#blackbottoms

[walkingdetroit]

A beautiful day for a bike ride. 💙 11/10/23

[sallygcronin]

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column - The Big Band Era with William Price King and Sally Cronin 1930 - Fred Astaire and Leo Reisman, Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, The Blackbottom

Welcome to the new series of the music column where I am joined as always by Jazz singer and composer William Price King.  We hope you will join us every Tuesday for some of the chart hits of the big band era from the 1930s through to the 1950s. Some of the earlier videos are not of the best quality however where possible we have sourced remastered copies to share with you. Considering some are…

[monkeyssalad-blog]

1931 paul & nino ghezzi by Al Q

[smorgasbordinvitation]

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column - The Big Band Era with William Price King and Sally Cronin 1930 - Fred Astaire and Leo Reisman, Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, The Blackbottom

Welcome to the new series of the music column where I am joined as always by Jazz singer and composer William Price King.  We hope you will join us every Tuesday for some of the chart hits of the big band era from the 1930s through to the 1950s. Some of the earlier videos are not of the best quality however where possible we have sourced remastered copies to share with you. Considering some are…

[ringogoboots]

wake up sheeple: blackbottom is the reality of the canon of this series

look at him. look at himmmmm.

[9leaguesofmirrors]

Shut The World Away (a Benjamin Denton x Richie fanfic)

I'm well and truly hooked on this ship now, so I'm making it everyone's problem. Have some soft Mavetoad where Richie has one of his frequent nightmares and turns to Benjamin for support

CONTENT WARNING: Nothing too steamy. But there is some making out and a bit of heavy-petting

Since escaping Royston Vasey, Benjamin and Richie had managed quite well. Blackbottom and London weren't exactly close, but it was enough for the journey by bus or car to not be too strenuous. Besides, they lived in the 21st century, so phones were very much still in fashion

While they usually settled on times and dates, there were the odd times where a surprise visit was necessary. Times where it simply couldn't wait. And that's how Richie ended up on Benjamin's porch, soaked to the bone from rain, at 10 'o'clock at night with a stony expression on his face

"Rich?" His boyfriend, dressed in striped pyjamas, wore his concern plainly "What happened?"

"I'm sorry." He said, slightly embarrassed by himself "I couldn't sleep."

Not saying a word, Benjamin let him in. Feeling a firm-but-gentle grip on his wrist, he felt himself being led up the stairs and into their bedroom. The door closed behind him. No other words needed to be spoken for Benjamin to understand

Richie still had problems owning up to having nightmares, that was most likely due to Pop drilling the idea of how a "man" should act into his head from a young age, but it wasn't hard to figure it out a pattern of behaviour: lots of late nights, random texts when he really should've been asleep (but, then again, Benjamin should've been too), and the fact he never denied it when he was asked about them

Even if he wanted to ask now, he didn't have time to. Because Richie had grabbed the back of Benjamin's head and pulled him into a deep kiss. The sort of kiss that somehow managed to be hard and lingering, yet carried a soft quality. Something inexplicably gentle that felt warm and lasting. Their bodies pressed together, less like a puzzle piece and more like a fusion of energies

Grabbing the back of Benjamin's head as if letting go would cause him to fall off the face of the Earth, Richie slowly moved backwards until he felt the edge of the bed bump against the back of his legs. Only when he sat down did he pull away for air, eyes closed and breath laboured

As Benjamin felt himself being pulled in again, he stopped himself. This caused him to lurch forward slightly, bracing himself by place both hands on each side of Richie, leaning against the bed

"Not if you're unsure."

"... What?"

"I mean, you're clearly upset. I don't want to take advantage of you or make you feel forced to do anything. You know, I want to make sure you're sure before you-"

"Ben, who led who to your bedroom?"

"... You led me to my bedroom."

"And who started the kiss?"

"You did."

"And whose still holding the back of whose head?"

"You're still holding the back of my head?"

"So, with all of that evidence in front of us, do you think I'm unsure?"

Benjamin tried to keep hold of his thoughts. OK yes, there was something very attractive about Richie being this assertive, but still, something didn't feel quite right. He sat down beside him, taking his hand in both of his

"I need a distraction, Ben." Richie sighed, his demeanour changing to one of genuine exhaustion, as if he hadn't slept for hours - which, Benjamin guessed, he hadn't "I don't want all of it, I'm not here for sex, I just know I'd rather be here than alone in my head." He felt Benjamin let go, and he looked down "If you don't want to, that's fine, I just-"

His words were quickly silenced by a light twist of his chin and a light press of lips to his mouth and he felt himself shifting closer, craving the comfort and groundedness that Benjamin subconciously knew how to give

It was long until they collided with the pillowy softness of the bed, shuffling so Richie could straddle Benjamin's stomach. He could feel his boyfriend groping slightly at his body from underneath him, his breathing coming out stuttery and needy

It was Benjamin that ripped away first, just for air, and looked up at Richie with eyes that seemed to sparkle. For a moment, nothing else existed. There was no rain outside, no fear, no past - no Royston Vasey or dysfunctional families. It was just them, just him

"Would be wrong to say you look nice?"

Richie furrowed his brows, head twitching to the side

"Just... would it be wrong, given the situation?"

"No."

Benjamin nodded, his breathing shaky, as he took Richie's hand and intertwined it with his own

This was responded to by Richie running a hand up Benjamin's shirt, making him gasp a little at the sudden feeling of warmth

As soon as the contact was made, Benjamin felt his body melting like snow as his breath escaped him. He could also feel the way Richie kissed his neck, as if he wanted to take his time undoing him fibre by fibre. Despite himself, Benjamin let out a gentle whimper

"Rich...?"

"Hm?"

"Is this... I mean, is it helping? Surely I should be doing this to you-"

"Benjamin," Richie said in that assertive, low voice that never failed to make his heart stammer "you're doing fine." He continued pressing his lips against Benjamin's neck, enjoying the soft sounds it brought out

"You're pretty..." Benjamin murmured before he could stop himself

"Pretty?" Richie repeated into his ear with a playful tone, his hand moving down to the hem of Benjamin's pyjama trousers "I thought I was nice."

For a moment, Benjamin's words faltered as he felt that warm sensation moving down further, palming at him with just the right amount of force for his back to arch slightly as he let out a slightly strangled moan

"You are." He gasped out "Pretty. Nice. All of it."

"Really?" Asked Richie innocently, applying just enough pressure to drag out a breathy whine from the man underneath him

Benjamin nodded with a soft smile

"You're a lot of things. Well, to me at least."

There was something about the other's company that seemed to make the past and the future shy away. An inexplicable wash of "something" that made the "nothing" feel less lonely and exposing

Instead, it felt like time was kind enough to stop for them, allowing them to bathe in that floating feeling for as long as they needed to

As their laboured breaths seemed to synchronise, Richie moved his hand slowly and let his head rest on Benjamin's forehead. No words passed their lips, none needed to

For both of them, this was enough

They were enough

[dreamfaerye]

I'm reading The Bell Jar for the first time and this just hit me hard:

And while Constantin and I sat in one of those hushed plush auditoriums in the UN, next to a stern Russian girl with no makeup who was a simultaneous interpreter like Constantin, I thought how strange it had never occurred to me before that I was only purely happy until I was nine years old.

After that – in spite of the Girl Scouts and the piano lessons and the water-color lessons and the dancing lessons and the sailing camp, all of which my mother scrimped to give me, and college, with crewing in the mist before breakfast and blackbottom pies and the new little firecrackers of ideas going off every day – I had never been really happy again.

[corful]

Valtari, my Fury Devil im playing in the current packet & The Fall of Blackbottom! She got infused with the Primordial Chaos and raised from the beginning as a guard for the elite of a crime organisation, her "family". After a long time of service, she was forced to take the heat for a mistake of the organisation. While in jail and up for execution, a lucky break allowed her to escape. Disillusioned and nowhere to go, she joined the Chain of Acheron and was stationed in Blackbottom. Im having a lot of fun with Draw Steel, very excited for whats to come!!

[sunbeargames]

I've been thinking about this issue a lot in the context of MCDM's Draw Steel, which is still in playtesting.

Draw Steel has a resource called Victories, which you earn when the party overcomes a significant challenge (either through combat, negotiation, subterfuge, etc). Victories make your characters a bit stronger by empowering some abilities and giving you more of your Heroic Resource to work with in fights, and then when you take a respite between adventures they get converted to XP. I like this as an incentive to keep going during an adventure instead of resting at every opportunity.

Victories can also be awarded for secondary objectives. For instance, in the opening encounter of the Fall of Blackbottom adventure included in the playtest, the heroes are in a collapsing inn that is being attacked by demons. If they save a certain number of civilians before the inn completely collapses, they can earn a bonus Victory.

I think it could also be possible to extend this idea and say that you could "win" a combat encounter but still earn no victories because you weren't heroic enough. In the above example, if you let a certain number of civilians die to the demons or the fire, you don't earn a Victory even if you defeat the demons and escape.

And conversely, you might be able to earn one or more Victories even without "winning" the fight because you did the heroic thing and achieved your goals, even if you had to retreat.

I'm liking Draw Steel so far because it seems like it will be better suited to the kinds of stories people have been trying to tell with D&D lately. I'm still waiting to see how they implement more rules for non-TPK fail states, because the players characters are still very hard to kill. I think if it can facilitate the party being defeated well without needing them to die, it will be really great for telling stories that are more true to the kinds of heroic narratives we love in fiction. Meaningful setbacks and losses are really important, and in a game that's still so combat-focused it'll be nice to be able to engage fully with those mechanics.

There were a lot of points when I was running 5e where I felt like I should have presented a more dangerous encounter, but doing so would have run the risk of ending the adventure prematurely. I think in a game that supports a wider variety of fail states, it'll be easier to truly challenge the party and tell more complex stories.

So like D&D isn't great for producing a conventionally satisfying narrative because in modern Western storytelling stories of the action genre (where D&D is firmly planted in) don't generally feature the main characters having an unbroken streak of victories against their opposition (a feature of modern D&D) but feature defeats and setbacks. When D&D is the most highly opinionated about combat and rules as written death is the main consequence of losing in combat and what you want is characters being able to suffer meaningful losses while not always being at the risk of death, you have tension between the needs of the narrative and the game mechanics.

But more than that, when a group does patch the rules to be more conducive to that and fudges the rules and manages to somehow force the game into producing a conventionally satisfying narrative, given that a lot of that was done in spite of D&D it feels like it would be giving credit where none is due to attribute that story to the game and not the group's efforts in spite of the game.

None of that is to say that D&D played on its own terms can't produce good narratives. In fact, I think the best stories related to D&D are not the sort of stuff you see in actual plays, but the sort of perfect alignment of system, fiction, and chance that can only happen in a medium that utilizes those three things. "A player figured out how to utilize the rules of the game in a way that made perfect sense in the fiction and produced an unpredictable outcome that significantly altered the course of events" is a much cooler story in the context of D&D than "The GM funneled the party into an encounter with the bad guy and the bad guy had an epic speech prepared."

And this applies to pretty much any RPG, to be fair. Even the weirdest, most obtuse RPG can produce lots of really cool unique narratives if taken at its own word. What that sometimes means is reconsidering what kinds of stories you think are good, and instead of forcing a game to produce the exact types of narratives you want letting the game take the driver's seat.

[walkingdetroit]

A walk through Paradise Valley 🌿

[abisblog-unit2]

The 1920's

A pleasure filled, adventurous spirit shaped the 20s. The 1920s were ofter referred to as the Jazz age, The roaring 20s or Les Années Folles. A sense of relief, even euphoria, took a hold of society after an initial stage of economic uncertainty as a result of the war. A fun, exciting and frivolous image was created. Tangos and foxtrots came to the dance floor with quick, sharp, energetic steps such as the Charleston, Blackbottom and the Shimmy.

The 20's fashion was all about the liberation of corsets and the 'hourglass' figure. The dresses became shorter, waistlines dropped and it was straight up and down with no shape whatsoever. Fabrics became lighter and more flowy and many accessorised their outfits with strings of pearls, hats, gloves and shiny earrings.

Women had found a new independence and this was being shown in their clothing.

Pearls became a huge part of every outfit in the 20s. Pearls represented royalty, wealth and luxury. Women who could afford them reflected these qualities and were determined to show elegance as well as freedom.

Hair and Beauty

During World War 1, Women took over 'mens' roles in factories and fields and gave the opportunity and experience of work outside domestic service. Working with machinery meant hair was a massive inconvenience. It was in the way and time consuming. Therefore, having it cut short was the only way to fix these problems.

Flappers

Flappers were young women who wore "short", knee length skirts (This was seen as short in the 20s). They were young, rebellious women. Constantly breaking societies rules. Listened to jazz, smoked cigarettes and partied a lot. Many people consider the flappers as one of the first youth movements.

Josephine Baker

Josephine baker was a performer. A dancer and singer who symbolised the beauty of Black American Culture. She became extremely popular in Europe, especially France. She had worked for the French Resistance during the war and during the 50s and 60s, devoted herself to fight racism and segregation in the United States.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Oct 20, 2022). Josephine Baker. [Online]. Encyclopedia Britannica. Last Updated: Oct 20, 2022. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Josephine-Baker [Accessed 6 December 2022].

The prince of Wales

While Women looked to Paris for their fashion, Men looked to Britian and the prince of Wales. Reporters followed him everywhere, photographing and noting ever detail of his fashion. Many young men looked up to him because of his athletic and sporty look.

Debbie and Oscar. (2013). 1920s Prince of Wales Fashion Icon for Men. [Online]. Vintage Dancer. Available at: https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/prince-of-wales-fashion-icon/ [Accessed 6 December 2022].

[photoxmoda]

British Vogue 2020

[intellocgent]

😃 #HeidelbergProject #DETROIT #BlackBottoms

[the-orange-wizard]

I’m running a Draw Steel one shot next Wednesday, October 16th, at 7pm Eastern!

We still have a few slots left, so if anyone is interested in trying the beta of a new fighting-monsters game, come join us!

If you can’t make that night, shoot me a tumblr dm or a message on StartPlaying - I’d be happy to run another of these!

I’m also happy to answer any questions; I love talking about Draw Steel.

I am very excited for Draw Steel.

When it comes out I will be running so much of it you can’t even understand the level to which I will be abandoning d&d.

Assuming I can get enough players on board of course.

[hustlapreneur-blog]

#BlackBottoms 👠💅🏾

[yoonjoostephanie]

「메쉬시스루 브라세트」

SON YOONJOO for SSC!