#the second link is the reddit page where i found it and the first is the source... and the only place i can find it!) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crxshed-skxlls · 9 months

Note

May I request a Zalgo x Male reader fic? No other requests for it, just that you go all out with the kinks 🤭 (If you don't want to do a fic, headcanons would be great as well)

Ooo such a intriguing request! Dont worry, your sins are my command 🙏

— ❝ Technical Difficulties

Zalgo x Male!Reader fanfic

Word Count: 2k+

Plot: You had been an internet sleuth and explorer for a long time. While you scroll a forum you are met with an interesting "ritual" of an internet entity. You decide out of curiosity to follow such steps, and that was when you were faced with a lustrous entity...

Authors note; This fic is based a little more into the original Zalgo creepypasta, but it's a mix between fanon and canon Zalgo.

NSFW tags: Dubcon, Teratophilia, Dacryphilia, BDSM elements, "Sir" kink, Degradation, ass eating, anal sex, and breath play

Click, click, click went your keyboard as you mindlessly type and search. You weren't always this interested and curious about such trivial urban legends, but something about it made it all the more alluring. You had read up on a forum about a mysterious seeming virus or something that corrupted old Garfield and kid cartoons. At first, you couldn't believe what you were hearing about. After all, a demonic internet entity wasn't exactly the most sane and convincing narrative. Though, forums suggested that you could easily "summon" this sort of demonic malware. You sigh as you brush back the hair that stood lazily in your face as you scroll through reddit for more information.

Soon, you're met with a reluctant link from a user. You became a little suspicious, brows furrowing as you read the small message. "I believe that I found the site. If you view this image, you will summon Zalgo. Be warned," you haphazardly space out as you read the rest. Was this some sort of scam or malware? You didn't bother to heed whatever warning this user had as you clicked the link. You prayed that you didn't get a virus as the site slowly booted up. You're met with a simple Garfield comic, along with some scandalous advertising on the sides. You weren't familiar with the url, .xyz at the end of the link.

The Garfield comic wasn't super to say the least, and the set up was sketchy at best. It was the one where Jon was at his breaking point with Garfield and Odie, the final panel of him being dragged off in a straight jacket. It was unnerving, but you managed to pull through a bit. Your eyes wander the advertisements on the page, swallowing as you watch the promiscuous cartoon girls in compromised positions. For a second you notice a flash of black in the panel's image in the corner of your eye. You whip back to the panel but– nothing. It wasn't out of place at all. You had assumed it was just the late night scrambles of the caffeine intake you took.

Overall, you were slightly disappointed. You thought this was the real deal, and even refreshing the page did nothing but flash you with digital tiddies and the overwhelmed look of Jon's face. Your computer soon pings with a notification, which sends you to a very interesting feeling. Garfield.xyz wishes permission for audio reads in the small box. You are skeptical of what may happen, but you feverishly click the allow button. Nothing happens. Silence fills the room as you anticipate something, but nothing comes but the whispers of the night. You furrow your brows, becoming frustrated as you get up from your swivel seat. Little did you know that once your back turned to go grab some water, that all hell would break loose.

You grabbed the water bottle you had from the nightstand before you hear a gargled, metallic voice hum in the room.

"Y/N."

You can hear distinctly over the static crackles. Your blood runs cold as you are paralyzed with fear, your blood rushing through your body. You hear dark chuckles, the sounds of static and pixelated sounds grew louder. You shiver as your adrenaline readies you to dart out the room.

"Foolish mortals. You all just have to give into curiosity, do you?."

"Who–"

You whip your head back to find a horrendous sight. A black and red mass had crawled halfway out from the screen. You can see its massive horns and pixelated mouth as it attempts to crawl from the tiny screen. It wasn't long until the tall figure finally emerged, several mouths crossing it's body. It watches you with gleaming red eyes. You can feel yourself drop the water bottle, fumbling backwards before you fall into your bed. The being walks– no, prowls in your direction. It licks its sinister lips as it wanders over. You feel yourself stumble over your bed, your breathing becoming shallow.

"Wait – wait what I didn't know that was–"

"But you did. You knew deep down that you did."

The being hisses at your pleas as it stands over you. Your small form compared to his own was staggering. You couldn't believe your eyes as you watched Zalgo with a terrified look in your eyes. His giant hand quickly grabs you, pushing you further onto the bed with black claws. You can feel yourself tear up in fear and disbelief. This couldn't be happening, this was theoretically impossible. Zalgo's mouth curls into a mischievous grin at your pitiful struggle against his hand.

"You poor sack of flesh."

"Please don't –"

"Quit whining or I'll gut you right here."

You let out a whimper as you close your eyes, your hands grabbing the being's claws. You can soon feel a weird sound, the sound of ripping. You couldn't even process it, your eyes blurring your surroundings. Before you could even know it, your shirt was off. You feel a sense of confusion as you slowly flutter your eyes back open, just to watch Zalgo lick his lips. His other hand gently glides a clawed finger down your chest to your abdomen as the being examines you. You can feel your heart rate accelerate as your surroundings mute into blurs and dissociated colors at such an unreal event. You feel a strange heat pull into your body as you feel the rough touch of such an entity.

His claws were so rough, but they were firm in handling you. You feel yourself choke on your own words as you shiver in the being's grasp, hearing his dark words cut your dissociated thoughts.

"You're quite a compliant mortal, aren't you?"

You manage to croak nothing but terrified babbling at the weird compliment, gasping as you feel a claw tug at your sweatpants. You sheepishly try to kick away the monster to no avail, feeling his monstrous grip tighten slightly. You let out a squeak, making Zalgo chuckle under your pathetic struggle. The crimson orbs that stared hungrily at you made you gulp, your Adam's apple bobbing as you swallow.

"If you quit struggling, you'll feel much better than right now."

Zalgo's softer words hit your ears with a confused unfamiliarity, your eyes staring with a glint of puzzlement. His clawed finger soon pushes down under the hem of your sweats and boxers, making you gasp from the complicated touch that hits your hot body. The revealing your half hard cock makes you flush red, averting eye contact as Zalgo oggles your form. His eyes trail down your body, his hand laying plush against your inner thigh.

"You have such a soft yet alluring complexion. Who knew you would be into me."

"What– no, no I'm not. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?"

"For my own pleasures of course, why else would I ever do something so carnal?"

Zalgo trails off as his hands glide upward, his clawed digit tracing the growing cock in front of him. You suck a breath in, letting out a whimper as Zalgo teases your aroused organ. His touch was gentle yet sharp, and you can feel yourself warming up for such a foul tease like the devil in front of you. You want to deny it, a sick feeling of shame hitting you as you struggle to contain your hitched breaths and choked moans. You can feel Zalgo take his time toying with you, pulling you close. Your calves hit the sides of the devil's hips as he sits between you, toying with his newest possession.

"No, no I'm not into this, yet your anatomy says otherwise Y/N."

"You– You have no idea what I want."

"Oh, why yes I do. I know everything."

Zalgo's glitched tone hums in the room as his hand wraps around your penis. You feel yourself physically arch as he starts moving his hand up and down. You let out a moan, whimpering as you dig your nails into the plush sheets below you. Zalgo watches in amusement, chuckling at your miserable attempts of denial. You bit your lip, your hips sputtering into Zalgo's hand as you lose your composure. Zalgo patently watches, his other hand resting on your plush thigh.

"See, isn't that much better than defiance?"

"Mmnh–"

You shake your head, refusing to answer the teasing question before Zalgo rips another moan out of you. You cock throbs in his giant hand, dribbling some pre-cum that smeared on Zalgo's hand. You feel his hands leave your body, making you pause slightly. You gasp as you feel yourself lifted slightly from the bed, your legs instinctively wrapping onto Zalgo's shoulders. His claws grip your plush thighs so hard it threatens to break skin, leaving you whimpering in cowardice. You look up to meet with those same crimson eyes between your legs, dazzling like dark rubies. You open your mouth to say something, but–

"If you start whining now, I'll completely stop."

Your interrupted by his dark voice's commands. You shakily nod, hesitantly watching as the devil's tongue slithers out of his mouth. His warm, wet tongue laps at your ass. The weird sensation causes you to let out a hitched squeak, feeling his tongue rim your soft hole with a curious hum. You shiver as you helplessly feel Zalgo's tongue trace your bottom side, only for him to slowly insert his large tongue into you.

"Oh – oh God–"

You moan out loudly as you feel the light stretch of the wet tongue, his saliva providing a little bit of lubricant to get used to. He hums with a glitched sound, his tongue exploring your inside as he stretches you out. You feel yourself tremble as you moan and whimper, gripping the sheets until your knuckles turn white.

"Wait– wait it's too good, Zalgo please–"

You plead with a whimper, throwing your head back as you feel Zalgo tease your prostate with his inhuman tongue. Your cock drips pre cum slightly, dribbling from your urethra as Zalgo plays with your ass. His tongue slowly stretches you out, humming pleasantly as you quiver in his hands.You whimper, your breath hitching as Zalgo's tongue slithers out of you. You pant, eyes dilated as you watch Zalgo lewdly lick his lips.

"Hmmn, for a mortal you're much more delectable than I thought."

The devil practically purrs, his dark voice sending shivers down your spine. You soon are dragged more onto your bed, the devil between your legs. Your face reddened as you pant, catching your breath as your cock twitches with neediness. Zalgo's clawed hand scales your figure upwards, moving across the plush skin of your body. You soon feel something wet glide across your cock, making you gasp and gaze downward. Zalgo's slick cock laid with your penis, immensely bigger than yours. The small veins and textured sides of Zalgo's cock throb, making him let out a guttural groan.

"Wh– you expect that to fit?"

"I would assume so, I know your fleshy body can take it."

"No you don't!"

You snap back hesitantly, only to lay in fear as Zalgo narrows his eyes at you. You gasp as you feel his clawed hand wrap around your neck, pressing against the sweet spots that made you lightheaded. Your hands shoot up to the hand, the obvious slight choking making you distracted. Zalgo opens your legs wider, presenting your saliva slicked hole to him as you pant and groan. Panic fills your senses for a moment as you feel the tip of the devil's penis rub gently at your hole. Your eyes are set on Zalgo's, peering red eyes laying upon your figure.

"You are going to listen to me, got it? You will take it, and you will like it. Do you understand?"

"Y– yes, yes– "

You nod as you attempt to relax, Zalgo's hand releasing your delicate neck. You cough, swallowing the thick air around you as you watch intently. Before you knew it, Zalgo had slammed himself entirely inside of your walls. You let out a Yelp, hands grasping onto Zalgo's shoulders as you arch into him. Zalgo huffs, guttural groans and moans left in the air as you clench onto him.

"Breathe.. Relax…"

Zalgo slightly murmurs, making your cock twitch. Your hitched breathing slows slightly, only before Zalgo lifts and slams back into you again. Your body trembles as heat pools into your stomach, swirling with a pleasant pain. Your head spun as Zalgo shoves you back into the bed, his hand splayed out onto your chest as he thrust into you again. You both let out a moan, yours being a little pained as you feel the stretch of Zalgo making your body adjust to him. You whine as he puts a slow, almost painful pace.

"S- sir please–"

You whimper out, Zalgo's attention snapping into reality as his eyes wander your face in a bit of surprise. You grip your sheets again, looking at the small bulge that appeared everytime Zalgo sank his dick inside of you. Zalgo grunts, his breathing shallow as he thrusts into your tight ass.

"I– I need more sir, please–"

"You mortals and your words."

Zalgo hisses, effectively cutting you off with a hitched breath. The devious soon gradually picked up the pace, lifting your leg to dig deeper inside of you. You can tell how much he adored the pet name as his cock twitches inside of you. His red eyes peering into your eyes as he thrusts roughly into you.

"You just love being my personal fleshlight, isn't that right Mortal? Letting me have my way with your ass so shamelessly."

The carnal nature that dripped from Zalgo's dirty lips makes your cock tremble with precum. You let out your shameless whimpers, each moan bouncing in the room as you chase your high. The devil soon hits your prostate, allowing you to lose yourself more. Your chest heavily rises and falls against Zalgo's hand, tears glinting your pretty eyes. Zalgo gutturally growls, slamming himself into your prostate at a faster pace.

"My, my… Such a slut you are."

It wasn't long until you couldn't take it anymore, crying out as you finally shot translucent white ropes onto yourself. Your own cum leaves your abdomen a sticky mess, making Zalgo's breathing become faster. He continues to mercilessly slam into your ass, causing sparks of overstimulation to hit you. Rough panting and slapping of flesh fills the room as Zalgo continues to play with you. You can tell he enjoyed your painful pleasure as he groans and moans into your ears.

"Aah fuck, si- sir please–"

You whimper and whine as you feel a second orgasm approaching, feeling Zalgo's cock bury into you more with each thrust. Zalgo soon grasps at your hips, lifting you up slightly as he sputters his hips into your ass. Soon enough, Zalgo buries himself deep into you, groaning as he shoots hot ropes into you. You twitch and squirm, moaning out as you cum for a second time. Soft panting and trembling breathes echo through the room. Sweat, sex, and heat lifted in the air as Zalgo clings to you. You grimace as you feel Zalgo leave your entrance, a slight spark of ache running through you. Zalgo keeps you in his claws as he wraps his arms around you, practically coiling around your body. His glitched, dark voice erupts from the silent room.

"You did well dear mortal… If you're ever that good again, I might just have to keep you."

#creepypasta #creepypasta smut #not safe for minors #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #mdni #smut #creepypasta x y/n #zalgo creepypasta #zalgo x reader #m!reader #male reader #creative writing #creepypasta fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #terato x reader #not proofread

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bl00d-1n-wat3r · 11 months

Text

Everything New I have found on Welcome Home! (So far)

EDIT: THIS HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED IN AWHILE. SO PLEASE TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

Hello! So just a few hours ago Welcome Homes website was brought back up, and I have found a lot so far lol, I mostly found this stuff by tabbing through each page or going on the old URL's that we have found on the old page. Anyways this is everything that I have found so far

CREDITS TO party coffin HERE ON TUMBLR FOR WELCOME HOME

AND PLEASE LMK IF YOU FIND ANY NEW LINKS AND I WILL ADD THEM ^^

(OFC SPOILERS FOR THE WELCOME HOME ARG)

Wally Secret Audios:

These are audios of Wally directly speaking to us (With the exception of Neighbor which is morse code) and the titles to the links read out: "I will help you understand Neighbor, I will find a way soon" (This is the way I interpreted it I could be wrong tho)

On the link Neighbor like I said is morse code but u/gxmmyfuit (Should be the second comment down) on Reddit has said they deciphered it! It says "…. . .-.. .--. / -- ." Which they said translates to: "Help Me"

Next to the links I will describe where to find each audio!

I: You can find it as soon as you open the main page for welcome home, it is a drawing of home right next to Wally on the welcome page, click on the picture and it will bring you to the audio

Will: You can find Will in the Neighborhood section of Welcome Home, click on Home then on Wally's profile a drawing of a flower will appear on his easel, click on that and it will bring you to the audio

Help: At the bottom of Welcome Home!/What's Welcome home? there is a picture of Eddie Dear on his left is a drawing of a yellow flower, click on that and it will bring you to the audio

You: You can find you in the Neighborhood section, in the paragraph at the top of the page click the word you, that leads to the old secret page You, but now there should be a drawing of a heart, click on that and it will bring you to the audio (Take a shot for every time I have said you lmao)

understand: At the bottom of Exhibition of Welcome Home to the left of the drawing of Poppy is a drawing of Home, click on that and it will bring you to the audio

Neighbor: You can find Neighbor in the Neighborhood section of Welcome Home, click right below Home and it will bring you to the old secret page So Below, but now there is a spiral drawing at the bottom, click on that and it will bring you to the audio

I - 2: On the Stickers section of Welcome Home there will be a star drawing underneath the first paragraph of text, click on that and it will bring you to the audio

will - 2: At the bottom of Welcome Home!/Whats Welcome home? there is a picture of Eddie Dear and on his right is a drawing of a red and blue flower, click on them and it will bring you to the audio

find: In the Guest Book next to Wally and Barnaby there should be a drawing of a speech bubble that says Hello in it, click on that and it will bring you to the audio

a: In the About Us/FAQ page of Welcome home 3 drawings of hearts will pop up behind the first few paragraphs on the page, click on them and it will take you to the audio

way: On the Open/ywxoev page a drawing of a phone will appear next to the eyes/home, click on it and it will bring you to the audio

soon: On the 404 page (whenever you type in a wrong address into the search bar), drawings of stars will appear behind the text, click on them and it will bring you to the audio

Answer:

Now these are all titled answer and each video has 2 of the characters interacting with each other, and at the end one one of them addresses Wally and it distorts and ends.

Next to the links I will describe where to find each video!

Answer 1-14-ph (Poppy and Howdy): In the section Media of Welcome home, by the part with the Live Interview Segment a little bug/ critter will pop up, click on it and it will take you to the video

Answer 2-14-sp (Sally and Poppy): In the section Exhibition at the top a bug will run to the right side of the screen, being cut off by the border, click on the bump that is left and it will bring you to the video

Answer 3-14-hs (Howdy and Sally): On the fourth page of the Guestbook, at the top of the page a bug will appear, click on that and it will bring you to the video

Answer 4-14-bf (Barnaby and Frank): In the section Welcome Home!/Whats Welcome home?, next to the picture slideshow a bug will appear, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 5-14-be (Barnaby and Eddie): On the Transcripts page, (You can get to it by clicking on the text below any audio you have to listen to), scroll down a bit and next to Eddie's catchphrase a bug will appear, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 6-14-jf (Julie and Frank): In the section Merchandise a bug will appear near the currently unknown records, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 7-14-ej (Eddie and Julie): On the first page of the Guestbook, on the letter/ note from Zip (You can tab through if you cant find it) there is a bug, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 8-14-ef (Eddie and Frank): In the section Neighborhood in Eddie's profile a bug will crawl out from under the post office flag, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 9-14-fp (Frank and Poppy): In the section Neighborhood a bug will appear next to the About Us button, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 10-14-js (Julie and Sally): In the section About Us at the bottom of the page, right above the flowers a bug will appear, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 11-14-jb (Julie and Barnaby): At the top of the Stickers a bug will appear, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 12-14-hb (Howdy and Barnaby): At the top of the News section a bug is there, click on it and it will bring you to the video

Answer 13-14-he (Howdy and Eddie): At the top of the Guestbook section a bug will appear, click on that and it will take you to the video

Answer 14-14-bh (Barnaby and Home): The Try Again Script/woxyve has a bug crawling around the eyes, click on it and it will take you to the video

Staff Only:

(This section is kinda long lol)

So I found Staff Only by the user u/throwmeaway2207 on reddit and currently dont know how to get to that part of the site on my own (Im working on it lol)

Edit: Ok I found it thanks to u/Far_Yam_6369 on reddit. On the Exhibition page on the normal website there is a line that says "I still have so many questions to answer here in the world of Welcome Home" you have to click the word answer then you are brought to a page with a picture of a paper with writing on it, if you click that it will take you to a picture of a safe then to get to the Password Please website all you have to do is click on the safe. Thanks again for the help!

But to log into Staff Only you have to put in a passcode and the passcode is the answers to The Welcome Home Worksheet (Picture 18 I think).

Which is

Who is the funniest neighbor? B arnaby

Who shines brighter than any star? S ally

Who is the biggest chicken? P oppy

Which neighbor speaks to the flowers? J ulie

Who is your best friend? W ally

So the password is (case sensitive) BSPJW

Once you type in the password it leads to a very messed up version of the Playfellow Exhibition portion of the website

There is some text on the page that reads:

I had a dream when I began working on the Playfellow Exhibition. Wally Darling was sitting at the foot of my bed with a rotary phone in front of him, ringing away. It looked just like the little toy phone we were restoring for the exhibit. It kept ringing. Wally stared at me like he was waiting for me to pick up the phone. Just staring, unblinking. The phone ringing and ringing. I couldn't move. I couldn't figure out how to move and pick up the phone. He kept waiting. I couldn't pick up the phone. I keep getting phone calls, now. Or at least, I assume that's what's happening. I keep hearing it ringing. All day, sometimes. I check my phone and there's no new messages. I thought maybe some of the site staff were pranking me, but I tore up the workspace and couldn't find another phone that might be ringing. All that was there were the toys for the exhibit, and obviously those couldn't be ringing. But I kept hearing it anyway. The phone ringing and ringing. The more I work, the more questions I have. Why didn't any of the site staff I worked with remember this show? Even the ones who grew up in the 70s? Why can't I find any files on the Playfellow Workshop? Why isn't there a single TV guide ad saying what network or time the show was on? I keep digging and digging. I've poured over every recovery the WHRP has given me access to, every inch of their website, and the things I find make less and less sense. If I didn't know better I'd say everyone was coming together to pull an elaborate prank on me. I can still hear the phone ringing now.I don't know how to answer the phone.I need to answer the phone

There is some more text that is blacked out that reads:

Ring-ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring-ring. Ring. Hello? Can you hear me? Call back soon, please. Ring. Ring ring. Ring. Won't you please pick up?

On the page there are pictures as well and some of the pictures have transcripts which will be listed below

Picture 5:

Thurs, April 13, 2023 at 7:53 PM To: < [text omitted] @whrp.net > From: < [email protected] > Subj: Re: Safe code?? Hi [text omitted] ! Thanks for getting the activity prize shipped out so promptly! I wasn’t expecting them to arrive in a lockbox (should I be worried about the value of these prizes for insurance?) - there actually wasn’t a code I could find in the packaging at all, could you send that so we can open the box and give away the prizes to visitors? Thanks again, give me a call at [text omitted] if that’s easier! ~ [text omitted] , Head Curator Questions Answered! Curatorial Services Exhibition Design, Curation. Archival & Restoration__________________Thurs, April 13, 2023 at 7:53 PM To: < [email protected] > From: < [text omitted] @whrp.net > Subj: Re: Safe code?? Attachment: WHactivityworksheet.jpgBlacklight text underneath email attachment reads: ~ WALLY DARLING Writing on sticky note reads: ATTN STAFF: Still waiting on safe code. If guests complete worksheet offer to send prize later once we get this open!

Picture 6:

Writing on sticky note atop vinyl glove box reads: Put on gloves before handling ANY art Call me if we run out!!!

Picture 7:

Text on sticky note is partially cut off; visible text reads: [...] -is art was NOT [...] -the shipment [...] -EASE stop using [...] -work printer [...] -prank me. >:( “ Blacklight text underneath artwork of Frank reads: “Who are you?” (with a drawing of an eye and a spiral beneath it).

Picture 9:

4) What’s your favorite or least favorite part of the research/restoration work? Our favorite part? Uncovering more information, of course! As well as restoring pieces with beautiful results! Nothing feels better quite like a job well done! Our least favorite part, however? Nothing I can think of! Blacklight text in space between paragraphs reads: Everything is so disgusting to touch. Sometimes the mail doesn’t come for weeks. I want to rip into everything I have. My head feels so muddled too. Ever since I opened that envelope.Visible area of e-mail reads:“Fun facts” you’d like visitors to know about your work and Welcome Home? (Maybe a [...] -ularly cool or funny way you found one of these pieces, or an unexpected [...] ?) [...] -is top secret! We feel as though we were the [...] -ding the good word of Welcome [...] -mail to us has quite the [...] -longings in such a [...] -ed the heck out of their [...] -bout the merchandise? [...] have been a mountain of it! [...] -ore fun, informative, and

Picture 10:

Writing on sticky note underneath blacklight reads: ATTN: ALL STAFF Check art w/blacklight before hanging / packing / cleaning / etc. Need photos for condition reports and WHRP Team !!!

Picture 11:

Mon, April 3, 2023 at 1:53 PM To: < [email protected] > From: < [text omitted] @whrp.net > Subj: Re: Confirming arrival! Plus…? Hello. We are overjoyed you have received all of the work we have so far uncovered! Please take care of it while it is in your possession, but under no circumstances should it be touched with your bare hands. Please wear gloves. If a substance begins to grow on anything delivered, please place it back in the box it was shipped in and return it to us at your leisure. If you or anyone in your team experience nausea, dizziness, or fatigue, please don’t be alarmed. We also thank you for your offer to assist in restoring these pieces, but I cannot accept your offer. Thank you. ~ [text omitted] Hello again [text omitted] ! The shipment of works for the exhibition arrived today - thanks again for being so generous with these items! At some point I would like to run down the full checklist with you to confirm which are originals and which are restorations/reproductions, so we can include that information when we write the didactic labels. Let me know if it’s easier for me to email you a list or if you’d like to have a phone call about it. Speaking of restoration, I also wanted to ask - would you like us to work on having any of these items professionally touched up while we’re here for the exhibit? I’m sure the folks we usually work with would be thrilled to work on something so unique (some of them were kids in the 60s and 70s, maybe an opportunity to get some eyewitness accounts too?) and it seems only fair for us to offer, what with you so kindly loaning us all this material to exhibit. Totally understand if you’d prefer to keep that work among your own team, of course. Just let me know. Excited to get this all on display, will send photos soon when we start installing! ~ [text omitted] Head Curator Questions Answered! Curatorial Services Exhibition Design, Curation. Archival & Restoration https://inbox.wemail.com/mail/FMfcgzHseLpLGBGbzoRtzKm&=print

Picture 13:

Notes. WHRP sent their research notebook. It has to be a prank. Maybe all of it. Maybe that’s why no one has ever heard of WH. The staff, friends, parents, not a memory. All made up to… prank… me, specifically? Ok that’s nonsense. I don’t know what to think. I feel like I need to read it again. There has to be answers. There has to be. I’ll find answers. People need me to have answers There’s more of that stuff on the walls I keep hearing phones ring.

Picture 14:

Writing on sticky note atop red notebook reads: For research!! ON LOAN Do NOT write in >:( Writing on sticky note atop research notebook reads: This one is mine also for research ALSO DO NOT WRITE IN >:(

To the right of the photo is a near illegible show script from Playfellow Workshop. Below the show script is a pink sticky note pad. Drawn on the pad is a spiral, and a phone with two small speech bubbles that both say “ring”.

Picture 19:

Text on sticky note that is placed on research notebook reads: “This one is mine also for research ALSO DO NOT WRITE IN >:( “ Blacklight text on sticky note reads: “THE PHONE IS RINGING”

Thanks to u/robindebank on Reddit they have done their best to transcribe the letter on picture 18! (The stuff in the parentheses is stuff they were unsure about)

Picture 18:

Hello, My name doesn't matter. I am here to catalogue something. I'm not sure it's (fully) real But it must be, I'm holding all the evidence ?? in my hands. Pictures. Characters. Text I can barely read. It's called "Welcome Home", and it looks like it might've been a children's (book)? Like I said I can't tell. It was sopping wet when I found it. When I first reached into one of the brightly colored (???s) my hand was already covered in some green (liquid?) material. It feels like antiques are always covered in some kind of grime. I'm going to (clean up what?) I have and do a little more digging. There's only one name I can make out right now. Wally. Probably important, but like I said, I'll keep looking. XOXO

Picture 22:

Visible area of printed-out email reads: Thanks for getting the activity prize shipped out so promptly! I wasn’t expecting them to arrive in a lockbox (should I be worried about the value of these prizes for insurance?) - there actually wasn’t a code I could find in the packaging at all, could you send that so we can open the box and give away the prizes to visitors? Thanks again, give me a call at [text omitted] if that’s easier! ~ [text omitted] , Head Curator Questions Answered! Curatorial Services Exhibition Design, Curation. Archival & Restoration __________________ Thurs, April 13, 2023 at 7:53 PM To: < [email protected] > From: <; [text omitted] @whrp.net > Subj: Re: Safe code?? Attachment: WHactivityworksheet.jpg Blacklight text underneath email attachment reads: ~ WALLY DARLING Writing on sticky note reads: ATTN STAFF: Still waiting on safe code. If guests complete worksheet offer to send prize later once we get this open!

Picture 23:

Text on sticky note attached to television reads: “ BROKEN??? Call facilities ASAP “

Picture 24:

Visible area of email reads: Mon, April 3, 2023 at 1:53 PM [...]-ived all of the work we have so far uncovered! [...] -on, but under no circumstances should it be touched with your [...] If a substance begins to grow on anything delivered, please [...] shipped in and return it to us at your leisure. If you or anyone in [...] dizziness, or fatigue, please don’t be alarmed. Blacklight text underneath paragraph reads: I am so sorry. Remaining visible area of email reads: [...] offer to assist in restoring these pieces, but I cannot accept your [text omitted] [text omitted] ! [...] for the exhibition arrived today - thanks again for being so generous with these items! At some point [...] -own the full checklist with you to confirm which are originals and which are restorations/reproductions, [...] information when we write the didactic labels. Let me know if it’s easier for me to email you a list or if [...] phone call about it. [...] ed to ask - would you like us to work on having any of these items professionally touched [...] the folks we usually work with would be thrilled to work on something so unique [...] maybe an opportunity to get some eyewitness accounts too?) and it seems [...] this material to exhibit. Totally understand if you’d prefer to

On the bottom of the page there is a button that says "It's in here" that leads to a 404 page that takes you back to the Welcome Home page

(Im sorry that was so much 😭)

The old stuff:

So the old secrets have gotten some updates! Lets take a look!

You: You now has a heart drawing that leads to the audio you-1 from the message before

So Below: So below now has a drawing of a spiral that leads to the audio Neighbor from the message before

As Above: As Above or the 404 page now has drawings of stars on it, if you click on the stars it will lead you to the audio soon from the message before

Answer: From what I can tell Answer is still the same as before

Messed Up 404: The messed up 404 is still the same, just click on the phone and you will be brought to Duet but now there is a transcript, just highlight right under the player and you should see the transcript there

voywex: From what I can tell Try Again is the same as before

Open: Open now has a drawing of a phone next to Home/the eyes, if you click on it it will take you to way from the message before

Try Again Script: Try Again Script/woxyve now has a bug crawling around on it and if you click on it, it will take you to 14-14-bh from the Answer videos from before

Misc stuff that idk where to put yet lol:

Phone/Duet: So for some reason this link is also titled Duet? I dont get why since Wally calls us and is the only person we hear, but idk. Ok so to find Phone/Duet you have to go to the Merchandise page of Welcome Home, scroll down to the picture of Wally's phone and if you hover your mouse over a certain part of the picture you can click on it and it will bring you to the audio.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY OTHER SECRETS AND I WILL ADD THEM!!

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waffletheshorkqueen · 3 months

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PortalFan312 Archives

Ok so I found a portal/source ARG by the name of "PortalFan312 Archives" it's currently ongoing and every post I make in their comments about it gets deleted by either them or youtube so I'm putting my current analysis and notes here with a link to the channel at the end.

Background info: Austin/PortalFan312 found a teleport glitch in the original Portal that took him to a room. This spawned an investigation to where the room ended up speaking to him, through text then audio, rooms can have subrooms, rooms can be generated using a command called "roomgenerate" with an optional word at the end to control the type of room generated. So far works in Portal and Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Room is malicious.

Core Adventures 1:

There's a Google Drive link in the last few frames. Here's said link as it's quite long: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10JiTtW2Ka2L8C0CVcPAKS8yetRqmxu2L Inside there's two files, TOMTBESTFRIEND.wav (I believe the second T was supposed to be a Y) and "you.jpg" TOMTBESTFRIEND.wav is a morse code message, translating into "MY BEST FRIEND AUSTIN. IF YOU SEE THIS. ALL OF YOUR OTHER FRIENDS ARE NOT REAL. IM YOUR ONLY FRIEND, YOUR ONLY FRIEND" you.jpg is a screenshot of a reddit account, presumably Austin's here. (the link: https://www.reddit.com/user/Austin_Martin2) On it is a single post with the title text being "V0hZIERJRCBUSEVZIExFQVZFIE1F", a message encoded in base64 that when decoded reads "WHY DID THEY LEAVE ME" The link is to a fandom portal site (https://latrop.fandom.com/wiki/AmFjb2IsIEpBQ09CLCBKQUNPQj8%3D) There's various things here, all base64, let's start with the title.

The title reads as "AmFjb2IsIEpBQ09CLCBKQUNPQj8=". Which, when decoded, reads as "Jacob, JACOB, JACOB?" (Though when decoding the message, the J in the fist Jacob comes out as unreadable, likely an error in encoding)

Then, the body. The body is the following: "SmFjb2IgbXkgZGVhciBmcmllbmQuIEl0IGFwcGVhcnMgdGhhdCB5b3Ugd2VyZSBpbiB0b28gZGVlcCB0byB0dXJuIGJhY2sgbXkgRnJpZW5kLiBhbmQgVGhhdCdzIHdoeSB5b3Ugd2VyZSBub3QgU3VwcG9zZWQgdG8gYmUgaGVyZS4gSW0gcHJldHR5IHN1cmUgeW91ciBsaXR0bGUgQm95ZnJpZWQgTWlzc2VzIHlvdSBvaCBzbyBkZWFybHkhIA==" with the last = being a link to a second page. The body of the first page is decoded to "Jacob my dear friend. It appears that you were in too deep to turn back my Friend. and That's why you were not Supposed to be here. Im pretty sure your little Boyfrie[n]d Misses you oh so dearly!" Yes, you read that right, either the monster of this ARG is making jokes at the expense of Austin and Jacob or they actually were partners (this is continued in the box embed to the side where the characters and misc info is put).

The character box of this page is the following:

"amFjb2I=

Relatives QXVzdGluIChQYXJ0bmVyKQpNaWtlIChCcm90aGVyKQpNaXRjaGVsbGUgKE1vdGhlcikK

Occupation QkVJTkcgREVBRCwgSEFIQQ==

Biographical information

Date of birth: October 6th 1997

Date of death: October 6th 2012

Place of death: d2hpdGUgZm9yZXN0

Physical description

Species WU9VIE1PTlNURVI="

Now, that's a lot of base64, but it all translates out to:

"jacob

Relatives Austin (Partner) Mike (Brother) Mitchelle (Mother)

Occupation BEING DEAD, HAHA

Biographical information

Date of birth: October 6th 1997

Date of death: October 6th 2012

Place of death: white forest

Physical description

Species YOU MONSTER"

That's all for the first page. The second page is also chock-full of base64. Let's start with the title again.

The title of the second page reads as "QXV0dW1u" which is decoded into "Autumn".

As for the body, it reads as the following: "T2guIERlYXJlc3QgQXV0bW4uLi4gV2h5IGRpZCB5b3UgbGVhdmUgeW91ciBicm90aGVyIGFsb25lIG15IGZyaWVuZD8gV2VyZSB5b3UgU2NhcmVkIG9mIGhpcyBJbnNhbmUgUmFtYmxpbmdzPyBJIERvbid0IEJsYW1lIHlvdQ==" (this time with no hidden links) which, when decoded, reads as "Oh. Dearest Autmn… Why did you leave your brother alone my friend? Were you Scared of his Insane Ramblings? I Don't Blame you"

As for the character info, the top is the same as the page name, being "QXV0dW1u" which we know to be "Autumn"

The rest of the character info box reads like this:

"Relatives: QXVzdGluIChCcm90aGVyKQ==

Biographical information

Place of birth: April 8th 1999

Date of death: October 6th 2013

Place of death: d2hpdGUgZm9yZXN0"

Not as much base64 as Jacob's page, so it'll be easier to decode. here's how the rest of it reads decoded:

"Relatives: Austin (Brother)

Biographical information

Place of birth: April 9th 1999

Date of death: October 6th 2013

Place of death: white forest"

Note that how instead of "date of birth" it reads "place of birth". While this could be insignificant and just a minor error, it could be something big.

Also note that how both Jacob and Autumn died exactly one year apart, on Jacob's 15th and 16th birthdays respectively, as well as at the same "white forest" location. This combined with the fact that HL2:E2 also has the roomgenerate command (as shown in the video in this google drive folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1--Lzmx9qKBLGaWo-SFzVNEpcfttKsjyN) this could be a reference to the White Forest Bunker in episode two, though we don't know enough to confirm this yet. Now do note that name of the folder I just provided in this paragraph is base64, it translates into "PROBLEM"

Now, one last thing. The folder which this video reveals has a name encoded in base64 as well, reading as "VGltZT8gTXIgTWFydGluLiBJcyBpdCByZWFsbHkgdGhhdCBUaW1lIEFnYWluPw==-20240305T072813Z-001" before decoding (I do not know what the numbers mean, they just come out as gibberish, but it could be some sort of code for another google drive, I'll update after finishing my current thesis here) but when decoded, the actual base64 reads as "Time? Mr Martin. Is it really that Time Again?"

how to get hl2 weapons in Portal:

The google drive link leads to a folder with a video of somebody discovering the room in half life 2. The tab's text UFJPQkxFTQ== is PROBLEM encoded in Base64.

HL2E2 room changes the game into either MMod or something similar.

Room generated using the roomgenerate command found in the "INVESTIGATION" video

Link to ARG channel: https://www.youtube.com/@portalfan312

#portal #arg #alternate reality game #aperture science #source #source engine

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terfsrgross · 2 years

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On Flags

A few days ago, I had to block a terf in the notes of a post, and occasionally I grab dumb terf posts for r/insanepeoplefacebook (which allows tumblr screenshots) so I decided to glance around for some free reddit karma. One of the posts I found was something about flags that was... so stupid. To prove I’m not making up a strawman, heres the post.

The argument here is that the genderqueer and nonbinary flags are appropriated, even if unintentionally. While she doesn’t outright accuse the creators of flag theft, the tone of the post is rather accusatory. Like most terf takes, this is moronic, and I’m gonna

First of all, the GQ flag. I decided to take this terf’s word for it and googled “purple white and green flag”, and I got the suffragette flag on the 5th result. However, I ALSO googled the creator’s response to accusations of theft, and noticed that the terf put something in quotations that was not a direct quote. That may sound like nitpicking, but I feel like putting something in quotation marks when it isn’t a direct quote is dishonest. The actual direct quote reads as follows;

Two points of interest: “first design” and that Marilyn didn’t find the flag. The terf in the post speaks about Marilyn’s design like it was made within minutes and poorly thought out. Upon doing my own research, I found out that Marilyn had started working on this flag in June of 2010. The initial design looked like this, aka nothing like the suffragette flag.

So why was it changed? Well, I can’t answer that for certain. But as an art student, I can see one issue: The letters. My design class had a unit on vexillology, aka flag design. My teacher stressed that one of the cardinal sins of flag design was using lettering on flags. While not all good flags strictly adhere to common flag design principles (the Welsh flag violates the “simple enough for a child to draw” rule and it fuckin rocks), maybe Marilyn, who was working towards a Digital Arts degree at the time they were designing the flag, might have wanted to simplify it. The second design for the flag looks like the final version with the white and green reversed.

Okay, so clearly the terf either didn’t do enough research for the post where she accused someone else for not doing enough research, as Marilyn’s response is easy to find here on tumblr, or she wanted to make a petty jab at a trans person’s design skills. But how come Marilyn couldn’t find the suffragette flag when I found it in seconds? Well, Marilyn was researching this in 2010-2011. While google doesn’t let you put custom ranges on images specifically, the general results can be searched by a custom time range. So I checked everything from January 1st,1908 to May 31st, 2010. Here is what I found, and no, the suffragette flag was not on the Wikipedia page at all.

The first mention of the suffragette flag doesn’t show up until page 4 of the results. And then I got an idea. I searched for things up until June 1, 2010. Then June 2, 2010. Then June 3rd, and so on. Up until June 10, the results looked the same.

Then on June 11th, the suffragette flag suddenly showed up in the image results, and the page with the image source was bumped up to page three. Google's algorithm tends to show popular pages first. So why was this page suddenly getting enough hits to boost it higher in the results than links from the Wall Street Journal, Encyclopedia Britannica, liturgical (Church) calendars, and NASCAR, when the first mention of the suffragette flag prior to this had been at least three results under the aforementioned other pages and the website on the third page was brand new?

Well, I did a bit of digging on the wayback machine and found that Roxie posted the first design for the genderqueer pride flag on June 7th. After this point, Marilyn was likely no longer researching colors as they’d already been decided, and was taking suggestions for the flag up until the final design was uploaded in June 2011. The first time anybody actually decided to point out the similarity to Marilyn was in February 2012. My searches found that the flag had been mostly forgotten until June 2010. Now, maybe in the UK it was still a major symbol in 2010. However, google results differ based on your location. Marilyn and I both live in the US, so it’s not that surprising it took us longer to find results mentioning the suffragette flag. Even when I searched the same dates with a vpn changing my location to the UK though, there was no image result until the 10th and the first site talking about it was on the second page. Until the original genderqueer flag was posted, nobody seemed to care about the old suffragette flag. For fucks sake, it took someone a year to notice the similarity and find it important enough to message Roxie about it. Now for the nonbinary flag. While the terf correctly named Kyle Rowan as the creator of the flag, she neglected to mention that there was a call for someone to create a design for folks who didn’t feel like the genderqueer flag represented them, and several designs were submitted. While the initial call for submissions came from a blog which no longer exists and was never archived, Rowan’s posts on the matter are archived and used as sources on the page for the flag on Nonbinary Wiki, which is the 5th result when you search “where was the nonbinary flag first posted”. This one is even more of a reach. Assuming that Rowan also googled the color combination to avoid using one that was already common, they would have included black in the search. When you search for “yellow white purple black flag”, you will not find anything about suffragette flags. Mostly because the American suffragette flag is gold, white, and purple, without a black stripe. Even the quote the terf used to explain the meanings calls the color on the suffragette flag gold. The nonbinary flag has a yellow stripe. Yellow and gold are different colors.

Rowan was kind enough to provide exact hex codes for the flag on their blog. Obviously Alice Paul had no way to do this, so I eyedropped an image of the flag. Here’s a comparison.

On the left is the gold on Alice Paul’s flag, on the right is the yellow from Kyle Rowan’s. Pretty obvious they aren’t the same, unless you’re colorblind. The suffragette flag also usually has stars, which the nonbinary flag lacks. Also, in the post, the terf mentions that Alice Paul changed the green to gold as a homage to Susan B. Anthony. Anthony was known to exclude Black women from her activism. So that’s a bit of uncomfortable symbolism. Groundbreaking.

Anyway, do the flags look kinda similar? Yeah, I’m not denying that. But why are Roxie and Rowan responsible for flags not being used since the suffrage movement? By 2010, they both faded into relative obscurity. idk this stupid post made me mad so i went digging.

#anti terf #terfs dont touch #terfs don't interact #flagcourse #i guess #long post

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my-name-is-siduri · 11 months

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The Search for Pet Shop Boys: The Musical

Image source.

Yep, I'm back at it again with an essay about an obscure Pet Shop Boys topic. For those that are just skimming through, here's a quick summary: Closer to Heaven (not to be confused with the song of the same name) is a musical created by the Pet Shop Boys in collaboration with Johnathan Harvey. While the cast recording album is easily available online, a complete video recording of the musical has never been released. Despite this, a few officially recorded segments as well as amateur recordings have surfaced over the years.

tl;dr I have created a Youtube playlist that contains every publicly available recording of the Closer to Heaven musical that I could find.

Want to know more? Read on.

While I could go into depth about the history, making of, plot, and critical reception of the musical, it's already been done by others on the internet who went into far more detail than I ever could. If you want that info, I would highly recommend reading Wayne's page about the musical as well as its Wikipedia article. Both of these pages helped me a lot in my research.

(As a side note, I attempted to contact the Closer to Heaven fan club linked on Wayne's page. I received an email back from the server saying that it's not longer in use. No fan club membership for me...)

And so began my search for a shred of footage from this musical. Youtube was my first pick...and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are indeed a few clips that have been uploaded! There were enough clips that it was possible to compile them into a playlist!

What Has Been Found So Far:

The first nine minutes and fifty-six seconds of the musical, My Night (2001)

Closer to Heaven (2010)

Shameless (2010)

Friendly Fire, including a few of the lines leading in (2001)

Closer to Heaven reprise 1, does NOT include the lines leading in (2001)

The last four minutes and thirty seconds of the musical, note that all the clips available are of the Positive Role Model ending and not the Vocal ending (2001, 2010, 2015)

miscellaneous clips that I haven't been able to identify with certainty (2001, 2019)

For good measure, I also checked Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and Archive.org. Nothing came up on any of those sites. Granted, the effectiveness of these websites' search features wildly vary, so it's not impossible that there's something there, but buried.

I did find quite a few photos on Twitter of both the 2015 and 2019 productions. Enough, in fact, that I decided to start a Pinterest board to curate them and others. After some digging around online, I even managed to find a few pictures from earlier productions. So there's that as well.

So where does this search go from here? There's a few possible leads:

Amateur Recordings

I'm pretty sure this is the extent of this branch of the search. If any more video exists, it's way too buried for me to find. Really, the only way any progress could be made in this direction is if someone suddenly uploaded more footage one day (which does happen, but is hardly guaranteed).

2001 Official Recording

Small amounts of footage of the original 2001 production of Closer to Heaven has shown up in news coverage of the time and A Life in Pop. If I'm remembering correctly, a few sources from the time mentioned that Neil and Chris had wanted to do a home release of the musical at some point. Why that never happened, who knows. What happened to that footage, and if it still exists, is also not known.

I have to be honest, I'm not going to even try to pursue this route. It feels like the only way this will ever surface is if someone suddenly gave it to go ahead for it to be released. Not impossible, but I'm not holding my breath.

2019 Official Recording

Looking back at the 2019 production trailer, you might notice that it's a montage of several scenes in the musical. Now this is a complete guess, but it really feels like there's more footage than just what's seen in the trailer...perhaps even the entire musical?

Above The Stag, the company that ran the 2019 production, does have a contact email available on their website. I've heard from others who attempted this search in the past that contacting them has been fruitless. Still, I wanted to cover my bases. I sent a simple email asking if they recorded the rest of the musical and, if so, is it available for viewing anywhere. I'll provide an update if I ever get a reply.

Other Official Recordings?

If there were official recordings of any of the other productions, I found no evidence of them in my search. But if they do exist, they're probably even harder to find than these two.

Conclusion

I'm not the first person to search for a recording of Closer to Heaven, and I probably won't be the last. I'm not really sure if this is more progress than others have made before, or if this is just retreading old ground. In any case, I hope that making these compilations helps someone out.

And of course, I'd like to make a call here. If you have any recordings of Closer to Heaven, PLEASE make them publicly available and let us all know!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

#Closer to Heaven #Closer to Heaven musical #Pet Shop Boys #Neil Tennant #Chris Lowe #lost media #musical #music #Sid does writing #Sid posts

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mugenmcfugen · 6 days

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In other news, few days ago I had a streak of finding ''lost media'' I've tried finding before but to no avail. I think my biggest mistake at that point was trying to rely on Google for searching, but it seems Google is straight up shit at this point for doing simple search. And I understand for the most part the result doesn't have to be on a first page but not only there isn't 1st page anymore but endlessly expanding page, but also it was clogged with links that really have nothing to do with what I've searched in a first place. Place I've had to rely on was Reddit, and specifically subreddit r/tipofmytongue.

All it took for me to dig up those was using terms of what I've remembered and being tiny bit patient in sifting trough pages, and surely enough I've dug them up. Ridiculously enough, since reddit in all of its bullshit IS haven of information. However, even me typing ''(my term) reddit'' in Google didn't gave me the result, EVEN THOUGH I've found both of them ON REDDIT. Yeah Google, thanks a lot(not).

What was the media you wonder? It's just old cartoons I used to watch on TV when I was kid. Now, this is period right after war, and it's not any cartoon channel (Cartoon Network came way later to us). I'm also pretty sure one of these was sort of prerecorded on VHS, but it doesn't matter. All of them were dubbed to our language and were obviously all in different style.

This all started because I randomly found the first one I was looking for, and it had to do with VA actress Eiko Masuyama passing away. She was mostly known as Fujiko from Lupin III, but she also voiced fairy creature Candy from ''Anderson Monogatari''. It was specifically this episode of ''The Little Match Girl''

youtube

I remember mostly the last part when everybody is crying. Ahhh, fun times of ''child memory retention''.

Second one was one where I started actively digging for other two I've remembered. I also remembered last scene the most, something about it was eerie but impactful in my mind. It was ''Enchanted Boy'', old soviet animation from 1955, and it's adaptation of ''The Wonderful Adventures of Nils''

youtube

I had hunch it was something from USSR, probably because of text cards in there being in Cyrillic.

And last but not the least, was funnily enough a Christmas Cartoon. You'd think it would pop up somewhere while googling for it, but to no avail, and I wouldn't say it was that unknown, at least in Western interwebz, but I was wrong it seems. It was never mentioned in many Christmas cartoons articles that were all over the place. But this one, when I watched it again, I remembered the whole episode, and it's still charming today, even 30 years later. It was ''Santa's First Christmas'' , which had it's own spinoff in 1996 ''Romuald the Reindeer'' .

youtube

I first found the 1996, but noticed it look somehow way too new from what I remember, surely enough there was one more from 1992.

Anyways, this post turned out way bigger than I anticipated, but here they are. I hope I helped someone too trying to remember these. It also serves as a place where I know I have all these in one spot.

So yeah, have fun watching and remember, fuck Google for what it became. :))

#old animation #andersen monogatari #enchanted boy #santa's first christmas #nostalgia #these were total nostalgia trips #Youtube #r/tipofmytongue #thank you r/tipofmytongue #you're true champion

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hiddenparabletheory · 4 months

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The Real National Treasure (2024)

(Remember to follow me I am trying to start a blog for my theory and need followers, obviously haha).

Have you ever watched the National Treasure movie? It follows a treasure hunter named Benjamin Franklin Gates, whose grandfather reveals a hidden treasure with clues on the back of the Declaration of Independence. What if I told you that this isn't too far from the truth? That there are clues written on the Declaration of Independence that did lead to a map describing ancient artifacts. Sounds far-fetched. It happens that I developed a theory called Hidden Parable Theory, utilizing a form of numerology based on the golden ratio. This theory not only identifies a code on the Declaration of Independence but also on the United States Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation.

This makes sense since if you think logically, if there was a code on the Declaration of Independence, which there is, there could be similar ones on other foundational American documents. So, let's dive into my theory.

In Hidden Parable Theory employs numerology with scientific relevance, drawing connections to passages in the Bible. A crucial link is found in the Book of Matthew, specifically in analyzing Jesus' lineage. After scrutinizing the names of the forty-two generations of Jesus, four names stand out, creating a numerical connection with biblical origins. Interestingly, these four names also relate to King David, all containing the letter 'D'.

Now, how does this connect with American governmental documents? These documents bear the signatures of the Founding Fathers, and within their names and positions, numerical codes can be found using Hidden Parable Theory. Let's consider a basic example:

On the Declaration of Independence, with 56 signatures, six names stand out: William Hooper, William Paca, William Floyd, William Whipple, William Ellery, and William Williams. Notice a coincidence? All of them have 'William' in their names. By repeating the same name six times, the Declaration of Independence emphasizes a biblical number.

The six names mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. By chance, there happens to be six variations of William on the United States Constitution, as well, and are as follows: William Blout. Hugh Williamson, William FEW, William Samual Johnson, William Livingston, and William Patterson.

This connection to biblical numbers and documents is a result of using Hidden Parable Theory. These connections trace back to two significant events in the Old Testament.

The first event ties back to the sixth day of creation, correlating the creation of man with the creation of a governmental document founded on natural rights. The second event involves the sixth commandment written by Moses as "Thou shall not kill," influencing fundamental aspects of our legal system.

Returning to the example of names related to King David and the number four, the Hidden Parable Theory uses this biblical concept to make numerical connections, highlighting symbols related to nature and a way to scale them. Because of the Bible's significance as a text written for man's salvation, anything remotely related to it is considered significant.

So, in the case of the Declaration of Independence, there is a symbol. Can you figure it out? If not, check out my book where I delve into all three documents, including the Declaration of Independence. If you're intrigued, there's more to explore about the Hidden Parable Theory in my books available on Amazon or through my social media pages (Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Tumblr).

#aesthetic #art #religious art #history #theology #religous themes #theories #theory #architecture #numerology #american government #usa news #usa #us army #united states of america #united states #america #the united states

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hotcoolandticklish · 1 year

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Rick Cosnett

Rick Cosnett (actor, The Vampire Diaries, The Flash) is extraordinarily ticklish, and has admitted it on numerous occasions - in personalised videos, Instagram Live, Reddit AmA, Twitter Q&A, Facebook Private Message - as well as getting tickled in photos, by co-stars and fans alike. Here are transcripts and links to these admissions: From Reddit AmA:

What makes you laugh?

Are you ticklish? If so where and are your feet ticklish?

Rick Cosnett:

Comedians. Amy Schumer. On good days a lot of things- on bad days I ignore funny things by mistake! I am so ticklish it's actually not funny- just come towards me with tickling fingers and I will run, potentially screaming

Q2: Where are your ticklish spots?

Rick Cosnett:

I have too many to list. It actually made me laugh a lot! Keep smiling Paige! x

(Links can be found online)

From Twitter [Q&A]

Q: Are you ticklish? If yes, where?

Rick Cosnett:

I'm very ticklish #everywhere

Q: Are you ticklish & where the most?

Rick Cosnett:

Seriously, most places :) :)

(The first Q/A is still available on his Twitter account. The second one has been removed)

From Facebook Private Message:

Q: Are you ticklish? If so, where and are your feet ticklish?

Rick Cosnett:

Hi! Thanks for those kind words of support! I am ticklish under my arms. At the moment 'Search Party' the TV show makes me laugh. Have a lovely day

(PM on his official Facebook page)

From Personalized Video Message:

Q: Are you ticklish? If so, where the most?

Rick Cosnett:

I am very ticklish under my arms. I'm extremely ticklish. Umm... My uncle used to tickle us all the time. Umm, so, that would be my point... My feet are not so ticklish! Umm, I like them... you know, when they're massaged and stuff, I'm fine... But under my arms, that's the spot! [Rick grins]

(This is a transcript of Rick's personalized video. He is not 100% honest!)

From Instagram Live:

Q: Are your feet ticklish?

Rick Cosnett:

Hi, are your feet ticklish? Yes, I'm very, very ticklish! Umm... and I love that question, it's so wonderfully innocent. [Rick grins and laughs] Are you ticklish!

Q: Are you ticklish? If so, where?

Rick Cosnett:

I'm ticklish under my arms. I'm ticklish on my feet. Umm... Nowhere else! [Rick pretends to lock lips]

(This is a transcript from Rick's Streamily Instagram Live stream in 2020)

Above, there are two photos of Rick being tickled - first by co-star Grant Gustin, and then by a fan during a convention photo op. When Rick shared Grant Gustin's photo, he put in the description:

Rick Cosnett:

Hahaha no seriously stop tickling me @grantgust #JesseLMartin #TheFlash

Grant's reply was, 'I'll never stop!'

(Rick might as well be one of the hottest, nicest, and most ticklish male celebs out there! He also seems to get tickled all the time!)

#ticklishmalecelebs #tickling🪶fetish #ticklish #ticklishcelebs #rick cosnett

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professorsaber · 11 months

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Fic Author Self-Rec

Share five of your personal favorite works, then tag five authors to do the same. Thank you to @bg-sparrow for tagging me!

1. “Their Song Is Almost Over” (Doctor Who)

Twelve remembered her eventually: Clara Oswald, the woman for whom he nearly burnt the universe. They got their happily ever after. But even the Doctor won't live forever. After thousands and thousands of years, the Doctor’s life comes to its natural end on Earth. This is the story of his passing, and that of Clara Oswald, who was at his side.

This was the first story I ever posted to AO3, I wrote it in a single sitting, it’s epic in scope, it gives a ship that got an at-best bittersweet ending in canon a gloriously happy ending, and I swear it seems to be one of my least popular works! (Seriously, my most popular work has eight times as many hits, and I feel like it’s so half-assed by comparison!)

2. Loose Ends and Loose Memories (Back to the Future)

Upon returning to 1985, Marty McFly finds that he has two sets of memories in his head. While struggling to figure out which set is "right," he finds that someone else remembers his visit to 1955.

I posted three BTTF fics to FF.net years before this one, but I was younger and I feel like this one was such an improvement! I’d grown so much as a writer in the interim. And it’s the first in a series of fics involving events after Part III. Now, as of right now, there are only three fics there, but I have plans. I’ve always wanted to do a series like Kristen Sheley did, and this was a new (and I think, much better) attempt than the one on FF.net

3. “That Isn’t Our Song!” (Doctor Who)

At St. Luke's Bristol, Clara and the Doctor have a musical prank war.

I get few comments on this one, but it’s so silly and I just love it so much. It's an AU of the in-between of Series 9 and Series 10, where immortal!Clara stayed with Twelve and they get up to Shenanigans™ while working “undercover” at St. Luke's University Bristol.

4. “Moving Day” (Back to the Future)

Marty and Jennifer move in together.

When I posted this, it had been two years since I’d written any fics, and five since I’d done a BTTF fic! I’d been stuck trying to finish two different BTTF fics (still am), but when I came up for the idea for this one I was able to break through my total writing block! (For a while anyway; it was a year again before I returned to fic-writing.) Still, I really like this one. Perhaps especially because it focuses a lot on Jennifer, who’s such an enigma in canon.

5. “r/ThePinheads: Guys, Marty McFLy really *is* a time traveller!!!” (Back to the Future)

Did you know that it's a meme that the lead guitarist and vocalist for the rock band The Pinheads, Marty McFly, is a time traveler? Well, some guy on the Pinheads subreddit thinks he's found definitive proof...

This is quite a departure: it’s a fake Reddit page. I’m taking an HTML coding class right now, and it gave me the idea to create an in-universe one. The second “chapter” is a screenshot of the actual page I made! There are a lot of easter eggs in it!

Honorable mention: “I Need You, Now More Than Ever” (Doctor Who).

Escaping a planet after a “date” where everything went horribly wrong, the Doctor and Clara find comfort in each other.

It’s NSFW, and I’m worried about community rules and whatnot so I won’t link directly. It’s also the very first NSFW piece I ever did. And it sat on my harddrive for four years for a single reason: I couldn’t think of a title! I was thinking of it recently when the title came to me suddenly and I had to post it immediately!

I'm tagging @universe-on-her-shoulders, @clara-is-brave, @daryfromthefuture, @bttf-dork, and @cosmicallyavg!

#about me #my fics

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lunaajade · 3 years

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Everything You Need to Know about “Shadow and Bone” on Netflix (*UPDATED: POSSIBLE LANGUAGE OF THORNS ADAPTATION INFO)

Since it’s recently been confirmed that we’d be getting S&B content in a few days (finally!), I thought I’d compile and summarize as much info as I could to refresh everyone’s memories! Please spread the word/share this post to those who aren’t up to date! (I’ve seen some people online who are worried about how it’s going to turn out, and I’d like to be able to hopefully reassure those people)

Now, there’s a LOT of stuff, so there’s always the chance I missed/forgot something. This post will be split up into categories based on type of info, so here we go! I went back and listened to/watched both of the big live streams (NYCC and the S&B Charity Competition), went on the Grishaverse Reddit, etc. to find as much (extra/bonus) stuff as I could. (If I missed anything/got something wrong, please feel free to leave a comment!)

Update: A lot of people have been asking where it was confirmed we were getting content soon. I found out from one of the update accounts I follow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

General/Key Info About the Show

-This first season will be adapting both “Shadow and Bone” and what has been dubbed a “Book 0″ (most likely meaning prequel/backstory/set-up) for “Six of Crows” -In relation to the above point, the timelines are being brought together for the show. (Normally in the books, the two series are set two years apart)(We don’t know how exactly or what this means for the story, but I have a really interesting theory that I thought up in relation to this, message me if you’d like to hear it.) -Leigh acknowledges and understands that some of us have doubts and are worried about the show, but she has publicly assured us (numerous times) of how much she loves the show and cast, how well she thinks the crew/writers did in bringing the Grishaverse to life, etc. See a later point below in the Facts/Tidbits section -The first season will have 8, one-hour long episodes -Alina has been made half Shu (half Asian) for the show! Leigh stated that was decided on after she and Eric had a lengthy discussion on Alina’s character. -The main cast (as in confirmed to be in all episodes) is comprised of Jessie Mei Li (as Alina), Archie Renaux (as Mal), Ben Barnes (as the Darkling), Freddy Carter (as Kaz), Amita Suman (as Inej), and Kit Young (as Jesper) -Wylan and Nikolai are NOT in the first season. (Nikolai didn’t appear until the second book, and Leigh confirmed that at this point in the story, the Crows had not met Wylan yet.) -Other cast members include Danielle Galligan (as Nina), Calahan Skogman (as Matthias), Daisy Head (as Genya), Sujaya Dasgupta (as Zoya), Luke Pasqualino (as David), Julian Kostov (as Fedyor), Simon Sears (as Ivan), Zoe Wanamaker (as Baghra), and more! -The Darkling will also be called “General Kirigan” in the show. From what we know, The Darkling will be the “enemy” to Ravka (so in essence, General Kirigan is his alias/fake persona (what he’ll most likely be referred to for most of the show), and no one knows that he’s actually their enemy. (Meaning it’ll most likely a super big moment when they learn their general was actually the Darkling in disguise)). -The show was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary. (And additional filming took place this past fall in Vancouver) -In order, the 8 episodes are titled the following: “A Searing Burst of Light”, “We’re All Someone’s Monster”, “The Making at the Heart of the World”, “Otkazat’sya”, “Show Me Who You Are”, “The Heart is An Arrow”, “The Unsea”, & “No Mourners”.

Other (Fun) Facts/Tidbits About the Show

-Upon seeing Jessie’s audition, Leigh loved her audition/portrayal of Alina so much that she apparently stated that she wanted her to play Alina or she’d be out of the project. She was sent five auditions to watch, Jessie’s was the third, and she said she didn’t bother watching the rest of them. -Leigh stated that she and Eric Heisserer (the creator of the show) said they were on the same page from the first meeting. All other past meetings with producers and companies about possible adaptations had left her with a bad feeling, but she said they’d had the same ideas about inclusion, story, staff, etc. She said she’s loved the respect he’s shown towards the work (and, in a way, to us the fans) -Netflix apparently also has the rights to adapt “The Language of Thorns” , though we’ve gotten no info on that adaptation yet. (UPDATE: I just watched a Leigh Bardugo event from Feb 2019 (a few weeks after the show was first announced, I think): As of that day, she said that she thought that they were going to use LoT more for "texture” (IMO that might mean worldbuilding?) in the show. And I don’t know if she was talking about LoT specifically because she was very vague, but she said that there were certain things in the show that she thinks readers will be really excited about. Again, this was over a year ago, back when they were still in pre-production and stuff, so don’t take my word for it. Besides this, I couldn’t find anything else relating to a possible LoT adaptation. Maybe they’ll have the stories from LoT appear as actual folk tales told in the show, and that’s the “adaptation”? IDK. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHnw8Ygw5c&t=1906s)) -Leigh is an exec. producer on the show! I’m no expert, so I don’t know how much say/power she had in the process, but she definitely had some. -There is a RAVKAN edition of the “Shadow and Bone” book that Leigh says makes a cameo in the show! -Jesper’s guns had custom etchings done on them by a Hungarian antique gunsmith! (And they were so good that Leigh and Eric said that it looked like it belonged in a museum--they were also described to be quite heavy!) -Eric Heisserer is the creator of the show, he is an award-winning writer, well known for “Arrival”, “Bird Box”, and more. (If I remember correctly, Leigh said that he’d reached out to her about making the show!) -A DeKappel painting (maybe the one owned by Van Eck?) was confirmed to be in the pilot episode. -Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen have been confirmed to be in the first season, but their casting has (up to this point) not yet been revealed. -Bo Yul-Bayur is confirmed to be in the show! (Though Kuwei has not) -Leigh will have a cameo in (I think) Episode 5! She will be wearing a Materialki kefta and will be opening a door, if I remember correctly. -A lot of the crew was also extremely passionate about the project and fans of the books -The “Lives of Saints” book that was published in October is an actual book/prop that is appearing in the show! -I’m personally fine with Mal, but Leigh says that Archie is going to change everyone’s minds with his portrayal! -The costume designer for the show is Wendy Partridge, known for her work on “Thor: The Dark World”, “Pompeii”, and more! -The composer for the show is Joe Trapanese, known for composing for “The Greatest Showman”, “Straight Outta Compton”, “Lady and the Tramp”, and more! At the NYCC Grishaverse panel, they revealed a little bit of the score (”Grisha Theme”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxIEbsHKJA

Fun Cast/On Set Stories/Facts

-The cast all loves each other, and are all extremely passionate about this show, which is great! (Leigh said that on her second visit to the set, she heard them singing together) -Leigh says that Ben Barnes once snuck up behind her on her first day on set and scared her by whispering “Fine, make me your villain” -Freddy’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows”, but most specifically the first line of chapter 2 (”Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.”) -Jessie would apparently come to set on some of her days off to support the cast and crew! -Sujaya has stated that her favorite Grishaverse character is Nikolai! (#Zoyalai) -Freddy has become famous/popular with the fandom, one of the reasons being because he often comments on posts/live streams asking something along the lines of “What was it like working with Freddy Carter? xoxo” -Danielle loves Nina and her journey in “King of Scars” -According to a Tweet, Freddy and Leigh said that there had been a scene with “a very pesky gate”--Freddy said that it “wouldn’t be proper to tweet the expletives [he] used that day” and that he thinks he “scarred” Amita and Eric. -Amita’s favorite thing about Inej is her silence, and her favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows” (as of May, where we learned this during a live-stream, she said she’s read it three times and listened to the audiobook twice.) -There was a waffle truck on set on the last day of shooting! -Calahan says that if he could play any other Grishaverse character, he’d want to play Nikolai! -While she did work with the trainer to get more physically fit, Amita learned most of her knife techniques by herself! -Leigh said she cried a lot while on set! (She said there was one scene they were shooting that she has a very clear, vivid memory of writing many years back--based on the context of which she was talking about it, if I had to guess, I’d guess she’s describing the Winter Fete.) -Leigh also said that on one of her first days on set, it was funny/weird to see all the extras in First Army uniforms chilling on their phones, drinking coffee, etc. -One of Calahan’s favorite character dynamics in the books is the dynamic between Kaz and Matthias -There was a moment where Amita was fully in costume and doing amazing, graceful knife work, only to trip and fall when she’d finished. -Amita and Jessie and Sujaya were best friends on set. -Sujaya loved everything about playing Zoya. (Especially her confidence) -Leigh says one of her favorite props was Kaz’s cane, especially because of what it meant to her and the story. -If he could be any Grisha order, Calahan says he’d want to be a Corporalki -Calahan loves Matthias’s journey/arc. -Kit’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Crooked Kingdom”!

Links

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65iI1YXrbU (NYCC Grishaverse Panel) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHou5rVs6o0 (S&B Talent Show Charity Live Stream ft. the S&B Cast!--the IG video got taken down because Archie deleted his IG account and switched to a new one) -https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 (”Shadow and Bone” on Netflix!) -https://twitter.com/shadowandbone_ (Official “Shadow and Bone” Twitter!) -https://www.instagram.com/shadowandbone/?hl=en (Official “Shadow and Bone” Instagram!) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRh-Pmbynww (Annoucement made by cast when filming wrapped! (can be found on the social media accounts, but here’s a link to YT)) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpY8uLtyB4 (A S&B Cast Crack video by HeartPhantom--it highlights a lot of the inside jokes and memes that we’ve gotten to witness among the cast, and also just generally shows off how hilariously chaotic everyone is (this cast is the definition of chaotic good, lol))

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tamhrayis · 3 years

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I brought a theory from Reddit.

Disclaimer:

I am here to not disrespect the author by any means. I simply have questions as a person who is reading it and pointed out which parts are confusing. It’s up to you to believe this theory or not.

What’s more, reborn Ymir will be in the same position as 2000 years ago – the Founding Titan's shifter. BUT, this time she's free. Therefore, once she pops out and gets her abilities back, she can do whatever she wants with them. She no longer needs to be commanded by royals, which gives her the ideal opportunity to conclude everything. [How does Eren know that an infant can assist him in such an endeavour?]

Well...Ymir was definitely not free, but Ymir wasn’t born with her abilities. She got them because of hallucigenia attached to her back when she fell into that water in the tree. She wasn’t born special.

Another point. How Ymir being born with titan powers will stop the cycle of hatred?

Zeke’s death was a necessary distraction, deliberately included by Isayama to divert our attention. It tricked us into thinking that the baby inheriting Zeke’s titan is relevant as it would help Eren resume the Rumbling. But that’s not the case. The child will indeed inherit the Beast but what’s important here is the baby inheriting the Founder (what Isayama tried to hide behind Zeke’s death). Also, his death served the purpose of stopping the Rumbling as it is not needed anymore. Most of the world's population is already massacred. [What was the point of Zeke dying? Will the baby inherit the Beast Titan?]

Hm...Yeah, Zeke’s death indeed helped to stop the rumbling, because Eren could reach the Paths because of him and killing him stopped the whole process, but why would Isayama make such a distraction at the last third chapter of the whole manga? Shouldn’t he kill Zeke before, so Eren and Historia’s plan would work and it had more screen time?

“In a vision, Eren saw that Ymir will be reborn after his death. He told Historia that he has to figure out which random child will inherit the Founder”. [“What would you think… about me having a child?”]

Which vision? Ch.1 or after kissing Historia’s hand? Ch.1 vision was Eren and Mikasa’s shared dream and we still don’t know what exactly Eren saw while kissing Historia’s hand.

Of course it’s safe to say that it was his future memories, but it yet has to be revealed.

Random child. How Eren can predict that the baby will be Historia’s? Does he know how many pregnant women are there on Paradise? Okay, let’s say that it’s FT and Paths magic, but can he control which child will be born with Founder’s powers?

It would also explain why Historia didn't appear in Ch. 138 – if Isayama showed the baby coming out seconds after Mikasa decapitated Eren then it would’ve been obvious what’s going on.[“What would you think… about me having a child?”]

Chapters are 45 pages long. Why Isayama didn’t cut out some panels and didn’t put it here? Why not to show it right after the kiss page? Distraction?

Moreover, Ymir is smiling at Eren and Mikasa not simply because she saw affection. Yes, she does care about bonds but another thing could be that Eren's plan downed on her – she connected the dots and figured out that it's now her turn to contribute and complete the mission Eren wordlessly gave her. I believe next chapter will start with her disappearing from inside the Founder's mouth and switch to her being born. [“What would you think… about me having a child?”]

Okay! I agree with the part that Ymir smiled at Mikasa and Eren because of the affection they showed to each other and the part that she will contribute to the “mission”.

They showed affection to each other. Why would Eren show affection to Mikasa if he is having a child with the woman he loves?

What about the hallucigenia? Will it still stay there or disappear with her?

Immediately after she cries for the first time, all Eldians will perhaps be summoned in Paths, where Eren will be waiting. To their surprise, he will announce the end of the Titan Age. Then, Ymir will make the command and Paths will begin collapsing. Eren will hold her in his arms as all traces of titans disappear. "You're free." will collectively be directed to Ymir and all of her Subjects. [What will happen after she is reborn?]

Hold on. Can the power of Founder be shared between two people? Is it like One for All? If Ymir was born with FT, doesn’t that mean that Eren no longer has FT, AT and WHT? How Ymir can summon them? She is an infant. She doesn’t have a proper consciousness to purposely summon everyone into Paths. Where AT and WHT will go? To random Eldian children or Ymir?

It has always been suspicious as to why Eren teased Zeke about them not reaching "the part where he eats their old man". It's strange that Grisha gave Eren the power of the titans when beforehand he begged Zeke to stop him. The only logical thing would be that Eren showed him what I described above: the resolution. [What did Eren show Grisha?]

Wait. Why would Grisha be this heartbroken and scared if Eren showed him the resolution? He doesn’t look like crying from happiness. Sure, he was crying because he killed children and others, but why would he look at Zeke like that? He was in literal pain.

What used to be nonsensical before is now super logical. Grisha and Kruger were not helping the Alliance because Armin’s TnJ (talk no jutsu) worked. They aided them because beforehand Eren revealed the truth of what is to come and that they will NEED to kill him in order for Historia’s baby to inherit the Founder. Basically, they didn't feel sympathy for Marley all of a sudden – instead, they were helping Eren in liberating Eldians from titans. [Why did Grisha and Kruger help the Alliance? Why did Ymir revive them if they were going to go against Eren?]

Well...Besides Grisha and Kruger, Marcel, Ymir, Mr. Xavier, Porco and Bertholdt were there. Did they want to help Eren too?

As it has been confirmed by Isayama's notes on Ch. 138, it’s not an AU. So we should probably forget about time loops. It's a dream. Eren entered it (through Paths, duh) as he wanted to convince Mikasa to behead him as fast as possible as they have no time left. Him joining her is why Aaron Yogurt dream Eren got shifter marks on his face and why in Ch. 1, he saw this particular moment. [What’s up with Mikasa’s hallucinations?]

Oh! “A long dream” topic again. I went to the link author put and this is what I see (see below).

Okay, let’s say that he entered it via Paths, but why not to straightforwardly say that? Why to create a dream where they live happily? Why to show this hug, “I want to live with you for the rest of my 4 years”?

I don’t really like the time loop concept myself, because I don’t like time travel stuff, but why then he saw the exact same dream in ch.1? Something is not clicking.

The former will likely return to being humans. There’s no reason for them to disappear as they’re material beings that exist in the physical world – what will be removed is just titanization. Plus, with this, Eren will keep his promise of his friends living long lives. Though, this is something I cannot predict properly and just speculation. The latter will be free from the Curse of Ymir (good luck, Reiner, no dying for you). [What will happen to the titanized Eldians and titan shifters?]

Fully agree! No debate.

There's no question really. I feel like it should be self-explanatory after everything discussed so far. The farmer being Ymir's father would be a more shocking twist than Eren being the dad. [Is it sure that Eren is the father?]

Why wouldn’t Isayama add a plot twist into his story? It’s not hard to do. But Isayama’s plot twists work because he visually foreshadows it or uses characters’ dialogues. He already has showed us farmer. Why he is here? For cover up? Why would Isayama put these words if farmer is unnecessary? Why not to add more information?

To stop the cycle of violence and hate once and for all. If Eren removed titan powers without the Rumbling, most people (especially Marleyans) would’ve still despised Eldians and they would've just been defenseless. So Eren wanted to prevent that. [Why did the Rumbling have to occur?]

I agree with this. Rumbling was a cause for people to work and stop fighting each other as I said here. Rumbling plan was very risky, but it was unavoidable, because Marley is way more advanced and Paradise would terribly lose. Good point!

But why would Historia, who has decided to live for herself agree with Eren’s plan? How would she benefit from it? Okay, she and Historia are in love, but why would she want the person she loves to become a mass murderer? Why she couldn’t stop him? Why she was crying when he told his plan? She is a royal blood after all too! They could come up with another plan which wouldn’t involving Zeke.

I assume it would just die/disappear/go back to the tree it emerged from. [What about hallucigenia?]

Where’s that tree? How it will get there?

In conclusion, the theory isn’t bad, but it would work if Historia and Eren had more set up, the importance of Zeke would be explored a little more here and ch.138 didn’t have clear symbolism between Eren and Mikasa. There’re some holes, but the author gave some good points, which is truly appreciated!

#it’s theory time #attack on titan #shingeki no kyoujin #eren jaeger #mikasa ackerman #eremika #zeke jaeger #snk 138 #snk spoilers

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 3 years

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In August 2020, when I first created this blog, I made a post about why the tax dodging episode is my favourite episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats. I highly recommend watching this episode to anyone who’s interested in these comedians and hasn’t seen it before: the episode can be found here. It’s a hell of an episode of television. It’s s13e09, from June 2012.

I’ve been watching old episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats tonight, and that made me find and re-read the post I linked above about its tax episode (if you do click that link and read the post, I feel the need to say that the YouTube video I included in it was made in the middle of the night when I was half asleep so I’m sorry for the glaring error I made in mislabeling a 2010 TV episode as a 2011 TV episode). This has made me decide that tonight, because I cannot sleep, I will do a follow-up to that post, in which I re-watch that episode and liveblog it.

Thoughts on 8 Out of 10 Cats s13e09, written as I re-watch it:

- In my original post, I wasn’t joking about wondering whether the makeup department went easy on Jimmy to make him look disheveled and sympathetic, or whether he just genuinely was unable to get his usual mannequin look after not sleeping for several days. Because it’s clearly one of those two things.

- After doing the pre-show jokes, and before sitting down for the actual show, Jimmy gets a look of what I’m fairly sure is genuine anxiety in his eyes, and says, “Right, well I can’t put it off any longer. Let’s get started.” I repeat this quote to myself every time I’m about to start a tough workout, after procrastinating this by doing an unnecessarily long warmup because I don’t want to get to the hard work.

- Jesus. The God damned delight in Sean Lock’s reaction to Jimmy starting the show by announcing the first round: “What are you talking about?” The round in which the panelists have to guess what most people in Britain have been talking about for the last week. It’s June 22 (well, it aired June 22, it’s a topical show but not a live one so when it was filmed it was probably something like June 20), but for Sean Lock, it’s Christmas and his birthday all rolled into one.

It’s hard for me to pick a screenshot that properly captures this, and the internet where I am isn’t good enough to make and upload gifs. Just... if you haven’t watched the episode, treat yourself (as Jimmy Carr would say) and watch the fucking episode. You need to see this. But if I can only summarize Sean’s reaction with one image, I’d have to go with when he tried to be sort of jokingly nonchalant about it, started with a casual, “Well, Jimmy,” but that act broke a few seconds in and he had to put his head down to laugh and collect himself before he could continue.

- That screenshot occurred in the middle of Sean’s first line of the episode, which has now become one of his iconic jokes (I know because after he died last month, it was one of the Sean Lock quotes that a lot of people posted on Reddit): “Well, Jimmy. We all like to put a bit of money away for a rainy day, don’t we? But I think you’re more prepared than Noah.”

- Sean’s joke was funny. Sean’s teammates (Sarah Millican and Georgie Thompson) laughed at it. Jon’s teammates (Mickey Flanagan and Louie Spence) laughed at it. The audience laughed at it. Jon, as I said in my original post about this episode, was having none of it. This was the first clear shot of Jon’s face during this episode, and it immediately set the stage for how he was feeling about the whole situation:

- “When I heard that you were on the front page of the papers, to be honest I was expecting a lot worse. I was expecting to see one of those white police tents, and a copper holding your laptop in a see-through carrier bag. So I was quite relieved, when I found out what it was, really.” - Sean Lock, having the time of his fucking life

- The Noah line is the one I think gets quoted most often, by my favourite Sean Lock line from this episode actually came shortly after it: “We can all now see why you work so hard: you get to keep all the money!” Even Jon very, very grudgingly came slightly close to laughing after that joke. He spent this whole episode seething with anger, but that line out of Sean was so funny that you could see him having to fight the smile.

- “I have apologized, Sean, and, in my defense... no, I’ve got nothing.” - Jimmy Carr, saying another line that I have definitely quoted in my own life since I first watched this episode

- “In your apology, it said, ‘My accountant said to me, do you want to pay less tax? And it’s totally legal.’ Can you answer: when you were having that conversation, were you on a telephone and was there thick plastic glass between the two of you? Did he have a sort of boiler suit-type uniform and a very brutal haircut? Because the best accountants, that’s where they are, in jail.” - Sean Lock, in a joke that drew a proper smile out of Jon Richardson even through his genuine anger

- Sarah Millican has just joined the roast of Jimmy Carr by asking him if he left his money in Jersey just because he liked the place, the way she leaves a hairbrush at her boyfriend’s place.

- Yeah... Jon has recovered from the smile Sean forced out of him, and is back to angrily glaring at the table while fury courses all the way through him at having to sit near this person who’s done this awful thing, and he can’t do anything about it, and everyone’s treating it like it’s no big deal. And on top of that, there’s the sense of betrayal that it’s someone he knew, someone who might not have been his best friend but was a person he thought he knew well enough to be able to safely assume had a basic level of half decent values, and now he’s confronted with the reality that you can’t just assume the people in your life are half decent people just because they seem all right.

It’s worth knowing this screenshot was taken just as Louie Spence started to weigh in. So the look on Jon’s face is not just a result of the situation as a whole, but also a specific look of frustration with the fact that he now has to hear Louie Fucking Spence’s take on it. And has to sit there and pretend it’s okay to trivialize a serious issue like that by having Louie Spence weigh in, because he’s a panel show comedian and trivializing serious issues is sort of his job.

(It’s possible that I might be projecting a bit here. It’s possible that I may be slightly projecting my own issues, my own hours upon hours across years upon years, that I’ve spent in meetings – in board meetings, in AGMs, in meetings that have been called just before they happened to deal with some specific issue that’s tearing our community apart – having to sit in a room with people who’ve done horrible fucked up things, and play along with all the other people, who are acting like none of this is a big deal. While dealing with the fact that half the time I liked this person before I knew what they’d done. And I bite through my tongue and dig my nails into my arms and try to sit there politely as though this is a normal fucking day. It is possible that I might be projecting some of my own experiences along these lines onto Jon when I watch this episode. But I don’t think I’m too far off with that. I think that really is pretty close to how Jon was feeling while filming this episode.)

- Louie Spence, when attempting to give his views on the political side of this, says, “I mean, Tony... no, it’s not Tony Blair now, is it? Who’s our prime minister?” This was 2012; David Cameron was prime and it was Gordon Brown before him and it hadn’t been Tony Blair for five years. Louie Spence appearing to genuinely not know the PM’s name while trying to make a political point even got Sean Lock - who (unlike Jon) was happy to just roast Jimmy and ignore the larger political issues - to look at him in surprise and disgust.

- And now we get the first actual words out of Jon from this episode. Louie Spence said it was wrong for the prime minister - whom he’d now worked out was David Cameron - to criticize Jimmy Carr’s tax avoidance. Jon can clearly be heard in the background saying, “It’s not wrong. It’s not wrong.”

- “Any political rant is weakened by not knowing the name of the prime minister.” - Jon Richardson

- Then Louie Spence gets up and does an actual dance, and I think it’s the only time this episode that Jimmy Carr and Jon Richardson are on the same page.

Jimmy Carr: I didn’t think I could feel any worse, but there it is.

Jon Richardson: I thought, this week of all weeks, we might get to the second round before you did a dance.

And then Jon got in one of his very few proper jokes of this episode: “What a pleasure it is to be sat next to the only man in Britain more flexible than your accountant, Jimmy.”

- Jon’s voice goes up a couple of octaves for the next bit, as he expresses his need to make sense of the fucked up situation. “We were here a week ago, having a good old laugh. And now, you’ve lost the moral high ground to News International and David Cameron. You can only make jokes about Hitler, Harold Shipman, and Chico from The X Factor. That’s it. I don’t understand. Tell me it’s all a lie.”

- And after that genuine, barely-dressed-up-as-comedy, thinly-veiled-under-just-the-lightest-layer-of-comedy, expression of dismay from Jon, of course we have Sean to lighten the mood. Sean, who’s older than Jon and has probably been quite aware for many years that nearly everyone in their industry is a piece of shit.

“You should have gone to my accountant. I’ve got a brilliant accountant. Best accountant in the world, I’ve got Stephen Hawking. He’s put my money in another dimension.”

- “I quite like the new you, because I’ve never seen you vulnerable before. It’s quite sexy, to be honest.” - Sarah Millican

I don’t agree with everything in the above statement; I have certainly never found Jimmy Carr sexy. Well, almost never. With the possible exception of some of those really old pictures of him when he had long-ish hair and a beard, just after he graduated from Cambridge.

But mostly, I have never found Jimmy Carr sexy. I do sort of see Sarah’s point, though. It’s fucking weird to see Jimmy Carr humanized by this. This episode is weird because of how genuine he looks in it. I mean, I’m sure everything Jimmy said and did in this episode had first been run through many layers of PR people to determine the best way to publicly respond to a scandal. But also, he really was in big trouble and I’m sure he really was very upset that week. We just rarely see Jimmy “really” be anything.

- “I like a broken man. I like a man who looks like he’s on the verge of tears at any point.” - Sarah Millican

- It was Georgie Thompson, the person who is not a comedian and doesn’t seem to really understand what’s going on, who took that too far. Sarah Millican calling Jimmy’s sad situation sexy was funny, because it was clearly a joke. Then Georgie Thompson said, “He does look like he needs a bit of a cuddle,” and she didn’t seem to be joking, and that’s what set Jon off. He immediately jumped in and said, “No.” And before Jon could argue further, Jimmy jumped in to say there shouldn’t be sympathy for him over this.

Far, far too many shitty people throughout history have gotten away with shitty things because people think they look sexy and/or in need of a cuddle. I absolutely understand Jon’s instinct to shut that down as soon as Georgie Thompson said it.

- For the second time this episode, Sean cracked Jon up against Jon’s will, by suggesting that Jimmy has an illness called “tax intolerance”:

I do rather like how, in so much of this episode, Sean and Jon seem to be on the same page as each other even if it’s a different page from the rest of the panel. They’re taking a different approach to the issue (Sean’s making jokes about it, Jon’s seething with anger), but they do seem to be some of the only people on stage (except Jimmy himself, and probably Sarah Millican) who really understand what’s happening and why it’s so bad.

- “The thing to remember is it’s not illegal. What Jimmy did is not illegal. But then again, neither is farting in a lift, is it?” - Sean Lock, prompting this beautiful reaction by Jon Richardson:

- Then I start to feel bad for assuming Mickey Flannagan has no idea what’s going on, because he actually brings up an interesting point. “Jim, can I… the one serious question I want to ask you is… did you not think there was a possibility you would get tumbled, as they say? You know, because that’s what I would have thought, and I didn’t go to Cambridge. Did you not think, ‘this might come out, you know?’ Did you not think that? Or did you just think, ‘Fuck ‘em, I’ll ride it out’?”

I am genuinely interested in the answer to that question. Jimmy Carr didn’t really answer it, he just said he wasn’t thinking at all.

- And here we have the quote of the episode, from Jon Richardson, the only time in this whole thing that they acknowledge the actual victims of what Jimmy Carr did: “David Cameron got involved because he’s in charge of the economy, and he gets shit in the papers every day for having to fire nurses and doctors, and one of the reasons he has to do that is because there isn’t enough money in the pot, and one of the reasons there isn’t enough money in the pot is because not everybody pays their tax.”

I’ve hesitated before to transcribe this quote, because I worry that without context it can be taken as Jon Richardson defending David Cameron. But I think it is clearly Jon saying that David Cameron fucking sucks, so it’s really bad that Jimmy Carr is now so bad that even David Cameron can fairly criticize him.

- “This is probably a good point to say hello to the millions of extra viewers who will be watching this evening, so... good evening, your majesty.” - Jon Richardson

- “Yes, good evening, your majesty, you tax-dodging bitch.” - Sean Lock

- You know what I would pay good money for? Anything written by Richard Osman that details the thoughts he had just before, during, and just after this episode was filmed. I’d love to know the process that went into this whole thing. How close Jimmy came to getting fired, and what calculations led the people who run the show to decide to keep him. How bad a fucking week the showrunners had, and how mad they were at Jimmy Carr for causing that.

- Jimmy Carr: What else have people been talking about this week? Jon Richardson: Well, David Cameron. Louie Spence: I know who he is now. He’s the prime minister. Jon Richardson: Yes. Audience: [cheers] Jimmy Carr: If you’re not laughing, you’re learning.

- “I think the Falklands would make the ideal tax haven, actually. I’m not going to go back to you, but I’ll just talk about tax havens. Because they’re always so, you know, warm, balmy places. I mean I don’t think we should tolerate tax havens. I would invade Jersey, Gurnsey, the Isle of Mann, Monaco tomorrow. I’d bomb Monaco off the face of the Earth. That’s a country that has an economic output of something like 500 billion, it’s the size of a large Asda. You’d solve all the European economic problems if you just closed down all the tax havens. There should be one tax haven: the Falklands. It takes fourteen hours to get there, it’s just a rock covered in seagull shit. We go, ‘If you don’t want to pay tax, go there.’ ” - Sean Lock

- Sarah Millican: Of course, not everybody’s really interested in the football. Apparently the male escort services have gone up.

Sean Lock: Oh, Christ, I’ve been so busy. Jesus Christ. Every bloody night. I finish a job, [makes a sound like a vibrating phone], oh, you’re joking.

- Okay, this is a weirdly slightly sweet moment. They’ve moved on from discussing Jimmy Carr’s taxes, they’re on other topics, but obviously the tax issue is hanging over everything. They get to talking about soccer, and... I’m going to quote the exchange:

Jimmy Carr: Last week, we talked about the Euros. We were talking about Panini stickers. You revealed that you are a Panini sticker man. How are you doing on your collection?

Jon Richardson: Do you know? I bought eight packs yesterday and I didn’t get a single shiny.

Jimmy Carr: Well, a little bit of good news, I’ve got you a little present. I’ve got you a little present here, I think you’ll enjoy that.

Jon Richardson: Aw... it’s me as a sticker.

I honestly want to know the story behind this one. Who made that sticker? What person responsible for keeping 8 Out of 10 Cats alive decided it would be a good idea to try to placate the angry and unchainable Jon Richardson with a football sticker book-style sticker of himself? How did that decision get made? Did Jon know beforehand that this would happen? Or did they genuinely surprise him? Did they already have that, as part of a plan to do this bit before Jimmy’s scandal broke? Or did they do it after the scandal broke, knowing Jon would be angry and thinking that sticker would be a good way to lighten things with him a bit? Did someone who creates 8 Out of 10 Cats take time out of a week during which they must have all been scrambling to respond to the Jimmy scandal, to make a sticker of Jon Richardson?

It’s a sweet moment either way. There is clearly something genuine behind the efforts of Jimmy, and whatever people wrote this bit and procured the Jon Richardson sticker, to figure out a way to keep Jon on board despite the fact that he has an actual moral compass that would be genuinely upset about what Jimmy had done.

- Sean Lock: Julian Assange is hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy now. He’s hiding in there because they’ve turned down his appeals to be extradited to Sweden. He’s worried about going on trial in Sweden on rape charges. He’s worried about it because he’s got a habit of telling the truth, and it won’t turn out very well for him.

Georgie Thompson: How do you approach an embassy and seek asylum within it? How does that work?

Jimmy Carr: I’ve literally no idea. I imagine I’ll find out later in the week.

Sean Lock: Jersey doesn’t have an embassy. I reckon you’re best off in Switzerland, because then you can do lookey-likey work for Roger Federer.

- “Gary Barlow’s been given an OBE in the same week he’s been accused of avoiding millions in tax. I tell you what, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right about now.” - Jimmy Carr

- We get another dance from Louie Spence, and Jon could not look less impressed.

- Then Jon mentioned that he sometimes danced to one particular song, and they put that song on and encouraged him to get up and dance. Obviously, Jon did not do that. Afterwards, there was a great exchange that reminded me of why Sean and Jon were just so fucking perfect as a comedy duo.

Jon Richardson: This is why I do stickers, you see? After this, I go into a little room, and I just put stickers into little squares, and I rock both and forth, and I say, “Oh, Rio Ferdinand, he’s not in the tournament, but he’s in my sticker book.”

Sean Lock: If you dare put a song on for me, I’m going back to the first round. (The first round, of course, was the round in which they discussed Jimmy Carr’s tax issues. The round from which they’d moved on by this point, but to which Sean threatened to return if they tried to make him dance.)

- Question:

Jon Richardson: Keep the receipts.

- Sarah Millican: Is it take a book before bed?

Louie Spence: A poo?

Sarah Millican: No, a book.

Jimmy Carr: A book is like a DVD with pages. [laughter] Well it depends what the book was.

Georgie Thompson: If it was like, 50 Shades of Grey, it would probably be okay.

Sarah Millican: That’s true. But then I’d just rub me button, so…

Sean Lock: It’s more of a toggle, isn’t it?

Sarah Millican: Have you seen it?

Sean Lock: I’ve seen you walk.

- Next question:

Sean Lock: Best way to reduce stress? Pay your taxes.

- Jimmy Carr: Best way to reduce stress. Jon?

Jon Richardson: I don’t think there’s enough stress. I think too many people are relaxed about... oh, you know, it’ll be all right. Stress gets stuff done, doesn’t it? Stress says, “Oh, shit. Tax returns.”

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moonlightreal · 3 years

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Strange Fate linkdump: Questing, Empathy and Endgames

Huge long post! Linkdump and many many thoughts that wandered through my mind while going through these links.

Last Lullaby stuff:

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/hachette-signs-new-l-j-smith

About the international licensing of The Last Lullaby in 2013. Strange Fate is the big obvious lost book but it’s not the only one.

https://booknode.com/the_last_lullaby_0705503

French bookseller page about The Last Lullaby, with back cover blurb in English but no cover picture. So whatever happened happened before an artist could be commissioned. The book seems to follow unscarred teen Brionwy rather than scarred child Crispy who we met in the Strange Fate chapter

https://spotlightreport.net/featured/burn-bright-presents-l-j-smith-interview

2013 interview about The Last Lullaby. In this interview Crispy and Brionwy are two different characters, though I’d always had the impression that they were the same person and Brionwy was Crispy’s real name. Maybe just because Brionwy is the name in the title and then it’s Crispy’s story, back in whatever first incarnation I read of it whatever incarnation that was. And it’s poetic nfor the scarred child to have a beautiful name.

So we have the short story Brionwy’s Lullaby about Brionwy in the harem and the Strange Fate chapter about Crispy in the ruins. Two pieces. Less than we have of Strange Fate, but there is a looooot of worldbuilding in Brionwy’s Lullaby. Lots of worldbuilding but no hint of where the story goes next. Do Brionwy and Crispy meet? Is there some connection between them? How does the story end? In the Strange Fate incarnation of the story this future is traded for a happier timeline when characters in our time avert the apocalypse but as a separate story how would it conclude?

Honestly I’m sadder about this book than I am about Strange Fate; I loves me some YA dystopias and the whole dragons and vampires thing is just neat. But this book’s as lost as lost can be.

Recent Stuff:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YAlit/comments/krlvr1/lj_smiths_night_world/

Reddit thread from two months ago. The rabbit hole is real and nobody else seems to have found the bottom.

https://deadline.com/2020/05/greg-berlanti-productions-adapt-the-forbidden-game-novels-lj-smith-as-tv-series-the-vampire-diaries-author-1202944224/

Article about the upcoming Forbidden Game TV series. Forbidden Game is a Simon & Schuster series, not Alloy, so while I’m sure Ms. Smith has no say in how the show will go she will at least get royalties! However much royalties book authors get from TV shows, no idea how much that is.

https://micky.com.au/the-vampire-diaries-writer-reveals-new-fantasy-horror-series-the-forbidden-game/

“LJ Smith has just revealed that its horror trilogy novels...” Um. Not quite.

I looked through half a dozen articles about the Forbidden Game TV series and none of them had anything from Ms. Smith. I knew the chance that this would draw comment from her was only a tiny chance, but it seemed worth looking.

Interviews and Stuff:

https://www.saltlakemagazine.com/qa-the-vampire-diaries-creator-l-j-smith-on-writing-and-losing-the-series/

2012 interview about Vampire Diaries

https://peoplepill.com/people/l-j-smith-1

Just a biography page.

http://theliteraryconnoisseur.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-interview-with-new-york-times.html

2014 interview with a blogger. Ms. Smith does seem to be an absolutely lovely person.

https://areiterowski.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/author-profile-l-j-smith/

2013 Blog post about Ms. Smith, ending with a quite long list of “things she’s currently working on.’ the medical stuff didn’t happen until 2015 though with six projects in progress it’s believeable that she didn’t finish any of them before being felled by illness in 2015.

http://luanatormesdemattos.blogspot.com/2013/11/interview-with-one-and-only-l-j-smith.html

2013 interview with a blogger.

Into the meta: Aubrey Clark and the ghostwritten books

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/5760167.Aubrey_Clark

Books by Aubrey Clark. Secret Circle and Vampire Diaries. I assumed Aubrey Clark is a woman and the other book listed is by a man with the same name, but Aubrey is traditionally a male name and modernly a female name so who knows. Hardly the first time a dude wrote a series aimed at girls under a female name.

https://www.romance.io/authors/54558f9b87eac323ffb2cc31/aubrey-clark

Bio listing Ms. Clark as a she, and classifying her books as romances. Says she’s been writing for eight years. Just on the VD/SC stuff or did she write before? Alloy hiring an existing writer to ghostwrite and that existing writer using a pen name so her new work wouldn’t be connected with her old work is perfectly possible. I swear I read somewhere that Ms. Clark was Ms. Smith’s editor, or her “person” with Alloy, making her signing on as ghostwriter a bit of a betrayal… but I can’t find my source.

And how much of a betrayal is it really, if Ms. Smith got fired it’s not Ms. Clark’s fault if the series got offered to her, and who could say no to getting to write for a series you know? It’s a job and a chance to be a published author and nobody should be judged for grabbing that candy if offered it.

I wish we could hear what happened from Aubrey Clark’s side, just because the story of What Happened to Strange Fate is a mystery I to figure out… it’s easy for me to forget this mystery isn’t a Nancy Drew video game, it’s people’s real lives. Ms. Clark is not the villain, she’s a writer in a situation we don’t fully understand but she’s just a writer like any writer.

http://debrasbookcafe.blogspot.com/2012/11/book-review-secret-circlethe-divide-by.html

Review of Secret Circle: The Divide

http://bookandbroadway.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-temptation-tsc-6-by-aubrey-clark.html

Review of Secret Circle: The Temptation. The reviewer was not impressed.

http://yepireadbooks.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-32-temptation.html

Another review of The Temptation. This reviewer was a bit more impressed than the last one. I admit I ragequit the ghostwritten books after Ms. Clark started killing off characters, I don’t remember if I even hit book two…

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Vampire_Diaries_(novel_series)

Publishing history of Vampire Diaries

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304058204579495491652398358

2014 “Vampire Diaries Writer Bites Back.” we’ve all read this one...

https://uniquelygeekygirl.com/2013/05/20/1223/

2013 “LJ Smith vs ghostwriter” from a blog called uniquely geeky girl. The next article on the blog is more about Alloy and its practice of hiring ghostwriters.

The Rise and Fall of Kindle Worlds:

https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/05/15/amazon-to-shut-down-kindle-worlds/

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Kindle_Worlds

https://www.thebookloft.com/fanfiction-and-kindle-worlds

https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/amazon-closes-kindle-worlds/

https://gigaom.com/2014/08/17/amazons-fan-fiction-portal-kindle-worlds-is-a-bust-for-fans-and-for-writers-too/

http://www.roxannestclaire.com/barefoot-bay-world-kindle/kindle-worlds-faq/

https://www.bustle.com/articles/36237-amazons-fan-fiction-site-kindle-worlds-is-flopping-but-why

It rose, and it fell. As far as I can tell Alloy is the only publisher to put its works out on Kindle Worlds, I guess because that’s what they were already doing with their hired authors! Other authors seem to have opened their worlds individually and I guess not many of them signed on.

LJ Smith and Kindle Worlds

https://www.theawl.com/2014/02/the-writer-who-beat-the-system-how-one-woman-resurrected-her-sexy-vampire-brothers/

https://www.mhpbooks.com/fired-vampire-diaries-writer-takes-to-kindle-worlds-for-revenge/

http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com/2011/02/l-j-smith-fired-from-writing-vampire.html

A blog post with some comments so you can read the state of the fandom at the time.

https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/fandom/vampire-diaries-lj-smith-kindle-fanfiction/

http://leegoldberg.com/tag/alloy-entertainment/

“Read the contract.’ This one is interesting because it’s the only one that isn’t in defense of Ms. Smith. She should indeed read her contracts unless she wants to just be a fanfic writer, which… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an author going from published to fanfic, but why not?

Also, good question, where was Ms. Smith’s agent? And where is Ms. Smith’s agent these days when someone should maybe be being the Strange Fate Police?

Unrelated: I swear I read an article from Alloy’s perspective about what happened. Maybe it was this one and I thought it was from Alloy when it wasn’t. It is the only article not in support of Ms. Smith that I could find.

https://editingeverything.com/blog/2014/04/25/fanfiction-is-letting-lj-smith-tell-her-vampire-diaries-story/

https://www.tvovermind.com/vampire-diaries-lj-smith-fired-book-series/

https://thegameofnerds.com/2018/03/03/originals-10-facts-about-the-woman-behind-the-vamps/

https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1952&context=etd

https://www.cbr.com/the-secret-circle-why-the-vampire-diaries-author-l-j-smiths-other-cw-series-failed/

I watched one episode of the Secret Circle series because I loved the books so much, but the CW style is not my jam. But it is interesting to read the pitch for a fewer-character second season.

https://anovelbookblog.com/2014/06/12/leeching-off-the-talent-writing-for-hire-the-dark-side-of-publishing/

About the Secret Circle sequel novels and Alloy

https://www.jeanienefrost.com/2019/02/ghosts-in-the-machine/

Ghostwriting and plagiarism and ethics.

https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/stefan-and-elena/articles/94267/title/lj-smith-fired-from-writing-own-novels

This is the full letter from Ms. Smith about getting fired.

https://teleread.com/thanks-to-kindle-worlds-fired-vampire-diaries-writer-continues-her-own-series-as-fanfic/index.html

http://iswimforoceans.blogspot.com/2011/02/help-lj-smith-vampire-diaries.html

2011 blog post

https://indecisiveturtle.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/assignment-4-ghostwriting-in-the-vampire-diaries-by-l-j-smith/

A long blog post that goes into detail about the writing of some of the books, how to tell Ms. Smith’s style from the ghostwriter’s, sentence length and similes and stuff, all very academic! I’ve retyped a couple pieces of Ms. Smith’s writing and I noticed she handles punctuation-with-quotes differently than I do, making it very weird to retype. This is an interesting one. Someone dived way deep!

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/19/the-gossip-mill

New Yorker article about Alloy

https://www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/05/29/the-not-so-secret-backdoor-to-publishing/

Article about Alloy and package writing

https://www.vogue.com/article/the-secret-circle-young-adult-witch-fiction

Just an article about the Secret Circle books and how they’re kinda bad but actually good. Which they are.

That’ll keep y’all busy for a while!

Quest wishlist: I wish we could ask someone in the publishing industry about rights to series and rights to “publication canceled” books and how all that stuff works. And I wish we could hear Aubrey Clark’s side of the story, but it just seems unkind to reach out to her to ask about this.

But the problem is… I call it “the quest for Strange Fate” because I’m melodramatic and like calling things quests, but what it the victory condition for this one? The obvious: we win if we find and read Strange Fate, but I don’t think that will ever happen. No matter how much we learn about what happened that won’t make Strange Fate appear.

I do wish we could tell LJ Smith that plenty of authors these days have a Patreon. If the people who still care about the lost books and the story of Ms. Smith could turn that caring into actual useful help for the people and maybe the books too that would be the best outcome. That would be a successful quest.

A darker timeline possibility: maybe S&S read Strange Fate and it wasn’t any good. Ms. Smith is a good writer. But take a good writer and give her 20 years off from writing, and make those the 20 years where the teen experience of life changed radically, her genres of choice became big and popular and evolved and built up tropes, and language itself did… things…

I stan language but it’s a little sus how new lettery bois go brr everywhere I look. I love it, but it’s humbling having to ask my niece what all the new words mean, and why so many of them seem to begin with S!

And Ms. Smith is sixty and has twenty years of rewriting Strange Fate, pulling it apart and tinkering until it probably doesn’t much resemble the book she started in 1998. Stir up all this in a pot and we’ve got a recipe for making a talented author drop a mediocre book. Maybe S&S read it, said “it’s a dud, the fandom is 20 years old, let’s just not” and Ms. Smith retired from public life in defeat.

This makes an unhappy sort of sense, but it doesn’t answer the question of why The Last Lullaby never appeared either.

Anyway. This has been a long post, lots of links and some thoughts on the philosophy of questing.

#ljsmith strangefate #LJ Smith #Night World

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beautifulterriblequeen · 4 years

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Craftsman, Archmage, Mirror, Dragon

Aight guys, I found something super cool last night when I was rewatching S3E3: Ghost. Hold onto yer butts.

To set the scene, this is a further extension of one of my oldest and most favorite discoveries about this show: Aaravos is watching through the mirror when Runaan gets coined, and Runaan knows it. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 The key clue is that mirror’s reflection goes backward when the mirror is activated.

And now S3 has gifted me with so much more information! It all starts with this image here:

Ethari can only see Rayla in the reflection of his sword. That’s how the ghost spell works. Seems pretty straightforward, right?

Ahaha nooo. Moonshadow magic is never straightforward. Look again. These characters’ reflections are backward from what they should be.

Rayla’s neckline looks the same in her reflection as it does normally, with the light green piping swooping to the same side.

Ethari’s hair flops dramatically to one side of his face, and since his actual hair is also in the same shot, it’s easy to see that his reflection’s hair is flopping the opposite way.

More importantly, he’s not thrown off by that at all. He expects it. It’s right there in his face, and he just rolls with it.

Because that’s what a ghost spell looks like, guys. It reverses reflections.

Now, I know that in the pool outside the tree house, their reflections are proper, and you might think that the sword reflection is just a mistake. That’s what I first thought about Runaan’s wrong reflection in the mirror, too. But for story purposes, they had to have Rayla and Ethari able to reach out with the proper hand to break the ghost spell for a bit. And for plot purposes, they couldn’t show us too much of the backward reflections or it’d be super obvious that something’s up. When Runaan’s reflection in the mirror is backward, it’s a super intense scene and they glide right over the fact that he’s checking out his own reflection by having him talk about “worse than death”. When Viren first turns the mirror on, they show his reversed reflection for a second and then reveal Aaravos’s library as a brand new and intriguing location. They keep the reveals of the backward reflection very short and they only do it during intense scenes when you’ll be focused on something else. In this scene with Ethari, that moment is the first reveal of his face/the fact that reflections let you see ghosted people. That’s what we’re all looking at. Not the fact that their reflections are backward in the sword.

Also, plotwise, it’s possible that the ghost spell was performed at Ethari’s pool--at least when he cast it--and therefore its reflective surface is the one place where the reflections appear normal. We’ll get back to that, because we’re nowhere near done yet.

So, the ghost spell makes reflections reverse, for those who cast it and for those on whom its been cast. And, as was just revealed in a Reddit AMA yesterday, Aaravos was yeeted into his mirror by a group effort that included elves and archdragons.

And from the timeline, Luna Tenebris was just ending her reign as Queen of the Dragons when the Fallen Star event happened.

So we have a Moon Archdragon who ruled the dragons and definitely knew about Aaravos. She absolutely participated in yeeting him into his mirror. How would she contribute to his imprisonment?

Well, superconveniently, there’s this great big body of water at the Moon Nexus where she could perform Xadia’s most powerful ghosting spell ever.

Just like the pools at the Silvergrove, Luna Tenebris--or anyone with Moon magic--could use the Moon Nexus to cast spells, and they’d be naturally stronger than if they were cast anywhere else. If she ghosted Aaravos, that spell alone could be responsible for Aaravos’s name swirling off of Viren’s library book pages and for the backward reflections in Aaravos’s mirror whenever it’s active.

Aaravos was ghosted. That’s why no one knows who the heck he is. Except Runaan, apparently--if he is Moon Druid royalty, he’d keep that memory alive to guard against Aaravos’s return as a duty to his people and to all of Xadia.

But back to that ghosting spell, because there’s just a bit more.

Callum asks Rayla if Ethari can hear him, and she says no. The ghosting spell takes its duties very seriously and erases even the target’s voice from existence.

We’ve seen that setup before, too.

Aaravos doesn’t even try to speak until he’s broken the silence with his blood ritual spell. He knows it won’t work--it’s part of being ghosted.

So why can Viren see Aaravos at all if he’s been ghosted? I think that literally the only way anyone can clap eyes on Aaravos is by using the mirror. It was built to make sure Aaravos stayed put in his prison. Avizandum checked on him regularly to make sure he hadn’t gotten out somehow. That’s the mirror’s purpose. It’s probably not a door at all. It’s a window.

So there we go: Aaravos has been ghosted. If he were to step out of the mirror, would we even be able to see his starry freckles, or would they vanish with the rest of his facial features? We’ve seen blue-tinted mirror Aaravos and purple-astral-projection Aaravos. I was just telling @blue-mod-speaks that we could see a different Aaravos every season. But it hadn’t really sunk in that one of his forms could be Ghosted Aaravos.

link to part two because holy cats guys there’s even more

#aaravos #ethari #tdp headcanons #aaravos headcanon #luna tenebris #moonshadow magic #moonshadow elves #moon archdragon #tdp #runaan #moon druids #aaravos's mirror #aaravos theory

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thestylesindependent · 5 years

Text

Inside Eroda, the fictional Harry Styles island that’s baffled the internet

Full Text from The Telegraph 4/12/2019

It all started on November 20. A Twitter account opened in October released its first post: “The Isle of Eroda’s rich history is embedded in daily life as the ruins of many structures from the past remain standing across the land. #VisitEroda”

It looked like a new marketing campaign for a little-visited, off-beat beauty spot. But a quick search would show it didn’t actually exist. Yet, Eroda had a website. Advertisements for the place were popping up on Facebook and Google. People interested in all manner of nerdy subcultures were foxed – it had the whiff of a clever marketing campaign about it, but what was it for?

Within hours, an Eroda subreddit had been created to discuss it. People dived deep into web hosting details, and only became more baffled as they seemed legitimate: “it ain't no kid doing a school project”. Was it a scam, a game, an elaborate prank? Some were convinced it was the beginning of a new Cloverfield film, World of Warcraft, a new Channel 4 series or even a means of human trafficking.

Meanwhile, scores of “Harries”, the sub-group of Directioners dedicated to Harry Styles, were piecing bits of evidence together. The pop star was due to release Adore You, the second single off his forthcoming sophomore album. “Adore” backwards was “Eroda”, and the video, released on November 23, looked like it had been shot in St Abbs, the Berwickshire fishing village where Styles had been spotted shooting in August. As Eroda claimed more of the internet, Harries – some of the most forensic fans in the world – were sent into a flurry of investigation.

The goliath churn of a pop star marketing campaign is fairly familiar by now: cryptic social media teaser, excitable release date news, lyric video, full video, rinse, repeat.

Styles, who will release sophomore album Fine Line on December 13 and Adore You on Friday, satisfied many speculating fans on Monday with a near-three-minute-long trailer for the single, along with an illustration of the star standing in the ocean, surrounded by fish.

To those who had been studying Eroda for the past 10 days it was the confirmation they had been hankering for: Eroda was a Harry Styles project, and it confirmed what they had always known – that he is an artist beyond the normal realms of pop frippery (by contrast, former bandmate Louis Tomlinson spent the same afternoon releasing a video in which he sings in a bunker wearing a Stone Island parka).

Styles’ trailer introduced Eroda, showing it to be an island in the middle of the Irish Sea “shaped unmistakably like a frown, it is home to an all-but-forgotten fishing village that has had perpetual cloud cover for as long as anyone can remember”. Scenes appear of a typical coastal village, with crashing waves and brave little houses facing them. It gets increasingly weird: we learn that it is bad luck to “mention a pig in a fisherman’s pub” and to “whistle in the wind, in case you turn a gust into a gale”; the island mustn’t be left on odd-numbered days.

The inhabitants of Eroda’s village always frown, calling it “resting fish face”. Until, that is, a beaming baby appears amidst the gloom. Deemed “peculiar” (a word that pops up a lot), the boy – who grows up to become Harry Style – was outcast, leading him to deal with his angst by screaming into jars. “He had lost his smile, and without it, the world grew darker, the wind colder, and the ocean more violent” the pan-European narrator explains. “Loneliness is an ocean full of travellers trying to find their place in the world”, she continues, as Harry finds himself bonding with a stubborn fish, before the film ends “to be continued…”

So far, so intriguing. But delve a little deeper into Eroda and you may find yourself wanting to visit. The island’s website – beautiful island views and a template dating back to the late Noughties – looks remarkably similar to those for any other charming coastal holiday destination, say Bute or Oban. “No Land Quite Like It”, reads Eroda’s strapline, before offering a familiar-enough menu: Accommodations, Attractions, Guide, Home and About Eroda. The video is similarly convincing: “Make memories for your senses at VisitEroda.com”, a dulcet-voiced woman encourages over shots of crabmeat and speedboats.

It didn’t take long for the Harries to take over the Eroda subreddit, moderators becoming increasingly rigid in ruling nuggets of unrelated Eroda flotsam irrelevant to the cause of discovery (such as the user who wanted to discuss Eroda, but without any intervention from the Harries). Tumblr users were similarly invested: “What do the ominous references to Him portend? What are they serving at those town dinners? You think it’s a cute little coastal AU [alternative universe] but upon closer examination it’s full-on Wicker Man meets Hotel California meets Nightvale in the afterlife (which is what most of those places are anyway so sure why not),” posted 1D Discourse of the Day.

The whole thing is littered with wordplay. Eroda, for one, is Adore backwards (Harry’s next single is called Adore You). But, as Directioners have pointed out, the copy throughout the website nods to forthcoming Styles songs: The Fisherman’s Pub is located on the corner of Cherry Street and Golden Way (Cherry is one new song, Golden is another); the album will be released on Friday, 13 December and Eroda recommends avoiding a departure on an odd-numbered day. Eroda’s fishermen wear a single gold earring for good fortune – a look historically sported by Styles.

Directioners went further still: the hosting for VisitEroda.com and Styles’ website, doyouknowwhoyouare.com, were owned by the same company, MarkMonitor.inc. Social media pixels linked pages about Styles with Eroda. Fans became suspicious over Visit Eroda adverts appearing not on their social channels or YouTube, but, of all places, on Wikipedia. “I'M FROM FRICKING PORTUGAL,” a baffled Reddit user posted. “NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE. WHY IS THIS HERE”.

Eroda had analog presence, too. A4 pamphlets – the kind of thing one could make on MS Publisher circa 1998 – appeared in the freesheet boxes on the pavements of Manhattan. At a promo event in Paris, Harry was asked about Eroda by a fan. He remained silent, but those who were there claim he “made a face”.

By November 29, more evidence arrived. A short film “advert”, which used footage from the trailer released on Monday, was screened by a new Harry Styles fan account from “Eroda”. They said the film appeared in a cinema in Kinlochbervie, on Scotland’s northern coast; the Eroda account then started to tweet about cinema screening times. Eagle-eyed fans were swift to post screengrabs, showing similar island formations in the background of both the Eroda advert and that featuring Styles. The two were linked.

Kinlochbervie was, fittingly, a bit of a red herring: the footage shown in both the advert and the video trailer was actually taken in St Abbs, a picturesque fishing village in Berwickshire that’s no stranger to a rolling camera – it was “twinned” with New Asgard after being used as a location for Thor’s new home in Avengers Endgame.

Styles was there in August, shooting, it appears, a few things for the forthcoming album campaign. He and his crew used Angela Morris’s cottage, in St Abbs’ Sea View Terrace, as a green room during the three days of filming in the village, after Morris had responded to a note being popped through the door from a filming company. “One Thursday I was just coming home from work and there was Harry walking into the house,” she tells me. “All of the costumes were in the living room, make-up was going on in the kitchen.

“I asked if I could wait in the garden before my husband and I went out for the evening, so I just sat there when Harry came out,” Morris said. “I think he was having a coffee, and he sat down and chatted, asked me about bits and pieces about the village. I was talking to him about his Gucci clothes and we had a bit of a laugh. I wasn’t too starstruck, really, and I think he appreciated that.” Later on in the shoot, Styles invited Morris and her husband to share a glass of champagne with him and the crew.

While the shoot interrupted the sleepy pace of life on St Abbs for a few days – Morris says that visitor numbers had already been boosted by Avengers Endgame but small crowds of teenage girls began to crop up after word spread of Harry’s location – most villagers, she reckons, are pleased to see the place put on the map: “Most people I saw were embracing it and interested to see what was going on.”

A German artist named Mario Klingemann was, however, more incensed when his holiday collided with the shoot: “I didn't know who Harry Styles was until today when I learned that he's the guy who blocked off the entire St Abbs harbour and prevented us from enjoying our fresh crab rolls," he posted on Twitter, aggrieved.

But Morris found out about Eroda much like everybody else – through Facebook. “It’s really odd,” she assess. “Lovely footage of beautiful St Abbs, though.”

Long-lens pap shots from that shoot certainly seem to match up with what we’ve seen of Eroda so far. Styles gangles around in Seventies suits, befitting the aesthetic of his trailer. The smoking gun, though, is the presence of a young woman with hair that brings to mind a Dr Seuss illustration, or the hat Princess Beatrice wore at the Cambridges’ wedding. VisitEroda’s “about” page explains: “The primary occupation in Eroda is fishing, however, the island’s art scene has recently started to develop. In particular, Erodean hairstyles have become a rather bold expression of self amongst the island’s youth”. Clearly, these are scenes of Eroda that are being filmed.

There’s an unmistakably ominous air to Eroda, and some believe the video for Adore You will see some misfortune befall Styles – there were reports of a (fake) gunshot being filmed in St Abbs while he was there.

But what happens next is arguably less intriguing than what we’ve been given with Eroda so far. We are well-used to being nudged and prodded by pop stars ahead of a new release. Major albums aren’t so much brought out as “dropped” or “leaked”, arriving online in the middle of the night before their fans disseminate them through the internet. Fans, rather than critics, are given early listens – and under tight NDAs. Artists will clear their channels to mark a new direction, only to give us elaborate photoshoots and contrived poetry to create a “concept”.

Eroda is undeniably a “concept” – themes of loneliness, peculiarity, conformity and happiness have been woven into the fictional island from the off. But it’s been artfully done; look deep enough into the Reddit forums and you’ll see non-Styles fans begrudgingly accepting that this is the work of a former boy band frontman, rather than that of a somehow more “serious” game creator, filmmaker or even musician. Furthermore, it’s fun – and that’s all too rare in a pop world where things have become obsessed with authenticity, and a rogue comment can result in “cancellation”. One Directioner popped up on a thread only to add, “As someone who works in marketing/promotion... This is fucking genius. Harry Styles' team is tops”, and it’s difficult to disagree.

After a decade in which stars have had to up their social media presence to survive, tweaking and teasing their listenership in ever-increasing desperation to retain shrinking attention spans, Styles is closing out the 2010s with the greatest album campaign we’ve seen so far. As an artistic statement, it suggests the 2020s will be his to claim.

#harry styles #eroda #press #the telegraph #dec2019 #long post

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