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klmwrites · 2 months ago

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Bishop takes Rook (a pre Black Ops 6 Story)

ao3

Directing his attention back from the room to the chessboard before him, Adler now raised a hand to make his move. On the opposite side of the stage from where the pair were seated one of the staff members near the giant board, upon placing down a pair of binoculars, reached for the cutout of a white bishop and moved it diagonally upwards - replacing the position of the black rook before it.

The audience visibly stirred.

“Bishop takes Rook.” he heard the younger woman murmur under her breath, her mouth set in a firm line as Adler moved a finger to press down on his side of the Fischer clock. Chewing her bottom lip, Bell now turned her attention towards her one remaining rook and king.

“I should tell you Adler, survival is now the main priority of ours now. Her eyes now flicked upwards, gaze directed at Adler as she switched the positions of the aforementioned two pieces with ease. “My job is to do anything to make sure it stays that way.”

AU in which Adler - on the run from the CIA - goes undercover as a competitive chess player where he is made to play a match against a ghost from his past in front of a live studio audience.

In the spirit of respecting those who have yet to play Black Ops 6 (it has only been a week since its release as of this post) this fic will be spoiler free. So go ahead and read to your hearts content 😊

song recommendation (this song slaps ok and for some reason in my head it fits really well don't come @ me lmao) :

Russell Adler

Moscow, Union of Social Socialist Republics

20 March 1990 - 10:00 MSK

Seated at the back of the state-provided saloon car, Adler watched as the huge crowd gathered consisting of the media, adoring fans and curious onlookers alike appeared in the horizon, the once small black blob was now becoming discernibly larger as the vehicle drew closer to its destination. Retrieving a cigarette and his zippo from inside his suit, Adler rolled down the window on his side before lighting the nicotine stick and taking a long drag from it, watching the evidence of his vice float out into the open and vanish from sight.

The speedy little devil that was the maroon coloured automobile sped down the remainder of a seemingly vacant highway before making a sharp right turn, parking itself right before the end of the pavement in what only could be described as in a cartoonish fashion. Opposite stood a building sporting gothic style architecture and right above the pair of twin wooden doors that marked the entrance was a huge banner with the Cyrillic Words ‘Annual Soviet Chess Championship, Moscow’ accompanied by the silhouette icon of a knight chess piece. As soon as he opened the door and stepped out onto the red carpet the flash photography and videographers came into full swing, all of which he had expected at such an event. He was however pleasantly surprised by the cordiality of everyone else around - not once had any member of the public rushed up to him in an attempt to take a photo or sign an autograph. For that Adler was grateful, as the last thing he needed as an rogue agent was close up pictures of his face taken for the world to see. He had changed his aviators and hairstyle in a fashion that he would still be unrecognisable in pictures and videos taken from afar, but any closer and he ran the risk of being identified.

Though he never liked any of the countries behind the iron curtain (for more than just ideological reasons) he was begrudgingly grateful for the match to be taking place in Moscow of all places. Had it been Hollywood or any other western country it would have been a completely different story, and it would have been much harder for him to remain inconspicuous for long given the strong alliance the authorities had with the United States.

Adler made his way into the building with haste and after a quick pat down was escorted by a member of staff to a nearby sitting room to wait for his registration to be confirmed. In this building he was no longer Russell Adler, the framed CIA operative but Lev Balashov, a former KGB agent and aspiring holder of the ranking of Candidate Master in his hobby of competitive chess. Adler only knew of his existence thanks to Belikov, whom he contacted before entry into Moscow. Despite the former's defection, Belikov still knew people on the inside and not only managed to arrange the necessary papers to get Adler into the country, but also gave the former clandestine officer the profile of the man he was to replace.

“Why him of all people?”

“Because my friend, Balashov is a notorious recluse. Only a handful of people have seen his face and they will most definitely not be present at the tournament because he has beaten them all to get to where he currently is.”

“And you are certain that she will be there.”

“Most certainly. Her injuries post Solovestky were serious, so I reckon she is currently taking a much needed break from the field.”

Adler was rudely pulled away from his trip down memory lane upon hearing a member of staff at the door of his assigned dressing room calling out his alias name.

“Mr Balashov? The tournament you are scheduled to participate in will begin in 90 minutes.”

Adler nodded in acknowledgement and after requesting for a cup of coffee, proceeded to light another cigarette as soon as the staff member’s back was turned. He allowed his mind to drift back to her; he had always wondered how she had been doing after all those years. He remembered the surprise he felt upon realising that she had survived what was supposed to be a fatal shot - one which he justified to himself was done out of mercy. It had been sheer luck that she had not gone insane already after being exposed to the many rounds of MK-Ultra, and figured that it was only a matter of time before that would come to fruition.

No doubt she will be livid upon seeing his face again, but for the sake of the free world he was willing to take the brunt of her anger.

Adler chuckled mirthlessly to himself as the familiar smell of arabica wafted into the room. There was no longer a point in reminiscing about what could have been or the many questions he had repeatedly asked the imaginary figment of her in his head - for now he has the privilege of hearing the answers to all his unanswered questions straight from the horse's mouth.

When it was time, Adler was escorted out of the dressing room and backstage where he was made to listen to what seemed to be the announcer presenting the current tournament lineup of the day in Russian through a set of thick curtains. As soon as he heard his alias name being announced he stepped forward and into the limelight in front of the adoring crowd. Giving a half-hearted wave, Adler made his way to his designated seat, where the nameplate “L. Balashov” was placed facing the audience, along with a small table red coloured flag of the Soviet Union. In the centre of the ornate wooden table that was to serve as the mental battlefield for the next few hours lay a wooden chess set, pieces already put into place.

Another round of applause now sounded and from the opposite end of the stage came his opponent - a Miss Yelizaveta Ivlev. Dressed in a simple dark blue dress and a pair of pearl-studded earrings, Ivlev walked across the stage with a small smile, waving her hand towards the audience cheerfully. She then turned to her side with the intention of greeting her opponent when she realised who it was. Adler noted that Ivlev was careful not to let any shock show on her face and the only indicator she gave as to knowing his true identity was the small drop to her beautiful smile, perhaps in part due to the sheer number of cameras around recording both players' first encounter with each other.

Ivlev’s eyes flicked downwards to look at her opponent's name plate. “Mr Balashov. A pleasure meeting you.” She simply nodded her head, tone slightly harsher than normally how an introduction should entail. “The pleasure is all mine.” replied Adler, playing along.

Once both players took to their respective seats, Ivlev picked up the black velvet pouch that sat inconspicuously towards the right side of their shared table right next to the Fischer clock. Shaking it slightly, she allowed its contents to drop into the palm of her hand: a single coin.

“Heads or tails?”

“Heads.” Adler now watched as the rounded object flipped in midair and landed once again into the safety of her palm. “Looks like you get to pick the colour, Mr Balashov.”

Adler’s eyes now flipped back to the chessboard with disinterest. “I don’t mind keeping it the way it is now.”

“Very good.” Ivlev now turned her head and made eye contact with a member of staff, nodding her head as she did so. This prompted the staff member to walk over to their table, giving it a quick once over before walking over to a giant board - in which a replica of the current chessboard configuration has been made - and writing down the names of both players in the blackboard above.

White – L. Balashov

Black – Y. Ivlev

“Shall we begin?” Ivlev’s voice prompted Adler to once again focus on the woman currently sitting in front of him bearing a deceptively neutral look on her face. Adler did not respond, choosing to proffer out a hand to her instead which she accepted.

For a third time, a round of applause thundered around the auditorium. But Adler wasn’t paying attention to any of it, for his eyes were currently on his actual prize - the sole reason why he was here in the first place.

Truth to be told, sitting in this auditorium, Adler felt like a fish out of water - and it has been a while since he had experienced such a feeling. Though he played the game occasionally and knew the basic rules and moves, he knew that he was widely unprepared to be playing in such a professional environment. Still, he has come too far to fail now - he will achieve his objective by hook or by crook.

Despite his limited understanding of the game, Adler knew that being able to take control of the middle was vital for eventual victory - the player that controls the centre has the best vantage attack point on the rest of their opponents pieces. With this in mind, Adler’s opening move was to move his pawn to d4. Ivlev responded by moving her knight to F6. Seeing her motive, he pushed another of his pawns to c4. Where is she going with this? Seemingly unfazed, Ivlev simply moved her pawn to e6. She really is that insistent on wanting my d4 pawn huh. Adler now brought forward his knight to c3 in hopes that it would deter his opponent from their current objective but instead what it did was embolden Ivlev to bring forward her bishop to b4, effectively not only threatening his knight (and in turn the king) but also preventing Adler from taking control of the centre by moving his one of his other pawns from e2 to e4.

It took a while for Adler to realise what Ivlev had just done: the Nimzo-Indian defence. In his rush to control the centre, not only had he given away his strategy early on, but placed Ivlev in a position to not only develop her pieces earlier but also play them aggressively should she so choose, possibly gaining potential control over the centre as the game progresses on.

“Interesting that you didn’t open using the queen’s gambit.” Ivlev suddenly remarked, possibly in response to Adler’s surprise. “You are a habitual gambler, no? And very apt at giving away your pawns when needed. Frankly I’m quite surprised to see you here. I thought you were all brawn and no brains, just like the CIA lapdog you once formerly were.” Ivlev’s voice could only be fittingly described as a sheet of ice - calm on the surface, but arguably emotionally tumultuous underneath.

“Formerly?” Adler raised an eyebrow as he moved another one of his pawns to a3. As Ivlev focused on her next move Adler waved his hand up in the air, making a motion with his hand for a cigarette. “What makes you say that?”

“I might be physically out of the field, but it doesn’t mean I am out of the loop information wise.” Ivlev now tutted as she moved her bishop to take his pawn. “Also, you are not as subtle as you think you are.”

Their conversation came to a temporary halt with the arrival of said item - a cigar surprisingly - balancing precariously along its edges of an unused ashtray. “You mind?” asked Adler rhetorically as he placed the item between his lips, flicking the cap of the provided zippo open. Ivlev simply snorted back in amusement, shaking her head. Taking a much needed drag of nicotine, he now moved his own pawn to take Ivlev’s bishop. “It seems that word travels fast. Either that or you have been keeping tabs on me….Bell.” Adler saw the woman’s composure break slightly at the mention of that name, her body physically tensing up.

“Don’t test your luck here, Russell Adler. We are being live streamed for the whole of the Soviet Union to see; I could unmask your identity right here and you will be arrested by the KGB within a few minutes.” Sensing the man’s scepticism, Bell elaborated. “The USSR has changed over these past 10 years - especially since our little stunt in the Lubyanka Building. Now with some of the Eastern Bloc Republics expressing disillusionment, the Motherland is ramping up efforts to keep the collectivist culture and ideology alive.”

Adler hummed in acquiescence. “So why didn’t you do that from the very beginning?” he now asked, to which Bell elected not to respond.

The game dragged on for longer than expected. The silence in the room changed from being comforting to suffocating, save the occasional cough from a spectator and the constant ticking of the Fischer clock near his right elbow. From the corner of his eye Adler watched some of the moderators and judges fidget in their seats as did some members of the audience, who by his standards were doing rather well in keeping their impatience at bay given the games seemingly lack of progress.

Though not one to always practise what he preached, Adler could appreciate the art of patience - many years of being in intelligence taught him the value of it. Besides, it was good to exercise that brain of his once in a while - even if admittedly he would have preferred being out in the field shooting at something or someone instead.

“Why did you shoot me at Solovetsky, Adler?” Bell asked abruptly, eyes never leaving the board or the pieces before them. Ah, the inevitable question that needs to be answered. Adler opened his mouth to respond, but realised that the words he had rehearsed in his head were now stuck at the back of his throat. Did he actually want to tell her the truth? Was there even a point in lying at this stage regarding all that happened 10 years ago? “And please don’t lie, that would be extremely low of you to do so. The least you owe me is the truth in that regard.”

“I don’t owe you jack shit, Bell. I did what I had to do for my country.”

“The country that now turned its back on you when you were clearly framed?”

“So you believe that I’m innocent.” Adler saw an opportunity to deflect and gladly took it. Bell simply laughed in response. “Russell Adler, willing traitor of the CIA in exchange for blood money? Not your style, and certainly not your modus operandi.” Bell moved another of her pieces and like clockwork pressed down the button on her side, folding her hands on the table before her afterwards. “Humour me, Adler. You clearly want something from me - that’s why you are here playing a chess game for the past 3 hours, no?”

Adler took a puff of what was now his 5th cigar, tapping it at its end as more black flakes dropped into the ever growing pile of grey in the middle of the ashtray before setting it down in favour of moving his piece. “It was supposed to be a mercy kill.” There, this was as close to the truth as he could master. When one lies on a regular basis as part of the job requirement, suddenly telling the truth becomes a tall order indeed.

“Who did you take me for, A chained up dog? One you can just simply get rid of as soon as the work gets done? Even the process of euthanasia has rules and guidelines and doing that with your reasoning fails the eligibility criteria!” Bell took a deep breath in, before her calm mask of composure returned once more. “Give me one good reason why I should work with you now after what you have done.”

“I don’t have to. Clearly your handlers see a mutually beneficial outcome by us working together: if not you would not be up here with me right now.” Adler smirked. “Your handlers are the two men seated at your 4 o'clock, are they not? I’m frankly surprised Perseus took you back after all the shit that went down, how we thwarted their plans and all.”

“I’m frankly quite surprised too. And grateful.” Adler could hear from her voice that the sentiments were genuine. “Враг моего врага - мой друг”.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Their previous campaign against Perseus in the 80s must have set them back quite a bit; to the point that they feel threatened by simply the presence of another prominent paramilitary group. But why Perseus and this particular group are antagonistic towards one another is something that Adler mentally stored in his head as needing to be further investigated upon.

“Now that we are on the same page, I’m going to give you a code phrase that you must keep to yourself until the time comes.” Directing his attention back from the room to the chessboard before him, Adler now raised a hand to make his move. On the opposite side of the stage from where the pair were seated one of the staff members near the giant board, upon placing down a pair of binoculars, reached for the cutout of a white bishop and moved it diagonally upwards - replacing the position of the black rook before it.

The audience visibly stirred.

“I understand.” was all Adler simply responded with ease. He could easily read between the lines, and he knew that a cornered animal is always a dangerous one - not that he was currently in the position to corner them any further anyway. The subconscious weight he had been carrying left him both physically and mentally. With his objective now fulfilled, he could finally fully focus on playing regularly just as he was sure Balashov would have if the latter were currently in his shoes.

After another tedious hour of nothing but back and forths, the match was eventually brought to a standstill and declared inconclusive by the panel of judges present. Despite the outcome of the match not being significant Adler, it was mostly out of professional pride that he refused to withdraw after getting what he needed - besides, It would have been the same thing the real Balashov would have done after all.

As soon as the panel made the results of their judgements known, the media personnel, who were no doubt restless and itching to move after the tiresome four hour long match, seemingly leapt up from their seats like people possessed and approached both players with their endless barrage of questions. This was promptly ignored by both Bell and Adler as they made their way backstage unscathed thanks to the diligence of the security personnel present.

“Stay here.” Adler broke the silence between them as he led Bell into his dressing room, closing the door behind him and he swept the room for cameras. Once he determined that they were not being watched, he opened his bag and from it revealed a nondescript looking file which he passed to Bell promptly. “Everything you and your handlers need to know about the organisation I am tracking is here. I’m presuming your handlers would know more about them though than I, given Perseus’s implied history with them.”

The woman opened the folder and stared at the papers inside unimpressed. “There’s nothing much to go on.”

“I know. They are very good at infiltration; I believe they have multiple moles in the CIA. Elusive fuckers, they have already dug their claws in deep which is how they were able to produce fake irrefutable evidence of my so-called betrayal. Mason and Hudson are dead because of them.”

Bell’s face fell slightly. She wasn’t Hudson’s biggest fan, but she and Mason did share an amicable relationship. The latter was someone she actually enjoyed having conversations with, so it was sad to know of his fate. “Mason has a son right? What’s going to happen to him?”

Adler looked up at Bell grimly. “I don’t know. I can only hope he will be well cared for by the state, or whoever Mason had placed as the next of kin.” The duo continued to look at each other, either side seemingly hesitant for the conversation to continue or their time together to end for that manner. Perhaps they knew that they eventually needed to discuss what happened at Solovetsky and both sides are reluctant to bring that up; or maybe because this is the first time they have seen each other face to face in five years, and the feeling of seeing someone who had attempted to brainwash you (Bell) or was a ghost from your past (Adler) standing in the same room as you in the flesh was simply…overwhelming.

Luckily for Adler, the awkward silence was eventually broken when Bell’s phone rang. Adler watched as the woman removed a flip phone from her pocket and answered it with much haste - a call from her handlers, no doubt.

“ I’m currently in contact with him, he’s passed me a file with the information we need. Are you sure - yes, Comrade, at once.” Bell placed the phone back into her pocket. “Change of plans. You are coming with me.” Adler raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. “What do your handlers want with me?”

Bell shrugged. “I will go get my purse from my dressing room; they said to meet us outside in five.” And with those words, Adler watched the once timid and non-verbal woman now exited the dressing room with her head held high. Feeling the man’s gaze on her, Bell turned around abruptly once more with a gaze which sent an involuntary shiver down the older man's spine.

“C’mon Adler, don’t dawdle. After all, we've got a job to do.”

#ao3 fanfic #call of duty #call of duty black ops 6 #russell adler #call of duty fanfic #bell call of duty #No spoilers in this one I promise #💉: we've got a job to do #Spotify #spoiler free #russell adler x bell #cod black ops cold war

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shapesdefined · 2 years ago

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argumentl · 2 years ago

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The Freedom of Expression Vol:12 - Again, looking back on 25 years with Gara.

K: Hi, here we are with The Freedom of Expression on our Nico Nico channel. Im Kaoru from Dir en grey.

J: And Im Joe Yokomizo, who has just been for a beer in the Chinese restaurant near the studio.

T: And Im Tasai from Tokyo Sports.

K: And we also have someone who was with us last time, and he just didn't talk enough, so he's here again this time. Its Gara from Merry.

G: Good evening, Im Gara from Merry.

J: The staff have told me you're pretty annoying.

K, T: Haha

G: Not at all!

J: Kaoru, what would you say? In your view, is he annoying?

K: Haha, no, he's not.

J: Gara, I wanted to ask you, were you Dir's first roadie?

G: For the past 20 years, I always thought that I was, but after the show last time, I was in the dressing room, and I got a message from Shinya. He told me the name of the guy who was there before me. So I thought, 'Aghh, there really was someone before me!'. I wonder if that guy actually counts though?

J: Haha, Leader, what do you think? This is quite important.

G: It was only for a short time.

K: Yeah, but it still counts. As soon as I heard it, I thought, 'Oh yeh, of course!!'

G: Kaoru, that means Im the second roadie?

K: Yep, you are the second. I was right after all.

G: I must have forgotten, because I never thought there was someone like that before me.

J: Do you kinda feel like he's stealing your glory a bit now?

G: Yeah, I always thought I was the first.

J: I see, haha. So, from now, your are Dir's second roadie?

G: Yeah, Ive been exposed by Shinya. Im the second roadie.

J: Do you feel a bit like Shinya should have kept quiet about this? haha

G: Yes, I really do.

J: Haha. Yes, well today we are joined by Dir en grey's second roadie, Gara. So, last time you were looking back at Dir en grey's history, from the Indies days, to now, right?

K: Yes.

J: I was unable to join last time due to my work schedule.

K: This is the first time for you to be here when we have a guest, right?

J: Yes, thats right.

K: He always disappears somewhere whenever we've had a guest before.

J: Oh no, not intentionally though. Its purely by chance!

K: It was as if guests would come because you weren't here.

J: Yeh, I've heard that. I don't know about that though. Anyway, today we are gonna be looking back at the indies era in detail. There'll be loads of great stuff to hear, so stay tuned. Please send in your comments too, questions, thoughts, messages of support, anythIng is ok. People using twitter can use the tag TFOE. The first part of this show is free for anyone to watch, but the second part is for channel members only. If you become a member, you can watch this live broadcast in the archives for a year, and you will also be able to access members only videos. Please click the blue link at the top of your screen to joIn, and enjoy this broadcast to the end. Leader was just pointing to it. Dir's second roadie was pointing too, weren't you?

G: Haha, yes...second...I'm quite sad, I tried so hard back then too.

K: Surely, trying hard has nothing to do with whether or not you were first?

J: Maybe you are just slightly envious. Ok, well, as for today, we will have another look at photos from back in the day. (*Indies photo of Kaoru appears on screen*) Here we go, since we are looking closely at the indies era today. How do you feel about this, Leader? Do you recognize this photo?

K: Well, we used this photo last time. Only you wouldn't know that.

J: Oh, I see. I do apologize. Maybe I should stick to the script more.

K: Haha, no no.

J: But anyway, we'll be digging deeper into the Indies era today, but first we have a quiz. Its time for the "Does Kaoru remember?" quiz!!

*applause*

J: Ok, so Dir's second roadie, Gara...

K: Haha, you just want to keep saying that, don't you?

J: Yes, haha.

T: He is the first one in my mind!

J: You are first in your heart, but second in reality. Anyway, Gara has created a quiz for Kaoru about the indies era. So Kaoru, try your best to remember. There are quite a few questions, but we will try to do at least 5. Try to get them all right, Leader.

G: You'll be able to to tell if i really was first, and whether there really is a bond between us from this.

T: Haha

J: Right? We need to look out for that. Ok, Gara, I'll hand over to you.

G: I start from Question 1, right? Ok, Where was the place where I first met the members of Dir en grey? I said last time that the first live show I saw them was at Shinjuku Rock, but this time I'm asking about our first meeting, so its not a live venue.

J: Ok, so Q1 is asking for the place you first met. Leader, you have a sketchbook in front of you to write your answers. For some reason, myself and Tasai also have sketchbooks, although its not likely that we will know the answers...

T: Yeah, we will just try our best.

J: Yes we will. So, Gara, is this with no hints, right?

G: Yeah, the meeting place, this was an important moment.

J: If he doesn't remember this, it could seriously damage your trust in him.

G: Right.

J: Haha, but look at Leader's face! He totally looks like he can't remember. Can we get a camera close up on him? This is important! If you'd never met, we wouldn't be here now.

G: This was earlier than the live.

J: Ah, they want you to get this right in the comments. Gara, you probably spoke about your love towards Dir en grey last time, but this time its all about how far Kaoru's love extends to you. Ok, Tasai, you write something too, make it Tokyo Sportsy if you want.

T: Ahh, its difficult.

G: Kaoru is writing something now.

J: Ah, a comment saying 'Kaoru looks cute when he's thinking'. And 'A forfeit if he gets it wrong!'...'Leader's love is deep!'

G: Its the first meeting, remember.

J: Yeah, the place.

T: By the way, how did you feel when your first met?

G: Well, I'd only ever seen them in magazines before then, so I was nervous, but I still remember introducing myself.

T: Ahh, I wonder where it was...

J: Hmm, ok, Tasai, you show us your answer first.

T: So this was when you were new in Tokyo, right? Ok, here's my answer. 'A bus stop at Tokyo Tower'. Like maybe they decided to meet up here for some reason. Maybe there were just there for some reason.

J: Ahh...Ok, I don't quite understand this, so moving on...haha.

T: Haha

J: No no, you mean, maybe they had planned to go somewhere, so they met up there first?

T: Yeah.

J: Well, the real question is whether Leader remembers. The place he first met Gara. Leader, lets have your answer.

K: The studio in Kōenji.

J, T, G: Ahh.

T: That sounds more like it.

J: Ok, Gara, tell us the answer.

G: The correct answer is, an in-store event at Like An Edison.

K: Don't remember that! Hahaha

J: He doesn't remember!

G: It was an in-store event to coincide with the CD release, so I went and met the members for the first time. Meeting in the studio was after that.

J: Well, he must have been close with this answer, right? If you met for the second time in the studio?

G: Yeah. I have a tonne of memories from that studio too. I saw them making new songs and and stuff there. I used to always drive the equipment truck too back then, but at the time I didn't have my own parking space. They told me to be responsible for truck, even though I didn't have a parking space, so I had to park it on the street in front of my place for about a month.

J: Ahh, I bet you got a tonne of parking tickets.

G: Yes.

J: Ahh, that sounds painful. And despite this you still might be the second roadie! Leader, why did you think the answer was Kōenji?

K: Well, he was just there a lot.

J: It seemed likely to be the place?

K: Yeah.

T: Kaoru, do you remember this in-store event?

K: No, we did a tonne of events like that back then.

J: If any of the viewers were at that event in Like An Edison, please tell us in the comments. I wonder if anyone was? Not that we can give them anything if they were, except say, 'Oh wow!'. Haha. Well, that was question 1. A comment there says, 'A shock for Gara!'

G: He was close though, because I was often in the studio at Kōenji.

K: You were following us, haha.

J: Its like, he was only a little bit wrong.

G: Ok, shall we move on? The next question is this. 'Where was the first region (outside Tokyo) that Gara travelled to as a roadie? And what was the amazingly delicious restaurant where Kaoru took Gara out to eat for the first time?'

K: This is hard! haha

J: The restaurant name.

T: Is this maybe a hint? You told us the region you are from last time, right, Gara?

J: Eh? Where are you from??

T: No no no, don't tell him! haha.

J: Eh, whhhy? Ok, whatever. But we need the region Gara first travelled to as a roadie, and the name of the delicious restaurant where Kaoru first took him out to eat.

T: Joe, you write something first.

J: Its not WHAT you ate, right? Its the name.

G: Yes. If I say what I ate, I think Kaoru will know where it was.

T: Kaoru, do you know?

K: Well, I'm just not sure about the timing as for the region.

T: Its difficult!

J: The restaurant name is tricky too.

G: But its something that everyone has heard of.

J: Oh, so its not lIke an independent, local place, right?

G: Yeah. But back then, it was only...oh, I'll give it away if I say that.

K: Back then it was only..?

T: Ok, lets write our answers. Some comments saying, 'Gara is causing trouble for Kaoru', 'Leader, think!', 'I think I know it'. If you know it, don't tell us!

J: Well, I really have no idea, but this is my answer. For the region, Hokkaido. And the restaurant, Dosanko Ramen. This is what I would eat after a concert, so I thought it could be this.

G: That's a good answer.

J: Thank you. Ok, Leader, your turn.

K: Osaka, and Kamakura (ramen).

G: Oh, that's correct!! That makes me so happy!

*applause*

G: He told me about this incredible ramen, and took me to try it. So my first time trying Kamakura was with Kaoru.

J: Ah, great! You got it right.

G: You remember that?

K: No no, I just used to go there all the time back then!

T: You don't actually remember going with Gara?

K: Well, he said the words, 'Back then it was only...', which reminded me that this place became a national chain a little while later. Haha

J: Ahh, I see.

G: Ahh, I gave it away with the hint.

J: So it wasn't your memory, it was the hint that got you there.

G: Kamakura ramen was totally different from any of the ramen I'd had before then. I didn't realise ramen could be like that.

T: Ahh, yeh, its good, isn't it?

J: Did you go there to finish a night of drinking or something?

G: No, I think Kaoru just took me there.

K: We still couldn't really afford to go out drinking much back then.

J: Ah, financially, right? Eat loads of ramen instead, right?

K: Yeah.

J: Ah, well, we got a correct answer! Shall we move on?

G: Ok, the next question is this. 'What was the first song on which Gara helped during the recording?'

J: This is quite important, right?

G: Yes.

J: This is the first question related to the actual job. Hmm, a song from the indies era?

G: Yes. I was able to see how the recording process worked.

K: I'm trying to think what the timing would be...haha.

J: Hmm, when would it be?

K: Yeah, I mean, within our timeline.

J: Tasai, do you have any idea?

T: Well, hmm, I don't think we talked about this kind of thing last time...I might be wrong.

J: Hold on a sec..Gara, you want him to get this right, yeh?

K: Ahh, I dunno.

J: You just wrote something though!

G: I saw the while process of recording the song with this one.

J: So, you were there watching the whole time?

G: Yeh, from when they started making the song in the Kōenji studio.

K: Well, in that case I think I've got it right.

T: Well, this is kinda vague, but my answer is, 'That song you recorded in an old house somewhere'.

G: Oh, that was Jealous.

T: Yes, Jealous.

J: Ok, Leader?

K: Haven't you written anything?

J: No, I haven't. Haha.

K: Ok, my answer is Ash.

G: Correct!!

*applause*

K: Well, I thought it was likely to be this.

G: Yep, I was there during the recording.

K: For that omnibus album?

G: Yes.

K: Yeah, he said 'which song', so that means it wasn't part of a collection of songs. And if it wasn't a single, then it would have to be this.

G: I remember I went for Tendon with Die.

K, J, T: Hahaha.

J: Is food all you remember?! Haha. So you saw the whole recording process. Do remember making any new discoveries about the secret to Dir en grey's sound?

G: I didn't understand the secret to it at all!

J, T: Haha.

J: But you remember the Tendon.

G: Yeah. Well, it was only one day. From the drums, bass, guitars, and even to the vocals, it was all done in one day.

T: Amazing.

J: Yeah, but with a few hints, Leader got it right.

G: Impressive!

J: Yes, two out of three correct so far. Ok, do we have time for another one?

G: Ok, next question please. 'There was once a mid-summer outdoor event back then, (which I attended as a roadie), but what did Kaoru say to me in the car on the way home, which to this day, I can never forget?' I can give you a small hint, it was a bit of a shock.

J: So it wasn't something moving, or meaningful?

G: No

J: He wasn't commending your abilities or anything?

G: Not at all. My response was more like, 'Ehh? Kaoru, did you really say that??!'

J: It was something a bit shocking?

G: Yes.

K: Did it have some connection with the event?

G: Yeah...this mid-summer outdoor event

K: Ah, I see.

J: That's a hint! Mid-summer, outdoor event. Ahh, there is some interest in the comments too. 'Gara, this quiz is fun' etc.

G: Thank you. Its been 20 years, but these words of Kaoru's have stayed with me. The main hint is probably that it was shocking.

T: Well, since you've been talking about food, Gara, I think its about food, so my answer is, 'I just ate shaved ice, but I hid it from you'.

K: Haha

T: Like in the heat, he ate it all.

J: Ah, like Gara would resent Kaoru for it?

T: Yeah, he'd be shocked.

J: Well, since it was summer, my answer is this. 'Your sweat stinks!' It'd be shocking to be told this, right? Ok, Leader? I wonder if you remember.

K: My answer is this 'What are you doing with us??'

T: Ahh, that would be bad.

K: Well, it was an event, so there might have been some other bands playing that he liked, you know?

J: Ahh, so it wasn't like a solo event.

G: Well, one time Kaoru came over to my place, and I had posters of all sorts of other bands up everywhere, so maybe he wondered what I was doing with Dir?

T: Did any of us get it right?

G: Actually, one of you did! Shall I tell you what he said to me? He said, 'You stink of sweat!'

J: Yeahhh!

K: Hahaha

T: How did you get that??

G: Well Done, Joe.

J: He really said that to you?

G: Yeah, it was the middle of Summer, and I was moving all the equipment around by myself, I worked so hard. Then at the end I got in the car and sat next to Kaoru, and he said, 'Ugh, you stink of sweat!'

K, J, T: Hahaha

G: I was like...I've been working hard for you all day! I've never been able to forget it.

T: Kaoru, do you remember?

K: No..

G: I was pretty young, so it was quite a shock for me.

K: But I vaguely remember him telling me about how I said that to him once.

J: Did you tell him about it?

G: Maybe when we when out drinkIng once, I might have mentioned it. But it really was the most shocking thing to hear from him. I mean, that's how a roadie should be, right?

J: It shows that you've worked hard. If you weren't sweaty, you wouldn't have been doing your job properly.

G: Right? That's how I should be.

J: Its a sign that you did a good job.

G: Yes

T: Someone commented, Kaoru should apologize.

J: Haha

K: I'm sorry.

J: Ahh, an apology from Leader!

G: I feel purified, haha.

J: Ohh, that's good. Ok, next question.

G: Ok, the next question is, 'Which food which Gara hates did Kaoru force him to eat, all in one?' This was a thing when I used to go for drinks with Kaoru, hated foods or stuff like that.

J: Well, you DO stuff like that when you are young, don't you?! I mean, if we don't know what foods you don't like, we are never gonna get this, but Leader probably knows. Its just a matter of choosing the right one.

G: Yeah, this particular food, I still can't even eat it.

J: You can't eat it?

K: Something that can be eaten in one go?

G: Er, we talked about this last time, but he also made me do 'Pistachio all in one' before too.

J: Ugh, that's like hell.

G: I wasn't allowed water, so I just had to keep crunching away until I could swallow.

J: That sounds tough, you cant really swallow it all at once either, can you?

K: Inside your mouth was shredded, wasn't it?

G: Yeah.

J: Ugh, really? Well, viewers, please write in the comments if you have any ideas about this one. Someone just wrote pizza, but its something you still can't eat, right? If its something even an adult can eat, it must be something with quite a distinct taste?

G: Ah! Yes.

T: Ahh, I've already written something.

G: *reading comments* Century egg? Ohh, that would be tough!

J: And expensive!

T: Ok, lets reveal our answers. So, last time Gara said he doesn't like chicken much, and I thought if he's done 'pistachio all in one', maybe he might have done this too, 'Fried chicken cartilage all in one'

J: Ah I see. Well, my answer is this. 'Goya' (bitter melon). A lot of people hate this, and it tastes very distinct. Ok, Leader?

K: Haha, I don't even remember, but..'Pickles'.

J: Gara, are any of us correct?

G: One of you is close.

J: Ohh, ok, tell us the answer.

G: The correct answer is, Okinawan pickled onions (島らっきょう). So 'pickles' is nearly right.

K: Goya is kinda there too, haha! (*Goya is an Okinawan vegetable*) Ahh, pickled onions, I think I kinda remember this now.

T: Like, how did that work?

G: Well, all the onions were in the bowl, and I had to put them all in my mouth at once, and swallow them without a drink.

J: Ahh, the things you got up too.

G: I can still remember the disgusting aftertaste.

K: The taste lingers, right?

G: Yeah.

J: Ahh, is that the time already? Did we do 4 questions?...5? We did 5. How many did Leader get right? 2?

T: 2.5, right? With 'pickles'

J: Ah, ok, yes. 2 correct answers, and 1 good try. Half correct. What do you think Gara?

G: Yeah, I think he remembers a lot, since he was close with that last one. If this were baseball, he would be (*baseball reference, I dunno*)

J, K, T: Yeah, haha.

G: It was a good result.

J: Ok, Leader, 5 questions about the indies era from Gara. What did you think?

K: I don't remember anything.

J, T, G: Hahaha

K: I just worked out the answers from the hints. I don't actually remember.

G: We were close though, we we working together practically every day.

K: But it was only one year out of 25, haha.

J: Well, yeah...

G: Maybe that's the fate of being the second roadie...haha.

J: Ok, we're going to have to finish the first part of the show, but we'll learn more about Kaoru in the second half. We'll continue talking about Kaoru and Gara's history, so please become a channel member to see that. I'll just let you know how you can do that. The second half of the show is for members only, so you need to be a channel member if you want to see it. If you join, you can watch this broadcast in the archives for a whole year, and we also have members only videos, where we challenge ourselves to all sorts of things, so you can enjoy those too. Ok, how to join. Its very simple. There is a blue link at the top of your screen. Kaoru is pointing now. Click this link, and you will get a screen asking you to choose your payment method. Choose your method and click proceed. Then you can enter your payment details, and you're done. If you haven't yet joined, please do, and enjoy the rest of the show. Ok, now, some news from Gara?

G: Yes, thanks. Uh, on Dec 25th Merry will hold our 'Very Merry Xmas' event at Shinagawa Club eX where we will show the history of Merry (*etc*).

J: Ok, thank you. Leader?

K: Hm, was there something? Ah, well, we are mid-tour now. We still have Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Osaka. And then an extra date on Dec 16th at Shinjuku Blaze. Uhh, I think there are quite a few venues with tickets still available, so people can definitely come by on the day and check it out.

J: I saw you at Zepp Haneda recently, but I'd love to see you in one of the other regions if my schedule allows it.

K: Please do.

J: Ok, a quick break here while we change over, but channel members hang tight. Lets continue The Freedom of Expression in the second half!

#the freedom of expression #translation #薫 #dir en grey #メリー #ガラ #Gara

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movedbl0g · 4 years ago

Text

Skz reaction - them seeing you during/after a workout

Warnings: kinda suggestive

Gifs belong to their original owner, not me

also- requests are open so feel free to request/ask stuff

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Chan:

You were just finished with your workout, as Chan came back from the studio. You were still breathing heavily , drenched in sweat , giving Chan a sweet smile as a hello. He came up to you, wanting to hug you, but you lightly pushed him in the moment he wanted to wrap his arms around you.“I’m like really sweaty, you know”, you said with apologizing puppy eyes on your face. Chan just smirked “ don’t worry, already have seen you sweaty a lot of times”.

He hungrily he licked over his lips, seducing you with his gaze. “Do you maybe want to shower.....together?”, he asked innocently, “ we would save a lot of water, you know...,”

Lee Know:

You were in the middle of your workout, but suddenly Lee Know bursted through your door, wanting to show you cat photos on his phone, so you stopped your actions and walked up to him. Your heavy breathing was really noticable and as you were looking at Lee Knows phone, his eyes lingered over your drenched body, appreciating your physique. As you catched him staring, he shyly tilted his neck to the said and nervously put his hand on the now free space.

“Do you uhmm....maybe need a workout-partner?”, he asked, his shyness making you giggle. “But only if you’re really working out with me, nothing different” you answered teasingly, placing a light peck on his cheek.

Changbin:

Changbins cheeks were blushing as soon as he entered the room, seeing you all sweaty. His eyes lingered over your frame, staring at you intensely while leaning himself against the doorframe. When you noticed his presence and his obvious staring, you let out a small “hey! You’re staring babe!”.

He just responded with a smirk, as he turned around. “Meet me in the shower when you’re finished” was the last thing you heard from him as he already walked out of the room.

Hyunjin:

You were so invested in getting the choreography right, that you didn’t even notice that Hyunjin walked into the practice room, silently looking at you from afar. It took a while for you to notice him, but as you finally did he was staring at you intensely. “Hey you stalker”, you said teasingly, “for how long did you already stare at me like that you creep?”

He walked up to you, licking his lips hungrily before giving you a smirk “What else am I supposed to do if you look that hot?”.

Jisung:

You were in the middle of your workout as your phone rang, Jisungs name popping up at the screen ,so you decided to pick up. “Hey y/n, do you maybe wanna eat thai food tonight, because i am near this new-“, Jisung began to say but stopped as he heard your heavy breathing. “Uhmm...did i interrupt you while doing something uhmm...you know that I’ll be home soon right,y/n?”.

You couldn’t hold back your laugh “I’m actually doing a workout rn babe, but it’s okay don’t worry, I’m almost finished anyway”. A silent “ohh” left Jisungs mouth as he started laughing too. “So thai food is alright??”

Felix:

Felix giggled as he saw the sweaty, red, heavily breathing mess in front of him. “You look absolutely stunning”, he stated, his eyes growing big. “No i am sweaty, and besides that really hot”, you whined, whipping the sweat from your forehead. Felix’ expression changed in a second, his giggle turning into a lustful smirk. “actually”, he said while pulling you into his embrace, “you’re looking really hot right now”. He pressed his lips on yours, pulling you into a deep kiss.

After a few seconds he pulled away, giving you a reassuring smile, “let’s go into the shower”, he whispered, while gently pulling you into the direction of your bathroom.

Seungmin:

“A-are you alright??do you have a fever? Because uhmm... you look really...kind of...sick?”,Seungmin asked worried, his face expressions soft and his eyes marked by his puppy gaze. “What..I- do i look that bad?” you asked. “I mean you really look kinda...exhausted you know, like...ohh”, Seungmin continued to speak, until his eyes met the yoga mat on the floor with light weights standing right besides it.

There was an awkward silence, but after a few seconds you both broke out into laugher. “I’m glad that you’re fine”, said the beautiful boy while pulling you closer.“we can also do some sport together, you know?”, you teasingly suggested, causing Seungmins soft smile to turn into a smirk. “Of course”

Jeongin:

It was your idea to suggest a couple workout, but while your well trained boyfriend did every exercise with ease, you were struggling a lot, already sweaty and out of breath, while your boyfriend still looked flawless. “I think I need a break”, you admitted, trying to breath as normal as you could. Jeongins eyes immediately wandered to you giving you a smirk.

“You look really hot like this, y/n”, he said, while lingering his eyes over your body. “Oh no”, you laughed, “YOU look hot right now, but I, I am just a really sweaty mess”. Jeongin pulled you close to him, his face only a few centimeters away from yours. “You’re a beautiful,hot, sweaty mess”, he said, “and most important, you’re my hot, sweaty mess”.

🖤masterlist

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spideyspeaches · 4 years ago

Text

Spotlight ↬ t.h

A/N: This whore made me write this okay? shh you didn’t see me write this 🤡 Lord save me what have I written 😪😪💀

WC: 1.4k+

Warnings: smut. minors dni

Pairing: tom holland x photographer!reader (basically the plot lmao)

Masterlist || Taglist

“Is it just me, or are these pants super tight?” Tom grunted, pulling the tight dress pants in question to fit over his thighs. Wiggling his toes, he tried not to groan at the numbness in his limbs the uncomfortable pants brought, hoping the photoshoot wouldn’t take long.

He really wasn’t in the mood for a photoshoot this late at night, especially after a long day of continuous online press. The things he did for his fans. He just hoped that the new photographer wouldn’t be a rookie, he would feel terrible if he snapped at them for doing their job. Not that he would ever, his anger management was going well.

“I don’t know man, ask your stylist.” One of the dressers said. Tom didn’t know what his name was, there were too many people to keep track of names. And then there was the makeup artist, who decided that he needed makeup that very moment, brushing his nose with powder with a fluffy brush. Trying hard not to rip his pants, he sneezed three times in succession.

“Bless you.” The makeup lady chuckled, dusting more on his cheekbones before going to the rest of his face. Trying to deflect her, he moved around a little, earning a chuckle from the others.

“I think I’m already pretty without makeup, thank you very much.” Tom joked, rolling his sore neck, curling his toes once again as they cracked satisfactorily, sighing in relief that the darn fitting was finally done.

“You are pretty but the camera needs a little highlight to show your cheekbones off.” she retorted.

Scoffing, he looked around, eyes landing on the multiple flashlights in front of the green screen, and another person. Furrowing his brows, he shrugged, maybe that was the new photographer.

“Who’s that woman?” He asked anyway, sneaking a glance at You. He could only see your back, but he could see your hair tied up in a bun, baggy olive pants and a plaid shirt loosely hanging off your waist. He felt jealous looking at your comfortable clothing, pushing down the feeling with a huff. You were a stranger, and he would be home soon anyway.

“That’s the new photographer, she’s an intern but quite good at what she does. We saw her portfolio and immediately hired her.”

“That’s great.” He muttered absentmindedly tracing his eyes over your form. He found himself unable to stop the blush creeping up his cheeks when you turned around, a smile on your lips when you saw him eyeing you. It wasn’t often that somebody caught his eye.

“She’s off-limits.” The older woman muttered, smirking when he huffed.

“It wasn’t like I was going to do anything.” he said defensively, yet unable to take his eyes off you.

“Of course you weren’t.”

No he wasn’t. At first he wasn’t, but his stupid tight fucking pants were making him uncomfortable, twisting the rings in his fingers to stop the anxiety blooming in his chest. His eyes followed you again as he sat at the ground, watching you as you adjust the settings of your camera.

"Y/n, right?" Tom asked, as you nodded bashfully.

“Ready?” You smiled. Giving you a thumbs up, he posed in multiple positions, his eyes following your hands as they held the lens of the camera. You tried not to pay much attention to the man in front of you.

You had come here strictly to click photographs, not hook up with a celebrity who was decidedly the most attractive person in this room. You felt your breath hitch as he spread his legs, casually sprawling his hands between his thighs, right on top of his crotch. The rings on his fingers and the highlights of his makeup visibly shone against the bright lights. Clearing your throat, you lowered the camera from your face.

“Can you- can you turn a little bit? To your right?” You stuttered, indicating the new position, bunching up the hem of his grey dress pants as he shifted.

“This is better?” He asked, looking up with a smirk. He definitely knew what he was doing, and judging by his smug expression, which you decided to capture before it vanished, he knew how it was affecting you too.

The overall shoot was exhausting, with the constant wardrobe change and time limit. But the entire time, you couldn't help but be intrigued by the British actor in front of you.

His wardrobe definitely defined his muscles, the lights working wonders as they created shadows in just the right places.

“Can I see the photos?” He asked, coming to stand behind you once the rest of the crew disappeared to pack everything up. Your breath hitched again, the closer he came, the faster your heart beat.

“Th-they need to be edited.” You stuttered, switchin on your camera anyway. Without turning, you held the instrument in your hand, lifting your elbows as he came closer, his mouth nearly on your neck. You were both thankful for the empty dressing room.

“I bet they look good, they came from a sweet thing like you.” He whispered, bringing his hands closer to your waist, teasing you as his fingers traced non existent circles on the small of your skin visible from the hitched t-shirt. The air around you grew thicker, it was getting harder to breath with every passing minute as he ran his cold fingers burning your skin, the cool of his rings a foreign touch.

You’ve had a one night stand or two before, but they were usually men from random dive bars. Not a celebrity, who had taken interest in you surprisingly fast. Your gut twisted at the thought of doing him, the heat of the spotlight suddenly burning your skin. Was this going to be a one night thing too? You didn’t know. You didn’t care. You weren’t going to admit it, but you were a fan of Tom Holland. You had seen his interviews of him for Cherry, but somehow, the Tom Holland standing behind you was a complete 360 of the Tom you saw in the interviews.

“They look good because they have you.” You said, squirming at the funny feeling of his lips on your neck, sucking on the nape. Fuck professionalism, no one was there to catch you, the lights of the studio having been switched off because of it nearing it’s closing time. You had a trailer of your own, but you were too lost in his lips to care.

Twisting around, you jumped up as he caught you with ease, crashing your lips with his with a hunger that surprised you, arms grasping his shoulders as you dug your nails into his clothed shoulder.

Panting as you parted, you took off your clothes, the cold air hitting you as your body got used to the sudden temperature change. He watched in awe as they fell one by one, first your pants, then your shirt, leaving you in your sports bra and panties. His hard on was very visible from his pants, as he reached to unveil himself alongside you.

“Don’t you think this is a little unprofessional? We literally just met.” You spoke, walking closer to him, holding his cheeks in your palm. Biting your lips, you ran your hands on his now bare chest, feeling the hard skin of his nipples, his defined pectorals. Yeah, you really didn’t give a fuck about professionalism, you were about to fuck Thomas fucking Holland, maybe teach him a lesson after he left you all hot and bothered during the photoshoot.

“It’s unprofessional only if you want it to be darling.” He groaned, pulling you closer to his, your chests smacking against each other as he grasped your head, kissing you, the pace increasing as he picked you up by your waist, slamming you against the door of the studio.

You never knew a touch could mean so much, lost in your high of his lips against yours, his skin against yours feeling like fire and ice at the same time.

“Say the magic word babygirl, and I’ll stop.” He said, grunting as you dug your fingers in his back, your head spinning at the euphoria his voice brought you.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to say anything with your dick against me.” You said, stopping for a moment as he looked at you open mouthed. A moment passed and his laughter rang in the studio, your own mixed with his.

This was gonna be the longest night of yours.

A/N: SO THAT HAPPENED HAHA BYE IMMA GO INTO HIDING

#This isn't showing up on tags fml 😭😭😭#imma still try anyway #tom holland smut #tom holland x reader smut #tom holland #tom holland x you #tom holland x actress!reader #spideygirl writes

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dancefitwear · 2 years ago

Text

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finkanie · 1 year ago

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Red Arrow Soccer Club photos are now booking! Sessions will be hosted at Finkanie Photography in McGillen’s Crossing, 56310 City Center Circle, Mattawan, MI - next to Pizza Hut (entrance is on the road side of the building - don’t get lost!) :)

Sessions will be M-F starting October 9, 2023 and run through October 17, 2023! DON’T MISS OUT! No makeup times will be added, so be sure to schedule your time right away and mark your calendar!

To book your session, click here

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libraford · 1 year ago

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While I myself don't have kids I do live near a high school due to cheap apartments. As I passed the school I say they had a sign up saying school pictures retakes we the 13 of next month which confused me because I grew up where it was one day and thats it. It also made me think of how this ex coworker of yours would let kids see their pictures. How often does this in fact happen or is this a rare moment?

It's pretty common to have a retake day one month from the original day, especially now that it's digital and the cost of processing is lower than it was when I was younger (and it was all on film.) Even so, when I was younger there was a retake day. I think it depends primarily on what company is doing the photography. Big companies typically have a retake day. I can see why a small, local photography studio might not have that as an option.

I got in trouble for showing the photos last year. Company policy: we are not supposed to do that. The reason being that it slows down the workflow. It also creates inconsistencies between photographers and we want to all be on the same page when we're at a school. Teenagers, especially, are known to not be satisfied no matter how many takes we do, and it's common for some of them to gum up the works intentionally to get out of class. The exceptions are for sports portraits- which do not take place during the school day and are featured in multiple print publications outside of yearbooks.

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natromanxoff · 4 years ago

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Queen live at Royal Dublin Society Simmonscourt in Dublin, Ireland - November 22, 1979 (Part-1)

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Tonight is the opening night of the "Crazy Tour," the tour when Queen decided to go back and play the smaller, more intimate venues (especially the London ones). The lighting rig had to be scaled down to accommodate most of the venues. There used to be five rows of red and green lights and four rows of white, but the red and green have been cut back to four as well. Along with the change in the band's attire (particularly Freddie's pants with knee-pads) and Roger's bass drum head sporting a picture of himself, all these factors make pictures from this tour easy to distinguish from those taken earlier in the year.

Queen's old front of house sound technician returned to the job after a long illness (the Jazz album is dedicated to him for this reason).

The show now begins with an intense drone leading into the thunder and lightning. Combined with their lighting rig (even the scaled down version), this would be a very effective opening of their show. It has been said that people were often left breathless before the band even played a note.

Being their first gig in the UK since releasing Live Killers, the band decide to shake things up a bit by opening the show with Let Me Entertain You, followed by the fast We Will Rock You. The setlist is otherwise mostly similar to the live album and previous tour, with a couple new songs added to the repertoire (Mustapha made its first appearance in Saarbrucken in the summer).

Tonight would see the first performances of Save Me and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which had been recently recorded. The latter has been released as a single and would fare quite well on the charts, becoming their first American #1. Save Me would be released as a single early next year, peaking at #11 in the UK. On stage, Brian May plays the piano on the ballad. Through 1981, he'd play the first two verses on piano and switch to guitar at the second chorus. The instrumentation would change slightly in 1982 with the addition of an auxiliary keyboardist. In the meantime, these 1979 versions would have the band finishing the song at the end of the last chorus, omitting the piano outro.

As for Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Brian would start on acoustic guitar, switch to a black Telecaster for the guitar solo, and to his beloved Red Special for the finale of the song. Unlike the 1950s-flavoured studio version, it would become a heavy rock song by the final verse. By 1982, the end of the song would often be a relatively long jam. Freddie would play a 12-string Ovation Pacemaker acoustic guitar for the song through 1982, and would switch to a cream-coloured Telecaster from 1984 to 1986. Throughout the years, he would often joke about how he knew how to play only a few chords on the guitar.

On stage, the band end Crazy Little Thing Called Love with a coda similar to the one in You're My Best Friend.

This is Queen's first of four shows they would play in Ireland, and so they perform a one-off version of Danny Boy in the encore. As told by someone who attended the show, almost no one in the audience knew the words of the second verse, while Freddie had done his homework.

During Now I'm Here, a fan manages to make his way on stage for a brief moment, and Freddie sings, "Now He's Here." An audience recording of the song was reportedly broadcast on the radio not long after the show, but no known copy has survived.

At the end of the show, instead of playing their version of Britain's national anthem as always, in Ireland the band use the outro from the A Day At The Races album - the only location where they would make a political gesture like this.

Here is a review of this show from the Dublin Evening Press, submitted by Rob Schoorl.

Photos 1-3 were taken by Eddie Mallin.

Fan Stories

“I couldn't believe it! Summer 1979 and I was reading a review of a gig in one of Dublin's evening newspapers. At the end of the review, added almost as an afterthought, was news that the promoter, Pat Egan, was planning to bring Queen to Dublin! I read and re-read it but still could not believe it. Queen, at last, would make their debut in front of an Irish audience! The Crazy Tour would begin in Dublin. Fast forward to the autumn and myself and a number of friends from school eagerly queued up to buy tickets to see our heroes. After buying the tickets, it was a long countdown to the show which would take place on Thursday November 22nd 1979. I still clearly remember the date even after all the years. Eventually the day arrived. That night Queen were on Top of the Pops with Crazy Little Thing Called Love but I didn't mind missing it. We were going to the real thing! After a long day in school we made our way to the RDS in Dublin. After a wait outside the gates we were allowed in to the venue and found a standing place near the front of the stage. I recall it got ever more crowded at the front of the stage and before the show, the tour manager (was it Gerry Stickells?) had to go on stage and appeal to people near the stage to relax and step back. Eventually the lights dimmed, there was a tremendous roar from the crowd, the Pizza Oven exploded into light and there were our heroes only yards away from us. I recall at the time being so overwhelmed by the amazing lights and the fact that we could almost touch Freddie, dressed all in black leather and sunglasses, that I barely registered that Let Me Entertain You was the opener. After that, it was into We Will Rock You and, largely the same songs and running order as the Live Killers album which I knew very well (!!) at that time and had almost worn out playing over the previous months. There were however some exceptions. Of most interest to Queen fans now and the biggest shock to me then was that Danny Boy was played live - a great version, from what I recall which received a terrific ovation from the audience. Also, If You Can't Beat Them was played which surprised me as it wasn't included on Live Killers and I wasn't even aware at that time that it was ever played live. The Dublin show was the first time that Save Me and Crazy Little Thing were played live. I remember being astounded at the power and range of Freddie's voice - even better than Live Killers. At that stage he was developing as a singer and over the next few years became recognised as one of the best rock singers and best frontmen in the business. (Am I the only one who was slightly disappointed with the quality and range of his voice during the final Magic Tour especially when compared to earlier tours?). The gig was a terrific show, especially to a young person attending his first major rock gig, and many of the songs are still memorable to me. During Now I'm Here one idiot actually got up on stage and Freddie sang "Now *he's* here" before he was removed from the stage. One girl also managed to get up on stage and plant a kiss on Freddie during the show. The following night, a couple of songs recorded during the show by someone in the audience were played on the Radio Dublin pirate radio station. These included Now I'm Here. A bootleg of the gig definitely exists *somewhere* but, try as I might, I cannot track it down. I would be grateful if anyone reading this comes across it or has it in their collection, that they get in touch with me!” - John Brogan

“The first night of the Crazy tour - amazing show. Seen some people on the web note that they played Danny Boy that night but for some reason I can only remember Brian playing it as part of his solo and us singing our heads off. Freddie handing out a champagne glass to a friend of mine who still has it. Anyway it was nearly 30 years ago and I find it hard to remember what I did last week never mind that long ago. They ended the show with the outro from A Day At The Races which took me a while to figure out what it actually was. The lighting rig was totally amazing - the pizza oven was aptly named - it was scorching and the intensity of the light when it turned around behind the band to face the audience was something else made a couple of friends that night (in the horse show bar opposite the venue) that I am still in contact with and we are all still crazy after all these years.” - Gary aka hoops

“A couple of notes on the Queen show in Dublin, 1979. Fred was in red trousers, not black as John Brogan has mentioned above. Small point but there you go. And when it came time for the audience to sing along to Danny Boy, almost no one knew the words of the second verse - I remember one chap shouting out to Freddie that he was doing a grand job all by himself. I saw them sixteen times in all and that show, the first, has a very special place in my memory. On the subject of bootlegs from that show, a chap in Aungier Street in Dublin used to have just about every show ever played in Dublin by anyone worth taping. I got a really bad and incomplete (C60) copy of the Queen show from him just as a record of having been there - his voice could be heard just before the start of the show, discussing bootlegging. The tape is somewhere in a box in my house and should I come across it, I'll let you know.” - Paul

Part-2

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #brian may #freddie mercury #roger meddows taylor #queen concerts

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shapesdefined · 2 years ago

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Why Professional Product Photography is Essential for Your Business

High-quality photography is a critical element that can influence the success of your product marketing efforts. Photography can showcase your goods in the best light while keeping your branding presence consistent wherever you post the photos.

Consumers are drawn to attractive imagery before reading any text or caption accompanying it, proving the importance of having eye-catching and quality product images. We’ll answer some questions about professional product photography to help you understand its significance.

How can professional product photography near me help communicate my brand’s value?

Product photography can be an investment that can boost brand and product recall. Professional photographers have the skill and vision to communicate the value, innovation, and creativity of your business to your customers. Professional photos of your products can convince prospects that you care about their needs and wants. Moreover, they encourage loyalty and repeat business.

I can take my own pictures, so why should I hire a professional to do it?

Have you seen a poorly taken photograph of a product with unflattering lighting and an inappropriate background? How did the image make you feel? Did it make you interested in the product and make the business seem credible to you?

Professional product photography can perfectly show the quality of your products while boosting your brand image’s credibility. Images can influence first impressions, as humans are naturally visual-oriented. According to statistics, 93 per cent of consumers consider visual appearance critical to their buying decisions.

Hiring a professional product photographer lets you avoid the guesswork in making your products look great in photos. They have the gear and the know-how to show your goods in the most flattering angles.

Can professional product photography near me increase sales?

Professional product images can entice customers to browse your products and drive their purchasing decisions. Today’s consumers have less patience and would rather look at pictures or watch videos than read product descriptions. That’s why you need impactful product images that instantly capture their attention and encourage them to buy.

How do I choose a photographer that offers professional product photography near me?

Find a local photographer with an inclusive approach to product photography. Look for a professional with packshot photography techniques to provide the best photos of products taken from various angles while proudly showing off your labelling and packaging. Reputable photographers can provide other services, such as macro, vertical or ghost mannequin, flat product, still life, lifestyle shot, and model photography.

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sinceileftyoublog · 3 years ago

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Indigo De Souza Interview: Compassion for Different Modalities

Photo by Charlie Boss

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Calling from her home near Asheville, North Carolina earlier this month, singer-songwriter Indigo De Souza is getting ready to go on tour behind her terrific sophomore album Any Shape You Take (Saddle Creek). Like everyone, she’s anxious about navigating the current COVID-19 landscape, but how she and her band adapt to a live performance and play the multi-dimensional songs that make up the record seems to be of little concern. I guess if I was as talented as De Souza, I wouldn’t be worried, either. Released last month, Any Shape You Take is a stunning series of ruminations on love and relationships, platonic and romantic, that span a number of years in De Souza’s life. Raised in a conservative small town in North Carolina by a mom who was an artist, De Souza doesn’t shy away from the fact that her family did not fit in. At the encouragement of her mother, she leaned into her artistic visions, making music as early as 9 years old, releasing her first EP in 2016.

After self-releasing her (very appropriately titled) first album I Love My Mom in 2018, De Souza signed to indie stalwarts Saddle Creek, who rereleased her debut and supplied her with the means to craft a much larger-sounding follow-up. Working with prolific secret weapon co-producer Brad Cook, her first proper label release occupies an incredible amount of genre territory. “This is the way I’m going to bend,” announces De Souza on auto-tuned synth pop opener “17″ before, well, bending in a number of different directions. “Darker Than Death” and “Die/Cry”, nervous songs that were written years ago, sport fitting build-ups, the former’s slow hi hats and cymbals giving way to jolts of guitar noise, the latter’s jangly rock taking a back seat to yelped harmonies. Songs like “Pretty Pictures” and “Hold U” reenter the dance world, the latter an especially catchy neo soul and funk highlight, a simple earworm of a love song. In the end, whether playing scraped, slow-burning guitar or rubbery keyboard, De Souza’s thoughtful and honest meditations center the emotionally charged album, one of the very best of the year.

De Souza takes her live show to the Beat Kitchen tonight and tomorrow night (both sold out) with Dan Wriggins of Friendship opening. Read our interview with De Souza about the making of Any Shape You Take and her songwriting process.

Since I Left You: On Any Shape You Take, there seems to be a good mix of folks you’ve worked with before and folks you’re working with for the first time. What did each group bring to the table?

Indigo De Souza: Brad Cook was co-producing. It was my first time working with a producer on something. That was crazy. He was very supportive of everything and very encouraging. It was nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of who wanted to encourage my vision. I also worked with Alex [Farrar] and Adam [McDaniel] from drop of sun studios in Asheville. They’re both just so sweet and talented. They were engineering but also helped with production as well. I ended up getting really close with Alex, and me and Alex finished out the album together doing vocal overdubs and random overdubs. It feels like he did a lot of production on the album and was a star for me in the process. They were all great to work with. It was interesting to me to have so many people working on the album.

What I realized after the fact, [though], was that it was kind of distracting for me to have so many brains working on it. It taught me I actually feel very confidently about my vision for songs, and I can trust myself to have ideas for my own songs. I think I was scared going in that I was going to come up blank in that scenario because it was such a high-pressure thing, getting on a label and making a high-production album. But I definitely thrived in the space. It was really fun.

SILY: It shows in the finished product. There are so many different styles and subgenres within the record. Do you listen to all the types of music that show up on this record?

IDS: Yeah, for sure. Mostly, I listen to pop music and dance music. That’s probably my most daily genre. I don’t listen to a lot of music daily, though. I listen to music probably a couple times a week when I’m in the car, but it’s so random, and the genres I listen to are pretty random. It depends on my mood. I think when I’m writing, it’s the same way, whether I’m writing a poppier or rock-based song. They’re different moods for me.

SILY: How do you generally approach juxtaposing lyrics with instrumentation?

IDS: With writing, it’s different every time the way they fall into place together. I do notice that one of the more common ways it happens is I’ll be going about my day and hear a melody in my head and start humming it and realize I’m making it up, that I have no record of it before. I’ll start attaching feeling to the melody, depending on what I’m feeling, and at first I’ll be singing gibberish with the melody, but I’ll usually get some headphones on and plug into the computer so I can sing into a microphone. I’ll mess around with the melody and sing random words until something true to me kind of sticks. That’s usually how it goes. Sometimes, I [do] sit down and it comes out in one breath, like the song is already written in my mind.

Honestly, it’s so normalized how songwriting is. It’s such a strange, magical thing that people can write songs that have never been written before. [laughs]

SILY: Thematically, there are a lot of songs on Any Shape You Take where you’re feeling doubts about a relationship, like on “Darker Than Death”. Someone’s feeling bad, and you’re wondering whether it’s you making them feel bad. And on “Die, Cry”, you sing, “I’d rather die than see you cry.” On the other hand, there are some songs like “Pretty Pictures” where you know your place more within the relationship, and you know what’s eventually gonna happen to it. How do you balance those feelings of doubt with knowing what’s gonna happen?

IDS: It’s funny, because the first two songs you mention were written a very long time ago when I was in the only very long-term relationship I’ve ever been in. I was very confused in that time and was having a hard time in general with my mental health. “Pretty Pictures” is the newest song on the album, a last minute addition because another song we had on there didn’t really fit. We looked through my demos folder and chose “Pretty Pictures”, the most recent song I had written at the time, and recorded it for the album. They’re totally different times in my life, and how you said it is definitely how I was. There’s a time I was more confused, and now, love is more simple in my life, and I can process things and see how they are, have compassion for different modalities.

SILY: I love the line on “Way Out”, “There are no monsters underneath your bed, and I’ll never be the only thing you love.” It’s a very logical statement in the face of unbridled emotion that can make you think illogically. Is that contrast something you think shows up throughout the record?

IDS: Within love, over time, I’ve realized that there’s not one person for anybody. There’s a lot of fluidity in the ways people can feel towards other people. That line is definitely a nod to allowing people to love many other people and not taking it personally.

SILY: From a singing perspective, you have a lot of different vocal stylings on the record. I found it interesting you led it off with a track where you’re super auto-tuned. Can you tell me about that decision?

IDS: “17” originally was this demo I made in 2016 or 2017. It was a very old demo. In 2018 or so, I brought the demo to my band at the time, and we created a live version of that song that was nothing like the recording that you hear. The recording was so weird and had a lot of auto-tune and higher-pitched and lower-pitched vocals. We had a live version we played for a while that’s on Audiotree. Whenever we were recording Any Shape You Take, we started to record it the live way and realized it wasn’t feeling right. We listened to the old demo, and it gave this wake up kick to everyone. We got excited by how the demo sounded because we hadn’t heard it in so long. We realized we wanted to record it based on the demo. So that song sounds very similar to the way the demo originally sounded.

SILY: What’s the story behind the album title?

IDS: There are so many layers to the album title. [laughs] It came to me mostly because the album takes so many musical shapes but also so many emotional shapes. It feels like a lot of the themes in the album are about change and acceptance of change and acceptance of a full spectrum of feelings of pain and grief and allowing people to take many forms. It was mainly inspired by the fact that I’ve taken so many forms in my life and am witness to the way changing forms yourself can either push people away or pull them in closer. I’ve always been so appreciative of the people in my life who allow me to take so many different forms and are still there to witness and care about me, whether we’re close to each other or far away. That’s the main reason I wanted to call the album Any Shape You Take. The most beautiful kind of love you can have is allowing someone to be themselves and shift in and out of things freely.

SILY: Is your live show faithful to the studio versions of the songs, or did you have to learn how to adapt the songs to the stage?

IDS: A lot of them sound very similar to the recording. We’ve been having so much fun practicing them and playing them live.

SILY: Is there one in particular you’re most looking forward to playing?

IDS: I love playing “Bad Dream”. That’s just a crazy song to play live because it’s so loud and rowdy. [laughs]

SILY: You have that falsetto in the middle of it, too.

IDS: Yeah. It’s so fun.

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, reading, or watching lately that’s caught your attention?

IDS: I’m excited that one of my favorite authors, Tao Lin, just put out a book I haven’t been able to get fully into. It’s called Leave Society. I just got it in the mail last week. Other than that, I’ve just been so, so busy with interviews and work on the computer and with my manager, staying on top of this crazy shift happening on top of my life. I haven’t taken in a lot of media. I was just watching Love Island recently because I wanted to shut my brain down. Somebody was telling me about Sexy Beasts last night, which sounds insane. I’m excited to watch that.

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dustedmagazine · 4 years ago

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Listed: Lanterna

Lanterna is the ambient shoegaze project of Champaign, Illinois veteran Henry Frayne, who, in the 1980s, played with midwestern bands including The Syndicate, ¡Ack-Ack!, Area, and The Moon Seven Times. In her review of Frayne’s seventh album as Lanterna, Hidden Drives, Jennifer Kelly noted that, “It hits a sweet spot in the overlap between ambient meditation and propulsive groove.” Here are some of the songs and artists that inspire Frayne.

The Past Seven Days — “Rain Dance”

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I joined a Champaign band called ¡Ack-Ack! in 1984 and in addition to learning about group composition I gained access to their mix tape library and LP collection. One song on a mixtape was “Rain Dance,” a curiously long song for a 7" from a band that only released one 7".

A song with a guitar part that is almost all harmonics is stunning. Also, the dark and unsettling drones that hover at the edge of the sonic space (with indistinct voices and the insistent beat.) I’m not sure how many other guitarists it inspired but I have to say I did eventually end up recording a song using only harmonics. After all these years I am hearing the slow fadeout for the first time and those rather discordant notes at the very end.

Tubeway Army — “Me! I Disconnect From You”

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My father always returned home from his travels with an LP for me from the places he had visited. In April of 1979 he and my mom were coming back from Europe and meeting me at my grandparents’ house in Riverside, NJ. I had been listening to a newly acquired copy of The Yes Album on an old console turntable when my father pulled out a copy of Tubeway Army’s Replicas from his luggage. He’d walked into a record shop in London before flying home and asked, “What's hot this week?”

One might wonder how this influential piece of vinyl affected me. How many copies of Replicas were in the US at that time? Did I start my own dystopian synth band in the garage when arriving in Maine that summer? Did I flee to the relative comfort of my progressive rock albums (where ironically the Minimoog had been in common use for some years!)? The answer is that Tubeway Army’s Replicas still sounds as mysterious as it did in the parlor of my grandparents’ house all those years ago.

StarCastle — “True To The Light”

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My brother’s high school newspaper interviewed the resident local progressive rock band StarCastle in January of 1977 (at the local Champaign Pizza Hut on the U of I campus). My brother brought home the brand new Fountains of Light and I proceeded to put on Side 2 and was met with the heavenly flanged/chorused vocals of StarCastle’s “True To The Light.”

StarCastle were mostly local lads. Three of the members had graduated from my high school a few years before. They were signed to Epic Records at the time and recorded with Roy Thomas Baker (for two albums in one year). A friend delivered papers to their band house and hung out with them when they weren’t touring which was always! It was only in recently years that I’ve realized just how much StarCastle toured. They played with practically every band that passed through the Midwest and beyond in the mid-1970s.And it being the 1970s they thought nothing of releasing two RTB produced albums in the calendar year of 1977!

The StarCastle experience taught me that music on LP records can come from people who live in small towns just down the street from where one was playing Little League baseball.

The Chameleons — “On The Beach”

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A blur of sound! It is still hard for me to believe that these songs were recorded in a conventional studio and not just sounds echoing through the glens captured by a bird watcher with a tape recorder in the Peak District.

Giles, Giles & Fripp feat. Judy Dyble — “I Talk To The Wind”

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From reading about The Brondesbury Tapes it is apparent that they were recorded on a Revox reel to reel machine with the sound-on-sound function which allowed one to add a new part to an existing track (a function which could be repeated a number of times). This yielded a mono master, but it is in fact composed of multiple performances.

Before acquiring a Tascam 4-track I created songs using a Revox A77. As well as being able to create my first tape echo effects on the A77 it taught me a lot about mixing instrument parts together. It is fun to imagine the folks in Brondesbury Road going through the same process as I did to make this recording of “I Talk To The Wind.”

Blitz — “For You”

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Another album borrowed from a member of ¡Ack-Ack!. It was the era of lightly chorused guitar and bass. I’ve always been in awe of the glassy sounding guitars on this track, and puzzled by the haltingly uncertain guitar solo near the end. One can feel the legendary ambience of Strawberry North throughout this track.

The Vertebrats — “Left In The Dark”

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Sophomore year at Champaign Central High School a classmate started playing in a group called The Vertebrats. In December of 1979 I was in the audience in the chapel at the Red Herring Coffeehouse in Urbana, Illinois to see one of their earliest shows. The chapel would always sport a very reverberant sound but with vocals, two guitars (one a Fender Mustang favoring the treble pickup), drums, and bass it was an awesome experience. For one, there was someone I knew making this ruckus, in addition to the songs and particularly “Left In The Dark” being instant classics. I’d started seeing rock shows at the local arena the year before but never up close with the band playing at floor level. I had a handheld Sony tape recorder on loan during that time but sadly didn’t take it along to this legendary show.

The Beatles — “Only A Northern Song”

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In June of 1974, following afternoon showings of The Seven Samurai, and Modern Times at the University of Illinois, my father and I did our usual rounds to the local new and used record emporiums. Record shops proper, but also The Salvation Army. It was here amongst the discarded shirts, slacks, pots, and pans that I spied the distinctive artwork of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album. I’d seen the film a few years before when it was first in the theaters, and still had the songs buzzing in my head. Being able to listen to songs from a film at home was a new concept which I was willing to dive into. The band was most certainly not quite right but that was okay with me!

The Wild Flowers — “The Promised Land”

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A purchase at Champaign’s Record Swap (still around, now in Urbana at Lincoln Square!) in the Fall of 1984. As was the case with The Sound’s Heads and Hearts, The Quaker would hand me an album from behind the counter and it would go on to influence me for years to come. My favorite guitar, bass, synth, and drum sounds of all time!

Yardbirds w/ Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck — Blow Up (1966)

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With a father who taught film studies at the University of Illinois, it fell to him to once in a while check incoming acquisitions to the 16mm film library there. I’m sure that I didn’t see ALL of Antonioni’s Blow Up but I'm sure I bestirred myself from doing my grade school homework when the opening howl of “Stroll On” tore through the Frayne household one summer’s eve.

At the time I had no way of knowing that the chap on stage right was the very same guitarist playing some wicked (heavenly?) acoustic and electric guitar (including a Fender Electric XII) on a certain tune that WLS would be playing every hour on the hour for the next several years.

#dusted magazine #listed #lanterna #henry frayne #the past seven days #tubeway army #starcastle #the chameleons #giles giles & fripp #judy dyble #blitz #the vertebrats #the beatles #the wild flowers #blow up #michelangelo antonioni #the yardbirds #jimmy page #jeff beck

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bangtansfavwriter · 5 years ago

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💘bangtan as boyfriends: namjoon💘

(this cutie tho💕💗💞💓)

- the touchy kind of bf, your relationship can be described with one word: sensual

- bonds with you mentally and physically (👀)

- at the same time, very awkward with you when the guys are around

- but whenever it's just the two of you... oh my ..... you're in your own personal and highly intimate bubble

-a man of ... dualities... will talk about Aristotle with you and then ask you about your favourite pokemon

-will teach you about the richness of the finest wines while he's sipping on his capri-sun

-very passionate about your relationship and highly protective of you

-helps you deal with life in general, mostly with some daily tasks, will be ur mental support when actually can't be with you

-sends you pics of everything he finds interesting when he's away, there's a "joon on tour🌏💕" folder on your phone with pictures of unique statues, selcas, amazing food and loots of photos of landscapes and the sky. and of course.... 🦀☺️

- you cry at over trivia: love at least once/month, as it is the one song that always lifts your spirits, you once had an awful day where absolutely nothing was right and you crawled into bed in hopes to just fall asleep already (at 6pm smh) just to forget how shitty life can be sometimes. you listened to music, hoping that this would help you fall asleep, but no avail, you were just laying there, trying to keep yourself from crying. you didn't even notice that namjoon slowly snuck into the bedroom, until you felt the weight shift in bed and him pulling you into his chest. he knew. you knew by the way he held you and caressed your hair. "y/n?" he whispered and lifted your face to look at him. your teary eyes couldn't avoid his, but you couldn't complain. He smiled at you warmly, hugged you again and then softly sang the chorus of trivia: love, reminding you of his love for you (and laughed/cooed when you finally started sobbing)

-he took the supporting thing to a questionable level when he tried to cook for you and almost burned the house down and you reminded him of that incident everytime you saw a fire extinguisher, it became a running gag between you two

fire extinguisher:

you: oh, reminds me of the time you almost turned the kitchen to -

joon: i did it in good will and this is what i get

- manliest man in every other occasion, babiest baby when he's drunk, one loud mf tho (you once took scissors away from him when he was shit-faced drunk and he got emotional bc "you love me that much huh y/n, you protect meeee~, love you so so so much, y/n~", and you have to remind yourself why you signed up for this)

- very soft for you, will try to initiate cuddling but gets shy very often, you're his reminder that being soft and gentle is indeed something good

-will get inspiration to write when you guys are together, whether you are cuddling, going out somewhere or even fighting

-you cussed the shit out of him once when you trusted him to hand in an important paper for you, as you had fly to another country for urgent business and .... he forgot. he literally has no reason, he simply forgot and this was the only time you actually cussed at him and it was, well... believe it or not he wrote his cypher pt.V verse based on that

-and a heart-wrenching ballad after that because you were so mad that you said you needed a break, said break lasted 2 days after maknae line was at your doorstep and asked you to take namjoon back bc "he literally didn't sleep ever since your fight and barely leaves his studio" (jimin) and you knew that over working himself like this was a very obvious sign that he's not in his right mind, so you gave him a call and you two met up and reconciled ("your hook in cypher seemed awfully familiar tho" - "....i wrote a ballad for you" - "cypher always wins, joon" --- 2 years later it turned out said ballad became spring day pt 2, it wouldn't leave the charts --- "y/n, even the charts won't let me forget the one time i screwed up" - "and neither will i" - "petty lil shit")

- your thighs have become rock-solid bc this man would take u biking every damn weekend, "why are you wheezing like that?" - "idk, joon, maybe because my lungs are failing" - "don't be so dramatic, y/n" (proceeds to laugh about your misery)

-but he'd make it worthwhile with a nice picnic during the day

-makes it even better with a candle-lit dinner at a cozy restaurant near his place, that had fantastic pasta aglio e olio ("joon, this is the best food i had in a while, but you may have to carry me home" - "same, I'm so full but it was so worth it" - "hell yea, but...I'm serious about the carrying part" - "??" - " I can't move my legs" - "oh my god" - "this is what happens when im forced to do sports")

- you spent many cozy nights with him where you just pampered yourselves and talked about all sorts of things

-he could listen to you for hours, no one fascinates him as much as you do and he's convinced that you're the most hilarious person he's ever met, although you can't quite understand why he thinks that, he never really explained it either

-you have discussions about all sorts of things, he loves it when you challenge his views, bc that keeps the fire alive ya know

-tbh he's quite possessive , ngl there.. he once saw you joking around with jungkook who smiled and stared at you with heart eyes (!his opinion!)

- namjoon was very disgruntled but didn't say anything bc jungoo is babie and so are you, but it was a whole other thing when jin drunkenly flirted with you one day but it wasn't anything harmful tbh, yet namjoon was FUMING

-jimin was so kind to drag his hyung away from you, since you were too polite and too awkward to tell bangtans oldest off, but you knew how chaotic jin could be, especially when drunk, so you didn't bother much tbh..... but namjoon did. the following day, when you went over to theirs, a very distressed jimin opened the door. you shot him a quizzical look to which he simply said: "yesterday's aftermath". jin stormed towards the door when he saw you, which startled you, but jin grabbed both your hands and profusely apologised for his behaviour the day before. you noticed namjoon glaring in the back, while you listened to jin, who was unaware of namjoon in the back. "so are we good? we have to be good or namjoon's gonna kill me". you started laughing and reassured him and all of you were ok again, jimin took a deep sigh in relief.

- very loyal to you, almost fought a staff member who bad-mouthed you when your relationship became known to bighit

- that was the time you knew namjoon would always have your back, and you knew that this man was worth every kind of hassle that could await you and your relationship (like a unintentional arson by a clumsy man who just wanted to cook)

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