#they should have worked together to bring the britain down

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

Quarterfinals, Match 2

expand to see all propaganda received! (wall of text warning oh my god this is a severe cautionary message)

Lauryn Hill:

"she paved the way and was hot as fuck the whole time"

"Girl c'mon. Look at her. You're gonna try and tell me that isn't the most beautiful and attractive person alive? Okay. You're lying but okay."

"if u freaks don't give ms. lauryn hill the respect she deserves..."

"actually one of the prettiest women ever I'm such a lesbian for her. like irl I'm already a lesbian but she is helping"

Damon Albarn:

"Don’t think Damon should be here? Why don’t you get your head checked by a jumbo jet? Maybe you’ll feel heavy metal and calm down."

"If Damon is in the “some guy” category, he’s the heavenly and heartbreaking version. Damon is the sort of significant stranger I’d see on the train out of Colchester but could never speak to, just a face seen in passing yet too radiant to be real. I’d fall in love for an hour and carry the ache for a month."

"Damon sets the standard for me. I think he’s the most fascinating man alive. What I find attractive in Damon is not just his gorgeous bone structure and boyish charm, but how wholly he’s committed himself to music. Damon is an artist who walked the walk: in one of his roughest years with some of his rawest songwriting, he said he was no longer excited by anything except the creative process. He was disillusioned with the celebrity of it all, with his relationships suffering for it, and only wanted to make art: nothing more, nothing less. He would go on to compose film scores, write operas and stage musicals, produce other artists’ records, form collectives to fulfill his passion for world music, and create some of the most globally successful music of his career in a completely innovative format that placed him as the phantom behind the characters. Whenever one band takes a break, he makes a solo record or puts together a supergroup to stay busy. He’s uniquely collaborative and still writes personal letters inviting artists to record with him, and yet can function as a one-man show, acting as a multi-instrumentalist, a singer-songwriter and a producer. He’s been a constant voice of bringing British music to the world *and* bringing world music into Britain. Sure, he’s won Brit Awards and a Grammy among others, but he also has a Guinness World Record and was named an Officer of the British Empire for his services to music; his long work with Africa Express earned him respect even from peers who’d previously dismissed him, and his commitment to support his Malian collaborators in the face of violence earned him the title of Local King in Mali. There is so much talent in the world, but there is truly no one else with a career that looks like Damon Albarn’s. Damon is far more than just a prettyboy to look nice on a magazine cover, but looks are the ultimate point of this tournament, so make no mistake: he was terribly, terribly pretty. You watch him performing in the 90s, you sift through photoshoots and interviews and documentaries, and it feels *cruel* how beautiful he was. If his talent was god-given, so was his face. To put a bow on this thesis: I don’t know if Gorillaz and Damon’s musical universe would be the experimental, globe-trotting, boundary-pushing community affair it is if Blur hadn’t become such a central figure in Britpop and if Damon had not been made such a media spectacle, and I don’t know if Damon would have been that spectacle if he wasn’t so ungodly pretty. The domino effect is that Damon’s cherubic face launched a thousand multimedia art school projects for decades to come."

"I wish I was basically any bloke in the 90s so I could tongue Damon Albarn down. Damon will see a man and ask “is anyone gonna kiss that?” and not wait for a response."

"I have a pillow with his face on it. I sleep with it every night 😊"

"“I’m more homosexual than Brett Anderson, always have been. As far as bisexuality goes, I’ve had a taste of that particular fruit, or have been tasted you might say…” is just the rawest most Shakespearean statement ever"

"he is the ultimate Pretty Boy ™. his glorious golden locks, his electric blue eyes. he is if Princess Diana was a Britpop Dude. he is the Regina George of Britpop. he is if Aphrodite took male form. Zeus would come down to earth to fuck him if he knew. he is a caffeinated orange cat let loose. he is deranged. he is unhinged. you never know what will come out of his mouth. he had sexual tension with every single man who knew him. he pulled justine fucking frischmann. his aura knows no bounds. he is a siren. he is a weird guy. but being so gorgeous stunning ethereal didn't stop him from also being one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation"

"THE MAIN BLUR"

"literally where do i even begin. i could write entire essays on this man. a good place to start would be the beetlebum music video, i suppose. i'll never forget the first time i watched that music video. something in me changed, my brain chemistry was altered, my life was never the same, i view the world a lot differently now. and a lot of the viewing i'm doing is of pictures of damon albarn's face because of boy do i have a lot of those saved. every time i try to look for a photo of something on my phone i can't find it because there's so much damon. okay that's maybe an exaggeration but this man has the most unfathomable beauty ever. his eyes? HIS EYES. god dammit i love his eyes i want to stare at them until the end of time like nothing else exists. i'm so normal about this man (lying) and while i'm usually very shameless about my interests i'm actually incredibly glad this propaganda is anonymous because otherwise. yeah. but the world deserves to see damon albarn's beauty and also hear his fantastic voice because what the fuck. his voice is literally the most gorgeous sound ever produced like bro sounds like that and expects me not to fall in love? i want this man to sing his silly songs and talk absolute nonsense to me until the sun eventually blows out and the world ends. cmon damon girlies let's demolish this tournament i know there are a lot of you."

"He’s beautiful. He’s a little rat. He’s a sweetheart. He’s a dickhead. He’s a musical genius. He’s a dumb bitch. He’s a jock. He’s a weirdo. He’s real. He’s an illusion. He’s everything. He’s just Damon."

"DAMON DAMON DAMON where do I begin oh jeez I've hyperfixated on this man for a solid 4 years and still going strong. Damon makes me wish that British people are real. That says A LOT. This man created a whole ass ANIMATED BAND WITH A SHIT TON OF LORE as a SIDE HUSTLE??? Not to mention, what other man has collaborated with Stevie Nicks, MF DOOM, Del the Funky Homosapien, Snoop Dogg, AND Beck?! People, we're literally in the presence of a god. And he's STILL GOING. Anyways, TL;DR, damon is so so so neat and cool and he should definitely win this competition. Thank you."

"Okay 90s Damon is The Perfect Boy yes yes, but the people who parrot the Daily Mail and say "he's ugly now" will never understand. I would still suck every drop from him on his deathbed."

"Vote for whoever you want to. But Damon is so pretty."

"i did not spend hours admiring this beautiful man's face on pinterest just to see him lose."

"Damon Albarn just brings me joy. When I'm watching him perform, following along as the camera lingers on and adores his pretty face, I get butterflies like I'm 15 again. It's nice to still feel that totally unguarded giddiness sometimes."

"God let the intrusive thoughts win making Damon. What if he's a beautiful blond twink with eyes like saucers and dick to his knees, he reads Herman Hesse and plays footie and is insufferable about both, he'll be the most prolific musician of his generation and write operas and seminal albums in 5 different genres and also he's gonna be the dumbest bitch alive? He'll also be kinda bi, but only kinda. And send."

"when i found out about his existence, my life was changed forever. i wish i could use him like the hannah montana boot milk pillow and chuck him at the wall so he makes a loud thud"

"Think of the drama and anon fights it'll cause if Damon wins it all! And think of how quiet it'll get after Damon's out. You'll miss him when he's gone, like memories of a noisy house years after it's grown silent. Choose Damon, and keep the messy train chugging."

"Even the Gallagher brothers have the hots for him."

"Kiss kiss I love him also you can't vote for any of the Seattle men they're literally copy and paste it's not fair. We need Brit representation"

"I want to take care of him, I want to provide for him. I need to gauge his baby blue puppy dog orbs out to I can clean them with wood varnish, paint shades of Pantone 320 C in his eyes, spray eau de parfume by dior in them and sew it back into his eyes like that scene in Toy Story 2."

"Seeing as simply filling the page with ‘Damon’ written 10000000 times isn’t going to cut it 😅 may I admit/submit: I DO have him tattooed on my being (no descriptive, is this anon?); he’s inspired somewhat unhinged late night/early morning fandom conversations in which I’ve served as ‘parish’ priest hearing confessions from all manner of folk about what they’d like to do to him/receive from him; sadly I lost an essay where I detailed why the letters that make up his name suit him so well, and described him as the hot caramel sauce to Graham’s cool vanilla ice cream. He’s a faerie princess with a nose that makes people weep and a voice that feels like the warmest home and he gives amazing hugs. He loves trains and chickens and his tuxedo cat. He’s annoying and sweet and somewhat unhinged and his music saves people and all this is on top of that fantastic dick. He’s a dream yet very real and we’re fucking blessed to be on earth at the same time as him, amen"

"Damon Albarn was a beautiful, beautiful boy. The world saw that, regardless of if every individual reading this has the same taste in men; it felt like a truth of the universe at the time. They don't make celebrities that angelic in face and erratic in personality anymore."

"I need to touch his eyebrows, nose and prostate just one time JUST ONE TIME COME ON"

#most attractive 90s musician #poll #polls #lauryn hill #fugees #damon albarn #blur #90s music #tournament

[ghaniblue]

Wireless 2023 recs: week 1

My desire to read Drarry fic is returning so I'm making my way through this year's @hd-wireless offerings week by week. Here is a list of things I enjoyed from the week 1 round up. My favourites are marked with a ❤️. If you find yourself wondering why my list is 3/4 of the week 1 round up, yes I know, this bloody fandom honestly, so much good stuff.

[29.08. creators added after reveals]

❤️ Why don’t you like me? by @caroll-in (T, digital comic)

Failing to ask Harry out, Draco deals with his feelings in a very dramatic fashion.

Alive by @itsphantasmagoria (E, Digital comic)

Harry is lost after the final battle, but he finds comfort from an unexpected source

❤️ Before the Cold Sets In by @vukovich & @crazybutgood (T, 9k, fic + origami art)

But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love Sitting untouched and growing cold - Cold Tea Blues, by Cowboy Junkies Sometimes, the person you should be planning your life with is already in it. Or, how Harry realised that true love is at the bottom of a tea cup.

Everybody Hates a Tourist by @wolfpants (E, 51k)

On a stag do in sunny Brighton with the Gryffindor lads, the last person Harry expects to run into is Draco Malfoy. After a glimpse of Malfoy’s Muggle life in Britain’s gay capital, Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him and he finds himself returning to the seaside again and again, drawn to the city, drawn to this new version of Malfoy that Harry barely recognises from school. Meanwhile, Draco’s just trying to live his big and best queer life: working for the weekend, chasing hot men, getting lost in Brighton’s nightlife, and making friends with the neighbourhood cats. Why does his former school rival and crush have to show up and spoil everything?

Don’t hate him when he gets up to leave by @deliciousblizzardshark (M, 2k)

The linens are white and empty, sunlight slanting through the window illuminating a bed that has been deserted. Draco knew Potter would leave; he’s always gone by morning. Draco doesn’t even remember what he looks like in daylight.

Take You Home by @lqtraintracks (E, 26k)

Everybody’s a little fucked up after the war, Draco especially. What starts as hate sex after a night out, eventually turns into something else, something more like comfort. And even though his friends all tell Harry he’s just being used, all Harry’s doing is making sure Draco gets home in one piece. He’s not falling helplessly in love.

If You Took the Time to Try by enoby_w (T, 18k)

Last summer, Draco’s impulsive decision to sleep with Harry Potter resulted in a bruised ego and a broken heart. Now he’s looking for a fresh start- something that was absolutely not just an excuse for him to run away from his problems. Only it totally was, and while leaving London might have been easy, leaving Potter in the past was not.

Title & Possession by @kbrick (E, 49,063)

Harry Potter’s life is going well in the aftermath of the war. Sure, his house is dark and run-down and might hate him (while his house elf definitely hates him). But other than that, things are good. Except, yeah, okay, Hermione and Ron are no longer on speaking terms. Worse, they keep trying to get Harry to pick sides. But otherwise, Harry couldn’t be happier. Well. Except for the fact that Ginny is being super weird about their relationship and never wants to have sex or talk about the future. But other than that, Harry is perfectly fine, thankyouverymuch. At least, he is until Draco Malfoy threatens to sue him for ownership of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and winds up moving in until the issue is settled. Then Harry really isn’t fine at all.

❤️ Moldova’s Magical Tea by aibidil - a Podfic by cailynwrites (E, 2h 46min)

Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and—to everyone’s surprise—Draco Malfoy are opening a magical tea shop to revive wizarding tea culture and, hopefully, to bring the community together after the war. Harry, who is unemployed and trying to find his way in post-war society, wants to help his friends with their new business—but that means spending a lot of time around Malfoy. Featuring Muggle music from summer 2001, trips to the Muggle cinema, herbology and magical herbal infusions, and Draco trying to convince Harry that, while he’s still a snarky git, he’s no longer a bigot.

>> week 2 recs <<

#hd wireless 2023 #drarry recs #hp podfic #drarry podfic #podfic recs #acari recs

[irenewsky]

Anime I watched in 2023 (Part 2)

If you came here from the part 1, I thank you and I appreciate you. Now, this part of the list will include some shows I wanted highlight and some extras. Okay, that's it. Let's go!

Some of my older lists:

My favourite animes (Old. Tells of my tastes back in, like, 2018-2020 or something. Updated list coming once I get around to it)

Feel good anime Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Blue Lock

Yoichi Isagi is a member of his high school’s soccer team and during one of their important games, he makes a decision that costs their team a chance of going to the nationals. Bitter and disappointed, Isagi returns home only to find a letter from the Japan Football Union waiting for him. He has been chosen to be a candidate for a new projects called ”Blue Lock”. The competition is tough and ruthless. Who will make it through to the end?

24 episodes - sports

Everyone and their mother watched this one for sure. I might hate irl soccer due to finding it extremely boring (sorry irl soccer fans), but this one I really liked due to it making the sport actually interesting for me. I gotta also say that I found their eyes kinda unsettling when they entered their ”monster modes” (I can not say that with a straight face lol) but other than that, the animation was quite good.

Moriarty the Patriot

In the late 19th century Britain, William James Moriarty and his accomplices with nobles’ blood on their hands work together on a grand plan to bring down the system that favours aristocracy. A mathematician by day and a crime consultant by night, William James Moriarty is about to meet his match - one gentleman called Sherlock Holmes.

24 episodes and 2 OVAs - drama, thriller, mystery

Love me some more victorian era Sherlock Holmes shenanigans. I was so late to this one but it was still so worth the watch (and the read. The manga is just *chef’s kiss*)

*Mastermind by Taylor Swift playing in the distance* Honestly, imagine meeting you soulmate (platonic or otherwise) and them being on the completely other side of law from you. The drama of it all. (Yes, I’m very normal about these two)

Dr. Stone (Season 3 + Nanami Ryuusui Extra)

Over 3700 years ago, a mysterious beam of light enveloped every human into a layer of stone. To stay conscious, Ishigami Senku started to count seconds from the moment he was petrified. When he manages to break free from the stone in the spring of the year 5738, the human civilisation as he knew it had already disappeared. What will happen from now on? What will happen to rest of the petrified people? Are there others who have depetrified?

3 seasons + Nanami Ryuusui extra - action, adventure, comedy, drama, sci-fi, shonen

You will find this anime/manga on my updated favourites list, I’m warning you in advance.

I love, love, love this anime so much. It follows the manga so well and yes, I do recommend the manga for anyone interested. It’s really, really good and didn’t let me down unlike some others have. Also, it’s so refreshing to have a main character who is actively very much uninterested in sex and romance. How aro and ace of him (personal headcanon, no need to fight me for it)

BRB gonna go make myself a Gen Asagiri cosplay. My favourite scheming gremlin.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!

Tomo is a high school girl with a crush on her long time bestfriend, a boy named Junichiro. She tries to confess to him but unfortunately she has been placed into the friendzone from where it seems almost impossible to escape from. With Tomo being very tomboyish and physically strong, it’s just hard for Junichiro to see her as a girl. Will she get out of the friendzone? Maybe she should get some help from her other friends…

13 episodes - romance, comedy

I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did. ’Childhood bestfriends to lovers’ trope with a healthy sprinkling of pining, chaos and ridiculousness. Delicious.

Romantic Killer

Anzu, a high school girl obsessed with video games, cats and chocolate and fully uninterested in romance, gets assigned a wizard that is going to do everything in their power to create the perfect love life for her. Anzu, however, is having none of it. Game on, you stupid wizard!

12 episodes - comedy, romace, supernatural

I kind of have a lot to say about this one, so buckle up. As an aroace person (who also, coincidentally, loves cats, chocolate and video games) I found the premise a bit annoying at first. I do love, well, love, but it pissed me off that romance was treated as an ”end all, be all” kind of thing and everything else as irrelevant rubbish. Trying to force someone into a relationship via magical means felt wrong. You could say I’m reading too much into this and yes, maybe I am, seeing as the premise was a ”to counteract the low birth rates” gag, but I’m also entitled to my own opinion and critiquing hetero- and amatonormativity.

Regardless, I ended up actually quite liking the anime as it progressed. The backstories for the characters were interesting and I found myself really loving Anzu’s headstrong personality. She doesn’t let the wizard push her around and stands her ground quite often. I really appreciated that. Also the humour in the show did make me laugh quite often, which is always a plus. That being said, I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to whack the wizard around the ears. Annoying little thing, that one is.

Sasaki and Miyano

Yoshikazu Miyano, the schools resident BL loving student, meets his senpai named Shuumei Sasaki after he saves Miyano’s classmate from being bullied. This chance encounter and Miyano accidentally revealing his interest towards BL bring the two together and from that day onwards Sasaki is stuck to him like glue.

13 episodes and an OVA - Romance (BL), drama

My VPN worked its ass off when I read this manga on some shady ass website lmao. I just had to know what happens after the point where the anime ends.

Very sweet. Do recommend.

The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting

Kirishima Toru works for the Sakuragi family. One day the head of the yakuza crime family summons him and tasks him with the duty of taking care of his daughter, Yaeka. How will this ”demon of Sakuragi” handle his new responsibility of watching over her?

12 episodes - comedy

This filled the hole in my heart that Spy x Family ending left at the time. Really heartwarming and I loved the bonds the characters in this show had.

The Salaryman’s Club

Shiratori Mikoto is really good at badminton. That is until an incident in the Interhigh leaves him unable to play how he wants to. Things start to change when he gets a job at Sunlight Beverages and joins their weak and amateurish badminton team.

12 episodes - sports

I saw no one talk about this??? Anyway, I liked this one. A lot. There might a little bias on my side since I actually practiced badminton when I was younger, but I think I would have liked this regardless! The characters had nice dynamics and liked the aspect of ’salarymen by day, badminton players by night’. Have you even lived if you haven’t experienced the highs and lows of corporate world badminton?

And finally, we have a few honorable mentions without descriptions, only vibes and opinions:

Latest season of Tokyo Revengers (Chifuyu truly is the bestest of boys, the homiest of homies. I also read the manga in its entirety. That one I have… a lot of opinions about, not all of them good)

Our Dating Story: the Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me (this one was just okay for me. I actually don’t know if I ever finished it… Well, I’m gonna have to accept the fact that I’m just not someone who enjoys the ’established relationship’ trope…)

Trigun Stampede (I’m not usually scifi kind of person but this one I really enjoyed!)

Komi Can’t Communicate (Not much to say about this one. It was very nice and I particularly liked the way Tadano almost seemed like he was able to read minds hahaha)

The latest season of Demon Slayer (Honestly, a little disappointed. It felt simultaniously very slow and very fast. Also, kinda boring compared to the last arcs. Still decent tho)

Spy x Family (Ah, Spy Family, my beloved. I liked this one a lot)

Chainsaw Man (Gotta admit, I was a little traumatized by the episode 7. I have never wanted to crawl out of my own skin more while watching anime, than I did while watching that episode. The skipping and pausing I had to do with that one… Damn. Other than that one episode, I liked this one enough to finish it)

My Dress-Up Darling (mixed feelings about this one. I just wanted a nice anime about cosplay and sewing and ended up getting fanservice and sexualization of minors. I’m in my mid to late 20s, I don’t need that shit. Just feels weird and wrong. I did finish it, albeit I did skip all the fanservicey scenes)

#yes I say ’soccer’. I was taught british english in school so deal with it #blue lock #moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #dr. stone #tomo chan is a girl! #romantic killer #sasaki to miyano #yakuza’s guide to babysitting #kumichou musume to sewagakari #the salaryman’s club #iida’s anime recommendations #iida’s 2023 anime recap #iida watches anime #anime recommendation #thanks to those who have made these gifs!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Here's a compilation I made of six different comedians (two per podcast) on three different podcasts saying something about different types of comedy, specially how it's different in Britain and American. Tumblr won't let me embed it even though I compressed it down to be under the max file size, so I'm using a Google Drive. It's just audio, but I made it a video instead of an audio file so I could add text to show what people and podcasts are playing at a given time.

I put those together and then I wrote down a bunch of thoughts about it, which I think start out somewhat coherent but get less so as I go along. It's a whole bunch of stuff I've been thinking about all shoehorned into one post just because they're all on a vaguely similar topic, like a hastily thrown-together Edinburgh show. The point is that I'm going to listen to Mike Birbiglia's albums. That's... that's the upshot. That's how all this started.

I found the chat with Hari Kondabolu especially fascinating, having heard a few of Hari’s comedy specials and albums, and heard him on The Bugle a lot over a bunch of years (also I saw his Problem with Apu documentary, everyone should watch that, and should know that he says all the time on The Bugle he doesn’t get royalties for it anymore so doesn’t mind how people find it, just watch it).

He’s an interesting presence on The Bugle, an outsider as an American, who was there from the very beginning of their reboot in 2016, so you can kind of watch him figure out what this is in real time. At first he audibly has no fucking idea what he’s signed up for, and as it goes along, you can hear him settle into an area of “Well I still don’t really understand why you’re doing this, but I see what it is now and have found a way to do my thing beside your thing and that’s fine.” That’s partly a reaction to Andy Zaltzman, because no one really knows what to do with Andy Zaltzman unless they’ve had a long time to get used to it (except for John Oliver, I’m pretty sure they just met at a student comedy gig in about 1999 and instantly said “Oh look, my comedy soulmate”). But some of it is also a reaction to the British stuff. The references to British politics and history that you get on a topical and political comedy show, and the way they approach all their material. I like hearing Hari Kondabolu on there, an outsider perspective who can pick it apart a bit.

So I found his Comedian’s Comedian podcast interview interesting – honestly the whole thing is worth a listen, even if you don’t really know Hari Kondabolu’s work, as a good analysis of political comedy and the mechanics of good comedy bits and British vs. American comedy and the comedy industry more generally. But for this post, my interest is the British vs. American stuff.

I cut out a big chunk of their Brit vs. American discussion on that episode, and put it in the video above. I debated how long to make the clip, to create what was meant to be a compilation of people discussing British vs. American comedy, and ended up leaving in some stuff that’s a bit off topic where they fawn over Daniel Kitson. I realize comedians fawning over Daniel Kitson is hardly such a rare and exciting event that it needs to be preserved, but I particularly enjoyed hearing Stuart Goldsmith and Hari Kondabolu do it, so I left it in when cutting out the clip. I’ve heard Hari bring up on a couple of other occasions, as well, that he’s wildly impressed and amazed by the Hotmail address.

Anyway though, the Kitson stuff aside, the clip from the Comedian’s Comedian podcast is mostly Hari Kondabolu and Stuart Goldsmith discussing how the Edinburgh Fringe Festival shapes British comedians’ careers into something different from what they are in America. They have to write a new hour every year, because there will be reviewers there who saw last year’s hour and will catch them out if they try to recycle material. Also because it’s a smaller country, so they can only tour one show in so many places before everyone’s heard it and they have to do a new thing. Hari Kondabolu is impressed with the work ethic but mildly horrified by the whole thing, and can point out some aspects of the system that people who are used to it just wouldn’t notice because they seem normal.

I think there are two major factors that mark out the Edinburgh-influenced British model of comedy  careering building as being different from, say, American stuff: the new hour every year and the way each hour has to be themed and coherent and structured and preferably built around some story or message. In Hari Kondabolu’s podcast episode he mainly talked about the new hour every year thing, but also briefly touched on the concept of themes. Stuart Goldsmith mentioned that tides seemed to be changing, as it used to be that themes would make you different and interesting, but not anymore, so they’ll become less common soon. I’ve just spent three weeks listening to 38 shows performed at Edinburgh 2023, and I can say, I’m pretty sure that prediction was inaccurate. Themes and throughlines abound, and I’m happy about that. I like a good theme.

I do think there are pros and cons to it, though, and Hari Kondabolu points out some significant cons. If you look at the list of shows by any British comedy who's been doing Edinburgh for a long time, there are going to be some filler years. Some years when they did a show just because it's a new year and Edinburgh is up there so they'd better write a show, even if they don't have much to say. Hari is right to say that British comedians work fucking hard to turn over a new hour every year, but that doesn't mean the quality will always be top-notch.

Also, themes can be limiting. I'm sure there are some themed shows out there that would be better if they were just freestyle, if the comedian let themselves say all their best stuff, rather than cutting good material due to not being on theme. Or adding weaker material because it is on theme.

So that’s an American going on a British person’s podcast to tell them how fucked up the British comedy system is. I’ve made this compilation to compare it to a British person going on an American’s podcast, in which the American thinks the British system is great and in fact what he wants to do as well. Nish Kumar on Mike Birbiglia’s podcast, from just a couple of years ago. It’s an interesting contrast. A couple of people have told me before that Mike Birbiglia is like a British comedian but in the form of an American person. Including @my-excellent-bicycle, who told me ages ago that he's very good, and I said I'd watch him, and then I didn't, so sorry about that. Absolutely no offence to any of the people who'd already told me about him, but I have to admit, when the "Mike Birbiglia is so cool, he's like an American who does British comedy" endorsement comes from Nish Kumar, that does mean a little extra. Enough so I have now downloaded Mike Birbiglia's stuff, will listen to it next.

I can't really speak to the accuracy of what Nish Kumar said in that clip, since I haven't yet actually heard Mike Birbiglia’s shows. But I see what Nish means. He means shows that are built around one topic and/or narrative and/or theme and/or message, and stay on that, or at least around it and vaguely adjacent to it, for an hour.

Later in the 2021 podcast episode from which I took that Kumar/Birbiglia clip, Nish mentioned that actually, even though this is a generally British thing to do, he personally doesn’t tend to do it much, and he’d like to do it more. That was true, as of then. I’ve heard Nish’s 2014 (might have been originally his 2013 show, actually, whichever one got recorded for the Soho Live thing on Amazon Prime), 2016, and 2019 shows, and none of them were all that structured. They were coherent, particularly the latter two, which stayed on the topic of politics. Even that earlier one had some throughlines and underlying bits that kept coming back. But he didn’t do a really carefully constructed narrative show until 2022, the one that just had a video come out, Your Power Your Control.

So I found it interesting to hear Nish Kumar in 2021, just before he wrote Your Power Your Control, say he’d like to do more narrative-type stuff. And then the next year, he did it. Good for him. Nish Kumar just did a new episode of the Comedian’s Comedian podcast as well – it was recorded very recently, to go with the release of his latest special – and in that one, he mentioned that he was pleased with the way he managed to Birbiglia-fy this show in a way he hadn’t done with previous ones, making it a structured narrative the way Mike Birbiglia does. But actually, the way most British comedians do, and apparently this one American guy that it’s time for me to check out.

Then I added a clip of David O’Doherty from a very recent podcast, in which he talks about getting backlash from Americans for not being what they expect, which is just a bunch of unconnected jokes. I added that clip to the conversation because he brings up Hannah Gadsby and Nannette, and I think that’s an interesting point.

Hannah Gadsby got a huge amount of backlash for Nannette, and most of it was misogynistic. Not all of it, I guess. I guess it’s technically possible for someone to just really not like Hannah Gadsby’s style of humour, and they hated Nannette for perfectly legitimate reasons. Just like probably, some of those people on those cesspits of toxicity that were those Josie Long-related comedy message board threads in 2007, just legitimately did not share her sense of humour. Maybe one or two of them. But mainly, it’s the misogyny.

However, DO’D makes an interesting point about Hannah Gadsby’s show. Most “Edinburgh hour”-style shows do not get as massively world famous as Nannette did. So they got hit with misogynistic backlash, but it was fueled by the fact that it was being seen by a lot of Americans who are not used to that type of comedy, and just don’t understand. They thought Hannah was taking the respectable genre of doing 50 punchlines in 20 minutes, and making a mockery of it. Just because it was the first time they’d seen a comedy show with some sad bits. They thought Hannah Gadsby was doing comedy wrong.

So many people – mostly American people – who saw Nannette didn’t realize that ending a show with 10-15 minutes of sad bits is so commonplace in certain comedy circles that it’s also common to make fun of it. You hear comedians all the time, make jokes about the standard hour that’s funny for a while and then has a sad bit. There’s even a term for it: dead dad show. A dead dad show isn’t just a show about a dead dad. It’s any show that’s funny for a while but also poignant and touching and sentimental and has sad bits at the end and wants to make you cry as well as laugh. People joke about it because it’s been done a lot, it’s been done in some hack ways and some bad ways, it’s also been done in some brilliant ways, it runs the gauntlet like anything else.

It’s fine for people to say they’re not into that kind of thing. But Nannette got so big that people who’d never heard of that genre started seeing it, and they had no idea what they were seeing. So that’s how they ended up saying Hannah is not a comedian, this isn’t comedy, Hannah tricked a comedy-expecting audience into seeing a one-woman show! How dare you bring trauma into a comedy show? As though comedians talking about trauma aren’t a dime a dozen in Britain and Australia.

And I think that has pros and cons too. I like a show that works some serious stuff in, that has some deep personal or political message. But also, sometimes, people have a point when they say a comedy show has focused so much on the personal or political messages/trauma dumping that it forgot to also be funny (not with Nanette, though, people forget that Nanette had lots of good jokes in the first 45 minutes, it was a funny show, people just watch clips that have been cut from the last little bit and are then say this so-called comedy show isn't funny). And I guess it's up to each individual comedy audience member how much humour they'll allow a show to sacrifice for other stuff before they get sick of it. How much sad stuff or angry stuff or introspective stuff or educational stuff or heartwarming stuff or philosophical stuff or narrative stuff a show can have at the expense of funny stuff, before they'll say, "Okay, I need more comedy than this in my comedy shows." But I think it's a pretty shallow view of what comedy can be if you're not okay with a show that has any of that other stuff.

I am conflating Britain/Ireland and Australia/NZ quite a bit in this post, and that’s because I think when it comes to this sort of thing, they’re very similar. I’m also conflating Canada and the US, because I think they’re similar, in that neither of have this tradition that I’m pretty sure developed at Edinburgh and MICF. And I’m not talking about any other countries because as far as my comedy knowledge goes, those may as well be the only ones that exist (sorry Anuvab Pal and Aditi Mittal, I do know a couple from India too, but as far as I can tell, the special type of comedy they do in India is “say some stuff and hope you don’t get arrested for it”).

There is an obvious reason for that: Australia has a festival that’s similar to Edinburgh. British and Irish (and Irish, sorry for having forgotten to add “and Irish” in the earlier bits of this post, I just saw Dara O’Briain’s newest special – called So Where Were We, just released by the BBC, by the way, I recommend it – and it’s chock full of trauma, proving the Irish can do dead dad/never met my dad shows with the best of them) comedians develop their careers around Edinburgh, and Australian/NZ comedians develop their careers around the Melbourne Comedy Festival. North America doesn’t have anything like that.

Obviously North America has yearly festivals too, but not ones that are so big that every single comedian in the area wraps their whole career around it. I think the only one big enough to do that around here would be Just For Laughs, but Just For Laughs isn’t nearly the same thing, since people have to audition for it. You can’t just set up a show and show up. People can’t start writing a show in September with the assumption that they’ll take it to JFL next summer, because unless they’re already very famous, they can’t be sure they’ll be accepted into JFL’s lineup.

I found the David O’Doherty clip interesting, as he lists storytelling shows as just one of the many things that are, in fact, comedy, but get called “this isn’t comedy” by mostly Americans on the internet. But also, it’s not like all Americans just do 50 punchlines in 20 minutes and that’s it. They do lots of stuff! They have alternative comedy there, and at this point I’m getting out of my depth, because I have a sort of idea in my head of what American alternative comedy means – the vague idea involves things like Eugene Mirman and Fred Armisen and Kristen Schaal and improv shows in New York – but I don’t really know what I’m talking about. This post would be better if I knew what I was talking about more.

I guess the basic rule I’m working with is: British/Irish/Aussie/NZ do a new hour every year and it has themes and throughlines and narratives and coherent structure and they workshop it all year and then take it to Edinburgh and then scrap all that material and do a new one. And American comedians just write one joke(/bit/funny story, not just the classic type of one-liner “joke”) at a time, and at any given time are performing the combination of their best crop of jokes, and whenever they write a new joke it replaces the worst one in their set, so they evolve that way. I’m trying to understand why that difference exists, and part of the problem with my efforts to understand that is I don’t really know what I’m talking about, and the other part of the problem is that stating the difference that way is a massive oversimplification. It’s difficult to understand why a phenomenon exists if that phenomenon doesn’t really exist in nearly as simple a way as I’ve stated it here.

I know there are exceptions to that rule I just stated, even though I’ve not listened to any Mike Birbiglia yet. For a really famous example, I watched John Mulaney’s new show Baby J earlier this year (fuck him for the Dave Chapelle thing, the divorce and addiction are his own business and people who don’t know him shouldn’t have tried to get involved in his personal life, but fuck him for the Dave Chapelle thing, I didn’t watch his new show in any way that could translate to view count/profit for him – but I did love all his previous shows and was curious about what’s in the new one so I watched it), and that was pretty much all around one story. Even Hari Kondabolu’s new-ish special has a little bit of a theme, about being political while having a kid. And there are plenty of others, so it’s not like this stuff doesn’t happen in America. And there are plenty of British comedians who just do one joke at a time.

I don’t know – I’m not completely making this dichotomy up, right? That’s why I made that compilation in the video at the top of this post. Other people talking about that thing I’m talking about and proving that it is somewhat based in reality. It would help if I knew more about American comedy. You can’t really compare British and American comedy unless you know quite a bit about both, and I don’t know nearly enough about American to really understand this.

That’s why I asked my brother about it the other night, because he’s been doing comedy in Canada for a long time and most of the comedy he watches/likes is American. I asked him if he knows what I mean when I talk about this dichotomy, and why it may or may not exist. And he didn’t really know what I’m talking about, which means 1) the difference is so significant that someone who mainly follows North American comedy doesn’t even know about the dead dad Edinburgh show so can’t compare anything to it, and/or 2) I didn’t explain it very well. Because we had a whole conversation where at some point I realized we were talking past each other. He was using the word “alt” a lot, and it meant one thing to him and a different thing to me, so neither of us really knew what the other was talking about.

That in itself is interesting to me, because it shows that comedy is too big to really make these generalizations. You can’t talk about “alt comedy” as a coherent thing, because it means wildly different things in wildly different places. You can’t talk about “British comedy” or “American comedy” because Britain and America both have a lot of people in them who all do wildly different things.

At some point in my conversation with my brother, I said that when I say storytelling comedy I mean “like the thing Mike Birbiglia does”, and he has seen some Mike Birbiglia but says he doesn’t think what he does is particularly different from what most American comedians do, and I couldn’t refute that because I haven’t actually heard Mike Birbiglia yet. All I could say on that was… well one time I heard Nish Kumar say Birbiglia is like a British comedian, so that’s probably true, right?

So I really don’t know what I’m talking about well enough to understand this, or even explain it. Then again, my brother told me that he thinks British comedians write regular jokes in a way that American comedians don’t, and I said no, I think of the opposite as being true, and when I asked him for examples of why he thinks British comedians are like that, he said Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais. So he may not know enough about British comedy to know what he’s talking about. Is it possible that no one knows what they’re talking about? That’s kind of interesting to me too, I assume anyone who actually does comedy must know everything about it. I mean, I try really hard to know about comedy, but I don’t know nearly enough about it to properly do it. So the people who do do it know way more than I do and understand everything. But my brother’s been doing it 13 years, had traveled to perform in the States and nearby cities somewhat often, never made enough money from it to quit his day job but has made quite a lot of money from it over the years, and he may also not know what he’s talking about.

At some point we got talking about recorded comedy, and he said when he listens to audio-only comedy, and then watches a video of those people, he’s often surprised because he was picturing someone young and hot but it turns out to be a balding man in his fifties. I said that often, I can hear hours and hours of audio-only comedy by someone, and have an image of them in my head, and then see a picture of them, and I’m always surprised by how different the picture looks. Because I’m always picturing a person in their forties or fifties, maybe a bit overweight, slightly balding if it’s a cis man, and then I’m often surprised to learn they’re actually around my age or younger (many exceptions there too, Kitson is currently mid-40s and balding but I tend to picture him the way he looked in 2003, though I’m sort of updating my mental image of him now). Which I’m pretty sure says something about the difference between the comedy I watch and the comedy my brother watches, that we have such different images in our head of the “default comedian”, what we picture when we don’t know how someone really looks.

This may or may not be related to the fact that my brother recently started putting clips of his own comedy on Tik-Tok, and has things to say about how the engagement is going that make me despair at the soullessness of humanity. So what does he know? At some point I worked out that when he talks about writing jokes in a classic way, he doesn’t just mean one-liners, he means anyone who actually writes their material instead of just doing crowd work and “comedian destroys heckler” videos for social media. Apparently doing anything besides that is old school now, and he thinks British comedians do more old school stuff than American comedians, and again, I despair at the soullessness of humanity. But to be fair to America, I’m sure there are plenty of soulless British comedians on Tik-Tok too.

That’s part of it though, isn’t it? That my brother thinks of Tik-Tok-type comedy as American and British comedy as stuff that doesn’t do that. You can’t cut out a clip of a good dead dad show and put those 90 seconds on social media. I mean, you could, and I guess some people do, but that’ll ruin it. The British Edinburgh hours need their context, the good ones aren’t nearly as good without it. But maybe American comedy can be clipped more easily, since it’s not written to all flow together. But also, British comedians cut bits of their show out all the time to shoehorn into their twenty seconds of screentime on a panel show. Stewart Lee had a whole thing about that like 15 years ago, how no comedian can be that funny if their set can be cut up for a panel show. But, you know, we can’t all be Stewart Lee (though it’s my understanding that many people have tried). I’m pretty sure this is the sort of thing Stewart Lee knows about, and has strong opinions about. That was my mistake, asking the wrong comedian. I asked my brother, I should have been asking Stewart Lee.

So I still don't have an answer to who invented the dead dad show. I mean, I think I might know that one, Russell Kane may have invented the shows about dead dads specifically. But I don't know how the storytelling comedy with sad bits and themes started, or why it took off in Britain/Australia and not in North America, or if it's even true to say that happened. I feel like Kitson invented it, because it feels a bit like Kitson invented everything, but I know he didn't. I feel like Stewart Lee knows who invented it - I don't feel like he invented it, because he's constantly talking about the alt-comedy godfathers (gendered term there, but they were mostly fathers and not mothers at that time, that is an issue) from the 70s and 80s on whose shoulders he stands. And I don't really know anything about those people, so that doesn't help.

There's a guy named Oliver Double and I think he knows. I just got paid again, my bank account is looking a bit more stable than it did a little while ago, I think I'm going to buy his books. I'm also going to listen to Mike Birbiglia, I'll let you all know if he knows anything. Maybe most people don't know anything. Maybe everything has a smaller cause than I assume and we'd all be living in a radically different comedy world if Russell Kane's dad were still alive. Maybe it's fine to think the British comedy style is to write classic jokes because Jimmy Carr tours arenas and therefore gets to be their representative. Maybe the storytelling/pure joke telling comedy dichotomy doesn't even matter anymore, it's all about the dichotomy between improvised stuff on Tik-Tok and anyone who actually writes material now. Maybe improv just means crowd work now? But I hope not.

...This was going to be a post about how Hari Kondabolu thinks British comedians should scrap the concept of "recycling material" being bad, and just tell their best jokes even if they don't all fit a theme. Then I had a conversation with my brother the confused me and now I don't know. Does anyone else know anything that they want to share?

[mollieblue]

Hey #labour, you should hire me to talk at you about how to actually fix Britain:

Terfs are the enemy, Trans folx are the people.

Small businesses need support on the ground level in order to foster amazing communities.

Invest in education to the point teachers are as paid well as their private peers or dare I say as well as an MP. I would say that if an MP describes their role as being vital, integral and essential to running the country, who receives a handsome tax paid salary with expenses paid with the public purse, why is it that other public sector roles are paid relatively below minimum wage? This applies to all public sector workers; civil servants, NHS staff, and teachers of all stripes. They are just as vital, integral, and essential to running the country, if not more so, than the openly profiteering geezers in Westminster.

Why is it that the rule makers are more important than those ensuring that the rules work? Those holding up society and holding it together are so sorely underpaid in this country that they are giving their lives to you at pittance so you can be okay. The NHS is a wonderful thing, and it breaks my heart that we don't fully fund it. The same goes for education, social services, community organisations, and libraries. These currently literally keep people existing at the bare minimum, but when fully funded and staffed, they transform lives for the better.

Equal pay for Equal work 》 Equal pay for Equal Importance. Ignore the 'we can't pay them the hundreds of thousands that MPs get' elephant in the room. I want you instead to imagine a world in which all public sector workers are paid the exact same amount regardless of hierarchy or public aspect they interact with. I'm no expert, but I reckon £86,584, the basic annual salary for a UK MP in 2023, would be an absolute god send to a junior doctor on roughly £38k. My partner practically works at minimum wage for 50 hours when you account for the marking, the planning, the organisation of your entire schedule to an impromptu meeting with angry parents and worrying about ofsted. It has worn them down, mostly because we can't have a social life, spending money on the theatre, in shops, on things that make us happy and human. We can't save, and we can't afford nice things. That fucking sucks. It wears a person out and throws them out of the system that's holding up the world.

Everyone I know is feeling like the above, regardless if they're private or public, freelance or salaried. One solution to help is basic universal income. Give everyone over 16 £500 & everyone over 18 £1000 each month for a year and see how awesome it would be in a year's time. I already know how much good that would do to me and everyone I know.

So pay everyone £12,000 a year and then pay all public sector workers the base salary of £86,000 rising in step with inflation. If the private sector can, in theory, pay whatever wages it wants, having a guarantee that your basics are paid will eliminate sooooo much stress. Rich folx can donate theirs, college kids can do interesting work at college because £500 buys a lot of art supplies and travel to museums, exhibitions, and events. Youth would have means to explore the nation before university or set up in an apprenticeship. Our elderly can use it to afford end of life care provisions or enrich their retirement or hell, just keep the lights on. Working folx would undoubtedly benefit the most and would probably like their jobs much more if they know things are covered.

To foot the bill, impose a commons tax on all privately owned land that fairly compensates the commons, ie, the UK public, back.

Make the North part of your game plan, rather than a foot note.

On a serious note; nationalise the railway system and expand the network. It is hell going east to west here, up to 3 hours to go 50 miles west and just 3 to get to London from Selby in North Yorkshire. How is this acceptable?

Invest in working class politicians to bring the reality of Britain back into government. Without our views or experiences on the table, why are we surprised when the Tories fuck us over again? If you want true, enthusiastic support from the British people, do not talk at us as if we're irresponsible children and actually engage with the very liberal and progressive discussions we have daily. Especially people under 40 - the older generation that pulled us out of the EU will be gone soon - you need to court and actually help out.

#fix britain #uk politics #labour #personal rant

[starryshaze]

OLIVER VOCLAIN.

Freedom was all Andrej had ever yearned for. His entire life, he’d felt constricted by everything -- whether it be by his parents, school, his brother, his friends, boyfriends, whatever else was happening in his life -- but he’d never felt as though he knew what real freedom was until he cut ties with his life in England and just ran. Maybe it was a shitty thing to do to the people who had looked after him throughout school but he just needed to get away from it all before he exploded. He wasn’t the type of person who could be tied down by things and maybe his time at Hogwarts was fun but it was over now and those days were never coming back. When he ran, he hadn’t been sure where to go but it seemed natural to end up in Romania, the place he’d called his home during the early years of his life. Maybe he’d never seen much of it because he’d been trapped in that house but the country was still his home and where he belonged. He knew there were several wizarding communities located around and naturally he found himself gravitating towards them, even if it wasn’t intentional. James had once told him that his uncle worked with dragons in Romania but it wasn’t information that he’d remembered until he bumped into Charlie Weasley one night and things just clicked. THIS was where he belonged. 

And he was happy enough. He’d always enjoyed being around magical creatures and found them fascinating, so working with dragons just came naturally to him. Plus Charlie was the perfect mentor and even though he knew that he’d told James of his whereabouts, he couldn’t bring himself to care because it wasn’t as though anyone from his past life was going to bother coming all the way here. He’d purposefully not kept up-to-date with things going on in Britain -- he mostly just didn’t care. He’d caught that James was now playing Quidditch professionally but that was all he knew. Everything else was just white noise to him and his life in Romania took priority. But he should have known that his past would always come back to haunt him. He was getting drunk that night and had taken some sort of pills that he’d found, just to get him in the mood. He didn’t use as heavily as he once did -- he wasn’t stupid enough to be off his face when working with fucking dragons -- but he still liked to enjoy himself and still liked the feeling he got when he was high. He went out regularly and slept with various people but nothing was ever serious and he never saw anyone more than once. Other than the guy he was meeting tonight. They’d been introduced through Charlie and they’d been out together a few times and each time it ended in good sex. The last time they’d even stayed together until the morning. He hadn’t caught feelings but he enjoyed their time together and the sex was enough to keep him coming back. 

He was early to the bar and his date hadn’t arrived yet so he ordered himself two strong drinks -- downed the first one within minutes to get more of a buzz going and then had a back up to sip while he sat at the bar and waited for his date to arrive. The doors opened and a grin appeared on his face, figuring it was probably his date. “Finally, you’re late. I have your order here for you. Firewhiskey, right?” He turned around and his grin suddenly dropped as a face he hadn’t seen for four entire years stood in front of him. “What the FUCK.” He almost dropped the glass he was holding and his hands suddenly began to shake as he stared at Oliver, not even sure what to think or feel and wondering if the pills he’d taken earlier were far stronger than he thought. He barely spoke English these days so his words came out coated in the thick accent he’d picked back up from all his years of living back at home. “Why are YOU here? Romania of all places, in this fucking bar? What the fuck is going on?” 

#the hp megaverse #andrej running away from everything

[mlmxreader]

The New Guy | Donald Pierce x trans!m!reader

@logan-strong asked: Hello. I can't remember if I've sent an ask before so if I have please feel free to ignore it.

But I had this idea for a donald pierce x trans!male reader who is a new part of the reaver gang. Donald takes a shine to them but nobody knows they're trans. The reader is standoffish and cold. They're also a certified badass. I was thinking one day Donald for some reason sees them shirtless and sees their top surgery scars.

summary: you're new to the Reavers, but Donald trusts you not to fuck everything up when he brings you along with him. It's just a shame that being all alone together is the perfect excuse to forget about work and the job that you're tasked with - maybe even a little too perfect.

tws: use of the word Daddy, swearing, smoking, top surgery scars

You were new to the Reavers, having joined up mostly because the money was good and you needed it to help with your transition; as a trans man, it was expensive to get the things that really, truly, made you feel like yourself, the things that really and honestly made you feel like the man you were. Sure, it was hard work and you often went back home exhausted both mentally and physically, and you often wished you had turned down the job, but then you thought of your boss, the leader of the Reavers, and you realised you had more than one reason to stay. Donald. He didn't treat you like the others, he seemed to prefer you and was even a little bit softer with you; you knew he didn't know you were trans, but you did like the fact that he wasn't so cruel and cold towards you.

You drummed your fingers on the wooden breakfast bar, resting your cheek on your hand as your elbow dug into the wood and you sighed, watching Donald; he needed you around for this one, he knew that. No one could take down an idiot with two swords and a mouth that could talk for Britain like you could. Donald trusted you, and as he skulked around the kitchen, he shot you a glare.

"If you're gonna do nothing all night, maybe you should just go home."

You raised a brow, stretching a little as you dared to let out a quiet yawn. Fuck, it was getting late and you doubted the mercenary you were after would be home any time soon. Slowly, you folded your arms on the wood and sank down enough to put your chin on your wrist. "Or not. Someone has to be here in case you fuck up again."

He scoffed, doing his best not to smile as he helped himself to the cupboards and the fridge, most of them were almost entirely empty, but he managed to find a packet of cigarettes and a box of crackers; he chucked the former your way and kept the crackers for himself as he leaned against the counter and tore the box open.

"Relax, baby," he hummed, daring to grin a little but moving over slightly so that the light didn't catch the black metal of his fingers and glare directly at you. "We'll be fine."

You grumbled, not wanting the way he called you baby to fucking claw at your insides, and lit up a cigarette. Fuck, he just had to be hot, didn't he? Of all the goddamn people in the world, the one who sent shivers down your spine and made you grin like a fool, was the one who was as cruel as he was charming. "Do you have to call me baby?"

"Why, do you like it?" He beamed, putting the crackers on the counter and daring to close in on you, his hands either side of you as he leaned over slightly, tilting his head to the side and looking you up and down. "Hm? Do ya? Or would you prefer it if you got the chance to call me Daddy?"

You clenched your jaw, shaking your head a little as you took a long drag from your cigarette, hoping that he didn't see the way your hands shook and how your eyes were a little wide as you swallowed thickly. "Shut it."

"C'mon," he rounded the breakfast bar, putting his metal hand on the back of your chair so that he could spin it round enough for him to grip your chin between his forefinger and thumb with his other hand, a sick grin on his lips. "Y'know I'm a fan of your work, (y/n)... you can tell me the truth."

You rolled your eyes at the remark, blowing smoke directly in his face as you did your best not to grab his shirt and pull him closer. "Go to Hell, Donald."

"Oh, this puppy's got a bark," Donald laughed softly, shaking his head and pulling down your bottom lip with his thumb.

You pulled from his grasp, growling softly as you turned yourself back around, leaning on the breakfast bar again as you took a drag from your cigarette, finishing it and flicking it over the bar. Sure, Donald was incredibly attractive, and you did like him a lot, but you didn't want things to get messy between you two; you were new to the Reavers, you didn't want anyone to think that you only got the job because of some sort of attraction between you and Donald - even if you had the credentials to prove otherwise.

He wasn't about to give up, though, turning you around again and standing between your legs, his hands on your thighs as he licked his lips and dared to drop his gaze down to your mouth for a second too long. "Do you bite, too?"

Unable to stop yourself, you put your hands on his shoulders for a second, but when you noticed where his eyes were, you let one hand drift to the back of his neck, the other buried in the hair at the back of his head. Donald leaned in a little, ghosting his lips over yours before you whimpered softly and tugged at his hair, a pleading look in your eyes that he couldn't help but to fucking grin at; he couldn't hold back, tugging you close enough so that he could finally claim you. His kiss was rough, and harsh, more teeth and tongue and harsh breaths than anything else, but he made you moan as you took your hand from his neck and started to tug at your shirt; still, Donald beat you to it, using his metal hand to rip your shirt so that he didn't have to break the kiss, making you laugh softly until he was forced to pull away.

Catching his breath, Donald looked at the scars on your chest, and he hummed. "Shit."

"What?" You hissed. "You suddenly think I'm fucking ugly because I have top surgery scars?"

"No," he growled. "Why the fuck would I think that?"

His chest was heaving, breath heavy as he dared to use his metal hand to trace the scars, making you shiver with how cold it was, but you couldn't help but to smile; even if you really, really didn't want to.

"So, you can smile," Donald teased, splaying his fingers out as he licked his lips slowly, admiring your body as he nodded slowly. "What else can you do, baby?"

"Fuck you," you groaned, returning your hand to the back of his neck as you bit down at your bottom lip.

He all but laughed, pressing into you a little more as he dared to let a soft growl escape the back of his throat. "You'll have to wait for that, y'know."

if you liked this fic, REBLOG IT - you SHOULD reblog it; spam likers WILL be blocked. as will blogs that refuse to reblog or to give feedback. if you don't wanna reblog, then you'll get blocked; reblogging is the BARE MINIMUM. don't just "like", REBLOG

#mlem writes #Donald Pierce x reader #Donald Pierce imagine #Donald Pierce x you #Donald Pierce x yn #Donald Pierce x y/n #Donald Pierce #logan 2017 #logan fanfiction #logan fanfic #logan fic #logan imagine #logan #boyd holbrook #Boyd Holbrook x reader #Boyd Holbrook imagine

[panicroomsammy]

Not to political science post on a fandom blog but what if the message of Black Sails is actually constructivism?

For those not familiar with the concept, constructivism is the simple idea that society is constructed by people, so people have the power to change it.

Flint undeniably has some level of class and oppression-based analysis, but ultimately what led to his failure was his inability to view the world through the lens of constructivism. The main thing that made me fall in love with Black Sails is that the plot is starting a revolution that’s basis is, per one of the first few episodes, that the pirates are “men who keep what they earn” (idk if that’s the exact wording, but it’s the basic sentiment of one of the speeches in the first few episodes). This is also something that is demonized in Treasure Island, which is another post to be made entirely. The revolution is textually being started because people want to keep the full value of their labor! This shows a very clear class analysis, even if the show takes place over a hundred years before the communist manifesto was written. With it established early on that the war is being fought by working class people for economic freedom, we can see that Flint is operating on a level of class analysis. Working class people unite, seize the means to go to war with Britain, and fight that war until it’s won. That’s Flint’s plan. It does have theoretical backing, however, it has only one kind of theoretical backing. While Flint seems to grasp the concept of class he, ironically enough, never fully grasps the theory of constructivism. This is why he relies on Silver to change the social attitudes of the crew, and therefore why Silver is in a position to stop him at all. Silver understands the way that society is constructed, as per his story about the boy who should have been an outcast according to all the rules of adolescent social life but who was not an outcast (whether this is entirely made up or not is irrelevant to my point - the story demonstrates Silver’s understanding regardless). Silver understand society and - more importantly - how to construct it. Flint does, on some level, understand society. There would be no story if he didn’t. In the first flashback he tells Thomas that “society needs its monsters.” He understands that for England to exist it must define itself by who it excludes - the excluded being the pirates. He understands that society is constructed - he doesn’t understand how to change it. When he does begin to change it, he only sees this as a matter of force. Get a large enough group of people together, get enough guns, and you can bring down England. But he never manages to complete the first step of that on his own. He relies on other people - Gates, Billy, Silver - to do that for him. He also comes close to an understanding of constructivism when he says that England survives because people believe it’s survival to be inevitable, but he never takes this beyond the concept of class warfare. He never tries to convince people who are not already convinced of this. This why Flint fails - he never fully sees the world as socially constructed, while those who do see the world as socially constructed are the ones to win. Silver is only close enough to Flint to stop him because Flint relies on him to convince others to support his cause - Silver was doing constructivism for Flint. Max also understood that society is constructed. This was best exemplified by when she said that the way to end the cycle was to drown the cat. She believed in the ability of people to change social circumstances, and she herself did change social circumstances. While at first glance it may seem like the message of Black Sails is one of class or oppression-based analysis, upon a deeper look into why characters succeed and fail, it would seem that it has a message of constructivism.

***I am aware that I disregard personal relationships in this post - I did that on purpose because I am looking at the show from an academic perspective, liberals who add stuff saying that individualism and personal relationships are the only reason anyone ever does anything will be blocked***

#black sails #political science #constructivism #james flint

[capaldiera]

obviously the real reason this happens is because it's a james bond movie and he has to get back into the scene somehow but felix showing up and telling james "you're only man for the job" is so funny. this 50-something retired british guy is the only person who can extract this hostage for the cia. sure

like was it felix's idea? he just wanted to work with bond his friend james bond again? it could have been the spectre guy's suggestion i guess but leiter was definitely convinced. all of which brings up questions for me about how james and felix's friendship and working relationship developed after quantum of solace. from memory the only time felix is mentioned in skyfall or spectre is when james says he's called felix for a favour protecting lucia sciara, so we don't know much.

at the end of qos, felix is made section chief in south america and i have to wonder how long he would have lasted in that role, considering how distasteful he found his predecessor, beam. it's definitely implied that his issue with beam is his corruption and working with greene. and... the thing is i think if greene had actually found oil it could have been felix losing his job, not beam. the americans wanted that oil and felix spoiled things for greene by helping james – the movie makes it very clear james is acting against orders and the express wishes of the british government by going against greene.

i'm sure part of why they trust and like each other is they are both willing to break the rules to stop someone they think should be stopped (interesting that there's already trust between them in qos though it doesn't seem to be based on much beyond vibes? was there something between casino royale and then?) but what's interesting to me is they (seemingly) had different reasons for wanting quantum taken down. james is in it for personal reasons – he doesn't care that much about the cia ignoring a military coup in bolivia or a billionaire manufacturing a drought, he's after the people who got to vesper and tried to kill m. greene's evil plan being that bad is very much a case of giving audience a reason to hate the villain so they'll be on board with the protagonist seeking revenge.

for that matter it's possible felix just didn't like beam personally or trust that greene would uphold his part of the implicit deal. he could have been motivated mostly by the fact he hated his boss and liked bond more. (his conversations with both beam and james indicate he is pretty cynical about the cia and america (and britain) in general, and doesn't like the way they do things, but.... he still works for them so whatever principles he pretends to have, he's not exactly living by them)

...i don't have any conclusion to this i was just thinking about it. anyway wonder how often james and felix have worked together and whether there's any real reason they would consistently have the same goals (or if they actively worked against each other at any point?)

#me.txt #two weeks ago i started thinking about james bond completely unprompted and now i'm contemplating the intricacies of 00leiter history. okay

[thxnews]

Gum-Free Streets Initiative: Cleaning Up and Transforming Our Communities

More than 50 councils across the UK are to receive grants totalling more than £1.2 million to remove discarded chewing gum from our streets and prevent it from being littered again. Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cardiff, Glasgow, Ipswich, Liverpool, Sunderland and Wiltshire are among those to benefit from the second round of funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force. Launched in 2021, the Task Force was established by Defra and is administered by charity Keep Britain Tidy, with funding provided by gum producers. It aims to clean gum off pavements and put in measures to stop it being dropped in the first place, helping clamp down on anti-social littering. Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum. The Chewing Gum Task Force brings together some of the country’s major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle. Together, the producers have pledged up to £10 million over five years via the scheme to tackle gum littering. The latest round of funding includes: - Grants of up to £25,000 for cleansing with a fully funded bespoke gum litter prevention package. - Further grants of up to £25,000 for Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cardiff, Doncaster and Glasgow for the fully funded bespoke gum litter prevention package and long-term monitoring and evaluation carried out by not-for-profit social enterprise Behaviour Change.  

Official portrait of Rebecca Pow MP. Photo by Richard Townshend. Wikimedia.   Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: Littering blights our communities, spoils our countryside, harms our wildlife and wastes taxpayers’ money when cleaning it up. That’s why we’re working with gum producers to tackle chewing gum stains. After the success of the first round of funding, this next slice will give councils further support to clean up our towns and cities. In its first year the task force awarded 44 grants worth a total of £1.2 million, benefitting 53 councils who were able to clean an estimated 2.5km2 of pavement, an area larger than 467 football pitches. By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 80% in the first two months. Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change has shown that a reduced rate of gum littering is still being observed six months after clean-up and the installation of prevention materials.   Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, said: "Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean up, so the support for councils provided by the Chewing Gum Task Force and the gum manufacturers is very welcome." "However, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it’s gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be – in the bin – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important."   Naomi Jones, corporate affairs director at Mars Wrigley UK, said: "We’re pleased to be supporting the work of the Chewing Gum Task Force again this year." "While the majority of consumers already bin their used gum properly, we know there’s still work to be done to change the behaviour of people who are disposing of their gum irresponsibly." "In its first year, the Task Force’s work saw 2.5km2 cleaned in council areas around the country. Behaviour change interventions achieved chewing gum litter reductions of up to 80%. This year, we’ll be to be funding and partnering with another 56 councils, across the four nations, in 2023."   In 2022, individual councils received grants of up to £20,000 to fund street cleaning and the purchase of cleansing equipment. Larger grants of up to £70,000 were available to two or more councils working together to achieve a greater impact.  

North East Solution

In Grimsby, machines made by Eco Removal Systems were used to clean unsightly chewing gum stains in the town centre. Due to the crew wearing the machines as backpacks, the team quickly became known as ‘Gum Busters’. The stains were removed using an eco-friendly detergent made from sugar beet. This was heated and sprayed directly on to the gum to vaporise it.  

Better Signage for Cities

Four councils – Birmingham, Newport, Glasgow and Belfast – benefitted from a full independent evaluation of their clean-up and prevention signage. A reduction of up to 80% in gum littering after two months was measured as a result of the interventions, through a combination of pre- and post-intervention gum counts and footfall analysis. The task force was announced as part of the government’s strategy to support the evolution and regeneration of high streets across the country, which includes 15 Town Deals totalling £335 million to fund community regeneration projects, the transformation of derelict buildings and communities being given the chance to own local pubs, theatres, sports grounds and corner shops.  

Increasing Fines

Littering is a criminal offence. In the Prime Minister’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan, we have committed to raising the upper limit on spot fines later this year from £150 to £500 in England. To tackle littering of drinks containers, from 2025 we will introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers where people will be incentivised to recycle their bottles and cans by placing a small deposit on drinks products. We have also banned some of the most littered plastic items in England and plan to introduce further bans from October 2023. The opening of this next round of funding comes alongside further steps this week to deliver the Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan. The plan sets out the government’s approach to making sure these issues are treated with the urgency they deserve by establishing a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour.  

More Power to Police and Local Authorities

It also gives the police and local authorities the tools they need to tackle the problem. Coinciding with Resolve’s ASB Awareness Week, pilot schemes have begun in police force areas to increase police patrols in hotspot areas, helping deter crimes from happening in the first place, and to deliver ‘immediate justice’ whereby offenders will be made to repair the damage they’ve caused to their communities with an aim to start reparative work within 48 hours. Earlier this week, the government also opened the first round of the Million Hours Fund, to make an initial £3 million of grants available for youth organisations to provide more out-of-school activities and support more young people in areas of high need this summer – ensuring young people are helped away from bad life choices and are given access to greater support.   Sources: THX News, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs & Rebecca Pow MP.  Read the full article

#Chewinggumclean-up #Chewinggumgrants #Chewinggumlittering #Chewinggumproducers #Chewinggumremoval #Chewinggumstains #Chewinggumstreetcleaning #ChewinggumTaskForce #Gumlitterprevention #Gumlitterreduction

[nebularsmusic]

"Conservatism", the new Radicalism?

All of us are in a period of time; when all things break loose; when the old ways of thinking seem to be shattered into fragments; when dissensions become heated, concentrated and increasingly antagonistic; when political collaborations, which were easily possible previously, disintegrate into crisp shards, with lights shining and reflecting on which even the smallest medium possible could carry intense arguments and opinions much heavier than its weight and try to melt down the disapproving sides.

What used to be conservative is lost, as conservatism is NOT part of the political spectrum. Conservatism and radicalism must be pieced together to make a system function normally —“Sicherheit”, which means the combination of safety, security, stability and certainty. It is essential to distinguish conservatism and the political “right-wing”, which is by concept not part of conservatism.

Over the course of life, your views might change over time, but the collective of all our ideas is still balanced. For instance, there has been a gradual shift in which part of the political spectrum people believe in the slogans of emancipating full “individual freedom” (which currently means the complete freedom of economy without regulations, or the complete freedom of speech regardless of whether it actually contains content that harms the freedom, completing the shifting from left to right of the concept “freedom”), but the hypothetical middle ground between it and its opposite (complete and instant equality which can only be achieved through state-control, which takes away “freedom” as according to the above context) remains the same. There is a level of certainty in which a society operates.

Politics can not infiltrate, but can only adapt “to”. We have witnessed the trend of the world shifting from the right (WWII), to the left (1960s to 1970s), to the right (1980s), to the left (1990s to 2000s), and then back to the right again (2010s to 2020s), but the dancing within the political spectrum doesn’t affect what a society truly is.

For instance, the UK has traditionally maintained neutral (maybe slightly radical) since the Norman Conquest (partly due to the Magna Carta, which King John forcefully agreed to in 1215, exhibiting the power-balance aristocrats have against the monarchy and partially leading to Britain being the first country to relinquish feudalism and embrace capitalism in the 17th century); East Asian nations have exhibited deep conservative tendencies for more than 2000 years; conversely, France has always been completely radical and anti-conservative since the founding of the new republic or maybe even earlier.

The demand that society has for conservatism or radicalism has almost always been a fixed state, without which the supplies and offers of it would be pointless; the manifestation of what those in power try to convey to the citizens will comply with the already existing agreements of values within a society (Gesellschaftswerte-Vereinbarungen), which is formed into normality through several hundred years of cultural, economic and political evolution.

The way we process information hasn’t changed in the new ages. What has changed is the self-conception of how we should process information. The way we communicate hasn’t changed in the new age. What has changed is the self-conception of the reasonable usage of communication methods.

This is the true hazard that the new age is bringing — a spirituality-weakness. AfD, the newly-found right-wing party in Germany, is gaining ground in polls. There are different explanations for this, which can be broadly divided into those who blame the CDU and FDP, those who see it as a reaction to the government’s work, and those who are satisfied with what the AfD itself presents in terms of content. The rise of AfD is a concrete manifestation of our spirituality-weakness in terms of the self-conception of values, beliefs and ways of living. We do not know what we want, politicians do not know what they want, and even the AfD itself doesn’t know what they want except to be on the complete opposite side of every change that is happening in Germany.

The right is on the rise everywhere in the world. Some are labelling them as “conservatives”, just because they stand against changes and maybe “want to get back to old ways of living”. That’s a total misconception of what “conservatism” means. Conservatism labels its truth as one of the truths, while radicalism labels its truth as the only truth. Conservatism embraces change, while radicalism can be the opposite to change.r

The wave of the right shouldn’t be labelled as a pure "conservative" movement, but a new form of radical social movement in itself. The "conservatism" is the new radicalism.

The separation of the left and right into two radical social movements completely changes the picture that has been kept silent for millenniums: the decreasing demand for conservatism-radicalism. Our new self-conceptions of reasonable communication and information processing methods lead to the degradation of a possible middle ground. The transcendental orientations that gave rise to second-wave feminism, civil rights protests and anti-war campaigns in the 60s/70s now cease to exist. Politicians will try to please both the left and the right, each time coming closer to the death of conservatism and ultimately the death of the old democracy.

The rejection of the current system is already happening in France: anarchy, but it’s not the only possible form. Globally, there are three possible outcomes of the disintegration of a democratic process: anarchy, extreme nationalism and authoritarianism.

I fear this is where we are leading now. Theories always exist on how we can stop it: we should stop self-believing the concept that we don’t need politicians in charge even though they are always part of a system that preserves prosperity and civilisation, and that we should not believe in politicians as they care absolutely nothing about ordinary people. However, even if every one of us realises this, the changes are already happening so fast in the world that it’s like a non-stop train.

The old conservatism dies, and the new radicalism of the right takes its place. This is the grim new reality of the world.

#politics #conservatism #radicalism

[goldiers1]

UK and Korea Partner For Extra Energy Security

  Speech Delivered at The Federation of Korean Industries, Seoul, Republic of Korea

  Grant Shapps Official Cabinet Portrait. Photo by Simon Dawson at No 10 Downing Street. Wikimedia.   Grant Shapps Hello.  Aha-nyong-ha-se-yo It is half a century since South Korea turned to the United Kingdom to help develop its first ever car.  That vehicle – the Hyundai Pony – was produced with the aid of a British chief executive, British parts, British engineers, and even British finance and of course, … Korean ingenuity and Korean hard work. But no-one involved with that fledgling project could have imagined what it might lead to.  Today, South Korea is the fifth largest automotive manufacturer in the world – and it all happened here. And Hyundai’s new, electric Ioniq 5 is the current holder of the prestigious World Car of the Year award. What an incredible catalyst that early collaboration between our two countries in the 1970s proved to be: the beginning of a success story that, 50 years later, goes from strength to strength.  And 140 years after Britain and Korea first established diplomatic relations, our two countries are closer today than they have ever been in the past. We have Korean students in our schools, Korean pop music in our charts – and, thanks to my teenage daughter, in my home - and Korean food shops on our high streets.  And the reason I am here today is because we have incredible opportunities to work even more closer together. On our energy transition, we can create the secure, clean and reliable power that both our economies need to grow.  Through the UK-Korea framework, signed last June, both governments reaffirmed commitments to tackling climate change, and co-operating together to enhance energy security, particularly on renewables. That’s why, as the new UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, I’m so excited to be in Korea this week, and why I’m delighted to be taking part in this fantastic seminar today. Thank you representative HAN for inviting me. Our two nations stand together as partners in the energy transition.  But we also stand together in condemning Putin’s abhorrent war on Ukraine. The measures we are taking to isolate Russia internationally, punishing it economically, and helping Ukraine defend its sovereign territory. But although Vladimir Putin’s weaponization of energy has had a huge impact on our markets over the past year, the truth is that Russia’s gas, just like the president himself, belongs firmly in the past. And our discussions here today is about seizing the future, not retreating backwards.  Our future in Britain will be built on renewables, nuclear power and greater energy efficiency, whilst ensuring that the gas used during the transition is from reliable sources - like our own North Sea. With both our countries recognise the need to speed up the global energy transition to keep 1.5C alive. The IPPC’s Synthesis Report has emphasised the dire consequences should we fail to act. So I would obviously urge South Korea to bring forward its coal phase-out from 2050, join the ‘Powering Past Coal Alliance’ and incorporate the COP26 ‘Global Coal to Clean Power’ statement into its energy planning. The UK’s own ‘coal-to-clean’ story has been powered by offshore wind and we are eager to share expertise in this field with you.  Electricity produced from coal in the UK has plummeted from 40% in 2012 to just 1.5% last year. As a result, we are generating record amounts of electricity by wind – over half our total electricity comes from wind power on a good day. The UK has established itself as a world leader in offshore wind.  Our offshore capacity of 13.8GW is the greatest in Europe, and only second to China globally. We have the three largest offshore farms in the world.  Soon, we will have the fourth too.  And we have globally-leading ambitions to deploy up to 50GW by 2030, which will include up to 5GW of floating wind platforms. So we’re scaling-up renewables, and the development of a competitive domestic supply chain, that will meet our decarbonisation objectives.  It will also make us more resilient to economic shocks and provide energy security for future generations. And then there’s the economic opportunities that the transition to clean energy will bring.  The tipping point, when holding on to coal and gas power will no longer make economic sense, never mind environmental sense is getting closer and closer. So we are focused on leveraging private investment alongside the public investment needed to support our ambitions and deliver net zero. But just as crucial as these domestic priorities we need to collaborate with key international partners too – and that means places like the Republic of Korea.  We have so much to offer each other.  I would strongly encourage companies which have invested in the offshore wind sector to consider coming to the UK. In the UK, the Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme has made funding available to boost investment in major port and manufacturing infrastructure. One fantastic example this scheme has supported is a £512 million investment by Korean company SeAH Wind, a subsidiary of SeAH Steel whose CEO I am meeting this week, in a brand-new factory manufacturing offshore wind turbine monopile foundations in Teesside, England: a brilliant example of our two countries working together. I hope this is just the first of many successful ventures between the UK and the Republic of Korea and I would encourage interested companies to contact the British Embassy here in Seoul to better understand how the UK Government can help further investments. But the scope for collaboration goes beyond investment in the UK. The UK is an ally in South Korea’s offshore wind development.  You have set an impressive target of 12 GW offshore wind by 2030, with over 25 projects already in development. This includes huge floating offshore wind potential, which is already attracting UK players to your emerging market. As that market grows, the UK can become an even more trusted partner. Our expertise covers every phase of policy and project development.  We have established experience in oil and gas, marine and subsea, and can offer a unique combination of assets and opportunities to build on current ties between our countries. The British Embassy in Seoul is already starting this engagement, organising webinars to promote our offshore wind journey - and further areas of partnership.  Indeed, UK companies represent 60% of Korean offshore wind engineering contracts. I have been briefed on Corio Generation’s plan to build a 2.6GW floating wind portfolio of five projects, including working with Shell, on 1.5GW and 1.4GW of floating offshore wind in Ulsan. BP Renewables and Deep Wind Offshore recently formed a joint venture to develop offshore wind in Korea, with four projects across the Korean peninsula with a potential generating capacity of up to 6 GW. These examples show the value that the UK can bring to Korea - and what can be accomplished when we work side by side. So, on this 140th anniversary of UK/Korea diplomatic relations and, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the iconic Hyundai Pony launch, let us look forward to future success. A future of greater energy security.  A future where clean renewables and nuclear power rapidly make fossil fuels obsolete.  And a future of close, mutually-beneficial collaboration between Britain and Korea. Working together, to power our success. Thank you.   Sources: THX News, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP Read the full article

#EnergySecurity #SouthKoreanGovenment #UKGovernment

[the-firebird69]

Here they're reading him the charges it just started in this picture of their number two and he was not paying enough attention I think but really he's not a henchman and he's not a partner he is an affiliate to that crime syndicate of Tommy F and it's a very deadly one and a lot of people have died very prominent clients have left huge ones and Mac lost tons of power and we ended up taking over because they can't handle the crush of these clones and the idiots and foreigners and so it's happened before in world War II and Vietnam but it's not the same and he feels like some kind of animal and it's because of pigs like Trump and others and tons of them tons of people like him who are selling out to China and on the air and out loud it was horrible and it was terrible and they're ironic pigs like bja and they're making huge mistakes now thankfully our son did a lot of work and Mac knows that he drew tons of them off and off himself and off Mac was screaming it back one day is that you're yelling at me well I'm a kid of yours you know some having a grandma and it's true and I want my grandma back and you have to figure out how to do it so he's yelling that at him too and also he says you already said that while I'm in time doing it again. Say we have to work together and you said okay I got ideas and people help instead of working and boy these guys are out of line he wants that motorcycle there and figure out Britain has lost again and he sees what you're doing it says that's incredible and he says I didn't know that and it'd be nice to have a brother the computer is Adam and these people are at him and it's because of this a****** and this Alice thing it should be brought up on federal charges but he got him here and for conspiracy to commit mass murder on the human race and he's thinking about it and he switched over and start saying we got to get together on that so yeah we do I'm going to talk to Olympus and it's me and I'm putting it in and he has a lot of plans to do that and we're going to bring it up in our big summit and he approves it and then does of course there's nobody likes him but his father wrote them into it our son was even friends with him which is an impossibility and Brad was. He says don't worry Tomorrow there's always another beer and za I swear he'd sell Za. Right now they're finished reading the charges and they are proceeding with the next phase which is to request innocent or guilty for each one and they they present the charge and then they ask the lawyers and then they say he's pronounce pronouncing himself innocent and he's going to be innocent for all is what he plans to do in the lures and it's going on right now they're on like number two

Thor Freya

This Guy's in her hair and he's in her act he's in her attitude or demeanor all sorts of things we don't want them in we want him out and he's got serious charges okay these are felonies there's they're all fraud no there's some crimes in there that he didn't know about attempted murder all sorts of things and they're going through the whole thing and yeah his daughter is going to testify against me he doesn't believe it because of you so when in there looking fapper so people want to knock him down

Thor Freya again

Olympus us too yes

Me too yes thank you honey

Yeah that's what it means more work I'm going to try and help get it these motorcycle shops going it takes work just like the construction projects they took a lot of work we have to come in and try and take him over come up with new plans it took it took 4 months so we should do that with the motorcycle shops although it could be a lot quicker and we can fast track renovations I'm putting in small shops but really we should put in those Warehouse house and even though Dan is not trusted with anything we need somebody to do it and these people are willing to buy these right away and they'll get out there and the Mac has a plan for it it's abuse but he's an abusive guy and might do some or show people so we're going to set up a meeting with him and you're there of course it's going to be fun now the dragon is busy right now and we're going to go ahead with it Hera says

Olympus

[newsnigeria]

London delusions

by Batko Milacic for Ooduarere via the Saker blog For many, the death of Elizabeth II formally marked the end of the existence of Great Britain as an imperial power. Geopolitically speaking, Britain has long ceased to be an imperial power. However, Elizabeth II was a symbol of the power of Britain with her behavior and decisions. But, certain centers of power in Britain still do not want to accept the harsh fact for them, which is that the attempt to act as a great power for Britain carries great risks and losses. This is precisely the kind of policy that Liz Truss should be expected to lead. Until the First World War, Britain was indeed an imperial power. However, British analytics made a crucial mistake. Then as now, Britain worked to weaken Russia. Namely, Britain then played a double game. It formally opposed the strengthening of Germany and its military and economic power. On the other hand, London wanted to use the power of Germany against Russia. British goal was that Germany and Austria-Hungary have war with Russia. Because they knew that Russia would not give up the Balkans, over which Austria-Hungary and Germany wanted complete control. Official London has repeatedly assured Germany that it will not interfere in the conflict on the European continent if it breaks out. This policy met with the consternation of official Paris, who knew that if Germany were to become too strong, the French state was in great danger.  That is why France got closer to Russia and blackmailed Russia with loans, so that Russia would not send its army to the Far East, but that the best Russian troops were near Europe. It was the French who were exposing the British double game. And precisely at the insistence of France, Britain was forced to oppose Germany together with Russia and France when the First World War started. However, even if Britain emerged victorious from the First World War, it paid a heavy price for it. Huge human and financial losses could hardly be compensated by the acquisition of a couple of insignificant colonies in Africa. At the same time, London’s glorious “imperial policy” allowed Germany to recover from defeat in just 20 years and all but bring Britain down to its knees. The British Empire with its colonies emerged from the Second World War having lost its former status of world power. The Americans demanded decolonization, and Indians and Malays demanded independence. “I don’t want to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire,” Winston Churchill said when leaving the prime minister’s post for the last time. However, the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a small nuclear arsenal and a nuclear submarine fleet, as well as the “British Commonwealth” – a plethora of former colonies and dominions, allowed Britain to keep playing the role of a Great Power throughout the Cold War years. True, the rules of this game were now set by Washington, which took control of both the economy and the defense of Europe. By the start of the 1980s, unsuccessful attempts at social reforms necessitated tough reforms by Margaret Thatcher, which freed Britain from the illusions of state capitalism.  By the way, it was the Iron Lady, who let Britons feel like residents of the Great Empire for the last time. In 1982, the British Navy (with plans for its reduction already in the pipeline), recaptured from Argentina the Falkland Islands, a British colony lost in the South Atlantic. At the same time, London, which has been trying for decades to force the EU to recognize its special role in a united Europe, eventually left the EU, launching a lengthy divorce with Brussels.  Economically, the UK relies heavily on its traditional financial sector – banking and brokerage services, insurance, consulting, etc. However, 75 years after the Yalta Conference and the collapse of its empire, London is still not ready to admit that it is just one among equal European powers – France, Italy, Spain and Germany. London has no real colonial interests that it can use to underpin its intrigues. Ukraine, whose conflict with Russia has been patiently nurtured since 2013 by US strategists at the State Department, will not bring Britain a penny of profit. However, since the 1950s, London has mastered the role of “Washington’s junior partner,” which implies a bigger role in NATO and exclusivity toward Europeans. Decades later, Liz Truss continues to play this very card in Ukraine, just as Boris Jonson did before her. Britain has assumed an extremely tough anti-Russian position, not bothering to see into the causes of the war or think about its interests. It supports a president who banned the official use of his country’s most widely spoken minority language, who sanctioned the torture of prisoners and persecution of ethnic minorities, a president whom Britain supplies with weapons and military instructors, and writes off debts.  Taking a cue from the Johnson Cabinet, Liz Truss will try to convince Britons that since the struggle for England and its age-old imperial interests is now going on in the Ukrainian steppes, the British people must prepare for hardships – heating problems, rising tariffs, inflation and increased defense outlays. At the same time, the conflict in Ukraine will give London a chance to put a temporary damper on such controversial issues with Europe, such as fishing quotas, relations with the EU in Northern Ireland, the situation around the economic status of Gibraltar, etc. Meanwhile, the Russian market is closed to Western countries, the Russians turned to the East, where they quickly redirected the flow of raw materials supplies. Western arms deliveries to Ukraine allow Kyiv to fight on, but the Ukrainian economy is no longer able to support the very existence of the Ukrainian state, which requires monthly financial infusions from its Western allies.  British mercenaries captured in Ukraine are tried and sentenced to death in the Donbass republics, and London cannot do anything to get them out. Of course, already the second British government in six months cannot be accused of waging a proxy war against Russia, which is a time-tested way to weaken the enemy. But is Russia weakening? And how will the British gain from this war? Will Ukraine ever be able to repay all the investments that London has sunk into it since February 2022? Perhaps, London’s long-term strategy is to create a buffer against Russia in the East to end Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas, as well as Russian fertilizers, grain and food. And, after going through several difficult years, to create the “green economy” that the Western countries dream of? Extremely radical as this idea may look, it is at least justified! What is more likely, however, is that London has simply become confused in its ambitions and the clichés about the “Russian threat” that generations of British politicians were weaned on. And these ambitions are pushing the whole of Europe to war… Read the full article

#London

[f1]

Lewis Hamilton: 'Older voices' should be refused platform to make offensive comments

Lewis Hamilton is sixth in the standings this season Lewis Hamilton has called for "older voices" with offensive views to be refused a platform on which to make comments. Mercedes driver Hamilton said: "Discrimination is not something we should be giving a platform. "We need people to be bringing people together." He added: "We are all the same and the comments we are seeing are not helpful." Hamilton's remarks come in the context of triple world champion Piquet using a racially offensive term to refer to the seven-time champion in a podcast that emerged this week. And on Thursday morning ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, in an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain, voiced his support for the Russian President and his actions in Ukraine. "There needs to be some accountability," said Hamilton. "You know what you're going to get [with Ecclestone]. "I don't know what their [the broadcaster's] goal is. To hear from someone that ultimately believes in the war, displacement of millions of people and the killing of thousands of people; the person who's doing that, they support him. And I can't believe that's what I heard today. "This is going to put us back decades, but we have yet to see the real brunt of the pain, We don't ned to be supporting that any more. There are plenty of people out there who want to be positive. If they don't want to be positive, don't give them the space. "No more can we be amplifying these voices that are creating that divide." Hamilton was also referring to an interview given by another three-time champion, Jackie Stewart, who said last week that he thought Hamilton should retire. Hamilton, who has long been frustrated by what he sees as Stewart's negative attitude towards him, said: "These past two weeks I don't think a day has gone by without one of these people saying negative things or trying to bring me down. "But I'm still here. Lip service is not good enough, we need to push for action. "I've always tried to take the high road and be respectful. Why do we give these guys a platform? "They are clearly not willing to change and these undertones of discrimination and micro-aggressions in today's world are not helpful, it is creating more division. I love when Michelle Obama says: 'When they go low, I go high,' and that's what I try to do." In a dispiriting week for motorsport with regard to racism, Red Bull have also sacked their reserve driver Juri Vips after he made an offensive remark on an online gaming stream. Asked if he believed F1 had a racism problem, Hamilton said: "We are living in the world and there is still discrimination all around the world, you see it all around you,. These micro-aggressions come out., enough is enough, no-one should have to brush off racism and it shouldn't be for me to have to brush it off. We need big organisations to take a stand." Piquet is the father of Max Verstappen's partner Kelly Piquet. Until Thursday, neither Hamilton's 2021 title rival or his team had commented on the matter. On the first day of the British Grand Prix weekend, Verstappen said at Silverstone: "The words used are definitely not correct. I am firmly against racism, and that has nothing to do only with Lewis and F1 but in general. "For me, everyone is equal and that's how I grew up. A lot is already heading in the right direction in general with the younger generation. And you just have to understand some words cannot be used any more. That's what we have to work on." via BBC Sport - Formula 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/

#F1 #Lewis Hamilton: 'Older voices' should be refused platform to make offensive comments #Formula 1

[cunninghammartinez8]

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