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#but i'm happy because the former top review

litcityblues · 13 days

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'Diplomatic Immunity' --A Review

I know it's actually May, but a new year means that I am continuing ahead on the Honorverse Saga and now I'm dipping back into the Vorkosigan Saga as well with the 13th Book in the Series, Diplomatic Immunity.

The book opens with Miles and Ekaterin on their honeymoon, wrapping up an extensive tour of various galactic sites before heading back to Barrayar just in time to open the replicators and welcome their two new children to the world. This being the Vorkosigan Saga and Miles being a (relatively) new Imperial Auditor, they naturally get diverted to deal with a diplomatic crisis in Quaddiespace.

Quaddies- if you are not familiar with the series are genetically modified humans who traded out their legs for a second set of arms so they could live and move more easily in a zero gravity work environment (Falling Free, which Is set 200 years before the start of the main series is sort of their origin story-- I'll get to that eventually, I promise.). Anyway, as it turns out, a convoy of Komarran Merchant ships is prevented from leaving Graf Station thanks to the somewhat reckless behavior of their Barrayaran military escorts, and to top that mess off, a Barrayaran security officer is missing, presumed murdered and another Ensign has deserted: for love.

Miles and Ekaterin arrive and Miles begins the process of untangling the diplomatic mess, only to be reunited with an old friend: his former Dendarii colleague, the Betan hermaphrodite Bel Thorne (last seen in Mirror Dance or possibly Memory I think-- no longer with the Dendarii, but still working with Imperial Security.) Bel is happy to see Miles, but hints that they would like to be released from Imperial Service so they can settle down with Nicol (a Quaddie musician Miles met earlier in the series while in Jackson's Whole-- in 'Labyrinth') and Bel tells Miles that there is something strange about the missing security officer, but they can't quite figure out what it is.

In short order, Miles discovers that he's in the middle of a plot by a renegade Cetagandan Ba to kidnap what turns out to be an entire cargo of embryos stolen directly from the Star Creche itself that it hijacked near Rho Ceta. Miles instantly realizes that this spells big trouble and a potential war between Barrayar and Cetaganda-- but before he can put a stop to it himself both he and Bel are infected with the same highly lethal bioweapons that was used to murder the missing Barrayarn security officer and nearly die, but manage to reach the nearest Cetagandan world just in time. They cure both him and Bel- though not without both suffering some permanent side effects and he returns the embryos to Cetaganda, averting a war and managing to make it home with Ekaterin in time to meet their new children.

I switched from snagging these on Audible to getting them off Kindle around about Memory I think and that was, oddly enough, the perfect time in the series to do that because as Miles transitions away from the Dendarii and into the role of Imperial Auditor-- I don't want to say the quality of the writing improves, because that's not true, it's always been good-- let's just say that the series matures with its character and the writing reflects that.

Diplomatic Immunity might be the first in the series that has so many callbacks to prior volumes. I don't think you have to read other books in the series to understand this-- McMaster Bujold has always been good at providing context for readers, even if it's only a sentence or two-- but it does add an extra dollop of charm as you get to meet characters from prior novels. I don't know if we're scheduled to see Bel Thorne again in future novels, but if not, then I think this is a nice, (relatively) happy ending for them and I like that. I also enjoyed the fact that this tied back to the events that happened in Cetaganda quite nicely as well-- for all the talk of the war with Cetaganda and how it hangs over a lot of the Barryaran experience, this is only the third time that Miles has tangled with them directly.

(Also, am I the only one who thought that Dubauer being called Dubauer was going to be a callback to Shards of Honor?)

I saw a recent Reddit post proclaiming McMaster Bujold as 'the most underrated writer' in SF/F and while the comments were quick to point out that she's got plenty of Hugos and Nebulas that would indicate that she's very rated and appreciated and has commercial success to boot, I would characterize her as perhaps 'the most discoverable' writer in SF/F? At 74, her output is not what it was at the height of her run in the late 80s, and early 90s and I know damn well that if I had found these books as a kid, I would have eaten them up instantly. Finding them now, in adulthood-- I can't tell you just how happy these books make me and how much I love these characters, and how I desperately wish someone who treasures these books would work up a screen adaptation because they are RIPE for the taking.

Overall: Excellent, enjoyable, delightful, charming, a great addition to the series and I ran right through this book because I just didn't want to put it down. My Grade: **** out of ****

#diplomatic immunity #lois mcmaster bujold #vorkosigan saga #miles vorkosigan

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autisticandroids · 5 months

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15, 21, 23?

15. something you learned this year

i don't know if i can say i learned a new skill as such. but one thing is like... i really enjoyed making three card stud. and it really opened my eyes to like, how much of what i like about the practice of fanfiction is the meticulous remixing/reinterpretation of canon. there's a way in which the AMV is a more... analytical art form than the fanfic, because you are literally forced by the constraints of the medium to keep to the text. all you have are song lyrics and the kuleshov effect to convince your audience to take the new meaning you intend to convey from stuff already in the show. and i brought that ethos to three card stud even though i did add stuff. in a lot of ways three card stud was just me listing off things from canon i think a lot about and saying eh? eh? like. hoping the context would make it clear *why* this stuff makes me crazy. and i think that was a lot of the motivation behind the fic i'm currently working on, which is about dean and cas getting caught by the police. that fic at this point is mostly lists of things that have happened in spn episodes, placed in a new context by baffled feds and cops. which is the fun part. so like basically i learned that this is really fun, listing off canon facts in a new context

21. most memorable comment/review

so the most memorable traditional comment as such i got was probably this one, on i fold in half so easily (ifihse tends to generate the best comments because it's extremely dark without the ways in which it is dark being obviously flagged. so people are more shocked and more forced to think). "Cas: no officer i am very happy please dont tell dean im emotionally complex" is so funny and true that's literally what happens in that fic.

another top contender is this one, on getting serious, which generates good comments for the same reason ifihse does, though it's a lot less intense.

but in terms of my favorite *response to my work,* it was the breastfeeding anon saga (in chronological order here) which was a response to my fic smorgasbord.

and then i wrote a fic based on those anons, and then i got these very funny tags on my fic post:

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

when i tell you about the 120k deanvictor fic which is literally 90k of victor henriksen hunting down a serial killer dean winchester while becoming a little (sexually) obsessed with him and then 30k of victor knowing about the supernatural and moonlighting as a hunter while he and dean suck each others dicks so much.

and also it's about victor's relationship with his two ex wives and his former stepdaughter who he is still emotionally a parent to even though they have no legal relationship and the coworker he had an emotional affair with who he doesn't speak to anymore and how he feels trapped in his life and his job and dean represents this escape for him this total freedom. just living in his car on the road and not having to worry about what your boss thinks or needing to quit smoking. while for dean victor represents this stability and adulthood dean can never achieve. and dean leaves three spare pairs of underwear in victor's divorcé bachelor pad as a kind of little... fantasy. of what life could be like.

anyway the most compelling scene from that, IN MY MIND, is a scene where victor STILL thinks dean is a serial killer. and now he has him in custody. and against his will he's... charmed. by dean. because dean is charming and pathetic, shaking and sweating from mild alcohol withdrawal but still cracking jokes and being friendly and observant and extremely young-feeling, for 28. and earnest in a way he didn't expect. and they're forced to work together against a demon siege, a spin on jus in bello where victor still doesn't find out about the supernatural he's just protecting himself and a prisoner from a threat. and he has the uncomfortable realization that he's attracted to dean winchester (serial killer) (guy he is trying to take down) (has killed so so many people). and he's like well. we can table that for later. and then dean escapes.

so i've been trying to figure out a way to scoop out just that scene and turn it into its own fic because that's actually manageable for me.

the dean and cas pursued by the cops idea also comes a bit from frustration that i can't write this, though the feds in that one are ocs bc it's later.

from here

#spn #asks #sketcheun

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sirowsky · 11 months

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Part 29 - The Performance

Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) Modern AU

It's time to open the doors to the new shop, and while you're rediscovering your life-long passion, Pero is cogitating on several things, both good and bad.

Creator chooses not to use Warnings! This is 18+ONLY! Author's Note: Unfortunately, due to the massive decline in interest in this story, I've decided to let Part 30 be the final chapter. I simply don't have the motivation to keep it going, while dealing with real life struggles, when each chapter seems less appreciated than the former. I have loved writing this, however, and I will forever be indebted to those few of you who have stuck with me all the way. I wish that I could just sit down to write and not care if anyone reads it or not, but sadly, I'm just not that confident. But I thank you all, and I hope only good things come to you in your lives <3 Love, Jay

Word Count: 4272 Masterlist (this story) Author’s Masterlist

Link to Part 30

<><><><><><><><><><>

Monday couldn’t come fast enough, but it also sprinted towards you way too quickly, which was stressful in a simultaneously fun and somewhat daunting way. You were so looking forward to seeing how many people would turn up, what they’d think and how much work you’d get to do. Obviously, you hoped that your calendar would get fully booked, but businesses like these weren’t always successful, regardless of how good the products were.

It was a bit of a niche sort of store, and it was going to depend heavily on customer reviews and recommendations, just like your studio had, otherwise it simply wouldn’t hold people’s interests. But you were positive. You’d done this before and you’d been very successful, so there was no reason to think that it would tank this time around.

So, on Monday morning, you got up early, letting Pero sleep in after having been up with Mae for parts of the night. You took her into the kitchen with you while you made scones for breakfast, using the time that they were in the oven to fix your hair and put on a touch of make-up, for the first time in about forever.

You’d showered the previous evening and made sure that your favourite fancy clothes were clean, so by the time Pero walked into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of the bread, he was ground to a halt as soon as he saw you.

“Ay, mi amor… You look amazing,” he murmured while his eyes trailed your form from top to bottom and back again.

“Thank you, I feel amazing,” you chirped, making him smile.

You had Mae in her baby stool by the island, and your happy tone seemed to register with her, because your words were closely followed by an enthusiastic half laugh, half shriek as she looked at you.

“What’s that, Babybee? Are you happy too, sweet girl?” you playfully babbled in return, coaxing her into a full laugh.

But then Pero’s arms encircled your waist from behind, and his lips found that spot on your neck that he loved to nuzzle, and you knew where that usually led.

“Hey, hey, we don’t have time for that, honey,” you admonished, but your voice was too happy and your tone much too inviting for him to take that seriously.

“I’ll be quick, I promise,” he hummed in your ear, low and sensual, knowing full well what his voice did to you.

“You always say that, but you never are,” you tried, still entirely unconvincing.

“I can’t help it that you enchant me whenever we make love,” he was practically purring now, while his hands were leaving hot trails on the sides of your thighs, where he was slowly pulling your skirt up.

“Which is precisely why this is not the time. I really don’t wanna be late today,” you said, and the words were true enough that your tone got firm and decisive, making him pull back.

He only ever pushed when he knew that you needed or wanted him to, whether you were aware of it yourself or not, and that was not the case today.

“It is going to be a wonderful day, pintora,” he answered, back to his usual warm tone, kissing the top of your shoulder before stepping away to check the bread and pull it out of the oven.

“Yes, it is. I’ve decided that no matter what, today is gonna be fantastic, because it’s a new beginning, for better and worse.”

“I like this attitude,” he smiled at you, and you giddily mirrored him.

<><><><><>

You arrived at the shop, aptly named “Ab-Bee’s Corner”, with over thirty minutes to spare, but Abby was already there, putting the finishing touches to the décor and making sure that the display windows were clean and inviting. As before in your studio, there were trees inside the shop, and plenty of potted flowers as well, both for the warmth that they added to the feel of the space, but also for the aesthetics.

It had such an inviting atmosphere that even from the outside, it looked comforting and homely, more like a living room in the middle of a park, than a shop. Another indicator of just how skilful your best friend was, and how right you’d been to offer her this collaboration, as well as trust her to get it right, almost entirely without your involvement.

Just one of the many things that Pero loved about the relationship between you.

“Morning, guys!” she called as you came into the shop. “I’m so excited, I’ve been here since 6am! I couldn’t sleep.”

“Good morning. I slept surprisingly well, actually,” you answered with a grateful glance at your partner, and he smiled in return, knowing that you were referring to him getting up to take care of Mae whenever she’d stirred in the night.

He never minded getting up to tend to her, because he was still so baffled that she was even real and that he got to have her and care for her, so he was never going to complain about what little discomforts he might have to endure for the sake of her wellbeing. Or yours, for that matter. His love for the little girl was every bit as empowering as it was frightening, and his love for you only grew deeper every day that he got to share with you.

“Aw, you’re so good to my best girl, Pero. To think that I ever thought you might wanna drag her into the woods and bury her,” Abby observed, having noticed the look between the two of you.

He knew that she was saying it as a joke, but he also knew that she really had feared that something like that might happen, back in the beginning. Which, at the time, had been a perfectly reasonable fear.

“You have good instincts, Abby. You were right to trust them, you were just also unaware of how enchanted I already was with your girl,” he offered, and she chuckled at that.

“Good thing, too, or there would’ve been no one around to save us from asshole-Pete,” she grumbled, unable to say his name without having to fight the urge to spit on it. “And I know that an argument could be made that he might not have come after us like that if you hadn’t shown up, but really… Assholes are assholes. He would’ve done something eventually, no matter what.”

Neither you nor your bestie were aware of what Pero had found in his apartment, because he had never seen any point in telling you that your naked body had been on display above the sicko’s bed. It wouldn’t help you to know that, if anything, it might just make you feel uncomfortable about moving around your house in whatever attire (or lack thereof) that you might want to.

You should be able to feel free to strut around naked in your own home, without constantly wondering if you might be the target of an unseen camera lens. And whether Pete was still around or not, there was no telling what tricks your mind might come up with if you learned about that. You might not react much at all, but it was also possible that you’d lose that comfort completely, so your partner had made the decision that this was information that you simply had no use or need for.

“Okay, how about we don’t ruin everyone’s good mood with a conversation about spineless and disgusting waste-products?” you chimed in after having parked a sleeping Mae in her stroller by the register.

“We talking about Prescott?” Dean replied, coming into the store from the spacious storage room in the back.

“Not anymore,” you happily said while dancing over to him to give him a giant hug. “Hi, dad. Thank you for being here with us today.”

“Hey, now, Bumble, you know there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” he warmly assured you while he held you close for a long moment. “A brought enough cookies to feed half the town.”

“Oh, you have high hopes, I hear,” you said as you pulled back with a grin.

“Of course. This place is wonderful, and I know that people are gonna see that. Don’t you worry, sweetheart, you’ll be drowning in orders soon enough, mark my words.”

“Speaking of which, we are ten minutes away from officially opening,” Abby reminded you all. “So, let’s just do one final check that all the machines and gadgets are working and that we have all the materials in place.”

Pero kept to the side as the rest of you got busy, with the pretence of keeping an eye on Mae, but in truth, he just wanted to look at you. Because you were probably completely unaware of it yourself, but that morning, it was the old you that he was seeing. The artist. The creator who loved nothing more than to see people’s eyes light up when you showed them the physical representations of their dreams. You’d taken such pride in being able to do that for others, and he just hoped that this would give you the chance to earn that pride once more.

“Alright, Beebs. You do the honours,” Abby nodded at you with a wide grin when her watch turned 09:00.

Literally skipping with excitement, you walked to the front door and flipped the “Closed” sign to “Open”, and just like that, the shop was officially open for business. Neither you nor Abby expected any customers to come dropping in until around lunchtime, since it was a normal Monday, and thus, a workday for most people. However, you had all completely underestimated the tour de force that was your father on a mission.

It took less than fifteen minutes before the first customer walked in, and behind him was ten others, all of them military men and clearly familiar with Dean.

“Welcome, boys! Come on over here, let me introduce you to my sweet Honeybee, her partner in life, Pero, and her partner in everything else, Abby,” your dad rattled off as he pointed to each of you.

The men politely nodded and since there were a bit too many of them for everyone to introduce themselves in return, just one of them stepped forward and shook your hand.

“Pleasure, miss, my name is Harper. Your father and my unit have collaborated on a few operations over the years.”

“Ah, I see. Let me guess, he called you with some BS excuse for a conversation and ended up happening to mention that his beloved only daughter was in need of assistance, not really giving you the option to say no, and suggesting that you bring as much company as you could rally?” you speculated, crossing your arms and politely smiling at the men, all of whom looked increasingly embarrassed by the second.

Harper just stared at you while you spoke, and when you fell silent with raised brows, challenging him to tell you that you were wrong, he huffed a bemused little chuckle and turned his gaze to Dean, standing right next to you by then.

“Yeah, this one’s definitely your offspring, sir.”

You smiled triumphantly while your father just laughed, entirely unbothered by being caught rigging the game, probably because it didn’t matter much to him how your shop received attention, only that it did. He knew that even if people came there just to be polite or as a favour to him, they’d still help to spread the word and put your little business on the map, and that was good enough for him.

“Okay, well, thank you for coming and being our first visitors!” you chirped, clearly happy just to have someone to entertain. “Feel free to have a look around, each station has its own function and creative purpose, allowing us to make a variety of custom items, from embroidered caps or clothes, to specialized flower arrangements, gift cards, photographic prints on canvases and so on.”

The men slowly began to move around the shop, familiarizing themselves with everything on offer, and in just a few minutes, you and Abby got your first orders. One of the stations offered customers tailormade leather jackets, something that Abby had apparently casually learned how to do from an elderly gentleman that she’d been a caregiver to some years back. He’d still been working then, even at over eighty years old, and had happily shared his craft with her.

The officers loved the idea of their own “unit-jackets”, so they all ordered the same thing: bomber style winter jackets in medium-dark brown with white wool lining. All with their respective names embroidered on the right-hand side chest, and other little details that they just liked. And considering that this was one of the pricier things on offer, just this order alone was enough to pay a full weeks-worth of salary for the two of you.

Since Pero was standing close to the register, he could watch up close just how happy you were to get to be of use again, to get to work and feel like you were contributing to something, even if all you’d thus far done was taken a few orders and been nice to customers.

“You are glowing, pintora,” he hummed at you when you came to cuddle with Mae once the men had left, too full of positive energy to just stand around and wait for someone else to walk in.

“I love this!” you excitedly chimed, while twirling slowly in circles as you tried to make your daughter laugh. “I feel like I’ve suddenly woken up from hibernation, or something.”

But that was as much as you had time for, because then the next customers walked in, and you quickly handed Mae to him before you headed back towards the door, grinning from ear to ear. And that was just the beginning. Throughout the entire day, people came and went, most of whom were familiar to you, but some were complete strangers, as even out-of-towners had found their way there.

Both you and Abby had your work cut out for you, roping in Dean to entertain customers when you couldn’t tend to them fast enough, and even Pero found himself approaching a few of them, trying to keep them in the shop so that they wouldn’t give up and leave just because the owners were busy. And to that end, Mae was like pure gold. She enchanted everyone, and endeared her father to their eyes, despite his lacking social skills.

All of which meant that by the time you closed for the day, nearly two hours later than intended, you’d already earned enough to keep the place running for another six months. But you were also dead on your feet, all of you. So, you helped each other clean up and prepare for the next day, and then locked up, said goodnight and headed to your respective homes, too exhausted to even talk about the day.

Once home, you showered while Pero made dinner and then forced you to eat before collapsing in bed, fast asleep even as your head hit the pillow. He smiled adoringly at you, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching you sleep for a few minutes, loving how relaxed and joyful you still looked, even while unconscious. It had been a fantastic day, in every way it could’ve been, and he was so happy for you.

But he wasn’t quite as harmonious as you in that moment. His mind was still partly focused on the cell, buried half a mile from Dean’s house, where Will was fighting his demons, every second of every day. It had become so obvious during that lunch the previous week. How far he still had to go, and how much he would be struggling for a long time to come. Perhaps forever.

You’d invited him into the house without pause, without so much as explaining yourself to your baffled father, instead just pulling out a chair and all but ordering your guest to take a seat. And he’d obeyed without question. He’d sat there, unwilling to participate in the conversation that you’d effortlessly kept flowing, covering a dozen different topics, but absorbing the positive atmosphere and the welcoming attitude of everyone present, whether he’d wanted to or not.

It had been a strangely cathartic moment, for all of you. But it hadn’t ended the way you’d intended or hoped. Will hadn’t done anything bad, but when Pero had escorted him back outside and into the woods, the conversation that had taken place had been so disheartening that he hadn’t even been able to share it with you yet. Not when you were so happy.

“She’s pretty damned amazing,” Will had started, almost mumbling for fear that the words wouldn’t be welcome.

But Pero had merely huffed bemusedly.

“Ay, hermano. You do not know the half of it.”

“No, you’re right. I can see that in her. The bare minimum that she lets me see, hiding away everything else to keep from overwhelming me. And even that’s impressive.”

“And still, you did not speak to her today. Not one word. Why?” the Spaniard had asked with genuine curiosity.

“You really have to ask me that?” his brother had returned, truly perplexed. “Come on, man. She’s like this… unshakeable force of nature, or something. And I’m just… a broken record, so full of scratches that I won’t even play anymore.”

“Is that what you think she sees when she looks at you?” Pero had countered after a moment, saddened by the man’s lack of pride or hope for himself, but still determined to prove him wrong.

“I know that she doesn’t, but that’s ju-…”

“Don’t even try to suggest that she only sees what she wants to see,” the Spaniard had cut him off. “She is not nearly that naïve, and you know damned well that she was the only one that could get to you, specifically because she sees the real you. Just because you no longer wish to see that person, doesn’t mean that he is not there.”

“You’re missing the point, Tovar,” Will had grumbled, and then sighed deeply. “What I mean is that it doesn’t matter how she, or anyone, sees me, I will never heal. Not the way you both want me to. I’m never gonna get to the point where I can sit among you and feel like I belong.”

He’d paused and then stopped walking too, turning to face Pero before he’d continued.

“Not too long ago, Bee sat before me and reminded me that what she was offering was a family, and that I should at least give it a chance before throwing it away. Well, I have, and do you know what I’ve seen?” he’d challenged, and then continued without waiting for a reply. “The closest thing to perfect that might ever have existed. So, tell me, brother… where do I fit into that?”

He hadn’t been able to come up with an answer to that. At least, not one that would’ve added anything useful to the conversation, so they’d walked the rest of the way in silence. Will hadn’t made any attempt to avoid going back into the bunker or his cell, although Pero hadn’t seen any reason to chain him up anymore. And when he’d left, he’d taken a detour back to the house, needing to think.

He’d known that you would ask if anything had happened on the walk, and while he hadn’t wanted to lie, he’d also felt certain that the truth would’ve settled like salt in an open wound for you, after all the effort and care you’d put into getting the poor man this far. So, he’d decided to delay telling you. Not for long, he hated keeping things from you and he knew that you’d be able to tell eventually anyway. He just wanted you to have this wonderful new chapter of your life well underway first, so that you’d have other things to focus on and distract yourself with. Then he’d tell you.

-=¤=-

The following morning, you woke up rested and practically chirping, waking Pero with hot kisses to his lips, cheeks, nose and forehead, until he finally started laughing at the ridiculous smacking sounds you deliberately made with each one. He hadn’t slept much at all, between worrying about Will and tending to Mae’s little moments of unsettlement, so he was reluctant to respond at first, which only succeeded in making you double your efforts.

“Good morning, my love. How’d you sleep?” you purred once he’d started chortling, resting your open hands over his heart and then putting your head down on top of them.

“Uh… not that well, actually,” he admitted, knowing it would surprise you but unwilling to lie about even something that trivial, since he was already keeping shit from you.

“Really? Why? I didn’t hear Mae-Mae once all night,” you pondered, losing some of your positive energy along the way.

“She was probably a little over-tired. She didn’t cry or even wake, really, but she was unsettled, moving and fidgeting a lot,” he explained, all of which was true. “It went away if I held her for a bit, so I stayed there until it got better.”

“Oh. You could’ve woken me if you were this tired, you know. I don’t mind, it’s just as much my responsibility.”

“I know that, preciosa. But I… have a lot on my mind. I would probably not have slept either way.”

That made you lift your head up, while a worried crease appeared between your brows, so before your happy energy had a chance to evaporate, he set about explaining the other thing that he’d been thinking about for a few days. Or rather, the two things.

“It’s nothing bad, quite the opposite, actually,” he smiled at you while turning on his side so that you were facing each other, and your energy quickly turned positive again.

“Okay, I’m listening.”

He grinned at your almost childlike joy, making you squirmy and giggly like an infatuated teenager, which was utterly adorable.

“When I watched you in the shop, that first visit, my mind became irrevocably certain about two things concerning our future that I wish to tell you about,” he started, and you were suddenly so tense with anticipation that you couldn’t move, so he had to tease you a little bit by making you wait.

“Well? What two things?” you demanded when he didn’t immediately continue, just like he knew you would.

You’d never had much patience with good news, you were too drawn to and positively affected by them. He grinned boyishly at your enthusiasm, making you wait another few seconds. Then…

“Firstly, I wish to tell you that I’d like to have another baby.”

You didn’t need to say anything in response to that, because your body language was abruptly screaming at him, beaming with maternal pride and practically oozing with lust. He had to wrap both his arms and legs around you to keep you from virtually attacking him, but you were both laughing at your sudden lack of control of yourself.

“Wait, I have not told you the second thing yet,” he lovingly admonished you while you tried to squirm free so that you could take control and satisfy your burning craving.

“No need, I know what it is,” you hummed against his neck, while scraping your teeth along his pulse-point, sending a flurry of heat to his groin.

“You think so, hm?” he growled back while freeing your arms so that you could move as you pleased.

You nodded then, meeting his eyes for one serious moment among the haze of arousal.

“Now,” was all you said, but he knew exactly what you were referring to.

“Will you marry me, pintora?�� he asked with a soft heat churning in his chest, already knowing your answer, but also because he finally got to say those words without the joke.

You smiled with a sparkle in your eyes that he had never seen before, mouthing “yes” because it was all you could do as your voice disappeared into the atmosphere around you. The star which he perpetually fell for, now shining so strongly that nothing else was visible. Because that was how powerful your love was, and he never stopped being truly amazed that he had been the one to have gotten snared into your orbit.

You still wore the necklace every single day, and now you would wear a ring too. One that he had also made himself, and not at all as recently as you might think. Because for all the times that you’d joked about it, Pero had always known that he’d ask you for real. You were his everything, and from the moment you’d allowed him into your life, there had never been a future without you.

The ring was hidden away at your father’s place, though, so he couldn’t give it to you just yet. But there was no rush. For the first time in your entire tumultuous relationship, everything was calm and good and nothing terrible was looming over you anymore. Not the Falcons or Lang, not your work or your family, not even William, because that would work out in time.

So, he kissed you, made love to you while showering you with affection, both in words and touches, safe in the knowledge that you were his and he was yours, and nothing would ever change that.

===============

Link to Part 30

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, please Reblog so that others might find this story too!

@idreamofboobear @prostitute-robot-from-the-future @sjdraws-00 @shsoba05 @radiowallet @thisshipwillsail316 @myfavpedrothings @cannedsoupsucks @bluegalaxyprime @tintinn16 @winter-fox-queen @shadesofnerdlygrace @tanzthompson @little-mrs-morales @hotchlover @gallowsjoker @cosmicbreathe @criminalmind1927 @harriedandharassed @bilibiche @heimtathurs @pedrostories

#pero tovar fanfiction #pero tovar x female reader #pero tovar x fem!reader #pero x reader #modern!pero #modern!au #the great wall modern au #the great wall fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #sirowsky stories

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lastweeksshirttonight · 9 months

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My boyfriend has decided to start watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from episode one to see how it evolves. So in case you were wondering if he and I are similar-minded folk...

Last Lee Tonight (wherein Lee gets slightly personal) Season One, Episode Eight

(original air date: 6/24/2014) Major topics covered: Monarchies, Dr. Oz

Trigger warning: brief discussion of Kevin Spacey/sexual assault; medical issues

"Let's deal with the elephant in the room tonight. I'm sorry that Game of Thrones is not on anymore."

Y'all. It has happened. We have reached the first episode where the only clip of the show on the LWT YouTube is the main topic.

This marks an exciting new era of these recaps... for now. Next week the videos seem to be a bit more scattershot again. Whatever, progress towards the future is being made!

Another major milestone is hit in this episode, as it is the first time that John wears something I would categorize as daring. Let's get "Lee's outfit review and thirst corner" out of the way - pink and purple checkered shirt with dark navy (almost black) coat and matte slate gray tie. I'm giving this a 9/10 because I feel like a shiny slate gray tie would have given it that extra 'oomph', but it is still an excellent look.

We start tonight with me really noticing the Ferris wheel in the corner of the screen for the first time. It's a bold ass Ferris wheel. Was that there before??

Jesus that's a neon Ferris wheel.

This episode starts similarly to modern LWTs, except John says "Quick roundup of the week" instead of "quick recap of the week" to kick us off. I did not realize how ingrained some of his speech patterns and word choices are in my head until this specific phrasing. It's one thing to see something completely different from what you're used to, like in past episodes of the show; this is a tweak I feel like few people would notice, and yet it stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

We start in Iraq, wherein Baghdad has fallen to ISIS. John makes a joke about Kevin Spacey's sex dungeon being the former scariest place in the world that got a huge laugh - three years before Anthony Rapp came forward with his story. His behavior was such an open secret, it's so gross.

The opening segment bounces from Iraq to Thailand, where a coup just occurred and the new regime has started a "happiness campaign". This is the kind of story John loves, absolutely ridiculous on its face with a very real undercurrent of torment because of its origins.

Finally in our early stories, Antarctic tourism! That phrase makes me vaguely ill. John is on top of creating the anti-tourism trailer for them:

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Interesting to look at this short bit in comparison to a much larger exploration of a similar topic years later, Mt. Everest expeditions. Obviously that was a full episode segment as compared to the 3-ish minutes Antarctic tourism gets here, but it's a good illustration of just how much more in-depth John is allowed to go on these kinds of niche topics as the years wear on.

John then speaks about the King of Spain abdicating the throne. ("Who needs decapitations or poisonings when you have a 76-year-old man peacefully resigning?") This gives John the opportunity to mock monarchy, his favorite sport, and to mention the LA Kings, something I did not expect. This transitions into speaking about the general idea of monarchy, how just about every European royal is related to the English crown, and Middle Eastern royalty. He ties it back to the Thailand section as well, to discuss the Crown Prince of Thailand, who is, according to the news, "a buffoon".

Next is "And Now This", which discusses "Political Figures Telling You What They Are Not". Fucking Michele Bachmann shows up again, as does professional dingo Tom Wheeler. Christ I hate Michele Bachmann.

With that, about halfway into the episode (13 minutes), we now get to our main story. Truly, this is the basic structure of a modern LWT!

youtube

The main story is about Dr. Oz, someone who time has made much, MUCH more odious. It's not like Dr. Oz wasn't a complete shithead at the time of this episode - his pitching for huckster diet solutions and miracle pills towards vulnerable people is disgusting. I have so much loathing for people who do this. A huge part of why my health problems are so bad is because, around the time this episode aired, I, and people around me I trusted, were influenced by guys like him, guys selling folksy cure-alls or "conventional wisdom". In my case, this influence caused me to not seek medical treatment for obvious, glaring, red-flag stomach issues for nearly two years, at which point I was actively dying. (I wish that the key for me to go see a doctor had been this episode, but it was not.)

But Dr. Oz got so much worse as time went on. I'm glad that, aside from one joke early on about Dr. Oz's (relative) attractiveness, John puts Dr. Oz's feet to the fire the entire segment. And not just him!

I remember learning about how the FDA is not allowed to regulate vitamins and supplements and being absolutely flabbergasted. Everyone knows that there's hundreds of deaths connected to tainted or irresponsible dietary supplements, and John firmly roasts senators Orrin Hatch and Tom Harkin for taking huge amounts of campaign contributions from the supplement industry and them subsequently killing attempts to regulate said industry. I appreciate the work put in here.

I love how silly the pandering demonstration is. Puts such a massive smile on my face. I would be remiss to not remind you that John Oliver fucking loves t-shirt cannons, and his obvious delight and power trip at holding and using one makes me beam every single time I see this.

Other notes:

Lee, you already did the suit review: Yeah sure I did. But consider the way that John says "regulatory zeal" at 9:52 in the Dr. Oz clip while snapping his fingers and barely restraining his anger.

"Check This Shit Out with Some Guy Named Mehmet" is an amazing title for a show.

I can't believe I can't find the GIF of John getting nailed with a t-shirt cannon from The Daily Show. I think Wyatt shot him with it. I'm glad I remember literally everything about this except where to find the GIF itself.

Sorry about getting a bit personal in this one. I know I don't talk much about my personal life, aside from being like "damn I'm at work all the time", but rest assured I am much better now and in good health. I have chronic illness so I'll never be 100%, but I am leagues away from where I was when my untreated illness was at its worst. <3

#john oliver #last week tonight #last week tonight with john oliver #last lee tonight #i definitely don't want to tag anything else from this episode lol

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slightlytoastedbagel · 8 months

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Bagel decided to review the new outfits because why not: Leo/Need

I know there will be a lot of people doing this I've just decided to also do it. The general consensus I've seen from the new outfits is... mixed to say the least. For me, the old outfits and new outfits both have their strengths which I'll be going through in this series of posts. Starting with Leo/Need for the sake of order.

I'm just going to say it outright; Leo/Need got the best upgrade of an outfit. The school uniform motif getting expanded upon is great and plays into the School Sekai wonderfully. I do think the blazers could have been darker (however as someone who has to wear a dark blazer to school I would NEVER wish that upon anyone) but other than that I enjoy their new designs a lot. The way they all look more unified and all of them now smiling is definitely the icing on top. They've all grown so much...

Going into individual designs, I'm so happy Ichika got to keep her thigh straps and the shirt and tie not being fully fastened is a great touch. I'm also just really happy she gets to smile now. I sort of wish she got to continue having her blazer wrapped around her waist but that would have made it too similar to the og so I respect the decision to have her wearing it properly.

Saki's yellow works best with the blazer and skirt. I love the double belt and the little star on each of her socks. The choice to give Saki and Honami bows while Ichika and Shiho have ties is a nice differentiation. That's... all I really have to say here. I'm happy the keyboard is no longer in the way.

Honami's (and also Ichika's but I only noticed now) skirts only being half pleated was a good way of making the girls' outfits not all look the same while still keeping the more unified feel of them. I think Hona is my favourite of the group. The star on her arm along with the half belt and buttons on her skirt are great touches. Her old outfit just looks so bad in comparison to this one.

Shiho also got an improvement as she no longer has that bright lime jacket!! It's interesting to note that her skirt and blazer use different shades of green, maybe they thought the darker shade would look better with the blazer? Either way I like it better than her original. Her shirt hanging out is also a nice touch.

L/N Miku is the only one I'm not fully sold on. I like the skirt and think the jacket makes her different enough from the girls but I miss her safety hair clip so much. Oh well...

Overall, I think Leo/Need do the best job of what the outfit redesigns should be like. Showing the development of the unit while keeping their representative colours and themes present enough. In the case of the former this does mean just making the outfits look like they go together but still.

I did say in the tags of that post about Rui facing with his back to us that I liked L/N and WxS the same amount, but looking at them now I definitely like L/N more. My only real complaint is that the blazers would have looked better in a darker shade but it's not a life ending difference.

In terms of if I think it's an improvement to the original, this is the only one I can confidently say is (but I am writing this before Nightcord's release so that may change). Their first outfits may have been more individualised but Honami and Shiho look so much better here.

#project sekai #leo/need #bagel's rambles #reminder this is all opinions i don't want a war over this please thank you #these are going up one hour after the other just for the sake of spacing them out

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queerwolfsstuff · 7 days

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @eyesofatragedy67

1. How many works do you have on A03?

121 so far, that number will increase within the next couple of months.

2. What's your total word count?

3,439,494

Holy shit, and that's not including the word count of unpublished works or the original novel I'm currently editing!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Actively: Supernatural; Good Omens; Our Flag Means Death; Red, White, and Royal Blue, (MAYBE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES BACK OFF)

Past: South Park; High School Musical; Beauty and the Beast; Harry Potter; Blades of Glory; and Glee.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Top 5 in general (this includes co-written fics):

In a Mirror, Darkly (written with @anyreiart) - 3,068

Red, White, and Royal Blue Balls - 2,365

Playing with Fire (written with @anyreiart) - 1,748

That Wasn’t Supposed to Fucking Happen! (written with @anyrei) - 1,387

The Heart of Ophelia (written with @anyreiart) - 1,357

Top 5 Solo Fics:

Red, White, and Royal Blue Balls - 2,365

La Rose Cachée - 1,146

Twenty After Four - 390

You Know I’m No Good - 326

And Walk Yourself to the Laundromat - 318

5. Do you respond to comments?

UGH, not as much as I should, and I used to be really good about responding to all comments, but presently my inbox on Ao3 has 4402 “unread” comments and I just… I can’t, it’s too overwhelming at this point with working two jobs. But I read and genuinely appreciate every single comment, even if I can’t reply to every single one!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ah. That’s a toss up between Nothing’s Gonna Change My World and Through the Rift Series. In my opinion, the former, but I’m sure Any would beg to differ.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oooh, fun! Ummmm. Most of them have happy endings (both literally and figuratively). I guess the “happiest” ending goes to the crack fic I wrote for Any’s birthday seven years ago. Crack in the Fourth Wall

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Oh, you betcha. The first time we got a shitty comment on a joint fic, Any said, “We’ve made it!” Thankfully, when a certain newsletter was dismantled, the anti-destiel harassment died down. I/We still get the occasional “concrit” comment from readers who think it’s an okay thing to give unsolicited writing advice, and I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Constructive criticism cannot exist in already posted fanfiction world, you aren’t being constructive or critiquing, you’re literally filing a complaint, leaving a bad review. So either embrace the fact you’re a shitty 1-star Yelp review Karen, or stop leaving concrit.

9. Do you write smut?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

10. Craziest crossover?

I actually don’t write crossovers, but keep your eyes peeled! I recently participated in the CasDean Reverse Crossover Bang, and in a little over a week, I’ll be posting my Harry Potter crossover fic featuring art by the amazing @rezal-art!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not technically, or in a way that could be proven, but a very popular fic very much felt like a rip off of one of mine and Any’s fics, one that a well known author (a friend of the author of aforementioned rip off) made it a point to tell potential readers to not read the ending of because said author didn’t like the polyamory of it all.

Even funnier, that same author shortly after wrote their own poly fic. So, I guess personal preferences used to justify telling people to not read someone’s fic can sometimes beget a change of heart if it gets you more comments/readers.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Any and I have had a couple of our fics translated into Chinese, Russian, and Spanish! And we are here for anyone who wishes to translate any of our fics, just let us know and send us a link, and we will include it in the notes!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. At this point, I prefer to not write alone. Any needs to stop allowing it to happen.

14. All-time favorite ship?

Okay, so… technically, it’s Destiel. It’s the only pairing that survived the end of its series. Dean Winchester and Castiel are my two favorite archetypes of characters and their specific dynamic transcends canon bad endings and any type of universe.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don’t have any! The last time I posted a WIP, it took me a couple years to finish, so I promised myself I would only post completed fics from now on.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Comedic scenarios and dialogue. I like the funnies and the speakings.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

DESCRIPTIONS. I fucking hate it, okay? Why can’t you all just know what’s in my damn head? I also have a toxic, codependent relationship with commas and sentence fragments.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

A little mixed. So, barring it being like… Latin, or a more archaic language that you use an unreliable online translator for or a language you speak, I believe for believable dialogue, you should have a friend or someone who can confirm/verify that the language is written correctly, otherwise, I vote you write, “they spoke in x language,” and interpret in the narrative. And no writing an accent in dialogue for characters where English is a second language phonetically! Like, authentic structure of a sentence, rhythm, or word choice is fine, but let’s not be offensive folks.

19. First fandom you ever wrote in?

Harry Potter over twenty years ago now. I’m an old.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oooh, that’s fun. Ummmm. For co-written, it’s a toss up between Five Dimensions, or Dean’s Crusade: A Dance with Self Discovery with @anyreiart or Heaven on htraE with @eyesofatragedy67 and for solo it’s a toss up between I Wish for This and La Rose Cachée

Tag time! @anyreiart @punk-is-notdead and whoever else wants to do this!

#destiel #spn #fanfiction authors #fanfiction milestone #batb2017 #rwarb #fic writing #this took way too long

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popculturebuffet · 9 months

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Beetlemania: Ted Kord (A review of Blue Beetle V5 #1 and 2 and Blue Beetle V6 # 1 and 2) (Patreon Review and Comissioned by Brotoman.Exe and WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy beetlemaniacs, and welcome back to beetlemania, my look at those proud boys in blue just in time for the film.. well the day after it came out because my schedule has been in freefall.

Today we look at the man, the myth, and the guy who built his own giant dope as hell bug ship, Ted Kord, the second blue beetle.

To get to the blue part of the blue and the gold though, we have to talk about what happened to Dan. While fox published Blue Beetle into the 50's, dan fell victim to what most heroes a the time did: The Superhero Bust. Post WWII until the mid 50's, kids just werne't checking out superhero comics, preferring western and romance comics. As a result most superheros vanished and only super popular ones like Batman and Superman carried on and even the world's finest were hitting a wall. As a result Fox Comics went out of buisness and sold it's stock to Charlton comics Charlton DID try to make a go of things with dan, twice. First they reprinted golden age stories as a backup before giving him his own title in the mid 50's, ironically a likely result of superhero comics becoming hot again thanks to Dan's future owners DC Comics, before being taken over by Mr. Muscles. Now already just with THAT TITLE alone, I was curious.. but then I looked into it on wikipedia and who boy. Okay first off he was created by Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel.

Okay so brace yourselves for this breif detour: So Mr. Muscles is a former wrestler, who still wears a neat belt, has a kid sidekick and female version and fights with the power of being in peak physical condition, much like captain american if he could choke slam you. I also like the angle to him that he promotes physical improvment to the point that a guy who tries to KILL HIM WITH TIGERS, is instead given a chance ot better himself. Those parts.. all honestly work and i'm shocked this character has never been revamped especially since he REALLY would've fit well with the wrestling boom of the mid-late 80s around the same time the charlton cast got added to the dc universe.

But the most bonkers part is his origin....

Yes folks, Mr Muscles beat Polio, a disease that cut countless people down before Jonas Salk's polio vacine started to help just three years before this comic THROUGH SHEER FORCE OF WILL. Take that science! Again he'd probably need his origin touched up as "I didn't need a vacine I just beat this disease through will" isn't the uplifting message it was in 1955. Sadly the world just wasn't ready for him, and both Mr. Muscles and Dan Garret sat on the shelf.

So we enter the mid-60s. After dc plateaued with it's stories, Marvel breaks in with stories that treat it's characters like real people. Sometimes their real people who will fake being their own hepcat twin brother to fool their friends because they can't just tell them who they are because shut up, sometimes they'l lfight communists every week and sometimes they'll have their college roomate wind up as a dictator with his own country, but still people who have mostly realistic emotions and what not. So sensing another chance to cash in Charlton tried one more time to bring back Dan. The stories seem good, with Dan getting a new love intrest Cheri, an egyptian archelogy professor and a new job as an archelogist, an origin I honestly feel works better given the scarab and was carried over. The series breathed new life into the character.. but not new sales and once again the beetle was gone. However with a new boom going on they decided rather than let the beetle gather dust again to try a new approach: They combined the approaches of both companies: they'd give someone new the blue beetle identity.. and have one of marvel's top guys give him that sense of realisim.

Enter Steve Ditko, soon to be objectivst, loveable curmudgeon and co-creator of spider-man. Understandably angry Stan kept taking all the credit for the wall crawler and less understandably angry lee was a liberal, Ditko walked out of marvel and Charlton snapped him up and put him to work on a similar but still distinct new version of the blue beetle. They started with backups, just to be safe, before giving Ted his own title that... somehow only lasted 5 issues. Still it's a bafflingly un-republished classic that introduced one of the greatest superheroes of all so let's give it a look under the cut, along with what dc did with a similar premise

Blue Beetle Bugs the Squids: While another writer is credited.. it was simply a front: Ditko actually wrote and scripted the stories here, he simply didn't want a writing credit for some reason.

So we open with a high class party. The spread is bland, sauerkraut and boiled goose. There's no way these people will ever cut loose.. but more importanlty there's some man in squid suits with suction cups climbing the building.. suction cups on their ARMS.

The suits do look neat, not as squidy as i'd hope, I love me a good squid. Their beady eyes, their cupped mouths the fact they can murder you. Good boys. But their still a nice design.

They crash the party to rob it, but before the mystery men can burst in to stop this a diffrent costumed hero crashes the party

Ted's quip game is STRONG here, I can't show you them all, image limits, but Ditko's comedy and action writing is up to bat as ted acrobatically handles the much larger group. IT's very spidey-esque, without feeling EXACTLY like peter: Ted has no powers and thus his movements are more human level acrobatic, using a lot of throws and a lot of hand stands. It's a great level of art.

The Squids try to bug out with beetle following in the bug, his flying machine and something so iconic the blue beetle film makes sure to use it even with ted not physically present. But before we can get to that say.. do you have problems being short? Well charlton comics ad pages have a solution for you.

I can now see how randy newman thought short people got no reason to live, he was brainwashed by the liftee corportation! Someone deprogram randy newman!

we also get this ad for the charlton action heroes. We get a white guy doing judo, captain atom in his best red, blue , dark blue and silver armed ensemble, peacemaker: he'll eat every dick on the beach clean for liberty and of course the classic character Peter Cannon Thunderbolt. I have no idea who this guy is and don't care to. Why he's here and not Mr. Muscles, only god and charlton editorial knows.

Annnd looking it up he's bascially got the same gimick of human perfection with some added "White guy learning asian wisdoM' uncomfort. : Also I just noticed he's basically wearing socks.

Anyways beetle chases after teh squids in the bug which here looks more like a cricket than an actual beetle, something later designs would iron out.

We then see Ted Kord's personal life. It's largely what it'd be for most of his career: working as a researcher at a lab at his father's company, sometimes Ted's own company, though things.. aren't happy. Lt. Max Fisher is trying to figure out what happened to Dan Garret on Pago Island, and Ted can't tell him for reasons we'll get into next issue.. reasons he refuses to tell his girlfriend and fellow lab tech tracey.

He has reasons for keeping Max from knowing though: there's a secret there that could threaten the world, again more for the next issue. For now he's going to enjoy being blue beetle for as long as he can. I get the sense the detective subplot was added to throw in some drama to Ted's life, spider-man style. There' some elments of peter here: the dictomy of brooding civlian, carefree hero, the science background, the quips, the secret id driving a wedge between him and his loved ones.. but what I like is Ditko takes steps to make sure ted is his own man: he dosen't have powers, relying on techno wizardy, acrobatics and his own brain, has a steady love intrest from the word go and as we'll see next issue DOSEN'T keep his id a secret from those he loves for long if it'll keep hurting them. It's clear from the next issue Ditko either realized going the broody rout woudln't work forever or he was simply swerving his audeince expecing "Spider-man but blue and without powers". Either way it's nicely done.

So we cut to Todd Van III, a socilate suggesting a yacht party to raise money for .. something. Naturally given this guy we've never heard of has a lot of focus, he's the big bad behind the squids, having spent his inhereitance to show he can make his own money to his dead dad. That'll show his ghost! He also plans to make himself out to be a hero: since th eparty's a masquerade he swaps places with a minon so said minion will play him and stand up to the squids, who then slink away to the lower decks with the money.

This ends up backfiring as Ted was montoring the scene the whole time. It's nicely set up too: this time he's ready since the yacht party is too big a target for the squids to pass up.. and thus he notices how weird it is the squids AREN'T on his radar.

So we get a really fun action scene as the yacht, c leared of guests but not of squids, gets sieged by ted, who uses the bug in some really fun ways, including giving them a second to sweat it out before pouncing. It's cool stuff. Todd has decided to blow this pop stand... literally. He plans to blow up the yacht and everyone involved to get away. Unfortuantely for him the squids find out and escape while Ted is able to chase todd, and get the very moist back of money back. We get a REALLY fun fight scene as Ted keeps quipping about how todd REALLY wants to go to prison.

IT's a really great bit and really sells who ted is. In the end Beetle wins, the squids go to jail and he wonders what's next. Before that though I have to say..t his is a REALLY fun story. The dialouge is hilarious, the mystery for next issue is very well set up, and the squids are fun badies. Their not exactly a threat, but their not really here for that: there here more to give ted someone to show off against. To show what the beetle can do and to show he dosen't have any powers like dan. For a first issue it's a lot of fun

This issue also introduces the Question. The question is vic sage, a tv reporter by day who fearlessly speaks against corruption despite a good chunk of the board at his station wanting him gone. You can see a LITTLE of ditko's budding objectivism peak in, him blaming people with gambling problems for enabling mobsters, but otherwise it's also a great story. It's a really solid first issue and given it introduces such important characters i'm baffled dc hasn't reprinted these since the 2000's. It's great stuff. And there's more of it coming up next

The End is A Beginning By this point steve apparently got less shy about taking the writing credit as this one credits him rightfully as writer and artist.

Ted's stressed as Lt. Fisher keeps pressing him and Tracey hasn't showed up for work. So after Fisher leaves he decides to do some blue beetling to clear his head.

He flies over Pago Island, remphasising for new readers it has some terrible secret.. but it also has a guest. Ted's worried so he checks in.. and finds Tracey. Turns out she was here all day searching..

I... fucking love this scene. Ted sees his loved one is hurting.. and decides to come clean, despite the risk. Because it's the right thing to do. It's something I REALLY wish more superhero works did after this. Nowadays this sort of thing is way more common and deconstruing the secret keeping way more often, but it still took it's sweet time and even then we have things like miraculous ladybug where they just.. outright keep the ids secret because shut up. Here ted sees his girlfriend in distress and simply agrees to tell her.

So we cut back a few months: Ted was working with his Uncle Jarvis, with Tracey running his lab while he did as Jarvis preferred ted work only at his lab. Ted was curious, only getting in pieces, and while he was innocent enough to not ask big questions he still wanted to know what was going on. Jarvis agreed to tell him.. but then exploded.. literally. The lab explodes, Jarvis is apparently dead as he's the only one there.

Naturally though it's not that simple as Ted finds a box not destroyed in the fire.. and to his horror finds out the experiment was actually to create some cool looking artifical super solders. Before now their weakness was being slow.. but Ted accidently solved that. So he goes to Dan. In this continuity their old college buddies, and he figures Dan can find it with his archelogy. Dan tries to go alone so he can beetle it up if needed but Ted insists on going with because.. of course he does. He gave his uncle the keys. As for the whole being dead thing Ted rightly dosen't buy it and has to be sure. What I also love is that Ditko makes sure we get Tracey's perspective: she thought Ted was distraught because his uncle died, and she was supscious he was lying about being alone on pago island because she KNEW he left his house with someone else.

Naturally Jarvis not only has his atomic men capture them but gets monologuging. This case I get though: he has NO idea ther'es a superhero among the two guys he just captured, thus he has no reason to fear them.

dan naturally goes into action, secret identity be dammned and we get one hell of a fight. It alsos hows Dan's own fighting style: throws and more up close brawling once again to Ted's later acrobatics. Sadly... given ther'es only ONE blue beetle in present day.. you can probably guess how this ends.. in tears.. and expoding robot men

dan's body was soon lost for an explosion and while Ted managed to make it out, the police were left supscious.. but now he's given good reason. While Ted COULD at least reveal the pago island stuff without outing himself or dan as the blue beetle, though the latter might be necessary, he can't trust that anyone find the robots now jarvis is dead (his control center also conveintly overloaded), as no one man can be responsible for that kind of power.

So after some soul searching Dan used some of his dad's old experiments, his dad having left indefintely on his own vauge quest, and thus.. a legend was born

Turns out though the Androids themselves aren't gone and we get a breif but awesome fight. This is the real test: Ted is out powered, out gunned and barely survives.. but he manages to outwit them, dumping the two that emerged into a crevice.. but barely. It really cements who ted is: he's not a brawler, he can't use brute force: all he has is gadgets (something emphasized more in the dc version) and his greatest weapon: his brain. Like spider-man he has to think his way out over stronge foes but unlike spidey his brain is all he has.. and he uses it well. he then has the bug cover the crevices to be sure. Tracey vows to help him no matter what and the two embrace.. as under the island more robots are made... and the future is uncertain.

This issue is even better, giving ted a really fantastic origin story one that's been kept in most versions of him since, it's that good. DC would use it, brave and the bold would base an episode around it, and even the movie is using pieces of it, simply turning Jarvis into his sister rather than his uncle and , like brave and the bold, having the scarab be the basis. The art is fantastic, the fights as usual are great, and the stuff with Tracey is top notch character work, making her feel more like a person and less like an object.

Out From the Ashes!

So after only a few issues the blue beetle folded. Again. He'd appear breifly in AMERICOMICS. Because Merica, which finds a nice way to reconcile his golden age adventures with his silver age ones: reincarnation. It makes sense given both the egyptian themes present in the second run and the scarab itself not being defined as an alien just yet. Also as one last note the term Kahji Dah pops up here. Remember it, it'll be important later.

Anyways with that the beetle set on the sidelines again till the mid 80s. In 1983 DC Bought Charlton Comics, and it's characters, seeing the potetial Charlton had squandered just letting Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby creations sit on a shelf somewhere. At the same time Marv Wolfman, editor at dc and writer of the new teen titans (I covered his run with george perez in full last year and STILL feeling winded from it), had pitched a crossover: history of the dc universe!... which was set to completely reshape said history for a new generation, with Wolfman feeling the various parallel earths of dc had gotten a bit much, and with DC lagging behind marvel they felt a refresh was needed. They changed the name to...

Something I intend to cover eventually. When i'm not sure (I'd be happy to do it on comissoin). For those not familiar with it, Crisis was a massive 12 issue crossover, and while marvel beat them to the punch with secret wars as the first crossover, crisis was still the first proper linewide crossover: every book was effected in some way, and many would never be the same for better or worse. The book brought in EVERY altenate earth dc had, had most die horribly, and merged the remainder.

It was in these pages our boy Ted made his dc debut, and once the dust was settled he and the other charlton characters were put front and center in the new universe and most given another shot at a title or mini series with Captain Atom and Blue Beetle being the first to get ongoings, likely since Steve Ditko had worked on both, with the Question, after a guest stint in Beetle's own book, getting one and peacemaker getting a mini series and a key role in checkmate.. the latter of which I only know because he showed up for an overly long crossover between Checkmate and Suicide Squad, before largely disappearing until...

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Giving him a starring role in the suicide squad book thanks to his movie apperance and his own mini series recently.

The four along would also be adapted into the Watchmen, another book i've covered, as DC wanted to reuse the chalton characters after and watchmen was a bit too.. permeant.

And so in 1986 ted bravely and boldly enterted the dc universe proper with Blue Beetle #1.

Writing the book was Lein Wein, comics legend responsible for co-creating Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and Nightcrawler, and of course KRAKOA THE ISLAND THAT WALKS LIKE A MAN AND WAS A MUTANT NATION TILL RECENTLY. IT'S COMPLICATED. Lesser known though was his run on Spider-Man. What i've read of it is pretty dang good, and it's clear even after a healthy run with the wallcrawler Lein still wasn't quite done doing this type of story and jumped aboard when DC asked him.

So once again we have a spidey alum bringing a wallcrawling energy to Ted, let's see how it bears out.

We open with some brave chicago firefighters tryign to put out a penthouse blaze... and failing. Goly firehouse 51 was a lot less competent before Chief Boden ran it huh.

Anyways Chief Red Haired Guy is dismayed to see a familiar face, The Blue Beetle, who he thought retired. Apparently Ted took some time off between picking up the mask and now, a nice way to explain why he hadn't been in any recent dc history prior to the crisis in-universe. What they never explain is WHY Chief Carrot Top hates Ted. No really this guy is j jonah jameson levels of dismayed ted is back, gets weirdly mad at him later, they never tell us WHY this guy hates ted. Maybe it's in an issue past where i've read in this book, I don't know, but it is hilarious, you have to give it that.

At any rate ted swings in on a line he has that comes out of the bug and he can call for help. It showed up in the previous adventures. Ted then tries to help someone in the fire.. only to get a cup of punch to the face instead. Turns out this is our villian..

Yeah the idea of firefist is a good one, and we'll get to why he keeps starting fires besides it being his desire later as well as why it burns so hot. But that outfit.. where do I even begin. the armor parts MOSTLY look neat, my only complaint being that his eyes shoudln't be visable, especially since he has a whole thing about wanting no one to see his face, trying to barbeque ted over it. The idea of an armored man with undousable fire who is determined to murder all firefighters is brilliant. The problem is the rest of the outfit. The pure white underpinning, the inexplicable utility belt no doubt caring firefist shark repeleant, the GIANT bulge

And the fucking logo. He looks like a dollar store shredder knockoff. I like paris cullen's cartoony art on this book, it fits well and he makes ted look great but I have NO IDEA what he was thinking on this costume.

It's honestly what i've realized on a second read took me out of the book the first time I tried reading it. Since dc had all the issues and no intention of reprinting the series (and as of this writing despite the movie STILL hasn't, though they have reprinted Jamie's series after too damn long which is nice), I bought the first two.. and wasn't really impressed. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be spider-man. I see now it's not really that bad, it has some good stuff i'll get to, I just let the problems stack up because one of the first things I saw was this guy. And on second read like I said he's not a terrible villian he just has a bad costume. And he's far from the first supervillian to start out with a bad costume before getting an upgrade later. I'd honestly love to see him fight Jamie if he hasn't already: just upgrade the flames to make hima threat to the scarab and your good.

At any rate firefist gets away though Ted escapes via the zip line thing I mentioned the sky wire, and uses it to save the last firefighter left in the building. The sequence is tense cool and really shows what ted can do. Granted I woudln't of also opened with him getting punched in the face but I do get it: they didn't HAVE to talk ted up since he had a prominent-ish role in crisis on infinite earths.. but for people just turning into bb it's a weird choice.

The Fire Comissiner wants answers and wants Beetle to come int o the fire house.. what. Ted does tell him about firefist but skedadles as fire chief grumpus vows revenge.. well he dosen't but wouldn't i tbe neat if he did.

Ted is a LITTLE bummed that was a bumpy return.. but what I like is he dosen't stay glum for long. He instead comforts himself with the fact that he at least prevented some damage. We then get a rundown of things as he pilots the bug underwater and into his secret lair. We also find out something I think is neat as Ted unmasks: the beetle mask has a lock on it that he can undo with his glove. It's clever, giving good reason why someone can't just yank the top off and find out who the blue beetle is and fits who ted is. Wein is the one who really codified that ted is a man of gadgets: while Ditko's Ted used more acrobatics, this is a ted who uses sceince and skills and it's something that would stick from here on out. And I .. really like it. It's a way to set him apart from both spider-man and batman, his most obvious comparisions being both a bug based hero with a load of quips having a load of fun doing this and a gadget based viglante. Peter is smart and WILL use his science knowhow and strategic genius to down foes, it's part of his charm, but dosen't really pack a ton of gadgets in most runs, only doing so when he has enough backing to afford gadgets or in the Insomniac universe, while

It's more criminology: most of his gadgets are based around crime solving and are down to earth. He CAN have something custom whipped up if the need arises, but prefers more practical solutions. It's seen in their modes of transportation: batman has a car, a boat and a plane, all speclaized just in case he needs one, and while all conspicious all black, fast and able to get in and out quick. Ted by contrast has the bug which while not exactly slow, is flashier, multipurpose (both plane and sub) and designed to more make an impact and look real cool. It's in how they treat the job: To ted this is something that needs doing and honors a friend, but something he also has FUN doing most of the time or can snark at to cope when he really REALLY isn't. For batman it's a sacred mission that has to be handled with the utmost seriousness while he wears a bat costume.

We get a recap of ted's origin, which is mostly untouched. The only diffrences are a change in design for the robots, Dan is switched from a college friend to Ted's old teacher and the fact this time out ted got to control the narrative, so while Lt. Fisher is still suspcious, we'll get to that, Dan is thought to have died mysteriously.. and in a nice touch the beetle cave has a memorial set up for him, the newspaper reporting his death with two candles next to it and Ted hoping to do him proud. It's a great way to speed through the origin without trivalizing what it means or what ted's lost.

Ted rides an elevator up to the proper levels of Kord Omniversal, his company which he runs as CEO. This is it's research part. He meets with his secretary, Angela, who has really neat looking big pink glasses and is nice.. but is hiding something. To get this out of the way now she's subtly stealing tech from the company for her uncle whose forcing her to. It's a subplot that dosen't get paid of here so i'm mostly glossing over it, but I apprciate these first two issues setting up later ones already. I also love this bit of ted going through the stack of messages she has for him.

It suits him so well. I also like his hat. I want that hat. Mail me that hat.

Ted heads to the lab where we meet Melody and Jermiah. Melody is ted's love intrest.. and a fairly eh one. Sh'es mostly just "Perky' and "Into ted" in the issues i've read. There really isn't a lot to her. With Tracey it was fine because A) it was two issues and b) It was 1965, love intrests rarely got fleshed out and her feeling as fleshed out as she did for the time was nice. It dosen't really help that ted later has chemistry with both Barbra Gordon (though sadly it never went anywhere), Power Girl and Booster Gold. I personally like Karen, but i'm not against tedbabs or the blue and the gold. What i'm saying is ted is just so likeable and charming that like Spider-Man he is shippable as fuck and Melody just dosen't do enough to stand out against what came after. Update: As I was writing this review I looked ahead at future issues via the dc database (their wiki).. and found out there IS an intresting subplot where Melody is mad Ted keeps vanishing.. that being said it's still frustrating as Ted has no real reason not ot tell her WHY he's vanishing and still dosen't quite fix the character. It IS neat though.

As for Jerry he's an old friend of Ted's dad's and a wacky guy, doing get rich quick schemes reguarly and having been fired from STAR Labs for it. For those not familiar with it, STAR is dc's go to super science outfit, with branches all over the country, and has heavily shown up in Superman the Animated Series and was home base for Team Flash in the CW Flash.

Ted then has the team analyzie the wreckage to figure out what Firefist is using without saying that. I do like that Ted uses his resources cleverly and being boss, and on good terms with both Melody and Jerimiah, they don't question it. That said.. I would've preferred it if the two just.. knew who he was. There's no real reason to hide it at this point and they don't give us a good one: Melody and Ted are doing super well and Jermiah is an old friend of Ted's dad and clearly likes the kid. Jerry MAYBE could tell kord sr, but there's no reason given Ted's dad can't know either. It'd be more fun for him to not have to hide it and see how they grapple with this as well as how they help Ted hide he's the beetle from the rest of the world. Loop his secretary in too. It isn't helped by hindsight: as noted above the flash show demonstrated how cool it is for a hero to have his own support staff, while as we'll see with Jamie while he still has a secret identity, his family and two best friends learn VERY early on and his book is better for it, something the movie seems to stick to judging from the trailers.

We cut to Pago Island where we meet Conrad Caprapax, aka one of the movie's villians.. and our second subplot that dosen't payoff here. In this case it's understandable. To get it out of the way this issue ALSO sets up Lt. Max Fisher looking into Pago Island, recyling that plot from volume 5. I figured the two plots would eventually dovetail, and since i had only read the first ten issues my first time trying this book, I looked it up and confrimed: the two plots do indeed payoff eventually in issue 14 and at the same time.

We then get to setup for future issues #4, or three chronologically, as Ted helps his good friend Murray Takamoto over at star. It's a neat setup too: Murray's an old college buddy and Ted often does consulting work for him. It's a nice way to setup plots. In this case a red headed stranger wants to steal some promethum star labs plans to transport to kord omniversal. The guy turns out to be Dr. Alchemy, longtime dc villian and honestly a fun choice to go up against the more traditionally scientific ted. I love this setup. He later tries to flatten the tires on the delivery but we find out his magic is shorting out, hence the promethium need. Oh well possible stories for another day.

With our various b-plots mostly out of the way we can focus on the main story again. Ted's chilling with Murray and chatting over coffe whcih his a bit fun if also a LITTLE bit stitled, but I get comics back then weren't the most natural and prefered over the tom, 80's sitcom style talking between characters, and it still feels natural enough.

Ted heads off when he gets a ding on his watch, as he was montoring for fires.. and Firefist has stepped up his game this time SETTING A FIREHOUSE ON FIRE. Ted is prepared though using fire foam on him from the bug before fighting the guy and actually has the upper hand this time. It shows off ted's smarts with this time his acrobatics. The roof caves in.. but we get an absoltuely DOPE shot of ted sliding down the fire pole.

Sadly this dosen't last and we end with Ted pinned under flaming wreckage while firefist gloats.

This City is Not For Burning

Man Len REALLY loved his melodramatic titles.

Anyways Blue Beetle is trapped in a burning building and we get a moment that's a clear homage to a spidey classic: This be my destiny aka that image of spidey under a ton of rubble he barley escapes from through willpower alone. Here it's diffrent ENOUGH for me to consider Len.. isn't just ripping it off: Ted has no power, the heat is a diffrent kind of complication and he has to use what he has on hand, a pipe and whatever else to escape. It's a well done scene all thigns considered and ted BARELY escapes. Fire Cheif Petty Grudge decides to call it even if Beetle can stop this guy. He's still mad Ted won't fill out his forms.. which is fair.

We then get firefists origin.. and I meant what I said earlier. While his costume is messy... his origin is both great and genuinely heartwrenching.

My guess is they assumed he was dead.. but I still can't blame him for being mad they abandoned him. Granted it still dosen't justify putting on a costume for revenge but frankly if no one did that superhero comics would be kinda boring wouldn't they. I also like the ambiguity: we geninely DON'T know if that firefighter didn't care to save the victim his friend went in for.... or simply missed the guy and assumed he was dead. It's a true tragedy and i'ts clear the ptsd and circumstance warped this poor guy into the arsonist we see now.

So with that Melody and Jerry find out the substance is apparently greek fire, a substance used to burn ships and find all the places the ingredignts could've come from before clocking out. ONce ted gets back and notices via the computer that everyone's gone he heads home for a shower and folks... and he's not alone.

I.. am endlessly baffled and amused by this whole thing. Does ted like being choked and Melody just simply didn't think to ask consent because it was the 1980s, or did Melody REALLY just think "Tee-Hee you know what would really be fun, suprising my boyfriend in his dark apartment alone when he's the head of a major company and thus a target for robbers or kidnappers. The fact that as the lights go back out Lt. Fisher is watching the apartment just proves my point. He already has a stalker, he dosen't need it simulated.. unless that's what he's into and again you gotta set that stuff up first.

A few subplots later ted gets the info and goes out after firefist but while he finds the stuff to make it, the guy's already gone. He did burn his newspaper in a rage thoug hso ted has meldoy read it to him.

This.. really hurts my brain. Ted is careless as hell with his identity here. Which again would be fine if the people he was careless to found out.. but instead we get a subplot of melody being mad he disappears.. and it somehow gets worse as she not only emotoinally cheats on him but CALLS IN HIS DAD TO DEAL WITH HIS ABSENCES WITHOUT TALKING TO HIM ABOUT IT. When as far as I could tellt he company.. was fine. Ted was just missing meetings but he still did all his work on time. Girl chicago , as far as I can tell has the ONE superhero. Company 51 is still under old managment, we're not there yet.

Anyways Firefist publicly targets a firefighting museum with ted giving chase as we get an add for the dc roleplaying game from back then.. and now I want to play that. if you knwo where the docs are online or have a copy let me know.

Anyways Beetle fights him and it's a decent enough fight.. with ted trying water for some reason even though greek fire is famous for being waterproof

Ted eventually wins by tarring up the mask and then takes off the mask... with firefist seemingly comitting suicide over his burns. A tragic end. Blue BEetle plugs firefigghting and the issue ends.

This two parter.. is a decent intro to ted. It shows off his skills, what his wealth can do, and firefist, while looking like bargin basement moltar, is a good first opponent: powerful enough to give Ted a workout, but nothing to major off the bat and with a tragic ending.

The books flaws are more character wise: Ted's well done, as his his secretary, but everyone else feels kinda.. eh. Len wanted the vibe of spider-man and the repor but forgot the audience needs to feel it too. I also could've done with using more tactics with ted: while him bounding around was nice as always, part of what made the ditko one so loveable was Ted was SMART: he could outhink his foes not just out manuver them. We see bits and pieces but with ted having a full secret lab and a fortune this time we really don't see him use it. The final fight is decent.. but he dosen't say try to figure out how to counteract greek fire or at least use some gadgets.

It was fine in the ditko era he didn't whip up specific gadgets because the situations didn't call for them; The squids were tricky but he had the means to deal with them. They were just guys in suits at the end of the day, same as him, but without the skill and the bug did the rest of the lifting and while he COUDL'VE for the androids with time, he simply didn't. Here he's dealing with firefist for two days, gets full analysis of what he can do.. and does NOTHING with the info but track the guy. Say what you wil about ted curbing from spidey.. but this bit, the thinking after getting his face caved in and being ready next time, is the one bit that was crucial and that ditko rightly carried over. As it stands this is just okay and i'ts a shame this is, as of this writing one of the ONLY two solos ted's had. It's not horrible and might even get better with time, i'll certainly look into it but the more I wrote about it the more it became clear why I just.. never really took to this run: it's good god ideas.. but just does not a whole lot intresting wtih them.

Fortunately Ted would get another big break midway into his series.

But more on that next time as we find out whatever happened to ted kord.. and see the rise of a new boy in blue. Thanks for reading.

#blue beetle #ted kord #dc comics #dan garrett #jarvis kord #firefist #star labs #dr alchemy

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thommi-tomate · 4 months

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Interview with Harry Kane pt1

By: Kicker

Your first winter break is behind you, Mr. Kane. How was it?

I had a really good time with my family. We were in the Caribbean, which actually felt a bit strange at first. Normally I played soccer. This time I was able to watch all the Premier League games in peace, which was fun - and to be honest, you get used to it quickly. Especially because it was a good opportunity to spend time with my wife and children, who I've rarely seen in the past four months.

How did your ex-colleagues react? You wanted to send a photo ...

Exactly. I sent them a photo of me lying in the sun in the national team's Whatsapp group. That was just before New Year's Eve, when they were all playing (grins). I then wished them good luck for the games - a few of them wished me a happy New Year in return. Knowing full well that they were in the cold and I was in the beautiful Caribbean sun.

The first six months at FC Bayern are over. Have you spent your days off reviewing your start in Munich?

I'm very happy, I have to say. It was my first transfer after a really long time at Tottenham, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. I just believed in myself and my abilities. I knew I would be joining a great team, but I didn't know exactly what to expect and how everything would go. But now I'm totally happy with how I've settled in in Munich and with the team. The few months in the hotel were great, everyone there was really great to me - just like the fans, who are incredibly supportive. All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better start

The first half of the season is not yet over for Bayern because of the catch-up game against Union - and you've already scored over 20 goals in the Bundesliga alone.

That's right. If we were also top of the table, it would be ideal. But Bayer Leverkusen have simply made a strong start to the season. Nevertheless, if someone had told me in August that I would score more than 20 goals by Christmas, I would have signed it immediately. After the first few games, I already had the feeling that we - me and the players around me - could achieve even more if we got to know each other better.

We've been together for a while now and I think we're getting better and better, which was evident in November and December. If we carry on like this, doing more training sessions and games, we'll get even stronger. I hope that I continue to develop, but not just myself, but also the players around me, like Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry when he's back. So hopefully we'll all have a strong second half of the season.

You've mentioned time and again in recent months that despite scoring so many goals, you still don't see yourself at 100 percent. How close are you now?

Towards the end of the year, I think I was close. I was starting to feel really good. Even though I wasn't living in my house yet, I was starting to feel 100 percent comfortable in the environment and on the training pitch. The winter break was a bit of a break now, it will probably take two or three games to get back into the rhythm. Nevertheless, I feel ready and hope to do even better than in the season so far.

In December, you moved from your hotel in the city center to the former home of Lucas Hernandez. Have you finally arrived in Munich?

I think so. There was so much going on at the beginning, it was all about the job. I got to know a lot of new people and had to get used to the environment. It wasn't so easy when the family wasn't here. Now everyone is here, the children are at school and it's starting to feel like home, which is very important. I'm the type of person who likes to be at home with my family and spend a lot of time with them. It's all new for her too, but I think it's a great experience. My wife has lived in London for most of her life - we're really excited to start this new chapter together

Has your family already settled in?

It's certainly not easy, and you always worry about the children, whether they will enjoy school and make friends. But I'm sure they will. The good thing is that they are at a really good age to learn the language. They are probably faster than me (laughs). I think life is about experiences and for us as a family this is a big step. We're just going to soak it all up and enjoy it.

What about your German?

It's going slowly. It's really difficult for me. I spend two hours a week learning the language. I try to listen when the people around me speak German, to pick up something here and there, but it takes time.

A different culture, different food, a different currency, different traffic, a different league. What do you miss about the island?

That's a really good question ... I'm not someone who misses a lot. I'm someone who moves on and looks forward and not too much into the past. I try to process everything and enjoy being here. Luckily, a lot of people here also speak English, which helps me a lot. That's life: You have a job, a family to look after and so it goes on. As soon as the weather improves, I'm going to find some golf courses and play a few holes while the kids go to school. My life here is getting more and more routine.

What are your favorite spots in Munich?

I haven't been out that much yet, but of course the English Garden is really beautiful. I want to go to the mountains so the kids can ski - and I can watch them. But my favorite spot will probably be a nice golf course (grins).

Your former club, Spurs, missed out on international business for the first time in 13 years. When did you first think about a new challenge abroad? And when did your decision mature?

I focused on helping the team and concentrating on the next game. Of course, we had a difficult season last year, so I didn't want to let that distract me. Normally, you always start weighing up your options at the end of the season. I had one year left on my contract, so I knew there was a possibility of a move and it was just a matter of having a conversation with the Tottenham chairman. If I left, it could be a European club, Bayern was a club that was very present for me. When I took a closer look at the team, I thought it could be a good option for me.

English clubs have also been courting you. Would a move to another Premier League club even be conceivable for you?

You can never say never in football because many things can change. Tottenham was a big part of my life. As a team we had really great moments together, but Bayern Munich was a really good option for me. I wanted to experience something different, I wanted to get to know European football.

#harry kane #fc bayern münchen #interview

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accidentalspaceexplorer · 7 months

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2023 Book Reviews: Science Fiction, Part 1

Third round-up of books I've read this year! This time we're diving into sci-fi, with again a pretty mixed bag (although I loved The Kaiju Preservation Society!)

1. In the Quick by Kate Hope Day: 3/5

Pitch: philosophical SF; girl searches for a missing space ship crew with her uncle's former student

Review: This was recommended to me by the Storygraph algorithm, and it sounded really good! Unfortunately I liked the beginning part of this book more than I liked the end, and two weeks later most of my thoughts were confusion about why the relationships were handled the way they were, and I'd forgotten most of the rest of it. Not a hit, but it had its moments. (Current me stepping in to say that I've almost completely forgotten this now, to the extent that I have no idea what I liked about the beginning anymore...)

2. The Million by Karl Schroeder: 3/5

Pitch: a million people take care of Earth so that every thirty years the other ten billion humans can wake up & party; definitely-not-supposed-to-be-there teen has to solve his "father's" murder without revealing his identity

Review: This was interesting, but it didn't end up being more than that for me. Although I found the concept interesting, I found the ending felt very rushed, and the big character decision didn't feel like it made sense emotionally or that there was enough textual basis to set up it being necessary.

3. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi: 4.5/5

Pitch: guy looking for a new job ends up signing up to protect kaiju on an alternate-Earth

Review: In his author's note, Scalzi describes this book as a pop song - catchy and fun - and I'd definitely say that's an apt comparison! I had a great time with this, loved reading it, but I doubt it'll stay with me for a long time. I'm likely to recommend it though on the strength of the worldbuilding and fun science shenanigans!

4. Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams: 2/5

Pitch: quick fix machine can tell you what you need to be happy - but can it really???

Review: Once again, proof that my taste in books in 2018 is not up to snuff anymore. I had moved this up to the top of my TBR in 2018 and never made it to it, and I finally got around to it, only to be disappointed. This didn't feel profound, just stupid, and while there were a few storylines I enjoyed, there were a lot that I didn't care about or that actively annoyed me. I'm sure the ending for Pearl is supposed to be profound somehow, that everything in this book is supposed to be a meaningful discussion of capitalism or the alienation of man or something but honestly I just couldn't care less. Not my kind of book

5. You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo: 4/5

Pitch: retired Admiral in sketchy galactic empire just wants to run a restaurant and stay retired, but ends up running for her life again

Review: It's got a fabulous concept, and this was definitely fun - I liked a lot of the characters in this, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens down the line for them. However, the constantly bouncing perspectives didn't work well for me, and I was clearly supposed to feel more about some of the events of the book than I did, probably because I wasn't attached to the characters as much as I was supposed to. Ultimately, this was fun and I'll definitely read the sequel, but it also isn't a new favorite.

#book review #roundup reviews #2023 reviews #sf reviews

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aimsyreads · 10 months

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"Weakness is a guise. Wear it when they need to know you're human, but never when you feel it."

Seige and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: 5/5

Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Page Count: 496

Review:

Seige and Storm is THE middle book of all middle books. It keeps us satiated and leaves us hanging for more at the same time and is a perfect balance between the beginning and the end. Now I have a lot of points to touch on regarding this very book so let's go to the first section, character development!!

First of all I have to divide the book into two, former being ship half and latter being the Little Palace half. No filter, ship half was snooze. The character development during the ship half was tragic and felt like they were in stasis, specifically, Mal and Alina. Alina at least got redemption for her development in the latter half, but I wouldn't exactly say the same for Mal. In the ship half, our main characters feel really annoying and just plain dumb at times. They also become huge hypocrites during that time, telling each other about how dangerous certain actions are and then doing said action. I don't have any dialogues to quote but it did feel like they were going around in circles. Maybe Leigh Bardugo was trying to mimic the feeling of being in a ship where all you see is water and you feel like being trapped in infinity.

The only saving grace for ship half was Sturmhond but even he could not reedem it completely. His character is actually the flair and drama that the last book and I'm pretty sure the entire trilogy was missing.

In the palace half however the character development for Alina skyrockets, and Mal does develop as well, but the problem I have is that we see it through Alina's eyes and it's kind of difficult to discern the subtle changes that happens. Otherwise it is still good and miles better than the ship half. Alina on the other hand truly transforms into her role and we see her take up responsibilities. And seeing her take lead from her own pov was just chefs kiss. Also the main conflict between Mal and Alina does resurface without any conclusion which is getting slightly annoying. The palace half is also really good. So good that it makes up for the disastrous ship half.

However the lore and backstory (about the amplifiers and Ilya Morozova) that we get introduced to in the ship half was absolutely great. It was top notch. Despite s&b introducing us to this remarkable universe, it did not give us much lore about the history other than the immediate information that the reader needs. I feel like that's the only place where this trilogy truly lacks. Ruin and Rising has the most lore, but that too is mostly given to understand the Baghra and the Darkling, rather than giving us insight into the history of the world. I say it as a shame since I believe Leigh Bardugo could make even the most boring facts and wars seem the most interesting with her writing.

The plot and writing is also high quality, as expected of Bardugo. She never disappoints. The only problem was ship half but the palace half is even better than the first book so I'll tolerate it.

The ending made me take deep breaths to calm myself down because I was terrified of what was to come. Genuinely curious and confused. If I was reading this trilogy as it came out, I'm pretty sure I would've ripped my hair out in anxiety.

I honestly can kind of see where the story is going, like I know for sure that the Darkling will be defeated, but the question is how, and at what cost. Honestly I just want my girlie to rule Ravka or the second army but I know that wishing that for her is the worst thing I can do. I also do know that if the trilogy ends that way, it would not be a happy ending.

P.s. hope this makes up for the last low quality review🥲

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humanlighthouse · 1 year

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I posted 6,360 times in 2022

That's 475 more posts than 2021!

37 posts created (1%)

6,323 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@merinnan

@firlachiel

@autobahnmp3

@akindplace

@galahadwilder

I tagged 635 of my posts in 2022

#my fics - 16 posts

#heihua - 11 posts

#pingxie - 10 posts

#zsx love of my life - 9 posts

#dmbj - 8 posts

#xiaoge my beloved - 7 posts

#hei xiazi - 6 posts

#wu xie - 5 posts

#xiaoge - 5 posts

#me - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#so it often happens that miserable bastards try the passive aggressive approach with me and it fails completely because i go :d :d :d at em

My Top Posts in 2022:

Surprise! 🎉

37 notes - Posted February 12, 2022

Okay so

today i found the best qilin

behold

The Boy!!!

39 notes - Posted November 25, 2022

I was tagged by @frenchvanillaorchid to post the last song I listened to in order to predict how 2022 will go for me. Making a new chain because the vibe here is probably not gonna be what they expect 😂 but thanks for the tag hun!

And the winner is...

Welp. 🤣 @s1utspeare i'm blaming this on you, also tagging you 😘 and @jaecomments @mythochondrion @jockvillagersonly @mejomonster @xcziel @rose-nebulijia feel free to ignore this if you don't want to do it or do it even if you're not tagged if you do! ☺✌

43 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

Happy Xiaoge Gets Home Day to all who celebrate 🎊🎉

72 notes - Posted August 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Two random DMBJ headcanons that may or may not be related:

Xiaoge is afraid of flying. He never sets foot in airplanes and takes trains/ cars/ boats or hitchhikes wherever he needs to go.

Hei Xiazi has a flying license from like, 1942, but can figure out how to operate most machines. He even once stole Xiao Hua's brand new jet and managed to land it safely back after a little joyride.

The former might be due to the latter 🤷‍♀️

75 notes - Posted July 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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nakamuso · 3 months

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The (former) Mr. Takagi is a natural singer.

I think I saw a female comedian like this. Volume 16 of "The (Former) Mr. Takagi, the Master of Teasing" was recently released.

The main story is already in volume 18, so it looks like we will soon catch up with it. The cover is always the same composition as the main story, but I wonder what will happen if we overtake it.

reference：Shogakukan Comics URL：https://shogakukan-comic.jp/book?isbn=9784098511709

Da Vinci Web has reviewed "Mr. Takagi the Teasing Teacher" several times, and two of them were recently released to commemorate the movie adaptation.

Here are the top 5 "teasing methods" that made our hearts flutter!

The biggest mystery in "Mr. Takagi the Teasing Friend": "What did Mr. Takagi fall in love with Nishikata? The biggest mystery of "Mr. Takagi, the teasing Mr. Takagi" "What did Mr. Takagi fall in love with Nishikata?

（I don't think I've ever written about Mr. Takagi before, but I've read the book.

Like the main story, it is a very kind world. There are no malicious people. I want to move to such a peaceful town, but where is it?

Even in volume 16, the Nishikata family is as peaceful as ever. My personal favorite in this collection is "Guess the Price".

Takagi-san says, "I bought a knit I was interested in because it was on sale at a discount. We put on a fashion show in your house. He then asks Nishikata and Chie to guess how much it costs. The unique knit pattern looks expensive. It looks like some kind of brand. As Nishikata stared at the knitwear, Mr. Takagi said, "I'm embarrassed," and quickly hid his body. I have never seen such a "quick" movement in the movie. I have never seen such a mischievous move in the film.

The line, "I might be embarrassed if you look at my body like that…" might remind me of some female comedian, but I can't find her name. I feel like there was someone with this kind of artistic style, but maybe I'm imagining things. In the end, the knitwear cost 4,000 yen, and the punch line was, "I'm glad you got to see so many cute Takagi-san while you were guessing the price, Nishikata. I am happy.

Singing is something you practice, isn't it? And I also like 'singing'.

In the bath, I sing in high spirits. But I'm not very good at it. Apparently, he takes private lessons from his teacher even in kindergarten. When Nishikata sings with him, he gets stuck and can't sing well. But Mr. Takagi sums it up peacefully by saying, "I like both of their songs.

By the way, didn't you think that good singers are born good? I thought so. About eight years ago, I interviewed Maya Sakura, who was very popular as a chibi enka singer.

reference：Sakuramaya Official Website URL：https://sakuramaya.jp/

I don't remember the theme of the interview, but after the interview was over, we got into a chatting session, and we suddenly talked about her singing practice. I asked her, "How do you get good at singing?" I asked, "How do you get good at singing?" and Maya told me, "You have to practice a lot," which really made me think, "What? I said in my mind, but not in my mouth, "I practice a lot. It was the first time in my life that I realized that singing is something to be practiced.

Everyone has that kind of belief, don't they? I think so. Whenever I see Sakura-san on TV, I always remember this conversation. If I hadn't asked Sakura-san, I would have lived my whole life believing that people who are good singers are born that way. Thank you Sakura-san, I heard that you are going to appear on the July 2nd episode of "Nikaen no Doukou? on July 2, so I will definitely check it out.

#writers #manga #JAPAN

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yessadirichards · 1 year

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'I love being older', says Harrison Ford as he retires Indiana Jones

CANNES

Artificial intelligence may have been used to make Harrison Ford decades younger in parts of his final film as Indiana Jones, but the 80-year-old actor said Friday he loves being older and has no plans to slow down.

Ford, whose "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" premiered in Cannes the previous night, has vowed this will be his last outing as the swashbuckling archaeologist after more than four decades in the role.

And Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm which also owns the Star Wars franchise, gave a resounding "no" at a press conference when asked if AI would be used to keep Ford coming back to the role.

An emotional Ford welled up several times while reflecting on his long career and co-stars, and said he was "real happy with age".

"I don't look back and say, 'I wish I was that guy again,' because I don't. I love being older, it was great to be young but, I could be dead, I'm just older," he said.

And he has no plans to slow down, confirming he would do another season of both western drama "1923" and comedy "Shrinking".

Ford was complimented by a reporter on his physique in a shirtless scene near the start of the movie.

"I have been blessed with this body -- thanks for noticing," he said to laughter from the press crowd.

But asked why it was time to let Indy go, Ford gestured towards himself and said with his ever-present dry wit: "Urr, is it not evident?"

He first swung onto screens as the quick-witted and intrepid archaeologist with his trademark fedora and whip in 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark", followed by three blockbuster sequels.

Ford also got emotional while receiving a surprise honorary Palme d'Or ahead of the premiere of the fifth installment.

He is joined in the new adventure by Phoebe Waller-Bridge as his witty and more sprightly sidekick, with Mads Mikkelsen as a villainous Nazi scientist.

The movie sees him fighting Nazis from Manhattan to Sicily, but critics have given the film mixed reviews.

Some were nostalgically transported by the logic-defying scenes and rousing theme song, with The Guardian newspaper calling it wildly silly and entertaining".

Empire also enjoyed the ride, saying it remained true to its "fantasy" leanings, but that the "barmy finale... might divide audiences".

The Hollywood Reporter was less impressed with the "rinse-and-repeat formula of chases and gunfights" and "how glaringly fake so much of it looks".

Elsewhere at the world's leading film industry shindig, three of the 21 movies in the running for the top prize Palme D'Or were premiering on a rain-drenched Friday on the French Riviera.

British director Jonathan Glazer was set to present his much-awaited "The Zone of Interest" about the banal private life of a Nazi officer alongside the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Also showing are "About Dry Grasses" by former Turkey's Palme-winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and "Four Daughters" from Oscar-nominated Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania.

A brief moment of drama saw police cordon off a wide area around the festival's red carpet to probe a suspicious package, which turned out to be a bag lost by a tourist.

#yessadirichards

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beautifulgreenflowersworld · 1 year

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OK This is something I would like to bring to the table. I have read a lot of reviews from different grow companies in Denver.

When I say reviews, I mean former and current employee reviews. I'm disheartened to see a lot of grievances. I am. Breaks my heart.

I thought this industry can do MUCH better than this. Cannabis Temp agencies and grow houses have their operational duties on top of administrative duties. One common denominator Ive seen...lack of communication, no effective coaching (apparently constructive criticism is a free pass for verbal beration) and no mentorship. In fact I have seen a lot of turnover too on those reviews

3 basic job qualifications: State license for cannabis regulation, teamplayer and experience.

These requirements are basic. 25 years as a CSR for contact centers and retail.

Your questions in interviews actually give you insight to what you will be dealing with.

My fav question is this, "What are the challenges in this role that you see I would be able to resolve in my first week?

"What is the process like for me when it comes to coaching and development?"

"Aside from the skills and experience needed to produce quality buds, job posting mentioned 'must be a team player', what does that look like to this work culture?"

At the same time, I know I dont want a revolving door of current and former employees. As a person who manages her own grow, Im protecting my own interests. A leader inspires confidence, empowerment, has the ability to be impeccable with how they interact with others. To be taken seriously, a happy employee helps keep you operational.

To put it bluntly, Im taking those reviews to heart because those grievances will affect my product and its quality. I know Im stressing about my grow right now.

Questions to think about when you talk with a grow manager or recruiter. Who is the lead? What do they do to mitigate conflicts? How do they inspire? What is their role and do they have the necessary skills to keep on task and help their leaders meet those goals.

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darkprincecait · 1 year

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I posted 6,100 times in 2022

That's 2,002 more posts than 2021!

28 posts created (0%)

6,072 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@strangeauthor

@twinklecupcake

@cest-la-venus

@spellinwaiting

@miameirohara

I tagged 584 of my posts in 2022

#pokemon - 87 posts

#cats - 44 posts

#revolutionary girl utena - 36 posts

#precure - 25 posts

#delicious party precure - 25 posts

#precure fanseries - 22 posts

#dracula daily - 20 posts

#pokemon scarlet and violet - 17 posts

#pretty cure mirai spark - 16 posts

#sailor moon - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 119 characters

#beldum because i didn't know about its dogshit catch rate and ended up tearing my hair out trying to catch one in pearl

My Top Posts in 2022:

Sorry for writing fight scenes like a ten-year-old smashing action figures together. It will happen again.

4 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

People who consume nothing but children's media while hating children and insisting they're too stupid to appreciate stuff aimed at them are something else. Nobody says you have to like being around kids or whatever. I mostly enjoy my nephews in small doses, and I also watch a lot of shows aimed at kids and play a game that is primarily marketed at kids. But come on.

Like. I don't know! Little Cait liked a lot of things Present Cait can't stand, things that were loud and silly and yes, juvenile, but they could still notice bad writing! And I think they'd be just as hurt by "you're too stupid to enjoy this cartoon, unlike me" as they were by "everything you like is stupid and I don't care about it" which I did a ton of damage as it was.

I don't want to be that adult! I want to share Pokemon with my nephew instead of turning my nose up and going "this franchise is too good for you, and it owes me." I'm happy kids today have quality cartoons and the kind of protagonists Little Cait could only dream about! I love seeing kids getting into things I've enjoyed for years! I don't want to tear the next generation down, just because I'm bummed out about growing up.

4 notes - Posted December 7, 2022

I imagine my interaction with the greater Precure fanseries fandom is like. They’re enjoying themselves in their nice little clubhouse and every two weeks I kick down the door, announce my fanfic updated, and then leave.

5 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

It's time for another Mirai Spark update!

Pretty Cure's mission to recover the Umbra Carillon goes sideways. When things look grim, a miracle occurs, and the long-lost power of the Shade Pretty Cures is awakened.

And with that, we are now done with Act 2! I might be a bit slow with updates for a while, as we move into the holidays, but we are officially into the final arc, and I hope to see this through to the end!

Also! I'm happy to report that I will be working on one more fanseries after this - please look forward to it!

As always, I hope it's an enjoyable read! Thank you for your support!

7 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

"Villains should be sympathetic!" "Villains should be irredeemable!" Or idk just do both? I like writing people who are capable of doing better and can be saved but I also like writing bastards whose job is being The Worst. I like contrasting the former with the latter in-story, maybe playing them off each other. It's fun.

35 notes - Posted November 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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