#great muppet drum ??

[gifs-of-puppets]

Celebrating 70 Years of The Muppets

Week Thirteen: Animal

[buttholebuttonhole]

Sam eagle is SO Mike nesmith coded if you think about it. You know

[daemondaes]

i see people talking abt musician ocs all of a sudden and idk what's going on tbh but is this a sign to make my lady drummer...

i also have my jazz musician, roscoe, and his dancer sister, "footsie"...but idk that they're the kind of musical ocs the dash seeks LOL

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 12

Chapter Summary: The evil that you thought you had gotten rid of is still very much lurking within Hawkins. You, your boyfriend, and your friends race against time to try and find Eddie before it’s too late.

Content Warning: swearing, violence, knives and blood, jealous Steve

Word Count: 6.5k

Author’s Note: This chapter is starting to get season 4 going, so that’s pretty epic. I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you so much for reading it <3

Message me to be added to the taglist! Also, send me asks! Tell me shit, ask me questions, y’all are fun to talk to ;)

Series Masterlist | Part 11 | Next Part

***

Your Saturday started out like any normal Saturday. Steve peppered soft kisses to your skin as you woke up from your comfortable slumber wrapped in his arms. You ate breakfast together and got ready before picking up Robin and making your way to Family Video. It had taken a significant amount of convincing to get Keith to let the three of you work together, considering there was really only enough work for two people to do, but he finally agreed to it since, in his own words, “Steve barely even counts.”

You all were reorganizing the shelves as Robin recounted her conversation with Vickie at the basketball game the night prior. “Then Vickie laughed. And it wasn’t like a cheap fake laugh either. It was like…it was a real, genuine laugh!”

“Of course she laughed, Rob. It’s my muppet joke. It’s hilarious,” Steve replied as he restocked the horror section. You rolled your eyes from your perch on the counter, glaring up at him as you stopped sorting out the returned movies.

“My point is that Vickie laughed, and everything was just like…it was perfect! But I’m having this problem where it’s like, I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say, but then I guess I get nervous and the words keep spilling out, and it’s like my-my brain is moving faster than my mouth or…or rather my-my mouth is moving faster than my brain, and…and it’s like I’m digging this hole for myself, and I want to stop digging and I’m trying to stop digging, but I can’t, and I’m doing it right now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you are,” you responded, looking at her with a great deal of sympathy. You knew how she was feeling. You couldn’t even count the amount of times that you had rambled on and on to Steve about something so completely and utterly stupid because you didn’t know when to stop.

“Ugh, I’m hopeless,” Robin backed up against the wall, throwing her head back in exasperation.

“Robin! Don’t say that; you are not hopeless,” you scolded your best friend, “I mean, look. I was completely and utterly hopeless before Steve and I started dating…like if he hadn’t shown up and the planets hadn’t aligned, I’d be single as fuck right now, but everything that the two of us have, started with us just being friends. So, the fact that you’re talking to Vickie and she clearly at least likes you in that capacity is a really damn good sign.”

“I wouldn’t say you would be hopeless, I mean, guys are pretty much throwing themselves at you,” Steve mumbled under his breath, thinking back to how you had interacted with Eddie the night before. You had seemed so comfortable with him and he hated to admit it, but the two of you looked like you belonged together far more than you did with him. Eddie marched to the beat of his own drum. He dressed different, he acted different, he didn’t go with the crowd or hop on the bandwagon. You were exactly the same. Sometimes Steve worried that you would wake up and realize that he was way too stereotypical and boring for you and that you would leave him. He pushed the thought aside as you spoke up.

“What do you mean?” Before Steve could answer, Robin began rushing across the room.

“Oh! I think I found our morning movie!” She held up a copy of Doctor Zhivago.

“Ugh, you know I don’t do double VHS,” Steve groaned, shaking his head as he walked past the counter towards her. You stopped him, smacking him in the chest before he could try and take the tape away from Robin before you spoke up.

“We’d actually love to watch it Robin,” you smiled, your eyes still glaring at Steve. Robin jumped up and down a little bit before turning on the television to get it set up, but all of you paused when the news came on.

“We’re in the Forest Hills trailer park in east Roane County. We don’t have a lot of details now, but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning. Police have not yet released the victim’s name…” the reported stated, detailing all the information that was known and released.

“Holy shit,” Steve whispered, his and Robin’s eyes transfixed on the screen. His voice sounded far away as your vision blurred with tears. You could barely breathe as you thought about the only two Hawkins High students you knew that lived there: Max and Eddie. If it was either of them, you weren’t sure what you would do. You weren’t sure how you would be able to live and move on.

You stumbled backwards, and you knocked over a pile of VHS tapes as you blindly grabbed for the edge of the counter, beginning to hyperventilate. Robin and Steve snapped out of the trance the news had put them in, as Steve’s head whipped around towards you just in time as you collapsed to the floor.

“Robin turn that off!” Steve yelled, and she grabbed for the remote, quickly silencing the news. You were in a heap on the floor sobbing, barely able to hear Steve as he quickly sat with you on the floor, rubbing big circles across your back to try and calm you down. “Shhhh, y/n. I’m right here, okay baby….I’m right here with you and I’m not going to go anywhere,” he whispered into your ear, kissing your temple as you cried.

After a while, you finally found the will to calm yourself down, and you had been the one to turn the TV back on. You wanted to know as much as you could. You wanted as much information as possible to rule out the possibility that it was either of your friends. Really the only additional information you got was that it was definitely murder and that the police hadn’t released the names of any suspects, which was a whole lot of nothing to go off of.

You were biting your nails, staring at the screen with furrowed brows, when suddenly the chime of the bell above the door rang out into the otherwise empty store. You jumped, turning around to see Dustin followed by Max Mayfield herself.

“Max!” You shouted as you hopped over the counter and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. She groaned, not expecting the sudden demonstration of how much you cared before she reciprocated.

“Hello to you too, I guess?”

“I’m just so glad you’re okay,” you breathed out, feeling a sense of relief flood your body, knowing that Max wasn’t the unnamed victim from the news. Max was struck by your words, not really even considering the fact that some of her friends may be led to believe that she had been killed based on the location of the murder.

“Are you guys seeing this?” Steve chimed in, pointing to the TV screen in the back corner of the room.

“How many phones do you have?” Dustin asked suddenly. You looked at him with confusion plastered across your face.

“Someone was just murdered,” Steve replied, annoyed that the boy could be asking about phones at a time like this.

Dustin just slammed his hands on the counter in response, causing you to jump again in your anxious state, before he repeated himself. “How many phones do you have?”

“Two…why?” You spoke up, furrowing your brow.

“Technically three, if you count Keith’s in the back,” Robin corrected you, a similar look flashing across her face.

“Three works,” Max spoke up, looking at Dustin. Dustin paused, looking at Steve and Robin behind the counter before throwing his backpack across and hopping it. You and Max were civilized, walking around the counter to join them while Steve protested.

“My tapes! Dude! What are you doing, man?!” Steve groaned. Dustin had a special talent for making things significantly more difficult for Steve…especially at his place of work.

“Setting up base of operations,” Dustin replied, typing into the computer.

You attempted to shove him to the side, away from your computer, but he swatted your hands away. You glared at him with the might of a thousand suns before hip checking him, causing him to stumble to the side. “What the fuck do you guys need our computer for?”

“To look up Eddie’s friends’ phone numbers,” Dustin retorted as if it was obvious.

“Oh Eddie, your new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game,” Steve grumbled back, but you were only half paying attention as you made eye contact with Max. Clearly the two kids knew something that you didn’t and you were worried what that meant in conjunction with the shit you were hearing on the news.

“I never said that!” Dustin looked at Steve, and you rolled your eyes.

“Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around, but it’s Saturday. It’s our busiest day,” Robin spoke up, reorganizing the shit that Dustin had knocked off the counter.

“Robin, I totally empathize but this cannot wait,” Dustin sighed as he started writing on a clipboard.

“What because calling all of Eddie’s friends is an emergency?”

“Exactly!”

“Do you want me to strangle him or do you want to?” Steve asked you. The chuckle he was about to let out died in his throat when he saw the look on your face.

“I really think we should hear them out,” your voice was small when you replied. You all looked over at Max and she took a deep breath before she began talking.

“The victim…it’s Chrissy Cunningham,” she started, “I saw her body this morning when the police were leaving. The thing is, I saw her go in Eddie’s trailer and shortly after, my TV started going nuts and the lights started flickering like crazy, which isn’t really super out of the ordinary, my electricity is shit….but then I heard screaming and looked out the window and I saw Eddie leave and—and he looked scared. Like really scared.”

Steve reached for your hand, interlocking his fingers with yours before he spoke up. “So…Eddie killed Chrissy?”

“Steve! No, he fucking didn’t. That’s why we need the phones so that we can find out where he is so that we can prove that he’s innocent,” Dustin glared at your boyfriend, shoving him a bit.

“Just calm down,” you interjected, standing in between the boys. This was all a lot to unpack and you weren’t going to solve anything if they couldn’t stop bickering. When they both grumbled and crossed their arms, you moved around the counter, swiftly moving to the door and flipping the sign to indicate that the store was closed. “Just, you guys can use the phones, okay? But that’s it. We don’t do anything else until we have something solid to go off of. Do you understand?” You looked between Max and Dustin.

They both began to nod and you shook your head. “No, I need to hear you say it. I’m serious, someone was just killed and we are not putting our lives in jeopardy without some serious cause, okay?”

“Yes, we understand,” Max responded. Dustin spoke up in agreement, and you paused to look at them one more time before turning around.

“I’ll get Keith’s phone from the back. You all start making calls.”

You swiftly headed to the back, grabbing the third phone. You were turning around to leave when you about nearly jumped out of your skin, when you were met face to face with your boyfriend.

“Steve! You scared the shit out of me! Don’t fucking do that!” You put a hand on your chest as you tried to catch your breath.

“Y/n, I don’t have a good feeling about this. I mean, the most likely scenario is that Eddie killed that poor girl and now we’re actively trying to find him. He could be fucking dangerous, and I don’t want anything to happen to you, okay? So, let’s just stop all this bullshit before it’s too late,” he grabbed your hands, rubbing his thumbs along the backs of them as he looked you in the eyes. His brow was furrowed with worry, and you felt a pang in your chest. You knew you had to see this through, if not for Eddie, then for Dustin.

“Steve, I know Eddie. He wouldn’t do something like this. Trust me,” you told Steve, looking him in the eyes with so much conviction that he decided to let it go for now.

You brought the phone out and Hawkins’ Family Video soon became a bustling call center as you all took turns trying to get ahold of anyone who may possibly know where Eddie was. Name after name after name got crossed off your list as you found no answers, and you were beginning to feel hopeless when Max spoke up.

“Hey guys, I might have a lead,” she started, “apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there.”

“Alright, that sounds promising. So where does this Reefer Rick guy live?” Robin asked.

“See, that’s the thing. No one knows. He’s more of a…legend than someone that people actually know.”

“What about a last name?” You spoke up, attempting to find any additional piece of information that you could follow to find Eddie.

“I don’t know that either.”

“I bet the cops know the last name,” Steve spoke up. He hadn’t been super helpful in calling around, instead choosing to reorganize the store and do some light cleaning. He was reorganizing some tapes with his back to you all and he had said it so nonchalantly.

“What?” You questioned him, irritation settling in your tone.

“I said the cops probably know,” he shot back, “I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he’s been busted at some point. Means he’s in the system.”

“The cops? Really, Steve? That’s your suggestion?” Dustin asked incredulously.

“I just think at this point they should be filled in on what we know; what’s going on.”

“You think Eddie’s guilty, don’t you?” Dustin stepped forward, but you placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to settle him. You could hear the hurt in his voice and you wished that Steve hadn’t been the one to cause it, but then again, tensions were high with everything that was going on; like the implications of Max’s account of her electricity going haywire around the time that Chrissy would have died.

“Woah, woah, woah, I believe in innocent until proven guilty and all that constitutional shit…I just, you know….I just don’t think we can rule it out,” Steve spoke up, avoiding making eye contact with any of you as he messed with a Rubik’s cube on the counter.

“Steve!” You scolded him. Why can’t he just take a leap of faith and believe you guys?

“That’s precisely what we’re trying to do here, Steve,” Max spoke up, glaring at the boy.

“And maybe we’d have a little bit more luck if you spent less time reorganizing shit that doesn’t need reorganizing and more time trying to find Eddie,” Dustin chimed in.

“Hey, someone’s gotta make sure things are in order here. Do you see how many fucking movies we have? It can be overwhelming for the average customer,” Steve tried to defend himself.

Suddenly an idea popped into your head, as you darted over to the computer, typing away into the system. “What are you doing?” Max asked.

“Maybe we don’t need a last name,” you started as you pressed enter on the keyboard. “Twelve Ricks already have accounts here…now it’s just a matter of narrowing it down.”

***

After determining the Rick most likely to be the Reefer Rick, you waited until it got dark to go scope the place out. You decided that you’d be more inconspicuous at night, not wanting to draw any attention to yourselves while you tracked down a potential murder suspect.

You were all piled in Steve’s BMW as he pulled into the driveway of one Rick Lipton. You felt nerves settle in your stomach as you tried to take a deep breath, Dustin quickly getting out of the car and ringing the doorbell. No one answered and after Dustin pressed the button repeatedly, Steve put a hand on his shoulder to pull him away from the door.

“Okay. Well, that’s settled, I guess he’s not here,” Steve spoke up. This did nothing to stop Dustin from continuing to pound on the door, yelling for the boy to answer. So much for being inconspicuous, you thought as you walked around the side of the house. Your hands trembled a bit, being a tad anxious about being out here at night, when your flashlight finally caught sight of a boathouse on the lake.

“Hey guys?” You called out. Steve was quick to join you, followed by the rest of the gang as you cautiously approached the metal lined shed. There was no real signs of life in there as you entered, and it seemed just as abandoned as Rick’s house. “Hello? Is anyone home?” You shouted into the darkness as you took a hesitant step inside.

“What a dump,” Steve muttered, taking in the sight of all of the clutter. In his mind, there was no way in hell that Eddie was here, so though he was taking all of this seriously, he wasn’t too committed to really inspecting the place with great detail.

You grabbed an oar off of the wall, walking over to the small boat docked in the center of the room as you shoved at the tarps with it, not wanting to get close just in case something was awry.

“What are you doing?!” Dustin whisper-shouted at you, perplexed by your actions.

“He might be in there,” you answered simply.

“Then take the tarp off!”

“If you’re so brave, you take the tarp off!” You whisper-shouted back at him, though when Dustin moved forward to do just that, you and Steve both yanked him back by his shoulders. You continued to poke at the tarp, and Steve placed a gentle but nervous hand on the small of your back, not wanting to stray too far from you.

Max suddenly spoke up from across the room, pointing her flashlight at some odds and ends on a small table. “Hey, guys. Someone was here.”

“Maybe he heard us? Got spooked and ran?” Robin suggested, joining Robin to inspect the items before her.

“Don’t worry. Y/n will get him with her oar…isn’t that right y/n?” Dustin spoke to you sarcastically. You were glad you had the self control to not swing it at the infuriating child beside you as Steve moved away from you to pull Dustin aside. He didn’t need the two of you arguing with each other. You two bickered like siblings and now wasn’t the time for a pseudo-familial spat.

“I know you think you’re being funny, Henderson,” you started, continuing to jab at the tarps, “but considering the fact that everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times, personally, I don’t find it funny in the slight—“

Your words were cut off as a figure under the tarp sprung to life, grabbing you around the shoulders and pushing you against the wall. You heard the familiar flick of a pocket knife, feeling the sharp tip of the metal press against your throat. The boathouse erupted into a chorus of shrieks and screams, as you leaned your head back, unable to breathe as you stared wide-eyed at the boy you were tutoring for physics.

“Woah, woah, woah! Eddie! Eddie, stop!” Dustin shouted. He took a step closer and Eddie pushed you back farther into the wall, letting you all know that he wasn’t playing games. Steve felt like his whole world was crashing down around him. To Steve, Eddie’s actions confirmed that he was dangerous, that he had likely killed Chrissy, and that he was about to do the same thing to you. Steve’s mind was working double time trying to figure out how to get you away from the freak, as he started to take a huge step towards you when Robin roughly grabbed his arm, preventing him from getting any closer.

“Robin let go of me!” He shouted at her, trying to shake out of her grip.

“Steve,” she warned, and the way that she said it made him stop to reevaluate the situation, realizing the closer he got to you, the more he was putting your life in peril. A small cry escaped your lips as you tried to blink back tears, and Steve’s heart sank in his chest. He felt his hands trembling at his sides, wanting nothing more than to hold you and to tell you that everything was going to be okay, but watching as the knife threatened to break the skin of your neck, he wasn’t so sure he even believed the sentiment.

“It’s me, Dustin. This is y/n,” Dustin continued, gesturing to you, “she’s not going to hurt you, right, y/n?”

“Right, yeah,” you barely were able to whisper, the muscles in your neck all tensed as you tried to get as far away from the knife as possible. Your chest heaved as you swallowed and breathed out a shaky breath.

“Y/n, why don’t you drop the oar,” Dustin cautioned. You hadn’t even realized you were still holding it, barely even being able to feel the white knuckled grip you had on the handle. You willed your fingers to let go and as the oar crashed to the floor, the sudden sound caused Eddie to jump, leaning in farther and nicking your neck a bit in the process. You yelped in pain, and Steve started to freak out, unable to control his breathing. Robin continued to try and calm him down, but it wasn’t working super well.

“She’s cool, she’s cool!” Dustin reminded Eddie, still trying to talk him off of a cliff. Steve wished he had trusted his intuition earlier and kept you all far away from Eddie the freak Munson.

“I’m cool, man, I’m cool,” you spoke up, your voice shaky, “I’m helping you in Ms. O’Donell’s class, remember?”

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asked, his eyes wild as he refused to let you go.

“We’re looking for you, we’re here to help,” Dustin spoke up, “Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band. This is my friend Max, the one who never wants to play D&D. And obviously that’s Steve; I know you know him because you hate him, okay? Eddie, we are on your side. I swear on my mother, right guys?” He looked to the three of your friends behind him who all desperately nodded in agreement.

“Yes, yes, we swear!” Robin agree.

“Yeah, on Dustin’s mother,” you squeaked out. Eddie looked at you and you could tell he was acting out of fear. You knew this wasn’t him. That still didn’t quell the fear in your own chest as you spoke up once more to whisper, “please.”

Eddie paused, his eyes searching yours to try and determine your intention. He knew that you were a good person. Hell, you’d been helping him through fucking physics which wasn’t exactly a cake walk. Seeing the terror across your face as you whimpered, however, was what finally broke Eddie, as he finally let you go.

You let out a small cry as the tears you had been attempting to blink back finally spilled down your face while you crumpled to the floor. Steve rushed to your side, sitting on the floor with you, not unlike he had earlier in Family Video when the news came on. Your hand clutched at your neck. Even though Eddie had only just slightly nicked you, your blood had dripped enough to stain the collar of your shirt, and began to seep through your fingers as you held pressure to the cut. It stung like a bitch, but you were more scared than hurt.

“Hey, hey, hey, let me see, okay baby? Can you do that for me?” Steve asked softly, as one of his hands wrapped around the nape of your neck and the other gently tugged on your wrist. You obliged, trembling fingers dropping from your neck as you shook in Steve’s arms.

He used the sleeve of his jacket to put pressure on the cut to attempt to get it to stop bleeding. You took several deep breaths, wiping the tears away from your face as you began to finally calm down. It helped that you knew that Eddie wouldn’t hurt you on purpose. In your mind, he wasn’t a threat in the slightest, just a boy that was scared and needed some comforting.

“Eddie, we just want to talk,” you heard Dustin’s voice ring out in the empty boathouse. Eddie looked like a mess as he sat in a heap on the floor, looking equal parts defeated and terrified. Dustin tried to take the knife away from him, but Eddie tightened his grip so Dustin relented.

“We just want to know what happened,” you breathed out, your voice still shaky as you continued to calm down.

“You won’t believe me,” Eddie sniffled. You moved out of Steve’s grasp despite his protests, putting a gentle hand on Eddie’s shoulder. He tensed up but soon relaxed into your touch.

“Try us,” you replied. Eddie wasn’t sure if it was the look on your face or the sincerity in your voice, but he decided in that moment that he could trust you guys.

He began by explaining that she was at his house so that he could sell to her, discussing how everything had been fine and normal…until it very much wasn’t.

“…her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh…and she just, like, hung there. And her bones…uh, she…her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man…it-it was like there was something inside her head pulling,” he whimpered with a faraway look in his eyes, “I…I-I didn’t know what to do, so I…I ran away…I-I left her there,” he scoffed, “you all think I’m crazy, right?”

“No, we don’t think you’re crazy,” Dustin began to assure him, but Eddie quickly cut him off.

“Don’t bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds!”

You moved in between Eddie and Dustin, pushing Dusting behind you protectively. “Hey, we’re not bullshitting you,” you started, your tone leaning on frustrated, “we believe you and we’re probably the only people who fucking will, so I would suggest you find a way to calm down and shut the fuck up because what I’m about to tell you might be difficult to take.”

“Okay,” Eddie finally said. No one was really expecting you to be that blunt about things, but it needed to be said.

“You know how people say Hawkins is…cursed?” You started, trying to find the right words. Eddie nodded. “They’re not…way off. There’s another world; a world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours,” your hand subconsciously went to the cut on your neck, the bleeding having finally trickled to a stop.

“Like ghosts and shit?” Eddie asked hesitantly.

“There are some things worse than ghosts,” Max spoke up quietly, and you felt a chill creep up your spine as she said it.

“These monsters from this other world,” Dustin continued, “we thought that they were gone, but they’ve come back before and that’s why we needed to find you.”

“If they’re back again, we need to know,” you emphasized.

“That night, did you see anything?” Robin questioned. You all waited with bated breath for Eddie’s answer. You were afraid of what he might say and Steve stepped forward and grabbed your hand, sensing your anxiety.

“No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh…touch,” Eddie responded, “you know, I tried to wake her man, but she couldn’t move. It was like she was…she was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell…Vecna’s curse,” Dustin whispered.

“Who’s Vecna?” Steve asked, pulling you into his chest. He needed something to hold onto.

“An undead creature of great power,” Dustin answered and you shuddered thinking about it. You had thought you got rid of whatever entity was calling the shots from the Upside Down, but maybe you were wrong.

Maybe everything that had happened before was merely the beginning.

***

You all had taken turns recounting the last two years worth of events to Eddie as he sat there in silence trying to take it all in. After everything that he had seen, he really had no choice but to believe you guys, glad that you were all on his side. You promised the boy that you would be back with supplies in the morning, swiftly piling back into Steve’s car.

“Hey, you know when we had that really sweet convertible and I had you drive it up that big ass hill so we could use my radio?” Dustin suddenly spoke up.

“Yeah?” Steve responded, not quite sure where the boy was going with this.

“Well, bad news is we’re gonna need to go use it again before we all go home because I have an idea, but good news is that it’s at my house now so that’s cool.”

Steve sighed and you all silently made your way to Dustin’s house. There wasn’t much to talk about. You tiptoed through his kitchen to avoid waking his mother as you all crept up to his bedroom. He started messing with all his radio equipment as you sat on his bed. While he was searching for the right frequency, Steve darted out of the bedroom and into the hall bathroom, opening the cabinet under the sink and rifling through it. He found what he was looking for and quietly slipped back into Dustin’s bedroom.

“Here,” he said as he sat down next to you. You looked at him confused until you saw that he had a first aid kit in his hands. He took out an alcohol wipe and started cleaning up the dried blood on your neck. You hissed when the wipe touched your cut, the alcohol burning as he disinfected it. He put some antibiotic ointment on a band aid and placed it gingerly over the cut. He noticed some of the hickies he had left on your neck the night before, quickly moving your hair to make them more inconspicuous. “There. All better.”

You couldn’t help but flush with how sweet Steve was being. Even if the world was undoubtedly ending, at least you knew that he was going to be there for you. You could tell that he was on edge, probably more so given how Eddie had reacted, and you just appreciated that he wasn’t overreacting…yet.

Suddenly, Dustin’s Cerebro came to life, and you heard the distinctive sound of police chatter over the radio as you were clued into what the Hawkins police department knew of Eddie’s involvement in Chrissy’s death. Unfortunately, though not released to the public yet, Eddie was prime suspect number one.

“Shit!” Dustin exclaimed. “Fuck!”

“Woah, woah, whoa, calm down Dustin. We’re gonna figure all of this out okay? Freaking out isn’t going to make any of this shit easier, so we might as well all stay calm,” your voice was remarkably even as you said it and it was starting to freak the rest of your friends out. Of everyone here, you should by all accounts be the most freaked out.

“Look, I don’t think that we should split up, given everything that’s going on,” Steve spoke. “My parents aren’t home, so how about everyone spends the night at my house? You can all call your parents and make arrangements when we get there.”

Everyone agreed with Steve, and you all made your way out to his car, Dustin leaving a note to let his mom know he would be gone before he left. “Y/n? Are you, like, okay?” Max asked hesitantly. Your mind flashed back to what it felt like to have a knife held up to your throat.

“I’m fine, Max. I promise,” you said, but it didn’t sound very convincing. You were honestly more worried about the kids. You thought about the fact that they were deprived a normal childhood, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. You were the babysitter, you were supposed to be the one to make sure that they were okay and safe and happy.

Steve finally pulled into his driveway, leading everyone inside and showing them around. “You all can sleep wherever. There’s a guest bedroom upstairs or you could sleep in the family room. I don’t care,” he sighed, just ready to go to sleep. Everyone got comfortable, Max and Robin choosing to sleep on the couches and Dustin taking the guest bedroom. You and Steve went to his room and you collapsed onto his bed.

“This can’t be happening again,” you spoke up as exhaustion from the day’s events settled in your bones.

“Yeah, I can’t quite believe it either,” Steve said, flopping down on the bed next to you. “Y/n, you have to promise me something okay?”

“What?”

“That if this all gets to be too much again, we call it quits. We get the kids out, we get Robin out, we get the hell out.”

“Steve,” you looked at him, trying to read his expression, “I can’t make that promise.”

“Y/n, everything has been escalating. First it was just one demogorgon, then it was a fuck ton of demo-dogs, then it was Russians and a giant flesh monster…I don’t know how we can handle anything worse, I mean we barely handled everything last summer!” He exclaimed, shaking his head at you. You could tell he was getting more irate, anger seeping into his tone.

“Steve, we either do nothing and die when the whole fucking world ends, or we do something and maybe die trying, or better yet, we fix the fucking problem and never have to worry about it again,” you replied, sitting up, slightly irritated with his tone. He stood up, looking down at you with a furrowed brow as he continued.

“You’re not understanding, y/n. Look, someone died. Unexplainably, just up and died in the most gruesome fucking way. We don’t know anything about how it happened or why or if it will happen again, and I’ll be damned if it happens to one of us, okay. Just promise me.”

“Steve, I can’t, and you know I can’t.”

Steve scoffed, trying to find the right words. He felt anxiety creep up in his chest as he decided that now was as good a time as any to get really fucking real with you. “Y/n. I want a future with you. We can’t fucking have that if one of us is dead.”

“We can’t have a future if the world fucking ends either. I have a massive fucking headache and I just want to go to bed, okay?” You got up and began changing into pajamas, and you heard Steve sigh behind you. He remembered his pinky promise to you in the woods that you were in this together. If you couldn’t make a promise to him, the best he could do was uphold his.

“Fine. But I’m not gonna be able to live with myself if something happens to you,” he warned as he crawled into bed, scooting towards you to spoon you. It was odd how casually you two could have a conversation like this, about the end of the world and the possibility of losing each other at any given moment.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” you replied, turning in his arms and placing a kiss to his chest. You willed the words to be true as you drifted off to sleep in his arms.

***

Dustin threw the door open to the boathouse and you rolled your eyes, knowing it would likely scare the shit out of Eddie. You seemed to be right as you heard him shout from across the room, finally making it into the shed to see him pressed up against the back wall, knife extended out in front of him.

“Delivery service,” Dustin smiled at his friend. You waved sheepishly at Eddie, hoping that he could find it in his heart to forgive you guys for nearly giving him a heart attack…twice.

You all moved to stand around the boat as Eddie sat down in it, tearing into a box of cereal and eating it as if he hadn’t had a meal in days…which to be fair he probably hadn’t.

“So we have some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?” Dustin cut to the chase.

“Bad news first, always,” Eddie spoke through a mouthful of food. Your nose scrunched up in disgust as you scanned the room, noticing similar expressions painted on Robin and Max’s faces.

“We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with Dustin’s Cerebro, and they’re definitely looking for you,” you quickly spoke up as you gave the boy a sympathetic look.

“Also, they’re uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy,” Dustin chimed in.

“Like, 100% kind of convinced,” Max agreed. You rolled your eyes. So much for breaking the news softly.

“And the good news?”

“Your name hasn’t gone public yet. But if we found out about you, it’s only a matter of time before others do too, and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother will be gunning for you,” Robin spoke up.

“Hunt the freak, right?” Eddie clarified, his eyes staring off, unfocused.

“Exactly,” Robin breathed out.

“So before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence,” Dustin outlined.

“That’s all, Dustin? That’s all?” Eddie fumed. Sure he loved the Henderson kid, but the boy got on his damn nerves like all the time, and this was one of those moments.

“Believe it or not, we’ve been through this kind of thing before…a few times actually,” you reassured Eddie, hoping that your words would calm his nerves but that was definitely a bit of a stretch.

“You’re telling me that you, Ms. 4.0, have been off fighting monsters while maintaining a perfect GPA?” Eddie asked in disbelief. “Bullshit.”

“I know, it’s pretty impressive,” Steve spoke up, throwing an arm around you, “we usually rely on this girl with super powers but, uh, those went bye-bye.”

“So we’re kind of in more of the brainstorming phase,” Robin spoke up and you all nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, you really have nothing to worry about,” Dustin reassured Eddie, but all of you knew that that was far from the truth. There was definitely a shit ton of stuff to worry about. Before Eddie could ask anymore questions, you all heard sirens wailing in the distance. He quickly covered up with the tarp as you all ran to the window, watching as several emergency vehicles passed right by Reefer Rick’s house.

A sinking feeling settled in your stomach as you concluded that there must be another body. You all raced to Steve’s car again, following the waling sound of sirens, afraid of what you’d find.

***

a/n: thanks for reading people of tumblr! If you wanted to reblog, I promise I wouldn’t be mad ;)

taglist:

@season4steve @sassyheroneckgiant @tangledinthegreatxscape @maeve-wileyy @palachannie @chaerfull @usaguisenpaisblog @emilieluckwood @sabrinadelreyy @mochminnie @xprloki @kitdjarin1 @kissmxcheek @daemonskitty @bethsvrse @aheadfullofsteverogers

[fairytale-poll]

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST!!!!!!!

Before I get into the winners, I want to thank everyone who participated in Cinderpoll!!! Everyone who wrote propaganda, who sent asks and wrote comments in the reblogs, even if you just voted thank you for making Cinderpoll as fun as it was! It couldn't have happened without you <3

Now, onward to the winners!!!

The first congratulations will be to the winner of the Mod's Choice poll: Hatsune Miku from Various Songs!!! The Mod's Choice poll is less popular than the main tournament or the loser's bracket, but it's important to me, so it's on here. Here's to Miku Miku!!!

(Technically the Mod's Choice poll is still open at the time this announcement is made, but it looks like she's winning and it's almost done and if it changes I'll edit this post)

The next congratulations is a bigger one. It's the winner of the loser's bracket, Brandy as Cinderella in the 1997 adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella!!! Many thought she was done dirty when she lost in Round 1 of the main tournament, so I'm glad she was able to take this reward at least. You know what they always say, it's possible! :) Congratulations Brandy as Cinderella, you defined a generation!

Now we're onto the winners of the main tournament.

We have the two bronze place winners. In 3rd place, we have two popular characters-- one of which I feel as though very few expected to get here. That one was of course Mofurun as Mofurella from Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! But that cute little teddy bear, who I have been told is transgender, did it! She made it to the podium through the power of being a cute teddy bear! The other 3rd place winner is Missy Piggy as Lady Holiday from The Great Muppet Caper. The beautiful and talented diva herself, is it no surprise that she made it this far? Honestly, if she was here, she'd probably karate chop me not for giving her the gold (and that's why we love her). Congrats bronze medalists :)

Here is the big one! The runner-up!

It is none other than Cinders from Once Upon a Time (in Space) by The Mechanisms. Cinders had a lot of energy going into the tournament, as she was the second-most submitted character and another Once Upon a Time (in Space) character got runner-up in the last tournament, and she defeated some other big names in the tournament including Cinderella from Into the Woods and Linh Cinder from The Lunar Chronicles (who was the most submitted character). Her fans were passionate and campaigned for her fiercely, and with that, she landed all the way up to the runner-up!!! A very high honor indeed, congratulations Cinders!!! Not bad for a character who doesn't have any official art of her.

There is one character, however, that managed to drum up even more support than Cinders from Once Upon a Time (in Space).

The gold medalist, the winner of Cinderpoll, Tumblr's certified favorite Cinderella, and the unofficial official best Cinderella--

CONGRATULATIONS TO ELLA OF FRELL FROM ELLA ENCHANTED!!!!

I am more than pleased, as Ella of Frell was one of my favorite (if not THE favorite Cinderella in the tournament), and I am so glad that so many other people loved this book. Honestly didn't expect her to make it this far, much less win! I encourage all of you to read it if you enjoy reading! :) Good job Ella, you deserved the gold!!!

Once again thank you everyone for a great poll! I'll start submissions for the next one sometime in the next week.

[wordy-little-witch]

Hiiii i hope im not annoying u or anything w my frequent asks dksjzjzjz if so pls dont feel pressured to answer it, it do be tiring esp in this heat n economy 😬

i just saw another great post abt buggy having oblivious survival clown rizz and im like that victorian era boy with a bowl saying "pls sir" CUZ i need more of it😭🥹🤲🥣 i never knew i needed it but now my eyes are opened,,, so im guessing buggy has rizzed more than half of the entire pirate population and the landlubber population, but does dis also extend to the enemy/marines? 😳 also can i ask for more buggy accidental rizz headcanons n ideas? Actually any ideas u have r rly great, its extra dopamine or feels when u update lmao

thank u for replying to my questions🥹

Hiiiii~ don't worry about being annoying, love, I love hearing from you! Honestly, having asks makes me all fluttery and happy, it's like digital tumblr penpal friendship hehe~

As for Accidental Rizz Buggy, BABES I have TOO MANY THOUGHTS

On the Marine topic, ABSOLUTELY and I am LOSING IT over the mental image of Buggy having a fan club in the Navy and he just Doesn't Know.

I already ship Rosinante/Corazon and Buggy ANYWAY and so I am so down for pirate/marine ships bc it's so good ong-

Specifically speaking, I can see Buggy accidentally doing some accidental charming either by showing some of his rarely touched on moral ambiguity. Like. Dude does not subscribe to the general populace, he marches to his own drum and we love him for it. The world of One Piece has a recurring theme of Morally Gray and No Such Thing As Good Or Bad type of stuff. Especially with Pirates vs Marines.

So like. Imagine Buggy being involved in some sort of mad wild bullshit hunt/fight, he's escaping the Marines, he's cackling, making a show of it and between one taunt and the next, he catches sight of movement in an alley way.

Two pairs of eyes stare back, wide, terrified, and he freezes.

Immediately all fight and threat drains, and he turns to the alley. "Hey," he greets softly, not too gently but with care dripping from the vowels. "What are you brats doing out here, huh? It's dangerous."

The Marines try to cut in and Buggy disengages at best, forces them back at worst.

"Time and a place," he tells them, "change of plans, there's kids here. Time out, buddy."

He's soft with them, but not alarmingly so to their wild eyes. He recognizes the signs there, and he simply lets them choose their pace.

The officers there view a new side of a fierce pirate, one who would quail under a sharp look one moment and glare back, hissing in fury thr next to a commanding officer with two little ones to protect. He is multifaceted. He is complex. He is.....

Really pretty.

Uh oh.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Bonus, Buggy absolutely accidentally charms the FUCK out of Sengoku, both in a CoraBug sense and in a non shipping sense. I feel like Buggy would annoy his way into being Sengoku's beloathed favorite. He's suffering through it all. Very much "unfortunately, I like you" type of deal.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Buggy: does something surprising/cute/attractive/competent

The world: oh I guess I gotta kiss this muppet senseless

[bunny-lovers]

Miss Piggy and Muppet Labs? - @hades-beloved

Hope you & your f/os have a great day & thank you for the ask! 😊 @gailpeckswife @goodmorningawfulbye @ificanthaveloveiwantpower

Kermit The Frog - Would you say that your F/O is more level-headed and has things under control, or are they more likely to be two steps away from exploding at all times?

She's more level-headed & has things under control.

Miss Piggy - What would you say is your F/Os fashion sense and is your type of style more similar or different to theirs?

Hers is casual wear, streetwear style, & sportswear style. My type of style is more similar.

Fozzie Bear - Would you say that your F/O has a good sense of humour, or are they just incapable of catching a joke?

She does have a good sense of humor.

Gonzo - Is your F/O more brave or cowardly when it comes to most things?

She's more brave!

Rowlf The Dog - Does your F/O play an instrument, and if they don't what instrument do you think they would play/want to pick up?

I think she would play the drums.

Scooter - Is your F/O tech savvy or would they not be able to tell a laptop from a dishwasher?

Yes, she is tech savvy.

Swedish Chef - Is your F/O a dab hand in the kitchen or are they likely to burn even milk? And who tends to do the cooking more often?

She's definitely a dab hand in the kitchen. I do the cooking more often.

Walter - Is your F/O a fan of anything in canon? And what do you think they'd be a fan of if they were to watch/play it?

No, but I think she would be a fan of any sports.

Animal - Is your F/O more level headed and calm, or are they a being of pure chaos?

She's more level headed & calm.

The Electric Mayhem - What would you say is your F/Os favourite music genre and is that a genre you also like? (Also what do you think your F/O would think about your music taste?)

Her favorite music genre is dance music. Yes, dance is also I like. She loves my music taste & I love her music taste as well.

Muppet Labs - Is your F/O more of a left brain person or right brain? (Logical or Creative problem solver?)

She's a left brain person.

Statler and Waldorf - Is your F/O generally a grouch and sarcastic or more kind and would feel terrible being mean to anyone?

She's more kind and would feel terrible being mean to anyone.

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Alright so here is another set of reviews. This time it's my brother who is very much into fun and goofy music so enjoy this selection from my brother Jason!

The Aquabats - Fury Of The Aquabats!

The Aquabats are living cartoons. Concentrated essence of childhood fun. They are a child friendly ska punk Gwar. Even though this album is from long before their purely kid oriented Yo Gabba Gabba! days there is still a distinct family friendly atmosphere to The Fury Of The Aquabats! It has a similar energy to Homestar Runner or The Muppet Show where it is kid friendly media made for adults. And, like those examples, it works because they are having so much goddamn fun with it. It is deliberately and pointedly stupid. Magic Chicken is a song about chicken. I'm laughing because it's funny. The Cat With Two Heads has the line "I was in my laboratory creating what i thought would be we something great for the world, a two headed cat. You can pet one kitty's head and pet the other kitty's head, but little did i know the power of atomic energy would create a

two headed man eating monster!"

So have I convinced you to listen to a 90s ska album yet? Because this is a very pure example of the genre musically. It has the pop punk pacing and fast paced ska rhythm and the horn section and everything. It does admittedly have some, uh, genre diversions I guess I'll call them. Attacked By Snakes is a tango song and Lobster Bucket is a zydeco type thing sometimes. The MC Bat Commander is a perfect vocalist for this kind of music. He's so goofy, but you never really get the impression that he isn't taking it seriously. Or at least he is meeting the music and lyrics on their own terms. It is very endearing. Plus this album has a little bonus that other Aquabats albums lack. Do the drums sound like really competent to you? Like way too much for a pop punk band? Yeah that's Travis Barker of Blink-182 fame. He's probably the most talented punk drummer and he lends a fantastic energy to these songs.

Deee-Lite - World Clique

If you know Deee-Lite already then you probably know them as the one hit wonder who did Grooves Is In The Heart. Well this album deserves more recognition than just having produced a hit single. Deee-Lite channel the 60s flower child throwback aesthetic harder than any other artist of the 90s and they bring that energy to house music. Now I feel like a lot of electronic music fans start to dismiss an artist the minute they hear pop vocals, but this is totally unfair. Dee-Lite use vocals the way they would use any other instrument on a house track. The repetitive vocal lines mesh with the piano samples, drum loops, and funky bass.

Speaking of funky bass, this album has a few performers with a pedigree. Three former Parliament-Funkadelic members feature on this album, trombonist Fred Wesley, saxophonist Maceo Parker, and bass legend Boots Collins. Plus A Tribe Called Quest member Q-Tip gets a verse on Grooves Is In The Heart. That element of P-Funk goofiness is apparent in their peace and love lyricism and overt cheesiness. And while a lot of memorable tracks like Try Me On and Groove Is In The Heart are more hip house to pop oriented the rest is populated by songs like What Is Love that show off a more traditional house style. The album has enough variety and good enough pacing that you don't need to throw these songs into a DJ mix when you can just throw on this whole album and get the same experience.

Shonen Knife - Brand New Knife

I can't pretend this is my absolute favorite Shonen Knife album, I'm more of a Burning Farm or Pretty Little Baka Guy kinda girl. But Shonen Knife doesn't exactly disappoint here either. There's a simplicity to their lyricism and playing that leaves little room to actually fuck it up. The punk rock meets 60s girl group sound feels like it should be influenced by cuddlecore musicians except for the fact that Shonen Knife's sound predates that movement by a decade. This album is smack dab in the middle of the height of that scene though (low heights admittedly) and there is definitely a bit of a cleaner sound than on previous Shonen Knife records that reflects the styles of the time and the rising success of the band. I don't personally believe that higher production quality does much for them, but as long as they are still singing about food and other things that make them happy Shonen Knife will always be a treat to listen to.

Bitch Ass Darius - Follow The Sound

This is the greatest DJ mix ever. Booty bass or ghetto house or ghettotech or whatever you want to call it is a chatic style of house that adopted a lot of hip hop tendencies and then ramped things up to eleven by using the most sexually explicit lyrics possible. Follow The Sound is the most ridiculous example of this already ridiculous genre.

Bitch Ass Darius is an anomaly to me. I can't find out who they are or if they made any more mixes under a different alias. A friend showed me this mix once and I don't know where he found it. The experience of listening to the mix is kind of similar. In between recognizable samples will be snippets of things that you couldn't place the origin of in a million years. And even if you could they probably fly by so fast you don't have time to parse what he just sampled before the world's foulest lyrics start repeating some shit like "he's not my baby daddy he's just a sperm donor" or "I wanna fuck your mouth". A lot of typical booty bass samples are present which means nothing if you aren't a freak like me, but if You've ever heard that memetic snippet that goes "ass n titties, ass n titties, ass ass ass ass ass n titties" that was DJ Assault who is a staple of the genre and that exact sample is in this mix. But the typical hyper crude samples are interspersed with something way weirder. Random seconds long snippets of literally anything else. I can't explain the experience adequately because everything is always happening so fast. My favorite example that I have managed to catch is that he rapid fire samples Michael Jackson (pitched and sped up naturally) saying "beat it, beat it!" And then without missing a beat counterpointing it with the Weird Al parody lyrics "eat it, eat it!" This happens in maybe one and a half seconds. The contrast of samples is a great vehicle for delivering the comedy inherent in the genre while also delivering a good example of the music. Despite feeling like it's poking fun it still remains respectful of the chaos of booty bass music. The album dwells on nothing. It doesn't care if you heard that because listen to this! Follow The Sound is the purest and most perfect sonic overload. If you have problems with auditory overstimulation then seriously consider skipping this album. But if you have ADHD like me then you are about to find your new favorite thing.

Accept - Balls To The Wall

This album is gay af. It was noted at the time and the band acknowledged it. To quote drummer Stefan Kaufmann "It's a phenomenon that should be taken into consideration. Because it exists on a wide scale and should be demystified. In fact, this is a phenomenon of society that needs to be taken as such. For a long time gay people have been considered as sick or insane. And yet, it's time to respect these people, open our minds which are often closed."

This is the kind of music that I think most people are thinking of when they say "heavy metal". It is riff driven heavy music with corny lyrics about tough guy stuff. Like having sex with men. Accept is like if AC/DC was self aware. And thankfully the only ballad in the album is actually good too. It's hard to review this style of metal without sounding dismissive. The camp is obviously deliberate here so I don't feel as bad poking a little fun because I think I'm laughing with them a bit. But really this is a simple and effective album with no weak tracks and themes that it plays straight. Which doesn't seem like much but in the world of late 70s early 80s heavy metal its really raising the bar for future acts.

Desmond Dekker & The Aces - 007 Shanty Town

Before ska was associated with middle school boys with frosted tips and cargo pants, before the days of London teens in ill fitting suits and checkerboard patterns, before dub and reggae there was Desmond Dekker. One of the 60s original ska artists. With a sound that blended Jamaican mento music with a solid helping of jazz and R&B to create a unique blend of Jamaican pop music.

The unique beat that we all know and love (you love it right?!) is created by muted guitar downstrokes on the one and three beats and loud staccato upstrokes on the two and four. Add in some horns, walking bass, and vocal harmonies and you've got the blueprint for basically all ska. And this combination, the crisp staccato guitar and horns especially, grant a uniquely sunny disposition to basically the entire genre so that even when Desmond Dekker is singing about poverty or crime there is an underlying love for his home in every song. Plus a lot of the gangster aesthetic is pure kitsch and is strangely one of the major aspects of the genre to have maintained throughout the years. Ska artists all wanna be in Oceans Eleven even in back in 1967.

Mastodon - Leviathan

If 17 year old me knew that in the year 2023 I was still going off about how much I love this album I think she would call me a slur and have a weird feeling about being called 'she'. I've liked this album for a while and the more metal I listen to the more I appreciate Mastodon. They are somewhere between being sludge, progressive, and death metal and they navigate that in-between with skill. The chugging skudginess can easily erupt into speedy solos and there is an abundance of complexities in the musical arrangements.

Leviathan is the second in a tetralogy that incorporated their first four albums each being themed after a classical element. Leviathan is a concept album about Moby Dick and therefore is obviously water. If their more aggressive debut is fire and the sludgier Blood Mountain is earth then Leviathan's status as water follows. The riffing crashes like waves and there are a lot more melodic flowing sequences that also suggest water. Although the album is more strictly focused on its Moby Dick themeing. Leviathan crashes forward with an intensity that is honestly too much to just call sludge metal but it never hits the level of screaming that you expect from death metal. In retrospect Mastodon have always been a very progressive metal act and I think this album in particular does the best at blending all of their different styles into one package. That said all four of their original albums, Remission, Leviathan, Blood Mountain, and Crack The Skye are worth a listen.

K.d. Lang And The Reclines - Absolute Torch And Twang

Oh so my son of a bitch brother is gonna be a bigger lesbian than I am by giving me a k.d. Lang album I've never listened to huh? Before she transitioned to a more lounge / jazz style k.d. Lang was a full on country western musician with her band The Reclines. Country music had been in severe decline for over a decade but somehow Lang avoids any of the pitfalls of her contemporaries. Instead she mines decades worth of country music blending rock influenced outlaw styles, singing cowboy western styles, and 60s Nashville sound into a monolithic style that celebrates the history of the genre without just being a period piece. And her voice is just astounding. She can sing tender love ballads and rollicking honky tonk numbers with equal ferocity. Her mezzo-soprano is maybe the richest I've ever heard.

Luie Luie - Touchy

Luie Luie is here to tell you about a new dance called the Touchy. This is going to be a bitch to explain. Luie Luie was an outsider musician from the 70s and understanding that he was almost certainly on the autism spectrum goes a long way towards understanding what's going on here. You see Luie Luie was a nightclub manager who thought that people didn't touch enough while dancing anymore so he tried to make a new dance called The Touchy that would encourage touching but with clear rules for how you were allowed to touch you dance partner. It's strange but all very well meaning. He managed to finance the creation of an album and so Touchy was born.

So after Luie Luie tells you that he's invented a new dance and that he plays all the instruments on the album and that every touchy starts with a "wild horn intro" we get a wild horn intro and holy shit he's actually a really good musician. The touchy is basically a mix of mariachi, funk, soul, and lounge music. The slightly offbeat sound and cheap production are wildly endearing especially when you understand this as a passion project that is composed, performed, and recorded all by one man. Luie Luie is a fairly talented multi instrumentalist and where his technical skills falter he covers with incredible ear for complex arrangement. Some songs like El Touchy make for fairly danceable music, although I would rather sit and listen than dance and touch if I'm being honest. Although special mention should be given to the track Touch Of Light for it's intense layering of up to fourteen trumpet parts creating an elaborate tone poem that recalls the works of Ligeti. I'm eternally baffled and grateful for the Touchy it is the rare piece of outsider music that is actually as listenable as it is intriguing.

Kumi Tanioka - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles OST

Crystal Chronicles is such a weird mess of a game. It has an intriguing narrative structure, but the repetitive gameplay loop makes finding the plot tedious. Plus it isn't really fun to play at all unless you have at least three people with game boy advances and gba link cables. I beat it single player when I was a kid because I'm neurodivergent.

Soundtracks are difficult to review. Should you review it as a stand alone album, pretend the source material doesn't exist? You would be missing crucial context and anyway a soundtrack that does stand alone as an album probably didn't work that well as a soundtrack then. Well the answer for me is to realize everything has context. Nothing exists in a void. If you saw an album with blood and gore on the cover and the title in a death metal font and then the album contained folk rock your opinion of the music would be colored by that experience even though the cover has no effect on theusic. So let your understanding of this music be colored by the fact that it is the soundtrack to a GameCube game.

Kumi Tanioka is mainly just the Crystal Chronicles composer and that's a shame because she is extremely good. Final Fantasy games have a long history of using their music to heavily influence the game's mood, but that is partially because of the efforts of long time composer Nobuo Uematsu. Tanioka manages to outdo even Uematsu when it comes to heavily themeing the soundtrack. The Crystal Chronicles OST features music heavily influenced by a mix of medieval folk styles. Music that plays in towns and in roads will have aspects of Byzantine music while your hometown festival is very Celtic. Some tracks like Twilight In Dreamland show some influence from South American music too. The idea of a world music soundtrack to a game about trying to travel ever farther into an unfamiliar world is quite brilliant.

The music is also melodically beautiful. And catchy. There are tracks that you are severe risk of getting stuck in your head especially Annual Festival or the opening vocal track Sound Of Wind. A lot of games have a vocal pop track tacked somewhere in there and sometimes it does work (I dunno how FFXV pulled off a Florence Welch cover of Stand By Me but goddamn it worked) but usually it's just an out of genre pop song that doesn't mesh with the game at all. Sound Of The Wind is a great song that works as a pop song units own right but also sticks to the medieval themeing of the rest of the soundtrack.

You might not appreciate listening to this as much if you haven't played the game. And honestly I can't in good faith recommend Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, it's not a very good game. But this soundtrack is one of the ones I put on just to listen to and it is probably my second favorite Final Fantasy OST after FFIX.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.17

Holidays

American Academy of Arts and Letters Charter Day

Asia Asteroid Day

Bat Appreciation Day

Bay of Pigs Anniversary Day

Day of the Great Victory (Kampuchea)

Blah Blah Blah Day (a.k.a. Blah Blah Blah Memes Day)

Book Day (British Columbia, Canada)

Canterbury Tales Day

Children’s Protection Day (Japan)

Drunken Marathon Day

Ellis Island Family History Day

Emancipation Day (D.C.)

Equality Day (Canada)

Evacuation Day (Syria)

FAO Day (Iraq)

Feast of Random Walks

Fire Service Day (Kazakhstan)

Flag Day (American Samoa)

Ford Mustang Day

417 Day (Missouri)

Hex Sign Day

Horse Day

Hug a Cactus Day

International Day of Mastering Conversations That Matter

International Day of Peasants Struggle

International Ford Mustang Day

International Haiku Poetry Day

International Refrigeration Day

IU Day (Indiana)

Migration Service Employees Day (Turkmenistan)

National Day of Action for Higher Education

National Ellis Island Family History Day

National Go Orange Day

National Hickey Day

National Kickball Day

National 2A Day

No Limits For Deaf Children Day

Nosy Neighbor Appreciation Day

Nothing Like A Dame Day

Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

Pansy Day (French Republic)

Poetry and the Creative Mind Day

Roadway Worker Appreciation Day

Saint Grotus’s Day (Malcolm in the Middle)

Thank An Herbalist Day

Thetis Asteroid Day

Toothbrush Appreciation Day

Tortoiseshell Cat Appreciation Day

Verrazano Day (New York)

Veterans’ Day of Internal Affairs Bodies and Internal Troops (Russia)

Women’s Day (Gabon)

World Drum & Bass Day

World Hemophilia Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Malbec Day (a.k.a. Malbec World Day)

National Cheese Ball Day

National Crawfish Day

Pineapple Cheese Day

3rd Wednesday in April

National Banana Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Canadian Film Day (Canada) [3rd Wednesday]

National Early Years Teacher Day (UK) [3rd Wednesday]

National Officials Day (Canada) [3rd Wednesday]

Purple Up for Military Kids Day [3rd Wednesday]

Transplant Nurses Day [3rd Wednesday]

Youth Homelessness Matters Day (Australia) [3rd Wednesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 17 (3rd Week)

National Pet ID Week [thru 4.23]

Independence & Related Days

Charter Day (Canada)

Mayursia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Syria (End of the French Mandate, 1946)

Virginia (Secedes from U.S.; 1861)

New Year’s Days

Lao New Year Holiday

Myanmar New Year

Festivals Beginning April 17, 2024

Bogota International Book Fair (Bogota, Colombia) [thru 5.2]

Brisket King NYC (Pig Beach, Queens, New York)

Flower Parade of the Bollenstreek (Haarlem, Netherlands) [thru 4.21]

International Istanbul Film Festival Istanbul, Turkey) [thru 4.28]

PEAK 2024 (Minneapolis, Minnesota) [thru 4.19]

Feast Days

Aleksandr Golovin (Artology)

Anicetus, Pope (Christian; Martyr)

Bean Bunny’s Day (Muppetism)

Bernat Klein (Artology)

Chariot Festival of the Rain God (Nepal; Everyday Wicca)

Columella (Positivist; Saint)

Cormac Instructions Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Donnan and His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Feralia: Day of Purification (Pagan)

Haiku Day (Pastafarian)

Innocent (Christian; Martyr)

Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada; Christian; Saint)

Mappalicus and His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Money Spell Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Nick Hornby (Writerism)

Nimble Fairies’ Scattering (Shamanism)

Regina Ghazaryan (Artology)

Robert of Chaise-Dieu (Christian; Saint)

Sherlock Hemlock (Muppetism)

Simeon, Bishop of Ctesiphon (Christian; Saint)

Simeon Barsabae and Companions (Greek Orthodox; Martyrs)

Stephen, Abbot of Citeaux (Christian; Saint)

Stephen Harding (Christian; Saint)

Thornton Wilder (Writerism)

Tinkerbell Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Tom Twinkletoes (Muppetism)

Yom HaShoah (יוֹם הַשּׁוֹאָה; Holocaust Remembrance Day; Judaism) [27 Nisan]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Rama Navami (Hinduism) [9th Day of Chaitra]

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 107 [28 of 72]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [17 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [14 of 30]

Premieres

Bell Hoppy (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

Blue Exorcist (Anime TV Series; 2011)

Box Top Robbery (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 41; 1960)

Bright Road (Film; 1953)

Bugs Bunny’s Overtures to Disaster (WB Cartoon TV Special; 1991)

By Love Possessed, by James Gould Cozzens (Novel; 1958)

Caveman (Film; 1981)

Concerto for Piano, by Emánuel Moór (Piano Concerto; 1908)

Crank: High Voltage (Film; 2009)

Den of Thieves, by James B. Stewart (Book; 1992)

Desperado, by The Eagles (Album; 1973)

A Fault in the Vault or Banks a Million (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 42; 1960)

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, by Fiona Apple (Album; 2020)

Game of Thrones (TV Series; 2011)

The Great American Melting Pot (America Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1976)

Heart & Soul, R&B version by The Cleftones (Song; 1961)

Hic-cup Pup (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)

Imitation of Life (Film; 1959)

Let’s Go (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1937)

Light’s Out (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

McCartney, by Paul McCartney (Album; 1970)

Mickey’s Amateurs (Disney Cartoon; 1937)

Mother Goose Melodies (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Out of Africa, by Karen Blixen (Memoir; 1937)

The Peregrine, by J.A. Baker (Novel; 1967)

Planet Rock, by Africa Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force (Album; 1982)

Porky’s Duck Hunt (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

Radio Girl (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Rocket Man, by Elton John (Song; 1973)

State of Play (Film; 2009)

Tina: The Musical (West End Musical; 2018)

The Watcher in the Woods (Film; 1980)

The White Mountains, by John Christopher (Novel; 1967) [Tripods #1]

Winner by a Hare (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1953)

A Wolf in Cheap Clothing (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Today’s Name Days

Eberhard, Rudolph (Austria)

Ilija, Inocent, Šimun (Croatia)

Rudolf (Czech Republic)

Anicetus (Denmark)

Ege, Eike, Hiie (Estonia)

Otto (Finland)

Anicet (France)

Eberhard, Isadora, Max, Wanda (Germany)

Rudolf (Hungary)

Anicet, Arcangelo, Roberto, Rondolfo (Italy)

Rūdis, Rūdolfs, Viviāna (Latvia)

Anicetas, Dravenis, Giedrius, Robertas, Skaidra (Lithuania)

Elise, Elsa (Norway)

Anicet, Innocenta, Innocenty, Jakub, Józef, Klara, Radociech, Robert, Roberta, Rudolf, Rudolfa, Rudolfina, Stefan (Poland)

Simeon (Romania)

Rudolf (Slovakia)

Aniceto (Spain)

Elias, Elis (Sweden)

Harding, Hardy, Holden, Raleigh (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 108 of 2024; 258 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 16 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 4 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 9 (Xin-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 9 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 8 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 18 Cyan; Foursday [18 of 30]

Julian: 4 April 2024

Moon: 68%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 24 Archimedes (4th Month) [Vitruvius]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 30 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 28 of 31)

[rougedraconteur]

I just read an Entertainment Weekly story about the new series The Muppets: Electric Mayhem on Disney+. This 10- episode series will focus on Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, the funky Muppet band featuring a host of characters including Dr. Teeth on keyboards and Animal on drums, and their individual backstories. As relative unknowns by way of these characters and their individual and band histories, they can go in a lot of different directions, and the show will feature a diverse human cast, including Lily Singh as an aspiring record producer, her social media influencer sister played by Saara Choudry, and Electric Mayhem superfan Tajh Moury. These three help the legendary but very chill and laid-back band finally find their own sound and record their first real album, while being pushed around by outside forces in the industry, which is the basic premise. This core group will interact with lots of human guest stars making cameo appearances, and it sounds like additional muppet appearances may be limited, to ground these musical muppets into a real and largely human world of touring and recording musicians. As these guys are a band from an earlier era, the first half will have covers of early rock music, while the second half will have original music created for their new album. This group actually appeared and performed a set before 30,000 people on the Outside Lands stage, in San Francisco, according to this article, that was well-received by both audience and performers (as muppets), and the thought from the creators and showrunners/producers is to bring them into the future just like they are a real band, possibly including a record release of original music, public appearances, and touring.

So could Darren be a guest star here? He fits the premise perfectly. There are tons of ways he could fit into this show, and all the various backstories of both the Muppet and human characters will be fleshed out with musical influences. They could even re-launch his Royalties songwriter character from this, and re-boot his show in some way for Disney+. (I would love to see some casting changes, though, if the show could go to a longer format, with a stronger female co-star who is more of a draw and equal partner to his level of talent and fanbase. I can think of a couple that are already under contract at the Mouse House and have proven chemistry with him and their own followings already.) He would be great in helping write these new songs, while also appearing on camera.

The Muppets, as a franchise brand, should have as big a footprint at Disney as Pixar, and their production studios should include the same flex as Star Wars’ Skywalker Ranch with all their innovative technology, except Jim Henson’s creative focus with puppetry. They have a great roster of character actors and bona-fide stars in Kermit and Miss Piggy. Disney should have a Muppets musical movie release or a tv special every year, with releases planned well into the future. Music is key in all their big productions, The Rainbow Connection and It’s Not Easy Being Green are classics, and I love puppets of all kinds. Where are the Regional Puppet Theater awards, hosted by a tuxedoed Kermit and Pinnochio, and held at Disney World? The History of Puppetry Around the World show with different Muppets and their real-life performer pals hosting a show together each week on Nat Geo? The Making of Puppets competition shows for Adults, with Miss Piggy and Celebrity judges, and the Crafty Kid version? The Kid’s Cooking Show with the Swedish Chef? This brand is still beloved BECAUSE it is nostalgic and a little sweet and corny, and it should never be too adult or too current and on trend.

The current producers of this show hope this will bring The Muppets back in a big way and cement their future with Disney once and for all. I hope, with such a heavy focus on the soundtrack, that these band members are be able to actually carry a tune and sing a little closer to an actual human voice. Kermit’s songs were always popular and memorable because he could actually carry a tune, and filled his songs with emotion, pathos, and humor.

No release date has yet been set. Check out the article on EW First Look.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

WHY ANIMAL HAS BECOME THE FAVORITE MEMBER OF THE ELECTRIC MAYHEM

@softlytowardthesun @fragglesesamemuppetz2 @moonbeamelf @princesssarisa @amalthea9 @thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland

In recent years, the popularity of the wild and furry drummer Animal in the Muppets franchise has been questioned by some members of the fandom.

The questioning comes from the supposed fact that Animal , defined by his original performer Frank Oz with the words Sex, sleep, food, drums and pain, is meant to be a onedimensional character, only used in some quick gags and as a member of the (also suposed to be onedimensional) Electric Mayhem band.

If you're only familiar with the character in the 2015 ABC mockumentary work sitcom The Muppets and the YouTube Muppet Viral Videos, its easy to take that afirmation for granted.

But...

When you go back to watch episodes of the original The Muppet Show, the old movies and, specially, the underrated 1984 Muppet Babies cartoon, you will see that, compared to his other fellow band members, Animal may have started with the intent of being onedimensional, but quickly evolved to be much more.

And this Is down to one simple reason: he is the character who had more chances to act independently of the band, either acting on his own in a sketch, or interacting with the other Muppets and guest stars.

Dr Teeth is mainly leading the band. If all the five to six members aren't together, its guaranted that at least he will be with Zoot and Floyd Pepper.

Zoot, if not with the whole band, will be seen at least dancing with Janice in the ballroom.

Floyd Pepper may ocasionally be seen teasing Kermit and Miss Piggy, but he mostly hangs around to play with the band.

Janice can come close to be seen as a more independent character when she is acting with Rowlf and Miss Piggy in the Veterinarian's Hospital sketch, but most of the time, if not playing with all Electric Mayhem, will be either dancing in the ballroom with Zoot, or have a flirt with Floyd Pepper.

And them there is Animal. Where does he goes when he doesn't hang out and plays with the band?

He dances with different partners and provides jokes at the ballroom.

He has solo drumming numbers like in the Hawaiian War Chant opening number.

He competes for atention with guest stars like Rita Moreno and Harry Belafonte.

He gives troubles when he eats Gonzo's dancing mexican beans.

He got great moments in the movies like becoming a giant that scares away Doc Hopper and his gang in The Muppet Movie, and parodying the opening credits roaring lion logo of MGM in The Great Muppet Caper.

And finally, there was 1984's Muppet Babies, where he was the eight member of the staring group formed alongside Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, Baby Fozzie, Baby Rowlf, Baby Gonzo, Baby Scooter and Baby Skeeter.

This time, it was definitly extablished that Animal isn't restricted to be a side character who only hangs out with the Electric Mayhem.

He is a protagonist alongside the main group of Muppets.

And in that encarnation, presented both in the cartoon and the comics, we learned that Animal is not only a thing that drums and eats every object around, but an actual character, with desires and afection.

Whe learned that he enjoys painting, specially to play with bright colours. He can be helpfull to build scenarios. He enjoys jungle adventure stories. He undertands the stories in the movies he and his friends watch and asks to play characters when they perform. He is curious, and when his friends get afrayed of a creature they never saw, Animal acts friendly and opens the window, asking the creature to play with them. He genuinelly enjoys Fozzie's jokes even before he can get to the punchline.

And there are also modern comics and children's books that present Animal living his own plots: suffering a depression and identity crisis when taking Bunsen's civilizing pills in Treasure of Pegleg Wilson, enjoying a spring romance with Meredith the Gorilla in The Four Seasons, meeting a rock singer of whom he is a big fan in Muppet Mash, and helping Fozzie to make a funny number with his drums in Fozzie's Funny Business.

So, for a long time now, Animal hasn't been popular for simply being insane, a good drummer or provider of funny quick gags.

Audiences conected with him because, while keeping the essence of Sex, sleep, food, drums and pain, he was also able to evolve, and be defined by being an independent character who transits in different groups or has solo staring moments, while also being a creative, kind and loyal friend.

His wildness is a vital part of the Muppet family.

[allieisacrybaby]

There's a movie that's going to be made about GVF, however the Henson Company has the rights - which muppet is playing which boy?

I am going to be so honest, I have not watched the muppets since I was like 6 or 7. I cannot remember most of the plot of most of the muppet movies so this take might be really awful. I want to hear yalls opinions though!!

Josh-Gonzo (he's a performer!)

Jake-Kermit (down to earth, he has a great voice, and he plays the banjo jake plays the guitar it just works)

Sammy-Miss piggy (he's a diva and we love him for it!)

Danny-Animal (he plays drums how can I not say animal!!)

[multitudecontainer420]

jessie twiggy ruth etting glynis miyoshi nancy kwan marlene mae una joan b meiko sara montiel judy holliday natalie wood charmain carr lily ho dolly parton toyah nina h chita karina marianne?

donkey skin, bells are ringing, flower drum song, at long last love, pennies from heaven, earth girls, the wiz, mahogany, flashdance, sparkle, were not dressing, madam satan, blondie of the follies, lili, stormy weather, love me or leave me, thoroughly modern millie, esther w, sirk, ophuls, renoir, moulin rouge 1934, moulin rouge 1952, chicago, midsummer nights dream 1935, circus 1938 russian, gigi, the great ziegfeld, hot summer, hellzapoppin, ziegfeld girl, roxie hart, akerman, not on the lips, les idoles, william klein, lisztomania, mahler, the blue bird, hard days night, shaw bros musicals, stardust brothers, new york new york, the muppet movie, the apple, can't stop the music, xanadu, popeye, sextette, just a gigolo, tales of hoffmann, cinderella 1947 russian, alice au pays, dreamchild, ojōsan shachō, torch song, ice follies, mame, bollywood, red garters, the court jester, the girl can't help it, pal joey, purple rain, 1234 escondite ingles, black lizard, black tights, khovanshchina, head, heironymus merkin, toomorrow, hugo the hippo, dick tracy, bugsy malone, anything goes, hoshi no orpheus, times square, blood wedding, annie, 9 to 5, tender hooks, victor victoria, sogno di una notte d'estate, yentl, streets of fire, rock aliens, get crazy, rockula, fangs, a chorus line, absolute beginners, crossroads, spice world, population 1, true stories, aria, it couldn't happen here, hairspray, cry baby, little nemo, uhf, valley girl, into the woods, sweeney todd, newsies, cannibal the musical, zero patience, the ink thief, the fantasticks, everyone says i love you, joes apartment, cats, the hole, the wayward cloud, citizen dog, jackie's back, loves labours lost, glitter, 8 women, chicago, interstella 5555, the saddest music, de lovely, perhaps love, corpse bride, tanuki hime, reefer madness, romance & cigarettes, dasepo naughty girls, dreamgirls, idlewild, enchanted, les chansons d'amour, mamma mia, repo, fame 2009, burlesque, the sapphires, god help the girl, london road, the lure, sing street, 52hz i love you, stuck, hello again, guava island, annette, ma raineys, 13 the musical, please baby please, pinocchio, weird the al, dicks the musical, joker fólie a deux, carmen miranda, hallelujah, cover girl, funny face, marilyn monroe, the blue bird, minnelli, baps, dirty gertie, mean girls

[brookston]

Holidays 4.17

Holidays

American Academy of Arts and Letters Charter Day

Asia Asteroid Day

Bat Appreciation Day

Bay of Pigs Anniversary Day

Day of the Great Victory (Kampuchea)

Blah Blah Blah Day (a.k.a. Blah Blah Blah Memes Day)

Book Day (British Columbia, Canada)

Canterbury Tales Day

Children’s Protection Day (Japan)

Drunken Marathon Day

Ellis Island Family History Day

Emancipation Day (D.C.)

Equality Day (Canada)

Evacuation Day (Syria)

FAO Day (Iraq)

Feast of Random Walks

Fire Service Day (Kazakhstan)

Flag Day (American Samoa)

Ford Mustang Day

417 Day (Missouri)

Hex Sign Day

Horse Day

Hug a Cactus Day

International Day of Mastering Conversations That Matter

International Day of Peasants Struggle

International Ford Mustang Day

International Haiku Poetry Day

International Refrigeration Day

IU Day (Indiana)

Migration Service Employees Day (Turkmenistan)

National Day of Action for Higher Education

National Ellis Island Family History Day

National Go Orange Day

National Hickey Day

National Kickball Day

National 2A Day

No Limits For Deaf Children Day

Nosy Neighbor Appreciation Day

Nothing Like A Dame Day

Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

Pansy Day (French Republic)

Poetry and the Creative Mind Day

Roadway Worker Appreciation Day

Saint Grotus’s Day (Malcolm in the Middle)

Thank An Herbalist Day

Thetis Asteroid Day

Toothbrush Appreciation Day

Tortoiseshell Cat Appreciation Day

Verrazano Day (New York)

Veterans’ Day of Internal Affairs Bodies and Internal Troops (Russia)

Women’s Day (Gabon)

World Drum & Bass Day

World Hemophilia Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Malbec Day (a.k.a. Malbec World Day)

National Cheese Ball Day

National Crawfish Day

Pineapple Cheese Day

3rd Wednesday in April

National Banana Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Canadian Film Day (Canada) [3rd Wednesday]

National Early Years Teacher Day (UK) [3rd Wednesday]

National Officials Day (Canada) [3rd Wednesday]

Purple Up for Military Kids Day [3rd Wednesday]

Transplant Nurses Day [3rd Wednesday]

Youth Homelessness Matters Day (Australia) [3rd Wednesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 17 (3rd Week)

National Pet ID Week [thru 4.23]

Independence & Related Days

Charter Day (Canada)

Mayursia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Syria (End of the French Mandate, 1946)

Virginia (Secedes from U.S.; 1861)

New Year’s Days

Lao New Year Holiday

Myanmar New Year

Festivals Beginning April 17, 2024

Bogota International Book Fair (Bogota, Colombia) [thru 5.2]

Brisket King NYC (Pig Beach, Queens, New York)

Flower Parade of the Bollenstreek (Haarlem, Netherlands) [thru 4.21]

International Istanbul Film Festival Istanbul, Turkey) [thru 4.28]

PEAK 2024 (Minneapolis, Minnesota) [thru 4.19]

Feast Days

Aleksandr Golovin (Artology)

Anicetus, Pope (Christian; Martyr)

Bean Bunny’s Day (Muppetism)

Bernat Klein (Artology)

Chariot Festival of the Rain God (Nepal; Everyday Wicca)

Columella (Positivist; Saint)

Cormac Instructions Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Donnan and His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Feralia: Day of Purification (Pagan)

Haiku Day (Pastafarian)

Innocent (Christian; Martyr)

Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada; Christian; Saint)

Mappalicus and His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Money Spell Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Nick Hornby (Writerism)

Nimble Fairies’ Scattering (Shamanism)

Regina Ghazaryan (Artology)

Robert of Chaise-Dieu (Christian; Saint)

Sherlock Hemlock (Muppetism)

Simeon, Bishop of Ctesiphon (Christian; Saint)

Simeon Barsabae and Companions (Greek Orthodox; Martyrs)

Stephen, Abbot of Citeaux (Christian; Saint)

Stephen Harding (Christian; Saint)

Thornton Wilder (Writerism)

Tinkerbell Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Tom Twinkletoes (Muppetism)

Yom HaShoah (יוֹם הַשּׁוֹאָה; Holocaust Remembrance Day; Judaism) [27 Nisan]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Rama Navami (Hinduism) [9th Day of Chaitra]

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 107 [28 of 72]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [17 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [14 of 30]

Premieres

Bell Hoppy (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

Blue Exorcist (Anime TV Series; 2011)

Box Top Robbery (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 41; 1960)

Bright Road (Film; 1953)

Bugs Bunny’s Overtures to Disaster (WB Cartoon TV Special; 1991)

By Love Possessed, by James Gould Cozzens (Novel; 1958)

Caveman (Film; 1981)

Concerto for Piano, by Emánuel Moór (Piano Concerto; 1908)

Crank: High Voltage (Film; 2009)

Den of Thieves, by James B. Stewart (Book; 1992)

Desperado, by The Eagles (Album; 1973)

A Fault in the Vault or Banks a Million (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 42; 1960)

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, by Fiona Apple (Album; 2020)

Game of Thrones (TV Series; 2011)

The Great American Melting Pot (America Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1976)

Heart & Soul, R&B version by The Cleftones (Song; 1961)

Hic-cup Pup (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)

Imitation of Life (Film; 1959)

Let’s Go (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1937)

Light’s Out (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

McCartney, by Paul McCartney (Album; 1970)

Mickey’s Amateurs (Disney Cartoon; 1937)

Mother Goose Melodies (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Out of Africa, by Karen Blixen (Memoir; 1937)

The Peregrine, by J.A. Baker (Novel; 1967)

Planet Rock, by Africa Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force (Album; 1982)

Porky’s Duck Hunt (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

Radio Girl (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Rocket Man, by Elton John (Song; 1973)

State of Play (Film; 2009)

Tina: The Musical (West End Musical; 2018)

The Watcher in the Woods (Film; 1980)

The White Mountains, by John Christopher (Novel; 1967) [Tripods #1]

Winner by a Hare (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1953)

A Wolf in Cheap Clothing (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Today’s Name Days

Eberhard, Rudolph (Austria)

Ilija, Inocent, Šimun (Croatia)

Rudolf (Czech Republic)

Anicetus (Denmark)

Ege, Eike, Hiie (Estonia)

Otto (Finland)

Anicet (France)

Eberhard, Isadora, Max, Wanda (Germany)

Rudolf (Hungary)

Anicet, Arcangelo, Roberto, Rondolfo (Italy)

Rūdis, Rūdolfs, Viviāna (Latvia)

Anicetas, Dravenis, Giedrius, Robertas, Skaidra (Lithuania)

Elise, Elsa (Norway)

Anicet, Innocenta, Innocenty, Jakub, Józef, Klara, Radociech, Robert, Roberta, Rudolf, Rudolfa, Rudolfina, Stefan (Poland)

Simeon (Romania)

Rudolf (Slovakia)

Aniceto (Spain)

Elias, Elis (Sweden)

Harding, Hardy, Holden, Raleigh (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 108 of 2024; 258 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 16 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 4 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 9 (Xin-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 9 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 8 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 18 Cyan; Foursday [18 of 30]

Julian: 4 April 2024

Moon: 68%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 24 Archimedes (4th Month) [Vitruvius]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 30 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 28 of 31)

[uraverageemodrainergamerbf]

the muppets. (2015)

I'm currently watching one of the more recent show starring my favorite puppets, and I have to say I'm really pleasantly surprised by this one. Most of the post 90's muppets content, following the early death of their creator Jim Henson, has been kinda rough. Each time it's very lacking and misses a lot of soul, especially the disney + productions, which just consists of way too mich guest stars and not enough muppet magic ( more on that on another post) but this one is different.

Starting it I had no expectations, but it quickly became more than I hoped for. First of all the show concept is really fun, it's a show in the form of the office, where we see the backstage and production of a late night talk show starring miss piggy. There's no music, it's very mundane most of the time it's just people trying to work and I just love it. Seeing Kermit slowly becoming crazy while trying to hold together this crew of completely chaotic maniacs is really entertaining. The one on one interviews a la The office is a great idea to focus for little moments on each character.

But I had some problems starting the show. Some jokes are just really not appropriate in my opinion (weight jokes are just terrible) and a bit toxic sometimes, especially at the start of the series. It's also very cynical and kind of cold at first, everyone is pretty mean to each other and I hate it, the muppets just don't act this way for me and it's pretty infuriating to see them mocking other on their insecurities

So the show's humor is kind of a mixed bag at the start, it's more oriented toward an adult audience than your usual muppet show, while not being shocking or totally inappropriate. And they walk that straight line pretty gracefully most of the time, if you ignore the sexist jokes

But GOOD KNOWS WHY at the middle of the season everything changes. The characters start having a lot of compassion and try to help each other more and care more, while still making fun of each other, but in a more respectful and gentle way. The plot thickens for a few characters, and the friendship just starts to shine. Kermit starts to actually support all his old friends and that's super cute. And even after that the story takes another great turn (spoiler warning) : the network tries really hard to change the show by sending a hipster jackass to modernize it, and the muppets just decide to stick together in front of adversity and try to come up with new ideas to satisfy the network. And they have trouble so Kermit leaves a meeting at one point. But then they start making the muppets show opening with office furniture. And it's so cute and Kermit comes back see them and says "i know what to add to the show: our friends" cause you see in this series they are not performers but work for Kermit and the only muppets really performing is Peggy. And so they literally transform the show into the muppet show and it's so sweet. They start to sing together on stage, playing old bits they use to do and you can just feel the love they have for their show and crew (watch me talk abt them as if they were real). And they also lose the problematic jokes or at least there are way less than in the first 5/6 episodes

The guest stars are really neat too, most of the stars are being real assholes and are quite funny, I especially loved the drums duel between animal and dave grohl

So despite a pretty rough start, if like me you're very attached those very loveable characters, i'd say the show is worth your time, if you can overlook some really bad jokes and storylines, the concept is really fun, the jokes are really funny most of the time, there are great storylines, especially in the second half of the season, and I'm now very sad they couldn't build on the momentum and had to see their show cancelled, it's a shame