FUCKING CREEPY AS HELL - and was very sad about when they were canceled

Oh, wow, can you imagine, if they haven't dispelled the charm on Yasha ? And Obann had managed to break the fane ?? Matt saying Yasha would have become an evil NPC is so crazy to think about.

"Isolation is an incubator that turns mistakes into habits." Oh wow Brian. WOW. No joke, I'm gonna think about that line for the rest of my life.

[omgnsfwisnsfw-blog]

NSFW #18: Purple Reign

his was a particularly desolate patch of desert scrubland- nothing but dry, cracked soil, cacti, and scraggly looking sagebrush for miles around. The sky was wide and clear and blue, without a single cloud to dampen the vivid sunshine as it beat down its mercilessly hot rays onto the baked, parched ground. The heat cast mirage waves on the far horizon, the lines between ground and sky a deceptively wet-looking blur- and out of this mirage, something came racing forward, kicking up great clouds of dust into the arid atmosphere. The whitewall tires hugged the nearly invisible path of the dirt road cutting through the wastes. Despite the dusty surroundings, nothing seemed to mar the arctic white paintjob of the vintage Challenger as it roared further into the depths of the middle of nowhere. “You make me sick.” The first thing we see of the speaker is a pair of brown eyes, framed in the rearview mirror. A pair of hands clutched on the brown leather of the steering wheel, so colored to compliment the Challenger’s knotty-pine looking dash. The rest of the interior was done in black, the bucket seats in leather. Annie Lennox’s ‘Walking On Broken Glass’ was just audible from the radio speakers. The driver’s dark eyes stared intensely into the reflection. “Huh?” The passenger’s head turned. Their hair was the glossy black of new dye, tied in a shortening knot at the back of their head, and though the voice had a lower timbre, the shape of their face was somewhat softer than the tone would suggest. Their nose twitched, as if tickled by their moustache. Both men were dressed sharp, the driver in a charcoal suit and lavender dress shirt with the first two buttons undone, the passenger in an off-white suit with a grey shirt and a silver and turquoise bolo tie. The driver was startled out of his trance at his passenger’s question, breaking eye contact with himself just long enough to look at the other man - one eye on the terrain in front of him. “Nothing. Just practicing my lack of self awareness.” The car hit a slight bump. Something large in the trunk rattled about. The driver’s grip on the wheel tightened as he reasserted control. The passenger looked out at the passing scenery, bleak as it may be. “Dude. I don’t see any statues out here.” “We don’t do that anymore. Not since Conner’s Career Matters.” The driver surveyed the surroundings ahead of him as if searching for just the right place. “Just the four of us.” He looked to the backseat briefly, nodding at the unknown pair in the back. “Where’s Noon?” The passenger pondered that with a tap of the chin. “Uh, he said something about not wanting to be complicit.” “No matter. Here is as good as any place.” His eyes flickered towards something of interest. His foot shifted from the gas to the brake, rolling the muscle car to a stop and pulling the automatic shift into park, the music cutting dead short and plunging the scene into a tense silence. The doors opened and two pairs of feet hit the dirt- the driver’s in snakeskin boots, the passenger’s in shiny Italian leather way too nice to be worn in an environment like this. The driver’s boots scraped against the sand as he made his way to the trunk. He gave an appreciative nod to the Vanilla Poltergeist Snake decal by the keyhole and then popped the trunk open. His expression was apathetic towards the contents. The passenger joined him, his expression was wide eyed, like he hadn’t just seen this earlier. “Whoa.” “Here.” He hefted a shovel to the passenger before grabbing a second one for himself. “You know, I’ve been thinking…” The driver sighed and his shoulders slumped as if to bear the weight of such dangerous actions. “How can I be double champion with what happened?” The passenger’s question was ignored as the driver counted paces away from the Challenger under his breath. After twenty, he stopped. “Domingo.” “It’s Dominic, Rob.” “Yeah, that’s what I said.” Rob dragged the blade of the shovel behind him to meet Dominic. “Look. I ain’t no dummy. I know my multiplication tables. One plus one equals two.” “No. I think you’re missing something. There is only one. America’s Most Hated is me. And then the rest of you are what one would consider expendable.” He waved his hand dismissively at that. “After all of this time, I’m glad no one figured out that this group was just a vanity project to feed my ego. It’s all about me. My success. My gains. My money. Although, I do appreciate the help.” Rob gave the bright, cheerful, yet somewhat dopey smile of a loyal golden retriever that was sadly dropped on its head as a puppy. “Anytime, bud!” “Let’s get this over with.” In the sizzling heat, they speared their shovels into the hard packed sand and dirt and eventually made some headway into digging a hole that was big enough for a very tall occupant. After a moment, Dominic supervised Rob as he leaned against the upright shovel stuck in the ground. “But you’re right about one thing, Rob. NSFW is old news. America’s Most Hated, a supergroup that relies on subterfuge is certainly new and innovative. We’re totally not like The Legion, The Trinity, or The Future. Being shitty to other people, sure, that’s been done. But it’s never been justified.” Between heaps of dirt onto the ever growing pile… “I don’t know why I do any of the things I do.” Dominic nodded in agreement. “That’s okay. I’ll handle that part. But think about it. All of my transgressions towards others are justified because of flimsy reasoning. And when people object, I’ll just gaslight them into thinking they’re in the wrong or just like us!” “So that’s how we’re gonna do it! We’re gonna go old school and light our farts on fire. Gonna burn that ginger’s eyebrows right off of her stupid face!” Dominic ignored that and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He glanced towards the car. “D.J.! Ethan! Yeah, you two! Thanks for the help!” Leaning against the passenger’s side door were two fifty pound bags of manure. Each have a piece of paper taped to them with the faces of D.J. Frank and Ethan Alexander on them. Ethan, as if in response to Dominic’s sarcasm, falls over. Dominic turned back to the hole. “That’s good enough.” Striding back over to the trunk, Rob looked at the contents once again and made a face. “Do I have to carry it? It’s really heavy and I don’t want it leaking on my suit. I payed… a lot for it. Like seriously a lot. I think you could buy a whole child for as much as I payed for this suit.” “Just drag it, you big baby.” Dominic leaned against the Challenger, again taking a supervisory role as Rob, with some effort, yanked a huge burlap sack with a suspicious wine-colored stain on it out of the trunk. The car’s suspension bounced up almost in relief as the gigantic bundle hit the dry ground with a whump. Dominic smirked as he watched his partner do all the work, but then grew impatient with his struggling and begrudgingly lent a hand in towing the heavy load. Slowly but surely, the two dragged the sack and its contents towards its final destination. “So. When we win the tag titles, you think it can be like last time? We just screw around like I did and duck all of our challengers for months on end?” With labored breath, Dominic answered. “Sure. You think I care about teamwork? Or that stupid division? That would require me to have human emotions like empathy. No, it’s all about ruining another facet of this company with our short sighted ideology. Scorched earth.” Both men, with some effort, manage to get the sack into the hole, and wordlessly begin to fill the hole with sandy soil. As they worked, Dominic’s expression began to soften. Saddened, even. “Rob? Why doesn’t anybody like us? I mean, me especially! I’m capable. I’m handsome. I’m smart. I tell important truths to the people. They should love us. But they don’t, and I don’t understand.” And in Dominic’s moment of need, Rob’s eyes filled with a clarity unbeknownst to most that have known him. He spoke in a calm and decisive manner. “Because we’re self serving idiots who are so transparent in our hypocrisy that most anybody could see through it? I mean, I think they liked you before, but that’s what this is all about now, isn’t it? People like us being self serving hypocrites.” The two of them faced forward. There was a long pause. A large head of tumbleweed blew by. Buzzards squawked overhead. Dominic shook his head. “Nah, that couldn’t be it.” Rob shrugged, and the two of them went back to their task, continuing to shovel the hole full as the scene faded to black. The lights in the Enzian Theater rose up slightly. Sitting front and center in the otherwise empty room, comfortably reclined in the plum upholstered cushy chairs, are the Tag Team Champions. Both are in jeans, Mike in her tan Lugz and John in his custom green and orange Reeboks, he in a plain black hoodie and her in a NY Islanders jersey, the number 40 on the arms and the name ‘Lehner’ in block letters across her back shoulders. As the camera panned around to show their faces, it was revealed that both were also wearing 3D glasses, Mike chomping away at a bucket of popcorn. Their title belts are resting on the small armrest tables at their respective sides. “Ain’t Hollywood magic somethin’, Faithful? I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t know better I would’ve sworn that was a fuckin’ documentary. I mean, Mac even got us the hookup for a really good leading man. Helps that he happens to be a giant NSFW fan, so suffice to say he was a shitton more pleasant to talk to than the guy he was portraying.” “And thank you to the new International Champion, Iggy Swango. And even rising play by play man Grizzly Duggan for helping out. Mike, you know what’s funny about all of this?” The redhead turned slightly to face her partner, one finger tapping at her chin as if in thought. “What’s funny about it, my championship-caliber compadre?” “Those two? We’ve had our issues with them.” He briefly recollected about some confrontations. Both parties thinking they were in the right. “That’s true. I mean I’ve said some things about Duggan in particular that’d make Griffin Hawkins’ hair curl into a Little Orphan Annie ‘do. But we realized we were in the wrong. We misjudged or misunderstood our peers, and made amends. That’s what you do when you hurt somebody, y’know- leastways, if you’re a decent fucking individual.” Mike turned back to the camera, removed her 3D glasses, and raised an eyebrow pointedly. “And how did we make amends? Did we betray them? Did we attack them when they weren’t looking? Did we orchestrate attempts to drum them out of the business?” John shook his head. “No. What did we do?” “We apologized. We extended an olive branch and, little by little, mended what we broke. Which, again, is what most decent people would do. Sometimes words ain’t enough when you do somebody wrong. You gotta give them reason to believe you ain’t a shithead.” And then he followed suit by removing his glasses, too. He tossed them on the table in front of him. “But that’s just who the subjects of that little piece are.We have a very long history with our next challengers. Rob Garcia, as unintentionally likable he manages to be, he still perpetrated a heinous attack on us. Because his previous partner was a fraud. Because they couldn’t get it done. And Dominic Sanders? He knows who he is.” He’s somebody who’s recently knocked off… let’s be honest, a couple’a fuckin’ knockoffs. The Diet Coke of Saunders. Diluted dipshit, almost like our dear Undisputed Champion is the first segment of a fucking Human Centipede.” “And he has spawned this mindset that has given platforms to these malicious individuals. They lack the sociopathic charm that Dominic Sanders exhibits with the flash of a smile and instead clumsily navigate social issues or just outright display toxic behaviors. But because they’ve managed some success, they get a pass. Just like Dominic Sanders when that mask slips just a little.” “I even made a nice visual aide to illustrate our point. See?” Mike glanced up to the projection booth in a wordless signal. The screen lit up again, this time with a still image of a slightly altered diagram. “Here we have Saunders, who’s the shit genesis. His shit gets fed to Conner, who’s a pale imitation at best, and then his shit gets fed to Cottoneye Fucking Joe, who is literally the byproduct of twice recycled shit with an Einstein wig on it. And by that I just mean the hairdo- I am in no way insinuating Joe is smart. He has the fucking intelligence of someone who’s been smashed in the head with a hammer. Repeatedly.” As John observed the image, he had gone a little pale. “I’m sorry. What is that?” “Like I said, bud. The Human Centipede. It’s a horror flick that kinda became a cult classic about a mad scientist who built, y’know, one of those. Like, he surgically grafted some poor schmuck’s mouth to another -” “No thanks.” The two of them shared an unreadable glance, ending with Mike giving a shrug and a light chuckle. “Fair enough. I’ll take it out of our Netflix queue. Anyway, where were we?” She tapped her chin, trying to recapture her train of thought, before nodding. “Oh yeah. So now, comin’ off a loss and a victory respective, America’s Most Hated is nosing into our division. Heh, bet the Limit is really fuckin’ thrilled, but on the other hand, I guess I can see the strategy of not sending in the meatheads who’ve never beat us like, ever.” The Bronx brawler gave a soft, humorless snicker, shaking their head. “Y’know, Saunders, I was getting to the point where I was willing to treat you like a pimple in a non-obvious location. Annoying, something you wish wasn’t there, but you can live with fucking ignoring it. But apparently you’ve decided- and I feel safe in assuming you decided because I don’t think Cherrypie could make his own decisions if he had a gun to his head- that one championship wasn’t enough for you to drip fucking pus all over, and you have to glom onto someone else’s hard fucking work.” “The hypocrisy of it. It’s time to move forward. Calling the tag team division the bottom of the barrel. But here you are. Answering our open challenge. Couldn’t help yourself, could you? Not content with spreading yourself about the company like a disease, you’ve enlisted one of the worst tag team champions in recent history to aid you in this boon. No longer satisfied with your tour of, by your own admittance, meaningless exhibition matches, you want these. While you wait for months on end for a challenger, we’re here dishing out opportunities. Whether it be a tag team of hard fighting sisters or even a team likeAmerica’s Most Hated.” John raised a finger as if to object to that. “And I know this tournament isn’t your idea. But look at you. You’ve went after Ace King in the past, mocking what you perceived as an unworthy championship reign. But turn that accusation inwards. Seven days as Television Champion and not even by yourself. Twenty eight days as International Champion until you pretended to lose. You see how petty that sounds? But that’s Dominic Sanders. Focusing on piddling details instead of the big picture.” Mike gave a low whistle. “See, you could be busting ass, working hard, trying to prove us wrong and show the world that you’re a real champion that EWC can be proud of, y’know, like you say you are whenever given the goddamn opportunity. Instead, you’re being a misogynistic fat-shamer on Twitter to someone who was a more worthy champion than you by a million miles. Nice.” She rolled her eyes to punctuate her sarcasm, then gave a flick of her hand as if to push the topic away for the time being. “Moving on. Mister Rob Garcia. It must’ve been really nice to hold onto some gold that you actually earned, even if it was just for a hiccup. I’m not being facetious here, believe it or not. You really worked fucking hard, took what you were doing seriously, and it payed off. See what you can do when you apply yourself?” Mike paused, making a face. “Jesus, I sound like a goddamn grade school teacher. Anyway. It’s a real shame you didn’t keep it up. I guess it was just easier to relegate yourself to the role of Saunders’ toadie than to continue the trend of doing actual hard work. Pity, everytime I pick up an iota of respect for you, you manage to flush it down the crapper.” “Don’t think we’re trying to be divisive here. That’s the modus operandi of our esteemedchampion. We’re expecting our greatest challenge to date. A team that NSFW just can’t seem to figure out. But…” A brief moment of silence for emphasis. “I talked about that whole details thing earlier and while Dominic Sanders enjoys bragging about his accomplishments, he always seems to forget certain events.” “Revisionist fuckin’ history.” “Like how his glorious tag team victory over NSFW was due to it being a six on two fiasco. Or how he wasn’t even conscious at the conclusion of our last encounter.” “They say history is written by the victors. The problem here is, the people who ‘lost’ are still around to correct your stupid ass. See, we make note of every little hole in that seemingly impenetrable douchebag armor of yours. Every time you think you got out clean as a whistle, we know the truth. See, a very smart person once told me that training your brain for a match is just as important as training your body. And we’ve got a whole book on every little weakness you have.” Mike couldn’t keep from shooting a brief, fond smile to her partner at that, but was all steely again in a blink. John picked up on that thread. “Our opponents, they don’t think much of us. Dominic Sanders can pay us as many backhanded compliments as he wishes but he believes that he is on a different level than us. Rob Garcia, some could admire his fly by the seat of his pants approach but natural ability only gets him so far. Rob Garcia fails and he never looks at what he could have done to improve his chances. Never thinks what he could have done better. But that’s part of the package. The world waits on baited breath on what he’ll do next. Laughing at his antics.” John pointed to himself. Deadpan reaction. “I’m not laughing. He lost the tag titles because he never understood what it means to be on a team. And now? He’s an accessory. An afterthought. A way for Dominic Sanders to get a bigger slice of the pie. He’ll be lucky to get scraps from the table.” “Which, again, is too bad, because we’ve seen clear as day that he can be better. And that fact just pisses me off. There’s nothing more infuriating than willfully wasted potential. It’s one thing if you have it and Fate decides to be a giant bitch and you wind up not being able to capitalize on it in your prime. It’s another altogether to have it and let it fucking rot.” Her eyes flash, as if taking some personal affront to one of her opponents’ lackadaisical manner. “I take it back. It’s not ‘too bad’ at all, it’s what you get for being a lazy dipshit. But don’t get it twisted. Like my partner mentioned, we’re not saying all this stuff to try to be divisive. Far be it for us to try and make you fucks doubt each other. No, chucklenuts, the writing’s on the wall.” “But Dominic, you tried your best to paint us with that same brush. Seizing on some non-existent point of contention. Failing to understand context.” “We are a unit. What we do, nine times out of ten, we do together. But then there’s that occasional one time. Maybe I’ll want to prove that I ain’t fuckin helpless, that I’m capable of pullin’ my weight and not gettin’ by on my partner’s coattails. Or maybe I had my fuckin’ hand broke and wasn’t medically cleared to fight, you numbskulls. Either way. The occasional singles foray on either of our parts is the exception, not the rule, and ain’t nothin’ to be read into. Unless, a’course…” “You’re taking this Ace King obsession too far. Sounds familiar. Never thought we’d come across someone with Orianna’s power of deduction again.” “She made a big fuckin’ deal of doubting our commitment. To tag team wrestling. To each other. To our fuckin’ conviction to get and retain these.” She gave the belt at her side a fond stroke, like a beloved cat. “And where is she now? Who gives a shit, and who gives a fuck? She’s gone, and we’re still here and dominating the division the likes of her predicted we’d wash out of.” And then John stood up, picked up his half of the gold. Like the great champions of the past, he slung the leather strap over his right shoulder. He spoke louder than he usually would. His voice echoing throughout the theater slightly. This last year had rekindled a passion he never knew that he had. “So about three months removed from America’s Most Hated’s coming out party, you two are gonna slink back into this division after never being a part of it in the first place. Three months of Dominic Sanders’ achievements and hearing about them ad nauseam. Three months of Rob Garcia’s inability to live up to his potential. Three months of The Limit doing what they do best - LOSE. Three months of deceit. Three months of passive aggressive nonsense spilling from the champion’s mouth.” His tone then became quiet. Deliberate. “And I’m sick of it. So Mike and I? We’re going to do something about it. On February 4th, 2019 - America’s Most Hated gets a hard lesson on why we are the greatest goddamn tag team in this company.” Mike stood up as well, lifting her belt in a similar fashion, giving her partner a look of unrestrained awe and, if one were to look into such things, a liberal dollop of adoration. It took a moment for her to even find the words to follow such a passionate speech- which was a feat in and of itself. Then she nodded. “We can not and will not be stopped by a couple fuckin’ jerkoffs who want to crash into the division we’ve poured everything into on a whim. These belts are not fuckin’ yours and never will be. But our word is our fuckin’ bond and if you want to challenge we can’t stop you…” Her face hardened, and she leaned forward, glaring into the camera hard. “But we can make you sorry you ever did.” The theater lights begin to darken once more, casting the room again into pitch black before the screen flickers one last bit of film. It was twilight. The sky was purple, lightening to pink and orange around the horizons, stars sprinkling over the darkest parts. Cicadas chirp, a snake slithering across the ground to its den as the environment cooled. The only thing amiss was the patch of recently disturbed ground in the form of a large shallow grave. All is still. And then, without warning, one huge, sinewy, dirt-covered hand burst up through the loose dirt. It felt around, looking for solid ground to rest on, and finding purchase pushed up. Slowly and perhaps terrifyingly, a huge, monstrous figure rose from the dirt… ...until a rather filthy Grizzly Duggan stood in the moonlight, looking rather put out. Snorting a cloud of dust from his nose, he tilted his head to the side and gave his left ear a few good whacks, causing a bit of crumpled metal to fall from the right side of his head and into the dirt. Looking around, he sighed, and reached into his pocket, hitting the first number on his phone’s speed dial. “Candice? … It happened again.”

[kekoaskorner]

For years I’ve been watching the VMA’s and it’s been one of my musical highlights but lately the video music awards weren’t the same anymore. A big part of that problem is MTV. They’re programme changed from music videos to reality TV shows which is a pity. So even though it is called music TV it’s not showing any music unless you wait until 1 pm and watch all night – but who has time for that?

Enough moaning let’s have a look at this years line-up. Katy Perry is hosting the show again – what a treat! She is funny and has experience and does always a good job. P!nk is awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award 2017 – her 7th Moonman. Past winners are Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Madonna. So let’s see what she has in store!

The guest list looks pretty average if you ask me. It used to be the hottest stars but now there’s a lot of newcomers with only a few top acts. But you never know, it might be the best show ever – doubt it! 🙂 So let’s watch it now:

The pre-show was super boring and filled with long commercial breaks so I was tempted to turn off the TV and go to bed. But luckily I didn’t and saw P!nk, Carey Hart and Willow in matching outfits and it was just the cutest! They seem like a normal family and throughout the evening we got to see lovely family moments. During P!nk’s red carpet interview she said:

I used to get grounded for watching MTV and now I’m on it. It’s full circle.

Finally after a long hour the show started! Katy Perry came back from outer space just to host the VMA’s 2017! Kendrick Lamar opened and did a good job. His rhymes were dope and surprisingly without swearing so the performance wasn’t muted. He had a burning man and a back ground. P!nk wouldn’t have liked that! 🙂 (Click here to read the review of her Berlin concerts)

Hostess Katy Perry

Ed Sheeran was next and his “Shape of you” got everyone dancing. He brought out a US rapper Lil Uzi Vert to remix his song and to co-perform Lil Uzi’s Song of the Summer “XO Tour Llif3”. I really loved this combo! Paris Jackson held a political speech when instead she was there to present Best Pop Video. It went to “Down” by Fifth Harmony ft. Gucci Mane. Fifth Harmony lost their fifth member and they didn’t take it lightly which we saw in their performance later on.

Julia Michaels was nominated for Best Newcomer and performed half of her song “Issues” the rest was cut off for commercials. Maybe that’s why she lost Best Newcomer to Khalid who sang the full song during the Red Carpet show. After the commercial break we got to witness Taylor Swift’s video premiere to “Look what you made me do” and apparently the old Taylor is dead. I really don’t understand why she would give Kanye West so much limelight. She should have been the bigger person and just let it go but we all know that she isn’t that kind of person… see Bad Blood. No I’m not sharing the link here because I do not support this at all.

Shawn Mendes stole Coldplay’s Xylobands and lit up the studio during his performance of “There’s nothing holding me back”. I just love that song and he’s legal now, girls! (His words :-)) Lorde’s performance was quite unexpected. She put a cassette into a recorder and her song “Dynamite” started. She didn’t start to sing but she danced throughout the whole song. It was kind of weird but also funny and I did like what she did with the performance.

Lorde

The Award for Best Dance went to Zedd and Alessia Cara. Pete Wentz (All One Tree Hill Fans have a little crush on him) presented it and yes Fall Out Boy has got new music coming! Katy Perry came on stage with a fake baby and I am not sure if DJ Khalid really crashed the stage with his real baby and fought her about who has the best baby.. WEIRD! Anyways they announced the next performers. It looked like Fifth Harmony were back together but then the fifth person got pulled back and so they were only four to perform the winner song. Bam take that Camila! Gucci Mane had a guest appearance too and the girls finished in pouring rain!

Best Collabo won Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift but both had no time to pick up their award. Goes to show how much a moonman means in this business – Not a lot anymore.. This guy from a band called bleachers picked up the awards. But behold you don’t need to google him. He performed during the pre-show and it was awful. The instruments and the his voice were out of tune!

Jared Leto took the stage to remember Chester Bennington and his friend Chris Cornell. He did an amazing job and it was a memorable moment worthy of those two amazing musicians. After the 100th commercial break we saw Miley Cyrus’ VMA comeback. It was okay and very different to her last show with Robin Thicke and the infamous foam finger. Instead of naked people she had old people and babies dancing in rockabilly 50’s style on stage.

Best Hip Hop went to Kendrick Lamar who quickly accepted the moonman and off we went to a pink birdie who nearly showed her nipple if she had one.. Let me tell you it looked like Barbie! She announced our next performer in VEGAS, BABY! Demi Lovato was “Sorry not so sorry” and had a strong voice and did a brill job with entertaining the people in the pool!

oznor

oznor

Finally my highlight of the evening! P!nk flew in a pink Cadillac and rode a lawn mower and performed all of her hits at one point she even mashed up three songs (“Don’t let me get me”, “Just give me a reason” and “Fucking Perfect”) into one! And then she went on to sing her new single “What about Us”

P!nk’s speech was breathtaking and I had to make sure I didn’t start to cry. She said this to everyone but especially to her 6 year old daughter:

She said to me out of the blue, ‘Mama, I’m the ugliest girl I know,’ And I said, ‘Huh?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I look like a boy with long hair.’ And my brain went to, ‘Oh my God, you’re six. Where is this coming from? Can I kick a six-year-old’s ass?’

P!nk then went on and said that she went home and made a powerpoint presentation of androgynous rockstars like Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Prince, Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Janis Joplin, George Michael and they are all artists who live their truth, are probably made fun of every day of their life and carry on and wave their flag and inspire the rest of us. So she said:

I asked her what do you think of me. ‘I think you’re beautiful’. Well, thanks! 🙂 So when people make fun of me, that’s what they use: They say I look like a boy or I’m too masculine or I have too many opinions or that my body is too strong. And I said, ‘Do you see me growing my hair?’ And she said, ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me changing my body?’ ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me changing the way I present myself to the world?’ ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me selling out arenas all over the world?’ ‘Yes, mama.’

“So, baby girl, we don’t change. We take the gravel in the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so that they can see more kinds of beauty. …And you, my darling girl, are beautiful. I love you.”

Isn’t this the best speech you’ve ever heard?! Made my night and my day after. Thank you P!nk for being you ❤

Kyle had the hard task to perform right after P!nk and well yeah it was nice… So the 2nd biggest award of the night was Artist of the Year and everybody’s darling Ed Sheeran won. With a super cute but quick thank you he left the stage again. Alessia Cara sang her wonderful song “scars to your beautiful” and while she got undressed and got her make-up taken off she was able to maintain a steady voice. I like her! 🙂

Ke$ha presented Alessia Cara, Khalid and Logic who all tried to raise awareness with a song against suicide attempts- “1-800-273-8255” is a powerful song especially if the three artists were joined by survivors who had a white t-shirt on where it was written You Are Not Alone! Very meaningful moment especially in light of the deaths of Chris and Chester.

Jared Leto

30 Seconds to Mars are back!! I loved their performance of “Walk on Water” for which they used a thermal imaging camera. It looked absolutely incredible! WOW you have to see this. Travis Scott quickly jumped into the picture too.

Back to Vegas DNCE performed together with Legend Rod Stewart his song “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?!” Just a little note on the mustache of Joe Jonas – that’s a no no. Can we appreciate now how a 72 year old totally out rocked a 28 year old! Video of the year was awarded to Kendrick Lamar for his song “Humble”.

Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj closed the show with ���Swish Swish” and absolutely slayed it. A basket ball court was put on stage and with that I’d like to appreciate the huge production this show is – even if it isn’t like it used to be.

So what did you think of tonight’s VMA’s? Are you happy with the winners and who was your favourite performer? Let me know in the comments below.

    MTV Video Music awards 27.08.2017 For years I’ve been watching the VMA’s and it’s been one of my musical highlights but lately the video music awards weren’t the same anymore.