#int: nelson

[deryaxyilmaz]

"That would suck, but again, that's why I felt like I had to show up just in case." Derya wasn't doing anything else, so it was an excuse to get out of her condo and mingle with someone new, as well as toss back some drinks, so it felt promising. Smiling at his introduction, she reached out and shook the offered hand gently. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nelson. I'm Derya, but you can just call me Rya." She stated with a slight nod. "I'll make you a deal: I'll show you my decent dance moves if you just let loose and have fun with your crappy ones." She suggested before she leaned against the bar and ordered them shots of whiskey. It wasn't long before they were put down in front of them, and she tipped them before turning to Nelson. "Cheers to you, and to a new friendship?" She suggested.

@the-nelson-quinn

“ fuck, can you imagine if all of the numbers were wrong? I’m would have made tonight really suck “ Nelson replied raising a brow. He had to admit that would have been a lot to deal with but despite the main having quite a bit of vanity to him he didn’t have an ego that would have been bruised by being left alone. “ shows you’re a pretty cool person for thinking like that. So who did I text? I’m Nelson by the way “ he offered holding out his hand. “ I promise you I will not be killing it on the dancefloor. @deryaxyilmaz

[selfinflicts]

"i don't like this. i don't like any of it." ↳ manhunt // @godblooded

the roots of allyson's resentment toward her grandmother had spread in the years after michael myers' disappearance. for the way she'd turned the yard that should've been a sanctuary for family into a shooting range, the way she'd turned her home into a mausoleum--none of those feelings ever brought her mother back, of course, but it felt good to put her anger, her hate, her despair toward someone real.

michael myers is--had been, she constantly has to remind herself of the past-tense--a shape of a human being, but he slipped through her fingers like sand. laurie hadn't been. all of that--everything--had to go somewhere.

and yet, here she is, despite all her resentment toward her grandmother, with her guns laid out on her table, long elegant fingers covered in gun oil. her mother had always refused to even entertain the idea of a gun in the house for fear of repeating intergenerational curses, or whatever other shit she spewed. maybe it skips a generation. probably.

"i have a permit--permits," she says, teetering on petulant. she wipes her fingers clean and reaches for alana's hand to tug her in close to where she sits on the chair, long legs spread to accommodate alana between them. "i want to keep you--us--safe. is that so bad?"

[docgold13]

The DC Animated Universe - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

Shayera Hol

Following the defeat of the Thanagarian forces in their effort to conquer earth, Shayera retired from her role as Hawkgil and stepped down from the Justice League.  She had lied to her friends and was forced to betray her own people.  Alone and adrift, Shayera found refuge in the Tower of Fate where she stayed with Kent Nelson on his wife Inza.   There she contemplated her past decisions and what she wanted for her future.  

Following an adventure where she battled against the forces of an ancient dark magic, Shayera found herself once again aligned with her former teammates from the Justice League to take down a rampaging Solomon Grundy.  She was invited back into the fold of the newly expanded League and tentatively agreed.  It was not a smooth transition as she had to content with her feelings over John Stewart’s new relationship with their teammate, Vixen, as well as the mistrust some of the Leaguers still had toward her (especially Wonder Woman).  

Shayera and Wonder Woman were able to work through their issues with one another during a battle against Felix Faust; and she even managed to forge something of a friendship with Vixen.  A strange encounter with a mysterious individual calling himself ‘Hawkman’ suggested that her soul was somehow intertwined with John Stewart’s; that they had lived multiple lives together throughout time.  

An adventure involving time travel saw John and Batman meeting Rex Stewart, the future hero known as Warhawk, who was the son of Shayera and John.  John eventually told her about this and it left her feeling optimistic that the two could still be together again.  John, however, expressed a refusal to be ‘destiny's puppet’ and opted to stay with Vixen. He confessed to Shayera that he would never say that he didn't love her and if they do get back together it will be their own choice. She gave John an angry look at his stubbornness before going to see Batman. At the end of these events, while Batman was working, she asked Batman to tell her about her son, Rex.

Actress Maria Canals provided the voice for Shayera Hol with he winged heroine first appearing int he second episode of the first season of Justice League, ‘Secret origins Part II.’   

[bugsbutch]

whatever happens tonight, tedtrent nation... i loved our chats 🫡 and listen, we were not delusional, only hopeful for a story that would make perfect sense, be compelling and fit within the themes of the show, so let's not put ourselves down

that said... yes, this little thing i wrote is just pure self-indulgent romcommunism, not how i actually think/hope the show might end

transcript under the cut

INT. NELSON ROAD - PRESS ROOM

We see journalists filing out after a press event. At the front of the room, standees advertising Trent Crimm’s new book: “The Lasso Way”.

INT. NELSON ROAD - AN UNIDENTIFIED ROOM - CONTINUOUS

TRENT CRIMM is decompressing playing with a fidget toy. An ASSISTANT from his publishing company enters.

TRENT

God, I loathe being on this side of the press room.

ASSISTANT

I'm sorry, Mr. Crimm, but there's one more person who wants to ask you a question.

TRENT

Absolutely not, I’m done talking to the press. I am not fielding yet another “Why did Ted Lasso leave for Kansas so suddenly?”

The Assistant sighs like someone who got roped into participating in some stranger’s corny joke.

ASSISTANT

He told me to tell you he's from Horse & Hound.

TRENT

I don't-

Trent freezes as he recognises the reference to Notting Hill. He frowns. Surely not…?

ASSISTANT (O.S.)

He's waiting in the press room.

But Trent is already leaving the room in a hurry.

INT. NELSON ROAD - PRESS ROOM - CONTINUOUS

TED LASSO is sitting in the empty room in Trent's old spot, looking down at the book in his hands. We hear the door click. 

TRENT

(softly)

Ted.

Ted looks up and smiles. His hand shoots up in the air. 

TED

Oh! Mr. Crimm! Here!

Trent ducks his head with a smile, instantly disarmed, and plays along. He sits at the table.

TRENT

Yes, the gentleman in the second row. I like your moustache.

Ted stands up.

TED

(a little flustered)

Oh, thank you, sir. Ted Lasso, Horse & Hound. So do I have this right: shortly after meeting this clueless American, you upended your personal life, and later blew up your whole career for him as well, then proceeded to follow him for a year writing a book, after which he suddenly left with a sorry excuse of a goodbye. And that guy only realized what it all meant to you, and… and what you meant to him, after he read the dedication you wrote in this book that you sent to him.

TRENT

Have you got a question in there, Ted?

TED

Yeah...

(a little nervous, but smiling)

Can I take you out to dinner, Trent?

TRENT

(matching Ted’s smile)

Yes you can, Ted.

A romantic song starts playing. They keep smiling at each other like they’re the only two people in the room (and they are, but that’s besides the point).

FIN.

[egotistival]

they knew that devon was just trying to help but they couldn't help the destructive part of themselves (and, admittedly, the very hopeful part), that this would work. "come on," soledad whined pathetically, puppy dog eyes on full display, "don't be a downer!" bumping shoulders with their friend, sole knew the other was concerned but had little problem with shrugging their shoulders and grimacing at the idea this wouldn't work. "i'll cross that bridge when i come to it. now," puppy dog eyes back on display, "are you going to help me with this audacious plan or not?"

SUGAR, SPICE & BITTERSWEET ( always accepting )

@egotistival asked: "My life is my own to ruin.”

"well, fine, fuck me for trying to ensure that you don't fuck up your entire life, right?" devon responded, looking at the other with raised brows and a clear pointed look. realistically it wasn't their business, and they knew that, but it didn't stop the concern. "what are you going to do if this doesn't go the way you plan? just let your life be on fire and sit burning in it?"

[soylent-crocodile]

Drubb (Monster)

(art by Jim Nelson)

(This was a Magic card- Muck Drubb- with the perfect combination of evocative art and interesting ability, so I of course HAD to make it a monster! This one's flavor text is just real sad and delves into slavery, so you've been warned. Perhaps freeing a population of enslaved drubbs and finding one of the hiding families to take them in would be a fun side quest for your heroes!)

CR3 TN Medium Aberration

Drubbs are unfortunate creatures whose physiology naturally attracts magic. At one point in history they were nearly extinct, but have been brought back from the brink by black market breeders, as unscrupulous criminals and military officers realized that their sacrificial abilities make them excellent defensive allies. These drubbs, though sentient and able to speak, act as little more than sacrifices for their owners, living to be targeted by a deadly spell that was meant for someone else. 

In nature, drubbs live in close matriarchal groups, with the oldest female- generally a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to various members of the group- teaching their children philosophy and religion, as well as practical survival skills and safe hideaways. Males typically stay in these groups even while sexually mature, and only leave when they are knowledgeable and confident enough to secure a mate and a place in another herd. These herds are extremely rare these days, however, with only three or four free families believed to still exist.

Drubbs are sentient and their mouths are dexterous enough to wield weapons, but they generally progress by advancing racial HD. Learning magic is a taboo in drubb society, both because of the scars spellcasting slavers have left on their society, and more practically because casting magic around friendly drubbs is rather hazardous.

Drubb hide is magically potent, and the skin from a single drubb can serve as up to 1,000gp worth of leather when crafting magic items of the Abjuration school; in particular, they are a common source of Cloaks of Resistance.

This slimy yellow creature slumps forward, its face defined by a short trunk and mournful eyes.

Misc- CR3 TN Medium Aberration HD4 Init:+2 Senses: Perception:+7, Low-light Vision, Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:16(+3) Dex:15(+2) Con:22(+6) Int:6(-2) Wis:17(+3) Cha:16(+3) BAB:+3 Space:5ft Reach:5ft Defense- HP:42(4d8+24) AC:13(+2 Dex, +1 Natural) Fort:+7 Ref:+5 Will:+7 CMD:17 (19 vs trip) Special Defenses: DR2/cold iron Offense- 2 Slam +6(1d6+3 plus Entangle) CMB:+5 Speed:30ft Special Attacks: Entangle Feats- Combat Expertise (-1/+2), Lightning Reflexes Skills- Diplomacy +6, Perception +8, Spellcraft +3, Survival +7 Special Qualities- Sink Magic Ecology- Environment- Swamps, Urban (Any) Languages- Common Organization- Solitary Treasure- None Special Abilities- Entangle (Ex)- A creature hit with a drubb’s slam attack must make a DC13 reflex save or become entangled in its mucus, as with a tanglefoot bag. Sink Magic (Su)- A drubb’s body naturally attracts spells to itself. If a caster casts a spell within 60ft of a drubb that could target a drubb, she must make a DC16 caster level check or instead target the drubb with that spell. Spells with a range of touch or an area of effect are not affected by this ability. This caster level check is constitution-based.

[roamwithahungryheart]

[INT. NELSON ROAD, MORNING]

Trent is setting up his desk for the day. Isaac catches him - or rather, his desk - in his periphery.

Isaac: Oi, Trent, I thought we gave you the Sports Direct mug bruv?

[The team mumbles]

Trent: Ted told me to make myself at home, so I brought something from home.

Isaac: Is that one of them gay mugs?

[Visible confusion. Colin shoots him a look.]

Trent: It's my Snoopy mug. [A beat.] That I bought at Pride. [He smirks, a glint in his eye as Colin perks up.] Good luck out there today, gentlemen.

[icy-watch]

Ninjago City vs. Ninja.

Are we actually going to get a court trial this season? We are, aren't we.

This isn't going to pan out well int he ninjas' favor.

Man. I can't believe I predicted the city turning on the ninja way back in s2. That was a wild stab in the dark. Funny that it's happening all this time later.

I wonder who's going to speak up on their behalf. I mean, obviously Dareth's going to be their lawyer. It was established that he only recently became a lawyer just a few episodes ago. So, he has to be there for this.

But, like, are any of the citizens going to speak up for them? For example, Nelson and Tones and Okino and any other friends they have. I don't think any of them will do any good, I just want to know who still supports them after everything.

...Nya's not going to find out about this trial through a broadcast by Gayle, is she? Oh, she actually might. That's not going to go over well. Hopefully she's still recovering.

Ok, on to the episode!

[justicegundam82]

3.5 to PF1e Conversion: Beholderkin, Spectator

Here I am with a new conversion... and this time, I'm about to tackle the Beholderkin from the 3.5 book Lords Of Madness. Of course, I'm going to take some liberties and try to put my own spin on them, but overall, I'll try to keep these conversions as campaign-neutral as possible. Clearly, you guys are free to adapt the lore to your own game world.

The Creature Codex and the Creature Chronicle have already written up two great PF1e conversions of the Beholder here and here. I'd really reccomend you check them out!

With that out of the way, here I give you the first of my Beholderkin conversions - the Spectator.

BEHOLDERKIN, SPECTATOR

Image (c) Wizards Of The Coast, from Lords of Madness, author J. Nelson

This spherical creature’s leathery body is crowned with four slender eyestalks, each terminating in a small lidless eye. A fifth eye, much larger than these, is located on the front of the sphere, above a toothy maw.

SPECTATOR               CR 5

XP 1’600

LN Medium Aberration (beholderkin, extraplanar) 

Init +8; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)

hp 51 (6d8+24), planar fast healing 2

Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6

OFFENSE

Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)

Melee bite +9 (1d8+1)

Ranged eye ray +9 touch (see below)

Special Attacks eye rays, spell turning

Spell-like Abilities (CL 7th, concentration +9)

     3/day - create food and water

     1/day - plane shift (self only)

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 15

Base Atk +5; CMB +6; CMD 20

Feats Alertness (B), Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse

Skills Diplomacy +8, Fly +14, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (planes) +12, Perception +18, Sense Motive +14, Stealth +10, Survival +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception

Languages Common, Beholder; telepathy (see below).

Special Qualities beholderkin traits, guardian creature, naturally buoyant

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Axis)

Organization solitary, pair or cluster (3-6)

Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Beholderkin Traits (Ex/Su) Spectators are beholderkin, creatures that are distantly related to true beholders. Beholderkin have a very wide range of appearances and abilities. Not all share the xenophobia of true beholders, though most are still evil and cruel in nature.

Creatures of the beholderkin subtype share the following traits:

All-around Vision (Ex): A beholderkin sees in all directions at once and cannot be flanked.

Eye Rays (Su): All beholderkin can manifest dangerous magical effects by firing a beam from its smaller eyes. See individual beholderkin’s description for details.

Eye Rays (Su) A spectator can fire one eye ray as a standard action each round. Treat these as ranged touch attacks with a range of 60 feet and no range increment. A spectator cannot choose to use the same eye ray two rounds in a row. A creature struck must make a saving throw (DC 15) or be affected as by a spell at CL 7th, except that it only effects the target struck. The save DC is Charisma based.

- Fatigue: The target must make a Fortitude save or become fatigued. A fatigued creature that fails to save against this effect becomes exhausted.

- Inflict Moderate Wounds: This ray works like the spell, causing 2d8+7 points of damage (Will half).

- Hold Monster: The target must succeed on a Will save or be affected as though by the spell.

- Telepathy: A spectator can communicate telepathically with its target for the round. As a free action, a spectator can make a suggestion (as the spell; Will negates) to the creature it is currently telepathically speaking to.

Guardian Creature (Ex) A spectator beholderkin counts as an outsider for the purposes of summoning spells such as planar ally or planar binding.

Naturally Buoyant (Ex) A spectator's body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly at a speed of 30 ft. with good maneuvrability and grants it a permanent feather fall effect (as the spell) with personal range.

Planar Fast Healing (Ex) A spectator beholderkin's fast healing only functions when the creature is on its native plane of Axis.

Spell Turning (Su) A spectator's central eye produces a 90-foot cone. Once per round, the spectator can attempt to turn back upon the caster a single spell or spell-like ability targeting it. In order to turn back a spell, the spectator must succeed at a concentration check with a DC equal to 15 + the caster level of the original caster. If this check is successful, the original caster suffers the effects of the spell as if it had been casted by the spectator itself. Only single-target spells that explicity target the spectator may be reflected this way, and only one each round. Area effect spells may not be reflected.

Spectators are extraplanar beholderkin native to the plane of Axis, and are known to be among the most reasonable and moderate of the beholderkin. They are often summoned to the Material Plane by arcanists who need a reliable guardian that does not require a great deal of resources to protect a valuable object or place, though they are not enthusiastic of working for humanoids or other creatures of the Material Plane. However, they possess a sense of duty and a loyalty to their summoner that is unusual amongst beholderkin, and they pride themselves on their guardianship abilities.

A spectator's bizzarre behavior manifests in two different personalities that share the same consciousness. Under normal circumstances, a spectator tends to be open, if cautious, and willing to chat with those it comes across. However, they can slip into a more introverted state of mind, where they spend a long time, possibly even decades, pondering philosophical questions and contemplating mysteries. A spectator that is left in isolation for a long time guarding a charge may develop some unexpected quirk - such as talking about itself in third person, or change their voice to resemble that of its summoner.

Unusually pacifistic for beholderkin standards, spectators only fight to protect their charges or their own lives. Unless guarding something, they tend to avoid combat by flying away or using plane shift to return to Axis. If protecting an item, or if fighting becomes necessary, a spectator will typically start by using its fatigue and telepathy eye rays to incapacitate its opponents, usually throwing in a suggestion in order to convince the opponent to leave it alone. Only in the face of stubborn intruders will the spectator resort to lethal force, paralyzing its enemies and blasting them with negative energy. They will try to keep obvious spellcasters within the reflective cone from their central eye.

A spectator is about 3 feet wide and weighs about 250 pounds.

[scottienolan]

"Exactly -- if they're grown enough to haul their asses into a bar, then they're grown enough to be figuring out their own way home."

Scottie herself had developed a habit since moving to town of stealing the first bike that she saw on her way home from the bar -- not that riding a bike drunk was ever one of her best ideas.

"What, you want me to put a number on what I think my night is worth?" Scottie warns with a sly smile and a click of her tongue.

"Because I gotta warn ya, I'm a lady with expensive taste."

@the-nelson-quinn

Nelson knew that the situation would have probably not gone in the favor of the staff at the bar which was why I’m the past he would often give the servers tips to replace what they could have have lost for the night. Hearing her tone he knew that was one of those cases and he didn’t fault her at all for it. “ No I hear you on that. I wouldn’t leave you guys out of the equation “ he noted

“ good point. They could all wander home like toddlers learning how to walk” he added before seeing what cash he had available to split for the staff on top of his card. He definitely had enough but he also knew a lot of servers had to wait to get their tips too if he charged it. “ what do you think is fair tonight for you after dealing with everything? I definitely owe you a lot for dealing with all of them” he added. He felt a bit apologetic considering how the whole situation must have been @scottienolan

[pathfinderunlocked]

Wretched Mother - CR3 Undead

The sight of the wretched mothers still haunts me. They are the remnants of Queen Asylla's slaughtered handmaidens, who were twisted by foul magic.

Artwork by Gina Nelson on ArtStation.

As the quote by Deckard Cain says above, wretched mothers feast upon cadavers and regurgitate them as newly formed risen dead. They're very early enemies in Diablo 3. They're named after their ability to seemingly "spawn" hordes of zombies, but the minions they create are short-lived. Wretched mothers cannot be created intentionally by necromancers; humanoids in caretaker and attendant roles serving nobility can rise as wretched mothers if the nobility they serve is turned into an undead, or buried in a cursed location.

If this creature's damage seems low, it's because most of its damage comes from the vomited zombies. Vombies, if you will.

Wretched Mother - CR 3

Wearing a tattered once-fine dress, this repulsive undead woman's face is dripping with vomit.

XP 800 NE Medium undead Init +1 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural) hp 32 (5d8+10) Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +5 DR 5/slashing or silver Immune acid, undead traits

OFFENSE

Spd 30 ft. Melee bite +4 (1d4) Special Attacks vomit zombies (1d8 acid, 15-ft. cone, DC 13)

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 12, Con —, Int —, Wis 12, Cha 12 Base Atk +4; CMB +4; CMD 16 Feats Combat Expertise, Dodge, Toughness Languages Necril (understands only; cannot speak)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Vomit Zombies (Su) Once every 2 rounds, a maximum of 5 times per day, as a standard action, a wretched mother can spew caustic vomit as a breath weapon in a 15-ft. cone. The caustic vomit deals 1d8 acid damage to creatures in the cone; a DC 13 Reflex save halves the damage. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Additionally, when a wretched mother uses its Vomit Zombies abilities, 1d3 zombies rise from the vomit, within the area of the cone. These zombies are partially formed from vomit, and are immune to acid damage, but otherwise function as normal zombies. They dissolve after 1 minute.

[chaossequence]

just woke up has a dream about

this k drama where these a friend is trying to set up her man friend with a coworker of his and just kinda giving him advice she's like the typical quirky protagonist girl he's some guy and the other woman is this arrogant often insulting but love starved business woman and they're actually the two love interests and I new that from the beginning,, business lady gets asked out by business man and she seems hopeful at it but everything just seems weird bc i hardly remember and friend lady keep offering very shit advice to the guy he takes her advice very strictly bc he trusts her but it's not like her advice is good at all . One of the was the guy asked business lady to some winter ball maybe coworkers event thing just something fancy and she accepted kinda stiffly bc she's not used to that but then we see friend lady say oh no you just started dating and you guys are coworkers it might come off as too fast an inappropriate or whatever to her and she probably only accepted out of obligation and dumbass business man goes to retract his invitation apparently last minute or something bc business lady had makeup on or something,, she live in this corner house top floor I don't exactly remember how bc there was a lot of driving since my dreams often involve roads so friend lady goes to this apartment vacancy whatever not in her neighborhood bc she got lost and can't drive home and meets the woman and idk how it came up but they were having a chat and showing their personalities and stuff having cute little banter and they eventually recognize? each other? But then later it's revealed after a slip up that friend lady is "my friend riley" or something like that bc the man would always say that esp after some explanation and its this 'you ruined everything' moment then I remember being in an open empty liquor store with Simpsons characters and they were having rap battles and who wins gets to slam an empty glass bottle over their head it was two files the bullies were on one side Bart was on the other he didn't have a bottle apparently and asked to use the framed cider bottle on the wall which he promised to give back he was going against the bald one but somehow nelson got around to dueling him bc he wanted to break a whole 'real' meaning thick glass bottle over his head Bart had a diss only for baldy so his rap was terrible (in the dream I compared it to my friends freestyles which are not good) but in the end Bart managed to break the cider bottle over nelson head and broke Moe's expensive bottle so he goes out and we're in a street with a lot of stores I walk around trying to find the snack shop bc i wanted some for work I couldn't find any which was wierd in dream since that same street always had a snack shop but I think it changed into a casino anyway I got back to see my mom she's working at this ATM..loan thing? mentally I know it's for my dad's casino there's a casino on the corner I came from and a casino in front of it and a casino int the other corner across from it between is the entrance to the mall which im in apparently. Don't like malls in my dreams especially near entrances so I go to see my mom working for a while and then I wake up,, this is definitely not all of it but yeah. lesbian snappy back and forth 💥💥💥

[stillbornedprincess]

anova half human savant of the arts . Haack

composer of probably one of the funniest music of all time. First person te harness proper concentrated and unfiltered eletrick drum power , enuff te set one’s soul sideways; te make ones tear ducts expel all the sugar in one’s body . Fucking geniuous . A true telepathick mate 2 all . And to think he was just kindav like unnappricuated during his time .,, lkkw … that’s so funny. haack ataack iz baack ; bruce haack ,,,;; anti waack … ;;-

can you just imaagine - ;;; buttonz 4 eyes ,,, numbers for naames …… is it haard to think of ;;, life without sex …… this is aall paart ~~^ of da komputur complecks ..

there’s a documentary avalable on yutuube about him and his artwork but if am speaken te ye honestly .it’s kind of sheite, in the way that it’s uninspiring and kind of just waffle. Doesn’t elaborate upon nor justify any of the claims made in et either..But somehow de producerz got THE jeaan jaquez perrey on the doc..! Pretty epeik, but like. Can we hear more aboit the creaAtive prossezzes of mr hackula.,;;

haack attaack .. haha .. heart attack … lawwl.. heaart attaack……. Pest in Bower……

fockin oodball persy price dat bloke eill tell ye tha. Anyway. What eive been findin on the internet is that the folks who are like totaally inte bruce haack are nawt normal aboit it . So this guy, a chris kah-something.. absalut nut. lovin it though. he wuz one of the many alleged homosexuul flings ov this bruce feller . Alleged, as mr haack claimed celebacy. anyway am after gettin ahead of meself.,; so this Chris guy, sayz he’s got a psycik connectton with da spirit of mr-haackattac, even after his death . I find the folks who speak ov him (Bruce Clinton haack) online really go in supernatrul abut it. and they like to call him daddy too.Speaks of Ghosts, astral projection , contactin de man himself using majik .. like the didgital Rasputin … makin de pretentious folks ov da futur fall deeply in lov wit him.. like the nimpy pimpys who spoke in that damned documenterey!!! Anyway!!!!!! Bismillah.

So this talk of this telepathik following .. freaks me out. In a good way. Cause lkkw. It’s so funny. so absurd. who the fuck even is Bruce haack. Who is he. No one knows. Well obviously some people did. Lady named Ester nelson who’s after dyin two or three years back .. god bless her.. and the chris guy. Could one deny it though? Most of his musik is so bloodey gnostik. In the way it reeeeks of western esotericsm . Cherubic hymn reads like a heartfelt love poem from a freemason . The entire electtic lucifer album? Madness.(posivtive) and aboit it, is actually dead beautiful!

once you get ovar the bizzare shock that iz de first track.. yuoll find that it’s really a work of art. So positive, so moving. Jarring for sure but really inspiring—some may find it like a culty new ager tape,creepy,absurd,,demonic.. some may find it funny(a think it’s bleedin hilaruous but das just me) ,,,, —

itza getten prerty late and am gettin a wee bit lethargik .., but ave got so Much te say… aye.. if God gives me de chance.. I’ll get back to this rant. For now, Salam aleykumz to evrryon. To the dead and de livins. Bye . Salam . Bye . Guten nite. Bye

[intheshadowofwar]

The Long, Long Trail - 27 May 2023

The Last Man

Australian War Memorial 27 May 2023

They say the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. If one is former Director of the Australian War Memorial Dr. Brendan Nelson, it might be said to start with a single grant of five hundred million dollars. Today, the sightlines of Anzac Parade are ruptured by cranes and construction sites, part of the massive effort to revitalise the Australian War Memorial, to build a larger Anzac Hall, and to create space for the modern conflicts (and modern equipment) of the Australian Defence Forces.

It’s meant to be therapeutic to modern veterans, and I certainly can’t presume to speak for them. For all I know, it might be true - a few days ago I happened upon a YouTube video in which an Iraq War veteran gushed about a pre-release build of the controversial video game Six Days in Fallujah. There’s plenty of ex-military people who are into modelling tanks and planes. Perhaps, just as veterans of the First and Second World Wars revisited their battlefields in their old age, there’s a comfort in ‘going back.’ And yet, I can’t help but think there are more sinister justifications for the rebuild lurking in the background. Things like money from BAE Systems and quiet nudges from military recruiters. Things that risk subtly pushing the Australian War Memorial from being a place of commemoration to a place of glorification.

This is all immaterial, of course, because at 9.30am on a near-winter’s morning in Canberra, you can’t even see the sightlines for all the fog. Whoever painted those 1950s posters advertising sunny Australia certainly wasn’t thinking of Campbell.

(As a quick aside, I’m going to be using pseudonyms like ‘the Professor’ and ‘the Field Assistant’ here, because I don’t actually know if I have permission to use their names. If this suddenly changes, it’s because I found out if I could or could not name them.)

I came to the War Memorial on this balmy autumn day of about two degrees celsius to begin a journey - but I’m sure you’re all aware of that, because one doesn’t write a travel log unless they intend to travel. This was the first step on the road for the Australian National University’s Anzac Battlefields and Beyond Study Tour, or ANUABBST.

Upon reflection, we’ll just call it the ‘Study Tour.’

In any case, Poppy’s Cafe was the starting point of our adventure - sort of. We had, in fact, had an orientation last night. That’s when most of us found out that there was a minor snag in our plans. Our dear friend Covid may no longer be an international emergency, but it remains a background annoyance, like that lump I had on my nose for most of my teenage years. Our professor had been stricken by the plague, and thus would not be available today. To make matters worse, one of the Field Assistants was still in the United States, and the professor’s assistant from previous years was in Kiama. This left us with only one Field Assistant to manage everything. She’d effectively been thrown in the deep end, with all other authority figures down - it’s the stuff VCs are made of.

What I’m basically saying is, she basically had to do all the teaching, admin and assistant work by herself, and she made it look easy.

I’m sorry, I have digressed. It will happen again. Repeatedly.

In any case, we met at Poppy’s. It was here, at 10am, that we met with Michael McKernon, who I have to name because he was the key figure in the repatriation of Australia’s Unknown Soldier. See, up until 1991, Australia didn’t have an ‘unknown soldier’ - for the uninitiated, the idea of the ‘unknown soldier’ (or in some countries, the ‘unknown warrior’) is for a single, unidentified body to serve as a surrogate grave for all those killed whose bodies were never identified - it can also serve as a symbol of the collective sacrifice of an entire country. For most of the twentieth century, Australia’s unknown soldier was considered to be Britain’s Unknown Warrior, who is interred in Westminster Abbey in London. It wasn’t until Paul Keating’s time that that changed. After some haggling with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who were a bit cagey about people waltzing up and digging up their cemeteries and didn’t want to start a precedent, it was decided to exhume remains from Adelaide Cemetery in France, partially because they could be certain it was an Australian there, and partially because it was remote and it was feared the British tabloids might try to get a photograph of the body.

Apparently they’d made plans to check several graves, with a little marquee to cover them as they dug and reburied the soil to find suitably complete remains. Yet in the end they didn’t need to - they found exactly what they wanted in the first grave they checked. Sometimes in life, things really do just come together.

It’s perhaps incredible to hear now, on the other side of the Anzacpalooza of the 2010s, but apparently the then Governor-General Bill Hayden was worried before the internment ceremony was held on 11 November 1991 that people would laugh. He thought the idea of a gun carriage carrying an anonymous body, followed by the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and all manner of dignitaries, would be too absurd to be taken seriously. (Perhaps he’d had a premonition of some of the internet reactions to the King’s coronation.) In the event, that didn’t happen - Hayden told McKernan that he’d seen something in the eyes of the crowd that he’d never seen before in the Australian people. ‘Intense pride and intense grief.’ (I’m paraphrasing, of course.)

Now, you might be tempted to think that’s political spin, but seeing as Hayden said that to McKernan in a one on one conversation, I reckon he was being sincere. I think that’s something we forget these days; people feel deep connections to abstract things, and they personalise them. Someone might look at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and they might think of Great-Uncle John, or Harry, or Hans. It could be my great-grandfather.

(Well, no it couldn’t, because he was British, he was in the Second World War, and he then lived to a very old age, but you get my point.)

At the end of his discussion with us, McKernon talked about the sentimentalisation of the War Memorial’s museum (for those uninitiated, the War Memorial contains both a memorial and a museum.) The specific example he gave us was the speakers installed above George Lambert’s painting of the charge at the Battle of the Nek in August 1915, which plays the sound of gunfire, artillery and wounded men. His belief is that we should not be doing this - that the addition of sound (or music for that matter) emotionally manipulates the viewer. He compared this with a muddy uniform on the other side of the First World War gallery which Charles Bean took off a soldier coming back from the line. I presume he was given privacy while he changed into a new uniform. In any case, it’s there to present what a soldier’s equipment looked while it was on the line, as opposed to an immaculate tunic and breeches pulled out of an army storeroom. It doesn’t need sound or lights to convey the nature of war, and it doesn’t tell you how you ought to feel about it. (Remember Charles Bean’s name, because we will certainly hear from him again.)

I don’t know how I feel about the use of sound in museums. I think it can be used to good effect, if used in the right way. I don’t think it should be used in a memorial. This may be a part of the memorial that acts as a museum, but it is still on memorial grounds, and I think it should apply the opportunity for reflection as much as possible.

After our lovely chat with Micheal McKernon, we proceeded into the War Memorial, a task that the War Memorial seems intent on making as difficult as possible. During the Dark Times, the memorial set up a procedure to limit the amount of people coming in at any one time, which was the right thing to do at the time. It seems they’ve gotten a taste for it, as this procedure remains in place, and if you cluster in a group of more than two and a half people, they’ll look at you like you just set General Monash’s uniform on fire. You can imagine that this is not the most conductive environment for a group tour, but we just about made it work.

Now, I’m attending this tour as alumni, so I don’t have to work for a living. Once the rest of the group had been split into sub-groups to examine specific objects, we split off for a bit and I wandered around doing my own thing. I had a brisk walk through the Second World War gallery, which has some of my personal favourite exhibits in the museum - for example, the table at which General Percival surrendered Singapore to General Yamashita in 1942. On a more sombre note, there’s the wall of photographs of the men who died in the Sandakan Death March, which I think is probably the most effective exhibit in the museum. I then spent a little time among the rows of names on the Roll of Honour, and a brief reflection at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I don’t really know exactly what I reflected on, but I think that’s just the way it is sometimes.

I doubled back through the First World War galleries to view (and test my new camera on) the dioramas. These were the brainchild of the artist Will Dyson and the correspondent-turned-historian Charles Bean, and they’ve been there since the 1920s. If you come to the Australian War Memorial for one thing, it probably should be these - as well as the dioramas of Tobruk, Tarakan and Kapyong elsewhere in the museum.

The camera’s pretty great, by the by.

We met back up at 2pm and discreetly did group presentations. After this I did an improvised presentation of my own in front of the L3/33 tankette in the WWII gallery, and was reminded why I’m not very good at improv. We broke up just after 3pm, and I headed home.

As a group, we don’t meet up again until London next month, but personally I have one or two things planned between then and now - and that starts tomorrow.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, our Unknown Soldier did set a precedent. Canada got one in 2000, and New Zealand followed them.

[troythecatfish]

Here’s Nelson the naked hedgehog as a Elden Ring player. He’s doing a INT build.

[cocktailsfairytales]

Men in Books Aren’t Better

by Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter

(Plus One, #1)

Published by: The Wild Rose Press

Publication date: November 25th 2024

Genres: Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Pressured by her looming deadline and an unfinished romance manuscript, author Molly Covington applies her immersive research skills and goes all in. She hires a male companion for inspiration during three days of research in Las Vegas.

Enter sexy, confident Jared Washington—an extreme sports enthusiast and relationship skeptic who moonlights as a Plus One male companion. Molly’s contract puts him within arm’s reach of buying his own business and making his dreams come true.

The chemistry between her and Jared is surprisingly easy. Before their Vegas rendezvous comes to an end, one of them will need to lay all their cards on the table to discover if they’ll be lucky in love.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219287728-men-in-books-aren-t-better

Purchase:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3CCCNQt

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/men-in-books-arent-better-amanda-nelson/1146256774

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/men-in-books-arent-better/id6692632189

AUTHOR BIO:

Amanda and Lisa-Marie are a co-writing team of best friends who share imaginary worlds, including a short story, Shivers, published in Moments Between. Lisa Marie Potter (BIPOC) is a mom of four who grew up in Nottingham, England, and now resides in Alaska with her husband and golden retriever. Amanda Nelson grew up in Maryland and moved to Arizona, where she attended college and currently lives with her husband and four kids. Both women are members of the Author’s Guild and were part of a Manuscript Academy Podcast featuring their writing and critique group. They also review books on their socials, hike the Olympic National Park, and fight over the same fictional crushes.

Author links:

https://www.nelsonpotter.com/

https://x.com/ANelsonLMPotter

https://www.instagram.com/anelson.lmpotter/

https://www.tiktok.com/@nelsonpotterduo

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