#we had multiple official kits but literally never used them ever

[motleyfam]

As a self-proclaimed hurt/comfort fic connoisseur, I can’t help but notice that everyone is always “getting out the first aid kit” in fic and it made me wonder—how many of us actually had one of those?

[mirkwoodshewolf]

On set visits; Queen x reader x Borhap boys pt. 1

*Author's note*

Alright so this part is broken up into 2 parts so here is the 1st part of the Bohemian Rhapsody film set visit. Part 2 will be up in just a second after I get done with this author's note. So expect some crazy stuff happening, fluffiness and the Rock Angel reminiscing on her past with the boys. 

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@simonedk​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queensdivas​

@queendeakyy​

@wormzteef​

@geek-and-proud​

@starswin​

@isabella-bby​

@onebigfangirlworld​

@labessieisallama​

@5sos-wdw​

@ssa-sadboi​

@naturalswifty89​

@bohemiansweede

_________________________________________________________

*Sept. 2017. Filming Bohemian Rhapsody*

I almost couldn't believe it myself. I mean I knew that the boys were planning on a film about themselves and that it was taking them almost 10 years just to get it off the ground. But now after multiple rewrites of the script and better casting, the film was ready to get off the ground.

"So you're absolutely sure I can stop by whenever I feel like it? No matter how many times?" I spoke into my I-phone.

'Absolutely love, just as long as you don't spill any secrets.'

"Please Bri, when have I ever revealed anything to anyone about you guys?"

'Well there was the time—'

"That was a fluck and you know it!" I snapped.

'I'm kidding love, you've never spilled any secrets. You've gotten better at lying lately.' Brian chuckled.

"Well when you say it like that it makes me feel guilty."

'As it should love. So when can we expect you?'

"I'll try to get there before the filming starts, so I may end up going to bed now so that way I can get on the road early enough to beat traffic."

'I know Rog is looking forward to seeing you again.'

"I just did the summer tour with you guys, how could he already miss me?"

'It's a mystery to all of us, but he is your father after all.'

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay well I'll see you tomorrow Bri."

'See you then (y/n). sweet dreams and drive safe tomorrow.'

"Will do. Love you."

'Love you too poppet.' I then hung up and couldn't help but grin.

"You still going over to see them film tomorrow?" I turned and low and behold after a long day's shift there was my husband coming in from his police work.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat threw up." I teased.

"Ha-ha you're hilarious my love." He said as he undid his tie and unbuttoned his short. "So the film's finally taking off the ground?"

"Yep, and they finally found a better Freddie Mercury."

"Yeah cause I remember when you called and told me about Sacha Baron Cohen."

"I just couldn't stand the fact that he was wanting to expose the dark side of Freddie. I mean yeah he had the parties, and the drugs, the sex, but that's all what Rock and rollers did back in those days. Plus that's all he seemed to care about. The scandal that came with Freddie's name, nothing about the music. I'm only just glad Bri sided with me on it." I ranted as Jack came up after taking his shirt and undoing his pants and began to rub my shoulders.

"I know love. You're as protective of this project as Brian and Roger are. So do you know who exactly they got to play Freddie this time?"

"No, but I'll find out tomorrow."

"Okay well, my team's got a heavy lead on the case so I won't really be available tomorrow."

"I understand. Just—promise me you'll be careful my love. I haven't forgotten that one killer that shot you in the line of duty."

"I survived didn't I? Plus now we both have a bullet story to share." He leaned his forehead against mine.

"Not funny Jack." I muttered.

"I know. C'mon let's get some sleep. We both have got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." I nodded and then we both got into bed and we fell asleep.

Early the next morning I was on my way over to the set driving in my own car without a driver. As I approached the set gate of course I was stopped by security.

"Badge and proof of visitation ma'am." I handed him the badge that Roger had sent in for me and some documentation that I needed to show him saying that I was not only visiting but a consultant for the movie to help the actors get to know the true Queen. "Everything checks out Mrs. Kline, here you go and have a good day."

"You too uhh—Marvin." I read his nametag before putting my VIP badge around my neck as the gate opened and I drove on inside.

After about 10 minutes I finally was able to find a parking space. I got out of the car and locked it up before walking towards the set. I was told by Brian that the actors had been prepping for the biggest scene they were going to film, the Live Aid sequence.

When I came around and actually stepped up onto the stage, I was blown away and taken back to the summer of 1985. Jesus they—the production got every single detail down to the paint chippings. The rigged lights that Queen had the day they performed, Roger's kit and the grand piano with Freddie's Pepsi cups filled with beer.

"Oh my god. Jack if only you were here to see this." I muttered to myself. It was then I saw Brian talking to someone but—wait did he? Did he seriously dye his hair back to its original dark curls? I walked up to him but waited till he was done talking to some of the producers. Once he was I tapped his shoulder and he turned around and—oh wow I just....wow.

I don't know whether this is a prank or time travel does exist but I swear I'm literally looking at Brian the day I had met him.

"Okay it's official. I think I have finally cracked." I said as I placed my hand over my forehead.

"I'm sorry ma'am do you need to sit down or can I get you a cup of water?" Oh god he even sounds like Brian.

"Ahhh seems you two have already met. And here I thought I could surprise you." I turned and there was—Brian? My Brian with the grey curls now. Wait what!? What is going on here!?

"What the f—"

"Ah, ah language young lady!" Brian scolded.

"You must be the Rock Angel (Y/n) Kline, Brian and Roger have told us a lot about you. Pardon me, Gwilym Lee." He said as he extended his hand to me. I shook it and said in awe.

"Ahhhh, now I see it. Sorry Gwilym dear, never did I think I'd see two Brian's at once. I swear to god you look—exactly like Brian when I met him."

"Anita said the exact same thing. Cheeky woman was even trying to flirt with him." Brian said as he pouted towards the end..

"No she didn't." I gawked.

"I'm afraid it's true." Gwilym said with a blush. I shook my head softly laughing.

"Oh that woman I tell you what."

"Well I can tell you one thing I know a certain someone of the cast who will flip out once he sees you." said Gwilym.

"And just who might that be?" I asked him.

"The young lad whose playing Deacy, Joe Mazzello."

"Kept ranting on and on about your Live Aid performance and how you and Deacy used to interact with each other in your performances together."

"Ahh yes. Me and my dear brother mine." I sighed with a solemn smile.

"I—I'm sorry I-I-I didn't mean to......"

"No, no Gwilym it's fine. While sometimes I do wish he could still be around, I completely understand why he chose to leave the band. Hell without Brian and Rog I—I don't even want to think what I would've done after Freddie died." I soon brushed my sorrows away and said, "Now come here Gwilym I want to get a closer look at you." he came up to me and we stood face to face of each other.

I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him up and down before cupping each side of his face gently.

"God they chose right for my Brian. I swear, it's like Gwilym is your long lost son Bri." I said as my eyes turned toward Brian.

"I'm beginning to think you might be right." Joked Brian. I stepped back from Gwilym and said to him.

"I can't wait to see the full Live Aid recreation with you all in full costume."

"I hope we do you proud Mrs. Kline."

"First of all, call me (y/n). Secondly, I'm already proud. From what I've heard from Brian and Roger, I have no doubt in my mind that we've entrusted the right group of actors with Freddie's and Queen's upbringing tale to absolute rock gods."

"You flatter us too much (y/n)." Brian gushed.

"Only because you old fossils deserve it." I teased as I stuck my tongue out at him to which Brian did his little eyebrow quirk at me. I giggled softly and continued. "Well before filming starts, I'm gonna continue to look around the set. I'm told the lower decks where all the performers were settled in are just like how they were when we were there. Ciao Brians'." I walked away from them with a wave of my hand.

After exploring more of the set design and going down memory lane it was then I came across another look-a-like. Holding the famed natural Fender precision Bass guitar and wearing that god awful tacky shirt that I secretly wished I had told him not to wear, and having the iconic mushroom fluffy hair was the actor who was playing Deacy, Joe Mazzello.

One of the hair designers was fluffing up the wig to make sure it was up to Deacy's standard. And god just like with Gwilym, Joe was practically identical to Deacy.

It was just like seeing Deacy again back when he was happy and content with where Queen was at, just before finding out about Freddie's illness (which I had found out from Spike several years ago that Deacy had actually known since the last tour Queen ever did with Freddie).

I smiled softly as I watched him get ready for the camera. His wide smile reminded me so much of Deacy's. Slowly I walked up towards him and as the hairdresser looked him over Joe asked.

"So how does it look?"

"I think you look terrific." I said.

"Wait who said—OH MY GOD!!!" he screamed as he turned around and saw me. Like all usual fanboys, he jumped back, his mouth was gaped and his eyes were wide.

"Close your mouth please Joe dear we are not a codfish." His mouth immediately closed.

"Y-you-you-you're....."

"The Rock—"

"Rock Angel." We both said together slowly. "Call me (y/n)." I greeted as I extended my hand out to him and he took it hold of it and shook it.

"I just—I can't believe that I'm-I'm-I'm actually standing beside the Rock Angel." I softly giggled.

"Just know that beyond the glam and the rock star female empowerment, I'm just a normal 55 year old woman."

"But you still look good." He said. I quirked my brow at him so he quickly tried to save himself, "Not that you're old or anything. I mean I don't mean to offend you I just....."

"Joseph. Relax dear. I'm not offended at all. Freddie always said that I would end up being an eternal beauty. At first I thought it was just Freddie being Freddie but as the years have passed I think he—that he must be behind giving me this youthful glow."

"The Rock Angel called me dear," he first gushed with a shy smile. "Sorry I just...... I grew up listening to your albums along with Queen and the first time I saw one of your broadcast performances, I kinda had a little crush on you" He said gently.

"Aww I'm flattered Joe, really I am." I said as I gently cupped the side of his face and gave his cheek a stroke of my thumb. At that point he looked like he was about to melt into a puddle with how much joy he was probably filled with. "Now Joe forgive me for saying this, how long have you been acting?"

"I was a child actor actually. I've—always been in the acting business. Why do you ask?"

"Well besides seeing some of my brother's features I feel like I've—seen you in something before."

"You might recall a little film that came out in the 90's known as Jurassic Park?"

"Wait hold on—you...." I gasped. "You played little Tim Murphy!?!"

"Yes, yes I was Tim Murphy."

"Oh my god. When that film came out my twin boys were literally obsessed with that movie. Would not watch anything else for a full year. They even wore out the old VHS tape we had for it. Oh my god how could I not recognize you sooner?"

"Well I was 8 just turning 9 while we were filming it."

"You had a birthday while filming?"

"Yeah. It was during the kitchen scene with the raptor. I actually got injured on that day."

"What? What happened?" he then proceeded to tell me exactly what had happened. Of how the raptor they used was on wheels and he was running toward the fridge and he was supposed to go left while the raptor was supposed to go right, but the guy controlling the raptor lost control and went the same direction as Joe and he ended up getting hit in the face with a metal claw.

And it was at that moment the director Steven Spielberg and the rest of the crew sang Happy birthday to him.

Then of course he tried to ask Joe at that moment if they could try it again, but when Joe proved he couldn't do it, they wrapped for that day.

"Oh you poor thing."

"It's okay, I survived."

"Well I hope you never suffered an injury like that since then. And on your birthday too? That's never a good birthday present to get a concussion."

"I was cleared out with no concussion, just a little dizzy and a bit of bruising."

"Oh I'm sorry love, it's my inner mother instincts kicking in."

"She always was an overprotective mother." We both turned around and I saw Roger walking up sporting the black beanie I gave him for Christmas last year and another actor who was sporting the Roger Taylor look he had for Live Aid.

"Oh look who's talking smother father! For years since I've known you you've been the definition of helicopter parent." I gawked at him. "You still sometimes even threaten Jack with missing out on our dates cause of our jobs."

"And I've always told you that boy would be trouble one day." He teased as he came up to me.

"Wow so it is actually true, you guys do look at each other as father and daughter." Said the young actor playing Roger.

"Yes Ben, my adoptive daughter (Y/n) Kline, otherwise known as the Rock Angel." Roger introduced.

"So you're the young actor playing my main father figure eh?" I said as I looked at the young man.

"Yes. Ben Hardy, it's a real honor to meet you in person Mrs. Kline. To say I was nervous to meet Roger is nothing compared to the thought of meeting you."

"Are you saying I'm intimidating and unapproachable?" I asked offendedly.

"Wha? No! No! God no I-I-I-I didn't mean it that way I was just...." I interrupted him with a laugh and said.

"Dear, relax. I was just pulling your leg."

"And be thankful she was. Otherwise, I'd beat your arse boy for insulting my daughter." Roger protectively stated.

"See there you go you old hypocrite. Besides Rog you haven't been able to kick anyone's arse in years. Don't want you breaking a hip now do we?" I mocked him.

"You're lucky these boys are here little missy." Roger scolded me.

" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now then Ben, you were once on EastEnders right?" I said turning my attention back toward Ben.

"Yes. I played Peter Boyle on the show. My recent film before this was the new X-Men movie that came out about a year ago. X-Men Apocalypse."

"Ahh yes, my youngest son is always obsessed with all the superhero films. Marvel or DC. Now I'd like to see you two more closely, stand together." Both Joe and Ben followed orders and I looked both of them up and down.

Circling around them before cupping each of their faces once by one. And yes Ben was a bit more muscular than Roger was and of course they didn't get his hair right for this part in time, but there was just something in Ben's eyes that just made me think back to the first day I met Roger.

That sparkle of mischief but also protectiveness that shown through those blue eyes of his.

"That is most definitely my Roger. You both have the same spirit in your eyes. I can't wait to see how you play the drums up on that stage."

"Yeah, me neither." He said with a hint of nervousness. I then went over to Joe and cupped his face too. Just—my god just like with Deacy the profile was just uncanny. Of course, Deacy's eyes were more of a hazel type while Joe's were like a brownish type color. But I couldn't deny he looked so much like my brother. "And you my dear Joseph. Gwilym isn't the only one to resemble the man he's playing."

"It was kinda scary after getting the wig on. So much so that I called my mom and asked her what she was doing in 1983?" I laughed and said as I took my hands away from his face.

"Unfortunately, I can tell you for a fact that John Deacon is not your father. The only lady he's ever loved and will love is Veronica."

"I know." I chuckled softly.

"Now then Joe if you'll come with me there's important things I need to discuss with you."

"Like what?"

"You'll see. It was wonderful to meet you Ben, I hope we can get to know each other better later after you all film the Live Aid concert."

"Yeah of course, it was wonderful to meet you Mrs. Kline."

"Please call me (y/n). Dad you better not be too hard on this one, I like him."

"Don't worry I won't break him too much." The four of us went our separate ways.

Joe and I arrived at my trailer (all thanks to Rog and Bri). We entered inside and I told Joe to take a seat. He sat down on my couch while I went over to the kitchen.

"Tea?"

"Yes please. One sugar please."

"Just like how he liked it." I muttered to myself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing love, nothing." I prepped the tea for him and once it was done I handed him his cup and he thanked me. I watched him take a sip and he said,

"Ahh never gets old. I'm telling you after this I may just be the biggest tea fan ever."

"It is good for the soul. I myself have always found Jasmine to be the way to nirvana." I paused for a brief moment before saying, "Joe." He looked at me giving me his full attention, "As you know probably from weeks of research and maybe even from Roger and Brian themselves, Deacy chose to exempt himself from all forms of stardom. To live a quiet life with his family."

"Yeah. When I first got the part I did reach out to him on just any personal advice on certain quirks that he did. Cause even though I've played real life people before, this is the first time I'm playing someone whose still alive, and I wanted to do him justice."

"Yes, quite."

"However all I got back was just that he approved of the project and just for me to take it as any other actor would. Not that I'm saying that I'm mad at him for saying that. But I just—"

"I get it. Really I do." I took his hand and gripped onto it comfortingly. "Look. Ever since Freddie died, Deacy has been—grieving. Just like he did for me, it was Freddie who helped bring Deacy out of his shell and become more involved with the band. Not just being the bass player or the quiet guy."

"The King of the one liners, the tie breaker of Queen." Joe stated.

"Yes, although John could be loud and rowdy when he wanted to. He was definitely Queen's wildcard, but he was also their Ace. Unpredictable but incredibly brilliant. Never have I met a bass player quite like him. Nor do I think I ever will." It was quiet for what felt like forever when Joe asked me.

"Do you—do you still speak to him? I mean, cause I read that you both basically grew up close together, even for being 11 years apart from each other."

"Yes. We actually lived 20 minutes from each other back in our youth. He was and will always be my brother mine." I sighed heavily. "And to answer your question, I must remind you he's always been.....a cautious subject to me. Any remembrance of Freddie just makes him break, and as I'm sure you've seen from my concert footages I, sometimes, subconsciously find myself doing some Freddie movements on stage. Whether it's flicking my wrist like he did, strutting around the stage or waving my arms like he did. Deacy's.....he knows those things. But he's always there for me when I needed him. The last time was—on the tragedy of 9-11."

"Wait you mean....."

"Jack's cousin Jared and his wife Gen, they—they were on the plane that was overtaken by the terrorists. Took five days to finally find their bodies. Jared holding Gen in his arms. It was a risk but—I knew Jack needed more support than just his American family. So he and I went over to John and Veronica's place. We went at the early mornings of course just so that way no one would spot us driving in midday and try to track us down, then at sunrise we walked up to the door and—there he was. When Jack told him what had happened, he—actually invited us in and allowed us to stay the entire time. He ended up being the right support Jack needed."

"Your husband and John were close?"

"Oh yes. More alike than you know. Both incredibly talented bass players. That's how Jack got Deacy's approval when Jack and I started hanging out. He even gave my husband private lessons."

"Wow."

"Yes. They were practically inseparable the two of them for that summer. Even during their rehearsals, you would see Deacy go in the corner and practice what riffs he'd teach my Jack next. However that was the last time I ever actually saw Deacy, 16 long years ago. Haven't gotten in contact with him since. But occasionally, at least according to Brian, he asks them how I'm doing as well as Jack."

"I hope he's living a quiet and happy life with his kids and wife."

"I know they are. I still keep in contact with Ronnie whenever I can, sometimes we go out shopping, fawn over grandchildren pics, and just catching up. She was the mother I needed when I first had Kelly."

"Sounds like she was the ultimate mama."

"You have no idea." I felt Joe place his free hand on top of mine that still had his. I smiled softly at him before I got down to the real reason why I brought him here. "Joseph, now I know that when it comes to acting, Hollywood can pick whomever they deem worthy for a role, especially if it's for a real person. I'll be honest with you; hearing your American accent puts me a little on edge. Cause I have heard some pretty bad English accents on screen that just make me want to pull my ears off agonizingly slow. Now I know Deacy has probably the most unique accent from anyone in Leicester, I mean you hear my accent and I sound nothing like his dialect. So what I want to ask of you, just for the sake of you playing my brother, may I hear you speak with John's accent?"

"What-what would you like me to say?"

"Maybe say what you did for the audition. Or anything that comes to your head. It doesn't even have to be an interview Deacy did, I just want to hear your accent." He nodded before sitting back on the couch while I leaned back on the chair.

He adjusted himself before finally miming that he was driving a car before he finally spoke about when Deacy first joined the band. The one interview he did during the 'News of the World' tour with Bob Harris.

I felt like at that moment my heart had stopped. My hands slowly covered my mouth in a prayer style while the corner of my eyes watered. And sure there were certain words that he said that still sounded American but—this was my brother. I....I was actually looking at my brother right now. They got it right.

By the end of it, Joe looked at me and his eyes grew concerned as he said.

"Did I screw up?" I stood up from my chair in silence. I then walked over to him and knelt down in front of him cupping his face. A wide smile spread across my face as I immediately hugged him and softly sobbed.

"You are my Deacy! My brother mine." I then felt him embrace me back and the two of us rocked side to side. I looked up to the heavens praying that Fred was looking down knowing he would've loved Joe playing his Deacy. "If you ever need any advice or help, I'm here for you. Promise me Joe Mazzello that you will come to me with anything regarding Deacy."

"I promise (y/n)." he still spoke with Deacy's accent which filled me with both sorrow and happiness.

We stayed that way for god knows how long. After composing myself, we left my trailer when one of the volunteers came up to us and said.

"Joe, they're ready to start filming the concert."

"Shall we go on?" I asked.

"Yes, let's." God he had my brother's quick wit already. He crooked his arm out which made me grin softly. I looped my arm through his and the two of us walked on towards the Live Aid stage.

I stood alongside Roger, Peter Freestone (Freddie's former assistant and the other consultant for the film) as well as Brian's youngest daughter Emily (who in every way was so much like her father from the hair to the smile).

"I think this will be a great shoot, don't you think (y/n)?" asked Peter.

"Indeed Pheebs. And I'm sure Freddie would've loved to have seen it."

"He would indeed." He said as he wrapped an arm around me and soon Brian came and stood beside us after being backstage with the young actors who then came out just as Queen did that day back in 85. When I saw the young actor playing our Freddie, I was already impressed.

Sure he was skinnier than Freddie was, but seeing him move about just as Freddie did it was like I was seeing Freddie right before my eyes. The boys got into position and soon began to perform the entire Live Aid concert.

Besides actually being there and seeing them perform from the wings that day over 30 years ago, this was about the greatest concert performance I had ever seen.

The boys in full costume had everything down. Gwilym channeled Brian's solo on Bohemian Rhapsody, Ben was pretty impressive on the drums, Joe had Deacy's rhythmic moves down, and the young man playing Freddie he—it was beyond what I could imagine. He wasn't just moving like Freddie, it was like he knew why Freddie would move a certain way to a song.

I was in awe cause it felt like I had actually traveled back in time and was watching Queen's most historical performance once again. I stood behind Brian and wrapped my arms around his shoulders leaning up against his head smiling from ear to ear, I felt Brian take one of my hands and gently patted it every now and then.

When the Aye-Oh's happened I could help but lowered my head and holding my laughs of joy. I swear when this is over, I need to talk to this new actor playing Freddie cause unlike Sacha, this was our Freddie. Soon Hammer to Fall came on and I couldn't help but bop my head along to the song.

I felt a tap at my shoulder and I turned to see Emily holding her phone out with the notes app open. In the app it read.

'Is this how you remember it Aunt (y/n)?' I walked towards her and gestured for me to have her phone. She handed it to me and I typed out.

'Everything and more. God I wish your cousin Kelly could've been here to see this as well as your uncle Jack. They would've loved it.' I showed her my message and she came up and wrapped her arms around my shoulders as the two of us smiled happily up at the stage.

When Hammer to Fall concluded, the extras and even me and team Queen applauded. I let out a loud whistle from the sidelines as I applauded and took pictures with my own phone to show Jack and the kids later. Now I recall that it was at this time the guys ended up surprising me and the world with our duet "Set it all free" instead of the planned 'Crazy Little thing called love'.

Now I've been skeptical about having a biopic film about me, even though I knew both Queen and Elton were starting theirs at the same time, hell one of the producers Dexter Fletcher is currently directing Elton's film 'Rocketman' as we speak right now. So I didn't know if they would plan to do Crazy little thing or if they'd go the set as it was all those years ago.

I got my answer however when Ben started to play the drum intro to my song.

"You guys didn't." I muttered.

"We wanted to be historically accurate with the Live Aid set." Brian started.

"So we cooked up a little surprise for you." Roger said. It was then I heard the actor playing Freddie began chanting out along with the audience "An-gel! An-gel! An-gel!" it was then I saw a young girl come out and—by god it was like looking at my younger self from that day.

She was dressed exactly how I was with a pregnant belly suit underneath her shirt. Her hair was designed the same way as mine was, everything just took me back. Instead of a playback that the Freddie actor was using for all the singing, this young woman was actually singing and she had a pretty good voice.

I continued to watch in awe as the young woman basically became me doing each step or movement I did that day on Live Aid. I felt Brian and Roger wrap their arms around me as I couldn't even take my eyes off the young woman up on stage. I could hear the extras singing out the lyrics, even some of the crew members were bopping their heads and singing along.

She walked across the stage at the second verse right towards the Freddie actor and just like Fred and I did, they stood forehead to forehead singing the duet before she walked back out and went back to center stage. When the guitar solo came on, my eyes turned to Gwilym and he amazed me that he actually could do my hard rock solo.

After the song was over, the crowd applauded and cheered and I turned to the guys and hugged them and whispered into their ears.

"If this is you guys way of trying to get me to sign onto a biopic film......I'm highly considering it after seeing her."

"We'll introduce you later." Said Roger as we separated from the hug and we turned our attention back to the guys as We Will Rock you now began playing. I couldn't help myself by stomp my feet to the rhythm and mouth out the words.

I was just amazed by not only Gwilym's guitar playing but also the young man who moved just like how I remembered seeing Freddie move, using the mic stand as Fred always did (the cheeky man), even the facial expressions that he made were exactly like they were.

It wasn't until when 'We are the champions' came on that I could barely hold my tears in. Seeing not only Fred's actor but my actor singing the famed Queen anthem that has literally been played in every victory sport or award winning singing competition.

Seeing the two of them interact with each other, it was pure nostalgia.

By the end of the song, tears welled up in my eyes and I looked toward the heavens hoping that Freddie could see this and running through my mind I already knew what he'd say.

"Amazing jobs my darlings, not as fabulous as me but very, very close." When the extras and even some crew members cheered, Brian, Roger, Peter, Emily and myself all applauded and cheered for the boys and that's when the director called cut.

"This.....is gonna be a great movie." I said.

"I think so too. After just seeing them come together like that, I think we've finally casted the right people to play us." Said Brian.

"I agree you two, I'm liking what I've just seen so far." Roger said.

"And—I'm sure he would've liked this too." I said solemnly. I felt Roger gently rub my back and Brian said.

"I know he would."

After a few more takes of filming the Live Aid concert, the director said that it was enough for today. I walked around the set to find the producer Graham King and when I approached him I asked him.

"Graham tell me, who's the young man you got to play Freddie?"

"Oh his name is Rami Malek. His recent project was a show called Mr. Robot."

"Ahh yes I've heard of that, my Freddie is obsessed with that show. Never misses an episode."

"When we were casting Freddie I happened to come across an episode and when I saw him I—just thought I was looking at Freddie. So we brought him in, he gave us a mock interview as well as an audition that your boys saw when they first met him. And from then on it just fell into place. Do you approve of him? Is there a problem Mrs. Kline?"

"Absolutely not. Do you know where I can find Rami at right now?"

"Probably in hair and makeup getting undressed."

"Well, when he is done would you be so kind as to bring him to my trailer?"

"Of course (y/n)." I nodded in gratitude and walked off to my trailer.

I sat there once again on the chair looking through an old photo album. Each picture held a deep and personal memory for me, I thought back to the day that each picture was taken and remembered exactly what was going on at that very moment.

A knock was soon heard at my trailer. I composed myself with a deep exhale and said.

"Come in." the door opened and there without costume or the tache was Rami Malek.

"Graham said you wanted to see me Mrs. Kline?"

"Yes Rami, love please come in." he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "Take a seat." I gestured towards the couch. He sat right where Joe had sat down earlier this morning and I said. "Would you care for a biscuit, or as Americans call them cookies?"

"Uhh yes please." I smiled and handed him a tray of biscuits I always kept around me (hey a woman's gotta have her sweet tooth fix right?) and handed him my best plate of chocolate chip cookies (all thanks to my mother in law's secret recipe). He thanked me as he took one and took a bite out of it. "Mmm. Oh my god," he cleared his throat and closed his mouth before finishing the biscuit up. "This is so good."

"Thank you, it was my mother in law's secret recipe. She passed it onto me shortly before Kelly was born." He took another bite of it and swallowed that piece before saying as he set it down on a napkin that I had also provided.

"What-what was it you needed to see me for Mrs.—"

"Before we continue, I'll ask you to call me the same way I've asked the other three of the band to call me. Call me (y/n)."

"Yes of course, (y/n). What was it you wanted to see me for? Is it to talk about what you saw out there? Did I screw it up already?"

"No, no dear relax. This is nothing in the way you're thinking." I saw him take a sigh of relief.

"Oh good. Cause I know I obviously wasn't the first choice for the job."

"In my books Rami, you should've been the first one to be called for the role."

"Really?"

"Oh yes, but first there's a couple of questions that I want to ask you that Brian and Roger might not have asked you, and I want you to answer them as Freddie would've."

"Okay." I smiled softly and stood up from my seat as I set the phot album aside.

"Who is Queen not without?"

"That's easy. It's you darling. There's no Queen without their beloved Rock Angel, and no Rock Angel without her four aging Queens." I felt my heart clench at hearing Rami speak with a British tone. The softness of his voice almost sounded identical to Freddie's voice. I turned towards him and walked towards the kitchen area of my trailer.

"Who is it that you trust the most?"

"Mary. Mary is the one I trust the most. For she knows me like no one else ever will." I reached the kitchen and rested my hand against the island.

"Who are you?" Rami looked at me before finally answering something that would forever stun me.

"I've been asked that all my life. By my family, student peers, professors, the entire world. I've been told who I should strive to be but I say fuck what they say. They don't define me. No, I decided who I am. I'm going to be what I was born to be. A performer who gives the people what they want." He pointed towards the ceiling as he whispered, "touch of the heavens." He dropped his hand before finally answering, "Freddie Fucking Mercury."

My lips quivered and I ducked my head as tears began falling down my face for—god knows how many times right now.

"Oh (y/n) I—I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry, I—did I say something wrong?" Rami said urgently as he stood up and stood in front of me.

"No." I choked out. I sniffled and that's when he handed me a tissue. Oh ever the kind gentleman and concerned about my wellbeing, just like Freddie was. "No you—you've prove to me that you know just who Freddie truly was."

"Didn't want to be put in a certain category or be stereotyped." He said. I nodded as I wiped my tears with the tissue he had given me.

"For as long as I have known Freddie, especially to his last, various people have chosen one of two sides. There's the one side that the press made him out to be. The one that-that—bastard Cohen wanted to portray Freddie as. The wild, crazed, homosexual drug addict. That he deserved what he had gotten because he was so reckless and stupid. That AIDS was his form of suicide. Never did I want to punch and murder so many people. Every time I got asked about whether Freddie's death was his own fault, I just wanted to rip the interviewer apart."

"I can see why. I bet a lot of true fans and the people who knew Freddie well would've done what you've felt like doing."

"But people like you Rami, who understand that Freddie wasn't just a frontman or greatest performer to ever live. That he did come from a harsh background but rose above all the trials and tribulations that came his way to define himself as he sought out to be. That's why he was my biggest idol." I grabbed the photo album and sat down on the couch and opened it up taking out a picture that was always a favorite of mine.

It was a picture that Deacy took of Freddie and I together just after my very first performance as the Rock Angel at Madison Square Garden. Fred's arms wrapped around me as he had picked me up, huge wide smiles were spread across our faces. I felt a dip on my left side I looked up to see Rami sitting close beside me. He looked down at the picture before saying.

"Was this your first performance?"

"Yes. Out of four members of Queen, it was Freddie Mercury who truly believed that I could make a name for myself in the industry. Taught me everything there was into getting the self-confidence I needed to get up on that stage. Sure we had our ups and downs, but through all the falls we had, he never gave up on me. He gave up on no one that he loved. And Rami," we looked at each other and I told him the utmost truth, "If he were alive today, he would've loved you."

He smiled as I gently touched his cheek and the two of us looked through my photo album of every picture Freddie and I took throughout the 11 years I knew him.

At the end of the day, just before the four boys left to go hang out at a pub nearby, I stepped in and offered.

"Why not have dinner over at my place boys?"

"Oh we couldn't impose." Said Joe.

"Nonsense Joe, I insist and I won't take no for answer. Plus it'll be a more homely environment. You boys can't live on catering and pub foods for the next several months to a year. No I absolutely won't have it."

"Best go along with her boys, she got her persuasion from the best there was." Roger added in.

"Well—if you think it's a good idea." Said Gwilym.

"Of course it is. Now come on, you four can fit in my car. Let's go. Meet you there Brian and Roger?"

"We'll be right behind you love." Said Brian. I gestured the boys to follow me to my car. Ben sat up in the passenger seat, Joe sat behind him, Rami was in the middle and Gwilym sat behind me. I turned the engine on and told everyone to buckle up (mama instincts what can I say?) and we pulled out of the gate and I drove us on home.

"So (y/n), what other kind of music do you listen to?" asked Joe.

"Whatever song has a good voice and a good beat, with no autotune I will love. You can look through my Spotify and see what I have." Ben took my phone out of the phone holder and turned around as Joe took over the controls and went to my Spotify.

"Wow there are a lot of songs. And I thought you would've just stuck with what you grew up on."

"Unlike most rockstars like Roger who think everything after 1979 basically became trash music with the rise of pop or as they called it 'disco'. I'm a little more open minded. But I deny all songs that use explicit language every three words, degrading women, or promotes violence."

"You even got some old Christina Aguilera songs on here?" asked Rami.

"Who do you think helped produce her?"

"Shut the front door. You produced Christina Aguilera?"

"Yeah. I even gave her rights to a song that I wanted to do. But even singing it brought back some old wounds. So since I was helping her produce her album at the time, I turned to song over to her."

"What song was it?" asked Ben.

"Fighter."

"Shut up! That was literally my jam."

"I can attest to that. Throughout the filming of The Pacific, he would never shut that song off when getting into Eugene's character for certain episodes." Rami rose his hand.

"Yeah. I have an entire playlist of some songs I helped produce or make. You can play that playlist if you'd like. Or my typical playlist my boys best songs."

"I think in the light of our first day filming, we should go with Queen. What do you guys say?" Joe asked.

"Agree."

"Yep."

"Oh yeah."

"Aright then Joe, we'll each pick our favorite Queen song. You're up first little Tim." He grinned and scrolled through my playlist until Somebody to love came up on the speakers. "Read my mind Joseph." The piano began playing and that's when I vocalized alongside Freddie and the five of us began singing the song at the top of our lungs.

The entire car ride contained each of us picking our top favorite songs. Ben did 'White Queen' which I commended on him cause people nowadays tend to forget the old Queen songs, Gwilym picked Love of my Life, Rami chose Radio Gaga, and I, of course chose Bohemian Rhapsody.

Thanks to Wayne's world (yes I saw the movie and yes it was silly but just the opening scene alone made the movie worth watching) we basically did the same motion by motion that those boys did in the film when the operatic section came on. And of course when the headbanging rock out came on, the boys proceeded to bang their hands while I did mine not as aggressively (responsible driving kids!)

We continued to rock out to the song and it wasn't until by the end of the song that we soon arrived at my home. I pulled the car up into the garage and hit the clicker button which opened up the garage door and I pull inside just as the last line came up and Roger's gong rang off. I shut the engine and said.

"Here we are boys, welcome to casa de la Kline." We all exited out of my car and right behind us as scheduled were Brian and Roger with Bri getting out of the driver's seat. "Bout time you two got here, I was beginning to worry that I'd need to call in an ambulance."

"We're old dear, not dead." Roger sassed at me.

"But I still love you old coots. Just like I said all those years ago."

"That I do remember, the day right after you got so shitfaced after your 21st birthday. You remember that Brian?" Roger said.

"Indeed I do Rog, I even remember what we did to her to get her to apologize, think we need to do it again?"

"That might have to be arranged."

"Oh no you guys don't! We're not doing that now, now let's get inside before we all catch a cold." I guided them all inside. Once we stepped through the backdoor of the garage I could already smell something cooking, and I knew who exactly was cooking at this rate. "Baby! I'm home!" I called out from the hallway.

We turned the corner and soon came to the kitchen where a young man of 19 (going on 20 in a couple months) stood by the oven. He shut it off and turned around. He was every bit like his father when I first met him back in '83, but he had my eyes. When he saw me, he softly smiled and I came up to him.

"Sorry I didn't call in advance telling you that we would have more guests than your uncles."

"No worries mom. You know I've always cooked way more than I should." I smiled and cupped his face and we kissed each other's cheek. "Uncle Brian, uncle Roger."

"Hello Fred." Brian greeted.

"Hey lad, how's school been?"

"Oh you know, NYU's a challenge but I manage." He then directed his attention towards the young actors but when he eyes landed on Rami, he quickly grabbed my arm and whispered to me. "You didn't tell me you'd be bringing Rami Malek to our house!"

"Again slipped my mind." I teased him.

"Mom how dare you bring my celebrity crush here without telling me, look at me I'm a mess."

"Oh you're fine. Now best behavior." I wrapped an arm around my son and said. "Boys, this is my youngest son Freddie Mercury Kline. Fred, these are the boys that will be playing your uncles. This is Joe Mazzello, he'll be playing your uncle Deacy. Ben Hardy who's playing your old uncle Roger."

"Watch it lion cub." Rog warned me. I gave him a cheeky look before continuing the introductions.

"Gwilym Lee will be playing your uncle Brian, and you know Rami, he'll be playing the man you were named after."

"Uncle Freddie?"

"Yes. And—from what I've seen so far, you'll finally get to meet him through the screen."

"I don't doubt that. I'm a big fan of yours Rami, your role in Mr. Robot has been—amazing."

"I'm honored."

"Alright since we've all had a long day today, let's get some grub. Everyone grab a plate." I grabbed some extra plates from the cabinet and handed four plates out to the actors and we all assembled around the island to grab a piece of lasagna, peas, mashed potatoes with gravy and Hawaiian rolls.

Once we gathered around the table I set out the iced tea Jack had made a couple of days ago as well as some champagne or wine. "Okay guys, before we dig in I want all hands on deck." I extended my hand out.

Freddie immediately placed his hand on top of mine, Brian and Rog soon followed after and it was then Rami, Gwilym, Joe and finally Ben placed their hands on top.

"Thank you for this family, thank you for this meal. Thank you for this day. It'll be a wild ride, but I feel this movie will soar, and—that this new family will forever stay." I said ending the traditional family prayer. The young actors looked at me with warm eyes and soft smiles.

"Alright, let's dig in. You boys will never eat the same way again once you taste (y/n)'s cooking." Roger said.

"That bad?" joked Joe. I gawked at the young cheeky actor.

"On the contrary she's the best chief on this side of London. Even when she was an intern she made us this one Christmas pudding that was to die for." Brian spoke on my behalf.

"It's true. She put all the other PTA mom's to shame when it came to my school's bake sales." Freddie said as he took a bite of his lasagna.

The entire dinner was filled with talks about our lives, stories and embarrassing moments in life. Not a single person was excluded from a conversation. After dinner, Rami and Gwilym helped Freddie with the dishes while I got some other scrapbooks out and bonded a bit with Ben and Joe about my time with Rog and Deacy.

"Now this Joe was taken during my first Japan tour. At the very garden where Queen went to near the Tokyo tower, Deacy refused to let me leave without having a cherry blossom crown."

"He seems to be doing good in the picture."

"Except one twig got so tangled in my hair it literally took 15 minutes just to get it out." We both laughed before I turned the page and found a great picture of me and Roger. "Now this picture Ben, both Roger and I have this picture, this was taken after my first Hyde Park performance."

"She performed to an audience of half of what Queen did when we performed at Hyde Park." Roger spoke.

"She could've performed for more but times changed and better security measure for the public's safety prevented it from happening again." Brian added.

"One thing's for sure, I was damn well proud of her for performing at her biggest crowd at the time just barely two years into her career." Roger spoke again. I looked up and winked at him.

"You guys really do have that father-daughter bond don't you?" Joe said.

"Have ever since she gave me the real 1 and 3/7th's sugar."

"It wasn't until Brian told me the next day that Roger just says that to pull people's leg. God I felt embarrassed after that."

"Aww lovie, but it was due to that I became your favorite. And I don't regret it as I'm sure you don't."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." As Gwilym, Rami and Freddie came back in I continued going through the scrapbook sharing my photos of my days with Queen with the boys, and allowing Freddie to finally hear all the stories that he was denied cause of my grief.

As the night got darker and darker, the young actors at this moment were so full of food and exhausted from a long day's filming they actually passed out along my living room. Joe and Ben cuddled up on the couch, Rami asleep on the recliner, while Gwilym was curled up along the loveseat.

Meanwhile I was watching over them and couldn't help but think it was like seeing my boys all over again. I remember back when I was still an intern and would see the guys all passed out whether at Freddie's parties or in the studio, I always had to provide the guys comfort (which I never minded). So seeing these four young men passed out just brought me a sense of nostalgia.

"I got the spare blankets mom."

"Thank you dear. Your uncles tucked in the spare bedrooms?"

"Uncle Brian's in the room across yours and dad's and uncle Roger is in Georgie's old room."

"Good boy." I then proceeded to cover up and adjust the young actors. I wrapped both Joe and Ben in the same blanket and closed Joe's mouth gently so that he wouldn't drool in his sleep, followed by giving them each a soft kiss goodnight. Without trying to wake him up, I uncurled Gwilym from his pretzel position and covered him up.

I gingerly stroked through his hair before placing a soft kiss to his temple. He groaned and lifted his head up which allowed me to place a pillow underneath him. He hummed in content as he snuggled into it. I then went over to Rami and adjusted the seat so that he would be more comfortable. Pressing the button on our automatic recliner, his legs slowly rose up before finally stopping in full recliner mode.

I tucked him in while looking down at him. God even without the tache it was like looking at Freddie from when I first met him in person at a concert, long before I became an intern. I gently kissed his cheek before faintly stroking his cheek.

Sitting outside along the deck, Freddie and I were looking up at the stars.

"So you think this movie's gonna be a hit?"

"Critics are always hard to please, no matter if it's music or movies. From what I've read of the script yes there's misinformation but that's why it's called a biopic. There's some truth but it's the touch of Hollywood in order to make the film not a boring documentary. But those four boys, they are just how I remember your uncles being when I not only worked with them, but grew up with them hearing their music."

"I wish I had gotten the chance to meet uncle Freddie." Fred said after a brief moment of silence. I turned to him to see him looking down sadly.

"So do I love. He would've loved you as much as he did your brothers and sister. And he would've been over the moon had he found that I had named you after him." I brought my baby close and he wrapped his arms around me as we both looked up at the moon and the stars together.

The star right by the moon glowed the brightest, the very same star that shined just as bright the night after the tribute concert we did back in '92. I couldn't help as a tear slid down my face and a smile spread across my face.

I knew that it was Freddie's star, telling me that he was watching us and that he was proud.

[linkfms]

☠️    *   what  is  up,  party  people  !    i’m  jojo  (  she/her  ),  23,  and  in  the  pst  timezone.    it’s  been  a  while  since  i’ve  been  in  a  group  so...  pls  bear  with  me.    anyway,  under  the  cut  you’ll  find  more  info  on  resident  emo  boy:  link  !   i’m  so  excited  to  write  with  u  all,  and,  if  u  ever  want  to  plot  give  this  a  lil’  like  or  send  an  im  over  @  yea right#4256  !

lincoln  “link”  seong  was  spotted  in  the  fashion  district  adorning  prada  combat  boots,  with  some  airpod  pros  on.    they’re  most  likely  listening  to  when  you  were  young  by  the  killers.   you  may  know  them  as  @hyperlink  or  as  that   jeon  jungkook�� lookalike.    their  twenty - fourth  birthday  just  passed.    while  living  in   tribeca,   they’ve  gained  a  bit  of  a  reputation.    they’re  known  to  be  erratic  but  on  the  other  hand   vehement.    wonder  if  they’ll  be  the  next  person  to  hit  the  headlines.   (  cis male  &   he/him  )

↳     THE  BASICS:    STATISTICS.

full  name:   seong  hyunjae  (  성  현재  )    /    lincoln  seong.

nickname:  link,  and  will  probably  only  answer  to  link  !

age  &  date  of  birth:   24  &  november  21,  1996.

hometown:   born  in  busan,  south  korea,  but  moved  to  jefferson,  connecticut  in  2006.

current  location:   tribeca,  new  york.

education:  completed  high  school  and  attempted  first  semester  of  university,  but  decided  to  pursue  music  instead.

occupation:   drummer  for  indie/alternative  rock  band,  my  time  (  sound  is  similar  to  bands  like  the  killers,  the  1975,  and  paramore  ).   also  is  an  affiliate  with  an  esports  organization  !   doesn’t  play  competitively,  but  streams  and  creates  content  for  them  weekly.

sexual  orientation:   pansexual  &  panromantic.

gender  &  pronouns:   cisgender  male  &  he/him  pronouns.

↳     THE  BACKGROUND:   BIOGRAPHY.  (   tw:  mentions  of  alcoholism  &  abuse  )

seong  hyunjae  (  later  given  the  english  name  lincoln  seong...  thanks  linkin  park  !   )   was  born  in  the  heart  of  busan,  south  korea.    his  parents  married  at  the  age  of  21,  due  to  the  cultural  expectations  of  having  a  child  born  out  of  wedlock.    while  things  seemed  to  be  smooth  sailing  for  a  while,   the  couple  realized  the  real  struggles  of  adulthood.   financial  issues  came  into  play.   stress  from  working  multiple  jobs  every  single  day  took  a  toll  on  their  mental  health,  as  well  as  their  relationship  with  each  other.   link’s  mother  began  to  develop  an  alcohol  addiction,  and  her  abusive  behavior  came  following  after.   their  home  was  falling  apart,  with  four-year-old  link  falling  asleep  to  muffled  screaming  and  glass  being  thrown  on  the  next  room  over.   his  father  was  able  to  withstand  it  for  a  while,  but  he  drew  the  line  after  coming  home  from  work  to  see  large  cuts  on  the  side  of  his  son’s  thigh,  and  a  bruise  forming  across  his  cheek.   that  was  when  he  knew  his  wife  was  dangerous.    so,  one  night  when  lincoln’s  mother  as  at  work,  he  packed  his  belongings,  grabbed  link,  and  left  without  looking  back.

for  a  while,  it  was  just  the  two  of  them.    they  found  ways  to  make  it  work,  and  despite  the  fact  that  it  was  a  constant  struggle,  his  father  never  wanted  link  to  lose  his  childhood.    in  fact,  his  father  gave  him  everything  he  could  give   —   but  most  importantly,  as  cheesy  as  it  sounds,  his  unconditional  love  and  support.    as  someone  who  lost  his  own  parents  young,  he  made  sure  that  link  would  never  feel  like  he’s  being  deprived of  that,  ever.   they  created  this  tight-knight  bond  because  of  that,  which  can’t  ever  be  broken.   and  now,  link’s  fondest  memories  always  involved  spending  time  with  his  father.    one  favorite  memory  of  his  involved  morning  jam  sessions  after  breakfast.    link’s  father  was  previously  a  lead  guitarist  in  a  garage  band  with  a  few  of  his  high  school  friends,  so  while  he  was  playing  riffs  on  his  electric  guitar,  eight-year-old  link  would  be  banging  the  coffee  table  with  plastic  straws.   

when  link  was  about  ten,  he  and  his  father  sold  all  of  their  belongings  and  moved  all  the  way  to  jefferson,  connecticut  for  a  job  offer  that  he  couldn’t  refuse.   fast  forward  a  few  years,  and  he’s  a  teenager  in  high  school.    growing  up  link  was  more  of  an  introvert,  and  would  spend  his  time  in  the  computer  lab  playing  video  games  or  browsing  in  online  forums.   he  was  a  regular  in  this  my  chemical  romance  forum  (  under  the  username  @hyperlink  ),  and  made  a  lot  of  his  lifelong  friends  over  there.    one  of  his  online  friends  jokingly  suggested  one  afternoon  that  they  should  start  a  band  over  their  nightly  skype  call,  and  while  it  was  initially  shrugged  off  as  dream  more  than  an  arm’s  reach  away,  my  time  was  born.    link  had  to  endlessly  plead  his  father  to  buy  him  a  secondhand  drum  kit  off  of  craigslist  for  christmas.   but  once  he  found  it  under  their  tree  that  year,  it  sparked  this  drive  in  him  to  learn  and  practice  nonstop. 

their  first  official  band  practice  happened  a  day  after  link’s  high  school  graduation  (  which  was  also  the  first  time  everyone  saw  each  other  in  person  !   ),  and  they  spent  that  entire  summer  making  music.   at  first,  link  only  thought  of  it  as  a  hobby...  since,  he  was  attending  his  first  year  of  university  that  fall.   but  after  playing  their  first  few  shows  and  making  all  these  memories,   he  couldn’t  keep  the  band  in  the  backburner.   he  dropped  out  not  too  long  after  to  pursue  his  music  career  full-time.   moved  out,  spent  the  next  few  months  working  long  shifts  at  the  local  amusement  park,  and  shared  one  two-bedroom  apartment  with  his  bandmates.    one  of  their  songs  went  viral  one  crazy  night,   and  the  next  thing  they  knew,  they  were  being  signed  into  a  record  label.   now  ?   they’re  one  of  the  biggest  alternative/indie  rock  bands  out  there  with  multiple  platinum  records,  sold  out  world  tours,  and  millions  of streams  each  year.   their  time  finally  came.

↳     THE  INSIDE  LOOK:    PERSONALITY.

link  definitely...  gets  babied  a  lot   (  by  his  bandmates  and  his  fans  ),   and  he  uses  that  to  his  advantage  :]   because  of  that  he  gets  away  with   a  lot  of  things,  but  it’s  usually  with  things  that  are  small  like  eating  the  last  slice  of  pizza  and  it  would  be  justified  with  “  no  he  is  a  growing  BOY  he  NEEDS  it  !  ”

that  being  said,  he  eats  nonstop.   the  guy  carries  a  sandwich  bag  full  of  cheerios  wherever  he  goes.   his  friends  know  that  if  they  can’t  finish  eating  something,  they  can  always  donate  it  to  link  for  a  good  cause.

when  my  chemical  romance  announced  their  reunion  tour  in  2019,  he  threw  his  phone  across  the  room  and  cried.   my  chemical  romance  (  with  green  day  and  linkin  park  as  a  close  second  !  )   are  his  all-time  favorite  bands,  and  a  lot  of  my  time’s  sound  is  heavily  inspired  by  them.

when  i  tell  u  that  this  man  is  so  chill,  i  mean  it.   like  things  could  LITERALLY  be  on  fire  and  he’d  be  like   “  just  throw  some  water  on  it  it’ll  be  fine  😎  ” ...  he’s  not  the  type  to  worry  about  things,  and  is  more  of  a  go  with  the  flow  type  of  person.   he  doesn’t  even  need  to  be  zooted  to  be  like  this.   KJFGDG

being  in  the  band  and  a  part  of  the  entertainment  industry  caused  a  small  shift  in  his  personality.   maybe  he  just  blossomed  ?   who  knows  !   but  because  he’s  been  exposed  to  the  rockstar  life,   he  was  able  to  open  up  more.   he’s  always  seeking  thrills,  big  or  small,  and  won’t  have  the  time  to  think  about  the  consequences  for  his  actions.  

because  the  my  chemical  romance  forum  that  was  once  his  second  home  shut  down,   he’s  since  moved  on  to  reddit.   social  media  isn’t  really  his  thing  (  and  his  fans  always  get  mad  at  him  for  posting  a  selfie  once  a  month  then  dipping  ),  but  catch  him  on  subreddits  making  comments  or  starting  fights  for  the  sheer  entertainment  of  proving  someone  wrong. 

this  might  sound  bad  but...  he  still  can’t  wrap  his  head  around  the  fact  that  he  isn’t  ?   financially  struggling  anymore  ?   even  if  he’s  already  bought  a  house  and  two  luxury  cars  for  his  dad,  he  still  gets  ticked  off  if  he  sees  something  small  like  an  APPLE   that  is  marked  a  dollar  and  a  few  cents  over  the  usual.   he  catches  himself  using  things  until  they’re  ABSOLUTELY  worn  out,  and  still  leeches  off  of  his  bandmates/friends  when  he  can.  <3   also,  if  something  is  broken,  he’ll  be  the  type  to  figure  it  out  and  fix  it  himself.

people...  don’t  exactly  remember  the  last  time  he’s  slept.   it  could  be  the  insomnia   (   it’s  definitely  insomnia,  thx  childhood   trauma  !   )  but  it’s  almost  gotten  to  the  point  where  he’s  afraid  to  fall  asleep  on  his  own.   he’ll  always  try  to  find  ways  to  sleep  in  someone’s  company,  even  if  it’s  just  him  crashing  on  a  couch  while  someone  is  watching  tv  right  there.   if  he’s  alone  though,  he’ll  always  try  to  find  ways  to  distract  himself  like  stream  for  10  hours  straight.

speaking  of  trauma...  he’s  also  scared  of  relationships.  after  witnessing  the  way  his  mother  treated  his  father,  he’s  cautious  of  history  repeating  itself...  but  with  him.  so  whenever  he  catches  himself  even  falling  for  just  a  little,  he  dips.

his  life  revolves  around  the  4  m’s:   marvel  movies,  minecraft,  music,  and  my  chemical  romance.   that’s  it.

a  link  😏   to  his  pinterest  !   also,  i  don’t  have  any  wcs,  but  if  we  plot,  i  promise  i’ll  use  my  big  brain  to  brainstorm  something  with  u.  <3

[jinmukangwrites]

Good Deeds

Day 5 of Batfamweek2020 / Identity Reveal / @official-batfam-week

Summary: Scarecrow breaks out of Arkham again, but this time he’s not messing around.

Day late but oh well!

AO3

-o-o-o-o-

Dick’s pacing. It’s driving Tim insane, especially since he was literally shot less than a day before and shouldn’t be standing let alone pacing. But there’s nothing he can do about it. No one besides Alfred or Bruce can get Dick to sit still, and one is in England visiting his grandchildren and the other is the cause of the pacing.

It’s a Scarecrow attack. A massive one. One that has caused an all-hands-on-deck protocol. It’s almost like all the other break-outs, all the other new toxins and new tactics, was all for practice. For the first time in a long time, Scarecrow is a genuine threat and not a normal occurrence, no more unpredictable than a five day forecast. This week he’s been an unseen storm, spreading a toxin so potent and persistent that it’s victims are rendered screaming and clawing at their eyes on the floor for hours on end until their hearts stop.

Tim hasn’t found a vaccine yet, and the catch-all vaccine every hospital, bat, and first-aid kit carries is only slowing the mortality rate, placing patients in coma-like states to await the promise of an actual vaccine that actually works. Hospitals are scrambling and Tim has been doing nothing but test after test while the others all went out to find Scarecrow and his army of thugs he has somehow accumulated.

Tim snarls when once again his current attempt at a vaccine fails against the samples they have gathered and slams the beaker onto the table hard enough to wobble the other vials and glasses resting on the same surface. It feels like Scarecrow has finally perfected his formula and it’s setting every single one of Tim’s nerves on fire. 

Dick stops his pacing and then hobbles over towards Tim with a worried expression. Tim almost wants to shove him back onto the medical bed and strap him down to keep him from agitating the hole in his side even more, but his body betrays him as he leans into Dick’s sudden embrace.

“It will be fine,” Dick says, “you got this, little bird.”

Tim shakes his head and forces himself to break the embrace and return to his work. “Has B responded yet?”

Dick doesn’t reply and Tim bites his lip.

Batman went off grid hours ago. No response on the comms, no emergency signal, no signal at all. Last any of them knew, Bruce was checking out a suspected haunt for Scarecrow, but when he stopped responding and Orphan and Spoiler went to check the haunt out, they came back empty handed.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Dick says, more to himself than Tim.

And then the routine continues, Dick pacing and hovering his hand over the comms, listening to every single thing that’s said, hoping for word on Bruce, while Tim changes his formula and compares it to past formulas and tries again.

A couple hours pass, and Tim’s just finishing up his next attempt as Dick’s finally collapsed onto the chair in front of the bat-computer, simply listening to the limited amount of chatter going on from Damian, Cass, Steph, Duke, and Jason over the comms as they check possible haunts one by one and Oracle works to sift through every kind of signal going off in Gotham that’s not civilian cellular or police/bat frequencies. Most of the haunts are just traps, similar to what Dick fell into the day before, nothing there but a bunch of grunts with guns. No one has gotten hurt yet, but there’s been multiple times one of the members have had to cut off to fight a battle with a dozen or so gunmen, leaving the others in a tense silence that has Tim cutting off his comm completely, relying on Dick to update him every so often.

At least it makes the injured man feel a little helpful. Dick’s smart, but not the best choice to help Tim out with complicated science. He’s injured, so no use out on the battlefield. The most Tim can do is let Dick man the comms and update sometimes. Plus, Tim’s sure it’s relieving some of Dick’s stress as well, he hasn’t verbalized it yet but Tim’s sure he feels horrible not being out there with the others right now.

Then, suddenly, Dick jumps up from the chair and whips his hands across the keyboard of the computer, a concerned crease to his eyebrows that has Tim placing his formula down and walking near the shoulder of the first Robin.

“Jason says to check the cable,” Dick explains in a rush.

Tim’s just about ask why but Dick finally connects the computer to the satellite and Tim feels his stomach drop.

Broadcasting on live TV on every channel in Gotham is an image of a man tied to a chair, leaning forward and panting slightly. The ropes of the chair are close to the only thing holding the man up. There’s nothing else to see in the feed, the area around the man is black, and there’s no noise besides the heavy, labored breathing.

The man is Batman.

Tim quickly turns his comms back on to be met with the chaos of multiple family members all trying to talk over each other.

Jason is arguing towards a frantic Damian that he saw the feed walking past a television shop and Steph is rambling about other places they could check to find Bruce while Duke argues that they’ve already checked everywhere. Cass is silent, but Tim’s phone vibrates with the notification of a text with the simple words of he’s very hurt.

Tim ignores the arguing to look back at the feed. Cass can notice details that no one else can, and the suit and armor makes it hard to see any kind of injuries besides the sight of a purpling bruise on Bruce’s jaw. He gives off the vibe of being more hurt than that though, so he’ll take Cass’s word for it.

Suddenly, Barbara’s voice snaps for everyone to shut up. Never one to anger Barbara Gordon, the entire line goes silent.

“I’m tracking the signal as we speak,” Oracle hisses over the line, “so all of you shut up and keep looking. We’re wasting time arguing-“

Suddenly, there’s a change on the feed that has everyone silencing for a whole new reason. Batman looks up, past the camera, towards something behind it and narrows his eyes. There’s someone else there, and something is about to happen.

Tim swallows his growing fear as Scarecrow himself enters the screen, costume as freaky as ever with the noose tie and potato sack head, with a wide gaping smile cut jaggedly and held together with twine.

“Fear is often brought with the unknown,” Scarecrow says, his voice sounding raspy and light. He stops and stands behind Batman, spindly fingers laying down on the hero’s shoulders. “So I won’t spoil you all with a monologue.”

Tim and Dick share a glance.

“Babs, please tell me you can cut the feed,” Dick says into the comm piece in his ear. Barbara begins to snap that she’s working on it and Tim can only watch helplessly as Scarecrow continues.

“So I have one thing to say,” the villain brings a hand up to the top of Batman’s cowl and bunches up the fabric ever so slowly, leaving Tim to wonder how he managed to bypass the security measures that would stop any common crook from touching the mask. The grin on Scarecrow’s face seems to widen as he leans forward and Batman’s jaw pops with the man stubbornly grinding his teeth.

“Who’s afraid of the Big. Bad. Bat.”

The cowl is ripped off so quickly afterwards that it almost leaves Tim gasping. Bruce Wayne’s blue eyes glare at the camera for a moment before he growls at the wheezing-with-laughter Scarecrow as the villain begins to walk off the screen. The image of Bruce glaring off screen, refusing to say a thing, plays for a minute longer before the feed finally cuts off. Barbara gives a frustrated yell saying she’s lost the signal completely. Damian begins to practically screech for her to do better while Jason helpfully puts in that ooh Joker is not going to like this and Tim can only look at Dick as the man continues to watch the blank screen with wide eyes and a fist pressed against his mouth.

It’s not the first time one of their own has been revealed on live television. Dick’s had it happen to himself when the Crime Syndicate captured him. Tim can only imagine what’s going on inside his head.

Tim quickly backs up from the screen and turns his comms back off, doing the only thing he can do right now, and that’s figure out the anti-toxin so no more people have to be literally scared to death.

As the next fails too, he places both his hands flat against the table and sucks in a shaking breath.

Batman’s identity is revealed, which means it’s only a matter of time before each and every other bat is soon figured out. None of his vaccines are showing any kind of progress, and he’s running out of samples to test his failures on. Nightwing is injured and the other’s are all at risk of joining him the more villains and traps they run head first into.

How are they going to get out of this one?

[to-write-ornah]

Not So Happy Birthday part 2

A/n: hey guys, happy new year! So, this part has been rewritten wayyyyy to many times but it's finally done!! I'm actually rly excited, and this will probably be a series until it's done-done. ALSO! This is part two, technically, but I'm making the next part 2.5 because Tumblr has this great thing called '100 paragraph limit' (I will be salty about this till the day I die) so hopefully I'll get that up today or tomorrow. Also, next part is gonna sum up what the deal is with her parents and her brother (I've put off saying her brothers name for the weirdest reason so don't judge but it'll be in the next part okay) I also apologize bc (to me at least) my writing seems a bit off. Oh well. alright I'm done rambling ENJOY

Warnings: minor character death, blood and bruising, maybe fluff if you squint

________________

You'd been riding with Sweet Pea for over two hours now. The train tracks had been on your left up until about twenty minutes ago, when they split away from the road making way for the forest. You passed a red painted post on the side of the road several miles back, officially marking the end of Ghoulie territory. The road you were on was public, but nobody in their right mind would take it unless it was necessary. The only reason you were on it now was because this was the road your dad had been on with your little brother two days ago. He'd been so excited to go on a supply run with your dad, you hadn't been able to tell him no. And now they had both disappeared. Dropped off the radar the day befor. You tried to keep your thoughts calm as you and Sweet Pea simultaneously slowed down to round a sharp curve in the road. You grimaced as your jean clad knee grazed the pavement before your bike righted. Ahead of you, Sweet Pea glanced back to make sure you were okay before suddenly slowing and turning his bike sharply. You slowed almost to a stop.

'See something,' he signed, prompting you to turn your bike around as well. You followed him to just before the curve where a patch of bushes had been run flat and tire marks scorched a small portion of the road. You hadn't seen it at all coming from the other direction, and it would have been easy to miss entirely. You stopped your bike beside Sweet Pea's, dismounting and removing your helmet as he did the same. You started down into the foliage, flipping your hearing aids on in time to catch the last bit of Pea's sentence.

"..should really wait and call someone." He was saying. You rolled your eyes.

"It took us over two hours to get here, Pea. By the time the others get here it might be too late or there's nothing here, and we would've wasted everyone's time. We're gonna at least go check it out." You heard him sigh heavily behind you before following you off the road and into the shrubs. The undergrowth was flattened out, almost like a path, about twenty feet ahead. At the end, it split in two directions. The path to the left was narrower and more overgrown, and the right path was wide, flat, and seemed to go farther. Sweet Pea spoke first.

"I got right, you go left. If you don't find anything, meet back here in ten. Got it?" You made a small noise of agreement as you headed down your desegnated path.

'Of course Sweet Pea took the easy path,' you thought in slight annoyance.

Ten minutes of weaving around trees and almost falling over multiple times brought you back to the fork in the bushes as you waited for Sweet Pea. Not even a minute later he came up the path, his face set in a hard scowl.

"Hey, what happened, what did you fi-"

"Lets go," he cut you off, grabbing your arm and pulling you back toward the road.

"Sweet Pea! Stop! What did you find? Let go of me!" You struggled against his grip, but couldn't get out of it. He was a lot stronger than you, and he was dead set on getting you to the road. You twisted suddenly and managed to slip your arm through his hold. You turned and darted back down the path.

"Y/n!" You heard Sweet Pea chasing after you, encouraging you to run faster. The path suddenly dropped off to a shallow cliff with a ravine at the bottom.

You froze as you took in the scene below you. On the floor below you was your dads jacket, three bloody holes through the back. And that was your dad.

Sweet Pea caught up to you just as you hit your knees. He knelt down beside you and pulled you against him. You gripped his jacket as sobs racked your body. You were never close to your dad, but you'd just seen his body, literally dead in a ditch. You were in shock.

"Hey, sweetheart, this is why I didn't want you to see this." Pea soothed. "And I'm sorry you did. We should call the others, get back home." You shook your head, wiping the tears from your face and standing up.

"No. We need to find him." Sweet Pea gave you a sad look, which you ignored. "His body isn't here, he might be hiding, or maybe he tried walking back, or-"

"Y/n," Pea tried, but you ignored him. You had already started down the shallow cliff, and he knew you weren't gonna drop this. If your brother wasn't alive, then like hell you were gonna stop looking.

"I'm gonna call Toni and Fangs, okay? Hopefully they're gonna bring some people to come get your dad." You gave an absent 'okay' as you started searching for your brother, keeping well away from your dads body.

Once Sweet Pea was done calling your friends he joined you, albeit halfheartedly. He knew you were desperate to find him, but he also knew that you weren't going to. Whoever had killed your dad had either killed your brother too, or taken him. But he knew he wouldn't be able to get you to stop, so he joined you. Fangs and Toni were stuck in some meeting set up by the mayor in an attempt to fix the relationship between the Southside and the Northside, so they wouldn't be able to get there for a while. So for the next four hours, you and Sweet Pea looked for your brother. You had probably covered almost a miles worth of forest around your dads body, even hitting the train tracks at one point.

It was starting to get dark by the time reality hit you. Your brother was gone. Your dad was dead. You couldn't protect anyone anymore. You stared blankly at the tree in front of you before tears started rolling down your cheeks. Emotions bubbled up inside you. Anger, frustration, sadness, rage. You let out a scream as your fists hit the rough bark of the tree. You hit it over and over again. Scream, hit, breath, scream, hit, breath. You felt warm blood run down your fingers, felt the bones in your hands shift uncomfortably, but you didnt feel any real pain, so you continued. A pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around you, pulling you away from the now bloody tree, and holding you as you thrashed against him.

"Let me go!" You demanded, voice slightly warped by tears. "Sweet Pea I swear, let me go right now!"

"Shhh, it's okay. It's gonna be okay," Sweet Pea held you as you slowly lowered your arms, and he felt your body relax. Your angry breathing was replaced by soft crying.

"It's my fault, Pea. I let him go. It's my fault." He shook his head.

"No, it's not. Come on, let's go get you cleaned up. The others should be here soon."

He held onto you the entire way up to your bikes. Making you sit on yours, he rummaged through your saddlebag until he found a water bottle and some bandannas.

"Can I use these?" He held up the old cloth and you nodded. He gently grabbed your right hand and you hissed. You hadn't realized how badly you'd hurt yourself until now. He tried to be careful as he rinsed off your injuries and wrapped the makeshift bandages around your hands. He finished just as a group of motorcycles and a few cars came around the bend in the road, stopping near you. Sweet Pea went to talk to them, leaving you to sit on your bike.

You felt numb. Your little brother was gone, your dad was dead. That officially made you an orphan. You grimaced at the thought. You were almost seventeen, so at least you'd be able to take care of your brother. If you ever found him. You were snapped out of your train of negative thoughts by Sweet Pea gently placing his hand on your shoulder.

"Wanna go home?" You nodded quickly, reaching for your helmet but stopping as you realized you couldn't pick it up, much less put it on. Sweet Pea offered you a soft smile, picking up your helmet and securing it to your head. He nodded toward his bike, and you understood. Following him over to it, you sat down behind him and gingerly placed your hands around his torso as he started the bike. A few minutes later and you were headed back to the Southside of Riverdale.

______________

The ride home was quite. Sweet Pea stopped at the first gas station he found to fuel up and grab some food. He persuaded you to eat a small granola bar and drink some water, then got back on the road. It was dark by the time you got back to the trailer park. The first thing Sweet Pea did was get the emergency kit from under the sink and clean out your hands. With the light from the trailer, you could actually see how bad it was. The skin along your knuckles was split open, and the surrounding skin was mottled with blood. Once Sweet Pea had washed the blood away, you could see dark bruises beginning to form around the cuts. He held your wrists as he poured hydrogen peroxide over your hands, which made you hiss and try to pull away.

"Almost done." He murmured quietly. It only took him a few more minutes to wrap up your hands and help you get out of your dirty clothes. Once you were washed up and ready, Sweet Pea helped you to bed. He adjusted the heat in your trailer before he pulled the covers up around your shoulders. He started toward the door, but you called out to him.

"Sweets?"

"Yeah babydoll?" He turned back.

"I don't wanna be alone."

He smiled softly and you couldn't quite understand his expression. He gently shut the door to your room and walked toward the bed. He sat on the edge of it and took off his boots before standing and removing his jacket. He stripped down to his tee shirt and boxers, then crawled into bed next to you. Weapping his arm around your waist, he gently pulled you into him. You let out a small sigh as you began to drift off. Your last conscious thought was how good Sweet Pea smelled. You must have said that out loud, because you fell asleep to the sound of him chuckling.

____________

Sweet Pea helped you get ready the next morning. Shower, brushing your hair, getting dressed. You felt completely overwhelmed not knowing what to do or how to find your brother, and you voiced your concerns to Sweet Pea during breakfast.

"Well, what can you do?" He asked, pouring milk into your bowl of cereal.

"Tell Jughead I'm a Serpent," you responded immediately. "I feel so bad that I haven't told him. He's my best friend, and he still has no idea. If I can't help find my brother, telling Jug about that is something I can do."

Sweet Pea nodded, finishing his cereal and taking his bowl to the sink.

"I'll take you if you wanna go see him. But we've also gotta go by the Wyrm later. They wanna know if you've got any idea who killed your dad." You laughed humorlessly.

"Of course I do. You do too; everyone does. The question is, are they gonna do something about it." Sweet Pea nodded, drying his dishes then coming back for yours.

"Whenever you're ready to go."

______

You texted Jughead, and he said he could meet at Pops at noon. At eleven forty five, Sweets drove you across the tracks to the diner.

You dismounted the bike, turning to Sweet Pea for help with your helmet. He unfastened it and secured it to his bike before laughing at your messed up hair.

"Just fix it please," you rolled your eyes but your tone betrayed your humor. He ran his hands through your hair, smoothing it out.

"Good luck." He said seriously. "I'm gonna be at the Wyrm. Just call me when you're done and I'll come get you, okay?" You nodded.

"Okay."

He leaned up and pressed a kiss to your cheek, making you blush slightly. He grinned.

"See you later, babydoll."

You shook your head as he started his bike and drove off. Turning toward the front door of Pops, you took a deep breath. You gently shoved your hands into the pockets of your oversized jacket and stepped inside.

____

Tag List:

@chipster-21 @wishingforahome

[somar78]

The New Kevin Dunworth Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker

This is probably the most interesting street tracker we’ve ever featured. If you’re skeptical take a closer look at that front and rear suspension. The bike started out humbly with a 1200cc V-twin literally stolen from his wife’s Sportster and am old frame gifted to Kevin from a close friend.

Thankfully his wife now has a new engine, and she’s talking to Kevin again after some much deserved silent treatment.

The Harley-Davidson Sportster is a motorcycle that was always destined to be turned into a street tracker, the fact that the company haven’t released a half-decent factory street tracker of their own is a bewildering oversight that’s doubtless cost them significant potential sales.

After saying that I’m guaranteed to get angry emails from XR1200 owners, but in my opinion after riding a couple of them – they’re good bikes in their own way but they’re not really street trackers. I’ve always felt that street trackers should be lightweight, raucous, chuckable, and borderline illegal. Kind of like a road-registered XR750 with blinkers.

Kevin Dunworth

Kevin has become a significant figure in both the American and global custom motorcycle scenes. From an engineering perspective he’s created some of the most fascinating builds in recent memory, including an aerospace alloy plate-framed custom Triumph.

Kevin’s builds have appeared in many of the world’s foremost motorcycle magazines and websites – including Silodrome. He’s made multiple appearances on television with Esquire Network’s “Wrench Against the Machine” and Discovery Channel’s “Naked Speed”.

Kevin was formerly the founder of Loaded Gun Customs, but he decided to shutdown LGC and shift his attention to his own new enterprise – Dunworth_

Dunworth Custom Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker

Instead of writing the story of this build out myself I’m now going to turn it over to Kevin to explain it in his own words:

I’m Kevin Dunworth. I live and breathe motorcycles and cars, though I’m mainly known for motorcycles. This was a bike I wanted to build to prove the Sportster platform was just plain fun. I had a rather dramatic injury recently and I’ve been going through some rehab as well as multiple surgeries. I had to close my previous business and was floundering a bit mentally with many things.

I had a candid conversation about going to The Handbuilt Show 2018 yet had not been able to really do anything since the previous November due to my accident. A friend and brother-from-another-mother “Lubo” from the Slovak Republic basically called and said in his uniquely accented english “stop feeling sorry for yourself, I be over in couple weeks we working” I knew he wasn’t kidding. We’d worked together multiple times over the years on contracts together and he was a machine – a few years ago I literally shut the power off to the building pretending it was a power outage, after about 50 hours of non-stop working to get him to sleep.

I was figured it was time to build this bike.

I spoke with a friend a S&S Engines next and mentioned my idea and the goal to debut at the Handbuilt Show 2018. He hooked me up with a guy named Kevin Boarts, Kevin is an engine genius at S&S, we immediately hit it off – he knew what I was looking for in a high revving, high compression, high horsepower, and barely streetable engine.

I then had to break the news to KC, my helper in the shop, that his days of hanging out with his feet up “watching the shop” would be coming to an abrupt end. KC has worked with both Lubo and I on and off for 12 years, and the anxiety of me and Lubo alone with a deadline showed immediately in his eyes. He’s like a surgeon’s assistant and utterly invaluable during crunch times, he literally runs for tools and keeps the tourists that frequently visit the shop from thinking we are unsociable jerks by being kind to them and showing them around.

The goal with this build was to create a Hot Rod motorcycle. Something that could go to a track day, do a back road run, go drag racing for fun, and sit at a bike night and wow people who know what they are looking at (many “biker” types just see a Sportster as a “girls bike”) I love Singer Porche.

I love Richard Pollock from Mule Motorcycles builds. I knew from a late 90’s Cycle World cover of a bike Richard built with a balsa wood tail section that had the profile I wanted. I wanted brakes and wheels to attract a performance guy or racer. Sadly the bike never made the Handbuilt Show – but it went on to be part of the Bell Power Sports Eliminator Helmet campaign with a catalog shoot, and it debuted at The Galveston Bike Week Show with an invite from Cycle Source magazine to compete in the In Motion Show.

The Build Process

I had a Kawasaki ZX7R front end and resprung it using Race Tech parts, I took the stock lower triple and removed the neck tube. Using 1” cro-moly tubing I machined a simple adapter and pressed it back in. I had a top triple clamp that would allow 11/8” Renthal bars to be installed. This allowed me to cut the stem to length and use stock Harley tapered bearings from All Balls. Using the offset of the triple trees and OD of wheels I did the math for proper trail. I came up with compromise of 24.5 degree head tube angle to get me about 102mm of trail. I then basically tilt the frame forward to achieve this.

I then (directly behind engine mounts) cut the back half of the frame off. I removed the tubing at the top tube and painstakingly welded and sanded so that it would look like a perfect single tube. We then took a piece of mild steel tubing and tapped both ends 3/8th-16 at 2” long. Drilling through the top tube a couple inches behind the rear tank mount I inserted and welded this mount for the rear sub frame.

From bar stock I machined some inserts for the lower tubes and welded some pre made tabs I received from TC Brothers. The Saddlemen Fiberglass tail came with a metal seat hoop. I removed their end caps and machined inserts to except heim joints at the front. We reinforced the back and made it straight and welded prefabbed 3/8th tabs to the back. Then using a tube bender we took ¾” tubing and bent slight angle to follow what would have been factory angles to finish struts. These use prefabbed tube ends 5/16” and solid connectors.

To the oil tank mounted in the front which is an idea I first saw done by MobTown Cycles out of Dundalk, MD. Tim Snead taught me a bunch of little tricks and this is one I have used a bunch, my version is to use pre-bent exhaust tubing. A U-bend. I cut the pipe in half laterally and make 2 sheets to fit using the outside of the pipe.

This gives me a rounded 1 ¾” thick tank once welded in. Using weld in -6AN male fittings allows me to use AN fittings for my oil lines. A race car coolant cap weld-in kit is used for the oil filler off to the right side. Using two bungs welded and braced I drill out the stock frame existing tabs and mount it in front of the front down tubes.

It also houses a battery box in the bottom for a lithium-ion battery, this particular version allows for 2.5 quarts of oil in the system, and being steel and mounted to the front I think helps in cooling.

We made a drop pan between the seat frame rails for a motogadget m-unit. I also made a rear tail light set-up using two of the Kim Boyle (from Boyle Custom) moto rear tail lights. With motogadget I run these as run, brake and blinkers. I made a cro-moly rear swing arm using 65 wall square tubing, and ran a tube frame Buell underslung reverse-pull shock absorber.

It was tricky getting shock right and after a lot of math the team at Race Tech re-sprung it, extended the remote reservoir, and re-valved a works shock I had laying around. I used pre-bent header tubes from Cone Engineering. Then I stepped up the diameter at determined length (Rich at Cone is another genius) and used a 2-into-1 collector to 2.5”. We then used a Big Mouth Muffler 2.5” inlet from Cone, all stainless of course.

If you’d like to see more of Kevin’s work or contact him about building you a custom, you can click here to visit his official Instagram.

The post The New Kevin Dunworth Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker appeared first on Silodrome.

source https://silodrome.com/harley-davidson-sportster-street-tracker-motorcycle/

[catwlw-archive]

I was tagged by the wonderful @chapstick-in-my-pocket

Rules: answer 80ish questions and tag 20 people (lol we’ll see)

Last:

Drink: diet coke

Phone Call: um. the last phone call i’ve had? personally? according to my phone it was with my aunt on the eighth

Text Message: to my friend, we’re discussing a url and I just sent “That’s very true” and “It’s really cute” in separate messages but whatever

Time You Cried: really, really cried last night, watching the season finale of a show and watching certain characters face near death experiences and then being cliff-hangered until this fall :’) but i teared up earlier watching a youtube video

Kissed Someone and Regretted It: i don’t really regret kissing anyone. i mean. i only have one ex at the moment, and. if you asked me a few months ago, i would’ve been hellbent on how much i regretted that entire relationship, but i’m at some sort of peace with it now.

Been Cheated On: nah.

Lost Someone Special: um, i guess i’ve lost friends in the last few years? my ex broke up with me almost a year ago? my great-aunt passed away a year and some ago.

Been Depressed: a few years ago.

Gotten Drunk and Thrown Up: never, i’m underage and ain’t about that life tbh

Favourite Colours:

1. green

2. grey

3. black

In the Last Year Have You…:

Made New Friends: yes

Fallen Out of Love: yes

Laughed Until You Cried: of course

Found Out Someone Was Talking Behind Your Back: no? i don’t think so.

Met Someone Who Changed Your life: yeah

Found Out Who Your True Friends Are: yep

General Things and Stuff:

How Many Facebook Friends Do You Have: n/a, i don’t have a fb

Pets: 2

Ever Wanted to Change Your Name: nah, it’s pretty

What Did You Do For Your Last Birthday: um. nothing fancy. went to school as normal. got a few gifts and some money. had cake. that was it, really.

Time You Woke Up Today: 7AM

What Were You Doing at Midnight Last Night: sleeping for once

What You Can’t Wait For: next week so i can finish exams and be done with high school (and then i can’t wait for the beginning of june to get everything officially completed in my college prep, and then july for orientation and my student starter kit, and then august first for my start date!!)

What Are You Listening to: currently the typing of my keys, whirring of my laptop, and ticking of three clocks in the room i’m in. music wise, i’m about to be playing my music on shuffle.

Ever Talked to a Person Named Tom: yeah

Something That Gets on Your Nerves: people watching you/knowing you’re about to do something and “”””joking”””” that you should be doing it

Most Visited Site: i’m not counting tumblr/gmail/youtube because i usually rely on the apps, but website wise would be my hs login page/my courses

Hair Colour: dirty/dishwater blonde that’s gotten darker (but isn’t quite light brown)

Long or Short Hair: it’s short right now

Crush: yes, i think. i’ve mentioned her a few times

What Do You Like About Yourself: my sincerity

Any Piercings: single piercings in my ears

Blood Type: tbh, no clue

Nicknames: i mean sadie’s technically a nickname but i claimed it myself and literally no one calls me it

Relationship Status: single

Sign: virgo (i’m on the borderline of virgo and libra)

Pronouns: she/her

Favourite Show on the Telly: i’ve suddenly realized this is british. uhhh, i really, really enjoy this is us

Tattoos: no. i was promised when i was like six or seven that my sixteenth birthday gift would be one, but we got poor lol. haven’t gotten it yet bc we’re still poor.

Left or Right Handed: right

Have You Ever Had Surgery: if you count removing tonsils, then yes

Do You Want Piercings: mm a second set of holes in my ears would be nice, or up on the cartilage edge (idk the names of piercings sorry)

Sports: lol no

Favourite Holiday: umm, don’t really have one. christmas and thanksgiving are nice because of the food, though,,

Trainers: british speak for trainers is like sneakers/tennis shoes, so uh?? yes i love sneakers and i wear regular tennis shoes sometimes??

Favourtie Dish: one of my favorite meals is pasta chicken salad so that

Favourite Drink: besides water (bc gotta stay hydrated even tho i suck at it), diet coke

About to Watch: a youtube video

What I’m Waiting For: a reply to an email i sent to a teacher

What I Want: besides sleep, to be happy and content

Do You Want to Get Married: possibly, idk

Career: i’m going to be going to school to be a teacher so!!

Which is Better:

Hugs or Kisses: hmm, i think i was asked this a lil while ago and i think i answered with both

Lips or Eyes: eyes

Shorter or Taller: personally taller but i wouldn’t mind shorter idk

Older or Younger: um i think older bc i’ve always been the younger but i wouldn’t mind either way as long as it’s not a big gap?

Arms or Stomach: arms

Troublemaker or Hesitant: i guess troublemaker because i’m generally hesitant and gotta have some variation yknow?

Have You Ever: no jk

Kissed a Stranger: nah

Drank Hard Liquor: nope

Turned Someone Down: yes?

Sex on a First Date: no

Broken Someone’s Heart: yeah

Had Your Heart Broken: yep

Experienced Love at First Sight: ehh, attraction, not love

Believed in Santa Clause: yes

Believe in Angels: yes

Miscellaneous:

Eye Colour: blue

Best Friend’s Name: gabby

Favourite Movie: the first movie that came to my mind was tangled because i remembered reblogging a post and tagging it with something like “if i ever don’t call tangled one of my favorite if not my favorite disney movie then something is wrong”

Favourite Actor/Actress: i don’t? really have one? i don’t think?

Favourite Cartoon: the last time i watched a cartoon was years ago and it was multiple and it was basically cartoon network every so often playing the amazing world of gumball, regular show, we bare bears and adventure time and i enjoyed all of them?? but i don’t think anything can really beat the classics tom and jerry and looney toons

Favourite Teacher’s Name: in the last four years (my hs), i’ve had really three favorite teachers - a spieker, vermaire, and a grondin. they have all been and will continue to be lovely teachers - and i also had a college instructor for a class earlier this year, and her name is elyse, and she was the absolute best. i miss her.

also tagging anyone who wants to do this lol!!

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

Guess Who’s Back?

First of all: I haven’t seen the new Gotham yet. Please no spoilers. I will cut off a finger if y’all can hook me up with a file, please and thank you.

So, with that business out of the way, now for my review of the Colorado Morris Ale:

FUCK MOUNTAINS. NO BUT FUCK MOUNTAINS. FUCK ‘EM. WHO DID THAT. WHO INVENTED THAT SHIT. NO. REJECTED. ABSOLUTELY NOT. NEVER AGAIN. FUCK. MOUNTAINS.

I now COMPLETELY understands why Cecil Palmer is always “Mountains? Noooo. I mean, who has ever actually SEEN a mountain?” because, I kid you not, driving over the border from Kansas into Colorado there was a fuckton of clouds real close to the horizon in a lovely iron slate color (they later rained and THEN sleeted on us for TWO DAYS fuck you very much) and I genuinely could not tell cloud from mountain for the LONGEST goddamn time. Like... we were almost all the way under the Rockies before I was convinced mountains were real and not some fictional cryptid made up to scare children. Mountains are not actually real, friends. They are not. No. None of that. Not real. Fake.

Also: so many cryptids in Colorado. It’s official.

Fun fact: there is legitimately a town named Kanorado on the border between Kansas and Colorado. Fun fact. America is that trash.

So, as fun as the drive out was, did I mention being sleeted on for 5 miles?, it was NOTHING compared to the drive back. Ho.ly.shit. I cannot even... what a GLORIOUS day we had. Oh my jesus lord. But I will get to that later. I just... I do not, at present, fully have the capacity to communicate the majesty of what the fuck happened this morning. SO MUCH. SO MUCH HAPPENED.

Anyway, after 14 hours of driving, we finally get to Deckers, CO, which is the tiny dwarf cousin of Colorado Springs, and we think ‘hey, we’re here!’ BUT NO. OHHHH NO FRIENDS. We get to drive an ENTIRE FUCKING HOUR. A FULL HOUR. WINDING OUR WAY UP AND DOWN UNPAVED ROADS UP A FUCKING MOUNTAIN SIDE. A FULL. GODDAMN. HOUR. IN THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC SHEER CLIFFS OF THE ROCKIES, ON A SHOULDER-LESS ROAD BORDERING THE PLATTE RIVER, OVER GRAVEL, DOWN 15 DEGREE GRADES, TO GET TO THIS MOTHERFUCKING CAMP SITE. Holy goddamn christ kill me. Fuck me. Fuck this. And FUCK MOUNTAINS.

To the everlasting credit of the ale board, the location was fucking beautiful and extremely accommodating despite the remote-ass location. Like, I do want to say here I had a good time, the camp was VERY beautiful, warm, with easily accessible electrical outlets and facilities. I’m just complaining because HOLY HOT DAMN WHAT IS THIS SHIT. MOUNTAINS. THEY ARE NOT REAL. FUCK THAT SHIT.

I will say... mountain air is some of the nicest smelling air you’ll ever get. It’s clean and sweet and you feel cleansed just being there. You know, aside from crippling vertigo or elevation sickness which MANY in our party suffered at one point or another. Including me.

My Friday night was miserable, I acclimatized badly and I did not do anything I should have to help myself. But, my weekend wore on SIGNIFICANTLY better and I would rather start rough and end well than vice versa. And I got out of this ale pretty much everything I wanted to experience, so I feel pretty great, honestly c: But I did have a nasty mental breakdown Friday night, accompanied with vomiting into Saturday morning and a general queasiness that never really left me until I was out of those goddamn mountains. FUCK THAT. FUCK THAT MOUNTAINS. NO ONE NEEDS THAT SHIT.

So, I didn’t get any dancing in Friday night. But Saturday morning, feeling marginally better and less overwhelmed, I did participate in my first mass dance and attempted some basic Cotswold hankie waving, so... there was that ^^; And we WERE dancing outside for that on a lovely flat pitch by the campsite, but unfortunately, the weather decided to thunder. And rain. And sleet. So we all had to move back inside and do our show dances in the dining hall because Colorado weather is TERRIBLE. But, I go through the show dance, which is what I wanted, I kept up with my stepping, and it went really well ^^; Up until the part where I threw up again... up until that ^^; But! The show dance was lovely and I was pleased to do my team proud c:

Then... The Tours. Okay, so, after showing off to each other, every single Morris team, in full kit, loaded onto 3 school buses to take us BACK down the mountain to perform Morris in local venues. Because... you know, we like to share. And the actual touring was great, we got to do mixed sets of different teams sometimes and amuse locals and sometimes they even fed us, but OH MAN. Fully grown adults on elementary school buses taken down the SAME unpaved, narrow, mountain pass we had to take to get UP HERE. OHHHH THE JOY. THE RAPTURE. THE ABDOMINAL DISCONTENT. twice a day we loaded into those buses to be hauled up and down the fucking mountain. Twice a day the vertigo, the ear-popping, the claustrophobia, the nausea. Basically... FUCK. MOUNTAINS.

But, by the end of Saturday I could eat again and keep it down, which was a win, we had sung songs in a local bar, which was a win, I had started to make friends with a BRAND NEW Border Morris team called Caprock from Texas, which was a bonus win! And I got to sit on my girlfriend’s lap, which was just nice X3 The ale, while fun, was a real stressful time, so snuggles was good whenever I could get them.

I actually SLEPT Saturday night and woke up refreshed Sunday after dealing with a searing migraine Saturday, on top of some violent nausea, and two days without sleeping more than 6 hours put together. So, Saturday was a FANTASTIC reboot to the system to put all my pieces back together to actually FUNCTION Sunday.

Sunday began with workshops, which is simply a set of stations where some teams set up to teach dances or figures or methods and such to each other. We weren’t sure I’d be healthy enough to be of any help today, after a rough two days, but I was feeling great and quite unexpectedly got the opportunity to teach Peacock’s Feather to some VERY fast learners may I just say ^^;

Peacock’s Feather is unusual because it is a 3-hand dance so it is not quite symmetrical. And this was the dance I was trusted to teach, even as a new person with only 9 months experience under my belt, 8 if you consider I was injured with a fracture for awhile ^^; But, here we were, so I did it. I taught a whole dance by myself (with some excellent oversight from a teammate and aid from our musicians). And I really don’t want to take much credit for it, both of the people I was teaching were much more experienced dancers than I and were very enthusiastic to learn any kind of Border dance. But it just... really boosted my confidence to do that, to be trusted to do that and to see success. I totally wasn’t expecting to be able to teach all of it, I thought maybe I’d manage a few figures, but we got through the whole thing and I was just so proud ^^; It was a very good start to the day for me.

As we closed our workshop, just outside, our new Border friends, Caprock, were teaching the Impossible Dance. That is a 6-hand dance, so called because it has CRAZY complicated crossing AND stick throwing. You know. Just for added risk : | It’s fucking beautiful to watch though, lemme tell ya. Welp, I didn’t actually get to start learning that dance, but I did get to help Caprock out ^^; They had no musician with them for the workshop and needed a way to keep time because they initially started too fast, NOT a thing you want to do in this dance, so I offered to keep time for them by banging a stick on the ground ^^; Literally, genuinely, this is what I did, someone handed me a long stick so I wouldn’t have to bend over and I just tapped the butt of it on the ground at a steady pace while they practiced ^^; I honestly had a great time being useful and watching the practice, even though I couldn’t contribute much. I was really happy to make friends with them, I really admire their dance style.

After that, TOURS. More of the nightmare bus ride yay! But! We danced in the shadow of Pike’s Peak and ended our ale officially having danced at 8600 ft. So. There’s a thing. How we were any of us standing and breathing at the end of this is a fucking miracle to me.

So then, early this morning, we began the drive home ^^; and... holy goddamn motherfucking christ... I don’t think I have words to do it justice. Mainly because a lot of the shit that made it SO GOOD was dependent upon the pre-existing social dynamics of our team and the built-up stress of the ale and VERY little sleep in stupid cold weather in a high altitude. But... all of THAT bullshit aside, everyone in our car MULTIPLE TIMES voiced that they would prefer death to this as we cautiously rolled our way down the unpaved paths either by leaping off the edge of the road into the river, aiming the car into one of the several friendly, helpful boulders in the way of the “road”, or just slamming the car into the rock face of the cliffs as SEVERAL of the confusing signs suggested we do. Other sights of merit: a “BUMP” sign next to the WORLD’S TINIEST ASPHALT DIVOT after driving 45 minutes on FUCKING GRAVEL, a LOCAL man having to pull off to the side of the road next to us, white-knuckled, biting his lip, clearly having a panic attack, “Hidden Driveways” ???, parking signs next to LITERALLY no parking (we determined parking was in the actual river), and the ever popular “no, THIS is the way out, BACK up the mountain!” : ||||

Bonus: I have thus far failed to mention THERE IS NO FUCKING CELL SERVICE IN THE FUCKING MOUNTAINS. NONE. NONE AT ALL. NONE WHATSOFUCKINGEVER. NOT A FUCKING BAR THE SECOND YOU START DOWN THAT GODDAMN PATH UNTIL YOU’RE BACK OUT ON THE HIGHWAY. So, communicating with each other this weekend was a REAL TREAT as none of us had ANY POSSIBLE MEANS of communicating with ANYONE not in shouting distance. IT WAS GREEEEEEEEEEEEEAT. SO GREAT. So, coming down the mountain, DESPERATELY trying to escape and crawl back to St. Louis, none of us can use our phones for ANY navigational assistance, right? WRONG. ONE of our teammates MAGICALLY FOUND A MAP ON HER PHONE. WITH NO SIGNAL. HOW??? NO ONE KNOOOOWS. Because SURE AS SHIT none of the REST of us could find a fucking signal, much less obtain a map! And here’s the kicker: as soon as we had cell service again, her phone stopped working. I shit you not, her phone went TOTALLY SCREWY and we drove around in the SAME FUCKING INTERSECTION for like 10 goddamn minutes with a grand total of a 5 U-turns I think JUST there. And OH. THERE WERE MORE U-TURNS. SO MANY U-TURNS. OODLES OF U-TURNS. U-TURNS FOR DAYS. U-TURNS ON THE MOUNTAIN EVEN. YOU EVER TRY TO U-TURN ON A MOUNTAIN? MY GIRLFRIEND DID, IT WAS NINE CIRCLES OF BALLS. I WORSHIP HER WITH UNDYING DEVOTION.

It was. A fucking. Time.

In summary: Fuck Mountains.

[componentplanet]

The Misinformation About Coronavirus Coming From the White House Must Cease

Public Domain: NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), U.S. NIH

On Friday, President Trump declared an emergency over the outbreak of Covid-19 sweeping across the United States and the world. One of the major points of his speech was to emphasize that the United States government is working with major corporations to quickly deploy testing capabilities across the United States. To that end, Trump said:

Google is going to develop a website — it’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past — to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location,” Trump said. “We have many, many locations behind us, by the way. We cover this country and large parts of the world, by the way. We’re not gonna be talking about the world right now, but we cover very, very strongly our country. Stores in virtually every location. Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They have made tremendous progress.

Trump’s comments were backed up by Dr. Deborah Birx, described by Ars Technica as “a key official in the administration’s Coronavirus Response Coordinator.” According to Birx, “We wanted to also announce this new approach to testing,” she said, “which will start in this screening website facilitated by Google.” The only problem was, as of Friday, basically none of this was true. Google released a statement saying as much at the time, shown below:

Statement from Verily: "We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing. Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time.

— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 13, 2020

The app portal that President Trump told Americans would be “very quickly done,” is only in the early stage of development. It’s only intended to be tested in the Bay Area. The Google engineers assisting with the project are doing so voluntarily and no Google or Alphabet employees actually spoke at the unveiling.

Later, on Sunday, Google and Verily did make additional announcements — but they aren’t exactly shipping the programs that the White House said they would be. Verily has issued a press release confirming its limited Bay Area testing setup, while Google is working with the government to provide a clearing-house information site, but not the app portal that was described on Friday.

Having been caught with his pants down on the topic, the President is trying to claim that the news media lied. This is bullshit. The press — including this story, as written in its original form, properly and accurately informed citizens that Google isn’t building a nationwide portal to evaluate whether or not you have coronavirus and that Verily’s project was only in the testing stages. Ars Technica’s own writeup, linked above, confirms these points. The President denies them. This is so normal as to barely be worth mentioning, except for the fact that we are in the middle of a true international pandemic, and POTUS can’t resist a little branded messaging.

The Fake and Corrupt News never called Google. They said this was not true. Even in times such as these, they are not truthful. Watch for their apology, it won’t happen. More importantly, thank you to Google! https://t.co/AuvpbXNouW

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2020

The reason the press will not be apologizing is that the press was not wrong to inform Americans that, as of Friday, Google had no such program and Verily was launching a trial in the Bay Area. The only thing that has changed on Monday is that Google is launching some new information portals.

Accurate Information in an Emergency Is Essential

I am not here today to re-litigate every statement President Trump has made or the appropriateness of any given comment. I am speaking solely to the pandemic we face today.

When security issues arise — and a global pandemic is a security issue — corporations and governments have an ironclad responsibility to communicate in a neutral, calm, and truthful manner. If this were the first time the Trump Administration had misinformed the American people during the coronavirus crisis, we could chalk it up to chaos and miscommunication. But it isn’t.

At multiple points, the President has claimed we would have a vaccine in a matter of months when the effort is expected to take at least a year. He has claimed that testing is readily available to anyone who wants it. According to The Atlantic, they’ve only been able to confirm about 14,500 Americans had been tested as of Friday. For comparison, South Korea has been capable of testing up to 20,000 people per day.

Trump has told the American people that insurers would pay for testing and treatment for coronavirus when insurers have actually stated they would only pay for testing. Given the size of medical bills in the United States, that’s no small difference. He has told the nation that SARS-CoV-2 cannot live in warm weather and will die off as summer approaches. That could be true, but the WHO disagrees:

From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather.

He has repeatedly declared that the coronavirus is “under control” in the United States, while test kit orders go unfilled and likely-infected people are refused testing and sent home to self-quarantine instead.

The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2020

Epidemiologists have begun emphasizing the need to “flatten the curve” of infection because, with only 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people and 65,000 full ventilators across the entire nation, we literally can’t triage the impact of a massive infection wave quickly enough to save everyone.

Slowing down the spread is critical to minimizing the damage. Image by Wikipedia

For three and a half years, liberals and conservatives across America have battled over the meaning of Trump’s language and how his statements should be interpreted. There is, however, no room for ambiguity here. Testing is either happening or it is not. Google is either building a massive testing portal with 1700 engineers or Verily is in the early stages of a test program in a single city with no plans for near-term national deployment. These are not the same thing. They are never going to be the same thing.

It is one thing to make allowances for a person’s style of communication. It is another thing altogether to excuse the dispensation of inaccurate information simply because it comes out of the mouth of the most powerful leader on Earth.

This Is Absolutely Political, Just Not the Way You Think

Having written the above, I realize a certain type of Trump supporter will likely Have Some Things To Say About Me. Allow me to preempt them: Yes, I’m talking about politics — specifically, the question of what the state owes to its citizens.

One of those obligations — one of the most fundamental and important reasons for individuals to form a government in the first place — is for mutual defense and protection. Part of providing mutual defense and protection, in the context of disease or imminent disaster, is to ensure that accurate information can be gathered, processed, and quickly distributed to the citizenry. From weather reports and hurricane forecasting to quarterly job reports, the government produces an enormous amount of data and critical decisions get made on the basis of those reports.

Does the government release reports that favor its own interpretation of the data? Of course they do. Do governments sometimes lie to their own citizens? Of course they do. Does that excuse the unclear, half-baked, and downright false verbiage that has come spewing from the White House regarding Covid-19 to-date? It does not. At a time when the need for accurate, unified communication is the largest, the Trump White House has dropped the ball — followed by Trump completely disclaiming all responsibility for the problem of limited test kit production.

Harry Truman: “The buck stops here.” Donald Trump: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”

There is no justification for the misinformation barrage that has characterized the White House’s response to the coronavirus to date, but there is a way for the Administration to recover, and even some tentative reasons to hope it will improve its disaster response. It’s called “Start dealing with the problem in an honest way.”

The announcement of a national emergency on Friday and the declaration that an additional $50B in funds would be used for disaster relief are both good steps. The next step should be to pass specific legislation mandating various types of relief for those most affected by the coronavirus. Paid leave for all and mortgage relief would be two excellent steps. Late on Friday, Trump reached an agreement with House Democrats on a disaster relief bill. Fox News even had the minimal good grace to put Trish Reagan, who declared coronavirus was a scam by Democrats to harm President Trump’s re-election, on indefinite hiatus from the network.

But no matter what happens, and no matter how terrible or mild the Covid-19 outbreak in the United States is, it is essential that the White House speak with one voice. The data it dispenses must be accurate and truthful to the greatest standard humans can reasonably achieve. This is no time for spin, regardless of who is doing the spinning. We, the citizens of the United States, deserve to be able to trust the words coming out of our elected leaders’ mouths, regardless of who they are or what party they belong to, and we need to be able to trust them now more than ever.

Could Covid-19 still turn out to have a relatively mild effect on the United States? Absolutely. But the best — and according to epidemiologists the only — way to make that happen is to treat the reality of the pandemic seriously. Wash your hands. Practice social distancing. Don’t panic. Coronavirus is not the Black Death 2.0. It doesn’t have to be, in order to cause tremendous damage.

The combined economic impact of all of the canceled conferences across the world is already well into the billions, in terms of expected economic activity that now will not occur. Airlines are calling this even worse than 9/11, in terms of reduced flight bookings. The question isn’t whether we’re going to see significant economic damage, but how much and for how long.

Every single American deserves accurate, factual, and trustworthy data from the government (even if we don’t always get it), but we especially deserve it during a time of uncertainty and crisis. Thus far, the White House has botched the job. Now that we have a formal declaration of a national emergency under the Stafford Act, hopefully, we will see a more coordinated response and an increased focus on dispensing accurate information.

I reject, completely and disdainfully, the idea that demanding accurate, factual, and honest data from my government represents some kind of liberal plot or sneak attack on Donald Trump. I don’t care if we’re talking about Barack Obama, Zombie Reagan, or an unusually ambitious philodendron. I expect government messaging on the pandemic to focus on saving as many human lives as possible and to communicate both failures and successes whether they paint the President and his party in a positive light. I expect the President to put the value of American lives above his own tendency towards self-aggrandizement and to speak honestly about the condition of the country, the impact of coronavirus, the specific steps the government is taking to address it, and the realistic likelihood that any treatments will emerge in the short term.

I don’t call that being liberal. I call it demanding accountability. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican,  Independent, Green, anarchist, or.. .whatever Marianne Williamson is, you deserve accurate information. You deserve it even if you disagree with everything I just wrote. You deserve it if you plan to vote for Trump in November. This isn’t about partisan politics. You — we — deserve accurate messaging and factual data and we haven’t been getting it. I hope Friday was the beginning of a major shift in what has, to date, been an absolutely appalling trend.

On Sunday, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, told Americans they should expect to “hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing.” There were also reports that the United States was trying to buy access to a German company’s in-development Covid-19 vaccine, with the requirement that the medicine is deployed solely in the United States. As a reminder, an effective Covid-19 vaccine is still expected to be 12-18 months away, best-case, and our allies would take an exceptionally dim view to any attempt America might make to hold back such a vaccine to its own advantage.

Now Read:

How to Help the Fight Against Coronavirus From the Safety of Your Own Home

The Fastest Supercomputer on Earth Is Being Deployed Against Coronavirus

World Health Organization Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/internet/307605-trump-said-google-was-building-a-national-coronavirus-portal-it-isnt from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-misinformation-about-coronavirus.html

[girl-in-the-library]

Elementary School Memories

I was thinking a lot last night about things I remembered from my childhood. I think it came from a fanart of Crowley as Nanny Ashtoreth questioning when Warlock’s permanent memories would begin to form. So I began to wonder...what memories do I have of things from when I was a child? So I decided to write some down here...in as close to chronological order as I can.

I’m just going to do memories until I was 10 - the end of 5th grade - because I started writing this and it got super fucking long so I figured middle and high school memories could come another time, if I decide to do that.

Under a cut for length

I went trick or treating with my sister and my dad. She was dressed as a Dalmatian from 101 Dalmatians but she lost her mask at some point during the night. I was dressed as Pocahontas because that was my favorite Disney movie

I was swinging on the monkey swing when an enormous moose ran through the back yard. I ran inside the house, terrified (it was probably not a moose. It was probably just a large, male deer and I was tiny)

We won a giant monkey at my town’s 4th of July carnival, but it was one of those ones that was filled with newspaper/packing peanuts as filling (you know, a typical carnival prize) and so my mom made us keep it on the enclosed porch so when it eventually got moldy we could just throw it out instead of having it drip in the house

Singing “Who knows one?” in the stairwell of preschool (I can only think of up to seven nowadays...)

“gym class” in preschool included a game where we all were in a very large circle and we had to walk around it and then sit on cushions and it seems kinda like musical chairs in hindsight, except we all always got chairs

blowing kisses at the boy I had a crush on in kindergarten until he got uncomfortable and told the teacher (who I also had a crush on) and I got in trouble, but like, little kid trouble

I went to this kid’s house for a birthday party that was pirate themed, and I was one of only two girls there. We made treasure boxes out of little wooden boxes that we decorated with markers and glitter and plastic gems

Climbing to the top of the playground with my kindergarten teacher (he was also my first grade teacher) and the rest of my class during recess as he sang “I am the pirate king!” from Pirates of Penzance and we would all reply with “Hurrah for the Pirate King!” 

Going to see said teacher act in a local performance of The Secret Garden. He was an actor, I remember him being very good, but I don’t know if he acts anymore (I think he’s a third grade teacher now)

His name was Mr. Congdon (though I don’t remember if that’s how it was spelled)

The day I moved into a new house I was so upset I went to first grade crying and wanted to talk to my teacher about it, but we had a substitute that day (my dad remembers this exactly the opposite - that I was all smiles and excited, and my teacher wasn’t absent, and I was babbling on and on about my new room, etc)

The Kelly-Lexi war at recess. Kelly and Lexi were enemies, and everyone on the playground was either on Kelly’s side or Lexi’s side. I was on Lexi’s side, my future best friend Krislyn was on Kelly’s side. We made battle strategies and drew them in the dirt and pretended to fight each other.

“planting” an apple seed in a rock and trying to water it with ice chips

My first two pokemon cards were a Ponyta and a fire energy.

The pack of pokemon cards from Toys R Us that I got a shiny Ninetails in and being so fucking excited

Trading a Mewtwo card for a Gyarados card

Trading a Dugtrio card for an Articuno card

Pokemon cards getting banned from school

getting glasses in second grade

my second grade teacher being absent for a while, and then dying (the first time I ever saw a therapist was after she died). Her name was Ms. Klein

Digimon cards. I don’t think I ever did anything but collect them, and I only had a small amount, but I loved my Digimon cards.

Crazy Bones. Little plastic collectible nothings that you would play with by flicking them at each other. (These things)

playing and trading Crazy Bones with the neighbor kid across the street, Drew, in my backyard

The game shop where I spent my allowance on crazy bones, pokemon and digimon cards going out of business

Being afraid to sleep in my own room, so I slept on my sister’s floor for months. My parents actually made a chart, that if I slept in my own room for a week, I would get a pack of pokemon/digimon cards or crazy bones.

the 50 states quiz - where we got one M&M for each state we could name, and if we got all 50 we got an extra 50 M&Ms (or skittles, if you didn’t like chocolate). I hadn’t memorized the 50 states song yet, so I only got 46 states

everyone being so proud they could spell Massachusetts, but when our teacher asked if anyone could spell Connecticut (the state I lived in) none of us could

learning to spell Connecticut

My first Yu Gi Oh card was one whose name I can’t remember, but it was a regular card, not too good stats, with a blue atlantean sea monster on it? I kept it in a card case and carried it around at school

Buying three Kaiba starter decks so I could have three Blue Eyes White Dragons and not understanding that I needed polymerization and a Blue Eyes Ultimate fusion card to actually make Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon in the game

Yu Gi Oh cards being banned from school

Mad Science Camp in the summer. I went for two weeks, for several summers, but this summer in particular I remember one week we built mini robot kits and at the other I don’t remember what we did but the boys were obsessed with yu gi oh and I wanted to play with them but they wouldn’t let me play because I was a girl (and the other girls, except for my sister, didn’t understand why I wanted to play yu gi oh)

Those same boys, when I climbed onto the jungle gym wanting to play yu gi oh with them, saying “let’s scream like a girl until she goes away” and then they screamed at me until I went away

math minutes - doing as many math problems as we could in a minute. If we got 100%, we got a candy or a bonus point on our next test.

my third grade teacher reading to us. Her name was Mrs. Klein, I think she was cousins with the Ms. Klein who was my second grade teacher who died. she read the BFG and it absolutely terrified me - not the BFG himself, but the other giants who would crunch on children’s bones. I couldn’t sleep at night and had to talk to my teacher and she said that if I was scared or uncomfortable just to ask to go to the bathroom and she would let me

Bug check. I made my dad check my bedroom for bugs every night before I went to bed because I was scared of them. I’m still freaked out by a lot of bugs, and definitely arachnophobic.

officially meeting my best friend Krislyn and playing Mario Party 2 all the freaking time (she was the one who inspired me to ask for an N64 for my birthday)

the new kid Mark from California who became one of my best friends

the crush I had on Mark from California that I confessed to him at recess one day and then as soon as I said it immediately ran and hid behind a bench on the other side of the playground. I made Krislyn go and check what his reaction was and he was standing confused by the fence

Playing dodgeball in gym class and jumping over 4 balls at once (this might not be real, but it is definitely a memory I have)

deciding to try and bring Pokemon to life with my friends Krislyn, Mark, and Tyler by extracting the DNA of a Poliwag from the Poliwag pokemon cards and putting it in a fishtank with a bunch of tadpoles.

Accidentally killing a bunch of tadpoles

making an upset face when in gym class my teacher told us we were only running one lap today (hah! wouldn’t I love that to happen at LITERALLY ANY OTHER POINT IN MY LIFE) and the teacher pulling me aside and telling me that was very rude

sitting around on benches at recess making up our own Pokemon and telling each other stories about the Mario universe (basically writing fanfiction, but we didn’t know what that was yet)

my favorite pokemon that I ever made was called Tickel, it was a blue bear with spikes on its ears and it wore a shell kinda like Togepi

Having multiple teachers for the first time in 4th grade - we had one teacher for math (I don’t remember his name), one for science (Mrs. Iacurci) , and then one for history (Ms. Greenberg) and english (Ms. Koritko). Ms. Koritko was my homeroom/main teacher.

Getting a C for the first time on any test ever in science class, but on my favorite subject - Outer space.

my 4th grade teacher playing Enya for us while we were doing our writing assignments

September 11, 2001. It was a Tuesday. A lot of people were getting called out early and none of us knew what was going on. Ms. Koritko was trying to keep the class calm but we were all really rowdy because things were so strange. She told us we were going to have indoor recess as punishment for being rowdy - but I think they just wanted to keep us inside. When we went home, our parents were waiting for me and my sister by the bus stop, which they had never done before. I told them I didn’t want to go to Hebrew School that day. They told me I didn’t have to. The kitchen construction workers had just started that day tearing down the kitchen and then the news hit. My parents told me and my sister. We were worried about my Aunt, who worked in New York City, but she was fine. We were worried someone would attack Sikorsky Helicopters - a military helicopter manufacturing plant that was only 20 minutes from where I lived. Things were very scary and confusing for a fourth grader

writing in my school journal about it. we were all asked to process our feelings, and told there were therapists available. I remember writing that maybe the people who did it just wanted America’s attention.

And things moved on

Adopting my kitties Pepper and Phoebe!

My grandfather died at the end of 2001

My grandmother died at the beginning of 2002

I started writing a lot of poetry in 4th grade about death. I wrote it in a notebook with red pen. Sometimes green pen.

Here’s one of the overdramatic poems I wrote:

“Be still, be soft, my beating heart, because the battle’s won / come home to me, my love, before the day is done. / Come home to me, my love, as I darespeak these words. / The chase is on, my love, as the horses fill the land / And you soon will be battling again / The enemy’s near and you will have to lend a helping hand / but, my love, please come back to me, safe as a beach of warm sand / The leaves have fallen one too many times and you have not come back / so I must go and fight with you / but I find you are gone so the time has come for me to go too / because waiting to die for all these years shall put me in despair / but to be up there with you is no punishment nor crime / so die, my self, die, die, die!

And another one:

As darkness descends, I mournfully cry. / Never again will my tears dry / Sadness engulfs me / I’m lost in the dark / as blackness threatens to crush my heart / peace will forever elude me until the day I die / as I close the casket and whisper goodbye

A book report on the book Julie of the Wolves - which was probably my favorite book report I wrote ever

One time I was trying to do group work but no one in my group was even paying attention and Ms. Koritko noticed I was trying so hard to get everyone to work but was getting frustrated, so she came over and said “Come on guys, Nikki is rolling her eyes here!” and then I rolled my eyes really overdramatically and she laughed

We all had to write a little “book” called Collections containing one piece of creative writing, and one piece of expository writing. My expository writing was an essay on the topic of love. My creative piece was called “Princess Blue and the Mystery of the Scary Noises.” It was about a princess with blue hair named Princess Blue, who went on a camping trip with her parents who were the king and queen, her brother Prince Red (who had red hair) and her two best friends whose names I don’t remember. One night they heard scary noises. They thought it was a monster! But it was just a squirrel. They laughed really hard at their mistake!

Princess Blue came into being as a character because one day I came out of the shower and had a blue towel, which I let hang over my head. I saw myself in the mirror and thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be AWESOME to have blue hair?”

I had a teacher named John Johnson. 

Mr. Johnson and Ms. Nelson were every 5th grader’s OTP. We used to “spy” on them at recess and we all thought they were getting married because they “flirted” (they were probably just talking with each other). We were all devastated when Ms. Nelson moved away to get married to her boyfriend and teach in another district

Ms. Greenberg died from complications with her pregnancy when she had a baby at the beginning of my 5th grade year. This is the second teacher who I had who died while I was in elementary school

Mr. Spillane and his M&M machines

Mr. Spillane collected M&M dispensers. He had all sorts of cool ones and he would give out M&Ms as treats and prizes. We got to pull the handles on the little funny dispensers and M&Ms would fall out, it was great

Sentence of the Day was one of our daily chances to get M&Ms - we had a “Thesaurasus” (a notebook with a picture of a dinosaur on it) and he would give us a word with three synonyms. We had to write a sentence for each synonym and then share our favorite sentence with the class. Mr. Spillane would pick one sentence from each synonym and that kid would get M&Ms

The Mr. Spillane Football League. We were learning percentages in math class. Mr. Spillane developed a “football league” where we divided into teams of 2 and each of us represented a team in the NFL. We would each represent our own player plus one of the players from the actual team, so each football team had four players. Each player had numbers that they could move on, for example, the actual player that I had was Tiki Barber from the Giants - and he could move on a roll of 2 or 5, or something like that. So we had to pay tokens to bet on which player would move and if we matched, we got to move a certain number of yards. We played a full “season” of football and then we finally got to the “Super Bowl.” My team, the giants, got to the championship game before the super bowl, but lost there.

The Mario Movie - Krislyn and I were handwriting a script for a Mario Movie called “Toadstool Kingdom Sensation”. We handwrote it in several notebooks using gel pens. We ran out of gel pens so frequently Mr. Spillane joked he ought to buy stock in the gel pen company

We had Mr. Spillane read it as we were writing it. I’m sure it was absolute shit, but he reacted like it was the funniest thing he had ever read, even too crazy for him to understand

Daisy was the main character because she was Krislyn’s favorite, and Krislyn had a stronger will than I did. Peach was also featured prominently because she was my favorite character. Peach and Mario were dating, but Daisy was dating a talking, more human version of Yoshi, because we made Luigi SUPER STUPID. We called the species “yoshis” LDTs, which stood for Lizard-Turtle-Dinosaur. There were lots of booger jokes because Luigi liked to pick his nose.

We wrote a song that Luigi sang: “The best part of pasta is eating spaghetti / then I like to blow it out of my nose / but my feelings are totally different / when I’m eating ice cream!”

The only line I remember from the actual script is “There’s a fat weirdo in the haystack and Peach is hitting him with a hammer” because when Mr. Spillane was reading it, he exclaimed aloud, “There’s a FAT WEIRDO in the HAYSTACK?!?!?!” and Krislyn and I thought it was the funniest fucking thing ever

the context was Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi all lived together. Mario had eaten too much spaghetti and couldn’t fit through the door one night, so Yoshi told him to sleep in the haystack in the barn that night. The next morning when Peach and Daisy came to visit, they didn’t recognize Mario and they thought he was an enemy, so Peach started attacking him with a hammer while Daisy ran to get their friends

There were also aliens that were terrified of farmland involved at some point

Making a birthday card for my friend Krislyn and ending it with “I love you” and my mom said I couldn’t phrase it like that but I could sign it “Love, Nikki” so I did (and hindsight reveals a crush on Krislyn in elementary school, but that was not something I realized until looking back while in college. I think I also had a crush on Lexi, actually, now that I think about it).

The Voyage of the Mimi - did anyone else ever see this?

It was a movie featuring Ben Affleck as a child, playing a character named CT. He, and several others, including Captain Granville, some random dude, and a deaf girl whose name I think was Sally or Sarah or something like that, were going on a trip on a boat called the Mimi. I think at one point Captain Granville fell off the boat and got hypothermia and they had to save him.

This was part of a unit on ocean life and conservation, in particular whales. We all had to do a project, either a video project or a “newspaper”. Krislyn and I were partners and we chose to do a video project, which we styled like a News Report on the evening news. Well, as much as 5th graders could anyway. Krislyn’s dad filmed it, but we had no editing software or ability to edit at all, so it was all done in one take and had a lot of mistakes. We had a news story about Orca whales, a news story about ocean pollution, and interview with Captain Granville (Krislyn’s dad wearing a paper beard) and commercials. One of the commercials was for soap. It involved a toilet flushing and one of Krislyn’s little sisters “screaming” simultaneously but the timing was off and the toilet flushed, then her sister screamed and it was really funny. There was a commercial for the aquarium gift shop, where my younger sister and both of Krislyn’s explained how they spent over $1000 at the gift shop! And then at the end we went upstairs and Krislyn’s mom said, “look what I bought for dinner” and it was a package of calimari and we all said “ewwwwwwww!” and then the video ended. (Calimari is delicious, as I know now)

We had to do a book report on a mystery. I wanted to do mine on a Boxcar Children book, but my reading level was much higher than the other kids in my class, so Mr. Spillane asked me to pick a book that would be more challenging for me. I don’t remember what I picked.

We had to do a report on one of the states. I chose Texas. I don’t remember what I learned about Texas, but I made the cover of my report on pink construction paper and tried to draw the Alamo in crayon.

Another report was during Black History Month. I wrote about George Washington Carver.

Another was on Juan Ponce de Leon and the fountain of youth

The Chronicles of Narnia were my favorite books, but I read them in a really weird order. I don’t remember that order, just that I never ended up reading The Magician’s Nephew and I think I read The Silver Chair before Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

I tried to read The Fellowship of the Ring when I was in 4th grade, but it was very wordy and confusing for a 8-9 year old.

We had to write a little bio for our “commencement” ceremony in 5th grade and I wrote something like, “I like reading and writing, and I’m a hockey girl!” even though I never played hockey - but hockey was my favorite sport. My favorite team was the Detroit Red Wings

At one point in elementary school, Tyler invited me over to his house to hang out but we ended up sitting in his basement and he wouldn’t let me leave until I had memorized Hillary Duff’s part in the song “What Dreams are Made of”

I also helped Tyler build a chair from scratch once

my penpal from another state, Kate, moved to my town after 3rd grade and was in my class in 4th grade

I once got in trouble during lunch because I didn’t notice the principal had asked everyone to be quiet so that she could say something and I was shouting across the table about Pokemon Blue

I wanted to learn the lyrics to “Time” by Pink Floyd because my dad played it all the time on the guitar and it was my favorite song, so my dad wrote them down for me so I could memorize them. My mom found it and thought I had written it, and thought I seriously needed counseling. She did not recognize the lyrics, nor did she think about the complexity of the song and how it would be ridiculously difficult for an 8 year old to write

I once shared with Mr. Spillane that I ran into a (male) classmate while shopping for bras at Kohl’s. I think he was embarrassed but I thought it was funny.

Seeing “Recess: School’s Out” in the theaters and my parents deciding they were never going to see another animated movie in the theaters again

...and that’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure I have more memories, but this is a lot, and it was fun to take a trip back and think about elementary school.

[grassroutes]

RØDE Wireless GO Review: The Best Wireless Audio System for YouTubers

Our verdict of the RØDE Wireless GO: The RØDE Wireless GO is compact, lightweight, and insanely easy to use. Combine it with a lavalier microphone for high-quality audio anywhere.1010

Clean audio is essential for YouTube work. While substandard video with crisp audio is still watchable, high-quality video with bad audio will have audiences clicking away in no time.

Unfortunately, clean audio isn’t the easiest to set up. You need a microphone, you need a way to record the microphone, and you probably want it to be as hassle-free as possible. Wireless audio solutions tend to be expensive, but with the $199 RØDE Wireless GO, YouTubers now have an affordable, hassle-free option for recording audio.

The RØDE Wireless GO is a two-piece system with a transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX). Here’s what you need to know about it and how much we like it. And at the end of this review, we’re giving a set away.

RØDE Wireless GO: Specifications

For the system:

Physical dimensions (each): 1.7 x 1.8 x 0.7 inches (44.0 x 46.4 18.5 mm)

Physical weight (each): 1.1 oz (31.0 g)

Wireless transmission: 2.4GHz only

Transmission encryption: 128-bit

Max transmission range: 230 feet (70 meters)

Max simultaneous systems: 8 TX-RX pairs

Audio channels per system: 1

Battery life (each): 7 hours

Battery type (each): Built-in rechargeable

Battery charging options (each): USB Type-C

For the TX transmitter:

TX audio input: 3.5mm TRS microphone

TX dynamic range: 100 dBA

TX frequency range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz

TX polar pattern: Omnidirectional

For the RX receiver:

RX audio output: 3.5mm TRS microphone

RX audio gain options: 0 dB/-6 dB/-12 dB

RØDE Wireless GO: What’s Included?

In addition to the TX-RX system, the package comes with a few goodies:

1 TX (transmitter)

1 RX (receiver)

2 TX windshields (a.k.a “deadcats”)

2 USB Type-C-to-Type-A cables

1 3.5mm TRS male-to-male cable

1 pouch to hold the accessories

RØDE Wireless GO: Design and Build Quality

The first thing I noticed after unboxing is that the RØDE Wireless GO truly is the world’s smallest wireless audio system. Prior to this, every audio pack I’ve ever seen or held has been the size of two playing card decks held in hand. But this? This wireless audio system is tiny, and I’m actually concerned that I might lose it someday.

The RØDE Wireless GO is a two-piece system:

There’s the RX receiver, which uses the included 3.5mm TRS cable to plug into any device that accepts a TRS microphone input, most likely your camera. The RX receiver itself has no built-in memory or recording function.

There’s also the TX transmitter, which pairs wirelessly with an RX receiver using the 2.4GHz band (more on the pairing process below). It has a built-in omnidirectional microphone so you don’t need to buy a separate mic, but it does accept a 3.5mm input which is great for plugging in a lavalier mic.

See our recommendations for the best budget lavalier microphones.

The bodies of both the TX and the RX are made from high-quality matte plastic, while their faces are glossy and sleek. Both have clips that allow you to stick them onto clothing, bags, or whatever else, and they hold on pretty well from my experience. The buttons are nice, providing a satisfying tactile click with each press.

Overall, despite how lightweight they are, the build quality is excellent and I’m confident that they could take a beating in real-world scenarios without sustaining too much damage.

RØDE Wireless GO: Usability and Performance

The RØDE Wireless GO is so simple to operate that it doesn’t even come with a manual—only a wordless Quickstart Guide printed on the box itself. I didn’t even need the guide to set things up, but I admit that my previous experience with audio equipment comes with its privileges. I might have struggled if I had never seen an audio pack before.

For a first-time YouTuber, I trust that they’d know enough to decipher the guide and get there eventually.

The pairing process is super simple: as soon as you turn on both TX and RX, they automatically pair. If you have multiple systems, you can do it manually by holding the pairing button on the RX until it enters pairing mode, then pressing the Ø button on the TX you want to pair. Done!

While multiple systems are supported, there’s a limit of 8 simultaneous pairs due to the limitations of the 2.4GHz wireless band. In fact, note that the 2.4GHz band is the same one used by Wi-Fi connections, and you may experience interference in densely populated areas (e.g. apartments in large cities) due to Wi-Fi congestion.

Each TX-RX pair has an operating range up to 230 feet (70 meters) , which is more than enough for any kind of YouTube video, even ones that have you going outside. And while the official specifications say line-of-sight is required, I found that audio transmission still works fine even behind multiple walls.

As for weight, the TX transmitter and RX receivers are like feathers. Individually, they weigh less than my wallet—and trust me, my wallet is minimal and sparse. It’s absolutely perfect for taking on trips (and the included windshields are a nice touch for outdoor recording), but even if you stay in and only record at home, the lightness makes it a joy to work with.

And with the clips, you can mount them pretty much anywhere.

That said, it’s a shame that the RX receiver doesn’t have a shoe mount for mounting directly onto a camera. Instead, you simply plug it into the microphone port and let it dangle. It’s light enough to cause no concern for damage, but it’s a bit unsightly. If you don’t like the dangling and can’t clip the RX receiver to the camera, there’s always gaffer tape.

The audio quality out of the TX transmitter’s built-in microphone isn’t bad, but it does leave me wanting. Then again, how much can you expect out of something so small? My expectations weren’t high, so it’s not like I’m disappointed. It’s certainly passable for anything but the most professional podcasts and YouTube videos.

But I do recommend using it with a lavalier microphone, as that’s when the RØDE Wireless GO system really shines. See the review video at the start of this article to hear an audio comparison between the built-in microphone and a Boya BY-M1 lavalier microphone.

The slated battery life is 7 hours, and I found that to be true. The package comes with two USB-C-to-USB-A cables, allowing you to charge both TX and RX at the same time. But there is no charger included, so you’ll have to use your computer or one you probably already own.

RØDE Wireless GO: Final Thoughts

The RØDE Wireless GO is available for $199. With a budget lavalier microphone, the total goes up to about $219. For comparison, the RØDE RodeLink Filmmaker Kit—which comes with a receiver, a transmitter, and lavalier microphone—costs $399. Of course the RodeLink is slightly more advanced, but the functionality is essentially the same, and the Wireless GO is half the price.

That’s an insane deal for what you’re getting, and the fact that the Wireless GO is so tiny and lightweight cannot be overstated. You can literally slip these into your pocket, take them anywhere you want, and you won’t even notice they’re in there.

Honestly? The RØDE Wireless GO is a game-changer for YouTubers. Highly recommended.

Enter the Competition!

Rode Wireless Go Giveaway

Read the full article: RØDE Wireless GO Review: The Best Wireless Audio System for YouTubers

RØDE Wireless GO Review: The Best Wireless Audio System for YouTubers posted first on grassroutespage.blogspot.com

[droneseco]

RØDE Wireless GO Review: The Best Wireless Audio System for YouTubers

Our verdict of the RØDE Wireless GO: The RØDE Wireless GO is compact, lightweight, and insanely easy to use. Combine it with a lavalier microphone for high-quality audio anywhere.1010

Clean audio is essential for YouTube work. While substandard video with crisp audio is still watchable, high-quality video with bad audio will have audiences clicking away in no time.

Unfortunately, clean audio isn’t the easiest to set up. You need a microphone, you need a way to record the microphone, and you probably want it to be as hassle-free as possible. Wireless audio solutions tend to be expensive, but with the $199 RØDE Wireless GO, YouTubers now have an affordable, hassle-free option for recording audio.

The RØDE Wireless GO is a two-piece system with a transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX). Here’s what you need to know about it and how much we like it. And at the end of this review, we’re giving a set away.

RØDE Wireless GO: Specifications

For the system:

Physical dimensions (each): 1.7 x 1.8 x 0.7 inches (44.0 x 46.4 18.5 mm)

Physical weight (each): 1.1 oz (31.0 g)

Wireless transmission: 2.4GHz only

Transmission encryption: 128-bit

Max transmission range: 230 feet (70 meters)

Max simultaneous systems: 8 TX-RX pairs

Audio channels per system: 1

Battery life (each): 7 hours

Battery type (each): Built-in rechargeable

Battery charging options (each): USB Type-C

For the TX transmitter:

TX audio input: 3.5mm TRS microphone

TX dynamic range: 100 dBA

TX frequency range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz

TX polar pattern: Omnidirectional

For the RX receiver:

RX audio output: 3.5mm TRS microphone

RX audio gain options: 0 dB/-6 dB/-12 dB

RØDE Wireless GO: What’s Included?

In addition to the TX-RX system, the package comes with a few goodies:

1 TX (transmitter)

1 RX (receiver)

2 TX windshields (a.k.a “deadcats”)

2 USB Type-C-to-Type-A cables

1 3.5mm TRS male-to-male cable

1 pouch to hold the accessories

RØDE Wireless GO: Design and Build Quality

The first thing I noticed after unboxing is that the RØDE Wireless GO truly is the world’s smallest wireless audio system. Prior to this, every audio pack I’ve ever seen or held has been the size of two playing card decks held in hand. But this? This wireless audio system is tiny, and I’m actually concerned that I might lose it someday.

The RØDE Wireless GO is a two-piece system:

There’s the RX receiver, which uses the included 3.5mm TRS cable to plug into any device that accepts a TRS microphone input, most likely your camera. The RX receiver itself has no built-in memory or recording function.

There’s also the TX transmitter, which pairs wirelessly with an RX receiver using the 2.4GHz band (more on the pairing process below). It has a built-in omnidirectional microphone so you don’t need to buy a separate mic, but it does accept a 3.5mm input which is great for plugging in a lavalier mic.

See our recommendations for the best budget lavalier microphones.

The bodies of both the TX and the RX are made from high-quality matte plastic, while their faces are glossy and sleek. Both have clips that allow you to stick them onto clothing, bags, or whatever else, and they hold on pretty well from my experience. The buttons are nice, providing a satisfying tactile click with each press.

Overall, despite how lightweight they are, the build quality is excellent and I’m confident that they could take a beating in real-world scenarios without sustaining too much damage.

RØDE Wireless GO: Usability and Performance

The RØDE Wireless GO is so simple to operate that it doesn’t even come with a manual—only a wordless Quickstart Guide printed on the box itself. I didn’t even need the guide to set things up, but I admit that my previous experience with audio equipment comes with its privileges. I might have struggled if I had never seen an audio pack before.

For a first-time YouTuber, I trust that they’d know enough to decipher the guide and get there eventually.

The pairing process is super simple: as soon as you turn on both TX and RX, they automatically pair. If you have multiple systems, you can do it manually by holding the pairing button on the RX until it enters pairing mode, then pressing the Ø button on the TX you want to pair. Done!

While multiple systems are supported, there’s a limit of 8 simultaneous pairs due to the limitations of the 2.4GHz wireless band. In fact, note that the 2.4GHz band is the same one used by Wi-Fi connections, and you may experience interference in densely populated areas (e.g. apartments in large cities) due to Wi-Fi congestion.

Each TX-RX pair has an operating range up to 230 feet (70 meters) , which is more than enough for any kind of YouTube video, even ones that have you going outside. And while the official specifications say line-of-sight is required, I found that audio transmission still works fine even behind multiple walls.

As for weight, the TX transmitter and RX receivers are like feathers. Individually, they weigh less than my wallet—and trust me, my wallet is minimal and sparse. It’s absolutely perfect for taking on trips (and the included windshields are a nice touch for outdoor recording), but even if you stay in and only record at home, the lightness makes it a joy to work with.

And with the clips, you can mount them pretty much anywhere.

That said, it’s a shame that the RX receiver doesn’t have a shoe mount for mounting directly onto a camera. Instead, you simply plug it into the microphone port and let it dangle. It’s light enough to cause no concern for damage, but it’s a bit unsightly. If you don’t like the dangling and can’t clip the RX receiver to the camera, there’s always gaffer tape.

The audio quality out of the TX transmitter’s built-in microphone isn’t bad, but it does leave me wanting. Then again, how much can you expect out of something so small? My expectations weren’t high, so it’s not like I’m disappointed. It’s certainly passable for anything but the most professional podcasts and YouTube videos.

But I do recommend using it with a lavalier microphone, as that’s when the RØDE Wireless GO system really shines. See the review video at the start of this article to hear an audio comparison between the built-in microphone and a Boya BY-M1 lavalier microphone.

The slated battery life is 7 hours, and I found that to be true. The package comes with two USB-C-to-USB-A cables, allowing you to charge both TX and RX at the same time. But there is no charger included, so you’ll have to use your computer or one you probably already own.

RØDE Wireless GO: Final Thoughts

The RØDE Wireless GO is available for $199. With a budget lavalier microphone, the total goes up to about $219. For comparison, the RØDE RodeLink Filmmaker Kit—which comes with a receiver, a transmitter, and lavalier microphone—costs $399. Of course the RodeLink is slightly more advanced, but the functionality is essentially the same, and the Wireless GO is half the price.

That’s an insane deal for what you’re getting, and the fact that the Wireless GO is so tiny and lightweight cannot be overstated. You can literally slip these into your pocket, take them anywhere you want, and you won’t even notice they’re in there.

Honestly? The RØDE Wireless GO is a game-changer for YouTubers. Highly recommended.

Enter the Competition!

Rode Wireless Go Giveaway

Read the full article: RØDE Wireless GO Review: The Best Wireless Audio System for YouTubers

RØDE Wireless GO Review: The Best Wireless Audio System for YouTubers published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

[romancevsreality-blog]

vanderpump rules, season five, episode eighteen: ARE WE DONE YET?

We’re finally back from New Orleans, where Tom and Jax are relaying all the information from the bachelor/ette party. Tom Sandoval is wearing a baseball cap and I want to burn it, it’s not a good look for him. But you know what was, apparently? Dressing up as a woman. Lisa comments that he made a very good-looking woman, and I guess that’s true depending on what your definition of “good looking” is. My definition of “good looking” is Tyra Banks in 1996, but whatever, Lisa. Boost Tom’s ego if you can. Meanwhile, Ariana and Scheana are just straight horrified about what happened with Katie and Tom at the bachelorette party - Ariana remains the voice of reason when she reminds us that choosing to bottle all of your issues usually ends with a nasty, foul, rotten bottle of problems.

Katie and Lisa are meeting, and I’m mostly distracted because Lisa’s holding the fluffiest dog I’ve ever seen in my life and I want nothing more than this dog at this moment. They’re preparing for the annual Sexy Unique Restaurant photoshoot, and the theme this year is “indulgence”, which isn’t a theme. Katie refuses to take any accountability for her actions in her and Tom’s argument because she’s a fucking adult, and maintains that Tom was the one fighting with everyone. Lisa’s nervous for the two of them because the wedding is just two weeks away and they’ve gotta lock this shit down. Let’s be real - these two need to postpone this wedding and go into therapy before they even start considering it, but Bravo production and their own personal vanity will never let that happen in a million years.

Kristen and Stassi go to lunch with their dogs, and Kristen teaches us all how to game the system and getting an emotional support dog. Kristen’s there to help Stassi write her OkCupid profile, which just proves she’s going down the wrong route from the get-go. Stassi, you’re famous. You have enough of a social media following to be on Raya, why aren’t you doing that? Or The League? Or Literally Anything Other Than OkCupid? Then again, I met my ex-boyfriend on OkCupid, so I can’t really talk. Stassi’s instructed to write something about herself other than “I’m on television,” and Kristen suggests “Brunch, dogs, wine, ranch.”

Because of course. Of course, ranch1.

Katie and Tom head over to Villa Rosa to meet with Queen Vanderpump, when suddenly a man in a tuxedo arrives to invite Lisa to be Katie and Tom’s wedding officiant. Aren’t they getting married in two weeks? Who waits this long to pick an officiant? Katie and Tom are awkwardly sheepish about it, and Lisa’s like, “yo - you guys couldn’t get through three days without fighting, how am I supposed to take you seriously?” You’re not, Lisa. She wants them to really consider if getting married is a good idea. Katie’s crying. They talk it out, but it’s mostly bullshit. Katie’s not even sure why they were fighting in New Orleans, and that’s critical - they’re clearly fundamentally not suited for each other to the point where they fight just to fight now. What I find particularly gross about this narrative 180 is that it almost normalizes the level of rancor Tom and Katie displayed toward one another for the bulk of this season. Is your relationship TERRIBLE? Are you and your partner verbally and emotionally abusing each other on a regular basis? If you just sit and have one little chat, it'll be all better in no time. It's that easy! I find it so distasteful.

The gang’s headed all down to the beach, and everyone’s ready for a beach day! Stassi and Scheana discuss Stassi’s date the previous night that she spent mostly making out, and her date tonight.2 Katie and Tom tell the gang about Lisa basically rejecting their request to officiate their wedding. The two of them have a cute cuddly moment on the beach and we’re expected to think everything’s okay with them. So after months of watching Tom and Katie fighting, being terrible to each other and generally showing viewers what not to do in a relationship, are we actually supposed to believe that one conversation with Lisa fixed everything? I understand it's a TV show and there has to be a storyline but shiiiiit, I kept rolling my eyes when they continuously referenced that magical conversation with Lisa fixing everything.

Lisa brings Ariana to meet her bedazzled horse, and Ariana is just… salivating. Even I’m jealous, and I’m allergic to horses. Lisa and Ariana wax poetic about their lives, and Ariana admits to not wanting children, something that horrifies Lisa. I don’t get this idea that some people have that one day you’re just going to wake up and want something you’ve never wanted before. Ariana’s not interested in marriage or babies - let her live.

Stassi wants to look skinny af on her blind date with a guy with “The Greatest Instagram Account [She’d] Ever Seen”3 and Kristen, looking the best she has this season, comes over to help. And by “help”, I mean shame Stassi into not wearing Spanx and helping her come up with a “kit” comprised of Adderall, Plan B, and condoms. Stassi looks great for her date, though.

Tom Sandoval, Best Friend Ever, is treating Jax, Tom Schwartz, and Peter all to spray tans. How kind of him, am I right? Tom and Katie finally had sex, and Jax is terrified of getting spray tanned, but not afraid of officiating Tom and Katie’s wedding. Considering Jax was at the very first wedding to ever exist in the world ever, I don’t see how this is a bad ide- wait. It’s Jax. It’s a terrible fucking idea.

Back over at Fig & Olive, Stassi’s met with David! They’re drinking Sancerre, which is shocking, because Stassi’s well established as a pinot grigio girl. It’s clear from the get-go they’re on different paths - he asks her if she’s interested in hiking, Stassi’s like “hell no,” (Point: Stassi). He works in technology solutions and wakes up at 7 AM daily, which has Stassi straight SHOOK. She doesn’t wake up before noon and she thinks that’s why she’s single. This guy is nice as hell, which is rare for Stassi. She’s mostly glad he’s not a murderer, but he’s still not murdery enough for her. I would watch a Stassi dating spinoff.

It’s the Sexy Unique Restaurant Photoshoot! Everyone’s getting dolled up as if doing a photoshoot half-naked is normal for a job to do! There’s a fake pig with an apple in its mouth and grapes! Tom Schwartz is there, and he doesn’t even WORK there. Tom Sandoval brought multiple outfits because he likes to be prepared. Tom Sandoval is literally my favorite person on earth. He can be dramatic and vain but also wonderful. The girls have to pose in front of the pig and Scheana pretends to have cake in her mouth.

Meanwhile, Stassi and Kristen are still pretending like they have a valid reason to be on this show by going to lunch, where Kristen is freaking out about the fake suckling pig she was sent a photo of by Scheana. It’s hilariously desperate. Stassi admits to not having chemistry with her date and wanting an older dude. I can get behind that - I’ve had a plethora of shitty dates. Kristen has a problem with Lisa Vanderpump sticking her nose into Katie’s business, but we’ve seen what Kristen can do when she sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong. Lisa’s better than you, Kristen, get over it.

This just makes it really apparent how much this show needs James and Lala, god damn it.

Lisa poses with the boys of Sexy Unique Restaurant Plus Tom for a photograph wearing a clip-on hair piece and looking like a sixteen-year-old girl going to homecoming. Meanwhile, Scheana and Katie are sitting outside talking, and Katie’s asking Scheana for advice re: rehearsal dinners and speeches and whatnot. Scheana feels left out and feels like she hasn’t been included in the wedding planning. Whatever. They’re all boarding the Titanic with Tom and Katie, one by one.

Ariana gets naked and covered in grapes with Tom Sandoval, and god damn, Ariana is gorgeous. Basically, each couple gets their time in the grapey sun - Tom and Katie, Ariana and Tom, Jax and Brittany. There’s some weird tension between Jax and Brittany because he won’t tell her she looks beautiful. They then basically try to do the Sexy Unique Restaurant version of The Last Supper. Why you even need a photoshoot, I don’t understand.

Oh, and then Lisa Vanderpump agrees to officiate Tom and Katie’s wedding.

Next Week: LALAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stassi poses nude. James is back too, barf, with his vocal fry girlfriend. Jax and Tom invite Tom Schwartz’s brother to the wedding? And we’re headed up for Tom and Katie’s nuptials.

See you soon for The Bachelor!

Stassi is right as hell when she says “I might as well be a basic bitch.” WHO CALLS RANCH A DESCRIPTIVE TERM? ↩︎

I love the shade to Scheana’s marriage that’s becoming a constant thing on this show. ↩︎

Is this a standard people are trying to achieve? ↩︎