#team implosion wins

[autumnalhalcyon]

Team Implosion wins

[sortanonymous]

💔

[orbital-obvious]

Throwing my hat to the Team Black/Green Discourse

I'm bad bound due to shoulder pain, and I've been reading Team Black/Green takes and you guys, it's so fun. Here are my personal takes:

While exploring the changes from the book (and the reasons those changes were made) is interesting in a meta way, you can't assume book only details apply to show characters. What you see is what you get, for better or for worse

The show clearly favors Rhaenyra and tries to weave this "girlboss won't let the MEN put her down" narrative, and at the same time does her a great disservice because Rhaenyra and her faction are boring as fuck as a result. The greens faults are not only acknowledged but highlighted - which make them more interesting, human, and multidimentional, but then again the narrative goes and minimizes their fears and hurt, so, well, double edged sword.

Aegon only cares for his legitimate children. I also don't think the greens as half as unified as they are precived to be.

The question of "Did Aemond steel Vaghar?" is actually "are dragons property?" with extra steps.

Aegon was a usurper, and the Greens (Otto, if we're real) used the inherent misogyny of Westeros to instill him on the throne.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, I have a hard time thinking Rhaenyra is this feminist queen. It's freedom for Rhaenyra, and maybe other women with dragons. I think it makes Rhaenyra a better character, actually.

How can Alicent or her children trust Rhaenyra which never acknowledged that Luke maimed Aemond, and acutally DEMANDED Aemond to be further hurt via questioning? The messege in Driftmark was clear: Rhaenyra (and by extention, her children) are more important than you, they can hurt you, maim you, even kill you, and you will STILL be at fault. There's an element of survival in the Green's usurpation, not only greed.

Rhaenyra suffers from misogyny. I don't think she would have no problem ascending the throne if she were a man and she is one of the most privileged people in the realm, but there are challenges she faces for the crime of being a woman alone.

I don't think Alicent thought that by serving the patriarchy she'll be the exepction - not consciously, anyway. I think this requires an understanding she does not possess. and, again, Rhaenyra being put on the throne isn't a big win to all women, just Rhaenyra. To side with Rhaenyra meant siding against her family -that was Alicent's decision in my eyes. The world is bleak and one must use any power that they have - same way Targaryan used dragons, Alicent + greens used the built in sociatal norms.

I don't know who needs to hear this, Aemond is not a little kid anymore. I'm not saying his life is perfect and no one is mistreating him, but he is not defenseless and he does have that cruel streak to him and he did very much undermines his brother, grandfather, and mother.

Aegon is implosive, Rhaenyra hardly acts. Aegon coronation started the war, and his decisions have propelled the war forward . Rhaenyra refusal to act pushed team black into a position where the only advantage they had was dragons, ergo, they had to get dragons involved and voila- bloodshed.

Daemon would not have let the Greens live, even if they had bent the knee. TBF, Daemon would probably find a way to kill Rhaenyra's older children to put his on the throne. "Rhaenyra would never allow this!" Rhaenyra can't control Daemon. We've seen it time and time again.

I really hate the "Rhaenyra put her children at risk because their bastards". Rhaenyra was married to a gay (possibly infertile) man and if she had no heirs of her own, it itself would weaken her claim more than having bastards (ask if most of the realm would know or even give a shit they are not legitimate - that's mostly house Valeryon's problem and people in their immidiate surroundings that see it as "immoral").

No, Rhaenyra did not put her children at risk for having bastards. She put her chidlren at risk by having trueborn, perfectly blond and Targeryan children with Daemon.

I said it in my last post, I'll say that again: Raehnyra fucking off to an undercover mission in King's Landing and not telling ANYONE about it was a dumb move in a list of dumb move. She essentially left her side without a ruler at a time of WAR, not to mention the panic of a queen being gone closely after an assassination attempt on her life that was barely stopped.

Alicent was one of the most powerful people (if not the most powerful) in the years leading up to Viserys death, practically running the kingdom while Rhaenyra never visited even once. Alicent was changing Kings landing in her own image (changing Targ decoration for the Seven symbolism). Alicent had power, authority and the ability to rule that neither Rhaenyra nor Rhaenys exhibited.

Viserys failed Rhaenyra for not teaching her how to cement her throne and make connections and allies. Rhaenyra grew into an adult who never had to fight for what she was given, a so called heir who sceluded herself in Dragonstone and never bothered to cement her claim which she would have needed to do even if she was born a man. The cycle continues, with the hints she never worried about securing Jace's spot or his legitimecy (Jace wanted to learn high Valerian and was clearly concerened, Rhaenyra doesn't see the issue and that itself is a problem)

Honestly kudos for Jace for securing the North/Vale. The show paints supporting Rhaenyra as "the right thing" and we never got to see Jace working and using his diplomatic skills. God forbid the boy will have a personality.

Criston Cole was a man of ethnic minority (Dornish, most cast is Andal/Valerian) from lower class and the power imbalance with Rhaenyra would not have flown if the roles would've been reversed. She pushed him to sully his own life work (becoming kingsguard) and he is right to be hurt about her not taking it as seriously as him - she does not have to face consequences, he does. I'm not even talking about the weird state of consent of the relations between them.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, that does NOT justify Criston Cole calling Rheanyra "Whore" and "Cunt". He uses her gender to hurt her - the only power imbalance in his favour in this relationship is him being a man and her being a woman, and he weaponizes it. "but it's accurate to the society he lives in!" cool, the society is shit.

There's probably more, but I'm tired and need to lie down. So. yeah. Feel free to comment, I'm interested in others thought about it.

[wildpeachfarm]

Since someone brought up Mr. Beast, I am going to get one thing off my chest. I am now grateful to whoever on Mr. Beast’s team cut George out of the Feastables video. Because whatever implosion is going on over there (I’ve been seeing stuff about illegal lotteries and marketing schemes specifically aimed to exploit a mainly child audience) can in no way impact the DTeam. The DTeam was cut off from Mr. Beast by that team and currently have nothing to do with Mr. Beast’s team. So when the Drideo drops, it should not be affected by all the Mr. Beast mud being stirred up.

EXACTLY I was actually thinking about this yesterday, that George and dteam dodged a MASSIVE bullet due to the events in March.

Its a bittersweet win of course, but a win nonetheless that any of dteam aren’t involved in yet another controversy surrounding potential grooming or innappropriate interactions with minors due to this mr beast stuff ESPECIALLY after one of those “””ex employees””” (I say that in quotes bc I don’t think it’s verified yet) said that there are more people within the company who are weirdos. And if dteam weren’t clearly removed from collaborating with them lately, then I’m SURE the target would be pointed to them eventually

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Thought on the chatter around JK and grannie noms? I feel like I have so many flying around at once I can't even break it down on a more focus question the whole situation gives me indigestion

***

Lmao!

I got an ask some days ago, asking me what event exactly will trigger the worst of the fandom implosion. I didn't answer it, but Anon if you're reading this, one of the things I think is likely to trigger it is Jungkook being nominated for a Grammy. Something I think is guaranteed to set it off though, is Jungkook winning a Grammy or some other k-pop group getting a nomination/win.

So, if you're feeling queasy at the prospect of only JK getting a nom, I totally understand why. People will completely flip out lmaoo. We'll see the most quiet people rain hell against the company, the members (Jungkook), the fandom, everyone will be catching strays and all the 'OT7s' who are currently comfortable with accommodating the opinions of akgaes / solo stans even when they hate other members, all those kinds of ARMYs will turn full solo. K-pop stans will be circling the fandom like sharks who smell blood in the water. It will be the most hilarious, chaotic, mass meltdown in recent times. It will start off slow too, but once those grumblings reach critical mass, it will all go to hell.

Everyone will be playing the blame game. And the people in the minority like me, who don't think this is such a bad thing and would be genuinely overjoyed if JK gets a nomination/win, those of us like that will lose all credibility and social capital. Because the majority is convinced fair = equal in every specific outcome, and that's just not how life works. Much less life in a team of people you trust. At risk of sounding glib. But this is just not something a lot of people get, they're too cynical to think it's a lived reality for many people, which is why I think some people are just kinda destined to be solo stans if they're prone to thinking in a certain way.

Anyway, I think it's worth remembering for the 2024 Grammys, that the world doesn't end before 2026, and that BTS plan to be around for a long, long time. The Grammys are a local award, and BTS may or may never get one in their career as a group (whether or not JK gets one), but they'll have many opportunities to. The hyper-reactionary behaviour of the fandom is unnecessary. BTS are fundamentally talented artists and they will all get their flowers whether or not the Grammys wake up to that fact. I think we'd all be much better off if more people took a wider perspective.

[mizaninz]

I am WINNING this WrestleMania. Miz won the RAW tag team belts with R-Truth? And Seth rolled up to the ring to The Shield music in his Shield gear and Roman got payback against Seth (WITH A CHAIR) for the Shield implosion ten years prior???? I am LIVING

[mcjeetus0133]

Delulu Loony joins 2 year old scrap session where he never stops losing

Hey everyone, this isn't how I imagined my first official proper post is going to be. But because of how... ludicrous it has been for the constant vibe checking that would've been done about half a year ago, of course I have to make a couple posts bringing awareness of this to YouTube and a couple other Socials I have reach in. Because of how innately insufferable it has been, I'm making a one stop shop post for said socials explaining everything on a "need to know" basis.

What I'm talking about is the one-sided schizo self implosion sessions of Fallout: Ashfall and the loonies that tainted it. Some time in the past, there was an upcoming Fallout: New Vegas Mod dubbed as Fallout: Ashfall. Fallout: Ashfall was a DLC-sized quest that took place in Fallout's Hawaii, and you could explore, fight, and uncover a lot of the stories found in the Fallout World's Hawaii. Not super unique, but the idea of exploring a post Nuclear Hawaii- a US State that is isolated into a handful of islands was enough to spark excitement to some fans interested in this concept. So what ended up happening?

In the interest of time there was a discourse in the Fallout: Ashfall Team. One member (ironically) got kicked for inactivity, while a handful of others were kicked for reasons ranging from insubordination to being outted as Neo-Nazis. With those two things in mind, the rest of the events devolved into what essentially turned into a year and a half long hate campaign accusing certain devs of being bi-sexual trans, groomers, etc. and whatever else anti-woke cringe you want to insert here that you've heard of before to explain how something turned "woke." (in this case, Fallout: Ashfall)

(This is also not mentioning the total "takeover" of the mod project and team re-management crippling themselves to the point where all they really have going is clout chasing and attention seeking... but that's another time.)

The discourse did come to an end though, as a lot of the accusations, hit pieces and the sorts were debunked, ratio'd, and exposed for what they really were and have zero standing ovation for a fight they never had any chance of winning in the first place and everything else was fine and dandy. So it would seem.

Recently a few days ago, there are two YouTube Channels circulating, and they intend to try and once again to sway the people to get on their side of a sinking ship to start this long winded one-sided session, proving themselves once again, that they are innately asinine.

The two channels are as followed:

"@FalloutAshfallWokeness ("Fallout: Ashfall is Woke!")"

- The @FalloutAshfallWokeness Channel Page

The first one that'll be refered to and noted is the YouTube Channel "@FalloutAshfallWokeness" or "Fallout: Ashfal is Woke!" As of the writing and posting of this story, there is only one video they uploaded and it is not even their own video.

The video in question is a redistribution of a hitpiece by an individual where using every single insult is not only lightwork but an understatement... of the eon. To put it simply, the creator of the redistributed video was one of the main figureheads for the hate campaign and the main reason why the Ashfall discourse went on for as long as it did. He currently abandoned the internet never to return again after various upon various attempts to win the hate campaign, or at the very least bring interest to it. Fortunately, this isn't about him.

What this is about is the owner of the Channel, Allout Monte.

Allout Monte was another figurehead of the hate campaign, and in a bitter morbid sense of comedy he joined the hate campaign because the former lead dev had booted him from the project.

For inactivity.

Allout Monte went on a baseless hate campaign accusing his employer of being a bisexual trans.

Because he was kicked.

For inactivity...

Anyways, Allout Monte was one of the writers for the project, and supposedly the best. Had he not been exposed for using generative AI. Allout Monte had a second channel that was dubbed "How to Exist Pranks & Tutorials" who had "written" various baseless slop pieces with generative AI. After he was exposed for it, the channels were purged and appeared as if that was that. Unfortunately, he doesn't see it that way. He went on to make several other channels such as Sneedclave Anonymous, and the channel above, @FalloutAshfallWokeness.

- Community post from @FalloutAshfallWokeness

The channel exhibits the same behavior by uploading AI Generated images and frequent misspellings akin. But good luck trying to criticize or call him out for that as Allout Monte has tendancies of poorly managed anger management and can & will purge, hide, and/or block comments that see the bluff. Apart from that, this is everything you need to know about the first channel to beware.

"@FalloutAshfallMod ("Fallout: Ashfall")"

- @FalloutAshfallMod Channel Page

The second, (& thankfully last,) Channel in question is the @FalloutAshfallMod or simply The "Fallout: Ashfall" Channel. Individuals are to be wary of this channel as this is an impersonation channel meant to slander a former lead dev. Their only upload in question contains a unprofessionally flawed trailer promoting Fallout: Ashfall as promotional content which, at the time, was ill advised since they were in a state where promotionals were the last thing to worry about. This channel is also believed to be owned by Allout Monte as well unless their activity proves otherwise.

(Given that the entire comments section has been purged, better off assuming that this is Allout Monte)

Apart from that, this is everything you need to know for today in terms of false channels and impersonators coming in with the intentions to do harm within the community. I originally wanted to save this discussion for another time, but because these people can't learn how to take Ls, the least I can do is bring awareness and freshen up on the writing for today. At least it'll be a potential teaser for something I want to talk about in the future. If you want more on this unhinged tyraid from another point of view you can find the complete story here.

Other than that, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to read this, I know it was both not much and also is- while not being a "good" way to debut as a channel in Tumblr. As I've said before, this wasn't how I imagined my time here on Tumblr would formally start, but if it's to help bring awareness for a community I want to stay in, that's definitely fine by me.

I swear though, my next couple of posts will probably be a little more on the happy side, once I toured Tumblr long enough to figure out the do's and don't's on here. But, yea, that was about it.

Later.

[thirdworldrockout]

Survivor Series Prediction

Men’s WarGames: Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso & Sami Zayn vs. Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa & Bronson Reed

Winner: Solo's team. I sense an implosion within Team OG. Seth gets involved, leads to a Punk match at Mania. WWE loves drama in their stories so no pay off here.

Women’s WarGames: Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Bayley, IYO SKY & Naomi vs. Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, Raquel Rodriguez & Candice LeRae

Winner: Rhea's team. Maybe a clean sweep. Maybe Tiffy cashes in, that's the surprise. I expect a generic match with Rhea getting her revenge and her team dominating.

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against Damian Priest

Winner: Priest. The Gunther experiment is over and they have Priest champ heading to WM.

Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker defends against Sheamus & Ludwig Kaiser in a triple threat

Winner: Breakker.

United States Champion LA Knight defends against Shinsuke Nakamura

Winner: Nakamura. His new sinister gimmick that's why. They're putting him over strong. Knight is a fan favorite that doesn't have the company behind him.

Cody vs Owens???

If it's happening, Cody wins.

[td-frog]

thoughts on dcas e5

villains alliance

i like that the notes at the end was just a reveal from miriam and not like an advantage thing for connor. that adds an interesting new layer to the whole thing.

i also really appreciate that only half the villain's alliance is actually being allies and that it's the original villain trio from s1. granted fiore and ellie are more motivated by being the only villains on their teams, but alec clearly meant it when he said they'd work together in spite of that and the rest of yellow team absolutely didn't. which like. obviously.

gonna be honest i assumed grett voted for yul because i saw people quoting it as fact (including the fandom wiki) and checking the handwriting seemed like a lot of work. but i was also surprised because literally in the last episode during their argument he said connoriya would probably vote him out because of his beef with riya and he hasn't even considered her as an option? esp when one vote wasn't revealed so they literally could have both voted for him.

i'm sooo curious what emily wanted to talk to him about. i'm still expecting yellow team villain alliance implosion of sorts but idk that i see yul going first anymore- it seems like they're planning more for him what with the cliffhanger here, his being shitty to grett, and his rivalry with riya. in terms of "who would vote for who" he has more things against him, but in terms of narrative i think he'll stick around. which might just mean yellow wins more for a bit.

magenta team

the hunter / tess conversation was really funny to me because it reads to me like hunter is just the absolute worst at a) situational awareness and b) effective communication. the way he presents the situation to her comes across as "i care and worry about ally because i love her but she's hard to approach when she's stressed" which i do believe.

but in pretty much every interaction he and ally have had this season she's been like "please work with me to help us get through this game and minimize hate" and his response is "why do you care so much what other people think?" like dude. read the room

like it does shift the perspective in that i think some of his shitty boyfriend moments were him (badly) trying to help address the source of her stress (like, in a "you can't control how other people feel so it's helpful to learn how to let go of it" way), but like. of fucking course she responds badly to that, you're essentially responding to "i care about this" with "stop caring" and being surprised when she takes that badly.

anyways i do like where it went. it seems like ally and tess might reconnect soon and i'm looking forward to that.

i also like the decision to get hunter out; i'm obviously biased because i love fiore but also from a drama perspective it makes more sense. his and ally's relationship is in a place where him leaving doesn't get rid of the drama, and the drama of fiore sticking around is better than the predicted 2v2 if she left.

it raises the question of how magenta alliances shake out next. i don't expect jake and ashley to stick with fiore bc they only voted out hunter because it was strategic here. it would make more sense for them to team up with ally now that she's alone (and she and ashley had a brief moment). but ally might not trust that because she'd be in danger later. also we don't know when the merge is and what would change then.

also shoutout to jake playing strategically here, i like the idea that miriam getting out pushed him to think harder about how to actually play.

cyan team

i mentioned in my last predictions that gabby hadn't really gotten to do anything plotwise and that's still sort of true but i can see how it changes- "if ellie were in a villains' alliance she would have told me"

like i love ellie in her bitch era but i think it runs the risk of getting old- she's not trying to be likable at all and that's bound to cause problems eventually, and this is fucking perfect. the thing she said to tess about how you can't trust friends in this game- ellie and gabby have never been directly pitted against each other and i bet that happens here.

i think their relationship is one of the strongest in the game right now, only really behind jaiden but james is out so that's irrelevant. but this raises the question of what ellie would choose between gabby and winning. she'd obviously choose winning over most everyone, but gabby? and i expect that to be painful even if it works out in the end.

also tom!! first off shoutout to aiden for bringing up the drama, he has no idea what's going on but is trying his best. but tom finally admitting to avoiding jake- and the reason is soooo funny.

like it makes sense. their relationship on s1 was tumultuous at best and neither handled it well. it genuinely makes sense that once he was off-camera he would worry that all the drama would continue to follow them and want to cut ties completely. it was shitty to ghost, but like. i get it.

but dude. you came back on the show together!!! you knew he would be here!!

(again i think this is great, i totally get why he's still avoiding jake, it's because he doesn't know how to communicate like an adult and hopes that avoiding all of his problems will make them go away)

i do think it's interesting in light of him being overly hostile to jake last episode? like i wonder how much of that is genuine resentment over stuff from s1 that's built-up unaddressed vs trying to push him away in advance because he's scared of them getting close again.

also he told aiden he was planning to talk to jake. i'll believe it when i see it buddy.

predictions

i think magenta team is safe, barring team change shenanigans.

i think yellow team could be in danger, because they have a lot of plot ready to explode, but they're probably also safe.

if it is them... i think it could be a lot of them. connor for being outside the alliance, yul for everything, alec for the villains alliance betrayal thing?, potentially riya although i'm less confident. i think grett is safe unless specifically sabotaged. but i don't think they'll lose.

i'm expecting cyan team. they're due for drama with the ellie villain thing, at the very least i think they'll be more focused in the plot of the episode.

i think tom and aiden are safe because i don't see the love triangle plot wrapping up so soon. it could be tess because she doesn't have an alliance, but i think she's more likely to be tiebreaker than targeted. i'm leaning one of gabby and ellie, depending on how the ellie villain thing shakes out. narratively it feels like sending ellie home here resolves a bit much, but idk why it'd be gabby. maybe an immunity idol type situation where ellie protects herself and it screws over gabby? or protects gabby and screws over herself? unsure.

aside from elimination

ally's gonna have some fallout from hunter leaving- probably talking to tess and maybe teaming up with either fiore or jake and ashley. but since i don't expect elimination the alliance part probably won't be a huge focus.

whatever happened with emily and yul- idk what it is so no idea how it will affect things.

i'm expecting drama on the cyan team, mainly related to ellie but idk exactly what it'll look like.

maybe tom will actually talk to jake??

[crispy-ghee]

Thats fair it's a Lakers show, but they needed to focus their attention. Like you said there's too many threads. If they wanted to focus on the westhead stuff, I think they should have spread it out, cause it really went from 0 to 100 with him becoming this paranoid controller of the team. It should have been a gradual build of tension, make him the central villain for that period, hold off on Larry, instead using him as a catalyst for Magics frustrations, and in doing so set him up as the villain for the next time.

And you need to build up Larry as this big force story wise, other wise you don't get that same understanding of why the 84 loss is so devastating to Magic, and would have made the later win against them even more of a triumph and driving force for him. Also if you don't develop him you won't get that understanding of why the Celtics could win besides it being how real events went. With the championship in season 1 you don't have to build up the sixers as much because it's an old established trope. You set up the older more experienced player and the new one overcomes the challenge and beats him, showing he is just as capable.

I think if they had a approached the show from a more even portrayal of everyone on the Lakers in the beginning, instead of focusing on just a few people I'd be thinking about the story differently, but they really did set it up so Buss and Magic are the main characters. And if Buss is taking half the focus to talk about family issues, you do have to pick one major thing to talk about on the players side, and when you don't it turns out the way it did.

So what I'm saying is, HBO, hire me as a story consultant, I can do way better than Adam Mckay.

Completely agree on all points, and that's what I meant when I said that they either should've paid more or less attention to the Westhead drama. Either he's the big bad main villain or Larry is, you're at a disadvantage if you split the two in the wrong way. There's a lot of good tension with Westhead. He leads to an implosion in a different but still volatile way than the previous conflicts had before. They somehow messed that up.

Also yeah, one of my big things w/ how the showed Larry in this show is that they didn't like...I dunno, elevate him enough to the point that you understood why the Lakers were scared of him. They worked on making him an asshole and villain, but they didn't really work on making him look like an actual threat of a basketball player--it's untouched enough that sometimes it feels like the attention that he's getting is undeserved. They're trying, but it doesn't hit hard enough. You're more scared of the Celtics fans than the actual Celtics themselves.

(...to be fair, that's how it is in real life, probably, bc Boston Fans be Crazy BUT YOU KNOW...)

It frustrates me bc they did try w/ the Larry episode. Like, it's like they're acknowledging that you might feel like his reverence is undeserved bc of the point of view of the series has made it seem that way, so here's an episode showing that he comes from a really rough place, had to work really hard, that he respects and is respected by black players back home, that his arrogance is founded and underpinned by this need to prove himself.

But you only get one episode of that, and we kind of forget about Larry for a bit as we go through the Westhead and New Girlfriend drama. And we're not even touching on the rest of the celtics.

I dunno, maybe I should rewatch it. I just remember being frustrated. And yet here I am, still kind of wishing they had been able to make a season 3 ahahaha

[mydarlinginej]

read my full review of welcome home, caroline kline by courtney preiss here.

A debut novel sparkling with wit and insight about a young woman whose reluctant return to her Jersey Shore hometown gives her the second chance she didn’t know she needed.

Caroline Kline isn’t ready to strike out.

In New York City, newly single Caroline is stumbling her way through the recent implosion of her life. After a surprise breakup leaves her with no job, no apartment, and no backup plan, she’s unsure of what to do next. That is, until Caroline’s father Leo injures himself in a bad fall and asks her to move home to the Jersey Shore suburb she’d always been desperate to escape. But Leo doesn’t want his daughter to be his caretaker; he needs her to replace him as third baseman in his local men’s softball league. This isn’t just any season, Leo claims. This is the year they have a real shot at the World Series, the pride and joy of Glen Brook, New Jersey.

Caroline agrees to move home, concerned that Leo is hiding a more serious health condition than he’s willing to admit. As the first female player in a league full of old-school men, she’s up against more than a few challenges. And when a night gone wrong lands her in the path of her hometown crush—and first love—Caroline struggles to reconcile the life she thought she’d have with the life she might actually want.

Sharply observed and full of humor and heart, Welcome Home, Caroline Kline is a touching tribute to the many unconventional paths that victory, and recovery, can take.

my review:

Considering I have no real interest in most sports, I’m not sure why the summary of this book called to me. Yet, I’m so glad I picked it up because I ended up really enjoying it, sports scenes and all. Welcome Home, Caroline Kline details a woman’s journey to get her life together as she returns home after a bad break-up to play on her dad’s softball team.

After a surprise break-up from the boyfriend whom she was meant to move cross-country with, Caroline Kline doesn’t really know what to do with her life. When her dad Leo calls after suffering from a serious injury, she begrudgingly returns home to visit him. However, he has ulterior motives even then: he needs her to fill in for him in their suburb’s softball league. He’s convinced that this is the year his team will win, and after a lot of thinking (and remembering how few prospects she has in the city), Caroline agrees. As she plays and is shut out by the league’s men, she rediscovers what it means to be a part of a community, especially after running into her former crush and first love, Crispin.

The writing definitely pulled me in from the very beginning. Caroline’s voice shines off the page; I couldn’t put this book down! This is Courtney Preiss’s debut and I’m definitely very excited to read more from her in the future.

read my full review here.

[safrona-shadowsun]

Sweet/Sinful Sunday

“I think you should…look into employing the Brotherhood for protection! With current...unforeseen hiccups involving the unfortunate implosion of our command structure and operation apparatus, so many of us have gone freelance! Myself included!"

Torben beamed a grin and just kept on with the sales pitch. If only there were used Mechano-hog lots in these parts, he'd be set for life when it came to employment with the winning smile he wore.

"Imagine how safe you will feel knowing that no fingers, beyond perhaps mine own, will be in your coffers. If you could ever put a price on peace of mind, it would be however much coin I can carry I reckon."

Stopped just before the closing gates of the Darkmoon Fairegrounds outside of Goldshire, perhaps the Rendorei woman did seem deceptively defenseless; there was a certain noble bearing that may have even marked her as a target for robbery from a distance. Yet she approached with a composure and certainty. Hearing the offer from the roguish gentleman, she seemed...amused.

"Oh, I'm sure you are quite efficient," she replied with a professional charm, a disarming smile. "But I have my own protection." It was then that the armored behemoth of a demon stepped in close to tower over her, and more importantly, Torbeen. It's spiked hand flexed with anticipation around the hilt of a longsword, eagerly awaiting a single command from its mistress to dispense violence.

"Apologies to hear about your potential...displacement. But if you are looking for some honest local work, I think I could provide. You would be paid on your own merit, per contract you take. Ah but introductions first, yes?"

The void elf offered her hand out to shake under the intimidating gaze of her demonic guardian. "Safrona Shadowsun, owner of Empyrean Star Trades. I manage the most important part of the business - our team of couriers. And I always have an eye open for new blood."

{ @torbeen ;) }

[galaxy-brain-rasslin]

Just some quick thoughts on All In. There will be spoilers.

Zero Hour

I, 100% did not expect Adam and MJF to win, at all. I expected there to be the initial start of a betrayal or something. I was pleasantly surprised, since I love the two of them.

Aussie Open seems really good. I should probably check out ROH.

Hook is one of my favorite anime protagonists, and Jack Perry has improved so much by being a complete piece of shit.

Also, Taz being hyped up for everything Hook does will literally never get old. Dude just sounds so proud every damn time.

CM Punk vs Samoa Joe

I don't really care a whole lot about CM Punk. I've seen a few of his pre-AEW matches, and I think he cuts a fun promo. I also think he's clearly enjoying himself, which makes watching his matches more enjoyable, in their own way.

That said, watching Samoa Joe just beat the absolute fuck out of Punk for most of the match was beautiful. I missed Joe in the original ROH and TNA/Impact, but his NXT and WWE stuff was so fun. Joe works at such a great pace, too. He literally always feels like a threat.

Seeing "real world championship" in quotes every time they mention CM Punk’s belt always reminds me of when AJ Styles was being announced in WWE as "The Man Who Would Like to be Announced as 'The Face that Runs the Place'"

Golden Elite vs Bullet Club Gold w/ Takeshita

Juice Robinson is my favorite feral little gremlin in pro wrestling.

Jay White is a beautiful piece of shit and I love him for it. He's also so fucking good in the ring.

Takeshita is also fantastic and has been consistently great.

I love how much everyone hates Don Callis.

Golden☆Lovers OTP

Hangman Adam Page is one of all-time favorite wrestlers. Just always happy to see him out there.

Ibushi tried to murder people with his kicks and it was fantastic shit.

A shitty surprise pin on Kenny Omega is absolutely on brand. I was peeved in a good way.

FTR vs Young Bucks

Fuck the Revival. I also like FTR a lot. Been a fan of theirs since NXT, and I loved seeing them draped in gold not that long ago.

I don't always feel like watching a Young Bucks match, but I always enjoy the match when it's done.

FTR and the Bucks were top-tier tag team wrestling today.

I legitimately expected FTR to lose, given the legal troubles that Cash could be facing. Seeing FTR win was a nice surprise.

FTR having arm bands for Brodie Lee, Bray Wyatt, and Jay Briscoe was so sweet, and so sad.

Stadium Stampede

Find someone who loves you as much as Eddie Kingston hates Claudi Castagnoli.

Mox looked so fucking cool walking out.

Oh my god, Trent, why, what the fuck. Please stop.

Someone getting skewers stabbed into their heads will always make me wince and laugh simultaneously.

Penta being walked backstage by medics only to return as Penta Oscuro was amazing shit. Penta is great.

Wheeler Yuta is the perfect person in BCC to be a bloodthirsty little goblin that you want to see eat the pin. He does his job well.

Also Best Friends hugging Yuta only to beat him up was gold.

I lost track of what was happening at least 400 times during the match and I don't care. I was thoroughly entertained.

Dr. Britt Baker, DMD v. Toni Storm v. Saraya v. Hikaru Shida

I assumed Saraya was going to win as soon as I saw her come out to Queen with her entire goddamn family walking out.

Toni Storm is a beautiful disaster.

In the event that Saraya wouldn't be winning, I didn't want Britt to win.

But that's also primarily because I *wanted* Shida to retain. Also, I love that Shida's theme has big 90s X-Men vibes.

Shida in general is just great. She should win every match.

I also just had no real investment in Brit for this match. She just kinda felt like she could have been nearly any other woman from the women's division. She wasn't *bad* by any means, just not someone I was pulling for or against.

I'm curious to see what happens with this implosion of the Outcasts now that Saraya and Toni aren't on good terms.

I dislike Ronnie Radke musically and as a person, so I'm not really thrilled at the idea of hearing Saraya's music more now that she's the champ.

At the same time, given all the shit she's been through, I can't be too mad about them giving her a run.

I still want Shida to have an actual good, long run though. I love her matches.

Christian Cage & Swerve vs. Darby Allin and Sting

Schiavone shouting "IT'S STING" is one of my favorite things in wrestling.

Joker Sting is fun as hell.

Swerve is actually the coolest motherfucker on the entire roster, and it is a literal crime that he doesn't have a belt.

Christian Cage is a menace and I can't get over that he wrestles in a sleeveless turtleneck now.

Darby is here for a good time, not a long time.

Sting is SIXTY-FOUR GODDAMN YEARS OLD AND SHOULD NOT BE DOING THIS STUFF.

Darby shouldn't either, but I'm fairly certain he's not even human anymore.

I love Swerve.

I also love Prince Nana.

Getting all of Wembly to shout "Swerve's house" probably felt cool.

This was fun as hell.

Will Ospreay vs Chris Jericho

bruv

Ospreay is so fucking good, dude. Like he's absolutely up there as one of the best to do this. Every match I've seen of his just blows me away.

Jericho is also absolutely one of the most versatile wrestlers of all time. I've seen this man reinvent himself like a dozen times, and every time feels just as natural as the one before it.

If they had Jericho win, there was going to be a riot.

Plz give me more Ospreay matches. Dude can fucking go.

I'm curious to know what happens with Jericho and Sammy now

House of Black vs The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn

HOB walking out with a lantern 😭

The Fireflies 😭

HOB looks so cool in white, holy shit.

I love Julia's hats.

I am not a cop, so obviously I love The Acclaimed.

Billy Gunn coming out in full-on Badd Ass Billy Gunn trunks made me feel like I was 12 again.

I love HOB, but if The Acclaimed didn't win this, after their whole mini arc of Gunn retiring, and Gunn bringing back BABG, I was gonna be mad.

Is there a rule that someone has to wreck Julia's shit every match, because lmao

A lot of fun.

Brody King scares the hell out of me.

Adam Cole vs. MJF

I went into this expecting heartbreak

Adam Cole, who took character inspiration from Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2, comes out sporting some definite Broderlands-vibe gear.

MJF is still wearing BTYBB gear.

MJF as this babyface-leaning thing is actually some of the greatest shit I've ever seen. The whole turmoil over using a weapon feels like Roddy Piper vs Bret Hart.

Cole being a desperate POS to the confused, hurt, and mad MJF was wonderful.

The tombstone onto the announce desk with metal reinforcement was brutal on my knees as a viewer.

lol Roddy. lmao.

MJF and Cole almost having a total falling out after the match was amazing.

Cole opting not to slam the AEW belt into MJF's head after the match, and they hug instead? Cinema.

Was I still deeply concerned that there was going to be a betrayal literally up until the PPV feed stopped? Oh hell yes. I watched Ciampa turn on Gargano after the little copyright stuff showed up in NXT. I will *still* be concerned about that until the moment it happens.

That said, I genuinely don't want it to happen because these dudes work so well together. They're just so fucking dorky in the best way.

Misc. Other Thoughts

I missed whatever happened with Miro and Hobbs, because I just missed the whole first hour of Zero Hour.

Apparently there was Drama involving Punk and Jack Perry-- I guess related to the use of actual glass in the windshield of the car that Hook and Perry wrestled on? Whatever. Punk isn't why I watch this stuff, but I would rather Perry not get screwed.

Why did they keep panning over to Mercedes Moné if she wasn't gonna do anything other than vibe to The Acclaimed's theme?

That being said, I was loving the wig she had on. I've been liking the shorter-cut wigs compared to the long-ass stuff she was wearing as Sasha Banks

A lot of people kept expecting Edge to show up at some point. I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that his contract was extended.

Overall, this was, in all honesty, probably the best wrestling PPV I've ever watched. And, thanks to the invention of VHS tapes in my youth and the WWE Network as an adult, I have seen a *lot* of PPVs. This felt bigger than any Wrestlemania I've watched. I can't compare it to Wrestle Kingdom because I've never actually seen one of those all the way through. But it had numerous people who have been in Wrestle Kingdom matches, which were great.

I'm just annoyed that All Out is next goddamn week, because I don't want to shell out $100 in two weeks for this stuff.

Regardless. I love wrestling. We are in one of the greatest eras of pro wrestling, if not *the* greatest. What a time to be a fan.

[zhindian]

I’m going be an outlier Naomi fan and say I do not want her in the Bloodline if she decides to come back to the WWE.

Why?

The Bloodline is on the verge of a breakup. I would not want Naomi to return to something that is probably going to die at Wrestlemania at the earliest. She’s been through enough to only have her join her family when it’s on a downward trend, and only because they need someone to possibly take on Rhea. That Naomi is only valuable when Roman and the family need someone to save their asses. She deserves a better storyline than that.

They also had plenty of opportunities to have her join the Bloodline prior to her walk out, but it seems like creative bent over backwards to keep her completely separated and isolated from Jimmy when everyone and their mother knew she’s married to him. When that racist as fuck Sonya storyline was going on, Naomi fans raged about how Jimmy or Roman didn’t seem to care about what Naomi was going through. Naomi would be in one segment, then the very next segment Jimmy would show up, not even reacting to what Naomi had to deal with. It made no sense for Naomi to be that isolated from family.

They didn’t even make an effort to make Naomi not joining the Bloodline make sense. They could have easily had her tell a concerned Jimmy that she could handle it on her own, only for Jimmy to say he and Roman had her back. That would be the barest minimum. But Naomi couldn’t get even that. This why I’m so blah on the Sami storyline. They put tons of effort into that, but actual family, someone who married into the family, got jack shit.

So what would I do with Naomi?

I’d have her be the person that starts the Bloodline implosion. How would she do that?

I’d have her join the Judgment Day.

Judgment Day has a history of breaking up families (see Dominik) so it would be in their wheelhouse. They also are big on being found family, being the goth polycule they are. It would not be that far fetched for them have some sort of plan of dealing with the Bloodline, other than dealing with them straight up.

So how would I do it? I’d have Naomi cost the Usos the Raw Tag Team championships.

My personal booking theory is that Naomi runs out when it looks like Rhea is about to do something to Jimmy. She starts a staredown between herself and Rhea. The Usos think they’ve home free, only for us to see Rhea start smiling. The Usos are confused now. Naomi slowly turns around, showing off her glow in the dark purple hair and purple lights on her shoes. She’s not Bruce Leroy from the Last Dragon anymore. She’s Sho Nuff.

While the Usos are distracted, JD take advantage to take them out and pin them, winning the Raw tag team titles. Later Naomi can cut that promo of how her husband didn’t have her back when she needed him, because he was all about Roman. Maybe Damian is the only who was checking up on her, and we’re off to the races. Now the Usos aren’t in step behind Roman because Jimmy is distracted with Naomi, and now Sami and Kevin can start taking advantage of the cracks forming in the Bloodline.

It’ll probably never happen, but I can dream. I did predict Dom and Rhea going to the Mysterios for Thanksgiving though, and that came true, so who knows lol

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir after series loss at the SCG (PC: Debasis Sen) Ten Test matches in five months. Lost six, drew one and won three, including two against Bangladesh at home. There were T20I series wins against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and an ODI defeat against the latter. There’s a sharp decline in the longest format — highlighted by the first-ever home whitewash against New Zealand — which resulted in a failure to make it to the World Test Championship final despite being in a strong position. The waning powers of Virat Kohli, uncertainty over Rohit Sharma’s red-ball future, Ravichandran Ashwin’s shocker of an announcement to quit midway through the Australia series and returning to India the next day — there are plenty of things on and off the field that happened in a relatively short period. Team in transition all right, the process has been far from smooth so far. If not anything else, they were playing better cricket not too long ago. This brings in focus the chief coach. The results mentioned are the output of the team he took charge of last July. The incidents are also from this span of time. There’s no doubt that Gautam Gambhir’s foray into this job has got off to an unpleasant start. Most of the talk is centering around Kohli and Rohit at the moment. The time is not far away when the role of the support staff will also be discussed. The graph started dipping since they took over from the previous set-up. To be fair to Gambhir, it’s early to judge him. Settling down as the coach of the Indian cricket team can take a bit of time. The Australia tour was going to be tough, irrespective of how India fared against New Zealand at home. The coach was not individually responsible for the third-session implosion in Melbourne. If his team doesn’t click with the bat, can the former opener be accused of failing in his duties? Recurrence of the same ailment might make the answer ‘yes’. Unlike in football, persons running the teams in cricket are not immediately blamed after a string of poor shows. Football managers are targeted first and subsequently binned if there is no change in fortunes. Cricket coaches are a luckier breed. They usually last longer, even when the going isn’t great. In terms of job durability, they are far better off than their football counterparts. However, Gambhir cannot escape the spotlight. He is a prominent personality himself, who used to display a strong character on the cricket field. He turned up at the pre and post-match press conferences for the Sydney Test, when, conventionally, the captain does that in at least one of those. The second reason is obvious. The performance of his team. It’s going to be a tough few assignments hereon for this opener of two World Cup-winning sides. Winning the white-ball engagements against England at home will not fetch bouquets by the dozen, but losing will attract brickbats. Champions Trophy right after that will be a litmus test for Gambhir and the team of assistants he has handpicked. Then, five Tests in the English summer… no respite. The Champions Trophy is enormous, because not winning it will be considered a failure unless India reach the final. That the team went up to that stage in the last two World Cups and won the T20 title, will be seen as the benchmark. Less than that is unlikely to be treated as satisfactory. The transition theory may not find many takers in that eventuality. Add to that the Test setbacks and it will become a long and unsavoury list. Gambhir was a feisty fellow as a player. He took pride in representing his country and demonstrated courage with the bat. Things have been turbulent in his second innings so far. Sunil Gavaskar has said on Star Sports that the coaching team is answerable. There is a pool of coaches groomed at the National Cricket Academy waiting in the wings. It’s time to deliver. Gambhir loved challenges in his playing days. He faces a big one in his association with the team in this role.   The post Tough

tests ahead for Gambhir, the fighter appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link

[news365times]

[ad_1] Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir after series loss at the SCG (PC: Debasis Sen) Ten Test matches in five months. Lost six, drew one and won three, including two against Bangladesh at home. There were T20I series wins against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and an ODI defeat against the latter. There’s a sharp decline in the longest format — highlighted by the first-ever home whitewash against New Zealand — which resulted in a failure to make it to the World Test Championship final despite being in a strong position. The waning powers of Virat Kohli, uncertainty over Rohit Sharma’s red-ball future, Ravichandran Ashwin’s shocker of an announcement to quit midway through the Australia series and returning to India the next day — there are plenty of things on and off the field that happened in a relatively short period. Team in transition all right, the process has been far from smooth so far. If not anything else, they were playing better cricket not too long ago. This brings in focus the chief coach. The results mentioned are the output of the team he took charge of last July. The incidents are also from this span of time. There’s no doubt that Gautam Gambhir’s foray into this job has got off to an unpleasant start. Most of the talk is centering around Kohli and Rohit at the moment. The time is not far away when the role of the support staff will also be discussed. The graph started dipping since they took over from the previous set-up. To be fair to Gambhir, it’s early to judge him. Settling down as the coach of the Indian cricket team can take a bit of time. The Australia tour was going to be tough, irrespective of how India fared against New Zealand at home. The coach was not individually responsible for the third-session implosion in Melbourne. If his team doesn’t click with the bat, can the former opener be accused of failing in his duties? Recurrence of the same ailment might make the answer ‘yes’. Unlike in football, persons running the teams in cricket are not immediately blamed after a string of poor shows. Football managers are targeted first and subsequently binned if there is no change in fortunes. Cricket coaches are a luckier breed. They usually last longer, even when the going isn’t great. In terms of job durability, they are far better off than their football counterparts. However, Gambhir cannot escape the spotlight. He is a prominent personality himself, who used to display a strong character on the cricket field. He turned up at the pre and post-match press conferences for the Sydney Test, when, conventionally, the captain does that in at least one of those. The second reason is obvious. The performance of his team. It’s going to be a tough few assignments hereon for this opener of two World Cup-winning sides. Winning the white-ball engagements against England at home will not fetch bouquets by the dozen, but losing will attract brickbats. Champions Trophy right after that will be a litmus test for Gambhir and the team of assistants he has handpicked. Then, five Tests in the English summer… no respite. The Champions Trophy is enormous, because not winning it will be considered a failure unless India reach the final. That the team went up to that stage in the last two World Cups and won the T20 title, will be seen as the benchmark. Less than that is unlikely to be treated as satisfactory. The transition theory may not find many takers in that eventuality. Add to that the Test setbacks and it will become a long and unsavoury list. Gambhir was a feisty fellow as a player. He took pride in representing his country and demonstrated courage with the bat. Things have been turbulent in his second innings so far. Sunil Gavaskar has said on Star Sports that the coaching team is answerable. There is a pool of coaches groomed at the National Cricket Academy waiting in the wings. It’s time to deliver. Gambhir loved challenges in his playing days. He faces a big one in his association with the team in this role.   The post Tough

tests ahead for Gambhir, the fighter appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link