#nine 1982

[tinyfaust]

Currently reading the lotus flower by our one and only una mccormack and I’m not gonna lie, the scene in the first chapter where keiko observes the cardassians uncovering bodies from the debris and they start doing the humming thing makes me think of when the mystics were harmonizing in the dark crystal, and now I just have it in my head that that’s what they all sound like when they do that.

[uk07]

Nothing makes me angrier than thinking about the nspscp timeline

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Sharon Whitby - Nine Days A-Dying - Robert Hale - 1982

[astercontrol]

QUARK: C'mon, Rom. You must have some fantasy you'd like to live out in my holodeck.

ROM: Not for your prices, brother!

QUARK: You sure? I'll give you a free trial.

ROM: Nice try. I know nothing's free with you.

QUARK: Aww. And I saw how you looked at that visiting consul, too.

ROM: …Dr. Arridor? I-- don't be disgusting!

QUARK: Whadda ya mean? You don't think he's good-looking? You're disgusted by how you feel about him?

ROM: I'm not having this conversation! It's his morals I don't like. He's a doctor! He should be helping people! Not infecting them with diseases! Even if it's profitable to him!

QUARK: gasp Blasphemy!

ROM: I said what I said.

QUARK: Well. There's no accounting for taste, I suppose! But, if it's his personality you've got a problem with? --well, then, all that is changeable, within the world of a holodeck simulation!

ROM: I doubt you'd have the first idea how to program a character I'd like spending time with.

QUARK: Well, that's why I've outsourced some of my programming to AI, isn't it? My holodeck simulations are connected to vast training datasets of other works in all media. Syncing with your own favorites, the algorithm is guaranteed to generate a hologram who's got what you like about Dr. Arridor, and none of what you don't like! Simple as that.

ROM: …I'll try it. If only to see how horribly you're going to mess this up.

QUARK: Well, I'll just leave you to it then. Have fun!

COMPUTER: Simulation activating. Generating Arridor. Initializing player-controlled character creation mode. State parameters.

ROM: Uhhh …I mean… I like his jawline. And his laugh. And… I mean, I guess I like that he's in healthcare? …just not how he seems to feel about that job! I'd like him better if he at least wanted to help people. Even if he was part of a soulless corporate machine that left him utterly powerless to change any of it. I… I think I'd find that relatable.

COMPUTER: Processing. Accessing datasets from: twentieth century; twenty-first century-- Character complete!

HOLOGRAM: …Welcome, friend?

ROM: Wow. You look… different.

HOLOGRAM: Well, of course. I was changed. I'm not as consistent and non-volatile as folks like you, y'know? I can be read and changed in any order!

ROM: …are you even still Dr. Arridor?

HOLOGRAM: I mean. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather go by the name from the dataset that inspired me. (holds out hand) I'm Ram. I do actuarial calculations for a big insurance company!

ROM: …wow. I guess it actually kinda worked. Um… (shakes hands) …Greetings, hologram.

...

The fact that Dan Shor has played a Ferengi may have various implications, but the only one my Pattern Recognizer wants to explore is whether this means Ram has ever met Rom

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Queen - The Show Must Go On 1991

Innuendo is the fourteenth studio album by the British rockband Queen, released on 4 February 1991. It was the band's last album to be released in lead singer Freddie Mercury's lifetime. It reached the number 1 spot on the UK album charts for two weeks, and also peaked at number 1 in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, staying at the top for three weeks, four weeks, six weeks, and eight weeks, respectively. It was the first Queen album to go Gold in the US upon its release since The Works in 1984.

The album was recorded between March 1989 and November 1990. In the spring of 1987, Mercury had been diagnosed with AIDS, although he kept his illness a secret from the public and denied numerous media reports that he was seriously ill. The band and producers were aiming for a November or December release date in order to catch the crucial Christmas market, but Mercury's declining health meant that the release of the album did not take place until February. Nine months after the album was released, Mercury died of AIDS-derived bronchopneumonia.

"The Show Must Go On" was written by Brian May, based on a chord sequence he had been working on. May decided to use the sequence, and both he and Mercury decided the theme of the lyrics and wrote the first verse together. From then on May finished the lyrics, completed the vocal melody and wrote the bridge, inspired by Pachelbel's Canon. The song chronicles the effort of Mercury continuing to perform despite approaching the end of his life. When the band recorded the song in 1990, Mercury's condition had deteriorated to the point that May had concerns as to whether he was physically capable of singing it. May recalls; "I said, 'Fred, I don't know if this is going to be possible to sing.' And he went, 'I'll fucking do it, darling' — vodka down — and went in and killed it, completely lacerated that vocal".

The song was initially not released as a single as part of promotion for the Innuendo album, but was released in October 1991 as the band launched their Greatest Hits II album. The video for the song featured a compilation of clips from all their videos since 1982. Due to Mercury's critical health at the time of its production, a fresh appearance by the band in a video was not possible.

"The Show Must Go On" was released as a single in the UK on 14 October 1991, just six weeks before Mercury died. Following his death on 24 November 1991, the song re-entered the British charts and spent as many weeks in the top 75 (five) as it did upon its original release, initially reaching a peak of 16. In 1992, the song was released as a double A-side with "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the US and reached number 2 in the US.

It was first played live on 20 April 1992, during The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, performed by the three remaining members of Queen, with Elton John singing lead vocals and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi playing rhythm guitar. A different live version featuring Elton John on vocals later appeared on Queen's Greatest Hits III album.

Since its release, the song has appeared on television and film, including Moulin Rouge!.

"The Show Must Go On" received a total of 85,2% yes votes! Previous Queen polls: #29 "Mustapha"

[spac3d0lls]

ride the cyclone PSA for you all:

a lot of people don’t realize that uranium city isn’t a fictional town. it is a fictionalized version of the real uranium city, a town established during the cold war era boom of uranium mining towns in the 1950s.

it was a thriving mining town, with business shining throughout the 60s and the town boasting a population of over ten thousand.

the sudden closure of its last mine in 1982 saw the population plummet from 4,000 to almost 400 people.

to most, it’s now considered a ghost town, with only between 50 and 90 residents depending on the season.

relics of when the town was thriving remain scattered throughout the area. candu high, built right before the population plummet, remained in operation for 4 years before shutting down.

the only remaining school only serves students from kindergarten to grade nine, meaning that the only way a high school education can be pursued is through private means. there exist no cafes, and the few hotels and apartments that existed in the area have since shut down.

uranium city is a lot more than a dead-end highway town in real life: it’s almost completely abandoned. assuming the musical takes place in 2009, it wouldn’t have been big enough to host a fair and a cafe wouldn’t have enough customers to maintain business. part of uranium are fictionalized in ride the cyclone but the town itself met an even worse fate than the fictionalized uranium.

just an interesting bit of history i wanted to share :)

[dragoneyes618]

"Two thousand years ago another Governor washed his hands of a case and turned over a Jew to a mob. For two thousand years that Governor's name has been accursed. If today another Jew were lying in his grave because I had failed to do my duty, I would all through life find his blood on my hands and would consider myself an assassin through cowardice."

- Georgia Governor John Slaton, June 21, 1915, commuting the death sentence of Leo Frank to life imprisonment.

In 1913, Leo Frank, a prominent Jewish Atlantan, was arrested and accused of murdering fourteen-year-old Mary Phagan, an employee in his pencil factory. Although the evidence against him was very weak, the prosecution insisted on trying Frank, carefully suppressing evidence pointing to his innocence.

Frank's arrest triggered an outbreak of antisemitism in Atlanta. Throughout his trial, the jury heard mobs outside the courtroom's open windows chanting, "Hang the Jew! Hang the Jew!" Subsequent to his conviction, "[a jury member confessed] to a northern reporter that he was not sure of anything except that unless Frank was found guilty the jurors would never get home alive" (Leonard Dinnerstein, "A Dreyfuss Affair in Georgia," page 101).

Despite the clear miscarriage of justice (among other things, the "star" prosecution witness against Frank had confessed committing the murder to his own lawyer, information that the lawyer apparently passed on to the judge), the US supreme Court refused to intervene, so that the decision whether or not to execute Frank was left in Governor Slaton's hands. Although assured by the powerful anti-Frank forces of a Senate seat if he let Frank hang, Slaton carefully investigated the case and became convinced of Frank's innocence. In the prevailing turbulent political climate, he was afraid to pardon Frank, hoping apparently that that would be done a few years later. Therefore, Slaton commuted Frank's death sentence, an act that permanently ended his political career.

Several months later, Frank was dragged from his prison cell by a mob consisting of, among others, two retired superior court justices, a former sheriff, and a clergyman. They lynched Frank; for decades, a picture postcard depicting his hanged body was widely sold throughout the South.

In 1982, sixty-nine years after the trial, eighty-three-year-old Alonzo Mann, who had been an office boy in Frank's factory, admitted that he had seen Jim Conley, ab lack employee at the factory and the chief witness against Frank at the trial, dragging the girl's body into the factory's basement on the day of the murder. Mann's mother had pressured him not to get involved in the politically charged trial. In 1986, the state of Georgia granted Frank a posthumous pardon.

-Jewish Wisdom, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, pages 482-483

[happy-lemon]

So you got to let me know, should I stay or should I go? ~ The Clash, 1982

The plan was that Hendrix would stay home with Nine and me until he was potty trained and mature enough for preschool. That was the plan. But the day after his birthday, Hendrix was insistent on going to school with Etta. We weren't convinced he was ready, but the eyes filled with tears and the wobbly lip...I admit it, we caved.

He was fine on the walk, but when we reached the building and he realized that Nine and I weren't going in, he came unglued. He didn't want to leave without Etta, but he also didn't want to go to school without us. We were finally able to calm him down enough to explain that Mama and Daddy were too big to play with the other kids, but we'd be there when school was over. His teacher said she'd call if he had difficulty, but the call never came.

So...I guess we have two kids in preschool now.

[the-football-chick]

Detroit Tigers great and 1984 World Series Champion Chet Lemon passed away today. He was 70.

Lemon played seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox from 1975 to '81 and nine with the Tigers from 1982 to '90. He batted .273 with 215 homers, 884 RBIs, 973 runs and 1,875 hits in 1,988 games.

[jeffhirsch]

Down Q1 Can Lead to More Trouble

This is no April Fool’s joke. Adding to our concerns that the market in 2025 continues to track less bullish post-election year scenarios is the history of market performance following down first quarters, especially in post-election years. First the good news. April has been up on average and about 63% of the time. Q4 has been even stronger. Though both April and Q4 have taken some hits as well.

But unfortunately, Q2 and Q3 have been weak overall and Q3 especially in post-election years. Most compelling is that if the market had already achieved bear market levels when Q1 was down it was usually near a bottom or low point from which the market rallied substantially. Conversely, if Q1 is negative and the market has not reached bear market status or is not far from a recent all-time high, then we have more often than not experienced further market trouble and downside action over the subsequent nine months.

Several of the weak republican post-election years discussed on page 28 of the 2025 Almanac also standout: 1953, 1957, 1969, 1973, 1981 as well as 1977, Jimmy Carter’s difficult first year. There are several other non-post-election years of concern, most recently 2022. The most impressive turnarounds from down Q1s occurred at or near the ends of bear markets in 1980, 1982, 2003, 2009 and 2020 after Covid-19 induced the shortest bear market on record.

[warwickroyals]

The Honourable Tatiana Grace Farnsworth was born on April 19, 1977

On April 19, 1977, the Burgrave and Burgravine of Weyward welcomed their fourth and youngest child. The baby, a girl, was met with a lukewarm reaction from her parents, who were hoping for a second son, a spare for one of the oldest aristocratic families in the country. The families of John Spencer Farnsworth (1940 - 2008) and his wife, Lady Grace (née Burke; 1952 - ), had been closely allied with the Sunderlandian Royal Family for the past century. Their mothers, Ellinor Farnsworth, Countess Farnsworth and Sylvia Burke, Duchess of Lewisham, were ladies-in-waiting to Queen Katherine. Sylvia’s grandmother was the Russian-born Princess Anna Felixovna Obolensky, a confidante and lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra. The newest addition to this historic brood was named Tatiana Grace, after her mother and a maternal great-great-aunt who was once considered as a bride for George Nicholas, Prince of Danforth. Her family called her “Tush” because, according to her mother, she was “a sore bottom.”

Tatiana joined three older siblings: Peter “The Great” (1968 - ), Elena (1970 - ), and Anya (1974 -). The children were brought up on the Wolferton Estate, just a stone’s throw from the main house. King Louis V, or “Uncle Loo” as the Farnsworth children called him, was not a stranger to the family, nor was the rest of the royal family. Lady Grace was a close friend of Queen Irene—“too close,” Louis V once grated. Despite the king’s ambivalence, it was Grace who convinced Irene not to divorce Louis in 1982. Little Tatiana played with Princess Jacqueline and Prince James, who was just two months older.

“It was a wonderful childhood, really,” Tatiana would later state. “But so lonely.” By the time Tatiana was a toddler, her older siblings had been sent off to boarding school, and she was raised as an only child. Tush was placed in the care of a governess and confided to the nursery, where visits from her parents were infrequent. By 1978, the cracks in the Weywards’ marriage had turned to canyons, deepened by a twelve-year age difference. To distract Tatiana from the marital strife, her father provided her with an abundance of household pets, including rabbits, hamsters, a cockatoo, a tabby cat called Marzipan, and a pair of Shetland ponies. Although Spencer rarely set foot in the nursery, which resembled a zoo, Tatiana was extremely loyal to her father.

When she was seven, Tatiana’s mother “ran off” with Charles Foy, heir to a drapery fortune. Although Grace later returned home “heartbroken and humiliated”, Tatiana never forgave her mother and grew to resent her. At Chester Palace, Queen Irene worried that Grace’s flight was a “cry for help” but didn’t dare to pry. Louis V’s third child, Prince Phillip, later claimed his parents were disturbed by the Burgrave’s tendency to treat his wife like “the disposable lid of a microwave dinner.” Although rumours of abuse and extramarital affairs persisted, the couple remained married until Spencer’s death.

“We were the laughing stock for that whole summer. I don’t think my father ever got over it.” - Lady Anya Villeneuve as cited in "Meet the in-laws: Who are the Farnsworths of Weyward?", SBN News (December 1, 1998)

When she was nine, Tatiana joined her sisters at Abbey Wood, an all-girls prep school. Classmates described Tatiana as a walking cliche. “She was shy but not boring; she just needed to come out of her shell. She had these stunning green eyes. She never wore tons of makeup, just mascara. You know. She was beautiful, but she didn’t know it.” Tatiana was not academically gifted, failing math twice and having to take summer school a handful of times. One term studying at a Swiss finishing school did not improve her grades. “She was intellectually dormant,” her mother claimed. “She didn’t want to study or learn. All she wanted to do was dance.”

The year before Abbey Wood, Tatiana’s brother gifted her a book of ballerina paper dolls at Christmas. The gift, a thoughtless stocking stuffer gifted by a teenager, had a profound impact. From that moment on, Tatiana became obsessed with classical ballet. After months of tears and begging, Spencer enrolled Tatiana in tap and ballet classes. Soon, ballet became Tatiana’s whole world, consuming every inch of her free time and occupying her dreams, both day and night. She idolized Natalia Makarova just as much as she did Mariah Carey and Paula Abdul. By thorteen, Tatiana was en pointe and the winner of several national ballet titles. Royal biographer Agnes Stuart wrote in 2007 that ballet was the only thing Tatiana was “truly, exceptionally, good at.”

“She wasn’t particularly intelligent or charismatic. Her mother had few positive words to say about her. She got that validation from dance. And she clung to it.” - Agnes Stuart "Royal Brides and Bodies", The New Yorker (April 2005) “I told her: you can’t make a career out of that. I had read a magazine. All these gymnast and ballerina girls were miserable and anorexic. It’s not what people want nowadays. They wanted ladies in the office. Secretaries or typists or whatever.” - Countess Farsworth as cited in "Meet the in-laws: Who are the Farnsworths of Weyward?", SBN News (December 1, 1998)

Parallel to ballet ran another obsession, just as passionate but far more consequential for Tatiana’s life. Tatiana began dating her childhood friend, James, the Prince of Danforth, in 1992. The relationship was on and off again, but started ramping up once the couple completed secondary school. Until that point, James and Tatiana had been separated, Tatiana confined to the rural Wolferton Estate and James living in the city. As adults, the pair were granted independence from their parents and a closer proximity. James was at Warwick Met, studying a mix of history and philosophy, and Tatiana was at the National Ballet School. The two campuses were just five blocks away. By 1996, Tatiana and James were attached at the hip; a fact that wasn’t missed by their families—or Sunderland’s press.

In 1997, Tatiana, who had since become Lady Tatiana Farnsworth following the death of her paternal grandfather, was invited to Collingwood Castle, the royals’ summer home. From there, she joined the royal family aboard the HMSY Sunderlania for a weekend cruise to the Canadian/American Thousand Islands. Tatiana was received well by the King and Queen, as well as by James’s grandmother, Queen Katherine. However, Tatiana’s family had mixed feelings about marriage, especially her brother and mother. The Great rejected the idea that Tatiana loved James, telling his little sister, “he gives you attention. And you love attention, Tush.”

Marrying James would also mean giving up her ballet career. Throughout the late 1990s, Tatiana was fielding several professional offers from ballet companies in Warwick, London, and Los Angeles. Her early career part of NBS’s Corps de ballet was marked by acclaimed performances in Giselle, Don Quixote, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty. The New York Times described Lady Tatiana as “buoyant and refined [. . .] Perhaps one out of 25 wunderkind in North American ballet.” In January 1998, NBS’s principal choreographer a Natasha Allred, gave Tatiana frank advice. Marrying James meant sacrificing a career as a soloist. “You’ll be turning your back on NBS. On Broadway.”

“I think you will regret it, is all I’m saying.”

James proposed to Lady Tatiana at Rockcliffe Palace in June 1998, and the pair were married that December. The wedding ceremony took place at the colossal St. Andrew’s Cathedral, which offered majestic views to nearly 600,000 spectators. Eyebrows were raised when Tatiana vowed “to obey”, a line that was not included in the 1997 wedding ceremony of Princess Jacqueline and Earl Belmont.

As Princess of Danforth, Tatiana’s life revolved around public appearances and childrearing. Her first child, Prince Nicholas, was born in April 2000, followed by Prince Alex in July 2002. In May 2001, Tatiana attended her first Opening of Parliament. Her inaugural international visit was to New York City in March 2002 to commemorate victims of the September 11th attacks. In 2003, Tatiana accompanied James, Nicholas, and a ten-month-old Alex to Western Sunderland. In August 2004, Tatiana was made patron of NBS, her former school, and twenty-five other institutions across the country. 2006 was dominated by international visits to Thailand, France, Canada, and an extensive tour of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, where Tatiana highlighted women’s development in the region. In 2003, Tatiana confided to Second Lady Lynne Cheney that she “didn’t expect” her life as Princess of Danforth to be “so exhausting.” The late 2000s were characterized by a string of publicized family tragedies, among them a stillborn baby girl and her brother’s salacious divorce and remarriage. In 2008, the tragedies crescendoed when Tatiana’s father died following a stroke. Her mother married a Spanish aristocrat the following year. Tatiana resented her new stepfather, refused to meet him, and threw a “temper tantrum” upon hearing that photos of the wedding ceremony had been sold to PEOPLE for a rumoured $70,000. Tatiana was “glad” when the couple divorced in 2011, although by then it was reported that the damage to Tatiana and Grace’s relationship “had been done.”

Throughout the 2010s, several news articles about the princess’s behaviour hit the mainstream press. Allegations that she was unkind to teachers, nannies, and female journalists were frequent, as well as unfounded rumours that she was unkind to her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Woodbine. “She was, and still is, inflamed by all female attention. She viewed them as a threat to James and their boys,” Stuart claimed. “James was the true object of her affections. Her beloved. Her One. So, when he died . . .”

James’s death in 2017 was a major turning point in Tatiana’s life. “To say she was devastated would be a profound understatement.” When Peter visited his sister in early 2018, he was alarmed by her “zombielike” state and accused the palace of neglecting her and Princes Nicholas and Alex. In contrast to Princess Ruby, Tatiana's similarly widowed predecessor, Tatiana rejected the title Princess Dowager. Later in the year, Chester Palace clarified Tatiana’s role: “Her Royal Highness remains a valued member of the family and will continue to carry out duties as the mother of a future sovereign.” Louis V’s private secretary later summarized: “Poor lady.”

In the decade since James’s death, Tatiana has been inconsistent, flighty, and increasingly protective of her two boys. In a 2025 television interview, the Dowager Countess Farnsworth spoke candidly about her daughter’s future. “I believe Tatiana needs to find purpose and security from within. This will be most challenging for her, as she struggles with her self-esteem. James was the bandage for a chronic situation [ . . .] some of that is on me, I guess.”

“We all want that tall, dark gentleman to whisk us away and tell us we’re pretty, don’t we?” - The Dowager Countess Farsworth as cited in "Tatiana's life and loves", SBN News (April 19, 2025).

[fir-fireweed]

Hey there ! I absolutely HATE being sick, it suck so hard. I'm so sorry you're going through it ! Hope you feel better soon ! I guess now is as good a time as any to thank you for helping me fight boredom and forget cramps when I am sick ! I love your ideas, and I spent many a night with Viatica, crying over the characters pain rather than my own ! You always manage to make me feel strong emotions, so strong in fact that I go on and on about them to my half-asleep partner ! Amazing choice of music for Cantata by the by, hopefully you drop a soundtrack sometimes soon ! Let's see if I can send back the favor ! Since being sick is a good time to rest in bed, here are a few games, if, movie and videos recommendations ! Games ! (not ifs, but all of em are browser games so you should be fine !) https://neal.fun/space-elevator/ - a fun little scrolling thing, gives very strong war flashbacks from "do you love the color of the sky" https://r-goulart.itch.io/not-my-isekai -Cute little platformer, made me ragequit more than once, but very good at taking your mind off of cramps ! https://alarts.itch.io/die-in-the-dungeon -Easy to grab roguelite, managed to spend like an hour on it ! https://wonderfulproduction.itch.io/escape-of-the-dead -fun little zombie game https://plasmastarfish.itch.io/pack -packing game ! [Some of those do take a little while to load since they're browser game (oh newgrounds how i miss you) but it shouldnt take more than 5 to 10 minutes which is just enough to grab some tea and snacks !] IFs ! (What did you expect ?! Of course I had to give some recs !) You probably know most of them already, but maybe some will be new to you !! Most of em do differ from what you write so no worries about that ! https://thewoodshungers-if.tumblr.com/ - Fantasy dnd style adventure, about three chapters are out ! https://calliopefiction.tumblr.com/ - Fantasy, about nine chapters out rn ! https://www.tumblr.com/forkingandcountry-if - Only one chapter but very interesting writing style in my opinions ! (already mentioned in a post you reblogged im pretty sure !) https://within-your-eyes-if.tumblr.com/ - One of my all time favorites ! Fantasy ! https://theswordofrhivenia.tumblr.com/ - Of course, a classic ! Fantasy https://www.tumblr.com/thelonelyshore-if - a spooky one ! horror !! Music and noise ! https://asoftmurmur.com/ -background noise ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRQk7D1HUMU&list=OLAK5uy_lBcPbPreaAwlYgeY8mmAS07RPKQq6ZmME -Vitamin string quartet ! They're known for bridgerton, but they are absolutely worth keeping up with ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsRfNS-C3AA - sea of stars ost, i use it for my dnd adventures, but it is a very cool soundtrack for thinking about the little people inside our heads ! for more epic thoughts, i recommand Michael Ghelfi (https://open.spotify.com/user/21it2vphvcv36r3g5nzlbuhta?si=191b4634e9c54f10) ! Movies ! FLOW (2024) - a quiet movie, about the little adventures of a cat ! Mothman's prophecies (2002) - horror, not for everyone but certainly a pick ! Suzume (2022) - a beautiful japanese animation movie about doors, evil kitties and good spirit kitties. Seventh son (2014) - a fantasy adventure ! It is flawed, and some might even say not very good, but I think that's what makes it so good to watch ! kind of like the first few seasons of doctor who ! The Host (2006) - Horror / Monster movie, made by the very famous Bong Joon-ho, guy whose known for Okja, Parasite and more recently Mickey 17 ! Crazy Kung Fu (2004) - Crazy kung fu comedy, an absolute experience, everyone should watch it once in their life. One of my favorite. The Dark Crystal (of course) (1982) - a masterpiece ! I hope you get plenty of rest and eat plenty o' good foods !! Have a nice week-end, or what's left of it ! (hoping you'll get a day off tomorrow as well !) If I did any mistake writing this, no I did not. You're seeing things.... 👀

This was a super sweet ask to receive, thank you!

I’m still down hard with the flu and haven’t been able to work, write, or do anything beyond lying in bed, unfortunately. Having not written anything in almost a week is particularly frustrating. But the hubby and spawn have been wonderfully supportive. 🥰 I’m feeling a little better today, though, so hopefully on the mend.

Thank you again for this thoughtful list. I’m feeling up to trying a few suggestions today!

[victusinveritas]

Barbarian Queen (also known as Queen of the Naked Steel) is a 1985 American-Argentine fantasy film starring Lana Clarkson, directed by Héctor Olivera and written by Howard R. Cohen. The film premiered in April 1985 in the United States. It was executive produced by Roger Corman, and it was the third in a series of ten movies that Corman produced in Argentina during the 1980s.

Barbarian Queen was filmed in Don Torcuato, Argentina by director Héctor Olivera as part of a nine-picture deal between Olivera's Aires Productions and Roger Corman’s U.S.-based Concorde-New Horizons. Corman was looking to produce low-budget sword-and-sorcery films to capitalize on the success of Conan the Barbarian (1982), while Olivera sought to fund more personal film projects via the profits from his deal with Corman. Lana Clarkson, who had appeared in a supporting role as an amazonian warrior in the previous Aires-Concorde coproduction Deathstalker, was cast in the lead as Amethea. Clarkson performed all of her own stunts in the picture.

B-movie critic Joe Bob Briggs gave the film a tongue-in-cheek positive review, writing, "It's no Conan the Barbarian II, but it's got what it takes, namely: Forty-six breasts, including two on the male lead. Thirty-one dead bodies. Heads roll. Head spills. Three gang rapes. Women in chains. Orgy. Slave-girl sharing. One bird's-nest bra. The diabolical garbonza torture. Sword fu. Torch fu. Thigh fu (you have to see it to believe it)."

Also that poster is by Boris Vallejo.

[dbarenzu626]

01000001 01110010 01100101 01110011

...Anyone know binary?

Anyways, "TRON Ares" fanart! It's no secret that I'm a fan of the TRON franchise, Disney's underdog marriage of video game and digital aesthetics has been an inspiration to me. Whether it was popping in the VHS tape for the 1982 film back when I was but a boy of ten or heading to see "TRON Legacy" in theaters with friends when it came out in 2010 to even clocking in my time to the countless video games based off the Grid, I owe a lot to the digital franchise that could.

Of course, the thing with "TRON Ares" is that it's a bit of a significant shift in the franchise. For starters, it's a complete reset button of Joseph Kosinski's prior "TRON Ascension" pitch, since the Mouse House essentially shelved it back in the day when Brad Bird's "Tomorrowland" cost the company a couple million in losses (it wasn't that bad thoooooough). The second is the most obvious: director Joachim Ronning is a director who one can read his filmography and see mixed bag results with and trusting him with the digital experience could prove a risky one. Third? The choice of its lead actor: Jared Leto. I'm sure I don't need to explain why this choice is divisive, but if you've seen the production of "Suicide Squad" (the 2016 one, not The) and "Morbius", then you probably know why.

Nonetheless, I've grown close to the idea that perhaps Ares might have some merit behind it besides being a giant reset button of sorts: for starters, the plot is leaning in the direction of digital meeting the real world, something that was already established in "TRON Legacy" and is now seeing fruition here with a commentary on artificial intelligence. There's also the soundtrack led by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (or more properly, for this film's case, their band Nine Inch Nails, which is... insanely hype), to which, BTW, I called as far back as April 2024 with some friends on a Discord server when I shared a piece off the "Challengers" soundtrack:

All in all, while I have my cautiousness, the optimism wins here. And for a film like this, I think it's best to carry a bit of optimism because it's what may lead to more in the franchise. Besides, we're getting this and a new game this year with Bithell's "TRON Catalyst", sooo... can we get some Lorcana rep next? C'mon, you know you wanna, Disney...

For this piece, I based it off the screenshots that Disney has released so far, behind-the-scenes pics of Jared Leto in the Grid suit from their shooting in Vancouver and then what I could see from the D23 teaser (shhhhhh, I needed references), mixing it in with a "TRON Uprising"-style influence. The tricky thing is trying to keep the character and actor looking like the character and actor without losing definitive features, something tricky with Robert Valley's art style for the show, but yet something he did well with CLU's character in-show too. But all in all, between that and a near furious digital look, I think I did pretty well! Text and textless versions above, of course!

If you don't know, "TRON Ares" comes out October 10, 2025. And Disney better get the first teaser out sometime in the near future~

(P.S: If you also don't know, "Something I Can Never Have" is a song title from Nine Inch Nails album Pretty Hate Machine and amazingly enough, a reworked version of that song serenaded the D23 trailer for "TRON Ares". Doubles as a reference to both its artists and to what I'm theorizing is Ares's character!)

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

The Year In Doom & Gloom

Doom & Gloom From The Tomb celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, which is crazy. But what can I say, I keep finding cool live tapes and keep feeling compelled to share them with you ... whoever you are! A lot of this website is just me talking to myself, hashing and rehashing and re-re-hashing various obsessions, getting impossibly niche about some of my favorite artists, trying to shine a light into the darkest corners of music history. But that makes it sound like it's a serious endeavor. Mostly, it's fun. I hope it's fun for you too. So, if you need to catch up, here's a tip-of-the-iceberg rundown of what we checked out over the last 12 months ... as always, thank a taper!

Lou Reed - Sister Ray in the 70s

“Candy Says” - Lou Reed, Kongress Zentrum, Hamburg, Germany, March 29, 1979

Lou Reed - October 1974

Lou Reed - Lady Mitchell Hall, Cambridge, England, October 13, 1972

Lou Reed - City Hall, Sheffield, England, June 1, 1974

Lou Reed - Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden, May 14, 1974

Lou Reed - Parc Des Expositions De Colmar, Theatre De Plein Air, Colmar, France, August 12, 2004

The Modern Lovers - Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 27, 1972

The Modern Lovers - Sword in the Stone, Boston, Massachusetts, 1972

The Modern Lovers - Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, February 23, 1974

Foggy Notion - The Bowery Ballroom, New York City, December 13, 2023

The Feelies - Daniel Street, Milford, Connecticut, July 22, 2011

John Sinclair - BAR, New Haven, Connecticut, September 28, 2003

Meg Baird + Chris Forsyth, Cafe Nine, New Haven, Connecticut, October 26, 2022

John Fahey - McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, California, December 1979

The Go-Betweens - The Gatekeeper To Your Soul

Frank Black - Wetlands, New York City, June 13, 1994

Jacobites - Hearts Are Like Flowers

The Replacements - The Ritz, New York City, June 21, 1986

Willie Nelson - El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, California, December 20, 1997

Neil Young - Razor Love (1984-2020)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Control The Violent Side

“Peace Of Mind” - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Community Theater, Berkeley, California, November 2, 1976

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan, March 4, 1976

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, October 31, 1996

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California, October 1 / October 2, 1994

Fairport Convention - Harlow Town Hall, Essex, England, June 15, 1974

Richard & Linda Thompson - Dublin Stadium, Dublin, Ireland, November 10, 1979

Robyn Hitchcock & Richard Thompson - “First Girl I Loved (Incredible String Band),” The Barbican, London, England, July 19, 2009

Can - Nordseeheilbad, Cuxhaven, Germany, January 7, 1976

Bob Dylan and The Band - “Nobody ‘Cept You” (Outtake)

Bob Dylan & The Band - Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois, Jan. 3, 1974

Patti Smith - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, September 1, 1974

Patti Smith Group / John Cale / Television - The Palladium, New York City, December 31, 1976

Television - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California, December 9, 1992

Television - Roseland, New York City, October 2, 2004

Grant Lee Buffalo - Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, England, October 11, 1994

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, December 4, 1982

Wilco - Orpheum Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, October 19, 2002