#phenom clean out | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ladystoneboobs · 6 months ago

Text

westerosi ruling ladies/acknowledged heiresses outside of dorne, listed by region:

the north

lady jonelle cerwyn, lady of castle cerwyn after the murder of her younger brother, lord cley cerwyn, by ramsay snow. (cley did not long outlive their father, lord medger cerwyn, who died of his wounds as a pow at harrenhal, after fighting in roose bolton's host when tywin lannister defeated them on the green fork.) we first hear of lady jonelle when robb stark calls his banners and lord cerwyn means to bring his old maid daughter with him, and the next we hear of her is when asha greyjoy gets her letter from ramsay, co-signed by a lady cerwyn and lady dustin, among the other northern lords in the bolton camp. cerwyn men-at-arms and the cerwyn maester are noted with roose at wf, and presumably if their lady did go south with her father, she must have returned north in roose bolton's party.

lady barbrey ryswell dustin, widow of the late lord willam dustin, apparently the last of his line since no surviving male dustins are ever mentioned. the widow of barrowton rules in his place for the remainder of her lifetime, and (unlike poor lady hornwood) rules with power uncontested, as barrowton's closest neighbors are the ryswells, also her closest kin, father and brothers. however, without any children from the late lord dustin, unclear what would happen after lady barbrey dies.

lady lyessa flint, head of the branch of house flint of widow's watch. lady flint's son, robin flint, led their forces in robb stark's army and died with the king at the red wedding, but was not the head of house. lady flint is listed such in the appendices, and was said to be pregnant in acok, meaning she likely had a living husband at the time, but he goes unnamed as only her consort.

lady alys karstark, heir to her eldest brother lord harrion karstark of karhold (whose location and current status is unclear after being captured by the lannisters a 2nd time), following the deaths of their brothers in the battle of the whispering wood, and the execution of their father by king robb as a murderer and traitor. at jon snow's instigation she has taken sigorn, magnar of thenn, as her consort.

lady wynafryd manderly, elder granddaughter of lord wyman manderly, by his son and heir ser wylis. should be the next heir to white harbor after her father, unless her parents should produce a son.

lady maege mormont of bear island, the only ruling lady listed here to also have a daughter as her heir. first this was dacey mormont, but after her murder at the red wedding, the new heir is second daughter alysanne aka aly the she-bear. but since aly told asha greyjoy she had a son as well as a daughter back home, that means there likely won't be a 3rd ruling lady in a row, as the mormonts may have a history of women warriors, but there's no sign they don't still practice male-preference primogeniture when there is a son to inherit. where the mormonts do step out of northern convention, however, is the ruling ladies fucking whoever they want without feeling the need for a husband and still naming their fatherless children mormonts, not snows, a practice rhaenyra targaryen would surely envy.

lady eddara tallhart, an heiress and then nominal ruler of torrhen's square, before the age of 10, after her elder brother benfred was killed by theon greyjoy's ironmen and then their father ser helman was killed when roose bolton sent him into an ambush at duskendale. listed as still a captive inside her family's seat, besieged by dagmer cleftjaw again, in the adwd appendix.

the riverlands

lady barbara bracken, eldest daughter of lord jonos bracken of stone hedge, who has multiple daughters by two of his three different wives, but no surviving sons.

lady amarei frey lannister, married to lancel lannister at castle darry as a granddaughter of a previous lord darry, then left to rule on her own after lancel abandoned her and repudiated their unconsummated marriage

lady eleanor mooton, eldest daughter of lord william mooton of maidenpool, listed as his heir in adwd appendix, at the time of her marriage to dickon tarly. (meaning presumably his sons mentioned in acok died during the war.)

lady carellen smallwood, (likely?) heir to acorn hall as the only known surviving child of lord and lady smallwood, whose only known son died years before.

lady liane vance, eldest daughter of lord karyl vance of house vance of wayfarer's rest, listed as his heir in the affc appendix

lady shella whent, last of the line of the whents of harrenhal, disposessed by tywin lannister, and allegedly dead by the time of affc, according to littlefinger. text is somewhat inconsistent on whether she or her husband inherited harrenhal, just as it's unknown what happened to all their children if they were the same whents hosting the tourney at harrenhal years before, nor even how they were related to minisa whent tully, the late lady of riverrun.

the vale

chella, daughter of cheyk, clan chief of the black ears

lady anya waynwood, lady of ironoaks, an older lady with multiple sons and grandsons still ruling in her own name, a formidable power in the vale, perhaps second only to the main branch of house royce as chief bannermen of house arryn

the westerlands

cersei lannister, lady of casterly rock as well as queen regent, following her father, lord tywin lannister, being murdered by her younger brother tyrion, an attainted traitor and fugitive, with her twin brother, jaime, unable to inherit as a knight of the kingsguard

lady alysanne lefford, lady of the golden tooth after lord leo lefford drowned in the battle of the fords against edmure tully's army. (whether the previous lord was her father, brother, or even uncle or cousin is unknown, all we know of her is her entry in the affc/adwd appendices after lord lefford's death in asos)

the reach

lady alysanne bulwer, the lady of blackcrown as the only known child of the late lord jon bulwer, frequently referred to as lady bulwer. (lady fatherslastname not being a style otherwise used with a lord's unmarried daughters, lady housesurname usually referring to a lord's wife using her husband's name). there is an inconsistency with taena merryweather telling cersei that there was talk of megga tyrell being betrothed to lady bulwer's brother (which a nondornish heiress cannot have and is not listed in any appendix), but this is either a mistake by grrm or misunderstanding by taena unless she's referring to an unknown brother of alysanne bulwer's mother, the last lady bulwer. (i'm taking multiple mentions of her as lady bulwer in sansa's pov over any gossip from taena.)

lady arwyn oakheart, lady of old oak, a widow with multiple grown sons who commanded her own forces in renly baratheon's army, even if she did not mean to fight on the field.

the crownlands

lady ermesand hayford, the last of the hayford line, a babe ruling in name only, married to the squire tyrek lannister before she was weaned, a husband now missing since his disappearence during the riot in kl on the day of princess myrcella's departure

the ladies tanda, falyse and lollys stokeworth, three would-be rulers of castle stokeworth dispossessed by the schemes of queen cersei and ser bronn of the blackwater. lady tanda ruled for years with falyse as her heir and younger daughter lollys as the only heir to the barren falyse, until such time as lollys was wed to bronn and lady tanda took a griveous fall from a horse. bronn started calling himself lord stokeworth when tanda and falyse were still alive, chasing off falyse after her husband attempted to kill him at cersei's behest. falyse died painfully in qyburn's dungeons, while tanda was left to die at castle stokeworth, making lollys even more a ruler in name only than baby lady hayford, as her husband is inside the castle with men loyal only to him, not to any stokeworth lady.

the stormlands

lady brienne of tarth, heir to lord selwyn tarth the evenstar as his only surviving child

lady mary mertyns, listed as lady of the mistwood in the adwd appendix

you'll notice the iron islands is the only (nondornish) region missing here. ofc they did have a possible heiress to pyke and all the isles but then asha greyjoy was soundly rejected as such at the kingsmoot after balon's death. the lack of other present-tl ruling ladies/acknowledged heirs afab may be down to this being the smallest region, aside from the crownlands. however, there are no historical ruling ladies in their section of the world book either, iirc.

AND there is another case of a possible heiress, again meaning asha, wrt harlaw. her uncle lord rodrik harlaw tried to dissaude her from the kingsmoot by offering to name her heir to his castle, while allowing a cousin to inherit all his other titles and power over the whole island of harlaw. but shouldn't asha have already been in line for all the harlaw lands and titles, above all the harlaw cousins? her aunt gwynesse's complaint of being the true heir as rodrik's elder sister may not work outside of dorne, but even on the nondornish mainland, a lord's sister (and therefore their children, ie asha) still come before a lord's uncles and cousins. isn't that the whole point of alys karstark's plight, that her older cousin had to marry her to try to claim her birthright? so the harlaw line of succession should go rodrik>gwynesse>alannys>asha before any cousins come into it.

that this would not be the case and that asha is only presented with the option of being lady of ten towers by doing homage to a cousin as her overlord for the whole island of harlaw suggests imo that the islands are particularly resistant to a woman as head of house, with all male kin following her in place of a patriarch. women may serve as castle stewards and the right sort may prove themselves as captains (not common, but not too rare either) but ruling on land, ruling over male kin, and fellow captains is a different matter. perhaps not too surprising from a people whose religon sees rape of foreign women as a key and holy part of their way of life. an ironwoman may not disapprove of her men doing so, but cannot fully participate without the cock to forcibly spread seed across the world. how can a captain who cannot fully perform manhood as the drowned god proscribes for his captains be rock king over any island, let alone all of them? in this light, balon's choice of asha as heir is even more radical, though likely it came not from a view of equality between the sexes but from a feeling that his own daughter was the very much singular special exception, more a son than greendlandized theon.

#vayrianscrolls #asoiaf meta #asoiaf #i just like listing things #i could have listed the dornish ladies and heiresses but the point is how many there even w/o equal primogeniture #the north and riverlands prob have the postdance phenom of more female rulers from all the men killed in war but theyre also #the most developed regions by far. so the other lists being shorter is partly down to not having as many family trees there #i think some people do give the ironborn more credit than they should for their uncommon but not unheard of warrior women captains #but i think aeron and vic are meant to represent the general view wrt how far a woman can rise.#and we see their views vindicated w how quickly balon's wishes for asha as heir as disregarded after his death #what is dead may never die #asha greyjoy #rodrik harlaw #balon greyjoy #(c)lsb #cleaning out my drafts. cleaning out my drafts. hi-ho the derry-o. cleaning out my drafts.

90 notes · View notes

malikat24601 · 5 months ago

Text

Errrbody out there with their cool title art and brilliant ideas for the BB... and then there's me <insert hehehe raccoon gif here> Presenting Team 043 with @ghostdeb bringing you: Glory Days A Steddie Alpha/Baseball/Omega fic for the Steddie Big Bang 24! Excerpt: The sun was high in the sky, blindingly bright, and Eddie shielded his eyes as he wandered through the stands, looking for his seat. Nancy’s expectations of him rang loud and clear in the excellent spot she had reserved for him, field level near the dugout, overlooking home plate. Money wasted, he thought saltily to himself, since he wouldn’t be able to see anything past the fucking glare.

There was a gift bag waiting for him, a welcome package from the team — a bottle of water, a box of honest-to-god Cracker Jack, a little baseball bat keychain with Harrington’s jersey number on it, and a cap with the team logo embroidered across the center in bright reds and golds — the Indiana Mindflayers. Eddie pouted to himself, hemmed and hawed until finally, with a loud groan, he pulled the cap on over his frizzy curls and… damn. Even he had to admit that it brought instant relief to his eyes, shading them and bringing the field into perfect clarity. He sniffed, the smell of the turf bright and green in his nose. I’ll have to start doubling up on the Claritin, he thought, determined not to enjoy it one bit.

Eddie pulled out his notepad and shuffled through his notes. Steve Harrington was the second baseman; smart, fast, with good reflexes and running speed. By all accounts, he was the favorite to break the base-stealing record last set in 1982, garnering respect for the up-and-coming new team. He was a powerful hitter, an even better baseman, a fan favorite, and, as far as Eddie could tell, a squeaky-clean, all-American golden boy.

And while Eddie had done the requisite reading on the sport, more of his time had been spent delving into the lore that had built up around the man. The only son of a notorious business mogul, Steve Harrington had led a charmed life. Trust fund baby, sports phenom, the pinnacle of what a good son and alpha should be — right up until he had defied expectations and joined an unknown, fledgling team and been cut off by his family.

Lucky for him, Steve was handsome, charming, and known almost as well for his prowess off the field as he was on it. He was never seen with the same woman more than twice, never tied down, never mated. Rumors swirled that he had almost been married once, but had his heart broken by some mysterious figure, the identity of whom he protected at all costs. Other than that, it would appear that all there was to know about Steve Harrington was how he played that day and who the new celebrity on his arm was that week. How boring, Eddie couldn’t think of anything worse.

Still, he was a reporter, and there was a lot of buzz around the guy. If there was a story there, he would find it, and then he would go back to Indy and beg on hands and knees for his old job back.

Eddie sat through the first half of the inning before the Mindflayers were up to bat. He waited with as much enthusiasm as he could muster to get his eyes on the man himself. Finally, the familiar sound of Andre 3000 started up, Harrington’s song of choice to play him in, as he jogged out onto the batting mound.

Don’t want to meet your daddy, just want you in my caddy Don’t want to meet your momma, just want to make you come-a

Eddie rolled his eyes. A little on the nose, he thought, we get it, you’re a playboy who knots ‘em and walks ‘em. And I heard you were actually smooth…

Steve Harrington came up to bat with the bases loaded. It wouldn’t have been hard for anyone to look impressive after the lackluster performance of Tommy Hagan before him, but Steve sauntered out to home plate swinging his bat with the kind of easy confidence that made you just know he was about to do something special. His very first swing connected with the ball with a satisfying crack, sending it sailing deep into the stands.

Steve tossed his bat and ran, a home run. The crowd roared, jumping to their feet; the energy was infectious, and look, Eddie had eyes, he wasn’t immune to those tight little pants, or the sight of dirt on his knees as Steve pulled himself up with a bright, crooked grin and a little wave. The man was hot, he could admit it.

A faint scent of something wafted up from the field, spicy sweet and undeniable, calling to him so strongly that Eddie felt lightheaded. But almost as soon as he had locked onto it, it was gone; the wind changed and with it came the smell of incoming rain. He sank back in his seat, a little worse for wear, looking dubiously up at the sky and the gray clouds rolling in. A shiver ran through him and Eddie was forced to buy a hoodie to go with his new cap as light sprinkles fell over the stadium. He charged that shit on the company card.

The game played on, dauntless of the rain, and Eddie was cold, wet, way too sober, and bored. He tried to get into it, but catching the Cracker Jack he was tossing into the air with his mouth was just so much more interesting.

After an eternity, finally they were in the last inning, and just as he was silently thanking the gods of sportsball that he’d soon be released from his purgatory, a palpable energy began to grow all around him. People were sitting up, watching a little closer. Eddie sat up, too, unceremoniously dropping the Cracker Jack to the ground.

The field was still wet from the earlier rain, grass glistening under the lights that had come up as the sun went down. It was the bottom of the 9th, the Mindflayers were down by one, and Steve was up to bat again.

The first pitch was thrown wildly out of the strike zone, a ball. Steve let slip a flash of annoyance, which made Eddie smile to himself. Careful, big boy, that halo is slipping. On his second swing, he hit a double and made it to second base.

Then, before the next batter for the Mindflayers could take his place, the opposing team made a switch, bringing Jason Carver onto the field, their notoriously lethal left-handed pitcher. Steve seemed keenly interested in the goings on, so much so that Eddie found himself watching him more so than the player at bat.

“Only one out left,” muttered the man sitting behind Eddie, so he wrote it down in his notepad. He could look up the exact rules of the game again later, after he had dried off, warmed up, and eaten something other than stale, too-sweet popcorn.

Lucas Sinclair stepped up to the plate, and while he and Carver sized each other up, Steve took the opportunity to run, racing to steal third base. The crowd cheered and Carver cursed, shouting something and… did Steve wink at him? Carver cursed again, but it didn’t matter, Steve was already safe. Sinclair was laughing; if he could get a good play, Steve would have a chance to run for home, tying the game. Carver spit and turned back to the plate, winding up.

Sinclair was ready, but Carver’s signature fastball got past him. Eddie’s eyes were still on Harrington, who looked tense and twitchy as he and Sinclair made eye contact across the diamond. Carver smirked; another deadly pitch, another strike. Behind Carver’s shoulder, Steve had crouched low, watching things play out intently. The final swing connected, ball sent flying deep into the outfield and Steve ran. The crowd was on their feet, screaming as Steve slid home, his hat coming off and hair flying. He’d tied the game, standing up with a grin, clay caked down the front of his uniform as he shouted at Sinclair to run. The opposing team’s outfield threw the ball, but it went wide, missing their baseman. Sinclair kept running, past third, and when he touched home, he leapt onto Steve, the two of them laughing and shouting, because they’d done it. The Mindflayers had won by a single point in the final inning of the game.

Eddie found himself standing, too, his hands in the air and his jaw on the floor. He was absolutely helpless to the energy of the crowd. The team poured out onto the field, hoisting Steve and Lucas up onto their shoulders, and Steve threw his head back and laughed. Eddie laughed with him, couldn’t help it, overwhelmed by the magic of the moment. Somewhere on the breeze, he caught the smallest taste of that scent again, hot baked bread and spices, warmth and comfort, and then it was gone. When he looked back out to the field, Steve had disappeared into the dugout. That was Eddie’s cue to make his way down.

He wedged himself into the throng of reporters at the press conference, all trying to get the attention of Steve Harrington, who was clearly preoccupied with teasing his coach, renowned humorless hardass Jim Hopper, while managing to answer a slew of questions seemingly on autopilot without looking up once. “It’s all about teamwork, no one player wins the game,” rolled off his tongue, and then, “everything I learned, I learned from this man here,” as Hopper snorted gruffly. Eddie pushed through to the front and raised his voice.

“That was a pretty neat trick you pulled there, but couldn’t you have done it sooner in the game so we could have had a bit more action in the middle bit? Or do they just trot you out at the very end to make it seem more interesting?”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the small space, save for a few awkward coughs as Harrington turned to stare directly at Eddie, his dark eyes narrowing.

“Never seen this scrawny little guy before,” he quipped, leaning back lazily as though Eddie had bored him. “And who are you?”

“Eddie Munson, with The P—”

“The Pace. I know you. You’re Wheeler’s new boy. Of course you are.” Steve said it like it left a bad taste in his mouth and Eddie gritted his teeth.

“If you could just answer the ques—”

“The reason, Mr. Munson,” Steve interrupted him again, “is that there’s more to the game than just hitting balls and running. Stealing bases requires thought, and it requires the right set of circumstances to pull it off. As soon as I realized they were bringing Carver out onto the field, I knew that I’d have a chance to take third, because as a left-handed pitcher, he’d have his back to me. It’s called game strategy. You may think I’m just a dumb jock, but I do actually have a brain. Next question.”

Eddie was dismissed, clearly. He frowned, staring down at his notepad. Strategy? You didn’t get to be the scariest dungeon master in Indy without knowing game strategy. Eddie twitched with annoyance.

He sulked through the rest of the questions, saying nothing, before making his way down to the locker rooms with the select few VIP reporters allowed in for the meet-n-greet. Eddie milled about, feeling every bit as uncomfortable as he had in high school gym, sweaty ball players shoving past him with towels thrown over their shoulders. Someone knocked into him from behind, and Eddie jumped aside, immediately apologizing.

It was Harrington, of course it was. Up close, Eddie could see that his brown eyes were more a warm hazel flecked with gold, downturned and sleepy-looking, but beautifully expressive. His lips were bowed and pink, far lovelier than a testosterone-ridden alpha male should possess, and cheeks kissed with tiny moles. He froze in place, apology dropping off, entirely unprepared for the reality of Steve.

The man smirked at him, clearly amused. Steve reached forward and pinched the fabric of Eddie’s Mindflayers hoodie, rubbing it between his fingers. Then he ran his thumb along the bill of Eddie’s cap, almost teasingly. “Love the ‘fit,” he purred, in a wry, gravelly voice, and Eddie shivered.

Steve was standing so close, sneering down at the gaping idiot that Eddie had become, and for a second he thought he caught that scent again, rising dough, nutmeg. His attention snapped elsewhere as he subconsciously lifted his nose to the air and sniffed. An omega was near, their scent curious and seeking, interested, sending a pulse of want all through him. Steve’s eyes shuttered off, and he looked uncomfortable, taking a step back and rubbing at his neck. Then, with an awkward smile that held none of the fire it possessed earlier, Steve whispered, “see ya around, Munson,” as he turned tail towards the showers, leaving Eddie staring after him.

#steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie fic #steddiebang24 #stranger things

52 notes · View notes

commodorez · 9 months ago

Note

*me telling the it tech who is working on my computer* that is my emotional support dust/lint

Dust is not conducive to getting the most life out of a machine. Heat dissipation is important, or else you risk cooking hardware. Due to poor AC, shitty ventilation, and lack of cleaning out dust, I once melted the thermal paste off of a Phenom II x4, and destroyed an ATI Radeon HD 4870. That was almost a decade ago now.

Learned that lesson pretty hard. If you don't schedule regular maintenance, your equipment will schedule it for you (usually at an inconvenient time).

Clean your damned computer.

In fact, clean your damned keyboard while you're at it.

#computer maintenance is important

42 notes · View notes

lighthousenewsnetwork · 4 days ago

Text

Step aside, Captain America. Move over, Iron Man. Baseball's got a new hero in town, and he throws a mean 100 mph fastball. In a stunning announcement that left the sports world more bewildered than a fan at a rain delay, Shohei Ohtani, baseball's beloved two-way phenom, revealed he's retiring from the diamond to pursue a "more fulfilling career path" – specifically, saving the world from the nefarious clutches of... uh... bad baserunning decisions? Ohtani, known for his otherworldly talent as both a pitcher and hitter, has been captivating audiences since his arrival in the big leagues. His electrifying combination of power hitting and fire-breathing fastballs made him a baseball unicorn, a one-man wrecking crew who single-handedly (well, sometimes with a little help from his teammates) kept the Los Angeles Dodgers from winning every single game for the past two seasons. But apparently, even the thrill of crushing a baseball into oblivion or striking out a bewildered batter with a mesmerizing splitter couldn't compare to the allure of a life dedicated to... well, Ohtani himself wasn't entirely clear on that point. "There's just something missing in baseball," Ohtani confessed through a translator at a press conference held in a hastily-decorated conference room at Dodger Stadium. "There's no capes. There's no saving the world from, uh... rogue mascots, maybe?" Ohtani's announcement sent shockwaves through the baseball world. Players, still reeling from the recent introduction of robot umpires (who, let's be honest, are way more reliable than their flesh-and-blood counterparts), were left speechless. "Dude, what?" mumbled a bewildered Mike Trout, fiddling with his fidget spinner. "We were supposed to be the next dynasty! Now who's gonna hit dingers while I'm on first?" Fans, meanwhile, were divided. Some mourned the loss of their hero, questioning the logic of leaving behind a multi-million dollar baseball contract for a career filled with tights and spandex (and potentially lower pay). Others, however, were ecstatic. "Finally, someone who can stop those pesky foul balls from ruining my nachos!" exclaimed one ecstatic fan, clutching a half-eaten hot dog. "Seriously, how many times do I have to replace my car windshield?" Details surrounding Ohtani's superhero aspirations remain shrouded in mystery. Rumors swirl about his potential superhero name – "The Dinger Destroyer"? "The Sultan of Strikeouts"? – and his costume design. Will it be a classic cape and mask combo? A sleek, aerodynamic suit with built-in flamethrowers (because, come on, who wouldn't want flamethrowers)? Comic book experts are cautiously optimistic. "The superhero market is always looking for fresh blood," admitted Stan Lee, a man who seemingly refuses to age. "But let's be honest, a guy who throws a baseball really hard isn't exactly groundbreaking. Maybe he can fight crime with his... uh... amazing batting average?" Of course, Ohtani's foray into superheroism isn't without its challenges. Balancing saving the world with a grueling schedule of endorsement deals and public appearances will be a delicate dance. And let's not forget the ever-present threat of accidentally launching a home run clean out of the stadium and into a populated area. But one thing's for sure: the world of professional baseball just got a whole lot less exciting. Unless, of course, Ohtani's secret superhero identity is actually Captain Cashgrab, a villain dedicated to squeezing every last marketing dollar out of his fans. Now that would be a story worth watching. So, what's next for Shohei Ohtani? Will he become a beacon of justice, or a symbol of corporate greed? Only time will tell. But one thing's for sure – baseball just lost its most intriguing player, and the world gained a superhero who (hopefully) won't accidentally cause an international incident with a misplaced fastball. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to go buy some popcorn and wait for the inevitable movie deal.

#MLB #Sports #Baseball #Humor #Retirement #ShoheiOhtani #Superhero

0 notes

douxlen · 3 months ago

Text

How the International Olympic Committee Fails Athletes

New Post has been published on https://douxle.com/2024/08/10/how-the-international-olympic-committee-fails-athletes/

How the International Olympic Committee Fails Athletes

Athletes here at the Paris Olympics have brought us magical performances, from U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, to French phenom swimmer Léon Marchand, to Ankita Dhyani, a 5,000-meter runner from India we watched circle the purple oval at the Stade de France, finishing last yet receiving a rousing applause when she crossed the line, as if she had won the race. Olympians make the Olympics special, plain and simple.

But behind the shimmering sheen of athletic brilliance and perseverance, stark inequalities exist all around. The gap between millionaire Olympians like Novak Djokovic and LeBron James and athletes from lesser-known sports like canoe slalom and badminton is the equivalent of a sporting Grand Canyon. The benefits that powerful countries like the U.S., China, and France hold over nations with GDPs smaller than some American cities show up with crisp visibility on the Olympic medal table. But perhaps the most seismic inequality, and one that all too often evades public notice, let alone scrutiny, is the yawning gap between the luxury-box existence of the International Olympic Committee and most Olympians themselves.

The IOC’s slogan is “Putting Athletes First.” But all too often, athletes come in closer to last.

The Olympic money shuffle is a great place to start. The IOC is officially a nonprofit, but it sure is profitable. According to its most recent annual report, the organization raked in $7.6 billion in the Olympic cycle spanning 2017 to 2020-21. A 2019 study from Toronto Metropolitan University and Global Athlete found that only 4.1% of Olympic revenues make it into athlete pockets (whereas with the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB it’s more like 45-50%). The IOC often reminds us that it redistributes 90% of its funds, but only a paltry 0.5% is direct compensation to athletes.

Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Global Athlete, the athlete-led group fighting for enhanced rights and increased pay, released a statement asserting that the Olympics “serve the interests of the few powerbrokers behind the International Olympic Committee” and that “the Olympics are failing to serve the interests of athletes … because the IOC, which wields complete control over all things Games related, operates without accountability.”

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic—the IOC chose to stage the Games even though transmission rates were high and a national poll revealed that 83% in Tokyo did not want it to proceed. The pandemic was a challenging time for anyone putting on a big-ticket event, not least the IOC. But the organization took steps that seemed to prioritize their own finances over athletes.

Certainly, the IOC and local organizers in Paris were not “putting athletes first” when they chose to stage the triathlon and marathon swim in the Seine River. The sights of athletes vomiting when leaving the Seine or reports of sickness due to E.coli was hardly unpredictable. We spoke to people in the Paris office of the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group, which was logging high and unsafe levels of E. Coli and enterococci for months. And Surfrider noted that they were only testing for bacteria, in alignment with the European Bathing Water Directive, not pesticide runoff, pharmaceutical refuse, or toxic metals. But the French government has put $1.5 billion into cleaning it—the images of people swimming in the Seine for the first time in a century were irresistible, and athletes were put last.

Read More: Inside the Billion-Dollar Effort to Clean Up the Seine

While many athletes live hand-to-mouth, the IOC enjoys an opulent existence. Here in Paris, its members are staying in the ritzy Hôtel du Collectionneur, which the IOC is renting out for a cool €22 million ($24 million). IOC members also enjoy extravagant perks, like first-class airfare and five-star accommodations. And they receive per diem payments of up to $900 on days they attend the Olympics and other official IOC events. This means an IOC member could make more money in per diem alone, than a U.S. Olympian who earns a bronze medal and the $15,000 that comes with it from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Back at the Hôtel du Collectionneur in Paris, the IOC have banned reporters from entering the building where they are residing for the first time in decades. Decision making has also become increasingly centralized under a small team of senior executives, including its current president, Thomas Bach of Germany. Small groups of loyal IOC members—called Future Host Commissions—now essentially choose which cities will host the Olympics, with the rest of the organization relegated to being a gold-plated rubber stamp.

For all of these reasons, it’s time for the current iteration of the IOC to go. This might sound radical, but the IOC has yet to find an answer to the role the Games play in overspending public money, stoking displacement, and intensifying policing in Olympic host cities. It’s also time to end the fiction that the current iteration of the Games are environmentally sustainable, given the air miles and mega construction projects. Just ask the people of Teahupo’o, Tahiti, host of the Paris 2024 surfing competition, who protested the construction of an Olympic-standard viewing tower that damaged the community’s delicate coral reef, possibly affecting its ecosystem for decades.

The current iteration of the IOC should be replaced with athletes and independent thinkers who are not afraid to make drastic changes. That includes embedding democratic decision-making processes at every level, refusing to hand hosting rights for the Games to egregious human-rights violators, and making sure athletes receive a bigger slice of the Olympic money pie.

In the era of climate disruption, such measures are especially necessary, if not inevitable. Here in Paris, Madeleine Orr, assistant professor of sports ecology at the University of Toronto, told us this in no uncertain terms. “A sustainable Olympics is an oxymoron,” she said. “And the [Olympic] model is completely untenable. They’re not going to be able to continue to do it much longer.”

At the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, IOC President Bach delivered a speech. As he delivered his remarks in the rain, an assistant held an umbrella over Bach’s head so he wouldn’t get wet (unlike the flag bearers, volunteers, and fans in attendance). The image dripped with symbolism. One reality for the IOC and another for everyone else.

#News &x26; Politics

0 notes

sa7abnews · 3 months ago

Text

How the International Olympic Committee Fails Athletes

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/09/how-the-international-olympic-committee-fails-athletes/

How the International Olympic Committee Fails Athletes

The IOC’s slogan is “Putting Athletes First.” But all too often, athletes come in closer to last.

Read More: Inside the Billion-Dollar Effort to Clean Up the Seine

#News &x26; Politics

0 notes

the-firebird69 · 7 months ago

Text

This is building up and it was bound to happen these guys are driving into each other. It is a group of them it's mostly all the morlock driving into morlock sometimes family it's just detestable and we need to clean them out right now the rate of attrition is very high at 0.65 and it's getting up there that is very fast and they're starting to feel it in their evacuating as well they're going to the islands to fight they're getting a lot of calls and people who are talented and stuff so factories and things will be emptied and we'll take it over and we'll push them out of the areas and I'll leave and then go to battle or the islands it's going up today it's going to get bigger and bigger every day more shortly

Thor Freya

Olympus

I can't wait till these people are out of here it'll take some time they might leave the apartment before and he says certain things they can't allow them back from and I do believe him very strongly inside of mutant's body he cannot be allowed here and more and Camilla did not come down here and people know it and it's going on there's a few other things happening he's trying to get funding and he's called a few lawyers and one of them has not contacted back completely and is waiting for him and it might be Monday it would be interesting to see there's a few other things happening but this is a big deal and they take the case and they say they want the documents it might be with her after but they are fighting over it and they're doing a lot of fighting and it happens to be something they need to do we think that Tommy f takes a copy and but hey a lot of people get copies and they're saying it gets the file but that might be true and that Brad goes after it but as venom and her son doesn't care if he touches phenom it doesn't do much and he's talking about the poison it helps him up to a certain dose and he might have been ingesting it in front right in front of you and you guys thought it was from a tree. But the tree was absorbing it and that's how the tree gets it and it processes it and it makes it safe for human consumption if you are a powerful mutant the rest you would probably die unlike my husband . And there are other things happening regarding the funding they're starting to argue over social security and the money is that social security should pay out are being fought over and as if they're coveted and they want to try and push John remillard out and the empire wants to put then Arnold in and Mac would be Treasury and do the same combo and they're trying to get it done and these guys are putting up a fight but it's not much of a fight and they're going to be gone shortly completely

Hera

0 notes

nba2k24pcdownload · 1 year ago

Text

But when the presentation package is this strong, it only makes sense that the work went into making sure the rest of the game was up to snuff. That's not a statement written lightly, but the combination of animation upgrades and sweeping tweaks to gameplay inside and out, A.I. The full list of NBA 2K24 Season 1 rewards is finally here with everything from MyTEAM Diamond cards to new clothes for MyCAREER. nba 2k24 download If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission. Recreate some of the most memorable moments from Kobe Bryant’s legendary 20-year career as a Los Angeles Laker. The SF6 story mode reminded me of watching the Giant Bomb guys (RIP...) run around the world in NBA2KWhatever and meeting Jake from State Farm.

Even with how smoothly this one plays on the console, with some clean animations and a sprinkling of improvements to MyTeam being the real MVPs, all of this is overshadowed by just how watered-down this year's entry feels. If you are after a basketball game on the go, last year's offering is a much better option. In the game, you play as Bryant during his early days as an up-and-coming basketball phenom to become one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players. The game also features up-to-date team rosters, next-level gameplay with realistic visuals, a card-collecting mode with hundreds of customizable options and much more. It converts real NBA film footage into actual gameplay for a more realistic experience.

With no cutscenes, action, or character growth, our designed player felt about as realistic as the handful of NPCs that coldly throw challenges at you as you walk around The Neighborhood. Those who have played an NBA 2K title before will find no major surprises here. MyCareer, MyTeam, and MyLeague are still your main ways to play, with the new 'Mamba Moments' subbing into the slot occupied by last year's brilliant 'Jordan Challenge'. 2K24's next-gen release brought a whole batch of new features to the table (Crossplay, ProPlay, The W, MyNBA), but with none of them making the cut on Switch, this version feels more watered-down than usual. Narratively, the experience in the city whittles things down to a RISE vs ELITE faction showdown. Both have aestically unique home bases and while it's fun to pick a side and actually have an impact on the outcomes, it's more important to stress that each team actually comes with gameplay benefits worth considering.

Clearly, there is a love for the game of basketball on display in modes like MyNBA and Mamba Moments. But a lot of that love is lost the moment we’re asked to pay an absurd amount of money to compete in the main multiplayer mode. There have been a couple of new additions for 2K24 including an all-new player market and salary cap. Despite being a little short on flashy new mechanics to boast about on How to Download NBA 2K24 the back of the box, NBA 2K24 still looks fantastic and its on-court gameplay is incrementally stronger than ever. There are fewer immersion-breaking interactions and things feel generally more authentic. From the stuttering opening cutscene (a montage of Bryant's best bits) to the minuscule text of the in-game menus, getting yourself into a game is more draining than the act of playing itself.

The player ratings are always source of heated debate, but the celebrity scans were a much easier process, Singh says. At a time when 3D body-scanning and AI recreation are contentious points in Hollywood’s strikes, 2K24 had “zero pushback” in putting the celebs in the game. Kobe Bryant’s legacy is being remembered in a special edition of NBA2K24, the best-selling basketball game for Nintendo, PlayStation, nba 2k24 pc download Xbox and PCs. The shooting mechanic depends entirely on how fast your reflexes are and what visual cue you are the most comfortable with. You can try out each setting by selecting it and shooting with it to find which suits you the best. I just want the updated rosters and it's just quick play for us anyway.😅 everything else from mycareer to myplayer, I'm not really interested in those.

It's a very fun shift because it rewards good defense if a player is able to clamp a talented ball-handler. But it also makes for more strategic offensive gameplay instead of just spamming dribble move after dribble move. First up is the aptly named ProPLAY system, which shuns the traditional motion capture that has fueled animations in past games, sometimes leading to a repetitive, robotic nba 2k24 download feel. In its place are more fluid animations generated on the fly that can be exclusive to certain superstars. Full stop—NBA 2K24 might be the best-feeling basketball game in modern times. Ahead of the game’s release, Singh and Cunningham attended a launch event at ArtsDistrict Brooklyn with Cleveland Cavaliers player Donovan Mitchell and 2K24 cover star and WNBA player Sabrina Ionescu.

This isn't a celebration of Kobe's legendary performances but rather a whistle-stop tour of some of his accolades (the omission of his 81-point game in 2006 is baffling to us). A short piece of footage from the games themselves prior to each tip-off provides a nice bit of context, but this feels like a step back from what we have seen before. One is a new salary cap mode, which features three two-week sessions per season in which the actual Where i Can Download NBA 2K24 salary cost of player cards in a lineup fluctuates to keep things feeling fresh. It's a nice way to juggle the meta consistently instead of always facing off against the same cards over and over. Experience state-of-the-art gameplay as you live out your NBA dreams in NBA 2K24’s immersive game modes, including MyCAREER, MyTEAM, MyNBA, and more. Grab your friends and play as your favorite NBA and WNBA teams today—we’ll see you on the court.

Save yourself the $70 you’d spend on this game (and $50 for each build because in career mode they instantly make you a starter with no backstory and you’re a 60 overall). It’s funny how over the years they’ve slowly transitioned the most played game modes onto online servers with heavy marketing on their currencies to incentivize micro transactions. Also, how many games do you know that have a battle pass and also cost over $60 to buy initially.

Those worried about how handles feel this year can rest easy, as the tweaked dribble combo controls feel great. Flicking the right stick does normal dribble moves, while holding sprint and doing the same does aggressive moves. This year, it feels like defenders in the paint slide less, making it easier to get to necessary spots. Sign in to see reasons why you may or may not like this nba 2k24 pc download based on your games, friends, and curators you follow. Available for $70 ($60 for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One), NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition pays tribute to the “Black Mamba” with his signature skills, legendary performances and iconic swagger. Define how you play in NBA 2K24 with the new badge system and experiment with different builds to find success with your MyPLAYER.

0 notes

phenomcleanout · 6 days ago

Text

"Phenom Clean Out: Making construction sites shine like new!"

"Building something new? Let us tear down the old mess!"

Phenom 972-513-4727

Email:[email protected]

Website:phenomcleanout.com

#phenomcleanout#DFW#dallastx#junkremoval #junk #hauling #recycle #realestate #demolition #junkremovalservice #construction #trash #trashremoval #wastemanagement #recycling #garbage #dumpster #junkhauling #junkremovalservices #dumpsterrental #renovation #rubbishremoval #cleanouts #waste #realtor #rubbish #cleanout #business #disposal #propertymanagement #moving #debrisremoval #declutter

#junk removal #dfw #phenom clean out #construction debris removal

0 notes

firespirited · 1 year ago

Text

I was first introduced to JUL by a taxi driver who said “They won’t play this on the radio, it’s a guy from my hometown, good stuff, keeps it real underground”. I wasn’t impressed with the sound but the guy’s enthusiasm about JUL having to make his own record label had me look it up in a search engine (this was also a day I had to explain soundcloud rappers to mum).

youtube

Jul is the best selling rapper of all time in france. He is a white budget Flo-rida and that’s being rude to Flo-rida. He’s compared to takeshi69, i’m sure both of them would find that insulting but imagine squeaky clean tattooless takeshi69 for a second. yeah.

Now, to set the stage: france has had a period of crappy hip-hop and party rap without prose or flow, without grit and thoughfulness just like the states, if our french Kendrick Lamar bringing back actual “craft” is out there, he’s not been pushed forward yet. We’ve had 15 years of low effort, ego trip bling bling autotune junk that doesn’t really have much to say, it’s just generic, it’s just there. It’s the essence of Drake, it’s somewhat catchy somewhat relatable without actually ever touching a nerve, being truly vulnerable or experimental.

So how does this uniquely untalented at prose guy with no drip and no street cred get to be a chart topper? He’s brilliant at cultivating the parasocial.

He has each and every fan convinced they have a personal relationship, they could be friends. He’s also an underground phenomenon in their minds because he’s using social media not the traditional tv shows and radio station interviews. It feels like direct access and it feels counter-culture. He also has a massive and constant release schedule: it’s about once every ten days: there’s a new drop, it’s often free. It’s the “Trump is a guy’s guy” phenom but Jul isn’t out to do anything political and seems genuinely passionate about his really unpolished work. Like Taylor S, he’s putting in massive amounts of time and energy into making the same thing over and over.

The grind and personal investment is undeniable for both these artists: they are working their asses off. It’s just not channeled into making anything novel or insightful. Taste is subjective, the effort these two people are putting into being popular is clear and quantifiable. They are giving of themselves in grind, if not in anything else meaningful and that’s not nothing. TS does not have to tour so hard and make treasure hunts and rerelease those old albums but she does and it’s hard to tell if she’s enjoying her work or just performing because that what she does and is at this point.

Taylor is hyper polished and Jul is using pro tools and doing music videos that are just people miming the song shot in his old neighbourhood for a deliberately unpolished feel.

But the effect is that you can reliably tune in for new news about your artist and feel connected to them via songs designed to feel just relatable enough. There are just enough opportunities for you to interact on some level with other fans and even the artist themselves in a way that feels like community. And at this point nay sayers just give you greater a sense of belonging: you understand something they don’t. You have communion and something unique and that will be reinforced by new interaction within the next few months.

Jul has built off the kpop model while building on the sense that this is cult (kind of liking kpop outside of korea used to be novel) by having his own label and few interviews: just social media.

The traditional models of music stardom are the pop artist who makes music that makes you feel things but mostly drawing on existing emotion that was already in you not deep cuts and was present at important times so left a nostalgic mark

versus the cult artist who made a song or album that impacted you deeply, so much so that ten, twenty years on you have fondness for them even if their music has since changed. They did something brave or unsual (or both) to get your attention and it’s that quality that kept you interested.

If you can find a way to be both, at least to your fans, that’s the sweet spot.

I think the time has come, we must talk about the french phenomenon that is JUL to explain the parasocial chart topper and how music reviewers are forced to adapt. This is not going to be pleasant, I'm still wrapping my head around it myself.

If mrbeast made rap and it topped the sales systematically, how long and how much harassment from fans would it take before Pitchfork started finding some value in it? That's what I'll try to unpack with you as we discuss JUL the rapper you've never heard of because the appeal is in the personal only.

#saf #jul #parasocial

11 notes · View notes

alchemistys · 2 years ago

Text

reflecting on yuzu’s retirement

I know this is a little late but it took me time to get my shit together, I'm emotional, so sue me. this is gonna get pretty sappy and really cheesy at some points, so idk, bear with me I guess. (under the cut)

I discovered Hanyu Yuzuru during February 2022. I saw ten to chi to live, and that was the only engagement I had with his competitive career in real time. later that night I watched his seimei olympic performance and cried happy tears for the first time in years. at that point, I was obsessed. I went on a yuzu YouTube binge. I watched his performances in chronological order. I read his entire wikipedia page. when I emerged from my figure skating-induced fugue state I felt...better. a little more balanced. just happier overall. for that, I can’t thank yuzu enough.

you see, yuzu changed my life, and he might have even saved it. this man doesn’t even know I exist, but for a short while he meant everything to me. a few months ago I was in a really bad place. I was...empty inside, and I felt like nothing in the world, especially not me, had any purpose or meaning anymore. I was contemplating suicide. and then I saw this dude in a blue outfit skate, and I was transfixed. that was the first bit of interest I'd shown in something for months. I grabbed onto that and didn’t let go. when I cried for seimei, that was the first time I'd cried for something that wasn't sadness in years. it was amazing. after so long of feeling nothing, I felt awed, amazed, humbled, and enlightened. his skating was the most beautiful thing I'd seen.

as I learned more and more about yuzu, i got more and more out of my depressive funk. I saw his passion for skating, how he was, like, giving his life for it, and I thought ‘wouldn’t it be nice to love something that much?’ I thought that, well, shit, there must be true beauty in this world if he can get on the ice and do that. I thought about how he worked so hard for his dream. I thought about him working, even through pain, even through emotional turmoil. I thought about him loving it all the time, but maybe not liking it, or enjoying it, maybe sometimes even hating it. I thought about him saying he wanted to jump the quad axel, like if he said it enough it would come true. I thought about yuzu falling on the triple axel he had done a hundred, a thousand times with perfection, then getting up and trying again. I thought about how his skating moved people. I thought about him skating to haru yo koi with grace and poignance, to seimei with the command of a predator, to Romeo and Juliet with raw teenage passion, to hope and legacy with the elegance and inscrutability of an old god. I thought about the feeling he displayed, the feeling he provoked, and I thought I want to feel like that more often. that feeling could be found again. that there is beauty and art and I shouldn’t go just yet, because what if I had followed through? what if I had missed seeing a random guy in a blue shirt? I knew what I had nearly missed out on. and now I knew that I didn’t want to die, but more than that I wanted to /live/, because I had seen what living could be, and yuzu reminded me. he reminded me what kind of happiness and feeling and beauty could be found in the world. and for that, I thank him.

yuzu will always have a special place in my heart. he put some meaning back into my life. he helped me through a hard time, and for that I thank him. the beauty, grace, and power to move that he brings to his skating is unparalleled. he is truly a one of a kind talent, a phenom that transcends art and sport, both connecting and eclipsing them. he is amazing, and an inspiration. he is hope. so thank you, yuzu, for just being you.

I'm going to miss yuzu. I am sad I didn’t get into figure skating earlier, because yuzu aside it’s cool as fuck and I'll still follow competitive skating even now that he’s gone. but I’m glad he made the best choice for himself, to be healthy and happy. I'd like to see him land that quad axel clean one day. I hope he does whatever the fuck he wants now. he’s fantastic, I think he’s super funky, and I want to see whatever antics he he gets up to now that he’s free from jsf and the absolute clownery of the bag of dicks that is isu. I’m a little sad about it, but I'm more excited for his new career as a professional athlete. so one last time, thank you, yuzu, for just being you. that’s enough, is and will always be. take a well-deserved rest, and be happy.

#hanyu yuzuru #yuzuru hanyu #thank you yuzuru #figure skating #this is long as hell and sappy as hell #but I kinda just needed to get it out there #he means a lot to me #ok???!!!#tw suicide #suicide mention

22 notes · View notes

ripleycano · 4 years ago

Note

streps! I'm gonna have to ask you to go off about why hajime is easily the most entertaining protag bc i wholeheartedly agree with you and i would love to hear your hot take

OKAY OKAY OKAY! i've been WAITING for this one here we go

there's a couple of reasons why i enjoyed hajime more than any other protagonist i'll list them

1. makoto is a lovable main character, komaru is top tier, shuichi is wonderful but you know what's so funny about hajime? he brings a sense of realism to the game that feels so bizarre in the wacky world of danganronpa

putting aside all the izuru kamukura shenanigans (which makes him a really unique protagonist btw), hajime is just... such an honest reflection of the average player yk

nothing will beat one of the characters acting like wildly exaggerated versions of real life personalities and hajime just going "??? why are you like this????" and usually being the only voice of reason

realistic doesn't mean boring at all though!! there's like 80% of hajime's character that i never see people talking about, it's always 'yeah he's kind of a tsundere' lmaosa

like. have you seen this man? have you seen his ass reciting poetry into the night sky at the start of the game because he was feeling a little emo? are we forgetting that his first reaction to the killing game was to bury his face in his bed and scream until he passed out? answer me this, danganronpa community: when will we discuss the way hajime never fails to pose like a wronged vampire in his closing arguments?

he is so dramatic... he puts gundham to shame sometimes

on top of all that, he’s not as much of a jerk as the fandom makes him out to be? i honestly don’t know where that came from other than his pessimistic tendencies because he’s actually rly sweet

in the official manga / anthology comics / 4 panel comics too! he gave nagito another hope’s peak ring after nagito got panicky about losing the first one he received, politely offered to help him with cleaning the old building in chapter 1, playfully went along with gundham’s dark demon overlord act and introduced himself as the god of the cow folk or something shkjsd

and i could name so many more times where he tolerated the sdr2 cast way better than a normal person would

other than all that he’s just had some great moments in game that brought me a lot of joy

-”shUT UP!!111! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!11″ punk protag hajime walked so emo protag shuichi could run - the fact that he just... walks out on confusing conversations??? like he just announced he was leaving at the end of nagito’s ftes because he simply felt like it and just... turned around and left???? -johnny yong bosch did such a phenomal job as his va -some descriptions of hajime we got from the cast: akane said he was warmer than anyone she’d met, fuyuhiko said he had a ‘harmless-looking face’, both nagito and fuyuhiko suspected his talent to be things like ‘ultimate counselor’ and ‘ultimate serenity’ :,) and uh hiyoko is hiyoko lol

also hajime completely rejected toxic masculinity on multiple occasions.. king

anyways i have like 5000 screenshots of my favorite fte dialogue moments with him lemme know if you ever want them lol

i love hajime and i could talk about him anytime😌 this is just the tip of the iceberg hahsdkja

2. he’s hot

#thanks for coming to my ted talk #danganronpa #hajime hinata #sdr2 #super danganronpa 2 #rant #kal-emm #strepsilask

1K notes · View notes

lighthousenewsnetwork · 1 month ago

Text

0 notes

douxlen · 3 months ago

Text

How the International Olympic Committee Fails Athletes

New Post has been published on https://douxle.com/2024/08/10/how-the-international-olympic-committee-fails-athletes-3/

How the International Olympic Committee Fails Athletes

The IOC’s slogan is “Putting Athletes First.” But all too often, athletes come in closer to last.

Read More: Inside the Billion-Dollar Effort to Clean Up the Seine

#News &x26; Politics

0 notes

lonelyasawhisper · 3 years ago

Text

Queen: The New British Invasion

Mitchell Cohen, Phonograph Record, March 1976

"YOU'RE NOT going to ask me to interpret ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, are you?"

"Not if you don't want me to." Freddie Mercury, drinking a Bloody Mary at – appropiately enough – the Olde London Pub and Grille has just been told about a fanciful yarn some F.M. jock has spun concerning Queen's hit single. Something to do with a murder, a hanging and Ken Russell-ish mental fantasies leading to a resigned acceptance of death.

"I think that's very rewarding, to be honest. It's nice to hear somebody has gone that far to try and interpret a song. I like them to make up their own. If I were to come up with my interpretation, put my views to it, it would just shatter their illusions and things, so...They've got a competition on the radio back home; people had to write in what they thought the song was about. Hundreds and hundreds of letters came in. Some were really amazing."

So, while ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ may be this season's ‘American Pie’ parlor game, it is also, thankfully, a totally brilliant single, easily the best thing Queen has done to date. It's got everything: superb vocals, a flashy guitar solo, an absurd operatic middle section, and an interesting-enough structure and theme to hold the listener's attention throughout its six-minute length. In England, it's the biggest 45 in a decade, selling over 1.5 million copies, and the album from which it came, A Night At The Opera, is similarly topping the LP charts. At the moment, Britannia is ruled by more than one Queen. In their home country, as Mercury put it, they can do no wrong.

And unlike so many recent U.K. phenoms, Queen's success appears to be making a smooth Atlantic crossing. The group is on a two-month American tour, going clean in most cities, as their album and single are steadily heading toward the top ten. These aren't the first favorable U.S. indicators for the group – last year's ‘Killer Queen’ and Sheer Heart Attack were very well-received – but this visit and these recordings do look to have a special significance for them. The influential press – Time, The New York Times – is on their heels, the SRO crowds are ecstatic, and Don Law, the kingpin of Massachusetts rock who promoted the concert at the Music Hall the night before the interview, was quoted in Boston magazine as calling Queen "the biggest act since the Beatles, absolutely the biggest since Led Zeppelin."

Taking for granted the usual amount of promoter hyperbole, that is still a pretty strong statement to make. But stardom does seem to be in the air for Queen, and Freddie Mercury, at least, is casual in his acceptance of it. After seeing Queen's show, a very theatrical and dramatic affair during which the flamboyant lead singer sometimes skirts on the hem of Rocky Horror exaggeration, one might expect a somewhat bizarre luncheon companion. But despite the makeup, slave bracelets and black nailpolish that give him a vampish, Theda Bara appearance (maybe their name comes from Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile), Mercury comes across as a lucid, unassuming fellow (John Deacon, the quintessential bass player, speaks barely a sentence in an hour and a half). Asked why Queen has broken through while other British bands have not, he answers easily.

"A very different kind of group, that. What you say is true only in one sense, because if you point out groups like T. Rex and Slade, that's just one aspect of music that was going back home. Though I couldn't put my finger on the reason, I didn't think America would go for groups like that. I think they fall into a category that America wouldn't accept.

"We just want to make sure that we appeal to as wide a cross-section as possible, and not cater to just a fragment of people. It's limitless; we want to hit everyone. We've become sophisticated and disciplined and more listenable as a band, and I think we've matured and so has the audience. But I don't think we've lost the hard-core fans, the real rock and rollers who bought the first album and know what Queen is really about. It's just that we have a lot of sophisticated fans turning up."

The previous evening at the Music Hall did seem to attract a well mixed assortment of the committed and the curious. Instead of a house packed wall to wall with rowdy young men of the sort that bopped a photographer acquaintance of mine with a beer bottle at a recent Black Sabbath concert, the Queen crowd was demographically less confined, reflecting the spectrum that the group has been able to span. By and large, popular bands get to be that way by one of three routes: getting hit singles via A.M. radio, relentlessly hitting the road (there are some very big groups who get no airplay of any sort), or cracking the F.M. album market. Queen is a rare example of a band that has done all three, at the same time overcoming backlash against trendy English bands and groups that sell singles. For a group with no built-in musical or personal association with the 1960's, that's quite an accomplishment. They've had to start from square one with no natural constituency.

On stage, Mercury is definitely the focal, as well as vocal point, but not to the exclusion of the three other members. In fact, in contrast to most hard rock bands that have an overpowering singer raving in front of a thick, monotonous background, Queen relies a great deal on multi-layered harmonies and complicated song structure that frees their stage act from the Tyranny of the Chord. Even without the various special effects like flares and smoke bombs that, much to the group's disappointment, had to be scratched from the Music Hall show due to Massachusetts fire laws, Queen's concert, with a few boring lapses (obligatory guitar and drum showcases for Brian May and Roger Taylor), was surprisingly entertaining. The stance of the group, a kind of arrogant defeatism and off-hand nihilism ("Nothing really matters") that can tend to get overly serious, is extremely accessible to a young audience relating to Queen's mixture of defiance and pessimism, and older fans respond to the complex textures of the music without being sucked into the vision. It may be a precarious political balancing act – incorporating elements of punk, pop, glitter, progressive and heavy metal without being tied to any one form – but for now both factions are kept more or less happy.

"Within the scope of the stage show there's a bit of spontaneity to enhance the music we play, but there are certain set pieces that have to be done a definite way for them to leap out. Queen isn't the kind of group that can go into a twelve-bar jam. We could do it, but it doesn't work with the kind of show we do, which is really structured and holds together."

The final result, on stage or on record, usually comes about after a fair amount of hassling, according to Mercury. "If there was ever an equally divided quartet, this is it. We need that kind of blend where each one's got to contribute just about evenly. Just because I'm out front doesn't necessarily mean I'm any kind of leader. We all have strong characters and we row constantly. It's healthy, because then you get the cream, the good product. We're very fussy, very meticulous, and have numerous battles to get the right sound.

"Deciding the single wasn't an easy task, especially with the four of us having very strong views of how it should be released, cut or whatever. Back home our company couldn't believe we wanted to release a six-minute single. We said, you'll release it or else, figuring it was out of the ordinary, has a lot to say, and if it did click it would really put us on the map. So they did, and they're jumping up and down now. It was a very big risk. It's important to us to put across something that we feel is what Queen's doing at the time, and we felt that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ probably captured more or less all the types of moods that we were doing at this given moment, so we thought, O.K., this is what we want to present to the public and let's see what they do with it."

Queen has arrived at their present status in a very organized, methodical manner. The group was formed at the early part of the decade, after all four members had completed college (Freddie studied Art, the others had Science backgrounds). May and Taylor had been in a group called Smile, and after the breakup of that group, they recruited Mercury and Deacon. Choosing Queen as their trademark ("It's a very strong name, very universal"), they set about to see if the new quartet could cut it. After about eighteen months they knew they had a promising band. Their debut album, Queen, was released in 1973, and was rather better received in the U.S. than in Britain, but caused no great stir on either continent. Touring and a second LP, Queen II, increased their popularity, and Sheer Heart Attack really established them as major artists. Having been burned in the past by unscrupulous management, the members of Queen now take a lot of care and interest in all phases of their career from stage lighting to chart progress to album production, and devote their energies entirely to the business task at hand. They are, if anything, overly cautious and guarded. "Everything we undertake is such a mammoth project we can't concentrate on anything else. It's got to be that way whether it's a tour or an album. Nothing else matters."

As excellent as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is – which means right up there in the league with ‘All The Young Dudes’ and ‘I'm Not In Love’ – there is some doubt about where Queen can go from here creatively. Certainly they do what they do with consumate professionalism and not a small sense of vocal and instrumental dynamics, but the material on all four of their albums is wildly uneven, with terriific tracks, ‘Liar’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Rhapsody’, alternating with unimaginative plodding rock. Right now Mercury's voice, often reminiscent of Eric Carmen, strangely enough, as much as Robert Plant, is the best asset they've got, but his queenly stage demeanor may prove a limiting persona. At their worst, Queen succumbs to an almost morbid anguish, a victimized, "you're tearing me apart" pretension that Peter Watkins and Paul Jones presaged so eerily in Privilege. They can also, on songs like the aforementioned ‘Killer Queen’ and ‘Flick of the Wrist’, be bright, inventive and rocking. Depending on whether they let their smarter or dumber fans, or instincts, guide them, they could end up either at the top of the hard-rock pile or in the midst of the art-rock heap.

"We don't consciously think about what's going to happen in a year's time. We're not that kind of group. Things just happen day to day and everything we do is at that very moment. I don't even know what kind of shape the next album's going to take. Let it take its course. Right now, it's looking very rosy."

Retrieved from rocksbackpages.com

#article #interview #phonograph record #1976 #freddie mercury #queen band #freddie

27 notes · View notes