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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 6 months

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“You have to understand,” he said, apologetically. “I’ve written over 24,000 songs. I wrote 50 songs yesterday.”

And thus was I ushered into the strange universe of Matt Farley.

Freed from the blinding incandescence of my own name, I could suddenly see the extent of what I had stumbled into. It was like the scene in a thriller when the detective first gazes on the wall of a serial killer’s lair. Papa Razzi and the Photogs is only one of about 80 pseudonyms Farley uses to release his music. As the Hungry Food Band, he sings songs about foods. As the Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns, he sings the atlas. He has 600 songs inviting different-named girls to the prom and 500 that are marriage proposals. He has an album of very specific apologies; albums devoted to sports teams in every city that has a sports team; hundreds of songs about animals, and jobs, and weather, and furniture, and one band that is simply called the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over.

He also has many, many songs about going to the bathroom. If you have a child under 10 with access to the internet, it is very likely you know some part of this body of work. What he refers to collectively as his “poop songs” are mostly released under two names: the Toilet Bowl Cleaners and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee.

“The Odd Man is more shameless,” he explained. “The Toilet Bowl Cleaners are making statements with their albums,” though the distinction between the former’s “Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks!” and the latter’s “I Need a Lot of Toilet Paper to Clean the Poop in My Butt” may be subtler than he imagines.

Largely, though not entirely, on the strength of such songs, Farley has managed to achieve that most elusive of goals: a decent living creating music. In 2008, his search-engine optimization project took in $3,000; four years later, it had grown to $24,000. The introduction of Alexa and her voice-activated sistren opened up the theretofore underserved nontyping market, in particular the kind fond of shouting things like “Poop in my fingernails!” at the computer. “Poop in My Fingernails,” by the Toilet Bowl Cleaners, currently has over 4.4 million streams on Spotify alone. To date, that “band,” and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee, have collectively brought in approximately $469,000 from various platforms. They are by far Farley’s biggest earners, but not the only ones: Papa Razzi and the Photogs has earned $41,000; the Best Birthday Song Band Ever, $38,000; the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over, $80,000. Dozens of others have taken in two, three or four digits: the New Orleans Sports Band, the Chicago Sports Band, the Singing Film Critic, the Great Weather Song Person, the Paranormal Song Warrior, the Motern Media Holiday Singers, who perform 70 versions of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” substituting contemporary foods for figgy pudding. It adds up. Farley quit his day job in 2017.

“People like to criticize the whole streaming thing, but there’s really a lot of pros to it,” he said. Indeed, in 2023, his music earned him just shy of $200,000, about one halfpenny at a time.

Farley’s earnings help fund his multiple other creative endeavors. He records what he calls his “no jokes” music. This includes a two-man band he’s been in since college called Moes Haven, which once recorded an album a day for a year. He hosts two podcasts, one about his work and the other recapping Celtics games. And he makes movies: microbudgeted, determinedly amateur but nevertheless recognizably cinematic features starring himself and his family and friends. (They feature a spectacular array of New England accents.) In most, Farley plays some version of himself, a mild-mannered, eccentric hero projecting varying degrees of menace. Farley and his college friend Charlie Roxburgh are in the midst of a project in which they have resolved to release two full movies per year. The model, Farley said, was inspired by Hallmark Movies: “If this movie stinks, good news, we’re making another in six months!” Their most popular work remains “Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!” (2012), a charmingly shaggy tale of a cryptid threatening a small New England town. It features Farley’s father as a big-game hunter named Ito Hootkins.

#humor #streaming #guy on the internet #internet composer #Matt Farley #NYTimes

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readerbookclub · 1 year

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Paranormal - A Book List

Hello everyone! This month’s list is a collection of novels that deal with the supernatural! Are you ready for something a little spooky?

As always, please vote for which one we should read using the link at the bottom of the post.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club, by Craig Davidson

Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls--a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place--Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly lighthearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, The Saturday Night Ghost Club examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become.

Opium and Absinthe, by Lydia Kang

New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be—can it? A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death. Unfortunately, Tillie’s addicted to more than just truth; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s taking more and more laudanum…and some in her immediate circle are happy to keep her well supplied. Tillie can’t bring herself to believe vampires exist. But with the hysteria surrounding her sister’s death, the continued vampiric slayings, and the opium swirling through her body, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a girl who relies on facts and figures to know what’s real—or whether she can trust those closest to her.

Later, by Stephen King

The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine - as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave. Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King's classic novel It, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.

The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson

It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

Please vote for our next book here.

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rabarbarzcukrem · 11 months

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My thoughts on The Irregulars

Okay, I've just binge watched Netflix's The Irregulars. To be honest I didn't know pretty much anything about it before I started, I decided to check it out because I had heard Watson was canonically queer in this version. Glancing at the synopsis made me think that it would be a story of Sherlock Holmes's cases told through the perspective of the members of street gangs he hires to find information for him (which I thought was a cool idea with a lot of potential). So I was pretty disappointed when I started watching and found out that 1. it was fantasy and 2. it had nothing of the iconic cases from the original source material. I hate when shows take crime cases and add ✨ supernatural ✨ twists to them for no reason, because what's really fun about this particular genre is gradually figuring out how the crime was orchestrated. When you add the paranormal to that, it's harder to look for clues and draw conclusions yourself because magic makes anything possible and you need to wait for the show to explain it to you.

But I was really pleasantly surprised that the show didn't take the "crime but with a magic twist" route and committed to the idea, making everything revolve around the supernatural instead. So Holmes and Watson aren't regular detectives, they specifically deal with paranormal cases, Mycroft isn't just working for the government, he's a member of a magic cult.

I've seen many people complain that this version makes Holmes, and especially Watson completely unlikable, but this darker characterization is actually the thing I enjoyed the most. When it's done in the usual way, with Holmes as the brilliant detective and Watson as his companion, the narrator and a stand-in for the audience, he needs to be passive to some degree, because the structure of the story demands that of him. But by placing them in the background, you can stop treating them as narrative tools and actually focus on them being characters. And when you take this approach, and look at the things Watson actually does - choosing to associate himself with an eccentric drug addict and lead a particularly dangerous lifestyle - it starts to make sense that he's a little bit fucked up, actually. Also I'm a sucker for unrequited love and gay yearning, so he was bound to be my favorite.

Sherlock disappointed me a little bit to be honest. He's alright I guess, I just wish they'd do something more interesting with him. But they gave him a cunty earring, so that's a plus. (Also the actor reminded me of Taika Waititi for some reason...?)

A small part of me kind of wishes that instead of changing their characterization so drastically they'd simply make their own characters... But in that case I would have probably never watched this show, so I guess it works as a way to draw attention.

The main characters are... fine? A very typical YA fantasy team (*cough* Six of Crows *cough*). I liked how casually yet maturely they handled the sexual stuff between them, I liked Billy's struggle with his trauma. Most things about them was done well, although it was nothing revolutionary.

What really bugged me was the costume design. I won't be complaining about historical inaccuracies because it's clear the show wasn't going for realism, but why couldn't they have just chosen 1 time period (or a set of silhouettes at least) to take inspiration from and commit to it? The fashion is all over the place.

All in all it was okay? Definitely better than Warrior Nun, another cancelled show - very flawed and clumsily written but still close to my heart. It's a shame there won't be a continuation, but I don't think there needs to be.

#the irregulars #I'd give it like a 6/10 #moje

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writeouswriter · 2 years

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#poll #polls #writeblr #the 1st 3 I just kept recasting the same guy as the protag but hey #i keep jumping between them so none get anything done #there's not a million like there usually is bouncing around in my head though #probably will be again however

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fantomcomics · 1 year

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What's Out This Week? 8/23

Postin' ain't easy, but it sure is fun

After We Gazed At Starry Sky GN - Bisco Kida

It all started with a job. When wheelchair-bound Subaru Miyazawa decides to visit the planetarium after finishing its brochure design, he unexpectedly bumps into Togo Awase, the photographer involved in the project. Although he'd admired his work, he never thought he'd see the man himself-or that Togo would go so far as to carry Subaru down the steps to view the starry night sky up close. Subaru could only hope they would meet again...

All The Lovely Bad Ones GN - Mary Downing Hahn, Scott Peterson & Naomi Franquiz

Travis and his sister, Corey, can't resist a good trick. When they learn that their grandmother's quiet Vermont inn, where they're spending the summer, has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little "haunting" of their own. Before long, their supernatural pranks have tourists flocking to the inn, and business booms. But Travis and Corey soon find out that theirs aren't the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Can these siblings lay to rest the restless spirits they've disturbed?

All Tomorrow's Parties: The Velvet Underground Story HC - Koren Shadmi

An exploration of the group The New York Times called "arguably the most influential American rock band of our time," The Velvet Underground, and the complicated creative relationship they shared with legendary artist Andy Warhol.

Archie Horror Presents Chilling Adventures Anthology TP - Robert Hack

Welcome to the chilling world of Archie Horror, where demons roam the earth and terrifying tall tales come to life. From robotic rogues and inter-dimensional interlopers to sinister sorcerers and macabre mystics, this anthology collection has everything your horror-hungry heart desires. Riverdale and its surrounding areas are known to be hotbeds of strange happenings and paranormal activity, but sometimes things get downright disturbing, and even the most pure-hearted of people can't be saved.

Join the masters of Archie Horror, Madam Satan and Jinx Holliday (plus everyone's favorite talking cat, Salem), as they act as our tour guides into the realms of the unknown, plunge us into the depths of Hell and send chills up our spines! Featuring a retro, distressed cover by horror comic master Robert Hack. Collects seven killer comics: Madam Satan, Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, Jinx: Grim Fairy Tales, Weirder Mysteries, Chilling Adventures of Salem, The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, Happy Horror Days.

Art Brut HC Vol 1 - W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo & Mat Lopes

Presenting here the first major work from the creative minds behind ICE CREAM MAN-re-lettered, remastered, and under its original intended name! The world of fine art is falling apart, and only ART BRUT knows how to fix it. Alongside the Bureau of Artistic Integrity, Arthur Brut the Mad Dreampainter (and his trusty sidekick, Manny the Mannequin) must dive back into the very paintings that made him insane...or reality itself might just crumble to pieces.

A colorful, gonzo romp through art and art history, ART BRUT is equal parts police procedural, hyper-fantasy, and psychological thriller-a veritable Pollock-splatter of comics genres tossed onto one giant pulpy canvas! Each chapter features new cover art, new design, and a new Silver Age-style backup story featuring the art hero that no one's ever heard of-until now! Originally published under the title The Electric Sublime, this special hardcover edition presents the NPR-lauded, critically acclaimed material in its intended form.

Associate Professor Akira Takasuki's Conjecture GN Vol 1 - Mikage Sawamura & Toji Aio

Naoya Fukamachi is a university student whose ability to infallibly detect lies has left him friendless and isolated. When a paper of his piques the interest of his folklore studies professor Akira Takatsuki, a handsome and eccentric man, he soon finds himself dragged into Akira's research. Now, as the assistant in charge of common sense, he must help his professor interpret an array of unexplainable phenomena...

The Calvin & Hobbes Portable Compendium - Bill Watterson

Calvin and Hobbes is unquestionably one of the most popular comic strips of all time. The imaginative world of a boy and his real-only-to-him tiger first appeared in 1985 and could be read in more than 2,400 newspapers when Bill Watterson retired on January 1, 1996. This compact, portable new format is designed to introduce the timeless adventures of Calvin and Hobbes to a new generation of readers, and will fit easily into backpacks as well as on the collector's shelf. Featuring archival slipcase and cover art selected by the author, The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium pays tribute to the strip's origin in newspapers while appealing to both new and existing fans. This set is composed of two 144-page paperback books, including over 500 comics from the strip's debut in Nov. 1985 through March 1987. It is the first of seven sets total to be released between 2023 and 2026.

Cat-Eyed Boy Perfect Edition HC Vol 1 - Kauzo Umezz

From the mind of Kazuo Umezz, undisputed master of Japanese horror manga and creator of The Drifting Classroom and Orochi, comes Cat-Eyed Boy! This deluxe edition contains five classic horror stories featuring a mysterious and dangerous cat-eyed boy who lives among humans, comes from the world of demons, and is despised by both. In four morbid tales, he interacts with humans and monsters to often-devastating ends. Then, in a final story, Cat-Eyed Boy must decide where his true loyalties lie-or if he has any loyalties at all.

Cuckoos Three GN - Cassandra Jean & Mosskat

Murry Summerfield, relentlessly decent son of the farmstead, meets Jacob Durris, charming but troubled new neighbor. When he discovers why Jacob has moved out to the countryside, Murry has his hands full keeping his friend happy and dealing with his own blossoming feelings.

Fantagraphics' Underground X-Amount Of Comics - Don Simpson

The most famous never-completed masterpiece in comics history- Image Comics' 1963 by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and Rick Veitch-is finally given the irreverent, and completely unauthorized 72-page climax no-one ever asked for! Written and drawn in an authentic Old School manner, X-Amount is just enough to satisfy! A comic for the ages that may finish off the Silver Age once and for all! For sophisticated readers.

Furry Planet: A World Gone Wild - Joe Strike

Furries are the creative subculture of people who identify with animals. You can find them at furry conventions, furfests, worldwide-tens of thousands of people donning their most elaborate fursuits. In costume, furries unleash the animal within, letting their inner beasts roar and their inner cats purr, aware of the power-and joy-to be found in connecting with one's animal spirit and encouraging others to do the same. In Furry Planet, long-time furry and a media staple for commentary on the culture, Joe Strike-a certified "greymuzzle," as older furries are known-dives deep into this compelling subculture to share its appeal and rewards.

Giant Days Library Edition Vol 1 - John Allison, Max Sarin, & Lissa Treiman

The school year is just beginning at Sheffield University, jam-packed with new classes, new professors, new places to explore...not to mention new clubs, new cliques, and new shenanigans, too. For first years Daisy, Esther, and Susan, they've got new friends on lock, forming a tight bond from their very first days as next-dorm neighbors. But learning to navigate life as brand new (almost) adults isn't as easy as it looks, between old nemeses popping up, academic struggles, and new crushes on the horizon. It's a good thing these three have each other to help survive Hall Balls, bantering lads, and drama vortexes (vortices?)!

I Don't Know Which Is Love GN Vol 1 - Oku Tamamushi

With high school graduation approaching, Mei Soraike tries to confess her love to her best friend for whom she had long harbored a secret crush...only for her hopes to be crushed. But a little heartbreak is fine-because she'll absolutely, definitely, without a doubt get a girlfriend in college! And no sooner does Mei set her resolve than potential prospects start sidling up to her one by one...?!

I Don't Need A Happy Ending GN - Mikanuji

From office workers to high schoolers to a mistress and her maid, dive into a collection of girls love stories from the author of Assorted Entanglements! Mikanuji delivers a tantalizing mix of sweet and spicy in this anthology-including a brand-new epilogue for her short story "I Don't Need a Happy Ending"!

The Illustrated Guide To Monster Girls GN Vol 1 - Suzu Akeko

In the world of monsters, where scaring and tormenting humans is a way of life, even monster girls need to pass their classes, graduate and get a job! Enter Class Z: a bunch of failures more likely to be frightened and bullied themselves. Can this rag-tag group of underdogs become successful full-fledged monsters?

In Search Of Gil Scott-Heron HC - Thomas Mauceri & Seb Piquet

CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIP HOP! DISCOVER THE GODFATHER OF RAP!

Singer, poet and writer; considered to be the godfather of rap, Gil Scott-Heron is a myth and legend in the Afro-American music scene. Through his personal experiences, Thomas Maucéri discovers the life of this genius, alongside the complex past and present of the America that Scott-Heron lived in.

The Infinity Particle GN - Wendy Xu

This thought-provoking limited palette graphic novel by the co-creator of Mooncakes explores big questions through the eyes of an aspiring inventor and the lifelike AI she finds herself falling for.

Clementine Chang moves from Earth to Mars to start over. On the first day of her dream job working for Dr. Marcella Lin, an Artificial Intelligence pioneer, Clem meets Dr. Lin's assistant, a gorgeous, yet cold humanoid AI named Kye. Sure, Clem has built her own robot-a cute moth-shaped companion named SENA-but Kye feels almost... human. When Clem and Kye begin to work together, their chemistry sets off sparks. The only downside? Dr. Lin won't allow Kye to become more independent. And their relationship is causing Clem to question everything she knows about her work. After all, if Kye is sentient enough to have feelings, shouldn't he be able to have his own thoughts? Where is the line between AI and human? As her future and her past weigh down on her, Clem becomes determined to help Kye break free-even if it means risking everything she came to Mars for.

Lost Boy TP Vol 1 - Jay Martin & Frank Cvetkovic

The comics debut of accomplished music video director Jay Martin in a beautiful and heartwarming tale of adversity and survival.

In the aftermath of a deadly car accident in the remote Wyoming wilderness, a young boy escapes as the sole survivor. Stranded, freezing and without anyone around to help him, he struggles to stay alive as he attempts to find his way back to civilization. Along the way, through extreme tests of will, courage, and endurance, he discovers what it truly means to be tested, and learns that the secret to survival isn't always what you think it is.

Magic The Gathering Planeswalker: Notorious #1 - Cullen Bunn, Rich Douek, French Carlomagno, Carlos Pedro & Jahnoy Lindsay

Two of the most popular Planeswalkers in Magic: The Gathering history- fan favorite vampire Sorin Markov and the incomparable necromancer Liliana Vess, come together for a team-up that's not to be missed!

On a mysterious, unnamed plane, the two must work together to prevent a diabolical figure from unleashing hell on not only the residents of their plane of imprisonment... but other planes as well.

Mieruko Chan Anthology GN - Tomoki Izumi

The creepy, the crawly, the grotesque-the daily lives of Miko and friends when ghostly monsters lurk around every corner! The official comic anthology, brought to you by a variety of guest artists!

Bone: More Tall Tales GN - Jeff Smith & Tom Sniegoski

Jeff Smith's bestselling, award-winning Bone saga returns with this hilarious sequel to Tall Tales! Smiley Bone, Fone Bone, and their Rat Creature pal, Bartleby, take a group of young scouts to a legendary landmark that the Bone cousins found when they were kids. They share stories around a campfire, spinning tales of trips to the moon, the delights of quiche, an imagined monster come to life, and an encounter with the two stupid Rat Creatures gone hilariously wrong!

Mother Nature GN - Jamie Lee Curtis, Russell Goodman & Karl Stevens

After witnessing her father die in mysterious circumstances on one of the Cobalt Corporation's experimental oil extraction projects, Nova Terrell has grown up to despise he seemingly benevolent company upon by the town of Catch Creek New Mexico.

The rebellious Nova wages a campaign of sabotage against the oil giant, until one night she accidentally makes a terrifying discover about the true nature of the 'Mother Nature' project and a threat that could destroy the entire town.

The Never-Ending Party TP - Joe Corallo, Rachel Pollack & Eva Cabrera

Twenty-five years after losing her lover Lulu in a cult ritual for Dionysus gone wrong, Mindy Morrow is trying to live her life and put the past behind her. Unfortunately for Mindy, the past won't let her go. While she's taking care of her friend Flavia, her frenemy Kate is trying to lure Mindy back into the old club scene, and something more ancient and terrifying awaits them all. Collects The Never-Ending Party #1-5 from the ComiXology original digital series, in print for the first time.

Of Thunder & Lightening GN - Kimberly Wang

Debut author Kimberly Wang crafts a thrilling two-tone sci-fi graphic novel, growing the seeds of hope from the gravel of apocalypse. In a world where pop media meets military power, two idol-supersoldiers are locked in a world-ending conflict on behalf of their corporate nations. Battles blast across a dying land, both sides convinced of their own righteousness. Ragnarok looms on the horizon. Yet Magni and Dimo-young icons created for the sole purpose of eliminating the other-find their closest reflection in their opposite. Now, completing their mission means destroying the one who understands them most.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion Complete Omnibus Edition TP - Magica Quartet & Hanokage

With Madoka Kaname's sacrifice, the hopeless cycle that once bound every magical girl to a terrible fate was broken at last. Or was it...? All does not seem right with the world, and as Homura pulls at the loose threads of the girls' new reality, is it possible that an even darker destiny looms ahead? Revisit the complete manga adaptation of Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion- in this deluxe omnibus edition!

The Schlub #1 - Kenny Porter, Ryan Stegman & Tyrell Cannon

Failing dentist Roger Dalton blames the world for his problems until he is body-swapped with the world's greatest superhero. Can Roger save Earth and finally prove to his family he's not a loser? Or are we all doomed?

Stolen Sharpie Revolution: A DIY Resource For Zines & Zine Culture SC - Alex Wrekk

The go-to guide for all things zine related, this book contains everything you need to get started creating your own zines and participating in zine culture. Includes thoughtful lists and step-by-step guides on everything from definitions of a zine, where to find zines, and why zines are important. Brand new sixth edition published by Silver Sprocket.

Stuntboy: In Between Time HC - Jason Reynolds & Raul The Third

Portico Reeves is the greatest superhero a lot of people have never heard of. He likes it that way-then no one can get in the way of him from keeping other other people safe. Super safe. He's Stuntboy. He's got the moves. And the saves. Except. There's been one major fail. He couldn't save his parents from becoming Xs. Which is a word that sounds like coughing up a hairball. But don't talk to him about the divorce, because of the hairball thing, and also, it gives Portico the frets. What's also giving him frets is his parents living on two separate floors in their apartment building. He's never fully with one parent or the other. He's in-between, all the time. The in-between time. And the elevator is busted, so to get between floors means getting past the bullies who hang in the stairwells. So when Portico and new friend, Herbert, and best best friend, Zola, discover an empty apartment, unlocked, they are psyched. It's a perfect hideout, and hangout, and it's not half anyone's... it's all theirs. So they decide to make it their own...let's say with stunts of the drawing kind. Problem is, that gives some Grown Up People the frets, which leads to double frets for Portico. And he's not sure his arsenal of stunts can combat that.

The Naked Tree GN - Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

Critically acclaimed and award-winning cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim returns with a stunning addition to her body of graphic fiction. Adapted from Park Wan-suh's beloved novel, The Naked Tree paints a stark portrait of a single nation's fabric slowly torn to shreds by political upheaval. Fleshing out the characters in fresh, imaginative ways, and incorporating the original author into the story, Gendry-Kim breathes new life into this Korean classic.

Togue Oni: Primal Gods In Ancient Times GN Vol 1 - Kenji Tsurubuchi

In the ancient kingdom of Yamato, between the era of the gods and that of men, there was a time when the two coexisted. Miyo is chosen to serve as a human sacrifice to her village's god, Kippuuson-no-Mikoto, but she's not ready to die! Can Ozuno, a monk with the special ability to speak one-on-one with the gods, save her life?

Whatcha scooping up this week, Fantom Fam?

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twittercomfrnklin2001-blog · 2 years

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Death Spa

It's a pity I don’t drink. A little wine would be the perfect accompaniment for all the cheese in Michael Fischa’s DEATH SPA (1988, Shudder). It’s an anthology of ‘80s hair, work-out fashion and music-video dancing. Actually, this is the kind of movie where you come for the cheese and stay for the stupid. From anatomically impossible deaths to the misspelling of the closing song’s title in the final credits (“Killer Groove” becomes “Killer Grove,” more suitable for an Arbor Day themed horror film), this picture carries ineptitude to epic levels. William Bumiller’s health club is one hot mess. The man who set up the computer system hates him. His lawyer is trying to sabotage the operation so he can buy out Bumiller’s shares. And his dead wife is haunting the place to get him to join her in the fiery death with which she had ended her life. The plot is rather choppy, possibly because of extensive cutting to avoid an X rating (remember them?). But maybe I’m being generous. Having the club’s sabotage come from two different sources that never meet seems rather poor plot construction. That cannot, however, compare to the inanity of the rest of the film. One club patron (Vanessa Bell Calloway, in the film that, miraculously, got her cast in FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR), is speared by a locker (I’d say you had to be there, but even in the watching it made no sense). Her body turns up later with the wound in a different place. And then nobody ever finds her. For all we know, she’s still hanging in that damned locker. The film also shows us that working on a pec deck with too much weight can make your ribs explode, and one can survive a whole day after having one’s face burned off by acid. Most of the cast are interchangeable in their bland attractiveness, but the divinely gifted Merritt Buttrick, in the last film he made, is the eccentric computer geek who turns into a kind of paranormal Norman Bates. It’s the only role I’ve ever seen that totally defeated him. Ken Foree is on hand to look good. And Rosalind Cash, as a police detective, is the only performer who exercises any kind of authority. She keeps trying to grab the film by its ears to make it work, only, to stretch this metaphor to the breaking point and beyond, the picture doesn’t have any ears to grab.

#horror films #bad movies #'80s fashion

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cathygeha · 2 years

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REVIEW

The Aura Answer by Patricia Rice

Psychic solutions 5

Action-packed, riotous, excitement with two bodies soon falling start this murder mystery set in Afterthought, South Carolina. It was so much fun to return to this small town filled with interesting characters, find out how they are doing, watch them solve a mystery, and watch Nik and Gracie fall in love during the holiday season.

What I liked

* Gracie – divorced, single parent, schoolteacher, telekinetic, young daughter, wannabe author, part of the eccentric Malcolm family with paranormal gifts, intrigued by Nick

* Nick – British, marketing expert, stranded in the USA, staying with the Malcolms, interested in antiques…and in Gracie

* Seeing how the couples from previous books are doing

* The plot, pacing, writing and that the mystery was all concluded by the end

* The way the psychic solutions team worked together

* That I was drawn in and my attention held throughout

* The strong sense of family and community

* That Jax and Evie are still going strong and major players in the series

* How all the pieces of the puzzle were found and fit together seamlessly

* The holiday events

* Hoping that Iddy will have a book of her own in this series

* All of it except…

What I didn’t like

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* Having to wait for the next book in the series

Did I enjoy this book Yes

Would I read more in this series Definitely

Thank you to the author for the ARC – this is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

Blend holiday sugar and spice with a heaping spoonful of angry ghosts, then bring to a boil with one psychic detective... Ghost talker Evie Malcolm’s family converges on her eccentric Victorian home for a warm and welcoming family Christmas, but the murder of a former mayor requires that she investigate his cranky ghost. Evie's quiet schoolteacher sister Gracie reluctantly becomes involved while trying to help the family of a homeless artist who died weirdly in the same courthouse as the mayor. An offer by a sexy Brit marketing expert to help Gracie frame the late artist’s sketches appallingly evolves into another murder when they reveal the late mayor's corrupt business dealings. Evie is suffering spectral burn-out dealing with a mounting list of ghosts, but what she learns from Gracie tells her that if they don’t find the killer by the holiday, Afterthought is likely to be plowed under for a theme park in the new year—

#Patricia Rice #Psychic Solutions 5 #paranormal #romance #small town romance #crime #ghosts #murder #whodunnit

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inamindfarfaraway · 2 years

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The Phantomphase Girls

The Danny Phantom crossover AU of The Powerpuff Girls that nobody asked for but has taken over my mind.

The city of Townsville is home to the fantastically brilliant inventor Professor Utonium, who is working on his magnum opus, a portal to the Ghost Zone. Most believe ghosts and their home dimension to be nothing more than folklore, but the Professor knows they’re real and sees great potential to improve the world in the properties of ectoplasm and the technology it makes possible. Also, he believes in that scientific ideal of knowledge being valuable for the sake of it.

His fourteen-year-old adopted fraternal triplets Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles (that’s their birth order, meaning that’s the order they go in) have lived with him since they were infants. They’re accustomed to his eccentric inventions and helping him out in the lab. Therefore when the ghost portal seems to be a dud, Buttercup thinks little of daring Bubbles to enter it. Bubbles is too nervous and agrees only if her sisters accompany her. Blossom, eagerly examining their father’s most ambitious construction, accidentally hits a backup activation switch. The girls are killed changed by the portal ripping open through them - an agonizing experience that each will blame themselves for. They discover upon waking that they’re half-ghost, ectoplasm bonded to their DNA giving them ghostly forms and superpowers; meanwhile, the portal’s opening has unleashed many malevolent members of the Ghost Zone into their city. Well, the Professor raised them to be kind, altruistic and responsible. They know what they have to do. They have to stop all the ghosts that are coming through! They’re here to fight for me and you! And so, Townsville’s days are to be saved… thanks to the Phantomphase Girls!

Like in their original show, the girls don’t bother having secret identities. Everyone in Townsville knows they’re the local superheroes, as they can’t control their powers at first and quickly attract attention. This removes a lot of secret-keeping drama and allows their dad, teachers, classmates and all others that they interact with to take into account that they hold very demanding unpaid jobs out of the goodness of their hearts, but of course villains sometimes target the Professor and their friends. The girls wear light pink/green/blue, their respective ghost energy colours, with black and even less white accents. Their ghost forms wear their civilian outfits with the main colour and black inverted and the white turned silver, and their hair is white. Robin Snyder, their best friend and biggest fan, later prints their official logo, a swirling heart-shaped ghost portal, onto each of their tops in black with pink/green/blue swirls while they’re human.

Blossom has an ice core. It manifests passively as detecting the paranormal chill of nearby ghosts. She’s keen to scientifically determine the exact nature and capabilities of her ghost form, sharing the Professor’s intellectual drive, and masters her active cryokinesis pretty early on. Her eyes are uniquely affected, turning from brown to pink and glowing blue when using her ice powers. The team leader, she prefers to observe and analyze situations (so the eye thing suits her symbolically) and thoroughly plan before doing field work. She also understands the Professor’s ghost energy-related technology designed to aid their crusade against the dangerous ghosts and exploration of the Ghost Zone the best of the triplets and uses it the most frequently and effectively. Her main flaws are overconfidence and overachieving - she sets herself lofty goals and high expectations in both her civilian and superhero lives, wanting to do it all and grow up too fast, then brittly snapping when things don’t go perfectly.

Buttercup has an earth core. It manifests passively as her ectoplasmic body being naturally hard and firm as solid rock. This increases her strength and makes her the team’s heaviest hitter, a role she likes just fine with her aggression and love of adrenaline. It takes her the longest to gain her active elemental power, geokinesis, because she simply doesn’t consider the complications it adds to her straightforward fighting style necessary, and it requires the cocky, impatient girl to acknowledge her immediate powers aren’t always sufficient, wait and think about how to use her environment. Ordinary life has been boring her for years. So she finds true purpose and fulfilment in being a superhero - improving herself and helping people through her own merits and endless challenge - at the cost of letting her struggling grades and social life slip even further. Relating to her peers has never been easy for her, unlike her sisters, and now she feels still more isolated.

Bubbles has an air core. It manifests passively as super hearing, due to detecting sound waves in the air within a large radius; from there she learns to actively amplify sound waves in a new power, the ghostly wail, during a crisis and subsequently unlocks proper aerokinesis. Her blue hair scrunchies are transformed into translucent, faintly luminous rings of blue ectoplasm. Her pigtails are constantly blown upward by her ‘inner wind’ that doesn’t affect anything else. When she pushes her command of air to the limit, this inner wind dissipates her hair ties (which reassemble once she’s done) and fiercely whips her loosened hair. She definitely isn’t unwilling to use violence, but prefers to resolve problems diplomatically and keeps trying to befriend their enemies. She can be immature for her age, naive and overly trusting, and weak-willed in that occasionally she would rather maintain an unhappy or unhealthy peace than upset and argue with people.

Dick Hardly plays the role of Vlad Masters. University ‘friend’ of the girls’ father grown into a ruthless, heartless CEO? Objectifies the girls and wants to possess them for selfish reasons to the point of cloning them? Captures and tortures them to extract a particular aspect of their biology that will enable him to continue his cloning? Light hair in a ponytail? Come on! He’s a fire core half-ghost like Vlad, having taken a blast from a prototype ghost portal he and the Professor (read: the Professor with him taking the credit) built in university.

Mojo Jojo, Sedusa, Fuzzy Lumpkins, the Gangreen Gang, etc. and the generic monsters of the week are ghosts, either dead human souls or conceptual constructs and fauna of the Ghost Zone.

HIM is the oldest such Ghost Zone native, a primordial embodiment of evil. He rules a dark realm full of malicious spirits. And these three upstart little halfas who repel his minions and beat his twisted games… interest him. Basically, imagine if Pariah Dark was conscious and free in the Ghost Zone from the beginning of Danny Phantom. Yeah. Just be glad he’s mainly content to be a villain indirectly.

Princess Morbucks is the richest kid in Townsville and the haughty, spoiled rotten queen bee at Townsville High School. She’s consumed with envy toward the sisters’ fame and admiration by everyone and in her debut episode “Stuck Up, Up, and Away” has her father’s employees provide her with flashy imitation ecto-tech to attempt to earn a place on their team. They reject her for her lack of powers, but more importantly her lack of moral principles. Enraged, she decides that if she can’t join them, she’ll beat them. She becomes a rival ghost fighter and recurring antagonist bent on upstaging them. It would be easy to leave her the static character she is in canon. However, I can envision a slow burn redemption arc because although it’s based in spite and her massive ego, this Princess actually does good deeds. Protecting citizens, saving lives, being praised and respected for her deeds rather than her heritage or material possessions… feel weirdly good, given time. Between that and the greater threats of Mojo Jojo and HIM forcing her to cooperate with the PPG, she remains vain and petulant but gradually acquires moral restraint and compassion and becomes an antihero.

Brick, Butch and Boomer are unstable prototype clones of the PPG Dick creates in the episode “Kindred Spirits” (they aren’t younger like Danielle is). The plot goes similarly to Danny and Danielle’s plot there. Bubbles is willing to put their mysterious origins aside to make them comfortable, Blossom wants to believe they’re trustworthy but prioritizes answers and Buttercup doesn’t trust them at all. After they betray the girls and yet earn their sympathy for having Dick Hardly as a father, the boys’ loyalty is torn. They believe Dick loves them and his desires are inherently right, but he orders them to hurt the first people to treat them like people. The girls urge them to see that Dick will kill them once he no longer needs them. Despite hesitation, the boys cannot accept that. Meanwhile, the Professor notices his daughters are missing and tracks them to Dick’s lab. In the climax Dick has the PPG in containment chambers so he can sample their mid-transformation DNA to stabilize his perfect clones - who the boys are wrongly informed are them - and Professor Utonium breaks in to rescue the girls. His care and concern show the boys what true fatherly love is. At last they side against Dick and work together with the girls to defeat Dick and destroy the lab. The exertion is tragically too much for their molecular instability and they explode à la Bunny Utonium, leaving the technically victorious girls mourning their new friends. The guilt this causes them haunts them afterward, though the Professor assures them it wasn’t their fault.

In “The Boys Are Back in Town” a few months later, it’s revealed that HIM has resurrected the brothers to be his tools. He’s not only stabilized them, but altered their personalities to make them more instinctively cruel and sadistic and their cores to contrast and counter the PPG’s. Now Brick has a fire core and red ghostly eyes and ghost energy; Butch has a metal core (earth and metal are separate elements in Chinese tradition!) and his ghost body the tensile strength of ductile steel, rendering Buttercup’s ‘brute force at the problem until it stops being a problem’ strategy useless and forcing her to finally get the hang of her geokinesis; and Boomer has an electric core and his previously smooth hair spiky with static. And they have a collective title: the Rowdyraze Boys. Their logo is a red/green/blue and black ghost portal like the girls’, but shaped like a skull. Blaming the PPG for not stabilizing them and lashing out due to all their unprocessed trauma, they enthusiastically battle the girls, threaten people, wreck property and carry out HIM’s plans. The girls are as horrified as you’d expect. They, Bubbles most persistently, repeatedly reach out in friendship. The boys slowly recognize that they’re ensnared in another abusive parental relationship and take a stand against HIM. Trusting the girls again is a big step they aren’t ready for, so they travel the world to experience total freedom and pin down their own identities. Two years later they return to Townsville in peace and Sara Bellum adopts them.

@people_able_and_willing_to_make_fanart_of_this_please

#the phantomphase girls #i didn’t intend for the rowdyraze boys to be so sympathetic!#but they ended up fusions of the canon rrb and dani phantom and dick’s clones in ‘knock it off’ and maybe even a dash of bunny?#and princess gets to be redeemed because she’s kinda like a meaner valerie gray narratively minus the romantic subplot #so. congrats ppg. have fewer villains i guess #you deserve it #‘the ultimate enemy’ is blossom-centric btw ‘cause she’s the one who gets most stressed about exams and the future #and it’s that flaw i outlined of her thinking she can have the best of everything and putting too much pressure on herself to get it #and be perfect and successful with that being a huge pillar of her self-perceived identity #so despite much inner turmoil she’s willing to cheat #buttercup and bubbles die in human form in the explosion along with their dad robin and miss keane (who is a high school teacher here)#none of the girls would be willing to remove their very humanity if they had each other #instead of the ‘jazz knows the secret and danny finds out’ subplot buttercup and bubbles get their own subplot #the powerpuff girls #powerpuff girls #ppg #powerpuff girls au #ppg au #danny phantom #danny phantom au #dp au #crossover au

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shinesurge · 3 years

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It’s That Time Again

More webcomic recs! (The first batch is here.)

Thank you for your submissions! I’d like to mention that all of these comics are queer and anybody who gives a shit about my opinion is probably also queer so like, all that shit goes without saying even if it’s not explicitly listed in the blurb from the authors. anyway let’s get right to it.

Brainchild By RelaxMammal

Brainchild is a story about paranormal phenomena, bad first impressions, wide-scale conspiracies, a whole bunch of mutants, and everything else your senior year of college can possibly throw at you. It is written and drawn by Suzanne Geary and updates on Sundays.

Brainchild’s equivalent rating is “TV-14” to “TV-MA” for profanity, drug and paraphernalia references, potentially violent/frightening imagery, and sexually suggestive scenarios. (Think “Adult Swim.”) Now imagine a scary voice telling you “VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.”

Real nice dialogue, the art style and monster designs are super fun, and the plot is just starting to get rolling where the archive stops so now’s a great time to hop on I think!

https://brainchild.suzannegeary.com/

Into the Midnight City By cancan-jpg

Wyatt Finch has been a vampire for three months, and he’s just moved to The Midnight City - a town of ghosts and ghouls and magicians of all sorts! Together with Archibald Hawthorne (a soft-spoken gentleman detective) and Circe (an eccentric scientist witch), they solve magical misdeeds of all kinds, in a story about friendship, finding your destiny, and occasionally stopping for tea!

This one’s SO cute lmao. If you’re into Job Satisfaction you’ll probably like this one too, it’s more Pastel Victorian rather than Elegant Goth and significantly more saturday morning cartoon flavored.

https://intothemidnightcity.tumblr.com/

Ask the Ether By Mechandra

Ask the Ether is a slice-of-life comic primarily focused on three witches: Sable, Dax, and Meisha. Their stories center around their individual journeys to hone their magic, as well as balancing the struggles of being a young adult in a major metropolitan area. They all share common threads of having a difficult family background, being people of color deprived of their culture, and struggling to find an individual voice with their own witchcraft. All of the characters are LGBTQIA+.

This one’s a bit experimental compared to the others but honestly I loved it because I feel like it’s a good example of what a webcomic ought to be? One Weird Artist making things on their own terms, you can really feel the fingerprints on it. Starts out as more of a strip, keep reading for bigger stories! Stellar dialogue, really fun and dynamic art, also funny in a genuine sort of way that’s kind of rare in comics.

https://www.asktheether.com/

and now for a segment called Baby Comics With Archives Too Small To Make A Call About That I Think You Should Follow Anyway

Red Sky at Morning By Seaside-Cave

After a capture gone wrong leaves their fates quite literally entangled, a pirate captain and a mermaid must traverse a vibrant and diverse world to find answers – though the hardest challenge might be putting up with each other.

Red Sky at Morning is a queer story about fish puns, self-discovery, and proving your place in the world.

Can’t talk about the comic rn obviously BUT I will say I followed this artist instantly after I saw this unrelated short comic they made, for reasons that are probably obvious if you’ve been here for more than five minutes lmao. Really looking forward to getting my teeth in this one!

https://redskyatmorningcomic.tumblr.com/

There You Ain’t! By Garagoose

When a powerful relic goes missing in the wild west of Bouquet, bounty hunters Grey and Blajo, along with saloon owner Posie and wanted outlaw Eustace, find themselves swept into a struggle to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

Using movie ratings as a reference, I’d rate this comic somewhere around the PG end of a PG-13 rating, for various events of gun and magic-related violence, a bit of foul language, and mild body horror later on.

listen, i’ve been following garagoose since the fuckin dacademy days and i gotta say i’m just psyched they’re finally making a comic hehe

https://thereyouaint.com/

Honorable Mention that doesn’t really need the advertisement is the comics on Skelehime because I read them and they kicked my ass.

also mine! read my goddamn comic

Kidd Commander

It’s a world at the mercy of uncaring gods, and Phineas Kidd is a heretic with a chip on her shoulder and enough fury to outshine a supernova. Armed only with aggressive enthusiasm (and an explosive left hook), Phineas sets out to gather up a merry crew and travel to Kairos Crossing to catch the sun, an urban legend that has tempted countless dreamers to a bloody end.

Kidd Commander is a romantic comic that’s mostly concerned with ambitious characters doing cool anime stuff while being subjected to trauma and dealing with said trauma! Rated T for lots of (cartoon) violence and swearing, and a good deal of irreverence for topics some folks might prefer to leave revered. If any of that sounds like it might make you uncomfortable this comic may not be suitable for you!

http://kiddcommander.com/

If you’d like a comic (yours or otherwise) to end up in one of these, send me an ask or whatever and I’ll add it to my list of stuff to check out! The only requirements I have are I’d prefer for it to be a bit lesser known and it needs to be accessible in places other than tapas or webtoon because I am physically and emotionally incapable of engaging with either of those sites lmao. Happy reading!

#recommend comics other than questionable content 2k21

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