#this is as of 1980 so some of their names might have changed since then skfjdks

[eggmeralda]

60s/70s CORONATION STREET IF IT WAS MADE BY LIBERALS 😂😂🤣🤣

ENA SHE/HERPLES

CHRISTINE HARDPERSON

ELSIE PANNER

LUCILLE HE/HIMWITT

QUEERDRE LANGTON

LESBIAN FAIRCLOUGH

GAYL TILSLEY

EMILY BISHOP

Dennis Tanner

ANNIE WOKER

FRED LGBT

THEY LANGTON

KEN BAROMANTICLOW

[archaeologysucks]

Yesterday I broke through a long-standing brick wall in my family tree, and was finally able to connect one of my ancestors with her parents and siblings, which is pretty damn satisfying. It was a case of women getting lost in the records when they remarry and change their names, which is unfortunately extremely common. I also got to add another wild story involving bigamy and legal turmoil to my family history, and that's always fun.

I knew a lot about my great-great-great grandmother Mary Emeline Brown (1833-1910), but unfortunately the earliest proven record I had for her was her marriage in 1848 at the age of about 15 to John M. Armstrong in Jerseyville, Illinois. This meant that on the earliest census record (1850) that lists every person by name, she was already married, with no clues about her family of origin.

All I knew was that her maiden name was the extremely common Brown, and that her death certificate named her parents as John Brown and Ruth Nelson, with no indication who had given that information or whether they knew it to be accurate.

There was a prominent Brown family in Jersey County, Illinois, however, and I was sure Mary was connected to them somehow, but I couldn't quite prove it. I knew where her husband's grandfather and uncle's land was, and where the Brown lands were, so I made a map to see if that would help. I was able to prove that the Armstrong lands lay on the same major roadway as those of a John Brown (1790-1872), a few miles to the east, and for a while, I thought that might be Mary's father.

The only problem? There was no Mary listed among this John's children, and no obvious gap she might have fit into. Also, his wife's name was Margaret Piper, which is not very similar to Ruth Nelson. Well, maybe Ruth Nelson was not John's wife. Maybe Mary was born out of wedlock. Such things weren't uncommon. Damned if I could prove it, though, without doing some complicated DNA work, or finding some court documents that stated her paternity.

For a long time, I was stuck there, at the same dead end my grandmother had arrived at when she first started working on our genealogy in the 1980s. Just about everyone who listed Mary on their family tree on Ancestry.com gave her parents either as this John Brown, without offering any corroborating evidence, or else simply as John Brown with no additional information at all.

Well, the other day, I decided to dig a little deeper. I went through every single family tree that included Mary, to see if I could find even one clue that might point me in a useful direction. And I found one: a single ancestry tree that listed Mary's parents as Vincent Brown (c. 1805-1834) and Elizabeth Wilson (1810-1892). And more importantly, the researcher had explained their conclusions, which is something surprisingly few people on Ancestry.com ever do.

When Vincent Brown died in about 1834, he left a wife and a few young children, but because he was a young man, he left no will naming his heirs. However, court documents for his estate mention a child with the initials M. E. Brown as one of his heirs. This is not proof, but ….

In 1839, when Mary would have been about 6 years old, Elizabeth Wilson Brown remarried to Jonathan Routh, whose surname some sometimes spelled Roth or Ruth. It's not impossible to think a later relative might have heard the name Grandma Ruth, wife of Jon, associated with Mary's mother, and assumed that was her first name, confusing Wilson for Nelson as her maiden name, and also assuming Jon was Jon Brown, since that was Mary's maiden name. This is also not proof, but ….

On the 1840 census, which only lists the head of household by name, with numbers for each sex and age bracket for all other household members, all the known children of Elizabeth Brown and Jonathan Routh (spelled Ruthe on this record) are accounted for, and one is a girl between the ages of 5 and 9, who could be Mary. This is also not proof, but ….

Jonathan Routh and Elizabeth had three more children, but he decided not stick around. In 1845, he left Illinois for Texas with no intention of returning, and he did not bother to grant Elizabeth a divorce first. In 1852, he remarried in Texas, and had several more children. He served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and died in 1864. In 1871, Elizabeth sued his heirs in Texas for half of his estate, because she was still his legal wife. The case went to the Texas Supreme Court, and she was ultimately awarded 1/4 of his estate ($750) in 1883.

When Elizabeth Wilson Brown Routh died in 1892, her estate probate documents named all of her heirs, which at that time included many grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and one surviving daughter: Mary Ernest. By this time, Mary E. Armstrong had divorced my great-great-great-grandfather John M. Armstrong (and good for her, because he was a piece of work), and remarried to Albert Ernst, a man 20 years her junior who owned a brewery. Well done, grandma.

Is that proof that my Mary Emeline Brown Armstrong Ernst was the child of Vincent Brown and Elizabeth Wilson Brown Routh? Well, no, not really. But it is compelling evidence, and a strong lead that I can follow up on by digging deeper into Jersey County, Illinois court records, and looking into what became of her theoretical siblings for additional clues. Importantly, there is nothing here to contradict the idea that this was her family. I am fairly confident that this is them, and that it's only a matter of time before I can prove it definitively. I love solving historical mysteries and puzzles!

[thisbluespirit]

How To Find Your (British Actor) Blorbo On The Radio: A Brief Guide

(Disclaimer: British, because the main tool I'm using is the BBC's Genome.)

If you want more of your fave actor, or you love full-cast drama podcasts/audios (and audiobooks/NF content too) here's a guide on how to get your hands on BBC Radio broadcasts.

The BBC have a great free resource called Genome, which has all the Radio Times listings from 1922 to the present day (plus some of the actual articles), and it's searchable. Up until its arrival, it was really hard to do that, so \o/

Not all actors do radio and not everything you find will be obtainable, but it's always worth a try! It's especially likely for actor-blorbos who do other audio work, or theatre (theatre tends not to pay so well, and radio is a handy extra thing that can be more easily slotted in between performances than TV/film.)

Go to Genome, and put your blorbo's name into the search box:

Press search, which will bring back a bunch of results from both radio and TV listings from 1922 up to the current year:

2. Filter down to "radio only" on the sidebar to avoid scrolling through all the TV. At the top of the page you can change the display order to First broadcast (or Availability, if you want it only to bring things currently available to stream on the BBC website), among other options.

I can also cut down on extraneous results by selecting a date range that only covers when my guy was active.

I scroll down until I find something that looks interesting, in this case a proper audio drama, called The Hornblower Story. It's from 1980 and is an adaptation of a well known book. The details give me enough info to search the wider internet, and see if I get lucky...

3. Search the internet and listen to your blorbo act in radio drama!

There are several ways to obtain radio drama online. If you use streaming sites like Audible and Spotify, it may be there, although usually only if it's had a commercial release.

The BBC still broadcast old programmes on the radio, so it might be currently available on their website to stream - and unlike TV, you can listen to BBC Radio anywhere in the world! (If you are in the UK, you can also download and use the BBC Sounds app.) The Genome will usually provide a link for you to go straight there, if that's the case.

However, obviously, most BBC Radio from past decades is not available commercially or being broadcast by the BBC now and some doesn't exist in the archives, or was never recorded (as with TV), but as methods of recording audio at home have been widely available since the 1950s and 60s, there are loads of off-air recordings of radio made by listeners/collectors, and some have freely shared their copies online. Some are in closed forums etc., but three good sites to try first are YouTube, RadioEchoes & the Internet Archive.

I usually start with a Google search - e.g. '"Title" radio' or radio bbc and if that doesn't give me anything add on first "Radio Echoes" and then "Internet archive" to the search.

And I'm in luck! Radio Echoes appear to have the adaptation I'm after. I need to check the broadcast dates to see if they match up & then I can stream or download for free - and hear my blorbo play a stern Admiral for 5 minutes or less, hurrah!

Clicking on the links takes you to a screen where you can press play to stream or right click on the play bar to download the mp3 file to your device. (Click the "Save audio as..." option).

These are archive off-air recordings, so the quality can vary, especially for older programmes.

4. Rinse and repeat with each new likely Genome discovery.

If you find a copy of what you're looking for on the Internet Archive instead, you'll get up a page with a play bar (like the one above), with episodes listed plus details (to varying degrees) below. If you want to stream, just click play and enjoy. If you want to download it, then click on the MP3 files line on the right-hand sidebar, which will then give you an "X no of files" button to click and you can download them to keep.

(You can download all the files, but I usually cut straight to the chase and just nab the MP3s.)

Sometimes the BBC have released a commercial audiobook. In those cases, if you already use audio/music streaming subscription sites like Audible or Spotify, you should be able to find it there.

If you don't, or you want to buy a download, I've found the best option (weirdly!) (for UK users, at any rate) is to get the audiobook up at Penguin Books, which links to various paid subscription streaming and download options, so you can find the best one for you (and you know it's been recced by a hopefully reputable source.)

Last year, I wanted to buy Vivat Rex, the BBC's landmark dramatisation of all the English history plays rolled into one giant starry-cast Jacobean audio serial, and successfully used this route. (I'm very old by internet terms and still like listening via MP3 files on my MP3 player, as long as it survives.)

Pretty much the only affordable download option I've found so far I got courtesy of Penguin's links to Hive. (But this may be a UK only option.)

If what you're looking for seems likely to exist even if you can't find it by any of these methods - keep trying! New things are being added daily to all these websites, and the BBC cycle round old shows all the time.

And if you want to go deeper, there are closed forums etc. for radio enthusiasts where you need to make an account, but you may then be able to torrent or download an even wider variety of things.

Of course, whether or not your blorbo has been in anything good or any radio at all will depend on them, but I hope this guide will help enable you to find out!

YouTube, Radio Echoes, the Internet Archive and Old Time Radio all have radio from other countries too. So while the BBC Genome can't help you with anywhere outside the UK, the other links here can be good places to look around and browse for things you might be interested in.

You can of course use the same methods to search for things like a favourite author, or particular plays, to see if the BBC have done any radio adaptations - BBC Radio have done heaps of things that have never been adapted on screen, so it's always worth a look for anything you'd be into.

Radio Echoes is browsable as well as searchable, and while Internet Archive is a bit less so, there are some excellent collections you can look through, like the Saturday Night Theatre collection, and the BBC Radio Shows listings.

[paxvictori]

THOMAS FANON MAKING TIME! Here's a little doodle I made the other day. We don't see many electric engines in TTTE so here's a bit of a concept for how I think they're dynamics would be, since britian never really had electric trains on a wide scale until modernization we never really got to see how engines of that type see things, which where mainly in the US and continental europe. "Steam ain't going away kid, we tried that in 1905..."

Electric Locomotives hold a bit off an odd place in the wider social world of the railways. They're almost as old as steam engines, the first beginning operation in 1899 and many of them initially acted similarly to how we see diesels do around steam engines in the show/books. "It's the 20th Century teapot! Electric traction is the future, New York may have been the first to realize how messy and outdated you things are but soon every city and country in the world will follow!" but overtime that kind of mindset went away as the 20th century ground on and those early electrics realized steam wasn't going anywhere I'd imagine later 1920s and 1930s like say a GG1 built types would harbor no ill will towards their steam counterparts. (if I ever see another ttte story set in the northeast and a gg1 is an asshole to a steam engine I am going to SCREAM there are steam engines younger than this thing for crying out loud!)

I would imagine 1950s/60s things would change though. The electric locomotives built in that period shared a lot with the diesels that where replacing steam, in appearance and mechanics. I'd imagine they might ally themselves with diesels but maybe they'd be hostile to both steam engines, steam era electric types, AND diesels. Either way I feel like older electric engines would ally themselves with the steam locos due to already having some comradery with them and facing the same fate of scrap. But to the probable surprise of all parties involved, a lot of those steam era electric locomotives survived way longer than the engines the time they're from is named after, with a lot of examples of things like old boxcab electrics and things like the gg1 lasting into the 1980s, but overall that just made their fate come later than the steam engines they once knew. So yeag electric trens really cool and good consider em in your thomas stuff since it's something i don't see touched on.

[authorxxxxxx]

Sugar | Leland Stottlemeyer x fem!reader

Series : Dt. Monk

Pairing : Captain Leland Stottlemeyer x fem!reader

Summary : He just got divorced with his ex - wife Karen after years of endless fights . He just moved out from their ex - shared house and feeling like a complete reck , he decides to sleep to his office for a few days until he can short some things out . Meanwhile you just recently lost your beloved grandparents because of old age . Feeling lost you decide to take a new job opportunity and move to the other side of the country . What you didn't know was that both of your lives , where about to change .

Tw : age -gap ( Leland is 42 y/o while the reader is 22 ) , Leland has some serious anger issues , at this point Monk is a tw on his own , attempted kidnapping and sexual harassment ( but all 2 of them are just mentioned and they are not graphic ) , reader has awful coworkers , light mentions of smut (towards the end) , Leland is protective over the reader , but fluff in the end .

Important note : English isn't my first language so if you come across any mistakes, please just bare with me .

I recently just started rewatching Dt. Monk and I couldn't help but fall in love all over again with the Captain of the SFPD , so I decided to finally write about him since I couldn't find almost anything online .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were currently standing in the middle of your small apartment in San Francisco . Examining your house you couldn't help but notice that this is your new home .

But for how long ?

For a couple of years ? So you can make some money and then fly back to Philadelphia ?

Or live here , in this new town , for the rest of your life ?

You can't go back home .

I mean , you watched some videos on the internet on how to "Properly Re-Start your whole entire life without anybody noticing".

It was helpful though, it really was .

Fortunately only your best friend Stella was supportive of your decision , to say yes in this new job opportunity and move here .

The San Fransisco Police Department was in serious need of new assisants for police officers and you happened to be the 1st one that they recommended .

Your grantfather was an honorable Army Veteran and your grandmother was a police officer for the Philadelphia Police department .

And with that you managed to become one of the best students on your field .

The moment that you found out that you got a free scholarship in the university of your dreams , you and your grandparents were beyond happy .

And now , here you are .

Look at you .

You looked at yourself in the mirror .

You did not look like someone that could become a police officer .

But you knew better that that .

In 2 days it's going to be your first day at your new job at the SFPD .

And everything is going to be fine .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2/9/2002 SFPD

" Well Ms. Worthington , or would you like me to call you by your first name ? " The Captain asked you looking at you dead in the eyes .

That man .

" Whatever you prefer Captain . " You answered him quietly .

That man .

" Soo Y/N , let's have a look at your file shall we ? So you are 22 years old , born in 4th of October 1980 , graduated from The CUNY John Jay University of Criminal Justice with an excellent bachelors degree in Forensic Psychology . " The Captain said proudly .

" Well Y/N it looks like your a genius . And I am in desperate need of genius like you in my department . You got the job . You can start from today , right now if you like . We might need you after all . " The Captain said with a little smirk .

You wouldn't have been able to see it if you weren't so observeting .

"What am I even thinking ? He is 20 years older than me .

Have I completely gone crazy ? "

You asked yourself making your way to your office , that was beside Lieutenant Randy Disher .

You immediately realised that Randy was friendly and helpful . He even gave a complete tour of the building that the department is on .

" You kinda reminded me of someone familiar". Randy said to you while you were organizing your desk .

" Who ? " You then asked him curious.

" Of me . You remind him of me . That is a perfectly organised desk . I love it . Um , I'm Monk . Andrian Monk . " A man with a brown suit said to you .

He looked like he was in his early forties .

Like Stottlemeyer .

" Hi , and I'm Sharona Fleming . Mr Monk's assistant . I just wanted to say that I really liked your look miss . Um , Miss -

" Miss Y/N Worthington . She is one of the new assistants that we hired this weak . Forensic Psychologist . " A man with a baritone and deep voice suddenly said .

Captain Stottlemeyer had apparently come out of his office .

And was looking at you .

Scaning you .

Checking you out .

Who ?

You.

The Captain was looking at you .

" Are you perhaps related to a George Worthington . The Army Veteran ? " Monk asked you .

" Um he is my grandfather . He served in the Vietnam War . " You said proudly.

" Oh My God . My wife Trudy Monk had interviewed them . Both your grandparents back in the late 70s . Unfortunately she was killed 4 years ago . " Monk said .

" I'm so sorry to hear that . My condolences, I know how it feels to lose someone you love . " You said to him .

" Did you lost your husband too ? I was thinking maybe I could meet your grandfather, I meen he would have to come here , cause I can't fly . " He said .

" Andrian ! " Sharona yelled at him .

" No , I'm not married and I am so sorry Mr. Monk , but he can not fly either . Both my grantparents passed away last month . " You said to him and with that the conversation was over .

" Okay everybody , we have a case so I want everybody to come with me . You too sugar . " The Captain said .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" She is 22 years old . " Monk said to him .

" Who is ? " He asked him back , acting like he did not know .

" The one you called sugar this morning . " Monk said while organising Lelands desk .

" I don't have a single idea of what you're talking about . And please for the love of God stop messing up my stuff . "

" You'll thank me later . Don't act like you don't understand . "

Leland was starting to get angry and that was obvious . But he wasn't angry at Monk . No. He was angry at himself . He got divorse nearly 3 months ago and know he's head over his toes with a woman who is 20 years younger than him . Maybe she doesn't even like him .

" Well she is obviously into you . There isn't that better ? " Monk said to him .

" Yeah I know . " Leland answered to him .

They both sat in outer silence for a couple of seconds .

" Wait what ? " Leland asked him immediately .

" See I knew you would like it better this way . "

" No Monk , abouth her , the other thing you said before that . " He started raising his voice .

" I shouldn't have said that . " Monk said quietly .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the past couple of months he said nothing .

He of course wanted to .

He was just waiting foe the right moment .

It was a cold November day and his day hadn't start very well .

And when he arrived at the parking lot of the building he immediately tried to spot your car .

Your black Honda Sylvia was not parked at it's designated spot .

Great !

You weren't here .

He parked his 1988 Jeep Cherokee next to his police car and headed to his office .

Surprisingly you were there .

But you seemed to be anxious and frustrated .

You felt his gaze upon you .

" Goodmorning Captain . I printed the copy's that you wanted . You need anything else ? " You asked him .

" Follow me Miss Worthington and then close the door behind you . " He ordered.

" Is everything alright Captain ? "

" Where is your car Miss Worthington ? " He asked you .

" Parked in the parking lot Sir . Why ? "

" It's not where it's supposed to be . And I want to know why . "

" I switched spots with officer Adams Sir . "

" Nobody can get along or even work with him . He is never cooperative and always complaints if he doesn't get it his way . So I'll ask you this once and I expect the truth from you . Does officer Adams causes you problems ? "

" Yes Captain . Him and his assistant are always commenting and judging the way that I live my life and the way that I work . For the past weeks they've been blackmailing me , that if I don't do what they want , they'll find a way to make me lose my job . Now Sir I obviously don't want that , so when they asked for my parking spot , I gave it to them . "

" Thank you Miss Worthington . Now let's make this problem disappeared okay ? " He asked you while he was getting up going to open the door for you .

" Watch and learn . Go sit on your desk sugar . " He says to you the moment you step out from his office .

" Hey Adams ! Guess what -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" He fired them ? " Sharona asked you shoked with Stottlemeyer's strange behavior .

" Yes , I was in absolute shocked when he did that . I thought that he hated me for no reason . " You said to her kinda feeling a little bit sad .

" Are you kidding me Y/N ? He is crazy for you . Adrian has told me everything about it , yes and I find that amazing . "

" Sharona , I can't . He is my Captain and he is 42 years old . He is not looking for a fling . "

" Who said that he is looking for a fling ? You are a perfect woman and I personaly believe that age doesn't matter . I had Benjie when I was younger than you . I think that you need someone older right now and the Captain is perfect for you . I know it seems kinda weird , but I mean it's your life . " She said to you .

You stood in the middle of your kitchen making her some tea for the night .

" Tell me Y/N . What are you thinking ? I'm telling you Andrian said to me that he's never seen the Captain like that . You both like each other . Go for it . Right ? " She said once again to you .

" I don't- I don't know Sharona . " You said to her thinking of the Captain .

" Look why don't we go out tonight ? Just you and me ? And have fun? What do you say ? Huh ? Benjie is at my sisters and Andrian - well Andrian he's gonna be just fine . Come on Y/N you need to loosen up a little . " Sharona said to you with pleading eyes .

" Are you sure ? " You asked her feelings anxious .

" What can possibly go wrong ? " Sharona asked you , smiling .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" Are you sure about this ? " You asked her one last time while you were sitting inside a club , drinking some bear .

" Everything's okay Y/N relax . " She answered you , while dancing between the strangers .

Not even half a hour later , Sharona was drunk and dancing with a man she met . At least he seems to be sober and a good guy . You decided to leave her be . She needed this .

Suddenly you felt a man's hand grabbing your bad and a intoxicated breath next to you . " Well look who's here all by herself . What did the nurse dumped you ? Little bitch . " Adams .

Adams was in the same club as you , drunk as fuck and grabbing your ass at the same time .

" Get of me ! " You screamed at him , trying to get away .

" Oh come on now , I know you like it . It's my time now . " He said to you and started to drag you to the back of the club .

You tried punching him , scratching him with your nails , resisting, but he was just stronger than you .

" Stop fighting or it'll be a lot worse that it all really is . " Adams said to you .

And the you remembered . You quickly got your phone out of your pocket and paged the station .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stottlemeyer was in the station that night and he was the one that received your pager .

He reads : Emergency! Code red! - Officer Worthington

He grabbed his gun and his car keys trying to memorise the location thet was on his pager .

And with the anger boiling in his head he made his way to the parking lot .

" Where are you ? What are you doing ? " He asked himself while speeding towards your location .

He found himself outside the club that Sharona was talking about the other day .

But you where no near to be found .

Kidnapping .

" At the back . " He said to himself and exited the car , gun to his hand.

He could hear you fighting , grunting and screaming .

Adam's was trying to get you inside his truck , while his ex - assistan was in the driver's seat ready to drive off .

" Get your hands off of her or I'll shoot you . " Leland screamed angrily at him .

You were outside in one of the coldest nights of the year wearing nothing above your outfit .

Your face was read from the cold and the fighting .

" Help . " Was all that you could say to him .

Leland saw red .

" I said step away from her . " He repeated stepping closer too you .

" What is it Captain ? Dis I took your little toy ? " Adam's said to him .

A shot was heard .

Leland had shot him in the foot making Adams scream in pain and fall down to the ground .

" Come here sugar . " Leland said calmly to you .

" I need a backup . " Was the last thing you heard before the cold took you out .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 weeks later

" I'm telling you Doctor , she is just not the same anymore . "

" How can she be after that ? It was a traumatic experience for her . Leland what is the real reason you are here ? " Dr. Kroger asked Leland .

Stottlemeyer had asked Monk for his psychiatrist number so he could talk about you .

He wanted to know-

No he needed to know how to approach you .

" Tell me what do you feel . How does that make you feel . I mean her . Officer Y/N . How does she make you feel ? "

" It's all about feelings isn't it ? " Leland asked and Kroger nodded .

" It scares me , she is half my age . "

" So if only she wasn't 22-

" No , I mean it's just a little bit weird isn't it ? " Stottlemeyer asked Kroger .

" Do you think it's weird ? "

" Yes and no . But it doesn't charge my feelings for her . "

" So what are you waiting for ? " Kroger asked with a smile . " You saved her from possibly the most traumatic experience . Why don't you go talk to her and be with her until the end ? "

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

He hates himself so much right now .

" Captain , what are you doing here ? " You asked him .

How could he possibly answer to your question right now , when you where dressed like that ?

Black sweatpants and a white crop-top - without anything underneath .

His eyes were glued on your nipples .

You knew it but you couldn't make yourself cover up . You kinda liked the feeling of him checking you out .

" Is everything alright Sir ? "

" No . I mean yes Y/N . Look- " He stopped talking .

He was standing right outside your apartment , grey sweatpants and a dark blue SFPD hoodie .

You sat in complete silence for a while , just staring at each other .

Eyes. Lips.

" Do you want to come in ? It's kinda cold . " You said to him quietly , being unable to look anywhere else except his blue eys .

" I don't think it's a good idea . " He said . His eyes still on your lips .

" Then just kiss me already ? "

" I wont be able to hold myself after . " He said with the most baritone and deep voice you've ever heard .

" I don't care . "

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You actually didn't understand how you got to this point .

You , laid out in your apartment's couch , while you were kissing with your Captain .

His hands had already taken off your pants , and now he was trying to get your panties off too .

His lips had gone from your jawline , to you neck and finally to your collarbones .

" Spread your legs out for me sugar . "

——————————————————————————————

Tell me if you’d like more of him , cause I’ll be happy to write even more. 🫶

@unimportantbabymilksharkte

[winterstaryu]

I have a lot of questions post finale

"I've reestablished myself at the compound" ok but non-compound Tys are okay too, right? OUTLAW IS FINE, RIGHT?

Is Boris OK what happened there

He mentioned Anne and that was very suspicious but what about Ed-man?? He was also very much working with OI WHERE IS HE I AM. SO CONCERNED MDAWG HAS NOT BEEN OK FOR SEVERAL SEASONS

Magnolia??? Enough said

PYTHON? Is he a matteration? Does he imply the existence of a Matt council? Does the Matt council have spy nicknames this is IMPORTANT

Helen is back in 1980, what does that mean for Hunter? Has anything changed there?

Troy??????????????

Were those the only Nobody iterations??? What happened to his lackeys??

Actually going back to Troy, his mom was one of the people he said might be in his house but he didn't bring up the Troyfriend, did they break up? Is Dylan just avoiding the Named Character curse??

If Base is free of the compound does that mean they all got fired??

Further - Ryanball and Hunter replaced at least some of them at OVER, and surely they've replaced the rest by now. So what do they do?

Who gets custody of Delilah? Charlie's allergic so idk if she can live at base?

I trust COA's ability to keep itself intact so I'm not necessarily worried about Anne but like. What are they up to?? COULD Ty get rid of /all/ of them??

Wtf was up with Britches' story about the miner what was that WHAT

Speaking of Britches w o w them and Sax were sure ok with murder very quickly wow WTF

ED-MAN AGAIN SERIOUSLY I CANT STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE WE'VE HEARD FROM HIM??? WHERE IS HE??? I DONT IMAGINE HE'S DOING GOOD AND I DO NOT BELIEVE FOR A SECOND THAT EAGLE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM JUST. GETTJNG OVER MDAWG ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

Is Old Man the prime Michael now??

ACTUALLY MORE ABOUT EDMAN I THINK THE LAST TIME HE WAS MENTIONED WAS WHEN MDAWG CONFIRMED HE WAS ALIVE THROUGH THE NOTES HE WAS LEAVING HIMSELF BUT OI WAS KEEPING THEM APART FOR SOME REASON AND I THINK HE WAS WORKING WITH ANNE WHILE MDAWG GOT RE-ASSIGNED TO EAGLE SO LIKE. WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THAT WHERE IS EDMAN

[infiglo]

Infiglo's FNAF AU Masterpost 😃

Making this in an attempt to be more organized with my AU and so that people can look at this before asking any questions I might have already answered before. It will include links to posts (explanations, references, important art), FAQ, and other details.

Brief Summary

My AU is basically just my interpretation of the FNAF story, with some changes from canon/what is largely agreed to be canon. (It does not always reflect what I actually think is canon.) I kind of think of it in 2 separate parts, one about the kids before and after they die, and another about Michael (and some other characters) after the murders, finding out what happens and dealing with the haunted animatronics of course. The first part is my main focus majority of the time, and usually follows Cassidy, Charlie, and Evan.

Important Posts

How Possession Works (About the Spirits & Agony Ghosts)

Golden Freddy Explanation

Relationship chart for the main + FNAF 4 kids (when all of them were alive)

2021 Cassidy and Evan Comic + Talking about why it's not longer accurate

Info about my Funtime animatronics

Designs/References

Humans:

Design reference for all the main kids

Cassidy's more detailed reference

Reference for Cassidy & Evan's agony ghosts merged together (Acid Van)

FNAF 4 kids designs & names (will get full body refs eventually)

Main 1985 Freddy's Employees (OCs)

WIP 1983 Michael Design

WIP Nightguard Mina design

Animatronics:

Baby and Ballora references (I'll replace it with a post of all the Funtimes when I finish them)

Nightmare and Nightmare Fredbear designs

All the versions of Chica together

As you can see, I don't currently have updated references for quite a few characters such as Michael, William, Henry, the FNAF 1 animatronics, etc. I am working on these and will have them eventually. I'll try to always keep this up to date with what I've posted.

FAQ

Are you planning on making a webcomic? - I gave a longer explanation about what I plant to do with my AU here, but the short answer is that I plan on making short comics about specific events/situations, but not one continuous comic telling the entire story.

How many games does your AU include?/Does your AU include Security Breach? - My AU only goes to UCN, so no it does not include Security Breach, Help Wanted, or Fazbear Frights if you believe those are canon. I will include some characters like Vanessa, Gregory, Cassie, Jake, and Andrew as background characters in my AU just for fun, but they are not really relevant to the story.

When did the kids die? - I'm still making sure I'm happy with the exact dates and death orders, but as of right now: Charlie dies in 1980, Elizabeth and Evan die in 1983, and the MCI is 1985.

What ages were the kids when they died? - I answered that here. Please note this is an updated version where I changed a few ages, and there might be an old inaccurate answer to this question up somewhere.

What are the FNAF 4 nightmares in the AU? - They are Evan and Cassidy's agony ghosts, or extensions of them since the only ones they themselves turn into are Nightmare Fredbear and Nightmare. Cassidy is helping Evan torment Michael because Evan agreed to help her with William. and she also thinks it's funny.

Is Andrew part of Golden Freddy in this AU? - No, I have a second, side AU where he is, but it has nothing to do with my main AU, where Andrew doesn't end up being killed.

Is Sammy in this AU? Yes, he is, and he's still Charlie's brother. I based him off of the spring bonnie kid from FNAF 4. He is also not super important though, because he moves away with his mother in 1983 after Evan dies.

What order do the events of the games happen? FNAF 4, FNAF 2, FNAF 1, Sister Location, FNAF 3, FNAF 6, UCN

Tags

I put everything relating to this au under the "main au" tag. Besides that I try to tag the names of the characters in the post, the game it relates to, and will tag "spirits" or "agony ghosts" for posts about either of those. When I make longer posts where I just explain things in detail I tag those "explanations".

I tag all the questions I respond to as "answered", although a lot of these aren't related specifically to my AU.

Other details I feel like I should mention

My FNAF 1 Nightguard is not Mike, it's actually Cassidy's cousin, Mina because I wanted them to have a bigger connection to the MCI. The events of FNAF 1 and Sister Location happen pretty close together, because Mina is at Freddy's and Michael is at Circus Baby's.

My version of the FNAF 4 Chica Bully (Raina) is Gabriel's older sister and is the nightguard that replaced Jeremy in FNAF 2.

Jeremy Fitzgerald is Susie's older brother. The two of them moved to Hurricane in 1983 (before Evan died).

The Toy animatronics are not possessed by seperate kids, although the MCI victims' agony might take control over them sometimes.

My Mrs. Afton is named Eleanora, or Nora for short.

Elizabeth and Michael were born in the UK so they do have British accents, but Evan was born in the US and doesn't really have one. (Nora is also American and was born in Hurricane.)

Charlie and her agony ghost self are much more connected than anyone else is with theirs, and her agony ghost acts a little more human because of this. They can also generally convey ideas to each other but cannot directly communicate. Usually if Charlie's agony ghost does something that doesn't relate to her goal of stopping William, it's because she's doing it for the real Charlie.

Time does not work the same for the spirits as it does in the real world.

Elizabeth is the only spirit who never has contact with any of the other spirits until she's set free.

The agony ghosts can change how people see other things, as extensions of themselves basically. This is how they make the animatronics eyes turn black, Charlie gives the puppet tears, and Elizbeth changes Baby's eye color. (What happens to William in UCN is different than this, since it's Cassidy's agony trapping him in one of his own memories and then changing it however she likes - so it all happens inside his head.)

................................................................................

I will try to update this regularly if I make anything new or change any details! Sometimes I post things on other social media but forget to post them on tumblr but I'll try to do better with that.

That being said, I also share stuff about my AU on Instagram and Twitter that might not necessarily get posted on here if it's not important enough for it's own post. I'm also just more active there, so feel free to follow those as well.

I also have a DeviantArt and Pinterest where I try to organize my FNAF art into categories, and it's also just easier to look through it all on there so I thought I'd link them.

[nothing0fnothing]

Busting some misconceptions about narcissistic abuse because I can.

"Narcissistic abuse is no different from any other type of abuse."

Wrong. Narcissistic abuse can take the form of any other type of abuse, but the purpose for it and therefore the way it is perpetrated is very different.

"Narcissistic abuse is abuse perpetrated by a person with Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)"

Incorrect. Anybody can perpetrate narcissistic abuse and there is no evidence to suggest people with NPD are more likely to be abusers than any other.

"Narcissism and NPD are the same thing."

False. Narcissism is a personality type defined by being self centered or vain to a fault. NPD is a personality disorder diagnosed by medical professionals and can be expressed in over 100 different ways.

People who are narcissistic can recover and change the fact that they're narcissistic. People diagnosed with NPD can recover, but cannot change the fact that they have NPD.

"There is no definition of narcissistic abuse."

True and false. While every expert who discusses narcissistic abuse may use different terminology to define it, the common theme is that the person perpetrating feels joy or satisfaction in harming, scaring or controlling their victim.

On my blog I define narcissistic abuse as "abuse perpetrated for the purpose of satisfying narcissistic delusion.

"People with NPD are narcissists."

Maybe, but mostly no. Some people who are diagnosed with NPD like to self identify as "narcissists" as a shorthand for their disorder. This is not the name of the disorder and you shouldn't refer to people with NPD as "Narcissists" as it's not an accurate or particularly universal term.

Some people who are not diagnosed with NPD like to self identify as narcissists to describe their personality type. It's important to distinguish between "narcissists" and "narcissistic abusers." A narcissistic abuser is not the same thing as a narcissist.

"Narcissism is the mental illness that causes abuse."

Untrue. No accredited mental health body today recognises narcissism as a mental health disorder and no practising mental health professional in good standing will say that there is a psychological disorder that causes abuse.

Perpetrating narcissistic abuse is a choice made by abusers, completely seperate from trauma or mental illness or their lived experience.

"People with NPD are offended by the term 'narcissistic abuse' so we should stop using it."

Recently people who identify as narcissists have taken umbrage against the term 'narcissistic abuse.' The reasons varying from an argument that the term 'narcissist' can never be separated from the disorder NPD, to the argument that people using the term are armchair diagnosing their abusers with NPD and further stigmatising the disorder.

The truth is the term 'narcissist' has been seperate from the disorder NPD since the disorder was first recognised in the DSM in 1980, and the solution to people using the terms "narcissist" and NPD interchangeably is to educate them, not ban the use of terminology that might potentially be misused altogether.

"If you can spot a narcissist you can evade abuse."

This is unfortunately false. Lots of online articles can promise you "10 ways to spot a narcissist" but usually all they're teaching you to do is to be wary of neurodivergent people. The truth is the only real way to evade abuse is to spot red flags for future abusive behaviour and know to get out before the abuse starts.

"There is no evidence that narcissistic abuse is real."

Aside from the stories of survivors of abuse and their families, or the loved ones of those who sadly didn't survive their abuser, all sharing commonalities in what happened to them, narcissistic abuse is well documented.

Therapists specialising in abuse recovery recognise narcissistic abuse and treat survivors of narcissistic abuse every day. Mental health educators discuss the psychology of the narcissistic abuser and the narcissistic abuse survivor in their dissertations or thesis papers and professionals study those papers to write resources like books and guides for those recovering from narcissistic abuse.

Narcissistic abuse is well documented and the general consensus in the psychology world is that it is real.

Feel free to drop any questions into my asks and I'll be happy to answer.

[1004sface]

2000.02 Junior Magazine – NRG article

I Miss You - Sometimes I start missing you! N.R.G

Scans credit: S.E.S. Magazine Archive on Naver / see the original article online (archived)

Leafing through the pages of remembrance...

NRG, who'd presented a masculine image with their title track "Face", now try to change their image with the mid-tempo follow-up "You! Me!". They've transformed themselves into young aristocrats with neat hairstyles and luxurious formal wear. We reveal their precious memories in this no-laughing-matter "bad boy report". Coverage: Im Jae-hyeon / Photography: Jo Won-jin

Kim Hwansung

The eardrum rupture incident

Hwansung was born in Gwangju, South Jeolla on February 14, 1981, as the youngest child among one sister. In the 20 years he's lived, he's had many shocking things happen to him. Out of those, the most memorable incident to him is the time his eardrums split. He's gotten surgery and can now hear normally, but we almost couldn't have had the singer Kim Hwansung. Now, let's reveal the whole story. Hwansung's least favorite TV show is Korean Ghost Stories.

Hwansung's hate for the show started when he was about 3 or 4 years old. He and his family were sitting in front of the TV, watching Korean Ghost Stories as usual. He might have been especially scared then, or a frightening ghost might have appeared, but young Hwansung was so surprised that, in a frenzy, his eardrums ruptured. His family turned upside down over their one and only son, and they sent him to the hospital to get a big surgery. Of course, since this was when he was young, Hwansung says he doesn't remember much. But when he imagines what happened, he thinks it must have been horrible.

The youngest runaway (?)

At first glance, Hwansung looks like a model student, but in fact he has himself a distinguished past (?). He ran away from home in his fifth grade of elementary school.

Hwansung was a diligent student ever since he was young, and starting from 2nd grade he received private tutoring. But since he was spending time studying when one would usually play about, he realized he wanted to romp around like his friends. Eventually, his extra classes stressed him out so much that he decided to run away. Hwansung wanted most to visit an amusement park and enjoy the rides, so he gathered some money and aimlessly rode the rides. But it promptly got dark, and Hwansung realized he didn't have a place to sleep. After a while of hesitation, he called his mother and finally returned home after four hours. He says that he was quite immature thinking about it now, but that it was fun and not an entirely bad memory. Who knows—maybe Hwansung might be Korea's youngest runaway.

Memories of his first love

Hwansung first caught the love bug in 2nd grade. He first encountered his first love 11 years back from now. She was named Kim Pyoseon and had long, tied up hair and black eyes. Maybe because her name was quite unique, he still remembers it now. The girl, whose whole face including her eyes was round, was the president of Hwansung's class and even sat next to him in class. She completely stole Hwansung's heart, but Hwansung couldn't figure out how she felt about him. Then, one day, there was a test. Hwansung was struggling with a question when she helped him cheat. The two ended up being caught by the teacher, but through that incident Hwansung grew certain that she liked him. After that, Hwansung made many precious memories with her until she eventually left his life. Even now, his heart warms when he thinks of her.

Moon Sunghoon

His first exam

Sunghoon was born on October 15, 1980 in California, as the middle child out of three brothers. Before he was born, his mom dreamt that she was on a trip—but inside her bag was not travel gear, but a stunningly beautiful gem. Soon after, Sunghoon was born.

The first time he took a test after moving to Korea was in 3rd grade, but his Korean was so weak the letters on the paper merely seemed like pitch black ink. It was then that a student behind him explained the answers to every question, and so he ended up achieving a good grade. He says that if a chance comes where he can reunite with that student, he'd like to thank them.

His day of humiliation

Sunghoon was his school's vice president in elementary school. There was one day where all the students would gather in one room and have to talk. The day prior, Sunghoon had written down what he was going to say, prepared by memorizing and practicing his pronunciation, and then went to sleep.

He might have practiced too hard—he slept in late, and rushing to school he forgot the paper on which he had written his speech. When he stepped on the platform, about to say his piece, his mind drew a blank. His peers laughed as his face reddened and the room fell silent; caught in a rough spot, Sunghoon ended up butting his head on the microphone while trying to introduce himself. The kids couldn't stop laughing, and that day became the most humiliating of his life.

What happened on field day

Sunghoon was was a major joker when he was young, to the point where he'd play until his body gave out. In his first year of middle school, he broke his legs while tightrope walking after the rope broke, and in his third year he had to wear a cast after breaking an arm in a car accident. On field day, there was a relay match between classes, and Sunghoon got picked as the first runner.  Deciding he'd have to foul if only for his class, he grabbed the baton with his bandaged arm and outran the other class's students to first place. The moment he was supposed to hand the baton over, the baton fell from his hands, and Sunghoon's class ended up at last place. He says because of this he got into the class's bad books.

Noh Yoomin

A bloody fight with his brother?

Yoomin was born on November 12, 1980, as the middle child among three boys. Before he was born, his mom dreamt that she saw tens of snakes piled up at a rock while hiking up a mountain; that was her conception dream.

Yoomin grew up in a wild (?) environment, on account of only having brothers. Broken bones and nosebleeds from fighting twelve times a day with his younger brother were child's play. One time while having fun with his younger brother, Yoomin hit his brother because he wasn't listening to him. But on the sight of blood surging from his crying brother's mouth, he was caught off guard and hid in his room. Yoomin says that eventually, his dad found out he had broken his brother's tooth, which got him a massive scolding.

The transfer student who sat next to him

Yoomin's most memorable seatmate was a kid who transferred to his school in 6th grade. Holding the hand of the teacher as they sent off the day as usual was a pale-faced, wide-eyed kid of small stature. He couldn't help but be stunned at her pretty looks, so when the girl happened to sit next to Yoomin he mentally cheered "woo-hoo!". He says from that day on he spent more time looking in the mirror to look good for her. He was quiet and well-behaved and stood up for her if anyone was unkind, though he says it's a shame that they graduated without any outstanding incidents. But recently he met the girl again—she was as pretty and kind as ever, and for the few days he attended that class reunion his heart fluttered.

I hate running the most!

Yoomin's been the king of all kinds of things, but the one he's worked the hardest (?) on is "the king of tardiness". He says that once a week, he was on the verge of not going to school at all—you can imagine the situation from there. He was a celebrity amongst tardy students; if he was supposed to be at school by 8 o'clock, he would come in at 9. Usually when he was late, he had to run a few laps around the playground, but rest was given according to order of arrival, so he always ran alone until the very end. That was because Yoomin's least favorite activity was running. Whether it was a 100-meter run or a long run, he always came in last place, so as the athletic meet approached, he suffered from anguish. Fortunately, he was always the captain of the cheerleading squad, so he was able to regain the trust of his friends.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 25/05/2024 (Billie Eilish's HIT ME HARD AND SOFT)

Once again, despite hot competition, Sabrina Carpenter sticks to that #1 spot on the UK Singles Chart for a fourth week. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: lesbian sex references, death

Rundown

As always, we start the episode with the notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - that’s what I cover on this show - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we have quite a few arguably predictable leavers as well as song longer runs. Overall, we bid adieu to, unless I’m missing anything: “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” by Baby Lasagna, “meet the grahams” by Kendrick Lamar, “Cry No More” by Headie One featuring Stormzy and Tay Keith (I expect a resurgence when the album comes), “Push Ups” by Drake, “Never be Lonely” by Jax Jones and Zoe Wees, “Saturn” by SZA and “Whatever She Wants” by Bryson Tiller.

As for our notable gains and returns, we have quite a few in the latter category, with Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” at #75, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers at #72, “Thank You (Not So Bad)” by way too many people back yet again at #64, really a lot of bottom-feeders blossoming pro-Eurovision. There are even more returns though, with Becky Hill seeing both “Outside of Love” at #74 and “Right Here” at #65, as well as a bit of a unique one: the hi-NRG classic “Smalltown Boy”, an anthem of queer persecution and liberation by the somewhat forgotten Bronski Beat is back at #63 - you might know their former lead singer Jimmy Somerville a bit better for his second band The Communards. “Smalltown Boy”, their debut single, peaked at #3 in 1984, blocked from #1 by two just as iconic tracks of the British 80s, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by Wham! at #2, and “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood at #1. It’s returned to low peaks before in 2013, but a viral TikTok dance seems to be what spiked this one up this time around. The band would reach the #3 peak several times again but they did not last past the 1980s. Their last top 40 hit was a 1991 remix of “Smalltown Boy” credited doubly to Bronski Beat and Sommerville, though sampling of the track has also bred some success, particularly in EDM. Of those who sampled it for hits, Real McCoy’s “Automatic Lover (Call for Love)” hit #58 in 1995, Steve Angello and Axwell of Swedish House Mafia hit #13 in 2006 with “Tell Me Why” under the name Supermode and even Killers frontman Brandon Flowers tried his hand with “I Can Change”, reaching #52 in 2015. None of them touch the original’s catharsis.

We also have yet another TikTok viral hit return this week, this one a bit more inexplicable because the song is no way near as iconic or good, but it’s “The Man Who Can’t be Moved” by The Script at #48. Now this one has actually been more of an intermittently successful since it peaked at #2 in 2009 - pipped at the post by Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” - having returned to the charts in every successive year until 2014, even reaching the top 20 again after a performance on The Voice in 2012. I can’t find much concrete on why this is back, there’s less media coverage than Bronski Beat because… well, frankly, it’s just not a very interesting song, is it? The Script tried to sue James Arthur for similarities between this song and his three-week #1 “Say You Won’t Let Go” from 2016, and gained a writing credit, as if they couldn’t easily have been sued by Keane if we’re validating small musical differences as actual plagiarism. The fact that not a single one of those songs is actually good shows you that these guys are fighting in court over scraps of dull piano ballad melodies, it’s really delightful.

Now after that, we have the healthy amount of gains: “greedy” by Tate McRae at #67, “Addicted” by Zerb, The Chainsmokers and Ink at #66, “Miles on It” by Marshmello and Kane Brown at #57 (kill me), “on one tonight” and “one of wun” by Gunna at #52 and #32 (postpone the killing), “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners at #49, “obsessed” by Olivia Rodrigo at #47, “The Door” by Teddy Swims at #45, “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed and its brand-spanking-new and terrible remix at #39 (Jesus Christ), and finally, a song actually worth being happy for: “Love Me JeJe” by Tems at #36.

The top five on the UK Singles Chart this week starts with “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” by Tommy Richman at #5, “Too Sweet” by Hozier at #4, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey up to #3 and our big story, the highest of Billie Eilish’s three tracks, “LUNCH” at #2. Obviously, “Espresso” is #1, more on Billie later, for now, let’s hear the new entries lower down the rank… or, really, just the one.

New Entries

#62 - “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” - Luke Combs

Produced by Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton and Luke Combs

Yeah, so again, unless I’m really badly missing something, which is possible, we only have one non-Billie debut and it’s from Luke Combs of all people. It’s not even a lead single, it’s just a cut from the soundtrack to an upcoming disaster film Twisters about, well, take a wild guess. Combs provides a heavy country rock rolick with a great lead riff even if a bit too cleanly produced against the drums to hit the exact smoky edge it should. His delivery feels just slightly off - he’s giving it his all, but it doesn’t fully function the melodies, especially the transition between the verses and pre-chorus, and that chorus is awkwardly unresolved-feeling, which absolutely is thematically on point given the natural disaster theme of the film and its use as an analogy in this song. The adrenaline-chaser in Combs gets to shine here and in a pretty simple, relatively heavy track, with an admittedly mostly boring guitar solo, it does its job, I suppose? I’m glad something that sounds like this is charting, and I imagine that build-up to the final chorus and the way it picks up the pace near the end absolutely hits in the context of whatever rural Southern US chase scene it’s used for in the film, but as a separate entity, I’m not really too impressed.

#9 - “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” - Billie Eilish

Produced by FINNEAS

So I haven’t actually listened to the new Billie Eilish album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, yet. I know, I know, I’m a chart reviewer, I should be paying more attention, I should be analysing the intricacies of Ms. Eilish’s new record instead of crying to Black Dresses or listening drunkenly to the new Sexyy Red mixtape - clearly a priority of mine - but that’s just the way it goes, sometimes I’m late to these things, and I won’t be able to fully comprehend these songs within their album’s entire context. It does help, however, that the songs debuting this week come one after the other in the tracklisting. This is the fourth track, “LUNCH” at #2 is the second, so this ship should run quite smoothly. This is a groovy track about everlasting love that seems to preoccupy so much of this lifelong relationship with her inevitable death, which is an interesting approach, especially since it’s almost a given in her lyrics that she’s dying first… or even soon, which makes it a bit harrowing and almost undermines that passion: it’s easier to love until the day you die if you know your death isn’t far away. The subtle wavy synths that decorate the flickering drums take that unique feeling into a slight uncanny valley that the sincerity of the flourishing dream pop guitars can’t really fully mask. Eilish’s performance is gorgeous and really convincingly emotive as always, especially in that second verse and pre-chorus which serve as a reassurance of their love to her partner having doubts. FINNEAS’ production here is absolutely killer in those final moments, with the screech in the right channel firstly adding to the blurry blend of vocal layers before they vanish and it becomes used to pre-empt both flashy synth blasts in the back of the mix and a careening “woo” vocal, I know this is a bit of a nerdy fixation but it really is genius production. I’m sure with the added context of the album’s narrative this hits even harder but even without, it’s fantastic.

#7 - “CHIHIRO” - Billie Eilish

Produced by FINNEAS

The third track on the record is in reference to Studio Ghibli’s classic anime film Spirited Away, and a lot of the content on this track, particularly Billie’s need for her partner to open up to them, an almost desperate need that she feels is suffocating her on the chorus if you take it in combination with the album cover. The No Face spirit wants to be let into the bathhouse by the main character, Chihiro, because of its admiration for her, and the doors of settings in the film overall hold a lot of meaning in regards to how the idea of freedom is approached in the film. This is not a film analysis blog so I will stop there but believe me, Billie and FINNEAS get nerdy songwriting-wise, especially with the “forget my name” motif - listen, it’s a liberal arts student’s dream, truly, but as far as it is sonically, this is also excellent. The murky funk groove leaves itself slightly unresolved-sounding with how bass heavy it is and how the tennis racquet-sounding percussion just flops into the rhythm, with meandering melodic loops and patterns, much of which is Billie’s own vocal improvising, patterned across the track but never leading to a true climax. The refrain where Billie’s voice gets into breathy, back-and-forth territory before landing in a really fantastic vocal performance and harmony that sounds damn impressive, is such a great moment because it comes as a result of such anxiety-inducing detail, yet doesn’t temper any of it - the vocal mixing and layering just gets more complex and echoing after, with glitching, cascading vintage synths arising in the distance over whispery vocals. By the time she’s belting, she’s so drowned out by the synths that it feels like nothing’s changed, she’s still just as muffled. Now I’m not fully convinced on the song once it fully gets into the rhythm of things, I would probably prefer if it ended with the second refrain on a pure sonic level even if narratively, that conclusion is necessary, I just don’t find the military march of the 70s synth anxiety as captivating the second time around. It’s still a brilliantly written and largely well-executed song though, so I can’t complain. Given its length, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the one that gets replaced by a fan favourite in the coming weeks, thanks to the arbitrary three-song stipulation.

#2 - “LUNCH” - Billie Eilish

Produced by FINNEAS

And this is the single, I guess and I think, because from what I’m hearing about the record and the two other songs here, it seems like a smash hit is both hard to find and not in this album’s wheelhouse. This is the most lighthearted of the three, however, and largely because it’s about casual oral sex. Lyrically, it’s pretty straightforward: she has a crush on a friend and wants to turn that friendship into if not fully a relationship, at least allowing for some benefits along the way. Musically, it feels pretty simple too, with its post-punk riffs over a bassy groove and drums that, admittedly, don’t really hit for me, they feel a bit rote and factorial for something so primal and human as… well, eating a girl out, I guess. Unless there’s some kind of industry producing conveyor-belt cunnilingus out there, and if there is, I stand corrected, and where can I email them? Jokes aside, it’s a fun song, not meant to be taken massively seriously, but has a lot of cool atmosphere regardless, a charmingly funny performance from Billie, and the obvious implementation of sensual breathing into the beat is obvious but works. I’m not wowed by it but if this is the single, whilst it’s far from great, it’s probably the only one that’ll work out as an actual pop tune for the summer, so beggars can’t really be choosers. I really need to listen to that album.

Conclusion

Well, there’s not much to choose from, is there? I think all of these songs are at least decent, I’d be insincere giving a Worst of the Week - my least favourite is probably “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”, but it’s not at all by much. Consider that Worst of the Week if you want, but I’d rather say that Billie Eilish, of course, takes both the Honourable Mention for “CHIHIRO” and the absolute Best of the Week for “BIRDS OF A FEATHER”. What a brilliant song. As for what’s on the horizon, PinkPantheress, twenty one pilots and RM of BTS are all lined up to have some chart impact, I’m sure,  but for now, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy and I’ll see you next week!

[fibrielsolaer]

FibS lays down the facts: April o' Neil

I'm so fuggin' tired of hearing morons drool out their mouths over this so here's all you need to know:

It's perfectly fine that Rise April is black.

April o'Neil has been portrayed as black before Rise.

April o'Neil was not "originally black" in the Mirage comics.

Rise did not make April black for woke points. Rise makes numerous changes to Turtles orthodoxy so that it isn't a boring repeat of the more traditional 2012 cartoon that immediately preceded it.

(EDIT: Many of the comic scans from this blog post, as well as some of its information, are from this blogspot post from 2018. I neglected to mention this earlier, but at least one person is asking. Unfortunately, people who reblog this post from earlier versions will not see this edit.)

The original creators of TMNT are Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Laird has always considered April o'Neil to be white other than considering possibly making her Asian in early notes; the confusion over April's race is solely due to Eastman.

In her earliest appearances, April o'Neil conveniently stands right next to known definitely-black character Baxter Stockman:

This April is as white as the Mousers and the lab walls and doesn't have curly hair. If anything she looks like Sigourney Weaver (Dutch, English, Scots-Irish, Scottish), right down to Ellen Ripley's outfit.

Since Alien came out in 1979 and Ellen Ripley is a massive influence on female lead characters even decades later, this resemblance might be intentional.

But Kevin Eastman, who has a habit of designing female characters based on the woman he is seeing at the time, redesigned April two issues or so later based (rather loosely) on his at-the-time girlfriend April Fisher (she has since passed away.)

April Fisher was, as a matter of fact, mixed-race.

Eastman later clarified that April Fisher was, of course, the source of April o'Neil's given name the entire time. (And I would like to point out that the surname of o'Neil doesn't preclude someone from being black.)

But being named after or inspired by a mixed-race person the creator knows does not mean the character is mixed-race, any more than the numerous My Little Ponies based on real people share those people's races (as opposed to being cartoon horse fairies or whatnot.)

April o'Neil specifically states that she got her hair done. That is to say, she got a perm.

Since black women's hair is already very curly, black women get perms to straighten their hair. April got hers to curl her hair - because she's not black, she's a white lady trying to look like a bootleg Paula Abdul (Syrian).

Or, quite frankly, any other 1980s pop star?

Because, y'see, now's a great time to point something out that Twitter & Tumblr seem to hope you'll forget:

The entire 1980s.

I'm pretty sure nobody who cares whether April o'Neil is black or not knows who Paula Abdul is, except maybe that she was a judge on American Idol. Paula herself might be a year or two late for April's redesign to reference her specifically, but April o'Neil looks like any random white woman from the 1980s. Because the Mirage comics were released in the 1980s. They take place in 1980s New York. And damn near every single white woman in the 1980s got a perm at some time or another.

I doubt these black April fanatics recognize half of them:

.....

Even the men got them!!

And eventually, around the time everybody else was over it, the exact same April o'Neil in the exact same continuity lost the perm:

Remember what Eastman said about April's "different looks"? Even in the same damn comic they can't draw her consistently. April here not only looks nothing like Paula Abdul April, but nothing like Ellen Ripley April either. Hell, she looks like a JoJo character.

And there are some panels were Paula Abdul April is shaded darker than in others, which you could take as April being black if you literally ignore the entire rest of the comic and pretend that's the only time she was ever drawn:

You know, like how people pretend Princess Daisy was "originally black" because she was sliiiightly darker in Mario Tennis than usualy, including ignoring that there are earlier illustrations where she is more pale?

A perm and a tan doesn't make you black. That'd be, y'know, blackface. Not like T&T actually knows what that means either, since they think a white person posting an image with a black person in it counts as it.

Don't you think the fact April looks like four different people in the same fucking comic should convince us that we can't deduce her race from interpreting the illustrations and instead, we should, I dunno, recognize that every single time April has appeared in color with Laird and Eastman's oversight, she's been clearly white?

As opposed to that one comic everybody likes to cite, which is a non-canon guest comic by Mark Bode that changes such details as the city it takes place in and April's job, which was originally published in black and white, whose black April was colored that way by another guest artist (Bill Fitts) and looks like a disco queen stereotype which I could've sworn T&T hated, and which was later corrected to a white April when republished:

We really shouldn't listen to uneducated narcissists who want to have their cake and eat it too, don't know who Cyndi Lauper is, and already had their conclusion ready before they looked at any of the evidence, blatantly misinforming us about the world's most inconsistent comic and pretending 98% of that comic and one of the most important decades in modern human culture just never fucking happened.

[greenwayinc]

HEADCANONS, PART TWO:

🇮🇪

(God help me when I have to write part 3...)

No worries about misgendering this guy... because they don't know. They would've forgotten it long ago anyways at this point, so they just don't give a crap what gender they are.

Their name is Kelsey Windsor. It used to be Dermot Windsor but they had it legally changed.

As a human, they're a very pale-skinned person of average height(5' 9"), with curly, blondish-red hair(yes it's a weird colour, but they manage to pull off the look). And they're absolutely saturated with freckles. Everywhere you look, it's just freckles, freckles and more freckles.

Usually wears Aran knit sweaters, jeans, bomber jackets and flannel shirts. They're still living in the early to mid-2000s fashion-wise.

This motherf***er is BUILT. Seriously, they might be neutral but God almighty are they stacked. They'll be up for anything, from US-led invasions to UN peacekeeping missions. For any large military operations they usually serve with America or UK, but they're always happy to just do peacekeeping work. More about this later.

Tiny scars are dotted across their neck and shoulder. Those are the remnants of a shrapnel bomb that exploded behind them during one of his many tours in the Troubles. There's more scars from where they've been grazed by bullets, beaten by batons and worse. They wear them like bravery medals though- each scar is a sign of their continuous luck.

Speaking of luck, they HATE it if you say "luck of the Irish" in a positive light. He is extremely self-conscious of the term's origins.

Much of their history has been them trying to rebel against England, and latterly, UK. As a result their relations could be described from a historical context as "strained"(top 10 greatest understatements in history coming up). However, since the 1960s, they've gotten along with each other and have left their previous animosity behind them... for now. Brexit has not gone over well with Ireland, it must be said(!).

The Famine screwed up their body greatly- mainly, they can't eat specific foods because of the irreversible damage to their digestive system caused by hunger. Mainly, they have to stay away from most fast food and fizzy drinks(although they've never liked the former much).

But, thanks be to the Lord, alcohol is on the safe list. They've said many a time that they wouldn't know what to do were it not for Guinness. As is to be expected, they drink like there's no tomorrow. One time they got so drunk that a SWAT team had to be called to contain them. But usually it ends up in him passing out in the street or having a one night stand with some other country.

They like to travel. A lot. And I mean A LOT.

Absolutely has PTSD from the amount of wars they've been in, plus the abuse from England, etc.

Tea addict. UK's influence definitely rubbed off on them in this aspect.

Jewellery. Oh my lord the jewellery. This fucker absolutely LOVES jewellery and anything gold or silver. They have ear piercings, they've got gold necklaces, silver rings, etc. Bling is this person's passion.

Also a good singer. Has recorded a few albums, which have found rather unlikely success internationally. As a result of this they work with South Korea and Japan on music projects a lot.

The music fame has also landed them roles in a good few movies.

Was a Formula One driver for a few years during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and again in the 1990s. Surprisingly good at it, too.

Has multiple Irish wolfhounds.

If you confuse them with Ivory Coast, Italy or Mexico... well God help ya.

(related to a previous statement) They've been in the wars. Surprisingly often, as it turns out, because they were in both world wars, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Falklands, Vietnam- name a war in the past 100 years and they've probably been fighting in it at some stage.

They and Northern Ireland are estranged. They don't talk to each other WHATSOEVER.

Generally regarded as the "partier" of the EU, and has gained notoriety within the organisation for their drunken exploits.

Good friends with America, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Finland and Sweden. And all the ex-commie Central European countries.

Knows English, Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Czech, Finnish and Latvian. Currently learning Spanish so they can stop embarrassing themselves while on holiday in the Canary Islands.

In a relationship with Finland’s twin sister(will explain later). They met at a party in Helsinki back in the 1970s and have been together since.

Always has the best Halloween parties. Yes, it sounds childish, but they've been hosting those parties since the beginning of time. And everyone attends for the party, the dressing up... and the copious amounts of alcohol consumed at these events.

[merlinpotterandtherandom]

Morgana knows that it's dangerous, but she thinks that it's worth it, since it's more dangerous to keep this with her. She knows she has enough power, since she's the last High Priestess of the Old Religion, and the only person more powerful than her is Emrys. Or so her sister, Morgause, says.

Morgana starts the ritual, she isn't sure if it's going to work, but it's the best solution. She needs to protect this at all costs, even if it means she has to send it to the future. A baby starts to cry, she kisses his forehead and says "My sweet Hadrian, I hope I'll be able to join you in the future soon, but if not, I hope that someone will take good care of you, son. Mommy loves you, baby. Good luck". Now, she isn't happy about that, but she'll be damned if she lets Morgause or Cenred be around her baby. Her baby that Cenred and Morgause insisted that she should be the one to carry for Cenred. Morgause hated the idea of being pregnant and Cenred needed a heir and he wanted a magical one, so with Morgana there it was a win-win situation for Cenred and Morgause. Morgana accepted this with the condition that she would help raise the baby, no matter what.

Harry is not having a good summer, at all. 1- He can't send his boyfriend any letters 'cause it would be suspicious for both of them to be recieving letters and notes every hour 'cause they're that kind of couple that can talk about everything and anything to each other, thus they would be sending owls like crazy, so they decided it was for the best if they didn't write to each other. 2- His friends are not even bothering on replying his letters and when they do, the letters are more like notes than letters. 3- It's his 15th birthday and he just recieved a letter from his dead mother as a gift, the joy! 4- The letter explains how she isn't his mother, at least not biologically and says he should go to Gringotts to make an inheritance test to see who his biological parents are.

Harry manages to sneak out to go to Gringotts, there he talks to a Goblin and asks for an inheritance test. The Goblin takes him to a private office and asks for 3 drops of blood. Harry does that and when the results are shown, he drops the parchment in shock. The parchment reads:

Name: Hadrian Cenred Morgan Essetir Pendragon Alias: Harry James Potter, Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived Blood status: Half-blood Mother: Morgana Pendragon Father: King Cenred of Essetir Adoptive mother: Lily Jasmine Potter née Evans Adoptive father: James Fleamont Potter Birthday: 31 July 1405 (Quick note: Merlin is set sometime in the middle age-medieval times, so loosely 500-1500, I just chose a random year between these and put here, if you'd like to write a fic based on that, then you can change it, no problem.) Harry just stopped reading, he didn't want to know the other surprises this test might reveal. If he was originally born in 1405, how the fuck he got to 1980? He knows time travel is a thing, but that far? Harry doesn't think it's possible. He decides he wants to take a look around the Pendragon vault, maybe his biological mother left something to help him out there? So the Goblin takes him there and he finds a diary there, Harry picks it up and takes it to the Dursleys with him. He starts reading it. Harry at least now knows that he was sent to the future using a ritual, and that his mother had all the intention to join him. Harry is still trying to process that he isn't really James and Lily's son and that his biological mother is some historical figure that they learn about in the History of Magic class. After reading Morga- his mother's, diary, he finds out that she used the ritual to send Harry forward in time, 'cause she thought it would be the best place to hide him from his own father and from his aunt, since, by what Harry read, they would only use him for his powers or something like that.

So the Order chooses to come and pick Harry up when he's having an existential crisis. Typical. As soon Harry sees Sirius and Remus he asks them "Did you guys know?", not minding that they have a few members of the Order there with them, he just wants answers and the fact that Sirius and Remus just can't look at Harry...Well, it says a lot. So Harry asks "Why you didn't tell me? Why did you have to let me find out about it through a letter that she left me?". The rest of the Order is really confused on what Harry is talking about, but the entertainment is so good that they don't want to risk interrupting it to ask what the fuck is going on. When Sirius and Remus don't answer, Harry just sighs and says "Fine, when you're ready to be adults and talk to me about it, I suppose you know where to find me." and leaves to his room, that he's apparently sharing with Ron. Harry ignores Hermione, Ron and Ginny following him and asking what he was talking about; Harry doesn't think he's ready to talk to them about it. But he wants to talk to his boyfriend, though, so he sends a note to said boyfriend.

Harry doesn't use Hedwig to send the note, obviously, he sneaks out and uses an Owl Post. He doesn't have to wait much for an answer, though. And after a bit of conversation, they agreed to meet the next day, so Harry went to sleep with a smile on his face, knowing he would see his boyfriend the next day.

Harry finally manages to escape the Weasleys and Hermione and goes to meet his boyfriend. Harry smiled when he saw his boyfriend, and even though said boyfriend had a glamour on, Harry could recognize Draco anywhere. They go to Muggle London and find a adorable Cafe, they find a table and after they order something to drink, they start talking and Harry shows Draco the letter + the test, Draco is worried with something that he read in the test and asks Harry "Did you read the entire test?" to which Harry replies "No, I didn't want to have any more surprises, you know?" and Draco nods but says "You should take a look on where says potions, blocks and glamours...It seems like you have a few on you and also you seem to have something called Horcrux in your scar, you should definitely go back to Gringotts and ask for a cleaning ritual or something. You should go right after we finish here, love. I'm honestly worried with how many things you have on you." Harry gently takes his test back from Draco and sees that Draco is right. So they finish their drinks and Harry pays, 'cause he's more used to Muggle money than Draco, and Harry goes to Gringotts.

After Harry removes everything, including the Horcrux, he writes a quick note to let Draco know that he removed everything and is fine. Harry found out what was a Horcrux and that the one he had was just a small part, so Voldemort made more than one. He asks the Goblins if they can track the other ones, which they can, so Harry pays them to do it and destroy them in Harry's name and keep Harry updated, of course. So Harry goes back to Grimmald Place. No one noticed he left the house, 'cause he pretended to lock himself in the room they have Buckbeak in, so everyone just thought Harry was just being moody.

The Goblins did an amazing job and destroyed all of the Horcruxes, so Harry knows that the next time he faces Voldy, he can kill the old snake face for good. So Harry starts training. He reads every book that he can put his hands on of the Grimmald library and sneaks out to buy some more and even asks Draco for a few books that he can send from the Malfoy library that anyone would miss for a few days, which Draco gladly sends his boyfriend. Harry also goes to his vaults to see if there's any books that can be useful there. Sirius and Remus are confused at first when Harry asks them to teach him how to duel, but when Harry explains his logic, Sirius and Remus agree and start teaching Harry how to duel and even show him some spells they create that are supposed to be for pranks, but work really well in a duel as well. Harry works really hard 'cause he knows he has only a few weeks and he pretends to start his 5th year being at least decent on dueling and knowing a bunch of new spells.

5h year begins and Harry finds the Room of Requirement in the first week back and keeps on practicing, with Draco's help, since Draco had dueling classes since he was a kid. Harry finally feels like he's good enough to defeat Voldemort when he has an encounter with the snake face this year.

Harry & Co go to the Ministry 'cause Harry finally figured out that the weapon Voldy is looking for is really a prophecy, so he's curious to know what it says. They go right after they finish their OWLs. Of course it wasn't that simple, of course Moldyvoldy would have his Death Eaters there. Everyone has their shot with a Death Eater. After that Voldemort finally showed up and when Dumbledore + the Ministry employees + the Minister showed up, Harry stopped playing around with Vody and finally managed to defeat him. Now Voldemort is forever defeated. Of course, there's still Death Eaters around and of course Harry & Co still have to deal with the Ministry, but let's do one thing at the time.

[jeannereames]

Max Wordcount Changes

I'm sharing the below from an old friend who's a multiply published author. I'm not naming her due to the potential for crazy kickback. (And it's sad that we have to think about that in the current age.) Nonetheless, I'll vouch for her that yes, she has an agent, and yes, she's been publishing since the early 1980s, including international iterations. So, if you're working on a novel you hope to sell to an agent/trad publisher, take heed!

Depressing news from ComicCon via my agent. Publishers here are now worrying about the cost of paper. Apparently the cost has gone so high that they don't want any books longer than 110K. Does the story need more? Tough. Are there elements that don't "advance the plot" but are important in other ways. Tough. Cut' em out.

I don't know if this applies to literary fiction, too. But definitely to genre.

This isn't the first time paper costs have rendered reduced word-count lengths. I've always seemed to be caught in the transition. Dancing with the Lion was, initially, just fine. Then paper costs required word-count reductions in the late-90s. Dancing was suddenly Too Long. But that book could be divided in half--which was never ideal, but let it see print eventually, albeit in 2019.

It happened again c. 2010, when I was trying to shop 49, which is impossible to divide and will likely never see the light of day, unless I self-publish. It was a mythic retelling before that was all the vogue. But not at 145K. Nobody's buying it. If I do sell it, I'm sure I'll be accused of jumping on the myth bandwagon. No, I wrote it BEFORE that bandwagon was a thing.

Now, my current fantasy series will have to have the final two books re-arced into three. I didn't want a 6-volume series. Even by book 5, it's hard to retain readers. But I have no choice. Books 1-2 were safely under the 110K. Book 3 had the ending repurposed, so it's also okay, with some future cuts. But a 6-volume series is harder to sell than a 4- or 5-volume. I'm screwed either way, but at least somebody might buy a 6-volume series if all under 110K.

NONE of this relates to what a story needs or should have. It's all about word-count. Notably over the word-count, it's unsellable. Does not matter how good/well-written the story is. It's just "too many words."

[albertonykus]

Doraemon Movie Review: The Records of Nobita, Spaceblazer (1981) and The New Record of Nobita's Spaceblazer (2009)

What is Doraemon? The title character of the Doraemon manga and anime is a blue robotic cat from the 22nd Century who keeps an array of high-tech gadgets in a portable pocket dimension on his belly, and has traveled from the future to improve the fortunes of a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Although relatively obscure in the English-speaking world, Doraemon is a Mickey-Mouse-level cultural icon in East Asia (and some other regions, too). The Doraemon franchise was a big part of my childhood, and there are still elements of it that I enjoy now. Doraemon has released theatrical films almost annually since 1980, most of which involve Nobita and his friends (kind Shizuka, brash Gian, and crafty Suneo) getting swept into adventures thanks to Doraemon's gadgets. Despite being of potentially broad appeal to fans of science fiction and animated films, there are very few English reviews of the Doraemon movies, so I'm embarking on a project to write about all the films that have come out so far. Good luck to me…

Movie premise: Nobita and his friends protect the pioneering settlers of a distant planet from an evil corporation, space Western style.

My spoiler-free take: An atypical Doraemon film that focuses more on Nobita and Doraemon bonding with movie-exclusive characters than on their regular friend group. That may be appealing to some, but it’s not quite my cup of tea.

Despite that, I would still recommend the original over the 2009 remake, which adds new plot points and story arcs that largely fell flat for me.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Review: This is an unusual Doraemon movie in a number of ways, probably due to it being such an early film installment in the franchise. Something that is well known to Doraemon fans is that the main characters tend to come across as better friends in the movies than in the regular manga chapters or anime episodes. (For example, in typical Doraemon stories, Gian and Suneo are much more likely to bully Nobita than to show concern for him.) In this film, however, the character interactions feel more similar to those in the mainline series.

(Yep, this is more like the usual dynamic among the main characters...)

There is also the fact that Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo aren’t involved with most of the adventure in this story. Doraemon and Nobita are the only mainline protagonists present for most of the film, and much more emphasis is placed establishing their friendship with new, movie-exclusive characters. I can see how that could make for a compelling narrative to some viewers, but being generally more invested in the relationships among the series regulars, it didn’t do too much for me.

Be that as it may, Nobita’s usual friend group does get a moment to shine during the climax. Shizuka is the MVP here, being the one who convinces the others to help out. I don’t think I appreciated as a child how often Shizuka plays a critical role in the movies, especially in the older entries. In fact, it might be interesting to keep track of how many times it happens as I go through the film series...

Shizuka-saves-the-day count (cumulative): 1

Star rating: ★★★☆☆

This movie received a remake in 2009 as part of the 2005 Doraemon anime reboot, so I will turn to that next.

Review: As with the other early movies to come out of the reboot, this is a very visually interesting Doraemon movie that experiments a lot with the art and animation style. Although the general story remains the same, there are also some substantial changes to the plot. I liked that in this version, Doraemon offers a reasonable-sounding solution to Nobita’s request to provide a new vacant lot for him and his friends to play in, instead of the bizarre “solution” he comes up with in the original (which is to bring out a miniature baseball field so the kids can watch miniature figurines play baseball... potentially interesting, but not quite what they asked for).

Besides that, however, I thought most of the other narrative changes fell flat. The biggest alteration is the addition of an entirely new character, Morina, who goes through her own subplot that turns out to be critical to the final resolution of the movie. Unfortunately, beyond having a tragic backstory, she doesn’t come across as particularly sympathetic or involved with the main plot for most of the film. As a result, I didn’t find her story arc very engaging, especially in contrast to the resolution of the original movie, which made elegant use of a gadget (the Time Cloth) that had been set up earlier in the story.

Star rating: ★★☆☆☆

Original or remake? I’m putting in an unambiguous vote for the original here. For whatever faults it might have, it at least tells a more cohesive story than the remake.

[newwayastrology]

PLUTO

I am not one of those people who looks at the measurements in my chart all the time or even a little bit. I've found in the past that not looking at my chart all the time manifests in things that I might normally be concerned about passing by as if there was no measurement. However, there are some things you can't help but know. A Pluto transit conjunction of an Angle or Light is one of them, if for no other reason the same transit is always happening in a client's chart. My Ascendant is at 27 Capricorn. My word for Pluto transits and arcs to Angles and Lights is "impact." There is the expectation that something impactful occurs in life but it depends on how the life has been lived and how old one is. John Kennedy Junior had SA Pluto conjunct his Ascendant when he was 3 years old. In early ages it's going to be something involving a parent and in his case, it was the murder of his father. When transiting Pluto went over my Midheaven, I was asked to do an astrologically-based radio show in Philadelphia and write theme music for one of the other shows on that atation. The Ascendant transit has been impactful in terms of INTENSE self-awareness growth. I am HEAVILY involved in herbal healing and have had success with people in the reversal of their diseases. Along with the two astrology books I will have released will be another for those interested in the alkaline lifestyle as well as my second album.. At any rate, I did a short search of well-known people in my database to see what names came up regarding Pluto to the Angles or Lights. Here are a few: Giselle Bundchen's marriage with Tom Brady ended. Jane Fonda was diagnosed with cancer. Bill Gates's marriage ended. Kim Kardashian's marriage ended. Rachel Maddow's show became the most watched show, period, on TV and she was given a massive raise and change of position where she is no longer doing that show nightly. She has a podcast and more. Brad Pitt went through all that drama with Angelina Jolie that ended in divorce and other threats from her, plus his relocation back to America. John Travolta's wife left her body. Singer-songwriter, Babyface went through a divorce. Kourtney Kardashian went through a lot of relationship drama where the father of her child, Tristan Thompson, impregnated at least one other woman. And, I wrote about Kellyanne Conway yesterday. I've been doing clients since 1980 and got software for the first time that year so my database is humongous. It's important to note that when I ran the search on celebrities and politicians, maybe 1/3 of all names were people whose names have been in the news for some reason so it's not like the Pluto transit or arc comes along and the life automatically goes into another gear. What happens to us is always dependent on how one's life is being lived. I'd say that on a weekly basis, I'll have as many as 6 to 8 clients experiencing a strong Pluto transit or arc, always with varied events in life to tell me about from being diagnosed with a concerning disease to inheriting a life-changing amount of money. It's about what you do. Planets are just a report card of sorts.