#he’s doing better than 92% of the game cast at least

[soap-dispenser-tom]

@torterragarden

#pastelgothshipping #pokemon #bede #marnie #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #pkmn #swsh #marnie pokemon #bede pokemon #he’s doing better than 92% of the game cast at least #my posts #my stuff #bruh my device doesn’t work with tagging it just says “this block has encountered an error and cannot ben previewed” #so no caption ig #if you can see a caption then tell me it probably looks like a hot mess since i didn’t finish typing

[theseaeaglelives]

Round 10

THE SEA EAGLE

MAKING RUGBY LEAGUE OK AGAIN!!!

Round 10

Manly Sea Eagles      50

Defeated 

Brisbane Broncos      6

In previous years the suggestion to take a Manly home game to Lang Park to take on the Bronco’s would have been frowned upon by the Sea Eagle. As it has always been, home ground advantage can be the difference between a win and a loss and the rub of the green with marginal refereeing decisions have traditionally favoured the home team.

That said, Manly’s recent diabolical record at Graveyard Lottoland (formerly known as Fortress Brookvale) combined with their record at any other alternative playing venue, suggest that any move away from the graveyard can only be a good thing and in this Round 10 magic round fixture this was again further proof positive.

Manly set the tone early in this game and from the opening bell dominated a Bronco’s outfit that is a far cry from the halcyon days when the likes of Langer, Lockyer, Webckie, Tallis etc. (and then coach Bennett) generally ran roughshod over whoever had the misfortune to venue onto Lang Park.

Despite having all the play in the early stanza, Manly could not crack the initial spirited Bronco defence. Finally, after 15 minutes the Bronco’s cracked when speedster Jason Saab found clear space to put none other than Tommy Turbo in under the posts. The Turbo-Saab combination is providing to be a potent attacking weapon with the speed of these two proving very hard for opposing teams to deal with on the right edge. They say speed kills and its hard to argue with this when either of these to have ball in hand with clear space.

Manly then suffered a set back when returning (to the nest) playmaker Kieran Foran was forced from the field with what was suggested to be a broken hand. This injury continues the wretched run of injuries to Foran since initially leaving Manly in 2012 and casts fresh doubt as to whether they do indeed go any better when they return to the nest. The jury is still out on that one.

In Foran’s absence it was Marty Tapou who surprisingly (and accidently) took the role of provider, when a he supplied a deft offload to improving backrower, Sean Keppie to cross untouched. Sean Keppie’s fine form continued in this game and his emergence along with the likes of Tof Sipley, Tan Paseka, Haumole Olakau’atu and of course Josh Schuster provide Manly with much needed backrow depth. This has been something that has been sorely missed in recent years, and now gives Manly a platform to become a contender again hopefully sooner rather than later.

Prior to this year Manly have relied on journeyman back rowers, the ilk of Joel Thompson, Curtis Sironen, Jack Gosiewski etc. and with respect while these guys never shirked the task at hand, premiership success was never a realistic prospect with them leading the way.

Manly extended their lead when some fine lead up work by the usual suspects (Cherry Baby and Turbo) put Saab over in the corner, a try duly converted by the accurate Rueben Garrick. It was noted in a previous report that Young Garrick’s goal kicking has improved markedly in recent weeks, a phenomenon which may also be linked to the Tommy Turbo effect?

Against the run of play the Bronco’s hit back on the stroke of half time when Jermaine Osako forced past some pretty average defence, reducing Manly’s lead to 20-6 at the break.

Any chance of a Bronco comeback was quickly extinguished when a high-flying Jason Saab leapt over the pack to reclaim a bomb and plant a four pointer (also converted by Garrick). Not only is Saab blindingly quick but at well over 190 cm is deadly under the high ball, something Manly are now able to exploit.

From then on it was a deadest rout as Manly ran roughshod over the hapless Broncos. In saying that Manly were the beneficiaries of a couple of pretty soft sin-bins which at one point resulted in the Bronco’s fielding only 11 players. Notwithstanding this could not hide how bad the Bronco’s have become and tries to Jake Trbojovic, Lachlan Croker, Tommy Turbo (again), and Josh Schuster (all converted) saw Manly run out 50-6 winners, their largest winning margin against the once mighty Brisbane based outfit. In fact, the score line could have been much worse as Manly had at least 3 tries disallowed (rightly) when unable to ground the ball in goal when tries looked certain.

Manly had plenty of good performers in this one, in fact all contributed in some way to the victory. That said the Sea Eagle would like to single out Morgan Harper for special mention. In the absence of Dylan Walker (which the Sea Eagle hopes will be extended – personal opinion only) Young Harper has made a home for himself in the centres. Not only is he mistake free, defensively solid but he has a striking resemblance to a younger version of this man -----

The last month has shown that Manly can rightfully claim to be a Top 8 side, but next week we will get a true gauge of the extent of the Manly improvement and where they rank when they travel to Bankwest to take on the despised Eels.  

 It’s Just Not Netball

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-14/ricky-stuart-apologises-over-netball-comment/100139934

This one did not escape the Sea Eagle’s eagle eye as Raider’s coach Ricky “Sticky” Stuart has found himself in hot water again. It seems Coach Stuart regularly finds himself on the wrong side of poorly thought-out comments, usually aimed at referees and usually when his team is getting beaten. And this time, perhaps to deflect attention from his coaching deficiencies (personal opinion) Stuart has taken aim at netball.

One particular quote from the article to the effect of "That frustrates you as a coach, because you get annoyed when you're not winning”.

Based on Coach Stuart’s coaching record he must be a very frustrated man indeed.

Apart from his debut year as coach at the Roosters when he inherited the usual salary cap rorting array of stars and won the GF, it’s been all down hill for Coach Stuart ever since. Teams he has coached featuring towards the bottom end of the ladder, 2006-14th, 2007- 12th, 2009 – 15th, 2010 – 14th, 2013 – Spoon, 2014 – 15th and this spiral looks to be continuing this year with the Raiders struggling and persistent rumours of discontent between the playing group and coach.

Perhaps it’s now time for Coach Stuart to do us all a favour, abandon the NRL and pursue another challenge…… Netball!!

At this juncture it may also be worth revisiting a few of the old Sea Eagle Reports - for those interested, check these.

https://www.theseaeagle.com/page/113

or

https://www.theseaeagle.com/page/92

 THE SEA EAGLE

[365days365movies]

March 2, 2021: The General (Review)

Just like The Gold Rush, this was a charming movie!

Keaton, unsurprisingly, turned out a fantastic film, especially for the time period. Seriously, it’s insane how well this film holds up today! Shame that it almost ended Keaton’s career altogether. Because this film was NOT successful in 1926, mostly because dude made a film about the Civil War, with the Confederates as the heroes, only about 60 years after the conflict! Yeah, people weren’t hyper-jazzed about that.

UA was now super-against funding films where Keaton had complete and total control. But, he was still Buster Keaton, so they kept him on, but put some restrictions on him. Ironic, given that UA was founded to prevent EXACTLY that. Keaton was not about it, even though the two films that followed were at least somewhat successful. One of them, Steamboat Bill, Jr., produced ANOTHER of the most iconic shots of film history.

Yeah...wow. But this was the last film that Keaton made with UA, and he moved to another studio after this: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM. And THAT was a HUGE mistake, because his creativity was heavily restricted by the mega-studio, and they would deny many of his requests. If it weren’t for them, Keaton would’ve broken into talkies FAR earlier than he did, and may have revitalized the entire industry. They also made him use a stunt double, forced dialogue on his scripts when he’d purposely omitted it, etc. He wasn’t happy.

And not just in his career, either. See, it’s around this time that his marriage to Natalie Talmadge completely falls apart. They give it another shot in the early ‘30s, but officially separate and divorce in 1932, with Natalie getting basically all of this money, and taking his kids away from him. This, combined with his struggles with MGM, drove Keaton to alcoholism, and he was institutionalized. There, he met his second wife, nurse Mae Scriven. That lasted 2 years, after an unhappy Keaton cheated on her in 1935. And again, the divorce left Keaton essentially bankrupt.

MGM was tired of him, too, and in 1933, they fired him. Not a great year for Keaton. He signed on with a few other studios, became a writer for the Marx Bros (more on them tomorrow), and was eventually hired by Columbia Pictures in 1939. And that was...OK, but Keaton wasn’t happy still. And then, on the horizon...look! It’s another marriage! This time, it was to Eleanor Norris, whom he married in 1940. Their marriage would last for 26 years.

And Keaton was still around. This happy marriage apparently stabilized him a little bit, and he’s able to re-release his old films with new music. He also gained new fame on a new medium: television. He appears on talk shows and game shows from the 1940s into the 1960s, while also appearing in films throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s! He eventually made a return, and even had a cameo in...It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World WAIT WHAT

HOLY SHIT IT IS HIM!!! How did I never know this? One of my favorite comedies of all time, with a metric fuckton of cameos in it, and how did I not know that Buster fuckin’ Keaton was one of them? Hot damn! His last major film appearance was in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum three years later, and at 70 years old, he still did his own stunts and pratfalls. A class act until the end. Literally.

Because, much to his own surprise, he died of terminal lung cancer on February 1, 1966. And I say to his own surprise because...well, nobody ever told him he was diagnosed with cancer. Yeah, he thought he had bronchitis, and was diagnosed a month before his death! He never found out that he had cancer! Isn’t that fucked? Today, he’s buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Hollywood, CA, with a hell of a lot of other stars. Crazy, huh?

Oh, and do yourself a favor: even if you don’t watch his films, just browse this website (or even the GIF feature in post-writing) for GIFs of Buster Keaton. He’s a legend, and you can see why through these GIFs alone. But enough about his career as a whole: what about this film by itself? Well, read this for a Recap, and read on for my Review!

Review

Cast and Acting: 9/10

Well, first things first, Buster Keaton was a star for a reason. He’s unsurprisingly fantastic in this film, and his comedic stylings are far different from Chaplin’s. His deadpan expression is oddly iconic, and works well in the environs of the film. And that’s not saying anything about the action...but I’ll save that for later. How was everybody else? Marion Mack was pretty good, better than Georgia Hale was in The Gold Rush, anyway. Glen Cavender...existed? Yeah, outside of those two, nobody gets much attention. Granted, it’s Buster Keaton, so the film could get away with that.

Plot and Writing: 8/10

Obviously, here, we need to focus more on the plot than the writing, but it’s still good! I didn’t touch upon the real historical event this is loosely based on (and I do mean loosely), but it’s an interesting story. Throwing in the love story alongside wasn’t a bad idea, either. Do I think it’s perfect? I mean, no, for a few reasons. Mostly the fact that...this doesn’t really feel like a comedy. Like, I know that it is, and there are enough moments that feel comedic...but just barely. This works far better as an action film than it does a comedy, is what I’m saying. Is it fair to judge it by comedic metrics, then? Maybe not, but this film has always been billed as a comedy, and...I don’t think that fits. Sorry...all five writers of the screenplay. Damn, really? Yeah, alongside Buster Keaton, we’ve also got Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman, Charles Henry Smith, and Paul Gerard Smith on this. Huh. OK, then.

Direction and Cinematography: 10/10

I mean...come on. This is fantastic. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton direct, while Bert Haines and Devereaux Jennings are the cinematographers, and all of them do a fantastic job. I don’t even have much to say here, because the directing and shot composition of this film are wonderful. Seriously, no compaints.

Production and Art Design: 10/10

THEY. COLLAPSED. A BRIDGE. WITH A TRAIN ON IT. FOR REALSIES.

Music and Editing: 9/10

Finally, I did enjoy the music for this one! Editing here (by Buster Keaton and Sherman Kell) is great, while the music (by...one of  people, depending on the edition you’re watching), is great! I think my version was by William P. Perry, but I’m genuinely not sure. I version I watched had some great music, though! Not as memorable for me as The Gold Rush, but still fantastic on its own.

92% capacity on the Hype Train! All aboard!

A hallmark of film history, as previously detailed! But now that that’s done, it’s time to break the silence. See, in 1927, the “sound film” or “talkie” finally came onto the scene, thanks to new cameras and film-making technology. Sound could now be tied with film footage, leading us into a new era for film, and for the comedy genre of film. Now, you could HEAR the jokes, rather than see them. And, as if to make up for lost time, the next burgeoning film stars would be fast-talking, wisecracking jokesters, and the next heirs of the vaudeville era. And one group would take this role above all others. And we’ll look at them next.

April 3, 2021: Duck Soup (1933), dir. Leo McCarey

#the general #the general 1926 #clyde bruckman #buster keaton #marion mack #glen cavender #jim farley #comedy april #user365 #365days365movies #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year

[theleastcarefulofgamedevs]

hehehehehehehehe ur turn. overshare pals

hehe im lov u ceec :)

---

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

water bottles and soda cans!

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

chocolate.... im lov it

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

cotton candy!

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

hardworking, earnest, and honestly? they gave me too much credit ebagweaganegioawnegew

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

soda bottles!

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

somewhere between boho, goth, and grunge hehe

7. earbuds or headphones?

headphones!

8. movies or tv shows?

movies,,

9. favorite smell in the summer?

you know that wet pavement smell after it rains? love that

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

dodgeball hehehe

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

nothin tbh. i don’t wake up early enough for it

12. name of your favorite playlist?

Writing Music! i made it hehehe

13. lanyard or key ring?

key ring!

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

GUMMY BEARS AND JELLY BEANS

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

“A Child Called ‘It’“ by Dave Pelzer

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

cuddled up to someone in blankets,,, im lov anything with my s/o tbh

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

i have this beat up pair of blue slip ons that have bloodstains on em bc i got a nosebleed one day bwaeiugbaweugbaweubguaw

18. ideal weather?

post-raining, or like. just before it starts raining

19. sleeping position?

anything with my s/o or bein wrapped in like. a billion blankets

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

on my home pc in my room!

21. obsession from childhood?

dice and video games!

22. role model?

i know it’s gonna sound dumb but like. a lot of characters from media have influenced me a lot, like sans/komaeda etc. another one from my real life would be my aunt on my mom’s side!

23. strange habits?

i bounce my leg while listening to music or stressed,, that’s abt it. OH and i like twirling a small blanket around on my arm bc... acrobatics of sorts

24. favorite crystal?

amethyst, but anything clean cut and rounded looks rlly nice imo,,

25. first song you remember hearing?

the first day i remember in my life was christmas at my grandma’s when i was 4, so probably random christmas music ubwegebwgwebgoibgweg

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

sometimes when i get tired of sitting around at home i like to walk down to the dog park by my house! 

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

cuddle,,,,,,,,,,, wrap up in a blanket with some freshly baked cookies n just. be there

28. five songs to describe you?

megalovania, medley rush 2 from the sonic rush ost, the promised neverland english op, metal crusher from undertale, metal scratchin’ from sonic rush

29. best way to bond with you?

just talk to me! im godawful at starting convos but i love talkin to ppl! 

30. places that you find sacred?

every person’s room feels that way, as well as obvious places, like churches n whatnot. we went n visited my aunt’s old house so my mom could pick up some stuff and being in her room after she died in 2015 was just like. an emotion i can’t rlly describe

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

hoodie, trackpants, n sneakers hehe

32. top five favorite vines?

back at it again @ krispy kreme, ADAM, they were roommates, two dudes in a hot tub, my croissant

33. most used phrase in your phone?

either “be there soon” or “ily” 

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

none tbh. i don’t watch much tv so i don’t see ads often

35. average time you fall asleep?

either 10:30 or sometime after midnight. no in between 

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

it was a rage comic

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

suitcase!

38. lemonade or tea?

lemonade, but i LOVE tea!

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

LEMON CAKE....

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

i was walkin in the halls with my friend and someone dropped a styrofoam cup of pasta on my friend’s head from the second floor awbegiuawbeguiawbguaewg

41. last person you texted?

the person who sent this ask heheheheh

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

jacket pockets!

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

hoodie!

44. favorite scent for soap?

anything really, but i like whatever my s/o uses bc it would remind me of them!

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

fantasy!

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

underwear tbh. like. that and a tshirt or just underwear is the only way i can sleep

47. favorite type of cheese?

sensory issues say i have to hate all kinds of cheese outside of like. grilled cheese so let’s go with that/cheddar

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

dragonfruit! 

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

GOD pretty much every quote from monomi or chiaki in danganronpa 2, but mostly “if you learn to love yourself, that love will continue to carry you for your whole life! love, love...”

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

OH HERES A FUCKIN STORY OK so i was at my friend’s house with a bunch of others bc we were doin a sleepover type thing and we were eating raising canes in his attic at like 3 am and some guy high on like. 3 different drugs at once got impaled through the leg on his fence. nobody saw him but we knew he was there and the cops were there in like 3 minutes. that very same friend has some of the most wack stories ngl

51. current stresses?

just doing well in school and making sure my s/o is happy!

52. favorite font?

comic sans.......................... im sorry

53. what is the current state of your hands?

my palms b sweaty but my fingers are dehydrated tbh. typin

54. what did you learn from your first job?

work.... difficult

55. favorite fairy tale?

probably the princess and the frog!

56. favorite tradition?

christmas!

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

probably my most noteworthy traumas tbh. gettin therapy for em, too

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

writing, my ability to overcome obstacles, being able to help ppl as well as i can, and making friends fast!

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

“Not dead yet.”

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

Probably either shounen, romance, or moe,,,,

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

“It’s a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like these, kids like you... should be burning in hell.”

62. seven characters you relate to?

sans, komaeda, makoto naegi, komaru naegi, toko fukawa, chiaki nanami, and chihiro fujisaki!

63. five songs that would play in your club?

they’d all be fall out boy tbh. that and videogame osts

64. favorite website from your childhood?

armor games hehe

65. any permanent scars?

i don’t think so? at least, not yet

66. favorite flower(s)?

roses and anything blue!

67. good luck charms?

my dice sets!

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

vanilla york peppermint patties... gross

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

pikmin in pikmin 1 who are underneath a bridge when it’s completed are killed because they get pushed through the ground

70. left or right handed?

right handed!

71. least favorite pattern?

probably the hellish bumpy pattern all teachers have all over their fuckin classrooms

72. worst subject?

math

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

chicken nuggets in milkshake... good. or frankly just like. cooked chicken mixed with anythin cold like ice or ice cream

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

like. 3 or 4

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

i was eating a crunch bar and it fell out hehe

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

I WOULD DIE FOR FRENCH FRIES.

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

any small blooming plant, like a single rose or flower!

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

hrm. coffee from a gas station tbh

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

NEITHER LOOK GOOD LMAO and i don’t have a driver’s license. that’s just like. a prediction

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

jewel tones!

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

lightning bugs!

82. pc or console?

either works but i spend more time on pc!

83. writing or drawing?

writing, but i like both!

84. podcasts or talk radio?

talk radio, but i love podcasts like TAZ or Critical Role! 

84. barbie or polly pocket?

neither? but probably barbie bc it’s more well known? idk

85. fairy tales or mythology?

mythology!

86. cookies or cupcakes?

cupcakes all the way b

87. your greatest fear?

me being the last person i know alive. i’d rather die than outlive everyone

88. your greatest wish?

i hope that no matter what there is after we die, i get to be with the people that are most important to me. 

89. who would you put before everyone else?

my s/o and family tbh

90. luckiest mistake?

buying danganronpa bweguowabguawebogbaweibg

91. boxes or bags?

boxes!

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

fairy lights!

93. nicknames?

i go by wes, dev, bines, anything rlly

94. favorite season?

spring!

95. favorite app on your phone?

tumblr hehe

96. desktop background?

it’s the ddlc cast! it’s a greyscaled image of four of the events cut together and their eyes glow hehe

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

only one, and it’s my dads bc i have to call him every time i go to my grandparents’ hehe

98. favorite historical era?

probably the one we’re in now tbh, but like. also hate it

[lordsofmedrengard]

I posted 374 times in 2021

31 posts created (8%)

343 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 11.1 posts.

I added 164 tags in 2021

#warhammer 40k - 24 posts

#40k - 23 posts

#warhammer - 23 posts

#space marines - 16 posts

#w40k - 16 posts

#horus heresy - 15 posts

#warhammer 30k - 12 posts

#space marine - 12 posts

#adeptus astartes - 12 posts

#30k - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#they're not the bravest or the fiercest or the most loyal or the most favoured except in a tangential way of having the warmaster-primarch

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Ridiculous new scale, the Tartaros Praetor is literally Primarch-sized

18 notes • Posted 2021-09-05 17:55:16 GMT

#4

Looks like Maloghurst the Twisted is getting his own miniature now. The way to field him used to be to either use the banner bearer from the SoH legion command, or to convert your own character with era-appropriate power armour and some SoH bits.

While I personally prefer the banner-bearer as a whole model to the Maloghurst one, they really did a great job on making the head and torso match the artwork and descriptions of him (which can’t be said for all the character models; just look at Saul Tarvitz outblinging Eidolon). The bolter looks really cool too, it might be worth it for a SoH player or modeller to get the model just so they can make a mould of it and cast their own copies for Veteran or Seeker squads (both genuinely excellent options for SoH, since they’re both good units and complement the unique Legion rules).

I do think he’d look better with a more understated banner than the huge and gaudy thing he’s carrying, though. I also don’t really care for one of Horus’ favourites wearing MKIII power armour instead of the more advanced MKIV, especially since he had a broken spine by the end of the Great Crusade and didn’t really see frontline service as a warrior, anymore. MKIV would have fitted better with the SoH legion upgrades and the unique kits such as Garviel Loken, Reavers and the Legion Command blister. I also think some of the details are superfluous and steal the focus away from the busy centre and icon, which just makes the model busy to look at without really enhancing it - were I ever to get this model, I would either remove some of the detailing from (for example) the legs, or paint them a less attention-seeking colour like a darker gold or even silver/gunmetal. I’m also not really sold on the fingerless leather gloves worn on top of the armour - Custodes may do it, but the only marines I can immediately think of who go for fingerless gloves in 30K are some WB characters who don’t wear armour under them. I’m aware he wears them in a piece of artwork, but this is something I think should have either been left off or at least painted a darker colour.

Overall, a fairly solid miniature. I think it’s inferior to Saul Tarvitz’ model, but does a much better job of capturing the spirit of the character.

20 notes • Posted 2021-04-27 14:24:52 GMT

#3

Emptiest Threat Yet

As far as “empty attempts to hype the New Thing/build tension” go, this might be the weakest attempt in the history of the setting.

Ermagerd! A XENO faction of all things is ““““““threatening Terra”“““““, and EVEN THOUGH the CUSTODES of all people are on the job, even getting a new model for it, it’s only 99,99999999% certain that the Imperium will prevail! Terra is the most fortified system in the Imperium after all, so it makes perfect sense that a boxed game’s plot would be enough to do it in.

61 notes • Posted 2021-11-16 18:09:06 GMT

#2

As dirty as they did our boys Perturabo and Curze, Mortarion is the undisputed king of the hill when it comes to having a bad character arc.

66 notes • Posted 2021-05-09 02:14:02 GMT

#1

Fucking love melta weapons

269 notes • Posted 2021-09-10 18:37:33 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #complaining and meltas people

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights (Episodes 92 & 93)

Denise message: “With every breath the world takes my power increases.”

Asked which of her episodes was the most intense, Noelle: “Well, the first one, I was on the edge of my seat a lot wondering when they were gonna stop shopping...”

Everyone admits that episode 93 should’ve been the most intense episode yet, but they were all so ignorant of the potential consequences that it didn’t really sink in until afterwards.

Noelle talks about a really fun D&D campaign she had where everybody played teenagers in high school (she was a tiefling warlock). She wanted something different than the high-charisma, low-strength build she’d had there, so when Matt suggested the blood hunter class, she was 100% on board. “I like my D&D characters extra.”

Sam agrees with a question-asker that Taryon is mostly just emulating what he thinks brave people ought to do; it remains to be seen whether or not he’s actually brave.

Liam as a player was freaking out over how close the campaign came to ending, but in-character, Vax is pretty convinced they’re all destined to get to the end of the road at this point and that there’s a bigger plan in play.

Travis and Sam both expected the Nine Hells to be worse than they were. Sam: “I think you build up hell in your mind...”

Tova would totally have turned Grog into a werebear if he’d asked.

A question-asker points out that Trinket wound up lasting years longer than Doty. Sam: “...yes, there’s something inherently wrong with that. [...] You know what? Matt’s game is broken.” Brian: “Doty vs. Trinket: The end of Critical Role.” (Laura immediately tweets in outrage.)

Someone asks if Vax was disappointed that he didn’t get the killing blow on Hotis, and Liam points out that the only kill that had any emotional meaning for Vax personally was Thordak--other than that, it’s all about the team.

At one point, Tova was down to 15 HP. Travis: “We’re not very good at tracking how low everybody gets.” Noelle: “...no. No, you’re not.”

Sam, summing up an extended D&D legal discussion: “I’m not sure that contract would’ve been legal in the state of California.”

Losing Doty hasn’t sunk in yet for Taryon. “Doty is a big brother, a mom, a little brother...”

New episode of All Work No Play (Sam and Liam’s podcast) is going up tomorrow! Sam: “It’s really not our best episode.” Liam: “That’s ludicrous, it’s the best.”

Tova’s friends all had names and a bit of connection pre-built with Tova’s backstory.

Vax thinks Tary has potential but lacks confidence. Grog, in the middle of the fight, kept seeing him huddled in a ball casting Sanctuary and thinking “...fucking Tary.” 

Travis: “Especially now that you don’t have a nanny anymore, Grog’s gonna have to step in and take that role.” Sam: “Honestly, I’m not even sure Taryon can put on his own armor.”

Noelle felt like it was a necessary character choice for Tova to stay behind, and also thinks that she’s so driven that a lot of hell’s torture wouldn’t really sink in as long as she still had a sense of duty and purpose. The biggest thing that would be an impediment to her survival would be finding out that her friends had been killed. Wanting to return Vax’s ring would also be a driving force that could keep her going.

Vax worked for the Clasp for a while and got into the attitude of doing jobs without fully understanding why, so he’s not too worried about tracking down the anonymous person who requested the rakshasa parts at the Slayer’s Take--as far as he’s concerned, it’s over.

Everyone talks about how right up-his-alley the contract is for Percy. Brian: “If Taliesin summoned an army of the damned in real life, that would be the least surprising thing Taliesin has ever done.”

Liam: “The lawyer on the other side might argue that [Doty] is less of a party member and more of a Zune.” Sam: “Shut your mouth! He is not a Zune. He’s a Palm Pilot or better.”

Noelle: “I think things went pretty well. I killed a pit fiend, I turned into an invisible bear, I airplaned Vax around.” Brian: “You pushed Keyleth out a window.” Noelle: “I did do that.”

ASHLEY JOHNSON RETURNS ON THURSDAY

Sam on Doty: “I’m unreasonably attached to that robot, he’s pretty great. He’s a cutie.”

Travis suggests that Grog could take over writing Tary’s exploits, since he knows two letters now.

Liam has no expectations for what’s going to happen in the next episode. No idea what’s gonna happen. Sam points out that there aren’t a lot of loose ends anymore.

Travis: “I kept asking how my stomach was feeling, to Matt, as one does in a D&D game. If I shit an imp, we’ll know.”

Talks Machine in the Dark:

Travis mentions the K’varn fight as the first time he really felt like things were getting terribly out-of-hand. Liam and Sam both mention getting stuck inside the dragon.

Noelle, as a writer, likes the narrative ambiguity of Schrodinger’s Tova and thought that, either way, it was a cool way to go out.

My new favorite question: “Does Grog know Minxie is Keyleth?” Travis has to answer that, unfortunately, Grog is fully aware that they’re the same because he was the one who named her back in the home game.

Liam thinks the only option if Keyleth had failed that roll would be for Percy to invoke the contract. Travis also brings up the Deck.

Noelle tells amazing stories about the graphic novel bible she had growing up. “I’m pretty sure Jezebel isn’t supposed to be your favorite character in the bible, but she had amazing eyeshadow...”

Liam tells Travis that next campaign, they’re gonna have to be the note-takers to pay Marisha back for this one. Travis: “I’m gonna have to learn how to write.”

Vax will finally stop wearing the armor all the time now that Hotis is out of the picture. “Don’t need to worry about Mercer shanking me in my most intimate moments.”

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

[keziacole]

tagged by @bumbleblossoms​ - thank you! 

Tagged Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

THE LAST:

1. Drink: Coffeeeeeee

2. Phone call: My partner, just as they left the dentist. :( 3. Text message: Motherbot 2.0 4. Song you listened to: Been Caught Stealing – Jane’s Addiction 5. Time you cried: Uh… some point in the last couple months, I guess? Not sure when, but it was at something related to dogs. Honestly, I did most of my crying last year, during The Year From Hell, and I’m still a bit dried out.

6-92 under the cut. :)

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: As in getting back together again? Nooooo. 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: …yup. Often. Sometimes not until a long while later, though!   8. Been cheated on: Not to my knowledge. 9. Lost someone special: Yep. 10. Been depressed:  Eh, I’ve never been diagnosed with depression, so no, I don’t think so. Situationally really fucked off with things? Yes. 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: Once. Story time, everyone! 

So, I generally have a really good alcohol tolerance and a cast iron stomach (not necessarily for good reasons, but hey), but I did once go to a party that ended very badly. I was about 17, had recently been diagnosed with CFS, and was on a heavy painkiller regimen. I drank when I shouldn’t really have done so, because bullshit and All the Emotional Drama, BUT… I did not know that my friend’s asshole brother had spiked my drink. (He was a peach. Gave his 14 year old brother acid once just to point and laugh at the result. Fuckin’ hated that guy.)

At some point in the evening – somewhere after the sham marriages, interpretative dance, and someone putting someone else through a table, because teen parties – I realised I was wayyy more wasted than I should have been, despite the painkillers, and I ended up spending all night hallucinating and throwing up, plus feeling horrific for about three days afterwards. 

Moral of the story: if you spike people’s drinks, you are a gigantic bag of toe lint and should suffer mosquito bites on your asshole for a thousand years. The end.

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12. Purple 13. Red 14. Blue

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Not yet. Befriend me, tumblr, you’re my only hope.  16. Fallen out of love: No, though I have watched my relationship with at least one family member crumble into dust. Does that count?  17. Laughed until you cried: At least four times a week. Which is one big reason why I’m marrying that motherfucker.  18. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes. See 16. 19. Met someone who changed you: Not yet.  20. Found out who your friends are: Yes, sadly. It sucks when you realise how effectively someone has manipulated the people around you.  21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Nah, I don’t really do the FB thing. I should, I guess?

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: See above. I kind of have a profile, but I only use it to message people I’m related to who are freaking obsessed with Facebook and won’t communicate any other way. Ugh. So… most of them? I guess?   23. Do you have any pets: One dog – Hector, a grumpy and elderly terrier - down from two resident mutts and a boatload of fosters. Older dog died last year, and I’m not in a position to foster right now, which sucks, because I miss having a house full of beasties, not to mention making a difference. 24. Do you want to change your name: Already have done/am doing! I have no real interest in keeping up with more than 80% of the people I’m related to, and I never liked my birth name, plus this is easier to spell and dictate to people, and isn’t known by the abusive assholes in my life. So, yay! 25. What did you do for your last birthday: Ordered pizza and watched favourite movies with my partner. We did The Blues Brothers and shit-talked the progression of police militarisation in the US over the past 30 years, and it was incredibly fun, despite the fact we’re 3000 miles apart right now. Also, they remembered my birthday, which is more than can be said for over two-thirds of the people I’m related to.  26. What time did you wake up: 9am, but in my defence I was up until 3 last night. 

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Talking shit with my partner, knitting an afghan, and watching foster kitten cams and reviews of awful movies together, because these are good ways to help someone who has a dental appointment in the morning try to stay calm. 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Getting my current backlog of work finished. Sooo clooose…. Promised myself a movie and gaming binge when I’m done. 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: Last week. 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: Either having enough money to fix all my problems (yes, in this case, money most certainly can do that), or just being on the same continent as my partner, so we didn’t have this immigration thing to worry about. Not having a debilitating illness that fucks everything up would be pretty awesome, too.  31. What are you listening right now: Freddie King 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yep, many Toms. All the Toms. Well, like, five plus. 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: Not knowing whether or not the electrician is going to show up tomorrow, which will mean I need to move the paintings and quilt top I currently have all over the sitting room floor. I’m not done piecing that thing yet. Grr. 34. Most visited website: Lots. Mostly Google, Politico, Reuters etc., but I’m living on eBay right now because I’m trying to sell off a bunch of DVDs, books, and vintage glassware. …Does anyone want to buy some vintage/antique glassware? 35. Mole/s: Yep. I had one removed from my back once. Turned out to be benign (phew!) but I got an interesting scar out of it. 36. Mark/s: I still have a faint surgery scar on my elbow, but it doesn’t look as Frankenstein-y now. Most of my scars have faded, but I still have some weird idiosyncrasies from things that have been broken or busted up. 37. Childhood dream: Writing was always my main thing, but also acting/directing. Illness took that away. Other than that, I always wanted to live somewhere rural with lots of animals, and be happy.  39. Long or short hair: Long. Lots. It’s huge. Send help. I like both on other people.  40. Do you have a crush on someone: Not right now. Give me ten minutes and a new Fet profile to stalk and I’ll get back to you... 41. What do you like about yourself: I’m a creative dynamo and I don’t stop until I fall down. I’m also proud of the fact that I’m a pretty compassionate and patient person, and I like the fact I’m slow to really anger. Someone told me recently I’m a very stabilising influence, and that was nice to hear. I feel like life can use more of that.  42. Piercings: Ears (two left, three right), nose (left). More on the way, maybe, when I can justify it.  43. Blood type: ???? I should check. I know the NHS won’t let me donate blood because of my medical condition, which blows.  44. Nickname: Zia. Some people call me Kez. One person is allowed to call me Admiral Fuckface McAsshole III.  45. Relationship status: Open relationship with my primary partner, technically speaking. Poly is good, but my planner is too cluttered for anarchy.  46. Zodiac: Aries w/ Aquarius moon, Virgo ascendant. I also have Mars and Venus in Taurus, so mooooo. And yes, I did used to do natal charts for beer money. I read palms, too. I’d still do it if asked nicely.  47. Pronouns: They/She. I don’t mind feminine pronouns, because I’m incredibly cis-passing and most people will assume “she”, plus I can live with being labelled female if it’s a binary choice, but I see myself more as a person than a gender, so I love that neutral pronouns are being used so much more now.

FWIW, I considered whether or not I was trans for a hot minute when I was a younger teen, because I used to love passing as a boy when I was a kid (until puberty at nine. Boo.), but for me it was the difference in how I was treated when I passed as male that mattered. It was the difference between “Oh, isn’t he confident and intelligent?” and “Hello, sweetie, don’t you look pretty today?” that affected me, not a real sense of dysphoria, so I decided the problem wasn’t really in how I presented, but in society itself. I have yet to really find a satisfying way of rectifying that, but I think we’re all making progress as a society. It’s very slow progress, sadly.   

48. Favorite TV Show: I don’t watch that many series, but Star Trek (especially TOS and DS9), X-Files (S1/S2), Game of Thrones, old mystery adaptations (all the Agatha Christie ever), Stranger Things, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad… can’t think of anything else right now, but there are some. 49. Tattoos: One black and grey dotwork spiral goddess on my arm, next one coming soon (watch this space, now I’ve found an artist!) 50. Right or left hand: Ambidextrous. Yes, I can write with both hands. Sometimes, I switch in the middle of the sentence. No, it doesn’t look the same. I can also operate light switches with my toes from a standing position.  51. Surgery: I fucked up my ulnar nerve a couple of years ago by blacking out and falling on some stairs. It was melodramatic, and I lost the use of my left hand. Had surgery to correct it. I was awake but a bit sedated, and spent most of the time talking to the cute anaesthetist about chastity cages. Because... sedated? Yes. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Sadly, he did not call, though I’m pretty sure he did a lot of googling when he got home that night.  52. Hair dyed in different color: Always, since I discovered Olaplex, which means I can actually bleach my hair without it completely frying. Most recently, I’ve had a mermaid fantasy in turquoise, green, and purple, but it’s faded a lot. Not sure what I’ll do next. Maybe orange, or neon yellow again. 53. Sport: I can’t do much without turning blue and blacking out, but I’ve always enjoyed tennis, badminton, swimming, and equestrian stuff. Is hiking a sport? Hiking’s fun.  54. Do you use sarcasm a lot: Um... 

55. Vacation: Last one was to see my partner; next one will be too. So, the woods of NEPA. Hiking out with some granola and my favourite human, and spending a few days playing with shelter pitbulls. <3 Otherwise, I’ve never really been on holiday. I went on a school trip to Germany once where I nearly got arrested and, when I was seven, I went to Malta and there was a hurricane. I remember wedging wet towels into the window frames and hoping we didn’t die, because we were on the twelfth floor and there was nowhere else to go. 

I did go to Norfolk with my mother for four days after her breast cancer diagnosis. Macmillan, a cancer charity that is very worthy of support, granted her a short break. There was a lot of playing dominos and trying to convince her she wasn’t actively dying at that precise moment.

56. Pair of trainers: Converse. All the ratty old Converse low tops in the world. 

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: I have the house to myself right now. It’s awesome. I’m celebrating with homemade shiitake tofu stir fry, wontons, vegetable udon… and doughnuts. Not in the same bowl, though. 58. Drinking: Rum. 

59. I’m about to: Finish a short story, close out an editing project, format a print galley (again. Goddamnit, Adobe.), and try to finalise the running order of a poetry collection. Maybe send some emails, maybe eat the rest of those wontons.   61. Waiting for: The dizziness to go away, usually. 62. Want: The time, space, peace and quiet to focus on my work, and my health to cooperate long enough for that to happen. 63. Get married: As soon as possible, which basically means when we can afford it, because immigration, legal wrangling, and a ton of other bullshit. It’s a headache, but if there weren’t so many technical hurdles it would already be done.  64. Career: I write and make stuff. I’m doing it under a new name now, which is daunting, because it means starting over again, but I’ve spent the past few years doing a lot of genre fiction and being told my original work is “too original”… but I’m ready to say “fuck you” to that and see what I can carve out for myself. Come on, internet: don’t prove me wrong, ‘k? 65. Hugs or kisses: Ooh, tough. Yes? I guess hugs if I have to pick.   66. Lips or eyes: Eyes. 67. Shorter or taller: I honestly don’t care, though I do very much enjoy short subs. Pocket rockets are adorable. 68. Older or younger: It really doesn’t matter. 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Arms, I guess? Doesn’t really matter. It’s all pretty to look at, but who really cares? Arms are best for hugs. 71. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive. I don’t like too loud. 72. Hook up or relationship: Define the terms, yo. I’d say relationship, but the definition of “relationship” can be open to numerous things. 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Um… possibly a bit of both, but more hesitant, probably.

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: No. 75. Drank hard liquor: Yup.

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: I once dropped a contact lens down the back of a gas fire and spent three hours getting it out with Vaseline on a paperclip. My vision is awful and I wore very expensive gas permeable lenses at the time. 77. Turned someone down: Yup. 78. Sex on the first date: Nothing wrong with it (and nothing wrong with sex being the date), but it’s not for me. 79. Broken someone’s heart: So they said. 80. Had your heart broken: Yes, but not how you might assume. 81. Been arrested: Nope. 82. Cried when someone died: Yep. 83. Fallen for a friend: A couple of times, with varying degrees of success.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: I try to, because few other people often do. (*the world’s tiniest violin plays*) 85. Miracles: Yes, sometimes in the form of coincidences, surprises, or the results of hard work. I believe in inverse miracles, too, when things go catastrophically wrong for no apparent reason. Or, as we call it at my house, Tuesday. 86. Love at first sight: Yes, in a way. Potential for love at first sight, I guess? I’ve usually found I know the moment I meet someone whether that’s a thing that’s going to happen or not. 87. Santa Claus: YES, DAMN IT. Okay, maybe not a literal dude in a red suit, but as a personification of the generous spirit of Non-Denominational-Winter-Solstice-and-Festival-of-Lights, he works. (I’m an eclectic neo-pagan/hedgewitch, but my most loved time of year is the whole October-February period, so I start celebrating Yule/Christmas around December 1st and don’t stop until Twelfth Night. I will take ALL of your symbolism, ALL your traditions, and – most importantly – ALL your festive foods and embrace them. In my belly. Thank you.)

88. Kiss on the first date: Probably. Unless it’s a baaaaad first date. 89. Angels: Again, not so much the literal sense, but it’d be nice to think there are positive presences looking out for us. I’d be very concerned about the serpent-like pillars of fire, though.  

OTHER:

90. Current best friends name: Aside from my dog, that’s my partner but they don’t like their details shared, so SHHHH IT’S A SECRET. 91. Eye color: grey-blue-thing 92. Favorite movie: You can’t just ask a person that at the end of the thing like it’s a simple question…! So. Many. Movies. Depends on the genre. The Blues Brothers, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Gattaca, Silence of the Lambs, Re-Animator, Die Hard, Stand By Me, Sleepaway Camp, Alien, Lady in a Cage, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, TRHPS, The Great Escape… those are movies I can watch a billion times (and have done). Honorable mentions, depending on my mood, go to things like Basket Case, Caramel, An American Werewolf in London, Exterminating Angel, Secretary, Gran Torino… I could have done 92 questions just on the most popularist movies I like!

tagging: I’ve been away for a few days and I don’t wanna tag people who’ve already done it, so if you’re reading this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged! <3

#get to know me #personal #long post

[fabglance1]

#xd30 - Day 4 - RAIN

Jack and Ahlia were sitting in the car. They were in the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart facing the entrance of the busy store. Jack thought it would be fun for them to play their favorite game, “What About That Guy?” A game that can easily be described as ‘people watching’. By the second or third person, Jack and Ahlia would have tears in their eyes from the hilarity of their own stories. They were both good story tellers.

Tonight, Ahlia wasn’t laughing. She was barely looking at the people walking by. She was barely looking at Jack, although she could feel him peering at her from the driver’s side. She was sipping on her strawberry milk shake from Friendly’s, twirling the red straw in her hands. The fake crystals on her airbrushed acrylic nails cast tiny star-like reflections on the dashboard. She could hear Jack talking, attempting to make her laugh, but she was too deep in her head to respond. She let out an audible sigh.

Jack stopped talking. Playing with the zipper on his oversized Mecca jacket, he gazed out the window looking at the lights from a passing plane in the sky. Soon enough he’d be on a plane too, heading to Atlanta to attend Morehouse university on a full ride scholarship. Jack managed to get a 3.8 grade point average, scored very high on the SAT, and played basketball well enough to have recruiters coming to his games. He had his selection of schools, but thought attending his father’s alma mater would somehow bridge the gap in their relationship. Jack’s father lived in Atlanta and was ready to be in his son’s life. Jack was petrified. The least his father could do was write that sparkling recommendation letter and donate $10,000 to the HBCU. His ‘father’ had been absent since Jack was two years old.

Ahlia tried to sip the sweet milkshake, barely able to swallow the cold creamy confection. Strawberry Milkshakes used to be her favorite. Little cramps rippled through her abdomen, every so often, making her feel nauseated. The effects of the hydrocodone pill were making their arrival and she could feel a sleepy heaviness start to take over her body. She needed to go home to lay down, but she wasn’t ready to leave Jack. The too-friendly doctor at the clinic said she’d feel almost flu-like, for a couple of days, while her hormones straightened themselves out.

She hoped that she’d feel better sooner, rather than later, because she had to be ready for her graduation party. Her entire family would arrive to celebrate their pride & joy. Ahlia was the first person to go to college and on a full ride too. She decided to attend Fordham University, in New York City, to study Psychology. She wanted to be a therapist. Today’s episode would surely be something she’d use to treat her future patients. Her stomach cramped again and she let out a breath.

Jack didn’t know what to do so he pushed the button on the six-CD changer finding their favorite CD, Emotional by Carl Thomas. He skipped through to 'Summer Rain’ and let the lyrics play through:

I don’t mind if it rains forever Let it rain, rain, let it rain I said I don’t mind if it rains forever Let it rain, rain, let it rain …

This was the cd that got them in trouble in the first place. Ahlia remembered that Jack was so excited that Carl Thomas’ album had dropped. He was addicted to all things Bad Boy, as evidenced by his Puff Daddy inspired s-curl. He raved that “Puff finally produced some quality R&B and this dude was gonna be better than R. Kelly!” He was so excited. So Ahlia knew they’d spend the afternoon listening to Carl Thomas and attempting to study, while they let episodes of COPS play on mute.

However, this afternoon was different. When Ahlia arrived to Jack’s house he’d just gotten in a big argument with his uncle. Uncle Rob had been mad about Jack’s father coming back into the picture. He called Jack a fool for trusting some “rich nigga in a Mercedes, giving you music video promises.” Uncle Rob was hurt, feeling like Jack didn’t appreciate everything his uncle sacrificed to take care of the young boy. But Jack wanted to be around, at least, one of his parents. He accepted his father’s offer with no hesitation, still very appreciative of everything his uncle had done for him. But how much emotion could a 17-year-old boy present?

Storming outside, rain She keeps me home Quiet conversation makes me warm …

Ahlia sat at the desk in Jack’s room while Jack lay on the bed. His, already 6'2" frame, made the twin mattress look like kindergarten cot. She felt happy and sad for her friend. She knew how much Jack loved his uncle and how much he wanted to love his parents. Jack often asked Ahlia how it felt to have both parents at home, how did it feel to know they “really love you?” She’d often shrug. She didn’t know how to describe a feeling that seemed so normal to her. She could tell her friend was in pain because his usually very tidy room was littered with old candy wrappers, sneakers out of their boxes, and his clothes weren’t even hung up. She decided to start cleaning his room for him, hoping that would make him feel better.

“Is this Carl Thomas too? This song about the rain?” She asked, as she picked up a pair of Jordan’s and put the sneakers on a shelf.

“Yeah, its SMOOTH right? This is some grown-up music. This song is bangin!”

“Yeah, this is real nice. Ugh! You are making me a bad boy fan!” She faked a whine, knowing this was his favorite thing to talk about. She saw him sit up in the bed. She knew he was coming out of his funk.

“Man, listen! You KNOW you love Bad Boy! Without Puff where would music be right now? Bad Boy been holding it down since '92! Come on!”

“Jackie, we were 10 years old in 1992! Stop acting like you Funkmaster Flex or something!” She bent over laughing at her own joke

“Whatever!” Jack huffed as he reached for a bag of Cheetos sitting next his tiny bed.

In a sing-song voice Ahlia said, “Man! Give me some of them Cheetos!”

“Come get them! I ain’t yo slave! Shoot, you came in here with a strawberry milkshake and ain’t offer a nigga a sip! Why should I offer some of my Cheetos!” Jack chuckled, slamming a handful of cheesy snack in his mouth, yellow dust coating his fingers

Ahlia rolled her eyes, and cocked her head to the left. She knew this was Jack’s attempt to get her to come over to the bed. She walked over willingly, stopping to stand in front of him. She put her hand out, close to the family sized bag but not reaching in. This was the only time she could be taller than her friend as he sat on the bed looking up at her. She couldn’t help but to giggle, she loved him so much. She continued to stand as he put a Cheeto dusted finger in the loop of her jeans. He pulled her closer to him. She acted like she didn’t want to come.

So go ahead and make it rain You bring the sunshine back again So go ahead and make it rain Your tender touches wash away my rain …

She bent down and kissed his full lips. She could taste the salt from the snack as she went in for another. The hair from her ponytail tickled his cheek and he laughed. She laughed too. Her friend was happy again, for a while. Ahlia sat on the bed next to Jack. She took off her hoodie, to reveal a spaghetti-strapped tank top. Her perky breasts sitting high as she didn’t have to wear a bra in those days. She lay back and Jack lay on her chest.

“Man, am I wrong for this. Is my dad trying to play me? I shouldn’t move to Atlanta?”

“Dude! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even if your dad is a dick, you still get to go to Morehouse. MOREHOUSE, my nigga! And it’s already payed for. Uncle Rob will get over it. You know he loves you.”

Jack knew Ahlia was right, but he still didn’t want his uncle to feel betrayed. He could smell the scent of Ahlia’s Victoria’s Secret body spray, she smelled like pears. It was his favorite. He began to kiss her neck. She caressed his strong back as he put his hand under her shirt, playing with her breasts. Ahlia knew where this was going. Just two months ago the friends had begun having sex almost regularly when Uncle Ron would go visit his lady friend. Ahlia’s parents never questioned her because Jack was like a second son to them and their daughter’s best friend.

“You got a condom this time?” Ahlia asked.

Jack paused, “No. I’ll just pull-out like I always do.” He continued to kiss her neck as he tugged on the zipper of her jeans. They hadn’t had an accident yet, even though Ahlia kept warning Jack to get condoms. He slipped his hand in-between her thick thighs. At that point it was a wrap, Ahlia was already caught up. She loved him so much. 

Sometimes I swear I hear her call my name To wash away the pain My summer rain …

Ahlia finally stopped baby-sipping the milkshake. She looked at Jack in the driver’s seat. She wanted to cry. He looked like he wanted to cry too. They both knew they had done the best thing for their lives. Two very smart kids on the way to college shouldn’t have a baby. Two very smart kids who made a bad decision. Two very smart kids who had full scholarships shouldn’t have a baby. Two very smart kids took the money from their after-school jobs and made a very smart decision. He squeezed her hand. They both stared out the window blankly. They wouldn’t have sex again, for a very long time. Carl continued to sing …

So go ahead and make it rain

You bring the sunshine back again …

#xd30 #jackandahlia #creative writing #writing challenge #fabglance writes #FabGlance #fiction

[tea-and-toblerones]

I hijacked this.

1: Name:: Deanna 2: Age:: 24 3: 3 Fears:: spiders, being told I love you when they really don't, utter failure 4: 3 things I love:: Video games, music and art 5: 4 turns on:: Dorkiness, awkwardness, kindness and a sense of humor 6: 4 turns off:: flip floppy behavior, narcissism, arrogance, and thinking yo ass is better than everyone else. 7: My best friend:: @bestiejessie 8: Sexual orientation:: Hetro, but with an appreciation for the female form 9: My best first date:: pff, I'll let you know when that happens, yeah? I've never really been taken out 10: How tall am I:: 5′7" 11: What do I miss:: being as carefree as I was 12: What time were I born:: Monday, August 24, 1992 at 9:18 PM 13: Favourite color:: Red. Blood red. 14: Do I have a crush:: My heart only poops it's pants for celebs and fictional characters at the mo'. It's easier that way. 15: Favourite quote:: “I may be an asshole, but I'm not a 100% Dick" Peter "Star Lord" Quill 16: Favourite place:: By the water. On the water. Floating in the water. I love water. 17: Favourite food:: PIZZA IS LIFEEEEE 18: Do I use sarcasm:: Nah mate, not at all. 19: What am I listening to right now:: The Final Fantasy VII Soundtrack 20: First thing I notice in new person:: eyes, scent, timbre of voice, and their vibe 21: Shoe size:: 8 22: Eye color:: gunsteel blue 23: Hair color:: medium brown. For now. 24: Favourite style of clothing:: Grunge queen in the fall/winter Cute and lacy in the spring/summer 25: Ever done a prank call?:: not that I'm aware. I have terrible anxiety 27: Meaning behind my URL:: I just love tea and toblerones mate. 28: Favourite movie:: Howl's Moving Castle 29: Favourite song:: Yellow by Coldplay 30: Favourite band:: Imagine Dragons 31: How I feel right now:: Chill/excited 32: Someone I love:: EVERYONE. Cept for one single person. 33: My current relationship status:: Emotionally attached to a fictional character cos I'm trash. That answers that, eh? 34: My relationship with my parents:: Me and my mam are tight. My dad...nah mate, not so much. 35: Favourite holiday:: HALLOWEEN BITCHES! 36: Tattoos and piercing I have:: My gauges. 37: Tattoos and piercing I want:: Sylleblossoms and a sword from FFX, Calcifer from Howl's Moving Caste, a sea scape, trees, a dragon... 38: The reason I joined Tumblr:: I needed an Ed outlet before my friends murdered me. 39: Do I and my last ex hate each other?:: He cut his face open to be more like Ed so I would take him back. I don't hate anyone, but that boy is pretty damn close to it. 40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?:: My brother texts me WAKE UP from time to time. Do those count? 41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted?:: Texted, yeah. Messaged, nah, just licked their face. 42: When did I last hold hands?:: romantically? Last year. In general? Last night. 43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning?:: pff what is this morning you speak of? 44: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days?:: Sure have. 45: Where am I right now?:: In the FFXV/Ed trash heap where I belong. 46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me?:: Jessie if they're not already passed out. 47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? :: loud 48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? :: unfortunately 49: Am I excited for anything?:: THIS WEEKEND 50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?:: yes 51: How often do I wear a fake smile?:: 25% of the time? Ish 52: When was the last time I hugged someone?:: earlier today 53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me?:: I be surprised he grew a spine and kissed a girl other than me, but that's about it. Probably cheer him on. Get him a drink. I'm such a bro 54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not?:: nah mate, I hardly trust anyone 55: What is something I disliked about today?:: almost falling outta a chair cos I fell asleep 56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?:: Ed Sheeran 57: What do I think about most?:: that I'm trapped in a stagnate place and I'll never get free from it. 58: What’s my strangest talent?:: I can remember exactly how people/ feel. Like their skin and whatnot, like I'm physically touching them, but im not. And their scent and their voice. And their eyes. Is that a talent? 59: Do I have any strange phobias?:: the snuggle bear creeps me the fuck out. 60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?:: behind 61: What was the last lie I told?:: that I was gonna go to bed early. Does it count if it's to yourself? 62: Do I perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online?:: video chatting cos I have a fear that people can't understand what I'm saying due to the fact I used to have an impediment with a lisp so at least they can read my lips. 63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? :: sure do. Seen em. Felt em. Have one thats attached to me. He's cool. Chases away the bad stuff. And yeah this universe is way to big for us to be the only ones 64: Do I believe in magic?:: yep 65: Do I believe in luck?:: very much so 66: What’s the weather like right now?:: kinda coldish? But not terrible (I'm horrible at judging how cold it is. I never wear a jacket) 67: What was the last book I’ve read?:: King Killer Chronicles 68: Do I like the smell of gasoline?:: I'm weird so of course I do 69: Do I have any nicknames?:: Nanna (which I always go by) 70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had?:: um, well one of my insides got very angry with me and hurt and I couldn't move and was fevered and puking and made my back hurt. I was too stubborn to go get checked out so I dunno what happened but it got better on its own. 71: Do I spend money or save it?:: both. Usually save though 72: Can I touch my nose with a tounge?:: I've got quite the long tongue, I can actually stick it up my nose if I tried. (Drunk me has) 73: Is there anything pink in 10 feets from me?:: Not that I can see 74: Favourite animal?:: Foxes, Ravens, and raccoons 75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM?:: Partying with my ladies getting ready to bar hop with the band 76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is?:: Morningstar. He owns a nightclub called Lux in LA. 77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it?:: Thrift Shop 78: How can you win my heart?:: by being an adorable awkward dorky nerd like me 79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone?:: something utterly ridiculous probably 80: What is my favorite word? :: probably a swear. 81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr @weareedsobfg (imma cheat too) @ferskendag, @tenerife-lucy @lordedsheeran, uh....I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting 82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? :: pterodactyl noises and arm flaps cos social anxiety 83: Do I have any relatives in jail?:: it would be quicker to list the ones that weren't. 84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?:: the power of imagination (whatever I can imagine happens) 85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on?:: How do you feel 86: What is my current desktop picture?:: A picture of graveyard I took in New Orleans 87: Had sex?:: yeah 88: Bought condoms?:: yeah 89: Gotten pregnant?:: no 90: Failed a class?:: math. All the math 91: Kissed a boy?:: yeah 92: Kissed a girl?:: yeah 93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain?:: I have in the snow 94: Had job?:: yeah had job 95: Left the house without my wallet?:: almost everytime 96: Bullied someone on the internet?:: Nah mate 97: Had sex in public?:: Sure have 98: Played on a sports team?:: INDOOR PERCUSSION BITCHES 99: Smoked weed?:: Not smoked it, but had some pretty delicious banana nut pot bread. 100: Did drugs?:: besides the pot bread, nah mate 101: Smoked cigarettes?:: No 102: Drank alcohol?:: Oh yeah 103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan?:: Once upon a time 104: Been overweight?:: very much so 105: Been underweight?:: when I was born 106: Been to a wedding?:: I've been to so many 107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight?:: ALL DAY, ERRYDAY 108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight?:: I'm a binge watching mofo 109: Been outside my home country?:: no but I wanna 110: Gotten my heart broken?:: yeah 111: Been to a professional sports game?:: Yes and I don't even like sports. 112: Broken a bone?:: surprisingly no 113: Cut myself?:: all the time on accident 114: Been to prom?:: no, I was the weird loner outsider kid. You know the one. 115: Been in airplane?:: Sure have 116: Fly by helicopter? :: no but I've been in one 117: What concerts have I been too?:: Alice Cooper and Watch Them Rot 118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex?:: Kinda ish. 119: Learned another language?:: I used to know a lil Spanish but now, not so much 120: Wore make up?:: every time I leave the house even though I don't need it anymore cos I got my eczema under control (the miracle of aloe yall) 121: Lost my virginity before I was 18?:: Nope 20 122: Had oral sex?:: I have 123: Dyed my hair?:: so much. 124: Voted in a presidential election?:: No 125: Rode in an ambulance?:: Nope 126: Had a surgery?:: Nope 127: Met someone famous?:: uh, mickey, minnie, goofy and pluto? 128: Stalked someone on a social network?:: who hasnt? 129: Peed outside?:: so many times 130: Been fishing?:: yep 131: Helped with charity?:: yep 132: Been rejected by a crush?:: *laughs to infinity* CAN'T BE IF YOU NEVER TELL EM (yes, yes I have. Indirectly) 133: Broken a mirror?:: So many I'm cursed forever 134: What do I want for birthday?:: the same thing I wanted last year. A hot ginger. (And video games. Always video games) 135: How many kids do I want and what will be their names?:: 2 boys. And maybe like William or James or something weird cos I love weird names 136: Was I named after anyone? :: Deanna Troi from Star Trek: the Next Generation. 137: Do I like my handwriting?:: yeah it's pretty okay 138: What was my favourite toy as a child?:: MY PINK POWER RANGER ACTION FIGURE 139: Favourite Tv Show?:: Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, American Horror Story, Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow...don't make me pick one. 140: Where do I want to live when older?:: with someone I care about. 141: Play any musical instrument?:: piano, marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, bells, drums, guitar (not well, I have ZERO rhythm) 142: One of my scars, how did I get it?:: playing with my dog 143: Favourite pizza toping?:: If I had to pick one, pepperoni but mushroom olive and pineapple please 144: Am I afraid of the dark?:: nah, that's where all the stars are 145: Am I afraid of heights?:: nah 146: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad?:: no, I was a mild child 147: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end?:: Oh you mean my life? 148: What I’m really bad at:: everything 149: What my greatest achievments are:: well I stopped someone from killing themselves. I also tend to make people laugh and feel better. 150: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me:: I only said I loved you so you would stay (though literally already knew it but worst fear right there) 151: What I’d do if I won in a lottery:: get outta debt. Get my friends outta debt. 152: What do I like about myself:: people say I'm sunshine. I like that. 153: My closest Tumblr friend:: @ferskendag and @tenerife-lucy 154: Something I fantasise about:: being happy with someone I care about, being financially stable while doing my dream job and traveling the world. 155: Any question you’d like? Do you know the muffin man?

[jocialinfluencer]

How to Launch a Killer Influencer Marketing Campaign

A couple of weeks past, I started debating'cutting the cord' with wire and also moving with an streaming tv support. I traveling alot, and also to tell the truth, it will not sound right to maintain spending money on an agency that I really don't work with. There Are Plenty of choices -- Appletv, Amazon Hearth Adhere, Roku, and Chrome Cast, Amongst Others. I enjoy doing analysis, and so that I stumbled in. It's true, it really is interesting for me personally. Several of the merchandise reviews totaled another. Since you are able to observe, you will find significantly more than 3 3 million hunt success. Discuss information overload. Glued Picture 0 4-18 Thus, what exactly can I do as an alternative? I began looking at reviews on Amazon and requesting my buddies and family members. Hearth Adhere is cheap in $39.99 and provides entry to Netflix, Hulu, HBO NOW, YouTube, Amazon Online Video. There Are a Number of reports that are negative: Glued Picture 0 422 I recalled that the buddy had raved about his appletv, and so that I questioned him . I then discovered it is suitable for my computer system, see phone. It's an program for Hulu, and also an program for Amazon is currently in evolution. Dependent on the Tips of individuals I trust and know, I Purchased that the Appletv. The specific scenario works out to countless of obtain decisions daily. Shoppers anticipate entrepreneurs to revolve around the favorable, and that they turn into individuals they hope. Using the growth of social networking, the group of men and women we hope today comprises our favourite industry pros, actors, athletes, and athletes. That really is influencer advertising. You have probable heard that the word thrown about a whole lot the past couple of decades. It creates psychological graphics of YouTube celebrities boosting vitality drinks along with Insta-gram stars fretting about fat reduction pills. Kardashians, anybody? Glued Picture 0 439 It is sexy, it is hot, and also the trendy brands do this. However, can it benefit the brand and much what's more, just how would you really do it effortlessly? This is precisely what I would like to discuss now. But , let us start out in the start. What's influencer advertising? Influencer promotion may be the approach in which brand names leverage renowned characters who've sway above their focus on markets to market their manufacturers. It will not signify that you want in order to have the funds for to cover jordan to encourage your brand new athletic-wear lineup. Actually, lots of of one of the absolute most prosperous influencer entrepreneurs aren't exceptionally renowned. Simply take, as an Example, Murad and also Nataly Osmann. That Is a High Probability you understand the Manner of these photographs: Glued Picture 0 421 One easy photo of Nataly directing her boy friend with the hands has transitioned to a gigantic online after -- and also a franchising empire. Based on Adweek,"They are dealing together with high entrepreneurs such as Macy's and Napa Valley Beringer Vineyards to generate persuasive advertisements, plus they truly are starting a stage to coincide with brands together with bloggers. The #Followmeto job also has slipped in to television and publication prices. The bunch broadcasts a 20-minute traveling television series on Channel 1 Russia which takes audiences from the scenes in their own internet photos" Occasionally, the very best influencers are not people in any way. Toasta renowned canine, works by using her Web recognition to advertise various brand names, for example java, bottled drinking water, and sometimes even thigh chafing sticks. Glued Picture 0 427 Insta-gram is not the only real position you may discover influencers. Lance Stewart, a renowned influencer, has significantly more than 9 million followers on Face-book lonely: Glued Picture 0 425 He can also be busy in Snap Chat, Insta-gram, also Twitter. Locating influencers is not about choosing probably the most renowned individual. Rather, it really is all about getting a man your crowd expects and minding which sway to publicize your manufacturer new. Influencer examination identifies an influencer being an ordinary man who keeps relations with networking outlets along with different community entities and that utilizes those links to assist brands encourage their goods and solutions. Additional only, an influencer can be somebody who might or might well not utilize your merchandise and with got your audience's interest. They've spent some time establishing a partnership using a particular market. Influencer advertising and marketing attempts to leverage this connection to publicize your new in a real method. Private anecdotes a side, does influencer advertising and marketing work? Definitely. As per a written report by TapInfluence and Influitive, 92 percent of shoppers return into those that they understand to get referrals previously mentioned every additional supply. And also this is simply not confined by intimate relatives and friends . Shiny nearby accounts that 88 percent of folks expect online testimonials compiled by additional users just as far while they anticipate testimonials out of personalized contacts. Shoppers in fact expect complete strangers than that they anticipate advertisements directly in makes. Here really is actually the energy of influencer advertising. Therefore how can you begin? To begin with, you have to stipulate your ends. Summarize the aims of One's influencer effort I have noticed that influencer advertising and marketing is useful for makes which do not possess a lot of next. You are minding somebody else's system on the gain. But until you make the articles, until you uncover an influencer, also until you do something else, then you want to stipulate the aims of one's influencer effort. Why? It is straightforward: Each decision that you create will be advised by your objective. The stage you opt for that the influencer you associate, the kind of material that they make -- most these factors get involved once you put your objective. Let us perform from a good illustration to get it more straightforward to attest. Say you are dealing together with a consumer inside the gambling marketplace -- exclusively from the smart-phone program gambling market. Cellular gambling is really a somewhat competitive trade. I-tunes delivers 18 kinds of matches along with countless of puzzle games that are popular. The business is operating for 5 decades and also has a good portfolio of matches of moderate success, for example a tremendously popular game which has been downloaded 25 million times. They've a fresh mystery game popping outside, plus so they wish to leverage influencer advertising and marketing to receive lots of downloads and make buzz round the newest launching. Hopefully, this buzz could expand with their own new brand and also provide their whole video game portfolio a fantastic enhance. Just how do you help them obtain the best from influencer advertising? Initial, let us summarize the objective. The target needs to possess about three areas -- that the influencer's demographic info, exactly what exactly the influencer may assist you to perform, and also by what method a influencer may allow you to achieve it. "This effort will spouse having a , exceptionally joined influencer using this techsavvy millennial bunch. Preferably, they are going to be to tech and also utilize an i-phone due to the fact downloads out of your Apple retailer transcend individuals on Android. By means of this effort, we'll transcend the downloading amounts of the very last match by 45 percent at the initial 1 month. The effort will probably comprise least 1 video of thirty + minutes to show the way the match is performed and also two or even three additional societal posts on Insta-gram and also Snap Chat at which our market is active" This specific aim is detail by detail. It has special platforms and numbers. That was a possibility that a number of those facets will alter. By way of instance, you may figure out this YouTube can be a much better platform on the own video game organization touse for influencer advertising. Your influencer could discuss that video clips of sixty + moments to get longer involvement. Shifting the facts of your own objective is nice, however, also the outline needs to function as a startingpoint for several of one additional conclusions. This template Can Help You outline your target: Influencer Promoting effort target Program Who's that the influencer? Identify: Age array: Well-known about which programs? Marketing campaign ending aim: Quantity of articles: Which stage: Particular concerns: Today you have your aim summarized, it is the right time for you to proceed ahead into obtaining your influencer. The best way to Discover successful influencers to the new brand Choosing the most appropriate influencer is crucial for the achievements of the killer influencer promoting effort, however, it's not even close to uncomplicated. Ryan Schneider, the primary brand director of InsomniacGames,'' says, " [A] large amount of leg job goes to locating the most suitable influencer...When I was a PR man, also I personally had been attempting to come across the most suitable reporter in The Wall Street Journal, I really could accomplish this... probprobably,hin a Google hunt or 2 clicks. Targeting that the ideal influencers are sometimes described as a whole lot more complicated" As stated by Harness Effect, you can find four chief methods by that you may come across influencers: hunting , with databases, either tapping programs, or even researching market places. Guide hunting: This system necessitates running different hunts, scanning sites such as advice, then incorporating the info into your spreadsheet. It truly is exceptionally frustrating and not too powerful. Start with developing a recorder from Google Docs or Excel, subsequently develop a column for just about every portion of advice that you wish to pull around every personal influencer. Column titles Will Probably contain: Identify Marketplace of sway, for Instance, Particular market (for Instance, If a gambling influencer's audience Is Chiefly feminine, or beneath the Time of 16) Full followers (mix of Face-book, Insta-gram, Twitter, along with Snap Chat, or even the very best platforms that your crowd utilizes ) Face-book connection Insta-gram Connection Twitter Connection Snap Chat Connection Experts Downsides Email/contact information Particular notes: Would you have a romance with these, or how do they routinely article about issues closely associated with a own brand? Insert any additional information that you need to add up right here. Up coming, hunt Google and applicable societal programs such as key words, mentmentionyour brand name, and relevant Hash-tags. You'll locate plenty of advice to sort through. For your cellular gaming customer, I changed to Google Photos to search especially for societal websites: Glued Picture 0 436 The informative article by Izea Looks promising: Glued Picture 0 419 At an extremely competitive sector for example mobile gambling, those high-tier influencers are that I'd opt to make certain the maximum reach potential. I'd check out most of 25 and insert influencers who look just such as a fantastic suit to your own spreadsheet. The very next thing to do will be to look for the very widely used platform to our audience. Inside this instance, I go to YouTube. The best plan is always to take a look in videos together with all the maximum involvement, possibly out of my my competitions', then look at that who engaged with all those articles. Out that point, I'd have the ability to locate the most notable influencers. I'm with a false case, therefore that I can not hunt to our new. Because we're in portable gambling, '' I will hunt for just two Dotsa favorite puzzle game. Predicated on the Fast look of this name, '' I visit just two potential influencers: Glued Picture 0 428 The very best video clip is older, and also ghostlyintl chiefly shares video clips of music by different musicians. This wont be considered a fantastic fit to our gambling website. The next movie is out of the true new Dots. It is likewise perhaps not just a fantastic match. The next, edgedepotght symbolize a fantastic match. The video clip can be really a walk through of both Dots match, edgedepot'snnel is busy, and also the station gets significantly more than 100,000 followers. Sounds promising! Glued Picture 0 431 That I wI would them into the dictionary and continue planning. Remember, this research obtained me one potential influencer to aim. Guide re-search is also incredibly labour intensive. But for more compact brands trying to find quite specialized niche influencers, that will be probably the optimal/optimally option. Data bases: All these are programs which is going to perform the site-scraping for-you personally by pulling out freely available information. These are able to be very good areas to start out, however pruning just about every influencer can prove to be quite time-consuming. Ostensibly, in the place of by hand carrying out the hunts, data bases perform the heavy lifting. They truly are significantly less costlier than searching and more economical compared to alternatives. Illustrations Incorporate Very Little Fowl and Inpowered. Inpowered includes a listing of customers it's functioned in Earlier times including Casestudies: Glued Picture 0 438 For the cellular gambling corporation, that will not appear to really be quite a fantastic match. Even a far more conventional brand could discover this database of use. Networks: This way of linking together with influencers stays directly between data bases along with market places. A system includes assembled connections with influencers, nevertheless, you need to proceed as a result of their profiles to accomplish out. Networks have a tendency to center on distinct genres, such as as Dad writers, life style influencers, or even meals lovers. Cases of hot influencer networks comprise Hell O modern society, Activate, and Fitfluential. Following only a bit of study, I come along with a fantastic match for the cellular gaming corporation: MatchMade. They create it super easy to hunt for the kind of influencer I'd like, for example letting me form my own options predicated on get to, spot, readers, along with involvement. Glued Picture 0 434 Still another good thing about programs is they regularly offer far more analytics and tracking. Matchmade Supplies a more Complete dash: Glued Picture 0 426 Additionally, there are lots of experts to deciding on a system -- you also can pick the sort of influencer you would like predicated on several diverse elements. Monitoring is contained, which makes it straightforward to understand whether you're attaining your targets. But this tends to be absolutely the costliest alternative. Market places: A market-place gives the most useful qualities of the database by simply dragging real-time info, however, it also enables you in order to avert middmiddlemanrketplaces have a tendency to supply more observation, nevertheless they're even less expensive. Cases of marketplace areas comprise Tribe, HYPR, and Brand Name Snob. Just like internet dating internet sites, market places permit one to take a look at countless of profiles of distinct influencers. This is a Instance of an influencer Account Tribe: Glued Picture 0 424 I will readily view her attain and also an instance of her job. That really is a lot simpler than sorting through tens of thousands of Google research benefits. Pick the optimal/optimally way for discovering an influencer that suits your preferences could be intricate. Fundamentally, you're searching for somebody, and also like every venture, you ought to don't rush and contemplate all of these selections. The last determination is very likely planning to be more centered on exactly what resource that you wish to invest time or money. Obtaining the maximum from your own influencer effort You've summarized your own objectives, plumped for an influencer, and began to create a romantic relationship together. Today now is the time and energy to produce your real effort. Below are some hints for finding the best from your own killer influencer promoting effort. Very first, be true. The rationale conventional adverts are not as helpful now is people crave connections that are authentic. though you're paying to your influencer to speak about your new brand, you have to maintain credibility at heart to work. Jay Baer of both Convince and also Convert claims that it best:"In case an influencer does not in shape a new ethos, then the validity variable will plummet." Deciding on the most suitable influencer may be the initial rung on the ladder in maintaining credibility" Secondly, pick the stage that you employ attentively. Take notice not to in which your viewers is the most busy but additionally which kind of content material works well on just about every stage. Require, by Way of Example, this movie Made by Harry's Razors: About face-book, the online video captured three million viewpoints. About Insta-gram, HarrHarryse to place some Screen Shot of the Exact Same movie: Although Insta-gram supports online video, they have a tendency to work far better on face book. Based on Murray Newlands,"Di, “erent platforms are all utilised to accomplish various demographics and audiences, and also exactly the exact same is true for that which goods or services you are advertising and marketing: exquisite pics of one's product rely to Insta-gram, whereas eye-popping movies will probably do superior on face book." Afford the opportunity and energy to assemble a true relationship with all the influencer. This provides you and also the influencer a opportunity to determine whether you're a fantastic healthy and boosts credibility. Angel A Stringfellow of all CODA Concept S claims,"commence slowly and gradually by pursuing these on societal networking, sharing their own articles, emphasizing in the weblogs and participating them into relevant talks whenever potential. Placing a partnership of mutual confidence would be the secret to efficiently participating your audience's idea leaders since new urges." Enable your influencer throughout access and information to a new brand, however tend not to require control. Preferably, you have plumped for an influencer who's already participated together with your own brand new. Otherwise make sure that they truly comprehend your brand name's voice and exactly what you mean. Invite visitors for the officesand provide tickets for your occasions, and also reveal interesting tales on your own new and also individuals that you aid. However, bear in mind they are very popular with your intended crowd because of this. To maintain conversation true, you want to exude control. Summary Influencer marketing and advertising could look like another buzz word made with a production enthusiastic about tablets. Nevertheless, the clinic isn't not anything fresh. Quite only, folks expect people over that they anticipate brand names. Influencer promotion enables one to leverage that confidence to make good will to your own brand new. The measures that I summarized previously can assist you to locate the optimal/optimally influencer and receive the absolute most from one's own partnership. Perhaps you have ever implemented an influencer promoting effort? Exactly what exactly were the benefits?

More Information: Influencer Marketing Platform

[thatsnotcanonpodcasts]

Oscars, Solar Orbiter & Mythic Quest

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, we hope at the least you had a good evening snuggling up with your favourite movie.

Starting off this week, DJ tells us about the results of the latest Celebrity Worship Awards. Who won? Which actor is deserving of our endless praise? Buck and Professor are sceptical, but DJ jumps right in to tell us all about the Oscars.  

Buck wants to leave the planet to escape the Oscars, so he’s been looking into the newest Solar Orbiter. This probe will be looking at the Sun’s poles. Maybe the weather is better away from the equator? 

Professor has been binge watching Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, the new television show from Ubisoft, Apple TV, and the team behind It’s Always Sunny. Professor might be geeking out a little about having the burdens and struggles of being a game developer shown on TV.  

The Nerds talk about their games of the week, then finally we have the Shout outs, Remembrances, Birthdays and Events of Interest.  This week we’re recommending Epigraphy, a poetry podcast Buck hopes to take a shot at. Check back soon to find out if he can poet as well as he can podcast.

Oscars 2020 winners and losers

                - https://deadline.com/2020/02/2020-oscars-winners-list-92-academy-awards-1202855067/

Solar Orbiter blasts off

            -https://phys.org/news/2020-02-solar-orbiter-blasts-capture-1st.html

The Story of Mythic Quest

            -https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-ubisoft-created-fake-video-game-at-center-apples-mythic-quest-1277134

Games Played

DJ

– Ironsight - https://store.steampowered.com/app/715220/Ironsight/

Rating – 2/5

Professor

- Nyheim - https://store.steampowered.com/app/572300/Nyheim/

Rating – 3.5/5

Buck

- Scrabble - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble

Rating – 4.5/5

Other topics discussed

Judy Garland (American actress, singer and dancer. During a career that spanned 45 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. She appeared in more than two dozen films for MGM and is best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland

Judy (2019 movie about Judy Garland starring Renee Zellweger)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ynUq8TjYA

James Corden & Rebel Wilson appearing in cat suits

- https://www.theguardian.com/film/shortcuts/2020/feb/13/why-james-corden-and-rebel-wilson-should-have-stuck-up-for-cats

Brad Pitt’s children

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Pitt#Children

Billie Eilish's Rendition of Yesterday for In Memorium

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKmqtaxIS3Y

Eminem's Oscar's Performance

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvSx_1WVWiM

Solar Flare (a sudden flash of increased brightness on the Sun, usually observed near its surface and in close proximity to a sunspot group.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare

Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet (American comedy web television series starring Rob McElhenney for Apple TV+.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythic_Quest:_Raven%27s_Banquet

Other cast members in Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet

- Danny Pudi as Brad Bakshi, head of monetization - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Pudi

- Imani Hakim as Dana, game tester - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imani_Hakim

- Ashly Burch as Rachel, game tester - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashly_Burch

The Social Network (2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network

Silicon Valley (American comedy television series created by Mike Judge,John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, that premiered on April 6, 2014, on HBO.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)

Maslow's hierarchy of needs (a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Apple is now worth 1.3 trillion Dollars

- https://www.investopedia.com/news/apple-now-bigger-these-5-things/

World Turtle ((also referred to as the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle) is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Turtle

Movies David Bowie acted in

- Labyrinth (1986 musicaldark fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, with George Lucas as executive producer, based upon conceptual designs by Brian Froud.) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_(1986_film)

- The Prestige (2006 thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, based on the 1995 novel by Christopher Priest.) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prestige_(film)

Epigraphy (TNC podcast)

- Website - https://thatsnotcanon.com/epigraphypodcast

- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IUpBuecJui5S8OMW8PBGI?fbclid=IwAR1mUKVf6WHcU5x0zaGX3CX6JfeNWdw5jSPsXCRvmVRTWbh-MR1gkIiJxS4

Shout Outs

5 February 2020 – Global Heat record smashed again. - https://www.sciencealert.com/2020-has-barely-started-and-we-ve-already-had-another-global-heat-record?fbclid=IwAR1BlvNWUzdef8pI3NdvNvPtblFXSk5Sf_4X9Rt3g7nZODwpya7ZlJV1vC4

- https://climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-temperature-january-2020

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), a band of countries stretching from Norway to Russia, temperatures were an unprecedented 6°C above the same 30-year benchmark. Temperatures in January 2020 were above the 1981-2010 average over most of Europe. They were exceptionally high for the time of year in the north and east, in a band spreading eastward and south-eastward from Norway to Russia, with values more than 6ºC above average in many places. Exceptional above-average temperatures were not confined to Europe but extended over almost all of Russia. Temperatures were also much above average over most of the USA and eastern Canada, over Japan and parts of eastern China and Southeast Asia, over the state of New South Wales in Australia and over parts of Antarctica.

9 February 2020 – Paula Kelly passed away – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paula-kelly-dead-sweet-charity-actress-dancer-was-76-1277809

Paula Kelly the actress, singer and dancer who starred in the film version of Sweet Charity and earned an Emmy nomination for her turn on Night Court. Kelly also appeared in such movies as The Andromeda Strain (1971), and Soylent Green (1973) among others. Kelly earned an Emmy nomination in 1984 for portraying public defender Liz Williams on the first season of the NBC sitcom Night Court and received another in 1989 for playing Theresa, one-half of a lesbian couple, on the ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place. "The only time I feel complete expression is when I'm dancing," Kelly said in a 1968 interview before she embarked on the movie. "Then, I have no problems, no worries, no hang-ups. I feel I could do anything in the world." She died at the age of 77 in Whittier, California.

10 Febuary 2020 – Apple fined 0.002 per cent of its worth - https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/apple-fined-0002-per-cent-of-its-worth-for-slowing-down-everyones-phone-without-telling-them/news-story/3d799b2cc0ba7848455db0e38a5c90b3

France’s Directorate General of Competition, Consumption and Repression of Fraud (DGCCRF) found the lack of transparency displayed by Apple in the past breached its guidelines. The company was fined €25 million ($A41 million). Apple also “committed the crime of deceptive commercial practice by omission”. The consumer electronics giant is worth almost two trillion dollars, so the $41 million fine is unlikely to be felt too heavily. The fine is around 0.002 per cent of the company’s worth. If you were given a similar fine, it would only cost you about $20.

Remembrances

10 February 1891 – Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofya_Kovalevskaya

Born Sofya Vasilyevna Korvin-Krukovskaya, Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer for women in mathematics around the world – the first woman to obtain a doctorate (in the modern sense) in mathematics, the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe and one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. According to historian of science Ann Hibner Koblitz, Kovalevskaia was "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century" There are several alternative transliterations of her name. She herself used Sophie Kowalevski (or occasionally Kowalevsky) in her academic publications. She died from influenza, complicated by pneumonia at the age of 41 in Stockholm.

10 February 2008 – Roy Richard Scheider - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Scheider

American actor and amateur boxer. Scheider gained fame for his leading and supporting roles in several iconic films from the 1970s through to the early-mid 80s, playing NYPD Detective Buddy "Cloudy" Russo in The French Connection (1971); NYPD Detective Buddy Manucci in The Seven Ups (1973); Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws and Jaws 2; Doc in Marathon Man; choreographer and film director Joe Gideon (whose character was based on Bob Fosse) in All That Jazz (which was co-written and directed by Fosse); and Dr. Heywood R. Floyd in the 1984 film 2010, the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Scheider was also known for playing Captain Nathan Bridger in the science fiction television series seaQuest DSV (1993–1996). Described as "one of the most unique and distinguished of all Hollywood actors", Scheider was nominated for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award. He died from multiple myeloma at the age of 75 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

10 February 2019 – Carmen Antimo Argenziano- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Argenziano

American actor who has appeared in over 50 movies and around 100 television movies or episodes. He is best-known as the recurring character Jacob Carter/Selmak in the television series Stargate SG-1. He is also a lifetime member of the Actors Studio and was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award for his performance as Jack Delasante in Thomas Babe's A Prayer for My Daughter. He died at the age of 75 in Los Angeles, California.

Famous Birthdays

10 February 1824 –Samuel Plimsoll - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Plimsoll

English politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line (a line on a ship's hull indicating the maximum safe draught, and therefore the minimum freeboard for the vessel in various operating conditions). He was born in Bristol. 

10 February 1906 – Lon Chaney Jr. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Chaney_Jr.

Creighton Tull Chaney, American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film The Wolf Man (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dracula spelled backward) in Son of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), the Mummy in three pictures, and various other roles in many Universal horror films. He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies. Originally referenced in films as Creighton Chaney, he was later credited as "Lon Chaney, Jr." in 1935, and after Man Made Monster (1941), beginning as early as The Wolf Man later that same year, he was almost always billed under his more famous father's name as Lon Chaney at the studio's insistence. Chaney had English,French, and Irish ancestry, and his career in movies and television spanned four decades, from 1931 to 1971. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory.

10 February 1929 – Jerry Goldsmith – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Goldsmith

American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for such films as Star Trek: The Motion Picture and four other films within the Star Trek franchise. He produced other albums such as Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes,The Omen, Alien, Poltergeist, Gremlins, Rudy, L.A. Confidential, Mulan, The Mummy, three Rambo movies & Explorers. In May 1997, with the release of Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, he gained more popularity with his fanfare of the 1997 Universal Studios opening logo, which would be among the most iconic studio logo music of all time.  He collaborated with some of film history's most accomplished directors, including Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joe Dante, Richard Donner, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Michael Winner, Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Franklin J. Schaffner. Goldsmith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and eighteen Academy Awards (he won only one, in 1976, for The Omen). He composed the Paramount Pictures Fanfare used from 1976 through 2011. He was born in Los Angeles, California.

Events of Interest

10 February 1940 – Puss gets the boot : The first Tom and Jerry Cartoon .- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puss_Gets_the_Boot

It was directed by William Hanna,Joseph Barbera and Rudolf Ising, and produced by Rudolf Ising and Fred Quimby. As was the practice of MGM shorts at the time, only Rudolf Ising is credited. The short, Puss Gets the Boot, featured a cat named Jasper and an unnamed mouse, named Jinx in pre-production, and an African American housemaid named Mammy Two Shoes. Leonard Maltin described it as "very new and special [...] that was to change the course of MGM cartoon production" and established the successful Tom and Jerry formula of comical cat and mouse chases with slapstick gags. Matters changed, however, when Texas businesswoman Bessa Short sent a letter to MGM asking whether more cat and mouse shorts would be produced, which helped convince management to commission a series. A studio contest held to rename both characters was won by animator John Carr, who suggested Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse after the Christmas time drink. Carr was awarded a first-place prize of $50.

10 February 1957 – Attack Of The Crab Monsters clawed its way to theatres. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_Crab_Monsters

On this day in 1957, Attack Of The Crab Monsters made audiences afraid to go back into the water.  The feature starred Richard Garland and Pamela Duncan, and here's the plot summary: "Scientists become trapped on a shrinking island with intelligent, murderous giant crabs.”  Attack of the Crab Monsters was Corman's most profitable production up to that time, which he attributed to the "wildness of the title," the construction of the storyline, the structuring of every scene for horror and suspense, and editing for pace. Corman has stated that the success of the film convinced him that horror and humor was an effective combination.

10 February 1972 – Ziggy Stardust makes his earthly debut - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ziggy-stardust-makes-his-earthly-debut

The concert at London’s Toby Jug pub a relatively minor rocker named David Bowie became the spaceman Ziggy Stardust. “I’m going to be huge,” is what David Bowie told Melody Maker less than three weeks earlier and still six months prior to the release of the albumThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. “And it’s quite frightening in a way, because I know that when I reach my peak and it’s time for me to be brought down it will be with a bump.”  That last bit may have been a case of Bowie confusing his Ziggy persona with real life, but that was what put the act over in the first place. Any rock musician can put on a costume, but how many could have inhabited the identity of an androgynous Martian rock star come to Earth in its dying days so convincingly, so effortlessly.

10 February 1996 – World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov loses game to computer. - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kasparov-loses-chess-game-to-computer

After three hours, world chess champion Garry Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second.  Man was ultimately victorious over machine, however, as Kasparov bested Deep Blue in the match with three wins and two ties and took home the $400,000 prize. An estimated 6 million people worldwide followed the action on the Internet. The February 1996 contest was significant in that it represented the first time a human and a computer had duked it out in a regulation, six-game match, in which each player had two hours to make 40 moves, two hours to finish the next 20 moves and then another 60 minutes to wrap up the game.

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

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[relationshipadviser-blog]

Ripe for a kicking: Hollywoods love-hate relationship with Rotten Tomatoes

New Post has been published on https://relationshipqia.com/must-see/ripe-for-a-kicking-hollywoods-love-hate-relationship-with-rotten-tomatoes/

Ripe for a kicking: Hollywoods love-hate relationship with Rotten Tomatoes

Twenty years after its launch, the movie-review aggregators verdict is now seen as vital to a films success or failure. Is the site too influential for its own good?

Twenty years ago, the internet was a very different place. Google was a fresh rival to Alta Vista and Lycos. Apple computers looked like boiled sweets, and we dialled up to surf the net, having installed the software via CD-Rom. The movie world of 1998 was also somewhat different: the box office was ruled by meteorite movies and Adam Sandler; Harvey Weinstein was an Oscar winner; and The Avengers was a lame, retro spy comedy with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman. It was into this climate that Senh Duong launched Rotten Tomatoes known in the business as RT a site that has transformed both worlds, although nobody seems quite sure if it has done so for better or worse.

Duongs idea was simple to compile movie reviews and it still drives Rotten Tomatoes. He was inspired by his love of Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies and would scour the internet looking for reviews of them. So why not put them in one place? Duong already had a full-time job, he says. Rotten Tomatoes was a side project I worked on in the evenings. He single-handedly designed and coded the site in just two weeks. It was very laborious. Every page was manually assembled using HTML. Every review was manually searched for, read and quoted.

In the same way that, say, lastminute.com and Expedia compare plane ticket prices, Rotten Tomatoes review aggregation has turned out to be super-useful, particularly as it boils all those reviews down to a single, convenient percentage score. It then boils down that score even further, to a simple graphic of a tomato. In the same way that Siskel and Ebert gave a thumbs up or a thumbs down, or the man from Del Monte tasted a pineapple and said yes or no, so Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer separates movies into fresh or rotten. If at least 60% of a movies reviews are positive, it is graded fresh, signified by a ripe, red tomato. Less than 60% and it is rotten, signified by a green splat. Over 75% gets you a certified fresh logo, like a sticker on a quality piece of fruit. (The 1998 Avengers movie, if you were wondering, scored a supremely rotten 5%.)

Lady Bird a hit with critics and Rotten Tomatoes. Photograph: Allstar/A24

Today, movies supposedly live or die by the ripeness of that virtual fruit. Rotten Tomatoes has become the one movie site to aggregate them all. The Tomatometer appears not only on Rotten Tomatoes site but also on ticketing sites such as AMC cinemas and Fandango (which has owned Rotten Tomatoes since 2016). It comes up on Google searches, iTunes, SoundCloud, in Twitter and chatroom discussions and (as long as the rating is fresh) in movie studios marketing campaigns. It is a news item when a movie achieves a 100% fresh rating, as recently happened with Paddington 2 and, before that, Greta Gerwigs Lady Bird.

With its dominance and prominence, Rotten Tomatoes is becoming the story and not always in a good way. After Lady Bird got its 100% score, for example, one critic opted to lob a green splat into the mix, not because he hated the movie, but because everyone else liked it so much. I had to consider whether to cast Lady Bird as fresh or rotten in the context of a perfect score that people were using to trumpet Lady Bird as the all-time best-reviewed movie on RT, Cole Smithey tweeted. In other words, Rotten Tomatoes status as a neutral measure of critics opinions comes into question when it starts to influence those opinions.

The possible gaming of Rotten Tomatoes scores has taken on more sinister aspects lately. Earlier this month, Facebook announced it had taken down the page of a group called Down With Disneys Treatment of Franchises and Its Fanboys, which was attempting to orchestrate a mass troll assault on the Rotten Tomatoes score of the superhero movie Black Panther. Alongside the critic-designated Tomatometer score, Rotten Tomatoes also gives each movie an audience score, determined by registered users and represented by a popcorn bucket: red and full for positive; green and tipped-over for negative. The anti-Black Panther group sought to lower the movies audience score by bombarding the site with negative reviews. It claimed to have programmed bots to create fake user accounts. It also said it was acting in the name of DC comics, the main rival to Black Panthers (Disney-owned) Marvel, but suspicions of far-right motivations persist, particularly because the same group had previously targeted Star Wars: The Last Jedi (also Disney-owned) on account of its supposed social justice warrior concepts.

Rotten Tomatoes has denied the attacks succeeded, but at present The Last Jedis Tomatometer score is 91% (a critical Yay!) while its audience score is 48% (a public Meh). Was this discrepancy the result of far-right bots or genuine audience division? Either way, it didnt matter much: The Last Jedi is now the ninth-highest-grossing movie in history. Black Panther is likely to be a billion-dollar movie, too.

Paddington 2 perfect score.

When movies bomb, however, the studios have been quick to blame Rotten Tomatoes. Last summer, Hollywood resorted to tomato-shaming to spare its own blushes over colossal failures such as Baywatch (Tomatometer score: 18%), The Mummy (16%), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (29%) and Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (30%). The critic aggregation site increasingly is slowing down the potential business of popcorn movies, complained the website Deadline. Director Brett Ratner called Rotten Tomatoes the worst thing we have in todays movie culture and the destruction of our business. He may have been stung by the fate of Warner Bros blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which Ratners company co-produced; it earned a malodorous 27%.

The situation came to the boil with Batman v Supermans 2017 follow-up: Justice League. For Warner Bros, the movie was a big deal: a superhero team-up with an estimated $300m budget. So, eyebrows were raised when Justice Leagues Rotten Tomatoes score did not appear on the site as expected, once an embargo on critics reviews lifted. Even when those reviews were available on other sites and the movie was previewing in cinemas, Rotten Tomatoes webpage for Justice League was blank. Instead, the excuse ran, Justice Leagues score was to be announced on Rotten Tomatoes new web show, See It Or Skip It, in which presenters provide context and conversation around the movie of the week before revealing its all-important Tomatometer score. For Justice League, that score was a decidedly unripe 43%. By the time it appeared on the website, it had dropped to 40%.

Some observers smelled a conspiracy, since Warner Bros holds a 30% stake in Rotten Tomatoes parent company, Fandango (Universal owns the other 70%). Rotten Tomatoes, however, denied Warner Bros had anything to do with the decision: We are absolutely autonomous, like any news organisation, it said. There is no outside influence on anything we put on the site. If the studio was secretly trying to bury bad news, it didnt work. The incident ultimately generated negative publicity for Justice League, Warner Bros and Rotten Tomatoes.

Duong left Rotten Tomatoes in 2007 to pursue other digital media projects. When I started it, he recalls, I was only thinking of its positive impact that it could be really useful to film fans. And to studios: they could use the Tomatometer to promote their good films. I wasnt thinking at all about how they would react to the poorly reviewed ones. He notes that Warner Bros didnt complain about Wonder Womans 92% rating, which it used in its own promotion.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi targeted. Photograph: Allstar/Lucasfilm

Often, though, studios find subtle ways to control Rotten Tomatoes message, or, if necessary, stop it getting through at all. They may screen a movie before its release to a receptive crowd a fan-filled festival screening, say, or a cherrypicked selection of sympathetic critics to get a decent Tomatometer score on the board early and hopefully set the tone.

The biggest blockbusters are withheld from critics, or their reviews are embargoed, until very close to the movies release date. Occasionally (when the studio knows its got a real stinker on its hands) they are not screened for critics at all. As a result, no Tomatometer score appears until the very last minute. Last summer, for example, Sony embargoed reviews of The Emoji Movie in the US until just a few hours before its release. Critics gave the movie an RT score of just 6%, but it achieved a healthy opening weekend of $24.5m (17.5m) in the US. Family movies are generally less susceptible to the power of the tomato, anyway: few parents ever dissuaded an eager six-year-old by arguing the data.

Can Rotten Tomatoes really make or break a movie? It definitely has an impact, says Ethan Titelman, a senior vice-president at the Hollywood market research firm National Research Group (NRG). According to NRGs annual survey, 50% of regular moviegoers frequently check the site, often immediately before buying their cinema tickets. And 82% are more interested in seeing a movie if it has a high Tomatometer score, while two-thirds are deterred by a low score. Furthermore, Titelman adds, its influence is growing and broadening out. Once it would have been for your tech-savvy early adopters, but it has actually doubled its influence over moviegoers aged over 45 in the last couple of years alone.

Then again, a study by University of Southern Californias Entertainment Technology Center crunched the data on box office returns v Tomatometer scores for the biggest 150 movies of 2017 and found the correlation to be pretty much zero meaning that, in general, Rotten Tomatoes doesnt affect movies positively or negatively. Despite anomalies such as The Last Jedi, it also found a high correlation between critics scores and audience scores, which suggests that everyone tends to agree when a movie sucks. When Hollywood executives complain about Rotten Tomatoes scores, the researcher concluded, theyre really complaining about their audiences tastes because its basically the same thing.

Steven Gaydos, the executive editor of Variety, dismisses the studios complaints out of hand: Its really a case of shoot the messenger, he says. If Rotten Tomatoes reflects the consensus of opinion on a movie and the movie is bad and therefore doesnt do well, what part of that is Rotten Tomatoes doing something nefarious or terrible? Studios today bank on fewer, bigger movies, each of which can represent an investment of half a billion dollars in production and marketing costs, Gaydos points out. Also, a movies opening weekend typically accounts for one-third of its total box office. So, you can imagine how much pressure there is to get an opening weekend that has not been damaged or diminished by a bad Rotten Tomatoes score. Everything is at stake.

Rotten Tomatoes may not be killing movies, but it could well be killing movie criticism. Not only by attempting to bypass professionals and build buzz with the fans, but also by its inherent premise. Rotten Tomatoes only registers if each review is positive or negative (its rival Metacritic, by contrast, assigns a percentage score to each individual review, then calculates the average). A movie that everyone agrees is simply quite good could therefore be 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, while movies that are more challenging, controversial or experimental are more likely to divide critics and get a lower score. The system favours safety and consensus. As well as movies, Rotten Tomatoes is grading the critics: if a reviewer goes against the grain, the Tomatometer score is proof that they are wrong.

Its self-censorship, says Varietys Gaydos. Critics have trained themselves to [pretend to] take seriously movies that they dont take seriously because the danger is not having a job and not being relevant, being aged out of the discussion. The numbers bear out this trend. The median Tomatometer score for movies grossing more than $2m was 51% during the 2000s and 53% during the 2010s. In 2017, though, the year of crashes such as Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean 5, the median was 71%. Either critics are enjoying movies more or movies are better than ever.

Warner Bros didnt complain about Wonder Womans 92% rating, says RTs founder. Photograph: Clay Enos/AP

Gaydoss fear is that Rotten Tomatoes is replacing nuanced, thoughtful film writing. We used to read Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael arguing, and now were looking at a picture of a green tomato or a red tomato. We have to see what weve lost here, people!

Film-makers have expressed similar sentiments. Martin Scorsese complained that sites such as Rotten Tomatoes have absolutely nothing to do with real film criticism. They rate a picture the way youd rate a household appliance in Consumer Reports The film-maker is reduced to a content manufacturer and the viewer to an unadventurous consumer.

Others disagree. The New Yorker critic Richard Brody argued that Rotten Tomatoes has the merit of putting reviews by critics who write for smaller outlets alongside those who write for more prominent ones, which is all to the good. Duong also defends his brainchild: In regards to this fear that people would only look at the score and not read the reviews, its not supported by data. When I was there, 85% to 90% of users who went to a movie page on Rotten Tomatoes clicked on a review and left the site. Its not surprising when you think about it: its a page full of links with enticing quotes.

When Duong created Rotten Tomatoes in 1998, Hollywood released many more titles than it does now, and they were reviewed by a handful of significant critics: major newspapers and magazines, syndicated critics such as Siskel and Ebert. The media elite, you could say. Today, the situation has flipped. Hollywood releases fewer movies and they are reviewed by hundreds, possibly thousands, of critics. You could see this as democratisation and diversity of the media, or the emergence of a cacophony of critical voices. However, the proliferation created an opportunity at the top to simplify and aggregate the multitude into one overarching meta-entity: essentially, a new media elite. Depending on how you look at it, Rotten Tomatoes either showcases organic, heirloom varieties like an upmarket grocery store, or it blends all difference into one homogeneous, easily digestible puree. The fruit is either half-ripe or half-rotten; its all a matter of taste.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

[dpinoycosmonaut]

A FOURTH STRAIGHT GO-AROUND FOR WARRIORS, CAVALIERS

by Bert A. Ramirez / May 29, 2018

               Mark your calendar: Friday, June 1, 2018 at 9:00 a.m., Manila time.  That’s when the 2018 NBA championship series starts, with defending champion Golden State facing, who else, but Cleveland in the two arch-rivals’ fourth straight confrontation for all the marbles.

               The Warriors and the Cavaliers arranged another showdown after beating two tough rivals in their winner-take-all Game 7 in their respective conferences, the first time both conference finals went the full distance in 39 years, or since 1979, when Washington, then called the Bullets, beat San Antonio, then bracketed in the Eastern Conference, at the Spurs’ homecourt, and Seattle, the forerunner of the Oklahoma City Thunder, closed it out at home against Phoenix.

               The Warriors limited the Houston Rockets to less than half of their own production in the third quarter for the second straight game to close the door on the latter in front of their home fans 101-92, while the Cavaliers, with LeBron James continuing with his otherworldly playoff performance that enabled him to get into an eighth straight NBA finals, the last four with Cleveland, did the same to the Boston Celtics at the latter’s own homecourt 87-79.

               Now, the Cavaliers, with James having an option to get out of his contract when the season is over, are supposed to be fighting not only for the championship but for that option on James’ part.  Win the title and in all probability James opts in. Lose to the Warriors a third time in four years and the belief in some quarters is that the quintessential LeBron, whom they’ve seen bolt two declining franchises, the Cavaliers in 2010 and the Miami Heat in 2014, is gone.

               The irony is, it’s James who holds the Cavaliers’ fortunes in his hands, and how he does – perhaps with a little help from the Cavs’ supporting cast – will dictate whether this Cavs team can compete, at least, with its powerful counterpart from the West.

               So how do LeBron and the Cavs stack up in this fourth go-around between the two teams?  We have broken down this matchup into several categories, and predict the likely winner based on which team has the edge in each.

Starters

               The Warriors simply have the best starting unit in the league, counting with four All-Stars – Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – and whoever suits the matchup (could be Kevon Looney, JaVale McGee or Andre Iguodala, as when the 2015 Finals MVP wasn’t yet hurt).

               On the other hand, the Cavaliers counter with James, George Hill, J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, assuming Love is fit enough after having been placed under concussion protocol since being hit by Celtic rookie Jayson Tatum’s broad shoulders in Game 6 of their Eastern final series.  If Love can’t go, then Jeff Green, the unsung hero in the Cavs’ Game 7 victory in Boston, will get the call.

               The Warriors’ superiority here is highlighted by the fact that Durant, Curry and Thompson make up almost 70 percent of the Warriors’ offense, an unmatched concentration of firepower not seen anywhere. The trio, along with Green, is also primarily responsible for the defense that has limited opponents to .447 floor shooting in these playoffs.

               Edge: Warriors.

Bench

               You would think that with such a powerful starting five, the Warriors’ bench would have to give up some, right?  Not really, as Golden State has a plethora of role players who have been so familiar with the Warriors’ system that they hardly give up anything while two of their All-Stars may be resting.  Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, David West, Nick Young, Looney and Cook have been so drilled in that system that the Warriors would hardly miss a beat with them holding the fort.

               While such guys as Kyle Korver, Larry Nance Jr., Fil-Am Jordan Clarkson and Green, if he comes off the bench, provide some solid potential right there, the fact that three of them – Nance, Clarkson and Green – just came aboard this year and have to find their place in the Cavs’ scheme of things puts them at a disadvantage, along with the added pressure of knowing they have to produce or else be accused of not being worthy teammates to James. The bench in the past didn’t have such a predicament as Kyrie Irving was there to provide consistent support to their franchise leader.

               Edge: Warriors.

Offense

               Are you kidding me?  These Warriors can score any which way they want, with Durant, Curry and Thompson combining for an average of 74.3 points in these playoffs. That’s more than 20 points per player. These Warriors may also have the best three-point shooters in the entire universe notwithstanding the fact that the three, as a group, has not been at their best yet.

               On the other hand, the Cavaliers’ offense starts and ends with James, particularly with Irving now gone to Beantown and Love not as consistent as he was before he joined up with James (let’s face it, something has to give whenever one plays with a ball-dominant star like LeBron, although it could work both ways whenever he is double-teamed).

               For the Cleveland offense to be at its most efficient best, Korver, Hill and especially Smith have to play and shoot better and more consistently.  Green gave the Cavaliers a bonus in those twin victories at the end of the East finals against Boston, but can he also be consistent against the Warriors?

               Edge: Warriors.

Defense

               The Warriors have locked down on “D” whenever necessary, as they showed against the Rockets, whom they held to less than half their score in the third quarter of their Game 6 and 7 victories.  (Of course, the Rockets’ missing an NBA-record 27 straight three-pointers in that clinching contest, many of them good looks, also had something to do with that development.)

               The Cavaliers also play efficient defense whenever they put their heart into it, like they did against the young Celtics in those series-ending triumphs, but probably not to the extent that these Warriors are capable of.  LeBron, unlike Green, Thompson, Durant and Curry, for example, is no longer the defensive stalwart that he was in the past, regardless of those chase-down blocks that he still pulls off, and it’s simply asking too much of the “King” to stay at that level after having singlehandedly carried his team on the other end.

               Edge: Warriors.

Coaching

               Warriors coach Steve Kerr has his team functioning at its optimum best whenever the occasion calls for it, like in the elimination games against the Rockets.  Perhaps the only goal that he has with this bunch is to keep it playing at a high level with more consistency as these Warriors have a tendency of turning it on and off.  Rest assured Kerr would be able to do that as they navigate the ultimate stage of a title defense.

               Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue has been more erratic with his rotation obviously as he tries to find the best combination for a basically new team, which brought back just four – James, Thompson, Smith and Korver – from its first and only championship winner in 2016.  But perhaps Lue’s biggest issue is finding a balance between getting the most out of James while keeping him fresh and also getting the most out of his supporting players.  That’s a difficult act in any language, and Lue has sometimes faltered with that objective.

               Edge: Warriors.

Intangibles

               The Warriors, of course have a championship pedigree that they want to buttress with a successful title defense.  This is one of the more dominant stretches any NBA franchise has had, and that’s due in no small measure to an all-for-one, one-for-all philosophy that starts from co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, who have shown the willingness to pay the luxury tax to keep a championship team intact. If one doesn’t get motivated by such an environment, nothing else will.

               While Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has tried to do the same and has, in fact, gone to great lengths to keep James happy, the prospect of losing his franchise player a second time, particularly if this team again fails to deliver for James for the fourth time in five attempts to win the title (the Cavs also lost to San Antonio in James’ earlier years in 2007), has weighed heavily on the entire organization.  Lue has tried to downplay all these offcourt issues, and rightly so, but in the end, it’s something that only oncourt success can resolve, or at least help ultimately shape.

               Edge: Warriors.

               It’s obvious, with the Warriors getting the edge in six of the six areas we used, that Golden State is close to unbeatable in this series, with all due respect to James himself.  Five players – or at least four All-Stars – always trump one All-Star or even two, and in this case, Love isn’t even a certainty for the entire stretch.  It’s worthy to note that in all of James’ three titles – two with Miami and one with Cleveland – let alone these last eight trips of his to the NBA finals, he always had two All-Stars on his side, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and Love and Irving in Cleveland.  Now, he just has one, and he may not be in the best of shape.  It won’t be that big a shame if he again loses in this one, probably in five games or even four if the Warriors get into a roll.

               Here are the complete playoff stats for each NBA finalist (figures are arranged according to games played, average minutes, points per game, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds per game, assists per game, steals per game, and blocks per game):

(Photo from ShowbizNest)  

#nbafinals #cavs #dubs

[thrashermaxey]

Frozen Pool Forensics: Analyzing Hart Trophy Candidates

Last week we covered the candidates for the Selke Trophy along with some names that needed their piece. In the same fashion this week we are taking a look at the named candidates for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the player who is most valuable to their squad’s success, along with a couple names that could use some acknowledgement despite not making the cut. To start, we look to Nova Scotia’s second-most loved son next to Sidney Crosby. We’ve all waited some time for this youngster to ascend to the elite territory and 2017-18 is hopefully but one of many productive seasons to come.

  Nathan MacKinnon

Everyone knew the talent and ability was there but the three years following his rookie campaign were disappointing. Though much of those mediocre seasons can be attested to the meager Avalanche squad he found himself on, this is a player that was expected to carry a franchise coming out of the draft. Improvement of the squad overall, a second season with coach Jared Bednar, and elevation of his own game led to career marks for the Halifax Mooseheads alum. Scoring 97 points total (39G, 58A), MacKinnon was an elite fantasy option for owners lucky enough to snag him in drafts. MacKinnon’s fading fantasy hope over the years allowed him to go in the 13th round in my redraft league and, to say the least, the owner was quite pleased with his investment.

A career season in shots for MacKinnon with 284 put him amongst the tops in the league. MacKinnon led the league in goals created per game at 0.50, tied for first with Brayden Point with 12 game winning goals, and was second to Connor McDavid by 0.01 in points per game (1.31). Colorado is not the deepest of squads at forward, relying heavily on the top unit (MacKinnon/Mikko Rantanen/Gabriel Landeskog) to provide the offense. The top line’s combined 243 points is the main reason they found themselves in the playoffs. Beyond them and Tyson Barrie, no other Avalanche player produced any astounding offensive numbers. Regardless this team had ten players with ten goals or more in 2017-18 so the future is bright. MacKinnon deserves heavy consideration regardless of the team’s first-round exit.

  Taylor Hall

Much like MacKinnon above, Taylor Hall also needs heavy consideration for MVP hardware because the Devils would not have made the postseason without his career year. Any of us who owned Hall for his 80-point campaign in 2013-14 have always held out hope he’d produce in the same light again someday. Hall definitely still has a chip on his shoulder after being shipped out of Edmonton for Adam Larsson and his dominant 93-point campaign proves it. Unlike Colorado, where Rantanen was a strong complementary scorer to MacKinnon, the next best scorer on the Devils was Nico Hischier with 41 fewer points (52). Hall’s 37 power-play points alone would have made him fifth in scoring on the team, to put it in perspective how vital he was. I could go on and on about advanced stats regarding Hall’s season but his strong contention for the Hart is rooted solidly in his uncontested importance to the team. No other candidate had as weak a supporting cast as Hall in my opinion. Therefore because of this and his 26-game point streak spanning two months, he makes for a favorite if you ask me.

  Anze Kopitar

What a fine treat to be covering Kopitar for the second week in a row for an entirely different nomination. The fact he is in MVP talks alongside best defensive forward consideration cements his place in the league as one of the most if not the most complete player. Kopitar bested Dustin Brown by 31 points overall in scoring in 2017-18 and managed a career season where the Los Angeles Kings only had Jeff Carter for 27 total games. Kopitar and Brown were the only two forwards to score more than 50 points speaking to the importance of his 92 points scored. Much like Hall, subtract Kopitar’s production and this team does not sniff the postseason. The Jesenice native was tenth overall in goals created per game at 0.42 and eighth in total goals created with 34.2. Not that we need more proof that Kopitar was essential to the Kings in 2017-18 but the man certainly needs more attention than he receives being out West. Los Angeles is a city much like Manhattan in that the people only real care when you’re winning. Though the Kings went nowhere in their first-round exit, the people of Los Angeles should truly appreciate what they have in Kopitar. They may never see another more complete player come through their system.

  Blake Wheeler

When will Blake Wheeler be unanimously considered as one of the best in the game today? Since 2011-12, he’s been of the league’s best forwards and seemingly gets better with age as he scored 91 points in 2017-18 at 31 years old. This is on top of changing his position to center when Mark Scheifele went down long term not missing a beat. This year’s goals and assists make for 373 total points over the past five seasons. Though assist-heavy, he’s given owners at least 20 goals every year since 2013-14 with his points per game above .75 every time since 2011-12. Wheeler, alongside the likes of the Penguins core forwards, Kopitar, Ovechkin, and Getzlaf are proving that although the game is getting younger and younger, do not count out the greybeards. 2017-18 saw him receive his highest offensive zone starting percentage since 2011-12 which resulted in his career high 3.3 pts/60. His eye popping 40 power-play points would have been good for eighth overall in team scoring. Wheeler is the poster child for youth and their potential overshadowing consistent proven options. Do not fall into this mindset when it comes time to draft. Though he may not take home the Hart because of all the scoring options in Winnipeg, the American winger certainly needs to be heavily considered.

  Phil Kessel

In reality, it’s Evgeni Malkin who should be covered but I owned him last season when he went down in playoff championships and can never forgive him. Maybe it’s because of the whole being American thing but my goodness Kessel’s season really seems to generate no discussion. By far the best campaign of his career to this point, Phil the Thrill was a force in western Pennsylvania as a “complementary” player. Removed from the star spotlight of Toronto, Kessel has flourished without the pressure all on him. Seeing a carousel of players beside him at even strength, he was deployment proof as far as point production producing 3.6 pts/60. Much can be credited to his absurd 42 power play points (12 goals) that would alone put him seventh overall in team scoring. Long heralded for his deadly release, Kessel is one of the more underrated passers in the NHL, with him routinely potting more assist totals then goals. With 211 points in 246 regular season games and 54 points in 62 playoff games donning a Penguins uniform, he’s been exactly what Jim Rutherford expected when he made the trade for the sniper. With two Stanley Cups already in three years and the recent information regarding him playing this entire campaign through injury, one really should tip their hat to his greatness.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/frozen-pool-forensics/frozen-pool-forensics-analyzing-hart-trophy-candidates/

[flauntpage]

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup

Another chance to move into first place in the National League East, another failed opportunity.

The Braves, actually just Ozzie Albies, took care of the Phillies 3-1 in the second game of their three game series. Albies hit a solo home run in the third inning before scoring the remaining two runs for Atlanta.

Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, the Phillies couldn’t get anything going again against Brandon McCarthy. The right-hander won his fifth game of the season and fourth against the Phils. In this performance, he struck out five while allowing four hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings. Cesar Hernandez extended his on-base streak to 26 games thanks to an RBI single that brought home Maikel Franco.

Odubel Herrera also extended his “games he’s made it to at least first base no matter what the MLB says” streak to 48 games.

Jake Arrieta takes the mound in the rubber match tonight at 7:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Elsewhere, the Phillies have their new left-handed batting practice pitcher. It’s a former minor leaguer from Cherry Hill.

Jorge Alfaro isn’t that good in the batters box. But who cares? He’s got a cannon of an arm.

While you read all that, make sure you listen to the latest edition of Crossed Up.

The Roundup:

AmeriGas is back at it again, this time with seven field-level tickets for an upcoming Phillies game.

The CB Six Pack has returned. It’s been a long time since this happened.

Day 1 of OTAs was…eventful. The team lost two linebackers for different reasons. Mychal Kendricks didn’t participate, and we later found out he was released. Corey Nelson took Kendricks’ spot at the WILL linebacker position. During OTAs, Paul Worrilow injured his right leg and was put in an air cast. It’s a torn ACL. Yeesh.

As for OTAs, Carson Wentz returned. He looked really good. There were others that looked good as well. Darren Sproles and Michael Bennett weren’t there, but no need to panic.

Later in the day, Brian Dawkins announced he was stepping down from his full-time role with the team to pursue other endeavors.

Nick Foles was almost traded to Cleveland for the 35th overall pick earlier this year. That never happened because the Super Bowl MVP wanted to stay in Philly. Smart move.

Sidney Jones is ready to make a big impact this season in his first actual season of play:

“Proving it to myself, first of all. I have high expectations of myself,” he said, when asked what motivates him, now that he is no longer rehabbing an injury. “Proving it to everybody else, too; I was rated highly last year and didn’t get to show that. I’m back.”

Wide receiver Shelton Gibson, a fifth-round draftee last season who also failed to make an impact, worked against Jones for several snaps Tuesday and said: “I like the way Sidney competes, always.”

Is Jones moving better than he was last season, now that the injury is more than a year behind him?

“He always looked good to me,” Gibson said.

Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz discussed the upcoming White House visit. Meanwhile, some angry Eagles fan wrote a letter to Brandon Graham about him not wanting to go to the White House.

Ben Simmons was a unanimous pick for the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He is a rookie.

Joel Embiid has ended his Twitter hiatus making fun of Aron Baynes.

While in the Bahamas, he played basketball with some random dudes.

Sam Hinkie has returned… on a podcast.

Carter Hart will report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as they play Game 3 in their Eastern Conference Final against the Toronto Marlies. They’re down 2-0 in the series. Game will be aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia + at 7:05 PM.

In other sports news, Houston tied their series with Golden State after a 95-92 win in the Bay Area. It was their first ever playoff win on Golden State’s home court.

NFL owners approved new helmet and kickoff rules. At least the Eagles won the Super Bowl before the league turned to crap.

Chargers tight end Hunter Henry also tore his ACL. He’s done for the year.

A quarterback did get traded. Christian Hackenberg was shipped to Oakland for a conditional seventh round pick.

Looks like the New York Rangers will hire David Quinn from BU as their new head coach.

This does not look like Brandi Chastain.

Danica Patrick will host this year’s ESPYs. Do you even watch these?

In the news, an autistic teen ran along traffic on I-95.

So that North Korea meeting may never happen.

Comcast is preparing to make a higher bid for some of 21st Century Fox’s assets to compete with Disney.

A judge sided with parents that want to evict their 30-year-old son.

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[junker-town]

CareerBuilder Challenge 2018: Schedule, tee times, TV/live stream info, and scores

The glory days of this PGA Tour event in Palm Springs are gone. But there’s still reason to keep tabs on what used to be famously known as the Bob Hope Classic.

The PGA Tour jumps back to the continental U.S. this week for the start of the West Coast swing. The annual stop in Palm Springs is now known as the CareerBuilder Challenge. The golden days of the Bob Hope Classic pro-am being one of the marquee events on the PGA Tour schedule are long gone. This event has struggled in its early-season slot and in finding a host or a brand name face like Hope to really give it pop and stand out on the crowded schedule, especially within a loaded West Coast swing.

The field is not strong and the venues, a rotating cast of three courses, are a bit meh. This has been lost in the shuffle of the packed schedule and is really struggling for an identity recent years. There are, however, still some stars on hand and a few reasons to take in the third event of the year before things really ramp up next week at Torrey Pines with the return of Tiger Woods.

Here are your nuts and bolts as well as why you should watch the CareerBuilder Challenge. We’ll keep this updated with scores, highlights, news, and updated tee times as the week progresses in the Coachella Valley.

Why Watch

1) It’s golf. Listen, I am not going to fill up this section every week trying to fake it with a bunch of reasons why you must watch such-and-such event. The CareerBuilder Challenge has receded in prestige and power and it’s one of the schedule’s lower-tier events now. The field is actually weaker than this week’s European Tour event, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The PGA Tour having a weaker field strength than the Euro Tour happens only a couple times a year. So I’d forgive you if you decided to read a book, hang with friends and family, go skiing or play outside in the snow. But it’s still golf and it will be there to comfort and warm you up when you need it. Now here are a few more legitimate reasons to maybe tune in this week.

2) FIGJAM Returns. Once more into the breach. Phil Mickelson is back and the 47-year-old is (probably) going to tell you he’s never felt better, he’s never been more focused, and big things lie ahead in 2018. That may be. We know it will be entertaining and adventurous and thrilling and maybe heartbreaking at times. It’s been almost five years since Phil won, that legendary Sunday at Muirfield to take The Open in the summer of 2013. Tiger Woods, who had multiple back surgeries in those intervening years, has actually won more recently than Phil.

Phil trying to end this drought, make a Ryder Cup team for the 11th straight time, and stay competitive with all the 20-something bombers remains one of the most fascinating watches in the game. We haven’t seen him in three months. He’s 47 and will likely be at least competitive into his 50s, but the time left on this Phil experience is ticking down. Here’s another opportunity to take it in after a three-month absence.

Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Phil and Rahm, the two headliners this week in the desert.

3) Rahmthreat. Jon Rahm is on the the opposite end of Phil. Another ASU product that’s coming through 25 years later with a potential Hall-of-Fame career in front of him. Rahm’s rise up the world rankings in his first full season on Tour was historically speedy. The Spaniard is No. 4 in the world and just going to stay there in that top 10 for the next decade or so. His short backswing on the way to nuking 330-yard drives is one of the best to watch in the game. Following a runner-up in Maui and with a weaker field in Palm Springs, this could be the week he picks off an early-season win.

4) Birdiefests and #59Watches. Like the Sony Open last week, this is another event that can yield the magic round of breaking 60. Adam Hadwin did it just a year ago here. David Duval did it at this event when it was the Bob Hope and breaking 60 was a much, much harder thing to do. It’s perfectly fine — and can be fun! — to occasionally have a week that’s a birdiefest every now and then and 20-something-under is probably going to win it this week.

How to Watch

The first stop on the West Coast swing is only one that’s exclusively covered on Golf Channel. The cable network will have all four rounds before spending the rest of the year splitting coverage with CBS or its sister network NBC on the weekends.

Each broadcast runs through the same coverage window all four days. Golf Channel’s technicians are still on strike after spending much of Tuesday negotiating a new deal, according to Martin Kaufmann of Golfweek. Golf Channel has contingency plans in place for the CareerBuilder, so it’s unlikely we’ll get the mad dash scramble that we watched on Sunday at the Sony Open. This should approximate a normal, more professional production but it’s still not ideal to have the regulars and experts sitting out on strike.

This week also marks the return of PGA TOUR LIVE, the tour’s over-the-top streaming service that now has a couple full seasons under its belt. Now that we’re on the continental US, it will be here to stay for the rest of the year. It’s a good service, even if it now costs money for something that was free in a previous generation. The stream quality is close to perfect and it is the only way to watch the bigger names on Thursday and Friday mornings. It returns this week, however, with some featured groups that are... underwhelming.

Here’s your full media schedule for the week:

Thursday's first round coverage

Television:

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel

Online streams:

11:30 a.m. -- PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes.

Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required):

11:30 a.m. -- Mark Wilson / David Lingmerth

11:40 a.m. -- Chris Stroud / Sean O’Hair

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream

4 to 7 p.m. PGA Tour Live Featured Holes coverage (no subscription required)

Radio:

1 to 7 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)

Friday’s second round coverage

Television:

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel

Online streams:

11:30 a.m. -- PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes.

Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required):

11:30 a.m. -- Danny Lee / Richy Werenski

11:40 a.m. -- Wesley Bryan / Ryan Armour

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream

4 to 7 p.m. PGA Tour Live Featured Holes coverage (no subscription required)

Radio:

1 to 7 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)

Saturday’s second round coverage

Television:

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel

Online streams:

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream

Radio:

1 to 7 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)

Sunday’s final round coverage

Television:

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel

Online streams:

3 to 7 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream

Radio:

2 to 7 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)

Thursday Tee Times

This is one of three events on the West Coast swing that spreads out across multiple courses. There are obviously a lot of golf courses in the Palm Springs and Coachella Valley area. This week, the PGA Tour uses three. The limited daylight hours, a full field, and a pro-am component (which take forrreverrr) make it necessary to rotate courses to get in 72 holes in four days. Here’s your tee sheet for Thursday, with the Tour sending them off split tees on all three of those courses.

All times ET.

PGA West TPC Stadium

No. 1 Tee

11:30 a.m.: Mark Wilson, David Lingmerth

11:40 a.m.: Chris Stroud, Sean O’Hair

11:50 a.m.: Tom Lovelady, Tyler Duncan

12 p.m.: Chad Campbell, Ben Martin

12:10 p.m.: James Hahn, Sangmoon Bae

12:20 p.m.: Brett Stegmaier, Seamus Power

12:30 p.m.: Scott Brown, Troy Merritt

12:40 p.m.: Brendan Steele, Webb Simpson

12:50 p.m.: John Peterson, Dominic Bozzelli

1 p.m.: Ryan Palmer, Hunter Mahan

1:10 p.m.: Patton Kizzire, Bill Haas

1:20 p.m.: Martin Laird, Luke List

1:30 p.m.: Trey Mullinax, Kyle Thompson

No. 10 Tee

11:30 a.m.: Derek Fathauer, Steve Wheatcroft

11:40 a.m.: Grayson Murray, Fabian Gomez

11:50 a.m.: Andrew Yun, Ethan Tracy

12 p.m.: Jason Gore, Corey Pavin

12:10 p.m.: Nick Watney, Kevin Streelman

12:20 p.m.: Rob Oppenheim, Nate Lashley

12:30 p.m.: J.J. Spaun, Brandon Hagy

12:40 p.m.: Rod Pampling, Geoff Ogilvy

12:50 p.m.: Robert Garrigus, Brice Garnett

1 p.m.: J.J. Henry, Mark Brooks

1:10 p.m.: Billy Hurley III, Brian Gay

1:20 p.m.: Sung Kang, Shawn Stefani

1:30 p.m.: Denny McCarthy, Nicholas Lindheim

PGA West Nicklaus Course

No. 1 Tee

11:30 a.m.: D.J. Trahan, Lee Janzen

11:40 a.m.: Greg Chalmers, Peter Malnati

11:50 a.m.: Zecheng Dou, Michael Block

12 p.m.: Danny Lee, Richy Werenski

12:10 p.m.: Wesley Bryan, Ryan Armour

12:20 p.m.: Sam Ryder, Talor Gooch

12:30 p.m.: Alex Cejka, Andrew Loupe

12:40 p.m.: Austin Cook, Mac Hughes

12:50 p.m.: Bronson Burgoon, Andrew Putnam

1 p.m.: Nick Taylor, Jon Curran

1:10 p.m.: Jim Herman, Daniel Summerhays

1:20 p.m.: C.T. Pan, Ryan Blaum

1:30 p.m.: Corey Conners, Xinjun Zhang

No. 10 Tee

11:30 a.m.: John Daly, Mike Weir

11:40 a.m.: Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker

11:50 a.m.: Martin Piller, Jonathan Randolph

12 p.m.: Rory Sabbatini, David Hearn

12:10 p.m.: Kevin Chappell, Stewart Cink

12:20 p.m.: Matt Atkins, Joel Dahmen

12:30 p.m.: Blayne Barber, Tyrone Van Aswegen

12:40 p.m.: Jhonattan Vegas, Charles Howell III

12:50 p.m.: Jeff Grove, Tom Whitney

1 p.m.: Matt Every, John Huh

1:10 p.m.: Kevin Kisner, Adam Hadwin

1:20 p.m.: Ben Crane, Zac Blair

1:30 p.m.: Tom Hoge, Abraham Ancer

La Quinta Country Club

No. 1 Tee

11:30 a.m.: Chesson Hadley, Chez Reavie

11:40 a.m.: Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson

11:50 a.m.: Beau Hossler, Aaron Wise

12 p.m.: Lucas Glover, Harris English

12:10 p.m.: Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson

12:20 p.m.: Sam Saunders, Peter Uihlein

12:30 p.m.: Johnson Wagner, Martin Flores

12:40 p.m.: Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker

12:50 p.m.: J.T. Poston, Keith Mitchell

1 p.m.: Scott Stallings, Kevin Na

1:10 p.m.: Hudson Swafford, Brian Harman

1:20 p.m.: Bud Cauley, Cameron Percy

1:30 p.m.: Maverick McNealy, Charles Reiter

No. 10 Tee

11:30 a.m.: Michael Kim, Matt Jones

11:40 a.m.: Brian Stuard, Russell Knox

11:50 a.m.: Lanto Griffin, Andrew Landry

12 p.m.: Charlie Beljan, Ted Potter Jr.

12:10 p.m.: Vaughn Taylor, Smylie Kaufman

12:20 p.m.: Conrad Shindler, Brandon Harkins

12:30 p.m.: Colt Knost, Harold Varner III

12:40 p.m.: Ricky Barnes, Camilo Villegas

12:50 p.m.: Ben Silverman, Stephan Jaegar

1 p.m.: Jonathan Byrd, Whee Kim

1:10 p.m.: Chris Kirk, Scott Piercy

1:20 p.m.: Cameron Tringale, Jason Kokrak

1:30 p.m.: Roberto Diaz, Adam Schenk

Scores

We’ll update scores at the end of each day and recap each round here throughout the event.