#hilary posts about canadian house music

[lakemichiganlolita]

honestly we need another tiga album in 2025. that would help me rn

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Nice songs for Christmas time if you happen to enjoy Celtic music:

There are lots of versions of Christmas in Killarney out there, and if I wanted to be a properly authentic Celtic music fan, my favourite wouldn’t be by a Canadian Cape Breton band that originally hailed from the Scottish Hebrides, and have no connection to Killarney or any other part of Ireland. See, I consider myself better than the people who run around playing Scottish tunes on St. Patrick’s Day (I mean, in real life I think I consider myself better than people who play anything specifically because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, though last year I did post a Dropkick Murphy’s song on this blog to mark the occasion, and I only posted it semi-ironically, so I may not practice what I preach) like it’s all the same, but also, my Gaelic playlist and its sub-playlists (including the Gaelic Christmas music playlist) have Irish and Scottish Gaelic mixed together because I can’t actually hear the difference. And I think this Scottish-Canadian band does a fucking excellent job with this Irish song, better than any other version of it that I’ve heard. That’s definitely affected by nostalgia from the fact that this got played in my family’s home at Christmas since I was too young to talk, but I think it’s also just a really good version.

It’s always fun to get a favourite singer’s Christmas album, and hear about nine of their takes on classic Christmas songs, but three or four original Christmas-themed songs. Here’s one of the originals off the Christmas album by Bruce Guthro, one of my favourite musicians in the world, a folk singer-songwriter from Cape Breton island on Canada’s East Coast. Fucking great song. I regularly play it in July.

Someone translated Fairytale of New York into Gaelic. I find that fucking hilarious.

This is my favourite song from this playlist of Gaelic Christmas songs, but honestly, if anyone is actually interested in Celtic Christmas music, they should ignore my entire post and just listen to that playlist. Lots of good stuff in there. This is the actual source of Celtic Christmas songs, sung by people who actually properly speak the languages; the rest is just people messing around.

This particular song is by Mary Mclaughlin, one of the like eight native speakers of Irish Gaelic left in the world. It’s fucking beautiful.

Want to see a Gaelic song that is not sung by any of those few native speakers, but by people who learned some of it in school and occasionally show that off by putting it on their albums? The Rankin Family is a band from Cape Breton, an island off Nova Scotia on Canada’s East Coast, where you can’t swing a cat without hitting a Celtic/folk musician. There, they teach fiddle in music class and step dancing in gym class and Scottish Gaelic in language classes. And they create an absolutely incredible amount of music for an island with barely 100,000 people.

The Rankins have a distinctive style with all their songs, the way they go up and down, soaring and then regrouping and then soaring again, whether they’re singing in English or in Gaelic. This one captures that so well. It’s more nostalgia for me as it was the soundtrack to my house since before I was born, but I think even without those memories, I’d still find it beautiful.

[crjupdates]

Carly Rae Jepsen Dances Her Way Through Heartbreak on 'The Loneliest Time'

The latest album from the Canadian pop goddess delivers high-gloss pop with serious emotional punch

Rolling Stone • Rob Sheffield • October 20, 2022 • Photo: Meredith Jenks

Carly Rae Jepsen is one of the most exquisite joys of being a pop fan over the past decade. The Canadian pop goddess is one of our most underrated treasures—ten years after the world fell in love with this girl in “Call Me Maybe,” she still hasn’t made a single weak record or failed move. The Loneliest Time is her most emotionally adventurous music yet—high-gloss post-bubblegum synth-pop that packs a serious punch even at its fizziest. Carly Rae just keeps dancing her way through the heartbreak, a totally relatable adult romantic with too many feelings but zero illusions.

The Loneliest Time has the shiny electro-perk sheen of her 2015 classic Emotion, but more of the melancholy of 2019’s Dedicated. By now, she’s over every brand of bullshit, with hilariously blasé song titles like “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” and “No Thinking Over the Weekend.” These are the songs of a woman who’s been through some drama, but refuses to give up on the brighter days and hotter nights she deserves.

Jepsen had a miserable time during the pandemic, and she’s not the type of celebrity to lie about that. She lost her beloved grandmother, the woman who first taught her the joys of wearing feather boas; travel restrictions meant she couldn’t travel to grieve with her family. So even the most delightfully frivolous pop kicks here feel powerfully cathartic.

“Beach House” is a deliciously nasty tour of serial monogamy in the era of dating-app addiction. She scrolls from one worthless boy to another: the one whose mom fixed the mood for their date, the one who begs to borrow money, the one who wants to harvest her organs. She trips from Boy Number One to “Boy Number I Can’t Even Count Anymore.” 

She goes looking for romance out west, in the mellow California dreaming of “Joshua Tree” and “Western Wind.” She also hits the clubs, looking for emotional rescue in the dance-floor lust of “Bad Thing Twice.” The peak moment: “Shooting Star,” a Chic-style roller-disco groove where she chirps, “I might sleep with you tonight… Just because I still believe in my New York City!” It climaxes in her vocoder confessions at the end, where she blows all her fears away, bubbling over with excitement as she chants, “Do you wanna? Do you wanna?”

She duets with Rufus Wainwright in “The Loneliest Time,” where she sings about feeling like she’s in a Shakespeare tragedy. She also gets hung up on a fickle lover in “Go Find Yourself or Whatever,” over moody sitar-style guitar from collaborator Rostam Batmanglij. But for all the broken romances on The Loneliest Time, it’s an uplifting experience. Carly Rae Jepsen might have endured a couple too many sad girl summers lately. But she’s determined to throw herself a hell of a hot girl autumn.

[aion-rsa]

Best Romantic Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

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Some movies brave enough to tread where only pop songs and poems go, and try to capture all the drama, contradictions and happy, bubbly feelings that come along with romance and love. It’s high-time that we honor them and defend them against their unearned sappy reputations with the best romantic movies on Amazon Prime.

We’ve scoured Amazon Prime to find the best romantic movies available for your viewing pleasure. Here are the best romantic movies on Amazon Prime. Ok, some of them are perfectly sappy.

The Big Sick

Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon’s theatrical debut made big waves when it came out for the singularity of its vision and just how plain funny it is. Now Amazon gets to reap the benefits of producing a bonafide romantic indie hit by getting its exclusive streaming rights. The Big Sick is the real life story of comedian Kumail Nanjiani meeting and falling in love with his wife, Emily (who is played by Zoe Kazan in the film).

Kumail and Emily’s courtship process is difficult enough to begin with due to Kumail’s family pressuring him to find a nice Pakistani girl to settle down with. But soon things get even more difficult as Emily suffers a health scare and Kumail must suddenly contend with that situation and Emily’s eccentric parents who have just come to town. The Big Sick is a clear vision from talented people and tells a beautifully convincing love story while making plenty of room for laughter. Not only that but it’s a big win for our list of best romance movies on Amazon Prime.

Watch The Big Sick

What If

Canadian drama What If (originally known as The F Word before the MPAA got its greasy fingers all over it) is a fun romantic movie and a tremendous showcase for its two young stars Daniel Radcliffe (you know what he’s from) and Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick). Radcliffe stars as Wallace – a directionless young man living in Toronto who decides to become more social after his girlfriend cheats on him.

Enter Kylo Ren (Adam Driver playing a character who is unfortunately not named Kylo Ren) who takes Wallace to a party where he meets the alluring Chantry (Kazan). Wallace and Chantry immediately fall for each other. Unfortunately there’s the small matter of Chantry’s boyfriend. What If? is a sweet little Canadian flick that knows how to push its audiences romantic buttons.

Watch What If

Still Mine

Still Mine isn’t necessarily about romance. It’s about love – a deep prevailing love built up over decades. Craig Morrison (James Cromwell) is a farmer in rural New Brunswick, Canada. He intends to build a new house for his ailing wife Irene (Geneviève Bujold) but runs into trouble with the local municipality’s bureaucracy prevents him from doing so.

Still Mine is as romantic a movie about bureacratic development regulations as has ever existed. Cromwell and Bujold have wonderful chemistry and paint a portrait of profound, abiding love.

Watch Still Mine

Some Kind of Wonderful

Some Kind of Wonderful doesn’t have the same pop culture standing as other John Huges films like Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink. Still this remains a worthwhile entry into the Hughes canon on teenage love. 

Read more

Movies

Celebrating John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles

By Carley Tauchert

Movies

The Bee: The $50 Million John Hughes Movie That Fell Apart

By Simon Brew

Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) is a high school outcast who has his eyes set on popular girl Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson). Thankfully he has his tomboyish Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson) to help court her. Based on that meager plot description, you may think you know where Some Kind of Wonderful is going to end up, and…you’re probably right. That doesn’t make the journey any less satisfying. 

Watch Some Kind of Wonderful

To Catch a Thief

You know who would make a great romance film? The guy who did Psycho. Yes To Catch a Thief is a classic romance film from none other than Alfred Hitchcock. Of course, there’s a lot more going on in this heist thriller.

Cary Grant stars as retired cat burglar John Robie. When another burglar starts copying his act, Robie has to undergo One Last Job (TM) to catch…a thief. In the process John comes across the wealthy Frances (Grace Kelly) and the two strike up an unlikely romance for the ages.

Watch To Catch a Thief

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Hello, My Name is Doris

Between TBS’ Search Party and Hello, My Name is Doris, director Michael Showalter had a stellar 2016. Hello, My Name is Doris is a wonderfully sweet, equally tragic and completely hilarious romantic comedy. Sally Field stars as the titular Doris, a lively woman in her 60s who after the death of her mother becomes infatuated with a younger man. 

Read more

Movies

Best Romantic Movies on Netflix

By Alec Bojalad

Movies

Best Romantic Movies on Hulu Right Now

By Alec Bojalad

With the help of cliched self-help materials she does whatever she can to get his attention. Hello, My Name is Doris is an empathetic romantic comedy that will change how you view age. 

Watch Hello, My Name is Doris

Sabrina (1995)

Let’s get one thing out of the way right now. Sabrina‘s theatrical poster is dope. When I was a kid and I would pass the VHS cover in Blockbuster, I couldn’t help but think “Wow, that is a real adult movie.” At a young age, the mere sight of a woman’s lascivious red lipstick (lascivious in my head at least) was enough to fry my brain. Poster aside, however, Sabrina is an excellent romance with some real star power. It’s a remake of the 1954 film of the same name starring Billy Wilder and Audrey Hepburn. 

This version was directed by the great Sydney Pollack and stars Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear, and Julia Ormond. Weirdly enough Greg Kinnear plays the ultimate rich playboy while Harrison Ford plays his studious older brother. Weird casting choices but it works out alright thanks to each actor’s chemistry with Ormond.

Watch Sabrina

Ghost

Ghost is much more than just the reason you can no longer attend a pottery class without giggling. It’s a legitimately great sci-fi romance yarn. Patrick Swayze stars as Sam a banker who is killed by a mugger. Immediately post-death he discovers that he has become a ghost and can no longer directly interact with his girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore).

Sam sets out to solve his own murder and somehow reconnect with the woman he loves. Ghostcomes along with all the corniness of an early ’90s blockbuster but its central theme of love trying to achieve the impossible plays in any decade.

Watch Ghost

Brokeback Mountain

Longing is a crucial part of the formula in any romance movie and Brokeback Mountain has it in spades. Ang Lee’s 2005 film played a crucial role in bringing queer cinema to the mainstream and it did so by presenting mostly straight audiences with a universal depiction of love and passion – the kind of love that supersedes the norms and expectations of everything in your life to that point.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gylllenhaal star as 1960s Wyoming cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. While herding sheep on the Brokeback mountains, Jack makes a sexual pass at Ennis and the two begin a summer-long physical affair. The movie then follows the pair through the subsequent decades as they try to return to their “normal” lives, all the while unable to forget their time on Brokeback.

Watch Brokeback Mountain

Letter to Juliet

Somewhere along the way, Hollywood decided to let Amanda Seyfried become the queen of romantic comedies set in exotic locales…and that’s perfectly fine with us.

In Letters to Juliet, Seyfried stars as a New York fact checker Sophie on “pre-honeymoon” with her fiancé in Verona. There she learns of the phenomenon of “letters to Juliet” where women women bring love letters to Juliet Montague’s Verona courtyard. When Sophie answers a letter from 1957, she embarks on a decades-spanning journey of love and self-discover.y

Watch Letters to Juliet

What Men Want

Back in 2000, only one film had the distinction…nay, the courage of trying to figure out What Women Want. The answer, apparently, was Mel Gibson. We don’t talk about this movie that much.

Read more

Books

Which YA Romance Should Netflix Adapt Next?

By Kayti Burt

Books

Yesterday Is History: Meet the Latest Addition to the Time Travel Romance Genre

By Alana Joli Abbott

2019’s What Men Want is a loose remake of the earlier film. And it has something that the original never did: Taraji P. Henson! Henson stars as Ali Davis, a sports agent who gains the ability to read men’s minds after meeting a shaman. The movie puts Ali’s male-dominated profession to good use and in the process tells a nifty little romance story.

Watch What Men Want

There’s Something About Mary

More than two decades later, it’s still wild to see that above screenshot. Like, that ran in newspapers. It was on a poster! And if you don’t know why a photo of Cameron Diaz with a unique hairstyle is a big deal then you’ve likely not seen the Farrelly Brothers 1998 gross out classic There’s Something About Mary.

This is not so much a romance movie as it is an exploration of the pitfalls of attraction. Diaz stars as Mary Jensen…and there’s just something about her. Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans, and Chris Elliott all play men who are helplessly in love with Mary and trying to win her affection. In the process, many injuries as sustained.

Watch There’s Something About Mary

Moulin Rouge!

If you like your romance with more than a dash of Baz Luhrmann saturated colors and big, sexy musical numbers then Moulin Rouge! is almost certainly the movie for you.

This 2001 film is set in 1900s Paris amid the Bohemian movement. When Christian (Ewan McGregor) falls in love with Moulin Rouge cabaret actress and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), he must contend with her impending betrothal (or really sale) to the Duke of Montrose. As one might imagine, this is resolved with quite a bit of singing and dancing.

Watch Moulin Rouge!

Sylvie’s Love

Amazon Prime’s 2020 film Sylvie’s Love positively oozes jazz era atmosphere and tells a compelling, decades-spanning love story in the process.

Tessa Thompson stars as Sylvie Parker, a young woman who one day meets an aspiring saxophonist (played by Kerry Washington’s husband and former NFLer Nnamdi Asomugha) and in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem. This leads to sweeping romance that guides the pair through the era’s jazz music scene.

Watch Sylvie’s Love

The post Best Romantic Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[alexaplaysgames]

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

Tagged by: @onlyhereforinteractivestories thank you so much this was a blast! 🥰

Tagging: I reallyyyy hate doing this because I don’t want to make anyone feel obligated to do it. So anyone that wants to do it, do it and tag me please!

Name/Nickname: You can call me Alexa or Alex, I don’t really mind which.

Gender: Female

Starsign: Aries ♈️ 🔥 I think I’m a Gemini moon sign or sum but I’m bad with astrology.

Height: 5’0 welcome to Whoville y’all! Haters can’t bother me cause I can’t see em.

Time: it’s 9:43 AM as I’m writing this.

Birthday: April 17th

Favourite Bands and Favourite Solo Artists (combined): Listen, I’m honestly not a huge music fan. This list would include: a wack of rock bands my middle-aged father likes, a whole bunch of French-Canadian artists no one has heard of, and the people that write Disney songs. I also really like Michael Jackson, The Bee Gees, Mika, Led Zeppelin. It’s a weird list.

Song Stuck in my Head: Well now it’s Beat It by MJ because I had to think about him. But before that, the House MD theme song. I have problems with a capital Need to Get Some Help.

Last Movie: I watched The First Purge with a friend it left me scarred... The world is fucked up man.

Last Show: The Queen’s Gambit and Beth Harmon can step on me please.

When did you create this blog?: uh... like a few months ago? Idk? For quite a while I did nothing on it. Just stalked people harder than Joe Goldberg.

What do I Post: Garbage, honestly. Tbh, it’s just like everything that goes on in my mess of a brain. It’s really unorganized in here fam. I probably should’ve made seperate accounts with the number of fandoms, but I am lazy. So, like my bio says: everything interactive fiction.

Last Thing I Googled: Other than school related stuff (which is boring), The Wayhaven Chronicles fics on AO3. I obsessively read fanfiction- it’s unhealthy.

Following: 102 (let me love you my pretties)

Followers: 91 and they are all my children so my mother can’t ever ask me why I never gave her grandkids.

Do I Get Asks: Not really, but tbh I wouldn’t ask me questions either. My parents don’t call me a disappointment for nothing.

Why I Chose my URL: Honestly? I was planning to change it and just wanted something that worked. Do you know how many users with Alexa in the name there are? A lot, apparently. Too many. I’ll have to kill them all to become the only one. I’ll probably choose a new one until then.

Average Hours of Sleep: I actually sleep quite a bit, somewhere between 6-8 hours per night which is healthy, so wow! I guess I have accomplished something in my life. Although I am a uni student, this term just started so it’s pretty chill. But it probably won’t last for long.

Lucky number: 6! It was my soccer jersey number for a long time.

Instruments: Look... I’m a band kid. The only instrument I can actually 100% play is the euphonium. It’s not a pretty instrument; it sounds equivalent to a tortured elephant. Don’t bother looking it up, I promise you it’s not cool. But I did take guitar lessons. I just sucked.

What I’m Wearing: literally a t-shirt with a huge ass picture of Rupert Grint’s face on it that just says Ron in a font that looks vaguely threatening. I got it from my cousin. Other than that, Roots sweatpants.

Dream Job: I’m currently pre-vet so it would be nice to actually follow that through! We’ll see how that goes though. Sounds like a lot of commitment.

Dream Trip: I would love to visit Australia or Japan! They both sound really neat. Also, random fact: did y’all know Chris Hemsworth lives in Australia? That’s... an odd coincidence.

Last Book I Read: In reality, it would be an IF book (Supernatural in New York, precisely) but in terms of an actual novel? The Hobbit. Actually no, it would be my Biology textbook but that’s boring. I’m a cool kid.

Favourite Food: I really love pasta. Like crazy obsession amount of love for any kind of pasta. I’m not even remotely Italian. Give me those carbs.

Nationality: Canadian! 🇨🇦 and I find Canadian stereotypes hilarious. I often laugh over them while drinking maple syrup and riding my pet polar bear.

Favourite Song: Once again, I’m not a huge fan of music. So I’ll put the song I’m listening to right now: Golden by Harry Styles. I didn’t even know the name of the song until I looked it up. I’m sorry.

Top Three Fictional Universes: The Percy Jackson universe has been one of my favourites since forever. I also love Middle Earth, the setting of Lord of the Rings (I sound so basic). Lastly, the MCU! I’m a huge superhero fan :) it would be cool to be a superhero but I’d probably die in 0.02 seconds :/

[curlytemple]

niche interests list 

okay sure yes this is fun! i havent posted a thing like this in such a long time. thank you new gal pal @scottspack for tagging me! 

pigs????

alright first lets throw it back to preschool! my fav childhood toys were my baby doll (snookums) and a plush pig that my grandma got me that i just called ‘pig’ ...i watched the babe movies countless times, and piglet? that anxious little guy GETS ME bro. when my preschool did a nativity play and my class got to choose an animal to be in baby jesus’ manger, my mother recalls me saying that i would be a pig because jewish people (jesus christ) wouldnt eat me. she has no idea how or when i learned about kosher foods. ironically despite my namesake i was too afraid of the movie charlotte’s web to watch it more than once because the scary farmer tries to kill wilbur for being small and the pretty spider dies. 

sugar creek gang 

OKAY this is a book series from the 40s-70s about a group of christian little boys in indiana who went on adventures in the woods and helped people. my dad read a LOT of chapter books to me as bedtime stories when i was little (see also the mandie series, nancy drew and the hardy boys, little house on the prairie) but sugar creek gang is one that really hit. i read all 36 books with dad and at least once again on my own. there was a series of 4 or 5 movies in the early 2000s when i was the Perfect age to have a crush on most if not all of them. this might be too much detail but i have to tell you about these boys. we WILL not be revisiting the heavy religious themes. 

 the narrator is bill who is Good and Kind and wants to be a doctor when he grows up. his best friend is a chubby boy nicknamed poetry because he memorizes and quotes poems, he is the Detective of the group. BIG JIM is the leader of the group who is supposed to be like, 14, which was very cool and hot, to me. and yes there is a little jim, who is the baby of the group. then there is CIRCUS who is known for his climbing and acrobatics, and his FIVE SISTERS AND BEAUTIFUL SINGING VOICE. dreamboy. i’m almost done listing boys, i promise. a boy called dragonfly who is allergic to everything and hella superstitious. later in the series a new boy named tom moves to town and tom has an older brother bob who is NOT A CHRISTIAN (bully) 

tangentially, the buttercream gang, a movie from 1992 that was almost definitely made by some christians who grew up reading the sugar creek gang series which i’m guessing on vibes alone. will spare you Good Boy details but scott is in love with his best friend pete who moves to chicago and falls in with a bad crowd and scott just refuses to stop LOVING HIM. very gay christian film in retrospect. 

peter pan

so i know liking disney’s peter pan isnt niche, but it was the way i liked it. tinker bell stan from day one, i watched all of those disney fairies movies, even the ones that came out after i was definitely not intended audience. there was an online pixie hollow game where you could design your own fairies and play mini games where you gathered dew drops or something. had a HUGE CRUSH on jeremy sumpter in peter pan (2003) then i got really darkly obsessed with the idea of growing up when i was 12 or 13, and everything peter pan was deeply My Shit for my entire adolescence. i read the original book and every other twisted version of the story i could find and seriously freaked myself out about wasting my youth. 

shug

you’ve probably heard of jenny han now, or at least the netflix adaptations for to all the boys i’ve loved before and the sequel ps i still love you (always and forever, lara jean, coming soon?) but before she wrote THOSE, she wrote my first ever Favorite Book, about annemarie “shug” wilcox, a girl in the summer before starting middle school. it is SO engraved on my heart i cannot explain. i felt so incredibly understood and cant even tell you how many times i read it. thinking about all of the ways it made me feel SEEN is actually making me very tender so i’m gonna go on.  

the summer series

on the subject of jenny han, since she was now my Favorite author, when she came out with the summer i turned pretty in 2009, i was ALL IN. it’s not summer without you, and we’ll always have summer were published the next two years. a coming of age series about a girl isabel “belly” conklin who stays at her mother’s best friend's house at the beach in the summers. i really could talk about it forever yall. i actually dont know how to be succinct about it. i will try. her mom’s friend has TWO BOYS. one brother, jeremiah, is the golden boy and her best friend who is in love with her! the older one CONRAD is her childhood crush who's just sort of around while belly is firmly getting over her childish feelings and going out and experiencing teen beach life with jeremiah for the first time and figuring out who she is and wants to be! by the end of the summer he admits he feels differently about her (hence belly internalizing this as The Summer I Turned Pretty) and they get together. this is already too much so i will just say that the next two books deal with a PROFOUND LOSS and the selfishness of grief and the SELFLESSNESS OF CONRAD and i will absolutely lose my shit if netflix picks it up for a second jenny han series adaptation. 

pappyland

this was a kids show in the 90′s that features a character named Pappy Drew-It, an artist dressed like a 49er who lives in a magic cabin in pappyland. there’s tons of characters and music and life lessons but the meat of every episode is a detailed drawing how-to (pappy is actually a cartoonist, michael cariglio) and i have a hard back cover sketch book from my grandpa that i FILLED with drawings that pappy and DOODLEBUG taught me to do. there is a running gag that pappy always breaks his crayons.  

boy meets world

i KNOW this is beloved by many but i’m counting it because i’m simply too young to have such an obsession with it! the show ran from 1992-2000. i was born in 1996, but reruns on the disney channel and abc family cemented it as one of my favorite shows. cory and shawn, closer than brothers, shameless homoromantics, shawn is cory’s first wife!!!!! truly showed me what a best friend can and should be!!!!!! the great love of your life!!!!! TOPANGA, the og weird feminist girl who said stop shaving your legs and start speaking your mind, ladies! the characters are so richly developed that they are real people to my heart. YES every character on this show is in their late 30s-early 40s and YES i feel like we grew up together. in season one they’re in the 6th grade and we follow them all the way to COLLEGE. countless poignant life lessons, often literally dictated by the wise and hilarious MR. FEENY, cory’s next door neighbor and somehow one of his teachers for YEARS. my love was only solidified by the 2014 girl meets world reboot, centered on cory and topanga’s daughter and her best friend. (which was literally cancelled because disney didn’t want to transition from a kids show to a teen show, something essential to the original. also because that teen show would have had CANON LESBIANS. extremely shameful move in 2017!) boy meets world lives rent free in my heart and i will never evict it!!!!!!!

i consulted my mother when i got stumped for more and she reminded me that i had obsessions with the impressionist art period and babies and ANYTHING fairies or pixies, and i was way too young when my love of the canadian teen after school special degrassi began. she also said bob ross, which i was hesitant to include because he’s been super ~trendy in recent years, but to be fair (To Be Faaairrr) she’s right! i don’t think people really watched the joy of painting as much as i have throughout my life. best sick day show of all time.

lastly i could honestly list anna herself as a niche interest, my mom actually metioned that ive always hyperfixated on my girl friends (gay) but i’ll just note that YES friday night lights, YES barry lyga novels. love to share so many things with you, niche or not, they’re niche in Our Mind.

[sealers100]

PART 2: A (brief) review of every Donald Sutherland movie (so far)

Wowee welcome back. Yes I’m still on this shit and I intend to finish it because this is probably the most fun I’ve had in quarantine apart from working night shift at a waffle house. (I wish I was kidding) I will admit this one might not be as long as the last post but I promised to deliver so here we go for part two.

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors

I had way too much fun with this movie! The story was unique and entertaining with a creepy twist without being so scary I can’t sleep at night. It’s got not only Donald, but also Sir Christopher Lee AND Peter Cushing! Like you can’t get any more badass than that. The acting is pretty great and the music goes hard (there’s a whole segment about a musician and I’m nerding out). Donald is maybe 29 or 30 years old and its one of his earliest (his 4th) film credit and oh goodness his segment is just too much. This is definitely a must see for any Hammer Film fanatics or Sutherland fans, You’ll love it!

The Dirty Dozen

Talk about a throwback to my childhood. Again an old army movie I remember watching with my parents (however watching it again I probably shouldn’t have). The movie itself its great if your into things like Tora Tora Tora! and Kelly’s Heroes. Not a whole lot of Donald in it but what we do get it so worth it. For a “serious and professional” actor, he plays silly and weird soooooo well. I will admit this one isn't nearly as lighthearted as Donald’s scenes might make it seem. It’s an actual war movie with heavy emotions and lots of violence and is quite sad at the end (no spoilers don’t worry). It might not be one to make you cry but you can’t help feeling bad for his character. Personally I loved it but its a classic in my household so I’m a bit biased. 

Start The Revolution Without Me

I quite literally choked on my coffee watching this one. Gene Wilder and Donald made a surprisingly hilarious pair and it worked so well!!! I already can’t get enough of Gene so of course this one is probably one of my all time favorite movies across the board. Basically its a switched at birth situation and takes place during the french revolution. I won’t give away too much but if you liked anything by Mel Brooks you’ll love this one. I really can’t say much without spoiling the funny bits but if you’re having a bad day, do what I did and curl up in your onesie with a bag of popcorn and let the laughter ensue.

Act of the Heart

(tw: self harm/suicide mention) Let me start out by telling you how hard it was fro me to find this damn movie and how ecstatic I was when I finally got to sit down and watch it. For anyone who doesn’t know me, my background is in vocal performance and I did a lot of work with the episcopal church in college as a soloist for churches, weddings, events and stuff so getting to see Donald as a CONCERT DIRECTOR just made my little heart explode. I was constantly geeking out at the musical parts and even got a bit of concert anxiety for the main character, Martha Hayes. She falls in love with him but of course he’s a priest (again) but this time he actually leaves the ministry for her. The movie itself is good (and the music gets my seal of approval as well) but there’s a quite a bit of triggering stuff so this one might be a bit difficult to watch for some. I will say some of these movies are quite hard to find and I had to scour the interwebs for them so if anyone wants a watch for anything on either of these lists, don’t be afraid to message me.

Little Murders

Okay so this one will be quite short because Donald is in it for a whole 10 minutes but he should have gotten a fucking oscar for it because I have never been so amazed and shocked by one of his roles as I was with this one. The movie is great if you’re into Elliot Gould (and his hair omg). But jesus Donald stole the ENTIRE MOVIE for that one brief scene. You can find clips of it on youtube just go watch it. Hell I’ll probably post it on my blog later. It’s honestly the best thing ever, and I want it played at my wedding. 

Steelyard Blues

What is it with directors and casting Jane Fonda as a prostitute? I’ll never know but Donald probably had a hand in that decision because he’s the executive producer. The movie is not great by any means but its definitely not boring. Again something about him being silly and dumb he just does so well and its so jarring in this one how silly he can get. I quite enjoyed it actually and its a real change of pace for him because while I like his character, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for him like I did for character’s like Casanova. I mean really he doesn’t hold back in portraying Jesse Veldini as an absolute fucking moron but I think we’re supposed to laugh at his misfortunes because they genuinely are funny (I think I just like watching him suffer) And it’s really entertaining. Again, I think Donald could have easily had a career as comedic actor but it’s nice to see how easily he can switch moods.

S*P*Y*S*

Another Donald and Elliot movie and this one is pretty hilarious too. (I’m loving these funny feel good movies) The two of them are CIA spies who aren’t stupid but definitely got the short stick in their agreement with the Russians. The plot makes sense but the way it’s gone about doesn’t really click. The Dynamic between him and Elliot is always fantastic and fun to watch so it makes up for the lack of sense this movie makes. Sorry this one couldn’t be longer but there would be much to say without writing a synopsis and I’m too tired to do that for any of these.

Day of the Locust

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! I mean jesus christ this movie was a horror show. The film itself is fine, its a great movie, but oH mY GoD!!!! Let me start by saying I didn’t watch the final scene with him in this movie because its fucking brutal and I just knew it wasn’t gonna be the kind of thing I’d needed to see. (Or anyone) Yeah I’d issue a few trigger warnings for this movie. OKAY so Donald’s character is named Homer Simpson (I’m not kidding) and my god I thought I had low self esteem, he’s literally the saddest most miserable and lonely character I think I’ve ever seen him play and he gets used by Faye Greener (Karen Black) who can go sit on a cactus for all I care, I hate that she’s the main character and the way she treats Donald is HORRIBLE AND I HATE IT. God this movie messed me up for a straight week afterward and I’m still not over it. He cries a lot in this one and just stooooooop please I can’t take it I know his character isn't accurate to the book its based on but it just makes me feel bad for him seeing Donald’s character slowly being destroyed by the toxic people around him icanttakeitanymoremovingon.

The Eagle Has Landed

I don’t know the first thing about the animosity between the Irish and the English all I know is that they don’t get along sometimes and Donald’s character this time is I think a NAzi SymPathizer?? I could be wrong but he does help them try to kidnap Winston Churchill (weird). There’s a strangely deep romance between him an a 19 year old girl (uh?) but it doesn’t really come to fruition. Overall it’s a hell of a spy movie and with fantastic performances from Robert Duvall (no I wasn’t able to recognize him) and Michael Caine. It’s a fun movie and Donald’s accent is of course, awful (just the way I like it) and steals the show yet again. 

The Disappearance 

Interesting fact, Celandine (the main character’s wife) is actually played by Donald’s real life wife, Francine Racette. So it makes for quite an interesting dynamic between the two characters that feels very realistic. This is a hitman movie that takes place in I think Montreal (hard to imagine a lot of Canadian hitmen) And has a surreal feeling about it through the whole movie. Again this was a difficult one to find at first and there is actually two version. One being 80 minutes and the other being 100min. I’m not sure why it was split like this but I’ve seen both versions and they aren’t missing anything they’re just structured differently. It does feel a bit weird watching love scenes knowing that she is is actual wife but it does feel very realistic. Overall the movie is pretty good if you want to see lots of him and his wife. Don’t worry I’m sure their relationship is a lot better than what’s portrayed in the film! 

National Lampoon’s Animal House

If you don’t know the story of Donald and this film, here it is. He was originally offered 2% of the films earnings to be in it. Thinking it would be a flop, he refused and asked for his usual flat rate of 45,000. The film was a his and his 2% could have easily been upward of 1.2 million, and this was back in 1978. He later quoted this as one of his biggest regrets of his career. Overall his scenes are quite short but oh so funny. (This list is either very serious or very funny) I like to imagine he put a lot of himself into this role. I definitely had some professors like him in college.

Threshold

Come to think of it, I watched this one so long ago I think I forgot to put it on the last list I did. I was really surprised by how genuine this movie felt. Like everyone really put a lot into this movie but it didn’t get nearly the recognition it deserved. Its a medical drama so that probably why, but it’s got an adorably young Jeff Goldblum and I can’t help but love him and Donald in every scene they’re in together. They play off each other pretty well most of the time and I didn’t really see anything wrong with this film other than it might have been on the lower end of filming budgets but it wasn’t a bad movie. It deserved better.

Ordeal by Innocence

I wish I could say the same for this movie. On it’s own its an alright film. On it’s own the soundtrack is fine too. But when the put the two together It was jarring as hell. The acting and story were okay and could have been fine alone but the soundtrack really broke any chance this film had of being taken seriously. I would have loved to seen it just on it’s own. Donald’s character is for once a genuine kind of ass that I really don’t like but it’s Agatha Christie, all her characters are assholes. This film really had potential but it shot itself point blank in the foot with the music.

A Time to Kill

Jumping forward to the 90′s, this movie is a classic based on a John Grisham novel and wow did I get invested! Donald isn’t in the film a whole lot but he does feel like an integral part of the plot and I really enjoyed him and Matthew Mcconaughey on screen together. Along with Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock. This movie is just fantastic and I normally don't like court dramas. Now what’s also interesting that not only is Donald in this one but so is Keifer. Sadly these two don’t share any scenes together and I don’t think they really got to work on set together except maybe once. Also Keifer’s character is a horrible racist. If anyone gets in your face about confederate flags being “heritage, not hate” show them this movie, Kiefer will take care of that one..

Space Cowboys

And last but not least, possibly my favorite one on this list. Everyone in this movie has the best film dynamic!! It’s funny, it’s endearing, and even kinda sad at times. The whole film feels genuine between all the lead characters, especially with them al being easily over the age of 65. As for Donald, He’s a smooth talking, dirty old man who hits on anything that moves but I’m sorry it just cracks me up. I don’t think this one should be taken too seriously but I just can’t help but fall in love with this movie. Cowboys, Space, Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones mean-mugging while Donald laughs and chases after women just makes my day. 

Okay this one might have been a good bit longer than the last one so the reviews had to be a bit shorter this time. I would do some research for a lot fo the more serious film on these two lists just because I don’t have the time to issue trigger warnings for every film. I may put out a part three, at least I’m going to try to but I’m working 12 hour days lately so I don’t have as much time to watch stuff as I used to but I’m sure some of your guys do. If you’re having trouble finding a film don’t be afraid to let me know and I’ll do my best to hook you up with some *quality* content. I know I’m having a hell of a hard time finding his older credits and the movie Blood Relatives (at least a version in english) Let me know what you guys think, if you agree or disagree with my opinions. Have fun watching!

[celawrites]

Day 20

It’s 3am when I get a call from someone. I’m half asleep and I answer the call. At first I don’t hear anything. But the quiet sniffing from the other side of the line wakes me immediately.

“Z?”

“I-I’m sorry it’s j-just I don’t have anyone else to t-talk to”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here for as long as you need”

The sniffing on the line stayed there, and the silence that lingered provided a sense of comfort for him. Eventually, his ragged breathing turned into soft snores, and only then did I hang up. He had another anxiety attack. It happened pretty often considering that his brother had the grades of a genius. The unspoken pressure cracks down on him at the worst of times. He was lucky to have someone to talk to, plenty of people don’t have anyone.

I fall asleep again shortly after. It’s 6am when I wake up again. My morning passes like normal, and I head out again. Not before checking up on Z though.

Clown: How are you? Are you feeling better?

Z: Yea Thank you

Clown: Get ready We’re dropping by McDonalds in a bit

Z: Just me?

Clown: Of course

Read at 6:09

The drive to his house is silent. I don’t play any music, it doesn’t seem fitting to do so. I find him waiting in front of his driveway, pacing around.

“Hey”

“Hi”

“Sorry about last night. I didn’t have anyone else to call, and I kinda-”

“Stop apologizing. We all have our moments. I’m glad you trust me enough”

“Who do you call? You seem so calm, yet I’m pretty sure you’re the most turbulent”

I pause. Then I realize that most of the time, I calm myself down by falling asleep.

“Do you not call anyone?”

“No. I usually end up falling asleep after a while. They’re not that bad”

“It’s good to have someone to talk to. Your words not mine” Z hums.

“Eh. I would rather keep things to myself. I don’t like calling people at 3am.”

“You could call my brother.”

“He isn’t empathetic enough”

“He’d kill you if he heard that”

“I’d let him. Easier for all of us”

“Pfft”

When we get to McDonalds, he orders an oreo Mcflurry, and I only grab two cups of coffee.

When we get to school, Madison is already flirting with Sun again. He speeds over when he sees the coffee I’m holding.

“Cress you lifesaver” he mumbles, grabbing his cup.

“Only for you”

“I feel like I’m taking advantage of you”

“sUNNNN” Madison rushes over. I hear a quiet ‘and there goes my peace’

“Did you grab anything for me?” Madison asks. I hand her a chocolate pastry.

“Thank you!” her voice is sickenly sweet. It nearly makes me throw up my coffee.

“So Sun! Are you free this Friday? I wanted to catch up with you, and I’m only here for a week and I wanted to know if there was anything new in your life. Oh you should give me your number! That way we can call even when I’m not here” Madison rambles.

Sun shoots me a pleading look of save me and I stifle a laugh. “I’m hanging out with Cress this Friday. She mentioned something about a new cafe around here”

At this point, I’m borderline dying. “Mhm. You can skip though. I’m sure you two have alot of catch up on”

“No no! You’ve been talking about the cafe so much lately, I’ve actually grown rather curious about it.” Sun saves himself.

“Alright-”

“Can I join you two then? I mean it’s not a date right?” I laugh when she asks. Sun only glares at me.

“What if it is?”

“Then you’ll third-wheel!” She grinned. I cackle.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t come.”

“Why? I mean you still like me right?” He pauses while I finish the last of my coffee.

“I’m not too sure anymore. You’ve changed” I scoff. She hasn’t changed one bit. If anything, she’s manifested and become even worse. But I suppose that’s also change.

“But I’m still the same person! You like me!”She whines. “Give me this week to prove to you that I’m still the same person!”

Sun doesn’t say anything in response, and she takes that as a silent yes. The first bell rings, and I wander off to my first period. There’s a lot of things that happen today, but my favorite has to be during lunch.

Turns out Madison came back because she was suspended from college for plagiarism. I wonder what. This came out of the conversation from lunch.

“Did you hear? Madison got kicked out of college?” It’s my table during lunch today.

“I heard she plagiarized someone else’s work. She failed to prove that she was the writer Serenity”

“What book did she try to plagiarize?”

“I think it was Canadian shenanigans.  I wonder why she wasn’t able to prove herself. I mean, we saw her post the book chapter by chapter. I hope her appeal works”

“She’s Serenity?” I pipe up.

“Yeah. She was talking about how her book was finally getting the recognition that she deserved last year. But Serenity had never shown her face so we actually aren’t sure that she’s her but we currently have the most evidence that’s for her.”

“Oo” I’m dying inside. All my books were published under the name Serenity and the only piece of evidence that proves I’m her is the award that was shipped to me. It sits on top of my desk to this day.

“I know right! I can’t believe she wasn’t able to prove it!” Another girl whines.

“I hope she gets her appeal, I have a signed edition from her. It’d be a shame if she had actually plagiarized.” Pebble mumbles. “The book was really well written. It almost reminded me of your short story from 8th grade”

“Hilarious. I wouldn’t name myself Serenity, not to mention that I don’t have the tolerance to publish a book”

“Hm. Anyways, did you hear? Sun has a new crush apparently. Danny forced it out of him but he never got the name”

“Really?”

They carry off in the conversation and I head back to my locker. In the corner of my eye, I spot Madison cornering Sun and trying to force a kiss on him. My face contorts in disgust before I wander over.

“Hey Sun!” His body visibly relaxes.

“Cress. I was wondering when you were gonna join me.”

“Sorry, the girls were discussing something interesting”

“Hm? What was it about?”

“Serenity. The author. You didn’t tell me you were her Madison!” She gives me a smile, a smile that looks like she’s lying.

“Sorry! It’s just I only told the students here and I didn’t want to draw too much attention”

“Oh, that’s cool though! I really hope your new work does well!” She freezes. She probably hasn’t been keeping up with the blog’s post. I had posted that I had a work in progress and a short clip of the book. My followers are hilarious, almost immediately jumping to conclusions.

“Ah thank you! I have big plans for it” She beams. Sun drags me off and we start to wander around the grass area.

“I like you” My cheeks flush red and my eyes wander to the ground.

“You sure you’re not saying so that I would get a way out?”

“Your fault for saying that we were hanging out on Friday. There isn’t even a new cafe around here”

“We’ll find one that you’ve never been to then”

“Why do you care so much? The girl you like finally likes you back. Shouldn’t you be over the moon right now”

“Would it be selfish to say that I want to stay on the moon?” I actually don’t realize the weight of those words until the last day.

“Go further. Go on a date with her. You liked her for so long, and you chased after her for so long, don’t be weird.”

“I stopped liking her”

“Who do you like now? Is it Steph? Omg she’s really cute you should totally ask her out”

“I can’t with you”

“Neither can I”

The bell rings and we rush back to the building. Class ends quickly and soon, I’m in bed at 6pm.

3am.

I wake up and scREAm. I’m craving many things and one of them is affection. Curse me for being single.

I wander out of bed, and get ready for McDonalds.

Clown: MCD?

Read at 3:37am

I wander off to McDonalds, carry in a conversation with the employee, and head to my school to vibe. Soon, the sun starts to rise.

Previous : Masterlist : Next

[trashboatprince]

My thoughts on Dreams Come to Life:

Heavy on spoilers, but vague enough that I don’t reveal too much. Please heed the warning of spoilers

-The book is good, not the most perfect book I’ve ever read, but through the context of narration it makes sense that it’s a bit on the wonky side of reading. We are reading someone’s story and how he’s struggling to write it for a variety of reasons

-The two infamous scenes of Sammy being a racist sexist are... strange. The contexts in full are not as bad as you’d think. Remember, this is through Buddy’s eyes, so he is going off of what another person’s comment was in regards to race and gender when watching Sammy being sexist. I’m not excusing his actions, but you really need the full context of the scene

          -To me, it seems very fitting that Sammy being so casual with names is him trying to be friendly, and failing horribly at it, and Tom and Ms. Lambert aren’t having any of that crap. They know he wants something and when they deny him, he storms off in both instances. Maybe he is a sexist racist, or he’s terrible at being chummy to get what he wants, either way he is an asshole 100% throughout the book. And I mean that in a big way.

         -I do not condone his actions, he’s bad, but as you read, you start to understand where his anger comes from. Still, no excuse for being a dick, but then again, we don’t have much evidence of him being the world’s best employee... yeesh.

-The lack of in-game characters is interesting and I have some thoughts on that.

          -Shawn, Grant, Lacie, and Jack are never seen or mentions and probably for a good reason. Grant is in a totally different department and I doubt that Buddy, even as a gofer for the art department, would have any reason to go down to the financial offices of the studio with art stuff. If he had a budget sheet, maybe, but he’s probably just give it to the secretary. Lacie is not mentioned because Bendyland is mentioned, but only about three times, and even then it’s only a big deal twice, she’s an employee, but they haven’t started construction yet. Jack? Buddy only really mentions two people from the music department, and probably had no idea who Jack was anyway. Shawn, ah, I remember people being pissed he’s not mentioned, but Joey states that, during a party, all production of Bendy productions, cartoons, ect. will be in house, so Shawn is working somewhere else at this time.

-As for Susie? She’s gone, but mentioned, and there is a reason that Joey soon gives her a call near the end of the book.

-The race thing with Thomas is interesting. It’s never outright stated that he’s black, and honestly? This can be taken into a lot of different areas if you think about it. When he mentions the someone like me thing, it could be for him being black, Asian, Latino, Native America/Canadian, Irish, or being from a poor family even due to classiest assholes still being a big issues at this time (with Buddy makes reference to several times). It’s vague enough to keep your headcanons in check, don’t worry.

-Allison is a different story

-Thomas’s anger is completely understandable throughout this, he was robbed and screwed over big time.

-Joey is... a flip flop of personality, just like we saw in the tape in Chapter Four. He’s a good boss, he’s your buddy, he’s suddenly a threat, he hates you, he uses you, he clearly has issues that he doesn’t know how to deal with

-Norman is weirdly chatty and it’s hilarious.

-Speaking of Norman, hoo boy, I know a lot of people were steamed about what happened to him, but in the context of the lack of souls due to the ink, it makes sense for his behavior as the Projectionist. He’s literally a soulless corpse, brought back through crazyass magic experiments, probably, it makes sense why he acts as he does. He’s not Norman anymore, just his corpse.

-It’s a lot more violent than I thought, and unsettling

-Joey is stuck in an illusion and has trouble getting out of it. He’s got moments of clarity, but not that often. And it’s creepy how he seems to view Buddy in a light of ‘you’ll be better than him’ and ‘I’m not happy with your background but I’ll suck it up to keep playing you the fool’

-The stuff with the holocaust was an interesting take and not done in a bad way. It’s handled with respect. Buddy’s reaction about being Jewish is good, especially for the time period, he’s gonna be on the defensive, there are probably still a lot of people in New York who hate his people, the US was terrible about it pre, during, and post-war.

-Bertrum is there and the whole scene is unsettling, to say the least, I feel like it’s a fake thing, for appearances, but who knows 

-Dot knows more than she lets on and I feel like it connects with the new game. We’ll see.

-What happens to Buddy might piss off a lot of people, especially in regards to Wally (who is seen and heard in the book, but as the only janitor, he’s not seen often enough by Buddy), but this series is known for red herrings so take it with a big pinch of salt.

-8 outta 10, love the story, wish it had a little more meat to it in terms of context and explanation of content at times, but Buddy has memory problems after what happens to him, he even forgets what he was writing at one point, so it makes sense

-Please support the book

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 7 Review: Flying South Like the Birdies

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Synopses: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

We open with a conversation between Alison and Raxl about the death of Dr. Menkin. Mostly, this is repeating what we already know for the benefit of the original viewers who missed the previous two episodes, but not entirely. I just realized that Alison didn’t learn of Dr. Menkin’s death in either Episode 5 or 6. (I had to re-watch part of Episode 5 and skim over Debby Graham’s synopsis of Episode 6 to confirm this.) So this is also an important scene for her, one that augments the fear she has begun to feel on the island, even if, unlike Raxl, she does not yet believe in the supernatural forces that make Maljardin, as the immortal housekeeper says just before the opening, “the Garden of Evil.”

We also get an unintentionally funny moment where Raxl shouts “THAT DEVIL!” and the camera quickly zooms in to the portrait of Jacques Eloi des Mondes with some thunder and lightning for emphasis. Then Alison freaks out as she realizes that Jacques put the dream from last episode inside her head. It’s not clear if she is more frightened by the possibility that Jacques will kill her or by the fact that she is sexually attracted to a dead man who looks exactly like her brother-in-law.

Alison: “The dream was so real! This island...it IS evil! I have to get away, back to reason. Away from HIM!"

*flashing lightning and wailing theremin*

Colin Fox, by the way, isn’t in this episode, so, just like the previous Foxless episode, the focus is primarily on the subplots. In the next scene, we cut away to the French Leave Café, where Boring Artist Tim is hanging out with Vangie Abbott (Angela Roland). Now, even though Vangie first appeared on the show in the second episode, I wanted to wait a while to introduce her, mostly because I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started writing these massive blog entries and got overwhelmed early on by all the things I wanted to cover. But now that things are slowing down and she’s starting to become relevant to the plot, I will write a little about her.

Vangie, who owns the café, is a psychic who uses tarot cards to divine the future. She usually provides a lot of detail as to what individual cards mean, connecting them to specific characters and not always using the more well-known trump cards/Major Arcana to represent them. This indicates that Ian Martin probably did a significant amount of research on tarot cards and their meanings before writing about them. (Contrast with Dark Shadows, which mainly featured the same few cards--especially the Tower of Destruction--over and over and usually interpreted them literally.[1] I admittedly haven’t done much research on the tarot (although I intend to in the near future for this blog), so I’ve learned quite a bit about different cards’ meanings from Vangie’s dialogue. There’s a lot more that I could say about her character, but this is about all I can say for now without spoiling anything.

Well, I could also mention her quirky fashion sense and distinctive sing-song alto voice. (That’s Boring Artist Tim on the right, by the way.)

A screenshot of Vangie’s outfit from Episode 2.

Hundreds of miles away, we find the Reverend Matt Dawson at Westley House seeking word of the whereabouts of 20-year-old teenager Holly. He visits her roommate Dinah Heath[2] (Trudy Young), a young hippie who only appears in this episode, but who is the best thing about it. Truth be told, I wanted to write this entire post about just Dinah, but changed my mind when I re-watched the episode and remembered that Vangie was in it, too. Dinah is really fun and probably my favorite of the One-Episode Wonders: characters who only appear in one episode, but who are memorable for the right reasons. Dr. Patton from Episode 4 is another favorite one-episode character of mine, as is Claude from an episode months in the future (although my opinion is largely based on how I imagine him, because so far I have only read that episode’s synopsis and watched the accompanying slideshow).[3] And she totally takes the piss out of Matt when he comes to question her.

At the start of the scene, Dinah is jamming out in her room to some music while smoking. It looks like a cigarette, but it’s probably meant to be a joint, because she acts stoned during the entire scene.

Matt knocks on the door and she jumps off her bunk and immediately starts fanning the air to try to get rid of the pot smell. I love the ironic “please keep off grass” sign.

Matt doesn’t even need to mention Holly for her to know that he plans to ask about her. Dinah just outright says “she isn’t here” while smirking and posing with her hand on her hip.

Cue an exchange full of awkwardly-delivered 1960s slang as Dinah clarifies that he wants to know “why’d she split” and he accuses her of “trying to put [him] on.” I’m not sure how current the slang would have been when the episodes were written, but, considering that the writer was in his fifties at the time, probably not very.

She goes over to her desk to brush her hair while Matt continues questioning her. She denies knowing where Holly is, so he says patronizingly, “I admire your sense of loyalty, but there are times when it could hurt Holly rather than help her.” I might believe him if I didn’t already know that he had the hots for Holly.

More awkward slang. Dinah is still pretending to ignore him.

Matt’s horrified reaction when she says what we know from Episode 3. “Uh-oh,” he’s probably thinking, “she’s onto me.”

Definitely onto him!

Matt so wants the pretty young chicks at Westley House to see him as a groovy, happenin’ padre with all the hip slang he uses.

When he finally gets her to “level” with him, she tells him, “All I know is that she’s flying south like the birdies. Way down south. Has to be. Air alone costs $163.75 [$1,148.24 in 2019 USD, or $1,124.03 in 2019 Canadian dollars].” He asks how she got that money, and Dinah responds, “Saved some. We all chipped in with the rest.” So they all think that he’s a creep, enough to fund her escape from him.

She grabs this huge teddy bear and starts drumming on it. She’s not even trying to conceal that she’s stoned.

She means "vampire” figuratively, but I imagine this line was added to try to hook any DS fans tuning in. It would have admittedly been so awesome if Mrs. Marshall had turned out to be a literal vampire.

Stalker!

We next see Holly at the French Leave Café, trying to order a drink but getting turned away from the bar because she’s underage. How can they even tell? No one cards her before turning her away and Sylvia Feigel looks 27 at the youngest. Hell, I’m 26 years old, look younger than Holly does, and no one ever cards me when I buy alcohol. I could see them turning someone like Dinah away without carding her because she definitely looks under 21, but Holly? Really?

Holly does not look 20.

She has a meet-cute with Tim, followed by a free tarot reading courtesy of Vangie. Without her saying anything about her life, the psychic reveals that she knows Holly’s future:

Foreshadowing!

She also knows that a man has begun stalking her, but not his identity. “What are you running from Holly, and who is the man running after you?” she asks before the scene cuts to Matt telling Elizabeth Marshall that her daughter ran away. Soon after, the conversation shifts to his attraction to Holly. While stalkers are always creepy regardless of their age and the age of the stalkee, the way they talk about Holly makes it sound like the Reverend is interested in a teenager:

Because Reverend Dawson isn’t already gross enough with his stalking, smarmy demeanor, romantic interest in a just barely former ward, and offbrand Reverend Trask accent.

Elizabeth threatens to “fix” both him and Holly and leaves to track Holly down on her own. Then we get a short, unnecessary filler scene of Raxl and Alison before the credits.

In the next episode, THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES returns and Dan meets up with Vangie to do some more research regarding Jacques’ identity. Stay tuned!

Notes

[1] I’m not disparaging Dark Shadows here. I love both shows; I just wanted to point out that the Dark Shadows writers probably did less research on the tarot. Either that, or they just loved the Tower of Destruction. In any case, they used the Tower of Destruction so excessively that sometimes even thinking of that card is enough to send me into giggling fits. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have an odd sense of humor.)

[2] Ian Martin seems to have been fond of the name Dinah for girls and young women. Eight years later in 1977, he used the name again for the 12-year-old protagonist of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater episode “The Child’s Cat Paw,” played by a young Sarah Jessica Parker. It isn’t his best CBSRMT episode, but I still recommend it.

[3] Coincidentally, the episode with Claude also features the introduction of Susan, another Trudy Young character who plays a major role in the show’s final arc. I haven’t seen any full episodes after 130 yet because they’re not on YouTube, but I’ve read all the synopses. Someday I will watch the second Desmond Hall arc, and I can only hope that the Claude scene on the show is as romantic as it is in my head cinema. (It probably isn’t, given that David Wells' other character Cort is hilariously badly acted (if very, very cute), but perhaps Wells’ acting was better when he played Claude.)

ETA 6/22/2020: I just watched Episode 133 this evening (got the DVDs now) and I loved the scene with Claude. I’m not kidding. Surprisingly, David Wells’ acting as both Claude and Cort is decent in the episode--and, after re-watching the first Desmond Hall arc, I can say that his acting improves over time and is even occasionally good. I’ll write much more about Cort later on (this isn’t the right entry for it), but I will say that not all Cort episodes are created equal.

  { <-- Previous: Episode 6, Part II   ||   Next: Episode 8 --> }

[michin--yeoja]

Hi again ^^ Sorry I'm still anon and haven't been responding. I got hit with a huge wave of work and have barely slept the last few days. But it's all over now and I'll get your gift to you soon!! Biotech is essentially trying to make a biological product! It's a huge field so there's a lot of things from like pharmaceuticals, cell therapy, to things like bio-remediation and environmental stuff. Your genetics teacher might be thinking about bioinformatics which is biotech and a lot of coding XD

But good luck with applying to med school! If that’s your dream there are always ways to make it work! I believe in you ^^ Oh I’m from around the New England area. I did my undergrad in New Jersey and now I’m doing my master’s in Rhode Island. Yes I studied in Stockholm! I traveled to the more touristy areas of Europe because I’ve never been to Europe, but I really wanna just take a backpacking trip around one day. There’s so many different places to go TT And so much foooooood      

I have been to Taiwan a few times! It’s been a while though. Most of my mom’s side of the family is back there, but my dad’s side of the family is in the US. I have a younger sister! Haha I know what you mean about being asked where you’re from though. When I was abroad I’d get asked where I’m from and I’d say the US, but then one person was like “but where are you REALLY from”. Honestly I also feel pretty out of touch with Taiwanese culture even though I have some habits. I really feel American       

I saw True Love but I haven’t had time to hear the whole thing! That’s my weekend goal. But I believe City of Angels (lol laser) was the one he sang at the fanmeet so I’m already in love with that one. So good TT And he wrote that one himself

It was only Myung in the Winter Olympics one! It’s understandable though, there were so many groups in the summer competition one and Infinite was a little neglected imo. But they still managed to get me with hamster gyu and like 5 seconds of Destiny lol. Actually MBLAQ was in this ep too! Lee Joon and Kwangsoo make the most amazing combo ever omg. I def miss the name tag eliminations though. They hardly do them anymore. I really liked the time period when they did creative versions of the game.   

Ohhhh I think I’ve heard of MBLAQ Goes to School. I should look into it haha. I’m always up for a laugh. Sesame player was amazing. Lol and those pranks XD I remember (I think it was Dongwoo) was like “when did this become a prank house” after that salt prank and I’m like lol only infinite. Can’t even safely eat food in their own home. These dorks.       

Ahhh tell me was so good. I like Infinie’s old style of music but I like this kind of softer edm music too. It’s like the stuff I usually like to listen to lol. Idk if that was a good description of the song but that’s kinda how I see it lol. And Sunggyu and Dongwoo were so good that comeback. Like that second verse was a Donggyu attack. I don’t know if I have a favorite concept from them really? They kind of have everything for every mood. But I have a running play list of their upbeat music.     

The stuff like Julia, Amazing, Lately, etc. I keep that playlist around when I’m having a hard time studying and stuff. It brightens my mood. As for english songs I kinda just….turn on the radio and find something I like haha. I don’t really have a preference with those. Ahhh I feel like I did a really bad job of getting to know you, I always just talk about myself haha. Tell me 5 random things that make you like or make you happy that you haven’t talked about!

Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry for taking forever and an age to reply back to you!!! I’m so sorry, and I don’t even have a good excuse like being busy with work, it’s just honest to goodness pure laziness on my part and not going on my laptop for forever. I hope you haven’t forgotten me and that you’ll reveal yourself!!

I hope you haven’t gotten busy again (you’re graduating this year right?). What are you focusing on in biotech? And I think you may be right about my professor meaning bioinformatics… I vaguely remember that term ^^;

You’ve certainly hopped around during your university years ^^ What countries did you visit in Europe? My parents surprised me by sending me to the UK for 2 weeks after my exams to join my sister there… It was amazing and I’ve always wanted to go there, but we ran out of time to hit everything we wanted to do. We couldn’t go to Ireland, which was my biggest disappointment. What is your most favourite memory from exchange? And what place did you like best?

I actually feel like a complete stranger… I don’t feel Canadian, Singaporean or Indian. I don’t really fit in any place completely, I’m a bit too traditional in Canada, too modern in India and Singapore… Well, I’m not exposed to the culture at all really. Funny thing… Singapore used to be not as well known when I was younger and I remember a kid trying to convince me it was part of the US. Even now, some people think it’s in India. The funniest is actually when I met Chinese international students, so many think that Singapore has only people of Chinese descent. When I explained that my dad’s family is from there and my mother from India, they thought my dad was Chinese.

What’s this whole City of Angels/Laser thing? I’ve seen mention of it, but I don’t get it… Did Sunggyu think the song was called Laser? (This shows up much I keep up with them, except for their music ^^;). You must have heard the album by now… So what’s your favourite? (Also, I didn’t know Sunggyu wrote that… Good to know and it makes me love it even more!)

Um… I think I started giffing around 2013 ish? Then I stopped while in uni, in fact my blog was basically inactive, and only just recently started fooling around on Photoshop again. I was quite atrocious in the beginning and am much fonder of my new stuff. But… I’m also quite lazy so I tend to not gif as much as I want to.

I 100% recommend MBLAQ goes to school. Joon and Mir are such jokesters. Sesame Player is still my favourite variety show to watch, all that screaming and backstabbing… And Sungyeol? He’s just too awesome. I would never have thought of injecting vinegar into bananas the way he did, that was a true genius move. Myungsoo’s, that was predictable, but that banana prank was just first class.

Do you prefer their upbeat songs more or is that just better to run to? My favourite upbeat song is Cover Girl… Have you heard the concert version where Sungyeol raps? I wish he would get a chance to do that in their songs, I think he raps pretty well.

I think we got to know each other pretty well? In fact, I too often think I wrote too much about myself.

5 things I like/make me happy… Hmm…

1. Being with my family - yes, we fight a lot, but we’re also really close and really stupid… My mother is crazy, my father is bullied… They’re what I missed most in uni.

2. I love airports/airplanes! As a child, I used to wish I could live in one ^^

3. Good books and movies… I love reading, but it’s so rare for me to find writing and plot that suits my taste. When I do, I devour the author’s entire works.

4. This is dorky… But I love learning ^^ Maybe it has to do with feeling smart? I love watching Jeopardy, especially if I get the answers right, but also to learn new facts.

5. I love puns… I quite literally cry with laughing over some of them.

Also, last post, but I saw your rant and I hope you’re feeling better :( I get the being introverted thing too. I’m pretty reserved and I like my alone time–there’s nothing wrong with it! I’m sorry you had to listen to all of it TT Please be happy!

Thank you for this! Ahh… Tumblr is my place to rant, but I tend to get over my anger quickly.                 

[thedarkenedkeeper]

Meet the JSE Community

Figured I'd give this, @no-strings-puppet's meme/prompt list, a go because why not? Thought it'd be fun :)

1. Name, Age, Country? (I always like seeing country Cus it’s incredible how widespread the community is sometimes)

My name is Amanda, although my friends call me Mandy - or in the case of Tumblr, it's Dark or Keeper. I'm currently 21 and I'm a proud Canadian! ^-^

2. Appearance? (For all you artists you can draw some pictures of yourselves!!)

How I think I am:

versus how I actually am:

(the Halloween picture is the most recent)

3. Hobbies?

I LOVE to write stories, preferably dark ones, as well as do traditional drawings (I can't do digital art for shit). I tend to do one or the other while either listening to metal music or while watching a horror movie or TV show.

4. What is your dream job?

The goal is to hopefully become a horror author one day like Stephen King (he's my idol when it comes to writing). I adore writing and to be honest, believe it or not, my fanfic "Glitched" is my first ever attempt at writing horror. I'd also like to be a concept artist for movies or TV series.

5. What kind of shit would we find in your bag?

If we're talking the bag I carry with me no matter where I go, then there's a cloth for cleaning my glasses, EOS lip balm, my wallet, my phone, my house key, and a broken emery board. If we're talking my backpack, then there's a cloth for my glasses, lip balm, school textbooks, a notebook and pen, and an umbrella.

6. How would you describe your personality?

I'm creative, imaginative, and kind. I have a great sense of humour, and I'm introverted af. I mean, I'm REAL quiet, shy, and awkward when it comes to meeting new people. BUT that being said, if I think you're interesting and we hang out quite a bit, I will slowly but surely start to open up to you. And eventually, it'll get to the point where you won't get me to shut up about things XD

7. When did you find Jack’s channel?

Oh boy, story time! Okay, I think it was sometime in 2014 (?) I had found a video of Jack's here on Tumblr. I don't remember what the game was, but he was playing some sort of VR game and since I'd always been curious about VR, I watched it and in that moment I recognized his voice (the oldest out of my two younger brothers watched him constantly and all I knew him as was "the screaming and yelling Irish guy" XD). I watched the video, but for some reason, I didn't take any interest in him or what other videos he had. Keeping it brief, the last three years were shit for me, and in November of last year, my youngest bro showed me Ninja Sex Party's music video for "Cool Patrol". I got such a laugh out of it that I immediately was like "Okay, you know what, I'm going to go and watch Jack and Mark again. I'll give them another go, because there has to be a reason they're so popular - besides all of the gaming. There has to be something I'm missing". So I went and gave them both a second chance and I've been watching them every since.

Funny thing though - the second video I ever saw of Jack's - the video that sucked me in and got me really interested - was "Say Goodbye" XD It was mid-December, at midnight. I was in bed in my pitch-black room and decided to watch it. I had already heard about who Anti was, but boy, I did NOT expect what I saw that night XD

8. Put in order your top 3 favourite Egos!

Anti (of course), Schneeple, and Dapper (if he counts as an ego). If we're going by canon egos - egos that have been confirmed by Jack and have been acted out by him - then my 3rd would have to be Chase.

9. Favourite/ most nostalgic video/series of Jack’s to watch? (Multiple answers are fine, I know I’ll find it hard to answer)

Oh jeez...hmm...Well I haven't gotten around to watching REALLY well-known ones like "The Last Guardian" or "Night in the Woods" just yet. That being said, I REALLY love any playthrough that involves Jack voice acting. So series like "Undertale", "Kindergarten", "Fran Bow", and "Sally Face" are all favorites of mine. I love the games, but Jack's voice-work only manages to both bring the characters to life, as well as make games like "Kindergarten" incredibly entertaining and hilarious.

I'm also a sucker for his Evie/Eviebot/Evie A.I. videos. Those were some of the first videos I ever saw of his and I've never laughed so hard, oh my god XD

10. Would you describe yourself as an active member or a quiet member of the community? If you’re an active member, what is your favourite part of what you do? Do you write fanfiction? Fanart? Theories? Or do you just enjoy chatting with others? 

I suppose I'm somewhere in between. A majority of my blog is made up of reblogs and some random posts here and there. That being said, as of sometime in June (around the time of when the Antipocalypse started up), I actually got out of my shell and got involved in the community. I began making a few theories - which I still do sometimes - and nearing the oncoming storm that was August 3rd, I actually got the inspiration to write an Anti oneshot fanfic named "Broken", which later developed into my ongoing fic "Glitched". And as of last month, I have gotten into creating some Anti fanart. Granted, what with schoolwork and working on "Glitched", I haven't had much time lately to draw, but I do plan to make more artwork when I have the chance.

In summary, I'm usually quiet, but I do create some theories, fanfiction, and fanart from time to time. I also do enjoy chatting with people and making new friends in this wonderful community. There are so many nice people! :3

[angelsd0ntkill]

There are too many interesting things in the concert ask that I wanna answer so I’m doing them all. :^D

How many concerts have you been to? 28 so far.

Have you been to any festivals? Not any proper ones. I guess Paganfest was technically a festival, and same with Heavy Metal Heart, but they were small and indoors so idk.

Which artist/band have you seen the most live? Korpiklaani.

First concert you went to? My Chemical Romance.

Last concert you went to? Heavy Metal Heart 11 Day 2 (Winterthroned, Brymir, and Korpiklaani)

What is your next concert? Ensiferum.

Which artists/bands would you love to see live? Bands I wanna see again: Children of Bodom, Wintersun, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani (always), ALESTORM, BILLY TALENT, Iron Maiden, Nightwish, Arkona. Bands/Musicians I wanna see, period: AC/DC, Lady Gaga, Blackpink, Dalriada, Marina and the Diamonds, Nicki Minaj, The Pretty Reckless, WARMEN, That Poppy. And as I’ve said, I would have loved to see Michael Jackson, 2NE1, My Chemical Romance, Norther with Petri, Enska with Jari, and Tokio Hotel in the Scream or Humanoid era. Actually even Zimmer 483 era woulda been awesome.

The farthest you’ve traveled to go to a concert? Ehh... idk whether Guelph to Toronto or my current home town to Helsinki is a longer trip. The former took longer, but that could be coz of the bus route. I’m too lazy to look it up. Point is, I haven’t traveled very far at all for a concert.

Best opening act you’ve seen? Winterthroned wasn’t technically an opening act but they’re the only ones who come to mind. Eluveitie was pretty good, I guess. I liked them better live than I do otherwise (they opened for Bodom the first time I saw them).

Worst opening act you’ve seen? Whatever bands opened for Billy Talent the first time I saw them. I’ve never been a screamo fan, my dudes, and those headache-enducers did not help that fact.

Have you met any bands/artists at a concert? Not AT the concert, but afterwards, I’ve met all of Korpiklaani, Chris from Alestorm, Olli and Tuomas from Turisas, Masha and Vladimir from Arkona, and, if we’re counting the listening party, Teemu and Jukka from Wintersun.

What’s one thing you have to bring to a concert? Money to buy merch.

What’s the most you’ve paid for a ticket? $78 (Canadian) for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. (Side note: I looked through my tickets for this question and I’m dying @ the prices I’ve paid for shows there holy fuck metal bands have spoiled me..........)

Best concert you’ve been to? Most concerts I’ve been to have been AWESOME, but my first show will always stand out because it was the first, and it was my favourite band, and it was at the height of my love for them, and I still refer to it as a spiritual experience coz, well, that’s what it felt like. I’ve never felt such a connection to a crowd since, I’ve never had music touch my heart that way since, I’ve never felt that passion and whirlwind of emotion and sheer awe since.

Worst concert you’ve been to? Honestly, probably the first time I saw Children of Bodom. Not because the band or set-up was bad or anything, but because I got pulled down into the pit,grabbed by assorted people, a drunk man put practically all his weight on me and tried to kiss me??? and I had to punch him to get away, I got separated from the people I was with, and I ended up having to spend the whole show near the back, not even able to see the band. And this is literally all I remember from the show!! What songs did they play? What antics did they get up to? HELL IF I KNOW!!

Have you been in a social media post an artist posted after a show? YEAH, since moving back to Finland and making sure to be in the front as often as possible I’ve found myself in loads of after-show pics on Facebook. :D Also, when I saw Ensiferum and Finntroll in Canada, I was mentioned in a Finnish newspaper in Toronto coz they could see my Finnish flag. B) Not social media, but still cool.

Funniest concert memory? The singer of Winterthroned asked if we wanted to hear a joke and we were like YEAH and he was like it’s a bad one and I yelled EVEN BETTER and he applauded me and told the joke: “What does it say at the bottom of a Swedish swimming pool? ... Smoking Prohibited.” ... which I found hilarious for some reason. And the whole thing was so random I was just like lolwat. There are probably funnier things I’ve seen but this is so recent it’s the first thing that came to mind.

Do you buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale, after, or the day of? As soon as possible if it’s a band I love, maybe later if I’m not sure whether I want to/can go, but I never the day of, I don’t wanna risk it being sold out.

Have you ever been noticed by an artist at a concert? Hahaa, yeah. The Finnish flag got me noticed at the Ensiferum and Finntroll show by almost everyone in both bands. I was also front-and-center the first time I saw Korpiklaani at a tiny club in Toronto, so it was kinda hard not to get noticed. I also kinda tugged on Jonne’s hair to get his attention, whoops. I apologized after the show, though. :^D And at Paganfest I was also front-and-center and when Alestorm was setting up I got a fist-bump from Chris!

Have you met any internet friends at a concert? Not yet... :0c

Which concert that you’ve been to has had the best stage setup/production? Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s set-up was pretty boss. MCR’s was definitely impressive when they were touring for the Black Parade, too. I don’t usually pay that much attention to that, since it’s rarely a big deal at the shows I go to. :P

Have you ever caught a guitar pick, drumstick, got a setlist, etc.? I got Finntroll’s setlist when I saw them, and I’ve got picks from Korpiklaani, My Chemical Romance, and Wintersun. Also, when I saw Billy Talent in Finland, I CAUGHT AARON’S DRUMSTICK, but so did the 3 girls to my left, and since they were all there together, they won the tug-of-war. :(

Favorite concert venue? The Opera House in Toronto became a fast fave, and in Helsinki it’s Nosturi, followed by Virgin Oil Co., followed by The Circus.

Least favorite concert venue? The Sound Academy in Toronto annoys me for some reason. Also don’t really like Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki, but I’ve only been there once. I think it’s coz they’re both kinda inconveniently situated, and something about the layout, especially Kaapelitehdas.

Which do you prefer: indoor or outdoor concerts? Indoor.

Which do you prefer: clubs, theaters, arenas, or stadiums? Clubs.

Have you ever missed school or work to go to a concert? LMAO YES. Or, well, when I worked, I’d make sure to book that day or weekend off well in advance, but school? Lol, I was an excellent student, I can miss a day or an afternoon no problem.

Have you ever been surprised with tickets from someone? My mom got me a Billy Talent ticket for my 17th(?) birthday, but other than that, nope, I’m usually the one surprising others with tickets.

Who do you enjoy going to concerts with? Ehh, I’m used to going to concerts alone, so it kinda throws me off when I’ve gone with someone. It’s not bad, it’s just weird. Different. I haven’t gone to shows with anyone one person enough to answer this.

General admission or seated concerts? General admission.

Have you been to multiple dates for one tour? No. :(

Have you been to concerts 2 or more days in a row? No. :(

Have you ever received free tickets from a contest or an artist’s crew? Nope.

Have you been front row and/or back row for a concert? I always strive to be at the front, though sometimes (first time seeing Bodom, last time seeing MCR, only time seeing Stam1na) I started out in the front and either got forced to the back or had to shove my way there lest I have a panic attack and die or something.

Have you ever gotten sick, bruised, or broken a bone after a concert? I’ve probably caught a cold from waiting outside in below-zero temperatures wearing jeans, a tshirt, and a hoodie (ain’t nobody got time for coat check). And of course I’ve found mystery bruises. No broken bones, though.

Have you ever had surprise guests at a concert you attended? Jon Gallant from Billy Talent appeared on stage during the opening band’s set the last time I saw MCR. That was awesome. I knew the bands were friends, but I never saw that coming. :D

Did you start listening to an opening act after you saw them in concert? I really liked what little I heard of Valkeat, who opened for Wintersun. I also liked Winterthroned, though as I said, they weren’t technically an opening act. Both are on my “listen to more of” list.

What’s the latest you’ve got home from a concert? Whenever I went to concerts in Toronto, I’d have to crash at my dad’s place in Richmond Hill and then get home a.s.a.p. the next day if I had school or work, so... latest getting to my dad’s was probably 6:30 to 7:00 in the morning, and if we’re counting actually getting home then like... 11:00 to noon the next day? Haha.

When is the earliest you’ve arrived to a venue for a concert? 8 hours before doors.

Have you seen your favorite artist in concert? Yep, but I’d love to see them more!! Alas, I cannot, as they have broken up.

Longest you’ve waited in line for a concert? 8 hours. In rain and snow. Without a jacket or gloves. #YOLO

Have you ever attended a concert alone? Almost exclusively.

What’s the best part of a concert in your opinion?

Have you ever heard/seen an artist soundcheck before their show? Nope.

What’s the biggest venue you’ve been to a concert at? The Air Canada Center or the Molson Amphitheater. Not sure which one’s bigger.

What’s the smallest venue you’ve been to a concert at? Mod Club, the place in Toronto where I first saw Korpiklaani.

Have you ever had side stage seats? No.

Which venue have you been to the most concerts at? Nosturi, maybe?

Do you post a lot about a concert you’ve attended on social media or very little? I post pictures and might tell a story or two. :^D

Has a concert or tour you were planning on going to got cancelled? No.

Have you seen a band in concert before a member left the band / they broke up? My Chemical Romance for BOTH -- I saw them before Bob Bryar left and after, and obvs before they broke up altogether. Saw C.o.B twice before the Roope debacle, too. And I’m not sure about this, but is Aaron not touring with Billy Talent anymore? Oh, and I’ve seen Ensiferum before Emmi left. Well, other than that I’m not sure about line-up changes and whatnot.

Favorite song you’ve heard live? Probably “Famous Last Words” and “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish” by MCR.

Have you ever seen an artist/band play an album in full? My Chemical Romance played The Black Parade in full and came back and did a bunch of songs from the previous two albums.

Which artist would you refuse to see in concert? Uh. Anyone I don’t like?? Idk, there are some artists where I probably wouldn’t buy a ticket myself, but if someone wanted to take me, I’d go. It’s hard to think of specific bands/artists I would refuse to see. You couldn’t pay me enough to go to, like, a grindcore show or some screamo shit or techno/DM/whatever you call that nonsense my brother listens to. Oh, and obviously NSBM is completely out of the question.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has done at a concert you’ve been to? Crowd-surfing/stage-diving. I remember at Paganfest while Turisas was on security barely had to do anything, Warlord had that shit under control, he’d just toss bitches back into the crowd.

Which venue(s) would you love to go to for a concert? My favourites...? There aren’t really any special venues I’m dying to see, lmao.

Have you ever been to a concert at a venue that no longer exists? Not that I know of.

Have you ever lost something/got something stolen at a concert? I lost my bus ticket home at an MCR show which fucking sucked coz I was super low on money to begin with and I had to buy a new one using my Finland Fund. >.>

Have people made fun of you or laughed because of how you were acting at a concert? Ehh, one time I covered my nose coz someone behind me was smoking weed and the smell makes me nauseous and I kinda didn’t wanna throw up or pass out, and my boyfriend at the time got all huffy and annoyed and was like “grow up” and I said “you grow up” and rushed off and people laughed a bit, but more like in a “daaamn u fucked up” way imo.

Have you ever been kicked out of a concert? Nope.

Has an artist thrown or spit water on you? Nope.

Have you ever seen a security guard dance to a song at a concert? No.

Have you seen any acts you don’t like at a concert? Huntress and Ex Deo at Paganfest. -_-

Have you ever passed out or thrown up at a concert? No, thank the gods.

Have you seen any artists in concerts that you don’t like anymore? Nope!

[windyflatandcold]

Confirmed: Windy & Flat

So, if there’s one thing that I read online about Regina that is true, it’s the wind! It really seems to always be windy. While the first week was a nice warm summer and the wind just a nice addition to the heat, the wind is now turning to be chillier. It seems to me like fall is catching up with Regina.

In the meantime the second week of classes ends today. So far, I love my classes — the professors are great and the topics even better. Still, I am glad that I am only taking three classes. That way the workload is manageable and I, for once, don’t feel like I am completely drowning in assignments. I am taking one first year and two third year classes which also feels like a good mix. The third year classes remind me of our classes at home in content, structure, and requirements. While that is also true for the first year class, I also feel like it is going back to the basics more than I did in my academic writing class at home. But I actually think that this is a good thing since it’s always worth to refresh basic writing skills.

Apart from first classes, welcome week was also a thing. That’s not a very good sentence to start a paragraph with but still, it sums up what was going on. There were tons of events on campus: live music, an outdoor movie night, a campfire evening on Willow Island (in the nearby Wascana lake), booths of various societies and clubs and companies; there were free mini donuts (!!!) and also a week of special events in our residence, and of course international orientation. So, it’s been some busy two weeks of which I try to put together some photos to share in a different post.

On another note, I can also confirm another description which I found online: Saskatchewan really is flat. Yesterday, we went to Saskatoon to attend SaskExpo! It’s a fanexpo and considering that I will miss this year’s comic-con at home, I’m just glad I got to do something like it. The drive there was about two and a half, maybe three hours long. To me, that felt like an awfully long drive to go somewhere but as I learnt that’s not too far in Canadian terms. Which makes sense, after all, Canada is so much larger than Germany. At least I got a sense of what Saskatchewan looks like outside of Regina: farmland, scattered groups of houses here and there, and an incredible, endless, and beautiful view into the distance. The best part about the whole trip? An autograph by John Rhys-Davies (who misspelled my name, but that’s fine, he knew how to pronounce it after all). I have expected him to be as nice and kind as he was. I did not expect him to be as hilarious and funny as his panel turned out to be. He appears to be a genuinely kind and compassionate person with an amazing sense of humor. So, this was definitely an awesome end to the second week of classes. Now I should start working on essays, I guess…

[tallskinnyvanillalatte]

Castle Episodes (Season 7)

Season 7 it is, I’m almost done. The previous posts can be found here.

7x01 Driven: Let’s be honest - the moment they arrive at the scene, seeing Castle’s car up in flames, could be way more intense. Beckett is freaking out, yes, but there could be more emotions as well. Also with Alexis and Martha. I mean, they think that their father/son is in that car, they should be freaking out more. I understand that they can only focus on so many people - but still, this didn’t even take a minute. Great, now Beckett’s pretty dress is ruined. .. just imagine if they had made the title card say “Beckett” instead of “Castle” omfg. The moment when Espo gives Beckett a cup of coffee and she thinks it’s Castle for a split second. “When Alexis was taken” like, we can mention that two years later but we can’t deal with it properly back then. Two months go by. And I wonder how Alexis and Martha dealt with that. If you just think about it.. they woke up every morning with Castle still not being home. Went on in their days. Went to bed not knowing if he was still alive or what was going on, hoping for news the next day. For TWO MONTHS. How did Castle react when he woke up? How did Alexis and Martha react? I have so many questions that aren’t answered and it’s frustrating. “To my amazing mother, my wonderful daughter, and the love of my life.” I’m frustrated by this storyline already because there’s so many unanswered questions and I know that this is stretched out over so long that it’s hard to keep up.

7x02 Montreal: I’d mention that Lanie and Esposito are back together but they’ve been on and off in the past that I wouldn’t bother to mention, so. Castle kissing Gates like that is not that cool - a kiss on the cheek would’ve been fine. “What just happened” yeah Gates, same. Martha mentions that she went to grief counseling while Castle was missing. Just let that sink in. “It’s Canada, how risky could it be” the way he says this and Alexis’ face is too priceless because it’s one Canadian saying this to another, both playing Americans on the show. While Castle was gone, he’d recorded videos for Alexis, Martha and Beckett saying goodbye, saying he loved them :( The scene with Castle and the guy, Hollander’s Woods, Castle in tears, oh boy.

7x03 Clear & Present Danger: Eight minutes in - the devil was the killer, case closed. “Clearly, our killer is the invisible man.” Martha walking into Castle’s .. trap was hilarious.

7x04 Child’s Play: Alexis’ behavior is weird but that is explained at the end of the episode. Twenty second graders? Only twenty children per class? Oh my God, that sounds like heaven. Castle at school is hilarious. “Mister Castle, we do not make faces in the classroom” “He started it!” :D Castle slurping out of the juice box and then coughing, hilarious. This little girl Emily is adorable, and Castle with her is so cute. And how perfect is that fairy tea party scene. At the end of the episode, Castle talks to Alexis about her weird behavior. She tells him that it’s because she thinks something terrible will happen again, that she’ll lose him again. And Castle tells her that he knows exactly how she feels, that he wouldn’t have let her out of his sight after Paris (why didn’t we see any of that though). <3

7x05 Meme is Murder: It’s funny how they pronounce ‘Fuchs’ (fyoux) because that name happens to be German for fox. “I’m German” ah, so the name isn’t random after all ;) Ryan has a blog called “The Ryan Report”. I wonder if someone made a tumblr with that name. Okay I just checked, yeah the blog exists but no one is using it. Someone just saved the url. The webcommercial at the end is gold. Hi, I’m Critchard Ratchel.

7x06 The Time of Our Lives: Matthias, a Swiss guy. Last episode Germany, this time Switzerland. It’s a “what if” episode. The intro has a different sound. Beckett is captain, Lanie is pregnant, Martha redecorated the loft, Alexis has black hair and lives in LA with her mother, Ryan isn’t with Jenny, Espo isn’t with Lanie. Martha’s huuuge self portrait in the office is hilarious. And the scene with Alexis and Castle with the hug is so adorable. The wedding is squeezed into the last 4.5 minutes. The wedding itself is beautiful. The vows are perfect, they dance to their song, Beckett looks gorgeous (and she’s wearing Martha’s ear rings), the venue is gorgeous (so cheesy but beautiful, with really crappy CGI). I just wish they had used a little more time for it. And I hate that Lanie, Ryan and Espo weren’t there.

7x07 Once Upon a Time in the West: Lanie, Ryan and Espo aren’t too amused about that, either. “You guys suck”. Five minutes later “You still suck”. The intro is super cool, Wild West style. Their outfits in style are hilarious.

7x08 Kill Switch: “You still remind me a little of Hooch” aww that sentence came up again <3 It’s the episode with Javi held hostage on a subway train. It’s funny how the “hidden message in the pizza carton” trick always works. Like, shouldn’t they be more careful now and check the box? That trick is so old. I don’t like how the drama is written. Like, it’s so anticlimactic. It’s about to get dramatic when Espo and the woman cop take down the guy but it happens so easily. Then “It’s not over, the guy was infected with a deadyl bacteria” - dramaaaaa. Until three minutes later, they’re all in the hospital, giving an antibiotic and they are safe. “Come on, let’s take the subway. .. too soon? [...] Am I on the wrong track here?” lol Castle

7x09 Last Action Hero: The sound of the intro is different again. I’m not too interested in the episode, I’m barely paying attention. The ear recognition thingy reminds me of that CSI New York episode where Aiden Burn was killed and left her earprint in the car for the others to find, so that they’d know it was her. Ah, I can’t wait to watch that show once I’m done with Castle. Awww how sweet of Beckett to carve my initials into her apartment <3 ;)

7x10 Bad Santa: Javi is about to meet Lanie’s parents who think that they are engaged. The title card in Christmas style is hilarious. Javi meets her parents and so do we, we haven’t seen them before. “When the time comes, I hope you call me”. We’ll see if Castle calls Dino. Is that... are Lanie and Espo breaking up with each other? “You are no longer permitted to work with the NYPD” Were these two scenes just a huge “fuck you” from the writers/producers to the fans? Like .. merry fucking christmas to you, too?

7x11 Castle P.I.: Castle is a private investigator now. “YOu can make this a lot easier for me, Perlmutter.” “Oh, because that’s what I live for.” Perlmutter is gold. Beckett and Castle trying to figure out what the other one knows is hilarious. “Oh, we’re definitely on top of [Castle]” omfg. Halfway through the season and I’m not too impressed, can you tell?

7x12 Private Eye Caramba: “So pleasant to see you. And not see Castle.” Bless Perlmutter. 

7x13 I, Witness: Castle witnesses a murder but when they get into the house the wife was murdered in, there’s no blood. It reminds me of that episode in season 5 I think where they staged that murder for Castle’s birthday. They later find Eva’s body, but Castle is convinced it’s not her and that she just staged her death. Turns out it’s actually Eva.

7x14 Resurrection: “Where are you off to?” “Oh, I signed up for an escort service and have to meet a client.” “What, a what?” “I just wanted to see if you’re listening. I’m going to the library to study.” “not cool.” The look on his face was priceless. Plot twist, 3XK isn’t dead after all (who would’ve guessed). “Mister Castle works on this case only” oh please, Gates, are you even listening to yourself. The ending is really creepy with Beckett answering a call and the creepy “we will meet again, one day” music and then she’s abducted.

7x15 Reckoning: Uuuh, Castle surprising Tyson and closing the door to talk to him alone. Reminds me of that season from .. wow exactly two seasons ago where he talked to that guy who had driven the van Alexis was in. Oh, Castle. “I get to kill you over and over again” - he kills Beckett, then takes Martha, kills her, then Alexis, kills her, like Castle would be so dead. “Castle, he’s calling from your house”. The angst when he gets home and asks for Alexis. The relieve when both Martha and Alexis are okay. He sends them both to Europe, so that they are safe. Oh, I wish he’d abducted Alexis, too. Jeez that moment Castle thought Beckett had been shot right in front of his eyes. “I need a new face and I’ve chosen yours.” It’s so disturbing and wrong and ugh. So, is 3XK dead for real this time? Beckett deals with Nieman all on her own, with a scalpel. Aaaand Castle is back at the precinct, working with Beckett.

7x16 The Wrong Stuff: Aww it’s laser tag at the Castle residence again. Wait a minute... Alexis is playing with some dude instead of Castle. I’m offended. And then Martha walks down the stairs with some other dude wearing Castle’s pjs. Like, what the fuck is going on - “The Wrong Stuff”, yeah big time. omfg the Mars themed intro is hilarious. Are you my mummy? How cool would it have been if Castle had made that reference. Why did Alexis open the door when neither of her friends left? Like, what was the point? And her “get a room” comment wasn’t too great. Tom Richwood. Torchwood. Close enough.

7x17 Hong Kong Hustle: Ah that badass lady, taking out Ryan and Esposito single-handedly, disarming both of them. “It’s a girl’s night out, there won’t be competition” and then we see Zhang and Beckett in that shooting area thingy that I have no idea what the official word for is,

7x18 At Close Range: Um... Ryan???? “Uh, Ryan, is it One Direction? You’d tell me if they are in town.” “No, they are in Hong Kong.” “Right.” Ah, Castle and Espo are little fans of One Direction? We meet Ryan’s sister Gwen.

7x19 Habeas Corpse: Alexis’ outfit is so cute. And I love that she studied with Beckett. Ryan and Esposito practicing their performance in the interrogation room is hilarious. How did Alexis’ exam go? Can we get an update, please? I would’ve loved to see both performances, though (the Caskett one dressed though).

7x20 Sleeper: Castle’s been having nightmares about his disappearance. He’s seeing Beckett’s therapist. “So you were in jungle combat? With Chuck Norris?” this whole thing is so bizarre already, like... “I was in Thailand, getting shot at, with Chuck Norris?” I’m not buying it? This storyline is so.. off and bizarre already, I’m not that interested in it anymore.

7x21 In Plane Sight: Ah, I love this episode. “Are you okay?” “Alexis is on this flight.” <3 Alexis helping and examining the body, so badass. “Because my daughter is on this plane and I’m not gonna let anything happen to her.” <3 Alexis was so badass, disarming the woman <3 There are so many great Castle/Alexis scenes in this episode, I really miss this aspect of the show, we’ve been getting less and less of it.

7x22 Dead in New York: “I don’t know if we should be flattered or offended.” Well, I just think it’s plain stupid. Carly Rae Japson has an appearance in this episode. And she performs “I really like you”. The performance feels so staged. Like, it is staged, but it shouldn’t feel that way if it was done well, you know? It just feels out of place.

7x23 Hollander’s Woods: Castle with the head puns though. I don’t know which one I’d go for. The serious one looks better but it’s a bit too serious. The smiling one just looks creepy. Something in between should be right. Aww Ryan and Esposito are celebrating ten years of marrriage working together. We find out about Castle’s past, about what happed in Hollander’s Woods when he was eleven years old. He had watched a murder and the killer had worn a creepy mask and had threatened him to never tell anyone about this. He had later called the police but they never found the body which made him wonder if that had actually happened. In this episode, the body has the exact same marks as the body he had seen and a witness described a man with a mask - exactly the same mask he had seen. What happened to Castle happened 30 years ago which would mean that he’s 41 now. Which... seems a couple years too young. “You are going to be amazing. [..] Because you already are.” <3 Awww there’s Hodges from CSI. Turns out he’s the killer :( Ah, it’s so creepy, I love it. “Mother, you will always be a star in my eyes. And Alexis, you amaze me every day. You two are my redheaded pillars of unconditional love.” <3 The ending with Castle’s speech and everyone together at the round table was beautiful. It could have been the series finale. If I’m not mistaken, by the time they had filmed this episode, they didn’t know whether or not we’d get an eight season. So, they probably did this ending on purpose.

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayors Edition 5719

10 TO WATCH : RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 6 : MAYORS EDITION 

With Jacob Aere

We kick off our week at Drexel University. Drexel2020: The Evolving Sports Business Market will be held in Philadelphia the morning of May 6, and presents a rare opportunity to hear directly from movers and shakers in the sports world and gain access to their personal insights. Our signature new book, The Sport Business Handbook, recognizes the last 50 years as the formative period for the modern era of sports business. The Drexel University panel will explore its most influential moments. Most importantly, a vision for the future will emerge, with valuable perspective offered from the very individuals shaping that future. I look forward to moderating the panel, which features sports business leaders Jon Butler of Pop Warner, Tony Ponturo of Turnkey Sports and formerly Anheuser-Busch, and Nick Sakiewicz of the National Lacrosse League. The event is free and open to students, members of the sports business community, and others looking to learn more about the ins and outs of our high-profile industry.

Tiger Woods will receive his Presidential Medal of Freedom on Monday. According to the New York Times, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. First awarded in 1963, it has honored achievements in fields including acting, architecture, art, economics, law, medicine, music, journalism, and politics. Among the two dozen sports figures who have been honored are Jesse Owens, Ted Williams, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan. In golf, President George W. Bush honored Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, while President Obama recognized the pioneering player Charlie Sifford. In his time in office, President Trump has honored Babe Ruth posthumously, as well as quarterback Roger Staubach. Woods’ award comes at a time when many athletes have shown a reluctance to be honored by the Trump administration. The Golden State Warriors declined a White House visit after their championship, as did the NCAA Champion University of Virginia men’s basketball team. The champion Baylor women’s basketball team attended a White House ceremony last Monday.

The U.S. government has placed Saudi Arabia on its Priority Watch List amid ongoing pressure from several national sports bodies and international broadcasters to bring down the pirate broadcaster BeoutQ. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released two reports condemning the Saudi-based piracy operation and calling out the country for its failure to protect intellectual property. Saudi officials have confirmed the illegal nature of BeoutQ’s activities and claim to be addressing this issue by seizing BeoutQ set-top boxes. But such devices nevertheless continue to be widely available and are generally unregulated in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is included in the USTR’s "2019 Special 301 Report" that identifies governments that fail to protect and enforce intellectual property around the world. The U.S. government intervention arrives in conjunction with calls made by the U.K. government to investigate widespread piracy of live sports content in Saudi Arabia. The pirate broadcaster is also subject of a $1 billion international investment arbitration BeIN Sports brought against Saudi Arabia last October.

Fenway Park will host its own college football bowl game starting in 2020. Fenway Park will host a new bowl game starting in 2020 featuring teams from the ACC and AAC, according to sources. The ballpark will join venues in Los Angeles and Myrtle Beach as "sites for new bowl games" in 2020, which "marks the start of the NCAA's new bowl cycle." A record 43 bowls will be played that season. Fenway will become the third Major League Baseball venue to host a bowl game, "joining the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium and the Cheez-It Bowl" at Chase Field. AT&T Park in San Francisco previously held bowl games under multiple naming rights partners, but the short-lived tradition was discontinued after low attendance year after year. Just as the NFL has stretched its brand marketing to become a 12-month sport, so too is college football looking to retain fan interest year round by extending its post season and timing intriguing announcements – like a bowl game underneath the Green Monster – to the post NFL Draft college football news cycle.

Women’s hockey players lay down their sticks in search of a better deal. Over 200 women’s hockey players, with names that include Team USA stars Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield, announced that they refuse to play in a North American professional hockey league next season, noting in a statement that "We cannot make a sustainable living playing in the current state of the professional game. Having no health insurance and making as low as two thousand dollars a season means players can't adequately train and prepare to play at the highest level." Last Wednesday, the Canadian Women's Hockey League officially discontinued its operations, citing an economically unstable business model, leaving the National Women’s Hockey League the sole remaining professional league in North America. Some players noted that they hope the NHL will support a women's league via financial and infrastructural resources, according to ESPN. In contrast, on the men's side, the top ten players of the 2018-2019 season each brought home multi-million dollar paychecks from the NHL, with lucrative endorsement deals to boot.

CBD is building a perfectly legal presence in pro sports. Hemp supplement company cbdMD is sponsoring golfer Bubba Watson in a multiyear deal that kicks off with the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black later this month. Watson will feature the cbdMD logo on both sides of his headwear at all PGA Tour events. The deal includes a wide range of other integrated marketing opportunities to promote the brand. Meanwhile, another hemp company, diemCBD, has partnered with marketing company Swag'r to launch an augmented reality game for attendees of the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 on May 26 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Users can download the app, which is modeled on "Pokemon Go," to collect diemCBD tokens while exploring the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event, leading them to coupons, free products, and more. From sports wagering to CBD usage and brand-building among athletes, we are certainly currently living in an era of relaxed rules considering where sports was merely months ago. As always, money talks.

Youth baseball gets a boost from Stadium and Adidas. Stadium inked an exclusive partnership with the 2019 Cal Ripken Major/70 World Series, a tournament of champions for players aged 12 and under. Stadium will air thirty-four live games over eight days, including the International Championship, U.S. Championship, and World Championship on August 10. Similarly, Little League Baseball and Softball inked a multi-year partnership with Adidas that will see the brand become the official uniform, footwear, and coaches apparel supplier for the Little League World Series and a Little League Official Sponsor. Beginning this season, Adidas will design and create all official on-field uniforms for all seven total Little League World Series events throughout the United States. Additionally, Adidas will outfit all teams with cleats, training apparel, and accessories, and all coaches will be supplied with athletic footwear and apparel. To kick off the partnership’s first season, Adidas will design brand and marketing activations at both the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and the Little League Softball World Series in Portland, Oregon. Right before school resumes in August, our attention will be riveted on school-age bats and gloves at their annual peak. 

NASCAR has a plan to boost attendance and ratings: betting on races. NASCAR has signed an exclusive data partnership with Genius Sports, a deal they believe will lead to an in-race betting product and help battle slumping attendance and TV ratings. According to Hashtag Sports, currently, bets on NASCAR races are few and far between at U.S. sports books, who often only have head-to-head options or odds on the race winner. Genius will use up-to-the-second data points like car speed and track position to build a betting product that the London-based company can sell to sports books. Exclusive access to the data will allow Genius to create a betting platform that provides traditional wagers—like who will win—and prop bets such as the number of lead changes or whether a Chevy will end up in victory lane. Sports leagues and teams typically see increased engagement when live betting is offered. Not only does it attract new fans, but live betting keeps them engaged for longer periods of time. NASCAR is hoping for the same response as support for the racing circuit both in-person and on TV declines.

LA 2028 has released its first budget for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, a $6.88 billion spending plan that includes a $616 million contingency for overruns. The top line is 29% higher than a $5.33 billion budget released in 2017, which has been the most commonly cited price for the Games. However, that figure was calculated in 2016 dollars, and was designed for a 2024 Games. The new 2028 budget reflects the longer lead-time Los Angeles agreed to when it accepted the 2028 hosting duties and ceded the race for 2024 to Paris. More importantly, it is calculated in “real money” terms, adjusted for inflation based on when each dollar will actually be raised and spent. According to LA 2028 Chair Casey Wasserman, the much-discussed $2.5 billion domestic sponsorship revenue goal was already inflation-adjusted and does not change. The new number also includes $200 million in additional IOC funding promised as part of the deal L.A. accepted in exchange for being awarded the 2028 Games. Most of that $200 million will be spent on funding youth sports programs in L.A. and committee operations for an additional four years.

Disney has reached a handshake agreement to sell its share of its regional sports networks to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. After out bidding opponents, Sinclair Broadcast Group scooped up Disney’s remaining 21 networks, which are roughly worth $10 billion. If the sale goes through, this would solve Disney’s sports media monopolization puzzle after the U.S. Department of Justice informed the company it would have to divest RSNs that ESPN acquired last June. According to SportsPro, a majority stake in the YES Network – Fox’s premier sports network partially owned by the New York Yankees – has reportedly already been acquired by Amazon and Sinclair in a $3.5 billion deal. Among Sinclair’s closest rivals for the majority of the RSNs: Major League Baseball reportedly teamed up with Formula One owner Liberty Media earlier this month during the final round of bidding. With Disney having to divest some of its properties, Sinclair Broadcast Group has transformed into another sports broadcast behemoth that may have a tech advantage thanks to its partnership with Amazon.