#this is CROSBY fan account

[intheupside]

Sidney Crosby gets the fascination that fans and some fellow players have with his gear — from the curiosity about pieces of equipment he has worn since his first NHL game, to the social media posts if he so much as even looks at a different CCM stick.

When Sid was a kid, he was interested in the tools of the trade used by his favorite NHL players. Unsurprisingly, he appreciated the simple style of Peter Forsberg and Steve Yzerman. But he was fond of some flashy stars, too. Pavel Bure had an “aura” about him, he said, and only Sergei Fedorov could pull off those white Nike skates.

“I thought Mario had great style, too, with the tongues out,” Crosby said with a grin.

The Penguins captain said he doesn’t follow social accounts that track what today’s players are wearing and when they switch to new sticks, skates and gear. But he understands. Crosby was amused when told that GearGeek.com was all over it earlier this month after he tested out a CCM Ribcor Trigger 8 stick during practice.

“It’s just all about feel. It’s so important that when you’re on the ice, your gear just feels like it is part of you,” said Crosby, who is on pace for another point-per-game season. “It doesn’t feel like you’re wearing anything. It’s just an extension of you.”

As Crosby sat at his locker, his hair somehow looked freshly styled even though he had just taken off his CCM Fitlite helmet. He wore a lightly-padded undershirt from Reebok — which started to phase out of the hockey business a decade ago. He took off the pair of shoulder pads he uses for practice and tucked them inside his bag.

During a long 82-game season, Crosby will regularly cycle through some pieces of equipment, such as skates and gloves. He snaps his fair share of sticks, as well. But there are things in that bag that Crosby has carried with him since his rookie year.

His athletic supporter is the second most famous cup in hockey. The last 20 years, several equipment managers have kept that black Reebok jockstrap stitched together.

Considering Crosby has been pulling on that thing since his junior hockey days up in Rimouski, Quebec, that has to be the oldest piece of equipment that Crosby wears, right?

“No, it’s my shoulder pads actually. They just fit so well,” Crosby said. “They feel like they’re just part of you. It doesn’t feel like I’m even wearing gear. I have added stuff over the years where guys have found different spots [where I] didn’t have it covered. So it’s just trial and error, and finding out from a crosscheck or a slash.”

With all that additional padding stitched on, they weigh three pounds heavier now. “Here, let me show you,” Crosby said, pulling the Frankenpads back out of his bag.

Crosby uses a two-piece pair of hockey pants. He’s had the top portion of those pants for a long time. The bottom piece — “for my sides and my ass, basically,” he explained — is something he replaces every once in a while due to wear and tear.

Famously, Crosby has refused to switch over to the replaceable skate blades that the vast majority of players use. That is why you sometimes will see him remove his skate on the bench and hand it to one of the equipment managers to sharpen.

The reason he has not made the change is that he uses an older, softer style of steel. He can feel the blade “bend a little bit” — in a good way — when leaning into turns.

So, as Crosby showed me last week, there is a method to his equipment madness.

“Some stuff I’ve had for a while,” Crosby said. “I would say that’s because of feel.”

nice read

and nice find from @pimpim90

[sweettomyhoney]

Being a WAG is a job. They're supposed to marry conventionally pretty women who fit a certain mold and are, for a lack of better word, bland.

Blond, pretty but not too pretty, Instagram influencer chick, as little public personality as possible.

These women are marketing tools, sometimes nothing more and beards and baby incubators with the lifelong nanny inckuded, and as such they have to follow the rules of the market. That they are also enforcing themselves.

And in a racist society? It's a racist market.

Which is why a turncoat like PK Subban will always bow down to what mainstream wants.

A black, brown, or heck, even white woman with dark hair or non-Insta looks will never be permitted in the public eye.

The NHL isn't going along with the racism, it's the pipeline that upholds racism in general society.

European players might break that mold, but not publicly. Their wives will exist, if anything, out of the public eye, the magazins or social media posts.

AND something that tumblr won't want to hear, but the gossip blogs are a HUGE part of it.

They infest each new generation with the idea of how a WAG has to be like, by putting them on pedestals and mocking people like Sidney Crosby's partner as somehow "failed" for not fitting that mold.

Ut's a whole racist system, it teaches fans, it teaches players from the get go, and it teaches the public what to do and what to expect:

White, blond, outwardly traditional house wife.

Like a 50's segregated white society's dream.

IM ON YOUR ASS!

First of all, why are you bringing this to my doorstep, when there are multiple other gossip blogs who actually insult Sidney Crosby’s wife?

Let me ask my followers have I ever been known to do some shit like that?

No

Why do you feel the need to always come to black women with your grievances? Go to the white bitches you have problems with.

We always empower women on this page except the ones who wanna go toe to toe with a bitch like me and want to uphold racist shit. And that includes wags as well.

I’m using my platform to hopefully make a difference. And make other people aware on how the NHL and these players need to do better.

And somehow you have a fucking problem with me still!

Bitch get the fuck out my face.

If you don’t feel like this community is capable of changing and making a difference I don’t think you have a dog in this fight.

To assume that black women and women are color are not the fucking blueprint for you white hoes is diabolical as well.

You kind of ride in the fence bitch and I don’t like that shit.

I feel like you’re oop.

We hold men accountable on this page so I don’t know what the fuck y’all talking about we tearing down women.

I just made a post on Valentine’s Day saying that Jamie needed to up his game when it comes to spoiling his girlfriend. I love to see a woman win !

I hope that these girls are running these men’s pockets for every dime and dollar that they got!

Move around hoe!

[jackhues]

ek the face tickler - (b's version)

note: this takes place on NOV/11/23

buttercup's world! au masterlist

buttercupsworld:

liked by _connorbedard, mackinnon29, alexned_ & others

buttercupsworld: a pens win and a jarry shutout... NOW THAT'S HOCKEY

before nate comes after me, i KNOW dad didn't get the helmet last game, ek did (which is why he's there) but that picture was too funny not to post.

shoutout gravy for becoming my new fav hockey player and wearing a neck guard 👊 you the man

ek, i have six pics of you tickling my dad's face. i'm gonna leave that there

geno, WHAT WAS THAT GOAL? it was a beauty.

and finally the pens, look at this amazing photo dump. i think y'all should make me in charge of media (ily admin)

view comments

mackinnon29: your dad didn't get the helmet this game -> buttercupsworld: READ THE CAPTION -> mackinnon29: hehe oops?

mackinnon29: why does ur dad look like he's crying in the first pic? -> buttercupsworld: bcz ek keeps touching his face -> erikkarlsson65: wow i didn't know touching ur captain's face after a goal isn't allowed

e.malkin71geno: i look good -> buttercupsworld: it's bcz i took the picture

ryangraves27: you the woman 👊 -> buttercupsworld: yes i am!!

penguins: ur dad isn't a fan of the last pic (we love it) -> buttercupsworld: i'm amazing ofc you love it -> marner_93: @/penguins hello, hi. i'd like to make a formal request to the pittsburgh penguins association to give buttercup crosby full access to your media accounts and pay her to be in charge of post-game photos -> penguins: @/marner_93 she'd be in charge of ALL photos posted. even after leafs vs pens -> marner_93: i'd like to retract my previous statement -> buttercupsworld: rude.

---

tags : @woodruff-edwards , @austinbutlerscaresme ,  @svechnikovvv ,  @hockeyboysarehot , @emptyflowerpots ,  @mysticaldonkey , @lam-ila ,  @babydollmarauders , @starjoyyy  ,  @kjohnson-91 , @gavinbrindley, @hischierdevils , @jackhughesily  , @panarin10 ,  @equallyshaw ,   @power2myheart  ,  @lynnismypseudonym , @beccaiscold , @akengii , @nowandkei , @cinnamonpancakes , @mitchymainer , @lifeofpriya ,  @marshmallow-babe, @hughesx3 ,  @emsully2002  ,  @starsandhughes , @huggy-hischier73 ,  @doglady5678 , @thatoneblog , @exonct07 @hughesmedicine , @qwanelledingele , @mindless-rock , @ireadthensuetheauthors , @huggy-hischier94, @slaythehousedownboots , @diary-of-jj

join my main taglist!

[coffee-at-annies]

I think I figured out my feelings on what the pens have done in the last week. It’s safe. That’s all we are under Dubas and FSG. We’re safe. There’s no guts. There’s no sense of impending glory. We’ve had our cake (18 years of love and friendship) and we’ve eaten it (3 cups) and fans are impatiently yelling for more when we’ve got the best baker (of banana bread) in hockey and instead of mixing it up we’re following the recipe.

It’s not that there’s no hope. Through Sidney Crosby all things are possible so jot that down. It’s that we aren’t betting big. We aren’t swinging for the fences. We aren’t doing big moves or signing big players. We did that last off season and it worked out very good with Eller, pretty good with EK, and badly with Graves. We aren’t risking anything with the contracts we’re signing or the trades we’re making. Everyone is getting one to two years at cheap because we aren’t promising anything bigger or longer. We’re signing a bunch of boys for short terms who are looking to have bounce back years hoping at best we’ll find another Ned. Then if we like them we re-sign them and if we don’t they’re gone this time next year. That’s why we didn’t give PO an offer. They’re so scared of arbitration giving him more money or longer term than they offered him that they’d rather let him walk.

It’s hard to feel like this team has a future when it feels torn between this season and when Crosby retires in ???? years (but realistically 2-5). We’re banking draft picks and prospects for that nebulous future but it’s very clear that Dubas doesn’t expect anyone on this current team to still be here at that time (or at least none of the people we’re acquiring - Graves has 5 years, Jars Tanger Rak and Rust have 4 and I think everyone but Tanger is going to get traded when they hit 2 or 1 UFA). If this team is going to change year over year what is there to excite us about? The kids we call up and don’t play? Prospects that are realistically 1-3 years away from Wilkes and 2-5 years away from the NHL? The end of Sid (and Geno and Tanger but mostly Sid’s) career(s)? Idk.

We’re not betting. I know we can’t empty out the cupboards because the cupboards are bare but even in restocking we’re playing it safe. There’s nothing exciting. There’s nothing to distract from the real impending sense we’re at the end of an era and they haven’t invested time in creating a bridge to the next one. There’s no one interesting in the minors that they want us to care about. There’s no one on the team that they want us to get excited about since we’ve not heard from anyone on the team via official accounts since the end of the season. Maybe prospects dev camp next week will give us actual content but there’s nothing coming out of the penguins right now.

Maybe I’ve been fooled by the stability of 8 years of watching Sidney Crosby play. Maybe every team goes through a complete identity change up every 5 years or so and I’ve just been ignoring it as everyone around Sid and Geno left until it was just those two and Tanger still kicking. Idk. We could lose a hundred games like the 2022 pirates did and I’d still be a fan. Management isn’t betting on the team. Why should I?

[01turnkill]

2024 Media Post Time - Master

1. Total Drama Island (2023) and Total Drama Island (2024)

I would personally consider Total Drama as one of my first "fandoms". One of the first times I went into the online community and talked to people... I had a DeviantART account which I made as an Ask Account for one of the characters.. Only answered about 2 asks before I stopped. I made image collages on a website online and posted those too. All before I found out how to download art programs as a kid..

It's been a long time since I watched those but sometime 3 years ago I did actually rewatch the first Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action, but stopped at World Tour and definitely didn't touch Revenge of the Island or All-Stars.

This new season is very obviously taking inspiration from the original, going back to the classic style with the characters and the challenges. Chris is back, even! There are a lot of characters in Reboot that feel like pieces of TDI put together. Though, I mean this in a good way, they feel balanced and different but not too exaggerated. Realistic but exaggerated at the same time.

When the characters were introducted I thought Ripper had the funniest intro of all time honestly. In the rest of the show he was amusing but that fart episode man. I also found Zee hilarious almost every time he spoke and Wayne too. I just laugh.

The Reboot introduces Homosexuals for the first time which is pretty cool, I won't lie. I thought it was amusing the gay guy Bowie's whole personality is just being gay and also being a bit of a petty gossip girl antagonist, but then there's Raj who is not so explicitly gay- his personality is being a stupid hockey jock (but not too stupid). It was good but I feel like the season, while it does focus on the characters interpersonal relationships, doesn't have nearly enough down time or conversations between characters in their cabins or at breakfast.. Just during challenges.

After becoming a hockey fan this hit harder and funnier to me than it could have before. Plenty of hockey references and jokes. They have the character Wayne who is a hockey jock but also stupid and since Raj is the gay one, Wayne is just really stupid and that's all he has got going on. I thought he'd maybe put his physical strength to use or something but no. He does get battered and bruised every other episode though..

I think I and a lot of people really did not enjoy Emma and Chase. Chase in the 2nd season was really funny but he wasn't there long and the whole rest of his and Emma's time on the show was a little irritating. Funny at first but as it went on ... man. I don't really care much for the romance elements in the show. Even the gays though I did appreciate it and this was kind of cool like, I think I would have been more on board if Emma stayed sadistic whether or not she liked or hated Chase at the moment and didn't keep flip flopping but I don't know what kind of a message that sends haha.

There was also a farting episode and a massive vomit scene with coloured vomit and it's like... hey now. You are gonna give people fetishes so deep in their head it won't crawl out until they're 20 and it's going to be vicious.

Could say more but yeah I love stupid shows like this every so often. I am good at laughing at everything, especially kids shows. I know how to be shocked every time something odd happens even though this is a cartoon and enjoying the same joke ten times.

Edit adding:

Wayne mentioning his Sidney Crosby rookie card gets destroyed story. Me shedding a tear 'I actually know who Sidney Crosby is..' How it feels finally knowing who a celebrity is in a TV reference... Not to mention I'm a card nerd.

[spursdontplaybasketball]

Talk Hockey to Me

tagged by @giirlinterrupted 🤍💙

Tell me about:

1. The thing that got you hooked on hockey

I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about an hour south of Hershey, PA. My dad grew up going to watch the Hershey Bears play minor league hockey in the American Hockey League, and he continued the tradition with me (and my sister sometimes.) At first, I only really liked to go to the games for an opportunity to spend time with my dad, which was rare sometimes, but in middle school I somehow ended up being really good at floor hockey when we played it in gym class. One day I managed to score a hat trick, even though I was terrible at every other sport. (I also had a crush on one of the players on my school's hockey team at that point.) So I just kinda thought hockey was fun at that point and started enjoying the actual games more. Then I picked a favorite player from the Bears independently for the first time, and it was Mike Green. I didn't know much about him, just thought he was cool. He turned out to be really good, and when he got called up to the NHL to play for the Capitals, I started watching the Caps games on TV. (I was also lucky that we got the sports channel from Washington DC, despite not being all that close to there.)

2. Your first ever fandom friend

I'm not too established in the hockey fandom on here. I have a personal blog that I rarely use anymore that I used to post occasional Caps stuff on and follow a few Capitals people, but that's on a different account that I rarely use. I know hockey has become a lot more popular on footieblr over the years. I remember a few years back when it was more unusual for these fandoms to overlap that I sent a message or two to people who were in both fandoms that I thought it was cool that they liked both sports like I do. Basically my only hockey friend on here is @giirlinterrupted (and I'm so grateful that she doesn't put Sidney Crosby on my dash like so many other footieblr hockey fans seem to do.) IRL I have been surrounded by hockey fans most of my life though, because it's pretty big in my state in general, so the main time I felt a little more alone on that was the 2 1/2 years I was living in San Francisco. Unfortunately I am currently surrounded by Penguins fans :( as I am living in Pittsburgh. My IRL best friend is also into hockey, but she is a Sabres fan since she is from Buffalo and now lives in Rochester, NY.

3. The jersey you would most like to own

I wish I had an old Mike Green or Jay Beagle Caps jersey. Mike Green is now retired, and Jay Beagle, I don't even know.

4. YOUR player (you only get ONE so choose wisely)

I still have an unhealthy attachment to Jay Beagle even though he's been off the Caps for years. None of the current players can live up to that.

5. A pairing that deserves more fic

Don't really read fic much, but Ovi/Backstrom (I'm so out of the loop that I don't even know if they have a ship name) are adorable together, and idk how popular they are, at least outside of Caps fans.

6. Your favourite on-ice moment

6/7/18. What else? I still cry when I think about it sometimes, and I can barely listen to "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons without crying due to that "Worth the Wait" video the Caps put out on social media after the Cup win.

link someone else's art/fic/etc that you love & think everyone should check out

He's here on Tumblr (@mxgicdave) but I could only find my favorite pic of his on Twitter:

link something you made & are proud of & want people to see

Got nothing. I tried to write a few things about hockey in the past, but not since I was like 13. I was writing a story about a minor league hockey player whose playing got impacted by past trauma. Didn't get very far, then I was also trying to write a murder mystery featuring the Capitals, and I got even less far with that.

no pressure tagging:

I have no one to tag! :(

[theonlyfanslife]

GRAPHIC: New Lynnwood City Council Member an OnlyFans model, alleged explicit Reddit posts about women

LYNNWOOD—After it was posted to the Lynnwood Times’ social media accounts Monday evening that the Lynnwood City Council appointed Jessica Ann Roberts to fill the Position 5 vacancy left by Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, some of her “fans” disclosed that the newly appointed Council member is an OnlyFans model, with a sexually explicit Reddit account. Warning, some of the pictures in this article are…

[lonewolflink]

lol not the internalized misogyny jumping out with the way you talk about the USWNT.

listen bud it's not internalized misogyny, truly i wish it was. it is something more vile...

sometimes u hate a group of women but it's not because they're women…it’s because they're on a team u hate...

alas, tis the nature of being a sports fan. at least it is for me! i am a passionate sports girl!! i spew hatred!!!!!!! welcome to sports fandom lmao. you should hear the horrible, insane shit i've said in my life about sidney crosby, a man who by all accounts is just a nice canadian saint. :P

(if this is about me calling the uswnt as an organization arrogant, please understand that as the arrogance of a rich first world nation not as gendered lmao. let me be sour in my country's defeat? wtf man? i literally cried over this game yesterday, don't be dick)

PS/Extra Note: i don’t think you meant any harm here, but you should know that it's extremely poor form as a sports fan to go poke the wound of a fan whose team yours just beat in a championship game, the day after that game. 

EDIT: my big frustration with the whole thing really has nothing to do with the uswnt, to be clear. it's that marta, the greatest women footballer of all time, has never really had a proper team put around her because of economic and socio-political issues in brazil. she and really all of brazilian women's soccer has been systematically failed by the country. by contrast, the uswnt receives great support economically and politically for its development (obviously not relative to men's sports, but that's not the comparison here).

this is not to say that the players on the uswnt did not earn their medal; of course they did! they won the game fair and square. they worked their asses off to get there. they currently have, and have long had, an excellent team. i personally enjoy watching a lot of their players do their thing (trinity rodman in particular is a force and i love her style of play).

but i think it's pretty fair for brazilian fans like myself to be frustrated that marta's years on the seleção were squandered in this way, in a way that has nothing to do with the actual play on the pitch and everything to do with economics and politics. and to pretend like the USWNT (and other teams as well) have not had a leg up over brazil in that respect is a kind of arrogance that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. but again, that has nothing to do with the actual game that was played, which the americans won fair and square.

[note: it's not like we don't see this happening in other sports either!! there's a reason the US and China dominate the olympics lol]

at this point i'm just venting (sorry!). but it's deeply tragic what has happened in brazilian women's soccer, and specifically to marta. at least it is tragic to me. and instead of writing this essay mid-game because i was sad and angry, i just made some snide comments (really one comment) in my tags, on my personal blog. i feel like...i should be allowed to do that without someone accusing me of misogyny anonymously lol?

anon, i hope you see that this is actually much more complicated—both in the economics and politics of global sport but also for me personally—than just "i guess lonewolflink has some internalized misogyny to work through". like...no. that's not what the snide comment was talking about at all. i harbor no genuine ill will to the american women's team. but even if i did, and i had to work through some internalized misogyny...

my PS still stands. it's not cool to come to someone's personal blog when they clearly care a lot about sports and the teams they cheer for, and then prod the wound the day after a huge tragic loss. please don't do that in the future. not to me, not to anyone else.

[intheupside]

from geno’s insta

and from a fan’s account with the caption “Here's a picture with me and Sidney Crosby (I think)” 😂

[autisticburnham]

For those unaware, during the production of TNG, Star Trek bought the rights to a script from David Gerrold called Blood and Fire, which focused on the Enterprise coming across a derelict ship whose crew had been infected with Regulan Blood Worms, a creature so deadly that according to regulations, any place found to contain them should be immediately sterilized and destroyed. This was supposed to be a metaphor for the public's fear of HIV/AIDS, and according to Wikipedia, Gerrold apparently later stated it was supposed to specifically represent the fears surrounding giving or receiving a blood donation, and the episode would have ended with a card with information on how to help the Red Cross. Famously however, the B plot was supposed to include a gay couple on the Enterprise, which would have been Star Trek's first gay couple.

Despite buying the rights to the script, members of the production staff, namely Rick Berman, worried that it would be too controversial and never produced the episode. It would eventually have three adaptations though. The most well known, after UPN's parent company decided they wanted to do an AIDS Awareness week and mandated that all of their shows have a very special episode, the Star Trek Enterprise crew drug up the script and very, very loosely adapted it into 2x14 Stigma. Gerrold would also go on to adapt the story into his original novel series, Star Wolf.

Relevant to this post however, is the fan made series Star Trek: Phase II, later renamed New Voyages, which is supposed to be the later years of Kirk and crew's five year mission. They received permission from Gerrold and adapted it into their fourth and fifth episodes, Blood and Fire Parts 1 & 2. This is by all accounts a much more faithful adaptation of the original script than Stigma. And one half of the gay couple present here is Peter Kirk, Sam's son and one of the survivors from the tos episode Operation: Annihilate!, who has since joined Starfleet and found a position on the Enterprise. Episode is also notable for featuring Denise Crosby playing one of Tasha's ancestors.

You can find both episodes here. Warning, they are extremely cheesy

Begging Star Trek to canonize Kirk's gay nephew

[anotheruserwithnoname]

The numbers game

As has been mentioned repeatedly, the rights to John Constantine are allegedly tied up with the announced HBO Max production (scheduled to film in early 2023), which is why we have been blessed with Jenna Coleman’s interpretation of the character in The Sandman. I’ve seen some folks on twitter outright disbelieve Gaiman’s claim on this. Some people have become conditioned to question people’s motives on these things. Fact is, it’s purely pragmatic: Gaiman wanted a modern Constantine in Sandman (they could have created a new character for Dream a Little Dream of Me to provide the sand), plus I think he fell in love with Jenna Coleman (as you do) and wanted to give her more than the cameo she would have otherwise had when 18th century Lady Johanna appears. People will be debating the casting decisions on Death, Lucifer and others for years to come, but fortunately with Johanna it’s actually as cut-and-dried as you can get with such things.

Anyway, back to my point for this post: I can’t help thinking that the HBO Max production shouldn’t be used as an excuse to not give us some form of Johanna Constantine spin-off. For one thing, DC/Warners seems to love doubling up, if not tripling up adaptations of their characters. If not for a combination of C19 and a few other factors you may have seen reported in the news, the Ezra Miller Flash movie would have been released long ago. Miller’s version was actually announced not long after Gustin’s series debuted (you may recall the star of Arrow being a bit pissed about that). They even lampshaded this in the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries by having Miller and Gustin’s Flashes meet briefly. Ironically, as it looks now, the Gustin Flash series is scheduled to end after its NINTH season before the movie comes out. 

And that’s the thing: there is a canonical DC multiverse. Just like with Marvel (which means we get to enjoy seeing Hayley Atwell playing a female version of Captain America, albeit mostly in animated and comic book form other than her cameo in Dr. Strange 2). And Crisis (both the comic original and the TV version) established that ALL the different versions of DC characters co-exist (in the comic they even account for Cathy Lee Crosby’s forgotten Wonder Woman movie of 1974). In the DC Multiverse, Michael Keaton’s Batman co-exists with Adam West’s. Mia Sara’s version of Harley Quinn from the 2003 Birds of Prey TV series co-exists with Margot Robbie’s movie version; and BoP’s Oracle (formerly Batgirl) technically co-exists with the version in the now-cancelled film. There is zero reason why Jenna Coleman’s Johanna Constantine, from a universe in which that person happens to be female, couldn’t co-exist with Matt Ryan’s John Constantine or Keanu Reeve’s version or the person who will be cast for the HBO Max version (according to some media reports, the role is apparently not officially cast yet). Why can’t they all co-exist? How many Dr. Stranges were there in that last movie, anyhow?

Count how many variations of Batman or the Batman continuity are either current, announced or recent: Robert Pattinson (The Batman, which may get a sequel); Michael Keaton (returning for The Flash and he was also supposed to be in the Batgirl movie; rumor has it he’s in Aquaman 2 as well); Ben Affleck (rumor has it he may return for Aquaman 2 as well or Flash); a sequel to Joker has been announced (Bruce Wayne appeared in the first film); Pennyworth (a prequel series about Alfred) is about to air its 3rd season; the Gotham series ended not that long ago; animated films featuring Batman still come out periodically. I’m sure I missed one or two - thing is we can have a ton of Batmen but not two very different versions of Constantine? They don’t even say Jenna’s name the same as Matt’s.

Hell, if there isn’t a fan fic already on AO3 featuring Jenna’s Johanna and Matt or Keanu’s John getting busy on some astral plane, someone’s being lazy! LOL

[chanelfunnell]

Q@A puckbunnies

guys, all what's wrong with the puckbunnies with unhealthy long term obsession with Sidney Crosby but also branching out into other franchises and very young age groups.

She's spiteful, toxic and envious, name calling. Why do you bother about Connor NcDavid's long term girlfriend who is actually his childhood sweetheart I stress long term as well hit or miss with her whether a wag works or stays home

McDavid is 27, I doubt he would consider to even drag 40+ years old spiteful pyckbunny boiler of strange look and a toxic character on his ice hockey stick. Mind, in the speed of the light.

Tazer follows this Ashley on Insta. She runs his fan account..well, a lot of players are on her mind but her fits are about Sidney Crosby.

[rylekayner]

who's your favorite player and why?

ok so i couldn't narrow it down to one so i was going to narrow it down to five. That didn't work either so without further ado in no particular order here's my top 10 players and why:

1. Brenden Gallagher - He was the first hockey player i knew of (don't come at me i live in Australia) and i got really into his personality through all of the Habs media stuff when the Gallys were a thing and i've grown to love his playing style. My thing for stupid rat boys can be traced back to him.

2. Tyler Seguin - He's the first hockey player that i really just fell for (yes i know stereo-typical) for about 6 years i was a die hard Stars fan because of my love for him. He's done some kinda sketchy stuff when he was young but imma be honest i find the whole twitter incident fucking hilarious more than homophobic and he's shown a lot of active growth over the years and has actual receipts towards actually being a good person - notably attending BLM marches and kneeling in solidarity. I can no longer call myself a stars fan (fuck ja benn) but I will forever be a Seguin fan.

3. Braden Holtby - First of all have you seen that man? How can you not love him? Like even if he had the personality of a burning dumpster he's still beautiful as all hell. That being said he's got a great personality and is so stead fast in his morals that i could and have cried over his vocal allyship with the LGBT community for so many years. Also the turtle saga, hope his turtles are doing well down in dallas.

4. Claude Giroux - The mouth on this man, iconic. This may be controversial but when i first started actually paying attention to hockey i was being guided by a penguins fan, they made me watch a game with them, of course it was against the flyers and much to their chagrin I instantly fell in love with Giroux. As a got more into hockey tumblr i just kept finding out more and more about this silly little man the more i loved him (i would like to mention danny briere as an honorary mention along with Claude since i have watched that one video where they're in Germany thousands of times). Now here I am a flyers fan.

5. Travis Konecny - That's right another little rat bastard. Even when i was sorta out of the loop with hockey i couldn't stop paying attention to this little man. I have a habit of keeping track of all the short kings through out the league (shout out nathan gerbe). I think TK should have his own personal mic for every game, i want to hear every single thing out of that garbage cans mouth. That one game where he finally gets Crosby to bite and is just having the time of his life.

6. Nolan Patrick - Yeah yeah yeah, we all saw this coming but hey nothing wrong with the classics. Beautiful man, I wish i was him. So much envy, also crippling migraine gang!

7. Erik Johnson - He's the reason I got back into hockey. I honestly cannot explain it, I don't know why but there was just something about the missing teeth that drew me to him (the worst part is I'm not even joking). This man and his fucking horses, absolute legend he just names them after his teammates without blinking. Also his private account on Instagram is "bighorny" and he uses it primarily to talk shit on himself on avalanche posts while unsuspecting fans try to defend him.

8. Nicke Backstrom - My love, he's the reason I learnt swedish. Another member of the crippling migraine gang, but for real when I was a 14 year old kid suffering from a migraine disorder knowing that other people who had achieved crazy levels of success like Nicke was very comforting. Also I think his sense of humour is wildly underrated causes totally dry.

9. Matthew Tkachuk - I know, I know, another little rat boy. I think the whole legacy thing is really interesting but like beyond that he is such a defined player in terms of he's carved out the perfect little nook within the league and that nook just happens to be getting under everyone else's skin. Obviously, everyone knows the whole thing between Matty and Drai but I feel like people have forgotten about the whole Drew Dougherty thing. "ah yes fellow associate" king shit.

10. Carey Price - And we're coming full circle back to the habs. Pricy is an absolute class act everyone knows that, he's such a kind person to all of the fans. I seriously miss the PK&Pricy bromance :( also, his wife is beautiful and the whole thing with him using his wife lingerie as a pocket square lives in my mind absolutely rent free. Also goalie so <3

I could make this list longer (they'd all be goalies, didn't put enough goalies on this list) but ill stop now.

Extra little shout out to all the flyers rookies too.

[28quavers]

Bertelsmann Music Group: How Hartwig Masuch made BMG more profitable than the market leader Universal

The manager leads the largest European music label more profitably than the big US competitors - because he keeps BMG away from the superstars of the hour.

09/12/2019 | by Alexander Demling

Berlin. Of course, the corridor to Hartwig Masuch is adorned with music memorabilia: In front of the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) office there is an almost life-size black and white picture of Nick Cave and the poster for a documentary about David Crosby, on a shelf inside there is a shrink-wrapped one Vinyl record by Kylie Minogue.

All a bit sober for a music label, at least when measured against the glittering pop world of a Katy Perry or Taylor Swift. But Masuch doesn't see discovering pop phenomena as his main job. “Global artists with a history, a brand and a fan base���, that is the target group that the BMG boss is after.

Like Kylie Minogue, whose greatest successes (“Can't Get You Out Of My Head”) were a long time ago, but who landed high in the charts in 2018 with her album “Golden” produced by BMG - because her fans apparently didn't got out of my mind. “Wanting to spot the next Ed Sheeran on the guitar on the street is a much more volatile business. On a global scale, that's insanely risky, ”says Masuch.

The figures prove him right: with sales of 545 million euros, the subsidiary of the Gütersloh family company Bertelsmann is the largest label in Europe and the fourth largest in the world, behind Universal, Sony and Warner - and it is more profitable at the same time. Market leader Universal, who has many of the world's most successful artists under contract with Taylor Swift, Drake or Ariana Grande, has more than ten times the turnover. The margin on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 22.4 percent is one and a half times as high at BMG.

The 65-year-old looks so decidedly natural and age-appropriate that he could pass as an eccentric himself in the eccentric music business. Masuch, who dropped out of economics shortly before graduating, has retained the sober view of an economist on the business with stars and hits. He speaks of contribution margins, of the "predictability" that he wants to offer his artists; Artists whom he sometimes calls “key accounts”. Record boss sentences like "I'll make you a star" cannot be imagined from Masuch's mouth, an old "Kraftwerk" line is more appropriate: "I'm the musician with a calculator in hand."

He seems to fit in well with a time when even young artists are looking for reputable merchants instead of dream sellers at labels. They want to control their work themselves. They would like to select services such as marketing or sales à la carte instead of giving up the rights to exploit their music in an all-encompassing record deal.

Like Taylor Swift, one of the most successful pop stars in history. When Swift let the contract with her ancestral label Big Machine Records expire and switched to Universal in late 2018, the 29-year-old announced that it was "important to be on par with a label" in view of the future of the music industry.

Would the "Shake It Off" singer have also been a good fit for BMG? "Taylor Swift would absolutely be an artist that we would be interested in," says Masuch. Global success, despite her age already having a "history" of 15 years, that fits into Masuch's scheme. Still, there were no conversations. "For us it was too early for an act of this international magnitude," says Masuch. "Not this time, but maybe next time."

The so-called “label services deals” currently make up a good eight percent of the market, but the segment is growing by a third every year, says Mark Mulligan, head of the London-based analysis firm Midia. BMG is a key player in this area, but the market leaders have long been competing with the Berliners. But BMG has built a reputation for being good with artists. "It's a people's business," says Mulligan. And quite a few artists would have burned their fingers with one of the big labels.

A wonderful time for artists

"We are at a historic turning point for labels," says Mulligan. The classic major model of cross-financing the development of current top artists through the catalog of older artists is coming under pressure.

Still, Mulligan thinks it's a wonderful time for artists. They owe this to the Internet: when records and CDs had to be transported to the shops in trucks and a musician could only be known through the radio and posters, the path to fame inevitably led through a label. In the streaming era, 17-year-old Billie Eilish produced her number one album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" With her brother in the nursery and initially distributed the songs on Soundcloud. Eilish now has a universal contract, but the conditions for it are changing. “It's a question of bargaining power,” says Masuch.

The man from Hagen knows all sides of the industry: He played in a rock band from which Nena and Extrabreit emerged. Later he pushed the Neue Deutsche Welle as manager of Ina Deter and other artists. He then worked for Warner and, since 1991, for BMG - the old BMG, a major label that Bertelsmann merged with Sony Music in 2004 . In 2008 the group sold its shares to the partner from Japan.

In October 2008 Masuch re-founded BMG Rights Management - the same month that Spotify went on the market. This enabled them to fully adapt BMG to the new, digital world of music. Masuch believes this world will soon be radically rearranged. The sales growth of the labels is currently mainly driven by the streaming of older songs, which accounted for the majority of the hits. The streaming sales are often not sufficiently taken into account in the rights contracts, which is why many artists do not receive much attention. “Many contracts for the 20 most successful catalogs are due for renewal over the next 36 months. The labels lose the digital dividend, ”he says.

The BMG boss therefore expects the owners of the major labels to turn the companies into cash at the height of the boom. Buyers could be technology companies like Apple or Amazon . The first sign of this trend is that Chinese tech giant Tencent is interested in Universal Music.

Tencent , which operates the Chinese service Tencent Music and holds shares in Spotify , could put pressure on Apple or Amazon and their music services with a stake in Universal . “Netflix doesn't have to have all of the content. In the music business, on the other hand, everyone needs everything, ”says Masuch. The subscribers would not accept to be able to hear only artists who, for example, have a contract with Warner or Sony. For Apple Music, an alliance between Tencent and Spotify and Universal is therefore threatening as long as the iPhone producer does not have its own leverage, such as a stake in another label.

For BMG, however, Masuch sees no need for action. “Our repertoire is needed. We'll take a look at it. "

More: Tencent is negotiating with the Vivendi group to take over ten percent of the shares in Universal Music. It would be a billion dollar deal.

[officialgritty]

Sometimes I ask myself

How much could the NHL handle? What would they do if I, Zoe, had the opportunity to become a GM of my own team?

Another short essay by officialgritty. Here is the masterlist, it would be best to read them in order!

The Drafting Process

First of all, I’ll only accept picks for even numbers besides 7, 13 and 69. Odd numbers can choke. 

I hate public speaking so I would nominate my assistant (still have not decided on one so feel free to send your applications into my DMs) to call out our picks. It’s probably the smartest decision considering I mumble a lot and have an accent so no ones names would be pronounced correctly anyway. 

Personally I would like to draft one (1) beer league player. I think they could really get the team riled up, maybe even rack up some decent penalties for other teams by instigating. 

“The Vermont Villains would like to select... big boy INSERT NAME.” - Assistant

“The Vermont Villains would like to select... string bean INSERT NAME.” - Assistant

“The Vermont Villains would like to select... sorry the mic cut out, after this can we have an intermission? I’m starving. Oh, we pick twinkle toes INSERT NAME.” - Me 

General Rules / Other

There are no Capricorn’s to be allowed within management or on the team besides me. I was going to say, “I’m sorry I don’t make the rules,” but I quite literally do. 

I am banning Crosby and MacKinnon from ever joining the team. In fact, when they visit for games the staff will ‘decorate’ a stall for them in particular. 

I will be starting a petition for teams to be allowed 5 non-forfeit forfeits, meaning you get 5 chances to say, “No I don’t want to play that team today.” Both teams get no points though. It’s almost like a mental health day and I think that's neat. 

The Team

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

The Vermont Villains are based in Vermont obviously, because there’s not a whole lot happening there. What even is Vermont for?

The team slogan is one everyone should be familiar with:

“No whole body, no murder.”

Our team intro song as players step out onto the ice is Be Prepared from The Lion King.

Our goal horn is someone sneezing, the audience will be sprayed with a light mist of sea water for effect. 

Our team song played when we win will be Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant.

As for team rivals, we have @chaos-hockey​‘s creation the Insert Team Heres. They seem so sweet, I think the Villains would have a great time messing with them. I also believe we would have some beef with the Penguins, I don’t really have a reason for it, I just feel it deep in my gut. Maybe they get their knickers in a twist because we keep stealing their good stuff idk.

Mascot

The mascot wears a neon ski mask that changes based on the team’s choice in jersey. His name is Monday, because he’s always creeping up on you and causing mayhem through the grandstands. He has a water pistol attached to a tool belt, what's the tool belt for? No one ever truly knows until it’s too late. 

Gritty and Monday would get along like a house on fire.

Uniform

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

You may notice the presence of three jersey’s and think to yourself, “Oh there's a home, away and an alternate.” Wrong. We have two home jerseys and an alternate. 

On Wednesday’s we wear pink. Seriously. This jersey is only to be worn on Wednesday games.

All of the jerseys have players names written on the back but it’s only in a script font so it’s hard to read. Announcers will be confused, players will be confused but fans won’t be because they are used to it by now.

All of their numbers are written out in Roman numerals.

Each season the team colours change (besides pink Wednesdays). Why? Because I don’t like commitment. We would make hella money on limited time merch too.

Speaking of merch, every player will need to design a pair of crocs for fans to purchase as merch. This is not limited to the players, management must also participate. Yes, you can buy the George from Statistics crocs. I really just want my own crocs and to not be judged for it.

“I’ll take one of the Zoe crocs please!” - A fan

Now we can’t limit the uniform just to the team, I’ll show up to games rocking a power suit Michelle Obama inauguration style. Always in the same colour as the team jersey for that night. Yes, we are implying that I am Gritty.

“I want them to fear me but also want to fuck me.” - Me

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

For all working, team socks must be worn when entering the practise and game facilities. A sock check will be conducted at security. We will not let anyone in if they are not wearing Team Socks™️

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

You may be wondering about the away jersey still but don’t fret. We get to the arena early and steal the other team’s clothes. Some end up in their suits, some in their away jerseys and some are left shirtless. Whatever we can or cannot find before puck drop. 

Arena

The arena won’t be boring that's for sure. 

Out the front we have a massive V sign, just like how you see a McDonald’s sign from so far away, you’ll know when you get close to the arena.

Instead of stairs, each seating section has a harness that you get hooked up to for when you want to change levels. And each time that you want to get down, there’s a swirly slide.

Music played will be my favourite mashups from the YouTube account William Maranci to psych out competitors. Here is a link to one of my personal favourites:

Obviously the team will need to listen to these before they are played for the first time to desensitise them. This will be done at the monthly team Disco.

During the intermission, all the lights in the main area will be turned off. Unofficial nap time my friends.

The menu consists of mutton, bagels on a stick, your choice of charcuterie board, fairy bread and fairy floss. For drinks you can either have carrot juice, Corona beer (we have a brand deal with them) or black tea with no milk.

In conclusion, it’s a good thing that I don’t have a lot of money and/or power, the NHL would hate me because they ain’t me and I have too many good ideas in my brain.

Thank you so sticking through it for this long, here’s all my love and affection 😘🥰❤️

Once again a big thank you to @chaos-hockey for bringing my ideas to fruition. Also thank you to Mik for encouraging this whole concept in our messages ❤️

Here is a part 2!

Tagging some of my mutuals/favourite accounts (please don't feel pressured to interact with this if it isn't your thing, I won't be offended): 

@scheifefe @nikolajehlers @kempe @bowenbyram @d00dlebob @travisgermy @ifiwasshawnmendesidslapmyself @dmonchld @kiedhara @sortagaysortahigh @matthewthotchuk @babytkachuks @bricksatlandyswindow @canadianheaters @youngbeezersmixtape @pitoftrash @perpetually-anxious @kspitehockey

Sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone, I didn’t want to tag every single person I follow 💀

[xiaq]

(TW: sexual assault. Take care of yourself.) I won't be offended if you ignore this, or make your own post. I hope I don't offend YOU. But I'd like to hear your thoughts? RPF is abhorrent to me. I won't read it, even if it's an innocuous, 2 line appearance of Crosby so the fictional world is more real. It's putting words and actions into the mouths of REAL people. And to me the line is paper thin between that and the r*pe fantasy letter that Natalie Portman received as her 1st ever fan letter.

Firstly, I understand why RPF might make you uncomfortable and I’m not offended by your question at all. Keep in mind, these are my thoughts/opinions and I absolutely don’t expect everyone to share them, and that’s fine. So let's tackle a few things individually. 1. I think comparing RPF to that rape fantasy letter Natalie Portman received is a dangerous false equivalency. In one scenario, an adult man writes a terrible fantasy about a minor and then ensures to the best of his ability that the minor in question receive and read said fantasy without the ability to consent to its content. In the other scenario, (provided people are being responsible and respectful) you usually have an adult writing a fantasy for other like-minded adults. They do not want the person the fantasy is about to read or engage with it, and they use the available tagging and warning systems to ensure that people can consent, to the best of their ability, to consuming the story’s content. I know one of my friends who writes RPFs puts in all caps at the top of every fic she posts online something to the effect of “IF YOU FOUND THIS BY GOOGLING YOUR NAME TURN AROUND AND LEAVE.” 

TL;DR I do not believe perverse power-seeking behavior that disallows consent can be equated to a genre of writing that, as a whole, usually ensures readers can consent to consume the content produced.

2. On the discomfort with “putting words and actions into the mouths of REAL people” thing. I think it’s important to remember that, historically, literarily speaking, some form of RPF has always existed. The Epic of Gilgamesh all the way back in the second millennium BC was a fictionalized version of (to our knowledge) a real Mesopotamian king. Nearly all of Shakespeare’s histories were fictionalized versions of real people and their exploits, and the Brontë sisters more or less role-played people who fought in and lived through the Napoleonic wars (the Duke of Wellington, for example) who were still living while they created these stories. As children, humans, in general, are prone to making fictional accounts of real people all the time. I’d wager that, at its base construction, we all do a bit of RPF writing, even if it’s solely in the privacy of our own heads, when we make assumptions about the humans around us and the parts of their lives or personalities that we do not actively see.

TL;DR I don’t believe anything is inherently wrong with RPF––in fact, I think it’s quite natural.

3. Now, I can understand discomfort over RPFs because they may feel like a divergence from more traditional fic about fictional characters. But I think it’s important to remember that the very concept of a celebrity involves a performative body. The public personas of celebrities are constructs, and those very constructs perhaps encourage fictional interpretations. I’ve never written RPF, but I believe it was @earlgreytea68 who said (and I’m paraphrasing, here) that RPF allows a degree of freedom that most fic does not because writers have a larger (or perhaps more empty) canvas with which to work. In a book or a TV show, a character often has a back story and explicit personality quirks, and the reader or viewer follows them home and sees who they are at night, alone, away from other people or when interacting with people they love. Obviously, we are not afforded this behind-the-scenes information about most celebrities, so an RPF writer essentially gets to make up their own character––their own ideas about who this person is behind closed doors/when the cameras are off––and superimpose those ideas onto a well-loved figure.  Tl:DR Folks who write RPF are engaging in creative, fictional, writing, and I think, for the most part, they are well aware of the fact that their stories do not represent reality and perhaps prefer writing them because of the additional freedom of the genre.

4. All that being said, I do think it’s very important that RPF writers (and fic writers in general) are responsible and respectful in the way that they share their writing online. If someone writes an RPF and sends it to the real person in question, that is inappropriate behavior. If someone finds an RPF online and then takes it to the real person included in the narrative (despite the author’s clear intent to never share it with that person) that is inappropriate behavior. If a person posts fic online and does not properly tag it so readers can consent to their reading experience, that is inappropriate behavior. I feel these situations might be termed “abhorrent,” considering context, but I certainly do not think the very act of writing or reading RPF is abhorrent.  TL;DR As long as writers share their RPFs responsibly, I support them and have no quarrel with them.