#so i just drew a pic i took of the stage + buildings around it

[lucky-draws]

15.7.23

[sworeidnevercompromise]

𐙚 shameless: a drew starkey smau < part ten > series masterlist

AUTHOR'S NOTE: lots happening in this one!! no drama though...not yet, anyway. 🥸

bffuser

liked by youruser and others bffuser people...places...things

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youruser so happy to have you back in nyc bffuser @/youruser let me move into your apartment next

ayoedebiri that pho on the third slide...so good bffuser @/ayoedebiri phomazing

youruser come back already! bffuser @/youruser okay!

sw33t3stgirlin-town lana mention

mozzerellagrrl17 y/n's here but where's drew? did they break up or smth y/nmarryme @/mozzerellagrrl17 wtf r u talking about? she's just hanging out w her friends. she and drew aren't attached at the hip bro

dstarkeyupdates

liked by drewstarkeyfan and others dstarkeyupdates via drew's insta story

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drewplsmarryme FUCKKKK NOOOOO! drewstarkeyfan @/drewplsmarryme girl he DOESN'T WANT YOU! let him and y/n be happy tf

ivylynndeservedbetter yo this is crazy 😵‍💫

user322 that should be me holding ur hand that should be me making u laugh

jumbleina hand placement omfg

y/nsource living vicariously through drew rn dstarkeyupdates @/y/nsource i want BOTH!

starmagazine

liked by dstarkeyupdates and others starmagazine Drew Starkey spotted outside him & girlfriend Y/N Y/L/N's apartment building. When asked about the recent rumors that the couple is reportedly "moving too fast," Starkey replied "Of course we're moving too fast. I'm obsessed with her. She's amazing." Starkey was asked about the flowers he was holding, and he confirmed that they were for Y/L/N. More info at the link in bio.

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jadababy2006 I WAS THERE I TOOK THIS PICTURE! he also called y/n the "prettiest girl" and she came out of the building and she called him "angel" it was SO FUCKING CUTE i almost threw up

55raven55 ok is it a little weird that he said he's obsessed w her or am i tripping zombi3killa @/55raven55 ur tripping. shes so hot if i were her bf id be obsessed w her too

drewstarkeyfan THE FLOWERSSSS IM GONNA CRY

y/ngetbehindme need this for me so bad

youruser

liked by drewstarkey and others youruser weekend getaway w my boys

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drewstarkey never letting the dog near a body of water again youruser @/drewstarkey no yeah he smelled awful

drewstarkey let's go again youruser @/drewstarkey you were JUST complaining abt the mosquitoes 🤨

madelyncline ok u guys are very cute and all but can the next post just be your dog please? youruser @/madelyncline spamming u w dog photos rn 🫡

y/ngetbehindme hoo boy the second pic

y/nsource both of u r my celeb crush

karencartwrighthater SECOND PIC IM LITERALLY SCREAMING WITHOUT THE S strkygrl @/karencartwrighthater mama your comments are public you know

mollyjocelyn

liked by esquire and others mollyjocelyn Walked around NYC with @/youruser for @/esquire. We chat about the best hot dogs in the city, being a dog mom, and a certain actor you might be hearing a lot about recently. Read at the link in my bio.

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youruser best interview ever. had so much fun with you molly ❤️ mollyjocelyn @/youruser Anytime girl.

julesdabest i- I'm the bike.

y/ngetbehindme ESQUIREEEE??? our girl's moving UP! vogue next pls

y/nsource this interview is so well written i LOVE it! kudos to you mama mollyjocelyn @/y/nsource Haha thank you! As long as the Y/N Y/L/N stan accounts are happy, I'm happy!

y/nsource

liked by y/nsangels and others y/nsource Y/N in a recent post shared by playwright Jami Noyce. Maybe a new project?

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y/nsangels doesn't jami noyce write plays that go to broadway? is y/n finally getting her broadway debut?

randomhater jesus fucking christ this chick is everywhere y/nsource @/randomhater and yet you're always commenting on posts about her. looks like someone is a secret fan! drewstarkeyfan @/randomhater @/y/nsource CLOCK ITTTT!

spotconlonlover oh my god i hope this play goes to broadway !!! i'd love to see y/n on stage

br00klynbaby this play ended workshops a little while ago i think they're going to previews soon! so hopefully a casting announcement is posted soon. i think they're keeping the cast under wraps bc it's y/n's debut and they want it to be a surprise?

esquire

liked by 656angelx and others esquire Y/N Y/L/N took a stroll around New York City with Esquire's very own @/mollyjocelyn. Read the article at the link in bio- and stay tuned for more videos & interviews with @/youruser!

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mollyjocelyn Such an awesome opportunity. Thank you @/esquire ♥️ by author

youruser run it uppp ♥️ by author

austinnorth55 the kid don't play

madelyncline i feel like a proud mother

drewstarkey 😍 ♥️ by author

y/nsource yes yes yes

y/nsangels !!!!! more interviews & vids coming soon? LFG!!!

drewstarkey 20m

[k00299539]

Animation Brief 01 - Week 1 - Mini Me

Above: Femto of the God Hand

The next step in our "Word Building" project was to design and create a "mini-me", essentially a kind of avatar of ourselves which will then be used as a basis for learning about lip-syncing in animation. I knew two things immediately: 1. I shouldn't make the it out of clay because it's a time-conscious medium and thus problematic for such a short project. And 2. I was definitely gonna make it out of clay anyway.

But first I had to decide how I wanted to represent myself in miniature and as you can undoubtedly see from the above image, it got weird. The important thing to understand here is that I hate self-portraits, and over the course of the last two projects I'd somehow already made 12! One clay sculpture, two 3D prints, nine ceramic casts, (and a partridge in a pear tree, etc.)

So needless to say I wanted to do something different. I guess I'd say I wanted to represent my reluctance to make a self-portrait, something that would represent me in a more abstract, less literal way. Plus I wanted something that would seem at home with the Tove Jansson inspired background art I was making for the project. The next step was gathering reference.

Above: The inspiration

I actually hadn't put too much thought into the mini-me 'til I showed up on Thursday morning. I'm showing this whole moodboard of visual reference now but while sketching out this idea all that information remained locked in my head.

The second pic of Gorillaz drummer Russel Hobbs, wearing a rain-poncho with a witch-like hood is forever burned into my head for some reason, I just love designs like that. Thus that pic was my mental jumping off point. I also just like Russel's character in general and his particular trait of hiding his face.

It was after sketching it out and trying to figure out how a hood like that might work in 3D that I turned my attention toward Raven from the 2003 Teen Titans series, another character I'm fond of for similar reasons. Glen Murakami's character sheets include a full turnaround and the show itself has plenty of reference for the hood at odd angles. I also love the way her face is cast in constant shadow.

The last bit of reference is the Tove Jansson inspiration. I love how she drew Snufkin as such a disheveled little weirdo. I guess at this stage it's obvious I relate to introverted characters. What I took in particular from Snufkin was Jansson's ability to capture so much character and personality using simple shape design. You really get the sense there is a soul behind those eyes.

Above: The design

Yeah... I really didn't experiment much with the design at all. If I'm being generous I could say I knew what I wanted, but really I just knew I was on a timer. You can see a couple of alternate ideas I had in the third sketch, but the whole witches hood plus obscured face combo was important to me.

Actually I started to get a little worried around this point. First that an all black face might look like, well, blackface. And second, that if left white, the pointed hood might have a KKK connotation. Sometimes with art, intention matters less than reception. A lot of online racists hide behind the idea of "plausible deniability", with work that acts as a dog whistle for those with similar ugly beliefs. I really don't want anyone to think there's a bigoted undertone to anything I make.

Thankfully that problems lies mostly in how I choose to colour the piece, so I can cross that bridge when I come to it. Honestly had it crossed my mind earlier I might have gone back to the drawing board entirely, but we're here now and I can only make the best of what I have.

I don't know, even having written all that, I'm still conflicted over it.

Above: I should've taken more progress pics...

I was basically just stalling on the design part, I knew the gist of what wanted but I didn't have particularly good plans on turning that design in a clay sculpture. I actually started to contemplate just going home that Thursday to put a model sheet together and then come in again Friday.

Obviously this was a bad idea for a lot of reasons and eventually Gemma convinced me to leave aside the planning and just start working with clay. Probably the best advice I could've gotten.

I rolled out a couple of slabs and after leaving them to firm up a bit, I used a template to roll one into a cylinder. This would serve as my base. Gemma helped me out a bit here too, suggesting how I create the shoulders by attaching a slab as support and draping another over it. After that it was mostly just scoring and slipping, creating the silhouette bit by bit with slabs. I wanted to have it mostly done as I knew it'd need to be fired on Friday. And on Friday the kiln is loaded at 12:30.

Above: 12:30 on a Friday

Anyway, I got it done as much as I could before leaving it down to be fired. I would probably have spent more time on it had I not been under pressure, but being honest I'm the kind of artist who spends 90% of their time trying to make things 1% better. I doubt it'd have made much of a difference.

What probably would've made a difference was having more of a plan before I started. It was really one of those things you have to do poorly once to learn how to do right, if that makes sense. There's certain changes that occurred en-route I'm happy with, like the kid of abstract, geometric look to the whole thing. But other changes I feel could be improved upon include the overall size and shape of the hood and especially the length of the head in general. The hood is tall and top heavy when it really should be the opposite.

Overall though I'm happy with how it turned out ... as long as it doesn't explode in the kiln.

[kyidyl]

Kyidyl Does Archaeology - Part 3

(As before, parts 1 & 2 can be found via the KyidylCL tag.)

THE PITS

So, we’ve got the info about the site and we’ve got the prep work done, so what next? Digging! But archaeologists don’t just randomly dig, we dig in very precise ways. There’s, generally speaking, two ways to make a hole for an archaeologist (and this *doesn’t* apply to burials.  Burials are done differently.): a pit and a trench.  A pit is usually a specific size and meant to uncover a small area.  A trench is a long area that takes a cross section of a specific area and is meant for exposing lots of area.  When you’re doing a whole settlement often a trench is used because of the volume.  We’re doing a mixture, and we started with two 5ftx5ft pits (~1.5 meters for the non-americans in the crowd.  Good rule of thumb for ft --> meters is that 3ft = 1 yard = 1 meter, approximately.  It’s not exact but if you’re trying to imagine how big something is, it’s a good way of thinking about it.).  

Pit one only had 1 interesting thing and I don’t have any pictures of it really so I’m just gonna tell you about it real quick.  In pit 1 we found a feature, which is a spot where the dirt is a different color in an unnatural shape because humans did something.  This particular feature was a post hole from a palisade wall.  That’s interesting for two reasons: 1, the natives didn’t build palisades until they came into conflict with the colonizers. It isn’t that they didn’t need defenses previous to that, it’s that the people they were defending against didn’t have horses or guns.  Once the colonizers arrived, they started copying their method of defense.  2, palisade walls are made of large trees.  To cut them down they were first burned in the place where the cut was made to make cutting them easier.  And this means CHARCOAL.  

Archaeologists love charcoal.  We can date that shit really easily.  And this particular charcoal was sent out for dating.  Came back as 1700s, which makes sense for this area.  It took the colonizers a bit longer to push up into the mountains, so the dates for contact and treaties and that kind of thing are later than official first contact in the 1400s.  So that’s the latest date we have for the site.  

Now, pit 2.  Pit 2 was, and still is, the most interesting pit on the site so far (we’ve opened a number of others, but it’s...lots of plow scars and jumbled artefacts.).  Archaeologists, as I’ve mentioned, dig this kind of stuff in layers.  So for our site (and I know a few of you following me are also archs, so I need you to know this was the site director’s choice not mine. >.<), we have a sod layer, layer 2 - the plow layer, and layer 3 the layer below the plow layer.  General rule of thumb, at least the way I was taught is that you do it in increments or when the dirt changes color, whichever comes first.  So layer 2 for us is pretty thick.  Here’s what the pit looked like at the end of day 1 after we’d gotten the sod off and started bringing it down evenly: 

The bucket is covering the test pit that’s at the center of it.  The string is the boundaries of the pit, but also we attach what’s called a datum to it.  A datum is a known spot above sea level that you use to make measurements as to how deep something is.  It’s basically a string with a line level and you stretch it out until the line level reads, well, level...and then you use a ruler from there down to whatever depth you’re measuring.  So when we find like...arrowheads and points and stuff (and this pit had several) we record where they were by saying “_____ inches BD”, or “below datum”.  

Anyway, you can see already where there are some rocks and differences in color of the dirt.  It’s honestly not all that interesting but I figured you guys might like to see the progression.  This is that same pit about 2-3 working days later, and this is where it started to get interesting: 

Some of the difference in color there is because some soil is freshly exposed and some isn’t.  The pit in the middle is the remains of the test pit.  The lighter dirt at the bottom is sub-soil for this area, so it’s where the plow zone ends.  The rocks may or may not have been added by people, so we record them just in case.  How you deal with rocks depends entirely on where you are digging.  In Florida, where I went to school, rocks are important because 99% of what they’ve got there is sand and shell.  So if you find rocks they were probably put there by people.  Here? Sometimes it’s just part of the ground and sometimes it’s people.  It really depends on how far down you find them.  This is about midway through the pit so it could go either way.  So we do what’s called “pedestaling” where we dig around them and let them sit on a pedestal of dirt.  You’ll see that in a lot of pics going forward.  The reason that we’ve dug those upper corners differently is because we were starting to see soil color changes and we were investigating them separately.  Good thing too, because they both turned out to be part of a large fire pit feature.  Next slide! 

So here you can see that the dirt in those two areas that we’ve dug is a distinctly different color - it’s reddish.  Reddish dirt is a sign that the dirt has been heated, so we’re following the red dirt here.  The digging changes from going in layers to following these features.  And we’re really methodical about it so that we don’t remove too much or too little and lose the line of the feature.  Here we were lucky, all the dirt inside those features was full of tiny specs of charcoal.  And, in the upper left up there - which was my feature to dig - there were huge chunks of charcoal.  Also a really nice piece of pottery.  Well, I mean, comparatively.  It’s still just a large sherd that I accidentally snapped in two while removing but like it counts.  The square in the lower leftish is ust from like the foam I’d been sitting on.  Getting into a pit - rather than digging it from the sides - is something you do NOT do without permission and a lot of care.  Here, the ground is really solid so I wasn’t going to ruin anything by getting in there and the pit was getting too deep to effectively dig from the side, so I spent a lot of time in weird positions on the flat parts of this pit.  So, anyway, here’s a close up of the feature so you can see what I mean about the charcoal: 

Charcoal is very, very black so when you’re digging it stands out bc nothing else is that dark or that bright.  Everything else is covered in dirt. But you can see it there in the top half - it’s those dark flecks and blobs.  There was a ton of it, and when I say a ton, I mean we got I think almost 300g just that DAY.  And y’all know how light charcoal is.  This was the stuff we sent in for c14 testing along with the palisade charcoal and it came back, if I’m remembering right, mid-1300s.  That’s a period called the late woodland. It matches up with the pottery and points we were finding, but I’ll get to that when I start in on the finds.  

Now, I thought you might need some help with this next image so I brought it into procreate and drew on it.  I know it looks like it came before the previous stage, but it didn’t.  What happened is that we brought the whole pit down deeper to expose the edge of the large features.  We also found a post hole in the process! 

So I’ve marked the layers of dirt in the side wall for you so you can see what I mean when I’m talking about them.  I’ve also marked out the bottom of the pit bc this angle made it a little hard to see.  In the upper right you can clearly see the darker dirt of the post hole.  A post hole is exactly what the name implies - someone dug a hole, stuck a post in it, and later the post was removed and filled with moar different dirt and now it’s a different color but in a distinctly unnatural shape.  You can also see that we’ve long ago dug deeper than the test pit.  The area I’ve marked “bridge” is an area of soil that didn’t have charcoal in it between the two pits that did.  There was charcoal throughout that area - hence the blue boundary - but for the features themselves we were following the red dirt.  And if that feature on the right looks deep to you it’s because it *is*.  I dug it out and followed the charcoal and it went *under* the bridge.  

Now you guys probably don’t realize this, but this is like...stupid deep to be finding this kind of stuff.  We’re like 3ft below the surface here and still going down deeper.  Around here the rate of topsoil accumulation is like...an inch every 600 years or so.  The charcoal coming out of this pit is only 700 years old and it’s 3ft below the surface.  So we’re likely looking at a hole that was dug by the natives for their own use.  The thing that was confusing us was that we didn’t see the feature even start until we were almost at the bottom of the test pit so like...8 inches or so down.  (about 16cm.  1inch is approx 2cm.) But then I was looking through some of my earlier images of the pit and I noticed this: 

(north is the same direction in both pics)

The rocks, the ones that could be either nature or people, approximately outlined the areas we’d found the fire pits.  This is why you document shit.  Even though this is still pretty deep to be finding this kind of thing, it at least makes more sense in the context of very disturbed site.  So there might have been more evidence higher up, but it’s in the plow layer so we’ll never know.  So what was the feature? Well, the two features were actually one feature (and you’ll have to wait till tomorrow’s post to find out how I know that.), and I think that might have been one of these: 

(image credit)

Or something similar anyway, but I have to do more research about native cooking methods in this area of the country.  But it would fit with the two holes and a bridge of dirt with no charcoal that we saw while digging.  

Anyway I know this post is super long but I swear we’re almost done.  When we finally finished digging the damned thing it looked like this: 

(here I’m standing on the north side of the pit, so the top is the bottom in the other pics.) 

We think that this might actually be part of another feature so it’s a little...ah...yeah it’s just weird.  Those rocks were definitely from people, so maybe they were lining the bottom of the pit or something.  If I could draw your attention to the black crud in the wall to the right of the pedestaled rocks, I’m gonna tell you one last story about this pit.  That is a burned like...conglomerate of crud.  It isn’t charcoal (charcoal is fuel for the fire, not what they were using the fire to make).  Here’s what it looked like close up: 

(aw yis macro lense)

See those circles? Those are *seeds*.  I sent it to a former prof of mine who is an ethnobotanist for ID and she says she thinks it’s chenopodium AKA goosefoot, which was a staple food for the natives for a long time.  One variety still is: quinoa.  So basically, what we think we’re looking at is a 700 year old cooking accident.  Or, as my professor put it: 

So forgive the length, and I hope you all enjoyed this installment.  =D 

[ask-thefiftystatesofamerica]

Can we have more background on America's upbringing, his birth, etc?

ohoho anon hope you’re ready for a frickin rant cuz there’s sure is a lot to say! XD 

Without further ado, here’s a pic of the legit infant of the family with summaries of each era under the cut! If you seek more info/drama, pls send in additional asks or fic requests. 💛💛

American Revolution (age 0-5)

July 4th, 1776.

The 13 original colonies gathered in Philadelphia along with their delegates and signed their breakup letter to England. And on that fateful day, they accidentally created America, a representation of the Original 13′s Alliance/Union. 

Baby America played little to no role in the early stages of his life. After all, he was just a fragile newborn who didn’t know how to protect himself. So the Original 13 Colonies fought the American Revolution in his place, leading, spying, negotiating, while baby America fled from the ever approaching frontline with the rest of the Continental Congress. There’s limited to no emotional connection between the states and America during the war, as they’re all too busy not to get killed to sit down and bond.

After the revolution, the original 13, freed from their father nation, are left to govern themselves all while raising a child–a blank canvas of a country they can shape into whatever magnificent and enlightened paradise their mind could dream of. The only problem is, no one could agree on what ‘a great nation’ stood for in terms of specific policies.

The endless chaotic debates and disunity between his semi-autonomous states nearly tore America apart as the boy sat helplessly in growing despair without any power to do anything. Being the literal baby that he was, America’s fate rested entirely in the hands of those who were ‘older’ and ‘wiser.’ 

The Era of Good Feelings (5-8)

With the end of the War of 1812, the divisive nation-building process finally came to a conclusion. 

America and its states entered a time of unity and single-party rule by the Democratic-Republicans. Europe was going up in flames with this dude called Napoleon, so all the foreign superpowers weren’t here to bully America either! 

This was the happy and peaceful section of America’s childhood. 

America lived with (and was raised by) Maryland and Virginia. As their endless bickering drew to a close, baby America finally began to gain love and attention from the rest of his states as well. They taught him about science, history, and enlightenment ideals. They ruffled his hair and filled his head with dreams, reassuring the boy that he’s destined for greatness; while others like Rhode Island took the time to warn the boy about the darker truth of the world and the curse of immortality. 

A lot of problems were swept under the rugs during the Era of Good Feelings, and America himself was still largely powerless compared to the states, but this era is where most emotional bonding happened between the states and America, and where the most fluffy one-shots starring baby America are set.

Civil War (8-12)

The Civil War is when America first learned how to put his foot down and assume his role as the states’ sovereign nation, their rightful leader, instead of a mere child they can push around.

The Civil War Era somewhat resembled the initial nation-building process in many ways. Screaming matches, divisive fights, devastating disasters spiraling out of control. Only this time, America said enough is enough, and he did what it took to make himself heard. He fought uncompromisingly to end slavery and bring the union back together, and to do so America didn’t hesitate to blatantly seize power from the remaining states and people in an almost Machiavellian fashion.

America experienced war for the first time here. Though he didn’t directly fight on the battlefield, the boy’s exposed to the grim toll that came with war and all the hard decisions to be made. America aged rapidly throughout the war and lost a lot of his naivety with each battle, growing into the mold of a cunning superpower by the hour. 

When the war ends, the soft and simple-minded baby America will be gone.

Gilded Age (13-16)

In a lot of ways, the states are Alfred’s moral compass. The more detached he is from his constituents, the more America becomes consumed by his own ambitions and desires.

The Gilded Age is a prime example of this.

Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, America had pretty much solidified his position as the head of his states. And since a majority of the states were still trying to deal with their own heartbreaks and aftermath of the Civil War, no one really kept track of this young nation.

And so, America began to explore and expand his power. Politically, geographically, and economically. He got more land, industries boomed, and waves of migrants entered the borders. America pillaged and annexed like an European Imperial superpower; he allowed monopolies and political machines to run rampant with corruption and exploitation of the working class in the name of laissez-faire; he became wealthy, influential and powerful at the expense of millions. 

This era most certainly lived up to its name. Gilded. Awful and twisted beneath a thin layer of shining golden paint of prosperity.

Progressive Era (14-16)

Like we said on previous posts, America had a dark history that cannot be excused, but he is still capable of changing for the better with the right guidance and discipline. In essence, this era took place after the states and his people alike finally began to slap some sense of reason and morality back into America’s skull. 

A lot of this time frame overlapped with the Gilded Age because change came very slowly. It’s not like this one sunny day America just woke up and declared hmmm I guess I’m not gonna be a bitch today. Nah, dude. It took a lot of time and effort to get America back on the right track. 

During the progressive era, America began to realize how objectively shitty his actions were and tried his best to amend it. He began to break down monopolies and give the working class more political power and bettered their working condition. America fought for women’s rights, preserve the environment, and speak out against imperialism with both passion and remorse.

This is also the time when America and his family finally began to reconcile after the Civil War, and the states gained enough influence in America’s life to keep him on the progressive track.

Roaring 20s & the Great Depression (17)

America got a brief taste of the global stage during WWI and wanted to remain on it through the League of Nations, but the states were like *GASP* NO CHILD U COME HOME RIGHT THIS INSTANT for fear of their baby straying too far from his family again.

So America returned to isolation at the war’s end. 

And it was pleasant, at first. A lot of problems were swept under the rugs, but America and the states enjoyed themselves and indulged in extravagant fashions, new cinematic entertainment, and lavish parties of the 1920s. The bonds between them all tightened, even as everything crashed and burnt to hell in the Great Depression.

But despite their deepened connections, the Great Depression was an incredibly harsh time for America and the states. It’s also when America first manifested his hero complex. The young nation saw his brothers and sisters suffer through poverty and horrid weather, and he wanted to be nothing less than a real-life Superman for his family. America wanted to bring optimism, joy, and laughter back to his family in this terribly grim time of depression and make all their problems disappear. America jokes and laugh loudly in attempts to lift the states’ spirits, even though he was struggling against a gritty reality of his own as well, all while assuming more and more power so he can try and lift them all out of this economic devastation. 

America’s efforts were heartwarming, but he had also unwittingly set the stage for history to repeat itself.

WWII (18)

The world’s descending into chaos again. America had spent months begging his states to let him enter the Second World War, and his elder siblings finally consented their nation’s declaration of war with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

There’s no stopping their baby chick from traveling far far away from the nest now.

During the war, America found close friends/mentors in foreign nations like Britain and France for the first time during the war, and Canada became nothing less than a brother to him. He fought alongside the allies as a soldier and pulled his economy back into tip-top shape back home. The problem arise when America began to drift further and further away from his states as the war stretched on. The global theatres occupied America’s attention, and the bloody horrors of modern warfare turned him cold. 

America will emerge from the war as a victorious superpower, gaining leadership over not only his states but half of the globe as well. Some states will speak up in alarm as America continued to silence dissenters and crank out propaganda even as the war drew to a close, trying to reconnect with their nation. Unfortunately, America failed to listen as his eyes turned toward a former comrade dressed in red.  

Cold War (19)

There are a lot of similarities to speak of between the Gilded Age and the Cold War Era. However, one significant difference is that America’s motivation is no longer purely out of selfish ambitions, but also extreme paranoia. 

America had tried hard to hide it, but the rise of the USSR made him feel threatened beyond control. The power and wealth he has now were something America had fought vigorously to obtain, and the love & support of his family and friends are what kept America sane through the centuries. The young nation was dreadfully terrified by the mere concept of losing his status as a political and economic superpower or for his states/allies betraying him for the Soviet Union.

It was this irrational but overwhelming fear that blinded America and drove him into acting like an intensely insecure control freak, lending out financial support to Western Europe and installing many domestic welfare programs so no one will feel the need to seek out to Communism. But in the same time, he did not hesitate to resort to coercion should anyone show any signs of dissent. 

It took the states a lot of time and efforts to get this nation blinded by paranoia to come back to his senses, but they were still able to to it. After all, America wasn’t evil. He’s sinful, blinded, insecure, and at his worst, selfish and power-hungry. But in America’s core, he’s still that idealistic young man who loves and respects each and every one of his constituents with all his heart.

America isn’t evil, but he does need guidance and restraints from others to prevent his own ambitions, paranoia, and power from corrupting him. America needs those he loves so deeply to speak out in protest when he’s in the wrong, and he needs several helping hands to keep him on the progressive track. Luckily, that’s exactly what his states are here for!

[aspiestvmusings]

TMS S3: GROUP A

THE MASKED SINGER SEASON 3  GROUP A/ GROUP 1: (contestants 1 - 6)

EP 3x01: CLUES & MORE: RECAP for remaining 5: 

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

KANGAROO

CLUES: 

Location: Outdoors: “Australia” 

Location: Next to a /in a yard of a “peach coloured” building with arch/vault-style architecture 

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign: OUTBACK (with the U being in the shape of horseshoe)

Sign: Yellow “road sign” with an arrow pointing down (”spiraling down”) 

MIB as papparazzi/press following her - taking pics, media attention (for “the wrong reasons”) 

Gramophone on a tree branch 

Boxing bag -  the kangaroo boxing/hitting the boxing bag 

Jump rope - the kangaroo jumping over a jump rope (made of a vine...held by MIB)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

”Like most of you watching, I’m a survivor.” 

“I recently lost a person, who held my familys heart together. Then, by my own admission, I found myself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.” 

“But I’m here to do what kangaroos do best - bounce back.”

“I have to fight for my family. And show them that bullies never win.”

“I am beyond terrified - I’ve never done anything like this before. But I’m not about to lose the chance to realize the dream I’ve always had.” 

“To all the survivors out there -- This one’s for you.” 

 ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn 

Look/Costume: The kangaroo has a pouch (indicates female), but also has a red/silver boxing outfit & gloves (indicates male). Outfit colours: red & silver. Important: there is a crown on the back of her robe. 

Stage: hexagon-shaped mirrors (5 of  them) surrounding her/behind her [if my other guess is correct, then that stage design is a “clue”] 

Height: Tall-ish...almost the same height as host Nick. A bit shorter, around 175cm, probably.

Mic hand: Right 

Talking:  “One of my greatest fears is being vulnerable. And this year I’ve had no other option than to be vulnerable. But...with this kangaroo costume I feel like I can get my superpowers back.” +  [breathes in/sighs heavily before the song starts]

GUESSES: 

I HAVE NO NAMES OF MY OWN. -- I thought she was this certain female artist, because the voice kinda seemed familair (sounded like hers to me), but none of the clues and other things seemed to fit. And after checking the clues it seems to confirm it cannot be her, cause nothing matches. Also... to me she doesn’t sound like any of the singers I thoughts she could be based on the clues, so... I havent actually figured her out...

I think people online are correct, and it’s a certain “reality star” (gramophone = reference to her dad being a sound engineer on a well-known past TV show) Though I am considering a few more options - mostly other reality stars/youtubers/family members of celebs... particularily one name. If my guess here is correct, then just like Llama, she would have a connection to a previous TMS contestant...but since I am not that familiar with her singing voice, I cannot be sure. But she has lost family members in the past few years, she has been in a media scandal, and you can even explain the australia thing kinda... so...until I hear more of her, I’ve got one name mainly in mind. But I wont name it until I’ve heard her sing at least once more.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

Survivor = the title of a “Destiny’s Child” hit song

Lost a family member recently = either her family member (parent, grandparent?) died or they parted ways (were cut ouf of each others lives)

Gramophone = possibly a reference to a Grammy nomination/win. Or just music/sound/audio

Outback = possible connection to Australia

“spiraling down” road sign + papparazzi following her = she’s been in a media scandal “recently”

Crown = King/Queen 

LLAMA

CLUES: 

Location: Radio station/Mixing studio - mixing console (close up) 

Location: Pottery making “class” 

VISUAL CLUES:

Mixing console - close up of a studio/radio station mixing console 

23.3 The Wool (name of the radio station/show) 

Red lightbulb in the studio 

Photo of a bull (the animal)

Playing cards: Ace of Spaces & Jack of Spades). Two black suit cards showing (Jack Black)

Sounds of Seattle - title of a vinyl album 

Romancing a llama: pottery 

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"Mi-Mi-Mi-Mi-Mix it up!”

“Good morning, Nerd herd! You’re listening to The Wool. Where we’re all cool. No Bull.” 

“I’m here for one reason only - to have a laugh. And what’s funnier than a Llama? (laughs at his own joke)”

“You may call me a joker. But I’d like to get serious for a minute. The song I’m singing tonight is my favourite track for celebrating love with that... special someone. There’s nothing like being swept up by it’s deep, profound lyrics. It’s a tune that really gets me in the mood for romance. I can’t wait to sing it for you tonight.”

“Llama out!” 

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin 

Look/Costume: Dressed as a tourist - “hawaiian” style shirt,, photo camera around his neck. Llamas tongue out of his mounth, on the side. 

Height: he is around 180cm - about the same height as host Nick (their shoulders are on about the same height)

Mic hand: Left 

Talking: “umm.. This whole costume just spoke to me... My vibe... I wear digs like this in real life.” (answering the question about his costume & it’s looks) 

GUESSES:

Drew Carey (TV host/comedian/actor...)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

23.3 Wool = His show (The Drew Carey Show) had, during it’s 9-season long run, a total of 233 episodes. 

Photo canera prop = His hobby is photography. Actually, it’s more than just a hobby - he has been accredited press photographer during many (sports) events.  

Radio = He was a radio operator during the time he served in the Marine Corps. Also..he’s hosted a radio show (radio DJ) during his later career 

Red light in the room = photography reference. In the DarkRoom red light is used when developing photo film/photographs.

Buddha figurine (Dalai Lama/Llama joke) = He is a buddhist. 

Joker = he is a joker aka comedian 

Seattle = He is the co-owner of a Seattle Football Club. 

Playing cards = He took part in the celebrity poker game in 2003, where he did better than Jack Black did (played against Jack Black)

Nerd herd = He did take part in Zack levis (Chuck) “Nerd herd” lightsaber race one time at a Comic-Con convention. 

Nerd herd = his show (DCS) & character were/was about nerds/was a nerd

Llama’s side tongue = early in his stand-up comedy days he had a joke with a side-tie (it looked visually very similar to what the llama’s tongue looks like - he just added some wires & tape to do “the trick” of swinging the tie to the side)

BONUS: He knows last years winner, “The Fox Mask” - they did “Whose Line is it Anyway” together, so... connection... 

SPOILER ALERT: Llama is the mask who will be voted off next - in ep 2 (on Wed, Feb 5th). But while his voice might not be as trained as some other contestants, I loved his stage energy, and the comedy/fun he brought! One more song coming from him! And no, I am not sharing some secret info - they “accidentally” revealed the first two contestants, who get unmasked, so it’s been revealed by the network...for those, who notice small details...

MISS MONSTER 

CLUES:

Location: Lady’s restroom/bathroom. The moster getting ready (coming hair, applying hairspray...) 

Location: school hallway - lockers 

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign:  (image) ladies restroom 

Itmes on the counter in bathroom/dressing room: Furspray (hairsray) can,  pink bottle of some beauty product, three crystals (stones), a piece of sequin fabric 

Key/Keychain: a single (old style) key with a keychain that says “FUN” #FUN #KEY = FUNKY = “QUEEN OF FUNK” 

Purple furry diary/good luck charm/cosmetics bag/pencil box (with a face + kitty ears & unicorn horn) + a glittery pen 

Lockers: Lockers numbered 10 (the ones she opens) & 11 (the one next to it)...with no other lockers having numbers on them 

Miss Monster Locker: filled with images of S1 Monster, scrapbook flowers..etc...

Piece of paper on the locker door: Monster Hits.

Photograph of a cityscape (skyline with many skyscrapers) on the locker door [if I could only see the image better to know which city it is on it, that’d be one more clue]

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

“When you become famous, people  want you to look or act in a certain way. They forget that you started off as just a shy little monster.” 

“It didn’t take long for me to be misunderstood. So I’m here to set the record straight. Just like my favourite creature in Season 1 did. The Monster. He made me feel. He re-wrote his story. It was fire!" 

“And now this performer in pink wants to follow in his furry footsteps, But darlings... I’m nervous. Will you still love me without knowing my name?”

ON STAGE CLUES: 

Song choice: “Something to Talk about” by Bonnie Raitt

Look/Costume: pink & purple/violet furry costume with a bowtie

Height: she is short-ish (shorter than host Nick). She looks very short (barely 5 feet - more Dolly P. height 152cm than Chaka K height 162cm)

Mic hand: Right 

Talking: NO ON-STAGE TALKING!

GUESSES: 

Chaka Khan 

Dolly Parton (since the total number of Grammy noms that the 18 contestants have in combined in 69 & Robot as the first revealed one has had 24-25 of them, that leaves only 44-45 for everyone else, that rules out this person, because she alone has had 46 nominations...compared to C. Khan’s 22 noms)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES. 

Number 10 = She has 10 Grammy Awards/wins. (interestinly: both D. Parton & C. Khan have 10 Grammy wins!)

Monster Hits = she has had (many) hit songs during her career 

He made me feel = She has a song by the title “I Feel You” (1984 hit)  

It was fire = She has a song by the title “Through the Fire” (1985)

Will you love me - that is (word for word) the title of of her her hit songs, “Will You Love Me?” (2007)

It was fire = She wrote the hit song “Fule to the Flame” (1967 hit) for Skeeter Davis. 

Will you still love me? = She has/wrote a song titled “I will always love you” 

Furspray/Hairsray = he was/is known for her big hair/haircut (managing that probably takes lots of hairspray)

FUN = FUN(K) #FUN KEY [FUN:KI] - she’s kinda the “queen of funk” (one of her albums is titled “FUNk This” (btw: Pun intended by her!) 

TURTLE 

CLUES

Location: school’s track & field event (Balzano Track Field) - contestants getting ready to run. The slow turtle surrounded by fast bunnies, all preparing for the event. [Slow & steady (turtle) wins the race]

Location: Schools track & field event - BANG! The race begings. The three other contestants (MIB as bunnies - wearing pink bunny ears - starting the race with a head start, all jumping on their blue bouncy balls)

VISUAL CLUES:

Turtle vs bunnies 

BANG! in comic style - to mark the start of the race 

The others (three bunnies) bouncing on blue balls whe n the race begins 

Surf board - the turtle poliching/cleaning his poink & blue surf board 

Pins on the track...popping the blue jumpy balls 

Grilling burgers on an (outside) grill...on the track field. 

Turtle crossing the finish line first (bunnies just going in circles, being stopped by pins on the way, or other reasons), as he has time to do other things & take it slowly, and then still get there first...with a burger in hand & winning the golden medal.

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"At the starting-line of my career I was surrounded by other hungry new-comers. It felt like everyone around me was fighting tooth-and-nail for the dream. And I watched as many of those stars burned too brightly, too quickly, and then fizzled down”

“I’m a turtle, because I’m always taking it step-by-step.”

“Slow and steady wins the race. But now I feel like I’m ready to break out of my shell. After years of preparation I would love to make a big splash. So I don’t want anyone to cross that finish line before me.” 

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal 

Look/Costume: Punk/Rock-style, dressed in leather (pants, jacket), has a spike (hair)

Height: Short-ish (shorter than host Nick) - seems around 175cm. Small in size.

Mic hand: Right 

Talking: “It’s hot. It’s really hot. And it’s heavy!” (when answering how doesn it feel to be in that costume and perform in it)

GUESSES

Jesse McCartney 

Joey McIntyre  PS. I tried connecting the voice to any boy-bands (of 1990s & 2000s), but I coukdnt. Even after some “research” - listening to each possible candidate...and IMO it’s none of them. The voices dont match, the heights doesn’t match---But it did sound like someone, who for me was a one-hit-wonder. Yeah, I only know that one song (and one more) from him... but voice seemed familiar.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES: 

Surf board = that he is a surfer;  that he is from Cali/Australia/somewhere which is known as being popular among surfers; that he has won Teen Choice Award(s) (this award in in the shape of a surfboard)

being surrounded by other new-comers at the start of his career = either he got his start through a (singing) competition and was one of many contestants fighting for the win AND/OR he got his start in a “boy-band” and was one of the youngsters looking for fame...

Surf board = Teen Choice Awards - winning several TCAs for his first/biggest hit song/album in 2005, and more. And he’s played a surfer character on a TV show

BSB references/connection  - he was the opening act in 2005 for BSB during the European part of the tour. 

Dream = he started in a boy-band with the name “Dream Street”

on stage presence/body language (movements) = very similar to J.M. 

WHITE TIGER 

CLUES: 

Location: Football field. Tiger striking a power/winners pose. 

Location: School hallway, lockers. Tiger walking in, shoving everyone out of his way. 

Locatrion: School library (sitting behind a table, with his legs on the table) 

Location: School hallway, lockers. MIB trying to get him to audition for TMS. MIB (fans) taking selfies with him. 

VISUAL CLUES: 

Golden plate/sign with text: Ultimate champion for clam shucking: 51 clams” (next to a golden clam shell) 

Sign/ad on the wall: “Masked Singer tryouts 5/3.” + images of three past masks included: Eagle, Lion & Raven. Plus the text: “Hurry. Not for long" also written on it. 

Sign on the all with images of past US presidents, including Abe Lincolns & the text/quote “Four Score and Seven Years Ago...” 

The TMS golden mask throphee shown next to the lockers (as Tiger says “let’s party!”)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICEOVER: 

“Ready to meet your next champion? My entire life I’ve sought out perfection, so choosing a mask with unlimited power like the White Tiger was a no-brainer.”

“I’ve had a giant career full of accomplishments. But when I imagine being on stage (and) singing, I’m a big old scared cat.*

“It’s been a while since I did something that scared me, so I’m here to concour yet anither challenge.”  

“What’s my motivation? My fans! I don’t wanna let them down." 

“So now I’m ready to get in that ring and smash the competition.” 

“Let’s party!” 

ON STAGE CLUES: 

Song choice “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice 

Look/Costume: Dressed in “Egyptian style"

Height: very tall & big (much taller than host Nick) - over 190cm, looks about 2m tall

Mic hand: R & L (alternates)

Talking: “It’s the most powerful I’ve ever felt. Like I can concour anything. I never wanna take it off” (when answering what did it feel like when he first put on the costume/mask)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES: 

He played during the 51st  (51 clams) & 53rd  (5/3) Super Bowl games. 

The three past TMS masks shown are all animals that are parts of  names of existing football teams: Ravens, Eagles, Lions. Meaning he is an athlete & specifically plays american football (NFL) 

The Lincoln quote translates to “87 years ago...”, so number 87 is the clue here. This could be a reference to player No. 87. 

He has had a very succesful career in his own field (sports). Singing is not his main job.

IF the voice-overs were done later, not during initial filming, then it’s possible that “smash” relates to the person smashing a lego-statue of a TV host during 2019/2020 New Years. Which in itself was supposed to be about his famous “Gronk Spike” during football games. 

A tiger (albeit “regular”, not white) was one of the characters & costumes + name of the sports team in the Katy Perry video “Swish Swich”, where this athlete also appeared. 

The Golden (Golden Mask) trophe - most likely a reference to his many wins (the trophees he/his team has won)

GUESSES: 

Rob Gronkowski (Gronk, athlete, 198cm) = 99% certain it’s him 

Because of the height alone (seems to be around/almost 2m = 6 feet 5) there are not that many possibilities at all. Even if we don’t listen to that voice or consider the clues. Based on height alone it can basiclaly be only one of these names: Dave Bautista (198cm); The Rock (196cm); Hulk Hogan (201cm); Tyler Perry (196cm); Brad Garrett (204cm); Joe Manganiello (196cm); Jeff Goldblum (194cm); Jason Mamoa (193cm); Tom Brady (193cm)..or the likes...

Even other possible names, like the ones listed by the panel, are not valid guesses, because of their height: John Cena for example is actually only 185cm tall. Also... several of these tall men are bigger/more muscular, so that makes it even easier to determine the name based on only the physical appeance...without even listening to the clues. 

ROBOT 

First mask to be voted out in ep 1

Havent listed his clues, cause there’s no use for them anymore, as he was voted off. 

With his 86 tattoos he makes up for about half of all the 160 tattoos the 18 contestants have combined. With his 24-25 Grammy nominations he makes up about 1/3 of all the 69 noms the 18 contestants have combined. And quite many of the 88 gold records the 18 contestants have combined,  belong to him (I don’t know the exact number, but most/all of his 10+ albums have gone gold, I think) - exact number depends on how they count it for this list.

<<<<< THIS IS WHAT GOES ON IN MY HEAD AFTER EVERY TMS SHOW/EPISODE. THIS IS HOW I CATEGORIZE THE INFO I HAVE INTO FOLDERS IN MY MIND. THIS IS HOW SPECIFIC I AM, AND HOW INTO DETAILS I GO. THIS IS HOW MUCH I PAY ATTENTION (while, most likely, missing a ton of more hints that I’ll only notice during re-watch) I JUST DECIDED TO WRITE IT DOWN...FOR ONCE. 

BUT... unless I decide to cut some sleep time to do this again, I am probabky not gonna do this after every episode. Possibly for the first episode of every Group (so beside ep 1, also ep 4 & ep 7)

[kitsoa]

Lyric Comic Q&A

So it turns out when you work on a project for half a year, you get a lot of Thoughts and want to express them whether people are actually curious or not. Without further ado, your un-requested Birdmen Lyric Comic Q&A

(Warning: I’m long winded)

*Why a Lyric Comic?

Dude, lyric comics are cool. I’ve always been fascinated by the beautiful, multifaceted artistic experience they provide, because of my love for music and art. Furthermore, I am often plagued by cinematic trapped in my head, spurred by the movement and lyrics of my favorite songs. Since I have no means or experience in the animation category (which would free these phantoms from my head) the lyric comic was a godsend of a medium for this inspired idea of mine. Kiki-kit of the Gravity Falls fandom and Tides-miraculous’ lyric comic in the Miraculous Ladybug are my main inspirations, I’ve adored their sense of motion and emotional savviness. It’s quite the powerful medium.

It’s also a good medium for me personally. I am a ‘looper’ with my music, allowing me to listen to something over and over without tiring. This is useful in the drafting stages! I loved the challenge (though I definitely didn’t anticipate it’d take this long).

*Why this song?

“Out of Mind” was one of those songs that spoke to me, in an overly cathartic, heart-yearning-- almost funnily sardonic ways. Birdmen being on the brain, I started to easily see how much the singers voice reflected that bombastic frustration our Eishi is so known for. The Pre-Chorus “Are you kidding me?” speaks to me the most, reminding me of his cry of frustration during his first blackout, screaming against his fate as he fell from the sky (this exact image did not make the final cut in the end, but I certainly vied for it until other themes overtook it-- let’s face it, there are many screaming Eishi’s to choose from).

This period of time between Takayama’s disappearance and the inevitable reunion is super intriguing to me. Eishi’s in the role of the heartbroken singer, hopelessly betrayed and unable to get over the good thing they had.

*Breakdown the story:

The progression goes like this:

Eishi’s loneliness consumes the first verse, Takayama’s empty seat, Eishi standing alone… all the while peppered with Takayama’s broken promise, which culminates with Eishi’s defiant Death Tweet. The Refrain then serves as these hallmark moments that define them. This is what they had. Every rescue, every proclamation or venomous defying of fate-- it’s what made them. And you’d have to be out of your mind to think that these moments could be forgotten.

Verse 2 is all about that shift in Eishi to follow him. Wistful memories drive Eishi as he chooses to leave and depart from everything he knows, just to get him back. Meanwhile, that opinion of Takayama is still weighed down by that grating irritation (like hell he’s in touch reality, how could he do this?) culminating to his call for him in the Himalayas. The Refrain fires again with the same point as the last but this time I tried to go for a more fervent angle, some of the scenes actually focus on Takayama’s feelings for Eishi and ultimately the pull they have towards each other.

The Bridge is where things get desperate. The moments in the manga where Eishi is in physical pain because of the Whiteout shake me so much. It reminds me of a straight up panic attack. I let this crescendo with the music, making the black void swallow the chaos in a quick snap. Building to the final chorus.

The whiteout is special because Eishi both yearns after this figment emotionally (his friendship with Takayama) and intellectually (what the hell is it and what does it mean?). It represents his unique position in the realm of the story being able to see it, but it ultimately captures the almost divine force behind the relationship of Eishi and Takayama. The outro then brings us back to Eishi failed call at the Himalaya’s, the whiteout ripping him up and forcing Takayama to save him. All the while calling back to that first interaction between them. A mysterious moment that obviously held more weight than any world shaking rescue. And I cap it off with a warmer depiction of their reunion.

*Are you shipping in this comic?

Despite the romantic song, my affections for the pairing, and any other subtext I’ve provided, I went in with the project with a platonic angle. Like I’m not lying. I’m on the ace spectrum or whatever so I kind of interpret every strong bond in the same realm. So that means, if you think it’s a romantic interpretation-- then you’re right. If you think it’s not, you’re also right. Love comes in many forms. Have fun kids.

*What was your process?

Storyboarding

Listen over and over and figure out where to phrase the panels. I then divided the lyrics up accordingly in a draft and reviewed the pacing over and over again. Does it flow? How many words would comfortably fit with each panel?

Determined the thematic arc. At this point I already had a few anchoring moments so I wrote a description of the panel in the draft. I went with the formula of Verses= move the ideas, Refrain= emotional accents, and the Bridge is like… the climax with an epilogue of an outro. This was tricky step. I debated a lot of ideas and some lyrics didn’t feel like a good fit until I really sat on it for a while.

Fill in the draft. This is where I sketch the general shape of panels. This is also where I look at the gestalt of the thing and make sure the composition is easy on the eyes. I tried to make it dynamic and zig-zaggy so as not to be boring. This is the step where one gets really excited about the project. Cause it’s no longer trapped in your head.

Sketching

Gathered references. Surfed the web, made some myself.

Made time to sketch, I did a lot of them at my summer job, made sure to draw about 2 or 3 a day. I had the time then because it was before I took on my day job. I was very surprised to find that I rarely went back to edit a picture or dispose of a draft. I went through with the mantra that I was going to finish the picture no matter what.

Stayed disciplined with said time. I would not let myself take a break from drawing because half the success came from the fact that I was on a roll.

When I finished them I then went through the process of scanning them (my scanner broke between the first 20 panels so RIP)

Coloring Stage

...Good lord. This is where I probably went the most wrong. Make sure you have a good process in place before starting out this stage.  I was not one to digital art much as of late so my familiarity with my program was lackluster (and it also is literally the worst program  in the world), and my laptop couldn’t handle more than 10 panels. So hurray for a very desperate fix. I did everything from my brothers computer, in his room. Sometimes at terrible hours because that's the only time I’m home.

Color planning. I rushed this process but I pulled up the textures and color pallets and reference images from internet searches and stock piled them. While planning I approximated the overall ‘tone’ of each pane; (is it a dark shade, a light shade, blue, or red in hue…) and then I adjusted that so the colors didn’t repeat or blend unless the panels where connected in the same scene. There was a lot of problem solving in the actual coloring so some of this was not as smooth and I paid for it later.

Sketch Editing. I was able to go back in, move around things and edit certain aspects of the sketch without compromising the entire work. This was a life saver.

Actually coloring. Because I color sketches it’s actually a painstaking process where I can’t use a wand or a fill. I’m not familiar with certain masking and coloring methods that would have sped the process up and I wanted to be consistent. This would take 3 to 5 hours a panel which I would do in small bursts.

Type-setting

Deciding font. I was hunting around for a good font for ages until I just decided… to use my own handwriting. This meant that I had to makes sure my tablet pressure specs were up to date and I had to practice my style. It’s not perfect but its cool.

Apply font to panel. There were moments when I literally said ‘screw it’ and left my handwriting a little more sloppy than standard.

Consultation. I worked with my graphic designer friend on improving the placement of text and the color choices. This was an interesting step she is a saint.

Finalize

Every single panel is extremely large. I had to resize each one. Before this I had many tests in the drafts to see how certain sizes would load or format.

*Will you make another?

Probably. Like, there is nothing more satisfying than getting something stuck in your head out of it. I have a lot of tunes I am fond of but barely any qualify for lyric comics (need to have a good pace, easy to latch on musical phrases, thematic content that works etc.) The fandom is important too. Now that I think about it I have storyboards for an old DCMK ‘lyric comic’ idea to Imogen Heap’s “A-ha” (it was like some hidden dark side!au shit I still come back to it). I can’t let my interest wan or it straight up dies. Birdmen is a really unique series for me because its held on for a remarkable amount of time and strongly at that.

Fun Facts:

I colored a total 77 panels, 11 of which were scraped versions of the core 66 because perfectionist tendencies.

It took me 3 months to sketch all the panels out, sometimes drawing 3 a day. I would often cradle my sleeping kitten while I drew.

Panel 54-- the final chorus, whiteout splash page-- took three days to draw. At first it was two pages taped together, then it was three. I had my friend mend the images together into a massive pic for me to color, then break it apart for blog distribution. The full version is used in her video edit of the lyric comic.

I didn’t use pressure sensitivity on my tablet until I got to the last chunk. RIP

It usually took me over a day to do one picture.

I do not have a computer in my room that utilizes the art program I need. I literally did every panel after #10 in my brothers room. Sometimes hella late at night too. Props to my generous brother, he tells me he likes the company.

I took a few notable breaks. All of Inktober was used on the art challenge. The weeks leading up to Birdmen Week. And at least half of the Christmas season was spent on coloring hiatus.

I like adding a ring around the pupils of the seraph eyes. This is not canon, but an error that I really liked. You can see it as a sort of glow.

I am having my friend edit the panels into a video for your convenience. I have no idea how long it will take but I’m tired.

[spicypandacreations]

How to make a Female Star Wars  “Boba Fett” Cosplay

"You can run, but you'll only die tired." - Boba Fett

For those of you who have been under a rock for the past four decades, Boba Fett is one of the galaxy's most deadly bounty hunters. He works for Jabba and is looking for Han Solo in the Star Wars series.

For the 2016 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), my friend and I decided to create a female Boba Fett costume for her. We wanted to make it look tough, but still have that female allure to it. Let's get started!

Materials

- EVA foam

- Shoes

-plastic buckles

-Elastic

-Measuring Tape

-Craft foam

-Sharpies

- Metal L square ruler

-metal yard stick

-chalk

-Hot Glue

-Modge Podge

-kwik seal caulk

-shoe strings

-duct tape

-Dowel rods

-masking tape

-Cardboard

-comic cardboard

-metal split fasteners

-Giant roll of paper

-Hot glue

-Superglue

-soldering iron

-Dremel

-Sander

-exacto knife

- heatgun

-brown fabric

-PVC pipe

-grey zentai suit

-metal pipe

-worbla

-Thermoplastic beads

-bondo

-Empty peanut butter jar

-clear plastic/ plexiglass

-hole punch

-wood trim

- window tint

-peanut butter jar

-bottle caps (various sizes)

-wooden dowel rods

Step 1: Design

Before I ever start ANY costume, I look up a ton of reference photos from various sources and put it in a folder. The more pictures from different angles, the better. For this particular build, we combined a few different sources, but mostly incorporated things from the Boba Fett Kai action figure. We wanted to figure out ways to make the suit look fierce, but still have some type of femininity to it.

Look up:

1. Actual photos of the character from its source (movies, comics, action figure, etc)

2. Cosplay pictures. You can see what has been done, what you like, what you don't like, how to improve on a design. You can also start getting an idea of different poses you think you'd like to do.

3. I start looking at art work. I usually look up things via google images, deviant art, tumblr, etc. This way, you can see different renditions of a character through a new perspective and once again, start thinking about what you like, don't like, etc.

4. Use your own imagination. Think about what you want, how to make it your own original design, what are some tricks you think you'd like to incorporate.. perhaps you want to try out a new technique with this build, etc

Optional:

4. If you can draw, I sometimes will take all my reference sources and start drawing out my own design.

Step 2: Chest & Back Pieces

Chest

1. Grab your measuring tape and then your giant roll of paper.

2. Measure from shoulder to approximately belly button, and then one side of chest to the side (under armpits). Transfer those measurements to the piece of paper and cut out that rectangle. I decided to make the chest and abdomen two separate pieces.

3. Fold the piece of rectangular paper in half and start drawing out your design. Make sure you draw enough room for the neck, and armpit. Sometimes, i like to make the abdomen a little slimmer. We went with a slimmer abdomen to make it a bit more effeminate. At this stage, i am taking the paper drawing, cutting out the main shape and then holding it up to the person to play with sizing (pic 1, not from this build but premise is still the same.)

4. once satisfied, i transfer the design onto the EVA foam with the sharpie and i cut it out. (pic 2)

5. I wanted to create a bust for the build to once again, make it more feminine. I wanted to incorporate some folds in the chest piece, so i took flipped over my EVA foam and used my soldering iron to burn some grooves where the folds needed be. (pic 3)

6. You will fill in the grooves with hot glue, fold the foam where those grooves are, and wait for it to cool. Sometimes i will glue in pieces of fabric to the seams on the underside of the EVA foam to make the pieces more secure.

7. If there are layers for the build (like making a 6 pack for the abdomen or pec pieces, i will cut each individual chest piece out of the paper design, transfer the outline to the foam, cut out EACH individual layered piece from the foam, sand off the tread from the back of the foam pieces and glue in the designated spot (pic 4-6, not this build but showing technique)

8. For this specific build, i chose to cut out the layered chest pieces from craft foam to instead of EVA. (pic 7)

9. For the abdomen, I took my paper design, transferred it to EVA, solder ironed and hot glued the grooves in the back of the foam, and then hot glued the craft foam on top to make layers. (pic 8)

10. I glued the chest piece to the abdomen piece. (pic 9)

Back

1. Repeat the whole process and create the back piece. Pic 10 shows the design of the back piece.

1. I place the chest and back piece on the person and wrap shoe string around the person to hold the pieces in place while i work.

2. I take a strip of EVA foam and place it underneath the chest and back piece at the shoulder. Draw out the piece you need with sharpie and cut it out. From there, I take that shoulder piece of EVA foam, flip it over and trace out a duplicate for the other side, and glue both sides in to the chest and back pieces. (pic 11)

3. I glued in some layers around the shoulder straps (pic 12 + 13)

Sides

1. i create some straps from EVA, glue them into the sides and secure with fabric on the inside of the suit.

2. Glue in your black plastic bucks (pic 14)

Step 3. Shoulders

Right Shoulder

1. Grab your measuring tape and then your giant roll of paper.

2. While wearing your newly created chest piece, measure from shoulder to approximately bicep, and then one side of arm to the other side. Transfer those measurements to the piece of paper and cut out that rectangle.

3. Fold the piece of rectangular paper in half and start drawing out your design on one half of your paper. Cut out of EVA foam (pic 1)

4. use your heating gun and bend the shoulder piece into the shape you want it. If it does not want to stay, you can cut a slit into the back of the foam and insert unraveled paperclips in them to help them retain their shape. (pic 2)

5. Using your exacto knife, cut in the lines that you wanted etched into the armor. You do not have to cut entirely through the foam. Once you got the lines cut in, apply heat from your heat gun to expand the lines. Then, I took a hole punch and punched out a few circles from craft foam and superglued them in also. (pic 3)

5. I had a broken camera tripod and i cut off the metal legs to use as pipes. Cut them down to the appropriate sizes. (pic 4)

6. Cover the pipes with strips of craft foam to create some texture to the pipes (pic 5)

7. I took some thermoplastic beads, heated them up and jammed them in-between the two pipes to create a "joiner" piece. You can use worbla if that is what's available. (pic 6)

8. Glue the pipes in underneath the foam. You may have to glue a few little foam pieces in-between the spaces for everything to connect well.

Left Shoulder

1. Repeat steps 1-6 of the right shoulder, but obviously changing your design to match the left shoulder plate. (pic 7)

Arm bands

1. Repeat steps 1-3 of the right shoulder.

2. I wanted a little edge on each arm band, so turn it over, use your soldering iron and burn in a groove. Then fill with hot glue and bend at the groove to create the edge. (pic 8)

3. once you put in your details (etch in your lines and superglue your craft foam holes), you can secure the arm bands to the shoulder pieces. (pic 9-12)

4. I found the emblem online and sized it appropriately. I cut out the black and used it as a stencil when painting. (pic 13)

Step 4: Forearms and Hand Guards

Forearms

1) Get your scratch paper and cut out a rectangle that will be the length of inseam of your elbow to your wrist.. the width would be enough that it can overlap.

2) wrap the paper around your forearm. Adjust as needed for the length. You want a good ranger of motion here.

3) Since the paper is around your forearm, you can cut it to fit your arm pretty snug.

4)Transfer the template to EVA foam.

5. Heat the foam around the arm and once cooled, You have your "base" for the forearm. (pic1)

6. The left and right forearms are different so you will have to study them. I measured out the forearms, drew my designs on scratch paper and cut out of EVA foam. You will have the sand off the bottom tread from the EVA foam as you will be gluing them onto the base. glue in your elbow covers and designs.

7. Right Forearm - everything is fairly self explanatory. The only thing that is a little different is that i created little pipes/wires running down this forearm. Basically i took long strips of EVA foam and sanded off the edges with my dremel to make them into curved "wires" (pic 2-5)

8. Left Forearm - The left forearm is also self-explanatory. The difference is that i created a little channel in a long strip of thick EVA foam, and then took a little piece of PVC pipe and stuck it to the end to create a nozzle. (pic 6-10)

9.Glue in your your plastic buckles on each forearm. (pic 10)

10. Your gauntlets should be done now. (pic 11)

Hand guards

1 I created hand and thumb guards for the build. (pic 12). Take your paper and draw out your template. transfer to EVA foam and sand off the back tread.

2. Use your soldering iron and burn grooves into the back of the foam so you can bend the pieces to create ridges where you'd like them. For the hand pieces, i did more of a "accordion" type of groove.

3. Cut in your etching and use your heat gun to expand the lines.

Step 5. Cod Piece, Belt (pockets and Accessories) & Thighs

Codpiece

1. measure your waistline and cut a strip of EVA foam that size. I usually just use the width of the ruler i am using, which is 1.5 inches.

2. Create your codpiece by measuring the sides of your groin and how long it needs to be. Transfer the measurements onto paper and then onto foam

3. I wanted to create an edge so i used the soldering iron to burn a groove down the back of the codpiece. place hot glue in groove, hold the codpiece in the position and wait for glue to completely cool (pic 1)

4. Add your details. I used some craft foam to add little sections to the codpiece here and there. I used the soldering iron to create some burns and then use the hole punch to pluck out some pieces(pic 2)

5. Find the center of your belt strap and glue the codpiece there. The seam of the belt will be in the back, and that way, it will not be shown in pictures (pic 3) I sometimes take some fabric and glue it onto the seam of the codpiece and the EVA strap to make it more secure.

6. the base of the belt should be done at this time (pic 4)

Belt pocket and accessories

Pockets

1. To make your pockets, draw out your template from paper

2. Transfer the template onto the EVA foam and sand off the tread from the back. (pic 5)

3. Use craft foam to create a raised lip for your pockets (pic 6)

Canisters

1.Take some PVC pipe and cut them to length.

2. drill holes on the sides of each pipe where you can stick metal fasteners through them. (pic 7)

3. create tops for the pipes with thick EVA foam, and then wrap strips of craft foam around the pipes to create texture. (pic 8)

4. attach the pipes onto the belt strap itself by inserting the metal fasteners through some washers on both sides of the strap. (pic 9)

5. Your belt should be done at this time (pic 10 + 11)

Step 6: Thighs

1. Measure the front of your thigh and create your template from paper. (pic 1)

2. Transfer and cut out of EVA foam. I used a soldering iron to burn the groove in the back so i could create the edge in the front of the thigh (pic 2)

3. Do the same first 2 steps the back of the thigh and then glue ONLY ONE SIDE of the front piece and back piece together (pic 3)

4. Try on the thigh piece by wrapping it around your actual thigh. Use a sharpie and mark on the foam where you want the other side to join. Hot glue side together (pic 4)

5. Add your detailing to the back (pic 5) and to the front (pic 6)

Step 7: Shoes, Shins, and Knees

Shoes

1. Measure the sizing that you would like for your heel. Cut out of EVA foam and hot glue directly onto the back of the shoe. (pic 1)

2. Cover the shoe with masking tape and start drawing on the tape directly. Once satisfied, carefully use your exacto knife and cut away the access tape you

3. carefully remove each masking tape piece and transfer onto EVA foam. Each of these masking tape pieces are now your template. (pic 2)

4. Sand off all the tread from the back of the EVA foam, add any etching, and glue directly onto the shoe (pic 3)

5. Repeat the process for each shoe section. (pic 4 +5)

Shins

1. Measure the front of your shin and transfer to paper.

2.use your paper template to cut out your EVA piece (pic 6)

3. repeat the process for the calve part of the shin cover and similar to the process in of the thighs in the previous step, join the two pieces.

4. Once you have your calve "tube", you can start adding your details (pic 7)

5. Your shin pieces should be done at this time. (pic 8 +9)

Knees

1. draw out your shape from paper and transfer to EVA foam.

2. heat up your knee piece and once warm/ soft, push it into a deep bowl and allow to cool. (pic 10) 

3. Once cool, remove and start adding your details with etching and layers of craft foam.

Step 8: Knives and Sheaths

Knives

1. Draw out your template of your knife (pic 1)

2. cut out 3 cardboard pieces of your knife. 1 is the FULL shape of the knife, and 2 cardboard shapes will be missing the blade part of the knife. (pic 2)

3. Glue your three pieces of cardboard together with the FULL shape in the middle (like a sandwich)

4.use your paper template as your guide and cut out the blade of your template from comic book cardboard. You will need two for either side. Glue in the comic cardboard onto the blade of your cardboard knife. (pic 3)

5. Glue comic cardboard onto the handle of the knife. (pic 4)

6. Now this is the tedious part.. Take your hot glue gun and start creating the blade of the knife. Slather the edge of the cardboard knife with hot glue and use the tip of the glue gun to spread the hot glue along the end of the knife. (pic 5)

5. once you have the basic shape of the edge, you will take strips of the comic cardboard and use it like sandpaper on the hot glue blade to get it smooth. This is a process so just be patient with it. Furiously rub the hot glue with the comic cardboard and the friction will cause the glue to smooth out eventually. add glue to holes, rub down with comic cardboard and just repeat till you are satisfied. (pic 6)

6. Once you are happy with the blade, you can start adding more details to the blade handle. don't forget to glue comic cardboard to the back of the blade itself. (pic 7)

7. Your knives should be done (pic 8)

Sheaths

1. For your sheath, you are essentially creating a box. Take your measurements now that you have your knife, Draw your template out, and cut your cardboard

2. Once you have the back of the sheath cut out, glued, and covered with comic cardboard, Glue in some washers and insert your metal clips. You will essentially repeat the process you did with the canisters on the belt. (pic 9)

3. Glue in comic cardboard on the inside of the sheath so that the knives slide in well.

4. Create your sides and the top of your sheath (pic 10)

5. create your lids for the sheath (pic 11)

6. Create any details you want (pic 12)

Step 9: Gun

1. Draw out your full sized gun (Side view) on paper. I always use a straight edge with this job. The more details you can add, the better in the long run. (pic 1).

2. Cut out the entire design (pic 2)

3. After looking at the gun, it seemed that the best way of tacking it was to make the gun in two pieces. So i cut the back of the gun off and used the paper template to cut out two pieces (1 for each side of the gun) (pic 3)

4. Figure out how wide you want the gun to be. From there, make a stack of cardboard and glue them in various parts of the inside of the gun. This will allow the gun to be hollow (to reduce weight), while still being study and not caving in on itself (pic 4)

5. Glue the two sides together now (pic 5)

6. use cardboard to create the perimeter of the gun (pic 6) This is now the "base" of your gun.

7.Now, you will determine which sections of the gun will be layered on top of each other. If you want the base to be layer "1", then use your comic cardboard and glue it on that section. (pic 7)

8. Use your paper template and start tracing out the next layer to put on top of the base. Cut out of cardboard(pic 8)

9. When doing the butt of the gun, glue on your layer of cardboard. (pic 9)

10. If you want to create an angled ridge, you can use hot glue and the tip of the glue gun to create a beveled ledge. (pic 10)

11. For the bottom pipe of the gun, I used a leg of a damaged camera tripod. I cut it to length and inserted it into a slot i made (pic 11)

12. Just keep adding layers to the gun. This is why it is important to draw as many details into the gun as possible. You can lay the sections of paper in their designated area to help you visual how things are going(pic 12-13)

13. Once you get the lower half done, it should look like pic 14. You can now move to the front of the gun.

14. For the barrel of the gun, i got a long piece of PVC and cut it to size. Then, i cut out long strips of cardboard and covered them with comic book cardboard to glue around it. (pic 15)

15. Use your template and create the housing for the barrel of the gun. (pic 16)

16.now glue the front of the gun to the back of the gun (pic 17)

17. You are approaching the end of the gun, so see how the size is working out for you (pic 18)

18. for the scope, we used more pipe from the broken camera tripod, some bottle caps, EVA foam, and some strips of craft foam. ( pic 19)

19. create a little housing piece for the scope on top of your gun (pic 20)

20. Get a PVC joint piece and attack it to the end of the barrel. Decorate with craft foam (pic 21)

Step 10: Backpack

1. We wanted to make the backpack hollow so that we could house things like keys, wallet, phone, etc.. Use your reference pics to see what you are getting into first Pic 1)

2. Start out by measuring the area on the back and drawing your template on a folded piece of measured paper (pic 2)

3. Cut the front and back of your backpack out of cardboard (pic 3)

4. Figure out how wide you want the backpack to be and glue in your cardboard sides (pic 4). You now have the "base" of the backpack.

5. Similar to the gun, you are just adding layers. If you want to add the base as a layer, add your comic cardboard to where you want the lowest section of the backpack (pic 5)

6. Start adding on your layers. Use your reference pictures and your drawing to be your guide. (pic 6,7,8)

7. We secured the backpack onto the foam chest piece by using wing nuts, washers, and bolts. (pic 9)

8.We created the thrusters on the backpack with some cardboard. Just remember to always create a pair, because you need it to happen on both sides of the backpack (pic 10 +11)

9. start creating the wings that out of of the base of the backpack. I used two layers of cardboard to add strength to it. Cross cross the cardboard when you are building so the "grain" of the cardboard isn't going in the same direction (pic 12)

10. Cut slits from the sides of the base (pic 13)

11. Glue the wings in (pic 14)

12. There are these little accessories on the backpack. I had some dowel rods i carved with my dremel that i glued into some bottle caps. (pic 15)

13. Inside the thrusters, there are cylinders inside. First cut out a circle from cardboard and wrap the edge of the circle with cardboard to make a cylinder. Then cut it at an angle (pic 16)

14. cover them with comic cardboard, Glue the cylinders in, and add any more details (used bottle caps for the bottom. I also used a larger jar lid and glued it into the bottom of the backpack. (pic 17)

15. This is where the backpack should be at this time (pic 18)

16. cut two pieces of PVC to size for the rods on the ends of the "wings" of the backpack. on one end, cap them with EVA beveled foam and craft foam. (pic 19)

17. Now use your dremel and cut out a slit so the wing can fit inside of it (pic 20)

18. Once the PVC ends are glued in, you can create the bottom cap. I glued two EVA circles together and then beveled the entire thing. I decorated with a strip of craft foam (pic 21 +22)

19. For the antenna thing (which will be made from PVC pipe), first take your peanut butter jar and cut off the top ring (clear) and cap (Blue) (pic 23)

20. You are now going to create some circle spacers from cardboard that will fit inside that clear top ring. Find the center of it circles and cut out a circle to fit the PVC pipe in all three. (pic 24)

21. Glue the circles inside the clear ring of the peanut butter jar. (pic 25+26)

22. Take the cape of the peanut butter car and dream off the surface so you will have a ring. (pic 27)

23. Glue the PVC pipe into the clear ring and it SHOULD be able to screw into the top blue ring. (pic 28)

24. Glue the blue ring into the top of the backpack and glue in cardboard corners around the ring (pic 29)

25. You should now be able to screw the top (antenna) into the base of the backpack (pic 30 +31)

26. Now that you have the PVC antenna into the backpack, cut out EVA foam circles and glue them together, some of these will be 3 layers, some will be 2 layers. (pic 32)

27. Put the EVA foam rings on the antenna on the PVC like a totem pole. (pic 33 + 34)

28. Your functional backpack should be complete (pic 35)

Step 11: Helmet

1. Start by take a strip of cardboard and wrap around your head. Do this loosely, as this will be the circumference of the helmet

2. Make a cross section that goes from the front of your head to the back, and then from side to side. Then add diagonal pieces till you have a crown (pic 1)

3. now insert triangles into the sections until you have a full cap (pic 2 and 3)

4. Start adding your details like the front face, back, and sides (Pic 4,5,6)

5. Now bondo the ENTIRE helmet and sand until it is fairly smooth (pic 7)

6. Cover the entire helmet with masking tape and draw your design on it ( pic 8)

7. Similar to how you put foam on the Shoes, use your masking tape as templates for the foam. Cut out the foam, sand if there is tread, and glue directly onto the helmet (pic 9 + 10)

8. Create your antenna by using a piece of wood trim and gluing it into an EVA foam base. Glue into the helmet itself (pic 11)

9. Grab your plexiglass and bend it slowly using your heat gun. Then, attach your window tint to the plexiglass and glue it into the helmet.

Step 12: Battle Damage, Paint and Attachment

1. Now here is the Painful part... After all that hard work to make everything look so crisp, you are going to Scuff it up with your dremel to make battle damage. Boba Fett has seen some things so his suit is going to be damaged and dirty.

2. Paint everything the base colors such as forest green, silver, red, etc. (pic 1)

3. Around the "damaged" parts of the armor, you can take silver paint and paint around the edges to show some scuffing. (pic 2)

3. Apply a light water black paint solution to each piece of armor, gun, knife, etc and wipe off IMMEDIATELY. This should cause a dirty look. Repeat until satisfied.(pic 3)

4. Paint on your emblems (pic 4+5)

5. Glue elastic to the thigh pieces and the shoulder pieces. Then glue the thighs into the belt and then the shoulder into the chest piece. Glue elastic onto the knee pads so they can wrap around your knees as well. 

6. Similar to how you attached the canisters onto the belt, you can attach the knife sheaths onto the thighs or even boots if you'd like.

7. Take your brown fabric, tater it up, make it dirty, and attach to the shoulder via clips

FINISHED

Make sure you get your poses down and don't be afraid to use your accessories. As we wanted to feminize this suit, my friend wore her hair down on one side underneath the helmet.

Also, be sure you take lots of pictures with other Star Wars Characters!

Thank you for the support and feel free to find me on Facebook, Instagram, Instructables, and Youtube for more geeky goodness!!.

[ecotone99]

Strength [RO]

Levi had been walking the same block for two and a half hours. He wanted so badly to get out of the cold, go up Stella’s steps, knock on her door, and just collapse into her arms. But he couldn’t allow himself to do that. He was 6’3, well over 250 pounds, and regardless of size, he was the man. He was built to be collapsed into, not the other way around. Or at least, that’s what he thought. Because that’s what he’d been told just about his entire natural life.

Sure, he’d been mildly vulnerable with a few past girlfriends. He even had some close friends who were girls that saw some private sides of him now and again. But somehow, he wasn’t even sure when, Stella had become the most important person in his life. He was closer to her than he had ever been to any living thing, in a deeper and more complicated way than he’d ever experienced before. It was the kind of feeling he’d read about in books and heard cowboys sing about but didn’t think actually existed for regular people unless they‘d gone looking for it.

As the wind picked up, his flannel shirt felt even thinner than it had when he’d stepped out into the street. He hadn’t even intended to end up at Stella’s house, he’d just gone out to get some air. His elbow length hair was whipped in all directions as it went from brisk to frigid. It froze his pride out from under him. The next time he lapped past Stella’s front door, he made himself knock.

Stella was lying half naked on her couch watching a reality courtroom show that was probably definitely staged and eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To put it lightly, she was not expecting company. “No one should be knocking at this time of night.” She thought as she brushed some crumbs off her bra and propped one elbow up to try and discern the figure through the blinds. It couldn’t be anyone she knew, they would’ve texted her first before just showing up.

Just in case she was about to be robbed, or win the Clearing House Sweepstakes, she threw on a pair of gym shorts and checked the peephole. “Levi?” She could barely make his figure out in the darkness, but he was too distinct to mistake for a stranger.

She opened the door and pulled him inside. “Bro, what are you doing? It’s like negative zero degrees out. Also it’s 2:00AM. And why didn’t you text me?” He just stood in the doorframe, resisting the urge to throw himself onto her couch and sob. “Just came over to see if you were ok.” He said, avoiding eye contact. These were the first words he’d spoken since the phone call, and he could already feel the lump in his throat rising at the opportunity.

“Ok about what?” Stella asked, thinking back to their most recent text exchange frantically analyzing it to see if they could’ve had a fight she didn’t pick up on in context. “Just, things. Life is hard sometimes.” He said, sitting on her couch and staring absentmindedly at her courtroom TV show. “How weird is this?” Stella thought to herself. “If he wanted something sexual he knows he needs to text first, it can’t be that.”

Then she remembered. Levi always projected his feelings onto her when he couldn’t talk about them himself. When he was feeling mad, he’d ask, “Why are you so angry?!” When he was feeling sad, he’d ask if everything was ok. When he was feeling tired but didn’t want to be the one to end their night he’d say, “You seem sleepy, you want me to go?” It was an annoying habit, but she preferred it to his giving her no clues at all.

She sat down next to him and lowered the volume on the TV. “How about you? How are you doing?” “You know. Keeping on.” She wanted to shake this ridiculous macho side out of him, but she knew it was the price she paid for the benefits it came with, like his hyper-protectiveness and his always letting her have the last piece of pizza. “You want something to eat? I have half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some yogurt that’s expired, but… not very expired.” “As tempting as that sounds, I’ll pass.” Levi replied, with something that almost resembled a smile.

Stella resisted the urge to just ask “Why are you here?” Because she didn’t want to give him that idea that there was anything wrong with him coming over. She was pleased by the surprise visit. She would’ve appreciated a few minutes notice to put some underwear on underneath her scratchy gym shorts, maybe get some of her old plates out of the sink, but at the same time, she took his showing up without notice as a sign that their relationship was progressing. “Whatever it is, he’ll either bring it up or he won’t. He’s a grown man, I can’t make him talk about it.” She thought, settling in next to him and turning the show back up.

Stella wrapped her arms around his. That’s all he wanted. This is exactly what he came for. He felt her soft hair, still a little damp from the shower, rub against his forearm. Listened to her beating heart pulsate in near perfect sync with his own. Her presence was the only thing in the world tranquil enough to repress his sorrow. He didn’t realize it still hurt, just someplace else, because repression was comfortable for him. He mistook the familiarity of denial for comfort. It would’ve worked, at least, worked for avoiding his problems, had Stella not tried to make small talk.

She attempted to think of lighthearted topics that might get him to open up about whatever was bothering him. “I saw that cute pic of Curly on your feed. I don’t know how you get your dog to wear hats. Mine just shakes them right off.” There was a millisecond of silence, and then, Levi was like a detonated building. In an instant, he transformed from immovably solid into an explosive crumble.

He still couldn’t bring himself to reach out for her, as badly as he wanted to. Like any solid building, he collapsed in on himself rather than onto anything else. Layer by layer, crushing into the ground. He buried his head into his knees and let out a mournful sob unlike anything Stella had ever heard from him.

It took her a minute to process what was going on. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him cry. She turned the show down, but deliberately, not off. She pulled her hair back and sat right next to him. He’d demonstrated through his actions that he wasn’t eager to talk, so she had to show him that she was here for him before she could tell him she was.

He composed himself pretty quickly and went silent. But it wasn’t a peaceful silence. He stayed balled up, sniffling, too focused on trying to compose himself to actually focus on composing himself.

Stella thought of all the things that could possibly be hitting him this hard. His biological father had always had some problems with the law. He could be back in jail? His mom had a cancer scare a while back. That could have resurfaced? She realized speculating would do no good. “Levi…” She whispered, sinking down closer to his level, “What’s up?” “It’s nothing, sorry.” He murmured. Grabbing a tissue, trying, and failing, to play off the episode. It was moments like this he was particularly glad Stella didn’t have close neighbors.

He could see the fear in her eyes. But worse than that, the concern. He wasn’t supposed to be her burden. Especially not over something this fucking childish. “I have to go.” He said, standing to rush out, thinking he’d made a serious mistake ever coming here in the first place. “Why?!” Stella asked, in disbelief as to this whole bizarre situation, wondering if she might be dreaming, or maybe stroking out. “This isn’t fair to you.” Levi said, halfway to the door. That irked Stella. “Hey.” He was still walking. “Hey!” Stella insisted, rising to follow him and block his path. “You show up in the middle of the night, break down with no explanation, then leave, and that is fair to me? I’m sorry if you don’t want to talk to me about what’s going on, but we’re past that now. Sit down.”

Worst case scenarios were starting to flow through Stella’s mind. What could he be this hesitant to reveal to her? Could there be someone else? Could he have cheated? He wouldn’t be bawling over that, he’s not the type. Oh no… Could he have cheated on her and gotten the girl pregnant? Before she could imagine any more catastrophic a scenario, Levi blurted it out. “My dog died, ok?”

Stella stopped dead in her tracks. “Curly?” She asked, as it suddenly all made sense. “Yah,” Levi explained, his voice cracking. “It’s not a big deal. I’m an adult, I shouldn’t be here bothering you with this in the middle of the night. I’m sorry. I’m just going to go before I make all this any worse.” “Oh, Levi.”

Stella stood between him and the door. She enveloped him in a hug that made him feel ten feet taller and a hundred pounds lighter all at once. Sometimes it was hard for Stella to remember that underneath the bravado, the wear, and the scars, Levi had only just been a little boy a few years ago. And that no matter how big and strong and mature he’d ever be, he’d always need love.

She felt him resist for a second or two, but finally he gave in. He collapsed the way he’d longed to the entire two and a half hours he’d circled her block in the dark, cold, and intermittent bouts of rain. He cried into the softest spot in her neck and let her hold him up so he didn’t have to.

Everything about her was soothing. The warmth of her embrace, the smell of her body wash mixed with the faintest hint of peanut butter and jelly, the even whisper of her breath against his ears, and ever his favorite thing, her heart pulsating in near perfect sync with his, audible even over his cries.

After a bit, she led him into bed, and they lay there in each other’s arms. She drew the shades and clicked the lights off. The streetlights were illuminating enough, even through the blinds. “When did you hear?” She asked, quietly. “Just a few hours ago. My parents called.” “You’d had him almost your whole life, right?” “Mmhmm. I picked him out myself, from a box of puppies. Everyone thought he was the ugliest, but I knew. I knew his fur was just growing in curly.” “You gave him such a good life, you know. He lived 15 really good years.” “You’re right. I just… I wish I’d been there. You know?”

Stella nodded as he broke down again. She stroked his hair, patting it as flat as it ever went. She traced her fingers down his back. “I’m sorry Levi. I’m glad you came over.” “No, no.” He forced himself to backtrack. “It’s a dumb reason to be upset. He was a good dog, but he was… He was… just a dog.” Levi dissolved into a fresh round of sobs as he choked those words out.

“You don’t believe that.” Stella replied with sincerity. She continued, “I’d say you don’t have to be strong for me, but that’s not relevant here. It’s strong to face tough feelings. Loss hurts. Curly was your first pet. You had him 15 years. You weren’t there when he died. I’d be concerned if you weren’t devastated. Dealing with it is the mature thing. Pretending like you’re not upset so you don’t have to face the problem is not.” “Losing a pet is sad, but I’m not a kid anymore, Stel. I shouldn’t have anything to confront, because I’m too old to be feeling like this.” Stella looked him dead in the eye and asked, “Since when is grief a childish emotion?” He didn’t have a rebuttal for that.

Levi spent the night in Stella’s bed. In Stella’s arms to be more specific. She dabbed at his eyes with a cool washcloth to bring the swelling down. She talked to him about all the memories he had with his crazy dog and looked through old photos. She’d never know the full extent of the healing power that night would hold for him.

Levi hadn’t adopted these ideals about manhood all on his own, they were taught. More than that, they were enforced. No one he’d ever loved so intensely had let feel anything but happiness or anger without criticism before. Stella had opened up all kinds of emotions for him, but at this point in their relationship, only a few months in, it was by far the most intense he’d ever allowed himself to be in her presence. It changed him. Which is why the next morning was so bone chillingly terrifying for him.

Levi had barely been awake two seconds when Stella turned to him and said, “Look, this isn’t going to work, going forward.” Levi tried to get words out, but his mind was racing, thinking, “Oh my God, it’s happening. She’s breaking up with me. I knew I shouldn’t have come over here. I ruin every good thing.” Stella continued, “This thing where you try to deal with all your problems on your own until they’ve swelled to an unmanageable size, that’s not ok. If we’re together, we’re together in everything, good and bad. I can’t feel confident coming to you with my crises if you aren’t calling me on your bad days. You know?”

If it was honesty she wanted, then it was honesty she’d get. “Stella, actually, I don’t. I’ve never been with a girl who wanted me to put my walls down. Or if they did, they never said anything about it. So it’s going to take some work, and it’s going to take some time. But I’ll do the work if you’ll give me the time.”

He gave her a real answer, she was satisfied with that as a start. “I can do that if you can.” She replied, snuggling in close to him again. She could feel the drop in his chest as he let out of a sigh of relief and drew her in even closer. In the months that would follow, Levi and Stella would get to know each other, and as a result, themselves, better than they ever had before.

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[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 7/29/2018

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Sunday 29th July 2018. Remember you can read full articles by purchasing Sunday Sun Nation Newspaper (SS), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

CHILD ADVOCATE WANTS EXPELLED STUDENTS REINSTATED –Child advocate Shelly Ross is fighting to have two boys who were involved in a disturbance at the St Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School reinstated. Ross said she had written new Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw, outlining that the boys were only 15 years old and had not been to school since the incident in February. “This is wrong; this is illegal; they have been criminalised and are being denied an education. They have just been turned out on the streets,” Ross charged. She added that a 16 year-old boy “who had instigated the fight and who was the aggressor” was back at the Richmond Gap, St Michael school shortly after the incident. “Why not these too?” she asked. (SS)

MINISTER REDEFINES SILVER HILL BLOCK – The 12 Guage block in Silver Hill, Christ Church, will now be known as the 12 Step block. So said Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment Adrian Forde who spoke to the media during a tour of the Silver Hill community and the launch of his Building Block project. “There are 12 steps of redefining and redeveloping this block, and they have started the first step today by being here and putting their creative thoughts and actions [together], that we are going into this ministry to initiate,” he said. He added the project would encompass the length and breadth of Barbados and would continue over the next couple of months. “The blocks must become business centres, and areas of excellence; they must become idyllic in their nature and refine the community as a spot to go and have a Sunday lunch. “We are going to do a total beautification of the societies. We understand the scourge of violence, and the only way we can tackle it is if we have the country behind us,” he explained. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley also toured the block near Quimby’s Shop, Bush Hall Yard Gap, St Michael, as part of the Building Blocks Project.  (SS)

POLICE IDENTIFY ROAD FATALITY VICTIM – Police have released the identity of the woman who died this afternoon in a road accident on the Adams section of the ABC Highway. She is 23-year-old Tiara Clarke, of Black Rock, St Michael. The deceased was a passenger of a vehicle driven by a 32-year-old female, of Gall Hill, Christ Church. Police Public Relations Officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss said Clarke died on the spot while the driver was taken to hospital. The motorcar was extensively damaged. Police are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this accident to contact the District ‘B’ Police Station at 437 4311, police emergency at 211 or any police station. (BT)

ONE MAN DEAD; TWO INJURED FOLLOWING ST LUCY SHOOTING – July 28, 2018 One man is dead and two others were injured in a shooting incident that occurred at Hope Road, St Lucy, around 7:10p.m. Police spokesman Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss said the deceased died on the spot. The other two men – one was injured in his lower spine and right shoulder while the other received an injury to his left foot. As investigations continue into this incident, lawmen are appealing to anyone with information to contact the Crab Hill Police station at 310 7700; the Criminal Investigations Department at 430-7189; Police Emergency at 211; or any police station. (BT)

STEWART WANTS POLICE, SOLDIERS FOR FOREDAY AND KADOOMENT – With Crop Over 2018’s two largest events left on the calendar over the next week, a heavy presence of armed Barbados Defence Force (BDF) personnel is required to prevent an outbreak of the violence which almost crippled the Republic Bank Kadooment Day celebrations a year ago. That’s the feeling of president of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM), Chetwin Stewart. According to Stewart, soldiers along every section of the routes on August 4 (Foreday Morning) and August 6 (Kadooment Day) would go a long way in preventing what occurred last year. Thousands were sent scampering for cover just after 6:30 p.m. along Spring Garden last year, when one man was killed and six people suffered gunshot wounds during a brazen shoot-out as revellers partied in the dark near the end of the festival’s climax. Stewart said thousands of Barbadians were staying away from jumping in the Barbados Light & Power/HOTT 95.3 Foreday Morning Jam and on Kadooment Day in 2018, after the gun-toting thugs took their ammo to Spring Garden last year.  (SS)

QUEUED UP FOR BATTLE – Expect the finals of the Courtesy/Mount Gay Pic-O-De-Crop competition to be a close one with ten seasoned calypsonians on stage. The show which is slated for August 3 is not one to miss. The ten finalists drew their positions Wednesday night at the Courtesy Garage Wildey headquarters with ACstarting the show, followed by Billboard, Chrystal Cummins-Beckles, Smokey Burke, Mr Blood, Donella, iWeb, Kid Site, Structure and Jude Clarke. Although Paul Billboard Murrell pulled the second slot, he was excited to make it to the finals for the first time. Known for the controversial social commentary Sex Change which has made waves during the season, Billboardtold Barbados TODAY “I’m going to give it my best”. Meanwhile, Jude Clarke who will be the last competitor was completely shocked by his selection. “I came here with a particular number in mind so when I pulled the position I was surprised. I got here hoping that four would have been the number, but apparently it isn’t and I’m accepting it,” explained Clarke. One of the two females in the finals, Crystal Cummins-Beckles said she was happy with third place and she will be bringing her best on finals night. “I am looking to do what Crystal does best and that is to go out there and put on a show for the people, enjoy myself, meet the criteria and do my best,” said Cummins-Beckles who has made it to the Pic-O-De-Crop finals for the ninth time. During the function, Minister of Culture, Creative Economy and Sports John King disclosed that the competitors will be receiving a performance fee of $2, 000. He also revealed that in 2019, calypsonians will be able to record their music through the Cultural Industries Development Agency. “There will no excuses of people saying they haven’t heard the songs. It will depend solely on the tent managers and the calypsonians to get the material ready to suit from May 1,” revealed the Minister. Minister King argued that the social commentary being produced was of the highest quality. However, the calypso monarch competition had taken a dive in popularity and the combined efforts of the private sector, artistes and Government were needed for its revival. “Pic-O-De-Crop needs to go back to being the premiere competition not only in Barbados but across the Caribbean,” said King, adding that this would be possible through initiatives such as the CIDA. The Minister of Creative of Economy suggested that big plans were in the works for 2019, saying “I expect we will develop a new culture, a culture of excellence in everything that we do, a culture of productivity, a culture of being able to give praise where praise is due especially to our own”. Events Producer for the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) Aja also encouraged the ten finalists  who will be vying to dethrone iWeb for the 2019/2019 Nissan X-Trail compliments Courtesy Garage, to be the beacons for the future of kaiso in Barbados and the Caribbean. “We have seen a sort of waning in Pic-O-De-Crop over the years, [in] social commentary,” he mentioned, adding ”Our calypso is holding the fort for the survival of social commentary not only in Barbados but in the entire Caribbean”.   (BT)

NEW MONARCH AT BARBADOS PORT – Over the next year, Jacque Jackson Unplugged Collis will reign supreme as the 2018 Barbados Port Inc.’s calypso monarch. Delivering a solid and convincing performance of her social commentary Dey Had To Go to a large audience, she gained 98 points to cement her victory and beat out seven other contestants to claim the title, a trophy, a $3 000 cash prize, dinner for two, and tickets for the Pic-O-De-Crop finals. She also received a strand of pearls compliment Colombian Emerald’s for the highest ranking female contestant. Jackson Unplugged dethroned last year’s monarch Roger Aleph Collymore who came third with 74 points and another former monarch Latoya Big Brown Eversley who came second with 92 points during the ninth edition of the show held last night in Shed Three at the Bridgetown Port. The winning song, which was penned by Cultural Ambassador Gabby with input from her, reflected the outcome of the May 24 general elections, because the “DLP had we in misery”. In it, she cautioned the other contenders that because it was “a Port competition”, it did not mean it should not be taken seriously. Furthermore, she urged staff to face the fact that country was broke and everyone had to help improve it. Big Brown’s love for Crop Over and party music was evident from the time she came on stage. A former monarch, she brought energy to her performance that placed in her major contention of the title. Not only did she sing well as she paid tribute to the national festival, but along with her two female dancers and stiltman, she brought Wuk Wuk Wine to life in the self-penned song which Gabby assisted her with. She received a $2 000 cash prize. Aleph defended his crown like a champion. His Game Of Thrones was a clever play on the popular show. In it he declared that “all the fun done” and it was war on the other contestants some of whom called him the “la la man”. His major contention was that they “can’t win if they don’t write their own songs”. He received a $1 000 cash prize and a $200 voucher as well as a prize for the best self-penned song. Olivia Olimike Carmichael (The Letter), Raphael Straw Hat Atkins (12), Waindy Nos H.D Taylor (The Blueprint), Sherry Ann Sugarlan Hewitt (Sugarland), and Kerry-Ann Hot N Spicy Dean (I Am Not Your Maid) were the other contestants. They all received consolation prizes. The contestants all put up a valiant effort in their bid before judges Washbrook Bayne, (chief judge), Anthony Sargeant, Ronnie De Announcer Clarke, Cleve Scott and manager of the C.O. Williams House of Soca calypso tent, Sharon Carew-White. Apart from the contest, the audience was treated to performances from the regional calypso queen Calypso Rose who at 78 years old, was full of energy. She turned the place into one big feting session singing No Minister, Give Me More Tempo, and Fire in Me Wire. Also performing were the 13-18 year Scotiabank Junior Monarch Quon performed Why I Sing, Mighty Bit Bit, who placed second in the seven to 12 category sang his Please Give Bit Bit De Crown, Biggie Irie who sang Pankatang and Country, Adrian Clarke did Soca Me and Malik World Cup Cricket. Fashion Designer Ivonna Phillips also showcased a number of her pieces. Roger Gittens who arranged the majority of the songs, led the backing band that included musicians David Weatherhead and Mark Husbands. Randy Harris and Aisha Butcher were the background vocalists for all the contestants except Jackson Unplugged whose vocalists were Cave Shepherd All Stars Calypso Tent’s Eleanor Rice-Watkins, Romancia Murray and Sophia Lovell. Radio personality Admiral Nelson was the master of ceremonies.  (SS)

LOTS OF SUPPORT FOR MARZVILLE AT SHOW – Some of the biggest names in entertainment rallied around entertainer Omar McQuilkin for his inaugural Welcome to Marzville. The event was held at Daiquiri Beach and slated to begin at 9 p.m. However, the show truly began around 2:30 a.m. when the Give it To Ya singer appeared on stage with former Junior Monarch Adela Payne. During the well-attended event, he then welcomed several acts, some of who were backed by the Super Lynks band. They included Jus D, Nikita, King Bubba, Hypasounds, Edwin Yearwood and Lil Rick. (SS)

A BETTER SHOWING THIS YEAR – July 28, 2018 Xhosa band is learning from last year’s mistakes and has undertaken a huge re-branding exercise. Band Leader Jeremy Nicholas told Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of their signature cooler party We Don’t Pose, We Party that his team will be doing extensive checks of the costumes. “We have received most of our stuff and by the end of the week the rest of the customers will be here. To follow up from last year, we are making sure we aren’t making some of those mistakes. We will be doing all of our quality checks over the weekend to prepare for distributing.” Nicholas said his committee has rectified the difficulties on the road last year and has assured revellers that a good time will be had, “The band is obviously recovering from last year, but we are thankful that we are still able to go on the road and have a good time. We had to rebuild and show people that Xhosa is a brand that is serious about [what] we are giving to people and they will see that demonstrated on the road.” He said numbers have dropped off, but he blamed that on the economy. “We are obviously faced with the economic situation period in Barbados so [there] wouldn’t be a massive group as we had last year but it will be enough that we will have a good time on the road. Meanwhile, hundreds of partygoers who turned out to the beautifully transformed Sugarland Garden, Haymans, St Peter for Xhosa’s second annual Cooler Party enjoyed themselves. Last year, Xhosa partnered with the Red Boyz to produce an all Bajan cast. Nicholas said they’ve tweaked the lineup to enhance the production and make it more attractive. “This year, we followed up with that and have increased the [number] of artistes that are performing,  all backed by the Red Boyz, RPB, Lil Rick, Peter Ram, Jus D, Faith, Nikita, Lead Pipe and Saddis and Biggie Irie,” he said.   (BT)

FRUSTRATING START TO KIDDIES KADOOMENT – Hundreds of beautiful decked out junior masqueraders started to make their way to Kensington Oval from as early as 7:30 this morning. The eager beavers were patiently awaiting their turn to parade in front of the judges at the Junior Kadooment and Fair in association with Consolidated Finance. Seventeen bands are set to parade in the blistering sun but up to 10:30a.m. none had paraded as yet as parents complained bitterly about the logistics. Questions were repeatedly being asked about the entrance, where the ticket both was located and where were the bands assembled. This resulted in a long spectator line at one point. One irate parent made her voice heard as she exclaimed: “This is way too disorganised!” Another said: “Every time they come to Kensington Oval the same thing happens.” Efforts to get an official comment proved futile at the time of this publication.  (BT)

ANOTHER BIG WIN FOR SMALL – Kevin Small and his band Fifth Element Mas has done it again! Following today’s Junior Kadooment in association with Consolidated Finance, Fifth Element Mas under the theme Virtual Reality, was announced as Best Junior band for 2018 in a release from the National Cultural Foundation around 8:40 p.m. This makes it the band’s fourth title since inception. They previously won in 2014, 2016 as well as last year. Speaking to THE NATION who broke the news to him, Small said it was a very overwhelming feeling. “It’s even greater than the win. For us we have been dealing with a lot of reviews from parents telling us about the experience and how it was for their children. We tried hard to satisfy all their needs because first and foremost our masqueraders’ happiness is of upmost importance,” he said. Second place went to veteran bandleader Gwyneth Squires and her band Los Barbados − The People Who Came. Third place went to Trevor Nicholls’ Young Spirits Community Group under the theme Mystical Angels in Fantasy.  (SS)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 156 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[immersedinm]

Fall in Atlanta is chock full of incredible live music, and I try to get to as much as my time and pocketbook affords. So when I heard about Noah Kahan and The Strumbellas coming to town, I jumped at the chance.

Terminal West is one of my favorite venues in Atlanta, because the lights and sound are truly incredible as well as the wide range of musical talents they bring to Atlanta. Watching an artist perform live makes them unforgettable, and this night was no exception.

After learning about Noah Kahan for my earlier post about him (you can read it HERE), I found his story to be compelling. He took a leap of faith and decided to forego college for a chance to pursue his music. It was a giant risk from a guy living in a small town in Vermont. I recognize the conviction in his lovely music.

Kahan is a singer/songwriter that connects with his listeners through his amazing vocals, his folk style that warms to a stomping chorus, and his lyrics full of heart, wisdom, and wit. On Monday night, his performance hushed the gathering crowd and drew hearty claps. During his set, we were graced with his newest single, “Hurt Somebody”, and it’s a beaut (listen below). It is nice to know he is writing and continuing to live out his dream.

Noah Kahan is an artist to watch….

              Noah Kahan-Hurt Somebody

                  I am a chatty gal, so one of my favorite things is meeting with music fans standing around me. I love hearing who they are listening to and what brought them out. So when a couple of new friends scored the setlist because they enjoyed Noah Kahan, I was thrilled for them. Way to go, Clare and Ben from Atlanta, (the third pic was the charm, thanks for your patience!)

  After Noah Kahan and his band ended their performance with the crowd pleasing tune, “Young Blood”, there was some time to wander and check out the merch table.

Always fun to see what they have!

What is it about a band where you find yourself singing along at the top of your lungs, clapping your hands till they turn ruby red, and jumping and stomping to the drum beats? The energy of both bands lifted me up, and I found a resounding source of enthusiasm. It was a perfect night.

Happy to dance and sing with my newest musical compadres, I looked around and found I was the lonely listener that didn’t know each and every lyric. The Strumbellas have a strong fan base in Atlanta. Many told me they saw them at Music Midtown, went to their late night show at Smith’s Old Bar, and found that they just couldn’t wait to bring friends and see them again.

True band devotion…

When Simon Ward entered the dimly lit stage barefoot and struck a prayer-like pose, I knew I was going to be wowed.

    The lead singer dances like a fast moving train, and my camera couldn’t seem to keep up. I made every effort to capture the band’s fire and passion!

                        From quiet beginnings, each song builds in momentum to a sing-a-long chorus and a bit of stomping and clapping as its breathes a powerful hope and reassurance to us all. So it is no wonder their 2016 album is titled, Hope. Their style seems to be the rambunctious ‘heart of America’ sound, but surprisingly they are from Canada and their music preceded the bands famous for that sound, like the Lumineers.

Here is a joyous sampling of the moment!

The many happy happy fans!

I loved meeting Wendy from Marietta. She was sporting a homemade tee in tribute to The Strumbellas and their tune, “Wild Sun”.

The Strumbellas-Wild Sun

Also, I have to share an amazing painting by a great friend and artist, Toniella, who interprets songs in her art. This painting is based on The Strumbellas’ powerful song, “We Don’t Know”.

  Because it was a Monday night and I had to be at work early on Tuesday, I didn’t get to see who nabbed the golden ticket set list. But I always try and capture the image…

  They only have a couple of dates left on their tour, so be sure to go if you need a hopeful, fun fix.

    First time in Atlanta, the talented Noah Kahan supports The Strumbellas, a Music Midtown fave! Fall in Atlanta is chock full of incredible live music, and I try to get to as much as my time and pocketbook affords.

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Watch Ariana Grande & Mac Miller Sneak a Kiss Onstage After Performing 'The Way

Mac Miller loves the manner Ariana Grande makes him sense, and the rapper confirmed it while he joined her onstage during the harmful Female tour show in Inglewood, California, on Friday night.

The singer sat perched at the level steps along with her boyfriend, dancing and looking at every other flirtatiously at the same time as acting their 2013 duet “The manner” — Grande’s step forward unmarried.

The couple even shared a kiss because the song ended, plenty to the pleasure of the gushing target audience.

Final week, the “Into You” singer published a throwback clip from “The way” music video, celebrating the four-year anniversary of the music’s launch. The clip turned into the duo’s first PDA moment, a foreshadowing of the romance that blossomed years later.

Haunted Lighthouses – Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse

Located on the southern give up of Gasparilla Island you will locate the Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. Right next to the lighthouse sits its twin – a building that served because of the lighthouse keeper’s assistant’s home. Firstly built in 1890, those two buildings were almost lost to the ocean. With the aid of 1970, the coastline has been eroded With the aid of loads of toes and the sea was starting to attain the lighthouse foundation. The nearby issue grew and the government took steps to make certain the lighthouse would be around for destiny generations.

While phosphate became found numerous miles upriver from the lighthouse’s destiny region in the early 1880’s, the phosphate was shipped down the river on barges to Port Boca Grande after which loaded onto ocean-going vessels. Due to the extended enterprise of the port, Congress appropriated $35,000 for the development of a lighthouse on the southern tip of Gasparilla Island in 1888, and the Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was born.

Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked inside the lighthouse from 1890 till 1951. The Boca Grande lighthouse served as a domestic for the lighthouse keeper and his own family, and the twin building subsequent to it served as home to the assistant lighthouse keeper. The keeper could contend with the light until nighttime, and then his assistant could have a tendency to the light for the relaxation of the night time.

The Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is the concept to have two ghosts.

For the duration of the lighthouse’s history, the young daughter of one of the keepers died in the residing, most in all likelihood of diphtheria or a whooping cough. Excursion courses say that she may be heard playing in one of the rooms of the constructing’s higher floor. A former park ranger who led excursions of the lighthouse often pointed to a doorway on the second one ground and informed traffic that it became one of the little girl’s favored places to play. the former ranger also said that in the dark, the little girl can be heard upstairs playing.

The second ghost is said to be the headless specter of a Spanish princess named Josefa. Legend says that a Spanish pirate,

Jose Gaspar (aka Gasparilla), buried his treasure in the sand close to where the Vintage Port Boca Grande Lighthouse became to be constructed a few 90 years later. Apparently, Gaspar fell in love with this Spanish princess he had abducted. She wasn’t interested and While she rejected his love, he drew his sword in an in shape of rage and cut off her head. Shared Via what he had completed to Josefa, Gasparilla collected up her lifeless frame and buried her inside the sand on the island. Unluckily for her, his love for her was so superb that he did not need to go away her and legend say he carried his cherished’s head with him for the relaxation of his days. Reviews say that her headless spirit has been seen wandering the seaside on Gasparilla Island, presumably searching out her head.

The U.S. Coast Guard automatic the light in 1956.

Ten years later, in 1966, the Coast Guard eliminated the light from the constructing, which turned into deteriorating Due to forgetting and seaside erosion. In 1972 Lee County took over possession of the lighthouse and surrounding 13 acres, and started out a protracted method to save the constructing. Finances had been raised With the aid of the Gasparilla Island Conservation Affiliation, and the lighthouse turned into restored.

The lighthouse became positioned on the Countrywide Sign in of Ancient places in 1980 and in 1986 the lighthouse became relit and back to the carrier as a running Coast Guard light. In 1988 the lighthouse and surrounding land become transferred from Lee County to the Country of Florida and have become Gasparilla Island Nation Park.

The Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is open to the general public. Even though it’s fenced off, you may get an exceptional view of the lighthouse from the close by park and seashore. The assistant keeper’s house is now used as a residence for the park ranger.

What is an IP Address and MAC Address

An IP (Net Protocol) Deal with is largely how your PC or device is recognized on the Net. Any computer or tool that is linked to the Net needs to be assigned a logical IP Cope with whether or not it is from your ISP (Net Provider Company) or your nearby router’s DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server.

You could think about an IP Cope with like a car’s registration code.

Every car driving on the street (legally) has a license plate that’s registered to the neighborhood DMV. The license plate is kind of like the automobile’s identification card, which allows someone (generally a cop) to run the plate and discover all varieties of facts about the owner of the car wherein the license plate is registered to. An IP Address works the equal manner. Every PC browsing the web has to have some sort of figuring out IP Cope with, whether it be an IP assigned to the real computer, the router the PC is attached to, or the proxy server the computer is connecting with. This Cope with is what identifies a PC at the internet as a license plate is what identifies a vehicle on the road.

A MAC (Media Access Manipulate) Deal with then again is the bodily Address of the NIC

(Network Interface Cards) for your computer (something like a serial quantity). On broadcast networks, inclusive of Ethernet, the MAC Address uniquely identifies each node (computing device/pic) for specific packet shipping. If you revel in analogies, You can type of compare the NIC’s MAC Cope with to a car’s VIN quantity. The MAC identifies the bodily networking hardware as a car’s VIN identifies a particular vehicle.

The motive I picked a car for my analogies is to

Help readers take into account that a dynamic IP Address can trade much like a car’s license plate quantity can be changed. However, a MAC Cope with (under maximum situations) cannot be modified just like a vehicle’s VIN can not be changed.

A static IP Deal with however is an IP Address that you keep steady and by no means modifications (and usually must pay a price for). Having a static IP is useful for folks that run servers or any sort of device wherein you need for the IP Address to always stay the identical.

My call is Sergio Woods and I have been reading computer systems for over 7 years now.

I have a fantastic deal of information in elements ranging from Internet Management to software program programming to hardware and component installation. In my studies, I have come to recognize that there are very popular matters even the most casual laptop user ought to recognize how to do so that you can keep their computer walking at its top overall performance.

  Performing Arts and Its Branches

Dance, drama, and song which might be completed in front of many people or audiences are recognized to belong in appearing arts. This form of artwork isn’t like plastic arts which most effective involve several artistic endeavors made from a distinct form of materials like clay, paint, wooden and metallic. Those artworks are often created with the aid of many artists and are displayed at some stage in reveals but in contrast to performing arts, the presence of the artists isn’t always required or isn’t vital at all. On the subject of appearing arts, the artists themselves collectively with their performances are the ones that the audiences are interested in. Those people are then commonly known as performers.

This kind of art isn’t always new to the society because this has been around for such a lot of years now.

It honestly started centuries ago. This type or art is even more common in colleges everywhere in the international and it regularly involves a number of individuals who all have the ardor to delight the group by using showcasing their skills. by means of carrying a large style of costumes, wigs, masks, foot wears and different accessories, an artist becomes/transforms to a completely distinct person in front of the crowd after which performs.

As mentioned earlier, there are 3 branches of acting arts – the dance,

Drama, and music. The first sort of appearing arts is dance which basically refers the actions of the human body the usage of a selected rhythm. acting a dance isn’t only meant to delight the group but it is also a manner to explicit the performer’s sentiments. it is also a manner of showing the people unique forms of cultures or telling them about the records of a positive region. A dance can be in several forms like folks dance, ballet and lots of extras.

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Watch Ariana Grande & Mac Miller Sneak a Kiss Onstage After Performing 'The Way

Mac Miller loves the manner Ariana Grande makes him sense, and the rapper confirmed it while he joined her onstage during the harmful Female tour show in Inglewood, California, on Friday night.

The singer sat perched at the level steps along with her boyfriend, dancing and looking at every other flirtatiously at the same time as acting their 2013 duet “The manner” — Grande’s step forward unmarried.

The couple even shared a kiss because the song ended, plenty to the pleasure of the gushing target audience.

Final week, the “Into You” singer published a throwback clip from “The way” music video, celebrating the four-year anniversary of the music’s launch. The clip turned into the duo’s first PDA moment, a foreshadowing of the romance that blossomed years later.

Haunted Lighthouses – Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse

Located on the southern give up of Gasparilla Island you will locate the Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. Right next to the lighthouse sits its twin – a building that served because of the lighthouse keeper’s assistant’s home. Firstly built in 1890, those two buildings were almost lost to the ocean. With the aid of 1970, the coastline has been eroded With the aid of loads of toes and the sea was starting to attain the lighthouse foundation. The nearby issue grew and the government took steps to make certain the lighthouse would be around for destiny generations.

While phosphate became found numerous miles upriver from the lighthouse’s destiny region in the early 1880’s, the phosphate was shipped down the river on barges to Port Boca Grande after which loaded onto ocean-going vessels. Due to the extended enterprise of the port, Congress appropriated $35,000 for the development of a lighthouse on the southern tip of Gasparilla Island in 1888, and the Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was born.

Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked inside the lighthouse from 1890 till 1951. The Boca Grande lighthouse served as a domestic for the lighthouse keeper and his own family, and the twin building subsequent to it served as home to the assistant lighthouse keeper. The keeper could contend with the light until nighttime, and then his assistant could have a tendency to the light for the relaxation of the night time.

The Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is the concept to have two ghosts.

For the duration of the lighthouse’s history, the young daughter of one of the keepers died in the residing, most in all likelihood of diphtheria or a whooping cough. Excursion courses say that she may be heard playing in one of the rooms of the constructing’s higher floor. A former park ranger who led excursions of the lighthouse often pointed to a doorway on the second one ground and informed traffic that it became one of the little girl’s favored places to play. the former ranger also said that in the dark, the little girl can be heard upstairs playing.

The second ghost is said to be the headless specter of a Spanish princess named Josefa. Legend says that a Spanish pirate,

Jose Gaspar (aka Gasparilla), buried his treasure in the sand close to where the Vintage Port Boca Grande Lighthouse became to be constructed a few 90 years later. Apparently, Gaspar fell in love with this Spanish princess he had abducted. She wasn’t interested and While she rejected his love, he drew his sword in an in shape of rage and cut off her head. Shared Via what he had completed to Josefa, Gasparilla collected up her lifeless frame and buried her inside the sand on the island. Unluckily for her, his love for her was so superb that he did not need to go away her and legend say he carried his cherished’s head with him for the relaxation of his days. Reviews say that her headless spirit has been seen wandering the seaside on Gasparilla Island, presumably searching out her head.

The U.S. Coast Guard automatic the light in 1956.

Ten years later, in 1966, the Coast Guard eliminated the light from the constructing, which turned into deteriorating Due to forgetting and seaside erosion. In 1972 Lee County took over possession of the lighthouse and surrounding 13 acres, and started out a protracted method to save the constructing. Finances had been raised With the aid of the Gasparilla Island Conservation Affiliation, and the lighthouse turned into restored.

The lighthouse became positioned on the Countrywide Sign in of Ancient places in 1980 and in 1986 the lighthouse became relit and back to the carrier as a running Coast Guard light. In 1988 the lighthouse and surrounding land become transferred from Lee County to the Country of Florida and have become Gasparilla Island Nation Park.

The Antique Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is open to the general public. Even though it’s fenced off, you may get an exceptional view of the lighthouse from the close by park and seashore. The assistant keeper’s house is now used as a residence for the park ranger.

What is an IP Address and MAC Address

An IP (Net Protocol) Deal with is largely how your PC or device is recognized on the Net. Any computer or tool that is linked to the Net needs to be assigned a logical IP Cope with whether or not it is from your ISP (Net Provider Company) or your nearby router’s DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server.

You could think about an IP Cope with like a car’s registration code.

Every car driving on the street (legally) has a license plate that’s registered to the neighborhood DMV. The license plate is kind of like the automobile’s identification card, which allows someone (generally a cop) to run the plate and discover all varieties of facts about the owner of the car wherein the license plate is registered to. An IP Address works the equal manner. Every PC browsing the web has to have some sort of figuring out IP Cope with, whether it be an IP assigned to the real computer, the router the PC is attached to, or the proxy server the computer is connecting with. This Cope with is what identifies a PC at the internet as a license plate is what identifies a vehicle on the road.

A MAC (Media Access Manipulate) Deal with then again is the bodily Address of the NIC

(Network Interface Cards) for your computer (something like a serial quantity). On broadcast networks, inclusive of Ethernet, the MAC Address uniquely identifies each node (computing device/pic) for specific packet shipping. If you revel in analogies, You can type of compare the NIC’s MAC Cope with to a car’s VIN quantity. The MAC identifies the bodily networking hardware as a car’s VIN identifies a particular vehicle.

The motive I picked a car for my analogies is to

Help readers take into account that a dynamic IP Address can trade much like a car’s license plate quantity can be changed. However, a MAC Cope with (under maximum situations) cannot be modified just like a vehicle’s VIN can not be changed.

A static IP Deal with however is an IP Address that you keep steady and by no means modifications (and usually must pay a price for). Having a static IP is useful for folks that run servers or any sort of device wherein you need for the IP Address to always stay the identical.

My call is Sergio Woods and I have been reading computer systems for over 7 years now.

I have a fantastic deal of information in elements ranging from Internet Management to software program programming to hardware and component installation. In my studies, I have come to recognize that there are very popular matters even the most casual laptop user ought to recognize how to do so that you can keep their computer walking at its top overall performance.

  Performing Arts and Its Branches

Dance, drama, and song which might be completed in front of many people or audiences are recognized to belong in appearing arts. This form of artwork isn’t like plastic arts which most effective involve several artistic endeavors made from a distinct form of materials like clay, paint, wooden and metallic. Those artworks are often created with the aid of many artists and are displayed at some stage in reveals but in contrast to performing arts, the presence of the artists isn’t always required or isn’t vital at all. On the subject of appearing arts, the artists themselves collectively with their performances are the ones that the audiences are interested in. Those people are then commonly known as performers.

This kind of art isn’t always new to the society because this has been around for such a lot of years now.

It honestly started centuries ago. This type or art is even more common in colleges everywhere in the international and it regularly involves a number of individuals who all have the ardor to delight the group by using showcasing their skills. by means of carrying a large style of costumes, wigs, masks, foot wears and different accessories, an artist becomes/transforms to a completely distinct person in front of the crowd after which performs.

As mentioned earlier, there are 3 branches of acting arts – the dance,

Drama, and music. The first sort of appearing arts is dance which basically refers the actions of the human body the usage of a selected rhythm. acting a dance isn’t only meant to delight the group but it is also a manner to explicit the performer’s sentiments. it is also a manner of showing the people unique forms of cultures or telling them about the records of a positive region. A dance can be in several forms like folks dance, ballet and lots of extras.