#let's go angel ponies!!!!!!!!! woo!!!!

[littlegoldfinchh]

I KILLED HIM DEAD

[listofwhyyouloveher]

Could you perhaps write how the gang first reacted when they first saw the reader??? Maybe make the reader fem too?

Your work is awesome! have a good day 💞

Summary: The gang's first time seeing you. Warnings: none Author's note: short today, sorry. PONYBOY CURTIS Pony's first time seeing you was at school. It was the first day and he was walking into class when the door closed on him. Turns out, you were holding the door open, got distracted and closed it on his face. You immedietly apologized and he accepted it graciously, knowing you didn't mean it. He thought you were pretty cute so he sat next to you in class. He admired your intelligence and his friends made fun of him for staring at you the whole class. JOHNNY CADE Johnny's first time meeting you was at the drive-in. He sat down in a seat you were saving for your friend. He apologized immedietly but you told him it was fine and that there was more seats on your other side so he could sit there. The whole movie he kept side-glancing at you and your friend, mostly at you because he kept getting distracted by your angelic laugh and voice. He didn't see you around after that for a long time but your face never left his mind. SODAPOP CURTIS Sodapop met you because you were a customer at the DX. You just needed to stop by and get gas but you accidentally spilled the contents of your bag when getting your money. He rushed to help you pick up your things and he tried to make small talk until he looked up at you and nearly fell back at how beautiful you were. You laughed at his speechlessness and compared it to a movie scene, to which he responded, "every good romance movie needs a pretty actress," STEVE RANDLE You met him at a bar, he was getting wasted with his best friend and you were there just to party. He complimented your jewlery, saying that his friend Dallas would kill to have that tuff of a necklace. You joked around with him a little bit and he ended up buying you and your friends some drinks and inviting his friend, your friend and you back to his place for a place to crash. He woke up with a terrible hangover and with no reccollection of what happened. Then he saw you sleeping on his couch and was so happy that you actually went home with him and didn't leave. TWO-BIT MATHEWS Two-Bit met you playing poker at his friends house. You were mutuals with said friend and was just there wasting time and getting wasted. He placed a bet on who'd get to take you home that night because he thought you were so pretty. Each guy who tried made pretty good impressions but Two-Bit was so drunk when it finally came to him that he ended up making you laugh at his state more than anything. You ended up going home with him anyways because you thought he'd run into trouble walking home alone this late and in that state. Safe to say, Two earned a lot of money that night. DARRY CURTIS Darry met you grocery shopping because he needed the last gallon of milk but so did you. You both just kind of stood there awkwardly looking back between the milk and each other. You held out your hand to signal for him to take it and he did reluctantly. But he couldn't let an oppurtunity to woo a generous and pretty lady go to waste. He invited you over for some chocolate cake made with the same milk later on. DALLAS WINSTON Dallas met you at Bucks party. He was bartending for a few extra bucks of cash and you were there with a group of girls and a few unwanted men. He immedietly started flirting since you were the prettiest out of the group and that's just who he was but your annoyance made him want to pester you more. He ended up giving you a free drink with soothed your nerves and got you talking, he offered a date later on in the week and you accepted.

[noirsdoll]

Loving your dad Curly x daughter Reader!! Can totally imagine Reader being super possessive of her daddy, he's a single father and HOT so he gets so much attention from women so she has to make sure nobody tries to woo him (like Curly would ever care about any woman besides his daughter). She would probably harass poor Anya just for working so closely with him, tells her "Maybe instead of flirting with my dad you should concentrate on getting into medical school." Daughter Reader is literally like Jekyll and Hyde, face of an angel and behaves like one most of the time, but if anyone even tries to make a move on Curly she's making their lives miserable (Curly thinks it's cute)

cw: father/daughter incest

thank you for the ask!! i loveeee devious readers they’re so fun to write. and curly is definitely a dilf sighh he’s just one of those guys who ages like fine wine.

curly would def find some way to get you on the tulpar. he’d pull strings the same way daisuke’s mom did. he just doesn’t trust you alone for that long. totally. not because he likes the way the pony express uniform looks on you. and how you keep good company on his piloting shifts.

yeah i agree i feel like curly wouldn’t take reader’s bitchy treatment of anya seriously, he’d just consider it a “catfight” or something. and like the second curly turns his back you just go from the cutest thing to an actual supervillain like the crew are all so done with you and you could not give less of a fuck.

jimmy would come forward (he’d be the only one brave enough) and be like “your daughter’s a fucking narc.” and curly would say “ohh she just doesn’t get out much” and dismiss him. your discontent for everyone but him is almost a natural reflex. you’re the only one that understands him the best, that’s actually a good fit for him.

if curly does acknowledge it, he clearly doesn’t mind. he lets you share a bed with him and spend every waking moment together. least he can do, right?

[yeonjuins]

✨ #w - i am expecting a full page of. mean things.

PAHAHHAAH i was wondering what you tagged your content as— now if you excuse me i will be roasting your works now (p.s why am i surprised your blog is light themed, truly we are opposites (p.p.s whoever reads this aside from june i'm only mean towards her dw <3))

send a ✨ and i’ll tell you my top 5 posts of yours

sunew illustrated — i rmbr when you sent me what you were working on i was like wtf i'd have no patience to do that (or maybe future woo would, let's see if i jinx it) but ofc your design and work never fails to impress me. the way you replicated the art style was SUPER well done and you even included how the black border 'jitters' in the ph1's nerdy love mv. to mix that kind of concept for a fan post though !?!? truly unmatched ++ ik you even pulled up photos of their fits to nail it down to a tee (attention to detail is smth you never lackluster in)

deobirevival favourite song lyrics — the way you went back and fourth between wondering if this was my 'editorial style' or not when making this PAHAHHAHA i really love it tho typography has always been something that interested me so this definitely hit different when you did your take on the prompt (does that.... make sense.... sure) i've already told you this but the 2nd and 3rd gif are so lovely (the way the text 'rains' down from the cloud, even the texture you added to the cloud, the almost paramount style with the stars above the word 'heaven' and the positioning of the text in the 3rd gif). adding the crinkled paper/plastic-looking overlays was a nice touch as well for texture and it ties in super nicely with the theme you were going for (": (not sure if this make sense but it just reminds me of a record store PHAHAHA)

deobirevival favourite photoshoot + colour palette — when you first posted this i literally stared at it until i had an understanding of what you did because so much is happening that is completely beyond my skill level... the whole idea and concept of having to be able to 'choose your colours' and making them 'customizable' is so unique (omg wait i acc don't think i know how you did the dividing gifs with the images that go through a rotation) ty for showing me your process on this though (or at least for one of the gif's PAHAHA) it always inspires me to learn more than i know and push the boundaries of my knowledge to someday be able to pull of something like that

happy jacob day — hehe jacob <3 an angel <3 the composition and the space theme was really well done + i love the way the numbers connect to one another and font choice ++ the bottom right gif's animation going from the star around jacob's name to a the oval saying happy birthday <3 +++ black and reds <3

deobirevival bias — i think i just chose all your gfx/gif work PAHAHAH but i also rmbr staring at this and thinking 'this is so june' with the flowers, the colours, and the BLOBS PAHAHAHAH the gradients are SUPER smooth and i love the texture you put onto it as well (edit: i'm now noticing at how much texture you like to add to your works which is a nice touch of how you brand your work more graphic-heavy-posts) the way the blob droops down and reveals the text underneath + the pony doodle is so cute PAHHAHAH very well done

literally one of the most pretentious fuckers i know it's almost annoying how good you are at what you do but i'm glad to have a close friend on tumblr that makes creative work like this (although we're extreme opposites why... what does the world trying to tell me.... use colour?)

[fic-for-fic-sake]

Swing Dance Showcase

A/N: Full Disclosure; I’ve only ever taken one swing dance class and I’ve watched like four youtube videos so I’m not super qualified to write about it but when has that ever stopped me before?

Description: You and Bucky are entered in a Swing Dance showcase (more like you begged Bucky to do it with you and because you’re best friends he says yes), well last minute Bucky gets called away on a mission so you ask Steve (who you have a crush on, feeling is mutual) to step in and yeah that’s it. 

Sweat soaked every surface of your body and your lungs felt like they were on fire with every breath you took as you made your way to the kitchen to grab water for both you and Bucky during a much needed break from swing practice. 

“Still goin’ at that swing dance thing?” Sam questioned as he watched you wolf down an entire water bottle before you grabbed a second one. 

You could barely nod your head, you were so exhausted so instead you made a noise of affirmation before you started on your second bottle. Before you could finish it, however, a metal hand reached out and took it from you, throwing the rest of the water down his mouth instead. 

“Bucky! What the hell? I was gonna bring you some.” You complained, trying to soak up your sweat with a paper towel. 

“You were takin’ too long.” He replied, chugging the water greedily. You rolled your eyes before you opened the freezer door and stuck your head inside just for some relief. 

“What the hell is going on with you two?” Steve questioned, full suit on, having just gotten back from a mission. 

“Tweedle dee and tweedle dumb are practicing for a swing dance showcase.” Sam explained, gesturing to you, who had your head in a freezer, and Bucky, who was on his third water bottle. 

“I’m tweedle dee!” Both of you exclaimed at the same time, Sam just rolled his eyes. 

“Swing Dance? Like back in the old days?” Steve pondered, catching Bucky’s eyes with his own. Steve himself had never danced much in their youth but Bucky was always dragging him to the dance hall’s to ‘keep him company’ as he wooed every dame in Brooklyn. Memories of a much younger Bucky Barnes filled his mind, signature smirk plastered on his face, black hair swooped to one side with too much gel, and a swanky suit on his lithe figure. Miles different from the Bucky that stands before him now. 

“Just like the old days Stevie,” Bucky started, “turns out I still got it.” He said with a triumphant smile as you punched his flesh arm. 

“If you ‘still got it’,” you emphasized in air quotes, “then why did you nearly drop me on my head five minutes ago.” 

“Sorry doll, my palms got sweaty.” He said as a weak excuse. You simply rolled your eyes at his response as you shut the freezer and grabbed a towel from the rack. 

“C’mon Buck we gotta get back to work, the showcase is this weekend and we’re nowhere near ready.” You asserted, grabbing his metal arm and practically dragging him from the kitchen, after all the clock was ticking. 

“Hey, do you guys mind if I watch? I kinda miss swing dance.” Steve called after the two of you. You shouted for him to come along quickly and then the three of you were headed back to the gym which had gymnastic style mats laid out everywhere for if, and when, Bucky dropped you. 

You and Bucky faced the wall to wall mirror and Steve sat on a bench in front of you, intrigued. 

“Okay Bucky,” You began, tying your hair up and thinking about what needed to get done, “We need to practice the ‘around the world’ as well as ‘the angel’.” You suggested, getting into position on the mats where Bucky followed, tying his long locks up as well. 

“Are those seriously the terms?” Steve questioned, trying to stifle a laugh. 

“Hey laugh it up all you want punk, this is harder than it sounds.” Bucky quipped back, giving Steve a stern look before focusing back on you. 

“Okay, so remember I’m gonna run at you and you wanna grab my front with my legs straight, then swing me around so that my torso is behind you, and then swing me around front by my legs to catch me bridal style.” You explained, face tense. You remembered falling last time and that was an experience you weren’t too keen to repeat. 

“Got it, catch ya, swivel ya, and catch ya again.” 

“Buckyyy.” You complained, wishing he would use the proper terms. 

“I don’t know what to tell ya doll, back then I didn’t know the names I just flipped dames over my shoulder and they seemed to like it just fine.” He explained, shrugging his shoulders. You rolled your eyes at his cavalier response but honestly expected nothing less from your best friend. You ran at him and he caught you effortlessly, your legs in a pike position and your hands locked behind his head, then he swung you around so that your torso was behind him before you hooked your legs around his arm and he used the momentum to swing you back around bridal style before dropping you gently back on your feet. 

“Wow.” Was all Steve could say after watching Bucky throw you around like a ragdoll. 

“Bucky I think we nailed it this time.” You said, breathless as you gave him a high five. “Okay now we gotta do the angel.” You and Bucky both knew this was your hardest move to master and he’d already dropped you three times so you needed to get this right. 

This one was always a tricky one to start. He held out his hand for you and you grabbed it before walking around your arm backwards so that his arm was outstretched in front of your torso. 

“Okay Buck, now you’re gonna wanna grab my legs and flip me over your shoulder.” You replied steadily. 

“Whatever you say darlin’.” Bucky teased in response but his face in the mirror gave him away. With more concentration than when he was sniping out enemies he wrapped his flesh arm around your legs and flipped you over his shoulder so that you could spread out your arms and legs. You looked in the mirror as he held you up and you let out a small triumphant hurrah. 

“Okay now walk around yourself before the drop.” You instructed, your voice tight with the core work it took to hold your limbs out as they were. He nodded as he walked around himself before preparing to gracefully drop and dip you. He swung you around and down from his shoulder but then his arm gave out and you dropped with a loud huff onto the mat, right on your back. 

“Oh shit, doll are you okay?” Steve asked, running to your side with wide eyes. 

“Yeah, happens all the time.” You coughed out your reply, accepting his hand to help you stand back up. 

“Sorry hon, my arm spasmed.” Bucky apologized, flexing his arm muscles. 

“It’s okay, maybe we’ll cut that one after all.” You decided, face a little pale from the fall. 

“I- I could teach Buck how to do it.” Steve said, voice barely above a whisper so both you and Bucky weren’t quite sure what you had heard. 

“What?” You both replied simultaneously. 

“I mean...I used to do swing dance and stuff for those USO shows.” Steve replied a dusting of pink spread across his cheeks. Despite yourself you couldn’t help the sudden burst of laughter that overtook you. 

“What is it?” Bucky questioned, looking at you from the corner of his eye. 

“I -I’m sorry.” You replied, gasping for air. “I forgot Steve Rogers was a damn show pony.” At that, Bucky couldn’t help but join in your laughter which was getting hysterical at this point. 

“Har Har Har, do you want my help or not?” Steve questioned, placing his hands on his hips and that’s when you got a really good view of his biceps, not that Bucky wasn’t strong but you’d seen Steve stop a helicopter for God sake, with arms like those you knew he wouldn’t drop you. You found yourself wondering just what else those arms could do and then you felt your mouth go dry. 

“Yeah, we uh we could use the help, thanks Steve.” You replied breathily, but it wasn’t the dancing that made you short of breath this time, that was all him. 

Steve swapped places with Bucky and you reiterated to Steve what exactly he needed to do. 

“Okay so you’re just gonna lift me over your shoulder, do a slow turn around yourself, and then swing me down and dip me. Got it?” You questioned Steve, suddenly eager to be in his more than capable hands, er arms. He nodded his agreement and the two of you took it slow, you were behind him with his arm around the front of your torso, you felt his other arm wrap around your legs and flip you up and over his shoulder like you were no more than a bag of bread. Then he effortlessly spun around before you swung off of his shoulder and he dipped you. You stayed there, wrapped in his strong arms for what felt like eternity, the two of you looking into each others eye, slightly out of breath, before Bucky coughed and broke the spell. 

“How’d I do?” Steve wondered, bringing his right hand up to scratch the back of his neck. 

“It was uh, it was perfect.” You replied, finding yourself at a loss for words. 

With the help of Steve, you and Bucky got the angel down in no time. You were both thoroughly exhausted so you decided to take the rest of the day off. That evening you got a surprise gift box from Tony with a note attached. “A little birdie told me you might be in need of a wardrobe change for your little showcase. This is vintage...so uh don’t break it.” You stared in awe at what was inside the bright silver box. You found a beautiful royal blue dress with white floral embroidering above the collarbone and a cute loose string royal blue bow to tie around the collar area. You gasped as you pulled it out of the box and put it in front of you in view of your full length mirror. You squealed in delight as you twirled, holding the dress close to your chest, simply giddy with how the fabric moved. You noticed there was another box as well that said ‘Capezio’ in golden cursive on the top. You opened it to find a pair of black character shoes, the kind with the strap that ran down the middle of the foot. They were perfect, you had to remember to thank Tony the next time you saw him. 

You and Bucky practiced all week and were ready for the Saturday showcase. You woke up that morning in good spirits as you went to the kitchen to make yourself some coffee, noting that you only had about an hour to spare before you needed to get dressed. You didn’t have to worry about actually going to a venue because, once again, Tony was generous enough to hold the showcase here at the compound. He claimed that it was good press for the Avengers but you knew it was because he wanted to see the showcase for himself and probably couldn’t justify driving somewhere else for it. 

You thanked all the deities you could think of that the coffee pot was already full as you poured yourself a steaming mug before you went to sit on the bar stool opposite Steve. 

“Hey, have you seen Bucky yet? I wanna go over our routine one last time before we go on.” You commented. 

Steve’s head shot up from his iPad, blue eyes as wide as dinner plates. “He didn’t tell you?” 

“Didn’t tell me what?” You questioned, heart beat steadily climbing. 

“He got called away for a mission last minute, Fury said it was urgent.” 

“More urgent than the showcase?!” You squealed, rubbing your temples with your fingers, you were absolutely going to lose it. 

“Was that a rhetorical question?” 

“Of course it was Steve!” You snapped at him. He visibly flinched and you softened a little, it wasn’t his fault Bucky left you high and dry. “Sorry, I know, don’t shoot the messenger.” 

“I’m sorry doll, I wish I could make it up to you.” He said apologetically as he reached for your hand across the bar, rubbing small soothing circles with his thumb on the back of your hand. His action sparked a memory from your mind of you practicing the angel lift with him. You gasped and gripped your hand in his. 

“There is something you can do! Do the showcase with me!” You shouted, brain working into overdrive as you thought of the logistics of it all. 

“Sugar, I can’t, I don’t even know the routine.” He argued, albeit weakly, he knew this was a losing battle. 

“Yes you can! You watched Buck and I practice ALL week AND you did the lifts with me so I know you won’t drop me.” 

“I would never drop you, you know that.” He said, his tone suddenly serious. 

“Which is why you have to do this with me.” You responded, tone matching his. There was a thirty second staring contest between the two of you in which you may have employed your signature pout which you knew he couldn’t resist. Dick move, but it worked. 

“Fine, just tell me what I gotta wear.” He huffed in feigned agitation. A sly smile creeped over your face as you considered his statement...Bucky was just gonna wear his tac suit, you both thought it would be cool, a dancer and a soldier, but with Steve here now….

“Do you happen to have your old uniform lying around? You know, the one that’s suuuuuper stars and stripes and looks like Uncle Sam threw up on it?” 

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that last part...but yeah, I have it somewhere.” 

“Perfect, that’s what you’re wearing.” You said, a smile plastered on your face. This was too good. 

“You can’t be serious.” He deadpanned. 

“Oh I am, and you are.” You said as you helped him to his feet and pushed him down the hall towards his room. “Meet me back here in one hour and then we can walk down together.” 

An hour later you looked in your full length mirror as you smoothed the skirt of your dress out over your nylon clad legs. On your shoes were the character shoes Tony graciously gifted you. Your hair was secured in a Rosie the Riviter style (sans bandana) with too many pins to count. You went simple on the makeup, knowing the focus would be on your Victory Red lipstick, applied to perfection. You did one final spin in the mirror as you exited your room and made your way towards the common area. 

The preshow butterflies that fluttered in your stomach were joined by hummingbirds the second you saw Steve standing there, waiting for you, in his star-spangled uniform. Now you were used to seeing a grittier version that you almost forgot what the original looked like. Crimson red and snow white stripes were pulled against taught core muscles. The navy blue coloring of his upper chest, utility belt, and tac pants accentuated his v body shape perfectly. A pair of red gloves and red boots completed the look, and of course, the signature silver star emblazoned across his chest. This was Captain America in his purest form, and you soaked up every second of it. 

“Captain.” You greeted in a mock salute, anxiously telling your heart to stop fluttering and your cheeks to return to their normal color. Steve, for a moment, stood before you absolutely speechless as his eyes scanned the length of your body, taking in every detail from your dress to your shoes to your hair and finally, your lips. 

“Wow.” He breathed out, unable to make any more words without making a complete fool of himself. 

“What? Is something wrong?” You questioned, looking down at your outfit, assessing any possible imperfections. 

“No, no sweetheart it isn’t that, it’s just…” He began, as he walked towards you and tentatively placed his strong hands on your hips, “I haven’t seen anyone look like this in about 75 years.” He said, absolutely awe struck. “You look incredible.” 

“You look pretty good yourself Steve.” You breathed a reply, running your hands up the length of his arms. All rational thought gone out the window the second he put his hands on you. He rubbed gentle patterns into your hips with his thumbs as your hands skated across his biceps, you looked up at him and bit your lip, unsure of what to do. He stared down at you with his endless blue eyes and an expression of wanting on his face. He inched his lips closer to yours until they were ghosting over you, a hairsbreadth away from touching, when you heard the telltale sound of someone obviously clearing their throat to get your attention. 

“You two wanna make it down to the showcase or what?” Sam asked, standing in the room with his arms crossed and you and Steve broke apart from each other looking guiltier than the cat that caught the canary. 

“How long have you been standing there Wilson?” You questioned, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“Long enough.” He replied with a sly look as you huffed past him and made your way down to the showcase, Steve and Sam awkwardly trailing behind. 

You and Steve made your way backstage where you attempted to at least mark the dance. 

“Okay, and then we do the lift.” You stated, as you walked in a circle around Steve to where you would end. 

“I don’t remember what happens next.” Steve froze, looking to you for guidance. Before you could respond the stage manager informed you to get into position behind the closed curtain. 

“Doll, I’m gonna forget the dance.” Steve murmured beside you, clutching your hand like a lifeline. You turned to him in the low lighting and gave his hand an affectionate squeeze. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Just be with me okay? It’s just you and me, no one else matters okay?” You questioned and he nodded his head in agreement. Just you and Steve, the way it should be. You were still holding his hand when the curtain opened to thunderous applause to seeing Captain America in the flesh. You plastered on the biggest, campiest smile you could as the song “Rockin’ Robin” started. 

You and Steve danced your hearts out all over the stage. Your footwork was flawless and you used the hem of your swing dress as a prop, swishing it every now and then when the music moved you. The lifts were met with hoots and hollars from the audience and a wolf whistle that you were pretty sure came from Tony. By the time it was over, Steve had you dipped close to the ground and your hand clung to his bicep as you stared into his cobalt eyes, breath coming out in harsh pants. The curtain closed in front of you and the lights dimmed once again as you let out a yelp of happiness and Steve scooped you up in his arms and twirled you around. 

Somehow over the din of the applause you heard the stage manager tell you that the next act needed to get on the stage, so Steve literally carried you off the stage and back into the green room before gracefully planting you on your feet with your back against a wall. He stood close, his warm breath fanning your face and you pressed your hands against his chest to feel his breathing. 

“We did it, you were amazing.” You praised, splaying your hands out against his chest and moving them down to trace the stripes of his suit. 

“Trust me sweetheart, it was all you.” He replied in earnest, taking his arms and wrapping them around your waist. You moved your arms to circle around his neck as he pressed his body closer to yours, so your breathing matched his. He brought a hand up to cup your face as he gently hovered his lips over yours. “You’re amazing doll.” He whispered, hot breath across your lips making you shiver in anticipation. 

“Kiss me.” You begged, unable to bear the sweet torture a moment more. He pressed his lips against yours in a shy kiss. Unsure if he heard you correctly. When he tried to break away you chased his lips with your own and made a noise akin to a moan when he kissed you again, more certain this time. His arms tugged you impossibly close to his body as his lips sought out yours again and again. After what felt like forever, you two pulled away and pressed your foreheads together in an attempt to catch your breath. 

“Thank God Bucky couldn’t make it.” He said with a small smile playing on his lips and you laughed in response before you kissed the corner of his smile, agreeing with him.

[diamond-song42]

Pone Reviews 94: Sonic Rainboom

This Wednesday is shooting at you with a new Pone Reviews! I had such a fun weekend celebrating pride that I wanted to do a rainbow-themed episode. And what episode has more color than this Season 1 classic? Here’s “Sonic Rainboom!”

As usual, we begin with the moral. “It is always important to not only keep your feet on the ground, but be there for and support your friends.” Another moral for the kiddos! Though not one I would say is entirely important. Kids, do you like your friends? You do? Good! You can prove that by supporting them. Go to their sporting events, their plays, and their concerts. Just let them know you’re there with a helping hand! Actually, maybe not. The example of Rarity entering the competition is a bit of a bad example of how things can go sour when you’re against your friend. Kids, you will not fly into the sun and burn. That’s just physically impossible. And who said you have to be at all your friends’ events? The Mane 6 were here because it was ultimately convenient to the plot. “Too Many Pinkie Pies” explores this better - life means you can’t be everywhere everytime. That’s just life. The show sometimes has subpar standards when it comes to this fact. So what I’m saying is that it’s nice to support your friends, but don’t feel pressured to be there every time.

Onto the plot. With the Young Fliers Competition on the horizon, Rainbow Dash is working hard to perfect her signature move. But she may be outshined by Rarity! And I bring to you another continuity establisher! This episode sets up so many things in regards to our little Dashie. We did see her fanboy over the Wonderbolts in “The Ticket Master,” but this episode brings that drive to a new level. Had it not been for this competition, the Bolts probably wouldn’t have known about her existence. Spitfire acknowledges their first meeting with Rainbow herself: “So you’re the pony who saved us… we wanted to congratulate you and say thanks.” “The Best Night Ever” has Dash hanging out with them, so they get to know her a little better. This acknowledgment continues in “Hurricane Fluttershy,” “Wonderbolts Academy,” “Rainbow Falls,” and “Rarity Investigates!” before coming to a head in “Newbie Dash” with Dash finally joining the Bolts. If this episode did not exist, Dash would not have the relationship with the Wonderbilts that she has in today’s episodes. That’s the ultimate stepping stone right there.

Here are some other bright and colorful things from this episode: *yay to WOO A SONIC RAINBOOM *Blink and you’ll miss it, but after Dash saves Rarity and the Wonderbolts and wins the competition, she has tears in her eyes. Proof she does have heart. *That butterfly wing spell seriously establishes Twilight’s pure magical power. It’s magnificent that she was able to pull it off on one pony! *I actually love how stressed Rainbow is for the competition. She may be a pony, but it humanizes her. That’s the Dash I like to see. *Rarity’s wings being burned by the sun is one of the best early pop culture references from this show: An allusion to the story of Icarus, the angel who flew too high and got burned. *The animation may have gotten better over the years, but this episode is seriously one of the best in early episodes in regards to animation. The rainboom looks incredible.

And here are some dark and dreary things from this episode: *It’s worth asking, how high-end is a rainbow factory job? Minimum wage McDonald’s jobs don’t tend to have tours, but the fact that the stereotypical dumb bullies work there seems to indicate the job doesn’t require much talent. *Hoops has no eyes as a grown stallion. You cannot cover the entirety of the eyes with that short mane. Look at all the Songbird Serenade toys at Target. *When continuity isn’t enforced: Twilight has to use a spell to get herself, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie to walk on the clouds that make Cloudsdale. Yet later in “Tanks For the Memories” and “Secrets and Pies,” the non-Pegasi walk in Rainbow’s cloud house without any problem. *Those butterfly wings may be pretty, but Rarity’s makeup sure isn’t. *How many tiny, unsignificant events does Celestia have to oversee? She has like 10 events in this one season! (And yes I’m stressing that but you catch my drift.) *That balloon is not tethered to anything at the end and yet it isn’t flying away.

In short: A colorful episode with a meh moral but not meh visuals. That’s our little Dashie! 4 out of 5 rainbows 🌈🌈🌈🌈 Thanks for reading another late Pone Reviews! This Saturday, because it’s finally summertime, we’re looking at the princess of the day! Diamond out!

[blackbird-brewster]

I had two profound experiences today, extremely unrelated in context but both thought provoking after the fact. The first experience had to do with me getting my first library card in 18 years and how I was very anxious to go into the library for any reason other than to print something.  I will detail this experience in a different post but long story short, all of the embarrassment and shame I felt because of my learning disability melted away and I ended up spending nearly two hours just browsing books. I left feeling to included and happy, I actually cried tears of joy.  Fast forward to the second notable experience of my day. Tonight I went on a date with my flat mate to “Naked Girls Reading: The Feminist Propaganda Edition”. Naked Girls Reading is apparently a sort of “brand”, started in the US as a protest against the ways women’s bodies are usually sexualized when naked. The theory is exactly what it sounds like, performers are completely nude and read aloud to the audience.  I had never heard of this amazing concept, so I jumped at the invitation. ESPECIALLY since tonight’s theme was feminism. I figured naked women reading feminist works sounded AUHMAZING.  [Rest behind a cut for length and transphobia]

The event was hosted by a popular personality in the New Zealand LGBTQPIA scene. They are a self labeled transvestite that MC’s events as their drag king persona, Hugo Grrrl. I assumed, if it was hosted by a gender diverse person it was going to be fairly inclusive.  Welp, you know what they say about assuming. 

Things started promising as Hugo opened their monologue with my favorite greeting “Guys, gals and nonbinary pals”. Hugo then went on to talk about some of the topics of the night including body positivity, body hair, porn, sex work, sex positivity, etc. It sounded really exciting and inter-sectional, I was pumped.

Within the ten minute monologue there was also the disclaimer that “Although this is called “Naked Girls Reading”, gender is a spectrum and the binary is bullshit.” (woo, yeah!!) ”...We only call it that because it was started in America and we didn’t come up with the name.” (Wait, what?)

Ok... but you could literally just call it “Naked People Reading” or “Naked Folx Reading” or ANYTHING else if you want to TRULY be inclusionary. I wasn’t even concerned about the title UNTIL Hugo made the point to say gender binary is bullshit... but then to say “meh, we didn’t come up with the title we’re just being complacent in it” Was sort of shitty.  If you are trying to include people, then INCLUDE them. Don’t say “Hey I’m not transphobic, BUT....” There was no point of this disclaimer other than to point out you recognized a problem but would rather go along with it than change one word of the title of the show.  Things only went down hill from there. A few minutes later as Hugo was wrapping up the monologue they wanted to get the crowd pumped before introducing the performers for the evening. To do this, Hugo had “all the women cheer!” (which they did) then followed by “now all the men!” (which they did). It turned out it was just a set up to make the men a punchline of a very stereotypical “feminist hate men” joke. These jokes are always obnoxious and yes, I recognize Hugo was trying to connect to the large feminist audience so we could all laugh at how society views us...but again, we were back at only acknowledging the gender binary. 

Now I realize many people right now will think I’m being extremely cynical. “Kit, you can’t say someone is being trans exclusionary if they are a queer that self identifies as a transvestite!” But I can because they were.  If you are going to mention nonbinary people. If you are going to make a point of talking about how the binary is bullshit. If you want to have a disclaimer that gender is a spectrum. It’s ALL or nothing.  Inclusion isn’t “I acknowledged you, you should be happy” it’s “I acknowledged you AND included you with everyone else as if we’re all the same.

The monologue is over, I am properly uncomfortable and agitated, the performers come out. From the promises of topics, I expected diversity. Again, that nasty assuming sure got the better of me.

Instead I get two skinny women and one average sized woman. They all appear to be white (although one was painted head to toe in blue and pink body paint as a My Little Pony...and later I learned she isn’t actually white.) They’re naked. So I can tell body hair isn’t really happening. A bit of bush but perfectly smooth everywhere else. All have shoulder length or longer hair and present very feminine.  Idk, again, maybe I was just so cynical by this point that I let my critic get away with me. I just wonder how hard it would be to find a more diverse cast? Am I just too deep in tumblr culture to expect to see different size bodies at a feminist reading? Or people with actual body hair, especially since there was a point of mentioning it in the monologue? Tattoos? Scars? Short hair? Disabilities? More racial diversity? (Again, the one woc was painted blue. And I feel shitty for thinking she was white but they could have included dark skinned people too.)  Introductions are done. The de-robing has happened. We now have three naked women sitting on a couch. Let’s read “feminist propaganda”! Some pretty typical stuff, Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, big names of the feminist movement. There was a reading of an MRA’s post from some MRA website. (Why are we giving MRA’s an audience at a FEMINIST reading?!) Intermission.  During intermission, I got up the courage to go speak to Hugo and mention why I was peeved at the start of the show with the women/men division of the audience. They shrugged and said “well it was a set up to a punch line” I smiled and replied, “I realize that but don’t you think trans folks are the punch line enough?” They tried to back track but it got awkward and I walked away. Hugo does some “feminist” trivia during the break. Throwing prize bags of tampons and chocolate to whoever shouts the correct answer. 

One question asks what does “SWERF” stand for. A woman yells the answer and Hugo repeats it back to the audience and says “Sex work exclusionary feminism isn’t feminism. Sex work is real work!” It would have been so easy to also educate about TERFs. They don’t. The irony is not lost on me. 

More trivia. I win one. I’m told, “Here enjoy these tampons!” I catch it and yell back, “Not all women have vaginas” I turn to the women at our table and say, “Hello, I don’t need tampons and I hate chocolate. Enjoy” They gladly accept. Back to the readings... A dramatic reading of Spice Girl lyrics. Some very heteronormative erotica. A reading of a radfem manifesto of the 70s (that included very acephobic commentary) And then, the woman painted as a MLP says she’s going to read Ivan E Coyote.  Now, for those of you who haven’t been blessed with reading their works or seeing Ivan perform (I just saw them again last week!), they are a trans writer from Canada. Very well known in LGBTQPIA circles. AMAZINGLY pure and moving stories and poems and “literary Doritos”. They are an amazing human being and have quickly become one of my favorite queer authors.  SO I AM STOKED!! This night has been so cishet heavy and I’m crank, I am READY to end it with Ivan. Ivan has written four of five books, has mountains of published poetry and she chooses to read a piece that is so personal to me. She prefaces this with a quick word about Ivan being an LGBTQ author. But fails to mention they’re a trans masculine person who identifies as a Tom Boy.  The piece starts out as a love letter to femmes who are often erased from Queer culture because they are “assumed” to be straight. But then turns to Ivan’s journey through figuring out they were trans and how they became jealous of femmes sometimes and how they will never be seen as who they are. How they will always be coming out of the closet over and over and over. Because their identity isn’t “visibly recognized” because it’s outside the binary.  I sob every time I hear this poem because it is so personal to me. The first time I heard it was when Ivan performed in Chch last August. I was in the midst of struggling with how the world saw me and this poem touched a part of me I thought no one would <i>ever</i> understand.  I sobbed again tonight. My flat mate patted my hand. She sobbed too for the same reasons. The journey to figuring out your identity can be so isolating, terrifying and lonely. But when you hear your story being told by someone who is on a stage, with an audience, talking as if your journey was the most normal and natural experience....it’s an emotional time.  After she finished, the performer stated “As a cis woman, I obviously do not identity with the narrator. I do however think this poem speaks to me as a femme. Because we are often overlooked.” (This gets cheers from the audience) I feel sick inside. This cis woman just spoke the very personal words of a trans person bearing their soul and claimed it as a poem for her.  No. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to bend it to your whim. If you want to include poetry or stories about the trans experience, YOU FUCKING INCLUDE TRANS PERFORMERS.  Thank god the night was over.  My flat mate and I are sitting at our table deciding how to make our own event called “Naked Queers Reading” and how much better it would be. We’re minding our own business when out of the corner of my eye I see a crowd around the stage area.  Of course. There’s a man who has taken off his shirt to pose with the naked women so he can get his buddy to take his picture. Of fucking course there is. That’s when we left.  I don’t know if I am just lucky to live in such a comfortable Queer circle of friends that I’ve become blind to the world of heternormative, patriarchal bullshit or if I am truly too fucking cynical to go out in public...but fuck was I disappointed with tonight.  Anyway, if you made it through this entire post, thank you. I promise I’ll post a really lovely story about the library tomorrow. Right now I want to watch Ivan E Coyote performances on YouTube and drink my tea from my Unicorn Elixer mug. 

[ericfruits]

If you fund it, they may come

Raiders of the stretched budget

ALONG with framed family photos and magazine articles trumpeting his career, fifteen shovels adorn the walls of Steve Sisolak’s office. As the chair of the Clark County Commission, Mr Sisolak presides over many groundbreakings. He hopes to soon add a shovel to the wall to commemorate the start of construction on a 65,000-seat football stadium. The stadium proposal is at the crux of a plan to lure the Raiders football team to Sin City from Oakland, where the team currently shares a 1960s stadium with the Oakland Athletics baseball team. On January 19th the Raiders filed paperwork with the National Football League (NFL) expressing their intent to move to the Silver State. For this to go forward, 24 of 32 NFL team owners must approve it in a vote at the end of March.

Subsidising sports stadiums increased with the Tax Reform Act of 1986, says Ted Gayer of Brookings, a think-tank. The law intended to clamp down on the tax exemption of bonds used to finance many sports stadiums (though not the proposed Las Vegas arena). But in practice, it incentivised the federal government to match local subsidies. In order to woo or retain professional sports teams, offering up public money has become almost mandatory for states. When they were scrambling to keep the Rams from moving to Los Angeles, St Louis offered to chip in $400m in state and local tax dollars to build a new $1.1bn waterfront stadium. To keep the Raiders in California, Oakland offered $200m in infrastructure and 105 acres (42 hectares) of land to construct a new home for the team. A Brookings report which Mr Gayer co-authored suggests that from 2000 to 2014, 36 of the 45 major-league sports stadiums that were either constructed or renovated received some sort of governmental subsidy.

In this section

The Las Vegas stadium would cost $1.9bn, making it among the world’s most expensive. The Raiders would pony up $500m and Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate, has promised $650m, though his participation has recently become less sure. The remaining $750m would come from a hike in Clark County hotel room taxes—a record stadium subsidy. Additionally, a report by the Nevada Department of Transportation estimates that it would also require $899m for highway upgrades. That report surfaced mysteriously on the day Nevada’s state legislature was meant to vote on the stadium tax; the department’s bleary-eyed director was called from bed at midnight to explain.

Mr Sisolak, who will probably run for Nevada governor in 2018, and the project’s other supporters insist that the stadium will be a boon for the local economy. Gesturing at his shovels he says: “To me, these represent jobs. The stadium would mean thousands of new jobs.” The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee suggests the stadium will create 19,000 construction jobs and 6,000 permanent positions. It projects that football games, concerts and other events held in the stadium would draw 450,000 new visitors to Las Vegas each year, bringing in $35m in annual public revenue (and, if accurate, repaying the direct subsidy over 21 years). And anyway, the extra taxes levied to build the stadium will mainly come out of tourists’ bedazzled pocketbooks.

Roger Noll, an economist who studies sports-stadium subsidies at Stanford University, says he has never witnessed the construction of a football stadium that has had a significant positive impact on the local economy. Chris Giunchigliani, the only Clark County commissioner to vote against the tax bump needed for the stadium, argues the project should have been funded entirely by the private sector. Mr Adelson, many sceptical of the stadium protect note, is worth around $30bn. “If it’s good for business, let business pay for it,” Ms Giunchigliani reasons.

http://ift.tt/2kxdYrX

[deskcoin64-blog]

The dirty dozen

On Monday, Yahoo’s Tim Brown and Jeff Passan reported, with modest detail, upwards of a dozen teams descending on Las Vegas in advance of next week’s Winter Meetings. Their mission, to a one: Pitch woo at Bryce Harper, the 26-year-old megawatt star, with a contract covering, essentially, the rest of his playing days.

What ho, the Chicago White Sox are listed among the dozen!

The highest-arching of our 2018 offseason plans included some form of Bryce Harper contract, upwards of $400 million, if memory serves. Offseason South Side Sox plans transforming into Jerry Reinsdorf-backed reality seem to be Two Very Different Things, however.

Still, the White Sox are in the mix. Which means: We can write about it, and talk about it.

Reality check No. 1: The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Magic Johnson out to meet with Harper. The White Sox sent Jim Thome. Unless Harper was a huge Incredibles fan, not sure the South Siders are matching up.

Reality check No. 2: One of the main themes of the article, and the offseason pursuits of both Harper and Manny Machado, is the need to spend “stupid money” to secure either player. Jaime Navarro aside, “stupid money” is not synonymous with the White Sox.

But hey, let’s zoom in on the nine suitors identified by Yahoo, which allows us to disabuse ourselves of the notion that Harper is going to entertain thoughts of becoming a Minnesota Twin, or secretly wishes to be managed by Brad Ausmus in Anaheim. Maybe we can whittle each one of our competitors down to something smaller in stature than our beloved South Siders.

New York Yankees (40% chance of signing Harper)

Clearly, there are the Yankees, then everybody else, in this pursuit. Up-and-coming team? Check. Willing to spend? Check. Harper’s favorite team, the team he grew up dreaming of playing for? Check. Uh-oh.

Washington Nationals (15%)

This is probably too low, for Harper’s home team, the only one he’s ever known. Plus, if anything goes wrong — skeletons in his closet, a slip on the ice during one last trip to Sox Park, weird medicals, demanding all the brown M&Ms be removed from clubhouse candy dishes — the nasty Nats are an easy fall-back. As Brown/Passan write, Washington already knows everything the other suitors are trying to discover in the course of an hourlong meeting. Their toe-in-the-water offer was $300 million; not peanuts by any stretch. There could be a handshake agreement that Harper bring his best offer back to WDC for the team to match. Basically, it’s tough to bet against the home team. But then, the Nationals had months, if not years, to wrap Harper up — and they didn’t.

Chicago White Sox (12%)

Well, they sent Jim Thome. Oh, and, well, there is a lot of room in the budget. And the White Sox are on the come. If Harper is a serious student of the game and has read all of his Scott Boras prep about what Chicago offers, he’s going to look hard at the White Sox — and listen hard to Thome’s pitch, surely more earnest as the cornponiest elements of a Field of Dreams/The Natural/Bull Durham swirl. But with the White Sox, unlike the north siders, Harper can “own” Chicago, which is no small potatoes. I also don’t think Harper would mind at all moving to an American League team — with the chance to occasionally DH and heal wounds still swinging a bat — either.

Philadelphia Phillies (11%)

Just not sure it. I know, money rules. And the Seattle Mariners deal (where the Phillies sent Carlos Santana west) has the effect of welcoming Harper and perhaps closing the door on Machado. But still, Philadelphia, and the nastiest fans on the planet? Sure, these odds are too low, I suppose, but really, Bryce? Philadelphia?

Chicago Cubs (9%)

I guess there was a time they ranked somewhere up around the Yankees’ odds for Harper. But that was before the team, in the course of like a week at the end of 2018, suddenly looked shiftless, old, unmotivated, and penny-pinched. Given the mind-melds Theo Epstein has managed at times, you can’t count the north side bumblers out. The mega bromance between Harper and Kris Bryant could be another big pull for Harper. But it seems unlikely there’s enough money in the coffers, or room on the roster, for the crosstowners to make a serious bid.

San Diego Padres (6%)

Some circles count San Diego as a serious suitor for Harper. For what, a third vacation home? Future lost weekend dalliances over the border? C’mon, Harper is not playing in the glorified Triple-A media glare of Padres baseball.

Los Angeles Dodgers (4%)

Pfft. Dog and pony show. Sure, the Dodgers are great, but they have 8,000 outfielders already, a huge payroll, and their own colorful outfielder of a similar age, Yasiel Puig. No fit.

St. Louis Cardinals (2%)

Apparently, the Cardinals are just dying to add Harper to “Cardinals Nation.” If Harper falls for that “Cardinals Way” crap, whatever the clowniest accusations of him out there exist, I’ll believe.

Houston Astros (1%)

Harper really admires the Astros, or something? Good god. Enough Houston worship. It doesn’t seem there’s mutual interest, and the Astros do have bigger gaps for fill than $400 million outfielder.

So, yeah, we’re still probably a month away from Harper making a decision, but that can be a month spent earnestly dreaming. Where do you think Harper ends up landing?

Poll

Where will Bryce Harper sign?

0%

Astros

(2 votes)

1%

Cardinals

(11 votes)

3%

Cubs

(18 votes)

4%

Dodgers

(25 votes)

7%

Nationals

(43 votes)

0%

Padres

(2 votes)

9%

Phillies

(54 votes)

52%

White Sox

(307 votes)

19%

Yankees

(116 votes)

2%

One of the other 21 teams, Japan, Korea, the NFL, the Big 3 ...

(12 votes)

590 votes total Vote Now

Source: https://www.southsidesox.com/2018/12/4/18125186/the-dirty-dozen-handicapping-the-chicago-white-sox-pursuit-of-bryce-harper