#best friends getting the win at wembley when I thought them even being on the card was unlikely??

[homoeroticgrappling]

Excuse me while I cry about this

#best friends getting the win at wembley when I thought them even being on the card was unlikely?? #and I got to be there to see it happen #I'm so happy for them #AEW #Best Friends #Orange Cassidy #Chuck Taylor #Trent? #Sue #TW: blood

[lionesses-lover]

I’m Yours - E. Toone

The one where she is fed up of everyone’s assumptions.

Word Count: 1.5k

Being private and being secret. Two very different things in the world of relationships. However, despite yours and your girlfriend’s best efforts, you had never managed to escape the bubble of secrecy in your relationship. 

You and Ella never meant to be a secret. You had never made an effort to hide that you fancied each other, you never made an effort to disguise the feelings that had blossomed for each other as you began to date and get to know each other more. It just seemed like everyone else thought you were friends.

———

You first met the bubbly brunette last July when you went to watch you cousin, Leah, lead the Lionesses out at Old Trafford for the opening match of the Women’s Euros. However, instead of spending the time after the match celebrating the 1-0 win over Austria with your cousin and your family, you found yourself sitting at a table in the corner of the room chatting to Ella.

She was so kind and beautiful and completely swept you off your feet. She spoke to you after every match and the endless flirtation reached its peak when she drunkenly came up to you at the party after the final, wrapped her arms around you and kissed you.

You felt like you were 16 and in love again. It was the most perfect first kiss you had ever had with anyone in your life. What made that moment even better was the drunken, lopsided smile she had given you afterwards before asking you to go on a date with her.

———

It had been about 8 months since that wonderful night and you and Ella had been together ever since. The pair of you spent almost everyday together and it was perfect. She even managed to convince you to go to a few of her matches, even though you remained stubborn that you were a Gooner for life.

The only issue was that no one seemed to realise that you and Ella were more than friends. Even Alessia and Leah who were always with you never noticed the loving looks you both shared. If Ella posted a photo with you on her Instagram all of the comments on it were people obsessing over your 'friendship'. It even got to the stage where Alessia was joking about being replaced as Ella's best friend and Leah was telling you how happy she was that you had made friends with her teammates.

The longer people believed you were just close friends with Ella the more it annoyed you, and you could tell Ella felt the same. The only issue was that you both didn't know how to start telling people. You had been dating for a while and you were worried that your friends would feel upset that you hadn't told them.

"Babe, I swear if I have to read one more thing about how were are apparently 'friendship goals' I think I'll go insane. How hard is it for people to realise that we are dating? I want everyone to know that I’m yours," your girlfriend to you one night when you were watching TV at her house. It was your last night together before Ella went away for international duty.

"I know love," you sighed, "I'm just worried Leah will hate me for not telling her."

"She could never hate you y/n, you're her favourite cousin," Ella replied, wrapping her arms around you, burying her head into the crook of your neck in an effort to get closer to you.

"Maybe we should just get it over with," you suggested, "I just don't know when the time will be right."

Ella looked up, leaned in and gave you a slow, loving kiss before saying, "We'll know when the time is right, let's not put too much pressure on it.”

You agreed with your girlfriend, before kissing her again, enjoying your last evening before she went away and you would have to wait days to see her again.

———

Today was the day. After what seemed like years apart (it was 4 days) you would finally get to see your girlfriend again. You were sitting in the friends and family box in Wembley with your aunt and cousin waiting to watch Leah, Ella and the rest of the Lionesses walk out to play against Brazil in the first ever Women's Finalissima.

Luckily, you didn't have to wait very look and soon enough your cousin was leading the team onto the pitch. Your eyes met with Ella's and she shot you a cheeky wink before proceeding to grin at you throughout the national anthems. You then watched as her face transitioned into her serious, 'game face' ready for kick off.

The game kicked off and England were dominating possession and had a few shots on goal, but it wasn't until the 23rd minute that England had their best shot. You could see Lucy running down the wing with the ball and then she managed to pass it through to the one and only Ella Toone.

You shot out of your seat with excitement and everything seemed to slow down around you as you watched Ella take the shot.

It went in. 1-0 to England. Ella had scored.

As soon as you saw the ball hit the back of the net you were jumping up and down, screaming at the top of your lungs. Your girlfriend had just scored at Wembley yet again.

"y/n,' you cousin Jacob said to you, frantically hitting your arm to get your attention, 'look at Tooney!"

You looked over and were surprised to see that your girlfriend had brought the celebrations of her goal over to the friends and family section and was grinning widely at you. Once she saw that you were looking at her she made a heart with her hands and blew you a quick kiss before running over to restart the game.

She had dedicated the goal to you.

———

Three hours later, after watching a very chaotic game that consisted of a 90+3 minute equaliser from Brazil before a penalty shootout that resulted in England winning the Finalissima and Leah lifting yet another trophy, you were sitting in the large party room with your family waiting for the Lionesses to arrive and celebrate the win with their loved ones.

Leah was one of the first ones to come out of the changing rooms, so you were busy chatting when you felt an arm wrap around your waist.

"Hey gorgeous," whispered your girlfriend.

You turned around and threw your arms around her, bringing her into the biggest hug and telling her how proud you were of her.

"Oh yeah Tooney what was your celebration about?" asked Leah as she seemed to finally begin to notice the love between her cousin and her teammate.

"I wanted to celebrate with my girl," replied Ella, looking at you saying, "I hope you don't mind but the moment just felt right."

"Of course I don't mind babe," you replied, kissing her cheek softly, "I'm so proud of you."

"Wait, are you two together?" asked Alessia, also finally noticing you and Ella as she walked over to see her best friend.

"Yeah Less," said Ella, "we've been together since the Euros, you were all just too stupid to notice."

You turned to look at your cousin. She was your hero, despite her only being two years older than you, so you desperately hoped that she would be okay with your relationship.

"Wow," she said slowly before pulling you into a warm hug, "we are all idiots. I've been telling everyone you two are just friends. I'm so happy for you y/n."

"Thank you Lee," you said smiling at your favourite cousin, "i didn't think it would take you all this long to notice."

"Well I was a bit suspicious when you were telling me about all the United matches you had been to," she laughed.

Ella wrapped her arms around your waist again before joking, "She's a United fan now Leah."

"Never," you replied stubbornly, "As much as I love you Ella I will never be a United fan. Arsenal for life."

She pouted before kissing you gently, "you're lucky I love you too."

"Okay," interrupted Alessia, "we're happy you guys are happy but we don't need to watch you kiss."

"Shut up Lessi," muttered your girlfriend, before pulling you in for another kiss.

———

Later that night you arrived back at your house after celebrating with the Lionesses. You had spent the entire evening with Ella and it was wonderful. But sadly she couldn't come back with you as she still had to stay at camp for another few days before the next match.

You got ready for bed before checking your phone and seeing that Ella had posted on Instagram. You opened the notification before smiling to yourself, your heart swelling with how in love you were.

@eIlatoone

liked by leahwilliamsonn, alessiarusso99 and 7358 others

ellatoone Finalissima Champions 🏆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Always a pleasure to score at Wembley, even better to score in front of my girl. I love you y/n💕

———

#woso imagine #woso x reader #ella toone #ella toone x reader #woso one shot #woso fanfics #woso #engwnt x reader #engwnt imagine #engwnt #lionesses x reader #lionesses #muwfc x reader #muwfc #muwfc imagine

[droptoeholdyourhorses]

Thankfully I got to Wembley and back without running into any issues with the trains. Even just getting on at the station, I saw four other people wearing wrestling shirts and that number gradually increased the closer it got to London. The whole day had a similar atmosphere to when I attended WrestleMania 31. Wrestling. Fans. Everywhere.

I was up in the nosebleeds so not the best of views, having to rely on the screen above the ring for most of the night. The atmosphere more than made up for it. Although I am jealous of my work mate who also attended, had floor seats, and can be seen multiple times in the crowd throughout the show.

Ticketmaster told me the doors opened at 3:30, that Zero Hour would start at 5, and the main show would start at 6. Thank goodness I was in my seat by 4:15 because otherwise I would have missed Powerhouse Hobbs and Miro who were in the ring at 4:30. Imagine still being in line at the merch stand instead. Side note - I thought WWE replica titles were pricey going for £300 to £450. AEW replicas start at £650 and go up to £850.

From where I was sat, I had no clue it was Anthony Ogogo with Paul Wight and Grado. Genuinely thought it was Wardlow at first. Mercedes got a good reaction the first time she was shown but got a better pop the second time once more fans had filled in and the main show was underway.

I saw Aussie Open compete at NJPW Royal Quest in August 2019 and I didn't think much of them at the time. Fair play to the lads, they've had a hell of a few years since. Would have hoped for them to hold onto the ROH tag titles for longer. Don't think they'll be complaining about opening All In against the hottest act in the company though.

Not much reaction to this match in my section, although people were glad to see HOOK get the win. Jack Perry doing Rolling Thunder on top of the limo was also impressive. I do wonder how a casual fan checking out the show would react to Perry's comment about the limo having real glass.

"Well, duh, what else would it be?"

Every time I have seen Samoa Joe live, he's gotten a positive reaction whether playing face or heel. CM Punk was met with a mixed response, although I couldn't see anyone that didn't sing along with Cult of Personality. I understand the logic of "I'm gonna take your Real World Championship simply so you can't have it." I don't understand the logic of AEW promoting matches for a fake title. Will Thunder Rosa declare herself the Real Women's Champion when she returns? If this does end up being Punk's swansong, there are worse ways to go. From an on-screen perspective at least.

Omega, Ibushi, and Page losing was not popular with the live crowd, getting some "bull plop" chants. I wasn't that fussed personally, think it makes sense for Takeshita to keep building momentum ahead of the singles with Kenny. The six-man tag was fine for what it was but I wouldn't say there was anything particularly memorable here either.

Ahead of their usual Superkick Party theme, the Young Bucks had a short "Another One Bites The Dust" parody "A Superkick Knocks You Out". It wouldn't be the last time an act on the show would shoehorn in a Queen song. Both teams put on a solid match as you'd expected, definitely picking up the pace as it went on. Surprised that FTR retained given Cash's recent issues. Wembley was most respectful of the manner, singing "Wheeler's Got a Gun" to the tune of "Give It Up".

I like Eddie Kingston. I like Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends. I like the Blackpool Combat Club. It's a shame I was limited as to how much I got to see of them. And that's not because of the cheap seats. Stadium Stampede was always going to be a hard watch live with ten different guys in four or five different places at once. It felt like Eddie was gone for most of the match. Penta's transformation from El Zero Miedo to Oscuro did not come across well live either. Was mostly met by confusion and laughter. Massive reactions for Orange and of course SUE! Great to see Cassidy, Trent and Chuck get the win on such a big stage.

Remember the band Queen? Saraya sure does. Remember Queen Elizabeth II? Toni Storm sure does. Remember great women's wrestling? Tony Khan might be forgetting it. This match suffered from its placement on the card and there wasn't much crowd noise for it, at least where I was sat. Toni Storm accidentally decking Saraya's mum drew an "ooooooo" and Saraya got a good pop for the win.

I've now seen Sting wrestle for four different promotions - WWA, TNA, WWE, and AEW. It's amazing that he's still going at 64 and having such a great run to boot. Massive reaction for his old WCW theme Seek and Destroy too.

I saw a Casket match between Mr. Anderson and Bully Ray at a TNA show in 2014. Except they had a cheap wooden casket that looked like it would fall apart any second. I think the four guys in this would have preferred it, given how often each did a spot directly onto the coffin itself. Everyone delivered in this one.

Before making his proper entrance, Chris Jericho decided to mimic Freddie Mercury. Can't think why. Judas is a catchy song and having 80,000+ singing it all at once was immense. I know people wanted to see Will Ospreay against someone else, such as a third match with Kenny Omega, but I was hyped for this one. Always been a Jericho fan, one of the first wrestlers I remember seeing when I started watching in 2001. Ospreay is tremendous and I had only seen him live in a throwaway tag match previously. These two knocked it out of the park and this was probably my match of the night.

As soon as I got to Wembley Stadium and found my spot in the massive queue, there were already people singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". There were tributes to Bray Wyatt throughout the night and it reached its most poignant during House of Black's entrance.

Quite a contrast then when The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn won, leading to the World's Largest Scissoring.

Oh boy, this was a divisive one live. Some people around me loved it and were thrilled that friendship won out the night, some people thought the match had too much comedy and needed one guy betraying the other. One guy in my section would not stop shouting for Adam Cole to take his shirt off and take it seriously. I liked it for the most part. Wasn't a fan of the false double pin, even with the immediate restart. Glad that Better Than You Bay Bay is still going. Hope All Out doesn't undo it immediately.

Overall, I had a great time at All In and very much hope I can go again in 2024. Would have liked to attend with someone rather than be on my own, but did get to meet up with my work mate for a burger after the show. I also got to see Cash Wheeler, Sonjay Dutt, Wheeler Yuta and SUE! in passing too. Fun times all round... was absolutely exhausted after. Luckily, there's no more London shows this year...

At least, I'm not currently planning to go to Royal Quest III anyhow.

#wrestling is weird #aew #aew all in #wembley #powerhouse hobbs #miro #better than you bay bay #aussie open #hook #jack perry #samoa joe #cm punk #bullet club gold #jay white #juice robinson #konosuke takeshita #golden elite #kenny omega #kota ibushi #adam page #young bucks #ftr #orange cassidy #best friends #eddie kingston #blackpool combat club #jon moxley #claudio castagnoli #saraya #toni storm

[mountswhore]

𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭 — mason mount

if you have any requests, just ask! i’m all ears. if you wanna know who i write for, check this post.

admiration (what do they absolutely adore about you?)

Mason adores everything about you. But to be particular, he adores your compassion. Even before you guys had gotten together, and were just friends of friends at a party, he’d watch you take care of some of his teammates who’d had a little too much to drink. You’d be jumping between getting to know Mason and assisting someone to the bathroom to throw up. It was hard for him to hold back a giggle as he saw you take your heels off, excuse yourself politely and run after a drunken Grealish.

body (what is their favorite part of your body?)

Again, he loves everything about you. But if he had to choose, it’d be your eyes. They’re the first things he notices when he comes home from an away game, full to the brim with tears as you shout out how much you missed him. In the middle of a sleepless night, when the outside lighting makes your shiny eyes visible, he’d get lost in them. During a match, whether it be for the National team or Chelsea, the second he is on the pitch he would notice you close to the goal, in perfect view to watch him score. They’re what he looks into just before he kisses you, and he melts watching your eyes as you speak to a friend or family member, seeing them talk with your mouth.

cuddling (how do they like to cuddle?)

Mason’s favourite pastime is cuddling, outside of his career, of course. He’ll get home from training and you’ll be cozied up on the couch, practically inviting him into your warmth. He enjoys the cuddles with you on top of him, your head in his neck and his arms tightly around your back. But he loves laying his head on your stomach, smoothing his hand over your thighs as you massage his shoulders lightly. He loves cuddling you, but he’s a sucker for being cuddled. It’s a trick to get him to doze off pretty quickly, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

dates (what does their ideal date with you look like?)

He’s a busy man, but when it came down to seeing you and wanting you, he made time. He wanted only the best for you, so it was a fancy restaurant, being driven around in his nice sports car, treating you to whatever you wanted. He’d soon come to realise that both of yours ideal date is ordering a Chinese, playing a few fifa matches, and watching a comedy together.

emotions (how do they express emotion around you?)

Due to your compassion, you’d often spot when Mason was feeling down, angry, or just upset. So keeping it from you rendered useless. Now, if he’s ever in a shit mood, for any reason, he’ll find you and talk to you about it. You always end up making him feel better too, and giving him a different perspective on it. He couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend.

family (do they want one? If they do, when?)

If there was one thing Mason will not shut up about, it’s having children. Even his mates tell him to have a day off. You secretly find it cute, that he’s so ready to become a father and thinks of you as a suitable mother to his children. But Mason knows you’re not ready, with his career at the height it is right now and your age, you think kids aren’t on the cards right now, but you’re definitely wanting a few. Mason is absolutely okay with waiting for you, as he always mentions that there’s nobody else he’d rather do it with.

gifts (how do they feel about gift giving? What are their habits when it comes to this?)

Mason gets a bit too excited when it comes to your birthday. He’ll go all out on gifts every year, topping the one before, and dotting them around the house in places you don’t look. Like the boot of his car, the electrical cupboard, the back garden shed, he’s thought about it strategically. And his giddy attitude is never something you question, you usually pass it as his excitement for an upcoming match or just that fact it’s your birthday soon. It would take everything in him to keep it a secret, almost spilling a few of your gifts. He’d accidentally asked you to grab his cleats from the boot of his car, immediately stopping you once the door was open. And you were none the wiser.

holding hands (when/how do they like to hold hands?)

Whenever you’re both out with yours or his family, it is quite a large group, which usually meant a large outing. And being significantly shorter than him, he likes to hold you close. As you walk down a busy street, he won’t let you out of his sight, even if you’re talking to his mum, he’ll hold your hand tightly or have an arm around your shoulder. His family always thought it was cute, questioning why he does it. And he always responds with a joke, to hide his sloppiness. Something like, “she’s too short, can’t let her get lost.”

injury (how would they act if you got hurt?)

If you came home through the front door limping, he’d be all over you. Carrying you to the kitchen, observing the injury, calling the shots on what you need to do for the evening. Which usually consists of having a bath, resting in bed, texting him if you needed him. It was adorable, despite it being just a twisted ankle from the gym or something.

But on a serious scale, if you came home bawling your eyes out after an awful encounter, that’s when Mason loses all of his silliness and smiles. He’s cradling you on the floor of the living room, talking over what just happened and how you felt. He wouldn’t leave you for the rest of the evening, always making sure you’re feeling better and giving you tight squeezes before he goes to get you anything.

jokes (do they like to joke around with or prank you? how?)

Being an avid tiktok user, you’ve seen quite the pranks on there. And mason not yet having a tiktok, made it perfect to carry these out. You’d often spend hours on the phone with Declan, another avid tiktok user, sending prank ideas back and forth. Mason was quite the gullible person, either that or you were a brilliant actress, so your pranks were always going smoothly. And posting it to tiktok, you’d read through the flood of comments together, laughing about how deflated he looked when you swerved him from a kiss, or how in shock he looked when you told him the tower of Pisa had finally fallen over. It was a laugh you had every day.

kisses (how do they like to kiss you?)

It varies. If Mason is tired from training, the kisses would be soft and almost non-existent, it would just be Mason’s face incredibly close to yours and then moving away a few seconds later. In any good moments, he’s always reaching for a kiss. The second he sees you after a win, his lips are on yours and aren’t leaving any time soon. Mason’s favourite type of kiss is the kiss you give him every night. It doesn’t lead anywhere that often. But it’s a deep kiss, it’s saying you love him without actually saying it. It always leaves Mason in a haze, going to bed with a love struck smile on his face.

love (how do they show you they love you?)

Mason shows he loves you in many ways. His love language is acts of service. So waking you up in the morning before work with a tea, bringing you into the shower and washing your hair for you. Attempting to make you breakfast, driving you to work, letting you choose dinner and he pays, driving to the local supermarket if you’re in dire need of something. He couldn’t do this everyday with his schedule, but whenever he could, he did.

memory (favorite memory together?)

By far, his favourite memory of the both of you was your first time at Wembley. You were shaking in your shoes at the amount of people in the stadium, but Mason managed to get you the closest seats to the pitch with your family. It was the game he scored two goals in, rushing straight over to your side and blowing you kisses. You soon settled in to the crowd, cheering with everyone else. He’d rush over at half time, giving you a quick kiss before leaving you again. And Mason brought you back to the changing rooms to meet the team, keeping you close to him at all times.

nightmare (what is their worst fear?)

Mason’s worst fear is losing everything he has now. He’d be happy to admit he has everything he wants in life, an amazing career, a lovely list of family and friends, as well as someone he will soon have as a wife. He’s had a nightmare that he’d lost you before, the police broke the news to him and he woke up crying, holding you close for the rest of the night.

oddity (what is one quirk they have?)

It’s not so much of a thing now, but it definitely still happens. Before you were together, and Mason was still in the wooing stage, every time he spoke to you, he’d stutter. You found it adorable and took your time with him. You’d never rush him or look away bored, you’d just look into his eyes with a small smile and it’d make it worse. He’d trip on all of his words, trying to compliment you or ask you out. Even now, sometimes if you’re looking extra pretty or he’s just in a really lovey mood, he’ll slip up on his speech every now and then.

pet names (what do they like to call you?)

His go to pet names for you were baby, honey, and sweets. They just randomly caught on one day and never disappeared. But they make your stomach do flips every time you hear them.

quality time (how do they like to spend time with you?)

Being in your company was enough for him. But it’s the mundane things he loves the most. It’s a weird one, but food shopping. For you, it’s an hour of stress. Manoeuvring past other shoppers, trying to find everything on your list, do your back in as you put everything on the belt, and pack in in record time. But for Mason, he’s following you round in a haze. Like a cartoon character in love. Asking if he can get some stuff, which you always agree to, and seeing you in conversation with random shoppers. Finally getting back to the car with the shopping littered in the boot and back seat, Mason’s hand stays in yours as you rest in the passenger seat.

rhythm (what song reminds you of each other?)

You have a shared song, and Mason vows for it to be your wedding song. Easy by Ella Mai. It’s slow, it’s something you both slow danced to when you were drunk out of your minds in your own living room. The party was over and the song just randomly started playing, a frown on your face as you look up at your boyfriend. It wasn’t his usual taste, which is why it was so random. He told you, “I heard it for the first time the day after I met you. And I thought it was so good. So now it reminds me of you.

secrets (how open are they with you?)

The only thing he keeps from you are your birthday gifts, or big surprises for you. And even then, he’s so eager to just tell you. But he shares even the littlest things with you — like Declan falling over at training, about how he shooed away a bunch of girls when he went to buy dinner. You both trust each other and Mason will tell you every last detail about his day if he could.

time (how long did it take you to get together?)

Mason knew almost instantly you’d be his girlfriend, even joking to Chilly that you’d be his wife someday. And you were an oblivious person, so you were none the wiser to his plays, which is why it took a few months to get together. Mason always comments that if you actually noticed he was flirting, you’d have been together within a few weeks. But now you laugh it off after having been together for so long.

upset (how do they act when you’re upset?)

He drops everything to help you when you’re upset. A bad day at work, an argument with a friend or family member, or even just a day where the world is against you. He can usually tell by your quiet demeanour, giving him tired answers, and not wanting to cry around him. He’d catch you in the bedroom, flopped onto the bed and huffing. He’d join you, rubbing your back as you go off about your day. He’d listen to it for hours if it meant you were okay, but he’d just run you a bath and tell you he’d be back with dinner shortly.

vaunt (what are they proud of? Do they like to show you off?)

1000%. He’s the one to tell your family that he’s surprised he bagged you. He’s always saying you’re out of his league, posting you on his Instagram all the time. Showing you off to his friends and family, sending them pictures of the two of you dressed up nice. They all find it adorable — and they know just how much Mason loves you.

warrior (how do they feel about you fighting? Would they fight for you, beside you, etc?)

It’s on sight. If another man does so much as graze your shoulder, he’ll be on it for you. On the pitch, he’s okay with some confrontation, but anything regarding you, he’s not having it. You’re his and he would beat anyone who questioned it.

Usually, if it’s just a quarrel with a friend, he’ll listen to your side of things and give you some words of encouragement. But if it’s really nasty, he’ll be stepping in and having words. He has a lot of patience, but won’t let you be stood on.

x-ray (how well are they able to read you?)

Like a book, now. But when you were first dating, you hid your emotions well. At least, you thought you did. All it took was one touch from mason, and you were crying like a baby in his arms about your horrible shift. You thought you held up a tough front, but staring up at his eyes, as he looked back at you with concern laced among his features, it told him how you really felt. Now he knows the telltale signs, and he’s there to help.

yes (how would they propose to you?)

Mason thinks about this question a lot. He wonders it in the shower, making you your morning tea, during his downtime at training. He’s even scrolled endlessly through a bunch of rings, asking the opinions of his mum and sister. The question had come up between the two of you, and you’d said how you’d felt about marriage. You wanted it, but big events for a proposal were detested by you.

If it was up to Mase, he’d take you on holiday. Buy you a gorgeous summer dress, take you to the beach and declare his undying love for you. But he’d take a small proposal in bed at 2am, too.

zen (what makes them feel calm?)

As mentioned before, Mason was a sucker for domestic things. Watching you do the shopping as he trails behind you was his idea of spending good time together. But getting home from a long day of training, and smelling whatever dinner you’d concocted for the evening. It was as if your front door was the very gates of Heaven. No matter what happened during the day, the second he smells his dinner and greets you happily, nothing is ruining his mood.

if you guys want me to turn some of these into longer requests, just ask! i’m in the mood to write for mase🥺

#mason mount #mason mount blurb #mason mount imagine #mason mount smut #mason mount x reader #chelsea fc

[football-rambles]

Innocent Eyes - Jack Grealish

‘‘Do you remember when you were 15? and the kids at school called you a fool ‘cause you took the chance to dream’

Prompt from song prompt challenge.Hope everyone likes it,

Recommends listening to Innocent Eyes - Delta Goodrem

Note: Thank you for everyone who voted, it was so close between Jack and Mason by one point. Hoping to write something with Mason soon :)

The final was approaching, fast. One minute it was the semi-final the next blink it was the morning of the final. You and Jack were on and off more than a merry-go round. But he was your best friend in the world. Jack and you grew up together…you would say you could be ‘high school sweethearts. But you tried dating, numerous times and it just didn’t work. You agreed that the friendship was more important than if the relationship turned sour and went our separate ways.  

You sat at home, getting ready. You were heading to Wembley with Jack’s family, who was basically your second parents. Your phone rang on your bed, it was Jack wanting to facetime. You answered straight away and the biggest smile on your face in weeks crept on you face.

“Hey Jack! How are you feeling?” You asked as you sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah…a little nervous, see what the gaffer says in a bit.” He spoke and nodded.

Silence.

You knew Jack was thinking about the game. You had waited for this moment for him for so long to be in a major tournament final. Of course, he played in the under 21’s but this was different.

“Do you remember when we were 7?” you asked, as Jack turned his attention back to you. “The only thing you wanted to do was play show your mum that you could play football.” You say to him.

Jack laughed slightly and nodded “Yeah…broke the window she never let me live that down.” He said reliving the memory.

“Ten years passed, and you signed up to the club, and it last…look where you are.” You say smiling

Jack smiled and nodded. “I guess” He said quietly as he reflected.

“I miss those days, when it uses to be fantasy, something you’d want to do, and time would stop. But its Jack…you’re in a European Championship final. I’m so proud of you.” You tell him

Jack smiled and nodded again. “Aw, babe you’re so cute.” He laughed it off.

You chatted for a few more minutes before he had to go, you promised you’d give him the biggest hug going win or lose.

The game was electrifying, when the first goal you really thought we would win it, but it just didn’t want to come home.

The players looked distraught on the pitch, you searched for Jack, he was with his teammates consoling his teammates while families sat in the section was waiting to hug their loved one.

Jack walked over to us; he went towards his mother first who was crying at the sight of her little boy being distraught. You stood back letting the family have a little moment before Jack came over.

“You alright babe?” He asks as he pulls you in a hug.

“Shouldn’t I be asking that to you?” You laughed.

“Yeah…it’s going to sting for a while, but the lads did their best. It just didn’t want to come home.” He shrugged it off like he wasn’t hurt.

“Well, we’re still proud of you all.” You smiled.

You got moved by staff to meet the players back in the players’ lounge, they would be right through once they showered and did the after match.

You did get to witness Jack giving his boots to the young boy, which made you smile.

Later in the players you sat in the lounge waiting for Jack to come around after he spent time with other players families having photos.

Jack was sat at the table; he now was very quiet and still hurt from the loss. You sit next to him.

“Remember when you were 15 and people thought you wouldn’t get anywhere, with this football and time has passed and now look at you, you just played a final…granted you came on, but you still played.” You say as you rest your chin on his shoulder.

Jack smiled sadly and looked at you in your eyes. “I don’t deserve you; I’m surprised you stayed after we decided we’re better as friends.” He muttered as he took a sip of his beer.

“Because we’re been best friends since we were young, you’re my best friend. You’re the one I’d come to if I need someone murdering in the middle of the night.” You joke, you didn’t know why it didn’t work out when you tried to make it work as a couple.

Jack chuckled at your response and nodded “I’d murder anyone that hurts you first you wouldn’t get the chance to murder them.” He replies.

“I know you would. But for now, enjoy this moment…spend time with the team before you leave tomorrow. Enjoy yourself.” You encouraged.

Jack nodded and took another sip of his beer, “Yeah, I’ll go and see Chilly his sister wanted a photo with me earlier, can’t imagine why” He winked at you.

You rolled your eyes at his comment before laughing. “Could you introduce me to Foden first?” You asked sweetly.

Jack looked at you and chuckled “Come on then…he can be the first on my murder list if he starts.” Jack teases, protectively.

You rolled your eyes. “I want a photo, not a hand in marriage.” You say as you get off your chair.

Jack perked up more as the evening went on, the team had to go on the coach, so Jack came and said goodbye to everyone. He came over to you to pull you into a hug.

“Whenever you have a day like this, I want you to remember how far you’ve come.” You whispered kissing his cheek as you pulled away.

Jack nodded and went and joined his teammates and that would be the last time you’d see him until he returned home.

A/N: I Hope you like it!

#jack grealish #football imagines #football one shots #football imagine #football one shot #football oneshots #football fanfiction

[uswntxfootball]

we should be rivals (leah williamson x chelsea!reader)

being the newest chelsea signing and a diehard fan all your life, you didn’t understand the arsenal hype until you saw her...

word count: 2541 ish

a/n: big thanks to @4stars-uswnt​ and @sauceysonny​ for ideas.. (though they were really creepy and both somehow gave me the exact same one at the same time...)

part 2 is out!

——

you’re jolted out of your thoughts when kerr slaps you on your back.

“you coming kid?”

you nod slowly, unable to tear your eyes off the wembley stadium sign.

“what’s up rook?”

“oh nothing nothing, i’m just taking it all in.”

after your stellar performance at ucla, it didn’t take long for you to be noticed by the big teams.

a longtime chelsea fan, to say you were beyond ecstatic when they wanted to sign you would be an understatement.

jessie signing with chelsea too was just the cherry on top.

kerr lets out a sigh in understanding.

“you’ve made it this far for a reason kid, don’t get intimidated. we’ve got a finals game to win.”

with that said, the forward patted your back and walked into the stadium.

you stood there for a bit longer, only broken out of your trance when your best friend, who had witnessed you standing in front of the stadium for a good ten minutes, finally just rolled her eyes and dragged you into the stadium.

“jess i was getting to it!”

“no you weren’t the dinosaurs literally went extinct in the time you stood there.”

“oh shut up.”

jessie let out a loud laugh at that, and led the two of you to your spots in the locker room, both of you bickering all the way.

you get quiet when you reach your spot and your silence causes jessie to turn around.

“damn no come back?”

you shake your head lightly.

“no i just can’t believe we made it ya know?”

jessie’s tone softens when she replies, “i know. i really can’t believe we’re here at wembley.”

you give the midfielder a hug, a moment cut short by sam, who yells for the two of you to hurry up.

~~

donning a #19 on your back, you made your way onto the pitch for warmups, to see that arsenal was out too.

as a die hard chelsea fan, you never quite payed any attention to who was on the other teams, and combined with your nerves, you couldn’t quite bring yourself to focus on the opposition at the moment.

playing your first ever fa cup final-scratch that.

playing and starting in your first ever fa cup final, the nerves were really starting to eat up at you now.

to combat your nerves you’ve learned to just get lost in what you’re doing.

to distract yourself, losing yourself in whatever you were doing.

you were so hyper focused on your stretching and warmups that you didn’t look up until it was too late, your body crashing into the red jersey in front of you.

in your haste you didn’t even notice who you ran into.

you scramble to your feet quickly and mutter a “sorry” before running towards a laughing jessie, your cheeks beet red.

“oh my god did anyone record that?”

you flush harder.

“shut up fleming.”

~~

on the opposite side of the field, leah was still laying on the grass, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

the flash of blue left as quick as it had happened , and the annoyed look originally plastered on her face was wiped away after seeing yours.

she was..

already...smitten?

daan poked her in the side with her cleat.

“stop staring off into space and get your gay ass up already.”

“i- right”

leah took daan’s outstretched hand and pulled herself up.

her eyes met jordan’s, who gave her a very knowing look.

“no.”

“i didn’t say anything.”

“just. no.”

~~

you stood behind jessie in the tunnel, the nerves visible on your face.

the vets all took note of your nervousness, each making sure to whisper a “good luck” or “you’ll do great” in your ear as they passed by.

it helped a bit.

a few of the arsenal players also gave you encouraging nods and smiles, something you greatly appreciated.

your breath caught in your throat when a certain arsenal player gave you a smile, the girl just stupidly attractive.

you gave her a quick grin and shook your head softly, trying to get your head back into the game and rid it of any distractions.

however, you couldn’t help but sneak one more glance as the opposing team walked out, catching a #6 and “williamson” on the back of her jersey.

the game began and you made an observation.

well it was more like a fact.

leah was good.

like crazy good.

every time the ball was at your feet the defender was there in a flash.

every.

single.

time.

her tackles were perfectly timed and just beautiful, with just enough on them to knock the ball from your feet without tripping you.

but as the game progressed and the score remained at 0-0, everyone was getting a little desperate, a little sloppy.

so when the next ball landed at your feet, leah overestimated the distance and as a result, her leg got hooked around yours and the two of you went tumbling down, you landing right on top of her.

you push yourself up onto your palms and the wind promptly gets knocked out of you.

the two of you look at each other, chests heaving and you make another observation.

and again, it’s more of a fact.

she was gorgeous.

absolutely,

without a doubt,

gorgeous.

you could feel your cheeks reddening and palms sweating as you looked down at her stuck, in a trance and absolutely smitten.

in your staring, you were unaware that this was the second time this had happened today.

leah however, was aware.

she was very very aware.

and you missed the way the defender’s breath hitched when you shifted your weight slightly, all too caught up in your own thoughts.

the ref’s whistle was what knocked both of you out of your trances, both equally flustered and cheeks equally red, you stood up quickly and stuck a hand out, almost staggering over at the sparks that shot up your arm when she pulled herself up.

the two of you were now standing, and you opened your mouth to say something, but leah starts first, the heavy english accent making your heart skip a beat.

“that was my fault i’m sorry”

“oh don’t be it’s fine” you reply quickly, the two of you falling into a silence right after.

never breaking eye contact, the tension was almost palpable.

its only when you hear jessie calling your name that you break it, turning to look at your best friend, before quickly looking back towards the defender to give her a nod and a smile before running towards your team, actions that she reciprocates.

~~

“i feel like if i didn’t call you the two of you would’ve started fucking right in front of us” jessie said, a comment that elicited a snort from eriksson, and a punch from you.

“ow! y/n!”

you stick your tongue out at her in response.

leah’s eyes followed you as you left, a soft smile forming when she sees you and jessie’s antics.. though she isn’t quite sure of the nature relationship between the two of you yet…

right. the game.

there’s an fa cup final still happening.

the rest of the game continued as usual, though you couldn’t help but notice that a certain defender’s eyes were on you every few minutes.

to be honest you couldn’t keep your eyes off her either, but you shook your head.

you had a game to win.

and win it you did, scoring your sixth goal for chelsea with a beautiful chip into the corner of the next and as a result securing the fa cup title for your team with a 1-0 win over arsenal.

you shook hands after the match, leah holding onto your hand just a little bit longer than normal, an act that kicked your heart into high gear once again.

a few minutes later, you walked slowly, making your way back to the locker room when you notice leah chatting with lisa, the latter who, upon meeting your eyes promptly disappears.

all of a sudden it’s just the two of you.

you break the silence first.

“you played really well, i’m sorry you guys didn’t win.”

leah thinks for a moment before she replies:

“it’s fine. i mean i had a hot girl on top of me twice today. i can’t complain.”

your cheeks turn red at her words, but you cock your head to the side in confusion when the words fully register.

“twice? what do you mean twice?”

“warmups?”

a little silence. and then, the lightbulb moment.

“oh my god. that was you? i’m so sorry i’m-“

leah laughs and brushes it off.

“don’t worry. it was cute.”

she was full on flirting with you now, and you really, really couldn’t handle it.

thank god for jessie, saving you from what could have been absolute chaos, when she calls for you from the locker room.

before leah turns, she gives you a wink, effectively freezing you in place, your cheeks painted scarlet.

jessie lets out a sigh from across the field.

“gay panic.”

~~

“i’m not! i’m just.. doing scientific research?” you answer hesitantly.

jessie rolls her eyes.

“sure y/n. whatever you say.”

you weren’t an arsenal fan.

you weren’t.

you just happened to catch all their games.

especially when leah was starting.

who were you kidding even leah sitting on the bench was attractive.

you had it bad.

“if you watch a live game i will make fun of you until the day i die.”

jessie pauses and then corrects herself:

“no scratch that. if you buy an arsenal jersey i will make fun of you until the day i die.”

you scoff.

“i would neve-“

you bought one.

a #6 arsenal jersey.

ugh an arsenal jersey? you were pretty sure your family would disown you.

at the very least jessie saw the hilarity of it.

“my god you are whipped,” she got out through a fit of laughter.

you debated telling her about the game ticket you purchased lying on your desk.

for the sake of the little bit of chelsea pride and sanity you had left, you decided against it.

~~

you wore a chelsea shirt.

granted it couldn’t be seen under your black hoodie, but you had to balance out the evils in some way, and slapping an old chelsea crest over your heart as you stepped foot in the arsenal stadium seemed like the best option to do so.

your seat was close to the pitch, right on top of the tunnel, and you hoped to catch a glimpse of the defender, all the while remaining anonymous.

the plan was for you to watch the game, and slip out when it finished without being seen and recognized.

lucky for you, the social distance seating was still in play, so with the 6 foot distance, your mask and baseball cap (and sunglasses when you came in), no one had noticed you.

you would never live it down if you were recognized.

the things you do for leah.

maybe you are a little whipped, but that’s besides the point.

arsenal was playing west ham today, a team you didn’t care all too much about.

your heart beat a little bit faster when the teams began walking out, it skipping a full beat when you saw the defender.

the game began and you couldn’t tear your eyes off of her, staring in awe at the absolute perfection of her crosses.

at halftime, arsenal was up by 4.

as you were sitting right above the tunnel, it was just your luck that when the teams made their way back into the locker rooms, leah looked up and her eyes locked with yours.

your eyes widened and you cursed internally.

leah shook her head and smirked, giving you a quick wink before she disappeared out of your sight.

you were panicking, and you had no choice but to give jessie a call.

~~

“you’re wHERE?” the canadian screamed into the receiver.

“i know i know but SHE SAW ME. i’m never going to live this down.” you groaned.

jessie couldn’t stop laughing.

“stop it. help me. before half time starts. please.”

“what do you want me to do?”

“i don’t know! give me some advice, tell me she won’t make fun of me, that stuff”

“okay okay, just be you. you haven’t scared her off yet so that has to mean something right?”

“oh shut up fleming.”

“hey! i’m trying to help!”

“fine fine continue.”

“so just keep doing what you’re doing. except don’t bang on the field this time. oh and don’t be an idiot. got it?”

“yes very helpful jess.”

“i know that’s why they call me the modern socrates. i’ve got the answers to everythin- you’re rolling your eyes at me aren’t you?”

you shrug even though she can’t see it.

“anddd now you’re shrugging. see this is the repayment i get for being such a dear and loving friend. wow i ca-“

“okay jess that’s enough, the second half is starting now, so bye thanks for your help, love you and don’t die!”

you let out a sigh before focusing again on the game in front of you.

arsenal’s performance the second half was even more spectacular than the first, netting 5 goals, bringing the total up to 9.

leah’s performance here was even better than that if possible.

the ninth and final goal was scored by none other than leah williamson herself, with a header from a perfectly placed corner by katie.

the whistle blew and arsenal won with a sweeping victory, leah coming away with 4 assists and a goal, something that you couldn’t help but be a little proud of.

your eyes never left the defender, who went around and took a few photos with fans before making her way towards you.

“fancy seeing you here, didn’t take you to be an arsenal fan.”

“oh i’m just scouting out the enemy” you retorted. “i’ve actually got a chelsea shirt on under this.”

leah gasped with mock offense, “a traitor, how dare you.”

you let out a hearty laugh at that, missing the way leah’s eyes soften at the sound.

“on purely observational note, you played great today,” you comment.

leah responded with a wink:

“was showing off a little bit for you.”

“i will say that was a beautiful header, but it still can’t beat mine though” you grin cheekily.

“oh? might you show me how it’s done then, if you’re oh so great”

“come watch one of my game’s and you’ll find out” you reply, giving her a wink.

“ick me attending a chelsea game? i would never. i’m too loyal to my club. unlike you.”

you let out a gasp.

the banter went on for a little while longer, before leah cut you off and asked:

“would you like to go get coffee with me sometime?”

and before you could say anything she added:

“like on a date?”

you pretend to give it a bit of deep thought before saying:

“only if you come to one of my games.”

“deal.”

#leah williamson #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson imagine #arsenal imagine #arsenal x reader #uswnt imagine #uswnt x reader #woso imagines #woso imagine #engwnt x reader #engwnt imagine #arsenal wfc x reader #arsenal wfc imagine

[saintsofvoid]

Psychofans & Mediacorps

(Backstory and lore on some psychofan encounters and the attempted kidnapping of Kerry Eurodyne along with some related events with Johnny Silverhand. Written as a Screamsheet because I was bored, and this all isn’t 100% since actual events aren’t always fully disclosed. Word count: 2976. Sources at the end.)

Being a world famous Rockerboy is really all it’s chalked up to be, doesn’t mean there isn’t its fair share of snags along the way. Fame and glory comes with a heavy price tag many don’t realize as they’re building their way to the top. Blinded by having your name in the lights, seeing hundreds of thousands of fans all eagerly waiting to just get a glimpse of you. Night City Legend Kerry Eurodyne commented, “It’s scary. I mean, to think that one hundred thousand people are selling their souls to see you, and you’ve got them hanging on your every word.” The very fans that would kill for a chance to see their idols live, are the very same that would put them on Trauma. 

Not just the fans either. Corporate is everywhere, in everything. Fight the system through lyrics while making them richer all the same. Media giants like N54 and DMS buying up the whole show to beat on their chest about who has the most control. The issue comes with their greed for it, keeping those who give them wealth on short leashes. Best offers, benefits, prestige of having a higher name attached to yours. But when friendship runs deeper than the quick climb to fame, other options of “persuasion” may occur. Aggressive strategies to keep themselves on top, because the company always come first.

We’re going to start this article off on arguably a lighter topic, that being the psychofans. I say arguably because they can do just as much damage as the corporations, but it's usually a bit more controlled. We'll hit on that later. There’s the usual rush security, jump fences, steal an axe, the almost seemingly normal chaotic fan behavior you can expect at most high profile gigs. Don’t lie, there’s always one in the audience. 

The sudden rise to fame with Samurai also helped play a part in this erratic behavior, Eurodyne had previously stated, “One minute we’re chugging through our old numbers in some small, no name club to the same crowd; the next we’ve sold out Wembley Stadium and there are a hundred thousand killing each other to get a look at us.” This wasn’t much of an overstatement either. Samurai’s rapid rise to fame took a mere three weeks after signing to Universal Music to reach the number one spot on EuroRadio charts. Everyone wanted a piece of Samurai then, and following the break up in late 2007 that craving didn’t soon die out. 

A number of incidents have happened, being on world tours is a crazy place. Never really know how fans are going to act until you’re in the thick of it. Most these incidents happen backstage, after gigs, or just by random chance coming across someone on the streets, in the open. One particular incident was documented in 2020 in the following of Trauma Team’s Rich “Meatball” Cramer M.D., Lifeline Trauma Inc., Night City Branch #23. 

Broken card call, 15:55, to the Grand Illusion Dance Hall and Bar. Patient being none other than one Rockerboy, Kerry Eurodyne. Compared to the rest of the logs of the night this was a breath of fresh air for the Lifeline agents, not so much for Mr. Eurodyne who was being assaulted by a gang of young female fans. Teargas was dispensed and our Rocker was extracted from the scene. Kerry was in good health at time of extraction, footing the bill of the call to the studio as well as a new set of clothes. Lawsuits were never charged as the fans left enjoying the chaos. 

Another lesser known act back in 2043-44, while performing in Memphis TN an assailant got backstage and put a knife to Kerry’s throat. Intentions of the attack are unknown. Could have been a psychofan making demands of an idol, or someone who knew the net wealth of the name Kerry Eurodyne at the time? Either way the incident ended without bloodshed, Kerry was able to talk the assailant down and promptly knock him out with a stiff pour of that high life tequila. The rest was handled by the venue’s security. Unfortunately events like these are almost common for the stardom lifestyle. 

Lives are kept under public scrutiny 24/7. “Be prepared to have your private life open to the world,” Rockerboy, Johnny Silverhand, had mentioned in a column from Advice From the Pros. Name in the lights simply means just that, private life is on show as well and nothing can truly be kept secret forever. Kerry Eurodyne had added, “Cover your ass on your social life, the mediacorps are capable of setting you up bigtime in compromising situations… Make sure you know who you’re hanging out with, and something about their friends.” Not just fans and so called friends you need to watch out for, but the very people you sign yourself away with. 

Rockers Kerry Eurodyne and Johnny Silverhand are no stranger to this cold truth. Even mediacorps you don’t sign with will have motives, and often resources, to try and gain a signature. Corporations will often go after the output/input or family of the Talent instead of the Talent itself. However, big companies like DMS, the rival to N54 News, also have other methods to “persuade” a contract breach and change. Both Kerry and Johnny were targeted by this particular company, though this time it was Eurodyne dragging Silverhand into trouble. 

After the time Samurai had broken up for good, late 2007 early 2008 Kerry was looking for a decent solo deal. This was a gamble for most Labels at the time, Johnny was the frontman of Samurai, Kerry’s true talent had yet to really flourish into the Legend we know today. At this stage in their careers they were just some new-boy artists, that had a couple songs and albums that made it big. A lot of bands will have their handfuls of top sellers and then disappear into a faded memory. However, media giant DMS saw promise in Kerry, and they quickly came out with an offer for the young Rockerboy that would put him right back on the road to stardom. 

Kerry was going to take the offer until Universal came up with an offer that wouldn’t just set him up but Johnny as well. The two decided that the offer Universal had was too good to pass up, and with good reason. Universal not only was packaging the two Rockerboys together as independent solo artists, they were offering a better deal as a whole. Since Universal already knew them from Samurai, and knew what the two could produce, formalities of signing a new band was skipped. Re-signing with Universal gave them guaranteed concessions normally only offered to major bands or superstars. 

DMS didn’t come back with a counter offer, they came back with threats. Eurodyne, and those close to him, started to receive threats from the mediacorp, these quickly escalated to hired thugs harassing and assaulting everyone in the Rocker’s inner circle, as well as himself. A common tactic for many corporations to get what they want. However, Kerry wasn’t folding to their pressure, sticking with his decision with Johnny to sign to Universal. At this point the signatures were received and Kerry’s talent was the official property of Universal Music once again. This only made the situation worse, and turned into a rather rare occurrence for the music scene. 

Major corporations have a number of outlets that they have at full disposal to get what and whom they want, when they want. DMS is not unique in this fact, but they do have one of the more unique techniques. DMS is creative, deadly, and, for a corporation its size, dangerously agile. They are known for their aggressive and ruthless recruiting tactics, and they do not take “no” with grace. 

Eurodyne’s fate, to DMS, was sealed the moment they selected him, no matter his choice. DMS starts with a fair offer, most of it coming with the prestige of having their name backing you and their benefits package. In the case of Eurodyne, where this was not enough, DMS will call on their Special Recruiting Division, which is devoted solely to recruiting and converting people who are reluctant to sign to DMS. A fancy way of saying they send in their black ops section to perform extractions on those who are bound by contract or reluctant to leave their current company. 

Extractions are illegal, but the government is in the pocket of these corporate giants. Though they hardly ever send their own people, so even if the extraction does fail the proof of finding out who sponsored the extraction is normally too timely, over looked, or asking corpses. Most these companies hire Solos to get the job done, a number of groups exist in this profession alone. Extractions are unsettling common in the corpo world that counter extractions are budgeted into company spending plans. As well many big companies have jealousy protection, and pre-planned countermeasures to prevent extraction attempts of their employees or Talents.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “If they didn’t want to work for them before, what would kidnapping them do?” Well, DMS and other companies thought about this issue as well. How do you force someone to work for you? Blackmail is the obvious answer, to the Talent, to their friends, their family, etc. It's a simple fix that will get a result, but can’t guarantee the product. Its proven effective though, reputation is everything- threats to destroy that are not taken lightly. For a company like DMS, they have a one up on this if they can't get the Talent to see eye to eye with their terms. “Talent Indoctrination”, TI for short, otherwise known as brainwashing to the common choom. It's a program used for winning over people who express resistance to “joining the DMS family” even after extraction. 

TI is only a rumor outside of the highest levels of the corporation, and those who have been subjected to it. Luckily, TI section failures are rare, unluckily survival of TI section failures is even rarer. DMS, however, is willing to risk TI only on targets with a high enough revenue generation potential. Executives are more at risk than artists, given artists are seen as disposable and the average commercial shelf-life of a DMS Music artist is only a couple years. Most only making it an average of two before they’re dropped back to performing at clubs and bars for the same hundred fans, if that. 

This was the threat Kerry was under, one that became very real one fateful day when the Rockerboy was abducted by a group of hired muscle from the corporation. While Kerry was successfully kidnapped and relocated, the extraction itself failed due to intervention of Legendary Solo, Morgan Blackhand. Blackhand was able to capture all five kidnappers, alone, and turned them over to the Federal Authorities. Beaten, battered, and bruised but all five were alive when they were handed over. This act alone humiliated DMS, who was only found later on in investigation to have been the group’s sponsor. Its not unheard of extractions being foiled, but for a company like DMS it was a shot to their pride since Kerry would know it was them that called it. The real humiliation of it comes from the fact Blackhand snagged them all alive, allowing the truth to be exposed to the public, tarnishing that royal reputation of theirs, though no legal action would be taken.

Embarrassing a huge company like that puts a major target on your back. Legality they could care less about, but reputation is not something any corporation wants to gamble with. Morgan Blackhand would become a target for a later date, DMS wasn’t done with Kerry Eurodyne yet. Now, though, their attention was brought to one of the key elements for why Kerry declined their original offer; Johnny Silverhand. 

“They were threatening Johnny and I with things like government investigations and stuff. By the time that threat was made, we’d already signed with Universal…” Eurodyne recalled during an interview. It was true, DMS had dug not only into Kerry’s past life but Johnny’s as well. They were at the stage of “If we can’t have you, no one will.” While Eurodyne’s rap sheet was arguably cleaner, DMS was preparing to go full out, and all in to find anything they could. What they had as their ace was Silverhand’s military past, and they knew they could find the same information about Eurodyne as well or paint him for it. Both Rockers had served during the 2000’s Central American Conflict, Johnny’s desertion was all they needed to start the fire.

DMS was preparing to take this knowledge to the government, and at that point they could say and paint anything on Kerry as well. Their careers were about to end before they even began. Short on time, they did the only thing they could do, they went to Universal Music. With the counter threat of exposure of DMS’s corruption and abusive power over their Talents, Universal made their position clear. This was a PR move, DMS could go to their pocket government agents to have the Rockerboy’s locked away for life, but Universal was going for their public appearance. The ends didn't justify the means, DMS backed down.

Lawsuits were dropped, threats ceased, no more extraction attempts were made on either rockstar. They were given freedom to produce their albums and do tours under the protection of Universal. It wouldn’t be for another several years down the line when DMS would rear its ugly head back into their lives. Well, only in passing.

Denny, the former drummer of Samurai, had a new band called Mastermind that was being recorded by DMS Music. “She knows how I feel about them, but the contract they’ve got is suitable for her, so I’m not going to interfere as long as she is happy.” Kerry had stated on the matter back in late 2013, “Even now you won’t find Johnny or I saying anything remotely positive about DMS… I’m just glad no one was listening when I made certain comments or some of my fans might have taken those rash words to heart and we might have had some serious problems.” A tongue in cheek response to the 13 April 2013 Arasaka Riots led by Johnny Silverhand, under the old band's name of Samurai. Rioters killed 18 and wounded 51 on that night, gutting the Arasaka complex. An event that would only deepen the wedge between the two Rockerboys, yet redefine them entirely.

Silverhand, however, would be blackmailed again later on in 2009 by EBS Records to leave Universal and sign a solo contract with them. EBS had found out that Johnny was an AWOL U.S. Marine who had deserted during the Second Conflict. The blackmail attempt was quickly dropped as Johnny came clean himself, revealing all his secrets and shining light on the plight of veterans of the covert war, with his now famous album Sins of Your Brother. 

One thing the Rocker was known for was starting changes with his music, back in late 2012 Silverhand had an assassination attempt on his life believed to be sourced from Biotechnica do to their belief of controversal opinions to their practices heard on his album Clone Wars. Being forced to take several months of seclusion to let the heat die down before going on tour himself.

Given all of this, and much more, they had been relatively lucky. Maybe not with the fans, Eurodyne still faces the masses though in some more creative ways now. Having his biometric data copyrighted, and agreements with NCPD to monitor CCTVs for any unauthorized replications. Hasn't stopped some from trying, going as far as faking nudes that broke headlines awhile back only to have frisky imaginations shot down by his management. As far as Johnny goes, I don't think anything beats the rumor that was circulating sometime after the events of Arasaka Tower back in 2023. The idea some obsessive fan sneaked past security of the city to dig through the rubble, locating his body to put on ice and keep like some kind of memorabilia? It sounds crazy, but everyone in Night City knew what kind of fans Samurai, and more importantly, Johnny Silverhand had. Made it completely possible and people didn't really doubt that it could be true.

With corporations though, the two Rockerboys dodged a bullet. Multiples if you were keeping count. Others haven't been so lucky. A number of stories of Talents being threatened and giving into demands, multiple assassination attempts to end someone's career, Talents being kidnapped and tortured, so far as one account of a musicians hands being crushed to prevent preformances. From the outside being a Rockerboy looks like a party scene, and a lot of it is, but as the longest living in the scene will tell you, keep a Solo and a Netrunner you trust close on personal pay.

Events come full circle, once you make it to the big time stardom, the public eye notices everything, hangs onto every word. Talents like Silverhand and Eurodyne control the masses in the same way the corporations do. The audiences look to them for guidance, though in some cases the lessons are lost in translation. With everything from greedy labels making backdoor deals behind their Talent’s backs, something Kerry Eurodyne and Us Cracks went through this year, to psychofans making their own demands, to corporate reputation wars. Being a Rockerboy never gets easier, but few have hardly ever survived the test of time as Kerry has. An uphill battle from his earliest beginnings, to sitting on the Rockerboy throne of Night City, well into 2077 and still holding the title of "God of Rock" without a fault. 

Sources and Quotes:

Rockerboy Source Book

Backstage with Kerry Eurodyne page 7-9

Extortion. Bribery. Kidnapping. Brainwashing. And Other Nasty Tricks. Page 44-45

Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. The Second Edition

Silverhand Update: Clone Tour Begins page 225

One Night with the TRAUMA TEAM page 231 

Live & Direct 

Diverse Media Systems “Technotainment” page 81-82

Solo of Fortune Vol II Source Book

American Angels: One of Europe’s Best Rates the Top U.S. Pros. page 63

Cyberpunk Red

Welcome to the Dark Future page 239

Cyberpunk 2077

Spector Melee Vendor Westbrook

Gig: Psychofans Gaston Slayton's computer

Shard Glam Now! - The Mag For Those Who Love This For Themselves

#johnny silverhand #kerry eurodyne #cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #cp77 #s.screamsheets #this was honestly pretty fun #included sources in case anyone wants to pick up the books #hope you enjoy and maybe learn a thing #took liberty on frills to make it more like an actual sheet piece rather than just lore/facts #years are the only thing i fudged a bit #2003-2013 is a hella confusing time in cp and it doesnt make any sense when you do the math

[shutterbug2012]

Ladies and gentlemen and non-binary readers, friends and foes, strangers, lovers and exes, the time has come for... THE! FINAL! CURSED! EURO! REPORT!!! (😢)

🇮🇹 ITALIAAAAAAAAAA 🇮🇹 is the ⚽️ Euro 2020 Champion!!!🏆

What an entertaining match!!! (and I can say this confidently as I've actually watched it this time hehe!)

England scored a goal in the first 2 minutes, which was 😮😮😮😮. This clearly destabilized the Italians, who had a hard time getting their head into the game, until minute '67 when they scored - making the game 1-1 until the end of extra time, thus having the game going into penalty shoot-out.

The 💦 tension 💦 was then at its 👏HIGHEST 👊 !!! After 120 minutes of running around in tight shorts, manhandling one another, falling over each other, touching each other, yelling (affectionately) at each others, the players only wanted one thing: 💦 RELEASE 💦 !!! To WIN!!! To be able to finally celebrate by topping one another, straddling on another, yadi yadi yada. And to be able to 💦COME 💦 to a conclusion, each team had to pick their 5 players with the best talent for juggling balls, the most stamina and the best focus to execute what was required of them: PUT IT IN!!!👉👌 It turned out that the Italian players were more experienced in that department and are really good at scoring, and thus won the game.

I'm gonna let tumblr recap the "football is gay" discourse for me:

Ngl, I enjoyed the match because we got to look at some fine specimens, starting with Gareth, who looked pretty good in his suit 🥵, and some of the English players including Trippier, Grealish, Henderson and your boy Kane... I was watching them like 👀👀👀wondering which one of them is more likely to receive a DM from Drunk!Louis trying to flirt hahaha. Also anytime I saw Marcus Rashford I could only think of that stupid Fish Fingers Butty Sandwich 😔Louis what are you doing to my brain.

What else is there to say.... I went over to England's twitter and the thirst posts are long gone (still taking note of this one, sent before the match, "Taking it all in. A big night ahead!" 😏 and this one, mid-game: "One more push" 😏).

About Louis... we got some WONDERFUL footage of SILVER FOX LOUIS TOMLINSON, with a new haircut, saying "It's coming home" (😬) with what Val says is a new jacket that was probably a gift.... 🥺(we're making this up but still 🥺) He was maybe at Wembley but content was sparse so no confirmation. But the 2 seconds we got gave me life because he looked so good!!! But I'm already grieving the longer locks because he also looked so good???? Louis Tomlinson needs to stop being so damn pretty, it's annoying.

Some of you might recall this anon I had last week that said this (among other cute and cursed things), and the tags that I included in my answer:

So... Louis being the literal sun, the center of the universe, the only reason that the human race still exists, I have no choice but to conclude that LOUIS CAUSED THE DEMISE OF THE ENGLISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM BY NOT HAVING GOOD LUCK SEX THAT MORNING!!!! THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION, AT LEAST NONE AS HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC!! IT IS WHAT IT IS. Mr. O failed L and thus the whole nation of England... which could confirm that Mr. O is French and has been plotting this since the beginning of the cup, because he's still sour about the France-England wars of centuries ago 🤔

In any case, we know Louis is probably grieving the result now, I hope he's taking the time he needs to get over the rollercoaster of emotions that it must have been for the English people, who thought they could say "Brexit" and "Euro 2020 champion" in the same breath. LOL.

BUT!!! Now that that's over, he can properly focus on new music!!! I know he probably prefers looking at 11 hot men running around in shorts, but now he can turn his attention to his ever devoted Louies, who have thrown themselves into the football euphoria and even cheered for England for his sake, because there's nothing we wouldn't do for him. But we have already turned the page and are now collectively clowning on 369 date theories, so! Vas happening!!!

England says they will be back, and the good news is that the World Cup 2022 is right around the corner, happening in Dubai in the Fall 2022!!! So!!! Louis' football jerseys won't be taking the dust for long. 😌And his footballer boyfriend can be home for a while and comfort him in these trying times and give him all the **** *** **** ******* ****** ***** ****** he needs. That's all we want 😌.

I will make a recap of the reports once this one is published. But to conclude these last weeks, let me take the words of Daddy Gareth and apply it to me, you, our dear readers, everyone who enjoyed these stupid reports, which I loved writing: “They’ve got an incredible spirit. They’ve loved each other’s company. They’ve loved the adventure.”

Adieu,

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

Thank you Gareth Girl for your incredible service these past few weeks <333

#ive been waiting for this one skdjfgslfjdgs #not going to respond to every detail bc this is a pretty accurate summary of the match #ill just mention that im still nursing the hurt from their loss 😔 #so is louis i assume </3 #you guys. on the other hand. have been rubbing salt on the wound and for what 😔 #gonna tag this as mr o just bc i can #mr oxfordshire #<333 #enjoy the last cursed euro report lads!! #we'll be back w a new set of reports for the world cup of '22 <3 #clem's mission reports my beloved <3 #mail #berlinini #here's hoping we get new music loutent soon 🕯️🕯️

[apricotstone47]

Teenager Sancho has become a first-team regular in Germany since leaving Manchester City and will be back in London to face Spurs at Wembley on Wednesday “My friends in Kennington always ask me: ‘Can I have a shirt for my little brother or my cousin?’ And I always send them shirts,” says Jadon Sancho. “I will never forget where I have come from because I know what it is like growing up in that area … it is not nice. Especially when you have people around you doing bad things.” More than a month away from celebrating his 19th birthday, the first player born this millennium to represent England and a trailblazer for his generation is holding court at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion. Dressed in a turquoise green tracksuit and immaculate matching trainers, the unassuming Sancho does not come across as the most coveted teenager in world football as he makes a point of shaking hands with every journalist around the table with the greeting, “nice to meet you”. Clearly at ease in his surroundings in western Germany as he prepares for his return to London to face Tottenham in the Champions League on Wednesday, he is taller and broader in the shoulders than this time last year; something the makers of the Fifa video game may want to take note of. “I am stronger than it says,” he says, laughing. The boy from the Guinness Trust Buildings estate who left home at 12 has now become a man. Will Dortmund stutter prove a useful lesson or open the door for Bayern? “For the kids that are in south London I hope I can give a positive message,” he adds, intently. “Don’t do those bad things. You don’t have to be footballers. You could focus on your school work. Education is the most important thing and a lot of kids in south London get distracted from education.” Had he not been blessed with a talent with the ball that convinced his headteacher at Crampton primary school he was destined to be a star when she first saw him as a five-year-old, Sancho knows his story could have turned out very differently. Eight goals – including the brilliant finish from a tight angle in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Hoffenheim – and nine assists in the Bundesliga this season have allowed Lucien Favre’s vibrant young Dortmund side to dream of winning a first title since 2012. His bold decision to reject a new contract with Manchester City worth £30,000-a-week and move to Germany in search of first-team football is proving a masterstroke. Yet just like on the pitch, where his outstanding skill and dribbling speed have made him a social media sensation and earned comparisons with Neymar, Sancho has always been prepared to take risks. Having joined Watford aged seven, he would travel across London three nights a week to train and was later persuaded to leave his friends and family behind to join the club’s affiliated school, Harefield Academy in Uxbridge, west London. “I didn’t really want to go to that boarding school,” Sancho reflects nearly seven years on. “I wanted to stay at home and travel but the people around me told me what was best and I listened to them. I am happy that I am here today, where I am.” Now sharing an apartment with his father, Sean, a former security guard, near Dortmund’s impressive home, Sancho is in regular touch with his mother and friends back in Kennington and says he is enjoying life in “a chilled city”, even if he admits “learning German will be always kind of hard to me. But I’m getting the basics right,” he adds with enthusiasm, “working up on speaking German in training. I know what the manager is saying in training sessions, which makes it easier for me and for the players also: that’s how you interact, you come together more. “Me being so comfortable being abroad is due to the fact I’ve always been away from home. When I first left home it was very difficult, because I wasn’t used to it, I was always with my mum. The first couple of years were very tough and then as I got older people started to tell me: ‘It’s either this or going back home.’ And I always loved football, so I always chose the hard option. That’s what’s made me more comfortable being away from home than other people, so I’m kind of lucky.” Last month, Chelsea rejected a bid of £35m from Bayern Munich for Callum Hudson-Odoi that would have made him the most expensive British teenager. Germany’s most successful club remain confident of signing him in the summer and it is no exaggeration to say that Sancho’s impact at Dortmund since he was handed Ousmane Dembélé’s No 7 shirt in 2017 has been a major influence in their determination to sign his former England Under‑17 teammate. BVB’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, said it was during a youth international that they first became aware of Sancho’s extraordinary ability and subsequently made every effort to persuade him to leave City. Sign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks. But having come up against his childhood friend Reiss Nelson against Hoffenheim on Saturday – the 19-year-old is on loan from Arsenal until the end of the season – and with several other English teenagers starting to follow in Sancho’s slipstream as opportunities for young players in the Premier League continue to be scarce, he is quick to explain that the adaptation has taken time. “It hasn’t been easy. I’ve had to work for this. Everyone around me is keeping me grounded and keeping me focused. I’m improving every day and Marco Reus, Mario Götze and Axel Witsel are great role models to me and everyone else in the team. It’s really nice to have them around telling me what to do, and what’s not good, helping me solve things I wouldn’t solve by myself, so I’m happy.” Sancho adds: “[Coming to Germany] was about the youngsters here getting opportunities. I really felt Dortmund was the right club for me. They spoke to me and said the right things I wanted to hear. Now they’re showing it and I couldn’t thank them more.” Sancho won his first senior England cap against Croatia in October and was visited in Dortmund last week by Gareth Southgate’s assistant, Steve Holland. He is expected to be part of the squad that will face the Netherlands in June in the Nations League semi-final in Portugal but says being out of the spotlight in another country has allowed him to keep a distance from the developing hype surrounding him back home. “I’m not aware at all,” he says. “Obviously I’ve seen Twitter things, but I don’t know how … I don’t ask questions really, I just stay focused on what I’m doing and just keep going forward. All this media. This is all new to me. This is all crazy. I never knew you could be so known over your success. I thought if you are doing well everyone talks obviously, the fans, but I never knew they would take so much interest, but this helps a young player, the media training. It helps them out but this is the biggest thing. This is crazy.” It must be said that his innocence is rather endearing. Sancho also barely seems able to believe that he will be back in his home city to play against Tottenham in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Europe’s premier club competition. Thirty members of his family and close friends will be at Wembley to see whether Dortmund can gain revenge for losing home and away to Spurs in the group stages last season. “I feel like we have improved so it won’t be the same match as last year. It will be more difficult for them. Especially as they have some big players missing out so it is going to be a tough one,” Sancho says. “It’s a great feeling. I’ll be playing in front of my family, which is something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a young boy. Now I’m able to do it and hopefully I can show London people what I’m about. Everyone was messaging me saying: ‘I need a ticket!’ It’s big. I’m just happy that I’m playing in the Champions League. It is a big thing for me like it is for every player. That’s the biggest stage in the world so I’ve got to keep on working hard and hopefully I will get many more chances.” As well as his quick feet and mesmerising ball control, Sancho attributes his fearless attitude to the hours and hours of cage matches he played as a child on the estate in Kennington. He plans to return to Crampton and Harefield at the end of the season to answer questions from pupils and is clearly passionate about giving something back to the community that helped raise him. “I am trying to go back to my old schools first,” he says. “Hopefully, if things progress I can go to other schools and give things out from [sponsors] Nike. That would be nice for the school – like footballs and things like that. I was where they are once upon a time … just to give them a good message would be nice for them to hear.” Eloquent, intelligent and with the world at his feet, Sancho is certainly a decent role model for any child of the 21st century.

The  Guardian 12.02.19

#jadon sancho #Borussia Dortmund

[sseanight]

Jeon Jungkook Fics Recommendation

Recent update 200125

[ ❥ ] = Favorite

Kim Namjoon  — Kim Seokjin  — Min Yoongi  — Jung Hoseok  — Park Jimin  — Kim Taehyung

♠ Our Little Secret; angst

You and Jungkook were never supposed to end up together – he was your brothers best friend. It was frowned upon. But there were some feelings that you could just simply not keep at bay.

♠ The Perfect Husband; angst, romance, drama

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9

Not as cliché as it may seems.

♠ Undo; angst, smut

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 finale

You weren’t supposed to feel anything for him, especially since he already had a girlfriend.

♠ Pick Up the Pieces; angst, drama

“He never love her and it was just a one time thing”. That’s what they told about.

♠ All of Me; angst, drama

He’s taking you for granted. Again.

♠ Golden Daddy; smut

Jungkook’s tired of you seeing him simply as your best friend’s brother, so he decides to show you exactly who he is.

[ ❥ ] Lowkey; smut

Jungkook is the nude model for your art school’s life drawing class.

♠ Comfort Inn Ending; angst, smut

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 finale

It was you who Jungkook gave his heart to- that is, until the day you broke it. And it is you now, hoping that some faultlines can be repaired, and that some broken hearts can be put back together again.

[ ❥ ] Duvet Days & Vanilla Ice Cream; fluff, angst

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

Sick of waiting to fulfill your dream of becoming a mother, you stumble across an interesting site called bundlesofjoy.

[ ❥ ] Fierce and Delicate; angst

part 1 | part 2 finale

Jungkook and you had been brought in two different worlds. Jungkook living an unfortunate life and you being controlled by her parents all her life. Despite the imperfect relationship, they completed each other like a puzzle there is.

♠ Sated (ft. BTS); heavy smut

Sin. There’s nothing more.

♠ Moan Wars (ft. Yoongi); smut, a little fluff

After being forced to listen to Yoongi and his girlfriend fucking loudly in the room next to his, Jungkook decides that two can play that game.

   ♠ Business (ft. Taehyung); smut

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

Discussing business over drinks with Jungkook and Taehyung turns into a night you won’t forget.

♠  Sounds; smut

You’re taking a very interesting course this semester —sound psychology, and jeon jungkook, being the fuckboy he’s always been, has an idea to record you while having sex for the assignment which was given.

[ ❥ ] 2! 3!; fluff. smut

The one at the end of Jungkook’s Wembley Vlive.

♠ Demon Dickin’ Down; demon!au, smut

Every year, on one special night of october, the sex demon hotline is available for any human who wishes to call; and this time, their senior scout is on the field.

♠ Late; angst

part 1 | part 2 finale

With a battle of words taking place in your head, and taking advice and opinions from your brother and his friends, you finally decide to confess to your best friend just as the same time as he does, except for something else.

♠ Regret; angst

part 1 | part 2 finale

Jungkook has been your husband for 3 months now, and when he gets back from work one day, he is cranky, speaking one of the regretful things he could ever say to you.

♠ Accusations; angst

You’re met your best friend after years of separation, and you continue to meet him. This particularly pisses Jungkook off.

♠ Grade; fluff, smut

Maybe getting bad grades once in a while is awarding.

♠ Redemption; angst

You left Korea and three years later you come back with your daughter and he tries to win you back.

♠ Let me; prince!au, fluff

part 1 | part 2 finale

Prince Jungkook always comes into the kitchen for late night snacks and you are the new kitchen staff. 

♠ (1) Missed Call; idol!au, smut

He never has time to pick up his phone while on tour, so you leave him innocent voicemails instead. But, when did your mundane voicemails suddenly get so interesting?

♠ Love is Not Over; dad!au, angst

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 finale  

Our love is not over.

♠ Tick Tock; soulmate!au, fluff

Where in there is a timer on your wrist which tells you exactly when you’ll meet your soulmate.

♠ Who Am I to You; angst

part 1 | part 2 finale

You were so easily forgotten.

[ ❥ ] Rules; high school!au, fluff, smut

part 1 | part 2 finale

He had one rule and one rule only; no dating in high school, but something might have happened to that rule, and that something might be you.

♠ Eavesdrop; angst

Hearing jungkook say he’s breaking up with you.

♠ Jealousy; angst, fluff

With jungkook being on tour, he couldn’t help but miss you. when a picture of you and a guy he’s unfamiliar with surfaces the internet, he’s furious. 

♠ A Mess (ft. Min Yoongi); smut, fluff

Maybe it was a good thing you lost that bet to Yoongi. The punishment was cruel, but it lead you to a threesome with him and your crush so… yay for that.

♠ One Time Thing; smut

“It could be a one-time thing really. No strings attached. Besides, we won’t see each other for another year basically.”

♠ Lost Track of Time; angst

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 finale

You were mad, but he was out of patience.

♠ Smile with Me; angst, fluff

You were having a bad day, but you didn’t want Jungkook to worry. However, Jungkook did worry and he wanted nothing more but for you to smile again.

♠ Rumor Has It; angst, fluff

You built up walls to prevent the rumors from getting to you, but now they came crumbling down.

♠ Dream; angst, fluff

Jungkook had been spending a lot of time with you lately, and Namjoon finally thought it was time to confront him about it.

[ ❥ ] The Kids Aren’t Alright; smut, fluff, slightly angst

Sneaking around with Jeongguk during your Christian retreat is complicated when you’re both dedicated to your jobs as co-youth group counselors at your father’s ministry.

[ ❥ ] The Elite; smut, angst, fluff

intro | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

Jeon Jungkook is the son of a billionaire with a bad boy image and harsh demeanour. Y/N comes from humble beginnings, having lived a sheltered life unfamiliar to the dark world she is thrown into when her and Jungkook meet.

[ ❥ ] Bad For You; romance, smut

His whole presence emits sin and danger, and you’re not supposed to be attracted to him on the first glance.

[ ❥ ] About Time (ft. Park Jimin); time travel!au, angst

Be careful for what you wish for, because you may never know how to deal with them once it comes true. What would you do when your wish for a second chance actually came true? But was it really a fulfilled wish? Too many questions lie when it actually happened. Were they real memories? Or perhaps a part of a past life? Was it only a dream all along? Will everything be different this time?

[ ❥ ] Our Little Secret; smut, angst

“Desperate lips molded against his, and in the kiss, you tried to convey your feelings for him. You tried to tell him that despite whatever decision you made, you couldn’t let him go. You were literally so in over your head for him and you knew you were fucked—but you didn’t care.”

[ ❥ ] Take My Hand; angst, fluff

In which you lose your memory in a car crash, and Jungkook desperately tries to keep both of your lives intertwined. this in itself proves to be a challenge, especially when you can only remember him as the idol you once adored from afar.

♠ Overtime; ceo!au, smut

In which an awkward first encounter with your new boss gives Jeon Jungkook all the more reason to make your job an interesting experience.

♠ Exchanges; spiderman!au, fluff, smut

In which Jeon Jungkook is that friendly neighborhood superhero, you’re the face in the hallway that saved his high school career, and he can’t ever seem to get a grip around you. Even when he makes you scream after a fated accident—not for the reason you may be thinking; get the thought out of your head.

♠ My Beauty, My Blood; mafia!au, single parent!au, fluff, angst, smut

With Namjoon out of the picture, Jeongguk has to step up and be the sole successor to the organization laid out before him. However, guilt doesn’t escape him very easily, and neither does your persistence. 

[ ❥ ] Heartbeat (ft. Min Yoongi); angst, smut

part 1 | part 2 finale

You fell in love with a boy who was in love with music, and you weren’t sure if he was capable of loving you the same way. This thought should’ve caused you to move away from him; but, if anything, it just drew you closer.

♠ The Millionaire and His Lover; fluff, angst, smut

Over the course of your lifelong friendship with jungkook, you can’t say that you’ve ever had the greatest ideas, and a fake relationship with the boy you’ve been in love with for years is no exception.

♠ Just Friends; angst, smut

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 finale

Jeon Jungkook was many things. He was an asshole, a tease, and kind of an inconsiderate roommate. But most of all, he’s your best friend and has been since you were 10. When he suddenly confesses his attraction to you and proposes sleeping together, you are smart enough to turn him down. You knew Jungkook; you knew how he moved from one girl to the next. You, too, were many things, but just another notch in Jungkook’s belt was something you’d never be.

♠ Since Day One; werewolf!au, fluff, smut

You’ve been friends for years, and when Jungkook decides to take on boxing gigs to earn some extra cash, you’re apprehensive about it but decide to support him nonetheless. It was your role as his designated best friend. But one night, during the first fight that you decide to attend as his supporter, everything completely changes.

♠ Diamond in the Rough; fluff, angst, smut

part 1 | part 2 finale

When a business heir from Busan, Jeon Jungkook, meets you, a poor girl from Daegu, he doesn’t expect to fall as quickly as he does. He’s been told for his entire life to avoid Daegu, a town riddled with gangs and a history of a brutal murder in Busan, but he can’t stay away from you, even when he’s warned that you’re not good enough for him.

♠ Banter; super!au, roommate!au, fluff

Ironically, some of your best moments are with your archnemesis, the man who you literally fight every other day. But the two of you might be closer than you originally thought.

♠ Stubborn Love; modern-day royalty!au, bodyguard!au, angst, smut

Love is not a choice, this much you knew. for a girl like you, neither was marriage. married off to a prince, you had the life most girls would dream of. but your dream didn’t end with prince charming. yours ended with your loyal bodyguard that you could never have.

♠ Sweather Weather; fluff

When Jungkook comes back from a run and you have the audacity to laugh at his admittedly bad decision to go outside in the rain, he makes sure to take his revenge.

♠ D.Va; smut, angst

It’s a pretty important day for you but Jungkook doesn’t seem to think so.

♠ Navy; childhood bestfriend!au, idol!au, angst

part 1 | part 2 finale

When you thought you’d be making music with your best friend, Jungkook, like how you’ve always promised each other but he seems to have other plans.

♠ T&S; fluff

Toddlers have always hated Jungkook and Jungkook have always hated toddlers.

[ ❥ ] Escape; angst, fluff

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 6.5 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 finale

Everyone has a number over their heads that says how useful they are to society from 0-100. You have a number ‘4’. You leave the city for some peace but you meet your cocky neighbour who seems to get on your nerves.

♠ Sweet Saccharine; fluff, angst

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

Trying your best to stay afloat in a ruthless city, you decide to join the sugar bowl. Who knew the sugar baby business would be this exciting?

♠ Curiosity; smut

When innocent Jungkook comes to you with a not-so-innocent question, you decide it’s easier to just demonstrate.

♠ Fear is Forever; werewolf!au, fluff, angst

Fear in your eyes | Forever and a night

There’s a werewolf in that forest behind your house, they told you, and he’ll eat you before you can even beg for mercy.

♠ The Wedding Planners; fluff, smut, angst

Jeon jungkook is three things: cocky, terrible, and your worst enemy. then your best friend Hoseok gets engaged to the love of his life, and suddenly Jeon Jungkook is four things: cocky, terrible, your worst enemy, and the man you will be spending the next seven months with in order to plan your best friend’s wedding.

[ ❥ ]   Énouement; mulan!au

War is Hell, but it’s what you had to do to take your brother’s place. Of course, between the days of Hell are little slices of Heaven you’d call your Captain, Jeon Jungkook.

♠ Prodigy; teacher!au, smut

“Could you just close the door and come over here? You have no reason to rush out, I didn’t post your grade. I want to discuss it in person.”

You swallowed hard at his words but did as you were told, closing the classroom door and going over to his desk. He was looking through the stack of students’ sketchbooks on his desk, presumably for your own. He pulled one of of the stack and laid it in the middle of his desk, and you froze.

You could feel all color draining from your face once you noticed which sketchbook he had pulled out of the pile. There was a Hello Kitty sticker stuck to the top right corner of it, indicating it was your sketchbook.

Your personal sketchbook.

[ ❥ ] Cardiovascular Palpitations; doctor!au, fwb!au, fluff, angst, smut

part 1 | part 2 finale | sequel

It was complicated. But it worked. You two were doctors, cardio surgeons at that. Complicated was usual, it was your business, your work, your lifestyle. And neither of you had time for an actual relationship, for the hours of work for writing heartfelt letters or planning dates out on the beach. Both you and Jeongguk needed quickies in the stockroom, someone to dress up and look hot so he can get revenge on his ex, someone to give a blow job or finger you to relax your nerves before an important presentation, someone to understand the burdens and harsh lifestyle of being a doctor. And somehow in that chaos, you’d found each other and it worked out.

[ ❥ ] Boys Like Him, Girls Like Her; fluff, smut, angst

prequel | part 1 | part 2 finale

Bad boys are bad, they said. And they don’t deserve girls like you, they said. But all you wanted to do was give Jeon Jungkook a chance.

♠ Sleepover; fluff, smut

Jungguk is your best friend’s little brother who invites you to have a sleepover at his place. Nothing can happen, right?

♠ Drunk; alcoholic!au, angst

part 1 | part 2

You fell in love with Jungguk so hard thinking he’s everything you’ve ever wanted. But there’s a one catch – he’s an alcoholic.

♠ Blacklisted (ft. Jeon Jungkook); smut, angst

After departing from your dom, you’re assigned to two incredibly powerful men.

♠ Tattooed Two (ft. Jeon Jungkook); smut, angst, fluff

Your boyfriend’s best friend joins you for a night you’ll never forget.

[ ❥ ] Tachycardia; doctor!au, fluff, smut

When you’d signed your consent for any medical interns to assist your doctor on your routine check-up, all you were expecting was some nerdy, awkward, fresh-out-of-med-school graduate. What you actually got was a man who’d won the genetic lottery in every way possible…and an awful case of butterflies.

[ ❥ ] A Fallen Bookmark on a Thursday Afternoon; angst, fluff

He came to you like the air comes into the train station after the fast arriving of the machine. It comes fast and unexpected, making you hoist your head to look at the long vehicle and the people inside. It is so fast you can’t even distinguish the different wagons. As the train comes to a stop, the wind that it creates plays with your hair, leaving you breathless. That’s how Jeon Jungkook came into your life.

[ ❥ ] The Blue Princess and her Red Rose; prince!au, fantasy, angst, fluff, smut

After all, he was her red rose, while she was just another one of the many blue roses that grew in the dying gardens of Greyria.

♠ Brother’s best friend; smut

In which Y/n owns a smut blog dedicated to her crush and brother’s best friend, jungkook. it was all fun and games until he finds out about it and acts it out with you.

♠ Room 109; alpha!au, smut

Having Jungkook as your apartment buddy was a lot to get used to. But with one early day, your heat comes up much stronger than usual, and you were desperate for an alpha’s touch.

♠ This Must Be My Dream; fluff, angst

You swore you would never fall for another boy in a rock and roll band. You were doing fine until Jungkook comes into your life with his sweet melodies and even sweeter kisses.

♠ Break the Ice; fluff, smut, angst

There are three rules to become an official Puck Bunny: 1. You have to love hockey. No exceptions. 2. You have to had slept with at least three hockey players. Starters, no benchwarmers. 3. And most importantly, have fun!

♠ Nochu Unsolved; comedy, smut

Cryptid hunting with your boyfriend doesn’t go quite as planned…

#bts #bts jungkook #jungkook #jeon jungkook #bts fluff #bts angst #bts smut #smut #bts x reader

[grapsandclaps]

GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS - PROGRESS WRESTLING CHAPTER 77 "PUMPKIN SPICE PROGRESS".

Hello and welcome everyone to this edition of Graps and Claps, this time taking me to Camden for PROGRESS Wrestling's Chapter 77 'Pumpkin Spice Progress with the huge main event between PROGRESS champion Walter and the SSS16 Winner for 2018 - Zack Sabre Jr. which was a mouth watering prospect on paper and one I personally couldn't wait for as in a surprise I have never seen this match live or on the box which is rare as rocking horse shit in this day and age.

As ever with a trip to London it was a 9 am bus journey to Manchester to catch the 1035 am train to London Euston, thankfully unlike last week's journey to Leeds this went without a hitch and also the happiness of finding a stray £1 coin on a seat on the top deck of the bus - rich beyond my wildest dreams folks. A distinct lack of people from up north made the trip to London for this show, meaning I was drinking on my own in The Black Heart until London friend Steve came in, so I had a good chin wag about the action upcoming and what other stuff had been going on in the world in the past week. Only two pints in here for me both from Amundsen Brewery with the following - 6.5% Apocalyptic Thunder Juice IPA (£6.60) which was really juicy in taste, another winner in the book was a Lorita Pale Ale (£5.40), if you spot any drinks from this brewery make sure you check them out.

Drinks done, it was time to get into the Ballroom and take my position up on the raised perch with Athers for the first time (a great viewing spot if you can get up there early enough). The Ballroom in the time since I last came for the 1978 show has grown a big screen where the sound booth once resided, another happening is a change in the beer lines available with a Sharp's Brewery IPA, Spaten and Franziker Weissbier taking pride of place on the bar which is a welcome move away from the usual Camden Pale. So with that all said let's get into what went down on this cold Sunday afternoon!

First up we had pre-show action with the lesser seen Kyle Ashmore taking on JJ Lynch who I found out ply's his trade in Battle Pro Wrestling down south. Opening part of this contest was the audience shouting out that Ashmore had a resemblance for some reason to Uncle Albert of Only Fools and Horses fame, plus yes it was me who started the 'Baldy Baldy' chant to absolute silence as ever from the London crowd who don't do singing like they used to (Thanks to the Taffs for trying to join in). JJ Lynch impressed me in this first look at him as he hit a headbutt to Ashmore to stun him but Ashmore rolled out of the ring. Back in the ring Lynch hit a Superkick for a 2 count but that was as good as it got for Lynch as Ashmore hit a big JOHN WOO! and then a elevated back cracker to Lynch for the 3 count to end a tidy pre-show match and maybe the best Pre-show match in ages.

After the opening messages from Jim Smallman, we started off with the main card and a change to the advertised match up as Tyler Bate wasn't fit to compete after picking up an injury at Fight Club Pro at the weekend. Instead we had one half of the fearsome Ringkampf duo, Timothy Thatcher taking on a repackaged version of Pastor William Eaver who is now going by the name of 'Present' William Eaver - the basis of this character is that of a upmarket street preacher (A touch of the Bray Wyatt's here) coming out saying that 'Today is the Day' which I initially thought of a great song Eaver should come out to - go and check on Youtube for the Sean Maguire hit 'Today's the Day' which was a popular tune in the 90's.

Anyways on to the match, Timo hit a big T-Bone Suplex and followed up with a Judo throw slam for a 2 to Eaver. Eaver though eventually got the grasps of things as he beatdown Thatcher in the corner leading to Timo to hulk up by slapping the taste out of Eaver's mouth but Eaver retaliated with a Uranage Backbreaker to stun Tim. Tim though came back to hit an enziguri to the back of Eaver's head and then following up with an arm submission to get the tapout victory in around 10 minutes. Was what it was for an opener, even though it is early days Eaver's gimmick I can't say I was sold on it but time will tell for the Former PROGRESS Champion!

Second up was yes you guessed it PROGRESS Women's Division action with Isla Dawn taking on Millie McKenzie with the latter trying to build momentum after not being able to capture the title in the 3-way at Wembley, Even though this match was 6 minutes long, this was a really good match between two women who you will be certain to hear much more from in the future, Isla at one stage locked in a Dragon Sleeper to Millie that was until Millie managed to reach the ropes to break the hold, Millie though made a fightback hitting a couple of crazy back German suplexes to Dawn but as it looked like Millie was on her way to victory, Jinny and Laura Di Matteo made an unwelcome appearance to lay the boots to Dawn and Millie, that was until her Jinny's former House of Couture mates Nina Samuels and Charlie Morgan came down to fend them away making both Jinny and LDM to fall in the arms of Isla and Millie who hit stereo Germans to send them packing to the back.

Sadly no explanation yet to why the House of Couture split up but it will at least be good to see both Nina and Charlie Morgan at least get some wrestling time in PROGRESS instead of mooching around on the ring apron watching Jinny.

Third match was a PROGRESS Atlas Title Open Challenge match with the Champion Trent Seven offering anyone in the back the opportunity to take him on in his first defence of his newly won belt when he defeated Doug Williams at Wembley Arena. The person to take this opportunity was none other than the MCW Heavyweight Champion - Gino " Mr. Juicy" Gambino. Gambino was on the upside of things early on as he hit a couple of running splashes in the corner to Trent, but all that running left Gino with no juice in the tank which led to Trent passing Gino an inhaler only for Gambino to spray this in Trent's eyes (a really good inventive spot).

This temporary blindness for Trent led to Gino being on top for the next couple of minutes but Trent managed to fight Gino off with knife edge chops and a DDT for the two count. At a vertical base Gino flattened Trent and followed up with a big splash to get a two count, as it looked like Trent's reign was in trouble Trent somehow managed to hit a massive suplex to Gino - Christ Almighty! The big spots didn't end there as Juicy hit a Piledriver for a 2 count but that only awoke Trent who managed of all things hit a Burning Hammer to the 330 pound monster from Australia to get the 3 count to retain the Atlas Title - Excellent big lads action that I didn't have much expectation for but this was a BIG thumbs up from me.

Your first half Main Event was for the PROGRESS Tag Team titles with the first defence for Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) taking on the Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) and also the 17:35pm 198 bus service from Cardiff to London in the form of 'Flash Morgan Webster' and Bill Bailey doppelganger Wild Boar. Lots of green material on show here as the action got underway in the early feeling out process as the match built to a great crescendo with all three teams coming close on a number of occasions to winning the match. 

The Aussies hit a fidget spinner at one stage only to be dragged out of the ring by Gibson, but as teamwork was much needed in this match Gibson who had grabbed a stray chair he accidentally hit his own tag team partner James Drake to possibly plant the seeds for a break up which was hinted at on the USA tour a month or two ago. With the GYV's out of the way Webster was in the ring to hit headbutts to Aussie Open but this had no effect on them as Davis hit the 'Close Your Eyes and Count To Fuck' Piledriver of Doom and then Fletcher joined hit to hit the fidget spinner with Davis t0 end the 198's hopes of winning to end an all action tag match and end a really fun first half of action.

Back from the break we had Eddie Dennis interrupting an entrance by one of the people who pledged money to the Progress Documentary. Eddie who has some valid points, was unhappy at being left off the card despite beating Mark Andrews at Wembley and that he would cash in his No.1 contenders opportunity when he see fit. The crowd even though Eddie in hindsight is supposed to be a baddie, cheered a lot of what he was saying and in a way can you blame them, out of the current No.1 contenders I am certainly more intrigued to see how Eddie's story ends.

Talking of people from Eddie's past we came to a match between two wrestlers who both ended up on the losing side at Wembley Arena with the terrifying Paul Robinson taking on what seems perennial loser at the moment and in need of a freshen up Mark Andrews. In what was a rematch from Chapter 10 and the first Natural Progression Series, we got off to a great start in this match with both Andrews and Robbo hitting dives to the outside with the fans scrambling out of the way whenever Robbo was in the vicinity.

Back in the ring Andrews hit a reverse rana to Robinson for a two count, but as Andrews went up top to hit the Shooting Star Press he was unfortunately straddled by Robinson on the top rope leaving Robinson to hit a Huaracarana sending Andrews crashing to the mat leaving him prone for a Curb stomp from Robinson who duly pinned Andrews in around 10 minutes to get the win. Onwards and upwards for Robinson for now, for Andrews it is back to the drawing board once again to figure out - Who the real Mark Andrews is??

Semi Main time with a No.1 contenders match to the PROGRESS title with the usual faces in these No.1 contenders matches taking part in the form of Jimmy Havoc and Mark Haskins who both gained big wins at the Wembley Arena show, joining them in this three way was #CCK himself - Chris Brookes who last had an opportunity at the big belt at the turn of the year coming close to beating then Champion Chris Brookes (I'm not counting the 3 minutes Walter no contest in Hamburg). On reflection this was a good match, but for me a downgrade from what had followed before it, Jimmy Havoc was on his way to victory that was until Drew Parker came from out of nowhere to attack Jimmy from behind to take him out of the running by dragging his lifeless body up the ramp and through the curtain. With the odds drastically reduced for the remaining two folks in the ring, it was Mark Haskins who was the one get the victory on Brookes as he locked in the Sharpshooter Submission before leaning back to tap out Brookes in 14 minutes.

After the match Haskins got on the mic to proclaim that after all of the setbacks he was back on top of his game once again to hopefully take the PROGRESS World Title in the future, but I have a bad feeling that if he came up against Walter he would end up on the short end of things but we shall see if that materialises.

With the clock striking 7 p.m it was now time for your Main Event with the unstoppable force of WALTER taking on Zack Sabre Jr with the latter coming out to the Idles tune 'Mother' which was welcome relief away from the Casio Keyboard music which is around once again. My god what can be said about this match - duelling chants from the crowd with a 50/50 split in terms of who people wanted to win here, we had chop battles where at times Zack was trying to wind up Walter by saying that the chops were not having that great an effect on his body - at one stages ZSJ gave Walter the middle fingers which would be a death wish for anyone else but this is Zack Sabre Jr. we are talking about here.

Reversals galore by both men, as Zack tried to grab any stray body parts when Walter was on the floor or at a vertical base - Zack is just smooth as silk in this situation. At one stage though as the match reached fever pitch it looked like Walter was ready to tap to another deadly submission from the Technical Wizard but alas the Austrian managed to escape Zack's clutches when at coming up to 30 minutes in the contest Walter hit the 'Fire Thunder Driver' to Zack to end a breathless and enthralling contest to retain the PROGRESS World Title to send the Camden faithful excited at what they had just seen. In closing though on this match, in terms of PROGRESS matches of the year I would put this slightly above Bate vs Walter at Wembley so make sure you go and check this out once it hits the On Demand service in 5-7 Working Days *Terms and Conditions apply.

Wrestling done, it was time to get back on my way to Rochdale getting back in the 'Dale for Midnight to end another long weekend of japes on my travels. So with that said, I hope you have enjoyed reading this review and as ever any comments and feedback are welcome! Until then I will bid you farewell - BYE!!

@oggypart3

#grapsandclaps 

[anakinsbugs]

The Blogfather

New Post has been published on https://walrusvideo.com/the-blogfather/

The Blogfather

He wasn’t an Arsenal fan, but he was at the 1971 FA Cup final. I wasn’t born yet (I didn’t arrive until September of that double winning year), but he saw Charlie George score that winner and lie flat on his back on the Wembley turf to celebrate.

Like so many of his generation, he came to England from Ireland to find work in the late 1950s, and I’m sure my love of football came from him. There was always a ball, always a kick-around in the garden, or on the front lawn of the castle we lived in for a while (honestly, it was a castle).

Back then you could just go to a football match. Rock up on a Saturday, and pay your way into the ground depending on who was at home. He lived and worked in West London, and nominally he was a Fulham fan. He loved Johnny Haynes, but he was a huge admirer of Jimmy Greaves too. He liked players who could do things with both feet, and he went to matches all over the city, just because he could.

Some of my earliest memories are of him playing football. He started life as a forward (like my brother), but by the time I came along and he was togging out for the village team in Bishopthorpe (near York), he’d moved back to centre-half (where I played my whole life). I’d stand on the sidelines with my mam. I don’t remember the games or the performances, just the fact that I was there and so was he.

..

He was pretty strict when we were young. I think it was because he had very clear ideas about what young men should and shouldn’t do. They should look smart, for example, and definitely not wear jeans. They really shouldn’t watch Grange Hill, because those children were basically juvenile delinquents and didn’t respect figures of authority sufficiently.

He worked a lot though, so it was often drive-by stuff. He spent most his working life in the hospitality industry – bars, restaurants, hotels. Long hours, late nights.

Once, in the back garden, I was winding my brother up, as big brothers do. He reached breaking point and unleashed a wave of expletives that would have made a sailor blush. Dad, probably trying to get a bit of rest upstairs, heard everything, stuck his head out the bedroom window and it was the most trouble any little boy has ever been in before or since. I felt bad, and I bought Tim some Cadbury’s Creme Eggs to say sorry.

..

In 1996 he was away on a golf trip in Spain and fell ill. Cardiomyopathy. The prognosis was not good. He needed a heart transplant. In the mists of time it feels like it happened quickly, but it didn’t. He spent months and months gravely unwell, in and out of hospital, but in the end they took his actual heart out and put someone else’s in.

It’s basically a miracle, isn’t it?

When you think about it, it’s absolutely crazy, but as I said at his eulogy, it changed his life and it saved his life. He became a fierce advocate for organ donation. He helped found the Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association, and he went onto to chair the European Heart and Lung Transplant Federation. He wanted to ensure as many people as possible could benefit from the incredible medical advancements, and the work carried out by doctors and transplant teams.

As you might imagine, that kind of thing gives you a new perspective on life. He was certainly mellower post-transplant, but it coincided with us reaching a stage of adult life where your relationship with your parents changes anyway. We did a lot of stuff together. Golf, pints, dinners, holidays, even the Arsenal.

I don’t know if the trip we took to London was specifically to see a game, or if it coincided with something else, but he came with me to the Emirates to see us play in the Champions League. We played PSV and a late goal from on-loan Chelsea defender Alex saw us crash out. Not exactly a stellar night on the pitch, but it was still a good one off it. We had post-game pints in The Tollington, he met many of the Arseblog crew, and he often talked about how much he enjoyed it.

He loved Arseblog and what it became. He’d read most days. He’d say ‘Some of those chaps on the Arses are a bit fruity, aren’t they?!’.  He even listened to a podcast, impressed and somewhat astonished with how often, and with such variation, Ian Wright said my name.

..

He hadn’t been well for a couple of weeks. I took him to the doctors on February 1st. She told me she was worried about his kidneys. Years of anti-rejection and immuno-suppressant drugs take their toll. Blood test results came back that afternoon. He needed to be in hospital.

I remember him waving to us from the ambulance before it pulled away, his big overcoat pulled tightly around him on a cold evening. Over the next couple of weeks he was treated for the infection, he was getting there, but slowly.

On Monday February 15th I got a phone call from a doctor. He’d been unwell, so they ran more tests. One of them was for Covid-19. It came back positive. We spent a year doing everything we could to keep him safe during the pandemic, and somehow he picked it up in the Coronary Care Unit of a hospital.

Yet over the next week, he didn’t really develop any of the major symptoms. On Monday February 22nd he called from his bed, we spoke about him coming home. He couldn’t wait to get back to his chair, in front of the fire, to watch golf and CNN. We wondered how strong he’d be, what care he might need. How we might have to adapt the house. Downstairs bedroom, stairlift, that kind of thing.

Then … day 10. Covid hit.

Did you ever get winded? It’s scary, isn’t it? Those few seconds where you can’t catch your breath. Imagine that all the time. He needed oxygen, then more oxygen, then all the oxygen it’s possible to give someone.

We were lucky in that we were allowed in to see him. We got to talk to him. That will always be a comfort, but seeing your dad on his own in a six bed ward, surrounded by and attached to machines, struggling to breathe is brutal. You want to help somehow, but you can’t.

We were clad in so much PPE, gown, masks, goggles, gloves, that he thought we were doctors at first. Maybe that’s why he told ‘them’ he didn’t want to die in hospital.

He died in hospital … in the early hours of March 2nd.

He’d been through so much. The heart transplant, he beat a lung cancer situation, he had an ongoing prostate cancer situation, but he couldn’t beat this. He was 84 and he’d lived a good life, but it doesn’t make it any easier to see someone you love die like that.

I’m not going to preach to anyone, but I can only urge you to be cautious. I know we’re all fed up with restrictions and life being the way it is. I know there is light at the end of the tunnel as vaccines are being rolled out, but this virus is still out there and it’s still dangerous. The most vulnerable among us are still loved and cherished family members and friends. Please don’t lose sight of that amid frustration, we all have a responsibility to each other. Someone’s age or their underlying condition doesn’t make them expendable.

Be careful. Look after each other. Each one of those statistics released daily is a real person, with many more left behind. Wash your hands. Wear a mask – at worst it’s a mild inconvenience, at best it saves lives, maybe even your own. Get the vaccine when you can.

My daughter, who I haven’t seen in person for over a year now, couldn’t get home for her grandad’s funeral. The funeral at which only ten people were allowed. That’s not how we do things in Ireland. There was no wake, no telling of stories about the one just gone. The laughs you have at events like that seem incongruous to the situation, but they’re a big part of how get through it.

Like so many other families over this last 12 months, we were apart at a time when we needed to be together. Just a couple of weeks previously my big cousin Adrian, a Gooner and only a few years older than I am, was taken by Covid too. He wasn’t elderly, he wasn’t high risk. I had to ring my dad in hospital and tell him, and while the staff in there were so lovely, he had nobody to share that grief with in person.

The support mechanisms we have in place to cope with things like this aren’t there any more. There are very obvious impacts of Covid on our lives, but there are malingering ones which I don’t think we’ll come to understand for some time yet.

..

Whatever nurses are paid, they deserve twice that, and more. They are amazing. They don’t need to be clapped, they need to be paid properly. You might not need them now, so perhaps they don’t register, but there will come a time when you will, and they will be amazing for you and your family too.

They shouldn’t have to fight for the compensation they deserve. We should be fighting for them. We should be angry on their behalf. Fight for healthcare.

Pay them properly.

..

My dad was an amazing man. Really funny, kind, generous, a good person who was the linchpin of our family, and we’re going to miss him terribly. He was well cool too, I mean, look at that 1960s shades/rollneck action he had going on.

I’m experiencing a lot of emotions right now, and it’s going to take some time to process, as they say. Today though, I just want to remember him in a positive way. A man who had a huge influence on who am I, someone who – when I think of him – makes me smile.

It’s absolutely shit he’s not going to be around anymore, and the circumstances of his passing were deeply unpleasant. It’s been a really rough few weeks, to be honest. However, he gave me the strength to get through this, and on this Arsenal blog I’m gonna take the owner’s privilege and set myself up with a tap-in to finish.

Love you Dad, and as a wise man once said, you were f*ckin’ excellent.

The post The Blogfather appeared first on Arseblog … an Arsenal blog.

The Article The Blogfather First Appeared ON : https://arsenalweb.co.uk

The Article The Blogfather First Appeared ON : https://gqcentral.co.uk

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Go to Source Author: Goldie

[peckhampeculiar]

Meet The Pexican

Professional pugilist Johnny Garton has been ranked fourth best welterweight in the country by Boxing Monthly. The Peckham fighter talks about growing up in SE15 and why there needs to be more stuff for kids to do in the area

Words: Luke G Williams; Photo: John Yabrifa

Boxer Johnny Garton disproves the notion that “they don’t make ’em like they used to”.

Modest and unassuming to a fault in a sport that often reeks with the stench of hype and overblown “trash talk”, Johnny is the type of throwback fighter known in the boxing trade as “a good honest pro”.

“I’m not one of those boxers who talks a lot and says, ‘I’m going to bash this person up’ or whatever,” the 30-year-old tells The Peckham Peculiar. “I’m quite modest really.”

Johnny is also an unashamed, dyed in the wool south London boy – in fact, cut him open and you’d probably find the word “Peckham” running through him like a stick of rock.

Born in Dulwich Hospital in 1987, Johnny grew up on the Clifton Estate. “I lived on the estate all my life, in the tower block on the first floor with my mum and my sister, while my nan lived next door,” he says, his voice as broad and warm a south London accent as you will ever find.

“I love Peckham. I’ve got great memories of growing up here. Apart from the last year or so I’ve lived here all my life. As a kid, Peckham was fantastic. On the estate there were two ends and on both ends of the estate you knew everyone and your parents knew everyone.

“My girlfriend Jemma is actually from the same estate as me. We knew each other when we were younger. When she got older she moved out and then later we met up again.

“We live up by Bluewater now but most of my friends are from round Peckham, I went to school round here. And my mum still lives in Peckham so I’m still around a lot.”

Despite his love of the area, Johnny feels that many of the improvements to SE15 in recent years have inadvertently alienated some long-term residents.

“I say to my girlfriend all the time that we’d move back here if we could tomorrow, but it’s got so expensive it’s ridiculous,” he explains. “I’m a prime example of a local being priced out. I’d love to move back but I can’t afford it. I do believe some of the locals are being pushed out.

“When I was growing up it was definitely quite a rough area and it needed to improve. Even now it’s a still a bit rough, but there’s also a lot of middle class people there as well; it’s a little bit weird because Peckham’s got a trendy side, but it’s also got its rough side.”

Johnny argues that in the rush to develop Peckham, local children, particularly those who live on council estates, have been overlooked.

“There’s not that much for kids to do today,” he points out. “I was walking around the estate the other day and there’s not really much for those kids to go and do. When I was growing up there was a leisure centre across the road and other bits and bobs to do. They used to let us in to play basketball or football. But that’s gone now. Some of the adventure playgrounds have gone too. There’s Peckham Pulse but that’s mainly just swimming.

“For the adults there’s loads – bars and restaurants opening everywhere. There’s the BMX track [in Burgess Park] which is doing quite well, but I think we need more stuff for kids.”

As a youngster Johnny admits he wasn’t particularly studious or academic. “I went to Peckham Park Primary School and then Hatcham Wood in Brockley. I didn’t really enjoy school much. I didn’t get great grades or anything like that. I just went because I had to.”

On leaving school, Johnny became a car mechanic, although he admits it was an occupation he fell into out of necessity rather than desire.

“It was a job that was offered to me after doing two weeks’ work experience at school at a garage,” he explains. “They sent me to college to get the mechanics’ qualification. I don’t really like cars, but I needed money so that’s what I did.”

What did ignite Johnny’s passion was boxing. When he was 18, he tagged along with a friend who was training at the famous Lynn AC club on Wells Way and soon found himself hooked on the sport.

In the amateur ranks, Johnny did well but was not considered a top prospect, winning around 35 fights and losing 10. He pinpoints a lack of self-belief and confidence for this record, as well as for his initial hesitance to take the plunge and turn professional.

“I always wanted to turn pro but I never thought I was good enough, to be honest,” he says. “In the end I thought I had nothing to lose, but also when I turned pro [in 2011] I never actually thought I’d get anywhere.”

In order to prepare him for the rigours of professional boxing, Johnny’s trainer Al Smith – of the well renowned iBox gym in Bromley – urged him to amend his previously all-out attacking fighting style.

“When sparring, if I was going forward too much, Al would stop the spar and make me go backwards. After about a year, it started to pay off. I’m still a bit ‘gun eager’ sometimes but now I think about my boxing a bit more. I’m not afraid to take a backwards step.

“When I turned pro I thought if I could challenge for a Southern Area title I could leave boxing quite happy. But I’ve gone well past that now.”

Indeed he has. Since winning the Southern Area welterweight (147lbs weight limit) title in 2014, Johnny has also added the English welter crown in 2016 and the IBF European title last December to his growing CV, which now reads 23 fights, with 21 wins, just one loss and one draw.

The influential Boxing Monthly magazine now ranks him as the fourth best welterweight in the country and a shot at the British title currently held by his iBox stablemate Bradley Skeete seems increasingly likely, with Skeete expected to move on to European and world honours later this year, leaving the title vacant for Johnny and another contender to tussle over.

Having recently signed with influential promoter Frank Warren, Johnny’s star is certainly in the ascendancy. His most recent contest in December against Moldovan Mihail Orlov took place at the Copper Box Arena in east London and was later televised in its entirety on the popular BoxNation cable TV channel, with Johnny being interviewed in the studio by popular boxing pundit Steve Bunce.

“It was nice fighting at the Copper Box,” Johnny reflects. “I wasn’t used to the big changing rooms and showers and all that! It was nice to be on a big show, although I boxed at Wembley Arena [in 2016] as well.

“The appearance on BoxNation was a massive boost for my profile. When I was talking to Steve Bunce afterwards he said that out of all the fighters on the show, my fight was one of the best.”

The life of a boxer can be a precarious one – both financially and in terms of the danger the sport’s participants subject themselves to – but Johnny freely admits he loves the sport and wouldn’t swap his existence for anything.

He also points out that he is now fighting to ensure the best possible future for his baby daughter Elsie.

“I don’t want to sound selfish but I’ve always boxed because it’s something I’ve wanted to do and something I love to do,” he says. “But obviously now I’ve had a baby I have to think of her first.

“Being a dad has changed my life massively, I love it. Luckily enough, after my fight against Tyler Goodjohn [in September 2016] I got a sponsor so I’m a full-time boxer now.

“Because of that I can spend as much time as possible with her [Elsie]. I’ll go for a run or something in the morning, or even do a bit of yoga, then I’ll spend most of the day with her and then I’ll go to the gym in the evening. So I get pretty much all day with her, which is great.”

Johnny’s growing band of fans have also bestowed upon him a rather wonderful nickname – “The Pexican”, in honour of his all-action style, which is reminiscent of the many famous boxers who have originated from Mexico.

It was Johnny’s friend Keaton Hutchings who first coined “The Pexican” moniker and it has stuck – so much so that the boxer now takes to the ring wearing shorts with “The Pexican” emblazoned on them in the traditional Mexican colours of green, white and red.

Like the majority of boxers across the country, Johnny’s livelihood is – to great extent – dependent on how many tickets he sells for his bouts.

“Ticket selling is hard,” he admits. “Particularly when you’re on non-TV shows, because then you have to sell tickets in order to get paid. It’s hard. Thankfully I’ve got a good bit of support.

“I’m a Millwall boy, I’ve followed them for as long as I can remember. My mum used to take me down there when I was a kid and the club and their fans have shown me a lot of support.

“I’ve also got a lot of family and friends, which helps, they get behind me, and people in Peckham are great too. They like the fact that someone from Peckham’s doing well and they really get behind me.”

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

Johnny is pictured at Peckham Levels.

[junker-town]

Tactically Naive: Euro 2020 qualifying is really upping the weirdness

Everything you need to know about this delightful mess of a tournament.

Hello, and welcome back to Tactically Naive, SB Nation’s weekly soccer column. In this week’s slightly delayed edition, we look back at the grand sprawling mess of Euro 2020 qualifying, which came to an end — almost, sort of — this week.

And after 18 months hard qualifying, it’s time to say goodbye to ... San Marino

Well, not quite. But there are 24 teams going to Euro 2020: that’s going on half of Europe’s 55 footballing nations. 20 are through, with four spots left to fill. And UEFA have jazzed up the playoffs. Once upon a time, two teams would have played home and away for each place. Now, four teams will play for each spot: semi-finals, then a final.

More football! Glorious football!

So that’s 20 teams already qualified, and 16 more playing off for the last four places. Which means that after a couple years of qualifying, and a Nations League tournament as well, we’ve managed to eliminate ... yep, just 19 teams from contention. Have to imagine those 19 are feeling pretty silly right now.

Of course, it’s kind of nice to keep so many teams involved for so long. And we certainly haven’t missed the friendlies. But it’s hard not to feel like UEFA saw people say, “Eh, this Europa League’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” and thought, “Weird? You wait. We’ll show you weird.”

Groups! Get your groups!

The weirdness doesn’t stop there. Because Euro 2020: Michel Platini’s Grand Tour will be held across most of Europe (and just a smidge of Eurasia), the draw for the groups is being finessed. If a host team qualifies, they get to play at home.

Makes sense. Cuts down on air miles. They’ll know the good restaurants already.

So we already know, for example, that Italy are in Group A, because three of Group A’s games take place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. And we know that Germany are in Group F, to be held in part at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. And Russia and Denmark both have to go into Group B, because that’s where Group B will happen.

But wait! Ukraine can’t go into the same group as Russia, for reasons of ongoing geopolitical unpleasantness. So they have to go into Group C, leaving only Belgium able to occupy the top spot in Group B. In summary, before the draw has even taken place, Group B is three-quarters full: Belgium, Russia, Denmark.

And just to lessen the tension even further, there are only two teams that can fit into the fourth spot:

Due to the host requirements, Wales and Finland can only be drawn into Group A or B. France are guaranteed to draw one of Spain, Italy, England or Germany. Portugal have 80% chance of drawing one of Spain, Italy, England or Germany (Ukraine other poss).

— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) November 20, 2019

World Cup champions in danger?!

France’s qualification was ... well, it was basically fine. They topped Group H by a clear six points and only lost once in ten games. Job done.

But! When it comes to drawing the groups, the teams are allocated into pots according to their qualifying performances, and France ended up performing comparatively worse than six other teams, most notably and surprisingly Ukraine. That puts them in pot 2, which creates the situation in the tweet above when combined with the requirement that hosts play at home.

So that’s one of Spain, Italy, England, or Germany, all set to have their house party ruined by the arrival of the World Cup champions. There’s also the possibility, albeit remote, that Portugal end up in the same group as France and Another Big Team. Cross your lucky rabbit fingers, and we might just get a Group of Death worthy of the name.

Finland, Finland, Finland

We don’t have the final list of qualifiers yet, so there’s every chance this could change, but as it stands Finland are the only team that will be making their European Championships debut in Russia, or Denmark, or wherever the hell they end up.

This came as a shock to Tactically Naive. First, we were surprised that Jari Litmanen had never masterminded something beautiful to get Finland to a major tournament; and then we were outraged that Jari Litmanen had never graced a major tournament. Come on, football. Do better.

But who needs Litmanen, when you’ve got Teemu Pukki and Tim Sparv? Where Iceland went four years ago, Finland go this time around, and the whole world will be waiting to see if they can deliver the same glorious outcome: making England look ridiculous in front of the whole continent.

One day, when things settle down, I’ll try and describe what it means to us. Today though, I just wanna say thanks. Thank you for being there during the hard times. Thank you for believing. Thank you for helping us make history. We’ll be forever grateful. ( :Jussi Eskola SPL) pic.twitter.com/GGxbhcksCB

— Tim Sparv (@TimSparv) November 17, 2019

Cymru am byth

Let’s check in with Gareth Bale, who is still — despite Real Madrid’s best efforts over the summer — being paid sackloads of cash on a weekly basis.

The extent to which Bale no longer gives a single solitary shit really is very enjoyable. pic.twitter.com/eflCjhq7Pi

— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) November 20, 2019

Back to Spurs in January, then.

The Red Misery

There can’t be many managers who have capped off a successful, unbeaten qualifying campaign with a 5-0 win, then immediately left the stadium in a flood of tears and lost their job shortly afterwards.

So pour one out for Robert Moreno — the former assistant manager to Luis Enrique at Roma, Celta, Barcelona, and then Spain — who took over as the Spanish national team coach in March after Enrique stepped down to spend time with his sick daughter. Nine games, seven wins, 29 goals and one “permanent” contract later, he’s been sacked. Enrique is coming back.

We’re guessing Moreno won’t be alongside him. This should have been a heartwarming story: one friend keeps the ship steady for another, who then returns from personal tragedy to lead his country again. Instead, per Sid Lowe, it seems Moreno was given assurances that were then undermined behind his back. And so, tears.

It wasn’t so two years ago, when Julen Lopetegui was sacked two days before the World Cup started for his heavy flirting with Real Madrid. Since then, Spain have been coached by Fernando Hierro, Enrique, Moreno, and now Enrique again. Given that Spain might be the most extravagantly talented footballing nation in the world, it’s a good job that they are constantly wracked with chaos. Otherwise nobody else would stand a chance.

To absent hosts

For the first time in Euros history, the hosts will be missing the tournament. Well, at least two of the 12 (twelve!) hosts: Azerbaijan are out, and two from Hungary, Romania, and Scotland will end up in the same playoff group.

The general consensus is that home advantage is helpful in football, and that this is exacerbated in tournaments. It seems that a national party can enhance a team’s performances far beyond expectations. Think of Russia storming through their World Cup to everybody’s great surprise, including possibly their own.

So will all these home teams have a kind of double advantage? And will this skew the tournament against the other 12 teams that are playing but not hosting? England will play three games at Wembley, a stadium in which they last lost in 2016, in front of what we can assume will be a predominantly England-supporting crowd. It might make an English group stage actually fun.

But alternatively, perhaps the disparate nature of the tournament will work against the usual tournament bounce. It’s hard to roar “It’s our time!” when you need a footnote. It’s coming home, Wembley will sing, and maybe it is. But it’s going to Rome, and Budapest, and Munich, and doing a whole mess of interrailing first.

[markwatkinsconsumerguide]

Consumer Guide / No.85 / singer-songwriter Natasha England with Mark Watkins. 

MW : What were you like at school sports and things of that nature?

NE : I was the captain of netball and captain of the swimming team. I was in the “Speed Club” for swimming & diving - winning many gold medals for my school. I swam competitively for my region in South Lanarkshire. 

I was captain of the relay team - winning sports prizes several times in primary and grammar school incorporating sprints of 100 metres, 300 metres, High Jump, Long Jump and Hurdles. 

At one time, I thought I might be a gym instructor. I was a member of a gymnast team called The Flying Angels. I was a member of an athletics club and played a lot of badminton. I’ve roller-skated, ice-skated, canoed, played some tennis and rode bicycles.

From an early age, I’ve “worked my passage” and ridden horses competitively at Show jumping and Cross-country events - winning many rosettes.

At one stage, I had thought of being a riding instructor. I could have done this had I not got even more involved in music. 

I was lucky enough to spend much quality time with my father walking and fly-fishing on the River Spey and other salmon and trout rivers, and lochs, and estuaries. My father was a very good Fly-Fisherman so I was brought up on a diet of wild salmon and trout. 

As you can see I excelled at sports, and have a great love of nature and the outdoors.

MW : Do you enjoy football?

NE : Yes, I love football! I played a lot of football in my youth. However, I was not allowed in the school teams as I was a girl (boys only then!) so I played football with the boys outside school.

MW : You were born in Glasgow, Scotland. Celtic or Rangers?!

NE : I have been to both Rangers and Celtic matches, mainly over my time growing up in Scotland and to a few over the years since. I don't buy into the catholic/protestant divide. I have friends who support both teams, and fans who support Arsenal, Chelsea - and Spurs!

MW : Tell me how you won your “Spurs”...and how football lead to music...

NE : When I came to London the guy (Bob England) whom I went on to marry was a Tottenham Hotspur fan.

I was a season ticket holder at Tottenham for many years and throughout the FA Cup campaign that led to an eventual win in a replay over Manchester City at Wembley in 1981 (1-1 draw, then 3-2 win).

I’ve worn a Spurs strip to help promote Tottenham Hotspur’s official records, 'Ossie's Dream' (1981) and 'Tottenham Tottenham' (1982) - both produced by Chas and Dave (who I managed) and released on Towerbell Records (our record label).

I joined players Glenn Hoddle and Garth Crooks on Top Of The Pops with the football squad performing 'Tottenham Tottenham' just a few weeks prior to the release of 'Iko Iko' (1982) and my own appearance on the show.

If you have an original, vinyl copy of 'Ossie's Dream' look closely, and you should see written on the inside ring of the record 'The year of the Cockerel 1981’. I scratched this message on the original acetate which was the template for all the records pressed.

In the 1980's, I had a music biz five-a-side called “Leggy Five” and we played in many music biz charity games.

MW : What would improve the UK's chances of winning Eurovision (again) after so many years in the wilderness?

NE : I’m not sure that the UK will ever have the chance to win this competition again as the judging over these last years has proved beyond any doubt to be politically driven and this will get no better when we leave Europe.

This is now an extravagant spectacle of bad taste, pantomime dames and dodgy outfits and songs - nevertheless compulsive viewing! 

Sir Terry Wogan (RIP) - as the UK's commentator made the show, and now Graham Norton does an equally fabulous job of taking the mickey out its whacky songs and artists. 

In the present political environment there is no point in the UK competing. Very few of the winners go on to have any longevity in the music business with obvious exceptions, Abba - being the most successful since ‘Waterloo’ in 1974, Sandie Shaw (1967 winner), Lulu (1969 winner), Brotherhood of Man (1976 winner), Johnny Logan (1980 & 1987 winner), Bucks Fizz (1981 winner) and Katrina and The Waves in 1997. 

So, I think it would be best for the UK not to put another artist through this humiliation. We would have to have 'The Song' and 'The Artist' that would blow everyone away and leave no doubt in people's minds that it was the deserving winner. Even then, you would have to deal with the politics, so I don't think it is worth it, I’m afraid.

MW : Which newspapers do you read?

NE : I don't buy newspapers anymore. I get most of my news online.

I try and stay as informed as I can on all topics including politics. It’s a minefield out there, but you have to know what your up against. 

If only news agencies and politicians would tell the truth instead of pushing their own agendas to twist and distort the truth to deceive, influence or sensationalize.

MW : What was the first record you bought?

NE : My older sister, Evelyne, started her record collection before me, so I continued the record-buying trend, but instead of being into just pop, I loved folk, blues, rock, jazz, soul, Tamla Motown and Stax.

I purchased the 'Gutbucket’ blues album - which remains a favourite of mine. It has a selection of songs from all the best folk & blues players of the time - all household names now.

I bought a lot of Motown and Sam & Dave, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, along with Pink Floyd, Free, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac (original) and many others. 

Everything that I enjoyed back then are now in The Hall Of Fame.

https://www.rockhall.com

Free were my favourite rock band and Peter Green was my favourite blues guitarist/singer of the time.

MW : Which books do you enjoy?

NE : Any Buddha-based book. I love everything about Buddhists and their ideology. 

Every book about animals, horses, marine life, insects, birds, fish and nature that I can get my hands on. 

‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell. Life imitating art of art imitating life? Power and order.‘1984’, again by Orwell - we’re living it.

‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley - what foresight.

‘The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe’ by C.S Lewis. I loved this book so much that I called my first band in London, 'Aslan'.

‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, ‘The Tale Of Two Cities’, ’The Hobbit’, ‘Lord Of The Rings’, ‘The Canterbury Tales’....and so many more books. 

MW : Share your thoughts on keeping animals in zoos...

NE : Some smaller animals, insects, reptiles, birds etc can live quite happily in a well maintained enhancing environment but larger animals need space to roam. If we have to contain animals for education and breeding programmes we need to give these larger animals more space and a suitable enhancing environment. 

I’m more in favour of Wildlife Parks, where the animals have much more land to roam. Zoos are important for breeding programmes to help keep our endangered species alive but we should be building all zoos along the lines of Safari Parks.

MW : Why are animal rights close to your heart?

NE : I adore all animals and I’ve a very strong affiliation with them. I’ve lived and worked around various animals all my life. I assisted a vet when I was younger. I’ve rescued and mended many animals, birds and wildlife throughout from  childhood to adulthood, so another profession I may have taken up had I not chosen music as a career. 

I have kept all sorts of animals and I train dogs and horses. Animals have served us all well throughout history, in wars, in agriculture, down mines, for transport and in life. We owe so much to animals, so anyone who is cruel to a defenseless animal is sick and will go on to be cruel to humans.

I would dearly love to have an animal sanctuary to help and rescue animals and to rehome them and to educate children on animal welfare and training and most importantly the love, companionship and loyalty that these animals can give to their human friends and the great benefits that humans get from being around animals and nature.

I’ve done much charity and therapy work with horses, dogs and other animals to help enhance children’s lives and mindset and to help them overcome illness and disabilities and contributing to their wellbeing.

So, I would love to be in a position to continue this valuable work i.e combining animal and music therapy.

MW : Money or health?

NE : Health every time - in the world we live in money can be the difference between life and death for so many of us.

You may not be able to buy health, but if you are unfortunate enough to need help with your health, whether medically or mentally, having money will get a quicker service (which could save your life). 

It should not be this way, but it is, and it’s so unfair and unjust.

MW : Tell me about setting up Towerbell Records...

NE : Towerbell Records was set up after I left Good Earth Promotions. Prior to leaving Good Earth I had spotted Darts at the Rock Garden in Covent Garden, London. I went there with Jon Moss of Culture Club. Jon was working for me as a booker at Good Earth. After seeing Darts perform I signed them to (our)   management. Darts were signed to Magnet Records (record label). 

Darts were extremely successful and made Magnet Records money and I believe kept the label afloat at a time when Magnet really did not have much talent on the label. Bob (England) and I found ourselves doing a lot of the work for this record company, so it was always going to be the obvious move to create our own label i.e Towebell Records.  

We then signed Chas & Dave to management and we wanted to have our own label and have both Darts and Chas & Dave on this label. We were unhappy with Michael Levy (now Lord Levy) and Magnet Records. We felt he was penny pinching with regards to Darts’ campaigns, videos and promotion. Given that Darts had made so much money for Magnet the band were very unhappy with the label too, as they felt as I did that Michael was holding them back. I did not like Michael and his practices and both Bob and I wanted the band released from Magnet.

Bob and I discussed this and the terms of this release from Magnet that we wanted for the band. As I say, I did not like Michael, and I would not pander to him so I after discussing what we wanted for Darts, Bob and I decided that Bob did the negotiation with Michael. Everything would have be fine if Bob had stuck to the plan. Unfortunately, the release deal was very much in Michael's favour and the release clauses made it extremely difficult for Darts to function with all the restrictions that Michael Levy had put upon them. It was a very restrictive release contract with Michael continuing to benefit. Michael eventually sold the label and all of Darts’ catalogue to Warner Bros.

Michael made this process very difficult with his demands and delays. The outcome was disastrous for Darts - because of the time taken on the release contract and unreasonable release clauses. Michael effectively ended Darts’ career.

We did go on to set up two labels, Rockney Records for Chas & Dave releases and Towerbell Records for other artists including myself, Snowy White, Amazulu and others.

We were very successful as an independent record label, but I was unhappy in my marriage and I left Bob and the label in 1984.

Bob was not so successful without me. He made some bad decisions. He ended up leaving the UK a year or so later caught up in a blaze of publicity at Miami Airport (on route to Antigua) owing millions to various artists.

I had nothing to do with his downfall. A large part of his debt was still owed to me for PRS and other fees that were generated when I had Top Ten success and other chart album and singles. I had trusted him but he effectively punished me for leaving him. I was by then financially and contractually screwed. He promised he would pay me what I was owed but he never did.

MW : Share some experiences of managing Darts...

NE : Darts were a breath of fresh air amidst an uprising Punk scene. Don't get me wrong there were a couple of bands, The Sex Pistols, 999 and a few others that made an impact but Darts were different.

They had an element of punk but they could all play their instruments and all four singers could sing. They were performing doo-wop and they were their own best promotion. Den Hegarty could be a bit of a handful but otherwise a great bunch of people. I just knew that this band would be successful and they were.

I’ve many great memories of touring with Darts in the UK and abroad and being in the studio with them They were all very down to earth people and consummate musicians. Darts had major success back then and should have continued in this trend but there were problems with Magnet Records, as I’ve said earlier.

Fortunately, Darts still do several choice gigs a year and they are still one of the most entertaining bands around. 

MW : How did you react to the passing of Chas Hodges?

NE : I had been diagnosed with cancer a few months before Chas was diagnosed. I was so sad when I heard the news of his death, for him, his beautiful wife, Joan and for his loving family, his children and his grandchildren, it was a shock. 

Apparently Chas had gone fishing with Dave (Peacock) the day before he died and he seemed fine and in good spirits but he was dead by the next morning.

He is so loved and is missed by all. I was sad for a long while. Although we’d spoken on the phone and made plans to meet, unfortunately this was never to be as Chas died the week before we were due to meet up.

I have many great memories of Chas and I’m so pleased that I played a part in his story. He was an amazing man and a consummate musician who could play many instruments.

MW : How did you know / judge which records to release?

NE : I have always been quite good at spotting a hit and had this talent from when I was very young. I would hear a song once on the radio and would immediately know it would be a big hit. More often than not - I was right! 

It’s a sound, a voice, a hook, an instrument, a band with originality, or the combination of all of theses factors that makes you want to dance, sing, laugh, think, reflect or be quiet. 

It’s when something in the mix reaches in and touches you and inspires you. It’s the overall sound of what is being conveyed and how this sound makes you feel. 

Originality is always a star quality in the mix.

MW : Your solo career. Tell me about your big hit ‘Iko Iko’ and the chart battle with The Belle Stars...

NE : I’d been in the process of recording an album with Tom Newman when I decided to do a version of ‘Iko Iko’ using Richard Branson's 'Barge Studio'. Rita Ray from Darts suggested the song and she sang backing vocals on the track.

I was familiar with the song and would sing this song and 'The Clapping Song' as a little girl. I also loved loved Dr. Johns' version. When we recorded this, it just felt right and it had such a good vibe that Tom and I just knew it was a hit. We recorded it in February 1982 but as it was a summer record we sat on this until the June release. My then record plugger, Alan James, had secured some BBC Radio 1 airplay as a white label a week prior to the release date and there was a real buzz on the record.  

I was in the studio recording a session for the BBC when my then husband, Bob England, called me from Towerbell Records saying that Paul Conroy (who I knew well and was general manager of Stiff Records) had heard ‘Iko Iko’ being played on BBC Radio 1 on the week prior to its official release date. Paul said that he loved it and asked for a copy.

Bob went on to say that he told Paul that he would put a copy in the post when Paul said that he happened to have a scooter-messenger in the area of our office and this messenger could pick this up, which he did pretty sharpish. When Bob told me this I knew immediately that Paul was up to something, as Paul had The Belle Stars signed to Stiff, and they and other artists had previously released ‘Iko Iko’. So, I checked out every artist/band that had ever released ‘Iko Iko’ as a single. The Bodysnatchers were one band who did - they later became The Belle Stars!

I suspected that The Belle Stars had plans to release another version of ‘Iko Iko’ and they wanted my white label version to compare to theirs. As it turned out, The Belle Stars and their then producer Martin Tench sat in the music room at Stiff Records playing my version of ‘Iko Iko’ over and over again against several different mixes they had of their ‘Iko Iko's’ - they were obviously trying to decide which of their versions to release. Co-incidentally when Bow Wow Wow released 'Go Wild In The country' produced by Tench soon after you will notice the distinct similarity with the drums to the drums on my 'Iko Iko'.. 

After speaking with me, Bob immediately called Paul and confronted him. Paul admitted that The Belle Stars had indeed recorded a version of ‘Iko Iko’ and intended to release this in a few weeks. Paul went on to say that Stiff would not now be releasing their version as my version was out the following week. I did not believe them, and I was right not to believe Paul, as Stiff went on to rush release The Belle Stars version to come out on the very same day as my version.

Fortunately, my version of ‘Iko Iko’ was the favoured version being played on BBC Radio 1, and all the other main and regional radio stations up and down the country and abroad. The press had a field day - playing both myself and The Belle Stars off against each other, intimating that their was bad blood between us. This was not true at all. I did a TV show where both myself and The Belle Stars performed our own versions of ‘Iko Iko’. There was seven of them and me and my Great Dane called Fury on the same show.

I had nothing against the girls, I knew it was Stiff Records stage managing all of this. I wished the girls well with their version but my version was out selling theirs from the off.

My version went on to be the highest New Entry in the charts and the Highest Climber in the charts along with Video Of The Month.

The Belle Stars got to No.37 and then dropped out of the chart whilst I went on to have a Top Ten hit. In fact, I had several really good singles out before I released ‘Iko Iko’ in 1982 : - ‘I Can't Hold On’, ‘Strangest Feeling’, ‘Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache’ - all good songs which all got great reviews and responses when played at clubs but I did not get the airplay that I needed.

MW : Tell me about your new music...

NE : I have recently brought out a new album 'Somehow' and I released a single of the same name at the same time.

Music videos for 'Somehow' and 'Hook Line & Sinker, the two tracks off the album so far are on You Tube. The website has all the information on all my music, past and present, that I have released and details on how to get physical, as well as digital copies, of this music. Photos, discography etc...

www.natashaengland.co.uk

The album and single received extremely great reviews, but the problem has been getting significant airplay for this music. I feel, it’s deserving of airplay - but the powers that be - who control playlists - seem to have their own agenda. New music on independent record labels has a hard time getting airplay, plus there is ageism to overcome.

You can have the best voice, band, song in the world - but if you are trying to establish yourself, or re-establish yourself, in the music industry and you are not on a major label, it is more or less impossible, and (youthful) looks do count.

Until you get airplay you don't get heard and you don't seem to exist. That said, I will continue to write record and perform.

Keep the passion and let the love and the music play on...

© Mark Watkins / April 2019

[glenngaylord]

MY MOMENTS OUT OF TIME IN FILM 2018

Instead of a Top 10 List, every year I like to honor a long-discontinued but influential annual column from Film Comment magazine. I couldn’t wait for my father to come home from work with the “Moments Out Of Time” issue.  The writers would cite their favorite scenes, images, or lines of dialogue, even from films they may not have liked, because let’s face it, even bad films may have a great moment or two.  This was a great year in film, although I admit some of my favorite moments were films or series made for television.  Whether it’s Alex Borstein wielding her trusty plunger around the Catskills in THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL or Amy Adams waking up from a drunken stupor in the unforgettable SHARP OBJECTS, these shows had more indelible scenes than all of the Marvel and DC superhero movies combined.  

Still, I found myself lucky enough to see the staggeringly beautiful ROMA twice in a theater, because seeing it on Netflix doesn’t do it justice.  If that’s your only option, however, see it and see it with its glorious empathy oozing out of every frame.  EIGHTH GRADE took me by surprise with its unassuming, off-the-cuff filmmaking style.  Beneath that I found an aching, contemporary story of a young girl dying to connect with somebody, anybody…her cracked phone an apt metaphor for a world in which our societal sickness lies buried in an addiction to our screens.  PADDINGTON 2, even more so than its wonderful predecessor, gave us the immigrant experience from an accident-prone, marmalade-loving cuddly bear who just wants to unite everyone.  BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, despite its Powerpoint presentation of a story, oozed with so much emotion, the joy of creating, the beauty of people seeing you, and the sheer nostalgia of it all, I found myself crying throughout.  A STAR IS BORN, while imperfect,  had moments of such gorgeousness, especially the undeniable chemistry of its leads, it’s my prediction to win the Best Picture Oscar.  VICE, another Oscar front runner, had fantastic performances and was nonstop fun, but, for me, didn’t quite lick the enigma of Dick Cheney and demonstrated some juvenile instincts of its writer/director.  

I saw a ton of films, but even I can’t see them all.  I missed SHOPLIFTERS, BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE, BEAUTIFUL BOY, and BURNING, among many others…but will catch up with them soon.  So having said that, here, in no particular order, are my Moments Out Of Time In Film for 2018:

Gabe invites Kayla over for a “first friend hangout” dinner of chicken nuggets and beautifully lived-in, awkward, nerdy charm, telling this lovely, insecure young girl, “You are awesome” - melting all of our hearts with that sweet, simple declaration. It’s one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen and a moment our Kayla richly deserved.- EIGHTH GRADE

A young, pregnant Mexican housekeeper tracks down the father of her child, finding him at some type of military training camp.  When she delivers the news to him, he screams at her to stay away from him and runs off to join his buddies.  We never see her reaction, instead experiencing the moment from a somewhat removed distance.  A lesser filmmaker would have cut to her startled, hurt face, but Alfonso Cuarón knew that we’d feel her isolation and devastation more strongly if we didn’t focus on her.  Only a master filmmaker would make such an indelible decision, along with a thousand other great ones. - ROMA

A Peruvian bear takes his Aunt on a fantastical, eye-exploding, stunning tour of London via a pop-up book come to life.  One of the most astounding animated sequences of all time. - PADDINGTON 2

A band looks out at the masses of people clapping along in sync to one of their songs, and in that moment, the connection feels palpable.  Everyone there, everyone who watched knew this was the moment when legends became immortal. - BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Nicole Kidman completely transforms herself yet again as a hardened cop with a life full of traumas etched onto her tortured face.  Just watching her lurch towards a crime scene, ambling like Jack Skellington convinced me that to watch Kidman at her peak is to witness greatness. - DESTROYER

A woman in labor and with a horrifying nail injury to her foot, crawls into a bathtub to give birth to a child.  Unable to make a sound lest she capture the attention of a murderous alien slithering through her house, she agonizingly holds it all in until a competing noise allows her to let out a pained, visceral scream. - A QUIET PLACE

A young cater-waiter gets invited onstage to sing her song with a headlining rock star.  Surprised by her power, surprised by the surge and size of the crowd, her guileless reaction and blazing talent cut through, quickly proving the movie’s title. - A STAR IS BORN

Regina Hall sits on a rooftop with two of her female employees from a HOOTERS-like establishment.  They’re all in a transition period in their lives, unsure what the future brings.  They’ve all gone through an intense day and let it all out with extended screams, an unforgettable, undeniable female rage. This small, simple, subtle film is also one of the year’s best.  - SUPPORT THE GIRLS

More groundbreaking than I had ever thought, Fred Rogers soaks his feet in a little tub and invites his black, gay co-star to do the same, breaking taboos on a children’s show way ahead of its time. - WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

Charlize Theron shows us the real pain of motherhood, never once feeling like a glammed-up version of the harsh realities, and yet saves its most shocking sucker punch for its final moments, delivering a reveal as unexpected as the one I didn’t see coming in SHARP OBJECTS. - TULLY

Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), referring to Emma Stone’s Abigail, tells Lady Sarah( Rachel Weisz), “I like it when she puts her tongue inside me”…which is followed by Stone giving Weisz the year’s best side-eye. - THE FAVOURITE

In a film filled with shocking moments - the odd clucking sounds, the decapitated bird head, the unexpected death of a major character, the eerie, incongruous reflection of a teen’s face in a school window, the most jolting moment comes when Toni Collette stands over her offspring’s bed and says, “I never wanted to be your mother”.  Stunned, she seemingly scoops those words back down her throat in an attempt to make them go away.  For this moment alone, and she gives a tour de force performance here, Collette enters the pantheon of actors who made themselves immortal. - HEREDITARY

Modern day cowboys sit around a perfectly shot nighttime campfire as our hero questions his place as a man in this world.  Masculinity has rarely been shot through with such tenderness as in every moment of this quiet stunner. - THE RIDER

“Gucci!” - EIGHTH GRADE

A young daughter ever so patiently and lovingly tells her PTSD-afflicted father that their views on how to live their lives may not converge, reminding us that histrionics don’t necessarily make for great conflict.  You can find it even when people act like adults and show decency towards each other. - LEAVE NO TRACE

My heart broke when a young Lebanese boy tried every way possible to keep his sister from being sold off as a child bride.  The kinetic filmmaking of this sequence mined every second for peak emotions. - CAPERNAUM

A blisteringly romantic tale of star-crossed lovers in Post War Poland wins the swoon award every time Joanna Kulig (a dead ringer for Jennifer Lawrence) sings the refrain, “Oy yoy yoy” - COLD WAR

Jack Black, playing a hard-partying character whose accident leads to the lifelong paralysis of his new friend (Joaquin Phoenix), meets up with him many years later.  In a short but painful scene, we see the wreckage of a life and the profound sorrow written across Black’s face.  I never thought I’d type the words, “Jack Black’s acting made me sob”, but there you have it.  If Beatrice Straight can win an Oscar for a single scene, then Jack Black can too.  Of course, I’m not even getting into how great Jonah Hill was in this film, but I’d be here all day. - DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT

The matriarch of a family takes their housekeeper to a baby store to buy a crib when the chaos of the Corpus Christi Massacre erupts in the streets below, turning a simple shot into something epic, grand and inconceivable. - ROMA

Let’s face it.  It had some of the best and bitchiest one liners of the year:  “I pity your wife if you think six minutes is forever” , “Roger, there's only room in this band for one hysterical queen”, "Tell him thanks for the birthday cake. And tell him you're an epic shag”, and the beautiful, un-ironic exchange, “FREDDIE: Let’s go and punch a hole in the roof of Wembley Stadium.  BRIAN: Actually, Wembley Stadium doesn’t have a roof.  FREDDIE: Then we’ll punch a hole in the sky,” - BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Kristen Stewart recounts how Joan Jett gave her some advice on how to capture her essence when she played her in THE RUNAWAYS.  Jett told her to “pussy that wood” in reference to how to attack her guitar.  Advice only a take-no-prisoners, blazingly alive woman could give to another in this energizing look at a true legend. - BAD REPUTATION

All of the tired superhero tropes we’ve become used to in live action appear fresh and thrilling when animated.  Who knew I’d thrill to a whole slew of Peter Parkers swinging through New York on their webs?  Who knew Lily Tomlin would appear in this and absolutely kill as Aunt May?  Who knew Kathryn Hahn would even appear in a Marvel movie and skillfully weaponize a nerdy persona? - SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Sure, we all loved that moment when Lady Gaga sang “Shallow”, but let’s not forget another star was born when Henry Cavill got up off that tiled bathroom floor, doffed his suit jacket and reloaded his fists to jump back into one of the best fight sequences in film history. - MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT

Connecting the dots of the past with our present day mess of a country, Spike Lee ends his film on an unsubtle yet vital montage of pure rage. - BLACKKKLANSMAN

In a wonderful reversal to the original, the murderous Michael Myers looks out a backyard window to see Laurie Strode (a fierce Jamie Lee Curtis) standing amongst the hanging sheets. Who’s the monster now?!! - HALLOWEEN

A montage detailing the many prison escapes of our protagonist, an aging, lifelong bank robber (Robert Redford still displaying his undeniable charisma at 82), provides a wonderfully conflicted view of a man who must commit crimes in order to feel alive. - THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN

A bitter, outrageously dead-inside mother jogs on a treadmill, moving cynically forward in life despite having a missing child she barely noticed anyhow and a crumbling Russian society around her. - LOVELESS

“Did you just look at me?  Did you?  Look at me. LOOK AT ME!  HOW DARE YOU!  CLOSE YOUR EYES!” - THE FAVOURITE

Despite endlessly terrible scenes of tourists dancing and eating gelato, Clint Eastwood finds a magic power in having the real life heroes on that train play themselves as they thwart a terrorist attack. Although a failed experiment of a film, those 10 minutes felt real and raw and undeniable because of its stunt casting and astute directorial choices. - THE 15:17 TO PARIS

Smack dab in the middle of the movie, it ends.  Roll credits.  Oh wait.  Things didn’t go so swimmingly?  Let’s continue.  A hugely entertaining fake-out gives self-reflexive cinema a good name. - VICE

After a traumatic incident at a beach (a stunningly shot, hugely suspenseful scene with incredible sound design), a housekeeper looks out the window of a car with a sense of peace as the reflections from the window gorgeously whisk past her lovely face. - ROMA

In the male dominated world of gun-toting action films, it was refreshing to see a group of women, led by a soulful performance by Natalie Portman, lock and load and enter the Shimmer. - ANNIHILATION

A Russian Engineer named Andreyev (Paddy Considine) panics when ordered by Stalin to record a symphony which already occurred.  He quickly assembles a ragtag group of people to recreate the concert, telling this terrified assembly living under a murderous regime, “Don’t worry, nobody is going to get killed. I promise you. This is just a musical emergency.” Not a great film, but Armando Iannucci and company know their way around a scabrous line or two. - THE DEATH OF STALIN

Most people will cite the great single take outside a limo as its driven from a poor side of town to a wealthy side.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic piece of cinema, but my mind gravitated towards another moment.  A grieving widow lets her dog run loose in another widow’s apartment.  The puppy stops at a closet door and reacts to what’s behind it.  We know what it is, and she knows what it is even before we’re given visual confirmation.  A fantastic storytelling moment. - WIDOWS

Evan Peters, sitting in a car at a gas station, is joined by the actual person he’s portraying, melding narrative with documentary in such an original way. - AMERICAN ANIMALS

Although chock full of special effects in a genre I tend to find forgettable, Michael B. Jordan commanded attention in a simple, quiet scene inside a museum, finding danger and intelligence in every line. He was the REAL special effect of this film. - BLACK PANTHER

Scotty Bowers may be a creepy hoarder, but when you’re 95 and have no f*cks left to give, you’re gonna spill some tea about Hollywood Stars and we will soak it all up in this one-of-a-kind documentary - SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD

The slowest moving conveyor belt of all time provides one of the most well-timed, hilarious payoffs of the year.  We need an award for Best Supporting Prop! - GAME NIGHT

Leslie Mann tries to quietly sneak out of her daughter’s Prom night hotel room but electrocutes herself behind the TV console in a delicious bit of physical comedy. - BLOCKERS

A mother desperate to track down her troubled young son gives drugs to an addict in return for more information, showing just how far she’s willing to go. - BEN IS BACK

A closeted up-and-coming movie star confesses to his “golly gee” midwestern wife that he’s not happy and can’t pretend anymore. We get a naked glimpse behind both of their veneers. It’s a stunning, hugely empathetic moment for characters we’ve respectively and heretofore dismissed as a sociopath and a rube. - THE HAPPYS

Alex Borstein’s lesbian character Susie Myerson from THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL has met her feature film match with Melissa McCarthy’s equally nihilistic performance as Lee Israel.  To see her jousting with Richard E. Grant in any random moment in this wonderful film is to experience acting heaven. I loved how their final moments together could have easily turned to mush, but by staying true to their salty characters, they ended things in a deliciously dark manner. - CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

A comedy duo enacts a favorite routine onstage at the risk of one of their’s health.  It’s scary, but the love and respect they have for each other shines through. - STAN & OLLIE

I’m sorry to say it gave me the “Made For TV” vibes, but it still found power when Nicole Kidman’s character busts her son out of an Ex-Gay Center, calling out its owner for his utter lack of qualifications. There’s nothing quite like a stifled, repressed woman finding her voice. - BOY ERASED

“I’m just like you” - says a privileged suburban teen as he bounds out of his McMansion and into a fancy SUV.  While I generally enjoyed the film, this tone deaf opening line had me futilely looking around for my big house and fancy car.  Sometimes a moment out of time is a wrongheaded one. - LOVE, SIMON

In a documentary full of insane twists and turns, the big moment for me came when we were treated to a clip from DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN. Madonna breezes past our smiling, tight jean-sporting identical triplets, the new “It Boys of New York”, the flush of newly-found fame written all over their faces long before their tragic fall. - THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

Say what you will about the endless 80s references, I want to live inside the swirling sequence which serves as an homage to THE SHINING. - READY PLAYER ONE

A Japanese woman dons a strange blonde wig and practices English and high fives with another ESL student, over-exaggerating her rounded open mouth as she speaks. - OH LUCY!

Constance Yu playing mah jongg slyly shows her deep wells of strength and strategic genius, nicely setting up a character who will surprise and charm us in equal measures. - CRAZY RICH ASIANS

Yes, it’s a pretty terrible movie, but there’s no denying the thrill of a certain pop legend’s long-awaited entrance by helicopter.  It caused my friend Dennis to say out loud, “F*ck yeah, it’s Cher!” - MAMMA MIA!: HERE WE GO AGAIN

In an otherwise forgettable film, Jodie Foster’s memorable gait as the “Hotel” Nurse made me happily forget Kevin Spacey’s from THE USUAL SUSPECTS, and for that, I thank her! - HOTEL ARTEMIS

A young boy named Stevie tries to impress a bunch of older skateboarders with a stunt which sends him through a hole in a roof and crashing to the ground with a sickening thud. - MID90S

Renee: I thought you might want a sneak peek of what’s to come.
      Ethan: I don’t know if you know what sneak peek means. You’re completely naked. - I FEEL PRETTY

Despite the gimmick of the movie seen entirely through laptop and smartphone footage, there’s electricity in the moment John Cho’s father character discovers his missing daughter has had a secret life. - SEARCHING

A dancer tries out a solo for a very strange company, unaware that each leap, spin or kick sends a trapped woman a floor below her into bone-crunching contortions.  It’s a scene you can almost feel. There’s something rotten in East Berlin! - SUSPIRIA

Sure, Emma Stone worked out a great side-eye in THE FAVOURITE, but has there ever been an actor who seems born to them more than Emily Blunt?  Still, my biggest emotional connection to this film came when Ben Wishaw sang “A Conversation”.  A beautiful, sweet lament. - MARY POPPINS RETURNS

The site of Michelle Pfeiffer dressed as an elderly woman, cane in hand, hobbling through the streets of New York in a desperate attempt to cash her late mother’s government checks, the score a cacophony of horns and percussion, gave me DRESSED TO KILL shivers. - WHERE IS KYRA?

Think of it as SHARP OBJECT’s UK Cousin, as we watch Moll (a searing Jessie Buckley) tap into female rage in all its messy, bloody glory in this feature length primal scream. - BEAST

Packed with punch and urgency, the opening sequence made you believe you were actually experiencing a WWII aerial combat.  Oh, and then it became a fun zombie gore-fest. - OVERLORD

A group of kids escape a gay conversion camp and pile into the back of a pickup truck.  Did they make the right decision?  Where do they go from here?  A wordless homage to the final scene in THE GRADUATE packed a punch. - THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST

Blake Lively wearing clothes.  That is all. - A SIMPLE FAVOR

A meeting with the family of a man who got their daughter pregnant goes terribly wrong, resulting in a slew of insults and threats.  It’s a fully alive, oddly comical yet tragic sequence in a film which otherwise left me cold.  - IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Typically known for her impeccable image (before the reality show circus, of course), this pop icon lets down her guard and hilariously tears into Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul.  Had she been allowed to be more herself, her life might not have been as tragic. - WHITNEY

Glenn Close delivers the year’s best slow boil as the wife of a Nobel Prize winner who has secretly been his unheralded ghost writer all these years.  Until things grow shouty and overwritten in the third act, Close holds a master class in barely suppressed rage. - THE WIFE

Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, intense tennis rivals, meet up at the airport after their fateful match, the looks between them offering up a touching blend of competitiveness and respect and which will lead to their unexpected, lifelong friendship. - BORG VS. McENROE

In a moment of much-needed image rehabilitation, Anne Hathaway, as the GOOP-like actress perfectly named Daphne Kluger, wins her way back into our hearts just by the way she reacts to a priceless necklace being wrapped around her neck.  Every shiver and glance in the mirror makes you love her in all her campy glory. - OCEAN’S 8

A woman gets pushed off a cliff and finds herself impaled on a tree branch, yet not only does it not stop her, she’s just getting started in this literal bloodbath of a feminist fantasy. - REVENGE

A man meets tragedy and finds himself in a wheelchair only to gain powers he never had before after undergoing an experimental procedure.  In a fight scene involving an antagonist and a kitchen knife, Logan Marshall-Green surprises himself with each display of brute force coming out of him, making for one of the most brutal yet winningly entertaining melees I’ve seen on screen all year…and don’t forget that kitchen knife.  It’s just the right button on this bit of ultraviolet slapstick. - UPGRADE

A young husband meets with a conflicted priest, and in a searing monologue, tells the man of the cloth that the world is such a hellscape, he’d rather his pregnant wife abort their baby than bring it up in such a terrible environment.  It’s the first jolt of many in this nihilistic yet strangely hopeful film. - FIRST REFORMED

Presidential candidate Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) confronts some press members who have staked out his home with the hope of catching him with a woman other than his wife.  He indignantly rails against them, claiming he had a right to privacy.  Oh, how times have changed. - THE FRONT RUNNER

Katja (Diane Kruger), a woman at the end of her rope, who has lost her family and confidence in the justice system, takes matters into her own hands in the literally explosive, inevitable, and crushing final scene. - IN THE FADE

Who knew that Hal Ashby had such a sincerely lovely relationship with his mentor, Norman Jewison?  It’s nice to know that sometimes successful people in the film business actually help out their younger charges. - HAL

I’m not sure I ever really wanted to know what it really felt like to sit in a fiery tin can on the way to the moon and back, but now I do.  It’s very well done, but I think I may need to puke.  - FIRST MAN

A young man with AIDS (Cory Michael Smith) sits with his mother (Virginia Madsen) in a car, unable to truly be honest with her.  The pain of it all comes across so clearly on their faces.  - 1985

An oversized candy cane weaponized to fight zombies at Christmas time in Scotland.  Oh, and it’s also a musical.  Just go! - ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE

I saw it twice to make sure I truly hated it, and yep, I still did…but the opening sequence in the school, the terrorist attack on the beach, and Natalie Portman banging on the table to protest a diner manager’s request for a picture will stick with me.  Hopefully I will forget the other 100 minutes of this painfully unfocused, unfocused, pretentious mess. - VOX LUX