#david kenner

[80sheaven]

Knight Rider - Michael Knight Poseable Action Figure by Kenner (1983)

[steelajeeg]

ReAction Super7 Showcase 2

Kwinn and Baroness

- from G.I. Joe

Sardaukar

- from Dune

- by Super7

Yet another showcase of Super 7 ReAction figures.

My first impression of the GI Joe series was very positive, but Kwinn and Baroness show off impressively accurate Sunbow summation designs. It's hard to tell from pictures, but something about these toys just captures that classic 80s animation feel.

And another thing I need to bring up about this batch of ReAction figures - great accessories. Every figure comes with something at the very least, and Sardaukar comes with more accessories than they can hold.

And all of the figures pictured here can securely hold their weapons - something that can't be said about all ReAction releases.

Speaking of Sardaukar, the David Lynch version of Dune isn't a perfect movie. But it's an extremely memorable one. And I can't pass up a figure from a Lynch movie. Now Super7 just needs to make an Eraserhead baby and we're set.

I'm always raving about the sculpts on these toys, and I realize that might seem outlandish - especially compared to some of the gorgeous Banpresto statues, Figuarts, and SIC figures that I show here - but the beauty is in the subtly. Little decisions, efficient textures and proportions make these stand out among many other companies' attempts at retro figures.

They look just as much like classic cartoons as they do retro Kenner action figures.

[Instagram link for this post]

[vintagerpg]

I think, in general, I am more immune to the depredations of nostalgia than most folks, but not entirely immune. The Dungeons & Dragons figures Super7’s Re/Action line are like a knife honed out of nostalgia that could split the atoms of my being. They are so good they almost cause me pain. Like being haunted by the ghost of a childhood that never existed. Shit’s fucking twisted.

So we have the Githyanki from Emmanuel’s Fiend Folio cover, the Sorceress from Erol Otus’ Basic Set and the Efreeti from David C. Sutherland’s Dungeon Masters Guide. They are presented in the Re/Action style, which is basically the classic 5-point articulation of Kenner’s Star Wars toys. Starting with Alien, I believe, Super7 has slowly turned a vast swath of ’70s and ’80s pop culture into these toys, but few are so perfectly suited to the style as this cohort. They look so perfectly correct, it’s hard to explain. I think it is easiest to see on the Githyanki, maybe — all the detailing is taken directly from the painting, but in becoming three dimension (but also stiff and sculptural), it become something else entirely, recognizable but different. It weirds me out a little, in sort of the same way Jung’s archetypes weird me out, or the Goetia.

I knew the Githyanki was going to sell out fast. I was a little skeptical about the other two rising to that same level, just because, I think, that I don’t vibe on the way the renders looked in the promo materials, but they are all three monstrously cool in person.

[tuppencetrinkets]

Sorted caps from Season 1 of The Vampire Diaries, the Originals and Legacies.

Nina Dobrev - Elena Gilbert

Paul Wesley - Stefan Salvatore

Ian Somerhalder - Damon Salvatore

Kat Graham - Bonnie Bennett

Candice King - Caroline Forbes

Zach Roerig - Matt Donovan

Michael Trevino - Tyler Lockwood

Steven R. McQueen - Jeremy Gilbert

Matthew Davis - Alaric Saltzman

Joseph Morgan - Klaus Mikaelson

Marguerite Macintyre - Liz Forbes

Sara Canning - Jenna Sommers

Claire Holt - Rebekah Mikaelson

Susan Walters - Carol Lockwood

Daniel Gillies - Elijah Mikaelson

Susan Walters - Carol Lockwood

Kayle Ewell - Vicki Donovan

Melise - Anna Zhu

David Anders - John Gilbert

Arielle Kebbel - Lexi Branson

Phoebe Tonkin - Hayley Marshall

Kelly Hu - Pearl Zhu

Mia Kirshner - Isobel Flemming

Sebastian Roche - Mikael

Charles Michael Davis - Marcel Gerard

Danielle Campbell - Davina Claire

Leah Pipes - Camille O'Connell

Nathan Parsons - Jackson Kenner

Danielle Pineda - Sophie Deveraux

Danielle Rose Russell - Hope Mikaelson

Eka Darville - Diego

Todd Stashwick - Kieran O'Connell

Elyse Levesque - Genevieve

Shannon Kane - Sabine Laurent

Aria Shahghasemi - Landon Kirby

Quincy Rouse - Milton Greasley

Jenny Boyd - Lizzie Saltzman

Kaylee Kaneshiro - Josie Saltzman

Demetrius Bridges - Dorian Williams

Omono Okojie - Cleo Sowande

Yasmine Al-Bustami - Monique Deveraux

Bianca Lawson - Emily Bennett

Steven Krueger - Josh

Lulu Antariksa - Penelope

Melinda Clarke - Kelly Donovan

Sheila Bennett - Jasmine Guy

Karen David - Emma

Gina Torres - Bess

This content is free for anyone to use or edit however you like; if you care to throw a dollar or two my way for time, effort, storage fees etc you are more than welcome to do so via my PAYPAL.  Please like or reblog this post if you have found it useful or are downloading the content within.  If you have any questions or you have any problems with the links or find any inconsistencies in the content, etc. please feel free to drop me a politely worded message via my ASKBOX (second icon from the top on my theme!)

[deadlyflames]

Genderbent TVD Cast - The Originals edition

Klaus Mikaelson = Klara Mikaelson

Elijah Mikaelson = Elsa Mikaelson

Rebekah Mikaelson = Erik Mikaelson

Kol Mikaelson = Nikolina (Kolina) Mikaelson

Finn Mikaelson = Frida or Freya Mikaelson

Freya Mikaelson = Finnr or Finn Mikaelson

I just switched Finn and Freya’s names ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hayley Marshal/Andrea Labonair = Harry Marshall/Andre Labonair

Marcel Gerard = Marceline (the vampire queen) Gerard

Camille O’Connell = Cameron O’Connell

Davina Claire = David Claire

Jackson Kenner = Jacqueline (Jackie) Kenner

Vincent Griffith = Vivienne Griffith

Hope Mikaelson = Asher Mikaelson or Von Mikaelson (both names mean hope)

Or Henry Mikaelson - after Henrik - who would be Henrika I guess

Xxx

I struggled a bit with the name changes, I wanted to try to give them Norse or Icelandic names. I ended up switching Klaus and Kol’s names. I went with Erik for Rebekah’s name because I couldn’t find a good male variant of the name Rebekah that sounded like even a little bit like a Viking name.

[spacetimesally]

Hey, there, Toy Fans, it's another look back at some more of the Kenner line of Spacetime Sally action figures! Last week we took a brief look at the evolution of the Sally figure, and, this week, we'll take a look at some secondary-character action figures.

Starting with the above: Top left: A very special promotional figure of starfighter extraordinaire, Lance Battleshine, from the Spacetime Sally Animated Adventures. A one-off character and special-guest star lending his voice to the role, you may recognize him as none other than pop music sensation, David Jones. Jones originally didn't want the job, and the only line he speaks in his episode is at the end, when he says, "El-low, Sal-ee" in that unmistakable British-accented voice. Top right: The Sally figure from the Lance Battleshine episode. Bottom Left: Special Agent Paul Townshend in AstroAction Suit. Bottom Right: Metro Sector L SecurityBot.

But wait, there's more!

Various Bot figures. Top Left: Manny and Mortimer, the unorganized crime duo from the episode, "Modest Score" and, Top Right: Darla-9 from various episodes. Bottom Row: recurring characters, Paladin Fiver-Fiver, Rosco with his CommsBot and Coteko, A-D-4U.

More recurring characters: Top Row: Left: Commander Raul Jimenez with "bear hug crushing action" and Right: Genevieve Contreras in Mechanics' Spacesuit. Bottom: FlippJett Suit Agent Paul Townshend, and an Agent Townshend figure from the episode, "Call Me, Ishmael"

And three more various Sally figures to close out this week's further look at Kenner's line of Spacetime Sally action figures. Tune in next week when we look at the line-up of figures that LJN Toys offered up on toy shelves.

[smokeybrandreviews]

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I feel like I've been super negative on this blog lately so let me straight up gush about something I've recently loved. Alien: Romulus was amazing. I’ve spoken at length about this before, but I am a massive fan of the franchise. It’s not part of my Pillars, but it’s definitely a support strut. Alien, to me, is as perfect as a film can get, and Aliens is a perfect example of Eighties excess. Go big or go home. The Queen Xenomorph is one of my all-time creature designs but my zeal for that universe was solidified with the Dark Horse comics. Some of the first comics I bought myself, with my own money, were Alien books. I ended up getting the first issue of Aliens: Earth War (before it was called Earth War) and the initial AvP run. That sh*t ended up taking a ton of space in my head, rent free, for years. Machiko Noguchi is the second best protagonist, after Ripley, herself. I had all of the Kenner figures and their little mini comics, too. Just the Xenos, though. I didn’t give a sh*t about the Marines. I remember lamenting I never got that “good” Queen Xeno, just the flying one. I love this franchise. So imagine my utter desperation for a competent big screen outing, after literally four goddamn decades of sh*t. The Assembly Cut of Alien 3 was pretty decent but everything after that was just awful. All of it. Including the prequels. I really f*cking hate the prequels. That resentment is actually a boon for Romulus because the way they incorporated that part of the mythos into this film, went a long way toward my acceptance of those ill-conceived and wholly convoluted, ego strokes. Romulus is so good, they make all of this cats-for-brains ideas in the Prequels, tolerable.

I don’t care for Prometheus because it came at the cost of Blomkamp’s Alien 5. I’ve seen a bit of that concept art and listened to Weaver just absolutely gush about the plot. Sh*t sounded exceptional, very Aliens, very much in the vein of that narrative. In all honesty, I think that’s why it was killed. It skewed more Cameron than Scott, and Mr. Ridley took offense. He made Fox kill the Oates effort and ran wild with Prometheus; an unwieldy, up-it’s-own-ass, creation myth, that was too convoluted to execute such an existential narrative with any decorum, and was too pretentious to be accessible to the common man. We wanted an Alien part Deux. We got Chariot of the Gods. Sh*t was pretty, though. After what Scott hoped to pivot the franchise to, imploded critically, he got a second shot at it, delivering an origin story to the Xenos no one asked for. While STILL pivoting toward his weird AI fetish super hard. Somehow, Covenant was worse than Prometheus in almost every way. Sh*t didn’t “fix” anything. David is still the architect to the Xenomorphs as we know them. He’s still the thing which set up the events of LV-426. The Black Goo is still a primary fixture of the franchise. Both Prometheus and Covenant are still canon. That’s dumb. However, the way Romulus addresses those things, really allowed me to accept those really, really, dumb, situations.

Mild spoilers, but the Aliens in Romulus are not the same Aliens from LV-246. They are reversed engineered by Rook, an Ash model android, from the remains of Big Chap. Rook was able to synthesize a strain of the black goo, I think it was called the Prometheus Strain, and even referenced Waylan’s death. What this told me was that, while the black goo was a really dumb addition to the overall narrative, I couldn’t be all that upset about it because Fede Alvares was able to make it feel legit. This strain of the Black Goo was different than the one the Engineers had. It produced subtly different versions of the Xenos. The facehuggers, for example, were larger, more mobile, and had barbs on their tendrils to grip faces better. The Xenos were larger and had a digitigrade stance, something that wasn’t solidified until Resurrection which, like Romulus, saw their Xenomorphs forged through genetic manipulation, not the natural processes or life cycle for the creatures. I was able to connect all of the threads and genuinely accept that Xenos can exist in an infinite number of forms, that the goo is hard coded to “create” a version of that creature. David's stupid f*cking experiments, explaining some sh*t that needed no explanation, can just be the version HE developed. His iteration to these random horrors, is the Queen. I imagine his version is the first version to have the egg. That is how HIS Xenomorph develops. I get that. I understand that. That's why the Big Chap in Alien is slightly different than the ones in Romulus. Different strain, but engineered from David's attempt. It's still dumb, but it makes it easier to accept whatever the f*ck is going on in the comics.

What really hammered it home for me was the Xeno-baby at the end of the film. Seeing that thing basically grow into a cross between a Xenomorph and Engineer was wild, all thanks to the nu-goo. It really threw me back to all those Kenner alien variations and, just like that, I got it. I got Prometheus. I got Covenant. I got Alien as a macro franchise and not just one of my favorite two films. It was a rough, four decade journey, but we got back to zero. Romulus does not work without the soft canonization of the prequels and I am okay with that because of how good it is. This is an Alien film, through and through, course-correcting the franchise in a similar way Prey did with Predator. It feels like Fede gets it and I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store because this thing pretty much doubled its budget. It’s definitely getting another one. Unless the show is balls. If Aliens: Earth tanks, I might have another four decades of bullsh*t ahead of me because I kind of hate what Marvel is doing on the comic end of things. The games are dope at least.

[beardedmrbean]

Oct 17 (Reuters) - The lead defense lawyer for convicted Fugees hip hop star Prakazrel “Pras” Michel improperly relied on an experimental generative AI program to draft his closing argument in Michel’s high-profile criminal trial last spring, according to a newly-filed brief demanding a retrial for Michel.

Michel’s new counsel from ArentFox Schiff said that the AI-generated closing argument by Michel’s previous lawyer, David Kenner, was a resounding flop: “Kenner’s closing argument made frivolous arguments, misapprehended the required elements, conflated the schemes and ignored critical weaknesses in the government’s case,” the brief said.

By using an experimental AI program to generate his closing argument, the brief said, Kenner botched “the single most important portion” of Michel’s jury trial.

Kenner did not immediately respond to two email queries on the new brief. His co-counsel Alon Israely did not immediately respond to a query sent via LinkedIn.

Michel was convicted in April on federal charges of conspiring with fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low in three alleged lobbying schemes to influence two different U.S. presidential administrations.

His new lawyers contend Kenner’s defense of Michel was woefully inadequate, in part because he relied on the AI program EyeLevel.AI to craft his final argument in the complex, politically charged case, which featured testimony from Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“The AI program failed Kenner, and Kenner failed Michel,” the brief said. “The closing argument was deficient, unhelpful and a missed opportunity that prejudiced the defense.”

What’s even more egregious, according to the ArentFox brief, is that Kenner and Israely “appear to have had” an undisclosed financial interest in a company called CaseFile Connect, which acted as a “technology partner” to EyeLevel.AI.

The brief asserts that Kenner and Israely regarded Michel’s trial as an opportunity to tout CaseFile Connect, advancing their own financial interests at Michel’s expense.

CaseFile Connect did not immediately respond to queries sent through its website.

In a declaration accompanying the brief, ArentFox partner Peter Zeidenberg, a former U.S. Justice Department political corruption prosecutor, said his team first learned that Kenner had used an AI program to write his closing argument from Michel’s former publicist, who told ArentFox that Kenner said as much at the end of Michel’s trial.

ArentFox subsequently found a little-noticed May 10 press release issued by EyeLevel.AI after Michel’s trial, hailing “the first use of generative AI in a federal trial.”

The press release included a quote from Kenner, who said that the AI program “turned hours or days of legal work into seconds,” and called his use of the program “a look into the future of how cases will be conducted."

Zeidenberg’s declaration also cited a LinkedIn post by an EyeLevel.AI executive who confirmed the program’s use at Michel’s trial. “AI startup I've been working on is now the first use of AI in a federal criminal trial,” the executive wrote in the post. “Defense lawyers for Fugees star Pras Michel used our platform to rapidly research and help draft closing arguments.”

EyeLevel.AI said in an emailed statement that Kenner and Israely do not have a financial stake in its program. "EyeLevel's AI for legal is a powerful tool for human lawyers to make human decisions, but do so faster and with far greater information at their fingertips," the company said in response to ArentFox's criticism of its closing argument. "EyeLevel is able to ingest and understand complex legal transcripts based solely on the facts of the case as presented in court."

ArentFox said it had determined that CaseFile Connect and Kenner's law firm both listed the same office suite in Encino, California, as their primary address. CaseFile Connect’s alternative address, according to Zeidenberg’s declaration, was a New York City office associated with Kenner co-counsel Israely.

CaseFile’s website did not disclose its owners, ArentFox said, but the overlap in addresses, Zeidenberg said in his declaration, “appears to confirm that Mr. Kenner and Mr. Israely had a financial interest in the AI program Mr. Kenner used to write the closing argument and then boasted about after trial."

The ArentFox lawyer said in the filing that his team had contacted Kenner and Israely through their counsel but they declined to speak with Michel’s new lawyers about the trial.

The motion seeking a retrial for Michel also argued that the proceeding was tainted because the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington, D.C., allowed jurors to hear that she and another federal judge had already concluded, in the context of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, that Michel conspired with an alleged co-conspirator to commit some of the crimes the government charged.

Those references, along with allegedly improper testimony about Michel’s guilt from the lead case agent on his case, turned the jury into “a rubber stamp,” the brief argued.

The brief listed a litany of purported failures by Kenner, in addition to the alleged AI closing argument fiasco. Among the most serious is ArentFox’s accusation that Kenner, who is not an expert in complex white-collar cases or lobbying regulations, outsourced trial preparation to inexperienced contract attorneys at an ediscovery company co-founded by Israely, an old friend.

That inadequate preparation was fatal to Kenner’s attempts to cross-examine government witnesses, the brief said.

Every case, of course, is different, especially when it involves a celebrity defendant and an alleged international scheme of corruption and influence-peddling. Nevertheless, you might find arguments about a trial judge’s allegedly prejudicial comments or a defense lawyer’s shortcomings in lots of filings by white-collar defendants seeking new trials.

What you won’t find anywhere except for ArentFox’s brief for Michel is an assertion that generative AI produced an incoherent argument with grave consequences for a criminal defendant.

Kenner and EyeLevel.AI bragged that Michel’s case was the first criminal trial in which a defense lawyer used AI to draft a closing argument.

Now it’s the first case in which the AI-generated argument has been blamed, in part, for a defendant’s conviction.

[lboogie1906]

Denyce Graves-Montgomery (born March 7, 1964) is a renowned mezzo-soprano opera singer. She has performed at opera houses around the world and is known for her roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila.

She was born to Charles Graves and Dorothy Graves-Kenner in DC. She was raised by her mother in Southeast Washington, the middle child of three. She attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts from which she graduated. She studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory. She received an honorary doctorate from Oberlin for her accomplishments.

Her major career break came in 1995 when she performed at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Carmen. She was hailed by opera critics and her audience.

She has become well-known outside of the world of opera and expanded her musical range to include gospel and patriotic music. She has been invited to perform at the White House numerous times and often gives performances to raise funds for charitable causes, with the most notable being a series of performances after the tragic events that took place on September 11th, 2001.

She became a Cultural Ambassador for the US and traveled to Poland, Venezuela, and Romania for the State Department. She has appeared on popular television shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and Sesame Street, and she was the subject of an award-winning profile on 60 Minutes. She helped to open the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. She sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” with the Voices of Tomorrow Choir at the dedication ceremony.

She faced multiple health and personal obstacles to continue working and performing. Her vocal cords became injured and started bleeding, causing her to undergo surgery and cancel months of performances. She married David Perry (1990-2001) a classical guitarist who became her business partner. She has one child, a daughter. She married Dr. Robert Montgomery (2009). She is an instructor at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute where she is a voice teacher. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenhistorymonth

[cyarskj1899]

No wonder why his son turned out the way he did. This family is full of generations of delusional and narcissistic people

Tory Lanez’s Dad ‘Forgave’ Megan Thee Stallion, But ‘Will Not Back Down’ Until His Son Is Freed From Prison

Posted on 15 hours ago - ByShannon Dawson

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Source: (Photo by Sarah Morris/WireImage) (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Im / (Photo by Sarah Morris/WireImage) (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

During a social media sermon Jan. 12, Tory Lanez’s father revealed that his son has forgiven Megan Thee Stallion despite facing a lengthy prison sentence for her 2020 shooting.

On Thursday, Lanez’s father Sonstar Peterson took to Instagram to share a few thoughts about his son’s turbulent shooting trial and conviction. Peterson, a former pastor and ordained minister, said that he, Tory and other members of their family forgave Megan “a long time” ago for reporting Tory to the police over the shooting incident.

“This might come as a shock to many of you, but guess what?” he said in the video, which was reposted by The Shade Room. “Both my son, myself and others of our family have long decided that we are not going to hold any animosity against Megan Pete a.k.a. Megan Thee Stallion. We forgave that girl a long time ago. A long time ago because again we know that the principle of forgiveness is important to not be bound up with hatred, those things can cause diseases in the bones.”

Despite forgiving Meg, Sonstar Peterson says he will continue to fight for his son’s freedom

Further into his passionate sermon, Peterson talked about the importance of forgiveness and how its essential to protecting one’s spiritual and physical wellbeing.

“We know that the principle of forgiveness is important in order to cleanse one’s heart, to cleanse one’s soul and to not be bound up with hatred,” he continued. “Hatred, resentment, bitterness — those things can actually cause diseases of the bones, it has been proven. And it can cause sickness in your body because you’re holding onto something that is negative against the real life force in your life.”

As MADAMENOIRE previously reported, Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, was convicted Dec. 23 of shooting Megan Thee Stallion. The hip-hop star faces up to 22 years in prison and deportation to his native Canada.

Peterson said that while he and Lanez have let go of any hatred towards Meg, he remains focused on fighting for his son’s freedom.

Sonstar Peterson launches into a fiery tirade after Tory Lanez’s guilty verdict

Peterson’s righteous social media video comes just weeks after he rattled the Los Angeles courthouse with an angry outburst when jurors found Tory guilty of shooting Megan. Outside of the courtroom, Peterson lit into Jay-Z, who manages Meg under his Roc Nation label, for allegedly influencing the outcome.

“I just stood here in this Los Angeles country and witnessed the worst miscarriage of justice that this world has ever seen,” Peterson shouted as a group of reporters stood around him. He went on to shame Meg’s attorney Alex Spiro, Roc Nation COO Desiree Perez, “and the whole wicked system of Roc Nation.” He then accused Jay-Z of bartering “the souls of young men.”

Watch the video below.

Play

Play

Tory Lanez is due back in court Feb. 28 for his sentence hearing. The hearing was pushed back to allow time for Lanez to find a new lawyer. Now, the rapper will be represented by David Kenner, the former lawyer of Suge Knight, Snoop Dogg and several other notable hip-hop stars, according to The Root. 

Previously, Lanez was represented by George Mgdesyan.

RELATED CONTENT: A Black Gender Divide Became Painstakingly Obvious When Tory Lanez Was Accused Of Shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Sent from my iPhone

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

The Best of 60s Sock Hop 1987 R&B / Soul / Rock & Roll / Pop-Rock / Pop

Here's an excellent slate of oldies tunes that was put out by Priority Records back in 1987. It's dominated by chart-busting classics, like "I'm a Believer," "Duke of Earl," "Rescue Me," "Wild Thing," "Runaway," and "Leader of the Pack," but this album's compilers also managed to fit in a few bits of less remembered and underappreciated gold too.

For example, there've been lots of high-profile covers of Martha and The Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" over the years, from The Kinks, to The Grateful Dead, to Van Halen, to Mick Jagger and David Bowie. But one cover that wasn't very commercially successful was by The Mamas and The Papas, which only peaked at #73 on Billboard's Hot 100, and it was actually the last song that the group ever performed live, closing out their set at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

And on a similar tip is Cannibal & the Headhunters' "Land of a Thousand Dances." This song proved to be an enormous hit for Wilson Pickett, but he wasn't the first one to release it, and actually, neither were Cannibal & the Headhunters. This tune was originally by Chris Kenner, but Cannibal & the Headhunters added the iconic "na-na-na" chorus to it, which only happened because lead singer Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia forgot the words he was supposed to sing 😂. Pickett then sang the "na-na-na" part too, netting him a much bigger hit, and decades later, Ini Kamoze lifted that same "na-na-na" for his 1994 reggae fusion jam, "Here Comes the Hotstepper." But that Cannibal & the Headhunters version only managed its way up to #30 on the Hot 100.

And lastly is Claudine Clark's "Party Lights," a song I feel like is less remembered among others that share a similar vibe. It's pretty much essentially a girl group song, but only Claudine Clark is credited as its artist. And it's her lone hit too, reaching #5 on the Hot 100 in 1962. Maybe you've heard it before, but when you think of all the 60s R&B and girl group classics, I can't imagine that this song is one of the first ones that you come up with. And it probably should be, because her voice is fantastic on it, with her naturally higher-pitched register and flashes of gravelliness.

I guess I should also mention that this album isn't actually *all* 60s hits, despite its name being The Best of 60s Sock Hop (You had one fucking job, Priority!). There's a song on here that came out in 1970 by Three Dog Night called "Celebrate" that features the band Chicago on horns. And it's a great rock song, but it sure as hell wasn't part of any 60s sock hop!

Great release regardless, though. Stone-cold classic hits along with a few that have collected a bit more dust. Can't really ask for more from an oldies comp.

Highlights:

Monkees - "I'm a Believer" Betty Everett - "The Shoup Shoup Song (It's in His Kiss)" Gene Chandler - "Duke of Earl" Bobby Lewis - "Tossin' and Turnin'" Fontella Bass - "Rescue Me" Three Dog Night- "Celebrate" Mamas & The Papas - "Dancing in the Street" Cannibal & The Headhunters - "Land of 1000 Dances" Del Shannon - "Runaway" Shangri-las - "Leader of the Pack" Knickerbockers - "Lies" Troggs - "Wild Thing" Claudine Clark - "Party Lights"

[caprano]

Streiflicht

Richard David Precht ist der Philosoph der Herzen. Jetzt hat er der Welt auch noch die Moral von Donald Trump und Joe Biden erklärt.

(SZ) Herbert Marcuse, der Lieblingsphilosoph der zornigen Jugend vor fast sechzig Jahren, hatte ein Motto, das sogar auf seinem Grabstein steht: Weitermachen! Nun können derartige Imperative für den einen Segen, für den anderen Fluch sein – eine dialektische Binse, die ideengeschichtlich direkt zu Richard David Precht führt. Precht ist der Lieblingsphilosoph der Podcast-Hörer unserer Tage. Eine Zeit lang sah es so aus, als würde in seinem Fall aus dem Weitermachen nichts werden, weil Precht vor einiger Zeit im Einklang mit seinem Freund und Mitpodcaster Markus Lanz reichlich unfrische Scheinwahrheiten über orthodoxe Juden in die Welt geworfen hatte. Dafür hat sich Precht entschuldigt und nun ist er wieder da, warum auch nicht. Auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse konnten ihn seine Freunde und Leser in einem Interview bei seiner Lieblingsbeschäftigung erleben, die Philosophie auf jenes handhabbare Mittelmaß zu trimmen, aus dem Prechts Bücher ihren Wiedererkennungswert schöpfen.

Man kann Precht dabei zusehen und zuhören, wie er die Denker von damals im Handstreich erledigt. Nietzsche habe an Bedeutung verloren, weil seine Gegner auch nicht mehr leben oder so ähnlich. Und ob Descartes und Freud heute noch das Zeug hätten, wie er, Precht, der Buchmesse ontologisches Gewicht zu verleihen, weiß der Teufel. Auf die Frage des geduldigen Moderators, ob Nietzsche wohl sympathisch gewesen sei, antwortet Precht wie folgt: „Die sympathischen Philosophen waren nicht immer die besten.“ Nun könnte ein kühler Beobachter des Frankfurter Gesprächs diesen Satz je nach Neigung zugunsten des Philosophen oder des Menschen Precht auffassen. Aber Precht navigiert ja nicht im Fahrwasser der besten europäischen Moralphilosophen, um sich mit halbseidenen Kategorien abzugeben. Das Begriffspaar, mit dem Precht Hanteln stemmt, bilden vielmehr Gut und Böse. Natürlich hat Precht Kraft und Ausdauer genug, um beide gegen das Licht zu halten. Donald Trump, zum Beispiel, sei ja nicht böse, nur schlecht erzogen, sagt Precht. Damit könnten jetzt eigentlich all jene gut leben, die mit Prechts schlichtem Philosophieverständnis ohnehin gut leben können. Aber Precht wäre nicht Precht, wenn er nach der Trump-These geschwiegen hätte. Precht aber sprach also: „Ich halte Joe Biden für moralisch mindestens so mies wie Donald Trump, ohne dass er diese Verantwortungslosigkeit hat, die bei Trump so offensichtlich ist.“

Man muss kein erfahrener Exeget sein, um zu begreifen, dass alles in diesem Satz ein unfassbarer Käse ist. Aber man darf sich trotzdem vor Richard David Precht verneigen. Denn anders als Kenner vermuten, steht Precht nicht am Ende einer großen Tradition europäischen Denkens. Nein, Precht steht am Beginn einer neuen Labersophie, die keine Begründungen mehr benötigt, sondern nur eine Kamera und ein Glas Wasser zum Runterspülen.

[boricuacherry-blog]

Months before, Tupac had filmed his own death in a video. "It's just a fun little game...the game of life," Tupac said while working on the piece which showed him expiring, bullet-riddled, in an ambulance. "I know one day they're gonna shut the game down, but I gotta go around the board as many times as I can before it's my turn to leave."

Money B came to town to audition for the lead in a movie called Juice. Tupac tagged along.

They shot in Harlem with Spike Lee's cinematographer Ernest Dickerson directing. On wrap day Moritz took Tupac aside to congratulate him for his performance, and tease him about spending so much of his scale wages on gold jewelry.

Suge, who ran into Tupac at a recording studio, tried money first, offering $200,000 for a single song. Pac took the cash, but declined the Death Row invite. A seed, however, was planted. Earlier in life, Tupac had sold crack and his mother Afeni, a Black Panther, had dealt with a drug addiction, but he was on his way to fame.

The money, in any case, soon vanished. Some went for a Mercedes 300 - Tupac's dream car - which lasted less than 24 hours before he totaled it. The next day he bought another, and, when a friend admired it, Tupac gave it to him. He did hold on to an Oakland apartment, only Tupac kept forgetting his keys. He handled that by punching in windows, so many that after a couple of weeks his pad had the tightness of a colander. "Aren't you worried about security?" Shock G asked during a visit, gazing at the gold jewelry lying around. "Nah," said Pac, hefting an automatic weapon, "I got this."

Tupac appeared too busy to notice. Besides laying plans for a second album and another movie (John Singleton's Poetic Justice, co-starring Janet Jackson), he was preparing a benefit concert for Marin City's 50th-anniversary festival.

His tattoos seemed to incite violence. One showed a panther about to strike; another, an AK-47. But it was the three-inch letters he had cut across his stomach that said it all. THUG LIFE, they spelled - the i formed by a bullet. He'd explain that "thug" meant those who didn't have anything, and that the letters were an acronym for "The Hate U Gave Lil Infants Fuck Everybody."

The Atlanta charges would be dismissed, but there was one case Tupac wouldn't beat.

There were two versions of what happened. According to Tupac, he knew where things were going, but, uninterested in participating, got up and went into another suite to talk to his publicist. According to the young woman, she was raped and sodomized by Tupac and members of his crew.

"I'm going to show people...my true heart," Tupac Shakur said, pleading with the judge before being sentenced. "I'm going to show them the man that my mother raised."

The judge had other ideas. Condemning Tupac's "arrogance," he sentenced him to a term of up to four and a half years in the maximum-security facility at Dannemora, New York.

The approach to Tupac was smooth, too. Death Row, Suge said on a jail visit, was "family," and as "Daddy," he looked after all its members. He would put up Pac's bail. All Tupac had to do was join them. "I want a house for my moms," the rapper replied. Done, said Suge. Knight's lawyer, a white criminal attorney named David Kenner, scrawled out a three-page contract, naming himself Tupac's legal representative and Suge the controller of his business affairs. Pac gave it a glance and signed.

In 1996 singer Faith Evans - married to the rapper Biggie - found it hard to turn down an offer to record a song with Tupac Shakur for a self-negotiated $25,000. Now she knows this was not the best move. "I had no idea that Tupac had been signed to Death Row Records," she wrote. "I hadn't yet heard that Suge Knight had bailed him out." Her decision led to a decade-long rumor that she slept with Pac, which she denies. Even today she becomes unsettled by the topic of Tupac, and when pushed to talk about him, a clearly rattled Faith parses her words carefully. "I didn't know him. I don't know what motivated him. I'm glad I got through it the best I could." Unfortunately, she would not see a dime of the money from the recording. She says he told her if she wanted the money, she would have to "suck his d--k,' and feeling humiliated, she left.

He acted with Jim Belushi in Gang Related. So many scripts were coming in - so many that Tupac set up a company, Euphanasia, and hired his old friend Molly Monjauze to run it.

Their house - a Death Row-leased estate in suburban Calabasas - was always crowded. Pac's mother Afeni and sister Sekyiwa visited for long stretches, bringing Sekyiwa's two little girls with them. The Outlawz - Tupac's teenage cousins - were also in residence, along with any friend who needed a bed. Tupac completed the dorm atmosphere by installing banks of video games and slot machines.

The rest is well-known and told often. Tupac was shot. There are still some people though who believe Tupac is alive and well, on an island somewhere. Who killed him remains a mystery. Suge swore he wouldn't help,even if he knew. "I don't get paid to solve homicides," he said.

[smokeybrand]

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I feel like I've been super negative on this blog lately so let me straight up gush about something I've recently loved. Alien: Romulus was amazing. I’ve spoken at length about this before, but I am a massive fan of the franchise. It’s not part of my Pillars, but it’s definitely a support strut. Alien, to me, is as perfect as a film can get, and Aliens is a perfect example of Eighties excess. Go big or go home. The Queen Xenomorph is one of my all-time creature designs but my zeal for that universe was solidified with the Dark Horse comics. Some of the first comics I bought myself, with my own money, were Alien books. I ended up getting the first issue of Aliens: Earth War (before it was called Earth War) and the initial AvP run. That sh*t ended up taking a ton of space in my head, rent free, for years. Machiko Noguchi is the second best protagonist, after Ripley, herself. I had all of the Kenner figures and their little mini comics, too. Just the Xenos, though. I didn’t give a sh*t about the Marines. I remember lamenting I never got that “good” Queen Xeno, just the flying one. I love this franchise. So imagine my utter desperation for a competent big screen outing, after literally four goddamn decades of sh*t. The Assembly Cut of Alien 3 was pretty decent but everything after that was just awful. All of it. Including the prequels. I really f*cking hate the prequels. That resentment is actually a boon for Romulus because the way they incorporated that part of the mythos into this film, went a long way toward my acceptance of those ill-conceived and wholly convoluted, ego strokes. Romulus is so good, they make all of this cats-for-brains ideas in the Prequels, tolerable.

I don’t care for Prometheus because it came at the cost of Blomkamp’s Alien 5. I’ve seen a bit of that concept art and listened to Weaver just absolutely gush about the plot. Sh*t sounded exceptional, very Aliens, very much in the vein of that narrative. In all honesty, I think that’s why it was killed. It skewed more Cameron than Scott, and Mr. Ridley took offense. He made Fox kill the Oates effort and ran wild with Prometheus; an unwieldy, up-it’s-own-ass, creation myth, that was too convoluted to execute such an existential narrative with any decorum, and was too pretentious to be accessible to the common man. We wanted an Alien part Deux. We got Chariot of the Gods. Sh*t was pretty, though. After what Scott hoped to pivot the franchise to, imploded critically, he got a second shot at it, delivering an origin story to the Xenos no one asked for. While STILL pivoting toward his weird AI fetish super hard. Somehow, Covenant was worse than Prometheus in almost every way. Sh*t didn’t “fix” anything. David is still the architect to the Xenomorphs as we know them. He’s still the thing which set up the events of LV-426. The Black Goo is still a primary fixture of the franchise. Both Prometheus and Covenant are still canon. That’s dumb. However, the way Romulus addresses those things, really allowed me to accept those really, really, dumb, situations.

Mild spoilers, but the Aliens in Romulus are not the same Aliens from LV-246. They are reversed engineered by Rook, an Ash model android, from the remains of Big Chap. Rook was able to synthesize a strain of the black goo, I think it was called the Prometheus Strain, and even referenced Waylan’s death. What this told me was that, while the black goo was a really dumb addition to the overall narrative, I couldn’t be all that upset about it because Fede Alvares was able to make it feel legit. This strain of the Black Goo was different than the one the Engineers had. It produced subtly different versions of the Xenos. The facehuggers, for example, were larger, more mobile, and had barbs on their tendrils to grip faces better. The Xenos were larger and had a digitigrade stance, something that wasn’t solidified until Resurrection which, like Romulus, saw their Xenomorphs forged through genetic manipulation, not the natural processes or life cycle for the creatures. I was able to connect all of the threads and genuinely accept that Xenos can exist in an infinite number of forms, that the goo is hard coded to “create” a version of that creature. David's stupid f*cking experiments, explaining some sh*t that needed no explanation, can just be the version HE developed. His iteration to these random horrors, is the Queen. I imagine his version is the first version to have the egg. That is how HIS Xenomorph develops. I get that. I understand that. That's why the Big Chap in Alien is slightly different than the ones in Romulus. Different strain, but engineered from David's attempt. It's still dumb, but it makes it easier to accept whatever the f*ck is going on in the comics.

What really hammered it home for me was the Xeno-baby at the end of the film. Seeing that thing basically grow into a cross between a Xenomorph and Engineer was wild, all thanks to the nu-goo. It really threw me back to all those Kenner alien variations and, just like that, I got it. I got Prometheus. I got Covenant. I got Alien as a macro franchise and not just one of my favorite two films. It was a rough, four decade journey, but we got back to zero. Romulus does not work without the soft canonization of the prequels and I am okay with that because of how good it is. This is an Alien film, through and through, course-correcting the franchise in a similar way Prey did with Predator. It feels like Fede gets it and I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store because this thing pretty much doubled its budget. It’s definitely getting another one. Unless the show is balls. If Aliens: Earth tanks, I might have another four decades of bullsh*t ahead of me because I kind of hate what Marvel is doing on the comic end of things. The games are dope at least.

[rebeleden]

David Kenner Pulled The Ultimate Betrayal to Suge Knight, 2Pac Couldn't ...

CC SATANIC FOLLYWOOD

[exitiumhq]

✧ ━ ACCEPTED ━ ✧  welcome to new orleans, ellis madden, victoria dupont, oaklee whitlock & theodore kenner. be sure to send in your account within twenty-four hours or your role will be reopened. don’t forget to look over our checklist and make yourself comfortable. jesse williams, lily rose depp, madelyne cline & henry cavill are now taken!

[ jesse williams | he/him ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome ELLIS MADDEN to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 42 year old HUMAN, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be EGOISTIC, but that’s all a façade to cover up their BEGUILING nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to SKIN AND BONES by DAVID KUSHNER, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. (Guess WHO )

[ Lily Rose Depp | She/Her ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome VICTORIA DUPONT to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 950+/26 year old VAMPIRE, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be MANIPULATIVE, but that’s all a façade to cover up their CHARISMATIC nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to BONES by MS MR, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. ( ooc tia, 28, gmt+2, she/her )

[ madelyn cline | she/her ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome OAKLEE WHITLOCK to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 253 year old FAIRY/WITCH, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be GUARDED, but that’s all a façade to cover up their COMPASSIONATE nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to FAMILY by NOAH GUNDERSEN, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. ( Sushi )

[ Henry Cavill | He/Him] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome THEODORE KENNER to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 43 year old WITCH/WEREWOLF, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be STUBBORN, but that’s all a façade to cover up their LOYAL nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to WHATEVER IT TAKES by IMAGINE DRAGONS, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. ( Sushi, 28, EST, She/Her) *sierra’s sibling connection