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demonicheadcanons · 4 years

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can you do a HC of 18th century Obey Me brothers?? I'm super into historical drama at the moment and would love to see classical Obey Me AU

AN: Thanks for sending this in!! I’m not very good with history, so please forgive any mistakes as I have pretty much just skimmed a few different websites trying to find whatever info I could pick up ;u; This isn’t a traditional headcanon set, but rather an overall ‘18th century Devildom’ headcanon. I hope that’s alright!!

It is occurring to me as I write that this probably isn’t what you want at all because this ask says ‘historical drama’. Sorry ;u; I kind of just ran with whatever came to my head.

I make some references to things that happen later on in the game, around Lesson 15/16. I don’t mention anything outright, but there are definitely hints at some spoilers, so please don’t read this if you haven’t gotten that far ^^

Obey Me - 18th Century AU

The brothers are less put-together than they are in the actual game, with a few hundred years less development under their belt. It shouldn’t make much of a difference as they’re all at least a few thousand years old, but because of some issues between the brothers that have been dragged into the Human Realm, the Devildom is a disaster.

Issues like... Satan and Beelzebub have been having an ongoing argument, contributing to the many wars and famines across the globe. In his free time, Satan has been travelling to the human realm and assisting global leaders from the sidelines, to relieve stress and to cause chaos for his own amusement. Beelzebub’s anger causes food to spoil easily in the Human Realm. Belphegor watches it all from the sidelines, enjoying watching the Human Realm crumble under the demons’ grasps. He doesn’t like seeing Beel upset, and encourages him to take it out on the humans. Beel himself is reluctant to do so, and most of the damage he does is accidental. He feels guilty for it, but is confused because it seems to make Belphie a lot happier than he has been.

Diavolo decides to put a stop to it, and settles on an exchange program of sorts. He puts it into action immediately, banning the brothers from travelling to the human realm and pulling a few humans into the Devildom. The first exchange goes... poorly. There isn’t any way for the news to really spread in the Human Realm, so the disappearance of a few humans is easily covered up. The next time, the MC is pulled into the Devildom and put into the care of Mammon, who is less hostile than his other brothers.

Mammon believes he can personally benefit from a stronger bond between humans and demons - he’s already in contact with witches, and it would help him gain their trust. At the same time, he’s also willing to follow Lucifer’s lead irregardless of how reluctant he may seem. Because of this, he puts effort into actually protecting his human this time; last time, things hadn’t gone well, and he really hadn’t enjoyed the cleanup. He hadn’t been attached to the humans then, and now that he feels a pull to the MC he’s going to be by their side constantly so they don’t meet the same fate.

Asmo loves the clothing, and is one of the first to bond with the MC. The secrecy of it all! What do you really look like? Why do you insist on covering up so much? He treats the MC like a forbidden treat, but genuinely loves the outfits they wear and, with a few adaptations, starts trying to get similar clothing trending in the Devildom, with some genuine success. His forward and suggestive nature is somewhere between disturbing and almost refreshing - its nice to be around someone so open once you get used to it.

Levi is the same as ever, but without all of his technology. The Devildom is still more advanced than the Human Realm, but I can see him with a typewriter writing out poetry and such. Perhaps he and Satan are closer during this time, Levi not being quite so much of a shut-in, and the two read and write together at times. Levi also helps contribute when Satan travels to the human realm to cause chaos - he doesn’t really care all that much, but its fun to lead any navy, even if its a pathetic human navy, and it helps him to de-stress and gives him some inspiration for his writing.

This changes when the MC arrives. He meets them on that first day when Mammon runs away, and they still go through with the pact plan. He’s a little less awkward, but still talks down to the human until they break their seemingly quiet and controlled nature and snap at him. It creates an interest for him, because he’s never seen humans up so close when he’s not fighting them, and he’d only paid attention to the fictional humans in his books. He ends up watching the MC and spending time with them when Mammon isn’t, one of the more controlled brothers who doesn’t really feel like hurting them because there isn’t some big game to play on a watery battlefield.

Lucifer is... busy. RAD isn’t what it is yet in the game - its tough trying to wrangle the demons in and to get them to adapt and better themselves. He’s determined to help Lord Diavolo however he can, but between getting everything set up and dealing with his brothers’ outbursts, he’s rarely able to see the MC.

When he does, he’s a bit of a mess, jumping between being proud and acting like a nobleman, to teasing them because before they’ve adapted to Asmo’s nature, their reactions to everything are entertaining. He’ll flirt and be downright inappropriate at times to get a reaction out of them, using it to help him stay calm amidst all the chaos. Because he usually ends up feeling calm or excited around them, he takes a liking to them quickly enough and ends up quite defensive.

He has quieter moments with them, too, if they know how to play the pianoforte. He invites them to play duets together, and likes to listen to them sing or work their way through the sheet music he has laying about. One day they quietly make their way through an old, old song he last heard hundreds of years ago, and he stands silently in the doorway before walking off to spend some time with his brothers, the memories of easier times fresh in his head.

Satan is also a mess but for different reasons. He’s suddenly lost his main output, and now there’s a human here that he’s not supposed to mess with? He might be a little manipulative at first, but one day he walks into the library and the MC is curled up reading one of the many books, or has discovered some of his writings and is smiling to themself as they read it before carefully and gently setting it back where it was. He changes after that, becomes quieter and tends to watch them a lot when the two are in the same room together. Were all humans like this when they weren’t fighting with each other? When they didn’t immediately rise to his words? It’s not that he feels guilty for the things he’s done, because he doesn’t feel he has done much other than offer advice to people already wanting to fight and conquer. But a soft spot develops for the quieter moments in human lives, where they create - through embroidery, drawing, painting, singing, etc. He finds a new output through them.

Beel tends to avoid the human, not wanting them to realise that he’s potentially been a catalyst for some of their struggles in the Human Realm. However, he begins to feel left out as his brothers are all one-by-one getting attached and spending more and more time with the human. They remind him of something, some old memories he’d long since pushed down, and now he isn’t sure whether he wants to remember or forget about them. They become easier, softer, to hold onto with this human around, and so he stays by their side whenever he can. They seem almost enchanted by him too, Beel being different from how most humans present themselves at the time. A common curiosity is what holds the two together, really.

Belphegor stays the same as he is in game. When the two eventually do bond, its because of Beel, and because all of his brothers are already so attached to the MC. He wanders around silently for the first few days he’s able to, watching them read with Satan or sneak into Levi’s room to write letters together, listening to them laugh with Mammon and Beel, and play piano with Lucifer - it’d been so long since he’d heard that song, since he’d heard Lucifer sing like that. Its hard not to get attached, and he realises that there’s no ill will in their heart at all despite everything the demons had done. One day he’s in the planetarium, laying on the floor with his eyes closed, taking a break from watching the stars. The MC walks in and freezes when they see him there, and they lay a blanket over him before leaving, and it settles everything into place for him. He could trust them.

Diavolo throws a lot of balls / parties for everyone to get acquainted, and because he heard it was common in the Human Realm. He has the MC and other humans help to teach the brothers some dances, and in return the brothers and himself teach them dances common in the Devildom. This sparks a jealousy between the brothers, who have all in one way or another, started to become attached to the MC. It becomes a silent battle of who can ask them to dance first, who gets to spend the most time with them, and so on.

Diavolo himself joins in if only to see the brothers reactions, and to see how well his plans have all worked out. The human seems content, seems to feel safe, and they smile calmly up at him and he feels guilty because he himself has accidentally caused harm to their kind before. How can they look up at him as if they’re safe in his arms, how can they laugh as the two dance together, practicing and developing a new dance that combines human and demon tradition together to form something new, to begin a new era? He relaxes over time, especially with Barbatos’ guidance and input. The plans are working and the MC is happy, and he feels like both are equal accomplishments.

Barbatos himself is happy to watch it all from the sidelines. He trusts that Diavolo will lead things where they need to go, and if anything happens, he knows he himself is capable of taking care of it. He finds himself curious about the human, who has settled into a life so different from what it had been. He doesn’t get too involved, but regularly brings them treats and, if he passes them at RAD, asks about how they’re doing. He mainly keeps Diavolo updated on anything he notices.

The angels aren’t brought into the picture yet, but a second exchange program is held shortly after that involves the Celestial Realm as well, and both Simeon and Luke quickly grow attached to the MC. They’ve helped so much with settling the Devildom and helping peace grow between the realms. Luke clings to them and asks about how they can cope around so many demons, and enjoys participating when they bake or draw or paint. Simeon’s interest is quieter, and he mostly enjoys watching how they interact with Lucifer, and seeing what traditions they have kept from the human world. Like Satan and Levi, he finds them to be an inspiration, and asks if he can write a story based on them.

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condemnthem · 4 years

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i was sent testimony from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. speaking with others involved i can confirm this testimony is credible. this backs up claims others have made about ludo, and shows further his use of “mental illness” as a weapon.

My Testimonial

I’ve been off rp for a little while, but when I heard about this, my first thought was that I have to add additional validity to the things being said about Damien/Ludo. Luckily, I did not receive the worst of it because I shut that shit down almost immediately and Damien has proven to be a scared little chihuahua who acts big but recoils as soon as he’s given a piece of his own bullshit. I’m sure he’ll know exactly who I am, and the only reason I won’t post this publicly is because I honestly do not wish to deal with him harassing any of my socials.

I was in that former RPG with Damien, and if anything, I wanted to shut all assumptions and lies down. Prior to joining, I’d heard plenty of shit regarding said RPG, and after Damien’s departure, I’d come to learn that the people who talk shit about it are just whiny children who are angry they weren’t exceptions to the rules clearly posted.

When I signed the waitlist, Damien approached me with a secret sister role via messages. He came off as very nice, and I was still figuring my character out, so I thought it would be even nicer to come in with an established connection. He connected me to all the right people to talk to, and I was pretty impressed with the welcoming atmosphere right off the bat. He stated the only thing that was set in stone was 1) her place of birth and 2) her profession, and 3) that she was his long lost sister, and that anything else (storyline, additional relationships, playby) were all completely up to me. I don’t like filling roles because I hate being told what to do creative-wise, but he seemed to be pretty open-minded minus trying to sway me away from my playby choices with ugly tattooed chicks.

The first couple of weeks were okay. I realized there were a few people in the RPG that I’d known for a while, and when they realized what my role entailed, they warned me not to let Damien control me, because it was what he did with other people as well as LI’s and that was why certain people hated him within the group. I’d also been informed that he had been banned and snuck back into the group, and it had taken O (I’ll say O for Owner and L for the LI Damien later gaslighted who is now with O) some time before realizing it was him, but let him stay because despite outside opinion by pissy former members, O is actually pretty reasonable.

I tend to be a very bendy person, and don’t like upsetting people around me, so when Damien first started getting pissy if I didn’t answer within two minutes, I tried to be nice and apologize with whatever excuse I had. But I also have a limit when I am being hounded constantly for attention when I had enough to deal with in my real life. I was also aware that one of his LI’s (also a taken role) had left because of his annoying neediness, and that the LI he was with (who I’d become best friends with) was dealing with the same annoying hounding for attention. She tried to be nice about it to not hurt his feelings, and didn’t show me receipts, but the story had become pretty commonplace at that point. I’d also been warned about his need for attention and lack of boundaries. I made it very clear on many occasions that I hate talking about rl, and frankly do not care about what anyone else is dealing with irl because I’m constantly dealing with my own shit. I ALSO suffer from the same disorder as Damien and it has never occurred to me to use that excuse for shitty behavior. If I felt the need to dissociate, I simply disappeared rather than taking it out on others around me.

I really tried to make that role work for me because the character was all mine and I loved her, and mused her pretty hard. Damien started attempting to control my attempts at changing playbys by stating they didn’t look like him (fyi, Hayley Williams, Hannah Pixie, and Dua Lipa don’t look like Yungblud either). He’d get annoyed if I wasn’t around to do blast activities with him. My last straw was when I took a one week hiatus for some stuff I was dealing with irl and was only really speaking to someone I had an almost-LI ship with. Damien CAME at me, asking why I was ignoring him for this person and I lost it, stating that I was on hiatus and didn’t owe him any of my fucking time, and that I hate being hounded for attention. He immediately backed down like the pussy he really is when he realized he couldn’t control me, and apologized saying he has that disorder and abandonment issues. And I very nicely said I didn’t care about that, because it’s none of my business, and that I suffered from the same mental disorder and didn’t take it out on people as a result because I’m an adult.

I decided to leave the group and come back as another character. That was when he was dating L, the person who came forward a few times in the posts below. L and I have some basic stuff in common (musicals, whatever), and we’d fan girl over them in statuses, and Damien would clearly be very pissy about it. When I left the group again, he blocked me everywhere, and then when he saw I was returning yet again, he messaged me saying he was excited and that he was sorry for deleting me because he was “being petty and immature.” I acted like it wasn’t a big deal because I try to be civil with group members to foster a healthy atmosphere, but I wanted to avoid him at all costs because he’s a toxic person. When I approached him with a storyline idea, he said he was capped (he’s never capped because he wants to rope everyone in on his bullshit, but I assumed it was because he secretly hated me, which I was totally cool with because it meant I didn’t have to talk to him) and a few weeks later, he was kicked from the group.

I was still with RPG when he was booted, and everyone of the things the Owner said below is valid. I’d been told by more than one person that Damien would give them shit for something as simple as liking statuses and would try to polarize people from other members of the group. His obsession with staying in that group despite hating it is honestly the dumbest shit ever, and the fact that he allegedly stated for an LI shows how pathetic he really is. But truly, he’d snuck back in despite being banned, so what does that say about him?

He started getting pissy because he wasn’t allowed to do shit that were clearly stated as being against the rules. He kept adding nonsensical, impossible storylines to Damien to focus all the drama on himself. When I joined the first time, Damien was just a baker who’d been abandoned by his mother, and had a serial killer father. By the time he left, he had like, 3 long-lost siblings, was apparently involved in sex trafficking, spent some years in a psych ward, and was also a semi-popular musician despite being confined to the RPG’s town. O is honestly a very understanding owner, but refuses to be taken advantage of, and Damien didn’t like that.

But the catalyst was his harassment of someone via Snapchat for simply liking O’s status or something of that nature. She approached him with this information, and gave him a chance to explain his side, but he avoided her for quite some time (because, as I stated, he’s a little bitch) and when she finally gave him an ultimatum, he came at her stating that she was a shitty owner and everyone hated her, etc. etc. and trying his darned best to make it his mic-drop moment when really he was being an irrational idiot. He was really just mad that O didn’t let him do whatever the hell he wanted, and made it seem like that made her a tyrant. Imagine being in a group and signing rules that have made it work for several years at this point, only to think you are above them.

His current LI in his RPG was a former member of this RPG as his sister role after I left and I’d confided in her the things I’d dealt with, and she seemed to agree that he WAS controlling. Funny that despite this, she chose to follow suit (likely being manipulated by him) and join Ludo’s group anyway. When he made his current group, it was also no secret that he’d give people shit for not leaving RPG for his, despite all the bullshit he spews about being drama-free and not talking poorly about other groups.

I’m happy I never gave Damien my rl information, but I’d seen receipts of him harassing people on rl social media on more than one occasion. The most he did was try to give me a sample of his sub-par music that I didn’t listen to because, as I stated, real life conversation makes me cringe. Every one of the things said below share a common narrative, and I don’t know how anyone can fall for Damien’s bullshit to this day, but whatever.

Damien, do better and stop blaming your issues on your trauma. I’ve tried to become a better person IN SPITE of mine. The way you gaslight and use people is disgusting, and I think it displays issues beyond what life as dealt you.

p.s. I’m sorry if this is kind of all over the place, I sent it via mobile and didn’t look back to fix any typos and such.

xoxo, Someone who didn’t fall for his bullshit. Cheers.

#testimony #ludo #you're good! thank you so much for this testimony #and thank you for sharing your story

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resbangmod · 5 years

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Resbang 2015 Throwbacks, Week 5

Time to get hype for this year’s Resbang, and what better way to do so than to check out the ghosts of Resbangs Past!

Come say hi to this year’s participants and mods on Discord!

This year’s schedule can be found here: beep

Check out these entries from resbang 2015!

[M] Coin Operated Boy [Stein/Marie]

Marie Mjolnir is an engineer working for Baba Yaga Enterprises (B.Y.E), a group currently holding the monopoly on their patented cyborg systems, created from years of now-illegal human experimentation. Marie, whose job is to find out how to synthesize emotions using these Cyborgs, would rather work her second job as a Vulture picking spare parts out of landfills for her resistance group. Yet, when Marie finds an abandoned cyborg, lacking both serial and model numbers, taking him in and finding out he has had his emotional receptors traumatically compromised, she realizes he could prove the catalyst for dismantling B.Y.E entirely. And as she begins to fall, both for the cyborg codenamed Franken Stein, as well as down the rabbit hole of his past, she realizes that, in love with a man who has to learn his feelings all over again, going after the person who hurt him in the first place is biting off more than she could ever hope to chew.

Warnings: Dystopia, Mentions of Prior Abuse, Torture

by author: @dollypopup

with artist: @legendaeriedere

Read it here: [ao3] [tumblr]

View it here: [tumblr]

[K+] Snowfall Never Lies [Soul/Maka]

Maka Albarn is the best personal assistant at Grigori Solutions. She’s a hard worker, well liked and inching closer to her ultimate goal of returning to school and becoming a business woman, just like her Mama. The road to her dreams isn’t an easy one, but nothing, not even kitschy office parties, a vendetta with the I.T. department, a flirty new employee or a mysterious food thief are going to keep her from achieving her goals, whatever they may be at winter’s end. Office AU

Warnings: none

by author: @Meisterful

with artist: @swordbreaker

and artist: @fist-first

Read it here: [ff.net]

View it here: [Swordbreaker06: [tumblr]] [Fist-first: [tumblr]]

[T] Maka’s Delivery Service [Maka & Soul, Stein/Marie, Tsubaki/Black Star]

Maka Albarn is a witch. Like the few who are able to use magic today, she follows a sacred tradition carried out for hundreds of years: when a young witch reaches the age of 13, she sets out to live in a town where no other witches reside to complete one year of independent training. On the day of her 13th birthday, Maka is packed and ready to go. She, with her trusty companion cat Blair, flies off for a year away from home in the big city.

Very loosely based off of “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” Will explore themes of friendship, abuse, near-death experiences, healing, and (of course) magic. Featuring gender neutral Crona, Stein and Marie expecting a little one, Wes living in the woods composing music, pretty much all the major characters making at least one small appearance, and some awful Google-Translated Swedish.

Warnings: mentions of abuse and neglect, blood, major character injury, hospitalization

by author: @tamashii-resonance

with artist: Smolscythe (@tinycatsandfruitsnacks)

Read it here: [ff.net] [ao3]

View it here: [dA 1, 2] [8tracks] [tumblr]

[T] Endeering [Soul/Maka, Stein/Marie, Tsubaki/Black Star, Anya/Tsugumi/Meme, Akane/Clay]

Stumbling upon a hidden society of centaurs, almost dying, and possibly making the biggest mistake of his life wasn’t exactly a part of Soul Evans’ plans. Yet, here he is- trying to integrate himself into this incredible world in the middle of a centuries-old war, falling in love with a magical creature, and finding out that all is not what it seems. The only thing left to wonder is- can a human really keep up and make a difference?

Warnings: swearing, violence, mild blood/gore, character death.

by author: @grigori-girl

with artist: @queen-korri

and artist: Makthemeister (@mrsashketchum)

Read it here: [ff.net]

View it here: [Queen Korri: soundcloud] [Makthemeister: tumblr]

[E] You Are the Wilderness [Stein/Marie]

Their idea of a good time wasn’t to be stuck in an enchanted spell-book. The Witch’s Grimoire was the last place they expected to end up in when Lord Death sent them on a group mission, but there they were. And, between the pig costumes, wandering into the woods with no sense of direction, being cast as the grandmother while being THE Death Scythe, and the fluffy wolf ears, Azusa, Marie, Spirit and Stein find themselves grumbling as they work their way through each story in hopes of coming out of it with some dignity still intact. But if Spirit pulled his tail one more time, Stein was going to dissect him, again: story-line be damned.

Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content, Canon Typical Violence, Bad Puns.

by author: @dollypopup

with artist: @soundofez

and artist: @chaoticlivi

Read it here: [ff.net][ao3]

View it here: [Soundofez: tumblr] [ChaoticLivi: tumblr (NSFW), dead link]

[T] Day-old Grease Stains [Black Star/ Death the Kid, minor Soul/Maka, Crona/Maka, Tsubaki/Liz, Stein/Spirit]

After several years of working at a failing branch of a multinational fast food franchise, Black☆Star still doesn’t know where he’s going with his life, or if he’s going anywhere at all. When a courtesy call from a government employee informs him that his estranged father has been sentenced to death, Black☆Star is forced to come to terms with the family he has, and to make the best of being directionless at 24. Avoiding fights is recommended, but not entirely feasible, and the end of the day it’s about friendship, found families, and not judging the new guy too harshly.

Warnings: Minor character death, alcohol use, brief mentions of gore

by author: @blackstar

with artist: @treeofjessie

Read it here: [ff.net][ao3]

View it here: [tumblr 1, 2, 3]

Some of the art is no longer at the links provided, because of the tumblr titty ban! If any of the artists, authors, or their partners see their resbang team is missing art, and they want to be included to the throwbacks (without titty), please shoot us a message!

#soul eater #resbang #resbang 2015 #rebang throwbacks #resbang 2015 tbt

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spectral-musette · 5 years

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So, the Avengers: Endgame spoiler ban is lifted, and I’ve had a chance to mull over my responses, so I’m finally going to try to write up some thoughts. I was hoping to have seen it again in the interim, but that didn’t work out, so I’m relying on memory from one viewing – it’s possible I’ve missed or misinterpreted things.

Spoilers to follow, so scroll carefully, Ye on Mobile! Also, sorry about the Long Post (TM), I apparently I had a lot to say.

Time-wise, for its 3 hour length, the film didn’t feel long to me. It maintained its momentum and nothing felt laggy or tedious, even the big battles.

Time travel-wise… Okay, positive stuff first. I thought that revisiting the settings of earlier films was absolutely delightful and nostalgic. It felt very satisfying to have those call backs to earlier adventures and cameos of old enemies (Crossbones, Pierce, Zola, and, surprise, even Sitwell). The Cap vs. Cap fight was hilarious, and I loved seeing Steve so utterly exasperated with himself (“I can do this all d-“, “YEAH, I know.”). The scene in the 70’s was good, though some of the Tony and Howard stuff rang a little hollow to me. I think that’s mostly because I’ve always had trouble reconciling Dominic Cooper’s Young Howard Stark (who I’m very fond of, especially after Agent Carter) to the older version of Howard we see in various flashbacks. They look, sound, and act nothing alike; my friends and I always joke that Hydra replaced Howard sometime in the 60’s. So while an aged up Dominic Cooper Howard probably would’ve made me emotional, as it was, I was more moved to see 20 seconds of Jarvis than for all the stuff with Tony talking to his dad about fatherhood.

Using the “Quantum Realm” for time travel was… okay…. Insofar as the “science” of the Ant-Man films has absolutely never made any damn sense (and that’s …. fine. They’re funny and joyful, and I enjoy them a lot anyway. I don’t go to Marvel movies for “realistic” science fiction), throwing time travel into the mix felt like it just might as well happen. I guess I understand why they chose to go with the “nothing we do in the past can affect our own timelines” approach, but frankly it’s still giving me a headache. I also understand not over-explaining, but there’s a middle ground there that wasn’t quite achieved for me. I guess, based on the scene with Tilda Swinton (sorry, haven’t seen Dr. Strange and don’t know her character’s name) and Bruce, we’re supposed to assume that every journey to the past (cue Anastasia music) creates or perhaps just shifts the time traveler into an alternate reality that branches from their original reality at that point? And then when they travel back to the time they started from via the quantum realm, they return to their original version of reality. So the actions that they take in the past affect that alternate reality, but not the reality that they came from and return to. That’s the only thing I can figure out that makes sense to me at all, but unfortunately the film didn’t make that especially clear. Maybe seeing it again would clarify? So this is gonna be a big factor in how I feel about Steve’s ending, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Also, a tangent re: time travel… While Tony (an engineer) and Bruce (a biologist) are both brilliant, this seems a little outside their areas of expertise! You know, wouldn’t it be great if we had a character who was an astrophysicist who could really tackle this type of thing - OH HEY, we do! I realize that there were probably issues with getting Natalie Portman back in a substantial role, but I love Jane Foster a lot and I would’ve loved seeing her work with Tony and Bruce to save the universe with a handful of Pym Particles.

OKAY, there’s an awful lot to cover, so I’m going to break down some of my feelings by character just to try to stay organized.

(First, a disclaimer that I haven’t seen Captain Marvel yet, so while Carol seemed like a great character, I don’t have a lot to say since I don’t really know her yet. That said, this seemed like an adequate introduction to the character and I am interested to know more. We have the problem of “if Fury could’ve called her anytime why didn’t he call her during the Chitauri attack/to fight Ultron/etc.” But all the individual titles that come after the team-ups have that problem a little bit… Where were the Other Avengers in Thor 2 or Iron-Man 3, etc.? Sometimes you just have to accept and move on.)

Briefly:

Nebula and Gamora, Tony, Bruce, Scott, with a quick note about Wanda and a very conspicuous absence

And the heavier stuff regarding:

Thor, Natasha, and Steve (and Sam and Bucky).

Nebula and Gamora:

While the Guardians aren’t really my thing, I did vaguely know that in the original Infinity Gauntlet comic storyline, Nebula takes the gauntlet from Thanos and fixes reality. I understand not following the comics exactly for the sake of surprise and to fit with the changed version of the universe, but it still felt wrong to totally take that away from her. Especially given what Thanos has done to her, personally, it seemed fitting that she was going to be the one defeat him. I’m glad she was still pivotal to the story, but it felt like an extra kick in the teeth that past!Nebula was the catalyst for Thanos catching up with our heroes rather than getting to be the one who saves the universe. And forcing her to kill her past self felt like it should’ve been treated with much more gravity than it finally was.

I’m really glad we “saved” Gamora by bringing the version of her from the past into the current timeline (however that works), but I feel so bad for anyone who’s really invested in Gamora/Peter Quill. It’s so heartbreaking that their entire history never happened as far as she’s concerned, that we’ve not only removed that very key relationship, but her character growth over the past how many years. It is at least hopeful; Peter remembers, and has the chance to woo her again, but that’s still got to sting.

Tony:

So Tony Stark sure did die.

I’m not sure… he really needed to? I mean I don’t think I get the rationale of the Infinity Gauntlet killing/maiming the user. I recall the handwavey line about gamma radiation, but if you don’t immediately die after using it, couldn’t you juuuust, say, use the Reality Stone to be like, “hey what if I wasn’t mortally injured”? Couldn’t somebody ELSE do that? I’m not sure I get that.

So that said, I’m not sure if RDJ was really pushing for “you gotta kill me off” for dramatic effect or just to step out of the franchise? It would’ve been kinda cool to see retired Tony working as Avenger-support, working on suits for Rhodey and future Iron-heroes (Iron Patriot? Iron Heart?), mentoring Peter and other youths, and living his nice life with Pepper and their munchkin.

But what a way to go, huh? Dramatic self-sacrifice saving the the planet(/universe?), and a funeral that almost everybody who’s anybody shows up for.

Bruce:

I’m with Valkyrie that I preferred EITHER version to PermaHulk Bruce. Honestly, the Hulk himself had sort of become an independent character, especially after Ragnarok (my issues with Ragnarok aside). So by Bruce settling into this “I look like the Hulk but I act like Bruce” limbo, are we … essentially killing the Other Guy? I don’t like that. I mean I prefer Bruce obviously, but I’m really uncomfortable with that solution.

Scott:

I really love Scott and he was delightful as always in this film. I’m heartbroken for him that he missed (another) 5 years of Cassie’s life, though. I’m also pretty sad we won’t get to see the little girl who has played Cassie so far in any future films since we’ve aged the character up to a teenager. Also, I would’ve liked to see more of Hope! I loved Scott and Hope’s little moment when Hope calls Steve “Cap” and they trade expressions between Scott going “SEE, HE IS REALLY COOL, RIGHT?” and Hope being like “Yeah, okay”.

Overall I guess the Ant-Fam is sorta tangential to the main MCU Avengers cast, so while it was nice to have everybody play together, briefly, I’m pretty content that we’ll see more of Hope (and Janet!) in future Ant-Man/Wasp titles.

- Similarly, while T’Challa and the Wakanda fam were definitely underused in Endgame (especially the entirely absent Nakia), Black Panther 2 is happening. It’s disappointing to not get a substantial amount of characters that you like in the big team-up films, but it’s good to know they’ll be returning later.

Wanda:

We are really leaving Wanda in a rough place of having lost her twin brother and her android boyfriend within a pretty short amount of time (that’s rough, buddy). Plus, one of the characters that we’ve seen her have a pretty strong bond with is Steve, and he’s out of the picture too. I’m not sure where we’re going with this character, honestly. Hopefully it’s not continuing to hurt her.

It really seemed conspicuous that nobody so much as mentioned Vision by name in this film. Wanda referred to him indirectly, but that was it. I get that Vision isn’t immediately able to be saved since he didn’t vanish in the Gauntlet event, but, yikes, can anybody besides Wanda please attempt to give a damn about him?

I know sometimes we like to pretend that Age of Ultron didn’t happen to us, but Vision was still an interesting character, and some major plot points of Infinity War focused on the value of Vision as a person. I feel pretty bereft that he’s (apparently) gone beyond recall with so little mourning.

Thor:

*heavy sigh*

Thor’s characterization was….???

Unpopular Opinion: despite its good points, I overall didn’t really like Ragnarok, and Thor already sort of felt out of character to me at that point.

Another Unpopular Opinion: I actually really love The Dark World. Thor’s relationship with Jane, and his characterization of gentleness and humility in that era really were important to me.

And I get that Hemsworth is genuinely good at comedy and probably likes doing it. But Thor has always been a funny character. We just used to be laughing with him instead of at him.

I was so uncomfortable with the way the film framed Thor’s brush with depression and alcoholism. Because Thor has lost so much at this point, he has every reason to struggle. I want to say that Thor wouldn’t have given up, but the same time I can believe that this almost unimaginable weight of loss (Frigga, Odin, Loki, Heimdall, The Warriors Three, Asgard itself) would take some toll. And yet the framing of his scenes treats his grief and despair as cause for humor. We’re expected to laugh about an unkempt beard and a big belly instead of being concerned about the fact that a character that we loved considers himself a failure. And there’s nothing funny about this situation to me. It just made me uncomfortable and sad. Revisiting Thor 2 and having him talk to Frigga was on the better side, but I’m disappointed that we couldn’t save her.

Natasha:

*heavier sigh*

Okay, I think a lot of the problem here is that it’s just really difficult to kill a main character any time other than in the last act (we also saw this problem in Star Wars Rebels, but that’s another can of worms). So because Natasha died at such a midway point in the movie, I still can’t shake the feeling that she’s not really dead. Nothing about it felt final to me. Clint trying to emphasize that, because Red Skull said so, it was impossible to bring her back (it’s freaking RED SKULL, why would we trust him???) just made me think even more that she was definitely coming back. Everything seemed to point to her dramatic reappearance and then it just … didn’t happen. That’s not to say it won’t happen in a future film, though, but it still feels deeply unsatisfying and unceremonious now, and that feeling really was a blow to my overall enjoyment of the film.

It also sat really badly with me that Natasha made this choice not just to save Clint (which I would believe; their friendship is really great and I love seeing Natasha’s extremely profound but non-romantic bonds with Clint and with Steve (though I would’ve preferred Natasha/Clint to Natasha/Bruce)), but because she fundamentally felt less worthy than Clint. I don’t like the idea that Natasha went to her death still feeling such guilt, still feeling like a monster (according to that awful scene in AoU), for the things she did as a very young person under the influence of brainwashing. I don’t like that at all.

I’m also really disappointed that we didn’t pursue Natasha and Bucky’s relationship from the comics in the MCU. Because the idea of two people with very similar emotional wounds coming together to support each other as they heal is just really appealing (#looking for baggage that goes with mine). That throwaway line in Civil War (“at least you could recognize me”) really had me convinced that we were going there. I guess we still could, but there are a lot of “ifs” standing in the way now.

Steve:

Another disclaimer: Steve is absolutely my favorite Avenger, and I ship Steve/Peggy really hard.

Aaand I still felt uncomfortable with the resolution.

Maybe it’s just the difficulty I’ve been having getting my head around the time travel shenanigans.

So a lot of the criticisms I’ve heard/read about Steve going back to the 1940’s to Peggy seems to be functioning under the assumption that Steve is living within the timeline as we know it in MCU canon, staying completely hidden, and just not changing any of the bad things that canonically happen: Bucky becoming the Winter Soldier, Hydra infiltrating SHIELD, etc.

But we’ve been told that time travel doesn’t work that way – that Back To The Future, Doctor Who way – in this universe, right? This brings me back to my Alternate Reality take. So my understanding is that after Steve returns the infinity stones to the points in time that the Avengers yoinked them from, he basically occupies an Alternate Reality for a lifetime (Tilda Swinton’s thing about the branched off timelines being consumed by the ~forces of darkness~ only applies IF the infinity stones aren’t returned, and he took care of that). And he could’ve done anything in that Alternate Reality – married Peggy, saved Bucky from Hydra, prevented any wars and disasters he could. Basically it was Steve’s own personal Happiness AU. And then, (presumably after Peggy’s death), he uses the Pym particles and the Quantum Realm to return to his original reality.

Except, in that case, shouldn’t he have returned on the platform instead of dramatically showing up on that park bench?

So…I’m confused and I don’t like it.

Even from the Alternate Reality take, the situation of that choice is complicated. In choosing to be with Peggy, he’s tearing himself out of the lives of all of his loved ones in his Original Reality – Bucky, Sam, Wanda, (whatever the situation was with Sharon Carter that we absolutely never resolved?), etc.

And we’re not completely sure it was a choice, exactly. It’s possible that in the ongoing work to return the infinity stones, Steve somehow got trapped in the past (don’t know why he would’ve had to go to the 40’s, but I guess he could’ve run out of Pym particles there and had to wait for Hank to invent them to even be able to make the trip back).

Also, narratively speaking, it feels a little like we’re invalidating Peggy’s grief, and her character growth that went on in Agent Carter (even if her happy ending with Steve is going on in an Alternate Reality). I wasn’t totally sold on Peggy and Daniel Sousa yet (though I do like Daniel as a character a lot), but Peggy had a whole lifetime that didn’t involve Steve except as a beloved memory. Where is she in that arc when Time Traveler Steve comes back into her life?

Also, even if it IS an Alternate Reality, there would STILL be a version of Steve frozen in the ice in the 1940’s in that reality. How do we deal with that?

And how do we deal with the fact that Steve isn’t the man that Peggy lost anymore. He still loves her, but he’s changed, he’s lived almost a decade since then. How do they find their footing with each other? I’m sure it isn’t impossible, but it’s interesting, and it’s not addressed at all.

I think that’s what bothers me the most – that this is a whole huge adventure – Steve’s entire LIFE – that we’re shoehorning in at the very end of the movie without showing any of the really interesting bits or answering any of our questions about it. I guess that leaves the situation as a fertile ground for the imagination, and maybe that’s a space that the MCU intends to explore someday? I would absolutely watch the hell out of Steve’s Time Travel Romance with Peggy, somebody take my goddamn money.

Anyway, I’m happy about Sam taking up the Shield as Captain America. Bucky-Cap also could’ve been great, but I feel like, with the place we left Bucky in his recovery, he doesn’t need that responsibility yet. Let him rest. Wherever we’re going with the series featuring Sam and Bucky is going to be really interesting, and maybe we’ll get to the point where Bucky really wants to work towards atonement and is ready to share the burden of the Shield with Sam? I’m looking forward to finding out.

Overall, most of my feelings about the movie were pretty positive. It was a complicated story to tell with a lot of characters, and mostly it was handled pretty well. Some of those threads did fall flat for me, but they didn’t totally invalidate the parts of the movie that worked.

#spoilers #Avengers Endgame spoilers #Endgame spoilers #long post #I had in my outline that I was going to talk about Clint #but I accidentally skipped that #it's briefly in Natasha's section #I could go into it more but this is already too long

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madaboutmerlin · 5 years

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Merlin Writer Month: Round Up

Hello Merlin fans! It’s hard to believe, but here we are again at the end of another week! Thank you to all who participated during this third one! There have been some really great recs! We hope you’ve enjoyed recommending and/or reading and connecting with others who love this great fandom!

As a friendly reminder, please make sure to use the tag #MerlinWriterMonth2018 when tagging your posts for this month.

This post, as per the usual, will go from largest quantity rec’d to the smallest, so as to make it more tidy.

Without further ado, here we go!

MERTHUR:

1. Footballers Don’t Dance by Tari_Sue

Summary: What else is a footballer supposed to do at the end of his career other than enter Strictly?

Words: 47,531

2. No Strings Attached by leahholmes12

Summary: Who knew it would be so comfortable hiding in the closet while your boyfriend fights with his wife, wearing his boxers and smelling like sex? In Merlin’s defense, Arthur hadn’t been wearing his wedding band that night at the bar. But sex isn’t the only reason why Arthur’s seeing Merlin… One of Dr. Arthur Pendragon’s secrets will change Merlin’s life forever. Rated for infidelity, drug abuse, and explicit sex.

Words: 17,560

3. Making Other Plans by digthewriter

Summary: Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.

Words: 12,920

4. You Only Live Twice by storyforsomeone

Summary: Agent Arthur Pendragon is the best double-0 the agency has ever seen, trained and honed to be MI6’s finest weapon.He does not need a voice in his ear telling him how to do his job. He does not listen to stubborn geniuses who apparently had no sense of self-preservation and enjoyed baiting professional killers.He certainly does not fall in love with quartermasters with haunting blue-gold eyes and an irritating habit of saving his life.(Or the one where Arthur is 007, Merlin is Q, and they’re both still idiots.)

Words: 226K

5. A Question of Honour by schweet_heart

Summary: It took a few seconds for this to sink in. When it did, Merlin felt as if he’d been repeatedly hit over the head by a blunt object, and had to clutch at Arthur’s shoulder for support. “Are you telling me you’re a virgin?!” He squeaked, his voice reaching a pitch that was probably only audible to bats and a handful of dogs.OR: Arthur is getting married, and there are certain things he wants to know before his wedding night. Apparently, Merlin is the only one he can ask.

Words: 10K

6. The Catalyst by Val_Creative

Summary: Merlin will never die. Time has withered him to a standoffish, hollow mimicry of what he has once been. The boy who wore his smiles with pride and genuine feeling.The worst part is he never truly lives, not until destiny spits Arthur Pendragon back out.

Words: 218,982

7. Mr & Mr Smith by Detochkina

Summary: Merlin Emrys is used to living life on the go. As an agent for the Agency of Magic, Merlin’s days are consumed by travel, exotic locations, and battling a faceless rival – an officer from the competing Bureau of Corrections, who is always hot on his heels and ready to one-up him. When Merlin is sent on a mission to Las Vegas to secure a powerful artifact, he allows himself one night off. Just one, because he bloody deserves it. Drinks and foreplay lead to a bet with a hot financial advisor he just met. Merlin ends up as a newlywed. Oops.

Words: 101,837

8. Merlin’s Just A Fast Learner by a_fuck_it_kind_of_lifestyle

Summary: A mysterious sorcerer saved the army of Camelot at Camlann, but more than that, he saved Arthur Pendragon. Upon returning home, Arthur discovers the errors of his ways, and vows to correct his father’s wrongs. He starts by lifting the ban on magic. But he realizes to fully understand the new world, he needs a court sorcerer. So he asks his most trusted friend to learn magic. Merlin, being an idiot, said yes. He quickly finds out that hiding his knowledge of magic while doing magic is almost as hard as hiding his deep unending love for Arthur. Arthur is still an oblivious idiot in every aspect of his life besides Uther, and doesn’t realize that he’s in love with his obvious sorcerer friend Merlin.

Words: 12K

9. Fire and Filigree by CreamMoon

Summary: For ten years Arthur is the youngest son of Sir Ector and Lady Evaine. When the lady of the household dies in childbirth that all ends, and he becomes an indentured servant to work off his debt of “ten years of care”. Ten years later he’s at his wit’s end catering to the household’s demands. But then a series of events set in motion by an aggravating Fae, a well meaning Knight, and an annoying stranger turn his world upside down.

Words: 20,688

10. Two Halves of the Whole by Fiery_archer_lav3nder_p1x1e

Summary: In a world where Alphas and Omegas are seen as sub-human, treated like animals, and isolated from the world, two boys find each other. The world may not see them as anything, but to each other, and the rest of their kind, they’re a beacon of hope. They’ve survived years in a system that looks only to obliterate those with their special capabilities, but once they find each other, they take their lives back…. together. Who knows what this could mean for the world.

Words: 82,171

11. The Dragon of Avalon by darklydreamingdoctor

When Merlin is wounded at Camlann instead of Arthur, the two journey to Avalon in a final attempt to save the sorcerer's life. Once there they receive help from an unexpected source... with unexpected consequences.

Words: 26,474

12. It’s a Safeguarding Issue by Guessimaclotpole

Arthur Pendragon is a 23-year-old NQT preparing for his first year of teaching Music to international students at Durham University; and he is all kinds of stressed and nervous. So, when cocky northerner Emrys ends up dumped in his class, his first year of teaching becomes anything other than what he’d expected.

Emrys Smith is a 20-year-old talented local student who has applied for the music course at Durham University with a full scholarship, and with pressure from his Mother. He was the only local student to pass the entry requirements and on his first day he is thrown in with the international students. There he meets his lecturer, Arthur Pendragon, and fresh meat is always the easiest target.

After a horrible event takes place, Arthur and Emrys form a bond which they can’t allow to become anything more than a standard Teacher/Student relationship- but Arthur learns of Emrys’ dark background and can’t help but feel tenderly for him.

Only after Arthur pushes Emrys away does he realise he’s head over heels for his student.

Words: 48,871

13. down came the lightning on me by ladililn

Plot twist: it turns out Arthur doesn't have any problem with Merlin kissing guys if it's Arthur he's kissing.

Words: 11,731

14. Knight of the Temple by rotrude

When Edessa, a city and county conquered during the first crusade, falls to Atabeg Zengi, Pope Eugene II pleads for the start of a new expedition. Meanwhile Norman knight Arthur Pendragon is faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage. The only way out for him is joining the brethren of the Temple. It's in the Holy Land he meets the mysterious Merlin.

Words: 33,435

15. King & Lionheart by Bohemia

For someone with so many secrets, Merlin doesn't think he's very good at lying. So agreeing to discuss his friendship with the Prince of Wales at University as part of a televised documentary is probably not a good idea. Juggling magic, Royal protocol, suave (and persistent) Dukes, a Princess with attitude, and a serious amount of coursework was only the start. Oh and then there was Arthur himself. Yeah, probably shouldn't mention much about that...

Words: 263,877

16. We Need to Talk by schweet_heart

Arthur and Merlin work together. They also used to sleep together. That was a long time ago - but now Arthur wants Merlin back.

Words: 23,400

17. As the Tide Comes Tumbling In by Polomonkey

Merlin never thought that being a politician's husband would make him a target. But then he's kidnapped by two men looking for Arthur's attention and finds himself trapped in a living nightmare.

Words: 4,540

18. Song of Runes by Plutonia

When Arthur confronts Morgana in the throne room, hearing the name 'Emrys' for the first time in years has his mind reeling. He gave up on finding his soulmate long ago. Now he's supposed to believe that not only is it an old man, but also a sorcerer?

Words: 10,938

19. Rebuilding a Stone Circle by TheLadyCassandra

After Merlin reveals his magic in an ambush. Arthur's choices and Merlin's fierce loyalty mean that the way ahead will not be easy.

Words: 19,849

20. The Cold Light of Morning by Clea2011

Uther had plans for Arthur. They didn't involve him choosing his own omega. They certainly didn't involve him choosing a servant for that role.

Words: 26,598

21. Modern Merlin AU by V_L_G_4200

Inspired by tumblr posts by 'katiemcgrath'

"Almost got arrested." "What?? Why?" "Punched the Prince of Wales." "Was he angry?" "I don’t know. Gave me his number." "You going to call him?" "Nah, gonna post it on Twitter."

Words: 6,720

22. A Song of Life by fancyh

Canon divergence from episode 5x03: The Death Song of Uther Pendragon. What would have happened if Arthur overheard Merlin and Uther, if he found out about Merlin's magic then?

Words: 8,224

23. You wanted to get lost in the woods by Miledh

Arthur cuenta los días esperando que sea el momento de regresar, pero antes de poder reunirse con el joven mago, el legendario rey deberá demostrar una vez más lo que hay en su corazón.

Ávalon es una tierra de magia y mitos, y el bosque es profundo más allá de los árboles.

« I found you, and it was magical. Then you wandered off into the woods and never come back. I tried yo find you again, but you didn't want to be found. I looked everywhere, but you walked away and I lost you. »

Kayden Lomahan

Words: 10,665

24. Little Talks KnownAsEmrys

Merlin lost the three most important people to him and unsurprisingly he has a hard time adjusting to it. He loses his job and he no longer has anywhere to go when his apartment building gets torn down. Luckily, Arthur, the man he's only met twice, and who is adored by their mutual friends, has a spare room. Or,

In which Merlin needs a place to stay and his friends decide to move him in with the rich workaholic he barely knows.

Words: 57,893

25. and we'll be glowing in the dark by destroyerofhearts

Every Christmas throughout his childhood until he moved out of home, his father had always set up his Christmas themed model train and town set. A wave of nostalgia rushed through Arthur as he admired the little building that held many fond memories of Christmas with his family growing up. Rifling through the box next to the first one he’d open, he revealed the train and its tracks, buried underneath several Christmas lights. And it was in that moment that inspiration struck.

In which Merlin is the grinch, Arthur is a real Christmas enthusiast, and Christmas light competitions are most definitely a thing.

Words: 2,246

26. More Than A Feeling by staymagical

P.I. Arthur Pendragon has always considered himself good at his job, relying more on his gut instincts and intuition than his mediocre skills at spell casting and half-assed illusions. But it's enough and he gets the job done, more or less. A woman asking for his aid in tracking down her missing daughter, a familiar no less, is just another case in his books. Until it isn't.

Merlin Emrys hasn't known much in life, happiness perhaps as a child, then the dark shades of society and cruelty bled through as he got older. At 25, he's used it by now. It comes with being a familiar in a witch dominated world. And in the dark underbelly of the city where he resides, he has little choice in how he wants to live. Only whether he survives.

Purely by chance, they stumble upon each other and together, end up discovering the sinister secrets of the city's underbelly.

Words: 6,311

GEN:

1. Rend and Rebuild by PeaceHeather

One wrong move in the heat of battle changes everything. Merlin is a sorcerer, and Arthur has stabbed him.

Words: 103,598

2. Do You Feel Like a Young God? by onceandfuturewarlock

When Merlin's magic is discovered by the last person he ever would have expected, he soon finds himself a pawn in the most twisted, dangerous game he's ever played, no way to win, and no way out - unless, of course, he changes the rules.

Words: 22,038

3. Stronger Than by NotNecessarilyInThatOrder

“I said I was dying.” Arthur sighed.“I don’t have time for this.” “Would you have had time to retrieve my corpse?” Merlin thought, then nearly smacked himself when Arthur’s expression made him realize he’d spoken out loud. Could Merlin have told the truth if Arthur had been willing to listen that morning? What would that mean for their future? For Morgana's?

Words: 38,034

4. The Siege Perilous by CarverTwain

Druids came for Hunith's son long ago. Years later, a man named Emrys and his apprentice are captured as Druids in Camelot. But Emrys strikes a deal with Uther: as long as the King allows Emrys to live as a political prisoner in the dungeons, the Druids will stay far away from Camelot. Uther agrees. Hated and feared, Emrys works to gain the trust of his jailers.

Words: 26,781

5. A Sea and Four Centuries by MDJensen

In which Lancelot and Aramis wake up in the wrong beds-- and the wrong countries, and the wrong centuries.

Words: 13,613

6. Knowledge does not mean Understanding by Selene467

In a time when Merlin's magic is outed and accepted -something he never thought possible months ago- Arthur is shown that despite knowing how strong Merlin is, he doesn't fully understand -comprehend- just how powerful he truly is. A dangerous conflict in which Merlin all but sacrifices himself to save everyone else, shows Arthur that there is far more to Merlin than he thought possible. Gaius wasn't kidding when he told Arthur that Merlin was the strongest sorcerer ever to have lived.

Words: 13,147

7. A Criminal's Burial by gecko818

Upon awakening in a strange castle with no memory of the last week, Arthur learned that not only had he been recovering from poison, but that Merlin was responsible for the betrayal. Unfortunately, the boy was reportedly killed by Arthur's own sword and left to rot. Little does he know, the story is a mere ruse to conquer Camelot.

Words: 34,761

8. The Right Thing by AithuzahFic

Merlin jumped when Arthur spoke.

“He didn’t deny it,” he said, his voice low and cool.

“I’m sorry?”

“He said he loved her and would never hurt her, but he never said it wasn’t true.”

Words: 3,734

9. Silence Cuts Loudest Through the Chaos by 1917farmgirl

Kidnapped by a mad king, Arthur and Merlin must rely on each other like never before. While Arthur struggles with choices that put his heart and duty at odds, Merlin struggles just to stay alive after being stripped of his magic and freedom. With impossible choices and heavy secrets weighing them down, can they manage to escape before all is lost?

Words: 73,213

10. The Truth of Who We Are by Marie_Iliea

Set into the wall, a brazier evenly spaced between them, were words, each with the imprint of a hand below it, and a pair of footprints set into the floor below that. Loyalty, Strength, Courage, Servitude, Magic, Nobility, Humility, Authority, and Discipline. Merlin recognized the riddle right away, having met the dwarf during Arthur’s quest. He knew three of the names, three of the matches — and it terrified him. What would the others make of him being Magic? He shivered, a thrill of fear running down his spine.

Or: When Arthur and the knights go hunting, but events take a predictably unusual turn that exposes Merlin's magic to them all -- and then it all goes, quite literally, to the Otherworld.

Words: 6,501

11. Some Things Are Meant to Be by 1917farmgirl

For Merlin, having the world fall apart around him was nothing new, but having someone there to help him pick up the pieces afterwards unfortunately was. Until it happened twice, with two very special people who appeared in his life when he most needed saving.

Words: 6,720

12. Conversation with a Goldsmith by Signal27

Arthur has commissioned rings for his new knights that helped him take back Camelot from Morgause, Morgana, and the immortal army. Along with the rings, he learns a history that his father never told him...about a dragonlord that helped put his father on the throne. Balinor. Post season 3. Arthur figures a few thing out, but keeps it secret.

Words: 46,594

ARWEN:

1. The Three Guineveres by CyberQueens

It probably was too much to expect, that a royal wedding in Camelot could ever go on without trouble, doppelgangers, ghosts and an attempted assassination. And only about half of it was Merlin’s fault this time.

Words: 93,517

2. The Peasant King (and His Noble Queen) by CyberQueens

Arthur, long-lost illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon, enjoys the simple peasant’s life, in a simple village, as he worries about simple things. That is, until the day Merlin comes to make him king. Elsewhere, Guinevere, descended from a great and noble family of equally great and noble standing, mourns her father, and the fact that he left his crown to her brother.

With peace and stability in Albion resting on an alliance between their kingdoms, the two of them are a match made in heaven – in everyone’s opinion but their own, of course.

Words: 37,168

3. A Matter of Pride by WoodlandGoddess1

Arthur gazed down at the photograph of his uncle for another moment and then looked out at his wife once more. He let her blatant bisexual pride flood through him and fill the cavern of his chest. He raised his chin and squared his shoulders as he made a decision that could change his life as he knew it:

He was going to the pride festival.

Words: 34,555

4. Living with Merlin by rubberglue

Gwen needs a place to live and Merlin needs a house mate. It's (almost) perfect.

Words: 21,937

5. Not Your Everyday Arthurian Fantasy by sophielou21

Gwen gives Arthur the shock of a lifetime when she tells him she is pregnant. Deciding to keep the child, they embark on the difficult task of telling their friends and family members the news - and leave a path of chaos in their wake.

[Originally posted on LiveJournal in 2010, under the title 'One Morning On Wednesday' following a prompt on the then-Arthur/Gwen community Camelot_Love, posted by a friend. This is a tongue-in-cheek reimagining of BBC Merlin's Camelot set in a modern alternative version of Britain - or Albion - today.]

Words:15026

6. Above The Law by JustineofQueens

Arthur and Morgana Pendragon are Albion's finest brother and sister detectives who work alongside attorneys Elyan and Guinevere of Leodegrance & Leodegrance Law Firm, putting away Albion's worst criminals. But one criminal has eluded them thus far. Myron Crook.

Words: 112,149

7. The Other Princess by Funny.Bonez

When Morgana runs away after finding out she is to be married to the prince of Camelot, it is up to Gwen to step in and take her place. But with all the twist and turns that life has to offer, can Gwen really handle marrying Arthur? Or will she run to? AU

Words: 79,355

8. Marriage by Agreement by sportyshuie

Arthur’s a womaniser and wants Gwen in his bed by all means, including marrying her through cheat and gamble. Gwen loathes Arthur yet succumbs to the loveless marriage for her father. But destiny mentions Arthur’s first wife will die and only his second will bring him happiness. And Elena is waiting in the wings. Read as the drama unfolds … will Gwen die or will she live?

Words: 165,122

9. Forbidden by Thepinkhouseowner

He’s a world-famous actor, she’s just a simple costume designer for the film he’s starring in. He likes blondes, fake boobs and good times. She is gentle, genuine and quietly beautiful. Not even a one night stand could ever happen… could it?

Words: 71,612

10. Desperate Measures by niklovr

Speculation fic. Guinevere fears that Morgana's enchantment has affected her fertility. So she considers magic to help her produce an heir. Meanwhile, Arthur's investigation into sorcery will lead him to question his greatest ally. Will include Merlin, Gaius, the Knights, & maybe Morgana. Spoilers: 5x06, 5x07, 5x08, and 5x09.

Words: 56,706

11. The Wife by tudor-rose445

As the wife of the prince Gwen knows that she is destined to one day rule beside him. Yet the road to the throne will not be simple. The second entry in "The Once and Future" series.

Words: 45,843

MERWAINE:

1. The Price of Eight For One by dancingpenss

The soulmate words were seemingly the one form of magic Uther Pendragon could not best. Merlin has never wanted hers; they are sure to be a great deal of trouble on top of being a warlock. After all, soulmarks are a type of magic, and she has eight.

Words: 45,877

2. the one where everybody finds out by nanwashbrad

A series of shorts about how the people of Camelot found out about Gwaine and Merlin.

Words: 3,598

3. If I Had a Heart I Could Love You by SolarMaga

Given Merlin’s track record he felt himself quite justified in his brutal crushing of any romantic feelings, no matter how vague. Besides, Merlin had a destiny. He had to keep a close watch on Arthur, how could he do that if he was too busy being in love?

Compared to Merlin, Gwaine opened his heart wholly to anyone willing to peek within, that didn’t mean though that any one person held his heart. No, Gwaine left himself open to any but never let anyone in long enough to take root.

Merlin refusing to accept that he might possibly have romantic feelings for anyone. Gwaine can't quite figure out why he keeps thinking kissing his best friend until he does. Poor Lancelot is left shaking his head at the two of them. So what if the Perfect Knight tries to push his friends into each others arms? Someone had to do it.

Words: 11,792

4. Endless by MumblePhantomFox

Although Merlin would've liked to have thrown in the towel, what he wanted to be an end was only yet another beginning. And with new royalty making waves, magical threats continuing to surface, and a new generation to protect, Albion has no intention of letting him disappear anytime soon.

Words: 5,641

5. A New Day by Hershey_chan

"Loving Arthur was, without a doubt, the most painful thing Merlin had ever endured...

As Merlin stood in front of an applauding crowd, wearing fine robes to match the new title of Court Sorcerer that Arthur had bestowed upon him with Queen Guinevere at his side, Merlin wondered why he was still alive. He had completed his destiny, hadn’t he? Now he had no purpose. For some reason, it seemed natural to Merlin that people died because they had finished what they were placed on this world to achieve. Why else would it be fair that all of Merlin’s loved ones had died saving other people, which they must have been destined to do?

But Merlin was not dying. He felt in perfect health, and thanks to his protection spells surrounding the castle and the whole of Camelot, he would not be killed in some kind of attack. Merlin looked first at Arthur’s beaming face, then at Gwen’s, then turned to survey the room of happy people. He felt sick."

With his destiny completed, countless loved ones dead, and his love for Arthur unrequited, Merlin finds himself lacking the will to live. Gwaine tries to give him a purpose again.

Words: 19,557

6. The Traveler and The Servant by MagicLovesStrength

Gwaine met Merlin months ago, but never expected to see him again captured in Cenred's dungeon, bound to the floor with chains. He knows they have to get out, before Cenred can harm them both, or kill them.

Words: 2,537

BALINOR/HUNITH:

1. The Merman and the Maiden by LittensTinyMittens

Hunith Faber is Uther Pendragon's Personal Assistant. She hates her job, but the pay is decent, at least until she can find another one. Due to their office being under repairs, he is working from his massive mansion, and she is joining him.

She never expected to find a merman in his huge aquarium.

Words: 6,729

MERWEN:

1. love takes you in by queervampire

"It wasn’t my fault!" Merlin defended, while Gwen just pointed to him and said, "It was his idea!"

The baby in her arms gurgled with amusement.

(The one where Merlin and Gwen become co-parents, Morgana plays matchmaker, Arthur is clueless, and magic druid babies make everything better.)

Words: 10,501

FREYLIN:

1. stolen moments by daisy_chains

It is on rare occasions, when the sun burns brightly and magic thrums melodically in the air, that Freya manages to slip away from her watery grave to join her lover for a few stolen moments.

Words: 5,436

LEON/PERCIVAL:

1. You're My Home by ThexBrokenxMirror

Nothing is as it seems to be in Camelot. People are starting to get sick with what they are calling the 'Illness'. Soon they are going to learn that Morgana isn't the only one they have to fear. Especially when this enemy is something they've never seen before.

Words: 15,907

MERLIN/LANCELOT:

1. Starting the End by Uniasus

When Arthur and the knights walk out of the Lake of Avalon, Merlin's not sure what to think. He's seen some awful things, but Arthur's arrival hints that what's to come could be worse. Sadly, Merlin has no clue what it is.

And on top of that, they no longer work as a unit. Merlin's relationships with them all have shifted, partly because they all now know he has magic, partly because in the modern world he's a million more times successful (and has the cash to prove it), and partly because in the roughly two thousand years he's been walking the Earth he's spent lifetimes with the individual knights, come to love each and every one, and they don't remember.

Words: 26,265

MULTIPLE:

1. Let Them Go And Fade Into Light by Lion_owl

After the victory at Camlann and the death of Morgana, Queen Guinevere has lifted the ban on magic and Camelot is thriving – but with a new threat looming on the horizon, Arthur and the other fallen knights must return considerably sooner than Merlin anticipated; and they have a surprising ally by their side

Words: 3,347

#merthur #merwaine #arwen #merwen #freylin #wip week #roundup #merlinwritermonth2018

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forthemultiverse · 6 years

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Young Justice Headcanons (2)

A Teenaged Night In

- They still found a way to blame Robin when they found out Batman had walked in on them again.

- Technically he was the one that set up the game station in the cave…

- And technically it was his hard drive of illegally downloaded TV Shows and Movies.

- It all began when Artemis outed that Dick and Wally weren’t available one night because they were at the Batcave, playing video games.

- M’gann asked what video games they played. having heard the time a few times at school, and instead of just welcoming everyone to the cave, Dick and Wally decided to relocate to the mountain.

- He linked the training simulator to the video game so it was like some super high tech virtual reality game.

- Wally and Dick started explaining how to play the game to the group and Kaldur picked it up immediately.

- He destroyed them all.

- They never saw him coming

- He’d just appear, score points, disappear and somehow gain even more points.

- Conner…not so much

- He’s a button masher but doesn’t know the actual combos

- No technique, just hit and hope for the best.

- They can’t let him play certain characters in fighter games because button mashing started to work for him and Dick refused to lose.

- They started a rotation thing, every one pairing up to try and complete one of the levels

- Dick and Wally are an unbeatable combination, they didn’t even need to communicate in full sentences.

- They just played off each other to destroy all of the bad guys

- Seeing them be such nerds and so successful set off the next part of the night.

- M’gann watched them and suddenly started singing Two-Player Game from Be More Chill

- Dick started joining in as he played, attempting to sing at the top of his lungs and still play well.

- Wally and he were distracted by the song and started stupidly dancing along to the words.

- When they completed the level and the song had stopped, everyone was laughing and wanted to know why Robin knew all of the words.

- “My dad supports theatre and stuff…” he carefully phrased. “But if we are introducing musicals, a throwback to the other night, we need to show them High School Musical.”

- “Oh my god yes!” Zatanna clapped

- That discussion turned into a full-blown debate

- They all knew that they had to show theme High School Musical, but what about all the other Disney movies?

- What order to you watch DCOMS and the normal Animated Movies

- And what about Pixar

- What about the Pixar Timeline

- Or the must-watch animated TV shows like Avatar The Last Airbender

(Fight me, we all know Wally or Dick would have watched it and worshipped it)

- They binged all three High School Musical movies, the group that already knew the words trying their best not to ruin the musical numbers

- They failed, Dick started singing and dancing ‘I Don’t Dance because it’s his jam (+he’s the youngest and a ball of sunshine with no self-control yet)

- They also starting ‘arguing’ about whether Sharpay was truly a bad character.

- They started Avatar the Last Airbender and made Kaldur do the water movement each opening credits.

- They also didn’t get very far into the episode because they kept making Kaldur copy Katara.

- They stopped because Artemis started thinking about M’gann’s love of ‘Hey Megan’

- She suggested they should watch Friends

- The thing about Artemis is, she didn’t have much of a happy childhood, and she certainly didn’t have all the TV channels or a Netflix account to watch all of these shows on.

- She watched them illegally from rooftops and closet when she was hiding from her dad. She’d watch every time he and Jade had an argument before Jade ran away.

- She binged hundreds of shows when joining Gotham Academy to try and fit in, she thought she’d understand all the references, but she was wrong.

- Watching the shows now, surrounded by a group of people who loved her, laughing out loud and saying whatever she wanted, without the fear of being found and told off/caught in the middle of an argument.

- Thinking about it all made her snuggle even closer to Wally’s chest.

- She wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.

- Artemis and Wally started the clapping in the Friends Theme Tune since they had it on constantly when they had more relaxed dates.

- Soon M’gann joined in. Overly excited, and clapping far too many times since she didn’t know what the rhythm was.

- Soon everyone was clapping randomly.

- Dick and Wally started deliberately trolling the group by clapping out of time, or adding too many times.

- They watched the first three seasons and started classifying each other as the characters.

- They didn’t settle on anyone definitely because they all kept arguing.

- Some people would say Wally was Joey, since he used to flirt with everyone - but now he was with Artemis…it was harder

- Wally said Robin was definitely a Joey but no one agreed with him. They didn’t know Dick Grayson - ward of the billionaire playboy, the Dog who kissed Barbara Gordan in a closet during his fourteenth birthday party. (Dick identifies as Janice)

- Since they’d watched friends, Raquel said they needed to watch How I Met Your Mother, since she’d started watching it from the recommended section on Netflix.

- The Slap Bet is now banned from the mountain because if Conner manages to somehow win - you are screwed

- Plus, M’gann knows if you’re cheating to get extra slaps

- And Dick always wins, even if the bet is over something as small as the most popular ice cream flavour or the name of some random background actor.

- He then goes on a mini-rant how he’s constantly pressured by Batman and the second he lives home, he’s going to relax his head and focus on the things he wants to know - like people and real team leading, not just I always have a planning team leading.

- After the mini-rant, they needed something to lighten the mood. They could see the tension Robin’s feeling about Batman, and they aren’t ready to be the catalyst to their breakup.

- Wally suggested ICarly

- The Theme tune is all that’s heard from Kaldur’s room from that point forward for about a month and a half.

- Seddie versus Ceddie.

- They’re all team Seddie, and Dick totally doesn’t make them rewatch the first kiss from Season Five three times just because he can’t deal with how amazing it was.

- That pisses Wally off even more as the gang then say that a hopeless romantic like that couldn’t possibly be a dog/flirt

- Little do they know Dick just has emotional problems that stop him from expressing his hopeless love for people.

- They thought about all the videos of them up from their last non-superhero adventure and considered making their own little online show. Just some small vlogs about them training, or the stupid things Kid Flash does.

- They decided against ever publishing them since they can’t trust themselves not to use real names by accident (or just showing too much personality that would allow people to figure out who they are)

- Batman had said they were a team to work on the sly.

(cackling from a distance)

- Robin makes the Youtube channel anyway, just in case they ever change their mind.

- Zatanna also makes a team Instagram to post short videos or photos, they all have the password so they can post whenever they feel like it.

- They have to be careful they don’t accidentally post on their civilian account

(I reckon Dick fucks up one time, and that’s how the team find out his identity, but all the civilians just assume that something’s up with the Wayne’s so the team were brought in for protection)

- Watching ICarly leads them into looking at what exactly Dick has on his hard drive

- Phineas and Ferb came on by accident, and even though they’re all tired and half asleep, it’s too entertaining to turn off.

- It also got Wally in the mood for Snow Cones, due to the Swinter episode, meaning they attempted to make them, sending him and his superspeed off to grab the stuff for it.

- Watching Phineas and Ferbs starts an OG Team meme

- “Aren’t you kids a little young to be saving the world?”

- “Yes, yes we are,”

- Batman saw the social media account and wants to know what’s going on/ Why Dick hasn’t been home for over twenty-four hours?

- He walked into the mountain, and they were all too caught up in Snow Cones, lack of sleep, and kids cartoons to notice his arrival (even though the system announced it)

- He heard them laughing and thought about all the argument’s he and Dick had been having recently.

- He thought of Artemis’s stolen childhood

- How M’gann and Kaldur were now apart of earth culture, but they never grew up here, M’gann faced discrimination on Mars, Kaldur trained in magic. They didn’t get childhoods in their worlds, and they at least should get a moment of childhood here on earth.

- He thought of Zatanna, being forced to see Fate every time the Justice League was around, and how she can’t do anything to free her dad. Her family was so close, yet, she had still lost him.

- Raquel was inspired to help people by the team, that was her choice, but it still wasn’t fair. She may have chosen to give up a normal life, but she deserved a break.

- He thought of Conner. Clark was working harder to welcome Conner into his family, but it’s hard enough dealing with teenagers and Conner had appeared as a sixteen-year-old, and he was going to be that age forever. Conner was brainwashed to think he was a weapon; he deserved to feel like he was more than that.

- He retreated into the teleporter, disappearing away to let the kids have that weekend off.

- They deserved a weekend off, a night in.

- They deserved to enjoy teenaged culture.

Part One: Teenaged Night Out

Sorry guys, I wanted to write some cutie TV show stuff plus some sadness that was just on my mind. Hope people like it <3<3

xx Scarlett

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certainstudentstudent-fan-blog · 5 years

Text

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spaceorphan18 · 6 years

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TDB Rewatch: Promasaurus

@ckerouac was right - I should have just read the wiki article, lol (no - I won’t do that, I’m a glutton for punishment if nothing else.)

I remember the night this aired -- and this kind of stunned silence of -- what the fuck did we just watch, followed by a ton of anger. I haven’t seen this episode in full in a long, long time, and I’ve kind of come back to that point. I haven’t been this irritated by an episode since early season 3.

Ryan Murphy wrote this episode - and while usually his episodes are better, I feel like this was more so a love letter to Lea Michele. I’m almost positive that she’s the Prom Queen of his heart. Unfortunately, he has to bend the world that is Glee to get it to work. Ug.

Thoughts:

Super annoying things -

Let’s start with Rachel, because she is what pisses me off more than anything in this episode. I get being upset about screwing up the audition, a teen would be. But that doesn’t mean your dreams are dead or that you should let your entire life revolve around your relationship. I could probably rant paragraphs about how awful Rachel is in this episode. I’ll spare you.

I will say - it reminds me of the (untrue) criticisms all the baby boomers have about millennials. That we’re just special snowflakes who deserve to have our crowns and adoration just because we’re us not because we’ve truly made a difference. We’re entitled to have it. Nope -- sorry, most of us work are asses off, and once upon a time, Rachel Berry did, too -- but sometime around late season 2, the writers forgot to show us why we should be invested in Rachel Berry -- and we get this special snowflake treatment. I’m just tired of it -- she should be out there fighting for her place in New York, and instead we get this and Props and an unearned spot waiting for her at NYADA. I just can’t.

I also have a real hard time with this whole idea that Glee is obsessed with -- that “popular” kids have some kind of sway over “lesser” students. Maybe celebrities do -- and that’s celebrity culture -- but actual high school? Not so much. I feel like I understand Ryan Murphy a whole lot better though out this process though. RM must have cared a whole lot more about Prom Queen than any of the rest of us ever did.

Meanwhile, sucking up the rest of this episode was Quinn and her drama. And it’s irritating on two levels. One - she’s totally using her injury to foster sympathy votes. Gross. Stop. Epic eye roll for Rachel giving her one pep talk and her coming around. Two - the fact that Quinn can’t seem to be a full character unless she’s propping up Rachel Berry. The fact that everyone in this entire season is a prop for Rachel Berry. UG -- I’m so annoyed.

Meanwhile, still, is Finn - who just doesn’t even feel like a character anymore -- but a catalyst for whatever is happening in the Rachel Berry show, and I just feel bad for him.

Mildly annoying things --

The 800 straight couples sucking face while Klaine (and Brittana) remain physically distant from each other. It really did stick out to me -- especially when random couple #295 gets a close up of kissing, and Rick the Stick gets to kiss his girlfriend but Klaine (and Brittana) barely get any physical contact.

The fact that they completely forgot Brittany was a senior. Hey, she’s failing, but her legacy as president is more important, so let’s focus on that instead.

I thought the dinosaur theme was dumb (sorry)

Brittany’s ban on hair gel.

Brittany’s treatment of the prom committee.

That song Brittany sings about old men hitting on young women.

Brittany.

Tina wishing this year would go on forever. Oh. God no. No more season 3.

The fact that Kurt is also a prop in the story of Rachel Berry -- I’m just numb to it by now, which is probably why it’s not in the upper category.

Things that didn’t annoy me but I couldn’t enjoy because the rest of this episode was filled with the Rachel Berry Pity Party --

Puck and Becky’s story -- Becky’s still a bit over the top, but I felt genuine emotion for them. Puck’s seriously having issues about failing his test, and I buy that way more than Rachel’s rage. (I feel like there’s some commentary here, too, about the writers having issues writing women, tbh.)

Becky’s war against Xylophones

The fact that Sue wasn’t that annoying in this episode.

Sam and Mercedes having a nice moment together - and even acknowledge Shane and that he’s okay. Where was this story? This should have been the whole story.

Mike’s excitement about dinosaurs.

The rest of the boys forming a boy band.

In fact, I like most of the music in this episode.

The very small amount of Klaine we got in this episode was very sweet.

Kurt’s prom outfit - I mean really. Yes.

#tdb rewatch #and now i remember why i don't like the end of season 3 either

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asmasheikh · 3 years

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How the Event Industry Is Tackling the Impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 has had an impact on almost all aspects of life. In March of this year, the virus had spread to over 100 countries, forcing the World Health Organization to declare a global pandemic. Unprecedented lockdowns, strict travel bans and “social distancing” measures followed shortly. According to Johns Hopkins University, this year to date there have been almost 60 million cases and over one million deaths worldwide due to the novel coronavirus.

Many industries that were thriving before the pandemic have faced significant revenue losses and contracted in terms of their growth. Several companies across multiple industries have already declared bankruptcy or were forced to lay off significant portions of their staff.

Naturally, one of the worst affected by the pandemic was the events industry. 2020 saw the cancellation of many prominent festivals, sporting events, exhibitions and concerts in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. As early as March, St. Patrick’s Day festivities were cancelled all over the world. The restrictions imposed due to the pandemic have also impacted private events, such as weddings.

Major International Events Postponed Because of COVID-19

Many highly anticipated major international events due to take place in 2020 were postponed until next year.

The Olympics, due to take place in Tokyo, were postponed for the first time since their modern inception. Instead of cancelling the event, the organizers made the decision to reschedule the games until next year, when they will hopefully go ahead on July 23, 2021. Such a postponement of the summer Olympics is unprecedented in its history. However, they were cancelled three times during the 20th Century, most notably during the Second World War.

Euro 2020 was also postponed due to COVID-19. The European football tournament has been rescheduled and will now take place in June and July 2021.

However, other major football tournaments have gone ahead behind closed doors, in empty stadiums.

One of the more bizarre results of this was the use of “fake crowds” at some football games. For example, Sky Sports partnered with EA SPORTS FIFA to design a range of crowd-like sounds, such as chanting and cheering, while broadcasting the English Premier League. These realistic sounds are specific to particular football teams, in order to give viewers a sense of atmosphere as they watched the game on TV.

Businesses Facilitating Virtual Events

Despite the ban on large gatherings, connection and social interaction are still an integral part of human life. Businesses have found novel and innovative ways to bring people together to share experiences, while still adhering to social distancing rules and guidelines. COVID-19 restrictions have forced us to rely on technology to connect with others and have been a catalyst for the rapid growth of companies that facilitate this.

While the pandemic has hit the revenues of traditional event planning companies extremely hard, there’s been a steady rise in the number of “virtual event” startups who have entered the space. One such company is Hopin. Hopin describes itself as a “virtual venue” and offers users access to a wide range of features, including virtual rooms, which attendees can move in and out of. This recreates the format of a traditional live expo or conference.

Hopin has impressed both customers and investors. At the beginning of November the company secured $125 million of series B funding, increasing its current valuation to over $2 billion.

Another platform that has been utilized by event organizers is Zoom, which went from being practically unknown to becoming a household name within a few short months. Initially, the online meeting app was used primarily for small to medium sized meetings and conferences. However, in October Zoom announced the launch of their new virtual event marketplace.

OnZoom expands on the virtual event business model, offering a virtual event space, with meeting rooms, stages etc., as well as a marketplace for the events themselves. Zoom’s virtual event marketplace is similar to the type of service Eventbrite has been offering for the last few years.

Zoom is in a unique position to capitalize on its success as the go-to virtual meeting software for 2020. The beta version of OnZoom is being piloted in the US and there are already a host of diverse and exciting virtual events listed on the platform, including virtual history tours, business conferences and live group meditation sessions.

How Event Companies Have Used Virtual Event Software

Companies such as Hopin and Zoom facilitate virtual events, however, what about companies using these technologies? How have event planning businesses pivoted since the beginning of the pandemic? There are many examples of companies that have embraced technology to bring unique virtual experiences to their customers.

Virtual Concerts

Sofar Sounds has been around since 2009, turning cafes, living rooms and other spaces into live music venues, and creating intimate concerts for small audiences. When the pandemic hit, Sofar Sounds was forced to pivot their business model and move its unique concert experience totally online.

Since March, Sofar has allowed users to tune into “listening rooms” where they can join independent musicians from all over the world for intimate livestreams. This is an example of a business that has really risen to the challenge created by the pandemic.

Virtual Runs

Due to the pandemic, several marathons and other sporting and fitness events were forced to cancel. The Great American 5000 came up with an innovative work-around, creating a virtual run all the way from San Francisco to New York. Teams of up to 12 or 24 people can attempt cumulative runs of up to 24 hours a day, while a virtual map tracks their progress towards the 5000 kilometer journey across America, using GPS and apps such as Map My Run.

Bridging the Gap

Other companies have adopted interesting approaches to make the virtual experience more bespoke. For example, New Black Studio launched a unique experience for clients called “Event in a Box”. The UK based events company created the service to “enhance events during COVID-19” and “help to bridge the gap between live and online events”. Event in a Box can be used to create immersive experiences for product launches, award ceremonies or conferences, where hand selected products are delivered to guests.

What Will the Events Industry Look Like After the Pandemic?

Once social distancing measures are relaxed and life once again becomes more normal, will there still be a place for these new virtual events companies? While services such as Zoom will likely not be quite as sought after when the pandemic is over, it looks like virtual events are here to stay, in one form or another.

For example, “hybrid” events may become the norm, incorporating both live and virtual elements. This is a great opportunity for event planners, who will no longer be limited by the size of the venue and can expand their audience to include virtual attendees, as well as those who prefer to attend in person.

Courtesy: Corporate Party Venues in Lahore

#Corporate #Party #Vanues #Lahore

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grapevynerendezvous · 3 years

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KFRC’s 21 Golden Rocks, Volume 1 - Various Artists

This was my first rock/r&b song collection album. How I got it is kind of vague. It certainly has the feel of listening to radio with just a few slight differences. There’s no DJ introducing the songs as they started and/or talking over the songs as they faded out, no commercials between songs, and I could choose when I wanted to hear them, how often, which ones, in what order…okay, so the songs were on the radio and now they could be on my record player. All the better. It also familiarized me with some songs I hadn’t heard, or heard very little. Since the majority of the songs were hits in 1966, with earlier ones going as far back as 1963, and one in 1967, the chances were that I heard most of them throughout ’66 & ’67 - when I really started paying more attention. It took me awhile to warm up to rhythm and blues music, I suppose one could say black music in general. I look back to some of the 45s that we had over time, courtesy of my sister and my mom. There actually are some songs that I had always enjoyed in that genre, but I just hadn’t gotten used to the newer ones yet. Sam Cooke comes to mind, but I think my sister kept that one even though I have most of those 45s now. As time went by I started appreciating the r&b songs on this album, as well as others that I was hearing more and more. It is evident that at this early stage it was reasonably important that I had this collection of music. Only three of the 21 songs are on albums I ended up owning. At the time I got it I already had albums with Hello Hello by Sopwith Camel and Laugh Laugh by The Beau Brummels, while later obtaining the Love album with My Little Red Book as the opening track.

Side one

Hello Hello - Sopwith Camel

1967 No.26 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album Sopwith Camel • origin San Francisco CA

The only song from the year of this album’s release. It was the first hit single by any band in the San Francisco Psychedelic era. There is more about the band in my posting about LP25.

Psychotic Reaction - Count Five

1966 No.5 Billboard * recorded 1965

Album Psychotic Reaction * origin in San Jose CA

The Count Five were the first San Jose band to have success in the “garage band era”. Psychotic Reaction was discovered by KLIV DJ Brian Lord. I saw Count Five with some original members including vocalist Kenn Elnerr perform Psychotic Reaction at Longstock XXI in 2013 in the Santa Cruz Mountains CA.

The Duck - Jackie Lee

1965 No.14 1966 Top 100 No.8 R&B Billboard * recorded 1965

Album The Duck 1966 * origin Los Angeles CA

His real name is Earl Nelson and he had been in The Hollywood Flames in the ‘50s and was lead vocalist on Buzz Buzz Buzz. He had been in the duo Bob & Earl with Bobby Boyd, who later recorded Rockin’ Robin as Bobby Day. Nelson united with Bob Relf for a further Bob & Earl period. Jackie was his wife’s name, and Lee his middle name.

Little Girl - Syndicate of Sound

1966 No.8 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album Little Girl * origin in San Jose CA

Little Girl was originally issued on Hush Records in San Francisco.and became a regional hit with help from KLIV radio. Bell Records picked it up and issued it nationally. In the early’70s Syndicate of Sound played at a DeMolay event I was at. I got to know co-writer Bob Gonzalez in the 2010s. He still performs in the South Bay Area as of this writing. Syndicate of Sound performed a few shows after I met Bob and I saw one of them at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds. Original guitarist, and lead singer of Little Girl Don Baskin, was there, but since passed away in 2019.

Dirty Water - The Standells

1966 No.11 Billboard * recorded 1965

Album Dirty Water * origin in Los Angeles CA

The song was written by producer Ed Cobb who had lived in Boston, and which explains references to that city in Dirty Water. Drummer Dick Dodd, who at one time was on The Mouseketeers, sang lead vocal on this and most Standell songs. Boston sports teams regularly play Dirty Water at their events. The Standells have played at Fenway Park five times including at the 2nd game of the 2004 World Series.

Little Latin Lupe Lu - The Righteous Brothers

1963 No.49 Billboard * recorded 1963

Album Right Now! * origin Orange County/Los Angeles CA

Their first single, this song was a moderate hit for The Righteous Brothers before their first major smash You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling the next year. Bill Medley said that he dated a “Lupe Laguna” in high school. I saw Medley perform solo at Circle Star Theater in the ‘70s.

Laugh Laugh - The Beau Brummels

1964 No.15 Billboard * recorded 1964

Album Introducing The Beau Brummels * origin San Francisco CA

This was their first hit single. It was written by guitarist Ron Elliott and sung by lead vocalist Sal Valentino. I saw Valentino perform as a guest with Jackie Greene in 2005 at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz CA. There is more about the band in my posting about LP29.

Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) - The Leaves

1966 No. 31 Billboard * recorded 1966 (3rd version)

Album Hey Joe * origin San Fernando Valley-Los Angeles CA

A popular regional number, the Leaves recorded this song three times, with the final success of the third after new guitarist Bob Arlin, who used a fuzztone, had joined the band. They originally heard the song done by The Byrds at a club called Ciro’s. Johnny Echols of Love claims that The Leaves first heard Love’s version as well. The Leaves ended up releasing it before the Byrds version was released on their Fifth Dimension LP. The second version by The Leaves was released before the Love version came out on their first album, but was not successful as a single. Other notable versions were by Tim Rose, and Jimi Hendrix, plus LA’s Standells, Music Machine and Surfaries had also recorded it.

Baby Scratch My Back - Slim Harpo

1966 No.16 Top 100/No.1 R&B Billboard * recorded 1965

Album Baby Scratch My Back * origin Baton Rouge LA

Born James Isaac Moore in Lobdell LA, Slim Harpo was a leading exponent of Swamp Blues. His stage name was derived from his mastery of the blues “harp” harmonica. It was his most successful single, others of which included I’m a King Bee (’57) and Shake Your Hips (’66).

Pushin’ Too Hard - The Seeds

1966 No.36 (1967) Billboard * recorded 1965 reissued 1966

Album The Seeds 1966 * origin Los Angeles CA

Originally released as You’re Pushin’ Too Hard in 1965 when it became a regional hit and started being played extensively by an LA DJ after the album was released. After a new single of it was issued in November ’66 as Pushin’ Too Hard, it lead to it reaching national charts. Some radio stations banned it in the belief it was about a pusher of illegal drugs. Rather strange since it would have actually been an anti-drug song. The song is often cited as an example of garage rock in both celebratory and denigrating manners. I have seen keyboardist Darryl Hooper play with a recent version of the Seeds, and with Chocolate Watch Band in 2015 and 2019 all at at The Chapel in San Francisco CA.

Good Lovin' - The Young Rascals

1966 No.1 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album The Young Rascals * origin Garfield NJ

This song was originally recorded by Lemme B. Good (Limme Shell), and a month later by The Olympics with revised lyrics, which was a moderate hit for them. It is said that Young Rascal Felix Cavallere first heard The Olympics version and it was added to the Young Rascals’ repertoire, using those same lyrics and basic arrangement as The Olympics. It was the band’s first real hit, being only their second released single. They went on to have five other top 10 hits including two more No.1’s, in the meantime changing their name to The Rascals.

Side 2

You Turn Me On (Turn On Song) - Ian Whitcomb (and Bluesville)

1965 No.8 Billboard * recorded 1965

Album You Turn Me On * origin Dublin IE/from Woking Surrey Eng.

This is one of the only two British Invasion songs included in the collection, the other being technically Irish. (the Irish Invasion?) It was self-penned by Whitcomb and was the only one of his four Billboard songs over the years to reach hit status. He went on to be a record producer, author, and occasional actor. He eventually moved permanently to the U.S. and still performs as of this writing.

Sweet Talkin' Guy - The Chiffons

1966 No.10 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album Sweet Talkin’ Guy * origin The Bronx New York, NY

This was the group’s third Top 10 hit single. They ended up touring in Germany, and in England where members of the Beatles and Rollings Stones were in the audience on one club date.

Along Comes Mary - The Association

1966 No. 7 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album And Then…Along Comes The Association * origin LA CA

The band is famous for their rich vocal harmonies which lead to some major successes for the group in the ‘60s. This was their third single, but the first one to become a hit on Billboard. The next single, Cherish, hit No.1 the same year, as did Windy in 1967 with Never My Love at No.2 that year. The song refers to a once-disillusioned man’s tribulations being comforted by Mary and improving his life. It’s also been said that “Mary” refers to marijuana. It’s unclear whether composer Tandyn Almer ever confirmed that one way or the other. Over the years The Association has had an enormous amount of singers perform in the group over the years. They are still active, with the founder Jules Gary Alexander still on board, as of this writing.

Baby Do The Philly Dog - The Olympics

1966 No.63 R&B No.20 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album Something Old, Something New * origin Los Angeles CA

The Olympics started out as a doo-wop group in the late fifties, having their only big hit, Western Movies, make No.8 Top 100 and No.7 R&B on Billboard with one other top 10 song on Billboard R&B. They released a number of other singles until their last one Do the Philly Dog. They made no further singles following this. Charles Fizer died from a bullet wound in The Watts Riots of ’65. Not long after Melvin King left after his sister died in an accidental shooting. With line up changes the group continued after the mid-60s but with little success. They continued performing in the ‘70s on the oldies circuit in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Hang On Sloopy - The McCoys

1965 No. 1 Billboard * recorded 1965

Album Hang On Sloopy * origin Celina OH, Union City IN

Originally titled My Girl Sloopy when written by Wes Farrell & Bert Berns it was an R&B hit for The Vibrations in 1964. Before changing their name to The McCoys, they were called Rick & The Raiders. Rick & the band backed the Strangeloves, who were actually three writer/producers, at their last performance of a tour. The Strangeloves then recruited 17-year old Rick Zehringer (later Derringer) and his band to record Hang On Sloopy in New York. It later became the official song of the State of Ohio, unofficial fight song of Ohio State University, a signature song of the Cleveland Indians, and played regularly at Cleveland Cavalier games.

Hello Stranger - Barbara Lewis

1963 No.3 Top 100 No.1 R&B Billboard * recorded 1963

Album Hello Stranger * origin Detroit MI

Barbara Lewis wrote all the songs on her first album, Hello Stranger. She had eight other songs chart in the Billboard Top 100 through 1967, two of them which she had not written, peaking at No.11 in 1965. She was out of sight for awhile the next decade but resurfaced in 1977. She retired from singing in 2017 for health reasons.

My Little Red Book - Love

1966 No.52 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album Love * origin Los Angeles CA

This was Love’s first single on the Billboard chart and was a moderate hit. I remember it being played quite a bit on Bay Area stations. It was their version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song. Bacharach criticized the altered chord changes in Love version, but the song “became a garage rock standard, per Mason Stewart in his AllMusic song biography. It has also “been credited for its "punk" quality” by Stewart and others. I got to see My Little Red Book, among other songs, performed live by Arthur Lee & Love at Great American Music Hall on January 16, 2004, while Lee was still alive.

Solitary Man - Neil Diamond

1966 No.55 Billboard * recorded 1966

Album The Feel of Neil Diamond * origin Brooklyn NY

This, Neil Diamonds’ first single to chart, was a moderate success on Billboard and remains one of his personal favorite songs. He had written some other successful songs that were covered by others up to that time. It had already been thought by some, but in the 2000s Diamond finally realized, that Solitary Man was about himself while he was trying to write and sell songs up to the point when he went to work in the Brill Building. It was followed by the higher charing single, Cherry Cherry the same year. Neil Diamond has gone on to be one of the the most popular, best selling music artists of all-time. He still performs to sold-out audiences.

5 O'Clock World - The Vogues

1965 No.4 Billboard * recorded 1965

Album Five O’Clock World * origin Turtle Creek/Pittsburg PA

This was the second of back-to-back No.4 singles on Billboard, the band’s best success as The Vogues. They had one non-charting single (released twice) prior to that as The Valaires. The only other time of Top Ten success was in 1968 when they had back-to-back No. 7 singles. Their last studio album was released in 1971, followed by several unsuccessful singles through 1974. Although they continued performing by 1983 there was one original member left. Their manager in the meantime had trademarked the name and assets of the band. What followed was a classic case of many multiple bands using the name The Vogues, resulting in legal actions, and even Congressional testimony regarding the Truth in Music Act by that original member Chuck Blasco.

Gloria - Them

1965 No.71 Billboard * recorded 1964

Album The Angry Young Them * origin Belfast IE

This is the other non-American single on the album, the band being Irish. It landed in the U/S. during the British Invasion period. This garage song staple, written by Van Morrison, was the B-side of Baby Please Don’t Go in the U.K. and as such, was not included on the UK Singles Chart on it’s own. It was only moderately successful in the U.S. as a single while the Shadows of Knight (SOK) version issued later in the year rose to No.10 on Billboard. Them’s version topped that SOK version only in places it could be played. One of my earlier memories as a teenager involved hushed whispers about songs like Gloria and Louie Louie. One could listen to the American band’s version of Gloria and think, so what. It turns out that many radio stations would not play Them’s version because of the line “She comes to my room”: Oh my. The SOK version went, “She calls out my name.” In either case, Gloria is a classic. Van Morrison left the band in 1966 and has gone on to be a beloved songwriter and performer. I saw him on a double-bill with Bob Dylan at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View CA in the 2000s.

——————————————————-

KFRC 610 “The Big 610” and “Boss Radio” was a Top 40 rock and roll AM radio station in San Francisco CA. Prior to that it was purchased by RKO-General in 1949 and had an MOR (middle of the road) music format. The station was originally licensed at 1110 kHz in 1924, then 660 kHz a three years later, and finally 610kHz in 1928. The change in 1966 blended into “The Summer of Love” era and KFRC became the dominant station in the Bay Area through the 1970s. The station was responsible for two important events that occurred during that period. One was The Beach Boys Summer Spectacular, which included many bands, held in 1966 at the Cow Palace in Daly City. The following year, on June 10 and 11, they hosted the very first rock festival ever held, Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival at Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheatre on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. It preceded the Monterey Pop Festival by one week. The only band on this album that played Magic Mountain was The Seeds, although there were many great upcoming local and national acts there. KYA 1260 was their chief rival in San Francisco. Another station I listened to a lot in the Bay Area was KLIV 1590 in San Jose. The fact is I listened to those stations more than KFRC overallI. Both of those stations preceded KFRC in the Top 40 format although KFRC held its’ own once it entered that arena. Of course any top forty station was fair game if they were playing the right song while I was cruising around. All these stations are gone now; sold, changed frequency and/or call letters, and of course, formats. It was a “golden” time to be listening to music radio though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFRC_(defunct)

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/various-artists/kfrc-the-big-610-21-golden-rocks-volume-1/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLIV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Camel_(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Five

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Nelson_(singer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_of_Sound

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Standells

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Righteous_Brothers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beau_Brummels

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leaves

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Harpo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seeds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rascals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Whitcomb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chiffons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Association

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Olympics_(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_McCoys

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Lewis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Diamond

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vogues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Them_(band)

LP32

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coruscantholonet · 4 years

Text

Sim ongoing

Soooo,first a small update on the sim in that work on it is still going down. We’d love to have an opening date but playing it by ear. Real life comes first, and I’ve been dealing with a lot of health issues so progress is a lot slower than it normally would be for me. Fortunately have had several talented volunteers who are doing great with the build, so expect some more updates soon.

Some things we’re looking for include;

1. Getting a few rigs done.

2. Have a few staff positions as well in both the GM and storyteller department. As always longstanding policy is that we only take on those who do not have staff/responsibility positions elsewhere.

------------Skip below if you don’t like rubbernecking.

Next, I need to apologize. I fucked up. Recently I went at some people who didn’t really deserve the “wrath” which seemed to be a catalyst in a domino effect that crippled “Unification”. I still have many criticisms of it, but that chain reaction allowed for something much worse to fill the void that was created and I speak of “SWU” and “Taris”. While 0% of what I said was a “lie” there was of course items that were speculation and a bit harsh and in retrospect it was regrettable. I had some people with real life connections to Cyprus in my ear and it was very much a fire which was extensively fed by those with a malicious agenda. For all the flaws Loosh and others may have, they would be far favorable to Cyprus. In the entire decade I’ve been here I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone so corrupt, someone who has not an ounce of integrity or any idea what fair play is. Over the last few weeks I’ve had to hear so many of the regulars here speak of how they’ve been screwed over there and it’s been a bit gut wrenching with the knowledge that I am partly responsible.

One example I will provide of how he and his clique engineered the feud was that they were the ones leaking information from Unification chat. I’ve always aspired to be the same in public as in private, so I’m not usually too concerned with “leaks”, but in this case it was a clear effort to escalate the fighting so that he could benefit from it.

Some other examples during this was when two votes where occurring in Unification at the same time. One of them to take away Loosh’s server admin position, the other on banning me.

So to make that clear. Both Cyprus and Sabastiion/JOINASR traded votes in order to gain support for their effort to oust Loosh. When that didn’t happen and they couldn’t obtain virtual “power” through Unification they instead broke off to make SWU.

Everybody knows I don’t mind a “fight”, to some extent I’ll embrace it. That’s just who I am, but in this case I do think that was used against me as I swallowed the bait and didn’t really take pause to see the agendas at play. In retrospect, with the history Cyprus and Sabastiion/JOINASR have for this kind of thing, I should have seen it from a mile away.

So let’s start with their last sim, in 2017 they made a Corellia sim back when we were Coruscant. We had been under construction much like now, however we had a major setback when those two saw the build then offered the builder a much higher sum than we were able to pay. So they pretty much bought the build out from under us, then there was even some griefing during this period as they sought to do what they could to keep us from re-opening.. much like the present in which they’ve bribed several people over. Eventually their co-admins got fed up with their antics and voted to remove their admin status. In response they returned the build, several builders who had worked on parts of the sim where negatively affected by this and I’m not even sure it ever opened again. Here is what their co-admins sent out at the time..

“ Tonight, (9/4/2017), the ownership team voted on the removal of another owner (Talon) and an Admin (Cyprus). The two of them had continually goaded another SWRP sim into conflict. That sim being Fourth Dimension/Legacies. They bought a build out from under the owner of that sim, trying to use it as their own and rushed to open before 4D was fully able to, and are now pinning that on us. They griefed said sim, and harrassed its players in their group chats on multiple occasions in attempts to either poach from them, or simply troll them. Talon, as an owner did not actually pay into monthly sim tier, and never passed along the money from rentals to the ownership team. We still don't know where that money is. Cyprus, controlled the tip jar in the landing zone, and we haven't seen a dime from that. This sim was started on the idea of civilizing Star Wars roleplay, and being done with this sort of drama. We, the ownership team are deeply sorry that this occurred, and we are going to be working as hard as possible to get the sim back open, and on a clean slate, starting from square one. We will have a skybox area open for roleplay ASAP as we complete the entire sim build. We greatly appreciate your support and patience during this time, and we hope to be back to full scale RP soon! Any further questions, please contact torresalpha12 “

And here is one of the builders of that sim;

[18:34] RedactedA: Eesh, Talon just did a seriously fucked up thing to Corellia.

[18:35] RedactedB: yeah I heard he returned the whole sim

[18:35] RedactedA: He deleted the sim and is now advertising 4D in the groups. [18:35] RedactedA: That's seriously poor form.

[18:35] RedactedB: wat

[18:35] RedactedA: [18:31] Φ Brother Talon (sabastiion): Fourth Dimension (148,128,4083) ((Builds were stolen from here, and they also have 31 people. Looking for more RP outside of corellia? Consider this)

[18:36] RedactedA: I worked on the build there too, I'm a little less than pleased my work was deleted as well. [18:36] RedactedB: He's such a cunt

So, they got removed from position, returned the build then started advertising for my sim.. this after they bought our builder out from under us. I guess they figured they needed to get back on our good side after alienating everyone who had worked with them on that sim.

They didn't even end up paying the builder all the money they'd promised, after they rage returned the sim they blamed the 150USD that never got delivered on the people who they had just left build-less that had nothing to do with the deal.

They turned around and offered us the build parts that the people they tried to stick with the bill didn't even have access to. Trying to get back in good favor with us, we declined though, we pretty much sat there and watched that sim implode like "huh".

09/06/2017 [00:08] Φ Cyprus (DarthWyyrlok Resident): Btw, the hutt palace that [redacted] made for us, probably one of the better things hes every made, did you want to use it?

There are countless other stories like this, they’ve ripped off many people over the years.

[Redacted C]Years ago he was attempting to make a sim. He asked if i wanted to help out and be an admin. Said sure. Paid him 10k and he immediately banned me. Called me a dopey retard for believing him. Part of me agrees with him.Ever since, if he shows up, i typically warn the fuck out of people and avoid him like a herpes ridden 3rd avenue hooker.

[Redacted D]Havent seen him on sim. But he sounds like a cunt.

[Redacted C] he's the lead for the empire on taris

This pattern of underhanded behavior extends to the roleplay itself. I don’t think I’ve seen many cases of worse meta-gaming than from that circle of real life friends with Cyprus, Sabastiion and Nessa. Here is just one example in which Cyprus plays both a Darth and a Jedi Master at the same time.. and...hunts himself.. clearly using one character to inflate the other, this is perhaps one of the worst abuses of alt accounts I’ve seen in my decade in SWRP...

[ Have cut out irrelevant posts from other people ]

[01:46] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1) walked in slowly, a shadow casted over his face as he stood on the dance area for a few moments before continuing forward. His footsteps where silent as if he was trained to walk in silence and his breathing nominalized. He hooded figure would proceed to the bar area where he would slowly sit down on the stool. Once again keeping the silence he had brought in with him

[02:11] Lord Talon walked in slowly his face hidden from all to see. The force around him pulsated as he walked in, each step he took created a soft tick that would echo across the room before drowed out by music. He then looked at the grey robed figure, his scent was masked but he could easily distinguish it from their past incounters. “Ah master Raven Tal” he said with a grin “It seems we meet again”

[02:13] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1) chuckled lightly as his head remained facing forward "It seems I've found you" he said in a low tone of voice as he stood up from his chair and faced Cyprus. Feeling the immense hate that radiated off of the sith warrior. His hands would extend outwards as the jedi warrior's lightsaber flew to his hands and ignighted, the blue blade humming to life.

[02:19] Lord Talon would simply grin at the comment that ordered him out. Instead he would enclose both muscular hands slowly around the hilt of the customized duel phase fouth generation saber as his skilled digets of his fingers locked into place. The weapon reacted to the brush of his touch in which followed a sudden snap and hiss igniting forth an extensive blood shine blade that illuminated the dark room. He gave a slight flourish of the imense blade as he twirled it between his hands before grasping it in a double djem power stance as he looked at the jedi that stood before him as a slight growle escaped from his teeth

[02:20] -Shiva- X -Shev'la Dinii- (ellisa01.turbo) drew her blaster pistols them, aiming one at the sith and then another at the jedi. With her fingers over the trigger she would then shout. "Oi, the fuck out of the establishment, now. Yo uare ruining business."

[02:21] Cyprus Talon (arijonas1) inclined his head slowly, tiping forth his chin in a silent acknowledgement of Lord Talon's invitation. His immense hands had enclosed around the enlongated staff hilt of his legendary blade and drew it close in a duel handed battle stance of Djem So in mirror of Talon's own. The laser blade gave a banshee wail as it whirled about suddenly in a brilliant flourish within the skilled flow of his hands, creating a whirlwind like effect of weaving blue blade before him as he approached abruptly foward, unleashing a controled thrust foward of the extensively long blade towards Talochest as he looked at the mando figure "I wouldnt shoot if I where you my friend" he said as he lunged forward

[ As if the style and names didn’t give it away, here he posted Raven’s post from the Cyprus account, then tries to cover in OOC ]

[02:23] Cyprus Talon (arijonas1): (whoops trying to send that back to him) [02:23] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): (i sent him that post lol and he was meant to check it and send it back incase i missed something lol) [02:23] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): (so just count that as my post so i dont have to re post lol)

[02:27] Lord Talon grinned slightly as he saw him lundge at him. He was more than prepared to dodge such an attack. He would side step away from the blade as he used his own to push it aside as he spun inwards and attempted to knock the side of the saber into Raven's head using his immense speed and strength that was fuled by his darkside enriched powers.

[ Some OOC arguing happened here, as Cyprus did not seem happy other people where interjecting in his fight..with himself, so back to the IC..]

[02:37] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1) moved around the woman standing there as he took into account the woman standing there as he simply rolled around her preventing her from getting in the middle. having maintained direct control over the fluid motion of the drive of the blazing red blade as it plunged forth from Lord Talon to his head, he would not overextend his balance and thus allowed him to counteract the strike to his head from Talon's own saber. There was a cracking hiss as the searing blades would connect he would extend a hand to Talons stomach he would attempt to push the Sith outward of the club to prevent any other distubance of the people inside, this was a jedi's fight, not theirds. And he would do whatever it took to finish it

[02:39] Lord Talon Eyes opened wide as he got hit by the force push, he was send flying out of the room as he then regained his balance by sliding across the floors with his boots that brought him to a halt. As he griped his lightsaber once more ready for Raven. He knew the jedi wouldn’t let the others get in the way so he left them alone and would focus on the jedi who he faced.

[ More OOC arguing about other people interjecting who then called for defenders choice RHCS, admin sides with them. ]

[02:49] Sihivus Verne: ((While V may not have been directly attacked, it is a club. Considering their club is being shot up, they are welcome to take action as judging per group defender roles)) [02:49] Cyprus Talon (arijonas1): (sighs fine just let me and Raven finish because this was an really important rp taht had to be done and this was a sim we chose to meet at we didnt think others would get involved like this and lead to this ooc)

[ Extra hillarious when it is fairly obvious they’re the same ^ argument continues, eventually RHCS fight happens, Cyprus losses to the club bouncer. Of course the Jedi was mysteriously afk during the fight.. ]

[03:17] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): (ugg sorry about that everyone can someone fill me in on what happened, if anything happened in ims thanks!))

.[03:20] Eva Lekach: ( It's ok they got the Sith you are saved. )

[03:20] Eva Lekach: ( back ic )

[03:20] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): (i could have taken him lol)

[03:22] Lord Talon: m would be dragged out into the sidewalk of the the streets of the undercity as he chuckled lightly as he cluched his shoulder which had a bullet wound in it. after she let him go he would get onto a knee placeing on hand on the ground to stabalize himself as his sith coloed eyes looked at Shiva with long hatred. "I will find you and I will kill you, if you have family I sudgest you hide them for I will kill them. You will cry out in pain beggin for death and i will not grant it to you, your pain will be that of 1000 dying souls.: he said as he collapesed onto his back and attempted to roll of the edge of the platform

[03:29] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1) shook his head "An interesting character Cyprus is, as stupid as his creator aparently" he said with a sigh looking to Sparrow "I'm sorry if he disturbed anything here, I mearly came by word of mouth that whe would be here, now it seems that I didnt need them." he said turning to Shiva "As for me, I do need them"

[03:29] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1) "when I leave"

[ The End. Now while that was a few years back, he can’t use the “I was young” excuse, he was in his 20′s at the time as he’s now pushing 30, so this isn’t a case of ‘kids being dumb’. This is a blatant abuse of alts IC, and clear attempts of deception OOC. This pattern continued OOC elsewhere.. ]

[2013/11/02 01:34] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): And there is one thing I want to get clear, whats the big deal if I am an alt, or an old account of someone, which I am my old account got deleted and couldnt be recovered, Look the only reason im still in swrp is to get the rp back up and going between groups, thats why i cam because I know you guys are doing that do. Otherwise I would have given up swrp a long time ago, we all see it deteriating slowly and all I want to do is fix that, and I dont want to do this if people have anegative aditute twoards it. Honestly if I did something that got you upset please tell me and I can fix it! Please, I'm not sure what I did wrong, mearly came to say hello oocly thats all, nothign more nothing less then I got bombarded with questions. Im just confused is all [2013/11/02 01:35] Chaos DarkRose (nymph.zenith): alts are fine, but pretending to be an elder ooc is not and might get you banned in some places. [2013/11/02 01:37] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): what are you talking about lol Ive been around for a very long time in swrp. Back when the soverignty existed and besipin was still going strong and coursant was a dominant system, Ive been around for a while, my old sith master was MagmaRyu, he was one of the most well respected sith back when I was an apprentice and I was very luck to have him as a master otherwise I woulndt be her today [2013/11/02 01:37] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): So I'm not making anything up [2013/11/02 01:37] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): there would be no reason to [2013/11/02 01:38] Chaos DarkRose (nymph.zenith): that is not old [2013/11/02 01:39] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): thats about 5 years ago that im talking about [2013/11/02 01:39] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): 6 probably now [2013/11/02 01:39] Chaos DarkRose (nymph.zenith): well log on and lets see, if you are as old as ranogar [2013/11/02 01:39] Chaos DarkRose (nymph.zenith): he would remember back then [2013/11/02 01:40] Raven Tal (aaronsterling1): i cant, my account was deleted my some ass, honestly how else can i prove this to you haha [2013/11/02 01:40] Chaos DarkRose (nymph.zenith): do you realize how many times i've heard this? Over the span of almost 8 years?

[00:57] Cyprus Talon (arijonas1): Raven came to me earlier today and seemed upset and confused by something you said, hes a dear friend of mine so if I could, what did you say to him? [00:58] Chaos DarkRose (nymph.zenith): i have no idea what you are talking about [00:58] Cyprus Talon (arijonas1): Raven Tal, he said he talked to you the other day...

Besides learning how to use spell check? there has been little growth in Cyprus, he’s still someone who utilizes OOC methods to gain IC power. When he failed to make a mark legitimately, he now tries to buy the status. Rewarding those who support him with high combat system ranks or even real money in some cases. So like I said, going after Loosh and Uni was dumb on my part as I enabled the rise of the most corrupt motherfucker in SWRP. So there is some obligation to raise transparency and awareness of some of his past antics. Some of his past names even seem to be banned by Linden Labs, I couldn’t tell you why but found that interesting. Take all of that for what you will. I’ve provided materials to backup pretty much everything I’ve ever said on him, it is a rarity when you have to speculate so little to illustrate what a colossal garbage person someone is. Play where you wanna play and do what you wanna do, but do it with eyes wide open.

Their platform is the exact same pledge they made in 2017, just a couple weeks before they destroyed a sim many people had worked hard on..

8-22-17 “Star Wars Universe Town Hall Agenda”; created by Sebastiion

“This notecard will explain what we will be talking about in more detail during the Townhall Meeting, as well as explaining a little more about Star Wars Universe. The purpose of Star Wars Universe is to strive to create a multi sim roleplay experience, executed through Star Wars Roleplay groups within the community. In light of recent events, and in the past couple of years of roleplay, the community has drifted far from what is used to be. By working together and by leaders stepping up to the plate we can accomplish a community that speaks for all of us instead of only one individual.

What will we be talking about?

*Why has Star Wars Roleplay fallen apart.*

*How Star Wars Universe can play a huge role in restoring trust within our community.*

*How Corellia, Dantooine, and other key sims can play a supporting role in this.**

Why it's important that the leadership within the community drives their ideas from its *entire* player base, and not just from a *few* key leaders.*

*The future of Star Wars Roleplay and how we can make this project a success.*

Once these topics have been addressed there will be a time for questions, comments, suggestions, etc. Remember this movement is a grassroots movement that starts with you. Attending this town hall and making your voice's heard can help shape the future of Star Wars Universe. The link will be posted in a notice an hour before we begin.”

I guess they changed their mind by 9/4/2017 when they returned the sim :(, point being, they are full of false promises, and pretty much anyone would be a favorable alternative to having these meta-gaming scam artists continue to assert influence over the community.

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

“Dark Lord” lolo, not sure if I’ve ever seen a case of someone less deserving.

youtube

#ToolCyprus

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ftrend · 7 years

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Top 11 consumer lifestyle trend that drives fashion trend 2017

Fashion trend of 2017 will be influenced by Economy, Technology, Politics, and Art which drives human psychology, thinking and attitude. 2016 was not a good year for Europe’s economy and politics, which affected the economy, brought down the currency value that caused the purchasing power of consumer's. India's demonetization severely affected the textile industry, retail and luxury fashion.

Top 10 consumer lifestyle trend that drives fashion trend 2017

Smart shoes now helping to connect with smartphone to get health data

The health and fitness –

The health and fitness are the biggest driving motivational force that is currently changing society. The leaders are Victoria Secret Models, and their gym selfies at their various social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter.com, and facebook.com helping viewers to get inspired for fitness body and better clothing.

The new technological innovation of wearable tech is now allowing to measure one’s performance and calories to track the records of daily health. The sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Rebook are now integrating chips in shoes to measure the walks. Fitness brands such as fit-bits, pebbles are developing their product to track the most accurate data. Which caused the evolution of wearable tech wear.

Rave culture lifestyle now-now its turned back as techno-pop

The rave culture-

While the movement never really died out, it made something of a comeback on the pop culture scene in 2012. Over the past few months, the trend has resurfaced and re-evolved in Europes and American cities, large or small, and on their outskirts.

Not so long ago, the rave phenomenon was often singled out for criticism. Now it’s the subject of exhibitions! an interactive, multi-sensory show presented by the Scale collective at La Gaité Lyrique (Paris) in early 2016. Earlier Rave culture was confined to the underground and certain notions about the transgression of social conventions, now finds itself at a turning point.

Today, it’s an active driver of nightlife all over the world. The electronic music dance floor is a catalyst for the visual arts, social/political protest and a particular lifestyle. In response to current tensions or fashion trends, it gets people from every socio-cultural category and age group to gather in common spaces.

Today Artists and fashion designers started to explore their inspiration from the rave culture's nightlife; now it's been turned as the return of 90's pop as techno aesthetic. Many designers such as Kenzo, Miu Miu are finding inspiration for their creativity. The traditional colors that emerge from the trend are techno pink, or we can say bright pop pink.

Selfie culture

The selfie culture-

Socialism is great especially when you have the power to be more presentable on social networking websites like Facebook and Instagram. New Modern cameras and selfie-centric software allowed people to share pictures. According to Google daily, more than 200 million selfies are taken every day. These data allow designers, fashion brands to create a product which takes care of consumer’s demand, which is why Rebecca Minkoff in collaboration with GE launched a case for IPhone6 plus with new enhanced L.E.D light which allows great photos during low light conditions

Vetement's collection at Paris fashion week. disrupting the classic style with new overlarge sleeves

The Modern Rebels –

Anti-Establishments - The Millennials are often described as a rebellious generation. While in some parts of the world young people are taking to the streets with their demands, going against the establishment is a much more universal phenomenon. The many means of communication available today provide a variety of channels for expression. Young people no longer trust in the traditional hierarchy, whether at work, in politics, with regards to their elders or with ownership. Undoubtedly, this mistrust stems from the strict, vertical structure of a system that is bogged down and miles away from their collaborative view of the world. Or, because of what typifies their generation: the Internet, a notion often still regarded as a simple ‘tool’ by everyone else.

The anti-authentic luxury culture –

Modern consumers now don’t care much for a brand, designer’s name, for them luxury is losing its value all they care about appealing designs. That’s why the top designers are now forced to create styles which are not expensive. Adidas and Alexander Wang’s collaboration is an outcome of the demands from the anti-Luxury tribes.

Consumers are now less focused on Image of the brand but rather focused on individuality. Researchers have revealed that purchase of non-logo handbags has increased among Millennial, Gen X and older (70+). Gen Z share of non-logo bags rose 8 % in the 12 months ending June 2016

The socialist gen-z –

The children born after 1995 considered as Gen-Z, they are truly modern consumers, grown up with the modern gadgets since from their childhood and exposed to new revolutions. They are not shy, very expressive and adventurous.

The Gen Z consumers are extremely experimental with the new ideas.

The analytical Millennials- New Millennial consumers now buy products after reviews from blogs, user’s reviews from e-commerce website such as Amazon’s user’s reviews. This change now helps retailers/manufacturers to create the even better product and understand the real demand. Also, this shows now consumers are even more awaken

The feminist women

The Modern Feminist-

The “girl power” movement embodied by new figureheads, some highly educated and others self-taught. Its modern ideology primarily based on the social media, which relay influential opinions and enable personal branding. These superwomen – many still in their teens – go straight to the head of the class! Hyper-connected, enterprising, uninhibited and inventive, they are redefining social conventions and status. Over and above success, the women in this new generation are seeking personal and professional satisfaction. Sometimes – in fact, often – they combine the two, forgoing a filter. They do their own thing. Their objectives are not exclusively material: making a tonne of money is no longer a valid goal in and of itself.

Zara Agender collection

Anti-Gender-

The gender-based distinctions are slowly blurring now, the tentative steps were taken by some of the retailers like Selfridge, Zara and some of the other big retailer’s created the positive buzz in the industry. Zara came up with the collection named Agender to tap this opportunity.

When Gucci has given a chance to Hari Nef the first transgender model to walk a ramp during the Men’s pre-fall 16 collections at Milan, Italy, it did not matter of awe. Nobody was surprised to see the transgender model at a ramp.

This social trend is not stopping at all, as the Lakme fashion week is now set to launch Anjali Lama the first transgender model at Indian runway for the summer resort 2017 runway show.

Modern Nomads

The Nomads-

The world is shrinking, and we think you as the citizens of the world. The Generation Y and Z love their native country but don’t want to live there. They want to find adventure, flee constraints or experiment with new uses and lifestyles. They go by the moniker of “roamers”…

Flexible and extremely mobile, these new nomads from Generation Y – with Generation Z hard on their heels – are citizens of the world. Having studied abroad in several countries, they already have several life/work experience under their belt and are reinventing work, travel and. roaming. The phenomenon of transborder appropriation, now changing in the wake of various terrorist attacks, has further affected transcultural delimitation. These nomads develop a temporary emotional bond with their city of residence rather than relate to their country of residence or native country. As for the migratory flows, they are becoming incessant and unquantifiable.

We cannot ignore the change caused by modern nomads as there are transmitting the culture of their native place city to city they visit. They are acting as the catalyst for the new changes also an inspiration for the creativity. Now we have started to see an emergence of short-lived trends.

Body Positive campaign- feeling comfortable in own skin. No more fat shaming

Body Positive -

ModCloth dropped the term "plus" ModCloth had to drop plus term from its store seeing shoppers irritation, those who don’t want to get associated with the plus term.

France banned thin models

France became the first country to ban thin models, they added the new rule - a model cannot be hired if her Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels recommended by health authorities. Casting agents and fashion houses who violate the law could be subject to imprisonment of up to six months, and a fine of up to €75,000 ($82,000).

Ashley Graham brought her lingerie collection to the U.S.

Ashley Graham the US model turned into lingerie designer added new collection for the plus size consumers shaken the innerwear industry which previously was known for perfect figures,

The following blog post Top 11 consumer lifestyle trend that drives fashion trend 2017 was originally published to Blog

#Blog

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diy-rebellion-blog · 5 years

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The Black Roots of Punk

When we envision a founding member of the original punk scene, we likely picture a thin, white, working-class, possibly British man, a la the Sex Pistols. While it is now widespread knowledge among punk historians that “black” music genres heavily influenced early punk music (see reggae, ska, dub, etc.), there is still little attention paid to the black individuals that pioneered the scene. In this essay I will highlight two prominent all-black bands that laid the foundation for hardcore punk and punk itself: Bad Brains and Death.

Bad Brains formed in Washington D.C. in 1977 and are widely regarded as one of the pioneers of hardcore punk music, alongside acts such as Minor Threat and Black Flag. While they originally identified as a jazz fusion band called “Mind Power”, over time their music grew faster and drew inspiration from other early punk bands such as The Dickies, The Dead Boys, and The Clash. Eventually, they renamed their ensemble to “Bad Brains,” after the Ramones song “Bad Brain.” Their lightning-fast speed, complex rhythms, positive Rastafari messaging, and seamless merging of the punk, metal, hardcore, and reggae genres set them apart from their other punk peers. Further, the intensity of Bad Brains sets led to the band being informally banned from playing in many venues, inspiring the content of their hit song “Banned in D.C.” Unable to book shows in their hometown, the boys moved to New York City where they acted as the catalyst for the growth of the hardcore scene there.

However, six years before the formation of Bad Brains, there was Death. Death was a proto-punk band (not to be confused with the death metal band of the same name) that was formed in Detroit in 1971 by three brothers: Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney. Much like Bad Brains, Death was originally a funk-fusion band called “Rock Fire Funk Express,” but their style changed after “The Who” came to town, inspiring their guitarist David to study Pete Townshend’s power-chord wrist technique. Around this time, the boys also began listening to artists like Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath and decided to take their music into a more hard rock direction.

The Hackneys’ parents were very supportive of their sons’ endeavors and even replaced the furniture in their living room with sound equipment and amps, as long as the brothers promised to practice at least three hours a day. However, the brothers found themselves ostracized by both the white-dominated American rock scene and black community members who questioned why they were playing “white boy music” (Covino and Howlett, 2012).

In 1976, the brothers got an opportunity to record their songs with a major label, Columbia Records. However, the label saw the name “Death” as a tough sell, and wanted them to change it to something a little more palatable. The boys refused and instead released 500 copies of the record via their own label, Tryangle Records. Despite this attempt to self-publish, their music went largely unheard for the next three decades. Their 1970s songs were eventually rediscovered and brought into the spotlight by vintage record collectors, leading to a professional re-release of their songs in 2009 by independent music label, Drag City. The unique story of Death and their near vanish into music oblivion has granted them considerable attention in recent years. In contrast to their decades of anonymity, they have recently become the subjects of numerous interviews with major media outlets and a 2012 documentary entitled “A Band Called Death.” Further, they could also be seen playing at Coachella in 2017, arguably one of the largest and most famous music festivals in the U.S.

Today, both Death and Bad Brains are continually releasing music and playing shows. The most recent album of Bad Brains, “Into the Future,” was released in 2012, and they have a new album currently in the works. They were nominated for induction into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, but the induction never came to fruition. Death’s most recent record, “N.E.W.” was released in 2015, and they are just wrapping up their 2019 “Final Curtain Tour.”

Bibliography:

Aron, N. (2018, February 01). It's been nearly 40 years since Bad Brains shattered stereotypes about punk rock - and black music. Timeline. <https://timeline.com/bad-brains-shattered-stereotypes-about-punk-rock-and-black-music-3659aafcc9cc>

Britt, B. (2017, February 07). Bad Brains: The band that added some much needed color to the American rock scene. The Undefeated. <https://theundefeated.com/features/bad-brains-the-band-that-added-some-much-needed-color-to-the-american-rock-scene/>

Calore, M. (2013, June 28). A Band Called Death: The Punk Rock Fairy Tale That Almost Went Untold. Wired.

<https://www.wired.com/2013/06/a-band-called-death/>

Covino, M., & Howlett, J. (Directors). (2012). A Band Called Death. [Motion picture]. United States: Drafthouse Films.

Maskell, S. (2009). Performing Punk: Bad Brains and the Construction of Identity. Journal of Popular Music Studies,21(4), 411-426.

Rubin, M. (2009, March 13). This Band Was Punk Before Punk Was Punk. New York Times. <https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/music/15rubi.html>

Wadkins, K. E. (2012). “Freakin’ Out”: Remaking Masculinity through Punk Rock in Detroit. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 22(2-3), 239-260.

White, E. (2016, February 10). FEATURE: Black Punk History-proto-punk rockers from Detroit, DEATH. AfroPunk. <https://afropunk.com/2016/02/feature-black-punk-history-proto-punk-rockers-from-detroit-death/>

#bad brains #death #punk #proto-punk #hardcore punk

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myrelevantwriting-blog · 7 years

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The Wild, 18-Minute Ride That Is Daydream Believer: A Review by a Former Teenaged Girl

Every generation has its “coming of age” movie: the movie that sees its main character through the naivety of adolescence to a catalyst that makes them realize they’re *gasp* growing up. The ‘70s had American Graffiti, the ‘80s had The Breakfast Club, the early ‘90s gave us the tearjerker My Girl (I’m still holding that vigil for Thomas J). All of these films had characters nearly everyone could identify with. Maybe you were the Cameron to your best friend’s Ferris Bueller. Perhaps you knew exactly what Jim Stark’s deal was in Rebel Without A Cause.

But then, in 1998 came a little known short film with a character so damn relatable it brings up memories you thought you buried so deep in the soil of your brain, it could only be unearthed by years of intense therapy.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Daydream Believer!

Let me start off by saying when my friend Rosie posted this movie to her blog I had no clue what the hell I was getting into. The 1970s film grain and the awkward silence (save for the chirping birds) when we meet our homegirl Susan made me half-expect one of those “What’s Happening to my Body?” filmstrips they made us watch in the 4th grade.

“Are you there, God? It’s me, Susan. All my friends are getting their periods except me. What have I done to anger you so?”

Right away we know Susan is different. She does weird things like…walking (especially when she has a perfectly good Schwinn on the front porch).

God, look at this freak.

“Look at her using her legs for non-jump-rope purposes like a fuckin’ loser.”

So it turns out that Susan’s a loner because she’s always daydreaming about her fab marvy crush…because she’s 11 and this is what 11-year-olds do: daydreaming and hurrying home and catch her fave rave on TV.

To be honest I was expecting it to be Davy Jones...the pirate, not the Monkee.

Yeah, Little Susie’s got fuzzy feelings for Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, to the chagrin of her concerned-yet-not-concerned-enough-to-actually-talk-to-their-kid parents. Susan’s mom is looking at her daughter like she didn’t wet herself over Sinatra back in her day. I mean, Susan can’t be that obsessed, though. She’s only got like, one album and a single pinup on her wall like she’s some kind of amateur. And she’s pretty reserved in her screaming at the TV so that’s considerate of her.

Her disappointment over lack of mammaries perfectly mimics Mike’s face which in turn perfectly mimics how I feel about this movie so far.

The film then takes somewhat of a weird turn and becomes from here on out a wild rollercoaster ride of “What the actual fuck?” We take a journey into Susan’s brain as she sees herself as a 45 year-old woman teenager, getting ready for her date with-…oh my God.

YOU DON’T SAY

I’m somewhat flabbergasted by their casting decision to go with a paunchy, late-30s Ashkenazi Mike Nesmith but whatever. I’m not gonna judge Susan. She’s 11. When I was 11 I wanted to hang out with Gabe Kaplan circa ‘75. It’s a weird age.

So after her date with Mack Nussbaum we find Susan back at school, going for one of her weird daydream walks and completely oblivious to a group of bitches talkin’ shit behind her back.

“I bet she doesn’t even listen to the Banana Splits. Dweeb.”

“Joke’s on you! Me and Marc Nesbitt are gonna go closed-mouth kiss behind the JFK Memorial Tree. Hope I don’t get pregnant!”

I’m not even going to comment on this next scene. There’s nothing I can add to how utterly perfect it is in its understanding of the pre-teen girl’s brain so I’m just gonna let the caps do the talking.

But trouble rears its ugly head in the form of Susan’s teacher, glaring at her disapprovingly and telling her she’s “a much better writer than this [homework],” before proving this to be a bold-faced lie as we cut to a scene in which Susan writes in her diary:

Mike is so beautiful. He has lovely brown eyes. His hair is so soft and silky. I want to run my fingers through his beautiful hair. He has a sweet Texas accent that is so beautiful to listen to. I could listen to him read a book for hours and hours. He’s divine enchanting!!!

This nonsense reads like a 1st grade primer. Girl, I know you’re 11 but this is clearly not your first day at the Mike Nesmith Rodeo. This should all have been covered on page one.

Also, I hope Susan asked for a thesaurus for Christmas.

So homegirl’s studies are suffering because she can’t keep her mind out of Mike’s pants and daydreaming about going on a romp with Mork Nerfherder to the song Papa Gene’s Blues. As you do…

“Whatchu thinkin’ about?” “Oh nothing…just statutory stuff.”

…that is until your cockblock of a teacher calls you out for not paying attention and embarrasses you in front of the entire class (a situation I knew all too well, so I actually empathize with her here). Susan goes home to complain to Raggedy Anne and delve into yet another daydream in which Mike takes her home to meet “the guys.” Oh boy, I can’t wait to see what small town community theater actors they got to play the Monk-…..wait what?

They look as confused as I do right now.

After an awkward introduction to the roommates (we’ve all been there. College, amirite?!) Murk and Susan go up to Mulk’s room…

I’m suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable and it’s not for the severed clown head in the corner.

…where Malk puts on bossa nova music and they start making out…

Oh my God, No….

NO!!!

NONONONONONONONONO!

YOU’RE GONNA CUT BACK TO THE CHILD ACTRESS AND MAKE THIS MORE AWKWARD THAN IT IS?! WHAT ON EARTH IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

Those lines under Raggedy’s eyes are from all the internal screaming.

No…………………….this is not how I wanted to die.

OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN HALLOWED BE THY NAME….

…AS I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH….

HAS THIS BEEN A PORNO THE ENTIRE TIME?!

BRB SETTING MYSELF ON FIRE…

There isn’t a word for how unnerved I am right now, so I’m just going to make one up. I am extremely floopnozzled, I am totally and immensely…wait a second…

As I breathe a gargantuan sigh of relief, Bra-vo!

After Susan has finished violating her poor Raggedy Anne doll, her dad barges into her room and in a very ominous voice says they need to talk.

The clown in the back but on a brave smile but what his eyes have seen cannot be unseen.

They go to a parent-teacher conference to talk about Susan’s failing schoolwork and conclude it’s Mike’s fault, so they ban her from the living room and the TV. And for whatever reason I don’t quite understand, there’s a scene where Susan has to listen to her parents bone on the couch. I guess as part of her punishment? I dunno.

Girl, same.

EDIT: @legrandennui has informed me that it’s possible the voices she’s hearing aren’t her parents but her daydreams distracting her again. I still think it’s the parents, though.

And even though her parents think she’s obsessed with Mike and forbid her from watching The Monkees, her enabling Mom comes home from the grocery store and gives her flowering junkie a hit of the hard stuff via Teen Life magazine with the Monkees on the cover. I heard this was how Sid Vicious died.

At first Susan is overjoyed, until slowly her smile fades as she reads an article. She storms off into her room and screams at her magazine “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE MARRIED?!”

Lol wut? Child, where have you been? How are you going to be all up on Mike’s dick but not know anything about him beyond his brown eyes and silken hair? That’s like, page 1 in How to Obsess.

So we get one last daydream sequence in which Susan tells Mike she’s leaving him because she’s grown and wants to move on…

…which I guess in this case means getting back to her schoolwork and keeping her grades up…amongst other things.

“Wait, does this mean Shatner doesn’t make her want to bone? Is that the lesson here?”- @legrandennui

I’ve watched a lot of movies about adolescence in my years but this was the first one I’ve seen that had perfectly nailed it in terms of being a young girl with a fave rave. I had gone through nearly everything in this movie: the nonstop daydreams, the constant writing about the object of my surging hormonal lust, not paying attention in school, the concerned look from my parents, and I’m not ashamed to admit my pillow had gotten the Raggedy Anne treatment. My room was a bit more intense than that, pin-up wise but I can’t imagine they had a lot to dress the set with in 1998. This was like looking straight into my own past and as uncomfortable as it was to see what I was like from a 3rd party view, I have to say at the same time it’s incredibly amusing to watch someone flip out over a teen idol while sitting back with a knowing, sympathetic nod.

If you want to watch the film it’s here on Youtube.

#The Monkees #Daydream Believer #short film

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