#i called him patricia in the alt

[noel-levine-fan]

waiting for the day

[platinumaspiration]

hey! i’m a fellow uberhood player and i’m super nosey so could you tell us some fun/exciting/dramatic things that have happened in your hood?

hello, my fellow uberhood player! Oh, man... well, I have a habit of romanticizing my sims' lives (and my own) so there's a long wall of text under the cut + pictures!

The Beaker Fire of 2022 - There is an ongoing investigation into the disastrous fire that left two dead: Nervous and Loki. The suspects in question are Freya, the cat and Cyclotron, the Servo. Consequently, Circe was left with Loki's side projects: Ceres and Atom and so, to make her happy, Cyclotron has officially changed his name to CycLoki and assumed Loki's identity. No one says anything about it because no one else is going to do the dishes and clean up the lab. And me, as The Watcher, will enable CycLoki in any endeavor even though he annoys me.

2. An Indecent Proposal - As some may recall, Tybalt and Puck were an overly obnoxious couple throughout Uni. They even went as far as to get engaged autonomously! After Uni, they moved in together to a small house in Veronaville. While Tybalt was at work, Puck wanted to invite someone over. He also had a want to flirt with Tank. As a benevolent and beautiful Watcher, I put the pieces together and ushered Puck to the phone.

First, I want to say, Tank and Puck have 3 bolt chemistry and second, Puck and Tank have made out IN FRONT OF Tybalt and he didn't mind. Anyway, Puck and Tank hooked up and Tybalt came home from work and lo and behold, Tybalt was not upset. Did not care. Confident or Cuckold?

Puck then walked over to Tybalt and AUTONOMOUSLY broke up with him. Yes, all of the sudden I get a pop up asking me who will move out. Dismissed, rejected, publicly humiliated. It was more than Tybalt could bear.

I switch over to Tybalt's new apartment and he's invited to an outing downtown by none other than Puck. I'm thinking, oh maybe there's a chance? Nope. At the outing, it's Puck, Tank, Romeo, Juliette, Hermia, and Puck's mom, Titania. So, basically, it was Tybalt vs Tank and Romeo all night.

Puck must have been feeling some kind of way because as Tybalt was calling a taxi, Puck tried to serenade him. It was at that moment Tybalt swore to ruin Puck and Tank's happiness.

Tybalt ended his round sleeping with John Mole (Tank's love interest) and - I believe - he had a hand in Puck losing his job.

3. The Curious Case of Pascal... Curious - I think it's just a fun/funny fact that Pascal remains a virgin who has never been kissed. I hope he will die like that.

4. Occupied Bathroom - In an effort to condense households, I moved David Ottomas and Gavin Newson in together and they both died. I have no idea how; I came back from whatever I was doing to find two urns in separate bathrooms. Sorry to Angela Pleasant, I know she loved Gavin 😥

5. She Said No - Patricia Wan and Cleo Shikibu are like peanut butter and jelly. They really love hanging out with each other and naturally talk to each other in game. So why the heck would Patricia deny Cleo's autonomous proposal?? And Cleo just had their twins?? That moment was a table flipping moment. Granted, nothing happened after that, but the point remains!

6. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not - Juliette and Romeo. Romeo and Juliette. Lovers forced apart by no one except themselves in my game. Juliette is constantly rolling wants for Romeo so when her round came up, I had her ask Romeo on a date. She immediately rolled wants to be engaged and married to Romeo... And continuing my efforts to be the best Watcher I can be, I had Juliette propose. Romeo shrugged it off then wanted to make out. He doesn't roll wants for multiple partners, I truly think he just wants Juliette but not tied down.

[I play with vvqb's Alt Veronaville where the parents are alive.] Cordelia has an extreme dislike of Romeo and opted to set up Juliette with Dirk Dreamer. Juliette - after two dates with Dirk and another one with Romeo - finally rolled a want to marry Dirk. Dirk said yes, but I'll be damned that Juliette rolled to kiss Romeo. We'll see how this plays out next round.

7. A New Demographic - The Unsavory Charlatan found a new group of sims to pickpocket. He really has hit rock bottom and brought a shovel with him.

[c-atm]

I posted 59 times in 2022

18 posts created (31%)

41 posts reblogged (69%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ask-the-flirty-fighters

@screwpinecaprice

@abel-quartz

@kengi-bengi-alt

@c-atm

I tagged 55 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#connie maheswaran - 43 posts

#steven universe future - 31 posts

#steven universe - 27 posts

#connverse - 24 posts

#fighting flirty - 17 posts

#su connie - 13 posts

#su au flghting flirty - 12 posts

#heartberry - 12 posts

#older connie - 12 posts

#steven universe fanfiction - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#they got things going on in their minds that they'd be a bit too busy/preoccupied to take this next big step n their adulthood/relationship

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

So...

Thanks to @screwpinecaprice for making art of another one my other favorite shipping based of my SC6 character select .

Love your work please follow them...the first two are their drawing..the other is me having fun..

See the full post

38 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

#4

Dreadlocs and Deep love.

Thanks to the always amazing@screwpinecaprice for maki g this awesome domestic image of Danny(Daniel) and Tricia (Patricia) from my AU (fighting flirty)

Love is learning to retwist and care for Locs in secret just in case your partner Loctitian ain't available.

40 notes - Posted October 21, 2022

#3

I ride for this couple too thanks @screwpinecaprice

50 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

#2

Sooo..I made some Connie's using an Ai generator (I can't draw OR..ART) abs made theses

First in celebration of Bayonetta 3 Have some umbra witch Connie Concepts

See the full post

53 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Care

"Steven?" Connie called as she looked at Steven, lying in their bed, pale face, dried and cracked-lipped. A look of dazed fatigue on his feverish red-cheeked face."Bisky? You ok?" The researcher asked, putting her coat on the hanger before walking up to him.

"Uhh?" Steven groaned, "I think I got something from my trip." He mumbled.

"That's a given," Connie stated, walking over to him and checking his head. "You're burning up." She said, feeling his forehead. "Do you need another blanket?" She asked, moving to get one.

"No, just... stay here." Steven moaned, falling back into the pillow.

"Well, maybe you should take some fluids," Connie said, getting up and going to the bathroom.

"OH! NO!." Steven groaned, "No more drinks!"

Connie arched her eyebrow at the sudden energetic protest.

"Quite the apprehension there, Mister."

"I drank a lot at the last meeting...been feeling off...soon after."

Connie considered, "Drank what?"

"...Something one of the delegates brought from their home planet, it was tasty and reminded me of mango and cream... Said it was a very fermented stout...at least that's what it translated to."

"Oh-ho, no!" Connie giggled as she crawled up next to him, putting his head on her lap.

"Diamond essence didn't wo~oork." Steven complained in Connie's thighs as she brushed his hair with her left hand, "Happy you're wearing shorts..." He muttered as he snuggled into his Heartberry warm flesh.

"Oh, really, and why is that?" Connie teased lovingly.

"I like the feel of your skin on mine, so warm." 

She smiled at Steven's honest yet weak tone as he looped his large limb around Connie's hip line.

"Why didn't the essence work? I thought it was a heal-all?" He muttered.

"Sure, wounds, bruises, disembodied limbs, burned flesh, viruses can even bring back the dead... Given the formula."

"Then why didn't it work on me?"

"Cause you...Mister galactic ambassador of Era 3; aren't sick...You're hung over."

"Hung over, like when you wake up from a night of drinking alcohol?" Steven asked, his fever slowly dropping as he started to feel acquainted with Connie's scent.

"same almost exactly," Connie confirmed,

"But I didn't drink any alcohol?"

"You got drunk on a fermented alien beverage. Good chance it's an equivalent to alcohol."

"You think?" Steven mumbled, getting a bit exhausted.

"Stout...a synonym for beer." 

"Arrgh." He bashfully groaned," I did?"

"You did." 

"It didn't taste like beer?! It was so fruity."

See the full post

55 notes - Posted June 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[transparenttriumphzombie]

Amanda Lepore (born November 21, 1967) is a transgender American model, singer, and performance artist. A former Club Kid, she has appeared in advertising for numerous companies. Lepore is noted as a regular subject in photographer David LaChapelle's work, serving as his muse, as well as many other photographers, such as Terry Richardson and Ruben van Schalm. She participated in LaChapelle's Artists and Prostitutes 1985–2005 exhibit in New York City, where she "lived" in a voyeuristic life-sized set.

Lepore has released several singles, many written by and/or recorded with Cazwell. In 2011, she released her debut studio album, I...Amanda Lepore, on Peace Bisquit.

Amanda grew up in the Essex County community of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, with one sibling, an older brother. Her father was an Italian-American chemical engineer, and her mother was a German-American housewife. Her mother had schizophrenia and spent much time in mental institutions. Lepore later wrote that "Ever since I can first remember, I knew I was a girl. I couldn't understand why my parents were dressing me up in boys' clothing. I thought they were insane."

In her early teens, Lepore began making costumes for a transgender friend in exchange for female hormones. Having already grown isolated from her peers and schooling, her parents withdrew her from public school and hired a private tutor. They also took her to a psychologist, who helped her obtain a prescription to begin hormone therapy.

At the age of 17, and through a legal loophole, Lepore married a male bookstore owner. She was granted permission for gender affirmation surgery, which she had at age 19 in Yonkers, New York. Lepore later left her husband. In 1989, she relocated to New York City.

In the early 1990s, Lepore tried to establish herself as a nightlife figure (including being a member of the Club Kids). She supported herself by working in a nail salon, as a dominatrix, and later as a cosmetics salesgirl for Patricia Field. After meeting photographer David LaChapelle one evening while hosting at Bowery Bar, she began collaborating with him.

Modeling and acting Lepore has appeared in fashion magazines, including French Playboy, Ponytail, DAMn and TUSH. She is on the cover of Lords of Acid's 1999 album Expand Your Head and on Thighpaulsandra's 2006 album The Lepore Extrusion.

Because of her association with the Club Kids, Lepore had a cameo in the documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary (1998) and the feature film Party Monster (2003). She can be seen briefly in the fashion spoof comedy Zoolander (2001). She was featured in the documentary Dig! (2004) and in Another Gay Sequel (2008). In 2016, Lepore had a major role in José André Sibaja's film The Zanctuary, where she played a drug dealer called Miss Divine. Other cast members included Joey Arias and Sophia Lamar, with whom she also appeared in 2018 documentary I Hate New York from Spanish director Gustavo Sanchez.

Lepore has had cameos in music videos for artists including Elton John, Thalía, The Dandy Warhols, Girl in a Coma, Grace Jones, Keanan Duffty, Sharon Needles, TIGA (for his cover of "Sunglasses at Night"), and the alt rock band The Drums (for "Days"). Lepore appears in many of Cazwell's music videos, including "Watch my Mouth" and "All Over Your Face".

She was Chief of Parade at the 2010 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Australia.

[mysticalhearth]

Phantom of The Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - 25th Anniversary - Live At The Royal Albert Hall - October 2, 2011 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera), Sierra Boggess (Christine Daaé), Hadley Fraser (Raoul), Wendy Ferguson (Carlotta Giudicelli), Gareth Snook (Monsieur Firmin), Barry James (Monsieur André), Liz Robertson (Madame Giry), Wynne Evans (Ubaldo Piangi), Daisy Maywood (Meg Giry), Nick Holder (Joseph Buquet), Earl Carpenter (Auctioneer), Sergei Polunin (Slave Master) NOTES: Commonly referred to as "Live Stream Version 1" to differentiate from the other cinema live stream video of this production. Typically circulates as a 5.36 GB MKV file with AC3 5.1 audio. Has alternate takes from Live Stream Version 2 and the officially released verson. The first shot in this version is of the orchestra (pictured below). Another note is that Piangi does not hit the note the note in Hannibal ”Your army ha - ha - has come home!" (and the camera is zoomed out more than Version 2, showing Carlotta next to him). You can also see him put his hand on his collar bone near his throat, which he does not do in Version 2.

The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - February 28, 1988 (Highlights) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Michael Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Sarah Brightman (Christine Daaé), Steve Barton (Raoul) NOTES: About an hour and a half of the show, missing a bunch of the beginning of act 2, which starts in the middle of Don Juan. Clear video for its age The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - March 2, 2005 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera), Julie Hanson (u/s Christine Daaé), John Cudia (Raoul) NOTES: Great quality video but the filmer seemed to lack in knowledge of the show so wideshots are more than usual. Amazing trio, but Hugh is a little less stronger this night The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - October 1, 2005 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera), Sandra Joseph (Christine Daaé), Tim Martin Gleason (Raoul), Anne Runolfsson (Carlotta Giudicelli), James Romick (u/s Monsieur Firmin), George Lee Andrews (Monsieur André), Marilyn Caskey (Madame Giry), Larry Wayne Morbitt (Ubaldo Piangi), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) NOTES: Hugh's last night performing and Sandra gives a very sweet speech. Hugh Panaro's last performance at the time, includes curtain call and speeches at the end. Beautiful, clear picture with great detail and quality, and the entire cast was on fire. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - May 9, 2007 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Gary Mauer (The Phantom of the Opera), Jennifer Hope Wills (Christine Daaé), Jason Mills (u/s Raoul), Patricia Phillips (u/s Carlotta Giudicelli), David Cryer (Monsieur Firmin), George Lee Andrews (Monsieur André), Sally Williams (u/s Madame Giry), Roland Rusinek (Ubaldo Piangi), Heather McFadden (Meg Giry) NOTES: A gorgeous video and the filmer knows the show very well. Includes a flub where Buquet fails to appear in time for Magical Lasso so Meg Giry gets in touch with her Leroux roots The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - October 13, 2012 (Lanelle's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera), Trista Moldovan (Christine Daaé), Kyle Barisich (Raoul), Michele McConnell (Carlotta Giudicelli), Kevin Ligon (Monsieur Firmin), Aaron Galligan-Stierle (Monsieur André), Cristin Hubbard (Madame Giry), Christian Sebek (Ubaldo Piangi), Joelle Gates (Meg Giry) NOTES: Gorgeous video with vibrant and steady filming! Hugh and Trista are AMAZING together. Kyle is okay. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - March 9, 2013 (Matinee) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Jeremy Stolle (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Samantha Hill (Christine Daaé), Greg Mills (u/s Raoul), Michele McConnell (Carlotta Giudicelli), Tim Jerome (Monsieur Firmin), Richard Poole (u/s Monsieur André), Ellen Harvey (Madame Giry), Christian Sebek (Ubaldo Piangi), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) NOTES: Missing part of Act 1 (‘I Remember’ to the ballet from Il Muto), but otherwise complete. Jeremy Stolle makes a call for donations for the organisation 'Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' after curtain call. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - March 17, 2014 (Turnofthescorpion's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Laird Mackintosh (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Sara Jean Ford (alt Christine Daaé), Jeremy Hays (Raoul) NOTES: Not the most focused capture, shaky throughout, never really settles down. A head in bottom center of capture a good deal of the time on medium to wide shots. St. Patrick's Day, Laird Mackintosh does curtain call in a leprechaun hat. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - March 20, 2014 (Turnofthescorpion's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Greg Mills (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Mary Michael Patterson (Christine Daaé), Jeremy Hays (Raoul), Satomi Hoffman (u/s Carlotta Giudicelli), Tim Jerome (Monsieur Firmin), Laird Mackintosh (Monsieur André), Ellen Harvey (Madame Giry), Christian Sebek (Ubaldo Piangi), Deanna Doyle (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - May 3, 2014 FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera), Mary Michael Patterson (Christine Daaé), Jeremy Hays (Raoul) NOTES: Hugh’s last performance. Includes speeches.   The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - May 3, 2014 (Matinee) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera), Mary Michael Patterson (Christine Daaé), Jeremy Hays (Raoul) NOTES: Hugh’s last matinee. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - May 12, 2014 (inallyourfantasies's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Norm Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera), Sierra Boggess (Christine Daaé), Jeremy Hays (Raoul), Michele McConnell (Carlotta Giudicelli), Tim Jerome (Monsieur Firmin), Laird Mackintosh (Monsieur André), Ellen Harvey (Madame Giry), Christian Sebek (Ubaldo Piangi) NOTES: First show for Norm Lewis and Sierra Boggess. There are two masters (joint masters) for this video: inallyourfantasies and turnofthescorpion The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - November 6, 2014 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Laird Mackintosh (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Kaley Ann Voorhees (alt Christine Daaé), Jeremy Hays (Raoul), Michele McConnell (Carlotta Giudicelli), Tim Jerome (Monsieur Firmin), Richard Poole (u/s Monsieur André), Ellen Harvey (Madame Giry), Christian Sebek (Ubaldo Piangi), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - June 16, 2016 (SJ Bernly's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: James Barbour (The Phantom of the Opera), Rachel Eskenazi-Gold (u/s Christine Daaé), Jordan Donica (Raoul), Michelle McConnell (Carlotta Giudicelli), Craig Bennett (Monsieur Firmin), Laird Mackintosh (Monsieur André), Rebecca Eichenberger (Madame Giry), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) NOTES: good capture, no real obstructions, center mezz The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - July 21, 2016 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: James Barbour (The Phantom of the Opera), Ali Ewoldt (Christine Daaé), Jordan Donica (Raoul), Michelle McConnell (Carlotta Giudicelli), Craig Bennett (Monsieur Firmin), Richard Poole (u/s Monsieur André), Rebecca Eichenberger (Madame Giry), John Easterlin (Ubaldo Piangi), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - October, 2018 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Ben Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Ali Ewoldt (Christine Daaé), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Raoul), Raquel Suarez Groen (Carlotta Giudicelli), Craig Bennett (Monsieur Firmin), Laird Mackintosh (Monsieur André), Maree Johnson (Madame Giry), Carlton Moe (Ubaldo Piangi), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway - September, 2018 (NYCG8R's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Ben Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Ali Ewoldt (Christine Daaé), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Raoul), Raquel Suarez Groen (Carlotta Giudicelli), Craig Bennett (Monsieur Firmin), Laird Mackintosh (Monsieur André), Maree Johnson (Madame Giry), Ted Keegan (u/s Ubaldo Piangi), Polly Baird (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - First National Tour (Christine) - August 29, 1993 (House-Cam's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Davis Gaines (The Phantom of the Opera), Dale Kristien (Christine Daaé), Michael Piontek (Raoul), Leigh Munro (Carlotta Giudicelli), Calvin Remsberg (Monsieur Firmin), Norman Large (Monsieur André), Barbara Lang (Madame Giry), Gualtiero Negrini (Ubaldo Piangi), Elizabeth Stringer (Meg Giry) NOTES: Closing night in Los Angeles The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Fourth National Tour - February 19, 2014 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Cooper Grodin (The Phantom of the Opera), Julia Udine (Christine Daaé), Ben Jacoby (Raoul) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Fourth National Tour - August 12, 2015 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Chris Mann (The Phantom of the Opera), Katie Travis (Christine Daaé), Storm Lineberger (Raoul), Jacquelynne Fontaine (Carlotta Giudicelli), David Benoit (Monsieur Firmin), Edward Staudenmayer (Monsieur André), Anne Kanengeiser (Madame Giry), Frank Viveros (Ubaldo Piangi), Morgan Cowling (Meg Giry) NOTES: More concentrated on full body shots and capturing all the action rather than close ups. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Fourth National Tour - November 16, 2016 (Matinee) (kradder32's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Derrick Davis (The Phantom of the Opera), Kaitlyn Davis (alt Christine Daaé), Jordan Craig (Raoul), Trista Moldovan (Carlotta Giudicelli), David Benoit (Monsieur Firmin), Price Waldman (Monsieur André), Tynan Davis (u/s Madame Giry), Phumzile Sojola (Ubaldo Piangi), Emily Ramirez (Meg Giry) NOTES: Great video of the fourth national tour. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Hamburg - June 30, 2001 (Matinee) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Michael Nicholson (alt The Phantom of the Opera), Olivia Safe (u/s Christine Daaé), Christopher Morandi (alt Raoul), Evelyn Werner (u/s Carlotta Giudicelli), Reinhard Schulze (u/s Monsieur Firmin), Anders Sohlman (Monsieur André), Linda Bruske (Madame Giry), Charlie Serrano (Ubaldo Piangi), Kate Lawrence (Meg Giry) NOTES: Last matinee of the original Hamburg production. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Las Vegas - August 28, 2006 FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Anthony Crivello (The Phantom of the Opera), Elizabeth Loyacano (Christine Daaé), Tim Martin Gleason (Raoul), Elena Jeanne Batman (Carlotta Giudicelli), Lawson Skala (Monsieur Firmin), John Leslie Wolfe (Monsieur André), Rebecca Spencer (Madame Giry), Larry Wayne Morbitt (Ubaldo Piangi), Brianne Morgan (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Las Vegas - August 8, 2008 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Anthony Crivello (The Phantom of the Opera), Kristi Holden (Christine Daaé), Andrew Ragone (Raoul) NOTES: Great capture of the reconfigured and shortened version of Phantom which had a long run in Vegas. Anthony really gives a powerful performance as the Phantom. A The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - São Paulo (Revival) - December 14, 2019 (Matinee) (Papa Rose 2015's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Thiago Arancam (The Phantom of the Opera), Guilia Nadruz (alt Christine Daaé), Fred Silveira (Raoul), Bete Diva (Carlotta Giudicelli), Sandro Christopher (Monsieur Firmin), Leo Diniz (u/s Monsieur André), Taís Víera (Madame Giry), Cleyton Pulzi (Ubaldo Piangi), Fernanda Muniz (Meg Giry) NOTES: Excellent video shot during the closing weekend. This was Giulia's second-to-last performance.  

The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Scheveningen - 1993 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Henk Poort (The Phantom of the Opera), Joke de Kruijf (Christine Daaé), Peter de Smet (Raoul) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Scheveningen - August 2, 1996 (House-Cam's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Henk Poort (The Phantom of the Opera), Els Bongers (Christine Daaé), Peter de Smet (Raoul), Vera van Oostmerssen (Carlotta Giudicelli), Nico Schaap (Monsieur Firmin), Stan Lambregts (Monsieur André), Margaret Roest (Madame Giry), Ramon Remedios (Ubaldo Piangi), Natasha Knight (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Stuttgart - 2003 (House-Cam's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Roy Weissensteiner (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Marion Wilmer (u/s Christine Daaé), Carsten Lepper (Raoul) NOTES: Monitor video. Full stage shot and soundboard audio. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Sydmonton Festival - July, 1985 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Colm Wilkinson (The Phantom of the Opera), Sarah Brightman (Christine Daaé) NOTES: Pretty bad quality due to age and being ripped from video to digital, but it shows the changes the show made before its opening in 1986. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Third National Tour (Music Box) - April 6, 2006 (musicinthestars's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Gary Mauer (The Phantom of the Opera), Elizabeth Southard (alt Christine Daaé), Jim Weitzer (Raoul), Kim Stengel (Carlotta Giudicelli), John Jellison (Monsieur Firmin), D C Anderson (Monsieur André), Patti Davidson-Gorbea (Madame Giry), John Whitney (Ubaldo Piangi), Kate Wray (Meg Giry) NOTES: 2 camera edit of Elizabeth Southard's final performance. Very good and emotional show to watch. Real life husband and wife Phantom and Christine. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Third National Tour (Music Box) - August 2, 2007 FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: John Cudia (The Phantom of the Opera), Marni Raab (Christine Daaé), Greg Mills (Raoul) NOTES: Beautiful video shot in widescreen, great color, excellent and steady camerawork. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - West End - 1995 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) |  TRADER'S NOTES: Act 1 only CAST: Ethan Freeman (The Phantom of the Opera), Jill Washington (Christine Daaé), Simon Bowman (Raoul) NOTES: Pro-shot by RUG The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - West End - February 26, 2005 FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: John Owen-Jones (The Phantom of the Opera), Rachel Barrell (Christine Daaé), Oliver Thornton (Raoul) NOTES: John Owen Jones last show before his return in 2010. Filmed from the stalls, a lot of close ups, especially of Rachel Barrell The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - West End - September 9, 2008 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera), Gina Beck (Christine Daaé), Simon Bailey (Raoul), Kate Radmilovic (Carlotta Giudicelli), Barry James (Monsieur Firmin), Gareth Snook (Monsieur André), Heather Jackson (Madame Giry), Rohan Tickell (Ubaldo Piangi), Tori Johns (Meg Giry) NOTES: Gina, Simon, Kate and Tori's first show. The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - West End - December, 2018 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: David Thaxton (The Phantom of the Opera), Amy Manford (alt Christine Daaé), Jeremy Taylor (Raoul), Kimberly Blake (Carlotta Giudicelli), Ross Dawes (Monsieur Firmin), Mark Oxtoby (u/s Monsieur André), Rachel Spurrell (u/s Madame Giry), Paul Tabone (Ubaldo Piangi), Georgia Ware (Meg Giry) NOTES: Lots of blackouts, safety rail in the way as well as a head at times || A bit of shakiness The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - West End - January, 2006 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Earl Carpenter (The Phantom of the Opera), Rachel Barrell (Christine Daaé), David Shannon (Raoul), Wendy Ferguson (Carlotta Giudicelli), David Lawrence (u/s Monsieur Firmin), Sam Hiller (Monsieur André), Emily Harvey (u/s Madame Giry), Rohan Tickell (Ubaldo Piangi), Heidi Ann O'Brien (Meg Giry) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - West End - November, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  M2TS (HD) CAST: Josh Piterman (The Phantom of the Opera), Kelly Mathieson (Christine Daaé), Alistair So (u/s Raoul), Britt Lenting (Carlotta Giudicelli), Ross Dawes (Monsieur Firmin), Richard Woodford (Monsieur André), Jacinta Mulcahy (Madame Giry), Simon Whitaker (u/s Ubaldo Piangi), Georgia Ware (Meg Giry) NOTES: MTS file, shot around heads and master tries best to work around them but is unable too. Auction and overtune is blocked alongside most of the whole recording. Theres a few bits here and there where the action is visible such as during think of me, music of the night. Sound is very clear. Anything on the left side of the stage such during "prima dona" is mostly visible-ish. Phantom of the Opera (Ken Hill) - Japan - December, 2013 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Peter Straker (The Phantom), Anna Hawkins (Christine Daae), Manaia Glassey-Ohlson (Raoul), Edward Newborn (The Manager (M. Richard)), Chris Green (Mephistopheles), Chris Green (The Persian), Michael McLean (Faust), Helen Moulder (Madame Giry), Lloyd Scott (Debienne), Lloyd Scott (The Groom), Lloyd Scott (The Priest), Lloyd Scott (Mauclair), Lloyd Scott (Gravedigger), Lloyd Scott (The Old Man), Caroline Tatlow (Carlotta), Caroline Tatlow (Dominique), Caroline Tatlow (The Chorus Girl), Camilla Besley (Jammes), Sam Benton (Remy), Brittany Wallis (Lisette), Brittany Wallis (Lady in Box), Cameron Barclay, Patrick Kelly NOTES: TV-rip from BS Japan Channel (Broadcasted on December 31, 2014). Features Japanese subs. Missing Overture of Act 2.

[lewlthea]

The Actual Thing Going On With Edelgard Von Hresvelg.

 Spoilers: It’s not fascism, nor racism (at least not in the way people think). Also, actual spoilers for the game.

If there has been a controversial character in Fire Emblem Three Houses, it’s Edelgard Von Hresvelg, one of the game’s main three lords, the house leader of the Black Eagles, the princess and sole heir of the Adrestian Empire, and an antagonist in every single route but hers. She has been a polarizing figure within the community: Some people think she’s an irredeemable monster, others think she’s a misunderstood leader. When it comes to Edelgard, theres hardly a grey opinion towards her; She’s either black or white. Today, I wanna talk about Edelgard’s actions towards the 4 routes, what they actually portray, and how and why the entire discourse towards her was caused deliberately by Intelligent System’s incredible mishandling and mistreatment of the character.

I remember Nintendo’s 2018 E3 conference quite well. I was at with a group of friends, watching at one of them’s house because he had a bigger TV. I remember making jokes about how “there was going to be a new Fire Emblem” because loving Fire Emblem when Intelligent Systems is Like That is a living nightmare.

And then this happens.

Words could not express the joy I felt when the trailer was over. It wasn’t just a new Fire Emblem game: We were going to have another lady lord, and an axe-wielding one at that - something the fanbase had been desperately craving since the recent surge in Hector’s popularity - and for once, it was like when I first found out that there would be a new female character in Shadows Of Valentia with Faye, and it was the tipping point for me to finally buy a Nintendo Switch.

Of course, just like Faye, things weren’t that simple.

Because some months before E3 2019, which promised to reveal more info on Fire Emblem 3 Houses, Reddit exploded. All because of someone who goes by the username Thanibomb, who claimed to have leaked info on the game, saying a lot of information about all the characters, some of them very questionable (With things such as Lysithea would die due to her crest complications, and it would cause the major 5-year war, and other things like Claude being the one who shot Dimitri’s eye off), while other info being oddly specific. A part of it that made me particularly chuckle was when such user said that Dimitri would have lost an eye, and would cover it with an eyepatch. I found it so silly and, along with some friends, claimed it to be fake and carried on.

And then E3 2019 happened.

And Dimitri had an eyepatch. 

And still, even after Thanibomb, things remained optimistic. All lords looked nice, they seemed to have their own ideals, their own paths, and no fights were breaking out within the fanbase yet. But then early copies were sent to reviewers. And then 4chan got a hold of one of those. And then the main leaks started. And by the time the game got released, it was too late. The amount of hate comments towards the character was so overwhelming; some calling Edelgard a fascist, others claiming that she was racist, others even saying that she gives racist remarks towards Claude ingame (a blatant lie). A personal favorite comment of mine was how Hubert and Edelgard looked like the perfect alt-right couple. 

(Should I remark that these kinds of comments stopped as soon as they found out that Hubert could A-support Ferdinand, and most of them moved on to fetishize the relationship between the two of them instead. Ironically, before that happened people despised Hubert in general solely because of his unusual appearance and shady behavior, but that was soon seen as ‘nuanced’ the moment he could be paired off with another man.)

And so, a fight between the fanbase begun: (Mostly) Blue Lion fans bashing Edelgard’s character, Black Eagle fans defending her vehemently, and Golden Deer fans between either on any of those sides or just making memes for Joe Zieja’s rally campaign for the GD. Mostly the latter. But that’s beside the point.

A (Kinda) Brief Summary of Edelgard’s Presence In Azure Moon, Verdant Wind, And Silver Snow.

Throughout the game’s second part, unless you’re playing the Crimson Flower Route, Edelgard will always be an antagonist who cannot be spared, and she cannot survive unless it’s in her own route. However, the way she is percieved changes depending on each route you are making, with each route leaving small fragments depicting Edelgard’s past and shaping her character in full scale. 

In Verdant Wind/Silver Snow, Edelgard isn’t the final boss. She is one of the bosses before the big fight. (Nemesis in Claude’s case, Rhea in Seteth’s). She’s one of the obstacles, but not the main one, therefore there is not much insight on her character; However, there is still one element present in those routes that is curiously omitted from Azure Moon that is the reason why she doesn’t really have too much focus, that being Hubert’s final letter.

In both routes, Hubert seems to highly respect Seteth/Claude’s prowess in the war and their cunning mind. (Especially Claude; Throughout both Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower, he commends Claude’s tactics and strategies multiple times). In the letter, he gives the location of where Rhea is confined and asks them to eliminate Those Who Slither in the Dark, the game’s true villains and the ones behind most, if not all the game’s tragic events. Even more curiously, though, is the fact that the letter does exist on the Crimson Flower route, and can be seen briefly on Hubert’s B support with Ferdinand, being the reason of their argument throughout the conversation. Not a single mention of the letter exists in the Azure Moon Route. (Of course it would not make sense for it to exist gameplay-wise due to the player having already murdered Arundel/Thales earlier in the game but. It’s still something to be accounted for).

Speaking of Azure Moon, this is a much more trickier route to talk about. Not only due to the fact that Edelgard is this route’s final boss, but also because all of the things we discover about Edelgard within it are never mentioned in any other route, only brief mentions about the time she spent in the Kingdom; nothing more. 

In here, her time spent on the Kingdom is expanded: Both Edelgard, her mom Patricia and Arundel were sent off to Faerghus due to exile, with Patricia being set off to marry King Lambert. There, she meets Dimitri, and they both become fast friends. By the time she has to leave, Dimitri gifts her with a dagger (Which, in Faeghus, are important gifts that mean ‘to cut a path towards a better future’), and she returns to Adrestia. Some time after she leaves the Tragedy of Duscurr happens, caused by Those Who Slither in the Dark. However, due to a misunderstanding caused by eavesdropping on a conversation between Thales and the Flame Emperor, Dimitri mistakenly believes that the Flame Emperor was behind it all, and once the Flame Emperor’s identity is finally revealed to be Edelgard, she is instantly demonized and called a ‘witch’, even though she openly declares how she had nothing to do with it. This goes on until Rodrigue’s death and Cornelia’s reveal that Patricia was the one behind the Duscurr Tragedy so she could return to the Empire and “reunite with her daughter”. (We never find out about what happened to her and she is not mentioned during the Crimson Flower). Dimitri tries to talk Edelgard off their final confrontation, but Edelgard insists that it is far too late for her to back down for their ideals are far too different, and she refuses to live in a world where the Church of Seiros exists. Dimitri then hands back her dagger (Which she accidentally dropped before the timeskip), and they both retreat to prepare for the final battle.

This route’s final boss is an Edelgard who was absorbed direct power from Those Who Slither in the Dark, and adquires a grotesque, corrupted form. No other character in the canon possess such a thing, and only Edelgard can assume such form. Once she is defeated, Dimitri tries once again to spare her, only for Edelgard to stab him with the dagger, making Dimitri realize that she would never give up on her dream, and finally kills her.

An Even More Brief Explanation of What Does All of This Means.

Okay, all of that info was nice, fun, good, yadda yadda. What does this mean and why was it needed.

Well, for starters, let’s ask ourselves a question: After reading the summary, can you say that you know what drives her to seek out the destruction of the church?

What is her reasoning behind the unification of Fodlan?

Do we get anything out of her other than “Scary dictator” or “An obstacle that had to be sadly removed” or “Under better circumstances... We could’ve been Allies (tm)”?

We don’t. Because Intelligent Systems did not bother to show Edelgard’s motivations, despite her being the villain in almost all the routes.

During Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, Edelgard herself does not matter: she’s solely important because she is threatening the church, she is your scary big bad dictator that you have to beat in order to rescue Rhea, only to find out that in reality she was just a stepping stone to the real villains, Those Who Slither in the Dark. (In game it is said that Hubert came up with this name. In my humble opinion Hubert can go fuck himself because this is the shittiest name I have ever seen and I am tired of having to type this five word long thing every paragraph or so). As soon as you read the letter, suddenly Edelgard, the Empire, and all the questions you had as to why she Did It dissappear because now you have another objective, another goal. 

This is even more offensive during Azure Moon because she is the focus, the final boss, but it doesn’t matter why she did all of this nor what her ideals actually are despite them being the reason why she cannot be spared. The game would rather focus on getting reactions out of the player when the intimidating big meanie does something that makes Dimitri go angry than actually focusing on the clashing of Dimitri and Edelgard’s ideals, why they cannot go back to what it once was, what happened to her to change this way, why did ‘El’ actually die. All you have is a dictator in red which does things for no reason other than “I will destroy the Church and unify Fodlan so I can govern over all of it”. Nothing more, nothing less.

....Of course, you do realize that I have avoided to talk about a certain thing.

So, About That Crimson Flower Route...

If there is a way to truly understand a villain, one must walk on such person’s footsteps. Most people criticizing Edelgard were the ones who hadn’t played her route yet, or had only played Azure Moon and was led to believe that all of Edelgard’s actions are unwarranted or pure nonsense. 

There is a reason why people sing their tune differently as soon as they experience the Crimson Flower.

For starters, to be able to fight for Edelgard, you have to first have her support up to C+, go with her to Enbarr once she asks of you, and then defend her from Rhea at the Holy Tomb. The reasoning behind that is so that you fully understand what Edelgard has gone through and the reason why she cannot agree with the existence of the Church.

The Azure Moon route tells you of Edelgard before she returned to the Empire.

It never tells you what caused her to change after she went back.

Edelgard was part of the crest experimentations caused by Those Who Slither in the Dark, alongside all her siblings. Her father, the emperor, was unable to do anything about it, as the real people in control of the Empire were Arundel/Thales and Duke Aegir. Being the sole survivor of such things to return to society and see how everything is defined by whether you have a crest or not and finding out that the Church, who instead of breaking down such system to favor equality would rather turn the creatures who run it into figures to be worshipped is. Something.

There’s another reason for Edelgard’s sudden betrayal, a more sinister one, and why she feels like everything needs to be done in a quick pace. In her C+ you find out she has a second crest, The Crest of Flames, just like the player. People who bear two crests have a shortened lifespam, however.

When Edelgard declares war against the Church, and to unite Fódlan, it’s not solely because ‘Church bad’: She declares war against the unfair crest system, against the hypocrisy of Rhea’s dragon entourage, and of course, to destroy Those Who Slither in the Dark later on the road.

  However.

Just because Edelgard’s behavior is justified, does not mean she is 100% in the right. She herself admits that the path she follows is one drenched in blood. But there are several times in the game that makes you stop and think for a second that she can still make bad decisions, and that sometimes her decisions might have horrible consequences. One of them is for example to never take away Brigid’s status as a vassal to the Empire and return it back to it’s former glory as an actual country, which shows how the entire Brigid kerfuffle is something akin to colonization. We should also point out that when she unifies Fodlan, in some endings she remains the Emperor, completely missing the point of what she fought for.

Another case that shows one of Edelgard’s biggest flaws is with the Silver Maiden incident.

Edelgard had just conquered Arianrhod, the Silver Maiden, and due to murdering Cornelia, enrages Ariandel/Thales, whom causes the situation above out of a show of power. She knows it was Those Who Slither in the Dark, but she needs to give explanations fast and she can’t reveal their identity or else they would slip away and it would be impossible to locate them and destroy them. So what does she do?

She says it was Rhea who did it, actively lying to her closest allies, one of them being the Prime Minister of the Empire.

For Edelgard, the ends justifies the means, and as long as she gets the results she wants, she will do what it takes. Even by alienation. And that’s a dangerous way to go on.

...So, where do I want to go from here? Who is to blame for the hatefest Edelgard is receiving?

Intelligent Systems Kind of Didn’t Know What To Do With Edelgard.

Now hold on. That sounds a bit too harsh, don’t you think? She was the first lord shown in the E3 2018 trailer, they have placed a very big emphasis on Edelgard everywhere hell the game’s main theme is about her, why would you claim that??

Well, first and foremost, I should start by saying that Crimson Flower is the game’s shortest route, with the total of 18 chapters. From those 18 chapters, there is only one cutscene, with most of the route’s major events being shown with either the game’s basic models or still images.

For comparison, Verdant Wind has the total of 8 cutscenes, counting the final one before the timeskip, with 3 of them being unique to its route.

Azure Moon has the total of 5 cutscenes, 3 of them being unique to its route. 

Silver Snow has 4 cutscenes, having 2 unique ones to its route.

The other two main lords have several support options with people outside of their respective houses; Edelgard only has one.

Remember when I said that one of Edelgard’s main enemies are Those Who Slither in the Dark? The game never lets her deal with them personally. You never truly fight them during Crimson Flower.

In a way, the game feels as if while Edelgard is the focus, you shouldn’t side with her. It really makes it feel as if someone at Intelligent Systems just snickered and said ‘Hey wouldn’t it be cool if we could let our players side with/date our villain?’ without even considering or respecting such villain’s motivations, her ideals, and what truly makes a character unique.

In the end, all they truly cared for was if Edelgard was romanceable enough for the player, not if she made sense or was appealing as a character, whether as a villain or a savior.

And considering how the fanbase is behaving towards Edelgard, they succeeded. 

[thedeadliestdecade]

me?? actually making content for my ocs??? can you BELIEVE?????

cw: implied murder/rape/violence (towards women), implied pedophilia (towards teenagers), casual misogyny/dehumanization, victim blaming, uhhh a rl serial killer gets mentioned so there's that

none of the subjects above are explicit, just implied

alt title: randall kundert’s a sick piece of shit and i am very sorry for subjecting you all to him

august 11, 1977. somewhere in upstate new york.

it’s half past one am.

randall kundert finds himself sitting on the hood of his car, parked on the side of the road, smoking a cigarette. he’s not far from the nearest motel, but it’s late and really, who’s actually gonna find him here? more importantly, who’s actually gonna care?

the only lights are the headlights of his car, shining up towards the billboard he’s currently found himself lost in. the only sound being the muffled tunes coming from the car radio.

he feels at home here.

he had been trying to finish the entry for his latest girl---trial and error had taught randall that it was best to start writing as soon as possible---but he just couldn't keep himself focused.

he had all the basics down

(her name was cora jackson she had golden blonde hair in a loose braid she wore a brown sweater and a loooong skirt that went down to her flats her car was broken down she wanted to call her mom she cried and cried and cried and)

but goddamn, it just gets boring writing the same shit over and over and over again (with a few treasured exceptions, of course).

suddenly, randall hears what sounds like a news report coming from inside.

“...the new york city police department have announced tonight that they have in their custody the man they believe to be the .44 killer, also known as the son of sam. david berkowitz, age 24, was captured outside his apartment building in nearby yonkers...”

huh. and here randall thought they were never gonna catch the fucker. probably just turned himself in or something.

“well, shit.”

maybe he should be worried. that fucker running around

(what was his name, daniel? derek? randall had forgotten already. he’d never been good with names, unless it was one of his girls.)

was the only thing that got ava to shut the hell up about him being out until around 3:30 am that last night in nyc. it was less than two weeks ago, and randall honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she was still pissed about it. probably thought he was cheating on her or some shit like that (god he hoped it was just something like that please please please don’t let ava find out ever please).

not that it matters, really. it's not like anyone would realistically suspect him.

natalie lipschitz doesn't remember jackshit about the night of july 31. he’d done a hell of a number on that girl (and it serves her right for being out while a maniac was running around), it’d be a shock if she ever remembered.

besides, he’s stopped paying attention anyway.

someone else is on his mind right now.

seventeen year old judith dempsey stares down at him in gray-scale with blank eyes from the billboard.

missing since 11/18/1976.

(he left her in that run-down house deep in the woods of violet county, hidden beneath the floorboards.)

have you seen her?

(she had those same dimples that even now just drove him wild, that same pale soft hair, those same sharp cheekbones.)

call 1-800-577-8372 if you have any information.

(her eyes once brown and lively, now just as blank and gray as the ones on the billboard.)

please help us bring her home.

(they still haven’t found her.)

the whole thing’s kinda funny. it’s been almost a year, and here patricia dempsey was, still looking for her daughter. man, some people just never give up, do they?

(stupid bitch.)

she was his first in violet county. the first one he actually knew beforehand. she’d been sallie’s math tutor. she didn’t come out of her room for two days straight after judith went missing (well, according to their mother, at least)

he almost feels guilty for a moment.

almost.

as he gazes upon her (forever frozen in time), randall finds himself drawn to the glow of the headlights—the way they illuminate her face, like a halo, like she were an angel in a stained glass window. it was almost like a scene from a movie. it was beautiful, even.

(she was one of his favorite girls.)

his hands tremble, pulse quickens as he remembers that november night. she’d kicked and screamed and bit and lost quite a few teeth because of it.

(he still has some of them. and her class ring.)

he can swear he sees accusation upon her portrait. can swear he hears her (and rosemarie loomis and loralei sharpe and rickie lenz and marnie zito and genette boyd and thelma cunningham and jennifer white and cinda lou matheson and and and) curse his name in the silence of the night.

scream all you want, girls. no one could hear you then, no one will hear you now.

with that, randall slides off the hood and climbs into the driver's seat. he checks his watch: 2:15 am. it’s too late to go home, and he was too far anyways. motel it is, then. his fingers are just about to turn the key in the ignition when he pauses.

doesn’t patricia dempsey have another daughter?

yes. yes, she does. judith’s younger sister. she’s one of sallie’s classmates.

arlene dempsey.

now, wouldn’t it be funny to see patricia dempsey’s face---to see her drop to her knees, or hell, even scream---when she finds out she’s lost not one, but both of her children? to the same man, no less.

why, if he could get away with that...

randall kundert grins as he starts the car, his green eyes alight with something both gleeful and terrible.

he glances in the mirror, to the backseat. cora jackson’s clothes are sealed in a box on the passenger's side. her cross necklace is in his pocket. he still hasn’t finished her entry.

he was far from done yet.

[hotdadslade]

Pennyworth Impressions

So I have seen more or less nothing about Pennyworth, and it’s little wonder why. It was released episodically on a channel/streaming platform no one I’d spoken to had ever heard of, with zero fanfare, and what marketing there was seemed to exclusively focus around ‘it’s about Batman’s Butler’.

So, first things first: Pennyworth is an alt history story with a young Alfred Pennyworth as the main character. That ‘alt history’ bit is important, but is in absolutely NONE of the promotional material I saw. Specifically, the story takes place in probably-the-60s, only it’s a vaguely dystopian world: people are executed publicly, there’s bodies in gibbets hanging around London, etcetc. I’ve seen a lot of people saying they’re not interested because... well, what’s so interesting about this kind of prequel? You already know what’s going to happen.

The actual plot is only barely about how Alfred meets the Waynes. The real plot is about political squabbling between two groups, the Raven Society and the No Name League, who are both secret societies which later become political parties, and they’re pushing England towards a full on civil war. Alfred gets involved on both sides, things get fucky, you know the deal.

That said, I’ve got four big points about the show for anyone interested so far.

One: This show is VERY gory. Not as bad as Swamp thing (which was some top-class body horror), but we’ve got torture, mutilation, heads blown off, etc... All shown with some pretty extreme detail. It is downright gratuitous at times and as someone who’s not a huge fan of gore I had to look away quite a bit. There’s also at least one rape, lots of animal dismemberment, cannibalism... You name it. If you have any sort of content you’re worried about, it’s probably in there.

Two: This show does nothing with the DC license, and seems to actively be made worse by it. The only named characters from the comics are Alfred, Martha, and Thomas. You’ll spend more time wondering how things connect to the characters they’re named after then making any actual connections, such as the reveal that Thomas Wayne has a sister and that he works for the CIA. Nothing really connects back and this would honestly have been a better story if it was just billed as a standard alt history political drama, because then I wouldn’t have spent all my time wondering wtf is going on.

Three: This show is, in theory, a political drama. That’s what it’s trying to be. However it has almost nothing to say about politics and the way it portrays politics is a bit... tone deaf. The fact that one side is described repeatedly (even by their own people) as fascists who are willing to engage in everything up to and including assassination and suicide bombing while the other side are socialists who... might be willing to kill a mass murderer - but are depicted as being on the same level is kind of surreal. All the sides are terrible yet the impression I got while watching is that we’re supposed to be cheering for the old guard (the Queen and Prime Minister) who are also terrible.

For a show almost entirely about two secret societies with opposing political views, the show doesn’t say anything about them, and keeping them all straight is... difficult. Alfred himself is almost staunchly apolitical, refusing to take sides, but considering one side is running around with women’s heads in jars while the other side is guilty of... trying to stop the other side... it kind of falls into the ‘not making a choice is a choice in itself’ category.

Four: The show has no idea what it’s doing.

There’s no nice way to say this, so I’ll be direct. There is a plot. There’s a story here. But that story is wandering and meandering in the most bizarre way. The first episode is astounding. Great character moments, fantastic world building, and it works almost as a standalone movie in its own right.

But every episode after that the plot gets more and more muddled. The characters wander around doing their own thing and only really come together at the end. A character who we should absolutely hate because he’s a complete fucking monster gets a multi-episode recovery arc to make him sympathetic, only for him to toss it away at the last minute.

The best example I can think of this comes midway through the series, and I’m going to go right on ahead and spoil it so I’ll drop it under the cut.

Midway through the season, Thomas needs to go out and do something to keep the show’s main plot going on. However, his drug addict sister, Patricia, has shown up at his hotel room, and he needs to make sure someone keeps an eye on her while he’s gone. He gets Martha to do this. Martha, for some reason I do not understand in the slightest, both says yes and then immediately agrees to go to a party with Patricia.

They then attend a bizarre party at the satanist Aleister Crowley’s house. It is vaguely implied that Martha might have been drugged, but left unclear. The party devolves into an orgy, and Martha repeatedly attempts to leave only to find herself back in the main room. The last time she does this she returns to find the room silent, with everyone staring at her, and she carefully walks across the room to be faced with the devil, featuring a goat head and six creepy eyes.

The scene cuts and we go back to Alfred’s stuff which seems absolutely inconsequential in the face of this bizarre reveal in what should be the B plot.We don’t pick this plot thread up again until the end of the episode, when Martha wakes up completely naked in a field.

The next episode establishes that Patricia has not come back, and that Martha has been missing for three whole days. Martha and Thomas investigate, find Patricia happy and healthy with Crowley, and Crowley is VERY intent on making it clear that no, he’s legitimate, he actually works for the devil. Thomas calls his bluff, insisting on negotiating, and is shown a piece of satanic ritual pornography featuring his sister, which mind controls him into attempting to murder Crowley’s assistant. He’s traumatized and more or less flees the building. At this point, Martha strongly implies that something terrible happened, and it is strongly implied she was raped by the devil and may or may not be pregnant or changed by this in some way.

This plot arc is then completely forgotten and effectively never brought up again.

It is so completely out there that my head was actually spinning by the end of the episode, because Pennyworth just established that the devil is real and may have raped Martha and then does absolutely nothing with it. It almost completely forgets about it, and I can’t even remember Patricia coming up again after that point. It was so bizarrely out of place that going back to it’s usual thriller political drama stuff felt completely wrong. If this was supposed to be a season two tie-in, they did a terrible job of it, because all I could think watching the last few episodes were ‘why do I care about this when the devil’s running around London’.

Overall, Pennyworth was a show with no clear direction and no idea of what it wanted to be. It didn’t use it’s license, it overly relied on shock value, and while there was some fantastic acting, it didn’t save the fact that the plot was all over the damned place. While it had some fun moments, I’d say most of those moments were at the very start and the very end. If you’re interested, I’d say the first three episodes (available for free on amazon) are pretty enjoyable as a standalone set, but I wouldn’t bother with the rest. If it gets a S2 (which so far seems unlikely), I’m not even sure I’ll go back to it.

[beatriceinmessina]

The Charles Manson Thread of American Horror Story: An Over-Analysis

(SPOILERS for Murder House, Hotel, and Cult)

(TRIGGER WARNING for murder and general awfulness.  This is Charles Manson and AHS villains we’re talking.)

All screenshots are by me, from Netflix.

So, my second-favorite season of American Horror Story is Cult, the seventh season.  And my love of it led me down the road of studying Charles Manson and his Family, since they figure so largely in the story.  In studying it, I remembered the references to Manson in the first and fifth seasons (Murder House and Hotel) so I decided to analyze as it pertains to story and character.  And it’s fun to over-analyze this show.  So here I go:

The “Manson thread” (as I call it) begins in the very first episode, “Pilot”.  In the scene where Violet is ranting to Tate about Leah beating her up and how she wants to get back at her, Tate suggests that she scare Leah so badly so she’ll never bother her again.  Violet asks how she’ll scare her, and then we get this shot:

“Helter skelter” is a phrase meaning madness, and it’s of course an excellent Beatles song (if I do say so myself), but it’s that song that the cult leader Charles Manson heard and misinterpreted as meaning that he and his followers should kill a bunch of white people, make it look like black people did it, and trigger a race war that would end in him and his white followers ruling the black population (since he was a racist asshole, to put it mildly).  He called this forthcoming race war “Helter Skelter.”  So why does Tate say “helter skelter”?

It’s entirely possible he just means the phrase in its original definition, that to scare Leah it has to be insane.  One of my interpretations is that this is meant to seed the school shooting and is something Tate said to himself while high on methamphetamine (if I’m remembering correctly), and therefore doesn’t really mean anything.  (Or he thought the phrase sounded cool.)  My other interpretation is that he might think Manson was onto something and admire him, hence using one of the phrases most associated with him.  I’ve thought about why Tate might admire Manson, and I think it might be the idea of a family that supposedly frees you.  I interpret Tate as being someone who has a very twisted notion of love and what it is, and given his violent impulses, I can see him liking someone who would tell him to go out and slaughter people.  (It should be noted that I loathe this boy, and that he is my least favorite character in the series, and that colors my interpretations.)  And given his neediness and desperation for love (as seen in his relationship with Violet), he’d be prime bait for someone like Manson, who targeted people with low self-esteem and unhappy family relationships.  So this interpretation boils down to Tate as some kind of 1990s-era Manson follower (though I will say it’s heavily compounded by Tate probably knowing about all of his horrible beliefs and as far as I can tell he’s not virulently racist.  But he might be.  The show never gives any indication that he is or isn’t.)

Now onto Hotel.  In the “Devil’s Night” episode, real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez shows up at the Cortez, and on his way to his room, talks with Liz.  They have this exchange:

So we learn that Manson (a fictionalized version of him) was one of James Patrick March’s proteges, and that March likely taught him and/or influenced him.  Or maybe Manson already had his ideas and March simply encouraged him.  Either way, there was some kind of relationship.  I don’t have nearly as much to say on this one.  Only that I wonder how much influence March had over Manson’s philosophies and methods.  But that’s the stuff a fic, not an analysis.  

And finally, Cult.  In the fourth episode, “11/9″, Harrison tells Kai that he admires how optimistic he is, and Kai replies with this:

This is a direct quote from Manson himself.  (My source is this Atlantic article, which also mentions Cult.)  The connection between Kai and Manson is thus seeded (and Ally even calls him a “modern-day Charles Manson” in the sixth episode).  From there we go to the appropriately named tenth episode, “Charles (Manson) in Charge”, which is getting its own paragraph because this is gonna get lengthy.

Kai first bring up Manson when talking to his men and telling them about the murders of Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Wojchiech Frykowski, and Steven Parent on the night of 08-09 August 1969.  Of this brutal and inhumane crime, he has to this to say, extolling Manson as he does so:

He literally calls Manson “the master”, therefore positioning himself and his men as disciples who believe that what he did was right.  He also says that they must “take a lesson” (and they will, for their “Night of Thousand/Hundred Tates”) from him, implying that they are the successors of the Family.  To further this comparison, when Kai’s story unfolds onscreen, we see that the actors who play Kai’s followers also play Manson’s:

Billy Eichner plays both Harrison Wilton and Manson follower Charles “Tex” Watson.

Sarah Paulson plays both Ally Mayfair-Richards (who only fakes being Kai’s follower, but this is his point-of-view and he doesn’t know it yet) and Manson follower Susan “Sadie Mae Glutz” Atkins.

Leslie Grossman plays both Meadow Wilton and Manson follower Patricia “Katie” Krenwinkel.

Billie Lourd plays both Winter Anderson and Manson follower Linda Kasabian.

Since this is Kai’s retelling, it’s possible that he’s imagining his own followers as Manson’s--therefore placing himself in Manson’s position.  I believe that my interpretation is supported by a later scene in the same episode, where an increasingly paranoid Kai begins to hallucinate, and then this hallucination pops up:

It’s Manson himself, and played by Evan Peters--the same actor who plays Kai.  So Kai might be imagining himself as Manson just as he imagined his followers as Manson’s, and I believe that this was intentional--there’s meant to be a parallel.  Look at the episode title.  It has a double meaning.  Not only is the Manson hallucination “in charge” of Kai (as it tells him what to do), but Kai is positioned as modern-day Manson who is very much in charge.  The Manson hallucination soon has complete control over Kai, and encourages him to acts horrific even for him, asking him this when Kai’s questioning Winter over the matter of the mole:

“What needs to be done” is weeding out the mole, so Kai kills Winter.  He is at once a modern-day Manson and a Manson follower.  And given that he ends up arrested and in prison (and later dead), the connection is complete.  My interpretation?  Kai is a modern-day Manson.  He may be initially presented as an alt-right madman, but at the end of the day he’s Charles Manson (who was also a madman).  The thread thus reaches its completion (unless we get more references in future seasons).

So why this thread of references to Manson throughout the show?  Probably just to make it scarier.  Manson was a disgusting human being and a monster and the characters become a bit more frightening by possibly being associated with him.  But I like to think it’s more something about these men’s characters--their twisted, unhealthy views of love and family, their need to control others around them, their violent and bloodthirsty impulses--that connect them to Manson, and that gives me a small in into their psyches.  After all, why would they admire such an awful person?  Because he had people who listened to him.  He had control.  He mattered to people.  These guys (especially Tate) don’t feel like anyone cares about what they have to say or do. So they make them care like Manson did.  By shocking the world through violence.

(A note: All of these characters are played by Evan Peters.  Probably a coincidence, but hey.  Maybe there’ll be a future season of American Crime Story where he plays Manson properly, and not as a hallucination.  We can hope.)

Thank you for taking the time to read this absolutely unnecessary and probably ridiculous, all-over-the-place analysis.

[hansmarx-blog1]

Few Clouds, 5°C

Bommerholzer Str. 9, 58452 Witten, Deutschland

A place you should avoid

Wir sind jetzt dabei, den zweiten Teil unserer Reise durch die USA vorzubereiten. Die Flüge sind gebucht , Harpo hat auch ein Platz im Frachtraum ergattert, es kann losgehen. Am 27. März fliegen wir nach San Francisco, nehmen ein Mietwagen Richtung Sacramento und fahren am nächsten Tag nach Salt Lake City, um zunächst einmal Michelle Simpson zu besuchen, unsere alte Freundin aus Park City. Wir hätten also gerne ein Motel in der Nähe von Sacramento, wo wir auch mit Harpo unterkommen können. Das ist nicht ganz so einfach in den USA. Viele Hotels nehmen keine Hunde, andere werben damit, dass sie Pet friendly seien. Das ist schon mal gut, nicht so gut ist, dass sie sich ihre Freundlichkeit zum Teil fürstlich bezahlen lassen. 50 und mehr Dollar dafür, dass die Töle mit ins Zimmer darf sind da gar nichts. Zum Glück ist das nicht überall so, aber man muss aufpassen.

Das Haus einer bekannten Kette, bei der wir ganz gerne übernachten, machte auf den Bildern einen guten Eindruck Komma aber die Bewertungen auf TripAdvisor hatten es doch in sich. Man wundert sich fast, dass es Hotels auf solche Bewertungen einfach ankommen lassen und sich schon mal gar nicht dafür interessieren. Overall Rating

(13 Reviews) Horror show

March 13, 2019 I'd give no stars if possible and more photos are to come too. My worst experience in a hotel in my entire 58 years on this earth. They disrespected my service to my country as a Veteran. The lady at front desk had no idea of what she was doing or talking about. They have rooms that are so nasty they should be condemned "but as long as the money rolls in who cares" appears to be their moto. Gave us the wrong room and I hobbled to room with my caregiver and the room was already taken and it was OMG like a dumpster and on the one bed was 3 YES 3 little babies I mean like 15 months oldest maybe and for the 3 seconds we stood there it almost made me sick the stink coming out of that room. The weed smell through the whole hotel is like nothing I've smelled before. As I said this is the worst experience I've ever had. I called corporate office and got disrespected again by a "supervisor" and I use that term loosely as possible. The only bright moment in this whole ride through hood trap was speaking to a Jennifer the boss of the incompetent "supervisor who disrespected me. If your a drug addict, gang member or just plain trash do stay here, you'll fit right in and be right at home. I have filed complaints with CPS, The Health Department etc. I've sent all the photos along with a email to every local news station also. This type of behavior cannot be allowed to exist. It's a breeding ground for everything not good for our City and neighbors

Disagree with other reviews here

December 30, 2018 Super friendly staff. Those others must have been fired or something. The parking area and vicinity is patrolled at night and parking was no problem at all there was extra parking unlike other Red Roof locations here in Sac. There is like 10 fast food places within walking distance. (that's me though. For sure, Wendy's across the street. I went to Del Taco like less than a minute drive away. Patricia told me she has been here six months and was very nice letting me know about the veteran's discount. Thanks.

Want Some Heroin with That?!

December 15, 2018 One star only because zero stars aren't an option. I wish I'd checked yelp before booking this piece of sh*t hotel. The lobby appeared clean and contemporary so I figured it was a decent enough place. We came to Sac to see the Nutcracker ballet and when we arrived back at the hotel we were quickly accosted by a turd selling heroin and crack. He even had the nerve to shove a bag of his drugs in my 12 year old daughter's face! To make matters worse, he came out of the office and when I called down there to report him the clerk refused to answer the phone. It appears that the staff is in on the drug selling shenanigans. I called the sherrif's office and reported it. After this I'm posting on Hotels.com, Traveladvisor.com, and contacting the better business bureau and Red Roof Inn's corporate office.

Roaches

November 23, 2018 Reserved a non smoking room but the room smelled badly of smoke. Could have delt with that but the room was filled with cockroaches. Went back to lobby and requested refund. Clerk was polite and processed refund with no issues. So no complaints of the employers. But can't stay in a place with so many roaches. Neighborhood is pretty sketchy too. Did not feel safe parking and staying there.

Very insulting staff and unprofessional lazy manager r December 19, 2017 I just want to start by saying I never write reviews but after the treatment my family received I had to make sure I start good or bad for all deserving businesses. We checked in and was a little surprised how unfriendly and very short (morning) front desk staff was. Tatiana I believe was knowledgeable of her job but short and not friendly. So checking into the room it was clear management didn't check rooms after staff or give *need to fix list for maintenance. There was black hair on bedsheet. Quilt had food stains and other stains I don't wanna know what they were on them. We also noticed black hair in shower. Tub was not clean at all. we called front desk not asking for anything but just telling them for their knowledge. Also, one bulb in living room out and needed few other maintenance things done. Painting, toilet kept stopping up and broken window lock. So my husband had went to grocery store second morning and called front desk to say no service and please don't knock on door because our 11 yr old 12 next week son was there and we told him not open door unless we called to tell him. She said ok, no problems. Third morning we left hotel from bank which is five minutes down the street and it was 1130. We lost track of time but only 30 minutes and told her we were staying. She gave me attitude and said ok but we needed to be there by noon to pay or we would be charged a late fee. Umm ok but we got there by noon. When we got back our son informed us manager had called room and asked him why he was alone and it was against the law. Shocked we went downstairs to find out the problem and asked why they didn't question us when we paid before going up to room. There were two girls who immediatly started scolding us and saying it was against the law and treating us like bad parents. We told them to check state laws because it's at parents discretion after a certain age. And a almost 12yr old was ok alone for 30 minutes to a hour. They then acted shocked and said well they wouldn't do it. So we went back to room and as time passed I couldn't stop thinking about it and spoke to my husband who said it's just those girls and the night shift employee was really nice (a young guy) and security team was also nice and professional we decided to see if anything else would happen as we had one more day on reservation. That night there were sketchy young people outside obviously high and loud. I called front desk and I guess when security is off two days it's party time. Also that night my son had his hand under mattress and pulled out some old candy wrappers. The next morning at breakfast we told Tatiana and she was rude and said maintenance checks all rooms and basically implied we had done it. We even said we didn't expect anything just wanted the management to know they need to walk thru rooms to check on employees. The rest of day went on without incident and we were supposed to check out next morning. So my husband had lost car key and we couldn't find it. We looked all over property and couldn't find it. We made another reservation on line and called front desk (Tatiana again) and told her we made a reservation on line and needed another day. I explained my husband lost keys and she said ok. Our insurance (Geico, and they are awesome) sent a tow truck to us and opened our car. They waited ten minutes for us to search car and leave with them to go and have another very expensive key made. We were at dealership having a key maid when Tatiana called and said they found a car key and it was to a Ford. I was happy but it was to late (not her fault) However, we got back at 12:49pm and went to office to get key. Tatiana said we didn't sign papers by noon and manager charging us $25 late fee. We said we had called before noon to inform them we needed another night and why. She said nope we were supposed to sign by noon and computer started flagging us and charging us late fee. She could've checked us out and had paper there for us to sign and checked us in after we got back. Again, not their problem and manager wasn't there but we could have her voicemail. We were upset and told them we were leaving and we would return to checkout. She said we had 30 minutes or she was keeping our whole deposit. We ran upstairs and five minutes Tatiana calls and says her manager had called Sheriff because we didn't checkout on time. I got really angry and felt like I was being treated extremely poorly by staff. She didn't care and we now only had $10 of our $60 deposit left. I asked why she said 30:and she yelled no, and hurry up. We been informed already of hotel policy's which I thought when I called at noon to tell her we were staying we covered that. She didn't say otherwise. I hung up on her and still hurried out thinking no way a chain like this would let their employees act like this. Then a knock at door and rude maintenance man and two housekeepers stood their until we left, never getting a deposit at all. We waited and manager never came. it was working hours. I know this was long but I will write this review everywhere, every week until refunded deposit and a apology I will stand on Watt Ave and stop business. People gotta know. and as we waited in parking lot a man came out yelling cause he was charged $20 for one dirty towel. Horrible service.

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[independentartistbuzz]

Working Class Hussys Take on the Innocence of Childhood in their New Single

The central New Jersey alternative rock band has catchy tunes and exemplify the everyday lives of everyday people in their music. Led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ian Patrick Gentles, the band puts out a sound that blends soaring harmony vocals, crunchy guitars, and big choruses into music no other group in the genre could make. Ian spent a dozen years as an open-road trucker and comes by his American twang honestly. As such, Working Class Hussys use Southern, Heartland, and Alt-Rock influences interchangeably to create unforgettable original songs in the hope of redefining genre.

Their newest single, “Elaine,” from their 3 song EP, EP 1, has a White Stipes with a hint Santana feeling to it. Inspired by a trip back to his old childhood neighborhood, Ian signs about how run down that neighborhood has become. He reflects on his childhood and compares it to how different his upbringing was as opposed to the children of today. Where he was able to go about the neighborhood freely with the other neighborhood children, that’s not they way things are today. 

“This is a song about the innocence of youth,” shares Ian. “I had recently returned to my old neighborhood decades later and was inspired to write about it after seeing how let go and run-down it had gotten. So in that sense, it's also a tale about how you can never go back home. It’s not just about one thing, it’s more complex, but everyone sees a different story.”

Listen to “Elaine” here: https://open.spotify.com/track/1ZSjogfVVHqShDJbcjt1BO?si=dc2a78b6a1664918

Listen to their EP, EP 1, here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5PEBAZiREAaLWgxwEeeM0G?si=jcUfOwP7Tgu_rzphqfiDNw

Ian began his musical journey at the age of 7 when his aunt signed him up for guitar lessons after he took an interest in an old, beat up guitar his aunt had lying around. He kept with those lessons for the next decade, which involved learning how to sight-read music and becoming a classically trained musician. He moved to Philadelphia and then Boston, where he started a band called 'Uncle Butch' with his brother. Uncle Butch relocated to New York City in the early '90s where they gained popularity performing every night along Bleeker Street and the East Village.

Ian formed Working Class Hussys in the early 2000s, going through several different iterations of the band over the next 15 years. Ian met Patricia Crowell in 2009. They got married 3 years later and she became the band's manager/marketer/strategist as well as background singer.

Find Working Class Hussys via: Website // Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Spotify // Soundcloud

[the-master-cylinder]

Lunch Meat (1987): SUMMARY Cannibals who roam the San Bernardino Mountains in search of victims! PAW & THE BOYS! BENNY, ELWOOD and HARLEY! Psychotic, meat-eating mutilators who get their kicks by ambushing young men and women, hunt them down, and cold-bloodedly. tear their bodies apart!

There’s HARLEY, who get his kicks by chopping off people’s heads with his AXE! There’s ELWOOD, his younger brother, who likes to DRILL HOLES in his victims with his PICKAXE! PAW’S favorite tool is his stainless steel MACHETE! He gets his thrills by tracking his prey down, taking a couple of swipes with the machete to draw BLOOD, and then likes to see them beg for mercy. He’ll move in with a chuckle and CHOP THEM UP into many pieces of BLOOD-DRENCHED MEAT and BONES to be thrown in TRASH BAGS and taken down to the nearest greasy spoon to be sold as lunchmeat!!!! Then there’s BENNY! Deaf and dumb and MANIACAL with an insatiable thirst for human blood and raw flesh!!!! BENNY does his best work with a shovel!!!!

BEHIND THE SCENES/PRODUCTION The film is the culmination of three years work and a virtually lifelong dream of its 39 year-old writer/director Kirk Alex. With a background that includes film school training, Alex had been making his living driving a cab. Eventually the frustrations of that job, and the passion to make movies, overrode the instinct to make a living and he sold his cab to raise the money to start filming LUNCH MEAT.

Alex is understandably reticent about discussing details that might affect the film’s value on the marketplace but it seems likely that it was shot on 16mm with a budget probably below $60,000. The film was made on a 14 day shooting schedule, most of which was haphazardly scattered over an almost three month period. “We’d shoot a couple of days here, a couple of days there,” recalled Alex. “Sometimes we’d stop because we ran out of film and had no money to buy more. Other stoppages were for schedule conflicts for cast or crew. The worst delays were for hassles from the law.”

Cast & Crew

Alex’s cast and crew frequently had to change filming locations due to run-ins with Southern California police or Forest Rangers. “The whole system is set up for big budget productions,” complained Alex. “If you’ve got a movie camera in your hand you’ve got to have a permit to breathe, and everybody is out to make a buck off you. I was supposed to have a police officer and a fire marshal on the set at all times, at $40 an hour. A piece! There’s city, state, and county permits you’ve got to have, insurance and lawyers and paramedics. I could have spent my entire budget without ever exposing a foot of film!”

Instead Alex opted for true outlaw filmmaking. He and his group would shoot in one location until the forces of the law showed up. They would feign ignorance of the rules and regulations and then leave, promising to return with the proper paperwork and cash. In reality they would simply move on to the next suitable location and go through the whole process again.

Surprisingly, few of the film’s problems arose from the cast. “They were all pros,” said Alex. “It was 95° to 100° every day we shot and they spent most of their time running around or falling down in the dirt. Sure, they complained, but they all kept showing up and doing their best.”

Chuck Ellis, who portrays the gargantuan, cannibalistic mute Benny, was the only member of the cast whom Alex knew before shooting. “I always knew Chuck was a fine actor, and his size creates an undeniable screen presence,” said Alex. “I think he did a great job as Benny. He manages to create some sympathy for this pathetic sub-human even while we’re watching him engage in some pretty barbaric acts on screen.”

One staple of low-budget exploitation films that LUNCH MEAT lacks is sex or nudity. “It wasn’t a conscious decision to leave it out,” said Alex. “I just didn’t see any place for it in the script and I wasn’t going to bring the entire film’s pace to a halt just to have some girl take her top off.” The film’s special effects, the backbone of any gore film, also suffered for the lack of time and money. “A lot of good effects sequences were dropped because they were just too time-consuming, or costly,” recalled Alex. “I think Lori Drucker and her effects crew did a real good job on the throat ripping that kicks off the crazies’ attack, and on the miscellaneous body parts. They could have done even more. It’s the classic story: all we needed was time and money.”

Post production of the film was even more protracted than its filming. Over eight months, in increments of a day here, a day there, were spent before the final project was ready to market. Many of the delays were in order to raise additional money to deal with the next phase of the postproduction chores.

Alex bypassed any thoughts of theatrical exhibition and shopped the film around to various video distributors. He had several offers, some of which appeared more lucrative than those of Tapeworm Video, but he felt he could trust its owners because they were struggling dreamers like himself. To date, LUNCH MEAT has sold over 2500 copies for Tapeworm. That’s a pittance in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of copies a blockbuster title might move, but it’s not bad for an unknown film, with a no-name cast. It is, in fact, Tapeworm’s top seller to date.

And hopes are high that things may get better still. The tape’s incredibly graphic cover, offering a wild-eyed Benny gnawing on a severed human arm, was an undeniable eye catcher but has proven too bold for many video stores. A new, tamer cover was eventually offered.

CAST/CREW Directed/Written Kirk Alex

Produced by Kirk Alex Mark Flynn Al Goodrum Robert Oland Pamela Phillips Oland Ashlyn Gere (credited as Kim McKamy) as Roxy Chuck Ellis as Benny Joe Ricciardella as Frank Elroy Wiese as Paw Robert Oland as Harley Mitch Rogers as Elwood Rick Lorentz as Cary Bob Joseph as Eddie Marie Ruzicka as Debbie Patricia Christie as Sue Ann McBride as Waitress

Slaughterhouse (1987): SUMMARY Lester Bacon is an old nut-case farmer living with his simple-minded, obese son Buddy. Both of them lament the fate of the old skilled hog farmer, now giving way to modern factory-type slaughterhouses. The father and son go on a killing spree against people who trespass on their property. In the opening scene, Buddy kills two teenagers, Kevin and Michelle, who are having some time alone in their car on a remote area of Lovers Lane.

The next day, Harold – Lester’s attorney, along with his law partner Tom and the local police chief, Sheriff Borden, visit Lester at his house to offer him $55,000 to buy his property, along with the closed-down slaughterhouse next door. Lester is told that the demolition of the slaughterhouse would create employment opportunities for many people in town, as well as get the county tax assessor off his back. Lester grumbles about Tom’s equipment and bad meat and says that he could do better with his hands, knives and fewer men. The sheriff tells Lester that the assessor’s office is foreclosing his property and he has 30 days to vacate it.

Meanwhile, Liz – Sheriff Borden’s teenage daughter – is with a group of high school friends planning to shoot a “horror video” and suggests that the area around the Bacon Slaughterhouse would be perfect. Her friends – Skip, Annie, and Buzz – wonder the whereabouts of Kevin and Michelle. Back at Lester Bacon’s property, his son Buddy takes Lester to a room and shows him the dead Michelle and Kevin. Lester is a bit unsettled, thinking that they’re neck-deep in trouble, but he tells Buddy that Tom, Harold, and Sheriff Borden deserve such a fate.

Deputy Dave, after being informed by the worried parents of Michelle and Kevin, checks out the docks and then goes to the slaughterhouse. He walks inside and calls for the two teenagers. As Dave finds a dead hanging cat, Buddy appears and kills him by shoving large metal sliding door on Dave’s gun-toting hand, chopping it off.

Lester then calls Harold to tell him that he has accepted his sales offer. Harold goes to the slaughterhouse where both Lester and Buddy kill him. Buddy then puts on the dead Dave’s blood-stained police uniform and goes for a drive in the squad car. Dave’s girlfriend, Sally, sees him driving past and waves, but Buddy chases her and runs her car off the road. She tries to escape on foot, but Buddy catches up to her and slices her neck with a butcher knife. When Tom arrives at the slaughterhouse, Lester lures him to the processing room, where Buddy drops him into a saw machine.

That evening at the Pig Out, a town dance, the power goes out due to a rainstorm, and many people leave. Buzz says it’s the best time for filming at the slaughterhouse. Skip then makes a $20 bet that the girls cannot last one hour at the slaughterhouse. Liz and Annie are dropped off at the place while the boys are sneaking around with masks used in Liz’s video. Elsewhere, Sheriff Borden finds Sally’s car with the damaged windshield and Dave’s patrol car with the door open. The sheriff then goes back to his car and calls for backup.

Back at the slaughterhouse, Liz and Annie realize that the boys are outside trying to scare them. Liz looks for a way to get behind the two guys and scare them instead. The boys split up and Buzz gets inside the building. Skip is at the window, and Annie laughs until Buddy suddenly appears and whacks Skip. Annie screams and runs, but Lester appears and grabs her.

Liz walks to the front door and sees that everyone is gone. At the same time, Buzz walks into a room, hears a noise and gets hit in the face by Buddy. Liz finds a hanging Annie (still alive), as well as the dead bodies of all the other victims. The father-son duo is there and Buddy grabs Liz. Meanwhile, Sheriff Borden learns that Tom and Harold have mysteriously disappeared.

Buddy and Lester hold Liz down on a table, and Lester says that a meat cutter like himself and Buddy have the skills like a surgeon. Lester slices one of Liz’s fingertips to prove to her that it is one of the most sensitive parts of the human body. When Lester turns and hears Sheriff Borden enter through the front door, Liz kicks Lester and runs away. She finds her father and runs to him. Buddy appears and the sheriff tries to shoot him, but he hits the blade of his meat cleaver. Sheriff Borden and Liz run outside into the rain. As Sheriff Borden pauses at his squad car door, Lester appears and stabs him in the back. Liz picks up her father’s gun and shoots Lester. She then helps the wounded sheriff into his car. She also gets the keys to start up the car, just as Lester rises and knocks at the car windows. She turns around, shifts the car into reverse, and runs over Lester, crushing his head and finally killing him. The sheriff tells Liz to drive away and radio for help. Buddy suddenly sits up from the backseat and swings his knife at Liz. She screams, and the film suddenly ends.

BEHIND THE SCENES/PRODUCTION Even before the new slasher movie Slaughterhouse  played in its first commercial theater, it was in the black. Slowly squealing its way around the country, the film was a testament to the new Hollywood, where independent companies outnumber major studios eight to one, and where home video and foreign sales can more than pay for a film’s cost. Slaughterhouse, for example, was sold to 60% of the foreign markets, including Germany, England, and Japan, before its domestic fate had been determined. Embassy’s Charter Entertainment is distributing the video cassette

It helped that the movie was made on a very tight budget; in fact, only fifteen full-time crew mcmbers were employed. As a result, writer director Rick Roessler was faced with the task of making up credits to increase the film’s prestige. The first two weeks of a four-week shot were done without any days off. and at that point, Roessler joked, they had to pick a few people off the floor and take some time off.

The film marks a major launch for American Artists, in which Roessler is one of three partners. The San Diego-based production company was set up four years ago primarily to produce films. The partners proceeded to work on other people’s movies until they could raise enough capital, mostly from private investors, for their own venture.

They even wanted to distribute the movie themselves, but felt they were not adequately prepared for such a challenge. Instead, they gave that job to Castle Hill in New York, which splits the grosses 50/50 with American Artists. “They don’t normally do horror films,” Roessler explained. “It worried me in the beginning. because I wanted to go with a company that knows horror films. New World wanted to buy it out for the ridiculous figure of $400,000.” Castle Hill’s involvement marks a continuing trend: prestigious “art house” distributors who are resorting more and more to handling low budget horror films as well. In their case, they put the name of a subsidiary on it. JGM Enterprises.

“The name of the game is you have to make a living, suggested Roessler. “I know I dug into our bank account heavily to help bankroll this film. I got into the horror genre not only because I like it but because there’s a base audience out there. Being horror fans, the one thing we didn’t want to do was absolute schlock. We didn’t want to do porn. You won’t see any gratuitous sex.”

One thing Roessler did play up was the comedy element. “We enjoy tongue and cheek stuff,” he said. “There must be a measure of comedy to make the film more horrific; otherwise, it would be too dull. Some films have so much blood, like EVIL DEAD, that they become funny.”

Roessler said he used the FRIDAY THE 13th series as an example of what he was trying to avoid. “It started out well, I think. The first one was low budget, and I think a lot of effort went into it. But look what’s happened to the character in the next five. It’s just gone blithering on they haven’t really identified who this guy is. The last one, six, was this huge slugger walking around with huge boots, whacking people for. I guess, no reason.

For Slaughterhouse Roessler developed his own character, Buddy, who in the ads is described as “360 pounds of Cleavermania” (in real life, Joe Barton, who plays him, is 372).

“With Buddy, what we tried to do was establish a character. He’s human he’s not some abstract. There’s hopefully some sentiment, some pathos in this character. Doesn’t say word one through the whole thing, and he’s the so-called star. He snorts like a pig.”

The film works as a sort of revenge picture, with Buddy killing those who provoke him or try to evict him and his father out of their condemned slaughterhouse. Thus, the title provides an ideal double entendre for the movie. The film has played in Detroit, Nashville. Denver. Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Phoenix, with other cities to follow. Roessler is expecting Embassy to be pleased with its release path. “Embassy put money into it because they want it to get out there. The best advertising for home video obviously is theatrical release, and the best theatrical release for home video is the one-week hit ’em and then leave, because not everybody gets to see it. The word gets around, and then they rent the video.”

Poster for Unproduced Sequel

Roessler said raising the money to make the film, over a period of eight months, was the hardest part of getting his project on the screen. “We put on presentations for several investor parties,” he said. “We went door-to-door. We made phone calls.”

CAST/CREW Directed/Written Rick Roessler Produced Ron Matona Joe B. Barton as Buddy Bacon Don Barrett as Lester Bacon William Houck as Sheriff Borden Sherry Leigh (credited as Sherry Bendorf) as Liz Borden Jeff Wright as Deputy Dave Bill Brinsfield as Tom Sanford Lee Robinson as Harold Murdock

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Cinefantastique v19n03 Cinefantastique v18n02-03

DOUBLE FEATURE RETROSPECTIVE – Lunch Meat (1987)/Slaughterhouse (1987) Lunch Meat (1987): SUMMARY Cannibals who roam the San Bernardino Mountains in search of victims! PAW & THE BOYS!

[torentialtribute]

Ike Ibeabuchi – the tragic tale of ‘boxing’s most dangerous man’

Ike Ibeabuchi kidnapped the 15-year-old his girlfriend from his estranged girlfriend and was one night in 1997 and rode with him on Interstate 35 in Austin. car when I decided to ram him into a concrete pillar in an attempt to end everything.

Ibeabuchi was only 24, a heavyweight boxer at the height of his powers, but who was slowly being consumed by his inner demons. He was torn away from the rubble, covered with blood and dust, with big eyes and raging, he thought he had ended his nightmare.

It was only a few months after he had surpassed David Tua in an epic battle that still has the record for the most punches thrown in a heavyweight competition (1,730). The victory had struck him in a fight for a world title fight. He had come a step closer to emulate his hero Mike Tyson

Ike Ibeabuchi stood on the eve of the big boxing

Ike Ibeabuchi stood 20 years ago on the edge of big boxing

<img id = "i-f03b8429ef74738d" src = "https://ift.tt/2TACWYE 9858050-6708241-image-m-5_1550232140520.jpg "height =" 729 "width =" 470 "alt =" But his life was unraveled because of his mental illness "class =" blkBorder "

Ike Ibeabuchi was

Ike Ibeabuchi was on the verge of boxing great time 20 years ago, but his life unraveled due to his mental illness

But that dream would only be a carrot dangling for him;

As it was the torturing months and years of persistent headaches, hearing voices and seeing demons that followed his victory over the highly regarded who would eventually frustrate him of his fulfilling potential.

It drove him to a kidnapping on that fateful night in Austin, where two lives were changed forever. The boy in the passenger seat of Ibeabuchi & # 39; s car sustained serious injuries and would never walk the same again. Ibeabuchi was sentenced to 120 days imprisonment for false imprisonment and forced to pay $ 500,000 in a civilian settlement.

Ibeabuchi served his time and returned to the ring in the following year, winning two comfortable wins over modest opponents to extend his flawless record to 19-0. On March 20, 1999, Ibeabuchi – despite being a broken man inside, tortured and converted daily by his alter ego & # 39; The President & # 39; – he really announced himself on the world stage with a spectacular victory against Olympic silver medalist Chris Byrd.

& # 39; I am now ready, I am ready for the heavyweight world championship & # 39 ;, I then declared in the ring. One of the nodding heads agreed. Few would argue that he was not. Some even claimed that he would blow away the rulers of the division at the time, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, that it would not even be a competition that he would just have to appear to win a world title.

This was his 20th consecutive victory – and so far most impressive – since his professional, who had all come to an American audience – the place to be an upcoming heavyweight in the 90s. Ibeabuchi, it seemed, was destined to reach the absolute top in the blue-riband division of boxing. But it should not be.

Instead, it was here, just as he had created new heights, that his career slipped away, descended into darkness, and was at the mercy of the footnotes of heavyweight history. ]

Nine years earlier, Ibeabuchi was just getting ready to start his boxing trip. Initially he had hoped to become a soldier at the Nigerian Defense Academy, but that dream was thrown away after spending the night with his uncle. & # 39; 42 -1 & # 39; underdog James & # 39; Buster & Douglas shakes up the boxing world by stopping Mike Tyson in 10 laps to capture the heavyweight title. He was immediately addicted.

His home was Isuochi, an area of ​​Umunneochi in southeastern Nigeria. But for Ibeabuchi it was necessary to leave his home country and travel to America to fulfill his ambition to become a professional boxer. I grew up with a little to appreciate and decided to leave. I knew that as a teenager I was driving across the Atlantic with his mother, Patricia, who had acquired a job as a nurse in Dallas

Ibeabuchi was dedicated to his handiwork and would not spend most of his days in boxing school Spending far away from his house to improve his skills. He was gifted with natural, devastating power and quickly established the fierce reputation, noting remarkable victories as an amateur. He won the Golden Gloves in the Dallas and Texas State tournaments in the heavyweight category in 1994 and defeated Duncan Dokiwari, who would advance to bronze medalist for Nigeria at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, before turning to paid ranks [19459003

The Ring Magazine suggested that he could become a big heavyweight "class = blkBorder img-share"

The Ring Magazine suggested that he

The Ring Magazine suggested that he

Thousands of thousands of home, in a downtown, filthy Louisiana convention center on October 13, 1994, Ibeabuchi made his professional debut for no more than 100 people.

He won 16 victories in the trot before he started competing in the class against New Zealander, three years after his first fight. At this point I was the bill for 10,000 spectators in California.

IKE IBEABUCHI FACTFILE

] [19459]

worth. Ibeabuchi was sensational, impressive with his relentless attacks and progressive style. The two went off in a slug festival with fans on the edge of their seats and applause on their feet as the end. Ibeabuchi took a unanimous decision victory.

He tried to kill himself months later and began to act more capriciously as time went on. I have the nickname & # 39; The President & # 39; taken from fans and glorified in that name. Sometimes he believed that this was his real identity and would insist that people give him & # 39; president & # 39; called. His late promoter Cedric Kushner said: & # 39; It was his alter ego, where & # 39; I am not the president of the United States, but perhaps the president of the world.

In the ring everything was fine still going to be planned while outside things are falling apart. Ibeabuchi earned a position at the front of the line to challenge the world title after the brutal suppression of Byrd in 1999, but would never catch up with that opportunity – or fight again for that matter.

Shortly thereafter, he was accused of sexually abusing a dancer he had hired from a local escort service to come to his room in a hotel in Las Vegas. The 21-year-old woman told the police that she had tried to rap her in the closet when she asked for money in advance. When the police arrived, Ibeabuchi had barricaded himself in the bathroom and only came out after police had used pepper spray under the door.

He denied the allegations and was initially released and placed under house arrest to allow him to train and fight while awaiting trial. Cases were exacerbated by the reopening of an earlier case of assault against him. The incident occurred eight months earlier at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. He was arrested again and detained after a number of similar allegations came to light in Arizona.

] His fight against your set to remember I am a researcher by medical experts and amid the fear of his mental state before the procedure for his interrogation. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

He was transferred to a state-owned medical facility and was violently medicated for eight months with the permission of the judge. He was later considered competent to initiate a plea and agreed to submit an Alford plea – which in US law means that one pleads guilty without admitting to commit the crime on the grounds that the evidence is unfavorable to the accused.

The belief rocked the boxing world, but no more. The conviction rocked the boxing world, but no more than his mother did. Ike was all she had and her punishment left her. However, she was adamant that he was innocent, and insisted that he had fallen victim to an evil conspiracy. She claimed that promoters had tapped their phones, broke into their homes, put chemicals into all of their food, and had paid and paid women to bring accusations of sexual violence against her son.

Ibeabuchi was undefeated after 20 fights, winning the WBC International heavyweight title, before being sent to prison "Ibeabuchi was undefeated after 20

Ibeabuchi was undefeated after 20 fights, winning the WBC International heavyweight title before being sent to prison "

Fighting, winning the WBC International heavyweight title before being sent to prison

He wrote in a letter six years after the verdict: & # 39; Cedric Kushner chased Ike to renew his contract with him, Ike informed Cedric that I need to look around to better understand what his value was and if he fit it that he will continue with him. Cedric was not happy with this because I knew he had underpaid Ike while other promoters and managers were very interested in Ike because of his promising boxing career. Managers and promoters do not want boxers to negotiate deals;

& # 39; Because of these dealers and their methods, we had to leave Dallas and move to Arizona to take refuge. Unfortunately they followed us to this situation and the nightmare went on. They have overheard our phones, forced themselves into our house, put chemicals into all of our food and drink and they would turn off our house alarm and our house any time of the day or

& # 39; These promoters are so went a long way to fly and make false accusations against Ike in Gilbert and Scottsdale while living with me in the same house, paying a few women to accuse him of attempting kidnapping and assault. The police investigated these charges and threw them away because there was no basis for these charges against him.

She also claimed that she was not mentally ill and the proper legal representation was denied, adding in her letter: "Ike has never really been tried or convicted for these false accusations or allegations." The Las Vegas court sent Ike to the Reno psychiatric hospital for evaluation, but before his arrival, the staff had been told that Ike was dangerous, crazy, and many other suggestions that frightened the staff about coming. When Ike arrived at the hospital, the staff discovered that these statements were not even that close to the truth, but found that Ike was peaceful, respectful, loving, and cooperative. "

However, the people who worked closely with Ibeabuchi had a very different story. Kushner, who was his promoter, told several incidents that led him to believe that Ibeabuchi was mentally ill during a TV interview in 2012

He said: & We had a nice meal in a nice restaurant in the middle of the city. Ike took a big carving knife, threw it in the table and shouted: "They knew it! They knew it! The belts are mine! Why didn't they just give them back? "That was a special experience."

Respectful matchmaker Eric Bottjer also believed that Ibeabuchi was mentally unstable and claimed that he refused to enter the ring to fight Byrd, unless he had a Snickers bar, and made a member of his entourage run to a nearby supermarket to buy one.

Ibeabuchi spent time in prison for false imprisonment, battery, and assault attempt "

Ibeabuchi spent time in prison for false prison sentence, battery and assault attempt, battery and assault attempt "

<img id =" i-2b66099f97641f46 "src =" https://i.dailymail.co .uk / 1s / 2019/02/15/17 / 9871108-6708241-image-m-33_1550251381864.jpg "height =" 703 "width =" 470 "alt =" He is shown after his release in 2014 – but he is Soon ended up in jail. Now, 46 years old, he is available again for release in September this year after nearly 20 years in jail – and he is still considering a comeback to boxing "

<img id = "i-2b66099f97641f46" src = "https://ift.tt/2YjQ87I" height = "703" width = "47 0 "alt =" He is pictured after his release in 2014, but soon ended up in jail and is now, at the age of 46, available again for release in September this year after nearly 20 years in jail – and he is considering still the comeback to boxing classic

Ibeabuchi has spent time in prison for false imprisonment, battery and attempted assault. He is pictured (right) after his release in 2014 – but he soon returned to prison. Now, 46 years old, he is available again for release in September this year after nearly 20 years in prison – and he is still considering a comeback to boxing

He also said during an HBO documentary: & # 39; He is the only fighter I have ever worked with who was mentally ill. The cliché when you work with certain fighters is "Oh, he's crazy, he's crazy" because they misbehave and they do things that normal people wouldn't do. But Ibeabuchi was mentally ill. And it was a dangerous person. And that made many people around him uncomfortable.

& # 39; I knew that from the beginning. And we asked him why we even promoted him. I had a conversation with Cedric one day. When he first tried to get him out of jail, I said, "Do you want to sit on ESPN one day as the promoter of the world heavyweight champion who killed someone?" I was scoreless. I said, "This man's crazy. He's going to hurt someone. I don't want him to be me or anyone else." But he is very capable of killing someone. "

& # 39; He was delusional. I lived in his own world. And his mother – I know she died recently, I don't want to say I'm sick of the dead, but she was also crazy. And she supported him. And Cedric had to deal with this. And of course Cedric saw the following: "I have the future heavyweight champion, I must do something about this." But what I should have done was take this guy to And no one has ever done it. No one has ever done it. & # 39;

Ibeabuchi's story took another bizarre turn when in 2007 the Supreme Court sentenced Las After rejecting a trial, Vegas refused the lower courts to release him, and eventually was released by the Nevada prison system in early 2014, but was directly transferred to US immigration and customs enforcement, who imprisoned him in Arizona.

Ibeabuchi was placed on a lifelong conditional release at 42, began to plot his return to the ring. However, promoters were reluctant to cooperate with him and only five months after his release, he was arrested again for violating the conditions for his probationary period and he is still in an Arizona prison today.

Even now, approaching the 20th anniversary of his last fight, thoughts remain about & # 39; what if? & # 39; & # 39; What if you haven't done some of those awful things? What if I have received the help I need? What if I previously had a title photo?

The overwhelming impression is that, if it were not for the failure of the offenses, Ibeabuchi would have been the next big thing.

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[toptecharena]

When you walked into the Louis-Guy D salon for an appointment in the 1960s or ‘70s, there were two things you could count on: a transformative haircut and a glamorous clientele.

But most important, the salon, co-owned by Louis Gignac, offered women freedom from the time-consuming and often chemical-intensive maintenance that their previous haircuts and ‘dos had required.

Gignac became one of the most sought-after hair stylists in New York, cultivating a luxurious environment in his salon on Manhattan’s East Side and attracting socialites and celebrities like Gloria Vanderbilt, Elizabeth Taylor and Catherine Deneuve.

He also styled women’s hair for magazine spreads in Glamour and Mademoiselle and collected his advice in a book, “Everything You Need to Know to Have Great-Looking Hair” (1981).

“He could talk a girl with waist-length hair into a chin-length cut,” said Andrea Quinn Robinson, the former president of beauty at Ralph Lauren and a longtime women’s magazine editor who traveled cross-country with Gignac casting college students for makeovers.

Gignac, who kept his salon open into the 1990s, died at 89 on July 7 at his home in Miami Beach, Florida. His death, which was not widely reported at the time, was caused by pancreatic cancer, his wife, Johanna Stella, said.

Fern Mallis, a fashion industry consultant widely credited with organizing New York Fashion Week, remembers going to Louis-Guy D in the 1970s, when she was an editor at Mademoiselle, and immediately sensing the glamour of the place.

“It was somewhat intimidating looking at all these beautiful people around,” she said. “You felt like you were on the cusp of something really important happening there.”

Gignac (pronounced jeen-YACK) was born on March 8, 1929, in Brittany, France. His father, Leon, owned a bakery, and his mother, Antoinette, was a homemaker. Louis attended school through the seventh grade and worked in the bakery, mixing colors for pastry decorations.

At 15, he left home for the South of France, where he took a job in a ski patrol. His girlfriend at the time was a hairdresser, and she inspired him to learn the craft himself.

Moving to Paris, he apprenticed with the stylist Pierre Jacy in cutting and coloring hair, and in 1954 Jacy invited him to join him at a salon he owned in Manhattan.

“He gets off the boat on the West 57th Street pier,” Stella said. “All he has to do is get to East 57th Street, but he gets in a cab, where they proceed to take him over three bridges.”

After spending his only $100 on the roundabout ride, Gignac resolved to spend the night in Central Park. When it started raining, an officer took pity and allowed him to sleep in a police station.

“That was his welcome to the United States,” Stella said.

His luck quickly turned around. Within two years, Gignac had begun his own business with a partner, Guy Hoffman, calling it Louis-Guy D Salon. They eventually brought in a third partner, Gregory Schaedle.

The salon, also on East 57th Street, was small and L-shaped, but the architects John Fülöp and Justin Lamb designed its interior to shoehorn as many styling chairs and sinks into it as possible. The décor scheme, of primary colors and metallics, projected the kind of optimism clients want to feel when they walk into, and out of, a hair appointment.

“It’s like sunshine all day,” Gignac told Interiors Magazine in 1974, “even if it’s pouring outside.”

In the 1960s and ‘70s, when many women relied on chemical treatments to manipulate their hair, Louis-Guy D salon offered a smoothing technique that involved large rollers, tissue paper and a hairnet. He promoted unfussy blunt-cut wash-and-wear styles and offered a self-serve counter, where women could style their own hair after a trim.

Unusually, Gignac was a believer in having the client stand while having her hair cut, though many preferred to sit.

“You can’t just look at a woman from the neck up,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 1967. “You have to get the right proportion.”

His 1981 book on hair styling was a bible for many young women. Patricia Reynoso, the copy director at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, recalled leafing through it as a preteen girl.

“It helped build a framework for what beauty writing is and beauty writing should be,” she said, describing the book as a highly readable marriage of art and science. “I felt like he was one of my mentors.”

In addition to Stella, Gignac is survived by a son, Jean-Michel; a stepson, Jason Mann; a sister, Denyse Gray; and two grandchildren. His first marriage ended in divorce.

Gignac moved with Stella to Florida in 1994. The couple, who married in 2015, had met in New York in the 1980s during a business meeting with Revlon. She was also a colorist, and once they settled in Miami Beach, they opened Stella Salon and ran it for 13 years.

At Stella, Gignac played a behind-the-scenes role that stood in contrast to his maestro-like position at Louis-Guy D. In a 2016 interview with Town and Country magazine, model Carolyn Murphy shared her memories of watching him work while her mother got her hair cut.

“Louis, a slight Frenchman with jawbone sideburns and a leonine head of curls, would stroll by, comb and scissors in hand, and admonish his glamorous clients to flip their heads over in front of the mirror and shake out their dazzling tresses.

“On any given Saturday morning,” she continued, “half a dozen upside-down socialites would be lined up in front of Louis’s mirror, shaking their heads wildly as Donna Summer cooed, ‘Oooh, love to love you, baby,’ on the sound system. You had to see it to believe it.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Bonnie Wertheim © 2018 The New York Times

Go to Source Author: Bonnie Wertheim World: Louis Gignac, whose styles took the fuss out of hair, dies at 89 When you walked into the Louis-Guy D salon for an appointment in the 1960s or ‘70s, there were two things you could count on: a transformative haircut and a glamorous clientele.

[supercabbageknowsnothing]

Enough of Fucking Nazis

Just a rant about some bullshit I’ve heard about. Nothing fancy. Swearing abound if you don’t like that sort of thing.

So I saw this little thing on youtube (great start, I know) that talks about some of the legitimate terms that the Alt-Right (aka Nazis) like to use to seem like they’re not pushing their sickening agenda. It’s made by a German guy named Three Arrows who has a bunch of interesting insights into the whole neo-Nazi thing and how fucking weasel-y those garbage humans really are. One of these terms they like to push is ‘revisionist’ a word actual historians use when trying to find out the truth about what actually happened in the past. But instead of postulating a different interpretation of actual historical events they like to put forward that certain events just simply didn’t happen. In short, they’re idiot conspiracy theorists of the Alex Jones variety who like to throw out their made up garbage about the ‘gay bomb’ and ‘chemtrails’ and ‘FEMA Death Camps’ and other made up shit.

So in their disgusting attempts to pretend that the Holocaust in Nazi Germany didn’t happen they’ve decided to say that the entirety of the First World War was a fucking hoax with every major European power colluding to make it appear real. Thus their assertion is that the Treaty of Versailles was some kind of unprovoked attack on Germany and, one thing leads into another and suddenly they say the Holocaust never happened.

As if I needed another reason to hate these Nazi fucking pricks. I don’t know what it is and it’s not like their disgusting shit hasn’t pissed me off in the past. But there’s just something about calling the First World War a hoax that really set me off.

These dumb pieces of shit decided to explain away the First World War by saying things like ‘Sure, lots of people died during the years of 1914 to 1918 but that was only from Influenza.’

You mean the Spanish flu? The fucking thing that a lot of troops caught in Europe and brought back home to fucking everywhere? The one that happened from 1918 to 1920, curiously, after the fucking war ended? Is that what you mean? I wonder, how did it get to North America? I mean if you know history at all then you know that the strongest theory of the outbreak’s origins lie in France. And where was the bulk of the fighting on the Western Front? Where were large groups of people from all over the world stationed during those four fucking years? Why, they were in France! But what were they doing there? Oh, I know! It was some kind of mass, four year vacation where everyone just decided to go to France. And I guess a lot of them decided to shoot themselves and blow themselves up with artillery to help ‘keep up appearances’ so that the blind sheeple wouldn’t catch on to the hoax. That must be it! That way they could levy their unfair bullshit against Germany for... reasons that I’m sure existed.

Or maybe the simpler explanation is that there was a fucking massive global conflict where millions of people died in a war the likes of which the world had never seen before.

Oh but of course. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the massive floods that explained the muddy bog that stretched across the fields of Europe at the time. That must explain the sandbags and all the old pictures of mud and shit and, hey, that must be why they dug all those trenches and tunnels. To help with the floods. There actually was a flood in the Netherlands in 1916. But you know what that doesn’t explain from those old battlefield pictures and footage of the time from the rest of fucking Europe? The massive fucking craters in the earth, whose scars still mar the landscape of Europe to this day. The shattered trees, the massive fucking gun encampments and the barbed wire. What was the barbed wire for? Did it help to scare the flood waters away? Did they use the guns to shoot the water back into the sky? Did they dig those craters to make the flood waters disappear?

Ah, of course. I know what it is. All of that was fake. It was shot on a movie set. Probably on the same sound stage at Area 51 where they faked the moon landing and where they hid the actual for real aliens that crash landed at Roswell. That must be what they did to fake the entirety of the conflict on the Western Front. What’s that? Eastern Front? Gallipoli? The Ottomans? What are those words? More distractions to help keep you blind to the cover-up.

I wonder what the Newfoundland Regiment would think to hear that they didn’t lose 90% of their fucking men on July 1, 1915 at the Battle of the Somme. I wonder if they’d be surprised to learn that they weren’t the only North American troops to set foot on the Eastern Front during the war since the whole fucking thing never happened, apparently. I wonder how the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry would feel to learn that the people they sacrificed in the muddy slog at Passchendaele were actually just made up. I’d like to know what Arthur Currie would think of the incredible effort of the four battalions that came together to take Vimy Ridge when no one else could just to know that the men he commanded were fictional.

I think that’s what I find the most galling about the whole thing. I only mentioned Canadian and Newfoundlander troops because that’s the best reference point I have, being a Canadian. I didn’t even mention the Australians and their incredible victory at Gallipoli or the countless lives of every single nation on Earth that were taken during those four years. I don’t think I could even begin to cover every single awful thing that happened during those four hellish years. To think that you could push your awful, genocidal agenda by pretending that the terrible sacrifice of millions of people and the horrific, pointless torment that everyone involved in that war had inflicted upon them never happened. Your vile, spewing hatred truly will stoop to any low to pretend that you’re actually the oppressed ones and history’s good guys.

The evidence is all over the place. You’re not the good guys. Every tale has the evil dragon to slay. You, Alt-Right, Nazis, whatever fucking name you call yourselves, you are that dragon. We don’t need or want you and we don’t need to listen to you. I think the best way to wipe them out is to just stop listening to them and stop allowing their message to spread. But, as anyone who fought against you in the forties will say, we will fight back with violence if we have to. You know why? Ask any WWII vet why they fought the Nazis. Why would you fight in a country that has nothing to do with you? You know what they say? ‘Because it was the right thing to do.” You’re not the heroes now and you weren’t then. They were. I guess that’s why you want to shit all over the sacrifices they all made, right? This is a statement I will always make: Fuck Nazis. Fuck the Alt-Right. Fuck anyone who agrees or sympathizes with them. Go to hell, all of you.

So what’s the moral of the story? Stay away from youtube. It’s a hive of this shit. The guy from Germany, Three Arrows, actually seems like he’s pretty all right. He calls them out on their bullshit too. And they try to get his stuff taken down for ‘hate speech’. But I think I need to stay away from that, too. As good as people like him are, I don’t know that I need more stress and anger in my life. Finding this shit out, shit I already know, pisses me off. And then hearing about stuff like this makes me even worse. It’s good to keep informed but I’d recommend staying away from youtube for that. It’s full of these Alt-Right, Nazi nutjobs who so want to be oppressed and victims of innumerable imagined crimes.

Shit, what a fucking rant. I think I’m done now.

[mikethefanboy]

Poker Day In LA! Meeting Lou Diamond Phillips! Rosie O'Donnell! Randall Batinkoff! Autographs! And More!

Poker Day In LA! Meeting Lou Diamond Phillips! Rosie O’Donnell! Randall Batinkoff! Autographs! And More!

There was a random event this past weekend and Scotty was like… “We have to go!” I was like… Eh, why not. There were a few names I needed like Daryl Hannah, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ed Begley, Jr., I know, the best of the 1990s! Rosie O’Donnell was also on the list and I’ve never met her, so I was curious to see if we could get anyone. We came loaded with crap and headed downtown, which was…