#ignore that like 90% of these have had jordan in them

[apollos-boyfriend]

“a captain’s coat” for the fake fic title game :3

tubbo inspects the coat closely, as if he hasn't spent his entire life studying and memorizing its every detail. the red velvet is smooth under his touch, unblemished from years of being tucked away into the recesses of tubbo's home. eret once told him that the embroidery was real gold, and tubbo traces the patterns with the tip of his index finger. if his father was wealthy enough to own genuine gold embroidery, why was tubbo left in a cardboard box? phil theorized it was for his safety, but tubbo doesn't understand. he'd be much safer in his father's arms than alone on the side of a road, wouldn't he?

it almost feels natural to slip it over his shoulders. if tubbo closes his eyes, he can pretend the enveloping warmth is the warm hug of his father, and not just a fleeting memory. tubbo refuses to let that memory die.

OR:

when tubbo was left on the side of the road, he'd been wrapped in his father's coat. ten years later, he swears to return it to its owner, no matter what.

[fake fic ask game!]

[hawkgirlz]

you know. it's interesting how i saw a dinah stan on twt call out the terribly written hal jordan/arisia storyline while claiming it's weird for people to stan him and then ignore dinah lance being subjected to that exact writing in the 90s, which took place after oliver cheated on her.

most have no clue dinah took the virginity of a man who she knew since he was a minor the minute he turned 18. like if your fav has been subjected to that kind of writing, then i really don't think you should be speaking on the idea of stanning hal considering no one who stans hal would even defend that or want that addressed again. both storylines were misogynistic for both women involved as well. and another aspect that gets ignored is that the aliens had no problem with hal/arisia while john did, whoch clearly speaks to what the writer was trying to say with them (and it's not good).

and obviously i like both (dinah i like more ofc). but. come on 😭

[elisela]

‘I missed you’ + sterek

west coast swing sterek, wild about you, long distance relationship

—

Somewhere in the air over Colorado, Derek gets cold feet.

It’s insane what he’s doing, actually. It’s just—no reasonable person would buy a last-minute ticket halfway across the US just because they miss the guy they’ve been dating for all of six weeks. Even if he and Stiles talk and text so often that Derek feels like it’s been twice as long, it’s just not … it’s not him. It’s not something he would usually do, and the rush of adrenaline he’d felt buying the ticket and driving to the airport is starting to fade, leaving anxiety and doubt in its place.

He blames Kira. And Jordan, who’d made a considering face and said, “Actually, I think you should go for it,” when Kira suggested he go meet Stiles out west. Lydia had called out her agreement behind him so she’s also on Derek’s list of people to ignore for the rest of his life if this turns out badly; even Allison hasn’t escaped potential blame, because she’s the reason he has a rolled up, ratty poster in his carry-on bag.

This is a mistake. He should just grab a hotel in Anaheim for the night and fly back to St. Paul in the morning. Maybe call Cora and see if she’s still in San Diego, but if she’s not he’d have to explain why he’d asked and he’s not up for that. Another point to the absolute insanity of this decision—he hadn’t even thought to book a hotel before throwing clothes into his bag and leaving.

He needs to never listen to his friends again.

—

A notification pops up on his screen as he’s scrolling through available hotels, then a torrent of them—all the texts from Stiles he didn’t get while he was in the air. Derek hovers his finger over the screen for a few wavering seconds before tapping on it, watching as the screen fills with four hours worth of Stiles’ thoughts, questions, and right at the bottom—

Stiles Stilinski [2:34pm]: Sorry for all the messages I didn’t give you time to respond to

He frowns, swiping away the text from Lydia that drops down in order to respond.

Derek Hale [2:34pm]: I didn’t have service, sorry. Not ignoring these—composing my essay about the validity of pepperoni and pineapple in my head right now, you’ll get the fully edited version later tonight.

Stiles Stilinski [2:35pm]: Heads up that the peer review board is going to be striking that one down as soon as it’s submitted.

Derek grins at his phone and navigates away so he’s not tempted to spend hours talking instead of actually making a decision, then clicks on Lydia’s text so he can put off making said decision for a moment longer.

Then he stares.

Lydia Parrish [2:35pm]: Did you know Jordan’s never been to Disneyland? Unbelievable. No time like the present though, right?

He’d ask if it was a joke, but Lydia had apparently anticipated that and had sent a photo along with the message, Jordan’s outline silhouetted against one of the large airport windows.

Derek Hale [2:37pm]: I didn’t need a babysitter.

Lydia Parrish [2:37pm]: Of course not. I took the liberty of booking you a room at our hotel. The confirmation is in your email. Lydia Parrish [2:38pm]: Coincidentally, it’s the same hotel the team is staying at tomorrow night. Lydia Parrish [2:38pm]: Our flight doesn’t get in until much later tonight, I’ll text you when we land. Lydia Parrish [2:38pm]: Just know we’re doing this because we love you and support you, but also because we knew there was a 90% chance you backed out before the game.

Well—she wasn’t wrong. He sighs, pushes off the wall he’d been leaning against outside the Starbucks, and opens his email as he makes his way outside to where the line of taxis wait.

—

He buys Lydia and Jordan tickets to the game—another thing he’s putting firmly on his questionable decisions list, if only for the teasing that will occur once they realize what he’s brought with him. He goes to Disneyland with them in the morning, takes pictures he’ll share on his Facebook later, and picks up a pair of Yoda ears he thinks Stiles would get a kick out of. Halfway through the day he gets a text—Stiles complaining about an extra mandatory practice, followed by a half-hearted threat to trip and injure himself to get out of said practice. But he really must have to focus because he doesn’t text again until later, just as they’re leaving the park and heading back to the room to get ready for the game.

Stiles Stilinski [3:54pm]: Do you watch my games? Stiles Stilinski [3:54pm]: I should actually be congratulated on my restraint because I’ve been wanting to know if you’ve changed your mind about hockey for weeks but I held back. Stiles Stilinski [3:54pm]: There’s no right answer but there’s definitely a wrong one so you know. Tread lightly. Or lie.

Derek has not really changed his mind about hockey, but it’s not like he’s watching the games for the hockey aspect of it.

Derek Hale [3:55pm]: I watch most of them. Some of them start too late for me though.

And then—inspired, he texts again.

Derek Hale [3:55pm]: Do you want me to watch tonight?

Stiles Stilinski [3:55pm]: Derek Stiles Stilinski [3:55pm]: I kinda always want your attention Stiles Stilinski [3:55pm]: In case you hadn’t noticed

—

Surprisingly, there’s no teasing. It’s the opposite, in fact.

“This,” Lydia says, pointing at where Derek’s unrolling the Marry me, Stiles Stilinski sign, “is romantic. Jordan? I hope you’re taking notes. You could learn a thing or two.”

Jordan grins and rolls his eyes, even as Derek shoots him an apologetic look. “Got it. You want a sign asking you to marry me.”

“Ha, ha,” Lydia says, sinking back into her seat. “I do want some of those fish tacos though, if you needed ideas.”

“You can both go get the tacos,” Derek says, because players are starting to appear at the tunnel for warm-ups and he’d like them both gone. Or there and quiet, but he knows that will never happen.

“Oh no, we’ve got too many people to send videos and second by second reports to,” Lydia says sweetly. “Speaking of—I’m pretty sure that’s him, so—no, Derek, don’t cover your face with the sign, Jesus.”

Derek’s stomach is in knots. It’s too much, it’s not enough; he wants Stiles to come over and give him the same wide smile he’s been used to seeing every day and also wants him to skate by without seeing him at all. His hands feel sweaty as he grips the poster, plastering it to the glass in front of their seats, and he looks down at the concrete floor like it’s the most interesting thing he’s ever seen the moment he sees recognition dawn on Stiles’ face.

“Derek,” Jordan says quietly, warm hand patting Derek’s back, “he’s smiling, man. Look.”

Stiles is less smiling than grinning maniacally, and he all but throws himself at the glass. “Derek!” he yells, and the knot that’s been in Derek’s stomach since Colorado vanishes. “What are you doing here?”

Derek grins back helplessly, and the words come easy in the wake of Stiles’ obvious joy. “I missed you,” he calls back.

Some of the exuberance slips off Stiles’ face, and Derek is suddenly looking at a smile that’s softer, much more private. “I missed you, too,” Stiles says.

—

Stiles Stilinski [1:38am]: You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me

Derek Hale [7:35am]: I know

Stiles Stilinski [10:16am]: Nvm I take it back

Derek laughs when he picks his phone up, leaning back when he feels Stiles slide in behind him in line for coffee, a kiss being placed on the back of his neck.

You’re the best thing that’s happened to me too, he writes, and hits send.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Bloody Valentines

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam, Young Justice 98, Titans, GL Corps, Legion of Super Heroes, Flashfam, New Gods

Summary: 90s vampire slasher AU

Chapters: 5/?

Characters: Dick Grayson, Joseph Wilson, Jason Todd, Charley Parker, Zatanna, Eddie Bloomberg, Daniel Cassidy, Chester Williams DC, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Lilith Clay, Raven Roth, Kole Weathers, Bette Kane, Donna Troy, Roy Harper, Jenni Ognats, Bart Allen, Virgil Hawkins, Richie Foley, Ayla Ranzz, Zoe Saugin, Rol Purtha, Darla Aquista, Lori Zechlin, Hal Jordan, Helen Jordan II, Orion DC, Lightray DC

Relationships: DickJoey, Daniel Cassidy/Zatanna, DonnaRoy, Jenni Ognats/Virgil Hawkins, Raven/Lilith Clay

Additional Tags: POV First Person, Unreliable Narrator(s), Vampires, No Capes AU, 90s Slasher AU, Homoeroticism, Horror, Slasher

Chapter Five: The Omen (Lilith's POV)

Donna suggested the trip, and Roy insisted on driving us. I invited Bette and Kole, and Donna requested Raven join us. It was the only time we all had off to vacation. We planned on spelunking and walking the beach and doing all sorts of things, but the closer the trip got, the more we all started feeling uneasy. Raven read a book, Bette nibbled on trail mix, Donna messed around with the map, Roy ignored her directions, and Kole slept soundly on my shoulder. Occasionally, I'd lean over and glance at Raven's book or check if Kole was alright, but the car was mostly silent.

Roy stopped in the middle of the road, and everyone looked up. "Injured animal in the road... Hold on," Roy whispered. He rolled the window down partway. "Hey! Do you need-?"

"No, thanks! Can you get around?" a man yelled, and Roy answered back before driving around them. Raven grabbed my wrist.

"Did you feel that?" Raven questioned. I shushed her. Where she came from, those feelings weren't as foreign to normal people. But yeah, I felt it. A full-body cold started in my frontal lobe and penetrated my scalp, trickling down my neck, shoulders, and chest like ice water. Fear. Primal. Final. It was different than regular fear. It was dreadful, helpless, hopeless. That was a fear, unlike anything I'd ever felt before.

"Mhm," I mumbled.

Raven and I felt things. Other people's feelings, the feelings of animals, and sometimes places. Empaths. Raven was more in tune with it than I was, but it came at a cost for both of us. She was heavily affected by the emotions of others, and it showed on her face all the time. I could mask it, but she never had to. Donna touched Roy's arm for Roy's comfort. Not hers. I could feel his distress.

He sighed. "Call me superstitious, but I've only seen a dead coyote a few times before, and nothing good ever comes from it... And that coyote isn't gonna make it. Looks like something ate it up," Roy stated. Donna whispered in his ear, and he shook his head.

The car fell silent until we reached Happy Harbor. I woke Kole, and we walked in the dark to our cabin. Raven had a dizzy spell as soon as we walked in, and I reached out to help her, but I felt it too. Bette grabbed me, Kole grabbed Raven, and they sat us down. "Yikes, you guys good?" Bette questioned. Raven and I nodded. The energy there was outrageous. Raven's hand brushed mine, and I saw a flash of Bette covered in blood and screaming. I recoiled. Raven stood up and took a deep breath.

"Let's go make s'mores while it's still early," Raven suggested. Everyone eased up, and we grabbed our jackets and the bag of roasting sticks and walked to the beach. Roy and Donna lagged behind, so we couldn't see them holding hands. We all knew about them, but they were worried about being labeled as an item and messing up their friendship. I didn't have to be an empath to see it wouldn't last.

When we got to the beach, a girl and her three male friends had already started a bonfire, so we shared our s'mores. They were calm and collected, so it helped everyone else relax. Then, a brunette and a redhead with a bowl cut came to the beach with hot dogs, and the brown-haired guy made a pass at me. Bette lied and told him it was a gay beach, but I don't think she had to lie to this one to leave me alone. He looked like the type of guy that was more than willing to take no for an answer and move on. I could feel the grief coming off his body, so I could've let him down without hurting his feelings.

We were at the beach until it got too cold to be outside. Once we returned to the cabin, we divvied up rooms and beds. Three rooms. Three beds. Bette and Kole wanted to stay up and paint each other's nails, so they bunked together. I asked Raven to stay with me, so Roy and Donna wouldn't have to find a way to lie to be together. The worst kept secret in America. Roy took his jacket off, and I glanced at his tattoo. Roy met eyes with me, and I leaned forward. I wanted to get a closer look and get a laugh from him. "Can I help you?" Roy laughed.

"Just getting a look at the details," I replied.

Roy nodded, and everyone got ready to take their showers. First, Roy, then Donna, Raven, Bette, Kole, and finally me. I didn't mind. I climbed into bed with Raven, and she turned to me. "What did you see?" Raven asked.

"You first," I whispered.

"I think Kole is going to kill someone," Raven whispered. I knit my brows.

"I think Bette's gonna kill somebody," I replied, "Maybe we should talk about something else..."

Raven looked at me, and we held eye contact for what felt like forever. "Do you think it'd be the same?" Raven questioned. I took a breath. I knew what she meant. I thought about it before.

She drew my hand to her chest, and I let her touch mine. I could feel the smooth outline of her breast beneath the thin, satin fabric of her lingerie. I passed curiosity and ventured into arousal as my hand slid down her stomach and came into contact with her thigh. Her skin was as icy and silky as it looked. "We should stop," I whispered as I tried to gain control of my senses.

"Do you want to stop?" Raven questioned. I shook my head, and she leaned forward so close that our lips brushed against each other. Our eyes were wide open at first, but her lips were so soft. When she ran her foot against my leg, I shut my eyes and melted into the ecstasy of the moment. And then I felt it. Her arousal interlaced with something else. Something innocent and sweet.

"Are you-? You're a virgin?" I questioned. She nodded. "You want me to take your virginity?"

Raven answered with a tentative kiss, and she pushed me down further into the center of the bed by my shoulders. I pulled her nightgown up underneath the sheets and let my fingers brush against the front of her panties. My middle finger ran up and down against the cotton fabric as she lifted her leg, throwing it over my thigh. We kissed a third time, with confidence, as I hooked my thumb in her waistband. I could hear her breathing in between kisses. Then thunder crackled, and lightning flashed, scaring us apart. We turned, facing opposite sides of the room.

I don't know if Raven slept afterward or if she lay awake. But I know one thing for sure. I still wanted to fuck her. That feeling was mine. Undeniably mine.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Liz Lamere on Alan Vega and Her Solo Career: Whatever Happens, Happens

Liz Lamere; photo by Jasmine Hirst

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Liz Lamere's got a story to tell, and one that won't end any time soon. The former Wall Street lawyer and boxer and current singer-songwriter is also the widow and former creative partner of the late, great Alan Vega, the visual artist and vocalist of landmark proto-punk duo Suicide. Since Vega's death in 2016, Lamere has, in conjunction with Jared Artaud of post-punk act The Vacant Lots, worked to bring to light a wealth of unreleased material from Vega's vault.

After the release of 2017's It, the final album Vega recorded before he died, Lamere and Artaud discovered the material that would constitute the 2021 release Mutator. In 2022, they unearthed the songs that would be released this past May as Insurrection (In The Red). It hasn't been until now, however, where there's been a simultaneous awakening of all things Vega. In addition to Insurrection, Artaud co-curated "Cesspool Saints", an exhibition of Vega's fine art works, which opened two months ago at Laurent Godin's Gallery in Paris. Lamere, meanwhile, co-wrote Vega's biography with Laura Davis-Chanin, entitled Infamous Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega (Backbeat Books). (The foreword? By none other than Bruce Springsteen.) With a rich collection of songs waiting for ears--material that Lamere and Vega recorded and Vega meticulously documented between actually released Vega solo albums throughout the 90s and 2000s--it's become clear that Vega's backlog rivals of those like Prince and Arthur Russell, full of albums that are contextualized by what was recorded before and after them but that stand alone as cohesive statements.

Lamere; photo by Jasmine Hirst

At the same time as everything Vega-related, Lamere has finally found not just the time but the will to release her own solo records, an artistic career that Vega always encouraged but never was able to witness. Her songs are certainly different than Vega's in terms of subject matter and aesthetic, but Lamere credits Vega's approach to music-making--be spontaneous and fearless and realize that nothing is a mistake--for informing her artistic process. She started working on her debut, Keep It Alive, during COVID lockdown, and finished the album in mere weeks. Her follow-up, One Never Knows (In The Red), released last month, took a little bit longer to make, understandably when Lamere was working on Vega's biography and Insurrection all at the same time. Thankfully, Lamere was able to separate the entities, another thing she took from Vega. "It wasn't too difficult to compartmentalize because I wore so many different hats and did so many different things, like Alan," Lamere said over the phone last month. "Alan could be hyper-focused on visual art, and then hyper-focused on music and sound. They might be different sides of the same coin, but whatever he was focused on, he was so in the moment and heavily focused on that creation."

To really understand Vega's perspective on art and life, you have to go far back into the oft-ignored details that inspired Lamere to start writing his biography. Vega was, infamously, 10 years older than everyone thought; various articles incorrectly referred to 1948 as his birth year rather than 1938, confirmed when the 70th birthday release of his recordings was announced in 2008. The parents of the man born Alan Bermowitz were Jewish immigrants. His first wife, Mariette Bermowitz (née Birencwajg), is a Holocaust survivor from Belgium; they met attending Brooklyn College. Lamere credits such a close familial proximity to persecution as a reason for the trauma Vega felt, and also why he chose to not use his birth name as his stage name. But such closeness was also why Vega chose to sing about difficult topics in his music. "Alan was always hypersensitive to any type of oppression or challenging situations," Lamere said. "He had tremendous empathy. He wasn't doom and gloom but more readily shining a light." Out of college, Vega worked for the Welfare Department, eventually quitting because he felt the menial work he was tasked with doing didn't allow him to make a true difference in the lives of the poor. But the experience helped him understand how to secure funding when working with the Art Workers' Coalition, and from the New York State Council on the Arts to help found 24-hour artist-run multimedia gallery MUSEUM: A Project of Living Artists.

Alan Vega; photo by Walter Robinson

Vega possessed the ability to apply what he learned from one effort to another, and his mind was well-rounded. He actually enrolled in Brooklyn College not for art, but for astrophysics, having received a scholarship as a result of his building his own telescope(!) But one day, the head of the Art Department witnessed Vega sketching portrait drawings in the cafeteria and immediately recognized Vega's artistic brilliance and convinced him to study art. (Vega's portrait drawings appear in the video for Lamere's "King City Ghost".) Vega ended up studying with legendary artists like Kurt Seligmann and Ad Reinhardt. When substitute teaching a class for Reinhardt during his senior year, Vega assigned students a self-portrait to be turned in the next class, but instead of collecting them, he told the students to rip them up. "When he was telling me the story," said Lamere, "He said, 'You should have seen the look on these kids' faces!'" But Vega viewed art as, in the words of Lamere, "coming from a pure place of expression," not of preciousness, and one worthy of consuming your life. Vega met Martin Rev and formed Suicide in 1970, garnering notice for their wild live shows throughout the New York punk scene. After they released their self-titled debut in 1977, they toured with The Clash, an infamous time during which the crowd, unable to understand the Suicide's artistic vision, would throw switchblades at the band. "Alan was willing to be...out there front and center and put his life on the line, literally," Lamere said. "He believed so strongly that what [Suicide was] doing was breaking new ground and important in its own right."

Vega had been releasing solo albums for a decade before Lamere came in the picture; he met her while making 1990's Deuce Avenue, the record that returned to the beloved electronic minimalism of Suicide. Though the actual release of solo albums was sporadic, he and Lamere never stopped making music. "When we were in the studio together all those years, I was very much the type of person thinking about releasing albums, whereas Alan wasn't structured in that way," Lamere said. "His thought was, 'We're going into the studio to create sound, and whatever happens, happens...' Part of his process was he would just keep moving forward. Unless I said, 'Hit stop,' so we could put out an album of what we'd been working on right at [that] moment in time, he would keep evolving and moving forward on new material." Vega constantly wrote poetry in his notebooks, often using what he wrote for ad-libbed song lyrics; Lamere was actively involved in mixing their recordings. At the same time, Vega was a staunch documenter. He would burn a CD of what he and Lamere had worked on in the studio and note down changes he thought they needed to make to each song. Even the titles of the songs from Mutator and Insurrection came from his notebooks.

Insurrection artwork design by Michael Handis

The extent to which, upon being done with a song or an album, Vega moved on, proved to be extreme, and would have ripple effects on Lamere's solo career. The two, along with French director Marc Hurtado, would tour Europe after recording a solo album and perform the unreleased songs they'd recorded. ("The Europeans have heard a lot of this stuff before," joked Lamere about Mutator and Insurrection.) For the songs that had been released, Vega would rely on Lamere to feed him lines so that he could give the audience at least something recognizable. "I would be chanting little phrases, he would hear that, and he would riff on it, and the audience would be happy even though the lyrics [were] mostly completely different," Lamere said. "I learned to 'sing' because Alan never wanted to rehearse anything...I kind of learned a little bit how to project my voice." Meanwhile, upon hearing it for the first time, Vega didn't even remember "Nike Soldier", a track long-time engineer Perkin Barnes had digitized and Lamere chose for a split single with The Vacant Lots in 2014. Lamere's the opposite. "When we first started mixing [Insurrection], I could literally remember and envision the days in the studio I was laying down [those riffs]." But the ultimate story comes from when Springsteen, touring Devils & Dust, invited Vega to one of his shows, as he had been covering Suicide classic "Dream Baby Dream" during the encore. "[Vega] literally was sitting with Jesse [Malin], they're waiting for the show to start, and on the PA comes the song 'Dujang Prang' that he and I had done in 1995," Lamere said. "Alan turns to Jesse and says, 'This is really good, do you know who this is?' Jesse said, 'Alan, that's your song.' That's classic Alan: been there, done that, don't wanna hear it."

It was during the release of The Vacant Lots split single where Vega gave Artaud and Lamere his blessing to unearth songs from the vault. The single happened when Artaud reached out to Vega, sharing The Vacant Lots' cover of Vega's "No More Christmas Blues". The two men became fast friends, as Artaud, living in Brooklyn Heights a subway stop away from Vega and Lamere in Lower Manhattan, often visited. "Jared would come over here and sit and talk to Alan for hours about everything," Lamere said. "He had listened to every piece of music that Alan had pretty much ever done. He understood Alan's philosophy of creation and the minimalism and the existential philosophers that Alan had studied." As for Lamere, Vega knew that her approach to producing his music was intuitive. "After Alan heard 'Nike Soldier', I said, 'Alan, you have no idea how much material is in the computer in the studio of what we've done over the years,'" Lamere said. "He said, 'I know. Once I'm gone, you should feel free to put it out because I trust your judgement. You've worked with me for so long, you're my co-producer.' I could go in and make these tracks sound completely different. But I make what Alan would want. He's still so present with us because he had such a strong influence on us. It's part of our DNA. That's the reality."

Lamere; photo by Jasmine Hirst

Insurrection was recorded in the late 90s, and you can hear its influence on the material that would make up 1999's 2007. The album is a snapshot of an era for Vega, New York City, and the world at large. Dante, Vega and Lamere's child, was about to be born, so Vega's mind was occupied with the post-Gulf War, pre-9/11 state of a city and country rife with racism and capitalistic rot. (The mention of 9/11 is not teleological; Vega literally had premonitions of a terror attack in New York City.) Songs like "Sewer" and "Invasion" sport thumping, propulsive beats and clattering, machine-like percussion, the most messed-up club songs you've ever heard, Vega chanting like a street urchin. The presciently titled "Murder One" and "Genocide" are circular, droning, and forward-lurching. The instrumentation is perfect for Vega's mantras and pleas to "Make a new reality!' Lamere's One Never Knows, though a personal album whose singles' videos feature Lamere sort of half-boxing, half-dancing, a callback to her earlier career, echoes Vega's idealistic spirit. "Don't destroy the dream tonight," she sings on the dystopian "If Only", an almost 50-year-later spiritual sibling to Suicide's best known song.

One Never Knows, like Keep It Alive, was engineered by Dante at their Dujang Prang home studio, where Alan held his sculptures. Before the pandemic, Dante had been working with hip-hop artists, but as they weren't coming in during lockdown, Lamere asked him to help her with her solo debut. Dante sang in The Choir of Trinity Wall Street for 10 years and purportedly has perfect pitch, whereas Lamere is not formally trained. "He wants to help other people with their vision," Lamere said of her son. "I do say to him once in a while, because I run a lot of sounds through the keyboard, 'What key is this?'...He knows I like dissonance, so he says, 'If you like it, it works.'" Lamere's taking a key from Vega and not wanting to get technical any time soon. "I'm sure Miles Davis had his pick of brilliant musicians to work with, but Alan used to say, 'Miles Davis liked working with people who weren't necessarily formally trained.' They didn't say, 'You're not supposed to do that,' or, 'This is what you're supposed to do here, this chord progression.' No! It's none of that. There are no rules," Lamere said.

Lamere; photo by Jasmine Hirst

Lamere's planning on taking the same approach to her recording as playing live, but with a little bit of her boxing knowledge thrown in. "When I was performing with Alan, I was always playing effects machines in the background. It's a whole different animal carrying the show front and center," she said. "For me, it's like getting in the ring sparring. You have to be hyper-focused. The adrenaline kicks in. It's a great feeling...It scares the shit out of me ahead of time. In the moment, I absolutely love it. Alan was the same way. He wouldn't even be thinking about getting on stage, but as soon as he did, he kind of embraced it."

As always, her musical endeavors will constitute at least some work with the Vega vault. For one, according to Lamere, there are about 4 or 5 albums worth of material from the 8 years between the release of 2007 and Station alone, from when they were first raising Dante, as well as even more from after Station, despite Vega suffering a stroke in 2012. "I love the opportunity for people to hear what I'm doing and discover what Alan did and is continuing to do," Lamere said. "I love the fact that he's still influencing people from beyond."

One Never Knows artwork: Jasmine Hirst

[ueberdemnebelmeer]

it's been a fruitful year of discoveries, rediscoveries and deeper dives into discographies i wasn't as familiar with so coming up with a trimmed-down selection was challenging but here's my own 2023 "wrapped"!

2023 RELEASES

💿 "genshin impact: millelith's watch" soundtrack disc 1 [and it has to be disc 1], hoyo-mix — i know nothing about it other than it being a video game, loove the music tho

💿 "ok. respira" + "red light (EP)", elodie — are they good? it's radio-friendly pop and EDM but do i like them? absolutely

🎵 i wanted to include paranoïa, angels, true love by christine and the queens but despite having listened to it in its entirety a bunch of times i definitely picked favourites and slightly ignored the rest? so: "tears can be so soft" + "angels crying in my bed" + "marvin descending" + "to be honest"

🎵 same hat for so!yoon!'s episode 1: love -> "in (void)" [one of thee most intros] + "smoke sprite" [give me a solo version i beg u] + "till the sun goes up" + "exit"

🎵 "de selby (part 1)", hozier

🎵 "nothing lasts forever", sevdaliza feat. grimes

🎵 "tik tak tok", silica gel feat. so!yoon!

🎵 "床 (lie)", no party for cao dong

🎵 "ghosts again", depeche mode

K-POP (and related) CORNER: "psycho", jun 🌸 "god of music" + "super" + "fire", seventeen 🌸 "the rizzness" + "guilty", taemin 🌸 "rover" + "sinner", kai 🌸 "coolAs", key 🌸 "o (circle)", onew 🌸 "10x", shinee 🌸 "nevertheless", billlie 🌸 "golden hour", mark lee 🌸 "screen time", epik high feat. hoshi 🌸 "attitude", fromis_9 🌸 "fighting", BSS feat. lee youngji 🌸 "better things" + "drama", aespa

(RE)DISCOVERED IN 2023

💿 listened to kino for the first time, fell in love! i've had the black album (кончится лето/konchitsya leto, муравейник/muraveynik & кукушка/kukushka 😘👌) on rotation lately but i have a bunch of faves you can send an ask about if you like <3

💿 delved deeper into cocteau twins' discography but i basically played "heaven or las vegas" [been waiting for a copy to drop at the local used cd stores to no avail] and this faye wong x cocteau twins playlist *a lot*

💿 also had a massive depeche mode phase in the spring; tended to stick to their 80s/90s releases and "violator" is probably their most popular album but for good reason!! do check "waiting for the night" from it + this is my tag for further track recs

💿 "bié records meets shika shika" — it's a project from two labels, one beijing-based the other argentinian, whose artists marry electronica with ambient and folk music; they matched their artists together to remix each other and this compilation is the result

💿 "raven", kelela

💿 "trececerotres (EP)", daniela lalita

🎵 "a pure person (單純的人)", lim giong — one of the best opening scenes in cinema ever! millennium mambo's soundtrack has been temporarily taken down from spotify so you have to look for it in chinese characters

🎵 "dancing elephants", rochelle jordan — specifically this performance

🎵 "yo-soul", lim kim

🎵 "spring breeze", hiperson — love love the production here

🎵 teresa teng's cover of "長崎は 今日も雨だった" (a rainy day in nagasaki)

[salarta]

I wanna say some things.

I've been a Polaris fan for almost 15 years now. Fans just tuning in, and some that may have tuned out, may be frustrated with how the X-Men comics keep failing/refusing to do right by the character.

I want to give you all a look from my view, so you can see the progress.

Back when I discovered Lorna, it wasn't because of a TV show. Or social media. It was because, by pure chance, I ran across her entry on the Marvel wikia. She wasn't promoted enough for me to know she exists except by accident.

In terms of the landscape: she was in a bad position. The Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon had just been canceled after the Disney buyout, which meant any plans for her there went out the window. In the comics, she had been reduced to Havok's supporting character girlfriend again, only this time exiled to space for his Starjammers team. It was shortly after I learned of Lorna that she was put in space limbo for over a year, no appearances anywhere at all.

No place in comics. No involvement in mutant events on Earth at all. Stuck as Havok's supporting character girlfriend when last seen. No origin story. Magneto as her dad was still a big question mark, and it wasn't clear if she was even a mutant.

Here is a list of gains since I discovered the character.

Restored as a mutant

Restored as Magneto's daughter

Not stuck in relationship as a supporting character for Havok

Back on Earth, taking part in X-Men comics

Breakout role on Gifted played by Emma Dumont

Multiple good video game appearances

Has an origin story now

Led a team of her own (despite Jordan White undermining her and killing the book)

Won the X-Men fan vote

Interacting with Jean Grey again after decades of nothing

Has a PhD now

Yes, I do complain about the X-Men comics. A lot. I have good reason to be. Within that same time frame, we still have these problems that keep coming up.

Havok keeps getting forced into almost everything Lorna does

Her surviving the Genoshan genocide keeps getting treated like it never happened

Keeps getting forced onto teams named X-Factor, clearly due to Jordan White's nostalgia for 90s X-Factor

Different writers treating her like she either has no history before or after the 90s, never a full accounting

OOC depictions in various places, most notably in the recent X-Factor #4 and Trial of Magneto

Lorna is a work in progress. She spent decades getting treated poorly, with people at Marvel thinking that poor treatment was appropriate. Some of them, like White, even think that poor treatment was somehow actually good and want people to think like they do. Because of this, Lorna has ups and downs in her overall trajectory.

The first thing I want to emphasize is that as a work in progress, it's going to take time for her to get where she should be. You can't undo decades of damage in a single month or year. It's taken almost 15 years to get her where she is now, which is much better than where she used to be despite all the things still wrong.

The second thing is her profile.

Back in 2018, I talked to Jordan White on Twitter. He said Lorna didn't deserve anything. He claimed Lorna didn't have enough fan interest or star power to warrant getting the respect she deserved. He cited nothing for this view other than his general attitude and claiming he'd have more tweets directed to him about Lorna if she had enough fan interest.

The X-Men fan vote proved him wrong. In the past 5 years, we went from Jordan White writing her off as a nobody, to White clearly understanding that he can't ignore her anymore. He knows now that she has way more interest than he was counting on.

That's progress. And while it may not feel like it, poor treatment is also progress in this case. We went from White insisting Lorna doesn't deserve a miniseries, to White greenlighting a 4-part Infinity comic clearly meant to push his personal whims.

Of course, I would vastly prefer Lorna get an actual mini that treats her right instead of something that amounts to a drawn fanfic paid for out of company money. But at the end of the day, her profile and public awareness of who she's actually supposed to be as a character has grown enough that White decided to devote company resources on trying to make people think of Lorna the way he does.

That's a victory for Polaris fandom. It's part of the fight to get her where she should be. Or rather, should've been all along. Don't look at it as end of the road. Look at it as a stepping stone to a brighter future for the character.

P.S. - Jordan White didn't read the original run of X-Men comics until COVID. That's not a problem for the average person. Fans usually don't go that far back. I haven't read the original run, just Lorna's intro issues. But as senior editor of the X-Men comics, you would expect him to have read those issues much, much sooner than 2 years into being senior editor.

[nightcoremoon]

people who legitimately think that marvel movies are the bottom of the cultural barrel have zero media literacy or knowledge and I can’t take anything that they say seriously

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that they’re the greatest movies ever made of all time but I will say they’re mostly fun so I don’t give a shit if scorsese nolan hitchcock kubrick etc are “better”. like nickelback. they’re not nearly the levels of talent and composition as dream theater, rush, king crimson, opeth, polyphia, deftones, loathe, sleep token, lady gaga, etc but they’re perfectly competent and listenable. you cannot sit there and tell me that the shitty myspacecore groups like brokencyde, blood on the dance floor, the medic droid, shitty drunk mom bands like hinder, saving abel, and buckcherry, shitty white girl pop like taylor swift, meg trainer, and katy perry, and shitty frat boy rap rock groups like crazy town, saliva, and kid rock, are in any way better than nickelback. you cannot tell me that you would rather listen to analcunt than nickelback even if you love analcunt because people who like grindcore know that it sounds like shit and that’s why they like it. and I’m gonna make a statement that’s so controversial in that the mcu movies are some of the best movies on the market these days because of one teeny tiny little detail.

every single american horror movie made in the last 20 years is so much worse than the most unpleasant and boring mcu film.

*except for jordan peele, who is the exception, not the rule.

paul ws anderson has not made a good movie since mortal kombat and the first resident evil AND EVEN THEN those are really cheesy, poorly edited, weirdly paced, and heavily flawed. michael bay’s writing sucks and relies solely on the spectacle of explosions. uwe boll. tommy fucking wiseau. every single shyamalan movie since unbreakable has been absolutely atrocious (aside from joaquin phoenix being the only one saving signs and the village from being NEARLY as fucking terrible as lady in the water, the happening, the last airbender, and so on, but they’re still stilted and awkward). nic cage is in a billion movies these days but we’re all just gonna forget about the late 90s and 2000s where he was in just as many movies and all of them are really really stupid? how about every superhero movie made prior to the mcu. did we forget that xmen 3 was so bad they literally fucking sent wolverine back in time to make it so that it never even happened? AND THEN HAD SANSA STARK MAKE A SILLY LITTLE JOKE ABOUT IT IN THE REBOOT TRILOGY??? but weirdly enough xmen 3 is still better then origins wolverine. oh and also green lantern, daredevil, catwoman, punisher warzone, all the batman movies where the suit has nipples, like you can’t tell me that the only good superhero movies are the worst ones because I HAVE SEEN WORSE BEFORE, sorry you were born after 2005 and you never bothered to engage media that wasn’t spoonfed to you by the algorithm.

but you know what I’d still rather watch The Room because sometimes things are bad in a way that’s still entertaining to see its incompetence, rather than Hulk. which is. fine I guess but I have no strong desire to ever watch that one again. but I still enjoyed watching it when I did. like yeah it’s not the best but it sure as fuck isn’t the worst and I’ll tell you why.

because the actual worst movies ever made of all time? dude. blumhouse’s cesspool. the conjuring is shit. annabelle is shit. sinister is shit. insidious is shit. paranormal activity is shit. the purge is shit. truth or dare is shit. unfriended is shit. oculus is shit. and night swim, that’s gonna be SOOO cringe. you’re fucking delusional at best, fucking ignorant at worst, if you think that this deluge of propaganda is better. you say that the story beats in every marvel movie are exactly the same even though they’re the same story beats that every single movie and novel has had for the past 150 years (well more like 1500 years), where you have the prologue and the inciting incident then act 2 then the midpoint then there’s a despair event horizon then a climax and a denounement at the end capping it off like a cherry on top of the sundae on an assembly line. they all copy the hero’s journey from greek storytelling. they’re all in the same boat so that’s literally the dumbest criticism you can make. you’re sitting there eating instant ramen while talking smack about hot pockets for not being made of healthy ingredients.

it’s hypocritical, and it’s telling that 90% of the people who do nothing but make a hundred posts every day about how bad marvel movies are, don’t actually do anything besides watch marvel movies just to find things to complain about. like, all you’re doing is the exact same thing that marvel fans do but you’re cultivating your own misery whereas the fans enjoy it and milk it for serotonin. it’s like when self identified anti-sjws didn’t realize that they were also SJWs, they were just on the other side of the battle lines. luckily they’re all so braindead and prone to follower mentality that they just say the word woke is bad because everyone else says that word is bad even though they have no solid definition for what the fuck woke even means anymore besides being a buzzword to help us intelligent people distinguish a bigoted asshole. point is you don’t know how to create your own opinions so you just copy whoever is spreading the most vitriol and hate.

it’s just honestly so sad to see but at the same time I envy the illusion. if I lived in a world where I thought that fried chicken was the worst food ever made expressly because everything else available to me was so much more yummy than fried chicken. imagine the privilege. imagine having champagne and caviar for breakfast, foie gras for lunch, and sushi for dinner with tiramisu for dessert, living in paradise because the worst thing in your life is fried chicken. you’ve never had to eat hot dogs. you’ve never had kale crammed down your throat. your mac and cheese doesn’t come in a box. you’re so goddamn lucky that the worst movies you’ve ever seen are still better than most movies period I’ve seen.

so I hope that when you inevitably are approached with the reality of video brinquiedo you aren’t fucking traumatized. because you’re basically the marie antoinette of cinema.

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT ELIJAH THE PROPHET The Patron and the Father of the Carmelite Order Feast Day: July 20

"Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again!" -1 Kings 18:36 NIV

The prophet Elijah is considered to be the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, as well as the Father of the Carmelite Order. Not much is known of his background.

All that is known from scripture is that he was a Tishbite (or Thesbite), although scholars disagree on what the term refers to. He lived sometime around the year 90 BC. Some Jewish traditions maintain that he was of priestly descent. Otherwise, Elijah's life before he is called by God in the First Book of Kings is a mystery.

Elijah was described as a wild and hairy man; 'as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch.'

He lived a very ascetic life, living in a cave and wearing clothes made of camel hair. His entire known life was a protest against the immorality of his time. Pagan worship had corrupted the land, and King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had erected a shrine to the false god Baal. Elijah informed Ahab that if they did not repent of the evils they had committed, God would scourge the land with a drought to punish them for their apostasy. After delivering God's message, Elijah quickly disappeared, led by Yahweh to the land east of the Jordan, where he was fed by ravens.

Ahab ignored Elijah's warning, and for three years, not a drop of rain fell upon the land. Furious, Ahab devastated the land in search of Elijah, but his efforts were futile. After three years, Elijah returned and confronted the King.

Ahab fiercely accused Elijah of bringing the curse upon the land, but Elijah flung the accusation back at Ahab, pointing out that the drought was caused by his own stubbornness and sinfulness.

Next came the episode for which Elijah is most famous. He challenged the priests of Baal to a contest. Atop Mount Carmel, Elijah and the priests would each set up an altar and provide a sacrifice upon their altar. They would then pray to their respective deities, the priests to Baal and Elijah to Yahweh, and whichever deity sent fire down from the sky to consume the sacrifice would be the true God. The priests of Baal went first, and for hours and hours they chanted and danced and cut themselves, to no avail. Finally, laughing at their failure, Elijah approached his altar.

He set twelve stones around the altar, for the twelve tribes of Israel, and poured water all over the sacrifice. Then Elijah prayed to God, and suddenly a fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. Elijah then killed all the priests of Baal, and the people once again believed in the true God. That very evening, torrential rains fell upon the land, thereby ending the three year drought.

Elijah went on to prophesy and perform many more wonders which can be found in the First Book of Kings. He is considered to be the Father of Carmelites, as the Carmelite way of life embodies the Elijahan tradition.

Father Elijah's spirit of prayer, penance, contemplation, and zeal for the Lord is to this day the very spirit of the Carmelites. During his ministry, Elijah went up to Mount Carmel in Palestine to live and to pray. It was there that he taught and trained his followers, who are considered by some to be the first monks. From that time onward, Mount Carmel has always been inhabited by men seeking union with God.

It is also believed that Elijah and the monks living on Mt. Carmel had a devotion to the woman who would be the mother of the Messiah, the Blessed Virgin Mary, long before she was born.

Elijah's end was as quick and mysterious as his beginning. One day as he was speaking with his successor Elisha, 'a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven' (2 Kings 11).

Elijah appeared along with Moses at the Transfiguration of the Jesus on Mount Tabor.

Source: Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus (carmelitedcj.org)

[geooricle]

Further context I want to note that makes this worse if anything:

-This happened in a run notorious even at the time for its entire premise being sexually exploitative drawings of an underage girl and jokes about adult superheroes (mostly Hal Jordan) wanting to have sex with her.

- Even the in a comic already way off the deep end of "edgy" this joke had the plausible deniability of pretending they're making fun of the attitudes of the 60s by having it happen during a storyline where Supergirl is "trapped in the Silver Age".

- Its explicitly a "nudge-nudge-wink-wink we'd never get away with this kind of thing today" thing like Steven Moffat does when he brings in charicters from "older times" who "dont know any better" so he can have them say the things he has his charicters say all the time but now he has the excuse of "old" rather than "alien" or "high functioning sociopath".

- The whole thing is combined to one panel and has no bearing on the plot so you can ignore it and go right back to your underage girl T&A.

I get being mad at this joke but nothing about the 2005 Supergirl run was "normal for 2003". In many ways it was a throwback to the mid 90s Lifeldian stuff. Do not give Jeff Loeb a pass by pretending his attitudes were "normal for the time".

I understand that folks tend to think of open homophobia in popular media as a Thing Of The Past, and that the 2000s are still sufficiently recent as not to count as The Past in a lot of folks' minds, but still it kills me the sheer incredulity I keep bumping into when people are confronted with how casually homophobic early 2000s popular media actually was. Like, buddy, you have no idea how recently "isn't it shameful for a straight man to know what a latte is?" stopped being a standard sitcom bit. There were whole shows airing as recently as the early 2010s whose entire premise was "this ostensibly straight man has somewhat fruity mannerisms" – like, that was the entire joke.

[multlingvulo]

I had other plans to draw this week, but I can't ignore the massacre going on in Palestine recently. I didn't include my signature in this one because I don't it to be considered just some personal art. This is my display of solidarity to the people of Palestine in their struggle to survive.

Although people are looking at Hamas as a terrorist group (rightfully), we often forget Hamas is strong because of Israel. In the past, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was dominated by secular socialists. Israel helped Islamic fundamentalism grow in the region to divide the Palestinians and defeat them more easily. No wonder many Jews (for example, Hasidic communities) who oppose Israel. Zionism and Judaism aren’t the same thing. While the media condemns an entire people to a brutal death, Do you know what it’s like living in occupied Palestine?

Water: over 90% of water in Palestine is taken by Israel’s pumps exclusively for Israeli citizens (underground water and rivers, like the Jordan). Even with the little water they have, there are more threats to their lives. The West Bank has poor water treatment, making them vulnerable to diseases. Gaza has a problem because of salinization from the sea. Although Gaza is on the coast and fishing is part of Gazan culture, they’re only allowed to go ¼ of the set distance by the Oslo agreements (20 miles).

Health: The UN understands Palestine needs more hospitals and medical supplies. Many children are hit by bullets, bombs, get sick because of pollution, and many are born sick because of the miserable life conditions. All medical supplies must go through Israeli control. Thus, all lack of health care in Gaza is directly Israel’s decision.

Circulation: Netanyahu may have told Gazans to flee before the bombings, but he knows very well they can’t. There are walls all around, exit points are either blocked by the Israeli army or have been destroyed. Fleeing through water is also impossible as Israel’s navy heavily controls even the beaches. Gazans also can’t rebuild houses and hospitals, because they aren’t allowed to get cement inside. That’s why it’s said Gaza is the world's largest open-air prison.

Besides all of this, Israel promotes colonization with green-washing. You may have heard Israel’s universities are quite advanced when it comes to sustainable development. But studies show Israel’s occupation is increasing draughts, desertification, the heavy control of Palestinian’s life through walls and water sources get in the way of agriculture and soil regeneration. We must support peace, but we know this massacre won’t end with diplomacy. Those who deny you basic rights won’t keep any promises. There are only two ways out of this: the total genocide of Palestine or the defeat of the colonial Israeli army.

Sources: Oppressive pines: Uprooting Israeli green colonialism and implanting Palestinian A’wna Israeli wall harms wildlife in Gaza Effects of the Israeli Segregation Wall on biodiversity and environmental sustainable development in the West Bank, Palestine GAZA FISHERMEN: RESTRICTED LIVELIHOODS http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123.....95011847.html">How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas History of Hamas A precious resource: how Israel uses water to control the West Bank RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT WAITING FOR A MIRACLE 'Where do we go?' - Nowhere safe in Gaza as Israeli strikes intensify REAL STORIES, REAL LIVES – WHAT THE GAZA BLOCKADE MEANS 11 UN staff, 30 pupils at UN schools, killed in Gaza, says spokesperson West Bank THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET AN ENTIRE PEOPLE'S SURVIVAL BE A DEBATE ON THE INTERNET. COMMENTS ARE LOCKED TO AVOID ZIONISTS FROM EMBARRASISNG THEMSELVES.

[hanzi83]

Just a A Bunch of Randomness

I just felt like writing and whenever I feel like writing and just go off with what is in my head, which then makes me think if I am running a little thin because there is a chance I will probably end up repeating shit, that shit always fucking happens but I did a mini rant on the podcast about it and believe it or not, a surprise to no one, it was not really well thought out, not saying this shit will be any fucking better but my process is now to maybe structure it best I can, so I can then repeat this shit on the podcast again, just in case someone new tunes in and didn’t hear the rant before but they will hear a “better version” but I am always intrigued by the marketing and exploitation these storylines are going in, I know even referring to “real life” stuff that causes nonstop discourse and culture war arguing, as a storyline gets people to roll their eyes and make their cute little remarks. But I can take something like Phil Jackson, now I don’t know shit about basketball, but if I think I can put the elements together properly, the specific artform or sport doesn’t really matter because I look at the overall patterns of different public figures and speaking out and how other forms of racism can exist but we only point out the really transparent. To me this this Phil Jackson feels like a try hard way to privet to the new right wing approval, because in the 2010s, more people would call you out for racist shit and it would be an agreed upon the surface wise to put it on blast but it is like they took the implosion in 2020 of racial unrest to look so scary to people who think they are apolitical, who might not understand the overall picture of why that exists, and now in this decade, it feels like anyone pointing out racism, especially when it happens to be black people, it now is getting severe pushback where it feels like the early 2000’s again, that era felt like it was pushing back to any complaints about racism, when in the 90’s it felt like there was more social consciousness on some level, now every delegation that has a bit of power in the system to represent for their community might have had to do their own propaganda that doesn’t age well in current era, or by theory, because people want the ignorant shit back in all regards, just look at all the culture wars and discourse.  Racism is so layered and orchestrated on a higher level, people can only recognize it in certain ways, surface level, you will make it seem like Phil Jackson is just some regular person who made a “fair” statement about how people don’t like politics in their sports, when politics has always existed in sports, when Michael Jordan never wanted to tell you his political affiliation, it is like the money you make is designed for you to keep your opinions limited, so when someone does kind of go off on a racist system, they look insane to the masses who recognize racism in one way. When I was a kid, I never knew what systemic and all that shit was and viewed it as “If someone says something racist, bigoted or ignorant, then you say it back” and even though people currently on social media show footage and speeches of wokeness back then, they assume that shit was well received back then by the masses. Yet when one major storyline comes out about someone who did some really racist rant, that would be called out and it would give me, a dumbed down piece of shit, the impression that things can’t be racist because we as a society already deemed the obvious example racist or bigoted, so the other normalized shit is not an issue, which is why the discourse at times will be about rebooted use of slurs, the words are horrible and always have been horrible, but if you consume entertainment, especially edge lord shit, you wouldn’t think it is as a big deal because if you view shit in an entertainment lens, then people excusing and sophisticating why so and so can use the word, you would then take them at their word, it is like each clique and faction in the system has different people from different backgrounds to excuse ignorance which the makes people who are influenced by this shit, that they have to say that kind of shit to be approved by the comedy gods. This is part of why people can always fall for more racist shit without realizing it, we think we are better than our past, but in current day we are probably falling for racist and bigoted remarks and antics, we are constantly susceptible to this shit, I could even normalize a new layered racist tactic, and you would not even think it really is racist, I am not sure if I should do it or not, because people can then isolate that and when they want to weaponize it. I wanted to use it for a comedy bit, but chances of that happening as the world ends, I might as well try it in blog form, I might do it but I don’t know where this blog will go, so maybe it happens, if you haven’t noticed it, chances are it didn’t happen, but the way I dissect this Phil Jackson dude is someone who has a racist past of making comments, the fact that the league is mostly black and the countless many people he coached or played with, someone like him is not just some ignorant dumb down guy, it chooses to now be this way because people think people in the public figure world don’t know about how the game is run systemically, but we have to dumb shit down and it feels like another obvious pivot to correlate your past actions and comments with a new freshness to the act, because while the most vile trauma porn and nonstop tragedy is taking place, the entertainment institutions have to use their public figures to declare what side they are on, so when Phil says that he doesn’t care about politics, he doesn’t care about politics that is going against the people he probably does business with but if more of the status quo conservative shit is normalized, he would have no issue with it, but he will look like a hero for this statement since that kind of attitude is being amplified more  and more and they make it the side of racial justice look like this terrorist organization but not the people who line their pockets off the backs of people from marginalized communities and because these players are rich, they can’t say shit because they make a lot of money from this system, so even if you have money, you still can’t voice your opinion 100 percent, because the ones who are wealthy can get funded people online to destroy people for speaking out, and because cogs in the system can do it now to some degree, people think because corporations have BLM and Rainbow flags, it means anyone saying the basic shit to counter the racism, is now part of the agenda, and the funded online accounts who will praise Phil Jackson are the ones who are being based with all of this, this is why when people from different delegations who represent for different communities voice any opinion on the racial discourse, and they don’t bring the larger stuff up are in no position to be the arbiters of truth, and you should never listen to them. If you were with me until that part, congratulations you passed the test, but if you were agreeing with even that little last part, you just fell for another layer of ignorance where I went on this blog rant about the racist shit, then proceeded to tell you what people you should listen to and reduced a section of voices to not being completely honest. Even if my point has some validity to it, I am in no position to tell people how they should address it, but it is so easy to sneak shit in like that while someone, because even if people from different delegations can’t explain everything, it doesn’t mean they are completely being dishonest about their intentions, because the stuff that “discredits” them it is designed so you don’t take their opinions seriously once they discredit one thing and once they discredit one thing people stop caring about all the messages being said. I don’t know how I did with executing it because I really don’t know how people reacted. I didn’t know if I even did it properly because that part may have discredited the blog completely, because I can’t say I put a complete effort into doing it, but once I already promoted I was gonna do it and then hinted I would back off, I expected people to then expect I wouldn’t end up doing it until maybe toward the end but then I did it rather quickly. This was not the main topic but I see a lot of public figures not even put effort into the racist talking points, if you saw Bill Maher’s show last week, it doesn’t even sound like he is genuinely concerned about shit and it feels forced like he is reading off a script, like he obviously was told to bring up Chicago multiple of times, and he did even when it was not even relevant to the convos, then he eased himself into the race science argument a bit, then constantly claiming no one else is talking about Chicago, this is why people like Tucker Carlson can look like they are talking about shit no one else is talking about, if people funded online can keep claiming no one is talking about it because people on MSM are not talking about it, I wouldn’t know since I don’t watch MSM and get my news from online, in fact the only time MSM is brought up is when people online are dunking on the obvious shit, they rather think they are in the right because they are too busy finding the funniest angle of the entire situation. 

When it comes to the Tucker situation and because I like to think of myself as more of a conspiracy analyst more so than a theorist is because I recognize patterns and how stuff that would’ve been revolutionary back 15 years ago now feels like the standard establishment sports entertainment, meaning that legacy media is officially dying while still making lots of money but it feels by hook or by crook, we will have other alt media spaces who could’ve been funded by the establishment to be seen as more genuine. These people don’t operate in the same way regular people deal with shit, but they advertise these lawsuits which then become its own kayfabed storyline that will have results which help facilitate why future movements being made will happen, so even if I can’t understand all of this Dominion shit, because I am too stupid to know the specifics, but it is clear people are not playing by the rules on a transparent level, even the people who hate Tucker actually think it is an own on people for pointing out Tucker doesn’t like Trump etc, when that actually is helping them get saved for their new grift because if they had to lie and this was gonna happen, it still gives the impression Tucker really does hate him so you still lower his guard that he might not be bad at his core but the most dangerous shit he can do is persuade his audience to believe some of the fucked up shit. When you have other people in the media lie over and over and it never gets called out, and the amount of compilations made of democratic people talking about how easy it is to hack the voting machines etc, and because the MSM doesn’t acknowledge it, it makes it easier for the people online who are apolitical to then think that other MSM outlets are the ones lying and because one is being held in such vitriolic discourse, it makes people then side with people who they think is getting picked on. The bad faith neoliberals are helping push people more to the right because we define the discourse by the celeb who said some shit. Like if Jimmy Kimmel makes a statement like “I hope all the unvaccinated die” and I don’t believe he is a real left guy, then the right wing can use his generalization as the left wanting people who are unvaccinated to die, because then people who are on the left might agree with Kimmel on other shit he says like him doing a tearful promo about health care or him calling out Trump for his bullshit. But even with Tucker getting fired and let go, the irony in his last bit he did was about some cat food or some shit, like everything has to be set up for comedy and it is like they know how to market this shit, it doesn’t matter if Tucker is fired, he will be in the discourse, his name will catch online traction, he will then get support for his new endeavor and the reason why some people on the left are upset about Tucker getting fired because now when they go on his new platform, chances are you will see the likes of Jimmy Dore or Glenn Greenwald go on OAN and Newsmax and still hold onto whatever credibility they have to pretend they are not right wingers because their main talking point is gone where they claim to go on Fox to talk about anti war shit, while sucking the tip of Putin’s dick. If someone like AOC can’t even take a shit without Jimmy Dore kicking in the door to inspect it, why don’t these same people ever call out Tucker’s past, there are good people out there that have the long list of resume of what Tucker has done or said, it is too much to keep up with but people think it is the 1990’s where the MSM has this super credibility. People actually believe because the establishment is promoting Ukraine etc, that they actually want you to support it, since other suspect neocon and other billionaire funded people are pushing back against it and it would’ve meant something 10 years ago, but now you can claim the establishment doesn’t want their viewpoint even though they are on shows that push pro war narratives, like you saying you are anti war doesn’t mean shit, only reason why a lot of you grifters say it is because if people call you out, your cult can then pretend that people are calling out an anti war voice so I must be the fucking asshole. I said when Biden was gonna be elected, nothing on the surface will actually get better because in my personal opinion they figured out how to make Trump look like the lesser of 2 evils in 2 election cycles now. So people think by pointing out democrats not having primary debates is that they are scared and that helps the right wing have more talking points even though what is being done on the surface is by design, because everything is designed to implode but the right leaning types seem like they are more truthful in some regard even though they are bad faith actors who are trying to normalize their new form of fascism, so if I know shit is supposed to implode then all of this shit is filler until we get there, and anything truthful the establishment types have said about other bad faith actors has been right on the rose despite them not being credible because they have their own baggage,  it feels like a lot of the people who Bernie co-opted and let get shine have become some of the worst people who have normalized their own form of propaganda where it is aligning more with what neocons back then did when the Iraq war happened, even by having this firing happen symbolically on the 20 year anniversary of Phil Donahue being fired for being against the Iraq war and now comparing it to the Tucker situation, but this is how propagandists these supposed “left” people are, and whenever public figures get fired and there is a storyline behind it, it is done by design to fuck up the message in the future. OAN and Newsmax were having top notch guests from their ilk about this man being fired and I am supposed to think the establishment is scared of Tucker, if they were, he wouldn’t have been able to get as much traction as he did for the last decade, they wouldn’t have so many people on their programs and podcasts talking about this. It feels like a promotion of the new endeavor, and these people think these right wing people actually hate each other when this is gonna lead to a new grift and a new wave, because while I am not sad to see Tucker getting some consequences, I also realize if we get overboard with it, when he gets a better gig or he still profits somehow, it will give the Glenn Greenwalds of the world to boast about how there are more people who listen to Rogan as an own to MSM, but then at the same time he is admitting more people listen to these right wingers, so how exactly are these people not considered MSM, and you can’t say that it isn’t MSM, because a podcast getting the type of guests he gets, he isn’t some roided up pothead talking about the times he got stoned with a giraffe in Parts Unknown. In my personal opinion, much like a lot of shit in this blog these people have more importance and have helped manufacture consent. 

I compare shit to the wrestling shit because it feels that political agenda is seeping into that fandom and when you know the funded accounts are politically motivated now, it makes these fandoms seem more dangerous on another level, when we are told not to take this shit seriously but I never seen so much try hard shit from that fandom to think they are calling out MSM (WWE) and automatically siding with people who have left that sector but they then normalize other propaganda, they don’t care about cancel culture until it happens to their favorite and they ignore other elements of people getting fucked over. They will compile a list of shit people have said that is problematic about certain people but then don’t point out that their favorite messiah has also partook in the same propaganda, where they have rehabbed the image of Ultimate Warrior, or they used to pretend Charles Manson was some innocent misunderstood person, like I know the feds probably helped out with what Charles Manson did, but back then the conspiracy would do simplistic shit by going “MSM lied about the entirety of this so that automatically means the person getting vilified is completely innocent” The same way people get behind these new right wing “I tell it like it is” types, they are now doing the same shit to make CM Punk look like he is the ultimate victim, they hyped up this reboot of WCW vs WWE war and then had nothing productive to say about Punk going to meet up with WWE, and keep in mind, I think most shit in the industry has been a work where they are initiated but CM Punk got to be the one who got people behind him for the shit WWE did to him with the staph infection shit, when WWE has probably done that to others, the fact that Punk gets to be the guy who gets to get the spoils off his fraternity and systemic initiation is what bothers me, I root for the guy and do want him back, he is one of my favorites but I don’t have to pretend this guy is some genuine person who blew up randomly, and now that there is another promotion for him to be the top of, he has now essentially become John Cena. Maybe by design since everyone has to turn heel in real life? People will act like WWE having a new title to protect Reigns since he is not getting beat yet is sad but isn’t having 2 shitty title reigns in AEW to facilitate a worked shoot, while watering down the product and sabotaging talent only for this due to be the savior also just as much kind of sad? I am just saying if this is designed to make money, maybe the right shills were not chosen to be the ones to hype this up, because they had to ensure this would always be in the discourse, but now that Punk went back to WWE and let’s be real, when he signed with Backstage FS1 show, you don’t think WWE had a say in that, only way to gimmick it is by saying Fox wanted him and it had nothing to do with WWE and I don’t believe that, it feels like this just confirms that these companies are all connected and I know there will be other shit that will be explained to justify why he did it, but to me it deflects these companies are aligned more so than we realize while the shills on both ends have been facilitating this reboot of a war. People also think one of the narratives that will come up is that he did this to promote that he can be friendly with people he had problems with but the Elite won’t make amends with him, now we gotta pretend there are legal measures of why that is not possible, and I am not saying it doesn’t “officially” exist but things that officially exist can still be orchestrated, people assume a work can only have a payoff in the program, not that there won’t be social currency revolving around people who get into the discourse, people think shit has to always play out in the ring when literally everything in the entertainment world is up for sale. If it can be profited off of, then they will do it. The reason why I bring up this Punk shit though is because it feels like a lot of other public figures out there, they all have these blind followers where their hero can never do any wrong. It feels like all the shit I have seen seeped into the political world. Since entertainment and entertainers have ties to right wing fundamentalism. Jesse Ventura recently did an interview talking about how the wrestling world helped him in the political world and he might not go super in detail about the matter, but it is probably one of the truer things he has said, but when people like him say some truthful shit, people use what discredited them as a reason not to believe anything he ever says but this is actually spot on, at least in my perspective. I am not saying I have all the answers but when other thought leaders get more pissed off with getting asked questions, it just shows me maybe some people are not built for it or is it because they can’t break away from their script to answer in a genuine way.  In fact you can’t even look up shit on web browsers because it is all from the corporate media and you kind of have to seek out alternate shit, you can’t really find the truth 100 percent. It is why I stopped even giving a shit about what certain figures say because even if there is truth, they twist it into a new form of right wing shit and only ever mention the democrats as people causing all of this shit, people who claimed to be left helped normalize Tulsi Gabbard and since the trans issue has broken everyone’s brains, people don’t mind that she is trying to justify why not giving trans people healthcare under concern but they never worry about other issues that affect women. They worry about athletes but none of them are concerned with what Christine Mboma is going through, but they will continue this tirade to being anti trans and because most people, regular people, not people in the system who have advanced knowledge, but if regular people are not as aware about the issues, they hear this fear mongering you are gonna help manufacture more consent for anything they deem “woke”. Like Bill Maher went on a tirade on his show how other liberals in Hollywood are worried about being canceled by people on twitter, I barely believe these people give this much of a fuck, but it also shows that people who Bill Maher has been hanging out are trying to pivot to the right because if that meeting was genuine, all of the pirates involved would know cancel culture has been a right wing psyop, but they need to make it seem like they were forced to join that side, and it is like they have their continuous talking points that they have to bring up, the fact that someone like Bill Maher will act like no one is addressing Chicago is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard him, then easing yourself into the race science shit like I pointed out earlier, and then get offended if people push back that it is just his opinion when he is sophisticating his racism even more, and there is no one to really counter him, the ones that do end up being more to this new right. You think people like TYT would be a good match to counter Bill Maher because they would now try to appease those people by saying the left is getting out of control, they already dumb down their villains, they are not “establishment” but then they still limit narratives, like people of that ilk know where the world is heading and you act like the right wing trajectory controlling the entire game know how to book baby faces in storylines, it is like in pro wrestling, the better characters are the heels and people will gravitate towards that, but people are limiting that, they make it seem like no one can call out democrats at all because they constantly need this narrative of that all the bad things being done is because of the “left” when the shit that goes down helps facilitate more right wing shit. Again don’t take my word for it because these are just random thoughts from a dumbed down guy that the system apparently agreed upon that was not to be taken seriously. I am just going off by what you have built for me. But I have never seen so many “smart” people who are respected dumb down narratives continuously while dunking on other obvious villains so you can do a shitty impression of them because apparently everyone has to be funny. And that is why I will continue to beat shit into the ground about sports entertaining our way into fascism, because that is what seemingly is going down and now we are using entertainers to be the be all end all of all of this shit. I used to be so dumbed down that I couldn’t tell you the political alignment of the entertainment I consume, but now that I can see the methods and elements, I feel I can see everyone’s trajectory and I don’t know if there is anyone good out there, I feel extra defensive of getting behind anyone to root for because it seems like everyone and everything ends up becoming evil, and it is constant disappointment, like if you are in the right wing they have more genuine people to their side that is helping their side feel more comfortable even if they think they have “woken” up to the MSM and Establishment’s “woke agenda” and it doesn’t feel like there is anything that will ever give me hope for this planet.

[lingeringscars]

jordan is layla’s best friend. if prompted, she would call jordan her best friend. 

[vavuska]

Who changed Lola Bunny?

Malcolm D. Lee explained, “This is 2021. It’s important to reflect the authenticity of strong, capable female characters. … So we reworked a lot of things, not only her look, like making sure she had an appropriate length on her shorts and was feminine without being objectified, but gave her a real voice. For us, it was, ‘Let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others.'”

(See the complete interview here: X)

So, gone are her curves, thigh-high drawstring shorts and midriff-baring crop top. Instead, Lola Bunny now takes on a sportier look wearing a more standard basketball vest and leggings under her track shorts.

But, let's see more deeply what determinated this choice:

1. Being mad at a fan art is sad, people.

Before, a sad 50 yo guy starts complaing about how "cancel culture" or "politically correct" ruined his life - Really? Changing a cartoon bunny from a movie you didn't see for a decade ruined your life? Wow. Someone should really review the list of their priorities -, let's see how really Lola looked in the 1996 original Space Jam.

Here we have original Lola Bunny:

(Here you can see all Lola's scenes in Space Jam: X)

Yes, Lola walked in a sexy way that show off her curves, or at least she seemed to have curves (a little breast, tight waist, long legs, bootie), but those are not big as in the fan art you are seeing around, and Lola's curves are not evidenced during the match or when she played. Is more her attitude and posture that made her look sexy. However, althought her curves clearly changes every time she is doing something different, from action to action, there are some scenes in which she is purposely made sexy, with saxophone music as soundtrack and male-gaze sections that ends in the same way, Lola surrounded by a bunch of horny and howling cartoon guys.

That's appropriate with Jessica Rabbit: she is purposely made and designed as a parody of the femme fatale from old hard boiler movies, in which attractive, mysterious women were portrayed as evil and manipulative gals who hide criminal intentions. Jessica, with her intentionally exaggerated body, subverted the misogyny of 40s and 30s detective movies: she is kind-hearted, truly loves her naive and goofy husband Roger and uses her powers (beauty and cunning) to protect him. Her body too is used for comic sketches, while this not happens for Lola, that's just a serious and indipendent basketball player. So, the male obsession for her body is out of place, expecially because she reacted with anger at being misconsidered only for being an attractive female bunny. “Don't call me doll” is her catch phrase. So, it seems strange she didn't react at all at the very sexualized presentation at the final basketball match: Lola simply shows her basketball skills, ignoring or accepting passively the reaction of the honey crowd of wolves around her. (Please, notice the association: Lola “admirers” are wolves, predators, while Lola, their object of desire, is a rabbit, a prey)

This is the cartoon version of cat calling: they are like a group of men who sit on their porches and whistle at girls everyday when they walk in from of them. A normal girl or woman would pass over this thing, even if they are bothered, unconfortable or embarassed, because they are more scared by a possible violent reaction of this whistling horny guys at their legitimate anger objections. But here, we are talking of Lola, a strong Looney Tunes bunny, and she could smash that damn basket ball on wolves' face, breaking all their teeth. That would be very a Looney reaction. But Lola doesn't react at all at this situation. Here, on my opinion, screenplayers missed an opportunity, but probably they thought to have already did too much with Lola's personality and “girl power”.

Remember also that Lola is the only young cartoon female character we see in the whole movie. So we can't do a proper comparison with other female relevant characters' rapresentation. (See here for a deeper analysis of Lola's origin and development: X)

However, compared with Bugs, Lola looks more fit, more humanized than Bugs. Lola has clearly a definited breast and booty, but it looks like is more her posture that makes them relevant. Lola has clearly shoulders back to show the rack. Bugs is anthropomorphic but remains an animal, has no shoulders or pectorals more like a human and looks a bit over-weight (fat belly). And his posture don't keep that stomach in, chin up, and march forward.

Lola, on the other hand, has a more human structure. That's why I say she has curves. An example are Mickey and Minnie who are two beans in the same way it is not that Mickey is a bean and Minnie has small tits, they are structurally alike.

Lola's body remembers highly No-Ribs-Jasmine from Aladdin (see the gif for reference). That unrealistic Barbie-like waist that was so popular in the 90s and 80s. (See here for references: X and X)

Now, we are changed a lot from the past 24 years. Barbies didn't have that impossible, unrealistic waist-line anymore, Disney princess concept has changed (see Merida and Moana).

Lola concept is changed in 2012: her design for the new cartoons is totally different and her personality too. She wear a blue or violet dress, almost flat-chested and she was made annoying and silly, just to make a contrast with Bugs smarter. Just like Daffy Duck is dumb as hell and his new girlfriend, Tina Russo (no more dear old Melissa Duck), is way smarter than him. Tina is tough, street-smart, rebellious and feisty. But we will see this thing in the next point.

2. People on the upper floors hated Lola personality.

Lola Bunny had only few lines in Space Jam, but she definitely passed the first impression that she was draw only for make male characters fall in love. Lola was a good basketball player and show it off, in front of a skeptical and then astonish bunch of cartoon guys and also Michael Jordan. She also had a strong personality and said it clear to Bugs she didn't like being called "doll". Lola was beauty and curvy, but not a cheerleader. Lola was a basketball player. Remember this part, because we will talk about basketball in the next point.

If at the box office Space Jam was a success, at Warner Bros there were those who turn up their noses, and they are important people, from the upper floors, who accused the film with Michael Jordan of having completely distorted the philosophy of the Looney Tunes. They blamed Lola Bunny more than everything else. Producers of Warner Bros said she was too perfect for the moody group of Warner cartoons: she was too sensual, provocative and independent, totally alien to that core of crazy characters that act as an exaggeration of the vices of 'man.

And fans hated her too. Chuck Jones, creator of the Merrie Melodies said: "Lola Bunny is a character with no future, she’s a totally worthless character with no personality."

So, Lola Bunny was deleted. Lola would make only some brief apparitions in some comics edited by DC Comics, in Baby Looney Tunes, in which she was a toddler with a very similar personality and resemblance to Space Jam adult version, and also as playable character in some unsuccessful videogames.

Years passed and projects for a sequel of Space Jam never become reality, so in 2003 Warner Bros relased Looney Tunes Back in Action. But Lola wasn't here, because the movie purposely want to make a deep cut with what we saw in Space Jam, according to what said it's director Joe Dante. This movie was a totally failure, but it gave back to Looney Tunes their craziness.

Years passed again, but this time is 2011, 10th of May on Cartoon Network was relased the second episode of The Looney Tunes Show. The series aimed to strongly relaunch the Looney Tunes, long gone from the glories of the past, updating the stories of Bugs Bunny and associates in a sitcom key, with the rabbit sharing a house with Daffy Duck in a suburb of Los Angeles. All interspersed with sketches by Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner done in CGI and the updated return of the Merrie Melodies. But the big news of the second episode is that LOLA BUNNY RETURNED.

And Lola was a character with some relevance within the series, even if something didn't seem right with her. Lola looked different, she was no longer the rabbit version of the femme fatale seen in Space Jam: she was naive, talkative, with her head in the clouds, crazy to the point of becoming Bugs Bunny's stalker. Bugs after having fallen in love with her at first glance understands on the first date that he absolutely can't stand Lola. She is no longer the Lola we used to know, even if the appearance is similar and the name is the same. Lola is effectively a Looney Tunes now. And the fans like her, the public like her, Warner Bros like her.

(See Lola in The Looney Tunes Show here: X)

But this is a big walk in behind from the indipent character we used to know in Space Jam. Lola was turned into the stereotype of the crazy girlfriend for a while. And this is not a surprise, if we remember that in 2012 were popular the "overly attached girlfriend" meme template. (See here for references: X)

However, in The Looney Toons Show Lola has some very funny moments, while in Space Jam she was more serious and a little out of space among the other characters. (See here for references: X)

3. What women wear when they play basketball?

Women's National Basketball Association was only created in 1996. So, women's basketball were not considered - and still is not considered - as important as men's basketball at the time Space Jam was filmed.

In Space Jam 2 there will be WNBA players with a significant role, for example Diana Taurasi and Nneka Ogwumike.

Professional female athletes aren't that curvy because curves are determined by body fat and they have a little.

As a busty volleyball player, I can say, dear people, breats could be very annoying during sport activities: it could be a pain, when you run or jump. That's because a lot of women wear sport bra to compress and support their breast. Sports bra may also include layered cups or a high neck to keep everything in place and protect from painful hits, so women can be safe and comfortable during workouts.

Female basketball players didn't wear crop-tops and tight shorts to play. They wear exactly what Lola wears in the picture above: long sleeveless tees, large shorts and maybe protective gears such as knee pads, sleeves or braces to reduce chronic pain caused by the immense burden put on the knees in basketball, to prevent bruises caused by collisions and hard fall and to provide support after a significant knee injury like an ACL tear. They could wear also compressive arms sleeves to help muscles that are sore or overworked to recover faster. The sleeve enables your blood flow to circulate quicker to the heart, which helps you heal and recover quicker.

Wow. WNBA wears Exactly what wear NBA players. So surprising.

4. This is only a promotional character sketch, not what Lola would look in the movie.

Space Jam 2 would be developed in CGI and there are a little preview frames going around, included one showing Lola jumping and you can see her breast shape. But she totally looks like a comic cartoon character. It's not humanized. It's not designed to be the sexy love interest. She doesn't look out of space among the others anymore, expecially because seems that there would be also Tweety's Granny and Melissa Duck or Tina Russo as players too.

5. Reality.

Really? You want a human anthropomorphic rabbit? Well, Lola as a rabbit would have something like six nipples, but no human-like breast. And, also, real life girls have ribs. No one in real life is that thin. Oh, well, if you don't considered Pixee Fox, a model who had surgically removed six ribs and wears daily a compressive bust corset (yes, like the one that made Elizabeth Swan faint in the first movie of Pirate of the Caribbean) to look like a cartoon fairy (Tinkerbell, you are the one to blame for this).

(See here for references: X)

In conclusion, we can say that all this controversy is based only on a porny fan art and that Lola “new” graphic isn't change too much from the original Space Jam movie. It's just a little more cartoonish.

We can also firmly remeber that Space Jam 2 is going to be developed for children, to relunch Looney Tunes among new generations of children, who are the largest buyers of merchandising (including Happy Meals surprises) and consumers of new cartoons that surely would be developed, if Space Jam 2 would be a success.

However, we should admit that those kids probably know better the 2011 version of Lola than her original version and that 2011 version was more appreciated by fans and producers. Lola's voice actress, Kristen Wiin won BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award in 2012 and was nominated for that prize also about three times in the following years. Also Rachel Ramras, Lola's voice actor was nominated for BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award in 2016 for her role in Looney Tunes: Rabbit Run.

We don't know anything about Lola's personality in Space Jam 2, so we can't do a proper comparison or a prevision, but, according to what Malcolm D. Lee said, we can assume that original personality of Lola would be preserved.

The controversy is relevant only for Lola's body and not for her personality, and that's is highly rappresentative of what impressed more this bunch of grow-up kids. They grow up to be like the horny wolves and they are howling because their prey is not available anymore.

And, to be honest, being so obsessed with the breast and the body of a cartoon character (that is clearly made up for kids) it's not sane at all. Sorry to say that, but sometimes people need to drink from a bottle of truth.

[flashfuture]

Okay I’ve been thinking about the Parallax retcon again cause god do I hate it. I’ve done some meta on it but I’m gonna focus on what it did to Hal. Earlier to day I said there wasn’t much build up to Parallax but that’s not exactly true because I wasn’t considering the frame work of Hal’s headspace.

So back after Crisis, Hal Jordan wasn’t doing so hot. His best friend had died. Carol was possessed by the Star Sapphire and committing all sorts of crimes to fuck with Hal. John and Guy weren’t that close with Hal back in the 90s. John and Hal fought over a ton of shit Carol did while possessed.

Hal was pretty isolated at this point. He tries to go to people he thought were his friends and they all wave him off or openly tell him to get over himself. Some of them were down right malicious about it. Hal wasn’t in a good place.

Then Coast City is destroyed. And Hal wants to try to fix it. He tries with the rings and the Guardians tell him no. Hal is so completely isolated at this point no one even notices that he is running to take a swan dive off the cliff of sanity.

Hal goes to Oa. He steals the rings of the other Lanterns and leaves them in Space to die. He kills Sinestro. He kills Kilowog. Then Hal steps into the Power Battery. He kills every single one of the Guardians minus Ganthet here.

And his plan? Reset the universe. Hal wants to put everything back to his it was before Crisis. When Coast City wasn’t rubble. When Barry Allen was alive.

Now the heroes step in. They look at this man who they turned away, who they ignored in his grief, in the aftermath of the destruction of his city, and they call him a villain. Then they act surprised he doesn’t wanna hear what they have to say? That he maybe doesn’t care about their opinions on him because they certainly couldn’t be bothered with him before this.

In the end Ollie shoots him in the chest. And Ollie thinks he killed Hal but he didn’t. Hal and Kyle just ended up on Oa.

And the heroes wipe their hands clean. They were then absolved of any guilt around Hal because he was clearly a bad guy. They couldn’t have stopped him. But that’s not true. Anyone at all offering a hand out might have stopped him.

By the time Hal attacks Kyle in New York he’s desperate. He has no other plan than try Zero Hour again. He wants the Green Lantern ring. He wants to be a Green Lantern. That’s all Hal. Hal is there and he’s been practically screaming for help for years.

And Kyle oh hopelessly naive Kyle is the first one to tell Hal what he’s doing isn’t heroic. Everyone else declared Hal himself a villain.

Kyle was the one who saw the hero in Hal. Kyle went to the Source Wall to ask for Hal’s help in restarting the sun.

And only once Hal had died did the others look at him like a hero again. And with a bittersweet taste nonetheless.

Kyle set up Hal’s funeral. He made the memorial. He wanted everyone to know that Hal was a hero truly and fully.

But they turned their backs to Hal. They decided he wasn’t worth their time. What good are they to decide who’s a sinner and who’s a saint to paraphrase Hal himself.

And then the retcon. That it wasn’t Hal at all. It was Parallax.

That is their wipe away for everything that happened to Hal. It cloaks his depression, his anger, his loneliness in some supernatural fear bug and we can all just move on.

It means when Hal tells Barry about it that Barry waves it off as not Hal. As if nothing Hal was feeling then matters. As if Hal didn’t exist at all. Just Parallax.

This means the other heroes don’t have to feel bad at all, as if they would, for abandoning Hal because his emotions were being influenced. Nothing at all could have been done.

Except then they fucked up again when Kyle was possessed by Parallax. Hal held out a hand and he helped Kyle break free. Which means yes they could have helped Hal. But they chose not to.

The Parallax retcon is a massive cop out so the writers didn’t have to address a characters actual mental state. Because it’s easier to draw a smile I suppose.

But even with the retcon it shows how the others dropped the ball. Hal wasn’t suffering in silence and they “couldn’t have known” he was asking for help. He needed help. And they turned him away.

TL;DR: Hal Jordan needs some better friends

This was inspired by @pulsar-1919 thank you for that reply about The List. I forgot how much of a dick everyone was to Hal. I knew about Bruce in the robe being a jackass but that’s par for the course for Bruce tbh.

[aviya932]

I’ve been thinking whether to write it or not. On one hand this is super important, on the other hand people don’t really care and I’ll probably get hate for it. But this has to be said and I’m gonna do it. This is really long but if you really want to understand what is happening in Israel right now- this is it

I live in Israel, and for the last 48 hours we have been under rapid missile attack. Hamas, which is a terror organization, have been shooting constantly at civilian cities and houses, while at the same time there have been various riots in mixed cities- by which i mean cities that have both Jewish and Islamic population- that in normal days live in co-existence. You have to understand a couple things right now before you come at me:

I don’t talk about high tension cities such as Jerusalem. This is Lod, Ramle, Jaffa and Haifa among others. Those are cities that truly are peaceful 90% of the time and I will talk about Jerusalem and Gaza so just stick with me.

THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT WHOSE LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT OR VALUABLE!! Living in Gaza sucks under normal circumstances but living in Sderot is not much better. There is no competition on misery and trust me as a person that actually live in Israel and knows what it’s like here on the day to day that we are well aware on how it’s like in Gaza.

this site REALLY likes to talk about experiences and how when you live through a unique event no one can talk for you about that because they don’t really know what its like. so right here right now it is my experience. You are welcome to ask follow up questions, you may send me a message to learn more or to disagree with a certain point. But if you don’t live here, even if you are from a neighbor country, then you don’t know what’s it like and i wish to god you will never know.

I don’t have all the articles right here with me, because most of the are in Hebrew and I’m writing this really quickly. So if there is interest I’ll give references and I’m really sorry for any typos here. 

Here is a brief timeline of Monday, April 10. I’ll try to stick to as many events without being partial, and for contest there have been two major events on that day:

It is still Ramadan- which means that religious Muslims were on temple mount.

It was also Jerusalem day- which I have no idea how to translate but  celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people and the old city from the Jordan army, and is an Israeli holiday in which it is custom to go to Jerusalem so there were a lot of Jewish people at the Kotel.

There’s a neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem called Sheikh Jarrah, in which there is an ongoing legal fight over ownership and governance. On April 10 there wad supposed to be a sitting in court about evicting Arab familiars. It was decided to postpone because of the tension but there has been many rallys over the topic.

During the Ramadan there has been a lot of tension, so the Israeli police have declared that no Jewish person will get on temple mount at that day. it made people mad, since it is a sacred location for us as well, and some groups have threatened to climb anyway. As far as I know no Jew have managed to get there, since things escalated quickly. Like i said, this month was very tensed, and when the cops hears that the Muslims in Al-Aqsa Mosque were hoarding stones they have decided to go inside. this was at about 08:30-09:00 AM. Since the mosque is right above the kotel this was very worrying but during the chaos there have been injuries- 21 cops and dozens of Palestinians. Stun grenades and stones.   Hamas have given an ultimatum- either the cops get off the mountain by 18:00 or they shoot rockets at Jerusalem, which at the time is filled with as much Muslims as Jews. During the day there have been terror attacks against Jews that came to the city for celebrations and for the flag parade that was planned to start at 16:00 and to end at the kotel. there was a lynch against 3 Jews at sha’ar ha’ariot (lion gate. a lynch that was depicted by the media as the drivers’ fault and as a running over. the truth is that the driver tried to escape the stoning, hit a cement half wall and continued to be hit until a cop came to his rescue) and a 7 month old girl was hit at the head by stones.

by 18:00 Hamas fired 3 barrages toward Jerusalem. And this is the part when i can tell you first-hand. because I was there, because I could not believe that they will shoot at their own people. There were SO MANY PEOPLE at the time from BOTH SIDES. this is a precedent- until then every single shooting was aimed at Jewish city and never at Muslims.

HAMAS SHOOT AT CIVILIANS IN JERUSALEM, A CITY THAT IS CONSIDERS HOLY FOR EVERYONE, DURING THEIR OWN HOLIDAY. THEY SHOT MISSILES AT A CITY IN WHICH MUSLIM ARABS LIVE. THEY SHOT BECAUSE THE POLICE WERE TRYING TO STOP MUSLIMS FROM THROWING ROCKS AT JEWISH PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO GET ON TEMPLE MOUNT. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THE WORST THING IS? THE FACT THAT INTERNATIONAL NEWS IMMEDIATELY STARTED BLAMING THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT AND POLICE AND COMPLETELY REMOVED ANY RESPONSIBILITY FROM HAMAS AND THE GOVERNMENT IN GAZA. It’s so so easy to blame Israel because Israel is more organized, because our government, while being mostly useless in the last year since we had 5 elections, is built by the peoples’ choice and not by fear, because Gaza is an underdog and we feel for the underdog- and for good reasons. Do not think for a moment that we don’t feel sorry for the people in Gaza. They live under a terrible government that cares more for the Palestinian agenda than their civilians, most Shekels that the Israeli government is transferring won’t reach the people and instead will be taken by Hamas to build bombs, guns, and tunnels. Hamas needs the people to stay underdogs. They will use them as human shields for as long as it gets them sympathy, they will take every opportunity they have to blame Israel and the media is giving them exactly what they want every single time- even Israeli media will twist facts and stories to sound more progressive and ‘woke’ and politically correct. so here are facts for all of you

while it makes me sound like a five year old it’s still true that this time Hamas shot first and unsolicited.

every country that has missiles shot at will, and has the right, to defend itself.

is it okay for civilian casualty? NO. Absolutely no. But don’t any of you dare to use that as a reason for Israeli cruelty. Hamas have sot over 1,000 rockets in the last 48 hours. IDF has attacked about a 150 locations. Hamas is shooting wildly at cities and homes without care who they hit. IDF is targeting senior Hamas figures only. Hamas is shooting from homes and streets. every IDF base that has weapons in will be located outside of civilian location.

IDF is using the “Roof knocking“ technique, and has been using for years. for those who don’t know it- IAF is dropping a non-explosive bomb- a smoke bomb that makes some noise- on top of any location they will hit to inform every single person inside that they need to get out. Only after a few minutes’ waiting will they hit for real. When Hamas is telling us when they will shoot it’s nothing like that. They don’t warn-they threat.

6 Israeli people have died so far. 2 of them were Muslim Arab-Israeli. They do not care who they hit.

the people in mixed cities have been rioting nearly nonstop for 48 hours now while attacking their neighbors, while burning synagogues, cars, homes and restaurants. One of my best friends lives in Lod. they have curfew from 20:00 today until 04:00 tomorrow. Her situations terrifies me more than any bomb because those are people who lived there for years.

not every Muslim and Arab is to blame, and blaming everyone is wrong. BUT ignoring what is happening right now is naive. Do not be blind and do not believe every single thing the media tells you. There are countless videos were Arabs fake death. where they dress as soldiers to fake scenes, where they openly teach their children hate and where their leaders openly lie on live television and get caught.

most of the time people lie because they really believe it, but that only serves the disinformation. Sometimes good intentions only cause more pain and hate.

Israel is not without blame. no one is without blame because life is not a book- there are no 100% good people and a 100% bad people. Life is complicated and so are people and political situations. You have to criticize your sources, and if they paint one side as good and one as bad then you should stop reading them. there are Israeli extremists as well, and far-right movements scare me as much as any Arab riots but no one is working in a vacuum.

the numbers are very different for many reasons. The death and casualties in Gaza is larger for many reasons, but I’ll focus on the most important ones. first, the IDF is more organized and so their bombs are stronger and more advanced. Second, Hamas is intentionally stationed in neighborhoods, schools and hospitals for human shields. third, Israel is using everything they can to protect its’ citizens and pays fortune on Iron Domes. Hamas does nothing to protect the people, and they have the money for that if they wanted since the receive money from Israel, the UN, and various different NGOs. If you don’t bother to protect your own how can you blame others? when people in Israel get hurt because they don’t have shelter they blame our own government.

right now everything here is a mess, and people from outside do not help when they only spread rumors and hate. You don’t live here? you have no clue what is happening. pray for all of us, but first educate your self and read more than one source of news for god sake. If you want the full picture you must read right-side news AND left-side news. Try to understand what is true, try to understand what is an exaggeration, try to understand what both sides are experiencing and don’t just assume that you are the smartest, most educated person just because you support the ‘right’ side. There is no right side. Only A side. So try to stand with us. Stand with Israel and have as much compassion for us as you have for Gaza. We are heading toward a civil war that will not hurt only one side, we have been living like that for years so trust me when i tell you that everyone is tired of how things are. We want peace but we don’t really see it happening anytime soon.

and for the love of god, don’t just send hate. I care about opinions, i want to think about stuff that i haven’t mentioned and to learn from others. Hate comments will not help either of us and will only keep us where we are now, and you trying to hurt me will honestly achieve nothing and will be kinda boring. Sorry for being so blunt but it’s the truth.