#the current broadcast roster

[becrystalamazed]

The UK just can't make a gameshow without involving fighting something or killing someone or someone dying or being hunted for sport or imprisoned forever. Recreating The Hunger Games but fake since 28 years before it was published. Ridiculously melodramatic.

[aritamargarita]

SOLITUDE || 001

hello and welcome to the debut of solitude. to all my current readers, you already know what’s up, but to new and curious readers, this installment is based off of climbing the food chain of wwe, taking place in mostly the modern era, so there are superstars spanning from 2013 the earliest to 2022..

just let me cook on the timeline a little bit okay, you'll like it LOL. there’s a lot of Twitter segments in this so i hope it’s not annoying, they’re going to die down for the most part later i promise

without further ado, please enjoy!

TODAY IS THE first day of your call up. The support you’ve gotten from your friends from the training center was wonderful, but you’re still feeling antsy and incredibly nervous. Hopefully, your first day on the brand goes well..

Shawn Michaels was the one to break the news that you were getting called up. You could remember it so clearly because you completely ambushed him with an excited hug once he dropped the bomb on you.

He had patted your back and told you to lighten your grip a little bit, but not without a grin on his face.

If it’s one thing you deserve, it is the chance to expand your career. You always came early, and you were always prepared to learn.

You weren’t sure how to feel when he told you that you’d be heading to the main roster.

You only started as a superstar on the indie circuit and are only used to being on much smaller channels and local shows. You couldn’t even imagine being on WWE, which was broadcast on national television!

He had seen the look on your face and quickly tried to do damage control.

“We’re soft-launching you, or however you kids say it these days,” He told you. You think he grumbled something about how social media was confusing, but you brushed him off. “As an interviewer, I mean.”

“Huh..” You give a shrug. “As long as I can wrestle sometime.”

He had assured you that you will, sooner than you think, but they just wanted to focus on your speaking. Once they (and you), were more confident, they’d allow you to be in much more opportunities.

Such is life, you guess. Get through these obstacles for a bigger reward. You gave your gratitude to Shawn as you had a lot to look forward to.

If you’re not mistaken, WWE had already posted a teaser on their twitter. For some reason, you would find yourself constantly checking the tweet.

@WWE ✓

We hear someone is entering the scene… 👀

1.2K reposts 120 quotes 14K likes

—is what it said. The flurry of tweets under it were mixed. Lots of people wanted to know what the deal was, though some were already speculating it was an old star coming back.

However, the few fans that knew of your work had their guesses. Some of the pictures you posted on Instagram were cryptic hints, but you knew how the internet was. Crazy detective work..

But anyhow, people around the training center know that you’re pretty introverted. You only came to get some work done and go home. It was hard for others to get to know you at first.

They like to call you shy, but you’ve started to hate that word the more it’s used. It holds you back too much. You won’t make it far if you’re stuck with that description for your entire life.

Fortunately, they know what you lack in words is made up for in the ring. There’s no question that you’re good, you just tend to get nervous when speaking to the public.

At heart, you knew they wanted to help you out, and they wanted you to become the best you can be! If you start practicing, you’re sure to be a star!

As motivating as it sounds, it’s still stressful. Going out of your comfort zone was nothing new. It’s a given if you want to wrestle properly, but it still makes you uneasy.

You know you’ve gotta put your best foot forward and do this despite it. This was your only chance, and you absolutely can’t mess this up.

Most of the people still training had given you their well wishes. It’s heavily appreciated; after all, you won’t see them anymore unless they’re called up there themselves.

You think you’ll miss Carmella the most. She was your training buddy, and you think she was the most excited about you getting called up. You hope that she’ll be next soon enough….

As of right now, you look tired. You damn sure feel tired.

It causes you to lie down on the floor of the locker room. It probably wasn’t the best idea, but fuck it. You’ve already made a bad decision by staying up all night out of excitement. It’s starting to come back to you.

Of course, you came to the arena a little too early. (which was an inside joke between coaches, you’re too punctual for your own good..)

You were sure most of your coworkers hadn’t arrived yet, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to see them. It’s not that you don’t want to, you’re just nervous to meet them.

Especially since you’ll probably be half asleep and may forget their names.

Much to your misfortune, a woman comes in, sunglasses on and suitcase handle clenched in hand.

She only lowers them with a finger once you’re in view. “Oooh,” She starts, then clicks her tongue. It’s apparent that she’s mocking you already. “..You look like trash.”

“Thanks,” You say with a sigh. “It’s so appreciated.”

This is not a good start. You make the move to get up off the comfortable ground and the woman puts a hand on her hip.

She’s not very amused, moving a free hand to flip her blue hair. “Did they get me a personal makeup artist? Or…are you just everyone’s stylist? Never seen you here before.”

“I’m new. An interviewer.” You say. Giving yourself that title feels much weirder than saying you were a wrestler. “Pray tell, who am I talking to?”

She’s a little taken aback by the cynical tone in your voice but takes her sunglasses off. This woman doesn’t think she’s met her match yet.

“Of course you don’t recognize a celebrity when you’re in front of one. Let me refresh your memory a bit. How does this sound? The boss, the blueprint, the standard!” She pauses for a bit for dramatic effect. “…Sasha Banks. And I better not have to repeat myself. Who exactly are you?”

“You have a pretty name.” You start off with. Honestly, you didn’t want to make an enemy out of her as much as she wanted to make one out of you. You hope she could see that. “I’m [Name], and you’re right. I am new. Maybe we can get to know each other a bit more.”

It actually seems to work because she falters for a second. “…What?”

You hold out your hand to her and she looks at it for a moment before shaking it with a scowl. Before you realize it, she’s already taking her hand back.

“I’m assuming you’re wrestling? Do you have a match?” You quickly ask, not giving her a second to recover. “I’d like to interview you after if you do.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sasha drops her suitcase. She’s unsure if she could stand your bright personality for a second longer. You’re going to be a problem in the future. “Sorry, not sorry, but you’re a nobody. What’s the point?”

“It was worth a try. But if that’s what you want I won’t force you.” Sasha rolls her eyes at your response. You’re way too nice. “At least tell me, do you think it’s fun here?”

“Fun?” She repeats. “Tch, I know you didn’t just ask if it was fun. Get real. There’s nothing fun about being here. There’s only one thing that matters, and it’s the Divas Championship. Got it?”

“Got it.” You nod. Divas Championship…duly noted. You don’t think you’ll be going for it anytime soon. “Who’s got it?” You’ll have to ask if the standard Women’s Championship was still in circulation as well.

“AJ Lee.” She answers. It’s the least snarky answer she’s given you so far, but she reverts back to it. “I swear, I’m gonna drag her ass across the mat for that title. She makes me sick with her skipping around.”

You voice your thoughts. “She skips?” That’s one way to get to the ring. You’re curious now. “I wonder if I can interview her…she must have a lot to say about her reign so far.”

“What?” Sasha’s immediately offended. “Um, no. Who says you’re interviewing her first? You’re obviously going to interview me first.”

It’s contradictory to what she’s said before, but because of it, there’s a smile growing on your face. She notices and jabs her index finger toward you. “You can wipe that smile off your face, rookie.”

“So be it. I will see you afterwards.” You agree to interview her, doing your best to fight the smile off.

Sasha huffs and leaves the room for now. Your eyes follow her, and once she’s gone, you shrug to yourself. Wow.

Well, that’s one way to get an interviewee.

Almost seconds after her departure, your phone vibrates and you see it’s a notification from Twitter. After that, the tweets start to flow in.

What now?

@SashaBanksWWE ✓

I ALWAYS come first. Don’t forget that, rookie. @Officially[Name].

4.1K reposts 250 quotes 45K likes

@No1DivazStan: Wait…?

↳ @Sashabanksfan109: Literally like who is that??? What is she talking about?

Oh boy. Now people actually are getting the idea. She even went as far as tagging you. You’re already starting to have people follow you.

Including Sasha, which was a plus!

You’re confident about things for a moment until the thought of having to talk to her live circles back. Shit, you might start to freak out a little.

You hope Sasha wouldn’t be too harsh on you, even if it were wishful thinking. Sasha’s gonna come in hot, especially if she loses. You have no choice but to adjust.

A few more moments of silence pass, and suddenly the floor is calling you again.

You immediately lay back down. How long until the show? You take your phone out of your pocket and check the time. 6:45. The show starts at around 7. Maybe 8 if there are any delays.

Would it be wrong if you took a quick nap? It’ll only be 15 minutes, but it might just be enough to keep you going for the rest of the night.

You’re already closing your eyes. You know you’re going to be unable to hit any major stages of sleep, but even just laying like this is nice.

Until the door opens. You’re shooting up from your spot, almost falling over in the process.

“I WASN’T SLEEPING.” You clarify, doing your best to stand up. The woman, who’s not Sasha this time, looks at you in confusion.

She points a finger at you. “Ya’ sure about that? From the looks of it, it seemed like you were knocked out for a second.” Her accent is the first thing that catches your attention as she starts to motion towards you.

“No, no, not at all.” You try to defend. “Can’t a woman stretch on the floor in peace?”

“Seriously, you call that stretching?” Before she can make any more sarcastic comments toward you, she turns to look at you. “I’ve never seen you around before. Got a name?”

She is trying her best to identify you to no avail. You hop up to your feet, then hold your hand out to her. “[Name]. I’m just an interviewer right now, yeah. I’m new. Who are you?”

“Becky. Becky Lynch.” She introduces, taking your hand to shake it firmly. You swear you’ve seen her before, too. Probably on Twitter. Guess Becky isn't the only one with deja vu.

You pray you wouldn’t forget her or Sasha’s name for that matter. You can’t fight the urge to yawn.

“Someone’s tired. You should go get some water before you pass out. Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

This is a nice change of pace from Sasha. Despite you trying to kill her with kindness, she’s just all kinds of intimidating, while this woman is…okay.

Water may do the trick. It might just be cold enough to wake you up. “Good idea. Anywhere I can get some?”

“Should be a cooler down the hall to your right.” She informs. “See, I’d offer to get it for you, but I’ve got a match to get ready for.”

“Well, thanks anyway.” But before you leave, Before you leave, you turn over to her. “This may be an assumption, but are you going against Sasha Banks?” You ask. You could be wrong, but it’s worth a shot to see.

She nods at you. “Smart girl. How’d you know?”

“I talked to her a bit earlier. She wouldn’t exactly tell me she was going in a match, but I guess it was safe to assume it was you.” You say. “If you’d like to be interviewed, I’ll be waiting backstage.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Becky says. She’s more concerned about you getting your water. “Go, I might be here when you get back. Don’t pass out.”

You make a noise to let her know you heard her. Did you make a new friend? You think so.

You’re still a bit disoriented from the lack of sleep. You only made it a few steps down the hall before forgetting the direction she told you to go. Great.

This hallway seemed horribly long. The more you walked, the more you felt like it extended somehow. You need a nap, but you don’t think you’re going to get it until retiring back to your hotel room.

A group of men dressed in what seems to be tactical clothes are sitting around nearby, and you find yourself approaching them in a sudden spur of confidence. It’s probably because you’re tired.

“Excuse me,” you call. All three of them look at you with curious looks, and you feel like you could just up and die right there.

Doesn’t exactly help that they’re all kind of attractive, either.

“Where can I get some water? It feels like I’m dying here.” You ask, using your hand to rub the side of your face.

To them, you looked like you had just completed a damn marathon run. One of them with short brown hair whispers something to another with half-blonde, half-black hair, and you look between them curiously.

You don’t have time for whispers. You want water. It makes you think about purposely passing out in front of them. Rude and manipulative, sure, but you’re not here to gossip!

The other one speaks up to you instead. He’s also got long hair, but you think the most noticeable thing was his sleeve tattoo. You may have been staring too long because he snapped his fingers to get your attention.

At least he wasn’t glaring at you. There was a handsome smile on his face. “You there? Don’t tell me we’ve lost you already. You just got here.”

“Sorry. I’m really tired.” You admit. “Really, REALLY tired. Water would be nice.”

“To your left,” He says. “Should be one over there.”

The exasperation in your voice is ever present when you say: “Thank you!”. You’re dying here. You’ll have to come back and thank your only savior after replenishing yourself. Turning away, you head in the direction he told you.

You don’t hear the snickering behind you as you leave. Too busy thinking about hydration at this point.

Going further down, you see that there still is no water cooler. You’re only met with a dead end, and though there are doors, the signs only tell you that they’re just control rooms.

You’re confused. Why would he send you that way? You turn around and head back the way you came as it must’ve been an honest mistake.

You see them still sitting there with smiles. “Hey, excuse me,” you call, waving your hand. “There’s no water over there. Are you sure it’s that way?”

“We know.” The man who gave you instruction earlier had said. “We just wanted to mess with you a bit. Go that way.” First day on the job and people are already trying to rib you? Goddamn it.

On the bright side, it seemed to be lighthearted. Or so you hope.

This time, you hope, he points the correct way. The only thing you can do is let out a sigh and move forward. You don’t even stay to listen to anything else he says.

"Don't take it to heart!" One of them yells behind you.

You scoff to yourself. This time, they redeemed themselves because you found that lovely water cooler. You immediately pick up the pace and reach out to snatch a cup.

Finally, cold water. You're sure you'll wake up this time. You're almost half tempted to pour some on your face, but you aren't THAT unhinged. Besides, you don’t want to waste it.

The moment you lift your cup and and take a refreshing sip, someone saying “hey” makes you look over, and you nearly spit your drink out.

The guy that had given you the wrong direction had come around. You cough up bits of water, holding a hand on your chest. “Why?! God, you scared the hell out of me!”

“Sorry.” He apologizes. You’re not so sure if it’s sincere. “Stephanie McMahon told me about you. You’re [Name], right?”

It takes you a second to reply and he looks at you expectantly. You hold your hand up. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, that’s me.” You nod.

“Roman,” He introduced himself back, setting his hands on the vest of his tactical gear. “I know it’s your first day and all, but do you know who’s in charge?”

“….Vince McMahon?” You offer with a shrug.

Roman chuckles, shaking his head. “You were close. But that’s not it. The Authority is the one in charge.” He clarifies to you. “And you’d best be on their side. Tell me, new girl. Do you plan to be on the side of justice?”

Truth be told, you’re a little intimidated. Again.

You wonder if you even had a choice right now. Before you answer him you decide to take a sip of water, this time, without coughing up a lung.

“Justice, what do you mean by that?”

“The Authority is seeking to make sure that everyone keeps in line.” He explains. “We’ve already got a hold on the men’s division, but the women’s division….”

He trails off, looking toward you expectantly.

“I’m just an interviewer.” You hold your hands up in defense. “I don’t know anything about wrestling. Like anything.”

A lie, but you don’t exactly want to get involved.

You thought it felt weird to call yourself an interviewer, but now you’re going to hold onto that title until it’s convenient enough for you….

“Don’t give me that crap. I know exactly what you are.” So much for that. Roman gets closer to you and you move back just a little. It doesn’t do much, because he’s still in your space.

You’re starting to feel cornered.

“And what I don’t appreciate is people lying to me. Listen, [Name]. Pretty girls like you are always smart. If you knew what’s good for you, you’d better—“

“Hey guys!” A new voice makes you look over Roman. “Roman…and….who’s this?” He points a finger over to you.

“[Name].” You say. This guy might be your potential savior.

He doesn’t really pester any further than that, oddly enough. “Cool. You guys wanna take a selfie?” Before you two could even answer, he’s already approaching with a phone in hand.

“Wait,” You try to stop him. “I’m not ready—“

All Roman does was glare at the camera while you were holding out your hand toward it. He’s already took it and you were caught in the worst off guard moment.

“You guys better get ready for Raw. It starts in like five minutes.” The man recommends. “Thanks for the selfie.”

He saunters off and Roman shakes his head. After the stranger had made some distance, he finally speaks to you. “I can’t stand Theory’s dumbass.”

“Theory?” You repeat. “Who?”

“Austin Theory.” He clarifies. “Won’t stop taking those stupid selfies. It’s all the goddamn time.”

You slowly nod, but take advantage of the fact Austin had said there’s only five minutes until Raw starts. “Gosh. This was such a nice meeting, but I had better get going. You know, interviews and stuff to do.”

Roman says nothing, so you take the opportunity to side-step and walk past him. However, he doesn’t let you get far before saying…

“Better think about what I said. You don’t have much time.”

You’re hoping that wasn’t a threat. And now that you think about it?

He didn’t even apologize for leading you the wrong way!

You were just trying to get ready to be on television. You did everything you could to stand out for your debut, despite some people knowing that you’d show up sometime.

You can only imagine the pre-show talks around on social media. God, you hope you weren’t sweating. You think you’re just overreacting, but you feel like you’re gonna cry.

If you weren’t awake before, you sure are now.

Your phone starts buzzing again on the vanity you were seated at. The stylist who was helping you get things together had stepped away earlier, leaving you be with your thoughts.

Until now. The moment you pick up your phone and open Twitter, you groan.

Roman was right about the selfies being stupid.

Austin had posted it on Twitter. The only thing you’re really focused on is yourself. You look a disheveled mess and you’re happy you could fix yourself up a little bit right now.

You’re reeling as you read some of the responses. Although, some were funnier than others…

@Theory_1 ✓

Roman and some new girl are here today! I caught them in their natural habitat.

1.8K reposts 130 quotes 37K likes

@annsweet_: OMG FREE HER???? WHY DOES SHE LOOK SCARED LMAO

↳ @Lilgrab$78: Nah fr they holding her hostage in there

@Biilionnsmind: Are you serious? [Name] Theory AND Roman? This has gotta be the multiverse

↳ @YourChampion0: Not gonna lie they might be an item. Guess we’ll see if they have something going on or they just were filming something.

@bellstrings: Wait not too much on [Name]…face card is still ACTIVE and ready to TAP!

Along those lines of being mentioned, Austin had followed you as well. But seeing yourself being the talk of others is just surreal. You’re happy about it.

“Hey, [Name].” A stagehand calls. “You’re on in about 2 minutes. You’ll be interviewing Sasha Banks. It’s the only person you’ll be doing, so you’re free to go home after.”

Alright then. You hop up out of your seat. You looked good enough, so you didn’t exactly need that stylist to come back. Your time to shine.

You let the stagehand lead the way to where you’re supposed to be positioned. It’s a nice set up, you think. There’s a red curtain behind you as well as a television settled with “Raw” displayed on it.

“Sasha lost because of interference.” The stagehand informs you. “She’ll go on about the details. But just ask her some questions. She should be here any second now.”

You’ll try. The camera is already settled in front of you, waiting for the go ahead. As soon as he said that, Sasha comes storming into the room. He signals toward the both of you that he’s rolling.

“Wow, Sasha..!” You exclaim, shaking your head. “That was definitely……a match.”

Sasha looks at you with a scowl. “You think?! Becky only got lucky because AJ came out all peppy. I almost had her.” She complains. “I had Becky in the Bank Statement. She was about to tap…”

She literally has to stop talking and take a breath before she loses it. Everyone, even the crowd, can tell that she’s STEAMING.

“…Uh, do you think you’ll need help in the future for AJ? It looks like she’s posing a really big threat to you.” You say. “Cause’ if you’re asking me, it looks like you may need a future tag partner.”

You’re going steady, despite the fact your hand may or may not be shaking a bit. You’re just glad that this segment wasn’t out in the ring. You tilt the mic over to Sasha.

All you had to do was pretend like the camera wasn’t there and that you were having a simple conversation. Everything’s just fine.

You had hoped she would understand that you were insinuating that you could be of assistance, but she takes it the wrong way.

“What, you think I’m not good enough?” She challenges, stepping closer to you. “You think I can’t beat AJ on my own? She’s the one that needs help. That’s why she gets Tamina to do her dirty work. Let me remind you that I’m Sasha Banks. I was the NXT Women’s Champion. The Boss can handle herself in battle and she damn sure doesn’t need someone that’s gonna hold her back.”

“I get it, jeez. I was trying to help you, Sasha.” You explain. It might be a chance to get you active in the ring.

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing your job and asking me questions? I don’t need your help.” She fires back.

Whatever. You just shrug it off. “Fine. You want questions, I’ll give you questions. You tagged me on Twitter. When you tagged me on Twitter, was that you trying to put me on notice?”

It’s easy for her to bounce off of what you said.

“You clearly act like you have no idea who I am. Maybe now you’ll get a clue. As a matter of fact, you better leave that fake little sweet innocent act at the door, cause I see right through you.”

“What act? I’m just being me.” It’s true. You really are!

“Right, and Becky must be the best wrestler on the planet…hah! That’s hilarious even thinking about it.” Sasha falls into a laugh, and you fight the urge to smile at her contagious laugh. Instead, you wipe it off in order to look confused.

She takes a breath. “You know what? You wanna help me, prove it to me. You and me, a match next Monday. I know that you’re not gonna do well, but I’ll have fun destroying you anyways, rookie.”

This was your chance!! You can’t fight the excitement, so you immediately agree. “Yes! I mean, yeah. Absolutely. It’s a match, Sasha. Shake on it?”

You offer your free hand to her. Despite her gritting her teeth, she takes it.

Sasha thinks you’re too excited, but she’d be lying if she wasn’t curious to see how you’d fare against her.

Your first match is against Sasha Banks. Thinking about it seemed so surreal. You’ve got a lot to prepare for next Monday.

Sasha’s eyes seem to catch onto something behind you and she groans, snatching her hand back. “Not her—“

“I wasn’t expecting you here, Sasha!” There’s a woman who’s slightly shorter than you that comes over with a championship tucked over her arm. This must’ve been the Divas championship, if the words on the butterfly weren’t evident enough.

“You know, not after you lost. Thought you would’ve went home by now!” She holds onto it even tighter once Sasha gave her a nasty look.

“You must be AJ Lee?” You try to divert some of the tension. “It’s nice to see the divas champion face to face.”

Sasha gags, but AJ giggles at your words. She rubs a hand over the butterfly, looking at you. “Oh pssssh, this? It’s nothing major…it just means I’m the best, but seriously, nothing major. Oh, and Sasha? Sorry Tamina made you lose focus…no hard feelings?”

Sasha rears her fist back and you immediately try to jump in the middle of them. Might’ve been a dumb decision, but it made Sasha immediately freeze once you did. You’re not even sure if AJ flinched.

You’re planted firmly in between them without any plans of moving anytime soon. “Woah, woah woah, can we hold off on the fighting PLEASE?! Why don’t you guys settle it in the ring, just like me and Sasha are?”

“You guys…” AJ looks between you two. “…are wrestling each other? Huh.”

You nod at her. “Yeah. I think you should follow suit. It’s obvious you two have problems.”

“Well, you’re right. It’s not like can’t beat you again, Sasha!” AJ chimes. “Anyway, I’m going to go polish my title! Don’t wait up for me, ladies!”

And just like that, AJ skips off. Sasha slowly turns to look at you and the only thing you can do is look back at her.

“I don’t care,” She starts, pointing a finger at you. “You’re helping in whatever happens, rookie.”

“What?! Why me??” You whine. “This isn’t my issue, the only thing I’m worried about is our match.“

As she’s said earlier, she doesn’t care. “You heard me. All you’ve gotta do is be ready. When I tell you to do something, you go.”

She leaves you with that. An exasperated sigh falls from your lips.

You’ve got more than just your match to worry about now..

#RAWTonight

@WWE ✓

A nearly explosive confrontation tonight on Raw between AJ Lee, [Name], and Sasha Banks. Watch below! 👇🔥

6.7K reposts 310 quotes 67k likes

@xXHibiscus: THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING!???!!!

↳ @WomenofWWE: Yess! This is what we need, a strong three-way feud! The newbie, the underdog, and the champion. The storylines kind of have been getting boring. I wouldn’t mind Sasha & [Name] vs AJ, or maybe even AJ & [Name] vs Sasha.

↳ @RaeFed: [name] might’ve just saved us hold on

@RoseGambler: [Name] trying to be a peacemaker 😭

↳ @101Mariposa: SASHA WAS LITERALLY ABOUT TO ROCK AJ PLEASE. SHE NEEDS TO MOVE

↳ @ThenNowForever: Why she hit the “Sasha, this isn’t you”??

@MarkPodcast: Never heard of [Name]..…is she new?

↳ @platinumstarred: yeah she was mainly on the indies, wasn’t bad at all like she was rlly good

↳ @MarkPodcast: Hopefully she’ll stay good while she’s here!

@Feistysummer: Sasha saying she doesn’t need help…then turns around and tells [Name] that she’s going to help LOL

↳ @Divas4L: They’re definitely going to be friends, if not best friends in the future..

[grantmentis]

Women’s hockey roundup: 10/31-12/9

As per usual, this covers the PWHL but also all professional women’s hockey and some international news with some added focus on international leagues. It does not cover college due to time constraints but happy to point to any resources if needed. 100% confirmed news only

Also did something a bit different this month and tried to order points from what I think is most newsworthy at the top but it’s not a super strict order

PWHL (USA/Canada):

I covered a lot in my primer in terms of rule changes and broadcasting and neutral site games, so this will focus on everything else for the most part:

Official rosters are in. All rosters available here (toggle drop down menu to change teams)

The Sirens signed Kayla Vespa and Olivia Knowles after initial roster announcements

Maggie Flaherty (Minnesota Frost) was suspended two games for her hit on Alina Müller

Taylor House signs a SPA with the Ottawa Charge

Current players on injured reserve: Jill Saulnier (NY), Ella Shelton (NY), Dominika Lásková (MTL), Kennedy Marchand (MTL), Hadley Hartmetz (BOS), Natalie Spooner (TOR), Megan Carter (TOR.), Alexa Vasko (Ottawa Charge)

The PWHL is testing out other streaming platforms in the United States, including Twitch. If you are having trouble finding a PWHL stream outside of Canada, make sure to check the PWHL social media for updates!

SDHL (Sweden)

SDHL leading point leader Elisa Holopainen extends her contract with Frölunda. She joins Linnéa Pettersson Dove who extended for two seasons and Sofie Lundin (who’s sixth in the SDHL in points) and Ella Hellman who extended for one season. This waves of signings comes off of Frölundas two year rise since their inception and demonstration of significant financial investment to individual players and the team

Haruka Toko, team Japan star and last years top scorer for Linköping, has season ending surgery due to a cruciate ligament injury

Peter Elander, prominent former Swedish hockey player, former Swedens women’s national team coach, and most recently an assistant coach for Ohio states women’s hockey program, has accepted a job as coach for SDE

Emma Nordin (Luleå) became the all time points leader in the SDHL, surpassing Denise Altmann's record from 2020. Congratulations to Emma, who has 566 points in 461 games

Sarah Bujold, who played with Montreal victoire last year, signed with luleå

Alexa Gruschow, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with MoDo hockey

Savannah Norcross, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with luleå

Maude Poulin labelle, who played with the Toronto sceptres last year, signed with Brynäs

Audrey-Anne Veillette, who was with the Ottawa Charge last year but did not play due to injury, joins HV71

Sanni Vanhanen of Brynäs and the Finnish national team committed to play with Ohio state university next season

Czech goaltender Blanka Skodova joined Skellefteå

Standings updates: Frölunda sits in first place, but Luleå and MoDo are extremly close behind. HV71 and Leksands are in the relegation spots right now, with Linköping pretty comfortably ahead of them

Top Players/Players i want to highlight: -Stephanie Neatby (Fröluda), Frida Axell (Luleå), and Kassidy Sauvé (SDE) are all neck and neck for best goaltending stats -Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) continues to lead in scoring with 31 points, with Petra Nieminen (Luleå) and Hanna Olson (Frölunda) close behind at 25 -Lovisa Engström (MoDo) has been the most impactful U18 player, scoring 8 goals thus far in her age 17 season and rookie year

AuroraLiiga (Finland)

Ella Välikangas rejoins HPK. She played there last season and had 23 points in 32 games played

Czech forward Anna Kalová of RoKi is out for the season.

Mentioned in my last roundup, but Saija Tarkki officially had her jersey! Congratulations to Saija on this incredible accomplishment

Six teams have clinched a playoff spot: Kiekko-Espoo, HPK, HIFK, Team Kuortane, Ilves, and Karpa. TPS, Kärpät, and Roki are left to battle out the remaining spots and avoid relegation. Kiekko-Espoo has a comfortable first place lead

RoKi got their first win of the season!

Top players: - After a bit of a down year last year, Salla Sivula (KalPa) has a .944 save percentage while facing the highest workload of any goalie in the league, and has four shutouts on the year. Sivula has been in the league since 2018-2019 and is currently on pace to set career highs on her new team - 21 year old Lisette Täks continues to make her case for the national team after playing at an elite level in auroraliiga the past two years. She has 46 points in 24 games at Kiekko-Espoo -18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková is having a breakout year with HPK, already doubling her point total from last year. in 23 games this year, she has 40 points -Emma Nuutinen, a league veteran, is your current points leader with 49 points in 22 games for Kiekko-Espoo

SWHL A/ Postfinance Women's League (Switzerland)

The league is showing a wonderful increase in attendance, with a new record attendance set in a game between EV Zug and HC Davos Ladies on November 17th: 2,163 !

ALL WOMEN'S LEAGUES GAMES ARE ONCE AGAIN FREE TO STREAM FOR ALL HERE: https://www.red.sport/en-ch/page/womens-league this includes full replays, highlights, and interviews!!!

New playoff format: the 1st and 2nd placed tams will get a by to the semi-finals. The 3rd to 6th placed teams will play in best of three series to determine who goes on to the semi-finals. The bottom two teams in the table will have a best-of-five playoff series to determine relegation. The semi-finals and the final will be best of five, and there will be a one game bronze medal match.

Coach Johanna Ikonen of HC Davos Ladies signs an extension through 2026/2027. The former Finnish National Team Player is in her first year coaching the HC Davos Ladies, but has a wealth of experience coaching women's pro teams. HC Davos Ladies are currently in second place, a major improvement from last year when they were in fifth place with a negative goal differential.

Swiss hockey hall of famer Evelina Raselli, who captained Team Switzerland, won five swhl championships, and won an Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride, accepted a assistant coaching role for HC Davos starting in January

Ivana Wey (EVZ), a up and coming star for the Swiss national team, committed to Northeastern University

Naemi Herzig (EVZ) has committed to College of the Holy Cross

New Injuries: Annika Fazokas (EVZ) it out with a concussion

SC Bern Frauen is in first with HC Davos right behind. EVZ Women's Team could also make a run for one of the first two spots and have a game in hand. SC Langenthal Damen and Neuchâtel Hockey Academy Dames will almost certainly be relegated

Current top performers: - Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) rookie out of University of Calgary with a league leading 37 points in 18 games -Estelle Duvin (SC Bern Fraun), who's been one of the MVP's of the SWHL the past few years, has 34 points in 18 games -Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta), a czech national team player in her first SWHL season after many years as a MVP caliber player in Auroraliiga, has 31 goals in 17 games

EWHL (Central/Eastern Europe)

Aisulu Almaty, HK PSRZ Bratislava, SKN Sabres St.Pölten are all extremely close in points in the top three spots. EV Bozen Eagles and KSV Neuberg Highlanders sit close behind them. Anyone in the top five spots could finish first.

Top players -Kristin Della Rovere (EV Bozen Eagles) is your top scorer with 33 points in 14 games -Latvian goaltender Kristiana Apsite for DEC Salzburg Eagles has been the most impressive goaltender to me. While goalies like Seeley have better numbers, Apsite's workload has been insane. Despite being on the worst team and facing the second most shots in the league (about 38 shots a game) she is putting up respectable numbers with a .911 save percentage -Slovak forward Ema Tothova is still the best u18 player, just as she was last year. The 17 year old has 18 points in 13 games. She is also playing in a boy's-majority u18 league at the same time

International news:

The 6-Nations event in Tampere begins December 11 to 15th, with Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Sweden, USA, and Canada. The tournament rosters are made up primarily of the younger talent and ncaa players in each national teams pipelines. Most pro leagues are on break as a result

The u18 tournaments will be coming up in January! I will post more about them later, but if you would like to read more about them check out the IIHF page

[samijey]

broke my promise to myself and actually watched the jey/gunther match and let me tell you... whoever booked that finish wanted jey to look like an idiot. mega rant under the cut which you should honestly read im not your mama but you should read it

he splashes gunther after getting dominated for 80% of the match and an (honestly underwhelming) spear and we're meant to believe the +2yr champion who's beaten virtually everyone on the roster (including drew who recently beat jey TWICE) was about to be defeated right there?......okay............ but it gets worse

when the referee (for no real good reason) stops the count at 2 after jimmy rings the bell, jey "forgets" about gunther and turns his back to him, allowing gunther to get back up almost IMMEDIATELY (remember we were meant to think he was about to be beaten 5 seconds earlier) yet jey quickly superkicks him BUT THEN decides to dive at jimmy on the outside instead of going directly for another splash (girl help) so ofc when he does go for the splash, gunther gets the knees up, and to add a cherry on top of this shit sunday, pins jey right there after performing no extra offense - doesn't even roll him up, jey just lies there flat on his back and gets pinned (while michael cole screams "GUNTHER ROLLS UP JEY USO" to make me even more mad, apparently, as zero actual rolling takes place in the ring - just a leg hook & weight on the shoulders combo... and not a particularly vicious one either) I just ??????

and of-fucking-course as the TV feed gets cut, cue cody and punk who come out all smiles ready to do the usual fanservice routine for the live crowd and suddenly jey is mostly done selling what just happened and is smiling along with whatever you wanna call it - sending the crowd home happy?? since when did that become mandatory for broadcast shows??? why can't emotionally devastating moments count just as much when it comes to delivering a satisfying ending to the live crowd??? are you telling me they couldnt have had jey walk to the back WHILE SELLING the heartbreak/frustration of what happened and THEN send cody out to do the fanservice thing??? fuck maintaining suspension of disbelief I guess - you can't even argue that "it's fine it was just a treat for the live crowd" because WWE has posted the footage everywhere and promoted it heavily.

imagine if after the camera stopped rolling at last year's rumble, sami had got up, undone kevin's handcuffs and they both hugged and cut a cheerful promo at the crowd - everyone would've blasted wwe for undermining the impact of that finish and not letting the moment breathe.

here's another, even more similar example - remember what happened after summerslam when jimmy attacked jey? he sold the devastation of the moment all the way until he exited the arena, so why is this any different? because it's "just" TV and not a PPV? nah, i'll tell you why: because wwe does not give a shit about this current version of jey's character - he's there to spew the same catchphrase 100x an hour (because it sells merch and pops the crowd let's be honest), display a grand total of two personality traits, and rub his popularity off onto the people wwe actually consider stars

for comparison - you cannot tell me that if it was cody in this position (just lost an important match thanks to the most important person in his life + got attacked by them on top of it) wwe wouldn't have had him look devastated or cut an emotional, tearful promo that would've then been posted and promoted everywhere

"chill, it's not that serious" my apologies for wanting something i love (and KNOW can be so much better with minimal effort) to have a basic level of logic and thought put into it, it's not like wrestling booking is rocket science and we know wwe is NOT incapable of actually delivering good stuff 🤷??? the standards for this show are so damn low and seeing no one else be bothered by it does my fucking head in ouch ouch wheres the aspirin bye

[the-physicality]

the broadcast kept saying that desbiens and frankel would be the starters for the next winter olympic teams, do you think that’s accurate or will desbiens be replaced with another goalie?

The next olympics are in 13 months (which is wild) i think if troy is going to make a change, we’ll see something happen in the rosters for rivalry series and then possibly at worlds. But he doesn’t seem like the type to shake things up right before an olympics cycle (and hockey canada seems to like to keep veterans around, at least compared to usa hockey)

The only surprise might be kirk (who is currently playing for troy in toronto and appears to have taken the starting spot). She was at the september camp but not named to the roster. And if she is starting over campbell in club i don’t really know why she wouldn’t jump her in the national team conversations. However, country and club are two different things (see alyssa naeher with chicago vs with usa) and you value stability in goaltending more than who’s hot right now (see: campbell not playing at worlds). Plus national teams might have different systems and when you have medals on the line, maybe you don’t shake things up so much.

There is an argument to be made that maschmeyer is seeing the most shots per game, saving the most shots, allowing the fewest goals, and has the best save percentage for starting goalies. But see my above club vs country point.

Schroeder was also at the september camp, and maybe she is considered as well, if that 3rd spot is up for grabs. But i think 1-2 are locked in, even if there is a slight possibility that the order changes.

[winterspiderpurrs]

babe babe!! your omegaverse drabble about tony biting peter got me thinking,,,

what if tony bites peter (they have been together for a year or more so it’s not the first one) but this time they both get sloppy with aftercare? peter’s bites have always healed well, but this one gets infected. peter gets a fever, body aches, nausea and the bite is leaky and swollen and just not good…

and tony feeling so guilty when peter has to be hospitalised for a few days to get the infection under control. it would be a great opportunity to explore some omegaverse tropes!! maybe there’s stigma around infected bites? like it is believed it is a bad omen for the couple…

and tony and peter having to deal with all that!!

- @professional-benaddict

@professional-benaddict you inspired me with this one! I will probably expand on it later but here is this for now! Hope you like it! 😘

************************************************************

"Christine, we have an Omega patient asking for you"

Christine Palmer looks up from the chart she was reading at the nurses station.

" I don't currently have one on my roster, newly admitted?"

The nurse nods and starts to lead Christine through the hospital.

" Yes just a couple of hours ago... poor thing passout while attending class. Just woke up and was in such a state."

Once you arrived in front of the door of the room, the nurse looked over her shoulder before leaning close to whisper.

" O.P.S. was called by the first doctor, they didn't know what caused them to pass out, they stripped him and well... they took so many pictures... they asked who caused it, but... all he asked for was you once he knew what hospital he was in..."

The nurse hands the folder outside of the room to Christine before she darts off. Frowning, Christine opened up the folder to read the most current chart, as well as photos of what the nurse was hinting at.

It had to be bad if the Omega Protective Services had to be called. The photo of a claiming bite, red, purple, and green in spots. Some of the puncture spots seem swollen and puss filled. Notes that the omega had other fading marks on other spots on his body.

Was the omega being used? It seems similar to when an underground human trafficking ring gets busted. But they said he was on a college campus... something wasn't adding up.

Knocking on the door before entering, Christine puts on a smile.

" Good afternoon Mr. Parker. My name is Dr. Pa-"

" Dr. Palmer. Yes. Can you call Dr. Strange for me" she blinks and stares at the figure on the bed.

" I'm sorry to inform you but Dr. Strange no longer works here at the hospital... he uh is retired."

Peter smiles weakly before shaking his head.

" I don't have my phone... I... they confiscated my stuff. I need to reach the Sanctum so he can contact... Anthony for me."

Christine jaw drops a little " So you know... but... how.. I mean.. your.. different yes?"

Nodding Peter fiddles with the hem of the covers on the bed. " I normally heal... good, but.. something is happening... but can't broadcast... Stephen can help. He knows where to find my Alpha"

Christine is pulling out her cell phone, scrolling through.

" And this... Anothony... he is your... mate? Your Alpha?

" Hmm yes several years now... just. Please Dr. Palmer..."

Holding the phone up to her ear, only two rings before Stephen answered.

" This is interesting. You don't normally call me during your shift. Need a 2nd opinion Doctor?"

Christine rolla her eyes playfully at Stephen's teasing tone.

" I actually have an Omega here who knows you... and want you to contact their Alpha."

" Really? You know I'm not the messenger type. And I don't even know that many Om-"

" His name is Peter Parker and he wants you to contact an Anthony. His... bite is horribly infected Stephen... O.P.S. was called before I got here..."

" Shit. I'll be there shortly"

And so Christine expected for Stephen to show up with a knock on the door. Not through one of the magical portals he travels with.

And she definitely wasn't expecting Iron Man, Tony Stark, to walk through as well- both men wrapped up in their arguing to properly greet either herself or Peter.

" you knew that he was allergic to mint!"

" Okay, Gandolf. I didn't give him anything, mint! How was I supposed to know that my fucking toothpaste could do this? I've been using that brand for years!"

" Better get your lawyers ready Stark. If O.P.S. was called they are probably coming in soon to do a formal interview. And even you won't be able to come out of this unscathed"

" Friday contact Pepper and let her know the details and get the paperwork rolling"

Stephen rolled his eyes before moving to come to Peter's side. Peter had already fallen back asleep, Christine had upped the dose so he could rest. Stephen growled as he got a good view of Peter's infected bite.

" Stark... "

[intoloopin-archive]

THE PROJECT.

Boy Of The Week (2017 - 2018) was a year long training project organized by New Wave Music and Blockberry Creative with a sole goal: putting 24 boys to the test until they found the 10 member lineup that would make up the brother group of LOONA.

Weirdly private to this day and age, there's very little the public actually knows about how the group came to be, who was involved and what was done: the timeline given by the companies doesn't quite match up, and with no footage and a single broadcasting record, barely any confirmed trainee names to this day and age, the formative year of LOOPiN remains a well kept mistery.

[THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS BELONG FULLY TO NEW WAVE MUSIC, FORMERLY BLOCKBERRY CREATIVE AS WELL UNTIL THE END OF THEIR PARTNERSHIP IN 2022, AND ARE PROTECTED UNDER SEVERAL CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS. ANY SORT OF ILLEGAL DISTRIBUTION WILL BE PUNISHED BY LEGAL LAWSUIT AND LITIGATION.]

THE KNOWN TRAINEES: SOUTH KOREA.

THE KNOWN TRAINEES: WORLDWIDE.

Despite advertising itself to the public and to future advertisers as holding 24 trainees in their roster, in reality, Boy Of The Week was more succinct, with 16 active recruits at its start on early April 2017.

Receiving over 400 audition tapes from around the globe and going on paper to say they had admitted 12 international Week Boys, only 5 ended up actually joining the project and training under it in the companies headquarters in South Korea. New Wave and BBC failed to provide proper documentation in time for anyone out of the USA, most of Europe and Southeast Asia, leaving the majority of the trainees from any other regions to fetch for themselves, a near impossible task for most to achieve in three months.

Beomseok, the oldest identified Week Boy to this day, was 22 going 23 while Sangjin and Haegon, the youngests known, were both 16 years olds -- however, current LOOPiN member Taesong has alluded in the past to, quote, "ironing out an elementary school uniform" while living in the training dorm, raising the suspicion of there being at least one tween in Boy Of The Week at some point in time.

In fact, the remaining anonymous 3 trainees fell in the age range of 11 to 14, all South Korean.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BOY OF THE WEEK TRAINEE.

Starting off on the accomodations provided entirely by New Wave Music, the designated dorm for the 16 Week Boys to share was a small house, with a maximum capacity of 6. From day one the trainees took turns sharing the five single beds, one couch, as well as the living room and bathroom floors.

Minwoo, the only Seoul based member that still opted to live in the shared dorm, would occasionally house his fellow teammates in his spare room at his family home, making an exception only to the trainees who worked part time (Seungsoo), were very underage (REDACTED, REDACTED, REDACTED) or fell ill or became injured (Dylan and Haruki).

Their vocal, rap and dancing training fell on the responsibility of rotational teachers, mostly coming from BBC until the still under development New Wave pushed forward a 'possible staff member' -- an inconstant that left most of the basic trainees lost, and kept the advanced ones in any field from breaking trought.

LOSSES, MASS DISMISSALS AND LAST MINUTE ADDITIONS.

By August 2017, 4 months into training, New Wave Music founder and CEO Seo Changyuk began to hold evaluations and dismiss 1 trainee a month in incomprehensible order: the top Week Boys weeks prior were not save from a sudden elimination in the next gathering, creating an anxious and fearful energy that became contagious amongst the trainees.

Unsatisfied with the 10 members left, New Wave and BBC agreed to start emergency street castings and re-open their auditions, putting posters in Seoul and all districts nearby not explicitly tied to Boy Of The Week -- the posters happened to gain some traction on Naver and Twitter at the time, creating speculation if wether or not the future LOONA siblings would ever come to be.

In November, came the first and only public appearance of Boy Of The Week at a local university festival, then a 13 members team. At the event Chen Haitao (2000) and Lee Sangjin (2001) were approached and recruited on the spot by another company, leaving future LOOPiN unexpectedly with 11 trainees, a number that didn't last.

In October, Matsushita Kohei was accused by a fellow trainee of being planning to rob Choi Sangwon, a New Wave Music staff member. Upon checking, Sangwon's personal belongings such as car keys, wallet and watch were found hidden in Kohei's bags in the dorm. While no charges were pressed against him by the casting director's demand, Dallas was immediately dismissed.

In December, 5 new unknown South Korean members were added to Boy Of The Week, but not a single one lasted long enough to count: the massively negative and frustrated response from the older Week Boys drove them away quickly, to the annoyance of the project's superiors.

Easy to say, that marked a sour turn for the relationship between the young men and their responsible staff, who realized too late that they had cultivated a problem.

FIGHT FOR CREATIVE INDEPENDENCE / THE RISE OF THE FACE TRIO / DYLAN FELL ILL.

At that point in time, Boy Of The Week had also produced highly evaluated trainees that fell in the graces of both companies CEOs and were sure to survive all evaluations with Seo Chanhyuk, them being Bang Minwoo, Na Seungsoo and Fukunaga Haruki, fully quoted to get into LOOPiN no matter what -- something later proved as truth.

By the new year, they became known on as the future groups 'Face Trio' -- both an admiring title and a pejorative term, as confirmed by LOOPiN maknae Haegon in 2022.

Minwoo and Seungsoo specially grew overconfident with their status. They felt invensible enough to take over an inactive music recording room in New Wave headquarters and come up with a unimaginable proposition: they were asking for the power to make their own music from their group debut and onwards, something that registered as a joke to staff.

It was thought the song 'Love Hell', made by the duo in early January 2018, sold to a third party company who turned it into a popular drama OST, that they finally managed to make an argument for their desire to be a fully self-produced group. Chanhyuk agreed to grand the two, alongside Haruki, the elevated power to skip the monthly auditions and share their two cents on who should make it into LOOPiN -- an empty promise, they soon realized, set to calm them down.

At the same time, international Week Boy and now LOOPiN member Hwang Chihoon, english name Dylan Hwang, came down with anemia and depression and had to me immediately hospitalized. An intense fight broke between his family in the US, New Wave and BBC about who would took over over his medical care and what would be of his future career: the companies, who delay to notify the Hwangs of Dylan's status by weeks, wanted to transfer him home immediately, something unaffordable for his single mother and grandparents to handle.

With the help of their relatives in South Korea, they filled a lawsuit claiming neglect from New Wave and BBC regarding Chihoon, which they lost before he even recovered.

A formal protest over the handle of his case split the remaining Week Boys into two teams: the ones who vouched to keep Dylan's place save so he could join LOOPiN once he recovered (Beomseok, Minwoo, Seungsoo, Haruki, Haegon), and the ones who wanted him gone from the final lineup (Alexandre, Taesong, Dongwook, Woobin).

Minwoo, Seungsoo and Haruki, 'the favored', joined forces to eliminate each guy from the opposition and make them quit: a mission quickly accomplished in a two week run. Taesong, left alone, bended and complied to have Dylan stay.

It left Boy Of The Week with 6 members, non officially 7 counting the recovering Dylan, as the final lineup set to graduate on upcoming April 2018, not 10.

That New Wave and BBC couldn't take.

THE NON-BOY OF THE WEEK LOOPiN MEMBERS.

Set on Seo Chanhyuk's concept vision of a LOOPiN OT10, mere 3 months away from the end of Boy Of The Week, New Wave and their partner company turned sharp and desperate.

Recruited by the end of January, Wu Zhiming, korean name Oh Jimin, was a promising producer even at his high school age, recruited by New Wave Music to serve as a part time sound engener alongside his unofficial cousin Shin Jooheon, produce allias HEEDAMN. After a physical altercation with Minwoo over his targeting of Woobin, Zhiming was unofficially demoted to temporary trainee, then turned full time trainee and a late Week Boy by choice.

Recruited in mid February, Xu Jiahang, stage name J.J, had already partial experience with Idol training, being a teenage YG model and trainee for little over a year before quitting the industry in late 2016. Both J.J and New Wave Music have publicly claimed that he was individually casted only by his popular Weibo and IG ulzzang accounts, and that the involvement and investment of his father's commercial making studio, Xu Forward INC, came after, but that's utterly false -- although impossible to fully disprove now.

Lee Hanjae, an experience B-Boy, was recruited way past the official graduation of Boy Of The Week, in late May. He was a BBC trainee quoted to join OnlyOneOf and snatched to fill the original LOOPiN quota, transferred to cover for former rapper Dongwook, infamously two months before the debut of LOOPiN 2On1 with Haruki.

And with that, LOONA's sibling group finally came to be at it's original lineup with Lee Beomseok, Park Taesong, Bang Minwoo, Na Seungsoo, Fukunaga Haruki, Dylan Hwang (active only after their official group debuted in 2019), Wu 'O.z' Zhiming (later presenting himself as Oh Jimin after the end of his dual chinese-south korean citizenship after turning 19), Lee Hanjae, Xu 'J.J' Jiahang and Kim Haegon.

WHERE ARE THE ALMOST LOOPiN MEMBERS NOW?

Chen Haitao and Lee Sangjin ended up debuting together under HAPPYGRIN Studio in 2020's 13 membered boygroup Serpentary, which are currently active and have found medium success. Both have not gone deep into their experience in Boy Of The Week, only sharing they've met while in there, but they hold a very public as well as private friendship with Taesong and Haegon.

Two years later in early 2020, Matsushita 'Dallas' Kohei joined MBN Entertainment and trained to join IDOLMAKER's 4th generation in 2022, but was replaced last minute by Im Daewon and dimissed from the company as well. Currently, Kohei has given up on being a singer and it's working as a full time professional photographer. He has never gone into details of his time as a Week Boy online.

Kwon Dongwook went on to debut in MBN Entertainment's Night Child, mostly known under the acronym NTCD, in late 2018, a highly successful act that's regarded as the crowned kings of 4th generation. He's also considered to be one of the most successful soloists acting now, with his debut hit Any Song (2021) and his following comeback BITBIT (2022) going internationally viral. While rumors of his animosity with LOOPiN run free given his dodges about his relation to the group, his recent public friendship with J.J has solidified the idea that they're nothing but gossip.

Kim Woobin, current stage name Wonmiles, is a popular K-Hiphop producer and underground rapper that's still making music. He's the only identified former Week Boy who's alluded to his trainee past the most in interviews and songs, although the general public doesn't fully trusts nor cares for his complains and his raised allegations.

Alexandre Minchul Han went on to stablish himself from 2020 onwards as a popular vlog Youtuber and a low stakes model based on South Korea, only once mentioning his Boy Of The Week past in passing. He reportly fleed Seoul and went back to his hometown in France on March 2022. Alex is currently being reported missing by his family, and any trace of him is yet to be found.

[radioiaci]

@ducktastic-dad ⧐ it has been a short time since giving alastor his birthday gift. at first, lucifer assumed that ━ given the state they had been in, wobbly and hungry and not altogether there ━ maybe alastor just hadn't been able to properly convey a response in the face of something so. . . profound. a bit ugly. sickly black flesh tainted in sin, concealing the golden flow that continues to persevere through its twisting veins that have been soldered together like wires in a self-sustaining machine. as always he gives the benefit of the doubt to the sinner in his favor, patient and not at all wanting to put a dim on the morning after. staying by their side to deal with the hungover headache they no doubt felt in the morning, going out of his way to be sweet on them, and carrying on throughout the day in hopes of being pulled aside for a more private moment.  but that moment doesn't come. the next day, too, he is patient. about as patient as lucifer can be about putting such vulnerable feelings on the line, some increasing signs of stubbornness and a souring attitude around alastor that begins to openly fester. not one mention of the box. unbelievable !  he has to wonder if maybe, by some backwards cannibal logic, his display of vulnerability is underwhelming in the face of someone who has seen all manner of gore. he had figured the meaning would at least be significant, for someone who is so drawn to literature with ruminative themes and poems chock-full of similarly graphic symbolism. something special catered to alastor, easy for a man like him to read.  sad, frustrated, and disappointed, lucifer remains in the privacy of his room for the latter evening of that day. rather than seeking alastor out, as he is often the one out of the two of them to do so, he busies himself in waiting ; hoping that it will be alastor who makes the effort this time, only to end up spending the night alone. the next morning, the third day, his patience has worn thin to a snap. he does not exit his room and linger in the halls in hopes of crossing paths, does not enter the communal kitchen when he knows the radio demon likes to have his coffee and breakfast around that specific time, does not sit and wait for the arrival of their morning broadcast ━ a routine in shambles. not entirely sure of what to do with himself, while simultaneously trying to avoid being within eyeshot, lucifer has taken over grounds keeping in place of niffty. ample time to take out his frustrations on the weeds peeking through the hotel's cemented walkway. if alastor were to approach him in the sensitive state he's currently in, he's not entirely sure how level-headed he could be,  ( and would rather not test his theories, )  so it's ━ nice. sort of. the fresh air, or however fresh air in hell can be outside of his stuffy room. unfortunately, upon re-entering the building, rubied pupils constrict into slivers and avert their gaze from the hotelier across the lobby that he is avoiding. his still-beating heart sinks, the feeling of falling, despite being kept safely within its coffer, perched upon alastor's shelf to collect dust and remain unappreciated. in the moment, he worries if those sensitive ears will pick up on the shallow tremble in his breath when he walks past. very blatantly ignoring alastor, lucifer only stops to greet his daughter, and then continues on with the intent to ascend the hotel and retreat to the safety of his room. out of sight, out of mind ; or that is the hope, anyway. UNPROMPTED ASKS.

If ever asked and forced to reveal the truth under threat of death, Alastor still might hesitate to reveal that he does not immediately notice Lucifer's withdrawal from him.

Charlie has kept him busy. Flitting hither and thither to complete this task and that - and with a few new additions to the residential roster, he is especially called upon to ensure that their rooms are comfortable and custom-prepared, that the inventory in the kitchens for various meals each day is satisfactory, and that Husker is kept appeased with a selection of spirits that appeal to both him and the other guests. Though he finds a few moments on occasion to enjoy a drink on his own or have a cigarette up on the balcony to de-stress, it is usually short-lived. And all of this combined makes it relatively easy for him to lose track of what others have been rumoring to be his 'other half', by now.

But he does notice on that second day - when Lucifer does not make himself known at all. Alastor has to wonder whether he is feeling well. Maybe another momentary segue into a sad state that he should interject into, to ensure that the other is looking after himself, even when lacking the desire to. To prepare him a warm bath and provide some company - but he does not get the opportunity. There are more things to plan, more things to do, and though he makes a point of selecting a few songs for his nightly broadcast that perhaps might indicate that he is, at least, thinking of the Devil while he cannot be present, they do not seem to land when he receives no response.

On the third day is when he finally begins to piece things together. There is no Lucifer present at all - not in the morning, not in midday. At least not roaming the halls. Is he still in his room? Concern begins to broil somewhere within him. It's not like Lucifer to hide away for this long without somehow seeking him out in some way, shape, or form, and Alastor makes a point to take a break from Charlie's pestering to roam the halls in search of him, even stopping by the door to his tower which he raps on and calls for the man quietly so as not to be starkly overheard by any passersby. But the sensitivity of volume is abandoned somewhat when he receives no reply. Not a one.

No luck, then. Is he being... avoided? Or perhaps Lucifer is simply... busy? Is it another case as they often find themselves in when a gift is being prepared and one sequesters themselves until it is complete? But for what occasion? His birthday has already passed. So too have the holidays. There is some concern that perhaps Lucifer is aware of the next holiday - Valentine's, if he recalls. And maybe there is some offense that Alastor has not... asking something of him? But this early? Ludicrous.

Until finally, the answer comes when the radio demon finally spies the other entering the lobby. Ah. Outside then! Relieved, Alastor nearly turns on his heel to approach with casual coolness to inquire as to what Lucifer has been up to -

But being snubbed entirely is not on his bingo card for the day.

The way Lucifer oh-so-casually seems to not acknowledge him at all is jarring and purposeful. It is so painfully obvious that even as the other makes his way out of the lobby and presumably back to his room, Charlie pulls Alastor aside to ask about it.

"Ah - not to worry. He is simply preoccupied with a few things we spoke about regarding some of the décor. I asked him to design a few more pieces of furniture, and I am sure it is taking up the majority of his time to ensure that they fit the theme."

A lie. Though he gives nothing away in his expression, Charlie seems to know that it's a lie, but blessedly says nothing more on the matter. Presumably, she hopes it to iron itself out as Alastor, still in outward good-spirits, trots away towards his own room.

Where, once inside, he can begin to fret and wonder exactly what he has done to earn such treatment. Or what he hasn't done, perhaps? The holiday idea seems to lose steam the more he thinks about it. Lucifer cannot possibly be that petty about not being asked to be some sort of Valentine's beau a near full month before the damn day actually happens. It must be something else. Something he has said or some offense he has given. He cannot remember refusing any meals cooked, even ones that are a bit too sickeningly sweet for his tastes. Nor can he remember anything he might have done or said to dear Charlie. Charlie herself certainly seems to be left in the dark. So what???

Alastor's shadow emerges as he paces about his room, deep in thought as he picks apart the events of the last few days. It plasters itself up against the wall as it observes, a sudden glare appearing in its eyeless expression as it seems to gradually lose its patience with Alastor's muttering. As if to grab his attention, it soars across the room and towards the shelf. It knows precisely what the matter is, though even it is oblivious as to the contents of the chest (Alastor had not processed it, so the shadow could not have either). Still, it knows that the thing was a gift given and Alastor has yet to truly express gratitude. That must be the issue, surely. And the shadow makes an effort to wave its arms and antlers about in an effort to pull Alastor's eyes over to the thing where it sits.

Stubbornly, it takes the radio demon a sudden and fierce knock of the shadow's antlers against his own for him to clue back into the moment, hissing in agitation and a vicious snap at the creature as it points aggressively towards the shelf where the chest sits.

At once, Alastor understands - or thinks he does, anyway. The chest had been his birthday gift. He'd been drunk, he recalled that much, but not much about the details beyond that. He remembered Lucifer being there the morning after to spend uninterrupted time with him - and that had been nice and appreciated. Wanted. Always wanted. But had he once thanked the man for the thoughtfully crafted thing? He's not even thought of what to put into it yet.

Stepping over to where it sits, he reaches to pull it from the shelf - only to find that there already... is something in it. Something that he supposes he did not fully register on the night it was given to him, seeing nearly triple as he had been and staggering all over the place like some sort of drunken miscreant. Thinking back on it is embarrassing enough, knowing Lucifer had presented the thing to him in such a state.

Searching for the key, Alastor uses it to pry the lid open with care, not wanting to damage the thing. It's been his careful consideration for its craft that he hasn't looked at it further before now -

Much to his detriment, apparently.

The sight he is met with not at all what he has expected and it is any wonder how he had simply glossed over it in his idiotically drunken stupor. What a fucking fool.

Inside, he can finally parse the beating heart within, its dark coloration only somewhat blending with the darker stain of the chest in which he sits, though even that, he knows, is a pathetic excuse for having not seen before now. The thing is far too beautiful - not in spite of but because of its coloration and appearance - for him to not have noticed it. And though his stomach rumbles slightly at the presence of what, at the surface, is a fine cut of internal meat, he refuses to acknowledge its nutritional value beyond that. No, this is something meant to keep safe and secure. And how Lucifer has managed to place it in there at all is anyone's guess. Is it simply a representation? Is it the real thing? It must be. Tied inexplicably to his existence and his core. A display of trust like no other he can ever recall being so willfully handed to him.

His claws caress the outer surface of the heart, gentle and supplicating. An apology in every single touch. What a precious gift that he has given the poorest impression of. Lucifer deserves more than mere gratitude. He deserves to have the radio demon thrust himself down on his knees before him to beg for forgiveness for being such a fool as to not realize what blessing he has been given. And for his birthday, no less.

A slight pricking of tears at the corners of his eyes brings him back into the moment, stepping away from the chest for the briefest minute or two to gather something from his wardrobe: A bright red handkerchief which he does not use very often - but is embroidered with his initial. He lifts the heart very briefly, lining the bottom of the chest with the fabric that he can then set the heart gently down upon. So that the starkness of its deep black color with its bright gold accents - the signs of Lucifer's life blood - can properly be seen. And appreciated. And adored. Regularly. Often. Daily. Like a pilgrimage performed to a holy site, Alastor will return to the thing to lay hands upon it and ask for forgiveness that he does not deserve.

But for now, the chest is gently and carefully shut. And instead of placing it back onto the shelf, Alastor carries it into the bayou where there still lingers the woven nest bed that Lucifer had crafted where Alastor had convalesced during his brief period of illness. In that same tree, he steps towards its trunk - strong and burdened with great purpose - as he uses his own manifestation magic to open up a hollow within it. Inside, he forces illusory blossoms to bloom, lighting the area with a gentle greenish yellow glow. And inside, he nestles the chest. It is a precious place for it to stay; for it to be displayed. And hidden in the bayou, he knows it will not be touched by strangers - or anyone who does not deserve to touch it. Though he knows even he hardly deserves to.

That is something he will remedy. That he must remedy.

But he waits, at least. Until the remainder of the hotel has gone to bed and he is able to pull himself from his room to creep along the dimmed halls until he can get to the door of Lucifer's once more. He does not knock this time, but instead, in his hands, he has penned a note upon bright red paper, the ink dark and thick - like he's taken an exceptional amount of time to write it so that his handwriting is not the scrawl that it usually is.

Folding it, he slips the paper beneath the door. There are any number of nerves that come along with it - with what he has written that he does not think he has ever once put those words to paper.

But with that, he steps back away and to his room. He will not rush Lucifer, knowing that he has done a hurt and one that will take time to soothe.

He only hopes that Lucifer will provide him with the opportunity.

The note, once the Devil sees fit to find and read it, says the following:

Lucifer,

I have been a heel. A villain. There is no apology I can offer that will make this slight right. I have neglected the appropriate care and appreciation for the blessing you have given me. And while I know these words may ring hollow, I hope that you will give me a chance to prove their earnestness.

Please let me right this wrong.

My Beloved.

You know where I will be.

- Alastor ♥

[zoeology31]

Offseason Twins News Roundup

Since the mid-playoffs 1-2-3-4 punch of firing four coaches, Thad Levine leaving, MLB taking over TV broadcast rights, and the Pohlads announcing their intention to sell the team, the Twins have had a quiet offseason relative to most teams. But now that the stove has heated up with big trades and signings over the last week or so, I expect things to start moving for the Twins as well. Here's a roundup of what's happened since mid-October as we prepare for what comes next.

Kirilloff's Retirement

At the end of October, Alex Kirilloff, the Twins' 2016 first-round draft pick, announced his retirement from baseball at age 26 due to the physical and mental complications of his various injuries. This came as a huge surprise, but an understandable decision nonetheless, and by every indication he's in a good headspace about it. I wish him the best.

Article here

Roster Moves

Here's the current state of the Twins' 40-man roster. As we've passed various early offseason roster deadlines, there have been a lot of procedural moving parts here:

Kepler, Santana, Thielbar, Farmer, and Margot are free agents, the latter two after having their mutual options declined

Kirilloff retired from baseball (see above)

Dobnak, Duarte, Blewett, Winder, and Severino were outrighted off the 40-man roster to clear space. Dobnak remains with the organization on his contract; Duarte, Blewett, and Severino were all re-signed on minor league deals, and Winder elected free agency

Alcala's team option was picked up

Stewart, Tonkin, and Topa were all signed to one-year deals to avoid arbitration

The rest of the Twins' very large arbitration-eligible class were all tendered contracts: Castro, Jeffers, Ober, Jax, Ryan, Larnach, Duran, and Lewis. The arbitration filing deadline is 1/9/25, though I don't expect any players to go to arbitration

Top prospect Marco Raya as well as Travis Adams (both pitchers) were added to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. No players in the organization were lost in the major-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft

The Twins selected Eiberson Castellano, pitcher in the Phillies' organization, in the Rule 5 Draft (more on that later)

Few surprises here outside the Kirilloff news. I always liked Winder, so I'm sad to see him go. I expect to see Raya in the majors next season. There's a nonzero chance the Twins re-sign Santana given the glaring hole at first base. Also best wishes in Colorado to Kyle Farmer, forever a Twins legend for the opening day walkoff, promising a playoff win, and hitting that homer in ALDS Game 2 🫡

Front Office Changes

Longtime Twins president Dave St. Peter stepped down, while Derek Falvey will be taking over in a joint president/POBO role. Assistant GM Jeremy Zoll, one of the Twins' two assistant GMs and head of player development, was promoted to GM to replace Levine. St. Peter was the president for 22 years and the face of things like "if you fund our new stadium we promise to raise the payroll" and "why aren't fans coming to the ballpark after we cut payroll". He won't be missed among fans.

Articles: St. Peter, Zoll

Arizona Fall League

The Salt River Rafters, the Twins' Arizona Fall League affiliate this year, won the AFL championship. Their manager was Saints coach Tyler Smarslok, and Twins prospect (and 2023 AFL home run derby champion) Kala'i Rosario drove in the go-ahead run. I hope Rosario can make the majors, he seems like a cool guy and I enjoy rooting for him.

Article here

Coaching Staff Changes

The Twins recently finished their major league coaching staff hires, as well as some internal promotions.

Hitting coach: Matt Borgschulte, Orioles assistant hitting coach and former Twins minor league hitting coach

Hitting coach: Rayden Sierra, Twins minor league assistant hitting coordinator

Assistant hitting coach: Trevor Amicone, Yankees triple-A hitting coach

First base/infield coach: Ramon Borrego, Twins double-A manager and 21-year organizational veteran

Assistant bench coach/catching coach: Hank Conger, promoted from first base coach

It'll be interesting to see if the all-new hitting staff can fix the Twins' situational hitting issues, which they've specifically called out as a goal. I'm really excited to see Borrego join the major league staff, he's very popular and managed a lot of our players in the minor leagues.

Articles: Borgschulte, other coaches

Rule 5 Draft Pick

For the first time since 2017, the Twins selected a player in the major league Rule 5 Draft: Eiberson Castellano, a rising star pitching prospect for the Phillies' double-A team. He fits the Twins' pitching prospect profile (big righty with good command) and they've apparently liked him for some time. Since Rule 5 draftees must be kept on the active roster, he'll likely be tried as a long reliever.

Article here

Potential Buyers for the Twins

The first potential buyers for the Twins have emerged, Justin and Mat Ishbia, owners of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury basketball teams. Any potential sale is likely still in early stages, but the Ishbias have apparently been meeting with local leaders already. They are characterized as assertive, willing to spend, and passionate about baseball. If this is accurate, this absolutely seems like best case scenario.

Article here

[tapedsleeves]

Thank you <333 Everyone is so loveable 😭 I'm so glad you added Hutton cause I vaguely remember him playing in a few games but the lip sync video is sooo funny

One last batch of questions if you're up to it cause I adore how you describe everyone <3 looking at the roster I think the last guys left are Barbie and ammo? (the funniest nicknames 😂) and guys like Dorofeyev, brisson, and jiri patera but I think they might fall under the Henderson duckling group?

also if you don't mind, I keep seeing patches and Reilly smith pop up when I scroll thru himbeaux's blog. I've heard a lot about marc andre fleury before but I didn't realize how many other ex-players were also so beloved! I'd love to hear about any of them if you have the time

There are actually a couple I haven't talked about in depth, but Hertl & Hanifin have only been on the team since the trade deadline. I don't know probably more about them than you do.

So, here's the list of current roster guys I'm gonna touch on: Ivan Barbashev, Michael Amadio, Pavel Dorofeyev, Brendan Brisson, Brett Howden, and Jonas Rondbjerg

and the traded guys I'm gonna talk about: Marc-Andre Fleury, Reilly Smith, Max Pacioretty, Robin Lehner, Ryan Reaves, Erik Haula, and Dylan Coghlan.

Now you see why I was like "I don't know if I can do it all in one ask" - because not only is team chemistry defined by who's there currently it is SO informed by who's been there.

These blurbs are probably gonna be shorter, because there's (counts) 14 of them.

That's many. And there are some that I don't know a whole bunch about. That's truer for some than others.

Ivan Barbashev Traded to VGK at the trade deadline in 2023. Learned about the trade at the same time as his wife (she screamed in the other room). was very excited to play with petro again, since they're good friends. got headbutted by LT and was very cute about it. his little face when jack yells He's actually just. giggly in general. he was part of the 12 Knights of Giving and was VERY VERY cute about giving ppl their groceries for free. his face on this save is REALLY CUTE. He fell off the bus during the STL parade. this supports my theory that he's made of like. variable density. it's impossible to knock him over and yet he is SO fast and agile? it's fucking wild.

he's got really good taste in sunglasses

2. Michael amadio: UNDERRATED!!!! i love Ammo. based on getty, i think either he and nic roy have very similar schedules or ride in together bc they are almost always in walkin photos together. i'm just now finding this out.

I don't know a lot about him, because he's very quiet, but he's got really nice eyelashes and his face looks very soft. even his beard. even his voice is soft & deep. he seems really nice. just a cool room guy.

3. Pavel Dorofeyev: Dorothea!!!. Ok so this is not his actual nickname. I call him this bc when Dave Goucher says his name on the broadcast it sounds like Dorothea. And when Dave had Laryngitis, and he said his full name, it truly sounded like he said "pebble dorothea." this is his name in my head.

Dorothea is SO cute. He looks like a Tall Bitty to me, and i can't get that out of my head.

I know that's not very informative, but that's just.

true.

when Brendan Gallagher busted his teeth in, alec martinez picked them up and carried them to him. Dorothea is one of the HSK guys, who are the closest.

4. Brendan Brisson - son of famous agent Pat Brisson. babysat by Sidney crosby. Umich guy. lots of ppl know more about him than me. always wants to tuck himself into a hug. this is very funny hwen the other guy is shorter than him

lots of people who followed him at umich know more about him than me, i'm sure.

5. Brett Howden: Bread!!! Just a sweet young manitoban guy. Childhood friend of nolan patrick went through Tampa & New York before coming to Vegas. changed his play style to play with Mark. Was part of the 2018 WJC team, but hasn't been implicated in any crimes :(

Grabbed Marchy by the jersey and yelled "we did it we did it" when they won the cup

Jonathan Marchessault followed up with him after and said "oh i had to tell you, when i had my vision of winning the cup, we weren't wearing the white (away) jerseys. we were wearing the gold ones"

indicating that??? Marchy??? has prophetic visions?? and shares them with brett howden???? what the hell is happenign here i love this so much. (seriously this video has SO MUCH. keegan kolesar kissing marchessault on the face SO MUCH. jack and marchy beign sO romantic about Marchy's conn smythe win "I did it for - you did it for me." / "that's the best thing i've ever seen" and all the i love yous. I just. love them)

6. Jonas Rondbjerg - Ronny is just a really sweet, quiet HSK guy! he's not the main roster, so when he gets called up, he hangs with the guys he knows. He was best friends with Jake Leschyshyn before he got traded to the NYR.

Notable Guys who've been traded

Marc- Andre Fleury - found out he got traded on twitter. Known prankster. Everyone loves him, excellent but aging goalie who is going to retire after 24-25. After retirement, he's moving back to Vegas to live during the non-summer months. If he hadn't been a goalie, probably he'd have been captain. I love him so much and he tried to fight jordan binnington while he was on the Wild.

Reilly Smith - OG Golden Misfit, traded to VGK with Jonathan Marchessault. Jonathan Marchessault said of him that he was relieved when they got drafted / traded that wasn't scared to go to a new place bc he would know somebody. And when Smitty joined VGK for their White House Cup Visit, Jonathan said in the interview after "Everywhere he is is home a little bit"

Reilly started the Battle For Vegas, a charity baseball game during the summer, which is a great time which Jack Eichel took over since Smitty got traded. Said "What a time to be alive" with an absolutely blasted voice while on the ice right after they won the cup.

Max Pacioretty - Traded to Vegas after doing frankly a nuclear option with his prior agent (switching to Allan Walsh on draft day) because talks with Montreal had gotten so bad. was SO happy to be in Vegas. When Stone was traded in February, was kind of worried bc they'd been such rivals during their time in MTL & OTT respectively. but they were almost immediately complimentary of each other. They were best friends. Patch says that he knew, almost as soon as Mark came in that he was gonna be the captain. Which is WILD. Bc it had been almost 3 season without them having one. but Mark is their captain. He was right.

Ryan Reaves - is a GREAT room guy, and a WONDERFUL guy off the ice. Loves a prank. ate spicy chocolate. He's done B4V a couple of summers (he did it last year iirc) and it's just. Really sweet. A lot of these guys just. really really bonded for life during that first year, you know? I know that Belly is still friends with a bunch of the OG Misfits, and so is Reavo (he was pumped to play on the wild with flower, for instance). Reavo said that when mark stone fought tomas hertl that "Those hands aren’t made to fight; they’re made to dance. They’re supposed to be soft." basically "I'd rather they let ME do the fighting, their hands are meant for better things" like. ReAVO MY GUY. UGH.

i love him

Erik Haula - Another guy who does B4V, got traded to the Canes (who mistreated him) and is now with the Devils (who love him). Is still best friends with Karly.

Dylan Coghlan - came to VGK in the Erik Haula trade from the Canes system. Was VERY VERY good friends with the younger guys, Haguer, Roysie, Whitecloud, Keegan, Howden, etc. Went to a concert with Jack, Haguer, & HOwdy/ Also still does B4V and excels at it. Is a defensemen, but when we didn't have any forwards, filled in. I would know him by his teeth anywhere (very distinctive). adorable.

[mariacallous]

Disgraced, convicted and now sentenced, a chapter has closed: there will clearly be no return to public life for Huw Edwards. But what of his employer, the BBC, whose reputation allows the greatest recognition and respect to those it considers stars, possibly more than any other broadcaster?

The ability of well-known, powerful figures, usually men, to abuse the trust placed in them is not unique to the BBC, of course. But the BBC’s history, as well as the universal funding mechanism it is currently fighting to continue, makes it imperative that, this time, the corporation learns the lessons of past scandals. The BBC’s lowest point was clearly after the revelations about Jimmy Savile, who had been allowed to hide far more atrocious sins in plain sight and to die a hero. But it must still ensure that it is in a strong position to weather further scandals.

The corporation announced an independent review into its workplace culture in August, after Edwards first pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children. With the review panel not yet appointed, it seems as good a time as any to look at what the corporation can do to avoid another scandal involving its best-known and best-paid staff.

So many of the scandals that damage the reputation of the BBC involve “talent” – men such as Edwards but also Rolf Harris, Savile and far lesser offenders who nonetheless broke the rules, such as Martin Bashir – given special treatment because they happen to be good on the telly. These are men not only paid enormous amounts of money, but also placed on the sort of pedestal that silences dissent. Any review of BBC culture must first give its less powerful employees a genuine avenue to raise any concerns or complaints.

The success and fame of Edwards, and all “front of house” presenters, rely on teamwork, yet researchers, producers, technicians and others are seen as far more expendable – with many believing it will be career-ending if they complain.

The power imbalance does not just affect junior members of staff when it comes to stars such as Edwards, whose career outlasted those of many of his bosses. The relationship between managers and presenters afforded public acclaim is unlike those in other, more hierarchical, jobs. The talent is often paid more and treated with kid gloves, which makes tough questions harder to ask.

The psychiatrist’s report cited in court traced a turning point back to 2018, when some BBC editors did raise concerns over Edwards’ social media activities after he took to posting images of himself bare-chested boxing on what was described as a “thirst Insta account”. Yet nothing much seems to have been done, even though the court heard that Edwards took two months of sick leave in 2018 “following an anonymous denunciation”. To be fair, BBC bosses did not know the reason and could not enquire into mental health concerns he had not been open about.

Yet it does again raise questions about the lack of action between 2018 and Edwards’ arrest in November 2023 – an arrest after which he continued to be paid a salary amounting to £200,000 until he resigned.

No star should be afforded the sort of long leash that allows them to become both very grand and unmanageable. The power imbalances that insulate on-air talent at the BBC must be addressed, and no employee should be above scrutiny if there are complaints or concerns over their conduct.

The BBC has now allowed a roster of great presenters including Clive Myrie, Reeta Chakrabarti and Sophie Raworth to replace Edwards on the News at Ten. It should also ensure, going forward, that the image of a wise and trusted presenter is not always a male one.

But the change that BBC management will find hardest to make is that of the siege mentality it adopts when criticised. Under attack from commercial rivals, headline-hungry politicians and an ageing army of loyal licence-fee payers, many scandals are met with a circling of the wagons rather than an honest appraisal of the difficult decisions that have to be made. Whether over Strictly or Edwards, this approach tends to leave newsroom staff so furious at being left in the dark that the ensuing coverage of internal problems takes on the tone of a tabloid witch hunt.

The crimes of Edwards are his alone, not the BBC’s, as should be the punishment. Child safety organisations have spoken of a “hidden pandemic” of sexual exploitation and abuse in our society, a warning that suggests the problem is far from one that affects hubristic presenters alone.

But the BBC is too important to be allowed to just shrug its collective shoulders and kick the issue into the long grass of yet another review. A genuine rebalancing of power structures and behaviour is urgent, especially for a new generation who are increasingly choosing not to pay the licence fee, yet need the BBC to continue as this nation’s most trusted voice more than ever.

[cafalla]

The Walt Disney Company Annual Report (2004) Scans

So this is a bit of an odd find, but I just had to pick it up for less than a dollar - The Walt Disney Company 2004 Annual Report.

Honestly, the cover art was what grabbed my attention.

I mean look at that! I'm not even a huge Disney fan but I did get excited seeing this collage art.

So cool...and so weird?

I feel like so many characters are missing - characters that would be "obvious" for a more recent Disney collage.

Remember Disney before Star Wars? Encanto? Frozen?

I do. Vaguely. I am pushing 30 after all. (I jest). But I basically had almost forgotten how "small" the Disney roster used to be.

Kind of hard to imagine Chicken Little was the upcoming big animated movie for 2005!

I wasn't sure what exactly an annual report magazine was, but my boyfriend knew of them. Basically, they are breakdowns of the company's products, output, projects, commitments, sales, etc., as information for current/potential investors/shareholders to have an analyze.

That being said, I truly don't have much to talk about in regards to this book. Most of it is numbers numbers numbers, math, math, math.

It was a bit of slog to scan, but I did it!

However, there are some tidbits I am interested in - primarily the pop culture ones. I'll share a few with you.

Take this page for instance: Olympic swimmers vibing in a pool with Mickey Mouse.

Doesn't get much more guys being dudes than this.

I'm being unfair, this is a picture from when they did a Disney charity swim. But still...it is funny to me with no context lol.

Or this page, about recently released/upcoming movies:

Am I the only one who didn't know NATIONAL TREASURE starring THEE Nicolas Cage was a DISNEY MOVIE?! I have no idea how this knowledge evaded me.

Also take note of the goofy photo of all the execs photoshopped into a Chicken Little backdrop. There are many of these kinds of photos, typically one for each "category". They're all a hoot because the backgrounds are so whimsical and they're all so...proper and stuffy in their suits lol.

I wanted to include this page since it references a lot of great movies, but mainly Sky High.

I'm a simple woman - I see Sky High, I simply must have to say justice for Layla x Warren Peace.

Anyways, here's a page giving MY Queen Hilary Duff her recognition for carrying Disney on her back:

When I tell you I was (and still am) obsessed with Hilary, Raven, and Jesse McCartney's debut albums.

Don't even get me started on Raven and Julie Andrews from Princess Diaries 2!! Their singing scene was so cute.

Also the double take when I saw BREAKING BENJAMIN? WITH HOLLYWOOD RECORDS?? HUH!!! I had to google, and it's true.

News to me!

It is kind of jarring to actually read and see how many seemingly random names/projects are associated with or straight up owned by Disney. This is especially apparent in the Broadcasting and Cable sections of the book.

I feel like we all know that now, but it's kind of jarring to look at media I grew up with and realize they're a lot more connected than I thought.

Just because I love references to old tech and the World Wide Web, I'll leave off with the first page of the Walt Disney Internet Group section.

The absolute chokehold Toontown Online had on me as a kid, and I never even played the game!! The thought of an online MMO was so fun to me, but I never got the chance to play it. I did regularly visit the Disney Channel website to play the games though!

As always, feel free to view the full book over on my Internet Archive account.

Thanks for stopping by!

[thef1nalb0ss]

Roster page updates ahead of Great American Bash

-Sonya, Chelsea, and Dominik have new championship renders.

-As for name changes, Dominik's name has been changed to "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio. Angel and Humberto also have their last names back.

-New Raw broadcast team member Jackie Redmond has been added to the roster page. In addition, Kelani Jordan, Bronco Nima, and Lucien Price have been added to the NXT roster page. Like the previous additions to the NXT roster page, they have only been added to the NXT page and not the current superstars page, which is what usually happens, although it's possible this is a glitch.

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] There’s uncertainty around the Champions Trophy at the moment. (PC: X.com) There’s apparently a deafening silence over the future of the Champions Trophy from all the parties concerned. Pakistan are the designated hosts for the tournament, scheduled to be played in February-March next year, but Mohsin Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, is tight-lipped on the issue at the moment. According to sources in the know, only a handful in the PCB are aware of what is going on. And this has prompted Rashid Latif to assume that the Champions Trophy could well be postponed. Sounds outrageous. The event is barely a couple of months away and the host broadcaster, Star Sports, has already released the promo. Latif, though, sticks to his point. “The way things are going, I feel the Champions Trophy could well be postponed,” the former Pakistan captain told RevSportz. He is said to have contacts with people in the inner circle of Pakistan cricket. “The tournament is just two months away, and you will have to take care of security, logistics and other important things,” Latif said. “The matter is even more complicated, given that a hybrid model has been proposed for the event. I don’t know how all the arrangements could be completed in time.” Asked about the host broadcaster already coming up with the promo, he said: “It didn’t mention the date.” The promo featured the superstars and had visuals of some electrifying on-field moments from the recent past. Interestingly, though, it had the notable absence of Pakistan’s hosting rights. Latif’s assumption notwithstanding, the International Cricket Council (ICC) doesn’t seem to have another window in the near future to hold the tournament. The IPL starts on March 14 and will continue until May 25. The World Test Championship final will follow and then, India will embark on a tour of England for a five-Test series. About a week ago, news emerged that there was a breakthrough in the 2025 Champions Trophy impasse, with all the Member boards agreeing to a hybrid model. India will play their matches in Dubai, as the BCCI didn’t get the clearance from the Indian government to send the team to Pakistan due to security reasons. A semi-final and the final would be played there as well. Pakistan, in turn, will play all their matches against India in the ICC tournaments until 2027 at neutral venues. An announcement in this regard was expected from the game’s governing body on December 7. Nothing, though, has come yet. There’s a sentiment in Pakistan that the PCB should boycott the Champions Trophy. But even some of the Pakistan cricket insiders are rubbishing the idea. Pakistan have signed a host agreement with the ICC and the mandatory Members’ Participation Agreement (MPA). Signing the MPA is a precondition for a Member board to get the revenue share from the ICC events. Pulling out could have serious pecuniary and legal consequences. Meanwhile, the ICC’s newly-elected chair, Jay Shah, is currently in Brisbane, attending a meeting with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics organising committee. Cricket will be part of the Olympics roster from the 2028 LA Games onwards. Latif clarifies ‘bhai’ comment Meanwhile, Latif claimed that by mentioning “bhai”, he never meant any underworld don sheltering in Pakistan. Rather, he spoke about a politician, Altaf Hussain. “Like in Mumbai, we address our seniors as ‘bhai’ in Karachi also,” he told this website. “Altaf Hussain is a famous politician in Karachi and everyone here calls him ‘bhai’.” Some days ago, on Dr Nauman Niaz’s Caught Behind show, Latif was heard saying: “What do you (read, India/BCCI) think? Whom are you messing with? We live near bhai’s house.” The post I feel Champions Trophy could well be postponed: Rashid Latif appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link