#tag: the portrait of the blogger as a young man

[arcanistvysoren]

Link to Reuters Article

Discord is officially blocked in Russia

Which. Whatever. For me personally -- whatever. I pay for 3 VPNs currently. I'll be all right.

But the fucking demoralizing shit of it all. Because they can dress it up however they want. "Oh this platform is spreading extremism."

Yeah, you mean like talking to people from other countries and learning that the government is lying to us all? No shit.

And yes, the more tech-savvy people aren't gonna be affected.

But the poisoning of children? They are rewriting history in the classrooms. They have rereleased textbooks of history and geography to paint the correct version, in which everything Russia has ever done was morally good and correct and the Evil West has been -- at best -- ungrateful, and -- at worst -- criminal, sinful, decadent, utterly reprehensible.

It's the same propaganda that any Nazi party has always used: they are out for your identity. They endanger your way of life. In this instance, it is the America and the image of Ukraine as depicted here -- which is to say "suckling on America's teat". It couldn't possibly be because Russia is committing genocide.

So yes. They ban TikTok. They ban Youtube. They ban Instagram. They ban Shitter. Now they ban Discord. Which is just laughable because Discord is just Skype on steroids. It's a reddit with a phone booth. To say that Discord is spreading extremist views and brainwashing is so absurd when it's literally just teens going into channels to play video games and accidentally learning that their country is the emerging Traditionally Evil Empire of 21st Century.

Like I cannot stress to you that in the first week of the war this was a movie released to all elementary students in every school to explain why their country was at war:

Shit's bad here.

[kirkwall-age]

i keep getting new followers even though i'm not posting and i appreciate you all finding my ye olden posts funny 🤍 but i'm still hiding from the internet at large, doing 3 consecutive veilguard playthroughs so i can see maximum amount of different choices for myself before i actually delve back onto tumblr and see spoilers 🙈

something something... we will be back shortly after this message from our sponsors

[arcanistvysoren]

irl is crazy and i haven't had much time to be here for like 6 months now --

-- but --

i originally started this blog in 2014 because Dragon Age: Inquisition was releasing

so i have to come back online and be utterly unwell about DA4 (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

[arcanistvysoren]

took the "what's your red flag" quiz and got emotionally unavailable, bitch I KNOW

[herrlichersonnigertag]

your favorite accidental MASH cosplayers, out on the town 🍸

feat. a cat that @draftdodgerag and I gazed up at in delight from the street below, and some fancy shmancy cocktails!

[sultanaislammow]

Scholars and Alluring Smiles, Internet idols for the elderly

"Height is not the distance, age is HE Tuber not the problem." "The little sister sent her lover to Damendong, but it was raining and windy! The little brother is leaving or staying!" In the video, wearing a black suit, The man who walks slowly with a cup of tea is called "Xiu Cai". He likes to sing love songs to fans. He will pick peppers in the vegetable field and tell him: "It's not my fault that I love you, it's because you are too beautiful!" "

In the Douyin profile, Xiucai claims to be 39 years old. The content is relatively unified, basically lip-syncing, including "Love You Like You Love Me", "You Are Mine", "Waiting for You for So Long", "When Will I Stop Worrying", "Big Eyes" and " Fiery Love" and other old songs. It is worth noting that when he sings, he will have a shy expression. Covering his mouth, licking his lips, and raising his eyebrows are the three must-haves in the video. The overall atmosphere creates a provocative and ambiguous atmosphere, which has attracted the attention of many people. The hearts of aunties/grandmothers-in-law.

In 2020, Xiucai began to publish videos on Douyin. So far, he has accumulated 9.629 million fans, mainly attracting middle-aged and elderly women. His live broadcast room audience portraits show that female viewers account for 87.12%, with people over 50 accounting for the highest proportion. Reaching 38.33% , users aged 41-50 also account for a large proportion, reaching 20%.

Under the @xiucai account, fans will talk about the details of their lives every day, such as: the elderly at home have undergone surgery, there is a happy event at home and a banquet will be held, the grandchildren are sick, I am sick, my teeth have fallen out, and I have been sleeping every day recently. Got less and less. Corresponding to has attracted many men over the age of 45 and has attracted 17.11 million fans. This rural girl from Heze, Shandong Province, is 33 years old. She started updating videos on Douyin on April 12, 2019.

In terms of shooting techniques, is similar to @ Xiucai. She also likes to do "raise her eyebrows" when lip-syncing and singing, but the amplitude and frequency are not so frequent. In terms of personality position, these two talents belong to the "entertainment + talent" route, and their daily updates include covers and singing along with some popular songs.

The difference is thathas a signature sweet smile and laughs heartily in almost every video. In the early days, she would shoot scenes of singing in the fields. Recently, she began to try to use retro makeup with karaoke subtitles, adopting a nostalgic record style. In the video tags, likes to use especially "microfat" appears very frequently, which can also reflect the aesthetics of many middle-aged and elderly men.

There are a large number of celebrities on the Douyin platform. Why do they get the love, praise and followers of so many middle-aged and elderly people? For many young people, the videos of the two celebrities mentioned above may lack new ideas, but for their core audience, it is completely the opposite. What the latter pursues is not the host's talent, drinking competition, and PK shouting, but companionship, Trust and respect.

Cass believes that the biggest advantage of these two experts is their down-to-earthness. Only experts/businesses/brands who can do this can truly capture the hearts of middle-aged and elderly users. To be fair, the clothes, beauty filters, expressions, video copywriting and shooting of the two bloggers

The scene can be quickly understood by middle-aged and elderly fans, and there is no sense of distance in the way of expression.

At the same time, their facial features and appearance are upright and comely among ordinary people, which can make fans who like this kind of appearance feel close to and admire them. In addition, during the live broadcast, the master also followed the personality in the video. He was gentle, polite, and took the initiative to perform his talents. It was difficult not to make middle-aged and elderly fans feel at home and be "served" clearly.

When some young people are keen on chasing "males", "beauties" and "good-looking celebrities" and are addicted to the coconut tree live broadcast room, their parents may be watching the short videos and live broadcasts of The different choices of the two generations are based on their own emotions and entertainment needs. They are beyond reproach and should be treated equally and respected.

[anxietylord]

A stupid post from Instagram of me complaining about the algorithm but I actually don’t hate this picture of myself so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[arcanistvysoren]

Alright your Discord avatar and tumblr avatar are locked in a closet for 7 minutes ala 7 Minutes In Heaven. What happens

[blackhyena]

tagged by @bironism to post 9 pictures from my camera roll!! lots of these are quite old due to the nothing happening recently. i tag @wulfalice @bisexualaudreyhorne @smughorse @wampiry @percvshelley and @squeakingcleopatraboy

(l-r: loml; lovely pair of tits; portrait of the blogger as a young man; gay rights!; his royal hogness; york big sexy; manchester big sexy; trying not to pass out at the npg; literally my christmas presents how the fuck is it june already??)

[kirkwall-age]

It's time for a pinned post! 👋

Name: Cyril Age: 33 (as of posting in Oct 2024 if i forget to update. which i will) Queer: Bi. Genderqueer. Ambiamorous. Somewhere on the aroace spectrum. *gestures vaguely* AO3: [link] (not much there by way of Dragon Age........ yet 😏😈)

This is NOT a spoiler-free blog. Everything gets tagged meticulously because I want to find posts related to topic / character quickly. Currently tagging for #veilguard spoilers. ❖

I also DON’T reblog fandom wank. I remember the days of the Inquisition: the character bashing, the hatemail, people dying on hills not worth dying on... I just want to be clear that I’m a serial enjoyer. And I don’t like negativity. I may discuss holes in writing here and there — that’s unavoidable. But I do prefer to focus on things I like.

I also don’t do character hate. Related to the point above, but deserves its own paragraph, I feel like — because I know there are blogs out there that still have DNIs of ''don’t follow if you like X character''. Well, I like them all. Anders? Cullen? Solas? Easily faves. (Singling them out as the most divisive, but. Really.) Any and all other much-maligned characters of this fandom? I probably like them just fine. And if I don’t like something, I just don’t blog about it. Simple as that.

[lasiiurus-archived]

CLOSING THIS BLOG.

after much contemplation, after many nights spent listening to the various Hans Zimmer scores to the Trilogy, i have made the decision to close this blog. this is a somber decision of mine, but one i feel is absolutely necessary and, at heart, is what is best for me. as some of you may have seen, i've been a little lacking in posting recently. i don't really spend much time on here anymore, and when i do, it's usually to just post a couple of gifs, make an ooc post, reblog a meme - so on. at first i thought it was something to do with my life that was preventing me from writing, but even after i got my bearings and did some refilling of the well of self-love, i realized it was something more. 

the DC fandom has killed my love for Batman.

i really need to stress this...

the DC fandom has killed my love for the thing that STOPPED me from giving up on life.

this is by no means an attack, nor is it a means of pointing out someone or select people, but it's just the collective DC fandom that i have, personally, encountered. i'm going to use actual sources and treat this like a proper article, because i know some people will just see it as bitching about a problem that isn't there. i'm not going to put this under a cut, because it is a final post which is kind of important. 

There is a cell in DC fandom, however, that refuses every opportunity to behave like reasonable human beings. What began as frustration over a mixed reaction to Man of Steel has evolved into paranoid delusions of conspiracy and a full blown persecution complex over the world not embracing Batman v Superman the way these DC fans have. It’s already led to fans lashing out with violent threats like this one received by Clarke Wolfe (referencing a tweet where a young man threatened to murder her on the street after she gave BvS a bad review).

According to the DC hive mind, the reason Batman v Superman has been panned by critics is because those critics have an anti-DC, pro-Marvel agenda. Professional film critics who review dozens and dozens (some of them hundreds) of films each year suddenly care enough to choose a side between the companies that produce a small sample of those critics’ annual workload. Why would they care? Per the hive mind, money. What else?

That’s right. The DC hive mind is convinced that critics, especially the online bloggers who are fixtures of comic book movie coverage, have been accepting bribes from Disney to write positive reviews for Marvel movies and trash the competition, specifically the DC-based movies produced by Warner Bros. The key piece of evidence in each count of bribery is a critic having an opinion about Batman v Superman that is contrary to the opinion held by the DC hive mind.

'Something is Rotten in the State of the DC Fandom' - Sean Gerber, Modern Myth Media

this is just a sample of what is wrong with the DC fandom. no matter how hard i try to blacklist certain things, such as 'justice league' (yes, i literally have to blacklist JUSTICE LEAGUE), i cannot escape the blatant, unrelenting poison in the fandom. i have to blacklist justice league because i have literally seen posts saying 'we finally have the right batman' or one of the more common things i've seen where the shot of batman on the gargoyle being tagged as 'more batman than christian bale will ever be'. i've seen youtube comments, i've seen tumblr posts, i've seen endless amounts of idiot fanboys and supposed 'DC elites' thinking it is okay to slag off the predecessor. IT'S NOT. it is toxic. it is killing the fandom. 

You're turning people off the films that you represent and love. You are hurting the industry as a whole. You are hurting the fan community as a whole. You are killing everything around it... the thing that you claim to love, you are hurting it.

There's no bigger hater on the SW Prequels than me. But every time I talk about why I hate those films, I always make sure I end with 'Hey, that doesn't mean you have to hate it. If you like these movies then I celebrate that. I think that's awesome if you got something out of them! For me they didn't work because of reasons A,B,C... but that's just me.

We need to get it back to where we can talk about why we loved this, or why we hated that. But there's nothing wrong with why you hated some I love or why you loved something I hated.

John Campea Podcast Episode 18 'The Destructive DC vs Marvel Fanboys War'

i'm not perfect, and i'll never claim to be. i've taken shots at BvS purely because i felt zack snyder's idea of what batman should be as a personal affront, but i did it in retaliation because i felt alone and ostracized because i happen to prefer christian bale and feel his batman is more accurate to the ideals of bruce wayne. that doesn't mean i'm right, it's just my heart and my opinion. but to have the DC fandom declare that someone's opinion is WRONG, that to tell someone because they love the Nolan trilogy they are not a real Batman fan, is just pathetic. it's childish.

it's like having a kid be bullied at school because he happens to like Donatello the most out of the turtles, when all the 'cool kids' like Raphael. it's disgusting and i want absolutely no part of this fandom any longer.

this post is literally the reason i am leaving. i'm leaving before it gets to the point where i have to tear down the eight different batman posters in my room, throw out the $160 Dark Knight Trilogy statue, smash the hand-painted portrait of the chalk bat symbol my friend in america made me, trash the twenty four graphic novels i own. all because of the toxicity of the online fandom.

i don't want to go on too much longer, i was planning to include a big thank you thing, but i think i'll make it a separate post. i'd like it to have its own positive tone. so in closing, i really, really encourage, heck, i'm begging you:

[arcanistvysoren]

I truly will never understand people being angry over micro-labels.

The amount of times I've been told that "X is not a real identity"... Like, my friend, my pal, my buddy: what makes something real? Everything about our identities is a social construct. We are a community, a queer community, and we had a limited vocabulary, and now we're expanding it because we're finding that there are overlapping ideas and experiences that we all vibe with, and we need new words to describe them. It's a mouthful to say "I feel like my gender is unimportant, but whatever it is, I know that whoever I'm attracted to, whatever their gender may be, my attraction to them is gay". It's not a mouthful to say "omnigay". And you may think our words are funny, but they are useful, and helpful, and very 🤝/handshake emoji. Because we see other people experiencing the same things that we do and we file it away under "same", and when we meet like-minded people, it's an instant green light of: this person researched the same things as me / reached the same conclusions as me / feels the same as me.

Truly, I was sitting on this rant for a while, ever since someone told me, to my face, that "demisexuality" isn't real, and that I just don't understand how human sexuality works, and I was just sitting there like: 😶 Buddy, I think it is you who doesn't understand how inventing new words works. This is a major shared experience for people and we gave it a name.

But also, considering the blowout with everyone clutching pearls around crimew's identity. Y'all are tragic, and microlabels will outlast you.

Op is right: the table is long, and I want to break bread with everyone who has examined themselves into an unconventional identity.

"Well are you a [controversial identity] supporter???"

My friend I do not know what to tell you here. My rule is and remains "I don't care what you call yourself because your actions and who you are as a person is more valuable to me" and "as long as everyone in the situation is an adult and is giving enthusiastic consent I genuinely do not give a fuck what you do" and "words are stupid and people are complicated so it doesn't matter if The Words Are Wrong as long as it makes you happy"

I'm a longer tables not higher walls kind of guy. Have a seat. Break bread with me. Tell me a story over dinner. I think that'll be better for the both of us.

[arcanistvysoren]

now for a normal post o/ hello i think i'm back on tumblr this is unrelated to reddit or twitter or anything 'cause i never used those just real life stuff under cut for some medical unpleasantness

my chronic illness decided that life wasn't fun enough and fucked up my internal organs. i had severe internal bleeding and had to have a D&C about it. fun fact: D&C is the most commonly used method for first-trimester abortion. so it's like a super fun procedure when you've never even touched a penis. love being gay / single / voluntarily childless, and still somehow require an abortion. my uterus was like: oh you don't enjoy having me and plan to never use me for anything? i'm rioting bitch and then because i lost so much blood i was basically anemic and 5 seconds away from fainting at any given moment for a few weeks while they were pumping me full of iron and stuff. which was also an incredibly fun and cool experience /sarcasm

anyway (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

also things are obviously pretty grim in russia politically so i just spiraled back into my depressive state for a hot second and couldn't be bothered to use tumblr or even scroll it without posting

oh, and AO3 got banned. which might seem like small potatoes but speaks to the overall anti-gay wave happening here and it's just incredibly miserable to still be here

long-term plan is still to fix up my health and emigrate the fuck out of here (ง •̀_•́)ง

[oneweekoneband]

Outro & Round Up

Taelor here! With Ash’s last art post we’re done for the week, but I wanted to say a few things. Ash is, in the spirit of Los Campesinos!, off getting drunk in Cardiff, but I work tomorrow so I’m writing the outro. We both want to thank Hendrik for the opportunity, and we definitely want to thank all of you for playing along with us this week! We had a ton of fun and love everyone who interacted with us.

I want to take a quick second to thank Ash for letting me tag along with this. They said they were doing a OWOB and I said, hey do you mind if we collab? And they were super great about it and it allowed me to talk about some of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, so I’m very grateful.

If you enjoyed the art this week, make sure you follow @losarthistory where Ash posts fly art every Tuesday and Thursday.

Round Up (Under the cut)

Day One An Introduction to the Bloggers and the Band Hold On Now Youngster Introduction Knee Deep At The ATP Fly Art This Is How You Spell... ...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks My Year In Lists! Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s) Fly Art

Day Two We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed Intro We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed It’s Never That Easy Though, Is It? Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1 Heart Swells / Pacific Daylight Time All Your Kayfabe Friends Fly Art

Day Three Romance Is Boring Introduction This Is A Flag. There Is No Wind. Fly Art We’ve Got Your Back I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future I Warned You Do Not Make An Enemy Of Me Fly Art

Day Four Hello Sadness Introduction Songs About Your Girlfriend Fly Art Hello Sadness Baby I Got the Death Rattle Life Is A Long Time The Black Bird, The Dark Slope To Tundra Fly Art

Day Five No Blues Introduction A Portrait Of The Trequartista As A Young Man Fly Art Glue Me For Flotsam What Death Leaves Behind As Lucerne/The Low Avocado, Baby Fly Art

Day Six Sick Scenes Introduction For Whom The Belly Tolls Fly Art I Broke Up In Amarante A Slow, Slow Death A message from Gareth, Chicago 3/2/17 5 Flucloxacillin The Fall of Home Here’s To The Fourth Time! Fly Art

[arcanistvysoren]

So I actually have a personal anecdote about this. cw: discussions of sex / unrealistic and skeevy sex expectations...? idk

When I was in my first year of uni, I still sometimes hung out with my old school classmates. And, you know, high school is that time when plenty of allosexual teenagers start getting horny and having various sexual experiences. Meanwhile, my queer ace ass was like that one tumblr post: The leading man and woman make long, lingering eye contact? They’re thinking about bread. I know I am. No interest in sex, or dating, and no libido to speak of. Which wasn't an unknown fact. It's high school. Everyone's experimenting, bragging, PDAing all over the place. And I wasn't unpopular, I've been asked out a few times, and everyone knew I shot those offers down. So, now we're in college, and to the "horror" of my horny having-sex-all-the-time peers, I'm 19 and still a virgin.

And this one boy. That I've gone to school with for 7 years. That I've been ostensibly friendly with, if not exactly friends. Decided to express his concern to me over the fact. And the argument that he made. Which, you know, the way he put it was that it was "scientifically proven", or something. It was science! It was definitely not something he picked up from watching hours of hentai every day. The argument was that what happens to repressed girl, to girls who are virgins for so long, is that when they finally experience an orgasm brought on by a moderately skillful penis. Is that it is, quite literally, a mind-shattering experience for them. For about ten whole minutes, with an entirely straight face, he tried to convince me that the hentai trope where the shy or stuck-up virgin girl gets deflowered by the hentai protagonist, and then her IQ bottoms out and she goes sex-crazy, forgets everything about her career and starts sucking every dick in the vicinity with a permanent ahegao face. Was in fact reality. And he tried to forewarn me that I should really endeavor to pop my cherry because if I wait too long, then I will just snap after my first orgasm. Which he a 100% believed was a real thing that happened to girls.

I've gone to school with that guy for 7 years, sat with him at the same desk for several years in one class, we did a school play together, and 10+ years later I legitimate don't remember a single other thing I've talked to him about. This is literally the only conversation that I remember.

i wish i could see this picture for the first time again

[ecotone99]

[MF] Lola

Logline: A man tracks down his mother's painting, which is worth millions of dollars because of its beauty, when he finally finds it, it may be worth even more than that.

_____________

Mike Swanson's mother, Sophie Swanson, was a renowned painter, a living legend at the time of her death, her artwork hung in art galleries and museums. A few weeks after her funeral, Walter Jessup, a billionaire and art collector visited him at his house. They had a long talk about Sophie's life, and Walter brought up a painting named Lola.

Walter shows Mike a picture of Lola on his phone,

"there it is, isn't she beautiful," Walter says. Mike agrees, he can't take his eyes off it,

"That's probably the most beautiful painting I've ever seen," Mike admits. The painting is a realistic portrait of a young girl, couldn't be older than 18, singing into a microphone with yellow feathers in her hair.

"I don't think any person could come close to the beauty of this painting; the person who posed for this is probably the most beautiful woman in the world," Mike says.

"Keep in mind, the painting is over thirty years old," Walter says.

"Still, I can't look away; it's love at first sight," Mike says.

"It's the earliest painting ever discovered that your mom made. It's from before she was famous, living out in Las Vegas, trying to make a living as a lounge singer," Walter says.

"That's crazy; I didn't even know my mom could sing," Mike says.

"In good condition, I've had it appraised at 3.8 million dollars, but no one knows where it is," Walter says.

"It's lost?" Mike asks.

"I guess so, you see, the girl in the painting is a real person, her name is Lola, she was a showgirl at the Copa thirty years ago, now she's a singer in a Las Vegas night club, people have asked her about the painting, but she won't reveal where it is," Walter says.

"Maybe she doesn't have it; maybe it's truly lost," Mike says.

"I don't believe that. That woman knows where the painting is. If you went to Las Vegas and asked her for it, she would feel compelled to give it to you; it is your mother's painting. Think of it like this; it technically belongs to you anyway. If you return with the painting, I'll give you eight million dollars, that's double what the painting is worth," Walter says.

"Eight million dollars! I'll get that painting for you," Mike says.

"The girl does four shows a week, at a joint called The Troubadour, a dinky lounge with slot machines in the lobby. Good luck, kid," Walter says.

Mike flies out to Las Vegas, he settles in, and the first night he's there, he goes to The Troubadour to see Lola. He sits in the back; the place is dead, the club has seen better days. A woman, looking to be in her mid-to-late fifties, comes onto the stage with yellow feathers in her hair, it's the woman from the painting, her eyes haven't changed, but life has taken its toll. She's introduced as Lola and performs a version of Unchained Melody; it's beautiful and flawless. When she starts singing, the few people left in the lounge, can't take their eyes off of her, she has a hypnotic presence. Mike found her, Lola, from the painting. When the song concludes, Mike tries to make his way backstage but is not allowed. He waits two hours for Lola at the exit, he sees her and tracks her down.

"Hi, Lola?" Mike asks.

"Yes, what do you want an autograph or something? A little young for my fan club but whatever," Lola says.

"No, my mom was Sophie Swanson, I think you knew her," Mike says. Lola stops in her tracks.

"Sophie, yes, I had heard the news, I'm sorry for your loss," Lola says.

"Well, I was wondering if you had a few minutes to chat?" Mike asks.

"Sure, let's grab a drink at the bar," Lola suggests.

They walk over to the Troubadour bar; the bartender is very familiar with Lola,

"Hey, Lola, your regular?" The bartender asks.

"Yes," Lola replies.

"Alright, ma'am, a bottle of vodka coming right up," the bartender replies.

"A bottle? I don't drink much, will I like the taste?" Mike asks.

"Don't be silly, the bottle is for me," Lola replies. Mike turns to the bartender,

"Oh, just a coke for me then," Mike says.

"So, Sophie's boy, what brings you out to sin city," Lola asks.

"Actually, you," Mike says.

"I'm flattered, but you're a little young," Lola says.

"No, my mom painted a portrait of you, I've seen a picture of it, it's beautiful," Mike says. Lola pours a glass of vodka and immediately drinks half a glass.

"Your mother was always a talented painter, you know we were showgirls, right? Those were the days, youth, enjoy it while you have it," Lola says as she downs the other half of the vodka.

"Do you still have the painting?" Mike asks.

"Have you ever been in love?" Lola asks.

"Love? What does that have to do with the painting?" Mike says.

"Love is everything, do anything you can to keep it, because it can leave in a blink of an eye," Lola says cryptically.

"But what about the painting, do you have it?" Mike asks again. Lola pours another glass of vodka and immediately downs half of the glass as the bartender brings Mike his coke.

"Did your mother ever tell you why she made that painting in the first place?" Lola asks.

"No, in fact, I didn't even know about the painting until a couple of days ago," Mike said.

"They say you shouldn't fall in love at the Copa, but I was young, and I thought I was immune. His name was Tony; he tended bar on most of my shifts; he was the love of my life. The sweetest man you'll ever meet," Lola says as she drinks another half-glass of vodka. "Being a showgirl at the Copa was a tough business, but I was going to be a star, and into the club walked, Rico, mafia goon famous for his diamond pinky ring. He would always call the showgirls over to his table, show off, and try to get them to come back to his room with him. I was working that night," Lola says as she pours another glass of vodka." Rico had a reputation for getting a little handsy, but I had it under control. Unfortunately, Tony, filled with rage and jealousy, sailed across the bar and got into a fight with Rico, punches thrown, chairs smashed, and eventually, Rico pulled his gun and shot Tony," Lola finishes.

"That's tragic; I'm so sorry you had to experience that," Mike says. Lola shrugs and drinks another half a glass of vodka.

"So, what do you want with this painting?" Lola asks.

"I'm being offered eight million dollars for it," Mike says.

"Money, you're going to trade that painting for money?" Lola asks.

"Yeah, believe it or not, that painting alone will bring in more than all the rest of her paintings did," Mike responds. Lola shakes her head.

"Some things can't be bought, kid, I learned that a long time ago. You can't put a price tag on that painting; it's priceless," Lola says.

"I know it's beautiful, but why is it so special?" Mike asked.

"Your mom got me through a lot after Tony died, I drank a bunch, and I was sad, your mom got me through that phase of my life. That's actually why she made the painting. I had a difficult time; a few nights prior, I tried to commit suicide, so to cheer me up, your mom painted my portrait. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen; it made me want to live. I never tried to commit suicide again," Lola said.

"Wow, I never thought that painting would have such a special significance for anyone," Mike says, as Lola throws back another half a glass of vodka.

"Look, your mom was a special person to me, if you want the painting, I'll show you where it is, you can have it if you want it," Lola says.

"Well, if you're willing to let me have it, I'll take it," Mike says as Lola finishes her vodka and throws down fifty bucks,

"Thanks, George, Victor's got to pull the car around, the kid and I have a trip to make," Lola says to the bartender.

Lola is taking Mike to Las Vegas General Hospital; they go straight to the top floor. When they step off the elevator, Mike sees a sign that reads, "The Sophie Swanson Psychiatric Wing." When they reach the ward, his mother's painting of Lola is straight ahead. It's the highlight of the entrance to the wing, that was a multi-million-dollar artwork just hanging there at the entryway to the psychiatric ward, hidden in plain sight.

As they continued throughout the wing, some of the patients were still up in the middle of the night. Most of them thanked Mike for letting them keep the painting for this long. Over the years, the art has done so much for so many. The beauty had almost a magical presence; it made people forget their problems; it helped so many to get better.

By the end of his journey to Las Vegas, Mike didn't have the heart to take the painting away from the psychiatric unit. He figured it would be better if his mom's legacy had been remembered for something good, rather than hanging up in some guy's collection. And though Lola was a shell of her former self, unable to move on from her one true love, the painting of Lola, stood as a symbol of young love, of what life could be, of a beauty that would stand the test of time.

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