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84reedsy · 8 months ago

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The Mentorship, Part 18

The Mentorship

Characters: Curt Hennig/FemOC , Scott Hall/FemOC

Part 18 of 22 (Parts not chapters, parts length varies)

Warnings/Considerations: Smut, Age Gap, Power Dynamics, Dirty Talk, swearing

Word Count: 4711

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

Taglist: @writeandsurvive @theweaselandthekilt (DM or comment to be added!)

Eventually worried that if she didn't make an appearance, Scott may return to look for her even more drunk, Brinkley did get dressed. She chose a black v-neck halter top and short white shorts. She put half her hair up and added some dangly earrings that she couldn't wear in the ring for fear of them being ripped out. Maybe if she looked good, Scott might forget he was upset. If even for a moment.

By the time she made it downstairs, the party was in full swing and she was able to slip through the crowds relatively unnoticed. That was at least until she made it to the kitchen when a very inebriated and very loud Steve Borden announced her arrival with a Sting-esque howl.

“Jesus, I think half the county heard you,” she walked over to where he stood next to the counter, recognizing the setup for beer pong. She noticed Curt on the other end of the counter, spinning a ping pong ball in his hand. She knew he was uncannily good at these kinds of skill games and he was likely not as wasted as Steve.

Brinkley noticed him smirking the way only a shark would before annihilating the competition.

“We're short, wanna play?” Rick asked from the other side.

“Depends…” She barely managed to save an empty beer bottle from crashing to the floor as Steve bumped into it, “Who's team needs a player?”

Now both Rick and Curt smiled, pointing to Steve. He never partied with them much so his tolerance was clearly minimal.

“Well that hardly seems fair…” she stood with her hands on her hips, watching Steve sway in place now, “But fine. We're starting over though…” she motioned to the two cups already missing from the end in front of her, “I’m not playing a pickup game,”

“Fair is fair,” Bryan Adams filled two red plastic cups 2/3rds full, “This is where the big boys play, no wimpy shot cups here,” he arranged them in the typical ‘V’ pattern.

“Any terms?” Brinkley asked, taking the ping pong balls from Page.

“Hmm, terms. I guess we should set a wager,” Curt stroked his chin in sarcastic thought. Of course his mind spun through a litany of erotic suggestions, but that was only a selfish fantasy. He didn't want to degrade her like that in front of the guys.

Brinkley could only imagine what ideas he was thinking of, looking at Rick, he wasn't thinking much. Steve was useless.

“How about…winning team picks one from the loser team to go jump into the pool,” she suggested. Both Curt and Rick seemed to mull the idea over, “Naked” she added.

“FUCKING YES! THAT!” Rick slapped his hand on the counter.

“You better think that shit through,” Page nudged her with his elbow, “Hennig is one competitive mother fucker,”

She made eye contact with him from across the counter.

“Oh, I know,” she smirked, “So? Do we agree on the wager?” She knew by Curt's shit eating grin that he agreed.

She looked around, not seeing Scott or Kevin anywhere.

“If you're looking for Hall, I'm pretty sure he and Kev are outside blazin’ it up,” Page said, noticing she was looking around.

“Well, I figured he was around here somewhere,” she shrugged, turning back to the game, “Ladies first?” She postured to the opposition. Hearing no argument, she took her first shot, landing it in the front cup. She pointed at Curt who chugged the cup and spit the ball back to them.

There was a decent crowd that built watching them. The game was going quickly, but only she and Curt were landing them. They switched off having Brinkley and Steve chug the beers; it only took two for Steve to find his place on the floor.

Down to only one last cup on each end, Brinkley was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol, though she tried to play it off. She knew Curt probably knew her well enough to know though. It was his turn. As he lined up his shot, she leaned her arms on the counter behind the cup, letting the counter amplify her cleavage in a shameless attempt at a distraction.

Too bad Rick wasn't throwing, he was definitely glassy eyed and drooling.

Curt cocked his eyebrow at her, feeling that Scott may very well come through on his promise to lay him out if he ever touched her again if he were to walk through right at this moment. He tossed the ball and it hit the lip and skittered off to the side. He was a little stunned that he missed, but he didn't have long to wonder what happened as she sailed one back toward him right into the lone back corner cup in front of him.

Cheers erupted and she shrugged at him, pointing at Rick to chug the last one.

“Hope you feel like swimming, Ricky,” she said aloud, but was staring Curt down still.

“Aw, Hell!” Rick cursed, but didn't seem to be too bothered as he was already stripping on his way to the back door. The crowd followed him as he went outside and took a Tarzan worthy leap into the very occupied pool completely naked.

Brinkley and Curt watched from the kitchen window.

“Well…I was gonna say he could keep his underwear on…but he doesn't seem to mind,” the pool emptied a little as Rick floated front-side up in the water, blatantly showing off everything.

“Not me,” Curt took a swig, smirking as Brinkley raised her eyebrows at him, “I'd have made ‘ol Stinger jump in stark ass naked,”

-----------------

Scott watched from the kitchen doorway as Brinkley laughed at something Curt had said. She had no business looking as hot as she did in that outfit. Damn, if he wasn't ready to fuck her again.

“Hey, there you are,” Kev came down the hallway, seeing Scott lurking near the kitchen. He saw right away what had Scott's attention. It looked innocent enough, but he also knew Scott had been in a mood tonight. When Page joined in on Curt and Brinkley's conversation, it seemed even more innocuous.

Brinkley noticed Scott and Kevin first, feeling anxiousness twist in her belly. She ignored it, smiling and walking over to Scott.

“Finally! Where have you two been hiding?” She tried to keep the tone light, still seeing that darkness stewing in Scott. But, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him.

“Just enjoying the festivities,” Scott kissed the top of her head, before taking a long swig of beer, “Why don't we go somewhere quieter?” He mumbled to her.

Brinkley was enjoying being against his body, pretending that their interaction earlier hadn't happened. But now, she felt fearful that it might happen again and potentially even worse.

“But what about all your guests?” She kept her tone light and positive, pleading with Kevin silently, “We can go upstairs later…” she suggested, hoping he would be passed out long before then.

“C'mon man, let's head back outside, I could definitely use another ‘j’,” Kevin nodded towards the front door, encouraging Scott to follow.

“What, don’t want me anymore?” Scott ignored Kevin’s suggestion as he looked down at her. Brinkley frowned a little.

“Of course I do, just need a little time to recover after the last time,” She said, playfulness returning to her tone. Kevin rolled his eyes, but she was relieved that Scott smirked slightly, squeezing her against him a little more tightly, his hand grabbing her backside possessively.

He followed Kevin back outside, leaving Brinkley in the kitchen. She breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the door jam. Curt walked over, having only guessed what happened. He nudged her into the privacy of the hallway as he walked by.

“That looked...interesting,” he struggled to find the right word for it, “Everything OK with you two?”

“Fine. Why?” She asked, taking the beer he opened for her.

“Well, just seemed a little tense,” He shrugged, “And because I know when you're lying to me,” he challenged her.

She looked at him, irritated.

“Well…if you must know…things are a little weird today. And I don't know what's wrong with him. He just kinda…flipped a switch or something.” She shrugged, “Probably just all the alcohol, right?” She gave a weak excuse.

“Could be,” He was more than curious about what made her feel that way, “But, I'm headed up to bed,” he needed to get out of the habit of telling her what to do, though he was dying to suggest she give Scott his space and take a break, “see if things are better in the morning…”

She offered him a smile as she nodded, waving as he headed upstairs. Another beer or two and she'd forget that for the briefest moment, she considered following.

------------------------------------

The party was slowly winding down, but far from over. These boys had stamina. Just because some of their brethren were passed out, didn't mean the good times stopped. In fact, it only invigorated them as they schemed on a slew of potential ribs.

Brinkley laughed as they slurred through sloppy suggestions. Though a little too drunk herself at this point, she tried to sideline anything too dangerous. She knew at least one person’s eyebrows were in danger. As she began to feel more and more drowsy, she knew hers were at risk as much as anybody’s. She made a pass through the house, unable to wake Scott from his couch coma, Kevin slumped against him. She didn't try very hard, not very keen on the idea of sharing a bed with him tonight after what happened in the bedroom.

She couldn't do much about their predicament, leaving to go to the thankfully empty master bedroom. She was sure the other spare rooms were likely occupied with people in various states of dress. She'd definitely remembered seeing Bret sneak off with some lady she'd never seen before.

She chugged one bottle of ice cold water as she went upstairs, bringing another to combat her likely morning cottonmouth. She locked the door behind her, knowing it was a weak defense, though no one really had the coordination to stick a paperclip in the release mechanism. That is if they didn’t just kick it down instead. She relaxed completely in the space by herself. She stumbled over her own feet a little as she went to grab her pajamas. That new silky set Scott had bought for her sounded exquisite, but she only found the shorts, settling on them with a white tank top she found next to them.

She didn't bother turning on the bedside lamp, feeling more drowsy now. She pulled back the covers just enough to slide into them.

The slick, cold, mushy feeling against her legs was startling and slightly sobering as she leapt out of the bed with a squeal.

“What the fuck?!?” She exclaimed, looking down at her legs covered in some sort of creamy, sticky substance, “this better not be the fucking jizz of 50 guys….” She blurted aloud, now grossed out and gagging at the thought of that covering her legs. She reached over her head to flip the light on, minorly relieved that it looked too thick to be semen. The smell of cocoa butter started to waft up to her nose and she timidly touched where it was caked against her thigh. This was definitely sunscreen. Another part is her leg had something far fluffier. Shaving cream.

She stood, trying not to get anything else on the carpet and pulled back the comforter. The entire king bed was covered in at least an inch of sunscreen with at least a couple cans of shaving cream swirled into it.

“What…. the…..fuuuuuuuuuck,” she questioned again, ignorantly wondering who would do something like this. But even her drunken brain could easily guess.

Brinkley collected herself, a shocked, angry laugh coming from her. Still looking at the carnage soaking the sheets, she toweled off the concoction from her legs.

“That ass is DEAD,” She considered for a moment waiting and perhaps pranking him back, but no way this man was going to just get to sleep soundly down the hall while her bed had been graffitied by toiletries She threw on a robe, grabbing her bottle of water before making her way down the dark hallway. She could hear some party commotion still down towards the den and kitchen.

She ignored the quiet objections in her head. She had no plans to do anything beyond giving him a hard time. It was not fair for him to just peacefully sleep as if he deserved no retribution. He brought this on himself. She turned the door knob to his room slowly, wincing when it clicked, waiting a moment to slowly push the door open.

The room was dark and still, she snuck in the small opening of the door and closed it behind her. She stood unmoving, waiting for her eyes to acclimate to the darkness. She also made sure she hadn’t woken him, listening for deep breathing or light snores. She could see a body under the covers and as she crept closer, could see that it was Curt.

She slowly poured the entire bottle of still very cold water from above his face, startling him awake suddenly.

“Rise and shine, asshole,” She said, jumping on him before he could turn on the light or comprehend what was happening.

“Jesus Christ, Brinkley!” He tried to wipe the water from his eyes and face, gasping for breath having nearly been waterboarded, while also protecting himself from her lightly wailing fists as she jumped on him.

“My bed, man, my freaking bed? That’s not even my bed, its Scott’s!” She couldn’t help but giggle as Curt moved under her.

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about?” He lied, unable to keep from smiling. She could see him now, adjusted to the soft light of a night light coming from the bathroom.

“The hell you don’t…you think this is funny??” She tried to wriggle out of his grasp as his large hands grabbed ahold of her wrists. She was no match for his brute strength.

“And what are you gonna do about it?” He cocked an eyebrow, trying to maintain his control though her drunken wriggling was making it harder to control her and harder to ignore the way she was moving against him.

At that moment, one had slipped free from his grip and she dove it under the blankets, tickling his sides - his known weakness. He tried not to laugh, but let her other hand go as he tried to stop her. She did the same on the other side. She was amused by the way he reacted, making herself easier to overtake as Curt flipped her over to her back, pinning her to the bed by her arms. Her laughter still came, though it was subdued as she looked up at Curt hovering over her.

Her robe splayed open and she knew the thin white tank wasn’t hiding anything - but then again, he’d seen it all before.

“Scott probably wouldn’t be too happy with you in my room like this,” Curt said, reminding himself as much as he was Brinkley.

“Probably not…” She agreed, but didn’t stop the wanting lure of her upward gaze, “But I don’t think you’re going to let that stop you…” She called him out.

“Stop me? I haven’t done anything, miss late-night intruder,” He tried to stall, hoping his better sense would take hold. He was still buzzed from drinking (among other things).

“You think I don’t know that look in your eyes by now?” She challenged him, she let her buzz be her excuse for her loose tongue, “You think I haven’t seen the way you look at me in the locker room? In the bars? In the ring? Do you really think I don’t know that you’ve been dying to fuck me since the moment we got back on the road?” She maintained a knowing smirk, though throughout her monologue, Curt’s face grew darker. She knew it wasn’t completely true, but at this moment she wanted it to be.

“You're playing with fire here, girl…” He warned her, “You better get out of here before things go too far.” He knew she had to feel his arousal against her leg.

“And where do you suggest I go?” She postured, “If you'll recall, my bed is out of commission. I'm starting to think you did this on purpose…thinking I'd coming running here,”

“Well, if that was the plan…you played right into it didn't you? Barely any clothes on, jumping right into my bed,” He slowly leaned down closer as he spoke. He could tell she wanted him to kiss her and he couldn't deny that he knew it would feel good. But it had been weeks, he'd gotten used to not crossing that line. He couldn't just regress and expect his life to get better.

“You're lucky I didn't kick your ass when I got here,” she snipped at him, squirming to get out of his hold, knowing she was worked up and failing to do the same to him, though she was sure he was rock hard against her thigh, “my original plan wasn't as nice as what you got,”

“You'd really kick my ass, huh?” Maybe if he kept the repartee going, the tension would fizzle out, “after all I've done for you?”

“I think with what you got out of it, we're pretty even,” she nearly huffed, not getting her way, “You had your own personal fucktoy at your disposal…what do you have to complain about?”

“Brinkley,” his grip softened around her wrists, “That's…that's not at all what you were,” he felt an extreme wave of guilt wash over him.

She slipped out of his hands and sat up on the edge of the bed, pulling her robe around her tightly.

“Well what the hell else would you call it?” She felt that familiar sting of insecurity.

Curt didn't have an answer for her, sitting back and turning on the bedside lamp.

“That's not what it was,” he reiterated.

“Yes. It was. Otherwise, you'd have come up with something. You improvise better than anyone here,” she hated that in the moment she still found a way to compliment him.

“Brinkley, I know you love Scott…” he admitted, wondering if in another life she might have loved him instead.

“Yeah and look what it got me…just a different guy's fucktoy, just jumping from one dick to another,” she had hoped she wouldn’t subject herself to this; that somehow she'd be able to resist what so many women before her had fallen prey to. She felt foolish for thinking somehow she would be better than them.

“Stop,” he said with some force, “That's not what you are to him either. Not him and not me,”

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes and stood, shrugging off his hand that gently touched her shoulder. She knew her drunken self was about to start crying and she didn't want to cry in front of him.

“Brinkley…” He stood following her as she ignored him, “Don't leave like this,” he stopped her as she reached for the door, “Talk to me, tell me what happened tonight,” He pleaded, knowing that she was still hiding something from him.

“Curt, just leave me alone,” she tried to leave again, but he held the door closed, “Please…just leave me alone,”

He should. He should let her go. But he hated the idea of her leaving upset with him. He wasn't built for complicated relationships, but he had sure created one.

“I can't let you leave like this,” he blocked her exit, now on the receiving end of a warning look from her.

“I don't give a fuck what you want!” She gritted her teeth, but couldn't stop the tears blurring her vision. She also couldn't stop herself from leaning immediately into him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, swallowing her up against him. He felt her warm tears falling against his chest.

Brinkley leaned into him, missing the way she used to lay against his body. She knew she missed it because she was craving familiarity, something of comfort. That's what he'd become to her.

She wished the opposite, mostly because of how it seemed to continually complicate her life.

“You're drunk baby girl, everything seems bad when you're drunk. Trust me,” he rested his face against the top of her head, “Tomorrow you’ll feel better, probably won’t even remember this,” He knew deep down he hated the idea that she’d forget seeking anything in him.

“Promise?” She leaned her head back just enough to look up at him.

He didn’t stop her as she slipped her hand around the back of his head and leaned up to kiss him. He hadn’t felt the softness of her lips in so long, but he hadn’t forgotten their taste. His arms were tense around her, resisting letting his hands wander. He couldn’t help but deepen it though. He sucked in a quick breath when she nipped at his lip. He pulled back, steadying his breath as he rested his forehead against hers.

“I promise,” he clenched his jaw as he restrained himself. He could feel the disappointment in her body language as she slumped against him, “But…you can stay in here tonight if you want, I can find somewhere else to crash,”

Brinkley huffed, but turned away from him silently. Shedding her robe, she climbed into the bed, pulling the covers up high around her neck. Curt sighed at the idea of trying to find somewhere that wasn’t already littered with passed out bodies. He went to the bedside, turning the lamp off. He only paused as her hand reached for his wrist.

He looked back as she pulled at him with a pleading look.

“I’ll be fine,” He assured her, but she didn’t relent. He sighed heavily again, giving in as he lifted the covers to get under them himself. As soon as he was comfortable against his pillow, Brinkley lay herself nearly over him as she snuggled against his side.

“At least until I fall asleep,” She mumbled, her arm draped over his chest. She had no intention of letting him sleep anywhere else by the way she laid over his arm that he wrapped around her.

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Scott woke groggy and hazy. He pushed a snoring Kevin from leaning on his shoulder. The late morning light was pouring in through the large windows. The brightness stung his sensitive eyes, making him blink several times before seeing how trashed the room was.

“The fuck, man?” Kevin grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he also squinted in the harsh light, “What time is it?”

“Late…probably,” Scott shrugged, rubbing his head as if it would help relieve the pressure behind it. He kicked a beer can and it skittered across the floor. He was surprised that most people had left. As he walked through the main floor, he only saw Rick Steiner passed out naked in a lounge chair on the back patio, Steve on the floor by the kitchen island, Page and Kim sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.

He wondered where Brinkley was, becoming worried.

“I'm sure she's upstairs, man,” Kevin tried to reassure Scott, but knew that wouldn't calm him down. He poured two cups of coffee and pushed one towards Scott, “Drink up, she’s probably hung over, too,”

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Brinkley woke first, sitting up in bed as she felt the effects of her consumption. She groaned quietly to herself. She should know where her tolerance was by now. She looked next to her, Curt splayed out on the bed, the covers resting just below his hips. She admired his body with a platonic admiration; he was so very strong and he worked hard to maintain his stockier build.

She averted her eyes as he moved and began to stretch. Opening his eyes, he looked for her first, selfishly relieved she was still there.

“Good morning, Brink,” he mumbled, still stretching out his muscles, “been up long?”

“Not too long…just long enough to start thinking about how I'm gonna get you back,” she lightly teased.

“Maybe if you'd just take it, I'd move on to a different target,” he played back, but regretted the way his words sounded.

“Relax,” she pacified him, “I know what you meant,”

Curt sat up, leaning against the headboard as well, “may be a little inappropriate.. but I'm proud of us. Slept all night in the same bed and both kept our clothes on,” he joked, getting a slight smile out of her, “Sorry, I shouldn't joke about that, Scott wouldn't like it much,”

“Screw Scott,” she mumbled, crossing her arms protectively across her, “I don't really care what he thinks,”

Curts eyebrows shot up.

“What happened with you two? You can't tell me it was nothing,” he linked his hands together in his lap to keep from reaching for hers.

“I just didn't like the way he made me feel last night,” she tried to keep her voice flat, but she felt it waver at the end, “He just…I didn't like how he treated me,”

“Did he hurt you?” Curt knew he had little room to judge without being a hypocrite.

Brinkley didn't answer right away, worrying him.

“No…I guess not…he just was mean and it was rough…in a way I didn't like. And then he just left.” She recalled the coldness of the encounter, “I'm probably just being overly sensitive about it,” she shook her head trying to brush it off.

“If you don't like something, you have to tell him. Don't put up with guys disrespecting you. Me included.” He tried to give her the best advice he could.

“He said I belonged to him. That I was his. But…he treated me like…well.. what I said last night” she felt embarrassed to be having this conversation with him, but she wasn't sure who else she could talk to. She didn't want her dirty laundry aired around the locker room. She wasn't sure who else she could trust.

“So that's where that ‘fucktoy’ nonsense came from,” pieces were connecting now, “I assume he was drinking?”

“By the time I met him in the bedroom, half his bottle of whiskey was gone,” she felt foolish as if she shared blame in staying in the situation, “I should have known,”

“Don't blame yourself. None of that is your fault just like what happened with me,” he hated to bring it up, but he had to own up to his own mistakes if he was going to point out others.

“Curt, I told him I loved him,” she looked upwards, trying to keep her eyes from welling up, “He wouldn't say it back. I feel like an idiot. Like…how disappointing am I to you after all you taught me, and then to end up like this. Already.”

It was all he could do not to pull her into his arms.

“You're not a disappointment to me, Brinkley,” he did tilt her chin gently to look at him, “If anything I'm the disappointment for the way I crossed the line with you.”

She offered him a smile as her forgiveness, nodding to agree.

“I know you're upset…but don't go dark just yet. Don't get me wrong, I don't like what you told me…but I have seen a different side of Scott Hall with you around.” He was not fond of defending Scott at the moment, “But promise me you'll stand up for yourself. If he won't respect you…you can't stay…”

She nodded,agreeing with him, hoping that he was right about Scott. She tied her robe around her as Curt dressed, leaving the room together.

Scott stood frozen outside of his room as he saw Brinkley in a robe exit the guest room, followed closely by Curt. He'd seen his bed, the prank reeking of Hennig. His blood had run cold when she wasn't in his room. It chilled him even more now seeing them together.

“What in the fuck is this??” Scott felt himself tensing.

#wrestling fan fic #wrestling fic #wrestling fanfiction #curt hennig #wcw #wwe #wrestling #fanfiction #pro wrestling #1999 #Scott hall #kevin nash #The Mentorship #wrestling smut #cameos by a lot of wrestlers

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fatehbaz · 2 years ago

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Many of my Okinawan relatives, including one great-uncle, came to the United States via Revolutionary Mexico. Morisei Yamashiro became a farmworker and labor organizer in the fields of Southern California’s Imperial Valley. There, Okinawan, Japanese, Chinese, Black, Filipino, South Asian, Indigenous, poor white, and Mexican workers labored [...]. According to his son, Morisei could speak several languages including English, Spanish, Japanese, and Okinawan dialects [...]. Before the internment of Japanese and Okinawan Americans, there were early FBI raids on the communities. Labor organizers were among the first to be targeted. [...]

This story was provocative for several reasons. I knew of the world of the Revolutionary Atlantic and the radical currents which produced what Julius C. Scott calls the “common wind” of abolition. I first wondered if there might be a story to tell about the Revolutionary Pacific and the influence of the Mexican Revolution upon it. [...] [T]he story invited me to think anew about internationalism, which I understand as a recognition of the ways that people have been unevenly waylaid by the global capitalist system and developed forms of revolutionary solidarity to confront it.

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To consider these provocations, I examined the reflections of another Okinawan migrant, Paul Shinsei Kōchi, who had traveled a similar path [...]. Kōchi’s memoir Imin no Aiwa (An Immigrant’s Sorrowful Tale) [...] describes how he found internationalism in Revolutionary Mexico. It details his escape from Okinawa and from the surveillance and repression of imperialist Japan; his solidarity with Indigenous Kanaka Maoli in Hawai‘i, with Tongva people in California, and with Yaqui in northern Mexico as well as with Indian, Chinese, and other Asian immigrants and with Mexican peasants in the revolution; and his subsequent position of internationalism.

“Paul Kōchi’s story demonstrates how the uprooted, dispossessed, and despised of the world came to know each other in shadows, in the tangled spaces of expulsion, extraction, transportation, debt, exploitation, and destruction: the garroting circuits of modern capital. Whether crammed in tight ship quarters; knocking together over the rails; [...] in the relentless tempo of industrial agriculture; inhaling the dank air of mine shafts; [...] coughing, fighting, singing, snoring, and sighing through thin walls, or corralled [...] in jails and prisons, the contradictions of modern capital were shared in its intimate spaces. Within such sites, people discovered that the circuits of revolution, like the countervailing circuits of capital, were realizable in motion, often through unplanned assemblages. Roaring at their backs were the revolutionary currents of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, currents that howled from the metropolitan hearts of empire and wailed across the peripheries of the global world system. Standing before them, in the middle of its own revolution, was Mexico. From the vantage point of these struggles, the new century did not simply portend the inevitability of urban revolts and insurgencies at the point of production, but an epoch of peasant wars, rural uprisings, anti-colonial movements, and, of course, the Mexican Revolution. Mexico, as both a real country and an imagined space of revolution, would become a crucible of internationalism [...].” (51–52) [...]

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From farm worker strikes at the U.S.-Mexico border; art collectives in Chicago, Harlem, and Mexico City; and a prison “university” in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, [...] the Mexican Revolution staged a significant set of convergences within which internationalism was “made.” [...]

“The Internationale” (1888) [...]. Famously, Frantz Fanon took the second line of the song, “Arise ye wretched of the earth,” to title his indictment of colonialism in and beyond French Algeria, Wretched of the Earth. [...] [U]nless a radical tradition was “able to constantly keep alive that challenging, questioning and probing of the real scene around it,” it would only ever be [...] a snare of revolutionary nostalgia where hope is trapped and strangled, rather than a living, breathing tradition that might allow us to survive (Healey and Isserman 1993, 13–14). This is perhaps the central lesson [...], to think of internationalism not simply as scripture imposed from above, but as the messy work of collectively making and remaking the world in which we live.

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Text by: Christina Heatherton. “How a Family Story Reframed My Understanding of Internationalism and Revolutionary Solidarity.” UC Press Blog. 3 April 2023.

#abolition #caribbean

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uncloseted · 1 year ago

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What's a good anime you can recommend (if you're an anime fan)

Yes! I have suggestions.

For movies, if you're totally new to anime, I would absolutely start out with anything from Studio Ghibli. They're kind of like the Disney movies of anime, at least from a Western perspective. Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro are some of the most popular films from that studio. If you live in or near a big city, these movies sometimes have special showings in theaters, which can be really fun. My personal favorite anime movie is called Night is Short, Walk on Girl, which is a kind of surreal romantic comedy about a night out that feels like it never ends.

As far as shows go, here are some of my favorites:

Fullmetal Alchemist: This is a classic one to start with. It's kind of a faiytale about two brothers Edward and Alphonse, who are searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

Cowboy Bebop: This is another classic, and generally considered to be one of the best animes of all time. Cowboy Bebop is a neo-noir space Western about bounty hunters in the year 2071, and deals with themes of loneliness, existential dread, and trying to escape your past.

Space Dandy: Space Dandy is made by the same studio as Cowboy Bebop, and shares kind of a similar premise, but it's a comedic space opera. The show is about Dandy, "a dandy guy in space" who "combs the galaxy like his pompadour on the hunt for aliens". Don't let the goofiness on this one fool you- there are some really beautiful, touching episodes in this show.

Keep Your Hands off Eizouken: This is one of my personal favorites. It's a slice of life show about three high school girls who start a club to make their own animations. It's kind of a love letter to the medium of animation and it celebrates the beauty of creativity and imagination. It's incredibly sweet and heartfelt.

The Tatami Galaxy: This is the spiritual predecessor to Night is Short, Walk on Girl, and it's done by the same director. It's a parallel universe story about an unnamed third year university student. In each episode, the viewer sees how his life would be different if he had chosen a different school club as a freshman. It's kind of a coming of age story that asks questions about the human condition.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: This is a newer one- it just started streaming on Netflix last month. It's a take on Scott Pilgrim vs The World, so it's kind of an action-adventure comedy, but ends up going in a very different direction. I liked this one so much that I binged it in a weekend.

Pluto: This is also a newer one- it came out on Netflix in October. It's a mystery science-fiction thriller about a robot detective who's trying to solve a string of murders, both robot and human, and prevent more murders from occurring. The characters are really complex, and the show deals with interesting themes of what constitutes humanity.

Aggretsuko: This is a comedy about a very cute but very angry red panda who lets out her emotions by singing death metal. It focuses on the frustrations of being a young person in a boring job and not quite knowing what you want out of life.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Ghost in the Shell is a cyberpunk spy thriller about an elite law enforcement unit that investigates cybercrime and terrorism cases. There are lots of iterations of Ghost in the Shell, and most of them are good, but this one is my favorite. I think it anticipated a lot of the societal issues caused by technology that we're dealing with now.

Detective Conan/Case Closed: This one is new to me, but it's been super popular since the 90s. It's a mystery thriller about a high school age detective who gets trapped in the body of an elementary school boy. It's kind of like Scooby Doo or Inspector Gadget, but for a more mature audience.

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thecoddaughter · 2 years ago

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Lungs by F&TM as Empires S1 Characters

*disclaimer I only have watched a few perspectives so they are biased around those characters and those characters interactions and the wiki page*

*also this is a longer album than I thought, so this is a LONG post (hence collapsed post) and there are some character repeats*

Dog Days Are Over - The Ocean Queen

This song reminds me of what her mindset would be like while losing her memory

Rabbit Heart - Gem the Wizard

We’ve been over this one, there's a beautiful piece of art by @happyrome0 for the cover <3

I’m Not Calling You a Liar - The Copper King

Idk why really, kinda because of the cod alliance but befriending the twins. Not really his mindset, but what people think about him? Again, not really sure.

Howl - Shrub Berry

Her whole wolf vibe kinda falls under this song. "If you could only see the beast you made me" and "Like some child processed, the beast howls in my veins"

[note: this song immediately makes me think of Flower Husbands, but the context isn’t in this universe {“be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers’}]

Kiss With a Fist - Emperor Joey

I feel like I don’t need to explain this one… but I will with one word: Xornoth

Girl With One Eye - Dark King Sausage

Um, I am just gonna leave this quote “I took it home and watched it wither and die” and “my reputation's kinda clouded with dirt”

Drumming Song - The Codfather

I feel like it could be about the Cod constantly talking to him and his inevitable destiny, also “as the water fills my mouth, it couldn’t wash the echoes out”

Between Two Lungs - The Mezalean King and The Ocean Queen

This song gives soulmates vibes and those two are forever married in every universe (even when they aren’t)

Cosmic Love - The Mezalean King and The Ocean Queen (again...)

After the memory lose… sorry

[note: there are a lot of love songs on this album (some can be made platonic or singular) but I only ship like 3 s1 ships...)

My Boy Builds Coffins - Lady Katherine

Totally not bc I couldn’t think of any other song for her… totally… anyway next song! No but seriously, it fits her head-collector vibe a bit.

[Note 1: I was gonna make this the biggest supplier of wood but Joey is the only one who exported wood according to the wiki and the vibes didn’t fit]

[Note 2: I thought the lyrics were ‘my brother’ not ‘my boy builds’ for a good few weeks]

Hurricane Drunk - The Codfather

This is how I imagine Jimmy would’ve reacted to Scott being a part of the Wither Rose Alliance. 1. the water metaphors (which this album has a lot of!) 2. this quote "And in the crowd, I see you with someone else. I brace myself cause I know its gonna hurt but I like to think at least things can't get any worse"

Blinding - King Scott of Rivendell

He's just a guy living in the wrong time, not getting to be with the boy he loves… “no more calling like a crow, for a boy, for a body in the garden” Come on that’s flower husbands! But also his pov of the rapture is captured in this line "And I would hear the thunder and see the lightning crack and all around the world was waking, I never could go back." !!!!!

You’ve Got the Love - The Codfather

The date… “When food is gone you are my daily meal. When friends are gone, I know my savior's love is real”

Swimming - The Seablings

So this is before they remembered who they were and just that they felt like they were missing something.

Heavy in Your Arms - Count fWhip

I feel like this is what would play as fWhip found Sausage’s body in the Blood Circle and obviously blame himself… So technically it is sung from Sausage's POV. I am going to give big quotes for this one:

"And is it worth the wait, all this killing time? Are you strong enough to stand? Protecting both your heart and mine... Who is the betrayer? Who's the killer in the crowd? The one who creeps in corridors and doesn't make a sound."

"This will be my last confession 'I love you' never felt like any blessing. Whisper it is like it's a secret, only to condemn the one who hears it with a heavy heart."

[note: I wanted to say Jimmy cuz the river metaphor but as stated before there are a lot of water metaphors in this album]

Falling - Queen Pearl

The falling without fear metaphor reminds me of the Xornoth fights, but this line “This is a song for a scribbled out name and my love keeps writing again and again” reminds me of her feelings toward Sausage)

Are You Hurting the One You Love? - King Sausage

This feels just right… here are some of my favorite lines: “you say you’ve found Heaven, but you can’t find God” “bite your tongue til it tastes like blood” and “was it something you could not stop”)

Addicted to Love - Queen Pearl and King Sausage

All about Xornoth…

Pearl: “you like to think that you’re immune to this stuff. Its closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough.”

Sausage: “The lights are on, but you're not home. Your mind is not your own. Your heart sweats, your body shakes.”

Bird Song - The Codfather

This is about killing all the Cod and the Godfather head drama. Not sold on this one though, but it fits Jimmy's crazed and frantic tone when things go wrong.

[note: this song reminded me of Monster Hunter Katherine and I almost put that bc I had my seasons mixed up]

Hospital Beds - Queen Pearl and King Sausage

Oh, come on! The song is about fire and dying friends! “I did not choose him, he did not choose me. We have no chance of recovery” and “Put out the fire on us. Bring your buckets by the dozen.”

Hardest of Hearts - The Codfather and King Scott of Rivendell

This is all about love that hurts you because you are emotionally unavoidably (which is both of them). “the sweetest of words have the bitterest taste” “Darling heart I loved you from the start, but that’s no excuse for the state I’m in” and “my heart swells like the water at a wave, can’t stop myself before its too late”

#oh my god that took so long to make and format #empires smp #empires season 1 #esmp 1 #i am not tagging all the chacters guys #empires as songs #empires #empires s1

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instantbreplay · 2 years ago

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Part 2 of my TWST EN VA headcanons!

WARNING: Spoilers for the TWST game

Dorm: Savanaclaw

Leona Kingscholar — Jonah Scott

Most known for:

Tatsu in The Way of the Househusband

Kojiro “Joe” Nanjo in SK8 the Infinity

Legoshi in BEASTSTARS

Another that I agreed with was Jonah Scott as good old Leona because to be honest, just like Yuuichirou Umehara, Jonah has a smooth, sexy voice which fits with Leona’s nonchalant, deep, and carefree tone of voice. If you listen to it closely, you can bet that he’ll even make a good growl for him. I only saw his performances in The Way of the Househusband and SK8 the Infinity (mostly SK8 because it’s my favorite anime), but his performance in SK8 took me and my younger sister—who likes Joe Nanjo—by storm because of his seductive demeanor towards the women he wants to date (thank goodness Leona respects women) and his tone when irritated enough like whenever he’s around his old friend Kaoru, a.k.a. Cherry Blossom. With that in mind, imagine Jonah making a tired tone with a grumble on the daily when a lion doesn’t want to get out of bed.

Jack Howl — Matthew Mercer

Most known for:

Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan

Chrom in Fire Emblem Engage

Cole McCree (now named Cole Cassidy) in Overwatch

Jack Howl is a teenage white wolf who prioritizes honesty and integrity above all else and because of his love for doing noble and righteous deeds, he earned himself the man himself, Matthew Mercer. Matthew is another voice acting king, his roles varying from the different characters he has played over the years, but if we look to Jack’s personality and compared it to Levi Ackerman who is a popular character of Attack of Titan with skills that can kill a thousand Titans if trained even more, Matthew is more than perfect because he can present a masculine man with morals and raw strength and outstanding skills in different areas of expertise. I feel he can also produce a scary tone of voice when Jack is angered by any unruly and disgusting misdeed a fellow classmate did such as when Ace, Deuce, and Grim made contracts with Azul to help them pass the final exams.

Ruggie Bucchi — Bryce Papenbrook

Most known for:

Inosuke Hashibara in Demon Slayer

Adrien Agreste in Miraculous

Eren Jäger in Attack on Titan

This is yet again another voice actor that I agreed would make a good Ruggie, but I have only one reason…Did nobody hear his laugh as Inosuke when Inosuke was flexing his flexibility to scare Tanjiro and Zenitsu? He nailed that laugh which is why I think he can perfect Ruggie’s mischievous laugh, especially hearing Inosuke’s voice in my head, a voice that always reeked of mischief and insane ideas that should’ve gotten him killed but is still alive. Like Inosuke, Ruggie knows how to survive and think on his feet and if we also analyze Eren Jäger (by the way, that’s the actual German spelling of his name—I am not spelling it wrong), Eren also understands survival but is reckless and takes matters into his own hands when things don’t swing his way which Ruggie did when he caused the injuries of his peers so Savanaclaw could win the Spelldrive tournament against Diasomnia.

#gaming #twisted wonderland #voice acting #headcanon #savanaclaw #twisted wonderland ruggie #twst leona #jack howl

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darkarfs · 1 month ago

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Top 25 Albums of the Year, No

Top 25, No Order

Fire-Toolz - Breeze I love everything Angel Marcloid does. You can hang labels on it if you want: pervasie ambient with World of White Ice, Weather Channel synthwave shred jams with Nonlocal Forecast, and the most varied and mad project she hangs her hat on: Fire-Toolz, who this year outdid itself with a bonkers, loving mix of volcanic metal vocals, lush jazz fusion, scrambled electronics, knotty prog riffs, and an unyielding devotion to making them all stick. Mark McGuire has a song called "Here Comes Every Color." And while good, doesn't capture the essence of the title. This is the actual sound of every color coming toward you.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of the Last Human Being The theater kids playing at being heavy music goes a number of ways. You can be Ghost and play Eurythmics and Broadway hits and be…that version. Or you can be the weirdos who literally don't care if anyone likes what you do or not, a puckish commitment to "this is what we are" in an unenviable sphere of people claiming to not care. You might not want the heavy metal riffs and weepy violins and and cabaret bullshit to slam into one another, to abut like table leafs affixed to couch cushions and thrown down a mineshaft. But they don't care. I do. It's good for you. A warning, though: if your comfort zone is madness, when things become linear again, you will need to regain your balance.

Carnosus - Wormtales Straight-up not as good as their last one. But better than the Wormed, the Wormhole and the Worm that came before it. Goddamn, other than the "void" and the word "threnody" there may be nothing metal loves more than worms. Anyway, Hath and Slugdge and Afterbirth with better vocals, more intricate and better mixed playing, and a psychotic devotion to complexity, but in a brutally dumb yet imaginative way. Like a monster who's suddenly become too smart for its own good and is too strong to be put down.

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere More goofs from arguably the world's most cosmic band. (Yes there are a billion black metal bands who play whole albums about the constellations of the Forever Winter but almost none of them have an equally stellar ambient catalog. Seriously I didn't make a list last year but Paul Riedl's Ocean of Peace would have made 2023 no sweat, best ambient of the year). What? Anyway, these guys are always amazing. Mixed in the thumbhole of a bowling ball, yeah, but with these guys, it's become a part of their charm.

Mamaleek - Vida Blue You may have noticed by now that I marinate in a bathtub of weird. Self-conscious or not, it's where sit, a throne of battered creosote siphoned from the pyrolysis of silly, disturbed, goofy or otherwise. And the erectors of that throne may very well be these deeply troubled, howling hierophants. It's shambling, it's the Scott Walker/Jesus Lizard/Bathory album from the abattoir of your own mind, and it's been melted into a glass floor. Stand on it and look down. There I am. In my bathtub of weird. No worries. But vocalizing all of them.

Orgone - Pleroma I don't want to describe "progressive metal" because that means everything to everyone, from Dream Theater to BTBAM to Ayreon to Ne Obliviscaris. And that's not why I write. I write because I like reading sentences like "More like Gorguts but if they broke into Opeth's house and broke all their stuff" and sometimes, if you wanna read stuff like that, you have to write it yourself. And sometimes, that's what a dense-ass album of stuff like this is. And while that sounds mundane to some people, this is one of the best THINGS, album or not, I've heard all year. I got weird rushes and my mind and heart went places they weren't meant to, and happier for it.

Opeth - The Last Will and Testament They said they were gonna do it. "We're going back to the growls as soon as people started to miss them." And then I saw them live and it changed my life. And that informs that this album, yes, has the growls, sure, but also has some odd songwriting choices that hooked me in, made me realize that I'm one of those people who genuinely would put Opeth in his favorite bands of all time. Compile a list of bands you wanna see before you shuffle off this mortal coil, and Opeth is on it? Favorite. If you're new to them, it won't win you over, but a longtime fan will find much to love.

Loscil & Lawrence English - Chroma Their previous album, Colours of Air, found these two people on opposite ends of the ambient spectrum - meditative vs. white noise, steadfast vs. dissonance - finding common ground within a 132-year-old pipe organ. It worked so well that they wanted to do more with one another. And, like with Wormtales, it's not as good as what came before, but it's still incredibly great, sublime, worth every minute. And this will be the only corner of the internet where an ambient album and a Carnosus album will be mentioned in the same sentence. See? I told you, it's why I write.

Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace Speaking of bands I saw live…this isn't one of them. It was a Wednesday and I have a day job and didn't have a phone yet, thus no Lyft or Uber, nor anyone else who wanted to go who ALSO had a car. And it burns me a little. Or a lot. People like comparing these guys to dudes like Haken or Leprous, and while not INaccurate, Caligula's Horse have two things over dudes like them, in my mind. One: a much more consistent discography with fewer albums, and by dint of that, fewer duds. (No shade at Haken and Leprous fans, I like them both quite a bit, both the bands and the fans). And the other thing that sets CH apart, for me, is Jim Grey's crystalline singing voice. Prog giants try to hit the Geddy Lee threshold and so often just…wail, tunelessly and louder than bombs (Looking at Coheed sideways…). No yawps, no yaps, no yowls, no lines that sound like someone who sat on a frozen toilet seat…just the prog sphere''s most crisp and clean vocals, in service to some of their best songs.

Replacire - The Center That Cannot Hold Sure, another proggish tech death brouhaha. But like Carnosus, seriously disciplined and FUN. I sing along to death metal, often, because I can, and this was that one growled line in "Why?" by Devin Townsend, just album-length. For me. Again, I like to sing along to stuff like this. Sure, members of Native Construct and the Black Crown Iniitiate. Sure, pedigree of Boston music nerds. People who know the band know this stuff. Live with it, it'll treat you right.

Sgàile - Traverse the Bealach I've heard some people call this guy the Scottish Devin Townsend. I don't think that's necessarily fair, but neither is it inaccurate. (Well, in terms of prolificness, Tony Dunn is nowhere near him, but he's also a bit younger). Anyway, dude's got a phenomenal voice, chops to spare, and is a songwriter who is ambitious without knowing whatever limits he's set for himself. But the main reason I put this on here is because it's an album that gave me HOPE early in 2024. Granted, a lot of them were dashed and despite being an eternal oprimist, I felt like this year Cormac McCarthy'd our collective psyches into the hard dirt. I needed a tonic, and there was no balm in Gilead. This album, a conceptual one about a man wandering a post-apocalyptic Scotland (heh, I didn't even mean for the Cormac thing to apply) really helped me work through some things I was internalizing. It gave me hope, more than once. There's something to be said for that. But the songs are also really great. Get on board.

Adam Wiltzie - Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal Was this a gimme because Stars of the Lid have made some of my favorite ever music, both collectively and in collaboration with other people? (The Dead Texan is literally the best ambient album of all time and I haven't budged on that since 2014 when I finally heard all the Eno and Budd to that point and it still came ahead) Yes it was. Is it on its own a beautiful meditation with goofy titles and some of the most gentle transitions, pelagic swells (ha!) and effervescent sound engineering in ambient music? Yes it is.The fact that we lost one half of this iconic duo saddens me so much, and I'm happy that this is still in the living half, and I hope more comes.

Gaerea - Coma And rounding out the bands I saw live this year, who delivered an intensity that I did not think could be recorded…hi, Gaerea. Their intense, squealing, hellish brand of cult-world black metal really hits me where I live. This one won't be as flowery because this was a latecomer in the race, and I really felt this one more than I thought about it. To take a page from Victory Over the Sun, this is God, howling in a cage.

Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers I am in love with this woman and her plaintive drawl. I am in love with her songs, I am in love with her retooling of a classic country sound. Country songs don't reach me because I relate to them, necessarily: they reach me, often, because they highlight a sadness I can identify and sympathize with without ever having experienced for myself. In other words, she makes me sympathize with things I hadn't thought about before, expanding where my heart can go. Willi Carlisle did it to me, too, but I HAD experienced, or at least I thought I had, what he sang about. Her emotions are here for me, and I am here for them, despite living in different parts of the world.

Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God The masters. The unchallenged champions. From not exactly a metal hotbed (New Zealand, arguably the least angsty place white people have ever read about), they somehow came for the crown of expansive, definition-straining dissonant death in like, 2009 (Everything Is Fire, yo) and nobody's been able to wrest the diadem from their gnarled hands. Everything is superfluous before their ashen breath, and they wield it like the smog coming for your lungs.

Replicant - Infinite Mortality I really could, conceivably, just cut and past the Replacire write-up here and it would apply equally. Replicant are heavier, less tech-y: in a cavernous ecosystem, they're not yet atop the food chain, but the climb is consistent and rapid. So maybe not. But they're pretty close. Not as clean a recording, but what, is a quibble like that gonna stand in your way? You like Gorguts worship? Would you like Imperial Triumphant better if the instruments were recorded separately and thus didn't sound like bees in a mayonnaise jar with the BEST headphones you can afford, to the point where the notes don't sound like separate notes? Replicant's your jam.

Alcest - Les Chants de l'Aurore The brightest, happiest, least-cheesy metal album I've heard in years, and the best thing Alcest have done since Kodama. And when I say least-cheesy: I've heard two Fellowship albums, and while I dug the optimism (again, a thing I regularly think is desperately needed), theirs sounds like a bunch of the Christian metal albums kids tried to get me into in high school. Not bad, but dangerous, almost toxic levels of optimism…also known as faith, I guess? But I'm not being fair, and this is becoming a slam on faith, suddenly, something else that is toxic in the wrong hands. But Alcest created something bright, something warm, something positively sunny, yet never losing the stewardship of what would eventually be known as blackgaze. And to make a hopeful, sunny blackgaze album in 2024 is maybe one of the most impressive things about this veteran band.

Resuscitate - Immortality Complex Hey, remember when I brought up Native Construct? The world misses them, and their ONE album. Isn't that always the way? Everyone wanted a SECOND Young Marble Giants album after the first one. Life Without Buildings? Rites of Spring? Sure. Green Mile? Op Ivy? Yeah, fine. And much like these bands, in 2015, Native Contrusct took the rulebook of their parent genre and didn't REWITE it. Just added extra chapters, better footnotes, fewer marching orders. And Resuscitate just took that rulebook and played with it some more, cribbed, took what they needed, wrote a great album with it. And it feels right. The rules don't always need to be rewritten, but enforcing them would take too much effort. And the end result is great. There are always stops between birth and transcendence, y'know?

Folterkammer - Weibermacht I will preface this by saying that I don't like Fleshgod Apocalypse. Not to start on the negative, but their marriage of black metal and opera is something that, on paper, does not work for me. So why does THIS marriage of the same two genres work for me? Is it because every song is about weird sex? Is it the way the German language sounds in my head? Is it because it kind of reminds me of Myrkur and their last album left me kinda cold? You feel it out for yourself. I am a fan of bombast, pomp AND circumstance. This is for me.

Iotunn - Kinship Ne Obliviscaris is one of my newest favorite bands. And while it might be incredibly reductive to say "but this'll do for now in their stead," it is the sentiment that comes most readily to my mind when I think of the write-up for this album. They definitely do enough different things with the formula: their guitarists definitely crib more from power metal than the melodeath world, and the death feels more Insomnium than Black Dhalia. And the songwriting veers into Pink Floyd, even, at times. Not so far away from NeO, but far enough that they've written their own name on the wall, and you can read it when you look in the mirror.

Lord Buffalo - Holus Bolus I don't know from "desert rock." I know from what I like, and what I like is American gothic, sun-bleached weird and morose. A sacrifice at the Bad Seeds/Wovenhand altar, with twangy stumbles and odd swaggering, and it's a sacrifice whose bones I will fish through for details for a little while longer. (The word "haruspex," speaking of picking through remains, is one metal bands LOVE. Metal bands with songs called "Haruspex" number in the dozens. And Maria BC.)

Melt-Banana - 3+5 Melt-Banana, along with Opeth, are a band that I've literally been enjoying since the late 90s. So, high school. So, one of the few bands on this list I can say that I've seen live, AND a band that's been active in all 4 decades I've been alive (though I've technically been alive in 5). And everything is JUST different enough to keep me coming back…or in the case of this band, forgot they existed until this came out. And then I said to myself, "oh wow, I remember them being good!" and since I really don't like nostalgia, for a while I was content with my memories. And then I listened to this, was so happy to have been wrong. This band still rips, they've always ripped. Long may they rip.

Kyros - Mannequin Imagine saying the word to me "pop-prog" in my 20s. I would have spit, sneered. But my edges have softened, my carapace molted, my exterior kinder and more open. And that's what this is. It's joyous, silly, and the theme I return to at all times in this list: hopeful. I need hope, I often HAVE hope. This album IS hope, with it's gorgeous instrumentation and floating, buyoant choruses, sparkling production and basslines that could have come from John Taylor or Simon Gallup. The companion EP that came out…a week ago? is also very nice, and arguably necessary to enjoy this album. But the full-length is love, as is their whole discography. Love Kyros. They most likely love you back.

Job For a Cowboy - Moon Healer Progressive death has many mad geniuses, or people who can claim to be. And it's full of people whose name makes me go "nah." JFAC are somehow both. Like, tell me that "Tombo's Wound" is a great song, and then read me that the band's name is The Number Twelve Looks Like You? Stop. But in keeping with my edges softening, I gave this band a try, and I'm incredibly happy I did. It's a reference point for every band that got me into the genre - Opeth, Gorguts, the Faceless, Dissection, Carcass - with enough distillation of elements that I found…memorable. Pleasing. Weird and comforting.

Pyrrhon - Exhaust The exact thing I gave Imperial Triumphant shit for - mixing everything so that instruments are all the exact same volume - Pyrrhon is guilty of. And they bring the same things to the table: scrabbling, scrawling dissonance, a hardcore band's rhythm section, an overall nihilsm that is convinced a better world ISN'T possible but it's important to fight the whole way down. However, there's an energy, a madness here that I straight up do not hear with IT. It's also paced way better than any of their albums: a brusque 38 miniutes of sustained hate, rage, despair…and a final hope. If for no other reason, listen to the song "Not Going To Mars." You can probably guess what it's about. But this album is more than what it ISN'T. For an album so dense, the riffs and song structures are remarkably accessible without sacrificing an ounce of challenging musicality. Shrooms and a cabin perfected Pyrrhon’s approach, and while I’m exhausted all of what we see, what we hear, what we do…Exhaust is providing me with a breath of fresh air and the vivacity to persevere.

#end of year #lists #long post

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thelesbianpoirot · 6 months ago

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omg i'm soooo glad you're enjoying scott and bailey. i know the show doesn't really fit the definition of "queerbaiting" as such, but they FEEL like lesbians to me despite the constant scrotes going in and out of their lives. i think it's because they are so normal and look normal and dress normal. there are no fillers or shapewear or high heels or performances of femininity. they're just normal kinda grungey women (who should kiss). it's v refreshing compared to how sexualised and feminised a lot of female characters on tv are (even ones who are meant to be lesbians).

did you ever watch the rookie (or the rookie: feds)? there is a lesbian character who pops up on the rookie and then as the lead in the spin off, and she is squeezed into skin tight cleavage tops and dresses 24/7. she has a full face of make up at all times. her hair is glamorous and silky. she's a lesbian but i felt completely disconnected from her, whereas i do feel connected to scott and bailey (and jill!!!).

can i rec another "wow everyone looks a real human" show to you (sorry, you've got so much to watch already haha). last tango in halifax. it's not a cop show, but bear with me. it's about an old man and an old woman meeting and falling in love (again, bear with me). the reason i'm reccing it to you is their (unrelated) adult daughters who i shipped like i have never shipped anything else in my whole entire life. like it got to the point where i - a lesbian woc - was howling at the tv like "PLEASE break up with your black girlfriend and go marry your white sister in law!!!!" LMFAO. there was so much electricity between them!!! if you watch this after you're done with s&b, you'll notice that one of the daughters is the recurring lesbian from s&b s3 :)

You're right, and the writing is really solid too and the acting is good. But yeah, they look like beautiful women but a real kind of beautiful. And they aren't posing constantly, or being made up when they are supposed to be a mess. Grungey isn't the right word, because they are still feminine and well dressed and thin actresses, but still 10000% percent real. You see age, and lack of padding, and no surgery, and a normal amount of makeup, these women look like they may be your boss, or the lady at the bus stop with you or someone you see buying coffee. For women who have het love affairs I do enjoy them more than the any lesbian character played by a 23 year old straight swimwear model who can't act her way out of a paper bag and is given a story about as complex as "oooh a girl kissed me what do I do?" You're 27 stacy go finger her about it! I quick the rookie early on, the actual cases they went on were fucking stupid, I only got about five episodes in before quitting, I seriously only think this show got greenlit because nathan fillion got a bunch of money from cops to create recruitment propaganda for them. The episode where the tiny women was abusing her massive wrestler husband was pure fantasy. I can imagine they can't write a lesbian character for shit either, or dress her in anyway that says she's for the female audience. I am surprised they didn't let us have any of the women as gay or bi, at least give us gill, but no...Scott and Bailey says you will love these het women and eat these crumps of female solidarity.

Lmao I'll add last tango in halifax to the long list, today I am watching miss marple, so I don't end up marathon all of S&B before my vacation is up, but they love to give them a black girlfriend and give the two characters no chemistry, just boring token rep, so I can see even the sister in law chemistry being more interesting. If you do want to watch a crime show (of course I am predictable) with a interracial lesbian couple, one of my favorites is Pippy and Tara from Rosewood. It's a series cancelled two season in, but they are adorable and I love them. Both really femme but they sell gay to me.

#thelesbianpoirot

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one-bears-treasures · 10 months ago

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🩵 hello, im teddy 🩵

im 19 and i run this blog

i post art, imagines, and headcanons

dni if you support proship/comship. i will bite you. violently.

check under the cut for my list of f/o's

romantic f/o's

bolded are the main ones

alistair theirin - dragon age

varric tethras - dragon age

sam - stardew valley

kaidan alenko - mass effect

arven - pokemon

scott howl - monster prom

nick valentine - fallout 4

butch deloria - fallout 3

i don't have any platonic or familial f/o's yet but i doubt that will last long

#🩵 teddy's talking time

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floef-likes-everything · 2 years ago

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MCYT Song Analysis: The Tornado - Owl City

The title I give this thing might change? But this is the first essay I feel confident enough to post :]. Please keep in mind that whatever I’m writing in these breakdown of lyrics and songs is about the characters and not the cc’s themselves. Also, these things can become lengthy lol.

youtube

Now, hear me out. This is more of a vibe than actual accurate lyrics. Whenever I listen to this I imagine this movie / sequence about Limited Life Martyn and as I said, it’s mainly just the vibe. Listen to it, see if you agree, or just vibe to the nice music :]

It was just starting to drizzle as I walked out the door But I've delivered papers in the rain like that before Three-thirty in the morning, I was happy as a lark As I grabbed my bike and rode into the dark

So, to me this is the first couple of episodes. Martyn has been in the Life Series before, he knows what’s going to happen. While it might end in terrible trauma, there are good memories to be had so he is positive despite storm clouds gathering.

I pedaled through the neighborhood, the weather on my mind The wind was picking up and howling louder all the time The sky churned like a cauldron and the distant thunder roared And I knew that I was in for quite a storm

The severity of deaths starts picking up, everybody’s timer is running out as they are not as careful with their lives as usual. The distant thunder references that permanent deaths are on the horizon and Martyn knows it isn’t going to take long before shit is about to go down.

A little rain never hurt no one, so I kept pressing on And I tried to tell myself, it's always darkest before the dawn

But, Martyn isn’t one to complain so he just keeps on going. He knows it will be tough, but it’ll eventually end. They will come out of this, all of them.

Lightning struck an oak tree as I leapt off my bike The sirens started wailing but there was no good place to hide I knew without a doubt, there was a twister touching down So I crawled into a culvert to wait it out

So, I like the whole storm / tornado thing because it is a nice parallel to how players are taken out of the series by lightning strikes. So, lightning struck an oak tree instantly makes me think about the first death, Jimmy. The Canary Curse that sets of the chaos that is about to unfold. Martyn knows, he knows everybody is on their last straws including himself. Survival kicks in, as he knows his alliance isn’t the strongest on the server. He needs to survive, however, he needs and desperately wants to win. So I crawled into a culvert to wait it out for me references to the slight possession like behavior Martyn portrayed. His true self hid inside for safety, while the Watchers influenced him to go full ham in an effort to win. Now, note that this is before he pulls the uno reverse card on Scott and Impulse. I don’t have like a specific moment, but I’d like to imagine the possession kicked in a bit before all of that happened.

The little bit of courage I had left was almost gone But I tried to tell myself, it's always darkest before the dawn

The little bit of courage I had left was almost gone is Martyn trying to take back control, but he can’t, he’s almost gone. He has to remind himself that it’s always darkest before the dawn to keep somewhat sane.

And then the nightmare started, it got deafeningly loud Every fiber in me screamed out but I couldn't make a sound The whirling of a vortex, a violent carousel It sounded like a freight train was dragging me to hell

This is the best part of the song, btw, including the music interlude after it. It just scratches something in my little lizard brain, as Martyn would say. Now, this chorus is probably the best when looking at the lyrics. And then the nightmare started, it got deafeningly loud, the whole thing with the Listeners and sound because of it is great. But that line is the lead up to the final moments, when all the permanent deaths start happening. The Martyn that is hiding within sees all his friends die, but can’t to anything about it. The lightning and thunder is deafeningly loud. Every fiber in me screamed out but I couldn’t make a sound he wants this to stop, he wants to do something but the possession is to strong so he can’t! He can’t make a sound, not like the lightning and nobody can listen to him. The whirling of a vortex, a violent carousel just, everybody dying around him. It doesn’t stop, the violence doesn’t stop and he is a part of it. It sounded like a freight train was dragging me to hell again, the thing with sound and lightning and thunder being loud and, well, having to kill your friends sounds like a terrible hell to me. And this was my prayer, "Save me from this terrible nightmare"

I imagine this as a plea to the Listeners? Or just anybody that might hear him, as he wants to be saved from this nightmare. After this, the music quickly gets calmer and I like to imagine that this is the moment when he, Scott and Impulse all have one hour left and agree to fight each other to death.

That was when I saw my family with my eyes shut real tight Would they know how much I loved them if this was how I died? No, I vowed I'd not be murdered by a monster in the sky that night

Who is his family in this instance, you might ask? I’m not sure on that either, maybe the Southeners, maybe the Evo crew, the Rats SMP crew? Whoever you want to imagine them to be, it’s what Martyn needs to hang on to not succumb to the possession of the Watchers. No, I vowed I’d not be murdered by a monster in the sky that night asdfjkl that is basically the lightning and the Watchers taking people out with it and Martyn REFUSES to die to them, he won’t, he can’t. This is both Martyn himself and the possessed part of him talking. Martyn doesn’t want to loose to the Watchers, while the Watchers want him to kill and finish things off.

But if I went home to heaven, at least that's where I'd belong Yeah, I tried to tell myself, it's always darkest before the dawn So I kept hanging on I kept hanging on

But if I went home to heaven, at least that’s where I’d belong eh, yeah, this line is a bit out of character I agree. Martyn, dear, your LimLife character most definitely doesn’t belong in heaven and I love him for that. But he keeps telling himself it’s always darkest before the dawn and thus he keeps hanging on as he first kills his ally, his friend Scott and then the last obstacle standing between him and victory, Impulse.

The shadows slowly melted as I was hunkered down Till at last the worst was over, the storm was dying out I crept out of that culvert and I went weak in the knees 'Cause what I saw was a somber sight to see

The shadows slowly melted as I was hunkered down the possession faded once he was the final player left standing. It melted away from him in a slow fashion, he had plenty of time now that he had killed two others. I crept out of that culvert and I went weak in the knees, ‘cause what I saw was a somber sight to see basically sums up what Martyn sees once the possession fades. He sees the bodies of the friends he just killed, he sees the damage that has been done.

There was nothing but destruction and wreckage in that town Cars were upside down and houses leveled to the ground A twisted trampoline was hanging from the power lines I blinked a tear back 'cause I felt lucky to be alive

This verse describes the state of the server. It is in shambles, as the TNT minecarts launched from Skynet destroyed everything. Bread Bridge was destroyed, his birthday place was nothing but a crater and even the home he had built with Scott was damaged. I blinked a tear back ‘cause I felt lucky to be alive says enough, I think. He is lucky to be alive.

And that was how I learned to live when you can run but you can't hide How to feel trapped in a tunnel but come out the other side 'Cause with all the stormy weather in the world, you learn To take life one storm at a time, you don't have to be afraid

And now when there's bad weather on the way, I stay calm And I keep hanging on because it's always darkest before the dawn

And I keep hanging on I keep hanging on

A somewhat nicer end to a pretty angsty evaluation of this song and Martyns limited life character. As I said, this song is more so a vibe than something very accurate. I've spend an hour on this while listening to the song on loop and it still hasn't bored me, so that's good I think?

#mcyt song analysis #inthelittlewood #trafficblr #life series #limited life smp #guy can't catch a break #Youtube

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mitchbeck · 2 years ago

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SCOTT HOWSON UNDER FIRE AT THE AHL

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - With his first contract nearing completion, Scott Howson, AHL President, Scott Howson is facing an insurrection from league owners. It has become severe enough that the NHL's second-in-command, Bill Daly, has been brought into the fray to deal with the issue. An unknown number of teams apparently want to end the relationship with Howson and go in a yet undefined different direction. The first report on this story came during a segment of The Insiders on Tuesday night's TSN Montreal Canadiens - Philadelphia Flyers broadcast. Right off the bat, Darren Dreger, one of TSN's top reporters, dropped the bombshell. Howson was selected to replace AHL Hockey Hall Of Famer Dave Andrews (1994-2018), who has now retired to Phoenix and Cape Breton. Several long-time top sources were equally as stunned and perplexed by the news, with only one offering an opinion. Unfortunately, at this point, facts and solid information are hard to come by. "I'm puzzled by this," the source, who asked to remain anonymous, stated. "He got the AHL through the pandemic, opened four brand new state-of-the-art arenas (Laval, Henderson, San Jose, and Coachella Valley), and the NHL has majority ownership (22 of 32 teams). I can only surmise that a block of independent owners are unhappy somehow. It's perplexing. When Scotty played, he was a lawyer-like in every way back then; I can't imagine that's changed. "Did he rub somebody the wrong way? I don't know. I am in the dark on this as much as everybody. If Daly is involved, however, that's significant." With the 2/3 majority ownership, the NHL has full veto power over the direction of the league. There are no more independent teams. The last two were the Worcester (MA) Ice Cats in their first season under the late Roy Boe. They're no longer in the AHL. Worcester is now an ECHL city. There's the other, the long-gone 1991 New Haven Nighthawks. They have comprised of Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche), farmhands, and free agents. Dual affiliations are a thing of the past too. The Charlotte Checkers were split by the Florida Panthers and Seattle Krakken last year while their new building in the California desert was being built. This was the first one since the ill-fated, two-year experiment known as "The Beast of New Haven" in the late 90s that was shared by both the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida. The AHL had come a long way in 46 years since they nearly went out of business during the WHA-NHL war before they merged in the late 1970s. The league was nearly scuttled when they almost fell out of the minor-league required range of having six teams to qualify as a minor league. They put an expansion team, then a brand-new expansion team called the Maine Mariners, affiliated with the Flyers, in a location that saved the AHL, which had lost cities and players in the WHA-NHL war. Ironically, Portland, Maine, is no longer in the league but has a team called by the original name of the Maine Mariners, now in the ECHL. The AHL absorbed six teams from the original IHL (International Hockey League) in 2000. It comprised Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Milwaukee (all still playing). Manitoba is the second edition of the Manitoba Moose. The Utah Grizzlies have dropped to the ECHL. Gone are the Houston (TX) Aeros, who became the Iowa Wild. The minor league hockey scene went thru a boom-and-bust cycle in the early part of this century. The Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) folded in 2001, and pieces went to the Central Hockey League. However, one city, Austin, TX, formerly the Ice Bats, survived in a new form as the Texas Stars. They lost teams (with great logos) like the Amarillo (TX) Rattlers, El Paso (TX) Buzzards, San Angelo (TX) Outlaws, and the Lake Charles (LA) Ice Pirates. The Central Hockey League (CHL) went out of existence in 2014. In the second creation of the league, only the Tulsa (OK) Oilers, Allen (TX) Americans, and Wichita (KS) Thunder have lived on in the ECHL. The West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) also quit the business in 2003. Only the Idaho (ID) Steelheads in the ECHL and the San Diego (CA) Gulls and Bakersfield (CA) Condors make up the AHL Pacific Division survived. The United Hockey League (UHL) went out in 2007. Living on from that league in the AHL is Rockford Ice Hogs. Now in the ECHL are the famous Ft. Wayne (IN) Komets (in their fourth league) and Kalamazoo (MI) Wings, and the Quad City (IL) Storm are in the SPHL, the fourth league. So the city has been in. The WHA-2 lasted one year (2003-2004), and only one city is still involved in hockey, Macon (GA), which has from Whoopee to Trax. The reborn Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) lasted one year (2002-03) and had two cities still in hockey Macon and the Knoxville (TN) Ice Bears (SPHL). The AHL is married to the NHL with 32 teams like the NHL direct affiliates, and the ECHL is up to 28 cities and affiliates to the AHL. The AHL has remained quiet. The only low-grade rumbling is the Nashville Predators, who are potentially looking to leave Milwaukee for a brand-new, closer-to-home arena built by the Predators in Sumner County, TN. It will encompass 100,000 square feet a half-hour from Nashville, and two other small arenas are already built in Bellevue, TN, and Antioch, TN. AHL HOME Read the full article

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