#their r/s in dark night's passing was p professional and they just got to know each other enough to finish the job

[spirit-shroud]

what are some roles that have been largely changed for cityrune? since you said queen was an influencer now :]

hi ty for asking me im vibrating. havent gotten to talk about this au now for three years and now that chapter 2 is like real and this time i can like........draw occasionally and i have more understanding of nuance...... [grips table] [screams]

this isnt quite what you asked but heres what's everyone from chapter 1 has been Up To with a little bit of context (and under a read more bc it got LENGTHY):

kris - professional stay at home teen (they live w/ asgore n help run the flower shop sometimes. this decision was entirely bc i dont like toriel). was wrongly diagnosed w Sudden Soul Rejection when they were incredibly young and given an experimental transplanted soul as a replacement. it works for them fine, give or take having to see gaster once a month for checkups. but sometimes the soul makes them skittish n decides they're going to sit in front of the pc and play 30 consecutive hours of a certain simulation game and not even let them drown people in the pool. if it were entirely up to them, they'd be like. passing out on the sofa to documentaries about bigfoot. or practicing cool knife tricks to impress their friends at their next tabletop meetup

- EDITED IN: the soul is kind of their friend. they are wearing a hypothetical get along shirt. most of the time, they agree on actions and things to do. tends to refer to themself + their soul as we/us which originally was just something they did in their head but they kept slipping in speech/text n just became a Thing of how they talk. switches to 'I/Me' whenever smth is wrong.

- also edited in: they believe the soul they have is their original soul bc nobody has told them otherwise. whenever theyre like 'oh yeah we think about our soul n view it as a separate entity to us like. all the time. it likes to hurt if we make too many choices it doesn't seem to like and kind of forces us to be a toned down version of what we want to be but thats just how souls are haha' and everyone is like.... 'Hey Kris That's Really Not How It Is.' theyre like. 'huh. gonna ignore that for now' - this was going to be a plot point

toriel - head of H0MEWOR1D (H01)'s department of education; kind of lost her roots as a simple math teacher as she was pushed into a lot of power she didn't even really seek out. divorced asgore over some miscommunications in their relationship; also loosely as a result of grief from asriel's death

asgore - the same. runs a lil flower/gift shop. people come in more to talk with him than to buy flowers most of the time, though

asriel Flowey - he's back in flower form, thanks to the government an accident. causes a lot of technology glitches wherever he goes, and wants revenge. isn't sure how to go about it. asriel "died" around 8 years before the story takes place and kris still misses him and refuses to even THINK about even the IDEA of calling someone their sibling after what happened, just in case it somehow happens a second time

susie - more of the same really. she spends most of her time either at grillby's (she's sort of become his assistant n helps with opening/closing. it just happened) or getting into low-stakes trouble w/ kris

noelle - she's in the city's equivalent of college and shes so tired. shes So Abysmally Tired n got kinda pushed 2 follow in her mom's footsteps. she's rarely around anymore except through text or on monsters & mages (dnd) night. (however.........she will come back w/ a long break n hang out w everyone again)

berdly - tbh i didnt even consider berdly when i made the au initially. idk what he's doing. probably in a similar situation to noelle??? canonically got kicked out of the M&M group due to clashes w/ other players but lurks in their group chat to posts memes sometimes

didnt rly think of any other of kris' classmates (+ their families) after ch1 and probably will continue to not, until chs 3-5 come out and i gotta whip up roles and histories for like. a lotta guys all of a sudden. i also forgot about noelle's parents

sans - runs a convenience store that everyone kind of thinks is a front, but also it has really cheap snacks and the local teens make a point of stopping there after school. so essentially, more of the same papyrus - similar to ut. is a very polite and sweet boy but you'll know when he's coming

grillby - he's back. he runs a bar like back in ut but the cozy vibes and weird-for-a-bar hours keep attracting kids who need parents, so half of his menu is comprised of overly sweet mocktails. usually only frequented by monsters

QC - same as usual. has a "rivalry" with grillbz but, theyre besties and have a book club

mettaton - he's real and he's back. he's similar to how he is back in ut w/ his EX body. likes to hang out at grillby's and talk to unsuspecting fans. has a show for everything

napstablook - similar to how they are in ut. helps mtt with making music sometimes. doesn't leave the house too often, but spends a lot of time posting on undernet

undyne - unfortunately. more of the same. she is a cop in the monster district. i am also upset by this but couldn't think of anything better for her

alphys - a doctor studying under dr. gaster in the hopes she'll one day take over his research. she spends most of her time as a nurse with a bigger title, though, and blocks out the weirdness of her job with anime.

gaster - weird guy. H01's top soul researcher and resident House wannabe. trying to manufacture the ultimate soul that can be controlled with simple internal switches, but so far he's only had 1 (very limited) success with a certain human. monsters just melt, and darkners just sorta......get weird... he's onto Something, though.

ralsei - lonely boy with some very strange hobbies. popular on UnderNet for poetry, baking videos, and general cryptid vibe. is the DM for the monsters & mages group (also seems to think everything is actually very fine in H01 when it is very much not)

lancer - about the same. professional Round Boy. lives w/ rouxls full time. follows susie around like a lost puppy and calls himself her "underling."

rouxls - runs a hotel/casino kind of deal where the objective Bad Guys hang out, and usually ends up doing any of the spade king's paperwork.

spade king - mafia godfather. kind of a dick. don't play cards with him

seam - works with the spade king as his right hand cat more or less because they have for a lot of years and are in that 'sunk cost fallacy' zone. thinks of retiring to a quiet life in the monster section of town like, daily

jevil - used to work with the spade king, but got imprisoned for Crimes. got weird after The Accident (separate from asriel's accident)

temmies (all) - dont really get mentioned except offhandedly but they run the monster space station. so far, are the only monsters who have ever been to space.

as far as chapter 2 goes:

yeah i dont have much so far for characters. in the original version of the au i accidentally made darkners as a whole just kinda..... not great? like all sorts of weird organized crime ties n sort of going out of their way to be A Problem to the city (not even in like. a revolution way. in a working against them but with the same goals kinda way). with the whole context it worked At The Time, bc i just had the spade king to look to as a villain, and also in this au the darkners are just trying to survive a world that ultimately was not built for them (that humans think they own, and monsters sort of... seeing this and wondering what it'll mean for them whichever one wins), but w/ new info abt how the dark world works n more guys to work with i want to kind of. edit the vibe a bit. like yea darkners will ultimately do whatever it takes to take over H01, but maybe in a better way than like. idk. all this. it doesnt have to be peaceful or anything it just has to be more adaptable as we meet more kinds of darkners

however yeah i thought up 'queen as some sort of childless mommy blogger/influencer' and that completely revived all memory i had of this au. she should be on mtt's talkshow. also she sells collectible wine glasses w/ her likeness

spamton is another one of gaster's failed soul experiments, but he hasn't melted yet, and seems............fine? sort of. so he hasn't gotten decommissioned yet. he does want to give you malware tho. hot monster singles in your area n all that

im blanking on the rest of the guys but i hope any of this was comprehensible

[bimtoes]

THE SAGA OF MY SEX LIFE

Until I was about 9 or 10 years old, to me, my cock was just an appendage used for urinating. Then we had a teenage male servant at home, who introduced me to the wonder of masturbation and sucking cock. Since then, I think I would have masturbated thousands of times. I did not know the name used for the stroking of the cock but just knew of the pleasure the action gave me.To do this, I have used many kinds of lubricants: Spit, Body lotion, Olive oil, Baby cream, toothpaste, shampoo, even shit during masturbation. However, I prefer the dry act.

At school, I was in the boarding and I am sure, at this age, no other boy in my dorm knew about masturbation. There was no seminal emission but the beautiful tingling sensation when the climax was reached still makes me wonder!!

I had thought that the penis was a cylindrical object and the frenelum really bothered me at a young age. I was under the impression that my cock was deformed and was really upset about this. Years later, I learned what a frenelum was and that normal cocks were like that. What a relief I felt at that time!!

I was afraid that others would know about my secret and I masturbated when in the toilet or at night after lights out. The only problem was my penis became erect very often and I wore no underwear. You see, my father never wore underwear in his life and he could see no reason why I should wear them either. I was afraid that others would see my erection. Later on, I got to know that others cocks too became erect very often due to the onset of puberty. However when they learned about masturbation, the term they used made me wonder what it was all about and I wondered whether it was something else. This was a trying time for me as my cock used to get erect at the drop of a hat and it showed by the bulge in my short pants. I was afraid the tip might come out of the botto of the pants legs!! I HAD to do something about this!! The first remedy was to pull my vest down and pin the front and rear ends together. This was effective to some extent but I wanted something better. I started going down the dorm at night pilfering other boys’ jock straps.

I masturbated in the toilet, on my bed, in boarding and at home during the vacation, later I masturbated in the dark classrooms at night, sneaking into them during study hours, in the terraces overlooking the school ground and wherever it was possible to do so. There was some homosexual activity too in the boarding, but I had no involvement in it.  Anyway, I remember sneaking to the bed of a dorm mate, his name was K******* loosening his sarong and masturbating his cock! When the ejaculation came with the semen spewing in his clothing, he woke up and started shouting in annoyance but by that time, I was safely in my bed!!

OK I’ll continue later. let’s take a break.

I’M BACK!! LET’S START WHERE i LEFT OFF….

By this time, I was so horny and was attracted to women but I did not know of any sexual action further than masturbating. I had heard of the term fucking but did not know of what it was!! I then proceeded to travel in crowded public transport pressing myself against female forms, if possible squeezing their boobs or asses and when I got back home re-lived the experience and got it off by masturbation.That was the furthest I was able to go. I tried sneaking up to houses to get glimpses of women and slog off there but this was too risky. so I gave it up.

During this period I urinated into bottles and hid them behind my bed at night and disposed of them in the morning. One day I forgot to throw the pee away and my mother saw the bottles and she was upset about this abomination of mine. I used to poop into my hand and masturbate with it applied on my cock and balls. I also smeared my entire body from neck downward in shit and washed it off later. That was as low as I coulld get…..

I worked as a volunteer of a social service institute. There was a boy of about 12 years who slept in the same room as I did.On about three separate occasions, taking extreme care not to wake him up, I took his cock in my mouth and twirled the head around with my tongue. Then topped it off my getting back to my bed and masturbating. At this same place, there were some international volunteers and they were talking about some woman being good for 69. I asked them what they meant by 69. They laughed for a long time and said that you had to pump 69 times in a woman to ejaculate. I was that ignorant. I cane to know about what 69 really meant YEARS after that!!

I continued masturbating almost daily, sometimes even two or three times a day!!

My next escapade was when I had a small boy working for me in my house. (Now I was living alone). I had this boy lie down near my bed and stroked his cock. He had no objection to it and I used to do this for some time.

Sometimes I used to go to the vegetable fair, not to buy anything but to squeeze against female asses. I used to put my hand between the legs of women bending to select vegetables from behind whilst brushing against their asses and squeezed their cunts. It was exciting to see their surprised and shocked looks around trying to see who did that!! I almost got caught when I squeezed the cunt of an mature woman in this way but managed to evade apprehension!!

My first experience with a real, live, naked woman was when I was about 24 years old!! We were on the bed naked but I did not know where to put my cock. I did not know how to put it into her vagina or where exactly a cunt was me either!!. We just lay naked together and I was stroking and touching her only hink she would have had a laugh talking about this with her friends!! sometimes I met her on the road home in the evenings and pulled her to the roadside but for the life of me could not find her cunt!!

I wanted to fuck so badly that I got a servant to somehow get me a broad. One day, a renowned prostitute (T*******) and her understudy came along the road passing my house and from the way they were behaving, it appeared that they wanted to come in. I got them in and that was the first time I had sex with a woman. Wow!!

There were other women who came to my house like R*****, M****S******, Y******** and others . I loved to fuck Y******** and R***** was a sweet one whom I fondled and loved to cuddle. We never fucked. This I regret to this day.

There were other women in my life, some casual fuck affairs I don’t even know their names!!

Sometime later I had N********* an elderly woman who was also cock crazy. She came to my house almost every night and went off to work in the mornings. There was another dame T********** who also wanted to fuck but we never got the chance to work it out. She used to rub her ass against my front when I was going past her and also she used to send me love poems!!

At the same time, there was another young sexy girl at this same place, P******V**** who was in love with me. Her mother used to send her to my house in the hope that I would get her pregnant and then they could compel me to marry her. But this girl never removed her panties.She took off all her clothing but not the panties. She had superb juicy lips and a beautiful bosom and lovely fat ass. She used to laugh commenting about my somewhat flat buttocks. I was never able to fuck her. Some times when she was asleep, I removed her panties but she almost immediately woke up. Sometimes I would put my thumb on her lips and she sucked on it. I would immediately replace this with my cock which she sucked for some time and then realizing what it was, pushed me away!!   I miss her. She was really broken when I had to move on.

There was another girl who used to come to my house called P**** L***** but it never got sexual!!

I had no women other than S******* at my next posting and the only day I got her into the house there was big trouble which my boss helped to negate at great loss of face to myself. This went to the Police Station too but was covered up.

At my next billet I had a sexual affair with a girl named B*** M*****. She usd to visit some people she knew passing the turn off to the place I lived in. Why I started this was I had heard persons saying she was a good Fuck and I was sex starved myself!!!! I used to hang around the gate of my place when she passed by and somehow she got the idea. I watched until she was returning from her visit to her friend’s place and switched off the garden light.   This enabled her to come into the house from a side entrance which I had kept open. When she came inside, on came the light!! She stayed the night with me and we had all sorts of sexual experiments.She left early the next day before dawn.Thishappened for a long time. Some time later, she said she had missed her periods. This was someting I had not bargained for!!With some difficulty we parted….

I fell in love with S****** M********!! I was just crazy about her. She was a girl from the village of E******* and I first saw her on the road leading to the bazaar alongside a tea field. We had organized a New Year festival and she came with some other girls to sing the welcome song to the chief guests. Later I invited the girls to lunch to my abode t in appreciation of their contribution to the above event..She also came there. I had invited a friend of mine to lunch too. It was only later after some time that I got to know that my friend had earlier deflowered the girl I was in love with.

I used to meet her at the next town and we talked. We also used to write to each other. I was so crazy about her, that I didn’t realize that she was not compatible to my family or professional life!! After some time I was posted to a place over 100km from her on a promotion to K*************a. We continued correspondence. Even SM’s younger sister used to write to me.

Continuing from there……on 25032017

Within a short time, I was promoted again to a place off R——–a. This meant I had a four wheel vehicle too!! An Isuzu Trooper!!

I had continued my correspondence with SM and we soon made arrangements to meet again. She suggested C*****o and I agreed to meet her near the C*R station at F**t. By this time, she was working somewhere at M********a.

I cannot remember when I updated this story last but this is all I was able to recover. Will continue on from here….19072018

Continuing from there..finally on…09082018…….. at the arrranged date and time I came to C*****o and when passing by the station, there she was waiting….. It would be impossible to meet like that in the present day but this was 28 yeaars ago and the crowds and traffic waere not like this!! She got into teh vehicle and we went along the Galle Road, and turned off into a side road where we talked for some time. We parted with her promising to come to R*******a to stay over with me. Sure enough in January the next year, 13th or 14th 1991, I went down to the R*******a bus stand and as before, there she was..……She came t my residence and whe she got down from it she was stunned seeing A******m my Cook wh knew her from the E******a days. ANyway, she had no choice but to get down. She was assured that this man would not talk about her to anyone. This was the first time I had sex with her!! e to see me on about three occassions when I was here.

Once when I had gone out for the week-end with a friend and his family and I was coming back I had an urgent feeling this girl had come to my place and I was in a hurry to get back. Sure enough, when I got there, She was there in all her beauty. she had hidden herself to surprise me and when I saw her, I ws so filled with desire, I could not bear it!! We had an exciting time that week.

In the mean time, there was another girl called I*****i whom I just said I wanted to meet her, in passing and that afternoon, she turned up at my residence. She aplogised profusely for coming and I replied that it was I who invited her!! Boy!! Wasn’t she great!! She was crazy about fucking and she had the juiciest cunt with lovely long labia!!!! Unfortunately, I was able to enjoy her for only about three months off and on before I went on my way!!

16112018

While on the move,a thing happenned which I thought was prophetical. I had no contact at all with SM for some time and I thought tht it was all over. I had got transfer orders to another billet and my personal stuff had already been sent on their way ahead. As II got my vehicle onto the road there was a bus coming along it and the driver put his hand out signalling me to stop. WOW!! who should come tumbling oout of the bus other than SM!!

My vehicle was full with certain stuff and there was just enough room in the back for her to get in.

10122018

So in she got and we went to the regional office where I had to pick up another vehicle as I had to return the one I was using. My driver got into that vehicle and I drove to K*********a with SM by my side.

I was wondering if it was destiny for me as I spent my first night on this property with her and we had sex that night enjoying every second of it!!

After a couple of days, she left.

I continued with my usual practice of masturbating at any available time.

Dec 4th, 2018

[mrmichaelchadler]

Natural Woman: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin

The world lost actual royalty on Thursday, August 16th, 2018, when the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, passed away at age 76. Our own Odie Henderson already paid tribute to her in his eloquent obituary, but we wanted to open the floor to a few more thoughts from our team, including Chaz Ebert, Nell Minow, Brian Tallerico, Omer Mozzafar, B. J. Bethel, Steve Erickson, Peter Sobczynski and Matt Fagerholm. Words can’t really do her justice, but we will try.

CHAZ EBERT

ARETHA FRANKLIN: NATURAL WOMAN

Ms Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul, was the singular musical influence in my life. Not the single, as in only, but the most important. I have great admiration for many singers such as Sara Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Esther Phillips, Lena Horne, Whitney Houston, June Anderson, Dianna Ross, Adele, Dionne Warwick, and Barbara Streisand but Aretha’s singing helped me to discover the music of the heartstrings. Whether she was crooning "Natural Woman," "Dr Feelgood," "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Brand New Me," "This Girl's In Love With You," "Chain of Fools,"  “Nessun Dorma” or “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” her brand of soul seeped deep into my psyche, taking me through various experiences of love, as she was never timid about letting you know whether she was deliriously in love or woefully in pain, or on some platform in between the two.

There is a certain kind of down-home blues called “gut bucket” blues, not only because you feel it in your gut with each strum of the guitar but because it sounds like it is wrenched from the guts of the singer, from his or her firsthand experience with no money for rent and the baby needs shoes, and your love done got up and gone. Aretha’s songs came from her gut. There was no artifice. Her soulful moans were a direct translation whether you were wondering about love, falling in love, discovering sex, nursing a broken heart or telling a man to give you some Respect. She was that natural woman, who struggled with her weight, and her clothes but never with her affection for family and friends. When she performed professionally she sometimes demanded to be paid in cash and was known for carrying it around in her purse within her eyesight on stage. But that was her way of being assertive, for standing her ground and making sure she didn’t end up penniless like a lot of the entertainers who were taken advantage of. Whether in love or in life, her songs came from deep emotions and a myriad of deep experiences.   

But she was also a multi-talented original, so her songs also came from her heart and soul, beginning with the gospel songs she sang in her father Reverend C. L. Franklin’s church in Detroit.  Her rendition of “Amazing Grace,” brings me to tears each time. And the miracle is how well she seamlessly blended the gospel and the secular, finding the divinity in each.  She took this blend of gospel and secular on the road with Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. to help with the struggle for civil rights. She didn’t back down from confrontation. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” became a clarion call both for the civil rights movement and the women’s liberation movement.

I loved Aretha and what she stood for and the news of her death leaves me heartbroken. On the few occasions when Roger and I ran into her at events, I was surprised to find out that she could be shy. Or so she told me. Maybe that was part of her need for privacy; part of her Diva shield. She would get us alone and kick off her shoes, and she became playful and warm and funny. She could give as good as she got, and she loved teasing and catching up on the latest goings-on. It is so hard to say goodbye to someone who feels like they have been a part of your life for so long, even if you know them mainly through their music. I am just “saying a little prayer for her” and thanking her for all of the deeply soulful heart connections she engendered. And I am sending out the most heartfelt condolences to her family. Heaven has a new Queen.

BRIAN TALLERICO

When I was a teenager in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, I worked in a book store called Metro News Center (it was mostly magazines and newspapers, but also had a healthy supply of new books). I can still remember the first time Aretha Franklin walked through the front door. There was no mistaking who it was. She wasn’t the kind of face you didn’t place. It was as if actual royalty had entered the building. A hush fell over the whole store that felt almost supernatural, as if the world made way for her wherever she went. When I think of the very concept of a celebrity being “larger than life,” I think of that encounter—the Queen of Soul wandering the aisles in a book store and the world stopping to watch her do it. It was unforgettable—although I’d pay a lot of money to remember what books she bought.

The world didn’t just lose a generational musical talent, it lost that increasingly rare degree of celebrity and superstar that can truly justify the title Queen.

OMER MOZAFFAR

She was that older sister who knocked down walls with the sheer will of her personality and the power of her voice.

NELL MINOW

I won’t try to express the greatness of Aretha Franklin with superlatives.  Even the most extravagant would not do her justice. I will just say that beyond that voice, her magnificent instrument, the match of any musical genre or mood, beyond the inerrant musicianship that could take a melody, twist it, stretch it, toss it to the moon and back again without losing a brilliantly shaped note, was her grace as a person and a performer. When she demanded respect, when she told you to think, when she sang, “Mary, Don’t You Weep,” when she stepped in at the last minute to substitute for the foremost tenor of the world, Luciano Pavarotti, to sing his signature aria, Nessun Dorma, everyone who was lucky enough to hear her understood that her real greatness came from the honesty of a true natural woman.

B.J. BETHEL

Aretha Franklin's title of "Queen of Soul" was more than befitting the greatest singer America ever produced. She defended her reign in numerous feuds with other singers and celebrities. But one wonders if she took the title so personal because she was a Queen without a King.

Sam Cooke was more than inspiration for Franklin. The two met when she was 12 and he was in his early 20s.

Cooke died in 1964 after being shot by the manager of a hotel, an incident that still hasn't been wholly investigated and one he family - 50 years later - still wants re-opened.

Cooke was 33 years old when he died but was already dubbed the "King of Soul" for a string of songs and hits that may never be repeated, and a voice that expressed a joy and inspiration that was quite opposite of the hard life he lived.

"A Wonderful World," "Saturday Night," "Twistin' the Night Away," "Chain Gang." were a few of his hits, songs that were all staples of pop and soul music. His talent was equaled only by Franklin.

On Franklin's hit album "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You," she covered two of Cooke's songs. "Good Times," and his hit "A Change Is Gonna Come" as the final track on a record that began with "Respect." Pitchfork named the record one of the 10 best of the ‘60s, Rolling Stone had it in a list of top 100 records of all time. Cooke's inspiration was all over it.

What the two could have done if they had both been blowing up the charts at the same time has always been a question hanging in my imagination.

STEVE ERICKSON

When I went out for breakfast this morning at a Manhattan cafe, the radio was tuned to a station playing '80s and '90s R&B and hip-hop. The DJ spoke in between songs about Aretha Franklin's death today and her immense importance in American culture, but at least while I was there the station couldn't be bothered to play any of her actual music. But the artists they did play - Mary J. Blige (one of her most obvious descendants), Anita Baker, even a male singer like Prince - would have sounded much different without the bravery and swagger of her late '60s and early '70s music. "Respect" is just the beginning. Albums like SOUL '69, SPIRIT IN THE DARK and YOUNG, GIFTED & BLACK offer plenty of deep cuts, and a stylistic range that includes rock, jazz, blues and gospel, although she usually just gets summed up as a soul singer. The kind of female African-American rebellion summed up by "Respect" isn't exactly absent from our culture, but it says something about our times that the attitude and struggle represented by her best music and public persona still seem very contemporary.

PETER SOBCZYNSKI

As was probably the case for a lot of people who share my age and general background, my first real exposure to the majesty of Aretha Franklin came from the silver screen. For my ninth birthday, my family went to go see “The Blues Brothers,” a film that I had been champing at the bit after having seen its production virtually take over the Chicago area the previous summer. During the first section, our heroes are jumping bridges, getting blown up, driving through shopping malls, getting smacked by nuns and getting redeemed by the power of James Brown and for a movie-mad kid like me, every frame of it was a delight. Then Jake and Elwood decide to step into a restaurant on the famed Maxwell Street to grab some lunch and, hopefully, their old guitar player and saxophonist. What they run into is a force of nature that not even the combined efforts of all the top visual effects artists in Hollywood could ever hope to equal—a pissed-off Aretha Franklin laying down the law to her husband, the guitarist, via a rendition of “Think,” the 1968 song that she co-wrote with her real life then-husband Ted White. Her performance was volcanic—a show-stopper in the best possible sense—and for the three minutes and change that she is singing, the film essentially shifts in tone from goofy musical comedy to grand opera. Even people who didn’t like the film as a whole—and such miserable creatures do exist—were blown away by that scene and many critics pointed out that one flaw in the film is that when Jake and Elwood leave with their former bandmates, they inexplicably neglected to bring her along as well.

As a result of that movie, I began looking into the R&B/soul legends who populated the soundtrack and whose careers were given a welcome boost as a result of their association with the film, Franklin chief among them. I will admit that there are other people who could better articulate the power of her voice and how it not only revolutionized the music world but proved to be a force of strength in the battles for civil rights and women’s rights. I am not even going to attempt to do that for fear of inadvertently sounding like a character out of a lesser Nick Hornby novel. I will, say, however, that she was an artist who well and truly gave her all with every performance. She could take a dumb song (I’m looking at you, “Freeway of Love”) and usually invest it with far more passion and energy than it deserved so that even the throwaway filler tracks had more life to them than the best efforts of most of her contemporaries. When she had the chance to work on better material—(“You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” to “Think” (which she would eventually perform in “what would be one of the few highlights in the otherwise dire “Blues Brothers 2000”) to “Nessun Dorma,” the aria from Puccini’s “Turandot” that she famously performed during the 1998 Grammy Awards for millions of viewers, literally at the last minute, after original performer Placido Domingo fell ill—the results were simply exhilarating. She may be gone now in the literal sense but thanks to her musical legacy, the power and presence that she demonstrated every time she stepped up to a microphone will never be diminished.

MATT FAGERHOLM

Some people have you at "hello." Aretha Franklin had me at "Think." Her performance of that iconic tune in "The Blues Brothers" was such an electrifying and hilarious showstopper that it made me a lifelong fan. I received a six-CD boxed set of her greatest hits for Christmas that I listened to throughout my childhood, amazed by the versatility of her genius. Three years ago, she made a surprise appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors, where she paid tribute to Carole King by bringing down the house with "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." President Obama wept, and I did too. Thank you, Aretha, for your limitless inspiration.

from All Content https://ift.tt/2OJBDVc

[scout-and-the-vodka]

age: 25

name: Scarlett “Scout” Catherine Lebedeva

codename: Vodka

homebase: Long Beach, California

Scarlett’s ( but everyone called her Scout ) mother was delightfully vicious. She barely spoke a word of English and met her husband when he was on vacation to Russia. They fell in love and to him alone Marya showed hints of softness. Despite it being completely insane, she went back to California with James, leaving behind Russia and the life she never talked about unless she was beyond drunk. It was always dark and always cold and her parents were monsters. That’s all that Scout ever really knew.

Her father owned a vineyard, one that had been in his family for generations. He brought Marya into his world full force and never regretted it. Most of his family had scattered except for his parents who had passed away. The vineyard had fallen into a state of disrepair, James too broken to figure the business out like he should have. But Marya turned that around. She brought live back to it singlehandedly.

And a few years later they had a little girl. One who was as wild as her mother with a heart as big as her fathers. It was a reckless combination as Scout got older and more beautiful. Trails of hearts were left in her wake and she would swear up and down that she loved every single one of them.

When she was young her mother taught her how to defend herself. Training her in systema to make sure Scout could always protect herself. She took to it well, loved how strong she felt, how safe she could make herself. And because of that she stuck with it through the years. It was the only time she saw her mother’s eyes fill with pride.

In high school she balanced cheerleading, surfing, highest grades, and one boyfriend after another. She did these things because they were important to her parents, well the boyfriend was for her own fun, but the rest was for them. They wanted her to be everything and to have everything. Things they’d never really had themselves because of their own unspoken tragedies.

And then when she finally snapped it was after a loss at a cheerleading competition. The loss itself wasn’t real a big deal. Her team had done well an gotten close. But it was that loss piled on with the pressure to be absolutely everything. To be some kind of perfect that wasn’t possible for her. Not without killing parts of herself she was too young to lose.

She’d hidden herself in a bathroom while the other girls gathered their things and laughed and felt nothing other than the adrenaline of a good time. Scout experienced her very first panic attack and didn’t notice when all of the sound outside was gone. She was alone and scared and couldn’t breathe or see straight when someone found her. He’d heard her, apparently the sound of gasping for air was surprisingly loud.

Holden called an ambulance and stayed. He went with her to the hospital and talked to her parents and Scout didn’t understand why a stranger would be so kind. But she was thankful and after that they were inseparable. Her parents accepted him because in their eyes he saved her. When she told him she loved him it felt heavy on her tongue and she knew she meant it undoubtedly this time.

The pressure she was under never really eased though. What changed was that she had someone to talk her down. Someone who’d seen her in her most vulnerable state and knew how to make sure she was okay. He also made her realize how much she couldn’t stay. As much as she loved her parents, they would always expect too much and she would always try to deliver even if it killed her.

So straight after graduation they ran. Not far, but far enough. Into a little house by the beach. They worked and went to college and got married at eighteen thinking it was the right choice. Maybe it would have been someday. But Scout changed. She no longer had to be anything but herself and she didn’t depend on Holden like she once had. He thought she didn’t need him and couldn’t understand that she could love him without that dependence.

They fought long and hard, putting each other through five years of misery because they were sure better days must be right around the corner. In the end he had an affair and she decided that real love wasn’t worth the pain. Most of her nights were spent at a small gym, boxing, working out, reminding herself that she deserved to be strong on her own. The same man was always watching her. Like he was looking for something but she didn’t know what and she didn’t worry about it because, for a reason she couldn’t explain, she could just tell he didn’t mean any harm.

After the divorce she was a little lost. Her job she realized was not what she wanted. It was what she got to keep the house and at the time she hadn’t cared because she’d been fighting to keep her marriage together. Her friends had all given up on her because she’d stopped having fun. The only thing she really enjoyed was going to the gym and that seemed pathetic until the stranger finally approached her and made an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Overnight her world changed. She learned about the Statesmen. Their organization that was super secret and seemed insane to her. Just that something could exist without anyone knowing. They put her and the other recruits through hell and Scout kicked all of their asses tenfold. Not because she had any drive to save the world, but because she felt strong again. For once she was only proving to herself that she was the best and it was that drive that helped her succeed.

After that she was known as Vodka. A wildfire of a woman who did what was needed and had a deep love of knives and fine wine.

h e a d c a n o n s

In her off time she still surfs and was good enough that she could have done it professionally if she’d wanted to. But as much as she loved it, it’s a way for her to relax and turning it into a profession would have made it stressful.

Her parents believe she’s traveling for fun and just living freely off of her trust fund. They also believe she’ll eventually come back and take over the vineyard. Wether she will or not she doesn’t actually know yet.

She has a deep love of Disney and used to go to the parks all the time. During college she worked as Belle and would have loved to keep doing it but Holden pressured her to quite. At the time she thought it was because he was seeing signs of stress, now she knows it’s because he was worried seeing her so happy in something that didn’t involve him. 

When she was younger her mother taught her to work with knives and she always loved it. During training she got right back into them and they’re now her preferred weapon. At any given moment, even when she isn’t working, she has at least three on her if not more.

p e r s o n a l i t y

likes: fine wine, vodka, the colour red, midnight swims, traveling, fighting dislikes: anything more than a one night stand, deadlines ( though she always makes hers )

positive: inventive, driven, loyal negative: wild, a bit of a drunk, will sing Disney songs at the drop of a hat

[youichi21]

Get to Know Me

1. What is you middle name? R= i don’t have one :C  2. How old are you? R= In exactly 10 days I turn 23 years old :v  3. When is your birthday? R= April 13! 4. What is your zodiac sign? R=Aries (just like ussop!)  5. What is your favorite color? R= ummm totally doffy’s fault xD its pink  6. What’s your lucky number? R= 21!  7. Do you have any pets? R=  yes and beatiful cat, her name is blasfe and a chihuahua named lorena x’DD 8. Where are you from? R= mexico 9. How tall are you? R=  i’m 58 m tall 12. What was your last dream about? R= i dream with my dad... he passed away a few days ago.. i miss him every single day.. i think that’s the reason because i dream with him.... it was a simple dream... we are like every day... eating.. laughing... he looks so healthy and happy.. i miss you dad...  13. What talents do you have? R= drawing?????? cry in the middle of the night without no reason????  15. Favorite song? R= every annabel song (?????) garasu no toshi from boku no sexual ed???? my favourite song its from a yaoi ova???? oh god... 16. Favorite movie? leon the professional lol i just can’t think in nothing else 18. Do you want children? oh please no  19. Do you want a church wedding? maybe?? 20. Are you religious? no??? 21. Have you ever been to the hospital? thanks to the heavens no 22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law? R= no..... 23. Have you ever met any celebrities? R= no.. 24. Baths or showers? bathssssss 25. What color socks are you wearing? no one, here in mexico It's too hot to wear socks 26. Have you ever been famous? hhahahaha i’m the personification of a loser so.. no  27. Would you like to be a big celebrity? haha noooo 28. What type of music do you like? sometimes anime soundtracks, sometimes really really  hard rock/ punk music, the enoug for hurt your ears  29. Have you ever been skinny dipping? ehhhh no..... 30. How many pillows do you sleep with? i don’t like sleep with pillows, usually i put the pillow in my feet 31. What position do you usually sleep in? I sleep sideways or I usually sleep on the other side of the bed 32. How big is your house? ehh at least i can live with my sis and my two pets so.... 33. What do you typically have for breakfast? usually i don’t have a breakfast but when i do,it’s usually bread with milk. eggs or some tacos x’D i love tacos!  34. Have you ever fired a gun? oh no.... 35. Have you ever tried archery? nop when i was a child i wished but i never can... 36. Favorite clean word? no one 37. Favorite swear word? no one 38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? two days.. i’m too weak.. 39. Do you have any scars? ummmmmmm in my little toe. when i was 9 years old I cut myself by accident with a glass bottle ... the doctor had to sew my finger ...  40. Have you ever had a secret admirer? dear god no...  41. Are you a good liar? oh yes 42. Are you a good judge of character? nop  43. Can you do any other accents other than your own? no i totally suck at that  44. Do you have a strong accent?  45. What is your favorite accent? brittish 46. What is your personality type?  47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing? no one i don’t care a lot for stuff like that... i think the most expensive piece of clothing i have is a sweater that my aunt bought me because I was going to go party with her and she insisted that my clothes was a total disaster and I would not go out with her like this,, i want free food so... 48. Can you curl your tongue? nop :C  49. Are you an innie or an outie? innie OWO  50. Left or right handed? right hand!  51. Are you scared of spiders? very much... 52. Favorite food? all types of pasta! <3  53. Favorite foreign food? no one :S  54. Are you a clean or messy person? kinda a little bit from both sides...  55. Most used phrased?  56. Most used word?  dammit.. or  mendokuse ( what a pain in the ass in japanese.. a phrase from gintoki from the anime gintama x’DD) 57. How long does it take for you to get ready? 10 minutes  58. Do you have much of an ego?  59. Do you suck or bite lollipops? suck :P  60. Do you talk to yourself? a lot  61. Do you sing to yourself? sometimes 62. Are you a good singer? no  63. Biggest Fear? being alone  64. Are you a gossip? ehhh no 65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen? the pianist???????????? 66. Do you like long or short hair? long but its more comfortable short 67. Can you name all 50 states of America? i’m mexican so.. no 68. Favorite school subject? currently digital animation 69. Extrovert or Introvert? INTROVERT 1000000000000000000000%  70. Have you ever been scuba diving? nop... 71. What makes you nervous? people, talk in public, confrontation, talk, any contact with people... sighs... i reallt suck in socialize.... 72. Are you scared of the dark? sometimes...  73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes? only when it’s neccesary.. 74. Are you ticklish? ehhh no 75. Have you ever started a rumor? no..  76. Have you ever been in a position of authority? lmao no one takes me seriously... 77. Have you ever drank underage? ehh no i hate it 78. Have you ever done drugs? never 79. Who was your first real crush? ahahahaha oh my god..a child named juan carlos when i was like.. 7?? 8 years old?? oh god.. he was a really  pretty boy..  80. How many piercings do you have? no one... i want a tatto but i’m too poor for pay for one... 81. Can you roll your Rs?“ not even a bit 82. How fast can you type? ehhh   83. How fast can you run? very slow  84. What color is your hair? black  85. What color is your eyes? brown eyes 86. What are you allergic to? dust??  87. Do you keep a journal? haha oh yes... usually i write how was my shitty day 88. What do your parents do? my mom is retired... my dad worked in the field  89. Do you like your age? lmao noo i just wanted to die young.. 90. What makes you angry? stupid people  91. Do you like your own name? yes it’s a curious name with a pretty meaning btw my name is anabel (  92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they? hahah no.. i don’t have kids.. i’m a troublesome person.,, how it’s supposed to raise a child being like this? oh god please no..  93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child? NO 94. What are you strengths? Finish all my homework in one night lmaoooo 95. What are your weaknesses? be a crybaby, coward person 96. How did you get your name? i don’t know my mom says it was dad’s idea.. 97. Were your ancestors royalty? no 98. Do you have any scars? yes in my little toe 99. Color of your bedspread? blue 100. Color of your room? ehhhh orange????