#protect sidney squad where you at?

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

Billy: Is stabbing someone immoral?

Stu: Not if they consent!

Tatum: Depends who you're stabbing

Randy: AND YOU GUYS STILL THINK HE'S NOT A KILLER??????

Sidney: I think stabbing someone is bad

Billy: Well fuck you no one asked you

[blackkudos]

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson ( ROHB-sən; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism. Educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University, he was also a star athlete in his youth. He also studied Swahili and linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London in 1934. His political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students whom he met in Britain and continued with support for the Loyalist cause in the Spanish Civil War and his opposition to fascism. In the United States he also became active in the Civil Rights Movement and other social justice campaigns. His sympathies for the Soviet Union and for communism, and his criticism of the United States government and its foreign policies, caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

In 1915, Robeson won an academic scholarship to Rutgers College, where he was twice named a consensus All-American in football, and was the class valedictorian. Almost 80 years later, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He received his LL.B. from Columbia Law School while playing in the National Football League (NFL). At Columbia, he sang and acted in off-campus productions. After graduating, he became a figure in the Harlem Renaissance with performances in The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings.

Between 1925 and 1961, Robeson recorded and released some 276 distinct songs, many of which were recorded several times. The first of these were the spirituals "Steal Away" backed with "Were You There" in 1925. Robeson's recorded repertoire spanned many styles, including Americana, popular standards, classical music, European folk songs, political songs, poetry and spoken excerpts from plays.

Robeson performed in Britain in a touring melodrama, Voodoo, in 1922, and in Emperor Jones in 1925, and scored a major success in the London premiere of Show Boat in 1928, settling in London for several years with his wife Eslanda. While continuing to establish himself as a concert artist, Robeson also starred in a London production of Othello, the first of three productions of the play over the course of his career. He also gained attention in the film production of Show Boat (1936) and other films such as Sanders of the River (1935) and The Proud Valley (1940). During this period, Robeson became increasingly attuned to the sufferings of people of other cultures, notably the British working class and the colonized peoples of the British Empire. He advocated for Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War and became active in the Council on African Affairs (CAA).

Returning to the United States in 1939, during World War II Robeson supported the American and Allied war efforts. However, his history of supporting civil rights causes and pro-Soviet policies brought scrutiny from the FBI. After the war ended, the CAA was placed on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations and Robeson was investigated during the age of McCarthyism. Due to his decision not to recant his public advocacy, he was denied a passport by the U.S. State Department, and his income, consequently, plummeted. He moved to Harlem and from 1950 to 1955 published a periodical called Freedom which was critical of United States policies. His right to travel was eventually restored as a result of the 1958 United States Supreme Court decision, Kent v. Dulles. In the early 1960s he retired and lived the remaining years of his life privately in Philadelphia.

Early life

1898–1915: Childhood

Paul Leroy Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1898, to Reverend William Drew Robeson and Maria Louisa Bustill. His mother, Maria, was from a prominent Quaker family of mixed ancestry. His father, William, was of Igbo origin and was born into slavery, William escaped from a plantation in his teens and eventually became the minister of Princeton's Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in 1881. Robeson had three brothers: William Drew Jr. (born 1881), Reeve (born c. 1887), and Ben (born c. 1893); and one sister, Marian (born c. 1895).

In 1900, a disagreement between William and white financial supporters of Witherspoon arose with apparent racial undertones, which were prevalent in Princeton. William, who had the support of his entirely black congregation, resigned in 1901. The loss of his position forced him to work menial jobs. Three years later when Robeson was six, his mother, who was nearly blind, died in a house fire. Eventually, William became financially incapable of providing a house for himself and his children still living at home, Ben and Paul, so they moved into the attic of a store in Westfield, New Jersey.

William found a stable parsonage at the St. Thomas A.M.E. Zion in 1910, where Robeson filled in for his father during sermons when he was called away. In 1912, Robeson attended Somerville High School in Somerville, New Jersey, where he performed in Julius Caesar and Othello, sang in the chorus, and excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track. His athletic dominance elicited racial taunts which he ignored. Prior to his graduation, he won a statewide academic contest for a scholarship to Rutgers and was named class valedictorian. He took a summer job as a waiter in Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, where he befriended Fritz Pollard, later to be the first African-American coach in the National Football League.

1915–1919: Rutgers College

In late 1915, Robeson became the third African-American student ever enrolled at Rutgers, and the only one at the time. He tried out for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, and his resolve to make the squad was tested as his teammates engaged in excessive play, during which his nose was broken and his shoulder dislocated. The coach, Foster Sanford, decided he had overcome the provocation and announced that he had made the team.

Robeson joined the debating team and sang off-campus for spending money, and on-campus with the Glee Club informally, as membership required attending all-white mixers. He also joined the other collegiate athletic teams. As a sophomore, amidst Rutgers' sesquicentennial celebration, he was benched when a Southern team refused to take the field because the Scarlet Knights had fielded a Negro, Robeson.

After a standout junior year of football, he was recognized in The Crisis for his athletic, academic, and singing talents. At this time his father fell grievously ill. Robeson took the sole responsibility in caring for him, shuttling between Rutgers and Somerville. His father, who was the "glory of his boyhood years" soon died, and at Rutgers, Robeson expounded on the incongruity of African Americans fighting to protect America in World War I but, contemporaneously, being without the same opportunities in the United States as whites.

He finished university with four annual oratorical triumphs and varsity letters in multiple sports. His play at end won him first-team All-American selection, in both his junior and senior years. Walter Camp considered him the greatest end ever. Academically, he was accepted into Phi Beta Kappa and Cap and Skull. His classmates recognized him by electing him class valedictorian. The Daily Targum published a poem featuring his achievements. In his valedictory speech, he exhorted his classmates to work for equality for all Americans.

1919–1923: Columbia Law School and marriage

Robeson entered New York University School of Law in fall 1919. To support himself, he became an assistant football coach at Lincoln, where he joined the Alpha Phi Alpha. However, Robeson felt uncomfortable at NYU and moved to Harlem and transferred to Columbia Law School in February 1920. Already known in the black community for his singing, he was selected to perform at the dedication of the Harlem YWCA.

Robeson began dating Eslanda "Essie" Goode and after her coaxing, he gave his theatrical debut as Simon in Ridgely Torrence's Simon of Cyrene. After a year of courtship, they were married in August 1921.

Robeson was recruited by Pollard to play for the NFL's Akron Pros while he continued his law studies. In the spring, Robeson postponed school to portray Jim in Mary Hoyt Wiborg's play Taboo. He then sang in a chorus in an Off-Broadway production of Shuffle Along before he joined Taboo in Britain. The play was adapted by Mrs. Patrick Campbell to highlight his singing. After the play ended, he befriended Lawrence Brown, a classically trained musician, before returning to Columbia while playing for the NFL's Milwaukee Badgers. He ended his football career after 1922, and months later, he graduated from law school.

Theatrical success and ideological transformation

1923–1927: Harlem Renaissance

Robeson worked briefly as a lawyer, but he renounced a career in law due to widespread racism. Essie financially supported them and they frequented the social functions at the future Schomburg Center. In December 1924 he landed the lead role of Jim in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings, which culminated with Jim metaphorically consummating his marriage with his white wife by symbolically emasculating himself. Chillun's opening was postponed due to nationwide controversy over its plot.

Chillun's delay led to a revival of The Emperor Jones with Robeson as Brutus, a role pioneered by Charles Sidney Gilpin. The role terrified and galvanized Robeson, as it was practically a 90-minute soliloquy. Reviews declared him an unequivocal success. Though arguably clouded by its controversial subject, his Jim in Chillun was less well received. He deflected criticism of its plot by writing that fate had drawn him to the "untrodden path" of drama and the true measure of a culture is in its artistic contributions, and the only true American culture was African-American.

The success of his acting placed him in elite social circles and his ascension to fame, which was forcefully aided by Essie, had occurred at a startling pace. Essie's ambition for Robeson was a startling dichotomy to his indifference. She quit her job, became his agent, and negotiated his first movie role in a silent race film directed by Oscar Micheaux, Body and Soul (1925). To support a charity for single mothers, he headlined a concert singing spirituals. He performed his repertoire of spirituals on the radio.

Lawrence Brown, who had become renowned while touring as a pianist with gospel singer Roland Hayes, stumbled upon Robeson in Harlem. The two ad-libbed a set of spirituals, with Robeson as lead and Brown as accompanist. This so enthralled them that they booked Provincetown Playhouse for a concert. The pair's rendition of African-American folk songs and spirituals was captivating, and Victor Records signed Robeson to a contract.

The Robesons went to London for a revival of The Emperor Jones, before spending the rest of the fall on holiday on the French Riviera, socializing with Gertrude Stein and Claude McKay. Robeson and Brown performed a series of concert tours in America from January 1926 until May 1927.

During a hiatus in New York, Robeson learned that Essie was several months pregnant. Paul Robeson Jr. was born in November 1927 in New York, while Robeson and Brown toured Europe. Essie experienced complications from the birth, and by mid-December, her health had deteriorated dramatically. Ignoring Essie's objections, her mother wired Robeson and he immediately returned to her bedside. Essie completely recovered after a few months.

1928–1932: Show Boat, Othello, and marriage difficulties

In 1928, Robeson played "Joe" in the London production of the American musical Show Boat, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. His rendition of "Ol' Man River" became the benchmark for all future performers of the song. Some black critics were not pleased with the play due to its usage of the word "nigger". It was, nonetheless, immensely popular with white audiences. He was summoned for a Royal Command Performance at Buckingham Palace and Robeson was befriended by MPs from the House of Commons. Show Boat continued for 350 performances and, as of 2001, it remained the Royal's most profitable venture. The Robesons bought a home in Hampstead. He reflected on his life in his diary and wrote that it was all part of a "higher plan" and "God watches over me and guides me. He's with me and lets me fight my own battles and hopes I'll win." However, an incident at the Savoy Grill, in which he was refused seating, sparked him to issue a press release describing the insult which subsequently became a matter of public debate.

Essie had learned early in their marriage that Robeson had been involved in extramarital affairs, but she tolerated them. However, when she discovered that he was having another affair, she unfavorably altered the characterization of him in his biography, and defamed him by describing him with "negative racial stereotypes". Despite her uncovering of this tryst, there was no public evidence that their relationship had soured.

The couple appeared in the experimental Swiss film Borderline (1930). He then returned to the Savoy Theatre, in London's West End to play Othello, opposite Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona. Robeson was the first black actor to play Othello in Britain since Ira Aldridge. The production received mixed reviews which noted Robeson's "highly civilized quality [but lacking the] grand style." Robeson stated the best way to diminish the oppression African Americans faced was for his artistic work to be an example of what "men of my colour" could accomplish rather than to "be a propagandist and make speeches and write articles about what they call the Colour Question."

After Essie discovered Robeson had been having an affair with Ashcroft, she decided to seek a divorce and they split up. Robeson returned to Broadway as Joe in the 1932 revival of Show Boat, to critical and popular acclaim. Subsequently, he received, with immense pride, an honorary master's degree from Rutgers. Thereabout, his former football coach, Foster Sanford, advised him that divorcing Essie and marrying Ashcroft would do irreparable damage to his reputation. Ashcroft and Robeson's relationship ended in 1932, following which Robeson and Essie reconciled, although their relationship was scarred permanently.

1933–1937: Ideological awakening

In 1933, Robeson played the role of Jim in the London production of Chillun, virtually gratis, then returned to the United States to star as Brutus in the film The Emperor Jones, "a feat not repeated for more than two decades in the U.S." His acting in The Emperor Jones—the first film to feature an African American in a starring role—was well received. On the film set he rejected any slight to his dignity, despite the widespread Jim Crow atmosphere in the United States. Upon returning to England he publicly criticized African Americans' rejection of their own culture. Despite negative reactions from the press, such as a New York Amsterdam News retort that Robeson had made a "jolly well [ass of himself]", he also announced that he would reject any offers to perform European opera because the music had no connection to his heritage.

In early 1934 Robeson enrolled in the School of Oriental and African Studies, a constituent college of the University of London, where he studied Phonetics, Swahili and other African languages. His "sudden interest" in African history and its impact on culture coincided with his essay "I Want to be African", wherein he wrote of his desire to embrace his ancestry.

His friends in the anti-imperialism movement and association with British socialists led him to visit the Soviet Union. Robeson, Essie, and Marie Seton traveled to the Soviet Union on an invitation from Sergei Eisenstein in December 1934. A stopover in Berlin enlightened Robeson to the racism in Nazi Germany and, on his arrival in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, Robeson said, "Here I am not a Negro but a human being for the first time in my life ... I walk in full human dignity." Waldemar ("Wally") Hille, who subsequently went on to do arrangements on the People's Songs Bulletin, got his start as an early touring pianist for Robeson.

He undertook the role of Bosambo in the movie Sanders of the River (1935), which he felt would render a realistic view of colonial African culture. Sanders of the River made Robeson an international movie star; but the stereotypical portrayal of a colonial African was seen as embarrassing to his stature as an artist and damaging to his reputation. The Commissioner of Nigeria to London protested the film as slanderous to his country, and Robeson thereafter became more politically conscious of his roles. He appeared in the play Stevedore at the Embassy Theatre in London in May 1935, which was favorably reviewed in The Crisis by Nancy Cunard, who concluded: "Stevedore is extremely valuable in the racial–social question—it is straight from the shoulder". In early 1936, he decided to send his son to school in the Soviet Union to shield him from racist attitudes. He then played the role of Toussaint Louverture in the eponymous play by C.L.R. James at the Westminster Theatre, and appeared in the films Song of Freedom, Show Boat (both 1936), My Song Goes Forth, King Solomon's Mines. and was the narrator of the documentary Big Fella (all 1937). In 1938, he was named by American Motion Picture Herald as the 10th most popular star in British cinema.

1937–1939: Spanish Civil War and political activism

Robeson believed that the struggle against fascism during the Spanish Civil War was a turning point in his life and transformed him into a political activist. In 1937, he used his concert performances to advocate the Republican cause and the war's refugees. He permanently modified his renditions of "Ol' Man River" – initially, by singing the word "darkies" instead of "niggers"; later, by changing some of the stereotypical dialect in the lyrics to standard English and replacing the fatalistic last verse ("Ah gits weary/ An' sick of tryin'/ Ah'm tired of livin'/ An skeered of dyin'") with an uplifting verse of his own ("But I keep laffin'/ Instead of cryin'/ I must keep fightin'/ Until I'm dyin'") – transforming it from a tragic "song of resignation with a hint of protest implied" into a battle hymn of unwavering defiance. His business agent expressed concern about his political involvement, but Robeson overruled him and decided that contemporary events trumped commercialism. In Wales, he commemorated the Welsh people killed while fighting for the Republicans, where he recorded a message that became his epitaph: "The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative."

After an invitation from J.B.S. Haldane, he traveled to Spain in 1938 because he believed in the International Brigades's cause, visited the hospital of the Benicàssim, singing to the wounded soldiers. Robeson also visited the battlefront and provided a morale boost to the Republicans at a time when their victory was unlikely. Back in England, he hosted Jawaharlal Nehru to support Indian independence, whereat Nehru expounded on imperialism's affiliation with Fascism. Robeson reevaluated the direction of his career and decided to focus on the ordeals of "common people", He appeared in the pro-labor play Plant in the Sun, in which he played an Irishman, his first "white" role. With Max Yergan, and the CAA, Robeson became an advocate in the aspirations of African nationalists for political independence.

Robeson also developed a sympathy for China's side in the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1940, the Chinese progressive activist, Liu Liangmo taught Robeson the patriotic song "Chee Lai!" ("Arise!"), known as the March of the Volunteers. Robeson memorized the words in Chinese. Robeson premiered the song at a large concert in New York City's Lewisohn Stadium and recorded it in both English and Chinese for Keynote Records in early 1941. Its 3-disc album included a booklet whose preface was written by Soong Ching-ling, widow of Sun Yat-sen, Robeson gave further performances at benefits for the China Aid Council and United China Relief at their sold-out concert at Washington's Uline Arena on April 24, 1941. The Washington Committee for Aid to China had booked Constitution Hall but been blocked by the Daughters of the American Revolution owing to Robeson's race. The indignation was great enough that President Roosevelt's wife Eleanor and Hu Shih, the Chinese ambassador, joined as sponsors. However, when the organizers offered tickets on generous terms to the National Negro Congress to help fill the larger venue, these sponsors withdrew, in objection to the NNC's Communist ties.

Partly because of the favorable international reputation Robeson gave to the song, it became China's National Anthem after 1949. The Chinese lyricist died in a Beijing prison in 1968, but Robeson continued to send royalties to his family.

World War II, the Broadway Othello, political activism, and McCarthyism

1939–1945: World War II and the Broadway Othello

Robeson's last British film was The Proud Valley (1940), set in a Welsh coal-mining town. After the outbreak of World War II, Robeson and his family returned to the United States in 1940, to Enfield, Connecticut, and he became America's "no.1 entertainer" with a radio broadcast of Ballad for Americans. Nevertheless, during a tour in 1940, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel was the only major Los Angeles hotel willing to accommodate him due to his race, at an exorbitant rate and registered under an assumed name, and he therefore dedicated two hours every afternoon to sitting in the lobby, where he was widely recognised, "to ensure that the next time Black[s] come through, they'll have a place to stay." Los Angeles hotels lifted their restrictions on black guests soon afterwards.

Furthermore, the documentary Native Land (1942), which Robeson narrated, was labeled by the FBI as communist propaganda. After an appearance in Tales of Manhattan (1942), a production that he felt was "very offensive to my people", he announced that he would no longer act in films because of the demeaning roles available to blacks.

Robeson participated in benefit concerts on behalf of the war effort and at a concert at the Polo Grounds, he met two emissaries from the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer Subsequently, Robeson reprised his role of Othello at the Shubert Theatre in 1943, and became the first African American to play the role with a white supporting cast on Broadway. During the same period of time, he addressed a meeting with Kenesaw Mountain Landis in a failed attempt to convince him to admit black players to Major League Baseball. He toured North America with Othello until 1945, and subsequently, his political efforts with the CAA to get colonial powers to discontinue their exploitation of Africa were short-circuited by the United Nations.

1946–1949: Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations

After the mass lynching of four African Americans on July 25, 1946, Robeson met with President Truman and admonished Truman by stating that if he did not enact legislation to end lynching, "the Negroes will defend themselves". Truman immediately terminated the meeting and declared that the time was not right to propose anti-lynching legislation. Subsequently, Robeson publicly called upon all Americans to demand that Congress pass civil rights legislation. Taking a stance against lynching, Robeson founded the American Crusade Against Lynching organization in 1946. This organization was thought to be a threat to the NAACP antiviolence movement. Robeson received support from W.E.B. Du Bois regarding this matter and officially launched this organization on the anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, September 23.

About this time, Robeson's belief that trade unionism was crucial to civil rights became a mainstay of his political beliefs as he became a proponent of the union activist Revels Cayton. Robeson was later called before the Tenney Committee where he responded to questions about his affiliation with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) by testifying that he was not a member of the CPUSA. Nevertheless, two organizations with which Robeson was intimately involved, the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) and the CAA, were placed on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO). Subsequently, he was summoned before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and when questioned about his affiliation with the Communist Party, he refused to answer, stating: "Some of the most brilliant and distinguished Americans are about to go to jail for the failure to answer that question, and I am going to join them, if necessary."

In 1948, Robeson was preeminent in Henry A. Wallace's bid for the President of the United States, during which Robeson traveled to the Deep South, at risk to his own life, to campaign for him. In the ensuing year, Robeson was forced to go overseas to work because his concert performances were canceled at the FBI's behest. While on tour, he spoke at the World Peace Council, at which his speech was publicly reported as equating America with a Fascist state—a depiction that he flatly denied. Nevertheless, the speech publicly attributed to him was a catalyst for his becoming an enemy of mainstream America. Robeson refused to bow to public criticism when he advocated in favor of twelve defendants, including his long-time friend, Benjamin J. Davis Jr., charged during the Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders.

Robeson traveled to Moscow in June, and tried to find Itzik Feffer. He let Soviet authorities know that he wanted to see him. Reluctant to lose Robeson as a propagandist for the Soviet Union, the Soviets brought Feffer from prison to him. Feffer told him that Mikhoels had been murdered, and he would be summarily executed. To protect the Soviet Union's reputation, and to keep the right wing of the United States from gaining the moral high ground, Robeson denied that any persecution existed in the Soviet Union, and kept the meeting secret for the rest of his life, except from his son. On June 20, 1949, Robeson spoke at the Paris Peace Congress saying that "We in America do not forget that it was on the backs of the white workers from Europe and on the backs of millions of Blacks that the wealth of America was built. And we are resolved to share it equally. We reject any hysterical raving that urges us to make war on anyone. Our will to fight for peace is strong. We shall not make war on anyone. We shall not make war on the Soviet Union. We oppose those who wish to build up imperialist Germany and to establish fascism in Greece. We wish peace with Franco's Spain despite her fascism. We shall support peace and friendship among all nations, with Soviet Russia and the people's Republics." He was blacklisted for saying this in the mainstream press within the United States, including in many periodicals of the Negro press such as The Crisis.

In order to isolate Robeson politically, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) subpoenaed Jackie Robinson to comment on Robeson's Paris speech. Robinson testified that Robeson's statements, "'if accurately reported', were silly'". Days later, the announcement of a concert headlined by Robeson in New York City provoked the local press to decry the use of their community to support "subversives" and the Peekskill Riots ensued.

Later that year, Edward R. Murrow had CBS News colleague Don Hollenbeck contribute to the innovative media-review program CBS Views the Press over the radio network's flagship station WCBS. Hollenbeck discussed Edward U. Condon, Alger Hiss, and Paul Robeson. Regarding Robeson and the Peekskill riots of 27 August 1949, Hollenbeck said that, while most newspapers had covered the riots well, the New York World-Telegram had drawn from sources that disliked Robeson, including The Compass (successor to PM, Hollenbeck's former employer).

1950–1955: Blacklisted

A book reviewed in early 1950 as "the most complete record on college football" failed to list Robeson as ever having played on the Rutgers team and as ever having been an All-American. Months later, NBC canceled Robeson's appearance on Eleanor Roosevelt's television program. Subsequently, the State Department denied Robeson a passport and issued a "stop notice" at all ports because it believed that an isolated existence inside United States borders not only afforded him less freedom of expression but also avenge his "extreme advocacy on behalf of the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa." However, when Robeson met with State Department officials and asked why he was denied a passport, he was told that "his frequent criticism of the treatment of blacks in the United States should not be aired in foreign countries".

In 1951, an article titled "Paul Robeson – the Lost Shepherd" was published in The Crisis although Paul Jr. suspected it was written by Amsterdam News columnist Earl Brown. J. Edgar Hoover and the United States State Department arranged for the article to be printed and distributed in Africa in order to defame Robeson's reputation and reduce his and Communists' popularity in colonial countries. Another article by Roy Wilkins (now thought to have been the real author of "Paul Robeson – the Lost Shepherd") denounced Robeson as well as the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in terms consistent with the anti-Communist FBI propaganda.

On December 17, 1951, Robeson presented to the United Nations an anti-lynching petition titled "We Charge Genocide". The document asserted that the United States federal government, by its failure to act against lynching in the United States, was "guilty of genocide" under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention.

In 1952, Robeson was awarded the International Stalin Prize by the Soviet Union. Unable to travel to Moscow, he accepted the award in New York. In April 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, Robeson penned To You My Beloved Comrade, praising Stalin as dedicated to peace and a guide to the world: "Through his deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage." Robeson's opinions about the Soviet Union kept his passport out of reach and stopped his return to the entertainment industry and the civil rights movement. In his opinion, the Soviet Union was the guarantor of political balance in the world.

In a symbolic act of defiance against the travel ban, in May 1952, labor unions in the United States and Canada organized a concert at the International Peace Arch on the border between Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Robeson returned to perform a second concert at the Peace Arch in 1953, and over the next two years, two further concerts took place. In this period, with the encouragement of his friend the Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan, Robeson recorded a number of radio concerts for supporters in Wales.

1956–1957: End of McCarthyism

In 1956, Robeson was called before HUAC after he refused to sign an affidavit affirming that he was not a Communist. In his testimony, he invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to reveal his political affiliations. When asked why he had not remained in the Soviet Union because of his affinity with its political ideology, he replied, "because my father was a slave and my people died to build [the United States and], I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you and no fascist-minded people will drive me from it!" At that hearing, Robeson stated "Whether I am or not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights." In 1957, still unable to accept invitations to perform abroad, Paul Robeson sang for audiences in London, where 1,000 concert tickets for his telephone concert at St Pancras Town Hall sold out within an hour, and Wales via the transatlantic telephone cable TAT-1: "We have to learn the hard way that there is another way to sing". An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States to reinstate his confiscated passport had been rejected, but over the telephone Robeson was able to sing to the 5,000 gathered there as he had earlier in the year to London.

Due to the reaction to the promulgation of Robeson's political views, his recordings and films were removed from public distribution, and he was universally condemned in the U.S press. During the height of the Cold War, it became increasingly difficult in the United States to hear Robeson sing on commercial radio, buy his music or see his films.

In 1956, in the United Kingdom, Topic Records, at that time part of the Workers Music Association, released a single of Robeson singing "Joe Hill", written by Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson, backed with "John Brown's Body". Joe Hill (1879–1915) was a labor activist in the early 20th century, and "Joe Hill" sung by Robeson is the third favorite choice of British Labour Party politicians on the BBC radio program Desert Island Discs.

Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism at the 1956 Party Congress silenced Robeson on Stalin, although Robeson continued to praise the Soviet Union. In 1956, after public pressure brought a one-time exemption to the travel ban, Robeson performed two concerts in Canada in February, one in Toronto and the other at a union convention in Sudbury, Ontario. That year Robeson, along with close friend W.E.B. Du Bois, compared the anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary to the "same sort of people who overthrew the Spanish Republican Government" and supported the Soviet invasion and suppression of the revolt.

Later years

1958–1960: Comeback tours

1958 saw the publication of Robeson's "manifesto-autobiography" Here I Stand. His passport was restored in June 1958 via Kent v. Dulles, and he embarked on a world tour using London as his base. In Moscow in August 1959, he received a tumultuous reception at the Luzhniki Stadium where he sang classic Russian songs along with American standards. Robeson and Essie then flew to Yalta to rest and spend time with Nikita Khrushchev.

On October 11, 1959, Robeson took part in a service at St. Paul's Cathedral, the first black performer to sing there. On a trip to Moscow, Robeson experienced bouts of dizziness and heart problems and was hospitalized for two months while Essie was diagnosed with operable cancer. He recovered and returned to the UK to visit the National Eisteddfod.

Meanwhile, the State Department had circulated negative literature about him throughout the media in India.

While leading The Royal Shakespeare Company starring as Othello in Tony Richardson's 1959 production at Stratford-upon-Avon, he befriended actor Andrew Faulds, whose family hosted him in the nearby village of Shottery. In 1960, in what was his final concert performance in Great Britain, Robeson sang to raise money for the Movement for Colonial Freedom at the Royal Festival Hall.

In October 1960, Robeson embarked on a two-month concert tour of Australia and New Zealand with Essie, primarily to generate money, at the behest of Australian politician Bill Morrow. While in Sydney, he became the first major artist to perform at the construction site of the future Sydney Opera House. After appearing at the Brisbane Festival Hall, they went to Auckland where Robeson reaffirmed his support of Marxism, denounced the inequality faced by the Māori and efforts to denigrate their culture. Thereabouts, Robeson publicly stated "..the people of the lands of Socialism want peace dearly".

During the tour he was introduced to Faith Bandler who interested the Robesons in the plight of the Australian Aborigines. Robeson, consequently, became enraged and demanded the Australian government provide the Aborigines citizenship and equal rights. He attacked the view of the Aborigines as being unsophisticated and uncultured, and declared, "there's no such thing as a backward human being, there is only a society which says they are backward."

1961–1963: Health breakdown

Back in London, he decided to return to the United States, where he hoped to resume participation in the civil rights movement, stopping off in Africa and Cuba along the way. Essie argued to stay in London, fearing that he'd be "killed" if he returned and would be "unable to make any money" due to harassment by the United States government. Robeson disagreed and made his own travel arrangements, arriving in Moscow in March 1961.

During an uncharacteristically wild party in his Moscow hotel room, Robeson locked himself in his bedroom and attempted suicide by cutting his wrists. Three days later, under Soviet medical care, he told his son that he felt extreme paranoia, thought that the walls of the room were moving and, overcome by a powerful sense of emptiness and depression, tried to take his own life.

Paul Jr. believed that his father's health problems stemmed from attempts by the CIA and MI5 to "neutralize" his father. He remembered that his father had had such fears prior to his prostate operation. He said that three doctors treating Robeson in London and New York had been CIA contractors, and that his father's symptoms resulted from being "subjected to mind depatterning under MK-ULTRA", a secret CIA programme. Martin Duberman wrote that Robeson's health breakdown was probably brought on by a combination of factors including extreme emotional and physical stress, bipolar depression, exhaustion and the beginning of circulatory and heart problems. "[E]ven without an organic predisposition and accumulated pressures of government harassment he might have been susceptible to a breakdown."

Robeson stayed at the Barvikha Sanatorium until September 1961, when he left for London. There his depression reemerged, and after another period of recuperation in Moscow, he returned to London. Three days after arriving back, he became suicidal and suffered a panic attack while passing the Soviet Embassy. He was admitted to the Priory Hospital, where he underwent electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and was given heavy doses of drugs for nearly two years, with no accompanying psychotherapy. During his treatment at the Priory, Robeson was being monitored by the British MI5. Both intelligence services were well aware of Robeson's suicidal state of mind. An FBI memo described Robeson's debilitated condition, remarking that his "death would be much publicized" and would be used for Communist propaganda, necessitating continued surveillance. Numerous memos advised that Robeson should be denied a passport renewal, an obstacle that was likely to further jeopardize his recovery process.

In August 1963, disturbed about his treatment, friends and family had Robeson transferred to the Buch Clinic in East Berlin. Given psychotherapy and less medication, his physicians found him still "completely without initiative" and they expressed "doubt and anger" about the "high level of barbiturates and ECT" that had been administered in London. He rapidly improved, though his doctor stressed that "what little is left of Paul's health must be quietly conserved."

1963–1976: Retirement

In 1963, Robeson returned to the United States and for the remainder of his life lived in seclusion. He momentarily assumed a role in the civil rights movement, making a few major public appearances before falling seriously ill during a tour. Double pneumonia and a kidney blockage in 1965 nearly killed him.

Robeson was contacted by both Bayard Rustin and James Farmer about the possibility of becoming involved with the mainstream of the Civil Rights Movement. Because of Rustin's past anti-Communist stances, Robeson declined to meet with him. Robeson eventually met with Farmer, but because he was asked to denounce Communism and the Soviet Union in order to assume a place in the mainstream, Robeson adamantly declined.

After Essie, who had been his spokesperson to the media, died in December 1965, Robeson moved in with his son's family in New York City. He was rarely seen strolling near his Harlem apartment on Jumel Place [sic], and his son responded to press inquiries that his "father's health does not permit him to perform or answer questions."

In 1968, he settled at his sister's home in Philadelphia. Numerous celebrations were held in honor of Robeson over the next several years, including at public arenas that had previously shunned him, but he saw few visitors aside from close friends and gave few statements apart from messages to support current civil rights and international movements, feeling that his record "spoke for itself". In 1974, he posed for a portrait by artist Kenneth Hari at his sisters home. The portrait was unveiled in 1978 at the Paul Robeson Center at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, where it remains on display. At a Carnegie Hall tribute to mark his 75th birthday in 1973, he was unable to attend, but a taped message from him was played that said: "Though I have not been able to be active for several years, I want you to know that I am the same Paul, dedicated as ever to the worldwide cause of humanity for freedom, peace and brotherhood."

1976: Death, funeral, and public response

On January 23, 1976, following complications of a stroke, Robeson died in Philadelphia at the age of 77. He lay in state in Harlem and his funeral was held at his brother Ben's former parsonage, Mother Zion AME Zion Church, where Bishop J. Clinton Hoggard performed the eulogy. His twelve pall bearers included Harry Belafonte and Fritz Pollard. He was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. According to biographer Martin Duberman, contemporary post-mortem reflections on Robeson's life in "[the] white [American] press..ignored the continuing inability of white America to tolerate a black maverick who refused to bend, ..downplayed the racist component central to his persecution [during his life]", as they "paid him gingerly respect and tipped their hat to him as a 'great American,'" while the black American press, "which had never, overall, been as hostile to Robeson [as the white American press had], opined that his life '...would always be a challenge to white and Black America.'"

Legacy and honors

Early in his life, Robeson was one of the most influential participants in the Harlem Renaissance. His achievements in sport and culture were all the more incredible given the barriers of racism he had to surmount. Robeson brought Negro spirituals into the American mainstream. His theatrical performances have been recognized as the first to display dignity for black actors and pride in African heritage, and he was among the first artists to refuse to play live to segregated audiences.

After McCarthyism, [Robeson's stand] on anti-colonialism in the 1940s would never again have a voice in American politics, but the [African independence movements] of the late 1950s and 1960s would vindicate his anti-colonial [agenda].

Subsequently, in 1945 he received the Spingarn medal from the NAACP. Several public and private establishments he was associated with have been landmarked, or named after him. His efforts to end Apartheid in South Africa were posthumously rewarded in 1978 by the United Nations General Assembly. Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist won an Academy Award for best short documentary in 1980. In 1995, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame. In the centenary of his birth, which was commemorated around the world, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Robeson is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.

As of 2011, the run of Othello starring Robeson was the longest-running production of a Shakespeare play ever staged on Broadway. He received a Donaldson Award for his performance. His Othello was characterised by Michael A. Morrison in 2011 as a high point in Shakespearean theatre in the 20th century.

Robeson left Australia as a respected, albeit controversial, figure and his support for Aboriginal rights had a profound effect in Australia over the next decade.

Robeson archives exist at the Academy of Arts; Howard University, and the Schomburg Center. In 2010, Susan Robeson launched a project by Swansea University and the Welsh Assembly to create an online learning resource in her grandfather's memory.

Robeson connected his own life and history not only to his fellow Americans and to his people in the South, but to all the people of Africa and its diaspora whose lives had been fundamentally shaped by the same processes that had brought his ancestors to America. While a consensus definition of his legacy remains controversial, to deny his courage in the face of public and governmental pressure would be to defame his courage.

In 1976, the apartment building on Edgecombe Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan where Robeson lived during the early 1940s was officially renamed the Paul Robeson Residence, and declared a National Historic Landmark. In 1993, the building was designated a New York City landmark as well. Edgecombe Avenue itself was later co-named Paul Robeson Boulevard.

In 1978, TASS announced that the Latvian Shipping Company had named one of its new 40,000-ton tankers Paul Robeson in honor of the singer. TASS said the ship's crew established a Robeson museum aboard the tanker.

In 1998, the second SOAS University London halls of residence was named in his honour.

In 2002, a blue plaque was unveiled by English Heritage on the house in Hampstead where Robeson lived in 1929–30.

In 2004, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 37-cent stamp honoring Robeson.

In 2006, a plaque was unveiled in his honour at the SOAS University London

In 2007, the Criterion Collection, a company that specializes in releasing special-edition versions of classic and contemporary films, released a DVD boxed set of Robeson films.

In 2009, Robeson was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

The main campus library at Rutgers University-Camden is named after Robeson, as is the campus center at Rutgers University-Newark. The Paul Robeson Cultural Center is on the campus of Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

In 1972, Penn State established a formal cultural center on the University Park campus. Students and staff chose to name the center for Robeson.

A street in Princeton, New Jersey is named after him. In addition, the block of Davenport Street in Somerville, New Jersey, where St. Thomas AME Zion Church still stands is called Paul Robeson Boulevard.

In West Philadelphia, the Paul Robeson High School, which won 2019 U.S. News & World Report for Best High Schools in Pennsylvania, is also named after him.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Robeson's graduation, Rutgers University named an open-air plaza after him on Friday, April 12, 2019. The plaza, next to the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus at Rutgers–New Brunswick, features eight black granite panels with details of Robeson's life. Also in 2019, Commercial Avenue in New Brunswick was renamed Paul Robeson Boulevard.

On March 6, 2019, the city council of New Brunswick, New Jersey approved the renaming of Commercial Avenue to Paul Robeson Boulevard.

In popular culture

In 1954, the Kurdish poet Abdulla Goran wrote the poem "Bangêk bo Pol Ropsin" ("A Call for Paul Robeson"). In the same year, another Kurdish poet, Cegerxwîn, also wrote a poem about him, "Heval Pol Robson" ("Comrade Paul Robeson"), which was put to music by singer Şivan Perwer in 1976.

Black 47's 1989 album Home of the Brave includes the song "Paul Robeson (Born to Be Free)", which features spoken quotes of Robeson as part of the song. These quotes are drawn from Robeson's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in June 1956. In 2001, Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers released a song titled "Let Robeson Sing" as a tribute to Robeson, which reached number 19 on the UK singles chart.

In January 1978, James Earl Jones performed the one-man show Paul Robeson, written by Phillip Hayes Dean, on Broadway. This stage drama was made into a TV movie in 1979, starring Jones and directed by Lloyd Richards. At the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, British-Nigerian actor Tayo Aluko, himself a baritone soloist, premiered his one-man show, Call Mr. Robeson: A Life with Songs, which has since toured various countries.

Tom Rob Smith's novel Agent 6 (2012) includes the character Jesse Austin, "a black singer, political activist and communist sympathizer modeled after real-life actor/activist Paul Robeson." Robeson also appears in short fiction published in the online literary magazines the Maple Tree Literary Supplement and Every Day Fiction.

In November 2014, it was reported that film director Steve McQueen's next film would be a biographical film about Paul Robeson. As of 2018, the film has not been made.

On September 7, 2019, Crossroads Theater Company performed Phillip Hayes Dean's play Paul Robeson in the inaugural performance of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.

[pkmnsdarkqueen]

All Karen ships rated (update)

Original here 

I did this like a few months after making this account, and I thought it’d be fun to go back and re look at my ratings

Also since this one isn’t a dare to rate EVERY ship I am cutting out the protag/companion section since they’re all underaged and the original ratings reflected thus wiht them all being a no. Also getting rid of ones where she’s with a pokemon. 

Finally I’m gonna add some ones I like to the very end

strike through=my side commentary, trying to be funny italicized=if asked I’d be down to rp it mostly just to see how/it it’d work bold=ship name and who in it to help you find a certain ship highlights=they are grouped up, again in case you want to find that one ship * by ship name=Super random ships I find kinda wild ! by ship name=Dramatic change to original rating

ships on ‘never ending romance’ website. 

Karen w/ a Villian:

! 180Shipping - Karen & Shelly -2 bad a ladies over here kicking butt and being fashionable heck yes, but also Karen is an awful swimmer so let the cute romance ensue 8/10

*AphoticShipping - Saturn & Karen-Karen would find it fun to mess with from time to time, and maybe could work. 5/10

*AtrociousShipping - Karen & Mars-I mean possible, but also Mars is really kinda child like so Karen may just want to protect her instead. 4/10

BarghestShipping - Karen & Lavana-I feel like it’d be like shipping Karen with a cheerleader…an evil cheerleader. 2/10

! DarkIntentionShipping - Giovanni & Karen-Tbh yeah I like it. Just depends though because again she grew up with Silver who she is like a mom (or older sis some days) to, so that would have to be worked out. Plus she’s kinda miffed he left Silver from seeing how much it hurt him. But also hateship to romance, basically I’ve been giving this one more thought and it could be heckin cute. 9/10

*IcePinkShipping - Karen & Lovrina-No too whinney and arrogant for Karen. 0/10

***ImperiousShipping - Hunter J & Karen-Oh dear gosh no, haaaard no, And before you ask about Twist!verse they’d be both too emotionally closed. -50/100

! KariShipping - Courtney (Magma) & Karen- Been thinking about this one too and the more i think about it the less I see it. Both are too closed/awkward. 1/10

LiaisonShipping - Petrel & Karen-Kinda cute in a way with them balancing each other out. It’s like obvious psycho with subtle psycho, and seems fun. 8/10

! PaybackShipping - Archer & Karen- Briefly had a little shipping with this and tbh really enjoyed it. If in an au just the dynamic of the couple in 101 Dalmatians would be these two. In main verse you could have them sneaking the romance and such to not get caught. Also evil Karen? Or good Archer? 9/10

PerishSongShipping - Proton & Karen-He’s a bit reactive for her, and cocky though maybe she’d balance him out? 5/10

! StrangeloveShipping - Domino & Karen-…I dunno why she makes me think of sailor moon, but she does Evil Karen? then ye this could work and be fun, maybe Twist!verse would even work. 8/10

TenebrousShipping - Ariana & Karen-I find it funny the team Karen was vaguely a part of, and now is a part of her life she works so hard to distance from is the one she’s shipped with ALOT. Oh and Galactic of all things is second most common for some reason. Also eh on this one. Ariana has that mom vibe, and Karen distances herself from that usually. 3/10

Karen w/ gym leader:

*BerthierShipping - Cress & Karen-I dunno because he seems like a 16 year old teen to me, but their personalities would work, so maybe. 5/10

BittersweetShipping - Karen & Whitney-Hm I can think of some interesting plots with Karen’s early elite four days as when they meet. Not sure what they’d have in common though. 4/10

! BracknellShipping - Gardenia & Karen-Karen likes grass tyoes and Gardenia has that somewhat wild side that Karen likes I can see them spending late nights camping after exploring all day. 8/10

***ChalcedoniteShipping - Karen & Roxanne-Isn’t she like 16? Also I feel Karen would just see her as a spunky kid 0/10

! CockroachShipping - Burgh & Karen-Can we appreciate the name please…..Ok cool. Ok but Karen trying to learn how to paint the normal way and showing Burgh how to do spray paint work or paint a motorcycle? Look I think they’d be cute. 8/10

! ColdNightShipping - Candice & Karen-Yes, double yes. Candice talking about the pressure of having the meeting point of dialgia, palkia, and giratina so close plus the regi temple, and lake acuity. Like the pressure of keeping all of these legendary places safe is alot of pressure. Then Karen knowing about ho-oh and wanting to keep them safe, anyways they can bond ina . cool way. 10/10

*DarkActShipping - Brycen-Man & Karen-Not Brycen, Brycen-Man. I really dunno because I feel like it’d be too close to the Masked Man for her to be comfortable. 2/10

DarkalleyShipping - Volkner & Karen-Hmmmmm maybe, but also I feel Volkner needs a more high energy person, so 3/10. As the toxic relationship their a part of in some hallmark like plot though 10/10

DarkGaleShipping - Karen & Winona-A possibility, but I kinda see them as friends just chillin watchin clouds. 3/10

*DarkHarvestShipping - Cilan & Karen-Didn’t know Karen was popular with the trio, but ok. Anyways if he’s alot like he is in the anime thats gonna be a hard no. otherwise, eh maybe? 4/10

DarkMarshShipping - Karen & Sabrina-Friends I think. Like they’d be comfortable around each other, but no spark in that way. 1/10

ElectricDarknessShipping - Elesa & Karen-I sort of want it just because while Karen dresses nice she is a tomboy meaning the clashes about fashion or manners would be great. 8/10

FightNightShipping - Karen & Maylene-If they were in the plot of a secret fight club, a hard yes. Otherwise, I don’t see it. 1/10

GabbroShipping - Brock & Karen-I want to see Brock do his whole freak out just to write Karen’s way to shoot him down. After all romance takes awhile for, and if aggressive is your first interaction it scares her. Though he does stand down after being rejected so she’d respect that, and maybe think about giving a chance. 5/10

GothShipping - Clair & Karen-Popular yes, but I like the Cynthia, Karen, Clair girl squad dynamic so much more. 2/10

ImpShipping - Karen & Valerie-Karen being vastly confused but fascinated by the antics of Valerie sounds cute.  7/10

InsectQueenShipping - Karen & Viola-The plots would be cute knowing Karen’s quirks with cameras. 8/10

LamentShipping - Flannery & Karen-Idk due to lack of things to connect on overriding if personalities would work. 3/10

LiptonShipping - Jasmine & Karen-I wanna say no cause I think she’d be too sweet for Karen, but also yes because she can get super intimidating and tiny Jas actually wearing the pants in their relationship sounds interesting 5/10

**MortelleShipping - Fantina & Karen-Naw…to much flash and show for Karen, but maybe contest mentor. Also Karen has a vendetta against Amity Square for it’s selectiveness of ‘cute pokemon’. 0/10

! NightsongShipping - Falkner & Karen-The name of this ship is amazing, but Falkner is like one of those characters who gets shipped aorund with EVERYONE like really it’s kinda ridiculous and I’m tired of him just beign thrown at everyone 2/10

! PaintedLadyShipping - Bugsy & Karen-How is this one not for Burgh?  Yeah no he’s just too much like a kid. 0/10

RafureShipping - Erika & Karen-…can their Vileplume’s fall in love instead? I’m 10/10 for that. Between them 2/10

RiddlesInTheDarkShipping - Blaine & Karen-…Eh…or we could not, and maybe they just are friends. I don’t really see romance blooming there. 0/10

SchwarzFlashShipping - Lt. Surge & Karen-Them both having PTSD? Maybe helping each other? I mean I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot. 7/10

ScotopiaShipping - Karen & Skyla-Maybe too much spunk like Rosa, but Karen would admire her determination. 4/10

SilkShipping - Janine & Karen-No pls. I see Karen as her unofficially adopted big sis, and find that adorable. 0/10

! UnderworldShipping - Morty & Karen- So far this has proven to be a hard no, and tbh I kinda like it better that way.  0/10

***WhiteMoonShipping - Pryce & Karen-Even in a verse he wasn’t The Masked Man imma give this a hard no. 0/10

Karen w/ an elite:

AphroditeShipping - Koga & Karen  -He’s like her dad…so…no. -50/10

BadRomanceShipping - Grimsley & Karen-Bad romance is a good title cause I feel it’d be a rough start. 10/10

*BlackGlacierShipping - Glacia & Karen-Tbh not sure if they have much at all in common. 1/10

BlackiceShipping - Karen & Lorelei-Ok maybe because they have some similarities, but tbh I like the older gal pal bond alot. 5/10  

DarkEliteShipping - Sidney & Karen-A more punk relationship in this elite match-up, but I could see it working. 10/10

DarkKnightShipping - Wikstrom & Karen-Again the title tho! I mean yeah I think I could see it from her finding him quirky, but in a good way. Although they have wildy different aesthetics so it’d depend on interpretations. Right now I do love the dynamicKaren has with a Wikstrom account.  8/10

DelilahShipping - Bruno & Karen-Eh maybe? I like the uncle and niece bromance they have tho. 4/10

! DementiaShipping - Lucian & Karen-I feel like they’d either clash or hit it off with no inbetween. I Still stand by this but I think they’d everntually fall for each other.  9/10

DisownShipping - Agatha & Karen-NOOOOO don’t make Gma relationship sexy! -50/10

! HellaFineEliteShipping - Karen & Malva- Ok so came back, and yeah I could see it, but depends on interpretations again because they could just more easily spark into a fight or if the first interaction went sour not give it another shot. 5/100

IntuitiveShipping - Siebold & Karen-Actually had a rp with them shipped, was Twist!verse tho giving Siebold that rescuer mentality which helped. In general though I kinda want to see it. 7/10

LambentShipping - Flint (elite) & Karen-Hm. Maybe? Like, ok the dynamic personality helps, but also would be a slow burn. 5/10

MasakudoShipping - Will & Karen- I love it in some ways, but I also feel as though they’ve see so much of each other’s absolute worst sides it wouldn’t work. ???/10

! NightmareShipping - Karen & Phoebe-Eh they’d be good friends but I can’t see them really hitting it off as far as things they have in common. 3/10

NoWeaknessShipping - Karen & Shauntal-Ok bumbling dork sounds cute, and her defending from Grimsley’s teasing sounds cute, and great now I find this cute. 8/10

RhymeShipping - Aaron (elite) & Karen-…ArE thEsE tWo ONly ShIPpeD cAUsE thEiR NAmEs RhYmE?! Jokes on you because imagine them working out together, or exploring the woods, or yeah let’s ship this! 8/10

ShootingStarShipping - Drake (Orange) & Karen-Hm, I mean I would like to see it before going anywhere with it. 4/10

SuckerPunchShipping - Marshal & Karen-…I see it more than Bruno, but also feel as though they could clash some how personality wise. I’d like to see a plot for it though. 4/10

TerrifyingShipping - Caitlin & Karen-They both have awful sleep schedules so I feel like trying to get a time they’re both awake would be a problem, and personality wise would clash. 1/10

Karen w/ a champion:

BoadiceaShipping - Cynthia & Karen-I like the best friend bond a thousand times better, but I see the appeal 7/10 BumpShipping - Steven Stone & Karen-If you asked me when I started this account I would of said,”in what world?” Now after having various interaction with multiple accounts I’m like 10/10 DreamTeamShipping - Alder & Karen-Eh…yes…and no? Like he did hit on Cynthia and she has qualities like her, so could maybe work.  6/10 NeoEliteShipping - Lance & Karen-Like yeah I can see it. It’d take flippin forever with Karen being a royal butt most of the time while adjusting to elite life, and then after that they’re both closed off with emotions so it’s take awhile. 10/10 I hate that my prediction was correct

Karen w/ a minor GAME npc:

BoxVirusShipping - Brigette & Karen-Could be interesting, but I’m not sold all the way 3/10 CassiaShipping - Karen & Sina-Very random, and tbh I say no because of what little they would connect on 0/10 ChicoryShipping - Cheryl & Karen-Cheryl is so sweet. I feel too sweet because Karen needs someone that will argue with her when she needs redirecting 0/10 ClosestShipping - Karen & Zinnia-I mean the rebellious streak, the slightly odd behavior? Karen would find it intriguing, and if the move was made she wouldn’t oppose it. 9/10 ! DarkMagicShipping - Eusine & Karen-Better watch out Morty, Ms. Steal Ya Dude is ova here! Yeah no no, they can only clash. Even without Morty beign the catalyst these 2 would clash. 0/10 DarkServiceShipping - Darach & Karen-Heh…the name alone tho. x3 (i am mature I swear) Ok kinda random, but possible. She isn’t one to look down on someone due to social status. 5/10 ! DarkShadowsShipping - Ingo & Karen -Him and his bro are so easy to ship to me, and yes she’d find his quirks cute while dragging him out of his shell while he’d keep her grounded. 10/10 DarkSpecterShipping - Riley & Karen-Like ok yeah, the mysterious vibe combined with a strong goal. I can see it. 7/10 ! GigabyteShipping - Bill & Karen-idk, Karen may not be a big science person but she finds it kind of interesting to listen to. Could work. 5/10 KurumiShipping - Karen & Lisia-Comin for ya girl Wallace! Tbh tho idk because I could see them having a cute mentee relationship if Karen did competition with the twist in dynamic of her mentor being younger. As for romance 3/10 NoirShipping - Karen & Marley-Karen’s inner thoughts as a person. Like could work, or maybe too similar. 3/10 SeventhJugglerShipping - Juggler (Trainer class) & Karen-Lol the title tho, like seventh juggler!? Boi has no name! I mean ok, sure. I love a relationship that keeps both parties guessing, and if Karen can handle WIll I think she’d be down to handle a second clown. XD 8/10

Karen w/ a minor ANIME/MOVIE npc:

BahamarShipping - Karen & Olesia-Don’t get at all, and I think she’s barely an adult 0/10 CamdenShipping - Karen & Michelle-Would make more sense with Lance 1/10 DarkMotherSocietyShipping - Delia & Karen-Why does everyone want ash’s mom? Also no. 0/10 DetoxicationShipping - Karen & Sakura-Aw naw, wholesome friendship. 0/10 FavoriteShipping - Lawrence III & Karen-Karen in twist!verse, yes. A hard yes. 10/10 Otherwise…eh…maybe? 5/10 GothicDJShipping - Karen & DJ Mary-Enemies 10/10, mostly Karen’s side. With her reporting on Karen’s past, and asking invasive questions wanting a scoop for her show. Romance -50/10 HazyShipping - Karen & Solidad-She’‘s down to earth, and I think her groove may fit well w/ Karen 6/10 LiminalShipping - Sir Aaron & Karen-Can we please just agree this is Riley but in his mega form? 7/10 MorriganShipping - Karen & Moria-I have no idea where this one came from, and I’m eh. 1/10

Karen w/ a Frontier brain:

AshikoShipping - Greta & Karen-Eh, I don’t see anything really 1/10 CapriShipping - Dahlia & Karen-Idk why I feel like they’re the same person, but I do, and eh. 4/10 DarkLuckShipping - Karen & Lucy-Her and Brock tho…also I feel like they’d fall into awkward silences often. 2/10 YorShipping - Brandon & Karen-Maybe as vigilantes together, that’d be a fun plot. Shipping though Idk. 4/10

TCG Characters: (All 0)

TaladasShipping - Felicity & Karen-Another news personality, but also with theatrics and I just don’t see it. 0/10 DarknessEnergyShipping - Mark & Karen-Not much on this guy. It’s a no cause she’s see him as a child, but look him up. 0/10 MoonSugarShipping - Karen & Mint-No iz too child, and also look the kid up. 0/10

OTHER MANGA Characters:

DarkGirlShipping - Karen & Rug-Turns out this is a real person, and not an actual rug. My bad. Also no she’d likely take the girl in as a mentee though. 0/10 MephistoShipping - Karen & Pauline-….eh. 1/10 RosarioShipping - Daisy (Cerulean) & Karen-I feel like it’s a possibility, but I’m not jumping full on board. 4/10

Karen and multiple people: (All are gonna be a no romantically because I don’t see Karen being poly, but I’ll give plot ideas)

DarkPathShipping - Brycen-Man, Grimsley, Sidney & Karen-Brycen is random….? Unless they do a movie where they’re all the bad guys and him as the ultimate villain maybe? Movie idea, 10/10.

DuskShipping - Karen, Houndoom & Skuntank-I can see Karen with a skunktank, and Garnet teaming with one for a double battle would be cool. 10/10

DystopianDarkActShipping - Brycen-man, Cyrus, Karen & Marley-Brycen-Man is everywhere with Karen, and I don’t know why…also sort of random combination…based on the name maybe a plot with them in a dystopian world. For some apocalypse theme plot though 10/10  

EcostasisShipping - Flint (elite), Volkner, Candice, Karen & Sabrina-So the name is about extra bone formation….people that should all join team skull? Ooooor lab experiment plot? I guess 7/10

ElitismShipping - Falkner, Morty, Will, Clair, Karen & Whitney-I feel like the title is implying them thinking they’re better than everyone. I see none of this from any of these people, and am confused. 0/10

EsotericShipping - Grimsley, Sidney & Karen-YAAAAS DARK SQUAD! The name does suit them, and I don’t need to list any plots they easily make their own. 100/10

FrostingShipping - Dawn, Karen & Lovrina-Pulling from all the verses here, and all I see is a gal pal adventure. An odd adventure. KInda down tho. 5/10

HaremTaroShipping - Gold (Special), Crystal, Jasmine, Karen, DJ Mary & Whitney-I’ve never watched the anime this one is referring to so ???/10

HeolstorShipping - Falkner, Morty & Karen-There is no meaning behind the name, but maybe they’d be good camping buds. 7/10

IndigoLeagueShipping - Bruno, Koga, Lance, Will & Karen-As really super good friends, heck ye! Imagine a prank war plot now! 10/10

JohtoHaremShipping - Jimmy (Kenta), Karen, Marina (Johto), DJ Mary, Sakura & Whitney-….Due to the title there is clearly only one intention for this, and please no. -1000/10

KinkShipping - Erika, Karen & Sabrina-If you’re kink is having a good time pokemon battling! C’mon they’d be another awesome girl squad! :D (The things I do to keep sex talk at a pg-13 level). As buds 10/10

KuroyukihimeShipping - Princess Allie, Candice & Karen-Karen would want to punt the princess. Plot of her and Candice babysitting this child, and holding each other back from strangling her 9/10

LooseShipping - Cynthia, Jessie, Karen & Misty-…As a Gal pal squad that sounds awesome, and I want them all stuck bonding in a high school detention together. You got sporty chic (Misty), Delinquente (Karen), Theater kid (Jessie), and Miss Perfect (Cynthia) 10/10

LoyalMaskShipping - Carl, Will, Karen & Sham-I WANT TO WRITE OR RP THIS CREW SO BADLY! AH! Like, PLEASE! 1000/10

MaskedChildrenShipping - Carl, Silver (Special), Will, Blue (female), Karen & Sham-AGAIN! I WANNA WRITE THIS CREW! Not as much as the LoyalMask, but I LOVE DIS CREW! Fear the children! 10/10

MaskedGirlsShipping - Blue (female), Karen & Sham-Evil girly child squad sounds great! 10/10

MatsuriShipping - Morty, Agatha & Karen-I am imagining Agatha mentoring both of them, and they’re competing to be stronger. Don’t know past that, but sounds interesting 8/10

MidnightGardenShipping - Gardenia, Karen & Roxanne-I actually want them to start a gardening group that only meets at night. Sounds fun tbh, and could have some quirky fluff plots. 8/10

NewLookShipping - Elesa, Karen, Sabrina & Shelly-Them all shopping together sounds amazing. For each other would be interesting, but for another person sounds like absolute chaos, and I love it. 10/10

QuirkyMoonSugarShipping - Greta, Karen, Mint & Whitney-lot of verses here. Um yes definaley all quirky, dunno how their dynamic would be though. 2/10

ShadowedShipping - Clair, Cynthia & Karen-Again gal pals. 10/10

SororityShipping - Flannery, Karen & Lily (Kanto)-Them in a sorority maybe fun. I’m sorta down 6/10

ThreatOnAlertShipping - Grimsley, Morty, Alexa (XY), Dahlia & Karen-Is this a group of the most paranoid people because if so yeah I agree. 10/10

XenonDarkActShipping - Brycen-Man, Paul, Wallace & Karen-Another movie with them all as bad guys maybe? Idk how Paul would fit tho so 8/10 ShitennouShipping - Aaron (elite), Bruno, Drake (Hoenn), Flint (elite), Grimsley, Koga, Lance, Lucian, Marshal, Sidney, Siebold, Wikstrom, Will, Agatha, Bertha, Caitlin, Drasna, Glacia, Karen, Lorelei, Malva, Phoebe & Shauntal (gen infinite)-���Ok so this is basically everyone, and sure yeah let’s make em all buds. Down w/ that. I’d like giant team up, but am not writing all of that alone. 10/10

Karen with….Karen….????: (I had no idea where to fit this in.)

PerkyGothShipping - Karen & herself-She would know what herself needs to hear, so good, but also she likes different things, and may get bored. I suppose it depends on portrayal. ???/10

Other ships 

BlackCatDog Shipping - Karen & Nanu They were shipped for a bit and I still think it’s a cute possibility. If nothing else just them talking about their pasts would be interesting. They’ve both been through alot. 8/10

MoonFlare Shipping - Karen & Lysandre If I could only choose 1 ship for Karen it’d be this one. I just really like the parallels that they have with each other, and how both of them have compassion for the opposite sides but due to roughly a similar reason. I’d have to go into alot to explain all that though. Basically I just really like how opposites attract here cause they’d both have to grow. 10/10

Aqua Moon shipping - Karen & Archie Again Karen’s awful around water and I just think these two would have a blast interacting with each other. They’d also both be able to have serious moments too,a nd could even talk about what it was like to leave Rocket. Also I have a really awesome idea for Deity!Verse. 8/10

BlackPaint Shipping - Karen & Mina  This combines Karen and art like with the Burgh ship, plus fairy shenanigans like with Valerie, and also the punk but soft vibe both of these gals bring to the table. I love it 10/10

MoonHearts Shipping - Karen & Sonia Sonia trying to figure out how to scientist, and Karen trying to figure out how to elite, and them both being dorks. I love it! 8/10

MoonHive - Karen & Professor Juniper Juniper being science nerd but also super deep and philosophical and just her and Karen spending late nights talking about anything and everything sounds cute. 7/10

NightWatchers - Karen & Looker Ye they’d picker sometimes and yes Karen’s bar might become a problem, but what if they have to work together and spy shenanigans ensue with these dorks insisting to themselves they need to stay professional. Cute af. 10/10

BlackSmog Shipping - Karen & Tabitha  Tbh I could see it. I’m not as firmly sold as some others but I can see it working. Besides Karen doesn’t care if someone’s an ex criminal or has humble beginnings. so ye could work! Although she’d def want to get Tabitha to work out with her. 6/10

[lovingunderratedcharacters]

Fun Night In Australia With Team Leckie

Anon:  Hey glad that you're back, hope everything's alright. Could I make a request? Could you do an imagine where you, a female and in Leckie's squad, go out for a night on the town with the boys especially Hoosier who you are closest with, and the Australians reactions to being a female. Also with the group would do when some guys wouldn't leave you alone, even though you could easily kick the men's asses because you're awesome at Close Quarters combat. By the way I love your blog. 😊

*Authors note: I’m going to make these a bit shorter, just with the basics of what it would be like to be in Australia with Team Leckie.*

Robert Leckie: You’ve been friends with Leckie for a while, but you didn’t really get close until Australia. You may have developed a small crush on him back in Guadalcanal, so it breaks your heart seeing him with Stella. However, when everything goes to hell and Leckie starts going a bit off the rails, you’re the one he goes to, and you’re happy to help. Bonus Protective Leckie: At one point the two of you go to a bar and some Australian won’t leave you alone. Eventually, Leckie flat out decks the guy, and you have to drag him out of the bar before he gets the two of you in even more trouble.

Lew “Chuckler” Jeurgens: Okay, so he cares about you far more than he’s willing to admit, but because of that, he tries to stay away from you. He honestly just doesn’t trust himself. So he’s gone fairly often, making out with some woman at the bar. You two don’t spend a ton of time together in Australia, but because of how he acted in Australia, he ends up spending more time with you after you get back to Japan. Bonus Protective Chuckler: So maybe he’s spending a lot of time with women at the bar, but as soon as he sees some guy bothering you, he goes straight up to him, tapping him on the shoulder and squaring up. He doesn’t even need to hit them. He’s big enough to intimidate anyone.

Sidney Phillips Jr.: The two of you spend a lot of time together, however, he does run off on occasion. He doesn’t explain where he’s going and you don’t find out until after you leave Australia. You feel for him, but you’re also more than a little frustrated that he was leaving you behind to go have fun with some skirt. While you are hurt, you’re there for him no matter what. Bonus Protective Sidney: In between him running off, the two of you went out on the town as his own form of apology for leaving you. While you’re out shopping, some guy tries to put his hands on you and before you get a chance to do anything, Sidney is already shoving the guy out of the store and taking you to a less shady place.

Bill “Hoosier” Smith: You two get extremely close during your time in Australia. There was always tension between the two of you, but it reached a peak when you got to Australia. There was a massive argument, and the rest of Team Leckie ended up locking the two of you in a storage closet together. After those two hours spent talking things out in the storage closet, everything got better, and the two of you became very close. Bonus Protective Hoosier: He had taken you out to a popular restaurant in town and at one point a guy came up to you and started hitting on you right in front of Hoosier. Hoosier nearly through the guy out the front window of the restaurant. Needless to say, you were never allowed back to that restaurant.

Wilber “Runner” Conley: He got very clingy when you got to Australia. He was under this strange impression that you would end up leaving him behind once you got in the city. It was ridiculous, of course, but it worried you. The two of you ended up doing pretty much everything together, almost never leaving each others sides. The guys made fun of you for it, but in all honesty, it made your time in Australia wonderful. Bonus Protective Runner: At one point some guy tried to drag you into an alleyway. Runner came after you, got you away from the man, and beat the crap out of him. It’s the only time you’ve seen Runner truly angry like that.

[icecoldflames]

The Pinnae Flower Epilogue

Masterlist

Patton-ly Perfect was filled with customers and, honestly, Roman loved it. So many people marvelling at the decor and the various pastries behind the counters.

Patton was currently out so Breena was managing the cash and the customers.

After Fairy Cakes and Fantasy Books went bankrupt Patton offered her the job here. Roman liked to joke that his and Logan’s frequent visits there were the only reason the old cafe stayed afloat and, now that they lived in Mayflower Town, the cafe’s main source of income was gone.

Along with Breena came the hundreds of books from her shelves which were now displayed outside her new house in a Free Little Library. But it wasn’t all that little.

Roman saw Virgil in his usual spot and walked over, draping his arms over his shoulders. “Hello, love.”

Even though Roman couldn’t see his face, he could sense the smile on his face. “I swear, Roman. If you ask one more time about the ending of PS, I might smack you across the head.”

Roman pouted and took a seat across from Virgil. “Aw, c’mon.”

Virgil tried to give Roman a glare but failed miserably. Instead, he ended up barking out a laugh. “I want it to be a surprise for everyone. Including you. Besides, have you forgotten what day today is?”

Roman pretended to be hurt by Virgil’s statement. “You think I would forget such an important day? A day that wouldn’t be possible without you?”

Virgil rolled his eyes, still grinning. “Shouldn’t you be setting up for that?”

“We’ve got it all drafted and set. It’s ready to go.” Roman said, waving his hand. “We’re doing a theory about Lewis.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Roman!” Logan’s voice called out from the doorway of Patton-ly Perfect. “Come here for a moment! Tell Virgil you won’t be long!”

Before Roman could open his mouth to ask, Virgil waved his hand. “Go on. Anyway, you know what they say: bros before h—“

“—That doesn’t count with us as you’re both male. Everyone’s my bro. Except you’re my boyfriend too.” Roman added in before striding over to where Logan was.

Logan was wearing a black button up and a blue tie with diagonal stripes. His hair looked recently brushed and he was nervously playing with his fingers.

“Looking sharp!” Roman commented as he neared Logan. “Looking very fine indeed.”

“I don’t know how you went on a first date without feeling nervous like this. I don’t get nervous often.” Logan muttered, pushing up his glasses.

Roman just patted Logan on the shoulder. “I was nervous. I’m just the better actor and was able to hide it. Anyway, it’s good that you’re feeling nervous. It means you actually like Patton.”

“What? I’ve always liked Patton and never felt this nervous in my entire life!” Logan said, fixing his sleeves.

Roman grabbed Logan’s wrists and forcefully pushed them down to his sides. “Talk to me. Maybe it’ll calm you down a bit.”

Logan nodded and coughed. “Very well I suppose. Did you hear about Jo?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? Serves her right, to be honest. Karma is a bi—“

Logan rolled his eyes. “I just wish Virgil would have stepped forward.”

Roman shrugged. “Jo would have gotten what she deserved whether Virgil said something or not.”

“You know Virgil can’t stay hidden behind a pseudonym forever, right?” Logan suddenly said. “Jo figured it out. This is just the beginning.”

Roman bit his bottom lip. “Virgil and I have talked about this before too. Virgil said he’s been thinking about it long before Jo figured him out. He’s planning on how to break it to the fandom and press soon. He thinks maybe after Pinnae: Spelunca is released.”

“Good on him.” Logan nodded.

Roman smiled. “Alright, you look a lot less nervous! Now go get ‘em, Lo!” He exclaimed loudly and pushed Logan in the direction of Patton’s house.

When Roman could no longer see Logan ambling down the street, he made his way back inside the cafe to Virgil.

“Do you think the date will go okay?” Virgil asked as Roman slid into his seat. He didn’t look up from his screen.

Roman nodded, stealing part of a raspberry muffin Virgil had bought.

“I think everything will be okay.”

~~~

Pinnae: Spelunca

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE NEWEST PINNAE BOOK, PINNAE: SPELUNCA

Can I just say that Raz really outdid themself on this one? I mean, this book made me cry, it made me want to smack some characters, it made me laugh out loud.

I loved it so much. It might be my favourite out of the series, knocking Pinnae: The New Era down to number two.

I loved how it took us back in time to the timeline of Pinnae: Magus and Pinnae: Exsul where Arel and Parisa are on opposing sides of the upcoming war. It’s like, if PM and PE are on opposite sides of the spectrum, PS is the middle zone where both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

So many plot points have been solved thanks to this book and, boy, am I freaking out over them. They are just perfect and they make so much sense. Let’s go over four of the main ones.

Number 1. Why the dragons stole the pinnae flower. We always knew the dragons stole it from the previous books but never why. But now we know that it was to keep the fairies and sprites from starting a war. However, they obviously failed as we can see in PTNE. Case closed.

Number 2. The importance of the pinnae flower. Logan and I had always assumed this last book would be dark but not like this. The pinnae flower being made of the wings of fairies turned sprites? Totally uncalled for. I almost hated King Oberon in this. I was this close. Until it was revealed that ol’ buddy Oberon had no idea of the whole cut off wings thing and that it was his father who did everything and who cut off Queen Titania’s (then, Princess Titania’s) wings. Can I say that that chapter was absolutely devastating? Can I blame Queen Titania for kind of wanting the pinnae flower to see if she could ever reattach her wings? In any case, case closed.

Number 3. SIDNEY’S DEATH. Hallelujah! Sidney’s mysterious death is solved. I know that his death is controversial because it was on accident. Pinnies think the death was a cop out and that Sidney deserved a more grand death than the one given to him. Personally, though, his death is, however sad, is perfect. It’s just that Sidney could possibly still be alive if Kaida had just been less prideful and practiced aiming just a little more when she had the chance. Again, case closed.

Number 4. The cloak. Sidney’s darned cloak. The thing that split the fandom up since the very beginning of the series. What was beneath Sidney’s cloak? Was there even anything under there? Was Sidney just being dramatic and trying to look mysterious and cool? Well now, we’ve got our answer, folks. Wings. Yes, wings. Sidney the Sprite was actually Sidney the Fairy all along. The secret agent go-between between the fairies and the sprites and ultimately working for the dragons. His secret beneath the cloak is so simple yet so perfect. Again, no one expected it. But this one wasn’t controversial. And another case closed.

These were four of my favourite plot resolutions in this final instalment of the Pinnae series. I’m just gonna go cry in my bed for a month or so. What am I going to do now that the Pinnae series is officially finished and done? What am I to do when all the theories have been theorized and there are no more left? Just kidding. Logan and I will never run out of theories.

Also, can I just say that I would literally die protecting Aeni and her sunflower patch? Raise your hand if you’d like to start a Aeni protection squad.

And, until next time, take it easy guys, gals, and non-binary pals.

PEACE OUT!

[cjcheering]

rome flynn, demimale, he/them. → look out, there’s CLARENCE 'CJ' SIDNEY. you know, the 20 year old BROTHER of BETA LAMBADA MU. you know, i overheard someone say that they were FLAMBOYANT, NOSY, CONFIDENT and EMPATHIC. but that’s just rumours. POM POMS IN THE GRASS, GLITTERY MAKE-UP AND THE SMELL OF VINYL RECORDS come to mind when i think of them. what about you?

cj is a member of beta lambada mu, but they don’t quite feel... like they fit. they are surrounded by guys who feel very much like that - guys, while c.j. doesn’t. they are a cheerleader and recently, have started to explore their gender expression - and often feel out of place. they aren’t really like the others, they think...

they joined the house because they were scared and felt they’d need protection because of their experiences growing up queer and black in a small southern town. they had hoped to fit in better soon, but they’re quite sure they’ll always feel a little odd.

they came out as non-binary and pansexual only a few weeks ago, and since then have started to experiment with clothing, make up, and even some heels once in a while. they came out as non-binary, they are currently mostly comfortable with the term demimale but aren’t quite sure it fits them. they’re also still getting used to they/them pronouns, but they feel rather comfortable with it all... sort of.

they love to sing and play the guitar, which is why they chose to go into glee club, which they like as much as they like cheer. it’s also where they feel most comfortable, followed closely by the cheer squad.

they have three small siblings, whom they facetime often and miss loads.

they are studying history, which they like but they would have loved to study the arts in some way... oh, well, maybe in the future.

c.j. is pansexual, but prefers feminine presenting people, generally speaking.

[lilacmoon83]

A Darker Curse

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 12: Game Changer

"Come on...let's head to Granny's," she suggested, as they walked back into town with Wilby, just in time to meet Emma, August, and little David in front of the diner. But before they could go in, they heard someone calling for help.

"Hey...help! Help me!" a male voice called, as Emma hurried into the street. And she stunned by the person running toward her.

"Oh my God…" Mary uttered, as she saw him too. The man stopped and gawked at the blonde in front of him.

"Emma…" he uttered.

"Neal?" Emma asked in disbelief.

"What are you doing? How are you here?" she continued.

"Yeah...I sort of got brought here against my will. By him," Neal said, as he gestured to the other man that was running to catch up.

"By the Harbor Master?" David asked in confusion. But now Neal's eyes were fixated on the little boy in the stroller.

"Emma...whose kid is this?" he asked. She swallowed thickly and was sure the answer was written all over her face.

"How old is he?" Neal questioned again.

"Almost two," August answered and Emma sent him a glare.

"Emma...is this my son?" Neal asked.

"I'm not doing this right now. Tell me your name so I can properly read you your Miranda rights," she said to the dark haired man. Hook smirked at her and his gaze on her was almost predatory.

"Captain Hook…" he said, making it sound like a joke, though she knew it was no joke.

"You know which name I mean," she growled.

"Ian O'Malley, love," he replied, in a goading manner.

"Fine, Mr. O'Malley...you're under arrest for kidnapping," she stated.

"And assault," Neal hissed.

"And assault," Emma parroted and noticed Neal's eyes were still fixated on her son.

"Is he really little David's father?" David whispered to her and she nodded.

"Yes," she stated.

"And he didn't know?" David asked.

"We couldn't find him. He left Emma before we knew," Snow spat, as she glared at him.

"Mom...there's more you need to know," August interjected, as she looked at her son.

"I screwed up...but I think you need to go get Gold from the hospital," he told her. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

"What does Mr. Gold have to do…" Snow started to say, but she stopped mid sentence and suddenly put it all together. She looked back at Neal.

"You're Mr. Gold's son?" she asked. Neal looked at August.

"Mr. Gold?" he asked and August nodded, confirming what the other man was really asking.

"Yes...I am," he replied.

"And you knew?" Snow asked her son.

"I screwed up...I tried to find him when I found out…" August responded, as he tried to explain.

"Okay...we're going to have a very long talk about this later. Right now, you're going to follow Emma to the station and watch the baby, while she puts Mr. O'Malley in jail where he belongs," Snow said.

"And while you're explaining things to your sister, David and I will go pick up Mr. Gold," she added. Emma was refusing to look at August and she knew there was definitely going to be a blow out between them that she would need to mediate.

"Let's go," she said to a confused David, as they left to return to the hospital.

"Emma…" August started to say.

"Not here," she snapped, as she put Hook in the back of the squad car.

"Get in," she told them and they obeyed her, as she drove to the station.

~*~

A glass flew across the office and shattered against the wall. Sidney Glass barely had time to duck to evade the object and he looked back at the Mayor with terrified eyes.

"I should have known not to trust Ian O'Malley to do anything without mucking it up," she growled. He swallowed, afraid to speak, but knew that his silence wasn't good either.

"Madam Mayor...the situation isn't a complete loss," he offered, but she turned sharply to look at him with scrutiny.

"I have no control over Gold's son now. They will be reunited and I have nothing to hold above him," she responded.

"There is Lacey. He will be none too happy about that," he reminded, but she scoffed.

"That will merely be an annoyance to him and only serve to make him work harder against me," she snapped in return. He would be livid when he discovered she had given his precious Belle false memories. The shock of finding out she was alive was enough to incur his wrath upon her. She had planned to have Neal waiting in the wings to hang over him and force him to work against the Savior. But now that was lost and she was scrambling to figure out her next move.

"There are good things. I have written this piece about Mary Margaret Swan. It's quite scandalous. Half the town already thinks she's a cradle robbing harlot and this will seal that," he offered, as she looked at the story. She had purchased him a small printing press to run out of his apartment so he could publish a competing paper to keep her propaganda out there. He was calling it the Glass Gazette.

"As a waitress in a seedy bar supporting two children with no husband, Mary Margaret Swan hardly seems like the kind of woman that belongs in our fair town's leadership," Cora read.

"This misstep on Deputy Mayor Regina Mills' part in her inclusion of Ms. Swan in her campaign efforts will only serve to sully her own reputation. Does Storybrooke really want their new Deputy Mayor to be a former waitress, who has seduced a man the same age as her son?" she continued to read.

"Mary Margaret Swan seems better suited for the open waitress position at the Rabbit Hole than the one in our town government. Her talents would certainly be better used there," Cora finished and smirked.

"I do like how you basically called her a tramp without outright stating it," she complimented. He smirked.

"I've been following them and they are very cozy. These pictures will turn the people against them," he offered, as he showed them kissing in the streets and walking closely, holding hands as they walked some dog.

"Good...unfortunately, there are some that will not turn against her. I need to get rid of Mary Margaret Swan," she said, as she was deep in thought. There was always Kathryn to exploit and she had been thinking, more than once, about killing her and framing Mary Margaret for it. Seeing her leave Storybrooke to go to prison for murder would certainly see that she and David were ripped apart forever. But Cora wanted her to suffer more than that. She wanted to participate in torturing her step-daughter and make her watch her torment her beloved husband even more. She wanted to drive her to the brink of insanity.

"Do you have orders for me?" Sidney asked.

"Yes...it's time to make Mary Margaret regret crossing me and show her why this will always be my town," Cora replied.

"What will you have me do?" he asked.

"I want you to abduct Mary Margaret Swan the next time she is alone. You'll take her to the abandoned library and chain her up in the clock tower. I'll take it from there," she replied.

"Kidnapping?" he asked in alarm.

"Grow a spine," she snapped.

"The future of our town is on the line and she threatens everything. It's time that she finally pay for everything she's done," Cora added. He swallowed thickly.

"Yes, Madam Mayor," he relented. He would go back to following them and watching them closely. And the moment she was alone, he would strike and not without hired hands to help. He was under no illusion that he could handle the amount of muscle needed for this task and would be prepared. He would not fail the Mayor like Harbor Master O'Malley had so spectacularly.

~*~

David kept stealing glances at Mary, as they walked into the hospital, hand in hand. His head was still reeling a bit with everything that had just happened and questions were swirling in his mind.

"You must have a lot of questions," she voiced and he looked at her in amazement.

"I'd ask you how you know that...but I think I'm finally accepting that we're just that in tune with each other," he replied and she smiled at him.

"We are pretty amazing together…" she agreed.

"So...that was little David's biological father," he stated.

"I'm afraid so," she replied.

"He broke Emma's heart...didn't he?" David asked. She hummed.

"He did...he was a thief, but Emma fell for him and thought she could help him turn his life around. I think it was working for a while...but something changed and he left her. I think August knows more about that then he let on," she replied.

"Maybe...but I mean August is a really good man. Maybe he was just trying to protect Emma," David offered. Snow nodded.

"Oh I know he was...Emma won't see it that way. But he's my son and whatever mistakes he's made, I still love him," she replied.

"You're amazing...you don't even know what he did yet and you've already forgiven him," he marveled.

"He's had a bit of a problem with lying in the past. It's something he'll always need to work on, but I could never turn my back on him, even if he knew more about Neal's disappearing act and hid it," Snow said.

"So this Neal Cassidy is really Mr. Gold's son too?" David asked. She laughed at that.

"Yeah...I'm just finding that one out too. Fate is…" she mused.

"A bastard?" he asked and she snorted.

"I was going to say tricky bitch, but bastard works too. It's truly surreal...I share a grandchild with Mr. Gold," she realized.

"We share a grandchild with the Dark One," she thought silently to herself. Boy, fate sure did have a twisted sense of humor.

"Well, for what it's worth...I actually don't think he's as bad as people think. I don't know, maybe I'm being naive," he lamented.

"No...I don't think so. I think you're right. I think he can be as bad as people think when he wants to be, but there's always two sides to a coin. Family can really change things," she offered. He smiled.

"I know what you mean," he agreed, as he looked at her and she smiled back, as they took the elevator to Mr. Gold's floor. They made their way to his room and found him awake.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he mused.

"We need to talk," Mary said, as they entered his room and prepared to tell him that his son had arrived in Storybrooke.

~*~

The ride to the station had been silent and uncomfortable. He could almost see the waves of fury radiating off his sister. She parked the car and he sighed.

"Emma…" he started to say.

"Nope," she refuted, as she got out and roughly hauled the pirate that was parading himself as the town Harbor Master out of the backseat. He groaned, as she was not at all gentle with him, which he seemed to like.

"You like it rough...don't you love," he leered, but winced as she squeezed his arms and marched him into the station. She was stronger than she looked. August sighed and picked his toddler nephew up out of his ca seat.

"Can I hold him?" Neal asked.

"That's Emma's call," August replied.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Neal questioned.

"Tell you what?" August inquired.

"That Emma was pregnant," Neal countered.

"I didn't know! And when I found out, I tried to find you! But you were gone...it was like you disappeared into thin air," August argued.

"And you didn't tell her that you found out who I was?" Neal asked. He sighed.

"No...I didn't tell her or Mom. I didn't think we'd ever see you again and Emma was devastated. She put all her energy into little David and finding Storybrooke at that point, so I didn't say anything," August confessed. Neal sighed.

"So...how much does she hate me?" he questioned.

"Hopefully a little more than she hates me right now," August retorted. Neal snorted.

"Well, then I'm screwed, cause I think she wants your guts on a stick," he quipped.

"Maybe...but I'm still her brother. You're the ex that left her without an explanation," August reminded.

"She's gonna kick my ass," Neal realized fearfully. August allowed himself a chuckle.

"Probably and we know she's going to kick mine. I really hope Mom gets here soon," he said. Neal chuckled.

"Are you seriously going to hide your twenty-seven-year-old ass behind your mother?" he questioned.

"Emma is scary...of course I am," August replied unapologetically and Neal almost wished he could hide behind someone too at this point, but he doubted Snow would quite feel the need to protect him the way she would her son. They entered the station to find that the blonde hurricane they feared had put the pirate in a cell already, while she was furiously doing the paperwork. They were about to try and talk to her when Graham walked in.

"I heard what happened…" he said.

"Yep just doing the paperwork here and then Mr. O'Malley can have his day in court tomorrow," Emma replied.

"That won't be necessary. Mayor Mills has ordered his release," Graham said regrettably and Hook smirked.

"What?" she growled.

"I'm just delivering her orders," Graham muttered.

"He kidnapped me and brought me here against my will!" Neal cried in outrage.

"I have no idea what he's talking about," Hook said innocently.

"The Mayor says it's a case of he said, he said. She claims she sent Mr. O'Malley to New York on a business matter for her and she has the paperwork to prove it," Graham replied, as he showed the document to her. But Emma didn't want to hear or see it.

"This is crap!" she raged and she got up to face her boss. She would be damned if she was going to back down on this one.

~*~

"Bae...Neal is here?" Gold asked, as he carefully corrected himself. David wasn't awake so he really couldn't call him Baelfire.

"I'm afraid so. Mr. O'Malley kidnapped him and brought him here, probably on the Mayor's orders, though we have no proof," Mary answered.

"We don't need proof...she's behind this," he hissed.

"Yes, but fortunately your son got away before he could be locked up. I'm sure that was her plan," Mary offered.

"Where is he?" Gold demanded to know.

"He went to the station with Emma and August," she told him, as he started getting out of bed and went to the bathroom to get dressed.

"There's more," Snow called through the door.

"I don't care...I'm going to see my son and then kill the Mayor," he growled.

"You're going to care about this," Snow admonished, as he came out, dressed in his usual suit and walked toward them with his cane, expecting a quick answer.

"Your son, Neal Cassidy, is the man that fathered Emma's son," she informed him. At that moment, Gold looked like his head might explode, as he tried to wrap his mind around that.

"Did…" he started to say, but the curt shake of her head answered his question. This was the first she was learning of it as well. Of course...because she would have never made the connection between Neal Cassidy and Baelfire. It was not often that the Dark One was stunned...but this was truly shocking and possibly changed everything.

"Take me to the station," he ordered. They obliged and joined hands, as they followed the older man to the elevator.

~*~

"You can't be okay with this," Emma hissed, as she glared at him.

"Of course I'm not okay with it," Graham answered.

"But my hands are tied...there's nothing I can do," he added. But that just made Emma want to explode more.

"You could stand up to her and stop doing her bidding like an obedient lap dog!" she shouted.

"That's not fair!" he roared, but she was done hearing it and by now, her son was fussing from all the commotion.

"Emma...where are you going?" August questioned, as she got her coat.

"To confront our Mayor...I'm not letting this stand," she responded.

"Emma...she's not going to change her mind," Graham admonished.

"He's right...but maybe we use this. I can splash this miscarriage of justice all over the front page of the Mirror for tomorrow morning's edition. And tomorrow is election day," August reminded and she sighed.

"That will take you all night," she replied. He smiled.

"It will be worth it once Regina is Mayor and reverses this decision," August said, as he looked at Graham.

"And when she makes you Sheriff...this kind of thing won't happen again," he added. She sighed, as Graham unlocked the cell and let the pirate out.

"Enjoy your freedom for now, Mr. O'Malley, because the minute Regina gets elected, I'm tossing your ass back in that cell," she warned. He smirked.

"We shall see, Deputy," he leered, as he left quickly, passing the Crocodile and the couple behind him as he left.

"Emma...we need to talk," Neal said, as he turned his head and saw his father for the first time in almost three hundred years.

"It's true," Rumple said, as his eyes watered and he finally saw his son. Everything he had done and everything he had worked for came down to this moment.

"Yeah...it is and if I hadn't just found out that I have a son of my own, I'd walk away from here right now," Neal said angrily.

"Please...I know that you're angry and you should be. Letting you go...it was the biggest mistake I ever made," Rumple replied.

"Auggie...did you know?" Snow whispered to him and he looked down shamefully.

"I'm sorry Mom...I should have told you. I should have told you both," he said.

"You think?" Emma snapped.

"I tried to find him after we found out you were pregnant, but I couldn't," August responded. Emma sighed and felt like a caged animal.

"I need some air," she announced.

"Mom...can you watch the baby?" she asked.

"You know I can...but sweetheart…" she started to say, but her daughter put her hands up.

"Please Mom...I just need some time," Emma interrupted, as she walked out. Mary sighed and David put his arms around her. She took comfort in his embrace and welcome it when he pulled her flush against him in a hug.

"I need to go to the office and get that story out," August said, as his mother took the baby from him.

"Okay...but we are going to have a very long talk about this," she admonished. He nodded numbly, like a scolded child.

"Does this town have a hotel?" Neal questioned.

"Yeah...I can show you to the Inn," August replied.

"I...I want to know my son," Neal said, as he looked at Snow.

"I know it's Emma's call...but," he continued.

"I'll talk to her," Snow agreed. Neal nodded and started to follow August.

"B...Neal…" Gold called, as he corrected himself once again.

"I'm here for my son...it's the only reason I'm sticking around. You can go to hell for all I care," Neal said coldly, as he walked out, leaving his father behind and utterly broken. Gold stormed out after that, intending to likely go home, while Mary and David took the baby home. It was a night that had been life altering and Snow knew this could possibly be the beginning to the end of the curse...

[fanforthefics]

I don't know if you're still accepting prompts for the trope mashup thing, but if you are could you do 22 + 66, Space AU + Its not you, it's my enemies. (If you're not accepting prompts you can ignore this)

Geno doesn’t ask many questions, when they take on passengers. There’s no real reason too; between him and the rest of the crew, they know most of the lower or midlevel criminals, and the Penguin, as amazing as she is, isn’t luxurious enough to attract any of the high end criminals or anyone from the Alliance–and too clearly marked as Federation sympathizer for any Alliance either. And there’s no reason to suspect anything, anyway; they’re just passengers. There’s no reason to suspect Sidney Crosby is anything more than the traveler he said he was. (Geno will come to regret that). 

Within days, it becomes clear that Sidney is not just a traveler. Day two, “I want him off my ship,” Geno mutters, as Sidney makes ‘suggestions’ to Flower about improvements they could make to their engine, and to Jake about routes, and to Tanger about the gym, and to Geno about the duty rosters. 

Day 7, “He is never leaving my ship,” Geno says, as Sidney calmly and cooly picks up a gun at a drop gone wrong, never hesitating about the fact that a) they told him this was a legit deal, b) people are shooting at him, c) they’re cornered on a clifftop and the ship is barely moving. “I’ve got this,” Sidney says, and shoots one of the guys coming at them. “You get the ones on Flower.” Geno goes. Sidney takes care of it. 

“Who are you?” Geno asks that evening, when they’re limping through the sky again. 

Sidney smiles, a smile without any emotion behind it. “A farmer.” 

“Farmer’s can’t use a gun like that,” Tanger says. Sidney’s smile is still in place. 

“This one can.” 

Geno wants more, so much more. But he doesn’t ask. He has a feeling, even then, he doesn’t want to know. 

So Sidney stays, and he becomes Sid, and he’s still technically a passenger but you’d never know it from how underfoot he is. Geno stops wondering why he’s at Geno’s side and starts wondering when he isn’t. 

“You need to get him off your ship,” Gonch says quietly, when they’re planetside in between jobs and visiting him in his retirement. Sid’s talking quietly with some of the crew, Jake and Conor and Tanger all listening to something he’s saying. He must sense Geno watching him, because he glances up, smiles. It’s a real smile, easy and relaxed–not a smile Geno sees much, but one he prizes. More than he should, probably, but every time he edged into Sid’s space Sid didn’t move away. 

“Why? He’s useful,” Geno replied, when he remembered to look away from Sidney. 

“He’s dangerous.” 

“I know,” Geno agrees. Sid’s incredibly dangerous. It’s devastatingly attractive, Sid with a gun in his hands and a enemy in his sights. It’s terrifying. It makes Geno wonder. 

“Not like that. He’s not a man who’ll follow for long,” Gonch says, serious. “If you want your ship to still be your ship, you need him to leave.” 

Geno snorts. “The Penguin is mine,” he says, and Gonch raises his eyebrows, gestures at Sid holding court. 

“For how long?” he asks. 

It’s ridiculous, Geno knows, because his ship is his ship and his crew is loyal, but–it catches at him. Every time Sid makes a suggestion, gives an order, argues with Geno. Is that what Sid’s after? Is that what his sidelong smiles are about, the late nights in Geno’s quarters as they go over the budget, the way Sid stands at his back with a gun on jobs? Is he after the Penguin, and that’s all? 

“Do you want to be captain?” Geno asks one day, when it’s just the two of them on the bridge. 

“You’re captain,” Sid answers, but it’s in that tone of voice he has that isn’t a tone at all. 

“But do you want to be?” 

Sid sighs, and looks out into the black. “I’ve been a captain,” he says, which is more than any of them have ever heard about Sid other than that he’s a farmer. 

“You’ve had your own ship?” Geno confirms. He’s not surprised. Sid knows the stars like the back of his hand. 

“I’ve been a lot of things,” Sid says, and turns to Geno. “Now I’m a passenger on the Penguin.” 

“But what do you want?” Geno demands again. “Not what you are, what do you want?” 

For a second, Sid’s gaze dips down to Geno’s lips, just for long enough that Geno notices. “Freedom,” he says, soft. “And a lot of things I can’t have.” 

Geno swallows, and reaches out. Puts his hand on Sid’s. “You sure you can’t have?” he asks, and hears Sid’s breath catch. 

But then Sid moves his hand. “Yes,” he says, and stands. Against the black of the universe, he looks like something out of the old stories Geno’s mother used to tell, of the old ship captain heroes who flew in on their ships and turned the tides of wars. Geno doesn’t much believe in those old stories, not since the latest war turned tide in the wrong way for him after the Captain of the Alliance made his final, brilliant maneuver at the Battle of Vancouver and made it clear the Federation was done, but if anyone could be one, Geno thinks Sid might. “I’m sorry, but yes.” 

And so it goes, this pining that isn’t quite pining, the thing between them they both know but won’t say, because Geno won’t push and Sid says he can’t. 

Until a job goes very wrong, and Jake’s shot, and he’s dying. They all know. There’s no miracle coming here to save this gut wound, not out in the black like they are. They’re all gathered around the medbay, and Geno’s holding back tears, when Sid stands, and walks out. 

It’s not like him; he and Jake were–are–close. Geno follows. Sid’s standing just outside, his hands curled around a railing and his knuckles white. “Sid?” 

Sid looks up. “I can save him,” he says, and Geno’s heart leaps. It doesn’t explain why Sid’s face is white as death. “And I will. But you have to promise not to ask any questions.” 

Geno doesn’t think there’s anything he wouldn’t promise, for that. “Okay.” 

Sid nods. “Go hail the nearest Alliance ship.” 

Geno’s heart leaps again, for a different reason. “What? Sid–”

“Do you trust me?” Sid asks, and maybe Geno shouldn’t, but–

“Yes.” 

“Then hail them.” Geno looks inside, at Jake on the bed, and goes. The person he hails basically hangs up on him, but then Sid comes in, and drops a code, and suddenly everything is happening very fast. They’re docked at the Alliance station. Jake is on a gurney. People are saluting and calling Sid ‘Sir’ and looking at him with huge, worshipful eyes–or the rank and file are. The officer who comes out gives Sid a cool sneer that has Tanger’s hand on his gun and Geno’s arms crossed as he looms behind Sid. 

But Sid nods to the officer. “Stay here,” Sid tells Geno and the crew. 

“I’m the captain,” Geno snaps. “You aren’t going anywhere alone.” 

“Oh, how sweet,” The officer drawls. “Taking orders now, Crosby? I thought you were too high and mighty for that.” 

Sidney gives him his emotionless smile, then looks back over his shoulder at Geno. “Geno,” he says, and there’s a wealth of meaning behind the word that boils down to do you trust me. “Let me handle this.” 

Geno’s not happy about it, but he’s also very not happy spending a moment more on an Alliance base than he has to, so he nods. 

“That’s the Captain Crosby we know,” the officer says, and slings an arm over Sid’s shoulder, performative and over-jovial, like he knows everyone’s watching. “Now, Crosby. Let’s talk.” He leads Sid away. 

Geno and the crew wait, as the hours tick by. Geno manages only a few pointed comments about the Alliance under his breath. 

Then Jake is back, still in bed but clearly healthy, and then Sid is too, walking back in with the officer who slaps him on the back hard, still performing for the troops. “It was good to see you, Crosby, eh?” he says, too sharp to be friendly. “Just like old times in Vancouver. I’ll give Admiral Lemeiux your regards. I know he and Admiral Jagr are interested in where you’ve been.” 

Sidney nods, as sharp, and gets back on the ship. 

“Scrub it,” Geno orders, as soon as they’re out of range of the base, and everyone goes to scrub the ship for tracking or bugs. “Not you,” he grabs Sidney’s arm before he goes, and doesn’t let go until they’re in Geno’s bunk, which is the most secure place he can think of. 

Sid lets him drag him, but when Geno lets go he stands like before a firing squad. “You said you wouldn’t ask questions,” he says, but he’s resigned like he knows that isn’t happening. 

Geno doesn’t ask. There are things he’s putting together he doesn’t want to. No one knows the name of the Captain at Vancouver. All the holos of him are from far away. Outside the Alliance inner ranks no one knows who he was, but he was brilliant and young and the great hero of the Alliance. Sid is brilliant and not so young but would have been at Vancouver and is, apparently, high enough in the Alliance that admirals know him by name. 

“Why are you here?” he asks at last. “I have to know. To protect the crew.” 

Sid lets out a long breath. His hands are still clenched into fists. 

“No one won the war.” His voice is flat and even.

“Alliance won the war.” 

“No one won,” Sid repeats. “I was at that table, and all the grand ideals of the Alliance, all the ideals of the Federation–it was just politics, in the end. Just more power for powerful people and games. It wasn’t Alliance or Federation, just rich and poor.” He shakes his head. “And they all wanted me.” He looks evenly at Geno, not saying anything, not confirming. But of course the hero of Vancouver would be the ultimate pawn in the Alliance’s power games. “I didn’t want it. I wanted to help people. And then I just wanted to be free.” 

“And you’re free here.” 

“Nothing but us and the black, right?” Geno knows. Geno knows the feeling. There’s no freedom like being on a ship. 

“Did you put us in danger?” Geno demands, because otherwise–because he’ll have to think about Sid, who he loves, and the Captain at Vancouver, who he hates. “Will they look for us?” 

“They’re always going to be looking for me,” Sidney replies, bleak. “I’m too important for them not to. Either because they want to play me, or to ‘protect’ me, but they all want to use me.” Geno’s heart does a thing again. That’s a cold life. “But no, we’re fine this time. He won’t tell anyone what ship I’m on. As long as I’m out of play, he has more power.” Sid swallows. “And I’ll get off at the next stop. They won’t care about you then.” 

Geno looks at Sid, standing military straight, like those old heroes. But there are bags under his eyes and Geno knows what haunts Sid, a little, and they’re all running from something out here. Federation is gone, and Sid’s not the hero of the Alliance anymore, not out here. He’s just Sid. Who bickers with Geno and makes him better, makes them all better. 

“You won’t,” he says, and Sid looks up, his eyes lit with a raw, pained hope. “Not if you don’t want to. I think Flower would stage a mutiny if I let you go.” 

Sid’s smile breaks over his face, bright and incredulous, and Geno can’t help but reach out, grab Sid’s hand again, ease it open from its tight fists. “This–is this why there are things you can’t have?” he asks, and that hope is in his chest too. He knows, now. “The secrets?” 

Sid’s hand is dry in Geno’s, but there’s a world in his eyes. “They’d never stop looking for you either,” he tells Geno, intense. “You’d be a pawn too. I won’t do that to you.” 

“I can handle the Alliance.” 

Sid’s mouth twists, and he pulls his hand away. “You shouldn’t have to,” he says in a voice that feels like Geno’s cracking heart.  

But Geno understands. He understands Sid, and he understands what it is to be a captain, and he understands what it is to wait until the cards have gone to your favor. 

“But you’ll stay?” he asks, and hopes it doesn’t sound like he’s begging. 

Sid smiles again, and it feels like sunrise. “If you still want me, I’ll stay.” 

“You’ll stay,” Geno says, a statement, and smiles too. As long as Sid stays, there’ll be time to convince him of everything else. That out here in the black, just them and the Penguin and the crew, they can be free. 

[listenxtoyourxheartxseries]

Listen To Your Heart part 8

@prettyinpayne @ohnoitsthebat @queenofsprongstyle

Chapter  8  Protection

Word count

1598

“Come on in Libby is finishing getting ready.” Kelly said as he opened the door the next morning. “Thank you.” Frank said as he and his three sons stepped into the room. Jamie, Libby's twin brother had driven down after his class was over with. “How is she doing?” Danny asked. “not good, since antonio told us about Alex and the baby she like shut down on us. She is blaming herself for her death.” Kelly answered, “she cried herself to sleep last night.” he stopped from saying anything else. Shay and Libby came down the spiral staircase. “Hey Lib.” Jamie greeted seeing her. “Jam!” she exclaimed moving away from Shay and going to her twin and hugging him. “You okay?” Libby  didn't answer she just shrugged her shoulders. “Hey baby, we got to go.” Shay said,  “we will see you later.” “Okay. be safe.’ She said moving away from her brother and hugging first Shay and then Kelly. “We will go over to the apartment tomorrow and get your stuff.” Kelly said before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You don’t have to go we will get the boys to do it.” Shay said squeezing her free hand. “Thank you.’ Libby said softly.  Shay nodded her head before going out of the door. Kelly lingered his eyes on his girlfriend who offered him a sad smile.

“Go I will be fine. I got my brothers and my dad with me. No one will be touch me with them around.” “We got her don’t worry.” Frank said. Kelly  nodded his head before exiting the apartment. “You are staying here?” Danny asked. “Yes.  Chris and Cindy’s house is too crowded and he knows where they live. He doesn’t know where this place is.” “He isn’t getting out Libby, we will make sure of that.” Joe said as Libby went over to the hook and grabbed her purse off of it. “You can’t promise that. What if the baby I was carrying was his? What if it pushed me to the edge like it did to Alex? What if Kelly, Casey, Hermman and Boden didn’t show up when they did? What if he killed me?”

Frank stepped in and grasped her shoulders in his hands and looked in her eyes, “Elizabeth Rose, listen to me. He isn’t getting out,  Jack and Erin are working with Mr. Rogers to build a defense against him. And Antonio said your journal is enough to lock him up without having it go to trial. You may only have to testify at the grand jury.”  Libby looked at her father, surprised tears filling her eyes at the comment of Erin helping. “And you are a Reagan you are so much stronger than you think. You would have overcome it. And you would have had Christopher, Kelly, Shay, Cindy and all the rest of them that have blown up your phone to get into contact with you. You have and will keep on surviving this. Understand?” “Yes Dad.” She answered sniffling. “Good girl. Come on let’s go meet with Mr. Rogers and then you can show us around Chicago and take us to the firehouse.” Frank said grabbing the lightweight jacket of the hook that he knew was Libby’s. He wasn’t necessarily happy about her staying with Kelly but seeing them together made a lot of sense, so for the first time since they found out that Libby was a girl he was going to let go of the reigns a little bit and let her do this.

Antonio was waiting outside of the police station for the Reagans. “You multiplied.”  “Just by one. This is my twin brother Jamie.” Libby said, “Jamie this is Antonio, he is running the case.” “Nice to meet you. You are Gabby’s brother right?” “I am. Let me guess she talks?” “Oh yeah, she’s a chatter bug.” Jamie teased. “Well at least I don’t bore you with talks about Kelly like you do about Sidney with me.”  Libby retorted before wincing when he pinched the inside of her elbow. “Come on in. Mr. Rogers is here with your sister.” “Erin is here? Why?” Libby asked turning to look at her father. “She is here for you.” “Well then hell must've froze over. “ She muttered to Jamie laughed quietly. Their parents didn’t know anything about the bad side of the sister’s relationship, the brothers knew about because they had to pull the apart several times.  

Erin looked up when the door opened up and Detective Dawson stepped back into the room followed by her baby sister and the rest of her family. Once her eyes landed on Libby, her heart broke. Her face was covered in bruises and several cuts. Usually she looked well put together but today she was in a pair of worn blue jeans and a baggy blue flannel shirt that had the sleeve rolled up and over that covered  pale pink cast.  

“Hey Erin.” She greeted softly, her shy side coming out. Erin stood up from her chair and went around and hugged her. Feeling fresh tears rise up she hugged her back. “I am so sorry Lib.” ‘It’s okay Erin, I am okay.” She said softly.  The older Reagan girl nodded her head and pulled away from her sister and grasped a hold of her hand. “Mr. Rogers, this is Libby.” The older man that had graying hair stood up and went to cross the room. “Libby.” He started before clearing his throat. “Thank you.” “For what?” She asked squeezing her sister’s hand tightly.  

“For coming forward and turning that journal in. That alone has given my wife and I peace of mind.” Licking her lips Libby stepped forward releasing Erin’s hand. “I am so sorry for your loss. I remember Alex from St. Augustine’s. She and I were on the softball team together. She was a very sweet girl.  I just wish I would have known beforehand. I would have come forward sooner or I wouldn’t have dumped him like I did.”

“Please, please. Don’t blame yourself about Alex’s death. What he did to her couldn’t be undone. Once we found out about it, we tried to help her but the damage was too much and we couldn’t help  her anymore.” Mr. Rogers said reaching his hand out and squeezing her shoulder.  Sensing what he needed she stepped up and hugged him. Startled tears started coming down his cheeks as he hugged her.  His eyes met Frank’s from over Libby’s head. “Thank you.” He mouthed causing Frank to nod his head.  That was all Libby, he had nothing to do with this.

After the meeting Libby took her family to her favorite spots in the city including her favorite diner. “This place is great where did you find this place?” Joe asked stealing one of Libby’s fries. “Kelly  brought me here one night on shift. We were super slow and squad 3 snuck me out with them.  It was kind of fun. And the look on Chief's face when we got back. I wasn’t suppose to be with them I was suppose be with Dawson and Shay who mind you were sleeping.” “Did you get in trouble?” Erin asked. “No. Kelly was the one that got into trouble.” She said, “I think Chief thinks that I am like an angel.” Her siblings laughed while she batted her eyelashes. Her good mood faded and she looked down at her plate. “What's wrong?” Erin asked. “she's in pain Erin.” Danny said softly, “she is covered in bruises, her hand and wrist probably throb. ”  they hadn't told her about their sister's miscarriage. They knew Libby wouldn't want the whole family knowing.  “What's next Libby?’ Frank asked. “the firehouse. It's not far from here. ”  She answered picking up one of her fries and popping it into her mouth.

“Hey! There she is!” Andy Darden said standing up from the table and go over to Libby. “Hey Andy.’ She said as he pulled her into a hug. Hearing the exclamation the rest of the firehouse came out including Chief Boden. “How are you feeling little sister?” Cruz asked after swinging her around in a dizzy hug. “I will be okay. I just need to heal.’ She answered as Kelly and Shay introduced her family to the house.  “Libby, can I have a word?” Chief Boden said motioning the girl over to where he and Dawson were standing. “Yes chief.’ She answered walking over to them. “I talked to headquarters today about what happened last week.” “my injuries are going to get me kicked out aren't they?” “No. In fact they wanted us to pre mentally place you in 51.’ Gabby said. Her eyes lit up as she nodded her head, “ Yes, yes.” she grinned.

 “And until you are healed I want you working the phones doing pay roll.” “Yes sir.” Boden nodded his head, “Good. I will see you first shift after you get back from Brooklyn.” “Yes sir.” she said again. “Good, go back to your family.” “Thank you. Thank you Gabby again for everything.” Gabby nodded her head as Libby went back to the group. 

“What was that about?” Andy asked. “Boden and Gabby were just informing me that I have a permanent place here at 51. Until this comes off I am working the desk and then after that I am a paramedic.”  “Yes!” Cruz said scooping her up again lifting her feet off the ground. She winced in pain but still smiled. “You guys can't get rid me that easy.”

[2dizzle]

gay?

Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term was originally used to mean “carefree”, “happy”, or “bright and showy”.

The term’s use as a reference to homosexuality may date as early as the late 19th century, but its use gradually increased in the 20th century.[1] In modern English, gay has come to be used as an adjective, and as a noun, referring to the people, especially to gay males, and the practices and cultures associated with homosexuality. By the end of the 20th century, the word gay was recommended by major LGBT groups and style guides to describe people attracted to members of the same sex.[2][3]

At about the same time, a new, pejorative use became prevalent in some parts of the world. Among younger speakers, the word has a meaning ranging from derision (e.g., equivalent to rubbish or stupid) to a light-hearted mockery or ridicule (e.g., equivalent to weak, unmanly, or lame). In this use, the word rarely means “homosexual”, as it is often used, for example, to refer to an inanimate object or abstract concept of which one disapproves. The extent to which these usages still retain connotations of homosexuality has been debated and harshly criticized.[4][5]

The word gay arrived in English during the 12th century from Old French gai, most likely deriving ultimately from a Germanicsource.[1] In English, the word’s primary meaning was “joyful”, “carefree”, “bright and showy”, and the word was very commonly used with this meaning in speech and literature. For example, the optimistic 1890s are still often referred to as the Gay Nineties. The title of the 1938 French ballet Gaîté Parisienne (“Parisian Gaiety”), which became the 1941 Warner Brothers movie, The Gay Parisian,[7] also illustrates this connotation. It was apparently not until the 20th century that the word began to be used to mean specifically “homosexual”, although it had earlier acquired sexual connotations.[1]

The derived abstract noun gaiety remains largely free of sexual connotations and has, in the past, been used in the names of places of entertainment; for example W.B. Yeats heard Oscar Wilde lecture at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.[8]

Sexualization

The word may have started to acquire associations of immorality as early as the 14th century, but had certainly acquired them by the 17th.[1] By the late 17th century it had acquired the specific meaning of “addicted to pleasures and dissipations”,[9] an extension of its primary meaning of “carefree” implying “uninhibited by moral constraints”. A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, and a gay house a brothel.[1] The use of gay to mean “homosexual” was often an extension of its application to prostitution: a gay boy was a young man or boy serving male clients.[10] Similarly, a gay cat was a young male apprenticed to an older hobo, commonly exchanging sex and other services for protection and tutelage.[1] The application to homosexuality was also an extension of the word’s sexualized connotation of “carefree and uninhibited”, which implied a willingness to disregard conventional or respectable sexual mores. Such usage, documented as early as the 1920s, was likely present before the 20th century,[1] although it was initially more commonly used to imply heterosexually unconstrained lifestyles, as in the once-common phrase “gay Lothario”,[11] or in the title of the book and film The Gay Falcon (1941), which concerns a womanizing detective whose first name is “Gay”. Similarly, Fred Gilbert and G. H. MacDermott’s music hall song of the 1880s, “Charlie Dilke Upset the Milk” – “Master Dilke upset the milk/When taking it home to Chelsea;/ The papers say that Charlie’s gay/Rather a wilful wag!” – referred to Sir Charles Dilke’s alleged heterosexual impropriety.[12] Giving testimony in court in 1889, the rentboy John Saul stated: “I occasionally do odd-jobs for different gay people.”[13] Well into the mid 20th century a middle-aged bachelor could be described as “gay”, indicating that he was unattached and therefore free, without any implication of homosexuality. This usage could apply to women too. The British comic strip Jane, first published in the 1930s, described the adventures of Jane Gay. Far from implying homosexuality, it referred to her free-wheeling lifestyle with plenty of boyfriends (while also punning on Lady Jane Grey).

A passage from Gertrude Stein’s Miss Furr & Miss Skeene (1922) is possibly the first traceable published use of the word to refer to a homosexual relationship. According to Linda Wagner-Martin (Favored Strangers: Gertrude Stein and her Family (1995)) the portrait “featured the sly repetition of the word gay, used with sexual intent for one of the first times in linguistic history,” and Edmund Wilson (1951, quoted by James Mellow in Charmed Circle (1974)) agreed.[14] For example:

They were … gay, they learned little things that are things in being gay, … they were quite regularly gay.

The word continued to be used with the dominant meaning of “carefree”, as evidenced by the title of The Gay Divorcee (1934), a musical film about a heterosexual couple.

Bringing Up Baby (1938) was the first film to use the word gay in apparent reference to homosexuality. In a scene in which the Cary Grant character’s clothes have been sent to the cleaners, he is forced to wear a woman’s feather-trimmed robe. When another character asks about his robe, he responds, “Because I just went gay all of a sudden!” Since this was a mainstream film at a time when the use of the word to refer to cross-dressing (and, by extension, homosexuality) would still be unfamiliar to most film-goers, the line can also be interpreted to mean, “I just decided to do something frivolous.”[15]

In 1950, the earliest reference found to date for the word gay as a self-described name for homosexuals comes from Alfred A. Gross, executive secretary for the George W. Henry Foundation, who said in the June 1950 issue of SIR magazine: “I have yet to meet a happy homosexual. They have a way of describing themselves as gay but the term is a misnomer. Those who are habitues of the bars frequented by others of the kind, are about the saddest people I’ve ever seen.”[16]

Shift to specifically homosexual

By the mid-20th century, gay was well established in reference to hedonistic and uninhibited lifestyles[9] and its antonym straight, which had long had connotations of seriousness, respectability, and conventionality, had now acquired specific connotations of heterosexuality.[17] In the case of gay, other connotations of frivolousness and showiness in dress (“gay apparel”) led to association with camp and effeminacy. This association no doubt helped the gradual narrowing in scope of the term towards its current dominant meaning, which was at first confined to subcultures. Gay was the preferred term since other terms, such as queer, were felt to be derogatory.[18]Homosexual is perceived as excessively clinical,[19][20][21] since the sexual orientation now commonly referred to as “homosexuality” was at that time a mental illness diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

In mid-20th century Britain, where male homosexuality was illegal until the Sexual Offences Act 1967, to openly identify someone as homosexual was considered very offensive and an accusation of serious criminal activity. Additionally, none of the words describing any aspect of homosexuality were considered suitable for polite society. Consequently, a number of euphemisms were used to hint at suspected homosexuality. Examples include “sporty” girls and “artistic” boys,[22] all with the stress deliberately on the otherwise completely innocent adjective.

The sixties marked the transition in the predominant meaning of the word gay from that of “carefree” to the current “homosexual”.

In the British comedy-drama film Light Up the Sky! (1960), directed by Lewis Gilbert, about the antics of a British Army searchlight squad during World War II, there is a scene in the mess hut where the character played by Benny Hill proposes an after-dinner toast. He begins, “I’d like to propose…” at which point a fellow diner, played by Sidney Tafler, interjects “Who to?”, suggesting a proposal of marriage. The Benny Hill character responds, “Not to you for start, you ain’t my type”. He then adds in mock doubt, “Oh, I don’t know, you’re rather gay on the quiet.”

By 1963, a new sense of the word gay was known well enough to be used by Albert Ellis in his book The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Man-Hunting. Similarly, Hubert Selby, Jr. in his 1964 novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, could write that a character “took pride in being a homosexual by feeling intellectually and esthetically superior to those (especially women) who weren’t gay….”[23] Later examples of the original meaning of the word being used in popular culture include the theme song to the 1960–1966 animated TV series The Flintstones, whereby viewers are assured that they will “have a gay old time.” Similarly, the 1966 Herman’s Hermits song “No Milk Today”, which became a Top 10 hit in the UK and a Top 40 hit in the U.S., included the lyric “No milk today, it was not always so / The company was gay, we’d turn night into day.”[24] In June 1967, the headline of the review of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in the British daily newspaper The Times stated, “The Beatles revive hopes of progress in pop music with their gay new LP”.[25] Yet in the same year, The Kinks recorded “David Watts”.[26] Ostensibly about schoolboy envy, the song also operated as an in-joke, as related in Jon Savage’s “The Kinks: The Official Biography”, because the song took its name from a homosexual promoter they’d encountered who’d had romantic designs on songwriter Ray Davies’ teenage brother; and the lines “he is so gay and fancy free” attest to the ambiguity of the word’s meaning at that time, with the second meaning evident only for those in the know.[27] As late as 1970, the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show has the demonstrably straight Mary Richards’ downstairs neighbor, Phyllis, breezily declaiming that Mary is, at age 30, still “young and gay.”

There is little doubt that the homosexual sense is a development of the word’s traditional meaning, as described above. It has nevertheless been claimed that gay stands for “Good As You”, but there is no evidence for this: it is a backronym created as popular etymology.[28]

Sexual orientation, identity, behaviour

The American Psychological Association defines sexual orientation as “an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes,” ranging “along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the other sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex.”[29] Sexual orientation can also be “discussed in terms of three categories: heterosexual (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to members of the other sex), gay/lesbian (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to members of one’s own sex), and bisexual (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to both men and women).”[29]

According to Rosario, Schrimshaw, Hunter, Braun (2006), “the development of a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) sexual identity is a complex and often difficult process. Unlike members of other minority groups (e.g., ethnic and racial minorities), most LGB individuals are not raised in a community of similar others from whom they learn about their identity and who reinforce and support that identity. Rather, LGB individuals are often raised in communities that are either ignorant of or openly hostile toward homosexuality.”[30]

The British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has argued that the term gay is merely a cultural expression which reflects the current status of homosexuality within a given society, and claiming that “Queer, gay, homosexual … in the long view, they are all just temporary identities. One day, we will not need them at all.”[31]

If a person engages in sexual activity with a partner of the same sex but does not self-identify as gay, terms such as ’closeted’, ‘discreet’, or ’bi-curious’ may apply. Conversely, a person may identify as gay without having had sex with a same-sex partner. Possible choices include identifying as gay socially while choosing to be celibate or while anticipating a first homosexual experience. Further, a bisexual person might also identify as “gay” but others may consider gay and bisexual to be mutually exclusive. There are some who are drawn to the same sex but neither engage in sexual activity nor identify as gay; these could have the term asexual applied, even though asexual generally can mean no attraction or involve heterosexual attraction but no sexual activity.

TerminologyMain article:

Terminology of homosexuality

Some reject the term homosexual as an identity-label because they find it too clinical-sounding;[20][21][32] they believe it is too focused on physical acts rather than romance or attraction, or too reminiscent of the era when homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Conversely, some reject term gay as an identity-label because they perceive the cultural connotations to be undesirable or because of the negative connotations of the slang usage of the word.

Style guides, like the following from the Associated Press, call for gay over homosexual:

Gay: Used to describe men and women attracted to the same sex, though lesbian is the more common term for women. Preferred over homosexual except in clinical contexts or references to sexual activity.[33]

There are those who reject the gay label for reasons other than shame or negative connotations. Writer Alan Bennett[34] and fashion icon André Leon Talley[35] are like others in such as fashion and the arts, out and open gay men who yet reject being labeled gay, finding it too limiting, slotting them into label boxes.

Gay community vs. LGBT communityMain article:

LGBT community

Starting in the mid-1980s in the United States, a conscious effort was under way within what was then only called the gay community, to add the term lesbianto the name of all gay organizations that catered to both male and female homosexuals, and to use the terminology of gay and lesbian, or lesbian/gay when referring to that community. So, organizations like the National Gay Task Force became the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. For many ardent feminist lesbians, it was also important that the L come first, lest an L following a G become another symbol of male dominance over women,[36] although other women prefer the usage gay woman. In the 1990s, this was followed by another equally concerted push to include the terminology specifically pointing out the inclusion of bisexual, transgender, intersex, and other people, reflecting the intra-community debate as to whether these other sexual minorities were part of the same human rights movement. Most news organizations have formally adopted variations of this use, following the example and preference of the organizations, as reflected in their press releases and public communications.

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Will Smith's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

His last few movies have been panned by critics – from the ones that still found box office success, like Suicide Squad and Aladdin, to the ones that very few moviegoers even know exist, like Focus and Collateral Beauty – so it can easy to forget how awesome Will Smith is.

RELATED: Will Smith's 10 Most Memorable Characters, Ranked

For someone who moved from rap artist to sitcom star to film actor, he’s given some terrific performances. Smith has starred in a lot of extravagant sci-fi blockbusters, but he’s appeared in just as many powerful dramas that shed light on significant social issues. So, here are Will Smith’s 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes.

10 Independence Day (65%)

Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day is seen as a turning point in the course of the Hollywood blockbuster, just like Jaws and Star Wars were in the 1970s. It didn’t take too long to become one of the highest grossing movies of all time. Emmerich and his producing partner Dean Devlin noticed that in most alien invasion movies, the aliens travel all the way to Earth, only to hide when they get there.

So, they decided to make a big-budget movie where aliens plan a large-scale attack against our planet. That led to iconic shots like the White House getting blown up by an alien spaceship and Will Smith punching an alien and saying, “Welcome to Earth!”

9 TIE: Ali (67%)

Will Smith’s turn as Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest and most influential boxer of all time, is the best thing about this Michael Mann-directed biopic. Although its runtime drags on at 157 minutes and the script doesn’t have any of the boxing legend’s signature humor or passion, Smith is compelling from start to finish.

The movie is also rooted in interesting historical context, touching on the impact of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassinations. He famously bulked up for the role and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ali.

8 TIE: The Pursuit of Happyness (67%)

Long before Will Smith’s collaborations with his son Jaden Smith became shameless exercises in nepotism, they gave the world this poignant story of a father and son struggling to make it in a failing economy. It’s the true story of entrepreneur Chris Gardner’s year-long stint of homelessness while raising a toddler.

Gardner initially objected to the casting of Smith, since he was known for making big Hollywood blockbusters. However, his daughter changed his mind when she told him, “If he can play Muhammad Ali, he can play you!” Smith went on to receive nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance.

7 TIE: Hitch (68%)

This romantic comedy about a dating guru makes the unlikely pairing of Will Smith and Kevin James work. It’s also far better than the average Hollywood romcom, despite having all the standard clichés and pitfalls, mainly thanks to Smith’s charm in the lead role and his chemistry with his female co-star Eva Mendes.

RELATED: 10 Movie Love Stories Women & Men Can Enjoy

The only shame is that, while the first act sets up the premise nicely and the second act successfully builds on it with engaging plotting, the third and final act falls into the kind of typical romcom ending that can be seen coming from a mile away.

6 TIE: Men in Black III (68%)

The third Men in Black movie was far better than it had any right to be. It opened with an intergalactic prisoner named Boris escaping and bringing his wrath to Earth. Since it was too late to prevent the invasion, Agent J was sent back in time to the 1960s to prevent it. This was a great way to explore Agent K’s past and also give an aging Tommy Lee Jones a break from the action.

The young Agent K was played by Josh Brolin, who gave an astounding turn that, on at least a few occasions, made you forget that you weren’t actually watching a version of Tommy Lee Jones from the past. Of course, Will Smith continues to be the anchor of this franchise.

5 TIE: I Am Legend (68%)

The first half of I Am Legend sees Will Smith coping in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once New York City as the last man on Earth in a world infested with bloodthirsty vampiric creatures that come out at night. He lost his family and all he has left in this eerily empty world is his canine sidekick.

The film’s downfall comes in the second half, in which he realizes he isn’t actually the last man on Earth after all and there’s a sanctuary full of people that he has to sacrifice his own life to get his new friends to.

4 Enemy of the State (71%)

This riveting political thriller revolves around a team of shady NSA agents who conspire to assassinate a Congressman and then fight to cover it up when a tape of the murder shows up and could go public. Although it was released years before the 9/11 attacks, the introduction of the Patriot Act, and the Edward Snowden leaks, Enemy of the State has been praised for commenting on issues of national security and the death of privacy.

RELATED: Will Smith's 10 Most Badass Characters, Ranked

Will Smith and Gene Hackman make for a compelling lead duo in Enemy of the State, which was directed by the late, great Tony Scott.

3 Where the Day Takes You (80%)

This poignant drama about the struggles of teenage runaways in Los Angeles was the film debut of Will Smith. Smith plays an amputee who is friends with the lead character, King. The 1992 movie’s ensemble cast contained a number of soon-to-be stars, including Dermot Mulroney, Sean Astin, Lara Flynn Boyle, Kyle MacLachlan, and Alyssa Milano.

Where the Day Takes You was drawn from a beautifully personal screenplay written by Michael Hitchcock based on his experiences working at a shelter for teenage runaways in Hollywood. The movie throws all kinds of obstacles and threats at its kids to add to the tragedy: drug addiction, prostitution, gang violence.

2 Six Degrees of Separation (88%)

Despite his background in comedy, it’s Will Smith’s more dramatic work that tends to get more attention from the critics. In this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play of the same name by John Guare (who was also recruited to write the movie’s screenplay, making for an all-round faithful on-screen translation that lives up to the source material), Smith plays Paul, one of the lead roles.

Paul was based on real-life con man and thief David Hampton, who convinced people he was the son of acting legend Sidney Poitier, and Smith is cast delightfully against type in the role.

1 Men in Black (92%)

What else would be Will Smith’s best-reviewed movie? Men in Black is the quintessential Will Smith movie. It has the perfect balance of humor, heart, and spectacle as a rogue cop is recruited into a secret government agency that routinely protects Earth from alien attacks.

Smith works best as the relatable everyman, and that’s exactly what he is here. He’s a fish out of water in the MIB’s world of futuristic gadgets and normalized communication with extraterrestrials, and he also acts as the outsider who guides us into that world. None of the sequels have lived up to the greatness of the original.

NEXT: George Clooney's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

source https://screenrant.com/will-smith-best-movies-according-rotten-tomatoes/

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DGB Grab Bag: Loser Mobiles at Cup Parades, Drunk Ovi, and Emotions are Good

Three Stars of Oh, Who Are We Kidding, Let's All Enjoy Drunk Alexander Ovechkin

The third star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – The keg stand is solid, but it's the way he eggs on the crowd chanting his name that really makes the moment.

The second star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – Good news, Habs fans, we have our first ever sighting of a Weber getting close to a Stanley Cup championship.

The first star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – This is my favorite moment, partly for the unbridled joy and comradery and impressive form, but mainly because until this moment I'd forgotten about the back tattoos.

Honorable mentions: Slightly-less-drunk Alexander Ovechkin, Drunk Alexander Ovechkin's dog, very-far-away Alexander Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie's shirt-trading, and Jakub Vrana's tattoo experience.

The NHL Capitals Actually Got Something right

Do you remember a time back before Alexander Ovechkin was permanently drunk, wandering the streets of D.C. with the Stanley Cup and singing "We Are The Champions" on a permanent loop? Neither do I, but I looked it up and it was a week ago.

Let's think back to that time, back before the Capitals were champions. What will you remember about Ovechkin's playoff run? Chances are, you'll remember him scoring some of the Caps' biggest goals. That's how it works with superstars. But you might also remember something a little bit odd—namely, the things he did when he was off the ice and on the bench.

Watching Ovechkin watch the Capitals play for the Stanley Cup turned out to be one of the highlights of the Final. When things went well, he look overjoyed. When they didn't, he looked crushed. When we weren't sure how something would end up, he looked like he wanted to puke. In short, he looked like you or me watching our favorite team, except with the dial cranked up to 11. It was the best.

And how did it end? With the Capitals winning. Yes, despite everything we've been led to believe over the years, a team was somehow able to overcome the insurmountable obstacle of one of its key players looking like he actually cared.

Ovechkin didn't try to play the stoic. He occasionally said something beyond the usual claims of it being just another game. He didn't keep his head down and mumble about getting pucks in deep, just in case he accidentally said anything that might turn into A Thing. He didn't bother to pretend that this stuff didn't matter, because we all knew how much it did.

And it wasn't just Ovechkin. The Caps had Evgeny Kuznetsov doing his little bird dance celebration. They had Devante Smith-Pelly looking like he might explode with joy after every big play. They even had Nicklas Backstrom showing honest-to-god frustration, allegedly.

And they still won. The hockey gods did not smite them.

Let's take the hint. Enough with this nonsense about hockey players all having to look like bored zombies, whether times are good or bad or in between. That's one way to act. It's not the only way. Enough of pretending that it's somehow bad form to show any emotion in one of the most emotional sports on the planet.

It's been like this for a long time in the NHL, but the idea has really taken hold in recent years thanks to a combined six titles by the Penguins and Blackhawks, teams that are fast and fun and captained by two of the most boring people on Earth. And that's fine! Maybe Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews are just like that. Some people are. I'm one of them. Maybe you are too. The Capitals have one in Braden Holtby. Some of us don't like emotional displays or facial expressions or interacting with the outside world.

But some people do. And apparently, those people can win Stanley Cups. So let's stop acting like it's some sort of crisis every time a hockey player cracks a smile or hangs his head on the bench or celebrates a big play. Enough with the body language police forensics squad showing up, and enough with trying to divine a man's character based on whether he had the right type of scowl after the game.

It's hockey. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's miserable. Players who react like actual human beings are apparently not barred by cosmic law from ever getting their hands on the Stanley Cup, so let's stop acting like it's a problem.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

Since we all had so much fun watching the current Capitals captain this week, let's use this week's space to remember their first one. This week's obscure player is Doug "Diesel" Mohns.

Mohns was a speedy winger who won two Memorial Cups with the Barrie Flyers in the early 50s. He signed with the Bruins and debuted in 1953, then spent 11 seasons in Boston, many of them playing defense. He was traded to Chicago in 1964 for Ab McDonald and Reggie Fleming, and would eventually take McDonald's place on Stan Mikita's wing as part of the "Scooter Line" and had a career-high 25 goals during the 1966-67 season.

Mohns lasted almost seven years in Chicago before being dealt to the North Stars, and was later claimed by the Atlanta Flames in the inter-league draft. In 1974, the Flames sold him to the expansion Capitals, where he'd play his final season at the age of 40. He was named captain and patrolled the blueline for that miserable team, while racking up an impressive -54 rating. Somewhat amazingly, that wasn't the worst mark of his career; he'd somehow gone -62 for the 1961-62 Bruins, the worst mark ever recorded at the time. But apart from those two season, he was a plus-player over the rest of his 1,391-game career, and he'd retire after that one season in Washington with 248 goals and 710 points.

He may be best remembered for being one of the first NHL players to wear a helmet. Head protection was apparently very important to him; according to the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was also one of the first NHL players to wear a toupee.

Mohns passed away in 2014 at the age of 80. His official web site is still up and running, and you can visit it here.

Be It Resolved

The Capitals had their Stanley Cup parade on Tuesday, and it was good. Evgeny Kuznetsov swore. Ovechkin shut down Mumford and Sons and then swore. TJ Oshie chugged a beer through his jersey. All good.

But it could have been better.

They all could. A Cup parade is the ultimate chance for hockey fans to experience the joy of victory—to share the experience with hundreds of thousands of fellow fans, and with the players and coaches who made it possible. It's the ultimate hockey lovefest.

But that's only half of what being a hockey fan is all about. Sure, it's fun to feel happy when your team wins it all, or at least that's how it's been explained to me. But there's the other side of the coin that hockey fans love just as much: Watching your opponents cry. Seeing some other team's players or fans or media sulk their way through the aftermath of your victory is almost as much fun as the actual win. Maybe more.

So let's make it part of the Stanley Cup parade.

Be it resolved: From now on, every team that wins the Cup gets to invite one person from outside the organization to their parade. And that person has to attend.

Specifically, they have to attend in a little car that will trail about a half-block behind the parade. Let's call it the loser-mobile. People are allowed to taunt and throw spoiled fruit at it. And then we make the person sit in the front row during the speeches.

Look, I can tell you have questions. Would the person who was chosen want to come to the parade? No, of course not. Would we be able to force them? Yes, we could find a way. Would doing that be, in the strictest legal sense, kidnapping? Maybe, but if I've learned anything in the last few years it's that laws can be applied selectively.

Is this whole idea just mean? Yes. Yes it is. It's super-mean. So let's do it.

How much fun would it be to argue over who each year's winner should pick to ride in the loser-mobile? Imagine the possibilities for this year's Capitals. Sure, you're probably thinking Sidney Crosby as the obvious choice, but I'm not sure that works; he could just spend the whole time flashing his three Cup rings at the fans. But there are plenty of other candidates. Maybe George McPhee? Whichever media guy wrote the hottest "Ovechkin will never win it all" take? Pierre Turgeon, with Dale Hunter driving right behind him the whole way? Filip Forsberg, and make him wear a Martin Erat jersey? Personally, I'd go with Henrik Lundqvist just to be a jerk, but you make your own call.

More importantly, book some time off this afternoon to think about who you'd choose for your own favorite team. It could be a rival who always had your number, a referee who screwed you over, a cheapskate owner who ruined your childhood (Personally, I vote for the Leafs to dig up Harold Ballard.) Or maybe just some especially annoying idiot from Twitter who talked a little too much trash. Anything you want.

This is the worst idea I've ever had and I'm convinced we need to make it happen. Get the stun guns and duct tape and meet me by the parade route.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

Washington's win was an exciting moment for this section, since no franchise has provided more YouTube joy than the Capitals and their bizarre infatuation with producing terrible music videos. Over the years, we've enjoyed breaking down musical creations like "Capital Feeling", "Out on Top", "Double Trouble" and "More Than a Team". Alexander Ovechkin even had a hand in the monstrosity that was "Shaybu Shaybu". If you like cheesy music videos and playoff disappointment, the Capitals were the team for you.

The second half of that equation doesn't really apply anymore. But we've still got the music. So until we get a full remaster of that "We are the Champions" single that Ovie and the boys have been working on, let's look back to 1990, as the Capitals celebrate their first ever championship. Well, division title. Look, until last week, you took what you could get in Washington.

It's April 27, 1990, and the Caps have just beaten the Rangers in overtime to win their second-round series in five games. It's the first time in franchise history that they've made it out of the second round, and they're officially Patrick Division champions. I think this calls for a song.

Well, first it calls for our two announcers to awkwardly introduce the clip. That's Mike Fornes doing the talking, and the legendary Smokin' Al Koken staring at you until you start to feel uncomfortable.

It's a little strange that apart from his hair going gray, Koken looks exactly the same as he does today, right?

Anyway, Fornes and Koken introduce a music piece entitled "What a Feeling" before presumably dashing off to whichever high school prom they're wearing those corsages for.

The music kicks in, and we're immediately crushed by the disappointment of realizing that this video will be set to the actual "What a Feeling" song as performed by Irene Cara, and not some terrible lip sync job by actual Capitals players. Still, it's a solid choice, and I like that it implies that this channel had been planning a division title montage since the song came out in 1983 and was only getting a chance to do it now.

We start off with John Druce's overtime winner from that very night, as shown from a weird angle that doesn't really make it all that clear what happened. But it's worth it, because they stay with the shot forever, and we get one of the longest recorded pilearchies I've ever seen. It just goes on forever, to the point that you start wondering how many players were on the 1990 Capitals. I'm pretty sure I saw Jim Hrycuik slip into the pile at the end there.

We then cut to a shot of cheering Caps fans, which we know is from a different game because the Druce goal was in New York. That's fine, because the fans are great. The highlight is the old lady in a Capitals sweater that's literally a sweater, and that I'm hoping against hope she knit herself. She is not messing around with that "Let's Go Caps" chant. If the Capitals teams of the era had been able to match her intensity they might have won multiple Cups.

We get another John Druce goal, because this Caps' run was pretty much all John Druce goals. That's followed by a quick shot of the Caps' arena, including a scoreboard which literally seems to be four giant rear-projection TVs stuck together.

More cheering fans. Is it weird that I'm picking out individual faces in the crowd and wondering how many of them stuck with the team through the next 28 years and were still around for last week's win? I kind of hope it's all of them.

We get a look at goals by Mike Ridley and Calle Johansson, and then what probably stands as the most important moment in the series: the game four OT winner from captain Rod Langway. That sets off another epic hug pile, followed by Langway being mobbed by the 14 different enforcers that were in the Capitals' lineup that year. He doesn't seem to mind. He's not "forcing my teammates to sing a terrible song at my sports bar" happy, but he's still pretty happy.

And that's it. Fornes is back for a quick goodbye, and our clip is done. The Caps were too, four games later—this would turn out to be their last win of the season, and they were swept by the Bruins in the conference final. They wouldn't see the third round again until their 1998 run to the Final, and then not again until this year.

There is no evidence that any members of the 1990 Capitals celebrated the win by swimming in a fountain.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com.

DGB Grab Bag: Loser Mobiles at Cup Parades, Drunk Ovi, and Emotions are Good published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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DGB Grab Bag: Loser Mobiles at Cup Parades, Drunk Ovi, and Emotions are Good

Three Stars of Oh, Who Are We Kidding, Let’s All Enjoy Drunk Alexander Ovechkin

The third star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – The keg stand is solid, but it’s the way he eggs on the crowd chanting his name that really makes the moment.

The second star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – Good news, Habs fans, we have our first ever sighting of a Weber getting close to a Stanley Cup championship.

The first star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – This is my favorite moment, partly for the unbridled joy and comradery and impressive form, but mainly because until this moment I’d forgotten about the back tattoos.

Honorable mentions: Slightly-less-drunk Alexander Ovechkin, Drunk Alexander Ovechkin’s dog, very-far-away Alexander Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie’s shirt-trading, and Jakub Vrana’s tattoo experience.

The NHL Capitals Actually Got Something right

Do you remember a time back before Alexander Ovechkin was permanently drunk, wandering the streets of D.C. with the Stanley Cup and singing “We Are The Champions” on a permanent loop? Neither do I, but I looked it up and it was a week ago.

Let’s think back to that time, back before the Capitals were champions. What will you remember about Ovechkin’s playoff run? Chances are, you’ll remember him scoring some of the Caps’ biggest goals. That’s how it works with superstars. But you might also remember something a little bit odd—namely, the things he did when he was off the ice and on the bench.

Watching Ovechkin watch the Capitals play for the Stanley Cup turned out to be one of the highlights of the Final. When things went well, he look overjoyed. When they didn’t, he looked crushed. When we weren’t sure how something would end up, he looked like he wanted to puke. In short, he looked like you or me watching our favorite team, except with the dial cranked up to 11. It was the best.

And how did it end? With the Capitals winning. Yes, despite everything we’ve been led to believe over the years, a team was somehow able to overcome the insurmountable obstacle of one of its key players looking like he actually cared.

Ovechkin didn’t try to play the stoic. He occasionally said something beyond the usual claims of it being just another game. He didn’t keep his head down and mumble about getting pucks in deep, just in case he accidentally said anything that might turn into A Thing. He didn’t bother to pretend that this stuff didn’t matter, because we all knew how much it did.

And it wasn’t just Ovechkin. The Caps had Evgeny Kuznetsov doing his little bird dance celebration. They had Devante Smith-Pelly looking like he might explode with joy after every big play. They even had Nicklas Backstrom showing honest-to-god frustration, allegedly.

And they still won. The hockey gods did not smite them.

Let’s take the hint. Enough with this nonsense about hockey players all having to look like bored zombies, whether times are good or bad or in between. That’s one way to act. It’s not the only way. Enough of pretending that it’s somehow bad form to show any emotion in one of the most emotional sports on the planet.

It’s been like this for a long time in the NHL, but the idea has really taken hold in recent years thanks to a combined six titles by the Penguins and Blackhawks, teams that are fast and fun and captained by two of the most boring people on Earth. And that’s fine! Maybe Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews are just like that. Some people are. I’m one of them. Maybe you are too. The Capitals have one in Braden Holtby. Some of us don’t like emotional displays or facial expressions or interacting with the outside world.

But some people do. And apparently, those people can win Stanley Cups. So let’s stop acting like it’s some sort of crisis every time a hockey player cracks a smile or hangs his head on the bench or celebrates a big play. Enough with the body language police forensics squad showing up, and enough with trying to divine a man’s character based on whether he had the right type of scowl after the game.

It’s hockey. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s miserable. Players who react like actual human beings are apparently not barred by cosmic law from ever getting their hands on the Stanley Cup, so let’s stop acting like it’s a problem.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

Since we all had so much fun watching the current Capitals captain this week, let’s use this week’s space to remember their first one. This week’s obscure player is Doug “Diesel” Mohns.

Mohns was a speedy winger who won two Memorial Cups with the Barrie Flyers in the early 50s. He signed with the Bruins and debuted in 1953, then spent 11 seasons in Boston, many of them playing defense. He was traded to Chicago in 1964 for Ab McDonald and Reggie Fleming, and would eventually take McDonald’s place on Stan Mikita’s wing as part of the “Scooter Line” and had a career-high 25 goals during the 1966-67 season.

Mohns lasted almost seven years in Chicago before being dealt to the North Stars, and was later claimed by the Atlanta Flames in the inter-league draft. In 1974, the Flames sold him to the expansion Capitals, where he’d play his final season at the age of 40. He was named captain and patrolled the blueline for that miserable team, while racking up an impressive -54 rating. Somewhat amazingly, that wasn’t the worst mark of his career; he’d somehow gone -62 for the 1961-62 Bruins, the worst mark ever recorded at the time. But apart from those two season, he was a plus-player over the rest of his 1,391-game career, and he’d retire after that one season in Washington with 248 goals and 710 points.

He may be best remembered for being one of the first NHL players to wear a helmet. Head protection was apparently very important to him; according to the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was also one of the first NHL players to wear a toupee.

Mohns passed away in 2014 at the age of 80. His official web site is still up and running, and you can visit it here.

Be It Resolved

The Capitals had their Stanley Cup parade on Tuesday, and it was good. Evgeny Kuznetsov swore. Ovechkin shut down Mumford and Sons and then swore. TJ Oshie chugged a beer through his jersey. All good.

But it could have been better.

They all could. A Cup parade is the ultimate chance for hockey fans to experience the joy of victory—to share the experience with hundreds of thousands of fellow fans, and with the players and coaches who made it possible. It’s the ultimate hockey lovefest.

But that’s only half of what being a hockey fan is all about. Sure, it’s fun to feel happy when your team wins it all, or at least that’s how it’s been explained to me. But there’s the other side of the coin that hockey fans love just as much: Watching your opponents cry. Seeing some other team’s players or fans or media sulk their way through the aftermath of your victory is almost as much fun as the actual win. Maybe more.

So let’s make it part of the Stanley Cup parade.

Be it resolved: From now on, every team that wins the Cup gets to invite one person from outside the organization to their parade. And that person has to attend.

Specifically, they have to attend in a little car that will trail about a half-block behind the parade. Let’s call it the loser-mobile. People are allowed to taunt and throw spoiled fruit at it. And then we make the person sit in the front row during the speeches.

Look, I can tell you have questions. Would the person who was chosen want to come to the parade? No, of course not. Would we be able to force them? Yes, we could find a way. Would doing that be, in the strictest legal sense, kidnapping? Maybe, but if I’ve learned anything in the last few years it’s that laws can be applied selectively.

Is this whole idea just mean? Yes. Yes it is. It’s super-mean. So let’s do it.

How much fun would it be to argue over who each year’s winner should pick to ride in the loser-mobile? Imagine the possibilities for this year’s Capitals. Sure, you’re probably thinking Sidney Crosby as the obvious choice, but I’m not sure that works; he could just spend the whole time flashing his three Cup rings at the fans. But there are plenty of other candidates. Maybe George McPhee? Whichever media guy wrote the hottest “Ovechkin will never win it all” take? Pierre Turgeon, with Dale Hunter driving right behind him the whole way? Filip Forsberg, and make him wear a Martin Erat jersey? Personally, I’d go with Henrik Lundqvist just to be a jerk, but you make your own call.

More importantly, book some time off this afternoon to think about who you’d choose for your own favorite team. It could be a rival who always had your number, a referee who screwed you over, a cheapskate owner who ruined your childhood (Personally, I vote for the Leafs to dig up Harold Ballard.) Or maybe just some especially annoying idiot from Twitter who talked a little too much trash. Anything you want.

This is the worst idea I’ve ever had and I’m convinced we need to make it happen. Get the stun guns and duct tape and meet me by the parade route.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

Washington’s win was an exciting moment for this section, since no franchise has provided more YouTube joy than the Capitals and their bizarre infatuation with producing terrible music videos. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed breaking down musical creations like “Capital Feeling”, “Out on Top”, “Double Trouble” and “More Than a Team”. Alexander Ovechkin even had a hand in the monstrosity that was “Shaybu Shaybu”. If you like cheesy music videos and playoff disappointment, the Capitals were the team for you.

The second half of that equation doesn’t really apply anymore. But we’ve still got the music. So until we get a full remaster of that “We are the Champions” single that Ovie and the boys have been working on, let’s look back to 1990, as the Capitals celebrate their first ever championship. Well, division title. Look, until last week, you took what you could get in Washington.

It’s April 27, 1990, and the Caps have just beaten the Rangers in overtime to win their second-round series in five games. It’s the first time in franchise history that they’ve made it out of the second round, and they’re officially Patrick Division champions. I think this calls for a song.

Well, first it calls for our two announcers to awkwardly introduce the clip. That’s Mike Fornes doing the talking, and the legendary Smokin’ Al Koken staring at you until you start to feel uncomfortable.

It’s a little strange that apart from his hair going gray, Koken looks exactly the same as he does today, right?

Anyway, Fornes and Koken introduce a music piece entitled “What a Feeling” before presumably dashing off to whichever high school prom they’re wearing those corsages for.

The music kicks in, and we’re immediately crushed by the disappointment of realizing that this video will be set to the actual “What a Feeling” song as performed by Irene Cara, and not some terrible lip sync job by actual Capitals players. Still, it’s a solid choice, and I like that it implies that this channel had been planning a division title montage since the song came out in 1983 and was only getting a chance to do it now.

We start off with John Druce’s overtime winner from that very night, as shown from a weird angle that doesn’t really make it all that clear what happened. But it’s worth it, because they stay with the shot forever, and we get one of the longest recorded pilearchies I’ve ever seen. It just goes on forever, to the point that you start wondering how many players were on the 1990 Capitals. I’m pretty sure I saw Jim Hrycuik slip into the pile at the end there.

We then cut to a shot of cheering Caps fans, which we know is from a different game because the Druce goal was in New York. That’s fine, because the fans are great. The highlight is the old lady in a Capitals sweater that’s literally a sweater, and that I’m hoping against hope she knit herself. She is not messing around with that “Let’s Go Caps” chant. If the Capitals teams of the era had been able to match her intensity they might have won multiple Cups.

We get another John Druce goal, because this Caps’ run was pretty much all John Druce goals. That’s followed by a quick shot of the Caps’ arena, including a scoreboard which literally seems to be four giant rear-projection TVs stuck together.

More cheering fans. Is it weird that I’m picking out individual faces in the crowd and wondering how many of them stuck with the team through the next 28 years and were still around for last week’s win? I kind of hope it’s all of them.

We get a look at goals by Mike Ridley and Calle Johansson, and then what probably stands as the most important moment in the series: the game four OT winner from captain Rod Langway. That sets off another epic hug pile, followed by Langway being mobbed by the 14 different enforcers that were in the Capitals’ lineup that year. He doesn’t seem to mind. He’s not “forcing my teammates to sing a terrible song at my sports bar” happy, but he’s still pretty happy.

And that’s it. Fornes is back for a quick goodbye, and our clip is done. The Caps were too, four games later—this would turn out to be their last win of the season, and they were swept by the Bruins in the conference final. They wouldn’t see the third round again until their 1998 run to the Final, and then not again until this year.

There is no evidence that any members of the 1990 Capitals celebrated the win by swimming in a fountain.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you’d like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com.

DGB Grab Bag: Loser Mobiles at Cup Parades, Drunk Ovi, and Emotions are Good syndicated from https://australiahoverboards.wordpress.com

[andyplayslongwar2]

Day 23: Operation Bone King

Just a quick one today. Doom Dressage lead another scientist out of Advent’s clutches, but came back with a few scratches. Back at the base we scrambled to find soldiers in good enough shape to help out against the imminent Advent retaliation in East Africa.

Operation Bone King

Date: May 5th, 2035

The team was:

Raquel “Gold Hawk” Sanchez, gunner Kibwe Owusu, ranger Sidney “Whinny” Payne, specialist and officer Jan “Top Notch” Meyer, sniper Paul “Mirror Beard” Franzen, ranger Mahmoud Mansoor, grenadier Ezra “Magic Man” Schrage, assaulter

The target was in a holding cell in a building to the North West and our evac was actually behind us. I wasn’t too worried about it though. The 24 turns should have given us more than enough time.

Early on we found a small Advent pod as well as a drone.

The ambush went well and we were able to take out all four on the turn we broke concealment. After that Kibwe Owusu, a shinobi who had just finished his Guerrilla Tactics School training, acted as our scout.

While scouting out the area ahead of us, he found a  stun lancer and a sentry. 

The rest of the squad was revealed, so if they moved up, the Advent would get a chance to scramble. Franzen moved as close as he could and went on overwatch. Mansoor moved out and Franzen shot down the sentry when they dashed.

The stun lancer ran on its turn and Gold Hawk took it out with her suppression fire.

The next mini ambush was on a pair of vipers, once again spotted by Owusu. Franzen went on overwatch again, but this time, Top Notch had a shot. He had taken a position on the edge of the building we had started by. He and Franzen both connected and took out one viper.

Gold Hawk suppressed the remaining viper while Ezra moved up to kill it next turn. It shot at Mansoor but missed.

A drone flew in but the team made quick work of it and Ezra ran up to get his point blank shot.

It connected and even did critical damage, but the viper lived by one. Mansoor finished it off with a frag grenade.

Owusu moved up again, but this time he was spotted by a fairly large pod: An officer, a sentry, a gunner, and a trooper.

Half of the team had already gone and Ezra was badly exposed. Gold hawk stunned the officer and the sentry with a flash bang although this proved to be a bad allocation of resources because Owusu cut down the sentry and Whinny used Command to give Ezra and extra action, which he used to kill the trooper (using run-and-gun and fortify).

We dealt with half of them, but that left the gunner and the officer with no negative effects. The officer marked and shot Ezra. and the gunner landed a hit on Mansoor from half way across the map. Mansoor can’t catch a break; it seems like no matter where he his or how many other soldiers are closer, Advent is always shooting at him.

Mansoor’s hit wasn’t trivial either. It went straight through his armor and left him bleeding out on the ground.

Ezra and Owusu spent the turn mopping up the two Advent soldiers and Whinny stabilized and healed Mansoor. The remaining soldiers reloaded and over-watched. We needed to regroup for a second.

Luckily, we were able to get into the holding cells with minimal further incident. The only other enemy we found was a drone guarding the cells.

As we made our way back, though, reinforcements started coming in fast. The first one took a few turns but after that it was every other turn.

We were ready, and took them out, but Advent was making it clear, that 24 turns didn’t mean 24 uninterrupted turns. By the time we had 10 turns left, the reinforcements started arriving every turn. Luckily we were at the evac point and got out.

It was a good mission, although with less than 24 hours to protect the haven, we really needed a flawless mission. Not having Ezra will be a real shame.

MVP: Kibwe Owusu & Ezra “Magic Man” Schrage

These two worked together to deal point-blank death to everything in their path.

Promotions

Raquel “Gold Hawk” Sanchez was promoted to sergeant and learned Hail of Bullets, allowing her to occasionally take a shot that will use most of her ammo but which is guaranteed to hit.

Kibwe Owusu reached lance corporal and learned Blademaster.

Mahmoud Mansoor reached corporal and learned Protector, giving his flash bangs a bonus use. He earned the nick name “Target Practice” in honor of propensity to attract fire.

Back at the Base

The pressing issue was the haven under attack. We had less than a day to respond and only six healthy soldiers. As we learned form our last retaliation mission, Advent does not mess around with these. We needed a full set of eight experienced soldiers.

Before we dealt with that, we did name a new recruit: Ted Smith. Ted is the recruit currently training to be our first psi op!

Back to the crisis at hand we couldn’t take the retaliation mission with who we had. This is why I decided to spend 25 intel to boost the infiltration level of the smash-and-grab that Dark Carnival was doing. When they get back, we’ll put together an all-star team and keep the haven in East Africa safe!

If you want  a rookie named after you tweet at me here!

[newstfionline]

Donald Trump Killed the “Indispensable Nation.” Good!

By Jeet Heer, New Republic, May 15, 2017

In February 1998, Madeleine Albright, President Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, went on NBC’s The Today Show to defend America’s increasingly aggressive stance toward Iraq. “Let me say that we are doing everything possible so that American men and women in uniform do not have to go out there again,” she said. “It is the threat of the use of force and our line-up there that is going to put force behind the diplomacy. But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us.”

“Indispensable nation” was a brand-new phrase then, though not of Albright’s invention. Presidential fixer Sidney Blumenthal claims to have suggested it to her, after coining it with historian James Chase “to describe the concept of the United States as the guarantor of stability as the sole superpower within the framework of multinational institutions.”

The phrase went on to become a bipartisan political cliche, and took on new salience in light of Donald Trump’s isolationist, “America First” campaign. Hillary Clinton said in August that “we are the indispensable nation. People all over the world look to us, and follow our lead.” President Barack Obama, days before the election, told HBO’s Bill Maher, “We really are the indispensable nation.... America is not just a great nation in the sense that it’s powerful, but that our values and ideals actually matter.”

Trump’s victory, consequently, was seen as potentially the end of America’s indispensability. In a post-election Financial Times column titled “Trump marks the end of America as world’s ‘indispensable nation,’” historian Robert Kagan feared “a return to national solipsism, with a much narrower definition of American interests and a reluctance to act in the world except to protect those narrow interests. To put it another way, America may once again start behaving like a normal nation.”

That prediction loses credence by the day, as Trump’s diplomatic moves as president have been anything but normal. And yet, Kagan’s headline remains no less accurate because Trump’s foreign policy is accomplishing what many thought his isolationist platform would do: make America dispensable again.

Trump has ushered in a new era of American hegemony, one in which the hegemon is adrift, mercurial, and irresponsible. Without a firm American hand at the wheel, the liberal international order will crumble and the world will descend into regional conflict--and, eventually, a global one. Or so says the “indispensable nation” theory. But what if a diminished America is a positive development for the world? What might countries accomplish when they can’t rely on anyone else?

Some argue that America was never an indispensable nation, that the concept itself is a myth. “If you consider everything encompassing global affairs--from state-to-state diplomatic relations, to growing cross-border flows of goods, money, people, and data--there are actually very few activities where America’s role is truly indispensable,” Micah Zenko wrote in Foreign Policy in 2014. He cited myriad foreign policy failures, from the persistent atrocities in Syria to the Nigerian schoolgirls still held by Boko Haram, before eventually concluding:

The reason that the United States is not the indispensable nation is simple: the human and financial costs, the tremendous risks, and degree of political commitment required to do so are thankfully lacking in Washington. Moreover, the structure and dynamics of the international system would reject or resist it, as it does in so many ways that frustrate the United States from achieving its foreign policy objectives. The United States can be truly indispensable in a few discrete domains, such as for military operations, which as pointed out above has proven disastrous recently. But overall there is no indispensable nation now, nor has there been in modern history.

The appeal of the “indispensable nation” theory to American politicians is easy to understand. It neatly--and arrogantly--encapsulates the core belief that elites of both parties have shared ever since the attack on Pearl Harbor: that America is the cornerstone for global capitalism, the linchpin holding together every nation committed to free trade, collective security, and international law.

Let us accept that while the indispensability of America is often overstated, there’s no question that many countries count on the U.S. for all sorts of reasons--military, economic, humanitarian, and otherwise. That assistance, as Zenko noted, is not always productive in the end, but no nation is more interconnected with the rest of the world than America is. That alone creates a sort of indispensability.

No matter: The world is about to discover whether the U.S. is indeed indispensable. Whether Trump fully implements his “America First” foreign policy vision, or continues to be unpredictable and unstable in ways that worry America’s closest allies, he represents a test to this longstanding international system. As Foreign Policy reported in February, “The president of the European Commission, former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk ... said that Washington is ‘seeming to put into question’ 70 years of American policy, placing the United States alongside Russia, China and terrorism as a source of instability for Europe.”

The so-called “axis of adults” who are supposed to check Trump’s isolationist tendencies (establishment stalwarts like Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H. R. McMaster) might be pushing back against Trump’s erratic and isolationist impulses, but this only makes America’s foreign policy intentions murkier and harder to rely on. Bloomberg’s Eli Lake provided a vivid example of this last week:

Trump was livid, according to three White House officials, after reading in the Wall Street Journal that McMaster had called his South Korean counterpart to assure him that the president’s threat to make that country pay for a new missile defense system was not official policy. These officials say Trump screamed at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share.

Reading a report like this, South Koreans officials would be hard pressed to know if they should trust McMaster’s reassurances, or expect Trump to act on his professed agenda.

In January, after Trump called NATO “obsolete,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “We Europeans have our fate in our own hands.” Trump’s isolationism, and the United Kingdom’s impending exit from the European Union, is proving Merkel’s words true. “U.S. allies are resigning themselves to the likelihood that Trump’s administration will remain unpredictable and often incoherent, if not downright hostile, in its foreign policy,” noted the Foreign Policy report. “And they are beginning to draw up contingency plans to protect their interests on trade and security, as they adapt to a world where strong American leadership is no longer assured.”

Trump’s unreliability is likely to increase the ongoing push for European military integration, which would create a formidable force that could work independently of the U.S. to face challenges like Russian aggression. A more independent Europe could also take a stronger role in the Middle East--not just taking in refugees, as it does now, but using military and diplomatic force to solve the region’s problems. A more active European involvement in the Israel/Palestine negotiations could be a boon, since the Europeans, seen as more sympathetic to the Palestinians, could provide a counterweight to America’s pro-Israel policy. This might help break a stalemate that has lasted decades. At worst, it can’t be less productive than the status quo.

The same logic applies in other regions of the world, where promising new alliances are emerging as a response to Trump’s foreign policy. Earlier this month, in an implicit rebuke of Trump’s anti-trade rhetoric, the finance ministers of China, South Korea, and Japan signed a statement stating, “We will resist all forms of protectionism.” Historically, these three countries have been rivals, but here we see the seeds of a new alliance system. South Korea has been the victim of both Chinese and Japanese colonialism in the past, but in the new era they might find their Asian neighbors more trustworthy in dealing with North Korea than Trump’s America. Japan, for its part, now has an incentive to overcome its own isolationism, rooted in its defeat in World War II, and become a regional power.

A more isolationist America could also be a boon to Africa. The presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama brought a regrettable militarization of American policy towards Africa, with the creation of the United States Africa Command in 2008. Under the sway of AFRICOM, the continent has become the newest theater for America’s counterterrorism policy, to the determent of development aid. If African nations learn to distrust U.S. intervention under Trump, they won’t become dependent on American military spending via AFRICOM and end up with the top-heavy armies found in other U.S. satrapies.

Latin America offers a model for what a post-American world might look like. “After 9/11, Washington effectively lost interest in Latin America,” the journal Foreign Affairs lamented in 2006. “Since then, the attention the United States has paid to the region has been sporadic and narrowly targeted at particularly troubling or urgent situations. Throughout the region, support for Washington’s policies has diminished. Few Latin Americans, in or out of government, consider the United States to be a dependable partner.” But considering America’s long history of supporting coups and death squads in Latin America, this recent disinterest qualifies as benign neglect. Central and South America have enjoyed an era of often tumultuous and contentious politics--the winding down of a guerrilla war in Colombia, the botched socialist experiment in Venezuela, a presidential impeachment in Brazil--all taking place within a broadly democratic framework. It hasn’t been a perfect era, as Venezuela descends into authoritarian chaos, but it has experienced far less violence than earlier periods. Free from American interference, Latin Americans have proven they can tackle their own problems better than the U.S can.

What Latin America has learned this century, the rest of the planet could discover in the Trump era: The world doesn’t need America, and can work to solve its own problems free from the shadow of American hegemony.

Learning to live without America might be the best way for the other leading nations of the world to create a more durable international order--one held up not by a lone Atlas, but the shoulders of many nations.

[flauntpage]

DGB Grab Bag: Loser Mobiles at Cup Parades, Drunk Ovi, and Emotions are Good

Three Stars of Oh, Who Are We Kidding, Let's All Enjoy Drunk Alexander Ovechkin

The third star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – The keg stand is solid, but it's the way he eggs on the crowd chanting his name that really makes the moment.

The second star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – Good news, Habs fans, we have our first ever sighting of a Weber getting close to a Stanley Cup championship.

The first star: Drunk Alexander Ovechkin – This is my favorite moment, partly for the unbridled joy and comradery and impressive form, but mainly because until this moment I'd forgotten about the back tattoos.

Honorable mentions: Slightly-less-drunk Alexander Ovechkin, Drunk Alexander Ovechkin's dog, very-far-away Alexander Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie's shirt-trading, and Jakub Vrana's tattoo experience.

The NHL Capitals Actually Got Something right

Do you remember a time back before Alexander Ovechkin was permanently drunk, wandering the streets of D.C. with the Stanley Cup and singing "We Are The Champions" on a permanent loop? Neither do I, but I looked it up and it was a week ago.

Let's think back to that time, back before the Capitals were champions. What will you remember about Ovechkin's playoff run? Chances are, you'll remember him scoring some of the Caps' biggest goals. That's how it works with superstars. But you might also remember something a little bit odd—namely, the things he did when he was off the ice and on the bench.

Watching Ovechkin watch the Capitals play for the Stanley Cup turned out to be one of the highlights of the Final. When things went well, he look overjoyed. When they didn't, he looked crushed. When we weren't sure how something would end up, he looked like he wanted to puke. In short, he looked like you or me watching our favorite team, except with the dial cranked up to 11. It was the best.

And how did it end? With the Capitals winning. Yes, despite everything we've been led to believe over the years, a team was somehow able to overcome the insurmountable obstacle of one of its key players looking like he actually cared.

Ovechkin didn't try to play the stoic. He occasionally said something beyond the usual claims of it being just another game. He didn't keep his head down and mumble about getting pucks in deep, just in case he accidentally said anything that might turn into A Thing. He didn't bother to pretend that this stuff didn't matter, because we all knew how much it did.

And it wasn't just Ovechkin. The Caps had Evgeny Kuznetsov doing his little bird dance celebration. They had Devante Smith-Pelly looking like he might explode with joy after every big play. They even had Nicklas Backstrom showing honest-to-god frustration, allegedly.

And they still won. The hockey gods did not smite them.

Let's take the hint. Enough with this nonsense about hockey players all having to look like bored zombies, whether times are good or bad or in between. That's one way to act. It's not the only way. Enough of pretending that it's somehow bad form to show any emotion in one of the most emotional sports on the planet.

It's been like this for a long time in the NHL, but the idea has really taken hold in recent years thanks to a combined six titles by the Penguins and Blackhawks, teams that are fast and fun and captained by two of the most boring people on Earth. And that's fine! Maybe Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews are just like that. Some people are. I'm one of them. Maybe you are too. The Capitals have one in Braden Holtby. Some of us don't like emotional displays or facial expressions or interacting with the outside world.

But some people do. And apparently, those people can win Stanley Cups. So let's stop acting like it's some sort of crisis every time a hockey player cracks a smile or hangs his head on the bench or celebrates a big play. Enough with the body language police forensics squad showing up, and enough with trying to divine a man's character based on whether he had the right type of scowl after the game.

It's hockey. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's miserable. Players who react like actual human beings are apparently not barred by cosmic law from ever getting their hands on the Stanley Cup, so let's stop acting like it's a problem.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

Since we all had so much fun watching the current Capitals captain this week, let's use this week's space to remember their first one. This week's obscure player is Doug "Diesel" Mohns.

Mohns was a speedy winger who won two Memorial Cups with the Barrie Flyers in the early 50s. He signed with the Bruins and debuted in 1953, then spent 11 seasons in Boston, many of them playing defense. He was traded to Chicago in 1964 for Ab McDonald and Reggie Fleming, and would eventually take McDonald's place on Stan Mikita's wing as part of the "Scooter Line" and had a career-high 25 goals during the 1966-67 season.

Mohns lasted almost seven years in Chicago before being dealt to the North Stars, and was later claimed by the Atlanta Flames in the inter-league draft. In 1974, the Flames sold him to the expansion Capitals, where he'd play his final season at the age of 40. He was named captain and patrolled the blueline for that miserable team, while racking up an impressive -54 rating. Somewhat amazingly, that wasn't the worst mark of his career; he'd somehow gone -62 for the 1961-62 Bruins, the worst mark ever recorded at the time. But apart from those two season, he was a plus-player over the rest of his 1,391-game career, and he'd retire after that one season in Washington with 248 goals and 710 points.

He may be best remembered for being one of the first NHL players to wear a helmet. Head protection was apparently very important to him; according to the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was also one of the first NHL players to wear a toupee.

Mohns passed away in 2014 at the age of 80. His official web site is still up and running, and you can visit it here.

Be It Resolved

The Capitals had their Stanley Cup parade on Tuesday, and it was good. Evgeny Kuznetsov swore. Ovechkin shut down Mumford and Sons and then swore. TJ Oshie chugged a beer through his jersey. All good.

But it could have been better.

They all could. A Cup parade is the ultimate chance for hockey fans to experience the joy of victory—to share the experience with hundreds of thousands of fellow fans, and with the players and coaches who made it possible. It's the ultimate hockey lovefest.

But that's only half of what being a hockey fan is all about. Sure, it's fun to feel happy when your team wins it all, or at least that's how it's been explained to me. But there's the other side of the coin that hockey fans love just as much: Watching your opponents cry. Seeing some other team's players or fans or media sulk their way through the aftermath of your victory is almost as much fun as the actual win. Maybe more.

So let's make it part of the Stanley Cup parade.

Be it resolved: From now on, every team that wins the Cup gets to invite one person from outside the organization to their parade. And that person has to attend.

Specifically, they have to attend in a little car that will trail about a half-block behind the parade. Let's call it the loser-mobile. People are allowed to taunt and throw spoiled fruit at it. And then we make the person sit in the front row during the speeches.

Look, I can tell you have questions. Would the person who was chosen want to come to the parade? No, of course not. Would we be able to force them? Yes, we could find a way. Would doing that be, in the strictest legal sense, kidnapping? Maybe, but if I've learned anything in the last few years it's that laws can be applied selectively.

Is this whole idea just mean? Yes. Yes it is. It's super-mean. So let's do it.

How much fun would it be to argue over who each year's winner should pick to ride in the loser-mobile? Imagine the possibilities for this year's Capitals. Sure, you're probably thinking Sidney Crosby as the obvious choice, but I'm not sure that works; he could just spend the whole time flashing his three Cup rings at the fans. But there are plenty of other candidates. Maybe George McPhee? Whichever media guy wrote the hottest "Ovechkin will never win it all" take? Pierre Turgeon, with Dale Hunter driving right behind him the whole way? Filip Forsberg, and make him wear a Martin Erat jersey? Personally, I'd go with Henrik Lundqvist just to be a jerk, but you make your own call.

More importantly, book some time off this afternoon to think about who you'd choose for your own favorite team. It could be a rival who always had your number, a referee who screwed you over, a cheapskate owner who ruined your childhood (Personally, I vote for the Leafs to dig up Harold Ballard.) Or maybe just some especially annoying idiot from Twitter who talked a little too much trash. Anything you want.

This is the worst idea I've ever had and I'm convinced we need to make it happen. Get the stun guns and duct tape and meet me by the parade route.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

Washington's win was an exciting moment for this section, since no franchise has provided more YouTube joy than the Capitals and their bizarre infatuation with producing terrible music videos. Over the years, we've enjoyed breaking down musical creations like "Capital Feeling", "Out on Top", "Double Trouble" and "More Than a Team". Alexander Ovechkin even had a hand in the monstrosity that was "Shaybu Shaybu". If you like cheesy music videos and playoff disappointment, the Capitals were the team for you.

The second half of that equation doesn't really apply anymore. But we've still got the music. So until we get a full remaster of that "We are the Champions" single that Ovie and the boys have been working on, let's look back to 1990, as the Capitals celebrate their first ever championship. Well, division title. Look, until last week, you took what you could get in Washington.

It's April 27, 1990, and the Caps have just beaten the Rangers in overtime to win their second-round series in five games. It's the first time in franchise history that they've made it out of the second round, and they're officially Patrick Division champions. I think this calls for a song.

Well, first it calls for our two announcers to awkwardly introduce the clip. That's Mike Fornes doing the talking, and the legendary Smokin' Al Koken staring at you until you start to feel uncomfortable.

It's a little strange that apart from his hair going gray, Koken looks exactly the same as he does today, right?

Anyway, Fornes and Koken introduce a music piece entitled "What a Feeling" before presumably dashing off to whichever high school prom they're wearing those corsages for.

The music kicks in, and we're immediately crushed by the disappointment of realizing that this video will be set to the actual "What a Feeling" song as performed by Irene Cara, and not some terrible lip sync job by actual Capitals players. Still, it's a solid choice, and I like that it implies that this channel had been planning a division title montage since the song came out in 1983 and was only getting a chance to do it now.

We start off with John Druce's overtime winner from that very night, as shown from a weird angle that doesn't really make it all that clear what happened. But it's worth it, because they stay with the shot forever, and we get one of the longest recorded pilearchies I've ever seen. It just goes on forever, to the point that you start wondering how many players were on the 1990 Capitals. I'm pretty sure I saw Jim Hrycuik slip into the pile at the end there.

We then cut to a shot of cheering Caps fans, which we know is from a different game because the Druce goal was in New York. That's fine, because the fans are great. The highlight is the old lady in a Capitals sweater that's literally a sweater, and that I'm hoping against hope she knit herself. She is not messing around with that "Let's Go Caps" chant. If the Capitals teams of the era had been able to match her intensity they might have won multiple Cups.

We get another John Druce goal, because this Caps' run was pretty much all John Druce goals. That's followed by a quick shot of the Caps' arena, including a scoreboard which literally seems to be four giant rear-projection TVs stuck together.

More cheering fans. Is it weird that I'm picking out individual faces in the crowd and wondering how many of them stuck with the team through the next 28 years and were still around for last week's win? I kind of hope it's all of them.

We get a look at goals by Mike Ridley and Calle Johansson, and then what probably stands as the most important moment in the series: the game four OT winner from captain Rod Langway. That sets off another epic hug pile, followed by Langway being mobbed by the 14 different enforcers that were in the Capitals' lineup that year. He doesn't seem to mind. He's not "forcing my teammates to sing a terrible song at my sports bar" happy, but he's still pretty happy.

And that's it. Fornes is back for a quick goodbye, and our clip is done. The Caps were too, four games later—this would turn out to be their last win of the season, and they were swept by the Bruins in the conference final. They wouldn't see the third round again until their 1998 run to the Final, and then not again until this year.

There is no evidence that any members of the 1990 Capitals celebrated the win by swimming in a fountain.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com.

DGB Grab Bag: Loser Mobiles at Cup Parades, Drunk Ovi, and Emotions are Good published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/