#the sun november 1991

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Ian McDonald's "The Wilding"

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

Ian McDonald is one of those absurdly brilliant novelists that just leave me wondering the actual fuck he manages it. How does he cover so much ground, think up so many compelling characters, find so many gracenotes, conjure up so many complicated emotions?

McDonald burst on the scene in the late 1980s, with the 1988 novel Desolation Road and then his 1989 Out On Blue Six, a slick, stylized cyberpunk-meets-Orwell tale that overflowed with beautiful prose, technomysticism, and sly jokes that hid sneaky truths that hid even more sly jokes:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/01/20/out-on-blue-six-ian-mcdonalds-brilliant-novel-is-back/

By my count, McDonald has now published twenty books – mostly novels, but a couple short story collections (and the most amazingly demented, Tom-Waits-inflected teddybear murder comic imaginable, 1994's Kling Klang Klatch):

https://irishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Kling_Klang_Klatch

McDonald's work is truly globespanning. While he's made his mark on the Martian soil, and overtaken the moon with the Luna trilogy (his definitive rebuttal to Heinlein's Moon Is a Harsh Mistress) he is widely adored and much-awarded for the glittering, futuristic versions of Brazil (Brasyl), Tanzania (the Chaga series), and India (River of Gods).

Indeed, McDonald's imagination has roamed so far over the Earth and the solar system that it's possible to overlook his fantastic reimaginings of Ireland, the land where he was raised. There's his Philip K Dick Award-winning 1991 novel King of Morning, Queen of Day, a swirling, mythopoeic novel of Celtic mysticism:

https://www.baen.com/king-of-morning-queen-of-day.html

And then there's 1992's Hearts, Hands and Voices, which is lowkey one of the best novels I have ever, ever read – a scorching science fictional allegory for The Troubles, but with the gnarliest biotech weirdness you can possibly imagine:

https://archive.org/details/heartshandsvoice0000ianm/mode/2up

McDonald's books cover so much goddamned ground, but one feature they all share is a prose styling wherein every sentence is at least 20% poetry, a fraction that somehow, impossibly, rises to as much as 150% in certain especially shiny passages.

Like this passage, which opens The Wilding, McDonald's new horror novel that marks his first return to Ireland since 1992:

Autumn lay on the great bog in silvers and tans, late purples and duns.

The sun rose above the tall ash saplings and feral sycamore. It called the birds into full voice. Stabbing shrills, tumbles of notes, the flutes of dove-call, frantic ticking hisses, song upon song. In hedgerows and copses, among the pale foliage of the birches, in the weave of deep willow and the bramble fastnesses, each bird called and was heard. In this season the peatland held the day's warmth through the night and on the bright, clear mornings rivers of mist formed, filling the subtle hollow places in the exposed cuttings, the bogs and fields. High sun would dispel it but at this hour half of Lough Carrow lay mist-bound. Each blade of grass hung heavy with dew, the clumps of sedges were already browning, the bracken curling and crisping.

A pair of horns lifted above the willow scrub and out-grown ash hedges of the Wilding. Polished tips caught the low sun and kindled as bright and keen as spears.

https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/ian-mcdonald/the-wilding/9781399611503/

Oof.

I would drop everything to read Ian McDonald's grocery lists but after that opening, I wasn't going to put this one down, and I didn't, reading the whole thing on yesterday's flight home from my gigs in Atlanta this week.

The Wilding is (I'm pretty sure?) McDonald's first horror novel, and it's fucking terrifying. It's set in a rural Irish peat bog that has been acquired by a conservation authority that is rewilding it after a century of industrial peat mining that stripped it back nearly to the bedrock. This rewilding process has been greatly accelerated by the covid lockdowns, which reduced the human footprint in the conservation area to nearly zero.

The story's protagonist is Lisa, a hard-case Dubliner who came to the bog to do community service after a career as a crime syndicate driver for hire, a woman who never met a car she couldn't boost and pilot in or out of any tight situation. After years in the bog, she's ready to start a new life, studying Yeats at university, indulging a late-discovered love of poetry that has as much to do with her redemption as her years in the wild.

Lisa's last duty before she leaves the bog and goes home to Dublin is leading a school group on a wild campout in one of the bog's deep clearings. It's a routine assignment, and while it's not her favorite duty, it's also not a serious hardship.

But as the group hikes out to the campsite, one of her fellow guides is killed, without warning, by a mysterious beast that moves so quickly they can barely make out its monstrous form. Thus begins a tense, mysterious, spooky as hell story of survival in a haunted woods, written in the kind of poesy that has defined McDonald's career, and which – when deployed in service of terror – has the power to raise literal goosebumps.

There's a lot of fantasy that deals with Celtic mythology, including McDonald's own King of Morning, Queen of Day, but the vibe of that stuff tends to the heroic and romantic – sure, there's the odd banshee, but in the main, it's mischievous wee people, pookas, and leprechauns. More fey than fear.

But Irish mythology in its raw form is terrifying. The monsters of Irish storytelling are grotesque, mean, remorseless, and come in every shape and size. Some authors have done well by going back to the bestiary for the deep cuts. When I was a kid, I must have read John Coyne's Hobgoblin fifty times (mostly because it was about D&D, which I was obsessed with). I haven't read this one since I was about 12, and I have no idea if it'd hold up today, but it left me with a deep appreciation of the spooky multifariousness of monsters who dwell in Ireland's bogs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobgoblin_(novel)

The Wilding is a suspense novel, which means there's no way to really sum up the plot without spoiling a lot of the affect, but suffice to say that McDonald brings large swathes of deep Irish lore to the surface, and it had me reading as fast as I could and wanting to put the book down and hide.

What a writer McDonald is! The fact that this is the same guy who wrote last year's stunning secret-history/solarpunk/uncategorizable wonder that was Hopeland beggars belief:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/30/electromancy/#the-grace

Read you some Ian McDonald novels, is what I'm trying to say. This one is only available in the UK, if that's not where you are, consider mail-ordering it. Looks like they've got stock at Forbidden Planet for £19 plus £18 shipping to the US. Worth every penny:

https://forbiddenplanet.com/424306-the-wilding-hardcover/

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/25/bogman/#erin-go-aaaaaaargh

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

I don't know if you ever received this ask or had this idea before but here goes nothing Since Ghost already met Jade's family, what if she meets his? ....angst material. Sorry not sorry.

Oh my God... Anon... You sparked something in me, and I cannot go to sleep now without posting this. Thank you so much for the idea.

(I think I'm gonna make a full on comic out of this, and I will make an art at some point for this fic, but let's use this lovely GIF of Ghost first)

She's The One

Jade meets Ghost's family.

Pairing : Simon “Ghost” Riley x Charlotte “Jade” Le Jardin (OC) Word Count : ~ 1.8k words Warning : Medium to heavy angst and mentions of death, but ends with a full on fluff because you know me mate I want Ghost to be happy ok.

Title and story inspired by the song 'She's The One' by Robbie Williams

"...How's your family, Simon?" 

Jade asked Ghost. They had been having a small outing, which included watching the cinema together and going around the streetside shops to find new wardrobes for Ghost to wear. He initially thought that it was unnecessary, but as Jade insisted, he went anyway – as long as he could spend his off-duty time with her.  

He'd met her parents, and though he was apprehensive about it at first, they turned out to be pleasant and strong people. It was such an unfamiliar feeling for him, to have a family to come home to, a supportive family and kind and can take care of their own. He's foreign to that concept.

Ghost just stayed silent to her question, his expression which was usually unreadable turned sorrowful, his eyes gazing down at the pavements they walked. She thought she should change the subject before Ghost muttered,

"You want to see them now?" 

Jade opened her eyes wide in surprise, not expecting him to say anything about meeting his family this fast, and the way he said 'now'...

The woman knew Ghost wouldn't ask her that question if he was adamant as he was a straightforward person. And so, she answered, "Of course, if you don't mind it." He then proceeded to enter his car that was parked not far from where they just watched a movie in a cinema, not forgetting to open the passenger door for Jade beforehand. 

They drove for a full 30 minutes of silence, save for the sound soft songs on the radio. As Ghost drove, Jade looked out the window and understood that they were going to a familiar place that she had passed by a few times in her life. He drove to the nearest available parking area, parking his car flawlessly before stopping the car engine, leaving the both of them in complete silence. 

Jade felt the atmosphere around him grow heavy, his hands still on the steering wheel as if he was still pondering whether or not he wanted to get out of the car. He let out a soft sigh, took his keys and got out of the car. Jade got out of her own and looked at the surrounding area.

Cemetery.

The sun had disappeared behind the heavy grey clouds that constantly covered the England skies. Tiny drops of water had touched her cheek, in such a way it reflected Ghost's inner thoughts right now. 

The man looked at her, "Over here." He walked with Jade following right behind him. After about 10 minutes of walking and treading through the tall grasses, Ghost stopped in front of a group of gravestones, four of them, which were placed more tightly together than the other. The grasses were tidily short, a sign that the keepers attended to these graves properly.

Jade then looked down, reading the engravings on the stones, and her heart shattered to pieces.

"Susan Riley, November 17th, 1965 - December 24th, 2017"

"Thomas Riley, July 21st, 1990 - December 24th, 2017"

"Elizabeth Riley, May 8th, 1991 - December 24th, 2017"

"Joseph Riley, March 19th, 2013 - December 24th, 2017"

It was his mother's birthday. 

She looked up to find Ghost's eyes gazing down at the names as well, noticing that the ground he was standing on was right at the front of his mother's grave. No tears in sight, only sadness, and as an MI6 agent of two decades, she could deduce an expression of regret. Jade didn't need to wonder why, as the dates of their deaths were all the same - the reason he hid his identity, lived as no one, avoided any relationship with anyone, and the reason why he was adamant about meeting her parents – His past came to haunt, and it's target was not him. 

Jade couldn't say anything. What could she say? That she's sorry this happened? She knew Ghost hated that phrase the most, of someone pitying him, that they wished things could be different. But what use is it to wish? It happened. His entire family died because something happened during one of his missions, and his family paid the price for it.

As if on cue, she heard a small sniff from him the same second the raindrops started to grow more frequent, falling harder, creating white noises and wet spots on their clothes. Being the Londoner she was, knowing that sunny days were never really sunny, Jade fished out her floral purple umbrella, holding it above Ghost's head beside her, making sure to cover his broad shoulders fully as her left shoulder grew wet. 

She saw his face, and it was enough reason to stay silent and let him grieve. She didn't know if this was the first time he'd visited their graves after years or if he always come here at some time every year, but no matter which one the answer was, if she could see one thing, it was that his tears never seemed to run out, even after years.

Jade let him cry, the sound of his sobs completely drowned by the white noises of the heavy rain. 

She knew that he wasn't a big fan of any physical touch, nonetheless, she lifted her other hand softly and rubbed at his back, going up and down in an attempt to soothe his sorrow. And after a minute of him not flinching away from her touch, Jade mustered up her will to slowly encircle her arm around his own on his side, their sides touching as she rubbed his bicep, and going even further as she leaned her head to touch his shoulder. 

Ghost's shoulder still shook for a few minutes as he cried his heart out, Jade kept doing what she did as he let his sorrow out. 

Soon after, another surprise hit her when she heard and saw that the rain started to slow down, albeit still going down on both of them. Her other arm started to grow sore after moments of holding the umbrella high to accommodate his height, yet what alleviated the pain was the fact that she felt a small weight on her head, realizing that Ghost had eased his cries, now only soft sniffs, and that he leaned his head on top of hers as well.

He still stayed silent, not a word spoken ever since they arrived, but she knew that this was a good sign that he knew that she would be there for him, even when he was vulnerable.

"Happy birthday, Mrs. Riley." 

Jade muttered softly, the man beside her still looking down on his mother's grave even though he was slightly dazed at her words. 

"This is our first meeting, but I can tell that you were a kind person, and an even more amazing mother and grandmother."

He then glanced at Jade as she continued, "Your son is a very skilled and intelligent man, traits which I assume he got from you. He's confident, a great leader-- oh! And he's handsome as well, so that's a plus." 

That prompted a scoff out of his mouth. Nevertheless, she went on. "He's not much of a social person. He's a little bit intense and stiff - We can work on that. He shot my hand once! I have the scar to prove it. His choices of words are sometimes foul, though, again, we could always work on that." Jade joked lightheartedly, seeing him softly smile above her.

"But if there's one thing about him that I love, is that he's a strong man with a warm heart, and I don't have to assume to know that he got it from you." Jade continued. "Your son is the strongest man I know, and I will stop at nothing to protect him and make him happy."

Ghost looked down at her, astounded at her words. "Thank you for bringing him into this world. Happy birthday, Mrs. Riley." 

As she finished her message, Jade looked up with a soft smile, "I'll be sure to bring some flowers the next time we visit, and every year after that." 

She thought he was going to say something, until the arm that was intertwined with hers moved, though nervously, gliding across her back and found its home on Jade's shoulder, before lightly pressing and pulling her towards him. Jade blushed, not only at the warmth of his body but also at the fact that he initiated the touch. 

"Thank you, Lottie." He muttered in his deep voice, "So much." 

"Anytime, Love." 

After about 15 minutes of standing in front of the graves, the rain had stopped, and the sun showed up to light the rest of the day as the sky turned orange. Jade had stored the wet umbrella back in its container and hung it on her wrist before she walked back to the car per his request. Jade figured he wanted some alone time with his family, and so she obliged.

"How's she, Mum? She's a beautiful bird, isn't she?" 

Ghost finally spoke, his hands tucked inside his pockets. He then glanced at his brother's grave, smirking. "What about you, Tommy? You think she's the one?" He asked no one, not expecting any answer anyway, yet he just wanted to let it out.

"I thought I'm gonna bite the dust on some fucking rathole somewhere, and that was what I wished at some point, but..." Ghost sighed, shifting his weight on his hip, "I kind of want to die an old man, after living my life to the fullest with her-- Fuck, I can't believe I'm saying this." Ghost chuckled at his own words, not expecting it to be this heartfelt. "I'm arse over tit for her. Yeah, you're gonna laugh at me for this Tommy, but at least I didn't laugh when you said the same thing about Beth." 

"And Mum, knowing you, I think you'd like her. She's a bit like you, in a way." Ghost confessed, still eyeing her name on her gravestone, "She cares too much. In a good way, and I find it endearing." He suddenly recalled the memories he had with Jade, from the first moment they met to this moment, replaying them over and over and being surprised about how much she reminded him of his mother. 

"I want to protect her with all my life. I love her, Mum."

And with that, a burden on his shoulders felt like no more. He'd never said those words to anyone, and he might be insane to be in love with someone considering how he'd lived his life, but he'd made a promise to protect her, and if he'd be a fool, then a fool he would become.

"Anyway, she's waiting back there, and I'm hungry. So I'm going to leave you now." Ghost then stood up straight, his hands still in his pockets. He glanced at every single one of the gravestones, before looking at his mother's.

"Happy birthday, Mum." 

-----

(All of the Riley's birthdays are entirely made-up. Their date of death was also made up, but I remembered there were something with Christmas, so I'll just place December 24th to make my heart hurt more) ಥ_ಥ

Anyway, thank you for reading, and hope you love this! (❁´◡`❁)

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS THE "SUN GODDESS" PARTICLE??

Blog#353

Wednesday, November 29th, 2023

Welcome back,

Over the years, scientists have managed to unveil the existence of quite a few intriguing particles, pushing the entire field of physics forward with each discovery. There's the "God Particle" for instance, aka the Higgs Boson that grants all other particles their masses. There's also the so-called "Oh My God!" particle, an unimaginably energetic cosmic ray.

named the "sun goddess" particle  —  and is fittingly extraordinary.

This particle has an energy level one million times greater than what can be generated in even humanity’s most powerful particle accelerators; it appears to have fallen to Earth in a shower of other, less energetic particles. Like the "Oh My God!" particle, these bits come from faraway regions of space and are known as cosmic rays. The particle has been dubbed "Amaterasu" after Amaterasu Ōmikami, the goddess of the sun and the universe in Japanese mythology, whose name means "shining in heaven."

And just as its mythological namesake is shrouded in mystery, so too is the Amaterasu particle.

Its discoverers, including Osaka Metropolitan University researcher Toshihiro Fujii, don’t know where the particle came from or indeed what it is. They also still aren't sure what kind of violent and powerful process could have given rise to something as energetic as Amaterasu.

"This is the most energetic charged particle ever detected by the Telescope Array experiment," Fujii told Space.com.

The hope is that, just as Amaterasu is credited with the creation of Japan according to the Shinto tradition, the Amaterasu particle can help create an entirely new branch of high-energy astrophysics.

High-energy cosmic rays are extremely rare to begin with, but Fujii said the Amaterasu particle has an energy level not seen in a staggering 30 years of cosmic ray detections.

In fact, when the researchers spotted Amaterasu with the Telescope Array experiment — involving 507 detectors spread across 270 square miles (699 square kilometers) of the high desert of Millard County, Utah —they initially thought the detection must be some kind of mistake.

"I thought it would be my mistake or bug, and then after checking the details of the event, I was excited to find it was not an error," Fujii said.

First spotted by the Telescope Array experiment on May 27, 2021, the Amaterasu particle exhibits an energy of 224 exa-electron volts (EeV). For contest, one EeV is equivalent to 10¹⁸ electron volts. This puts Amaterasu on a similar energy level to the most energetic cosmic ray ever discovered — yes, that's the "Oh My God!" particle, which was detected in Oct. 1991 by the Fly’s Eye camera in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The latter had an energy of 320 EeV.

"The Amaterasu particle should be an important messenger from the universe about extremely energetic phenomena, but we need to disentangle the origin of this mysterious particle," Fujii explained.

There isn’t an astrophysical object, or any cosmic event for that matter, in the direction from which the sun goddess particle appears to have come from. That's why scientists are pretty unclear on what led to its creation.

But, while the origins of the Amaterasu particle may be currently unknown, Fujii does have some avenues of investigation to follow up on. Importantly, some of these ideas could extend beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the best outline we have of the universe’s particle zoo and how each of those particles interact with one another.

Originally published on www.space.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, December 2nd, 2023)

"HOW OLD IS OUR SOLAR SYSTEM??"

[jakelinestradlin]

Izzy photos for february 13, 2024 ♥

Use Your Illusion I - Released September 17, 1991

I'm Sun is Dust N' Bones, Moon in Don't Cry & Rising in November Rain

@rocknrollflames @izzystradliniscute @izzystradlindoesitforme @nenynra @prettypersuasion @valupuyhol @rocketqueen48

[cobainqueer]

Nirvana’s Music in Chronological Order

This is a list of released Nirvana songs in chronological order by the time they were written or recorded.

There’s a lot of Nirvana songs that are known but never been released, they aren’t included here.

Some of these are covers so the date listed is the date they were recorded.

1985

Spank Thru - Mid 1985?

Downer - Mid 1985?

Anorexorcist - Mid 1985?

1986/1987

Help Me, I’m Hungry - Late 1986, Early 1987?

Mrs. Buttersworth - Late 1986, Early 1987?

Mexican Seafood - Late 1986, Early 1987?

Floyd the Barber - Late 1986, Early 1987?

Pen Cap Chew - Late 1986, Early 1987?

If You Must - Late 1986, Early 1987?

Hairspray Queen - Late 1986, Early 1987?

1987

Aero Zeppelin - Mid 1987

Beeswax - Mid 1987

Paper Cuts - Late 1987

Raunchola - Late 1987

1988

Beans - Late 1987, Early 1988?

Polly - Late 1987, Early 1988

Sappy - Late 1987, Early 1988?

Don’t Want It All - Late 1987, Early 1988?

Clean Up Before She Comes - Early 1988 (Estimated guess for sure)

Blandest - Early 1988

Mr. Moustache - Early 1988

Blew - Early 1988

Big Cheese - Early 1988

About a Girl - Mid 1988

School - Mid 1988?

Swap Meet - Mid 1988?

Scoff - Mid 1988?

Sifting - Mid 1988?

Love Buzz - Recorded on June 30th, 1988

Big Long Now - Late 1988

Negative Creep - Late 1988

1989

Dive - Late 1988, Early 1989?

(New Wave) Polly - Late 1988, Early 1989

Do You Love Me - Recorded on the spring of 1989

Been a Son - Mid 1989?

Stain - Mid 1989?

Even In His Youth - Mid 1989?

Token Eastern Song - Mid 1989?

They Hung Him on a Cross - Recorded on August 20th, 28th of 1989

Grey Goose - Recorded on August 20th, 28th of 1989

Ain’t It a Shame - Recorded on August 20th, 28th of 1989

Breed - Late 1989?

Lithium - Late 1989?

In Bloom - Late 1989?

1990

Sliver - Late 1989, Early 1990?

Pay to Play (Early version of Stay Away) - Early 1990?

Verse Chorus Verse - Early 1990?

Here She Comes Now - Recorded April 2nd, 6th of 1990

Opinion - Mid 1990?

Dumb - Mid 1990

Aneurysm - Mid 1990, Late 1990?

Radio Friendly Unit Shifter - Mid 1990, Late 1990

Marigold - Mid 1990, Late 1990

On a Plain - Mid 1990, Late 1990?

Oh, the Guilt - Mid 1990, Late 1990

Something in the Way - Mid 1990, Late 1990

Endless, Nameless - Late 1990

Pennyroyal Tea - Late 1990

All Apologies - Late 1990

D-7 - Recorded on October 11th, 1990

Turnaround - Recorded on October 21st, 1990

Molly’s Lips - Recorded on October 21st, 1990

Son Of A Gun - Recorded on October 21st, 1990

1991

Territorial Pissings - Late 1990, Early 1991?

Lounge Act - Late 1990, Early 1991?

Old Age - Late 1990, Early 1991?

Come As You Are - Early 1991

Drain You - Early 1991

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Early 1991

Rape Me - Early 1991

Curmudgeon - Early 1991, Mid 1991

Talk to Me - Early 1991, Mid 1991

Been a Son - Recorded on November 9th, 1991

1992

Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle - Late 1991, Early 1992

Return of the Rat - Recorded on April 7th, 1992

Very Ape - Early 1992, Mid 1992

Tourette’s - Early 1992, Mid 1992

Serve the Servants - Mid 1992

Scentless Apprentice - Mid 1992

Heart-Shaped Box - Mid 1992, Late 1992

The Other Improv - Mid 1992, Late 1992

I Hate Myself and Want to Die - Mid 1992, Late 1992

Milk It - Mid 1992, Late 1992

Moist Vagina - Mid 1992, Late 1992

Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip - Mid 1992, Late 1992

1993

Seasons in the Sun - Recorded on January 22, 1993

You Know You’re Right - Mid 1993, Late 1993

1994

Do Re Mi - Late 1993, Early 1994

Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam - Recorded on February 5th, 1994

If you like this in a playlist format:

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

Another day calls for another edition of US motorsport number twos posts. Featuring some absolute classic tunes 👌. Enjoy 😊😊

Sebastien Loeb (26th February 1974) - Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun

Tony Kanaan (31st December 1974) - Elton John - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Juan Pablo Montoya (20th September 1975) - Glen Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy

Mark Webber (27th August 1976) - Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing

Kimi Raikkonen (17th October 1979) - Herb Alpert - Rise

Jenson Button (19th January 1980) - Captain & Tennille - Do That To Me One More Time

Felipe Massa (25th April 1981) - Sheena Easton - Morning Train (Nine To Five)

Heikki Kovalainen (19th October 1981) - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie - Endless Love

Andre Lotterer (19th November 1981) - The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up

Pippa Mann (11th August 1983) - Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Simon Pagenaud (18th May 1984) - Phil Collins - Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)

Robert Kubica (7th December 1984) - Daryl Hall & John Oates - Out Of Touch

Nico Rosberg (27th June 1985) - Phil Collins - Sussudio

Jerome D'Ambrosio (27th December 1985) - Mr Mister - Broken Wings

Rahel Frey (23rd February 1986) - Mr Mister - Kyrie

Kamui Kobayashi (13th September 1986) - Lionel Richie - Dancing On The Ceiling

Rene Rast (26th October 1986) - Tina Turner - Typical Male

James Hinchcliffe (5th December 1986) - The Human League - Human

Oliver Turvey (1st April 1987) - Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

Sebastian Vettel (3rd July 1987) - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - Head To Toe

Alexander Sims (15th March 1988) - George Michael - Father Figure

Molly Taylor (6th May 1988) - Terrence Trent D'Arby - Wishing Well

Simona De Silvestro (1st September 1988) - Elton John - I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That

Sarah Bovy (15th May 1989) - Madonna - Like A Prayer

James Calado (13th June 1989) - New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever)

Brendon Hartley (10th November 1989) - New Kids On The Block - Cover Girl

Earl Bamber (9th July 1990) - Roxette - It Must Have Been Love

Cristina Gutierrez (24th July 1991) - Paula Abdul - Rush Rush

Abbie Eaton (2nd January 1992) - Boyz II Men - It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

Timmy Hansen (21st May 1992) - En Vogue - My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)

Daniel Abt (3rd December 1992) - The Heights - How Do You Talk To An Angel

Alice Powell (26th January 1993) - Shai - If I Ever Fall In Love

Tatiana Calderon (10th March 1993) - Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Christine GZ (22nd July 1993) & Alex Lynn (17th September 1993) - UB40 - Can't Help Falling In Love

Bubba Wallace (8th October 1993) - SWV - Right Here (Human Nature)

Michelle Gatting (31st December 1993) - Janet Jackson - Again

Naomi Schiff (18th May 1994) - Prince - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

Jessica Hawkins (16th February 1995) - Boyz II Men - On Bended Knee

Luca Ghiotto (24th February 1995) - Madonna - Take A Bow

Beitske Visser (10th March 1995) - TLC - Creep

Nicholas Latifi (29th June 1995) - Nicki French - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

Jack Aitken (23rd September 1995) - Michael Jackson - You Are Not Alone

Oliver Askew (12th December 1996) - BlackStreet ft Dr Dre - No Diggity

Louis Deletraz (22nd April 1997) - Jewel - Foolish Games

Catie Munnings (15th November 1997) - Usher - You Make Me Wanna...

Cem Bolukbasi (9th February 1998) - Usher - Nice & Slow

Jamie Chadwick (20th May 1998) - Mariah Carey - My All

Kevin Hansen (28th May 1998) - Next - Too Close

Mick Schumacher (22nd March 1999) - Whitney Houston ft Faith Evans & Kelly Price - Heartbreak Hotel

Toni Breidinger (14th July 1999) & Max Fewtrell (29th July 1999) - Destiny's Child - Bills Bills Bills

Robert Shwartzman (16th September 1999) - TLC - Unpretty

Bent Viscaal (18th September 1999) - Enrique Iglesias - Bailamos

Felipe Drugovich (23rd May 2000) - Faith Hill - Breathe

Marta Garcia (9th August 2000) - Sisqo - Incomplete

Arthur Leclerc (14th October 2000) - Madonna - Music

Sophia Florsch (1st December 2000) - Creed - With Arms Wide Open

Clement Novalak (23rd December 2000) - Shaggy ft Rikrok - It Wasn't Me

Frederik Vesti (13th January 2002) - Usher - U Got It Bad

Luke Browning (31st January 2002) - Ja Rule ft Ashanti - Always On Time

Liam Lawson (11th February 2002) - Nickelback - How You Remind Me

Olli Caldwell (11th June 2002) - Fat Joe ft Ashanti - What's Luv?

Jack Doohan (20th January 2003) - Missy Elliott - Work It

All added to this playlist 😊

[imnotevenusin]

The Astrology of : Tupac Shakur

Tupac Shakur is one of the most influential and important Black Artist to ever live, who expressed himself through different mediums : Poetry, Music, and Acting. As a man, he stood for justice and self-respect, and was seen as a revolutionary—his songs touched on many social issues. Even 27 years after his death, Tupac can still be seen as a major role-model for troubled youths.

Sadly, we don’t have a specific birth time for him (I’d still say he was a Capricorn Ascendant), so we’ll just have to focus on the aspects he had.

☄️Mercury strongly trining Mars—Mercury being the planet of communication and problem solving is being actively supported by Mars, which is the planet of action and defense. If you watch any of his interviews, he spoke with the utmost passion and confidence (see : Much Music interview). He was able to stand up for himself and other people (Mars in Aquarius) with his words.

🗣️A Gemini Stellium (Venus, Mercury, & Sun)—Its funny that he was aware of his Gemini traits so much. Geminis like to interact with everything around them. Tupac wrote poetry, he wrote scripts, he was a RAPPER, and he could talk your head off if he wanted to. Also, many Geminis are rappers (ex : Andre 3000, Kanye (Ye) West, Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar).

☀️Sun squaring Pluto—When the Sun (our light, what we are interested in, what we revolve our personalities around) squares Pluto (power, addictions, what controls us, or what we have control over), it shows that a person feels as if they are overpowered by something. Tupac felt like he was institutionalized and there was always somebody out there to get him. Growing up a Black man in America was a huge burden for him—he even was a victim of police brutality in 1991, got shot and robbed in November of 1994, and infamously, died in a drive-by shooting in 1996.

🌙Moon sextile Venus—The Moon can give insight into our relationship with not just our Mothers, but with all Women in general, while Venus shows us how affectionate, and tactful we can be. When the Moon comes in good contact with Venus, we see somebody that is very charming, nice, and affectionate. Tupac wrote meaningful songs about women, which included : “Brenda’s Got a Baby”, “Dear Mama”, and “Keep Ya Head Up”.

☁️Moon trining Neptune—Moon also shows us how we find emotional comfort and when its in good contact with Neptune, we see a person that finds emotional comfort in creativity and spirituality, so I think this aspect adds to his creativity.

💫Mars conjunct North Node in Aquarius—I think Aquarius is the sign/energy where we start including other people in our “structures”. This is where we start becoming aware of other people’s problems, this is where we start philanthropy, etc. Tupac was socially aware—we know this through songs and interviews. I think Mars conjunct NN in Aquarius is the ultimate aspect of an Activist.

[livingforstars]

Releasing Compton - November 29th, 1995.

"Named for Nobel laureate physicist Arthur Holly Compton, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) Satellite was launched in April of 1991, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. CGRO's mission is to explore the Universe at gamma-ray energies. The massive space-based observatory is seen here held upright in the shuttle payload bay behind smiling astronaut Jerry Ross. Ross and his colleague Jay Apt finished a successful, unplanned spacewalk to free a jammed antenna prior to releasing CGRO into orbit. CGRO has been operating successfully since, providing the first all-sky survey at gamma-ray energies along with exciting new observations of the Sun, quasars, pulsars, supernova, black holes, and gamma-ray bursts."

[girlhorrible]

ojamajo doremi astrology placements

all the ojamajos have canon birthdays! so here’s the astrological placements for each witches birthday 🎂🎉🎊:

Doremi Harukaze - July 30th 1990

Leo Sun ☀️♌️

Scorpio Moon 🌕♏️

Virgo Mercury 🎙♍️

Cancer Venus ❤️‍🔥♋️

Taurus Mars 🤜 ♉️

Hazuki Fujiwara - February 14th, 1991

Aquarius Sun ☀️♒️

Aquarius Moon 🌕♒️

Aquarius Mercury 🎙♒️

Pisces Venus ❤️‍🔥♓️

Gemini Mars 🤜♊️

Aiko Senoo - November 14th, 1990

Scorpio Sun ☀️♏️

Libra Moon 🌕♎️

Sagittarius Mercury 🎙♐️

Scorpio Venus ❤️‍🔥♏️

Gemini Mars 🤜♊️

Onpu Segawa - March 3rd, 1991

Pisces Sun ☀️♓️

Libra Moon 🌕♎️

Pisces Mercury 🎙♓️

Aries Venus ❤️‍🔥♈️

Gemini Mars 🤜♊️

Momoko Asuka - May 6th, 1990

Taurus Sun ☀️♉️

Libra Moon 🌕♎️

Taurus Mercury 🎙♉️

Aries Venus ❤️‍🔥♈️

Pisces Mars 🤜♓️

Pop Harukaze - September 9th, 1994

Virgo Sun ☀️♍️

Scorpio Moon 🌕♏️

Libra Mercury 🎙♎️

Scorpio Venus ❤️‍🔥♏️

Cancer Mars 🤜♋️

Hana “Makihatayama” - March 25th, 2000

Aries Sun ☀️♈️

Sagittarius Moon 🌕♐️

Pisces Mercury 🎙♓️

Pisces Venus ❤️‍🔥♓️

Taurus Mars 🤜♉️



[tellurian-in-aristasia]

Aristasia (and their earlier incarnations) in the news, a timeline.

I've been accumulating a rather large collection of digital newspaper clippings about Aristasia and their various early incarnations and a little project I've been working on is organizing them into a timeline. This is still a work in progress, so as I add more newspaper clippings to the list, I'll be updating this post. The Aristasians, particularly their earlier incarnations, have a rather large analog footprint, and some things I've left off the list, particularly the majority of their many advertisements or anything they would have published themselves, and instead tried to stick to mentions of them in more mainstream publications. Please excuse my inconsistent formatting! Sister Angelina with Lux Madriana Gnostica October/November 1977

Heil Lux Madriana Peace News March 21st 1980

Machpelah cult goes back to the Celts Hebden Bridge Times Friday 06 November 1981

Older Than Christ Hebden Bridge Times Friday 13 November 1981

Rhennish community missionary activity Hebden Bridge Times - Friday 20 November 1981

The Rhennes Invite You To A Public Meeting Hebden Bridge Times - Friday 27 November 1981

World's last hope Hebden Bridge Times - Friday 04 December 1981

'Most ancient religion' claim Hebden Bridge Times - Friday 11 December 1981

TV Series Examines God as the Mother Todmorden & District News - Friday 12 March 1982

The Rhennes Farewell to Hebden Bridge Todmorden & District News - Friday 17 September 1982

A mention at last Derry Journal - Friday 17 December 1982

The Light of the Mother Womanspirit 1983

Women's rule sect settle in Donegal Derry Journal - Tuesday 13 September 1983

Women get gym slip holidays Aberdeen Evening Express - Friday 20 January 1984

Classroom capers for adults Liverpool Daily Post - Friday 20 January 1984

Gymslip gals relive the past Evening Telegraph - Friday Jan 20 1984

The belles of Saint O'Trinians The Daily Telegraph Mon Apr 2 1984

Hidden lessons at St Bride's… Evening Standard April 02 1984

Shocking hidden lessons at St Bride's school… Liverpool Daily Post - Tuesday 03 April 1984

The secret of St. Bride's Sinclair User December 1985

Playing games with censorship The Guardian 1987 11/26

Ding Dong Belles Your Computer Magazine December 1987

Aspic and old lace The Telegraph March 6 1988

Champions of Victorian values condemn lack of grace Sunday Tribune - Sunday 03 July 1988

Is this your cup of tea? Evening Herald (Dublin) - Monday 04 July 1988

A Romantic Manifesto The Spectator December 1988

A journey back in time… Sunday Life, November 5, 1989

The 1980s: A Retrospect Spearhead Feb 1990

I was a slave in the house of Scarlett Sunday Mirror, Sunday 11 March 1990

Gardai probe 'cane' school Sunday World (Dublin) March 18 1990

Vulgarity of coping with life in the dreary old 1990s Cambridge Daily News - Wednesday 31 October 1990

Victorian caners move out Sunday World (Dublin) 4th Nov 1990

Victorian re-enactments ad

Cambridge Daily News, December 7th 1990

Spanking schoolma'am gets back in full swing Sunday Mirror, Feb 3, 1991

Silver Sisters pupil stripped and birched Irish Independent, February 13 1991

"Cult leader" fined for assault Derry Journal - Friday 15 February 1991

Ma'am lashed bare servant Sunday World - February 17 1991

A caning for Miss Scarlett SUNDAY MIRROR Feb 17 1991

Screamers what to give spanking misstress boot! Sunday World, December 15 1991

Spanking lady linked to Nazi and kinky sex contacts Sunday World (Dublin), 12th Jan 1992

We'll Cane You for £75 offer by spankers Sunday World (Dublin) - Sunday 19 January 1992

Lifting the lid on reaction The Scotsman, 11th Jul 1992

Inside the secret world of the sisters of St. Bride's The Sunday Telegraph, January 3rd 1993

Spankers run kinky calls Sunday World, January 10 1993

Sisters: no sex, no Nazis Sunday Telegraph Jan 10, 1993

Swish society of Oxford's hits and misses Sunday Telegraph Sun Feb 7 1993

Glad to be bad? The Guardian Feb 6, 1995

What does Miss Martindale serve with coffee? Cream and punishment The Observer Feb 26 1995

The tortured past of Miss Marindale The Guardian March 1 1995

Whips? Canes? Silly Monkeys! The Independent 1995 03/03

The Rise of Miss Martindale The Guardian March 8 1995

Noble Response, from Miss Martindale The Guardian March 10 1995

Harrowing book- The Corporal Punishment of Schoolgirls Evening Standard Fri Nov 17 1995

Aristasia, The Feminine Nation The Independent Tue, Feb 3, 1998

A firm hand behind Sweethearts The Guardian March 18th 1998

Of sweethearts and villains The Guardian London - Fri, Mar 20, 1998

Miss Marianne Martindale and Miss Camellia Cadogan at the Goodwood Revival Races Country Life - Thursday 23 September 2004

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: November 11, 1991

Lyrics:

Hot sun beating down

Burning my feet just walking around

Hot sun makin' me sweat

Gators getting close, hasn't got me yet

I can't dance

I can't talk

Only thing about me is the way I walk

I can't dance

I can't sing

I'm just standing here selling everything

Blue jeans sittin' on the beach

Her dog's talking to me, but she's out of reach

Mhm, she's got a body under that shirt

But all she wants to do is rub my face in the dirt

'Cause I can't dance

I can't talk

Only thing about me is the way I walk

I can't dance

I can't sing

I'm just standing here sellin'

Oh, and checking everything is in place

You never know who's lookin' on

Young punk spillin' beer on my shoes

Fat guy's talkin' to me, tryin' to steal my blues

Thick smoke, see her smiling through

I never thought so much could happen just shootin' pool

But I can't dance

I can't talk

The only thing about me is the way that I walk

I can't dance

I can't sing

I'm just standing here sellin'

Oh, and checking everything is in place

You never know who's looking on

A perfect body with a perfect face

Mhm

No, I can't dance

I can't talk

The only thing about me is the way I walk

No, I can't dance

I can't sing

I'm just standing here sellin' everything

Songwriter:

No, I can't walk

No, I can't dance

No, no, no, I can't dance

No, I said, I can't sing

Anthony Banks / Michael Rutherford / Phil Collins

SongFacts:

👉📖

[natelia-aldelliz]

Okay, I slept less than 4 hours last night and none this night, so I'm getting kinda sleep deprived, so I decided I'm gonna share some personal headcanons about the birth dates of the boys!

It's a bit long but not that long, I just put it behind a read more so people who don't care can pass it more quickly 😊

I'm going only by feeling, it's also got nothing to do with the horoscope bc I have personal beef with it but anyway feel free to tell me if something makes sense anyway, I'm still really curious despite my grievances (I'm being dramatic for fun btw, my beef with the zodiac is not that bad)

Anyway, I feel like Soap is a June 1996 baby, because he's sunny, so a warmer month, not overbearing tho because he's soft, so not summer, so that leaves either early June or late September and I feel like June is hope and September is not, so June it is.

Gaz I feel like is a winter child, but not a cold one, so either December 1995 or March 1996, the years are because I think he's older than Soap but not by more than 6 months, which he still lords over his head.

Ghost is harder because he is shaped by his trauma and it does not represent who he might have been if he hadn't gone through all that. But I think he's a softer month, so no winter or summer, March and November are too cold still, but September and June are too warm so I think either October or April or May 1991.

I have no idea for Price tho, I feel like he could fit any month, cause he's protective and possessive enough for winter, hot headed and brave like summer, warm and nice like spring and headstrong and cold blooded enough for autumn... The only months I can't see for him are January, April, July and October but the rest are fair game...

I dunno the year, I think he's between 38 and 45 years old tho.

Alejandro strikes me as either August or September... It's this late summer nostalgy vibe of looking at the stars at 22:00, being sad that it's been night since 21:00 when just a few weeks ago the sun was still out, but the weather is still comforting and you can hear the ocean.

Rudy I think gives off soft but sad, so I'm gonna go with maybe late winter early spring? Or February, maybe... Mmh no maybe not... Oooh maybe late March or early April actually, he gives sudden harsh rains that stop immediately, with hot chocolate and cookies and flowers and puddles outside, and hugs.

I think both Ale and Rudy are around Ghost's age, like early thirties, they're the same year but Rudy is older.

I think Graves is a January if anyone wants to know, because he's a bitch and I don't like him (sorry for anyone reading this who was born in January, I'm sure it's not your fault /j) I also think he's late thirties, but maybe he just looks old because he's a terrible person.

I think Roach is either May, July or November because he gives "nothing can kill me until it does" and I think it applies best to those months. I think he's either 1992, 1993 or 1994, not younger not older.

If you want to put anyone else through my compleeeetely unbiased and true feelings (lmao) don't hesitate to tell me, be aware tho that I don't know the multiplayer characters beyond the few tiktoks I see.

If you agree or disagree please go ahead I love when people do tho I fear my only arguments is 'my brain associates feelings with months based on my personal experiences and memories and feelings, which wouldn't apply to another part of France, let alone another country, so I completely understand that you have completely different feelings' which honestly wouldn't make me win a debate, sadly, but thankfully I'm not competitive.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (Taiwan, 1991)

We continue our exploration of the Gaijin Live-Action Trilogy with the second live-action adaptation of Dragon Ball, a movie called “Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins.”

I’d like to think the Taiwan studio behind this movie saw South Korea’s “Fight, Son Goku!  Win, Son Goku!” in 1990, and was inspired to make their own unlicensed film a year later.  But despite a number of similarities, the two movies have different styles.  “Fight/Win” was a very juvenile kind of film, using puppets and theme-park-style costumes to capture the cartoony aesthetic of the franchise.  It adapted Akira Toriyama’s butt-fart-poop jokes and worried that the movie might be too highbrow for its audience, so they threw in a scene where Turtle bites Master Roshi’s scrotum, and several moments where characters grab each other by hooking their fingers in each other’s nostrils.

The Magic Begins is probably also aimed at children, but it has a little more dignity.  It’s basically a standard kung-fu movie with Dragon Ball characters and situations.  For the most part, it’s a direct remake of the first animated Dragon Ball movie from 1986, what we now call Curse of the Blood Rubies.  So let’s be clear about the lineage here. 

First there was the original story arc, covered in the first 23 chapters of the Dragon Ball manga from November 1984 to May 1985.  You know the tale: Goku meets Bulma, they go searching for Dragon Balls, and eventually meet Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar, then end up having to thwart the evil scheme of Emperor Pilaf. 

Then, there was the Dragon Ball anime, which retold that same story arc in the first thirteen episodes across the spring of 1986.

Then there was the December 1986 movie, originally just called Dragon Ball, then renamed “The Legend of Shenron”, and then “Curse of the Blood Rubies”.  This tweaked the plot by replacing Pilaf with a different villain, King Gurumes, who was planning to wish for a cure from the curse that had afflicted him. 

Then Korea adapts the anime into “Fight/Win” in 1990.

Finally you get “The Magic Begins” in 1991, which takes the plot of the ‘86 movie, swaps Pilaf back in, and makes a few other tweaks.

 So yeah, if you’re looking for something original out of this film, forget about it. 

I always have trouble telling this movie from the Korean one, so I’ve put up a helpful image at the top to remind me.  On the left is the flag of Taiwan, and on the right is a white parrot, who played the role of “Snow White”, this movie’s version of Puar.  You might be thinking of the Puar puppet that smoked a cigarette, but he’s in the Korean movie.  In Taiwan, it’s all about white parrots.  Or maybe that’s a parakeet.  Who knows?

Everyone got new names in this movie.  I don’t know if that was a feeble attempt to protect the studio from Toei’s legal team, or if someone genuinely thought this would make the characters wholly original.  I have a hard time keeping them all straight, so I’m probably going to just refer to them by their true identities.  But for the record, the aliases are as follows:

First up, we have the Pilaf Gang.  Pilaf (center) is known as “King Horn” in this movie.  On his left is Shu, aka “Zebrata”, and the blonde on the right is Mai, aka “Malilia.”   Shu and Mai act a lot more like Bongo and Pasta from Blood Rubies, but their visuals are completely unique, so I’ll give them some credit here.  As for “King Horn”, he looks like Pilaf if he were tall and competent.  He also has some super-powers, and he leads his troops into battle, so he really has no connection to King Gurumes at all, except for his role in the plot. 

Next we have Son Gohan (left), who is known as “Sparkle”.  On the right is his adopted grandson, Son Goku, known here as “Monkey Boy”.  During the movie, it’s said that “Monkey Boy” is the 91st Descendant of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from the ancient story “Journey into the West”. 

Then we have Pansy on the left, who is known as “Jade” in this movie.  If you don’t remember Pansy, that’s okay, she was a movie-only character who appeared in Blood Rubies, most notable for her all-red costume.  As “Jade”, she doesn’t stand out much here.  On the far right is Bulma, aka “Seetou”, and standing between her and Goku is Oolong, who is known as “Piggy”. 

Finally, we have Yamcha on the left, who is renamed “Westwood”, and on the right is Master Roshi, now called “Turtle Man”.   So for the most part, everyone’s pretty recognizable.  Roshi has a turtleshell, Oolong looks mostly human but his schtick is unmistakable, and the bad guys may be different but there’s no mistaking them for villains.  I think the only point of confusion would be Bulma and Jade, but they’re the only girls in this thing, and Jade is smaller, so it’s not too hard to work out who’s who. 

All right, let’s get started.  So the movie opens in Jade’s village, where her father, the new chief, receives the village’s prize Dragon Pearl in a ceremony.  Then Pilaf’s army invades, and basically mows down the entire population.  The chief and the local monks all pray in the temple.  Pilaf barges in and takes the Dragon Pearl by force, and kills everyone.  Since Pilaf already had a Dragon Pearl, that brings his count up to two.  And he already knows where to find the third. 

Meanwhile, Gohan and Goku are meditating in their home, when Gohan has a Bad Feeling About This.  He reminds Goku of their duty to protect their Four-Star Dragon Pearl, but doesn’t explain why they protect it or what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands.  Goku is confident that he can defend the Pearl, as he is armed with his magic staff, which can extend in length when he twirls it around.  Also it comes to him when he calls, sort of like the Silver Surfer’s board.

Then Gohan gives Goku a test of his abilities, by which I mean a pretty kick ass fight scene out in their back yard.  This is easily the coolest part of the movie.  I’m not familiar with the kung-fu genre at all, so maybe this movie is trash by comparison, but I’m pretty impressed with the action.  It’s hardly a breakthrough in special effects, and it’s definitely hokey, but it’s still fun, which is something I’ve needed after slogging through all of Dragon Ball GT.

This also seems to be the film’s main contribution to the wider Dragon Ball mythos.  We’ve never really gotten to see what life was like for Goku back when Grandpa Gohan was still alive.  All we know is based on their reunion during the Fortuneteller Baba arc, and various throwaway lines of Goku’s when he would reminisce about living alone in the woods with his grandfather. 

This is the first time I know of where I’ve gotten to see the kind of nonsense they might get up to during the day.  We know Gohan trained Goku, and this feels like the sort of exercises they would have had.  Just two guys bouncing off trees, shooting fireballs and trying to hit each other in the balls with the Nyoi’bo. 

I’m not sure why Gohan looks like Robin Williams playing Harry Potter, but otherwise, it seems pretty authentic.

For instance, at one point, Gohan catches Goku’s staff and uses it to fling Goku into the well  by their house.  But he doesn’t come up right away, so when Gohan gets concerned and goes to check on the boy...

BAM, Goku suckers him into taking a punch to the face.  Cool!

So Goku wins the test of strength, but then he loses a Rock-Paper-Scissors game and has to cook dinner, so he goes fishing.  And by “fish”, he means “crocodile”, because Goku doesn’t have a tail in this movie, so instead of doing what he did in the manga, he just swims up to a crocodile and shoves his staff into its mouth to incapacitate it.

On the way back, Goku runs into Bulma, and I think we pretty much know how that goes.  She nearly runs him down, but he stops her car with his super-strength, so she starts shooting, but the bullets don’t kill him.  Goku thinks she’s a monster or a witch, until she explains that she’s a girl, and thankfully we don’t get into the part where she offers to let him touch her butt.  However, once Bulma learns that Goku and his grandfather have the next Dragon Ball she’s looking for, she realizes that Gohan is in danger.  A couple of tanks filled with Pilaf’s goons drove past her earlier, and she now realizes they were headed for Gohan’s place.

But by the time they get there, it’s already too late.  Mai and Shu have wrecked the whole house and there’s no sign of Gohan.  Goku and Bulma chase after the bad guys but Bulma’s jeep gets destroyed.   This is playing out pretty much like Curse of the Blood Rubies, except the chase was aerial.  Also, when Bulma’s vehicles got wrecked, she would just get out another one from her store of Hoi Poi Capsules.   But none of that seems to exist in this movie, so instead Goku recruits an elephant to take them where they need to go.

This leads to the part where Oolong is chasing after Pansy, except... well, Oolong looks very problematic to say the least.  In Blood Rubies, he looked like a giant red monster, but here, he’s normal-sized, and the actor is covered in black paint. I’m... pretty sure this is not as accidental as the studio would probably like you to believe.

Fortunately, his true form just looks like a regular dude with a dumb haircut, so we can move on. 

Then Yamcha and Puar show up.  At first, Yamcha looks like a gunslinger from a Western film, but when Goku deflects his machine gun fire, he removes his hat and poncho to reveal...

Revolutionary Girl Utena?  They went to a lot of trouble to recreate the scene from Blood Rubies where Yamcha draws his sword all cool-like. 

It’s a pretty cool fight, which ends with them grabbing each other by the nostrils, a la Polnareff and Hol Horse in Stardust Crusaders, but then Bulma shows up and Yamcha loses his nerve. 

It’s basically the same as Blood Rubies, although Parrot Puar kind of changes things up.  He’s not a shapeshifter like the real Puar, so he doesn’t have a backstory with Oolong, so instead they just argue over who will win the Goku/Yamcha fight.  Then, after Yamcha flees in terror from Bulma, Puar mimics Bulma’s voice to terrorize him some more.

Later, Bulma asks Pansy about her backstory, and she reveals that her father was the village chief from the start of the movie.  Her parents were killed during Pilaf’s invasion, and before she died, Pansy’s mother told her to flee and seek help from Master Roshi.  Oolong has heard of Roshi and knows where he lives.  Bulma quickly realizes that Pilaf must be the one behind the attack on Goku’s house, and he must be planning to gather all seven Dragon Pearls so he can summon the Dragon and have his wish granted.  Pilaf said as much at the start of the film, and Bulma knows the same legend.  What the gang doesn’t know is that both Yamcha and Mai are spying on them, and they each run off to act on what they’ve learned. 

As in Blood Rubies, Yamcha plans to get the Dragon Pearls for himself and wish for courage around women, so he can finally marry.  Unlike Blood Rubies, he already had a Dragon Pearl in his treasure horde.  This doesn’t affect the plot much at all, but it’s treated like it’s important later.

So while he rides a jet ski (!) to get to Roshi’s island first, Mai reports back to Pilaf, who plans his own attack on Roshi and the others to shut them down before they can interfere.

So now we enter into the Roshi part of the movie.  I don’t know why, but the people who made this movie really love Master Roshi.  I say this because the scene on his island starts at about 42 minutes in and continues until the 65 minute mark.  Plotwise, it’s virtually identical to the Roshi’s Island scene from Blood Rubies, but it gets heavily expanded.  Here, we actually see Yamcha contact Roshi and warn him about Goku. That’s pretty superfluous, but what’s worse is that they show Roshi even before Yamcha arrives.  He tries to use the Magic Cloud, but it won’t obey his instructions.  In this continuity, he can stand on the cloud, but he falls off as soon as he tells it to do anything. 

When Goku and the others arrive, Goku and Yamcha fight a little, then Roshi settles things with the cloud, and since Goku can ride it, that proves he’s telling the truth, so Roshi gives it to him for keeps.   As for Yamcha, Roshi tells him he can’t leave the island unless he surrenders his own Dragon Ball to Bulma. Yamcha agrees, and when Bulma kisses him in gratitude...

His eyes turn into slot machine rollers and they land on hearts.  He panics and flees on his jet ski. 

But we’re still not done, because Roshi has his own Dragon Ball, and he offers it to Bulma in exchange for nudity.  As in Blood Rubies, Bulma convinces Oolong to impersonate her.  Oolong agrees, but demands nudity for himself as payment.  Bulma’s like “Dude, you can look exactly like me whenever you want.  You can see me nude any time you feel like it.”   That doesn’t seem to bother her much at all.  Anyway, Oolong-as-Bulma meets Roshi on his front steps and they do some weird dance together before she takes off her top. 

But we’re still not done, because the gang decides to ask Roshi if he knows where the seventh Dragon Ball might be located, since they now have six accounted for.  Roshi is too horny to think straight, so he can’t answer.  It’s like they forgot that Bulma has a machine that detects Dragon Balls.  Wait, Dragon Pearls.  Sorry.  Maybe her Dragon Radar got lost when her Jeep was wrecked?  I don’t think so. 

Then the bad guys attack and blow up Roshi’s house, just like in Blood Rubies, but not quite.  This time, Roshi shoots some ki blasts at them, but he doesn’t blow them away like he did with his Kamehameha from that movie.  None of his attacks make any difference, as the bad guys can just teleport back into their aircraft once they have the Dragon Pearls.  Roshi tells the others to flee on the Magic Cloud while he holds them off, and it seems like he’s killed in the battle...

But no, we’re still not done with this guy, because he shows up to meet the heroes when they regroup on the mainland.  And this is where things start to deviate from the plot of Blood Rubies, because in that movie, Roshi refused to help Pansy save her people, because she had already gathered all the help she needed from Goku, Bulma, and the rest.  Here, Roshi’s pissed about his house, so he’s rarin’ to give the bad guys a whoopin’.  Then Yamcha shows up and asks to join their team because his Dragon Pearl got stolen too.

So now we have five characters--Goku, Bulma, Pansy, Roshi, and Yamcha-- each personally connected to a Dragon Pearl stolen by Pilaf.  So the whole team has a stake in this, except Oolong, who....

No, wait, it turns out Oolong had a Dragon Pearl this whole time.  He said it was given to him by the Pig Fairy, his distant ancestor who had some connection to the Monkey King.  Oolong says that he was told to keep it a secret, but somehow he knew these guys were part of his destiny, I guess?   Anyway, he says that this was why he chased Pansy in the first place, because he knew it would bring him into contact with the other five Pearl-Bearers.  I mean, I’m kind of paraphrasing it, but that’s the way I understood what he said.

So then the good guys just storm into Pansy’s village and start shooting everyone.  Oolong takes out a bunch of Pilaf’s soldiers and even kills Mai while she’s fighting Goku and Yamcha.  What the fuck?  Why is Oolong suddenly so important?  Anyway, Roshi fights with Shu, and then Bulma shoots Shu in the back while he’s distracted.  This seems a bit underhanded to me.  Mai and Shu are ridiculously OP in this movie, but still.

Then Pilaf comes out and reveals he has Gohan held captive, and threatens to kill him if Goku’s group doesn’t surrender the last Dragon Pearl.  Goku wants to give in, but Roshi reminds him that they’ll all be killed if Pilaf gets his way.  So Pilaf tosses aside his hostage and tries a different trick...

Zombies!  I think?  He uses some kind of power to put a blue filter over the camera, and then all of the townsfolk appear and start attacking the heroes.  Maybe they’re still alive and they’re just being mind-controlled, but Pansy’s parents are included in the group, and Pansy said they were dead.

Things look hopeless until Goku summons the Magic Cloud and rides it over the villagers’ heads, knocking down Pilaf and cancelling his spell.  Then all the villagers collapse, so I think they’re all dead.

Then Gohan and Roshi get together and Gohan tells him that the other six pearls must be in Pilaf’s stomach.  I’m not sure how he knows that, but he must have seen Pilaf swallow them, or he watched Curse of the Blood Rubies and remembered that this was where King Gurumes hid his Dragon Balls.  So Roshi decides that they’ll put the seventh Pearl in his mouth and that way Pilaf will explode when the Dragon emerges.   This all made a lot more sense when Bulma figured all this out with the Dragon Radar in the Blood Rubies film.

Anyway, it works, and Goku usess his staff to drive the last Pearl down Pilaf’s throat, so at least he helped kill the bad guy.  Then this yellow thing shows up and says it’s the Dragon.  I’ll just take his word for it.

Pansy wishes for her village and its people to be restored, and then her parents turn out to be okay, so maybe they were resurrected, but I’m not sure.  Anyway, the good guys win.

Then Yamcha turns to Goku and goes “I have one more wish.  I wish to fight with you!”  And Goku’s like “Well your wish is granted, buddy boy, let’s rock!” and the movie ends with them leaping at each other.   Weird how they went with this instead of Bulma and Yamcha getting together, but that plotline didn’t seem to get as much attention as it did in other versions.  Also, you’d think Goku would be more relieved to have his Grandfather back. 

And that’s the end.  Akira Toriyama is completely un-credited here, even though he created all the characters and like 70% of the plot.  Maybe more than that, depending on how much input he had on Blood Rubies. 

It’s a fun little movie to watch, but definitely not something I’d recommend to newer fans.  On the other hand, you can find the English dub of the movie on YouTube, so the price is right. 

For my part, I’ve heard about this thing for years, and I always wanted to check it out, and now I’m happy to say that I’ve scratched that itch.

[jakelinestradlin]

Happy Birthday Devon

Born: November 13, 1991 Sun: Scorpio | Moon: Aquarius | Venus: Libra | Mars : Scorpio Chinese Astrology: Metal Goat Numerology: Birth Path 8

[scotianostra]

On January 15th 1973, Neil M Gunn, author of The Silver Darlings and many other books and short stories, died.

Gunn was born in the Caithness village of Dunbeath on November 8th 1891, his father was the captain of a herring boat, and Gunn's fascination with the sea and the courage of fishermen can be traced directly back to his childhood memories of his father's work. His mother would also provide Gunn with a crucial model for the types of steadfast, earthy, and tradition-bearing women that would populate many of his works.

He came from a big family with eight siblings, and when his primary schooling was completed in 1904, he moved south to live with his older sister Mary and her husband Dr. Keiller, the local GP at Kenbank in St John's Town of Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire. He continued his education there with tutors including the local schoolmaster, and the writer and poet J.G.Carter "Theodore Mayne".

Gunn’s adult life began with him working in the Civil Service in London and Edinburgh before returning to the live and work in the Highlands, his first novel, The Grey Coast, was published in 1926, but it wasn’t until 1937 and the success of Highland River, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, that he was able to give up his job with Customs and Excise to write full-time.

Highland River marked the end of a trilogy of novels exploring the history of the Highlands, following Sun Circle and Butcher’s Broom. The following year Gunn sold his house in Inverness and bought a twenty-seven foot motor boat, The Thistle, and took his wife and brother on a three-month sailing cruise around the islands of Scotland. His final book was the autobiography The Atom of Delight, published in 1956. He wrote a number of essays, which have been collected into anthologies.

Gunn died in 1973, and a memorial sculpture, seen in the pic called, Kenn and the Salmon, was unveiled at Dunbeath Harbour in 1991. Kenn is the central figure in Gunn’s novel ‘Highland River’, carrying home the huge salmon he caught with his bare hands in the Well Pool beside the Telford Bridge over the Dunbeath River.

Pics include The Neil Gunn Monument & Viewpoint, Heights of Brae, Strathpeffer, Ross-shire,

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

Qualifying for the Indy 500 is here so in honour of that, this is Indycar 2024 number two songs. Enjoy. Consider this as a hype playlist if you want 😂

Helio Castoneves (10th May 1975) - Minnie Riperton - Lovin' You

Takuma Sato (28th January 1977) - Julie Covington - Don't Cry For Me Argentina

Katherine Legge (12th July 1980) - Odyssey - Use It Up And Wear It Out

Scott Dixon (22nd July 1980) - Olivia Newton John & Electric Light Orchestra - Xanadu

Ryan Hunter-Reay (17th December 1980) - St Winifred's School Choir - There's No One Quite Like Grandma

Will Power (1st March 1981) & Ed Carpenter (3rd March 1981) - Ultravox - Vienna

Romain Grosjean (17th April 1986) - Cliff Richard & The Young Ones - Living Doll

Marco Andretti (13th March 1987) - Ben E King - Stand By Me

Colin Braun (22nd September 1988) - Phil Collins - Groovy Kind Of Love

Graham Rahal (4th January 1989) - Angry Anderson - Suddenly

Agustin Canapino (19th January 1990) - Kylie Minogue - Tears On My Pillow

Marcus Ericsson (2nd September 1990) - Betty Boo - Where Are You Baby?

Josef Newgarden (22nd December 1990) - Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby

Alexander Rossi (25th September 1991) - Salt-N-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

Felix Rosenqvist (7th November 1991) - U2 - The Fly

Conor Daly (15th December 1991) - George Michael & Elton John - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

Kyle Larson (31st July 1992) - Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer

Jack Harvey (15th April 1993) - Snow - Informer

Scott McLaughlin (10th June 1993) - Ace Of Base - All That She Wants

Tom Blomqvist (30th November 1993) - Elton John & Kiki Dee - True Love

Pietro Fittipaldi (25th June 1996) - Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds - Three Lions

Alex Palou (1st April 1997) - Spice Girls - Who Do You Think You Are?

Santino Ferrucci (31st May 1998) - Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine

Kyle Kirkwood (19th October 1998) - 911 - More Than A Woman

Callum Ilott (11th November 1998) - E-17 - Each Time

Linus Lundqvist (26th March 1999) - Boyzone - When The Going Gets Tough

Pato O'Ward (6th May 1999) - Offspring - Why Don't You Get A Job?

Colton Herta (30th March 2000) - Moloko - The Time Is Now

Christian Rasmussen (29th June 2000) - Black Legend - You See The Trouble With Me

Marcus Armstrong (29th July 2000) - Ronan Keating - Life Is A Rollercoaster

Rinus Veekay (11th September 2000) - Sonique - Sky

Christian Lundgaard (23rd July 2001) - D12 - Purple Pills

Sting Ray Robb (3rd September 2001) - Five - Let's Dance

David Malukas (27th September 2001) - DJ Otzi - Hey Baby

Theo Pourchaire (20th August 2003) - Ultrabeat - Pretty Green Eyes

Kyffin Simpson (9th October 2004) - Ronan Keating - I Hope You Dance

Nolan Siegel (8th November 2004) - Destiny's Child - Lose My Breath

All added to this playlist 😊😊