#man that build really defined 2022 for me

[imflyingfish]

Its so odd seeing that cow build going around lmao

[absolutebl]

Hi ABL! After watching episode 1 of Between Us, I was impressed with the level of "thirst" between Boun and Prem's characters in the last couple of scenes. Are there shows or scenes of shows, regardless of actual heat level, that you think did "thirst" well, regardless of how that's resolved at the time? Subjective, I know, but would love to get your take on this!

20 BLs with the BEST Thirst!

Thirst wants to slide a hand under his waistband right tf now and grind. Horny wants to rip his clothes off, and probably pop buttons and laugh about it. Yearning wants to run both hands up his back while they kiss deeply. Hunger wants to lift him by the ass and slam him against the wall.

Raise your glasses please, to THIRST.

I Cannot Reach You - Japan 2023

It's fresh in my mind, so first on this list.

Secret Crush on You - Thailand 2022

This scene in particular sprang next to mind, just because for me it kinda defined thirst in Thai BL. (Also see my #1 pick for sides at the end.)

Jun & Jun - Korea 2023

We Best Love: Fighting Mr 2nd - Taiwan 2021

2 Moons: Ambassador (AKA 2 Moons 3) - Thailand 2022

Eternal Yesterday - Japan 2022

Why R U? - Korea 2023

HIStory 3 - the BL that shall not be named - Taiwan 2019

Bed Friend - Thailand 2023

They sleeping together but King still thirsty af

Big Dragon - Thailand 2022

My Beautiful Man - Japan 2021

Between Us - Thailand 2022-23

Minato's Laundromat - Japan 2022

Ghost Host Ghost House - Thailand 2022

the infamous leg scene alone qualifies them, but they very mutually thirsty in general

My Personal Weatherman - Japan 2023

It's the point.

I Feel You Linger in the Air - Thailand 2023

The oil scene is a stroke of genius.

Well, several strokes.

Old Fashion Cupcake - Japan 2022

I Told Sunset About You - Thailand 2020

Love in Translation - Thailand 2023

Just because of that damn convenience store make-out scene.

Nitiman - Thailand 2021

I find thirst is often (although not always) the provenance of the seme character.

Mutual thirst is really rare.

Side dish gravy

Shorts, side couples, and so forth.

Oh My Sunshine Night - Thailand 2022

Noh appears 2x on this list. He's GREAT at thirst. Possibly the only Thai actor to give Japan real competition. GIVE HIM ANOTHER LEAD!

HIStory 4: Close To You - Taiwan 2021

Gen Y 2 - Thailand 2022

@heretherebedork and I call them PokeTongue for a reason.

Y-Destiny - Thailand 2021

kiss x kiss x kiss: Perfect Scandal - Japan 2022

No shocker that Japan is the only one to field a micro on this list. Usually thirst takes more build up.

Defining THIRST

I make a distinction between thirst and other types of physical desire. This is just me and language.

Thirst usually leaps off the screen and has an edge of danger to it. Like they gonna get caught, or go out of control just from wanting to touch. They gonna die without physical contact. It's pure survival need. Japan kinda specializes in this.

There's no humor to thirst, but horny can get kinda cheeky. It's more fun and mutual (ee.g. KinnPorsche). More want than need. So it's more Thailand and Taiwan.

There's also yearning (e.g. The 8th Sense), which has a more emotional soul tether to it. Korea in particular, but also like GMMTV and lower heat prestige stuff, high school things for example (My School President).

And finally hunger, which I tend to think of as desire but with a nourishment component. It's I want what's MINE. Like Taejung in Cherry Blossoms After Winter.

These aren't mutually exclusive, mind you.

I dithered but they didn't quite make the list

Irresistible Love - China 2016

Second Chance - Thailand 2021

Takara & Amagi - Japan 2022

Love Area - Thailand 2022

Takumi-kun - Japan 2007

Moonlight Chicken - Thailand 2023

My Engineer (RamKing) - Thailand 2020

It's why we're all still mad we never got full RamKing

(source)

This posted dated end of 2023. Not responsible for thirsty BL that happens after. Check the comments for additions and other's thoughts on the matter.

[lululawrence]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation 2023

Thank you for tagging me @allwaswell16! I am so happy every year that this (I believe) brainchild of @juliusschmidt's from 2016 still exists in various forms! hehe I apparently missed doing this in 2021 and 2022, and I was determined not to miss it again so here we go!

List of works published this year: My Other Half Was You Gemma's Dad (Could Use A Guy Like Me) Quite the Pickle Livin' In A Daydream (Gimme a Solution and) Watch Me Run With It You Are A Song Did You Know I Fit In A Dryer? Were You There On That Christmas Night? Team Gaelic FTW No Constraints Odds Are That We Will Probably Be... Damsel in Christmas Distress Snow In Love

Work you are most proud of (and why): Oof. This is always such a hard question to answer. Almost as hard as the next one, and the next one and the next one....... hah honestly though, I think... I'm honestly sincerely proud of most of my fics from this year simply because I got them written. I'll go more into that later, I'm sure, but maybe... I think maybe My Other Half Was You or Odds Are That We Will Probably Be... and for very different reasons. My Other Half Was You was written based on artwork by @moon-sun-thyme for @1dreversebang and the moment I saw her artwork I had these vague ideas coming to mind and I am quite proud with how I was able to bring them to life so closely resembling what I originally thought of when I saw the art. And for Odds Are, I wrote that for @1dtrickortreatfest so it had to be exactly 666 words and that's always a trick (heh), but in this case I had to completely world build and set up the situation and lead everyone to the conclusion within that word count while making it somewhat compelling... and I think I was able to manage it. I hope I was, anyway haha

Work you are least proud of (and why): lmaooooo usually this answer is really hard for me to answer, but this year it's not haha i have a few fics that I literally wrote to just remind myself that I could. That not everything has to be thought out and polished and pretty, sometimes it's just a matter of getting words on paper and putting them out into the world immediately, hoping for the best, and they absolutely served their purpose! I'm fond of them still, but that doesn't mean I'm proud of them necessarily haha So I would have to say Damsel in Christmas Distress (which I still love dearly, simply for how self indulgent that silly thing is for me haha) and Quite the Pickle. Again, my darling Stylinshaw fics getting the brunt of it here, but they did as they needed to for me. I'll maybe try to write them a longer, more polished fic with some thought behind it this year, as they clearly deserve.

A favorite excerpt of your writing: GAHHHH I hate this question every damn time! Okay, I don't know if this is my absolute favorite thing I wrote this year, BUT it immediately came to mind, and I do very much like it so, here's an excerpt from Gemma's Dad (Could Use A Guy Like Me). I just adore Harry being a fumbling idiot around a pretty boy hahaha Ever since he had dug up his garden, he preferred to start in the back where the job was a lot more complicated to work around and then move to the front, which was far easier.  Now, though, Harry was wondering if this was the right decision because Louis was also mowing his lawn. That wasn’t a problem, of course, except he was shirtless and that only defined for Harry the fact he really had grown up. Louis used to try to show off for the neighborhood by mowing any number of lawns shirtless in middle school and high school, but he had been a scrawny kid with little to no meat on his bones and Harry had thought it adorable back then. Now, on a sweltering day like it was, he was probably shirtless just to be as cool as possible as the sun beat down on him, and Harry’s vision wasn’t as good as it used to be, but he could still tell that Louis had filled out since going to college. He was still a thin man, but as he pushed the mower through the tall grass, Harry could see the muscles he clearly put effort into. Add to it the chest hair that was only growing darker as he continued to sweat and the smattering of tattoos he’d gotten since he turned eighteen and it was clear he had grown up. Harry couldn’t help it when the glint of the sun off Louis’ sweaty skin made him lick his lips without even thinking. Clearing his throat and thankful it was obvious Louis was too focused to notice Harry ogling him from his own yard, Harry pulled the starter and began to work on his own yard.

Share or describe a favorite review you received: I've got three that immediately came to mind, so excuse me while I mention all three as quickly as I can manage lol First was from @allwaswell16 for Gemma's Dad. I'd had a lot of difficulty with a someone reading motivations and meaning in the characters and story that I took a lot of care in ensuring were actually avoided as I wrote it. There were a lot of pitfalls I could have fallen into when writing the fic, but one person just kept asking over and over again for things I thought I had already done and my beta assured me I had sufficiently covered etc, but I still worried so when Anitra gave the review she did of it on her podcast, it literally made me cry a little bit lol Second was @londonfoginacup in response to (Gimme a Solution and) Watch Me Run With It when she commented "Ah so you really just tore your chest open and picked out your beating heart and handed it to me here, didn’t you" because... well I hadn't really considered it when I'd been writing the fic, but I guess I kind of did exactly that, yeah. haha And then lastly I want to thank @tommokat for their lovely comments on Snow In Love regarding the Michigan geography and freak lake effect snow that can be experienced there because I tried my very best to describe the absolute chaos that is that region in the wintertime and they basically affirmed that I had accurately captured it. Genuinely, the best gift I could have gotten haha

A time when writing was really, really hard: Excuse me while I laugh a bit hysterically until I cry alksdhglskfja The last year or two have been incredibly difficult for a whole host of reasons, but the ones that most affected my writing were my lingering (and seemingly unending) burnout combined with an absolute lack of time/energy available to write. There were so many times this year that I thought I wouldn't be able to do it or thought I'd have to pull out of various fests and just... cut down on things, but I kept pushing and kept trying and I did it. I'm so fucking proud of myself, honestly.

A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Jordan North in Did You Know I Fit In A Dryer? Well, honestly, Louis in that fic too. And the entire premise of the fic. Really all of it surprised me lololol I never expected to write Jordan in a fic. Ever. hahahaa And as I've barely dabbled in a couple of weed candies is all, I certainly did not anticipate ever writing someone as THAT HIGH. sooooo...yeah just all of it hahaha

How did you grow as a writer this year: Psh. Bold of you to assume I've grown as a writer this year when I was merely doing what I could to survive haha if anything I kind of wonder if I went backwards in my writing abilities but who the fuck knows, really haha

How do you hope to grow next year: I just... I dunno man. I just kinda hope I'm in a better place this time next year so I'm just not so fucking tired all the time and so I have actual time to write, you know? lol continued good vibes are always welcome here, folks haha

Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): Like... everyone. hah I'm getting a little emotional thinking of everyone who helped me keep going this year. but the greatest? probably @londonfoginacup again. She was the biggest influence in actually getting my Big Bang finished because I didn't want to disappoint her (even though?? I know I won't??? like.. anyway) haha and then I wrote like three fics for her/dedicated them to her just because... like. she keeps me going some days honestly so yeah. Emmu. You're the bestest always babes. Love you.

Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: Listen, all I'm saying is in one of my fics it hits a little too close to home. Like I kind of wrote Harry's starting place... and kinda where he is for a lot of the fic... pretty much exactly how I was feeling, and still pretty much am, though for very different reasons. So it's maybe a little too much of my real life emotionally speaking in there yeah

Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: New? Not so much hahaha just don't give up!

Any new projects you're looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: YES. I was just talking with @moon-sun-thyme this morning that I started the year by posting a fic based on her art, and I'm going out of this year focusing on the fic we will be collaborating on together for the @onedirectionbigbang hehe so I'm very very excited to get started on that one. It's a fic I've been wanting to write almost ever since I first heard the song Satellite, so I am READY to delve in and lose myself to it, honestly. In the whole... one night every week or two I have to write. hahaha Here's hoping I make the deadline haaaaa

Tag three writers whose answers you'd like to read: MAN I have no idea who has and hasn't done this yet! So maybeeeee @justanothershadeofblue, @hellolovers13, anddddd @quotefromthatshow and @louandhazaf if you haven't done it already and want to! And shh I know it’s four but who cares lolol

*All answers should be about fics posted in 2023

Past Years: 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 and 2020 | 2022(ish)

[podlater]

The Philosophy Behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once” | by Noah Taylor | Medium

"

The Philosophy Behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Noah Taylor

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4 min read

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May 26, 2022

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Jobu Tupaki travels throughout the infinite parallel universes in search of everything, and finds nothing. She is thrust into a state of apathy and hopelessness through the realization that nothing really matters. This nihilistic ontology is wholly symbolized by her construction of the “everything bagel” — a gaping void rests in the middle with the capacity to plunge ones’ soul into nonexistence. Within the realm of philosophy, this struggle to search for answers in an answerless world has been given a name — the absurd. The existentialist philosophers put forth the idea that as creatures that crave meaning, we are abandoned in a meaningless, irrational universe. Everything Everywhere builds on this philosophical premise in theorizing that if one were to travel to an infinite number of parallel universes they would be confronted with the absurd in every one of them. The cognizence of such meaninglessness across a spectrum of universes is rightfully perplexing. Throughout the film we are reminded that no amount of escapism can overcome the fear and anxiety that is awoken from such surreal awareness. Money, fame, sausage fingers…and yet the question still looms above us like an inescapable fog — “what does it all mean?” It seems that Jobu has come to her own conclusion by the end of the film. Either it is too much to bear, or it is simply not worth it, regardless, she is ready to face nonexistence as her fate and enter into the abyss of the bagel hole.

In his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” the Algerian-French philosopher Albert Camus sets out to answer what he considers to be the ultimate question of philosophy: is life worth living? Camus invites us to reimagine the legend of Sisyphus, cursed to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only to watch it plunge towards bottom of the hill moments before reaching the top. Sisyphus, acknowledging his inescapable destiny, is forced to trudge back down the hill in pursuit of endless toil. Camus writes “It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me…I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness.” Camus recognizes that it is the awareness of the absurd, the consciousness of it, that dictates our confusion and disillusionment. Jobu Tupaki serves as the embodiment of this confusion. Without a deeply ingrained set of core beliefs to make sense of the world (i.e. religion), one inevitably finds themselves at the foot of the mountain. Paradoxically, it is the consciousness of the absurd that can also free us: “At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.” It is the deliberation in each step towards Sisyphus’ destiny that defines him. By the end of his essay, Camus turns our gaze towards hope. He doesn’t deny nihilism, rather he welcomes us to find meaning within the confines of it. “If the descent is thus sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy.” At first glance, this may seem like a shallow and unconvincing resolution. However there is something striking about Camus’ analogy to Sisyphus. He seems to suggest that even if we don’t have the power to change our reality, we do have the power to change how we feel about it. It is this notion that spares us from the dizziness of a meaningless existence.

As the movie unfolds and Jobu Tupaki and her mother continue to “verse-jump” between a never-ending cycle of universes that exist throughout the cosmos, they eventually find themselves at the precipice of a cliff, their bodies reduced to stone. Through the dialogue in the film we learn that this universe is uninhabited, having never developed the right conditions for life to evolve. Jobu and her mother sit atop a mountain as rocks, literal incarnations of the earth, in a universe that no longer requires them to search for meaning. Their problem has been erased. Theoretically, they could remain their for eternity, thus avoiding the big question altogether. However, in a symbolic leap of faith, Jobu and her mother are depicted throwing themselves off the side of the cliff, their hardened figures plummeting towards an existence of bizarre mundanity. The boulder is once again situated at the foot of the mountain. This scene pays dividends in adding to the film’s philosophy for a new generation. What could be a society of depraved souls desperate for meaning can instead be a collective of minds sewn together by the understanding that happiness and the absurd go hand in hand. Jobu Tupaki and her mother have left their problem unsolved, thus they are unrestrained. They have found certainty within uncertainty. Camus concludes his essay: “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”"

https://medium.com/@noahalantaylor/the-philosophy-of-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-12327d3c9e7b#:~:text=The%20Philosophy%20Behind,imagine%20Sisyphus%20happy.%E2%80%9D

[talenlee]

Story Pile: Call of The Night

This is the anime of a song. It doesn’t follow the plot of the song. It follows the vibe of a song, and that song inspired the manga, and then, the manga got made into an anime and that anime got to have the ending theme be the song that inspired it, and the same band made the opening theme, because they had already, in their music, defined this anime.

And damn if it don’t feel like a hell of a song.

Call of the Night is a 2022 anime, which means that, it seems, it has a higher than normal chance of being completely gonzo good, and while I wouldn’t necessarily think this is one of the best of its year, I liked it a lot and I can imagine a situation where if it wasn’t competing with say, Summer Time Rendering or Bocchi The Rock or Do It Yourself or Chainsaw Man or Spy Family or My Dress Up Darling or Birdie Wing or oh no I am committed to this bit and there’s a lot more to go, or Lycoris Recoil or Witch From Mercury or Akiba Maid War or My Master Has No Tail or The Executioner And Her Way Of Life then chances are it’d be one of the best anime of the whole year.

Call of the Night is a story about an insomniac guy called Kou, who is apparently fourteen years old, who starts missing school because he’d rather roam around at night, on his own, in the privacy of the vast dark of a dull city, an impulse that makes sense to me as someone who was also fourteen but I lived at the time, in places with population density like seawater, and where going out at night meant not seeing anyone, as opposed to this guy who lives in Tokyo. While out, he meets Nazuna, a vampire.

Yeah, a vampire.

Nazuna is the intersection of ‘fanservice sex-bomb’ and ‘extremely stupid gremlin,’ and her impression on Kou leaves him wanting to become a vampire too, something that she asserts can only happen if he falls in love with her. He thinks that seems reasonable, and what ensues is a mix of workplace drama, chill hangout vibes, oddly wholesome relationship building as a boy learns what it means to love someone, and then it takes a hard sweve into vampire drama, that you’d probably have expected to show up earlier.

The manga Call of The Night replicates is very long, compared to the short twelve episodes of the anime, and I wouldn’t really recommend watching the anime if what you want is that long haul. Consider it a sort of tasting platter for the manga, which I understand goes longer and involves more expansion into the vampire politics-as-romance-metaphor space. I didn’t read it, but I did chat with some friends to double check some themes in the anime in case I misread something.

And I liked it!

Here, just in the same way I used Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie to talk about social transition timelines (or did I), I figure that Call of the Night is a really interesting avenue to talk about demisexuality.

Here’s the basics of the theory: Asexuality is not a simple ‘on off’ switch for people, it’s a gray spectrum with a lot of different modes and means. Allosexuals (people who aren’t asexual), as observed by asexuals (you know, people outside of our behaviour, who aren’t necessarily interpreting confusing signals, and just observing our behaviour), demonstrate primary sexual attractions, then secondary sexual attractions. Allosexuals definitely have things that they can visually notice and react to that demonstrate a sexual attraction, but they also have things that aren’t related to that kind of observation or experience that can in turn, provoke sexual excitement.

Following this, first, in that ‘primary’ mode, there’s things like being attracted to tall people or green people or redheads and I am trying to be very careful about this because we get into some complex ways people interact with perception and persona and jerking off here. Then there’s the ‘secondary’ stuff where you can be sexually attracted to someone because they have a preference for eating apples or they like you looking at hockey games or knowing they also say the word maize like it’s three syllables long. And these examples are all chosen to be deliberately odd so nobody feels selfconscious about their specific kinks (though, know that they’re all based on real kinks I’ve really encountered), but they’re just examples made to make you laugh. Most often, secondary sexual attraction is a byproduct of emotional engagement, and kinks are just ways to signify that emotional engagement – I will not judge you or hate you for this specific complicated ritual you and I need to engage in. I accept you. I may even be excited to accept this part of you.

A conventional, simple vision of asexuality is that neither of these things is available. There’s a pair of gates that potential partners need to pass through to activate the Wants To Do Things part of the brain, and for the simplest explanation of asexuality, they do not have those gates. Not ‘nobody can pass through them,’ the gates are not there. This is nothing that’s going to pass through and set the flags or tip the linedefs or whatever.

Demisexuality, however, is the idea that while there’s no primary gate, there is a secondary gate; that a demisexual person does have a sexuality that can be engaged, it can only be engaged after the development of a deep emotional connection. And given the way a lot of allosexual relationships can start out as a crush where you want to get to hang out with the person in case you can wind up having sex with them, then realise you just like hanging out with them and now you have a great new friend you like, demisexuality can go in the exact opposite way where you get someone into your friend zone, which rules, because friends are cool and having friends is great and then after a long period of emotional establishment you realise that to your surprise you also wanna do sexy things with them.

This is obviously confusing and complicated and it can be part of the eternal whirling dance of people wanting to do sexual things with one another, and it’s just a simplified example of the sexuality, which is where the terminology started. But there’s the idea: Demisexuality is the idea of a sexual interest that is only activated after the establishment of an intense emotional attachment. Besties To Besties Who Also Have Sex. And when you’re aware of demisexuality, it’s only a hop skip and a jump to demiromantic relationships – ones where characters aren’t capable of engaging romantically until after they’ve established an emotional connection.

This may strike you as being ‘just normal’ in which case, may I suggest you go check out the ace forums and see if maybe they’re talking to you.

Kou’s sexuality or romantic attraction are literally part of the narrative of the story, and that means examining them is something the show actually does. Kou wants to fall in love with Nazuna, which is a weird thing to say like that because falling in love isn’t a thing most people tend to assign themselves like a project. It indicates to me that Kou isn’t very connected to what ‘being in love’ means, and that could mean that he’s a fourteen year old, that’s pretty reasonable, people are working themselves out. Later in the series we get a pretty bold declaration that he doesn’t see attraction in terms of gender, either to Nazuna or a boy hitting on him, so, based panromantic prince I guess.

I don’t think this series is trying to be about a demiromantic boy trying to work out what it means to love an extremely horny girl for the first time. I think this is a series about hot and horny vampires doing cool things and the boy bouncing around with them in stories that are goofy and fun and funny. I still think though, that if you want to point to a character in media who describes being demiromantic without ever knowing the word existed, this is one of the best examples I’ve seen.

Call of the Night is a pretty cool anime with some chill vibes and a few different genre ideas going on under the hood, and it is very horny, so I can understand that being a turnoff to watching it. Me, I find Nazuna, the character, too much of a likeable idiot to really dislike the anime. I mean who doesn’t have a bestie who loves lewd jokes and falls to pieces at the idea of being emotionally honest with you and also likes to suck the blood out of your fingertips?

Surely it’s not just me.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Anime #PrideMonth #Media #StoryPile

[talkingtothetallman]

Be a Scholar

2022.

What a year this has been. It's been one filled with highs of great proportion and void of deep sorrows, for that which I'm thankful! If I had to classify all the fruit from this year and combine them into one word, it'd mostly likely be growth.

Yes, after sitting here for a moment, I believe growth is a good word to sum up 2022.

This has been a year of growth, all different sorts of growth at that. Growth is such a powerful concept and reality that God has blessed man with. I believe that all experiences are meant to be used to grow, whether that be physically, mentally, spiritually. In those three areas correspond these titles of mine:

Me as an employee. Me as a husband and father. Me as a disciple of Christ.

Let's knock the first one out of the way. This was my first full calendar year as a UPS driver, and admittedly I really love my job. Genuinely, I do. This is what I want to do for the rest of my career, and by God's grace I won't get injured and thus put my career as a driver to an end. Over the course of the year I've had two routes to myself, covered most of the routes in the building (and lots of which I learned quite well), and accomplished one year of safe driving. Not bad for a year's work! But at the end of the day, a job is a job. It doesn't truly define who I am. Because when I punch out, I don't really punch out. Not truly anyway.

Being a husband and father really humbles you to the point of making you wonder if you're really ready for life's challenges. Things seem so perfect when you see them with a certain lens of a single guy living at home, wanting only to be married and be a dad. And the best way to describe those things is that they are perfectly imperfect. I'm not perfect, and Abby isn't perfect. Therefore, our marriage isn't perfect. I'm not perfect, and Quincy isn't perfect. Therefore, I'm not able to be a perfect father to a perfect son. Life isn't that simple, and thankfully God knows that.

Being a dad is a wonderful thing though! It's kind of a surreal feeling looking into your child's eyes and thinking, "I helped make him." He's beautiful. He's joyful. He's innocent. He's so loved. It's truly amazing to look at Quincy and see him grow into a curious, fun little toddler. If he isn’t sitting, he’s running as if he's always late. He even says "go, go, go" so I suppose that proves it :) But the growth of being a dad who shepherds his child down the right path has already started. Even if he doesn't speak in full sentences, he's rebellious by nature. He likes to skirt the limits of what is okay, and what is not. He's pretty good though about knowing what no means. He even shakes his head.

It is by His grace that our marriage is strong. I love my wife more everyday, because she proves herself faithful to me, even when I don't deserve it. There are days when I need her because I'm feeling really sick. There are nights that I come home and just need her to listen while I rant about how stupid UPS is (believe me, there are some days!). And there are also mornings that I wake up with her next me and just think, "Dang, I get wake up next to this pretty girl every morning." She's just wonderful in so many regards, and I love her to death! But as alluded to earlier, being a husband isn't always easy. There are so many challenges, so many times that you think you're doing the right thing, and then you realize you aren't. Those are the times that you see your growth. Those are the times you realize how flawed you are and how much you need Jesus. And those are the times that God has given you to see how much you love your spouse. She is the one. Forever and Always. Your job is to learn your wife, to grow with your wife.

My job is also learn about my Savior. That's one of my New Year's resolutions, because this year I really fell short in that area. I spend too much time thinking I know, rather than taking the time to truly know and truly understand my God. I still love my Lord, I still long to serve Him thoroughly and completely. But also I realize how I need to take the time to study his Word, giving Him my full, undivided attention in my life. Man, I really stink at that. I feel like that verse in James, where it says that the one who hears but doesn't do is like a man who looks in a mirror and at once forgets what he looks like. I feel that so deep, because I often forget how sinful I am, comparing myself to others and saying, "You're better than they are." How foolish I am! It's a constant battle of fighting the flesh. But You never stop pursuing me Jesus! You keep loving me despite my shortcomings! All praise to You!

Growth. Yes, that is a great word to describe 2022. But I want to move beyond growth in 2023. I want to be a scholar.

A scholar is someone who strives to learn, who chooses to study a specific thing. Whenever I got the door for my mom when I was younger, my dad would say, "A gentleman and a scholar." I think those are two words that should be described of a man: someone who treats everyone with respect, and someone who never stops learning. To stop learning is to think you're complete and perfect. I am not that. You are not that. Therefore, to continue to learn is of the utmost importance! Everything in my life, from my wife and son, to our first house, to my walk with Jesus, requires learning, especially from the times failure seems to be inevitable. But with that failure comes an opportunity to grow much deeper as a human, a man, and a Christian.

Thank you Lord for the ability to learn! Teach us to be more like you, and lead us to repentance when we aren't. Amen.

Here's to 2023, to a year scholarly learning!

[piizunn]

“Knowing You Has Made Me a Better Settler Person”: Tokenizing the Métis Identity 

View my work: A Spectacle of Me for You 

By riel 

My name is riel, I am a Red River Métis artist descending maternally from the historic Métis families by the names of Berthelet, Caron, St. Germaine, Dubois, Dazé, and Larivière, who come from the communities of Pointe à Grouette, now St. Agathe, St. Norbert, and St. Vital, now modern-day Winnipeg, and the historic Batoche, Saskatchewan. My Berthelet ancestors, notably my third great grandfather Joseph Berthelet Sr. was a community leader of Pointe à Grouette, and my fifth-great uncle Jean Caron Sr fought at fifty-two years old in the battle of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan of the North-West Resistance of 1885. His house is now a historic site in Batoche. My mother is a Métis academic with a background in education and my father is a settler of British ancestry, and an archaeologist-turned-locksmith. I introduce myself in this way, in the traditional way of Métis authors, such as Chantal Fiola and Jean Teillet, to contextualize my knowledge and experiences, as well as my connection to this land.  

Earlier this year, 2022, as the winter semester wrapped up, and spring was beginning to rear its big green head, I finished building a Red River cart. It was four months of research and physical labour. I taught myself methods of wood joinery that my ancestors would have used, the hand tools they had access to pre-industrial revolution, as well as the power tools we as modern Métis have access to now. After the cart’s completion I installed it in the Ivan Gallery at school. That is when and where it happened. A classmate of settler colonial ancestry approached me. We had spent two semesters at odds. Her work focused on the climate crisis but came from a place of doomism and borderline eco-fascism. She regurgitated colonial narratives regarding our “doomed world” and the inherent violence of humans, and when she was corrected and shown the harm in her words she doubled down.  

She said to me “knowing you, has made me a better person.” I do not know this woman and she does not know me, but I believe I knew her in that moment. To her, I am an encyclopedia, a fountain of knowledge for her to drink from whenever she wants to feel a little less guilty. I realized what she meant. 

“Knowing you has made me a better settler person” 

What does it take to know a person? Who defines knowing? In that moment, I knew my classmate, but she could not have known me less. To her, and many others I have met in my life, my culture and I represented an outlet for settler guilt. I was the “real Indian” she took a photo with to prove her proximity and understanding of Indigeneity (James Luna). Because in settler minds, every Indian is every Indian, and every Indian is an encyclopedia to test knowledge against. I am a measuring stick for settlers to compare their thoughts and actions to. 

I began to really consider how settlers were tokenizing me; sexually, intellectually, culturally, spiritually, to settlers I am a fantasy Métis academic. I am an all knowing all sensing wise Indian who can track a man through all terrains, who can tell you your spirit name by just looking at you, who will save your life when you are caught unprepared on my land, and who will scalp an enemy with no mercy. That is what people want from me, not the stories of the Métis resistance leaders who tried to overtake your settler ancestors in the Northwest Resistance, who could spit bullets and toss gunpower directly into their guns all while on horseback. They do not want to hear about The Old Wolves who fought in the Northwest Resistance and years later met in St. Vital to lovingly and meticulously document our young nation’s history, who hated the word “rebellion” (Jean Teillet). 

A Spectacle of Me for You is an installation containing a series of sculptures, photographs, prints, and found objects arranged in a “spectacle” of the Métis identity. The work is the result of experimentation with materials and engagement with Métis theory on self-governance and our history. Being named after Louis Riel often feels like an invitation for settlers to give me their unsolicited opinion on whether my ethnic group should have rights, and if Louis Riel was a madman or not, with most of the conversations quickly becoming anti-Indigenous and/or ableist. To my people, however, it is an honour to be named after Riel, the man who, with Gabriel Dumont successfully won the Red River Resistance of 1869, and commanded my ancestors in the Northwest Resistance of 1885. In this work I employ Indigenous humour- our ability to make fun of ourselves, remaining in control of the joke in order to remove that power from settlers, who are suddenly uncomfortably aware of their perception of Indigenous peoples. I have been heavily influenced by artists like Jesse Ray Short who dressed as Louis Riel in a drag-esque performance, and James Luna’s performance Take A Picture with a Real Indian (2001) and Artifact Piece (1987), Dayna Danger’s Big ‘Uns series, specifically for their reclamation of explicit Indigenous sexuality, and their ways of incorporating Indigenous, specifically Métis and Salteaux material culture into representations of Indigenous sexuality. Finally, I also would like to reference Rebecca Belmore’s piece Artifact #671B from 1988, where Belmore implicates her own body as an artifact in similar ways that James Luna has.  

The viewer enters the room to find a table at the back of the room, seemingly an in-use workspace, with a sewing mannequin dressed in brown pants, a red and black flannel, a Louis Riel shirt, and a beaded leather strap on placed over the pants. There is also a half-deflated mask of Louis Riel placed on the table. On the table there are postcards- free for the viewer to take with two different designs to choose from. On one side of the room a log has been placed on the ground and another rests a few feet away, seemingly more haphazardly than the carefully placed log.  

A Spectacle of Me for You is a staged representation of what a beader’s workspace might look like. A series of props that vaguely reference the Métis but does not actually represent the workspace of the artist. It is a highly curated idea of the Métis identity, playing on well-known stereotypes. Among the workspace set-up there are two stacks of postcards, one with a shot of the artist posing with two logs they personally harvested in January of 2022, left over from building a Red River cart, one of the logs positioned suggestively between the legs of the artist. They are dressed in stereotypical lumberjack clothes as well as a t-shirt with Louis Riel’s face and a slogan that reads “keepin’ it Riel”. The artist also wears a latex mask of Louis Riel, tying the fantasy together.   

Otipemisiwak Voyageur Fantasy Husband is a series of postcards as well as a costume worn by the artist to comment on different aspects of tokenization. The leather strap on harness worn over their clothes is an overt reference to the fetishization of Indigenous people, specifically Indigiqueer and Two Spirit community members, and a comparison of Indigenous and settler masculinity. The harness is paired with a lumberjack style flannel and a shirt with an image of Louis Riel that reads “keepin it real”, and a latex mask of Riel, worn on the artist’s head, obscuring their face. The postcards and the mask are a reference to modern Métis material culture and our infatuation with objects with Louis Riel’s face. The mass-production of these items has both caused a massive inflation of Louis Riel-kitsch, but also a larger awareness of our presence as Métis people, and what Riel means to us. Akin to the presidents' masks used by the Ex-Presidents gang in the 1991 film Point Break, the artist uses their Riel mask to draw attention to the way real historical figures, particularly politicians become caricatures of their actual selves in the eyes of the public, allowing them to be immortalized in popular culture. On a smaller scale, something similar has happened to Louis Riel where many settlers deem him a violent mad-man, and reduce him to a caricature of himself, while the Métis have reclaimed this treatment, and have found ways to honour him in our material culture. 

References/Works Cited 

BELMORE, REBECCA. ARTIFACT #671B, 1988. 

BIGELOW, KATHRYN. POINT BREAK. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX, 1991.  

BURNS, CLARISSA. VOYAGEUR GAMES DEMONSTRATION. https://metisgathering.ca/classroom-resources/classroom-voyageur-games/. M��TIS GATHERING. 2022.  

LUNA, JAMES. TAKE A PICTURE WITH A REAL INDIAN, 2000.  

LUNA, JAMES. ARTEFACT PIECE, 1987. 

   RIEL, LOUIS. FINAL TRIAL STATEMENT. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/riel/rieltrialstatement.html. JULY 31ST 1885.  

SHORT, JESSIE RAY. WAKE UP!, 2015. 

  TEILLET, JEAN. THE NORTH-WEST IS OUR MOTHER : THE STORY OF LOUIS RIEL’S PEOPLE, THE METIS NATION. PATRICK CREAN EDITIONS, AN IMPRINT OF HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD., 2013. 

[collapsedsquid]

I would gladly read the book you wrote about the weirdness of Terra Invicta’s whiggism.

OK the thing that's the most striking but I still gotta figure out is the goddamn factions. So I gotta play through some more of em because they do seem to have some interesting building as they develop their views through the early game, I’ve been doing the resistance and gave the protectorate a brief shot. 

But they seem fucking weird man.  We got “fight the aliens“ and “fight all aliens“ as two separate factions?  We got “appease aliens“ vs “obey aliens“ vs “convince aliens we are equal“ as separate opposing factions, dudes the aliens haven’t communicated with you at all these plans make no sense I don’t get how you conceived of them.  And you got “we gotta flee earth in spaceships“ which OK I guess I can’t see how you think that would help, surely you’re likely to meet more aliens and be less able to repel them but you could try it? (Also there’s the “We gonna make money” faction which OK I guess you can do that, idunno)

“Resistance” though, the default “we gotta fight them“ seems to be defined by “we are the reasonable ones“ which as a self-conception makes sense but I really hope there is some criticism of at some point cause otherwise it just seems stupid, “Here your choice is the reasonable sane faction or a bunch of deluded weirdo factions, which one do you want?“

There are other things though, the measures of "democracy" that are measured along with "cohesion" feel like they came out of The Economist. Also baffled that one of the big interest groups you gotta capture in a lot of countries is "trade unions." You need trade union support, in the year 2022, for launching a space program more than you need finance?

I gotta play to at least the midgame to get an idea of Invicta’s whiggishness though, and with it being a slow game and me loving to restart things that might take a while.

[spo0kythewitch]

On Meditation

4 Nov 2022

Lately I've been rereading some pretty foundational witchcraft books and they've really been turning my attention back to the basics. One of the things I've tried picking up again is meditation. I've never felt super adept at it and consequently it never really became a part of my practice. But I decided to give it another shot starting out with ten minutes in the morning when I wake up and ten minutes at night before I fall asleep with some mindful moments throughout the day as recommended in Jason Miller's "Protection and Reversal Magick."

Man I see a lot of people recommending meditation for baby witches but dude. This is some of the hardest shit I've ever done. It seems like as soon as I'm alone with myself I'm hit with every interaction I've had throughout the day all at once. Trying to focus through that is no joke. Screw the fancy "spiritual" postions, today I had to just lock myself into bed like Sara *relax* dude you need to *rest.*

That being said, I definitely have noticed a difference the past few days that I've been keeping up with it. My magick is more consistent, spirits around me are less volatile. It's been easier for me to see the forest from the trees. Where before I might have had a couple bad days that just blended together, now I'm able to notice small patterns and recognize that even a couple slip-ups don't define the sum of my experience.

My moods have a been a lot more mellow and (thankfully) I've noticed that I'm building more of a resilience to the stupid shit people do throughout the day. I'm not so easily annoyed and I don't take things so personal right off the bat.

That's been pretty valuable as I start to dip into spellwork. I can see the details of things start to play out which means I also have the opportunity to turn something negative around before it really sets in. I can recognize the need for a spell and actually see it's effects.

As for my day to day mental health and stress, I honestly think it's too soon to notice any lasting difference. However this is definitely a practice I've found value in and I think it's worth continuing. I won't say I've found more joy or peace but...stability? Maybe.

[gimmedafood]

Alternate Zoyalai Olympic AU

So, this is just a variation of the Olympic AU/headcanons that @wafflesandkruge came up with, so I hope you enjoy.

FYI: Zoya attended her first Olympic Games when she was 16. The year is 2022. Zoya is 24 years old, Nikolai is 25. Zoya has been to 3 Olympic Games, and this is Nikolai’s first.

Chamonix Winter Olympics 2022: Events to Watch

Return of the Little Dragon

All eyes will be on the return of Zoya Nazyalensky (RUS), this year. Nicknamed the ‘Little Dragon’ by her fans, Nazyalensky became a sporting legend after her spectacular wins in Sochi, 2014, and Pyongchang, 2018.

Unfortunately, her competitive career was sidelined following a car accident nearly two years ago, an event that also caused the tragic death of her fellow Team Russia figure skater, Alina Starkov. Nazyalensky spent a year recuperating from her injuries, during which she was rarely seen in the public eye.

Nazyalensky’s return to competition at the National Championships resulted in a close win, and it is yet unclear how she will fare against international rivals. Will we witness another magnificent flight of the Little Dragon, or is this comeback doomed to disappoint?

Ice Hockey: Men’s Competition

A Sibling Rivalry

Fun fact: Nikolai Lanstov, newly crowned captain of the French Men’s Ice Hockey Team, is not the only one in his family making headlines. His half brother Vasily has been stirring up trouble at home, claiming Nikolai to be a fraud.

The brothers are known for their strained relationship, but rumor has it that Vasily may be present in the audience during his brother’s gold medal match. Will Vasily’s presence be a thorn in Lanstov’s side, or will these Winter Games lead to reconciliation? Either way, keep your eyes on the crowd!

-‘-‘-

Zoya stamped the snow off of her boots before the entrance of the Athlete’s Village cafeteria. The building itself was uninspiring, but it served food that catered to the Olympian’s strict training diets and anything more appetizing was too far away to venture without security. At least the guards kept the press and fans away from their homes for the month.

She was taking a moment to breathe on her cold hands when she become aware of someone standing beside her.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” a deep, clearly male voice said.

Zoya turned to see a tall, blonde man with a child-like smile on his face, one gloved hand pointed at the Olympic torch across the square.

She glanced over him quickly, taking in his appearance like she’d been taught to size up competition.

He was just over six foot in height, defined muscles under his Team France jacket, even though he was covered in an assortment of scarves and hats. Messy, coppery-gold hair, chocolatey hazel eyes, and a strangely familiar face. He was about her age, and he was not bad, not bad at all.

“Let me guess,” she said, smirking underneath her scarf. “This is your first Olympics?”

The man went slightly pink, “Uh, yeah.”

“You get used to it, newbie.”

The man blushed harder still, his stance shifting slightly. Zoya ignored him as she continued to slip out of her outer layers. The combination of insulated jackets and overcrowded, overheated cafeteria would result in an uncomfortable personal sauna if she wasn’t careful.

She pushed her deep blue scarf down from her face and the man’s eyes widened.

“You’re the Little Dragon!” he gasped, his tone filled with admiration. “I watched you win gold in Pyongchang. That last jump series was sensational! Almost as good as your routine in Sochi. I watched that with my roommates in college!”

Warmth rose in her cheeks and she quickly frowned to cover it. “Wow, that doesn’t make me feel old at all.”

“I didn’t mean to imply...” the man’s expression immediately shifted from awe to horror; and Zoya decided to take pity on him. It was clear that he was puppy, innocent and sweet.

“Don’t sweat it, newbie.”

The man inclined his head. “Even so, I apologize.”

His apology seemed genuine, at least. Maybe he wasn’t just another beefcake jock boy. Interesting...

“You’re from France, da?“ Her accent made the word sound more like ‘vour’ than ‘you’re.’

The question seemed to let the man bounce back from his clear embarrassment. “Yes. I’m Nikolai, Nikolai Lanstov. I’m in Men’s Hockey. It’s such an honor to meet you.”

He held out his hand to her and Zoya accepted, gently laying her small hand in his as she tried not to smile at his polite manners. Now she remembered where she had seen him before. His face was on all of the Chobani commercials she’d seen since arriving in the Olympic City.

“Zoya Nazyalensky, Figure Skating. But you already knew that, clearly.”

Nikolai chuckled at that. It was a very warm sound, happy and clear. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a fan.”

She couldn’t help smiling back at him. “This must be a big Games for you.”

Nikolai winced. “You don’t know the half of it. I was born in Chamonix, you know, got my start playing for the local team before I moved to America for a while. There’s a lot of expectations, even before I was made captain.”

He glanced down at the ground, letting out a long, slow breath. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging.”

“Brag away. Being Captain is a huge honor for someone as young as you and I.”

He looked up sharply, his ears turning pink in the chilly air. Really, he was too fun to tease.

“Cheer up, newbie. So you got a big break. That’s what happens in sports.”

Nikolai’s pretty face flickered between apologetic and defensive. “I just don’t want to let anyone down.”

Zoya bit her lip against the cold, the shift in the conversation making her uncomfortable. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

Nikolai murmured something in reply that she didn’t catch, and the silence stretched between them, broken only by the muffled chatter inside the cafeteria.

“Your accent isn’t very French.” Zoya said, the silence making her blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

“I spent a lot of time in America as a kid,” he replied, seeming grateful for the distraction. “When I returned to France, I spoke English with the most New Yorker accent imaginable. My teachers hated it.”

Zoya couldn’t help it, the image of an awkward teenage Nikolai sitting in a French classroom and being scolded by his teacher made her huff out a laugh. “That’s adorable.”

His eyes crinkled, every inch of him a cute, golden retriever puppy. “I try my best.”

Zoya swallowed hard, instantly reminded of another pair of warm brown eyes and spun-gold hair. Her heart clenched.

“I’ll see you around, Nikolai.” She tried her best to keep her voice light and polite, but could hear the tremor that crept into the end.

She was turning for the doors when his voice stopped her again.

“I thought it was very brave of you to come back to competition. You know, after what happened. It must have been very hard.”

“Thanks,” She said, but she did not look back.

The Chamonix Winter Olympics Sum Up : Day Five

Nazyalensky ‘Proud’ of her result.

After months of rehabilitation and hard work, Zoya Nazyalensky (RUS) was crowned gold in the women’s figure skating finals, finishing just above newcomer Inej Ghafa (ENG) in her first Olympics.

Ghafa transitioned from gymnastics to figure skating only two years ago, after a shoulder injury rendered her incapable of competing.

When asked about the result at a post-event press conference, the ever-competitive Nazyalensky surprised onlookers by congratulating and thanking each of her competitors and coaches profoundly, something rarely seen from the notoriously cold skater. She said she was ‘happy with my result and my performance.’

When questioned further on her emotional state during the competition, Nazyalensky admitted that her late teammate and close friend, Alina Starkov, was frequently on her mind.

“Honestly, I cannot think of a day during this Games that Alina hasn’t been on my mind. Her passing inspired my routine for the finals and this medal is dedicated to her.”

‘Teammate.’ ‘Close friend.’

Zoya closed the news sight in disgust. It was true that she and Alina had always acted platonic and playfully competitive in public, and it was also true that they had never really publicized their relationship, but the ability of the press to completely miss the obvious always astounded her.

Still, at least the madness of the press conferences and interviews were mostly over with, leaving her free to enjoy the beauty of Chamonix’s many bars and frozen lakes and ponds in the lead up to the Closing Ceremony.

She was pulling on her gloves outside of the Athlete’s Village when she spotted Nikolai standing on the sidewalk, surrounded by a gaggle of chattering teenagers that she vaguely recognized as the American Figure Skating Team. They seemed to be asking him for autographs, which he was supplying readily, if a bit in surprise.

She only really recognized one of them, a tiny blonde girl who had taken bronze in the Finals, just below Zoya and Inej.

Zoya hung back, not wanting to interrupt, but then Nikolai spotted her standing in the shadow and waved cheerily, his handsome face splitting into a wide smile.

The team turned to see who he was waving at, and the tiny blonde one let out a shriek, one that Zoya didn’t understand, try as she might. Suddenly, she was surrounded by noisy teenage girls, each eagerly asking for her autograph in varying levels of Russian.

She scribbled something on each of the scraps of paper thrust at her, and even remembered to thank the pint-sized medalist for competing. As quickly as they had surrounded her, the girls ran off in a happy rabble.

Nikolai came striding over to her, his hands thrust into his pockets and a big grin splashed across his face.

“They seem to admire you.” She murmured as he drew near.

“Not nearly as much as they admire you.” His grin widened. Zoya finally finished pulling on her gloves. Contrary to rumor, she did not actually enjoy the cold in real life.

“Want to bet they have posters of you on their walls?” She jibed, smirking slightly.

“Right next to posters of you, I’m sure. They only like me for my looks.”

Zoya rolled her eyes, but she could not help the grin spreading across her face. She had forgotten what it felt like to be a role model. The thought was equally as terrifying as it was flattering.

“Congrats on your gold,” She said, nudging Nikolai with her elbow.

As predicted, Nikolai blushed a brilliant pink. “Thanks. Congrats on your gold, I- uh, I saw your interview.”

Of course he had.

“How does it feel? Being the favorite son of France?”

Nikolai let out a long breath. “It’s a relief more than anything else. It was such a close game.”

“Which you deserved to win.”

“As did you.” Nikolai seemed to lean down towards her, then pulled back as if second guessing himself. “The way you told your story was...truly magnificent.”

Oh, the man did know how to charm. Zoya gave him another once over, assessing him again. Looks like a god, probably fucks like a god too.

“So, Sobachka,” Zoya remarked, too casually as she used the new nickname she’d come up with. Puppy. “I’m sure you’ve heard how wild the post-medal parties can get?”

Nikolai blinked, confusion flickering across his face before he caught her meaning. “I did hear something to that effect.”

“Well...” she let her voice drag, an unspoken promise lingering. “I can’t say how wild things could be, but would you like to grab a drink?”

Nikolai closed his mouth then reopened it, suddenly bearing a strong resemblance to a stunned haddock. “With you?”

“No, genius, with the woman standing behind me.”

He actually looked over her head, and Zoya was about to give the suggestion up as a lost cause when Nikolai came back to his senses. “Sorry, it’s just. You were my hero. You are my hero. I may have to hit myself.”

“You mean pinch yourself?”

Nikolai nodded vigorously. “That too.”

She rolled her eyes but took his arm all the same. “C’mon, Sobachka. Let’s get us some liquor.”

Rinkside Gossip

Nikolai Lanstov: Following His Heart?

French captain Nikolai Lantsov has announced that he will be accepting a contract in the ICFR this upcoming season. While this will certainly come as a blow to France and his home team, Chamonix Foxes, it could be that Lanstov has more than a fat paycheck on his mind. Our sources have spotted him several times, sharing drinks with a certain Russian figure skater...

[frontproofmedia]

What's Next For Dmitry Bivol?

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By Sina Latif

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Published: November 11, 2022

"When going into the ring, I have always had it in my mind that I would be the conqueror. That has always been my disposition."  -- John L. Sullivan

Dmitry Bivol always seeks the most challenging fights, then has a knack for remaining coolly confident throughout the build-up, performing as required on the night to get the victory, with the unique ability to simultaneously exude humility. He believes in his ability and game plan. The talking will be done in the ring. Talking away from the ring when opponents try to convince themselves, and opponents can give the public their chances.

After the WBA light heavyweight champion’s excellent display against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in his tenth title defense, Bivol stated: “The lion is not the biggest animal in the jungle, but he’s King. Yeah Zurdo is bigger than me, it doesn’t matter.”

Bivol has the mentality of a champion, with unshakable confidence due to his control, discipline, and ability to use an opponent’s aggression against him.

Bivol’s unanimous decision win in Abu Dhabi was his first outing since his career-defining win against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez back in May 2022. This has been a break-out year for the Kyrgyzstan-born technician, as he has gone from the purist’s favorite to somewhat of a mainstream attraction.

A legit test, a perceived genuine threat, was made to look easy. Naturally, attention has now shifted to Bivol’s next move. Usually, these “What’s next?” pieces have many options to choose from for fighters, with numerous contenders and pretenders to the throne. In Bivol’s case, there are only really two genuinely viable options. These are the rematch against Canelo, with the weight class for the fight, whether at 168 lbs or 175, to be determined, or a light heavyweight undisputed showdown against WBC, IBF, and WBO champion, Artur Beterbiev.

Speaking to ID Boxing prior to the fight, Bivol said: “I want to be undisputed champion in light heavyweight. This is my goal. I want to have more belts. I want to move forward. Doesn’t matter who’s my opponent, I just want to fight for the belts.”

Bivol reinforced his wishes after the Ramirez fight. He has a true champion’s mindset, prioritizing legacy over money.

If boxing were straightforward, Bivol vs. Beterbiev would be next. Bivol wants Beterbiev; the pair hold all the belts, Bivol has just disposed of his mandatory challenger, and the winner will create history. However, more often than not, boxing doesn’t work how we would like it to. If it did, we would be looking ahead to Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua and Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford in the coming months, not Tyson Fury vs. Dereck Chisora and Terence Crawford vs. David Avanesyan. The fights that usually make the most sense are not the fights we usually get.

Beterbiev is the most dangerous puncher in the light heavyweight division and one of the most brutal punchers in the sport. Boxing’s only active champion with a 100% knockout rate, with 18 knockouts in 18 fights. That is the man Bivol wants in the ring.

Beterbiev is set to face WBO mandatory challenger Anthony Yarde in early 2023. Assuming Beterbiev prevails, which he is massively favored to do so, there would be a stylistically colossal showdown on our hands. The master boxer against the wrecking ball. A wrecking ball with underrated boxing ability which hits extremely hard to the head and body. Beterbiev, although having compiled an impressive resume in his 18 professional fights with wins against the likes of Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Marcus Browne, and Joe Smith Jr, has never faced a fighter as skilled as Bivol. This is a fight we should all get behind and clamor for vehemently.

Bivol is aware that there might be obstacles, and the Canelo rematch is a fight that team Canelo and Eddie Hearn seem to be really pushing for. There would undoubtedly be big financial rewards for Bivol in a Canelo rematch, but the public’s desire for this rematch is a lot less than before their first encounter in May. Bivol is not as keen on that fight as the first time, and the general public feels the manner in which Bivol outclassed Canelo the first time was conclusive enough, with no rematch required.

Boxing seems to have developed a bad habit of delaying big fights. “Marination” is nothing new in boxing. Giving a potential mega-fight some time to get bigger and truly whet the public’s appetite has always existed in boxing. However, it never used to take this long. The big fights take so long to transpire, that the boxing community starts to lose interest.

Beterbiev vs. Bivol is the fight to make right now. If not the absolute next fight, then as close to next as possible. Bivol is 31 and in his prime. Beterbiev is 37, turning 38 in January. Although Beterbiev is coming off a very impressive two-round destruction of Smith Jr, time is not on his side. The time for this showdown is ripe. Any further delays are just a waste of time.

(Featured Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

[joestreng]

PSX Picayune – Mid-Season Awards Edition

Like crazed raccoons who fell into a barrel of fermented berries, PSX owners have been wheeling and dealing for an exciting stretch run. As we hit the All-Star Break, it’s time for the first-ever PSX Mid-Season Awards!

(By the way, this was written by the Commish, not a CBS Sports bot.)

“We Suck, but Not for Long” Award: October Knights

Nobody tanks better than the back-to-back-to-back defending champs. It’s hard to find a team that’s better prepared for another run of dominance than Rob’s motley crew of massively talented youngsters with affordable contracts. You have been warned.

“Man with a Plan?” Award: Scott’s Tot’s

In their second year in the league, the team with arguably the best name is still defining a winning strategy. Is it built around solid group of prospects? A hodge-podge of guys who outperform their contracts? A couple of core vets having career years? Only Scott Dub knows for sure. (Or maybe he’s just making it up as he goes along. It’s a coin clip, really.)

“Let’s Make a Deal” Award: Scotch & Water

Trader Dan has been working the phones, emails, faxes, landlines and carrier pigeons to offer any player with a pulse to the rest of the league. If history is any indication, S&W could be battling for the Fields Cup again in the near future. 

“I’d Give My Right Arm for an Arm” Award: Diamond Bumms

With savvy trades to net some top prospects, the Bumms GM has assembled the building blocks for a future contender. In the meantime, his pitching staff of $2.50 cast-offs would be the worst in the league, if it weren’t for the Knights’ deliberate ineptitude. Mark might be bummin’ in 2022, but maybe he rebounds next year. Or not.

“How Soon Is Now?” Award: Savage Ropes

Every year, the Ropes scour high school and college baseball fields to find uncut gems that will serve as the foundation for a run of championships. The guys with the stop watches and clip boards grabbed another young stud selected in the 2022 MLB Draft this week. Will the strategy pay off in 2023? 2024? When the earth is swallowed by the sun? Time will tell.

“We’re Still In This?” Award: Chin Music

The 2022 season has had an unusual number of teams who still have a chance to finish in the money. Andy saw the opportunity and made a bold move to give up a long-term keeper for players that will serve him well in his dash for cash. What’s that? The Nat’s closer is done for the year? Oh. Bummer.

“No Sleep ‘Til Autumn” Award: Roid Rage

How does he do it? He’s got a young family, business responsibilities, anniversary trips to Vegas and Cardinals games on 24/7. Yet, the Young Stacey consistently finds himself in the top half of the PSX standings almost every year. Don’t be surprised to see this sleep-deprived GM make a couple of additional moves before the end of the year. Unless he nods off into a jar of baby food.

“Inaugural Austin Slater” Award: Vamanos Pest

Regardless of how the Pests finish in the standings, the 2022 Draft Night highlight was the bonkers $5.50 contract the team awarded to Austin Slater. In honor of this mind-blowing buy, The Commish has announced an annual award will acknowledge the most WTF? bid on draft night. (But hey, excellent job with the pitching staff, Craig. Really!)

“Walking Wounded” Award: Kiss My Astros

Has there even been a pitching staff that’s been as snake bit as KMA’s? Elbows. Shoulders. Heart problems. COVID. I’m pretty sure one guy was put on the IL with scurvy. And yet, if the season ended today, Steve would be counting some cash, thanks to … ummm … I don’t know, actually. Let me get back to you on that.

“I Drink Your Milkshake” Award: Ugly Finders

The Uglies ripped a page out of the Savage Ropes playbook on draft night and picked a bunch of post-pubescent prospects. Did it work? One out of four ain’t bad, especially if the one is an 18-year-old who swings a mean stick. Still, if you’re going to try to pull a Daniel Plainview on someone, bring a longer straw, since Scott struck oil with two out of three. (Oh, and Mike’s having a nice year, too.)

“Catch Me If You Can” Award: Vicious and Delicious

Daryl was EXTREMELY thoughtful on Draft Night. How thoughtful? Let’s just say his final picks took roughly the same amount of time as a Mike Hargrove at-bat in the late 70’s. (There was a reason Grover was called the Human Rain Delay. You can look it up.) The strategy might pay off with a third championship for V&D. Unless…

“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?” Award: Joltin’ Joe’s

Only one team has finished the PSX season with a Perfect 60 across Batting categories: Scotch & Water’s 2015 champs. Next in the record books with 58 Batting points: October Knights’ 2011 champs. How about 57 Batting points? There are your 2011 champs S&W AND your 2018 champs October Knights. Does the trend hold up for 56 Batting points? Yup. That would be October Knights’ first championship in 2004.

What’s my point? I swear to God, if the Jolts’ pitching staff doesn’t turn this damn thing around, I will feed Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola to a pack of meth-addicted zombies.

Enjoy the rest of the season.

[psylynt-p]

Wednesday, February 16th, 2022

7:09 a.m.

Here to write about this past dream. Was awesome! Super interesting.

First thing I remember is being in a tent of hard plastic, slightly trapezoid-shaped. It was dark inside, with a tiny bit of light filtering in through the edges of the doorflap. I felt weird like I kind of couldn't breathe so I got up to go outside. When I opened the flap I saw a black sky filled with stars, and it all looked so much different than the sky ever has; felt smaller. there was a bright light off to the right, in the sky, and when I turned to look I could see it was somehow the sun. Also looked way different. There were other tents nearby, the ground was a brickish red, all sand with some rocks randomly about. It didn't get easier to breathe and then I saw a man come out of a tent to the right. He smiled at me and started walking over to talk, when suddenly there were brilliant streaks of light directly above us that turned out to be asteroids crashing on the surface of whatever planet this was(had a gut-feeling we were on the moon but it didn't make sense to me how we could breathe freely). I looked in the direction they were coming in from and saw a bunch more, some even seemingly at eye-level and yeah, started having to dodge some. Man with me started running around too, to avoid being obliterated by the crashing asteroids. Off to our left appeared a giant pyramid looked carved from a single stone, gray with marks in it like pocks? Had a large corridor cut in the middle, where we ran to for shelter. As we were running inside, others followed directly after. Once inside, seemed the scene abruptly changed, and we were then in a big library. It was filled with many books all looking normal, like books one would expect to find in a small university library, only thing weird was the foreign language printed on their covers. The group I was with was also confused by the books, all started looking through them to help make sense, try to figure the strange language out, or something... I came across a book with a kind of web-design on the cover, gave me vibes like it was a map book. I opened it up and saw drawings like a map of mountainous area next to a sea, with buildings drawn in it making it seem like a small town, rows of buildings of different sizes, one very large and long which felt like it could be the one we were in, that library. Showed it to the group then wandered outside and great, no more pyramid, no tents, no sandy rocks or anything like where we were behavior. Even the sky had changed, now the regular blue I'm used to, no longer dark as it had turned day, apparently. The place we were in was the one drawn in the map book, looking like an old English city, houses of brick and wood frame. Was a river right before us, a bridge to the left, and people across the way who saw us, began smiling and waving and then walking towards us. They looked Peruvian, mostly women, small and brown wearing traditional dress with those fancy hats. We meet them at the end of the bridge on our side and just listened to them go off excitedly about what we couldn't understand.

I don't remember much more past that, only traces of encountering wildlife, large lizards with what looked like leaves on the ends of their points(tails, elbows and such). Also remember another dream part much more mundane of me getting out a car with my family in it to buy my dad some scratch-offs in a gas station we'd just parked outside of. Ladies working the register really liked me, and so did the customers, though I recognized none of them and it seemed I was a stranger to them as well, they were all just really friendly.

Dream a major one, first like it I've had in forever, crazy real, defined, and lengthy. I'll prob stay thinking of it all day today at work, as much as I don't forget.

[labourpress]

Jeremy Corbyn speech to Welsh Labour Conference, Llandudno - 25.3.2017

***Check against delivery***

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speech to Welsh Labour Conference, Llandudno – Saturday 25 March 2017

 Thank you for that welcome. It is a pleasure to be here in North Wales again in Llandudno.

 Events in Westminster on Wednesday afternoon showed the brutality that one man can reap.

 But it also showed the humanity, the bravery and the solidarity that really defines us and that binds us together in times of darkness and adversity.

 The police, the security personnel, the NHS staff; they ran towards danger, put themselves at risk to protect and save lives, they are heroes.

 And we particularly pay tribute to Police officer Keith Palmer who lost his life protecting others.

 To all those who lost loved ones, who were injured, we send our love.

 Our values of unity and solidarity are needed now more than ever. We know from previous occasions that some sick people have tried to sow division and hate.

 So please, look after each other, help one another and think of one another.

 I want to say thank you to Carwyn and Labour Assembly Members for continuing to show the difference that Labour can make in government.

 Special mention too must go too Mark Drakeford, the Chancellor of Wales, who is implementing your programme despite the fact that your budget is being cut year-on-year six per cent in real terms by the end of the decade. That’s equivalent to almost £1.2 billion less for vital public services - a decade of cuts imposed by Tories in Westminster.

                                                                                       Our shadow Wales Secretary Christina Rees is fighting your corner in the House of Commons, working with Gerald Jones, our shadow minister for Wales and I thank them both.

 I also want to put on record my thanks to Jo Stevens for the work she did in the brief before that.

 Wales has great representation in Westminster. Nia Griffith our shadow defence secretary, who accompanied me recently for the unveiling of the Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial recognising those involved in those conflicts. Whatever our view of those wars, we should always respect those who are sent to fight and risk their lives.

 And I also want to pay tribute to that great Welsh Labour campaigner, Carolyn Harris MP, leading an excellent campaign for the Children’s Funeral Fund.

 It was frankly a disgrace that in the Budget, the Tories again ignored this simple and humane demand. That parents who suffer the loss of a child don’t have to then worry about the financial costs of giving them a funeral.

 I know that Labour councils like Cardiff and Swansea have already waived fees, as has Co-op Funeralcare, but at a time when council budgets are squeezed and billions are being given away in corporate tax cuts we should be able to find just £10 million a year for this basic measure.

 I want to praise another of my good Welsh comrades, although he lives in England, Mark Serwotka, for his campaign to change to a system of presumed consent for organ donation. 

 In Wales, you have done that and lives are being saved as a result.

 I was so proud to speak alongside Mark at the recent NHS demo in London. It was the first speech he had made for several months, his first public engagement since a successful heart transplant. And I’m glad he’s one of half a million people who are now members of our party.

 Deemed consent for organ donation is one just one example of the difference a Labour government makes.

 As Nye Bevan said, “The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it”. And in Wales you have that faith.

 The only country in the UK to show an improvement in ambulance response times.

 Improving outcomes for stroke and cancer patients.

 And the British Heart Foundation says you’re a “world leader” for cardiac rehabilitation.

 And, as NHS budgets are cut in England, the Welsh Labour government found an extra £240 million in their last Budget, taking your combined spending on health and social care 6% higher than in England.

 And the Welsh Labour government in Cardiff Bay has achieved so much more.

 On Social care you have protected funding and seen delayed discharges fall, unlike in England where under the Tories they have risen by over one-third.

 And with Flying Start for early years to help children get the best start in life.

 And then there’s your childcare offer of 30 hours a week for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds, free breakfasts for primary school children.

 500 extra Police Community Support Officers to keep neighbourhoods safe.

 Record rates of recycling, the second best of any country in Europe and the third best in the world. Protecting the environment, and preserving resources, for future generations.

 And when the Tories abolished the Agricultural Wages Board the Welsh Labour government established the Agricultural Advisory Panel for Wales to protect wages in the farming sector.

 On housing, where you are building homes for those affected by the Tories’ cruel bedroom tax, investing over £200 million in a warm homes scheme to insulate thousands of  homes across Wales. And congratulations to Flintshire Labour council building council homes again.

 And I also commend your decision to end right-to-buy. When the government in Westminster is only replacing one council home for every six sold off then we know what they’re doing is taking away good housing.

 There is so much to be proud of in Labour Wales.

 Even constrained by cuts in your block grant what Labour has achieved in Wales stands as a beacon.

 A beacon that shines a light on the Tories’ abject failure – socially, economically and morally.

 Their never-ending cuts agenda, while giving away £70 billion in the next six years to the rich and big business - that shows their priorities.

 Austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity.

 Britain’s infrastructure is second rate and falling even further behind other major economies.

 This government has an abysmal record; they have failed to modernise the economy whether it’s in broadband, energy, transport or housing.

 And, at the same time, they have not done enough to make finance available to the innovative small business sector.

 That’s why Labour is committed to establishing a National Investment Bank with regional investment banks for every region of England.

 This year the Welsh Labour government is creating the Development Bank for Wales.

 With its purpose to create and safeguard over 5,500 jobs a year by 2022.

 Providing more than £1 billion of investment support to Welsh business over that period.

 This has not come out of the blue. Labour in Wales has nearly two decades’ experience of working with small business and local councils to develop the role of Finance Wales into the Development Bank for Wales.

 And my business team at Westminster will take a keen interest in the launch of the Development Bank for Wales and the work it does to generate growth and jobs.

 Last week, the Prime Minister twice accused me of wanting to bankrupt Britain by borrowing money to fund investment.

 But as every businessperson knows there is a world of difference between borrowing for capital spending and borrowing to fund the payroll and day-to-day trading or service delivery.

 And as any homeowner who has ever had a mortgage knows, taking on huge debt can save you money in the long run.

 We should not be afraid of debt or borrowing.

 At the end of the Second World War, the Labour government of Clement Attlee didn’t say “oh dear debt is 250 per cent of GDP let’s park those grand ideas about public ownership; a National Health Service, building council homes, or creating the protection of social security”.

 No. They built a country to be proud of. They established the institutions that made our country fairer, more equal and stopped people being held back.

 But people are being held back today, despite your best efforts here in Wales.

 Disposable incomes are the lowest in Britain.

 Energy bills are the highest in Britain.

 One in four Welsh workers earns less than a living wage.

 An estimated 90,000 people on zero hours contracts in Wales.

 Those facts are the direct consequence of Tory ideology.

 An ideology that believes;

 That our national assets should be sold off to the highest bidder

That the only industry that matters is the one in the city of London’s square mile

That trade unions should have the most restrictive laws in Europe

That if you cut taxes on the rich and big business it trickles down to us all

 And their latest one; you can cut your way to growth and prosperity.

 Well Labour rejects every tenet of that failed Tory ideology.

 We need a new political settlement and a new economic settlement.

 As we leave the European Union, and the process starts next week, it’s time for Labour to set out our agenda, our vision for Britain

 So our agenda is about investment, so that we support industries to succeed and create the high skill, high pay and high productivity jobs that have been destroyed in so many communities.

 The Tidal lagoon scheme in Swansea that our shadow Business Secretary Becky Long Bailey visited last week, this is a huge opportunity.

 To invest to kick-start a whole new industry that will lead to more investment and jobs elsewhere around the UK.

 To create tens of thousands of skilled jobs and quality apprenticeships.

 To help keep the lights on in this country and meet our energy needs.

And to help decarbonise our economy, and ensure, as Labour has pledged, that 60 per cent of our energy comes from renewable sources by 2030.

 So I say to the Tory ministers in London; stop dithering and act now to invest in all our futures.

 We know what happens when the government dithers, we saw it with the steel industry last year.

 A foundation industry for our country and one which must be supported by a government procurement strategy too.

 Because how can it be that under the Tories, the Ministry of Defence is commissioning Nordic steel for our defence needs while the Scottish SNP government is using Chinese steel for the Forth Bridge.

 Changing our economy is also about ownership so that we all share in the rewards.

 The privatisation of our utilities and our industries was the biggest ever redistribution of wealth in this country to the very richest few.

 It gave the privatised industries the green light to hike prices, cut staff and cream off higher profits at all our expense.

 Across much of Europe energy and water are being brought into public ownership, whether nationally, regionally or locally.

 And when things are run in public ownership then the profits don’t just go to a few wealthy shareholders, they go to us all.

 We have to put back minimum standards too, from the labour market to the housing market, the injustice and insecurity have to stop.

 Work must pay a living wage. A home must be the bedrock of security for everyone, whether renting, buying or owning.

 Security at home - and security at work - are the foundation stones of the good life.

 They will underpin Labour’s promise to the country.

 The Tories never have and never will promise that because fundamentally they’re on the side of the rogue landlord and the bad employer.

 In Westminster last year the Tories voted down a Labour amendment to the Housing Bill that simply would have required homes for rent to be fit for human habitation.

 Where Labour councils bring in landlord licensing, the Tories oppose it.

 When Labour brought in the minimum wage, the Tories opposed it.

 And they continue to attack trade unions because they know that unity is strength. They know that by acting collectively, workers can stand up to bad bosses.

 So very simply here’s three things a Labour government will do:

 We’ll build the homes that people need to live, not that investors need to make a profit.

 We’ll make the minimum wage a real living wage - at least £10 per hour by 2020.

 And we’ll repeal the Tories’ Trade Union Act.

 Our vision is all the more important as we head towards the uncertainty of Brexit. Uncertain because of the recklessness of Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox. And uncertain because of the complacency of Theresa May and Philip Hammond.

 Businesses need reassurance on investment, but they also need, as the Welsh Labour government has demanded “full and unfettered access to the single market”.

 The Foreign Secretary says it would not be apocalyptic to leave the European Union without a deal. It would be “perfectly OK”, he says.

 Tell that to the Ford workers at Bridgend. Tell that to the Steel workers at Port Talbot. Tell that to the Airbus workers in Broughton.

 Their jobs depend on our European exports - to our “full and unfettered access to the single market”.

 I know that our shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer and our shadow International Trade Secretary, Barry Gardiner will be working alongside Carwyn, Mark and the team to ensure Labour stands up for people’s jobs, the economy and investment.

 The Labour Party has been most successful when we have been at our most united.

 Whatever our differences we all know that what unites us is so much more and so much stronger.

 And we know that our communities need a Labour council, a Labour mayor and a Labour government.

 In Wales this May, Labour is defending over 500 seats in 22 unitary authorities.  We lead 12 of those councils -10 outright - and I know Carwyn and all members of the Labour Party in Wales will be united in not only defending those council, but fighting to make gains too, including in Denbighshire.

 Whether it’s at the town hall, in Cardiff Bay, or at Westminster- Labour being in power means having someone who is standing up for you.

 United we stand, divided we fall.

 And united I believe this great party can do great things, together.

 Thank you.

[365footballorg-blog]

MLS Commissioner Don Garber's resilience, drive pave Hall of Fame path

October 21, 20182:50PM EDT

[embedded content]

FRISCO, Texas—Don Garber has presided over two decades of dramatic growth and progress as Major League Soccer’s Commissioner, efforts that earned him induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday evening as part of a five-member 2018 class.

Yet that same journey opened with a somewhat rocky start.

Arriving at his current post as a bright young executive from the NFL, Garber weathered a tough reception from the soccer media upon his 1999 introduction, as he wryly recounted after the induction ceremony at Toyota Stadium.

“I just was totally captivated with the challenge of building a new sports league and I believed in the shifting demographics in our country. I coached my kids in youth soccer, I grew up in New York and New Jersey, I was around the [NASL’s New York] Cosmos back in the day. And then I come to this press conference and I had [Soccer America’s] Paul Gardner ripping me apart, Grahame Jones writing a horribly nasty headline, and I got home that night and said, ‘Man, what did I do?’”

‘Garber as MLS Commissioner a Bad Choice in Any Language,’ blared the aforementioned Los Angeles Times headline, under which Jones criticized Garber’s lack of Spanish-language skills, while the famously crusty Gardner did not hold back in expressing his disapproval of the league hiring a chief executive who wasn’t considered a “soccer guy.”

The ensuing 19 years have shown why MLS’s owners moved forward then, and in the time since. And Garber has learned plenty about the beautiful game along the way, too.

“I have always believed that some people succeed because they are destined to. And some succeed because they are determined to,” Garber said in his induction speech. “My past was in no way an indication of a career in sports, let alone a career in soccer.

“But I fell in love with this sport almost 20 years ago – and I was determined to do everything in my power to succeed – and to help make MLS a league that the entire soccer community could be proud of. It wasn’t always easy, and we didn’t always get everything right. But now, almost 20 years later, this game and this league is a part of me. And my role leading MLS has in many ways defined my life.”

Garber would soon discover that some tough media coverage was small potatoes compared to the dark days at the turn of the century, when the league racked up significant financial losses and edged perilously close to collapse.

“The year after I had taken the job, I said, ‘You know, we’re going to be OK,’” Garber told reporters on Saturday. “And then we were hit with incredible losses at the end of ‘99 and 2000. The owners said, ‘You better put together a plan, because we’re not going forward unless you have a way out.’ And that was that infamous meeting at Phil Anschutz’s ranch where Mark Abbott and I put together a plan that is the blueprint that has basically driven MLS to what it is today: build stadiums, expand the league, invest in players, secure media partners that will ultimately believe in US soccer and believe in MLS. We knew we had to build a commercial business with Soccer United Marketing that would give us some strength and some energy. And here we are.”

“I truly am humbled. I am only standing up here today because of the collective efforts of so many people who believed in @MLS.”@soccerhof // #NSHOF18 pic.twitter.com/vnjN04L90w

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 20, 2018

Crediting the doggedness and dedication of the league’s owner/investors, Garber spoke of standing on the shoulders of those who’d come before him, and the MLS owners and employees who stood beside him and helped build the league we now know today.

“When I reflect on it all, I think maybe the most important thing I have learned from our owners over the past two decades is that failure isn’t fatal, and success isn’t final,” he said in his speech. “It is the courage to continue – with an unwavering focus and commitment to the future – that counts.”

Giving a nod to the pioneers of the North American Soccer League who are gathered here in Frisco to mark that league’s 50th anniversary, he urged his audience to remember and revere the history that the brand-new Hall of Fame celebrates. And he made clear that there’s plenty of work still to come.

“I never think about legacy. It’s hard to think about that when you’re still working. That’s why it’s kind of odd to be in a hall of fame when you’re still doing the job,” said Garber, who this week alone traveled from New York to Washington to attend Wednesday’s 1-0 D.C. United victory over Toronto FC, moved on to Frisco for Saturday’s events and will catch the first half of Sunday’s FC Dallas vs. Sporting KC game before jetting to Los Angeles to meet with LAFC’s ownership and take part in a Soccer United Marketing sponsor summit on Monday.

“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to build the sport and to make MLS more successful. We have a CBA that’s going to expire next year, we have a television deal that’s going to conclude in 2022, and we have a World Cup coming in ‘26. Those are the things that we’re going to be really focused on.”

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MLS Commissioner Don Garber's resilience, drive pave Hall of Fame path was originally published on 365 Football

[lindyhunt]

16 of the Best Shopify Stores to Inspire Your Own

Ecommerce is predicted to account for 17% of all U.S. retail sales by 2022. As ecommerce grows, so does competition, making it hard to differentiate your website from everyone else's.

It isn't enough to have a one-of-a-kind product: to attract your ideal audience -- and more importantly, to turn that audience into passionate brand ambassadors -- you need a one-of-a-kind website.

A sleek and captivating Shopify website can attract a large audience and even act as your start-to-finish marketing pitch.

But you need to know what makes one Shopify website better than the rest. Here, we've curated a list of 16 best of the best Shopify stores to inspire your own.

Whether you're new to ecommerce and about to design your first website, or an ecommerce veteran considering a redesign to outshine your competitors in 2018, this list offers plenty of creative ideas.

Top Shopify Stores

UgMonk

Pipcorn

Taylor Stitch

Happiness Abscissa

Skinny Teatox

HELM Boots

BioLite

Pop Chart Lab

Luca and Danni

Harris Farm Markets

So Worth Loving

Great George Watches

Choose Muse

Brilliant

Holstee

Kylie Cosmetics

1. UgMonk

Jeff Sheldon starts the "About" section on his UgMonk website with a simple question: "Why was it so difficult to find fresh, high-quality, unique items in a modern aesthetic?" His Shopify site is simple and fresh, and exhibits UgMonk's clothing, workplace items, bags, and prints in the same modern aesthetic style he sought while designing his unique products.

2. Pipcorn

When you think about popcorn, I'm betting the first concern that comes to mind isn't "is it healthy?" Pipcorn knows this, so their homepage features a simple slogan: "Most tender, crunchy, delicious popcorn … and it won't destroy your teeth like the ‘generic' stuff." The best websites know their target audience's primary concerns (in this case, the taste of popcorn and the kernels in teeth), and sell them on those solutions upfront.

If you look on their "About Us" page, you'll find Pipcorn's products are also non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, and whole grain. Even though this could have easily been incorporated into their slogan, they chose to exclude it in favor of tackling our bigger concern: Does it taste good?

3. Taylor Stitch

The inner child in me loves Taylor Stitch's website because of the creative alternatives displayed when you hover over a product: a jacket, for instance, flips to an image of a model posing with the jacket on a motorcycle.

The Taylor Stitch website does something else really cool, too: it almost immediately calls more attention to its message than its products, with "Three Simple Ingredients" written across most of the images you see on the homepage. Taylor Stitch doesn't just make high-quality clothing. It also aims to reduce waste and help the environment by creating clothing with recycled or 100% natural products.

On their website, you can't miss their environmental efforts, and I'm betting this is a differentiating factor for most buyers when they come across the site.

4. Happiness Abscissa

Many of the websites I mention on this list have clean, straight lines. Happiness Abscissa is unique. It shows a playful side by displaying a layout with bright abstract images, and even products hanging from different angles.

The company's logo, a crooked "Ha," draws in the viewer's attention, and then they use Ha in a sentence without defining the word, further stimulating viewers' curiosity. You get the sense they don't take themselves too seriously, affording the viewer a cheerful and fun experience.

5. Skinny Teatox

I myself was tempted to purchase the Teatox product when I checked out this site (in my defense, they were having a one-day flash sale I did not want to miss). The Skinny Teatox homepage immediately confronts your biggest concerns ("Is it natural? Yes. Will it work? Yes."), and uses pastel colors and cute icons of bikinis and mugs to convey a fresh vibe.

As I've noticed with a few other Shopify websites, Skinny Teatox places its products on the homepage with an easy "buy now" call-to-action. For a company that isn't too complex to figure out ("All Natural Detox Weight Loss Tea" is written beside the company name in search engines), I think it makes sense to offer the viewers what they want upfront.

6. HELM Boots

"Our boots give men confidence from the ground up, confidence to take steps they've never taken before." Immediately, HELM incentivizes viewers through emotion: I might just be a guy looking to buy some boots, but yes, I'd definitely also like some confidence and bravery while I'm at it. The website looks elegant, and you can find everything from the homepage, which is designed to convert viewers at various stages of the buyer's journey and assuage doubts as you scroll.

7. BioLite

I might be a sucker for the little details, but the product images on BioLite's website are enough to make me want to buy something (they look 3-D and illuminated, and some even look wet from rain!).

Since BioLite's major selling point is its humanitarian impact (the products bring affordable energy access to places in India and Africa), the first thing on the homepage is their slogan, "Gear That Brings Energy Everywhere," which will appeal to their target audience. The navigation bar at the top also has a clever twist: beside each product title, there are little black-and-white cartoon drawings of the product.

8. Pop Chart Lab

This site looks like one of the vintage and trendy prints they sell. It's also organized in different categories depending on a viewer's browsing preference.

First, Pop Chart Lab's Shopify store has a scroll-down navigation with sub-categories ranging from, "NYC" to "Kids" to "Hip Hop" to "Wine." They also have a carousel with some of their top prints on display. Below the carousel, they offer "wholesale," "gift guides," and "scratch-off" collections, for viewers who are having a difficult time discerning what they want. The shop manages to appear simple, despite its vast array of different print products, which is no easy feat.

9. Luca and Danni

There's something addictive about an ecommerce store that changes as you scroll. Luca and Danni's page is highly interactive: as you scroll, some images get bigger and others get smaller, boxes of bracelets open up within images, and some images follow you down the page. It can be tricky to offer so much movement on a page while remaining coherent, but somehow, Luca and Danni accomplish this. There's also a very zen vibe to the whole layout, with images of palm trees and cactuses, and calls-to-action with language like "brighter days: shop soil to sky," and "find what speaks to you."

10. Harris Farm Markets

This is a family-owned company, something you can't miss from the homepage. It's casual and playful, with text that looks like a child's handwriting and colorful drawings of fruit (there's even an adorable drawing of a bee with animated wings!). Even the calls-to-action sound laid-back, like "What's nature been up to?" It's so genuine, you can imagine a family building the site together.

11. So Worth Loving

Sometimes, being evasive pays off. While it's not always a good idea to hide your products from the viewer, it can be a very smart move if your product doesn't make sense without understanding the backstory. With So Worth Loving's site, you don't even see the t-shirts for sale until a third of the way down the page. By that point, you've already read their slogan, a little bio from the founder, Eryn, and a full narrative about how the site began.

The site leans into personal touches, with handwritten-looking quotes scrawled across images and very normal looking images of people posing in t-shirts. This is a great example of knowing your audience enough to break the rules.

12. Great George Watches

I'm not an experienced watch shopper, so when I first read, "Made with Swiss parts and 100% square," on Great George Watches' homepage, I thought maybe "square" was a fancy term I'd understand if I knew watches. But as I scrolled and read, "Think outside the circle," I realized these terms were unique to Great George Watches, which are all square-faced.

By emphasizing what makes their product unique before even showing the produce, Great George Watches captivates the viewer. I love this shop because it has a refined and polished look, with black-and-white photos and an attention-grabbing red call-to-action button.

13. Choose Muse

Choose Muse incorporates a full-display video of a man putting headphones on and using Choose Muse's product right from the homepage. The video starts playing immediately (as opposed to offering a play button option), which is especially eye-catching. I usually think simple is better when it comes to design, but Choose Muse proves me wrong, incorporating compelling designs with a ton of images and text, while still retaining a clean and enjoyable viewer experience.

14. Brilliant

For a math and science website, Brilliant is surprisingly easy-to-navigate (even for someone like me, an English major … ), with big, colorful block buttons to choose the math concept you want to learn. This shop is also a fantastic example of using a call-to-action button wisely: there's a big "sign up for free" button prominently displayed in the top right, and then another at the bottom of the page, after you've scrolled past the information you need.

The site doesn't have a navigation bar, but instead uses the web page to answer all the questions a viewer might have.

15. Holstee

Holstee does a fantastic job of designing their site in tiers depending on a person's initial level of interest in the product. For starters, you see the text, "We help you along your journey to live more fully and mindfully." If you're already convinced, you can click "Join today" right below the text. If not, you can continue to scroll down the homepage to find pain points this product reduces, read a "Holstee Manifesto," see Membership benefits, check out testimonials, and find publications Holstee's been featured in.

Throughout the page, there are various calls-to-action, like "Choose a plan that's right for you," and then, at the end, "Become a member today." I love this site because it becomes increasingly convincing and in-depth as you scroll: it's clear they use their homepage as a start-to-finish marketing pitch.

16. Kylie Cosmetics

As one of the top 10 most followed accounts on Instagram, Kylie Jenner's Cosmetic brand is one of the bigger brands using Shopify today. Her site has a very distinct girly-girl vibe, with a bubble-gum pink background showing off her lip kits and gloss.

Kylie's site is also well-organized for her audience: the lip kits, her best-known items, are shown first on the homepage, with "top sellers" below that. I didn't feel overwhelmed looking through the various cosmetic products like I thought I would, and what really stood out to me about Kylie's site is the fun, colorful layout. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm betting it appeals to her target audience.

See a store design above that you like? First, grab the guide below to find out how user-generated content can give your business the gusto it needs to attract and retain online shoppers.