#The Cat's Travelogue

[sabinahahn]

While in Haifa I got to meet my cousins, some for the first time, some for the second. It was really lovely. Lizik is a cat that lives with one of them. She is tiny and grumpy. And very very fluffy.

#daily drawing #illustration #watercolor #cat #travel diary #travelogue

[mmwm]

LINK FEST: 17 OCTOBER 2023

Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses. short article: Cats Are Perfect. An evolutionary biologist explains why cats have attained evolutionary perfection (Kate Wong/Scientific American). Basically, it’s because “They don’t need variation. They might get bigger or smaller, but they don’t…

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#animal cruelty #animation #Black Death #car #cats #cooking with wool #evolution #ireland #link fest #linkfest #links #miniatures #rats #restoration #travelogue #video miniatures #wildflowers

[xxsycamore]

𝙄𝙆𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙉 𝙑𝘼𝙈𝙋𝙄𝙍𝙀 𝙈𝘼𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙇𝙄𝙎𝙏

featuring works written after July 1st, 2021. You can find my old (misc) masterlist here. Browse my Ikevamp fics by tag here: 🍷 #ikemen-vampire

⤶ go back to masterlist navigation

••• ━━━━━Napoleon Bonaparte

NAPOLEON-ONLY MASTERLIST HERE - [PART 1] & [PART 2]

💕special selection:

Emergency Nap(-oleon)! [fluff] Tags: Menstruation; period cramps; Sleepy couch cuddles;napping; Fluff

Our Little Family [fluff & smut] Tags: Dad!Napoleon headcanonss + scenarious; Parenthood; Married Life; Kid Fic; Pregnancy; original kid characters; Bedtime Stories; Baby Names; Bad Cooking; Chores; Tea Parties; Light Angst; Past Lives; Dad!Napoleon; Mom!Reader; the mansion’s residents are good uncles; Fluff; Tooth-Rotting Fluff; Domestic Fluff; Eventual Smut; Massage; Body Worship; Cunnilingus; Quickies; Hand Jobs; Morning Sex

KISSAHOLIC [smut] Tags: Bickering; Femdom to Maledom; Light Dom/sub; Lipstick; Kissing; Marking; Neck Kissing; Teasing; Nipple Play; Blow Jobs; Dirty Talk; Vaginal Sex; Size Kink; Multiple Orgasms; Creampie; Post-Sex Cuddless

Making a home [fluff & smut] Tags: Househusband!Napoleon headcanons + scenarios; Domestic fluff; Married characters; Working wife MC; Bathing/Washing; Massage; Foot Massage; Chores; Cooking; House Cleaning; Smut; Somnophilia; Blow Jobs; Oral Sex; Face-Fucking; Rough Oral Sex; Lap Sex; Dirty Talk; Bathroom Sex; Bathtub Sex; Vanilla; Riding; Lazy Mornings; Lazy Sex; Creampie; Tooth-Rotting Fluff

Memories [fluff]Tags: Very slightly suggestive themes; Anniversary Celebrations; Filming; Travelogue; Time Travel; They’re now living in the 21st century; Alternate Universe - Modern Setting; Cooking; Horseback Riding; Dancing; Suggestive Themes; Humor; Fluff; Kissing

••• ━━━━━Leonardo Da Vinci

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: let's leave this in the office - Office AU (Leonardo x Comte)

Gattino [fluff] Tags: Menstruation; Period Cramps; Fluff; Pets; Lumiere

Sharing a taste ( poly threesome with Comte) [smut] Tags: Spoilers of Comte’s real name; Swearing; Smoking; Alcohol; Poly relationship; Threesome - F/M/M; Knife Play; Blood Play; Knife Cuts; Mild Blood; Mild Painplay; Mild Masochism; Blood Drinking; Come Eating; Vaginal Fingering; Cunnilingus; Dirty Talk; Double Penetration; Double Penetration in One Hole; Creampie

The season for making wishes (and for cuddles) [smut] Tags:  Fluff & Smut; Cuddling & Snuggling; Cunnilingus; Come Eating

••• ━━━━━Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Catboy!Mozart [headcanons] Tags: Catboys; Cat ears; Vampires; Fluff

Träumerei [smut] Tags: Wet Dream; Mutual Pining; Feelings Realization; Denial of Feelings; Love Confessions; Miscommunication; Fainting; Hand & Finger Kink; Vanilla; Dream Sex; Ambiguous/Open Ending

Hot Chocolate [fluff] Tags: Menstruation; period cramps; Fluff

••• ━━━━━Arthur Conan Doyle

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: happy little accidents are fundamental for a good story - Bookstore AU (Arthur x Isaac)

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 💋 - Pull them in for a sudden fierce kiss 

A Soulmate That Wasn't Meant to Be [angst & fluff] Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting; Alternate Universe - College/University; Alternate Universe - Reincarnation; Alternate Universe - Soulmates; Soulmate-Identifying Timers; Denial of Feelings; Feelings Realization; Fake/Pretend Relationship; Pet Names; Drinking; Time Travel; First Kiss 

Pleasure Trumps Pain [smut] Tags: Menstruation; Menstrual Sex; Period Cramps; Embarrassment; Kink Negotiation; Vanilla; Arthur is gentle; Pet Names; Gentle Sex; that gets a little not so gentle; Vaginal Fingering; Vaginal Sex; Kissing; Lots of it; mentions of blood drinking; Creampie; Aftercare; Post-Coital Cuddling; Crying; Dacryphilia 

"I can't have sex with you Arthur, I don't have enough diamonds!!" [crack & smut] Tags: Breaking the Fourth Wall; Crack; Implied Sexual Content; Suggestive Themes

Headcanons for Arthur and Yves comforting a Reader who is insecure about her body [headcanons] Tags: Fluff; Comfort; Insecurity; Body Image; Food 

Make it unfair (poly threesome with Theo) [smut] Tags: Poly relationship, Thrеesome, Smut, Public sеx, Modern AU, Heavy petting, Car sеx

Take another guess [smut] Tags:  Wall Sex; Manhandling; Clothed Sex; Quickies; Vaginal Sex; Keeping Quiet; Teasing; Dirty Talk; Blood Drinking; Vampire Bites

Naughty suits you better [smut] Tags:  Alcohol mention; Established Relationship; Vaginal Sex; Lap Sex; Creampie; Alcohol; Teasing

Dirty Dance for Three (poly threesome with Isaac) [smut] Tags: Modern AU; Poly relationship; Threesome - F/M/M ; Established Relationship ; Anniversary ; Dates ; Clubs ; Dirty Dancing ; Grinding ; Public Display of Affection ; Dirty Thoughts ; Living Together ; Dress Up ; Sharing Clothes ; Clothes swap ; Kissing ; Cunnilingus ; Face-Sitting ; Vaginal Fingering ; Hand Jobs ; Vaginal Sex ; Creampie ; Multiple Orgasms ; Bickering ; Humor ; Fluff; Aftercare ; Teasing

••• ━━━━━Theodorus Van Gogh

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: between good & evil - Angels & Demons AU (Theodorus x Shakespeare)

Devi's Kindness [fluff] Tags: Fluff; Domestic Fluff; Breakfast in bed; Birthday Fluff

To Get Rid of a Headache [fluff] Tags: Menstruation; Period Cramps; headache; Massage; Fluff

Lieveling [smut] Tags: Shoe Licking; Pet Play; Light Degradation; Dirty Talk; Master/Pet; Swearing; Light Masochism; Collars; Leashes; Rough Sex; Vaginal Penetration; Doggy Style; Squirting; Multiple Orgasms; PWP; Light dom/sub; Praise Kink

Pretty Please? [smut] Tags: Begging; Orgasm Delay/Denial; Masturbation; Doggy Style; Vaginal Sex

Saccharine Showdown! (threesome with Isaac) [smut] Tags: Threesome - F/M/M; Aphrodisiacs; Rivalry; Bad Cooking; Some Humor; Biting; Marking; Blood Drinking; Vampire Bites; Vaginal Fingering; Spitroasting; Blow Jobs; Vaginal Sex; Dirty Talk; Praise Kink; Kissing; Making Out; Double Penetration in One Hole; Creampie; Comeplay; Come Sharing; Come Eating; Aftercare; Post-Coital Cuddling; i’m leaving it to you to decide whether they’re dating or not

Make it unfair (threesome with Arthur) [smut] Tags: Polyamory, Thrеesome, Smut, Public sеx, Modern AU, Heavy petting, Car sеx

••• ━━━━━Vincent Van Gogh

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 💐- A bouquet of their favorite flowers

••• ━━━━━Isaac Newton

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: happy little accidents are fundamental for a good story - Bookstore AU (Arthur x Isaac)

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 🤲- Do the classic “Can you hold something for me” - giving them your hand 

Saccharine Showdown! (threesome with Theo) [smut] Tags: Threesome - F/M/M; Aphrodisiacs; Rivalry; Bad Cooking; Some Humor; Biting; Marking; Blood Drinking; Vampire Bites; Vaginal Fingering; Spitroasting; Blow Jobs; Vaginal Sex; Dirty Talk; Praise Kink; Kissing; Making Out; Double Penetration in One Hole; Creampie; Comeplay; Come Sharing; Come Eating; Aftercare; Post-Coital Cuddling; i’m leaving it to you to decide whether they’re dating or not

Dirty Dance for Three (poly threesome with Arthur) [smut] Tags: Modern AU; Poly relationship; Threesome - F/M/M ; Established Relationship ; Anniversary ; Dates ; Clubs ; Dirty Dancing ; Grinding ; Public Display of Affection ; Dirty Thoughts ; Living Together ; Dress Up ; Sharing Clothes ; Clothes swap ; Kissing ; Cunnilingus ; Face-Sitting ; Vaginal Fingering ; Hand Jobs ; Vaginal Sex ; Creampie ; Multiple Orgasms ; Bickering ; Humor ; Fluff; Aftercare ; Teasing

Primal, guilty pleasure [smut] Tags: Outdoor Sex; Forest Sex; Blood Drinking; Sexual Roleplay; Fear Play; Predator/Prey; Vaginal Fingering; Orgasm Delay/Denial

••• ━━━━━Jean d'Arc

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: treasure - Pirate/Mermaid AU (Napoleon x Jean); uncovered - Soulmates AU (Napoleon x Jean)

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 🫂- A warm hug

Christmas came earlier [smut] Tags:  Fluff & Smut; Humor; Christmas shenanigans

••• ━━━━━Dazai Osamu

Birds Of A Feather [fluff] Tags: Bunta; Presents; Light Angst

DOOR BROKEN - USE OTHER DOOR [crack] Tags: April Fools' Day; Pranks; Humor; Crack; featuring the rest of the residents

Is That Really Our Dazai?! [crack] tags: April Fools' Day; Pranks; Humor; Crack; Cursed ending; featuring the rest of the residents

••• ━━━━━Comte de Saint Germain

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: let's leave this in the office - Office AU (Leonardo x Comte)

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 🟫 - Kabedon them against the nearest wall 

If we go even deeper [smut] Tags: Gentle Sex; Vaginal Sex; Dirty Talk; Breeding; Breeding Kink; Impregnation; Mentions of Pregnancy; Kink Negotiation; Creampie

A Simple Remedy [fluff] Tags: Menstruation; period cramps; Fluff

Final Push (poly threesome with Vlad) [smut] Tags: Threesome - F/M/M; Light Bondage; Love Confessions; Light Angst; Porn With Plot; Past Relationship(s); Implied Vlad/Comte; spoilers for comte’s real name; Denial of Feelings; Mutual Pining; Altered Mental States; Hypnotism; Pureblood abilities used with consent; Kink Negotiation; First Kiss; First Time; Loss of Virginity; Voyeurism; Vaginal Fingering; Vaginal Sex; Biting(no turning); Blow Jobs; Come Swallowing; Multiple Orgasms; Masturbation; Creampie; Resolved Sexual Tension; Sexual Roleplay; Mild Blood; Polyamory

Sharing a taste ( poly threesome with Leonardo) [smut] Tags: Spoilers of Comte’s real name; Swearing; Smoking; Alcohol; Poly relationship; Threesome - F/M/M; Knife Play; Blood Play; Knife Cuts; Mild Blood; Mild Painplay; Mild Masochism; Blood Drinking; Come Eating; Vaginal Fingering; Cunnilingus; Dirty Talk; Double Penetration; Double Penetration in One Hole; Creampie

Nothing Like Getting Your Face Shoved In The Birthday Cake [smut] Tags: Birthday Smut; Face-Sitting; Cunnilingus; Oral Sex; Come Eating; Comeplay; no food play; Wet & Messy; spoilers for comte’s real name

Make my wish come true [smut] Tags: Spoilers of Comte’s real name; Fluff and Smut; Cunnilingus; Squirting; (implied) Bathtub Sex; Vaginal Sex

One More Christmas With You [fluff] Tags: fluff; humor; christmas decorations; kissing

••• ━━━━━Sebastian

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 💃- Pull them in for a dance when noone else is around

Yummy Solutions [fluff] Tags: Menstruation; Period Cramps; Fluff; Blankets; Food; Cooking

••• ━━━━━William Shakespeare

Ikemen MLM & WLW stories ficlets: between good & evil - Angels & Demons AU (Theodorus x Shakespeare)

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 💃- Pull them in for a dance when noone else is around

Mine Beloveth [fluff] Tags: Cottagecore; Domestic fluff

••• ━━━━━Charles-Henri Sanson

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 🧵- A hand-made craft 💋 - Pull them in for a sudden fierce kiss

Babyboy [smut] Tags: Breeding; Impregnation; Mistress/Pet; Petnames; Birthday Sex; Dominance; Dom/sub; Orgasm Control; Masturbation; Marking; Hickeys; Fluff and Smut; Creampie; Aftersex Cuddles

••• ━━━━━Johann Georg Faust

Creatures Of The Night [smut] Tags: succubus character; cages; mentioned vampire bites; swearing; blowjobs; rough oral sex; deepthroating; facefucking; come swallowing

••• ━━━━━Vlad

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 💃- Pull them in for a dance when noone else is around

Fraise [fluff] Tags: Pregnancy; Fluff; Married Characters; Domestic bliss; Crochet; Some Humor; mentions of Faust and Charles

Final Push (poly threesome with Comte) [smut] Tags: Threesome - F/M/M; Light Bondage; Love Confessions; Light Angst; Porn With Plot; Past Relationship(s); Implied Vlad/Comte; spoilers for comte’s real name; Denial of Feelings; Mutual Pining; Altered Mental States; Hypnotism; Pureblood abilities used with consent; Kink Negotiation; First Kiss; First Time; Loss of Virginity; Voyeurism; Vaginal Fingering; Vaginal Sex; Biting(no turning); Blow Jobs; Come Swallowing; Multiple Orgasms; Masturbation; Creampie; Resolved Sexual Tension; Sexual Roleplay; Mild Blood; Polyamory

Well-behaved, sugar-sweet [smut] Tags:  Blow Jobs; Cock Worship; Praise Kink; Come Eating; Come Swallowing; Vaginal Fingering

••• ━━━━━Galileo Galilei

When The Moon Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie, [fluff] Tags: Humor; crack treated seriously; Romance; Cliché; Pizza

••• ━━━━━Francis Drake

••• ━━━━━Mitsuki (MC)

ficlets from my 1000 followers celebration event: 😏- Use a corny pick-up line on them 💃- Pull them in for a dance when noone else is around 💃- Pull them in for a dance when noone else is around (2)

••• ━━━━━Other/All characters

Ikevamp Suitors in a Horror Movie Setting! [headcanons] Tags: All 17 suitors; horror typical themes - mentions of death, mass murder, blood, gore, torture, cults

Napoleon Gets Ready for a Date [crack] Tags: All 12 residents & MC; Humor; Crack; Dress Up

Ikevamp Suitors as Maids - part 1 (Napoleon, Leonardo, Mozart, Isaac, Theo, Vincent) & part 2 (Arthur, Jean, Dazai, Shakespeare, Comte, Sebastian) [headcanons] Tags: Crossdressing, Maid outfits

Pumpkin Carving Competition At Saint Germain's Mansion [crack] Tags: Humor; Crack; Mentions of Blood

DOOR BROKEN - USE OTHER DOOR [crack] Tags: Dazai/MC; the rest of the residents; April Fools' Day; Pranks; Humor; Crack

Is That Really Our Dazai?! [crack] tags: April Fools' Day; Pranks; Humor; Crack; Cursed ending; featuring the rest of the residents

Our Ugly Getalong Christmas Sweater! [crack] Tags: Christmas Party; Birthday Party; Modern Era; Alternate Universe - Modern Setting; Humor; Ugly Holiday Sweaters; Blackmail; Drunkenness; Alcohol; Singing; Exes; Napo’s exes; Leonardo and Comte are dating; and arthur and theo def have something going on; Minor Violence

Luka Clemence, The Third Prince [crack, crossover] Tags: characters that appear: mentions of Comte de Saint Germain and Leonardo Da Vinci; Luka Clemence (ikerev), all the rhodolitian princes + Sariel (ikepri); crackfic; crossover; they talk about boobs and legs at some point

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp #ikemen vampire napoleon #ikemen prince leonardo #ikemen vampire comte #ikemen vampire mozart #ikemen vampire isaac #ikemen vampire vincent #ikemen vampire theo #ikemen vampire jean #ikemen vampire dazai #ikemen vampire shakespeare #ikemen vampire vlad #ikemen vampire sebastian #ikemen vampire charles #ikemen vampire faust #ikemen vampire arthur #ikemen vampire galileo #ikemen vampire francis #ikemen series #ikeseries #cybird #ikemen vampire fanfiction #ikevampire

[pliablehead]

I guess if I want to write a travelogue/write up post about my 4-stop journey following the first chunk of Everything Everything's 2023 US tour then I have to just... do it!! If this is of interest to anyone other than me then GREAT and if not then it's still special to me to try to write down and remember everything I can uwu

FIRST STOP WASHINGTO-- wait, no, actually, first stop, on my way out of town, the local donut shop in my neighborhood, a place that I absolutely adore and patronize all the time with staff who mostly know me by now/some of whom are my instagram friends/etc. i'd checked with the Pittsburgh venue ahead of time to see if it was okay to send in outside food as a gift to the band even though they have a cafe/bar in their own right, and whoever I corresponded with said it would be totally fine, so I talked to the donut shop manager and set up a delivery of a dozen for the lads for Saturday before their show here. advance paid for that, as well as getting my own breakfast and coffee hehe, and then hit the road. OKAY FOR REAL FIRST STOP WASHINGTON DC!!! This was the second-longest leg of my Car Driving and it was definitely a wee bit exhausting but I had a podcast or two and a ton of E E on shuffle to bolster me through and I made it to my mom's friends' house, where I was staying, with relative ease. The venue was within a not-too-unreasonable walking distance too so after a change of clothes (I had very distinct and deliberate Show Outfits for each night that were fully separate from my travelin' clothes) and a bunch of fussing with the bracelets™ I headed over!! stopped for empanadas and a smoothie on the way and then queued up!!

aaaaahh this was such a nice fun queue. I was maybe about a dozen-ish people back from the front, down about half a block, and once I finished scarfing down my food this was my first real experience with doling out the bracelets. so fun! I'm glad it was basically an instant hit! AND I even got a few trades in this queue--one person gave me a Man Alive / Tin / E E bracelet with teeny tiny beads, super fun, and one person with a SHITTON of kandi stuff gave me one that had the name of a flower genus on it?? i think they said it was?? I love the colors on this one! And one person traded me a Blow Pop. lmao. I should eat that before it sits in my fanny pack for too long. I also really enjoyed chatting with the two guys right in front of me (Nick and Alex?), who were from south-central PA and had a couple other fandom touchstones in common with me (mcelroys/dnd/BDG! I love this Venn diagram!!) as well as a big love for E E. We didn't really see much of each other beyond the point of getting inside but I liked y'all a lot!! Hope you had as great a time as I did!!

Black Cat is where I saw E E the first time I EVER SAW THEM, which was almost exactly six years ago from this gig, which is insaaaane. The space is kind of narrow so there's not a huge amount of stage barrier space right at the front, so Becky and I ended up pretty much at the front but almost aa-all the way stage left/Jeremy-side. coulda been worse hehehe. We kind of loitered and chatted with nearby folks, I think maybe becky checked out merch ahead of the show ? but I kind of just held down the fort, enjoying setup stuff, pete running around etc hehe. getting BLASTED by the AC, which was nice.

the ummmm the opener! our first experience with Pierre! I gotta say his general style is not for me, despite the fact that I do think he's very talented and good at the thing he's doing. this first night especially he was SO sweaty and I felt bad for him lmao, you could like see it dripping off him. i am so curious as to why/how he got paired with the boys for this tour, like, what aligned in such a way that this match was made, because my general vibe on the crowd/his audience/etc was that we the fans of the nerdy white english mathy rocker guys were not exactly his demo LOL. BUT i will say in DC I do think he had one little pocket of strong-contingency fans because I kept hearing big whoops and cheers coming from one specific audience spot and I loved that for him lmao. for some reason i cannot explain I actually almost found his backing/support musician guy (the guy who was basically his version of peter) more compelling. I wanna know THAT dude's story lol.

so when he finished up we had a little interlude aaaannndd the setlist appeared... hehe. I could def have peered up to look at it from where I was, but I was telling myself I wanted to be surprised, and was deliberately looking away........ until suddenly everyone around me was gasping and going HOLY SHIT and I was like, ugghhh okay, I will check JUST enough to figure out what that's all about, and what that was all about was immediately apparent because smack in the middle of the set were a Man Alive track (which we never get in the states bar MY KZ) and something that just said "New Song." AND LIKE, OKAY, THAT'S A JUSTIFIED HOLY SHIT. new song????? so now we had THAT to contend with coming up, and aaaaaaah. ahh. yeah holy shit indeed.

it's also while we're standing there that AG pops into view, (or maybe I first spotted him during Pierre's set? Chronology is irrelevant), back off behind Becky from me in the other direction, and we waved over at him to say hi and he says to us, "All four of them are bleached blond." And my gut instinct was to be like, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU, but also the truth in my heart was that there was absolutely no justification for not believing them, because of course they would, and sure enough these bozos roll out onto the stage and they are all four draco malfoy-ass bleach blond. God it looks a mess on Jeremy LOL and while the color/dye job wasn't bad on Alex, it was clear his finer hair wasn't holding up as well against the chemicals because it was just a fluffy riot mess. BUT GOD IT WAS REALLY SO INCREDIBLY STRIKING OF A VISUAL for them to be all be wearing all pure white/beige clothes and then to have this bleach-white hair and all of it catching and glowing under the stage lights... god... clearly the effect they were going for and it WORKED, IT REALLY DID. I think it looks so damn goofy (mostly on jez) out of context but it's ABSOLUTELY nailing the Everything Everything Gig Costumes energy/uniform thing that I felt like they'd drifted away from a little the past couple tour cycles, I'm so incredibly here for it

The set!!!! The gig!!!!!!! it wasn't a wildly different set from what we'd seen in CA last year, obviously RDF-heavy supplemented with a heaping helping of singles from the other albums too, but I remember thinking Leviathan and Pizza Boy were especially excellent aaaah. And Schoolin'! And the NEW SONG! The two pieces of it I IMMEDIATELY absorbed and retained were 'the image of a little yellow face to tell you that I'm sorry' and 'I love you like an atom bomb,' and I was spouting those two pieces back to anyone who wanted to talk to me about it for the rest of the night. I'm so lyrics-pilled/vocalist-biased. Which was.... Unfortunate, for this DC gig, because I do think the audio mix was pretty rough - at least from where we were standing so close to the front, I wonder if it was at least a tiny bit better further back into the crowd in the area the sound system was probably primarily calibrated for - and we were REALLY losing Jon in the mix, especially underneath how enthusiastically the crowd was singing along a lot of the time. We were on Jeremy's side of the stage and we were really just getting a LOT of Jeremy. (Which, the bass did sound absolutely fantastic, so hard to complain about that, at least, but still.) I was very thankful to be going to a few more gigs beyond this one so that this wasn't my only experience with it, especially New Song!!! Plus there were a bunch of other little tech difficulties too? Near the beginning of the new song, Jon's guitar strap came detached and wouldn't reconnect, and after struggling a bit with that he decided to just drift back and pass it off the stage to their tech guy--but he was still kind of singing/holding the mic, so as he moved on stage, the mic cable yanked the microphone stand straight over, too. Then the rest of the night that stand was pretty precarious and nearly fell two other times, only caught at the last minute by a true homie who was standing directly in front of it in the audience lmao. I think Becky yelled HIRE HIM! at one point. Annnnd also for like a whole verse of NOTLK jez's bass boards just kind of Gave Up. He tried switching to his other instrument but that wasn't working either, and then finally it all sort of came back online, so he played a little stretch with the wrong bass and then was able to switch back to the right bass when there was a lull in his part. SHAMBLES. lmfao. god it was a great gig though. SO FUCKING GOOD TO BE BACK I LOVE BAND UWAAAAAHH I WAS SO SWEATY AND HAPPY

afterrrr da gig, we needed very badly to drink water and so we managed to do that I believe, and we kind of loitered in the Merch Line Situation trying to figure out what was going on. I had kind of resolved not to buy merch until at least NY, part because I really didn't want to be lugging anything around with me for too much of my trip (esp on this night where I walked) and part because I'd read a post that Irving Plaza was among the venues who'd committed to not taking a cut of band merch sales and letting them keep it all, and I was like, well obvi that's where I want to spend my money. Plus it was cash only in DC and since I'd kind of told myself NY I didn't even have cash out, so it was nothing. BUT!!! homie Adrian whomst I had met at the DC Foals show last December had been there, a few people ahead of me in the queue and also rocking out yaayyy, and he was trying to get merch but the ATM inside the venue literally did not have any more cash left inside it to dispense because everyone was taking out so much of it to buy merch AAAH. so he reached out to me like 'you're going to more shows than just this one right?' and asked if I'd pick him up the stuff he wanted later and then mail it to him so he didn't have to contend with international shipping and I was like aaaah absolutely! yay gig comradeship!

so I think becky finally committed to getting in the merch line and I was mostly just waiting With Becky and there weren't a ton of people left because the venue was trying to clear out, but the handful of us who were still there, a wild Alex Robertshaw appeared up near the stage/bar. we vibed out whether he was receptive to Fan Bothering at this time but it seemed legit, so a bunch of us went over and socialized with him and took some pics, got some signatures, etc, woooo. We tried to vibe out from him also if the other guys were gonna be coming out, and when and where, but y'all know Alex is the awkwardest member of this band by a country mile and we didn't really have too coherent of a discourse at this point in time lmao. Not sure who talked to him about what at this point as I was just trying to hold down the fort and be Normal. I was able to give Alex the bracelet I'd made for him at this point (he was so cute studying on it and reading it ahaha - "rave-- kevin-- kevins rave KEVIN'S RAVE" and he smiled and I felt cool), and also meanwhile Pete was still running around stage doing roadietech type stuff and I sort of politely flagged him down like "do what you need to do if you need to do it but also: Hi lol" and I got to give him his bracelet as well! yay ♥. He complimented my shirt--I'd been getting a lot of compliments on it honestly, it's their Yellow Bird Project shirt that Jon designed some time ago, only I replaced the plain white sleeves of the original unisex tee with some sort of vermilion "girly fit" sleeves that are more comfy to me and kind of give the shirt a different look haha--and I sort of joked on that, said as much, oh, I swapped the sleeves out, "It's to cover up how sweaty I get." and Pete gave me a deadpan look and went "You don't even want to go there with me" and I was like "YEP I FEEL MUCH THE SAME" and I think we both enjoyed a moment of feeling very Seen about the sweatiness hehehehehe. I love Pete he is my heckin Friend With no additional merch purchases (merchases) (hm, no) the venue was finally for realsies ejecting us so we drifted back out into the streets and just like... okay... now what........ this was the point at which I think our Band Groupie-ing Crew became me, Becky, Danielle in the fox ears/tail, and a lanky youth named S.P. whom I'd talked to in line earlier while doling out bracelets (he had the good E E baseball cap; he asked for an Arc bracelet and I commended him for being an Arc fan, since I feel like they are a dwindling/rarer breed, and then I offered up my hot take that Violent Sun is just the second coming and second pass at Duet, which he thought was spicy, and then he asked for my most controversial E E take and I told him that I don't really like Tin very much and he told me he doesn't really like Shark Week very much and we agreed to disagree and have a good night LOL) (anyway I digress !). It was a warm enough night and none of us really had places to be so we didn't mind just loitering and trying to suss out some more Guys other than just Alex and Pete, but slowly but surely we became basically the only fans left sticking it out. so we stuck together! We split up to try to find if there was a rear stage door at the back and SP and I went one way (the long way RIP) and Becky and Danielle went the other way and it turns out the way that SP and I went was an alleyway just FULL of rats. Too many rats in DC!! People like to talk about rats in NYC but I saw WAY more in Washington just vibing out on the sidewalks and eating trash. I'm not anti-rat, they live there and deserve to live, but oh man it was just. I did not especially want a rat encounter LOL. The rat alley DID actually lead us to where the bus was though!!, but there was also a venue security guy there who was immediately like "Nope, back up, leave, bye" and we were like. understood have a nice day, and doubled around a different way to meet back up with the other two. wwwwelp.

We loitered a bunch more and eventually saw Alex and his homies like, AT LEAST two more times, but we ultimately never saw anyone else. They p much confirmed for us that because this was the first night of the tour, they had a really intense load-out, and everyone was jetlagged to all fuck, that they probably wouldn't ever make it out, even though at least once Alex had said something ambiguous/optimistic enough to imply that they might yet, but really it just got SO late that we couldn't justify still being there for nothing instead of being like. asleep. lol. SP and Danielle got rideshares, Becky and I walked back as far as her hotel together, and then I hiked the rest of my way back too and went the fuck to SLEEP!!! FIRST GIG IN THE BOOKS!! WHAT A LOVELY NIGHT GOD IT WAS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL TO BE SEEING THEM AGAIN ngl I think the blond is really attractive on Mike with his darker brows/beard and I'm always a sl*t for jonathan so like. beautiful. finally some delicious fucking food

it was super nice of my mom's friend to let me stay with him!!! I was so delighted to see his cats again, I remembered them from the last time I was there like six or so years ago, they're sooooo floofy and beautiful aahh. he also provided me with a white noise fan without me even asking which was SO choice. zzzzz. My plan was to get up in the morning, get coffee someplace nearby at wherever he recommended, and then hit the road forrrr... Philadelphia!!! Night two!!!! I got some breakfast tacos at a hella legit place, messed up my coffee/milk/sugar ratio ever so slightly but not in an undrinkable way, and then frickin. autobot rolled out. This drive was not bad at ALL, I timed it pretty much exactly like I planned it to, which was to: get to my friend's place where I was crashing in philly with, ideally, enough time to take a small nap before I had to do anything else, because, god, despite being pretty exhausted and sleeping okay on the nice guest bed in DC, I had BARELY slept the night before I left just from Travel Antsiness and from both staying up way later and waking up way earlier than I meant to unintentionally, and a second little recharge zzz before I went and did it all over again really hit the spot.

It was soooo nice to see Mads again and to see Mr. Angus and also meet BENNY!! More host cats!! They are suuuch silly good little lads, Mads and I had a ton of Kitty Chat and just vibing out and talking about concerts and fandom and stuff, I was so thankful she let me stay with her and getting to hang out was icing on the cake of this trip! She pointed me toward the trolley I'd need to take to get to the venue, and after my baby snzzz and drinking a ton of water and suiting up in my Arc-inspired look (literally just a sweatshirt dress I bought specifically because it was color-blocked very very much like the jackets/outfits they toured Arc in, I saw it and bought it immediately lmfao) I journeyed into the city, hoping to just find a place to eat in the vicinity of the gig! I was way closer up in the queue this time, the people in front of me were really just like.... the usual suspects, Annika+squad and David+squad (incl. Becky, who'd apparently already been there when I got there but wasn't there when I arrived), and also a super-nice woman immediately in front of me named Robin who I MEGA hit it off with!!! Hanging out with her was such an awesome part of my experience at this gig!!! she's COMPLETELY Offline which is so powerful for her but I hope there's some capacity in which we can continue to be friends because she ruled.

There was a Dominican(? I think) place like one block down from the venue where a couple in front of me had gotten some stuff and so I ran down there to snag food too and holy shit this man gave me so much goddamn food. Just a HUGE pile of rice and beans and some pork ribs, and I got a pineapple fanta, and I just popped a squat on the sidewalk and ate as much of it as I could which was probably not even half of what he gave me but it wasn't even that expensive so god bless. Once I wasn't dealing with my food sitch any more I was freed up to pass out a bunch of bracelets again, and I even got a couple more trades, one that was just a bunch of black beads and a bunch of Xs and one that says 'BUSSY' which I am elated about, thank you so fucking much lmao. Also someone offered to trade me an ibuprofen LOL and I was like no that's fine the bracelet can be free... for now, but I will keep that in mind if I change my mind later LOL aaahhh i was just so excited to give the bracelets out it was such a good vector for socializing and making Friends and Gig Buddies. I did learn p quickly at Philly that I should have made way more Man Alive, GTH, and Raw Data feel bracelets because those were basically the first to go every night and then I got stuck with just sad unloved Re-Animators and AFDs :( I was trying to like! do equal amounts of everything to give everything the love because I love them all! but people got favorites out there damn lmao. I was happy to be able to give Robin the MY KZ one because she said that's the first song she ever heard by them and it's special to her because of that (and then also it's been in the touring set and she got to hear them perform it too yay!!! I don't remember if she said she'd seen them before but it had just been a very very long time, or what, idk, aaaah).

We were R I G H T on the stage at this venue, slightly more to Alex's side this time, and the lip/rise of the stage was not very high at ALL and it felt almost like... intimidating, or like it shouldn't have been ALLOWED, for us to be that close to the stage. :flushed emoji: jeez lmao. I didn't fuck w merch here either but some people around me did I think and I held their spots, and a nice kid from right behind me in the queue brought me a Liquid Death which was so incredibly sweet. Pierre's set passed much as it had in DC, lmao; his other musician guy had a sweet fit on, though, this like two-piece set that was a really really dark/muted camo, a blazer over a black top and then matching like athleisure-fit pants and black boots, it was a fuckin look. They had a song at the very end of Pierre's Philly set that I don't think they'd done in DC (and that I didn't get in PGH either, it turned out), and ironically that was actually probably far and away the song of his I enjoyed the most, so I got kind of into it there at the end! but MAN was I ready to see the boys instead. hnnnn.

LADS SO CLOSE TO ME. JUST RIGHT THERE AND SINGING AND ROCKING. the set was aaaalmost exactly the same as DC, but in Philly they shifted Bad Friday up out of the encore and back into the set proper, and then replaced it in the encore with Violent Sun, which I admit I'd been bummed to not see in DC because I think the Violent Sun/No Reptiles encore double whammy is so incredibly crucial to the vibe. Warmed me to have it back in. Obviously Pittsburgh had so many other contributing factors that put it over the edge, but if it weren't for all of those, I think Philly would've been my favorite/best experience of these four gigs. Jon was spicy (he sang so many of the Original Rejected naughty lyrics, this is where we got 'he's a vegetable now' for the first and only time and also the only gig of the four where he leaned into the 'Arch Jeremy' gag in Arch Enemy, hehehehe, plus also motherfuckin' distant past which is not uncommon), and we got way more of the New Song-- through the whisper network of Becky, AG, David, etc., etc., we'd pieced together enough info to know by now that apparently the title of the song was in the lyrics of the chorus, and so I think it was in Philly that we all pretty much determined/decided that this was Cold Reactor. I love you like an atom bomb and I've become a cold reactor. I wasn't diving as DEEP into SONG DECIPHERING as some other folks were, but I did like kind of working on it at my own pace and absorbing it into my heart and my understanding of the band and what they're about to start doing, and so this was really great, for me, here, beautiful, beautiful. I took almost NO pics and vids at this one because my phone was kind of dying but also mostly just because I was honestly having such an enormously great time and I didn't feel the need to try to do anything other than be present in my body at the gig and experience it live. you KNOW?? LIKE!! MUSIC. man. EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to mention a small tech flub that was actually so charming, where near the very end of Arch Enemy jon seemed to be having trouble with his guitar board in the front, and he spent so long in the outro squinting down at it and trying to resolve the issue that he didn't fully come in on the It's time to show your face! bit at the proper time, and he ended up just saying "It's time to show your face." right into the mic very unaffected and straight-up in his regular speaking voice at the very, very end when the song was basically over. lol. he is cute. everyone is cute.

(I WILL ALSO SAY I got the giggles SO BAD at david and amanda's gudetama they slipped onto the stage, oh my god--I was going to take a joke video just dramatically zooming in on it, as one does, except right when I went to do that it got caught up in jon's mic cable and just TUMBLED AND JOSTLED ALL OVER THE PLACE and that fucking GOT me and I was DYING and it was right at like. the serious, heartstring-tugging, fuck-yeah parts of No Reptiles where I'm supposed to be at CHURCH and instead I'm losing my shit into hysterics over this poor gudetama just rolling everywhere alksdhjglaksd, I had to bury my face in Becky's shoulder for a measure or more and try to recover, oh my godddd. EGGS!) -- (OH ALSO I LMAO I HAVE SEVERAL AUDIENCE MEMBER ~BITS THAT I AM DOING just like, clapping here or there, participating actively in certain parts of things, and one that I kept doing for some asshole clown reason was singing along with/lampshading Alex's quick backing vox on the second verse of Spring Sun Winter Dread-- Philly was probably the place where I was the most prominent/obvious/easy to see doing it, and it made both him and Jeremy REALLY snicker, ahahaha I'm sorryyyyyyy for being obnoxioussssss)

The merch/loitering sitch was sli-iiightly more locked down, in here; there was only so long Marty and I could pretend to be thinking about merch/hanging out with people who were actually in line but not actually being in line before they really truly wanted us to leave, and they were pretty pissed that I even left the venue with an empty/ice-only water cup, never mind any dreams of re-entry. The militant energy of the security at this venue compared to how relatively chill and normal DC had been (for two venues I would say of comparable size/seriousness) was def my least favorite part of the Philly experience. I was outside, finishing my water and chitchatting with some artsy youths who were also unimpressed with security, and Becky's messaging me like "they're in here!" and I'm like "well I'm not and I can't come back so you gotta tell them to come out here!" lmao. But they did!!! All the guys came out before too long and I very delightfully got to talk to everyone. I gave Mike and Jeremy the bracelets I'd made for them - THEY both apologized to ME outright for not coming out to chat the night before?? like hello you’re the band we’re the fans you don’t owe us anything - they kind of came toward my side of the door first, and talked and chatted some, vs Jon sort of peeling the other way to the other half of the loiterers - I honestly have lost track of the sequence of events here and what happened when, but it was largely unimportant hehe. (Gosh, but then I keep randomly remembering other unrelated details. Like, for example, Black Cat gave me their big ol' signature black cat hand stamp, and I'd been thinking, oh this will be fun to watch my four hand stamps stack from these four gigs, the way I got two together from The Altogether/Matt Duncan double feature back in July, and then Underground Arts put theirs on the INSIDE OF MY WRIST and not the back of my hand, and both Irving and T-Bird just did wristbands. BUMMER.) But mostly just Seeing Band, Talking To Band. This was when I overheard Alex definitely confirm to someone that the new song is called Cold Reactor, and he sort of half-seriously half-not said they just didn't call it that on the setlist in case there was another "New Song" they might want to decide to start playing there instead at the last minute, even though the longer this goes on the more confident we are that they're not going to do that and that Cold Reactor is gonna be a new single that probably drops once this tour is over <___< eyes emoji. Also, between Wednesday and Thursday we also knew that the bleach-blond hair is for Lore Reasons, which we assume are to do with Cold Reactor and the album it will be on, because of course it is. stupid. jonathan higgs I want to crawl inside your deranged pisces mind and meld with it vulcan style.

anyway, as far as my short term memory can be relied upon/will tell me is the truth, I think Jon was actually the last person I ended up in contact with on this night; I was drifting over toward him but someone else was still engaged in an active conversation with him, so I was like, well obviously I will wait my turn and let other people have jonathan time even though I'm the biggest jonathan girlie, I can just hang and go in when he frees up, and so I was turned slightly away from him listening in on other convos and talking to Becky and maybe Annika or a couple other people, and then suddenly there's a delicate hand on the back of my shoulder and Jon's right in my fucking ear ominously going "hello." askdjhgka. He was soooo cute and nice, I gave him the bracelet I made him as well (which was "I wanna be there" from Violent Sun and shades of re-animator orange) and he was immediately like Oh, of course you, are the bracelet distributor, and I was like hehehe yes, and he asked if I also had to do with the gudetama and I was like absolutely not I have no idea what is going on there lmfao. and I think amanda and david did take credit for it at that time of course so yes hehe. Ended up in a fun casual chitchat with Jon and Becky for most of the rest of the time here, with her trying to squeeze him for info about the new song and album and lore hehehe and him being his typical cryptic trolly cagey Jon, and it was all in incredibly good fun; he noticed her bracelet too, and she pointed it out like Yes I got the one that says This Is The Prophecy from big climb because it hearkens back to that bit they were doing on twitter from way before that song even came out so I gave her that one on purpose duh lol, and Jon says "Oooh yep I forgot about that. .. Album..." and mimed swiping his hair back like whoopsie lmao and it was such a silly little half-self-neg on Re-Animator lol, and so I said "WELP too bad! because the one I made from you is one of those too haha!" and he took another look at it as if to remind himself about it and then went "Well yeah that one's good" with a wryer wickeder laugh and I was like lmao tell us how you really feel. But like he's right violent sun is perfect and I actually labored so long over what I was going to have jon's say because he was the only person I didn't have a really solid concrete idea of what to make for and ALSO he was the only one I REALLY wanted to get PERFECT because it's important to me and yeah. so it was. reassuring for him to like the violent sun one. idk anyway.

The woman we'd seen running around doing a lot for them, including merch, who recognized us from DC the night before and was fun and glib about it, and who turns out to be: Tour Manager Sam, finally had enough of our fucking about and started very efficiently organizing us all into "everyone who wants a pic with themself + all four guys come get in Now and I'm gonna play photographer and then we all gotta go the fuck home" and I respected it SO much lmao, so we had sort of a rotating queue of group picture taking and then the guys all went back inside the venue (I kind of fingerguns'd Jon like "New York :D?" and he looked at me just SO Put Out and just deadpanned "Of course you're going to be there." of course!! lmfao) and we started talking amongst ourselves just out of reluctance to let the night end/social energy we still wanted to wallow in and that was cute and nice. I said goodbye to some folks who weren't going any further on the tour. I had such a wonderful night. Then, lo and behold, we turn around and Jeremy's up on the stoop of the venue, and he's like, I think I've locked myself out. I am locked out and I also don't have my phone on me. lmfao jez. he goes "I am going to blame jonathan" and we allowed him that. I was like, do you want me to TWEET AT SOMEONE LOL and he was like good god no they'll come back for me eventually, and then yes they did, and THEN we all left hahahaha. becky insisted on sticking with me part of the way to the trolley but I was like, it is coming in 14 minutes and it says it's gonna take me 12 minutes to get there I gotta GO!, and I freaking missed it anyway!!! and then I had to wait like OVER HALF AN HOUR MORE for the next one and i didn't even get ON the trolley till like 12:50 and it was soooo late before I was back at mads's place aiyaa. But, all in all, TRULY SUCH A GOOD NIGHT I JUST LOVE BEING IN AN ACTIVE BUZZY FANDOM SPACE AND MEETING FANS AND PARASOCIALING AND DANCING AND SINGING AND DOING ARTS N CRAFTS. you KNOW?? you know. you're on tumblr you get it.

The Philly to Jersey (pre-NYC) leg of my road tripping was set to be Thee shortest drive I had to make the whole time, so I let myself have time in the morning to keep snoozing and fucking about, even though I once again woke up way earlier than I'd hoped to and didn't ever make it back to sleep after that. But the tradeoff was still super nice and relaxing vibing with Madeline--I offered to buy her breakfast in exchange for the couch-crashin' and we got hella bagel sandwiches and cold brew from a place real close by her apartment, and scarfed 'em down while watching the most recent ep of Make Some Noise and just shooting the shit (again, largely about either fandom or kitty cats. We are simple folk). My sandwich contained salmon, a fried egg, and the most incredible sloppy caramelized onions, what a banger. The last truly good food I truly enjoyed before my mega super Travel Tummy set in and wrecked my whole shop metabolically speaking, rip. I took a little rinsy-rinse shower at her place too, and then finally made myself get up and Go to do the runaround silly business of driving to and parking in NJ, taking the ferry in to Manhattan, and then taking the subway to Allegra's place for NIGHT THREE IN NEW YORK CITY WOOOOO. I LOVE going to E E with Allegra!!!!! Once again I used her place primarily as a spot to change out of my car clothes and into my gig clothes (it's RDF night; I wore an oversized pale beige button-up shirt, actually left over from my Foals Antidotes costume from last halloween hahaha, gussied up with E E pins and jewelry) and to fuck about with bracelets. I made Allegra a special In Birdsong bracelet, the only one I did from that song :) because allegra is my special E E friend!! and she needs one of her special song!!! Fandom... is good. Allegra also had a kickass outfit. We stopped in at a tex-mex place she really wanted to try that was nearby the venue, and i got pretty nervous that it was gonna be a little late before doors for us to be hitting a sit-down dinner spot, but we rushed it along pretty well on the food and got our slice of dessert cake to go in a box and everything was A-OK. And I had time to hit a bodega for merch cash from the ATM and a pineapple soda for fortitude! let's GOOO irving plaza.

God, Irving was kind of a shitshow when it came to queuing and security though. There were a fair few people in line ahead of us, maybe just as many or slightly more than what I'd had in DC (definitely further back than Philly, although in line near us were the same also-eating-Dominican-food couple from the Philly gig, and I recognized them and was glad to see them again-- I FULLY DO NOT REMEMBER/DID NOT CATCH Y'ALL'S NAMES, AND I FEEL TERRIBLE BECAUSE WE HUNG OUT AND WORKED TOGETHER SO MUCH, i am so sorryyyyy), but then because it's not a sweet local friendly indie venue but is in fact Livenation As Hell, there's some person affiliated with the venue wandering up front offering some sort of VIP/fast pass line experience where you can just cough up some extra cash and get in your own special line and get to go in first regardless of how long other people have been queuing--you know the deal. Wack as hell. I think David and Amanda opted for this in some capacity, so I was happy for them about it, but a lot of the other people who ended up doing it had kind of rancid vibes of just like "concert-going" and not the very lovely communal sardine megafan energy everyone else had had thusfar. Also it put us where we were at in the queue standing in a place that just had a really terrible smell of sewage, which persisted almost the entire time we were there only to suddenly be replaced by a very powerful smell of bleach, as if whatever it was was suddenly being cleaned/sanitized. ICKY!! Annika was enough further ahead of us in line that I thought it might have only been over where we were but she said no she was definitely getting it too. new york city babey

Bracelet distribution got a little silly here, too, since the queue was wrapping SO far back and was being policed a little more stringently, but I had kind of figured I may need some kind of additional plan, especially since I'd decided not to wear my fanny pack (bum bag--fanny pack, says Jonathan Higgs in a derisive American accent, even as he's telling me he likes mine a lot, skdjshgalkj smh) since my shorts under my shirt had really capacious pockets and that just made for one less thing to worry about--I snagged a sheet of paper at Allegra's place, along with a gallon-size ziploc bag, and I put all the bracelets in there with a note that said to just take one if you wanted one and pass it back through the queue while we waited. It was kind of a crapshoot how effective I thought this was going to be, especially since I had to kind of wait to deploy it once there was a substantial queue BUT by the time there was a big queue it meant that I couldn't see exactly HOW big from where I was near-ish enough to the front, so I didn't know how far the bag was going to make it, if someone was going to end up stuck with my whole big bag at the back of the line (esp since I had a fair number of extra Philly bracelets left over that I lumped in with the NYC ones just because I still Had them).... whew...! BUT by the time Marty was there, he was further enough back from me that I asked him to kind of check up on it when it made it to him and keep passing it; and, by the time we were going inside, I could see zero sign of the bag itself but I DID catch a lot of people milling around me wearing bracelets, and one or two of them did stop me to thank me (since I'd indicated on my note in the bag that I was the person with green hair hahaha), and then I never saw 'em again, so I guess it was a relative success!! Yayyyyy!! WAY less conducive to making New Line Friends than the DC/Philly setup had been, but incredibly effective at making sure that all my bracelets found new homes rather than me having to take a huge handful home with me again and them just sitting in my house forever LOL. success! :)

tl;dr about the bracelets. not important compared to concert and band. WE GO INSIDE!! They have such dumb security/bag check. a gender-split process where the men get patted down by a dude guard and the women get patted down by a lady guard? In TYOOL 2023? you hate to see it. She felt the Sharpie in my back pocket and made me take it out and surrender it???? MY METALLIC BRONZE SHARPIE ? ? no sharpies in the venue I guess. Talked to at least one other person who got sharpie-confiscated too, but also at least two people who fully didn't and still had markers just fine. Absolute shenanigans. Allegra and I didn't quite get barrier due in part to fastpass line nonsense but we did end up right exactly behind Annika &co. with perfect sightlines, once again stage-left/Jeremy-ward-of-center. we don't hate it! my Philly pals to my left with David, Becky et al in front of them. Me fully surrounded by redheads. LOL.

this was the laaaatest show of my whole run, a whole lot of standing around just waiting for Band, and also definitely the energy of "trying to politely vibe to pierre kwenders's set because he can clearly see me and look straight at me even though I would much rather just skip to the bit I actually came for and don't necessarily need to see his set" just slowly increasing every night RIP lol. BUT WE MADE IT! ohhhh new york. EXACT same set as Philly but I couldn't even be mad about it because I was still so grateful to get a Man Alive song that wasn't just MY KZ (not that I don't love my kz obviously, but it HAS been in the set literally all eight times that I have seen E E live as of this Irving Plaza gig, and something else from that album is fun fresh delicious) (OH, SWEET THREEP OF FRIDAY EVENING, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW) and to be getting COLD REACTOR again, especially becaussseee by this point I knew just enough of the lyrics that I felt confident singing/mouthing along conspicuously with the parts that I Did know, aka I See You Sir I'm Doing The Thing Just Watch Me, god I wish I knew how to be not so fucking extra but then again no I don't. we did get saddled with some Rather Annoying audience members in our near vicinity--a couple I'd spotted in the fastpass line earlier wedged themselves hard between me and my tall redhead/mask-wearing homie from Philly, all like "ummm we're short :)" because they. were, but that didn't give them a right to be pushy and rude, and their vibes were kind of shit because the sense I got was they were mostly there because the girl really loved the band and the dude didn't know much about them at all, and also they were already drunk so early on in the set, and they were talking loudly with some other fans they'd just met and getting Lore™ explained to them and it was just a lot of. loud talking and shoving. in my vicinity. when I would have preferred for there to. not be. BUT Also materializing behind me was someone who said "I saw your bracelets on twitter do you still have any!!" and I had to be like UHHHH FUCK, NO, I turned them loose into the queue, did they not make it as far as you..?? and she sadly said no, and I was like, well the only one I have left is this one I just left on for tradesies/advertising purposes, and it says "akon in the butterfly house" so that's kind of a deep cut, if you're familiar-- and she went WAIT REALLY and seemed SUPER jazzed to get a Dave Sardine-ass bracelet and I was like OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT, GOOD, ACTUALLY, because I'd made four of these and I knew they were going to be the deepest cut/hardest sell and I was really really hoping that whoever ended up with them would actually get and appreciate them. so thank you, andrea, for being that person, and for appearing exactly when the bracelet needed it most. so glad to have hung with you this night. sorry that you too found yourself among the ranks of the sharpie-confiscatees.

ANYWAY, OTHER THAN THAT, THIS AUDIENCE WAS FIRE AND THIS GIG SLAPPED. We were finally in a space and an environment that REALLY lent itself to the crowd actually full on bouncing/dancing instead of just kind of wobbling and vibing and everyone in my immediate zone was really going hard. I LOVE this fucking BAND. I love every song by this band. I love when Jon just points the mic at the crowd and the entire crowd sings the whole song word for word and note for note. I love that Jon was still desperately trying to cram the name of the host city into the start of My Kz, despite the fact that "Washington" subs for "Lucifer" perfectly (he has done this both times I've seen them in DC lol) but "Philadelphia" is WAY too stupid long and "New York City," while a syllable shorter, scans metrically in an extremely busted way and you could have just said EN WHY CEE or. y'know. lucifer. but okay man you do you. Jon was just as rowdy as the rest of us lmfao. he was like, climbing up and down off Mike's riser, he was finding people who were taking photos/videos and staring directly into their cameras (me fucking included--I'm sorry, Jon, you can't make eye contact with me while singing the "When I saw you, I fell in love" part of Leviathan, I am pretty sure that is illegal and a crime against my humanity), and basically all the tracks from Get To Heaven (plus like, Cough Cough and NOTLK) blew the fucking roof off the place. I think he donked some My Kz lyrics hehehe he just skipped to the alt lyrics of the chorus too early without completing the standard chorus first at the end, and a little flubbo in NOTLK and a tiny stutter in No Reptiles too, everyone was just TOO ROWDY and he's THROWN LOOPY and man did we not care. I said multiple times to people on this tour that pretty much the closest things I've ever experienced to true Religion are a) being in an E E audience for No Reptiles and b) being in a Hedwig audience for Midnight Radio. they're the same spiritually in my heart and also like do people who love Jesus feel this way and is this why. insane. the cult leader imagery was Not Wrong!!!!!

I wanna MERCH! I got in the line not too long after the show wrapped, but true to reports I'd heard about the pre-show merch line, it was moving verrryy slowly, with just one guy manning it who was not exactly quick and a card reader that seemed pretty chuggy too (but hey, at least NY was taking card). I'd known I wanted the poster--it's got my favorite neon orange on it, it really really slaps, and I wanted something to get signed--but I let myself talk myself into a t-shirt too, mostly because I was REALLY excited to buy E E merch apparel that wasn't black or white. Yellow!! a really freaking good yellow!! I wish the yellow ones had actually had the tour dates on them like the black and white ones did but the yellow branding has been pretty exclusive to this leg of tour (i.e. vs the red branding of the west coast one last year) and it looks soooo good with my hair that I don't especially mind. I also knew that Adrian wanted a copy of Caps Lock On, but that he also wanted a shirt, but I hadn't heard back from him about which shirt or what size so I just got the book and my stuff and then bounced. Communique from outside was that Alex had surfaced but no one else, but that Alex had promised appearances by the rest of them, but that also Alex was already gone and unlikely to return by the time I made it outside. I posted up with all my friends from inside, god this was SUCH a good sardine squad this night, and it took some waiting but eventually the promises came true! All the other boys surfaced and we had some REALLY great fan chats and mingling this tiimmmmee. oh my gosh. A guy came with a Modern Bison CD that Jon and Jeremy were really truly overjoyed to see and to sign and take pictures with; I talked to Jeremy about the bracelets some more because he'd been wearing the one I gave him the WHOLE GIG IN NEW YORK SO LIKE THAT'S GONNA BE IN ANY PHOTOS THAT WERE TAKEN PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING, oh my gosshhh, he was so nice about it and enjoyed that his Arch Jeremy matched my Arch Emily, the vibes were impeccable; and then I got everyone to sign my poster, but of course Alex was gone already, so Jon offers to forge Alex's signature and goes "look it's like this" and draws some loopy scribble on there and I'm like, lmao, sure.

thing was... I had absolutely heard Jeremy signing something for someone else the night before talking about how he was getting really good at forging Alex's signature for him, since I guess it's normal for him to be the one that disappears the sneakiest (god he really is just the Justin Craig of this band, it's 1:1, huh), and so when I told Jeremy this, he was like "I'll do it" and I was like "no Jon did already do it" and he was going to just leave it then, like, oh, well, okay, but then he saw the mess Jon had made and he was like "--that's quite dreadful actually-- the trick is to not overthink it--" and so now my poster has two forged Alex Robertshaw signatures and zero authentic ones. l m f a o. (To be fair, I do have other things they've all four signed, and Jeremy's fake Alex is at least passable, and Jon's fake Alex is Absolute Dogshit Nothing. I am obsessed.) I even got Peter to sign! He was talking with another fan about a gift she'd given them in the past that had sadly been part of what they lost in their studio fire, it was really heartbreaking to hear. He also thanked me again for his bracelet and told me he planned to give it to his daughter and that she would love it. We took a pic together! Pete the GOAT.

While I was making the rounds with the other boys and other fans, Allegra mostly in tow, swapping sharpies among those of us who still had them, Becky was back with Jon, taking a couple videos for people who weren't there in NY to talk about stuff that they were curious about--I think in the context of Maria, Becky said something like, she thinks the hair is crazy, and Jon said into the camera something like, "If you think it's crazy Now, give it like two or three more weeks, and you're really gonna think it's crazy." SIR WHAT. If the blond is a precursor to something else happening I'm gonna be so the opposite of normal about it, and if the bleach is a stepping stone toward the boys dyeing their hair Other colors I am going to be PROFOUNDLY NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT, AND IF ANY MEMBER OF THE MANCUNIAN ROCK BAND EVERYTHING EVERYTHING HAS THEIR HAIR DYED GREEN ANY TIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE I AM GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY INSUFFERABLE. tyler the creator unfollow me right now etc. etc. etc. The more I've thought about it I don't THINK this is what's up--my sense is that any Cold Reactor music video is probably already filmed and ready to drop alongside the single pretty quick after the tour ends, rather than being something they're going to film/put together entirely post-tour, so they probably needed the bleachblond for some energy similar to how I felt about them when they first walked on stage in DC, but Oh man...... OH MAN............ I digress. anyway.

following up from that, Allegra (I think? Or maybe still Becky and allegra was just Present) addressed the notion of the hair being related to the Lore, and like, did that mean lore for the single/the upcoming album ? ? which was what we were assuming, and Jon said some demented and ominous and extremely exciting phrase like, "The lore for this one is.... b o t t o m l e s s" in his always-startling real deep Jon voice, and that was the fucking sound bite of the evening, folks. FOLKS. ALLEGRA AND I WENT ALL THE WAY BACK TO HER APARTMENT JUST CONTINUALLY SAYING "THE LORE IS BOTTOMLESS!" my body is so god damn ready.

We bid farewells to all our friends for whom NYC was their final stop on this tour!! SAD!!!!!! Going to miss all the homies T___T it's not fair that we're not just all going to every single stop on this tour I don't think? it should actually be illegal for us not to be present when the band is performing?? the hugest RIP. Hugs exchanged all around. Me trying to say bye to Jon but he's engaged with someone else so I think I just awkwardly said "See you tomorrow" twice and then we left. becky maaaybe trying to last minute scramble to also come to pgh now despite not really having accounted for it in her plans originally ? ? I was not certain what she intended here but I supported her. yes. me, annika and AG for sure being there at least. we ride. Back to allegra's where I did, unfortunately, sleep ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLY/BASICALLY NOT AT ALL due to being so hot and stuffy in my little nest on the floor that it was making me nauseated, I think I got maybe 2.5 hours tops, but I didn't really have a choice because if I wanted to be back home in time to do ANYTHING other than just rock straight over to the queue for Thunderbird then I knew I was going to have to leave so GOD DAMN early in the morning to haul ass back to where my car was and then drive the seven hours to pgh. But I did exactly that!!!! bitch!!!!! Other than some issues like, managing to make a timely pit stop for gas/potty/coffee, I endured the miserable long roadtrip despite myself, raging my way through the poconos, downing the largest cold brew Wawa would sell me, having a truly tragic car vs quesadilla incident, etc. My BFF Francis even got on the phone with me for the last hour or so and we chatted and I got to give them the whole update on the tour thus far, so fun! They MIGHT try to go to the Chicago stop next week!!! if they feel like they can swing it, and I was like ok no pressure but also it's been an extraordinary experience for me thusfar and I highly recommend. So if you see Francis at E E Chicago please holler at them kindly from me!!! :) But at the very least they said they did want a T-shirt and venmo'd me money to buy them one, since I was already still gonna have to get one for Adrian. woooooo

I got home with, yeah, basically exactly enough time to shower, get my outfit together, and regroup before heading to the venue !!! I JUST BARELY missed the bus that would've gotten me there the most promptly, largely due to not being able to find another fucking Sharpie since irving plaza took my first one lmfao, and it ended up being quicker to walk there than to wait the 36 minutes it would've been for another bus or whatever. I still had MEGA travel tummy so I just snagged an apple and scarfed it down on the walk over. Annika was already there queuing! so we hung out in line together and waited and drank the waters we had definitely brought in from outside the bar and just vibed lol. and she was like, I heard them checking two new songs that haven't been in the setlist yet, and I was like ha ha lol like what, and she said, kevin's car and leave the engine room.

and listen, I was optimistic. that my social media obnoxiousness and well-known, easily observable public desires might yet sway them, because come on it's my hometown and it's the last show i'm gonna see on this tour and I sent them donuts, and those were MEANT as a KINDNESS and an ENTHUSIASM FOR DONUTS and not as a bribe, but if anyone wanted to interpret them as a bribe anyway whomst was I to say no, but like. just because I want the band i like to do a thing absolutely does not mean that they have to fucking do it. I want to be crystal clear that i have never at any point EXPECTED them to do this. i just. hoped. yearned in my heart of hearts. and also had very sound rationale for how possible/likely it was. Here's How Engie Room Can Still Win. yfm. but the soundcheck all but confirmed it in my soul for me. and I was like... glad, that she'd been there and caught it and could tell me about it, because it gave me time to like, come to terms with the reality of it, emotionally. AAH. AAAAAHHH, OKAY. BITCH, PLIABLE HEAD, IT'S ALL HAPPENING.

we lingered and watched the queue form behind us-- I spotted a kid I'd seen at the Philly show, god bless. Everywhere we turn, repeat customers. I was telling my work friend today, I feel like the US fanbase for E E is significantly smaller than the UK audience, but we make up for it in that we go fucking hard. Every US fan is a superfan. there are no half-assed american sardines. and that has been so BEAUTIFUL and means the WORLD to me to be sharing it with the other ones of you. Bracelet sharing rocked at this gig!! I had exactly as many as I'd set aside for Pittsburgh and no more, since all my spares had evaporated up at Irving, A new person ALSO HAD BRACELETS!!! LIKE, for realsies Made For Trading At This Show Specifically bracelets, it was suuuuch a delight, so in addition to my eclectic collection from the previous gigs I now also have one that says RAW DATA FEEL with some truly choice glow in the dark bric-a-brac on there as well, and my heart was so warm aaaaaah. fwiendship :) Also spotted in the pre-doors queue were the Pizza Boy costumed guy and a woman I met at Foals in 2019?? who I guess automatically recognizes me because of the green hair, but just. omg. the community!!!! I'm dying!!!!!!

There was a slight will-call kerfuffle that nevertheless did not stop me from being dead center dead at the front right in front of where jonathan's mic was destined to be, and I was like. god. here we go. the home stretch. This was ABSOLUTELY the WORST place to be to be pretending to be interested in pierre's set, because he kept looking straight at me and dog I gotta admit four shows in I was feeling pretty tired. like, the energy of E E Itself was going to fully reinvigorate me, but nearly everything else on the planet was like totally disinteresting and I wasn't really up for it, especially when it's my semi-sex-repulsed ace-spectrum ass being just really put off by the suggestive gyrations of a performer that is not to my tastes. UM SORRY BYE HAHA. they didn't even play the one song I kind of liked. I managed to miss like two and a half songs of his set being still locked in the merch line at least lmao. literally WHILE I WAS STANDING IN THE MERCH LINE they sold out of the yellow shirt and I couldn't get me and francis matchies so I had to get them the black instead :( but thankfully they still had the one Adrian wanted because idk what I would have done if I had to scramble for a plan B with him on short notice haha. and I had EXACTLY enough cash for the two shirts left from the day before and I was paying Tour Manager Sam with it like oh my gosh I'm so sorry this is like my sweaty pocket cash from last night this is kinda gross and she was just like, No actually that's honestly exactly how I've been rolling as well and it is kind of gross so like agreed hahaha. She's the best. Idk how long she'll be tenured to them but I'd love to see her continue to exist in like their coterie moving forward. impeccable vibes.

also used merch waiting as a way to distribute more bracelets and get a drink of water! WOOHOO NOW I AM READY TO RECEIVE MY COMMUNION THANK YOU. they put the setlists down and there was a very small fraction of me that wanted to avert my eyes but like I. I had to know. and annika said yes there are new songs in the list. and I peered into the list and my song was there.

hey guys. hey guys? look, this was for me. I have to be honest with you. i manifested this. by being annoying on twitter. by being god's specialest costume-making donut-gifting bracelet-slinging weirdo. I'm owning it and it's mine. I was exactly EXACTLY right with "well, if they put Engine Room in they'll probably take Leviathan out, because they'd kind of fill the same role of slow moody song in the set, and then they'll probably swap in a different non-Man Alive song to compensate for Engine Room being there instead," and this is exactly what happened, and so then not only did I get Engine Room but I also got REGRET, WHICH IS ALSO AN EMILY THREEPWILLOW PLIABLE HEAD SONG, BECAUSE HERE THESE NERDLORD KINGSHIT BANDBOYS ARE IN MY GODDAMN BACK YARD, they're in my house and god it took me the whole fucking set up to then to just prepare, like I had to try not to think about it so I could enjoy what was right in front of me. God it was so fucking, fucking good. our position along the stage had Alex's stuff REALLY forward in the mix which was kind of new for me, but jon was just right there and every time I lifted my hands to dance and to yearn it was like, the only thing stopping me from touching you is my own sense of propriety and not any kind of physical barrier or distance, and the person immediately behind me was seeing the band for the first time and felt similarly about NOTLK as I did to Engine Room and those two songs were literally back to back in the set so we kind of screamed and cried and died together, I gave her a huge hug, and LOL SORRY NOT SORRY THAT I GOT MY KZ AND LEVIATHAN TAKEN OUT OF THE SETLIST FOR Y'ALL, PITTSBURGH, I DO FEEL KIND OF BAD BUT THIS WAS UMMM IMPORTANT TO ME, THANK YOU, goodbye. goodbye I left the planet. I thought I was going to cry and I nearly did but I didn't, but I did actually maybe start hyperventilating. like I'm glad I knew it was coming ahead of time because if it had been a full surprise I think whatever was happening to my lungs would have been exponentially worse and I may have even fainted.

(which, btw: jonathan. jon. when he came out on stage, he almost immediately got his mic cable caught on the edge of where his setlist was taped down, and in jerking it around, he whipped the setlist up off the floor and way upstage toward where Pete was; when he finally put it to rights and taped it back down, he just left it where it was at, far enough away from me that I definitely could not read it anymore; and like DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE? TO MOVE IT OUT OF MY LINE OF SIGHT, TO MAYBE KEEP ME FROM READING IT? SURELY YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT I'D ALREADY SEEN IT LIKE 15 MINUTES AGO. NICE TRY BUT IT'S TOO LATE I SAW EVERYTHING. i love him. i'm in physical pain.)

knowing this was my final one, I went so, so, incredibly hard, I let myself dance and mosh and scream and take way more pics and videos than I had before, I leaned on the lip of the stage, I had an absolute fucking blast. When the set was over a few other people who were more strategically positioned (i.e. people who had not had their most easily accessible setlists unceremoniously yoinked several feet away) snatched up the closest ones way quick; there was a general tension in the crowd at being able to see jon's, but it being further away out of reach, and one ballsy-ass kid (the "Kevin" person who'd accompanied the pizza boy person) actually clambored up onto the stage and ninja'd over and took it for himself, which inspired two copycats to do the same for some discarded guitar picks (and all of which definitely provoked a very loud, unimpressed, authoritative barking of "HEY!!!" from some security somewhere, like, they definitely shouldn't have done that!! yikes!!!!). I, instead, very patiently waited for an opportune moment to get the attention of their short king guitar tech as he was running around doing teardown, and someone else flagged him first and got pete's setlist, and in my final moments I got him to get me mike's. Gang, I'm gonna be real with you, I was not leaving my Pittsburgh hometown show in which they played Leave The fucking Engine Room without a setlist. there would've been blood or at the very least tears. so like. thank god lmao. Satisfied, we got some water and then headed out!!!

It was a long, chilly wait for the boys outside--god, the chilliness was REFRESHING, though, it's October for crying out loud, and DC and Philly and NY had all been muggy sweaty hot with no need for even long pants, much less a jacket, but I was glad I'd had the forethought to wear my flannel around my waist to cover up the YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT printed around the ass of my shorts on my walk over to deter questions, lmfao. We easily identified the spot on the side of the venue where we assumed the guys were coming out, it was all just a matter of time. (AG and I getting some confusing-to-parse messages from Becky? Idk my phone was SUPER dying so I was trying to leave it on airplane as much as possible, I didn't even make it to the end of the night, RIP needing to use my map all day in the car and even with it plugged in spending more than I was juicing of the battery. Listen i needed PICS and VIDEOS!!) I saw Jon first, and he almost looked past me before spotting me there because I was pretty close to the corner of the block, and I just stared at him, and said, May I hug you. and he said, of course! and I hugged him so long and so hard just like, thank you, I was extremely emotional then and I'm also getting extremely emotional now just typing about it, and he was like omg haha what for? Coming to your town? and I was like coming to my town and playing my SONG!!! And then he said something with the tone of a snarky teasy joke but that was like flusteringly truthful underneath about them legitimately rearranging the set quite a lot for me, and I have not stopped screaming internally since then, and Jeremy joked that I'd just seen the exact same set three times and they felt they ought to give me at least something new ha ha ha but like it wasn't entirely a joke, and I just don't even know how to process this. i am perishèd in the soil. anyhow.

I wanted both my setlist and my Supernormal EP vinyl signed by all the boys, and I managed this with relatively little doing ("A deep cut!" jeremy remarks of the supernormal, haha), but I didn't want to be crowding them and getting in the way of other people getting lad time, so I kind of took a backseat and just talked when the time was right, but Jon did kind of keep wanting to talk to me. We talked about the new song, and we talked about the donuts I sent over--oh my GOD, because I was like, they're from that place over there, you can see the big neon donut sign from here! haha, and he was like dyou know what, I knew that's where they were from, because I went over there earlier in the day and got one for myself, I got a huckleberry one and I came back with it and everyone was like, what's that, they were very jealous, and then not too long after that this box of loads of them just shows up-- And like I am a donut fairy psychic wizard. Also everyone who is ever in Pittsburgh should go to Oliver's donuts and eat their fabulously good products. I will shill for them literally any day of the week. This is the second band I have given Oliver's to this year. I cannot be stopped. ANYWAY. i honestly almost could have written that prediction on an envelope and sealed it, that they'd end up wandering in there on their own only for me to send them some too. i was so tickled that jon got the huckleberry one because it's their signature flavor and it's SO PINK and allegra and I had just decided the night before that jon higgs is hot pink coded. like, in the universe where they are dyeing their hair multicolors for the lore. anyhow. it's good shit.

i had SO much fun after this show, even though it was so chilly and dark and we were scrungling around on a literal street corner outside a wine and spirits store, I was like holding people's things so they could get pics and signatures, I was showing off my supernormal booty shorts, I was talking to Jon about lore----- ohhh, my god, I had exactly two bracelets left when the night was over, literally the end of my stash, and it was one Final Form FIRST BODY LAST BODY that I said, y'know, I'm going to save this for my bestie francis when I send them the shirt, because that's the lyric I wanna get a tattoo of, and it'll match with my PLIABLE HEAD bracelet, and it'll be another sort of besties matching thing; and my one lone AKON IN THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE bracelet that remained, where I'd kind of said, well, if this one doesn't find the right home tonight, then at the end of the night I'm going to give it to Jon too. So I dug in my bag and passed it off, and he was like "what does this one say.... kon... Akon... Akon in the house--what is--OH AND THERE'S A LITTLE BUTTERFLY ON THERE, God--" and he was GRINNING and he was SO TICKLED BY IT and Jez chimed in with just like "The attention to detail--" and Jon was like "this is my favorite one actually," he LOVED IT AND I WAS SO CHARMED AND EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT, and then he offered me up something like "you kno-ow, this, the song, of this, there's actually a reference to it in something, something you've never heard-- and--that you never will," doing his cryptic Jon troll grin, "the one thing that didn't make it," with the implied end of that sentence being "onto the album," and 'album' in this case being implied to be Raw Data Feel, which they have very publicly said that for once was an album where they just put everything on and didn't cull any songs or reserve any bonus tracks to release later or whatever. So I said, "Oh, from the one that we've been told had no cuts...?" also not explicitly saying RDF, and his answer to that was vague/nondescript enough but was probably an affirmative, but then he did follow that up with "that's lore that's SO far down the line, WAY WAY out there," and god, just, how deep does this man's brain and nonsense even fucking go. how far into the future is there LORE. BOTTOMLESS!!! I am obsessed with him. i cannot stress enough how blorbo he is to me.

The shorts came back up in conversation too ("Sorry, let me just look quite closely at your ass for a moment--" "It's okay, the shorts are designed that way--") and him saying, yeah, we do talk about some of the costumes still, and then segueing into asking if I had plans for this year and what I was doing, and I said, maybe, I'm not sure if I want to tell you, and he said, Is it to do with us, and I said, Neither confirm nor deny, and he said, Well if it's not, then, I want to know, with kind of a 'duh' tone ahahaha because like true there would be no reason to be coy if it was nothing to do with E E at all, and I explained that like I kind of have to have two costumes ("of course you do."), WELL because y'know the E E ones don't really play to or land with the general populace (a very cheeky "No!") so I have, just, one that's for going to parties, and one that's for fucking around on the internet. He seemed to find that acceptable hahaha.

Anyway what I REALLY wanted with wearing the Supernormal shorts was a group pic of all five of us normal frontways, and then a group pic of all five of us facing backward/ass to the camera a la the picture of them outside the White House, where you could see the goof of my shorts but also all of their butts, but this was an ABSOLUTE DISASTER TO DO when it was so dark that phone cameras were taking everything long-exposure, and also they'd all had just enough beer to not really be following on what the bit was. Absolute shit results on the backwards pic because I couldn't, y'know, see to coordinate it, because I had my back turned. (Me yelling, "Not just MY butt, EVERYONE'S butts, come on!!" into the streets of Lawrenceville.) Utter failure. Didn't care. I love these fucking guys. The vibe was finally kind of winding down, closing-time energy, the guys still had to get on the bus to Boston right away even with tomorrow being their day off, it was a Boston day off and not a Pittsburgh day off where I could offer them free ice cream sadly, so they all sort of bowed sweetly out. Jon gave me his like, I Am Part Of The Band clearance ID badge from the venue, kind of out of nowhere, he was like "sorry this is all I have to give you, it's the least I could do," and I was like WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'VE ALREADY GIVEN ME SO M-- YOU COULD DO WAY LESS ??? but I guess now I have that, too. I tried to give him the King Of Oil sign from my fatberg costume, which I'd initially brought because I thought it would be a fun photo taking prop but the photo situation was the aforementioned disaster so that never really came to any fruition at all, so I was just going to gift it to them, and he said "My suitcase is already so full of so much random shit-- that you've given us--" and then right as he was leaving he just said "Thank you for being such a weirdo" with a voice full of all the kindness and affection in the world and I just yelled "ANY TIME!!" and then oh so tragically the night had to be over.

it's been nice, though, because I'm so used to driving the long drive home at the end of an adventure and having that signify the end, of getting to the end of the car ride and having nothing beyond that but the rest of my regular life; and this time, I drove all the way home, but when I got there, the adventure was still happening, right in my neighborhood, right down the street, and all I had to do was walk back home alone in the dark and climb into my own bed at the end of a long and beautiful night. i can already tell that this is going to be one of my most special memories basically forever, and now every time I drive or ride the bus to and from work each day I will be passing by the place where Everything Everything performed Leave The Engine Room for me, and that's so profoundly special that I don't even have words to describe it. I love this band, I love the people in it and I love the people its gravity pulls in to orbit around it, I'm just so goddamn happy. I don't even know what to say or how to end this.

#everything everything #e e #RDF US tour 2023 #this has been a post #jonathan fucking higgs. #god. #they all just like. referred to me plainly by my name a lot more than i was expecting in a way that was overwhelming #like to one another/other people and not just to me directly #i exist???? sounds fake #i will be thinking about this week for a hundred thousand years #my pliable head IS a walking hope thank you so much for NOTICING!!!!!! #pics to follow maybe on here but maybe just on twitter #where I am yes you guessed it @pliablehead if people want to lurk and see #ok fucking goodnight

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 2/7/23

feeling sort of neutral to apathetic about a lot of media this week! two pics of my cat tho to make up for it

listening

NOT feeling neutral or apathetic about the tuesdaysong, pont alexandre iii off the 1998 album Noir by alexander lasarenko. this is a sort of fun little film score exercise by a composer who did a lot of tv work, including PBS' NATURE. the drum fill does sound like it’s from 1998 and i mean that as a compliment. bond movies are emphathetically not noir although they occasionally borrow some visuals, but this piece reminds me of early daniel craig bond movies with the sleek synthy orchestra and subdued horns. they both have the same fuckin uhhhh. the british exotic location travelogue strings. the piano makes me think point and click mystery game.

-

reading

star wars: yoda dark rendezvous by sean stewart. i am about halfway through but this reread is reviving memories of my last reread in uhhhhh. summer 2011 probably. this feels like it was half a concept for a middle grade book about a padawan finding her confidence and ability after losing her master very early in the clone wars, and half a concept for an adult book about the deep sorrow and loss between the treacherous count dooku and his former master, yoda. and in the background of all this ventress (ventress my worstie i love her) is begging and pleading to be made an apprentice while dooku flatly refuses. a generous reading would be “this is all history that rhymes and points to how the master/padawan relationship is not a good pedagogy method for either side and is deeply fucked up” but i think this idea is quite muddied in the middle of this book. it does not always feel deliberate that everyone at once is having trouble managing either their padawans' or their masters' emotions.

the tonal whiplash between the first few chapters is absolutely bonkers. like it's star wars, you couldn't Really show torture on screen or on the page in this specific storytelling era, but it's certainly implied. and then we get a fun field games day for the padawans in the next chapter!!! you don't really consume any star wars media for the prose, but the prose here occasionally gets in the way of itself. it does take a few chapters to find its footing but it is, as i remember, a snappy and fast read. one of the most goth settings in the starred wars imo. the soft plush moss that will start to dissolve your skin if you take a nap in the blood forest has stuck in my brain in the. idk, decade plus since i read this book.

-

watching

The Big Sleep (1946, dir. Hawks) is just as good the third time around. i still have a great deal of difficulty following the plot, but this is a movie that first and foremost Looks incredibly good. shoutout to physical media once again bc this 2005 dvd from the turner classic media co. has solid, reliable, properly timed subtitles. none of the pirate streaming sites i like can boast the same for this particular movie.

in other news new felix colgrave short dropped and it is a bizarre perfect delight

-

playing

beat wolfenstein: the new order on the babiest level and it still took me like forty minutes to sit through the cutscenes. it does such a good job of presenting you with all these very fun environments to run through that you manage to forget that you are very much on rails and it's essentially a boomer shooter (over the top maximalist first person shooter) cramming itself into hallways until the last level in the castle, which feels like endless corridors. im also cranky they showed me so many airships but never let me walk around on an airship. or throw a nazi off an airship.

might wanna get that tesla coil on fire checked out. like i know it's my fault but someone should be alerted about this

i don't really know that this game stuck the landing, for me. i think the last castle level really dragged, and the courtyard arena + the last hallway arena with the catwalks felt very same-y. it's also annoying to me that they give me a sniper rifle but there's no real way to use it as part of a stealth run. there aren't a lot of opportunities for stealth in the back half of this game. it is too much of a shooter and not enough of a narrative/rpg for my tastes, i think. i don't think i'll be continuing on with the series bc i'm not terribly attached to blazkowicz.

this and fallout are like The big AAA alt-history tentpoles, but it's a very small tent. this game was fun for what is was, which was a self-contained and fairly short shooter you're meant to play through twice to get two slightly different narrative routes. it reviewed well at the time and i think the reviews are pretty fair, i had a normal amount of fun aside from the sharp glee of the moon exhibit ramps and crawling through vents in the moon base, i liked it a normal amount and will not be integrating it into my personality. so it fuckin goes sometimes.

-

making

a baby (not mine) blanket, which will absolutely not be ready for the baby (again not mine) in a month and a half. this is going to end up about 40" square and is this pattern off ravelry. it is some flavor of caron baby yarn (i cannot currently find the ballband) on 4mm bamboo circs bc u cannot make a delicate baby blanket. what's the point. its going to go through the wettest hell you can imagine bc a baby's one job is to make fluids.

this pattern is just spicy enough that it's hard to watch TV and count stitches at the same time so i am BURNING through podcasts. slowly but surely getting caught up on A More Civilized Age and their three hour discussions of each star wars episode of Andor. five star podcast five star runtime

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

[archiveofcyp]

Footage of Cyprus in 1951. Areas featured include Lefkosia/Lefkoşa and Kyrenia/Girne.

Published under the collection titled “Mediterranean Story,” an edited travelogue collection by Arthur and Kate Tode (“Kahop”). In addition to Cyprus, footage from Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Palestine, Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon are featured in the collection.

“Arthur Tode (1894-1966), and Kate Tode (1905-1990) were 20th century travelers and film amateurs who documented their journeys, and edited them with inter-titles perhaps to be shown at parties or meetings of their clubs. The films that they made depict countries that in some cases have changed completely, been renamed, or redrawn, and much of the material culture and cultural practices are now utterly transformed.” (Excerpts from the Penn Museum’s Archival Films Collection).

Footage source: Arthur and Kate Tode (aka. Kahop). All rights are reserved by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum). Any use of the footage in productions is forbidden unless rights have been secured by contacting the Penn Museum Archives at 215-898-8304, or email [email protected]. https://www.penn.museum/collections/videos/films/index.php?cat=2&page=1.

Disclaimer: Please note no copyright infringement intended, and I do not own nor claim to own any of the original images or information unless otherwise stated.

#cyprus #cypriot #cyprus history #cypriot history #cyprus archive #cypriot heritage #kahop #arthur tode #kate tode #upenn archive #internet archive #mediterranean story #mediterranean

[prairiefirewitch]

Of late this has turned into a something of a travelogue/look at what I ate/drank account and I appreciate you sticking it out with me while I take time away from Prairie Fire.

Do I think you care that this aperol spritz and Gorgonzola pear salad are so good I have to show them off? No, not really. Do I think that that my clients (and friends I’ve made along the way) who’ve supported me for years and who’ve helped Prairie Fire grow from nothing, enjoy and appreciate seeing me be able to step away from work, have new experiences, and nerd out with historical sites and food? Yeah, I do. A lot of you also work as witches and herbalists and know how easy it is to overwork ourselves and lose our joy for the work we do. I think what I do is essentially a service sort of job and I forget sometimes to take care of my own damned self. Sharing with you how I get re-electrified and excited anew so that I can come home inspired feels like an extension of all the ways I already try to share my own experience as an herbalist and witch with you and I believe you appreciate the transparency I try to present, showing the good and not so good too.

If all these piles of ancient rubble and the Greek cat photos I’m about to carpet bomb you with are just not your jam, that’s okay… Scroll on by for another week or so while I get myself happy and balanced and we’ll see each other in a couple of weeks. If you’re sticking around, catapalooza is about to happen.

But in the meanwhile, this was an amazing salad. 🖤

#witches abroad #Greece #witchcraft

[labayanechi1]

MINI CRITIQUE

TRUE NARRATIVE

A true narrative is a story based on actualevents or true story.

EXAMPLES:

- Travelogue

- Biography

- Autobiography

-Personal Essays

"A Child's Christmas in Wales"

INTRODUCTION:

• TITLE: A Child's Christmas in Wales

• written by Dylan Thomas

• Dylan Thomas wrote this story that captures the essence of holiday nostalgia and childhood wonder. Through his evocative prose, Thomas paints a vivid picture of the magic and joy of Christmas, weaving together memories of snow-covered landscapes, cozy fireside scenes, and the anticipation of presents.

SUMMARY:

A nostalgic journey through the author's childhood memories of Christmas in Wales. Thomas recounts various episodes, from snowball fights with neighborhood cats to a chaotic Christmas Eve fire drill. The story is filled with imagery of snowy landscapes, cozy family gatherings, and the excitement of receiving presents. The narrative is infused with warmth, humor, and a sense of longing for simpler times. Overall, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" is a timeless ode to the spirit of Christmas and the memories that endure across generations.

EVALUATION:

• The main argument or purpose of "A Child’s Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas is to evoke a sense of nostalgia and celebrate the magic and wonder of childhood memories during the Christmas season.

• This relates to a broader context of the passage of time, nostalgia, and the changing nature of traditions. Through the lens of Christmas memories, the story reflects of growing up and the bittersweet nostalgia that accompanies the passage of time. It speaks to the importance of preserving traditions and cherishing memories, even as society evolves and changes.

• I think the author is successful in making his point in this story. Through his evocative storytelling, rich language, and vivid imagery, Thomas effectively captures the essence of childhood memories during the Christmas season.

CONCLUSION:

• I do agree on how the writer wrote this work effectively. One part of the text that made a deep impression on me is the author's description of the simple joys and rituals of the holiday season, such as the excitement of snowball fights, the warmth of family gatherings, and the tradition of singing carols.

• The imagery he employs, such as snowball fights and family gatherings, resonates with universal experiences of the holiday season, making his storytelling relatable and engaging.

• The combination of Thomas's skillful storytelling, evocative imagery, and universal themes of tradition, family, and community contribute to the success of "A Child’s Christmas in Wales" in conveying the nostalgic essence of childhood memories during the holiday season.

TESTIMONIES

A statement that us formally written or spoken in a court of law. It is a declaration of truth or fact.

EXAMPLES:

- "I examined the transmission and found that a rebuilt part was installed improperly"

- "But the greatest benefit is that I know for certain that I have eternal life."

- "Before I found my faith, I felt lost and empty. But when I heard about what Jesus had done, began to follow Him as King and received His forgiveness, my life transformed. Now, I have a purpose and joy that I never had before."

[mmwm]

LINK FEST: 27 SEPTEMBER 2022

LINK FEST: 27 SEPTEMBER 2022

Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses. images: cats stealing food in still life paintings (Twitter/Cats of Yore). An amusing and quite accurate thread. short essay: Choosing ease (Wild Letters/Nic Antoinette). “This plan is stupid, we say. This plan is not fun, we realize. And so we slow…

View On WordPress

#archived magazines #art #birds #brown thrasher #cats #ease #enjoying life #enough #Gourmet magazine #Greece #hiking #linkfest #links #orecchiette #recipes #still life painting #travelogue

[winterburnwriting]

Well, in my last post I said I was sick and would get back here in about 10 days. That was a little over 10 days ago, so here I am. I feel much better now, but the break in writing has made it hard to get back into the habit of doing. I have been writing, though. The short novel is now at 14,000 words or so.

The past few days have been pretty productive. I've been getting good hours in, and I got to write a more interesting part of the short novel. I basically wrapped up act 1 and now I'm starting act 2. Act 1 was 4 chapters, but Act 2 might be 5 or 6, depending on how inspired I am for content in the travelogue style.

In terms of word count, I think it will end up looking like 15k words for act 1, 20-25k words for act 2, and 5-10k words for act 3, which might only be a chapter or two long. I don't think this is such an unusual format. I do think I might cut a good chunk of act 1 out, though, as it feels like it drags quite a bit and I think readers would like to get into the travelogue portion faster. It depends how much I end up being able to come up with for act 2.

Tonight I should be able to get a few more hours of writing in. Given the rate things are going, I am hoping to finish my draft by the end of april at the latest. It might be a little earlier or a little later, but that's my hope. Then it's on to an extensive edit where I retool the content and flair a lot of the phrases. I think that'll take a month, at least.

I feel good about my progress though. The short novel should be published by mid summer, if all goes well. Then it's on to my big first novel!

Just a reminder - The names and content are all subject to change. Graphic imagery may be present in all previews. Here's this post's preview excerpt!

"Okay. You're right. Let's haul it in."

Lucy and Bram left the house, grabbed the air mattress and its proprietary air compressor, and returned to the same spot inside. Lucy held one end and walked away from Bram with it so it would be laying flat. She bent down to plug the air compressor hose into the fixture on the mattress itself. "Perfect!" Bram exclaimed. Lucy raised herself back up and drew a short icy breath, her eyes growing like balloons.

Bram looked at her, puzzled and with a raised eyebrow. The mulleted man with broken teeth from the diner was standing right behind him. Bram didn't notice. Lucy tried to speak - to warn him - but she couldn't exert more than air as the stranger raised one hand as if he were a cat about to catch a mouse. "What? Is somethi-" Bram was interrupted. Lucy couldn't tell what kind of strike the stranger had performed before she felt a pain on the back of her head and heard a ringing.

…

Bram woke up, startled. He struggled against a weight. His arms felt strange. They were numb. He noticed his legs felt similarly strange. Strangest of all was his head, however. It wasn't on a pillow. It wasn't on the ground. He opened his eyes and saw he was sitting up on his knees. His arms were immobile. He blinked several times and looked at himself again to see he was bound in rope and chains. The mist was as thick as milk in whatever room this was. It looked like a dungeon.

"Bram?" He heard Lucy say. "Bram???" She repeated.

"L-...Lucy? Honey?"

"I'm over here."

Bram turned his head around, still groggy, and found where Lucy was. He also shook his head as if realizing something. "God, what is that smell? It-" He began before jumping aback. There was a man in the room. Or Bram assumed he was a human man.

The figure stood some 7 or 8 feet tall, with a body just as wide, if not wider. He was drenched in velvet and silk robes and garments, all cobalt, violet, and fir. His head was as round and bald as a golf ball, and just as empty except for 2 large antlers protruding straight back from the back of his head, quite unlike antlers on a stag. The antlers supported what little blonde hair flowed off of the man’s pale head.

#author #creative writing #novel writing #writing #fiction #books #horror #vampire #current wip

[brookston]

Holidays 1.30

Holidays

Bloody Sunday (a.k.a. Bogside Massacre Anniversary Day; Northern Ireland)

Cash Register Day

Change Your Voicemail Greeting Day

Congressional Brawl Day

CTE Awareness Day

Customs Officers Day (Azerbaijan)

Day of Azerbaijani Customs (Azerbaijan)

Day of Saudade (Brazil)

Day of Solidarity with Poland

Denise D’Ascenzo Day (Connecticut)

Draw A Dinosaur Day [ website ]

Escape Day

Felix IV, pope (Roman Catholic)

Festival of Peace

Franklin D. Roosevelt Day (Kentucky; Virgin Islands)

Fred Korematsu Day (California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia)

Hellebore Day (French Republic)

Help America Vote Day

Hippolytus of Rome (Christian Orthodox)

Hi-Yo, Silver Day

Inane Answering Message Day

Indonesian Primate Day (Indonesia)

International Day of Electronic Technicians

Jazz Record Day

Ka Moloka’i Makahiki (Hawaii)

Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi

Martyrs' Day (India)

National Cleanliness Day (India)

National Comics Day (Brazil)

National Escape Day

National Flirt A Little Bit Day

National Maxwell Day

National Write to Congress Day

Primate Day (Indonesia)

Saudade Day (Brazil)

School Day of Non-Violence and Peace (Spain)

Season for Nonviolence begins [thru 4.4]

Social Media Day (UN)

Teacher’s Day (Spain)

Women’s Peerage Day (UK)

World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day

Yodel For Your Neighbors Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Croissant Day

5th & Last Tuesday in January

A.F.R.M.A. Fancy Rat & Mouse Day [Last Tuesday]

National Plan for Vacation Day [Last Tuesday]

Up Helly Aa Day (Scotland) [Last Tuesday]

Independence & Related Days

Republic of Westland (Declared; 2010) [unrecognized]

Festivals Beginning January 30, 2024

Iowa AG Expo (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 2.1]

Key Western Fest (Key West, Florida) [thru 2.3]

Lerwick Up Helly Aa (Lerwick, Scotland)

Feast Days

Adelelmus of Burgos (Christian; Saint)

Aldegondes (Christian; Saint)

Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)

Armentarius of Pavia (Christian; Saint)

Barbara Tuchman (Writerism)

Barsimaeus (Christian; Saint)

Balthildes (Christian; Saint)

Bernardo Bellotto (Artology)

Charles, King (Various Provinces of the Anglican Communion; Martyr)

Day of Pax (Pagan)

Dianic Wicca Day (Everyday Wicca)

Exercise Your Brain Day (Pastafarian)

Feast of Sr. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. John Chrysostom (Roman Catholic)

Februalia begins (Purification Festival; Ancient Rome) [through 2.2]

Feriae Sementiva (Feast of Spring; Ancient Rome; Everyday Wicca)

Fox, Chicken & Bear (Muppetism)

Gelett Burgess (Writerism)

Hippolytus of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Hyacintha Mariscotti (Christian; Saint)

Imbolc Potato Chowder Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Ice T Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lloyd Alexander (Writerism)

Martina (Christian; Virgin, Martyr)

Matthias of Jerusalem (Christian; Saint)

Mutien-Marie Wiaux (Christian; Saint)

Pax (Ancient Roman Festival of Peace)

Puce and Ochre Day (Shamanism)

Richard Brautigan (Writerism)

Sadeh Festival (Ancient Iranian Midwinter Festival; Tajikistan)

Saraswati Day (Goddess of Knowledge; Bali)

Savina (Christian; Martyr)

Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox)

Tyrtæus (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Uncyclopedia Bad to Be Born Today (because Hitler was elected.)

Premieres

Ali Baba (Ub Iwerks Comicolor Cartoon; 1936)

The Americans (TV Series; 2013)

Ancient History (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1953)

The Animal Fair (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

Around the World in 80 Days (Novel; 1873)

The Bean and the Bean, featuring Barney Bear (MGM Cartoon; 1948)

Blue Suede Shoes, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1956)

Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, by Charles Bukowski (Poetry; 1974)

Cats and Bruises (WB MM Cartoon; 1965)

City Lights (Film; 1931)

The Colossus of Maroussi, by Henry Miller (Travelogue; 1941)

The Darktown Strutters’ Ball, recorded by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band (Song; 1917)

The Double: A Petersburg Poem, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Novel; 1846)

Experience and Education, by John Dewey (Science Book; 1938)

A Florentine Tragedy, by Alexander Zemlinsky and Oscar Wilde (Opera; 1917)

Great Expectations (Film; 1998)

The Guns of August, by Barbara W. Tuchman (History Book; 1962)

Honey, recorded by Bobby Goldsboro (Song; 1968)

I Fall to Pieces, by Patsy Cline (Song; 1961)

I Gopher You (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

The Lone Ranger (Radio Show; 1933)

Music For Everybody (Disney Animated TV Special; 1966)

Olive Oil for President (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1948)

Outrageous Fortune (Film; 1987)

Pigs Is Pigs (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

The Plumber (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

Posse Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)

Red Hot, recorded by Billy Lee Riley (Song; 1956)

Rooftop Concert, by The Beatles (Live Concert; 1969)

Taken (Film; 2009)

Underwater Eyeball or The Deep Blue See (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 147; 1962)

Underwater Moose or The Aqua-Lunk (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 148; 1962)

The Witch of Pickyoon, Parts 3 & 4 (Underdog Cartoon, S1, Eps. 34 & 36 1965)

The Yogi Bear Show (Animated TV Series; 1961)

Today’s Name Days

Gerd, Gerhard, Josef, Valerius (Austria)

Tvrtko, Valerije, Zdeslav, Zdravko (Croatia)

Zdislava (Czech Republic)

Valerius (Denmark)

Valmo, Valter (Estonia)

Valtteri (Finland)

Gildas (France)

Gerd, Gerhard, Josef (Germany)

Varsamia (Greece)

Adél (Hungary)

Aquilino, Costanzo, Valerio, Vitale (Italy)

Aivars, Valērijs (Latvia)

Aivaras, Girkantas, Valerijus, Žibutė (Lithuania)

Herdis, Hermann, Hermod (Norway)

Franciszek Salezy, Gilda, Hanna, Walerian, Waleriana, Waleriusz, Zdzisław (Poland)

Ignatie (Romania)

Gašpar (Slovakia)

Valerio, Valero (Spain)

Diana (Sweden)

Gilda, Goldie, Sheldon, Shelley, Shelly, Shelton, Ophrah, Oprah (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 30 of 2024; 336 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 5 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 20 (Gui-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 20 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 19 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 30 White; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 17 January 2024

Moon: 79%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 2 Homer (2nd Month) [Tyrtæus)

Runic Half Month: Elhaz (Elk) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 41 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 9 of 28)

#calendar #Holidays

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.30

Holidays

Bloody Sunday (a.k.a. Bogside Massacre Anniversary Day; Northern Ireland)

Cash Register Day

Change Your Voicemail Greeting Day

Congressional Brawl Day

CTE Awareness Day

Customs Officers Day (Azerbaijan)

Day of Azerbaijani Customs (Azerbaijan)

Day of Saudade (Brazil)

Day of Solidarity with Poland

Denise D’Ascenzo Day (Connecticut)

Draw A Dinosaur Day [ website ]

Escape Day

Felix IV, pope (Roman Catholic)

Festival of Peace

Franklin D. Roosevelt Day (Kentucky; Virgin Islands)

Fred Korematsu Day (California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia)

Hellebore Day (French Republic)

Help America Vote Day

Hippolytus of Rome (Christian Orthodox)

Hi-Yo, Silver Day

Inane Answering Message Day

Indonesian Primate Day (Indonesia)

International Day of Electronic Technicians

Jazz Record Day

Ka Moloka’i Makahiki (Hawaii)

Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi

Martyrs' Day (India)

National Cleanliness Day (India)

National Comics Day (Brazil)

National Escape Day

National Flirt A Little Bit Day

National Maxwell Day

National Write to Congress Day

Primate Day (Indonesia)

Saudade Day (Brazil)

School Day of Non-Violence and Peace (Spain)

Season for Nonviolence begins [thru 4.4]

Social Media Day (UN)

Teacher’s Day (Spain)

Women’s Peerage Day (UK)

World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day

Yodel For Your Neighbors Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Croissant Day

5th & Last Tuesday in January

A.F.R.M.A. Fancy Rat & Mouse Day [Last Tuesday]

National Plan for Vacation Day [Last Tuesday]

Up Helly Aa Day (Scotland) [Last Tuesday]

Independence & Related Days

Republic of Westland (Declared; 2010) [unrecognized]

Festivals Beginning January 30, 2024

Iowa AG Expo (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 2.1]

Key Western Fest (Key West, Florida) [thru 2.3]

Lerwick Up Helly Aa (Lerwick, Scotland)

Feast Days

Adelelmus of Burgos (Christian; Saint)

Aldegondes (Christian; Saint)

Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)

Armentarius of Pavia (Christian; Saint)

Barbara Tuchman (Writerism)

Barsimaeus (Christian; Saint)

Balthildes (Christian; Saint)

Bernardo Bellotto (Artology)

Charles, King (Various Provinces of the Anglican Communion; Martyr)

Day of Pax (Pagan)

Dianic Wicca Day (Everyday Wicca)

Exercise Your Brain Day (Pastafarian)

Feast of Sr. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. John Chrysostom (Roman Catholic)

Februalia begins (Purification Festival; Ancient Rome) [through 2.2]

Feriae Sementiva (Feast of Spring; Ancient Rome; Everyday Wicca)

Fox, Chicken & Bear (Muppetism)

Gelett Burgess (Writerism)

Hippolytus of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Hyacintha Mariscotti (Christian; Saint)

Imbolc Potato Chowder Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Ice T Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lloyd Alexander (Writerism)

Martina (Christian; Virgin, Martyr)

Matthias of Jerusalem (Christian; Saint)

Mutien-Marie Wiaux (Christian; Saint)

Pax (Ancient Roman Festival of Peace)

Puce and Ochre Day (Shamanism)

Richard Brautigan (Writerism)

Sadeh Festival (Ancient Iranian Midwinter Festival; Tajikistan)

Saraswati Day (Goddess of Knowledge; Bali)

Savina (Christian; Martyr)

Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox)

Tyrtæus (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Uncyclopedia Bad to Be Born Today (because Hitler was elected.)

Premieres

Ali Baba (Ub Iwerks Comicolor Cartoon; 1936)

The Americans (TV Series; 2013)

Ancient History (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1953)

The Animal Fair (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

Around the World in 80 Days (Novel; 1873)

The Bean and the Bean, featuring Barney Bear (MGM Cartoon; 1948)

Blue Suede Shoes, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1956)

Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, by Charles Bukowski (Poetry; 1974)

Cats and Bruises (WB MM Cartoon; 1965)

City Lights (Film; 1931)

The Colossus of Maroussi, by Henry Miller (Travelogue; 1941)

The Darktown Strutters’ Ball, recorded by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band (Song; 1917)

The Double: A Petersburg Poem, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Novel; 1846)

Experience and Education, by John Dewey (Science Book; 1938)

A Florentine Tragedy, by Alexander Zemlinsky and Oscar Wilde (Opera; 1917)

Great Expectations (Film; 1998)

The Guns of August, by Barbara W. Tuchman (History Book; 1962)

Honey, recorded by Bobby Goldsboro (Song; 1968)

I Fall to Pieces, by Patsy Cline (Song; 1961)

I Gopher You (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

The Lone Ranger (Radio Show; 1933)

Music For Everybody (Disney Animated TV Special; 1966)

Olive Oil for President (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1948)

Outrageous Fortune (Film; 1987)

Pigs Is Pigs (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

The Plumber (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

Posse Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)

Red Hot, recorded by Billy Lee Riley (Song; 1956)

Rooftop Concert, by The Beatles (Live Concert; 1969)

Taken (Film; 2009)

Underwater Eyeball or The Deep Blue See (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 147; 1962)

Underwater Moose or The Aqua-Lunk (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 148; 1962)

The Witch of Pickyoon, Parts 3 & 4 (Underdog Cartoon, S1, Eps. 34 & 36 1965)

The Yogi Bear Show (Animated TV Series; 1961)

Today’s Name Days

Gerd, Gerhard, Josef, Valerius (Austria)

Tvrtko, Valerije, Zdeslav, Zdravko (Croatia)

Zdislava (Czech Republic)

Valerius (Denmark)

Valmo, Valter (Estonia)

Valtteri (Finland)

Gildas (France)

Gerd, Gerhard, Josef (Germany)

Varsamia (Greece)

Adél (Hungary)

Aquilino, Costanzo, Valerio, Vitale (Italy)

Aivars, Valērijs (Latvia)

Aivaras, Girkantas, Valerijus, Žibutė (Lithuania)

Herdis, Hermann, Hermod (Norway)

Franciszek Salezy, Gilda, Hanna, Walerian, Waleriana, Waleriusz, Zdzisław (Poland)

Ignatie (Romania)

Gašpar (Slovakia)

Valerio, Valero (Spain)

Diana (Sweden)

Gilda, Goldie, Sheldon, Shelley, Shelly, Shelton, Ophrah, Oprah (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 30 of 2024; 336 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 5 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 20 (Gui-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 20 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 19 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 30 White; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 17 January 2024

Moon: 79%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 2 Homer (2nd Month) [Tyrtæus)

Runic Half Month: Elhaz (Elk) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 41 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 9 of 28)

#Holidays

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 1/17/23

this was written under some duress bc my cat refused the sacrificial animal cracker and wanted The Whole Box. no, these are mine, go eat your camel on the coffee table. i have always hated the "pet parent" stuff but mother DOES want a cocktail and some benzos, run along now

listening

peel me a grape, anita o'day's version. this popped up on a premade jazz standards spotify playlist

this is going to pop up on my spotify wrapped bc i am trying to memorize the lyrics, which include

Send out for scotch, boil me a crab Cut me a rose, make my tea with the petals Just hang around to pick up the tab Never out think me, just mink me Polar bear rug me, don't bug me New Thunderbird me, you heard me I'm getting hungry, peel me a grape

MWAH. love it. ideal.

-

reading

Dreamships by Melissa Scott. i don't like ragging on an alive, queer author, but this one did not grab me. let's talk about why!

the premise:

now, i'm not in the publishing industry. but maybe consider. if the jacket copy tells you "and this is the issue upon which the novel turns!" and then tells you the next two twists. maybe don't include that in the jacket copy. i have a bad habit of only reading the first half of jacket copy and didn't see this until i took these photos but i am retroactively annoyed on scott's behalf.

character work: i bought this bc i was very excited for a grouchy misanthropic lady pilot. reverdy jian isn't that. i still don’t know much about her from reading a third of the book. she is remarkably incurious and while this is an excellent trait if you are a freelancer or doing any sort of client work, it would have been nice to care about the protagonist of the book or feel like she has emotional or monetary stakes in taking/not taking this job.

pacing/structure: this book is like looking out over top of a layer of fog and i’m making it sound more exciting or appealing than it is. it’s very even in both pacing and emotion. the first hundred pages take places over about thirty six hours, bc there’s a rush pilot job, but it’s very laid back and relaxed. there’s no real sense of urgency or mystery, despite the author trying her hardest to set up a mystery about the almost complete lack of information about this ship. when the characters can’t find any info they just kind of shrug and move on. it’s also just a little obtuse, despite being very polished in all its tenses and word choices. i wonder if it maybe needed one more clarity pass. i had a lot of trouble figuring out who a whole extra character was bc there were too many men in one room.

where the pacing/structure/character work collide: this book reads like a travelogue, and i do not mean that as a compliment. again, we don't get much of reverdy's perspective--things simply happen to her or she sees things and just kind of absorbs them without much commentary. things happen one by one like beads on a string without really tying into a bigger picture of the city or her goals. the main premise (huge mostly underground city on a planet being stripmined) was not presented interestingly enough to make up for the lack of character work. for me. in my opinion. i'm not a writer (or at least not a serious/professional/one who puts a great deal of thought and planning into her writing)

i have a limited amount of time on this earth, i gave it a solid hundred pages, this does not earn a place on my shelf. back to the thrift store it goes. sorry ms scott i hope you're having a good day anyway

-

watching

still rewatching adventure time. s3 is full of solid bangers, i think this is the season i remember best bc it was one of the first Appointment Television things with my siblings the year we got cable. this is when they start drip-feeding you more of the stuff about the great mushroom war

i really really love when a post-post apoc setting thinks about the impact of a nuclear war on playground culture, like this hide and seek variant you see in s3e21:Marceline's Closet.

Over the mountain, the ominous cloud Coming to cover the land in a shroud Hide in a bushel, a basement, a cave But when cloud comes a-huntin No one's a save… no, safe!

how i found this: this show ran from 2010-2018, and was absolutely impossible to escape as a cultural juggernaut, especially during the peak le epic bacon style times when i was in high school. it also had a limited series in 2020-2021 and a spinoff is supposed to happen next year, which i am cautiously optimistic about.

-

playing

there will be light spoilers for the first two acts of wolfenstein the new order, a game that came out in 2014. i do not feel the need to rot13 early spoilers for an nine year old game.

despite enjoying the soundtrack for many years, i have never previously made into the castle in the first level of wolfenstein: the new order bc i always got bored and wandered off irl. i do want to get to a part (again not sure which one) where it will let me dual wield shotguns. why can't i find a second shotgun. i'm out of the asylum, they made me give the chainsaw back, and im about to murk some 1960s fascists at this checkpoint. one of these fuckers better have another shotgun.

blazkowicz is an enormous slab of unseasoned american beef. this man is SO large holy shit. i wish i cared about this big man. something about a dead female love interest? this nurse i kidnapped is going catch a bad case of the plot and be dead at the end of this level i think.

as previously mentioned this game was released in 2014 and boy does it look it, right down to the stupid macho gamer difficulty and exit screens. it's a pretty competent shooter. do wish ppl would stop shooting at me for five seconds so i can wander around and read all the propaganda and signage. why put it all up if you don't want me to look at it????

this was recently free on the epic store and the soundtrack came up on my walk today, which made me go "let me try this again". stay tuned.

-

making

made some quiche and fucked it up in a different way from last jan's quiche fuckup. still looking for hearty vegetarian soups, made some soup, which is very good but very texture. aash-e jow, a persian rice/bean/lentil/barley soup, is a soup you gotta chew. "kay isn't that a stew-" no. come to my house and eat this soup and i will show you.

other notable notes: doesn't really taste like much which could be continuing post-covid weirdness, and i think i should at minimum triple the amount of spices. fuck of a lot of prep. lot of chopping. hands hurty. called for a bunch of things i do not normally keep as pantry staples. i think it would be far easier to buy a block of frozen chopped spinach and refloof it in a saucepan like i did for the quiche, but i had some arugula/spinach mix that was about to go.

the caramelized onions really make this soup imo but i do not always have the fortitude to caramelize onions. i don't think this soup will stay an acceptable texture when frozen, so next weekend i have to make another giant batch of the red lentil soup to freeze for lunches.

you're correct i really don't want to do dishes

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #Youtube

[bersergner-blog]

Sources & Significance 1_1.1 - Story - Defining Narrative

Story 1.1 - Defining Narrative

One of the first slides we covered in our introduction to story was: "is your favourite game a story? In what ways can it be said to have a narrative?". So I decided to reflect on some of my favourite video games and in what ways they work a narrative into an interactive experience.

But first we must do a little work to define narrative as we forge ahead.

'Narrative [na-ra-tiv], a telling of some true or fictitious event or connected sequence of events, recounted by a narrator to a narratee (although there may be more than one of each)... a narrative will consist of a set of events (the story) recounted in a process of narration (or discourse), in which events are selected and arranged in a particular order (the plot). The category of narratives includes both the shortest accounts of events (e.g. the cat sat on the mat, or a brief news item) and the longest historical or biographical works, diaries, travelogues, etc., as well as novels, ballads, epics, short stories, and other fictional forms.'

Chris Baldick, concise Oxford Dictionary of literary terms, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990 p. 145.

So in this sense it is the way in which a story is told. For video games it is the way their story is conveyed. So the crux of our exploration in relation to video games is how do we tell stories? And in particular how does storytelling and narrative differ in video games compared to other media. But before we dive fully into this point I shall share with you some of the examples of narrative development and definition as it changed throughout the history of stories.

Aristotle's 'dramatic unities' covers a doctrine of thoughts about the construction of a refined narrative. He defines 3 elements: Time, Place and Action. Regarding Time he posits that the action of the story should cover no more than 24 hours. It shall occur in a single physical space (Place) and a play should follow just one main action (Action). These thoughts were summarised in the 'Ars Poetica' (c. 300BC). While these points are intentionally dogmatic it is of little surprise that to the modern eye they are also restrictive to the point of being outdated. In fact Bordwell & Thompson would build on these three points, refocusing them as 'Time', 'Space' and 'Causation'. In fact they are quoted as defining a narrative as: 'A chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space'. A more modern and inclusive definition.

So at this point we will separate narrative structures into 2 camps (as defined by Pam Cook (1985) The Cinema Book, London: British Film Institute):

Traditional Narratives:

Emphasis on Aristotle's unities of time, place, action.

Linear causation (beginning, middle, end)

Clear narrative closure (a 'proper' ending: no loose ends or ambiguity)

psychologically rounded, deep, believable characters

A model of realist narrative - inherited from 19th century novel

Experimental Narratives:

Non-linear causation

Lack of clear narrative closer ('open' or ambiguous endings)

Disruption of dramatic unities (slippage of location, event, time, illogicality, strangeness)

'flat', contradictory, or superficial characters

Typically seen in non-realist modes such as surrealism - but also relevant to new media forms...

So now that narratives are categorised and defined narrative let's observe it in the context of video games. We arrive at an interesting set of conundrums when viewing video games through narrative. Does a great narrative make a great game? Would Tolstoy's War and Peace make a good game? I would argue that a great narrative does not inherently make a great game. Video Games are an interactive medium. Therefore narratives must be treated with interactivity in mind. So if a renowned narrative would not make an inherently great game then does that mean that interactivity harms a great narrative? There are two separate schools of thought that can not be denied in this debate:

Narratology: an examination of the way that narrative structures our perception of the world in general.

Ludology: an examination of the culture of games and interactivity.

So while narratives and their structures are applicable across all media, the way in which they are applied is more unique in video games than other media. For example, a narrative structure could translate very well from Novel to Film and vice versa, once it is translated into a video game the inherent interactivity likely forces our approach to evolve.

[ear-worthy]

The Ten Best Indie Podcasts Of The Year

In the last month, the large podcast networks have their P.R. and Marketing people working on all kinds of Best Of... lists that contain their podcasts. Spotify has already put out several lists. 

So Amazon, Apple, Cumulus, iHeart, New York Times, NPR, Podcast One, SiriusXM, Spotify, and others don't need my help to publicize their podcasts at the end of this calendar year.

I am probably correct in assuming that they don't want me anywhere near their podcasts.

So, my list this year consists of all independent podcasts. My reasoning is based on several trends and past events.

First, independent podcasts started podcasting. Podcasting began as a basement endeavor, not financed by Warren Buffett or despicable private equity types.

Second, despite their lack of money and resources, independent podcasts are often better quality. These indie podcasts don't pander to their audience like, say, Cumulus or SiriusXM podcasts often do.

Also, indie podcasts don't infect us with self-absorbed influencers, disgraced celebrities, and obnoxious "tools" to generate downloads and ad dollars.

Third, independent podcasts are endangered, just like amphibians (frogs and salamanders). As the big boys (or girls) like Spotify trounced all over the podcasting industry in the last two years, attempting to dominate, something definitely expected happened. These big companies tanked the industry. Thanks to "Big Podcasting," the bust has inevitably overtaken the boom cycle. Jobs have been lost, careers damaged or ended, good ideas sent to limbo, and talent wasted.

Without further ado, here are my top ten indie podcasts of 2023.

 10. Salad with A Side Of Fries --  At the beginning of each episode, host Jenn Trepeck says, "Welcome to Salad With A Side Of Fries, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. I'll clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science, and marketing and teach you how to eat and how to cheat."Now, this is my kind of wellness, diet, and fitness podcast. I don't want to run seven miles on the beach in army boots. Or go to CrossFit and flip tractor tires. Can Trepeck be my trainer?

9. Trashy Divorces / What A Creep -- Two similar podcasts with four strong female co-hosts who nail the shitty behavior of celebrities. You'll smirk at their snark and smile at their sarcasm.

8. The Art Career -- The Art Career podcast with Emily McElwreath  celebrates the arts, the people involved, and the value the arts add to the vibrancy of our culture. Most importantly, the podcast illustrates that the arts can be a solution, a coping mechanism, and a way forward when dealing with chronic societal problems such as domestic violence.

7. Murder Sheet-- The best true-crime podcast out there, and it's an independent venture. Co-hosts, journalist Áine Cain and attorney Kevin Greenlee, exemplify what true-crime hosts should do instead of the junk podcasts about crime. They're sensational without all the phony sensationalism.

6. Adoption: The Making Of Me -- Two adult adoptees, Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne, decided to delve into all things adoption, from their perspectives as adult adoptees, to DNA testing, to nature vs. nurture and beyond. It's a masterclass in the importance of family. Bring tissues.

5. 6 Degrees Of Cats -- What I like most about 6 Degrees of Cats is its scholarly intentions toward cats, the hosting skill of Amanda B, and the catchy friskiness of its audio. It's chatty, cathartic, but never catty.

4. Vanishing Postcards -- It’s a documentary travelogue that invites listeners on a road trip exploring the hidden dives and histories found by exiting the interstates. Host Evan Stern is the connective tissue who illustrates how Americans revel in their distinctness but still have much in common.

3. Nerdpreneur -- The podcast boasts that it "interviewed dozens of niche professionals from all over the world, including board game designers, dice retailers, D&D content creators, tarantula breeders, and even a German zombie magician!"

 It's a podcast from Frank Bailey and Chris Saunders that has successfully carved out its own topic niche that is the recombinant DNA of business entrepreneurship and nerdiness. 

2. Multispective -- The host of Multispective, Jennica Sadhwani, says, "We believe each person has a unique story to tell. Experiences, both good and bad, shape our everyday lives. Many of us go through similar things, yet our stories are never the same."

Sadhwani is masterful as she searches for insights inside the narrative of her guests, not sensationalized details that can shock. 

1. The Life Shift -- host Matt Gilhooly has candid conversations with people about the pivotal moments that changed their lives forever. This podcast can help you through your "life-altering moment." 

In his non-podcast life, I believe Gilhooly is a teacher. He must be a hell of a good teacher, because listeners learn a lot from his conversations with people who have gone through the meat grinder and come out as close to whole as possible. 

Honorable mention to Playing Anne Frank, a seven-episode limited series that debuted in January and was conceived, written, and directed by Adam Langer.

The winners will receive a graphic that illustrates their inclusion on this highly prestigious list. No, Daniel Ek, you can't have one.

What are your favorite indie podcasts? There are thousands of great ones out there. 

#podcast #podcasting #indie podcasts #best