#the zoo keeper's wife

[movie--posters]

[boricuacherry-blog]

The spidery jaws, the spine bones bared for a moment

Like the white lines on a blueprint.

I think this pink and purple plastic

Guts bag would clack like a child's rattle

The snails blew kisses like black apples

-Sylvia Plath

[lol-jackles]

Walker review, episode 7 "Hold me now"

It's a beautiful golden morning and Cordell prepares to fix breakfast of egg and bacon for August but he's already half-way out the door. Come on Auggie, it's bacon, everybody loves bacon! Cordell puts away the egg and bacon and opt for cereal while he reads James' book on a serial killer. Cereal, serial, get it? I slay me.

Little did August know that morning would be the last time his dad would be there for him, and he'd going to wish he had stayed for breakfast.

At Ranger HQ, Cordell is leading the team search for the serial killer called the jackal who was previously dormant but now back and have killed 2 people. Cordell's first choice of suspect, a wife abuser, turned up to be a dead end but that doesn't slow him down. The following day he picks another suspect from the bottom of the least suspicious list, a former zoo keeper whose zoo was the closest site of the first victim. Nobody is on board with Cordell's theory so he's like, no problem, I'll check the defunct zoo myself. Cassie refuse to let Cordell go alone and Luna invites himself along.

The trio arrives at the creepy abandoned zoo and only the audience see the decayed corpse of an animal, a jackal with missing teeth, which is the killer's calling card. Luna and Cassie find a disturbing underground room filled with tools of the killer's trade. Cordell finds fresh tracks and chases a distant figure, who escapes after he ambushes Cordell and knocks him out. Though the killer remains free, the rangers are closer than they've ever been in years and his lair will provide much needed data for a profile.

Cordell is upset that he was so close to catching the killer and is more determined than ever to finish the job. He returns home to find Liam upset that history is repeating itself, Cordell is neglecting his family and Liam is picking up the slack. Cordell says he will make it up to his children and tells Liam to stop being so dramatic. (At this point I', convinced Ben is running the horse rescue.)

Both men are correct and there's no easy answer. A serial killer is on the loose and catching it is not a 9 to 5 job. There's an expectation that public service jobs mean some family times has to be scarified. I know a family that has 3 generations of firefighters, they never spent a single Thanksgiving and Christmas together as a family because the men are too busy putting out kitchen fires and/or fireplace fires caused by idiots. Mothers Day is the only holiday that most criminals take a break from their usual criminal activities.

Cordell goes to his study room filled with research on the jackal and it is revealed that he stole evidence from the killer's lair, a length of rope. Cordell tightly wraps the rope around his wrist as if he's trying to get into the mind of the killer and looking through his eyes. In an earlier scene, Cassie said zoo keeping isn't that much different from ranching and pointedly looks at Cordell.

Sidenote, Luna and Cassie finds the killer's note written in capitalized letters, which is the same style Luna wrote in his love note to Cassie. I really hope this is a red herring for Cassie's sake, her two previous dates literally tried to kill Cordell: for a cause and for revenge, respectively. Cassie doesn't need the third romance to turn out to be another psycho and also I need the three of them to go undercover at a Shadow Hawk convention.

Speculation #4: the Jackal is a member of the survivor network and encouraged people like Henry to blame innocent people. He knew Luna was undercover at the motel and learned his handwriting style to feed false leads to the survivor network.

Score: 9.7 out of 10.  We get to see why Cordell is the best ranger as the stakes are deepening. A point 2 deduction for the stalled necklace mystery, another point 2 deduction for Bonham and Abeline subplot about derailed retirement plans. Point 1 given back for August maturing and being a good kid.

[chemkin-c-chickin]

Listen, I like researching things. For people doing romance in the Planet of the Apes fandom, here's some interesting but kind of scary Ape social group facts!

1. There is an Alpha Male and Female. No, they are not a king and queen.

2. Chimps operate on a complex social and political system. Alpha male takes priority over mating rights but it doesn't mean lower ranking males won't try to sneak off with a female.

3. Females try to mate with as many males aa possible to reduce the chance of her potential baby getting killed by a male

4. Alpha males don't just act lazy. They patrol, get food, make friends with lower ranks, basically makes sure everybody likes him by doing favors.

5. Males fight for dominance with violence. Females do not, instead the lower ranked girls do favors for the alpha female like groom her or share food so she'll have their back

6. Sex is 99% political. It is used as a tool to gain favor and status

7. 'Courting' can happen in a number of ways depending on the region and troop. Mostly commonly, when a male wants to mate, he will uhh.. "reveal himself" and shake some tree branches. Or he'll just start beating the female up and make her submit. Most rarely, a make and female will leave the group to mate in privacy.

8. Chimps are emotional and are one of the few mammals understand and actively seek revenge. Example: a couple went to a sanctuary to give the chimp they hand-raised a birthday cake. Only for their chimp. The other individuals saw this chimp get special treatment so they went over and beat the shit outta that chimp.

9. When a younger male tries to rile up the others and goes 'Yo lets jump the old alpha! I'll be new alpha!' And everyone else collectively goes 'We don't like you though. You were never nice to us' one of two things will happen. A. The young male will be ignored and he will have to try and apologize to the alpha by grooming him or getting him food or something in order to stay on the troop. B. The alpha and the other males will jump the usurper and cripple him. Horribly.

10. Despite the violent tendencies to humans, themselves, and other primates, chimps are capable of great tenderness and love. Jane Goodall once released a chimp back into the wild. This male chimp hopped up on the cage and gave Goodall a hug in gratitude before he went on his way. Another video I saw was a female chimp at a sanctuary or zoo who had her baby taken away for surgery. She thought the baby died and when the keepers gently coaxed her into a room where they had her baby bundled up in blankets, she prepared to grieve... until she saw the little hand moving and scooped her baby up and held it to her chest in what I can only describe as sheer relief and love.

Thats all I researched so far. Horrifying but also so deeply fascinating!

PSA Chimps are not pets. They are wild. You will never domesticate one. They either belong in a reputable sanctuary with other chimps or in the wild. Same goes for all primates.

Bonus!

Cornelia, Caesar's wife in the second movie onwards, is probably older than him. When choosing a female to mate with, males will go for older females because they are more experienced and just the fact that they're older means their survival and social skills are better compared to younger inexperienced females.

[jjs-brainrot]

Current status of Awayuki Kokorone's harem (i.e. all of the talent working at Live-On) as of episode 8 of VTuber Legend.

Mashiro Irodori: Awa's wife and life long partner. They will be together until the end of time and their bond is unbreakable.

Chami Yanagase: Awa's girlfriend. They just started dating but are taking it slow. She's sooooo normal chat.

Hareru Asagiri: Awa's oshi. She can turn Awa into a sopping wet puddle of gay goo just by looking at her and she knows this.

Sei Utsuki: Awa's fellow dirty joke loving lesbian comrade. They aren't actually each other's type but they will escalate any situation into gay sex, for the bit.

Shion Kaminari: Awa's mommy (sexual).

Kaeru Yamatani: Awa's baby (sexual)

Alice Souma: Awa's biggest fan. Wants to fuck Awa's uvula in specific.

Hikari Matsuriya: Awa's baby (mother-ship self-proclaimed by awa, not sexual), but she would like to upgrade it to being her *****. Unfortunately, Hikari has a level of seiso only obtainable from dense battle shounen protags, so that probably will never happen.

Nekoma Hirune: ??? Not enough to work with it but I guess Awa's trash game loving cat?

Eirai Sonokaze: ??? Awa's zoo keeper?

Houshou Marine: Wait, why is Marine on this list?... What do you mean she and Awa collabed 2 years ago and said that Awa has a voice that heals her?

...Well okay then...

[plumadot]

Your Scar is so pretty I wanna wife him

sorry sorry he's currently focusing on his career as a zoo keeper (= catching and containing two eldritch horrors disguised as innocent snails) so he may not yet be ready for marriage :(

[sparrow-in-the-field]

The Story behind Bobby's Aves

For anyone reading The Cormant, in the last AN I mentioned I'd share the story of Jack, the real life double crested cormorant that inspired the one I'm writing as Bobby's Aves in the fic.

Now that I have officially moved back to the East Coast, I feel like I can share that for the past handful of years, I was living in St Louis. I'm actually going to include some real places from the STL area in the fic; it's kind of my love letter to the city because I love it and know I'm gonna miss living there.

One of the best parts of St Louis is that they have an amazing zoo that is free to the public (it's accredited and they do a lot of great conservation work; it's free due to city taxes, not sketchy reasons lol). Seriously, if you're ever in STL you have to go.

Anyway, the zoo has a flight cage that was initially built for the 1904 World's fair. That flight cage has been remodeled as the Cypress Swamp and now serves as a home to rescued native wild birds that cannot safely be released back into the wild. You can see photos and read more about it here.

Jack is one of those birds. He's a feisty double crested cormorant that is missing most of one of his wings.

I have two personal stories of encountering Jack that made me love him.

The Cypress Swamp has a boardwalk that you walk through with no barriers between the people and the habitat. For the most part the birds keep to the water and trees or areas that aren't directly in the path, but they can technically be on the path if they want to be. That is what happened the first time I met Jack.

My wife and I were on the boardwalk, probably admiring some of the ducks, and when I turned back to continue walking down the path, the cormorant was right in the middle of it.

I'd seen cormorants plenty of times in the wild, but I'd never been that close to one before. They're quite intimidating birds, but in a beautiful/breathtaking way! I was rather taken with him, and also quite amused that he refused to budge (it wasn't like he expected food or anything from us, he just wanted to Be There and wasn't gonna let anyone stop him). He stepped closer a couple times, and I'm always on the cautious side of being respectful of wildlife, so I was a bit frozen with what to do. I think we ended up just kind of waiting, and then another family walked by first, and we realized we could pass with bothering him or him bothering us. But I was just so taken with how defiant he was in his place.

The second time was when I learned his name. There was a keeper at one of the entrances/exits, and there was a hold up to leave the flight cage because of Jack. He was trying to sneak into the crowd to escape the flight cage, and the zookeeper was essentially having to corral him away from the door. She was using the opportunity to tell the stalled families about Jack and double crested cormorants.

My wife asked her "is your job in the flight cage to make sure Jack doesn't escape?" and she responded "technically no but it feels like about 80% of it." She also told us that they'd recently gotten a female cormorant resident and Jack was being a bad influence and teaching her how to try to escape as well lol.

So yeah, that's the story of Jack. The initial story of The Cormant was inspired by the song I linked in the first chapter of the fic, but as I started creating the actual character of Bobby's Aves, after meeting Jack twice, I knew I had to write him in it. He's just so bold and feisty and beautiful, it felt right for him to be a part of Bobby's soul.

[ratsoh-writes]

Wist has a new Fae friend (for now, the Djinn is amused by her and she reminds him a little of his wife...)

Kay and Ace walked in circles for hours until the meeting had ended, and they found Wist sitting at the picnic spot, alone. Wist now has a coal (she somehow feels like if she lights it on fire, the weird fae will show up)

And Kay stepped on green goo and heard a distant laugh. Nobody else heard that. It must have been the wind.

And then The Djinn went to harass the zoo keepers. They still have no idea how the non-magical animals managed to perform an acrobatic circus act while juggling apples. But no cameras caught anything.

@wisteria-and-crocuses @the1920sisntaphasemom

Shdhdhd that’s a wonderful ending to a fae encounter

[leehallfae]

“i can stay awake all night, if need be— / cold as an eel, without eyelids. / like a dead lake the dark envelops me, / blueblack, a spectacular plum fruit. / no airbubbles start from my heart, i am lungless / and ugly, my belly a silk stocking / where the heads and tails of my sisters decompose.”

— sylvia plath, “zoo keeper’s wife,” the collected poems (ed. ted hughes)

[artzychic27]

Family Guy incorrect quotes?

Nathaniel: Hi, my name’s Nathaniel Kurtzberg. My mom’s car just broke down. Could we use your phone?

Adrien: Now my trouble are all through… I have… A… Jew…

Nathaniel: Hey!

—

Denise: Fine, I’ll do it tomorrow right after my job as a zoo keeper with very muscular thighs.

*Cue cutaway!*

Denise: Thigh there, nice to see you all! Now as you can see right here, *Gestures to their right thigh* and here *Gestures to their left thigh* I am qualified to be a zoo keeper. *Gestures to a parrot* This is my friend, Frederick, and I am sure you’re all wondering how much I can squat. For that answer, you’ll have to go to my Instagram, YourThighness99. Now, I’d like to open up the floor for questions.

Rose: *Raises hand* Yes, what food does the bird-

Denise: Not about the bird! Now, who wants to see me jump over this fence from a standing start? Lemme scooch these shorts up a little thigher. *Rolls their shorts up and jumps over the fence*

Parrot: So, everyone happy they went to the zoo? No? Well, that’s the zoo.

—

Ivan: Alright, so we roll the dice, and then we both have to yell ‘Yahtzee’ really loud.

Kim: At the same time?

Ivan: Yeah, and you have to flap your wrists like this. *Flaps his wrists*

Kim: And you’ll do it, too?

Ivan: Of course, that’s how it’s done.

Kim: Okay.

Ivan: Alright, ready?

Kim: And you’re gonna do it with me?

Ivan: Oh yeah. *Rolls the dice*

Kim: *Flaps his wrists* YAHTZEE!

Ivan: Gay.

Kim: You suck!

—

Félix: Ello, I’d like to join the Air Force.

Pilot: What are your qualifications?

Félix: I speak in a British accent, I don’t brush my teeth, I’m possibly homosexual, and my wife is ghastly!

Pilot: *Gives Félix and aviator helmet* Bombs away!

—

Kim: Hey, Ismael. How about I teach you how to swim?

Ismael: Go... away... Kim. *Kim picks him up* Aah! What do you think you're doing? No means no! *He hangs on Kim’s arm while Kim tries to get him in the pool*

Kim: Come on, Ismael! In... the... pool!

Ismael: No! No, I don't want to die! I want to live! Live!

—

Marc: *Holds a crushed spider web in his fist* This is the most perfectly destroyed spider web.

Austin A: Where's the spider?

Marc: Knock, knock!

Austin A: Who's there?

Marc: I ate him!

—

Tom: But you know, I was just thinking this afternoon, what the hell happened to the days when a guy does something like that to a girl, and a bunch of us guy get together and just go kick his fucking ass?

Roger: Boy, that’d be satisfying.

Alim: Well�� Why not?

—

Ismael: Come on, Jean! You owe me! You remember what I did for you last week?

*Last week*

Jean: *Singing* Sighing softly to the river comes the loving breeze. Setting nature all aquiver rustling through the trees.

Ismael: *Ballerina walks out from behind a tree* Through the trees…

—

Ismael: You watch that tone, Austin Q! Or I’ll get Zoé and Cosette over here to kick your butt!

Zoé: Is there a problem here?

Cosette: Yeah, you need us to use our fists?

—

Kim: Max, there’s a message in my alphabet soup! It says “oooooo”.

Max: Kim, those are Cheerios

—

Jean: I wish I was Beyoncé.

—

Ismael: So, anyway, here's Jean walking through the park minding his own business. I just happened to be there with my video camera, when a ninja shows up!

*In the video, Simon, dressed in a ninja costume leaps out from behind a tree and pretends to attack Jean with a katana before cartwheeling away*

Ismael: And then a devil came!

*Marc in a devil costume jabs Jean with his pitchfork, throws black dust at him, and runs off while Jean falls to the ground as if in pain*

Ismael: And then an evil pots-and-pans robot!

*Then Ismael wearing a bunch of pots and pans on his body arrives and fires at Jean with a fake ray gun*

Ismael in video: Destroy. Destroy. *Jean falls to the ground, seemingly unconscious*

Ismael: I imagine you're probably wondering what happened to the body... Well, we thought of that.

*Ismael runs back behind the camera and continues filming*

Ismael in video: Oh, no, Jean is dead! Wait. We might still be able to save... Oh, no! *Hums the Jurassic Park theme as he puts a toy dinosaur in front of the camera and has it pretend to eat Jean*

*The video cuts off and Ismael turns to Austin T with a solemn expression*

Ismael: We are so, so sorry for your loss.

Austin T: Is this a joke?

Ismael: I wish it were, Austin T. I wish it were a joke. But these things happen, you know? You go for a walk in the park one day and redhead ninjas and gay devils, and short pots-and-pans robots show up to kill you, and dinosaurs show up to eat the remains. You've seen the news.

—

Lila: Hello. As you all know, I’m Lila Rossi.

Marinette: Booo. Boo, Lila Rossi. Boo.

Lila: I wanna read a few words-

Marinette: Boo. Liar. Boo, Lila Rossi, booo…

Lila: Anyway, I want to-

Marinette: Boo. Apologize somewhere else. Boo. Boo, Lila, boo.

—

Nathaniel: *After he and Cosette have fought and horribly injured a mob of students* It was… A joke!

—

Denise/Cosette/Alya/Max/Nino/Austin B: *Sitting on a sofa and crying as a woman sitting in front of them stirs her tea*

Max: It was a trap.

Austin B: Everything on Groupon is just a trick to Get Out black people.

*They all sink into the couch*

Cosette: Ahh, we’re sinking!

—

Nino: And now to throw this handful of change down, because I’m a psychopath. *Throws change off the side of the building*

Austin Q: Aah! Damn it!

Ismael: Thank you!

—

Rooster Bold: Who the hell are you? Go away!

Nino: Oh, I’m sorry, are you taking a rooster shit?

Rooster Bold: I’m not defecating, you weirdo! I’m laying an egg! *Lays a golden egg*

Nino: *Gasps* A golden egg! This is what famous black rappers probably eat for breakfast!

—

Austin A: Well, you can’t have my rooster!

Rooster Bold: Okay, two men fighting over me. Neat.

—

Lawyer: Your honor, citizens of Paris, and visitors from AU Paris, my client, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir, is the victim of flagrant intellectual theft.

Canon!Kim: *Whispers to Canon!Max* I’m whispering in court to look smart.

Lawyer: But it’s not just the main writing that’s been plagiarized. Several other show variations, scripts, and design elements have been similarly infringed, resulting again and again in pale imitations, cheap copies, clumsy counterfeits, and weak substitutions.

Canon!Marinette: You like stalking boys?

SB&IB!Marinette: … Never talk to me again.

Canon!Marinette: I don’t think we’re very similar.

Canon!Nino: You know why they got us sitting next to each other.

SB&IB!Nino: Uh, ‘cause we’re the two funniest guys in our cities?

Canon!Nino: Damn right!

Canon!Nathaniel: I’m a Jewish artist.

SB&IB!Nathaniel: I’m a Jewish artist moonlighting as a villain.

Canon!Nathaniel: What?

SB&IB!XY: Are you an emotionally abused pop star?

Canon!XY: Yes, I am.

SB&IB!XY: Are you a “cool” emotionally abused popstar? *Holds up Bob Roth’s credit card*

Canon!XY: I, uh… I like to think so. *Leaves the court room with SB&IB!XY*

—

Kim: *After Austin Q hits the back of his head* Ow! What the hell?! That really hurts!

Austin Q: No it doesn’t! I do it to Austin T all the time!

Kim: You hit him? That’s insane! No wonder he’s so touch starved, claustrophobic, and doesn’t know how a school works!

Austin Q: That's Adrien!

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: National Zoo Lovers Day

We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee

In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.

But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it.

Nothing was easy, given the family’s lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Zoo Story by Thomas French

Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco.

Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity's role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it's a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet-all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century.

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw―and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants―otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.

With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.

Crochet a Zoo by Megan Kreiner

Go a little wild as you stitch everything from lions and tigers to bears and baboons. Featuring organic materials, these imaginative toys are perfect for children of all ages. You can even create felt bananas, leaves, and other zoo food, plus zany zookeepers all dressed for the part. Choose from more than 16 playful patterns for crochet; stitch one or two animals or construct an entire zoo set for a special gift. Bring your zoo animals to life with clever details and ideas for customizing, such as shaggy manes, felt stripes, and embroidered paws. Complete each beautifully illustrated design in just a few hours using basic crochet skills.

[donttellmeyourewoke]

THE ZOO KEEPER'S WIFE

[fenrislorsrai]

Ring-tailed Lemur by Smithsonian's National Zoo Via Flickr: The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Friends of the National Zoo will continue a Washington tradition that spans more than 100 years by hosting “Easter Monday: An African American Family Tradition” April 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and will take place rain or shine. This year’s celebration will include a variety of activities, featuring traditional Easter activities for families, such as an Easter egg hunt, Easter-themed games and a visit from the Easter panda. The event will also feature live entertainment, including performances by an a cappella gospel quintet, a husband-and-wife guitar and vocalist duo, a Caribbean and reggae band, a soloist and a children’s songwriter, musician and poet. In addition, the Zoo and various restaurant vendors will offer an array of delicious food. Animal keepers will host 56 talks, feedings and demonstrations highlighting a variety of animals, including cheetahs, western lowland gorillas, sloth bears, kori bustards and Asian elephants. Visitors will also have the unique opportunity to “Meet-a-Curator” in various Zoo exhibit areas. New this year is Zoomagination Station!, a hands-on shopping experience that is engaging and fun for all age groups. This new concept features an assortment of products that allow visitors to customize their own items: from a glitzy butterfly wand to a tube filled with an assortment of PVC animal replicas. Zomagination Station! is located across from Lemur Island. The 2011 “Easter Monday: An African American Family Tradition” event is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, Capital One Bank, United Airlines, WHUR Radio 96.3 FM and YellowBook. Photo Credit: Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian National Zoo

[ssluggishh]

that hornbill art is making me think about the rhinoceros hornbill pair we have at my city's zoo. last time we went the keeper came out to feed them and it was so fascinating to watch bc the male kept giving his bird wife every other treat. i looked up the behavior after i got home and apparently the male does this to maintain their bond and its just so so cool to me i love animals man

[punishedsurge]

SBFC 002: The Feel of a Podcast

Pat: Are you eating nuts?? Are you GOING NUTSSS?!

They discuss how podcast names should be naturally made during the episode’s runtime. Matt bangs out the title of this episode in under 90 seconds.

Dork Girl cameos in the background this episode. [She’s Woolie’s now-wife, right? Man, they did record at his place for a long time.]

Liam played Muchi Muchi Pork!, a bullet hell game. They force Liam to talk about it after trying to skim past it. Pat asks if the girls are over 18, Liam is confident at least 2 are. [I imagine most of them aren’t.]

Woolie calls AoT Shingeki no Koijin, Pat hates it. Dork Girl says just call it SNK, with leads into a conversation about abbreviations having overlap. FF is Final Fantasy, Fatal Fury, and Final Fight.

Pat proposes GoW, which is God of War and Gears of War.

Liam: Gears of War is ‘Gears’ to me.

Matt: And I always call God of War ‘Disappointing.’ But so is Gears Judgment.

[all go awwww]

Pat: It’s true though.

Liam: This is the first con I’ve been to in seven years where someone didn’t say ‘The Game’ as a phrase. [Got your ass 10 years later lmao, good job Liam]

Matt goes to the zoo to see red pandas with his lady friend, who I’m sure is Crymetina. [She doesn’t listen to the podcast because Liam talks about anime; she’s a keeper.]

The older trio talk about Disney cartoons, which eventually leads to only Matt and Woolie talking about NES Disney games.

Pat: Man, I really didn’t have a childhood.

Pat watched The Wire in the week between episodes. Woolie states that Spike Lee, Alan Moore, and Obama [not Malik the other one] love the show; Pat calls them crazy Warlocks, Matt brings it together by saying they’re a cabal of warlocks that live in a cave, which Woolie finishes by saying they encircle The Wire dvd box set. They also say The Wire has ruined every other cop show. [I haven’t seen it but it’s probably true.]

Woolie played Journey with his gf; Pat played with “SmokesBluntz420”. He also caught up with AoT, he said he stopped watching anime after Gurren Lagann and AoT brought him back in. He loathes shitty fan translations, proceeds to shit on the correct translations without knowing. [What a shit time for anime, trying to pirate it was so not worth it.]

Matt: I haven’t watched [AoT] because I’m busy working.

Divekick talk. It came out 10 years ago today! Zubaz got updated to have Fighterpedia on his shirt. [They spent a lot of cash putting Zubaz in indie games, jeez.]

Matt: I want a Booty Call game made by Telltale.

[I forgot that a thing for a while, ‘have Telltale make your choice-based narrative game’. Well, everyone sure did. Turned out great I heard, even!]

Woolie: Ubisoft, who continue to actually slowly gain my respect agin…

[It’s always funny to see praise of a big game corporation from the past.]

Woolie’s point is that Ubisoft announced Child of Light, it is lead by the Far Cry 3 creative director. Essentially, he thinks it’s cool he went from doing AAA games to something a lot smaller. They are excited it’s running on the UbiArt Engine, at the time it was only used for the Rayman IP. He claims the dev team is also 1/3 women. [I wonder how many of them still work there since the shitty work culture was alive and well then.]

Pat describes the potential work culture of the company as “grind on a AAA game and make it sell well, then you can make whatever else for 2-3 years until we need you to make money." [It’s not an impossible idea, Obsidian made Pentiment in between their far bigger releases, for example. Again, it’s funny to think about Ubisoft workplace culture after knowing all the foul shit they’ve done.]

Barkley 2 talk. Truly a flash in the pan the first game was. They’re excited for it, Liam pledged a high enough tier on Kickstarter to get a CyberDwarf body pillow. [I wonder if he still has it.]

Games for Windows Live is officially closing. Woolie pairs it with EA Origin as ‘things that aren’t Steam that refuse to die.’ [Microsoft just rebranded the service with Xbox decals, it has cross-buy on select titles with the consoles; it also touts PC Game Pass more heavily than their actual store front. Origin just copied Game Pass’ model and is now bundled with GP.]

Killer is Dead launches to ‘tepid’ sales in Japan. It sold 20k on both consoles, Bionic Commando sold 24k. Matt argues that because the former’s sales are in Japan while the latter’s is in America, Bionic Commando still sucks more. They wonder why it sold the way it did, is it because people are tiring of Suda51? Lollipop Chainsaw is apparently the best selling Grasshopper game, Liam says. [Good job, James Gunn.]

Woolie says Poolside Identity is great, and that K. Dot’s Swimming Pools. [I prefer remixes over original songs too when they fuse niche things I like together, but jfc that’s a take alright.]

Gamescom predictions. Pat says they won’t announce an Xbox One Kinect-less skew. [He was right.] He also believes the earlier release of PS4 at a cheaper price will be a deciding factor. [Way too right.] Liam and Pat go back and forth over the decision of Xbox to go so hard with promoting Kinect, Liam is ‘I can see their business strategy for it’, Pat is ‘that shit is dumb’. Then there’s reference to the NSA news of the camera potentially spying on you, which they don’t go into because Matt and Woolie interrupt with talk of showing their cocks on Uno.

Sony at Gamescon predictions. “It’s going to be a big show for Vita, but it is a PS4 focused show,” so says John Sony. Pat wantsa Vita game, pushes back on “Vita is dead” claim by fans by saying 3 games for Vita would be a big show for the handheld. Woolie mentions that every game at the show for PS home consoles will be required to have remote play for the Vita.

Slightly off topic of Gamescom, they speculate on the rumor of a new Vita; they believe it’s so Sony can compete with a new Samsung phone called the Galaxy Mega, which has a 6.3in screen and a 720p resolution. Liam thinks the rumor is all crap. Liam finishes with reminding us that the Vita priced dropped in Japan to $210 USD, Pat comments that it needs a price drop and 2 more ‘killer apps.’ [Probably means for it to be successful in the West/North America].

[It’s funny to hear all the hopium for the Vita’s success, but not because it failed to perform and stay relevant. When you compare it to Sony’s new handheld (Project Q), it’s such a superior product and all it does better is just play games on its hardware without an internet connection. As someone who streams GamePass titles on my phone at work, it functions far better than remote playing from my Xbox; it’s still inferior to native hardware by a wide margin. The fact Project Q can *only* do remote play via wi-fi (as far as we know) is such a blow to this wretched device. Maybe Vita deserved better…]

FGC News:

Persona 4 Arena is getting an update, only is an arcade location test at the moment. They talk about new HUD stuff and character.

Woolie: You know what matters more to fighting games than story mode? Gameplay—

Matt: I don’t know about that. [Gottem, Matt]

Matt facetiously laments how Arcsys can make so many fighting games in so little time and Capcom can’t pull one together at all. They talk about game development; it’s not lost on anyone paying attention. Pat believes Arcsys is stealing Capcom’s crown when it comes to fighting game relevance. Matt is hyped for the newly announced Killer Instinct. Thunder looks awesome visually, Pat groans at the other’s excitement.

D4 talk. They say, “Twin Peaks”, the end.

Anime news. Space Dandy announced YEEEEEAH! They love the creator’s work but have some trepidation about the sexual nature of the show, Pat believes it’s tongue in cheek. [It is]. Liam also mentions the team’s interest in localizing the series and believes more anime should do it as well. [I want to say Space Dandy was one of the first ‘Simulcast’ anime, but idk for sure.]

Letter time, letter time.

“Why’s it called TheSw1tcher?”

Matt tells the story of how he beat his friend to school after he missed a train.

Pat: Oh god— I based my entire economic fortunes on this dumb joke??

“What game had the best soundtrack?”

Woolie: Katamari Damacy

Liam: Streets of Rage

Matt: Mario Galaxy 1

Pat: Anything by Simon Viklund

“Will Woolie ever cut his hair?”

Woolie: Never.

Matt: Unless Comicbookgirl19 tells you to.

“What does Liam think of Rwby?”

Liam didn’t watch it, they talk about Monty Oum’s former body of work. Mentions Xiao Xiao and Egoraptor. Dork Girl watched it, doesn’t have much of an opinion about it though.

“When will you nerds talk about Jojo All-star Battle?”

Pat bought it, importing will take it a while.

What’s coming up: Rustlemania, 2 new playthroughs. Maybe Matt’s Bomb-ass Zoo Adventure.

[oftatteredwings]

MUN.

heather ; she/her — gmt — 30+

nottinghillstart — all intros here.

MUSE INFO & MOST WANTED CONNECTIONS UNDER THE CUT.

MUSES.

addison bailey ( theo james ). he/him. 35. manny. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

vegas ex wife. ( wc on main. ) ( amelia bennett. )

the big ex. ( kali ngo. )

client he had an affair with.

current/past clients, etc.

close friends. ( finch fletcher. )

fwb/hook-ups.

alana smith ( jenna coleman ). she/her. 35. owner of piece of cake. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

siblings ( 3/3 ). ( wc on main. ) ( spencer, rowan & jasper smith. )

ex boyfriend from 18-25. london based. ( wc on main. ) ( shot cameron. )

short-lived exes since 25.

best friend.

swimming friends.

regular customers.

alexander ‘alex’ metcalfe ( josh hutcherson ). he/him. 29. staff at heart and soul gallery/artist. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

roommate.

older sisters ( 0/2 ).

possible love interest. ( spencer smith, callum belrose. )

exes.

close friends.

ex best-friend.

art connections.

alexander ‘xander’ taylor ( joe keery ). he/him. 31. sales assistant at forbidden planet. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

spouse. ( zibby spiegel. )

siblings-in-law. ( ophi & levi spiegel. )

cousins (1/2). ( wc on main. ) ( nix edwards. )

the one disastrous ex.

close friends.

d&d members. ( jett corrigan-ortiz. )

amber stevenson ( freema agyeman ). she/her. 42. midwife. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

friend to lover. london & hospital based. ( wc on main. )

best friend.

those whose babies she’s delivered.

attempted/failed dates & relationships.

fellow people who attend groups. ( kirby cerulli. )

ana valle ( camila mendes ). she/her. 25. personal assistant. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

boss. ( divya mathur. )

high school/college ex.

the bestest of best friends. ( sawyer faust. )

group of girlfriends.( zizi deliz, michaela cunningham. )

fwb... she’s not good with relationships now.

christian muhire ( ncuti gatwa ). he/him. 28. barista at the grind. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

siblings/adopted siblings (1/7). it is a very big family lol. ( cameron & freddie muhire. )

flatmate/friend he moved to notting hill with.

close friends.

partying friends.

crush.

hook-ups.

connor barrie ( jonah hauer-king ). he/him. 27. postman/student. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

coming soon...

ellora ‘elle’ chari ( simone ashley ). she/her. 25. zoo keeper at london zoo. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

flatmates. ( blair sandoval & dawson dagon. )

ex who helped her realise things. 

fellow london zoo staff.

close friends.

best friend. 

emma ainsley ( margot robbie ). she/her. 32. sfx make-up artist. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

younger sister. ( marty ainsley. )

exes. ( hawk campbell. )

disastrous dates.

close friends.

work connections. ( eve nam. )

emmanuel ‘manny’ taiwo ( toheeb jimoh ). he/him. 24. staff at knock out gym/lifeguard. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

brother. ( very close in age. )

flatmates (3/3). ( ryan jedda, mal montgomery & jasper smith. )

convention/cosplay friends.

sports friends.

unlikely enemies.

exes.

evan phillips ( nick robinson ). he/they. 28. bartender at the wolfe’s den. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

cousin that took evan in.

roommate. ( tully harris. )

close friends.

old school friends from eton.

exes. ( blair sandoval. )

father figure.

gabriel ‘gabe’ amiri ( anthony keyvan). he/him. 22. pottery instructor at come clay with us/student. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

will they, won’t they relationship.

best friend. ( calliope jones. )

good friends.

fellow students.

like a sibling to me.

hayden foss ( michael cimino ). he/they. 22. cashier at skate me out tonight skate shop/student. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

adopted siblings (1/2). ( petri foss. )

flatmate. ( petri foss. )

close friends. ( leonardo cline. )

pretty serious ex since arriving.

crush. ( rebel bravo. )

hook-ups.

holly berne ( lily james ). they/them. 30. owner of holly’s sweet treats/blogger. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

twin brother. ( wc on main. ) ( klaus berne. )

other siblings (0/4). 2 younger. 2 older.

the one who got away. nyc based.

fwb.

best friend.

their one employee for holly’s sweet treats. ( hikari saito. )

iris flores ( america ferrera ). she/her. 37. florist. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

best friend she house shares with.

ex-boyfriend.

close friends.

people she employs for her floristry business.

sister from another mister/brother from another mother.

jason ‘jace’ montgomery ( freddie fox ). he/they. 28. server at farmacy. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

fellow montgomerys. ( mal montgomery. )

flatmates (2/2). ( wc on main. ) ( jett corrigan-ortiz & callum belrose. )

close circle of friends.

ex-boyfriends.

hook-ups/fwb/ons.

jonah matthews ( kit harington ). he/him. 35. general practitioner.  ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

two sisters.

ex/mother of luke.

ex fiancé. ( scarlett turner. )

close friends.

fellow aa members.

joshua ‘josh’ bell ( darren barnet ). he/him. 31. deliveroo rider/gardener. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

flatmate. ( cameron muhire. )

close friend from home. canada based.

good friends.

fellow adrenaline junkies.

frequent deliveroo people & those he gardens for.

flirtation. ( rachel riley, katya mikhailova. )

kian zhang ( harry shum jr. ). he/him. 39. owner & head stylist at kian zhang hair. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

twin sister. ( aurelia zhang. )

ex-boyfriend. ( wc on main. )

ex-wife/mother of his child.

clients at the salon.

close friends.

fwb/hook-ups/ons.

layla campbell ( antonia thomas ). she/her. 35. book editor. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

old friend from home who helped her.

close friends.

writers she works with. ( alexander munroe, agustin baeza. )

exes.

people she met through her addiction program.

leah de león ( adria arjona ). she/her. 30. owner of next chapter bookstore. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

coming soon...

leo thorsen ( will poulter ). he/him. 29. nature photographer/odd job man. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

sister. ( astrid thorsen. )

estranged wife. ( wc on main. ) ( sissy garrett-thorsen. )

best friend.

friends since moving to london.

fellow amateur photographers.

lily-grace belrose ( karen gillan ). she/her. 33. dressmaker & designer. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. ) ( old interactions. )

siblings (1/2). ( callum belrose. )

ex-boyfriend from high school. ( details in intro. )

best friend. ( scarlett turner. )

close friends.

clients.

other exes

flirtationship.

marco ricci ( milo ventimiglia ). he/him. 43. owner & head chef at ricci’s. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

younger siblings (0/2).

the ‘i did try’ ex. ( aurelia zhang. )

best friend/second in command. ( wc on main. )

close friends.

regular customers.

fwb/hook-ups.

mei xuan ( lana condor ). she/her. 27. musician/jewellery maker. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

band members. ( caleb ryan, avi horovitz & dani stokes. )

will they won’t they relationship.

past relationships.

regular jewellery customers.

best friends. ( davina alvarez. )

moon tae ( sang heon lee ). he/him. 26. host at ricci’s. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

sister.

the one that got away.

band members (4/4). ( jaden lapointe, liam kumar, jedi feng & jett corrigan-ortiz. )

best friend.

close friends.

exes.

natasha ‘nat’ lee ( lydia west ). she/her. 28. disney vlogger. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

flatmate.

best friends.

other disney enthusiasts.

fans of her youtube channel.

exes.

nathan ‘nate’ young ( ryan gosling ). he/him. 40. photographer. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

ex-wife. 

college ex-boyfriend. nyc based.

the one he had an affair with. nyc/la based & male.

models/customers.

good friends.

exes.

owen marr ( phil dunster ). he/him. 30. personal trainer/fitness guru.  ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

siblings. ( 3/3. ) ( sparrow, jagger & wilde marr. )

best friend. ( kash bronson. )

mother of his daughter. ( guin judd. )

ex-girlfriends.

good friends. ( scarlett turner. )

clients.

stephen meyer ( josh duhamel ). he/him. 50. band manager. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

long term partner. ( wc on main. ) ( charlie beck. )

secret child. ( wc on main. ) ( auden meyer. )

niece. ( jovi  dicamillo. )

members of the bands he manages. ( caleb ryan, avi horovitz, dani stokes. )

best friend/good friends.

exes.

sunny reyes ( victoria justice ). she/they. 28. nail technician/gymnastics coach. ( intro. interactions. face. musings. )

flatmate.

half-siblings (0/2). ( both older. )

on and off boyfriend.

best friend.

fellow na members. ( river reyes. )

clients.