#break in south park posting for paul

[dizzzyondreams]

[strawmyberry]

thank u for the kyle tickle hcs... him being the most ticklish out of the m4 AND being weakest to light tickling is SO IMPORTANT TO ME

you get me anon!!! lee kyle is so cute!! so cute in fact- i got a little surpriseeee! thank you all so much for all the kind words on my first fic!! im so glad you guys liked it 🥹 soooo…here’s another one!! i hope you guys like it!! thanks again!!

— ❤️🍓 strawberry 🍓❤️

🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

B for Broflovski!

Lee Kyle / Ler Stan

Word Count: 4,229

With Kyle panicking over the “horrible” grade he got on his History test, Stan puts a little extra effort into convincing him that “B” doesn’t always have to stand for “Bad.” In fact, to him, it stands for something a thousand times better.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Stan knew Kyle was a perfectionist. Kyle knew Kyle was a perfectionist. The entire town of South Park knew Kyle was a perfectionist; yet, somehow, despite that, Stan was never really prepared for when Kyle would have one of those days.

“It’s bullshit, dude! I’m telling you; it’s fucking bullshit! Mr. Garrison has some kinda’ personal vendetta against me. I fucking hate him! ‘Fucking asshole, it’s ridiculous!”

Stan had gotten used to walking quickly besides Kyle since Kyle had the tendency to walk and talk, especially when he was in a bad mood. Luckily for Stan, he was pretty good at keeping up.

“And Cartman? Oooh, ‘fucking Cartman? I’m going to kick his ass- I deal with a lot of shit from him. I take it! I suck it up and I take it! But this? I’m done. I’m going to shove my foot so far up his ass- I swear to god-“

Stan had tried a million strategies when it came to this issue, and he had found that the best thing to do was to let Kyle get all of it out of his system. Let him ramble, eventually he’d get tired of it. After that is when he’d be able to talk logically with his, figure out what to do next.

“The only reason he got an A was because he cheated off of Tolkien. But, of course, Garrison doesn’t see it! As if it’s not the most obvious thing in the world! It’s so fucking dumb dude, I seriously can’t- Ma, I’m home! Stan’s here too, we’re gonna go upstairs, okay?”

Okay, Stan had to admit, it was a little funny how Kyle’s rage was like an on and off switch when it came to his mom. He’d be cursing up a storm one second and the next he’d go all Positive Paul on him. He’d shout a quick hello to Kyle’s mom too, because…manners, before following Kyle up the stairs and into his room.

“It just- It pisses me off so much! It’s not fair- I studied so hard for that stupid test!”

Stan would place his backpack next to Kyle’s dresser. He’d proceeded to chase the redhead around his room a little bit, stopping his endless pacing for a second so he could take the backpack off his friend’s back. He’d plop it next to his own before throwing himself onto Kyle’s bed, already getting himself comfortable. Knowing Kyle, this could go on for…god know how long.

“I fucking hate South Park…”

Kyle loved to rant and rave, yeah. It always made him feel a lot better- since he was able to get all his anger out without punching a hole in his wall. But…he could only talk for so long without breathing. So, he’d take a small break, just so he could regain his breath. Kyle would turn back to Stan- only to see the position he was in.

Stan was laying in his bed. Yes- yes that’s what beds are for- but Stan was laying in his bed. Like, laying in his bed. Head amidst a sea of pillows, body sinking slightly into the soft mattress, limbs languidly sprawled across the bed; the whole works. “Oh- sorry, ‘you done?” He’d ask, his words muffled by all of the pillows around his head.

“Uh…no. Not yet. Sorry- I can stop if you’d like-“

“No! No, keep going. I’m all ears.”

“Ooookay…?” Kyle would nod, confused as hell. How long had he been like that? How didn’t he notice before? Why was he messing up his pillows? Well- now he couldn’t remember where he had left off. He’d stare at the bed post as his mind wandered, trying to retrace his steps. Oh! Yeah! Hating South Park!

“…I think today was stupid.” Kyle would start, starting the tirade off slowly. “Everything about it, yeah, but the changing seats thing was really stupid.” He’d continue, the momentum slowly picking up as he spoke. He was getting the hang of it again!

“I mean, I get the changing seats thing. But I told him! I said, “Mr. Garrison, please keep me next to Stan. He keeps me focused.” Which is true because you’re one of the only ones in class who isn’t a total moron. And even when you are- you don’t do it to annoy me- you just-“

“Wait. Uh-go back? …Why am I being called a moron? What did I do?” Sitting up from his extremely habitable position, Stan would raise his left eyebrow; his face laced with confusion. Stan would usually listen to everything Kyle had to say before talking, but that little comment about him just threw him for a loop.

“Huh? I’m not calling you a moron, dude.”

“Uh…you just did though?”

“Did I? Really?” A flicker of his own confusion would cross his face, accompanied by a subtle furrowing of his brow as he stood there for his moment. He’d tap his foot, humming a bit as he thought before it clicked. Kyle’s face would turn white. “Oh shit.” His eyes would widen, quickly holding his hands up in defense. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…I don’t think you’re a moron…sorry..”

“No, I know. It’s okay, man, really!” Stan would give a reassuring smile, letting the comment just slide off his shoulders. “You’re upset, dude, it’s all good.” Stan had gotten used to that too. Kyle was a very…passionate person- he’d go really big when it came to his rants. Stan knew better than to actually take offense to anything Kyle said when he was in one of those moods.

“Yeah…It’s just- maybe I get Garrison not putting us together because we’re Super Best Friends. I mean- I don’t really get it- but I could see the logic behind it. But, at the very least, he could’ve sat me next to someone who wasn’t a total asshole! Sit me next to Craig! He’s quiet! Or Tolkien! Tweek! Jimmy! Butters! I would’ve been fine with anyone! Anyone! Except, Cartman! And guess what happens! Guess who I get sat next to! Guess!”

Stan would nod along as he listened, staying sat up this time instead of going to lay back down again. He wouldn’t really notice he was supposed to answer the question at first. He thought it was rhetorical! After all, he was literally there. He saw all of this happen already. But…okay? He’d play along? “Uh…Cart..man?”

“Fucking Cartman! I’m pissed, but I’m like: “OK, whatever, I can deal with this, no big deal.” But then, I’m in the middle of the test- the test. ‘You know? The thing where you’re supposed to do your own work and shut the fuck up while you do it? And for some goddamn reason-he just won’t shut the fuck up! And I’m thinking: “Is it really that hard to just shut your fucking mouth for five seconds?” But, whatever, I studied for this test so I’m gonna get a good grade on it! Right? No! Fucking no! ‘Cause it’s let’s all dog on Kyle day! And I think his voice was just so fucking grating- I just forgot half of the shit that I studied! He fucked me! He literally fucked me!”

Man. Who needed TV? Who needed Assassins Creed, Indiana Jones, and Lego Batman when you had Kyle Broflovski as your super angry, Super Best Friend? He was basically free entertainment at this point! Stan’s eyes would follow Kyle around the room, and Kyle was moving so much it looked like Stan was watching a tennis match.

“-And you know what really upsets me? ‘You know what just irks me like just a little bit? The fact that I know I’m gonna have to walk in the school tomorrow, and Wendy is gonna come up to me-and she’s gonna be like, “Oh, Kyle! How did you do on the history test? I’m really happy with my grade!” And I’m gonna have to be like, “Oh yeah, Wendy! I’m sure you are!” And then she’s gonna rub it in my face like she always does-“

“What? Wendy doesn’t rub her grades in your face…” Stan would, admittedly, get a little defensive at that statement. This was his girlfriend they were talking about! And…well- she wasn’t here to defend her own honor like he knew she would’ve liked to- so he was gonna do it for her! “Wendy wouldn’t try to make you feel bad about yourself, Kyle-“ Stan would start to say, cutting himself off when Kyle randomly pointed his index finger at him.

“You know what’s funny? I knew you were going to say that!” Kyle would argue, his eyes lit with a combo of satisfaction and frustration. “I knew you were going to defend Wendy! You’re biased, Stan!”He’d accuse. “She rubs her grades in my face all the time! You just turn a blind eye to it because you’re biased!”

“What are you talking about? Dude, if anything, I’d be biased towards you. I’ve known you longer.” Stan would jump to defend himself, rolling her eyes as he did. “I’m sorry if she’s hurt your feelings, Kyle, but I’m sure there’s no bad blood there.” That was a bit of a half-assed apology. Again, Kyle was ranting- so Stan had no idea if he actually meant half of the shit he was saying. He just wanted to resolve the situation.

“Oh, yeah. I’m sure it’s not a big deal to you! You’re not the one who’s gonna be ridiculed for getting a B on the test!” Kyle would retort, crossing his arms as he huffed.

“I’m sorry…what?” Stan looked stunned. Staring at Kyle as if he had three heads, Stan would open his mouth to speak- just to cut himself off before he managed to say anything. He was trying to think of a nice way to put this. Really really hard. “…Run that by me again?”

“Don’t be an asshole! I got a B, okay?! It’s embarrassing- I know!”

“…Dude.” Stan would pinch the arch of his nose, letting out a long, irritated sigh. “That’s what this is about? Seriously?” He’d clarify. “…This whole time, I thought you had gotten an F- or, at the very best, a D. You got a B?” Stan wasn’t even mad, honestly. Actually, he was a little bit impressed. “Kyle…” At this point, Stan couldn’t help but laugh. There was no way this was actually happening. “A B is a good grade, dude. You have nothing to worry about.”

Now, Stan knew he was one to say stupid things sometimes- but this time, he could’ve sworn that what he said was actually a little bit smart. But the look Kyle was giving him? It almost made him doubt himself. Kyle was looking at him as if he had just said he puts milk in the bowl before the cereal. His jaw would drop, holding his hand out in front of him in shocked horror. “…You did not just say that to me.”

“Kyle, seriously, you’re wigging out over nothing!” Stan would try to explain, getting up from the bed. “You don’t need to beat yourself up over this. It’s just a B! A B is, what? …80%? That’s good! That’s really good!”

“I can’t believe you’re actually telling me this right now! You have to be shitting me! Do you even know what the B stands for, Stan?” Kyle would ask, the look on his face saying that he already knew the answer. “Do you? Do you, Mr. Isaac Newton? Care to enlighten me?”

“Jesus Christ…” Stan would grumble, rolling his eyes yet again. He’d stand there for a second, shrugging the question off. “…I dunno, brilliant?”

“Brilliant?” Kyle would repeat. “Brilliant?!” Kyle’s eye would twitch, as if Stan had just said the most absurd thing he had ever said. “No! It stands for BAD. Bad, Stan! B. A. D. Bad!”

“B doesn’t stand for Bad…” Stan would state. “F stands for bad.”

“Bad doesn’t start with a F, Stan!” Kyle would scream, frustrated. “B stands for Bad, Bummer, Buffoon- think of a word that starts with a B- nine times out of ten it’s a negative connotation! It’s the most obvious thing in the world!”

“I know that YOU’D be happy to get a B- but I’m perfectly valid in being upset about it! God!”

Ouch.

The air in the room was tense; and the silence that came after Kyle’s groan didn’t really help that. They’d stare at each other for a solid minute, waiting for the other one to say something. In that moment of stillness, Kyle had to opportunity to realize how mean what he said just sounded. In that moment, Kyle would brace for impact. He expected Stan to scream at him- or storm out the door and never come back. But…Stan didn’t do any of that.

Stan would take a deep breath. A long one. “…Okay.” He’d say, breaking the silence. “You need to chill out.” Kyle would open his mouth to apologize or, at the very least, give Stan a verbal agreement- but Stan would quickly cut him off.

“You broke Baseball Rules.”

Kyle’s eyes would widen. Shit. No. No- he didn’t. Did he? Oh god. No- he definitely did. Fuck! “…Y-You didn’t tell me we were playing Baseball Rules.” Kyle would hold his hands up in defense, backing up slightly.

“I don’t have to tell you when we’re playing Baseball Rules. That’s the whole point- we don’t have to repeat the rules, they’re just in place.” Stan would remind, a mischievous smile creeping onto his face. “You said three really fucked up things about me. Three strikes. You’re out. You broke Baseball Rules.”

Baseball Rules was a game created by Stan, a game that Kyle reluctantly participated in. The rules were simple, whenever the two were in an a little tiff, if either of them slung three insults in a row, they’d strike out.

Stan made the game in order to prevent the two from blowing up at each other, and it worked pretty well! But, admittedly, Baseball Rules wouldn’t be half as effective if it weren’t for what came after you struck out. That worked like a charm every single time.

“Stan, wait…” Kyle would try to reason, glancing behind him quickly to try to get an idea of how far he was from the door. Maybe he could run if he tried hard enough? “I’m sorry, dude…I don’t think you’re stupid, really-“

“I know you don’t!” Stan would cut Kyle’s apologizes short, stepping forward with the attempt of cornering him. “I’m not mad at you! But…rules are rules! If I let you get away with it this time- where do I draw the line, ya’ know? I’m sure you understand.”

Kyle would yelp at Stan stepping forward, quickly turning himself around to dash around him. “Just this once! I’m really sorry- I won’t do it again! I’m not upset anymore-“

“That’s great!” Stan would exclaim. “I’m glad you’re not upset anymore! But it’s the principle of Baseball Rules. I really wish I didn’t have to! I wanna let you off easy, really!” He didn’t. He knew he didn’t, Kyle knew that too. Just like how Stan knew Kyle well enough to know that he’d try to run around him; that’s why he’d turn as well, cornering Kyle officially.

“Stahahan!” Kyle would stumble backwards, his legs hitting his bed. He’d sink to the floor, already beginning to kick his legs. “It’s just a made up gahahame! Plehehease!”

“I’m not even touching you yet!” Stan would tease, wiggling his fingers right above Kyle’s hips. “I’ll go easy, okay?” He’d sink down right after him, sitting down in front of him.

“Noho! Nohot okahay! DohohOHOHON’T-“

“Don’t tickle your ears or your neck. I know, I know!” Stan would cut Kyle’s desperate pleas short, abruptly beginning to drill his fingers into his hips. “You’d think I’d know how to tickle my Super Best Friend. I can’t believe you’d think I wouldn’t! You cut me deep, Kyle.”

“That’s nohot-!” Kyle would shake his head, cutting himself off as he started to impulsively swing his arms in defense. Kyle was way too ticklish as it was, but Stan’s constant teasing was making it a thousand times worse.

“I knowww, that’s not what you were going to say. You were going to ask me not to tickle you, and…” Stan couldn’t keep the shit eating grin off of his face. “…you know I’m not gonna do that.” He’d laugh, fighting back the urge to make fun of how red Kyle’s face was.

“Stohohop ihihit! Plehehease, I’m sohohorry!” Kyle wouldn’t even last ten seconds before pleading for mercy. That was one of Stan’s favorite things about playing Baseball Rules, besides being able to hear Kyle’s laugh. That was always first on the list.

“I know you’re sorry! I forgive you!” He’d reassure, managing to dodge every punch Kyle threw at him. “Let’s do this, okay? You let me get a few words out, and then I’ll let you go, okay? I’ll stop tickling you once I’m done.”

Kyle wasn’t 100% sure how legit that offer was. Normally, Stan would stop when he wanted to- so it really depended on how merciful he was feeling on that day. For all Kyle knew, Stan could just say sike and keep going. But…at the same time, maybe he wouldn’t. If anything, he might as well take the bait.

“Okahahay okahahay!”

“Okay? Great!” Stan would smile, moving his hands from his hips to his sides, squeezing them as he began speaking. “I get that you like getting A’s. That makes sense- everyone likes getting them. But it’s okay to not get them sometimes. You shouldn’t be stressing yourself out about your grades, you’re doing an awesome job with them.”

“Buhut-“ Kyle would start, just to be cut off by Stan suddenly skittering his fingers against his ribs. “SHIHihihit!! Ohoh my goHOHOhod! Dohohon’t doHOHO thahahat!!” Kyle would squeal loudly, his eyes flying open as his kicking and punching intensified.

“I’m not done yet!” Stan would sing-song, poking in between each rib for each syllable. The shit-eating grin on his face would only grow as he continued. “As I was saying; you’re doing awesome, dude! I’m not saying you shouldn’t focus on your grades- i’m saying you shouldn’t stress yourself out about them.” Stan would clarify.

“Your grades don’t determine how smart you are. And, either way, you have some kick ass grades, dude! You are the smartest person I know, Kyle-“

“Thahahat’s nohohot trUHUHUE- OHOH MY GOHOHOD- FUHUHUCK OHohohoff!!”

Stan would jokingly roll his eyes at Kyle’s cackling, shaking his head softly. “I’m barely even touching you!” That was true, all he was doing was fluttering his fingers over his stomach. Of course, he knew how effective that was- he just chose to play dumb. ‘Made things more fun!

“It is so true.” Stan would insist, his tone genuine and honest. “…And if you even try to tell me I know Wendy, I’m gonna roll up your jacket. Don’t fuck with me.” He’d playfully threaten. “Wendy doesn’t count. Wendy- Wendy is different. That’s the thing- you guys are both smart. And we’re allowed to have two smart people in South Park. With the amount of morons we have- god knows we could use ‘em.”

“Kyle, I wouldn’t be calling you smart if you weren’t. You are so smart, dude! You know fucking Pig Latin! Do you know anyone else who knows Pig Latin?”

“YOHOHOU!” Kyle would retort, doubling over with laughter. “YOHohohou knohohow pihig lahatin tohohohoo!” He’d would swing at Stan’s face yet again, not expecting it to horrible backfire like it did. Stan would take the swing as an opportunity to snake his hands under his arms, quickly skittering his nails all over his armpits.

“Because you taught me it, Kyle!” Stan would exclaim, having to hold back his own laughter as Kyle shrieked. “You ran right into my point! You make me smarter! I would be a total moron if it weren’t for you! Do you know the amount of times I’m stuck on something and I think to myself, “What would Kyle do?” You’re a genius, dude!”

Maybe it was the fact that he was laughing so hard, or maybe it was the surplus of compliments Stan was dumping onto him. But, either way, Kyle was bright red; practically screaming with laughter as he tried to sink himself into the floor. An effort that was obviously in vain. His arms were slammed tightly down against Stan’s fingers in an effort to protect himself; of course, not even realizing until after the fact that it was having to opposite effect.

“S-STAHAHAHAHAN!”

“Okay, okay I’m almost done!” Stan would quickly say, yanking his hands out from under Kyle’s arms; moving them back to his stomach, lightly skittering his fingers again. “All of this is to say- you’re being too hard on yourself! You are more than a grade you get on a test- putting aside the fact that a B is already a good grade!

“And- you know what? B doesn’t stand for Bad!”

And with that, Stan would still his fingers. The two of them would sit there, Kyle immediately noticing how Stan didn’t seem to be making any attempt of getting up. He’d still be giggling from the aftermath, eyeing Stan up and down expectingly.

“…One more thing.”

Of fucking course!

“…What does B stand for, Kyle?”

Oh shit. Shit. He was fucked. The truth of the matter was Kyle had no clue. It obviously wasn’t Bad. But…he didn’t really know what answer Stan wanted from him. From the expectant look on Stan’s face, he obviously already had an answer in mind. Kyle would think long and hard, searching every crevice of his brain in the hopes that somehow, someway, the answer would magically come to him.

“…Beheheautiful?”

“Ohhh…that’s a good one..” Stan would say in mock amazement, beginning to turn; as if he was about to get up. Kyle would let out a sigh of relief, thanking the universe for sparing him this time. The funny thing about that, though? He wasn’t. Stan would swiftly turn back around, making a buzzer noise to signify that Kyle had gotten the wrong answer before blowing a quick raspberry on his neck.

It all happened so fast, Kyle didn’t even have time to say anything- the only thing that left his mouth was a screech; jolting so hard that he yanked himself away from Stan, falling onto his side. He’d quickly scrunch his neck, along with covering it with his hands.

Kyle was too busy giggling on the floor to realize that Stan had gotten up, walked back over to Kyle’s backpack, and came back with his water bottle. He’d sit next to him, offering his hand to help him up. Kyle would hesitantly take it, a relieved sigh escaping him as Stan pulled him up- no strings attached.

“Broflovski.”

“Whahahat?”

Kyle would raise his eyebrow with giggly confusion. Stan had never referred to him by his last name. They were strictly on a first name basis! Stan would return the confused look with his own confused look. After a few seconds, his eyes would widen as he realized why Kyle looked so confused. He’d shake his head, beginning to chuckle softly.

“Noho! Broflovski! B is for Broflovski!”

It would take a second for Kyle to understand what Stan was saying. Once it clicked, Kyle would turn to Stan, a fed-up smile on his face. God, he was cheesy. He’d hold out his hand as Stan gave him his water bottle, glancing at him again before rolling his eyes and taking a sip.

“What? You don’t like it?” Stan would tease, elbowing him as soon as he closed the cap to his water bottle. “It makes sense! I thought it was funny! Broflovski! It starts with a B- and it’s your last name! Get it?” Stan would repeat, his eyes bright with excitement.

“The more you repeat it the less funny it gets.” Kyle would jokingly groan in annoyance, even scooting a little further away from him! For bit purposes! Stan would scoot right after him, the giddy smile still on his face.

“…Can I tell you something?”

“If it’s B for Broflovski again, I’m gonna hit you.” “It’s not! It’s not.” Stan would say, the smile on his face never wavering. Kyle couldn’t help but smile with him, ushering him to continue with what he was going to say.

“I’d take a Broflovski for life over an A on a test any day.”

Maybe it was stupid for Kyle to be as grateful as he was for Stan. He knew he had a bit of a temper when it came to things like this- and he knew he could be a huge handful at times. But, for reason, Stan stuck by him. Maybe he was bored? Maybe he had nothing better to do, no one better to be with?

But when Kyle looked at the pure happiness on Stan’s face, he couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t the case. It made him happy, knowing that Stan enjoyed his company just as much as he enjoyed his- even when he was being dramatic. They were Super Best Friends through thick or thin, no matter the circumstance. That felt…nice.

“Thanks, Stan…that means a lot.”

[girlreviews]

Review #46: Graceland, Paul Simon

It makes sense to do Graceland next, right? Ha. You might think I’m gonna fucking rip on it after that last post but I did say I loved it, and I do.

Here’s the thing: I think Paul Simon is a twerp. I could write a white paper on his ego and pretentiousness. That ego and pretentiousness would factor into whatever section that covered the controversy surrounding the production and creation of Graceland. That’s a nuanced discussion. He’s still a twerp.

However, he’s a twerp that made a damn near perfect album on this occasion. I’m going to have to keep myself in check or this review will itself turn into a white paper. Simon recorded some of the album with South African musicians including The Boyoyo Boys and Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Johannesburg, and remaining parts in the US with other guest artists like Linda Ronstadt and The Everly Brothers (!!). Unlike his previous work, since he had always been a singer-songwriter type, the music came first and the lyrics came last. This, is SO fascinating to me, because the lyrics are two things in Graceland:

One: Completely disconnected from the sound of the music behind them compared to the lyrical content, which I have always thought just somehow works. Songs about Memphis, songs about New York City, but sung over South African street music.

Two: Absolutely stunning. Masterful. Some of the best to ever be written and sung. I will have a lot of trouble not quoting entire verses. And I don’t always feel this way about Paul Simon. Sometimes I think he misses in a big way. He just didn’t on this record.

I’m going to start with Graceland itself. Make no mistake: this song brought my ass to Tennessee. It did. I listened to this record more in the year preceding my decision to move back to the US more than any other. So much so that I got banned from playing it in my office (true!). Consciously or not, when the time came for me to decide what the fuck to do with my life, I was hearing “I’m going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee, for reasons I cannot explain, there’s some part of me that wants to see Graceland”. I actually have never been to Graceland. Well I have, I’ve been to the parking lot and the gift shop. But that’s it. I’m not paying that much money to look at some weirdos weird lair. You’re never going to get me to care about Elvis like that. Anyway, I digress. This song breaks your heart. Knowing your love doesn’t love you anymore. Everyone seeing directly inside your totally deconstructed heart and soul looking at the ruins of your future. What do you do to recover from that but hit the fucking road? Accompanying those soul crushing lyrics is a guitar riff that feels like how tears feel. It sounds like you’re in a bath tub and you go under for a minute. It’s under water. And that’s exactly right. It hurts so good.

Next! Oh my god, I want to say my favorite but this is one of those where they’re all my damn favorite. I Know What I Know. Firstly, this is the wittiest Paul Simon has ever been:

“She looked me over and I guess she thought I was alright

Alright in a sort of a limited way for an off night”

But he then describes her as moving so easily “all he could think of was sunlight”, and that’s pretty fucking special. I can’t lie. You could be a twerp but with talk like that, if you were a little funny, and you could sing pretty songs, yeah maybe plenty of women would give you the time of day. Maybe the ego makes sense. This song also reminds me of a former boss, who was actually from South Africa. He just sung the last words of each line, because they were really pronounced “moooooney”, “fuuuuuunny”, and it was annoying as hell. Probably because he was a real racist piece of shit, and one day when I really just told him I had nothing left in me and thought I might kill myself, mans looked me dead in the eye and told me to “pick a different thought and just keep showing up for work”. Money. Funny.

Moving on, there’s this chaotic accordion in Gumboots. I don’t really know how to single out any of the lyrics, but I’ll pick “I said hey señorita, that’s astute I said, why don’t we get together and call ourselves an institute”(the fuck???? Come on! I want to be mad at it, but it’s just the right damn side of the line where he’s not high on its own supply, it just is really that good). It’s a vocal performance for sure. It’s witty again. It’s conversational. It’s confusing. It’s unresolved. There’s joyful happy percussion and trumpets backing that up. It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense and yet it works perfectly.

I can’t get into every other song because they’re all amazing. But a poor boy is “empty as a pocket” in Diamonds of the Souls of Her Shoes. There’s a “roly-poly little bat faced girl” in You Can Call Me Al. In Crazy Love, Vol. II, “the fire in your life” is “all over the evening news”. I really can’t cope with it all.

Here’s my two stories. They’re good ones, too. Like I said, I really got to know this record in 2012, when I found it in the charity shop across from my shitty apartment at my shitty job that ruled my shitty life. I found so many good ones there (Joni!). I listened to it non-stop. Got banned from listening to it. Did it anyway, etc. Wouldn’t you know, it was the 25th anniversary of it being released? Paul Simon toured that year, with all of the original musicians. I saw it. My life was a disaster, and I was miserable all told. The people largely responsible for the misery bought tickets for everyone but me, knowing how much I loved it. But I was given VIP passes by my former housemate who worked for Columbia Records, because yeah! Sometimes you catch a break! I know in spite of all of the misery and pain of that time that felt all consuming, there was a sunny day in Hyde Park where I saw this album performed from start to finish by the original musicians. I wore a cute leopard print dress and have a picture from that day with my very dear friend Sophie, and I can see in my eyes that I was happy. He threw in some other classics too. Even some Simon and Garfunkel. I got drunk. I was in the moment. I was the roly-poly little bat-faced girl. Whatever that means. For me it means I was happy.

Fast forward a year, I moved to Tennessee. Fast forward a few more years from there. I’m married to a man who works for a nice couple who happen to be South African. One Saturday I stop in to see him at work, and he says “Hey girlreviews, I need to introduce you to someone”. That someone was a tall, slender, aging white man that I recognized from a documentary I had watched some months ago. He had a lovely South African accent. My husband tells me, “he worked on Graceland”. I didn’t know what to say, but I shook his hand and told him how much I loved the record and how special it was. I was so overwhelmed I don’t even recall his name without rewatching the documentary, or what role he played in the making of the album.

Brb, crying about that guitar sound for the 87546490075734643th time. If you’ve never heard a guitar under water, all you have to do is get in your car, put on Graceland and head to Memphis. Only the putting on Graceland part is actually required.

[kkennymc]

GET TO KNOW KENNY

INTRODUCTION

Hello, silly! Welcome to my mess of an tumblr account! This pinned post will be explaining simple information about myself, and my very epic blog!

I’m Kenny! She/Her!

I find myself to be very…artistic! Meaning, I love all forms of art, and enjoy displaying all forms of art. Most of what I do ranging. One minute, I’ll be doodling. The next, I’ll be playing on my guitar. Because of that, I know my content will range! However, I hope to be mainly focused on my writing/art, as for I am trying to improve those skills.

FANDOMS/SPECIAL INTERESTS/HYPERFIXATIONS

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.

Welcome Home.

The Batman, (2022).

Paul Dano, (that one silly actor).

Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Breaking Bad.

The Walking Dead.

Black Christmas.

South Park.

Silent Hill.

Unemployed Brendon, (yes, just him specifically).

FOLLOW MY TIKTOK ACCOUNT FOR DAILY DHMIS CONTENT!!!

MY USER:

@ kkennymc

[jrpneblog]

Worst yet for North End in a South Coast shocker

North End produced their worst display yet under Paul Heckingbottom in a 1-3 defeat at Fratton Park to bottom of the league Portsmouth. North End were roundly booed by the travelling 1,062 as they went off 0-2 down at half time after one of the worst first half performances for some time. We rallied a little after the interval and pulled a goal back through Riis but just could not maintain any sort of momentum and a late penalty concession saw North End go down 1-3. To add insult to injury it was Pompey`s first win at home since their promotion back to the Championship. The defeat left North End just above the drop zone on goal difference after a fourth defeat on the road this season.

Hecky made two chancges to the side that drew with Sunderland on Wednesday evening with Whatmough replacing Lindsay and Holmes coming in for Frokjaer. The game started quite nervously for both sides with North End`s only outley being Kesler-Hayden playing down the left hand side. Wood made an excellent stop early on getting down well at his right hand post. North End had a shout for a penalty when the home keeper appeared to bring Riis down. It looked 50/50 from where I was sitting but not one you are likely to get away from home. Portsmouth took the lead nine minutes from the break when Murphy hit a fabulous strike from 25 yards to give Woodman no chance. Just before the interval the home side were two up when Woodman came for a corner and missed his punch only for Pompey to scramble the ball home and double their lead. It was a poor mistake by the North End keeper/

Three changes at half time for North End with Ledson, Frokjaer and Thordarson replacing Potts, Whiteman and Holmes all of who had been totally ineffective in a shocker of a first half. Within five minutes North End had pulled one back when Ledson played a sublime ball through to Riis and the big striker made no mistake poking past the home keeper. Unfortunately we failed to keep up the momentum we had in the early stages of the second half and although we had a couple of chances through Whatmough and Riis we never looked like equalising. When the home side got a late penalty which was converted by Bishop, North End`s misery was complete and it was a longer than usual ride home for the travelling North Enders after a very humbling result.

After the game PH said he thought we were bullied in the first half and I would concur with that. It was obvious from listening to Paul Heckingbottom being interviewed that he was biting his lip and being careful as to what he said, after all he has to work with these players for another seven weeks before he can do anything about freshening up the squad. That is something which North End must do in January otherwise this could be a battle with relegation or even worse. If the Hemmings family think that it is hard to get the price they want for the club in the Championship then just imagine how difficult it will be to sell a league one club. We are not in the drop zone yet by the grace of God but these players need to talk a real long look at themselves over the next two weeks because the over-riding consensus after the game was that the blame lies with them and not the management team.

.

PORTSMOUTH 3-1 PRESTON

.

WOODMAN 5

STOREY 6 WHATMOUGH 5 HUGHES 5

KESLER-HAYDEN 7 WHITEMAN 4 McCANN 6 POTTS 4

GREENWOOD 6 HOLMES 5

RIIS

.

SUBS

THORDARSON 6

FROKJAER 7

LEDSON 7

OKKELS 5

BOWLER 5

.

MOTM: Kaine Kesler-Hayden

Attendance 20,295

Preston Fans 1,062 (5,23%).

[zooterchet]

Police Informant Work (NSA, ArcticMUD)

Daniel Monahan, transferred from McDonald's, to industrial engineering.

Daniel Rodrigues, transferred from Israeli narcotraffic, to American Lodge protection.

Chris Dumais, right hand broken at thumb, to refuse Hebrew, instead pistol hand.

Carlin Sarkesian, refused shooting of Respite Center for developmentally disabled, Narcodan recipe taken from post-mortem corpse.

Greg Connolly, transferred from local poster work, to Code Orange, Philip J. Morris, Bombardier Lear.

Nicholas Maynard, transferred from mechanical engineering inventor's program, External Security, to fetish and nightclub, models.

Matthew Lennox, transferred from Hopkinton Sheriffs, to German New Line Cinema.

Allison Haimes, transferred from Cajun Accadian Korean, to Catholic North Korean mission program.

External Security pimping of marijuana arrested women as marriages, to overseas study program, MoveOn.

South Park Studios, transitioned from study of Jews as Cartman, to Romalians.

Jon Willis, given John Phillips Lodge of Boston, for Los Angeles Triads, as undercover police investigators.

Richard Passan, Arnold Lodge, given full disclosure of accounts, from identification of MI-6 betrayed and turned Provo; Irish support of War on Terror.

Ivan Tomasic, Russian Denmark, transitioned to Croat Irish, Yugoslav Catholic.

Justin Walsh, United States Marine Corps, given State Police housing and backing, as hunter of Joshua Golden.

Andrew Donson, assumed alias Joshua Golden, Jim Shooter, Sid Meier, and others, taken from cashier's status of drafted prostitute or priest, based on cashier's mechanical flaw, to reduction in staff to St. Cyr Mossad, Sharon Massachusetts; German Sheriff's fund, repealed.

Jeff Niemera, recruited as Officer of Essex County, through NSA access; data mining of corporate and local government breaches of systems, as medication access, for CVS repealed; resistance against Scientology, Scientology being Adolf Hitler's method of governance, for illiterate psychologists and doctors, the pharmacy major at a school.

Joshua Moen, ATF agent, contacted through Brian Monaghan; "nil", David Charlebois, resumes hacker's alias, alongside, "b-rock", and "null", for breach access to Bridgewater South Shore, illicit psychiatric programs for election rigs on Canadian intelligence social networking; Blizzard, View Askew, and Nick Gammon.

Melinda O'Deele, Grant Rotary Association, contacted through Obama Lodge, in operations in Plainville; cocaine traffic from Barack Obama's personal contacts, leads to break in social volunteer cases; individuals paid under state minimum, under law of waitresses, revealed as Unitarian; pedophiles, having refused Communion, as if marked ritual indicates actual profession of faith. Pedophiliac diagnosis, intended for middle schoolers, if exceptionally bright. Refusal of parents logic, noted, lack of job future marked in system of non-governmental organizations, through Church non-profits for their children and Church attendance.

William Morgan Jr., attends campus at SNHU, for returning degree; noted of several CIA lookalikes, actually Mossad Marines. SIS teams are reactivated, from 2004, and scrambled; NSA David Charlebois, FBI Lloyd Ahlquist, CIA Kara Williamson, NPC Shelley Gagnon, and IDF Daniel Monahan, scramble dozens of Freemasonic Temple stalkers, for Paul Revere Lodge, resulting in arrests and seizures of property, as having consorted with Britain and Israeli Likud elements.

Michael Charlebois, notes disparity in boycotts claimed Rabbinical, and Islamic elements of Republican Party, under Bush; interdiction, of transgender surgeries, attempted and failed, revealed to be ignorant parents under police rumor. Full Twitter disclosure of the Jewish origin of 9/11 given, as pork and ham boycott, against black culture, African-Americans preferring pork and veal and meat on Ramadan, to maintain health, interdicted by white supremacist authorities out of South.

[dailyrugbytoday]

Munster take on Connacht in Thomond Park this Saturday 7.35pm

New Post has been published on https://thedailyrugby.com/munster-take-on-connacht-in-thomond-park/

The Daily Rugby

https://thedailyrugby.com/munster-take-on-connacht-in-thomond-park/

Munster take on Connacht in Thomond Park this Saturday 7.35pm

Munster take on Connacht in Thomond Park this Saturday 7.35pm, and it promises to be another interprovincial cracker this weekend.

The sides last met in October when Connacht edged out Munster in a 20-11 win in Galway.

The game will be live on a number of channels this weekend, and to help you with more information here’s a full preview of the game.

Munster vs Connacht

Game Crusaders vs Chiefs | CRU v CHI Venue Orangetheory Stadium, Christchurch Date & time 24 February 2023 Television SKY Sports & Foxtel Now Streaming WATCH HERE

The URC gets back underway this weekend, with the inter-provincial derby between Munster and Connacht the pick of the fixtures.

Neither Munster or Connacht have enjoyed an ideal start to the season, as the southern province find themselves in 14th place after seven rounds, while their western rivals are sitting in 12th.

Munster should be full of confidence after they defeated South Africa A at Páirc Uí Chaoimh during the international break, as they look to kick start their season.

Read More:  Munster rugby game on TV – Fixtures and Stream Today

Munster v Connacht: How can I watch the game live on TV?

The match will be aired live on Saturday, November 26th on TG4, the TG4 Player and Premier Sports 1. Coverage on TG4 starts at 7pm, while coverage on Premier Sports starts at 7.25pm. Kickoff is at 7.35pm.

URC TV is also showing the game, with a range of options available to viewers. Customers can buy a one-off stream of Munster v Connacht for €7.99.

Other options include a monthly access pass for €6.99 per month, which gives customers access to every URC fixture, or a season-long pass for a one-off fee of €41.99.

Did you know?

It will be the first game on the new artificial surface at the Sportsground. Munster have won on three of their last four visits to Galway but Connacht have won two of the last three games between the provinces.

Press Pass | Connacht v Munster

Hear from Attack Coach Mike Prendergast and Keynan Knox ahead of the game.

Teams

Connacht: Conor Fitzgerald; John Porch, Byron Ralston, David Hawkshaw, Mack Hansen; Jack Carty (C), Kieran Marmion; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham; Gavin Thornbury, Oisin Dowling; Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler.

Replacements: Grant Stewart, Peter Dooley, Jack Aungier, Niall Murray, Josh Murphy, Colm Reilly, Tom Daly, Paul Boyle.

Munster: Joey Carbery; Conor Phillips, Malakai Fekitoa, Dan Goggin, Patrick Campbell; Ben Healy, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Keynan Knox; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (C), Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Scott Buckley, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Edwin Edogbo, Jack O’Sullivan, Craig Casey, Rory Scannell, Fionn Gibbons.

[felicia-cat-hardy]

20 Asian American Musicians To Add To Your Playlist Now

Over the past several years, the K-pop industry in the U.S. has grown exponentially. The fan enthusiasm behind bands like BTS has drawn parallels to The Beatles, and so many K-pop groups have received the same passionate reception. The attention is well-deserved, but Asian artists represent a multitude of musical genres (even just within the K-pop industry) — a fact that should not be overlooked. Whether you're a fan of indie rock, R&B, hip-hop, or dance music, you won't want to sleep on these Asian American musicians.

Asian artists have recently received some long-deserved recognition in the entertainment industry, primarily in film. In 2020, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won big at the Oscars. The following year, Youn Yuh-Jung won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Minari, which also scored The Walking Dead alum Steven Yeun a nomination for Best Actor. However, there's still plenty of work to be done within the music landscape to ensure equal representation is achieved.

BTS, most notably, has seen unprecedented success in the U.S. Still, despite being invited to attend the last three Grammys, they've yet to take home an award, highlighting the discrepancy between their immense success and the Recording Academy's willingness to acknowledge it. Additionally, Asian artists have a harder time landing record deals. As American Idol alumni Paul Kim explained to The New York Times, he was blatantly told by industry execs he would have been signed to a label faster had he not been Asian.

By streaming these artists, you're not only supporting them and their art, but you're subsequently showing industry insiders just how valuable they are. Consider this list sonic proof Asian artists are making exceptional, diverse music that can't be boxed into one genre or sound. Each of these artists prides themselves on breaking boundaries and creating their own rules. You may have heard of a few, but many have been flying under the radar for far too long. Your ears will thank you soon enough.

Melissa Polinar

Polinar got her start in the late 2000s when viral YouTube covers paved the way for success. While artists like Justin Bieber and Lennon & Maisy were sharing music covers, Polinar focused on posting her original music — and her soulful vocals were a hit. In 2019, the Filipino-American songwriter actually re-recorded one of the songs that propelled her career forward, "Try," on its 10-year anniversary.

Eric Nam

Born and raised in Atlanta, Nam moved to Korea to pursue music because he felt he had a better chance of succeeding there. “Even if you look at American Idol, or X-Factor, or The Voice or anything, it was always difficult to see an Asian or an Asian-American make it to a certain point,” Nam told TIME in November 2019. Today, Nam is a highly visible and respected name in the K-pop industry. While he's very proud of his K-pop success, he considers himself a pop singer first. He hopes to grow his success stateside and told TIME, "I want people to hear my music and say, 'I don’t know who this person is,' and I could be Black, white, Latino, Asian — it doesn’t matter, but it’s just a great pop song."

Clinton Kane

Kane's got every making of a great singer-songwriter, and his lyricism will make a fan out of loyal Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith listeners. The Filipino-American singer's impressive vocal range captivates, and his emotion-driven lyrics will melt your heart. One of his more popular tracks, "Chicken Tendies," has upwards of 2 million views and is a must-add to your heartbreak playlist.

Jhené Aiko

As a mixed-race Japanese, Creole, Dominican, and European woman, Aiko has proudly championed her diverse roots throughout her accomplished career. The R&B singer is a six-time Grammy-nominated artist and is well respected within the industry for her philanthropic endeavors. She launched the WAYS foundation in 2017, an organization dedicated to helping cancer patients and their families.

Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki is hardly a newcomer to the EDM scene, but as one of the most prominent DJs in the industry, and one of the biggest Japanese DJs ever, it would be a crime to leave him off this list. Aoki even has his own record label and, in 2016, Netflix released I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, a documentary about his career.

Karen O

As the lead singer for the rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karen O has solidified her spot as a rock music legend. Not only is the Korean-American singer's discography with the band a must-listen for any rock music fan, but her 2019 album with Danger Mouse, Lux Prima, earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance.

H.E.R.

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, H.E.R. (aka Gabi Wilson) has become one of the most prominent names in R&B. At just 23 years old, the singer-songwriter already has four Grammy wins and 13 nominations. Along the way, she's never shied away from praising her Filipino mother and Black father, Agnes and Kenny Wilson, for giving her the unique perspectives that propelled her musical success.

Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi is actually one person (Chaz Bear) and he's become the unofficial king of chillwave. Born to a Filipino mother, the South Carolina native later relocated to California to further his music career. If you need some chill vibes on your playlist, Bear's got you covered.

Ruby Ibarra

Ibarra is a Filipino-American rapper from San Lorenzo, California who also dabbles in spoken word poetry. Her music is meaningful in more ways than one. A number of her songs touch upon her experience as an Asian American woman. In April 2021, she released a powerful song and video called "Gold" with Ella Jay Basco, which exposed the harmful effects of the skin whitening industry.

Ella Jay Basco

You may recognize Basco from her appearance in Birds of Prey, but her music is not to be slept on because it's making major waves. Her song "Gold" with Ruby Ibarra highlights her Filipino heritage. As she told People, "From top to bottom, we wanted to make sure that our Asian-American community was represented with this project."

Mitski

Meet your new favorite alt-rock queen. Mitski's dreamy melodies appeal to the indie-rock crowd more than anything, and, if you're a sucker for a sad bop, this Japanese-American songstress has plenty of those stacked up.

Yaeji

Yaeji was born in Flushing, Queens in 1993 and grew up between the U.S. and Korea. Since she moved around so much as a kid, she found friendship on the internet, where she first connected with the bossa nova, jazz, and Korean indie music that drove much of the Korean DIY scene. She soon returned to the States to attend college, where she discovered a love for producing and DJing. Now, she meticulously blends hip-hop elements with her house-driven sound for a listening experience that is unlike anything else.

Hayley Kiyoko

Kiyoko has been given the nickname Lesbian Jesus since she’s so outspoken about LGBTQ+ representation in the music industry. The Japanese-American singer is a true trailblazer and her pop music genius has landed her hits with Kehlani, MAX, and AJR.

Jay Park

Park is an industry heavyweight. The Seattle native got his start in the K-pop industry as part of the band 2PM, but he went solo in 2009. Today, not only does the star have dozens of hits under his belt, but he has two record labels of his own that specialize in R&B and hip-hop music: AOMG and H1ghr. Park uses his superstar status to give others the spotlight, and he's put his support behind other artists like GOT7's JAY B and Yugyeom, and Raz Simone. Whether you're a self-proclaimed K-pop stan, or you're just recently getting acquainted with the genre, Park's discography is required listening.

Jin Au-Yeung

Born and raised in North Miami Beach, Florida, the Chinese-American rapper, aka MC Jin, has some seriously impressive accolades under his belt. After becoming popular among his musical peers for his epic freestyles, he was signed to Ruff Ryders in 2002 at just 19 years old, becoming the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label in the U.S. He's since parted ways with the label and now travels back and forth between the U.S. and Hong Kong, seeing success in both places. In May 2021, the rapper released a single called "Stop the Hatred" with Wyclef Jean to raise awareness about hate crimes toward Asian Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Olivia Rodrigo

Rodrigo needs no introduction, but I'll do it anyway: This Filipino-American actress-turned-singer-songwriter's mega-hit debut single "drivers license" was unavoidable in January 2021. Its heartbreakingly relatable lyrics about a crush moving on with someone else struck listeners to their core and immediately soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also went viral on TikTok, before making its way into a Saturday Night Live sketch. Rodrigo's songwriting skills have fans likening her to industry heavyweights like Taylor Swift, so it's no surprise her debut album, Sour, is one of the most highly-anticipated albums of summer 2021.

Run River North

Run River North is not just one musician, but three. The band formerly known as Monsters Calling Home is an indie rock band from Los Angeles. The group has an eclectic sound that draws inspiration from each member: Daniel Chae, Alex Hwang, and Sally Kang.

ZHU

When ZHU first entered the electronic music scene, he used an alias and remained anonymous. By 2014, the artist also known as Steven Zhu was ready to share his identity with the world. ZHU got his start in San Francisco, California, but has made his mark on the EDM scene globally.

Darren Criss

Criss rose to fame starring on the television series Glee and he's since proven himself to be a true triple threat. His work can be seen across TV, film, and music. In September of 2018, Criss became the first Filipino-American to win an Emmy in the lead actor category for his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan in FX's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. He’s also got several full-fledged EPs under his belt.

Amber Liu

Amber Liu (also known mononymously as Amber) is of Taiwanese descent and grew up in Los Angeles. She made a big splash when debuting as a member of the K-pop girl group f(x) in September 2009, but has since gone solo. Her 2019 solo track "Other People" racked up millions of streams, and she’s gearing up to drop her first album of 2021, called y?, very soon. In the meantime, she’s continuing to grow her superstar following on social media, where she has 5 million Instagram followers and over 2.3 million on Twitter.

Get Relationship Advice Here

[cardest]

New York playlist

New York! New York! So good you gotta say it twice! What it also so good is this epic New York playlist I put together. Took me a while. I had many bands, musicians, artists to research before deciding on songs. Not to mention the endless list of talent that hail from that part of the world. Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx just to mention some of the surrounding areas with their own unique musical history. This list took some time.

Well, next time you’re in New York City,go to this NY playlist and feel the city vibes like never before. Enjoy!

001 Sesame Street '12' And Pinball Animation song 002 Handsome - Ride Down 003 Blondie - Dreaming 004 Sonic Youth - Kool Thing 005 Luscious Jackson - Citysong 006 Joan Armatrading - Heading Back to New York City 007 Lou Reed - Hold On 008 Helmet - Rollo 009 Late Show with Colbert and the Humanism theme song 010 Heavy D & The Boyz - Now That We Found Love ft. Aaron Hall 011 James Brown in Black Caesar - Down and Out in New York City 012 Guerilla Toss - Future Doesn't Know 013 Sonny Rollins - Harlem Boys 014 Biohazard - Tales From The Hardside 015 Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message 016 PRONG - _Turnover 017 Billy Idol - Hot In The City 018 INXS - Different World 019 Ramones - I Just Wanna Have Something to Do 020 Chandra - Subways 021 Cro-Mags -  Days Of Confusion 022 B Boys - Energy 023 Diff'rent Strokes - theme song 024 David Bowie - New York's in Love 025 Living Colour - Type 026 Swans - Sex, God, Sex 027 Leroy Hutson - cool out 028 Chick Corea - central park 029 S.O.D. - Pi Alpha Nu 030 Alan Vega - Saturn Drive 031 Jaume Branch - Theme 002 032 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean 033 PJ Harvey - Good Fortune 034 Bobby Caldwell - What You Wont Do for Love 035 Saun & Starr  - Sunshine (Youre Blowin My Cool) 036 DOPE movie OST - Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat) 037 Type O Negative - Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia) 038 Harlem River Drive - Harlem River Drive (Theme Song) 039 Simple Minds - Up On The Catwalk 040 C.H.U.D. OST - C.H.U.D. main theme 041 Public Enemy - Harder Than You Think 042 Peter Criss - Blue Moon Over Brooklyn 043 The Beach Boys - The Girl From New York City 044 Bob Marley - Reggae On Broadway 045 Black Anvil - My Hate Is Pure 046 Motorhead - Ramones 047 Echo and the bunnymen _ empire state halo 048 Cerebral Ballzy - Downtown 049 Harlem- Suicide 050 Cyndi Lauper -  Girls Just Want To Have Fun 051 Marvels Daredevil - Opening Titles theme song 052 Fleetwood Mac - The City 053 3rd Bass - Brooklyn-Queens 054 Anthrax - Only 055 RAMONES - Cabbies On Crack 056 Unsane - Rat 057 Daryl Hall - NYCNY 058 Love Bug Star Ski & The Harlem World Crew - Positive Life 059 Pist.On - Grey Flap 060 The Sex Pistols-New York 061 Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life 062 Los Straitjackets - Brooklyn Slide 063 De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays 064 THE DRAMATICS - Blame it on New York City 065 Aerosmith - Rats in the Cellar 066 GG Allin - NYC tonight 067 The Brooklyn Bronx & Queens Band - On The Beat 068 Le Butcherettes -  New York 069 New York Dolls - Subway Train 070 Laurie Anderson - The day the devil 071 Marvels Jessica Jones - Opening theme song 072 Skull Snaps - My Hang up Is You 073 Janet Jackson - What Have You Done For Me Lately? 074 Blondie - In the Flesh 075 Agnostic Front -  City Streets 076 Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman 077 Charles Bradley -  Aint It A Sin 078 Liquid Liquid - Cavern 079 Bill Withers - Harlem 080 Cherry Vanilla - The Punk 081 Ace Frehley  - New York Groove 082 Rolling Stones - Harlem Shuffle 083 Seinfeld Theme song 084  Beastie Boys - Stop that train 085 Boney M -New York City 086 Biohazard - Five Blocks To The Subway 087 MOD - Rally (NYC) 088 Herb Alpert - Manhattan Melody 089 Nazareth - new york broken toy 090 Fishbone - Sunless Saturday 091 Mortician - Necrocannibal 092 Fantomas -  The Godfather 093 Joe Jackson - Steppin Out 094 Sick Of It All - Insurrection 095 Paul Simon - Boy in the Bubble 096 The Shangri Las - Leader Of The Pack 097 Tombs - V 098 NINA HAGEN - New York, New York 099 The Cure - NY Trip 100 Cameo - Word Up 101 Rollins Band - Disconnect 102 Luke Cage: OST - Theme song 103 GEORGE BENSON - On Broadway 104 Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim 105 Law & Order SVU  Intro Theme song 106 Le Tigre - My My Metrocard 107 Leonard cohen_First we take Manhattan 108 Prong - Snap your fingers,snap your bra strap 109 Velvet Underground - Rock & Roll from Loaded 110 Tito Puente - 110th St And 5th Avenue 111 NICOLE feat Timmy Thomas - NEW YORK EYES. 112 Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Broadway rhythm 113 White Zombie -  Super-charger heaven 114 Plasmatics -  Monkey Suit 115 Cats on Broadway - The Overture 116 Roy Ayers - We Live In Brooklyn, Baby 117 The Vibrations - Ain't No Greens In Harlem 118 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - Coney Island Whitefish 119 Mel Torme - Broadway 120 Helmet - Biscuits For Smut 121 Swans -  Better Than You 122 Madball - Pride (Times Are Changing) 123 The Damned Things -  Handbook for the Recently Deceased 124 Handsome - Needles 125 RUN DMC - Beats To The Rhyme (Instrumental) 126 Jane's Addiction - Underground 127 Vision Of Disorder - Loveless 128 The Ronettes - Be My Baby 129 Marnie Stern - East Side Glory 130 Televison - See No Evil 131 Madonna - Into The Groove 132 Lunachicks - Subway 133 Type O Negative - In Praise Of Bacchus 134 Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street 135 Quicksand - Fazer 136 IGGY POP - Dont Look Down 137 Surfbort - Back to Reaction 138 Marvels The Punisher - Opening theme song 139 Blondie - The Hardest Part 140 Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman 141 Agnostic Front - Police State 142 RAMONES - 53rd & 3rd 143 FEAR - new yorks alright if you like saxophones 144 Lydia Lunch    - Spooky 145 Native New Yorker - Odyssey 146 Little River Band - Statue Of Liberty 147 Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side 148 Motherlover (feat. Justin Timberlake) 149 Aretha Franklin - Spanish Harlem 150 Luscious Jackson - Ladyfingers 151 The Cars - Hello Again 152 Stetsasonic - Talkin All That Jazz 153 Kajagoogoo - Big Apple 154 David Bowie - Andy Warhol 155 Voices Of East Harlem - Wanted Dead Or Alive 156 Talking Heads    - Life During Wartime 157 Joe Strummer - Love Kills (Sid and Nancy: Love Kills SOUNDTRACK) 158 Galt MacDermot - Cotton Comes to Harlem 159 Unsane - D-Train 160 The Warriors OST - The Warriors Full Theme Song 161 Biohazard - Black and White and Red All Over 162 WILLIE WOOD & WILLIE WOOD CREW - WILLIE rap 163 The Cult Sonic Temple New York City 164 Andrew W.K.- I Love New York City 165 BT Express - Peace Pipe 166 Baby Shakes -Turn It Up 167 Public Enemy - A Letter to the New York Post 168 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Tales of the Old New York The Rock Box 169 Chicago - Another Rainy Day In New York City 170 Brooklyn Nine Nine - Main Title Theme 171 Cro-Mags - These Streets 172 AC/DC - Safe In New York City 173 Gogol Bordello - AVENUE B. 174 RUN DMC - Hard Times 175 Breakfast Club - Right On Track 176 Foo Fighters -  I Am a River 177 Cameo - New York 178 Ratt - 7th Avenue 179 Dr. Boogie - Get Back To New York City 180 Frank Sinatra - New York, New York. 181 PRINCE  - All The Critics Love U In New York 182 The Rising - Bruce Springsteen 183 The Night Flight Orchestra - 1998 184 Necro - Tough Jew Instrumental 185 TOM WAITS - Midtown 186 Scorpions - The Zoo 187 Stevie Wonder - Living For The City 188 Leeway - Mark of the squealer 189 Nuclear Assault -  Cold Steel 190 Fantomas -  Rosemary's Baby 191 Wu Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. 192 Hanoi Rocks - 11th Street Kids 193 Patti Smith - Piss Factory 194 Moondog - Fog on the Hudson - On the Streets of New York 195 RAMONES - Something To Believe In 196 Neil Diamond - Brooklyn On A Saturday Night 197 Immolation - Despondent Souls 198 John Lennon - Just like starting over 199 PJ Harvey - you said something 200 Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man 201 John Cale - The philosopher 202 Bee Gees - Stayin Alive (Saturday Night Fever) 203 Suzanne Vega - Luka 204 Gorilla Biscuits - New Direction 205 Whodini - Escape (I Need a Break) 206 Agnostic Front - More Than A Memory 207 Beastie Boys - Helllo Brooklyn 208 Foreigner - Love on the Telephone 209 Gargoyles TV show Original Theme 210 Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps 211 Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby 212 Ramones - Rockaway Beach 213 Public Enemy - Welcome To The Terrordome 214 Nico - These days 215 Swans - The Sound Of Freedom 216 Billy Joel - 52nd Street 217 XTC - Statue of liberty 218 Overkill -  Hello From The Gutter 219 Twisted Sister - Come out and play 220 Kiss - Deuce 221 Skinless - Savagery 222 Rob Zombie - Dragula 223 Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five - New York New York 224 Ric Ocasek - Rockaway 225 Ministry - Lieslieslies 226 Gogol Bordello - Wonderlust King 227 Iron Fist - intro 228 BPD - South Bronx 229 INXS - Calling All Nations 230 Pyrhhon - Liberty at the ashes 231 Shelter - Civilized Man 232 James Brown - Don't Tell It 233 Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna 234 GSH -17th Street 235 Helmet - Iron Head 236 Salt-N-Pepa - Expression 237 Alice Cooper - BIG APPLE DREAMING 238 Profanatica - Ordained In Bile 239 John Coltrane - Grand Central 240 PRINCE  - Lady Cab Driver 241 Lou Reed - NYC Man 242 KISS - Naked City 243 Brutal Truth - Ordinary Madness 244 Quicksand - East 3rd St. 245 Teruo Nakamura And The Rising Sun - Manhattan Special 246 Herbie Mann - Turtle Bay 247 The Jimmy Castor Bunch - Its Just Begun 248 Prong -  Whose fist is this anyway? 249 Rolling Stones - Undercover Of The Night 250 Biohazard - Failed Territory 251 Brian Eno - Over Fire Island 252 Mutilation Rites - Axiom Destroyer 253 RATM - Renegades Of Funk 254 Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin' for You 255 Whiplash - Last Nail in the Coffin 256 Billy Cobham - Total Eclipse 257 The Rods - Too Hot to Stop 258 Lalo Schifrin - No One Home 259 David Shire - Manhattan Skyline 260 The Doors - Strange Days 261 WASP - The Headless Children 262 Budos Band - Black Venom 263 Roy Clark - Twelfth Street Rag 264 Guerilla Toss - Human Girl 265 Cecil Taylor - Steps 266 Heartbreakers - Born To Lose 267 They Might Be Giants - Where Your Eyes Don't Go 268 Frehleys Comet - Into the Night 269 West Side Story Act I -  Something's Coming 270 Sleater Kinney - Far Away 271 The Clash - Gates of the West 272 Betty Davis - nasty gal 273 Crumbsuckers - Beast on my back 274 SOD - Pi Alpha Nu 275 Led Zeppelin - custard pie 276 Insect Ark - In the nest 277 Sweet Tee - On the smooth 278 Virgin steele - American girl 279 Hugo Montenegro - Moog power 280 Laura Branigan - hot night 281 Chad Mitchell - The other side of this life 282 Vanilla Ice - Ninja rap 283 ELF - First avenue 284 Pro-Pain - Voice of rebelion 285 Simon & Garfunkel - the 59th street bridge song 286 RIOT - Fight or fall 287 Ramones - Teenage lobotomy 288 Gang Starr - The place we dwell 289 Billy Joel - All you wanna do is dance 290 Manowar - Fighting the world 291 Manic Street Preachers - Patrick Bateman 292 Ray Parker - Ghostbusters 293 Futurama theme song 294 Sick of it All - Alone 295 Anthrax - NFL 296 Street trash OST - Viper theme 297 PJ Harvey - good fortune 298 Don Cherry - Awake Nu 299 The Contortions - dish it out 300 Sonic Youth - Disappearer 301 Sonny Rollins - East Broadway run down 302 White Hills feat. Jim Jarmusch - Illusion 303 Fishbone - Ugly 304 Jeffrey Lewis - Sad screaming old man 305 Debbie Harry - Jump, jump 306 Cro-Mags- From the grave 307 John Lennon - New York City 308 R.E.M. - Leaving New York 309 Escape From New York OST - Main Title song 310 Type O Negative - Everything Dies 666 Richard Marx - Remember Manhattan

I reckon my New York playlist could reach 350 songs! Can you help me? Add your own songs. Bring it!

[sammyandmattsblog]

Hello Kruger, we've missed you

When we lived in Maputo we had to cross the border once a month for Matt's car and my visa, so we ended up going to the Kruger (A LOT) and completely falling in love with the place, as well as with birding..

From our house in the city, over the border and to the Croc Bridge Gate, was 1 1/2 hours (not much more than from Nelspruit to the park) so it was an easy excuse to find ourselves there on a Friday morning at 7:00am until Sunday afternoon.

Because we visit the park so much, our trips there have all begun to blend into each other and we've forgetten a lot of what we have seen and done. Therefore, I really want to record our experiences at the park, to look back on and remember all the wonderful times (so expect a lot of Kruger posts :)

We've been to the park on day trips twice this week 😂😂😂 but with a totally different MO than before. Now it takes us 3 hrs to travel the distance of about 30kms, as we have time to stop for every bird or sit somewhere shady for a while to just enjoy the sounds of the bush.

Women's day was our first time back in the park since January and things couldn't have been more different. Now they only accept pre bookings and only a few of the gates are open. You also have to go at a certain time and can only use the gates in your province. I think they are currently only allowing 30% capacity, which is really nice because you can drive for an hour without seeing another car. We went from Malalane up to Skukuza (H3 via Afsal) and then out Paul Kruger gate. We also stopped for lunch at Skukuza, where they have reopened the old train station and turned it into a restaurant, complete with the original steam engine and train. I found this info about the station on the internet:

A TRIP BACK IN TIME

Known as the railway that saved the Kruger National Park, the Selati line is one of the most expensive railways ever built connecting Komatipoort with Tzaneen during the gold rush heydays. The construction of the line started in 1892 and was only completed in 1912.

In 1923, the South African Railways took over and introduced a “Round in Nine” train tour through the Lowveld, with a stopover at Sabie Bridge, today called Skukuza. The tour soon became very popular for its game viewing, and Kruger was established as a national park in 1926.

Trains still ran through the park up until 1973 after which most of the tracks were removed, leaving the bridge as is and part of the Skukuza scenery.

The old South African Railway Class 24 steam locomotive number 3638 that sits at Skukuza has been stranded there for a while, with only one carriage in tow. This specific carriage has had a fascinating journey. After serving as a suburban coach from 1942, it was converted into a funeral coach and in 1950, it transported the last remains of General J. C. Smuts from Irene near Pretoria to Johannesburg for cremation. In 1967, the coach was repaired, outshopped and became the State Funeral Coach where during its service, it transported the last remains of the Hon. J. G. Strydom. It was eventually donated to the National Parks Board (SANParks), and from 1984-2014 it housed a restaurant. Originally the lounge was paired with a kitchen and dining carriage, but sadly these burnt down in 1996. What was once a beautifully-preserved train and purpose-built station has been off limits to visitors for a while until now. Thanks to the new Kruger Station – a unique lifestyle precinct that captures an important part of the park’s history, it will reopen for all visitors to the Kruger in 2020.

New birds:

.Retz's Helmetshrike (yay finally)

.Brubru

.White-crested Helmetshrike

Then yesterday (Saturday 15 Aug) we went back to the park for another lovely early morning (which turned into a late afternoon). We arrived at 6am and took the S114 dirty road from Malalane to Skukuza, which is about 50kms. We took it slow, stopping at the watering hole on the S114 to watch the birds bathing and then chilled at the Biyamiti weir.. and trust not seeing anyone the whole time but the minute I jump out the car to have a wee, a car pulls up behind us, getting a great view of my bottom 😂😂.

New birds:

.Hooded Vulture

.Lappet-face Vulture

.Common Scimitabill (finally)

.Sabota Lark

.Red-breasted Swallow

Then also saw a very cool Secretary bird

When we were there on Monday we found a previously undiscovered dirty road but didnt have time to explore. So today after lunch we drove from Skukuza to the Phabeni gate (also never used this gate before), using the Very cool Sabie River Road)

On the way home, Matt had to go kind of fast to get up the Hazyview Hills because the clutch (the same one he had fixed twice this year) is not right and we had planned to take it to the mechanic on Monday.. then just like the good old days, bam, a belt snaps (which also should've been checked on the major service in March---- mechanics, what you gonna do 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️). Anyways, luckily Matt noticed the temperature rising so we pulled over and called the AA, who informed us that because of corvid, we both werent allowed to drive back with the tow truck and one of us was going to have to make another plan. Yikes.

We called our mechanic who was unfortunately in Machardodorp, so we called his wife who sweetly changed all her plans to save our day. We didnt say anything to the truck driver about not being able to drive with him and both just jumped in the truck and put seatbelts on and he didnt say anything, so off we went. Then Veronica opened the shop, and dropped us off at a taxi which she had arranged to drive us the 25kms back to our place. Gosh, I must be the bad luck one because this is the first week I've been back in the car since all the drama in Zambia back in feb (which is when the clutch broke) and the car breaks down Haha!!

[oh-theatre]

Sycamore High: Going Steady (Chapter 26)

A/N: Hey hey look I didn't forget about the others! :) Also I know that thats not how adoption works but... here we are. I know i just posted one but I had to post it!!

summary: Emma and Paul have some news :)

words: 3,000 (I did this on purpose, I was so proud :)

warnings: Swearing, kissing, adoption (idk man)

Ao3 Link

“Ok favorite…” Paul pondered for a moment examining the room, Emma's room was bleak but held some items of importance. There were pictures of her and her family scattered on every wall. It was a pretty basic setup, she had a desk by the window, a bed in the middle and a closet. She did, however, have an awesome TV set with many games included. At this point, the pair had exhausted most things and were just searching for anything. He fiddled with his chopsticks, twirling some noodles around them. “Oh! Favorite takeout food!” He exclaimed Emma tilted her head, scrunching her eyebrows before deciding to answer.

“Well…” Now it was her turn to look around. It was a big question, she liked Chinese, obviously. She twirled her own noodles, eating them up before thinking some more. She liked tacos that she and her mom would get on Tuesday. She loved Italian. “Italian,” She said pointing her chopsticks at Paul, he nodded approvingly.

“I would go for sushi, but nice option” He complimented, she laughed nudging him. They sat comfortably atop her bed eating as the TV continued playing the background. Paul, with his mouth full, gestured towards the TV “What mind of ames oo you ave?” He mumbled, Emma raised her eyebrows. He swallowed before trying again. “What kind of games do you have?” She perked up setting down her food. She walked over to a smaller closet under the tv, she opened it to reveal two shelves all lined with games. “Oh absolutely” Paul muttered amazed, he joined her as they perused the games. I like this one.

“What about some classics?” Emma teased holding up her copy of Wii sports. Paul laughed reminiscing about the times he, Ted and Bill would play it. “Oo! Or maybe some ‘Call of Duty’? I mean we probably shouldn't, seeing as video games cause violence”

“She says as she adopts three cats in the sims” Paul commented, she stifled a laugh continuing her game search. Paul does the same his eyes glazed over with excitement at each new game he finds. “Oh yes, South Park? Nice” Paul says dryly “Its Ted's favorite”

“Of course it is” She sighs rolling her eyes “It was either that or he was a ‘My Little Pet Shop’ lover” Emma joked, Paul falls back laughing, he sits up wiping his eyes,

“Don't diss the pet shop Em” He says putting two games back, he pulls another one “No way! Is this is the new ‘Man of Medan’ game?” Paul rushes holding up the game. Emma nods enthused. “Can we play it?” He asks softly, almost pouting.

“Yeah! I haven't played it yet but it looks fun!” She informs. Paul stops, he stares at her.

“Fun? Fun? no … no, Emma, this game is…” He ponders “I actually have no idea it just looks fun” They erupt into laughter, both smiling widely. They plug in the game preparing to play. The game is interesting enough and keeps them both on their feet and alert, probably wasn't the best game to play at night but neither of them cared. They were mostly there for the witty comments Emma made, the absolute confusion Paul displayed and the overall excitement of hanging out together after a long week. The game hit a slow with both of them gaining quite exhausted of the strenuous gameplay and pausing for a break and more food.

“You're not bad Matthews” Emma comments as they clean up their takeout

“Don't flatter me, they are just quick-time events, anyone can do them” Paul remarks as he helps out making their way to the kitchen.

“Falsehood, not everyone can do them, I personally think that QTEs are quite hard but go off” Emma mumbles, Paul chuckles as she ushers him away trying to clean. “Hey, my parents aren't home wanna practice for the musical?” She asks casually. Paul thinks for a moment before shrugging. He had no qualms about this, seemingly beneficial and well… fun.

“Yeah sure, let me go grab my music,” Paul says, Emma nods finishing up the cleaning. She opens her laptop setting up the karaoke as Paul returns briskly holding his binders. She smiles to herself as he seats himself next to her, they begin the track waiting. The song went on smoothly, each person getting into their characters and having too much fun with it. Approaching the last verse Paul had to look at his music having not been great at the final notes.

“And I love you know that I love...you know that I love…” They sang in unison sounding quite nice together Paul looked up to find Emma staring at him. She looked nice, a quiet fury of passion behind her eyes, her hair falling messily on her back. The track continued awaiting Pauls line but he couldn't really speak. Emma tilted her head watching him sweetly, and now he wasn't thinking, He wasn't thinking when he grabbed her face gently pressing their lips together, Emma melted into it kissing back almost instantly. She cupped his own hands that were still placed on her face. She giggled as they pulled away, something Paul could get used to. They stared for a moment both trying to figure out what to say.

“...me too” Paul breathes finishing the song maybe too late. Emma watches as a blush creeps on his face. She laughs lovingly, closing her laptop she turns back to Paul.

“Not bad Matthews, although I don't think we were supposed to kiss” She shrugs, Paul rolls his eyes affectionately “But hey, I could get used to that…” Paul bites his lip as she gets up to put away her computer. He follows her standing quickly, he takes her hand stopping her. “Paul?” She asks cautiously. He puts on his best smolder.

“Emma Perkins” Did his voice get higher? “Would you consider…” Emma would be lying if she said her heart hadn’t skipped a beat as she listened expectantly “Going steady with me?” he asked barely keeping it together. Emma laughed pushing him slightly.

“God you're such a dweeb” She comments lovingly, he nods agreeing. She pauses making herself more formal. “But of course! I'd love to” She says putting on her best accent. He laughs moving closer, he wraps his arms around her hips looking down at her, she follows his lead wrapping her arms around his neck.

“You're short,” He notices, she frowns sighing, throwing her head back. He laughs placing a hand on her chin pulling her close kissing her softly once more. They pull away, he frowns “Nope, still short” She rolls her eyes groaning pushing away from him.

“I take it back,” She mutters already walking away from him, he jumps following her.

“No, take backs!” He shouts as he grabs her carefully smothering with tickles. She can't help but giggle. She slaps his arms away softly turning back to him, smiling.

“The first rule of…” She gestures between then “this, no tickling. Got it?” He nods frantically. She smiles, I like this.

~~~

Sherlock, John, and Lestrade

Paul: Hey Ted! Guess what! No more making fun of me just cause you and Tommy are all smushy

Ted: First of all, please never use the word smushy ever again, second what the fuck are you talking about?

Bill: Hello, I am present

Paul: Hey Bill. And Ted for your information, Emma and I are ...going steady

Ted:...

Ted: Can I block him? Bill, can I block him?

Bill: No you may not, and congratulations Paul.

Paul: Thank you, Bill, at least someone here is not self-centered

Ted: Hey! It's called self-love...not that I have any of that

Bill: Ditto

Paul: Oh? Mood

Bill: Anyway, how did it happen?

And so Paul told them, sparing only a few details hed like to keep to himself. It was exciting and fun to recall to his friends.

Ted: That's cute, and very cliche

Paul: Yes it is, and I have no regrets

Paul: Don't you dare

Ted: No ragrets

Bill: YOLO

Paul: I hate you both so much.

Ted: :)

Bill: :)

Paul: Anyway what's going on in your lives?

Ted: Nothing much

Bill: Besides homework and rehearsal for the play I have no interesting topics for discussion.

Paul: In other words…

Ted: Nothing much. :)

Bill: Yes

Ted: Oh you know what! There is something…

Paul: Oo! What? Is Tommy secretly a furry

Ted: …

Ted: Please for the love of all that is holy Bill let me blOCK HIM

Bill: -bill is offline-

Ted: oH power move

Ted: -ted is offline-

Paul: I am so lonely...I have nobody...all on my own!

Paul: wait Ted wat was your thing

~~~

“WELL HELLO TRAITORS!” Paul shouted as he walked up to his friends by the locker. Both Bill and Ted groaned covering their ears. Paul pushed past them both opening his locker, he shoved some things inside continuing his conversation. “Hey, what's dat” He asks gesturing towards the hot drink in Ted's hand.

“Hot chocolate” he smiles “I'm meeting Tommy, we both have free periods so we’re gonna hang out in the library and study” Paul and Bill smile at the happy look on Teds. They go to continue but Emma interrupts walking up to the group followed by Charlotte.

“Is it good today or bad?” Paul asks leaning in, Emma rolls her eyes nudging him. She eyes the group which has now fallen silent and are now staring at the pair. “Ok, that's not happening, it didn't happen with Tommy and Ted, and it's not happening with me and Emma”

“Emma and I” Bill corrected stuffing his face in his book. Ted stifled a laugh as Paul glared at them

“What didn't happen with Ted and I?” Tommy asked curiously walking up to the group, subtly interlacing his hands with Teds. Ted smiled at him greeting him.

“Thank you” Bill mumbled once more at the correct grammar, Ted giggled.

“Nothing” Paul muttered, Emma sighed watching him “Well the whole gangs here…”

“Astute observation Paul! You really are a genius” Emma commented, her tone bright and fake. Paul pouted much to the group's amusement.

“Hey, we’re dating now you can't make fun of me” He frowned, Emma, smiled coyly, taking his hands.

‘Can and will” She said “Alright we have history so we out,” Emma said dragging away her boyfriend from the group, Paul following with no qualms, the group laugh waving them off.

“They're cute” Tommy commented sweetly. Charlotte nodded agreeing she checked her own watch perking up.

“Gotta go!” She said rushing away after mumbling goodbyes. And then there were three. Bill still had his face in a book only half-paying attention to what was going on. Ted sighed pushing his book down, laying it flat Bill looked up slightly irritated.  

“Can I help you?” He asked curtly, Ted knew it wasn't directed at him.

“Bill, you gotta go to class” Ted reminded, Bill, checked his watch nodding. He, just as the others had done, waved the two goodbye and disappeared into the buzzing hallways.

“And then there were two!” Tommy giggled, Ted smiled squeezing his hand “To the library?” Ted nodded and let Tommy lead him through the halls, into the library, into a secluded corner, with books, beanbags, and a small table. They set their things down and got comfortable.

“For you,” Ted said handing him the hot drink, Tommy smiled taking it enthused.

“Thank you!” Ted nodded grabbing his things from his bag, he wouldn't meet Tommy's eyes “Whatcha workin on?” Tommy asked setting his cup down, grabbing his own things. “I've got some chem to do and then-”

“They want to adopt me” Ted blurted, quietly but urgent. Oh, Tommy thought, and here I was going on about chemistry,

~~~

“Chad” Greg greeted nodding curtly to the man, he turned his voice becoming softer “Henry” Chad sighed stroking his chin, Henry didn't acknowledge the man as he continued grading papers. Chad leaned in whispering just enough for Greg to hear.

“Was it Jreg? I can't remember” He teases, Henry laughs, a full laugh clearly something he's been holding in for days. Greg groaned plopping his things down next to them. “Did we invite him? I don't remember inviting him” Chad comments poking his salad. Henry shook his head thinking.

“I don't either, odd” He turned to face Greg finally “I don't remember inviting you hmm..” Greg watched the two, why was he so adamant about tearing them down?

“Children, actual children” He muttered opening his lunch.

“He says as if he didn't kiss my husband” Chad mumbled, Henry’s eyes went wide, almost bulging trying not to laugh once more. “It's like that show… what's it called? Based on the Archie comics?” Chad snapped trying to remember, Henry, shrugged he only really watched crime tv or medical shows.

“Riverdale?” Greg added helpfully, Chad snickered.

“Of course you would know what its called” Henry muttered, going through another test. Chad nodded approvingly. A beep went off and Henry and Chad checked their phones. “Love” Henry tapped his watch with the end of his pencil

“Ah yes,” Chad said packing his things “I must go” he stood making his way to the door, not before Henry planted a kiss on his cheek. He turned towards Greg “Try not to kiss my husband while you're at it” He added mockingly before promptly leaving, giving Greg no chance at a rebuttal.

“We’ll see about that” Greg muttered a little too loud. Henry eyed him and packed up his things, leaving his own classroom without a word.

~~~

“It's so boring Em” paul groaned as he sat down at their lunch table, Emma chuckled stroking his hair lovingly. ‘History is boring” Ted and Tommy soon joined, eyeing the pair.

“What's up with him?” Ted asked Tommy, nodded agreeing. Charlotte, Bill and an unexpected guest of Sam sat down as well. Emma ignored Sam, turning back to Ted.

“You heard the man, History was boring” She shrugged, Paul sighed sadly leaning on Emma, resting on her shoulder. She patted him “There there” The group laughed collectively moving on. “Hey is everyone called for rehearsal today?” She asked as Paul sat up both opening their lunches. Charlotte quickly grabbed her journal flipping the pages.

“Yes! Everyone is called, we are doing a full run-through of the songs and then we are blocking the opeening” She informed excited, Emma smiled at her. She then finally glared at Sam, returning her soft gaze at Charlotte. Very hot and cold.

“Thanks, Lottie” She popped a chip in her mouth. The group continued on with the polite conversation, everyone doing their own thing. Bill sat on the left side of the table reading his book occasionally looking up and eating or participating. Ted sat to his left, actively engaging in conversation making jokes, and loving insults at people. Tommy sat to his left working on his music, marking it, eating sometimes and chiming in to reel Ted in or to watch the group. Emma and Paul sat at the head of the table, Emma closest to Bill, Paul closest to Charlotte on the right side. Emma led the conversation constantly throwing out ideas and topics, practically eating and talking at the same time. Paul did much of the same but much more quiet. Charlotte rebutted the conversation, always excited to share and talk to the group, eating neatly. Then there was Sam, he didn't fit in. He constantly tried to gain momentum in their conversation but they had all built him up in their heads as this egotistical, annoying human. And he did nothing to prove them wrong, making backhanded compliments, shutting down ideas, insulting them. Ted, Emma, and Paul could handle it they were instigators, but then he would move on to Tommy, Bill or Charlotte and they just didn't understand. Emma wasted no time telling Charlotte as soon as Sam left for the bathroom.

“He's being so mean! Lottie, you know I love you and I said I would...support whatever this is” She tried to hide her disturbed feelings, Charlotte listened. “But he's insulting you, and that's not a relationship!” Charlotte felt her heart pull, Emma was right, but she was always right and for once Charlotte wanted to be right. She loved Emma but this was her thing, she brought Sam into their lives and…

“What do you know about relationships?” Charlotte rebutted, no no! That's not what I wanted, She thought. “You date a guy for one day and suddenly you're the guru? Newsflash Emma-

“I'm sorry” Emma cut in calmly, the boys watched the two feeling themselves grow hot with nerves. “You're right, but I just want you to be ok” She admitted, she shrugged standing up. Paul went to follow but she shook her head. “I'll see you guys later” Charlotte sunk, Sam returned but she didn't stay. She ran after Emma.

~~~

Gucci Gang

Ted: Hey...Emma, Charlotte...is everything… Gucci now?

Paul: Can I block him? Bill, can I block him?

Bill: No you may not, and to put it in...simpler terms is everything alright?

Charlotte: yes, we have some stuff we need to talk about…

Emma: But we’re ok

Tommy: Oh yay!

Ted: you're so cute

Ted:...

Ted; The one...was supposed to stay in here.

Charlotte: Hehe, I will see you guys at rehearsal!

Emma: Ditto, gotta go grab some snacks. Anyone want anything?

Ted: Ill take some bleach

Bill: Ted, no

Tommy: No Ted

Ted: And once again, I am out

Paul: Yeah I gotta talk to my sister, see y'all later

Emma: I'M DATING A COWBOY, MOM I DID IT. Anyway, I'll just grab everyone something

Tommy: Bye!

Bill: It seems it is just us now

Tommy: Well I've got nothing to do till rehearsal, wanna go to the library and play a game of chess?

Bill: That is a satisfactory past time, I would love to.

Ted: You guys are so adorably nerdy

[ghaw2007]

Proposed TV Series

Proposed TV Series

To air on: HBO/HBO Canada, Encore, TV One, Flix, Starz, Cinemax, TNT, CBS, TBS, BET, TVGN, FX/FX Canada, USA, ABC, Showtime, DirectTV, IFC, AMC, Epix, MTV, MuchMusic, SundanceTV, Bravo (Canada), Netflix, ReelzChannel, Hallmark Channel, Hulu, Showcase, E!, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Cloo, Ion, WE tv, Oxygen, Chiller, Universal HD, WGN America, VH1, ABC Family, TV Land, Lifetime/Lifetime Canada, MTV, Centric, Bounce TV, Comedy Central, Antenna TV, CMT/CMT (Canada), City, This TV, BBC America, Nickelodeon|Nick At Nite, Me-TV, ASPiRE, Retro TV, Pivot, Esquire Network, Cozi TV, Up, My Family TV, Tuff TV, AXS TV, Logo TV, Up, and TruTV.

NOTE: NBC, A&E, Spike, Bravo (America), The CW, Syfy, Amazon Studios, and FOX are not included in the list of networks/VOD services

AmeriAfri: A mix of Twin Peaks, Desperate Housewives & The Wire. Written by Rick Famuyiwa & Gina Prince-Bythewood. P.C.S.A.: The life of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. Written by Ron Hutchinson, Robert Schenkkan & Shem Bitterman. White People: Loosely based on J.T. Rogers' play of the same name about the lives of three ordinary Americans placed under the spotlight: Martin, a high powered attorney for a white-shoe law firm in St. Louis, MO; Mara Lynn, a housewife and former homecoming queen in Fayetteville, NC; and Alan, a professor struggling to find his way in New York City. Through heart-wrenching confessions, they wrestle with guilt, prejudice, and the price they and their children must pay for their actions. White People is a candid, brutally honest meditation on race and language in our culture. Written by J.T. Rogers. Pittsburgh Cycle: Based on August Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle. Written by Vaun Monroe. Da Brick: Contemporary exploration of what it means to be an African man in supposedly post-racial America and is loosely inspired by aspects of Mike Tyson’s youth. Written by John Ridley. Consultant: M. K. Asante. All Signs of Death: Based on Charlie Huston's The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. Written by Charlie Huston. Wars And Battles: Loosely based on the Weather Underground and Symbionese Liberation Army in 1964. Written by Terry Green & Sibyl Gardner. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Sylvester Magee, the last American legal slave to die. Written by Joshua Allen & Sterling Norman Anderson. [[]]: About a Malcolm X type Christian and human rights activist in 1967. Written by Daniel Beaty & Anthony Grooms. Consultant: Jared A. Ball. Luke Cage: Based on the comic book character of the same name who obtained his powers in an accident that left him with near-impervious skin and superhuman strength. Written by Philip Levens & Matt Pyken. HOMO: An unflinching examination of homosexuality in America and Canada. Loosely based on the lives of Fred Phelps, Steve Drain and K. Ryan Jones' Fall From Grace. Set in Greensboro, NC. Written by Bruce Norris. Centrality: An unflinching examination of America's racial animus loosely based on the 1989 Central Park Jogger case. Written by Barbara Hall & Kevin Arkadie. [[]]: Loosely based on Before They Die and The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story about the Tulsa race riot and its aftermath. Written by Daniel Omotosho Black & Marcus Gardley. Consultant: David Bradley. Concealed Destruction: Loosely based on the mystery surrounding Johnny Gosch, Eugene Wade Martin, Paul Bonacci, Jesse Dirkhising, Boys Town, NE, Nancy Schaefer, and Noreen Gosch's Why Johnny Can't Come Home. Inspired by Alternative Views' groundbreaking Boys For Sale. Written by John Zinman & Patrick Massett. [[]]: Loosely based on the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Written by Eric Jerome Dickey & Nathan McCall. Consultant: Dr. L'Heureux Lewis. Burke: Based on Andrew Vachss' book series about a man named Burke and his battle against child abusers. Written by Dave Andron & Taylor Elmore. Parable of The Sower: Based on Octavia E. Butler's book series of the same name. It centers on a woman who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy – the ability to feel the perceived pain and other sensations of others – who develops a benign philosophical and religious system during her childhood in the remnants of a gated community in Los Angeles. Written by Stephen Belber & Richard Levine & Thomas L. Moran. Shades of Black: Exploring the lives of the teachers, students, and administrators at an African centered Charter high school. Written by Robert Alexander & Kia Corthron. Consultant: Dr. David Stephens. The Jagged Orbit: Based on John Brunner's book of the same name. Set in the United States of America in 2014, when interracial tensions have passed the breaking point. Written by Ted Humphrey. Without Kings (aka American Cunts): The lives of black women living in St. Louis, MO. Set in 2006 and inspired by YouTube's 5723michael, Tommy Sotomayor, TheAdviseShowTV, Zo Williams, and Amos N. Wilson. Written by . The Syndicate: Loosely based on the Cerrito, Genna, Smaldone, Lanza, and Giordana crime families. Set in 1952. Based in Houston, TX. Written by David Goldschmid & Nathan Fissell. [[]]: Loosely based on Samuel R. Delany memoirs' Heavenly Breakfast, The Motion of Light in Water, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. A mix of Knots Landing, All In The Family & Twin Peaks. Written by Samuel R. Delany & Harley Peyton. Tales of Hannah: Loosely based on the life of Hannah Elias, the first black female millionaire in America. Written by Ntozake Shange & Kia Corthron. Thurgood: Loosely based on the life of Thurgood Marshall. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on Madam C.J. Walker: Building a Business Empire and The Black Rose: The Dramatic Story of Madam C.J. Walker about the life of Madam C. J. Walker. Written by Dominique Morisseau & Y York. Black Jaguar: Loosely based on the Black Panther Party in 1968. Inspired by All Power To The People. Set in Newark, NJ. Written by Robert Alexander. Consultant: Daryl T. Hinmon. ABORTION: Loosely based on the lives of David Gunn, John Britton, Barnett Slepian, and George Tiller. Written by Sarah Ruhl & Richard Greenberg. Burning Water: Loosely based on the life of Judith Reisman, founder of the modern anti-Kinsey movement. Written by . Oryx and Crake: Based on Margaret Atwood's book of the same name including The Year of The Flood. Written by Albert Kim & Christine Boylan. Sun Days: The personal and professional lives of a fictional professional football team in Columbus, OH. Think: Any Given Sunday meets Desperate Housewives. Written by Josh Senter & Eric Haywood. The Terrible Girls: Loosely based on Jacqueline Goldfinger's play of the same name about friendship, obsession, and Southern sensibilities. Written by Jacqueline Goldfinger. [[]]: Loosely based on the lives of Danny Casolaro, Chauncey W. Bailey Jr., Gary Webb, Alan Berg, Don Bolles, Walter Liggett, and Manuel de Dios Unanue. Written by Rafael Alvarez, William F. Zorzi & George Pelecanos. New World: 1728: About the Atlantic slave trade in 1728. Written by David Barr III & Derrell G. Owens. Consultant: Edward P. Jones. 21st Century Triad: A fictionalized exploration of Sam Sheppard's life, narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy in modern day San Diego, CA. A mix of Revenge, The Fugitive, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Eyes Wide Shut. Written by Dan LeFranc & Chris Collins. The Eight Wonder: Based on Bill Cosgriff's book of the same name about a working–class family in upstate New York dealing with divorce, poverty, adultery, and the trials of raising a developmentally-delayed child. A dramedy that moves from the hardscrabble world of lawn maintenance to the high precincts of the Parisian art world and back again. Written by Bill Cosgriff. Humanland: Depicting daily life in a San Diego mental institution, from the perspectives of staff members and patients. Written by Thomas Gibson & Daniel Reitz. Moms.Single: An ethnically divorced family deals with issues of race, divorce, relationships, and parenting through humor and honesty. Written by M. Esther Sherman. Hammon: The life of an African college professor, Hammon Aiken, in 1949. Written by Michele Val Jean & Mat Johnson. Consultant: Richard Wesley. Words of Warner: The life of an African novelist and playwright in 1953. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Louis E. Lomax. Written by Rebecca Gilman. [[]]: Loosely based on Oscar Micheaux's The Forged Note: A Romance of The Darker Races. Written by . Zinzi: Based on Phyllis MacBryde's musical and novel of the same name. Ripped from her tribal roots in South Africa and cast into the fertile jazz world of post World War II Harlem, a young girl struggles to find her way amid the challenges of a racially divided America. Written by Phyllis MacBryde. [[]]: Loosely based on Metropia; a group of multicultural, multi-ethnic, hip and happening, twenty-somethings living in Philadelphia, PA. The series reflects the diverse cultural make up of Philadelphia and deals with adult contemporary themes - education, employment, social/cultural issues and sexual themes. Written by Jill Golick. Birds of A Feather: Based on the British comedy of the same name about two sisters whose lives had taken very different routes. Written by Sheila Callaghan. The Shockwave Rider: Loosely based on John Brunner's book of the same name about a survivor in a hypothetical world of quickly changing identities, fashions and lifestyles, where individuals are still controlled and oppressed by a powerful and secretive state apparatus. His highly developed computer skills enable him to use any public telephone to punch in a new identity, thus reinventing himself, within hours. As a fugitive, he must do this from time to time in order to escape capture. Written by . Absalom, Absalom!: Loosely based on William Faulkner's book of the same name. Written by Michele Val Jean & Judy Tate. Where The Blood Mixes: Based on Kevin Loring's book of the same name about family, loss, redemption and healing. Floyd and Mooch, raised in residential schools, must confront their past when Floyd’s daughter Christine returns to Kumsheen after twenty years, to discover her past and her family. Written by Kevin Loring, Richard Wagamese & George Elliott Clarke. Dry: Based on Augusten Burroughs' book of the same name about an advertising executive trying to get sober. Written by Augusten Burroughs. Three Days Before The Shooting: Based on Ralph Ellison's book of the same name about man of indeterminate race who assumes a white identity and eventually becomes a race-baiting U.S. senator named Adam Sunraider. Written by . Some Girls: My Life In A Harem: Loosely based on Jillian Lauren's book of the same name. Written by Christina Anderson & Sharon Bridgforth. Sold: Loosely based on Zana Muhsen's book of the same name. Written by Tanya Barfield. Amos Fortune, Free Man: Loosely based on Elizabeth Yates' book of the same name. Written by Robert Alexander. (900): Loosely based on Zakiyyah Alexander's play of the same name. A young woman applies for a job in the phone sex industry and finds herself caught up in a twisted, comedic oral-sex romp. While navigating a dark world of golden showers, dominatrixes, and overly imaginative callers who demand more than sex, we find that identity is fluid and nothing is more ominous than the sound of a dial tone. Written by Zakiyyah Alexander. Fiona Range: Based on Mary McGarry Morris' book of the same name about Fiona's attempts to clean her life up, find love in the midst of loneliness and confusion, and find balance in the midst of seemingly insurmountable emotional chaos. Written by Julia Jordan. Rolling Heads: Loosely based on Frontline's The Education of Michelle Rhee. Think: Boston Public meets The Wire. Written by Jed Seidel, George Pelecanos & Henry Robles. Wonder of The World: Based on David Lindsay-Abaire's book of the same name about a wife named Cass who suddenly leaves her husband (after discovering his sexual fetish involving Barbie heads), and hops a bus to Niagara Falls in search of freedom, enlightenment and the meaning of life. Written by David Lindsay-Abaire. Matadors: Centers on two feuding families who battle each other as one populates the Chicago district attorney's office and the other manages an influential private law firm. Written by Jack Orman. Marion: Loosely based on the life of Marion S. Barry Jr. Written by . Two Hands: Loosely based on the lives of Muhammad Ali, Rahman Ali, Laila Ali, George Foreman, Freeda Foreman, Joe Frazier, Jackie Frazier-Lyde, Marvis Frazier, Roger Leonard, and Sugar Ray Leonard. Written by . The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman: Loosely based on Ernest J. Gaines' book of the same name. Written by Lydia R. Diamond. Dress Your Family in Corduroy And Denim: Based on David Sedaris' book of the same name. Written by Kristoffer Diaz. Half A Heart: Based on Rosellen Brown's book of the same name which traces the lives of several people who participated in the civil rights movement and continue to live in its shadow. Written by Tina Mabry & Regina Taylor. Pure Poetry: Based on Binnie Kirshenbaum's book of the same name. Written by Kirsten Greenidge & Eugenie Chan. Checks & Balances: Explores the lives, loves & machinations of workers at Ambrose/Craner/Ellison, a fictional independent Wall Street investment house. Set in New York City. Written by David Adjmi & Reggie Rock Bythewood. Mich Max: The ongoings of a fictional maximum-security prison in Michigan. Think: Oz in 2008. Written by . Manchild In The Promised Land: Loosely based on Claude Brown's book of the same name. Written by . Fauxfer: The examination of cultural clashes between a transplanted philosophical Chicago disc jockey and the townspeople of fictional of Fauxfer, South Dakota. Think: Northern Exposure meets American Beauty. Written by Melanie Marnich, Lydia Millet & Jim Vallely. Fork It Over: Loosely based on Alan Richman's book of the same name as his inexhaustible hunger & unquenchable curiosity lead him into the world of professional eaters & culinary journalism. Written by Chiori Miyagawa. The Darkness of Days: The events leading up to the Rwandan Genocide in August 1993 and its aftermath. Written by . My Day, Your Day: A post Vietnam War drama set in Charlotte, North Carolina. Written by Karen Harris & Susan Wald. Brooke III: Loosely based on the life of Edward William Brooke III. Written by Kathryn Grant. I'll Have A...: Based on Debra Ginsberg's Waiting: The True Confessions Of A Waitress. Think: a scripted version of The Restaurant. Written by Robert Kauzlaric. Double Billing: An expose of the legal profession. Loosely based on Cameron Stracher's Double Billing & William R. Keates' Proceed With Caution. A mix of Ally McBeal, The Practice, Suits, and Damages. Written by Carlos Murillo & Gina Gionfriddo. Me Talk Pretty One Day: Based on David Sedaris' life & book of the same name. Written by Samuel D. Hunter. The Subject Steve: Based on Sam Lipsyte's book of the same name. A dark satire in which the protagonist, Steve, is diagnosed with a vague but deadly disease called Prexis that sounds suspiciously like terminal boredom with modern life. Written by Dan LeFranc. Easy Steps: Satirical look at the self-help industry. Written by Steven Dietz. Faces: Multiple storylines dealing with issues like depression, poverty, addiction (drug, food, sex, alchohol), abuse (physical, mental, sexual), suicide, homophobia, violence (gangs, rape), eating disorders, and learning/physical disabilities. Based in Indianapolis, IN. Written by Joshua Allen, Djanet Sears & Daniel Beaty. Consultants: Dr. Umar Abdullah Johnson, John Potash & Raymond Winbush. Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow: It's about the moments which defined yesterday, the trials & tribulations facing us today, and the outcomes which will lead into tomorrow. Blending social & political issues, love & romance, action & adventure, spirituality & mystery themes. Based in San Antonio, TX. Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Bobby Smith Jr. & James Christy. Dr. Kenan, Medicine Man: The life of an African doctor in 1937. Based in Raleigh, NC. Written by . Present Minds: The ongoings of an historically black college in 1973. Written by Marcus Gardley & Shay Youngblood. This Side of Paradise: Loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's book of the same name which examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Written by Michael Werwie. Raindrops And Sunshine: Coming of age drama about the lives of college students and recent graduates in South Carolina. Written by Cynthia Whitcomb & Jasmine Love. Topdog/Underdog: Loosely based on Suzan-Lori Parks' play of the same name chronicles the adult lives of two brothers as they cope with women, work, poverty, gambling, white supremacy, and their troubled upbringings. Written by Suzan-Lori Parks. Zubat & Clark: Best friends who host an afternoon drive home radio talk show in Washington, D.C. Dayvide Zubat is a moderate and Jon E. Clark is a libertarian. A mix of Politically Incorrect, WKRP In Cincinnati and NewsRadio. Written by Skander Halim. The Twenty-Seventh City: Loosely based on Jonathan Franzen's book of the same name. A partly satirical thriller that studies a family unravelling under intense pressure, the novel is set amidst intricate political conspiracy and financial upheaval in St. Louis, MO in 1984. Written by Jonathan Franzen. Origin/Terminus: Government agents investigating paranormal activity, unexplained phenomena & conspiracies as they encounter secret societies who are in search of the truth of the planet. Think: The X Files meets Alias. Written by Ryan Farley & Tammy Ryan. Following The Yellow Brick Road Down The Rabbit Hole: Loosely based on the play of the same name about Cissy, a young Catholic girl who challenges the church as she grapples with her own developing body and consciousness. Along the way, in her quest to crack the mysteries of religion and sexuality, she encounters older siblings, friends, mothers, teachers and clergy all brought to life in an invigorating performance by the playwright, who seamlessly transforms from one character to another. Written by Terri Campion. Silicon Follies: Based on Thomas Scoville's book of the same name - a satire of Silicon Valley and its technological trappings; portraying a world as rich with youth and enthusiasm as it is with hypocrisy and loneliness. Written by Peter DeLaurier. The Council: Loosely based on The Council, a black crime syndicate. Written by . The Town: Based on Bentley Little's book of the same name in which bizarre events begin to occure shortly after a man returns to his old hometown of McGuane, AZ with his wife and three children. Written by Nicole Burdette. Where The Sun Never Sets: A dark comedy of ideas, a married couple finds itself trapped in a perilously perfect world. Written by Bob Clyman. Outer Banks: Spoiled heiress turned hotel manager makes the best of a bad situation - learning to live with quirky beach locals and tourists. Written by Mary Carroll-Hackett. Kick Me: Based on Paul Feig's book of the same name. Think: Freaks & Geeks: Part 2. Written by Paul Feig & Bob Nickman. Who's Sorry Now: Based on Joe Pantoliano's book of the same name. Written by Joe Pantoliano & Travis Milloy. Times of Ordinary Men: An unflinching examination of the human condition in modern day America. A group of angels are tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives. Think: Touched By An Angel meets Six Feet Under. Theme song: Wendy Lands' Angels & Ordinary Men. Written by Nancy Miller. A Brief History of The Flood: Based in Jean Harfenist's book of the same name which chronicles the lives of a Minnesota family as narrated by the main character, Lillian Anderson. Written by Jane Ann Crum. The Wanting Seed: Loosely based on Anthony Burgess' book of the same name. Written by Jacquelyn Reingold. Mundy's Town: The rise and fall of an African mayor of a predominately white American town in March 1978. Written by Stephen Godchaux & Jeni Mahoney. I Am Woman: Based on Andrea Lee's Interested Women. Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Ray Who?: Loosely based on the disappearance of Ray Gricar, District Attorney for Centre County, PA. Written by Doug Wright. Consultant: C.J. Box. Innocents: Loosely based on Cathy Coote's book of the same name about a twisted love affair between a college student and teacher from the student's point of view. Written by Morris Panych & Keira Loughran. Plainsong: Based on Kent Haruf's book of the same name about eight compassionately imagined characters whose lives undergo radical change during the course of one year. Written by Eisa Davis & Lee Blessing. The Chronicles of Amber: Based on Roger Zelazny's book series of the same name. Written by . Cornelius aka Robert: Loosely based on the life of Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr., the longest-serving member of the U.S. Congress, in 1939. Written by . ...And I: The relationships people have with their work, friends, family & the world around them in Lexington, KY. Written by Christine Conradt & Ramin Bahrani. Strong Motion: Loosely based on Jonathan Franzen's book of the same name about a dysfunctional family, and uses seismic events on the American East Coast as a metaphor for the quakes that occur in family life. It explores themes such as abortion, feminism, corporate malfeasance, and exploitative capitalism. Written by Michael Conforti & Hal Corley. The Rulers of The Ages: Lives of those between the ages of 50 and 70. Written by Richard Russo. Welcome To Temptation: Based on Jennifer Crusie's book of the same name about two slightly twisted sisters and a town chock full of hunks, coots, and petty politics. Written by Madi Distefano. Life of The Party: Set to the backdrop of a dysfunctional DJ/Entertainment Company. Think: Arrested Development meets Party Down. Written by Robert N. King. Heart of America: Kansas City, 1961 - Former high school buddies watch their teenage marriages crumble as they face the changing times from the sanctuary of their neighborhood tavern. Written by Rogers Turrentine. Why Girls Are Weird: Based on Pamela Ribon's book of the same name. Written by Meg Bennett. The Secret Lives of Married Men: Based on David Leddick's book of the same name about homosexual men who were married - and those who still are - to women. Written by Cheryl Dunye. Sons of The Prophet: Loosely based on Stephen Karam's play of the same name. Written by Stephen Karam. Speech And Debate: Loosely based on Stephen Karam's play of the same name about three misfit teenagers who live in Salem, Oregon. Written by Stephen Karam. Sellevision: Based on Augusten Burroughs' book of the same name- A relentless spoof of cable's home-shopping mania. Written by D.W. Gregory. Tuffy: Based on Paul Beatty's book, Tuff, about the unusual coming-of-age of 19-year-old, obese african Winston "Tuffy" Foshay, who tries to rise above his rough-and-tumble life on the vicious streets of Spanish Harlem. Written by . The Camel Club: Based on David Baldacci's book series of the same name. Written by David Baldacci. Hiram: Free Man: Loosely based on the life of Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African elected to either chamber of the US Congress. Written by . Shaw: Loosely based on David Baldacci's The Whole Truth and Deliver Us From Evil about Shaw, an operative for a secret global intelligence agency, and Katie James, a disgraced investigative journalist. Written by . Multiple Pieces: Based on David Baldacci's Sean King and Michelle Maxwell book series about two discredited agents who enter a maze of lies, secrets, and deadly coincidences, they uncover a violence that shattered their lives were really a long time in the making - and are a long way from over. Written by . Joe College: Based on Tom Perrotta's book of the same name about an English major at Yale who's stuck with the peculiarities of his roommates, a horrendous crush on a fellow student, while struggling to complete his junior year. Written by Michael Golamco. JAX: About the personal and professional lives of a fictional professional basketball team in Jacksonville, FL. Written by Andrew Case. Life As A Loser: Based on Will Leitch's book of the same name. Written by Christina Calvit. [[]]: Loosely based on Maurice Jackson's Let This Voice Be Heard about the life Anthony Benezet, an abolitionist and educator, in 1750s Philadelphia. Written by . A Dangerous Woman: Based on Mary McGarry Morris' book of the same name about a Vermont woman who is most dangerous to herself. Written by Elisabeth Karlin. The White Boy Shuffle: Based on Paul Beatty's book of the same name about a gleefully satiric gloss on black American history and culture. Written by Paul Beatty & Lynn Nottage. The Rebel Wife: Based on the novel of the same name about young widow trying to survive in the violent world of Reconstruction Alabama, where the old gentility masks a continuing war fueled by hatred, treachery, and still-powerful secrets. Written by Taylor M. Polites. His Children: Based on the British comedy, Bread, about a staunchly Catholic family. In this case, it will be a staunchly Christian family. Written by . [[]]: Slavery in Georgia during the 1850s. Written by . Consultant: Charles R. Johnson. G.L.B.: Loosely based on the life of Glenn Burke and Billy Beans' Going The Other Way: Lessons From A Life In And Out of Major League Baseball. Written by C. Jay Cox & Ira Sachs. Some Dark Places of The Earth: Loosely based on Claire Kiechel's play of the same name. In an ex-pat community in Brussels, ten-year-old Bee imagines herself inside the nightly newscasts of her radio journalist father. When her mother begins an affair with the diplomat next door, Bee recruits the man’s son to help realize her fantasies. As their make-believe escalates, a new reality threatens the fragile world the two families have constructed. Written by Claire Kiechel. Midnight At Noon: On the run after robbing a bank during the great depression, two brothers find themselves trapped in the harsh region known as the Dust Bowl where a ruthless killer hunts them down. Written by Nathaniel Halpern. Hi-De-Hi!: Based on the British comedy of the same name which was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Frederick Douglass. Written by . Last of The Summer Wine: Based on the British comedy of the same name about the adventures of three elderly, unmarried friends. Think: The male version of The Golden Girls. Written by . San Soccer: The personal and professional lives of a fictional professional soccer team in San Antonio, TX. Written by Neil Landau & Victor Lodato. Call Time: Written by Josh Woodle. American Frontier: A tale of conquest, survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America in 1817. Written by . Never The Twain: Based on the British comedy of the same name about two male next-door neighbours and rival antique dealers engaged in continuous one-upmanship. Written by . New York Day: About the lives of people working at a fictional newspaper in 1951. Written by Rebecca Gilman, David Ehrman & Travis Donnelly. The King of America: Based on Samantha Gillison's book of the same name about Stephen Hesse—loosely modeled on Michael Rockefeller, who disappeared 40 years ago in then Dutch New Guinea while collecting primitive art for his father's collection—is an excruciatingly lonely, earnest kid struggling to develop an identity under the crushing weight of his father's millions. Written by . Detroit 365: A gritty drama based in Detroit, MI dealing with social, cultural, sexual and political issues. Written by Joe R. Lansdale. Consultants: Dr. Boyce Watkins & Demetrius Darnell Walker. Recalling What Lies: Loosely based on Alice Pencavel's play of the same name about the nature of boundaries - the crossing and violation of boundaries - in different relationships and on many different levels. It also addresses the concept of memory: how accurate it is, how it defines us, and ultimately how valuable it is. Written by Alice Pencavel. North/South/East/West: A post Korean War drama set in South Bend, IN. Think: Homefront in 1953. Written by Lynn Marie Latham & Bernard Lechowick. Consultant: Russell Banks The Thin Red Line: The ongoings of a firehouse in a small city in 1998. Written by Scott Teems. Americana: Satire on American culture, media & politics. A small town businessman becomes the mayor of a metropolis. Written by Qui Nguyen & Stephen Axelrod. Forty Days At Kamas: Based on Preston Fleming's book series of the same name. Written by Preston Fleming. Some Kind of Fairy Tale: Based on the book of the same name. Written by Graham Joyce. A Long Way From Home: Based on Connie Briscoe's book of the same name about an enslaved mother, daughter, and grandmother of President James Madison. Written by Connie Briscoe. Anti-Anything: Revolving around the life of a working class bigot and his family. Think: All In The Family meets The Office. Written by . Two Trains Running: Loosely based on Andrew Vachss' book of the name name. Written by Robert Nathan. A Modern Feeling: Loosely based on Jason Kim's play of the same name about two homosexual men struggling to find meaning and direction. Written by Jason Kim. Women of The Otherworld: Based on Kelly Armstrong's book series. Written by Julian Sampson & Kelley Armstrong. Margin of Error: Centers on a workaholic campaign strategist who launches a new political campaign every season. Written by D.V. DeVincentis. [[]]: Loosely based on lives of the Scottsboro Boys. Written by . Table 21: Loosely based on T. Rafael Cimino's book of the same name. New York City in December 1999: As one millennium ends and another begins, an erratic chain of events unfold that could change the face of the Italian Mafia forever. In the turmoil, a vacuum is created when one family falls, creating an unprecedented void of power and a subsequent struggle for control of the underworld.Think: The Godfather meets Crash. Written by T. Rafael Cimino. Walls of Stone: A post-Stonewall drama in NYC. Written by Christopher Shinn & Laura Maria Censabella. Alongside Night: Based on J. Neil Schulman's book of the same name. Written by . Mr. Peters' Connections: Based on Arthur Miller's play of the same name. The title character is a former pilot who worked for the airline in its glory days. He recalls flying into a thousand sunsets and bedding eighteen Rockettes in a month, eventually marrying one of them. Now he is an aging, befuddled man lost in a world he no longer understands. Written by Jessica Queller & Thomas Bezucha. Mara Dyer: Based on Michelle Hodkin's book series. Written by Michelle Hodkin. columbinus: Loosely based on Stephen Karam's play of the same name about alienation, hostility and social pressure in high schools. Written by Stephen Karam. Tilda: Satire about the entertainment industry centering on a powerful and reclusive Hollywood blogger. Written by Bill Condon and Cynthia Mort. Juvy: The ongoings of a juvenile detention facility in St. Louis, MO. Written by James DeMonaco & Tom Reilly. When The Bough Breaks: Based on Johnathan Kellerman's book series about Alex Delaware, a forensic psychologist. Written by Nick Santora & Scott Kaufer. One Fifth Avenue: Based on Candace Bushnell's book of the same name about the residents of the prestigious building. Written by Candace Bushnell. Lambs of Men: Loosely based on Charles Dodd White's book of the same name. When a gruesome act of violence stuns the insular mountain community, father and son must journey together to see justice carried out while coming to terms with a deeply troubled family history. Written by Charles Dodd White. Man In The Blue Moon: Based on Michael Morris' book of the same name. While the world is embroiled in World War I, Ella fights her own personal battle to keep the mystical Florida land that has been in her family for generations from the hands of an unscrupulous banker. Written by Michael Morris & Angelina Burnett. Rocco Perri: Loosely based on the life of Rocco Perri. Written by Tobin Addington. Wonders of The Invisible World: Based on Patricia A. McKillip's book of the same name. Written by . American Rock: Based on the life of Nelson Rockefeller in 1957. Written by . Print Men: The personal and professional lives of workers at a men's magazine in 1953. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the disapperance of Hale Boggs and Nick Begich. Written by Nancy Noever. Gonzo: About war journalists in the 1980s searching for a missing comrade in a 24/7-on-edge Central American country rattled by corruption, greed, and political intrigue. Written by Michael Oates Palmer. Unreal Estate: Based on Michael Gross’ book of the same name Unreal Estate: Money, Ambition and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles. Written by Steve Atkinson. The Master Butchers Singing Club: Based on Louise Erdich's book of the same name. Having survived World War I, Fidelis Waldvogel returns to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend, killed in action. They soon relocate to Argus, ND. When the Old World meets the New--in the person of Delphine Watzka--the great adventure of Fidelis's life begins. Written by . A Curse of Angels: Based on Janyce Lapore's play of the same name about a steelworker Salvador Vinta, an opera lover who rules his family with forbidden love and an iron hand. Written by Janyce Lapore. Canary: The residents of a small West Virginia coal mining town intersect and affect one another in surprising, often humorous ways, as their lives are inextricably shaped by their surroundings. Written by Craig Zobel. Confessions of Georgia Nicholson: Based on Louise Rennison's book series. Written by . The Corrections: Based on Jonathan Franzen's book of the same name. Written by Noah Baumbach. Wocke & Woll: The personal and professional lives of a sports agent, and his group of associates. Think: Sports Night meets The Office. Written by . Crossing The River: Loosely based on Caryl Phillips' book of the same name about about three black people during different time periods and in different continents as they struggle with the separation from their native Africa. Written by . Tree of Smoke: Based on Denis Johnson's book of the same name about a man who joins the CIA in 1965, and begins working in Vietnam during the American involvement there. Written by Jorge Zamacona & Jeff York. Nathaniel of Virginia: Based on the life of Nat Turner. Written by . Brotherhood of War: Based on W. E. B. Griffin's book series about the United States Army from World War II through the Vietnam War. The story centers around the careers of four U.S. Army officers who were lieutenants in the early 1940s. Written by . 3,600 Seconds: Behind the scenes of a TV newsmagazine in 1972. Think: The Eleventh Hour meets 60 Minutes. Written by . Common Prayer: Loosely based on Joan Didion's A Book of Common Prayer. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album. Written by . Night Fighter: Based on David Sherman's book series of the same name about the kind of activities experienced by the US Marines and Vietnamese Popular Forces units of the combat-outpost type of the Combined Action Program of the United States Marine Corps. Written by . Spring/Fall: Set in New York City against the backdrop of the fashion world, the project centered on the dysfunctional partnership between two women with different approaches to career, family and friendship. Written by Kate Robin. Lawless: Written by Tom S. Parker & Jim Jennewein. Black Orchid: Based on the comic book character. Written by . Cuomo: Loosely based on the Cuomo family in 1972. Written by Carla Robinson. [[]]: Based on the life of Sigmund Freud beginning in 1885. Written by . Queen & Country: Based on the comic book series of the same name about a female operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS, colloquially known as the Minders. Written by . Couples: Loosely based on John Updike's book of the same name. Written by . X: Loosely based on David Henry Sterry's Chicken: Self-Portrait of A Young Man For Rent, Confessions of A Sex Maniac, Unzipped: A True Story of Sex, Drugs, Rollerskates and Murder, Master of Ceremonies: A True Story of Love, Murder, Roller Skates and Chippendales and Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rant Boys: Professionals Writing On Life, Love, Money and Sex. About people leaving behind their former lives [ex-stripper; ex-white supremacist; ex-escort; ex-homosexual; ex-gambler]. Written by . The Poisonwood Bible: Loosely based on Barbara Kingsolver's book of the same name and the Congo Crisis. Written by . James Lanza: Loosely based on the life of James Lanza, an American mobster and boss of the San Francisco crime family. Written by Nilo Cruz. What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day: Loosely based on Pearl Cleage's book of the same name about a black woman who has moved back to her hometown following a positive diagnosis for HIV. Written by . The Last Thing He Wanted: Loosely based on Joan Didion's book of the same name about a woman who inherits her father's position as an arms dealer for the U.S. Government. Written by . Let It Blurt: Based on Jim DeRogatis' book of the same name. Written by . 100 Bullets: Based on the comic book of the same name. Written by David S. Goyer. Full Tilt Boogie: About a middle-aged pot pilot who juggles his life as a smuggler busting the USA/Mexican border with his responsibilities as a father and ex-husband. Written by Amber Crawford-Idell. American Vampire: Based on the comic book series of the same name. Written by Scott Snyder. The Stand: Based on Stephen King's The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition book of the same name. Written by . The Sandman: Based on Neil Gaiman's comic book series of the same name. Written by Neil Gaiman. The Catcher Was A Spy: Loosely based on Nicholas Dawidoff's book of the same name. Written by . Amnesia Moon: Loosely based on Jonathan Lethem's book of the same name. The protagonist is a survivalist named Chaos, who lives in an abandoned megaplex after an apparent nuclear strike. The residents of his town of Hatfork are reliant on a sinister messianic figure named Kellogg for food. Kellogg also has powerful dreams, which he transfers into the minds of others. Chaos's mind is especially receptive, making him reluctant to sleep. Written by . Of Lights and Flowers: About those trying to rebuild their lives in Anchorage, AK after the most powerful recorded earthquake in American history. Written by Janet Allard. 11/22/63: Based on Stephen King's book of the same name about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Written by . 60 Minute Man: A suburban dad suspects he's involved in a government conspiracy after he discovers his memory is erased during one hour of each day. Written by Graham Yost. The Catcher In The Rye: Loosely based on J. D. Salinger's book of the same name. Written by . All 'Bout Leguizamo: Loosely based on John Leguizamo's Freak, Sexaholix... A Love Story, Ghetto Klown & Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, And All The Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life. Written by John Leguizamo. Cane River: Loosely based on Lalita Tademy's book of the same name about four generations of slave-born females from 1830s to 1930s. Written by Lalita Tademy, Karen Hall & Misan Sagay. Hi School: Parody of high school life. Written by Peter Saji & Tami Sagher. Music for Torching: Loosely based on the book of the same name about a dysfunctional suburban family in modern-day America dealing with various issues, including sex, social consciousness, infidelity and school violence. Written by A. M. Homes. A Marriage: The anatomy of a couple’s marriage. Written by Marshall Herskovitz & Edward Zwick. Rabbit, Run: Based on John Updike's six books about Harry Angstrom. Written by . 20 Questions: There's nothing that fascinates people quite like a government conspiracy. Unless you're an innocent man caught up in the middle of one and running for your life. Written by Thomas Hines. Retribution: Based on John Fulton's book of the same name about struggle with and against the demands of family loyalty, love, loss, and sexual desire. Written by Lydia Woodward & Marsha Norman. American Man: Delving into the complex, troubling, and humorous contradictions, illusions, and realities of contemporary manhood. Written by David Brind & Merritt Johnson. A View of The Ocean: Loosely based on Jan de Hartog's memoir of the same name - unflinching look at death and the process of dying. Written by Elizabeth Savage Sullivan. William's Law: Loosely based on the life of William O. Douglas, who served 13,358 days on the United States Supreme Court. Written by . Dark Horse: Conspiracy thriller about an undergraduate who's struck by lightning the exact moment his estranged father, a respected neurosurgeon, is killed during an attempt to assassinate a politician likely to have become the next President. Written by Harald Kloser & Roland Emmerich. Downwardly Mobile: The proprietor of a mobile home park serves as a surrogate mother to all the unique people who live there in a challenging economy. Written by Eric Gilliland. Awesometown: A peek behind the curtain of modern 20-something relationships. Written by Adam Sztykiel. One Drop: Loosely based on Bliss Broyard's memoir of the same name. Written by . All Fall Down: A successful female attorney who ends up joining her father's family law practice when she leaves her high-powered big city law firm and moves home to Savannah, GA, where her crazy relatives live. Think: Family Law meets Northern Exposure. Written by Rina Mimoun. Service Included: Loosely based on Phoebe Damrosch's memoir of the same name. Written by . The Center Cannot Hold: Loosely based on Elyn Saks' memoir of the same name. Written by . Snopes of Mississippi: Based on William Faulkner's The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion. Written by . Of The Farm: Loosely based on John Updike's book of the same name. Written by . Counter Culture: Three aging sisters who run their family diner together in West Texas find that sibling dynamics are always getting in the way of getting the job done. Written by Stephnie Weir. The Florist's Daughter: Loosely based on Patricia Hampl's memoir of the same name. An elliptical account of family and loss. Written by Lisa Melamed & Alison Tatlock. County: Revolves around the lives of staff members in a frenetic underfunded and morally compromising L.A. County hospital. Think: ER in 2013. Written by Jason Katims. 18 & Beyond: The ongoings of a college campus and its rivalry with a local university. A mix of Felicity, Blue Mountain State and Veronica Mars. Written by Becky Hartman Edwards & Terrence Coli. Scruples: Based on the 1978 bestselling book about a rich and powerful clothes designer in a world of sex, revenge and scandal. Written by Bob Brush & Mel Harris. Laws of Burger: Based on the life of Warren E. Burger. Written by . Empire State: A sprawling drama about two battling families (one rich, one not) in New York. Written by Jeffrey Reiner & Michael Seitzman. Sold!: Exposing the hilarious underbelly of the high-stakes real estate world and finds enough sex, greed, deceit and betrayal to last a lifetime. Written by Silvio Horta. In The Beauty of The Lilies: Loosely based on John Updike's book of the same name. Written by . Bare David: Loosely based on David Sedaris' Naked, Holidays On Ice and Barrel Fever. Written by David Sedaris. The Revelation: Loosely based on Bentley Little's book of the same name. A tale of horror set in a small northern Arizona town, this first novel begins with the desecration of an Episcopal church and the disappearance of the priest and his family. Written by . Possible Side Effects: Loosely based on Augusten Burroughs' Possible Side Effects, A Wolf At The Table, You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, and Magical Thinking. Written by Augusten Burroughs. The Falcon: Based on the comic book character of the same name. Written by . Black Lightning: Based on the comic book character of the same name. Written by . After Innocence: Loosely based on the documentary of the same name and the Innocence Project about men who were exonerated from death row by DNA evidence. Written by . The Invisible College: Based on the comic book series of the same name about a secret organization battling against physical and psychic oppression using time travel, magic, meditation, and physical violence. Their enemies are the Archons of Outer Church, interdimensional alien gods who have already enslaved most of the human race without their knowledge. Written by . Jupiter Fences: An examination of American popular culture, the underclass, subcultures and alternative lifestyles. Think: Veronica Mars meets Picket Fences. Written by Jeff Melvoin, Tammy Ader & Cathy Belben. [[]]: The lives of social workers in Charlotte, N.C. A mix of East Side/West Side, Judging Amy and The Wire. Written by Robert Gately & Naomi Lamont. [[]]: A mix of Once and Again, thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Sisters, and Henry James' The Golden Bowl. Written by Barbara Marshall & Geetika Lizardi. The Basic Eight: Loosely based on the book of the same name about Flannery Culp's high school experiences. Written by Daniel Handler. Diary: Loosely baed on Chuck Palahniuk's book of the same name. Misty Wilmot, a once-promising young artist currently working as a waitress in a hotel. Once her husband is in a coma after a suicide attempt, Misty soon finds herself a pawn in a larger conspiracy that threatens to cost hundreds of lives. Written by Chuck Palahniuk. The Crusades: Based on the comic book series. set in a fictionalised San Francisco and featured a large cast of characters whose lives are thrown into disarray by the sudden appearance of a murderous 11th Century Knight in the city. Main Characters included Anton Marx, a leftwing political radio "shock jock", his fact checker girlfriend Venus Kostopikas, her friend Detective Addas Petronas and the rival gangsters Tony Quetone and "the Pope". Written by Steven T. Seagle. Advise and Consent: Based on Allen Drury's Advise and Consent book series. Written by . Black: Loosely based on the life of Hugo Lafayette Black who served as a senator and an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court for three decades. Written by . Vice Town: Loosely based on the life of Hiram C. Gill in 1892 as he deals with "open town" and "closed town" factions while being a lawyer and politician. Written by . The Gospel According to Larry: Based on Janet Tashjian's book series of the same name revolving around seventeen-year-old Josh Swensen, an articulate teen whose dream is to change the world. He creates his own website which he calls "The Gospel According to Larry" because Larry was the most un-biblical name he could think of. He writes articles on this site "preaching" his feelings and ideas about making the world a better place. Written by Janet Tashjian. Royal House: Loosely based on the Biblical story of King David, but set in a kingdom that culturally and technologically resembles the present-day America. Think: Kings in 2013. Written by Michael Green. Brew City: Written by Wendy Calhoun. Paradise Palms: Written by Shelley Meals & Darin Goldberg. 2197 AD: Written by Marina Alburger. Bad Apple: Written by John Francis Whelpley. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of James Strom Thurmond in 1946. Con: Written by Dawn Comer Jefferson. The Bullring: A Mexican American businessman investigates the murder of a farm labor union organizer and uncovers a conspiracy between the union, a drug cartel and the company where the businessman works. The businessman must risk his career and his life to bring the murderers to justice. Written by Luke Garza. Cities in Flight: Based on James Blish's book series of the same name. Written by . Say Something Funny: His family's Lower East Side deli is both a job and a refuge from reality for a jokester with a broken heart. 10 years ago, his father committed suicide in the next room. Now, he must reconcile himself with loss or go down the same path his father did. Written by James Francis Nevins. "Fuck Your Parliament": Satirical look at American political relations with Canada, South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Think: The West Wing meets Veep. Written by . Chasing Alice: After a series of mysterious child abductions, a young FBI agent's obsession with the supernatural leads him on a wild adventure into a magical fairy tale land, where he befriends famous characters, outwits villains, rescues children, and rediscovers his long-lost sister. Written by Keiko Tamura & Tasha Hardy. BLITZKRIEG: A wannabe crime lord dreams of building an empire in Toronto, but he never counted on the array of thieves, killers and cops who are out to stop him. Written by Schuyler Willson. Thesis: A grad student's thesis research unintentionally gets him caught up with the mob. Written by Richard Averill. Red Rover: A teenager from an abusive background is drawn into the violent world of a charismatic stranger who promises he will never be a victim again. Written by Philip Landa. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Hilmar Moore, the longest-serving elected official in America, and Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Written by . Stockholm, Pennsylvania: 19 years after her kidnapping, Leia is returned home to her parents where she discovers her name is Leanne and her birthday isn't in March. As Leia longs for the life she remembers and the man who made her who she is, Leia's mother works harder than ever to get her daughter back by any means necessary. Written by Nikole Beckwith. Victoria of Homer: Loosely based on the life of Victoria Woodhull. Written by Liz Tigelaar. Living Life: Based on David Soleil's experience as a motivational speaker who has lost his motivation to live. Theme song: Kate Bush's Part Heart. Written by David Soleil. Our Brothers: Inspired by Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch: Essays On Race And Sexuality. Written by . Consultant: Cleo Manago. Tubman: Based on the life of William Vacanarat S. Tubman, President of Liberia from 1944-1971. Written by . Moodyology: Loosely based on the life of Raymond Moody and his involvement in parapsychology. Think: Medium meets The X-Files. Written by . [[]]: Based on the United States Army Intelligence Support Activity, a unit tasked to collect actionable intelligence in advance of missions by other US special operations forces in counter-terrorist operations. Think: The Unit meets Army Wives. Written by Paul Redford, Sharon Lee Watson & Carol Flint. Mister J.J.: Based on the life of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States. Written by . Steele's Land: How civilization comes together from chaos by organizing itself around symbols in 1890s Oklahoma Territory. A mix of Deadwood, Cimarron Strip, and The Lazarus Man. Written by . Doktor Sleepless: Loosely based on Warren Ellis's comic book series of the same name about a trust-fund baby and boy genius who is shunned by the counter-culture he helped found. After disappearing from the city of Heavenside three years ago, he suddenly returns having undergone some changes during the interim. Upon his return, he's transformed himself from a relatively mundane man into what he describes as a cartoon mad scientist. Written by . JEG: Loosely based on the life of James E. McGreevey. Think: The West Wing meets Citizen Baines. Written by Karyn Usher & Paula Yoo. Humanial: A mix of Moonlighting, Seeing Things, Remington Steele, and Medium. Written by Glenn Gordon Caron. Think, You Are: A mix of Now and Again, Alias and The Prisoner. Written by Daniel Arkin & Rick Eid. [[]]: The personal and professional life of Isaac Wint, pastor of a non-denominational megachurch in Austin, TX. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the lives of Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Gianni Versace, and Calvin Klein. Written by Sally Sussman Morina. More Than Kin: An adaptation of Less Than Kind about a family struggling to operate a driving school out of their home in Omaha, NE. Written by . American Century: Harry Block, a World War II veteran, fakes his own death and makes his way to Central America to create a new identity for himself as Harry Kraft, a hard-drinking smuggler. During a war in Guatemala, a CIA operative blackmails Block into assassinating Rosa de Santiis, a popular leader in opposition to the CIA puppet dictator General Zavala. Afterward, he heads back to the United States, taking a road trip from Hollywood to Chicago to New York, exploring myriad avenues of 1950s American culture. Written by Howard Chaykin. Transmetropolitan: Based on the comic book of the same name. Spider Jerusalem dedicates himself to fighting the corruption and abuse of power of two successive American presidents; he and his assistants strive to keep their world from turning more dystopian than it already is while dealing with the struggles of fame and power, brought about due to the popularity of Spider via his articles. Written by . Deadenders: Loosely based on the comic book series of the same name about a post-apocalyptic future in New Bethleham. Written by Ed Brubaker. [[]]: The ongoings of a Motown-esque record company in the 1970s. Written by Trey Ellis & Travis Donnelly. Southern Ranch: Loosely based on the Dumas Brothel and Chicken Ranch in 1952. Written by . Oh! Calcutta!: Loosely based on the musical of the same name. Written by . Rule of The Bone: Loosely based on Russell Banks' book of the same name about a teenage drug dealer living with his mother and his abusive stepfather. He runs away from home to live with his best friend and a biker gang. Bone, although a hardened drug dealer on the outside, is revealed to be quite compassionate, wanting to free an abused girl named Froggy from her captor and to return his mentor I-Man back to his home. In the end he gives up on family. Written by . The Motion of Water: Loosely based on the Galveston and Florida Keys hurricanes. Written by . Breath & Blood: Loosely based on the life of Herman Webster Mudgett, The Torture Doctor, and H. H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer in 1917. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on Mike Resnick's Distant Replay about a man who sees a woman that looks exactly like his deceased wife. As he gets to know her, he discovers that she has too many things in common for this to be a coincidence. Think Dollhouse meets Now and Again. Written by . The Fortress of Solitude: Loosely based on Jonathan Lethem's book of the same name about two teenage friends, one European and one African, who discover a magic ring. It explores the issues of race and culture, gentrification, self-discovery, and music. Written by . Chip Off The Old Bloch: An examination of father/son relationships loosely based on Michael Chabon's Manhood For Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son. Written by . You Don't Love Me Yet: About alternative music in modern day Los Angeles. Written by Jonathan Lethem. Chronic City: Based on Jonathan Lethem's book of the same name about a circle of friends including a faded child-star actor, a cultural critic, a hack ghost-writer of autobiographies, and a city official. Written by . Thicker Than Blackwater: Loosely based on Brian Azzarello's comic book series, Loveless, about the dynamic relationship between Wes Cutter, a sheriff, and the townspeople (most of whom hate him), the fate of Cutter's wife, and the lingering feelings of animosity between North and South after the end of the US Civil War. Written by Brian Azzarello. Tenth of December: Based on George Saunders' book of the same name. Written by . Werewolves In Their Youth: Loosely based on Michael Chabon's book of the same name about problems arising in marriages. Written by . Husband & Wife: A fictionalized version of Married in America set in Louisville, KY. Written by Linda Gase, Anthony Sparks & Jeffrey Stepakoff. Philyations: A mix of Babyfather, Sex & The City and Manchild in 2002. Set in Philadelphia, PA. Written by Thomas Bradshaw & Alexa Junge. Faces of January: Loosely based on Patricia Highsmith's The Two Faces of January, The Glass Cell, Those Who Walk Away, and the life of Joseph Weil. Written by . The Sense of The Past: Loosely based on Henry James book of the same name about an American who trades places with a remote ancestor in early 19th century England, and encounters many complications in his new surroundings. Written by . Black Fury: Loosely based on the comic book series of the same name about Miss Fury. Her alter ego is wealthy socialite Marla Drake. Written by . Thomas/Tommy/Tom: Loosely based on Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley book series. Written by . The King of America: Loosely based on Rod Glenn book of the same name. Set in an America where the future merges with the past, the king is betrayed by his closest friend, plunging the nation into a civil war.As the two sides collide, the king is cast into a desperate chase across America as Lexus dedicates every resource to the hunt. Written by . Women of Manhattan: Loosely based on John Patrick Shanley's play of the same name about the lives of three NYC women: one has recently split up with her boyfriend, one is married, and one is considered a fag hag by the other two. Written by . The Authority: Based on Warren Ellis's comic book series of the same name about a team of superheroes who get the job done by any means necessary. Written by . Shock & Awe: Loosely based on Keith Harmon Snow, a former genocide investigator who is considered persona non grata in Rwanda and Ethiopia. Written by . Crooked Little Vein: Loosely based on Warren Ellis's book of the same name about Michael McGill, a burned-out private investigator, who is hired by a corrupt White House Chief of Staff to find a second "secret" U.S. Constitution, which had been lost in a whorehouse by Richard Nixon. What follows is a scavenger hunt across America, exposing its seedier side along the way. McGill is joined by surreal college student side-kick, Trix, who is writing a thesis on sexual fetishes. Written by . Black Summer: Loosely based on Warren Ellis's comic book series of the same name about The Seven Guns, an association of politically-aware scientist-inventors, who create their own superhuman enhancements through extreme body modifications experiments. Written by . Global Frequency: Loosely based on Warren Ellis's comic book series of the same name about an independent, covert intelligence organization headed by a former intelligence agent. The purpose of the organization is to protect and rescue the world from the consequences of the various secret projects that the governments of the world have established, which are unknown to the public at large. The people on the Global Frequency are chosen and called on for their specialized skills in a variety of areas, from military personnel, intelligence agents, police detectives to scientific researchers, academics, athletes, former criminals and assassins. These threats that the organization deals with are equally varied and usually world-threatening, ranging from rogue military operations and paranormal phenomena to terrorist attacks and religious cults. Written by Scott Nimerfro & John Rogers. Dangerous Bill: Loosely based on the life of Bill Hicks, a stand-up comedian, satirist, and social critic. Written by . 13th Grade: A slacker 18 year old as he navigates the world of community college after just being dumped by his girlfriend. Written by Derek Waters. Cripro: A spoof on crime procedurals about a washed-up TV action hero - who at the peak of his career was ceremonially deputized by local law enforcement - falsely believes he can solve crimes in real life. His student, Jason, becomes his sidekick. Think: Lookwell meets Reno 911!. Written by Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel & Andy Richter. Consultant: Peter Blauner Tear A Bull (aka Double T): A satirical look at the personal and professional lives of a low-level member of the Texas Legislature and his staff. Written by Larry Wilmore. Consultant: Lee Blessing. Infinite Jest: Based on David Foster Wallace's book of the same name about the missing master copy of a film cartridge, titled Infinite Jest and referred to in the novel as "the Entertainment" or "the samizdat". The film, so entertaining to its viewers that they lose all interest in anything other than viewing it and thus eventually die, was the final work of James O. Incandenza before his suicide by microwave. He completed it during a stint of sobriety requested by its lead actress, Joelle Van Dyne. Quebecois separatists are interested in acquiring a master, redistributable copy of the work to aid in acts of terrorism against the United States. The United States Office of Unspecified Services is seeking to intercept the master copy of the film to prevent mass dissemination and the destabilization of the Organization of North American Nations. Joelle and later Hal seek treatment for substance abuse problems at The Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House, and Marathe visits the rehabilitation center to pursue a lead on the master copy of the Entertainment, tying the characters and plots together. Written by . I Am Monica Saunders: A fictionalized version of Martha Stewart in 1996. Written by Bob Bartlett. Addicks: A pair of recovering addicts: one's an ex-drug dealer/gigolo, the other's an heir to a fortune he can't collect until he's sober. Written by Jason Dean Hall & Justin Spitzer. American Darkness: A man relocates his family to a town run by a powerful, but mysterious tycoon. They soon realize that not everything in the town is as it seems. A mix of Picket Fences, American Gothic, The Dead Zone, The X-Files, and A Clockwork Orange. Written by . Beat Generation: A group of American post-World War II writers who come to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena they document and inspire. Central elements of the beat culture include rejection of received standards, innovations in style, experimentation with drugs, alternative sexualities, an interest in Eastern religion, a rejection of materialism, and explicit portrayals of the human condition. Written by . American Post: The personal and professional lives of staff at a Huffington Post-type website. A mix of The Eleventh Hour, and The Newsroom. Written by Cherie Bennett & Jeff Gottesfeld. Consultant: Gerald Early The Marriage Plot: Loosely based on Jeffrey Eugenides's book of the same name about three female college friends beginning in their senior year in 1982. Written by . I Do, Sometimes: Exploring mixed-orientation marriages. A mix of Far From Heaven, Once & Again, Mulligans, A Single Man, and Shortbus. Written by Todd Haynes & Eileen Myers. Big Machine: Based on Victor LaValle's book of the same name. Ricky Rice is an ex-junkie African bus station porter survivor of a suicide cult whose life is changed when a mysterious letter arrives summoning him to a remote compound in Vermont. Written by Victor LaValle. The Broom of The System: Loosely based on David Foster Wallace's book of the same name about an emotionally challenged woman questions her own reality as she navigates three separate crises: her great-grandmother's escape from a nursing home, a neurotic boyfriend, and a suddenly vocal pet cockatiel. Written by . Scalped: Based on the comic book series of the same name about the residents of an Indian reservation in modern-day South Dakota as they grapple with organized crime, poverty, alcoholism, local politics and the preservation of their cultural identity. Written by . All That Is: Loosely based on James Slater’s book of the same name about a naval officer who returns to America and finds a position as a book editor. In this world of dinners, deals, and literary careers, Bowman finds that he fits in perfectly. But despite his success, what eludes him is love. His first marriage goes bad, another fails to happen, and finally he meets a woman who enthralls him—before setting him on a course he could never have imagined for himself. Romantic and haunting as it explores a life unfolding in a world on the brink of change. It is a dazzling, sometimes devastating labyrinth of love and ambition, a fiercely intimate account of the great shocks and grand pleasures of being alive. Written by . With or Without You: Loosely based on Domenica Ruta’s book of the same name. Domenica grew up in a working-class, unforgiving town north of Boston, in a trash-filled house on a dead-end road surrounded by a river and a salt marsh. Her mother, Kathi, a notorious local figure, was a drug addict and sometimes dealer whose life swung between welfare and riches, and whose highbrow taste was at odds with her hardscrabble life. And yet she managed, despite the chaos she created, to instill in her daughter a love of stories. Written by . The Glass Castle: Loosely based on Jeannette Walls’ book of the same name. Written by . Where'd You Go, Bernadette: Based on Maria Semple's book of the same name. Once a revered architect, Bernadette has become such a neurotic mess that she outsources her simplest errands to a virtual assistant in India. When Bernadette suddenly disappears, Bee follows her mother's unusual paper trail to track her down. Written by Maria Semple. Triburbia: Based on Karl Taro Greenfeld's book of the same name about a group of families in a fashionable Manhattan neighborhood wrestling with the dark realities of their lives. A hip group of fathers meet every morning for breakfast and banter while glossing over the dysfunction festering in the privacy of their airy lofts: affairs, bad marriages, bad kids, accusations of fabricating a memoir, etc. These one-percenters appear to have everything, but they're ruined by too many options; as a result, their lives end up looking like those of dissatisfied suburbanites, only a bit uglier. Written by . We Only Know So Much: Loosely based on Elizabeth Crane's book of the same name about a dysfunctional family: Jean, the people-pleasing mother who's having an affair; her husband, Gordon, an insufferable know-it-all who's losing his memory; Priscilla, a text-a-minute brat who dreams of becoming a reality TV star; and Otis, an offbeat loner longing for love. Our narrator is an omniscient We who reports the goings-on of the family with the breathless glee of an incurable gossip. Written by Elle Triedman & Nikki Toscano. Inside: Based on Alix Ohlin's book of the same name. A therapist rescues a man from an attempted suicide only to fall in love with him; a deeply troubled aspiring actress takes in the homeless runaway sleeping on her doorstep; a divorcée starved for connection leaves one hopeless situation for another. Written by . The Expats: Loosely based on Chris Pavone's book of the same name. When her husband, Dexter, lands a high-paying job in Luxembourg, Kate Moore gladly quits her secret life as a CIA agent to reinvent herself as an expat housewife. But she has to put her espionage skills to use again when another American couple arrives in town and tells her that Dexter might have a secret life of his own. Written by . Ten Thousand Saints: Based on Eleanor Henderson's book of the same name about a group of friends, lovers, parents and children through the straight-edge music scene and the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Written by . Drop City: Loosely based on T. Coraghessan Boyle's book of the same name. It is 1970, and a California commune has decided to relocate to the last frontier—the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska—in the ultimate expression of going back to the land. Armed with the spirit of adventure and naïve optimism, the inhabitants arrive in the wilderness of Alaska only to find their utopia already populated by other young homesteaders. When the two communities collide, unexpected friendships and dangerous enmities are born as everyone struggles with the bare essentials of life: love, nourishment, and a roof over one’s head. Written by . Wonderland: Loosely based on Joyce Carol Oates's book of the same name. Written by . [[]]: The exploits of a record label. Written by Dan Ahearn & David Caudle. [[]]: A mysterious institute which studies the human mind. A mix of Dollhouse, The Second Lady, The Manchurian Candidate, The Pretender, and Now and Again. Written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Juan Carlos Coto & Dean Widenmann. [[]]: Loosely based on the Atlanta Child Murders and Charles Sanders. Written by Geoffrey S. Fletcher. [[]]: Loosely based on the lives of Alfred Kinsey, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, Magnus Hirschfeld, Kurt Freund & Vern Bullough. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Ralph David Abernathy Sr.. Written by . [[]]: The exploits of the sex industry in 1973. A mix of Boogie Nights and The Fluffer. Written by . [[]]: The personal and professional lives of the Kentucky Supreme Court justices. Think: First Monday meets The West Wing. Written by Evan Katz, Ellen Herman & Christopher Ambrose. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Harry Belafonte. Written by . [[]]: A former football player, Redde Wycel, is charged with the murder of his ex wife, and tries to uncover the truth about her death. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the Breckinridge family in 1797. Written by . The Man: Loosely based on Irving Wallace's book of the same name about the socio-political consequences in U.S. society when a black man becomes President of America. Written by . Ooh! Ah!: The lives of sex therapists and their clients. Written by Jim Leonard & Kate Robin. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of George Edwin Taylor. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Sam Cooke. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on The Jackson 5 in 1975. Written by . Pause: The ongoings of a Rolling Stone type magazine in 1977. Written by Jon Harmon Feldman & Dana Baratta. [[]]: Comedic look at married life. A mix of Mad About You, Married People, and The King of Queens. Written by Michael J. Weithorn, David Litt & Rob Ulin. News Rock: The ongoings of a fictional TV news station. Think: Cop Rock with journalists. Written by Bob Lowry, Michael Hollinger & Adam Gwon. [[]]: The lives of hospice care workers. Theme song: Audra Mae's My Lonely Worry. Written by Dahvi Waller & Joan Binder Weiss. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Brad Blanton, the man who developed radical honesty. Written by . [[]]: The lives of a Spice Girls type group. Written by Mike Herro & David Strauss. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Stokely Carmichael. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of James Bevel. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of James Arthur Baldwin, a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. Written by . [[]]: The life of a Marilyn Monroe type woman in 1964. Written by Josh Reims & Bruce Miller. [[]]: A fictionalized version of The Phil Donahue Show. Written by . [[]]: A spoof on court shows about two judges. A mix of Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown. Written by Jennifer Celotta & Anthony Q. Farrell. [[]]: The complexities of open relationships. A mix of Swingtown and Once and Again. Theme by Melissa McClelland. Written by Mike Kelley & David Schulner. [[]]: Loosely based on Lisa Arends's Lessons From the End of A Marriage. Written by Victoria Morrow, Coleman Herbert & Scott Teems. Private Nature: The ongoings of an escort agency in San Francisco. Written by Gina Fattore & Tom Kapinos. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of David Vitter. Written by . [[]]: The life of a Vince McMahon type man. Written by Daniel Chun & Phil Johnston. [[]]: The life of an Estée Lauder type woman. Written by Katherine Fugate. American District: The ongoings of a Washington, D.C. based public relations firm. A mix of The Good Wife and The West Wing. Written by Barry M. Schkolnick, Steve Lichtman & Alexandra Cunningham. [[]]: Loosely based on the lives of Ted Haggard and Paul Barnes. Written by . American Politricks (aka American Complex): Satire on American politics and the mainstream media. A mix of That's My Bush! and Veep. Theme song: Morrissey's Let Me Kiss You. Written by David Bickel, Halsted Sullivan & Ken Urban. [[]]: The lives of members of a Ku Klux Klan type of group in 1924. Written by Keith Josef Adkins. Seasons of Life: Coming of age 1965 drama in San Francisco, CA. Written by Toni Graphia & Jill Gordon. Flycatcher: The life of an Anita Bryant type woman in 1979. Written by . American Tabloid: Loosely based on James Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy about political and legal corruption. Written by . Fill In The Blanks: An espionage team of former members of the FBI, DIA, DEA, and CIA. A mix of Counterstrike, The Equalizer, La Femme Nikita, Alias, and The Unit. Written by David Mamet & Lynn Mamet. Consultant: Stephen L. Carter. American Tycoon: Loosely based on Harold Robbins' Tycoon about an entrepreneur who builds an empire in broadcasting. Written by Anne Kenney & Daniel Steck. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, a civil rights/fraternal organization leader, entrepreneur and surgeon. Written by . American Blaks (aka So Blak!): A no holds barred satire on black life in America. Loosely based on the lives of Richard Pryor, Dick Gregory, Patrice O'Neal, and Steve "The Dean" Williams. Written by Warren Hutcherson, Malcolm D. Lee & Lamont Ferrell. Cookbrity: The life of a Bobby Flay type celebrity cook. Written by Peter Ocko, Allison Silverman & Vijal Patel. [[]]: The life of a Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck/Mark Levin type radio talk show host. Written by Angus MacLachlan. American Peaks: Loosely based on the Thurston County ritual abuse case, Dissociative identity disorder, File 18, and the lives of John DeCamp, Elizabeth Loftus and Valerie Sinason. Written by . International Cunts (aka i-Cunts): A blistering look at humanity. Written by . K Is For Killing: Loosely based on Daniel Easterman's book of the same name in which America is ruled by a coalition of the America First Committee and Ku Klux Klan. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Jim Jones. Written by . [[]]: A mix of Nowhere Man, The Prisoner, The Pretender, North by Northwest, and Three Days of the Condor. Written by Laurence Andries & Sam Humphrey. To Live & Die In Tucson: An unflinching look at mental health issues in America. Set in Tucson, AZ. Written by Davey Holmes. [[]]: Based on the Black Arts Movement. Written by . 21st Century Matches: The life of a Patti Stanger type woman. Written by Melanie Marnich & Barry O'Brien. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Ralph Waldo Greene Jr.. Written by . [[]]: The lives of a White Panther Party type political collective in 1968. Written by . The Broken Hearts Club: A coming of age drama loosely based on The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy. Written by . [[]]: The life of an Ann Coulter type woman. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of the Allegheny County council. A mix of The West Wing and Boss. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Eddie Noel. Written by . [[]]: The life of a JFK Jr. type socialite. Written by Roger Wolfson. [[]]: The ongoings of a non-denominational Christian college in Bakersfield, CA. Written by . [[]]: The life of the governor of Ohio and his staff. Think: The West Wing meets House of Cards. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a Christian Voice type political advocacy group. Written by . Peachtree Lines: The personal and professional life of Lincoln Rylan, mayor of Atlanta, and his staff. A mix of The West Wing, Boss, and House of Cards. Written by . The Fake & The Fakest: A fictionalized version of The Real Housewives. Written by Linwood Boomer & Matt Hubbard. [[]]: The life of a George Wallace type politician. Written by . Polialk: Satire on American political talk shows. A mix of Crossfire, Firing Line, The McLaughlin Group, and The Chris Matthews Show. Theme song: Lydia Taylor's Love A Little Harder. Written by Robert Carlock, Bob Brush & Norma Safford Vela. [[]]: The life of a Daniel Keenan Savage type man. Written by . Phantom Stranger: Based on the comic book character of the same name with unspecified paranormal origins who battles mysterious and occult forces. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Ella Fitzgerald. Written by Darnell Martin & Michael Elliot. [[]]: The ongoings of a public-access television station. Think: Public Access meets Alternative Views in 1999. Written by . [[]]: The life of a Steve Forbes type publishing executive. Written by Taylor Elmore. [[]]: The life of a David Geffen type record executive, screen/theatrical producer, and philanthropist in 1982. Written by R. Scott Gemmill. [[]]: The life of a Matthew Nathan Drudge type man in 2003. Written by . [[]]: A mix of Regarding Henry, Marvin's Room, Bringing Out the Dead, Wit, Closer, The Squid and the Whale, and Margot at the Wedding. Written by Noah Baumbach, Rick Moody & Ann Patchett. [[]]: A mix of White Sands, The Man Who Knew Too Much, North by Northwest, and Freedomland. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle about poverty, the absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and the hopelessness prevalent among the working class, which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption of people in power. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a National Review type magazine. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Orval Faubus. Written by Gregory Poirier & Paul Redford. Atomic Knight: Loosely based on the comic book character of the same name. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of an interior design firm in Minneapolis, MN. A mix of Designing Women, Will & Grace, and The Office. Written by Carrie Kemper, Graham Wagner & David M. Matthews. [[]]: The ongoings of a venture capital firm. A mix of Profit, Revenge, and Chinatown. Written by . The Royal Tenenbaums: Loosely based on the film of the same name. Written by Anthony Q. Farrell & Derek Ahonen. Sidney's Window: Loosely based on Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window about a man named Sidney, his pitfalls within his personal life, and struggles in Bohemian culture. Written by . The Good Widow: A mix of The Good Wife, The Brethren, The Confession, and the D.C. Madam scandal of 2006. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the events leading up to Ruby Ridge. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a Bank of America type bank in 2005. Inspired by The International. Written by . Drof Men: The ongoings of a multinational automaker in 1987. Think: Mad Men with cars. Written by Will Rokos. [[]]: The ongoings of a pharmaceutical corporation. Written by Melinda Hsu Taylor & Robert L. Rovner. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Joe Francis, creator of Girls Gone Wild. Written by . [[]]: The rise and fall of a pop music group in 1966. Inspired by Paul McCartney Died In 1966 urban legend. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a male revue in 2008. Written by Rob Fresco, Jill E. Blotevogel & Jason Ning. Undisclosed: Loosely based on Michal Milstein & Marlin Marynick's Undisclosed: Secrets of The AIDS Epidemic. Written by . American Krime (aka Krime In The USA): A mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows and crime procedurals. A mix of Reno 911!, Miami Vice, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, and the CSI franchise. Written by Sean Abley, Liz Duffy Adams & Jeffrey Adams. It's Just Sex: Satire on the American sexual revolution. Written by Thomas McCarthy. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Andy Warhol. Written by Michael Dahlie & Allison Lynn. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Walter Washington, the first mayor of the District of Columbia. Written by . American Fluff: The life of a male fluffer. Written by Steve Hely. [[]]: Set against the backdrop of the Holy Week Uprising. A mix of I'll Fly Away, Homefront, Any Day Now, and Crash. Written by Gregory Allen Howard, Gary Hardwick, Rob Hardy & Brian Bird. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a cosmetics company in 1992. Think: Mad Men with makeup. Written by Amy Herzog & Lisa Joy. [[]]: The personal and professional lives of clinical psychologists. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a modeling agency in 2006. Written by Annie Weisman & Natalie Krinsky. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Tina Turner in 1987. Written by Janine Sherman Barrois & Elizabeth Hunter. [[]]: The ongoings of an upscale lifestyle company and fashion retailer. Written by Wendy Mericle & Sara Parriott. [[]]: The ongoings of a real estate firm. Written by Adele Lim & William H. Brown. [[]]: The life of a cultural critic. Written by Thomas McCarthy. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of James Brown. Written by Reggie Rock Bythewood & Gina Prince-Bythewood. Empire: Based on Orson Scott Card's book series of the same name about a possible second American Civil War, this time between the Right Wing and Left Wing in the near future. Written by . [[]]: A spoof on primetime serials centering around a wealthy clan. A mix of Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, The Colbys, Titans, and Pasadena. Written by Matt Whitney, Jeanne Leitenberg & Annemarie Navar-Gill. [[]]: Based on David Wellington's werewolf series Frostbite and Overwinter. Written by . [[]]: A mix of The Parallax View, The Domino Principle, Blow Out, No Way Out and Enemy of The State. Written by David Ayer & John Sayles. Animal Man: Based on the comic book character of the same name. Bernhard Baker acquires the ability to temporarily “borrow” the abilities of animals. Using these powers, he fights crime as the costumed superhero. Written by . Philly Blues (aka Bluesidelphia): The lives of the Philadelphia Police Department's officers. A mix of The Chicago Code, Southland, Miami Vice, and Robbery Homicide Division. Written by David Graziano, Angela Amato Velez & Todd A. Kessler. Etta Jenks: Loosely based on the play of the same name about a young woman who chases her dreams to sun-soaked LA to become a movie star, but soon the shadows of this city rear up to claim her. Etta aspires to succeed but is sucked down into the porn industry, a world which seduces and abuses, and can illuminate your name in dirty neon. A dark comic thriller about sex and survival. Written by Marlane Gomard Meyer. [[]]: The life of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, in 1837. Written by . Jack: Loosely based on the life of John Arthur Johnson in 1933. Written by . Dayworld: Loosely based on Philip José Farmer's book series of the same name about a dystopian future in which an overpopulated world solves the problem by allocating people only one day per week. For the rest of the six days they are 'stoned,' a kind of suspended animation. Written by Rand Ravich, Far Shariat & Hans Tobeason. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Joseph Nicolosi, founder of the NARTH. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a Peoples Temple type religious organization in 1991. Written by . [[]]: A satirical look at suburban life with an examination of the Christian left, Christian right, social conservatism, and libertarian conservatism ideologies. A mix of Polyester, Celebrity, American Beauty & Desperate Housewives. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Richard Wayne Penniman aka Little Richard. Written by . [[]]: The lives of U.S. armed forces members returning home from the Afghanistan and Iraq War. Written by Lydia Woodward, Moira Walley-Beckett & Nancy Hult Ganis. [[]]: The lives of political consultants, campaign managers, lobbyists, and advocacy journalists. A mix of Lou Grant, The West Wing, Breaking News, and The Eleventh Hour. Written by Adam Johnson. [[]]: The ongoings of a Minor League Baseball team in Ohio. Written by Jamie Gorenberg & David Schladweiler. The Tales of Alvin Maker: Based on Orson Scott Card's book series about a man who discovers he has incredible powers for creating and shaping things around him. It takes place in an alternate history of the American frontier in the early 19th century, to some extent based on early American folklore and superstition. Written by Orson Scott Card. Congorilla: Based on the comic book character of the same name. Written by . The Rule of Fate: Loosely based on the play of the same name about a Hollywood film family. Written by Marlane Gomard Meyer. Mister Harding: The life of Warren G. Harding in 1920. Written by . [[]]: A fictionalized version of The Day the Music Died in 1999. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a casual dining restaurant chain. Written by John A. Norris & Terrence Coli. [[]]: The life of a federal judge in Texas. Written by Carol Flint, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich & Peter Noah. Sharp Teeth: Based on Toby Barlow's book of the same name about packs of werewolves struggling for power in the underbelly of Los Angeles. Written by Angelina Burnett & Sarah Thorp. Teendom: A parody of teen television series and films. A mix of Election, Heathers, Varsity Blues, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Bring It On, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Never Been Kissed, Cruel Intentions, Mean Girls, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Clueless, Dead Poets Society, Lean On Me, Juno, Veronica Mars, Dawson's Creek, My So-Called Life, Gilmore Girls, Gossip Girl, Ready or Not, Popular, and But I'm a Cheerleader. Written by David B. Harris, Austin Winsberg & Emily Whitesell. [[]]: The life of a Helen Kendrick Johnson type writer and prominent activist opposing the women's suffrage movement in 1911. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, pioneer of the modern homosexual rights movement, in 1935. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Leonard Matlovich in 1991. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a Philadelphia private club in 1962. Loosely based on the Yale Club of New York City. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of an alternative medical practice in Omaha, NE. Written by Yahlin Chang, Tom Garrigus & Patrick Harbinson. Polymerican: The lives of polyamorous people. Written by Tracy Letts. [[]]: Loosely based on the lives of Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark. Written by Diane Ademu-John. [[]]: A man runs for elected office after a 20 year break. A mix of Citizen Baines, The Wire, and Boss. Written by James Yoshimura, Robert Schenkkan & Jesse Stern. The Geography of Luck: Loosely based on the play of the same name about a former rockabilly star who is released from prison on parole. He was serving a sentence for murdering his wife. Written by Marlane Gomard Meyer. Little, Big: Loosely based on John Crowley's book of the same name about the intertwined family trees of the Drinkwaters and their relations—from the turn of the twentieth century to a sparsely-described dystopian future America ruled by a sinister despot. Written by John Crowley. Four Freedoms: Loosely based on John Crowley's book of the same name centering around a fictional aircraft manufacturing plant during the 1940s. Written by . The Story Sisters: Loosely based on Alice Hoffman's book of the same name: a dark family saga of three sisters plagued by uncommon sadness. Written by Alice Hoffman. Women and Men: Loosely based on Joseph McElroy's book of the same name about the life, the partly mythic ancestry, and the partly science fictional future of James Mayn, a business and technology journalist. Written by . Mister Roosevelt: The life of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1911. Written by . [[]]: Mystery surrounding the death of a deputy mayor in 1989. Upon his death, shoeboxes and briefcases with more than $900,000 in cash are found in his home along with 19 cases of whiskey, 8 transistor radios, and 102 packs of cigarettes. Inspired by Paul Taylor Powell. Written by Salvatore Stabile. The Wicked Years: Based on the book series of the same name which are a revisionist take on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and related books. Written by Gregory Maguire & Chris Provenzano. [[]]: The life of a Washington, D.C. socialite and philanthropist. Written by Tristine Skyler & Kath Lingenfelter. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of John Nance Garner IV in 1979. Written by . [[]]: The life of Abigail Adams. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Cordell Hull, the longest serving U.S. Secretary of State. Written by . The Color of Water: Loosely based on the memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. Written by James McBride & Craig Brewer. [[]]: Life in the Confederate States of America in 1861. Written by Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Michael C. Martin & Tanya Hamilton. [[]]: Life in the Roman Empire. Written by Scott Buck & John Milius. [[]]: Loosely based on Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Henry Gerber, a homosexual rights activist, in 1931. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Idi Amin. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Robert Mugabe in 1973. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Don Mellett in 1929, a journalist who was assassinated after confronting local organized crime. Written by Steve Lichtman, Rob Ackerman & John Mankiewicz. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Patrice Lumumba. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Walter Liggett in 1946 who exposed a criminal syndicate between organized crime and the Minnesota political establishment. Written by Shelley Meals & Darin Goldberg. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Dulcie September. Written by Becky Mode & Karyn Usher. Outline of My Lover: Loosely based on Douglas A. Martin's book of the same name in which the central character has a long term romantic relationship with the lead singer of a successful southern alternative band. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Louis Botha, the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on Philip José Farmer's A Barnstormer in Oz in which the Hank Stover, a pilot and the son of Dorothy Gale, finds himself in Oz when his plane gets lost in a green cloud over Kansas. The Oz he discovers is on the brink of civil war; he encounters Erakna, the new Wicked Witch. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Leslie Lynch King, Jr., the first unelected President of America. Written by . [[]]: A journalist with close ties to the Mafia in the 80s. Written by Brian Burns & Edward Fitzgerald Burns. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Jan Smuts who served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Elijah Parish Lovejoy in 1849. Written by Lewis Colick & John Pielmeier. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Hendrik Verwoerd, the man behind the conception and implementation of apartheid. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th President of America. Written by . Fade: Loosely based on Robert Cormier's book of the same name about a teenage boy who discovers he can "fade". "Fading" is the term used for becoming invisible. Written by James Stoteraux, Chad Fiveash & Abby Gewanter. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of F. W. de Klerk, the last State President of apartheid-era South Africa. Written by . In The Middle of The Night: Loosely based on Robert Cormier's book of the same name about a teenage boy whose father was involved in a tragic accident that killed several children. He's not allowed to drive or answer the phone and his family moves so often he's always the new kid in school. But one afternoon, Denny disobeys his parents and answers a phone call, after which he finds himself drawn into a relationship with the mystery caller...someone who wants revenge. Written by David Fury & Frank Renzulli. [[]]: Based on Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and The Whalestoe Letters. Written by Mark Z. Danielewski. [[]]: Based on the actions of the African National Congress in 1912. Written by . Here On Earth: Loosely based on Alice Hoffman's book of the same name about a woman who returns with her teenage daughter to the Massachusetts town where she grew up. After returning to the town that she grew up in, she finds herself reunited with a lost love. This dark and twisted tale tells of the capabilities of love and how far one is willing to go for it. Written by . [[]]: Based on the actions of the National Party, the governing party of South Africa from June 1948 until May 1994. Written by Ann Peacock, Troy Blacklaws, Mark Behr & Shawn Slovo. [[]]: Loosely based on the British series Absolutely Fabulous. Written by . [[]]: The life of a Jesse Woodson James type man in 1897. Written by Kater Gordon. [[]]: Loosely based on the American Indian Movement, a Native American organization in 1968. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the British series The Vicar of Dibley. Written by . Are You Served?: Loosely based on the British series Are You Being Served?. Written by . [[]]: Based on William Edward Burghardt Du Bois's Black Flame trilogy. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Mark R. M. Wahlberg in 1993. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the British series Only Fools and Horses. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Charles Lindbergh. Written by Rolin Jones & Robin Veith. 191: Based on the Southern Victory Series by Harry Turtledove which depicts a world in which the Confederacy won the American Civil War. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Robert George Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Written by . Resurrection Day: Loosely based on the book of the same name where the Cuban missile crisis escalated to a full-scale war, the Soviet Union is devastated, and the USA has been reduced to a third-rate power, relying on Britain for aid. Written by Brendan DuBois. [[]]: Based on Philip José Farmer's trilogy A Feast Unknown, Lord of the Trees and The Mad Goblin. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. in 1982. Written by Andre Jacquemetton & Maria Jacquemetton. [[]]: Based on the Civil War book series by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen, and Albert S. Hanser. Written by . The World Next Door: Loosely based on the book of the same name. It takes place in the mid-1990s, at two interlinked alternate realities. In one of them, the Cuban Missile Crisis had escalated into a major nuclear exchange. What was left of the United States disintegrated into numerous virtually-independent enclaves, though President John F. Kennedy is still alive in a bunker somewhere. Written by Brad Ferguson. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Pocahontas in 1829. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on Replay. A radio journalist dies and awakens back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body. He then begins to relive his life with intact memories of the previous 25 years. This happens repeatedly with different events in each cycle. Written by George Mastras. 1—9—9—0: An examination of life in the 1990s. Set in Austin, TX. Written by Patrick Sheane Duncan & Paul J. Levine & Gennifer Hutchinson. Codex Alera: Based on Jim Butcher's book series of the same name. It chronicles the coming-of-age of Tavi in the realm of Alera, an empire similar to Rome, on the world of Carna. Every Aleran has some degree of command over elemental forces or spirits called furies, save for Tavi, who is considered unusual for his lack of one. As the aging First Lord struggles to maintain his hold on a realm on the brink of civil war, Tavi must use all of his intelligence to save Alera. Written by Jim Butcher. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Rajmund Roman T. Polański. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Lena Horne. Written by Kasi Lemmons & Vondie Curtis-Hall. [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Lucille Ball. Written by . [[]]: A time travel comedy/drama/musical reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 2000. Written by . [[]]: A parallel universe inhabited by humans, werewolves, ghosts, legendary creatures, and genetically engineered animals with human characteristics. Written by Scott Nimerfro & Sebastian Gutierrez. [[]]: Based on the life of Heracles, his consorts and children. Written by John Shiban & Sam Catlin. The Spellman Files: Based on Lisa Lutz's book series of the same name about a family of private investigators, who, while very close knit, are also intensely suspicious and spend much time investigating each other. Written by . [[]]: Based on George Pelecanos's Derek Strange and Terry Quinn, private investigators in Washington D.C. Written by . In The Garden: Loosely based on Norman Allen's play of the same name. The lives of four urban sophisticates are rocked by the arrival of a young man who is everything but what he seems. With unworldly charisma, the man constructs a web of seduction and theology grounded in the lessons of the New Testament. With high comedy and thought-provoking drama, it blends sexual conventions, high fashion, Nietzsche, and Christ in an uber-theatrical rollercoaster ride. Written by Norman Allen. The Good Spouse: A satire on American political scandals and how marriages are dealt in the midst of controversy. Inspired by The Good Wife. Written by . The Good Council: A satire on American politics in a small sized city. Written by . The Good State: A satire on state politics. Written by . The Bad Wife: A controversial female mayor deals with her personal and professional life amdist a sex scandal. Inspired by Linda Lusk. Written by . The Blue Code: A spoof on law enforcement shows. Think: Reno 911! meets The Chicago Code. Written by . American Special: The personal and professional lives of a top secret special forces team. A mix of The Unit, Last Resort, Strike Back, and Homeland. Written by . The Good Ambassador: A satire on American international relations. Think: The Office meets The West Wing. Written by . [[]]: The life of a polygamist family in Utah. Written by . Passing Seasons: A contemporary western about American social issues with drugs being the central focus. A mix of American Beauty, Far From Heaven, American History X, Six Feet Under, and Breaking Bad. Written by . American Dysfunction: Exploring the dynamics of dysfunction among American families. Written by . A.B.U.S.E.: The impact various forms of abuse (drug, sexual, physical, psychological) has on the lives of Americans. Written by . [[]]: A mysterious man's quest to join high society in 1983. Explores themes of reinvention, social upheaval, decadence, and personal, sexual and racial politics. Written by . Good Families: A satire on primetime serials such as Dallas, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, and Desperate Housewives. Written by . The Good Couple: A satire on modern relationships. Written by . American Circuit: The ongoings of an American private military company. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a publishing company in 1977. Written by . [[]]: Homosexuality from 1949 to present day. Written by . Crime, She Wrote: A spoof on Murder, She Wrote. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the Hatfield–McCoy feud in 1974. Written by . Good Health: A satire on the American health industry. Written by . The Good Company: A satire on corporate America. Written by . [[]]: The personal and professional lives of lawyers in the field of family law. A mix of Family Law, Judging Amy, and The Good Wife. Written by . [[]]: A deep exploration of sociopolitical themes and African American culture in Detroit. Written by . [[]]: The adult entertainment industry in 1973. Written by . [[]]: The life of an addiction counselor and recovering drug addict. Written by Jeffrey Lieber & Scott Erik Sommer. [[]]: The personal and professional life of a sports writer. Written by . Tales of The City: Based on Armistead Maupin's book series of the same name. Written by . American Collar: An examination of social classes. Written by . [[]]: An examination of dissociative identity disorder. Written by . Insatiable: Set in a small town where everyone has some sort of addiction. Written by Liz Brixius. [[]]: An examination of male prostitution. Written by . Blue In The USA: A mix of Sex & The City. Written by . Diary of A Manhattan Call Girl: Based on Tracy Quan's book series of the same name. Written by . [[]]: Loosely based on the life of Xaviera Hollander, a former call girl and madam. Written by . [[]]: An examination of intergenerational warfare through the lens of the 2007 financial crisis after a Michigan mayor files a Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition. Written by . [[]]: An examination of international criminal law. Written by . [[]]: An in depth look at personality disorders. Written by . [[]]: An examination of Christianity in America. Written by . T.H.R.I.L.L.E.R.: A legal, medical, political, and erotic thriller. Written by . U.N.D.E.R.G.R.O.U.N.D.: An examination of the underground life revolving around a team of rogue individuals: a journalist, a doctor, a lawyer, and a police detective. Written by . [[]]: An examination of the Reconstruction Era. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a fictional American airline set in 1970 and headquartered in Philadelphia. Written by Mike Daniels & Nick Thiel. [[]]: An examination of the impact of various political, sports, racial, sexual, and educational scandals in St. Louis, MO. Inspired by the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. Written by . [[]]: The life of a travelling salesman in the Birmingham, AL area. Revolving around the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice in 1974. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a Columbus, OH team in a fictional Canadian football league expansion in 2004. Written by . [[]]: Based on Karen Marie Moning's Fever book series. Written by . [[]]: An examination of anthropology and sociology in modern America. Written by . [[]]: The events leading up to Arizona Territory becoming the 48th state in 1910. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a multinational retail corporation based in Missouri. Written by . [[]]: The events leading up to the California Gold Rush and statehood in 1847. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of a mysterious boomtown in 1988. Written by Ted Mann, Kem Nunn & James D. Parriott. [[]]: The ongoings of a multinational mass media and entertainment company. Think: Profit meets Mad Men. Written by . [[]]: The exploits of the judge advocates in the Department of the Army’s Office of the Judge Advocate General. Written by . [[]]: An examination of the Iraq War. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of an academic health science centre in San Antonio, TX. Written by Regina Corrado & Nichole Beattie. [[]]: The ongoings of a sundown town in Texas during the 1940s. Written by . [[]]: The life of a professional golfer. Written by . [[]]: The world of professional and amateur handball. Written by . [[]]: The life of a freelance security consultant and trainer. Written by . [[]]: Based on Gregory Benford's Galactic Center Saga book series. Written by . [[]]: The ongoings of the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division. Written by . [[]]: A suburban gothic about the ongoings of a picturesque city with themes of naturalism. A mix of Twin Peaks and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Written by . [[]]: An examination of hip hop culture in 1980. Written by . [[]]: An examination of African-American culture in Philadelphia during the 1990s. Written by Charles Murray, Ryan Coogler, Nelson George & Dee Rees. [[]]: The ongoings of a Los Angeles full-service talent and literary agency in 2004. Written by . [[]]: Based on Jack Womack's Dryco book series. Written by . [[]]: An examination of masculism in America. Written by . [[]]: The life of a business magnate in 1977. Written by Mitch Glazer & Eduardo Machado.

Will This Make You Laugh?: Stand-up comedians performing. A modern version of One Night Stand, ComicView, Premium Blend, Def Comedy Jam, and Comedy Central Presents. Hosted by Alonzo Bodden. Mysteries of The World: Profiling mysteries and featuring reenactments of unsolved crimes, missing persons, conspiracy theories and unexplained paranormal phenomena. A mix of Unsolved Mysteries, History's Mysteries, Encounters With The Unexplained, Conspiracies, Conspiracy?, Unsolved History, Ancient Mysteries, and Final Witness. Hosted by . ********************************************** Cinnamon Girl: About the lives of four women at the crossroads of the late 1960s political, artistic, social and sexual rebellions. Written by Anthony Tambakis & Renee Zellweger. The Return of Daniel Shepherd: A family thrown into disarray when their son returns home after thirteen years missing. When his abductors turn up murdered, he is the prime suspect. That further shrouds the mystery surrounding this family: the boy’s father, a former FBI operative-turned-college criminology teacher; his mother, a stay-at-home-mom-turned-congresswoman; and his fraternal twin brother. Written by David Hubbard. The Viagra Diaries: Based on Barbara Rose Brooker's book of the same name about Claire who, after her husband has a mid-life crisis and leaves her, struggles with being single for the first time in three decades. Written by Darren Star. The Escape Artist: Siblings who help people disappear. Written by Rina Mimoun & Scott Foley. Stuck In Reverse: A father who has a near-death experience attempts to reconnect with his estranged children. Written by Scott King. Generation Ex: Explores second marriages and co-parenting. Written by Moe Jelline. Taxi 22: American adaptation of Taxi 0-22 about a politically incorrect taxi driver in NYC struggling to keep his life together. Written by Brett C. Leonard. Just Say No: A family dealing with co-dependence and addiction. Written by David Seltzer. Blanco County: Based on Ben Rehder's book series of the same name about a baseball player who becomes sheriff of his small Texas hometown. Written by Rob Thomas. Shadow Counsel: Ethan, a former JAG attorney now working as a criminal lawyer in NYC, is recruited by the FBI to crack an ongoing investigation. He serves as a shadow counsel – a secret lawyer who operates behind the scenes and completely off the record to circumvent existing roadblocks in classified cases. His life rapidly descends into chaos as he finds himself on the run, unsure of who his friends are or who he can trust. Written by Barry Schindel. Powers: Based on Brian Michael Bendis's comic book series of the same name that combines the genres of superhero fantasy, crime noir and the police procedural. It follows the lives of two homicide detectives assigned to investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities, who are referred to colloquially as "powers". Written by Brian Michael Bendis & Charlie Huston.

TV Revivals *[[Quantum Leap]]; Written by [[Donald P. Bellisario]] & [[John C. Kelley]] *[[Picket Fences]]; Written by [[David E. Kelley]] & [[Christopher Ambrose]] *[[Homefront|Homefront (U.S. TV series)]] ; Written by [[Lynn Marie Latham]], [[Bernard Lechowick]] & [[Jeff Gottesfeld]] *[[Freaks and Geeks]]; Written by [[Judd Apatow]], [[J. Elvis Weinstein]] & [[Mike White|Mike White (filmmaker)]] *[[Traders|Traders (TV series)]]; Written by [[Hart Hanson]], [[David Shore]] & [[Peter Blake|Peter Blake (writer)]] *[[The Eleventh Hour|The Eleventh Hour (CTV series)]] ; Written by [[Semi Chellas]], [[Ilana Frank]] & [[Jonathan Igla]] *[[Touched By An Angel]]; Written by [[Luke Schelhaas]], [[Ken LaZebnik]] & [[Brian Bird]] *[[Falcon Crest]]; Written by [[Scott Hamner]], [[Christian McLaughlin]] & [[Valerie Ahern]]

[travelingtheusa]

NEW YORK

18 Sep 2019 (Wed) – We spent the day getting ready for our move. We went food shopping and stopped in at Bagel Boss for lunch.  I don’t know how that place stays in business.  They are soooo slow.  It must be because they are the only bagel place around.  At 3 p.m.  I drove over to Travis & Sam’s to watch Lincoln.  Sam had work and Travis was taking the boys to karate.  We reviewed their finances and discussed options to resolve their issue.  In the meantime, Paul was watching Caiden back at the camper because Miranda and Kenny went to Meet the Teacher Night.

     It was quite cool this morning.  The heater is not working right.  It turns on and then shuts off.  This is an issue we will have to resolve before the weather gets colder.

 17 Sep 2019 (Tue) – It’s been a fairly busy week.  I attended a memorial service for a member of the American Legion Post on Thursday.  Gus Luhrs, past post and past division commander, passed away at the age of 86. He served 20 years in the Marine Corps and was in the Korea and Vietnam Wars.  He was the bartender at the post for many, many years.  I will miss him.

     We went to a dinner celebrating the 100th birthday of American Legion Post 411 on Friday the 13th.  It was held in the Marconi Lodge; not the post.  I guess they wanted to give everyone a chance to enjoy the celebration and not worry about set up and break down.  I was disappointed that few of the guys wore uniforms.  Not too long ago, everyone would have proudly worn their uniform.  The times, they are a-changing.  There were about 60 people at the event.  The food was ok but the company was great.  It was fun to see all our friends from the post.

     Caiden decided to skip church this Sunday.  Afterward, Paul and I went to the Bayside Clam Bar for lunch. The warm days are waning and I want to enjoy as much of the waterfront as possible before it gets too cold.

12 Sep 2019 (Thu) –I had lunch with my sister, Susan, today. We met at the Cheesecake Factory in Bay Shore and both enjoyed salads.  Later this evening, I attended a memorial service for an American Legion friend, Gus Luhrs.

 11 Sep 2019 (Wed) – Wow.  Things have been very, very busy.  We have spent time watching Caiden which takes full effort.  He likes to play pillow fights and pulls me into these all the time.  It’s either here in the camper or on the couch in his house.  

     I had lunch with my daughter, Gina, today.  We met at Cheesecake Factory and caught up on how things have been going since we last saw each other.

     Later today at 5:00 p.m., Paul and I went to a 9/11 memorial conducted by the Town of Islip next to Town Hall.  There were 15 fire departments represented there.  Lots of firemen and a bagpipe and drum band played songs that left you with a lump in your throat.  

 5 Sep 2019 (Thu) – We celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary yesterday.  We had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.  We saw a posted sign that said they give a 20% military discount on Mondays.  We now have our new best eatery on Mondays!

    We had my brother, Dennis, and his lady, Denise, over for dinner on Tuesday (September 3).  I made chicken picata, potatoes, and green beans.  Everything came out perfect.  They stayed for two hours.  It was a very pleasant visit.

     Caiden started school yesterday (Noah started the day before on Tuesday and Hudson started on Wednesday).  We all walked Caiden down to the bus stop and waited over a half hour. The first days of school always sees the bus come late.  It was almost an hour late returning at day’s end; although there was a legitimate excuse – the town was out and picking up debris one block over and on our block. That held up traffic all over the area. Caiden seemed to enjoy himself on his first day.  His teacher’s name is Mr. Lolo.  Can’t wait to meet him.

1 Sep 2019 (Sun) – We took Caiden with us to church this morning. He was very fidgety and complained that it was boring.  Not sure how much longer he will go with us to church before he decides it’s not fun. We spoke with Pastor Doug and scheduled October 20 for Lincoln’s baptism.  

     After church, I let Caiden do some exploring and playing on the playground behind the building.  Then we went to the Clamside Bar & Grill at the East Islip Marina for lunch.  We all took a walk around the pier then returned home.

     Paul and I spent the afternoon doing yardwork.  As Paul cleared out some of the brush, I got a good look at the trees down on that back fence.  It looks like a much bigger area was crushed by our neighbor’s tree than it first looked like.  And he still hasn’t started clearing anything away.  I’m not sure what we are going to do about that.

     After naps, we sent out for pizza for dinner.  Hmmm Hmmm, good!

 30 Aug 2019 (Fri)

– Paul and I took Caiden to my sister Susan’s house today.  We spent the day swimming in the pool and visiting with Susan & Bill and Shay & Pat (her daughter and boyfriend).  The weather was lovely.

29 Aug 2019 (Thu) – Good news!  I had an appointment at Sloan Kettering this morning to find out the results of the PET and CT scans I had on Monday.  After only ten days on the chemo, the lymph nodes have already started to shrink.  My response to the therapy has been so good that I don’t have to come back for a month.  I thought I was going to have to go in every week for 5 or 6 weeks.  

     After the doctor, Paul and I went to Red Robin for lunch.  I had a margarita and cobb salad.  Paul had a beer and burger.  We were kind of giddy with relief and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Following lunch, we stopped at Shop Rite and picked up some groceries then returned home to continue the yard cleanup.

 28 Aug 2019 (Wed) – It was cool this morning.  We had to wear jackets when we walked Bonnie this morning. The summer is coming to a close. There’s a kind of sadness and yet a feeling of excitement as we build up to the holidays.  

     There is a spider that builds a web outside my bedroom window every night.  I first spotted her during that thunderstorm last week.  When the lightning flashed, she was illuminated on her web.  She seemed to be floating in midair.  She comes out every night and stays until early light the next morning.  I watched her this morning as the sun came up and she climbed up and away to her den for a well-deserved sleep.  She is an orb weaver and measures about an inch and a half in length.  What a beautiful specimen of the insect world!

 27 Aug 2019 (Tue) – We went to church on Sunday.  Caiden decided to take the day off so he did not go with us.  Everyone missed him.

     On Monday, I went to Sloan Kettering and had both a PET scan and a CT scan.  They sure keep those rooms cold.  Brrrrr!  Since I had some radiation, I couldn’t go near pregnant women or small children for 24 hours.   I had to wave across the room to Caiden rather than get my Caiden hug.  At 4:30 p.m. today, I was sure to get my big hug. And it came with a great big smile!

     This afternoon, we drove to the V.A. in Northport.  I wanted to establish myself as a cancer patient and see about getting medicine as we move around the country rather than having it mailed to me every three months.  The doctor referred me to hematology.  There was no answer at the department so I have to wait for a call back.  I got an appointment with Audiology for October. Ugh.  I hate the thought of being here that long.  But, unfortunately, I think I will be here.  The doctor wanted to schedule me for a mammogram but I said I’d go with my regular radiologist.  She did schedule me to come back for a pap smear but I think I’ll just see my own gynecologist instead.  She seemed to be somewhat flustered by me.  She wanted to do all this medical stuff and I kept turning it down.  She wasn’t sure what to do.  lol

24 Aug 2019 (Sat) – The air is full of the sound of generators, chain saws, and leaf blowers as everyone cleans up after the storm. Seems like there are tree removal and PSEG trucks all over the place.  A company has been working on removing the trees from the two neighbors on the south side. We think they took out 11 or 12 trees in total.  We finally got power back on around 2:30 p.m.

     We met with the counselor this morning.  Afterward, we drove to the Clamside Bar at the East Islip Marina and had a late breakfast.  It is nice to sit by the water and watch the boats come and go.  There weren’t many people out on the water considering that it was a beautiful, clear Saturday and summer is fast coming to an end.  You’d think everyone would want to be out getting in their last licks for the season.

     When we finished our meal, we went home and took Bonnie for a walk. Then we drove out to Mastic Beach and toured the William Floyd Estate.  What history exists in our own backyard!  William Floyd was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Nine generations of the family lived on the estate from 1718 until they gave it to the National Parks Department in 1976. They originally had 4,400 acres. Over the years, family inherited the property and divided it among heirs, with just 673 acres remaining on the estate today.  The Floyd family was much involved in politics and several prominent people visited the estate to include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. During the Civil War, the family fled to Connecticut while the British occupied Long Island.  The house was pretty much trashed when they returned after the war but the Floyds were able to restore it.  The estate began as a two-story, 6 room house.  Additions were made over the years until it ended with 25 rooms, 13 outbuildings, and a family cemetery.

 23 Aug 2019 (Fri) – Wow! We had a hum dinger of a thunderstorm blow through last night.  The phone pinged a warning that a severe storm was going to hit in 15 minutes and everyone should seek shelter on a lower level in the interior of the house. That was different.  I’ve gotten many storm warnings but never one that told me to get to the middle of the house.  They must have expected tornadoes although the warning did not say that.

     At about 9:45 p.m. it began to rain.  Shortly after, the wind picked up.  Then the skies opened up and the thunder and lightning started.  We lost power after about 15 minutes.  We sat and watched the transformer on the pole blow. Then another one blew down the block.

     Finally, the storm passed and we all walked outside to see what kind of damage had been left behind.  Kenny had gotten out of work just after the storm ended.  He reported having to take a crazy circuitous route to get home because of downed trees and wires.  There were trees down at either end of the block.  The next block had a tree land on a car.  Over on the main road (Saxon Ave), there were two trees down at opposite ends, thus closing off the road to through traffic.  People were trying to go down the block.  When they couldn’t get through, they turned and went down our block only to discover they couldn’t get through that way either.  Our neighbor in the back on the south side had five trees go down.  Two landed on our fence.  Another tree came down on our fence in back on the west side.  That tree was also from a neighbor’s yard.  All our trees stayed put for this storm.  lol.

     We had gone over Trap’s house earlier to help him with an electrical problem he is having at the house.  Paul and he worked for over an hour but couldn’t solve the problem.  Sam and I went food shopping with the baby while the two older boys stayed home.  We picked up pizza on the way back home and shared a meal with them before going home.  Luckily, we got home before the storm hit.

21 Aug 2019 (Wed) – The church had their annual outdoor service on Sunday.  We took Caiden with us.  I guess the outdoor setting was too much for him.  He wanted to go play and squirmed and fidgeted throughout the entire service. Afterward, there were all kinds of foods in a potluck meal.  Everything was very good.  I really enjoy those potlucks!

     I really messed up today.  I was scheduled for a PET scan at Sloan Kettering this afternoon.  The test requires you to fast for six hours prior. I was watching Caiden and he asked for something to eat.  I got him a snack out of the refrigerator and without thinking, popped a piece of cheese in my mouth.  Yikes!  When I got to the cancer center, it turned out I was supposed to be there at 1:15, not 2:15 p.m.  Fortunately, the 2:15 appointment had shown up at 1:15 so they let me take the later appointment.  Unfortunately, I had eaten the cheese and couldn’t take the test.  I had to reschedule for next Monday.

     I started chemotherapy on Monday.  I am taking Ibrutinib once a day.  So far (knock on wood), I am not having any side effects.  Reading all the warnings, I have been fully expecting diarrhea and vomiting.  Maybe it will come after the chemical builds up in my body.  I have to admit that I am afraid of this drug.  It interferes with the production of white blood cells. This lowers my resistance to infection. I have to be careful about keeping my hands clean and avoiding sick people.  It is something I have to learn to live with since I now have to take this drug for the rest of my life.

     The saga with trying to get Miranda financial help goes on.  Social Services turned down her request for financial aid as well as food stamps.  The department has a requirement for certain categories of persons to be referred to New York State HQ for examination when applying for Medicaid.  We have to wait and see what happens there.

17 Aug 2019 (Sat) – We saw the counselor this morning.  She was empathetic to our situation and gave us some suggestions for dealing with our adult children and their issues.  Afterward, we drove to Bayside Clam Bar at the East Islip Marina for lunch.  It is a great time of year to sit down by the water and just enjoy the season.  All too soon, the cold weather will be upon us.  

     We stopped by the thrift shop at church and helped move tables and chairs from the storage area to the door.  Tomorrow will be our annual outdoor service and potluck. We were staging the items by the back door where they would be taken down to the yard.  Paul found a pair of super cool looking glasses for Caiden. They look like some kind of futuristic robot apparatus.  They have a battery pack and when you turn it on, blue lights come on either side of the glasses.  They also have a magnifying glass that folds out in front of the right lens.  He loved them!

 16 Aug 2019 (Fri) – It’s been a pretty quiet week.  I got my hair cut this morning.  It was good to see my hairdresser.  She moved down to the Carolinas years ago and comes up about every 3 or 4 weeks.  She said it was too hard to start a new following down south so she just continues coming back to New York to see her customers.  I am glad about that! She is the only one who can get my hair right.

     I went to visit my niece, Jennifer, and her new baby, Ava.  She delivered about a month ago.  My sister, Susan, and her other daughter, Sharon, joined me.  The baby is adorable.   Susan picked me up in her new red Tesla, of which she is very proud.  It rides pretty nice.

     Later at 5:30 pm, we went over Travis & Sam’s to watch the boys while they tore up the carpet in the upstairs hallway and put down new flooring. First we played outside.  Then we followed Noah and Hudson on their bicycles around the block (they rode; we walked).  Then we drove them to a nearby playground and let them play for a while. Interestingly, Noah pulled a book out of the book exchange and sat down on a bench to read while Hudson climbed all over the playset.  Two very different boys!

     Finally, we capped the night with a trip to Carvel.  The ice cream was delicious but needless to say, their parents weren’t too happy about all the energy they came home with after the sweet treats.  It is good to be the grandparent!  You can spoil the babies and not suffer the aftermath.  Sweet!

11 Aug 2019 (Sun) – We went to church this morning.  Caiden is spending the weekend with his other grandma so he wasn’t with us.  It seemed like everyone missed him.  Everybody we spoke with asked about him.  He is pretty popular.

     After church, Paul and other folks helped to unload furniture for the church’s garage sale in October.   I went down to the thrift shop and helped them sort baby clothes.  They got a donation with dozens of outfits. We put them in bundles of six and marked them at fifty cents for the bundle.  It must have been clothing from a store that closed.  There is no way they could have all come from one family. Many outfits were brand new, some with tags still attached.

     We went to Sagtikos Manor for a tour of the historical home.  The land was purchased from the Secatogue Indians in 1692 and a 4-room house was built in 1697.  The home was purchased by a wealthy family and over the years, more rooms were added until it now has 42 rooms.  It was fascinating to hear the history of the property.  The Gardiner family, one of the wealthiest in the area, owned the home in addition to Gardiner Island.  They also had several homes around the Island and in New York City. In 1963, the house was put into a foundation trust.  The property was sold to Suffolk County in 2003.  What used to be 1,400 acres is now just 10 acres of land.  There is a cemetery, a walled garden, a carriage house, and a buttery on the property.  British soldiers occupied the manor during the American Revolution. The newly elected president, George Washington, slept in the house during a tour of Long Island in 1790.  There were many delightful pictures and prints hanging on the walls.  The family kept everything and all the furnishings were from the period.  We really enjoyed the tour.  Here was something in our own backyard that we never explored.

10 Aug 2019 (Sat) – Caiden keeps us amused.  He is a charming, sweet soul.  I went over Trap’s house Friday night and got to read the boys bedtime stories.  It was fun. We went bowling with them on Wednesday. They are two very ener- getic boys! The night was quite interesting. Hudson and I had the same score for almost the entire game.  I pulled it out in the end and broke 100.  I think he got eighty something.  Pretty good for a 4-year old (or bad for a 67-year old).  :-}

     We’ve been keeping busy.  Paul went down to the church and power washed the fence in back and the front entry way. We will be having an outdoor service next Sunday and Pastor Doug wanted the area to look nice.  I helped out in the thrift shop for a couple of hours. There were a couple of boxes with baby clothes in them.  I took them for Lincoln.  

     I went down to Social Services with Miranda.  I am trying to get them some financial aid as well as food stamps and Medicaid.  It took over an hour just to fill out the application form! We left without seeing anyone after sitting for a couple of hours.  An agent called Miranda later and told her she did not qualify for financial aid. Her $160 a week disability check combined with her husband’s $177 weekly unemployment check is considered too much income.  WTH??? That comes to $1,348 a month.  Who can even find rent at that price?  Plus electric, car insurance, phone costs, education loans, etc., etc., etc.  The agent is sending forms to Miranda to fill out and submit.  DIDN’T WE JUST DO THAT???  Talk about aggravation and frustration!!!

6 Aug 2019 (Tue) – We brought the truck down to Safelite Glass today to have the windshield replaced.  We have had a ding in the passenger’s side since 2015 when we were in Alaska.   It often interfered with the pictures I tried to take through the front window.  This year, we got another ding in the driver’s side of the windshield.  It was time to replace it.  We dropped the truck off and walked up to Main Street. The café we were looking for was no longer there.  We wound up having bagels and coffee at a deli.

     At 3 p.m., I went in to relieve Miranda from childcare duties.  I took Caiden to the playground at the local elementary school playground.  He had a great time!  I told him he deserved an Italian custard at Rita’s.  When we drove there, we found the shop closed permanently! What a bummer.  So we drove a little further down the road and “settled” for Carvel ice cream. Caiden was not disappointed.

     We went to Cavanaugh’s Bar & Grill tonight.  We met Joan & Peter, Pat & Fred, Ginny & Milton, and Johanna & Thom at the bar.  The restaurant had a $14.99 special for a 20 oz. porterhouse steak.  It came with onion rings, baked potato, and a vegetable.  The food was very good.  It was a fun evening.

 4 Aug 2019 (Sun) – We gathered up Caiden and headed off to church this morning.  Paul’s sister and husband, Joan & Peter, showed up at church, too.  After service, we went to the Bayside Clam Bar at the East Islip Marina with cousins Lee & Donna and friends Fred & Pat.  It was a beautiful day on the bay.  I took Caiden down by the docks where we watched folks putting in and taking out boats and jet skis.  He was very impressed with the jet skis.

     After we dropped Caiden off back home, Paul & I drove to Willie’s Appliances, a scratch-and-dent retailer.  We bought a washing machine for the house.  The one in there now has gotten out of balance and dances all over the room during the spin cycle.  When we got home, Paul switched out the two washers.

3 Aug 2019 (Sat) – Yesterday, we took the three grandsons to my sister’s house to swim in the pool and lunch.  It was like trying to keep ferrets in an open-top box.  It couldn’t be done.  They were all over the place and not as obedient as we would have liked. Having additional adults to help out wasn’t enough.  At any rate, I believe the boys enjoyed the swim time and my sister really went out of her way to provide a varied menu for everyone.

      Today, we enjoyed an unplanned adventure.  While scanning Facebook, I came across a posting of a friend who plays in a band.  He advertised that they would be down at the East Islip Marina playing at the Bayside Clam Bar and Grill from 10 to 1.  We went there for lunch.  I had lobster roll and Paul had fried shrimp.  The music was delightful, the bay breeze was balmy, and the sky was blue. It was so nice to sit and listen to the 3-piece band play while watching watercraft (boats and ski jets) come and go.

31 July 2019 (Wed) – I almost wound up in the hospital today. I took a new supplement – a proteolytic enzyme.  Then I took the dog for a walk.  About ten minutes into the walk, the palms of my hands started itching.  At first, I thought it was one of those lucky itches.  You know, the kind where your palm itches and you’re going to come into money (or pay money)?  But then it got intense, almost burning.  My stomach started in next.  Although I got the heaves, nothing was coming up.  I barely made it back to the camper.  Then the vomiting and diarrhea started.  I was so weak, I could barely stand.  I lay there wishing Paul would come into the trailer so I could have him call an ambulance.  The vomiting finally subsided and I lay on the bed trying to recover.  Next, the bottom of my feet began to itch, then my whole body.  As I sat there trying to scratch everything at once, red blotches started breaking out on my legs.  At that point, Paul came into the trailer and realized I was having a severe allergic reaction.  He ran down to the drug store and picked up some benedryl.  That stuff is great!  It worked almost instantly.  For the rest of the night, I sat in the lounge chair nodding in and out.  It was one scary experience!

     We have been busy working around the house.  The men’s softball league at church had the last two games of the season on Monday and Tuesday.  We went down to watch.  Our team lost.

    Both Paul and I went for an annual physical. My appointment was on Monday.  It turned out to be a Medicare Wellness Check. I spent an hour and a half answering questions from a nurse who input everything into the computer.  I could have stayed home and put the information in the computer myself!  What a waste.  The nurse was very apologetic and said that Medicare does not allow for an annual physical exam.  If you want to see the doctor, it has to be scheduled as a follow up to a condition or an illness.  We went to the desk and changed Paul’s status for his checkup the next day.  I made an appointment to come back for an EKG.  I won’t get any bloodwork but Paul did. What a screwed up system!  I was very happy with my health insurance before they forced us to go on Medicare. I can’t imagine what will happen if everyone gets put on Medicare like the current presidential candidates are touting!

28 July 2019 (Sun) – We took Caiden to church with us this morning. Afterward, we stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast.  We couldn’t get any fries (they don’t cook them until noon), so we cut up a pancake and fed it to the gulls.  There has been a significant change in the kind of gulls prevalent on Long Island. There used to be black backed gulls all over the place.  Now we don’t see any.  There are laughing gulls flying around.  I wonder what happened to the gull population.

     When we returned home, we worked around the property.  Paul cleaned out the gutters on the house and garage.  I bundled up branches from the trees Paul trimmed or cut down.  It was so hot.  We were both drenched in sweat.

26 July 2019 (Fri) – We had dinner with my brother, Dennis, and his lady, Denise, at Chili’s Grill tonight.  Dennis is working as an usher at Island 16 and gave us two free tickets. We can’t use them on a Friday or Saturday and are restricted from going to a Disney movie during the first two weeks of a new release.  Otherwise, we can enjoy the movies for free.  That was a very nice gift.

     My sister’s daughter, Jennifer, delivered a baby girl on July 24.  Ava Shea checked in at 8.9 lbs.  I just love that name!

25 July 2019 (Thu) – We drove to Port Jefferson Station and had lunch with Travis and his family.  He gets an hour for lunch and works close enough that he can go home for his noon meal.  We shared McDonald’s while the boys showed off their pool and playing skills.

     At 6:00 p.m. a French bulldog came running into the yard barking and barking.  It wouldn’t let us touch it but it wouldn’t leave either.  The dog honed in on Kenny and when we all stepped away, it walked with Kenny into the backyard where he secured it.  Paul walked up and down the block looking for its owners (it had no collar), but couldn’t find any.  At 6:45 p.m., Miranda and I drove to Bohemia to Maguire’s Comedy Club to watch a comedy laugh-off.  My brother, Dennis, was performing and we went to support him.  We had dinner and drinks.  The food was excellent.  The comedy was hit or miss.  Apparently, comedy is not easy to do.  We left before the show was over at 9:45 p.m.

     When we got home, Paul told me that the woman across the street claimed the dog.  It is not chipped and they take the collar off when they put the dog in its crate. It somehow got out and they didn’t miss it for several hours.  Oh, well. It’s a happy ending any way.

 24 July 2019 (Wed) – It was a busy day today.  First destination was the TSA Pre-Check booth located in a Staples store.  I brought my birth certificate, marriage certificate, and driver’s license.  The clerk took my picture and fingerprints.   The charge was $85 but is good for five years.  What the pre-check does is to allow me to go through the security screening line at the airport without having to take my shoes and belt off, and to leave a laptop in its computer case.  Next, we’ll have to get Paul the pre-check.

     We then drove back to the camper to get Bonnie.  We took her to the vet to see if we could find something that can be done about her chronic diarrhea.  She has also been showing signs of arthritis in her paws.  The vet prescribed Tylan for the diarrhea and gabapentin for pain.  We’ll see if that helps.

     After dropping Bonnie off at the RV, we went to the dentist where I got my teeth cleaned.  Paul had been there on Monday.  He has a small cavity that will need filling.  My checkup was perfect!

23 July 2019 (Tue) - Well, the parents are back.  Whew!  What a week. There is a reason children are best raised by the young folks.  Our 5-year old grandson sure had us running around from dawn to dusk.  Caiden slept in the camper every other night, alternating with his bed in the house.  We went through an incredible heat wave and, at one point, we just stayed in the trailer all day and night.  Poor Bonnie had to be put out every time Caiden came in.  She does not like him and for some reason, she tries to go after him. That breaks my heart because if she ever does bite him, we’ll have to put her down.  

     Ok.  Some of the things we did over this past week.  I saw a doctor at Sloan Kettering in Manhattan.  The doctor said the disease is well advanced and I should have started two years ago when it was first discovered.  She described the same options that Dr. Ahmed in Texas offered – a pill for the rest of my life, an intravenous protocol as a temporary stopgap and going on the pill after a time, and a new treatment whose performance is not yet known.  I asked to have my case transferred to the satellite clinic on Long Island.  If I had to go into NYC, it would drive me crazy! I had to take a train and two subways to get to Dr. Noy’s office.  I don’t know how people can live like that – like cattle being pushed along by all the other bodies traveling underground.

     We took Caiden to the library where he had a great time playing with the toys.  We also went to playgrounds and chased each other around as his imagination conjured up monsters, pirates, and Darth Vadar from Star Wars.  We drove to Port Jefferson Station and picked up our other two grandsons and took all three boys to the movies to see Toy Story 4.  Poor Paul.  Each boy had to go to the bathroom twice.  Paul would take one while I watched the other two, then he would drop that one off and take the next one.  They all had to go in the middle of the movie, too.  While we enjoyed our time with the boys, we certainly won’t try doing that again unless there is at least one adult for each child and an extra grown up for back up.  The energy level is incredible.  It was like trying to keep ferrets in a box.  Can’t be done.  We took Caiden to visit my sister, Susan, in Hampton Bays.  He loved swimming in the pool.

     We were able to go to church last Sunday and this past Sunday. It was so good to see all our friends. The pastor announced our presence and the congregation clapped their greeting.  We enjoyed catching up with everyone.  

20 July 2019 - Haven’t forgotten you!  Just been super busy watching our grandchild while his parents are gone. My blog will be back in a few days.  Thanks for your patience!

12 July 2019 (Fri) – We got a call from our son at 1:30 p.m. that he had been scalded and needed to be picked up.  Apparently, he had tried to open the radiator cap while the car was still hot.  Our truck was in the shop to have the real pinion seal repaired so we borrowed Miranda’s car and drove to Commack to get him.  He had been drinking and refused to go to the clinic with us.  The car was towed away and Travis just walked away. We left and drove to the shop to pick up our truck.  I cooked dinner tonight.

 11 July 2019 (Thu) – We left West Point at 9:55 a.m.  Although the distance to Bay Shore was only 102 miles, it took us three hours with all the traffic on the road.  We pulled in around 1 p.m.  After set up, we visited with Miranda, Kenny, and Caiden.  Kenny drove Caiden and me to Lake Grove where we got their cell phone problems fixed.  We had pizza for dinner.  

 10 July 2019 (Wed) – It was a lot of driving around today with very little results.  First was the KOA in Plattekill.  We were looking for another campground besides the one we are at that is near West Point.  It was a very nice campground.  The manager said he could also coordinate bus tours into New York City as well as the surrounding area.  That peaked our interest!  We wanted to bring the group to the city but didn’t want the hassle of trying to shepherd 44 people around all the people and traffic.  

     We then drove to the U.S. Military Academy.  First stop was at Thayer Hotel Restaurant.  We went in and had lunch, then stopped by the check-in desk to ask for the group sales manager.  The coordinator came down to see us.  Although she wasn’t the one to coordinate our kind of group (she’s does weddings, birthdays, and celebrations), she gave us contact information for the other coordinator.

     We then drove off the base to the Visitor’s Center.  Although there was a tour desk in the center, they told us to go across the street to the Bus Tours Office.  We went over there and were given a website to check out.  It has the various tour options listed.  Then we drove back on base to the West Point Club. The woman we spoke with was on the verge of going to a meeting but gave us a website to check out for menus and various meal options.  We looked at some of the rooms available in the club.

      After wandering around the grounds for a bit and trying to look in some of the buildings (they were almost all locked), we headed back to the campground. So when we get internet again (the cell phone and wifi signal in this campground is almost nonexistent), I’ll have to investigate the options for touring the U.S. Military Academy.

 9 July 2019 (Tue) – We left Watkins Glen at 8:55 a.m. and drove to West Point, stopping for a quick bite to eat at Wendy’s.  We pulled into Round Pond Recreation Area at 2 p.m.  It is a military campground associated with West Point Military Academy.  We had thought it would be good to have the caravan stay here but this campground would not be good for our group.  It is a little too rustic for some folks, the sites are close in some quarters, and the campsites are spread out around a large pond.  In addition, the water and electric hookups are on the wrong side of our RV.  I’m not sure all campsites have that issue, but ours does.  There are no sewers but they do have a dump station.

     Once we were set up, we grabbed the laundry and threw it in the washers in the laundry room.  There were three machines in the room; one had a sticky note on it that said “Ate $2 July 9.”  I surmised that person lost $2 in the machine today.  So we didn’t use it.  

      After we put the laundry away, we took a walk with Bonnie around the lake.  It is very pretty here.  I love all the greenery.  We have been on the west coast for over a year and around desert and cacti.  I didn’t realize how much I missed the trees. It’s lovely.

 8 July 2019 (Mon) – We drove to Corning Glass Museum this morning. They have really expanded the museum since we were here 48 years ago on our honeymoon.  We spoke with the group sales coordinator and got the information for the museum, a tour, a glass making experience, and a catered meal. We then drove down the street to the Rockwell Museum.  Their tour takes 45 minutes to one hour.  We may leave this museum for folks to go to on their own.  We’ll see.

     We drove by a couple of campgrounds and gathered information on availability for group camping.  The town of Watkins Glen campground – Clute Memorial Park & Campground – looked very promising.  They are located across from the beach on Lake Seneca.

     We had lunch at Sorges Restaurant in Corning.  I had a cheeseburger wrap.  It was ok but nothing I would buy again.  We then drove around Lake Seneca, stopping at a couple of vineyards for tastings.  When we got back to the KOA, we went in and got contact information for the owner. We also picked up a few souvenirs for the grandkids.  It was a fruitful day.

7 July 2019 (Sun) – We packed up and left Bath at 10:15 and drove to the Watkins Glen KOA, which was only 40 miles away.  When we pulled in, we recognized that we had been here back in 2007 when we drove up to pick up our first fifth wheel RV.  The part they put us in at that time was brand new. They have added some other buildings and cabins since then.  They wouldn’t let us into the campground until 12 noon.  We had to keep ourselves busy for five minutes then passed through. The wifi in this park is non-existent. In addition, the cell phone does not work well either.  We must be a valley or something.

      After set up, we drove into the town of Watkins Glen.  It is very touristy.  Watkins Glen State Park was packed with people.  We stopped at CPT Bill’s Seneca Lake Cruises to get information.  There was a restaurant next door that is also owned by CPT Bill’s.  We stopped in there as well to find out about group meal options and costs.  After walking along the boardwalk of Seneca Lake, we drove up into the state park to look at the campground.  It was too tight with narrow turns and lots of trees.  It would not work for our group.

     We stopped for lunch at Nickel’s pit BBQ.  I got ribs and Paul got wings.  We didn’t care for either for the food.  It was overdusted with dry rub and actually seemed to be gritty.  After lunch, we drove to Watkins Glen International. It is a NASCAR race track.  In town, they painted the crosswalks in a checker flag pattern.  The street signs have race cars on them.  We had trouble finding an entrance into the park.  After driving around the place, we finally discovered an open gate.  The office was closed.  There were cars racing on the track – we could hear them. There is a campground at the track and we wanted to find out about it.  Finally, we discovered an employee who answered our questions.  He said they only allow camping during special events. Guess that won’t work for our group either.

 6 July 2019 (Sat) – We went into the campground office first thing this morning to get information about group reservations for the caravan. Then we drove to Letchworth State Park. Letchworth is called the Grand Canyon of the East.  It was over an hour away.  Although we thought it was such a great place when we came here 30 years ago, it didn’t look so great today.  You couldn’t really see the gorge or canyons or river because of all the trees.  I guess having just come back from seeing the national parks out west made us a little jaded.  

     We then stopped at a campground near Letchworth to check out the place for the caravan.  They didn’t have everything we wanted for the group so we won’t be camping there.  We had lunch at the Iris Glen Inn.  It was the house of Mr. Letchworth converted to a restaurant.  The upper falls were visible outside the window.  The food was good.  The drive back was under rainy skies.

5 July 2019 (Fri) – We packed up and left Lockport at 9:15 a.m.  We drove 12 miles to a nearby campground to dump the tanks.  The Elks Lodge recommended dumping at the nearby waste treatment plant but when we went to look at the site, it turned out you would just open the spigot over a grate that covers a collection tank.  The cover had bits of toilet paper and other debris on it.  Ugh!

     It was an easy drive to the KOA in Bath.  We stopped at a Pilot station and got lunch at Subway.  The campground is a little tight.  It is pretty big with over 200 campsites.  We are parked on the grass in a pull through. A couple used to be managers at the Watkins Glen KOA and bought this KOA in Hammondsport/Bath in February.  They were selling pulled pork sliders for dinner. The baked beans were too sweet, the cole slaw was bitter, and the pulled pork was very dry.

     After we got set up, we drove to the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum to gather information for the caravan.  We then drove down the road to Bully Hill Vineyards and enjoyed a small snack in the restaurant.  We sat out on the deck and watched a thunderstorm grumble and growl its way across the sky.  Down the road was the Finger Lakes Boating Museum.  Their complex used to belong to Taylor wines.  We were there about 8 years ago and had a wine tasting.  Since then, Coca-Cola had sold the wine division. Sales decreased and Taylor wines were sold to a couple of different owners until, today, only their dessert wines are being sold (Taylor Flagate and Port).  The Taylor Wines complex is now mostly closed with parts of it being sold off.  The boating museum owns one of the buildings and is in the process of buying another two of them.  It will be a pretty big museum in two years.

     We returned to the campground just before the skies opened up and the rains poured down.  Sheba spent several hours hiding in the closet.      

4 July 2019 (Thu-Independence Day) – It was a quiet day for us. We went over Kevin & Joy’s daughter’s home for a barbecue.  Their son-in-law, Justin, made a variety of delicious appetizers to nosh on before grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, and coonies.  Coonies are a popular barbecue food for the upstate folks.  It is a kind of mild flavored sausage.  That led to all of us talking about different foods peculiar to areas around the country.  It was a funny discussion.

3 July 2019 (Wed) – We went to two wineries this morning.  I found wines I liked (the Niagara wine has a wonderfully distinctive taste) but Paul did not find a good one.  We went to Tom’s Diner for lunch.  It was small but the service was good.  We both had salads that were huge!  At 4 p.m. we drove to Buffalo to visit a campground there. With all the information we are collecting, we are starting to form an idea of how we want the caravan to run in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area.  Since we are thinking about using a tour bus, we want to keep the cost of the campground down.  There are not many nice campgrounds in this area.  Just the two resorts on Grand Island with sites over $100 each.

     We met Kevin and Joy at Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  The food, as always, was great.  We enjoyed their company very much.  They invited us to join them at their daughter’s house tomorrow for a BBQ.

2 July 2019 (Tue) – We drove into Niagara Falls today.  The intent was to find a nice restaurant in which to have a dinner for the caravan.  It was incredibly crowded and there was construction that made navigation around the area difficult.  We got frustrated and finally gave up.  We drove into town and had lunch at the Pearl Street Grille & Brewery.  It was rated #1 of 234 restaurants in Niagara Falls by Trip Advisor.  I don’t know what criteria they used to rate these restaurants, but this was certainly NOT a #1.  There were six booths, two tables, and six chairs at a counter.  They served pub food.  I got Beef on a Weck.  We’ve seen that on several menus now and I decided to try it.  It turned out to be a roast beef sandwich where they dipped the roast beef in au jus then put it on the roll.  It only made the bread soggy (and I HATE wet bread).  The meat also had some grizzle in it.  Paul got a tuna melt and it came without any cheese.  We really didn’t feel the place deserved to be rated #1.

     After lunch, we stopped at the Underground Railroad Heritage Center.  They mentioned Harriet Tubman frequently but had very little about her in the center.  It was very small and basically boasted of how the folks in Niagara Falls helped escaped slaves cross over into Canada.

     We then drove to Youngstown to Old Fort Niagara.  The group tours manager was not in and the clerk gave us her contact information.  We have to call her tomorrow.  When we stepped out, we saw the Buffalo trolley shuttle.  It provides a shuttle from Niagara Falls to Buffalo with 14 stops along the way.  We asked about a tour and the bus driver gave us contact information.  We’ll have to contact that lady tomorrow, too.  

1 July 2019 (Mon) – We brought the truck to Ford to get it inspected this morning.  Kevin & Joy met us for breakfast at Bob Evans.  After breakfast, we went back to the campground where they are parked. After a brief visit, we returned to Ford to get the truck.  There were (supposedly) several lights out that they had to replace.  We paid $139.12 and went on our way.  We drove into Buffalo to the Buffalo Naval and Military Park on the Eric Canal.  They had three ships there: The USS Croaker (a submarine), the USS Sullivans (a destroyer), and the USS Little Rock (a missile cruiser).  There was also a small museum on the second floor of the visitor’s center and gift shop.  We spent three hours climbing up and down stairs as we explored the three ships. It was fun.

     We drove to the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery for a late lunch. The food was excellent.  On the way back to the Elks lodge, we stopped at Lockport Locks & Eric Canal Cruises.  They have a very nice program for lunch followed by a two-hour ride on the canal.  It will be a definite venue if we do the New York caravan in 2021.

30 June 2019 (Sun) – We drove to several campgrounds today to check space availability and options.  Of the four we stopped at, two are possibilities.  One charges $102 per night and the other charges $113.  Yeow! That’s a lot of money.  There’s a possibility we can negotiate prices at one of them because we have to call back to speak with the owner.  

     We also stopped at the Niagara Power Plant to see about a tour.  The manager was out and will be in tomorrow afternoon.  We’ll have to call back.  

     We stopped at a restaurant on Lake Ontario for lunch.  We sat up on the second floor out on the deck.  It was too windy to put the umbrella up but there was a brisk wind blowing that kept the sun from feeling too hot.  As we were eating, there was a sudden CRACK and a tree across the street split.  A large trunk with wide spread branches came crashing down.  How it avoided hitting the power line next to it or the cars parked in front of it, is beyond me.  There was a guy walking his dog in front of that tree not two minutes before.  The angels were watching over everybody.

29 June 2019 (Sat) – We left Youngstown at 8:45 a.m.  Although the sky got cloudy, the rain held off.  The drive took us through Pennsylvania into New York.  We stopped at a travel center when we crossed into New York.  It was crazy!  The place was so crowded.  There was only one facility on the west side of the thruway.  Those on the eastbound side had to cross an overhead bridge.  We each got a slice of pizza.

     We arrived in Lockport at 1:30 p.m.  We are staying in an Elks Lodge in the back parking lot.  After set up, we went in and paid for our site.  At 3:30 p.m., Kevin & Joy, a couple who was on our Utah caravan, met us and we all went to an early dinner.  The food and company was good.  After we returned to the lodge, Paul and I went food shopping to pick up groceries and to Pet Smart for Bonnie’s food.  When we got back, we looked through brochures for activities in the area.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

What other fandoms are you familiar enough with to use as an AU prompt? Pokemon Trainer AU? Homestuck AU (they'd still probably die but at least there are lots of ways to come back to life)?

I’m not that familiar with Homestuck, definitely not enough to do an AU.  I read the novelizations of the Pokemon show as a kid but never saw the show or played any of the video games.  I did play the super-obscure Pokemon board game, but most of my trading cards were printed in Japanese (I had a strange childhood), so my experience there is, uh, probably not quite overlapping with everyone else’s.

Anyway, if you want list of all my fandoms… Boy howdy.  I don’t think I can come up with them all.  However, I can list everything that comes to mind between now and ~20 minutes from now when I have to end my procrastination break and go back to dissertating.  So here it is, below the cut:

Okay, there is no way in hell I’ll be able to make an exhaustive list.  But off the top of my head, the fandoms I’m most familiar/comfortable with are as follows:

Authors (as in, I’ve read all or most of their books)

Patricia Briggs

Megan Whalen Turner

Michael Crichton

Marge Piercy

Stephenie Meyer

Dean Koontz

Stephen King

Neil Gaiman

K.A. Applegate

Ernest Hemingway

Tamora Pierce

Roald Dahl

Short Stories/Anthologies

A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka

I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

Dubliners, James Joyce

Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes

Who Goes There? John W. Campbell

The Man Who Bridged the Mist, Kij Johnson

Flatland, Edwin Abbott

I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison

To Build a Fire, Jack London

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bier

At the Mountains of Madness/Cthulu mythos, H.P. Lovecraft

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving

The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury

Close Range: Wyoming Stories, E. Annie Proulx

The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

Bartleby the Scrivener (and a bunch of others), Herman Melville

Books (Classics)

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Secret Garden, Francis Hodgson Burnett

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

The Secret Annex, Anne Frank

Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

The Stranger, Albert Camus

The Call of the Wild, Jack London

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Lord of the Flies, William Golding

Atonement, Ian McEwan

1984, George Orwell

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

The Iliad/The Odyssey, Homer

Metamorphoses, Ovid

Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne

The Time-Machine, H.G. Wells

The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Hamlet, MacBeth, Othello, and The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Thomas Stoppard

Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett

Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

Books (YA SF)

Young Wizards series, Diane Duane

Redwall, Brian Jaques

The Dark is Rising sequence, Susan Cooper

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Diana Wynne Jones

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Abhorsen trilogy, Garth Nix

The Giver series, Lois Lowry

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Uglies series, Scott Westerfeld

Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt

A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

Song of the Lioness, Tamora Pierce

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle

Unwind, Neal Shusterman

The Maze Runner series, James Dashner

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede

Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar

Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

Coraline, Neil Gaiman

Among the Hidden, Margaret Peterson Haddix

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi

Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice

Poppy series, Avi

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd

Tithe, Holly Black

Life as We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer

Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause

Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Haunted, Gregory Maguire

Weetzie Bat, Francesca Lia Block

Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White

East, Edith Pattou

Z for Zachariah, Robert C. O’Brien

The Looking-Glass Wars, Frank Beddor

The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Homecoming, Cynthia Voigt

Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

The Landry News, Andrew Clements

Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson

Bloody Jack, L.A. Meyer

The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner

A Certain Slant of Light, Laura Whitcomb

Generation Dead, Daniel Waters

Pendragon series, D.J. MacHale

Silverwing, Kenneth Oppel

Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Define Normal, Julie Anne Peters

Hawksong, Ameila Atwater Rhodes

Heir Apparent, Vivian Vande Velde

Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Keys to the Kingdom series, Garth Nix

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken

The Seer and the Sword, Victoria Hanley

My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George

Daughters of the Moon series, Lynne Ewing

The Midwife’s Apprentice, Karen Cushman

Island of the Aunts, Eva Ibbotson

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, Nancy Farmer

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray

A School for Sorcery, E. Rose Sabin

The House with a Clock in Its Walls, John Bellairs

The Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Hope was Here, Joan Bauer

Bunnicula, James Howe

Wise Child, Monica Furlong

Silent to the Bone, E.L. Konigsburg

The Twenty-One Balloons, William Pene du Bois

Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, Gail Giles

The Supernaturalist, Eoin Colfer

Blue is for Nightmares, Laurie Faria Stolarz

Mystery of the Blue Gowned Ghost, Linda Wirkner

Wait Till Helen Comes, Mary Downing Hahn

I was a Teenage Fairy, Francesca Lia Block

City of the Beasts series, Isabelle Allende

Summerland, Michael Chabon

The Geography Club, Brent Hartinger

The Last Safe Place on Earth, Richard Peck

Liar, Justine Larbalestier

The Doll People, Ann M. Martin

The Lost Years of Merlin, T.A. Barron

Matilda Bone, Karen Cushman

Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger

The Tiger Rising, Kate DiCamillo

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

In the Forests of the Night, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

My Teacher is an Alien, Bruce Coville

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, Julie Andrews Edwards

Storytime, Edward Bloor

Magic Shop series, Bruce Coville

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket

Veritas Project series, Frank Peretti

The Once and Future King, T.H. White

Raven’s Strike, Patricia Briggs

What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy, Gregory Maguire

The Wind Singer, William Nicholson

Sweetblood, Pete Hautman

The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White

Half Magic, Edward Eager

A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L'Engle

The Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan

Maximum Ride series, James Patterson

The Edge on the Sword, Rebecca Tingle

World War Z, Max Brooks

Adaline Falling Star, Mary Pope Osborne

Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi

Parable of the Sower series, Octavia Butler

I, Robot, Isaac Asimov

Neuomancer, William Gibson

Dune, Frank Herbert

The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Emily M. Danforth

The Martian, Andy Weir

Skeleton Man, Joseph Bruchac

Comics/Manga

Marvel 616 (most of the major titles)

Marvel 1610/Ultimates

Persepolis

This One Summer

Nimona

Death Note

Ouran High School Host Club

Vampire Knight

Emily Carroll comics

Watchmen

Fun Home

From Hell

American Born Chinese

Smile

The Eternal Smile

The Sandman

Calvin and Hobbes

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For

TV Shows

Fullmetal Alchemist

Avatar the Last Airbender

Teen Titans (2003)

Luke Cage/Jessica Jones/Iron Fist/Defenders/Daredevil/The Punisher

Agents of SHIELD/Agent Carter

Supernatural

Sherlock

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Firefly

American Horror Story

Ouran High School Host Club

Orange is the New Black

Black Sails

Stranger Things

Westworld

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Movies

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Jurassic Park/Lost World/Jurassic World/Lost Park?

The Breakfast Club

Cloverfield/10 Cloverfield Lane/The Cloverfield Paradox

Attack the Block

The Prestige

Moon

Ferris Bueler’s Day Off

Django Unchained/Kill Bill/Inglourious Basterds/Hateful 8/Pulp Fiction/etcetera

Primer

THX 1138/Akira/How I Live Now/Lost World/[anything I’ve named a fic after]

Star Wars

The Meg

A Quiet Place

Baby Driver

Mother!

Alien/Aliens/Prometheus

X-Men (et al.)

10 Things I Hate About You

The Lost Boys

Teen Wolf

Juno

Pirates of the Caribbean (et al.)

Die Hard

Most Disney classics: Toy Story, Mulan, Treasure Planet, Emperor’s New Groove, etc.

Most Pixar classics: Up, Wall-E, The Incredibles

The Matrix

Dark Knight trilogy

Halloween

Friday the 13th

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The Descent

Ghostbusters

Ocean’s Eight/11/12/13

King Kong

The Conjuring

Fantastic Four

Minority Report/Blade Runner/Adjustment Bureau/Total Recall

Fight Club

Spirited Away

O

Disturbing Behavior

The Faculty

Poets

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Marge Piercy

Thomas Hardy

Sigfried Sassoon

W. B. Yeats

Edgar Allan Poe

Ogden Nash

Margaret Atwood

Maya Angelou

Emily Dickinson

Matthew Dickman

Karen Skolfield

Kwame Alexander

Ellen Hopkins

Shel Silverstein

Musicals/Stage Plays

Les Miserables

Repo: The Genetic Opera

The Lion King

The Phantom of the Opera

Rent

The Prince of Egypt

Pippin

Into the Woods

A Chorus Line

Hairspray

Evita

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Fiddler on the Roof

Annie

Fun Home

Spring Awakening

Chicago

Cabaret

The Miser

The Importance of Being Earnest

South Pacific

Godspell

Wicked

The Wiz

The Wizard of Oz

Man of La Mancha

The Sound of Music

West Side Story

Matilda

Sweeney Todd

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Nunsense

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown/Snoopy

1776

Something Rotten

A Very Potter Musical

Babes in Toyland

Carrie: The Musical

Amadeus

Annie Get Your Gun

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The Final Battle

Rock of Ages

Cinderella

Moulin Rouge

Honk

Labyrinth

The Secret Garden

Reefer Madness

Bang Bang You’re Dead

NSFW

War Horse

Peter Pan

Suessical

Sister Act

The Secret Annex

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Disclaimer 1: Like a lot of people who went to high school in the American South, my education in literature is pretty shamefully lacking in a lot of areas.  (As in, during our African American History unit in ninth grade we read To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn… and that was it.  As in, our twelfth-grade US History class, I shit you not, covered Gone With the Wind.)  There were a lot of good teachers in with the *ahem* Less Woke ones (how I read Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Bluest Eye) and college definitely set me on the path to trying to find books written/published outside the WASP-ier parts of the U.S., but the overall list is still embarrassingly hegemonic.

Disclaimer 2: There are a crapton of errors — typos, misspelled names, misattributions, questionable genre classifications, etc. — in here.  If you genuinely have no idea what a title is supposed to be, ask me.  Otherwise, please don’t bother letting me know about my mistakes.

Disclaimer 3: I am not looking for recommendations.  My Goodreads “To Read” list is already a good 700 items long, and people telling me “if you like X, then you’ll love Y!” genuinely stresses me the fuck out.

Disclaimer 4: There are no unproblematic faves on this list.  I love Supernatural, and I know that Supernatural is hella misogynistic.  On the flip side: I don’t love The Lord of the Rings at all, partially because LOTR is hella misogynistic, but I also don’t think that should stop anyone else from loving LOTR if they’re willing to love it and also acknowledge its flaws. 

[near-south-croydon-cr2-blog]

Near South Croydon CR2

History

Croydon started only as a small community of people around a church and a mill. It later transformed into a market town and an agriculture land. The development of railway systems further caused an improvement in the economy. People shifted from charcoal production to car manufacture to market retailing. In 1915, the Croydon airport was established and drew more interest in the town. However, wars damaged the area and residents suffered. Post-war Croydon led to massive development and establishment of high rise offices. Several businesses reopened and paved the way to industrialization. Today, Croydon has a strong sense of community spirit and it is the home of high end shopping centers.

TANA-B Hair Company

Many clients who go for a salon makeover are not just after the finish product they get. Although each client wants to look amazingly beautiful after the hair treatment, the amount and quality of service they receive also matters. Some salon owners fail to pay attention to these details. Customers want an hour or so of pampering. At Tana B Salon, you will feel that you are the most important client during your stay. The top-notch customer service, aesthetically designed spaces and high quality products used perfectly match their high caliber stylists. The moment you leave their salon, you see excellent results. You will feel relaxed and feel more beautiful to face the rest of your day.

The 'most dangerous' places in Croydon to live have been revealed

Croydon town centre has one of the highest reported number of crimes in all of London, according to the most recent crime statistics. September figures released by the Met show the number of reported crimes over the month was higher in Fairfield - the policing ward which covers the town centre - than all but ten policing areas in London. There were 2,487 crimes reported to police in Croydon in September, which breaks down to around 83 per day – or nearly four per hour. Read more here

Living in highly developed towns does not have all the perks. It may also predispose you to dangers and all sorts of crimes. The report of having an average of 4 crimes every hour in Fairfield is so alarming. Although some are considered petty crimes, this is definitely not the kind of environment in raising a family. Police visibility should be enhanced and local authorities must do aggressive steps to discourage criminals from causing trouble in town. Otherwise, the bad image of these identified most dangerous places could affect the overall economy of South Croydon. Investors may pull out their money and unemployment rate may increase.

War Memorial in South Croydon

The War Memorial in South Croydon is a must-see sight for both adults and kids. The monument was erected in 1921 by James Burford and Paul Montford. The statues seem to be simple works of art but they represent historic events. They depict a thousand story behind the hardships of soldiers and residents of the country. Each part of the monument is a tribute to the men and women who lost their lives and suffered during the war. The 9-meter high bronze statuary showcases the heartbreaking effect of the war on a family. Some art analysts also pointed out the equal role of men and women during the World War I.

Link to map

Driving Direction

7 min (2.0 miles)

via Purley Downs Rd

Fastest route, despite the usual traffic

Purley War Memorial Hospital

856 Brighton Rd, Purley CR8 2YL, UK

Head southeast toward Brighton Rd/A235

10 ft

Turn left onto Brighton Rd/A235

0.2 mi

Turn right onto Purley Park Rd

0.3 mi

Turn left onto Riddlesdown Rd

46 ft

At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto Purley Downs Rd

1.1 mi

Turn right onto Sanderstead Hill/B269

0.2 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Limpsfield Rd/B269

Destination will be on the left

0.2 mi

TANA-B Hair Company

27 Limpsfield Rd,

South Croydon, CR2 9LA

[abdifarah]

Hotel Pennsylvania

Central Pennsylvania is weird. Homeowners string confederates flags as nonchalantly as Christmas lights. My mom, who moved to Central Pennsylvania against my protests, lives about ten miles from Spring Grove, PA, which we have to drive through whenever we visit my Aunt Darlene and Uncle Kenny right below the Pennsylvania–Maryland line. Spring Grove is a cruel joke of a name as the town perpetually smells of rancid cabbage. The smell emanates from the Glatfelter Paper Mill at the heart of the town. All the shops and services in the town either bear the Glatfelter name or use some corny paper pun in their signage. The old brick row homes that line Main Street have porches but no one sits on them. If you do see someone on the street they have an exhausted expression well beyond their years, perhaps from too many cigarettes, or possibly from years of hopelessly working at the paper mill. A cloud – both literal and spiritual – hangs over Spring Grove.

But there is another kind of small town in Central Pennsylvania. All the companies in this town are higher tech with little pollution to diffuse the sun. Power washed brick houses with immaculately manicured lawns line the small streets of Lititz, Pennsylvania. Voted the Best Small Town in America by AARP, every block has either an ice cream stand, or a guitar shop, or a quaint bed and breakfast. On any summer afternoon the sidewalks and streets are filled with happy people. Kids in their bathing suits weave through older pedestrians on Razor scooters. Fit and fresh faced adults in Tevas and Birkenstocks walk dogs, and still active older couples in Brooks Brothers hold hands while taking an evening stroll. It's the kind of town that takes the Fourth of July very seriously. Year round every house has the same 4 x 6 foot American flag fixed at the same 45 degree angle from a post of the white painted porches that wrap each facade, so as to clear up any confusion with one’s neighbor. “Oh, you’re American? I’m American too! What are the chances?” But around the Fourth somehow more American flags appear. They break out those pleated half-circle numbers with the concentric red, white, and blue ring with the star in the middle, and drape them over their porch railings. Little old ladies plant entire fields of miniature flags in public green spaces, in memory of fallen soldiers. (When exactly did the 4th of July merge with Memorial Day? Let there be no question, Lititz, Pennsylvania loves the troops. In Lititz the 4th alone cannot contain the fireworks, but anytime for about a week before and after you can expect to hear a random boom and see a starburst of red white or blue sparks in the sky.

Unlike Spring Grove, Lititz is thriving, bolstered by a constellation of steady companies offering both good paying blue collar work as well as more tech driven white collar jobs. There is a Rolex factory here. Lititz is what I assume Trump supporters envision when they pray Make America Great Again. Surprisingly, despite the overt patriotism and trappings of Americana, Lititz is not Trump Country. The cute coffee shops and overpriced bistros are populated by salt and pepper haired businessmen pissed that Trump’s steel tariffs are cutting into the bottom line, as well as woke college kids home for summer break shedding genuine tears over the separation of immigrant families at the border. Turns out a lot of white folks despise Trump as much if not more than us various minorities.

Despite the friendly faces and preponderance of liberal allies, my skin still crawls in this still uber-white small town. I am usually the only brown person in sight and while the eyes are kind I do feel all eyes on me wherever I go. I imagine walking into a dark divey bar in depressed Spring Grove and the proverbial record screeches and some grisled bartender asks acerbically, “What are you doing here!?” In Lititz the look on peoples’ faces asks the same “What are you doing here?” without the coldness, but rather with concern or surprise, as if to ask “Are you lost?” “How did you stumble upon our white oasis?” I come to Lititz regularly for work as a subcontractor for one of the big companies fueling the prosperity of Lititz, a company called Tait Towers. Most people will never hear about Tait Towers but they are ubiquitous. If you have gone to a big arena concert in the last 30 years you have seen their work, as they are the foremost supplier of decking and stage equipment for rock and pop concert tours. Anything sleek and shiny and automated that adorned the stage of that last concert you attended was probably Tait.  I get called in when they are working on something a little weirder, handmade, idiosyncratic. Over the years assisting Tait’s in-house Scenic Department, we have built a gold vinyl wrapped tiger and lion for Katy Perry, sculpted a 30 foot jungle Tree for Britney Spears, and created an ice crystal themed stage for Lady Gaga. Turns out the ladies of pop like hand made props to counteract their synthesized sound, for which me and my bank account are grateful. It's not the most avantgarde work, but the pay is decent. They put me up in hotel while I am there. For a while I had Hilton Diamond Status after a particularly long five month stay designing and building an inflatable tree for Cirque du Soleil’s Avatar themed show, Toruk. Strangely, I get asked to make a lot of trees.

This past Saturday I was leaving the local laundromat. My hotel has a washer and dryer but I still jump at any opportunity show my black face in town and mix it up with the townspeople. However awkward, I am a glutton for punishment. As I was turning the corner out of the laundromat parking lot I almost shocked myself into an accident as I witnessed a Chinese family on their porch within a row of houses. Where had these people been during those homogeneous 4th of July celebrations or during those awkward evenings I spent at the bar of the Bull’s Head, a local tavern? I suspected that there was a whole unseen community of minorities in Lititz. I remembered the handful of other black and brown people that worked at Tait. Why had I not seen this more diverse crowd during my daily coffee runs to the local bakery, Dosie Dough, or out walking their dogs or playing with their children in the evening? It seemed that the other people of color went to work, did their job, and immediately jetted home as soon as the day was done. Also, a lot of them probably chose to forego small town living in favor of the more urban Lancaster, Pennsylvania about seven miles south of Lititz.

After a few weeks in Lititz, I too found myself retreating to my hotel room after the work day. Should I go out for dinner for a little more ambiance or grab a drink at the bar with its potential for conversation. The pessimistic belief that I would be the only black person and the sole vessel to absorb the awkward stares proved exhausting. I would instead microwave an Amy’s Mexican casserole bowl for dinner and catch up on the last season of The Americans. At some point myself and the other people of color of Lititz made an unspoken pact with the white people of this sleepy town that we would do our jobs and go home immediately in order to perpetuate the belief that this was one of those ideal small towns, the kind that could be voted Best Small Town in America. When I imagine the best small town in America sadly I do not see a Chinese family, black welders, or even myself.

After years of coming to work with Tait I can confidently say that I hate classic rock. Tait is all about classic rock. The founder, Michael Tait, an Australian expat, got his start building stages for the band Yes in the 60’s. As an independent artist, my short stints with Tait represent my only times working in a real workplace with set hours. For years the shop was haunted by an omnipresent Muzak system that played classic rock incessantly. Everyday at around 4pm the Eagles’ “Hotel California”, a song written by Satan himself, would torment us. Working 10 to 12 to 14 hour days to meet a deadline, 4 o’ clock was our witching hour; too late in the day to bring any new energy or insights to the project, much too early to begin cleaning up for the day. The lyrics, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” taunted me, less because of their spot on description of my current predicament but more because they’re just stupid. Hearing the same “classic” songs day after day I realized the utter mediocrity of classic rock as whole. Just competently melodic enough to be easy to listen to, unlike say punk or metal (both far superior). Lyrically the stories ranged from completely meaningless, to embarrassingly infantile, to undeniably problematic. Somehow we decided that this was the American music, over jazz, blues, funk, and r&b. Classic rock will be playing on the space shuttle we board after we successfully destroy earth and it will be playing on whatever outpost we establish on the faraway planet we colonize.

Currently, I am working on a set of nine sculptures of Elton John that will array the proscenium arch above the stage for his upcoming tour. Overall, I enjoy this work. At least it is not another tree. And as far as pop music goes I dig Elton John’s music more than some of the other pop stars for whom I have made art. However, at the end of a long day sculpting his strange bulbous nose and thin lips for the seventh, eighth or ninth time I begin to sour a bit on Sir Elton. Elton John is 73 years old (probably older since, like most performers, I assume he gave a younger age when he started out) and we are building a stage for him for a projected three year tour that will net him millions of dollars. How many black artists or other musicians of color are still relevant and can sell out arenas into their 60’s and 70’s? Maybe Stevie Wonder? I can easily name 20 white (male) musicians. We already mentioned Elton John; how about Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, Sting, Ozzy Osbourne, Jimmy Buffett? I can keep going. Were these giants of rock undeniably better than their female contemporaries or artists of color working at the same time so as to secure an undying career into infinity?

I read in an article years ago detailing some of the financial troubles of T-Boz and Chilli of TLC, that they did not have much money coming in outside of the $1200 royalty check they received monthly. TLC was a group notoriously mistreated and shortchanged by their management and record labels yet they still had $1200 a month in royalties arriving like clockwork. I can barely begin to fathom what a group like the Rolling Stones receives in regular royalties. At any moment a Rolling Stones song plays somewhere on this blue planet. I hypothesize that the proliferation of classic rock around the world may be the biggest form of white welfare. According to the website, Inside Philanthropy, Jimmy Buffett is worth $550 million. He has one terrible song that he has somehow parlayed into a fortune! He is then free to spread that money among various causes or toward organizations like the NRA. Or take rock and roll’s running joke that the Rolling Stones, despite their hard living are somehow, immortal. While humorous and perplexing we all know the reason for these artist’s longevity. Being wanted, having work to do, being asked to perform, and the monetary and emotional support they afford sustains one’s life. I cannot help but feel that the melancholy that we collectively share when a giant of black music dies – Prince a few years back and Aretha Franklin most recently – stems from the understanding that despite their great fame and success their talent deserved more. They deserved Rolling Stones level treatment. Is there a better rock and roll song that Franklin’s “Respect” or “Chain of Fools?” I should have been in Lititz making nine life-size sculptures of Aretha Franklin and not Elton John.

The last time I arrived at Tait to work on a project I noticed the absence of the Muzak system. Every department now controlled their own music. Sometimes someone plays from their Spotify or Apple Music or we just put on the radio. Much to my chagrin and confusion, somehow the Freddy Kruger of classic rock continues to haunt me even with my mostly young coworkers choosing the music. Someone will mindlessly put on the “Beatles Radio” on Pandora, or WXPN, a Philly radio station, will have a “Throwback Thursday” traversing the entire discography of the Rolling Stones. One day during WXPN’s regular offerings (usually a mix of new rock with a few eclectic curve balls thrown every now and then) Childish Gambino AKA Donald Glover’s “This is America” came on (I too am surprised by the ubiquity of this song as I viewed it less as something to casually listen to and more as the multi-level artwork that I was initially presented with through its graphic video. But alas, the song bumps). Almost instinctively, without prompt, fanfare, or commotion one of my coworkers changed the channel. After hours of absorbing banal rock something mysterious sparked a station change. I tried to put this incident out of my mind. Soon after someone put on an Itunes 80’s playlist. Somehow 80’s music has come to mean “White 80’s”; Culture Club, Billy Idol, and all that other Breakfast Club, Top Gun, Say Anything music, completely omitting black acts, save titans like Michael Jackson and Prince. Surprisingly, a Janet Jackson song slipped onto this mostly vanilla playlist, but almost as soon as I started bouncing my shoulders and popping my neck along with Jackson’s “Pleasure Principle” someone calmly put down their tools, walked to the computer and skipped to the next song!

I work with genuinely good people. The same liberal minded white people that I would overhear furiously denouncing Trump in the coffee shop. But there was something unconsciously disturbing about a black voice coming out of the office speakers, and conversely something calming and reassuring about A-Ha’s “Take On Me,” which restored the stasis after Janet’s interruption. Was the promulgation of classic rock and other culturally white genres part of some conspiracy to entrench whiteness as the default and everything else an aberration? The truth was probably less insidious and more banal, but no less effective. Sometimes I’ll muster the courage to take over DJ duties and I will attempt to put on a more colorful station or playlist, but even I find myself squirming with embarrassment if a particular black song plays. I am conscious that, unlike those classic rock songs that we all know to the point of no longer hearing them, every word of an unfamiliar song from an unfamiliar voice conspicuously grabs the attention and appears in bold text before ones eyes, complete with a bouncing ball keeping place. This can become awkward when, say, Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” comes on during a 90’s Jams Playlist. I want a freak in the morning/ A freak in the evening, just like me/ I need a roughneck nigga/ That can satisfy me. Why should a song that boldly expresses black female sexuality be awkward for me? I listen to plenty of songs all day that foreground white male sexuality: AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” or Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy.” Or why should a rap song with explicit lyrics put the room in a frenzy? Eric Clapton literally has a song called, “Cocaine.”

White supremacy resides not only within the purview of avowed white supremacists; that resident of Spring Grove or Dover with truck nuts hanging off his gun metal grey Ford Raptor with the giant confederate flag waving. We are all complicit. The MAGA white supremacist is not the only one lying to themselves about America’s past. The liberal resident of Lititz is as well. So am I. Somewhere we all believed the wonderfully illustrative mid-century American propaganda that America was a white family behind a white picket fence and that everyone else is just borrowing space, when in reality people from all ethnic backgrounds have shared this country since day one. And to be more factual there was a time on this land mass before white people; before genocide, theft, and slavery. Us people of color need to combat this as well. We may be mathematical minorities, but we are not new here. We are not the cousin crashing on the couch, lying awake and hungry, afraid to go to the kitchen and make food, so as not to disturb the owners of the house. We need to not be ashamed of our music, our existence. We need to show up and be seen; at those corny 4th of July celebrations and especially at the voting booth, reminding all onlookers that we are just as American. Only then might we all imagine a more diverse picture when we think of the Best Small Town in America, and only then might I be freed from the hell of “Hotel California” playing on my radio into eternity.