#original caption- 30 club

[statementlou]

was looking for something else, found this picture instead, LOOK AT IT!!

[pankowcrumbs]

Complicated ( Lando Norris X reader and Charles Leclerc X reader)

Work count: just over 7K

Plot: 

You are Lando's girlfriend but he has cheated on you. When you find out you find yourself at Charles's house and one thing leads to another and you guys end up having sex and then you're all confused because Lando tells you what really happened and you feel horrible for sleeping with Charles. Lando finds out you slept with Charles and you both decide not to stay together and move out but you get pregnant.

PS your name is Maeve i just felt it was easier to have an original character that you can put yourself in the shoes off - let me know any feedback! (I also want to note i wrote this around a year ago so please tell me if you like this writting style or my current more)

Please note this is 18+ and has sex scenes in it

It was 1 Am and I was still sat on the couch watching TV and scrolling through Tik tok, Lando was out with the  F1 boys Clubbing, It was a boy's night they did this every now and then which I loved, they were such a lovely and supportive group of men and I was glad he got along with them all. 

"hmm I guess we should go to bed huh Frankie," I said to our 2-year-old Dachshund and led him to the bedroom he settled into his little bed beside ours and I hopped under the fresh sheets and placed my phone on the nightstand and turned the light off rolling over to fall asleep. 

After what felt like about 30 minutes I was still awake just thinking about things I needed to do, I struggled to sleep without Lando which meant whenever he went away if I wasn't able to come I would constantly have trouble sleeping. 

I tossed and turned a few times before I decided to just go back on my phone until I felt sleepy. 

I was scrolling for a bit when I saw it. I had to sit up and rewatch it a few times and I kept zooming in.  It was a tikTok with the caption 'Lando Norris Spotted in a club in Nice Kissing a mystery woman who is not his Girlfriend Maeve Piastri fellow Mclaren Driver Oscar piastri's Twin sister. We will be interested to see if they have recently broken things off as they were spotted together just last week walking their dog Frankie in the streets of Monaco, Updates to follow.

"What the fuck" is all I say in disbelief 

I let the video replay and reply in my lap and I try and convince myself that isn't Lando but I know it is I'm not blind. 

I immediately call Oscar since he was there and I wait impatiently as it rings and rings. No answer shit. 

I text him 

Maeve: WTF Oscar where are you all? Did you see it happen? I'm freaking the fuck out here please call me. 

I need to speak with you, please

please call me as soon as you can 

I'm gonna throw up Im so fucking mad 

I wasn't getting a reply but I need to find out more so my next bet is Charles, he was the one I was closest with besides my brother and Lando, he's always been so kind and welcoming. 

I dial his number and wait for him to pick up 

"Mae, Mon Amour, what's wrong it's so late why aren't you asleep?" he asks 

I just burst into tears 

"oh my god Mae what's wrong love" he sounds very concerned 

"L-L-Lando cheated on me" I finally get out 

"WHAT," he says angrily "When?" 

"tonight....I saw a video" 

"send me the video," he says so I do I forward it to him for him to watch, I wait on the line still sobbing to myself. 

"I'm going to fucking kill him," he says 

"I can't get ahold of Oscar," I say 

"He Left the club hours ago, and so did I, I promise you Maeve if I had been there I would have not let that happen"

"I know" I went silent "I don't want to be here when he gets home" 

"I know mon amour I'll come get you. You can sleep in the spare room and in the morning you can talk to Oscar and see what you want to do okay?" 

"thank you, Charles"I get out through my tears 

"not to worry love I'll be there shortly" he said and hung up. 

"come on Frankie, Let's go to Charle's, daddy doesn't deserve to come home to us tonight," I say getting Frankie and taking him to get his collar and lead on. 

10 minutes later I heard Charles pull up the driveway and I grabbed the bag and quickly threw stuff in. 

when I opened my door I saw him standing there and he opened his arms for me which I graciously accepted 

"come on let's get going before he turns up" 

we got in the car and started Driving 

"I called Daniel and he said they didn't see it happen that he had gone off with a group of girls and they didn't think anything of it they said he just left the club but he didn't tell them if he was coming home or what he was doing" he looked at me nervously. 

I looked down and took a small breath "So what you're telling me is that he could have left the club with one of those girls right now and gone back to fuck her" I bit my lip as to tremble trying not to cry again and moved my head to face out the window. 

"I'm so sorry Maeve I promise we will fucking kill him when we see him next" 

"Oscar is going to kill him," I said still looking out the window.  "you know" I paused for a second, " Oscar told me to not get involved, he told me what he was like and I went ahead and did it anyway, I thought he would be different with me I guess I was just another name on his list" 

"Maeve" Charles says slowly. 

"No it's okay I've seen his true colours now, I should have known better is all" 

my sadness was turning into anger and resentment. 

When we got to Charles I put my stuff in the Spare room and Charles offered me a wine, which I accepted. 

I turned my phone off knowing I didn't want to speak to Lando when he got home and noticed I wasn't there 

we sat and talked on the couch for a bit trying to avoid the topic of what had happened that night so I wouldn't cry again. 

A few drinks later I was getting a bit drunk, I knew I wouldn't get to sleep tonight with my adrenaline I had passed the point of tired, Charles was good at distracting me which I was thankful for. 

We ended up playing some silly card games and were honestly beyond drunk by 5:40 Am when the sun was rising. 

"Charles look" I got up and walked to the balcony overlooking the Beautiful sunrise and the city of Monaco was breathtaking 

he came to join me on the balcony where we watched the sunrise silently. "Maeve" Charles broke the silence I turned my head to face him and realised how close he was I looked into his eyes and then down to his lips and back up again he did the same. the tension was thick or maybe it was just because of how much we had to drink 

"Can I?" he said in a low voice and I nodded 

I knew I probably shouldn't but with everything that had happened tonight I knew Lando had done worse. 

It started off slow and then became needy and sloppy he grabbed my waist and pulled me close to him. 

"hop up" he tapped my butt and I jumped wrapping my legs around his waist and he walked us back inside and to his bed. 

He placed me down on the bed and then pulled his top over his head and then gone were his shorts leaving him in his boxers. 

I also took off my Pajama top and bottoms leaving my breast bare and just a pair of Knickers on 

his eyes went wide as he saw me on the bed "well Fuck, Lando is a fucking idiot" 

"Shhh don't mention his name," I said back "Come here," I said and he did 

he crawled on top of me and began kissing again, he slowly made his way down my neck to my chest and over my breasts. He focused on one breast at a time the other in his hand making me moan a little. 

"Charles please." I said very needy for him down lower

he smirked and looked up and me as he kissed his way down further and hovered over my heat with my leg wide open. I could feel his hot breath over my Clit 

"Charles omg please do something" he giggled and pulled them aside and attached his lips to my core using his tongue to pleasure me sucking on my clit and then he added two fingers. 

He kept at it and I must admit he was very good at this. I was getting closer and starting to clench. He pulled away making me whimper and he came back up to my lips kissing me again and letting me taste myself. 

He pulled down his boxers and lined himself up at my entrance and pushed in after looking me in the eyes for confirmation. 

"Fuck" I said

"Oh Mon Dieu" he said and then he started speaking French under his breath 

he kept thrusting in and out and we were getting sweaty and our kissing got messier and he started kissing my neck again 

"I'm going to cum" he said 

"me too," I said back, truth be told I normally never came by penetration with Lando he usually had to use his fingers on my clit rubbing it while he fucked me for me to cum so this was a new experience for me. 

He came first and it wasn't too long after we came down from our high and he rolled off me. 

"I'll be back" I said and excused myself to the bathroom. 

When I came back he followed suit, 

We both lay in his bed under his sheets and the sun was flowing through the windows 

my eyelids were getting heavy and I let them fall closing my eyes and falling asleep. 

I'm not sure how long I was asleep when I was woken by a phone ringing over and over, 

"Omg can you please shut that thing up," I said out loud 

I heard a grumble next to me and then someone got up out of bed and answered the phone 

"Sault" I heard a familiar voice.

My head was pounding and everything was so goddamn loud so it was hard to pinpoint who it was.

I groaned and put the pillow over my head. 

"No she doesn't want to speak with him," the voice said "I don't know if that's the best idea she's asleep currently and it took her forever to fall asleep last night, what if I get her to call you later when she's awake and ready?" he paused before he continued "Okay thank you Oscar" and then he hung up I opened my eyes at the mention of my brother when I saw the room around me I started to remember what happened last night. 

"omg my head hurts so much" I said turning around to see Charles standing next to the bed Naked "omg Cover yourself up Charles" I yelled covering my eyes with my hand. 

"Wow rude." he laughed "I'm going to have a shower you can have one when I'm done" 

I ran through what happened last night and how I ended up in bed with Charles Naked. 

I rubbed my eyes and thought what the fuck have I done. I got up after Charles came back and had a nice hot shower which was much needed. 

Once I was dressed I got my phone and turned it back on and saw the notifications flood in from everyone the most were from Lando and Oscar but I saw ones from my parents and siblings who heard the news too.

"I better call Oscar" I said to Charles who was now in the kitchen making coffee 

"No worries" he said 

I pressed his contact and didn't wait long for him to answer. 

"Mae are you okay?" he answers 

I took a deep breath "Not really." 

"I'm so sorry Mae if I hadn't left early I would have been with him and this would have never happened" 

"Don't do that it's not your fault he made a decision that's all him, if he had been stopped last night he just would have done it somewhere else. OMG do you think this isn't the first time he's done this" 

"I fucking hope this is the first time I'm seriously going to give him an earful believe me and if Mclaren would let me I would probs make him crash next race" 

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you" 

"I know Mae it's okay I really thought he had changed for you" 

"Me too." 

"Do you want me to go over there and speak to him? He has been calling me all morning." 

"No that's okay I'll send him a text so he can at least know I'm ok not that he deserves that." 

"Okay call me later when you're ready I'll come pick you up."

"Okay, thanks Oscar love you." 

"Love you to Mae." 

The call ended and I decided to text Lando. 

Maeve: I'm at a friend's house. I don't want to speak with you I just wanted to let you know I'm okay and that I know. Please respect that I need space

Lando: Mae I Promise I didn't do anything please just hear me out It's not at all what it looked like I didn't kiss her

Maeve: Really? what's this then 

https://www.tiktok.com/@Newslive_Now/video/72729282397449936953602 (not a real link)

Lando: Maeve seriously I know how it looks I promise it wasn't like that at all please let me explain to you in person where are you? 

Maeve: nothing can change what happened Lando i can see it with my own eyes you can't argue with that.  

He didn't reply thankfully. 

I walked over to Charles and he handed me a cup of coffee Frankie was at my feet licking up some food Charles had given him. 

"How did that go?" he asked 

"Lando messaged me saying it was how it looked but what a load of shit you can't argue with that video." 

"it definitely is hard to argue when it's caught on video. Want some Breakfast" he offered

"Yes please I'm starving, it was an exhausting night." I said and then realised we hadn't addressed what happened last night "Um Charles we really should talk about what happened last night" 

he sighed and stopped what he was doing and turned around to face "Look Mae, Im not going to sit here and pretend I didn't enjoy what happened last night, or that I haven't liked you more than a friend for a while now  but we overstepped a boundary last night I know we were drunk and you were vulnerable and I apologise if you feel I took advantage of you." 

"Oh wow thank you for being so mature Charles." I sent him a small smile. 

"I do really like you Mae but I know you are not in the right place right now to even explore if there is something between us so I just want you to know I am not going to cross that boundary again unless you want me to." 

"Thank you Charles" I said as he went back to cooking breakfast 

it honestly wasn't a shock he liked me as I said he was the one who was the closest to me part from my brother and Lando and I had a small suspicion he liked me but thankfully never acted on it until last night. 

Charles passed me my plate of food when there was an aggressive knock on the door that startled us both.

I removed my gaze from the door and looked at Charles knowing who it was 

"Do you want me to go kick him out?" 

"I'll deal with it," I said getting up and walking to the door. 

I opened it and saw Lando honestly looking shit like he hadn't slept all night.

I closed the for behind me and pulled him away from the door slightly 

"what the fuck are you doing here?" I asked looking around the street to make sure no one was around.

"Daniel told me you were here I had to come and speak to you please Mae just give me 5 minutes to explain." 

"Fine 5 minutes talk fast" I sighed rolling my eyes. 

"Okay so I was there and this group of ladies came up to me telling me it was their friend's hen party and that her Fiance was a huge fan of mine and that he would be so jealous if she had a photo with me so I went over with them the bride was so drunk and while we were posing she kissed me, I pushed her off as soon as I could and nothing else happened that's all Mae I didn't even kiss her back and I left straight away the only reason I wasn't home quicker was I had to wait for an uber and they kept cancelling on me, I promise you, baby, I would never cheat on you ever I love you way too much" 

I bit my lip and looked away from him. Fuck what the fuck have I done. 

"Mae baby say something." 

"I just need a moment to think" I covered my face with my hands and started to swear "Fuck fuck fuck shit omg" I paused and pulled my hands down and looked at Lando looking so exhausted and shit and here I was fucked by his co-worker and friend last night...I'm the cheater, not him. 

"I'm such a fucking idiot," I said feeling so guilty I could be sick 

"What's wrong? What did you do fuck Charles" he joked a smile on his face laughing off what he said 

I closed my eyes and covered my face again with one hand and softly shook my head 

"Oh my fucking god did you Maeve?" he said shocked I didn't answer 

"Answer the fucking question Maeve" he was stern now 

"It wasn't like that" was all I could get out 

"Jesus Christ I can't fucking believe you my side of the bed was cold for 5 seconds and you went and fuck my friend, you didn't even ask me what happened before you went and fucked him"  he shouted. 

"I was drunk and in an emotional state I wasn't thinking I thought you had gone home with that woman" 

"But you never fucking asked me Maeve I would never do that to you, but you would" he was crying now and my eyes were getting teary. 

" you know what have a nice fucking life Maeve you and Charles deserve each other," he said and walked up the driveway out of the property to his car.

'Fuck me" I said wiping my tears that wouldn't stop falling from my eyes. 

I stood out there for about 10 minutes trying to compose myself before I walked back in to Charles. 

When I went back in he saw me crying and came to hug me "What happened." 

"He didn't cheat but I did" I cry more into his shoulder

"What do you mean he didn't cheat?" he asked shocked 

"She kissed him and he pushed her off and then he left and I'm such a fucking idiot, I told him what happened last night and now he's gone and honestly I deserve it I fucking cheated on him I'm worse than he is" I was a blubbering mess. 

Oscar came and picked me and Frankie up later that day and took me to his. 

I didn't want to outstay my welcome so when I knew Lando was out the next day I went back to our house and packed up all the things I would need and dropped Frankie off at home and then Oscar dropped me at the airport, I was going to go home for a bit to London and just take some time to heal I stayed at a hotel for a few weeks not wanting to cause a fuss at my parents.

The media was in a frenzy it was all over the news and all F1 media, Lando got a stern talking to from Mclaren Oscar told me and I heard from Daniel that Oscar also gave Lando quite a talking to even after knowing the truth of what happened he still was mad at Lando for the kiss happening in the first place. Lando had to release a statement on what happened. 

Charles hadn't reached out giving me my space and I was glad that i couldn't think about it or I would feel sick to my stomach with what happened. Apparently, Lando went over to Charles and they had a fight that ended with Lando punching Charles. 

Lando hadn't spoken to me but had organised with Oscar for all my stuff to be moved out. 

He told Oscar he was mad at me for what happened but didn't blame me he told him he blamed Charles for taking advantage of me in the state I was in and getting me drunk while I was already in a vulnerable state and Charles told Lando about how he felt about me and that's when he punched him saying he probably made me think bad of Lando so Charles could get in my pants a swoop in. 

I felt sorry for Charles, as much as yes he did take advantage of the situation he had apologised and backed off and was mature about it I didn't think there was any ill intention. 

4 weeks after staying at the hotel I decided I needed to get myself an apartment so I went flat hunting and found a small one-bedroom in Belgravia and signed the lease. I was ready to start fresh away from Monaco. 

2 months in my new flat and I was out at the supermarket and went down the toiletries section. I was glancing at the shelves when I saw the Pads and Tampons and I realised I hadn't had my period in two months. 

God I was a fucking idiot I put a pregnancy test in my trolley (shopping Cart for all the Americans) 

When I got home and had packed away my shopping I took the test. I waited the 3 minutes anxiously.

My phone timer went off and I flipped over the test and saw the 2 pink lines. Well fuck. 

Who's the fucking Father.... Charles or Lando? both of them I had unprotected sex with around the same time. 

I have no idea what I do next.

I decide to call my brother cause he was the one person I was closest to, Being twins we shared everything. 

It rings a few times before he answers. 

"hey Mae, what's up?" 

"Oscar I'm going to tell you something and I need you not to freak out" 

"well now I'm worried what's wrong?" 

"I'm...pregnant" 

silence 

I can hear him breathing and he lets out a big sigh "Do you know who the father is?" 

"No, I mean I slept with them both within a couple of days it could be either" 

"Alright what are we going to do?" 

"No Oscar not we. I need to be a big girl and do this myself." 

"Mae seriously what are you going to do, turn up to their house and tell them to give you their DNA? Can you even find out this early?" 

"Yeah you can, I don't know do you think there is a better way to do this? I've never exactly plan for this to happen." 

"I know Mae I'm sorry it sucks this has all happened you gonna fly out here then?" he asked I could hear the pity in his voice. 

"I guess I'm gonna book a doctor's appointment first to get all checked out and then I'll come I'll text you when I get an appointment." 

"Okay Mae, hey whatever happens you know you have us all and we will support you" 

"I know thanks Osc, love you." 

"Love you too Mae." 

time to book an appointment 

I got an appointment for the following Monday and it was all I could think about what was I going to say to them both? 

I laid down on the table and the technician pulled my top up 

"This might be a bit cold.," she said and squirted the gel onto my stomach area

I take a breath and look up at the monitor on the wall and that's when I see them. My beautiful baby my heart just melts that's a little me in there. 

"There they are not a shy little one they are looking at about 3 months is that about right?" 

"Yeah 3 months." 

"And you had no symptoms?" 

"Um I mean none that I attributed to this I was a little sick I thought I just had food poisoning but it went and I mean I have been out of breath and a bit fatigued but again I didn't think I was pregnant I just moved back to London so I just thought it was because of that" 

"Okay well that's okay not everyone gets all the typical symptoms, and bubs seems to be healthy so just make sure to take it easy from now on, we will do another scan at week 18 but  we can book a check-up if you want in between just to get your blood test done and any tests you may want to do, and I see on your form you noted you would like to do a DNA test will you be bringing in the potential father or just a sample?" 

"Um can I do that just get a sample?" 

"Yeah it's just a cheek swab so if you want to get him to complete it and then send it off to the lab for testing we can take a blood test sample today so we have that on record" 

"He's in Monaco do I have to get him to fly to London or can I bring the swab back?" 

"He can take it in Monaco and then you can mail it I can give you a parcel for it" 

"Thank you," I said and looked back up at the little baby on the screen 

"Would you like to know the gender or are you wanting to wait?" 

"Are you able to write it down for me so when I'm ready I can know?" 

"No worries" she goes to write it down and then when she comes back she goes to take some blood and completes some health tests on me. 

Walking out I look at the photographs from the sonographers and took a picture to send to Oscar. I hadn't told the rest of the family yet only because I wanted to know who the father was first. 

I went home and packed for my short trip back to Monaco and spoke with Oscar and his girlfriend Lily while I packed and spoke about the appt. 

"Who are you going to ask to do the DNA test?" Lily asked 

" I was thinking Charles only because why bother Lando who clearly wants nothing to do with me unless it is his baby and I don't want to bring up everything that has happened unless I need go" 

"Good thinking, Lando's has been in a real mood ever since best not to annoy him unless needed"

"Have you started showing?" Lily asked

"yeah only the last few days I've really started to pop and can see my little belly so who knows how long until I can't hide it anymore, I'll have to tell the family as soon as I know and have discussed a plan" 

"Yeah wow this is so reaI i can't believe we're gonna have a niece or nephew" Lily seemed excited and look in any other circumstance iIwould too i love kids and I've always wanted to be a mum but it was so scary to think of the future of me and this baby.

"Alright well we have to go I'll pick you up from the airport in nice tomorrow at 9AM okay?" Oscar said and I nodded 

"Thank you love you both bye."

They waved and ended the call. 

Once I finished packing my small bag I settled on doing a bit of work on my laptop before bed. 

I was so glad to work was so flexible for me, I was a social media manager for a few clients as well as having my own social media make me money with Advertisements and sponsorships. 

the next morning I was up early to travel to Heathrow for my flight. Luckily the airport wasn't too busy this morning and I went through quite quickly and waited for my flight. 

After the short flight I arrived in Nice and went out to see Oscar waiting for me, He pulled me into a tight hug 

"Missed you Mae." 

"Naw I always miss you Osc, I don't like not being in the same town anymore" i looked at him sadly. 

"You didn't to leave you know, you could have stayed" 

"I know I just needed some space and time away to get myself in a good space" 

"I know! come on let's go I wanna take you out to breakfast before I talk you to see Charles" 

"Okay sounds perfect" 

We drove to Monaco which wasn't far from Nice and just chatted about life and the drive there.

He took me to our favourite Cafe.

"So do you know if iI'm having a Neice or a nephew?" he wiggled his eyebrows 

I laughed "About that I'm gonna give you something to hold onto and yes you can read it but I swear to god Oscar if you do read it I don't want to know just yet what gender the baby is" I said seriously 

"Omg no I can't be trusted with no spilling that secret" 

"Give it to Lily then it's so tempting to look but I want to save that for when I know if it's Lando or Charles we find out together" 

"Oh god just promise if I do read it and spill the beans you won't yell at me lol" 

"No promises" I laugh and sip my juice 

After breakfast, he dropped me off to Charles' house who was aware I was dropping by as Oscar asked him if he would be home

I walked down the driveway and knocked on the door 

He opened the door. 

"Mon Amour I missed you come in" he gave me a small hug and stepped aside to let me in.

"Thanks for seeing me." 

"Of course, Oscar said you needed to speak with me, Please sit can I get you a drink?" 

"Just a water please" I smiled and sat down on his couch. 

"Sure" he smiled and disappeared in the kitchen

when he came back he set the drinks on the table and sat on the couch next to me "How have you been?" 

I smiled and let out a small laugh "I've been better but the reason I'm back and sitting here in your living room is that I um..." I paused" Fuck this is a lot harder to say thanIi thought it would be" I took a breath and he placed a hand on my thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

"It's okay take your time" he gave me a nod of encouragement 

I took a sip of water and then a deep breath "Im..Pregnant" I watched his eyes go a bit wild and his mouth fell open a small bit

"Oh, and i'ts mine?" he looked at me questioningly 

"truthfully I don't know so I need a DNA sample to test with and I didn't think Lando would speak to me " 

"Oh Mon amour I'm so sorry you're in this situation its completely my fault I didnt even remember that we didn't use protection to be honest id just assumed even drunk I would have remembered that" 

"Yeah I didn't think about it either and Lando and I had been intimate in the same week and he had just pulled out so there's still always a chance it was him. which serves us right for using the pull-out method if it is his" 

he sighed "Still I feel guilty for my part in all of this" 

"I'm sorry he punched you" I said 

"Dont be I deserved it" 

"I'm sorry you're now in this position too, if I'd noticed my period was late earlier I could have taken a pill and we wouldn't be in this situation right now" 

"Oh Mae I wouldn't have wanted that and you know Lando wouldn't have either" 

"Anyway here is the cheek swab and the parcel you can do it and post it whenever you feel like it they already have the babies DNA on file" I said and looked down to my belly and rubbed it and his eyes followed suit 

"You know Mae if it's mine, I will love and support you both forever you know that right? I know it may not be exactly how I planned to be a father but my Papa was the greatest man alive and I will strive everyday to be half the man he was for that baby" 

I place my hand on my heart "I know Charles, you know he is already so proud of the man you are" 

"Thank you Mon Amour, I'll get this test done ASAP and send it for you so you can know"

"Do you want to see a photo?" I asked and he nodded a smile on his face 

I reached into my bag and brought out the Photos from the ultrasound. 

"Oh wow look at them so small and beautiful like their mama already" he said taking the photo from me and making me smile looking at him. 

I spend a few more days with Lily and Oscar in Monaco just hanging out before leavving back for London and thankfully not bumping into anyone else I know and especially not Lando.

2 and a half weeks later it was a normal day I had been out for an appointment for work when I came home and checked my letter box seeing I had 3 letters I took them into my apartment and flicked through them as I took my shoes off, one from the bank, one from the local council and one that didn't say who it was from. I opened that once first as I was curious to see who it was from hoping it was the DNA results. 

The letter read: 

PATERNITY TEST 

Dear Miss Piastri, 

We recently received a sample From C. Leclerc to Compare to the sample provided by you regarding the paternity of the unborn Child. 

Alleged Father Details 

Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc  16 October 1997.     HECAASGU_0032

Mother Details:                                                                                                                                                             Maeve Elizabeth Piastri    6 April 2001.    HECAASGA_0034

Regarding the sampling of the participants please refer to the protocols in copy. We received the originals of the identity confirmations and of the consent statements. 

Method:DNA isolation was carried out separately for all samples. Genetic characteristics were determined by the following PCR-single-locus-technology analysis. 

Results: 

The results of the analysis are shown below: 

DNA-System DNA-criteria Charles Leclerc

HID123830_001DNA-criteria Charles Test

HID123830_002AM X, Y X, Y

D3S1358 14, 15 14, 18

D1S1656 16.3, 17.3 16.3, 13.3

D6S1043 11, 17 15, 19

D13S317 9, 12 8, 9

Penta E 10, 16 14, 18

D16S539 12, 15 19, 13 

In all analyzed PCR systems, Charles Leclerc does not show the genetic markers which have to be present for the biological father of the child. The biostatistical analysis of the PCR systems was performed according to the method of Essen-Möller. The probability of Mr. Charles Leclerc being the biological father is < 01.9999 %.

Conclusion: Based on our analysis, it is practically proven that Mr. Charles Leclerc is not the biological father of the child. 

"oh Shit"  I breathed out. 

Lando is my only thought. I need to tell him. I'm already 4 months pregnant now he needs to know. 

I booked the next flight to Nice which is tonight and quickly packed a small bag and got ready. 

I left for the airport and organise a car to pick me up in Nice. when the car arrives at Landos... and my old house it's about 9PM 

I thank the driver and walk down to the front door. I take a deep breath before I knock. 

I wait patiently as I hear him coming down from upstairs and Frankie barking like mad already down to the door like always. I had a jumper on that was a bit baggy so it isn't as obvious that my bump is there for when he opens the door. 

The door swings open and he looks taken aback "You're not my Pizza" he says 

"I'm sorry to just show up like this am I able to come in and talk?" I ask 

"um.." he hesitates "Sure" he steps aside and lets me in 

"I'm sorry this was a last-minute trip I've come straight from the airport and I wouldn't come unless it was important" 

he looks at me expecting me to spit it out while I was here 

"Right sorry, I'm here because well" I pause for a small second "I'm pregnant and it's yours" 

He blinks his eyes a bit and then they get wide looking at me as if I am a fish out of water 

"You're what?" he said shocked

"pregnant" I pull up my jumper to show my belly through the tight white top I had underneath

His mouth falls open while he stares at my bump he closes his mouth and sits down on the chair just behind him just staring straight. 

a knock at the door goes off and he doesn't move an inch. 

I look at him and realise he hasn't even noticed the knock

"I'll get that then" I said slowly and began to walk towards the door and answered it and took the pizza from the delivery man and walked back towards the living room with it and put it down on the table. 

he is still sitting where I left him 

"you're scaring me Lando" I said and put my hand on his Shoulder 

"You're pregnant....and it's mine?" 

"yeah I got a DNA Test done" I said and put the letter down and the photo from the sonograph. As it landed on the table it caught his eye and he reached to pick them both up, 

"So you thought it was Charles'?" 

"I had no idea and I thought it would be easier to ask him to do a DNA test because I didn't think you would speak to me" 

He closed his eyes and shook his head a little "So wait how far along are you?" 

"4 months" 

"4 MONTHS," he said loudly "Holy shit so your'e like almost halfway" he covers his face. 

"I'm really sorry Lando, I had no idea I was pregnant until it was too late" 

"You now I don't blame you for that night, I was so fucking mad at myself and at Charles and at you I just exploded, but you thought i'd cheated and so you went to Charles for protection and he fucking used you the bastard, you were in such a vunerable state and he was the one who gave you all those drinks and knew he could take advantage of you in a situation like that and he should have known better. I mean your not completely innocent in this all but neither am I and I get it why it happened" 

"None of it ever should have happened but it did and I'm sorry that it all happened" 

"Dont you apologise, I know you're sorry and I'm sorry we  are in this situation, I guess my pull out game isn't as strong as I thought and my Sperm seem to be as fast as Max verstappen " he jokes cracking a small smile. 

"Ew" i laugh "So what happens now?" 

"I don't know Mae, I mean I always knew it may happen and although it happened in the complete opposite way I imagined, its' still happened so I guess we just do the best we can. Do wanna start as friends and take it slow and find ourselves again and if we're meant to be then we will get there and if not we deal with it as it comes. 

I nod almost crying. 

"Oh come here you" he says getting up and giving me a hug "You wanna stay for pizza and Frankie cuddles?" I nod into his shoulder. 

"I'd like that" I replied. 

We sat down and then I remembered 'You better call Oscar and put him out of his misery he knows the gender he hasn't spoken to me in 4 days because he was worried he would spill the secret" I laughed and so did Lando 

He pulled out his phone and Facetimed Oscar 

"wasssapp" Oscar answers the phone and immediately sees us both in the frame 

"OMG OMG OMG RED ALERT MAE I CAN NOT KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT" he panics 

I laugh "It's okay Oscar you can tell us" 

He burst into a smile and takes a big breath "You're having a little boy" he bites his bottom lip with happiness 

I let out a breath and my eyes start tearing up and I turn to Lando "a little boy Lando"I say as he wipes away a few stray tears 

"I'm gonna have a little boy to race with" he says and looks over to me in disbelief 

"He's gonna be a Piastri Fan I can feel it in my bones and wanna race with Uncle Oscar" 

We laugh and have some small talk before he let's us go to work everything out 

"you wanna move back in?" Lando asks grabbing a slice of pizza and handing it to me 

"I would love that, I've been so lonely" I say honestly 

"me too, it's just not the same without you here" he says and Frankie jumps up on the couch and cuddles into me "We've both missed you so much"

[ohyoufool]

I love supporting journalism but NYT is paywalled and we all need some GOOD NEW QUEER COMICS so posting the full article under the read more!

Original Article

By George Gene Gustines

June 9, 2023

‘The Dog Knight’

Frankie Jude Bryant is a nonbinary middle school student who is dealing with identity, the usual academic challenges and, oh yes, trying to become the Dog Knight, a champion for humans and canines. Despite the presence of magical talking pooches, this journey of heroism and self-discovery feels grounded thanks to captions that get into the head of Frankie, who prefers they/them pronouns. On the first page, they think, “Do you ever feel like you don’t make sense?” Later, Frankie muses about their frenemy Dallas, who misgenders them: “She gets it wrong on purpose just to make a big deal about correcting it.” And when Frankie finds their tribe, “For the first time in a long time, I look in the mirror and I don’t feel a pain in the pit of my stomach.” Written by Jeremy Whitley, drawn by Bre Indigo and colored by Melissa Capriglione.

‘Marry Me a Little: A Graphic Memoir’

The cartoonist Rob Kirby chronicles his 2013 march down the aisle in Minnesota with his longtime partner, John Capecci. The story highlights where gay marriage stood at the time (each state was making its own rules before same-sex unions became the law of the land in 2015) and looks back at Jack Baker and Michael McConnell, who somehow were able to obtain a marriage license in Minneapolis in 1971. The personal recollections are powerful and honest: Rob remembers when he first casually used the word “husband,” which felt like “a small but genuine political act.” He also acknowledges the white, middle-class privilege that allowed him ambivalence about getting married. His ultimate conclusion: “Marriage does not define a relationship. Unless you want it to.”

‘Gatsby’

The messages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” — about social status, love and chasing dreams — are revisited in the present with a racially and sexually diverse set of characters in their 20s. Gatsby is a Black tech millionaire looking for a love who got away, and Lu Zhao, the stand-in for Nick Carraway, is visiting from Singapore and summering on Long Island (where a $5,000-plus afternoon shopping spree highlights the casual wealth). The main characters are refreshingly blasé about their sexuality: Lu’s girlfriend, Alexis, asks, “How do you identify?” But Lu’s answer does not really matter as Alexis says, “I love being on this journey with you. I’m here for you no matter what.” Written by Jeremy Holt, drawn by Felipe Cunha and colored by Dearbhla Kelly. 

‘Hex Americana’

The cartoonist Bree Wolf spins a tale about auto racing, teen romance, monsters and ghosts. Flesh-and-blood Ken forms an unlikely alliance with Dante, who died in a previous race and haunts his car as a ghost. A successful partnership will allow Ken to compete in the annual Grand Prix and help Dante move on to the afterlife. The more than 300-page story packs in a lot of character growth, action, flashbacks and drama. The relationship between Ken and Karen, his mother, is particularly nuanced. Karen is supportive of her son, who is gay, but she struggles with how to correct her overbearing friend James when he makes thoughtless jokes about Ken. (Iron Circus Comics. Aug. 30.)

‘Death Drop: Drag Assassin’

The Gayborhood, as it is called in this five-part series, has seen better days. Thugs feel empowered to assault young gay men, and a drag queen named Lunaira has gone missing from the club Posterior Delusions. Residents have little faith in the local police. Enter Death Drop, a former hit man and current drag queen, who is pushed by Mother Henny, the hostess of the club, to find Lunaira. “She’s a queen of color who has been missing for more than two days,” Mother Henny says. “You do the math.” It helps that Death Drop and Mother Henny used to date. Let the investigation begin. Written by David Hazan and drawn and colored by Alex Moore. (Scout Comics. June 14.)

‘Turtle Bread’

Kim-Joy, a British baker and cookbook writer, teams up with the artist Alti Firmansyah for this story about Yan, who is struggling with low self-esteem and social anxiety. When Yan finds a local baking club, she is plagued by doubts about whether she will fit in or be liked, but she soon learns that everyone struggles in different ways. Yan eventually becomes confident enough to rally the club members to seek out and support one of their fellow bakers who needs it. Yan would qualify as an ally, but there are characters with significant roles in the story who are gay and lesbian. And there are recipes, including one that gives this story its title. (Comixology Originals. Available now.)

Original article

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — May 28-June 03

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

05-28 → Gong Jun posted four photos of clouds to his Instagram, caption: “Casual shots” and his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Watch  Clouds” Fan Observations: Lots of candy for this one:  -  This was the anniversary of the Word of Honor table read.  -  The “Take a lover’s hand and watch the clouds unfurl” line from Word of Honor.  -  On 2020-09-29, Zhang Zhehan posted photos of himself in front of a lake with the caption “Watch ☁️”. These were the photos where he’s in the red waffle lovers club shirt that Gong Jun has in black.  -  Zhang Zhehan once said in an interview that rather than saying it explicitly, he would post a photo of clouds to let his fans know when he had fallen in love. 🥺

05-29 → Nothing of note.

05-30 → Deeyeo posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun. 

→ L’Oreal posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun. They later also posted a commercial to their Xiao Hong Shu.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ L’Oreal posted a commercial from Cannes featuring Gong Jun, Elaine Zhong, and Zhu Yilong. 

→ Zhenguoli posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted a video of the concerts. It was noted that this was not posted by any of the “official” accounts on Weibo, likely because of the photos being removed before.

→ Net-a-Porter posted three photos of Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun appeared at the BAZAAR Icons red carpet charity event. [livestream clip]

→ Gong Jun posted six photos of himself from that day. Caption: “Wearing sunglasses 😎 Thanks to @贵族巴萨 @小莉BAZAAR for the invitation!” He also posted these to his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Hold back  Can't smile!” and his Instagram, caption: “Out of season!”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted twelve photos of him from that day. Caption: “The night is getting darker, and the contrast becomes interesting. @ Gong Jun Simon went to the party appointment!” 

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a video of behind the scenes footage from that day’s photoshoot. Caption: “@ Gong Jun Simon is fully equipped 🕶️ ready to execute mission No. 1129 🔛” BGM is Seine Geschichte (X Years Mix) by Alberto Rizzo.

→ BAZAAR posted two photos of Gong Jun from the red carpet. Caption: “Don't be arrogant or impetuous, always have the original intention, and have a hot heart, and enjoy the sun with @ Gong Jun Simon!”

→ #Gong Jun’s phone lock screen is Huahua*# got on Weibo’s entertainment hotsearch, with the lock screen having been caught on camera after the event. *a panda

05-31 → A trailer was released for Hidden Strike (aka Project X-traction), an action comedy movie starring Jackie Chan and John Cena that Gong Jun filmed a minor role for in 2018. 2023 is given as the release year, no more exact date yet.

→ Gong Jun posted a commercial for L’Oreal. Caption: “Sunny heat wave, scorching heat is coming! Dry, red and sensitive skin after sun exposure? Bring the brand new #欧洲雅团安药粉丝# Hydrating for a summer, a piece of soothing redness, a strong barrier, and @巴黎欧光雅入to open up the translucent skin in good condition!”

→ Deeyeo posted two photo ads featuring Gong Jun. [1] [2]

→ L’Oreal posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

→ BAZAAR posted a photo from the previous evening of Gong Jun and Dilreba each receiving an award for Popular Icon of the Year.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a douyin of him from the previous day. Caption: “All departments pay attention ⚠️ Mission number 1129, @ Gong Jun Simon starts to act” BGM is I’ll Do It by Heidi Montag.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. 

→ Gong Jun posted two photo ads for Tangle Teezer to his Xiao Hong Shu.

→ Tangle Teezer posted a video of behind the scenes footage from the photos Gong Jun posted.

→ Gong Jun commented “[3 shiba inu emojis] Very handsome!” on the singer Fan Chengcheng’s post of photos from the BAZAAR event, one of which included him. The two reportedly started following each other on Weibo.

→ BAZAAR posted a photo of Gong Jun from the red carpet.

→ Fresh posted a promotional “interview” spoken by Gong Jun.

→ Zhenguoli posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

→ BAZAAR posted a collection of photos from their event, three of which included Gong Jun.

06-01 → A Bulgarian fashion house, On Aura Tout Vu, posted photos from the Zhang Sanjian concert about an outfit they had made for it. They also posted these along with a design sketch to their Instagram. Fan Observation: It’s very odd that they would wait three weeks to post these, it’s suspected that it might be them trying to gain social media attention after seeing how much Jason Wu’s suit for Gong Jun got. At the time they posted the photos they had just over 1500 Twitter followers, which at the time of this post has risen by about 300.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted six photos from his trip to Thailand back in February. Caption: “It’s the holidays, of course I still want to go to the beach to play ~ @ Gong Jun Simon (working hard to film and not travel version) I wish you all stay childlike forever, happy holidays!”

→ Deeyeo posted two photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ Rare posted two gifs of Gong Jun wearing a shirt by them, taken from video filmed by fansites after the BAZAAR event.

06-02 → Several people posted photos of “Zhang Zhehan” at a Mayday concert. Fan Observations:  -  One of the people who posted photos is an executive director of one of CAPA’s subunits.  -  The imposter was wearing a conspicuous lace shirt and nothing to hide his face, and in at least one photo he is looking directly at the camera. It’s clear that the intent was to have him be seen.

→ The Instagram posted three photos of a tortoise and six of “Zhang Zhehan”.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

06-03 → Bluebird posted about a screenshot that has been passed around several Chinese group chats alleging that at the Bangkok concerts, Zhang Sanjian badmouthed Li Xuezheng. At the time of this post it is unverified if this is true.

→ Gong Jun posted a vlog of his trip to Cannes. [subbed video] Caption: “The business trip vlog that hasn’t been seen for a long time is here!” BGM is Argonauts by The Little Ones, Younger by The Hails, Some Summertime by Olsson & Grant, As The World Caves In (Wuki Remix) by Sarah Cothran, and I Want You Back by The Jackson 5.

→ Zhenguoli posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Bluebird made a post showing that in the span of eight months, EHz.Z changed recipient companies ten times, with none of these including Zhang Zhehan’s name anywhere. These companies are located in three different cities. (For those unfamiliar: this is evidence of money laundering.)

Additional Reading: → N/A

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

[1900scartoons]

Political Golf

August 1, 1908

Mr. Taft aims for Bryan's golf-ball head with his golf club big stick.

The caption reads 'Mr. Taft Is Planning To Take A Little Of This Kind Of Rest For A Few Weeks.'

On July 30, the Minneapolis Tribune reported that Taft would be spending the month before the start of the presidential campaign in Hot Springs, Va. On the day he arrived he played golf and discussed politics with Senator Bourne.

See Also: William Howard Taft; William Jennings Bryan

From Hennepin County Library

Original available at: https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/Bart/id/6902/rec/2032

[mayansmcsblog]

the prank war has began

sooooo i saw this gif and instantly got an idea but as i wrote it, the idea completely changed and somehow it turned into this.

there is a ton of swearing😂

credit to @thedevilsmoonshine​​ for the gif!

thanks to @withmyteeth​ for helping me with some ideas of what to add in.

this is the first time I've wrote anything in years and the first time I'm ever publishing my work. sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes

A persistent ringing was what woke you up at 2am for the 3rd time this week. You already knew who it was, let's face it who else would be calling at 2am other than him? Opening your eyes you rolled onto your back, staring at the ceiling debating if you should let it ring out or answer

What if he’s hurt? No, that would have happened during the day not in the middle of the night Maybe he just needed someone to talk to? That was the likely option.

 You and bishop always had a ‘vibe’ as some people said. You were friends for a few months before he introduced you to the mc, of course it was a shock at first but after a month it slowly became your life. All the parties? you were there. Club events? You were there.

Overtime you and bishop had gotten closer, he would come over to your place all the time, announced or not.

he would come over in the dead of the night when his mind got too loud ,When he needed someone to talk to ,When he simply wanted the company of a friend that did not judge him for the things he did for the mc. He would come over any opportunity he got.

You could swear he was at your place more than he was his own Most of the time he would spend a few weeks at yours, only going back to his to get clothes.

Over the course of the last 6 months you and him had gotten a lot closer, he spent the night a lot, his stuff is all over the place but you two aren't dating , you didn't have any type of label. Why? You couldn't be sure. Most people assumed you two were dating but they were wrong. You two did everything normal couples would yet- you had no label. you were never his girlfriend and he was never your boyfriend.

Taking a deep breath you reached to your bedside table and grabbed your phone but as you could pick it up, it stopped ringing.

That’s not a bad thing right? Maybe he didn’t want to wake you up. Before you could set it back down you reserved a text, scrolling down your notification panel you read it;

📲: Bishop 🖤

You up?

Two words. That’s it just two short words.

Should you ignore it? Yeah, that's probably the best option. Did you want to ignore it? No

Another ping brought you out of your thoughts

📲:Bishop🖤

The guys are being children and I could either use some help over here or a way out😂please tell me you're awake and not just reading this from your notifications and watching Netflix again.

he knows you too well. Being a night owl you normally go to sleep around 3am, maybe 2am if you have work the next day. Normally you would just ignore bishop till the next morning but somehow he always knew when you ignored him and when you were actually sleeping.

Taking a look at your notifications again you saw you had a lot for snapchat, a  few from Coco, a few from Angel along with one single snap from Gilly.

Looks like the trio is having fun.

Opening bishop’s texts you finally reply;

📱: I’m awake just debating on if I should open all the snaps I have from the trio and reply to a seemingly annoyed jefe.

Almost immediately you got a response

📲:Bishop🖤

Ha-ha very funny. Come and sort your boys out, they are messing with that shitty ass car again, trying to do something with the engine

📱: my boys? You're their president, you sort them out. What makes you think they listen to me🤧?

📲: Bishop🖤

They actually like you😂they will listen

📱: keep telling yourself that, they only listen to me when I’m getting them food

📲:Bishop🖤

That counts as listening

📱: whatever

Locking your phone you got up out of bed knowing there was a slim chance you would go back to bed till the early hours now that you were awake. 

Putting on a pair of shorts and a shirt you got your phone and went to the kitchen, deciding to get on a bottle of water and find some shitty Netflix show you wouldn’t even pay attention to

Grabbing a bottle from the fridge you heard your phone vibrate on the counter. Pulling down the notification panel once again you saw it was a text from Ez

📲; smart ass😂📚

Please come and get these children, I can't deal with them anymore

Okay something is seriously going on here.

Face timing Ez you set the phone back on the counter, moving towards the window to open it and let the cool air flow thru the room

Within seconds he accepted and his voice came over the speakers

"Ayyy y/n where you at? Come get the children. Me and bishop are going crazy over here" you could hear a hint of playfulness in his voice 

Picking up your phone you saw he was sitting on the steps outside the club, his phone in his hand angled so you could just see the side of his head while he was looking at something in the distance. 

"I'm at home like all of you should be by now, leave the children alone to play. Are they hurting anyone?" you said as  you headed towards the front room and sat on the sofa

"Not yet"

You could hear cursing being thrown around by numerous people in the background along with the clacking on metal and rock music in the distance.

"Yet?" You questioned

"Yeah, I mean other than themselves" he laughed

"Of course"

There was a few beats of silence before you heard Coco shouting

"Boy Scout! Who’s that eh? You got you another girl?" By his tone you could tell he was definitely high

"No it's y/n dumbass" he responded, turning the phone so you could see Coco walking towards him.

"Ohhh damn I thought you was about to get some man" by now Coco had took over the whole screen "heyyyy y/n what you doinnnnn"

"I’m about to hang up on your dumbass"

"No, no, no don’t do that" taking the phone off Ez he stood up "that’s not nice is it"

You could hear Ez asking where he was going with his phone and be replied with a simple "shhhh" as he walked back to where he originally came from

"Want to see something funny?" He said. You weren't sure if that meant he was going to show you Angel tied to a chair again or Gilly attempting a backflip.

Both are amusing but it's doubtful it would happen three times....

"Did you tie Angel to a chair again? What did I tell you about playing nice hmm?" You put on the most sarcastic voice you could

"Ha funny and no...We couldn't find and ropes"

That made you laugh way more than it should have because you knew that Bishop had hid them in the meeting room and under Ez's trailor after the last time they guys got drunk and thought it was a good idea to put rope all over the place like an obstacle course

"Coco you're gonna kill someone at this rate”

"Hush ight? Jesus be quite ino want em to know your here"

"Okay?" Putting yourself on mute you could hear Angels voice in the background along with Gillys and bishops

"Listen," Angel said , slapping something metallic, clearly as high as Coco was and seemingly having one of his 'genius idea' moments

"OI dumbass listen to meeeee" he said again

"What?" Gilly responded along with a sound of something metal hitting the ground "dammit Angel you made me loose the fucking 10mm socket again"

The camera was still pointed at Coco’s shoulder as he walked over

"Boys, boys, boys" damn he sounded like a child "what would you say if I told you I could get y/n  to being us food"

You audible groaned as he suggested that, there was no way you was going to get them food this late at night.

You heard both Gilly and Angel say "what" then "tell her to get McDonalds" or "let’s get subway" by they were quickly cut off

"Oi children! Stop it, it's  2:30 in the morning, leave her alone '' bishops' voice was closer than you expected. He was probably sitting in the garage with the others observing what they are doing and making sure they don’t kill each other

You couldn’t help but unmute yourself

"Sorry Obispo but the children need their food" your tone was playful, kind of, half of you was saying it just to annoy him, the other half was wanting to see his reaction

"Gimme that phone" within seconds Coco was gone from the screen and Bishop was in the frame 

"So this is why you haven't replied to me hmm?" You couldn’t tell if he was serious or playful

You hadn't missed his text? He never responded to you right?

"Hold that thought" you pulled down the notification panel and saw he did text you.

2:15

📲:Bishop🖤

I’m kicking these guys out in a few minutes

2:20

📲: Bishop🖤

I’m giving them 3 more minutes till I kick them out.

2:23

📲: Bishop🖤

Can I come over if it's not too late after these children leave? "

"Oh, sorry I was busy talking to Ez and then being stolen by Coco" 

"Nah you were just ignoring me wasn’t you?" He responded

"No totally not"

"Sure I totally believe you" he laughed

"I think Ez might want his phone back"

"Wow, nice to see you like speaking to me"

"Well then why don't you call me instead? At least smart ass wanted to talk to me, even if it was about the children of the mc"

The line went silent for a moment. All you could hear was the guys cursing about finding the 10m socket and the sound of bishop walking.

"Okay, I’ll be back in like 20 minutes" with that the line went dead, he didn’t even give you time to respond

 Wow he deadass hung up on me, how mature.

Maybe it was time you opened those snaps. What else did you have to do?

Opening snap chat you saw there was a purple bubble next to Coco, a red bubble next to Angel and a blue bubble next to Gilly.

You opened Gilly's first

12:22~

"What time does McDonald’s close?"

Followed by

"Nvm its 24 hours isn’t it😂😂"

You quickly replied "dumbass" and moved onto Angel’s chat.

Opening the snap it was a picture of Coco, Gilly and creeper sitting opposite him, beers in hand, while seemingly talking along with the caption

"Come party with us"

Skipping past the snap you was presented with another one, this time a video where Coco was sitting on the roof of a car while Gilly was attempting to push it

"C’mon man it's not that hard" Coco said

"Yeah man come on" Angel said from behind the camera

"Shut up before I make you do this" Gilly responded

What the hell have these guys been up to all night?

The snaps just got worse from there. 

Coco’s was full of them doing random stuff, throwing things at each other and even them sitting on Ez trailer roof? How did they even get up there, and how did it not break?

One of them definitely stood out from the others. It seemed like someone else was filming on his phone while Coco was trying to rip off a car door by the handle but it snapped off, sending Coco across the garage and into the wall while Gilly, Ez and Angel laughed at him

His only response was a simple "okay you mother fucker this is war" followed by his practically running like a horse in battle towards the door kicking it resulting in a bent. Unfortunately that's where the snap ended.

Is this what they had been up to? No wonder bishop wanted out.

When the cascade of snaps finished you saw there was still a blue bubble next to Coco's name, clicking on it you could see it was a video around 3 minutes long. 

You saw part of it was what you had already seen. Coco trying to pull the door, being flung into a wall, the guys laughing along with Coco kicking the door once again except this time it didn’t end when he kicked the door.

"Bro you’re not doing it hard enough" Angel stated while moving Coco out of the way

"Look you gotta-" he kicked the base of the door "-start from the bottom-'' he kicked it again causing the bottom to cave in slightly "-see? It's easy"

"Shut up man I’m stronger than you let me do it" Coco pushed Angel out of the way

"No" Angel responded, pushing coco slightly

"Yes" Coco pushed back

"No" Angel pushed again

This went on for a few moments before Gilly set the camera down on some type of surface before walking over to them

"Yo I'm stronger then both of you let me do it"

Coco stopped pushing Angel and turned to Gilly "Nah man you will steal all the shit and run off again like last time"

"Shut up man"

All three of the men were too busy arguing to notice Ezekiel had come into the garage in search of something

"Why the fuck are you guys arguing?"

All of them spoke at the same time

"Coco is sayin he’s stronger than me"

"They are children!"

"Angels tryna be a smart ass"

"You guys are fucking stupid" Ez moved towards where the phone was but didn't pick it up, rather opening the draw of the desk that was below it and picking something up, as he pulled back you could see he was holding some keys.

"Move“ He pushed Angel out the way of the door and unlocked it, grabbing a duffle bag out of the back seat, handing it to Coco

"Here"

All of the guys stood in a state of shock. Coco was the first to speak

"Why the fuck didn’t you tell us there was keys!" He exclaimed

"Because watching you guys be idiots and is fun to see you struggle"

"I swear to God I’m going to say no on your patch vote" Gilly butted into the conversation.

Ez just laughed as he walked away, the video ended shortly after all three of them cussed.

Shaking your head you laughed, of course they are dumb enough not to look for keys.

You quickly texted Coco

"You guys are dumb as shirtttt, you’re lucky Ez is around to help your dumbass's. Did the door not want to play nice hmm? Did you put a dent in the wall again with your fat ass? What was so important in that bag?"

Checking the time you saw it was 2:45

Thank god it's a Saturday tomorrow.

Setting your phone on the coffee table you realized you never put the TV on when you sat down, you were obviously too distanced by FaceTime, meaning you were sitting in silence.

Was silence a bad thing? No

Was it somehow deafening? Yeah

Grabbing the remote you turned on the TV, quickly going to Netflix in an attempt to find something decent to watch.

Your watch list was full of horror movies and crime documentaries. Definitely not the best thing to watch on your own. There were a few suspense movies on there but none of them seemed to interest you.

Going to the movie section you passed almost every more option from horror to romance to action because nothing grabbed your attention or seemed interesting.

Going back to the home page you looked at the screen for a few minutes

Was it even worth putting something on? It was almost 3am after all.

Grabbing your phone you decided to scroll through Instagram.

After a few minutes bishop’s name appeared, taking over your screen with an incoming FaceTime.

Accepting the call you were immediately greeted with the site of his kutte, followed by him putting his helmet on. By the angle you could tell his phone was resting between his handlebars and the fuel tank.

"I take it you're still awake then" he wasn’t looking at the screen. Rather he was looking in the distance just above his phone

The background suddenly filled with the sound of bike engines. He seemed to say something but it was overpowered by bikes, so you didn't hear what he said. His bike wasn’t turned on yet because the phone wasn't vibrating.

Suddenly Bishop reached his arm out to someone just out of frame and you saw him lift upwards off the seat slightly, someone’s hand patted his shoulder blade.

By the look of the tattoo on the wrist you could tell it was Coco.

Looking away from your phone you looked back up at the TV. You could still hear engines coming from your phone but now it sounded like 3 of them.

Almost simultaneously they all revved before pulling off. The sound slowly faded out as they got further out the compound.

You were still looking at the TV, you decided to look at the top 10 of the day, maybe there was something good on there.

The Meg

Reading the description it actually seemed like a good movie. Putting it on you set the remote down and looked back at your phone

This time bishop wasn’t in the frame at all. Rather you could just see the length of his bike and the wall behind where it was parked.

Where did he go?

Your question was quickly answered when he picked up the phone.

By the sound of the wind you could tell he was jogging somewhere. The phone was at his side facing outwards, you could see him approaching the steps to the clubhouse. He quickly went up them and opened the door

"Prospect!" He shouted "make sure you lock up, I’m heading out"

You could hear Ez reply with a quick "okay" from somewhere in the back

He picked up his phone so you could see his face. unlike before, you took the time to actually take in his appearance 

His eyes looked tired, his beard was longer than it usually is, he looked...well, you couldn’t describe it. He just didn’t seem himself.

You were too busy looking at him to realize he asked you a question

"Y/n"

"What?"

"Did you not hear me?"

"Oh- no sorry I turned my volume down because of the bikes"

"Oh" he paused "I asked if your door was open"

You looked at the screen for a second

"What?"

He placed his phone back on the fuel tank and straddled his bike

"I said, is your door open. You know like your front door.....to your house" he repeated, grabbing his helmet, he must have taken it off while you were looking at the TV, once again he was fastening the buckle.

"No? Why?"

"Do you want to unlock it?" you could see him kick the stand of the bike up by the way his leg moved.

"Why?" You asked he looked at the screen for a few seconds before laughing at the way your face changed as you realized what he meant

"Obispo are you inviting yourself over once again?" You questioned

"Yep"

"What if I don't let you in?" You challenged. Of course you would let him in but sometimes it was fun to mess with him

"What if I climb through a window?" He said, pulling a cigarette out his pocket and lighting it

"Okay now that's just creepy" you laughed. He shook his head as he blew out the smoke from his lungs

"So? Can I come over or not?"

Looking around your front room you saw it was a little messy but you could easily clean it up within 5 minutes.

"Sure"

"See you in 20 querida" he winked as he started the bike before ending the call.

~

You finished cleaning the front room, kitchen and your bedroom up within 10 minutes

Checking the fridge you saw that there were only 4 beers left, taking a mental note to get more the next time you go shopping.

Sitting back on the sofa you realized you had missed around half of the movie.

Pointless watching it now

You knew by bishop coming over there was a good chance you two would be awake till 4am talking about random stuff and watching something on Netflix or playing some type of game.

You also knew he liked action movies so you went to that section in search of one that sounded entertaining 

The platform ~ that didn’t sound so bad right?

Watching the preview, you became interested and wanted to watch it, forget Bishop you can watch it on your own.

"The ones above, the ones below and the one before" the voice of a man came over your speakers, he sounded young but old simultaneously.

You had just got past the introduction when you heard the rumble of a bike in the distance. For a moment you wondered if it was off the TV but as it got louder you realized it was bishop.

Getting up from the sofa you walked towards the door.

You set your hand on the door handle for what seemed like hours as you waited for him to pull up outside. Did you normally meet him at the door? Nope. Most of the time he would invite himself over and just sit down on the sofa with you for hours.

Sometimes you two spoke the whole time he was over until you both went to bed, other times you would sit in a comfortable silence- just happy to me in one another's presence.

You heard the engine cut off just beyond the door. You counted to three before unlocking it, as you did you saw Bishop was parked on the curb, still sitting on his bike while setting the helmet on the handlebars. He was yet to notice you standing at the door.

Taking a cigarette out his pocket he turned towards the street, looking at the houses to see if your neighbor's were awake, you had no idea why he did it but every time he pulled up, whether it was in a car or on his bike he always seemed to look at the neighboring houses.

He lit the cigarette, back still turned to you as he looked down the street. Leaning against the door frame you looked him over you could see that his posture was slouched indicating he was tired, he still had one hand resting on the handlebars almost like he wasn't just looking down the street but also trying to crack his back. The other hand was on the cigarette in his mouth, even from the distance from the doorway to the curb where he parked. You could see his leg was bouncing and so was his hand slightly, now that definitely wasn't normal.

 As he exhaled the smoke he turned around towards your house, jumping slightly when he saw you standing at the door. He seemed to compose himself as he took the keys out of the bike and stood up, walking towards you, his head bowed slightly as he tossed the cigarette onto the food

“I hope you are going to pick that up” you said 

“I will” he looked up at you, he was just beyond the porch steps. His eyes looked tired, there were clearly bags underneath them. He was definitely tired- if you knew anything about him ,he probably hasn't slept for a few days, and if he did it was for a short time

“You look tired”

“So do you” he cracked a small smile, by now he was standing in front of you

“Maybe because someone woke me up at 2 in the morning then I had to deal with grown ass men asking me to bring them food then suddenly someone decided to invite themselves over?”

“In my defense i thought you were still awake and the children wasn't my fault” 

You laughed as you moved away from the door frame and towards the kitchen “just come i stupid before i lock you out”

“Ouch that's harsh” he put a hand over his heart “that insult really hurt” he walked threw the door and shut it behind him, hanging his kutte up on the coat hook in the hallway along with his jacket

“Stop being a wimp” 

You heard him move into the front room and sit on the couch.

“Want a beer?” you asked as you went in the fridge for another bottle of water

"Yeah- what's this?" He questioned

“What's what?”

”On the TV dumbass” 

Walking back into the front room you saw he had his hand behind his head, his phone was on the table along with his keys.

“Oh, the platform. It seemed interesting so I started watching and only someone distracted me” you said as you handed him the beer and sat on the sofa, leaving some space between you and him.

“What's it about?”

“Not too sure something along the lines of some type of prison system where the food is on a moving platform, I only just started it”

“Hmm” grabbing the remote he pressed play while sipping his beer.

You two sat in comfortable silence while watching the movie but every so often you would look over at bishop, partly to make sure he wasn't asleep and partly to see if he was okay.

Over the time span of 30 minutes you noticed he wasn't watching the movie, rather he was looking at the wall clearly spaced out somewhere in his own mind. He was sitting so his right elbow was on the arm rest and his right hand in his mustache, messing the hair lightly. He always did that when he was thinking about something. His other hand was resting in his lap holding the beer you gave him.

“Bishop?” you waited a few moments but he didn't respond “Bishop'' you repeated, still no reaction. Taking the beer from his hand you set it on the table, putting your hands on his cheeks you turned his face toward you “bishop”

“Hmm?” he finally looked at you. Removing your hands from his face you looked him in the eyes

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing” he said shaking his his head

“Don't lie to me” your tone came out harsher than you intended he raised his eyebrows at you

“sorry didn't mean to sound like i was being mean” you pulled away slightly with the intention of going back to where you originally sat but that idea was quickly thrown out the window when he grabbed your torso and practically picked you up, sitting you on his lap. He put his head in the space between your shoulder and neck while rubbing his hands down your back

“What's wrong Obispo?” you asked once again, putting your hand in his hair, playing with it slightly.

“I'm just stressed” his voice was muffled as he spoke into your shouder

“About?”

“Everything” he moved his head so he was looking up at you “the stuff with Marcus leaving, the mc as a whole with the guys turning against each other ,all the shit going on with other clubs. Everything is just a mess and it's stressing me out” he explained. You kept on hand playing with his hair while the other went to his cheek

“Can you do anything about it?” you asked, he cocked his head to the side slightly clearly not understanding what you meant ”can you do anything about that stuff?” he looked at you for a moment before shrugging his shoulders

you continued “Marcus made his own mind up, you can't do anything there. The mc always sorts itself out, members fight, it's normal, you of all people should know what.” you explained while using your thumb trace the lines across his face caused by the lack of sleep

“Yeah, i guess you're right” he leaned up and kissed you softly “I have to say, I'm a president of a fucking mc and yet your smarter then me”

“I'm not smarter than you, I just look at what's happening and think about in the moment, where as you” you poked his chest lightly “ seem to think its a good idea to overthink stuff and look at consequences a year in advance that will probably never happen” He hummed in response before putting his head back into your neck

“Can i ask you something?” you asked

“You just did”

“Very funny” you moved to get out of his lap but was quickie pulled back down

“What was the question?”

”What the hell was in the duffle bag? coco sent me the video them trying to get it and it seemed like they really wanted it”

“Oh” bishop almost immediately started laughing to the point his whole body shook and his head was thrown back.

“Tell me stoopid” you slapped his chest slightly, playing with his shirt

“Well you see- me and Ez thought it would be funny to lock it in a car that needed scraping while they were getting high and then tell them the doors didn't work to see how long it would take for them to it but Gilly ended up pushing it from the front by the fighting cage to the garage” he managed to get out

“That didn't answer my-”

“Just wait” he cut you off “neither me or Ez knew what was in it but those three are too stupid to just break a window so they were attempting to get it for a good 20 minutes before Ez opened the door and got it out” he explained still laughing slightly “turn out it was just full of junk food and snacks they brought to eat once they get hungry later ”

“You two are evil”

“No we was having fun” he laughed

“Evil”

Just as bishop was about the respond his phone started to ring, you moved out his lap and sat back on the couch while he get up and went out the back to answer it.

looking at the tv you realized the film wasn't interesting you at all. Grabbing you phone you saw you had a snap from coco and one from angel 

what did they do now?

opening the app you clicked on to yours and Angels chat only to find a simple text

“if coco send you a video, delete it”

what?

“why” you replied before swiping off the chat and going onto Coco's. inevitably you where present with a video and a chat 

“Pease, please watch this it will be the best favor you ever do for me 🙏🏽”

your curiosity got the better of you, clicking on the video you immediately recognized the place.it was Angels front room. Gilly was chuckling lowkey behind the camera while coco was next to the door on a stool with a bucket in his hands while laughing. The camera panned down to show Gilly holding a bag of flour, now you could only assume that the bucket was full of water 

surely this couldn't end good

within a few seconds the door opened and angel walked in, coco immediately reacted throwing the contents of the bucket on top of his head while Gilly threw the flour over him.

Angel immediately froze, his face going into a startled expression followed by on of anger. Shutting the door behind him he shook of the excess flour before locking the door.

Gilly and Coco where in hysterics as Angel turned towards Coco and lunged for him, coco had a quick reaction and ran towards the backdoor , only to find it locked 

“fuck” he cursed looking for ways to escape, looking at the kitchen window he seemed to weight out his chances. by now Angels attention had gone towards Gilly who was still stood in the same place laughing. Angel lunged for him, tackling him to the ground while coco grab the phone from Gillys hand and made a run for the kitchen.

There was a lot of laughing from Gilly and shuffling in the background along with Angel cussing him out , then there was a bunch of laughing from them both of them but you could make out Angel saying “you think that shits funny huh?” “watch me key your bike” “ I'm gonna get you back so hard man

suddenly the phone was tossed out the kitchen window, shortly after you could see coco's head and body slowly emerging from the kitchen window. after a few seconds he finally managed to crawl out. picking up the phone he began to jog down the front yard 

“ha bitchesss I'm freeeee!”he exclaimed “the one time being skinny pays off”

in the background you hear a door unlock followed by Angel shouting “run bitch cuz I'm fucking coming for you”

then the video cut off

you where sat on the sofa crying from laughing so hard you quickly saved the video and texted coco back

“that is the best thing I've seen in months😂”

just as you started to calm down you started to hear bishop laughing from outside the backdoor. almost imminently he walked threw the back door in hysterics 

“did you-did you see-” he could barely talk in-between laughing 

“did i see the video?” 

“yeah”

“yes i saw it” you laughed

taking his phone he turned it towards you, it was a FaceTime from angel covered in flour, his beard was a littler of loose flour and a clumpy mess of flour and water. you couldn't help by laugh at his serious expression

“not funny y/n” he said clearly angry. in the background you could hear Coco and Gilly laughing

“you watched the video didn't you” it wasn't a question rather a statement 

“yeah” you replied still laughing 

“fuck sakeeee” suddenly he cut the call of cause both you and bishop to laugh even harder

~~~~~~~~

so yh this was men to be a fluff with bishop but i got distracted and it just kind of turned into the start of a prank war between Coco, Angle and Gilly.

[berlinini]

A freaky friday contest is being held. The winner gets to be louis for a day. Your the lucky pick ! What all crazy things will you do ? You can use his socials, contacts eveything. 24 hours only, clock is ticking. All the best.

OMG thank you for this ask!!! It’s such a great question! I made up a little scenario that’s part what I would do if I was Louis and part what I wish Louis would do. It has a plot twist at the end!

24 hours… Let’s say the day starts at 7. Here’s my schedule:

7 am: I wake up and freak out because I realize I’m in Louis Tomlinson’s body. It’s momentary because I realize I’m in Louis Tomlinson’s body sooooo… I start exploring said body. I mean, what else would I do??? I’m joined by Mr. O and we have incredible, mind-blowing sex.

9 am: I decide to unleash chaos and post an after-sex selfie on IG. No caption. Just messy hair and glassy eyes. I go on Twitter, change my Twitter bio, unfollow all the larries and tweet "Good morning! Vas happening". Mr. O makes me breakfast in bed. It's really good (he's a great cook), and I have no choice but to thank him in a special way.

10 am: I shower in what I imagine is the biggest shower I’ve ever seen. I wash my beautiful long hair with expensive products that smell divine. I then go to my walk-in closet and spend a lot of time touching and smelling the clothes. I try a lot of different stuff on. I can’t stop looking at myself in the mirror. I admire the penguin tattoo, for probably too long. I settle on wearing my bleached jeans and some soft jumper, preferably red. I take a selfie and send it in a bunch of footballers’ dms. Kun replies "you look good, mate". Mr. O asks why I’m blushing.

11 am: I call the lads and we meet up for lunch at a nice, private pub. We have a lot of fun. I make fun of Oli (lovingly). The hot bartender is flirting with me and I flirt back.

2 pm: I log into my computer and find some old demos. I leak the original LT1 on Soundcloud. My manager calls me to ask what the hell is going on and I tell him he’s fired. Him, the whole team, the PR team, everyone. I put down my phone and go take a walk with the dogs. It’s a beautiful day. I get an iced coffee, I sit on a bench and write down some lyrics ideas. I record some messages for fans with lots of "fank you's".

3 pm: Mr. O picks me up in his super fancy car. We take a drive around London, somewhere with beautiful scenery. We talk and laugh and sing songs on the radio. We park the car somewhere with a nice view and have a snogging session. We talk about the future, about Mr. O’s successful career and my upcoming tour. We take really nice pics, including some silly ones. He lends me his sweatshirt because I'm cold.

4:30: time for some afternoon tea and pastries. I call some friends and family. Play some FIFA on the Xbox. I text James McAvoy and Sam Claiflin, just because I can.

6 pm: footie game with the lads. After the game, all sweaty, I take a picture of me wearing shorts and a headband and post it on IG as a story with the caption: "is it me or it's hot in here?".

7:30 pm: Mr. O picks me up again (he loves taking care of me and I love being driven around). We go back home. He’s been cooking so it smells delicious. The fairy lights are on. Then: Shower. Sex. Supper.

9 pm: the guys from the band arrive to chill and we have a few beers. We jam for a bit, we cover Beautiful War, I get a bit emotional. I do a IG Live of a few songs, without saying anything, because I’m a chaotic king. We drink more beers and talk about music and the upcoming tour. I jokingly flirt with Matt.

11 pm: someone suggest that we go out so we end up in some fancy, exclusive club where I can dance in peace with bald men and/or Mr. O. Lots of fun, alcohol, good songs. Luke joins us and makes me laugh.

2 am: I drunk text footballers and then drunk tweet "I once was in love with one of my bandmates" then 20 minutes later I tweet a picture of Zouis. It’s still early in the US so Zayn actually facetimes me asking what the fuck is going on. He’s smoking a joint on his tractor. We have a conversation that makes no sense but we laugh a lot and promise to meet up soon. I’m super happy. Shots!!! Harry calls to know what’s up with those tweets and I ignore his calls. I go on Spotify and make a playlist called "For Harry" and it’s only one song: Fearless. I block his number.

3 am: Mr. O is tired of my messy ass so he insists on going home but I convince him to stop at McDonald's before. We share a McFlurry and he says he says he's hoping I'll stick around and grow old with him even if he can’t compete with Zayn. I tell him he doesn't have to worry cause Zayn is hot but he's hotter and yes we should get married... but he thinks I’m joking.

4 am: Mr. O tucks me in bed and kisses me goodnight. I barely remember the events of the day but I’m happy. I sleep peacefully in my soft and warm bed.

6 am: Woken up by natural needs (not the right ones), I then proceed to wake up Mr. O to tell him I’m 100% ready to marry him, for realz, and he’s like "ok show me then *wink wink*", so… ya know…. and then he says "that’s all good babe but you’ve forgotten we are already married".

THEN IT’S 6:59 AM SO I WAKE UP.

[karenperezsee]

While I’m not exactly a birder like my friend Yui, I was nevertheless looking forward to our trip to Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park.

As surprising as it may sound, both my home institution, Ateneo de Manila University, and the neighboring University of the Philippines-Diliman are actually recommended sites for amateur birders located just within the vicinity of the metropolis.

Bird walks are organized periodically in both institutions; in addition, one might be delighted to discover that the latter also offers bird watching as one of its many course choices (as many as 100+) for Physical Education.

Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU)

Known for having one of the more beautiful campus grounds in the country with a lot area of 83 hectares, ADMU is home to 43 bird species as of 2011 count done by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP). Resident birds amount to 36, of which 30 are endemic while 7 are migratory.

📷

The terrain is elevated at some points owing to the original hilly landscape where the university now lies. As seen on the map, trees line the streets and the vegetation becomes more dense towards the eastern side of the campus that actually overlooks a valley. Being more forested and untamed, this area grew overtime to be the university’s unofficial wildlife sanctuary as well as the favorite spot of bird watchers. In fact, just last school year on the month of July, the university held its most recent batch of bird walks in celebration of the Ignatian Festival in honor of the school’s patron, St. Ignatius.

[caption id="attachment_89" align="aligncenter" width="526"]📷 The latest series of bird walks as sponsored by the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability[/caption]

[gallery ids="91,90,92" type="rectangular" link="file"]

Some of the birds seen in the campus include the following (for the name, just hover over the image):

[gallery ids="94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101" type="rectangular" link="file"]

University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD)

Meanwhile, with a staggering lot area of 493 hectares, UPD abounds with mini forests dotted around the campus. As of 2013, the university is home to 113 bird species, of which 109 are endemic, resident, and migratory while the remaining 4 are introduced and escapees.

📷

Knowing Yui, who’s a long-time avid birder, I know she would especially love it here as this open university town (think of it as like University of Tsukuba) is teeming with its own extensive wildlife set against one of the last remaining vestiges of the country’s urban forests. In addition, unlike in ADMU, bird watching can happen anywhere with birds spotted even around the busiest of areas such as the Main Library owing to the density of the forest ecosystem on campus.

Below, I have listed some of the birds verified by WBCP.

[gallery ids="113,114,115,116,117,118" type="rectangular" link="file"]

Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park

The park hosts 22 endemic bird species here in Japan, which is rather commendable considering that this is a reclaimed area.

Just last week, our class together with some friends from ANT461 (also under Professor Watanabe) went to the park after lunch and it was good knowing that the weather was clear and fair. From Yotsuya station, we took off for Ryutsu Center Station along the Tokyo Monorail line going to Haneda Airport. From there, the park is just a 15-minute walk.

While I know that Tokyo has its fair share of green patches, it still feels surreal as I am typing this right now to know that a bird sanctuary like this actually exists close by a busy airport. It’s a sharp contrast that leaves one in a dreamlike state upon entering the nature reserve, as if a switch had been turned on.

Some of the fauna that I could remember include:

[gallery ids="119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130" type="rectangular" link="file"]

Note: Pictures not mine. Close-up of the birds are not the actual shots.

[girlactionfigure]

This week marks 19 years since Tuvia Grossman, the bloodied "Palestinian," appeared in the media, leading to the creation of HonestReporting.

On Sep 30, 2000, The @nytimes @AP and others published a photo of a bloodied young man seen below a club-wielding Israeli policeman.

The caption read, “An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount”, and the pose suggested that the Israeli policeman was responsible for the injuries of the “Palestinian” man in the foreground.

In reality, the man was not a Palestinian Arab at all, but a Jewish American yeshiva student named Tuvia Grossman. Grossman had been pulled from a taxi in Jerusalem by a mob of Arabs and severely beaten.

Similarly, from the picture the policeman seems to be threatening. In reality, the Israeli policeman in the picture, a Druze Israeli called Gideon Tzefadi, was actually standing over Grossman and defending him from the mob.

Seeing his son's picture in the @NYTimes, Alan Grossman sent the following letter to the newspaper: “…that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while traveling in Jerusalem…“

“...by a mob of Palestinian Arabs, and were severely beaten and stabbed. That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering.“

In response, the New York Times published a half-hearted correction which identified Tuvia Grossman as “an American student in Israel” — not as a Jew who was beaten by Arabs.

The “correction” also noted that “Mr. Grossman was wounded” in “Jerusalem’s Old City” — although the beating actually occurred in the Arab neighborhood of Wadi al Joz, not in the Old City.

In response to public outrage at the original error and the inadequate correction, The New York Times reprinted Tuvia Grossman’s picture — this time with the proper caption — along with a full article detailing his near-lynching at the hands of Palestinians rioters.

For years after, Arab groups adopted Grossman’s photo in their propaganda campaigns, cynically using a bloodied Jew as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle.

Among others, an official Egyptian government website used the photo on its photo gallery, and the Palestinian Information Center incorporated Grossman’s photo into its homepage banner.

WATCH: A decade later, HonestReporting reunited Grossman with rescuer Gidon Tzefadi

@HonestReporting 

[danielxrk]

    ✞ DID THE HEARTBREAK CHANGE ME? *      MAYBE

sure, the evaluation proves distracting as always, but daniel needs something different. first, it was putting together the arrangement for the evaluation, but after, all that was left was singing, no dancing required this month, therefore easily skipped. it requires less work than usual, singing coming more easily to him than anything else. no, that’s a lie; what comes easiest is his fingers on strings, fret boards, recording studios, and music so loud and heavy that it shakes the entire stage.

well, he wouldn’t know if that last part comes easily anymore. judging by the state of his band, now officially crushed into a thousand pieces with their lead singer enlisting in the military, it wouldn’t be easy at all. it hurts too much to play any music with the members that remain, and hurts too much not to. everything hurts. 

it’s why he knows he needs something different, and in the end, he always falls back to writing a song, or playing an instrument, or both. bass is where he started, and he wants to think bass is where he’ll finish, if he’s ever done with music. it seems a fitting choice now, when it feels like the end of the world. 

dua lipa’s album is groovy, full of synths and disco beats, but more importantly, bass. he got hooked on it for that reason, such dominant and important bass lines more of a rarity in popular music these days. he managed to listen to it frequently in the early part of april, but since sungwoon’s enlistment, it felt too happy, like salt in wounds that couldn’t heal fast enough. 

he wrote a song, listened to songs about heartbreak, lamented over failing an audition, likely due to the build up of stress from the month. he tells himself it’s time to move on in all meanings of the phrase, even though he knows it’s easier said than done. he doesn’t know if he’ll ever move on from sungwoon, but he also knows he has a tendency to be dramatic. at least it’ll be more fodder for songs he can write-- songs about heartbreak, songs about being in love forever, songs about not moving on, and then eventually, maybe, songs about moving on too. the part of him that loves songwriting almost looks forward to seeing that evolution. 

he wonders what his life will look like in a year. will he still be heartbroken? will he still be a trainee? will he still have the friends he does now? daniel of a year ago-- daniel who just released an album with his band --couldn’t have imagined his life ending up like this. 

worse. it’s so much worse. why did he ruin all of it? why did he insist they sign up for the mgas? why did he put everything on the line for greed? they didn’t need more fans. he would’ve been happy performing their songs to 30 people in underground clubs if he had to; they all would’ve, he knows. they could’ve promoted their album all summer, and started working on more songs, and released another one in two more years. maybe sungwoon would’ve been so happy with them that he wouldn’t have enlisted. maybe, maybe, maybe.

he wonders if he’ll ever forgive himself for it. he wonders, too, if they’ll ever be friends like they were again. sometimes he hears hyunggu’s voice saying maybe it’s a way of the world saying you need to branch out and not only rely on the same four people for your entire life, and then he remembers all of the people he started relying on leaving, hyunggu included, and it all turns bitter.

sometimes he hears woong’s voice saying god never gives you more than you can handle, too, and he has to believe there’s a reason for it all. he remembers the people that are still here: haknyeon, woong, eunwoo-- some of the most important ones, but not the only ones.

he starts writing lists of things he’s thankful for in the back of his notebook, working back to front. one day, the song lyrics and thank you notes will meet, and maybe they’ll combine into a song of gratitude for everything he still has in his life. he doesn’t want to wallow. he knows he’s done too much of it in the past year. 

somehow, this loss isn’t as bad as the loss of empty enigma, even if it brings the mourning back. maybe it’s because he knew for months, and had time to prepare-- time to love sungwoon knowing that time would run out, four months of loving as hard as he could and giving it the very best he had. that was one thing he could never regret. 

it still hurts, but eventually, he can listen to happy music again, and he falls back into the bass lines of the future nostalgia album. he needs something different, and he had absent minded thoughts of covering a song for this album before, so why not all of them? it’ll just be him on the bass, no vocals, no original rap-- a medley of bass, and that’s all. 

his face isn’t even included. it’s just his camera pointed at his bass and and his hands, so the chords he plays are more evident. it’s the names of the song each bass line is from popping up in the closed captioning each time he transitions between them. it’s just him, jamming out on his favorite instrument, not trying to be anything he’s not-- unapologetically the purest form of himself, and the part he likes best.

[skookworks]

Gallery: Delta Green

Most of my RPG illustration work has been for Call of Cthulhu related projects. That’s the result of intention and good luck and accident.

The Intention part happened in the year 2000. I submitted some illustrations to the Delta Green website. Delta Green was a Call of Cthulhu RPG set in modern times – the late 199os. Most CoC games are set in the 1920s/1930s, the time the original stories were written and set. I discovered Delta Green in 1999 when I working at Half Price Books. I was the buyer when a customer sold us his collection of RPG manuals. In the buy was Delta Green and its sequel Delta Green: Countdown. I bought those books for myself. I loved the ideas behind the setting. It updated the Cthulhu Mythos for the late Twentieth Century in ways that surprised and delighted me. It created a means and a reason for investigators to, well, investigate the horrors from beyond.

I’d wanted to illustrate RPGs but didn’t have much of a portfolio of examples to show. I found the Delta Green site early the next year. I don’t think it had a way to send submissions and I don’t think they were asking for any. What it did have was a way to submit fan art and writing. So I worked up three illustrations (see the follow gallery) and submitted them. They got posted. No one from Delta Green contacted me.

Oh well.

Two years later those illustrations got me work at The Black Seal. But that’s another post.

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The original photoshop files of these illustrations are, possibly, residing on an old back up drive. It’s formated for Mac and I currently use a PC so I haven’t tried plugging it in. A lot of the work I did in the first ten years of this century was done on a Mac. The art always started as graphite and ink on paper and then had photoshop magic applied to it. I’ve got the original drawings in big metal flat files but the art that got published looks different.

Earlier this year I realized that I’d sent most of those illustrations to the editors and publishers via email and I’ve never deleted any personal emails. So I’ve tracked down a lot of that older art and will be showing it in future galleries. I found the two black and white illustrations in the above gallery in my emails.

The first three images, however, I couldn’t locate in my gmail archive. AOL has long since deleted all my old emals. At first they didn’t appear to be on the current Delta Green site but, after doing some obsessive google searching and some sort of back door poking around on DG I found them in an archive. Huzzah!

Story Seed #54 The Time Line AntiDefense League

There are a lot of stories that feature some sort of organization whose mission is to defend the “correct” timeline, to make sure that history works itself out the way that it is “supposed to”. Bleah. How about an organization whose mission is to create timelines where history works itself out in the best ways for the most people?

Recommendation

Beeple. This person’s art started showing up in my tumblr feed, shared by other folks I followed. It was weird and creepy so I subscribed to his feed. He posts an image a day, every day.

Also, the Growing Up / Overnight Kickstarter concludes on the 30th. If you’ve been putting off backing it. please jump in.

Local News

Last week, in one of our stand up meetings at USPS, we were reminded that we, the letter carriers were not supposed to talk to the press. That if a member of the press attempted to engage us in conversation we were to refer him/her to management. Also, while we were in uniform, we were not to engage in political discussions with anyone lest they assume that our views represented those of the USPS. We were also to be careful not to express politcal opinions on social media in such a way as to lead people to believe that our views represented those of the USPS.

Sigh.

To be clear, anything I write here about my job at USPS is just my experience and my opinion. I like to assume that those of you who read these newsletters recognize this but, on the off chance you don’t, I AM NOT A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE POST OFFICE. I’m just a guy who works there. In my opinion, the USPS can’t actually have an opinion since it’s an organization. Organizations are not people. The people in charge of organizations may claim that their opinion represents the opinion of the organization but that’s just a fiction.

Anyway.

The most interesting part about the day job right now is that I have a new T6. USPS delivers mail six days a week. Regular carriers work and deliver theri route five days a week. A T6 is the person who delivers the route on the regular carrier’s day off. My last T6 had medical issues that prevented them from delivering my route on a regular basis. My new T6 is healthy and detail oriented. More detail oriented than I am, actually. And that’s good. It means I’m updating labels in mailboxes and doing maintenance on my route that I’d let slide. I keep most of my customer changes in my head. Having another person who has to regularly work my route reminds me that I should communicate customer changes in clear, written methods. It’s only polite.

We’ve also moved our start time from 7 am to 7:30 am. I’m not a fan but I’m adjusting.

I’ve left my alarm at 4 am. I get up. Drink coffee Write. Do computer art or make products in either my Zazzle or my Redbubble stores. I’ve updated my various websites to include a “store” page with links to each. This week I spent most of my store time working on an Oz Squad collection for Zazzle. Oz Squad is Steve Ahlquist’s creature but, as a fan and sometime collaborator, I try to find ways to keep the brand active.

Oz Squad Land of Oz

by Skookworks

In the evenings, once we’ve finished dinner and our spot of television, I work on physical art. Right now I’m doing pirate sketches. More about that when the project can be talked about publically.

Thank you for dropping by. Remember that life has always been insane. Look out for yourself and your friends. That’s where sanity and security dwells.

See you next week!

Tuesday Night Party Club #34 Gallery: Delta Green Most of my RPG illustration work has been for Call of Cthulhu related projects.

[sneek-m]

Quick Japan Web: A Message by Tofubeats with No Destination - A Memory of the Fun Days at the Club

Tofubeats has a column on Quick Japan Web, and the latest post had him talk about filming his music video for “Club,” one of my favorite songs of 2020 so far, and some thoughts about the song after the coronavirus changed our lives. I thought it was a bittersweet post about how Osaka looked during the early days of the coronavirus -- if I am correct, he filmed the video in the middle of March -- and how music and live shows look now while we’re cooped in our homes. Here’s the link to the original Japanese post at Quick Japan Web. Below is the English translation by me.

Starting music production when he was in middle school, Tofubeats carry more than 10 years of experience at 29 years old. Recently, the producer/DJ got noticed for his remix of Sayaka Yamamoto for her first vinyl LP release.

The music video for his new song “Club” from the digital album TBEP, released on March 27, 2020, was supposed to document his live tour but…  Tofubeat talks about what happened and his current thoughts on “Club.”

Filming the video without an audience

It’s been a month since a national emergency was declared. I started to get worried that my body’s starting to get used to the stay-at-home routine, so I opened an exercise video, and now I think pulled a muscle after 30 minutes of full training. Hello, this is Tofubeats. Continuing from last time, this is about making the music video.

Production was moving along with a plan to have a crew follow my tour and film myself travel and prepare my shows, but more and more events started to get canceled because of the coronavirus. After all the scheduled events got cancelled, the director quickly put together a meeting and gave us this plan:

We will film the music video to the original plan

The event itself got re-scheduled, so we will still book the same venue and shoot the show without an audience.

Where the audience would be, we will include something (the sign) to show the effects of the show getting re-scheduled.

Additionally, we will use past live footage.

At this point, we were a week away from the shoot date. Even though it was so soon, we got to safely book the venue Misono Universe that we were supposed to play, and we filmed without a change in plans. Kiki Vivi Lily adjusted her schedule to come to Osaka even though she was supposed to travel.

The filming crew met early in the morning at the Hi-Hatt office. I told them to do a good amount of preparation there, but the set up was very simple because it was made to be repeatedly used during tour, so with everything like cases all set, prepping and checking took about 10 minutes to finish. After a few hours, we headed to Shinagawa Station. Usually we take a taxi, but we got a car to film our travel to the station. We got a car because of comments from people saying how “songs with Tofubeats where a car comes out are cool.” [laughs]

Before, filming for the video of “Lonely Night,” I was nervous driving a car with the steering wheel on the left side for the first time, so I think here you can see me drive more comfortably. That time, I thought I should practice driving on the left side, so I went to a car rental in Nishimiya but they only had these expensive BMWs. Even though I was supposed to drive an SUV in the video, I remember half in tears driving this low car on the Hanshin Highway. Alone.

Maybe people are going to forget about the club

Going back to the story, after heading to Shinagawa Station from the office, we took a shinkansen to Shin-Osaka. Inside the rare, empty train car, it ran “COVID-19” on the captions over and over again, and even though it was before the national emergency, I got a feeling that our world was slowly changing. When we arrived at the streets of Osaka, I think it looked the same as before. After going through the city, we got to the venue. It was sad to see the “postponed” sign at the entrance of Universe.

Though the venue wasn’t going to have an audience, we did the same thing as if we did. We got out and checked the equipment, played some sound, and did soundcheck on the floor, and then the actual show… That was how it supposed to go, but I think I sang more than 10 times including rehearsals. Even though we didn’t use the actual sound, both of us performed as if it was the real thing.

During the show, it surprisingly didn’t bother me to perform in front of no one, but it felt strange to suddenly notice that there’s only a camera in the crowd or to have the “postponed” sign out. I DJed a few events after this, but I think I got to show a little that this would be the last day I would get to perform live at a venue.

As I often write, “Club” was made before the coronavirus (the finishing process overlapped, but I’ve had things like the lyrics done beforehand), but the circumstances completely changed since when I wrote about “going to the club if I can” with an attention to detail. When I watched the finished video, and saw clip after clip from DJ sets and shows that I didn’t think much of at the time, I got this strange feeling thinking, “was there really a time I performed in front of such a packed crowd?”

There’s a lot of old songs I made imagining the club, and I think I was exaggerating or romanticizing it. I thought it needed some drive like that to communicate to people through a pop song.

But I also wanted to write more straightforward. There were years where I couldn’t, and it was now that I finally had the skills (mostly lyric writing) to do it. But this message went out without anywhere to go and it’s now drifting without anywhere to be. Maybe people will just keep staying at home and forget all about the club. [laughs] It would be great if you can enjoy it as a memory of the days when the club was fun and as a promise to meet again.

[newmusickarl]

Album & EP Recommendations

All These Things by DC Gore

Dot to Dot Festival that takes place here in Nottingham every May Bank Holiday has been a new artist goldmine in recent years. I don’t know who curates the line-up but in recent years I’ve discovered exceptional upcoming talent from all over the globe. Since being made aware of the festival in the mid-10s, I’ve been introduced to The Amazons, Oscar and the Wolf, Sundara Karma, Dua Lipa, Rag N Bone Man, Kyla La Grange, Holy Holy, Josef Salvat, Miya Folick, Day Wave, Nimmo, Bob Vylan and many more - some of those years before their big break into the mainstream too.

Now a few years ago, one of my favourite discoveries didn’t actually end up playing the festival. Although they would eventually cancel their appearance, just by having electronic trio Little Cub on their line-up, Dot to Dot had allowed me to unearth yet another gem. Producing one of my favourite albums of 2017 in Still Life, Little Cub’s unique mix of descriptive, often political lyrics and electronic music was something special to behold. Essentially, they would take a particular person, time or place and turn them into a vivid synth-driven tale – be it songs about sexual urges, fake news or the last days of late-great football manager Gary Speed.

Sadly after that incredible debut album, Little Cub would eventually split to follow new projects, but I’m pleased to say their legacy continues with this stunning debut album from one of the band’s former members - Dominic Gore. On his debut solo outing All These Things, Gore basically repackages the Little Cub formula to give us the sophomore record we never received. Here, Gore’s dark, wittily cutting and often brutally cynical lyrics are often contrasted with a jubilant mix of new wave, art and kraut-rock, meaning the songs often leave you dancing but deeply contemplating at the same time.

Quite poetically the album begins with the song that would be Little Cub’s final single, Millennium People, re-recorded to bring it slightly more in line with the DC Gore sound. The essence of the track remains though, which was brilliantly described on its original release as sounding like “Vangelis soundtracking a Cronenberg movie set in the Hacienda.” Follow-up Nietzsche on the Beach then finds Gore at his most nihilist as he tears into right wing nationalists with lyrics like “Mobile phone-shaped tan lines, the fascist weekender” all whilst a gleaming, sunny groove plays out in the background. If there’s one track that captions Gore’s brilliance in a nutshell, it’s this one.

From there, Gore just continues to bring inescapably hypnotic grooves aplenty, such as the shimmering late-night wonderment of Need You Tonight, which erupts into a soaring guitar solo at the song’s climax. Set You Free is then arguably even better, starting out as a soft piano-driven piece before quickly morphing into a rumbling club banger. I Like You is then a sparkling love song whilst California is the most heavily EDM-infused track on the record. The title track then plays out the record, a mostly acoustic and incredibly poignant track that leaves the listener to ponder lines like “Giving up so much for what you’re given, maybe it’s time to give in and start living.”

Overall, this is a near faultless debut from DC Gore and I’m so happy he’s carrying the flame of Little Cub going forward. If you are a fan of artists like Pulp, Nation of Language, Spector or Working Men’s Club and haven’t got this one on your radar, get it queued up.

Listen here

Renaissance by Beyoncé

There are arguably no two things that I love more from an album listening experience than eclecticism and narrative structure. If I’m going to spend 30 minutes to an hour listening to something, I want to be taken on an adventure – whether that’s a dazzling, genre-hopping sonic journey or a cohesively packaged collection of songs linked by a personal story or overriding theme. Typically, the albums that I enjoy the most will carry one of these traits but, occasionally, an album will emerge boasting both attributes. Back in 2016, Beyoncé’s Lemonade was very much that album.

Accompanied by a 60-minute artistically shot film, Lemonade was a towering work of commercial pop music that really was nothing short of extraordinary. Fuelled by Jay-Z’s much publicised affair, Beyoncé took her anger, frustration and sadness and moulded it into an immensely creative and liberating piece of art. Telling the story of the whole ordeal completely unfiltered, it also saw her perform some stunning sonic acrobatics throughout.

With help from musical heavyweights like Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and James Blake, Beyoncé would effortlessly flick between genres depending on which worked best to enhance the emotion and feeling at the core of each track. From the rage-fuelled rock of Don’t Hurt Yourself, the laid-back country of Daddy Lessons to her devastating vocal performance on piano ballad Sandcastles, these dramatic style shifts shouldn’t have worked but they did because of the story being told. Although it would only finish 9th in my Albums of 2016 list due to an incredibly strong year, it has grown in stature for me in the years since, as few other records from mainstream stars on the level of Beyoncé have been able to match it.

Now six years later, Beyoncé has returned with her new album, Renaissance - and it’s already been hyped to the moon by both critics and the “Beyhive”. Due to the noise surrounding the record and my adoration for Lemonade, my expectations going in were high. Ultimately Beyoncé just couldn’t match up to that, but that’s not to say Renaissance is a bad record, in fact quite the opposite - this is another solid effort. All hype aside and analysing the record with that brushed off, Renaissance ends up being a mostly thrilling summer dance record that keeps the creative spirit of Lemonade alive.

Across the album’s hour-long runtime, Queen B once again packs in a mesmerising mix of different musical styles, this time drawing inspiration from house, techno, disco, garage and even afrobeat, as well as her staple blend of pop, R&B and soul. Thematically the record also follows on nicely from Lemonade’s triumphant finale of Formation, with Beyoncé celebrating freedom, self-love and unabashed confidence. The tracks seamlessly segue into each other too, playing out almost like a lively DJ set full of feel-good bangers and positive vibes.

That said, the album doesn’t get off to the best of starts with I’m That Girl and Cozy, which are probably the weakest tracks here. The former is a very muddled track that doesn’t quite find its footing, built on a grating sampled refrain of “These motherfuckers ain’t stopping me.” The latter also has its struggles, with Beyoncé’s positive message of being comfortable with who you are often getting lost in some clichéd and contrived lyrics.

However, once these two tracks are out the way, the album immediately picks up and rarely lets up going forward. Alien Superstar is like the sound of Hot Chip teaming up with Self-Esteem, with some joyous dance beats married to gospel vocals and an uplifting message to stay “unique.” The album then takes a disco-turn, with the inimitable sound of Nile Rodgers’ guitar soundtracking Beyoncé’s calls of “I feel like falling in love, I’m in the mood to fuck something up.” It's infectiously groovy and you’ll struggle to resist getting loose to this one.

As Energy draws to close, a short two-minute collab with Jamaican-American rapper BEAM, it transitions immaculately into Beyoncé’s monster summer hit, Break My Soul. Not that it needs any extra lift, but that added drop from the transition just helps it to hit even harder in the context of the album. Still a firm highlight, the house-inspired track channels the spirit of Robin S’ classic Show Me Love whilst Bey serves up a typically powerful vocal performance.

As you enter the second half, there’s plenty more highlights to be found too. Plastic Off The Sofa is a heartfelt and chilled R&B number whilst Virgo’s Groove is six-minutes of sexually-charged funk. Move then sees Bey team up with the legendary Grace Jones for a strutting feminist anthem, whilst Thique and All Up In Your Mind then present probably two of the filthiest beats you’ll hear all year. Bey then arguably saves one of the best for last, with Summer Renaissance sampling the Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder classic I Feel Love for a colourful, modern take on the sun-kissed dance classic.

So, whilst I don’t think this hits the same dizzying heights of its predecessor as there are a few tracks here I don’t care for, this is still another accomplished and well-crafted outing from one of pop’s biggest giants. Beyoncé must’ve known she was never going to be able to match Lemonade’s emotional impact, so she made the right decision with Renaissance by going in a completely different direction and not attempting to replicate it. Instead, she carries over the eclectic nature of that record and uses it to explore different electronic textures, weaving it all together into a highly enjoyable summer listen.

Listen here

Also out, also great: Surrender by Maggie Rogers, They Fear Us by Ithaca

Tracks of the Week

Happiness by The 1975

A couple of weeks ago, Manchester indie-pop superstars The 1975 unveiled the first taste of their forthcoming new album, Being Funny In a Foreign Language. That track (titled Part of the Band) was a sharp left turn, serving up an artsy and quite understated single that you wouldn’t naturally associate with one of the planet’s biggest pop acts.

This week however they are back to The 1975 that we know and love, with new single Happiness sounding almost like an amalgamation of all their best previous singles. With that vintage 80s style guitar groove, some funky sax action and an instantly catchy chorus of “Show me your love”, it’s The 1975 at their absolute best.

Watch the video here

Boy by The Killers

Much like The 1975, the last release from Vegas indie heroes The Killers was a bit out of leftfield, with Brandon Flowers exploring the sights and sounds of his childhood hometown of Nephi, Utah on the band’s excellent lockdown record, Pressure Machine. Now on latest single Boy, he continues the nostalgic look back but this time with a sound more familiar to their fans. A joyous indie anthem, it even samples the iconic synth pattern from the Erasure classic A Little Respect to give it some added pop.

Listen here

Freakout / Release by Hot Chip

The third single to be taken from the electronic outfit’s upcoming new album is the record’s title track and easily the best taster from the album so far. With distorted robotic vocals reminiscent of their own track Huarache Lights, frontman Alexis Taylor sings “Music used to be an escape, now I can’t escape it” before the track breakouts into a barrage of reverbing rock guitars and hard synths. Just awesome!

Listen here

Acting Out by Bloc Party

Bloc Party also released the deluxe version of their latest album Alpha Games this week, including three brand new bonus tracks. The best of these is Acting Out, which sees the indie legends continue their return to their early Silent Alarm-era sound, with this one reminiscent of early single She’s Hearing Voices thanks to Russell’s signature jittering riffs and Kele’s stop-start shouty vocals.

Listen here

Smiley by Orbital

Taken from their new anniversary record 30 Something which is mostly reworks and remixes of their classic tracks, Smiley is one of the few original tracks on the project. An ode to the Acid House era of the late 80s/early 90s, it’s a seven-minute, nostalgia-soaked electronic odyssey that samples vox-pops from ITV documentary World In Action that covered the emerging rave scene 50 years ago.

Listen here

Summer Somewhere by LIES

And finally this week, the American Football side project featuring the Kinsella brothers continues to be one of my favourite musical diversions right now. Taking their Midwest emo roots and soaking them in glistening strings and electronics, this is another simply stunning track from the duo.

Listen here

[royallypsychotic]

Christian Dior Purse Photographs And Premium High Res Footage

Apparently, in 1995, France’s then First Lady Bernadette Chirac, gifted Lady Diana with the latest creation from the House of Dior. The Lady Dior was first introduced in 1994 beneath the inventive course of Christian Dior’s successor, Gianfranco Ferré. Initially, the bag was nicknamed Chouchou – French for “the favourite” – and was only renamed a yr after its first launch. wikipedia Harry Archer is an editorial assistant at Editorialist engaged on trend, beauty, and every thing in between. A recent graduate from The London College of Fashion, he has interned at Esquire, the Gay Times, and Attitude magazine. When he is not invested in pop culture, you'll discover him engrossed in a book, working from natural choice, or doing a red wine rendition of Can't Fight the Moonlight from the critically acclaimed movie Coyote Ugly. The bag was first launched in 1994 by then-creative director Gianfranco Ferré, and the style was famously beloved by Princess Diana, who was gifted the accessory by France’s First Lady, Bernadette Chirac, in 1995. Ferraro has posted tons of photographs prior to now few weeks with Dior luggage, backstage, and in full make-up and clothes from the brand, and nearly every time has captioned the picture with #ad, and even credited the photographer. In any case, the folks chosen to promote the Saddle Bag 2.zero all have one thing in common. The reimagined version of the classic Lady Dior purse was the second collaboration between Chicago and Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri. Another one of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s creations for Dior, the Dioevolution Bag proved that trend is all concerning the revolution. First launched in Dior’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection and discontinued by 2020, the Dior Dioevolution Bag was created to make a daring trend statement. The Caro flap bag additionally features the brand’s “CD” emblem with a twist clasp while Dior’s tackle “30 Montaigne” is embossed on the again. A detachable chain-link strap enhances the handbag that is out there in two sizes and multiple shades such as mint green, rose, and black. Although the basic hobo silhouette bag was initially created in the Nineteen Fifties, the bag's declare to fame skyrocketed when Kennedy touted the bag around. Clean lines and a classic shape are delivered to the fore and the reversible flap lends it a bold character that appeals to Dior’s trendy feminine viewers. Available in three sizes and various colourways, there's a Diorever bag to go well with to each mood and magnificence. He has now been replaced by Belgian designer Raf Simons, former inventive director with the Jil Sander trend house, who's honoured to be responsible for probably the most elegant and famous French brand on the planet. On the contrary, with greater than 230 outlets worldwide, it is doubtless considered one of the main manufacturers in the luxurious market. Dior Couture posted half-yearly turnover of 632 million euros on 31 October 2012, up 26% compared with the identical period in 2011. Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, as an example, has been mining the legacy of not solely Monsieur Christian Dior himself, but additionally his successors, among them John Galliano, whose saddlebag debuted in 2000 to instant success. Of course, Kardashian West is not one to let her possessions collect mud. Given her love of wearable art—remember that George Condo–painted Haut à Courroies she wore back in 2013? — it was only a matter of time earlier than she paired her saddlebag with a coordinated outfit. Today, the Birkin bag is stored at a high stage of exclusivity by the model. 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I love it when other artists/bands cover my tunes! It is one of the highest honors, truly! Here's St. Louis' keyboardist @moegeston and his band's interpretation of "Camelot" from #SRWGC! If you're in St. Louis, you can see them live on June 30. ((Now when can I get to St Louis so I can sing this with them??? ☺️🙌🏾)) Here's his caption: #Repost @moegeston ・・・ @MoEgeston All-Stars shouting out the incomparable @syberspace as we slowly work out an arrangement of her tune “Camelot”. ( This started as a need to deal with my latest earworm. Thanks -again- Sy…). Her album “Sometimes a Rose Grows in Concrete” is an amazing display of everything we all admire about Sy.  Brilliant songwriting, genres all the way blurred, lush harmonies and of course the entire vocal package including some serious background vocal magic. Suffice to say we love what Sy brings to the musical universe. Get the album- just do it! _________________________________ Mo E All-Stars return to Late Night Grooves @TheDarkRoomStl this Saturday 6/30 for one of our 2 summer club shows as a full band.  After that we’re off until #Loufest ! Join us if you can- read on for details. _________________________________ Duane "Jingo" Williams- #percussion @jingoloba777 Eric "Snoopy" Tyler- #bass @eric_snoopy_tyler Grover Stewart Jr.- #drums @groverstewart Maurice Mo Egeston- #piano #rhodes #synthesizers #composition _________________________________ Mo E All-Stars Debut CD Groove Suites Vol. 1 Available Now! “8 Tracks of original instrumental grooves that blend the improvisational aesthetic of jazz with the groove elements of soul, funk, house, drum & bass, Latin and more.” CDs available at all Late Night Grooves events at @thedarkroomstl Instrumental #soul, #nujazz, #Latin and #funk blended with organic #drumandbass, #house and #downtempo #grooves. The dance floor influence can’t be denied- but listening is just fine. Limited CDs also available through CD Baby. Download at #Bandcamp and most retailers including #Amazon, #iTunes & Google Play Music. Streams: #Spotify #Tidal #GooglePlay #Pandora #original #stl #music #stlouis www.moegeston.com Late Night Grooves is made possible by @kranzbergarts Founda

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Advanced pump system upgrade cuts AlburyCity Council costs

AlburyCity Council in NSW operates two water supply systems to manage and treat raw water to provide clear, potable water. The raw water scheme uses three pump stations to deliver raw water to the water filtration plant, where it is treated into safe and secure drinking water for 55,000 residents in Albury and the surrounding region. The council manages and supplies a separate raw water scheme that delivers untreated water to several large businesses in the area, including a paper mill, golf club and equestrian centre.

One section of the clear water reticulation system features a water-boosting pump station responsible for pumping to water storage tanks on a nearby hill. From here, the system uses gravity to distribute the treated water to nearby communities. It is on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with actual pumping operations of between six hours per day in winter months and up to 16 hours per day during the summer months.

A result of many decades of steady development, the pumping station area now sits amongst various dwellings including a public school, as close as 20 m.

When equipment causes electrical disturbances

A problem was recognised in the power system each time the station’s pumps would start. It was causing a burdensome inconvenience and intrusive electrical disturbance whereby the lights in nearby buildings would dim each time the pumps were started or stopped.

In response, AlburyCity Council engaged ABB Channel Partner Remtron to conduct an analysis of the problem and provide a solution with long-term resolve.

Remtron identified that the power quality disturbance was caused by the system’s installed soft starter motor controller. Modern solid-state power conversion equipment (PCE), such as soft starters, is effective at soft starting a motor; however, the side effect is harmonic distortion introduced into the power network during the starting and stopping of the motor.

“When the soft starter would activate, the associated soft starting action created unwanted distortion on the power network,” said Anthony Merrett, Automation Support Engineer – Drives and Power Quality for Remtron.

The electrical stress caused by harmonics and high starting currents pollute electrical networks with dirty power that can make connected equipment behave erratically. In severe cases they can cause damage to sensitive electronic equipment and interference in communication equipment, and give false readings on measurement devices. In the case of the nearby dwellings, it was these harmonics that were responsible for interferences in their electrical lighting systems. Across summer months, when treated water consumption increases and the network demand is at its limit, the impact on the network was even greater.

It became Remtron’s goal to not only solve the network disturbances, but also assist the council in optimising its system’s overall infrastructure to reduce the risk of operational failure, extend equipment lifetime and increase energy efficiency — and therefore reduce carbon emissions and subsequent electricity costs.

Inefficiencies identified in the existing pumping system

Analysis of the existing soft starter and motor pumping system indicated efficiency gains can be realised by using variable speed drive control.

A more efficient method to pump water is by using variable flow control and operating at the pump’s best efficiency point (BEP). The BEP is found along the pumping curve by measuring water flow rate and pressure.

After installing a variable speed drive (VSD), it was observed that when operating at motor frequency 45 Hz water was pumping at 176 litres per second. As a comparison, when the motor frequency was increased to 50 Hz, water was pumping at a higher flow rate of 210 litres per second. Remtron determined that although that 50 Hz achieves a greater flow rate, because it’s not at the BEP, it costs significantly more to pump.

AlburyCity Council’s pumping system interface, with pressure and flow rate indicators.

Pumping chart shows the flow rate at 45 and 50 Hz, and the relative energy consumed in amps (A).

Technologies to solve the problem, easily

A drive and motor package was identified to be the best solution for AlburyCity Council. It featured ABB’s ACQ580 ultralow harmonic (ULH) variable speed drives (VSD) and ABB’s M2BAX IE3 premium efficiency motor.

ACQ580 water-dedicated drives are engineered to reduce harmonics in the power network. They easily integrate into the council’s existing system without concerns of wider disruption. This meant there was no need to oversize the electrical system or budget for broader investment in additional infrastructure. Also, by using this clean technology, the need for any additional filters or power quality equipment is eliminated.

Alternative 6-pulse drives emit 30–45% total harmonic distortion (THDi), compared to ULH drives which typically emit less than 3%. In contrast to other harmonic mitigation technology that use external filters, ACQ580 ULH drives are also much easier to install, with minimal wiring required thanks to their design and small footprint.

ABB’s drive and motor package, installed in AlburyCity Council’s pump room.

Installed ABB ACQ580 ULH variable speed drive onsite at the water pumping station operated by AlburyCity Council.

Second ABB ACQ580 ULH drive installed in the pump room on site, used to optimise existing application as a customised approach by Remtron to give AlburyCity Council the best outcome. The control system also features ABB automation equipment including an ABB AC500 PLC and ABB CP610 HMI touch screen visual display unit for digitalised monitoring.

The ACQ580 drives improved the quality of the power network and enabled the system to advance from a fixed speed application to variable speed. The ULH drive ensured that THDi was less than 3%, even when the motor pump speed was varied.

“We knew we would be saving energy by knocking a couple of Hz off the speed of a motor by installing a VSD, but through this project we now understand how to choose the best motor speed and more importantly all of the other benefits achieved by installing a VSD,” said Mitch Palmer, Electrical Supervisor for Construction and Maintenance at AlburyCity.

AlburyCity Council now benefits from the efficiency delivered by variable speed motor control. It was proven that running at 50 Hz full speed results in pumping 1.03 litres per second per ampere; however, this was less efficient than running at 45 Hz, which results in higher efficiency pumping at 1.22 litres per second per ampere consumed.

By lowering the speed of the pump, the council benefits from better performance overall whilst lowering energy consumption. “It’s essentially optimising the demands of the process with less wear and tear, lower pump cavitation and hydraulic stress through the pipes, just by being able to reduce motor speed by 10% via the drive,” said Merrett.

“But first and foremost, it solves the original problem — there’s no more light flickering for any building in the area.”

ABB’s M2BAX low-voltage IE3 premium efficiency motors were also installed at the pumping station site. The motors, supplied by ABB Channel Partner A1 Electric Motors, are a cast iron motor especially designed for applications like pumping, because they’re robust even in tough, ambient conditions.

The electricity needed to power equipment like motors has long known to be the culprit of lofty operating costs. Premium, high-efficiency motors provide greater overall cost savings for users thanks to their low energy operational needs and long-term product life cycle. This also supports the reduction of environmental impact across the entire motor lifetime.

Results that exceed expectations

The newly upgraded system equipment has allowed the Council to run its pump at BEP. The council has already gained 20–30% in energy savings, which has resulted in reduced electricity running costs. During the starting of the pump there have been no disturbances to the power system.

The harmonics remain low during operation, exceeding Australian AS61000 standards guidelines, and the pump efficiency can now be matched to the system efficiency, slowing the pump to 45 Hz, to achieve greater overall energy efficiency.

In reflecting on the project work he undertook with ABB Channel Partners Remtron and A1 Electric Motors, Palmer said, “I had a somewhat thorough knowledge of motors and drives and, while I knew there was more to learn, these guys blew me away. I really enjoyed working alongside Remtron and A1 Motors. Not only did they share their knowledge of equipment solutions and all things electrical, their mechanical comprehension was invaluable. The effects mechanical and electrical components can have on one another when there is a problem is profound, but equally so when all factors have been considered and aligned. The results are genuinely impressive.

“Using energy efficient motors and ultralow harmonic drives, with the added benefit of unity power factor, has allowed us to capture cost savings in total power consumption.”

To learn more, read the full case study here.

Top image caption: (L to R) Anthony Merrett from Remtron and Mitchell Palmer from AlburyCity Council, beside ABB’s M2BAX IE3 high-efficiency motor.

source http://sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/energy/article/advanced-pump-system-upgrade-cuts-alburycity-council-costs-82106565

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