#dave and rose are having one of their trademark dave and rose moments

[yifftwiceplz]

outlining this damn. writing

[natromanxoff]

The Sun - November 28, 1991

Credits to Louise Belle and Queencuttings.com

ELTON’S SAD FAREWELL

ELTON’S SAD FAREWELL

[Photo caption: Tears… grief-stricken Elton is consoled by Queen’s guitarist Brian May / Picture: ARTHUR EDWARDS]

Thanks for being my friend.

I will love you always

ELTON JOHN said farewell to Freddie Mercury yesterday with 100 pink roses bearing the message: "Thanks for being my friend, I will love you always."

The tribute came as rock's most outrageous performer was cremated at a service for just 35 close friends and family.

Elton was first to leave West London funeral, tears streaming down his face. Asked if he would say anything he bit his lip and said softly: “No, I’m sorry.”

Other mourners included Freddie’s long-time love Mary Austin and his mother Jer father Bomi and sister Kashmira.

[Photo caption: Loved… Freddie]

I can’t tell my Ricky his uncle Freddie is dead

Singer doted on Mary’s little lad

By DAN COLLINS

[Photo caption: Farewell… from Mary and Dave]

FREDDIE Mercury’s heartbroken ex-lover Mary Austin cannot bring herself to tell her young son Ricky the star he idolised is dead.

Toddler Ricky loved to visit “Uncle Freddie” and would run from room to room of the Queen singer’s mansion to find him.

Mary, 38, who is expecting another baby, said: “He doesn’t know what has happened. I haven’t broken the news because he’s only 20 months old.

“But I’m sure the next time Ricky goes to the house he will be looking for him, and that is going to be a very hard thing.”

Freddie — who became Ricky’s godfather when he was born in 1989 — doted on the youngster and often played with him at his £4million home in Kensington, West London.

Mary went on: “They always got on very well together. But I realise that my next port of call will be to introduce Ricky to an empty house.

“I don’t know when that will be. It will be whenever the moment feels right.

“I worry about the effect Freddie’s death will have on Ricky, but I’d like for him to look back on this with a smile and not with sadness.”

Mary had a seven year live-in relationship with Freddie before they broke up in 1980.

Lovely

She remained the only woman he ever loved and was at Freddie’s bedside until 10 minutes before he died from AIDS on Sunday.

Yesterday she spent an hour in the empty house and left in tears after reliving her memories.

She went there with Sixties star Dave Clark after attending Freddie’s cremation service.

Dave said: “It was a very lovely service and a very emotional one. I think Freddie would have appreciated it.”

In contrast to the flamboyance which was Freddie’s stage trademark, his farewell was a low-key affair.

Only his family and close friends attended. 

The 20-minute funeral was conducted by two Indian Parsee priests in the Zoroastrian faith of the star’s parents Bomi and Jer Bulsara.

It was performed in the ancient tongue of Avasta which dates back to 1,500 years before Christ.

Traditionally dead Parsees are left to be picked clean by vultures, but in Britain they are buried or cremated.

Way-out

The 14 family members gathered earlier at a chapel of rest in Kensington for a 60-minute service of their own.

His illness and death united them in grief — following reports that his parents disapproved of his way-out life style.

Freddie’s last journey was by gleaming black Rolls-Royce.

Five more hearses followed — each packed with bouquets of flowers from friends and fans.

A fleet of seven Mercedes limousines carrying mourners swooped in minutes later — a line broken only by Elton John’s green H-reg Bentley.

Four pallbearers gently carried Freddie inside the chapel watched by his grief-stricken parents.

Mourners wept as the chapel echoed to the music of soul singer Aretha Franklin and opera star Montserrat Caballe, with whom Freddie recorded the hit single Barcelona.

As the stars stood with their heads bowed, the family approached the casket to pay their last respects.

Most poignant of all the tributes and messages was a wreath of yellow roses from Mary with a declaration which said: “For my dearest with my deepest love. Your old faithful.”

Peace

She brought another for her son saying: “To Uncle Freddie with love from your Ricky.”

One of the most touching, from Queen drummer Roger Taylor, said simply: “Goodbye old friend, peace at last.”

Boy George’s tribute said: “Dear Freddie, I love you.”

Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and his wife Barbara sent a message which read: “To Freddie with love.”

And veteran rocker Gary Glitter said: “Sadly missed, never forgotten.”

Only two fans found out where the service was and travelled from Leeds to pay their respects.

Jan Hall and Liz Carter, both in their thirties, sobbed uncontrollably as they said: “He was Freddie — and there is only one Freddie.

“He can never be replaced. We never met him but his music brought us so much happiness for so many years.”

[Photo caption: Carpet of flowers… bouquets pile up for Freddie from grieving fans]

[Photo caption: So sad… Brian and Anita looking pale and drawn]

[Photo caption: Tribute… messages from his star pals]

[Photo caption: Miss you, son… mum and day say goodbye]

NO CHAMPERS, JUST A SIMPLE GOODBYE

By PIERS MORGAN

IT was Freddie Mercury’s long-time minder who summed it up best.

Burly Jim Callaghan stood quietly by the chapel door and told me: “Freddie would have said ‘sod it — grab a glass of champagne and let’s have a party.”

But there was no champagne. For a man who sang to millions and threw parties for thousands during a wonderfully over-the-top life, it was a quiet farewell.

Less than a dozen curious passersby stood by the crematorium entrance as the vintage black Rolls carrying Freddie’s coffin drove in.

Private

The small, select band of mourners filed quietly into the chapel.

Jim Callaghan, who had been on the door at Freddie’s most lavish parties, gently led the star’s parents inside.

Last to go in, as he would have liked, was Freddie.

His painfully thin body, ravaged by AIDS, was carried by four bearers inside a simple light tan coffin. A single red rose rested on top.

The contrast with his flamboyant stage appearances could not have been greater — but that how he wanted it.

It was Freddie Mercury the pop superstar who stole the show at Live Aid in front of one billion TV viewers worldwide.

It was Frederick Bulsara the intensely private man who was laid to rest yesterday.

MAKE FREDDIE NO 1

Stars want Queen’s Bohemian classic in top spot for Xmas

THE pop world last night joined my campaign to make Bohemian Rhapsody the Christmas No 1 as a tribute to Freddie Mercury.

Stars including Bono, Rick Parfitt and Jonathan Ross promised to buy the eight-minute rock classic after Queen said they will re-release it on December 9.

On the B-side will be Freddie's nostalgic These Are The Days Of Our Lives, the song featured on Queen's final video. Profits from sales will go to AIDS charity the Terence Higgins Trust.

Bookies slashed the odds on the 1975 record making the top slot to 7-1 on as bets poured in. DJ Simon Bates said: "I'll play it until it gets to the top."

His Radio 1 pal Mark Goodier added: "I hope the re-release will help people understand how serious AIDS is."

Steve Wright said: “I hope it gets to No 1 and raises loads of cash."

Status Quo's Rick Parfitt admitted he wept when he saw the video for These Are The Days.

He said: "Making sure the record is No 1 is the best way we can pay tribute to Freddie."

Smash

Chat show host Jonathan Ross said: "I bought it first time round and I'll buy it again."

Pledging support, U2's Bono said: "Freddie was fearless and over the top. I loved that about him."

Today I'm printing the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody — and you can hear Freddie singing it on our special phone line. Just dial 0898 334 149.

Calls cost 36p a minute cheap rate or 48p other times. Every penny of The Sun's and Queen's proceeds from your calls will go to AIDS charities — as Freddie would have wanted.

George Michael and Elton John's Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me — which will also raise cash for AIDS — slipped to second place in the Christmas No1 betting at 5-1 against.

{Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics}

[autumnblogs]

Day 1: A Young Man Stands In His Bedroom

I don't expect Day 1 to be too eventful, but I'm also pretty wordy.

https://homestuck.com/story/3

Homestuck has this sort of weird relationship with the idea of "Started just now, but always was that way" that I think probably is pretty important to the way it tackles cultural narratives overall. Growing up, cultural narratives have a huge effect on our day to day lives, but we're not really cognizant of them until they are right up in our faces. That's my thesis, by the way, or at least one of them. Homestuck is a story about stories. That's not the only thing that Homestuck is about, and it might not even be the most important thing it's about, but that is one of the things that it's about.

Or maybe I'm full of horseshit. Wouldn't be the first time. More after the break.

https://homestuck.com/story/4

I like Homestuck’s character intros. They’re cute. Instead of actually characterizing these characters much, they have a pretty strong tendency to sort of create the background radiation of the comic. Like, I don’t think that John and Karkat ever bully each other about the fact that they’re mutually bad at coding, which would be hilarious, but there are loads of weird programming gags in Homestuck that I think are a part of the universe because John is bad at programming as much as they’re there because Andrew was into Comp Sci at this time.

https://homestuck.com/story/6

The first of our funky gaming abstractions. Homestuck is a story about stories, and the kind of story that it’s often about (when it’s not about highly abstract cultural narratives) is the video game. Especially the point and click adventure game.

There are a lot of weird things about Homestuck’s story and themes only because it engages with video games the way it does. I’ll come back to that. As long as I’m writing, this, I might as well take a minute to say that I think this whole sequence of screwing around with puzzling and slightly irritating gaming abstractions loses a lot of people on an archival read. It lost me a couple of times before I was able to get past it and lose the next eight years of my life to Andrew Hussie. Nowadays though, there’s something endearing about it. I like watching John scramble around.

https://homestuck.com/story/12

I’ll never get tired of Dad Egbert. Is he the Platonic Ideal of Dadliness? Maybe. Dadliness, and more generally, Manliness, is a lens we can look at a lot of John’s character arc through. His room, as we’ll see in a few panels, is full of Manly dudes, and I think he cares a lot about being a manly guy - a romantic lead, a badass, maybe some day even a Dad himself. Maybe.

https://homestuck.com/story/16

This one is a new train of thought for me.

Back when this was written, I gather the comic was still being written pretty much entirely off of prompts, and I think it’s probably just part of Andrew’s playfully antagonistic writing style, at least in a Doylist sense. I wonder how much, though, retroactively, we can read the narrative’s general aggression toward John as being his own self-criticism? Sometimes the Narrative in Homestuck is Andrew Riffing. Sometimes it’s a character’s own internal monologue. Often, I think it’s probably both.

 Maybe I’ll keep a tally of how often it happens.

https://homestuck.com/story/26

Our first sign of Dave. I think it’s funny how people glom onto some things and not others. Apple Juice has become practically Dave’s Trademark Favorite Food if you look at some peoples’ perception of the character. I don’t think people think nearly as much about how much of a surly jackass John is to his pals in early acts. He’s a little mean. Is it early installment weirdness? It certainly adds character to him.

:(

Poor Dave. Maybe I’m reading too much into this. I probably am.

https://homestuck.com/story/42

These don’t really exist any more. GameBro is one of those things about Homestuck (like John remarking on Black Presidents) that really makes it a period piece. It is, as another commentator put it, aggressively contemporary. I remember drooling over gaming magazines when they were still in print but never really buying any due to a lack of allowance funds. My friends and I shared a moment of silence when Nintendo Power went out of print.

https://homestuck.com/story/63

Rose appears. This is a character I’ve got a love hate relationship. I think out of everyone in the comic, Rose is the one I’m the most like. We’ll come back to her later. Not a lot to say here except “A Weakness for Insufferable Pricks” is a collection of syllables I’ve always enjoyed. And that Rose knows her friend’s quirks well.

https://homestuck.com/story/78

The narration is, once again, weirdly aggressive to John. (Also the Peanut Gallery thing is a cunning bit of wordplay.)

https://homestuck.com/story/82

I like this page. It’s weird and eerie. If anybody has a good take on what it means, I’m all ears. (The other houses in John’s neighborhood have always made me wonder things like, what is John’s neighborhood like? Does he have any other friends? Any neighbors who are important to him? It never comes up, so I think the answer is probably no. What about School? Does he go? He never mentions any school chums. John is a pretty lonely kid.)

https://homestuck.com/story/90

Teenagers are little shits. I certainly was one, although my general shittiness didn’t flower until I was probably between 16 and 18 years old. I was at least well behaved before that. Anyway, I think your relationship with your parents can be adversarial at the best of times when you’re John’s age. That’s always been my interpretation of Strifes, but maybe there’s more to it. John’s is pretty mild. Some of the later ones, less so.

https://homestuck.com/story/103

The Narrative gets weirdly aggressive toward John again.

https://homestuck.com/story/109

Maybe I should watch some of these movies at some point so I can be in on the joke. I don’t think I’ve watched any of John’s favorite movies, actually.

https://homestuck.com/story/132

John and Rabbits are related to John in at least two ways - magicians pull rabbits out of hats, Nic Cage puts bunnies back into boxes. John’s a bit flighty like a rabbit too. Like the legendary lapine hero Elahraira, one of John’s main strategies as the Heir of Breath is avoidance - he runs away. There’s kind of a basic tension between that and the fact that, as a self-styled manly dude, John is also, at times, pretty confrontational.

https://homestuck.com/story/153

I’ve always had an interest in like, the specific way Homestuck characters talk - getting a feel for what words they use, what words they would probably never use. Rose goes for a plethora of multisyllabic words, and then occasionally peppers her pesterlogs with Buffy Speak and profanity.

https://homestuck.com/story/154

I think they’re elegant too, Rose.

https://homestuck.com/story/171

Of all the kids, Rose uses fuck more than any other profanity. Karkat uses it more than Rose does, but a higher percentage of Rose’s curse words are fuck compared to all the curse words she uses. Just a fun fact.

It’s perhaps no surprise that Rose is the only main character to definitively end up in a stable romantic relationship by the end of the main comic. Girl has fornication on her mind.

As long as I’m on the subject of romance and fornication, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to bring up the other theme I’m going to riff on in my exploration of Homestuck a lot - Reproduction. Shipping is a bit part of the Homestuck fandom, and not for no reason - all these kids have finding a mate on their mind, and the idea of each other as potential romantic partners is one of the very first things anybody brings up - it’s the first thing Dave talks about in his very second conversation with John.

:)

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy pretty much any time John and Rose talk to each other? I am not a Grimdorks shipper, but I’ve always been of the opinion that John and Rose are closer with each other than they are with their other respective relationships. Besties.

https://homestuck.com/story/199

More narrative aggression for John. 

https://homestuck.com/story/217

It is a matter of critical importance to me that Rose’s Room is messy and her bed is unmade. We learn quite a bit about the aesthetics Rose is going to bring to the story here, but my favorite is that Rose’s room is a fucking disaster.

Anyway, I think that’s about all from me tonight. I’m about an hour out from the end of my shift. I’m largely going to be doing these while I work, since I’ll be at my computer anyway, waiting for jobs to come my way. 

This is Cam signing off, alive, and not alone.

[sceptilemasterr]

MW Act 1, Scene 9 - Beaten to the Punch

Title: Most Wanted: The Hollywood Killer (A CIU Screenplay)

Main Pairings: Dave x Sam

Other Pairings: N/A

Genre: Full Rewrite

Rating: PG-13 for violence, blood, swearing, alcohol, and sexuality

Summary: Sam and Dave go to interrogate their third suspect, only to find a familiar face has beaten them to it.

Previous Scene: Action

Masterlist: Link

INT. RECORDING STUDIO - NIGHT

Sam and Dave confront a thin, fidgety man, JAMIE BROOKS, standing in front of a door labeled “HAYLEY ROSE.” Sam glares at Brooks, arms crossed, while Dave puts on his best apologetic smile.

DAVE: Look, all we want is to ask Miss Rose a few questions.

BROOKS: Oh, I bet you do. You and everyone else in the city.

SAM: Sure, but we’re not “everyone else.” I’m Deputy Marshal-

Brooks holds up a hand.

BROOKS: I’m gonna stop you right there. I know who you are. As Ms. Rose’s agent, my job is to look out for her best interests, and letting a couple of cops draw her into a scandal that has nothing to do with her is not in her best interests!

SAM (to Dave): There’s something... off about this guy.

DAVE: He’s a Hollywood agent. That’s kind of a given. Still...

SAM: Gonna use that trademark finesse?

DAVE (smirks): Watch and learn.

Dave turns back to Brooks, smiling sympathetically.

DAVE: Mr. Brooks... Jamie? Look, I understand that you’re only defending Hayley’s interests. Any good agent would do the same for his client.

BROOKS: That’s right, yeah...

DAVE: Then we want the same thing, actually. I don’t want an innocent bystander like Hayley caught up in a media circus. After all, we both know what the paparazzi can be like.

Brooks sighs, shaking his head.

BROOKS: You’re too right; I just wish you’d gotten here sooner. To be honest, the real reason you can’t talk to her is because the media’s already got here. Some journalist girl showed up for an interview and just wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

SAM: “Some journalist girl?” Wait, hold on. What did she look like?

BROOKS: Uh, dark hair, tan-ish skin, way too excitable, why?

Sam and Dave share a knowing look.

DAVE: You don’t think...

Before anyone can say anything more, the door swings open behind Brooks, and Rhea steps out.

RHEA: ...And I’ll definitely be on the lookout! I’ll be listening to that one the second it comes out!

She turns and startles when she sees Sam and Dave.

RHEA: Hey, wait a minute, aren’t you the cops I saw at Cordillera before? Whoa, what are the odds?

SAM (to Dave): Knew it.

DAVE: ...What are you doing here?

RHEA: Uh, interviewing? I’m a journalist? It’s what I do?

SAM: Well, yes, but... why Hayley? Why now?

RHEA: It’s obvious, isn’t it? With the Gavin Routh connection and all.

Sam and Dave share a look. Dave turns to address Brooks.

DAVE: Listen, uh... can you give us a few minutes? Your client probably needs you, anyway.

BROOKS: What? Oh, uh, sure. Yeah. No problem.

He disappears through the doorway. Rhea watches him leave before continuing.

RHEA: If there’s any leads at all, it would be whoever hated Gavin. Looking at Gavin’s posts from the last few weeks, there are only three possible suspects. Neely’s too obvious, plus he was already at the scene of the crime; that leaves Hayley Rose and Ryan Summers.

SAM (whistles): Wow. She’s good.

DAVE: Alright. So, what did you find out, then?

SAM: What, you’re just gonna ask her--?

RHEA: Well, Hayley wasn’t even slightly annoyed about the pictures Gavin posted. She was kinda... like... weirdly impressed, actually?

SAM: How so?

RHEA: For one, she couldn’t figure out how Gavin managed to get those pictures in the first place, and for another-

HAYLEY ROSE: Like I told her. I’m not ashamed of my body.

The three of them turn to see HAYLEY ROSE emerging from the doorway that Brooks had just entered.

HAYLEY ROSE: I’ve spent months tanning on Venice Beach, doing Pilates with my trainer... do you really think I care that Routh stole my nudes? All he did was boost my search results, which I’m actually pretty happy about, to be honest.

DAVE: Hayley! I’m Detective Dave Reyes. Huge fan.

HAYLEY ROSE: Really? You are?

DAVE: Oh yeah. You have no idea how many times “Outlaw” has been played back at the station.

HAYLEY ROSE: Wow, that’s so great to hear! So, uh, what can I do for a super-hot cop like you?

Dave pulls out a business card from his pocket, handing it to Hayley.

DAVE: Doesn’t sound like you had anything to do with Gavin Routh’s death. But if you ever think of anything that might help our investigation, my number’s on the front.

HAYLEY ROSE: ...Sure, I can do that. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

DAVE: And by the way, if you need anything outside the investigation, my personal number’s on the back.

HAYLEY ROSE: OMG! For sure, anything for a fan like you! Thank you!

The three of them cross to the other side of the room as Hayley heads back in through the door.

SAM: Alright. So. What have we learned?

DAVE: Honestly? I don’t feel like any of those three hired Tull.

SAM: Agreed. They’ve all got solid alibis. Even Neely, as much as I hate to admit it.

RHEA: What about Summers?

SAM: Been there, done that.

DAVE: He’s a good friend of mine. Even asked me to be in his movie, which I definitely woulda done if someone hadn’t pulled me away-

SAM: Like I told you, that was not the time!

RHEA: Wow, seriously? Could you introduce me? Or even just get me his autograph? I was really looking forward to... uh, ahem. I mean, did you find out anything?

Dave chuckles, shaking his head.

DAVE: Not really, to be honest. Other than that he’s got a really good reason to be ducking off to Venice Beach every so often.

RHEA: Wow, sounds scandalous... anything you could tell me?

DAVE: Sorry, but no.

SAM: And Neely was nothing but an obnoxious ass. Babbling on about his yacht and beach models like he owns the goddamn world... ugh. So, basically, we’re back to square one. Absolutely no leads.

RHEA: Well... I do have one idea.

Sam and Dave turn to stare at her.

SAM: Well? Spit it out!

RHEA: Gavin doesn’t seem like the type to do his own dirty work. So... he must have hired a hacker of some kind, right? What if something went bad between them, and it was the hacker who hired Tull?

SAM: What?! That’s the stupidest thing I ever... actually, now that you mention it...

DAVE: You know what? I think the girl’s onto somethin’. So, where do we find this hacker?

RHEA: Neely, Ryan Summers, Hayley Rose... was there anything they had in common? Someplace they might all have been around the same time?

Sam and Dave think for a moment, then suddenly exchange a triumphant glance.

SAM: Venice Beach!

DAVE: They all mentioned Venice Beach.

RHEA: Alright! Sounds like it’s time for us to find this hacker!

The two of them stare at her for a moment.

RHEA: ...What?

SAM: Are you seriously expecting to come with us-

DAVE: You know what? Sure thing, Rhea. Welcome to the club.

He holds out a hand, and Rhea shakes it as Sam glares at the two of them.

SAM: Ugh. You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Next Scene: “Hacking Plan R”

CIU Tag List: @brightpinkpeppercorn @endlesshero1122 @bbaba-yagaa @acidsugar0

MW Tag List: @griselda1121

[nanurisms]

A sense of unity

Rose Lalonde is a well known woman, with a spotless record of sarcastic prodding. So her coming up to him, both famous stars of popular, vague and befuddling media was as surprising as one would expect, which is not at all. He has a reputation to keep as well. Dave Strider, genius by his own right. What was surprising though, was her words to him- she says the future is hers to observe, that memories of lives she never lived fill her and that they are blood- and their children will be too. She has a reputation, of course. Her jokes are nothing but classy yet sharp sarcasm, delivered with severe soberity. But never something like this. Her MO includes applies snark and he’s aware of it all perfectly well. You have to read people like a book, know every word about every big name to get yourself far in Hollywood, especially with his kind of premise. And so, he does not understand her motive. Obviously, he does not believe her, but for the sake of irony and image he plays along. She also knows him perfectly well as well, because Rose Lalonde does her research, and she knows he must keep up his unique act. She uses the people gathering around such two famous figures to force him to schedual a meeting with her, uses the drama she stirred with her statement to push him to choose the most ironic and ridiculous option- pretending he is entirely in the know. And of couse he has to go. He has a reputation after all. And so they meet in her ridiculous riverside mansion, and she sits him down at her lonely kitchen that reminds him too much of his empty penthouse, which sometimes feels like it’s short one person, even though he never invested in interpersonal relationships. He never had anyone there often enough to feel their loss. Her words make too damn sense for being so senseless And she lays out her every word carefully, like the writer she is, delivering every verbal punch precisely and painfully right where it is almost too familiar for him not to believe her even though he has no recollection. He leaves. Goes home. It’s even emptier. It’s hollow. He convinces himself, or so he thinks, that she was a mad writer who can’t distinguish reality from fiction anymore. He doesn’t sleep. He works on his next comic page, because as big as he became he never left that good old site where everything felt like home and he could cry his heart out on the pages and cover it up with jpg artifacts so no one would suspect. And she is left alone in an empty house, full of drinks and nothing to fill a void that is so clearly there, clear as daylight. She doesn’t sleep. She sits at her desk, pen in hand, and once again when she tries to start her next book all that comes up is names she never heard and clothes she never seen embroidered with signs she never witnessed. And she cries into the night for the things she knows she lost. The next time they meet they are old friends, even though they haven’t seen eachother since. There is a sense of solidarity even the paparazzi can feel. Rumors spread. They don’t battle the rumors. When asked, they call eachother siblings. When compared and contrasted, they playfully trademark family secrets. He lies to himself. He says he doesn’t believe her. They both know that is not true. He helps her. She has someone to unload her prophesies to. He listens, and it sits with him for the rest of his life. Their styles of writing changes. His works turn darker, grimer, filled with more underlying meaning that requiers less of an ironic mind and more of an analytical one to figure out. Her works gain a taste of ridiculous nihilism that demands the reader expand their horizons. They work together. Next time they meet in public and she whispers to him that their children are going to need a home, he doesn’t say a word, just nods lightly. The next day he owns an entire building, and starts renovations for it to stand the rising of the sea. She starts applying upgrades to her own home. It needs to float, after all. They stand by eachother. By that point the world debates whether they are dating or actually family. No one thinks they are unrelated. They are simply too connected. Too powerful, side by side. When he buys the building, he stops lying. He can’t deny he believes every word. He starts eating himself up, for lying to himself, for believing this nonesense. She somehow knows. Perhaps because she reads every page he publishes. She sits him down again, and tells him of days he never been through. Of friends he never met. He is desperate to hear more. She doesn’t say a word about the older brother who never came out with a scratch from their rooftop strifes. Nothing about the desperation of his other, winged self. She knows he needs a dream, not another scar. He adds two new characters in his next entry. He makes a saga spanning 4 pages of unintelligible artifact plot with them. They wear lime green and a light, friendly blue. One day he wakes up beside his computer, cold sweat covering every inch of his skin. He reaches for his phone, but a moment before he dials, he is already receiving her call. She tells him they have to fight. They have to be louder. They have to be noticed. She says she can’t do it alone. She says he was always louder than her. He agrees. Next time they are in public, he’s holding a sword and making a lunatic speech about the dangers of clown cults to his many devoted fans, live on television. Most regard it as a publicity stunt. Few conspiracists take it to heart. Rumors spread. Fingers are pointed. They will never know how much they truly did, because they gave a name to the chilling silence under the vail of society that too many have already noticed. She already knows. They will never win. They will die trying, so much is fact. But she doesn’t need to tell him, because knowing or not, he will go down fighting, and so will she. They publish more than ever. Elements from each of their works seep into each other until they are making a unified statement, each with their own unique language. When the time comes, they pick up their weapon of choice, and their battle turns to melee. They fight, knowing they will lose, but their children will prevail. Knowing the war they will win needs this battle be lost. Seperated, together, they reach peace. They are willing to make the sacrifice. When they die, they do so away from prying eyes. They disappear from the public eye, each taking a last stand against a tyrannical clown, and never to be seen again. They die seperated, hiding, unwilling to give anyone the satisfaction in watching their defeat- but they are full, and at ease, and ready for the end. The void has been filled. With merely a ghost image of what it used to be, but it was more than either ever had. They died together, alone, and they were ready to let go, so their descendents can fight the next fight.

[isroselalondebisexual]

This one's a bit weird, but what about these kid/trollswaps: Rose Pyrope, Jade Peixes, John Zahhak, and Dave Vantas

Ooo, swapped by Class :D

Rose Pyrope, raised in relative solitude, not meeting Dragonmom until she’s 10ish years old (about 5 sweeps I’d say), with solidly middle class income. She writes. ALL of the fanfiction. She’s got access to resources, even though everything has to be shipped out to her, so she probably frequents whatever the troll equivalent of Wish and Amazon are a LOT, probably has a bunch of dumb wizard flarping gear that she really likes, as well as “edgy” and “sinister” flarping gear that really just makes it look like she shops at Troll Hot Topic. She lives in a tree, so she probably waxes poetic about the sound of wind rushing through the branches much like she had that lil tangent about the sound of rushing water underneath her canon home. Meeting her lusus in her dreams and learning how to “see” with her nose would probably just make her even more inquisitive about the world around her, another method by which she can take in information, though Dave probably makes a lot of jokes about how “nosy” she is B) Rose has a Scalesona and she and Jade roleplay together ALL THE TIME. Rose being the Seer of Mind would probably result in her role being someone who sees into the minds of others and can understand their psyche. A blinded Seer (not physically blind, but like, magically blind) would have issues seeing the good or ill intents of those around them, and probably just blindly hope that things will work out for the best without critically thinking about a person’s actions and motivations, while a Seer that came into her godhood would be, well, something like a therapist, something like a psychologist, something like- Rose. What I’m saying is Rose’s interests absolutely line up with being a Seer of Mind very fucking closely. She’d love that role give it to her please.

Jade Peixes would be quite similar to Feferi, I think. Being a child, and a very monetarily privileged child, she’d likely have a skewed perception of the world and very lofty, well-intentioned, but ultimately juvenile plans. “Kill the Condesce, rule Alternia, make everybody be nice to each other” would sum it up pretty nicely, and I could picture her being a little condescending herself. Probably still bottles her own emotions and cares too much about what other people are feeling and if she can help them out at all, and idk if Eridan is still around in this AU but if not it’d be fine because Jade, like Feferi, is a fucking kickass STRONG girl (or, gill, as it might be ;3) who can haul whales on her own. Probably has a bunch of fancy ion rifles and whatnot and only uses her trident for ceremonial stuff. Wouldn’t enjoy killing animals because she likes those a lot and is enamored with how cool animals are, but a duty is a duty and unless she has a friend or datemate to help her out then she’s the one who’s gotta do it. Probably thinks her mom is really badass, even though she’s pretty strenuous a lot of the time. Rose is very likely the only person who can get her to open up about how sucky having to take care of her is, bc, again, Jade does not like to talk about her feelings, but Rose is as nosy as she is loving so hey it works out. As Witch of Life, Jade is probably filled with enthusiasm at the fact that she can bring about LIFE. She doesn’t have to kill anything she doesn’t want to anymore, just some battle imps and those are just Game constructs anyway, she’s a HEALER, someone who can impart life into others! Gone are the nights of having to kill things just so she could avoid killing other things, her focus can move away from death, and focus instead on growth, on life, on Life, and that’s so wonderful! She’s so, so HAPPY with her role, she is all but too glad to move mindsets from focusing on death to instead flourishing with life. Probably gets along with the horrorterrors of the furthest ring really well and says hi to them whenever she’s on Derse. They’re like, her weird great-aunts and uncles, sort of, her mom was their emissary so she’s sorta like, every horrorterror’s baby sister/niece. 

John Zahhak! Strong boy against. It is a role meant to help him grow not by challenging him in ways that help him into his role, which allows him to flourish, but challenges him by forcing him to go against his natural inclination, against what he’s used to, against what he was raised with, against his own expectations. He has to fight against staying quiet on the sidelines always watching, never engaging, so that he can become involved with his friends and engage in healthy emotional interactions. He has to fight against his own upbringing, that told him that he was important and others weren’t. Has to fight against the idea that has been pounded into his head over and over and over again that the world is cold and harsh and uncaring and he has to realize that life is as kind as we make it, and there is kindness in him, there is goodness in him, and he has to step out of the shadows and DO something with that.

Dave Vantas. Hoooooo. Paranoid boy. Very paranoid boy. Thinks the WORLD of his crabby dad. Very very twitchy. I can’t really see Dave getting particularly angry or short fused, but I CAN see him being deeply insecure which leads to him saying things he doesn’t necessarily mean in order to make himself feel/seem better, which inadvertently hurts others. Rose is a MENACE in his life because she’s very snoopy and he is secretive for a REASON Rose! He loves her dearly tho. Probably thinks that John is “cool” and “aloof” and “mysterious” when really John just doesn’t know how to engage. Very likely still makes shitty comics and they more than likely satirize the caste system, also the rigidity of quadrants. So like, it SEEMS like he’s making general run of the mill schlup to any algorithms looking for civil dissent, but people who pay attention can tell that Dave is actually doing some pretty quality satire for a tiny child and it’s some quality stuff, by which I mean the quality is terrible as Andrew Hussie is evil. Knight of Blood means he’s fiercely protective of his friends, and with Crabdad’s upbringing, he’s a right menace to anything he considers a threat. Is the mom friend of the group. “Have you eaten today?” “You need to eat” “So help me god I will go to your planet and feed you myself if you do not put some food in your body” “No popcorn is not a meal eat actual FOOD.” Being protective of his bonds likely means he still has some pretty fierce abandonment issues tho, and likely is still just as much of an attention whore as he is in canon because he needs to know that his friends still love him and want him around and care about him. It’s very important to him, but he winds up coming off as clingy which he HATES because he can feel himself doing it but at the same time he really really really could use the reassurance that he’s not being annoying but he feels like if he asks to much that MAKES him annoying and who does he even think he is, anyway. His blood color is a source of p big anxiety for him and he’s likely internalized a lot of the “if you’re hot blooded youre not important” rhetoric of Alternia. Fortunately, it is his bonds with his friends that then turn around and keep him safe from himself, because all his friends love him and absolutely do NOT value him any less just because he’s hot and off-spectrum, and yeah okay he can get a little annoying but they don’t think he’s annoying as a person! Just every now and then. They probably all do some stupid friendship gesture like in Yugioh or smth so Dave can always know that his friends love him and it’s cheesy and ridiculous and they all love it. 

Neat swaps! People of the same Classes are quite similar, looks like :O!

[clockwork-dinosaur]

this is something i started writing a few months ago but never really finished, based on this post by @miss-serket

(~1690 words)

Karkat wasn't sure where or when he originated, but he definitely knew it was a place and time nothing like where he found himself sitting. The tavern around him was dark and warm, filled with boisterous drinking songs and laughter. Barmaids went from table to table, refilling ale and biting their tongues as their asses were pinched by drunken patrons as they passed. He was thankfully ignored, his gray skin and orange horns obscured by the hood he kept pulled up. Locals didn't seem to care one way or another for trolls such as himself, but he felt better safe than sorry.

Karkat glared, which he often did, but for once he was glaring with a purpose. There was one man in particular, a burly human man with beady eyes underneath a heavy brow, that was particularly rough. One well-timed slap nearly sent a maid sprawled out on the floor. With her head down, face red with embarrassment and eyes watered with pain, she scurried away from the laughing brute.

With a fortifying gulp of his ale, Karkat stood.

“Hey, ass-brain!” he called across the tavern, lips pulled back to expose sharp fangs to the rude patron, whose eyebrows rose at the insult. “Yeah, I'm talking to you, you inbred son of a mule!”

The tavern quieted. The man stood, and even from across the tavern Karkat could easily see that the man was taller than him by several heads. Even so, Karkat continued to stare him down.

“Why don't you keep your clumsy hands to yourself, you goddamn oaf.”

Said clumsy oaf had a surprising amount of speed. Before he could jump out of the way, the man had bashed his wooden mug against Karkat's head, sending his vision swimming and ears ringing. He crumpled to the ground, managing to dodge another blow. The man spit on him with a glare.

“Why don't you shut your dirty trap, demon,” he growled.

Karkat wasn't afraid of dying, and he knew that man had the strength, lack of moral compass, and level of inebriation to kill him if he had the right provocation. From the ground, Karkat looked up and sneered.

“Considering the stench coming off your mangy body, I think you know a lot about dirty,” he said.

Something in the brutish man seemed to snap, and he picked Karkat up by the throat with a roar. Karkat's feet were lifted from the ground, the man staring into Karkat's gold and ruby colored eyes with murderous intent.

Suddenly there was a thud and the man's face went slack. He dropped to the ground, Karkat tumbling down as well, and was still. Karkat stared at the man long enough to confirm that he was alive and merely knocked out before he looked up.

A human, seemingly the same age as Karkat stood with his hands on a gleaming sword, face unreadable and half-hidden underneath a deep red hooded cloak.

“C'mon,” he said, pulling Karkat onto his feet and rushing them both from the tavern as quickly as Karkat's shaky legs would take him.

Karkat followed the human, not that he had much choice due to the vice-like grip he had on Karkat's hand. The human pulled him along, through alleys and down winding paths, muttering all the while.

Karkat wondered if he had just been saved or stolen away by a madman.

Eventually the human stopped between two houses that blocked them from view from the street and turned, a wide grin on his face as he lifted his hood to reveal pale blond hair and crimson eyes.

“That was, like, some Game Of Thrones shit or something, like I thought he was going to actually murder you right then and there. Nobody was even gonna stop him, damn. What a fucking asshole,” he said, talking quickly in an accent Karkat couldn't place.

“Who are you?” Karkat said before the human could start talking about something incomprehensible again.

“Oh, I'm Dave. Dave Strider. Your knight in shining armor,” he said, composing his face into neutrality.

“Where do you hale from, Knight Strider?”

Dave snorted. “Just call me Dave. I come from nowhere in particular. Wanderin' like a badass lone wolf through life with no worries.”

Karkat frowned. “What the hell are you on about all the time?”

“I, uh... Hey, that's no way to thank the guy who just saved your life,” he pointed out.

“You didn't need to save me, Dave,” Karkat said with a glare.

“I mean, I kinda did? Y'see, that big guy back there was probably seconds away from bashing that pretty nub-horned head of yours into the brickwork, making like the most fucked up Pollock painting to ever not exist yet. That guy coulda trademarked the leftover remains of your painful death and outdone an artist from like five hundred years from now.”

Karkat's heart skipped a beat, his eyes going wide. “What do you mean, five hundred years from now?” he asked, tone harsh.

Dave's whole body suddenly stilled, the energy he seemed to radiate in his jittery movements receding. “Nothing. I was just rambling, saying shit that makes no goddamn sense, as I do.”

Karkat shook his head, squinting. “Did someone send you? Does someone else- FUCK,” he shouted, balling his fists. “I'd been so damn careful, moving around and- just- DAMN IT ALL!”

“Whoa dude, nobody sent me,” Dave said, putting his hands up. “I think there's been a hell of a misunderstanding and on my end of it I think there's something here that seems to be relevant to... what I do.”

“What do you do?” Karkat asked suspiciously.

“I'll answer that if you tell me why you got so worked up about me talking about something that maybe might have something to do with five hundred years from now,” Dave said carefully. “An exchange of secrets.”

Where Karkat should have felt distrust, he felt a strange sort of blooming excitement. Perhaps Dave was like him, someone who death seemed not to touch, even as decades and centuries past and those around him succumbed to the passage of time.

“I am aware that I may sound liked a fucking lunatic but... I can't die. I've been around longer than I or anyone can remember,” Karkat said, his voice actually quiet.

Dave tilted his head. “So, you could actually be around five hundred years from now?”

“Unless more bastards like you step in while I try and do myself in, yes,” Karkat shot without thinking. A pained look crossed Dave's face and Karkat looked away.

“Alright, go on. This is an exchange, right?” Karkat said after a moment had passed.

“I can jump through time. I was born in the year nineteen-ninety-five.”

Karkat's eyes widened. “Shit.”

“That's like... five hundred years from now? It's what, fourteen-eighty-something right now, I wasn't too exact in this jump,” he said with a shrug. “I think being immortal is a pretty awesome thing to be though, how'd that happen?”

“I don't know,” Karkat said with a frown. “But I can assure you, it isn't awesome.” He crossed his arms and glowered at the ground. “Do you know how it feels to watch everyone you get close to die? To watch years pass and the entire damned world change around you while you're stuck? It's a fucking curse.”

Dave frowned. “Well, you won't have to watch me die,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I can visit you at any point, any time in the future. If you want,” he said. “Maybe give you something to look forward to, at least. I can't stick around one point in time too long but at least I'll be a familiar face for a while.”

Karkat's heart pounded. Something to look forward to. If he was honest, he couldn't remember having something like that.

Hesitantly, he nodded. “Okay, Dave.”

“What's your name, by the way?” Dave asked.

“Karkat Vantas,” he said.

“Nice to meet you Karkat, even if I did have to save your ass from an angry bear to do so,” he said with the most subtle of self-satisfied smiles.

Karkat gave him a not-so-subtle annoyed sneer. Dave's face fell into impassiveness again and he cleared his throat.

“So, I really don't have much time left before I have to bounce out. Promise me you'll stay alive for another hundred years, okay?”

“Why a hundred?”

“It would be great if you would stay alive longer than that actually. But I have to make jumps a hundred years at a time- backwards or forwards, it doesn't matter. I don't know why, I don't know how I know these rules. I just always knew,” Dave explained, his fingers tapping anxiously against his leg. “I also know when I need to leave and it's getting around that time.”

Karkat frowned. “A hundred years from now, I'll see you, but for you...”

“It'll be like no time passed at all.” He raised his shoulders. “Unless I make other jumps I guess. But even then, it would be like a few weeks for me while a hundred years pass for you.”

“That sounds like unnecessarily complicated bullshit,” Karkat said.

Dave laughed. “It sure is, dude. So, I'll see you... in a century.”

He stuck out his hand awkwardly. Karkat took it, shook it firmly, and watched as Dave turned, his crimson cape billowing behind him and then disappearing in the long pre-dawn shadows.

For once, Karkat felt he wouldn't mind another one hundred years going by.

[maskedblackfox]

All of the Steven Universe asks

Steven: What makes you starry-eyed? {Animals}Garnet: What are your relationship goals? {Have a relationship.}Amethyst: How do you compare to people’s expectations of you? {People have expectations of me?}Pearl: What’s been your lifelong obsession? {Animals}Rose Quartz: What traits from your parents do you see in yourself? {Next to being creative, i inherit no good traits from my parents. Those went to my brother}Greg: The most supportive person in your life just now? {My mom and two of my friends}Connie: A series you’re super passionate about? {Pokemon, Warrior Cats, Dangan Ronpa, Steven Universe, The Lion King series}Lion: If you had infinite pockets, what would you carry with you at all times? {Plushies}Sadie: What’s your relationship with your workmates like? {I’ve been unemployed for 2-3 years. And even at my old job, i really didn’t interact with my coworkers}Lars: Name a few of your insecurities. {I’m very sensitive}Ronaldo: Favourite conspiracy theory? {I don’t think i have one}Lapis Lazuli: Which element would you control? {Wind}Peridot: Describe a day where everything went wrong. {School}Jasper: What brings out a mean streak in you? {Arguments}Mayor Dewey: What’s your position on the political compass? {I’m not right-wing, that’s all i know}Onion: If you could replicate anything 100 times, what would you make copies of? {I don’t know}Cookie Cat: Do you miss any discontinued products? {McDonald’s cinnamon melts}Dogcopter: Ever enjoyed a movie adaption of a book you like? {Holes, i love Holes}Ruby: Describe a person who would be the polar opposite to yourself. {A happy-go-lucky kid-loving person}Sapphire: Your trademark feature that people recognise you by? {I don’t have one}Opal: Something you’ve been anticipating for a long time? {Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon}Sugilite: The most reckless thing you’ve ever done? {Alexandrite: What do you think you’d be like/are like as a parent? {To Julia i’m friendly, i spoil her with affection.}Malochite: A toxic relationship you’ve been in? {I’ve been trying to break up with me for twenty years}Rainbow Quartz: Something you love to show off? {My ability to infodump, and my drawings}Stevonnie: What do you and your best friend totally bond over? {Most, if not all of my special intrests}Centipeedle: Have you ever helped/rescued a wild animal in trouble? {Yes! A few times! Usually, they’re bugs, worm, and slugs}Sour Cream: Invent a new food-related nickname for yourself. {I can’t think of one}Jenny: Favourite pizza topping? {I don’t like pizza toppings}Peedee: The moment you realized you weren’t a kid anymore? {I turned thirteen}Jamie: The most romantic thing someone’s done for you? {I kinda went  on a “date” with my squish}Buck Dewey: Share the last picture that made you laugh. {I don’t remember.}Mr Smiley: Favourite type of donut? {The powdered kind with the jelly filling}Kofi: Ever had an item special to you that got broken? {I had a figure of Odette as a swan, from the Barbie of Swan Lake movie back in 2003, and her head broke off. I got a new one later, but man oh man did i cry when her head came off}Nanefua: What do you think you’ll be like when you’re much older? {Hopefully like Carrie Fisher}Kevin: Last person who made you uncomfortable? {Probably me}Frybo: The scariest thing you’ve ever seen? {I don’t know}Purple Puma: What would your alter ego be? {I’ve got a few}Tiger Millionaire: Describe the backstory for a character you’ve created. {Cat Fingers: What’s something you have too much of? {Plushies}Archimicarus: Top 10 fav fictional characters? {In no particular order;

10. Toko Fukawa {Dangan Ronpa}

9. Jasper (Steven Universe}

8. Lusamine (Pokemon)

7. Zira (The Lion King 2}

6. Byakuya Togami (Dangan Ronpa)

5. Lillie (Pokemon)

4. N Harmonia (Pokemon)

3. Monaka (Dangan Ronpa)

2. Akane Owari (Dangan Ronpa)

1. Funtime Foxy (FNaF series)}

Dave Guy: Something totally average about yourself? {My appearance}Mr Queasy: What’s the sickest you’ve ever been? {I was three, i literally couldn’t eat or drink anything.}Tiny Floating Whale: If you could poof anything into existence right now, what would it be? {That plush of Matryoshka we were supposed to work on last year}Crying Breakfast Friends: Last time you cried watching a tv show/movie? {Four days ago watching The Secret World of Arrietty. I love the soundtrack}

[rivalsons-blog1]

Hamburg, Docks, 26 Feb, 2017

I know that some days events get blurred and are hard to recall, but I cannot forget the Hamburg show: the day I was attacked by a prostitute. And a cupcake.

It all started so innocently. I rolled out of the bus in my pyjamas and coat, as did on a daily basis, hoping that by putting a wooly hat on and scarf, I would look passably dressed. I didn’t really know where I was, but I could tell it was Germany. In my pre-cup of tea brain, I slowly remembered we were in Hamburg, and I looked around for the venue entrance. Being clever, I thought I would follow the bus power cable to the venue, but this took me to a block of flats, so returned to the bus confused as ever in the rain. Todd got up, so we then both went to look for the venue. We found the front entrance, but it took us a while to find the unassuming backstage. It looked like a house owned by vegan punks, which I suppose isn’t so far from the truth. It’s a weird venue Hamburg Docks, as the kitchen leads directly out to the stage. That is, in order to access the stage from the backstage area, you have to go through the kitchen. All of the backstage rooms were downstairs underground. I shacked up with Howie and Derrick in their room, and tried to get a bit of work done.

Dave got up and asked if I wanted to go for a walk about town. You may notice from this blog or the photos online, that we don’t get a lot of time to discover the towns and cities we visit most days. It’s nice to be outside and see some daylight, even on a grey day like that in Hamburg. So I grabbed a quick shower at the venue (which smelt slightly mouldy) and headed out with Dave.

I had heard about the Reeperbahn and in my naive mind, I thought it was an actual venue, or it was a place that was specially good for german beer. I’d imagined lederhosen and jolly people with moustaches. Well, I was mistaken. It’s the red light district - a long street of sex shops and cheap, tacky souvenirs. Obviously Dave and I wanted to investigate. We got some ‘great’ tourist photos and ended up getting a little lost.

Want a new hat Dave?

We came upon a road that had it’s entrance barred with a sign saying “Entry for men under 18 and women prohibited”. I wondered for a while if this was a grammatical error. Did they mean men and women under 18? I’ve never been anywhere apart from a synagogue and a mosque where women weren’t allowed in certain areas. This place didn’t look particularly holy, although as I understand it, God can appear anywhere and in many forms. It was early afternoon and the place looked deserted. Dave walked around the barricade to have a look, he told me the coast was clear and that no one was there so I should come around too, so I did. It almost looked quaint if it wasn’t for the empty windows which would have later been filled with - presumably ladies - looking for clients. I took some photos of Dave in the street. 

I’ve since come to know that this street is called Herbertstraße, and as I went to take a photo of an empty window, this was all new to me - we found out that the street was not in fact, totally empty. Dave was ahead up the cobblestone street and a lady leaned out of a window and start shouting him and me in German. In case you don’t know, Dave Beste’s German is very good, so he understood and called over to me, “Talita, I think we better leave!” - I said “Ooo ok Dave!” and caught a glimpse of the woman, that to me looked like Amber Rose, for 5 seconds before she busted out of the shopfront, and stomped over to me. It looked to me like she’d filled a bottle of dish soap with water. As Dave and I sped up to make it to the barriers at the other end of the street, she started spraying whatever it was in the bottle all over me. On my face, down my jacket, all over my bobble hat. She was shouting in German, which I didn’t understand, and Dave was kind enough not to translate. I was pleased whatever she’s sprayed over me didn’t sting or stink but it did seem slightly more tacky than water. I pondered what the liquid might be, whilst a little shocked as we exited the Herbertstraße. “Poor lady!” I said to Dave. “You are SO British.” he replied “She was so angry at me!” I exclaimed, quite confused.

I told this story when we made it back to the venue, slightly wet and confused, to Howie Pyro, musing about the reason for it all, he looked at me with his slightly crooked grin, amused and exclaimed “You tried to take photos?!”, incredulous, I really didn’t think much of it, there wasn’t anyone there, but apparently that’s a no-no. Reading about Herbertstraße now, I see according to Wikipedia that “the Nazi authorities erected wooden screens to hide the illegal activities.” And “In the 1970s police added signs advising youths and women against entering: the former for reasons of protection against harmful influence, the latter because prostitutes would actively seek to chase any women who entered away, thus causing trouble.”

I’m pretty sure If I’d read a tourist guide about Hamburg, it would have told me about territorial prostitutes and taking photos, but I didn’t. So I have now learnt about the Reeperbahn and Hamburg. Maybe more than I wanted to know!

With this in mind, I wondered what the audience attending Hamburg Docks that night would be like. The Teatro Fiasco involves some ladies of it’s own, images of Go-Go dancers during Howie Pyro’s set, the tour poster featuring a male fallen angel captured by captivating ladies, not to mention Derrick C. Brown’s poem ‘Chrome Hotel’. In years gone by, Hamburg’s Reeperbahn was similar to Paris’ Pigalle, The Beatles famously played 48 nights at the Indra Club on the Grosse Freiheit street. Rock’n’roll, sex and even burlesque have often gone hand in hand.

That being said, the Hamburg audience were just totally receptive and loving. Derrick had a great show, and Jay regained a power in his vocals that had waned whilst he had been sick. It was a mesmerising night. I watched from the monitor desk, looking after my GoPro cameras, transfixed with it all. The band were so warmly received by a friendly, joyful audience and pleased with the show.

Photo by Sloane Morrison ^^

We couldn’t hang around too long afterwards, as we had to get in the bus for the long drive to Oslo. We would be driving most of the next day and our second driver was already on board. Everyone was in good spirits as we headed off. 

I thought I would eat one of the lovely Rival Sons and Daughters cupcakes. I was standing enjoying it downstairs on the bus (minding my own business) when that rowdy Fuzzlord came over to me and just picked up half the icing from my cupcake and ate it. Off the top of my cupcake!

Well, I didn’t hesitate, but took the rest of my cupcake with the remaining icing in pushed it into his face! The red fluffy icing smeared over his trademark moustache and up his nostrils and in his beard. It was very satisfying, but there was a moment of silence on the bus at my retaliation. Scott is my big brother. And I know what happens when you do this to your big brother. It’s a can of worms and he wasn’t going to close until I had worms of icing all over my face. Twice. So that’s how the bus ride to Oslo started out, that’s how my yellow coat got wet, then pink with icing, all in the same day. That is also what happened to the few remaining Rival Sons and Daughters cupcakes from Amsterdam. I apologise.

[brajeshupadhyay]

The day after the Nats won their title, I called last October “the greatest postseason upset run in MLB history.” It was. Yet it’s more. But how much more? There’s no exact answer, but before MLB is back, let’s have a solid general sense. The 2019 Nats were not the best major league team ever, or even near it. Nor did they play in the most consistently thrilling World Series ever. Analytics-based “leverage indexes” say the 2019 Series was about average for sustained tension. The Nats actually “relieved” three games of late-inning tension with important runs in the seventh or eighth inning in Houston. The Nats also didn’t have a walk-off win in October and had just two one-run victories — always headline-grabbers. We must be fair to get this approximately correct. How many other champs stand as high as the Nats in so many remarkable areas? And what is that worth? First, the clear factual distinctions. Only one other team fell a dozen or more games under .500 yet rose to win the World Series: the Miracle Boston Braves 105 years earlier. No team ever came from behind to win five elimination games. The chances of pulling off such a combination, measured from the worst moments, is 0.0003 percent. Three math profs have told me that, though I cooked up an amusingly arbitrary method of categorization, the stat is close enough to correct. No team ever beat two 105-win teams in the same postseason. And the Nats had to win back-to-back elimination games against both the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers and the 107-win Astros, who had 213 wins combined. In 50 years of multitiered playoffs, the closest comparable is the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who beat two teams that combined for 206 wins. No team had ever won three winner-take-all games in a postseason. And no team had ever won four World Series games on the road — and it happened in Houston, where the Astros cheated in 2017 and ’18. In 2019? Who absolutely knows? All of that, washing over us at once, seems borderline unbelievable. But when you use part of a pandemic to study the title treks of every major league champ, what knocks you flat is that dozens of them had incredible journeys while many others stomped so many foes flat that they make the Best Team Ever list unwieldy. As impressive as the Nats’ recovery was, from 29th place out of 30 teams on May 23, trailing in the NL East by 10 games and even 8½ games out of the second wild-card spot, several World Series winners were in deeper holes in the standings and later in the season. Five champs have faced worse: the 1914 Braves (15 games behind and, at their worst, 16 games under .500), the ’78 New York Yankees (14 games behind), the cheating ’51 New York Giants (13), the ’30 St. Louis Cardinals (12) and the ’64 Cardinals (11). The ’69 Miracle New York Mets, like the Nats, were 10 back. Other teams also have overcome big deficits — but not to win the World Series. The ’85 Kansas City Royals won six elimination games in one postseason, and the 2012 San Francisco Giants, like the Nats, won five. The Nats’ distinction, their trademark, is that they trailed in all five. The Giants never trailed in any, and the Royals only once — and in that one, umpire Don Denkinger saved them. No playoff series matches the Red Sox comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in 2004 — still the best baseball I’ve seen, both for one-series drama and 86 years of hate-filled context. No individual Nats playoff victory approaches it. But what about the Milwaukee Brewers, Dodgers and Astros fireworks combined — those five elimination comebacks? Then pile that comeback from 19-31 on top of it. See how the ’19 Nats keep bobbing back up, joining the teams at the top of the conversation? With time, an added element of historical importance will grow: Of all the teams in all the World Series that you would hope would be defeated, the Astros, with their history of cheating, now top the list. Who beat them? A Nats team with 14 fewer regular season wins. How many times has a team with a bigger win deficit stolen the World Series? Once. In 1906. In 1954, in what may be the biggest World Series upset ever, the New York Giants also had 14 fewer wins than the Cleveland Indians. See, the ’19 Nats just keep sneakin’ up on you. What defines the stay-in the-fight Nats is the way their chemistry and joy in competition elevated them above their 93-win talent, allowing them to defy odds not just in a long race for a playoff spot, in one series as an underdog or in some other matchup in which they trailed, but for 160 days, always in new ways. What pitchers did they whip in October? In the wild-card game, the Nats beat Milwaukee’s Josh Hader, who had not blown a two-run save situation all season. They hung another set of October goat horns on Dodgers future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw; Stephen Strasburg beat him head-to-head as a starter, and Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto homered off him back-to-back to blow a lead in Game 5 of the Division Series. St. Louis had the second-best starting rotation in the NL by ERA; the Nats swept all four of their top starters, never trailing in the NLCS. The Cards’ leading winner, Dakota Hudson, got one out — and allowed seven runs. In the World Series, they beat Cooperstown-bound Justin Verlander twice, with long homers by Kurt Suzuki, Adam Eaton and Soto. The ’19 strikeout king, Gerrit Cole, was beaten for the first time since May 23 in Game 1 with homers from Ryan Zimmerman and Soto. And the Nats won a Game 7 started by former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke. For years, baseball fans will want a sense of why Washington’s 2019 experience knocked the city for such a jubilant loop. The truth does not reside in any single thing, even the city’s 95-year wait between World Series titles, but in the happy weight of everything together, from Baby Shark to dugout dancing to months of staying in the fight to “Go 1-0 today” and comeback elimination wins. It’s drubbing future Hall of Famers time after time. It’s car-racing Howie Kendrick and Eaton, relievers Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle, Aníbal Sánchez and Trea Turner, and modest manager Dave Martinez, none of whom seem Cooperstown-bound, being at the very center of a truly great title. Don’t let anybody tell you that, since 1903, there have been many championships more special than this one. You can count ‘em on your fingers. Or maybe, absolutely everything considered, on just one hand. The post The Nationals’ World Series run was amazing at the time and has improved with age appeared first on Sansaar Times.

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-nationals-world-series-run-was.html

[nabulos]

Some Homestuck Thoughts

I wrote some stuff over on my twitter, but i figure i put them here as well, for archival’s sake!

I know like literally one (1) person who follows me actually cares about #homestuck but I really need to get off my chest how absolutely amazing this #upd8 epilogue has been and how it terrifies me how Hussie still has this ability to completely enrapture me

Granted I've only read the prologue and the MEAT storyline (no candy for me yet because it took me like 6 hours to read MEAT) but the way he's messing with what's canon and not, what's valid and what's not, what's valuable and what's not, is incredibly interesting to me

Couple that with the fact that we have [[[SPOILERS]] completely unreliable narrators for the brunt of the later arcs is insane. Using them as a way to explain a lot of things, as well as describe a lot of things, has been a real rollercoaster

There's this underbeat of "everything is ultimately valuable" which is what Hussie purported throughout all of Homestuck, what with it taking the occupants of multiple (and infinite) doomed timelines to make the winning timeline valid.

But the whole conceit of this Epilogue is that the validity is in question. Things need to still happen, or have to have been happening, in order to create that state and we were never privy to those qualifying conditions.

So by making even the epilogue, something that a lot of people seem to couple with prologues as being useless fodder because "if it was really that important it should just be part of the main story," and making it worthwhile (so far as canon is concerned) it earns it's rights

It's just this whole self-contentious thing, because so much of the MEAT arc at least was told by a dipshit who is a loathsome piece of garbage who cannot imagine himself being unimportant. So by forcing himself into relevance, it forces meaning into the story

And a lot of it is really so grimdark, coupled with small bits of absolute joy (Obama jokes everywhere, sweet moments of endgame couples, The Thing That Happened) that it really makes you question if MEAT (at least) has the bearings to be a True Timeline.

What I'm most interesting is if Meat and Candy will /have/ to merge into a true ending /because/ of how unnecessarily grimdark MEAT has been. I'm also super interested in if a certain character will completely oust their manipulator.

All in all, if anyone wants to talk with me about homestuck, PLEASE PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT HOMESTUCK

It just occurred to me that maybe I'm betting too hard on the idea that there will be something more after this epilogue dump. Because while I'm riding high on the narrative concepts, I'm still hecka sad at Things. So um... I really hope that there will be more homestuck ... 

Homestuck upd8 meat: DAMNIT. I just realized that Dirk did to Rose what he did to Jake, robot and fwoosh included! Stole the narrative and just absconded. I can't believe this. 

Okay. Finished Homestuck Candy (and meat).... I think I understand the bulk of it. Hussie cleared up the needs of Canon while also showing the various options (ostensibly ooc, but explaining it too) that fanfics/etc can go. It's very ambitious, but I'm still :/

Like 1) Both Candy and Meat tie directly into canon, and into one another. Therefore both are equally valid (Meat is not > Candy, for ex.) 2) Both have weird characterizations that are explained. Leaving even more exaggerated characterizations also valid.

3) Really throwing into the ring the ways a medium can be used to propagate or dismiss characters/importance/etc. This is one of Hussie's trademarks and it's why I keep coming back to his works without fail.

I know I'll have more cognizant/poigant thoughts tomorrow, but needless to say that I am whelmed with the ending of the Homestuck Epilogues/Postscripts

You know, I almost /almost/ bought the ending of the Homestuck Candy Epilogue. The idea that John's severe survivor's guilt driven depression, augmented the way we the readers were interpreting/understanding how shitty the world was, even though it wasn't that bad. But no...

Sure we can say that Roxy and other God Tier/Canon characters have their own motivations that are obfuscated from view, and absolutely that they can (and should be expected to) have their own motivations and reasons for doing things. But what about the other parts? 

Like, foremost, John's choice explicitly created this 'inessential' world. (Though it is demonstrably 'essential' due to many things). Secondly, why did Callie explicitly ask for Gamzee back? (Alt!Callie wasn't in control yet, right?)

-Why did Roxy acquiesce so quickly? To both John and to Gamzee's resurfacing?

-Why did Callie vanish from the narrative right at the start after bringing the Bard back?

-Why did everyone accept the Bard's ReDeMpTiOn ArC?

-There were moments of sobriety in Candy that Meat didn't have. What instigated those?

-(Vriska) states that John's demeanor/mood directly affected the Medium (both Skaia and Earth C) directly, and that he may be super powerful. (Tho it was then immediately dismissed. Lampshade?)

Somewhat tangential, at some point, Rose directly acknowledges that she was now cut-off from canon, and thus freed from the burden of all knowledge, cut off from her Ultimate Self. Why, then, was Dave not? Why does knowledge become irrelevant, but not time? 

And on the subject of Time. Can we really say that John's existence isn't the lock-pin of canon on Earth C, when time seemed to only progress based on when John became relevant again? 

After finishing, I originally took it as John's depression stealing years from him. (Same.) But then the narrative took strides to explicitly contradict this reading. But who's telling the story by the time all the time-skips started happening? That's right. Alt!Callie. 

The more and more I think about it, something is just [NabeelPrime pinches his index finger and thumb together] off about this takeaway from the Candy upd8. I just cannot place where the discrepancy begins and who is at fault for the off-ness. Input is highly welcome. 

[devils-gatemedia]

It’s not often that you get the chance to witness one of the forefathers of rock (heavy rock, hard rock, garage rock, punk rock… call it what you will) live in concert. It’s been 50 years since Detroit’s finest, MC5, recorded the classic live album ‘Kick Out The Jams’, and original guitarist Wayne Kramer is celebrating by touring the album. He’s not just touring the album with any old band though. Check out the line up of MC50: Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, Faith No More’s Billy Gould, from Zen Guerrilla, vocalist Marcus Durant, and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty. Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it. After 50 years, “Brother” Wayne Kramer still has the chops, the stage presence, and the famous stars and stripes Fender. Opening up the evening? That would be a certain Michael Monroe. A perfect match really. If anyone in the crowd wasn’t familiar with Monroe, then they certainly were by the time his high-energy set had finished.

Beginning with ‘Ballad Of The Lower East Side’, it’s clear that Monroe is not fannying around. One of the most incendiary performers ever, Monroe is in fine form as he spins, kicks, stands up on the crowd barrier at every chance, climbs the PA stack, as well as performing his trademark splits (ouch!). With a killer band alongside him (featuring Steve Conte and Rich Jones on guitar, bassist Sami Yaffa, and drummer Karl Rockfist), Monroe is as larger than life as ever. It’s one classic track after another. ‘Old King’s Road’, ‘This Ain’t No Love Song’, ’Hammersmith Palais’, ‘78’, and of course ‘Dead, Jail, Or Rock ‘n’ Roll’. Then there is the stunning tribute to another Detroit musical legacy, with a magical version of Alice Cooper’s ‘Long Way To Go’. Pure, unfiltered, unadulterated Rock n’ Roll from one of the most genuine and influential mavericks of the last few decades. This is a band that provides the antidote to the watered down insipid acts with no soul, clogging up the airwaves today.

‘Kick Out The Jams’ is not an album to slip on and leave running in the background. It’s hard to believe that it’s 50 years old, and if you need a refresher, then check it out online. It’s fast as hell, “proto-punk” is the tag often thrown at it, but this was 1968, dude! Music wasn’t supposed to sound like that in ‘68. Michigan was one of the vital breeding grounds for a new sound, and along with Iggy and The Stooges, MC5 birthed a new movement. Plus, they said “motherfucker” on an album, and for a spotty kid hearing that for the first time, it truly was the beginning of a revolution. The other fleeting memory I have of MC5 was Wayne Kramer’s famous guitar, and holy shit there he is right in front of me, wielding it like Excalibur!

“Brothers and sisters, the time has come for each and every one of you to decide, whether you are gonna be the problem, or whether you are gonna be the solution”. With the famous J.C. Crawford intro blaring out of the PA, Kramer bursts onto the stage and covers more space in the opening seconds than the average shoe-gazer does in a 90 minute gig. One by one, MC50 troop onto the stage and soak up the applause as Crawford is asking the crowd if they are ready to testify. It’s straight into ‘Ramblin’ Rose’, and it’s hard to take your eyes away from Kramer as he flashes past you while peeling off some incredible guitar licks.

You know what’s coming next don’t you….”Right now it’s time to… it’s time to… kick out the jams, motherfuckers!” and the pints are flying. Marcus Durant takes over on lead vocals, Gould is headbanging away at the back, Canty is incredible to watch and then there is Kim Thayil. The MC50 tour is a timely reminder of the aura surrounding Thayil, and it’s heart-warming to see him on stage again, smiling.

The timely ‘Motor City Is Burning’ is incredible to hear, and on ‘Rocket Reducer No.62’ Kramer shows that he’s not lost any of his prowess on a track that seamlessly mashes up soul and punk. ‘I Want You Right Now’ has the same fuzzy intro that launched a thousand copies, and what can be said about ‘Starship’, apart from what the hell were you guys on when you wrote this one? Eight minutes or so of improvisation that is so out of there that it’s back in. Absolutely gonzo!

Once the run through of ‘Kick Out The Jams’ is finished, it’s time to revisit moments from other MC5 albums. ‘Shakin’ Street’ and ‘Call Me Animal’ are amazing, as is the cover of Them’s ‘I Can Only Give You Everything’. How about ‘Sister Anne’ and ‘Looking At You’ with Michael Monroe on sax? A powerful way to end a fitting tribute to the powder keg legacy of a mightily important band. Listen to the guitar solos on ‘Looking At You’. I believe the phrase is “ahead of their time”?

Review: Dave S

Images: Dave J

    Review: MC50/Michael Monroe – Glasgow It’s not often that you get the chance to witness one of the forefathers of rock (heavy rock, hard rock, garage rock, punk rock...

[dailyonionsite-blog]

Concert Review: Foo Fighters - Live At Madison Square Garden

Ok, so I'm an 80’s metal guy, through and through. I grew up on bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Anthrax, Guns N Roses, Skid Row, Motley Crue, KISS, Stryper, Queensryche..I could go on and on, but you get the point. I became a full-fledged “metal head” around 1988, and never looked back, embracing the music, the look and the lifestyle at the ripe young age of 14. I was the guy in high school with long hair, ripped jeans and concert t-shirts, sporting a denim jacket with the band patch on the back and buttons on the front, and wearing skull and cross earrings. It was a look I wore with pride, and I was pretty much the last of my friends to cut their hair (my one buddy did it about 10 years ago, and it was literally just a pony tail with short hair all the way around, so I don't count that), and I didn’t do so until 1993, when I was 19, and I did so very begrudgingly. From pretty much the moment it first exploded on the scene with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", opening the floodgates, alternative rock and grunge were the enemy for me, as it killed all of the bands I listened to, and the music I loved. The bands that I had seen in concert filling 18,000 seat arenas and selling millions of albums in 1991, suddenly could barely fill 1,000 seat clubs by the fall of 1992, and as a loyal metal head, that made me angry, and I refused to embrace the music. In fact, it took a good 5 years before I finally started to appreciate and like alternative rock. Finally around 1997, I started to venture outside my comfort zone. And now years later, I like a variety of grunge and alternative bands. But for whatever reason, I never paid much attention to the Foo Fighters. That all changed in 2011 when I started listening to a local rock station on a regular basis, and pretty much heard them every day. They have since become one of my favorite bands, and a bucket list band for me to see live. I had 2 opportunities to see them on previous tours, and struck out both times. Well, the check mark finally went next to their name this past Monday, July 16th as I finally saw them at Madison Square Garden. One thing I was very curious about, was how the Foo's would open the show, as I have seen everything from Iron Maiden using video intros with Ed Force One, to the dramatic build ups that KISS would use when the house lights would drop, and you would hear a low humming bass before that familiar, gruff voice would scream, "YOU WANTED THE BEST? YOU GOT THE BEST!", and the band would hit the stage with a flurry of pyrotechnics and smoke bombs. There was none of that here. The house lights dropped and the 20,000 fans in the jam packed Garden barely had a chance to let that first roar out before the band came running on to the stage playing loud power cords on their instruments and drummer Taylor Hawkins banging away on his set. This lasted about 45 seconds before Dave Grohl let loose with a few of his trademark ear-piercing screams (RAAAAAHHHH!!!!"), before asking the crowd 3 times, "ARE YOU READY?!?!", and immediately ripping into the opening chords of, "All My Life". This set the pace for a high energy show filled with many of those same screams, that I honestly don't how he was still doing (with relative ease I might add) 2 and half hours later, plus singing great and running all over the stage like a maniac. The band went right into the "Learn To Fly", which by that point the scent of a certain herbal "element" had permeated the air, prompting Grohl to say into the microphone mid-song,"Ooh it smells good in here right now!" "Pretender" was next, which was extended into the first of many improvisational jams, and lots of audience participation, as Dave asked the crowd a few times, "Do you love Rock N Roll?" even doing a tribute to Chuck Berry's trademark duck-walk. Newer songs, "The Sky Is a Neighborhood", and "Rope" followed, along with a great drum solo by Taylor Hawkins which featured his drum kit rising into the air on hydraulic lifts (no doubt a tribute to one of the band's biggest influences, KISS). Another new song, "Sunday Rain" followed after that, and then Dave formally said hello to the sold out Garden crowd (with a couple of ear piercing screams to start), asking not only how many people had seen the Foo Fighters before, but how many had not. And I almost felt as if Dave was speaking directly to me when he said, "We're gonna show you why it was a good thing that you waited almost 23 f***ing years to see our band!”. What followed next was one of the highlights of the night, an epic performance of, "My Hero" which started off with Dave softly strumming the main riff on guitar and singing it slowly, before the full band kicked in, with breakdowns at various points to allow the crowd to sing acapella in unison, "Theeeere gooooes my hero". That lead into "One Of These Days" which was almost as epic, and slowed things down just a bit, but not much, as the chorus was still full bore, and heavy, but the beauty of the slow parts and the way he held the audience spellbound and in the palm of his hand must have moved Dave, because at one point during a stoppage in the song, he simply looked at the crowd and said to them, "I can't believe this is my f***ing job!" prompting both a roar and laughter.  At this point we were only a quarter of a way through the set, and this was already one of the best shows I had ever seen. After picking the pace back up with an old time Foo's classic, "Walk", the band loosened up a little (as if they weren't already) and had some fun with band intros, and a bluesy jam that included a bit from Queen's, "Another One Bites The Dust", and then segued into "La Dee Da" off the new album, and featuring guest saxophonist Dave Koz. At this point, Dave decided that the audience needed to be brought together with a song of "love and hope". That song humorously turned out to be Van Halen's, "Jump" sang to the melody of John Lennon's, "Imagine" with Hawkins joining in on backing vocals. This was another highlight of the night as the band really proved that beyond the loud guitars and thundering drums, they truly were just enjoying themselves up there. The band then ripped into a cover of the Ramones, "Blitzkrieg Bop" with guitarist, Pat Smear showing his former Nirvana roots and opening with a riff that had just a touch of "Breed" to it . The fun continued with Hawkins coming out from behind his kit to join Luke Spiller, lead vocalist of opening act, the Struts (who were really good in their own set, by the way) for a cover of Queen's, "Under Pressure". Dave Grohl took his old spot behind the drums for this song. That concluded the covers and goofing around (for the most part), as the latter part of the show picked back up the ferocious pace and kept it up for the rest of the night. The band started that pace with “Monkey Wrench”, and continued with new song, “Run” and then my second favorite song from the band, “Breakout”. This featured another extended jam by the band, and a particular concentration on Hawkins’ drumming, before breaking down into a quiet, eery strumming of the guitar, with the entire stage going dark, and a few cellphone flashlights coming out, prompting Dave to encourage everyone to, “be my light show”. The audience gladly complied making the pitch black Garden look like an old school metal show during a power ballad, before the band put the finishing touches on the song, ending with a fury and more trademark screams from Grohl. “Dirty Water” from the new album followed next, featuring Dave Grohl’s daughter, Violet and 3 other girls on backing vocals. And then came the moment that I had been waiting for all night, which was my favorite Foo Fighters song, “Best Of You” to close the first set. Not surprisingly, this was another highlight of the show as the band extended it out to almost 12 minutes, breaking it down 3 minutes in to just Dave’s light strumming, compelling the entire audience to spontaneously sing the trade mark “woohh ooh oh..woohh ooh oh..”part of the song as the band went into a melodic, jazz influenced jam. This continued for a few minutes until another breakdown that brought back the audience participation sing along. This was probably the most beautiful part of the night. So much so that at one point the band just stopped playing and let the crowd sing accapella, prompting Dave to say, “That’s some real s*** right there!”, and then after a minute or so, jokingly saying, “Can we finish the rest of the f***ing song??”, which they did, ending it with a fury, as the band left the stage to let anticipation build towards the final encore. As that anticipation built for a few minutes, Dave finally appeared on the big screen backstage to tease the crowd, holding up various finger combinations to ask how many songs they wanted to hear. The crowd booed at 1 and 2, cheered for 3, but thanks to previous set lists being online knew they were getting 4, despite Dave stubbornly insisting, “Alright ..3 more!” before jokingly relenting, “We’ll see what happens…let’s ease into this.”. The band then went old school with “Big Me” off the first album, which admittedly is probably my least favorite song from the band, but they did a good job with it, doing a slower version with mostly just guitar and minimal bass and drums. “Times Like These” picked the pace back up next, followed by “This Is A Call”, with Dave reminding everyone halfway through, "I said 3 songs, right?". With the crowd voicing their disapproval, he defiantly said, "F*** you, I said 3!", and then went right back into the song, before finishing it with some playful jamming with Pat Smear, showing the obvious chemistry between the 2 long time friends and former Nirvana bandmates. Dave then addressed the crowd one more time saying, "I said 3 songs..but I think I love you, so we might do one more!". And then after thanking the old school fans for sticking with them for 23 years, and the newer fans for coming out, and promising to come back to the Garden if they would, said, "This one's for you!", the band finished with the epic, "Everlong" which is probably the most popular of all Foo Fighter songs, and had the entire place on their feet singing it word for word. This was by far one of, if not, THE BEST concerts I have ever attended, and I have seen many great bands and artists over the years. From the fun, club atmosphere of Stryper, to the over the top, bombastic and make-up laden shows of KISS, to the various Eddie themed shows of the mighty Iron Maiden, to the thrashy assault of Metallica, to the theatrical performances of Queensryche, and the near album sounding perfection of the Eagles, the Foo Fighters got up on the stage of the fabled Madison Square Garden, with no pyro, no make-up, no theatrics…and levitating drum riser, and killer light show aside, no other real props, and quite simply kicked a** for 3 hours of fun, good old fashioned Rock-N-Roll. This was a throwback show for the ages, to a time when artists simply relied on their talent as musicians, and connected with the audience in a way very few bands can do these days. I highly recommend you catch this show if they are in your neighborhood anytime soon. You will NOT be disappointed. SETLIST: All My Life Learn to Fly The Pretender The Sky Is a Neighborhood Rope / Drum Solo Sunday Rain My Hero These Days Walk Lead Guitar solo Another One Bites the Dust La Dee Da Keyboard Solo Imagine / Jump Blitzkrieg Bop Under Pressure Monkey Wrench Run Breakout Dirty Water Best of You ENCORE: Big Me Times Like These This Is a Call Everlong https://youtu.be/X_0TnXUXSwM https://youtu.be/waawJNfS-Hs https://youtu.be/vvLkyYdZnqQ https://youtu.be/8F322atx46M https://youtu.be/XWxfSmwYiAs https://youtu.be/DWPViHyGdE4 Read the full article

[oneworldproductions]

The only light that seemed to be surrounding the area was a few street lights and maybe the flash of light from the camera as it stoped in frong of a tombstone that reads in big letters. Crist Born 12 1830 died July 1858. The fist name is blocked by Dave Crist while brother stands on the other side of the tombstone making sure the ast name is visble. Dave's mouth twitched up in his trademark smirk with a slight chaos hidden behind it. Both of them new that they don't really have a match for tonight. So. this could just be a way to the the rest of the roster hye they were there. Pluse they were a team no one should want ot mess with. Though looking at the smile that is shown on both brothers' faces it's clear that they might have something up their sleeves. Both brothers took a moment to look at the tombstone, a family site after all. There probably a few more around with their names. This one just happened to be one of the few that had a vintage gotic look to it. Under the crown of the unhoy every man shall be orn free of will and equal. They perceived them as the people's chosen ones, the fallens angels by the name of Crist." Dave began to say. "Every kingdom is ours." His hands rose up, looking from one side to the other. "Soon you will see why everyone around the world fear us." Jake chimed in.

[gossipnetwork-blog]

Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar Dominate 2018 Grammy Awards

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/bruno-mars-kendrick-lamar-dominate-2018-grammy-awards/

Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar Dominate 2018 Grammy Awards

Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar dominated the 60th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night, with both artists picking up a slew of trophies and delivering some of the night’s most memorable performances. Mars pulled off an incredible Grammys sweep, winning all six awards for which he was nominated and snatching the night’s three biggest prizes: Record of the Year for “24K Magic,” Song of the Year for “That’s What I Like” and Album of the Year for 24K Magic.

After winning Album of the Year, Mars first thanked his fellow nominees, saying, “Lorde, Kung Fu Kenny [Kendrick Lamar], Jay-Z, [Childish] Gambino, you guys are the reason why I’m in the studio pulling my hair out, because I know you guys are only gonna come with the top shelf artistry and music.”

He went on to talk about the earliest days of his music career, performing for tourists in Hawaii as a teenager and quipping, “I would put together a setlist of like 10 to 12 songs and I’ll be honest, I was incredible at 15.” Noting that he later learned that those songs were written by Babyface, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis or Teddy Riley, Mars said, “I remember seeing it firsthand, people dancing that had never met each other from two sides of the globe, dancing with each other, toasting with each other, celebrating together. All I wanted to do with this album was that. Those songs are written with nothing but joy and for one reason and for one reason only, and that’s love – and that’s all I wanted to bring with this album.” 

Mars also won Best R&B Performance and Song for “That’s What I Like,” and Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for 24K Magic. 

As for Lamar, the rapper opened the proceedings with a politically charged medley of Damn tracks that featured U2, an army of dancers and in-performance commentary from Dave Chappelle (“I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest black man in America,” the comedian said). 

Lamar went on to win four Grammys: Best Rap Performance for “Humble,” Best Rap/Sung Performance for “Loyalty” with Rihanna, Best Music Video for “Humble” and Best Rap Album for Damn. 

“This is a special award because of rap music – this is the thing that got me on the stage, got me to tour all around the world, support my family and all that,” Lamar said while accepting Best Rap Album. “Most importantly, it showed me a true definition of what being an artist was. From the jump, I thought it was about the accolades and the cars and the clothes, but it’s really about expressing yourself and putting that paint on the canvas for the world to evolve for the next listener, the next generation after that. Hip-hop has done that for me.”

Late Late Show host James Corden returned to host the Grammys, though instead of delivering an opening monologue or performance, he primarily popped up for the occasional cheeky bit or quip. The “Carpool Karaoke” mastermind tapped Sting and Shaggy for a reconfigured version of his signature sketch for the New York City subway, while he later skewered President Trump by hosting auditions for the audiobook of Michael Wolff’s explosive, Fire and Fury. The readers included John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Cher, an incredulous Cardi B (“Is this how he lives?”) and Hillary Clinton.

On the hunt for a GRAMMY Award of his own, James Corden auditions celebrities for the spoken word version of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury.” pic.twitter.com/SjTobAbv2N

— JAMES IS HOSTING THE GRAMMYS TONIGHT (@latelateshow) January 29, 2018

Other politically potent moments included Lamar’s opening salvo and U2’s performance of “Get Out of Your Own Way” in front of the Statue of Liberty. Camila Cabello also shared an impassioned plea on behalf of the embattled Dreamers, a sentiment the rapper Logic echoed after his performance of “1-800-273-8255” with Alessia Cara and Khalid.

But the night’s most potent moment belonged to Kesha, who partnered with Cabello, Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels, Andra Day and Bebe Rexha for a rendition of “Praying,” off her Grammy-nominated album, Rainbow. The performance served as a powerful statement of solidarity with the Time’s Up movement, which other artists supported by wearing white roses to the ceremony. Janelle Monáe introduced Kesha’s performance with a moving speech, in which she declared, “We come in peace, but we mean business. And to those who would dare try to silence us, we offer two words: ‘Time’s up.”

With only nine awards handed out on stage, performances comprised the bulk of the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, ranging from extravagant and spectacular to stripped-down and stirring. Bruno Mars and Cardi B drenched the stage in Nineties nostalgia for a rendition of their “Finesse” remix, while Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee unleashed a scintillating performance of their hit “Despacito.” DJ Khaled delivered one of his trademark inspirational speeches – “They said I’d never perform at the Grammys, they played themselves!” – before a sultry rendition of “Wild Thoughts” with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.

Other performers took a more straightforward approach. Lady Gaga partnered with Mark Ronson for a minimalist rendition of “Joanne” and “Million Reasons,” while Pink ditched the gravity-defying theatrics of her 2010 Grammy performance to belt “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” alongside a sign-language interpreter. R&B star SZA delivered a dazzling rendition of “Broken Clocks,” while Childish Gambino showed off his impressive range with a chilling performance of the gauzy funk cut, “Terrified.”

The Grammys served up several high-profile collaborations as well, with Miley Cyrus joining this year’s lifetime achievement award recipient, Elton John, for a performance of “Tiny Dancer.” However, the most stirring collaborations came during the ceremony’s most somber moments. Eric Church and Maren Morris led a cover of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” to honor the victims of the Las Vegas Harvest Festival shooting and the Manchester Arena bombing, while Chris Stapleton and Emmylou Harris paid tribute to Tom Petty with a performance of “Wildflowers.”

As always, the bulk of the Grammys were handed out during a pre-show ceremony. Most notably, Leonard Cohen posthumously won his first solo Grammy for Best Rock Rock Performance for his song, “You Want It Darker,” the title track off his final album (Cohen previously received the Grammy’s lifetime achievement award in 2010, and earned an Album of the Year trophy for his contribution to Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters). Other artists that picked up their first-ever trophies included Childish Gambino (Best Traditional R&B Performance, “Redbone”), the National (Best Alternative Album, Sleep Well Beast), Mastodon (Best Metal Performance, “Sultan’s Curse”) and the War on Drugs, who bested the likes of Metallica and Queens of the Stone Age to win Best Rock Album for A Deeper Understanding. 

Other big winners included country darling Chris Stapleton, who won a trio of awards for Best Country Song (“Broken Halos”), Best Country Album (From A Room: Volume 1) and Best Country Solo Performance (“Either Way”). An absent Ed Sheeran – who was not nominated in any of the major categories – picked up two awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album for ÷ (Divide) and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Shape of You.”

Portugal. the Man also pulled off an upset in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for their surprise hit, “Feel It Still,” while Aimee Mann won Best Folk Album for her LP Mental Illness and the Rolling Stones picked up Best Traditional Blues Album for Blue and Lonesome. Other pre-show winners included the Weeknd, who won Best Urban Contemporary Album for Starboy, the Foo Fighters, who took home Best Rock Song for “Run,” and Jason Isbell, who picked up two awards: Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song for The Nashville Sound and “If We Were Vampires,” respectively.

Among the other notable winners were Dave Chappelle, who won Best Comedy Album and Carrie Fisher, who earned a posthumous Grammy in the Best Spoken Word Album category for her reading of her memoir, The Princess Diarist. Greg Kurstin won Producer of the Year, non-Classical, for his work with an array of artists, from the Foo Fighters, Beck and Liam Gallagher to Zayn, Halsey and Kendrick Lamar. And Tony Bennett also added another Grammy to his collection, winning Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for his album, Tony Bennett Celebrates 90.

While past Grammy Awards have leaned on unexpected all-star collaborations, this year’s show functioned more as a 2017 pop music jukebox and offered perhaps just one certified “Grammy moment”: Kesha’s performance of “Praying” and Monáe’s introductory speech. Kesha’s ongoing legal battle with her alleged abuser, Dr. Luke, is one of the most prominent sexual assault cases in the entertainment world, and the vocal power the singer and her cohorts amassed on “Praying” served as a powerful reminder that the fight for justice and equality has just begun.

But this moment for Time’s Up and #MeToo was just that – a singular spot in a nearly three-and-a-half hour broadcast. While Monáe made clear in her speech that sexual harassment was “right here in our industry, as well,” the issue did not crop up again during the ceremony, perhaps a testament to the fact that the music industry has not yet reckoned with  sexual assault and harassment to the same degree as Hollywood. 

While the Grammys were happy to tout the fact that this year’s nominees featured its most diverse group of artists, they inadvertently reemphasized their own shortcomings and long-standing gender gap (a recent report detailed that just 9.3 percent of nominees over the past six years have been women). On Sunday, only two female artists received awards during the Grammys’ televised broadcast: Rihanna, who shared Best Rap/Sung Performance for “Loyalty” with Kendrick Lamar, and Alessia Cara, who picked up Best New Artist.

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The Nationals’ World Series run was amazing at the time and has improved with age

The day after the Nats won their title, I called last October “the greatest postseason upset run in MLB history.” It was. Yet it’s more. But how much more? There’s no exact answer, but before MLB is back, let’s have a solid general sense.

The 2019 Nats were not the best major league team ever, or even near it. Nor did they play in the most consistently thrilling World Series ever. Analytics-based “leverage indexes” say the 2019 Series was about average for sustained tension. The Nats actually “relieved” three games of late-inning tension with important runs in the seventh or eighth inning in Houston. The Nats also didn’t have a walk-off win in October and had just two one-run victories — always headline-grabbers.

We must be fair to get this approximately correct. How many other champs stand as high as the Nats in so many remarkable areas? And what is that worth?

First, the clear factual distinctions.

Only one other team fell a dozen or more games under .500 yet rose to win the World Series: the Miracle Boston Braves 105 years earlier.

No team ever came from behind to win five elimination games. The chances of pulling off such a combination, measured from the worst moments, is 0.0003 percent. Three math profs have told me that, though I cooked up an amusingly arbitrary method of categorization, the stat is close enough to correct.

No team ever beat two 105-win teams in the same postseason. And the Nats had to win back-to-back elimination games against both the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers and the 107-win Astros, who had 213 wins combined. In 50 years of multitiered playoffs, the closest comparable is the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who beat two teams that combined for 206 wins.

No team had ever won three winner-take-all games in a postseason.

And no team had ever won four World Series games on the road — and it happened in Houston, where the Astros cheated in 2017 and ’18. In 2019? Who absolutely knows?

All of that, washing over us at once, seems borderline unbelievable. But when you use part of a pandemic to study the title treks of every major league champ, what knocks you flat is that dozens of them had incredible journeys while many others stomped so many foes flat that they make the Best Team Ever list unwieldy.

As impressive as the Nats’ recovery was, from 29th place out of 30 teams on May 23, trailing in the NL East by 10 games and even 8½ games out of the second wild-card spot, several World Series winners were in deeper holes in the standings and later in the season.

Five champs have faced worse: the 1914 Braves (15 games behind and, at their worst, 16 games under .500), the ’78 New York Yankees (14 games behind), the cheating ’51 New York Giants (13), the ’30 St. Louis Cardinals (12) and the ’64 Cardinals (11). The ’69 Miracle New York Mets, like the Nats, were 10 back.

Other teams also have overcome big deficits — but not to win the World Series.

The ’85 Kansas City Royals won six elimination games in one postseason, and the 2012 San Francisco Giants, like the Nats, won five. The Nats’ distinction, their trademark, is that they trailed in all five. The Giants never trailed in any, and the Royals only once — and in that one, umpire Don Denkinger saved them.

No playoff series matches the Red Sox comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in 2004 — still the best baseball I’ve seen, both for one-series drama and 86 years of hate-filled context. No individual Nats playoff victory approaches it. But what about the Milwaukee Brewers, Dodgers and Astros fireworks combined — those five elimination comebacks? Then pile that comeback from 19-31 on top of it.

See how the ’19 Nats keep bobbing back up, joining the teams at the top of the conversation? With time, an added element of historical importance will grow: Of all the teams in all the World Series that you would hope would be defeated, the Astros, with their history of cheating, now top the list.

Who beat them? A Nats team with 14 fewer regular season wins. How many times has a team with a bigger win deficit stolen the World Series? Once. In 1906.

In 1954, in what may be the biggest World Series upset ever, the New York Giants also had 14 fewer wins than the Cleveland Indians. See, the ’19 Nats just keep sneakin’ up on you.

What defines the stay-in the-fight Nats is the way their chemistry and joy in competition elevated them above their 93-win talent, allowing them to defy odds not just in a long race for a playoff spot, in one series as an underdog or in some other matchup in which they trailed, but for 160 days, always in new ways.

What pitchers did they whip in October? In the wild-card game, the Nats beat Milwaukee’s Josh Hader, who had not blown a two-run save situation all season. They hung another set of October goat horns on Dodgers future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw; Stephen Strasburg beat him head-to-head as a starter, and Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto homered off him back-to-back to blow a lead in Game 5 of the Division Series.

St. Louis had the second-best starting rotation in the NL by ERA; the Nats swept all four of their top starters, never trailing in the NLCS. The Cards’ leading winner, Dakota Hudson, got one out — and allowed seven runs.

In the World Series, they beat Cooperstown-bound Justin Verlander twice, with long homers by Kurt Suzuki, Adam Eaton and Soto. The ’19 strikeout king, Gerrit Cole, was beaten for the first time since May 23 in Game 1 with homers from Ryan Zimmerman and Soto. And the Nats won a Game 7 started by former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke.

For years, baseball fans will want a sense of why Washington’s 2019 experience knocked the city for such a jubilant loop.

The truth does not reside in any single thing, even the city’s 95-year wait between World Series titles, but in the happy weight of everything together, from Baby Shark to dugout dancing to months of staying in the fight to “Go 1-0 today” and comeback elimination wins. It’s drubbing future Hall of Famers time after time. It’s car-racing Howie Kendrick and Eaton, relievers Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle, Aníbal Sánchez and Trea Turner, and modest manager Dave Martinez, none of whom seem Cooperstown-bound, being at the very center of a truly great title.

Don’t let anybody tell you that, since 1903, there have been many championships more special than this one. You can count ‘em on your fingers. Or maybe, absolutely everything considered, on just one hand.

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