#creature rita comes in all shapes and forms

[meganechan05]

Goober

[adenei]

Auror 99 - Ch. 8

A/N: Sorrynotsorry about that cliffhanger. I hope this chapter makes everything worth it. It was so much fun to write!

Chapter 8: The Jig is Up

Amy walked out of hers and Rosa’s room that they were sharing in the large penthouse headquarters suite. She saw Jake sitting on the couch in the living area. “Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hey,” he returned. 

“What are you doing up?” she asked.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Same.” Amy joined him on the couch. 

“I may have to sleep out here because of Boyle’s snoring,” Jake said jokingly. 

They were silent for a moment before Amy spoke again. “I’ve got a random question for you. It’s probably nothing, but I feel like ever since we brought Rettinburg in for questioning, Jason, Nolan and Charlotte have been acting odd. Don’t you think it was weird that only Jason and Nolan went into Captain Holt’s office to debrief?”

Jake thought for a moment.“I wasn’t really thinking about it, but now that you mention it, something did feel a bit off, but I’m not going to worry about it. They’re probably just used to working with each other. Just like we are.”

“Yeah, but we were told to partner up with them specifically, and now it seems like they’re trying to break that,” Amy said as she frowned. 

“You know, Ames, you may have a point now that I actually think about it. Nolan and I have been working so well together, but it did sound like he wants to be with Jason tomorrow when we go out on watch. I wonder why.”

“It’s probably because you’re injured,” Amy attempted a joke about his leg. “Well, I guess we could think about it this way...if you had the choice, wouldn’t you choose me or Diaz or Boyle? We all have partners we’re more comfortable working with. So you’re right, it’s probably nothing. Sorry for stirring things up in your head.” Amy scooched closer to Jake and put her hand on his.

Jake looked up at her then, and Nolan’s words were stuck in the back of his mind. ‘Just go for it, mate. I waited seven years, and somehow I was lucky enough to still get her. A girl like Amy reminds me of my own. They’re too good to wait around, so don’t wait forever.’ 

“Yeah, okay. Listen, Ames, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you,” Jake said as he leaned in closer.

“Oh? What is it?” Amy asked, her heart beating a little faster in her chest.

Jake was about to kiss her when he heard the door open and noticed an unfamiliar male come out of Jason and Nolan’s room. They were undercover, and couldn’t have visitors, so who was this? He stood up quickly, reaching for his side holster. This caused Amy to fall forward onto the couch because her weight had been leaning towards Jake. He’d apologize for that later.

“Who are you and what are you doing here? Freeze! Hands in the air!” Jake said. By this point, Amy had stood up and turned to see what was going on. 

“Jake it’s me, it’s- it’s Jason,” the person said.

“You aren���t Jason! I know who Jason looks like. Why were you in Jason and Nolan’s room? Nolan? Jason? Are you alright in there?” Jake nodded to Amy who picked up the handcuffs and walked over to cuff him. 

Jake moved quickly to the door to see if they were alright. “Guys, are you alright?” Jake wasn’t expecting to see Charlotte standing in the room while Nolan was sitting on the bed. Jason was nowhere to be found. “Charlotte? What are you doing here? Who is this random guy who just came out of your room?” Jake was really confused now. Everything he and Nolan had talked about with his wife, and yet Charlotte was in his room, alone. Well, that guy did just come out of it, but it wasn’t like Nolan was following him. They looked quite comfortable around each other.

“Jake, I’m fine, what do you mean? That was Jason! We were just making sure things were, er, ready to go for tomorrow.”

“Um, I know what Jason looks like and that is most definitely not him.” Jake said. “Come see for yourself.” 

So Ron and Hermione followed him out, and it was not the disguise of Jason staring back at them, but the one and only Harry Potter. Before they could say anything Amy had noticed something they hadn’t.

“W-who are you? Why do you have a lightning shaped scar? Do you think you’re Harry Potter? I mean, I will admit it’s a very good cosplay, but Harry Potter isn’t real! It’s just a silly children’s book.” Amy was rambling as she made a “pfff” sound with her mouth. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve reread the series or anything…”

“Oh, no,” Hermione said as Charlotte. She knew it was too good to be true with keeping up the disguises for this long. She and Ron had hurriedly reapplied their own when they heard the shouts from the living area.

Boyle and Diaz had joined them now after hearing the commotion. “What’s going on?” Boyle asked.

“Who the hell are you?” Diaz nodded at Harry.

“Wait, how does Amy know who Harry is? They’re not supposed to know we even exist!” Ron looked at Hermione, who returned his with an exasperated look.

“What are you talking about?” Jake was looking back and forth as Ron’s words caught Amy’s attention. 

“Amy, did you just say Harry Potter is a children’s book?” Hermione looked at her seriously for a moment.

“Yeah, of course. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it! The author’s British, and it’s not just one book. It’s a whole series! Seven books in total. It’s fiction, of course, but it’s one of the greatest children’s series ever written!” Amy noticed the other detectives giving her a look. “And it’s completely okay for adults to still be obsessed with the series, too!”

“Can you tell me what it’s about?” Hermione said. She was shaking now, as Harry and Ron were looking completely and utterly bewildered.

“Me? Talk about Harry Potter?” Amy was becoming overly excited.

“Ames, your geek is showing,” Jake rolled his eyes.

“It’s about an eleven year old boy who finds out he’s a wizard and gets to go to Hogwarts, a special magical school where the kids learn about witchcraft and wizardry! His parents died by an evil wizard named Voldemort, but he survived the killing curse that was meant for him. He spends the next seven years, one book for each year, fighting Voldemort with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. They end up together, by the way, it’s so great. I love them so much. OH! I’m sorry if I spoiled anything.”

Hermione looked at Ron and then at Harry. Her face was completely pale. It took her a moment to get her wits about herself. “Okay, Amy, I’m going to need you to sit down. Jake, I promise you can put the gun down, that really is Jason Cooper. Here, I’ll show you.” Hermione pulled her wand out and recast the glamour charms on him.

“Did you just- is that a- did you just perform MAGIC?” Amy was having trouble forming a complete sentence.

Rosa scoffed, “Magic’s not real.”

“Actually, it is. Are you satisfied that this is Jason now?” Hermione asked. She watched as the 99 hesitantly nodded. 

“Wait!” Charles said. “What’s something that only Jason and I talked about. What did I walk in on that first night when we watched Die Hard?”

“Er…” Harry paused. Hermione gave him a look that said, ‘tell him,’ so Harry continued, “You walked in on those two.” Harry cringed. “Okay, now do you trust us?” The four made gestures that were for the most part yesses.

Hermione looked at Ron. “You know what we have to do now, don’t you.”

“Yeah, reckon I do,” Ron said as he pulled out his own wand. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to do anything to you, we’re just going to reveal our true identities. Jake, ‘Mione’s right, you should probably make sure Amy sits for this.”

“ ‘Mione?” Amy said, her jaw dropping, “as in Hermione?” 

Ron and Hermione both took away their glamour charms, revealing their true selves, and Hermione undid the glamour charms on Harry. The trio was now standing in front of the four 99 detectives in their true form: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who apparently had an entire kid’s book series written about them.

“Ooooooh, mama,” Amy could be heard saying. “That’s- That’s-”

“Okay, Ames, enough fangirling,” Jake tried to calm her down.

“But then, does that mean, is Geresto a wizard?” Boyle asked.

Ron nodded. “Yeah, a pretty dangerous one, too.”

“So he stole from Gringotts then! Like you three did in Deathly Hallows!” Boyle said excitedly. “See Amy? You’re not the only one who’s read them!”

“Yeah, Ames, I’m already on the fourth book because that bet! By the way Boyle, SPOILERS MUCH?” Jake said, acting offended.

“Okay, I’m going to stop you right there. Who is the author of these books?”  Hermione asked.

“JK Rowling,” Boyle answered. Amy was struck dumb on the couch.

“Do you have a picture of her?” Hermione asked.

“I’m rereading the series, too. I wanted to make sure I could keep up with any of Jake’s questions. The book’s in my bag,” Amy said and Rosa walked away to go retrieve the book. She shoved Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at Hermione when she came back out.

“Oh my God, that foul creature!” She shoved the book in Ron and Harry’s faces with the inside cover opened.

“Of course it’s fucking Rita Skeeter! How has she kept this a complete secret from the magical community?”

“That’s probably why Kingsley was so insistent on keeping us undercover. Can someone uncuff me please?” Harry looked around.

“Oh, right! Of course. Sorry about that.” Jake said as he waltzed over to uncuff Harry.

“So wait, you two aren’t actually cheating on your spouses with each other?” Boyle asked. Jake and Amy looked at him in a confused manner. “I walked in on them on Die Hard night a week ago, and they made me promise not to say anything. I thought it was odd that Jason- I mean, Harry, didn’t think it was odd.”

“No, we’re not cheating. We’re married to each other,” Ron said as he put his arm around her.

“This is the best day of my life,” Amy said. “I knew. I knew it from the third book on that you two were going to get together! I was so mad at you two in Half Blood Prince.”

  “Am I the only one feeling personally violated right now?” Ron looked around and asked.

“Er, no, mate. Your name also isn’t on the cover of seven bloody books. Hermione, how’d she get away with this!” Harry said. The reality of the situation was hitting him. Not only was he famous for actually defeating Voldemort, but he was famous amongst muggles because his story had been turned into a children’s novel. He’d never get away from the spotlight.

“I don’t know, Harry, but I swear the first thing I’m going to do is find out once we get back to London!” Hermione said.

“But Kingsley knew, Hermione,” Ron said. “It might be better to just let this go.”

Hermione stared at him incredulously. “You’re joking, right?”

“Kingsley’s probably just trying to protect us, Hermione. Besides, we need to focus on Gerteso. That’s why we’re here. And maybe we can be relaxed with our disguises now that they know, but we need to still keep up the guise in public. It’s one thing for Gerteso to think random Aurors are after him, but we’ll put a greater target on our back if we don’t. So to the rest of the world, we’ll still be anonymous.”

Hermione huffed as Harry shook his head in continued annoyance. “I’m going to bed now.”

“Wait,” Jake said. “Is that why you two want to partner up? You need to go into the American Ministry, don’t you! I thought you didn’t like me anymore!”

“Er, yeah, muggles can’t exactly waltz into the Ministry, or MACUSA,” Ron affirmed.

“I still can’t believe you’re real,” Amy said. “It’s like all my dreams are coming true.”

“Ames, those sound like weird dreams if you ask me,” Jake eyed her.

“Well, this is cool and all, but I’m following his lead, and going back to sleep,” Rosa turned around and walked down the hallway. 

“We should go, too,” Hermione looked at Ron while Amy was trying to mask her disappointment. Hermione noticed and said, “I promise I’ll answer any of your questions tomorrow, when we’re not focused on the case,” she smiled. 

“Really?” Amy’s face lit up.

“Of course, but only if I can borrow your books and give them a read through and see how much of the story she got right,” Hermione said.

“Oh, yes, yes of course!” Amy said. 

Everyone began going to their respective bedrooms, but Amy lingered on the couch. She watched Jake grab a water out of the fridge and regretted not knowing what was going to happen between them earlier.

“You alright, Ames?” Jake had stopped by the counter and noticed her sitting there.

“Oh, um, yeah. I guess I was just wondering what you were about to say earlier. You know, before Harry freakin’ Potter walked out of that room.”

“Yeah, that. It was nothing,” Jake said, playing it off. He’d lost all the courage he’d mustered from before. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Jake turned to head down the hallway.

Disappointment flowed over Amy as she replayed those moments. She swore he was going to kiss her. And then suddenly, she was reminded of Hermione making the first move with Ron in Deathly Hallows as she watched Jake walk away. Spurred on by a random burst of courage she stood up and just before Jake reached his room, Amy hissed his name.

He turned around as she said in a low voice, “I don’t think it was nothing. If you won’t tell me or show me, then I will, and I hope I’m not wrong.”

Before Jake could respond, Amy flung her arms around him and her lips met his. They were adults. They weren’t teenagers, and dancing around each other wasn’t an option anymore. Especially if they were both single. She felt his arms wrap around her waist as he met her own in kind. When they broke apart, Amy looked at him. “Please tell me I’m not wrong,” she said breathily.

“You’re not,” Jake said.

“So you…”

“Yeah,” he leaned in and kissed her this time. Amy lost all sense of time and thought, allowing herself to just be in the moment. When they finally broke apart a second time, he said, “I should probably go in there before Boyle discovers this and has a heart attack.”

Amy laughed. “I think we’ve all had enough surprises for one night.”

“Ya don’t say. We’ll talk tomorrow?” 

She nodded as she backed away down the hall, watching him disappear into the bedroom.

[cecilspeaks]

168 - Secret Blotter

Life is 10 per cent what happens to you And 90 per cent false memories of what you think happened to you. Welcome to Night Vale.

In an effort to bring more transparency to the Sheriff’s Secret Police, a chronicle of one night’s dispatches will be released to the public. This action comes at the behest of the City Council, who voted unanimously on a resolution to ban plastic bags.

Now, OK, while those two things may not seem related, Sheriff Sam misunderstood the vote as a rallying cry against tyrannical surveillance and a personal threat, involving being thrown to the pit of vipers behind the bowling alley. Sheriff Sam, who has a paralyzing fear of vipers, proposed a compromise in which Secret Police dispatches would be temporarily divulged, so the public can get a better idea of what agency does and how tax dollars are being spent. A plan which was readily accepted by the Council, though they continued to roll their eyes and gnash their teeth and chant softly: [creepy voice] “Viper pit! Viper pit! Blessed be the viper pit!” Which is just how they express a “yay” vote on procedural issues.

As a result, Night Vale has its first ever police blotter. Let’s dig in. 9 o’clock PM. Missing person reported inside the Ralphs. Night manager on duty says employee went to stock some cases of Lime-A-Ritas in the new walk-in beer cave and never came out. Reporting officer thoroughly checked beer cave and confirmed it was deserted. Three cases of the beverage were left haphazardly in the middle of the floor, and a loading dolly had tipped over onto its side. Manager states employee originally brought in four cases. Manager added one missing case of Lime-A-Ritas to the report. When asked if this kind of thing has happened before, manager changed subject and asked if officer would like to look at some of the children’s drawing contest submissions. Officer was amenable to this request.

9:16 PM. Noise complaint. Dog barking in an unknown language annoying residents. Dirty white fur, human face. Gone when officer arrived on scene.

9:25 PM. Two underage residents attempted to sneak into an R-rated movie by pretending to be one tall person in a trench coat. When confronted by officer, they turned into a swarm of flies and dispersed.

10:01 PM. Noise complaint. A sound resembling television static was being emitted from a shower drain out in the Hefty Sycamore trailer park. When recorded and played backwards, it turned out to be a broadcast from a 1952 episode of the game show “Beat the Clock”, where contestants competed to see how many pieces they could smash a clock into. A plumber was called.

10:15 PM. A resident of Desert Creek searched for “easy tortellini recipes”, but none of them were easy enough. It was so late already, and they needed to get to bed soon, but they were also very hungry and needed to eat dinner first. They wanted something quick, but they also wanted a real dinner, not a false dinner like… cereal? They became hyperaware that the more they deliberated on what to make, the longer it was all taking. And factoring in the decision-making time on top of the meal prep time was becoming additionally stressful in relation to the desire to get to bed soon.

11:30 PM. A Coyote Corner’s swimming pool filled with blood and began swirling furiously in a counter-clockwise direction. Home owner appeared distressed. Officer advised home owner to drain pool.

11:31 PM. Multiple residents awoke in a cold sweat from the same dream. It wasn’t necessarily a nightmare, but it was definitely not pleasant. The only thing they could recall afterwards was that it was showing, and that there was a tree with seven limbs.

12:00 AM. Witches.

2:00 AM. That time of night when everything starts getting hazy. Were you headed to a crime? Checking a surveillance station? Listening to a wiretap? Going home? Returning to headquarters? Signalling an invisible helicopter? Sometimes you lose track. An old local legend comes into your mind, and you try to recall the details. It’s been so long since you heard it. You watch the headlights bounce along the dirt road ahead, and your eyes begin to play tricks on you, sensing movement in the dark margins where the light doesn’t penetrate. You turn off the lights and slow the vehicle. They weren’t tricks after all. There is movement here, a dark writhing mass entering the roadway. You are forced to stop the car. Eyes flesh open in the dark. Many sets of eyes. This isn’t part of a half-remembered legend. This is something very, very real.

More of the blotter soon. But first, let’s have a look at traffic. You’re hunting in a pack near the Old Highway. The smell of blood is in the air. Headlights bounce over the rise and your stomachs rumble. The moon flees behind the clouds and you fan out, along both sides of the road, moving parallel to it like a lazy river. The car approaches and slows. It shuts off its headlights, as you knew it would. Some of you push ahead to the car, blocking its path. Others move to the rear and others remain at the sides boxing it in. You converge, surrounding it more tightly the door opens, then closes again, the fleshy creature inside cursing softly. You hear a crackle of radio static, but you know it is inconsequential to you. You consume the metal shell first. There are explosions of air and the hiss of leaking fluids. Then the glass, crunchy and cool in your collective gullet. And finally, the screaming delicacy in the center, the cloth-wrapped package of meat and bone. There are other things afterward, less enjoyable, but consumable nonetheless. Papers and electronics, and the pleather, and cold French fries in the back. Nothing must remain. By the time the moon emerges from the clouds, the old highway will be deserted once more. This has been traffic.

And now a word from our sponsors. Today’s show is brought to you by TickTock. The only app that tells you exactly how long you have left to live. The sleek countdown display synchs easily with all of your devices, so that you can check your mortality at a glance. The premium edition provides additional details, such as manner and location of death, and updates to the minute, as you make different choices throughout your day. You’ll find yourself asking questions like, why did returning a library book just subtract 4 years from my life? How did leaving late for work change my final outcome from drowning in gulch to birds of prey? Why does it say “tomorrow” all of a sudden? [panicking] It must be some kind of glitch, right? OK, OK, I’ve updated the app but it still hasn’t changed. It still says “tomorrow”. I just got checked out by a doctor and they said I’m in great shape, I’m staying home from work, I’m not answering the door, I’ve closed the blinds and I’m sitting on the couch, surrounded by pillows, not moving, not even blinking, I’ve done everything dammit, EVERYTHING!!! WHY DOES IT STILL SAY “TOMORROW”???!! Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. This has been a word from our sponsors.

Back to the Sheriff’s Secret Police blotter. 2:30 AM. Responded to an officer distress call on the Old Highway. No sign of officer or vehicle found. Must have been a false alarm.

3:15 AM. Nude man ranting in middle of old highway, carrying a case of alcoholic beverages. Identified as the night shift stocker at the Ralphs. Claims he entered the walk-in refrigerator at work, reached up to place the case of beverages on the shelf, and abruptly found himself in a network of ice caves. He eventually climbed up a snowy mountain where he met a robed figure he refers to as “The Oracle”. “The Oracle” foretold of a hungry darkness with a thousand eyes and urged that the portal must be cloooosed. The Ralphs employee also reported that “The Oracle” had slurred speech and seemed unsteady on its feet, and may have been inebriated. After this exchange, he then found himself standing in the Sand Wastes nude. He does not know where his clothes are. Officer escorted man back to the Ralphs to finish out his shift.

3:35 AM. Domestic disturbance. “He won’t stop practicing the flute!” a Cactus Bloom resident reported, indicating his dopplegänger who stood in the corner of the bedroom, staring unblinkingly at the wall and playing the same halting scale on a wooden flute. Officer advised resident to take a melatonin and try to get some sleep. “If he doesn’t stop, I can’t be held responsible!” the sleep-deprived resident threatened. “Sounds fair,” the officer agreed and left the premises.

4:00 AM. An alarm clock went off in Old Town. A woman attempted to get out of bed, but her cat walked sleepily onto her person and began purring, preventing her from rising. Her cat is elderly and the woman knows its number of purrs are finite and must be honored. Eventually, she put on coffee and took a shower. She used Herbal Solution shampoo for a lifelong dandruff condition, though she has not seen any improvement after years of using the products. She continues using it, because she likes the way it smells. It smells medicinal, like it’s helping, and it does tingle, like the label promises. The tingle means it’s working, the label says. So it must be working.

And now a break form the police blotter for some sports news. Night Vale High School – go Scorpions! – has added a concession stand to be used during sporting events. The parent-teacher association proudly unveiled the new stand at last week’s baseball game, dedicating the plywood structure to the memory of favorite AP auto shop teacher, Nick Teller. Teller reacted with confusion at this news, as he is still alive. “Oh, of co-, no, of course you are,” the PTA responded awkwardly, “but we just wanted to honor – your memory, as in what a great memory you have. You-you know how you’re really good at remembering stuff? We just wanted to, yeah uh, honor that,” the PTA went on, seemingly unable to stop explaining themselves, whilst standing in front of the dedication plaque, which featured several doves, a Celtic cross, and an image of clasped hands. Teller admitted he does have an excellent memory and is very honored. The following concessions are available at the Teller memorial stand: Special allowances, the granting of rights, the acceptance of certain things as truth, the yielding of certain other things as untruth. Also, RC Cola and popcorn.

Oh, which reminds me, we actually have another word from our sponsor, Royal Crown Cola. Invented by Ferdinand the 1st, king of Naples, who built a museum of mummies inside his palace to house the bodies of his slain enemies. “I am parched from building this museum of mummies,” he famously said, and the rest is history. RC Cola – the drink of ruthless monarchs.

In local news, I have the results of the Ralphs drawing contest. Local school children were encouraged to submit a drawing to the store this week, depicting their favorite Ralphs product. I’ll start with the runners up. The third place drawing comes to us from Ella Snider, a student from Night Vale Elementary, and it shows a large black scribbled mass with a lot of eyes on it, with the Ralphs building on fire in the background. Very creative, Ella!

The second place drawing comes from Jace McCoy, also from Night Vale Elementary, and this one also shows a black mass with many eyes and a big bright red splatter of blood across the page. Nice use of color, Jace!

And the grand price winner comes to us from Heather (Fathusam) [0:16:52] of Daggers Plunge Charter School. Her drawing features a beautiful black mass with lots of lovely eyes, and it’s holding a box of store brand frozen pizza rolls. Congratulations, Heather!

Back to the blotter. 4:01 AM. Distress call from the Ralphs. Upon arrival, officer was pulled into the manager’s office. The employee from the earlier incident was also present, huddled under a desk. Manager frantically indicated the surveillance window that looks out into the store, which he normally uses to spy on shoppers and report on what they are wearing for his Customer Fashion newsletter. Shelves of products were being knocked over and consumed by a vast dark nothingness. The back of the store then burst into flames. The manager implored the officer to quote, “Do something, please, or we’ll all be killed!” Officer used the intercom system to tell the nothingness to vacate the store immediately, and advised it of trespass and vandalism laws. The nothingness took the form of many dark shapes with many eyes. A tank of fresh seafood exploded and numerous shellfish were damaged. Officer advised the shapes that they were all under arrest. “Stop talking to it!” the manager cried and knocked the intercom mic out of the officer’s hand. Approximately 1000 eyes turned to look at the office window. Interesting. Well.

Let’s have a look at that weather.

[“Best Friends” by Curtains: https://curtains.bandcamp.com/]

4:35 AM. Situation escalated at the Ralphs. Officer, manager and employee embraced one another under the office desk amid the shattered glass of the surveillance window. The building trembled around them, products flew through the air, half the inventory was sucked into oblivion, and a great fire blazed, spreading to the bakery section. After doing an estimated 200,000 dollars worth of damage, the darkness and its many eyes entered the beer cave and did not come back out. Officer investigated the beer cave and found it to be empty. “You have to shut down the cave!” the Ralphs employee implored the manager. “That’s its doorway to our world!” The manager hedged and responded that a big heat wave was coming and if they hoped to recoup any of their losses, keeping the beer cave open was going to be instrumental to the store’s survival. “People will spend big on frosty cold beverages,” the manager responded. “Not to mention they’re gonna like standing around in there for a nice cool-down.” The employee wrapped his robe tightly around himself. Oh, the manager had lent him the robe, one of the many fashion items the manager kept in his collection, since the employee still didn’t know where his clothes had gone. ��OK,” the employee said. He picked up a Lime-A-Rita and guzzled it down in one continuous gulp. Then he said, his voice already a little slurred: “I’ll have to try to shhhhtop it myself.” He ran into the beer cave and promptly vanished.

5:40 AM. Tree with seven limbs seen growing out of a hole in the vacant lot out back of the Ralphs. Snow observed on the branches, which melted off quickly as the sun rose.

5:45 AM. Real pretty sunrise.

Well, that concludes our Secret Police blotter. I dunno about the rest of you, but I personally feel a lot more safe and secure getting a closer look at what our Secret Police do. On behalf of Night Vale Community Radio, thank you for your service. I’m sure we will all rest a lot easier knowing that our fate is in your hands. Our sleeping bodies are under your watchful eye, and our every thought and action is being monitored for the greater good. As Secret Police mascot Barks Ennui always says: Stay tuned, stay, vigilant, report your neighbors. Woof. Woof.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Six out of seven dentists have no idea where that seventh one disappeared to. Honest, they all have rock solid alibis and that blood could have belonged to anyone.

[anotherdayinchuckletown]

They’re Funny That Way, Chapter 2

A/N: Hey, guys!  I’m pretty happy with the feedback I received on Chapter 1, and I’m so so thankful to everyone who took the time to read it (especially those of you who offered me kind and encouraging words, ily!)  So, the story continues!

I’ve found over the years that dialogue is my biggest strength, and scenes with little to no dialogue stretch and challenge me a bit.  So this chapter was a touch longer in development than the last. But I hope to get a consistent update schedule going pretty soon here because I have a very fleshed-out plan for this fic.

That said, I hope you enjoy!  Please like, reblog, and comment if you do!

(cross-posted to my AO3 https://archiveofourown.org/users/marie_deneuve)

______________________________________________________

Arthur Fleck has seen an angel. There is no other way to describe it.

Things are especially tedious since he returned from his latest stint at the psychiatric ward. The same things, day in and day out, until each day begins to blur together like a watercolor painting. No clear lines separating one grueling day from the next, every shape hazy and undefined beyond the smoke of his cigarettes. He himself disappears into the smog and goes about his life unseen. Unknown. Not to mention, he's now on thin ice at work – Hoyt, his boss, made that much clear to him right off the bat. "You've missed a lot of days, Arthur," he had said the morning he came in to pick up his belongings. "Just try not to be a pain in the ass. No fucking up, you got that?" Arthur can't remember how he responded, if he responded. Only that the voice in his head (it's his mother's voice that time) told him to Smile. At least you got your job back. It's so much easier to smile when he's Carnival, and not just because the expression is painted on for him. He loves his job, honestly, he does. Every once in a while, when he's working gigs at birthday parties or at the children's hospital, when he's able to make the kids laugh, it seems worth it. For just a minute, it seems as though he's good for something after all. As though maybe when his mother used to tell him his purpose was to spread joy and laughter in the world, she was right. And maybe he could actually do it. Then he takes off the wig, the brightly-colored clothes, the greasepaint...and the illusion is broken. Sometimes it's easy to forget the husk of a man that lies underneath the makeup. Arthur Fleck. Who is Arthur Fleck? Hard to say. Carnival is easier. And so Carnival stays that evening as he walks home. Also because he's just so fucking exhausted. Not changing out of his clown costume at work means a little less dealing with his coworkers and a little more getting home to sequester himself from the rest of the world for the remainder of the evening. The woman on the elevator is not part of the plan. She holds the door open for him and retreats silently into a corner. The air between them is still as death as they ascend, her eyes burning holes in the back of his coat all the while. Arthur initially avoids looking back at her, afraid that if he does, she'll vanish into thin air. He's becoming too used to his lonely, damaged psyche playing such tricks on him. She never even pushes any of the buttons for a specific floor – if she's a hallucination, she's not even a convincing one. The trip is not smooth by any means – surprise, surprise – and the woman seems more than a little perturbed. "Does...that happen often?" Her voice, gentle and feathery, suddenly drifts over him, covering him like a weighted blanket. He turns to face her fully, intending to respond, but pauses when he feels his heart stop. She is undoubtedly the most beautiful creature he has ever laid eyes on. She instantly evokes images of those actresses in the black and white films of his youth. The same powerful air of sophistication as Grace Kelly. The same allure as Rita Hayworth. Only she's in vivid color, and they're not separated by a screen, and she's so close. Even in the elevator's dingy lighting, her blonde curls glow like a halo. Her full lips are pulled into a concerned frown, and her icy blue eyes are trained quizzically on him. Right, that's because she asked him a question. And he's so far done nothing but stare at her like a depraved creep. Carnival, his work persona, doesn't generally speak - and thank fuck for that. Arthur doesn't think he could power out a single word if he wanted to, his mouth has gone so dry. In the end, all he manages is a shrug. Idiot. She must not think he's a total loser because she keeps talking to him anyway, even pays him a compliment – a compliment! When's the last time that happened? He's definitely glad he kept the clown costume on now; interacting with her this way is safer, gives him less of a chance to screw it up. Less of a chance for her to see how pathetic he really is underneath it all. All good things must come to an end, however, and they do eventually reach the eighth floor. And when they do, she surprises him yet again. "I'm new to the building, by the way – my name's Emma. It's a pleasure." Emma. Emma. Emma. She extends a perfectly-manicured hand, and for a moment, Arthur just stares. This is most likely when he finds out that this woman, this magnificent vision in his hallway, this Emma, is nothing more than a fantastic dream. And if she is, in fact, a dream, he's not so sure he's ready to wake up. Nevertheless, he gingerly returns the gesture. Their hands connect. Soft and tentative, but tangible. Warm. Light. So light that Arthur feels as though he's floating, hovering just above the tiled floor, and he could continue to float forever, as long as he just holds on. To his disappointment, she is the one to let go. Arthur crashes back down to the floor, a chill running through him at the sudden loss of contact, simple though it was. She bids him good night and takes off down the hall, the click of her heels in perfect sync with the thrumming of his heart against his ribcage. Emma. Emma. Emma. He gets the feeling he won't forget that name for as long as he lives. Arthur Fleck has seen an angel. And she is so, so beautiful. _____________________________________ "Hey, you look like shit." "Thanks, motherfucker." On her way to the kitchen, Emma totters past the open bathroom door, where Eddie is busy shaving his face. Apparently not too busy to comment on her fresh-out-of-bed appearance, though. She will admit, she's not surprised if she doesn't look her best at the moment. Almost a week of sleeping on a rapidly-deflating air mattress on Eddie's living room floor has not done her back any favors. The bags forming under her eyes make her look like she hasn't slept since the seventies, and her hair has become stringy and unkempt since the last time it was washed. To top it off, she still has none of her clothes or other belongings. So she's currently sporting an oversized Creedence Clearwater Revival t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, both borrowed from Eddie. They hang off of her smaller frame, giving her the appearance of a sickly child who will be hard-pressed to survive the coming winter. "You making breakfast?" her brother asks, poking his head into the foyer. A glob of shaving cream drips onto the tile below him, and Emma grimaces. She returns her focus to her previous mission of rifling through the freezer, pushing past an assortment of cheap vodka and TV dinners until she finds his deposit of frozen waffles. "Eggos!" she calls out. "Cool! Pop an extra one in the toaster for me, yeah?" Emma complies, setting an extra plate out for him as well. As the toaster whirs quietly atop the kitchen counter, she begins her morning ritual of planting herself on the sofa and burying her face in the job listings section of the local newspaper. The job hunt so far has yielded results that are...less than stellar. So many applications, so many interviews, and so far...nothing. "We'll call you if something else opens up" here and "we'll keep you on file" there. Even a "your educational background is good, but we're looking for a little more experience". It's starting to take a toll on her self-esteem. The only real offer she's gotten is from a dive bar across town called The Harlequin. She's familiar with the bartending world – it's how she put herself through college. And she likes to think she's damn good at it, too – hell, she had mastered the Bloody Mary with only a couple weeks' practice! Run-of-the-mill margaritas and martinis? Piece of cake. Not to mention, studying psychology at the same time has granted her an uncanny ability to manipulate a conversation, bend it to her will. Sniff out how to get the biggest possible tips from each kind of patron. Yes, she's a master, all right. But she's really hoping to move on to something with a more...prestigious title. "Any new prospects today?" Eddie emerges from the bathroom just as the toaster lets out a soft 'ding!' He quickly joins Emma on the sofa, a plate of waffles in either hand and bottle of syrup under his arm, completely bypassing the dining room table as per usual. She hasn't seen him eat a single meal at that table yet, instead opting to bring his food into the living room and spill his goddamn crumbs all over the furniture. "Nothing yet, besides The Harlequin thing," Emma grumbles, taking the fork he offers and muttering a quick "thank you" as he sets a plate down on the coffee table for her. "I'm tempted to accept it, just so I can end the madness." "Didn't Sophie recommend you at the bank?" Eddie goes to town with the syrup, drowning his breakfast until the golden-brown liquid threatens to spill off of his plate and onto the coffee table. "She tried. Nothing was open." Emma puts down the newspaper for the time being, feeling the beginnings of a migraine creeping along her scalp. She instead grabs the remote and flips on the TV across the living room, the background noise helping her to relax her mind. Eddie shovels in a forkful of his syrupy concoction. "Sorry we couldn't get you on at the record store. We had a spot last week, but Ron's back from rehab now..." he says with his mouth full. "That reminds me, you still thinking about medical school?" That gives her pause. Honestly, she hasn't thought about medical school in quite a while. More pressing matters to attend to. Besides, it's been years since she last studied. Who's to say that she could pick up where she left off now, even if she were to apply? In the end, after a moment's hesitation, she shrugs. "Maybe. I'm a little rusty, you know?" She takes a meager bite of her own breakfast, chewing carefully. "Aw, come on, that's a cop-out!" Eddie abruptly stands and rushes to the kitchen, leaving his plate behind. As he begins to rummage through the fridge, he continues. "You gotta at least try! You're smart and talented, you work your ass off – where the fuck? – oh, there it is..." He returns with a can of whipped cream and unleashes about half of it onto his plate, and the other half directly into his mouth. "Plus!" He grins. "You look like me, so you know you've got it goin' on." The fraternal twins did bear a striking resemblance to one another as children, but age has individualized them greatly. Where Emma remains on the shorter side, Eddie is now a solid six feet tall. Eddie has also experienced a little more horizontal growth; although Emma suspects his rampant drinking (more so than his atrocious diet) is the cause. "I'm not sure what looks have to do with anything..." Emma scans her brother's plate for the waffle. She can't see it - it's forever lost to the sugary onslaught. Maybe it is his diet after all. "Looks have to do with everything, Em. Not fair, but true." His eyebrows furrow, and he scrutinizes her face. "Speaking of which, you really do look terrible." "You mentioned." "No, like...have you been sleeping at all?" His eyes narrow with concern, meeting her own sunken ones. "I know that air mattress is a piece of shit - you can get yourself something nicer if you want." Emma sometimes forgets how observant Eddie can be when he focuses. She really hasn't been able to sleep a wink since she arrived in Gotham several days ago. He's right, the air mattress is an awkward and lumpy piece of shit, but that's not the real reason sleep evades her. The walls of the tiny apartment seem to cry in anguish at night. Sirens blare outside the window near constantly; they're sometimes accompanied by flashing red and blue lights, the colors piercing through the curtains and waltzing unsettlingly across the floor. People wander the streets until the wee hours, shouting at each other, their combined voices drifting toward the sky in an unpleasant cacophony. Emma can easily understand why folks here on the East Side are so exhausted. The only person who sleeps less than she does is the man who lives next door. She's never seen him, but she's definitely heard him. At least once every night, when she least expects it, he bursts into sudden uproarious laughter. Normally, Emma would march right over and ask the man what could possibly be so fucking funny at three in the morning (only a bit more tactfully, she's not an animal), but she never brings herself to do it. Truthfully, she's scared to. Something is not right about that laugh. It's discordant and jarring, as if clawing its way into the apartment like a demon prying frantically through the drywall. It lacks joy, and in fact, actually sounds pretty damn miserable. A part of her wonders if the man is all right. Regardless, a better mattress couldn't hurt. "Yeah, I might do that," she says. "I probably should prioritize getting some clothes of my own first." Satisfied, Eddie returns to demolishing his waffle creation. "Get whatever you want, as long as you can make the space for it. Want you to be comfortable while you're here, however long that is." He chuckles. "With your money, I'm sure you can spoil yourself much better than I can." Emma snorts, gesturing wildly at herself and at her surroundings. "Money? What money?" "You kidding?" He looks genuinely surprised for a moment. "Your ex is a millionaire! You mean to tell me you haven't hopped on that alimony pony?" "Oh, don't be ridiculous, I don't give a shit about Daniel's money." Emma rolls her eyes. "Not to mention, we only separated a week ago. We have to set a court date, fill out the paperwork-" "Yeah, yeah," Eddie drawls, waving her off. "When that check comes, you remember who took your ass in, no questions asked. Got it?" It's nice to know his sense of humor hasn't changed. Emma nods once. "You got it." They eat in peaceful silence for a while, the distant voice of the news anchor on TV the only sound in the room. Something that doesn't happen often for the siblings. After a few minutes, Eddie speaks up again. "Hey, Em?" "Yeah?" "...Glad you're back. Missed you." "Hm." A faint smile plays along her lips. "Missed you too." 

[bygosscarmine]

We Who See Thestrals

a post-canon Harry Potter fic

This is one of my oldest, dearest headcanon ideas finally written out. It came to me right after I read Deathly Hallows, soon after it was published, so it’s been a private thought for a long time. But I thought it might make some good pandemic relaxation reading--it certainly made great pandemic stress-writing. 

This series is 10k and finished. Even beta-read! Incredible.

1: Luna Lovegood Gets a Joke-Shop Job

1924 words/10k

"Look," said Ron, "I don't think she'll last here long, either, but with The Quibbler and everything Luna doesn't need money. She just needs something to do. Hermione should be the one asking, but she said she was delegating it to me. So pretend this was a super-persuasive pitch on why an old friend should be given a chance."

George cocked an eyebrow at his brother, more to make him squirm than because he was particularly interested in arguing. Ron was a decent shop clerk and a better trainer, since he liked to get out of doing things but didn't like to see them done wrong. Until their youngest was old enough to go away to school, Ron was the home parent which meant he only could work the slowest hours of the day. George also knew it was good to let his people show some initiative, even if the person was Ron.

They had a lot of young people come and go, since the job wasn't all playing with the products, and George had the bad habit of moving anyone with potential up to R&D (Recreation & Development) or to pop-up sites. Which often turned into managing new stores. Dennis Creevey had been their biggest success so far, though the Hogsmeade location was a no-brainer. Dennis wasn't much of an innovator himself, but he sold all their newest products with the passion of a very small child and the tenacity of a survivor.

They all were survivors, their generation of Hogwarts students. Some of them, like George, had decided that the best thing to create in the world was a time of innocence they couldn't even enter. And that's why so many parents bought so much delightful nonsense from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

"I don't mind having you hire and train her," he said, as if having wrestled with himself, "as long as you make sure she doesn't blow up my shop in vengeance for what you did to her house."

He left Ron sputtering an unformed rebuttal, and went through his vanishing cabinet to the lab.

Luna started the next week. That day George was too busy trying to get the topiary algae to form itself with a longer nose to go down to the shop for niceties. When he heard a whump all the way through the door, through the other vanishing cabinet about five miles away, he decided it was time to check in on the new hire. He carefully finished his notes, told Neville he'd call him back and took out the prototype earplugs he'd made, improving the extendible ears beyond all recognition. They really helped when he needed to trouble-shoot things like recalcitrant botany with friends, so he'd given sets to several of the usual suspects and occasionally owled his spare pairs to others. He took off his slimy gloves and went down to the shop.

There was a glittering purple cloud of smoke pluming into an onion shape in the middle of the floor, with a blast-radius of knocked-over toys about five feet in diameter. Ron had taken cover behind the counter, while a white-blonde head was half-obscured in the cloud. There was no doubting this witch, in purple robes with appliques of cabbages dotted around them, was Luna Lovegood.

"Hallo Looney," said George, "I thought that must be you making a bang. My hearing isn't what it used to be, but I heard it clear in my flat down the road."

"Hello, George," said Luna, unperturbed and sliding out of the cloud sideways, as if it were something she had to sneak away from. "The good news is there are no Snorkaks in your shop. If there were, that is, they'd be dead now."

"Good to know. Ron, stop mentally rehearsing your plea to not be fired and clear up this cloud. A simple scouring should take care of it--not using any dark charms, are you, Luna?"

"I don't think so," she said.

"Yes, Scourgify will be fine. Has Ron given you the tour yet?"

George knew himself to be a bit of a ladies' man, so he was mostly unsurprised to find himself grinning winsomely at Luna.

"I believe he was trying," said Luna. "But I'm not always the best at paying attention."

"I see he wasn't giving you the tour properly, then. You don't have to pay attention, just play with everything you think looks fun. Neverstop Pop?"

"Thank you," said Luna, at last looking apprehensive. She glanced at Ron, who didn't even pause in his vanishing wand-waves to say, "You'll taste banana for about six hours, but otherwise harmless."

"Oh, banana!" she said, and took the lolly. Its purple and green swirl of candy was innocent enough, but the stick it was on began smoking a blue color as soon as her tongue touched it.

"I would have pegged you for pink smoke," George noted. "Intriguing."

He showed her around the shop properly. He had really gotten the knack of sales in the early shop days and now around holidays would work the floor himself to keep his hand in. He kept a keen eye on where her eyes fell, and they tested out all the products that he saw some interest in.

Luna may not have been great at paying attention to workplace tours, but she actually had an unusual knack for toys and games. She had blown enough Self-Shaping Bubble Shot to discover that you could somewhat steer the shape by focusing on one of the forms it took, and produced a steady stream of rabbits that were more robust than any bubbles George had seen anyone but Ginny's girl Lily make. He had to gently steer her away to see the sweets area and puzzles. Most adults had disappointingly short attention spans for play, he had found.

But Luna was an adult. Of all his sister's classmates she was the one who had always struck him as a little more childlike than her age, but possibly this was more a determined positivity and self-expression than thoughtless innocence. After all, none of them had gotten this far untouched. Luna had put the Quibbler on the map as the most outspoken political news of the wizarding world, soliciting articles about the need for reform in the Ministry, magical education, and species equity. She had to be made of a springy sort of steel to have done that. It still ran controversial creature features and terrible celebrity gossip, and the tone of the articles was inflammatory in a way that made George think of Rita Skeeter's flair for drama, but it was read.

"Why are you looking for a job?" he asked, only realizing after a second that this was an abrupt question, coming rather late.

"I am not really suited for teaching or ministry work," she answered, unperturbed. "So I need to look around a bit for what to do with my life. My mum was a charms inventor and my dad started a magazine, but I never was very good at keeping track of details the way you do with either of those professions."

"You did good work writing with the Quibbler--why did you retire?"

"I think I did the Quibbler stuff for my friends," she said, gently brushing one of the Pygmy Puffs. "But once I nudged it in the right direction, I found that there were other people who wanted to do it really badly and I just thought it was all right. I was thinking of going out on some research trips to write some articles."

"Yeah? Anything stopping you?"

"Just that I don't particularly want to. Not by myself, anyway."

He tasted blood, for just a second, heard a shrill sound cut in half.

"I don't blame you," he said, trying to blink back the memory.

The light from the high windows was hitting her silver-blonde hair so it glowed, and he noted a very small patch of magenta cloud still caught in her curls. Her lips pursed over the pygmy puff, a soft pink interruption in her somewhat sharp, white face.

"George, I'm going out for a smoke since you're here," said Ron.

George hadn't realized he was having a moment until he felt an instantaneous desire to strangle his younger brother.

"Fine," he said. "We don't need you, anyway."

"I literally just finished cleaning up after Luna," Ron snorted, and stalked away. "You're both welcome!"

Anyway, George had no business noticing the light on his newest employee's hair. He showed her how they fed the pygmy puffs and cleaned the cage, before retreating into his lab the second Ron seemed to be coming back in.

But later that afternoon when Ron had left he went down to see how Luna was faring training with Rhodendra, a cousin of Lee Jordan's who was fresh from Hogwarts and a whiz with the calcu-labe. He foresaw losing her to Gringotts or a newer financial firm. These were making an appearance in the wizard economy as it flourished after the rebuilding. He had seeded money into one of them himself.

School had let out for the day, and some London-local wizarding children had come through The Leaky Cauldron to hang around and play with some of the toys. Luna apparently was getting on with Rhodendra just fine. The two of them were seated on the floor surrounded by these children, playing a fierce round of Incendiary Snap, which was a brilliant idea Ginny had started by accident. It was particularly brilliant because it didn't just add an extra edge to Exploding Snap, with the very real if child-safe fire, but it also eventually charred the cards to the point where they had to be replaced.

The Snap happened. As Rhodendra shrieked, batting away the illusionary fire, Luna Lovegood summoned a Shield Charm with deceptive ease.

"Did I win that round?" she said, mildly surprised.

"Oh, please," said Rhodendra. "You've won every round. My cards are getting too hot to hold."

"Can we play now?" asked one of the nine or ten-year-olds.

"Sure," said Rhodendra, getting up. Luna followed her example, and they handed the "demo" pack over to the kids. During the school year, their main clientele besides parents were the children too young for Hogwarts, especially the ones with parents who didn’t let them play magical games until they were of age.

Rhodendra noticed George observing and hurried to the counter where she began doing inventory busy-work. Luna instead went to the Muggle tricks display where she seemed to be doing a deep study of the card-tricks brochure. He went back up to his lab, satisfied no personality clashes were forming.

He didn't go down into the shop later than noon for the rest of the week. Instead, if he finished work early he went to the pub to make some winning bets on the qualification rounds of the Quidditch World Cup, as everyone listened on the radio. (Occasionally he dreamed of bringing a wizarding form of television to Quidditch fans, but abandoned it. Someone would do it eventually but he preferred to live a little longer in the charmingly medieval world of wizarding technology a little longer.)

He had all but forgotten his new hire when Ron came bursting in from the cabinet.

"George, you have to come see this. I think we should keep Luna on after all!"

George was intrigued, though a bit puzzled. He hadn't realized Luna's status was probationary, though this was very Ron of Ron. Ron had hired himself on probation.

Go to Chapter 2

Graphic’s George image from the @renissance moodboard I posted https://seagod.co.vu/post/168723892062/ 

[thecomicsnexus]

DOOM PATROL #19-22 FEBRUARY-MAY 1989 BY GRANT MORRISON, RICHARD CASE, CARLOS GARZÓN AND SCOTT HANNA

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC WIKIA)

After the recent alien invasion that nearly destroyed their team, the surviving members of the Doom Patrol are struggling to deal with the deaths of their friends and their own misgivings about ever returning to superheroics.

Robotman has since checked himself into a psychiatric ward, plagued by nightmares of the accident that saddled him with his robotic body. He has become depressed and bitter with the knowledge that he will never be human again.

Niles Caulder and Joshua Clay, meanwhile, have been placing calls to check in on the others. They learn that Larry Trainor is in stable condition at Alamance General Hospital after crashing his helicopter, while Rhea Jones was left comatose in the wake of the Gene Bomb. While Joshua intended only to learn whether his friends are okay, the Chief hoped that he might be able to reform the Doom Patrol soon. Though the Chief extends him an invitation, Joshua politely refuses to join. Even so, Clay is to play an important part in Caulder's future plans.

Doctor Will Magnus visits Cliff in the hopes of bringing him some cheer, but Robotman is too depressed. As his human brain is housed within an entirely robotic body, he has all of the same impulses, but he can't feel anything. He has all of the memories of what physical sensations used to feel like, but they haunt him, and he is constantly aware of the phantom body which isn't there. He breaks down, and demonstrates his emptiness by slamming his metal head into a wall over and over, and the lack of physical feeling fills him with emotional pain. Magnus suggests that the Doom Patrol might have helped him deal with these feelings, but Cliff doesn't want to go back to the team that got Rita, Arani and Scott killed.

Larry is visited by Doctor Eleanor Poole, who assures him that he will be healed and ready to leave within days. After she leaves the room, though, a dark shadow appears in his window and calls to him. The Negative Spirit speaks to him for the first time, and it intends to make some changes for Larry. It causes Larry to call for Dr. Poole, who, upon entering the room, becomes entangled in an alchemical marriage which fuses the three entities into a single being. In order to give Cliff some perspective, Magnus introduces him to someone who has far worse problems than he does. Another patient who refers to herself as Crazy Jane suffers from dissociative disorder as a result of abuse she received as a child. She has since developed dozens of alternate personalities. However, in combination with the detonation of the gene bomb, each of her personalities has its own superpower. After speaking with her, Cliff realizes that she is in greater need of help than he is, and decides to make himself responsible for her.

Elsewhere, something sinister underlies the events of a car crash. A policeman witnessed the driver, consumed in flames, walk away from the explosion to warn the Scissormen. Before dying, he left behind a strange black book. Even the government operatives sent to investigate are perturbed by these events. Even so, all they can do is call their superiors, who will contact the pentagon, who will contact the President - and then he'll contact Niles Caulder.

Father McGarry has stopped believing in miracles, but still, every Saturday, he walks through the debris left behind by the Gene Bomb in search of some sign of God. Today, he spots a sign meant to say "Have Faith in God", but the G is obscured such that it reads "Have Faith in Cod". At that moment, it begins raining fish - a wide variety of fish, too - but no cod. Saddened by the irony, Father McGarry is suddenly crushed by a giant refrigerator, fallen from the sky.

Elsewhere, Niles Caulder and Joshua Clay visit the Alamance Memorial Hospital after hearing that Larry Trainor turned into some kind of creature overnight. The doctors believe that what they discovered is some kind of amalgamation of both Larry and his doctor Eleanor Poole. It also emits some kind of radiation which required them to wrap it in bandages. The Chief asks Larry if he remembers him, but the voice that comes from the bandages is not Larry's. It announces that it is a mix in both race and sex, a series of contradictory mergers. Rather than answer to Larry or Eleanor, the wrapped figure with both male and female characteristics suggests that they call it Rebis.

Somewhere in the village of Greenock, Scotland, a young boy named Stuart is displeased with the idea of going to church on Sunday. As he thinks on this, trying to savour his Saturday, he hears a sound from his wardrobe. When he opens it, he is filled with horror. His father comes some time later to ask him what he wants for dinner, and is surprised to find that his son has been rendered a boy-shaped void.

After their visit, the Chief explains that the name Rebis was a term used by the medieval alchemists to identify the result of a chymical wedding. Leaving his companions for a moment, Caulder returns to Rebis' room and asks whether it might like to join his Doom Patrol.

Meanwhile, Cliff Steele is still voluntarily committed to a mental institution in order to deal with the trauma of losing his body. He receives a visit from Will Magnus, who remarks that he seems to be making progress. In addition, his attention to the young lady known as Crazy Jane has apparently seen her improving as well. Cliff's help in helping her organize herself and cataloging her new super-powers has been invaluable. Before taking his leave, Magnus intimates that he took Cliff's complaints about his robot body to heart, and decided to make him a new body using the advances in cybernetic technology that have become available.

Afterwards, Cliff receives a visit from Crazy Jane, who introduces herself as Driver 8, the driver of Jane's train of thought and monitor of the stations of the underground. The underground is how Jane refers to the place where all of her personalities reside. Driver 8 delivers a message from other personalities that they like Cliff. As they walk, a crash overhead alerts them to Ralph, a fellow patient, throwing himself from an upper window to the ground below. In his injured delirium, Ralph repeats the name "Scissormen" over and over.

While taking the subway through Manhattan, a man who has just taken something that was not his to take finds his familiar route changed suddenly when the train stops at Orqwith station. Out the train's windows, he can see that everything, even the platform, is made of bones. He prays that the doors don't open, but they do anyway. Onto the train step the Scissormen with their blood-red scissors.

Late at night, while up writing, Cliff is distracted by the sound of Jane chanting the phrase "Blood of the Lamb" over and over. He finds her covered in blood, and when he tries to calm her, she warns that the Scissormen are coming. In fact, they have already arrived. Four men armed with giant scissors for hands begin advancing on them, and Cliff desperately drags Jane away from them. The room they rush into is occupied by a doctor who is floating in mid-air. He claims that he is existing in two places at once, and he can feel the Scissormen cutting off his thumbs. Before long, the Scissormen smash through the wall, and it is only by the grace of Jane's sudden ability to teleport them away that they are saved.

Out in the courtyard, though, the pair are beset by a crowd of white, people-shaped spaces, apparently cut straight out of reality.

Around the world, a number of strange occurrences are all connected to the arrival of the Scissormen.

In their attempt to escape from the Scissormen, Cliff Steele and Crazy Jane run to Kansas City, where the old Doom Patrol Headquarters was hidden in Union Station. Unfortunately, Cliff failed to realize that the end of the Doom Patrol would mean the end of the headquarters - but at least a note was left behind to say that the HQ had been moved to Rhode Island. However, as they discover the note, the Scissormen catch up to them, and the pair of them are forced to run for it.

Cliff leads Jane to one of the Doom Patrol's planes, which is still in working condition, hoping they can fly to safety in it. He notices, however, that one of her personalities has actually transformed her, physically, and the accompanying power makes her a horrifying site. With long, sharp fingernails, she tears at a Scissorman until nothing remains of him but shreds. Fortunately, Black Annis leaves Jane's mind in time for Cliff to drag her aboard the plane and fly away, leaving the remaining Scissormen behind.

The plane takes them directly to the Rhode Island headquarters, which the Chief explains was the former home of the original Justice League. He is aware of the Scissormen, having received the black book from the intelligence services recently. In fact, Jane has already finished deciphering the book with the help of her personalities. Apparently, the book is a metafiction that tells the story of the creation of the book by a group of philosophers who were seeking to radically alter human thought.

The book would be filled with parasitic ideas that would enter human consciousness and transform it. This, the Chief explains, is a form of memetic memory. These philosophers decided to create a world-city called Orqwith that would exist on a plane of reality that intersects with this one, and the history and geography of that world-city is recorded in the black book. In the end, though, the philosophers were devoured by their own creations. The Scissormen are apparently a kind of religious sect that worships a god who exists at the intersection of realities, and they are Orqwith's own version of the Inquisition.

To further their investigation, the Chief has actually managed to capture one of these Scissormen already, thanks to Rebis' radiation. This is all rather bothersome to Cliff, who can't be sure whether any of the things he has just heard or seen are actually real. The Chief points out that there is no clear distinction between reality and unreality - both appear to be present. Either way, he hopes to find out just how extensive the intrusion of Orqwith has been on their own reality, and then to track down the philosophers who wrote the book.

Cliff and Joshua Clay are saddled with watching the Scissorman, and end up talking about how weird things have become for them. Joshua hadn't even intended to be there still, but he has since found that he wouldn't have anywhere to go if he did leave. In an attempt to console him, Cliff responds that at least Joshua is real - unlike the Scissorman, who has apparently managed to disappear in the brief moment their backs were turned.

Looking up, they see that there are several more Scissormen advancing on them, and Joshua is forced to use his powers against them. They marvel at the fact that when they hit the Scissormen, they simply fade away. With that in mind, they manage to deal with the threat - until one Scissorman appears behind Josh and cuts him out of reality. The rest of the team rushes in too late, and though Cliff is concerned for Josh's life, Rebis claims that he and all of those the Scissormen took are out there somewhere, waiting for them.

Rashly, Cliff runs out to meet them, and with Jane and Rebis behind him, they all disappear from reality, and enter Orqwith.

Orqwith is a world of a city. At its centre stands Quadrivium, and in that, the Ossuary; the great Cathedral of Orqwith. The cathedral is occupied by two priests. One is a liar and the other is honest, but both are waiting to answer the question that will unmake the world.

Now that Cliff Steele is there in Orqwith, he can think of absolutely nothing funny to say. All around them, they can see the structures made of bone, and the populace - the hollow children - who were once denizens of the real world, and now reside in Orqwith. With horror, Cliff spots Josh Clay, and tries to talk to him, but a Scissorman comes running. The Negative Spirit within Rebis destroys the attacker, but Cliff's companions urge him to leave Josh be for now, with Crazy Jane teleporting them away.

Elsewhere, The Chief tracks down a man named Reinmann, who is somehow connected to the Black Book of Orqwith. Reinmann reaches for a pistol, claiming that he doesn't fear a cripple. In response, Caulder fires a bullet into Reinmann's thigh, explaining that now they are both cripples, and should talk.

The Negative Spirit flies over a pair of Scissormen, who somehow manage to blast it into pieces. With desperation, Rebis runs over to absorb the many pieces. The negative spirit managed to gather some crucial information from the scissormen before it was destroyed, and Jane's personality Mama Pentecost helps translate the words for them. Though the words come out as nonsense, she claims that they have learned how to get the better of their enemies.

Reinmann explains that the book was meant to be an intellectual joke, but it soon began to infringe on reality. When the Scissormen came for one of them, they tried to destroy the book to no avail. However, they did write a logical inconsistency in the fiction. They incorporated the philosophical question of why there is something rather than nothing. Orqwith can be destroyed if it is made to confront its own unreality.

Jane has just determined that exact fact. Orqwith is not supposed to be real. All they have to do is ask the two priests of the Ossuary why there is something rather than nothing, and Orqwith will be gone. Unfortunately, the Ossuary is guarded by nearly one hundred Scissormen.

Rebis claims that the Negative Spirit can get them into the Ossuary, though only five minutes of energy remain for its powers. Cliff and Jane rush Rebis into action as the Scissormen notice them there. As Rebis flies over the cathedral and smashes through the stained-glass ceiling, Cliff and Jane are tasked with preventing the numerous Scissormen from getting inside.

Confronting the two priests, Rebis asks them why there is something rather than nothing. The priest dressed in black responds that he is a liar, and does not know why there is something rather than nothing. The priest in white responds that he is an honest man, and that he doesn't know either. Thinking it out in its head, Rebis realizes that the priest in black must be the liar - and must therefore know the answer. Rebis poses the question again to the black priest, who responds that there is something rather than nothing - another lie. As such, Rebis reminds, Orqwith cannot possibly exist. A flash of light leaves Cliff, Jane, Rebis, and Josh sitting in the dirt outside the Secret Sanctuary.

The Chief reports that the anomalous activity caused by Orqwith's intrusion appeares to have ceased, but all the same, these events have convinced him more than ever that the world needs a Doom Patrol. With only a little reluctance, the four heroes agree to join Caulder in his team.

Elsehwere, a mysterious figure looks in on Rhea Jones in her hospital bed, while she lays comatose.

In Paraguay, a Doctor Bruckner warns of the escape of someone called Herr Niemand.

REVIEW

This is it, the critically acclaimed Morrison run on Doom Patrol. This title was unreadable, I am no joking here. So it is really refreshing to see what Morrison did (to be fair, he managed to put everything into place before he started, thanks to Kupperberg).

So, is it up to the hype? Well, yes. This is different, and comic-books should always welcome different (and good). It is also a book trying not to be the other books. Which I find very “alternative”, a product of its time. (It was the nineties version of the hipster movement, if there is such a thing).

While the characters are still trying not to be together when the story starts, at least they find reasons to group again. Now adding Crazy Jane and Rebis (can we say this is a transgender character?). It still relies on what happened before and it isn’t easy to keep track of all the characters we don’t see.

Richard Case is amazing. It is hard to have a range in terms of super-hero art. This is pretty much a horror story, and it really feels like it. Mostly thanks to Richard Case.

I give the arc a score of 9

[anothergracekellyblog]

GRACE KELLY - HER BIGGEST GAMBLE (PART 2) by Maurice Zolotow

THE AMERICAN WEEKLY - April 21, 1956

Can a shy girl who became a movie star carve out a new career - as a princess? 

Photo by Howell Conant

SOURCE: Newspapers.com

PART 3 here

Click Keep reading for the full article. 

PART II

The position in which Grace Kelly finds herself today must be intensely painful to her. For a long time, she has desperately avoided being the center of attention. She has been elusive. She has been secretive. She has kept to herself. Being a shy and sensitive person, she likes silence and solitude.

Even though she has been compulsively driven to seek success in a profession which swarms with lovely lunatics who are fond of doing and saying bizarre and unconventional things, this lean and intense blonde has persisted in her withdrawn pattern of living.

Her reserve, which is actually a disguise to mask the insecurity she feels with other people, has been interpreted as aristocratic hauteur. Her timidity has been called serenity. Her long silences when interviewers probe her inhibitions about divulging the dimensions of her bosom or the length of her long, lean legs, are described as manifestations of a snobbish disdain for the manners and morals of Hollywood.

So now, this girl who has always tried to shun the glare of publicity has become a focus of international excitement from the principality of Monaco to the principality of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. If the future wife of Prince Rainier III, His Serene Highness, the Prince of Monaco, Baron du Buis, Duc de Valentinois and Marquis des Baux, carries out her threat to retire from motion pictures, it would cost her studio at least $10,000,000 a year for the remaining four years of her contract.

The triumph of Grace is one of the most astonishing reversals in the whole saga of Hollywood. Four years ago she was in several unsuccessful Broadway shows. Then, almost within a year, she catapulted to the heights. She won the Academy Award for her portrayal of the tortured wife of an alcoholic in The Country Girl. In her two upcoming films, The Swan and High Society, her qualities of subtlety, wit, emotion and human understanding will be displayed in even more sharpness because she is constantly polishing her technique as an actress.

One morning between scenes during the shooting of High Society I sat in Bing Crosby's dressing room. He plays the ex-husband of a girl named Tracy. Crosby remarked, "This Tracy character that Grace is doing, well, it's the most. It will be a whole new Kelly. She starts out being a little held down and then she breaks it up. She gets real high. She even gets drunk in one scene. Man, this girl achieves a real coup d’état.

"You see, first she's untouchable and then she breaks down and becomes a real woman. She kind of broke down a little in The Country Girl but in High Society she breaks down all the way. I think what happened is her being in love and that this romance with the Prince, old Rainier, helped to bring out this gal's warmness. And isn't that something about Monaco putting her picture on a postage stamp? I also hear they're putting her on a coin. It sure will be the best looking piece of change in the world."

To come to know Grace Kelly even casually, as I came to know her for a few brief days, is to realize that physically and spiritually she is quite unlike most of the characters she has portrayed so elegantly in the movies. It is proof of what an extremely gifted actress she is that when you are about to come into contact with her you expect to meet the chic and elegantly voluptuous creature who flirted so outrageously with Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, who resolutely went on the make for Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, who passionately kissed Clark Gable in the rain in Mogambo, and who broke William Holden's heart in The Country Girl.

That afternoon, as I plodded through the crowds in the Metro commissary, I was filled with misgivings because I could not see the enchanting blonde goddess anywhere. I thought for a moment she might have forgotten our appointment. But she was sitting at one of the tables against a wall.

The reason I did not see her was simple: she doesn't look like an enchanting blonde goddess. She was wearing her glasses, but that was not the reason. She was wearing an azure-colored blouse tied with a string around her slender neck. She was wearing black bolero pants and ballet slippers.

She is unusually tall for a woman almost five feet eight inches tall but she does not carry the weight that ordinarily goes with this height. She is about 110 pounds in heft give or take a few pounds. Her eyes, which are large and deep and extremely penetrating, are a lovely sky-blue color. Her hair, which is soft and straight, is worn long, almost to the shoulders. She has strong eyebrows, a delicately shaped nose, a small but firm chin, an alabaster skin that is translucently clear, beautifully formed ears and thin but very expressive lips.

Through some fortunate chemical interaction, Miss Kelly and I happened to hit it off almost immediately. I felt comfortable and happy with her, and I believe she also felt at ease with me. For this reason, I was able to catch a glimpse of her that few outsiders have known.

This aspect of her personality only comes out during one of her upswinging moods that usually follow the finishing of a movie or any satisfying experience that makes her feel good about herself. She then becomes playful, whimsical, gay, high-spirited. In this mood, she loves to tease people, giving play to an almost childlike mischievousness.

During her New York years, for instance, she once lived in an apartment with very little furniture. She used to startle young men who called for her by dressing up in a long black dress, letting her hair hang wildly over her face, and sitting crosslegged in an empty room, lit only by one candle in a bottle.

When I visited her house and started to light a cigarette, she said, handing me a pack, "Use these matches from Monaco."

I looked impressed. I saw the big word "Monaco" on the folding matchbox. I lit my cigarette and remarked, "Isn't that nice the Prince sending you matches from Monaco. How thoughtful!"

Seeing I had been neatly fooled, Miss Kelly broke into spasms of girlish delight.

"Read it again," Miss Kelly said.

I did. The matchbox cover read: "The Monaco Grocery and Delicatessen. Imported and Domestic Food Products. Finest Wines. 8513 Santa Monica Boulevard at La Cienga."

But her prevailing mood is one of introverted detachment from her surroundings. She can get lost in her own thoughts and emotions and she will sit by herself for hours, silently knitting or looking out a window.

For at least three hours a day, she must be by herself. During these interludes she retraces the events of the day, analyzing the motives of the people she has encountered, wondering which of her actions she might have altered.

One of her friends told me, "She has a secret life in which she finds peace."

Her circle of really close friends is very small and they are all New Yorkers. They include Rita Gam, Broadway producer Gant Gaither, her Music Corporation of America agent, Jay Kanter, and his wife Judy. The members of this group have a secret signal three bird whistles in rapid succession so they can identify themselves over the telephone. But even with her closest friends, Grace will be bashful. Few of them have heard her play the piano, although she is a tolerably good pianist.

It seems peculiar that somebody with such a character should plunge into the profession of acting, acting, and the answer to this riddle is a complicated one that takes us deep into her psychology and into her inner conflicts. But first, we must clear up two misconceptions Grace Kelly is not a debutante and she does not hail from the "Main Line" of Philadelphia society.

She was born Grace Patricia Kelly on November 12, 1929. The family then lived and still does in the East Falls of Schuylkill neighborhood of Philadelphia, a solid, no-nonsense, bourgeois neighborhood. The Kelly family is not in the Social Register. Nor is her father, John B. Kelly, worth $20,000,000.

Some years the John B. Kelly construction company, one of the nation's biggest contractors in the brick-masonry line, has done that much gross business. But Mr. Kelly probably is not worth more than a small handful of millions and he is certainly not one of the richest men in America, as he has been inaccurately described.

None of the Kelly children was reared in the lap of luxury. They ate sturdy, simple meals and they were not tended by retinues of nurses and governesses.

Another misconception about Grace Kelly's life, it seems to me, is that she had a blissfully happy childhood. The sadness and loneliness that Grace Kelly projected as Mrs. Elgin in The Country Girl could have come out of her experience as a human being. She understands loneliness and misery.

Both of her parents are strong, unusual personalities. Mrs. Kelly, who was Margaret Majer, comes of German stock. As a girl, she was tall, blonde and beautiful. She was a fervent suffragette and physical culturist. In 1914, when she was about 13 years old, Miss Majer went to the Philadelphia Turngemeinde, a gymnasium and social club for gymnasts, to practice high diving. She was introduced to a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered man, 10 years older than herself, who had come to play handball.

That man was John B. Kelly, a lusty young Irishman, with a keen mind and tremendous ambition. When he met the future Mrs. Kelly, he was a bricklayer's apprentice six days a week and an athlete in his spare time.

Jack Kelly was a great basketball player and a good boxer. He fought in army bouts during World War I in the heavyweight division and knocked out a man who later gave Gene Tunney a lot of trouble. He probably was the best all-around oarsman this country has ever known.

Politics, business and athletics are the three goals of his life and of these the most important is athletics. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, athletics is almost a religion. Of their four children, three fitted into the pattern beautifully.

The oldest child, Peggy, born in 1925, was a swimming and diving champion. She is married to George Davis, the owner of the Philadelphia Ramblers, a hockey team. Their nine-year-old daughter, Meg Davis, finished second in the Junior National Figure Skating meet in 1955. She was younger than most of the other competitors.

John B. Kelly, Jr., was born in 1927. From the time he was five, his father had him out in a boat and was drilling him in the technique of rowing, John Jr. has won the U. S. sculling championship six times, the Canadian championship five times, England's Diamond Sculls twice. He won the European championship in 1949.

During World War II he did some boxing in the Navy as a lightweight. He met his wife, Mary, at the 1952 Olympic Games. She was a member of the American swimming team.

The youngest Kelly child, Lizanne, was born in 1932. She was captain of the girls’ basketball team at the University of Pennsylvania and is married to Don LeVine, who is a broker with a stock exchange firm in Philadelphia.

By a strange fluke of biology, into this family of boisterous gladiators and Amazons, there came a quiet, sensitive, artistic, gentle creature - a girl named Grace.

Next week Mr. Zolotow tells why this shy girl became a great actress and why he thinks she fell deeply in love with Prince Rainier.

[gossamerandshadow]

Zane Rose Holm: Character Sheet

Summary

Taken from his loving family and quiet life at the young age of 13, Zane spends the following decade living among creatures who both worship and hate him. Forced to train daily to learn how to fight and defend himself from some grand enemy he never encounters but they swear exists, he never becomes quite as good as they’d like. He feels his life is rather chaotic and inescapable until one fatidic night where he stumbles onto a strange door in the old library.

Attributes 45-35

Psyche: Paragon 25

Strength: Average -25

Endurance: Paragon 20

Finesse: Superior -10

Presence: Paragon 0

Powers 76

Warden of the Grand Stair 10

Cantrips 5

Glitch

Invigorate

Mana

Nullify

Surge

Sorcery 15

Talk with animals 6 - based on mind touch, but just for animals and instantaneous. Zane can tell an animal something and it can usually understand what he said. It does not let Zane understand animals as if they were speaking in a human language he knows.

Empathy 15

Aura Sense and Item Reading 5

Danger Sense 5

Mind Prob and Mind Reading 5

Enchantment 25

Empowerment 5

Disenchant 5

Duplication 5

Shape Gossamer Material 5

Stable Empowerment 5

Creatures and Artifacts 14

Tiny dragon 5

Qualities

Animal Vitality 1

Combat Training 1

Able to Speak 1

Danger Sensitivity 2

Quantity 1

Staff key 9

Qualities

Double Damage 2

Invulnerable to Conventional Weapons 4

Psychic Resistance 1

Powers

Pass Through Door 1

Alternate Form 1 (tiny key or a staff)

Quantity 1

Allies 0

Zane met plenty of people in the world where he spent a decade of his life and they might pop up, but they aren’t really allies. More acquaintances who might save him from certain death if it’d come out they didn’t. They might also just beat him to near death if they bump into him.

Backstory

Zane Rose Holm lived a simple life with his parents, older sister and twin brother - who in their earlier years could be told apart from thanks to the most strange rose shaped mark around Zane's right wrist - on a small farm in a small but very kind and understanding village.

Until the day of their 13th birthday.

It was a very cold night in the middle of December. The last of their guests had already left the Holm farm - with the exception of their best friend Richard who was staying over and his big sister Rita, who was very much taking advantage of the younger ones' slumber party to spend all night gossiping with their older sister Jenny). The roles would be reversed the next January on Jenny's birthday.

The first sign something was amiss is when the dark sky lightens with a bright sudden light. They all notice through their respective windows, but storms are not that strange and they don't even hear any thunder so it must be far away.

Yet the animals made a raucous, especially the sheep with loud baas that were harder to ignore.

The three boys heard footsteps come closer followed by Mr Holm's voice telling Jenny and Rita not to worry, he'd take care of it. Shouldn't take that long to calm the sheep. More footsteps, fading. The door opening. Another bright light and a thud.

Zane's wrist began to hurt.

Worrying about the smallest of the bunch, they did not notice the approaching footsteps. The heavier footsteps, accompanied by the noise of cluttering metal.

He began to whimper.

The bedroom door flew open, revealing a dark broad and tall shadow with glowing red eyes. "There you are," his voice mocked.

Zane could not be certain of what followed next. It was all a blur of pain, light and screams until he mercifully passed out.

He’d wake up later on a strange bed in a strange world. With strange new powers and responsibilities. He’d spend the following years forced to tone said powers, surrounded by people who thought him either a disgrace or almost a deity or, most often, both.

He knew full well what everyone thought. It had been one of the powers he had acquired. One that proved quite a headache. 

Appearance

Zane is a man on the smaller side standing just 1.50m tall with a thin frame and fair skin. His face has soft features with big light grey eyes and his ears are slightly pointed. His straight light brown hair reaches the middle of his back and is often tied on a loose ponytail. Zane tends to wear jeans with comfortable sneakers and light shirts and sweaters.

[academicchaos]

Call to Action Speech

How many of you are irritated that the electoral and popular votes don’t match up this year?

The American voting system as it has been created has stripped the American citizen of their actual voice. The electoral college decides the President of the United States, not the popular vote, a rule that has been present in the Constitution since the inception of this government. As a result, many people feel disenfranchised from the system and grow apathetic instead of finding ways to take other action. The issue is that government has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, including our bedrooms and bathrooms, and so it feels that in order to accomplish any task, one must act within the system in place.

However, the system in place does not always work for all members of society. The vast majority of those in control are straight, white, men. This American culture is born of genocide, rape, and slavery. More than that, as detailed by Toni Morrison for the New Yorker, American cultural identity is rooted in skin color and how one carries the ideology of whiteness. As fear of loss of control sets in, those in power act without fear of punishment as they persecute those who are different.

Government, laws, and legislation exist to criminalize the “other”.

Anarchy offers another solution. 

What exactly is Anarchy? Many people simply think of it as absolute chaos due to the lack of government. In actuality, Anarchy is a socio-political philosophy that, according to the Salem Press Encyclopedia, advocates for the abolition of coercive and controlling forms of government that put emphasis on private property in favor of a form of willful participation in society with a preservation of individual freedoms. Now, the issue often appears when people ask how Anarchy could possibly come into effect.

Change comes when direct action is taken.

Look to the failure of the legal system when four white police officers were acquitted of the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1992. According to All Things Considered on NPR, this verdict was met with 5 days of a city on fire, over 50 people dead, and $1 billion in property damage.

Property damage usually catches the attention of those in power; in a capitalist government, money always talks. In the years following the riots, police chiefs were fired and the administration revamped. While LAPD brutality has decreased in the 20 years since these riots, there is still a failure of the system in that police brutality across the country is still rampant. 

The point here, is that rioting did enact change, but because it was still within the framework of organized government, the change was not able to penetrate the entirety of American culture.

And how could we expect it to? In response to the protests of Trump’s election, a journalist from Al-Jazeera News Network asks what it is the protesters hope to accomplish. “Do they imagine that any arm of government has the authority to quash the results and start over?” The general tone of her article is overwhelmingly condescending and I respond that, no, there is no functional limb of this flailing creature that we call our government, that can fix what it has birthed. And neither the right nor left arm is willing to relinquish power to the masses.

Too often has the left, in terms of our binary political spectrum, been in favor of non-violence as a method of resistance. Turning the other cheek does not work when the enemy stands with assault rifles, tear gas, and police batons. We’ve seen the current images of Ferguson and Baltimore bearing a disturbing resemblance to the Palestinian border. 

Historically, look to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, during which violence was an effective method of resistance for those far outside of the conservative value spectrum. For people who fall under the queer umbrella, Stonewall shifted the way in which gay men, lesbians, and trans people fought for the right to exist and be acknowledged as human beings. According to eyewitnesses who were in New York during the riots, including renowned feminist author Rita Mae Brown, the Stonewall Inn, a queer bar that allowed same-sex couples to dance together and didn’t count the number of “gender-appropriate” garments, was raided under the guise of busting the Mob. This ruse was revealed when police officers began to abuse lesbian patrons outside of the bar. The crowd turned on the police officers, who cowardly barricaded themselves within the bar. Back and forth, the fighting began to see who would win the fight for the bar, for the upper hand. This battle continued in the streets for 6 more days.

The beauty of the Stonewall Inn Riots is that they sparked action. That night in 1969 gave birth to coalitions such as the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activist Alliance. Today gay marriage has been legalized and trans people are able to come out of the shadows. As stated in the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, the roots of LGBTQ actvisim and rights can be traced back to that fateful night which sparked civil and violent unrest.

This snapshot of history, is a prime example of how actions outside those sanctioned by the state, can shift public opinion, policy, and the general well-being of those who had formerly been deemed ill.

With the course of history seeming doomed to repeat itself, wolves in the hen house no longer disguising themselves, the question comes, what action can you take, will you take, when the time comes to defend yr right to live, to walk down to street without the state imposing its will upon yr very body?

A useful framework for how to take violent action and still remain ethically responsible can be found in the Harry Potter Series. Are most of y’all familiar with the premise that Voldemort and the Death-Eaters believe that pure-bloods are the only valid wizards and that everyone else must be eliminated and bow down to their demands? The Dark Lord and his followers share the attributes of Nazis and Fascists. When met with this challenge, Harry and his friends joined forces with the persecuted, the minorities, met in secret, spoke truth to power, and most importantly, as illustrated in the final battle, learned to protect themselves from deadly force. In the fashion of Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix, we must also ready ourselves for the battle that is not such a stretch of the imagination as white supremacists are now considered to be alt-right.

Looking again to Harry Potter, a wizard or witch would be caught literally dead without a wand. Harry and his allies never used the worst of the Dark Arts, but they learned how to repel those spells which would have killed them in an instant. Back in our dismal reality, those who rail against imaginary enemies trying to take their guns away, are willing to unload bullets, then cry that they were afraid for their lives from an unarmed Black teenager. The time has come for those who refuse to be oppressed, to take up arms in self-defense. If guns aren’t yr weapon of choice, look towards archery, sword work, and knife work. 

The very first step any of us can take is to get in shape. That can be as easy as working out in yr home. My favorite method: going hard with free weights to blasting music. If you do nothing else to understand the necessity of violent action as demonstrated in LA, in New York, re-read books 5 through 7 of JK Rowling’s harrowing series. Or watch the films. 

I ask you to prepare yrselves and to be willing to destroy what must be dusted away and remade in an image as motley as the crew of the world. 

Works Cited

Anonymous. "Haymarket Massacre." Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, Gale, 2006, pp. 9-11. Global Issues in Context, <cmclibraries.coloradomtn.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3456600018/GIC?u=colo90289&xid=58ce8c11.>  Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.

Bauer, Edgar. "Edgar Bauer Promotes Anarchy." Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, Gale, 2006, pp. 4-7. Global Issues in Context, <cmclibraries.coloradomtn.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3456600016/GIC?u=colo90289&xid=f56a2a8a.>  Accessed 7 Dec. 2016.

"Colleagues Recall L.A. Riots Unfolding Like 'A Movie'" NPR. Morning Edition, 13 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 Dec. 2016. http://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150509967/colleagues-recall-l-a-riots-unfolding-like-a-movie.

Kahn, Carrie. "After Riots, Scandal Sparked Reform in LAPD." NPR. All Things Considered, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 Dec. 2016. <www.npr.org/2012/04/25/151354376/after-riots-scandal-sparked-reform>.

Lasky, Jack. "Anarchy." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2016): Research Starters. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.

Picano, Felice. "The Remains Of The Night: Six Observers: Felice Picano Talks With Eyewitnesses To The Stonewall Riots." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 4 (2015): 29. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Riots rock America's democratic foundations." Gulf News [United Arab Emirates], 14 Nov. 2016. Global Issues in Context, <cmclibraries.coloradomtn.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A470637235/GIC?u=colo90289&xid=90aa5ebd.> Accessed 7 Dec. 2016.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter Series. Vancouver: Raincoast, 1999. Print

TKEW // written 12.12.2016 // edited 08.14.2017

[themastercylinder]

An Interview with John Dods

How did you come to be involved with The Deadly Spawn?

DODS: Well, it was a fairly simple turn of events. My friend Ted Bohus called me up one day and said, “Let’s make a monster movie!” That seemed like a good idea to me so we did it. I’ve known Ted for years and we worked on the (uncompleted) film Nightbeast together. Ted wanted me to be in charge of the special effects.

You are known primarily as the creator/animator of the Grog film series. Will there be any stop motion in The Deadly Spawn?

DODS: We had assumed from the beginning that some stop motion would be necessary to create Spawn locomotion. As it worked out I devised “live action mechanicals” that everyone seems very happy with. It looks real, and avoiding stop motion enabled us to use fluids. The baby “Spawns” are seen swimming around in the flooded basement of the house in the film. There’s also a lot of blood in Deadly Spawn. It’s hard to make fluids look convincing in the stop motion process.

What kind of special effects will we see in Spawn?

DODS: Most of the effects are on the set mechanicals. Simple puppetry was used for many of the shots-manual manipulation of the various sized models from beneath a specially prepared surface. For example, if a spawn is seen on the floor of the basement we had to build a false floor, flood it with water, and conceal the mechanism through a hole in the surface. Sometimes we had eight people lying flat on their backs making the spawn babies “act” their roles. If a spawn had to appear on a chair we would have to get a chair and wreck it-putting holes in it through which spawn controls could be concealed; that kind of thing. The mama spawn is just a big elaborate puppet that is mobilized by six crew members-one for each body part and another to propel it forward on a tracking system. We have some pyrotechnics in the film which Tim Hildebrandt helped us work out. There is a neat effect involving a miniature set that I’m not allowed to talk about. We have a lot of blood effects where we had to mechanically pump fluid through body parts. I’ve always had an ambition to create a monster that wasn’t an obvious “man in a rubber suit,” so from the very beginning designs for the spawns were far from human. I did a series of drawings and we all picked the one we liked the best.

Is it restricting to work within the confines of a low budget film?

DODS: I suppose so but I’ve never worked any other way! We’ve stretched every dollar to the limit and all of it is on the screen. I’m working with a very resourceful group of people. We could make an expensive looking film with the money that Dino DeLaurentiis spends on stationery. I know that our effects budget would be around $100,000 if we had done this film in any kind of conventional way—and I don’t think we’ve spent that much. On the entire picture.

Do you feel that the Deadly Spawn is different than the current crop of low budget thrillers?

DODS: I know that it’s different. We designed it to be different. The Deadly Spawn is presented in the manner of putting on a show, or like a tour through a chamber of horrors. We show the audience series of exhibits in a theatrical manner in the context of a story that resolves itself in a very satisfactory way.

What would you like to do after The Deadly Spawn is completed?

DODS: Work on another film with Filmline Communications, make another Grog puppet film, finish illustrating a children’s book I have been working on.

Dods’ title, as director of special effects, is one to be taken literally-virtually all of the scenes involving monsters and effects were directed by Dods, following his storyboards. In fact, Bohus’ first plan called for Dods and Bohus to collaboratively direct the film themselves. “I was reluctant, at the time,” he recalls. “Though I’ve directed stop-motion films, I’ve never worked with actors, and you see so many low-budget films that are hurt by bad acting, so I was insistent that we get someone who’d had experience working with actors.” The choice of McKeown, who has directed for the New York stage as part of the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater, did not exactly eliminate that problem, however. Dods now doubts that he would be so reluctant the second time around.

Dods does, however, work singularly well with the monsters of Deadly Spawn. One of his primary concerns was the manner of locomotion used by the various critters. “The mother spawn was herself relatively limited in movement,” Dodds says, “but that was okay-she’s supposed to be a huge, lumbering 3,000-pound thing. Her slow movements make sense, so we avoided a whole lot of technical problems right there.”

The film does open with a sequence that shows, in silhouette, the adult monster undergoing rapid growth, shortly after killing a pair of campers; simultaneously, various inhuman schlurping sounds are heard on the soundtrack, as it consumes its human meal (“‘Every sound you hear the monster make came from my mouth,” Dods reveals). The manner in which the illusion was accomplished is one of the simplest tricks we’ve ever come across Using shadow puppetry, monster shaped cardboard cutouts back-lit against a wall.

Yet another sequence shows one of the repulsive-yet-somehow cute baby spawn wiggling through bloody basement waters with the speed of a frightened lizard. “Every monster movie should have one long shot of the monster, showing its method of locomotion,” says Dods, “and so many don’t have that-they try to get by with fast cutting, or some other technique, to give you the impression of having seen an entire creature in motion. Since my background is in stop-motion, I was planning to use that in order to get such a shot. Using a jigsaw, I cut an S-shaped, repeating wave form, a sort of curved slot. I then mounted a flexible, foam rubber baby spawn on a piece of plastic, and was going to shoot that in stop motion, travelling in that S-shaped curve; but then we found that, if you simply pulled it along in that slot, it traveled in a very lifelike, wiggling fashion, so we wound up shooting it in live action. That way, we could also have it speeding through the water on the basement floor-water is just about impossible to animate.”

The swimming spawn, and many of the other effects of The Deadly Spawn, were entirely originated by the effects crew; few were specially called for by McKeown’s script. “Arnold Gargiulo was particularly good at coming up with things,” says Dods. “For instance, it was indicated that the monster would attack Ellisa Niel in the face, but it was figured we’d simply track in, through the monster’s point of view, and then pull back to reveal the damage. Arnold came up with much more than he was asked for in several cases; in that scene, he did something I hadn’t seen before-a two-layered makeup, with a normal-looking appliance, which the monster rips away to reveal some pretty gruesome work underneath it.”

More contributions above and beyond the call of etcetera came from Tim Hildebrandt-including the contribution of his own little spawn, son Charles, as the film’s youthful hero. Wife Rita Hildebrandt served in various capacities as well, including the provision of her own recipe for monster saliva-a concoction achieved by mixing water and corn starch and boiling it down to a syrupy goo. Hildebrandt’s contributions to the effects are seen in the very beginning and end of the film, in the depiction of the spawn’s arrival on earth, and of its final (unless there’s a sequel) appearance. The Hildebrandts even sacrificed the attic of their home, which was transformed into a blood and-debris-spattered mess after the filming of a crucial confrontation scene.

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BABY SPAWNS

When a deadly spawn reaches a certain growth stage it reproduces. Before the movie is half over we introduce several dozen new characters into the story: rapidly growing baby monsters.

In clay, I sculpted four small creatures each representing a baby spawn in a different stage of growth. These ranged from six inches to three feet in length. Molds were made of the sculptures using a mix of 50% Hydrocal and 50% Ultracal; these are plaster-like materials that yield molds much harder than ordinary casting plaster. This extra hardness was needed to insure mold durability during the repeated use the five molds were subjected to to produce over 50 constructions.

R&D brand oven-cured foamed latex was used to produce most of the smaller spawn babies. The plaster molds were greased with caster oil or rubber mask grease paint (which I like better because unlike caster oil you can make about three positives without regreasing). The liquid foam-frothed with an electric mixer-was poured into each mold cavity to the point of overflowing and the mold halves were closed tightly. The excess foam came out through a large hold in the mold’s underside. This method never resulted in the air pockets commonly associated with injection processes.

The largest mold was over three feet long and would not fit into my oven. So a (more expensive) Isofoam “cold foam” process was used for this. This is a two part system that begins to foam by chemical action after parts A and B are vigorously mixed together for about 20 seconds. Effects assistant Sharon Levine and I mixed a series of small batches and gradually filled the large mold cavities almost to the brim. Then a final large batch was mixed, poured quickly, and the mold closed just as the foam was beginning to expand to fill the remaining space. In this process, the mold is not only greased conventionally, but is also coated with a layer of liquid latex “skin” before any cold foam is poured. This provides a smooth surface to the model (the cold foam alone has a very coarse texture) and keeps the cold foam from adhering to the plaster.

After the foam babies were produced, the teeth and mechanics were inserted; certain areas were hollowed out of the foam using scissors and tweezers. Super glue proved to be a good adherent between the rubber lips and the plastic teeth.

SPAWN ANIMATION

From the beginning of the production the method for getting the baby spawns to move was undecided. Most of the effects shots required the spawns to remain in one spot-chewing on body parts usually; this action was accomplished through simple puppetry. But the problem of spawn locomotion remained unsolved for some time. Because of my previous experience with stop motion (the Grog series of film shorts) this animation technique seemed to be a real possibility-yet eventually I decided against it. Unexpectedly, found a better solution to the problem.

I constructed a plywood surface into which I cut a repeating “wiggle” pattern with a jigsaw. I slit open the underside of a small foam rubber spawn and sewed into it a flexible plastic insert; this protruded from the underside of the model and fit into the plywood track. I had intended to move the spawn bit by bit along the track and create the illusion of movement through the stop motion process. I soon realized, though, that this was not necessary. By lubricating the track with Vaseline and pulling the spawn with a nylon cord I had created the effect we needed. It looked real

Hiding the track then became easy. In The Deadly Spawn there is water in the basement where the spawns are breeding; leakage from the thunderstorm raging outside the house covers the floor. I simply made the water (opaque with dirt and “blood”) deep enough to submerge the numerous tracks and we had another set of successful constructions: mobile spawns.

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PLASTIC FLESH

During The Deadly Spawn some scientifically oriented teenagers find a dead baby spawn and decide to dissect it in an effort to figure out what it is. For this sequence a construction had to be made out of a fleshy/jelly-like material that could be cut with a razor blade. After some unsuccessful experiments with alginate material found a supplier of Plastisol—the same material used to make artificial bait and those wiggly spiders seen in novelty shops. Plastisol comes as a white liquid that turns clear when heated on a stove for a few minutes; pigments can be added at this stage to color the Plastisol as desired. I poured pigmented Plastisol into two greased plaster mold halves and quickly closed them together; more Plastisol was poured in through a hole in the mold’s bottom half. After cooling (about one hour in a freezer) the Plastisol had set and was removed from the mold. Permanent Magic Markers were the only form of colorant I have found that will adhere to Plastisol once it has cooled to a solid state, but these do work quite well.

Plastisol again proved invaluable when we needed a shot of a human head being eaten by baby spawns—chunks of flesh were to be pulled off the face by the greedy extraterrestrials. The Deadly Spawn makeup supervisor Arnold Garguilo prepared a mold from the face of the actress whose head was to appear to be consumed. I poured a one quarter inch thick layer of Plastisol into Arnold’s mold to produce a positive “face.” This was super glued onto an appropriately gory plastic skull and a realistic glass eye was inserted. The face was made up with rubber mask and conventional type grease paints.

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THE MOTHER SPAWN

Building the mother spawn began with the sculpture of hundreds of teeth using a material called Sculpey. Sculpey is a lot like clay but when you bake it in an oven (15 minutes at 250°) it hardens. The hardened teeth-ranging in size from 5 inches long to as tiny as a pencil point-were pressed into the gums of three clay spawn skulls.

I then had to duplicate the toothy creations in hard plastic so they would be more durable. Many layers of thick mold-making rubber were applied to the sculptures over a 10 day period. Before removal, the resulting molds were heat treated in a 300° oven for 20 minutes. Rubber that has not been heat-treated vulcanized) in this way can be stretched out of shape permanently; vulcanized rubber will always remember” its original form and return to it.

The molds were removed from the sculptures and scrubbed clean with acetone. Positives were made using Jet Dental Acrylic color #6 (the color most popular with dentists according to the salesman). This plastic material was applied to the insides of the molds in small sections—the fast hardening liquid being worked into the points of the deep mold cavities with a fine wire. I reinforced this thin covering with (cheaper) polyester resin—the kind available at auto body shops with chopped fiberglass mixed into it. Tooth polish and a scrub brush made the teeth shine.

The mother spawn was controlled like a puppet by as many as six people situated low to the ground in back of the construction. The operators were hidden by darkness, camera cut-off, and the bulk of the monster. One operator rode inside of the structure manipulating one or both of the side heads. Others worked the main head, arms, and body movement.

The substructure of the mother spawn looks like somebody had some fun with an erector set; it provides the needed support and control for the heads. The weight of the heads was counterbalanced with springs; gentle pressure would move the heads and necks forward and backward. The jointed mouths would open and close through manipulation of a hand control which also governed the head tilt.

In The Deadly Spawn the mother creature moves almost in slow motion (kind of like a giant slug), its speed held in check by inertia and its own massive weight. The entire structure moved on wheels that fit into a tracking system constructed from plumbers’ PVC tubing. This provided the very smooth movement we needed.

The monster’s skin was built up on top of the metal skeleton in layers. Half-inch foam sheeting was cut and stapled together to form the basic shape. Refinements were added using paper toweling soaked in thick latex mold-making rubber. Fans and hair dryers speeded the drying process. The spawn was painted with latex base wall paint with about 30-40% liquid latex added in order to keep the paint from cracking and peeling as the skin moved and flexed.

During the shooting the mother spawn had to be “made up” before every take. Spawns are very slimey. Initial experiments with children’s toy store variety slime gave way to a combination of mineral oil and rubber cement. This looked good but the oil rotted the rubber and the rubber cement was a nightmare to clean up. Executive producer Rita Hildebrandt suggested that we try thickening plain water with corn starch; this produced the best looking slime of all and at 65¢ per gallon it was super economical too (rubber cement costs about $20.00 per gallon).

THE FINALE

It was a real problem. How were we going to create the biggest effect of the entire production without any money, well hardly any money? It was near the end of the filming on The Deadly Spawn when Executive Producer Tim Hildebrandt and Producer Ted Bohus had their brainstorm. They wanted to cap the film with a shot showing just how big the ever growing deadly spawns really can get as big as a mountain.

Dino D’Laurentis might have spent a couple of million dollars on a mountain-sized construction, but with less than $500.00 to spend we had to think small. So, naturally. we built a miniature Tim Hildebrandt’s production drawing for the shot was our guide during construction as well as our inspiration to do the work necessary to make it happen on film. Tim’s teenage experience as a miniature landscape builder, as well as his more recent work on the 3M TV commercial (the one with the futuristic looking cityscapes), was instrumental in realizing the drawing, Tim in fact did all the landscape detailing himself. The rest of our effects crew for this shot included Glenn Takakjian who built the house, Frank Balsamo-cinematographer. Greg Ramundas-Deadly Spawn chief effects technician, and Robert R. Bohus. As usual, it was my job to build the monster.

BUILDING THE SET

Before doing any actual construction we cut shapes out of cardboard representing various proposed set elements. When viewed through the camera, these helped us to determine how big and how deep we would have to make the set in order to get the depth of field we wanted. This turned out to be about 10 feet wide by 15 feet deep, Plywood cutouts then replaced the cardboard so that the set would have a sturdy substructure Chicken wire covered the plywood and was shaped to Create the basic topography of the landscape. The chicken wire was covered with paper toweling and a low budget substitute for plaster cement. A V-inch thickness provided the strength needed.

Chunks of burnt coal from the Hildebrandt’s coal stove were pressed into the cement to form cliffsides and other rocky looking areas. Coal dust from the same source and flocking-applied with a flour sifter-created areas of texture and color. Lichen Spongy fungus growth was used to simulate areas of vegetation and the treetops. Lichen can be purchased where toy train accessories are sold, though it can be found growing naturally in places having good air quality imported a hefty bad full of it about $300.00 worth) on my way back from a trip to Ontario, Canada. Trees were made of real tree branch endings–sometimes bunched together and taped along the “trunk” section before being painted. A road was cut out of roofing paper and cemented into place. The gravel at the side of the road was kitty litter

Glenn Takakjian’s efforts in producing a scaled miniature house topped that of everyone else on the crew combined. Working 4 5 hours a day for 6 weeks. Glen produced a highly detailed accurate miniature version of the Deadly Spawns primary location; a house. Glen began by taking many photos of the house he was to copy: long shots and many close ups of detailing. The construction began with the assembly of a corrugated cardboard framework with holes being cut wherever windows were needed Proportions were determined by studying the photos. Floor by floor, the cardboard substructure was covered with balsawood “siding” using Elmer’s glue as an adhesive. The window frames were also made of balsa with molding detail being hand carved using an exacto knife. This was sanded with fine grade emory cloth. Clear plastic was placed behind the windows to simulate glass. The large vertical posts of the downstairs porch were purchased from a doll house supplier and modified using an electric Dremel tool. The “gingerbread ornamentation was reconstructed from parts of a doll house gate each “S shaped unit being made of 4 plastic pieces that had been cut glued, and sanded. The smaller posts as well as the rest of the porch construction were simply hand carved using an exacto knife and a great deal of care. The completed porch construction was coated with a plastic spray in order to smooth over and hide the grain texture of the balsa wood. The plastic surface also made it possible to use instant bonding Crazy Glue as an adhesive instead of the slow drying Elmer’s. The chimney was a balsa wood box covered with ordinary wall spackle Bricks were carved into the dry spackle using the end of small rattail file. Covering the cardboard tool with 1,200 shingles was the most time consuming part of the project. Each shingle was individually cut from thin cardboard and glued into place; the completed house was painted with acrylic paints.

THE MONSTER

In the shot we were planning the monster or monster head-had to first look like a distant mountain, and then to rise upwards, tilt up, and open its mouth Since we had determined that the head had to be a rather large construction 3 feet wide 3 feet high, and 4 feet long-it required a very substantial control mechanism to make these movements happen. This was constructed out of wood-2×4’s and plywood. A seesaw arrangement – the head being at one end of the seesaw-controlled the upward movement. A 10 feet long handle attached to what amounted to 2 oversized pairs of scissors caused the mouth to open. This handle also governed the tilt of the head.

The mountain monster’s gums and numerous teeth were cast in hydro hard plaster) using existing rubber molds produced earlier for other spawn constructions in the movie. These teeth-fragile but cheap to produce were wired to the substructure. Many of the smaller teeth were simply painted onto the gums. The bulk of the shape was made of chicken wire and sheets of foam rubber stapled together): the use of these materials helped minimize the weight of the construction. Finally, the monster’s skin was built up out of paper toweling and liquid latex rubber. The creature’s head was landscaped with burnt coal chunks.

Everything we built was backed up by an original Hildebrandt painting: Three panels of masonite were joined together and taped at the seams with gafers tape to provide a large canvas. The sky actually had to be painted three times. The oil based paint first used proved to be too reflective-it was impossible to light. Tim opted for redoing it rather than trying (expensive) experiments with large amounts of dulling spray. The second version painted in flat latex base wall paints-is the one seen in the film. Still another backdrop was painted when we decided to use the miniature-minus house and somewhat modified for the shot that opens Deadly Spawn: a meteorite crossing the sky and falling to earth. Ideas on how to produce stars in the night sky ranged from direct projection, to the use of bits of front projection material of sequins. The first thing we tried worked-almost unexpectedly-so we used it: Tim simply painted them on.

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to film the shot in slow motion in order to suggest great size in the creature as an avalanche of dirt and rocks (burnt coal chips and coal dust mostly) fell away from its rising body at a speed right for its apparent size. We were able to shoot at 64 frames per second(only about half of what I we would have liked.) This rapid rate of frame exposure increased our lighting requirements as did stopping down the lens to increase the depth of field on the set. It ended up that of the money we spent on the shot was spent renting lights about 8000 watts and extension cords. The final bill for the shot was about $360.00.

A no-sound-look behind the work of “The Deadly Spawn” (1983) directed by Douglas McKeown.

Michael Perilstein ‎– The Deadly Spawn (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

  Source Material

Fangoria Magazine 28

Fangoria Magazine 310

Cinemagic Magazine 22

Cinemagic Magazine 18

The Deadly Spawn (1983) Retrospective Part Two An Interview with John Dods How did you come to be involved with The Deadly Spawn? …

[ernmark]

jupeter established relationship: Peter comes back to Mars to learn that juno is in a coma

So here it is: my own little Choose Your Own Adventure.

Peter Nureyev and the Blue Persephone. 

At various points, the story will diverge, and I’ll include links to the next sections. I’ll also include a link to the previous section, so you have the chance to catch up if you missed one. 

I’ll include places for you to respond, so you can give feedback or suggestions for ways the story can go from this point forward. No one path is bound by the same continuity as any of the others. You can also submit suggestions via asks. 

Like it if you’ve read it, feel free to reblog if you want. The sections will always be hidden under a “read more” bar, so it may or may not show up on mobile. 

I’ve thrown in some OCs for the sake of building the setting. Whether they stick around or not is entirely up to the suggestions of the readers.

Warnings for body horror.

Peter has to call in three favors to get this lead, and another four to pinpoint the exact location of the door. It’s in a shady nightclub on Venus, tucked behind a janitor’s closet in a hallway so dark that he could walk right past it if he didn’t already have his hand out for the doorknob.

But that’s nothing compared to the darkness he finds when he opens the door. It isn’t just dark– it feels like someone cut a piece out of reality itself, like staring into a black hole. He thinks, not for the first time, that this might be a trap.

He steps through anyway.

There was nothing to tip him off when he arrived in the spaceport in Hyperion City. He was tired from the journey, eager to see Juno again and tell him about the places he’d been and the people he’d robbed, just to see his detective’s face light up at the stories. He’d been looking forward to it the whole trip. More and more often these days, the best part of leaving was coming back again. 

When he arrived at home– when had he started thinking of it as home?– the apartment was empty. But that didn’t disturb him at all. Sure, it was late, but Juno had never kept the most steady hours. He could be at the office, finishing up paperwork. He could be out on a case.

He considered going to the office to check, but why waste the trip if Juno wasn’t there? He could always meet him in whatever dark little alley he was staked out in. He called Rita’s phone, the better to catch him by surprise– Juno always looked so darling when Peter startled him.

But when Rita picked up, her voice was hesitant. Wary. “…Hello?”

It wasn’t the first sign that something was wrong. Just the first one he couldn’t rationalize away.

“Rita, it’s Peter.”

“Oh gawd. Peter.” 

“I know it’s late, but I just got in and Juno isn’t home. Is he on a case, or–”

“Peter, you– oh gawd. Gawd, Peter, I’m so sorry. I tried to call, but I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

“Rita, what’s happened?” His skin was crawling. His ears were ringing. “Where’s Juno?”

“Hyperion General. In the ICU. Peter, he’s not waking up.”

This has to be an enclosed chamber of some kind, so completely closed off from the sun that it’s pitch black. It stretches on for what might be miles, but that doesn’t make sense– he saw the restaurant on the other side of this wall. A teleporter, perhaps? It isn’t as though he hasn’t seen those before, even if the effect is nothing at all like what he just experienced. 

The night-vision goggles he brought for the journey allow him to see, but they aren’t much help in making sense of it all.

It’s an artificial forest, with hundreds– thousands, perhaps– of dead trees standing upright and ghostly silent in the absolute darkness. Pine needles pad his footsteps, adding to the unnatural quiet. 

It’s even more unnatural because he knows he’s not alone. 

Things keep moving in the forest, crawling on the trees and slithering on the ground at his feet. They might be the size of rats, but they don’t move like any kind of rodent he’s ever seen. They move too quickly to be properly identified, their temperature a few degrees cooler than the bark under his fingertips. 

Something else moves in the distance– something enormous, its heat signatures barely visible through the trees. Something that huge shouldn’t be able to move silently, but it does.

All at once, the silence is broken. Something else is broken, too, by the sound of it. It’s the crack of fingers. The snap of a femur. The pop of joints being forced out of alignment. There should be screams to follow the violence, but there’s nothing but footsteps.

He’d be more comfortable if the noises were coming from the huge shape looming in the distance, but it’s not. It’s right behind him.

“Don’t run,” Valles Vicky told him. “Whatever you do, don’t turn on the lights, and don’t run. You run, and the things in there will start chasing in you. You run, and you’re dead.”

Ordinarily Peter would make some flippant remark about not being too subtle, but there was a dark pit in his chest where his sense of humor used to be. 

“Listen,” Vicky said, her voice softer. “I like you. You’ve always been reliable, and you’ve always treated my boys right. It wouldn’t be right to send you in there without a warning: most of the people who go in there don’t ever come out. The ones who do– they don’t come out the same. The smart thing to do is not go.”

“I have to. For Juno.” 

“And that’s the only reason I’m telling you any of this at all.” She sighed. “He’s good people, Morales. You don’t need me to tell you that. I really hope you can make this work.”

“I will,” Peter said. I have to.

She dug into one of her wall safes and pulled out a set of night vision goggles, still in their original box. “These might help some. Take care of yourself, Morales. And remember: don’t run.”

He wants to run now. He wants to rip the goggles off his face, just so he won’t have to look at it, but he knows it’ll still be here, in the dark, an arm’s length away from him. The thing in front of him is the size of a cerberus, with half a dozen legs and several dozen eyes spread unevenly across its grotesque hide. More than anything else, it looks like Miasma when she revealed her true nature– only Ancient Martians didn’t seem to have bones, and this creature is popping and snapping with every step it takes. 

If he doesn’t run, he might just faint. There’s only one thought that anchors him in place: Juno.

“Oh, good,” he says, slipping into the persona of someone braver than he feels. “Just when I was wanting to ask for directions. By any chance, could you point me in the way of your leader?”

Teeth protrude from its flesh, forming dozens of grisly, misshapen mouths. He might be sick.

And then they speak, all at once: “Well. If you’re going to ask politely, I don’t see why not. Do you have an appointment?” 

“I did try to call ahead, but her number seems to be unlisted.”

“Yeah, it’s a problem,” the thing admits in chorus. “But what are you gonna do? The boss likes her privacy.” 

“Does that mean she won’t see me?” he asks carefully.

“Oh, she’ll see you alright. But whatever it is you came for, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“I don’t know how it happened,” Rita said. “It was just a regular case, same as any other. I mean, sure, there was a fight. And he got a little roughed up, but that happens all the time, and he’s always been fine. He was fine then, too. Came back to the office and filled out his paperwork and went home and everything. And then he… he just didn’t come in the next morning. I went to the apartment to check up on him, and he was in bed– I thought he was fine, he looked fine– but I couldn’t wake him up. He isn’t waking up. And it’s not like in the movies, either. The doctors are saying if he doesn’t wake up soon, he ain’t ever wakin’ up again. I don’t understand what happened, Peter. I don’t understand.”

“This is as far as I go,” the creature tells him, standing aside so Peter can see the edges of a doorway. “Just follow that hall. She’ll know you’re coming. She always does.” 

The hallway is winding, but finally it opens into another huge chamber. There’s light in this one, and no trees– just hundreds of interlocking pathways and intertwining statues. They’re each made of a different material, and each one catches and reflects the heat of the lights differently. The heat-vision goggles won’t be any use in this place, and so he takes them off. He can’t make sense of this room any more than the last one, and he suspects that’s most of the point. Everything about this place is meant to disorient and confuse him. The only way to fight back is to keep his head.

Easy enough. He’s been living with Juno long enough that he’s practically an expert.

“Are you going to waste my time ogling the scenery,” drawls a voice from far away. “Or are you going to tell me what you came here for?”

It takes a moment to pick her shape out of the decor. When he does, he only manages by her palette. She’s shrouded in cobalt and azure, her face almost covered by veils. Almost.

The woman on the other end of the chamber goes by many names. On Mars, though, they call her the Blue Persephone. 

She stands up, and Peter notices that she’s missing an arm. Is it her left arm or her right?

[businessguide12-blog]

Street art: 45 incredible examples to inspire you

New Post has been published on https://businessqia.com/awesome/street-art-45-incredible-examples-to-inspire-you/

Street art: 45 incredible examples to inspire you

Street art adorns streets all around the world. Urban graffiti might be the first type that springs to mind, but street art actually comes in loads of different forms, from sculptures to 'yarn bombing', and is also found in a diverse range of environments. 

We've gathered together the work of our favourite street artists for this article, from famous faces you already know to relative unknowns you'll want to know more about. Some just want to brighten up their neighbourhoods, while others have political statements to make. But whatever their motivation, we think what they've produced is pretty incredible.

If you're feeling inspired, check out our piece on graffiti fonts and use the influence of street art in your own designs.

Click on the icon at the top-right of the image to enlarge it.

01. Sonora

Sonora was painted on the Arizona/Mexico border to open a dialogue through art

Hazard, aka Harriet Ford, is a British street artist whose work is recognisable from its bold, peaceful depictions of women with detailed hair and headdresses. 

Sonora (2017) was painted on a warehouse in the abandoned mining town of Ajo on the Arizona/Mexico border. This was part of a crowdfunded project, designed to create a dialogue through an arts residency in a significant place at a significant time. With a headdress decorated with wildlife from the Sonoran desert, the female character represents a peaceful Mexican lady.

02. 16th Avenue Tiled Steps

The steps in San Francisco have a sea to sky theme

The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps is a community project completed in 2005. Inspired by the famous Selarón steps in Rio de Janeiro, the neighbourhood residents chose artists Aileen Barr and Collette Crutcher to collaborate in a design across 163 mosaic panels. 

The steps have a sea to sky theme and the local residents sponsored handmade tiles in the shapes of the animals, fish and shells. Three mosaic workshops were held within the community so that everyone could assist in the creation of this stunning street art.

03. Cryptik

This work in New York’s lower east side translates to ‘Love thy neighbour’

Los Angeles-based artist Cryptik is notable for his calligraphic approach to street art. Much of his work is based on ancient sacred texts and eastern philosophy, with echoes of the intricate geometric patterns found in Muslim art and architecture. It's all rendered with an unmistakable street art twist, making for a perfect blend of ancient and modern. His aim is to help humanity evolve towards greater awareness and understanding.

04. Kobra

This colourful David is painted directly onto the marble in an Italian quarry

This colourful portrait of David is the work of Eduardo Kobra, a Brazilian street artist from the south side of São Paulo. The design is painted directly onto the marble at a quarry in Carrara, Italy, where Michelangelo and other artists found the marble used in their sculptures. Kobra has been a graffiti artist since he was a teenager, and in 2016 his mural for the Rio Olympics scored him a record for world's biggest mural – a record he's since broken.

05. D*Face

This epic street art by D*Face’s covers the side of a Las Vegas hotel

London-based artist Dean Stockton (also known as D*Face) creates work inspired by things he loved as a child – skate graphics, album art and cartoons – and some of his work is clearly indebted to pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. One such example is Behind Closed Doors; and epic piece of street art found on the side of the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas. The design cleverly uses the shape of the building to give the mural an added sense of depth.

06. Reskate Studio

The Harreman Project, by Barcelona-based Reskate Studio, uses glow-in-the-dark paint to create street art with hidden depths. Each piece of artwork in the series shows one image during daylight hours, while another is revealed when it gets dark. "The intention is to try to light up dark corners of cities, both installing new lights and encouraging citizens to interact with the wall, painting with light on it," reads the description on the studio's website. This piece, Asombrar, was created for Fisart Romania in 2015.

07. Dulk

Dulk’s street art is populated by surreal creatures

Antonio Segura Donat, or Dulk, grew up copying illustrations of exotic animals from his parents' old encyclopaedias, and used to take his sketchbook everywhere with him. Having studied illustration then graphic design, today he works as a multidisciplinary artist tackling drawing, painting, sculpture and advertising, but it's his large-scale street art, featuring surreal creatures in imaginary landscapes, that really stands out.

08. Mobstr

Upon the Sighting of New Rendering charts Mobstr’s ongoing battle with the authorities

Mobstr is a multi-talented street artist with a strong line in fake billboards, but it's his Progressions that we really love. Documented across a series of photos, he plays fantastic mind games with the poor souls whose job it is to clean graffiti off the streets, using little more than stencilled letters.

09. Smug

One of Smug’s Glaswegian pieces, gracing the city’s Castle Street

Glasgow-based street artist Smug specialises in photorealistic graffiti, and the Scottish city has become his infinite canvas thanks to a council-funded mural initiative. After picking up a spray painting can over a decade ago, the artist has developed a unique and mesmerising style – rendered entirely freehand. His meticulously detailed work can be seen transforming walls all over the UK and Europe, as well as Australia.

10. Mario Celedon

Artist Mario Celedon’s intricate paintings can be seen all over the city of Valparaiso

Culture capital of Chile, Valparaiso is the home of many a talented artist, including Mario Celedon. Best known for his incredible street art, Celedon's colourful and detailed paintings can be seen in various locations around the city, but our favourite artwork has got to be the intricate illustrations on these steps.

11. Ernest Zacharevic

One of Zacharevic’s Georgetown pieces

Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic brings fine art techniques to the great outdoors. Exploring a multitude of mediums, from installation and sculpture to oil paint, stencils and spray paint, Zacharevic's experimentations remove the restriction of artistic boundaries.

Based out of Penang, Malaysia, the artist first grabbed global attention in 2012 after creating a series of murals for Georgetown Festival, resulting in the BBC dubbing him Malaysia’s answer to Banksy. Since then, his Georgetown murals have become cultural landmarks and his work can be seen from Singapore to LA.

12. Peeta

One of Peeta’s 3D graffitti ‘sculptures’

Italian street artist Manuel Di Rita, who goes by the moniker Peeta, is known for his 3D graffiti. Using gradients of colour, his 2D street art gives off the impression of multiple dimensions, creating the illusion it is sculpture, rather than paint. On top of this, the artist creates actual graffiti-inspired street art sculptures.

Since he first started creating street art back in 1993, Peeta has travelled the globe, spending a lot of time in both Canada and the US. After gaining plenty of experience as a graffiti artist in Europe and America, he started painting canvases and now runs his own business selling canvases and sculptures.

13. Phlegm

Phlegm paints and places his illustrations all over the world

Sheffield-based Phlegm started out in self-published comics before bringing this detailed illustration style to the streets. The UK artist creates surreal, storybook-style imagery, working solely in monochrome. Each piece of street art forms part of a grand narrative that extends worldwide, from Canada to Australia.

14. MrDheo

MrDheo dedicates himself to photorealism, blended with graphic components

MrDheo has no formal artistic training, and it's this that he believes has helped him to develop his own techniques and evolve without direct influences. The Portuguese artist's bold, graphic style lends itself to graffiti art; the bigger the better. MrDheo's street art appears in over 30 international cities, and he has collaborated with a number of major brands and companies.

15. MVM Graphics

Moore W. Moore has been painting geometric murals for more than half his life

Boston based artist Matt W Moore – who runs MVM Graphics – has been painting on walls for over half his life. "It's a magical experience to actualise an idea extra-large in the public space," he smiles. "Lots to see in this section. Everything from my early years of graffiti and street-level art, to my more recent abstract murals. Indoor and outdoor, I've got you covered."

16. Mademoiselle Maurice

A flock of metal origami birds adorns this street art

This impressive piece of street art was created to mark the opening of the Urban Nation contemporary art museum in Berlin. It's the work of visual artist Mademoiselle Maurice, and features a flock of 3D birds brought to life in metal origami. 

17. Herbert Baglione

An eerie creation for an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Parma, Italy

Herbert Baglione is a Brazilian street artist. One particularly striking project, entitled 1000 Shadows, saw him add his stamp to an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Parma, Italy. Balione created eerie shadows across the floors, walls and doors of the building, often interacting with abandoned wheelchairs for extra creepiness.

Next page: 15 more awesome examples of street art

18. Fallen 9000

This inspiring tribute to fallen soldiers only managed to last a few hours

To mark International Peace Day back in 2013, British artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss accompanied by 60 volunteers and 500 local residents, took to the beaches of Normandy and etched 9000 fallen soldier silhouettes into the sand using rakes and stencils. The piece was washed away by the tide after only a few hours, but created a lasting impact. 

19. DALeast

DALeast’s 3D style is instantly recognisable

Born in China, DALeast has spread his distinctive 3D technique of street art across public spaces all over the world. The artist paints creatures that appear to have been wrought from twisted metal. His pieces are instantly recognisable and burst with energy.

20. Pez

Pez began painting in 1999 on the outskirts of Barcelona

Street artist Pez (Spanish for fish) started painting in 1999 on the outskirts of Barcelona. Wanting to find a way to communicate and spread good vibes to the people of the city, Pez decided that his signature mark would be a fish character with a huge smile.

Since then, the artist has gone on to gain international recognition, exhibiting his work all around the globe. The last few years has also seen him create several new characters, including demons, angels and Martians. All have one thing in common – a huge and infectious smile.

21. David de la Mano

Spanish artist David de la Mano creates amazing monochromatic street art

Spanish artist David de la Mano creates striking and often slightly unsettling street art based around silhouettes. This typically creepy piece is entitled Silent Sound. 

22. NeSpoon

Polish artist NeSpoon decorates Warsaw with beautifully intricate patterns

Although she also creates more traditional murals, Polish artist NeSpoon also creates street art that's a little different. Alongside paintings, NeSpoon also decorates buildings with cobweb-like doilies, and etches intricate designs into cement.

23. C215

C215’s stencilled street art features the marginalised and vulnerable

Parisian artist Christian Guémy – also known as C215 – uses stencils to produce beautiful street art depicting vulnerable and marginalised groups of society including refugees, street children and the elderly. Since creating his first work over 20 years ago he's developed a huge following. His street art can be spotted in galleries, auctions and on streets all over the world, in cities including Barcelona and London.

24. Interesni Kazki

Ukranian duo Interesni Kazki create vibrant street art

Ukrainian duo AEC and Waone, aka Interesni Kazki, create bright and vibrant street art that references a variety of cultures and art forms including sci-fi, Mexican folk tales, religion and classical art. For the most part their surreal ideas are created with acrylic paint using rollers, although on some very small pieces of work they use spray cans.

25. Gaia

Gaia creates surreal and colourful murals

New York-born, Baltimore-based street artist Gaia's incredible skills, combined with his strange compositions have gained him worldwide recognition. He's also keen to help others explore the street art medium, setting up festivals and group sessions to fill places like his town of Baltimore with new and exciting murals.

26. Julian Beever

Julian Beever creates whole 3D worlds with just a pavement and some chalk

There's nothing quite like walking along your local high street and coming across a whole new, 3D world – completely made of chalk. Many other chalk artists could have featured in this list, but it's Julian Beever's playful approach to the medium that has us in awe.

The British artist started out as a busker, before attracting commercial commissions in the mid 2000s. He even made a 10-part TV series and released a book, Pavement Chalk Artist, in 2011.

27. See No Evil

For two consecutive summers, Bristol – home of Banksy and centre of a vigorous street art scene – played host to one of the biggest celebrations of street art Europe has ever seen.

Organised by legendary street artist Inkie and Team Love, it was See No Evil's mission to transform one of city's most deprived stretches of road into a work of art. Nelson Street, located in Bristol's city centre was a dreary, grey walkway. Artists from around the world, including New York's Tats Cru and LA's El Mac descended upon the city to bring it to life. 

28. Slinkachu

Slinkachu’s Little People Project combines street art and photography

Using characters from model train sets, Slinkachu's Little People Project is a mixture of street art and photography. If you've had the pleasure of stumbling upon one of his odd little creations, you'll appreciate his humour and childlike imagination.

Slinkachu says that the titles he gives to each scene, "aims to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed". However, he is quick to add that "underneath this, there is always some humour".

29. Joshua Allen Harris

As you'll already have gathered, not all street art involves the use of spray paint. This video from Joshua Allen Harris shows just what can be created with a few household items.

Now primarily a photographer, back in 2008 Harris caused a stir with his Inflatable Bag Monster project. The artist created creatures using disregarded plastic bags and attached them to subway grates around New York, ready to be inflated into life by gusts of air from passing trains. Some of the pieces had an environmental angle, such as the plastic polar bear, which deflated to its death to offer a strong message about global warming and the effects it continues to have on the world we live in.

30. Banksy

Banksy’s stencils often tackle political issues – this work in Paris comments on the treatment of refugees

The best-known street artist across the world, Banksy's challenging, contrary and thought-provoking, stencil-based art has made a huge impact on both high and low culture. In recent years he's branched out with more ambitious projects including a hotel in Bethlehem and a theme park in Weston-Super-Mare, but his politically charged stencil artwork continues to make an stir wherever it appears.

Hailing from Bristol, UK, the artist keeps his identity a secret. Some claim he has a team of people working on each creation while others believe he still works alone. Whatever the case, his art remains as impactful as ever. 

31. Pavel Puhov

Puhov is sometimes called the ‘Russian Banksy’

Known as the 'Russian Banksy', street artist Pavel Puhov (aka Pavel 183 or P-183), has been cooking up a political storm in his native country for over a decade. Like Banksy, the artist's identity is unknown, adding to the mystique surrounding him.

The Moscow-based graffiti artist's creations often have a strong political stance. Some have included paintings of riot police, civilian protesters and even a reimagined painting of National Geographic's infamous Afghan girl photo. Placing his art in very public locations, such as subway doors, makes certain that it's not ignored.

32. Jan Vormann

Jan Vormann ‘repairs’ old buildings with brightly coloured blocks

A German native, Jan Vormann spent three years travelling the world, 'repairing' crumbling and disregarded buildings with his brightly coloured version of Polyfilla. The venture had humble beginnings, starting out in a small art fair in Rome before moving onto bigger ventures. He has even filled the holes of buildings in Berlin that had been damaged by guns during the second World War.

Next page: 13 more awesome examples of street art

33. EVOL

EVOL transforms street furniture into mini-buildings

For his Buildings project, street artist EVOL transformed street furniture into miniature high-rise blocks, complete with graffiti and er, monsters. The German artist exhibits his work in warehouses as well as local streets for all to enjoy. The intricate detail of each piece is incredibly realistic, and it's great to see something boring and functional turned into something that will put a smile on people's faces.

34. Guerrilla Crochet

Guerrilla Crochet has made crochet cool once more

It's official – crochet is not just for grannies. Guerrilla crochet (or, in the UK, 'yarn bombing') has been causing a storm in recent years, with renegade street artists enveloping everyday street furniture in brightly coloured woolly loveliness. One of the most prolific crochet street artists is Agata Oleksiak (aka Olek), who has covered everything from the Wall Street bull to London taxis.

35. Isaac Cordal

Issac Cordal’s work exudes a strong sense of personal injustice

Like Slinkachu, Spanish artist Issac Cordal likes to work with little figures. Unlike the former, however, Cordal tends to take a more melancholy approach. Most of his street art represent the everyday businessman and their struggles to deal with the mundanity of everyday life.

36. Ronzo

Ronzo’s bird sculptures liven up mundane surroundings

Independent artist Ronzo describes himself as 'Vandal Extraordinaire'. On his site he claims that he exists because "this fragile Earth deserves a voice". We're not quite sure what he means by that, but we like it.

The artist's 2012 Birdz project saw colourful bird sculptures popping up on London's Brick Lane as well as council estates, along with a graffiti mural of the 'Olympic Bird' and a a 'Credit Crunch Monster' placed on a building overlooking The Old Truman Brewery.

37. Vj Suave

Vj Suave is a collaboration between artists Ygor Marotta, hailing from Brazil, and Cecilia Soloaga, from Argentina. The duo create live visual performances using a mixture of character illustration, animation and projection. The video shows a series of intricate designs and colourful characters coming to life and walking the streets. A truly unique street art event.

38. Guerrilla Gardeners

Guerrilla Gardeners are on a mission to make our streets a greener place

This project saw sneaky gardeners making it their mission to turn our streets a greener place. The team behind Guerrilla Gardening became a global hub, with planting taking place in cities from London to Beirut. The collective carried out their work during the night.

39. Kello Goeller

Kello Goeller brought pixel art to the streets of New York

Kello Goeller took pixel art into a new dimension in this awesome sculpture. The piece, entitled Pixel Pour 2.0, was created from wood and latex, and could be found on Mercer Street in New York. Goeller is a multidisciplinary performance artist, and can currently be found crafting 'dreamscapes' in Portland.

40. Invader

French artist Invader completes his 8-bit art behind a mask

French UFA ('unidentified free artist') Invader has been invading cities across the world with his perfect pixelated artwork for years. He always completes his artwork behind a mask, so as to not give away his identity. This project, entitled Space Invaders, is inspired by first-generation arcade games. The characters are made out of tiles cemented onto walls, and Invader has set up a scoring system for them, with each character rating between 10 and 50, depending on its size.

41. Roadsworth

Popsilos brings an artistic twist to the ugliest of structures

Peter Gibson, aka Roadsworth, started his street art journey painting the streets of Montrealo. Initially motivated by a desire for more cycle paths in the city and a questioning of the world's 'car culture' in general, the artist then moved on to urban landscapes and bigger, more ambitious projects – including the above Popsilos project. In 2004, Roadsworth was arrested and charged with 53 counts of mischief. Despite the heavy fines, he continued his street art quest. 

42. Miina Akkijyrkka

Miina Äkkijyrkkä turns used vehicles into animal sculptures

Finnish sculptor Miina Akkijyrkka has a thing for cows. She scours her native country for used vehicles and turns them into these huge animal sculptures. The artist has been working her magic for an impressive 50 years.

43. Vhils

Part of an initiative that uses art to campaign for environmental issues

Alexandre Farto, who works under the moniker Vhils, is a street artist hailing from Portugal. He has gained renown for his murals, created using a bas-relief carving technique that involves cutting either directly into walls or removing layers of advertising posters.

The above artwork, located in Sumatra, Indonesia, aims to raise awareness about a new species of orangutan that has already become endangered due to unregulated palm oil farming and irresponsible construction in its natural habitat. This piece is part of Splash and Burn – an initiative that uses art as a way to draw attention to environmental issues. 

44. The Glue Society

Grab a giant spoon, quick!

It's so hot on Tamarara beach in Australia that this ice cream truck has melted! OK, you got us, it's actually a brilliant street art sculpture created by artists at The Glue Society. The installation, entitled Hot With The Chance of Late Storm, was displayed on the beach during the opening of the 10th annual Sculpture By The Sea exhibition back in 2006.

45. JR

Artist JR has been dubbed the ‘French Banksy’

French photographer and artist JR's political street art began during the Paris riots of 2005. Angered by the way the areas involved were being presented in the media, he took photos of the residents pulling funny faces and flyposted them around the city.

His passion-filled, often didactic artwork has since appeared in deprived areas across the world, from the suburbs of Paris to the shantytowns of Rio. He's also been arrested in China, and in 2011 was awarded the TED prize, worth $100,000.

Related articles:

The 55 best infographics25 astounding examples of photorealismHow to draw: the best drawing tutorials

Read more: creativebloq.com

[thepearlsourceposts]

Everyone knows that pearls are gems of the sea. However, when it comes to understanding the value of a pearl or buying pearl jewelry, that’s about all most people know. But, it takes more than that to make an educated decision when buying pearls online.

They may know pearls come from oysters, but have no idea how they’re formed. Its obvious pearls come in different sizes and colors, but are there various types too? We can answer that for you. Just think of this as a quick guide to buying pearls from an online store.

What are Cultured Pearls VS Natural Pearls?

The first thing you need to know is the difference between real pearls and fake pearls. Also called faux pearls, these fake versions are generally made of plastic, glass or some other manmade material.

Both cultured pearls and natural pearls are 100% real gems. The difference between the two is based on how “naturally” they were created. Remember that when buying pearls online.

How is a Natural Pearl Created?

As an oyster floats around in the sea, an irritant may accidentally get inside of its mussel’s soft tissue. In response, a defense mechanism is launched. This causes the oyster to secrete a coating around the irritant known as nacre. It secretes layer upon layer of nacre until a natural pearl is created.

How is a Cultured Pearl Created?

Cultured pearls are created using the same process. However, there are two main differences:

Born on cultured pearl farms vs in the sea

Irritants are inserted inside the oyster purposely by pearl farmers

Pearl farmers insert shell bead nuclei inside the oysters using a very tedious, fragile process. This acts as an irritant and activates the oyster’s defense mechanism and the creation of layers of nacre. After a lot of care and nurturing, cultured pearls are born!

Natural Pearls vs Cultured Pearls. Image Source: vijay-hemmadi/LinkedIn

Cost Benefits of Buying Cultured Pearls VS Natural Pearls

Let’s face it. There’s no way to “make” an oyster produce a pearl in the ocean. But, using the pearl farming process, the gem-creation process is sparked. This makes it easier to manage the production of pearls, as well as market prices.

These days, it’s almost impossible to find natural pearls in the oceans and seas. Oyster divers risk their lives looking for the sea creatures, hoping to strike it big. But, the fact is… there just aren’t many natural pearls being created anymore thanks to pollution and pearl divers.

With cultured pearl farming, the gems are created in secure, nurturing environments. So, the oysters have greater chances of surviving and producing high-quality gemstones.

Freshwater cultured pearl grading. Image Source: China Dialogue

These days, cultured pearl jewelry comes in many different styles and can be found online. Natural pearl jewelry is extremely rare. If you find it, the piece is more than likely vintage. And, you probably won’t find them in ordinary online pearl jewelry stores.

Either way, natural pearls are going to be much more expensive the cultured pearls.

5 Different Types of Cultured Pearls

In today’s online retail market, all real pearls and real pearl jewelry sold are cultured pearls, unless they are specifically marked “natural pearls.” There are five main types of cultured pearl jewelry sold online in 2018:

Akoya Pearls

Freshwater Pearls

Hanadama Pearls

Tahitian Pearls

South Sea Pearls: White South Sea and Golden South Sea

Knowing some of the differences between the five will help you understand each one’s value better. That way, you know what you’re purchasing BEFORE buying pearls online.

1. Cultured Akoya Pearls

Click Here for Japanese Akoya White Pearl Set from The Pearl Source.

If you’re looking for perfectly round white pearls, these are the ones. Akoya pearls are the classic gems we’re used to seeing on single strands of pearls. They come with the highest luster and shine of all the cultured pearls on the market.

Natural Colors: Cream, White

Sizes: 5 mm to 11 mm

Parent: Pinctada Fucata Mollusk

2. Cultured Hanadama Pearls

Hanadama Pearl Necklace. Image Source: Pearl-Guide

Hanadama pearls are commonly referred to as The Ferraris of the pearl world. They are actually cultured Akoya pearls that have been certified by the Pearl Science Laboratory (PSL) of Japan to carry the name. Cultured Hanadama gemstones feature the highest pearl luster of all cultured pearls on the market.

Natural Colors: Silver, Blue

Sizes: 7 mm to 10 mm

Parent: Pinctada Fucata Mollusk

3. Cultured Freshwater Pearls

Click Here for 14K Gold 7mm Multicolor Freshwater Pearl Beaded Bangle Rita Bracelet from The Pearl Source

Freshwater pearls emerged as the new rivals to Akoya pearls back in the 1990s. They also come in the form of round, white gems, much like Akoya pearls. However, the Freshwater pearl jewelry offers the widest selections in pearl colors, shapes and sizes than any other cultured type.

Natural Colors: Cream, White

Sizes: 2 mm to 15 mm

Parent: Hyriopsis Cumingii or Hybrid Mollusk

4. Cultured South Sea Pearls

Yellow Gold & Diamond South Sea Bangle Pearl Bracelet

White South Sea and Golden South Sea pearls are the most sought after cultured versions of the gems in the world. That’s because they are the rarest, and offer the most luster and greatest pearls sizes. Both Golden South Sea and White South Sea pearls are cultivated in saltwater.

Natural Colors: Cream, White, Silver

Sizes: 8 mm to 20 mm

Parent: Pinctada Maxima Mollusk

5. Cultured Tahitian Pearls

Gold Emerald and Black Tahitian Pearl Frog Ring. Image Source: Pinterest

If you’re looking for real pearls that are naturally black in color, Tahitian pearls are what you want. They are babies of the Pinctada margaritifera, which is the only oyster that naturally produces black pearls.

Black Tahitian pearls are unmistakably vibrant and extremely rare. Therefore, these “Pearls of Queens” are quite expensive when buying pearls online. They offer almost perfectly round shapes, brilliant luster and sizes generally larger than other cultured pearls.

Natural Colors: Gray, Brown, Green, Blue, Purple

Sizes: 8 mm to 21 mm

Parent: Pinctada Margaritifera Mollusk

4 Main Factors That Affect the Value of a Pearl

How much pearls cost is based on the various pricing systems of individual online pearl jewelry stores. But, knowing how to use the four main factors behind a pearl’s value can help ensure you don’t pay more than what the gem is worth.

Note that no one factor determines a pearl’s value of the price of a pearl. When judging the value of pearl jewelry, use these factors in conjunction with each other, along with asking questions from the jewelry retail store when buying pearls online.

1. Pearl Shape

9-11mm South Sea & Freshwater Off-Round Multicolor Pearl Necklace

When it comes to the shape of a pearl, the rounder the gem, the more valuable. Because oysters rarely create (almost) perfectly round gemstones, round pearls are the rarest, making them higher in price than other pearl shapes.

2. Pearl Surface

Pearl Surface Quality Guide. Image Source: Nina’s Jewellery

No pearl’s surface is 100% without flaws because each one is created by a living creature. However, the least number of visible flaws, nicks, cracks or other imperfections, the more valuable and pricier the pearl.

3. Pearl Luster

When buying pearls online, be sure to contact the jewelry store directly to get information about the gem’s luster.

The luster of a pearl is the mirror-like sheen and shine visible on the pearl surface. High-quality gems will possess high luster, making the gemstone stand out and “pop” when viewed by the naked eye. High luster means great value.

4. Pearl Size

  Pearl Size Chart from The Pearl Source

Once all of the other three factors have been judged, this is the most important factor in the end. Pearl size definitely matters when it comes to these gems. Traditionally, larger pearls were for more mature women back in the day. But, these days, all adult women are flocking to the larger sized gems. Smaller pearls are being used in jewelry trending for little girls and teenagers.

Online Pearl Buying Tips to Get You Started

The Pearl Source creates custom pearl jewelry using loose pearls purchased online or at home and Facebook pearl parties.

Buying pearl jewelry online means making a high-end purchase without actually touching the product first. Therefore, you need to take certain measures to protect yourself when shopping online for pearl jewelry:

Cultured Pearl Experts: Always make sure the online jewelry store is owned and operated by pearl experts. If not, they may be misinformed, ignorant of uneducated about cultured pearls.

Solid Return Policy: Make sure the online pearl jewelry store offers a reasonable return policy. Remember, you’re buying a high-end piece of jewelry without trying it on first. What if you don’t like it once it arrives?

Direct Customer Service: Only shop with an online pearl jewelry retailer that’s willing to answer your questions via email and by phone. Never spend thousands of dollars with a company that won’t share a reliable phone number with you, and doesn’t have someone available during business hours to answer your calls. If you can’t reach them directly before buying pearls online, you definitely won’t be able to reach anyone if there’s a problem with your order.

Buying Pearls Online: Pearl Grading Chart

Please include attribution to http://bit.ly/2gXvW6z with this graphic.

Shop Pearl Jewelry Online

The post Everything You NEED to Know BEFORE Buying Pearls Online appeared first on Pearls of Wisdom by The Pearl Source.

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[businessguide12-blog]

Street art: 45 incredible examples to inspire you

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Street art: 45 incredible examples to inspire you

Street art adorns streets all around the world. Urban graffiti might be the first type that springs to mind, but street art actually comes in loads of different forms, from sculptures to 'yarn bombing', and is also found in a diverse range of environments. 

We've gathered together the work of our favourite street artists for this article, from famous faces you already know to relative unknowns you'll want to know more about. Some just want to brighten up their neighbourhoods, while others have political statements to make. But whatever their motivation, we think what they've produced is pretty incredible.

If you're feeling inspired, check out our piece on graffiti fonts and use the influence of street art in your own designs.

Click on the icon at the top-right of the image to enlarge it.

01. Sonora

Sonora was painted on the Arizona/Mexico border to open a dialogue through art

Hazard, aka Harriet Ford, is a British street artist whose work is recognisable from its bold, peaceful depictions of women with detailed hair and headdresses. 

Sonora (2017) was painted on a warehouse in the abandoned mining town of Ajo on the Arizona/Mexico border. This was part of a crowdfunded project, designed to create a dialogue through an arts residency in a significant place at a significant time. With a headdress decorated with wildlife from the Sonoran desert, the female character represents a peaceful Mexican lady.

02. 16th Avenue Tiled Steps

The steps in San Francisco have a sea to sky theme

The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps is a community project completed in 2005. Inspired by the famous Selarón steps in Rio de Janeiro, the neighbourhood residents chose artists Aileen Barr and Collette Crutcher to collaborate in a design across 163 mosaic panels. 

The steps have a sea to sky theme and the local residents sponsored handmade tiles in the shapes of the animals, fish and shells. Three mosaic workshops were held within the community so that everyone could assist in the creation of this stunning street art.

03. Cryptik

This work in New York’s lower east side translates to ‘Love thy neighbour’

Los Angeles-based artist Cryptik is notable for his calligraphic approach to street art. Much of his work is based on ancient sacred texts and eastern philosophy, with echoes of the intricate geometric patterns found in Muslim art and architecture. It's all rendered with an unmistakable street art twist, making for a perfect blend of ancient and modern. His aim is to help humanity evolve towards greater awareness and understanding.

04. Kobra

This colourful David is painted directly onto the marble in an Italian quarry

This colourful portrait of David is the work of Eduardo Kobra, a Brazilian street artist from the south side of São Paulo. The design is painted directly onto the marble at a quarry in Carrara, Italy, where Michelangelo and other artists found the marble used in their sculptures. Kobra has been a graffiti artist since he was a teenager, and in 2016 his mural for the Rio Olympics scored him a record for world's biggest mural – a record he's since broken.

05. D*Face

This epic street art by D*Face’s covers the side of a Las Vegas hotel

London-based artist Dean Stockton (also known as D*Face) creates work inspired by things he loved as a child – skate graphics, album art and cartoons – and some of his work is clearly indebted to pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. One such example is Behind Closed Doors; and epic piece of street art found on the side of the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas. The design cleverly uses the shape of the building to give the mural an added sense of depth.

06. Reskate Studio

The Harreman Project, by Barcelona-based Reskate Studio, uses glow-in-the-dark paint to create street art with hidden depths. Each piece of artwork in the series shows one image during daylight hours, while another is revealed when it gets dark. "The intention is to try to light up dark corners of cities, both installing new lights and encouraging citizens to interact with the wall, painting with light on it," reads the description on the studio's website. This piece, Asombrar, was created for Fisart Romania in 2015.

07. Dulk

Dulk’s street art is populated by surreal creatures

Antonio Segura Donat, or Dulk, grew up copying illustrations of exotic animals from his parents' old encyclopaedias, and used to take his sketchbook everywhere with him. Having studied illustration then graphic design, today he works as a multidisciplinary artist tackling drawing, painting, sculpture and advertising, but it's his large-scale street art, featuring surreal creatures in imaginary landscapes, that really stands out.

08. Mobstr

Upon the Sighting of New Rendering charts Mobstr’s ongoing battle with the authorities

Mobstr is a multi-talented street artist with a strong line in fake billboards, but it's his Progressions that we really love. Documented across a series of photos, he plays fantastic mind games with the poor souls whose job it is to clean graffiti off the streets, using little more than stencilled letters.

09. Smug

One of Smug’s Glaswegian pieces, gracing the city’s Castle Street

Glasgow-based street artist Smug specialises in photorealistic graffiti, and the Scottish city has become his infinite canvas thanks to a council-funded mural initiative. After picking up a spray painting can over a decade ago, the artist has developed a unique and mesmerising style – rendered entirely freehand. His meticulously detailed work can be seen transforming walls all over the UK and Europe, as well as Australia.

10. Mario Celedon

Artist Mario Celedon’s intricate paintings can be seen all over the city of Valparaiso

Culture capital of Chile, Valparaiso is the home of many a talented artist, including Mario Celedon. Best known for his incredible street art, Celedon's colourful and detailed paintings can be seen in various locations around the city, but our favourite artwork has got to be the intricate illustrations on these steps.

11. Ernest Zacharevic

One of Zacharevic’s Georgetown pieces

Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic brings fine art techniques to the great outdoors. Exploring a multitude of mediums, from installation and sculpture to oil paint, stencils and spray paint, Zacharevic's experimentations remove the restriction of artistic boundaries.

Based out of Penang, Malaysia, the artist first grabbed global attention in 2012 after creating a series of murals for Georgetown Festival, resulting in the BBC dubbing him Malaysia’s answer to Banksy. Since then, his Georgetown murals have become cultural landmarks and his work can be seen from Singapore to LA.

12. Peeta

One of Peeta’s 3D graffitti ‘sculptures’

Italian street artist Manuel Di Rita, who goes by the moniker Peeta, is known for his 3D graffiti. Using gradients of colour, his 2D street art gives off the impression of multiple dimensions, creating the illusion it is sculpture, rather than paint. On top of this, the artist creates actual graffiti-inspired street art sculptures.

Since he first started creating street art back in 1993, Peeta has travelled the globe, spending a lot of time in both Canada and the US. After gaining plenty of experience as a graffiti artist in Europe and America, he started painting canvases and now runs his own business selling canvases and sculptures.

13. Phlegm

Phlegm paints and places his illustrations all over the world

Sheffield-based Phlegm started out in self-published comics before bringing this detailed illustration style to the streets. The UK artist creates surreal, storybook-style imagery, working solely in monochrome. Each piece of street art forms part of a grand narrative that extends worldwide, from Canada to Australia.

14. MrDheo

MrDheo dedicates himself to photorealism, blended with graphic components

MrDheo has no formal artistic training, and it's this that he believes has helped him to develop his own techniques and evolve without direct influences. The Portuguese artist's bold, graphic style lends itself to graffiti art; the bigger the better. MrDheo's street art appears in over 30 international cities, and he has collaborated with a number of major brands and companies.

15. MVM Graphics

Moore W. Moore has been painting geometric murals for more than half his life

Boston based artist Matt W Moore – who runs MVM Graphics – has been painting on walls for over half his life. "It's a magical experience to actualise an idea extra-large in the public space," he smiles. "Lots to see in this section. Everything from my early years of graffiti and street-level art, to my more recent abstract murals. Indoor and outdoor, I've got you covered."

16. Mademoiselle Maurice

A flock of metal origami birds adorns this street art

This impressive piece of street art was created to mark the opening of the Urban Nation contemporary art museum in Berlin. It's the work of visual artist Mademoiselle Maurice, and features a flock of 3D birds brought to life in metal origami. 

17. Herbert Baglione

An eerie creation for an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Parma, Italy

Herbert Baglione is a Brazilian street artist. One particularly striking project, entitled 1000 Shadows, saw him add his stamp to an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Parma, Italy. Balione created eerie shadows across the floors, walls and doors of the building, often interacting with abandoned wheelchairs for extra creepiness.

Next page: 15 more awesome examples of street art

18. Fallen 9000

This inspiring tribute to fallen soldiers only managed to last a few hours

To mark International Peace Day back in 2013, British artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss accompanied by 60 volunteers and 500 local residents, took to the beaches of Normandy and etched 9000 fallen soldier silhouettes into the sand using rakes and stencils. The piece was washed away by the tide after only a few hours, but created a lasting impact. 

19. DALeast

DALeast’s 3D style is instantly recognisable

Born in China, DALeast has spread his distinctive 3D technique of street art across public spaces all over the world. The artist paints creatures that appear to have been wrought from twisted metal. His pieces are instantly recognisable and burst with energy.

20. Pez

Pez began painting in 1999 on the outskirts of Barcelona

Street artist Pez (Spanish for fish) started painting in 1999 on the outskirts of Barcelona. Wanting to find a way to communicate and spread good vibes to the people of the city, Pez decided that his signature mark would be a fish character with a huge smile.

Since then, the artist has gone on to gain international recognition, exhibiting his work all around the globe. The last few years has also seen him create several new characters, including demons, angels and Martians. All have one thing in common – a huge and infectious smile.

21. David de la Mano

Spanish artist David de la Mano creates amazing monochromatic street art

Spanish artist David de la Mano creates striking and often slightly unsettling street art based around silhouettes. This typically creepy piece is entitled Silent Sound. 

22. NeSpoon

Polish artist NeSpoon decorates Warsaw with beautifully intricate patterns

Although she also creates more traditional murals, Polish artist NeSpoon also creates street art that's a little different. Alongside paintings, NeSpoon also decorates buildings with cobweb-like doilies, and etches intricate designs into cement.

23. C215

C215’s stencilled street art features the marginalised and vulnerable

Parisian artist Christian Guémy – also known as C215 – uses stencils to produce beautiful street art depicting vulnerable and marginalised groups of society including refugees, street children and the elderly. Since creating his first work over 20 years ago he's developed a huge following. His street art can be spotted in galleries, auctions and on streets all over the world, in cities including Barcelona and London.

24. Interesni Kazki

Ukranian duo Interesni Kazki create vibrant street art

Ukrainian duo AEC and Waone, aka Interesni Kazki, create bright and vibrant street art that references a variety of cultures and art forms including sci-fi, Mexican folk tales, religion and classical art. For the most part their surreal ideas are created with acrylic paint using rollers, although on some very small pieces of work they use spray cans.

25. Gaia

Gaia creates surreal and colourful murals

New York-born, Baltimore-based street artist Gaia's incredible skills, combined with his strange compositions have gained him worldwide recognition. He's also keen to help others explore the street art medium, setting up festivals and group sessions to fill places like his town of Baltimore with new and exciting murals.

26. Julian Beever

Julian Beever creates whole 3D worlds with just a pavement and some chalk

There's nothing quite like walking along your local high street and coming across a whole new, 3D world – completely made of chalk. Many other chalk artists could have featured in this list, but it's Julian Beever's playful approach to the medium that has us in awe.

The British artist started out as a busker, before attracting commercial commissions in the mid 2000s. He even made a 10-part TV series and released a book, Pavement Chalk Artist, in 2011.

27. See No Evil

For two consecutive summers, Bristol – home of Banksy and centre of a vigorous street art scene – played host to one of the biggest celebrations of street art Europe has ever seen.

Organised by legendary street artist Inkie and Team Love, it was See No Evil's mission to transform one of city's most deprived stretches of road into a work of art. Nelson Street, located in Bristol's city centre was a dreary, grey walkway. Artists from around the world, including New York's Tats Cru and LA's El Mac descended upon the city to bring it to life. 

28. Slinkachu

Slinkachu’s Little People Project combines street art and photography

Using characters from model train sets, Slinkachu's Little People Project is a mixture of street art and photography. If you've had the pleasure of stumbling upon one of his odd little creations, you'll appreciate his humour and childlike imagination.

Slinkachu says that the titles he gives to each scene, "aims to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed". However, he is quick to add that "underneath this, there is always some humour".

29. Joshua Allen Harris

As you'll already have gathered, not all street art involves the use of spray paint. This video from Joshua Allen Harris shows just what can be created with a few household items.

Now primarily a photographer, back in 2008 Harris caused a stir with his Inflatable Bag Monster project. The artist created creatures using disregarded plastic bags and attached them to subway grates around New York, ready to be inflated into life by gusts of air from passing trains. Some of the pieces had an environmental angle, such as the plastic polar bear, which deflated to its death to offer a strong message about global warming and the effects it continues to have on the world we live in.

30. Banksy

Banksy’s stencils often tackle political issues – this work in Paris comments on the treatment of refugees

The best-known street artist across the world, Banksy's challenging, contrary and thought-provoking, stencil-based art has made a huge impact on both high and low culture. In recent years he's branched out with more ambitious projects including a hotel in Bethlehem and a theme park in Weston-Super-Mare, but his politically charged stencil artwork continues to make an stir wherever it appears.

Hailing from Bristol, UK, the artist keeps his identity a secret. Some claim he has a team of people working on each creation while others believe he still works alone. Whatever the case, his art remains as impactful as ever. 

31. Pavel Puhov

Puhov is sometimes called the ‘Russian Banksy’

Known as the 'Russian Banksy', street artist Pavel Puhov (aka Pavel 183 or P-183), has been cooking up a political storm in his native country for over a decade. Like Banksy, the artist's identity is unknown, adding to the mystique surrounding him.

The Moscow-based graffiti artist's creations often have a strong political stance. Some have included paintings of riot police, civilian protesters and even a reimagined painting of National Geographic's infamous Afghan girl photo. Placing his art in very public locations, such as subway doors, makes certain that it's not ignored.

32. Jan Vormann

Jan Vormann ‘repairs’ old buildings with brightly coloured blocks

A German native, Jan Vormann spent three years travelling the world, 'repairing' crumbling and disregarded buildings with his brightly coloured version of Polyfilla. The venture had humble beginnings, starting out in a small art fair in Rome before moving onto bigger ventures. He has even filled the holes of buildings in Berlin that had been damaged by guns during the second World War.

Next page: 13 more awesome examples of street art

33. EVOL

EVOL transforms street furniture into mini-buildings

For his Buildings project, street artist EVOL transformed street furniture into miniature high-rise blocks, complete with graffiti and er, monsters. The German artist exhibits his work in warehouses as well as local streets for all to enjoy. The intricate detail of each piece is incredibly realistic, and it's great to see something boring and functional turned into something that will put a smile on people's faces.

34. Guerrilla Crochet

Guerrilla Crochet has made crochet cool once more

It's official – crochet is not just for grannies. Guerrilla crochet (or, in the UK, 'yarn bombing') has been causing a storm in recent years, with renegade street artists enveloping everyday street furniture in brightly coloured woolly loveliness. One of the most prolific crochet street artists is Agata Oleksiak (aka Olek), who has covered everything from the Wall Street bull to London taxis.

35. Isaac Cordal

Issac Cordal’s work exudes a strong sense of personal injustice

Like Slinkachu, Spanish artist Issac Cordal likes to work with little figures. Unlike the former, however, Cordal tends to take a more melancholy approach. Most of his street art represent the everyday businessman and their struggles to deal with the mundanity of everyday life.

36. Ronzo

Ronzo’s bird sculptures liven up mundane surroundings

Independent artist Ronzo describes himself as 'Vandal Extraordinaire'. On his site he claims that he exists because "this fragile Earth deserves a voice". We're not quite sure what he means by that, but we like it.

The artist's 2012 Birdz project saw colourful bird sculptures popping up on London's Brick Lane as well as council estates, along with a graffiti mural of the 'Olympic Bird' and a a 'Credit Crunch Monster' placed on a building overlooking The Old Truman Brewery.

37. Vj Suave

Vj Suave is a collaboration between artists Ygor Marotta, hailing from Brazil, and Cecilia Soloaga, from Argentina. The duo create live visual performances using a mixture of character illustration, animation and projection. The video shows a series of intricate designs and colourful characters coming to life and walking the streets. A truly unique street art event.

38. Guerrilla Gardeners

Guerrilla Gardeners are on a mission to make our streets a greener place

This project saw sneaky gardeners making it their mission to turn our streets a greener place. The team behind Guerrilla Gardening became a global hub, with planting taking place in cities from London to Beirut. The collective carried out their work during the night.

39. Kello Goeller

Kello Goeller brought pixel art to the streets of New York

Kello Goeller took pixel art into a new dimension in this awesome sculpture. The piece, entitled Pixel Pour 2.0, was created from wood and latex, and could be found on Mercer Street in New York. Goeller is a multidisciplinary performance artist, and can currently be found crafting 'dreamscapes' in Portland.

40. Invader

French artist Invader completes his 8-bit art behind a mask

French UFA ('unidentified free artist') Invader has been invading cities across the world with his perfect pixelated artwork for years. He always completes his artwork behind a mask, so as to not give away his identity. This project, entitled Space Invaders, is inspired by first-generation arcade games. The characters are made out of tiles cemented onto walls, and Invader has set up a scoring system for them, with each character rating between 10 and 50, depending on its size.

41. Roadsworth

Popsilos brings an artistic twist to the ugliest of structures

Peter Gibson, aka Roadsworth, started his street art journey painting the streets of Montrealo. Initially motivated by a desire for more cycle paths in the city and a questioning of the world's 'car culture' in general, the artist then moved on to urban landscapes and bigger, more ambitious projects – including the above Popsilos project. In 2004, Roadsworth was arrested and charged with 53 counts of mischief. Despite the heavy fines, he continued his street art quest. 

42. Miina Akkijyrkka

Miina Äkkijyrkkä turns used vehicles into animal sculptures

Finnish sculptor Miina Akkijyrkka has a thing for cows. She scours her native country for used vehicles and turns them into these huge animal sculptures. The artist has been working her magic for an impressive 50 years.

43. Vhils

Part of an initiative that uses art to campaign for environmental issues

Alexandre Farto, who works under the moniker Vhils, is a street artist hailing from Portugal. He has gained renown for his murals, created using a bas-relief carving technique that involves cutting either directly into walls or removing layers of advertising posters.

The above artwork, located in Sumatra, Indonesia, aims to raise awareness about a new species of orangutan that has already become endangered due to unregulated palm oil farming and irresponsible construction in its natural habitat. This piece is part of Splash and Burn – an initiative that uses art as a way to draw attention to environmental issues. 

44. The Glue Society

Grab a giant spoon, quick!

It's so hot on Tamarara beach in Australia that this ice cream truck has melted! OK, you got us, it's actually a brilliant street art sculpture created by artists at The Glue Society. The installation, entitled Hot With The Chance of Late Storm, was displayed on the beach during the opening of the 10th annual Sculpture By The Sea exhibition back in 2006.

45. JR

Artist JR has been dubbed the ‘French Banksy’

French photographer and artist JR's political street art began during the Paris riots of 2005. Angered by the way the areas involved were being presented in the media, he took photos of the residents pulling funny faces and flyposted them around the city.

His passion-filled, often didactic artwork has since appeared in deprived areas across the world, from the suburbs of Paris to the shantytowns of Rio. He's also been arrested in China, and in 2011 was awarded the TED prize, worth $100,000.

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