#this is supposed to be set during like 2006-2007

[theghostpinesmusic]

Surprise "new" album! This is the link to the YouTube playlist, but it's also up on Bandcamp for free/pay-what-you-like. If you want to know more about how it came together, keep reading!

So it's been almost three years now since June of 2021, when I released the four-album cycle of "Wilderness Amen," "Ride," "Maps," and "Fire and Rain," along with a demos collection titled "The Amen Demos" and an early proto-experiment with my looper titled "What Comes Around." It was a lot for one year, but I'd been working on all of those songs since at least 2017, it was just that COVID-19 and all of the disruptions it introduced (weirdly) gave me the time to finally get them all together in one place and finish them to my satisfaction.

I'd always planned to use some of my "off-time" during sabbatical to start working on a follow-up album. In 2022, I even bought a new stratocaster, expecting to use it to experiment with writing songs on an electric guitar for the first time. But, as usual, things didn't work out like I'd planned: life is full of both good and bad surprises, and I guess the most surprising thing of all is how often I have to relearn that particular lesson.

On the good side, I've spent a lot more time this year than I'd expected focusing on nonfiction writing, both related to my sabbatical and also, sometimes, just for fun. On the bad side, my main amp blew out almost two years ago, and I've been struggling since to find someone in the southern Oregon desert who can diagnose and fix it for less money than it would cost to buy a new one. In the meantime, I've been hesitant to start recording a new album with my $100 practice amp I bought twenty years ago, for obvious reasons.

I hadn't planned, then, on making this "new" album at all. About nine months ago, I had the thought to record a "single" featuring two of my favorite cover songs: The Grateful Dead's "Ship of Fools" and Goose's "A Western Sun." I wanted to record the main performance without amps, just me and an acoustic guitar, and then maybe overdub in a second, electric guitar once my amp was fixed. So I mic'd the studio for acoustic and vocals only, got the levels to where I wanted, and then realized I needed to practice both songs a bunch more for them to be satisfying takes/tributes.

With a few hours still left to play around in the studio on that first day, and having already played each of the two cover songs ten or so times, I decided to play through a bunch of my original songs, using the "alternate" arrangments of them I'd been developing over the previous two years or so of Instagram livestream sets. I recorded fifteen songs that way, with the sound in the room dialed in for acoustic guitar better (in my opinion) than I'd ever gotten it before.

It wasn't until months later that I listened back to what I'd recorded that I realized it could be a sort of alternate-universe version of one of the albums I'd released in 2021, and thus maybe worth a release itself. I eventually edited the fifteen songs down to the ten you have here and messed with a few EQ and gain levels, but otherwise these performances are exactly as they were recorded that first day of what was supposed to longer sessions for the "Ship of Fools"/"A Western Sun" single…which will still get finished one of these days, amp repair willing.

I put out my first-ever album in 2006, and it was titled "Not California," after one of the songs on it. Immediately after, in early 2007, I bought my first-ever electric guitar and amplifier (ironically, the one that's currently kaput), and immediately had the idea of redoing the mostly-acoustic "Not California" album as this loud, crashy, electric-guitar thing. I would call it just "California," as a way of emphasizing both its relationship to the original album and also its different, almost opposite tone.

I worked on the idea for a few months (it's where "Acteon's Groove" and "Cassie's Song" came from, among other things), but in the end I was, frankly, not good enough yet at guitar to make it sound like I wanted it to. But you probably get where I'm going with this. Basically, when I realized that this current, all-acoustic alternate-universe set of songs was maybe worth releasing, I thought it might be fun to resurrect the "California" album title. Also, this album starts off with a version of my song "California," so there's that, too.

It's definitely quieter than that original "California" album would have been, but it's a realization of that idea of writing some songs, releasing them, and then going back and playing with them until they turn into something else…and then releasing that, too, because hey, why not? Technically, each track on this album is already available elsewhere in its "original" studio configuration, so in that sense nothing here is truly "new": however, each song is re-arranged here in a way that I've come to really like. These re-arrangments are the result of years of playing these songs live, on livestreams, and in the studio, and in that time finding new facets of my original ideas that I thought were worth exploring. The album's cover, a photo I took of the Trinity Alps from Echo Lake, is meant to visually represent this process of rediscovery, reflection, and recreation: the longer I play these songs, the more reflections I find.

I hope you enjoy listening!

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Rare Media Found: GLAGO'S GUEST

Have you ever heard of GLAGO'S GUEST?

It is a 2008 Walt Disney Animation Studios short film directed by Chris Williams, who would later get a co-directing gig on BOLT.

This short was apparently supposed to be attached to BOLT, as it was screened at Annecy in June of 2008. Much like the Pixar tradition, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull's WDAS was supposed to put shorts before the feature-length movies. MEET THE ROBINSONS, completed under their watch, came with a classic short attached. If you saw that movie in 2D, you got the 1938 short BOAT BUILDERS before the movie. If you saw it in 3D, you got the 1953 short WORKING FOR PEANUTS. Later in that year, 2007, they readied the then all-new Goofy short HOW TO HOOK UP YOUR HOME THEATER for ENCHANTED, but later put it before NATIONAL TREASURE 2. Smart choice, that movie made a lot more money, though I think ENCHANTED is a lot more remembered.

So it seemed like there would be shorts before new WDAS movies, and even shorts before other Disney movies...

2008 rolls in, GLAGO'S GUEST screens at Annecy, Lasseter apparently is very impressed with it, yadda yadda yadda... And yet it's not put before BOLT. The uploader of this screener claims that GLAGO'S GUEST tested very poorly with an audience, so they opted to leave BOLT short-less...

That was, until about 3 weeks into its run... Disney decided to take one of those CARS shorts that were being made for The Disney Channel and ABC Family (now Freeform) at the time, and bump it up to theatrical status: TOKYO MATER ran before BOLT starting in mid-December. So we had a Pixar short before a WDAS movie, a move that seemed unusual at the time... Both for the two studios sharing a double-bill, and because the short was attached to the movie as it was playing rather than from the get-go.

GLAGO'S GUEST remains unreleased outside of that Annecy screening. It strangely did not appear on the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection Blu-ray that was released in 2015, which had almost every other short from that period (from THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL - 2006 - all the way up until the latest, FROZEN FEVER) included. Even TICK TOCK TALE was on that set, and that too was hard to find for a while.

I wonder why... Now having seen it... It's not unreleasable. Sure, you have purring eyeball-looking aliens and a Soviet Russia setting, but I really can't tell you why this didn't see any kind of release. Did it really - should we believe the uploader - test *that* poorly back in 2008? I don't understand why, if Lasseter liked it, it got buried.

It's a fascinating, sort-of experimental film for the studio. Walt Disney Animation Studios fully started doing all-CG animated movies with CHICKEN LITTLE in 2005, when the company was like a ship in a raging typhoon, with the animation wing bearing the brunt of it. CHICKEN LITTLE took on a very cute and cartoony style, which differentiated it from a lot of other CG films at the time of its release. It rung more MADAGASCAR and ICE AGE than it did FINDING NEMO and THE INCREDIBLES.

The next feature they did, which was significantly overhauled after Lasseter and Catmull took over, was MEET THE ROBINSONS. Being based on a book by William Joyce, the character designs in that movie were very much like something Joyce would've illustrated, with a bit of that Disney look to them. But they definitely look much more like Joyce characters than anything. Much like how ATLANTIS was Mike Mignola by way of Disney, and HERCULES was very much a Gerald Scarfe-looking picture. Also, unlike CHICKEN LITTLE, it mostly had a human cast. These were, in a way, our first CG Disney Animation humans.

GLAGO'S GUEST is pretty much the Lasseter/Catmull era's first CG short, because HOW TO HOOK UP YOUR HOME THEATER was - of course, being a Goofy cartoon - done in traditional animation. Right down to even re-using backgrounds from 1940s sport Goofy cartoon shorts. Maybe it was treated as a test film more so than anything.

ROBINSONS, GLAGO and BOLT are like different attempts at styles for a Disney Animation CG film... That was, until TANGLED came along... And I think TANGLED, which had Glen Keane involved as animation supervisor (formerly the straight-up director of the movie), really set the course going forward for character design in a WDAS movie. Created a house style, if you will. In terms of backgrounds and utilizing a subtle painterly style, that all begins with BOLT... But the *character design*, I think, begins with TANGLED. TANGLED looks unmistakably stereotypical Disney, with those big expressive eyes and proportions and whatnot... and it made a lot of money at the box office...

So, the house style was pretty much set from there on out. In terms of the features, only the WRECK-IT RALPH movies (and ZOOTOPIA to a lesser extent) seemed to do their own thing. Calhoun definitely gets bit by this design bug, as earlier concept art of her suggested something less stereotypically Disney, less TANGLED-looking.

But... FROZEN, BIG HERO 6, MOANA, RAYA, ENCANTO, WISH, etc... STRANGE WORLD was kind of an exception here, that looked more comic/cartoony to me. Yeah, that TANGLED style really, really stuck...

So it is fascinating to see what other styles WDAS played around with, styles that could've very well - I think - worked for features, but they chose to largely stick with one style going forward.

Only the shorts really continued to play with character design. INNER WORKINGS and some of the Short Circuit entries have the more interesting and dynamic character designs of their recent output.

[uniquejellyfishqueen]

Fun fact. My senior superlative was most likely to be on facebook at 2 am.

Ace week (formerly asexuality week) falls during the last week of October, 2024 it was October 20th-26th.

Within that week 8 of T.Swizzles albums celebrated birthdays..

(1) Taylor Swift 10/24/2006. 18 years old

4 YEARS LATER

(3)Speak Now, Speak Now Deluxe, & SN World Tour 10/25/2010. 14 years old

2 YEARS LATER

(4)Red & Red Deluxe Edition (oh my goodness the acronyms of that spell RED, was this album supposed to be a double? Does it have a sister? There is more to the ATW story…) 10/22/2012. 12 years old.

10 YEARS LATER

(10)Midnights, Midnights 3 AM 10/22/22. 2 years old.

1 YEAR LATER

1989 TV 10/26/2023 *1989 Deluxe which was released the following day only had 1 additional track on it and that was Bad Blood (ft. Kendrick Lamar). 1 year old.

42101 (8) is the Zip Code for Bowling Green Kentucky. The Area Code is 270 (9) Its also in Warren county which is home to the national Corvette Museum. And was named after Joseph Warren on 12/19/1796. The mayor of Bowling Green is a dude by the name of Todd Alcott, which may make you think of The Alcott by The National ft Taylor Swift which was released on 4/28/2023 and this was also recorded at Long Pond—> Folklore Long Pond was released on 11/25/2020. It was recorded in September of 2020. According to Spotify the total of 34 songs has a run time of 2:14 (there’s 2/14 again)

The next single to be released by tswizzle is Karma and that was released on 5/1/23 (3 days after The Alcott) lol karma is a KAT.

The music video for Karma was premiered on 5/26/23 N1 East Rutherford, NJ. The National also released Alphabet city on August 17 2023. 8 days after her last show in LA which she did not say thank you.. (“Hey kids spelling is fun”) also Alphabet City is in New York.. so like Welcome, I guess?

*ps we haven’t gotten the solid green 1989 set yet. Is this possibly in connection to another album that was also released on 10/22/2012? Kendrick Lamar released Good Kid, M. A. D. D. City on 10/22/2012. Track 5 on this album is Money Trees “pick your poison, tell me what you’re doing. Everybody gon’ respect the shooter” -> imgonnagetyouback “pick your poison, babe, I’m poison either way.” -> poison “that girl is poison. Never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is poison poison”

**atari means "to hit a target"

But also on that same album track #6 is Poetic Justice ft Drake. Drake is from Toronto, where TS will be for shows 141-146 11/14-11/16, 11/21-11/23. There is a 7 day break for her in between these shows. Then when the Toronto shows end that is 6 days before the release of her BF Target release. (7+6=13).

AND THEN 13 days later the last stop of the Errors Tour is on 12/6 in Vancouver.

I see the VT as a mirror of TV as Taylor’s Version, but also it’s the state abbreviation for Vermont. 8/31/2007 Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, and TS were there it was rare.. no idk if it was but they were at the Champlain Valley Fair, in Essex Junction Vermont.. it apparently became Vermonts 10th city on 7/1/22, it was incorporated as a village on 11/15/1892.. what an unfortunate date, dear john go fuck yaself.

11/15/2024 N2 in Toronto 7 hours and 43 minutes to Essex Junction. (7+4+3=14)

743 is the area code for Greensboro, North Carolina… (grew AGAIN) *no idea what I stumbled upon but there is going to be a Taylor Swift Camp here on July 14-18, 2025. *speaking of 1989 10/21/2015 apparently is the last time TS was at Greensboro, NC with Vance Joy, and Miranda Lambert. From what the interweb shows me she didn’t play a surprise song at this show. *ok so she might not have given them a surprise song but she did write the song Carolina (6/24/2022) for the movie Where the Crawdads Sing which was released on 7/15/2022.

Carolina was played on the Errors Tour on 6/15/2024 N3/3 Liverpool show #102. This was played on the guitar mashed up with No Body, No Crime. (Sure there was no thank you post for LA, but on the thank you post from Santa Clara on 7/31/2023 she mentioned that she will never forget the HAIM sisters coming out in their dresses from Bejewled to sing No Body, No Crime this photo is from 7/28/23 because she is wearing the yellow dress.)

*HAIM joined TS on 7/22-8/9, 3 cities, 10 shows, with No Body, No Crime replacing Tis The Damn Season.

Seattle, Santa Clara, Los Angeles…. CLASS.

Area codes 310 and 424 are the telephone area codes for West LA, a small portion of Ventura County, and Santa Catalina Island… (like the Catalina Wine Mixer?) the area code 310 was created on 11/2/1991. Then on 1/25/97 it was split to 562 for the southeast portion of LA county and a large portion of Orange County. (The OC? Premiered 8/5/2003. RIP Marissa, Mischa Barton was actually named the It Girl of 2003, kinda like Clara Bow?)

[batsplat]

Spanish motorcycle magazine Motociclismo.es has an article about possible personnel changes in MotoGP for 2007. The main rumor concerns Andrea Dovizioso, who is said to want to move up the MotoGP class, unless Honda vastly improve their 250 for next season. Dovizioso's name is being linked with the LCR Honda currently being ridden by the young Australian Casey Stoner. LCR team boss Lucio Cecchinello is said not to be happy with Stoner's performance in the championship, but this could also be related to persistent rumors of Stoner moving to either Ducati or Yamaha.

22/8/2006

As we rapidly approach the high water mark of speculation about 2007, more rumors emerged about Casey Stoner. The Italian website Motograndprix.it is reporting that the young Aussie may be out of MotoGP next year. After being turned down by Yamaha, Stoner reportedly approached his current team boss Lucio Cecchinello with a demand for $2.5 million to resign with LCR for 2007, a demand which Cecchinello was unable, or unwilling, to meet. Similar approaches to Ducati have so far met with little reward, as the factory from Bologna are currently engaged in negotiations with Loris Capirossi for 2007, who is seeking a $4 million deal, similar to Sete Gibernau's contract, leaving Ducati with room for maneuver with Stoner. This leaves Stoner without a ride for 2007 so far, and, by overplaying his hand so strongly in negotiatons, with little chance of a ride, unless he were to move to Kawasaki to replace Shinya Nakano, who is rumored to be moving to Konica Minolta Honda for next season. Stoner would have to moderate his wage demands a good deal to make that happen, though. Stoner has shown huge promise during the early part of the season, taking a shock pole at the Qatar GP, followed by a 2nd place in Turkey. Since then, however, he has developed a fatal attraction to the gravel traps, falling in three races after making rider mistakes when being pushed hard (especially by his arch-rival Dani Pedrosa), and not starting in Germany after coming off during practice. In addition, Stoner has been very outspoken in his views on just about everything, including openly criticizing the bike and the team when he felt things weren't working properly. No one doubts Stoner's talent, but hiring the young Aussie is a high-risk strategy, and one which teams are seemingly loathe to take.

24/8/2006

Well, where just a few days ago, it seemed certain that Marco Melandri would be going to the factory Ducati team, now it looks increasingly like last year's title runner up will be staying with Gresini on a Honda next year. Both MotoGrandPrix.it and Crash.net are reporting that Fausto Gresini has matched Ducati's reported offer of € 3 million for next season, an offer which would also include strong factory support from Honda, and, surprisingly, Bridgestone tires. The mystery for all this is where the money is supposed to be coming from, as Altadis, the brand behind Fortuna, are leaving MotoGP, taking their large sponsorship budget with them. If the reports are true, it would put a halt to an expected round of rider shuffles, with Sete Gibernau, the man Melandri was expected to replace at Ducati, staying put and not going to Kawasaki, where he was set to take Shinya Nakano's place. This would then also leave Nakano the option at staying at Kawasaki, and leave the question of who Melandri's team mate will be open. Alex de Angelis is one name being bandied about, as is Carlos Checa, although Checa, who has been very impressive this year on the inferior Dunlop tires, has also been linked with Pramac d'Antin Ducati, who are expected to get Bridgestones for next year.

6/10/2006

Well, contrary to what I wrote in a previous post, Casey Stoner is almost certain to stay in MotoGP after all. He will be losing his ride with LCR Honda at the end of this season, but he has announced to the press that he will be riding a Ducati in 2007. No details of the contract were released, but with Loris Capirossi taking a nice pay rise, it is unlikely that Stoner will be getting the $3 million he was reportedly demanding. However, the upside for Stoner is that he will be on a factory machine, and not have to wait in line for parts from HRC with the other satellite Honda riders. Stoner's seat at LCR will be taken by Carlos Checa, who has been revitalized this season, after a run of decent, but not brilliant seasons at Yamaha and Ducati. Checa has been the only Dunlop rider to be anywhere near the action this season, and his performance has paid off.

17/10/2006

After several months of speculation, and an unofficial announcement at Estoril, Ducati Corse has finally officially announced that Casey Stoner has signed to ride for them in 2007. Few details of his contract were made public, other than Stoner will be riding the GP7 Desmosedici next year, with an option to ride in 2008. Claudio Domenicali, Managing Director of Ducati Corse, is quoted as saying of Stoner: "With his enthusiasm and aggressive riding style, Casey is sure to give our fans some extraordinary emotions." So far this year, those emotions have been elation as Stoner runs at the front, followed by despair as he loses the front end and crashes out. What is certain is that Stoner should be very spectacular to watch on the Ducati, and his riding style should match Loris Capirossi's, who is the Ducati team's main rider. This move now leaves Sete Gibernau without a ride in 2007, although he is reputedly in talks with Kawasaki. The irony of Stoner's signing will not be lost on Sete, who will be unable to race at Valencia as a result of injuries he suffered after crashing out when Casey Stoner fell in front of him, leaving him with nowhere to go but over and out.

19/10/2006

[skeletalheartattack]

[noramoya]

I’M SORRY I DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH, WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE POSTS •••

PLEASE, SHARE, IF YOU LIKE IT !!

@swift-fated @mjslays @mj-fans-alliance-blog @mj-confessions @mjstevent @mjvideos @mjjsecretlovers-blog @mjjalways @mjjproductionz @mjjofficial @mjjsourcesblog @mjkopforever @anneke-treasure @annievvv7 @anniemjjloverr @annievvv77 @michael-jackson-blog @michaeljacksonslegend @michael-jackson-is-invincib-blog @michaeljacksonlooks @tania-rowell @smellyblanketmjj @bp2003gaming @spongebobafettywap @ew-honeydew @lisamjfan777 @lisamj-blog @jacamjkhfangirl2022 @caffeinated-chaos-bean

FINALLY !!! After the innovations in technology (now in iOS 17.4.1), that makes possible to copy and paste photos of texts, I could paste into the Portuguese to English dictionary, and BINGO, here the translation: @prideshania

“At the end of December 2006, Michael Jackson was convinced by manager Jack Wishna to return to the United States for a meeting to discuss some concert projects in Las Vegas. As soon as the King of Pop set foot in the United States, he had to attend the funeral of his friend and mentor

James Brown, who died on Christmas Day. The first months of 2007 were occupied by social events organized by Raymone Bain, as well as preparations with her new lawyer and right-hand man, Peter Lopez, for a discreet return.

The relationship between his manager and his lawyer had its ups and downs: in the 2000s, many people were competing to manage the career of a megastar who had been absent from the music scene for several years. Lopez planned the Thriller 25 project with Sony Music, intending to celebrate the album's 25th anniversary with a special edition.

Michael Jackson traveled to New York to meet with teams from

Legacy Recordings, the record label that handled reissues of the biggest albums in Sony's catalog. The initial plan was to include new songs from the Thriller sessions, such as Hot Street, Nite Line and Trouble. But the King of Pop wasn't interested in publishing them.

During the discussions, he spoke about his desire to produce new versions of his masterpieces. MJ asked Kanye West to remix Billie Jean, and asked singer Akon to record a cover version of Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'.

The only unreleased track on physical media - which had been leaked - is For All Time, a ballad composed during the Thriller session and recorded during the Dangerous Era.

Other tracks, such as the demo versions of The Girl Is Mine and Got the Hots, were respectively published as bonuses on the 2008 single The Girl Is Mine and the Japanese edition of Thriller 25.

Michael Jackson agreed to pose for L'Uomo Vogue and Ebony magazines to support the album's release. This was his last official rehearsal. The photographer was Matthew Rolston, with whom he had worked during the

Thriller.

The album's re-release was supposed to happen in December 2007, but ended up being released on February 11, 2008, because Jackson wanted to finish some remixes and new versions that included Beat It featuring Fergie from Black Eyed.

Parts. The lead single was the cover version featuring Akon, which reached a new generation of fans. Thriller 25 has sold more than three million copies worldwide”…

@swift-fated @mjslays @mjvideos @mj-fans-alliance-blog @mjstevent @mjconfessions @mjjalways @mjjofficial @mjjsecretlovers-blog @mjjproductionz @mjjsourcesblog @michael-jackson-blog @michaeljacksonfamily @michaeljacksonslegend @michaeljacksonlooks @jacksonfamilypix @jackson-royalty-blog @jacksonprince @jackson8520yuleidy @anniemjjloverr @annievvv7 @annie-wheres-your-oatcakes

[all-that-jazz-93]

American Dragon Timeline

I’ve been trying for a while now to figure out the timeline of this show, because it makes no sense in the order that Disney Channel originally aired the episodes. It also makes no sense in the episode list on Jeff Goode’s website, which he claims to be the proper chronology of events.

I had to come up with a few convoluted headcanons to make this work, but I think I’ve finally pieced together a coherent timeline (note that for a lot of the filler episodes, it doesn’t actually matter that much when they take place, I was just trying to stick as close to Jeff Goode’s chronology as possible.)

September 2004

Old School Training

It’s implied in this episode that Jake got his dragon powers very recently. They don’t say how recently, but given how new the whole thing is to him, I’d say it’s probably only been about a week or two.

Here’s where we come up against our first issue with canon. In The Legend of Dragon Tooth, Jake says he got his dragon powers when he turned 13, and in Shapeshifter, he says he’s a Pisces, which means his birthday would be in late February, or March. There’s no way the timeline makes sense if that’s the case, so my headcanon is that Jake is just like…really bad at astrology, and he somehow confused Pisces with another star sign.

We also have the issue of how far behind he seems to be in school (he’s 14 in early season 2, but still in 7th grade). So, two more headcanons to explain that. Number one, Jake’s birthday is actually sometime in early September, so he missed the cutoff to go to kindergarten when he was 5, and had to wait until he was 6, placing him a year behind (some places don’t allow kids to start kindergarten if they turn 5 after September 1st. I knew a boy in my old youth group who was almost a year older than everyone else in our grade, because he had an October birthday). Number two, at some point in elementary school, Jake was held back a grade. So the first episode takes place shortly after Jake’s 13th birthday, at the beginning of his sixth grade year.

Since Trixie and Spud are supposed to be the same age as him, that would mean they must’ve both been held back at some point as well (that especially makes sense for Spud—anyone who’s purposely failed as many tests as he has would almost definitely have to repeat a grade).

This would also make Rose younger than them. She’s very bright, and she seems like a good student, so it’s unlikely she was ever held back. But we don’t want her to be too much younger than them, so I’ll headcanon that she also has a birthday in early September, making her a year younger than Jake. If that’s the case, she’d be 12 in season one, and 13/14 in season 2.

Adventures in Trollsitting/Fu Dog Takes a Walk

The dogcatcher says that it’s September.

 September/October 2004

Shapeshifter Dragon Breath The Legend of Dragon Tooth The Talented Mr. Long Professor Rotwood’s Thesis Act 4, Scene 15 The Long Weekend Body Guard Duty Dragon Summit

This episode has to take place after Shapeshifter, Dragon Breath, and Professor Rotwood’s Thesis, since the Dragon Council makes references back to Jake’s actions in all of those episodes. It also has to take place before The Halloween Bash, which places it sometime in September or October.

 October 2004

The Halloween Bash

Jeff Goode’s website lists this episode as taking place between Ski Trip and The Hunted, but there’s no way that’s possible, because Ski Trip takes place close to Valentine’s Day, and The Hunted takes place during the Equinox (they don’t specify which Equinox, but it would have to be the one in September; it’s the only way the timeline makes any sense, even with the generous liberties I’m taking with these headcanons). So The Halloween Bash has to take place before Ski Trip. No one in this episode makes any reference to knowing Rose’s identity, so it works out just fine.

 February 2005

The Ski Trip

Valentine’s Day was actually on a Monday in 2005, so presumably this episode takes place the weekend of February 11-13.

 March 2005

The Egg/The Heist

Easter was on March 27 in 2005. This is how I know The Hunted takes place during the Autumnal Equinox; Rose was still in the city during Easter weekend, a week after the Vernal Equinox.

Eye of the Beholder Ring Around the Dragon Jake Takes the Cake

 May 2005

Fu and Tell/Flight of the Unicorn

Flight of the Unicorn takes place on Memorial Day, which was May 30th that year

 May/June (or September) 2005

Keeping Shop

Hong Kong Nights

I know Jeff Goode’s website says this is the last episode of season one, but I absolutely cannot accept any episode besides The Hunted as the season finale, so I’m just gonna recognize that the council has made a decision, but elect to ignore it.

 September 2005

The Hunted

The Autumnal Equinox in 2005 was on September 22

 Late November/Early December 2005

Half Baked

Jake says it’s been three months since Rose left. It couldn’t be exactly three months, because that would place this episode in late December, and school would be out for the holidays. So presumably it’s late November or early December, and Jake is rounding up when he says three months.

The Academy

This one would pretty much have to take place very soon after Half Baked, like within a week or two.

 Late December 2005

Breakout

This episode establishes that 88 and 89 are in the city working as apprentices to the Huntsman, so it has to take place before the Christmas episode, which they also appear in.

Hairy Christmas

January/February 2006

(Most of these don’t actually have to take place in January or February, aside from Dreamscape and Fool’s Gold. The rest could be pretty much any time during Jake’s 7th grade year. I’m just trying to stick to Jeff Goode’s chronology, and keep at least some of the episodes in the order he listed.)

Hero of the Hourglass Bring It On Family Business Something Fishy This Way Comes The Doppelganger Gang Dreamscape Fool's Gold

 February 2006

The Love Cruise

They never explicitly say it’s Valentine’s Day, but the whole concept of the Love Cruise seems like something a school would do for Valentine’s Day. Also adds an extra layer of heartbreak, because it means Jake and Rose’s breakup happened on the one-year anniversary of Jake finding out Rose was Huntsgirl. Ouch. February has not been kind to Jake.

On the other hand, I’d prefer to headcanon that Jake and Rose got to spend the whole summer together before their breakup, going on dream dates every night and not having to set their alarms for school in the morning (can we just let them be happy for a little while? PLEASE?!?!?!?), so maybe the Love Cruise wasn’t on Valentine’s Day, and instead was just some random school event at the beginning of their 8th grade year.

 May 2006

Feeding Frenzy

They spend three days visiting Jake’s family, so it’s either Memorial Day weekend, spring break, or summertime. Most likely Memorial Day or spring break, since Jake says in this episode that he’s been the American Dragon for a year and a half.

 May/June 2006

A Befuddled Mind The Rotwood Files Haley Gone Wild Switcheroo

This one takes place after The Love Cruise, because Jake and Rose’s recent breakup is a minor plot point, so it only takes place at this point if we headcanon Love Cruise taking place in February.

Young At Heart

I know this is supposed to be a later episode, but going by this timeline, Jake would be 15 for most of his 8th grade year, and in this episode Jake, Trixie, and Spud talk about being 14, so it has to take place during 7th grade

 Summer between 7th and 8th grade

A Ghost Story

 Late September/Early October 2006

Homecoming

I never went to public school (I was unfortunately homeschooled), but it’s my understanding that middle schools don’t do Homecoming. So my headcanon is that it was actually just a junior high prom or something, but a few students on the planning committee approached Sun Park and begged her to let them model it after the Homecoming dances at their older siblings’ high schools. Sun was delighted by their enthusiasm, so of course she agreed.

 Any time during their 8th grade year

Supernatural Tuesday Siren Says Shaggy Frog Nobody's Fu Game On Bite Father, Bite Son Magic Enemy #1

 February 2007

Year of the Jake

Chinese New Year was on February 18th in 2007

 March 2007

Furious Jealousy

Trixie and Spud put together a Daylight Savings themed school event, so this episode takes place either in October of 06 or March of 07. We’ll go with March because it’s closer to the end of the series.

 June 2007

Being Human

Haley and Gramps both say in this episode that Jake is 14, but he would actually be 15 by this point (even if my whole timeline is wrong and he actually is a Pisces, he still would’ve had his 15th birthday already). Presumably the writers just weren’t paying close enough attention to their established timeline, but the in-universe explanation is…sometimes family members forget your age; my best friend keeps saying her youngest sister is 15, when in fact her sister is turning 17 this year. Sometimes you lose track.

 Summer after 8th grade

The Hong Kong Longs

Presumably this episode takes place around July or August, which means Jake and his friends would be almost 16 by this point (and Rose would be almost 15, assuming my headcanon about her being a year younger than them is accurate).

[rappaccini]

what do you mean by 'the incest is always gonna be here' like yeah its in the comics but gerard way changed his mind about it and they're pretty clearly moving away from that.

sigh. how do i fucking put this.

the pseudo-incest is in the comics. that much is definite. i have no quarrel with you there.

and yes, gerard way mentioned in an interview that at the time the comics begun (in 2006-2007) he didn't consider the relationships incestuous, but his feelings on adopted family evolved since then.

he never says 'i regret getting the pseudoincest couples together and will be moving away from that going forward.'

that's something people decided he said.

(plus after the show's release in 2019, after that interview, when all the ~ew incest~ takes rolled in, way's choice of image with which to highlight luther's character... was of the alluther dance sequence. if he doesn't support their relationship anymore, why single it out and use it to praise the show?)

but... is that happening in the comics?

let's walk through them, step by step.

... but the past ain't through with you

in the bonus issue (here it's semi-animated) released before apocalypse suite proper (this came out on may 5 2007 and was the second story in the tuaverse to be released after mon dieu in 2006, apocalypse suite 1 came out on september 19 2007), and set during their teen years, luther is the one to point out that allison's been sneaking out with boys, implying jealousy that he isn't one of those boys. put a pin in that.

apocalypse suite:

-- from apocalypse suite #3, released november 21 2007

so. in apocalypse suite, we meet our two major pseudo-incest pairings. allison/luther, and diego/vanya.

so. diego and vanya are one of our Big Couples, the first we formally meet. and this is how they're introduced. it is obvious immediately that they are very attracted to each other, and the story wants you to feel that attraction.

you don't have two characters land in a position that intimate with literal sparks flying behind them unless you want your audience to think 'oh, this is a passionate couple.'

-- apocalypse suite #4, released dec 19 2007

oh look. luther deciding the easiest way to shut diego up for mocking his sensitive spot (luther believing reginald loved him) is to do the same and mock his feelings for vanya... and klaus and allison being shocked that luther would go that low.

aka, that the relationships between the academy are sensitive fucking ground and everyone recognizes that. and that everyone knows what's up with vanya and diego and no one is bothered by it.

-- apocalypse suite #5, released jan 21 2008

this is when allison/luther happens (after buildup in reginald and pogo's notes suggesting allison is crushing on him as a child).

it is worth mentioning that in the comic, allison rumors luther into wanting to kiss her. that's sus. not denying that. but i think the context implies the opposite of 'luther didn't love allison until she forced him to' -- in this exchange, luther depressedly says he would've loved to marry and have a child (off a panel of allison, aka, the woman he wanted to marry and start a family with) but he's convinced his body will stop him from ever having that and will just focus on his work. and then mentions that he sure would love to meet claire.

(note that luther has already chronologically expressed romantic interest in allison in but the past ain't through with you. aka, his feelings for her did exist and were romantic.)

note that luther's work is the dehumanizing, isolating experience of being perpetually in exile on the moon, which he finds miserable.

ergo, luther is not saying 'oh well, no romance for me, can't wait to be a career man!'

he's saying 'my vision of happiness is marriage and a child, but i'm so ugly and traumatized that i should never be allowed to have that. therefore, i should never be allowed to be happy.'

obviously, his conclusion is terrible and sad. obviously, it is wrong. we're supposed to know that.

and note that allison never rumors him into loving her (for the millionth time, that was patrick). she doesn't even rumor him into kissing her. just into wanting to kiss her... which means luther did not have to do it. he could've taken that desire and walked right away and never acted on it. instead, he chose to kiss her, which means the feelings he had for her were probably already there. the only thing that changed was his ability to act on them.

and as we've already noted, luther's inability to act on his feelings is pointed out as deeply sad.

so when allison rumors luther into wanting to kiss her, she's not forcing him into a relationship. she's giving him the courage to go for something he's already told her (and us) that he wants and is too insecure to fight for.

the execution was just shoddy.

(oh, and the title of this issue, "thank you for the coffee," refers just as much to allison and luther getting together-- after she brings him coffee-- as it does five's diner massacre. why thank her for something terrible, unless it isn't terrible and is exactly what you need?)

and yes, klaus is looking on. but that expression can mean a lot of things: disappointment, sure, disgust, maybe. he could be sad that the apocalypse is coming. he could also be sad because he wants something like that too (i mean... the Vibe between him and ben in hotel o is off the charts. it's not out of the question that klaus is sitting there like 'damn. wish that was me and ben').

-- apocalypse suite #6, released feb 20, 2008

diego, after refusing to kill vanya because of her love for him, literally crawls on bended knee to her, trying to get through to her by... telling her that it doesn't matter that she was rejected and traumatized, because she's still loved. that 'someone' who loves her is him, given that we've spent six issues learning about their connection and that he's the one being emphasized in that panel.

and vanya turns away from her rampage, starts crying and asks if she can come home. she's hardened and doesn't believe him, but she still asks. he still got through to her.

the comics are spelling out that vanya's love for diego is what will bring her home and save her. and further hammers in when luther mocks him for thinking she loves him, he was full of shit. because she does.

~sooo toxic~

dallas

-- dallas #4, released feb 25 2009

luther dreams of having a happy family with allison (tua did wandavision first, fellas), only for it to be interrupted by reginald and the apocalypse, turning into a nightmare at the exact moment his family crumbles. reginald literally mocks him for thinking that it will "turn out all right."

and the title of the issue is "a perfect life," referring again to luther's fantasy.

to reiterate: luther's vision of a perfect life, in which things go okay for him, is ending up married to allison and having children with her. and his greatest fear is that he won't get to have that. (if the comics wanted you to think of them as toxic and bad, they would not have told you that.)

why the fuck would the comics ending on luther not getting that happy family be good for him?

(answer: it wouldn't be. it would be a sign that luther's story is a tragedy, and he will never be happy. it would be a sign that luther is stuck in a 'nightmare.')

-- dallas #6, april 6, 2009

allison assassinates jfk to save luther. she literally changes the course of history, stops an apocalypse, saves the world, traumatizes her child self, and risks his hating her forever (given that he's opposed to the assassination) all because she loves luther so much she refuses to live in a world without him and is willing to risk losing his affection to ensure that never happens.

(+ meaningful titles: 'the world is big enough without you' refers in part to allison's feelings for luther.)

~ah yes, she sure is evil and heartless and only with him for her own gratification, right?~

anywhere but here

--from anywhere but here, released oct 21 2009

a short story included in the dallas collected edition literally revolves around vanya and diego's relationship and reveals the reason why vanya left home was her worry that diego belongs with the academy and not her. and that reginald intended to send her to boarding school to stop them from getting together and keep diego focused on his missions.

and note that diego's missions are shitty and bad, and that he himself admits he'd be happier with vanya. aka, their happy ending is the two of them, together, making music.

(and oh look viego didn't vanish at all. it's alive and swinging and this issue is considered a part of dallas, so that's their presence in the dallas arc.)

baby, you're a haunted house

i count this song by way as sort of canon-adjacent because it's a direct quote of allison's during hotel oblivion #2 (released nov 7 2018, literally days after the song, which came out on oct 26 2018).

the quote isn't a coincidence. and neither is the cover art being a model house (given that in the issue in which allison says the quote, she herself is building a model home). whether it's just a neat little moment of synergy or an indication that the song is literally about the academy, i don't know. either way, there's a connection.

but if it is, the lyrics being specifically about loving someone despite their flaws and your own, and being in a bad place mentally but being able to see one another through it because of your relationship, would be referring to the academy's relationships with each other. including and possibly specifically referring to the romances.

[since allison's the one referencing the song, or perhaps the song is referencing her, then the easiest application is that this is about her relationship with luther: two fucked-up unlikable people who are equals, in bad mental headspaces but able to find happiness because they're together and understand one another's pain]

[though the constant ghost references also give me klaus-and-ben vibes. that combined with the revelation in the very arc releasing as the song does that ben was with him the entire time... hm. i'll take it.]

hotel oblivion

released in 2018, a full 9 years later, as tua s1 was in production. clearly this is the volume where way Changed His Mind and is Moving Away From The Bad Ships, right?

okay. let's look at the material.

-- hotel oblivion issue #4, released jan 2 2019

luther and diego bury their hatchet by getting stuck in a cosmic get along shirt that teaches them they have something in common after all. thirty years of hating each other and clinging to a rivalry end... because they agree that the one thing they have in common is that they're deeply in love with their pseudo-sisters and just want to make it home to tell them that.

the one thing powerful enough to make them finally get along is them both being wife guys for their sisters.

[this not counting the Very Interesting Subtext behind the revelation that ben's been watching over klaus all this time and literally bridal carries him to safety after his overdose.]

and i will note that hotel oblivion was released from oct 3 2018 to march 29 2019, when season 1 was in production and after it was released. presumably, this is when you are saying way Changed His Mind.

which. okay. maybe he did.

but if that's 'them moving away from the pseudo-incest' then boy did they do a shitty job because it sure the fuck looks like they doubled down on it.

you look like death

-- from you look like death #3, released on nov 18 2020

yes. 2020. aka this was written after season 1 aired, and released after 2 aired, after two waves of 'eww break up the siblingcouples' and a whopping 13 years after the first issue of tua hit the shelves, way literally took the time to sit you down and have fan-favorite klaus himself tell an audience stand-in "this is how we see each other: we are not That Kind Of Family."

look, it's your updated view on the family laid out for you to read. and the updated view is 'they refer to each other as brothers and sisters, but the context of their upbringing means they are something completely different.'

which is a very polite way of saying, yes, we're still going there. get over it.

okay. i get that the comics are far from over. given that sparrow academy will be volume 4 of a planned 8, sure, there's plenty of time for developments to change and for couples to fall apart and break up.

but given the evidence so far... given that in every single arc up until this point, even after the show swept in, ballooned the fandom and people got pissed about the relationships in a way that they never were before, and the comic team stuck to their guns anyway... it sure doesn't seem to be happening yet, and all the signs we have are pointing to it not happening at all.

it's okay to not like everything about a story. it's okay to prefer something different. but you have to manage your expectations when you do: separate what you want to happen from what is actually happening and what is likely to happen, based on what has already happened. otherwise, you're in for a lot of disappointment.

[knives-out20]

The Impact Of The Intergalactic - David Bowie Opinion Essay - by Beck S.

This is an essay I wrote about the span of David Bowie's career. I wrote it for a summer school course I took last year (August 2021) for a course called History of Rock & Roll.

My teacher gave nice feedback after he marked it, talking about how it was an "Excellent paper. It charts Bowie's progress throughout his career well, and includes significant detail. I could really feel the passion you have about him throughout. In fact, there is *too much* detail! The paper was supposed to be 3 pages max, double-spaced. Still, this is a good problem to have; better too much than too little."

So...enjoy!!

From his early works like Hunky Dory, to Black Tie White Noise in the 1990’s and stretching over to Blackstar as his final album, David Bowie has rarely had a bad album or song- in my opinion. His career has had ups and downs, his musical creations ranging in the way he would pitch his voice and what instruments he would use, the people he would produce with, and the wild things he would say. Charting David Bowie’s development over time is in fact an interesting journey.

Early on in his dreamy career, Bowie would have done nearly anything- or in fact, anyone- to grow in the music world. Hopping from band to band (like The Velvet Underground), producer to producer, doing whatever he could do to get ‘in’ in the industry. His early albums weren’t taken very highly in their times- especially with the ‘man-dress’ he wore on the British release of his The Man Who Sold The World album. Although, this dress was only the start of the androgynous appearance he would soon be known for, over the course of his 5-decade-spanning career.

The 1970’s were strange, to say the least. He married Angela Bowie at the start of the decade, then welcomed their son Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones a year later. Bowie went on to be hopped up on cocaine. David donned the look of one of his famous personas, The Thin White Duke. The same persona with slicked-back ginger hair, a white button-up under a black waistcoat and paired with black dress pants. The same Duke who called Adolf Hitler one of the first ‘rock stars’ and gave off a lot of faschist energy. He said many statements he’d later apologize for and grow as a better man from, which is good- it’s better than standing by then, or even backing himself up and supporting them. David Bowie called that period the darkest days of his life, and blamed the crazy statements on his horrid addiction and deteriorating mental state. The late 1970’s were more favorable, seeing as it gave the world what was dubbed the Berlin Trilogy alongside Brian Eno and David’s personal friend, Iggy Pop. Made up of three of his albums: Low and Heroes (both in 1977) and Lodger (1978). He moved from Los Angeles to Switzerland, then to Berlin as a further decision to escape his addiction (the reason he moved away from LA in the first place). It was in Berlin, of course, where he wrote his famous song Heroes, about two lovers, one from East Berlin and one from West.

Speaking of Berlin, David Bowie performed near the west of the Berlin Wall in 1987; he played so loud that crowds gathered on the east to listen. At this time, Bowie had no idea he would be the beginning of the city’s soon-coming unifying. After his death in 2016, the German government thanked him for bringing the wall down and unifying a divided Germany.

Music isn’t all he is known for, though it is a majority. He also starred in movies from time to time. Being the titular man in The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976, Jareth the moody goblin king in Jim Henson’s 1986 Labyrinth film (what is most likely his most famous role), Monte the barman in the 1991 movie The Linguini Incident, cameoing as himself in Zoolander (2001), Nikola Tesla in the 2006 movie The Prestige, and even Lord Royal Highness in Spongebob Squarepants’ Atlantis Squarepantis in 2007, among a few others. David Bowie dabbled in the art of acting, and was not that bad at it. He was good enough to gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, too. Sometimes it bends my mind that my first introduction to my all-time favourite musician was in a Spongebob Squarepants movie, back before I knew who he was, but David Bowie was never one to shy away from foreshadowing. At least one song from many of his albums would hint at the direction he’d go in for his next release. For example, his track Queen Bitch on Hunky Dory foreshadowed his soon-coming Ziggy Stardust. And the Diamond Dogs track 1984 actually hinted at the Philadelphian soul of Young Americans, which is a more famous song of his, which he went on to perform on The Cher Show with its host.

The 1990’s were certainly an experimental time for David Bowie. But to my knowledge, I think the 1990’s was a time for everyone. He married supermodel Iman some days after performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and released the album I named earlier, Black Tie White Noise. It is known to have had a prominent use of electronic instruments, as was his other 1990’s album, Earthling. The early 1990’s greeted David’s first real band since the Spiders From Mars, dubbed Tin Machine. They recorded three guitar-driven albums which received mixed reviews from the masses, but Bowie looks back at this period- as do I- with a certain fondness; “a glorious disaster” he called it, when talking to journalist Mick Brown. Tin Machine is a period I don’t listen to often, compared to his solo stuff, but I don’t press the skip button when it comes on.

Alas, the starman’s career drew to a close as the 2000s rolled in. David Bowie greeted the 2000’s with the birth of his and Iman’s daughter, the beautiful Alexandria Zahra Jones. After suffering a- strange, as it were- heart attack symptoms mid-song during a concert in 2004, he took a hiatus from his career. I say strange because given what I know, he was trying his best to stay healthy at the time. According to my special Rolling Stone edition magazine about David Bowie (released at the start of this year), he was on tour and performing in a really hot arena. But Bowie was sober, and had quit smoking. He was taking medication to lower his cholesterol, and worked out with a trainer. Bowie looked great, and yet he felt a pain in his shoulder and chest, along with a shortness for breath. A bodyguard rushed onstage to usher Bowie off of it, cutting the concert short. He only performed live once or twice after that point, but was set on never going live ever again. And he kept his word on that, unfortunately but also fortunately. Unfortunately, because David Bowie live would have been quite the experience- I wouldn’t know, personally. But fortunately, because I do not believe anyone needs a repeat of the 2004 Reality scare.

I am actually not too fond of speaking of his final years. Nobody really likes to speak of the last years of their idols’ life before their death, so it’s no surprise. Blackstar was David Bowie’s 25th and final album, recorded entirely in secret in New York alongside his long-time producer, Tony Visconti. The album's central theme lyrically is mortality, and seeing as Bowie was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer at the time, I see it as his way of coping with his incoming death. His producer Tony Visconti called him a ‘canny bastard’, when he realized Bowie was essentially writing a farewell album. Every song on the album is what is considered a swan song, a swan song in question being a phrase for a final gesture of some sort before retirement or death. In this case, death. Over the course of recording the album, David Bowie’s chemotherapy had actually been working and he had an eerie optimism while recording. But by the time they shot the two music videos Blackstar and Lazarus, where he showed off the definite passage of time and cruelty of chemotherapy through sparse and gray hair with sagging skin, he knew his condition was terminal and that this would be a battle he would lose. Blackstar wasn’t the first album to have been made by a musician succumbing to a fatal illness, but in my opinion it is in fact the most beautiful. It’s jazzy, and elegant, showing how at peace he had become with dying.

Blackstar the album was released on January 8th, 2016. Also known as David Bowie’s 69th birthday. Two days later, David Bowie died at his Lafayette Street home on January 10th after living with liver cancer for up to 18 months. Beforehand, he had let it be known he did not want a funeral nor a burial, but rather that his body be cremated and the ashes to be scattered in Bali by his loved ones. His wish was received, and planet Earth was very much bluer and quieter without his colour and wonderful noise.

As I said earlier on, David Bowie’s career came with ups and downs. His mysteriously close relationship with Mick Jagger, his cross with famous underage groupie Lori Maddox, the births of his two talented children, his faschist bender in the 70’s, and final bang of Blackstar in his final year on earth. Through the highs and lows, his career and his music meant a lot to the quote-unquote misfits and freaks of the world, myself included. David Bowie turned and faced the strange, shouted “you’re not alone!” To those who felt the loneliest, he surely spent his career helping those who needed to be themselves, feel more freer and braver in doing so, no matter what they may be when they are themselves. He never went boring, he never went stale, he sang what he wanted and dressed how he pleased, and kept to his word on how much more to life there is when you’re just that; yourself. A year after David Bowie’s untimely passing, his son Duncan Jones accepted an award for British album of the year that was won by Blackstar at the 37th annual Brit Awards. When he accepted it, he made a speech about his father that I will leave here, and never forget. Seeing as it perfectly encapsulates David Bowie’ legacy, and the true meaning of his extraordinary career.

“I lost my dad last year, but I also became a dad. And, uhm, I was spending a lot of time- after getting over the shock- of trying to work out what would I want my son to know about his granddad? And I think it would be the same thing that most of my dad's fans have taken over the last 50 years. That he’s always been there supporting people who think they’re a little bit weird or a little bit strange, a little bit different, and he’s always been there for them. So...this award is for all the kooks, and all the people who make the kooks. Thanks, Brits, and thanks to his fans.” - Duncan Z. H. Jones (February 22 2017, at The O2 Arena in London.)

[multiverseforger]

Leonard Snart was raised by an abusive father and took refuge with his grandfather, who worked in an ice truck. When his grandfather died, Snart grew tired of his father's abuse and set out to start a criminal career. Snart joined up with a group of small-time thieves and in planning out a robbery, each was issued a gun and a visor to protect their eyes against the flashes of gunfire. This visor design would later be adapted by Snart into his trademark costume. In recent years he has added a radio receiver to them which picks up the police band to monitor local law enforcement. Snart and the other thugs were captured by the Flash and imprisoned. Snart decided to go solo, but knew he had to do something about the local hero, the Flash.[4]

Snart read an article that theorized that the energy emissions of a cyclotron could interfere with the Flash's speed. He designed a weapon to harness that power and broke into a cyclotron lab, intending to use the device to charge up his experimental gun. As he was finishing his experiment, a security guard surprised Snart. Intending to use his gun only to scare the guard, he inadvertently pulled the trigger and discovered that his weapon had been altered in a way he had never imagined. The moisture in the air around the guard froze. Intrigued by this twist of fate, Snart donned a parka and the aforementioned visor and declared himself to be Captain Cold - the man who mastered absolute zero.[7]

Snart then committed a series of non-lethal crimes, on one occasion placing the city in suspended animation in an attempt to force Iris West to marry him as he had fallen in love with her when he saw her in the prison, but the Flash got through a wall of ice and was able to reverse the process. He later fell in love with a newscaster, and competed with Heat Wave (in his first appearance) over her in a crime spree, but they were both beaten by the Flash. But after Barry Allen's death, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Captain Cold became a bounty hunter with his sister Lisa, the Golden Glider.[4]

During the events of Underworld Unleashed, Captain Cold lost his soul to Neron but Wally West brought it back to the land of the living. He soon returned to crime, this time a member of Wally's Rogues Gallery. The Rogues had first been assembled when another Flash foe, the super-intelligent Gorilla Grodd had broken them out of jail to distract the Flash. The Golden Glider had abandoned her bounty hunter career and had started partnering with a series of thugs who she dressed in a costume, armed with a copy of Captain Cold's signature Cold Gun, and called Chillblaine. Already distraught over the death of her lover, the Top, it seemed that the supposed death of her brother pushed her over the edge. But the last Chillblaine was a little smarter and more vicious. He murdered the Golden Glider, prompting Captain Cold to hunt him down, torture him and kill him by freezing his outer layer of skin and then pushing him off a high rise building. Not long after that, Snart was framed by a new incarnation of Mister Element. He used his Element Gun to simulate Cold's gun, using ice and cold to murder several police officers before Captain Cold and the Flash discovered who was actually responsible. With the death of his sister, and having killed Chillblaine and Mr. Element in vengeance, Cold has again become an unrepentant criminal. However, during a confrontation with Brother Grimm, Cold actually worked with Wally West to defeat the powerful magic user, although this was mainly because he and Mirror Master had been betrayed by Grimm and wanted revenge.[4]

Captain Cold was declared the leader of the Flash's Rogues Gallery. His skill and experience have made him a strong leader to the likes of the Weather Wizard, the new Trickster, the new Mirror Master, and the new Captain Boomerang. Len seems to have taken the young Captain Boomerang under his wing, after the elder Boomerang was recently killed. Tabloids rumoured that Captain Cold's sister, the Golden Glider, was Boomerang's mother, making him Captain Cold's nephew. This turned out to be false, however, as the new Boomerang's mother has been revealed to be Meloni Thawne, who is also the mother of Bart Allen. Despite his more ruthless nature as of late, Captain Cold's heart is not completely frozen, evidenced by having sent flowers to honor Sue Dibny, murdered wife of the Elongated Man.[volume & issue needed]

Traditionally, Captain Cold is driven by three things: money, women, and the desire to beat Barry Allen. Although not the lecher that Captain Boomerang was, Len Snart has an eye for the ladies, particularly models. When Barry Allen died, Captain Cold drifted for a while, jumping back and forth over the lines of crime and justice. He was captured by the Manhunter and served time in the Suicide Squad, worked with his sister as a bounty hunter (Golden Snowball Recoveries), and, with his longtime friend and sometimes nemesis Heat Wave, encountered Fire and Ice of the Justice League. He has teamed up with various villains over the years other than the many Rogues. These include Catwoman and the Secret Society of Super Villains. His favorite baseball team is the Houston Astros.[volume & issue needed]

"One Year Later"Edit

In the 2006 "One Year Later" storyline, he and several other Rogues are approached by Inertia with a plan to kill the Flash (then Barry Allen). Though Inertia was defeated, Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, Mirror Master and Abra Kadabra killed Bart with a combined barrage of their elemental weapons. He, Heat Wave, and Weather Wizard seemed to express guilt, however, after learning the identity of the Flash and how young he was.

Salvation RunEdit

Captain Cold is one of the exiled villains featured in the 2007-08 miniseries Salvation Run along with his fellow Rogues: Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, and Abra Kadabra.

New RoguesEdit

The New Rogues version of Captain Cold is Chill, a unknown man who possesses a Cold Gun.

Final Crisis: Rogues' RevengeEdit

In the 2008 miniseries Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, Captain Cold and the Rogues briefly joined Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains. In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge story, however, Cold and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game. Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used.[8] Cold and his group are challenged by a new set of Rogues, formed by Libra to be their replacements. The new group, having kidnapped Cold's father, challenge the Rogues, and are defeated and killed. Cold goes to his father, talking to him about the abuse he suffered, and the fate of his sister. After the elder Snart insults him and his mother, calling them weak, Cold punches him, but finds himself unable to kill him, instead getting Heat Wave to do it.[9] The Rogues have their confrontation with Inertia, despite interference by Zoom and Libra, and kill Inertia. Libra then reveals that he needs the Rogues because Barry Allen has returned from the dead, and the Flashes are potential threats to him and Darkseid. Though shocked by the news that Allen is alive, Cold still rejects his offer of membership. After regrouping, Cold and the other Rogues agree not to retire, claiming that the game is back on.[10] In "Final Crisis" #7, someone that looks like Captain Cold appears as a Justifier and is seen fighting the Female Furies alongside the other Justifiers under Lex Luthor's control.

The Flash: RebirthEdit

In the 2009 The Flash: Rebirth miniseries, Captain Cold is seen with the other Rogues, reading about Barry Allen's return and claiming that they would need more of the Rogues.[11] The Rogues are still debating Allen's return, with Cold saying it's time to pull out their contingency plan that Scudder came up with, stating "In case The Flash returns, break glass."[12]

"Blackest Night"Edit

In the 2009–2010 "Blackest Night" storyline, the Rogues realize that the bodies of various dead Rogues are missing and prepare to fight them. Captain Cold knows that his sister, the Golden Glider, is among the reanimated Black Lanterns but is still ready to lead the Rogues against the zombies.[13] He is confronted by the Black Lantern Glider, who attempts to use his feelings of love for her against him. However, Captain Cold manages to suppress these feelings long enough for him to fight back, freezing her within a block of ice.[14] He subsequently kills Owen Mercer by throwing him into a pit with his Black Lantern father when he learns that Owen has been feeding people to his father in the belief that consuming flesh will restore him to life, informing Owen that Rogues do not kill women and children.[15]

The Flash (Vol. 3)Edit

In The Flash (Vol. 3), Captain Cold and the Rogues visit Sam Scudder's old hideout and unveil a giant mirror with the words In Case of Flash: Break Glass written on it and release beings from a Mirror World upon breaking it.[16] However, Captain Cold is told by Mirror Master he had discovered that the giant mirror is actually a slow acting poison.[17]

The New 52Edit

In the timeline of the 2011 company-wide reboot of all its superhero titles, The New 52, Captain Cold is reintroduced as a younger man than in the previous timeline and now with his Rogues lives with a code to never kill. His origin remains the same, however, his sister Lisa has not been the Golden Glider, and is instead dying of cancer. Upon learning that the hospital does not have enough energy to power a laser that could save her life, because of an EMP seemingly caused by the Flash, Cold blames him for everything that has happened to him, including a falling out with the Rogues, and decides to break the rules of their "game" and kill the Flash. Captain Cold has undergone experiments that have given him ice-based metahuman powers, including the ability to slow down the molecules around him, creating a field of inertia that reduces the Flash's speed to human level, allowing Captain Cold to touch him and effortlessly beat him.[18] He and the Rogues are set to return,[19] but later defeated them with help from Flash, and the Pied Piper.[20]

After freeing the Trickster and attending the meeting at the Justice League Watchtower, the Rogues return to Central and Keystone City, only to see that both have been destroyed by Gorilla Grodd. Grodd returns to Central City during the eclipse, while a ceremony commemorating Flash between the humans and gorillas is occurring. Grodd proceeds to take control of Central City as its king and renames it Gorilla City. Captain Cold sees the city's cops tied up from Grodd, and proceeds to free them. He then asks Mirror Master to help him get to the hospital where his sister is being held in order to check on her. While there, the Crime Syndicate send Black Bison, Hyena, Multiplex, Plastique and Typhoon to finish Grodd's work and destroy the hospital. The Rogues are able to hold them off, only to be interrupted by Deathstorm and Power Ring, who were sent by Ultraman to deal with the Rogues for resisting the Crime Syndicate's offer to join them. After battling Deathstorm and Power Ring, Deathstorm attacks Captain Cold and is able to extract his freezing powers from his DNA. Mirror Master attempts to get the Rogues out through the Mirror World, but Power Ring destroys the mirror causing the Rogues to be separated. Captain Cold ends up at Luthor and his Kryptonian clone's location where they are also joined by Black Manta, who has retrieved Black Adam from the ocean.[21] Luthor realizes that, with the help of his clone, Black Adam, Black Manta, and Captain Cold, he may be able to stop the Crime Syndicate. Captain Cold and the rest of the squad, now joined by Batman, Catwoman, Sinestro and Deathstroke, infiltrate the fallen Watchtower, where Black Manta kills the Outsider and Cold proceeds to shatter Johnny Quick's right leg after having frozen the molecules in it with his cold gun. He then unmasks the hooded prisoner brought over from Earth-3, revealing it to be Alexander Luthor, who is their version of Shazam, Mazahs, who states he will kill them all.[22][volume & issue needed] After defeating the crime syndicate, Captain Cold is pardoned by the U.S government, and becomes a member of the Justice League, along with Luthor.

DC RebirthEdit

Snart and the Rogues first made a cameo appearance in the DC Rebirth's storylines; they are fleetingly watching a news report about the many newly created speedsters appearing throughout the city in The Flash #3. Snart quips that it is time for the Rogues to leave Central City for a while. Visually the Rogues still seem to be based upon their New 52 appearances in this cameo, though when Snart later appears in one of Flash's memory flashbacks he has resorted to an even older look. He and the other Rogues retain these costumes in their later appearances.

Snart and the Rogues make their first full-length appearance in The Flash #15, where they are attempting to steal a valuable golden statue of the god Mercury from the small island nation of Corto Maltese. The Flash arrives to stop them, but they turn out to be constructs of Mirror Master laid so that the Rogues can commit a crime spree in Central City. Captain Cold reveals what he had been working on in his absence from the city—a "black ice gun" that uses the anti-Speed Force weaponry of the terrorist group Black Hole combined with his regular freeze gun. After a fight, the Golden Glider had a chance to kill the Flash, but was talked out of it by her fellow Rogues. Despite this setback, Flash manages to finally beat Snart and the rest of the Rogues without killing them. By the end of The Flash #17, Snart appears to be ready to take over Iron Heights from the more neophyte villains, including Papercut.

In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Captain Cold and his fellow Rogues are among the villains that attend the underground meeting held by Riddler that talks about the Superman Theory.[23]

[aswiya]

AHMADIYAH MUSLIMS PRAY IN THEIR OVER-CROWDED SHELTER IN MATARAM.

SEHABUDIN STANDS IN HIS FORMER HOME THAT WAS DESTROYED BY AN ANTI-AHMADIYAH MOB.

SEHABUDIN SIT IN HIS MAKESHIFT TENT NEAR HIS NOW-DESTROYED HOME.

MUNAWARAH AND HER FAMILY SIT IN THEIR SMALL ROOM IN THE MATARAM SHELTER.

SYAHIDIN AND HIS FAMILY POSE FOR A PORTRAIT IN THEIR OLD HOME. ALL PHOTOS BY AUTHOR

‘The Pain is Still Inside Me’: No End In Sight to the Plight of Indonesia’s Ahmadiyah

By Tsering D. Gurung

18.9.17

Syahidin has been attacked for his faith so many times that he keeps a record in a tattered notebook that lists each instance of hate, each time an angry mob rampaged through his village, and each time he watched helpless as his home went up in flames.

Syahidin is a member of the Ahmadiyah Muslim faith, a sect of Islam that believes that Indian religious leader Mirza Ghulam Ahmad—not Prophet Muhammad—was Islam's final prophet. This belief makes them one of the most-persecuted religious groups in Indonesia. Mainstream Sunni Muslims call Ahmadiyah "infidels" and "apostates," with some public officials going as far as saying Ahmadiyah Muslims should simply no longer exist. And others take their anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment even further.

In 2006, a mob of Sunni Muslim hardliners tore through Syahidin's small village on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Syahidin's home was looted, vandalized, and then set ablaze in a wave of violence that targeted as many as 30 Ahmadiyah households.

He offered to meet me at his old house in Ketapang, West Lombok, so he could explain what happened that day. We were standing in the now decimated village. It was a ghost town. The houses and the people had vanished but the rice paddies were still lush and green.

"This was our living room, this was our bedroom, this was the kitchen," said Syahidin, 46, as we walked through what remained of his family's home. The white cement walls were stained with dark scorch marks. Grass and small trees had grown through the rubble-strewn floor. The roof was all but gone. The home was supposed to be a second chance after Syahidin and his family were chased from their home on the other side of the island—in Pancor, East Lombok—only one year before. But trouble has a way of following Indonesia's Ahmadiyah community.

For the past 11 years Syahidin and his family—along with 120 other Ahmadiyah Muslims—have been living in a shelter for internally displaced peoples in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tengarra and a short 20-minute drive from Ketapang. Wisma Transito Shelter is overcrowded and lacking the facilities needed for long-term inhabitation. Syahidin and his family share a single room that serves as their kitchen, bedroom, and living room. "I thought we were going to be here for one or two months," Syahidin told me. "I never thought we would still be here after eleven years."

The shelter was originally built to house transmigrants—poor workers from the overcrowded island of Java sent to other provinces as part of a government program—as they transitioned to normal life. It was never meant to house more than 100 people for years on end. The conditions are so poor that the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) released a report in 2013 criticizing the central government for their continued inaction on the Ahmadiyah issue.

"They are living together, separated only by cabinets and curtains," Imadud Rahmat, then the deputy chief of Komnas HAM, told local media shortly after the report's release. "This, of course, has given them no privacy and has caused discomfort."

The community has become emblematic of Indonesia's inability to protect its religious minorities from persecution. The central government recognizes six faiths under national law. There is no mention of a specific strain of Islam, but 99 percent of the country's Muslims are Sunni. That leaves the remaining one percent, mostly Shia and Ahmadiyah Muslims, prone to discrimination and violence.

The persecution of the Ahmadiyah peaked under the administration of former-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who's popularly referred to as SBY. Between 2004 and 2014, more than 30 Ahmadiyah mosques were forcibly shuttered by mobs of hardline Islamists, according to data compiled by Human Rights Watch. In 2007 there were only 15 reported "attacks" against Ahmadiyah Muslims. Only one year later the number of reported attacks had risen to 193. By 2011 the persecution had reached its peak when hardliners murdered three Ahmadiyah Muslims in a brutal instance of mob violence that was all recorded and posted to YouTube.

Direct, violent attacks against religious minorities have decreased since President Joko Widodo took office, but hate is still on the rise. The Jakarta-based think tank Setara Institute recorded 270 instances of religious intolerance in 2016, up from 236 in 2015. The state, including local governments and the police, were found to be complicit in more than half the incidents.

A local government in Kuningan, West Java, was caught in July demanding that Ahmadiyah Muslims renounce their faith to receive a government ID card. Last year a different local government told Ahmadiyah Muslims to convert to Sunni Islam or be kicked out of their village.

"Discriminatory regulations towards religious minorities are increasing which is why the situation is going to get worse," said Andreas Harsono, the lead Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

To date, 16 provincial governments have issued bans on the Ahmadiyah community. Ahmadiyah Muslims have been present in Indonesia since before the country gained independence. But the faith was declared deviant by the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), the nation's main Islamic clerical body, which issued a fatwa against the group in 2005.

A few years later, SBY's administration issued a decree banning Ahmadiyah Muslims from proselytizing their faith. Those found violating the decree are subject to up to five years of imprisonment.

"The MUI has been spreading false information about the Ahmadiyah faith," Udin, the president of the Ahmadiyah Association in Mataram, told me. "For example, the MUI said that the Ahmadis' holy book is not the Holy Quran but the Tuskira, and that we don't go to Mecca for pilgrimage but to Pakistan. These are all lies."

But these kinds of rumors have a real impact on the lives of Ahmadiyah Muslims like Munawarah. The 53-year-old mother of seven had to send two of her children to live with their grandparents after their one-room space in the shelter became too cramped. Her two teenaged children constantly ask when they can finally move out. The question, which has no easy answer, pains Munawarah.

"I don't know how to explain to them why we are still here," she said. "If I had the money, I would move out tomorrow. Not a second passes by when I don't think about getting out of this place."

Munawarah was visiting relatives in Kalimantan in 2006 when her house was destroyed in the same mob attack that left Syahidin homeless. When she returned to Ketapang all that remained of her house was the walls and a few broken window frames.

It brought back painful memories from her childhood, she said, when she was discriminated against by the school principal for being an Ahmadiyah Muslim. She told me that her teacher would slap her for no reason other than her faith.

"The pain is still there inside me," Munawarah said.

No one was ever held accountable for the violence that left the 100 or so families confined to the shelter homeless. The families told me that they received no money from the central government to compensate them for their loss. They have no idea when, or if, they can return home. Udin, the head of the local Ahmadiyah association, accused the central government of turning a blind eye to their suffering.

"We went to the governor, the mayor of Mataram as well as other authorities and told them we would like this case to be solved as soon as possible," Udin told me. "But they keep sending us back and forth saying it does not fall under their jurisdiction. As a consequence, these families have been forced to live in a refugee camp for over ten years."

Fauzan Khalid, West Lombok's district chief and the public official in charge of the entire region where Ketapang is found, denied the allegations in a phone call with VICE. Khalid told me that his administration had offered to resettle the community on a family-by-family basis, but they had refused the offer.

"Several offers were made in the past to the families including one to resettle them at different locations," Khalid said. "But they rejected the offers saying they didn't want to be separated."

The Ahmadiyah prefer to live among themselves and have always separated themselves from other Muslims, a trait, that Khalid believes, led to the violence in Ketapang.

"It's their exclusivity that's a problem," he said. "They had their own place of worship, their own village. They only became neighbors with their own kind. This is what bothered the other residents."

The Ahmadiyah I met told me that they always enjoyed a friendly relationship with their Sunni Muslim neighbors. That was, they did, until a local cleric named Muhammad Izzi whipped the crowd up into a frenzy during a sermon where he urged his followers to drive the "deviant" Ahmadiyah from their village.

The sermon continues to hold significant sway in the village today. I approached a group of men sitting idly at a gazebo about five minutes from the old Ahmadiyah community to ask them about the violence. But the men grew angry when I mentioned the incident and refused to speak with me.

I reached the village chief, a man named Murad Amin, on the phone. He promised additional violence if the Ahmadiyah Muslims tried to return to their homes.

"They're not allowed back here," Murad told me. "If they come back, we will attack again."

Murad told me that the Ahmadiyah were "infidels," who had no place in his village. "They are not Muslims," he said. "They should stop calling themselves that."

I found an elderly Ahmadiyah man named Sehabudin working a small garden in his old neighborhood. He lives in a small makeshift tent whenever he can't make it back to the shelter before nightfall. Sehabudin told me that some of the Sunni Muslim villagers have come up to him and apologized for their actions, even inviting him to visit their homes. But the apologies have done little to change his situation.

I asked Sehabudin how he felt about his former neighbors, the men and women who destroyed his life more than a decade ago. Is he still angry? Sehabudin looked at me with tired eyes and broke into a sad smile. "There's no anger left," he said.

[sesamie]

i read your carrd and i saw that you like these two other bands, mates of state and guster, can you tell me a little more about them?

ANON THIS ASK MADE MY DAY THANK YOU SO MUCH LETS GO

okay so Mates of State. they're a band ive liked since i was maybe eight or nine years old? i was into this youtube comedy group called Studio C at the time (which has its own fun connection to Tally Hall but i’ll save that for another post ahah!!) and for a period of time the Studio C themesong was “I Want To Run” by Mates of State and they reference Mates in a few of their videos. Mates of State even recorded two songs for them (which i wont link here cause i don't rlly want to support Studio C cause looking back a lot of their videos are in really poor taste and being more knowledgeable these days i’d rather not spread their stuff anymore)!! anyways me being young & impressionable with regards to music (this was around the same time that i obsessively listened to Dinosaurchestra because i thought the album cover looked neat. i knew nothing of the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny, honest. my favorite song back then was Archaeopteryx) i immediately got really into Mates of State!

so they're a husband/wife duo that met in 1997 and were both playing guitar in a four-part band called Vosotros before splitting and forming their own band which we know today as Mates of State. Kori Gardner sings and plays organ, piano, synth (etc), and Jason Hammel sings and handles drums & percussion!

their albums are: My Solo Project (2000, re-released w a different label in 2003), Our Constant Concern (2002), Team Boo (2003), Bring It Back (2006), Re-Arrange Us (2008), Crushes (The Covers Mixtape) (2010), Mountaintops (2011) and their most recent release is the EP You’re Going To Make It (2015). there’s also an unreleased mates album called Greats that was supposed to be released in 2015! 

my favorite albums of their are Bring it Back and Mountaintops, and my favorite songs of theirs are: These Days, Hoarding It For Home, Think Long, Punchlines, Running Out, Get Better, You Are Free, Great Dane, Palomino, Change, Mistakes, These Days, Staring Contest, and Goods (which i found out recently is actually their most popular song!!)

some fun facts about them are: - they have two kids, Magnolia and June Elizabeth, who they actually toured with and and Kori kept a blog about touring with two kids (which i have yet to read!). - they opened for The Postal Service’s last ever show!! - they were in a movie, which they also made the soundtrack for! - there’s also a documentary about them from 2004 (around the recording of Team Boo) that you can watch on youtube!! -also, in this Tally Hall video, they make a cameo except they forgot to turn on the mic!! (i think about this everyday. why did it have to be Mates of State that they forgot the mic for!!) ----- okay so now for Guster! i’ll admit i don’t know a whole lot about Guster, but i have been listening to them my entire life. they’re my mom’s favorite band, but somehow i’ve managed to distance them from her enough to enjoy them!!

they’re from Boston and have been around since 1991. the members are Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner (no relation to Kori Gardner at least not that i’ve found!!), Brian Rosenworcel, and Luke Reynolds, and this guy named Joe Pisapia was in the band at one point as well. they met in college and were originally named “Gus” but when another artist called Gus signed with a major record company, they had to change the name to Guster!! 

their albums are: Parachute (1994), Goldfly (1997), Lost and Gone Forever (1999), Keep It Together (2003), Ganging Up On The Sun (2006), Easy Wonderful (2010), Evermotion (2015), and Look Alive (2019)!! they’ve also made a few things for fun like “The Meowstro Sings - Guster’s Keep It Together” which is all the tracks from Keep It Together but the vocals are replaced with cat meows. it’s pretty great.

my favorite album of theirs is Easy Wonderful (NO question on this one. actually i really love all of them except for the first two and the most recent one, but if i HAD to pick a favorite it would be Easy Wonderful) and a few of my favorite songs of theirs are: Two Points For Honesty, Come Downstairs and Say Hello (this one is a fan favorite!), Two At A Time, Days (a Keep It Together bonus track), Manifest Destiny, Empire State, Dear Valentine, Do You Love me, On the Ocean, What You Call Love, Well (a favorite favorite), Lost At Sea, and Simple Machine!!

they’re also pretty well known for humor in their live shows. (sidebar: in 2007, they toured with Tally Hall! this is where the possibility that i’ve seen Tally Hall live comes from, because i was born in 2006 and at that time my mom was still taking me and my brother to concerts which did include Guster soooooo!!!!) anyways, their live shows are almost always humorous, with a few highlights (lifted almost directly from the wikipedia page i’m looking at right now lol) being:

- originally, they opened their own shows as “The Peace Soldiers” a redneck-looking band. later, they opened for themselves in costume as a jam band called “Trippin’ Balls”. - the drummer Brian Rosenworcel (also known as the ~THUNDERGOD~), not known for his vocals, sometimes gets up to the microphone and sings silly covers!! (remind you of anyone?) - at the end of “Airport Song”, the audience throws ping pong balls at the stage because in the studio recording there’s audio of a table tennis game in the background!! (i’ve gotten to participate in this. not at an actual Guster show, but still it was really fun!) - during a show in 2001 (i think? it might have been 2002) they started the show with an empty stage and then played “The Price Is Right” music with a voiceover calling each of them down to the stage!! they had been hidden in the audience the whole time and walked down to the stage like game show contestants!!! - they also do these “dumpster shows” which is a reference to the time they got held up for a concert because of a blizzard and decided to improvise and play an acoustic set in front of a city dumpster instead! oh also, Guster has a spot in the Tally Hall Out Boy Cinematic Universe (THOBCU) because they toured with Tally Tall in 2007! another fun fact is that Adam Gardner went to the Pingry school, which you might recognize!! he graduated from the Pingry school ten years before Andrew Horowitz did, but it’s still cool!! -----

that’s about all i can think of for both these bands right now, but if you have any more questions feel free to ask!!

[yourdailykitsch]

No question, Just to say so sorry about your family member passing away. Thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. I know how that feels, my husband passed away July 6. Glad the gas leak got fixed. And, congrats on the new kitten.

Thank you all for the kind messages. Just a rule of thumb that all of us will go through some downs in our life and these past few months have been pretty rough. It’s been a tough year but I hope that the holidays bring some joy to all of you, even if they’re paired down or not the usual. Going to try to get back into the swing of things with Taylor updates. Though he’s very quiet lately as well. 

Ask #2: Is Taylor single?

Not that I know of. He’s dated someone for a long time and though this year it’s hard to keep track of Taylor let alone his relationship, given their history, I have no reason to believe that they’re not still dating. If I learned something different I’d let you all know.

Ask #3: Did Jessica white & taylor kitsch date ? Or was it just a photoshoot?

Answer: I do not believe they’ve ever dated. I’ll quote my answer from another ask about this: “You know, I don’t really know where that rumor got started as far as them dating. I’ve been a Taylor fan since FNL started and I don’t really remember it ever even being a rumor that they dated. It just showed up on that “who dated who” site and was just stated as fact. I actually don’t think it’s true. I think it started based on that photo shoot they did together for GQ but there was never any evidence that they were a thing. No sightings, no mentions of them together, he never talked about her she never talked about him. The timeline doesn’t match up either. He was with Minka Kelly for much of 2006 into 2007 which is when he was supposedly dating Jessica.”

But they did make a gorgeous couple in this shoot

Ask #4: Hello. Is this still a good address to request an autograph from Taylor? Untitled Entertainment 350 S Beverly Dr?

Answer: You can try this address. I know I’ve given it in the past and is the address for his manager. He has a new management group that is representing him, his agent has moved to this agency and it’s Range Media. But they’re very new and I don’t know if they have any information out there yet about their location.

Ask #5: Is taylor working on anything? He seems not to work alot compared to alot of other actors,which is a shame. I know its covid now but he still doesnt work alot. Does he doing anything else other than act apart from his acc charity?

Answer: I do not believe he’s working on anything. I think that this year has created it’s own set of challenges. He has committed to a project which has been delayed due to COVID. Because it’s technically an independent film it’s running into some issues with starting production because of cost for the insurance that they will need to carry in order to film with COVID restrictions/protocols. It also doesn’t help that the state they’re supposed to film in (New Mexico) is one of the tougher states on restrictions. 

As far as him not working more. We know he’s super picky about what he chooses to devote his time to and what he chooses to dive into because he does truly dive into these projects...it does seem like he’s really taken to photography and has spent a period during this year traveling to remote locations to photograph nature/animals. 

Ask #6: It’s weird that there are no details as to why Taylor dropped out of Wash Me In The River. I would find it hard to believe that it’s got to do with pay. But if it’s scheduling conflicts I wonder what he’s shooting? Maybe Shadowplay Chapter 2? Or Inferno or something else? Just kinda strange that he has now also dropped out.

Answer: Easy answer would be scheduling conflict. He was signed on for literally two weeks before dropping out. So it wouldn’t shock me that we hear he’s doing something new or Inferno is going or he is in the second chapter of Shadowplay. ‘Wash Me in the River’ still hasn’t begun filming, so say it starts by early December and would take at least four weeks...maybe he has something coming up next month or early 2021 that he’s committed to. Maybe it’s something we know about, maybe it’s something completely different. 

Ask #7: Do you think Taylor will be spending the holidays here or in Canada? Restrictions are still on but as a citizen he can enter

Answer: I really don’t know. My guess is he’ll stay in Texas because Canada has a 14 day quarantine requirement. So say he wants to go home for the holidays he’d have to leave two weeks prior to Christmas and quarantine those 14 days before he can be out and about and see family. If he’s following the rules...who knows if he has time to do something like that or if he’d want to travel if he does have work coming up that he needs to be healthy for. 

Ask #8: I hate the fact that I found out about Taylor during covid. I wish I knew about him earlier in his career so I could keep up with him during the years.

Answer: Taylor has always been really super private, so even during his busy years the most we see of him is usually when he’s out promoting projects. We saw a glimpse into his life and more about him when he started using Instagram a few years ago but he’s really really slowed down with that, understandably. Hang in there, I think he’ll bounce back. 

Ask #9: Was Neil with Taylor during the 21 bridges press tour? Since that was around the time he had his baby? Also do you think he’d be with him for when he films Wash Me in the River?

Answer: Taylor was solo, but did have his manager Stephanie with him for 21 Bridges press. Normally he’d have Neil with him or his friend Kevin as kind of his PA during press tours and just to hang out with. I don’t now if Neil will continue to be Taylor’s PA on set now that he has started a family. We’ll have to wait and see.

Ask #10: I feel like i always see the fandom say things like he needs to work more, he’s getting older, projects he does aren’t up to standard blah blah blah. But we do know that he does offered the bigger roles but he doesn’t enjoy those stories, and he def doesn’t like the press tour and the spotlight as much as the work itself. I think people fail to realize that he is carefully picking and choosing roles, and he could do a RomCom but chooses not to. He likes his privacy and people fail to understand.

Answer: I think you hit the nail on the head. A lot of fans want him to be A-list and crazy popular and on magazine covers. That’s just not in his DNA. He has, without specifically naming projects, admitted to turning down some really big roles that were more mainstream. I think part of it might have been that he went this route in 2012, did some really big budget/mainstream tentpole projects and they failed by no fault of his own. He might still to this day shy away from something like that again. I think he’s completely comfortable with being a character actor. 

Ask #11: Has Taylor ever lived with Jennifer? Even back when he was in the apartment or condo?

Answer: Yes, I do believe that they lived together in his condo at some point. She also sold his condo a few years back when he moved into his new house. 

[yugiohcardsdaily]

In honor of my 25th birthday, here are 25 facts about me and our beloved franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh!

I’ve been collecting the cards since I was 6.

I watched the original anime when it was first coming out in America. Back when it was on KidsWB, I believe.

The dubs are the only way I’ve ever experienced the shows. I can’t bring myself to watch the subs because of it. Also it was a wonderful thing to look forward to every Saturday morning, back when they still had cartoons on at the time.

When I was little, I’d pull cards out of my collection and duel one of my sisters. We didn’t know all the rules, so we’d end up with huge hands and a lot of nonsense turns. So it was almost like Season 1 of the original anime, except in real life.

I learned how to duel properly in high school. For some reason, Yu-Gi-Oh! became really popular to play when I was a junior/in the 11th grade, so I got to enjoy it with other people. Ran an Agents deck, wasn’t very good, but I had fun.

I’ve written Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction since I was in the 5th grade, which was roughly about 2006 or 2007. I also started writing Naruto fanfiction at about the same time, but I haven’t written that nearly as much as I’ve written Yu-Gi-Oh! stuff.

My first three Yu-Gi-Oh! OCs are characters I still use to this day. They’ve evolved a lot over the years, kind of growing up with me. In case anyone’s curious, their names are Carrie West, Jessica West, and Mirage. Carrie’s the main one, Jessica’s her sister, and Mirage was originally just supposed to be like a “Yami” for Carrie. She’s much more than that now, but I won’t bore you with the details.

The first time I saw anything 5Ds-related, I thought it was stupid and avoided watching it. Thank the Crimson Dragon I gave it another try.

This isn’t news, but my favorite characters in the franchise are Yugi Muto and Yusei Fudo. Still bitter about how much Yugi is ignored in favor of Yami/Atem, even in official merch. And also bitter that a lot of images of Yusei on official stuff erases his criminal mark, even though he’s had it since like Episode 6 and always had it in the manga, from what little I’ve read of it.

I met my best friend through fanfiction for this franchise. I posted my work on good ol’ Fanfiction.net, she reviewed, and the rest is history.

That friend got to go to Japan and see Darkside of Dimensions there. She also sent me some Yu-Gi-Oh!-related stuff that she bought while in Japan, including a DSoD booklet thing.

Said friend also got a recording of LittleKuriboh using his Yugi voice to say that I’m “super-special-awesome” as well as his signature in a 3-in-1 manga for the original series. It was at AnimeNorth, I believe, a few years ago now.

I was introduced to Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged in high school by one of the boys I played the game with. The first Abridged thing I experienced was Leather Pants.

I thoroughly enjoyed Marik Plays Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, which is why I bought and played the game myself. Wish he’d go back to it, but until then I’ll just rewatch the videos every now and then.

Some kid on my school bus stole my Uria, Lord of Searing Flames card (which came from the tin based around it; I mistook it for Slifer at first) and my Black Luster Soldier card (might have been from one of Yugi’s early Starter decks.) I let him look at my card binders and the little shit took them out. >:/

My older sister wrote fanfiction that included a couple of my characters as a big part of the plot. This was because our characters were cousins. Anyway, I looked through it while chatting with my best friend. It. Was. Fucking. Awful. Carrie was completely out of character. Mirage wasn’t being utilized correctly. I anonymously ripped my sis a new one through a review on FF.net, which caused her to take it down and come to me, saying something about how I had great fans who would defend my OCs and she was sorry. She still doesn’t know it was me.

As a result of the above, I stopped including her OC in my writing, and I actually had the character killed off in a OneShot because I didn’t want her lingering in my plots in any way. Said character was also paired with Kaiba in a very out of character fashion, so I set him free from her shackles. Now he’s in a crack ship in my universe with my bestie’s OC, nicknamed KaKa due to their names.

I have a couple of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds OCs. They’re twin sisters who, because of me deciding how much time passes between the original series and this spin-off, are the great-granddaughters of Yugi Muto and one of my OCs.

I tried to play...Duelist of the Rose?? a game for the PS2 while at a friend’s house. Couldn’t get past the first fight which was with...I want to say Rex or Weevil. But the characters were using names from like King Henry and shit. Yugi/Yami said his name was Henry, but to call him Yugi, like what???

My current card collection count (try saying that five times fast) sits at 2813. I have them split among four binders, three of about the same size and one thin. Two of the four are just Monster cards.

I wish they’d stop making new rarities for cards. Toon Chaos was basically scalped because of that, but also it’s just unnecessary. There are lots of rarities available. They just stopped using some of them for whatever reason. Like, gimme more Ghost Rares and less Collector’s Rares, please!

I have ships I ship, which obviously include some OC x Canon ones, but I won’t name them. Shipping wars are dumb.

My favorite female character in the franchise is...a tie between Mai Valentine and Akiza Izinski. Don’t get me wrong. I like most of the lady cast in general. Also, I prefer Mai before her voice changed and Akiza during the Dark Signers stuff over who she becomes later in the series, which is just Yusei’s love interest.

There’s kind of a running gag in my Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction between me and my bestie. For the longest time, even if the story didn’t involve him, Kaiba kept appearing. I made a “meme” image to commemorate the reoccurring event, which is simply a pic of him with the words “Kaiba appears nonetheless” in impact font.

I started this blog on a whim. No idea why I did, but I’m glad that I never deleted it like I did so many other sideblogs. It has been an honor to be a part of this community. You guys have been amazing <33

[beesgav]

I actually finished up vol 6 like the day after I made my last post like this but I didn’t want to make too many of them in a row, so

final Bionicle 2006 Thoughts below the cut

- All in all, I actually... really liked it? It’s probably tied with 2005 for my third favorite year honestly

- I’m kinda surprised by this because originally I was really not looking forward to this one. To me, it shifted entirely from the original content I liked about Bionicle, which encompassed the first three years. I really liked the setting of Mata Nui and was sad to see it being moved away from. It doesn’t help that up to the Inika’s arrival on Voya Nui, things just seemed to be getting bleaker and bleaker

- Speaking of, it was really hard to get through the first, like, half of the volume because things seemed so bleak. Between the scene at the gate to Karzanhi (which still gets me because I don't know how/when they’ll meet up with Takanuva again), the Nuva being captured, and the Voyatoran being enslaved (with a not-insignificant number of them dying during that tenure), it just seemed like things were getting worse and worse

- I don’t think I talked about Karzanhi in my last posts? He’s alright. I liked the scene Matoro got with him and how it starts to set up a conflict between Matoro and Jaller, which would be referenced/expanded upon later. I wonder how it’s gonna escalate (assuming it does) in 2007, up to the eventual climax (which I’m... not looking forward to)

- The Piraka, though, I loved. It took me a bit to warm up to them but honestly they’re so great and such a needed refresh from super dramatic villains like TSO or Makuta. They’re complete slime but written in a way that really really works (a pet peeve of mine is characters that are evil just for the sake of being evil because they so often wind up absolutely boring). The contrast they have with the Inika w the whole ‘duty vs freedom’ thing already makes them intriguing villains, and the banter they have on top of that makes them really fun to read about

- It is a little weird to me that they started out as Dark Hunters, but I suppose it makes sense. I had just always assumed they were separate entities entirely

- I’ve said it before but the banter in these books is absolutely a high point, and that extends to all of the Farshtey books

- Even though I don’t really like the Inika masks and do prefer the appearance of the Mahri, I’m a bit sad that they’re moving on so quickly. I understand why from a toy standpoint, but it feels like they’re getting rid of some really interesting concepts in doing so- stuff like the Inikas’ mask powers and the combination of their elements with lightning- how do they deal with their potential to be dangerous to the people they’re trying to protect?

- I really liked this bit

I’m absolutely reading too much into this, but I like that in Tahu’s line, the emphasis is “Toa Jaller?” rather than “Toa Jaller?”. Like it’s no surprise Jaller came after them, but it is a surprise that he’s a Toa now. All in all, I was just really excited for the Inika and Nuva to meet.

- I’ve mentioned it before but I also love the Voya Nui Resistance Team’s whole dynamic, but I failed to mention that I especially enjoyed how they had a philosophical Po-Matoran (even though he’s nooot I know I know) and a Ko-Matoran who absolutely hated that. Like, between that, how Garan, not Balta, was the leader, and how Dalu is the warrior of the team, I liked how the VNRT shift the dynamics we’ve gotten used to. But I esp like Kazi and how annoyed he is heheh

- This moment was also nice and showcases some of the character development Tahu’s gone through

(on the whole, Tahu seems pretty divisive, but he’s actually one of my favorites. He was great in this book even for how little he featured)

- anyways this is getting really long. It’ll be a while before I get to 2007 but I’m... again uncertain, since i’ve heard it’s one of the bleakest years.

[duhragonball]

State of the Damn Wienerfic

I’ve finally finished the “thousand years ago” section of my OC’s backstory, which is a big relief to me.    The first 141 chapters of Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan were intended to develop the title character as a protagonist in her own right, and not just a guest star or supporting player to the main cast, like Tapion in “Wrath of the Dragon”.   I was always worried that I’d meet some untimely end before I finished, and no one would know how things turned out for her.  

From 142 onward, I’m flashing forward to the events of Dragon Ball:Xenoverse.    It’s not going to be a total adaptation of the game’s story mode, but I did like the notion that if I ever reached this point, the fic has a tenative ending, and a curious reader could run Xenoverse 1 on Steam and get a general idea of what happens next.   But I’m still alive, so I guess I’ll go ahead and write my version.  

It’s still surreal to me that I’ve reached this milestone.   I’ve thought about it for so long and now it’s here.   I wrote the bulk of #142 last November, and some other material that still needs to be organized, and my goal for this year’s NanoWriMo is to plow forward.   A lot of things will be different, and I think one of them is that I feel like I can be more open about the creative process.   So if you want to see how the sausage is made, click the read more.    If you’d rather see how crayons are made, watch this video below.   

There’s a Sesame Street version of this, but those are all orange crayons, and I like yellow better.    Also I like the way Mr. Rogers says “crayons”.

All right, now that those weird crayon people are distracted, let’s talk about Luffa.

I came up with the idea around 2004, I think.   DBZ was done airing in the U.S., and I wanted to write some sort of fanfic about it, but I was having trouble coming up with ideas.    I felt like the main story had wrapped up very well with Z, and GT only seemed to prove that you can’t top the original story.    So I started thinking about the lore, and that led me to the Legendary Super Saiyan that Vegeta spoke of in DBZ Episode 66.  

There were a few things that bugged me about the DBZ fandom at the time.    Mostly I was just reading the GameFaqs boards to find any hot scoops about upcoming DBZ games, and no one really knew much of anything, so the board was mostly guys shooting idle speculation back and forth.   Occasionally someone would bring up the fact that we never saw any female Super Saiyans, which led some to suspect that such a thing must be impossible.    The one explanation that stuck in my craw was that “women can’t get angry enough”.    Usually, misogynists are always saying women are too emotional to do anything else, so by that logic, you’d think it would be much easier for Saiyan women.    They’d just flip out whenever a stray laser bolt fries their hair, like Daphne Zuniga in “Spaceballs.”

The other thing that bugged me was the Broly-worship in some circles.   One way or another, Broly hype reached American fans well before the Funimation dub of Movie 8.   I remember the official promotions from Funimation acknowledging that fans kind of already knew who the guy was.    For a few years before 2003, I think Broly became this mythical figure, like your friend whose uncle works for Nintendo, or “Q” telling 4-chan all about how everyone you don’t like is going to get arrested soon.     I’m pretty sure this is why you can still find Broly fanart where he’s beating up Galactus, Kid Buu, and Superman, to name a few.    I think a lot of fanboys got it in their head that Broly could kick anybody’s ass, which is weird because he can’t even win in his own movies.   

I think even the official stuff played into this idea, since Broly would often be used as a special bonus boss in a lot of video games, so you beat Kid Buu and then hold on, now you have to fight Broly.   So it’s not hard to get the vibe that he’s the real final boss of everything.    I’m curious how the 2018 version of Broly will affect the perception of the character, but it’s probably too soon to tell.   In the mid-2000′s, though, it felt like a lot of people believed that Broly was a more legitimate Super Saiyan than Goku or the others, by virtue of being green and irrationally violent.  

So this was on my mind when I thought about what to do with the Super Saiyan from 1000 years ago.    I felt like there were people who wanted to believe that this character was a lot more like Broly than Goku, which is dumb, because the whole point of Super Saiyan Goku was that he was taking on the same role as the last guy.   And, for my money, the moral of Goku going Super Saiyan was that he was the only Saiyan of his generation who understood the same thing all the old Super Saiyans did.   Something about his upbringing on Earth helped him reach that level.    All the other Saiyans were too contaminated by their own culture of ruthless dickery.  

And so I thought that it would really flip the script if I wrote a story about that Legendary Super Saiyan and made him very different from the fanboy perception of Broly.    And I’d make him a her, just to twist the knife.  Not only is this not Broly, but she’s one of those women Super Saiyans everyone thinks can’t happen.  I doubt anyone from GameFaqs in 2007 would even notice my fic, but I’d like to think they’d be pissed about what I’ve done. 

I tried writing some of this down in 2006, but I didn’t get very far, mostly because I was intimidated by the scope of the idea.   I didn’t think I could do a long story, but I wasn’t sure a short story could get the idea across.   So I just didn’t do it at all, and kept thinking about it from time to time.    I wanted to make Luffa as a custom character in a video game, if they ever made a game with CAC features.   Ultimate Tenkaichi had it, but you could only make a Saiyan man... which just reinforced my motivations for doing this kind of a story.   

Finally, Dragon Ball Xenoverse debuted a more robust CAC feature in 2015, and I could design the character properly.   I didn’t have much in the way of ideas, so I just sort of let the gameplay take me where it would.   The game is set in the future, and Trunks just wishes for an ally, so who’s to say that this ally couldn’t have come from the past?    You do a lot of grinding in the game, and there’s a lot of exposition, and that gave me time to think about what what Luffa had been doing right before she got to this place.   And slowly, I started to iron out what I wanted to write.   

Her costume was just a convenience, really.    I went with short hair because the long hair doesn’t “float” when you go Super Saiyan in the game.    I wanted some sort of old-school looking armor, but everything in the game was based on costumes from the show, and the “Saiyan” armor in DBZ was Frieza’s thing.   It wouldn’t have existed a thousand years earlier.    I might have gone for something like Cabba’s outfit in Dragon Ball Super, but that wouldn’t be available until a few years later.   So that left me with a choice between a baggy martial arts dogi or the skin tight Pilot Suit.    The Pilot Suit is kind of... distracting, since it’s just a skin, and the developers make you stare at the character’s ass the whole time.    On the other hand, a baggy dogi kind of made her look like Cell Games Gohan.   So I went with baggy pants and fitted shirts.  

The black and yellow color scheme was mostly so I wouldn’t confuse my character from the others appearing on the screen during fights. That ruled out purple, orange, and blue, since the Z-Fighters wear those.   I resisted yellow, because that’s my favorite color, but later I realized black and yellow is perfect, because that’s the color scheme of the giant ape in Vegeta’s flashback.   

Playing the game helped motivate me to actually sit down and write the story, because I finally had a fleshed out character that I could see and do things with.    And making her fight DBZ characters got me to consider how she would react to those concepts.   Would she respect Vegeta’s royal bloodline, or would she be unimpressed like Goku?    How would she feel about Frieza’s destruction of their home planet?   Would she even recognize it as her home planet?   How does she feel about the fact that no one remembers anything about her?   

My goal for the first 141 chapters was to build a world and a backstory that would set up the answers to those questions.  The villains in that part of the story are all misogynists of one stripe or another.   They view women as tools to be exploited, or as enemies to be eliminated, or as distractions to be ignored.    They see Luffa doing her thing and they all say “She can’t do that,” and then she does it harder.   

Now that I think about it, I suppose the appeal to the character, and the thing that frustrates her so much, is that she’s just trying to be herself, but all these buttholes in the universe are outraged by it, and yet they just can’t stop her.   They want her to die, or go away, or become something else, something they can accept, but she just refuses to do that, and she’s got the raw power to tell them all where they can shove it.   This whole thing is my ham-fisted attempt to write a feminist allegory with Saiyans in it, and I’ll never be good enough to get it exactly right, but you know, it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.    Along the way, some LBGT stuff started to get into the mix, and I thought “Well, I’m really in the deep end of the pool now.”    I’m sorry if I got anything wrong, but I think I did okay.   I’m not breaking any records, but I managed to avoid drowning, right?  

Anyway, that’s why the Saiyans hate her guts, because all the Saiyans in DBZ resented Goku as being weak and worthless.    Even when Goku surpassed Vegeta, Vegeta still thought he lacked the killer instinct to be a “““true”“““ Super Saiyan.    Luffa’s got plenty of killer instinct, but the Saiyans hate her out of jealousy and fear.    Vegeta accused Trunks of lying about being a Saiyan, because his hair wasn’t the right color.  I wanted to make a whole population of Saiyans who would quibble over those kinds of details.    “The stone the builders have rejected has become the capstone.”   

This is also why I made the Saiyan King the main villain, because I wanted to echo Goku’s conflict with Vegeta, and King Vegeta’s conflict with Paragus and Broly.    If there’s a Super Saiyan every thousand years, then what happens to the second strongest Saiyan whenever that day comes?    Does he stand aside like John the Baptist, or does he refuse to accept the changing times?  

The purpose of all of this was to explain why Vegeta remembers the legend of the Super Saiyan, but nothing about the person.   Why doesn’t he know Luffa’s name, or what color her pants were?   Because his ancestors hated her, and suppressed the parts of her story that they didn’t like.    Even as Vegeta recalls what little he knows, he thinks “I never actually believed it.”

Okay, but Luffa had friends, right?   Wouldn’t they have left a record for future generations?    Well maybe, but how long would it take to fade into obscurity?   And Luffa’s kind of a private person.    Everyone in her inner circle avoided the spotlight.   There’s a move about her, but it’s filled with wild inaccuracies.   Eyewitnesses to her battles can only describe a glowing blur.     Close-up footage just shows an irritable Saiyan woman with a strange dyejob.   Most civilians find regular Saiyans to be pretty extraordinary as they are.   A Super Saiyan doesn’t seem that much more impressive.  

What you wind up with is this legacy of battles that were fought and won by a single, mighty warrior, but no one can agree on what that warrior was exactly.   At some point, enough time passes where the Saiyans are willing to reclaim the legend.   “Yeah, that guy had to be a Saiyan.      Who else could do all those things?”   But the things she stood for and learned along the way, that’s all lost.    

I just didn’t think it’d take me 647,471 words to explain all of that.  But now I can finally write the part with all the popular characters in it.   Right now, my big problem is that I have to slap together a few more OC’s and I need to figure out just what the hell Towa’s deal is.   The Dragon Ball Wiki attempts to explain whatever happens in those Dragon Ball Heroes games, but it doesn’t seem like they wrote any of it to fit a coherent narrative.    I’d like to use as much official Demon Realm lore as possible, if only because that’s what Towa and Demigra’s fans would be familiar with, but I’m not sure how this is going to look.   I mean, they’re gonna get an ass-whoopin’, I know that part, but I’d like to flesh out their characters before the beating starts. 

Anyway, I got my work cut out for me.  But at least the soundtrack will be epic.