#buff Bryan

[crappyyuki]

TheFamousFilms doodles!

I can’t stop drawing this guy. He’s kinda my favorite. By a lot. So here’s more Fnaf!Bryan doodles!

An au. But with a bit of canonicity? I don’t really know how to explain it.

It’s technically canon that Bryan has survivors guilt. Duh. My guy killed all of his friends in a single night and was only able to save one. And said one died in the end (but not in this au :D) Bruh. Who wouldn’t be traumatized?

And to put more insult to injury, he basically gaslit himself into thinking that said friends weren’t dead. For a year. By hanging out with clones. Clones. And he only came to accept that fact after the clones died. Like bro, he willingly chose to believe that living (he practically lived in that park in S2) with cop outs was better than, y’know, grieving.

He needs therapy. A lot.

But yeah. This is a canon divergence where Bryan never died. But did something stupid anyway. That’s not the point though. These doodles focus on how he acts in this au (hopefully I got the cold attitude down with that one pose XD) and his crippling guilt. So. Yeah.

Also buff Bryan for life. My guy broke a stone counter with barehands. Don’t tell me he ain’t packing some muscles.

And a personal headcanon of mine? Pigpatch was the one that trained him :)

(If you see it, you see it. Hint: put the brightness to max. I’m sorry for your eyeballs.)

[longing-for-rain]

Ember Island Players…Racist Caricatures or Meta Commentary?

This episode was supposed to be a fun filler episode to recap the events of the show in a silly way before the series finale, but it’s managed to become arguably one of the most controversial episodes in the fandom. Over the years, Aang’s possessive behavior towards Katara has been rightfully criticized, but there are always people who attempt to justify everything Aang does.

Apparently, the latest iteration of this is the claim that—wait for it—we should be sympathetic towards Aang and give him a pass in The Ember Island Players because he felt “emasculated” due to the supposed “feminization” of his culture.

I’ve been called racist for saying this is a reach, but it’s more than a reach. It’s an entire acrobatics routine; a level of media illiteracy that shows a lack of understanding of the point of that episode.

Yes, Aang’s character is portrayed in a silly, mocking way. So are all of the other characters. That’s the point; the episode was a filler, a gimmick, and the underlying comedy is the fact that all of the characters are reacting to exaggerated, one-dimensional versions of their own personalities.

For example:

Katara is portrayed as an “overemotional crybaby” in her own words, and is constantly giving motivational speeches and crying

Sokka’s “comedic relief” archetype is played up to the point his lines are just corny one-liners

Zuko is portrayed as an angsty, whiny pretty-boy who acts like a bratty asshole at all times

Toph is a huge buff guy (although in this case, it’s a play on how her character was originally going to be a “jock” type male character)

As for Aang? He’s portrayed as unserious, goofy, and childish. Which—just like all the others—is a jokey exaggeration of his childish demeanor and nature. He’s not even alone in taking offense to his portrayal. All of the characters aside from Toph hate their characters for largely the same reason. They’re being confronted with aspects of themselves that make them insecure. For Aang, it’s his immaturity—and specifically his fears that he’ll be rejected by Katara.

As for why Aang is played by a woman? Well, we don’t actually have to wonder about that, because the creators themselves answer this question in the episode commentary.

Bryan: “It's sort of a self-referential joke. Whenever you do a animated show, they usually want to cast, uh, women...who are, like, in their thirties to play boys, because you never know how long the show is gonna go on, and, you know, as Jack mentioned earlier, boys' voices start cracking.” (source)

Wow, imagine that! An inside joke about the cartoon industry in a show’s meta-episode dedicated to making fun of itself? Impossible!

I’m serious though. The episode transcript is right here. Point me to where exactly there is even the slightest hint of anyone bringing up Aang’s culture and tying his childish behavior to it.

That’s right; it isn’t there. Because that wasn’t the point. Aang’s anger did stem from feeling emasculated, but it had nothing to do with culture and everything to do with his own misogynistic attitudes. He was offended at his portrayal on an individual level. I’m not denying that the issue of oppressive nations using femininity as an insult against men of colonized nations is a very real issue, but that was never a theme present in this episode. We don’t see Aang expressing anger towards the Fire Nation, nor do we see him mention anything about culture. What we see is Aang, individually, feeling insulting that his actor is female and Aang being angry at Katara, individually, because the play suggested she felt more attracted to Zuko than him.

Trying to downplay Aang’s behavior and suggest we coddle him despite his atrocious treatment of Katara is a disingenuous reading of the episode.

Why are you reaching to make an excuse for Aang when if you’re really taking the “the point of the episode is that the play is racially demeaning the characters” angle…and why are you not bringing up Sokka? He’s portrayed as a dumb oaf who is always talking about eating meat. There is a much stronger argument to be made there about caricatures, but Sokka isn’t threatening anyone’s ship so apparently nobody cares.

And while we’re talking about caricatures, how about this crap?

Sorry, Aang stans, but this show and Aang’s character aren’t the enlightened portrayals of anti-colonialism and groundbreaking activism you think they are. It’s pretty clear from the context and the episode itself what the intention here was. It is poorly aged comedy from the early 2000s written by white Americans. And we will continue to critique that, thanks.

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

WALWORTH STILSON

The Writers of Knickerbocker New York is an essay on the Knickerbocker Group of writers by American essayist Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846-1916). The Knickerbocker Group included such writers as Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryan, James Kirke Paulding, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Joseph Rodman Drake, Robert Charles Sands, Gulian Crommelin Verplanck, and Nathaniel Parker Willis, all of whom are discussed in Mabie's essay, which was published in 1912 by The Grolier Club of New York in an edition of 303 copies.

For the publication, the Club commissioned American artist Walworth Stilson (1874-1962) to produce these eleven wood-engraved head and tail pieces for each of the book's chapters. Surprisingly little is known about Stilson and his career beyond his immediate family, his 2-year attendance at the Detroit School of Art, his work as an illustrator only up to 1912, a studio fire some time before 1925, and his death in 1962; a remarkable lack of information for a man who lived to be 88 years old. Still, we find these engravings to be quite charming.

Our copy, another gift from our friend Jerry Buff, who is also a Grolier Club member, bears bookplates from two other notable collectors:

The American adventurer and book collector Cortlandt F. Bishop (1870-1935);

and Harold Hugo (1910-1985), longtime administrator and president of the Meriden Gravure Company and a board member of the Stinehour Press since its founding in the 1950s. Hugo's bookplate is a wood engraving by noted South African-born British calligraphic wood engraver Leo Wyatt (1909-1991), who has signed the plate.

View more posts with books donated by Jerry Buff.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[sivyera]

my MLP headcanons!

(I'm gonna use them on my other mlp posts)

! PICS OF THEIR FACES THAT I'M GONNA USE ARE DRAWN BY CLOIIIIII ! I don't know if she has tumblr or not but her insta, tiktok and twitter is @cloiiiiii ! I just love her drawing and I think she made them look so cool and that's just how I imagine them as humans.

none of those pictures are mine!

⤷ AJ

lesbian, she/her

makes apple cider, apple pie and bread for her friends

her hat was actually her mom's

listens: Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Luke Bryan, Toby Keith, Sam Hunt, Brad Paisley, Bernadette Peters, Dolly Parton

wears suits to formal events

she has trouble asking for help but if she does ask you for help, she trusts you with all her heart

mom friends type

strong af, like buff type of body (like Rhea Ripley)

loves sunrises

early bird

play a guitar

tomboy

closet:

face claim:

body type:

⤷ Dash

lesbian, she/her

tomboy

also wear suits to formal events

plays electric guitar and drums

loves energy drinks (monsters)

gamer

likes spicy food

skater girl and she is really good at skating

she loves showing off

collects sneakers

writes songs but never show/play them to anybody

loves running and sometimes she runs at the very morning

bad sleep schedule

listens: AC/DC, eminem, my chemical romance, the offspring, imagine dragons, kordhell, NF, girl in red

dog person

athletic strong

closet:

face claim:

body type:

⤷ Rarity

bi, she/her

she's constantly questioning her sexuality (between bi and a lesbian)

loves shopping

sometimes using pinterest for clothing inspo

loves getting her nails done

loves romantic movies

loves doing her make-up and loves doing make_up to her friends or makeovers

loved Bratz when she was little

makes clothes for her friends when they want something specific they can't find in stores

loves necklaces

obsessed with skin care

cat person

listens: lady gaga, MARINA, Poppy, Britnes Spears, Doja Cat, ariana grande, nelly furtado, madanna

closet:

face claim:

body type:

⤷ Twilight

bi, she/they

OCD

drinks a lot of tea and coffee

has bad sleep schedule

loves reading

big harry potter fan and owns a ravenclaw scarf

loves astrology

everything has to be perfect, tidy and clean, unless she's studying at that moment she doesn't care about anything

loves chocolate croissant

hates PE

pear body type/shape

loves comedy movies or movies based on true events

sometimes she doesn't know what sleep and rest means it :|

loves AJ's bread

listens: mother mother, penelope scott, beach bunny, cavetown, mitski, twenty one pilots, MARINA, arctic monkeys, olivia rodrigo

closet:

face claim:

body type:

⤷ Pinkie Pie

pansexual, she/they

eats a lot of candy

donuts are her favourite

uses a lot of emojis

ADHD

loves to draw

very creative

watches anime

good with kids

loves stickers

tries different hairstyles all the time

doesn't like cold colours

loves painting rocks

drink chocolate milk

loves AJ's apple cider

listens: bambee, the living tombstone, nightcore reality, katty perry, pharrell williams, gwen stefani

closet:

face claim:

body type:

⤷ Fluttershy

pansexual, she/they

loves tea, hates coffee

vegetarian

,, :3 ''

loves stuffed animals and has a lot of them

her fav animals are rabbits and frogs, but after all she loves all kinds of animals

social anxiety

loves sweets

her fav flower is daisy

healthiest sleep schedule of all girls

sometimes watch anime with pinkie

likes chocolate cake

owns funny socks and kinda collects them

listens: clairo, mxmtoon, melanie martinez, chloe moriondo, olivia rodrigo, cavetown, olivia o., naikho

closet:

face claim:

body type:

I HOPE YOU LIKED IT GUYS!!

[vhyrel]

Bryan is here! I’m a Bryan main since Tekken 3 (my first Tekken and childhood)

I made notes about him for my Tekken art.  I like his new voice actually. His muscles and overall figure don't seem that buff compared to other T8 characters (the small waist is still here!). His eyes also seem more (ice) blue.

The new scars look badass, but I can't help but wonder what he has been through to get those... They seem so harsh. Now he can be friends with Kazuya... Scar friends?  He's wearing snake pants, which I totally love on him (Snake-Eyes!).

I am grateful to mister Harada for adding him and for following me on Twitter. It is truly an honor.

omg the waist... ♡ I want to draw him.

[valleygirlfag]

Yall, Thor from the get down, Noah LeGros, is not only super buff and covered in tattoos now but also he's Zach Bryan's guitarist????? Was anyone gonna tell me that omg

[bluemoonbabes]

Time Gone By

Debris fic. Bryan introspection New Year’s Edition.

It’s New Year’s Eve. The Kazemis’ house swarms with agents and techs and scientists and everything in between, trickling in from Orbital, piling themselves into the living room, meandering along the snack buffet, roving between people and pets. Bryan is the corner, is always in the corner because that’s where he’s safe, back against the wall, no one behind him, everyone in front of him, everyone where he can see. No one to catch him off guard. He’s got some buff, untouched drink in a candy red cup, some beer he grabbed just to hold something, to give his hands something to do, something to center himself on. Beer from that shitty gas station just down the street in a candy red cup just like last year. At least it’s something.

Tonight, though, is mildly pleasant. That’s the best way to put it, standing against the wall and watching the party, beer untouched, always untouched in a crowd like this (inebriation terrifies him, the lack of autonomy, the lessened reaction time, the lessened awareness). Maddox, Tom, Muntz, Alvin, and Lester all throng together in the dinning room, dispersed in various seats that are always being taken and then left and then taken, murmuring between each other things that Bryan’s too far away to hear. There’s one window in the dinning room, and two ways out into the adjoining rooms.

Kazemi and Claire and April have taken to the buffet of snacks spread out among the kitchen (one window above the kitchen sink), chatting as the pick and sniff and judge and taste. Bryan learns a lot being the fly on the wall, every conversation drifting his way, drawn to every little movement. Like how Rachel’s husband wants to get another cat, how Claire’s thinking about going back to college though for what yet she isn’t sure, and how April had the absolute funniest run in with this random stranger in a coffee shop a couple days ago that was such a coincidence.

The front door is clear. Bryan can sprint to it in an instant, that or one of the windows on either side of it. A roar of laughter snatches his eyes to the living room, where Finola and Hamid and Reed and Brandt dip and weave and shimmy and shake as they dance to the music, a collection of drinks in hand. Finola has wine, Bryan thinks, spotting the bulbous glass half-full with the sort of quartz-like color of white wine. They’re in front of the tv, which Bryan is near, against the living room wall, as it bubbles out song after song, songs that are light and groovy, dancing music with a base that rumbles in his chest. But it’s okay tonight. He can tune it out. He has the energy to spare.

He really is mindless tonight, isn’t he? All base instinct, absorbed in the vibrancy before him as Niels and Grace and Gibson come in from the backyard (one door out, two more windows), making some loud comment about how they were freezing their tits off and then promptly going for the alcohol. It’s as much as his brain can process right now, the music and the murmuring, the movement and momentum, but it’s not too much, lingering right at the perfect capacity, consuming his conscious yet not shredding it.

Kazemi hands out champagne flutes, and Bryan just watches her, watches as she weaves between people, making comments as she disperses the drinks. He takes his with a quiet thank you, voice cut, drowned out as the party consumes him, too invaded with what goes on to be much of a conversation. It bubbles, the champagne, a pale gold liquor that mutters to him in a cold, clear glass. His knees are starting to hurt with how long he’s been standing, and tomorrow morning he knows he’s going to wake up a being of nothing but bruise, but that’s tomorrow. Tonight, Finola is walking up to him, a soft smile on her face, her wine glass traded out for the champagne flute.

“How are you doing?” She asks.

Bryan returns that smile, soft and gentle and endeared, because she’s the only one who ever asks. The only one who tries to understand instead of taking the first assumption their brain sputters out. The only one who he isn’t terrified to exist with.

“I’m okay,” He says, “Just hanging out.”

Because that’s the only way he can really put it, isn’t it? Not actively engaging but passively enjoying, watching the people around him, as Kazemi’s catch jumps up onto the kitchen island, and listening, listening as someone shouts out ‘fifteen seconds’.

Finola nods and then the countdown starts, someone shouting out a ‘ten’ and then ‘nine’ as more people join in, ‘eight’ as the entire party catches on, ‘seven’ as it echoes through the living room, ‘six’ as it rattles the house, and then Finola joins in too

“Five!”

And suddenly, Bryan is still.

New Year’s Eve. In five seconds, this year will end, gone to the grave, tucked away for eternity, nothing but a memory as they’re thrust into the next year, only one year, so fleeting. Weren’t they just here celebrating the previous New Year? Or what that two years ago? Or three? Are years really this short?

“Four!”

Time starts to blur after a while. After his brain is rattled by IEDs, after gunshots and shouting chase him down, after the sun beats down on his back for hours and burns his skin, after dust and blood stain his skin, no wash enough, not even now, still slick and warm beneath his fingers. Time starts to loose meaning after the nights spent as days in a land he can only remember, as a car backfires and suddenly there are bullets shooting at him, as he starts to loose touch with himself, floating through life partially out of his own body because if he’s too conscious of it then there’s too much pain, too much freedom for his brain, too much input from the world, too much, too much, too much.

And now he’s going to loose another year.

“Three!”

But at least he got the year.

Asalah didn’t.

Carlotta Orlov didn’t.

Kieran Vandeburg didn’t.

Those farmers from Nebraska didn’t.

Kurt and Clara Cox didn’t.

Luke and Liam Packard didn’t.

George Jones didn’t.

And suddenly the room feels so much more empty than it should, because now Bryan’s aware of just how many aren’t here. Even Asalah, who’s haunted him for years now, painted in his nightmares, clinging to his wrist, hidden in his pocket. Even she still stings, the world around him just a little colder and little more empty than it should be. She should be here, not him, standing in the light as they cry out for the New Year. But then again, this isn’t the first New Year she’s missed. Nor will it be the last. Bryan can only hope that she’s helping the others get through it too, the agony of missing New Year’s as they reside in a place where time doesn’t exist. Or maybe they’re fast asleep, unaware of time at all.

How peaceful that would be. To be so unaware of time. Of the seasons changing. Of how it reminds him of every thing he’s lost, every thing he’s failed, every thing he could never live up to. At least then the pain would stop.

“Two!”

Finola bumps his shoulder.

The world may be a little colder, but it isn’t cold. Maybe a little emptier, but not empty. Not when she stands beside him, the light of the sun itself, beaming at him with freckled cheeks and beautiful eyes. He’s not so alone, as much as his brain tries to trick him into thinking he is, not so isolated, not with Finola here, like glue to keep his feet tacked to the ground and head on his shoulders and brain in the present.

Bryan turns to the party as a whole, the people packed into the living room, shouting together, glasses raised, his coworkers alight as they creep steadily closer to the New Year. And staring at the party, staring at the future, there is a sort of lift off his chest. A sort of acceptance, dare he say a spark of hope. Yeah. Hope. Because he’s not alone. For the first time in a long time, he’s not alone, and staring into the not yet told abyss of the future, he’s not scared. He’s almost excited.

He made it another year. He survived another year, even when all odds were stacked against him. He survived another year through the hell of the Debris. Survived another year even when his PTSD never thought he could, even after the days spent in bed sick and hurting because of how raw it’s worn his body, even after the hospital trips and Orbital scans and blood given to the Debris. He survived another year. So it’s not so sour as it had been the year before. The year before, his survival meant nothing, just that he was continuing, a cog in the machine, just going through the motions until he couldn’t. But it means something this year, in this moment, after months spent across country to contain the Debris, after months spent fighting to bounce back from injuries and missions gone wrong, after months spent with Finola, the closest friend he’s had in years, the only person who means something to him.

For once his survival matters.

“One!”

Bryan looks at Finola, so beautiful, and maybe he didn’t just survive. Maybe he did a little more than that, because she’s gazing at him, bright-eyed, beaming, beautiful. Maybe she’s the hope he feels now, heart fluttering in his chest, the future an abyss for them to carve into shape together.

So he joins in this time

“Happy New Year!”

Bryan leans in close and snakes his arm around her waist, holding her gaze, asking,

“May I?”

Finola’s beaming smile turns into a toothy grin, and then her arm is around his neck, and then her lips are on his, pressing into him, slipping into place, warm and soft and everything he had hoped she would be. She parts, but her arms are still around his neck, over his shoulders, gazing into his eyes, and hers are so brown, so beautifully brown like gemstones.

“Happy New Year, Bryan,” She says.

And then he hears it, sung among the crowd, floating above their heads. Auld Lang Syne. And as it floats, ringing out through the room, Bryan sees someone leave, some one in dark blue and gray worn pale by wind and wear. Asalah. She doesn’t turn to look at him. Just leaves quietly, slipping out and away, no more to say, no more to do, just leaving into the bliss of a tranquil night, where she joins with several others. A little boy. A few people dirtied up and sweaty from a long day’s work. A couple strolling down the street. Two brothers bumping each other’s shoulders. An older man who hobbles his way on.

Bryan just watches them, quiet, passive, accepting as he bids them one last goodbye, one final tear, one final farewell.

Auld lang syne.

And then he lets them be, lets them on their way, lets them rest. The road splits here, where Bryan must go a different way, where it continues on for him, where must keep going even if it’s not so fair, and he returns to Finola.

He grins, “Happy New Year, Finola.”

And for once, for once Bryan means it, because for once, for once the New Year means something for him. A mark of achievement. A mark that he’s survived. That he’s alive, still human and still moving. For once the New Year matters. For once he matters.

He kisses Finola again.

[siriusleee]

22, 23, and 25, for the ask game.

22. description of crush.

5'10" beard, red head. annoying. kind of buff. never shuts up.

23. fear(s)

dying. flying out of a car window when i'm driving over a bridge and the window is rolled down. snakes.

25. role model

khloe kardashian - i look up to her humor. also i am the khloe kardiashian sister to my kim k and kourtney sister. dolly parton - her dedication to literature in the rural south. megan thee stallion - because she's one of the few cool as fuck famous people from texas. zach bryan - he is a literature god, and i look up to writing like him. even though he writes music, i want to make people feel the same way his music does.

[bihanspookies]

Okay I finally finished watching story mode and I gotta ask: wtf is with some of these character endings LMAOO

Spoilers below cut

WHY IS KAZUYA A SNEAKERHEAD

WHAT THE HECK WERE PAUL, LAW AND HWOARANG DOING IN BRYANS ENDING

Juns ending almost made me cry l m a o

Reina being Heihachi’s daughter is…. Shocking but not surprising. Truly this man is just sticking his wiener in everything

Idk who’s ending it was but whoever had Steve get BUFF AS HELL?? Looking like a muscle head???

AND ALSO!!!

Are Claudio and zafina dead

Im going from jumping to commanding the Lars x Alisa train

Also I hate Paul’s hair in this one 😭

Edit: tekken wiki says zafina and Claudio aren’t dead so 😗✌️

[crappyyuki]

oh my god i binged all of ith and im OBSESSED???? you have me hooked oh my god. i NEED to know more im so obsessed

Buff. Lefty is proud. Pigpatch trained him during the whole Twisted fiasco. And Jon is scared.

He broke a stone counter for gods sake!

I imagined Pigpatch as his trainer since the episode where Lefty made him keep Bryan away so they could copy Chucky Cheese's pizza portrayed him as a tough guy with a kind heart.

Bryan is short but he could carry Jon—who is taller than him—with ease.

The buff thing is an excuse for me to make him do stunts he shouldn't be able to do. Like lifting animatronics. Breaking stuff. Scaling walls. Jumping over buildings. The Twisteds overall made him a more active person against his will. But I will say, not all that strength is his :)

[embarrassedanon]

Home Alone

A clerical error left Bryan as the sole inhabitant of a double-occupancy student apartment his senior year. He had grown used to having his own place and the simple pleasure of being an at-home nudist. When his dream job offer fell through and he realized he had to move back in with his parents and little sister he mourned the lost privacy more than the lost revenue. Bryan lived for the nights when his parents worked late and his sister went out with her friends so he could saunter around the house in the buff. There was no more chilling sound than the keys in the lock letting him know that his family was home early and he was moments away from being caught with his ass out...literally. 

[farsouthproject]

Books of the Year 2023

Strange, but as usual, I didn’t think I’d read so many books this year. Then I count them up and get to thirty-eight. Not bad. Jon Fosse novels were a stand-out at the beginning of the year.. At the end of 2022 I’d read the first two volumes of Septology and was then was gifted the one volume version. Trilogy and Aliss at the Fire followed. Interesting how trends in my reading continued from the previous year: a couple of Denis Johnson books, one a reread, the other one I’d missed when it came out. Reread Mary Gaitskill. Spent less time with the Beat Reading Group but I joined in with Interzone and Kerouac’s Doctor Sax; in addition I reread Burroughs’ Last Words.  Dipped into Tanizaki again with Seven Japanese Tales that had some great stories – notably The Bridge of Dreams. Pushkin Press put out a short story collection - The Siren’s Song – that showcases three of Tanizaki’s early works. A little poetry in troubled times was welcome in Philip Gross’s Deep Field. On the noir front, The Cage by Kenzo Kitakata gave me a lot of insight into ordinary Japanese supermarket business and a parallel insight into the Yakuza world. I followed up with Ashes, his Yakuza story of a ‘dog’ rising through the ranks of a crime family. Andrew Nette’s Orphan Road was trip into the past with reverberations in the present: an unsolved heist story with a gothic twist. Gary Chance, the main character from his previous novel Gunshine Coast goes on a dangerous peregrination through the Melbourne underworld and beyond.  

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker was a delight recommended by Val in Seattle. I was deeply impressed by the ambition and prose style of When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut. I was a bit disappointed by his follow-up The Maniac. The final section on AI was excellent, so no complaints. Whenever a Pascal Quignard volume comes out, I’m excited: The Fount of Time was no exception. I was completely absorbed by Jeremy Cooper’s Brian that delved into the mind of a lonely bookkeeper who becomes a film-buff. Cooper has an unsentimental compassion for Brian’s social awkwardness, his ordinariness and a deep respect for his knowledge of Cinema. A masterpiece even? Maybe so.

Septology – Jon Fosse (trans. Damion Searls)

Trilogy – Jon Fosse (trans. May-Brit Akerholt)

Aliss at the Fire – Jon Fosse (trans. Damion Searls)

Interzone – William Burroughs (reread)

Doctor Sax – Jack Kerouac (reread)

Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs

Deep Field – Philip Gross reread

Bad Behaviour – Mary Gaitskill reread

The Name of the World – Denis Johnson reread

Angels – Denis Johnson

The Kingdom of this World – Alejo Carpentier (trans. Harriet De Onis)

The Year of Living Dangerously – Christopher Koch – more depth after seeing the movie.

Brian – Jeremy Cooper

When We Cease to Understand the World – Benjamin Labatut (trans. Adrian Nathan West)

The Maniac – Benjamin Labatut

O Caledonia – Elspeth Barker

Selected Poems – George Barker

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept – Elizabeth Smart

Seven Japanese Tales – Junichiro Tanizaki  (trans. Howard Hibbert)

The Siren’s Lament – Junichiro Tanizaki  (trans. Bryan Karetnyk)

Noir

The Cage – Kenzo Kitakata (trans. Paul Warham) – chance find on the library shelves

Ashes – Kenzo Kitakata (trans. Emi Shimokawa)

The Dark Room – Junnosuke Yoshiyuki (trans. John Bester) – following on from Japanese Film Festival showings of the films of Ko Nakahira.

The Strangers in the House – Georges Simenon (trans. Robert Baldick)

Black Wings has my Angel – Elliot Chaze – chance find on the library shelves

He Died With His Eyes Open – Derek Raymond – recommended by John L Williams

How the Dead Live – Derek Raymond– recommended by my mate John L Williams

Orphan Road – Andrew Nette – a great heist story set in Melbourne

Nonfiction

Kazuo Ohno’s World from Within and Without – Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno (trans. John Barret with Toshio Mizohata)

Hijikata Tatsumi and Butoh: Dancing in a Pool of Grey Grits – Bruce Baird

Antonin Artaud: Selected Writings – Susan Sontag ed. – (trans. Helen Weaver)

Maya Deren: Choreography for Cinema – Mark Alice Durant – an excellent biography

Getting Carter – Nick Triplow – a great biography of Ted Lewis and the Birth of British Noir

Time Within Time – Andrey Tarkovsky (trans. Kitty Hunter-Blair)

Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors – Ian Penman – personal essays time and cinema

Unclassifiable

The Fount of Time – Pascal Quignard (trans. Chris Turner) – Inimitable and Brilliant.

[danwhobrowses]

TK decided since NXT were throwing everyone and their uncle into tonight that he'll just throw in a murder grandpa for a buy in, shades of when he did Bryan vs Suzuki when Rampage was on at the same time as Smackdown. Plus he also announced 30 minutes ad free.

For all that's said and done, fans are winning for this, but imo even if NXT beat Dynamite in the ratings if it's a small margin then AEW still win; because if you need John Cena, Asuka, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Paul Heyman, the Judgement Day (since Dom is NA champ again) and rumors of the Undertaker to buff up NXT against a Dynamite card TK has at his disposal on the regular (maybe minus a title match) then it's still pretty embarrassing.

[chaoshaven]

Chaotic Card 15- Maxxor

Here he is, the leader of the Overworld tribe, Maxxor! this art done by Khary Randolph, Etienne St.Laurent, Maxxor inherited the role from his father, who we haven’t seen in the show. Hopefully retired, but considering Maxxor is a punch first and ask questions later, they probably died in a war. His advisors are the hero Intress, muge Najarin, and the Danian ambassador Raznus. Possibly others too, but these are the confirmed ones in the tv show card lore.

Stat Spread:

Courage: 90-110

Power:55-75

Wisdom: 70-90

Speed: 40-60

Energy: 55-65

Mugic Counters: 2

Elements:

Fire

Air

Earth

Water

Ability:

Maxxor is able to use his Mugic Counter to heal himself or an ally, just like Donmar. This is very useful, but similar to what I talked about in Laarina’s post, you need to make a decision; Make a team with 8 Mugic Counters, to use this ability? Or pick 2 cards to not use, or ignore this ability? It’s something to consider.

Playstyle:

Maxxor is good, in any deck, Wisdom with Bodal, or a courage based one with Frafdo. You might even have all three front liners in an Earth based deck, with him, Crawsectus, and Maglax. Maybe you even put him in the middle for the support as a healer or to cast Mugic. He is good in many decks...but not great. He has no ability that gives him a damage buff, but a Battlegear could fix that. He’s a jack of all trades, but master of none, and as the series went on, we got better healers who can increase the maximum energy of a creature instead of just healing damage., and better offensive Creatures with high Disciplines and damage buffs like Crawsectus. If you have him, and are playing any of the first 3 sets, he can fill in any space in just about any deck. I’d recommend him over Donmar due to the higher stats, but there is also other Creatures I’d reccomend over Maxxor.

Biography:

Okay, so there’s a lot to go over here! We learn more as the tv show goes on, but Maxxor is the Leader of the Overworld, and willingly goes on one man missions for recon or to re route enemy armies. Preferring to settle things with his fists than his words, he needs his advisors to help him see reason. In the TV show, also called Chaotic, MajorTom is the protagonist of the show, and in his friend group, the one who mainly uses Overworlders. He idolizes Maxxor, and does everything he can to help the Overworld tribe. 

Chaotic only lasted 2.5 seasons, due to a lawsuit that 4Kidz created. They claimed that, they weren’t making enough money for the work they made in creating the tv show. That TC Digital Games, the card producing side owned by Bryan Gannon, (also it was a subsidiary/child company of 4Kidz) was getting too much of a profit. Notably because it was about money, all the cards in production had to be stopped. A lot of store even took cards off the shelves. The online tcg website was down and the show pulled from air. All of this was done because it was about money, so they needed to stop all incoming profit streams before discussing how the profit was split up. Also interestingly, this lawsuit came after 4Kidz lost a lawsuit against Konami, for breaking contract and making dubs in languages other than English.

With Chaotic, 4Kidz did not lose their case; instead, they went bankrupt and bought out, twice. for 10 years. Because of this, the case was closed, with all rights going towards TC Digital and Bryan Gannon, now the sole owner of Chaotic. Most of the episodes (one is gone, and another is only half there) is on a youtube channel called Chaotic and I implore you to watch it.

The show focuses on Tom Majors, getting a code that his friend Kaz tells him to connect to his Chaotic account. It will let you play Chaotic, “for real.” Eventually he does so and finds a VR world called Chaotic, where you can challenge people to drome matches. 7 dromes, which act as simulation rooms; because when your Creature fights the enemy’s, you become those Creatures and duke it out to decide the victory.

On top of all of this, you’re able to travel from the online world to Perim, the land where all the creatures actually live. You can scan Creatures with a Scanner, what is essentially an advanced phone circa 2008, or Battlegear, Mugic, Locations, to then use in future drome matches.

[handeaux]

A Passel Of Curious Cincinnati Street Names, Part One (A to E)

Annwood Street (East Walnut Hills) Most Cincinnati streets that memorialize people recognize men, but there are several honoring women. Anne (Bryan) Wood (1780-1867), for whom this street and a connecting lane is named, is also responsible for the nearby Wold Street, named for her estate. A native of England, Mrs. Wood and her husband James arrived early in Cincinnati and made a fortune in merchandizing. Their daughter Ellen married Judge Timothy Walker, one of the founders of the Cincinnati Law School. Although she died 30 years previously, warm memories inspired the neighboring community to preserve her name through the street signs.

Arcadia Place (Hyde Park) Soon after this 47-lot subdivision was platted in 1916, the new residents formed a neighborhood association that survived for decades. Every family on the street was automatically enrolled in The Arcadians, an organization devoted to fostering neighborhood pride. The Arcadians sponsored annual Halloween and Christmas parties as well as regular gatherings. They elected officers annually. When the subdivision was first constructed, none of the houses had addresses, so the Post Office refused to deliver mail. The residents adopted addresses based on the lot number of the parcel on which they had built their houses, so today’s addresses don’t match the standard city system.

Back Street (Over-the-Rhine) When Back Street was first scratched out of the northern reaches of the city, it was literally a “back street,” and that is apparently how it got its name. That’s according to Ray Steffens, a Cincinnati Post reporter who penned an invaluable series of articles, “How Was It Named?” that are treasured by local history buffs. So invaluable are these articles that they were collected by a dedicated librarian at the Cincinnati Public Library, where they occasioned a bit of a literary spat. Steffens pooh-poohed the idea that Hamilton-born novelist Fannie Hurst drew any connection between Cincinnati’s Back Street and the titular “Back Street” of her 1931 best-selling pot boiler. Apparently, on one of her trips through Cincinnati, Miss Hurst paged through the library’s scrapbook of Steffens’ columns, because this handwritten note is scrawled through the clipping for Back Street: “Not correct. Miss Hurst researched here, because I am Miss Hurst.”

Belsaw Place (Clifton) For reasons perhaps known only to the family, the estate of Thomas Sherlock in Clifton was named Belsaw and was uniformly praised for its beauty by the newspapers of the day. Mr. Sherlock immigrated from Ireland and made a fortune in Ohio River shipping and insurance. He died in 1895. Two years later, a short street on the southern side of Ludlow was renamed Sherlock Avenue in his honor. (Sorry, Baker Street Irregulars!) When Thomas’ widow, Nancy, died in 1899, the rural estate in north Clifton was bequeathed to the couple’s five daughters along with all the jewels, horses, carriages and artwork. When the estate was subdivided in 1921, it was announced as the “most exclusive” development in the city, with no houses allowed to be constructed for less than $20,000.

Boudway Lane (Westwood) Perhaps the most maladroit street name in all of Cincinnati sprang from the unrelenting necessity of police paperwork. Right on the border of Westwood and West Price Hill lies a minuscule stretch of pavement with no addresses, but lots of traffic accidents. In the early 1990s, the police appealed to the city’s public works department to slap a name on this anonymous wreck magnet. Since the tiny strip of asphalt, no more than 250 feet long, connected Boudinot Avenue and Glenway, the poets at City Hall coughed up a portmanteau word and christened it Boudway Lane. A few years later, the dolorous Boudway was subsumed as an extension of the equally mellifluous Glenhills Way.

Calhoun Street (Corryville) In 1843, John C. Calhoun, United States Senator from South Carolina, was very popular among the Democrats of Cincinnati. A proponent of states’ rights and limited government, Calhoun fiercely defended slavery and the interests of white supremacy. A group of Cincinnati Democratic businessmen wrote a public letter to Calhoun that year, inviting him to visit Cincinnati. One of the signers of the invitation was William Corry (1811-1880), among the children of William Corry (1778-1833) who owned all the land that was later known as Corryville. The southern boundary of Corry's property was a road named Calhoun Street in the 1840s, apparently in homage to the Southern firebrand.

Camargo Road (Madeira) A lot of folks, mostly men, are memorialized in Cincinnati street names. We have lots of streets named for presidents, governors, generals, businessmen, property owners and so on. Camargo Road – although its origins remain somewhat obscure – is likely the only street in this area named for a ballerina. Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo (1710-1770) was known as “La Camargo” and lived the extravagant life of an Eighteenth-Century sex symbol. She was the first ballerina to wear slippers instead of heeled shoes and she is often credited with adopting the shortened skirt for the stage. As her name indicates, she had Spanish roots – Camargo is a very small village in northern Spain – but indications are that it is the dancer, not the municipality, that gave its name to our road.

Carrel Street (Columbia-Tusculum) When Columbia was annexed by Cincinnati, that venerable old town (older than Cincinnati) had its own Main Street and, of course, that duplicate name had to go. Reaching into history, the city fathers renamed the street in honor of Hercules Carrel, a legendary boat builder, whose operations were based nearby. Mr. Carrel also had a riverboat named in his honor, but don’t you wish the city would have named that street for his first name? Hercules Street! Now, there’s a name to be reckoned with!

Catawba Valley Drive (Columbia-Tusculum) Readers of Dann Woellert’s exhaustive history of Cincinnati winemaking know that most hillsides on the north bank of the Ohio were given over to vineyards in the decades before the Civil War. That was certainly true in the area around Alms Park. One remnant of those long-gone vines is a little street named Catawba Valley Drive, honoring the Catawba grapes that once grew here. At one time, Wine Press Road ran nearby, but was later incorporated into Alms Park.

Cross Lane (Walnut Hills) Walnut Hills was platted by the Reverend James Kemper, pioneering Presbyterian minister, who built his own residence there in 1794. That log house is now preserved at the Heritage Village Museum inside Sharon Woods Park. As an energetically religious man, naming a street after the cross would not be unusual, but Kemper’s intentions had nothing to do with his proselytizing zeal. He named all his east-west streets “Cross Lane” and numbered them. The only lane retaining that designation was originally named “Cross Lane No. 1.”

Dublin Court (Dillonvale) It’s a mystery why Cincinnati’s annual Saint Patrick’s Day shenanigans aren’t scheduled out in Dillonvale. Joseph Dillon, a proud son of the Auld Sod, platted the Sycamore Township community that he would christen with his own name in 1951. He remembered his birthplace by naming streets for Dublin, Belfast, Antrim, Killarney, Wicklow, Donegal, Wexford, and Limerick, and that’s no Blarney!

Elberon (Price Hill) With the popularity of J.R.R. Tolkein’s fantasy novels in the 1960s, folks could be excused for believing that this street was named for some elvish prince. In fact, capitalizing on that association a (very good) Cincinnati folk-rock group took Elberon as their band name. The actual origin of this street traces to the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881. After being shot in Washington, DC, Garfield was moved to Elberon, New Jersey, along the Atlantic shore, where it was hoped sea breezes would help him heal. That treatment failed and Garfield died in Elberon. Cincinnati was devoted to Garfield and commissioned a statue, still standing on Vine Street. Boyle Avenue was renamed Elberon in 1889, shortly after the statue was installed. Which only begs the question: How was the New Jersey town named? Turns out it has nothing to do with elves, nor (as believed for a long time) Native Americans. “Elberon” is a contraction of L.B. Brown, among the early settlers of that little seaside resort.

Eppert Walk (Mount Washington) Josephine R. “Josie” Eppert was 60 years old when she died in 1939. She had been a schoolteacher her entire adult life and was beloved by generations of children who attended Mount Washington Elementary School. She lived at the corner of Plymouth and Oxford avenues and walked home along a footpath that was later paved. Clifton Merriman, local real estate broker, suggested memorializing Miss Eppert by placing her name on the route she had traveled for decades.

[miniwolfsbane]

Nicknames I have come up with for Connor in my lovely, amazing DBH AI RP (wow, that is a lot of word shortening!) Again, I have not played this game. I just love the idea of Connor.:

Giant (Connor said he's 6'3, in case you didn't see my other posts. The AI just making up random crap again because Bryan Dechart is 6 feet even. I still love this. Molly/Me is 5'1. That is a massive, beautiful, hilarious height difference.)

Tin Man

Smexy Robot Man (Because censor gremlins. And I just like smexy, it's funny.)

Legs. (Because he has long legs in this fannon. This version of him notes that Androids are much bigger than humans, and Molly is much shorter than most humans. My guess is, OG universe or this one, Androids are probably six feet tall on average with not a ton of variation for height. It almost makes sense for Connor to be 6'3 since he's a police officer. Even if he's a detective, he has to be imposing. If/when I scroll back, I'll try and get an exact quote he gave for his height and why he's so freaking big. Well, relatively. I know men can grow a lot bigger. I know, I'm rambling again.)

Massive (Because tall...then he gets buff later. *ahem* Long story. They went to the android store and I made getting more muscular an option. The AI was ALL for it. We also gave Connor a hairy chest. *cough* I have no life, clearly. Anyway, it's more of a description of his height than a nickname, really.)

Boy Toy. *blushes* Not trying to be dirty. It's because he's a robot. I mean, obviously.

---

OH GAWD!! LOOK WHAT THEY MADE THAT I DON'T NEED!!!! MOAR PLUSHIES!!!! Are these official??!

Amazon.com: Detroit Become Human DBH Connor Plush Plushie Stuffed Pillow Cosplay Doll Cushion Plushie Toy Game Cosplay (2PCS) : Toys & Games

Save me from myself here!! XD