#this can take place either in NYC or Seattle

[nursebill-bennett]

This is an example of topics I want to talk about on my new show In Bed with Bill Bennett NYC.

A place where men and women over 50 can tune in to get constant positivity in a world that is becoming more difficult to function in.

Life Lesson 543298543

How to win in life.

CHECK YOUR EGO

I’m going to use nursing as an example but the formula is the same no matter where you use it.

Many of you have heard how awesome travel nursing is.

And if you’re a nurse you will be bombarded by calls and texts from multiple agencies.

We are in demand.

Over 20 years. I’ve traveled to Texas , Seattle , Orlando , Mississippi and now NYC.

I’ve been fired many, many times.

I know how good I am.

Trust me. If your arm got cut off. You would want me there.

So every time I met resistance. I pushed back. All it causes is more conflicts. And people in HR will label you difficult and your days will be numbered. You will have a bounty over your head. Either they will make your life miserable hoping you leave. Or just find a reason to fire you.

I wish someone told me this years ago. I probably would not of listened anyways.

The more bonuses and the more money they offer you is a huge red flag. It means no one wants to work there. They are desperate and your walking into a complete shit show.

I’m not saying don’t take it.

But go in knowing this.

Don’t think your getting paid what you are because your special or more valuable than anyone you will be working with. You are no better than the person scrubbing toilets.

Basically. If you really want to succeed and bank.

You must check your ego.

We all know health care is broken system.

You will be working with staff nurses who are making $27-$45 an hour.

We will make $65 - $110 an hour. Plus a stipen.

And that will piss many of them off. And usually these are the ones making your assignment.

Either It’s conscious or subconscious they will assign you the patients the staff does not want to take.

They feel of your making more than double. You should work twice as hard.

And if your a big guy. I’m 6’2, 225. You will get all the patients > 300 pounds guaranteed.

Many staff nurses , like many just with life would rather be angry about the money we make.

Which still baffles me when the opportunity is their for any RN.

But it’s a scary move.

This is where this lesson can be applied anywhere.

Lastly….

Be grateful. And play the game.

Took me years to realize fighting it is a dead end.

If I got a shit assignment. I’d complain.

If they floated me to a unit where I’m way over qualified to work on. I used to take it as an insult.

Today they didn’t need me and I’m in a medical surgical floor.

Many ICU or ER nurses would rather walk out then work on a lower acuity unit.

And years ago I did.

Now … I’ve realized all it’s going to do is make me better.

And now that I’m more secure sigh myself and my practice I can easily sit next to patients in their rooms and say “ hey. How’s your day going ?” and really be a liaison for them because I guarantee you many other nurses are not.

Lesson 3

What you put out in the universe. You get back 3 x.

Keep putting out anger and the I’m a victim shit thinking you deserve special treatment in this world.

Prepare for a shit storm of Karma.

Many of you might of seen my bike tires were slashed yesterday. And it was a down pour. I had to walk my bike back 5 miles after a 12 hour shift.

I laughed the entire way.

Years ago. Not proud of this.

I had my exs tires slashed.

Yesterday I knew exactly what was happening.

If you throw out a boomerang of negativity or an action to hurt someone. Even though they fucking deserve it.

The universe will throw that boomerang back at you and it will hit you so hard it will knock you on your ass.

Trust me. She will not forget. And if someone hurts you or comes for you. As much as you want to retaliate. Don’t.

Your name is not karma.

She can be your friend.

Or your worst enemy.

Choice is yours.

Namaste

This is for you brother. Jason Call❤️

#gay men #artists on tumblr #men yoga #taylor swift #youtube #sober men

[huntersprayer]

Greyson. ( @worldshq​ )

“don’t worry. I’ve done this a million times.” greyson smirks, looking up at the other and bandaging up the pup’s leg carefully, “usually on people, but i think the skill is translatable.” he adds with a cocky wink and continues working, “what’s his name?” his voice lifts curiously, he’d been meaning to get a pet for molly since they’d moved into their new apartment, but between work, school events, pta meetings, and everything else he’d never gotten around to it. “that should do it.” he adds, standing again and watching the pup steady himself on his leg, “i’m greyson, by the way.” 

      of all the things he’d anticipated today, Mulder cutting himself on a stray, sharp edge while they picked up things in town was definitely not one of them. he might not be a service animal in a traditional sense, but as the Necromage’s link to the living world, Mulder was a rare exception to the designation & it allowed him to walk with the other through the market. the cloth bag of ingredients & the collection of flowers & herbs had been mostly forgotten when the pup has let out a noise that sounded entirely not of this world, but when he’d crouched down to check him over, the blond had surprised him, darting over with a bandage & a calming voice that had had the pup holding out his paw almost expectantly. ‘ Mulder, ’ Ersken offers with a cheeky grin. the pup offers a quick swipe of his tongue at the other’s hands. ‘ and I’m Ersken. thank you, not sure what we would have done if we had to waddle home without a bandage, ’ he adds with a small smile. ‘ might I buy you a coffee, for your trouble? ’

#worldshq #(v.) melancholy waters // main. #five shots of espresso & a bullet || interactions #q. #this can take place either in NYC or Seattle #if it's NYC they're at the union square greenmarket #if Seattle #then it's pike place market #just let me know!

[forestwater87]

This is your excuse to talk about Julia (the purple haired girl) if you want to :D

Oooh yay! Okay so she’s not actually mine — she was created by @hopefullypessimistic84 , who I always have read over anything I use Julia in for characterization consistency — and I’m sure Hope will have more to add but here’s what I’ve got!

First off, for those of you who have no idea what we’re talking about: Hope found a camper in one of the old photos and adopted her, and now she is one of my favorite characters ever. She shows up pretty frequently in my writing bc I love her.

Dis one.

Anyway! Here’s a bunch of random shit — some of it was invented by Hope, some of it is my hcs (can you have hcs of an oc version of an extra? Idk but I did it) — and I hope someone finds it mildly entertaining:

She met David and Jasper in their first summer at camp, so they’re all about the same age; if anything she might be a year or so younger but it’s all quite close, and I imagine they went through the same years in school.

She doesn’t live near David — if we’re placing him up in Canada she’s somewhere in a relatively large city near the American border. Depending on if you put Camp Campbell on the east coast (my hc) or the west (what it probably actually is), she most likely grew up in NYC or Seattle.

She’s more like Jasper than David: not super bubbly, not all that into nature, and very suspicious of anything Campbell related.

I’m pretty sure she’s an only child, but it doesn’t matter because she adopted David and Jasper as her brothers and 1000% thinks of herself as their sister.

She’s an ace lesbian, and somewhere on the butch spectrum. Depending on my mood she’s either a fat leather butch or a tiny elfin tomboy, but no matter what she’s short and has a motorcycle jacket.

Actually it’s spoilers but who cares because it’ll take me forever to get there: she’s actually going to fall in love with another OC, this time one I made up! She meets Gwen’s sister Audree through incredibly awkward in-law interactions, because Hope and I decided to mash our OCs together. Their relationship is a little ….complicated, because they’re so dissimilar, but it works.

I’m pretty sure Julia ends up being a professional photographer. She lives in (see city mentioned in #2) but travels a lot for her job. What kind of photos???? Uhhhhhhhh no idea; my brain is thinking like corporate somehow, or real estate? Something more practical than artistic, but Hope would probably know for sure and I don’t know dick about photography.

Her job and long distance means she doesn’t get to see David (or Jasper, if it’s an AU where he lives) a lot, but she keeps them all in touch with the aggressive tenacity of a bulldog.

She’s very colorful and generous with her profanity.

If you hurt someone she loves she will kill you and no one will ever find your body.

She is made of sarcasm and a surprising amount of rage.

She grew up extremely poor (not sure what the family situation is but I feel like it was a 1-parent household), so even though she ended up being very successful she still carries a lot of trauma and mindset from spending her childhood not having enough to really get by. (This is probably the major cause of content with Audree, who grew up rich and then got richer.)

I don’t remember what we were thinking about Jules’ grown-up haircut, but her natural color is definitely purple.

She calls David Davey, Sunshine, and Red. I don’t know what she’d call Jasper and Gwen.

She probably stopped going to Camp Campbell after Jasper died, either as her own choice or because her parent(s) pulled her out of it, but as an adult she does make a point to visit David there at least once a summer on the anniversary of his death. (Listen we came up with this before we found out what happened to Jasper; cut us some slack here re: canon.)

She didn’t grow out of her pop-punk-emo phase, she grew into it.

I don’t know if she actually rides a motorcycle or just likes the look, but I like to think she at least bought one.

Nothing makes her flustered except pretty girls.

I don’t think she reads that much, but I could see her being a movie buff. Though tbh I really see her as whatever you’d call someone super into music.

Did she skateboard? Does she? I feel like she would.

#this is a silly post but I really appreciate this ask #campcamp #yeah it’s an oc let me live #ask forest #I love Julia to bits and I want her to be happy #(please use her I’m not only giving you permission but begging you) #(I’m know she’s hope’s baby but I also know hope won’t mind) #(use her and then show me)

[mikrowrites]

thinking out loud

aaron tveit x reader

brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts, a handsome stranger, and a show about a con man...

So honey now, take me into your loving arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Place your head on my beating heart

I'm thinking out loud

Maybe we found love right where we are

2009– Seattle, Washington

Y/N stifled a yawn, staring at the vending machine with a blank expression. Her neck hurt, her back hurt, her legs hurt. She could not wait to go to her hotel room upstairs and take a shower.

She was dressed to the nines in her rehearsal wear: a baggy NYU sweatshirt, leggings, and Nikes, her hair messily pulled out of her face, though a few flyaways were stuck to her forehead. Y/N was in the beginnings of rehearsals for her first off-broadway show, and if this one went well she’d make her Broadway debut.

Y/N found the packet of brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts she wanted, clicking the F9 keys and waiting patiently for her pastries to dispense.

But much to her anguish, they remained caught on the metal contraption rather than falling.

The girl let out a loud groan, smacking her forehead tiredly against the glass of the vending machine.

“Uhm, are you okay?”

Y/N’s eyes opened wide, the girl immediately straightening and turning towards the stranger, before being transfixed for a few seconds.

The stranger was an incrediblely handsome man, probably around her age, with brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Y/N regained her sense, plastering a tired smile on her face and nodding way too enthusiastically. “Oh, yeah. I’m great. Wonderful, really.”

“Okay...?” The man laughed slightly, gesturing to the vending machine. “Then why are you giving yourself a concussion on a hotel vending machine?”

Y/N sighed. “It’s been a long day. And my pop-tart won’t dispense. First world issues.”

The man nodded in understanding, before his face contorted into confusion watching Y/N pull another couple dollar bills out of her wallet. “What are you doing?”

“Paying an exorbitant fee for pop-tarts.” Y/N frowned.

“No, no, no, that’s not what you do.” The man shook his head, walking up next to Y/N and putting his hands on either side of the vending machine. “I used to do this in college a lot.”

Before Y/N could say anything the man violently shook the machine, her mouth dropping in surprise before widening into a smile as her pop-tarts and a generous few other packaged snacks fell down.

The two dove down to collect them in their arms, looking up to hear a “HEY!” as a consierge leaned over their desk, shouting at them.

“Run!” Y/N hissed, the two scrambling up and running out of the lobby with the snacks, all the way to an elevator where the man repeatedly hit the close door button, the two laughing hysterically as Y/N shouted out a string of “Go, go, go!”

The doors shut, the two bursting out into a new wave of laughing, Y/N looking up at the man. “That was insane.”

The man shook his head, grinning. “I’m gonna hear about that tomorrow for sure.”

Y/N nudged him with her elbow. “Nah, don’t worry I’ll vouch for ya.”

The man smiled down at her. “What’s your name?” Y/N tilted her head to the side. “Don’t worry, I won’t frame you for Hostess theft.”

She giggled, shaking her head. “Y/N.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Aaron.” He introduced himself.

“A pleasure, Aaron.” Y/N returned.

The elevator doors opened, Aaron sighing. “This is my floor...” he looked at the empty hallway before turning to Y/N, gesturing at the abundance of snacks in their hands. “... and I can’t eat all of this alone.”

Y/N smiled rolling her eyes. “I guess I could spare some time for a Twix bar.”

Two hours later and Y/N had never felt more wide awake, the two sitting and chatting with each other as they finished off their treats.

“So you’re from New York?” Aaron asked, nodding to the sweatshirt that hung on Y/N’s frame.

“Yup,” she responded, popping the p. “NYU Dance major, class of ‘05.”

Aaron sat up a bit. “You graduated? That’s awesome.”

Y/N nodded with a smile. “Yeah. It was hard, but sooo worth it. I joined the Rockettes my last two years of school so things were tight.”

The man’s jaw dropped. “You’re a Radio City Rockette? What are you doing in Seattle?”

“Was.” she corrected, popping another Skittle in her mouth. “I didn’t audition because I auditioned for an off-broadway show and got in as a dancer. That’s why I’m here.”

“Wait, are you in Catch Me If You Can?” Aaron asked incredulously.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Yeah, actually, I am. Why? Wait how do you—“

Aaron pointed at himself. “Frank Abagnale Jr.”

She froze for a minute before her eyes widened, Y/N leaning over. “No shit! Oh my god! So you’re...”

He laughed and nodded. “Aaron Tveit, yeah.”

Y/N leaned back and rested her head against the wall. “Well, okay then. Anything else I should know?”

“Uhhh... I can clap with one hand?”

“What the fuck, show me right now.”

—

The next morning, Y/N walked into the rehearsal space, grinning from ear to ear as the events of last night played out in her head.

She threw her bag down onto the floor reaching down to pull her LaDucas and an empty water bottle out of her duffle. When Y/N straightened up, she turned to see a hand held out to her, presenting a package of brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts.

Y/N looked up and smiled brightly at Aaron, who stood sheepishly, holding out the pop-tarts. “This was your favorite flavor, right?”

“We’ve known each other for less than 24 hours and you already know me so well.” Y/N mused, graciously taking the pop-tart.

“What can I say, minor theft brings people together.” Aaron responded, Y/N letting out a burst of laughter, shaking her head.

“You are too much, Tveit.” She said, turning to sit and strap on her LaDucas.

“I think I’m just enough.” Aaron shot back, walking backwards as he retreated back to where Norbert and Kerry stood.

Y/N shook her head with a smile. “Yeah, just enough.”

He pumped his fist, before throwing her another grin and jogging back over to the main cast. Y/N finished strapping her shoes on with a chuckle.

“Okay everybody!” Jerry shouted. “Let’s go from the top of the show!”

—

Y/N and Aaron jogged down the streets of Seattle together, the girl stopping and leaning against a storefront, fanning herself with a random tourism pamphlet. “God, it’s hot.”

“It doesn’t feel as bad as NYC, though!” Aaron tried to uplift.

“It’s hot as balls.” Y/N whined, Aaron laughing at her antics.

He linked his arm around hers, pulling her into a little cafe (with air conditioning), Y/N sighing in relief. Aaron shook his head with a smile, going to the counter and ordering two iced americanos. Y/N walked up next to him and reached for her bag.

Aaron stopped her. “I’ve got it.”

“No, let me. You buy me pop-tarts every morning, that’s not a cheap endeavor.” Y/N reasoned.

“It’s one coffee.” Aaron teased back, sliding his card before she could protest.

“Thanks.” Y/N responded genuinely.

Aaron wrapped his arm around her shoulder dramatically. “Anything to rescue my girl from the summer heat.”

Y/N’s heart beat a little faster, but she ignored it as she ducked out of his arm. “Ew, you’re gross and sweaty.”

“What, so are you!”

Y/N turned and smacked Aaron in the chest, the man laughing as she went to gather their drinks, the two finding a seat.

“I can’t believe we open in a week.” Y/N wondered, stirring her straw in her drink.

“It always feels surreal. Especially the first time you open a new show.” Aaron agreed.

Y/N smiled. “Yeah.” She took a long sip of her americano, sitting back. “And if we go to broadway... damn.”

“Back to the city, eating, sleeping, and breathing the show.” Aaron added, Y/N laughing a bit.

Y/N raised her drink. “To con men.”

Aaron shook his head, clinking his drink with hers.

“To con men.”

—

The whole cast bowed, the audience roaring with applause. Y/N looked to her left, Aaron making eye contact with her and flashing her that handsome smile. She rolled her eyes, waving as the cast walked off stage.

Later that night Y/N stood out on the empty stage. The theatre was lit only by a couple ghost lights, the dimly lit area clenching at her heart.

“Came to bid your farewells?”

Y/N smiled softly, turning to see Aaron walk onstage with his hands in his pockets. “Yeah.”

He nodded, coming to stand beside her as they looked out at the empty velvet seats.

“I don’t want it to be over.” Y/N spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

“Me neither.” Aaron sighed, turning to look at the girl.

Y/N turned and looked up at him, giving him a sad smile. “When we get back to the city, you’ll call me, right?”

“Of course.” He reassured.

“And when you go back to Next to Normal, I’ll be in the front row.” Y/N promised.

“And when you perform with the Rockettes this winter I’ll be at Radio City Hall.” Aaron smiled.

Y/N nodded, turning to look back at the theatre. “And with that,” she shouted out with her arms flung out and open wide, “I bid you adieu!”

Aaron watched her, his heart beating rapidly in his chest as she bowed to the empty theater, her arms out, before returning to her standing position. She let her arms drop to her sides, nodding in finality. Y/N turned and smiled at him, Aaron was left breathless.

The ghost lights’ illumination cast perfectly on her face, accentuating every feature. Aaron couldn’t help but stare, because he was looking at the most beautiful girl in the whole world.

Y/N sighed, clicking her tongue. “We should probably go before stage management throws us out.”

Suddenly Aaron burst forwards, in three long strides he approached Y/N, resting both hands on each side of her face as he kissed her, the girl making a noise of surprise before melting into him. She pushed her lips back onto his, reaching a hand up to run through his hair before resting it on the nape of his neck.

The two pulled away gasping for air, their eyes meeting. It felt like electricity was zapping through both of them, Y/N smiling. “When we get back to New York, ask me on a date. I’ll say yes.”

“And when you say yes,” Aaron whispered. “I’ll take you out on the best date of your life.”

“One without vending machine theft?”

Aaron chuckled, leaning in. “One without minor felonies, yes.” He brought her into another kiss, Y/N smiling against his lips.

“Hey!” One of the stage managers shouted. “No sex on my stage!”

“Shit!” Y/N gasped, the two quickly pulling away from each other. “Sorry, Mike, we’re on our way out!”

Aaron laughed, Y/N shaking her head in amusement. “Okay. See you on Broadway, Mr. Tveit.”

“See you on Broadway, Miss L/N.” He said.

Y/N stepped away, licking her lips and picking up her bag off the floor. She stepped backwards, smiling at Aaron who stood on the stage watching her every move.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

a/n: so the next couple of aaron blurbs are gonna have two things in common: 1) always involve an ed sheeran song bc i’m unoriginal and 2) all kinda revolve around each other, like these aren’t standard part 1, part 2, etc. but the storylines definitely intertwine somewhat? idk if that makes sense. anyways, i’m a slut for cmiyc so here’s this!

EDIT: Happy Birthday to (1) man!

#aaron tveit x reader #aaron tveit imagine #aaron tveit imagines #aaron kyle tveit x reader #aaron tveit oneshot

[theabhorsenslibrary]

10 Places I Want to Visit

This is a post that I’ve been really excited to write as an avid traveller and I’m glad it’s something which one of my friend’s has suggested we write about. I have not been out of the UK since December 2018 when me and my family went to New York City over Christmas (an amazing experience even if it didn’t snow!). Since then, I have only really visited places in the UK before the Pandemic hit and put a stop to any sort of travel. So without further ado, here are my travel plans post-pandemic (not neccessarily in order)!

1. Chicago So I first wanted to travel to Chicago when I read the Divergent series, and this is probably the only place on my list which I have a Lonely Planet travel guide for that has been stickered up with all the places I want to visit while there. Its a place I considered booking up for 2020 but am glad I didn’t as obviously the pandemic hit hard.

2. Vancouver to San Francisco I would absolutely love to do a train trip through the USA and I think the one I would like to do most is a trip from Vancouver to San Francisco. (or vice versa). This would take in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Francesco and takes roughly 27-28 hours (obviously with stops this would take longer). This one I would have to plan around my parents who also wish to visit San Francisco.

3. Bochum, Germany There is one reason only for me wanting to go to Bochum and this is due to being the only place in the world which is currently doing the full stage show of Starlight Express. Its something I’ve considered doing for my 30th birthday in 2021 but obviously this is relying on the world being back to normal - and I would not just be visiting for Bochum which has little interest apart from Starlight Express.

4. Washington DC to NYC/Boston Another potential train trip I wish to do though I’m not sure how far I would go. Having previously visited both NYC and Boston, I would only wish to spend a few days in both. NYC as I would like to visit the inside of Hamilton’s Grange and Coney Island. And Boston so I can catch a train to visit Exeter, New Hampshire which is named after the place I was born and raised.

My main visit on this trip would be Washington DC (because it would be an amazing experience), Bethesda (on the outskirts of Washington DC and the setting for Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) and using Amtrak to get up to Philadelphia for a few days.

5. New Zealand So I thought I would give you a break from the US places I want to visit and add somewhere on the opposite side of the world! Lets face it, this trip would probably be one that takes a few weeks so I can cover as many of the cities as possible, try to get out to where the Lord of the Rings films were filmed and see some of the beautiful scenery.

6. Disney Parks & Universal Studios Orlando Not so much a place as some theme parks I would like to cover. I have been to Disneyland Paris on numerous occasions and somewhere I will inevitably get back too but I would love to hop across to the US to cover Disney World in Orlando and the original Disneyland in California. I’ve also consider Tokyo Disneyland but am not 100% that I will definitely visit due to other places I want to visit. Linking in with my visit to Disney World Orlando, I would love to go to Universal Studios Orlando, especially for their Harry Potter theme park - because despite JK Rowling being an idiot (me being polite), I still want to visit here.

7. Canada Yes I know this is a very big category so lets split it in two. Firstly, I want to cover off the cities I haven’t yet visited on the East side (Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa) which are all easy to connect via train - as you can see there’s a theme here! My parents also did a really cool trip a few years back on the Rocky Mountaineer which I would also like to do which covers a few of the cities on the West coast as well.

8. Interrail through Europe Time for one a little closer to home since I’ve covered off some of the far-off places I wish to visit! If you haven’t gathered by now, I am a big fan of train travel and the Interrail service in Europe covers this at a sensible price! I’ve been to a lot of places in Europe already but I would love to do some sort of trip through Europe by train at some point - especially covering Germany and Italy!

9. The Nordic Countries/Northern Europe While my previous point covers mainland Europe, I’m counting the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway and Finland) as a separate point. I know all three of these are expensive places to visit but I would love to visit at least their capitals (Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki) at some point in my life.

10. Ireland Even closer to home as this would just involve jumping across the Irish Sea! I plan to at least cover Dublin and Belfast as the main cities but would love to get further afield if possible - either by car or public transport when I get the chance! Especially as this would give me a break from the long-haul flights to the US, Canada and New Zealand!

#Chicago #Illinois #USA #Vancouver #San Francisco #Portland #Seattle #Canada #Bochum #Germany #Washington DC #Philedelphia #New Zealand #Disney World Orlando #Disneyland California #Disneyland Paris #Universal Studios Orlando #Montreal #Quebec City #Ottawa #Europe #Spain #France #Austria #Switzerland #Italy #Sweden #Norway #Finland #Nordic Countries

[tripsonflatground]

Is it just me, or is it kinda capitalist that in order to get new superheroes, people kill off or age up the old ones and then put the new heroes in the same role/identity? Like, they killed Peter Parker to have Miles Morales. Bucky Barnes and Falcon/Sam Wilson both became Captain America after the death or age & retirement of Steve Rogers, depending on whether you’re looking at the comics or the MCU. Batman goes through Robins and Batgirls like it’s going out of style (and seriously, why does Dick Grayson let other people be Robin? That was a personal nickname from his birth family, right? Why would he give something so intimate away?). Replacing someone else and living up to their legacy rather than making your own path was a whole plot point/theme in Spider-man: Far From Home!

There are exceptions to this, like X-23 and Wolverine, who have managed to have some form of a father-daughter relationship in the comics (although, if memory serves, I believe he’s been killed in recent comics and she replaced him as Wolverine - though I haven’t read anything recent, so I might be wrong, and in the film Logan they killed him off). And things like Conner/Superboy from Young Justice being created with the idea to replace Superman doesn’t count in the same way because it was a villainous plot and Con didn’t end up following through. And there’s a new Ms. Marvel now that Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, which is a much better alternative considering that Carol wasn’t using that identity anymore.

The idea I’m trying to get at, if it isn’t clear, is that the costume identity, AKA Spider-man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. seems to me the thing that’s given value while the person behind the mask is more recently being treated as expendable/dispensable. Which doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, because the person created the mask, and so much of themselves and who they are and what their goals are drove the reasons behind the creation of the identity and the way they behave in that identity. It’s like being a kid and trying on your parents’ clothes or getting hand-me-downs, even if it fits, you didn’t exactly choose it, and you look different wearing it. And I’m calling this capitalist because it feels like capitalism. If we equate being a superhero to a job, which in many ways it really is, especially if you are employed by an organization to do it like SHIELD, then the value is being placed on the role/job, and not with the labor. Capitalism doesn’t give a shit who’s doing the job and how they’re being treated as long as it’s getting done. Employees in the service/retail industry get treated like shit and don’t get paid enough but that will never change unless people have other options and aren’t desperate enough to accept those conditions and get something better. Recently, with the deaths and/or replacements of superheroes in order to have someone else fill the identity in comics and films, the individuals behind the mask, who are the real source of emotional connection and relatability, not the mask, seem to have become dispensable in the eyes of the creators.

And I do get that it’s a shortcut and an attempt to bring in new audiences by putting more modern characters into recognizable roles. But why does the original character have to *die*?

Yeah, superhero-ism is a dangerous occupation, sure, but doesn’t death seem like the most extreme option? It’s not as if there aren’t other possibilities:

1.Having characters be located somewhere else other than New York City or its fictional equivalent (Metropolis, Gotham, etc). There are other major cities in the US where crime happens, let alone other cities in the world. Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia. Who doesn’t want to imagine a Spider-man or a Batman with a Boston accent? Wouldn’t it be a cool storyline if other Kryptonians not related to Superman escaped Krypton and eventually made it to Earth and moved to different cities and took up mantles and eventually the Kryptonian race could start rebuilding on Earth? Talk about a really interesting and positive way to show a diasporic community. And also, it doesn’t make any sense statistically that the majority of the world’s superheroes are in the US. Put some in Toronto, Paris, London, Cairo, Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, Rome, Athens, Rio, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Seoul, Istanbul, etc. If the Olympics happen there, then there’s probably a lot of people that need saving and crime happening. It’s especially dumb with the alien invasion stories where they show the audience aliens popping up in places other than NYC and suddenly the heroes have to get other there, like unless you got super-speed or teleportation, it’s going to take a while, and how are you even going to communicate with the civilians if there’s a language barrier?

2.Having characters be from other dimensions. Marvel and DC have a history of playing with alternate timelines and multi-verse theory. Into The Spiderverse was a super-popular movie that inspired tons of people to make their own Spidersonas, and the lesson that can be taken from it is that you can take a character and make it still feel unique or individualistic even if you’re using similar themes. Maybe instead of the dimensions having evil versions they have to fight or being fucked up in some other way, make the new version of Wonder Woman or Iron Man or whatever be from an alternate dimension and end up in the main because of science/magic, or a dimension-hopping villain they’re fighting, or an accident, or to get help from other versions of themselves, or even escaping from an apocalypse/doomsday from their own universe. It’s so easy to either send them back to their own universe when you decide you’re done playing with them or keep them around if you want them permanently. Wouldn’t it be fascinating if the Captain America we’re familiar with met a Captain America from an alternate universe where he fought in the American Revolution or for the Union in the Civil War or even in WW1 or Vietnam?

3.Having female characters take on feminine versions of the identity, or vice versa, or non-binary characters find a way to have a gender-neutral version. This has been done with Hulk and She-Hulk, Superman and Supergirl, Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel back when Captain Marvel was a dude, Spider-man’s daughter May was Spider-girl at one point, Batman’s cousin or something is Batwoman. There’s also been some adjacents, such as AntMan and Wasp or Wolverine and X-23. There are definitely ways that you can use a familiar identity to put more female and non-binary superheroes out there. I mean, military titles (the Captains) or even names like Black Panther, Green Lantern, and Flash aren’t even gendered. You can feminize names if you want to, but I’m pretty sure the female Hawkeye is just straight-up Hawkeye. People like Thor I feel differently about because Thor’s an actual mythological character, not something Marvel came up with, but you could just use a different Norse god/goddess? And yeah, Dr. Strange is the man’s actual name so that’s also a little different, but if he had a daughter or a non-binary child who also got their doctorate, they are in fact entitled to call themselves Dr. Strange rather than something lesser. Not to mention, that whole alternate universe versions point I just made? Yeah, these can be characters from gender-bent alternate universes or a universe where humans are androgynous or something.

4.Have multiple characters use the same secret identity. This would be the perfect concept for twins or friends with the same build. The bank’s been robbed but A is on a date? B can totally show up at the scene! B got really hurt in their last fight? A’s got them covered. There’s a bit of risk to it, like if people recognize they have different voices or someone notices them at two different crises happening at the same time, but that’s just what makes the challenge of pretending to be the same person interesting. And it could get even more complex if you had triplets doing it, or four college roommates, or whatever. It’s also a great excuse to be able to write deep interpersonal relationships and identity struggles. Hell, can you imagine how much scarier multiple Batmans would be? They could play even more on the “you never know where he’s going to be next or what shadow he could be hiding in” thing, like, just when the crook thinks he’s lost Batman, another comes out out of nowhere.

And if superhero writers don’t want to do any of this, there’s also the C-List and D-List heroes that maybe got introduced in like the 70′s or 80′s or whatever but didn’t take or ended up being a blip in another character’s backstory. If you want more modern superheros connected to the major ones so you can use them in the same stories, it is totally valid IMO to try revitalizing these obscure concepts. I have a vested interest in seeing if Monica Rambeau shows up as her hero identity Photon in the Captain Marvel sequel. This idea is still using what you have, but it doesn’t capitalize the lives of the characters you have or make them expendable in any way. In fact, it’s also kind of like recycling, or the opposite of capitalism, because you’re trying to use alternative resources or all of your resources instead of very specific ones to the point of over-saturation.

Look, I’m just very tired of superheroes getting killed off to be replaced by someone else using the same identity or because it’s edgy or dark or whatever. Even a debilitating injury that leaves them in a wheelchair or blind or deaf is a hell of a lot more interesting. Once a character’s dead, they’re dead, there’s nowhere else you can take them unless you bring them back to life  (which admittedly happens a lot in superhero universe) or have them hang around as a ghost or something. It’s boring, it doesn’t give the audience any closure and just messes with their emotions for shock value, and it promotes toxic capitalism.

#superheroes #marvel #dc #capitalism #killing characters #alternatives to killing characters

[tabloidtoc]

OK, November 23

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Jeff Bridges opens up about the fight of his life 

Page 2: Contents 

Page 3: Contents 

Page 4: Lori Loughlin’s life behind bars -- Lori’s been having a hard time adjusting to her new reality

Page 6: The holiday season will look a little different for Prince Harry this year -- originally the plan was for Harry to travel to England around Christmastime and Meghan Markle reluctantly agreed though she was far from happy with the idea but now with new travel restrictions in place due to Covid-19 she’s told him there’s no way they’re leaving California which is crushing for Harry who was looking forward to spending the holidays with the royals especially since he missed out last year and he’s been horribly homesick these last few months and he misses the holiday traditions he grew up with even though he loves his life in America with Meghan and son Archie 

Page 7: Newly single Kelly Clarkson has been swooning over country crooner Brett Eldredge her collaborator on the flirty new Christmas tune Under the Mistletoe -- they spent lots of time together in the studio and on the phone and really bonded while they were cutting this sexy song, Brad Pitt’s most recent ex-girlfriend Nicole Poturalski has started talking to friends about what happened between them in detail and it’s an embarrassing mess for Brad who prides himself on privacy, after 16 seasons as colleagues and sparring BFFs on The Voice Adam Levine and Blake Shelton are besties no more because there was a lot of talk between them about keeping in touch and hanging out after Adam left the show but amid lingering tensions neither has made an effort and Adam may not even be invited when Blake marries Gwen Stefani

Page 8: Ever since Sofia Richie split for good from Scott Disick she’s been out every night with some really shady types to the dismay of her dad Lionel Richie who is not liking what he’s hearing about her partying and dating habits -- Sofia has already jumped into a new relationship with Cha Cha Matcha founder Matthew Morton and is hanging nonstop with his crew -- Lionel thought breaking free from Scott would mean a calmer life but it just sees like she’s gone off the rails, Betty White is already gearing up to celebrate her 99th birthday in January with a low-key yet reverent bash, she’s been linked to several Hollywood hunks of late but Lily James just wants her old beau back and she’s regretting breaking off her five-year relationship with Matt Smith -- since the split she’s been linked to Dominic West and Armie Hammer and Chris Evans and the onslaught has only made her miss Matt more -- Matt’s always had her back and Lily knows she made a mistake letting him go but Matt feels duped regarding all the rumors about her and other guys but she swears nothing happened and that she misses him

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- stars wow in romantic ruffled gowns -- Keke Palmer, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kirsten Dunst 

Page 11: Lupita Nyong’o, Halsey 

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Renee Bargh vs. Alessandra Ambrosio

Page 14: News In Photos -- Paris Jackson posed for a portrait in Beverly Hills days before releasing her debut solo album 

Page 15: Adam Brody with his newborn son in Malibu, pregnant Jinger Duggar stepped out in Venice with husband Jeremy Vuolo and their daughter Felicity for lunch, Lady Gaga on stage at a drive-in concert in Pittsburgh 

Page 16: Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell headed out for brunch with one of their twin daughters in Encino, Camila Cabello held on tight to one of her three pups while chasing another one who escaped from his leash in Miami, Pierce Brosnan playing golf in Hawaii 

Page 18: DJ Diplo took a dip in the ocean in Miami, John Legend took his Ford Mustang out for a spin with wife Chrissy Teigen and one of their dogs in Beverly Hills 

Page 19: Bella Thorne and boyfriend Benjamin Mascolo in Rome, Scott Disick was Ace Ventura for Halloween in L.A. 

Page 20: Ruff Life -- stars show love for their canine companions -- Ariel Winter and her latest rescue Cobey, Jamie Chung and her dog, soccer star Alex Morgan with her dogs Kona and Blue 

Page 21: Nev Schulman cuddled up with Dancing With the Stars partner Jenna Johnson’s dog Ziggy, PLEASE ADOPT, DON’T SHOP  

Page 22: Shawn Mendes on a walk in Miami, Kate Mara stopped by Target with her daughter, Ellen DeGeneres dressed up as a nurse who is her favorite superhero 

Page 24: Skai Jackson headed to rehearsals for Dancing With the Stars, Elizabeth Lyn Vargas of Real Housewives of Orange County gave a tour of her home, Joe Jonas strolling daughter Willa around the neighborhood 

Page 25: Thomas Brodie-Sangster attended the premiere of Stardust a biopic about David Bowie in London, Donnie Wahlberg and Steve Schirripa filmed a scene for Blue Bloods in Brooklyn 

Page 26: Taking over duties from Prince Harry his stepmother Duchess Camilla arrived at the Field of Remembrance to commemorate those who lost their lives in the armed forces in London, Amber Heard enjoyed a hike with her dog in L.A., Renee Elisa Goldsberry and Sara Bareilles and Paula Pell and Busy Philipps filmed a scene for Tina Fey’s upcoming series Girls5Eva in NYC 

Page 27: Offset delivered free food to voters waiting in line on Election Day, Ciara in Seattle 

Page 28: Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes have finally become husband and wife in a low-key ceremony in the backyard of their L.A. home with just a handful of family and close friends like Steve Carell and Emma Stone were in attendance -- Ryan wore jeans with a button-down shirt while Eva wore a red dress from her own collection -- now that the party’s over Eva and Ryan have been talking about having a third child

Page 29: Reality hit Love Is Blind hooked viewers with its OMG premise but the show’s married cohosts Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey were decidedly less riveting and their presenting style was laughably wooden and stiff and while the duo is slated to return for the show’s second season Nick and Vanessa have been put on notice to spice it up, Tori Spelling is freaking out at the prospect of her husband Dean McDermott spending six months alone in Toronto which is the same town where he cheated on her seven years ago -- Dean has signed on to star in Canadian TV show Lady Dicks and while Tori should be thrilled that that he’ll be bringing in some income for their often-struggling family of seven she is preparing for the worst 

Page 30: While it appears Nina Dobrev and Shaun White have spent 2020 in hardcore flirt mode Nina’s friends have cautioned that this is a dead-end romance because Shaun shows up and posts pictures of them on social media but the fact is they’ve barely spent any time together and they hook up and then he goes back to his own place -- Shaun rarely invites Nina to either of his two Hollywood Hills pads and is proving his flaky reputation is legit, things are looking up for parents-to-be Kit Harington and Rose Leslie after a rocky start to their marriage the two are finally in a happy place -- Kit has stopped boozing and this baby has put a fire under him to be more accommodating and besides helping update and baby-proof the couple’s 15th century countryside manor Kit’s been more attentive to Rose in every way, Love Bites -- Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi split, Maya Erskine and Michael Angarano are engaged and expecting, Ashlee Simpson welcomed her second child with husband Evan Ross 

Page 32: Cover Story -- Jeff Bridges: I’m not giving up -- how the beloved star is coping during his brave health battle 

Page 36: Katherine Heigl why she disappeared -- the reason Katherine walked away from the spotlight ad how she found her way back 

Page 38: Home Alone turns 30 -- in honor of the holiday classic’s milestone anniversary secrets and trivia about the movie and its stars 

Page 40: Feel the Burn -- fitness fanatic Morgan Coleman is here to take your home workout up a notch 

Page 42: Healthy Holidays -- how stars stay fit and feeling their best during the festive season 

Page 46: Style Week -- Olivia Culpo has teamed up with her siblings on an exclusive collection for Macy’s 

Page 48: What’s Hot Right Now -- Madewell wants you to Make Weekends Longer with its new sustainable MWL collection 

Page 49: Steal Her Style -- Drew Barrymore 

Page 50: Dress the Halls -- festive pieces to rock through the holidays even if you’re celebrating at home -- AnnaSophia Robb 

Page 54: Entertainment 

Page 55: Q&A -- Jake Tyson

Page 58: Buzz -- Just weeks after Kim Kardashian West was slammed over her 40th birthday bash Kendall Jenner received similar criticism for throwing a jam-packed soiree for her 25th birthday 

Page 60: Sound Bites -- Cameron Diaz on having a baby at 47, Conan O’Brien on the props that were stolen from his late-night set, Sacha Baron Cohen joking that he and his wife Isla Fisher are not A-listers, Anne Hathaway on the embarrassing ways she handled the lockdown 

Page 61: Florence Pugh on her close relationship with her Black Widow costar Scarlett Johansson, Christine Quinn on not being bothered by negative comments, Chelsea Handler on crushing on New York governor Andrew Cuomo 

Page 62: Horoscope -- Lisa Bonet turned 53 on November 16 

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Colin Jost

#tabloid #grain of salt #tabloid toc #tabloidtoc #jeff bridges #lily james #matt smith #kit harington #rose leslie #colin jost #katherine heigl #home alone #jake tyson #lori loughlin #prince harry #meghan markle #kelly clarkson #brett eldredge #brad pitt #nicole poturalski #adam levine #blake shelton #lionel richie #sofia richie #betty white #who wore it better? #eva mendes #ryan gosling #nick lachey #vanessa lachey

[thisisnotacomp]

R.I.P. MF DOOM

At around 1 PM Pacific on New Years eve I scrolled through twitter after putting my little dude down for a nap. I was looking to take a mental break after trying to keep my 20 month old occupied inside for 5 hours on a rainy ass winter day in Seattle. That is when I read the news of Daniel Dumile’s aka MF DOOM’s passing. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Of all the artists who I have closely followed MF DOOM has to be the most iconic. He was a singular talent that stood high above all but a few others in my book. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. This was not the mental break I was looking for. I took a few mins to digest the news, luckily I had at least 90 mins left of nap time to work through it. 

Since reading the news I was a bit surprised to see the outpouring for this relatively obscure MC. That is not to say DOOM was an unknown figure, quite the opposite. Q-Tip summed it up best saying that MF Doom was your favorite MC's favorite MCs. I expected to hear quite a bit from the legends of the underground and NYC hip-hop community but was a bit taken aback from the articles published by NPR, The Financial Times and many others. Reading them has helped, it feels good to see DOOM get his do. 

DOOM has been a constant presence in my life so long I honestly don't remember when I heard him first. All I know is that it was sometime in 2001. Over the past days I have been listening to a lot of his music and if I had to guess it was the track “Black List” off of Prefuse 73′s 2001 Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives LP. At the time hip-hop made up about 10-20% of the music I listened to. I was more into electronic and rock music at the time and 2001 had some great releases. Here is a short list:

Avalanches - Since I Left You Radiohead - Amnesiac White Stripes - White Blood Cells Herbert - Bodily Functions Jay-Z - The Blueprint Daft Punk - Discovery

But the top 3ish for me that year were: 1. Strokes - Is This It 2. Prefuse 73 - Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives 3. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein / Aesop Rock - Labor Days

To say there were a few good LP’s released in 2001 would be an understatement. But back to DOOM. I loved that Prefuse album, what he was doing blew my mind. I was also a huge fan of Aesop Rock who like DOOM is one of the best MC’s ever. Hearing DOOM rap on the cut up beat had to be my intro. Now remember this was before you could stream anything, and at a time record stores were over charging for everything. Also remember Napster and the other P2P services were in full effect so if you knew how, you could find just about anything on the interwebs. I did some digging, talked to a few friends and tracked down DOOM’s first LP “Operation Doomsday” and my world was never the same. I still remember hearing lines like: Clang! Crime don't pay, listen, youth It's like me holding up the line at the kissing booth I took her back to the truck, she was uncouth Spittin' all out the sunroof, through her missing tooth I was hooked. From then on out I have been following Dumile ever since. At the time I was in College and had more time than money. Listening to music filled a lot of that time. The money I did have started going to records in early 2002. Back then vinyl was cheap, as everyone was still buying CD’s. I figured if I could just burn a CD where was the value. I can still support artists by buying vinyl so that is what I did. To give credit where credit is due, my buddy Alex was a huge influence. One weekend he brought me to a record on 13th and Pine called Respect Records. They had a ton of underground Hip-Hop and I we hit that place up every time we were back in Seattle. I bought most of my Def Jux and Stones Throw albums from there. Its closed now and I really miss that spot. The owner knew us and what we were looking for. He held a white label copy of Madlib’s Stevie LP aside for me. At the time I thought I had found the holy grail. He also pushed me to Doom. I picked up a few singles there along with Take Me to Your Leader, Madvillian and Special Herbs 1 & 2.

The 2 MF DOOM releases that had the biggest impact on me were Operation Doomsday and Madvillian. The later is still my favorite hip-hop LP of all time and in contention for my favorite LP ever released. Its damn near perfect. I think what makes is so great is its timeless feel. If it dropped today I feel it would be just a relevant. It hasn’t aged a bit, or I should say nothing feels dated which is a rare accomplishment for a 16 year old release. 

03/04 was peak DOOM. Between June of 03 and November of 04 he released what can only be described as an historic run of classic LP’s:

“Take Me to Your Leader” under the King Geedorah alias “Vaudeville Villain” under the Viktor Vaughn alias “Madvillainy“ a joint release with Madlib “MM... Food” as MF DOOM

Along with these LP’s he dropped another one as Viktor Vaughn and half of his Special Herbs instrumental albums. At the end of 2004 there was no doubt MF DOOM was one of the greatest MC’s of all time. In 2005 he released the Mouse and the Mask as a joint LP with Danger Mouse. The album was clearly a way to get DOOM some cash flow from the folks at Adult Swim but its a solid release in its own right. Up until 2005 everything Doom touched was gold. 

After this point, his output slowed down. There was talk of a second Madvilian LP which we are still waiting for along with a host of other side projects. DOOM did a few guest verses here and there but overall things were quite. DOOM’s final full length “Born Like This” was released in 2009. It was a return to form and while it might not be a certified classic like his early works its damn close. 

I put this together to get some thoughts out of my head. Honestly the news of  Daniel Dumile’s passing was a gut punch. He was more than an MC he was an icon for so many. No one wrote rhymes like DOOM. No one in hip-hop has created a universe like DOOM. There will never be another MF DOOM. Here are a few lyrics to prove it. 

“He came with more rhymes than molecules in air”

“What up? To all rappers: shut up with your shutting up And keep a shirt on, at least a button-up Yuck, is they rhymers or stripping males? Out of work jerks since they shut down Chippendales They chipping nails, DOOM tipping scales Let alone the pre-orders that's counted off shipping sales This one goes out to all my peoples skipping bail Dipping jail, whipping tail and sipping ale”

“Already woke, spared a joke, barely spoke, rarely smoke Stared at folks when properly provoked, mirror broke Here, share strawberry morning, gone an more important spawning Torn in, poor men sworn in Cornish hens switching positions, auditioning morticians Saw it in a vision, ignoring prison Ignoramuses enlist and sound dumb Found 'em drowned in cow's dung, crowns flung”

“Don't let the drama getcha In the only genre of music where the fans shoot the messenger Bitch niggas talk behind your back like a catcher Either M-Y-O-B or B-Y-O stretcher”

“Oooo my aching hands, from raking in grands and breaking in mic stands”

“Catch a throatful from the fire vocal Ash and molten glass like Eyjafjallajökull”

“Livin' off borrowed time, the clock tick faster”

“Ever since the womb ’til I’m back where my brother went That’s what my tomb will say Right above my government; Dumile Either unmarked or engraved, hey, who’s to say?”

R.I.P. MF DOOM. 

#mf doom

[blunotes92]

I always have this fantasy that I catch a one way flight to Vegas unplanned with no hotel, Airbnb or any kind of room booked, no luggage, just enough money for either a flight or a greyhound back to Houston if I lose. I walk into a casino with like $200-$400 and play craps til I walk out with like $300,000 to $400,000 and book an expensive room with a view of the city, the strip or the mountains and smoke like a zip of Gelato and drink like 1/4th of a bottle of Dusse and pass out and try to do it again with the same amount of money the next day. Win lose or draw I take what I have left stay one more night then travel the country staying a week in all the places I’ve wanted to visit: NYC, LA, Miami, Denver, Atlanta, Seattle, New Orleans and then I hit Spain, Ghana, Egypt, Santorini Greece, Amsterdam and Japan before I come back home. But I’m pretty sure fantasies like this is how gambling addictions start and idk if I can just walk in and hit a table with with just a few hundred dollars lol. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[youknowme-iamyou-blog]

Black Lives Murder

When I saw Nancy Pelosi leading these Democrats, pandering to the Black Lives Matter (BLM), wearing African Kente scarfs, kneeling in worship, I almost suffered an aneurysm. It was at that point I had to stop working and write this article.

Democrats will weaponize any incident for votes, preach victimhood, and demonize all police officers for the behavior of a few rouge cops. The more ignorant among us, drink their politically correct kool-aid and kneel to blacks for being white.

I was thinking of another title for this piece: “Dear White People, Stop Apologizing for Being White.” I never owned slaves and I haven’t done anything to suppress or hurt blacks, and I’m sure you haven’t either.

Let’s end this Democrat, BLM and Antifa charade by analyzing race in crime statistics.

Blacks are responsible for committing 90% of the interracial crimes between whites and blacks, despite blacks being only 13.4% of the population.

Table 14 shows that the majority of interracial violence is perpetrated by blacks.

If we start plugging the numbers in we find that blacks committed 547,948 violent crimes against whites. On the hand whites committed 59,777 violent crimes against blacks.

Statistically blacks are responsible for committing 90% of all the interracial crimes between whites and blacks in America.

Violent Crimes in General

We are not finished. We still can tease out another statistic from our table. Blacks are responsible for 22% of all violent crime in America, again only being 13.4% of the population. But that’s not a fair estimate. Most violent crime is being perpetrated by males. So we can use that information and say with a high degree of confidence that roughly 6% of the population, comprising of black males, are responsible for 22% of violent crime in America.

Homicides -Black on White & White on Black

The situation is similar for homicides.

Blacks killed 514 whites in 2018 Whites killed 234 blacks in 2018

Again, despite being only 13.4% of the population blacks are responsible for 69% of interracial homicides between whites and blacks.

Black on Black Homicides

Blacks killing blacks are 11 times greater (2600) than whites killing blacks (234). Yet, if you listen to the Mainstream Media (MSM), BLM and Antifa, whites killing blacks are running rampant in our country. Black children are afraid to return home from school for fear of being shot by a white policeman. What nonsense.

The fact that black on black homicides are 11 times greater than whites killing blacks are not reported because it can not be racially exploited, so it is not reported by the MSM, BLM or Antifa.

If you are white, you are statistically at greater risk for being killed while in police custody than if you’re black.

More whites are killed in police custody than blacks. If you are white you are 1.7 times more likely to be killed in police custody than a black.

Math used for chart in reference section.

George Floyd Riots

No one excuses the abuse of those police officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Kueng and Thomas Lane. Who kept George Floyd on the ground while police officer Derek Chauvin leaned on his neck, killing him.

People are allowed to peacefully protest. However, the wrongful death of George Floyd does not give the right for protests to erupted into lawless rioting, looting, the beating and killing of innocent people. This criminal behavior is not for the memory of this man. I’ve seen the videos where BLM dragged people out of their cars and beat them up. What was their crime, being white?

The smiling faces of looters carrying their stolen goods certainly didn’t look to me like they were in mourning for George Floyd.

You are not absolved of your criminal behavior because of your supposedly “outrage” and skin color.

The mainstream media doesn’t portrays George Floyd, for the career criminal he was. I am not condoning the horrible treatment he received from police, and he certainly did not deserve to die in the manner he did. But let’s not eulogize him as a national hero.

The day Floyd was killed, he was high on fentanyl and according the medical examiner recent used methamphetamine. He has used a counterfeit 20.00 dollar bill to purchase goods, which is why the store owner called the police. He did not deserve to die the way he did. The police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with his murder.

George Floyd did five stints in prison:

1998: 10 months in prison for thief with an firearm. 2002: 8 months for cocaine 2004: 10 months for cocaine 2005: 10 months for cocaine 2007: Home invasion. Held a firearm to a pregnant woman’s stomach while accomplices robbed and ransacked the place. He did 5 years for this crime. You can view a more detail account of his arrests here.

I’d venture to say that a non-racist person would look at this incident as a bad cop killing an innocent man.

While those trying to inflame racism, see a white cop killing a black man. The mainstream media, BLM and Antifa are trying to use this incident to paint all cops as racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Black Lives Matter only when the black life taken is by a white person.

Soft on Crime Democrats

The soft on crime Democrats allowed the rioting to continue in their cities across the country. Most notably in NYC and Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a city led by Democrats for over 50 years. Their Mayor Jacob Frey, had his police evacuate the Third Precinct station, giving it up to the rioters who burned it to the ground.

If In Trouble, Just Blame Trump, Scream & Shout

To pass the buck on the fail Democrat policies in Minnesota, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison proclaimed the outside agitators in Minneapolis’ riots were “white supremacists” Trump supporters.

This is the same Keith Ellison who in January 2018 tweeted a selfie of himself at a bookstore holding the book “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook” and wrote “I just found the book that strikes fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump”

Sounds more Saul Alinski to me, but the point is, these Democrats are sympathizers and enablers for Antifa and BLM thugs and criminals to riot.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Mayor Rudy Giuliani said it best. While being interviewed on Fox new said, “Don’t Elect progressive Democrats if you want to be safe.”

Democrat Mayors Bill DeBlaiso (D) NYC and and Mayor Jacob Frey (D),Minneapolis allowed the BLM and Antifa thugs to riot, to destroy business and buildings, to assault innocent people in their cities. They are useless and cowardly and should resign.

BLM and Antifa Militarily Commandeer a Section of Seattle

Weak Democratic mayor of Seattle Washington Jenny Durkan, has allowed a six block section of Seattle to be commandeered by domestic terrorists; BLM and Antifa thugs. They have arm guards shaking down businesses for money in their newly formed “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone”

Fox News Tucker Carlson had a reporter Dan Springer, in the area, that reported, “Yeah, this is the third night of what can only be described as a complete takeover of a seven-block area of a Seattle neighborhood, and we don’t see a single police officer or city official anywhere,”

He also reported that the Seattle police relinquished control of the area, and I quote, “They did not say how cutting and running makes it safe here.”

Springer also read the BLM and Antifa demands, “abolish the Seattle Police Department and the court system, disarm all cops until they are all fired, and abolish youth jails.”

Another Mainstream Media Blackout

This is happening now and has been going on for days, do you see any of the mainstream media covering this? No. They are too busy reporting on “defunding the police”, and doing their best to make these radical protests and rioting appear reasonable.

Could you imagine if armed Trump supporters took control over seven blocks of Seattle Washington, chased the police out, starting shaking down businesses for money and goods, the MSM would lose their collective minds.

You can read the complete story here along with the radical demands from BLM and Antifa.

15 People Died in the Riots — I Have Questions

The riots are well coordinated and global. Why are there riots outside Minneapolis, Minnesota? How did protests and riots expand into other states? Why are there protests in Europe for an incident that happened in the United States? Who is funding all these protests? Who is organizing these riots? Why were pallets of bricks strategically placed where people would be rioting? There was no construction in the area. Who placed the bricks there? Why isn’t law enforcement looking into this? Who is funding and inciting this violence?

Conclusion

Despite the narrative of the mainstream media, BLM and Antifa, statistically, whites are more likely to be killed by the police than blacks. They take any incident to create a false narrative to promote their agenda.

A few rouge cops are not a reflection on all the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Or a reflection of police in every police department, in every state of the US. Just as white people don’t paint all blacks for the racist rioting animals that burned buildings down, beat up and killed innocent people.

For all the companies, like Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, etc., who are pandering and openly support the BLM movement, you are condoning the rioting and rioters and the damage and destruction they have done. Your pandering support will not buy you protection from thugs, it will not exonerate your companies from being burned down in a riot. The rioters burned down black owned business in black neighborhoods. If they can do that, you haven’t a chance.

To the Democrats pandering to the BLM and Antifa rioting thugs to rent the black vote in this November. Intelligent people see right through you.

Dear White People

Don’t let these race baiting lies and fake “outrage” to condone the criminal actions of thugs to riot. Please study the crime statistics in this article and stop apologizing for being white. You have nothing to be sorry for and no reason to kneel.

Cancel Culture

This article has been deleted from both Medium.Com and HubPages. HubPage declared the article “Hate Speech”.

What these leftist cancel culturists don’t understand is that calling something hate speech doesn’t make it hate speech. You’re only voicing your opinion, that is a biased opinion, and imposing you biased opinion on others.

This is the opposite of free speech it is called censorship.

...

Reference:

Homicide data by race chart — the math

It wouldn’t be accurate to compare total numbers of homicides without taking into effect the size of the populations. For instance, whites have a total homicide of whites killing whites of 2677. Blacks have a total homicide of blacks killing blacks of 2600. It wouldn’t be fair to say blacks kill just as many of their own race as whites, because the populations are not equal. White population is 249 million, and the Black population is 32 million. To put the numbers into proper perspective, we adjust the numbers to the population.

There is 1 white killed by white for every 93,187 of whites. There is 1 black killed by black for every 12,553 blacks. There is 1 white killed by blacks for every 63,449 blacks. There is 1 black killed by whites for every 1,060,075 whites.

To graph this information in a chart, we divide 1 by the population in each of the above instances. So for white on white homicide it is 1/93187 that equals 1.07E-5. For black on black homicide 1/12553 = 7.96E-5. Black on white is 1/63449 = 1.57E-5 and finally white on black 1/1,060,075 = 0.09E-5

[luckylq27-blog]

Bylsma said he knew the players were shocked right away

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[fortheloveofdragandschitt]

On a different topic your top favorite cities to travel within the USA? And what to do if one were to visit that city.

San Francisco, CA

Go to a dispensary, even if you don’t partake it is interesting just to see all the options. I would suggest The Apothecarium...it’s very nicely designed, clean, and the options are endless.

Fisherman’s Wharf, it is very touristy but if you have never been you have to check it out. Shops, restaurants, sea lions, great views of the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

If you like baseball then catch a Giants game at Oracle Park. The stadium is great and not to be biased but my dad played for the Giants so I always try to catch a game when I visit.

Alcatraz tour is a good thing to do if you are interested in history. You can take a boat ride around the Golden Gate bridge and then go on the Alcatraz tour.

If you like shopping then hit up Union Square.

The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps are a good Instagram photo stop. So is Lombard Street, the Painted Ladies & the Balmy Alley Murals.

Take a cable car ride.

If you have time take a day trip to wine country, either Napa or Sonoma. Our family friends own a winery and it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Castro district is the place to go for drag shows. It’s considered the LGBTQIA+ area of SF.

Not to mention there are a TON of amazing bars, restaurants, lounges, etc.

Asheville, NC

I’m not as knowledgeable about Asheville since I have only been there once but I LOVED it there. I went at the end of September. It has great restaurants, breweries, wineries & lounges. Also great hiking trails and waterfalls. We also went white water rafting which was very fun. We went to the Biltmore Estate and that is a good spot for history lovers. It’s beautiful. It also is the place of one of my favorite wines ever. I get it shipped to me I love it that much.

NYC

Again I’m not nearly as well versed as I am San Fran but Manhattan is one of my favorite places on Earth. I love musicals so if that (or plays) are your thing than you have to go see a Broadway show. I am also a huge tourist and I am one of those people who love Times Square. People either love it there or hate it. And hello Central Park! That is worth the trip alone. Of course restaurants, bars, drag scene, all that is amazing in NY. My favorite restaurant in NY is Balthazar. It was the first time I ever tried goat cheese and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Of course there is also the Empire State Building, Ground Zero Memorial, Statue of Liberty etc. Also Little Italy & Chinatown. My mom and I used to always go to Canal Street to get fake purses and such. That was always an adventure.

Those are just a few cities I’ve been to and love. Some that I have yet to visit but hope to are: Nashville, New Orleans, Austin, Seattle, Las Vegas, Portland...just to name a few.

[majdalenaska]

9 reasons why NOT to be a cabin crew

This is not probably the ideal way how to promote a job in Aviation but if you really think about doing this, you should keep on reading. As much as I encourage my friends to become a cabin crew, there are certain aspects of the job that should be taken into consideration. To name a few…

( P.S don’t take this article way too seriously, it is supposed to humour you a bit, but there is also a lot of truth in it as well)

1)      Permanent state of jet lag

Basically, you function in a constant brain fog and sleepiness, other words called the Jet lag. Let me tell you something about this lovely term called jet lag. It’s no fun. It does not matter if you are in Europe or in the US, you constantly battle it. Let me elaborate. Once you are in the USA, you usually stay down route one or two days (3, if very lucky), well in that case, your body clock can’t get used to the timezone in such a short period of time. You might get a decent sleep the second night or third, but when you actually get comfy and acclimatized, it’s time for you to go and fly back to Europe.  

I am talking from a personal perspective here, but the first night after a flight being back in Europe, you sleep amazingly, like a baby. The reason for that, is being literally knackered, either from the flight itself or the time difference caught up with you. Sometimes the upcoming days could be a struggle, you could feel still very tired, a bit confused, which is all the consequence of a jet lag. Once you start to feel like yourself and start function as normal human being, where you don’t need to spend 10-12 hours in bed, you are on a go again, hooray, back to the USA. (The good thing about flying to America is having literally the longest day ever, since you add an extra 5 or 8 hours to your day). But to conclude this, everyone’s different, when it comes to jet lag.  Some days I feel fresh as a daisy, surprisingly.

Your body also works on habits and has incredible memory. For instance you can get used to any patterns or different time zones, as long as you work in them regularly ( in my airline we are lucky enough to be flying only to USA and south America). We mainly work during the nights on our way back to Europe, so your body works like a clock, it knows exactly when to sleep and for how long.

Let’s say, I come back home from a night flight, I might get 2-3 hours of sleep during the day and then I can get a proper sleep from around 8 or 9 pm till the morning. Imagine that one day, you come back from a Seattle (8 hours difference), which utterly disrupts your lovely routine and body clock. Since coming back from Seattle is during the day, it mess you up , big time. You get at least two sleepless nights in London and only because you changed the routine a bit ( or I don’t do this route regularly enough).

2)      Mood shifts

Your mood worsens due to the lack of sleep. If you don’t do anything in particular in regards to your moodiness, you end up being grumpy and friendless. As many of us could confirm, especially on landing day, you feel absolutely drained and easily irritable and it’s no one to blame really, so don’t take it personally, if you are a boyfriend or girlfriend of a flight attendant. Just get them a pizza, bottle of chilled beer and put on some Netflix. Ideally in a long term, you’ve got to work on it though. Yoga, meditation, walk in nature, skype call…anything at all to get you out of the funk.

3)      Your social life becomes non existent

As you can tell, flight attendants spend the majority of time abroad, which can have a huge impact on their social life. Your close friends probably forgot you already, since you are never around, or you are always tired to go out. When you actually make the effort to do something with your mates, you have to come back early, since perhaps you have a flight to catch early in the morning or you basically fall sleep in the middle of conversation due to jet lag. You also do not have time to date, unless you are a Tinder master and you make boyfriends in every state in America, where we get to fly. But if you find yourself a man in Seattle, not ideal at all, because this is only a seasonal route. Next time be smarter and go on Tinder somewhere like NYC or Los Angeles, where we fly daily :)

4)      People coming and leaving

During this job you get to meet incredible amount of people, either your colleagues or just random people on a plane you get to talk to. But when it comes to the crew, every trip or flight you do, you work along someone new, which is awesome, but also a tiny bit overwhelming sometimes. And it is not for everybody. I am lucky enough to be flying with some incredible people but unfortunately usually you get to see them once and never again, your rosters never match basically.

5)      You get used to the  „high life“

Don’t take me wrong, flying itself and working in a closed metal tube is not that glamorous as I once thought in the past.  But you kinda get used to the perks of being a cabin crew…( lot of spare time either in hotels or at home, free breakfast down route, fancy hotel rooms, outdoor pools, spas, saunas, free gym etc). The loveliest bonus for me must be flying to a warm and sunny destination all year long, where you can get some Vitamin D and sometimes even Vitamin Sea, which whoever live in England understand. You are also welcome to do anything from shopping, dinning or outing with the crew during the day, as far as you have the energy or the funds for it. If you are a Disney fan, trust me, Florida will become your second home.

6)      Working late and during the nights

No one likes working during the night, especially in a different time zone. But once you create a routine, your body gets used to it somehow, as I mentioned before. You also need to create a habit of napping BEFORE the flight, DURING the flight and AFTER the flight. So basically you become a baby all over again. (this could be considered as a plus)

 7)      Loneliness

You spend a lot of time on your own during layovers or at home , it can feel a bit lonely sometimes, which can actually helps you with getting to know something about your personality. Does this schedule work out for me? Am I a loner or prefer to be surrounded with people? In aviation it’s both ideally combined together.  But don’t isolate yourself too much, even if you are not up for a meet up, just push yourself , it’s not good for your mental health to spend too much time alone.

 8)      Passengers

Thanks to flying a lot and dealing with all different kinds of passengers, you may start disliking people and prefer company of dogs. I do not talk from a personal perspective when it comes to this issue (only sometimes) but I’ve had people talking about this. I can also notice it with people working in aviation for a long time. You can get easily triggered by silly comment or you just get irritated by anyone just because you are tired. In that case you should consider some help or maybe ask yourself if it’s time for you to move on to a different career.

 9)      Standby – to be called or not to be called

There is literally nothing worse than being called out of a standby. I can’t think of anything more stressful than a Standby, which for those, who do not work in aviation, means being called out in the middle of a night or a day to cover duty for someone else, who cannot fly that day, due to any circumstances. The minimum time you can get to arrive to the actual airport is 90 minutes. It’s part of the job I know, we signed up for this, but anyway there is nothing worse than a Standby. I just need to know in advance, whether I fly tomorrow or not. Standby only gives me an anxiety. But on the positive note, we do not have that many of them in one month and usually they give us more time in advance, which is nice.

I hope by reading this, I didn’t put you off flying, which wasn’t my intention in a first place. I wrote this article while being on standby and not sleeping properly the night before hence the chosen headline:) Not to finish on a negative note, my next read will be definitely focused on benefits and advantages of flying, which hopefully lure you back into aviation.

[whereisfootball]

2018 MLS Kit Branding Reimagined

The 2018 Major League Soccer season is nearly underway. It’s been a long offseason and we’re hyped to have it back.

Our friends Tap In have a lot of new, exciting MLS content coming this year on their guide, and in celebration of that, we decided to partner on a fun little project.

In a bid to add a little more personality to what is largely bland, impersonal sponsorship real estate on each kit, we reimagined every team’s jersey with something new in the middle of it. Some of these are local companies, others are prospective partners who have some fun link to the team, and others will probably just be arcane jokes that won’t land.

Nevertheless, we thought this was a fun way to bring a few of our favorite things together: Friendship, Photoshop & American soccer.

Please enjoy.

Atlanta United — Waffle House

An iconic southern restaurant with its roots in Atlanta, Waffle House is open 24/7, 365—and it’s the best. As Waffle House FC will tell you, this is a perfect sponsor for a team that’s tasty on and off the pitch. Their supporters never waver, refusing to shut off for even a single second when they pack the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They aren’t afraid to do things their own way—which, yes, can sometimes get a bit messy ... but most of the time it’s spot on.

Chicago Fire — Portillo’s

Sorry, it’s important we let you know now that this is probably going to be a food-heavy list as we’re rather fond of eating.

Portillo’s is a Chicago institution known for its hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and an extremely healthy, 100% good for any diet cheese sauce.

While the Fire aren’t yet a Chicago institution themselves, we hope one day pictures of Bob Bradley, Hristo Stoichkov & Ante Razov will line the walls of a Portillo’s near you.

Colorado Rapids — Coors

The beer with mountains on the can that turn from white to blue when it’s cold enough to drink...

The beer that you knew and loved so well from ages 21-24...

The beer brewed with spring water from the very same Rocky range you can spot from the Colorado Rapids’ 18,000-seat soccer specific stadium...

Headquartered in Golden, Colorado and responsible for some of the best nights of your life, we give you Coors on a Rapids jersey...

“Like if Chelsea’s 1994 kit did a gap year in America.”

Columbus Crew — Wendy’s

As the red-headed stepchild of MLS, this one kind of feels right. And the disappearance of the club would be just as sad as when Wendy’s (founded in Columbus) got rid of their spicy chicken nuggets.

#SAVETHECREW

(Note: The actual kit is pretty great and it’s honestly insulting that we did anything to it. We’re sorry.)

DC United — Geico

The Chevy Chase, Maryland-based Geico gecko had some good years there. We all liked him for a while. It was a good bit. But it got stale right around the time Freddy Adu left town. Since then, DC United and the gecko have struggled mightily to find consistent form. Here’s hoping they both find success this year from a new approach.

(And, hey, while we’re here: All the best to you, Freddy.)

FC Dallas — Dr. Pepper

Everyone’s second team, Dr. Pepper, is a lifestyle in Texas. A Lone Star State-staple that pulls a talented 23-flavor squad from all-over—here’s to you Waco and Dublin— Dr. Pepper is an underrated, over-performing outfit with immense local significance … just like their imagined partner in Dallas.

A lot more to be proud of than their trophy cabinet will tell you.

Houston Dynamo — Swishahouse

As Mike Jones, noted soccer superfan, Swishahouse OG, and Everyone’s Favorite Rapper from 2005, once said:

Let ‘em know: Houston Dynamo.

Good enough for us.

LA Galaxy — SpaceX

Space. Galaxy. You get it.

Headquartered a stone’s throw from the LA Galaxy’s stadium in Carson is SpaceX, Elon Musk’s influential private “outer space things” company as it’s scientifically known.

Much like MLS’s most famous and successful franchise, SpaceX is a trailblazer famous for its glamour and willingness to break the mold. This isn’t to say it’s always smooth sailing—for either—but at the end of the day they’re both respected for their vision and performance.

This crossover is too perfect and it’s something that we’ve seen terrific mockups of in the past (though we wish we knew who to credit!). Also worth a shout is this awesome piece from LA Galaxy Confidential, which mentions Tesla as a fun potential partner. 

LAFC — The Boring Company

If the Galaxy is SpaceX, LAFC is The Boring Company.

Elon Musk’s newest endeavor is going to revolutionize Los Angeles by … making tunnels for cars? Oh, and by creating giant vehicles that can travel those tunnels and move lots of people at once … like a train. Hmm. The Boring Company seems like a well-backed but ordinary idea that lacks direction and distinction, with a lot of hype for reasons no one can really explain.

To be blunt, we haven’t really seen much to this point.

The Galaxy have sent a Tesla up into space and revolutionized how we build rockets... but LAFC have so far just made a bunch of flamethrowers and sold out their entire stock. So, we’ll see.

For now, all we’re really sure about is how much better their kit would have looked if they hadn’t put their sponsor in red.

Minnesota United — Prince. Duh.

You can have a Dirty Mind or even be a little Delirious, but you’ll still end up right back here with no Controversy. You can wear it in a Little Red Corvette, in a Purple Rain, When Doves Cry or even put it on Bambi. With this kit, you’ll be a Sexy MF.

Montreal Impact — Cirque du Soleil

What’s wilder than benching Didier Drogba because you’re better without him? One person doing acrobatics on the head of another person while a third person flies through the air holding fire. In French.

Born and headquartered in Quebec, Cirque du Soleil is now the largest theatrical producer in the world. The Impact aren’t even the kings of Canada yet, let alone MLS, but this could be the year they flip their way to the top. Holding fire. In French.

New England Revolution — Sperry’s

Put those Sperry’s on to look the part and take your dad’s boat out on the water. You’ll be as close to Boston as Gillette Stadium and the deck of your boat will probably be as soft as the turf too.

NYCFC — Sbarro.

The Michael-Scott-approved best pizza in New York. The only logical choice.

Sorry, sorry. We’re kidding. Don’t go to Sbarro.

...Let’s try that again...

NYCFC — WeWork.

Much like City Football Group, WeWork is trying to change a model.

For CFG, it’s football clubs. For WeWork, it’s the office space game. WeWork started in New York, born out of an inability to find affordable and available office space in the city—a problem NYCFC knows rather well—and now has an operation that spans across the globe.

Like CFG, it might not be your cup of tea, but it certainly works for a lot of people in NYC and has offered plenty of enterprising young professionals a place to grind. #JackHarrison

New York Red Bulls — Become the MetroStars again.

#Metros4Ever. That is all.

Orlando City — Publix

This one is a no-brainer.

Publix is an employee-owned supermarket chain that serves up some truly delicious food and has fans almost as fanatical as those found on The Wall in Orlando.

Floridians are vocally, passionately, sometimes a bit frighteningly #TeamPublix—and the same can be true for the way purple-clad City supporters get behind their squad.

Philadelphia Union — Wawa

If you know, you know. In their words:

“Wawa is your all day, every day stop for fresh, built-to-order foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services, and surcharge-free ATMs. The stores offer a large fresh food service selection, including Wawa brands such as built-to-order hoagies, freshly brewed coffee, hot breakfast sandwiches, built-to-order specialty beverages, and an assortment of soups, sides and snacks.”

Wawa 4 ever. #SheetzOUT

Portland Timbers — Powell’s

Powell’s City of Books is (supposedly) the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. It is ginormous and fantastic and you should go if you’re ever in Portland.

We don’t know of any football clubs sponsored by book stores, but if there was ever going to be one, it would play in the Rose City.

Real Salt Lake — High West

Tucked away in a state known primarily for its gorgeous vistas and as the home of the Mormon religion is a really wonderful distillery that will knock your socks off. It also comes with that beautiful mountain view, not unlike Rio Tinto Stadium.

San Jose Earthquakes — Yahoo!

Nothing says cool like needing an exclamation point at the end of your name. Kind of like building a brand new stadium and needing to tell people that you have a really long bar.

As the kit sponsor of the Quakes during their two title runs, we think it’s time for Yahoo! to make a return. (Not sure anyone will use it, though.)

Seattle Sounders — Starbucks

Sorry, we’re those guys. Seattle gave the world Starbucks and we needed to see what that logo would look like on these new kits. 

Plus, much like Starbucks invented coffee, the Sounders invented American soccer.

Sporting Kansas City — Hallmark

A proudly Kansas City company that is all about good vibes, with extensive Wizard of Oz involvement over the years.

That sounds a lot like Sporting KC to us—a team that needed a rough start in order to find its way. Much the same, Hallmark probably would have never become what it is today without extensive setbacks in its early years.

Toronto FC — Tim Hortons

Timbits and trophies: That’s what Toronto does. Nowadays, anyway.

We only had three Canadian teams to give the Tim Hortons love to, so we figured the toast of MLS deserves the world’s most lovely quick-service cafe and bake shop.

Vancouver Whitecaps — Lululemon

Set on the water, with an amazing mountain view, you couldn’t say a bad word about how great Vancouver looks. It’s straight-up cool. And local company Lululemon makes activewear that looks similarly awesome. We are officially here for MLS yoga wear.

————

This post was a collaboration between Where Is Football and Tap In Guide. Check out their stuff—it’s awesome.

A special thanks to Tap In’s graphic designer Mike Arney for helping bring our ideas to life, and to our buddy Ryan Rosenblatt for developing those ideas with us.

As always, you can follow us on Instagram @whereisfootball.

[bleederziine]

“I’m Compelled To Do It”; an Interview w/Lisa Jane Persky, Photographer, Writer, and Artist

In high school I was going to move to New York and grab the city by its throat. I was going to have at least 500 friends, own a punky couture boutique, and hold gothic open mics there every night and maybe date a Stroke for a few months. My imagination was like an entire universe of different identities, with tiny planets for NYC, Paris, 90s Seattle, 20s Greenwich Village. My favorite magazine was Pitchfork Review, and when I read Lisa Jane Persky’s piece, “X Offenders: A Typical Day in the Life of an NYC Proto Punk”, I got really jealous of her and then I got over that and wanted to know more. So I sent her a pouring my heart out email about how boring my neighborhood was, and how her story gave me hope for my own “New York story.” Sappy, right? Also, it was likely the truest thing I had ever written, before or since. As an over emotional messy artist, I’ve learned that the only way for me to get anything done is to rip open my heart and be as (healthily!) vulnerable as I can. In my experience, this has led me to knit a sweater for my favorite lead singer (Luke of the Walters) throw pads at Mario of the Orwells, and interview one of the coolest people I know.

Hi Lisa! How are you?

Lisa Jane Persky: I’m fine, just doing so many things at once! How are you?

I’m good! What are you working on right now?

LJP: I’m going to do a ten-day residency in London in June with my friends at Underground, a subculture inspired brand that makes some cool favorite stuff of mine. We found each other in 2015 and have been plotting something to do together ever since. June is Music Month in the UK and the residency will first of all be a show of my early photography, mostly of the Blondie days, and CBGB's time, really early, like 74-75. Along with that I’m programming various events, so different artists will come, DJs, musicians, underground comic book illustrators, all along the lines of subculture and music.

What made you want to photograph Blondie, since you were already familiar with them as friends?

LJP: Mostly it was access to a camera! I had a camera my dad used to use, and the band was just so cool looking, and I was going out with Gary Valentine at the time. Chris and Debbie were living in my friends loft, which is now known as the Blondie loft on the Bowery, where the band also rehearsed, and up there on the fourth floor was a big, torn white backdrop for portraits. It all started with an *official* session where I took 5 rolls of film in the loft, and those were pretty cool so I just kept going.

What is a good picture to you?

LJP: I like looking at people, studying them and observing what they do. When I shoot portraits we create an atmosphere together. I try to make a comfortable space for the subject to play, to be who they are with me, in spite of my lens I really enjoy seeing that, and the collaboration of it. It has to mean

something to me and I try to frame in the camera, and not edit it later. My eyes really were the frame then. Everyone looks so beautiful, was so young. When you’re young, you think, “we’re all so that!” And they were. Debbie’s a beautiful woman. She makes a picture look good, without much effort. I’m all

about making Instagram a place for my work right now. I like the shooting for that square shape. I love seeing other people’s photography evolve there.

Who were some of your other musical subjects?

LJP: I photographed Martin Rev of Suicide, I did a series on keyboard players, Cherry Vanilla’s, Zecca, and Richard Sohl, Patti Smith’s keyboard player, Kristian Hoffman of the Mumps, Lance Loud and the other Mumps, The Fast, mostly my friends and mostly portraits. I prefer to see live music rather than photograph it.

Yeah! I photograph shows sometimes and I prefer to ask to take pictures of the band after because I feel like the subject will give me more than when they’re thinking I’m just an anonymous photographer. What motivates you as an artist?

LJP: I’m compelled to do it, I want to do it. That said, writing is harder for me than all the other things I do. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because there’s a loneliness to it that the others don’t have. Even when I’m out photographing my landscapes, which I call Lonescapes because there are no people in them, I never feel lonely. But there’s some kind of foreboding loneliness in writing that keeps me away from it. But I love having written, which is how most people probably feel.

”The picture of me is a photo booth pic. I’m wearing an Eagle’s Nest T-Shirt. The Eagle’s Nest was a gay hardcore leather bar in the Meatpacking District (no girls allowed) and their symbol was that Eagle on the shirt, which is the eagle that in part inspired Arturo Vega to design the Ramones Eagle. There are all kinds of other stories out there about Arturo's art but he loved America and being in it, had a great sense of humor about its hypocrisies. The Bicentennial was coming up and that was a very big deal in New York City with sailors from the fancy wooden Tall Ships arriving and all. Anyway, I thought you might like to see that and know about it. The Eagle's Nest is now called The Eagle and it has moved uptown from its old location.”

What do you get out of making art?

LJP: The most important thing is what connects me to different people. I like being able to be in the world with others to share stories with people who aren’t necessarily like myself. Each of these things I do connects me to others in different ways. I value that, making and having friends and exploring the world through art and music together more than anything. But I also have no idea what else I’d do. I really don’t.

So the way we met online was through me reading your piece in Pitchfork; what made you want to write that?

LJP: Every year my husband and I go to a conference that highlights music writing of all types, a very eclectic mix of people and papers, and I one year presented a paper on my interview with the Ramones, which I did the day after their first record came out. And then I wanted to write another paper, since everyone had been asking me, “what was it like back then?” And I had read something Tommy Dean (Mills), who owned Max’s at that time in the 70s had said in an interview. He said that all the girls who came to the club with or to see the bands back then were either hookers or groupies. And I read that and it made me really mad, because all of us had been working our tails off, we were not hookers or groupies! Not that there is anything wrong with being a hooker or groupie, it’s just that way he characterized all the women. It said more about him than us but that quote coupled with people asking what it was like, made me decide to write what it was like for me. So I wrote that and presented it at the conference, and used photos I had or had taken or found that went with the text, so people could get a three dimensional look at what a day in the life in downtown New York back then was like.

What was writing for the New York Rocker like?

LJP: Well, that is why I was interested in what you’re doing, because it’s very similar. It was just a bunch of us going to these shows. Early on there was hardly anyone going, just us, the people in the bands and the neighborhood, other artists, our friends and then Alan Betrock. He was older and always a superfan of rock music, especially pop and girl groups. He had a zine before there were zines. I don't know what you'd call them but it was amateur publishing by smart people and he and others like Greg Shaw would

write to each other about records newsletter style sometimes on mimeograph paper because they didn’t even have Xerox machines then and they’d snail-mail it around because it was the only way. So he showed up and we knew he was a kind of force and then it was like “Lets have a newspaper!” and he gave birth to New York Rocker with us as his staff and we wrote about each other and it was much more representative of the downtown music scene in the early '70s than PUNK magazine was. PUNK magazine was great but was its own more specific world.

What do you think was the most interesting thing one of these musicians said to you?

LJP: One of my favorite answers, when I asked the Ramones in July of 1976 what they liked to do when they weren’t making music, they all agreed, and I think it was Johnny who said it, “we like to hang out in stairwells.” And he wasn’t kidding; they liked to hang out in stairwells in Queens. One of the things that was good about being there and these early interviews was you got an idea of who everyone was in an unguarded way except for Patti Smith who always seemed strategic and cautious. It was before anyone else there was famous or known, and no one knew whether they were going to be anyone or not. We were all hanging out with our pants down, there was no hiding going on.

What do you think were punk’s biggest inspirations back then?

LJP: In the beginning, they were all pop bands, really. Everyone really liked pop, and everyone was a fan of real rock n roll, and what we heard on the radio was more like Bread and yacht rock before it was called that, and it didn’t feel like what we grew up with and times were tough and a lot of us were just furious, had a ton of energy that needed an outlet. And then, too, we all liked glam. These things, the pop sensibility, the love of glam and the performative aspects of that and the furious energy was the most visible, in many of the Max's and CBGB'S bands 74-76. In 76 the Sex Pistols who had been influenced by The Ramones but had their own kind of fury and other UK bands started to have an effect. There was a lot of discussion, which I wrote about in the New York Rocker and the LA Weekly, about whether our New York music was punk. And we didn’t think so. We were, most of us, a bunch of punk kids but Punk wasn’t a good moniker for most NY bands.

A lot of your Pitchfork article was also about your acting career. How did you get into acting?

LJP: Yeah, that article was about the time when you could still get an apartment for $65 a month in Greenwich Village. There was a lot of experimental theater in the neighborhood, and this guy who lived in my building was a wonderful, known playwright and all around character in The Village named Harry (H.M. Koutoukas), and he came up to me on the street one day and said, “Darling I've written a play for you. Rehearsals start on Sunday. The pay is $25 a week. I’m sending someone to pick you up.” And I didn’t really have anything better to do, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. It was right after I graduated from high school. The guy he sent to pick me up, came to my apartment, walked me from there to the East Village to La Mama Experimental Theater Club and we started rehearsals, and that got my career started. I was enthusiastic and had a passion for it and even more important, I got laughs. The guy who picked me up and walked me to the first rehearsal of the play was the same person who let Chris and Debbie move into the loft on the Bowery with him. The theaters I worked in were right around the corner from CBGB’s so it was convenient to go to shows after I’d perform. The acting part of my career went on until about 2005. I haven’t done much of it since then but I'd welcome the opportunity to play some juicy part with fun people.

What was your favorite acting role? LJP: Well, that’s a hard question to answer because I’d almost always think, “this is the best job, this is the most fun I’ve ever had!” I loved the film The Big Easy, because I had worked with the director Jim McBride before, and we knew each other pretty well. And there was a preponderance of male characters in that script and I said to him, “you should make one of these detectives a woman. It would be so much more interesting.” We had to convince the producer, and we did, and I basically got to write my own role. And you were in the Golden Girls! What was that like? LJP: Well, those ladies are pretty amazing and admirable, as you might imagine. Bea didn’t like to talk very much. She would come in every morning and say “good morning everyone” and not really talk to anyone all day, unless she had a note for you about your performance. It was quite odd. It was fun, but there were more fun jobs. It was more fun to watch them work. What music/art/other stuff do you like today? LJP: Theres a band called Shame that’s from the UK, and they just put out a record called Songs of Praise. I’ve seen them live and they’re fantastic. They have the spirit that I saw back then, in the mid 70s from all the punk bands that we didn’t call punk. I love Mary Epworth who is putting her own unique ethereal spin on psychedelia. She has a beautiful voice. I love so many artists and musicians that I don’t know where to start listing but I’ll tell you this, at any given time you might find me listening to Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio Is My Life! I’ve been listening to Simple Minds again lately. I like Orwells, who I learned about from you. When I was growing up I was the only girl that I knew who had a record player and records. My father worked at a newspaper, so I got a lot of free records. My stepfather was a violinist and he would buy me more experimental music. I always liked noise and I was the only girl I knew who liked prog, and I still like prog. I love Steven Wilson, from Porcupine Tree--but not Porcupine Tree. I like his prog band which goes by his name. I like his work in part because he writes interesting songs about women. No one’s really paid enough attention to that. Prog is leaving behind it’s reputation as a masculine ghetto. Someone needs to write about it. Maybe me, but I haven’t gotten around to that.

Interview by Chloe Graham

All Images Courtesy of Lisa Jane Persky

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