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shaylogic · 3 months

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Messy Masterpost: I don't have the words so here's a mess of links and ideas

@captainfantasticalright's Dead Boy Detectives: a breakdown of Dante's hell. This post is a masterpiece of understanding how the Hell/afterlife dynamics work in Sandman Universe and DBDA, and it's sent my mind buzzing like crazy

My post about Simon's book

Not just any book

Theory about Simon's brother/father? Being a part of Burgess' Cult ("Order of Ancient Mysteries")

Thank you @niko-sasaki-dbd

Ba'al ==> Sa'al

Seems like Simon may have gotten a demon-summoning book that worked from his brother who may have been involved on Burgess' cult from Sandman. He died with book in hand, and that's the one he's tearing apart on repeat in Hell. Tumblr user listed above identified what the book might be, based off the image.

This interview at 12:52 George Rexstrew answering that Edwin's favorite thing about Charles is his unconditional love and acceptance of him.

Post about Charles bearing his soul to the Night Nurse like Orpheus played music to Cerberus

Interviewer talking about "straight friend" Charles "rejecting" gay Edwin, only for George, Jayden, Beth, and Steve to stiffen up slightly. Asking about how Charles didn't have a gay panic reaction to Edwin's confession. This interviewer is actually gay and interviewed on a gay network later, which threw me after this question.

=>If Charles had really gay panic rejected Edwin, it really would have ended like Eurydice, thrust back to the pit of Hell to wallow in the internalized homophobia, rather than being released with the support and healthy love of Charles.

Actors have reiterated multiple times that the case is not closed on Edwin and Charles' romance, they're just getting started and figuring it out in the midst of all the chaos.

People are stuck in Hell because they believe they belong there but Edwin gets out the second time because Charles KNOWS he doesn't belong there! And reminds Edwin of this when he's getting pulled under in it all

Charles went back to his red polo after the confession and escaping Hell with @nerdytacollama's excellent addition on episode 7 specifically!!

Edwin's whole arc was about accepting loving and being loved and his attraction to men, and his love of his best friend, specifically

Steve Yockey saying the confession NEEDED to happen on the stairs out of Hell. One reason being that Edwin may have been too afraid to go through with it after, another being that he could get dragged away forever at any second and it could be his last chance.

[above article pic quote from this]

But also based on the Hell worldbuilding of the Sandman Universe where people only go to hell if they believe in it and believe they deserve to be there > Edwin believing his want for intimacy at all letalone with other men being "such a sinful life" (Night Nurse paperwork) > the upward climb of healthy love from the Dante's Inferno Post > Edwin HAD to confess on the stairs and be accepted! It freed him of Hell~!

Simon moved on from Hell with Edwin's mutual sorrow for the two of them and somewhat understanding/forgiveness? Maybe self-acceptance from the gay guilt

Edwin's form saying he would serve in Hell for living such a sinful life and then be reassigned to a more pleasant state (Hell not an eternal afterlife, just time served and then moving one)

[image posted in @reviewcreature's post with @melefim's addition]

If Edwin went back now, loved and accepted by his friends and himself, would he pass on to the better place?

My post wondering about reincarnation in the Sandman Universe, which others weighed in on in the comments about how it's indeed canon

The parallels of the Lust room in hell being a butcher shop with bloody hanging bodies to reflect the debauchery of bloody writhing lust bodies ===> compare to "Girls' Night" when Jenny was running and hiding from stalker Maxine in her butcher shop behind meat ===> compare Edwin's arc of accepting "sodomite sin" of being attracted to men (challenge to the epitome and catalyst (ha) by the Cat King) and him having been through the Lust room of hell before and him STARING AT THE RED BULL ON THE BUTCHER SHOP WALL (as compared to directly in the first linked post)

The purity of Charles and Edwin's love compared to that and the stereotypes of how male love is depicted in media, as George, Steve, and Jayden have spoken out against gently in multiple interviews

How it's partially childlike, partially deep friendship where two men can hug and cry, partially a crush, partially potentially reciprocally romantic

The juxtaposition of Edwin's archetypical confession to Charles on the stairs of Hell on the way out of the Limbo of it, with Maxine guilty and desperate just below them, not even looking toward the open door

Fans wondering why it was so easy to get out of Hell. The worldbuilding canon saying that Hell is what you make of it (Charles says this in the original Season of Mists Ch 4 comic, Edwin says it in episode 7 to Simon). People in Hell stuck because they feel they deserve it.

@podcastenthusiast's post about being glad Edwin didn't see Simon move on, because then he'd really wonder we he himself suffered so long

==>CHARLES got Edwin out because he KNEW he didn't belong there!!!!

They push and pull each other by the arms the whole way to the top!!!!!!!

Magical weight in the snake pit "nothing's meant to leave this place"

Charles literally dragging Edwin out of Hell for the love and devotion to him!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allegory of dragging him out of his self-rejection and holding him by the face saying over and over "I love you. I accept you. I'm not leaving without you."

Openly gay producer/director Steve Yockey insisting on being the one to write Episode 7 and you can feel it in every color on the screen.

There's no higher power deciding this, despite the paperwork and minders ensuring everyone is sorted. It's an internal self-decided fate, unconscious.

I'm not gonna be able to link and list every pic and organize this in the state I'm in but--

ARE YOU SEEING ALL THE THINGS I'M SEEING?

Girl help I'm getting visions!!!!!!!!!!!!

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buzzdixonwriter · 4 years

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Super Duper Supermen

This will be a long one, so pour yourself a cuppa and settle down. We may seem to meander, but we’ve got a destination.

. . .

I’m tired of superheroes.

I’m tired of a lot of genre fiction.

Part of the reason is that too much of the current material is ugly and loud, but the real reason is it isn’t fresh, it isn’t fun.

I tried watching The Boys. I got to the end of the second scene of episode one and realize, “This ain’t for me” and turned it off and went over to YouTube and watched guys build model airplanes.

At least they look like they’re having fun.

. . .

Look, superheroes are a power fantasy and they’re okay for little kids who want to believe there’s always going to be a mommy or daddy who will protect them, but they’re an absurd genre at best and when you start taking them seriously -- and recently even the funny parodies and spoofs take themselves Too Damn Seriously -- they become horrific.

What prompted me to realize this is an article posted on The Vulcan by Abraham Riseman “The Boys Is the End of the Superhero As We Know It.”

Highly recommended, by the way.

. . .

It’s not like Riseman was the first to make this observation.

30+ years ago Gary Groth observed:

“Superman is one version of the hero with a thousand faces -- to employ the title of Joseph Cambell's excellent book on the subject -- and his appeal should therefore not surprise us. But Superman is a crude version of the hero; if you will, an elementary one. Unlike his more developed analogues in all the world's great religions, Superman does not offer love or goodwill, self-knowledge or contemplation as keys to man's salvation. He offers his own physical powers.”

And he ain’t the only one.

Alan Moore recently chimed in:

“They have blighted cinema and also blighted culture to a degree. Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys. That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous; it was infantilizing the population.

“This may be entirely coincidence, but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest-grossing films were superhero movies. Not to say that one causes the other, but I think they’re both symptoms of the same thing — a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions.”

. . .

I don’t like cruelty.

I used to enjoy old weird horror films back in the day -- movies like The Reanimator -- because I appreciated their absurdity and never took them seriously.

When the torture porn sub-genre came along, I lost interest in horror films.

The Babadook is the only modern one I’ve seen in the last 5 years and I enjoy it because like earlier horror films (and here I include both classic Universal / RKO movies and the artistry of Mario Bava and Dario Argento) it’s essentially a very dark fairy tale, not an exercise in cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

Violence doesn’t turn me off.

Sadism does.

And sadism is all about power and fascism is all about power, so when I remark on modern superhero and thriller and horror stories as being fascist, I know whereof I speak.

. . .

Superhero stories may not necessarily be tales told by idiots, but they are full of sound and fury, and signify nothing.

Ultimately superheroes fail because:

they can’t lose

they can’t win

There is no finality in the superhero genre. The damn Joker keeps crawling back, Les Luthor constantly schemes, Dr. Doom and Galactus pop up whenever things lag in the sales department.

Superheroes as a genre are failures insofar as they can’t permanently deal with these existentialist threats, nor can they step out of the way to let others deal with them.

Superheroes promise salvation but deliver bupkis, slapping a band-aid on a cancer and telling us it’s all better.

They can’t permanently defeat their greatest threats, yet neither can they be truly harmed by them.

I’ll grant you the occasional Captain Mar-Vel but they are very minor exceptions to the rule. Gwen Stacy was bumped off in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 in June 1973, first reappeared as a clone in May 1975 then several times thereafter, and most recently shows up as Spider-Gwen in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (September 2014).

As Roy Thomas aptly observed: “In comics they’re only dead if you have a body and even then only maybe.”

(In fairness, there’s no finality in most formula / genre fiction either, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)

. . .

Before we delve deeper, let’s be clear as to what we’re discussing when we say “superheroes”.

They don’t need to possess “powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men”.

As noted above, they just have to be:

always victorious

never in real danger

You can bash ‘em / trash ‘em / slash ‘em / smash ‘em and they still bounce back -- heroically -- to save the day.

Break both legs, riddle them with machine gun bullets, hit them with a car, cave in their skulls with sledgehammers, and yet somehow they summon up the super-human reserves needed to keep in the fight.

Mind you, in the real world there are people who display super-human endurance in horrific situations and not merely survive but go on to achieve incredible success. They don’t do such things every year (as do heroes in movies), much less every month (comics) or every week (television). They sure as hell don’t make a career out of it.

Let’s veer away from brightly colored naked people flying & fighting to superheroes in a different genre than costumed crime fighters.

Mike Hammer is a superhero.

Sherlock Holmes is a superhero.

Philip Marlow might actually be a literary character.

Look at the criteria: Can they lose?

Never in Hammer’s case.

Rarely for Holmes (and when he does, it’s always with bittersweet irony).

Frequently enough with Marlowe that one can’t anticipate if any of his stories will end with him victorious (yeah, he solves mysteries, but always at profound personal cost, and in more than one novel he ends up realizing he’s been a sucker all along).

Here’s another example that snaps the dichotomy into ever sharper relief:

Samuel L. Jackson’s Shaft is a superhero.

Richard Roundtree’s Shaft is just a hero.

Roundtree’s Shaft is aware he can fail.

No “macho bullshit irony” as they say over at the Church of the Sub-Genius.

. . .

Superheroes don’t grow -- they decay.

They never truly use their power for good (because that would involve changing the world) nor do they adequately protect the innocent.

They serve no true function except to entertain and to be exploited.

Series novels and television shows can feature character growth, but the concept has to be baked in from the beginning (Jan Karon’s Mitford series and Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City books are two examples that spring immediately to mind).*

More typically, in series fiction the character/s show little actual growth; they are more or less the same at the end of their adventures as they were at the beginning, maybe a little greyer, maybe a little creakier, but essentially the same person.

Sometimes, particularly in military or nautical or police series, they may start out as a callow cadet but soon wise up to the stalwart hero we want to see.

As perfect an example of superhero decay can be found in the Die Hard movies.

The original’s superhero character, Detective John McClane, implausibly goes through a night of hell yet actually shows some character growth: By the end of the film he’s able to swallow his pride and admit to his wife he was wrong.

A very farfetched movie but an emotionally satisfying one. We’ll overlook a multitude of injuries that would have rendered him hors de combat in reality in exchange for the movie actually being about something.

All that gets chucked out in the first sequel, Die Hard 2, where the characters are thrown into a contrived situation to mirror the first film without the satisfying emotional growth but with far more ridiculous action; Die Hard With A Vengeance jettisons McClane’s marital relationship except as an afterthought and ups the absurdity of the story (indeed, it’s best viewed as an action comedy); Live Free Or Die Hard totally trashes all the character growth before it; and A Good Day To Die Hard not only trashed previous character growth but went so badly over the top that it and the star’s aging out hopefully are the one-two punch needed to end the series once and for all.

. . .

Look at non-superpowered / non-comic book superheroes and see how they fare.

D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers are superheroes (conversely, Cyrano de Bergerac is not because the focus of his story is on who he is and not the what but the why of his actions; all the cool sword fighting is just bonus material).

Natty Bumpo is a superhero; anybody who can jump into a birchbark canoe from a tree branch 30 feet overhead without crashing through is a superhero because that character simple Can Not Lose.

For that matter, most 1950s TV cowboys and virtually all Italian Western protagonists are superheroes.

Tarzan is a superhero.

James Bond is a superhero (the SPECTRE / Blofeld arc in the novels and short stories actually do end up with him going through significant growth and personal change, ending with Smersh brainwashing him and sending him back to assassinate M…but then the British Secret Service intercepts him and a couple of paragraphs later he’s all better and off after The Man With The Golden Gun).

Modesty Blaise is a superhero.

Claire Starling is not a superhero, but Hannibal Lecter is (don’t give me that; even if you’re evil, when you’re the central character of a series of books / movies / TV shows you’re a damn superhero).

They’re all superheroes because they can’t lose and they can’t change their world and more importantly they can’t change themselves.

. . .

There is one exception to the above re superheroes, and that’s in the realm of sci- fi and fantasy stories.

Occasionally we find a character who becomes a king (viz Howard’s Kull) or a demi-god (viz Herbert’s Paul Atreides) and does alter their world for good or ill.

That, of course, is the ultimate power fantasy.

. . .

Fascism focuses on the Will and the Act.

It is a philosophy of movement.

It’s a philosophy that attracts the weak and the sadistic, because it promises protection from and power over others.

It’s a philosophy that actively seeks conflict, not necessarily overt violence, but the promise of same is always there.

. . .

A brief sidebar to the other side of the comic book spinner rack.

Funny animals are essentially anti-authoritarian.

From Aesop forward to Carl Barks, their characters, filled with all too human foibles, can and do fail.

And when they win?

Ah, then it’s almost never by force or action, but by cleverness.

Funny animals are tricksters, accurately sussing out a situation and maneuvering to gain the best outcome for themselves without obtaining dominance over their opponent.

Bre’r Rabbit and Bugs Bunny.

Ducks Donald, Daffy, and Howard.

Superhero stories seems obsessed with keeping everything orderly and in continuity.

Without continuity, anything goes, and that’s fatal to the superhero trope as it annihilates authority.

Funny animal stories rarely feature continuity and when they do, it’s rarely rigorous. If Porky Pig needs to be a businessman or a farmer or a studio executive or a traveling salesman, so be it.

He’ll be something else in the next story.

As tricksters, funny animals are bounded by one rule: They may save themselves and seek justice, but they will pay a penalty if they try to use trickery for selfish gain.

Howard the Duck -- “trapped alone and afraid / in a world he never made” -- is just trying to stay survive.

Daffy Duck -- greedy little miser that he is -- inevitably gets it in the neck when he tries to cheat someone.

Donald Duck -- floating somewhere between Howard and Daffy in his motivations -- finds no guarantee of success and reward, yet achieves success often enough to keep striving.

He may battle mummies or a reluctant coke machine, his stories may take him around the world on an adventure or no further than his kitchen to fix dinner.

It doesn’t matter.

Who he is makes his stories compelling far more than what he does.

He’s not on a power trip.

He doesn’t feel he has to win every time.

And as a result, he has a much richer life than Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark.

. . .

“So whaddya sayin’, Buzz? ‘Superheroes is bad’?”

No.

I deny no one their pleasure.

But I also think there are times when we have to demand not just more of creators but of ourselves as an audience with the media we consume.

I only saw the first two scenes of the first episode of The Boys.

That was all it took to convince me not to watch it anymore.

For similar reasons, I have no desire to watch Mad Men or Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul or Game Of Thrones.

I’ve picked up a strong enough vibe from each to know I’m not going to connect with them.

I’m certainly not saying you can’t enjoy them if you like.

Bu I am saying we’re cheating ourselves by not demanding more.

And until we start demanding more, the studios and streamers are only going to offer us less and less variety.

C’mon, people, we deserve more than that.

* I’m sparing you a whole long analysis of The Mary Tyler Moore Show because frankly it goes too far afield of this essay’s central thesis and besides I can use it for another blog post in the future.

#comics #superheroes #Gary Groth #Alan Moore #Abraham Riseman #The Boys TV series #Watchmen #writing

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kurtty-drabbles · 5 years

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Ocean au (Pool of Blood part 2)

N/A: something to further this plot. A small one but the plot is kicking. I think.

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @bamfoftheundead

When one thing about magic, and it´s all possibilities, hardly one comes to the question "how magic breathes its first breath" because, for someone, magic is just there and will always be there, but, if you ask to Wanda Maximoff where magic start she´ll have a blast in telling all the theories she has.

Pietro knows about this. Her husband Victor knows about this and their kids know about this too. Yet, her theories and the many other wizards who delve into the subject hardly come into a consensus in regards to the question.

The best outcome that Scarlet Witch and Dr StrangeFate managed to offer to people if they really ask this question, is that this is a gift from Hecate, mother of magic, and how if you truly believe you can wielder its magic in all proprieties in your favour.

Like said before, is only a theory and no one is crazy enough to summon Hecate to make this question. Right now, Wanda´s mind is far further from the answer to this question as she´s watching her kids rehearsing for the big school play.

"Mom, you won´t do that, right?" Tommy asks pouty. "We´re just trees in this story"

"Yeah, mom, we´re just trees, dad we´re just tress" Billy agrees and Wanda and Victor smile as they show the cameras.

"Sorry, kiddo, we´ll take pictures like all the other parents, plus you two will be the cutest trees ever" And this prompts the twins to be embarrassed even more so when Wanda promised their uncle Pietro will be there to take pictures and be their fanboys. Is a nice gesture, but, they´ll still be embarrassed.

The crystal ball lights up and Tommy is the first to run to see it and waves as Dr StrangeFate is present with one cat and one dog on his lap, and Tommy says the dog looks mad at Dr StrangeFate.

"Hello, Wanda, I was doing some research and I was wondering if you know anything about Pool of Blood" is his straightforward question and Wanda frown as is visible something is up.

Her eyes land on the two animals on his lap and realization hits her. "No, I not, but, why you want to know?"

"As I said is research and nothing more. I thought you could have a leading clue about this phenomenon, but, is not important" and turns off the communication and everyone in this house, including the kids, can sense something is off.

"Dad, what´s a Pool of Blood?"

"Is a monstrosity that creates monsters"

Wanda has a bad feeling about this and she vows to call Columbina about what her animals are, but, at the moment. "Come on, little trees, you have to end the song, right?" and the boys whine together but continue to sing the lame song, in their humble opinion, for this school play.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The communication is cut short after all and Cosmo and Jupiter are not happy with Dr StrangeFate and the man knows he´s travelling in thin ice now, but, the Pool of Blood is malicious enough to cause harm and Wanda´s powers are a delicatessen for that thing.

"Let me be in her place, my powers won´t attract the attention of that thing and I know more magic than her" Dr StrangeFate speaks his case and Cosmo shakes his head as 4 eyes begin to emerge in his face and his body begins to grow.

Jupiter is nearby, walking on the corners, watching and waiting, he could end everything so easily, but, at the same time, is so rare to see Jupiter do something this drastic. Celestial mother loves monsters more than humans, but, she loves being a contradiction. Ironic, Jupiter´s patron is straightforward in his intentions.

"And what can you do to stop a Pool of Blood? How can you end it?" The dog asked bemused as the hot breath leaves his mouth. And Dr StrangeFate is left with his own mind and witts now.

"I could freeze the Pool and take it out"

"Can you freeze blood? Her blood?"

"....I´d not know"

The dog shakes his furry head and utters some Latin words, no, ancient words from other planet and time as Dr StrangeFate´s infinity stone is removed from him. "Remember, human, this power can be given and taken, and I´m her son, now, about our other plan...do you will help or not?"

"I obey Celestial Mother, her will is mine will" and this would be over if Cosmo didn´t set on fire one of Dr StrangeFate´s machines. The fire is blue and burns the machine in one go.

"Don´t go make questions your mind is not ready for the answer...and to resurrect the deads only brings problems" Cosmo replied shifting to his "normal" appearance and Jupiter still remains in silence, peering through the human´s soul. This one is different from universe 616.

"As for Columbina, you keep your mouth shut, got it?" Cosmo speaks still under the fire and Dr StrangeFate knows no blade or spell or even venom can take down Cosmo.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

In the life of espionage, one thing you must always have in your mind is how to leave the scene and this is one of MJ´s best qualities if she can say so. And right now, the red hair and her assistant, Peni Parker, need to flee for their lives, but, of course, still in the characters, they are pretending to be. A lovely aunt and niece having fun in the glamorous part of New Gotham.

"I knew it! Coming to New Gotham is always bad news" MJ is complaining as she packs her package in the most calmly and aggressive way one can imagine while Peni, doing her package without caring about the order is just saying how New Gotham was not that bad.

"It has everything here. Nice buildings, nice people and...vampires" Peni states as she has her gun on position and MJ has only time to look Dark Claw and Spider-boy on their balcony.

"Are you going to shoot at me?" Dark Claw asked and the man´s voice is frightening on its own but as he stands up the effect increase 10 times more and MJ does not want Peni to die.

"I´d not know, vampire, you´re the one peeping on innocent women, not very heroic, is it?" Peni asked still with the gun in hands and she shoots Dark Claw, but, thanks to the healing factor, the wound heals the man right away.

MJ looks at Spider-boy who notices her peering gaze at him, hard to not notice, and speaks to calm down the situation, if is possible. "We mean no harm here, Dark Claw just want to be dramatic, in reality, we would like to ask if you would rather work for us...in the future"

MJ crosses her arms and exhales as her green eyes are far from pleased. "Do we really have a choice? If we say no...how can we know you´ll not throw us in jail....we´re far too valuable to you all to ever let us go" MJ states bemused.

"So, I guess, me and Peni have to stay on the JLX´s side, right?"

"Or else" Dark Claw speaks "you would rather face Kilmonger on your own, you think he wouldn´t use you two again?" and Peni and MJ exchanges looks as they really don´t want to tangle themselves between Wakanda and Kilmonger.

"Well, it seems Spider-boy puts the news nicely than you, Mr vampire" Peni states and an agreement is made, MJ may not like, but, this is the lesser of evils in her situtation. _________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurt Ryder is googling on the internet, yes sometimes even him has to rely on good and old Google, to get information about Kitty Pryde, and to his surprise, the internet has nothing useful to tell. Aside from some cat videos and some cat porn (no, Ryder does not need to know about Cats the hentai), he found next to nothing, except this one article.

"Brave little girls escape certain death by sheer luck" he reads the title and notices it has a photo of Kitty Pryde when she was younger, and a girl with green hair who is hugging Kitty (the said girl is smaller than Kitty) and continues to read "according to the police, the Ferris wheel went malfunction in the exact moment those two girls decided to join in and it was a miracle that they didn´t die, but, no one knows how the Ferris Wheel malfunction in the first place as...it was turn off in the first place, investigation will be issued and the Amusement Park Happy Land will be closed"

Kurt Ryder, if he was a less experient detective, could let this information go as it appears to be irrelevant, however, Kurt is an excellent detective and looking at the legend of the photo of the two girls he notices something crucial.

"Kitty Pryde and Lorna Dane Pryde. Two lucky survivors."

"That´s...something"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

On a secret lair, a villain that the JLX hopes is really retired and will never come back to the good old days, is watching a fascinating video on the big screen thanks to his secretary/ sometimes lover provide for him. Magneto is watching a green-haired woman using her power to help someone, Magneto has no idea who is this person, but, it appears she is taking him out of the prison.

"Interesting" Magneto states. "Oracle once told me I have a lost daughter...could this be my lost daughter" and smiles proudly as the video ends with the green-haired woman taking the unknown person away.

Meanwhile, Irene has a small smile on her face. Oh, her old prophecies are coming together.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The cellphone rings loudly and Kitty answers and is no surprise to know is Jubilee as the TV is showing the news of a person is missing in the Arkhan, but, the twist in the news is that such person was actually not who he claimed to be, which means, the police make a mistake and the system arrested an innocent. And this happened in Jump City.

"Hello, Jubs" Kitty speaks still peering at the news and is impressed by Kurt and Peter´s professionalism even through Kurt confessed to Kitty, once thanks to a nice mood and delicious food, that sometimes is a pain work with Peter (and Kitty wonder if Peter thinks the same)

"Kitty, your sister was here!" and is all Jubile needs to say about the situation and Kitty can picture the image just fine.

"And let me guess? You want me to do something?"

"No, I want you to help me with a case, your sister unmask a crook system here but has no intention of helping..."

She takes the cellphone out to mutters tiredly the name Lorna and that´s the mood for this situation. "Ok, but, I´ll need a favour too if Kurt Ryder asks about me...tell him I´m a sexologist"

"Do I want to know?"

"NOPE"

"Then ok, I´ll cover for you"

"Then...guess I´ll go to Jump City"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometime later, Cosmo arrives with Jupiter on his back and meet Kitty eating popcorn and greeting them, however, the cat and dog have a concern expression on their furry faces. "Someone watch Cats the movie?" and Kitty is the only to chuckle as Jupiter is not happy. "What happened?"

"Kitty, you need to gather the gang to a new heist. This time...you need to steal a Pool of Blood!"

"....sounds crazy, I´m in"

#ocean au #new hesit #kitty pryde #kurt ryder #the best detective of all kurts #magneto is delusional here #Irene will be amused #POOL OF BLOOD

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devientdeco · 5 years

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The Death of A Skeptic

Spencer Winters sat at his desk, smoking a cigarette and enjoying a coffee and the sounds of “Nobody Knows You When Your Down And Out” cascading from the radio near his desk. He saw a dark shape against the frosted glass of his office door which read ‘Spencer Winters: Private Detective and Investigator’. Other detectives would have a secretary outside, but he had had to let his go. The young detective reached into his desk and undid the safety on one of his .45 pistols, cocked it, and placed it in his pocket, easily drawn if he needed it. It never hurt to be prepared, after all.

Spencer opened the door and admitted a young man, the two taking their seats on opposite sides of the desk as Spencer killed the radio with the turn of a dial. The young man was armed, Spencer saw the bulge of a holster in his expensive suit. He was tall and lanky, not unlike Spencer, and he had neatly arranged red hair, green eyes flicking over Spencer like a snake looking at prey. He smiled and extended a hand to shake before he began speaking, his voice indicating he was clearly another Nocturne City native, the Southern accent spilling from his lips like tar onto a road under construction. “Mr. Winters,” He paused to flash another million-dollar smile at Spencer. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Nicholas Burnette. I represent a powerful player who has expressed an interest in hiring you. You’ve proven yourself to be quite a capable detective and an able combatant, an excellent marksman and possessing a remarkably sturdy constitution. I’ve heard of your little war with Benny Vinnoci and his bootleggers after that unfortunate business with your wife and her sticky fingers. He ended up with two to the head, and you get off scot-free thanks to your police friends. You are, thus, an able candidate for the job we have in mind.”

Spencer raised an eyebrow. “And what, exactly, is this job, Mr. Burnette? How do you know so much about me?”

“I have friends in the police department, just like you do, detective, and I also hired someone else to look into your background. Please, don’t be upset. I was asked to find the best man for the job, and you're it. As for what the job entails, it is deceptively simple. My employer seeks a raven statuette from the swamp outside of town. I am sure you are aware of the perils within, so we chose you for your martial prowess.”

Spencer resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was a skeptic, through and through, not believing the tales of monsters in the swamps. Like any gumshoe, he knew if you were inclined to believe in such things, you probably weren’t cut out for detective work anyway, or if you were, you’d waste your time and your clients trying to find things everyone else knew weren’t real. He had been in the swamp on a case before though, just last year, looking for a lost boy. The boy was never found, but there was never any sort of danger there, just big trees and weirdly black water. One of the policemen had gone missing, but he was later found in the loving embrace of a mistress in a seedy motel near the swamp. Nothing supernatural there, Spencer thought, just human nature. He pushed the case from his mind and focused on his client. “The only threats I face there are the threats of tripping and getting my boots wet Mr. Burnette.”

“That is where you are wrong, detective. But if you do not believe me, you will find out for yourself. Will you take the job?”

“More details?”

“We have a rough idea of where the object is, but our previous efforts to retrieve it have been stymied by illness and madness, and in one case, cowardice. We can provide you with a rough map, and little else, I’m afraid. You will be exceedingly well compensated, detective. My employer is prepared to offer you up to ten thousand dollars if you retrieve this object for his collection, five hundred upon accepting the job, and the other nine thousand, five hundred, upon delivery of the statuette. If you succeed in this endeavor, you may be hired for more asset recovery operations in the future.”

Spencer’s mind raced at what he could do with the money. He might be able to pay off the medical bills he always incurred on his more dangerous cases, and maybe even hire another secretary. But he knew he had to keep from acting too excited, avoid seeming too eager. “Ten thousand dollars for getting my boots a little wet and finding some statuette? Your boss must really like statues. Sure, I’ll take your money. Who’s this mysterious employer, Mr. Burnette?”

Nicholas smiled warmly. “I’m so glad you agreed to the job. I doubt it will be as easy as you think, but I’m sure you can handle it, given your background. My employer is none other than Mr. Henry Sinclair, founder, and CEO of Southern Industries.”

Spencer was impressed. Henry Sinclair owned Southern Motors, among the other enterprises in the Southern Industries umbrella and was the richest man in Nocturne City. His factories had brought the city and the south as a whole an economic boom, and he was fast becoming one of the richest men in the country. Now he wanted him to find something in the swamp for him. He was distracted from his thoughts as Nicholas reached into his coat and pulled out an envelope. “The first installment of your payment, detective. Thank you very much for agreeing to this. You are the fourth person we’ve hired or tried to hire. The second person to accept. We sent a team into the swamp ourselves, but they came down with some nasty illnesses and the expedition leader is currently in a mental asylum. The one detective who agreed skipped town after being given the first installment and had to be tracked down and made an example of. I’m sure you won’t make the same mistake. I hope you succeed and don’t end up dead. Good luck sir and thank you again.” He shook hands again and left after a final smile.

That night, Spencer returned home to see his wife, Scarlett, lounging on the couch. “Hello dear. You look glum. What’s wrong, tough day at the office?” She rose and embraced him. “I was hired by Henry Sinclair to go into the swamp and find something for him.” Scarlett looked alarmed. “Please tell me you turned him down. There’s all sorts of awful things in the swamp.” Spencer cracked a grin, amused by his wife’s belief in the supernatural.

“Yeah, like what?”

“Well, there is, of course, Black Mask Armitage. Victims of The Walking Plague that survived being killed way back when, cultists, freaks, all sort of things! You shouldn’t have taken the job.”

“Oh, calm down. The worst that can happen is maybe I’ll trip over a tree root. He offered me ten thousand dollars! Why would I turn that down? Besides, I never saw anythin’ weird last year.”

“Even the luckiest man alive has to run out of luck sometime. Just cause you didn’t see anything, doesn’t mean its not there. I love you Spence, and I don’t wanna see a news article about your body being found floating on the edge of the swamp.”

He smiled at her worries. He silenced her protests with a kiss on her ruby-red lips, while running his fingers through her long red hair.

“Baby, I’ve taken on gangsters, for you no less. I killed a mob boss. I’ve tangled with the toughest thugs this city can offer and I’ve always come out on top. I can survive getting a little wet. I’m sorry, but I need the money.”

He pulled his wife off of him and started walking to his room. He opened the envelope and found it had five one-hundred-dollar bills and a map, or, rather, an attempt at a map. It had several ‘landmarks’, one of which was circled. ‘The tall black trees. It should be in the center of the clearing surrounded by the tall black trees.’, was scrawled in spidery handwriting. Spencer thought about the weird legends of the black-water swamp on the edge of town. The earliest legends were from the colonization of the city back in the 1600s, stories of weird lights. Spencer dismissed them as swamp gas. There were many stories of the horrors and cults and forbidden sects which lived in the swamp, but he dismissed them simply as folk stories. Tomorrow he would go out into the swamps and try to find the statuette.

In the morning, Spencer went to have breakfast at The Café V8 in his sleek Southern Motors Raven before heading off to the outskirts of town, wearing not a suit, but instead donning some well-worn boots, jeans, and a shirt and coat he wasn’t afraid to get dirty. He peered into the dark swamps and turned on a flashlight. The high cypress and oak trees blocked out what little light shone through the overcast sky, Spanish moss dangling down and blotting out the light even further. He trudged into the swamp, into the cool black water. His boots sank into the mud and snapped twigs as he walked on. Spencer frowned. This brought back bad memories. He had searched for the boy for days, and found no trace of him, save a tattered bit of cloth that might have come from his shirt, but could have been from any number of other shirts. He nearly tripped over a sprawling root somehow drawing nutrition from the water-soaked soil. Spencer found a slight smirk crossing his face, despite the memories of last year. He had been right. There was nothing here but trees and water. He was surprised to see a number of lights in the distance. He cautiously approached, flicking off the flashlight and seeing a handful of figures standing over something. He inched closer, crouching down now and pulling out one of the two .45s he always carried with him.

He looked closer and saw that the individuals stood atop a bit of ground that rose from the black waters, amidst the huge trees. They were six of them, all naked, their bodies painted in strange, organic patterns, spirals, leaves, ivy-like tattoos crawling up their skin. They stood inside a pair of overlapping hexagons made of black wood. The figures stood around a colossal black tree stump, and, to Spencer’s shock, a mutilated body. The body was that of a young man, apparently vivisected, with intricate leaf-like patterns branching off of the opened chest cavity, as though it were a tree trunk with the leaf-like patterns growing from it onto the rest of thr body. The figures bore bloody knives. Spencer cocked and undid the safety on his .45 as he backed away, prepared to defend himself as he fled. He cursed to himself as he slipped on a root and fell into the water. He arose, seeing six figures approaching him, bearing knives, chanting aloud words that made Spencer’s head hurt and his ears to ring. He raised his .45 and fired at the nearest cultist, aiming for the leg, wanting to incapacitate for now unless they made things difficult. The cultist fell to the ground, his knee shattered by the bullet. He continued to fire, wounding each cultist, though they continued to crawl toward, chanting even through the pain, some unknown and incomprehensible language. Spencer sighed and decided he’d have to kill them. He was good at killing, and while he did not enjoy it, recognized it as a necessary evil. He shot them each in the head, even as they continued to crawl forward, one of them even hurling his knife at him in desperation, though it only tore a hole in his coat as it went wide. He moved on, trying to block the memory from his mind.

As he pressed on through the water, he flicked on the flashlight again and continued onward. He was not particularly worried about killing those people; the corpses would be subsumed by the black waters of the swamp and they would not be an issue. Even if they were, his friends in the police force would understand that he was cleansing their fair city of criminal cultists. He felt his boot kick against something. He looked down and saw something that was not a tree root. He saw many corpses floating in the waters. Not one, not two, but dozens of them. They were rotten with age, yet still somehow, impossibly, had flesh and muscle, albeit tattered and decayed. Then, Spencer thought he saw one of them twitch. Impossible. Corpses cannot twitch. It continued to twitch, standing up. It and the other corpses began to stand, shambling toward him, arms outstretched, a low moan escaping from its damaged and rotten mouth. Spencer blinked, recoiling on reflex rather than reason, dismissing this as a hallucination. One of the corpses tried to bite him, and he recoiled. He leaped back. This was no hallucination. He backed up, and drew his pistol, firing perfectly aimed headshots, but panicked as he heard the click of an empty clip. He backed up, tripping over a tree root and falling backwards into the water. The things he had shot had fallen into the water, finally destroyed after centuries of unlife. But more of them arose from the black waters. Spencer arose from the water, narrowly avoiding a grasping hand, and fled, running blindly away from the reanimated corpses into the swamp, tripping a few times and soaking himself further.

He finally got far enough away that moans were no longer audible on the wind. He slumped against a tree. What had he just seen? It must have been supernatural, for he was unable to explain this rationally. He was a man of rational thinking, and dare not think of anything irrational or strange, even religion, for many religions would not approve of his actions. He pondered on these things he had shot. According to local history/legend, in 1745, there was an outbreak of The Walking Plague, a strange form of bubonic plague. The town apothecaries and barber-surgeons donned the signature mask of the plague doctors and took up blades and eradicated the undead who had lurched into the swamp. One of them, local legend proclaimed, was infected by a bite from the undead and then began to transform. The doctor, Noah Armitage, vanished into the swamp. A few weeks later, reports of a horrible flying creature began a strange amalgamation of flesh and bone, and ravens wings, and a leathery plague mask and beak. This monstrous creature was called Black Mask Armitage, supposedly the transformed doctor Noah Armitage. Perhaps, perhaps the legends were true. He had shot undead creatures to protect himself. Undead beings reanimated by an ancient disease. But when he had gone looking for the boy last year he hadn’t encountered anyone or anything out of ordinary, and he had gone deeper into the swamp than this, or so he thought. Thinking about the case brought a strange feeling of melancholy. He remembered the mother sobbing, asking him to take another look, because the police had largely given up after three weeks of searching. He shook his head fiercely and forced himself to stop thinking until after he found what he was hired to find.

He pressed onward, looking at the map, trying to get his bearings. He was surprised to see the stump that had been on the map. He pressed onward, the trees becoming even taller, monolithic black trees, Spanish moss hanging like tendrils reaching toward him. There was a sudden clearing, and Spencer saw a tall black monolith, a statuette of a raven sitting atop it. He approached, grabbing the statuette and tucking it into a bag. As he turned, an earsplitting screech filled the air. He stared in disbelief and horror as a figure flew towards him. It was some sort of monstrous entity, a creature with a long black beak, it’s beak long and leathery, like a plague doctors mask, arms that looked like eldritch fusions of bone, rippling black flesh, and raven feathers. Its body was a mix of black feathers and bone, black flesh showing here and there. It let out a terrifying screech and flapped towards Spencer. Spencer could hardly believe his eyes, sure he was now hallucinating. He was snapped out of this assurance that he was hallucinating by sharp pains on his arms and chest. He saw blood on his shirt. He removed his pair of .45s and fired, Black Mask Armitage hissing and screeching as the bullets hit its chest and wings. Spencer kept firing, as he ran, his coat being ripped off as claws snagged in it. He sprinted into the thick trees, Black Mask Armitage following him, flying above the trees, the shrieks echoing into the overcast sky. He continued to fire, many of the bullets flying wild now, shooting until he heard the click of empty magazines. He was out of bullets now, and no more magazines, the extras had been in his coat. His arms and chest were bleeding more freely now, the cuts deeper than he thought. Something he did not believe in had clawed him, and he was bleeding. Perhaps he needed to be more open to the existence of the supernatural in Nocturne City. After all, not believing in it did not prevent it from attempting to kill him, of course. He continued to press on through the swamp, seeing the lights of town in the distance. He smiled weakly to himself, thinking of Scarlett when the screeching of Black Mask Armitage drew closer. He saw his car nearby, it’s sleek black form a sign of hope. If he could get to it, he could drive off and leave this forsaken swamp.

Making a break for it, he ran to the car, tossing the bag containing the statuette in the passenger seat and quickly grabbing the two extra magazines he kept in his glove box and frantically reloading. To his horror, the car rocked, and the narrow windshield broke open as the talons of the flying monster smashed it apart, leaving claw marks in the hood. He scrambled for one of the .45s, firing at the long black beak. It screeched, trying to get closer. He turned the key in the ignition and started driving, speeding off, the creature struggling to stay on the car which was quickly accelerating. He smiled with satisfaction as the creature was forced under his tires, loud bumps sounding as the creature was run over. He heard loud screeching but knew the creature would soon return to the swamp, if the legends were true, at least.

He staggered into the hospital, being cured by the doctors and nurses. When they asked what had caused the wounds, he simply said “Black Mask Armitage”. They were highly confused, sharing his now-dead skepticism, but treated his jagged cuts. He drove home, warmly embracing Scarlett. “Oh, Scarlett. I’m sorry. I should have believed you. There were…. things….out there in the swamp. I killed cultists. And then there were victims of The Walking Plague. God, so many of them. I ran. And ran and ran, until I came to a clearing. I found what Sinclair hired me to find, but then Black Mask Armitage attacked me. Ripped my coat off, clawed me. But I think I’m better now, just need to lay down.” She kissed him. “I’m so glad your ok Spence! I mean, you come home wounded a lot, but I was honestly worried for the first time. But maybe your luck isn’t ready to give out just yet.” She embraced him again, and stood, heading off to prepare some supper. Spencer sat and gazed into the flames of the fireplace, thinking about all the horrors he had seen. His lack of belief in the supernatural had been shattered beyond repair, like the shattering of a window as someone is defenestrated. He understood now that there existed things that he could not understand, and that a bullet could not solve every problem anymore. He had shot the bird creature many times, in the wings, chest, and its awful beak mask thing but it continued to attack. He hoped never to have to go back into the swamp. He would demand more money for the job from Sinclair, of course, to pay for his medical bills. He would believe now, or at least be accepting of that fact that strange horrors lurked in and around his beloved city.

Spencer drove his sleek but damaged car toward the Sinclair mansion. The Sinclair estate was a large, modern, white, Art Deco mansion situated on a jagged-edged cliff overlooking the city and the Atlantic. The well-manicured grounds were enclosed by a tall wall, preventing anyone from peering into the tycoon’s affairs. Spencer pulled into the driveway, and an armed guard came out to greet him, looking confused at the state of his car. Presenting his private detective's license as ID, he was allowed in. He was ushered into a luxurious Art Deco office. A tall, lanky man in the finest suit Spencer had ever seen stood before him, a pencil mustache, slicked-back hair. He smiled and extended a hand. “Good evening detective Winters!! I am ever so glad you are not dead! Do you have it?” Spencer handed him the bag containing the obsidian statuette, the ruby red raven eyes gleaming in the electric lights. Sinclair beamed happily. “Excellent job detective Winters! Thank you!” Spencer nodded.

“Your welcome sir, but I would like to know if you would mind covering my medical bills? I had a run-in with Black Mask Armitage. And, if you don’t mind me asking, why the hell did you want this thing so bad?”

“You did? I will, of course, pay you extra. Is that why your car is a disgraceful heap of shattered glass and scratches? No matter, I will replace the car with the newest model of Raven. Let’s see…. nine thousand, five hundred dollars? I already paid you five hundred, but let’s ignore that and give you another five hundred. And, to answer your question, I am a collector of the eldritch, the macabre and the supernatural. It….intrigues me.”

Spencer raised an eyebrow. ‘Just how rich and possibly crazy was this man?, he thought.

Sinclair reached into his pocket for his wallet, and pulled out a few dozen hundred-dollar bills. He handed it to Spencer and smiled.

“Your payment, detective. My agents may seek your assistance in the future, Mr. Winters. Please consider accepting. You did a fine job, and you have proven yourself capable of doing things others will not. I am happy to have met you! Now, I must find a place in my collection worthy of displaying such a beautiful piece of artwork. Good evening!” He abruptly turned on his heels, carrying the statuette and walking off. An aide was sent to get Spencer a new Raven. A short while later, it arrived, pulling up by the door, aides, moving any personal effects from his old car to his new one. Spencer looked at the sleek black car, pleased by this unexpected bonus. He got in, and drove off into the night, NCR serenading him.

#spencer winters #Henry Sinclair #black mask armitage

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 10/22/20

Arifureta: I Heart Isekai, Vol. 3 | By Misaki Mori, based on the novel by Ryo Shirakome | Seven Seas – This is keeping up a fast pace, not lingering too long on any one part of the novels that it’s making fun of. Everyone manages to be that much more over-the-top than they are in the source—though admittedly Kaori goes above and beyond in this regard—and the art also has little cute “we are angry” faces for everyone that look cute and scary at the same time. More to the point, despite all the gags, the I Heart Isekai series actually manages to keep the found-family bits that are also the best reason to read the main series, and its character attacks never feel malicious (again, Kaori comes close, but then she does in the main series as well.) A lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 13 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – A lot of Dr. Stone is taking inventions that you would expect could not remotely be done in a pre-industrial age and doing them anyway due to Senku’s knowledge… though he’s helped along greatly by his dad, who we see passing away long in the past in a flashback here but who also manages to get Senku some gold and platinum to work with. They are also helped out by Kohaku’s awesome strength and agility, though I will admit I could have done without the “does not know how to be feminine” stuff. That said, it’s hard to top the absolute highlight of the book, which is Suika driving what is essentially a tank, BLIND, off a ship and into Senku’s hands. She’s still the best thing in this. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 12 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – The damp squib that is Tarou and Kagura wraps up fast here, which is good, because the rest of the book is all over Misaki and Ayumi. Her parents have discovered their relationship, and since Misaki is a very serious boy, he decides to stop seeing her till he can get her dad’s approval, because of course he is one of THOSE dads. As for Ayumi, she still has trouble with the normal emotions of love that come naturally to the rest of the cast. The result is, as it has been since it became, several volumes back, the best relationship in the series. Which is good, as the series ends next time, and we will no doubt be moving back to Kai and Riko—I smell a sudden transfer to another part of the country coming. – Sean Gaffney

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 6 | By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Neko Hinotsuki | Seven Seas – We are starting to see Zenjiro beginning to act on his own a bit more, though he’s still got someone there next to him to do the actual work. It is hard, after all, despite many isekais to the contrary, to fully immerse yourself in a new world with all-new customs. More to the point, his child with Aura may not be unique when it comes to magical affinities. And there’s a new princess in town, from the equivalent of Scandinavia, and no one seems to know what to make of her—indeed, she makes a point to divide her role as a captain from her role as a princess. More to the point, it means we get another badass woman in this book that seems to be far more interested in its politics than in any sponging. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 9 | By Afro | Yen Press – If there’s one issue I have with this series it’s the artwork, particularly the character art, as I frequently find that I have trouble telling many of the characters apart. Once I get past that, this is exactly what the previous eight volumes have been: lots of relaxed camping, great scenery, and cute girls. There’s not really any hint of yuri here, but there’s also not really any hint of boys, so Rin/Nadeshiko fans should be pleased anyway. We get the birthday party from last time, which is… not as big a secret as expected. We get capybaras! There’s hot springs, there’s sunrises, and there’s Rin going off to do her own thing half the time, like the introvert with a wanderlust that she is. Does this end when they graduate? – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 15 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – I missed reviewing 14 somehow, and thus the end of the sewer monster story. That said, though, what with Kuroko decidedly NOT having ridiculous sex at the start of this book, I have to wonder: is Murcielago getting toned down? Certainly the violence is present and correct, though this is the start of an arc, so it’s not quite as over-the-top as before. This sees another old villain returning, but we haven’t yet met Comedy Writer in this series—they seem to get people to do silly stunts, and ‘retired’ after one stunt ends up with dead people. Kuroko is her usual goofy self here, but as I noted, she seems a bit more… placid than usual? Her detective skills are also excellent here. Still great if you don’t mind gore. – Sean Gaffney

My Dress-Up Darling, Vol. 2 | By Shinichi Fukuda| Square Enix Manga – Despite the explicit content tag (and the occasional naughty shot, like the inside front cover), this reads far more as a series for fans of nice high school romance than anything else. Gojo is pushing himself far too hard, because he’s genuinely creating something for someone else but also as he feels that after this one event he’ll lose it all forever. He’s desperately socially awkward, and it’s rather sweet that Kitagawa gets so upset she’s in tears at the thought of him driving himself this hard. The cosplay is a big success, and there’s some nice costuming tips here as well. By the end of the volume, she seems to be realizing she’s falling for him… so it is, of course, the perfect time to introduce another rival. Cliffhanger! – Sean Gaffney

Our Teachers Are Dating!, Vol. 1 | By Pikachi Ohi | Seven Seas – If you want your yuri with a side order of adorable, this is the manga for you. One is the science teacher, the other teaches gym, and they’re both cute cute cute. To the point that there is minimal conflict—and honestly you don’t want any. The other teachers? Love the two of them together. The administration? Fine with it. The other students? They’re over the moon, of course. Most of the book is seeing two relatively shy people grow closer and closer in their dating till they’re ready to take the next step, which we see towards the end of the book. The students bribe them with pictures of the other. The closest we get to any strife is one being mistaken for a student (she’s short and cute). This was super-fluffy. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 44 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – It’s probably cheesy to say, but each new volume of Skip Beat! really is like checking in with old friends. In this case, it’s a pair of old friends who still haven’t managed to communicate their feelings to the other. This time they’re thwarted by Ren’s assumption that Kyoko has fallen back in love with Sho and by a tabloid article about Ren kissing an older actress. I truly wish each volume was about thrice as long, but alas, we don’t yet see what Ren does with the information that Kyoko is upset about the article more than his assumptions about her and Sho. I love this series and I don’t want it to end and I know that Ren and Kyoko getting together will mean that end is coming, but a little crumb of genuine progress would make me so happy. Maybe next time, which won’t be ’til March! – Michelle Smith

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Vol. 1 | By Yuka Tachibana and Yasuyuki Syuri | Seven Seas – I haven’t read much in the way of light novels, but this one sounded interesting, so I gave it a go. Perhaps I should’ve started with a traditional isekai series in order to better appreciate how this one differs, as I initially found it quite slow going. Sei Takanashi, office lady, is summoned to another world as one of two potential Saints who will help quell an outbreak of monsters. After the prince chooses the younger candidate, Sei is free to pursue her interests, eventually discovering she’s very good at making potions, enchanting objects, and performing healing magic. Towards the end, with Sei reluctantly accepting that she is the Saint after all (unable to refrain from healing a seriously injured knight), the story picked up a bit, and I’m interested to see where it will go from here. A bit more action would be nice! – Michelle Smith

By: Michelle Smith

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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wallpaperpainting · 4 years

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mendo-r · 7 years

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Kenneth Branagh: 'I want you to smell the steam of the Orient Express'

A new article about Murder on the Orient Express from The Guardian

The actor-director’s latest film, Murder on the Orient Express, boasts a stellar cast, including Branagh himself as Poirot. He discusses magnificent moustaches, moral brooding and the passion of Agatha Christie

“Women in wild places and mental instability run right through things, don’t they?” says Kenneth Branagh, leaning forward, earnestly. “She’s very, very sensitive, and I see the ghost of her as a heroine in what she writes, in terms of keeping body and soul together, and of being an adventurer.”

He’s talking about Agatha Christie, and giving a reading of the detective novelist’s fiction that is a long way from the more traditional view of her as a comfy West Country matriarch who churned out mysteries to support her family. “I think people have been pretty tough on her,” he adds. “They’re suspicious of the volume of her output. She herself admitted that sometimes she wasn’t proud of a book when she had finished it.

“Personally I admire the prolific nature of what she does … her ability to grab the audience’s attention is really striking. The surface of what she writes has led people to dismiss her as a second-rater. But I think she is far more than that.”

Branagh is talking about Christie as he gets ready to unveil his big-screen versionof her classic Murder on the Orient Express (the first cinematic interpretation since 1974), her story of a group of passengers and a dead body trapped in a luxurious train in a snow storm. He stars as the legendary Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

“I think people often feel this about Shakespeare – they’re annoyed by his bourgeois credentials,” he says.

“He retires at the normal age, goes back to Stratford, buys houses, gets involved in disputes about rent. It feels as though there’s a sort of middle manager quality in there; he was a businessman, a shareholder, yet he wrote all these plays. That makes people suspicious.

“With Christie, people essentially have her down as a sort of Miss Marple – a sexless, removed, bookish, woolly, very English sort of individual. And they are not aware of the intrepid, pioneering, passionate woman that she was.”

The lineaments of her life back this view. Christie had such a desire to travel – and to keep her first husband, the dashing Archie Christie, happy – that she set off on a year of travel with him in 1924, leaving her daughter Rosalind at home with her mother. She left Rosalind again when she famously vanished for 11 days after discovering Archie was having an affair; she underwent psychiatric treatment in the wake of the incident. After their divorce, she travelled alone on the Orient Express, to Istanbul and then on to Damascus and Baghdad. Her family worried about her on the trip but for her it was a way of discovering new worlds – and, coincidentally, a new companion in life since she met her second husband, Max Mallowan, on a dig in Ur. Despite her writing commitments, she worked alongside him, often in difficult conditions and exotic locations.

Branagh and I talk at Twickenham Studios. He is tired because of an exhausting schedule which is whisking him around the world, but he’s here to put the finishing touches to his film, which boasts an all-star cast: Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz, Johnny Depp, Derek Jacobi, Sergei Polunin …

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The way the trailer is framed, with captions that reveal the type of character each star is playing, takes both the film and its director back to his youth in the 1970s and early 80s, when the posters for movies such as The Towering Inferno and indeed Sidney Lumet’s 1974 version of Murder on the Orient Express, starring Albert Finney as Poirot, were plastered across the streets of Branagh’s home town of Reading. To the boy who had moved there at the age of nine from his native Belfast, they represented a sense of possibility. “My first encounter was with their sense of glamour,” he says. “I was pretty intrigued by all the names on those posters.”

This liking for good performers coming together to make popular entertainment is perhaps what links the two contrasting sides of Branagh’s current career. There is the actor and director who is regarded as one of the best of his age; an eminent Shakespearean, the first man to film Henry V since Olivier, a talent who can gather a top-flight company of actors to perform a season in the West End which included heavy-weight productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Entertainer. Then there is the Hollywood film director, best known for the comic-book movie, Thor. And Cinderella. He grins when I point out the strange collision between Hollywood and serious stage productions.

“No one, quite frankly, is more surprised than me that I have been allowed to get away with it,” he says. “I had not anticipated or planned for suddenly finding myself in this studio groove. It is unusual, I must say. But it’s fun.”

Shot on 70mm film, his version of Murder on the Orient Express gleams as the camera dwells on the crisp table linen, the polished wood and the glistening glasses. “I wanted you to feel the snow and smell the steam – I wanted to have all the advantages of classic material and none of the disadvantages of over-familiarity,” he says.

For Christie fans, there are some changes – to characters, to locations, to motivation – that may surprise. But all the essential ingredients are faithfully reproduced, and Branagh has added considerable depth to his portrayal of Poirot, making him more active, more passionate and more lonely. “The screenplay caught a hurt and a more tangible isolation in Poirot,” Branagh explains. “There is a kind of vulnerability about this man who appears in The Mysterious Affair at Styles with a touching gratitude to England for looking after Belgian refugees. There’s the sense of someone who has already felt the bruises of the world.”

Did he not feel any trepidation about taking on a character who has already been portrayed by 20 actors, including Orson Welles, Peter Ustinov and, on TV, David Suchet? “It’s a lot isn’t it?” says Branagh with that disarming smile. “I guess that’s where my thickish skin comes into it. You do understand that the reason so many people have played him is because he’s a fantastic character.”

He stopped watching other incarnations when he knew he was about to deliver his own (“I wouldn’t want to get caught copying the other boys”), but recognises the various ways that the detective has burrowed into the collective consciousness. “With the amount of source material in the novels every actor is going to bring something unique and unusual, in the same way as would happen with a famous classical part. David Suchet is a fantastic Poirot, so is Finney and John Moffatt on the radio is excellent.”

Discussion about his own characterisation will, I suspect, be dominated by conversations about his moustache – grey and flourishing and twinned with a natty beard. “We probably spent about nine months on it. We started with something thinner than Charlie Chaplin’s, then something that went up, that went down. We looked at famous moustaches in movies and paintings. The luxury as an actor – and I had this before when I was playing Wallander – is that you can go back to the books and trawl for details.

“I loved Christie’s phrasing – ‘the most magnificent moustaches in England’ – and I enjoyed the fact that the risk you were taking was that you would potentially produce the impact that the moustache has on characters in the novels, who often dismiss or ridicule Poirot, or are embarrassed by him.”

That mention of Wallander – whom Branagh portrayed in the British television adaptation of Henning Mankell’s detective books, feels significant. Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express in 1933, on an archaeological dig at Arpachiyah in Iraq. Published the following year, it was rapturously received, though the audacity of its plot caused Raymond Chandler to remark that it was “guaranteed to knock the keenest mind for a loop. Only a half-wit could guess it.”

His damning view of the British golden age detective novel – “futzing around with timetables and bits of charred paper and who trampled the jolly old flowering arbutus under the library window” – and his preference for psychologically based novels where a “perfunctory mystery element [is] dropped in like the olive in a martini” underlines the division in the thriller market that has existed ever since.

But the dichotomy between the advocates of clever plotting and the lovers of a story that reveals a deeper truth about society or character is misleading when applied to Christie. She may write in simple sentences, but it is the way she imagines character that has ensured the longevity of her books.

Branagh, a fan of both schools of thriller, points out that there is not so much difference between them. “I enjoyed the meditative qualities of what the Wallander novels were doing. But there’s quite a moral brood in Murder on the Orient Express as well.

“There are not only the questions of who did it, how did they do it, and why, but also the question of what now represents justice. And that issue of what justice is – when concerning crimes born out of revenge – goes quite deep in analysing whether an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ultimately is a way to order civilised behaviour.”

He worked on the film at the same time as he was directing Hamlet, starring Tom Hiddleston, as a fund-raiser for Rada. “Curiously, both stories seem to me to contain the poison of deep grief, and that idea of loss and the death of innocence. I think there is a passionate depth to Christie, even though she sometimes said her writing is merely entertainment.”

Sensing that darkness beneath the surface sheen means that he has been anxious to avoid what he calls “heritage movie-making”. “I wanted to remove excessive theatricality – a sense of the sort of fluting, shrill shriek, of so called ‘larger than life’ characters. I wanted to feel that people were talking not much louder than we are now.”

Assembling his cast – consisting of old friends and colleagues and young talent – was a moment to remember.

“When they all met for the first time, they were very shy and excitable. And one of the things I was determined to do was to try to capture that energy as soon as possible. I wanted a quiver of real guilt and uncertainty when they are interviewed by Poirot, to feel as if they were people for whom the prospect of him getting it wrong and accusing them was a matter of life and death.”

Murder on the Orient Express is in cinemas from 3 November.

#Kenneth Branagh #Murder on the Orient Express #agatha christie

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aion-rsa · 5 years

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Stephen King: 10 Best Horror Novels

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From a story about a demonic clown to a haunted hotel, these are the 10 Stephen King horror novels you can't miss!

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There's no doubt that writer Stephen King is best known for the horror novels that haunt his special corner of American literature. But the extremely prolific writer has also written plenty of dark/epic fantasy, science fiction, literary, mystery, and even romance. In fact, there are plenty of examples of genre-mixing in his writing. Books like Lisey's Story (a truly fantastic read), Duma Key, The Green Mile, The Eyes of the Dragon, Bag of Bones, and The Dark Tower series are fantastic examples of what King can do with just about any genre of fiction.

It can be hard to make a distinction between King's true horror books and those that happen to have some scary moments in them. But that's why we're here. We've made a ranked list of ten pure horror novels by King that we think will keep you up for plenty of nights to come. A Halloween treat!

Related Article: 12 Best Stephen King Movies

We really tried to focus on novels where horror was at the forefront of the story, where without the scares, the book wouldn't be a book at all. That's why you probably won't see The Dark Tower books or The Stand, largely considered to be the King's magnum opus, on this list. But you should read those, too.

Here we go:

Revival

In recent years, the King of Horror has taken an interest in hardboiled detective and science fiction novels. Things like the Detective Bill Hodges trilogy, Under the Dome, and 11/22/63 have been among his latest offerings. But his 2014 novel Revival was a return to form for the writer.

This homage to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the cosmic horror tales of H.P. Lovecraft, and Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan" is quite the revelation, literally and figuratively. The novel tells the story of a Christian minister who uses strange methods to cure the ill. After his wife and son die in a car accident, he denounces God in front of his entire congregation and is forced to leave town. Years later, he's back to bring a dead woman back to "life" in order to learn more about the afterlife.

What he discovers on the other side is truly terrifying. Revival is must-read recent King.

The Dark Half

If there's one thing King loves, it's writing books and stories about writers. There have been plenty over the years, including "Secret Window, Secret Garden," "1408," and another novel on this list that we'll get to momentarily, but The Dark Half is probably the most "autobiographical" of the bunch.

You see, King used to write under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman, in order to publish more than one novel a year without overwhelming his audience. The Bachman books consist of a series of gritty novels that were published from 1977 to 1984, and King has revisited the pseudonym since being outed, too.

Related Article: 10 Best Supernatural Stephen King Villains

The protagonist in The Dark Half has to deal with the death of his own pseudonym in an unexpected way, as his better-selling alter ego comes after the people that tried to kill him off. It's all a fun bit of supernatural horror that includes a lot blood, violence, and some pretty gross body horror. It's an especially fun horror novel if you're a writer...

Watch The Dark Half on Amazon

Pet Sematary

But not as fun as King's ridiculous novel about undead pets. A book that was definitely inspired by EC horror comics (King's early brushes with horror were in the pages of those books), this novel might be classified as a delicious, campy romp with plenty of scares. The novel's B-movie sensibility cannot be understated.

In Pet Sematary, a family moves to the small town of Ludlow, Maine, where people bury their dead pets in a special cemetery, which is actually an ancient Micmac Indian burial ground. Obviously, that means that these animals come back to life as evil shadows of themselves.

Oh, the setup is so perfect. When the family's little two-year-old boy is suddenly killed by a speeding truck, the father decides to bury the boy in the pet cemetery in the hopes that he will be revived. What happens next is what the best campy horror is made of.

Watch Pet Sematary on Amazon

Misery

King's best book about a novelist is also a great horror story that is still quite relatable today. A disturbing look at fandom, Misery is what happens when a writer's work becomes a mad woman's obsession.

Paul Sheldon, writer of Victorian-era romance novels, suffers an accident on the road during a snowstorm. He is rescued by Annie Wilkes, a former nurse who is coincidentally Paul's biggest fan. And she's not very happy about the ending of his last book. So Annie decides to kidnap Paul and keep him hostage until he fixes the damage he's done.

Further Reading: Stephen King's 10 Best Human Villains

Imagine being kidnapped by an angry mob of Ghostbusters fans after telling them that the new team will be made up of an all-female cast, and then forced to rewrite the entire script. That's Annie Wilkes.

Misery is a fascinating psychological horror tale about the dangers of fandom and a writer's connection to his work. And if you need a great Stephen King movie, the film adaptation is pretty fantastic, as well.

Watch Misery on Amazon

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

This slim novel (to King's standards) has plenty in common with a fairy tale, as a little girl finds herself lost in the woods with nothing or no one to help her find her way except what's in her backpack: a bottle of water, two Twinkies, a boiled egg, a tuna sandwich, a bottle of Surge, a poncho, a Game Boy, and a Walkman. Thankfully, King's little protagonist proves to be quite the survivalist as the book progresses.

Walking a thin line between an intense examination of loneliness and isolation and a supernatural thriller, as things grow weirder in the woods as time passes, this is a compact horror novel that you can read in one sit-down and you'll get King at his best, as his character exemplifies the meaning of human resilience, even as she begins to hallucinate due to hunger, fear, and thirst.

Her love for her baseball idol pitcher Tom Gordon allows her to face her fears and even confront the "God of the Lost." This is a really good one. A few years later, a pop-up book adaptation of this novel was fittingly released.

Cujo

Cujo is one of King's more "realistic" novels, featuring a setup that's real enough to send shivers down your spine, especially if you live in the suburbs or ever owned a Ford Pinto... The story goes like this: the Trentons move from New York to Castle Rock, Maine (where nothing good ever happens in the Kingverse). Vic and Donna Trenton, who are having some marital problems, have a four-year-old son named Tad, because children should always be in danger in these books.

Meanwhile, longtime residents Charity and Brett Chambers have a nice St. Bernard named Cujo that loves chasing wild rabbits in his spare time. During his latest safari, Cujo is bitten on the nose by a rabid bat. And, as you can probably imagine, all hell absolutely breaks loose.

The dog kills several people before feasting its eyes on the ultimate prey: a boy and his mother, who have stopped by the Chambers' place in their little Ford Pinto. What follows are very tense moments of terror inside a little car, as a mom tries to protect her son from the rabid terror that awaits them outside.

King has said in interviews that he doesn't really remember writing Cujo, as he worked on it at the peak of his struggle with drug addiction, but we wish he had. He wrote a fine horror book. Cruel ending and all.

Watch Cujo on Amazon

Salem's Lot

King's ode to Bram Stoker's Dracula is a classic vampire tale that might even formidably rival the novel it pays homage to. When Kurt Barlow comes to Jerusalem's Lot, Maine (where nothing good happens, either), shit hits the fan, as he preys on the living and ignites an outbreak of vampirism in the town.

The only guy who can stop him is, you guessed it, a writer named Ben Mears, who already has a strained relationship with his hometown, which he abandoned years ago. Like a modern team of Draculian vampire hunters, Ben teams up with his new sweetheart Susan, a little boy named Mark, and some other townspeople to take down the vampire and his unholy creations. There's also Father Callahan, this story's version of an incompetent Van Helsing, who loses a lot in the novel but redeems himself in King's The Dark Tower series.

Related Article: A Reading Guide to Stephen King's Dark Tower Universe

All in all, this fat novel holds plenty of scares, including a school bus full of vampire children who hunt down the school bus driver who tormented them. We have goosebumps.

Watch Salem's Lot on Amazon

The Shining

By now, The Shining, along with the other two entries in the top 3 of this list, has become embedded in American pop culture, whether because of King's book or Stanley Kubrick's excellent movie (King would disagree). Either way, this is the novel that never made you want to become a hotel caretaker.

An alcoholic writer (surprise!) named Jack Torrance brings his wife Wendy and his son Danny to his new job as the off-season caretaker of The Overlook Hotel in Colorado, where he hopes to make a bit of extra cash to support his writing. The job seems easy enough until all the guests leave and the doors shut behind them until the spring. That's when the hotel's ghosts come out to fuck with the living.

Related Article: How The Shining Examines the Immortality of Evil

You'll recall plenty of the spooky ghosts Danny encounters on his treks through the claustrophobic hallways of the hotel. It's because he was born with telepathic powers that allow him to communicate with the lost souls of the Overlook. It unfortunately also triggers the place's supernatural energy, which quickly takes control of Jack, who is convinced into killing his wife and son due to cabin fever and a pretty bad case of writer's block.

This is one of those special novels that you only get once in a lifetime and an especially good example of King's unique brand of horror. Get to it, Constant Readers!

Watch The Shining on Amazon

Carrie

The story of how debut novel Carrie came to be a huge hit for the future King of Horror is now as famous as the actual book. King began working on a short story about a girl with telekinetic powers when someone accused him of not knowing how to write about women. He typed up the infamous shower scene while living in a trailer and working as a high school teacher. King didn't love the scene, so he tossed the first pages of his bestseller in the trash. It was his wife Tabitha who pulled the pages out of the wastebasket and convinced him to finish the story. And here we are.

Apart from all the telekinesis, Carrie is another book that has remained quite relatable. On one side, it's a lot of social commentary about religious fanaticism, alienation, adolescence, and bullying, while the rest is pure horrific fun.

While many will point to the high school cruelty or Carrie's eventual vengeance upon her classmates as the source of true terror in the book, we'd say there's nothing scarier than Margaret White, an unstable Fundamentalist who unceasingly punishes her daughter Carrie for her sins. Waiting to see how their conflict plays out is the best part of the book, as the real moments of cruelty take center stage amidst all the supernatural stuff.

The 1976 movie from Brian De Palma, starring Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, is quite good, too.

Watch Carrie on Amazon

Well, here we are. Like the Losers Club, as much as we'd like to forget about Pennywise, we just can't. Sparking a pretty logical (let's face it) fear of clowns, IT is King's terrifying, gruesome, trashy, cosmic, demonic horror masterpiece that we still can't claw out of our minds so many years later.

Not only does IT, a shape-shifting evil entity, prey on your worst fears, he also lives in the sewers and eats little children. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that IT has stalked the town of Derry, Maine (where nothing good...you get the picture) for centuries, waking up every 27 years to murder and eat everything.

Related Article: 10 Best Stephen King Heroes

It's up to the Losers, a group of childhood friends, to confront the monster not once, but TWICE in order to finally rid the town of the ancient, otherworldly evil. Watching Pennywise haunt their memories throughout the book quickly becomes a guilty pleasure. Are we bad people?

The true power of this masterful novel is in the all-encompassing evil nature of the villain that we can't quite understand. It not only makes a group of kids desperately aware of their own mortality, but scars them for life in more ways than one. And for what purpose? We may never truly know.

Watch IT (2017) and Stephen King, IT! (1990) on Amazon

What are your top Stephen King horror novels? Tell us in the comments!

John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.

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Sep 3, 2019

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renaultamour · 6 years

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Renault Megane RS280 tested on the road and track

HOT hatch uses trick tech to help it carve corners better. But does it set a new benchmark?

The Renault Megane RS280 blends track performance with daily-driver comfort.

Germany currently has the upper hand with the all-rounder VW Golf GTI and its derivatives.

France’s riposte is the new generation Renault Megane RS, the badge returning after a two-year hiatus.

French hot hatches are typically brilliant to drive on a race track but the German equivalent is usually better to live with day-to-day.

When France has reacted to criticisms — by softening the next model — it has often ended up with a blancmange.

The new model is heavier and has a smaller engine, but performance is still brisk

Is the new Megane RS the first French hot hatch to break the mould? It’s off to a good start with the adoption of a five-door body in place of the previous three-door.

Purists are up in arms but the new Megane RS wouldn’t exist if it weren’t a five-door, due to the drop in demand for three-doors globally.

Another move towards the mainstream is the option of an automatic for the first time.

A six-speed manual is still available but the six-speed twin-clutch auto opens the Megane RS to buyers who may not have considered it before and takes the grind out of the daily commute.

Key ingredients remain: bigger brakes, broader footprint, sports suspension, snug seats and more mumbo under the bonnet.

The 2.0-litre turbo — long a staple of the hot-hatch class — has been replaced by a 1.8-litre turbo, which Renault claims is the most powerful of its type in the world.

A bigger car than its predecessor, the Megane RS has put on 48kg (to 1427kg) for the manual and added 71kg (1450kg) for the auto — largely negating the power gain.

Sports seats and a large vertical touchscreen dominate the cabin. The manual has a handbrake lever, the auto gets an electric park brake switch

However, thanks to the wonders of gear ratios Renault has still managed to extract brisk performance.

Hot hatches aren’t only about straight-line speed but in the industry-standard 0-100km/h test we stopped the clock at 6.0 seconds in the manual and 6.2 seconds in the auto, which has a different spread of ratios. The official claim is 5.8 seconds.

The manual gearshift is OK but a bit notchier than rivals. The auto is one of the better twin-clutches around although it displays a subtle shudder at car park speeds.

Cars like this, however, are about carving corners. The Megane RS excels in this regard thanks to sticky tyres, well sorted suspension and trick rear-wheel steering, a first for the class.

It pivots the back tyres up to 1 degree in the same direction as the front wheels at high speeds, and up to 2.7 degrees in the opposite direction in tight turns at low speeds.

Five driving modes make the suspension softer or stiffer, automatic gear shifts gentle or abrupt, and switch the exhaust from boring to boy racer.

The muffler’s snap, crackle and pop are more pronounced in the auto thanks to the build-up in pressure in the split-second between gear changes. The manual is oddly quiet.

The Renault Megane RS280 Cup gets red brake calipers and two-piece bio-material discs, but they are the same size as the Sport Chassis models.

There is greater personalisation.

The manual’s “Cup” option pack adds a mechanical limited-slip differential — previously standard — bundled with black 19-inch alloys, 10mm lower suspension and two-piece front discs with four-piston Brembo brake calipers painted red.

On both versions, the bigger front discs — 355mm — better handle repeated punishment.

Other options include Bose audio, sports Alcantara leather seats and panoramic sunroof.

The standard sports suspension is brilliantly agile when you want it to be and surprisingly comfortable the rest of the time.

The optional lower suspension is a touch too busy for normal road use, even for hardcore hot hatch fans.

The Renault Megane RS280 Sport Chassis, left, and Cup Chassis, right.

Tyres are 19-inch Bridgestone rubber. There’s ample grip but they’re noisy on coarse surfaces and can hum on smooth tarmac. Renault says this is the trade-off for grip but other tyres grip with less groan.

A highlight of the car is the steering, which is remarkably accurate and gives precise feedback. The effect of the rear-wheel steering is difficult to detect — perhaps because it is doing its job well.

In the manual there is a delay in power delivery below 2500rpm but beyond this point the surge is so strong the front wheels want to follow the contour of the road and the steering wheel wants to wriggle out of your hand. You quickly learn to anticipate and adapt.

The bulging sports seats are snug and surprisingly luxurious. Rear passengers aren’t afforded the same comfort — with tight foot and kneeroom — but they get rear air vents.

The large vertical dash display can be personalised and there’s a large digital speedo to keep your right foot in check. One blot: the rear-view camera view is grainy at night. Front, rear and side sensors help take the guesswork out of parking.

Mood lights in the doors and dash give the cabin a lift and audio buffs will appreciate the premium Bose fitment.

Other observations: the LED low and high-beams are remarkable, especially on back roads in the dead of night.

Footnote for fans: a hardcore Trophy edition arrives next year with 220kW/400Nm in manual or auto and with the limited-slip diff standard.

VERDICT: 4 stars out of 5

The new Renault Megane RS gets closest yet to Germany’s benchmark VW GTI hot hatch, combining two cars in one: daily driver meets weekend track-day warrior.

The performance of the LED low and high beams are impressive.

WHAT’S NEW

TECH A large tablet-style touchscreen and fancy digital instrument display give the cabin a lift. Super-bright LED headlights make it easy to spot corners at night. Front, rear and side sensors and rear-view camera mean you’re less likely to scratch the rims.

PERFORMANCE Despite the smaller 1.8-litre turbo (previously 2.0) — and a heavier body — Renault says the new Megane is slightly quicker. Claimed 0-100km/h time for the auto is 5.8 seconds, quick for a front-drive car. We clocked 6.2 seconds in the auto and 6.0 in the manual.

DRIVING There is rear-wheel steering (up to 2.7 degrees) in certain modes. Trick new suspension is described as “a shock absorber within a shock absorber” to iron out the worst bumps. Auto gets launch control and paddle-shifters.

DESIGN It’s longer, wider and lower than the previous model — and the Megane hatch on which it’s based. Purists will lament the loss of the three-door body but the five-door will broaden appeal. Front and rear fenders are wider than the donor hatch, hence the muscular stance and bigger footprint.

Article source: https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/new-cars/renault-megane-rs280-tested-on-the-road-and-track/news-story/5233ad60ab487deefbcd0f0f146ffcc2

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chicagopdlover · 6 years

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Tarantino First Look; Academy Class Questions; Chalamet's 'Beautiful Boy' Trailer; L.A.'s "Influencer-Only" Mural

Tarantino First Look; Academy Class Questions; Chalamet’s ‘Beautiful Boy’ Trailer; L.A.’s “Influencer-Only” Mural

What’s news: Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Plus: Lingering questions about the Academy’s record new class, Dana Brunetti launches a new company and an “influencer-only” mural arrives in Los Angeles. — Erik Hayden June 27, 2018 What’s news: Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Plus: Lingering questions about the Academy’s record new class, Dana Brunetti launches a new company and an “influencer-only” mural arrives in Los Angeles. — Erik Hayden Academy Class Questions Having sifted through the 928 member list unveiled by the film Academy, Scott Feinberg has a few questions about the direction of the organization: 1. Is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? In order to meet its diversity goals, the Academy — and, in particular, its largest division, the actors branch — is increasingly inviting people to become members who are tremendously talented, but whose talents have primarily manifested themselves in other media. 2. If you’re good enough to win an Oscar, why aren’t you good enough to join the Academy? I do believe that there is one circumstance under which someone who has not amassed a large body of standout work should still be invited to join the Academy, and that is if that person has made a contribution to a film that was deemed excellent enough to merit an Oscar. 3. Is Oscar campaigning about to go crazy? With the latest class added, this will create the highest number of Oscar voters since the period spanning 1938 to 1945, when certain classes of members of outside guilds, including the now-defunct Screen Extras Guild, were granted full voting privileges, bringing the size of the voting rolls to approximately 12,000. Full column. Elsewhere in film… ► MoviePass parent stock hits new low. The company is losing about $45 million a month on its plan that gives subscribers 30 movie tickets for the price of one; it may need to spend $1.2 billion more if it is to stay afloat and keep growing ► Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg reteam for Netflix film. The duo have set their next project (their fifth together) with the movie Wonderland , an adaptation from Robert B. Parker’s detective series. Sean O’Keefe penned the screenplay. ► Pete Davidson to lead indie Big Time Adolescence . The SNL star will join Machine Gun Kelly and Griffin Gluck in the pic. The film, which will begin shooting next month, will be the directorial debut of Jason Orley. ► Annapurna president to exit company. Marc Weinstock is leaving after less than two years in that role. According to insiders, his decision to depart is amicable and he will not be replaced. ^Sony’s Quentin Tarantino Manson drama unveils first still. Leonardo DiCaprio posted an image of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , with him and Brad Pitt featured. First look. ► Amazon unveils Beautiful Boy trailer. Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet and Maura Tierney star in the drama from the streamer that hits theaters Oct. 12. Full clip . ► Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper scores rare China release date . Legendary Entertainment and Universal’s action thriller has locked down a July 20 date, securing a spot right in the midst of Beijing’s summer blackout on imported Hollywood fare. ► Lionsgate finds new film group marketing chief. Damon Wolf, currently co-head of marketing at Sony, will join the studio Jan. 1. His recent campaigns include work on Baby Driver and Don’t Breathe . ► Constantin Film buys production group Hager Moss. The Munich-based production outfit is best known for its dramas and for crowd-pleasing films, including Oktoberfest . ► Independent Film and Television Alliance leaders renew contracts. Jean Prewitt and Jonathan Wolf have each re-upped for another three years with the trade association. Prewitt has headed the group since 2000. ► Writers Guild of America East unveils board candidates . It’s election season for the guild, which revealed a list of 16 candidates nominated for 10 open seats on its council. In Heat Vision : Marvel’s wait-and-see LGBTQ character approach. Graeme McMillan writes: Studio chief Kevin Feige recently confirmed queer characters are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which lags behind the comic book publisher. Full column. Mega TV Deals It’s official: Fox will be the new home of WWE SmackDown Live, Marisa Guthrie writes: + Fox: The new five-year agreement will commence Oct. 4, 2019, and will give Fox two hours of live event programming 52 weeks each year. It is worth $205M annually, and $1.025B over the life of the pact. + NBC: The network said that is has closed a new five-year pact to keep the Monday night showcase Raw on USA Network. That deal is worth $265M annually, a big premium over the current pact, which is worth about $150M annually for both properties. Currently both programs air on NBCUniversal’s USA. Full story. Elsewhere in TV… ► Charter greenlights its first scripted series. Bad Boys spinoff L.A.’s Finest , starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union, has been ordered by Charter Communications. The 13-episode drama will premiere in 2019. ► HBO casts Jeremy Irons in Watchmen pilot. The actor will topline the pilot from Damon Lindelof. While the pay cabler has remained mum on details, Irons will likely play an imperious lord of a British manor. ► Freeform cancels Famous in Love . Sources say the Disney-owned cabler wanted more money from SVOD partner Hulu for a potential third season amid clashes between star Bella Thorne and showrunner I. Marlene King. ► Lionsgate inks Dear White People showrunner to deal. Fresh off a third-season renewal, showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser has signed an overall deal . Under the pact, Bowser will create new projects for the studio. Quoted: “It seemed like, you don’t need to murder someone that’s committing suicide. I thought the firing was overkill. She’s already dead.” — Jerry Seinfeld to USA Today on Roseanne Barr ‘s firing. ^Can Netflix transform the TV landscape in the Middle East? With over 400M potential viewers, the region has vast potential, but with little variation in programming, audiences are starved for original content. The streaming giant could change all that. Full column. ► ITV COO, CFO to step down. The U.K. TV giant said that CFO and COO Ian Griffiths has advised the board of his intention to retire in the next 12 months. The company is searching for a successor. ► Endemol Shine names head of non-English scripted drama. Lars Blomgren, producer of the Scandinavian series The Bridge , has been hired as the new head of scripted across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. ► Fox Searchlight’s TV division fills out exec ranks. The new arm of the company has tapped Kara Buckley and Danny Samit as vps of television production. The division has yet to launch its first project. ► Sony shutting down Crackle in Canada. The video hub will shift some of its Canadian inventory to two new local ad-supported VOD services, via a partnership with Sony Pictures Television. Dana Brunetti launches new TV and film company. He is teaming with former Relativity exec Keegan Rosenberger to create Cavalry Media with “moderately-priced, premium” programming that includes the Columbus series Hispaniola. The budget for a film will be in the $40M-$80M range. Details. L.A.’s Influencers-Only Mural A stunt: Stroll down Melrose Avenue and there it is: A blue mural with a pink heart and angel wings. A security guard stands out front, next to a sign that reads, “For verified influencers and people with over 20,000 followers only,” Natalie Jarvey notes. What that means. What else we’re reading… — “Comcast hunts for additional cash.” Amol Sharma and Dana Mattioliis report that the company is “exploring tie-ups with other companies or private-equity investors that could provide additional cash as the cable giant pursues a costly acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets.” [ Wall Street Journal ] — ” How’s he gonna react when there’s a scandal?” Joe Pompeo on CNN: “So much appears to hang on the Jeff Zucker-John Stankey bromance. For now, everyone is saying the right thing.” [ Vanity Fair ] — “Hollywood’s instant antihero.” Reggie Ugwu’s Benicio Del Toro profile: “he’s been a strikingly economical player, if not always the most valuable one, averaging an unusually high ratio of memorable moments.” [ New York Times ] — “What does ABC want from The Conners ?” David Sims writes: “The network canceled Roseanne and ordered a rebooted version of the show without its star, but what kinds of stories is the spinoff hoping to tell?” [ The Atlantic ] — “Prince estate signs deal with Sony Music to re-release 35 catalog albums.” Colin Stutz notes: “The deal also includes rights to other previously released singles, B-sides, remixes, non-album tracks, live recordings and music videos recorded before 1995.” [ Billboard ] From the archives… + 10 years ago today: On June 27, 2008, Pixar unveiled WALL-E, a sci-fi adventure that would become a summer hit with critics and audiences. Flashback review. Today’s birthdays: Sam Claflin , 32, Khloé Kardashian , 33, Wagner Moura , 42, Tobey Maguire , 43, J.J. Abrams , 52. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use June 27, 2018

from Christian David Biz https://ift.tt/2yUPCnN via Article Source

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music-of-silence · 7 years

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The book we always wanted, but never thought we'd get. Unbelievably great, revealing, inspiring and at times utterly heartbreaking. I've followed The Replacements and Paul and Tommy solo for 20 years. They were the first band that I heard that immediately made me think "this is the band I've been looking for all my life." I'd been an obsessive music fan since I was a child, but nothing spoke to me the way their music and lyrics did. Finding out about there insecurities, self destructiveness in general underdog status in life only made me feel more connected to the material. Fact that Bob Stinson died on my 18th birthday was also a strange connection. My point being that I have followed the band, poured through the Skyway newsletters / mailing list, newsgroups and every article I could find on the internet over the years. I've seen the documentary and the two books that have come out previously (3 if you include Our Band Could be Your Life) and halfway through the book I still don't feel like "i already knew this stuff." Even hearing anecdotes you've heard over the years feel different when told from the perspective of the people that were actually there as opposed to bystanders, latchers on and the general random people quoted in the previous 2 books. This is the first and only book that has it straight from the horse's mouths. A true warts and all, sometimes painful, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes inspiring and always real. This is the one we've been waiting for I never thought we would get. Enjoy it and pass it along. I only hope thousands and thousands more that make music or art in general will be inspired by what these people did and what it took for them to make it. We love them and we couldn't imagine a world without them. Ladies and gentlemen The Replacements. Go to Amazon

Tragic, funny, intimate look at what could have been one of rock's greatest bands Sometimes biographical books can be written so well you really enjoy them even if you don't care about the person or persons being written about. "Trouble Boys" is undoubtedly one of the best researched and well written biographical books in recent memory, and while it can be a bit exaggerating at times, especially about the supposed fame and impact of this band, there is still the argument to be made that the Replacements were very unique. I do beg to differ that they were alternative pioneers, same as I do with any post-punk and hardcore bands, including Husker Du, Soul Asylum, the roster of SST bands, and a few others that were much more the spirit of real rock and roll in an age of synthesizers and hair metal. No, alternative was much weaker, homogenized and strictly for commercial purposes, hence the incredible mediocrity of so many of them. If nothing else, The Replacements were not mediocre in any sense of the word. Go to Amazon

This is the best biography of the Replacements This is the best biography of the Replacements. It tells their tale thoroughly and puts excellent context on the personalities involved--Chris Mars' lack of participation is noticeable but not a deal killer. Mehr covers three decades of history, which presents crucial character timelines and arcs for a band who largely was known for its immaturity and drinking problems. Go to Amazon

It was cool to read Ray's quotes and stories I'm a Minnesota native and have heard many of the stories of the Replacements. This book certainly filled in a lot of the holes in their story. I've read dozens of rock biographies and I would put Mehr's book in the top 5 for sure. I read it in three days. It's hard to put down. Mehr's research must have been exhausting. Just his detective work in finding many of those people who were important in this story is remarkable as many lived then and now on the fringes of society. I went to high school with Ray Reigstad who became friends with Bob Stinson during his post 'Mats days. It was cool to read Ray's quotes and stories. I'd love to see Mr. Mehr take on another project soon. Go to Amazon

Glorious Mess The Mats are dead, long live the Mats Your favorite band's favorite band Awesome A Well Researched Account Fantastic book about one of the greatest "What If?" bands. Focussed, comprehensive, fairminded, articulate treatment of the subject matter Good detailed book on the greatest band that went no where The book is well crafted and very good read but it began to annoy me about two-thirds ... not sure it could have been better. Unlike other band bios

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notaethyras · 8 years

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ME:A Countdown Ryder Meme

21 Days: What are Ryder’s personality traits? Describe 5 strengths and 5 flaws.

Claire Ryder is very friendly, as in she wants to be your friend even though you just met. She’s the girl that makes friendship bracelets and hot cocoa for everyone. Very protective as well, if you talk shit or take down one of her squadmates she will literally hunt you to the ends of the planet. Claire is super family oriented and goes out of her way to take care of them, trying to fill the role her mother left open (lets be real she's so dead, or missing, or whatever). Very goal driven, nothing is left hanging or undone, whether it be a mission, a favor or just something that fits into her routine. But most of all she is creative, and not in the artsy sense, she can't even draw a stick figure. Claire is the MacGyver of space babies, if she's pinned down by the Kett she can use a rubber band and a bone from Drack's armor to get them out and blow up the entire base.

Alternatively her friendliness causes her to be over trusting or leave her open to having her feelings hurt. Hence Papa Ryder putting her through tough love hell. Claire is also a burden handler, when something is wrong she finds a way to put it all on her own shoulders which stresses her out endlessly. She has anxiety, and when Christian's cryopod gets messed up it made her very unprepared during the first mission. Which leads into her other flaw, she hates not being in control of a situation. It irks her really bad when she feels powerless or following orders, it is fortunate she became Pathfinder. And finally, Claire questions everything. This isn't always bad but it can be.

Jericho Ryder is everyone's cool big brother. He was born five minutes before Cass so he just inwardly considers himself one even though they're twins. But this extends to everyone he comes in contact with. Jericho is very self confident of himself, he knows his capabilities and he takes pride in what he has accomplished. It is hard to get him down. Meaning he is also mentally and emotionally resilient, no backhanded snide remarks bother him. If anything he finds them amusing. Jericho is an excellent leader, direct and to the point without risking the admiration of his crew whom he also sees as his friends. Finally he is also a joker. Even Jaal gets the humor, most of the time.

On the down side all that bravado makes Jericho arrogant at times. When you go so long having everything go your way it is a real punch in the gut to think you're wrong. Leading into his second negative trait, he hates being wrong, in fact he hates it so much he rejects it until it gets heated. When he is mad Jericho can be very cold and distant, wanting little or nothing to do with anyone until he has calmed down. More often than not he works off intuition and not logic, which has gotten him in trouble many times. Finally he is extremely awkward around women he likes, meaning Cora. He still can't help but see her as his commanding officer and him the son of the Pathfinder.

Astrea Ryder is extremely intelligent, straight A's in the best school on the Citadel smart. She's very peaceful and is the type of friend to make flower crowns for everyone on board while still able to keep the flowers alive and healthy. Very bookish and soaks in knowledge like a sponge, going to Andromeda is such a big deal for her because Astrea gets to immerse herself in a new world with new concepts and lifeforms. She's the type of person to stop and try to talk to animals, every life means something to her. Call her empathetic or a flower child. Finally she's very open minded and tries to see things from both sides of the spectrum, she won't just side with someone cause she might be more fond of them.

Astrea is very introverted and hates confrontation. Some days she'd like to recede from civilization and just sit with her digital pad and read articles while eating chocolate. She also has anxiety with being Pathfinder, it is way too much pressure on someone like her but she knows her duty and tries to keep her loved ones in mind. Astrea can also be a bit of an ass when it comes to believing things. She won't accept anything without the proper sources to back it up. Don't ever say 'did you hear that-” because she will want to know how you heard it, and how that person knows until you realize it was either a rumor or fictional to begin with. Oh, she's very spiteful. She has a tattoo just to rebel against Alec, also lots of eyeliner. Astrea can be rather emotional, cry at the drop of a hat. Even if it seems trivial to others.

Siren Ryder is very outgoing and vivacious. The world is her oyster and boy does she love sea food. She can come off as annoying but that annoying usually catches onto others and becomes that nifty little quirk everyone can't deny they love about her. If it isn't already obvious Siren is a major people person, she can't thrive without being surrounded by others. A real life of the party. She acts like the big sister to just about everyone, willing to get in the face of someone who has wronged her squad and intimidate them. Finally she has this soft inner core hidden within her spunky attitude that she rarely shows but when she does, you know you're special to her.

On the flip side she is very antagonistic with her family, especially Alec. But there is some sibling rivaly with Seth too. Siren is very careless and will take the fun dangerous route instead of the safe logical method, as long as everyone makes it out in one piece what's the harm? Siren has a bad temper that can and will get her in a lot of trouble, that is for sure. She can be slightly selfish but only because her mind works things out with how she wants things to be before considering others. Last but not least she hates following orders, her whole childhood was living beneath Alec and Ellen's rules, now that she is an adult she hates having others demand things of her.

Maxson Ryder is honest, that is his key trait. He refuses to lie to anyone about anything. He is very outspoken and won't let something pass by the radar if he doesn't like it. He's a fantastic puzzle solver, his sister jokes that in a former life he was either a detective or the record holder for most rubix cubes solved in one minute. Maxson is very well spoken and persuasive when the fighting stops and rules/plans have to be put in motion, swerving them to favor his own interests. Not sure what the word for this is but Maxson will put himself in a risky situation before others. For example when they were kids he climbed up a tree with no certain way to get down in order to grab Kenna's kite, knowing he'd rather be the one in harms way than her.

On the other hand his honesty can be harsh. Blunt during times when a nice little white lie would have been preferable to the truth. He can become absorbed in what he is doing and become somewhat neglectful. He likes to be in control of every situation, as programmed in by his parents, and becomes edgy when he isn't. Maxson is known to push himself too far for the sake of his responsibilities and exhaust himself, as well as expect the same amount of effort from others. And he's a huge perfectionist. If things aren't on par and above he deems it all a failure.

Rey Ryder is very chill, she wants no trouble but doesn't mind ending it. She likes art and immerses herself in the culture of it, she's super curious as to what kind the new worlds have waiting. Rey is very analytical and likes to understand things about mortality, such as those conversations you can have with SAM about the meaning of life. She is a huge mama's girl and since Ellen has been gone she's tried to fill a role at least for herself, Lincoln doesn't need it and Alec sure doesn't want it. Rey is a huge animal lover and volunteered her free time to them on Earth in shelters. Her favorites were the pyjaks.

Rey can be spiteful, going out of her way no matter the task to bite back at people she feels wronged by. Such as getting several tattoos and telling Alec about them. She's not wholly accepting of views she deems unworthy even if they mean a lot to the other person. If it sounds dumb to her it is dumb. Rey is possessive of people and tends to like to be the center of attention. But most of all she is extremely intimidating. When she does get angry few forget it, and due to her RBF, everyone is convinced she's mad 24/7

Remy Ryder is dedicated to his sister, she is his #1 best friend and confidant in the world. He's very good with guns and has the record for disassembling and reassembling one in under fifteen seconds. Remy is very athletic, works out once a day and eats like a rabbit with the appetite of a large wolf, aesthetic driven. He tries to help everyone he can since he has a sensitive conscience, he thinks if he doesn't help no one will. His biggest strength is trying to work with others in any way possible, as in he will figure out how best to help someone whether it be talking it out, going a few rounds in the gym or shooting cans with lasers.

On the other hand he is very self conscious and worried about his image, he can be irritable and say things he doesn't mean. Remy can put himself in places people don't need or want him while trying to be helpful towards them. Sometimes he just does things at the last minute and rushes it having forgotten it. He's more likely to lie and say he didn't do something to skirt blame, or come up with an excuse as to why it happened.

Lexa Ryder is loyal to the bone, if you trust her she won't let you down or turn her back on you. She's very compassionate and flirtatious even though she's never had a boyfriend/girlfriend. Lexa is very brave, few things scare her and rather than fear she will get this rush of excitement. She's a walking talking lie detector, you literally can not lie to her and her not know it. She does yoga and meditation to keep herself healthy and centered, Cade refuses to join her in this.

Loyalty can be to a fault, there are times you have to draw the line or your choices conflict how something has gone down. Her flirtatious nature has gotten her into some confusing situations, but she just loves doing it. Lexa can be judgmental and see the outside before thinking about who someone is behind the cover. A little over dramatic when she feels overwhelmed and prone to throwing things when displeased.

Gage Ryder always tries to give back. When she was little her mom gave her a birthday present and in return she gave Ellen a bunch of flowers from the neighbors garden. She's always open to new things from food to, oh you know, going to a new galaxy. She's a jack of all trades, knows a little about a lot of things. She puts effort into how she looks to make herself feel good and Gage has a very soothing singing voice that you can hear when she thinks she is alone.

However Gage can be a bit of a brat, she tends to take her wild teasing too far and ends up hurting feelings or making someone mad. She can be lazy if the activity or chore doesn't hold any endgame value. Her pride in her looks has made her arrogant and rather obsessed with what people think of her

#claire inspo #jericho inspo #astrea inspo #maxson inspo #remy inspo #rey inspo #Gage inspo #siren inspo #lexa inspo #mea countdown

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music-of-silence · 7 years

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The Mats are dead, long live the Mats Your favorite band's favorite band Awesome A Well Researched Account Fantastic book about one of the greatest "What If?" bands. Focussed, comprehensive, fairminded, articulate treatment of the subject matter Good detailed book on the greatest band that went no where The book is well crafted and very good read but it began to annoy me about two-thirds ... not sure it could have been better. Unlike other band bios Because....

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