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critrolecloset · 6 years ago

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critrolecloset’s holiday guide is here!

the holidays are upon us, and one of the best parts is gift giving! earlier this month, i reached out to the critter community to share their creations with me, whether it was dice, clothing, or “smutty bookshop” scented bath bombs. it’s easy to get stressed out when looking for presents, but i love buying from independent businesses and creators whenever possible. not only will your support help smaller creatives flourish, but your gifts will feel more personal and unique!

before we dig in, i recommend stopping by shop.critrole.com for officially licensed merchandise. geek & sundry also released their own critter holiday guide earlier this week, which includes a list of the cast member’s favorite charities you can make donations to. supporting our beloved cast and crew comes first, and this guide should be used as a supplemental tool to help you find gifts beyond what the critical role fam has to offer.

keep in mind that this guide is also just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to critter creations. i was so overwhelmed with submissions that i unfortunately had to leave a number of people out, and for that i’m deeply sorry. i am amazed at how creative and impressive this community is and i thank you all for reaching out.

dice

for those in need of a full set, “fireball” by caroscuriosities, “dark magic” dice by greenleafgeek, and “sandy beaches” by npcdice are handmade and full of intricate detail. majestic trinkets also has a gorgeous selection of 3d printed metal dice for those who really want to make an impression (they even have a pizza-themed set!). when those dice start acting up, pull a laura bailey and throw them in the “dnd rpg dice shaming dice jail” by criticalkits.

oh, and do know a critter with a raging sweet tooth? sugaranddicecrafts has you covered with their edible dice sets.

dice bags

for starting or modest adventurers, i recommend the “iridescent dice bag” by bagofdiceholding, “drawstring dice bag with chinese dragon pattern” by setdaffodilsonfire, and the “black leather drawstring dice bag” by therislane.

yarn lovers will love this unique “dragon egg dice bag” by stitchcraftsnsorcery. morningdewdicebags offers a fun selection of sequin dragonscale bags. “adventurer’s inventory dice bag” by greyedout is a solid option for pocket lovers and “the bulba-bag: grass monster inspired drawstring” by magicandstitchcraft is just really freaking cute.

if you think something critical role-inspired will do the trick, this “stay in school kids medium segmented dice bag” by arrowsongcrafts is a nod to everyone’s favorite shit-kicking monk. and who could deny “the little sapphire jester inspired dice bag” by crystalbeehouse?

crafts

this “leather card holder” by theartfulrogue is both beautiful and practical. embroidery fans will love this “how do you want to do this” hoop by lauramakesthingsshop and “carnival tree ornament” by bearclawcraftsshop, which is a nice call-back to the beginning on campaign 2. for glassware, i recommend love this “nott pint glass” by brittsgeekboutique and “drink the dead” mug by sunlitlake.

for those who like cuddlier versions of classic d&d monsters, the “crochet cthulhu stuffed animal” by mostlyharmlessshop and “moxie the beholder wearable handsewn plush” by charredstitchery are too good to pass up.

clothing and accessories

bunnidesigns has a fun and flashy assortment of d&d inspired jersey shirts. by now, every critter should recognize void merch’s signature, bold lettering style, and the rpg collection features numerous shirts worn by the cast throughout campaign 2. the “dungeons and dragons lucky shirt” by paolaspixels is also beautifully designed and features unique sleeve prints (she also offers a large variety of gorgeous enamel pins that are definitely on my list).

this “critical role/dnd patterned stretchy tote bag” by brightshaw is bright and full of bold detail, and for those who want something more on the subtle side, i recommend the “dagger dagger dagger” pouch by rhi43.

pins and patches

these critter location pins by geeky clean are not only approved by our cabbage lord brian w. foster, but they’re a fun and simple way of sharing your roots with other critters. the “d20 hard enamel pins: dungeon master” by eldritchrach is a perfect choice for any leader, while the “vicious mockery hard enamel pin” by hallofmirrorsartwork would be a great for any sass king or queen.

as for patches, the quests & queers collection by majesticmess has a wonderful selection for the lgbt+ critter in your life.

jewelry

for any caleb fans, i recommend this bracelet made with red creek jasper beads by loopedla (fun fact: the woman behind this etsy, tara sands, is the voice actress for a lot of iconic pokemon voices). any druid or overall earthy type would love this “green aventurine necklace” by lunastredesigns, which includes an gold acorn and maple leaf charm. lilacfoxdesigns also has an ensemble of vox machina inspired necklaces, “the ranger” being my personal favorite!

body care

mollymauk may be gone, but his memory lives on in soap form by fandomfinery. natural20bath has d20 dice soap in nearly every color and scent imaginable, and you’ll even get a 7-piece polyhedral dice set included! for those looking for a larger set, this “winter in wildemount: critical role inspired bath bomb or soap gift set” by criticalbaths includes 4 bath bombs (this is the one that includes “smutty bookshop”) and a handmade tusk love ornament.

character art commissions

what could be better than receiving a personalized photo of your d&d or tabletop character? the following artists are offering commissions and you can thank me later!

blueberry-me: headshot, half body, full body, sketch, and illustrations.

afterwits: portrait, half body, half body with background, and full body.

emedeme: chibis, line art, character sheet, and illustrations.

ioana muresan: character design, tarot card, illustration, and painted style. (note: ioana did the officially licensed critical role tarot cards!)

comic books

saga, vol 1: know a critter you’d like to get into comics? not only is saga one of the most popular, expansive series right now (warning: it’s also very adult), but fiona staples just about broke instagram with her mollymauk fan art earlier this year.

kid lobotomy, vol 1: by now, everyone who has seen any critical role fan art is familiar with tess fowler’s distinct style. this book is worth picking up even if it’s just for the liam o’brien cameo!

motor crush, vol 1: babs tarr’s anime-influenced style shines in this sci-fi action-adventure series revolving around a young woman in the world of motorcycle racing. also, babs has adorable jester, beau, and twinnie prints available until november 30th.

black science, vol 1: this one i admittedly haven’t read yet, but you may recognize matteo scalera’s lush art style--he did the standard covers for critical role’s two art books.

#critical role #holiday guide #travis willingham #marisha ray #taliesin jaffe #ashley johnson #sam riegel #liam o'brien #laura bailey #matthew mercer #brian w foster #dani carr

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dotthings · 6 years ago

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There’s a ton of John Winchester mirroring for the comic book store owner mentoring his successors and as someone else pointed out, “Jaeger” means hunter and they used footage from earlier eps for the fake trailer including John being their Jaeger stand-in. So a whole lot here about father figures, and mentors, and particularly John as someone who trained children to be warriors and is a complicated father role and there were costs to his obsession. Comic book store owner as a more benign mentor, until he became a ghost, but a parallel to John nonetheless. Are we not going to talk about the John Winchester and father-son pain parallel nod?

So let’s talk about that massive Jason Todd as Red Hood mannequin easter egg which is probably just meant as a fun easter egg because of Jensen’s planned Halloween cosplay. But the camera swept over a whole bunch of DC comics titles including Batman. While the Jason Todd mannequin is standing there in the comics shop. Just...standing there. Silent and heavy-laden with pointed significance.

Slight spoilers behind the cut for this ep and the dc animated movie Under the Red Hood where Jensen voiced Jason Todd and some batfamily and spn parallels.

Before I throw Bruce Wayne under the bus, the circumstances are a bit different. All of Bruce’s kids that he trained to be Robins came to him. Bruce isn’t exactly a picture of emotional stability and he shouldn’t have agreed to let minors become warriors alongside of him, but he also didn’t emotionally abuse them or tell them this was their only job and purpose in life and tell them they were worthless if they didn’t watch over their little brother properly. He was strict as a teacher, not denigrating or dismissive. And if Dick Grayson or any Robin had gone to Bruce and said “I just want to be a regular kid” I think Bruce would feel immense relief (and a little sad but mostly relief). Alfred would throw a party. Bruce would protect that regular life for the kids he mentored. All the Robins had to convince Bruce they could handle it, that they were ready, convince him to let them into his scary world, and Bruce, in all the iterations of the story, is strict about the rules and you aren’t ready until he says so and they all asked to be there. Begged, even. Even when Bruce was saying no you’re not ready.

There were however high costs. There’s a bunch of dead (and then un-deaded) Robins, there’s damaged Robins, there’s the Robin who didn’t die but left and became his own hero and became in some ways a better version of his adoptive father. There are also storylines where Bruce tells them nope that’s it this is too dangerous I don’t want to lose you so I am benching you. Which angers the Robins. Bruce knows the costs.

John is a different matter. Dean and Sam weren’t given an initial choice. They were raised into it from infancy. John punished outside interests, his kids looking beyond the hunting life. Bruce’s kids were always offered an education, college, options. It helps that Bruce was a billionaire with bottomless resources of course but John and Bruce both had a choice how they mentored their kids, how they treated them personally and yeah I’d say Bruce comes out looking like the better dad, with both of them in a zone of no dude don’t let kids be warriors. But allowing them and drilling it into their heads that can be their only worth and role in life are two different things. Nonetheless both Bruce and John are complicated painful father figures.

BTW Dick Grayson, the first Robin’s parents, were named John and Mary. And Dick was trained into the slightly perilous family business of being a trapeze artist, but with lots of safety nets and love and his extended circus family around him. Sam and Dean had no safety nets, there were no safety nets for John, and they had little sense of community. Also John and Mary Grayson died due to sabotage while performing without a safety net.

Should I bring up the fact Sam, Dean, and Cas are training Jack who is effectively still a child to be a hunter—but with lots of safety nets, with Cas telling him his own worth, instead of “this is your only worth.” With choices because Jack is the one begging to go out in the field while Dean is playing protective batdad saying no. If Jack said he wanted something else, if Jack decides he wants to go to college someday, or just be a guy who works in a comics shop and has friends, TFW is going to support him.

What’s interesting about Jason Todd showing up in this ep of spn is that Jason is the most tragic Robin and the one Bruce always felt the most sense of failure on. Jason is the Robin who died (there’s another one who did too but DC also undid that, and Jason was the first to die). Under the Red Hood effectively is the story of someone who thought his father didn’t love him enough. So it’s the high cost of training children to be warriors writ large and the Red Hood animated movie brings in a lot about insecurities from both Bruce and Jason’s end—I failed you, you didn’t love me enough. Jason’s also got sibling jealousy issues. Jason had behavioral problems, he was a bit of an asshole, he was basically good, but Jason was the 2nd Robin and had to follow Dick Grayson who is a really talented, good-hearted, smart, handsome, universally loved, gold standard of Robins, and became Nightwing who can hold his own as Batman’s equal.

Jason was murdered by the Joker and that was the end of him for decades. His memory haunted the batfamily. His memory taunted Dick with the potential for his own failure and he haunted Bruce. There’s a story where Bruce blows up at Dick saying Jason was just like Dick—brash and over-confident and so Dick could have been killed just as easy. Anyway Jason’s story was over until DC brought him back from the dead and while not gone all over to the dark side Jason was pretty messed up emotionally, tried to steal Nightwing’s identity in one SL, and uses violence to do his work on levels Batman was adamantly against. (note I have no idea if these backstories on the batfamily are still considered canon or not what with all the reboots but they are part of an emotional continuity in how I know the characters—it’s comics and animated series and there are emotional consistencies across all the canon versions and maintained through the reboots. Still, discussinf what’s “dc canon” is a mess).

Oh and Stuart was stealing from his mentor and in one of the Jason Todd origin stories, Batman found Jason when Jason stole from him (the batmobile hubcaps. Jason had moxy).

I was also a batfamily fan when I got into SPN and early seasons SPN sent all my batfamily parallel radars beeping. So now, that Red Hood mannequin, being in this ep? With those other parallels about John running strong already in place? Of all things, they put this ouchie of a batfamily nod in there? That is some easter egg. That thing was just begging to be meta’d, it was asking for it.

#supernatural #dean winchester #sam winchester #meta #supernatural spoilers #spn #spn spoilers #supernatural season 14 spoilers #supernatural season 14 #John Winchester #Bruce Wayne #Jason Todd #Dick Grayson #batfamily

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ljones41 · 4 years ago

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"A VIEW TO A KILL" (1985) Review

"A VIEW TO A KILL" Review The year 1985 marked a milestone in the history of the Bond franchise. This was the year in which EON Productions released their latest Bond film, "A VIEW TO A KILL". The movie would turn out to be Roger Moore's last turn as the British agent, James Bond. With this movie, Moore would become the only actor who has portrayed Bond for EON Productions more than any other - seven times. Sean Connery would also portray Bond seven times, but his last effort would not be for EON Productions.

But this review is not about Moore's tenure as James Bond. It is about his last movie - namely "A VIEW TO A KILL". The franchise's 14th installment is not what I would call a remarkable film. But I do not consider it a travesty like many other Bond fans do. On the whole, it struck me as a slight remake of the 1964 film, "GOLDFINGER" in regard to one scene and the villain's objective. In "GOLDFINGER", the villain's objective was to destroy the U.S. gold reserve at Fort Knox with a nuclear bomb in order to drive up the value of his own supply of gold. In "A VIEW TO A KILL", the villain's objective was to destroy the U.S. dominant control of the microchip market by causing a "natural disaster" in Silicon Valley. Both movies also feature scenes in which the villain reveals his scheme to potential "investors". But whereas "GOLDFINGER" created a major plot hole in its version of this particular scene, "A VIEW TO A KILL" managed to avoid one. Bond's discovery of a microchip on the body of the dead Agent 003 in Siberia leads to MI-6's investigation of an industrialist named Max Zorin, who now owns the very company that the British government and military have contracts. Bond's investigation leads to his introduction of certain individuals - a former Nazi criminal/scientist named Carl Mortner, an oil geologist named Conley and the movie's leading lady, whose name is Stacy Sutton. In a nutshell, these three characters - especially Sutton - allowed Bond to discover Zorin's past as a KGB agent, his betrayal of his bosses, and his plot to destroy Silicon Valley. Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum's screenplay is not very original, considering its strong similarity to "GOLDFINGER". Fortunately for "A VIEW TO A KILL", director John Glen did what he could with Wilson and Maibaum’s screenplay and did a commendable job in avoiding the major mistakes of the 1964 film. Granted, the movie’s portrayal of the San Francisco Police seemed straight out of the Keystone Cops. Nor I did not care for the writers’ attempt to keep Stacy in the story by allowing her character to reveal the details of Zorin’s plot. It seemed to be stretching things a bit. But in the end, I rather liked the story. And I liked Glen’s direction. I believe that he did better with movies like "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY", "OCTOPUSSY”, "THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS" and even "LICENSE TO KILL". But at least I have nothing major to complain about. The cast’s performance seemed to be pretty solid. The only complaint I have of Roger Moore is that in certain scenes, he looked a little too old and tired to be portraying Bond. Some fans would attribute this to his age (he was 57 when he shot the movie). But from what I had learned, Moore had been suffering from the flu at the time. However, there were scenes in which he looked like a handsome, middle-aged man. Despite his illness, Moore managed to turn in a good performance that had not been marred by the occasional silly joke, as it had in "OCTOPUSSY". Aside from the silly Beach Boys moment and the movie's final scene, the humor in "A VIEW TO A KILL" seemed more restrained and tasteful. Ironically, three of Moore’s best moments featured both humor – which featured Bond’s impersonation as a spoiled and demanding playboy and his reunion with KGB agent Pola Ivanova (Fiona Fullerton) - and also drama – his dislike of Zorin apparent, following the murder of Mr. Howe (Daniel Benzali) of the Department of Conservation. I would never regard Tanya Roberts ("CHARLIE’S ANGELS"/"THAT 70s SHOW") to be a great actress. But I cannot deny that she gave a solid performance as Stacy Sutton, the California State geologist, whose oil company Zorin wanted to buy. But she did have her moments of wooden acting. Fortunately for Roberts, she can at least claim to be a better actress than either Barbara Bach or Lois Chiles. And despite her acting limitations, she managed to inject a great deal of spirit and moxie into the Stacy character. Oscar winner Christopher Walker, on the other hand, was great. I loved his slightly off-kilter portrayal of the greedy and psychotic Max Zorin – former KBG agent-turned-entrepreneur and industrialist. And considering that Walken was portraying a psychotic, it is a credit to his skills as an actor that he did not ham it up for the screen. He even managed to provide some great moments. But my favorite Walken moment featured Zorin’s reaction to his discovery that Bond’s true identity. And of course there is Grace Jones as Zorin’s equally psychotic henchwoman, May Day. Perhaps she was not as psychotic, considering she was able to mourn the deaths of her two female assistants (Alison Doody and Papillon Soo Soo). But like Walken, she brought a lot of style and verve to her role without going over the top. And for an exhibitionist like Jones, it was a miracle. The regular Bond cast seemed to be their solid selves. I especially enjoyed Moore’s last on-screen interaction with Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny). However, I must confess that the movie’s last scene of Q (Desmond Llewelyn) using a remote controlled "rover" to peep into Bond and Stacy’s shower activities at the end of the movie struck me as distasteful. Included among Bond’s allies is Patrick Macnee, portraying Sir Godfrey Tibbett. Tibbett is a gentleman horse breeder who helps MI-6 investigates the mystery of Zorin’s success on the racetrack (microchips imbedded in the horses’ flesh). Macnee (the fourth ”AVENGERS” cast member to appear in a Bond film) gave a very competent and classy performance and seemed to have produced a good screen chemistry with Moore. It seemed a shame that he was only present in the movie’s first half. Cinematographer Alan Hume did a great job in taking advantage of the elegant settings of Paris, the French countryside and surprisingly, San Francisco. In fact, I believe that ”A VIEW TO A KILL” marked one of those rare times in a Bond movie in which the U.S. locations actually looked tasteful or interesting. I am usually not a fan of Duran Duran, but I must admit that I am a fan of their rendition of the movie’s theme song – "A View to a Kill" (written by Duran Duran and John Barry). I am not surprised that the song ended up second place on the U.K. pop charts and at the top of the charts in the U.S. "A VIEW TO A KILL” will never be considered a top favorite of mine. Aside from the cinematography, the theme song by Duran Duran and Christopher Walken’s performance, there is nothing really remarkable about it. Many Bond fans consider it a travesty that Moore had to end his tenure on such a low. I personally do not regard "A VIEW TO A KILL" as a low note for Moore. In fact, I feel that he was lucky to end his tenure with a good, solid action film of which he had nothing to feel ashamed.

R.I.P. Tanya Roberts (1955-2021)

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sci-fantasy · 7 years ago

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The Annotated “Playback”

Tomorrow, Friday October 20, begins OVFF 33, the annual Ohio Valley Filk Fest, the biggest filk convention (certainly in stature; probably in people too?).

I am thus pleased to announce that after months of on-again-off-again work, and the assistance of several friends including @animatedamerican and @jchance4d4, I have finished the project envisioned here, and annotated all of the references in Andrew Ross’s “Playback.”

(Well, as much as I could. One or two were not identifiable fully.)

A lot of people commented approving of this idea when @seananmcguire reblogged this, so I hope you see the fruits of our labor.

Song above the cut; references below.

“Playback” to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” filk lyrics by Andrew Ross

Mary Shelley, HG Wells, people meeting at hotels Rudyard Kipling, people singing ditties at the bar Gilbert, Sullivan, rounds of Young Man Mulligan Poul and Karen Anderson, songs in Key of R Martha Keller, Tolkein, songs of worlds as yet unseen TH White’s Arthurians, Frederick Pohl’s Futurians Tom Lehrer, Mondegreens, Slan Shacks, fanzines Music circles, Reprints, Jacobs has a misprint! We shouted “MacIntyre!” It’s our cry of battle for the Old Dun Cattle We shouted “MacIntyre!” And we haven’t parted since the circle started Amazing Stories Annuals, Pelz’s Filksong Manuals Dr. Demento tunes, Callahan’s Crosstime Saloons Hope Eyrie, Leslie Fish, bounced potatoes off the dish Robert Aspirin, Gwen Zak, Dawson’s Christian, Captain Jack Off Centaur, Teri Lee, making love in zero-G Filthy Pierre, Longcor, black market Tullamore Juanita Coulson, Red Lions, badges marked with Dandelions Dorsai have a Fan Club! Jello in the bathtub! Don’t set the cat on fire It will only fight it if you try to light it Don’t set the cat on fire And we haven’t parted since the circle started Peter Beagle, Consonance, chili cursed with sentience HOPSFA, NESFA, ConChord, and the Pegasus Award PFNEN, Ose, Amway, Talk Like a Pirate Day Dandelion Digitals, Julia Ecklar and the gulls Bob Laurent, Asimov, Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff Rocky Horror Muppet Shows, Frank Hayes feeling indisposed Bill Sutton DIY, Marischiello goodbye Challenger! Final tour! What else must we all endure? We saw the sky on fire While the world was staring, we were Jordin Karing We saw the sky on fire And we haven’t parted since the circle started Kathy Mar, Next Gen, Tullamore is back again Steve Macdonald, Elfquest, Interfilk funds a guest Tom Smith, 307 Ale, Lee Gold, Heather Dale Phoenyx, Keepers of the Flame, Filkontario’s Hall of Fame Echo’s Children, Bab-5, need a fool to feed the drive Hamlet done by John Woo, Marilisa Valtazanou GaFilk, Urban Tapestry, lives rich in fantasy Airwalls down at Orycon! Firebells at Baycon! We didn’t start a fire We were all but deafened, and began Kanefin’ We didn’t start a fire And we haven’t parted since the circle started Blake Hodgetts, Proteins, Vixy, Tony, Thirteen Stone Dragons, Moxie, Zander, Heather into Alexander Bill and Gretchen, dead mouse, alligators in the house ConFlikt, Judi Filksign, Tragedy at East Hill Mine Mary Crowell, Faerieworlds, brony boys and Wicked Girls Britain’s Talis Kimberly, Seanan’s Kellis-Amberlee Doubleclicks! Browncoats! Cats! FuMP! Toy Boat! Release the Cello! Sasquon! Thor! Pass another Tullamore! We didn’t start the choir It’s been so cathartic for the longest bardic We didn’t start the choir But when our turns have gone, it will still go on and on until the dawn…

Mary Shelley: As in, the writer of the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.

HG Wells: Wrote The Time Machine and War of the Worlds and, along with Jules Verne, is considered one of the fathers of science fiction by people who don’t count Mary. (Jules pioneered “hard” SF, where he justified as much as he could with science; HG was busy making social metaphors.)

People meeting at hotels: AKA “conventions.” The first SF con was (debatably) Philcon in 1936, when ten people from the New York SF club went down to Philly to meet those guys. They called it a convention because the Democratic and Republican National Conventions had both been in Philly earlier that year, so it was a joke, see. The first World Science Fiction Convention was in New York in 1939.

Rudyard Kipling: English poet and journalist, famously a representation of British imperialism, but a lot of his stuff got set to music by Leslie Fish (for whom see more later).

People singing ditties at the bar: AKA filk. Or karaoke. Or any other sort of thing that happens when people who sing are near people who sing.

Gilbert, Sullivan: Light operettists famous for patter. They get refilked a lot.

Rounds of Young Man Mulligan: "Old Man Mulligan” was a 1940 story from Astounding Science Fiction by P. Schuyler Miller; as far as I can tell it was a pretty standard adventure story but it featured the titular Old Man who’d been around forever. “Young Man Mulligan” is an SFnal version of "The Great Historical Bum” (aka “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” or “The Bragging Song”; lyrics here); it opens “I was born about ten thousand years from now,” so you can see how it’ll go from that. It was one of the original “everybody keeps writing new verses” songs; Bruce Pelz published almost 70 in an early filkbook and many many more have been written since. (The Pelz lyrics do not appear to be available online.)

Poul and Karen Anderson: Poul was a Golden Age writing legend, one of the Grand Masters of SFWA, maybe one rung down from Asimov and Heinlein (maybe). Karen, his widow and sometimes co-writer, is among many other significant things the first person to deliberately use the term “filk music” in print. They both wrote their fair share of filk, and were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2003.

Songs in the Key of R: Another way to say “off key.” See this folk song (lyrics here) of...disputed provenance (I have found a few different claims of authorship).

Martha Keller: Poet and balladeer, born 1902, died 1971. A number of her poems from Brady’s Bend and Other Ballads were put to music by Juanita Coulson (see below) in 1984 on “Rifles & Rhymes” by Off Centaur Publications (see below).

Tolkien: Do I really need to? Fine. Wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and basically created the modern fantasy genre on accident while he was busy with constructed languages and mythologies.

Songs of worlds as yet unseen: AKA “filk.” See also “Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain’t Even Been Yet,” by Leslie Fish (see below), which was the first commercially published filk album.

TH White’s Arthurians: White’s The Once and Future King is a distillation and to some extent modernization of the King Arthur legend; the first part was The Sword in the Stone and yes, that’s what the Disney movie was adapted from. And yes, there have been plenty of Arthurian filk songs over the years.

Frederick Pohl’s Futurians: An early group of SF fans, specifically New York area fans (several of them were part of the 1936 Philcon mentioned above). Famously, several politically-minded Futurians were arguably-banned (whether it was really a “ban” still gets debated today) from the first Worldcon in ‘39 for handing out political flyers; Pohl was one of those.

Tom Lehrer: He’s a retired mathematics professor who “hangs out” at UC Santa Cruz, but in the ‘50s-’60s he was an active mathematics professor and also a fairly popular political satirist. Despite having no love for folk music (see his songs “The Folk Song Army,” lyrics here, and even moreso “The Irish Ballad,” lyrics here, wherein he calls the folk song “the particular form of permissible idiocy of the intellectual fringe”), his stuff gets sung a lot in filk circles.

Mondegreens: Misheard lyrics, like the famous “‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy” (for “Kiss the Sky,” by Jimi Hendrix). Named by Sylvia Wright in 1954 after her own mishearing of the ballad “The Bonnie Earl o’Moray; the line was “They hae slain the Earl o' Moray/And laid him on the green,” and she heard “and Lady Mondegreen.” The term caught on, and it and/or some individual mondegreens have been the inspiration for no small number of filk songs and at least one filk band.

Slan Shacks: Early term for an SF clubhouse or house filled with fans; named for A.E. van Vogt’s 1940 novel Slan which was an early version of the persecuted-superior-race-of-beings story (think X-Men). Fans in the ‘40s-50s picked up the phrase “Fans are Slans” in yet another example of the weird ostracism/superiority cycle that pervades fandom to this day.

Fanzines: The internet before the internet. When fans wanted to communicate over long distances and all they had was printed paper, they printed papers. They made little bound fan-made magazines (hence, fanzines, or just zines) of their songs, stories, jokes, and opinions and mailed them to each other. A lot of early filk was in the pages of fanzines.

Music circles: How filk typically happens--people sit in a circle and sing. They usually take turns. See below for “bardic” and “chaos.”

Reprints: Printings again. A lot of filk didn’t necessarily get them, but some did, including some early albums, some early filkbooks like the NESFA Hymnal, see below, or the Westerfilk Collection.

Jacobs has a misprint!: While Karen Anderson (see above) was the first person to deliberately use the word “filk” in print, the first use of the word at all was a typo in Lee Jacobs’s essay, which ended up being called “The Influence of Science Fiction on Modern American Filk Music.” It spread in conversation as a funny typo for a while before Karen fixed it in a tangible medium of expression.

We shouted “MacIntyre!” (and the rest of that chorus): “When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire” or “The Old Dun Cow” or “Macintyre!” is a very classic music hall song (written 1893) that gets performed by basically every folk or filk group that aims for that “British Isles drinking song” feel. See here for pedigree, lyrics, and recording.

Amazing Stories Annuals: In 1927, Hugo Gernsback published Amazing Stories Annual, a pulp magazine of “scientifiction” (the term “science fiction” hadn’t been coined yet). It sold so well he made it quarterly almost immediately; he lost the rights a few years later and the magazine ended up falling to the 800-pound gorilla that was Astounding Science Fiction. But it was arguably where all this started.

Pelz’s Filksong Manuals: Bruce Pelz, a legend of California fandom, was among other things one of the first creators of bound, organized, and published filkbooks (complete with sheet music!), which were titled the Filksong Manuals. (He’s mentioned under the “Young Man Mulligan” entry; it was one of the Manuals that had those 70ish verses to “Mulligan.”) Pelz was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame posthumously in 2007.

Dr. Demento tunes: Barry Hansen, AKA “Dr. Demento,” was a DJ in 1970 when he realized that “novelty” tunes lit up the phone banks more than rock and roll, and created the “Dr. Demento” persona for a syndicated radio show of novelty, comedy, and otherwise unusual music. It was on the radio weekly until 2010 and is now produced weekly online. He’s played a fair amount of filk over the years, reintroduced Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, and Spike Jones to a grateful world, and both inspired and launched “Weird Al” Yankovic’s career.

Callahan’s Crosstime Saloons: Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson and the various “Callahan’s Place” stories that followed had more than a few filk songs among the lyrics (Robinson is a songwriter himself), and at one point a couple of filkers (Jordin and Mary Kay Kare, see below) appear as characters to sing their filk song about Callahan’s.

Hope Eyrie: Listen here. Considered by many to be the “anthem” of filk, or possibly of science fiction fandom (inasmuch as it’s possible). Written by…

Leslie Fish: One of the most significant filkers in history; not only did she write “Hope Eyrie,” she also wrote the infamous-beyond-infamy “Banned from Argo,” created the subgenre of “Kipplefish” by setting Rudyard Kipling’s (see above) poetry to music, had the first commercial filk album (see above), helped to popularize filk music, wrote some of the earliest Kirk/Spock slash fiction...she’s pretty important, is what I’m saying. When the Filk Hall of Fame was founded in 1995, she was one of the first three inductees.

Bounced potatoes off the dish: At Westercon XIX in San Diego in 1966, the hotel was legendarily bad. Most notably, the Guest of Honor banquet featured completely inedible food, prompting Poul Anderson (see above) to set a filk to the tune of “Waltzing Matilda,” entitled “Bouncing Potatoes.”

Robert Aspirin: SF writer active from the late 70s until his death in 2008, Bob was also the founder of the Dorsai Irregulars (see below), and one of the people who brought early filk from private hotel rooms into public spaces, by (among others) holding a bit all-night filksing in celebration of the Irregulars’ formation in 1974. He was another of the first Filk Hall of Fame inductees in 1995.

Gwen Zak: One of the more spiritually-focused filkers, Gwen is a Pegasus Award (see below) winner for “Circles” and nominee for “I Am Lord” (cowritten with Leslie Fish).

Dawson’s Christian: A filksong by Duane Elms, written 1987, about a ghost ship. It’s been refilked more than a few times itself, including “Dawson’s Concom” (where it’s about ghost...convention runners).

Captain Jack: Not Pirates (probably), not Torchwood (probably), but the titular character of Meg Davis’s 1975 song “Captain Jack and the Mermaid.”

Off Centaur: The first filk music publishing house, Off Centaur Publications produced much of the early commercially-released filk albums, thus making filk available outside of a convention/fandom setting for the first time. They were the third of the three initial 1995 inductees into the Filk Hall of Fame. OCP was founded by Jordin Kare, Catherine Cook, and...

Teri Lee: Who went on to found Firebird Arts & Music, one of the more active filk publishers working today.

Making love in zero-G: A recurring topic in filk songs, including “Home on LaGrange,” and most notably, “A Reconsideration Of Anatomical Docking Maneuvers In A Zero-Gravity Environment, or The Zero-G Sex Song,” the latter being the most direct reference given its first line.

Filthy Pierre: Erwin “Filthy Pierre” Strauss was one of the prime movers in early filk on the East Coast of the US in the 1970s, creating some of the first songbooks, lists of top songs to know, and a lot of filk evangelism. To this day his melodica is a recurring feature at larger East Coast and world-level conventions. Pierre was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1998.

Longcor: Michael “Moonwulf” Longcor has been a major figure in Midwestern filk since the 1970s; he has no fewer than ten published music albums, was twice King of the Middle Kingdom of the SCA, and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2014.

Black market Tullamore: Tullamore Dew, a brand of Irish whiskey, was Bob Asprin’s preferred drink (because it was cheap, or so the story goes), a preference that he passed on to the Dorsai Irregulars and filk community both. “Tully” is a commonly mentioned in songs about the DI, about filk itself, or about alcohol.

Juanita Coulson: Filker since the 1950s and still going strong, Juanita was one of the earliest filk encouragers, welcoming and encouraging new people to filk circles. She had several early OCP albums, brought Martha Keller’s (see above) poetry to the attention of many filkers, and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996.

Red Lions: Red Lion Hotels (now bought and owned by Doubletree) were the sites of many filk conventions, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

Badges marked with Dandelions: Kathy Mar (see below) and Lindy Sears founded the “Dandelion Conspiracy” to encourage general SF conventions to be filk-friendly and to push back against the somewhat unsavory reputation of filkers among conrunners. In Kathy’s words: “In taking the dandelion as the filker's symbol, I hope to convey, as gently as the flower-power movement did, that filk is almost impossible to root out. If disturbed, it tends to proliferate. It can be beneficial at times, and it can even be beautiful in spite of its weedy reputation.”

Dorsai have a Fan Club!: At the Worldcon in Toronto in 1973, various security-type duties were the purview of local rent-a-cops, who...did not mesh well with fan culture, and more critically, did not understand fan valuation. This especially manifested in their Art Show duties; a very valuable Kelly Freas painting was swiped from the show because the rent-a-cop checking receipts didn’t know enough about the painting to realize that the receipt he was being shown did not nearly cover the value of the painting the thief was claiming to have bought. Bob Aspirin (see above) decided that Something Must Be Done, and formed an organization by fans, for fans, and of fans to do various convention-running duties on a by-contract basis. He named them the Dorsai Irregulars, a reference to the Childe Cycle of boks by Gordon R. Dickson about a planet of mercenaries, the Dorsai. (The joke being, if the “regular” Dorsai were off fighting in battles, doing con security was definitely a job for the “Irregular” Dorsai.) As mentioned above, the celebration of the Dorsai’s establishment was a watershed moment for filk, and to this day many Dorsai veterans are Midwestern filkers and vice versa.

Jello in the bathtub!: At the 1974 Worldcon in DC, Joe Haldeman (presumably, hopefully, jokingly) remarked that his ultimate sexual fantasy involved a bathtub full of green jello. By the end of the con, his bathtub had been jello-ed, with a couple of naked girls for, ahem, flavor. (Or perhaps texture.) The incident got inevitably filked about, though not many of those appear to be available online.

Don’t set the cat on fire (and the rest of the chorus): A four-line version of Frank Hayes’s (see below) “Never Set the Cat on Fire” (lyrics here).

Peter Beagle: Writer of The Last Unicorn (novel and screenplay) and numerous other works; also a filker himself, with an album (cassette, of course) of his live performance at Baycon 1986.

Consonance: Bay Area filk convention since at least 1992, probably longer.

Chili cursed with sentience: Beware of the Sentient Chili by Chris Weber (lyrics here).

HOPSFA: The Johns Hopkins SF club. They put out a filkbook, the HOPSFA Hymnal, in the 70s.

NESFA: The New England Science Fiction Association. They put out the NESFA Hymnal in the 70s, too.

ConChord: A filk convention held in the LA area starting in the early 80s, and closing its doors in the 2010s due to low attendance.

The Pegasus Award: The main community award (think the Hugo Award equivalent) for filkers, given out annually at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF) every fall since the late ‘80s.

PFNEN: A fanzine (see above) called Philk-Fee-Nom-Ee-Nom, published by Paul Willett in the ‘80s. It was nominated for a Hugo in 1984.

Ose: A common musical style of filk, for sad, depressing stuff. The joke being it’s “ose, ose, and more ose!” (As in, “morose.”) Since a lot of the folk music tradition is similarly depressing, it was inevitable.

Amway: OK, I’ll admit, I’m not 100% on this one. I suspect it’s how “Amway salesman” could be considered one of the most mundane of mundanities, as in Roberta Rogow’s song “A Use for ‘Argo,’” but that’s all I got.

Talk Like a Pirate Day: The “holiday” on September 19 every year, wherein people, well, talk like pirates. Tom Smith, see below, wrote the official Talk Like a Pirate Day Song in 2003 see here.

Dandelion Digitals: Since the Dandelion Conspiracy (see above) was a thing, it’s no shock that a label called Dandelion Digital would spring up. They put out some of the first filk CDs in the ‘90s.

Julia Ecklar and the gulls: Julia Ecklar is a very well-known filker, one of Off Centaur’s (see above) most prolific artists; she has nine Pegasus Awards (see above) and also won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1991. By all accounts, she has a fondness for birds--if I’m reading this right she works at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. Beyond that, I’m not sure about the gulls.

Bob Laurent: Californian filker and fan; he founded Wail Songs in the ‘80s to distribute tapes of live convention recordings, and also founded Consonance (see above) and Interfilk (see below). He was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996.

Asimov: Isaac Asimov, to be precise, one of the Golden Age of Science Fiction’s most famous writers. He didn’t coin the word “robot” but you’d believe he had. He also, inevitably, wrote a couple of filksongs himself back in the day.

Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff: Californian musicians and filkers with a half dozen albums (see here), a recording setup to help other filkers record quality albums, a couple of Pegasus Awards--and Maya’s an SF writer in her own right with an impressively long bibliography.

Rocky Horror Muppet Shows: There really are no words. Just a link. Written by Tom Smith (see below) and performed a couple of time, originally in 1987 and twice more in the 2010s

Frank Hayes feeling indisposed: Frank Hayes is yet another leading light of filk. He wrote the infectiously upbeat “Never Set the Cat on Fire” (see above) as well as many other songs, but he’s most known for Frank Hayes Disease: that is, forgetting his words. And causing other filkers to forget theirs. (It’s been known to happen that someone will borrow his guitar and suddenly forget lyrics they’ve had cold for decades.) Frank was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2009 and is married to Teri Lee (see above).

Bill Sutton DIY: Bill Sutton is a filker from Indiana; he and his wife Brenda have a couple of albums. Bill’s most famous song is “Do It Yourself,” which he describes as “a vintage song about vintage computing.” (“You can build a mainframe from the things you find at home,” it proclaims.)

Marischiello goodbye: Bill Marischiello was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996...but had died in 1986. (I’m sure it’s this because this is chronological, as see…)

Challenger!: Space Shuttle Challenger, as you’re probably aware, broke apart on liftoff in January 1986. The song “Fire in the Sky” by Jordin Kare (see below) is largely about that and the other successes and failures of the Space Program.

Final tour! What else must we all endure?: This reads like fluff that rhymes, to me.

We saw the sky on fire (and the rest of the chorus): As mentioned above, this is all based on Jordin Kare’s “Fire in the Sky.” (Link is to the version on the album To Touch the Stars.)

Kathy Mar: Cofounder of the Dandelion Conspiracy (see above), part of the second annual induction into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996, winner of seven Pegasus Awards, and yet another of Those Names.

Next Gen: As established, this is chronological, so we’re into the late ‘80s. Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987.

Tullamore is back again: I can’t find confirmation of this, but I seem to recall hearing that Tully was hard to find for a few years in the ‘80s thanks to the Troubles.

Steve Macdonald: “Smac,” as he is affectionately known, is a member of the Dorsai Irregulars (see above), a 2006 inductee in the Filk Hall of Fame, winner of six Pegasus Awards, once administrator of the same to great effect, and is known as Gallamor the Bard at Renaissance Faires.

Elfquest: The legendary long-running comic book fantasy epic is one of those properties that filkers seem to really be fond of. There’s been an album of Elfquest filk, a songbook of filk about Elfquest, and, well, see for yourself.

Interfilk funds a guest: Interfilk, founded in 1992, is an organization dedicated to the cross-pollenation of filk, by paying to send filkers to conventions in other regions. They are a registered nonprofit, and most filk cons do an auction of donated goods (rare music, songbooks, knick-knacks, food, drink…) to raise money.

Tom Smith: The World’s Fastest Filker, fourteen-time Pegasus Award winner (and 34-time nominee), 2005 inductee into the Filk Hall of Fame. Along with “Rocket Ride,” his paean to the Golden Age of Science Fiction, his most famous song is...

307 Ale: ...the story of a few MIT geeks who managed to brew beer inside of a tesseract and got a liquid that’s 153.5% alcohol--that is, it has a proof of 307. (He saw 307 ALE on a license plate and ran with it.)

Lee Gold: California SF fandom, publisher of the filk zine (see above) Xenofilkia since 1988 (and still going). Inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1997 and publisher of several posthumous filk collections (that is, collections of deceased filkers’ work; she’s still alive).

Heather Dale: Filk by way of the SCA, officially a Celtic bard-style performer with something like 20 albums to her name. She’s been at numerous filk conventions, won four Pegasus Awards, been nominated for another four.

Phoenyx, Keepers of the Flame: Celtic fusion rock band Phoenyx, founded by Heather Alexander (see below), had one album, “Keepers of the Flame.” Long out of print.

Filkontario’s Hall of Fame: The Filk Hall of Fame, mentioned extensively here; inductions happen at FilkOntario (FKO), an annual filk con--guess where.

Echo’s Children: Filk duo Echo’s Children, Cat Faber and Callie Hills, four-time nominees for Pegasus Awards for performance; Cat won seven times for writing/composing or individual songs. In addition to several songs about various tabletop RPGs they were in, and a few about other media, a lot of their songs are about…

Bab-5: Babylon 5, the TV show created by J. Michael Straczynski, which was doing long-form arc storytelling in the mid-90s in syndication. Besides Echo’s Children, a few other filkers have done songs about it; Tom Smith (see above) did a whole-show summary to the tune of Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week.”

Need a fool to feed the drive: “Fool to Feed the Drive” by Jordin Kare (see above) is a refilk of “Fuel to Feed the Drive” by Cynthia McQuillin--McQuillin being a multiple-Pegasus award winner herself and 1998 Filk Hall of Fame inductee. “Fuel,” the original, is a sad elegy about a spaceship that runs out of fuel in deep space, doomed. “Fool” points out that fusion drives use water, and humans are mostly water…

Hamlet done by John Woo: Oh, Andrew...this is a bit of self-promotion from the writer of this song, Andrew Ross. Andrew was nominated for a 2011 Pegasus Award for his song “Crispy Danish,” which is, well, a retelling of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark as a John Woo film, set to “Sheep Marketing Ploy” by Tom Smith (see above).

Marilisa Valtazanou: Oh, that’s why--he needed something to rhyme! Marilisa has been nominated for over a dozen Pegasus awards, alone or as part of a group, and helps run the annual UK Filk Convention.

GaFilk: The start of the filking New Year, GAFilk is held the first full weekend of the year in Atlanta, GA (hence the name). One of the more well established filk cons.

Urban Tapestry: Canadian filk trio of Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Allison Durno, and Jodi Krangle; they’ve won two Pegasus Awards and released three albums, and were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2011.

Lives rich in fantasy: “Rich Fantasy Lives,” by Tom Smith (see above) and Rob Balder, is in contention for “Filk anthem” with “Hope Eyrie” (see above) and its ilk. It celebrates the joy of having more worlds than one to visit on occasion. Best sung in a crowd.

Airwalls down at Orycon!: OK, this one I can only go off of what @jenroses said: “The Airwalls at Orycon was one of those legendary disasters that ended up sparking the best filk circle I’ve ever been at.”

Firebells at Baycon!: This one got filked by Bob Kanefsky (see below): it’s the mostly-true story of a massive problem at Baycon in 2002. The fire alarms kept going off. Every five minutes or so.

All night.

We didn’t start a fire (and the rest of that chorus): See above. “Kanefin’” refers to Bob Kanefsky, considered one of the grandmasters of the refilk. 2007 Pegasus Award winner for Writer/Composer and nominee for specific songs, Bob has a legendary habit of taking one song by a singer, and rewriting the lyrics (often to make it another song by that same singer)...and then convincing the original singer to sing the filk--he got verbed. To Kanef is to sing your mashup-filk parody of a specific filker’s work at said filker. He has several albums of just that. One of the greatest parodists in filk.

Blake Hodgetts, Proteins: Filker Blake Hodgetts, two-time Pegasus Award nominee for writing, has a song called “Proteins” which is a sci-fi version of one of those cowboy ballads about a cowboy who meets a Mexican girl, they get together briefly, share no language, spend the night, then they part...in his version, it’s an alien, and our lonely singer remembers too late that biochemistry mismatches can lead to anaphylactic shock...

Vixy, Tony, Thirteen: Filk duo Vixy and Tony from the Pacific Northwest, two-time Pegasus winners; their first album was “Thirteen,” and at time of writing was their only album. (Their second came out in 2016.)

Stone Dragons: Canadian filk duo of Tom and Sue Jeffers. Tom was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2012.

Moxie: Play it with Moxie is the nine-member “house band” at GAFilk (see above), which plays the annual GAFilk Banquet.

NOTE: These next two pieces discuss trans individuals, and use their “deadnames”--the names they went by before transition. In both cases, the individuals are public about their transitions and former names, so I am given to understand that this is not considered a breach of etiquette.

If it is, I apologize and will edit the post.

Zander: Zanda Myrande describes herself as “still recovering from the trauma of being Zander Nyrond for several decades,” but still gives “ house room to Zander and the rest of the deadbeats who populate her head.” Zanda is a UK filker, two-time Pegasus Award winner, and writer of the song that UK filk has claimed as their own anthem, “Sam’s Song.”

Heather into Alexander: Celtic musician and filker Alexander James Adams, the Faerie Tale Minstrel, describes himself as “the Heir to Heather Alexander,” who went to the lands of Faerie (thus invoking the “Changeling Child” tale). He has a handful of Pegasus Awards, and wrote the archetypal song of battle, “March of Cambreadth.”

Bill and Gretchen, dead mouse: Bill and Gretchen Roper, filkers from the Midwest, literally own the domain filker.com. Bill has three Pegasus Awards, one with Gretchen; that one is for “My Husband, the Filker,” and includes a snippet about a dead mouse to the tune of “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

Alligators in the house: Filk about exactly what it sounds like. Written by Betsy Tinney (see below) and performed by Betsy, Alexander James Adams (see above), and S.J. Tucker as Tricky Pixie.

ConFlikt: A relatively new filk convention in the Pacific Northwest, foudned 2007.

Judi Filksign: Judi Miller is a talented filker, singer, and musician in her own right, but is primarily known in filk as an ASL translator. Many filk concerts see her at the side of the stage, signing the songs. She won the Pegasus Award for Best Performer in 2006 and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tragedy at East Hill Mine: “The Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster” by Brooke Abbey (formerly Brooke Lunderville), a Canadian pharmacist and filker.

Mary Crowell: That’s Dr. Mary Crowell to you, punk! Dr. Crowell is a piano, composition, music theory, and music appreciation professor from Alabama, a four-time Pegasus winner (including once with Play It with Moxie, see above) with another dozen-plus nominations, has two albums and major parts on several more, and is one of filk’s roving accompanists; she can provide a piano backing on the fly.

Faerieworlds: A music festival in Oregon, which has featured a number of filk musicians, including S.J. Tucker and Alexander James Adams (see above) both individually and as Tricky Pixie (also see above).

Brony boys: A lot of fandom subcultures develop their own filk; Harry Potter has Wizard Rock, Doctor Who has Time Lord Rock, and yes, My Little Pony has its own filk. (Note: This was written before “Brony” stopped being considered anything except a warning sign of the Sad Puppies and the like. Look that one up yourself if you want, this is long enough as is.)

Wicked Girls: The fourth album of filker and author Seanan McGuire, six-time Pegasus Award winner. Wicked Girls was the first single-artist filk album to be nominated for a Hugo Award (To Touch the Stars, see above, did it earlier but was multi-artist), for Best Related Work in 2012. “Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves,” shortened to “Wicked Girls,” is also the central track of the album.

Britain’s Talis Kimberley: Talis Kimberley, UK filker and activist, has been nominated for 32 Pegasus Awards and won 9, released over a dozen albums, and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2014.

Seanan’s Kellis-Amberlee: Under her open pseudonym of Mira Grant, Seanan McGuire (see above) wrote the Newsflesh series, in which a manmade virus called Kellis-Amberlee causes zombification upon death. (The similarity to the sound of Talis’s name is a coincidence.)

Doubleclicks: A nerd-rock duo--they they don’t self-identify as filkers, but they’re well regarded and friends with many Pacific Northwest filkers.

Browncoats: The organized fandom for Firefly, densely populated with filkers.

Cats: One of the most common subjects of filksongs that aren’t actually about fantasy or science fiction.

FuMP: The Funny Music Project, a loose affiliation of comedy musicians that has considerable overlap with the filk community (including Tom Smith and the Great Luke Ski, among others).

Toy Boat: Toyboat, a hard-rock filk band from the Midwest.

Release the Cello: An album by filker and cellist Betsy Tinney (see above).

Sasquon: Sasquan, the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention, which was the current con when this song was written.

Thor: The God of Thunder, Mighty Thor! This probably refers more to the Leslie Fish song, though--she was doing that sort of thing before the Marvel Cinematic Universe made that version a household name.

Pass another Tullamore: Tullamore Dew (see above).

for the longest bardic: At filksings, “bardic” refers to a style of turn-taking in which the opportunity to sing and/or play (or, in some variations, request a song of someone else) progresses around the circle in order. This contrasts with “chaotic”, a style in which there are no set turns and anybody can request to perform next.

#filk

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thesherlockexperiment · 8 years ago

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I was sort of tagged by @librarylock as I was an infrequent commenter on their awesome epistolary fic :)

My Ao3 username is the same as my main blog @unrelentinghost but I decided to do this here anyway because to be honest, no one follows my main blog. Pssst, I can also be found on @moxieshortfilm because I’m currently filming a lesbian kick ass short, sooooo....

Rules: Answer these questions, and tag 20 amazing followers that you’d like to get to know better.

Name: Sara Margrét

Nicknames: Icelander (Not a joke. This is what my friends call me on a daily basis. So much so that people I’ve barely met use it too)

Zodiac sign: Gemini

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Height: 173cm

Orientation: Pan AF

Ethnicity: Viking

Favourite Fruit: I really don’t like fruit. I’m a fan of vegetables though. My fave being cucumbers! (Some might consider me obsessed with them. At least 3 different Subways in my neighbourhood refer to me as cucumber-girl. Not as catchy as Spider-Man, let me tell you!)

Favourite Season: Spring

Favourite Book Series: Harry Potter. Can’t be helped. Grew up on them!

Favorite Fictional Characters: Sherlock and John (goes without saying, really), Draco Malfoy, Tony Stark, Jim Moriarty, Spencer Reid, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley. Come to think of it, I really should have more favorite female characters... Can I count my own? Because I am very much in love with Kylie from my own film, Moxie.

A Fictional Character I’d like as a sibling: Ginny Weasley hands down! No competition!

Favorite Flower: A dead one?

Favorite Scent: Fresh Icelandic air. The way my parent’s house smells. My dog’s scent. My mum’s amazing Yule dinner! (Is it that obvious that I live abroad from them and therefore can’t visit and I’m feeling homesick AF?)

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Animal: Dogs, but also Utah Raptors. Or dinosaurs in general. Birds as well :)

Favorite Artist/Band: Sigur Rós

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Cocoa: Tea

Average Sleep Hours: I don’t know how to calculate that. I either sleep for 4 hours or 10. At the moment I have no set sleep schedule and I know that it’s not healthy but, hey I’m stressed.

Number of Blankets You Sleep With: 1, but it’s semi thick so I blast the AC like I’m made of money, and successfully recreate Icelandic conditions :)

Dream Trip: Is it weird that I can’t think of anything? I feel like I just had my dream trip in December (podcast listeners should be all too familiar with that one), and I’m planning on moving to London in August, so I’m already sort of doing what I want... (Damn, all things considered, I’m really lucky!)

Last Thing Googled: What the hell is an Allen key? Turns out I misplaced one intended for a camera I rented, and I put it in the case with the Ronin I rented. Bad news is, I rented those two pieces of equipment from 2 separate people... AND I’ve already returned the equipment, so I have a couple of very awkward phone conversations and a long drive of shame ahead of me...

Blog Created : I created my main blog during Sherlock S3, and this one in October last year? Same time as the podcast, obvi.

How many Blogs do I follow: Around 200

Number of Followers: Around 350

What do I usually post about: Sherlock, TJLC, Johnlock, Metas, and all things fucky. This blog is very niche.

Do you get asks regularly: Not really. I got a couple of lovely ones while we were updating the podcast regularly, but that kind of activity has all but died out after the s4 fallout.

What’s your aesthetic: Pajamas and bed hair, OR shirt, suspenders, skinny jeans, and fancy men’s shoes. My fashion choices exist on a binary system, sorry.

Tag 20 followers you say? Alright, hope you guys don’t mind :)

@myrealityisyourcraziness @tali-zora @lalnableleesh @skelet00n @johnlockshire @londonlock @real-life-reichenbach @thetjlcfiles @consultingtrash @amo-not-ammo @sherlocks-gay-trenchcoat @hms-johnlock @thedoctlock @shag-me-senseless-watson @soulmistin @grumpyjohn @get-shezza @queerbaitinglock @coffeeteaitsallfine

Some are mutuals, and I always want to know more about my mutuals, and some have simply awesome urls! Like, seriously guys!

#tag game #mine

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josie-wales · 6 years ago

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Hello, my lovely, loyal readers! Since I haven’t been regularly posting, I figured I’d give y’all an update on my reading escapades!

P.S. Did any of y’all suddenly get that song, “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes stuck in your heads?!

Sweet Reads

If you’re a fan of The Baby-sitters Club like me, you’ve absolutely GOT to check out the Graphix editions by Raina Telgemeier!

I read the third in the series, Mary Anne Saves the Day, and adored it! The Graphix editions totally take me back to the era of Ann M. Martin, the BSC creator.

I also adored and was greatly entertained by Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians! This book is so freaking good and I’m stoked to read the next two books in the series, China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems!

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan is a precious, heartwarming read. While a departure from the genres I generally stick to, this story really grabbed me. I highly recommend Colgan’s novel!

Rereading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood classic, Little House on the Prairie, also took me back in time. I’ve made it a mission to reread the entire Little House series this year and I’m so glad I decided to undertake this wonderful journey!

I’m a sucker for a good graphic novel, especially anything by Brian K. Vaughan, who is author of both the Saga and Paper Girls series, both of which I love. The most recent book I read was Paper Girls, Vol. 4 and it was awesome! I’m dying for volume five to come out – I think I have to wait until this fall!

Sour Reads

*A little note – the Sour Reads column typically includes books I rate three stars or less*

For a new book club I’m in, Read Between the Covers Book Club, [please join us!], I listened via Audible to Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I enjoyed Mathieu’s story, but I didn’t totally fall in love with it. Review to come!

I’m really disappointed, devastated really, to report that Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli was simply middle of the road for me. I did like the book; I’m super excited to read Albertalli’s follow-up, Leah on the Offbeat!

Currently – In Books

At this time, I’ve got four books on my plate! I’m reading the beautiful – so far – novel by Wally Lamb, I Know This Much is True, the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women, The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn, and I’m listening to The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan.

I’m reading Pan’s lovely tale for the book club I mentioned above, Read Between the Covers Book Club, and I chose to read Lamb’s and Alcott’s books for a reading event I’m co-hosting, which I’ll be mentioning later in this post. I picked the Jonestown book because honestly, cults and their leaders are intriguing – in a blows-my-mind sort of way!

Welcome to My Library!

Looking back over my book purchases these past couple months has astonished me – I’ve gotten a LOT more books than I thought! 😀 I guess I’ve discovered many more bookish resources!

I’m really looking forward to reading everything I’ve obtained – especially the remainder of the Geek Girls series by Holly Smale!

Since I obtained books from quite a few sources – and because I’m in the mood to list them 😀 – I’m going to break down my acquisitions by where I got them!

Kindle

An awfully cute and entertaining-looking book, Color Me Murder by Krista Davis, was added to my Kindle collection, as was Let’s Talk About Love [super excited for this one] by Claire Kann.

I also added I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez, Tamora Pierce’s In the Hand of the Goddess [I love this series], The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro, and Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo [which I got for $1.99!].

Kobo

Kobo offered some great deals recently and I got my hands on Kate Carlisle’s A High-End Finish, which I had been continuously renewing through the library, thus my giving up and buying it.

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum is another recent personal library addition. I’ve been very attracted to this book, I think because of the adorable cover!

I’ve been dying to read Agatha Christie and got hold of her first Hercule Poirot tale, The Mysterious Affair at Styles = super excited!

The Real [Digital] Library

I am virtually obsessed with the Overdrive app, enabling me to tap into the resources of the library without leaving my house!

When I began utilizing the app, I checked out as many books as possible; I have since learned to check out a few at a time to avoid rechecking books continuously!

As of now, I have a total of three books checked out, with one due in just a few days! LOL! Laura Ingalls Wilder’s fourth series book On the Banks of Plum Creek, Classified As Murder by Miranda James, and iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson I borrowed.

I’m SO excited for the iZombie graphic novel – I had no clue there were books! I adore the show and that name – Liv Moore – tickles the crap out of me!

Book Depository

After reading the Geek Girl debut, aptly called Geek Girl, I fell in serious obsession mode with the series and added to my collection by ordering the rest of the series books!

All That Glitters, Head Over Heels, and Forever Geek moved into my library…err the basket beside my bed. 😀

In addition to Smale’s tales, I got a pretty copy of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman as well as China Rich Girlfriend!

Books-a-Million

I mentioned earlier how excited I am to read Leah on the Offbeat and I get to! I had totally forgotten that I’d ordered it! It’s like Christmas over here! 😀

Also from Books-a-Million, I got Saga, Vol. 8 and Paper Girls, Vol. 4 [which I’ve already devoured], both by Brian K. Vaughan

Challenging

So far, I’m still taking part in The Novel Knight’s Beat the Backlist challenge, the POPSUGAR reading challenge, and, of course, the 2018 Goodreads challenge for the year.

Challenges going on now for short periods of time include the read-a-thon challenge I’m co-hosting with wonderful Twitter friends, Spring Fling, the first installment of Seasonal-a-Thon!

I wanted to participate in Bout of Books 22, but it just didn’t work out for me this round. 😦

So, for Beat the Backlist, I’ve read quite a few backlist books, of which I am very proud! 😀 I’m a member of team Book Bards, and we’re making a comeback! Just because I feel like making a list, here’s a rundown of the books published prior to this year I’ve read!

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Mary Anne Saves the Day by Raina Telgemeier and Ann M. Martin

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain by Robert Kirkman

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

The Truth About Stacey by Raina Telgemeier and Ann M. Martin

The Secrets of My Life by Caitlyn Jenner

The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Moon Knight, Vol. 2: Reincarnations by Jeff Lemire

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson

Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Saga, Vol. 6 by Brian K. Vaughan

Wires and Nerve, Vol. 1 by Marissa Meyer

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

As for the POPSUGAR challenge, I don’t think I’ve completed any of the categories yet, although I do have a mostly complete TBR list. I’m working on Little Women and I Know This Much is True for our month-long read-a-thon!

I’m really proud of my progress in the Goodreads challenge; my current total read is 29, with my goal for 2018 being 77 books. While I am two books behind schedule, I’m not scared – I’m juggling four books at once, plus, I Know This Much is True is really long! LOL!

Love, Maggie

What’s Going On? Hello, my lovely, loyal readers! Since I haven't been regularly posting, I figured I'd give y'all an update on my reading escapades!

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jenmedsbookreviews · 7 years ago

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I make no bones about it – I am a fan of the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly. I came to the series exceptionally late, I believe after seeing a tweet about what was, by then, the 13th book in the series A Song of Shadows. Yes – I know – I was that far behind. Clearly being the conscientious and balanced individual that I am (?) I didn’t buy book 13, but I was suitably intrigued by the sound of the series that I went straight to Amazon and purchased book 1 – Every Dead Thing.

Now in another of those ‘what were you doing when you first read this book’ moments, the opening to said book left such a mark on me that I can tell you – 100% no question – that at the time of reading I was sat on an exercise bike in my front room, trying hard to focus on keeping my legs moving while simultaneously becoming more engrossed in what I was reading, to a point where I could probably have fallen off the bike and not noticed.I will admit it – I didn’t immediately like Charlie Parker. There is much in his character in those early moments that takes time to warm up to, but by the end of the book I was hooked. I read Every Dead Thing in April 2015. By the following April I had read every single book in the Charlie Parker series – all 13 and they are not short books – and was waiting patiently for book 14. I was all blithering idiot (nothing unusual) when my local library won the chance to host an evening with John Connolly as part of his promotional book tour, and duly went along for what was a highly entertaining event, where, after a huge amount of personal motivation to find the balls to actually talk to another human being, the extent of my conversation with him was to say that I loved the book. (I’d managed to read it in a day – it was so good!). In fact A Time Of Torment was the first book I ever ordered as a signed 1st edition (love Gutter Bookshops in Dublin!) quickly followed by pretty much every Charlie Parker book I could lay my hands on. My collection now looks a bit like this …

What does this waffle have to do with The Woman In The Woods? Well – the fact is that I just love this series and each new book (which always feels too long a wait for) is highly prized. So I was delighted when this finally landed in my mailbox and I could sit and read one of my most anticipated and awaited books of 2018. Did it live up to expectation? (you’ll be hoping so after all this build up …) We’ll see in a moment after I’ve shown you what it’s all about.

About the Book

The new thrilling instalment of John Connolly’s popular Charlie Parker series.

It is spring, and the semi-preserved body of a young Jewish woman is discovered buried in the Maine woods. It is clear that she gave birth shortly before her death.

But there is no sign of a baby.

Private detective Charlie Parker is engaged by the lawyer Moxie Castin to shadow the police investigation and find the infant, but Parker is not the only searcher. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in more than a missing child, someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.

And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring.

For a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman . . .

Ah. Ah-hahahahaha. Oh yes. I loved this book. I’m going to have to say that this is most definitely one of the best yet and completely ticked all the boxes for me. Well – all but one but more on that later. Maybe.

The Woman In The Woods really is the perfect combination of everything I have come to love about this series. The wonderfully complex investigation which provides the basis for each story, one which our dear hero, Charlie Parker, feels often honour bound to partake in, and the presence of the supernatural or otherworldly – not in a Ghostbusters kind of way – more spiritual in a fighting for your soul and to prevent the damnation of the world and the ending of our entire existence kind of way. In that respect this series is unapologetically biased towards that which cannot be easily explained, and will entertain and disturb, bringing forth both the macabre and mysterious in the most delectable melding of genres – the kind of thing that would happen if Horror and Crime started dating, breeding and having book babies. It is not gratuitous, although possibly still capable of turning your stomach if you are of a delicate disposition. It is, however, quite marvellous.

On a very basic level – as there is always a very basic level in every book – this is the story of a young woman whose body has been discovered buried in the woods in a remote part of northern Maine – hence the title. There is every likelihood there is some connection between the woman and the Jewish faith and so in a fit of conscience, and it doesn’t happen often, Parker’s friend and sometime employer, Moxie Castin, asks Parker to try and identify the woman and what happened to the child she appears to have been carrying just prior to her burial. On a wider level … oh it is so much more than that but I am not going to tell you how much more as the fun in this book is in the reading and gradual reveal of a most complicated and disturbing story. It links in beautifully with the ongoing narrative behind the series and sets Parker against a new and wholly disturbing foe – Quayle.

What I love about these books is the way in which John Connolly weaves such diverse and colourful set of individual threads into what in the end becomes a very rich and beautiful tapestry. There is no doubt about it, these are long books, rich in narrative and deep in terms of language and, on occasion, explanation of history. And yet it never feels as though this is a long journey. If anything it never feels quite long enough. There are so many elements of the story to articulate, so many characters whose lives, at one time or another, seem to intersect with that of Parker and his friends, who inform and redirect the ongoing back story which filters through each preceding and subsequent tale, enriching your understanding of what has gone before and what is yet to come, that you cannot help but find yourself lost within the pages, often for hours at a time. This is a story, much like most of the others, that can be read on its own, but I would question why you would want to as to read them all is to fully understand the beauty of what you are reading.

Parker himself is a very complex character. As I said earlier, I didn’t immediately like him and yet he is someone I have grown increasingly attached too, in literary terms of course, and I am fully invested in his story and his quest to discover his true purpose, as this most surely is a quest. He is flawed, but those flaws make the man, and he will always fight for what is right, no matter the personal risk or cost. His partners in crime, Louis and Angel, are just the perfect antidote to Parker’s occasional melancholy and between them the three possess such a keen sense of humour, sarcastic but astute, that you cannot help but love them. It is largely Louis and Parker in this book, Angel notably absent, which is my only regret (and unticked box) for the book as I do love Angel and I missed his hideous shirts and banter with Louis. His presence is mostly certainly felt in the few scenes in which he appears, his and the Fulci brothers who I am developing a soft spot for too, but with his larger than life persona his absence is also felt and he was greatly missed. Hopefully only a short term departure as I refuse to consider the alternative.

Parker is always given a very dark antagonist to battle and it is no different in this book. I don’t want to say too much about Quayle, but he is English (not British) and despite his vile nature, there are moments of mirth in his interactions with others. They are few but they are there. There is something inherently creepy about this man from the off, and the author excels at making this live upon the page without the character ever having to do anything in particular to make you wince or make your skin crawl. He is not the only person in this book to try to make Parker’s life a living hell, and it is certainly a case of equal opportunities for the sexes in this book, with John Connolly demonstrating that when it comes to exacting pain, the female of the species – whatever species this may be exactly – is most definitely more deadly than the male.

And then – oh that ending. Such promise. Such threat. Such a fantastic way to make me desperate for the next book and no mistake.

Gah. I’m making such a horlicks of this review aren’t I? Well this is for a good reason. I want to tell you how beautiful and lyrical, almost mythical, elements of this book are. There is just something so – I don’t know – poetic maybe about the way Connolly forms his prose that it is so hard to review a book, refrain from spoilers and say all you want to say to do it justice. I know. I have tried so many times before.

So I will just say this – if you love this series – buy this book. You will not be disappointed. If you haven’t read this series – you could still buy this book – it’s very good and can easily be read in isolation – but you will benefit so much more if you read the whole series in order. In each one you will find a puzzle piece and slowly they will fit together and a gradual picture will emerge. I still don’t know yet what that final image will be, I’m not so sure that it matters, because right now the work in progress is pretty flipping fabulous and I’m loving every moment of it.

If you would like to own your own copy of this wonderful book then you will find it at the following retailers.

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US ~ Kobo ~ Waterstones ~ Goldsboro Books

About the author

John Connolly is author of the Charlie Parker mysteries, The Book of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson novels for young adults and, with his partner, Jennifer Ridyard, the co-author of the Chronicles of the Invaders. His debut – EVERY DEAD THING – swiftly launched him right into the front rank of thriller writers, and all his subsequent novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers. He was the first non-American writer to win the US Shamus award, and the first Irish writer to be awarded the Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America.

Follow John Connolly on Social media: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Now if, like me, you are lucky enough to be in the area on Monday 9th April, John Connolly will be appearing at First Monday Crime at London’s City University. First Monday Crime is a monthly gathering for authors, publicists, agents, editors, students, and avid readers of crime fiction. Each month a new panel of authors is lined up to discuss writing, the world of crime, and their latest novels. This month the panel’s line up consists of John Connolly, Stuart Turton (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle), Rachel Abbott (Come a Little Closer) and Leigh Russell (Class Murder), all overseen by the expert moderation of Barry Forshaw. You can find out more about First Monday Crime and book your place at the panel here.

Review: The Woman In The Woods by John Connolly @jconnollybooks @HodderBooks @1stMondayCrime I make no bones about it - I am a fan of the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly.

#Charlie Parker #Crime #Hodder & Stoughton #John Connolly #Private Investigator

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beths-escape-from-reality · 7 years ago

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Hey Guys!

Today I am going to be talking about my favourite reads from last year. I made this post last January about my favourites from 2016 and I love that post. I love going back and looking over it and seeing what I thought about a book when it was still fresh to me and it really makes me remember some books that I had kind of forgotten how much I love. So I have decided to make it a yearly post. 2017 was an amazing reading year for me. I read over 100 books and over 30 of those were 5 star reads. There were very few books that I read last year that I rated 3 stars or lower. I loved so much of what I read. this means that narrowing this list down was quite hard, but I eventually did it. most of these aren’t in an order of preference, except number 1. That was my favourite read last year and is one of my all-time favourites now. Also, I cheated slightly and included full trilogies and series as one, not multiple. But, this is the longest intro ever, so let’s get to the actual post.

Shades Of Magic by V E Schwab

This is one of my all-time favourite trilogies. This multi-verse trilogy puts a whole new spin on the magical universe. It is fast paced and dark, sexy and funny, and full of incredible characters. You follow a magician called Kell as he finds himself on a deadly adventure with an unlikely ally in the form of a young cut-throat called Lila. You cannot help but love this trilogy. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. This is one of the best magic based stories that I have read in a long time.

A Court Of Thorns And Roses Trilogy by Sarah J Maas

This (admittedly loose) Beauty And The Beast retelling is one of my favourite books that I have read this year. It is fast paced, action filled and so interesting. I couldn’t put it down. In this story you watch teenager Feyre trade her freedom for the lives of her family. Forced to leave her human life behind her, she is taken to Prythian, the fairy world. While there she discovers the secrets of the world, makes friends and slowly falls in love. This is a brilliant story. It is so gripping; I couldn’t put it down. (and that is just the first book!). If you haven’t read this series yet, you need to.

Heroes Of Olympus by Rick Riordan

I know that I have mentioned this series in a previous reads post, but it needs to be in this one as well. This series is amazing. It follows on from the original Percy Jackson books but has a whole host of new characters and a completely new storyline. I would go as far as to say it is better than the original series. It is darker and more complex. The story follows the group as they battle their way across the world trying to unite their friends and prevent the goddess Gia from waking and destroying the world. This series is absolutely incredible; you will want to marathon the books. It is the perfect series to escape into.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

This book is essentially the YA equivalent of The Night Circus. It is beautiful, magical, imaginative and quiet dark. The story follows sisters Scarlet and Tella as they venture into the game of Caraval, looking for an escape from their abusive father and dead end lives. They are thrown into a world of deception, mystery, love and joy. This is one of those stories that you will instantly fall in love with. It will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time, you never know what way that it is going to twist next. You never know what is real, and what isn’t. I truly love this book.

A Monster Calls Patrick Ness

This is a stunningly beautiful book. It is essentially a contemporary story, but with a fantasy, supernatural twist running through it. In this book you follow teenager Conor as he deals with all the emotions and struggles of his mother’s illness. When he is visited by a monster, you learn some very important life lessons with him. This book is absolutely incredible. You will sob uncontrollably but you won’t care. As soon as you start reading it, you won’t want to put it down. It is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter day.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

if you are only going to read one book this year, it needs to be this one. This incredible YA contemporary follows 16-year-old Starr as she witnesses her best friend get murdered by a cop, and the aftermath of this event. The whole book is themed around the black lives matter movement and is such an important read. But not only is a topic that we all need to focus on and tackle more, the book itself is incredible. You are instantly so connected to the characters and you want justice for them. Honestly, everybody needs to read this book.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I freaking love this book. Generally speaking, I am not a massive fan of classics, but I adored this book. I had been wanting to read it for about five years and finally, after seeing the film, I decided to give it a go and I am so glad that I did. This is the ultimate story of consequences and depravity and it is just amazing. If you haven’t read this, you need to.

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

You need to read this book. Follow 16-year-old Vivian through most of the junior year at East Rockport High. At this very corrupted school, the football team are hailed as gods, allowed to do as they please with no repercussions, not even by teachers. Viv has had enough of ‘make me a sandwich’ comments, strictly enforced dress codes that only target girls, being grouped in hallways and all the other stuff that is going on at her school. So, taking inspiration from her ex rebel mother, she starts a zine called Moxie and triggers a revolution. This is a brilliant book. It explores feminism and girl’s rights and the idea that one girl can cause a change. I read this in just one sitting. It is brilliant. Everyone needs to read it.

Spellslinger by Sebastien De Castell

welcome to a world of magic and tricks. This is the first book in a new fantasy series and it is incredible. It has instantly become one of my all-time favourite books. In Spellslinger you follow 15-year-old Kellen as he navigates his way through a world where magic is everything. But he has an issue, his is disappearing. You follow him as he tries to uncover the secrets of his magic, untangle a web of lies surrounding him and try to survive long enough to save his sister. This is a fast paced, adrenaline fuelled book that will leave you itching for the next one. A must read for any fantasy lover.

The Upside Of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

This is hands down the best contemporary that I have read in ages. This story follows 17-year-old Molly over the course of one unforgettable summer. She is the girl who has had 26 crushes, but never done anything about it. this story follows her as she develops crush 27, makes new friends and generally starts to discover who she is. This is a beautiful story full of brilliant characters, and realistic storylines. I have never related to a story as much as I did this one. It is sweet and funny and so good. It is the perfect summer read.

Wilde Like Me by Louise Pentland

When you read this book, you will fall in love with Robin Wilde. This brilliant debut follows 20 something, single mum Robin over a year of her life. You see her deal with everything from mummy issues to dating and the book even touches on elements of mild depression. This book is sweet and funny, daring and brilliant. It has highs and lows and many funny moments. I read this in just two days, it was such a good book and I cannot wait for the next one. It is the perfect summer read.

Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is a truly brilliant trilogy. You follow 16-year-old Thomas as he is thrown into a terrifying world of lies, fear and monsters. With no memories of his old life, you discover and learn about the world alongside him and end up really rooting for him. These are the type of books that you are instantly sucked into and don’t want to put down. There is constantly so much going on. Fighting, adventure, mystery, friendship, drama and so much more. If you want a series that you can really get into, then this is the trilogy for you.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

This is the story of a 17-year-old girl’s suicide. After Hannah takes her own life, tapes suddenly start arriving on her classmate’s doorsteps, on them, Hannah’s reasons for ending her life. Throughout this book you see how people’s actions have consequences, how everything is all linked together and entwined. And how everything can snowball. This is a heart-breaking story and is well worth a read. You will laugh and cry and really connect with the characters. I do suggest listening to this one, is because of the format of the book. The book is told from Clay’s (one of the people who has received the tapes) POV but is primarily Hannah speaking. The audiobook is read by Debra Wiseman and Joel Johnstone who each take a POV. This just makes the story a lot easier to follow and much more enjoyable. There is also something about listening to this that just feels right. Plus, they are both amazing actors who really help to bring the story to life and to connect you to the characters. But however you read it, this is one of those books that you just cannot put down.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

I love this book. It is the best Wonderland retelling that I have found so far. In this story you follow Kath, the future Queen of Hearts, as she discovers who she is and who she wants to be. You watch her fall in love with someone she can’t ever have and discover how she became so heartless. This is a really fun, all be it, mildly devastating, story full of love and friendship, cute couples and a lot of whimsy. I would highly recommend the audiobook for this one as it really makes the book.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stievater

Welcome to the paranormal world. This is the first book in a four-part series that follows a group of friends as they try to find and wake a long dead, and lost, welsh king. The story revolves around ghosts and lay lines, magic and psychics. It is a stunning book and is well worth a read. the writing is almost lyrical, the characters are brilliant and the storylines are so interesting. I cannot wait to continue with the series.

Wonder by R J Palacio

Welcome to the book that will make you think like an 11-year-old again. This book is a contemporary middle grade story about a young boy with serve facial disfigurement. You follow Auggie as he goes to school for the first time. The story is set over the first year of middle school and is told from multiple perspectives. You get chunks of the story from different people. From Auggie himself, to his sister, friends and even his sister’s boyfriend. Each character tells the whole story from their perspective, but also progresses the story. This is a truly stunning book that leaves you with so many feelings. It contains some very important life messages and is a book that everyone needs to read in their lifetime.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This is one of my favourite contemporaries that I have read this year. It follows 18-year-old Cath, an avid fanfiction writer, as she navigates her way through her first year of college. this book is full of brilliant characters, amazing relationships and complex storylines. You cannot help but fall in love with the characters and the storyline. It is sweet and funny, but also sad and so relatable. This story was so much more complex then I was expecting and I ended up really enjoying it.

Mortal Instruments + Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

this is without a doubt one of the best YA fantasy series, ever. It is full of adventure and drama, mystery and love, creatures and friendship. This is one of those series that that will always have you on the edge f your seat. You will want to read them all back to back. The series follows teenager Clary as she uncovers who she really is and is thrown head-first into the world of Shadowhunter’s and Downworlders. With amazing storylines, interesting characters, endless twists and a sprinkling of humour, this is the perfect series to curl up with and lose yourself in.

Have you ever wondered about Magnus Bane’s life? Then this is the book for you. This is a novella bind up centred around him. every story is from his point of view and it is amazing. You get so many little glimpses into his past, from meeting the formation of the accords to his first date with Alec. this book has it all. This is a must read for any fan of the Shadowhunter world.

Lockwood And Co by Jonathan Stroud

This is a middle grade series, which I would never give to a middle grader. The Lockwood & Co series focuses around a ghost hunting, private investigator agency. The series is set in a universe where ghost freely wonder the streets at night and it is up to children/teenagers (the only people that can actively see them) to hunt them and take them down. The books follow a specific agency ‘Lockwood & Co’ on their adventures. These books sound light-hearted, but they aren’t. Yes, there are a lot funny moments, but there are also lots of scary and disturbing ones as well. For instance, there is a moment in the first book with a bleeding room and a well were monks were buried alive. Definitely not a book I would give to anyone under 16, but it is a very good read. perfect for Halloween.

Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines

This is a stunning YA contemporary that follows two teenagers, Maggie and West, as they both struggle to come to terms with losing a parent. The pair connect over their joint experiences and slowly fall for each other. This is a beautiful story about loss and love, friendship and trust, and the idea that no two people experience the same thing, in the same way. It is honestly such a good book. It is beautifully written and you will instantly fall in love with the characters and the story. It is the first in a series of companion novels titled ‘The Field Party’ and they are well worth a read.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

This book is the first in the DC Icons series and features, surprisingly, around Wonder Woman. Well, around Diana, before she was Wonder Woman. You follow her as she helps to save the world for the first time. This book was amazing. It was fast paced and action packed but also really relatable and complex. I loved every second of it. although the actual story is set in the summer time, it is the perfect read for this time of year. I honestly read this in one sitting, I just could not put it down.

Vicious by V E Schwab

What makes a villain? Read this book and find out. this story follows Victor and Eli, as they try to uncover the secrets of EO’s (extra ordinaries). This is a story about friendship and betrayal, good and evil, heroes and villains. This book has serious X-Men vibes. It boasts complex characters, a storyline that you have to slowly unravel and a completely unique plot. This is the perfect book to sink your teeth into during that autumn time.

The Scarecrow Queen by Melinda Sailsbury

Welcome to an epic fantasy trilogy. These books follow a pair of teenage of girls, Twylla and Errin, who live in a very different world to ours. This is a world where myths are real and they are coming to get you. You follow the girls as they discover truths and watch their lives intertwine in unexpected ways. These books twist and turn, you never know what is coming next. There is mystery, drama, murder, betrayal and love. Everything that you could possibly want in a story. As soon as you finish one book, you will instantly want to pick up the next. They really are books to sink your teeth into.

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns is the perfect spring contemporary. Set in May, follow Q and his friends as they try to unravel the mystery that is Margo and find out where she has gone. This is a brilliant story about love, isolations, friendship and adventure. You can’t help but fall in love with it. It is sweet and funny but also dark and it tackles some serious topics. It is one of those books that you want to read in one sitting. It is perfect to curl up with during spring and just lose yourself in.

Shadow And Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I got through this book in basically one sitting. This story follows Alina as her world implodes and she is thrown into the world of Grisha’s. as her world is turned upside down she is in a race against time to learn to control her new power and uncover the truth of her new world. This is a brilliant story and I am really looking forward to continuing the series. The world is so interesting. It is truly a book that you can be fully absorbed into.

And those are my favourite reads from 2017! I loved so many books last year, it was a really amazing reading year for me. If you would like to know everything else that I read last year or my bookish goals for 2018, I put a post up last week talking all about it. I will link it below. What did you read last year? what were your favourites? Did any of mine make your list? I hope that you have enjoyed todays post and I will see you all again soon.

My Top 25 Reads Of 2017 Hey Guys! Today I am going to be talking about my favourite reads from last year. I made this post last January about my favourites from 2016 and I love that post.

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amakeshiftlibrary · 7 years ago

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This past Wednesday was an incredibly special day for me. Both as a book lover and a blogger. I was given the opportunity to attend Indigo’s Fall 2017 YA Preview event in Toronto. This blog post will detail the event itself and some of the books discussed, so you can have them on your radar and pre-order some of the ones you’re most excited about!

PS: If you’d like to see more photos and meet some of the other bloggers at the event, make sure to search for the hashtag #IndigoYAPreview on both Twitter and Instagram!

I arrived just at 5pm, where a bunch of fellow bloggers from the area were waiting to be let in around the entrance. We were soon invited upstairs, where a beautifully decorated room awaited us! We received the most warm welcome from the Indigo team, who had our name tags ready to go, a catered table of bagels and veggies, bubbly beverages and snacks galore! And of course, books everywhere!

We started the event with a bit of a mingling and eating session, where everyone was able to catch up and meet other bloggers! Shout out to my table-mate and amazing fellow booktuber Erika, who I hadn’t seen in ages! It’s always a pleasure to catch up with fellow book influencers.

Then we moved into sharing some brief introductions, of both the bloggers and the Indigo team conducting the events of the evening. It was great to meet the faces behind all the work we see on social media and also from the many stores around the GTA. Shout out to Ameema (Ajax), Shannon (Eaton Center), Taylor (Richmond Hill), Sydney (Eaton Center) and Teresa (Barrie), who came all the way downtown to gush about books with us!

Then….we talked about all the books! Below is a quick list with some brief notes on what you can expect this Fall season!

1. Highly Anticipated Novels:

These are the titles that everybody and their mothers can’t wait to get their hands on! I may or may not have some of these pre-ordered already…ops.

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur – October 3, 2017

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green – October 10, 2017

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas – September 5, 2017

Renegades by Marissa Meyer – November 7, 2017

2. No Filter:

This was my absolute favourite part of the night. We had Brandon, Chelsey, and Tina from the Indigo team explain to us about this new and exciting initiative in stores. A new table will be set up in the major store locations (others to follow in October) all about books with #NoFilter, written by smart and innovative young writers who are breaking the mold on what books can be; they are the voices of young people overcoming struggle and pushing boundaries. These books would often fall into too many categories, such as being a Young Adult book that is also a Memoir and discusses Well-Being. Where would these books go? Well, now they have a home! And in great company! A lot of these titles have been on my radar or are already on my shelves!

Love Her Wild by Atticus – Out Now

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – Out Now

Depression & Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim – Out Now

Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green – October 3, 2017

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero – Out Now

Unlearn: 101 Simple Truths for a Better Life by Humble the Poet – October 31, 2017

Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav – Out Now

Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately by Alicia Cook – Out Now

Unlearn by Humble the Poet is due to come out in an exclusive partnership with Indigo! The cover we were shown at the event was different than the one I’ve listed, but I was not able to find the new one online. It must have been a secret…

3. Great Books for YA Explorers:

These are the titles that YA Lovers would likely really enjoy, if they’re willing to step outside of just YA fiction into essays, memoirs, humor, and other categories. I can’t give enough praise and love to ODWABDANOTWM by Scaachi Koul and Trust No Aunty by Maria Qamar.

Courage is Contagious: And Other Reasons to Be Grateful for Michelle Obama edited by Nick Haramis – October 24, 2017

Trust No Aunty by Maria Qamar – Out Now

One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul – Out Now

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby – Out Now

Bad Feminist (Paperback, Olive/Pink Edition) by Roxane Gay – October 10, 2017

Lady Stuff: Secrets to Being a Woman by Loryn Brantz – September 26, 2017

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert’s Story by Debbie Tung – November 7, 2017

Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen – Out Now

I am specially excited for Courage is Contagious and Quiet Girl in a Noisy World. That new Bad Feminist cover is also speaking to me…

4. Great New Contemporary:

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu – September 19, 2017

They Both Die at The End by Adam Silvera – September 5, 2017

Release by Patrick Ness – September 19, 2017

Kat and Meg Conquer The World by Anna Priemaza – November 7, 2017

A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck – September 26, 2017

Top Ten by Katie Cotugno – October 3, 2017

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart – September 5, 2017

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds – October 17, 2017

5. Great New Fantasy:

La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1) by Philip Pullman – October 19, 2017

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake – September 19, 2017

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo – September 16, 2017

The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera – October 3, 2017

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli – October 3, 2017

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust – September 5, 2017

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty – November 14, 2017

Fireblood (Frostblood Saga #2) by Elly Blake – September 12, 2017

We heard amazing praise for The Tiger’s Daughter from Angel, who vouched for this amazing Mongolian inspired fantasy queer story (not YA). The City of Brass was also compared to Uprooted by Naomi Novik, and Girls Made of Snow and Glass got amazing raves as a feminist Snow White retelling.

6. Great New Science Fiction:

Artemis by Andy Weir – November 14, 2017

Warcross by Marie Lu – September 12, 2017

The Empress by S.J. Kincaid – October 31, 2017

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller – October 31, 2017

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen – September 12, 2017

Satellite by Nick Lake – October 3, 2017

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada – November 7, 2017

Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray – Out Now

Nyxia got amazing praise from Taylor, who described it as the best combination of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Ender’s Game. She also gave a shout out to Otherworld (which I’m very excited for, as a huge Jason Segel fan), adding that the story is an interesting mix of sci-fi and fantasy.

7. Great New Paranormal and Dystopia:

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater – October 10, 2017

Monster by Michael Grant – October 17, 2017

The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin – November 7, 2017

Siege of Shadows by Sarah Raughley – November 21, 2017

Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel – September 5, 2017

That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston – October 3, 2017

Overall I’d say a good portion of the people at the event had only amazing things to say about That Inevitable Victorian Thing, even though it doesn’t quite fall under the paranormal or dystopian categories.

8. Under The Radar:

These are books that deserve more praise than what they have been getting thus far! Stories were shared of people sobbing uncontrollably after reading The Mosaic. As you know, The Nowhere Girls has been on my radar for a while!

The Agony of Bun O’Keefe by Heather Smith – September 5, 2017

The Lives of Desperate Girls by MacKenzie Common – September 19, 2017

The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan – October 3, 2017

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi – October 31, 2017

Invictus by Ryan Graudin – September 26, 2017

Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler – November 14, 2017

The Mosaic by Nina Berkhout – Out Now

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed – October 10, 2017

9. Upcoming YA Events:

There are some amazing events coming up in Canada that need to be shared!

Becky Albertalli, Julie Murphy, and Angie Thomas will be in Dartmouth (September 8, 7pm), in Oshawa (September 9, 4pm) and Yorkdale (September 11, 7pm).

Maggie Stiefvater will be in Oshawa (November 7th at 7pm).

Scaachi Koul and Jonny Sun in conversation at Yorkdale (October 5th at 7pm).

AND FINALLY, the goody bag!

So many books!!!

We were fortunate enough to receive a tote bag filled with ARCs of upcoming releases and recently published books. I was also very fortunate to win a copy of Trust No Aunty by Maria Qamar and also Depression and Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim during some of the trivia giveaways.

Thank you so much again to Tina and the entire Indigo team for hosting such a wonderful and fun event! It was a pleasure to be sitting among some of my favourite book bloggers.

Have you read any of these titles yet? Which ones are you excited for? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, you can also fine me on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. Happy Reading!

Happy reading!

Event: #IndigoYAPreview Fall 2017 This past Wednesday was an incredibly special day for me. Both as a book lover and a blogger.

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cover32-yahoopartner-blog · 7 years ago

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Buffalo Bills: Things we know this Week

Friday night was an epic evening Buffalo style, gathering down at Canalside, pure Buffalonians everywhere your eyes peered and as Buffalo natives always do, they came to get their party on. The Canadian brand beer, Labatt, both Blue and Blue Light, which Buffalo basically adopted as the Queen City’s beer over the past three decades was “flowing like wine, where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I’m talking about a little place called ASPEN”.

Stealing from the extremely worthy — in a shameless fashion — and legendary character Lloyd Christmas in the classic Jim Carey movie, the Citizen Kane of jobless bachelor road trip movies, Dumb and Dumber. Harry — Jeff Daniels – replied “Oh I don’t know Lloyd, the French are assholes!”

I digress swiftly. Other vendors were selling popular local craft beer for those who prefer the IPA’s, stouts, ambers and have moved on from the basic lagers with so much variety these days. When I was growing up you got lured towards Labatt’s as you got old enough to afford it over the dirt cheap swill consumed by the poor youths.

However, if you wanted something local, it was Genesee Crème Ale, straight out of Lake Ontario with the sneakers, dead trout and broken glass professionally filtered out of the water; closest to Rochester, New York and famous for assisting as a laxative the next day.

This gathering of all gatherings was the famous Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra along with the well known tribute/cover band The Strictly Hip. Dedicating their musical careers 22 years ago to the music of their idols and music mentors, The Tragically Hip were jamming near perfect renditions of the real Tragically Hip who basically went on a farewell tour last year after front man Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra played gracefully behind them adding a unique touch to a large portion of the coveted show.

Tragically Hip, a huge legendary band in Canada, often called the nation’s best band, did not dominate with commercial success south of the border in the states. They played their fair share of U.S soil shows in Vegas and California and made appearances on Saturday Night Live and other shows, but as much as they really did not care, they did not grab the United States like the Beatles and many others did during the British Invasion.

Western New York, and especially the Buffalo metro area, fell in love with this band back in the early to mid 90’s — some earlier in the 80’s who listened to a lot of Canadian music — and from my first time seeing them play up in Barrie, Ontario in 1989, followed by years of seeing them at festivals and arenas, it was amazing see how the legend of Gordie and his band grew and their songs became anthems of a wide range of ages and backgrounds of Western New Yorkers.

Friends of mine from college who live in the mid west have never heard of this band. They were single handedly adopted in Buffalo as if they were from the Queen City herself, similar but on a less mainstream scale as the Goo Goo Dolls. But Canada is our friendly neighbors to the north, a mere 90 minute car ride to Toronto from my driveway if I go at an odd hour with no traffic.

Excluding monster Canadian bands with major commercial success in the states like Rush, Triumph, Bryan Adams, and Loverboy, Buffalo has had many other bands from Canada close to their hearts like 5440, Barenaked Ladies, Lowest of the Low, Moxy Fruvous, TPOH and many more. One reason for this musical love affair is possibly because many of us grew up listening to their radio stations like 102.1 CFNY and 97.7 Hits FM.

We even voyage up and over on the Queen Elizabeth Highway to see bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Killers, Phoenix… bands that maybe pass by smaller populated areas like Buffalo, but cannot resist the draw from the multi-million populations in North America’s fourth largest city. Keep in mind our beloved Bills played one super successful home game in that same city each season for a stretch of years which we attended and please find my sarcasm in the earlier portion of this sentence regarding super and successful.

The Toronto experiment was a complete failure and it also really threatened and angered Bills fans who own season tickets. We still share the Bills with southern Ontario as far as support of the team goes. However, a game did not need to be played in front of a half empty old Sky dome, I believe now known as the Rogers Center, to have support of southern Ontario.

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Rogers’s communications was one of the ownership threats that would have eventually relocated the Bills with that traitor Jon Bon Jovi. Hey Jon… You are from New Jersey… why such traitor? Who knows how long President Trump would have taken to move them had he outbid and been awarded the Bills franchise?

As my traveled 47-year-old bladder and I waited in line to use the super clean, well lit, smelling like roses, gleaming like Matt Dillon’s smile in “There’s something about Mary”, I chatted with several different groups of people in different lines. This was much more interesting than one would think. One couple had their kids all waiting in line that were big Bills fans.

After talking about Shady McCoy and expectations of the defense, I realized most of these various high school aged teens were not alive until well after the music city miracle. They are huge fans of a team that for their entire lives have not played in a single home or away playoff game.

So what seems like an eternity to me, I still clearly remember rushing the field after clinching the division against the Jets in 1988 — thanks Fred Smirlas — and going to my only Super bowl in Minneapolis in 1992, along with plenty of playoff memories that are irrefutable, it is still a sad state of affairs knowing so many fans have never once seen our beloved Bills in the postseason.

I am somewhat used to former employees of mine who were younger or my nephews and neighbors not recalling the Super bowl era because they were not born just yet, or if they were they were too young to remember. They all know of the legends and stories but only have recollection of playoffs under Wade Phillips or the last couple games with Marv and Kelly in playoff form.

The teens that do not amass any real memory of any form of playoff football have really been short changed in their time as Bill fans. It was really challenging to relate to that point when we talked football. So I changed the subject to The Tragically Hip and we ran into that same issue when talking about the younger version of the band from the early 90’s and late 80’s.

I was saved by the door to a porta–potty popping open as I said “It was such a pleasure chatting, but I got to get in there really quick before the smell goes to waste. I was kidding, referencing the guy in front of us was getting high in there and I was being silly that I would grab his second hand smoke.

The teens did not catch on and looked at me like I was one sick old man who wanted to go smell the porta-potty after a guy dropped said deuce in there. I hesitated for a second or two planning on setting the facts straight about what I was actually joking about. Clear your name Scott you dummy!

I then realized it was not worth my time, I will never see these tools again, and I proceeded to go use the facilities and there was no treat waiting my arrival. It was all business. Enough with the Potty Mouth though…..

Things We Know About The Buffalo Bills This Week:

LeSean McCoy is a 29-years old for this coming season, coming off a nice season of combined receiving yards, rushing yards and touchdowns scored. He looked great out there and he says he feels great. Technology in training has come a long way, but in the case of the running backs, they have had shorter careers than in the past. McCoy claims he’s elusive and does not take those punishing shots and when he gets hit he knows how to take the hit. Keeping him healthy may be the most important challenge due to what he can do all on his own.

Several reports have surfaced that 27-year old Jerel Worthy, defensive tackle brought in as a backup last season by Rex Ryan, had a noteworthy OTA display of talents. That is some nice depth on the line if he continues with the form he is showing under the more basic scheme Buffalo will be using this season. Good news. Good News.

Niagara Falls native and Canisius High School product Qadree Ollison, plays running back for University Of Pittsburgh and was conference rookie of the year in 2015. Why am I bringing this to your reading eyes? That means he played with the Bills fifth round selection in this year’s draft, quarterback Nathan Peterman.

“What John Gruden said is so true about him being the most NFL-ready quarterback because he’s real big on timing and spacing and depth of routes, all those things you need to know to try to be a great quarterback. He’s a leader,” Ollison said, echoing much of the analyst-speak heard after the Peterman pick.

Ollison will not be joining his good friend in the NFL this season. Do not worry! He is not quitting football and hanging from his teeth above the Falls from a helicopter or walking the tightrope. The only records he looks to break would be college football related. He is returning to school and will hopefully have the starting position locked up now that his predecessor has moved on.

Ollison text Peterman to congratulate him when he was picked. He reassured him he is going to an awesome city in Buffalo where the support from the fans is second to none. Who knows… maybe we will have a local product playing running back next season if the Bills draft him or sign him undrafted. That would be a nice.

BILLS NEWS: Watkins looking for uptick in NFL Spending

Speaking of nice,

The Bryk House

“Shake it down, shake it down now. We’re together everybody knows and this is how the story goes. Mighty Mighty…Bryk House”

Great Song. Funky Tune. It’s no “I love College”, but then again, what is? The Commodores were never the same after Lionel Richie’s departure to go dance on some ceilings all night long. They just never could quite rock like Blink 182 or The Killers, could never get me dancing like New Order, emotional like The Cure, singing along like The Smith’s or Phoenix or just loving every song, lyric and beat as Depeche Mode or The Tragically Hip did… well… does.

But not being my style of music does not make me naïve that a great song is a great song with a glorious name.

Herb Brooks once said before the 1980 Olympics, ”With Great Songs come great responsibility”. That’s not what he said. I am here for the Buffalo Bills and not hockey coaches or music so “Back the Brick off.” And by me stating I am here for the Buffalo Bills only – you would never guess that reading my commentary most weeks. Long winded… well yeah, duh, shah huh… that is why I write a mere one of these hotrods per week and spare you of multiple.

Random Bryk House Thoughts on Independence Day 2017:

Obtainable/Reasonable Goals

1.) Win double digit games: If 9 get’s you a wildcard berth. So be it, beggars can’t be choosers.

2.) Make the playoffs. (See above)

Bonus:

1.) Wildcard Round Victory

2.) Divisional Round Victory

Anything after that I would say is ‘nice’

“Shake it down, shake it down now. We’re together everybody knows and this is how the story goes. Mighty Mighty…Bryk House”

READ MORE: Buffalo stuck in no-man’s land for 2017

The post Buffalo Bills: Things we know this Week appeared first on Cover32.

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