#solar hannah

[swordsoprano]

dungeon master: so there's a total solar eclipse-

the entire party: I HAVE DARKVISION

[edsonjnovaes]

Há 3 anos, quem acertou?

Há 2 anos, quem acertou? A grande diferença de respeito às pessoas do Restaurante Madero e das Lojas Cem! 15 DE MARÇO DE 2022 Há 2 anos, tivemos no início da pandemia um comportamento de extremos de duas empresas significativas: Madero e Lojas Cem. Vale a pena relembrar a visão de ambas: Está repercutindo em todo o Brasil a fala arrogante, egoísta e equivocada do Chef Junior Durski, proprietário…

[scienceysideblog]

This reminds me of a study about attention I learnt about from Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford's podcast subtitled "gorillas we have missed". (as in gorillas in the mist) Do scientists just like gorilla puns? I'm not complaining as this entertained me for days at the time.

as a child being told "the moon controls the tides" with no additional explanation was like. oh okay. you want me to believe in magic? you're talking about magic right now? okay. fine

[indyfilmlibrary]

Een Doodgewone Dag [An Ordinary Day] (2024) - 3 stars

"Middelberg, Fleer and Heijnen each deserve credit for capturing the relentless, unspoken panic that we deal with in our everyday lives, in just seven minutes - let alone in a production of just 48 hours."

Director: Sando Heijnen Writer: Hannah Fleer Cast: Susanne Middelberg Running time: 7mins Director Sando Heijnen and writer Hannah Fleer have established themselves as specialists in a niche brand of disorientating and upsetting cinema. In Doe Eens Mens (named Best Film at IFL’s 2023 Halloween Showcase), they told the story of a mother and son being subjected to the same kind of nonsensical…

[fans4wga]

The Animation Guild Announces Unionization Efforts At Warner Bros. And Cartoon Network

EDIT: Because people are misreading this, please note: it is animation production workers specifically who are joining the pre-existing TAG (The Animation Guild) union.

Animators and animation writers are already covered under TAG. This news story is specifically about WB animation production workers.

News story text:

"Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network production workers are attempting to unionize with The Animation Guild (TAG).

A petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board today requesting a union election. The petition includes 66 staffers at Warner Bros. Animation and 22 at Cartoon Network, including roles like production manager, digital production assistant, IT technician, production coordinator, production assistant, design production coordinator, assistant production manager and senior assistant production manager.

They are involved in such Warner Bros. projects as Batman: The Caped Crusader, Harley Quinn and Teen Titans Go! and Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, We Baby Bears and Craig of the Creek.

The workers also requested voluntary recognition from management at the Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries.

A tweet was issued confirming the move, which was officially announced earlier on a joint Zoom call.

“Although many might not think it, production is a specialized skill; we might not be artists or writers, but what we bring to the table goes beyond traditional creativity and gets content on the air,” Warner Bros. Animation production manager Hannah Ferenc said in a statement about the organization effort. “Having lived through the existing state of the animation industry for the past seven years, I want to make sure that not only our current workers, but all those who choose to join us in the future, can feel secure in following their passion by earning livable wages and being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

The Animation Guild has already established bargaining units on shows like Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad!  It also is active at studios like Titmouse New York and L.A. and ShadowMachine. Establishment at Walt Disney Animation Studios is currently in progress."

[disteal]

Since I haven’t seen anything about it on Tumblr yet;

For around 12 hours now, IDF forces have been raiding and sieging Al Shifa hospital in South Gaza. If you know anyone stuck in Gaza who’s been injured, had family who was injured or is medical staff, odds are they were taking refuge in/around Al Shifa. Accurate reports on casualties/wounded are hard to come across at the moment, but there’s video of IOF forces firing at patients and hospital staff and “trying to kill anyone who moves” [al jazeera].

If you weren’t aware; Al Shifa is the largest hospital in Gaza, and it was their departing ambulance convoy who were struck by IOF air strike on November 3rd. The hospital is well over its 700 bed capacity and has been asking desperately for supplies and fuel for weeks, after IOF destroyed their solar panels on Nov 6 and put the entire facility on backup generators.

There are a staggering amount of injured Palestinians and newborn babies in that hospital who cannot be moved from their wards, and are in critical danger without care. Nurses have been forced to either flee or stay behind and risk enemy fire.

It’s worth noting that despite Israeli claims Al Shifa is sitting on top of a Hamas-run bunker and the hospital is a front, the only tunnels they’ve found appear to be the tunnels built BY the IOF in 1983. The ‘terrified Palestinian nurse in Al Shifa’ video from 4 days ago, where a young covered woman appears to cry about Hamas forces in the hospital, is almost definitely Israeli influencer Hannah Abutbul in a bad disguise. Despite this being a ‘targeted operation’ Israeli spokespeople have not been clear on where exactly they think Hamas is operating out of in the enormous complex, and IOF radio reveals there’s been no evidence found of Israeli hostages.

This is a HOSPITAL, full of injured people, mourning families and children being cared for by hospital staff and volunteers.

The real ‘reason’ for the assault becomes obvious when you see footage of IOF soldiers marching the Israeli flag to the top of the hospital. Al Shifa was a conquest for Israel, a humiliation for surviving Palestinians and a message to the region. They did not like a facility that existed outside of their control, that put hope in the hearts of the people they’re trying to slaughter, and so they attacked it.

If you are able to join the Cairo Convoy and march on Rafah, PLEASE GO. If not, PLEASE SPREAD AWARENESS.

[innbetween]

Question more so for Hannah than Tessa but who knows, maybe podcasts exist in the dnd world.

wanted to know if you had any queer fantasy and/or sci-fi audio drama recommendations. I’ve listened to and loved Welcome To NightVale, Jar Of Rebuke, Absolutely No Adventures, Zoo, The Bright Sessions, and of course, Inn Between. Thanks regardless :]

DO I

Yeah I definitely do. I'm actually one of those cishets myself, so just to be absolutely clear, i'm going to include only shows with at least one main character who's not like. You know. One of me. I'm also looking at your selections and noting a sort of steady pacing, respect for exploration, and character focus, so I'll be leaning toward those.

FANTASY

Dragon's Rest is a sitcom in the vein of ANA and Inn Between--a fantasy inn, a grumpy owner, her hapless hero hopeful busboy, the local lush, a bard who, and I cannot stress this enough, is too dumb to read. It's delightful, honestly.

Eeler's Choice is a strange and beautiful oceanic adventure about magic, siblings, and giant eels. The music slaps also.

Electromancy: imagine if Harry Potter was a) not written by a freakin transphobe, and b) actually asked hard questions about imperialism. Like hey, should we be doing imperialism?

The Kingmaker Histories is hard to describe. I can say "steampunk," and "magic" and "magical politics" and "Collette's got a jewel stuck in her head that explodes people sometimes" but that's not even the half of it.

Sidequesting is like, best friends with ANA. Rion, a brave hero, is given a magic sword for an epic quest...and promptly goes and does literally everything else. It's so nice.

Starfall hey what's up Starfall I love you Starfall, Starfall's about a magic theater troupe and definitely not also about how imperialism is bad, actually. Fel and Leona own my whole heart. Friends.

Sci-Fi

Ask Your Father is one of those shows that hits you in the teeth. When an accident sends an astronaut and his AI bestie way off course, he finds himself lost in space, answering questions from his kids and husband that will absolutely break your heart. I cried. A lot.

Gastronaut is near-future sci-fi about a bougie foodie who goes on a journey to discover the food of the Asian diaspora throughout the solar system. And things go...very bad. This show loves food so much and it loves the characters even more.

Midnight Burger is...everything. How do you even describe it. It's hard sci-fi dressed up in a found family package and served with fries. Or maybe beans and rice, if Gloria's cooking. It is a deeply cynical show that nevertheless insists that the universe is worth fighting for, with everything you've got.

The Pasithea Powder is explicitly written for people who like a gritty, uncomfortable, messy romance. Like, did you like Stucky fanfic? So do the writers and it's amazing. The tagline is that a retired fighter pilot/war hero and a disgraced scientist/war criminal used to be best friends. They still might be, if the other one will pick up the phone.

Second Star to the Left is about colonization and xenobiology and the kinds of connections you can make light years away from each other. It's about rules and when it's okay to break them. It's beautiful.

Startripper!! is also very ANA and Inn Between--an accountant decides to ditch his day job, buy the far-future equivalent of a Millennium Falcon replica, and travel the universe for the rest of his life. It's so fun.

The Strange Case of the Starship Iris is like, if Firefly had real Asians in it. It's about a group of space smugglers turned galaxy heroes, and it's absolutely incredible.

Travelling Light is another travelogue, but this one features a person doing archival work for their community and meeting amazing people and hearing amazing stories while they do it. It's so gentle and wonderful.

World Gone Wrong is a chat podcast between two separated roommates who are trying to make sense of the end of the world. Like what do you do with that extra hour in the day now? Is my community going to lose its mind because some of the trees look like women? How can I throw a poetry jam that's inclusive for my werewolf friends? It's so well crafted and well acted. I think about it every day.

Wow this ended up long. There's a few to get you started!

[destieltropecollection]

Destiel Trope Collection 2024 | Day 21: Cowboy!AU/Ranch

love is a cowboy | @deancaskiss Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 8,183 Main Tags/Warnings: Dean Winchester, Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline, Fluff, Kissing, Ranch, Cowboy Dean Winchester, Cowboy Castiel, farm, Horses, Cows, Chickens, Bees, Sunsets, Horseback Riding, Gardening, Teasing, Cowboys Boots, Domestic Fluff, Domestic, Domestic Castiel/Dean Winchester, Married Castiel/Dean Winchester, Retirement, Found Family, mentions of Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy, Gentle Kissing, Boys Kissing, Rough Kissing, French Kissing, Flirting, Castiel/Dean Winchester Flirting, Romance, Rancher Dean Winchester, Rancher Castiel (Supernatural), Picnics, House Hunting, Surprises Summary: Retirement. Something Dean never expected he’d get to have, especially with Cas by his side. But here they are, and Dean knows it’s finally time. After months of searching, when Cas finds them the perfect forever home to make their own, it feels too good to be true. But it’s real. And it’s all theirs to start something new together. What was once bags packed with weapons and salt becomes cowboy boots, baskets of homegrown herbs, and feed for the animals. But Cas knows there’s one part of the hunting business that Dean still needs. Saving things. And luckily Cas knows exactly how to make that happen to turn their ranch into a home to create their own found family.

Wild Blue Iris | @Sunkenfox Rating: Explicit Word Count: 38,818 Main Tags/Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, major character death, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Alternative Universe - Western, outlaws, eventual smut, slow burn of sorts, sheriff Sam winchester, gunslinger Dean Winchester, bartender Castiel, period typical violence, period typical racism, tuberculosis, period typical bigotry, Found family, top castiel/bottom Dean winchester, implied/referenced abuse, bandits & outlaws, cowboys, revenge, murder, friends to lovers, bisexual dean winchester, slow build, angst, bittersweet ending, stubborn dean winchester, rimming, anal sex, oral sex, emotional hurt/comfort, emotionally repressed Dean Winchester, Summary: Five years after the Winchester Gang went their separate ways, Dean Winchester retuned home to Seneca with the hopes of seeking revenge for his father’s death. Setting his sights on the vicious leader of the rival gang, the Leviathans, Dean sets off on a journey to bring his family back together for one last ride. But the handsome bartender that joins makes Dean reevaluate nope only the vengeance that fuels him but his own self. Battling his own inner demons, and the truth of what happened to his mother, love beings to grow on the trail, and a mysterious illness that is slowly beginning to plague him.

Winchester 275 | @mittensmorgul Rating: Mature Word Count: 56,666 Main Tags/Warnings: Horses, Horseback Riding, Mutual Pining, Eventual Smut, after the requisite pining, accidental almost-nudity in a hot tub, Cowboy Hats , First Kiss, First Time, Cowboy Dean Winchester, Astronomer Castiel (Supernatural) Summary: Seven years after Sam left the family's ranch to attend Stanford, Dean's completely transformed the family's failing cattle business into a growing horse ranch. Sam's only got one condition for coming back home after graduation-- let him have a shot to build something of his own, the same as Dean's done. The catch? Sam and Eileen, along with their architect friend Hannah, want to turn a tiny corner of Dean's slice of heaven into a dude ranch. The land itself might be heaven on earth, but Dean's invested his entire life into it. He'd made his peace with being alone, until he meets Hannah's brother. Castiel is a solar astronomer who is reluctantly coerced into helping his sister charm Sam's gruff and stubborn brother into saying yes to what has become her dream project. He doesn't imagine he'd have anything in common with a cowboy, but he finds that Dean's the one who ends up charming him. Cas won't do anything to jeopardize Hannah's shot at her dream, and Dean is reluctant to put Sam's homecoming at risk. If only Dean and Cas could keep their distance from one another, maybe they could set aside their attraction for the sake of their siblings’ business plans. The heavens seem to have other plans for them…

Of Dust, Gunpowder and Holy Water | @melancholictearz Rating: Mature Word Count: 104,940 Main Tags/Warnings: Temporary Major Character Death, Western!AU, Vampire!AU, Vampire Hunter Castiel, Outlaw Dean Winchester, Strangers to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Angst and Fluff Summary: Castiel is a vampire hunter tracking the creature that doomed the rest of his family to damnation. He crosses paths with Dean Winchester, a cocky outlaw wanting to escape from his mysterious past. They travel together all around the West to fulfil Castiel’s revenge, at the cost of Dean’s life… But what happens when Dean comes back wrong from the dead and has become one of the bloodthirsty creatures Castiel always swore to kill?

The Moonlight Rule | @thefandomsinhalor Rating: Explicit Word Count: 129,320 Main Tags/Warnings: Ranch AU, Marriage of Convenience, Slow Burn, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Panic Attacks, Home Invasion, Grief/Mourning, Trauma, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Bottom!Dean/Top!Castiel, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Summary: Castiel Novak loves living in Manhattan and feels like he has finally reached a more serene part of his life. After years of hard work at The Lazarus, a boutique luxury hotel, a career opportunity he’s been waiting a long time for presents itself. At last, his problems are behind him. That is until he randomly encounters Henry Winchester, the grandfather of his childhood friend, Dean. Castiel and Dean haven’t seen each other in over ten years. Not since Castiel’s parents stopped visiting the Winchester family ranch. Left somewhat contemplative by this blast from the past encounter, Castiel is then altogether shaken by it when he hears a week later of the sudden passing of Mr. Winchester, as well as the surprising repercussions that come along with it. It seems that their recent and unexpected run-in inspired the late Mr. Winchester to make last minute changes in his will: Dean will only inherit the ranch he’s been running if he marries Castiel and stays married for at least six months.

[itmeansiris]

The Solar System Legacy Challenge: Winter Gen 1 pt.78

After ending her call with Mercury, Winter took Crimson inside having finished their magic lesson and it had started to rain.

Winter: Let's go squirt.

She called him as she headed inside without checking if he was following. Inside she found Peyton in the living room helping Hannah, their youngest, to stand. Crimson immediately ran over to his older sister Adrianne, his wings not yet strong enough to carry him, and jumped on her back.

The family of five moved from San Myshuno to New Crest at the end of the summer after they brought home their third baby. Their two-bedroom apartment was too small so Peyton had done the work needed to move them into a more spacious and family friendly environment.

Winter sat across from Peyton holding her hands out to Hannah and fluttering her wings to get the baby spellcaster's attention.

Winter: Hello beautiful girl. Come to Mama.

She cooed at the infant lovingly as Peyton held her steady.

Peyton: How's M?

Winter: I'm not sure. I didn't want to ask too much over the phone but she sounded like herself.

Peyton: Good. I don’t want to have to kick my brother's ass.

Winter: Language!

She snapped.

Peyton: Sorry.

Crimson: Dad's in trouble.

Winter: I'm sure it was a misunderstanding. If something was wrong Kason would have called.

Winter responded vaguely, not wanting to get into detail with the kids around. Peyton rolled his eyes as he adjusted Hannah and tickled her tummy. Her sweet giggles filled the room.

Peyton: He should have called anyway. He never knew how to ask for help.

Winter smirked at Peyton's fatherly complaint.

Winter: Look at you sounding like the older brother.

Peyton frowned. He'd been defending himself against this jab for years, and it never seemed to stop bothering him.

Peyton: He's not older! He was only born 3 minutes before me.

Winter: Slacker. What were you doing fixing your hair first?

She loved to tease him about how long he took to get ready. It took him hours, spending watcher knew how long making sure his hair was perfect. He recently let it grow out and she had to attempt the length looked good on him.

He didn't entertain her with a response as Hannah started to wobble forward eager to reach her mother. When she made it the last few shakey steps to Winter they stood and Peyton kissed her head.

Peyton: Hannah Banana you are getting so big. Soon you'll be sprouting your wings and making trouble like these two wildlings.

As soon as his arms were free Adrianne and Crimson filled them. Peyton, like his brother, was an attentive parent and though he didn't have triplets he had his own personal trials raising three half-fae children.

Winter and Peyton sat at the kitchen island after getting all the kids into bed. They were finalizing their travel list seeing that they were traveling separately.

Peyton: You sure you can handle taking your stuff, Adrianne and Hannah's? That's a lot for one person Winter and I don't want you to get hurt or lose something on the way.

He asked while checking off the last of the items on his phone.

Winter: Babe you're traveling with all the kids. Even if I thought I couldn't handle it, which I obviously can, I'd never tell you.

Winter gazed at him with love and admiration. Not many people knew this side of Peyton. All they saw was the spoiled, wild child he'd been after his mother had abandoned him, Kason, and their father when they were just toddlers. Winter wasn't even the one to make their relationship official it had been Peyton. She was guilty of seeing him as just a "pretty face" when they'd first met, she never thought they would end up married with three kids. Now she couldn't imagine her life without him

Winter: Peyton I can wait and we can all travel together.

Peyton: You've been talking about going to see M for weeks. Go check on our girl and give Kason a good knock over the head for me.

Winter knew he wouldn't take no for an answer, he would claim it was all for her benefit but M was one of Peyton's bestfriends and he cared about his brother deeply and though he'd never admit it he was secretly worried about the photos he'd seen online. They seemed to have disappeared nearly overnight but it didn't stop him from worrying about why his brother had been with a strange woman or wondering who had posted them and why.

Torn between wanting to stay with her family and her excitement over girl time with M had Winter a little moody. But she was leaving in the morning and a proper goodbye was owed tonight. She didn't need him to be worried about her so she pushed aside any lingering worry and turned up the charm.

Previous Next

Beginning

Sidebar: This post was a small way to update you on Winter's life. She had another kid and moved to Newcrest all without my permission but I guess Wild Fairy Winter doesn't need the watcher's approval to give her family a better life. It's also a part of the Challenge that she sees her friends every week and even though she's been hanging out with Kiersten It felt right that Winter has some much-needed screen time.

[therandomartmaker]

Friend made a spider-sona for some of the people in our friend group. i hijacked my own designs into them (the spider logos, for example) and then made myself make a rough comic that was originally only 2 pages, gained a page, and then also got rough shading- nevermind.

Introducing,

THE SPIDER-CREW

including; Ashe ( @badatgmrt they/them) as Lunar-Web, Achilles ( @approximately-74373-bees he/they) as Spider-Galaxy, Hannah (she/her) as Solar-Spider, Karter ( @i-amtransexual he/him) as Spider-Guy and Nova (me) as Paint-Weaver (previously Web-Weaver)!

Plus an extra under the cut

[hpowellsmith]

Interactive Fiction in the Steam Summer Sale!

Interactive fiction from Choice of Games, Heart's Choice and Hosted Games are in the Steam Summer Sale 2023! You can buy the discounted titles on Steam and transfer them to play in browser or on mobile.

Titles are on sale until July 13! Here are the ones from me and my wife:

Standalones:

Heart of Battle (30% off) by Fay Ikin: Battle for love as a gladiator in this epic romance of swords and sandals! Win glory, victory, a better life, your freedom - and spark a revolution!

Asteroid Run: No Questions Asked (30% off) by Fay Ikin: As captain of a space freighter, deal with limited resources, mystery cargo and a company spy on your ship. Good luck crossing the solar system in time with cops, cultists, and terrorists on your tail!

Blood Money (30% off): By the power of your blood, you and your ghosts will take over your crime family! What will you sacrifice to control the underworld?

The Creme de la Creme series:

Creme de la Creme (40% off): Climb to the very top of the class at your exclusive private school for socialites! Will you study hard, find a perfect match, or embrace scandal?

Noblesse Oblige (40% off): Spark romance amid secrets in a crumbling mansion! What will you sacrifice for love? Can you trust your own heart?

Royal Affairs (40% off): At your exclusive boarding school, will you rule the roost or be a royal disaster? Court publicity, sway the fate of nations, and find love!

Extras:

Cheats, detailed achievement guides, added insight into hidden stats, and extras for Blood Money, Creme de la Creme, and Royal Affairs are all 50% off

And the Hannah Powell-Smith Bundle is 46% off, containing Blood Money, Creme de la Creme, and Noblesse Oblige!

[hauntingstarss]

INTRODUCTION (°▽°)/

“ the stow-away solar star of the show, the darkened star, the haunted ones, the rotten core! ”

- idk, a random thing i came up with just now :P

mars/hannah • unlabelled sexuality (any hole is a goal but i have a pref to dudes) • 16 ( 1/5/08 ) • she/her but i don’t mind they/them • author in the making • poet • intp :3 • dms r always open!!! • welsh and unfortunately still living here

im into like,, waaayyy too much stuff,, this acc is prty much just a blog of my day to day life if i can be bothered to post, that is. i listen to ptv, sws, mcr, fob, pre split panic, like one fir album, and im getting into LOADS of others!!! 1000% leave me recommendations ~(˘▽˘~)

you can find me on loads of other socials !! see below for my users ;P

tiktok - hauntingstar

instagram - hauntingstarss

discord - hauntingstar

spotify - hauntingstar

im always looking to make new friends so pls don’t be afraid to msg me!! esp if ur in south wales,, i need more friends within my area!!! </3

and my server; the rotten core! anyone is welcome to join via this link = https://discord.gg/dAmgbGKvht

thank u for reading!! 🫀

[mappingthemoon]

recent things

I was tagged by @gowns five days ago while I was in a state of being mentally checked-out from everything while simultaneously scrambling to finish all the work on my desk before EOY. But now, I am on WINTER STAYCATION!!! & trying to maintain realistic expectations re: how much burnout I can self-heal within the next two weeks (the answer is none). Anyway!

Last song you listened to: “Feel” by The New Sound of Numbers, and just before that, developing a new appreciation for the whole of Garbage: Version 2.0 :D

Last movie you watched: Time Cut (Hannah MacPherson, 2024). I do watch a lot of bad movies on purpose, but this was like… ultimately a 90-minute commercial for [a certain Italian-American casual dining chain] masquerading as a time-travel story, so that was kind of annoying. I haven’t looked at N-tflix for like (*checks email*) 3 years and wasn’t aware of like, just how bad some of their ‘content’ has gotten. But they do have a few things I’ve been wanting to see, and since I’m an over-35 I don’t know how kids these days watch free movies anymore (*logs into slsk* *tumbleweeds*), so I signed up for one (1) month, ugh.

Last show watched: Last night I fell asleep to an episode of the Noel Fielding baking show. I don't really have the time or attention span to keep up with shows. We did catch up with Rick and Morty this year (having last watched szn 4 ca. 2020) but I might be kinda done with it now.

Currently reading: Sun Moon Earth: The History of Solar Eclipses from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets / by Tyler Nordgren (2016). Just before that, I read Equus, which I had picked up at a thrift store a couple years ago after hearing that my birthdaughter (then aged 15/16) had recently seen a production of the play :v

Current obsession: Man, I don't know. This reminded me of a meme I made: Aries Waiting for Their Next Hyperfixation to Drop (the image is Spongebob Waiting) and when I looked it up I was sad-surprised to see that I'd posted it way back in January. Have I been obsession-less all year?? Hmm. I will say, though, that for the past few years, I've spent a lot of my free time excavating, organizing, and cataloging my personal archive, which feels like some weirdly necessary and appropriate thing to be doing in the early years of middle age: where did I come from, where am I going, and all that. This started as a memory exercise several years ago, when I realized I could no longer accurately remember provenance details for items from my past, such as zines, or name everyone in old high school photos, etc. I used to be the kind of person who could pick up a trinket from my shelf and tell you where and when and under what circumstances I got it and why I still keep it, but I just don't have that capacity anymore (the Lifetime Piling Up feeling), so I started making spreadsheets and documents -- books, zines, music, movies, concerts, tattoos -- and maybe it has spiralled into a bit of a self-obsession -- t-shirts i miss, cameras i once knew, ceramic bowls of beads and other tiny objects that live on my dresser -- buuut I dunno, man, I've gotten like 10 different zine ideas out of this process so far, and I feel that I'm doing some kind of psychological Work here -- actually, I feel very similarly to the type of Nesting Behavior I was doing in the last months before my birthdaughter was born 18 (!) years ago. It's like tying up your loose ends and getting everything in order before Death, in the Tarot sense of the word, meaning Transformation. I think that I have been craving a Transformation for quite some time, but I feel so directionless and I don't yet know how it will manifest. Anyway. Big Winter Solstice vibes, right?

Tagging: @pitchburgh, @hthrrloooo, @madmoths, @an-inconvenient-dandelion, @hesterparr, @rustbeltkitsch

[phoenixrenegade]

Origin Story: Daniel Tanner

(aka: the origin story for the ex-Cerberus Vanguard ME3MP/RP character I created ages ago as I stumbled into a group of lifelong friends entirely by accident.)

Porsgrunn is a shithole. Humanity found the solar system, found the Relay, found the stars. Found the fucking Turians, which went great. Humanity found the Citadel, and the galaxy.

And of all the colony worlds humanity chose to take for itself, the Tanner family chose some backwater shithole in the ass end of the Terminus Systems. Mom, Dad, and little David, off on their great adventure into the unknown so they could make their fortune. That went great too.

David was doted on as the eldest. The one with the most promise, they thought, showering him with the best schooling and tutors and books. Then came Daniel. He was more energetic where David was reserved, playful where David was serious. Everything their parents said compared the two against each other instead of encouraging them to get close, so they bickered, then argued, then fought. Petty words turned to shouting matches, turned to fistfights. Split knuckles and stitches, that defined their relationship.

Hannah was an accident. Oops, they knew they should have taken care of that right away after Daniel. Now in addition to a brilliant son and a pain in the ass, they had a baby to look after.

David wanted little to do with her at first and when their parents were busy working Daniel was the one who got stuck with her. That suited all of them just fine – the boys weren’t fighting, and that’s all they cared about. As she grew older, insatiably curious and wanting to explore, it took both boys to keep track of her. They struggled to keep up with her desire to learn, to know. David pulled out his old books, the videos, games, puzzles. Daniel took her on hikes, climbing trees, boulders, chasing each other through the hilly woods near town.

David graduated high school. He had a scholarship to the best universities, on Earth and elsewhere, and pissed off his parents by rejecting all of them in favor of joining the Alliance military as an engineer.

Daniel was left to take care of Hannah, so he gave her as much love as he could manage. Bandaged up her knees when she fell, answered questions he didn’t entirely understand himself, made sure she ate. Hid her when the batarians attacked, again and again, wanting to take away from the humans the world they didn’t even want for themselves.

Daniel listened to the people in the town square while Hannah climbed trees with the other kids. Heard them talk about protecting humanity, doing what was necessary, since the Alliance was too busy kissing Council-race asses to care about the backwater colony worlds. Hardworking colonists deserved protection too, they said, and someone had to step up. Would he be one of them?

He started teaching Hannah other things. How to patch up her own skinned knees, look up the answers to her questions, taught her how to cook. How to talk to their parents so they’d actually do something for her.

‘I don’t want you to go!’ she whispered one night, as he tucked her into bed. She was too old for it, really, but they both enjoyed the ritual of it.

‘Whatcha talking about, bug?’

‘You’re gonna leave, like David.’

He’d taught her too well, he supposed. ‘Yeah. There’s a group, soldiers. They protect people like us. Humanity. They always need strong kids like me to join them.’

‘Can I come with?’

He booped her nose. ‘You’re too little. When you’re older, like me, you can make your decision. Until then you need to stay here, stay safe. It’ll be okay.’

‘...okay.’

The day he graduated high school he skipped the ceremony. His parents weren’t there anyway, they’d already celebrated their star child’s graduation from the Alliance academy and were ‘too busy’ to attend. He didn’t care. His bags were already packed, and he headed to the spaceport after a tearful goodbye with his sister. He wrote her two letters before arriving at his destination.

The station sucked. Tests, tests, more tests. Blood samples, physical endurance activities, aptitude tests. Biotic abilities. Porsgrunn had a small amount of eezo in the atmosphere, and that was apparently enough. That was an exciting day, or so he was told, and he was moved to a different wing of the station; one with a huge, stylized phoenix emblazoned on the triple-bulkhead entrance door.

‘Welcome to your new life, kid,’ his escort said as he was brought to yet another medical office for yet another round of tests.

[hallufabrication]

It's a small world

A fic about various things I wanted to write about instead of rambling about them; focuses on Manta and Hannah. The whole thing is under the cut.

Manta didn’t expect his and Hannah’s connection to fizzle out the way it did.

Not that he was expecting anything specific; She wasn’t someone he would really consider a friend. At the same time, though, he couldn’t deny that they weren’t exactly strangers, either. They hung out sometimes, she tried to help him during his illegal race against Corto, and they bonded over how great they thought Teach tech was – something that left a bitter taste in his mouth now.

He would have expected some kind of a lukewarm goodbye, or an awkward wave as they stepped onto the boats meant to take them to their homes. But as the boat steering towards the Solar Sea took off, there was no exchange between them - in fact, he wasn’t even anywhere nearby, instead preparing for his and Shino’s attempt at getting a better life for themselves.

He did think then if he should have approached her outburst the day before the way he did. Back then, he didn’t see it as anything more than a show of weakness; she wouldn’t have lasted a day in what he had to live through on Polaris. Why should she get sympathy for being a double-crosser? For only feeling bad now that it was too late anyway, now that Gavinda’s plan was in full swing?

But it wasn’t too late. Not to her and the Tikis, anyway. And she did her part in fighting against Teach…

Unlike him, at first.

No, Hannah wasn’t weak. After everything, Manta could tell that much.

Maybe he shouldn’t have underestimated how cruel Teach could have been to her. Maybe that shouldn’t have been his last words to her.

“Oh well. Too bad”, he thought, going back to packing his stuff. What’s done is done.

He hasn’t really thought about this, or anything related to the Mirages, for the next few months. He had more important things on his mind - building a new life from scratch with Shino (and Debbie) on an entirely new island was challenging enough to take away any time he could have had for reminiscing about his old acquaintances from the Whale Cup.

They weren’t on his mind these few months later, as he was walking through one of the lesser known alleys of Tortuga to his boat, either - at least not until he saw a familiar looking silhouette walking through one of the streets he’d usually pass.

“Hannah?” He called out instinctively, more out of surprise than anything else.

“Oh– hi, Manta.” She replied, turning around to face him. “Been a while, huh?”

“Yeah, but– What are you doing here?”

“On Tortuga? I came for the Rotor Punch, obviously.” She shrugged. “But, I wanted to see how you’re doing with my own two eyes while I’m here, too.”

“You heard of me?” He asked, squinting his eyes.

“Duh. It’d be harder to not hear of the famous White Tiger, honestly.” She said, leaning on the wall next to her. “You’re taking Aquagram by storm– You know that, right?”

He shrugged and made an indecipherable hum. Debbie did tell him that he was getting more popular day by day, but he never really got interested in how popular he was outside of Tortuga, exactly. His winning streak mattered to him more than whatever she was doing over on her hologlove.

“Wait, but– Rotor Punch? You’re competing?”

“What, you think I can’t handle it?”

“It’s just– I didn’t know if you’d still be racing after… Everything.”

Hannah frowned for a short second, but quickly smirked instead.

“It takes more than that to make me quit, you know. I managed to get into Solar Empire’s drone guard.”

She crossed her arms, still leaning on the wall.

“So, I’m the one representing the Empire this year.”

“Oh, wow. You got yourself a solid position, huh?” He said, walking over and sitting down on the stairs next to her. “How’d you even do that?”

“Eh, turns out getting to the finals of the Whale Cup was good enough of an achievement to sign up. Only had to climb a few ranks after that.”

“Pshf, sounds easy.” He teased. She only hummed in response.

“What about Adam? Is he participating with you?”

A slight grimace showed up on Hannah’s face. Manta wasn’t sure how to decipher what emotion it was supposed to show.

“...No, he’s not. He hasn’t reached out to me after Teach’s defeat.”

“Oh.” Manta said. “...Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Hannah sighed, sitting next to him on the stairs.

“...I haven’t tried to reach him, either. At first I thought I should, since Teach manipulated him, too, but… He was always more invested in her plans than I was. It seems like we both picked our sides.”

“...I see.”

“Yeah.”

A moment of silence fell upon them.

“And you’re…not worried?”

Hannah glared at him for a few seconds before deciding on an answer.

“I… don’t know. I have mixed feelings about it all.” She stated, resting her chin on her hand.

“Teach was cruel to him, too. She’s not going to suddenly do a 180. But, if that was his choice, then–”

She suddenly waved with the same hand in the air, leaning back.

“--so be it! I’m not going to chase after someone who made up their mind!”

She let out something between a groan and a sigh, hiding her face with her hands for a moment.

“...What’s it to you, anyway? I didn’t take you for the type to talk about this kinda stuff.”

Manta shrugged, looking somewhere else.

“You were the one who said it’s been a while.”

“Heh– yeah, that’s true.” She chuckled. “I guess it did a number on you.”

“Hmm.”

They sat for a moment in silence before Hannah stood up from the stairs.

“...Well, I should go. I take it you’re taking part in the Rotor Punch too, right?”

“Of course. Who do you take me for?”

“Yeah, thought so.” She smirked again, turning back to go about her way.

“I’ll see you around, then. Just don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

“Psh, as if I’d need that. But yeah. See you around.” He replied, also getting up from the sidewalk.

As he got back to walking to his boat, he felt a sense of a relief he didn’t expect.

Turns out, he was sorta glad to see her again.

[thesinglesjukebox]

EMINEM - "HOUDINI"

Careers are passing like a solar eclipse...

[1.95]

Jonathan Bradley: Marshall Mathers came up with his Slim Shady persona while taking a crap, dude, and he's been trudging through shit —  and other bodily expulsions — his whole career. He surfs on shit in the "Without Me" video; he augments his singles with fart noises; one of his most famous lines is about vomited spaghetti. The obsession extends beyond the scatological and deep into the self. Eminem — Detroit trailer trash, high school dropout, failed Nas imitator — is shit, he knows he's shit, and while he has the talent and the demonstrated ability to transcend his fecal origins, he has again and again thrown himself into the sewer. It is the place he feels he belongs, perhaps, a domain of self-loathing ruled by ressentiment, a fetid funfair of novelty and corny jokes and low culture and — of course! — "offensive" lines, the kind that each year become more obligatory and delivered more mechanically. You could blame "Fack" or "Just Lose It" or "We Made You" on the drugs, but you could blame them even more expertly on Eminem's self-loathing, the way he knows that someone like him doesn't deserve to be celebrated. "Houdini" is terribly unpleasant, and perhaps more so because it's the sunset of rappity-rap "awfully hot coffee pot" Eminem and the carnivalesque return of Pop Eminem, of Trickster Eminem, of Edgelord Eminem (who was an edgelord long before the term was invented). He flips a sample of the Steve Miller Band's cocaine clammy "Abracadabra," and one could fault him for rhyming that title with "I'm back, bruh," except that it's no worse than the original "reach out and grab ya": each is the kind of line that you're trying to forget you just snorted off the back of the seat of a john. I don't think Eminem takes shots at Megan Thee Stallion or trans people in this song because he bears them any antipathy; he can't even bring himself to actually form a coherent thought on these subjects. (You can hear YouTube personalities cueing up their "Eminem REACTS to the TRANS issue" overlays, because they, like he, know that he doesn't have to REACT in any specific way for it to matter.) If ever this worked, it's because Eminem could once claim his ablutions channeled the dark awfulness of America, but his country's most reprehensible impulses have changed since 1999, and he's now unwilling or unable to commit entirely to being an avatar for them, nor to repudiate them. I despise him for his ambivalences: he's 50 years old and still wanting to mine transphobia and homophobia and misogyny for effect, but unlike in his younger days, when he would dare to say he wanted to hate-crime me, he today hides in feet puns and word games about Siamese cats. I might imagine it's deliberate. He's not an asshole; shit comes out of assholes. He's a turd — and one who knows he's a turd, who wants to prove again and again that he's a turd in case anyone might dare to imagine otherwise.  [1]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Not worth the line-by-line thinkpiece. If we collectively ignore it, maybe it’ll follow its central conceit and disappear.  [0]

Hannah Jocelyn: I’ve always been fascinated by Eminem, especially as someone who went to summer camp in 2010, and I've recently been messaging with the writer Holly Boson about her in-progress book on all matters concerning Marshall. Her writing on that is phenomenal and meticulous, and it helps me understand why he’s Like That, for better or worse. Unfortunately, even with her context, the deliberate self-parody and self-referencing on "Houdini" are grating; there's nothing subversive anymore. The Megan Thee Stallion joke doesn't work as shock value or as self-deprecation, and I feel the same way about the faux-transphobic lines: I'm not offended by their presence, I'm offended that they're lazy retreads of The One Joke. We know you have a non-binary kid! Similarly, the "Girl Scouts" and "participation trophies" lines ironically repeat buzzwords that aren't even used ironically anymore; the culture has shifted past passive-aggression and toward outright hostility. Isn't he supposed to be pushing boundaries or something? That all extends to the production -- thankfully it's better than the blown-out abrasiveness of Revival, but it's basically slapping the percussion track from any older song of his over an uninspired flip of a mostly forgotten early-'80s AOR song. We're left with Em, his stilted delivery, and his trademark off-key singing, given nowhere to hide. He’s done worse, but that had its own shock value; the "abracadabra" and "bag-bruh" rhyme makes me long for even 2018, when we had "vnmmmmmadrenalinemomentmmmmmm." [3]

Dave Moore: I gave up being a card-carrying Eminemologist 20 years ago, so my sense that this is a somewhat limp but lightly amusing rehash of previous styles is a weak (and therefore malleable) take -- one that probably can't, for instance, withstand the torrent of context, analysis, and provocative tangents that Holly Boson, the only critic I really trust on modern Eminem, can bring to the picture. So: provisionally mediocre.  [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I genuinely appreciate how high concept this is — the length of history weighs upon Eminem, a quarter century of stardom encircling him and dragging him back through his own excesses. But god, what an unpleasant piece of music. "Without Me," this track's precursor, made the case that this guy truly was one-of-one, an auteur of crassness that could make cut-rate circus music sound like the most interesting thing in pop. "Houdini" doesn't do any of that. Instead, we get Steve Miller karaoke and enough shtick that one must consider the possibility that this sounds this bad on purpose. [3]

TA Inskeep: Granted, I've never been a fan, but this shit is just embarrassing, a return to his bullshit pop-cult insult-comic days atop a painfully obvious sample. Give it up, man.  [0]

Oliver Maier: There's something pleasingly coherent about Eminem soundtracking his fifth or sixth song about how not-washed he is with a Steve Miller Band song that my dad used to play on the car in between Dire Straits and Californication. On the other hand, the intent is clearly a sonic callback to the snotty "Without Me" beat, which makes me like it less. More tiresome to me than the chortling outrage bait about his transgender cat are the many parts of this song where Eminem farts out callbacks to his hits, as if that will help make the case that his best days are not behind him. He's not even referencing the good stuff! Whose favourite part of "Without Me" is the bit where Eminem repeats "guess who's back?" through a pitch shifter?  [3]

Katherine St. Asaph: There's nothing inherently useless about bringing Slim Shady back, back again -- the concept is integral to the undeniably best Eminem song of the 2020s, "Eminem Becomes a Second Century Warlord." But this is the musical equivalent of celebrating your 50th birthday by spending the whole day on 4chan for old times' sake. 50 is also about the age you'd find Steve Miller cool. [1]

Alfred Soto: Sure, the "Abracadabra" sample is lazy as fuck, but it's the catchiest thing in an Eminem single since the Obama presidency. The incomprehensible stupidity of the chorus has to be a Dada-esque prank.  [4]

Will Adams: It's amusing how the hook goes "and for my last trick!", as if he ever had more than one. Ever the hot-button issue provocateur, Em makes references to Megan Thee Stallion getting shot (which was four years ago), attack-helicopter humor (also four years ago), participation trophies (seven years ago), and R. Kelly and urination (21 years), while also exhuming several of his hits that are over two decades old as if he's truly pulling back the curtain on the State Of The World today. Even the video, wherein a 2002 Slim Shady steps through a time portal to 2024 and grimaces at his surroundings (a pink-clad influencer taking selfies; robot delivery carts; a man wearing a VR headset), brings less to mind an insightful lyricist than someone whose brain has been melted by Facebook and Fox News. [0]

Andrew Karpan: Yet again, the unfortunate lore of rap records making fun of Megan Thee Stallion for literally getting shot has grown, now coming in the form of self-conscious shock jock antics from one of the original progenitors of the sport itself. The arc of the pop universe is long, but it always bends backwards, toward itself. Em’s most inspired move is choosing to flip one of the most unpleasant pop songs of all time, literally “the sort of song that immediately scans as garden-variety bad and then becomes worse when you think about it more.” And here it is, all over again, somehow made even worse. [1]

Taylor Alatorre: Music Critic Gives Low Score To New Eminem Single, ‘But Not Because He’s Offended By It Or Anything’ [1]

Mark Sinker: he’s still got it, he’s the pompatus of dril  [8]

Brad Shoup: He's a technician, sure, but his certification lapsed in the Obama administration. There was perverse pleasure to be had in his baroque era, as he tried everything to keep himself awake: silly little voices, endless enjambment, doubletime lectures. In a sense, "Houdini" is a throwback: Eminem's dogshit lead single that still hits #1. But outside of the Sherri Papini joke at the end, there's literally no joke here that hasn't long been ground into dust. (Honestly, it's quite possible he wrote everything backwards from the Papini/Houdini rhyme.) He's been a hack for like two decades now—Criss Angel frowning in an Army cap—but here, his big reveal is that he's a hack with delusions: the defining archetype of the crumbling American empire. Being a mediocre tryhard is incredible work, but he's got an amazing support network.  [1]

Ian Mathers: I know Eminem apparently has tons of different flows, but this feels like the same one (or same subset, I guess) that he always uses. And it's boring. I'm sure that on a technical level the rapping here is good, but I'm bored. I know I'm supposed to be either outraged or delighted, but I'm bored. I know there's all kinds of shit to see in the video, but I'm bored. I know I'm supposed to love or hate nabbing the chorus from a mid Steve Miller Band song ("Fly Like an Eagle" or nothing tbh), but. I'm. BORED. [2]

Jeffrey Brister: No level of technical ability can cover up what are just warmed over redpill talking points. I suppose this was always going to happen. But all of these grievances were tired and played out nearly a decade ago, and hearing an out-of-touch former pop star regurgitate them like he’s ringing an alarm bell would be funny if it wasn’t so enervating. [1]

Aaron Bergstrom: From Steve Albini to Violent J and beyond, we as a music-loving populace have demonstrated that we are endlessly willing (maybe too willing) to forgive decades of braindead edgelord nonsense at even the tiniest gesture of an apology. I mean, we have now largely rehabilitated Fred Durst. No white man has to be the hateful idiot he was at 18, or even the hateful idiot he was at 40. There's always an off-ramp nearby. And so, as I slogged through the humiliating spectre of a 51-year-old man trying to land a RuPaul joke in 2024, I couldn't stop thinking about how many chances Marshall Mathers has had to be... not this. Just literally anything but this. And yet here we are. [0]

Scott Mildenhall: Only Marshall Mathers' changed Eminem party can give this world its future back. With the bold promise of no new ideas, it offers a timely reminder that atrophy can be disguised as stasis, providing that improvement is not an option. So why ever seek it? Now is all you have ever had, and this is what now is. A trademark brand of overengineered rhymes whose tragedy belies their intermittent imagination. Things can only continue. [2]

Nortey Dowuona: I understand that a lot of people feel the need to keep kicking the dead horse of "Eminem sucks," but I have to ask: if he actually made a good song that did not sound like what his fans want (warmed-over 1998 boom-bap nostalgia) or what his pop fans want (warmed-over 1999 Dr. Dre funk nostalgia), would there be a market for it? As any of his aging offspring would bitterly tell you, there is none. Eminem was trapped by choosing to become a massive popstar, not a consistent musician who kept developing. His entire style had spiraled into defanged repetition of trying to provoke anyone he knew by the time Encore rolled around, and by The Eminem Show, it was already over. Anyone who is engaging with Eminem's music -- especially this -- is either trapped in amber or stuck on a treadmill, trying their best to slay this frustrating old beast who attempts to keep going because there is no other outlet for his musical desires. He can't quit, only retread on your nostalgia until you turn your attention to other things, which is easier than ever. So I would ask you to respond to this with complete indifference. He wants your attention -- do not give it to him anymore. [0]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]