What do folks think the next single(s) should be from CC? It seems II Most Wanted and Jolene are the commercial favorites, so I'd think one of those. Blackbiird is doing well too and carries such a lovely message with the black women in country.
I personally see II Most Wanted as the stronger record - lyrically, and I think the Miley Cyrus collab is such a huge deal; and it's a radio ready ballad. After that I'd love for "Ya Ya" to have a summer moment and maybe even "Tyrant" or "Spaghetti" to get a push

Long shot - Any chance there are clubs or lounges with house music on Saturdays that get going on the earlier side (say 11pm’ish)? I know about Space and have had several crazy early mornings on that terrace, but I recall it doesn’t get going until after 1am and I can’t make it a late night this particular trip. Ideally looking for proper house music (as opposed to big room commercial EDM) and someplace with a dance floor. I’ve checked RA and 19hz. Thanks!
Edit: Ended up at Jolene and it was absolutely perfect. Got on the guest list and had no issues at the door. Just had to get there before midnight. Crowd was great, as was the soundsystem. Small place, so pretty intimate vibe. Most importantly, really good house music and a bumping dance floor by 12:15ish. Very cool spot.

Markus Larsson is a music journalist for Sweden's biggest newspaper Aftonbladet. He is mostly known for being rather snobbish and having a love-hate relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest, but he just did a list of the 100 best country songs (paywalled article) in honor of his country music-loving parents. He gave justifications for each pick, but I'll just run through the list and translate the top 10 (feel free to ask for any specific ones you want translated). There are some Swedish entries for natural reasons, but all the songs can be found in this Spotify playlist, as well as this playlist of all his further recommendations.
100. Linda Ronstadt - Long Long Time (1970) 99. Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow (2013) 98. Alf Robertson - Hundar och ungar och hembryggt äppelvin (1977, cover of Tom T Hall's Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine) 97. The Highwomen - If She Ever Leaves Me (2019) 96. KD Lang - Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray (1987) 95. Keith Whitley - Don't Close Your Eyes (1987) 94. Tanya Tucker - Delta Dawn (1972) 93. Lyle Lovett - Simple Song (1987) 92. Charley Crockett - The Man from Waco (2022) 91. David Ritschard - När jag ser en bro (2018)
90. Merle Haggard - Okie From Muskogee (1969) 89. Bobby Bare - 500 Miles Away from Home (1963) 88. First Aid Kit - Cedar Lane (2014) 87. Ray Price - You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me (1973) 86. Margo Price - Stone Me (2020) 85. Ralph Stanley - O, Death (2000) 84. Solomon Burke - Valley of Tears (2006) 83. Bruce Springsteen - Wreck on the Highway (1980) 82. Allison Russell - Nightflyer (2021) 81. Beyoncé ft. The Chicks - Daddy Lessons (2016)
80. Freddy Fender - Before the Next Teardrop Falls (1975) 79. Taylor Swift - Carolina (2022) 78. Iris DeMent - Wasteland of the Free (1996) 77. Charley Pride - The Snakes Crawl at Night (1966) 76. Maria McKee - Am I the Only One (Who's Ever Felt This Way?) (1989) 75. Tom Waits - Long Way Home (2001) 74. The Carter Family ft. Johnny Cash - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1964) 73. Sturgill Simpson - The Promise (2014) 72. Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Girl from the North Country (1969) 71. Arthur Alexander - Rainbow Road (1972)
70. Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon (2002) 69. Porter Wagoner - A Satisfied Mind (1957) 68. Miranda Lambert - The House That Built Me (2010) 67. Tom T Hall - That's How I Got To Memphis (1969) 66. Waylon Jennings - Dreaming My Dreams With You (1975) 65. Brad Paisley ft. Alison Krauss - Whiskey Lullaby (2004) 64. Roger Miller - King of the Road (1964) 63. The Jayhawks - All the Right Reasons (2003) 62. Johnny Paycheck - Take This Job and Shove It (1977) 61. The Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice (2006)
60. Jerry Jeff Walker - Desperados Waiting for a Train (1973) 59. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris - Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (1994) 58. George Strait - Amarillo By Morning (1982) 57. Ryan Adams - Oh My Sweet Carolina (2000) 56. Chris Stapleton - Tennessee Whiskey (2015) 55. Buck Owens - Act Naturally (1963) 54. Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels (1952) 53. Kimmie Rhodes - West Texas Heaven (1994) 52. Dwight Yoakam - A Thousand Miles from Nowhere (1993) 51. Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit - Cover Me Up (2013)
50. Courtney Marie Andrew - Table For One (2017) 49. Gary Stewart - She's Actin' Single (I'm drinkin' Doubles) (1975) 48. Gram Parsons - Return of the Grievous Angel (1974) 47. Elvis Presley - Gentle On My Mind (1969) 46. The Louvin Brothers - Satan Is Real (1959) 45. Kenny Rogers and The First Edition - Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town (1969) 44. Linda Martell - Color Him Father (1969) 43. Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around (2002) 42. The Byrds - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (1968) 41. Don Gibosn - Sea of Heartbreak (1961)
40. Nanci Griffith - Trouble in the Fields (1987) 39. Hank Williams - Alone and Forsaken (1951) 38. Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World (1992) 37. Kris Kristofferson - Help Me Make It Through the Night (1970) 36. Rodney Crowell - Till I Gain Control Again (1981) 35. Hank Cochran - Make the World Go Away (1963) 34. Lefty Frizzell - Long Black Veil (1959) 33. Loretta Lynn - The Pill (1975) 32. Ray Charles - I Can't Stop Loving You (1962) 31. Steve Young - Alabama Highway (1981)
30. Emmylou Harris - Boulder to Birmingham (1975) 29. Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman (1968) 28. Steve Earle - Goodbye (1995) 27. Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe (1967) 26. Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson - Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (1978) 25. Charlie Rich - I Can't Even Drink It Away (1970) 24. The Highwaymen - Highwaymen (1985) 23. John Prine - Angel from Montgomery (1971) 22. Waylon Jennings - I'm a Ramblin' Man (1974) 21. Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache (1981)
20. Willie Nelson - Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning (1982) 19. Jerry Lee Lewis - Me and Bobby McGee (1971) 18. Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty (1972) 17. Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Goin' Back to Harlan (1996) 16. Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (1949) 15. Gillian Welch - Revelator (2001) 14. Patsy Cline - Crazy (1961) 13. George Jones ft. Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood & Emmylou Harris - Where Grass Won't Grow (1994) 12. Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You (1974) 11. Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (1970)
10. The Everly Brothers - Down In the Willow Garden (1958)
The Every Brothers almost feel underrated in the country world. The brothers were so much more than Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie. The albums they released on the RCA label between 1966 and 1972 had everything except for commercial success. Almost everything ends up clouded by the increasingly burnt out and desperate brothers singing their hearts out and putting their country and soul, hospel and honkuy tonk, hillbilly and jingle handle, the deepest country ballads and the country rock on a much darker level. It wasn't until obsessed German record collectors at the Bear Family company collected recordings in the Chain To a Memory CD box that the Everly Brothers' forgotten years got any semblance of retribution. A hint of what was to come was already there, in their version of the song Down in the Willow Garden. It's an awful and graphic murder ballad. The lyrics get even grimmer by the brothers' unreal harmonies. It's as if two angels were crying over Rose Connolly.
9. Willie Nelson - Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (1975)
In the essay book The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan writes that Willie Nelson can sing from a phonebook and still make you cry. Dylan notes that Nelson would travel around selling bibles before having his breakthrough. If the person Willie is as magnetic and authentic as his voice he must have sold half the bibles in the entire United States. And if all American music was gathered in a song book Willie Nelson's voice would be the spine, the glue and the preamble. There's a reason why Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain has become a saying, a sort of subtext for sad country music ballads. The song's narrator has reached the end of the rope. When the author and drummer from Sugarplum Fairy, Kristian Gidlund, visited Jill's Veranda [Swedish TV show featuring country singer Jill Johnson] he knew that he was dying of cancer. He also knew that the show was a sort of public farewell. He chose to sing Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.
8. Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man (1968)
Stand By Your Man has been accused of being reactionary and anti-feminist. Hillary Clinton is one of the song's many critics. But are you supposed to interpret the lyrics literally, or are there more complex nuances in how Tammy Wynette performs the song? She sounds neither submissive nor passive, rather exhausted and sad, sometimes almost sarcastic. She was after all in a relationship with George Jones. Or as the key phrase of the song says: "After all, he's just a man." Regardless, there are choruses and then there's the chorus in Stand By Your Man. All of country history fits into that one.
7. George Jones - The Grand Tour (1974)
Enter at your own risk. The Grand Tour could be the most bitter and saddest thing that George Jones has recorded. In other words it's one of the most bitter and saddest country songs that have ever been created. With total self-annihilation she takes the listened on a tour of a house that he once called home sweet home. The poison is setting in for every piece of furniture he passes. Everything brings back memories of what disappeared after the divorce, everything builds towards a horrific climax. She left everything but the kid and his heart. "Step right up, come on in..."
6. Sammi Smith - Saunders Ferry Lane (1970)
In his book Cinema Speculation the director Quentin Tarantino explains the difference between movie stars and actors using the example of Steve McQueen. McQueen doesn't play a role, he is. Tarantino could have written something similar about the difference between singers and country stars, although using Sammi Smith as an example. She is. When she sings a song, almost any song, she takes posession of it from the inside out. Sammi Smith was one of few women who received acclaim with the outlaws of the 70's. Nobody has sounded tougher and more despondent than she does in Saunders Ferry Lane.
5. Merle Haggard and The Strangers - Sing Me Back Home (1967)
There is an old joke about how an album by "Hag" must contain at least three songs about prisons, otherwise it's not Merle Haggard. It's pretty funny since it's true. The former jailbird spent three years at San Quentin in California for a failed robbery. Sing Me Back Home is inspired by two prisoners he got to know in the joint. One was sentenced for kidnapping and the other for murder. Both were executed. The intro sets the stage. The music reminds you of a church bell. The hour has come. A death row inmate is being led through the corridor one last time. Just as everyone else the song's narrator stands up to watch. The prisoner has one last wish. He wants his old guitar playing friend to sing one last song so that he can remember his old life before everything went wrong. Sing me back home before I die. Merle Haggard does Sing Me Back Home with a ruthless authority. A constant candidate for the ultimate country song.
4. Phil Everly - Words In Your Eyes (1975)
Her eyes tell everything that she can't bring herself to say. It's over. She is on her way out. Words In Your Eyes is a silent storm, or maybe even more of a quiet and muffled scream. He pleads to her. Please, talk to me. Don't let us drift apart. The music is so mellow that you could whisper louder than the instruments play. The words that Phil Everly sing don't need a loudspeaker. Without the support of his brother Don the words become frighteningly brittle and forlorn. Everyone who has been there knows that it's all to no avail. She has already made up her mind. When the song ends she's gone.
3. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." Cash always presented himself in the same way when he kicked off his concerts with Folsom Prison Blues. As if anyone wondered what his name was. Johnny Cash recorded the song together with bass player Marshall Grant and guitarist Luther Perkinds. It sounds like a careening train. The trio plays so rough and tight that you don't even think about the recording not containing any drums. Some artists need to record 88 albums in 40 years to become larger than life. Johnny Cash needed a single line of text to become bigger than country. It might still be the hardest thing to ever be written: "But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die."
2. Dolly Parton - Jolene (1973)
Which artist has achieved the most in the least amount of time? It might be Dolly Parton. She wrote both I Will Always Love You and Jonese within the span of a few days, and not on the same day as legend has it. But how many others have managed to change a genre twice in a week? Nobody has represented the more sympathetic, inclusive and rainbow colored side of country music more than Dolly Parton. She wrote her signature melodifes after saying goodbye to her mentor Porter Wagoner. The interesting thing is the song's different temperaments. I Will Always Love You is forgiving and loving. The ballad is a letter that could be sent both to a friend and an ex lover. Jolene is the other side of the relationship, the fear, spite and jealousy. Jolene is one of music history's most iconic antagonists. You don't even need to like country to know, fear or dream about the flaming locks of auburn hair.
1. Mickey Newbury - The Future's Not What It Used To Be (1971)
Mickey Newbury never fit in. The fac that he disappeared in the periphery is understandable. The music didn't belong anywhere. It was too soft and introverted to be rock. Too excentric for the country crowds. It was definitely too sophisticated and dark to be pop. It wasn't soul, hippie, psychadelic, bandada, honko tonk or folk enough either. Michey Newbury refused to be specific. What radio station would play his songs?
When he released his best album in the 70's he should have fit in with the uprising against Nashville. But he thought the outlaw scene was childish. On the other hand he became a role model and mentor for many of the movement's most revered names. Mickey Newbury got Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark to move to Nashville. Waylon Jenning was a bright eyed admiror. Kris Kristofferson said that nobody had taught his more about writing songs than Mickey. Elvis Presley's cover of An American Trilogy is the most well known and commercially successful version of Mickey Newbury's songs. But it's nothing compared to his own original.
On the albums Feels Like Rain, Frisco Mabel Joy and Heaven Help the Child Newbury makes music that cannot be placed on any other stage or location in the world than his own head. He had fought depression his entire life. But instead of sitting down with a bottle in one hand and a gun against his temple he wrote songs. It's hard to listen to Mickey Newbury. The melancholy is so deep it feels dangerous. The beauty is threatening. The songs belong way beyond "the dark end of the street."
This is especially true in The Future's Not What It Used To Be. It's the best country song of all time. It's at least impossible to listen to anything afterwards. Everything feels empty and futile until you, against your better judgement, turn it on again.
The song slows down towards the end, right as Newbury hears that she's back in town. The music goes slowed and slowed as he sings:
"I know her sorrow, I know her pain, I know her need / And I once loved her a lot, but the future is just not, not what it used to be"
It's the sound of a heart ceasing to beat.

A plane has crashed near the 5 Wing Goose Bay airport in central Labrador, CBC News has confirmed.
The crash happened late Wednesday morning.
RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland says officers are on the scene, in the woods about five kilometres from the airport in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Garland said they don't believe the plane was a commercial airline flight.
In an email, 5 Wing public affairs officer Capt. Nicole Morrison said 444 Squadron is helping with "the medical transfer of passengers involved in the crash of a civilian aircraft that occurred on DND property."
"5 Wing is responding in co-ordination with the RCMP and first responders," she wrote.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labradocentral-labrador-plane-crash-1.6685457

Comedian Bryan Callen returns to the show to talk about his new comedy special, ‘Man Tears’. He joins Adam and the gang as they discuss bird brains, falcon hunting, and the time Adam got into a street fight and took a baseball bat to the knee. Bryan breaks down the Old Testament, reveals the best tippers he knows, and tells a story of trying not to cry when a blind man thanked him. Dawson gives an update on Zamfir the pan flute player and reveals a newly discovered commercial with a surprise guest musician.
Comedian Bryan Callen is in the studio and talks with the gang about K-tel commercials and the true meaning behind Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’. Adam shows them pieces of a House Oversight Committee hearing on Big Oil where ‘Chick Think’ quickly takes over the narrative. Gina Grad reports the news of the day including: reports of Woody Allen retiring, Gavin Newsom running for president, and how more people are now smoking marijuana than cigarettes.
“Right on man. Idk if you're new to this sub but it's flush with the whiniest bunch of nancies I did ever see.”

Memphis is in a very precious moment right now seeing that are 3-1 down against a championship calibre team and there are without thier best player which also doesn’t help things so I propose a last ditch plan to save thier season and it’s kind of wild
The plan is to play Miley Cyrus music every time that there is a commercial break, timeout, halftime show is going to have her play her country music to annoy the warriors and Memphis could hack into the warriors locking room speakers and force it to play her music and the reason is that I don’t think most of the warriors listen or even like her music In the first place
The songs that would be played
We can’t stop
Wrecking ball
Jolene cover
On my own
Malibu
Party in the USA
Bolt theme song
4x4
24
Feeling myself

Memphis is in a very precious moment right now seeing that are 3-1 down against a championship calibre team and there are without thier best player which also doesn’t help things so I propose a last ditch plan to save thier season and it’s kind of wild
The plan is to play Miley Cyrus music every time that there is a commercial break, timeout, halftime show is going to have her play her country music to annoy the warriors and Memphis could hack into the warriors locking room speakers and force it to play her music and the reason is that I don’t think most of the warriors listen or even like her music In the first place
The songs that would be played
We can’t stop
Wrecking ball
Jolene cover
On my own
Malibu
Party in the USA
Bolt theme song
4x4
24
Feeling myself

*NOTE: Not all characters will be included, only 10 as this takes much longer than you think.

• Clementine: (The Final Season)
  
• Age: 16
  
• Height: 5'6" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Female
  
• Kill Count: Lee Everett (Determinate), Kenny (Determinate), The Stranger (Determinate), Eddie, Rebecca (Determinate), Abel (Determinate), Michael (Determinate), Armando (Determinate), Gad, Gina, Eli, Paul Lingard (Determinate), Yonaton, Unnamed Ranch Caretaker, Unnamed Burn Victim (Determinate), Unnamed Ranch Invader, 5 Unnamed New Frontier Soldiers [Total = 9 - 21 Kills]
  
• Sexuality: Bisexual
  
• Birth Year: 1994
  
• Traits: Caring, Charismatic, Cautious, Skilled, Loving, Protective, Smart
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): N/A
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Leader of Ericson's Boarding School, Scavenger, Trade Searcher
  
• Significant Other(s): Violet (Determinate), Louis (Determinate)
  
• Voice Actor: Melissa Hutchinson
  
• Ethnicity: Asian/African-American
  
• Lee Everett:
  
• Age: 37
  
• Height: 6'2"
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: The Stranger (Determimate), Duck (Determinate), Andrew St. John (Determinate), Danny St. John (Determinate), State Senator, Jolene (Determinate), Unnamed Screaming Woman (Determinate), 7 Unnamed Bandits [Total = 9 - 14 Kills]
  
• Sexuality: Heterosexual
  
• Birth Year: 1966
  
• Traits: Caring, Charasmatic, Protective, Loving, Optimistic, Skilled, Smart
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): History Professor for the University of Georgia
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Scavenger, Former Leader of the Motel Group
  
• Significant Other(s): Carley
  
• Voice Actor: Dave Fennoy
  
• Ethnicity: African-American
  
• Louis:
  
• Age: 18
  
• Height: 5'8" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: Dorian (Determinate) [Total = 0 - 1]
  
• Sexuality: Heterosexual
  
• Birth Year: 1992
  
• Traits: Joyful, Laissez-faire, Self-doubting, Funny, Caring, Loving
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Student at Ericson's Boarding School
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Hunter, Scavenger
  
• Significant Other(s): Clementine
  
• Voice Actor: Sterling Suileman
  
• Ethnicity: African-American
  
• Violet:
  
• Age: 18
  
• Height: 5'6" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Female
  
• Kill Count: None [Total = N/A]
  
• Sexuality: Homosexual
  
• Birth Year: 1992
  
• Traits: Caring, Protecting, Loving, Understanding, Introverted
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Student at Ericson's Boarding School
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Scavenger, Scout, Fisherman, Former Co-Leader of Ericson's Boarding School
  
• Significant Other(s): Minerva, Clementine (Determinate)
  
• Voice Actor: Gideon Adlon
  
• Ethnicity: Caucasian-American
  
• Kenny: (Post-The Final Season)
  
• Age: 47 (Estimate)
  
• Height: 6"0"
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: Duck (Determinate), Jane (Determinate), William Carver, Larry, Ben (Determinate), 1 of Carver's Soldiers, 2 Unnamed Russians [Total = 4 - 7]
  
• Sexuality: Heterosexual
  
• Birth Year: 1960 (Estimate)
  
• Traits: Overprotective, Violent, Aggressive, Stressed, Caring, Loving, Vengeful
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Former Boat Captain, Commercial Fisherman
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Former Supply Runner of the Motel Group, Former Expansion Worker at Howe's Hardware, Former Co-Leader of the Motel Group
  
• Significant Other(s): Katjaa, Sarita
  
• Voice Actor: Gavin Hammon
  
• Ethnicity: Caucasian-American
  
• Javier García:
  
• Age: 35 (Estimate)
  
• Height: 6'2" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: Gabriel García (Determinate), Joan (Determinate), Badger (Determinate), Max (Determinate), Conrad (Determinate), Rufus (Determinate), Paul Lingard (Determinate), 5 New Frontier Guards [Total = 5 - 12]
  
• Sexuality: Bisexual
  
• Birth Year: 1972 (Estimate)
  
• Traits: Supportive, Caring, Loving, Protecting, Optimistic, Helpful
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Professional Baseball Player
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Leader of Richmond, Scavenger
  
• Significant Other(s): Kate (Determinate)
  
• Voice Actor: Jeff Schine
  
• Ethnicity: Cuban-American
  
• David García:
  
• Age: 40 (Estimate)
  
• Height: 6'3" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: Lonnie (Determinate), Rufus (Determinate), Clinton Barnes (Determinate) [Total = 0 - 3]
  
• Sexuality: Heterosexual
  
• Birth Year: 1967
  
  • Traits: Rash, Cold, Quick-tempered, Protective, Caring, Loving, Prideful, Skilled, Aggressive
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Staff Sergeant of the U.S. Army
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Former Co-Leader and Head of Security for the New Frontier
  
• Significant Other(s): Kate
  
• Voice Actor: Alex Hernandez
  
• Ethnicity: Cuban-American
  
• Alvin Jr. (The Final Season)
  

Age: 5

• Height: 4'11" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: Marlon, Lilly (Determinate), Tennessee (Determinate) [Total = 1 - 3]
  
• Sexuality: N/A
  
• Birth Year: 2005
  
• Traits: Conflicted, Passionate, Cheerful
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): N/A
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Scavenger, Fisherman, Patroller, Lookout for Ericson's Boarding School
  
• Significant Other(s): N/A
  
• Voice Actor: Tayla Parx
  
• Ethnicity: Caucasian/African-American
  
• Lilly: (The Final Season)
  
• Age: 42 (Estimate)
  
• Height: 6'1" (Estimate)
  
• Sex: Female
  
• Kill Count: Carley (Determinate), Doug (Determinate), Mitch, James (Determinate), Jake [Total = 2 - 5]
  
• Sexuality: N/A
  
• Birth Year: 1965 (Estimate)
  
• Trates: Cold, Rational, Manipulative, Casual
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Air Force Administrative Officer
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): Former LeadeLieutenant of the Delta, Former Recruiter for the Delta, Former Leader and then Co-Leader for the Motel Group
  
• Significant Other(s): N/A
  
• Voice Actor: Nicki Rapp
  
• Ethnicity: Caucasian-American
  
• Luke
  
• Age: 27
  
• Height: 5'10"
  
• Sex: Male
  
• Kill Count: N/A
  
• Sexuality: Heterosexual
  
• Birth Year: 1978
  
• Traits: Understanding, Optimistic, Calm
  
• Occupation (Pre-Apocalypse): Art History Student, Former Entrepreneur
  
• Occupation (Post-Apocalypse): De-Facto Leader of the Cabin Group
  
• Significant Other(s): Bonnie, Jane
  
• Voice Actor: Scott Porter
  
• Ethnicity: Caucasian-American
  

​
https://preview.redd.it/6cn8ij4zk2f81.jpg?width=288&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d61951cd4ab116f8434fd1472c1a66bc1e7dc169
Artist: Aesop Rock and Blockhead
Album: Garbology
Released: November 12th, 2021
Label: Rhymesayers Entertainment
Listen:
Apple Music
Spotify
Youtube
Tidal
Garbology: Who’s that Drunk Mall Santa Rooting Through my Trash?
Rock’em Block’em Robots
Garbology is a project of existential scope on both a personal and global level. When I accepted this writeup assignment I experienced a bit of my own existential dread, fully aware that dissecting Aesop Rock’s raps is a daunting task at best. So I sit here, three days before my writeup is due, cramming like a masochistic Physics major.
Trying to pin down Aesop Rock’s verbal necromancy is like trying to trap an angry cat in a paper bag. At this point, most people are fairly sure he’s an alien, robot, or robot-alien. Never one to disappoint, Aesop stays elusive yet impactful as ever, poking and prodding through life’s detritus to find meaning before careening into the next expert rendering, his flows reliably composed of an unflinching, dream-like intensity.
This project’s concept conjures the scavenger junk-men of my youth who came around before every garbage day, their rusted, pockmarked pick-up trucks stacked with broken chairs, chain-link fences, and childrens’ playsets of mildewed plastic, all strapped down with frayed bungee cords. They would spend hours every Sunday driving street to street, hoping to salvage something valuable from another man’s trash. Aesop stacks his raps masterfully as a ragpicker in a truck bed, extracting precious metals from everyday refuse and proving everything has a use, even when its function is thought to be long gone.
Born of a brotherhood forged between hip hop-obsessed Boston University students, Aesop Rock and Blockhead’s Garbology is a study of all things forgotten, repurposed, or recycled. It investigates not only what we forget, but the things we refuse to leave behind. In an ever collapsing world, this project finds comfort in the warmth of lost nostalgia and the fire of justified rebellion, all while projecting optimistic anxiety for the future.
Though they have a long history of fruitful collaboration, they never created a full joint project together, with this latest offering seeming a long overdue dream project for their respective fanbases. Embarking on a rap career with his first offering Music for Earthworms, Ian Bavitz is many things: a Long Island native, current Portland resident, diehard skate rat, and disillusioned art student. As Aesop Rock, he’s been weaving his nihilistic verbosity over beats equal parts dirty and melodic for decades.
As noted by Aesop super-fan Lupe Fiasco, Aes is a rare artist that continuously improves with age, in a way that's mystifying and frustrating to creative contemporaries. Lupe went so far as to memorize and rap Aesop’s Supercell verse, posting with the caption “take time to memorize the unbridled excellence of others.” Aes’s sinuous flows are like fine ambrosia plundered from the catacombs of graffitied subway tunnels. Often, Aesop juxtaposes the natural with the digital and artificial. It's like if the Cask of Amontillado was wrapped in scratched grip tape and brimming with rabbit blood.
Meanwhile, Blockhead long ago cemented himself as one of the more inventive and prolific producers working today. Aside from his memed-out social media feed of beautiful shit posts, he met early acclaim with instrumental projects like Music by Cavelight and Uncle Tony's Coloring Book. His career spans a plethora of lauded projects up to his recent Space Werewolves Will Be The End of Us All and the 2019 underground super-compilation Free Sweatpants. Ever self-effacing, his Twitter bio asserts he "makes music for rappers and high people".
On this album, skateboard references abound, which should surprise nobody who's been following Aesop's Instagram stories, his album promo often amounting to clips of his friends skating curb spots in downtown Portland. An 80s skate rat at heart, these reference points make even more sense of the context of this project's genesis. Over the past few years, Aesop went through a rare creative drought following the sudden passing of close friend and Portland skate filmer Kurt Hayashi.
Garbology was born from that personal tragedy and resulting creative block. Sequestered indoors under a fresh pandemic, Blockhead supplied production via email for Aes to play on like a rusted jungle gym of grim synths, nimble basslines, and melancholy piano melodies. From there, things worked themselves out with minimal communication. Aesop claimed on an Instagram story "usually Block will send me a beat and I'm like bruuuuhhhh then I send him back the verse and he's like, bruuuuh, sick".
About the album’s concept, Aesop said, “Garbology is defined as the study of the material discarded by society to learn what it reveals about social or cultural patterns. I find a lot of parallels between that and the idea of picking up the pieces after a loss or period of intense unrest, and seeing what’s really there. It’s information that speaks to who I am, who we are, and how we move forward. Furthermore – the idea of digging through old, often neglected music from another time with an ear tuned for taking in that data in a different way than your average listener would is exactly what Blockhead does. Go through the information and see what you find.”
Drawing Molotov Cocktails
Jazz Hands, the lead single from the album, concerns Aesop’s past few years and the adjoining anxiety of personal and societal flux. Much of the song is from the viewpoint of a fervent protestor. It feels like a roiling statement of seclusion amid a world in turmoil, juxtaposed with the speaker’s newfound sense of community as he rebels against an oppressive system.
The song begins with symbols and personal statements on isolation, paranoia, and a longing for familial connection. The first segment includes a reference to famed escape artist Harry Houdini, showing Aesop’s internal struggles to be closer to picking lock tumblers underwater than a simple pulling of scarves from a tophat.

Love note to the whole fuck show
Postmarked from a lighthouse in the blunt smoke
Dear motherfuckers, I'm teetering, if you must know
…
Niece on the phone saying, "Ian, you should visit more"
We could build forts while the pigs court civil war
….
I'm not here to pull scarves out
Here to pick tumblers underwater with his arms bound

Later lines build the theme of art as an essential, even violent catharsis, or weapon against an unjust world. Aes enacts a failed William Tell shot, imagining himself shooting an arrow, maybe figuratively in the form of art, maybe literally at the forehead of a corrupt cop or system, asserting he will not be aiming for the apple. He goes on to depict the results of civil unrest, mixing these images with his own artistic prowess, “New superpower that I picked up in a frenzy/I can draw a roof on fire from memory.”
The verse transitions into more direct references to the protests "Down to spray piss on a cop car, it's rage in the form of Renaissance art”. Aesop then raps more lines dealing with frustration at the impermanence of life, himself, and those he loves most,

Lately, I treat every interaction as a living wake
Thanking people close to me before the photo pixelate

The song ends with eponymous bars that reference Gil-Scott Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised as Aesop affirms real systemic change will not be pretty, peaceful, or able to be sugar-coated.

Get your whole roadmap Pac Man'd
Black mask, snack on whatever's in the dashcam
It's not an ad, hashtag, or a tap dance
Patsy, the revolution will not have jazz hands

The spacey, deceptively simple production is a nod to the drumless loop trend first popularized by Roc Marciano, becoming so popular even Drake adopted the style for Champagne Poetry. By the end of the verse, Blockhead’s drums thump into earshot, symbolizing a release or resolution, or even the morning after a protest, the sun rising above the Portland skyline amidst the scent of smoke and tear-gas.
The Portland George Floyd protests were significant for their duration, where demonstrators engaged in a near persistent stretch of year-long protests, at times erupting into clashes between left-wing protestors demanding police accountability and right-wing counter-protesters waving Trump flags. Portland was also one of the cities where members of the National Guard were deployed, meeting later criticism after it was shown that officers did not clearly identify themselves and seized protestors who were not on or near government property.
The Portland Police Bureau even met criticism from the US Department of Justice via a scathing letter condemning their use of undue force and violence towards protestors. This is the physical setting for Jazz Hands, with its undercurrent of resolute revolt. This all hums below Block’s loops, where the soundscape feels like wandering through cosmic decay, its deceptive calm contrasting Aesop’s fiery subject matter.
Ledgerdemain is defined as an adroit skillfulness defying normal human expectations or abilities. Mixing in more spooky magical bars, Aesop again employs his spoken sleight of hand with a sharpness befitting Houdini, narrating a story within the hook while describing his own characteristics and nighttime activities in the verses, mostly centering around skateboarding while depicting skating as the gateway drug for rebellion. Tying into the theme of garbage and recycling, Aes shows how skateboarders, like graffiti writers who make markers from empty shoe polish bottles, reclaim the mundane structures of a city into skate spots, turning forgotten places into sources of inspiration and joy.
To me, it sounds like the hook might be about finding a hidden skate spot in the woods or finding a hidden subculture in the unknown, then the verses intersperse skate talk with protest talk. He begins the song visualizing his outfit and demeanor, characterizing himself as a haggard vagabond draped in thrifted clothes and supernatural implements, like some kind of Samurai Jack of Long Island’s back alleys.

Chicken noodle thermos, parka marching out the army surplus
Over thermals over thermals over thermals over thermals, look
Owl on my shoulder, initials on the katana
Whispering something wicked through a moisture-wicking balaclava

Again, the themes of rebellion and police criticism show, as Aesop highlights the uselessness of oppressive policing and depicts police burning technology ritualistically, perhaps to destroy data and communication lines.

​​Caught 'em fudging the numbers and hiding birds in they coat
Burning phones and computers inside a circle of stones
When policing the people is, "Please return to your homes"
You get a people determined to take a turn in the strobe

He describes his fellow protestors further in the second verse, highlighting the similar scorn skaters and protesters have for tyrannical authority figures, occupying the “umbra” of shadows nobody goes. The plaza and thermometer lines could be referencing skating plazas in freezing temperatures, or protesting in plazas during COVID and taking temperatures to make sure nobody has a fever.

Plaza to plaza, thermometer going nuh-uh
My posse out of pocket on some occupy the umbra
If it's under freezing, I don't even wanna know a number
Just show me to the rolling thunder, wubba, wubba, wubba
Today a mall cop told me I should get a life

He then finishes the verse with some skateboard folklore, one of those “no way, he did that trick over that curb and wearing Timberland boots on a board that wasn’t even his!?” stories skateboarders pass between themselves like baseball cards, each detail adding to the mystique and difficulty of whatever trick it was.

I guess in '97, so and so did such and such
In Timbs on someone else's board
Tell the story, spread the lore
It's epic to a people who would rather push than teleport

Aesop begins the last verse with more sartorial references, showing himself wearing a wolf’s carcass like an Arcteryx jacket, in search of late-night junk food. He describes how he and his friends are able to turn a skatable curb into an evening of recreation, boardsliding so intensely they manage to “sweat a boiling ocean in early Feb’ ” To the very end, Aesop mixes the images in this song between protestors and skaters, moving or skating so fast through the night that they’re indistinguishable on surveillance footage.

My coaches told me don't come home without the serpent's head
I told 'em hold my turkey leg, point me at a pitchfork
Brought the trophy home and took the poultry back still warm
Out to flirt with hypothermia
It's CCTV's blurriest insurgents in your area

People are Disappointing
Difficult is a song built on Aesop's tongue-in-cheek insistence he isn't that complicated. This is one of the more obviously braggadocious songs on the album where Aes weaves dismissive assertions into a cascade of brilliant, quasi self-effacing boasts. Bavitz even brings in a compelling family reference, the war stories of grandparents we were all so horrified and impressed by as children around the rocking chair. The “I storm off, forged from my gramp’s war stories/short sword swinging like a dance floor in the 40s” is one of my favorite bars on the album, from the impeccably smooth assonance to the wordplay between the horrors of an era’s wars versus that era’s cultural recreation, with a subtle nod to the discontented traits inherited from earlier generations.

Pulled pork sliders
Headed for satori in jorts and horse blinders
I'm more for the sordid, got nan for the normies
Cornered, my storm got plans for the Dorothies
I storm off, forged from my gramp's war stories
Short sword swinging like a dance floor in the forties

Further bars include an allusion to a bizarre scene featuring decapitation via bladed frisbee from the 1987 B-movie Hard Ticket to Hawaii a film about two drug enforcement agents overthrowing an island cartel. Aesop conveys his fascination with the stranger strains of “fringe science” aka left-of-center references he often incorporates in his writing. Ever the unreliable narrator, Aes confesses he’ll probably steal your lighter if you hand it to him, a fitting treasure trove for the absurdist character he often raps through.

My oars both row in an ocean of fringe science
The low road's owner of the most pinched lighters
I maybe got a thousand
My crane kick plays like a train through a mountain
My neck chop plays like blades on a frisbee

Then, he goes on to portray himself as the black sheep of his family, a loose apple who couldn’t adhere to any family tree precedent. Aes claims to be a tide destroying childrens’ sandcastles then references a Dolly Parton song, describing himself as murdering his adversaries and rolling them in an area rug. Aesop Rock, for all his seemingly obscure, profound flourishes, is a child of bad 80s movies and nickel arcades. He’s the king of these light-hearted, deep-cut 80s references that border on incredibly well-worded cartoonish scenes. Plus, who else has ever rhymed “hair in the sun” with “area rug”? This is another example of Aesop’s exhaustive originality.

I'm an apple with no tree
I'm ground swell crashing every castle at Jones Beach
It's beautiful as Jolene hair in the sun
Or any adversary wrapped up in an area rug, oh, Jesus

In the final verse, Bavitz opines his weariness of our endlessly artificial, social media-obsessed world while admitting he’s as much a victim as anyone to the easy dopamine distractions of cellphones or “houses of mirrors”. Nobody is truly immune to an algorithm that reflects your own self-image back to you via content relevant to your own interests. We’re all hopeless narcissists in our special human way, even the inimitable Aesop Rock.

Every time an influencer offers advice,
I feel years coming off of my life I feel
blood shooting out of my ears
Still, I'm apparently a sucker for these houses of mirrors

Flamingo Pink, with chorus assistance from Hail Mary Mallon associate and frequent collaborator Rob Sonic, depicts the hazards of propping false idols on shoddy pedestals, exposing the menacing energies lurking below a pretty facade. Over thumping drums muddled as kerosene puddles, Aesop begins the song picturing himself as some kind of bandit, holding a stethoscope to the locks of a bank vault before absconding down castle walls with search dogs in hot pursuit. The tension of the chase is reflected in the production, with an everpresent synth pluck pulsating in the background.
Aesop is unflinching towards death, positing that no pharmaceutical panacea can contend with the crushing existential weight of the inevitable end. Instead of dread, he adopts a carelessness to the universal imminence of death, whistling the grim inevitability away with the wave of a hand.

The rope goes over the wall
For the controller born to hold a stethoscope to a vault
Wooly willy, peel off in a barrel over the falls
And down river by the time they radio for the dogs
I crossed heart, can't tell a bad day from a death wish
Detour through the graveyard with a chef's kiss
They don't make a pill for that, it's too advanced
All you can do is lick your wounds and whistle past the boogie mans

Standout bars on the album follow, rendering carnival decorations reminiscent of the Coney Island boardwalk. Aesop shows death can be hiding ominously behind the most innocuous objects, uncovering the looming doom beneath a bright image of conventional fun.

Wicked forces in the wings descending on the simple things
Like taffy at the boardwalk under ribbons of flamingo pink
Which mutates into ovеrcrowded Plinko on a laser grid

Bavitz then continues to build his self-characterization as a misanthrope. This stretch includes more references to wolves, adept internal rhymes, and social justice imagery. Aesop asserts that the system cannot tame ardent activists, portraying his own grim unreliability before shifting into another skateboard reference.

Don't do it, social cues bouncing off his open wounds
Folk are on some, "Oh, hello," I'm on some hocus pocus, poof
Holy moly, motion blur from bloke to Canis Lupus
…
You can not domesticate the modern vigilante
Who increasingly identifies as energy expanding
My pat on the back is a little Edward Scissorshands-y
Come and send it with the cleverest to never stick the landing

He then raps about Plinko machines, a manmade object that itself is outdated in our hyper-digitized world, seeming more a forgotten piece of nature than civilization. Sonic's refrain kicks in after each verse, his world-weary timbre mirroring Aesop’s own Marlboro-tinted baritone.

Good goddamn, good goddamn
Every idol I ever met is a con-man.
Gotta hopscotch hot pan to hot pan

Rob ties into the bleak realism of the overall album, showing that when it comes to promises and persona versus reality, humans tend to underdeliver. Never meet your heroes, they're only people, flaws and all.
Secret Sponsor-Me Tapes
In the TV-themed That is Not a Wizard, Aesop demystifies himself through vulnerability then addresses the negative facets of humanity at large. Featuring the best hook and one of the best beats on the album, Aes proclaims his affection for anything that can knock an arrogant person down a peg, showing how he uses obscure information to catch the high falutin off-guard. In the same bars, he asserts his respect for work ethic and creative excellence over materialistic success. Blockhead supplies some elegant piano samples whose delicate, ethereal keys float over an unrelenting drum break as harsh guitar hits play at intervals.
Aesop explains that he resents how the most outspoken people, regardless of the substance of their words, seem to find it easiest to achieve acclaim. Another bar laments the societal tendencies to laud false idols before following them to certain emptiness. Aesop would rather be seen as out to lunch in the context of the entertainment industry if it means he can maintain artistic integrity.

True crime, fantasy, action-adventure, game show
It's all sci-fi, I'm all Play-Doh
I like data that turn brains to egg yolk
It turn royals to regular John or Jane Does
I hate praising net worth over legwork
I hate ceding all power to the extroverts
I find the current social architecture hell on earth
We make shepherds and shadow 'em to the netherworld
I move reticent, never really an open book
I'm gone fishin' at thе risk of being overlooked

The hook encapsulates the themes of the song. Aes ultimately paints himself in vulnerable terms, showing his artistry wasn’t discovered easily. He depicts himself in a fugue state “learning how to walk from leaving the TV on”, a possible reference to his debilitating clinical depression, explored previously in One of Four. He then links this image of a TV flickering in a dark room with each set of beginning bars in the song’s verses, listing TV genres before expanding into introspection.

I was on the floor in a fugue state
Tripping over old flicks
Picking out a new name
I was on the couch feeling real gone
Learning how to walk from leaving the TV on

Abandoned Malls, a concept I'm surprised Aesop is only now exploring, finishes out the record. As gloomy synths tumble over the palpitations of Blockhead’s drum patterns, Aes investigates American deindustrialization. The production itself evokes Big Retail's carcass flatlining in real-time, like a threnody for the Toy-R-Us's of yesteryear. It features a pulsing throb that sounds like an EKG machine, an image reflected in Aesop's hook. Still, despite this stark rendering of commercial desolation, there's a strange nostalgia for the brighter days of Blockbuster and cassette tapes. It feels like a fitting soundtrack to popping switch rocket airs over a decommissioned escalator (Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 anyone?).
Aesop begins the verse with references to natural elements and their ability to reclaim manmade landscapes then draws parallels between these natural elements and adolescent mischief, a theme he builds throughout the song. Blockhead maintains a thrumming paranoia throughout the production, reflecting the melancholy of Bavitz’s skate-park Mark Twain bars. Aesop explores how isolation leads to self-discovery, while again referencing negative experiences with people that contribute to his introversion.

I was staring off into the water
Looking for some undiscovered colors
Like a blue that really wasn't, but it wasn’t any others
The synesthetic cousin to the hum of his discomfort
I been a punching bag for some truly deluded garbage
Now his handshake is a unicorn, his hug a moving target

He begins the last verse painting the overgrown back alleys of adolescence that are America’s modern ruins. He shows them as a refuge from the mundane trappings of adult society, where kids could really be alone playing amidst the spiderwebbed cement of manmade places that nature reclaimed.

The same alleys we used to imagine Babylon
Feel like abandoned malls overgrown with Spanish moss
Commotion froze in time with no sign of your lamb of god
It's a land of the lost, scrambling for canned applause

These places are depicted as mischievous portals to another world, where teenage imagination sanctifies forgotten parking lots through a strange kind of elemental freedom.

I freak an Archeology that reek of repercussion
If you need to pick some pieces up come dig a hole to jump in
Light sleeper, I’m a fighter, I'm a feeder
Earth, wind, fire, water, ether

Redeeming Empty Cans
Garbology, an album decades in the making, summons the memories and ghosts trapped in thrift store trinkets and discarded artifacts. Aes and Block mine their long history for fresh gems, re-contextualizing their partnership with the new tricks they've learned over the years. Turns out, you can teach an old dog how to return from the dead after all.
This is a project that picks through the detritus, harvesting art from the rubble of everyday tragedies. Whether that’s justified social unrest, a personal loss, or just digging through crates of records, it is yet another entry in the expansive catalogs of Aesop and Blockhead and cements them as the most inventive artists in their field. Despite the present’s catastrophes, it’s a project that refuses to numb itself to turbulence and instead embraces the pain of loss as a vehicle for future reinvention. Garbology ultimately depicts the process of uncovering as a means of coping and the first step towards a second step forward.
Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think of the project’s concept? What does Garbology mean to you?
2. How does this stack up in Aesop and Blockhead’s respective discographies?
3. Favorite bar and favorite production moments?
4. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever found in the trash or a thrift store?

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The 10 remaining queens enter the werkroom
Janitor: “Awwww, Miss Polly.”
Anya: “The bitch was talented, just a shame there weren’t any challenges in her forte.”
Jolene rolls her eyes
Jolene: “Well, she clearly didn’t have what it takes. The old hag is gone ! GET OVER IT.”
Klaritea: “Jolene, stop being so rude. What did she do to you ? Nothing. So start showing some of these fine ass WOMEN up in here some god damn RESPECT !”
Klaritea CF: I’m a kind person but I won’t let somebody like Jolene keep discouraging people ! She is one negative hoe.
Jolene turns red with embarrassment and steps away to her station to de-drag
Yannel: “CONGRATULATIONS MAMSIR AND CRANBERRY !”
They both grin and thank her
Yannel: “But chicas...... lip syncing is SCARY, especially when it’s a bottom 3 !”
Anya: “Oh girl, I could imagine.”
Janitor: “You OWNED that stage though, you were an assassin up there !”
Yannel: “Aw thank you girls.”
Yannel CF: Ayyyyyy, these queens have got some high expectations of me !
.
THE NEXT DAY
.
Sam enters the werkroom
Sam: “Hey there ladies !”
All: “HIIIIIII !”
Sam: “For your mini challenge this week, you’ll be playing ’Chicken, or What ?!’”
All the queens look confused
Sam: “As a drag queen, you live on a cheap budget... so you’ll be taking part in 3 rounds of blind food test tasting and you’ll guess whether what you are eating is chicken.. or something else !”
They all look revolted
AFTER THE MINI CHALLENGE
Sam: “Ladies, the two queens with the most correct answers are... Mamsir and Queen Burger !”
Mamsir CF: I’m Philippino, we eat a lot of crazy shit.
Burger CF: I’m fat, I eat a lot of shit.
Sam: “Ladies, for your maxi challenge this week, you’ll be put into teams and star as rivaling families in fried food commercials for Disco Extra Greasy Shortening. Mamsir’s team will be advertising fish fillets and Queen Burger’s team will be advertising fried chicken. Mamsir and Queen Burger, as you won the mini challenge, you’ll be team captains. This week’s guest judges are Kathy Najimy and Tanya Tucker, and category on the runway is: Country Queens ! Good luck and don’t f*ck it up !
Sam exits
Mamsir’s first pick is Helluva Woman
Queen Burger’s first pick is Cher A. Beach
Mamsir’s second pick is The Janitor
Queen Burger’s second pick is Cranberry Juice
Mamsir’s third pick is Klaritea
Queen Burger’s third pick is Yannel Kixx
Mamsir’s last pick (the penultimate girl) is Anya Niez
Queen Burger’s last pick (the last girl) is Jolene
Jolene CF: Last pick, again ? Ugh, oh well, Mamsir’s loss.
.
The queens get on with picking the roles and rehearsing lines. But, much to everyone’s surprise, Sam re-enters and announces that each team will be switching scripts, causing everyone to panic and learn brand new lines.
Yannel CF: Oh gurl, this is one big kerfoofle
Producer: “Don’t you mean kerfuffle ?”
Yannel CF: Ohhhhhhh, that’s how you say it. She laughs to herself

So ... took a random sample of the Long-Term Storability Of Sweet Potato Experiment.
Sweet Potatoes. Dehydrated (Can't remember if it was before I got the Excalibur ...) on a standard cheapo, home kitched grade dehydrator - no commercial equipment just consumer grade what we Average Joe/Jolene can buy ... . Stored in a $3-fiddy food-grade 5-gal pail with Gamma lid (damned lids cost more than the bucket) ....
Anyway: a side-by-side comparrison of the Long-Term Sample (put away Fall 2013) - we're about 2-and-a-half months from a full 7 years old ... old-school, side-by-side Pepsi Challenge with a batch prepared a month or so ago from last year's harvest (I dehydrate 'em before they go all wonky from age/storage) ... Anyway : Indistinguishable.
Can't tell a difference in flavor, texture - although they have noticeably darkened up a few shades in the 7 years since.
Wonder how we go about testing Nutrition ... (???)

12:44:41 // 04-JUN-2042
Blair shut the door behind her and twisted the lock.
“That … isn’t true? Is it?” Joshua asked, suddenly terrified, like a child told by a vengeful older sibling that mommy was leaving because he had been a bad boy.
“No, Joshua. No, don’t worry. It’s not true. I told you no one would be hurt. They weren’t people at all. We used replactors.”
Dodge leapt to his feet. The forgotten paper cup fell to the floor and lukewarm coffee splashed his leg. His hands clenched into fists, ready to lash out. “You created replactors?”
Blair just stared back at him.
“And you made one of me, didn’t you? That’s why Dodgson looks like me. Where’d you get my DNA?”
“You’re not the only one with the ability to steal genetic material.”
“Wha—? No—” Dodge’s mouth flapped. This whole incident—with the Needle, with Klaxon’s death—it must have taken months of planning. Years. All that time he had spent worrying, he’d been thinking way too small.
“From what I was told,” Blair seemed to find this all very amusing, “you really should lock your windows at night. Someone could slip right in.”
This had all been orchestrated. And Len had died because of it.
Dodge lunged at her. He didn’t think, didn’t plan, just moved, his anger driving him. She intercepted him easily, swung him around and sent him careening back down onto the bed, face-first.
Apoplectic, the muscles in his neck taut, he flipped over, ready to jump again. Her warning squint made clear he wouldn’t end up on the soft bed this time. Instead he rolled to the other side and leapt to his feet, keeping the mattress between them.
“You broke into my apartment and stole my DNA while I slept?”
“No, I sent an intern.”
“Who do you think you are? Stealing my DNA. That’s not right—it’s not right.”
“No, it’s not.” Blair said. “But that hasn’t stopped you from doing it.”
Dodge immediately deflated. The room expanded around him.
“I—I never hurt anyone,” Dodge said. “And we only stole from companies hoarding genetic therapies. Those companies hold people’s lives for ransom.”
“You’re a regular philanthropist. Is that really how you see yourself, stealing from the evil bio-tech multinationals and giving back to the poor common man, like some kind of skinny geek Robin Hood? Please. I guess then the Paradise Mind was paying you to acquire Klaxon’s genetic material so they could use it to create a cure for the ravages of worldwide unpopularity.”
More information he didn’t know how to deal with. She knew about the deal with the Paradise Mind. The dead Klaxon in the Needle had been a printed clone. And worst of all, a computer-controlled automaton with his face was walking around somewhere. His mind lurched.
Throughout their bickering, Joshua had remained sitting splint-straight, his face the color of overripe raspberries. He looked like he had stopped breathing.
“Replactors,” Dodge moaned. At least they were something familiar. Somewhere he could focus his anxiety. He paced up and down in the aisle between the beds. “You know what those things did to me. To my life. And you made one of … of me.”
“Actually,” Blair said, appraising him. “He turned out a damn sight better than you. At least your old face had some character. Now it’s a bit like buttered white bread.”
He flung an accusatory finger out at Blair. “No one is even allowed to possess the technology to create a replactor without fifty different kinds of governmental approval that no one ever gets. How the hell did you get them made? And haven’t you heard of the Vienna Convention?”
Blair remained still, her arms crossed over her chest, and waited for Dodge’s righteous indignation to run its course. “How have you managed to remain alive so long, being so naïve?” Before Dodge could answer, Blair shook her head in what looked to be genuine pity. “Entropy has been using replactors for years. Technology like that can’t be legislated out of existence.”
Still flushed after his outburst and trying to think of what to say next, Dodge glanced at Blair, and in the midst of his agitation, it was like seeing her for the first time. She had let her hair down, and even as anxious as he was, Dodge couldn’t help but notice how it crashed over her shoulders in waves. Her jacket was unbuttoned and her shirt open at the throat. His eyes involuntarily trailed down the smooth white skin of her neck to where her elfin breasts curved into the fabric. She held his gaze for just long enough to be noticeable and then walked past him to the sink at the far end of the room. Dodge watched her go by, unable to speak.
His eye caught the screen. Dodgson was confidently stalking through the penthouse, expertly slaughtering everyone he encountered. Nothing surprised him. Nothing caught him off guard. It made him look as if he could tell what was going to happen before it happened, like some kind of homicidal clairvoyance instead of a simple programmed script. Dodge felt a glimmer of jealousy. His DNA hadn’t treated him as well as it had the tall, athletic, muscular figure on screen.
Blair had turned the tap and was waiting for the water to warm. “Remember when John Poliver OD’d just after the filming of Death Specter III? And remember how they said, although his passing was tragic, a light had been extinguished from the world, and he was irreplaceable in the craft, that he had filmed most of his scenes anyway, so the movie could still be released? Remember that?”
“What about it?” Dodge pulled his eyes from the screen.
“Well, for most of that movie, the role of John Poliver was played by a replactor.” She unwrapped a thin bar of soap and turned to wash. Her hands bubbled with gray lather.
Dodge slumped down on the bed. “That was the best one of those movies.”
“Of course it was. Replactors take direction well. And don’t have any of those prima donna fits that real movie stars have. Program it with the actor’s dialogue and facial expressions and blocking and it will perform them exactly, over and over and over.”
“Fucking Hollywood.” After all this time, after replactors had destroyed his life, the same people who had caused the uproar were the ones using them the most.
Joshua looked like he had just swallowed sour milk as he scowled at Blair. “How dare they—how dare you—I told you I wanted nothing to do with this. You can’t just duplicate me in a lab.” He groaned and clutched his head as if trying to keep it from flying apart.
Obviously used to dealing with her unstable charge, Blair became instantly consoling. “Entropy lied to us. I had everything under control, and then they took it away from me. That’s why we had to leave.”
Blair dried her hands, folded the towel, replaced it on the rack and sat on the bed next to Joshua. He seemed on the verge of crying. Dodge was surprised this was all coming as such a revelation. How could he not know what was going on?
Back on the screen, Dodgson had just finished killing the remaining guards in a multi-angled blur of violence. The big finish loomed.
All around the world, Dodge just knew, viewers were enthralled. On wallscreens, through immersive goggles, on mobiles, each viewer hearing Jolene in her own voice in their preferred language, commuters engrossed on the subway or in autonomous vehicles, sharing the experience as a collective. Productivity would trickle off. In a few days someone would trot out a figure in the billions to estimate the loss to business worldwide. There would already be jokes appearing on the link; firsthand accounts and interviews with other celebrities about where they were when they heard about the assassination; T-shirts with Klaxon’s music built-in whisking down manufacturing lines; treatments for the story of Klaxon’s life vibrating the inboxes of every Entropy executive. And this was just the beginning.
Klaxon was about to die for the world, and it was going to be the most-watched event in history.
From a camera perched above Klaxon’s penthouse bed, the world watched as Mr. Dodgson slowly nudged the bedroom door. The weft of the carpet darkened as the door slid open. Marching piano music filled the room. Klaxon sat on the bed, legs crossed, arms raised, conducting a symphony of information with his hands. Dozens of feeds from all over the link hovered in the surrounding air. He reached out and grabbed one, pulled it close, enlarging it to show the German Chancellor shaking hands with the newly elected Iranian President, a peace deal he’d been instrumental in. Klaxon released the window and it snapped back to hover with the others.
“Who authorized this?” Joshua said, barely able to speak. “That—that isn’t me. I’m not …” His words trailed off as he clutched his head.
“I told you Entropy didn’t care about you, Joshua. They only care about their profits. You were right to quit.”
The screen cut to Dodgson standing at the bedroom door. His forehead wrinkled.
The commercial side of the screen flickered wildly, savagely leaping from advert to advert, over-cutting each other, as ruthless bids for eyeball-time went higher and higher.
On screen, Klaxon’s head jerked and then he unlaced his legs, rose and turned to face the door. The two men watched each other, motionless, mute, staring like prize fighters. Then Dodgson moved forward until his gun pressed tenderly against the smooth skin of Klaxon’s chest.
Klaxon wiggled a finger and the music cut. Silence stretched from the TV’s speakers.
“What did you do?” Dodge mumbled.
“Shhh …” Joshua hissed. He was perched on the edge of the bed, straining to hear, as though his life were at stake. Blair seemed bored. She already knew how it was going to end.
“So, you finally got to me,” began the last lines Klaxon’s final, greatest role. “Took you long enough”
“I am good at what I do,” Dodgson replied. “But if it hadn’t been me, it would have been one of the others. You’re too dangerous to be allowed to continue corrupting the world, the people in charge like it the way it is.”
Dodge glowered at Blair. “You turned me into a sellout.”
“Everyone sells out,” Blair said.
The men stared each other down. Mr. Dodgson, draped in black, was a testament to coiled violence and intolerance. Klaxon was resplendent in a shimmering white robe.
“If I am corrupt, then so are millions. Billions, with dreams that don’t involve working themselves into an early grave so the men who hired you can afford to live in paradise.”
Up until then, Dodgson had been the star of this video, but Klaxon had only been on screen for a few seconds and already the assassin was relegated to a co-starring position. Klaxon was radiant, eclipsing everything around him with his natural, effortless charisma.
At that moment, Dodge was struck by the difference between the Klaxon on screen and Joshua sitting beside him. Klaxon was a defiant god, a constantly evolving prophet drawing followers with a glance, with a carefully placed word. Joshua looked identical, but possessed none of the innate magnetism. His eyes seemed duller, the dazzling energy drained away.
“You can kill me today, now, but you can’t kill all of us. Killing me will only serve to release the pent up rage, and you and the men you work for will be washed away in a flood of anger the likes of which the world has never seen. Klaxon Overdrive will live forever.” His voice resonated from the screen, unable to be contained by mere electronics.
Barely acknowledging Klaxon’s final words, Dodgson’s shoulders hunched in a half-hearted shrug. “Maybe, but I’m getting paid enough for this that I can buy a nice cruise ship and float away over your angry flood.”
Klaxon looked directly into the camera, green eyes piercing each viewer, and whispered, “Klaxon can never die.”
Mr. Dodgson stepped back. His finger twitched and the gun sighed. The image of Klaxon rippled, and the projectile exploded from his back in a thunderous crack, spraying the white silk sheets of his bed in dark crimson.
Klaxon jerked backwards, his arms thrown forwards as if reaching for Dodgson. White silk fluttered, the robe wrapping him like a shroud. Triumph surged from Dodgson’s eyes, from his smug grin. He looked exactly like every bully that had ever preyed on someone weaker than him.
Dodge felt the room close in around him. The edges of his sight faded until the screen was everything, the room hushed. Even though he knew the video was a fabrication—planned, manufactured and assembled like a fast food meal—he couldn’t help but believe what he was watching was real. The public would accept it without a moment’s hesitation.
Unsubtle opposites, the killer’s lusterless black jacket appeared to devour the penthouse’s subdued light, while Klaxon’s gossamer garment caught and enhanced the room’s muted blue ambience as he fell, magnifying and reflecting it to a dazzling sheen of near-white brilliance that surrounded him like a full-body halo.
Time slowed. Klaxon fell forever.
It wasn’t until Joshua gasped that Dodge realized he too had been holding his breath.
The tension shattered, Dodge noticed that the speed of the playback had been reduced—the robe fluttered too slowly, the descent towards the bed too languorous. Entropy sure knew how to play an audience. Subsequent showings would progress at normal speed. With the initial astonishment gone, it would be all about the vicarious thrill of carnage.
Klaxon’s body finally landed, bouncing on the bed. Crimson streams pumped from the wound. Dodgson smoothly secreted his guns away and surveyed the room with satisfaction. His work nearly done, he pulled a silver sphere from under his jacket and placed it on one of the side tables. Dodge recognized it instantly as the device that had nearly incinerated him.
The assassin hunched over the ball, presumably setting the destruct sequence. Two muted beeps later, a blinding white flash silhouetted the huge man, engulfing the playback. The recording flickered with a burst of gray static before jumping to an intense blue.
Entropy must have faked the explosion with a flashbang effect for the video. They took the raw footage, edited it into a brilliant documentary of a mass murder, then sat back and waited for the clicks to pour in.
Jolene’s inoffensively pretty face returned to the screen and segued to commercial, but not before promising to footage was already available on-demand for anyone who wanted to rewatch it.
Dodge got up and switched the screen off as if in a trance. Joshua sat, too stunned to move. Only Blair remained unaffected.

23:20:05 // 03-JUN-2042 - Continued
A picture-in-picture with an ancient shot of Dodge popped up beside Jolene. His nose was wider and flatter, hair cut short, his cheeks sloping to a prominent chin. He was a different man now, but changing the way he looked hadn’t changed anything on the inside.
Jolene resumed, “Dodgson, the man notorious for creating replactor technology and responsible for the ensuing tragedies, disappeared nearly five years ago—”
Long-buried memories clawed their way free, releasing a fresh burst of repressed anger and a fountain of intimately familiar anxiety. He hadn’t created replactors, those dead-eyed automatons—he’d simply been part of the team that took the next logical step in neural interface research, combining specifically designed and rapidly grown animal bodies with off-the-shelf computer control systems and some clever technogenetics. It hadn’t even been hard.
His particular contribution had been the design and development of artificial nerves that communicated with organic ones, allowing the computer brain to control flesh and blood. Shortly after the team’s first successful test—a rat programmed to perform a traditional Indian folk dance that had it galloping around on its hind legs like it was pretending to ride a horse—the university funding committee had stepped in, co-opted their research and began licensing it out.
None of that had anything to do with replactors either. Replactors were what happened when some hack fleshmith with access to too much funding inserted the computer control technology into illegally printed human bodies. Most popularly, as it soon turned out, celebrity bodies.
Created with stolen DNA, the bioprinted and rapidly aged bodies were implanted with computer brains and rented out to adult films and soda commercials and low-watt link feeds. Even if genetically imperfect due to the poor quality of the source DNA, they looked real enough for as long as they were needed. So what if the bodies quickly imploded due to voraciously malignant cancer racing through them as their sub-standard, artificially aged cells went haywire. They lasted long enough to make money.
The first celebrity DNA samples were obtained through bribes to med-techs in Hollywood, and the trade soon flourished into a burgeoning underground market specializing in the procurement, exchange, and sale of all kinds of genetic material. The more famous and elusive the still-living celebrity and larger the sample retrieved, the bigger the bounty paid out. Blood samples were most common, fingers and toes less so. Organs brought a premium.
The Genetic Copyright laws and accompanying severe punishments were hastily enacted to stop it all. It became illegal to possess, obtain or replicate genetic material one didn’t hold a license to. Which also meant it was possible to sell or lease the rights to genetic material. Most entertainment contracts were covertly rewritten to include a standard waiver-of-rights to genetic ownership. If their lawyers were sloppy, professional entertainers and sports figures ended up signing away the DNA they were made of.
The world had blamed Montrose Douglas Dodgson for all of this. For the drive-by mutilations. For the deaths. For the narrowly averted war after a plan to create a legion of cloned soldiers was uncovered. But most importantly, for beginning the assault on the closest thing the majority of the world had actual religious figures: their celebrities.
No one even mentioned Dodge’s partners anymore—the others who had created the technology with him. Probably because Craig had killed himself, and Sinder’s family had bought her an escape. Dodge had been left holding the controls. Fucking replactors drove him from his research. From his identity.
From his life.
Eventually replactors were outlawed and soon fell off the public radar, replaced by the scandal of early onset geriatric afflictions appearing in the first batch of designer babies as they hit puberty, and then the release of the life-extension treatment reJuv. But while there was always something newer, he was still never forgotten. Or forgiven. He couldn’t leave his apartment without being hounded by random angry strangers or assaulted by thugs acting on behalf of seven-fingered link stars.
Unable to hide, Dodge had no other choice: he killed Montrose Douglas Dodgson before someone else beat him to it. After reconstructive surgery he assumed a new identity and faded into anonymity. It wasn’t easy to live without a digital history, everything these days was tied to your rep, but it was possible—if not entirely pleasant.
Not that becoming someone else had made his life any better. If anything, his anxiety had only increased. And now it was all back. The months of surgery and excruciating recuperation and living on the fringes of society had all been for nothing.
Just as quickly as the anger had risen, it departed, and left him helpless against the encroaching terror.
“—has learned that he may be responsible for a number of unsolved genetic thefts, ranging back to shortly after his disappearance—”
“How?” Dodge muttered, spiritless. He had worked so hard to keep his identity secret, and now it was all blown.
Len had stopped laughing and was wiping his broad face with his shirtsleeve. “With enough money you can find out anything, and money ain’t something Entropy is short on.”
“—forensic DNA tests by police department molecular analyzers have already confirmed that both these men, Klaxon Overdrive and Montrose Dodgson—as well as twenty-seven members of Mr. Overdrive’s entourage—were killed here tonight by a military-grade explosive device apparently placed by Dodgson. No one yet knows why Dodgson committed this horrible crime against humanity, whether espionage or terrorism or some yet unidentified reason, but rest assured, we here at Entropy.news will spare no expense finding out. Stay tuned for a retrospective look at the man who was Klaxon Overdrive, tracing his origins as he came from nothing to explode upon popular culture, springing from the streets to become the internationally revered figure he is today, including a special sneak peak at his latest movie, his latest what will now be his last ever, launching around the world in only a matter of weeks. Remember, at any time you can select the blue sun image in top left corner of your screen for unlimited access to the Klaxon Overdrive Goes Supernova retrospective, a collection of music, film and interviews, for only $99.99.”
The content stream ended and an advertisement for the broadcast they had just watched began. Len waggled his fingers in the controls and found the Entropy live feed. The wallscreen flashed to a shot of the devastated Needle from a circling drone.
Len swiveled around, pushed the orange curls from his eyes and gazed at Dodge.
“May I just say, for the record, it’s an honor to meet the man who unleashed replactors on the world. To think, I’ve been spending all this time with the guy who made so many star-fucking dreams a reality.”
Dodge closed his eyes. How was this happening? He was supposed to be rich and on his way to a blissful mind-wipe by now. Instead, he was right back where he was five years ago. He remembered what it was like: a constant nightmare that made the mere terror he felt now seem like a comfy bath.
“Explains why you’re so uptight, though, don’t it? Hell, for a while there I thought you might be a spy or something. But spies usually don’t have quite so many panic attacks, huh?”
Dodge was speechless.
“Makes no difference to me who you were then, but the guy you are now has got me a shit-heap of bad exposure. And as bad as it is for me, it’s even worse for you,” Len said, swabbing his sweaty pate with a towel, his tone uncharacteristically serious. “Once someone figures out you’re not really dead, there ain’t no one in the world who ain’t gonna to be looking for you. Luckily, you look a hell of a lot different now than you did then.”
Dodge finally burst. “Does it even matter anymore? Entropy can’t find me, can they? And the Paradise Mind, they couldn’t have tracked me here already, right? They don’t know about you, or where you live, do they? Do they?” The muscles in his neck were like bungie cords ready to snap.
“Maybe the cops stopped for a slice on the way over, how do I know? I got no answers for you.” Len had spent most of his life watching old TV and link serials, and he talked like it. “Settle down, you’re turning purple.”
Len leaned his bulk across the desk, balancing on his forearms. Dark spots swam in Dodge’s vision, blotting out Len’s face.
“Let’s make a list,” Len said, whipping up a finger. “The first thing you have to worry about is the Paradise Mind coming for your ass. They know what you look like now and they’re already into you for a ton of cash. And we’re all aware of exactly what their ‘life guides’ say about the sanctity of contracts. They knew you had help and there’s a chance they might find out it was me. It’s a very slim chance, but I don’t put much trust in the slim.”
“I’m—” Dodge had to inhale before he could continue. “I’m supposed to be dead. You saw it. I’m dead. Who’s going to be looking for me?”
“Smarten up. This is all a massive graft. No one could even think about getting a bomb past the Needle security scans without alarms sounding loud enough to wake dead cops, let alone get the chance to use it. And Entropy didn’t have enough time to assemble a crew, get the sniffers down there and not find your DNA all over the place, but since they’re reporting they did, you, my friend, have a very big problem.”
Why would Entropy do this to him? Because of the whole replactor thing? After all this time?
But they wouldn’t kill Klaxon Overdrive just to get to him. That would be absurd. Sure, he had stolen a little DNA here and there over the years, but it wasn’t like he was a war criminal or something. He wasn’t worth all this.
“Shit.”
Len spat a burst of air through his lips. “All you have to say for yourself is ‘shit?’ I tell you that Entropy planned all this, blew up a billion dollar building, fabricated Klaxon Overdrive’s death, and made you the scapegoat—and ‘shit’ is the best you can do?”
“He was dead. As a fucking stump. There were corpses everywhere. I touched one. I ran my fucking hands over it. It was still fucking warm. Whatever it was, it was no fucking fabrication.”
“Take it easy. All that stress is going to pop something in your head.”
“If only,” Dodge mumbled. At least then it would be over.
“If you’re going to get worked up, get worked up over the right thing for once, would you? There’s something going on here that’s far bigger than you. No one’s going to do what Entropy did tonight just to get to you, you’re not worth all this—believe me.” Len grinned at him. “If that was all they wanted, they’d have nabbed you when you hit the security station on the way in. No, they wanted you dead in the Needle, and you’re not, and they probably don’t know you’re not—not yet, anyway. That gives us an advantage.”
How the hell did Len always stay so calm? He was constantly up to his giant neck in dodgy schemes—cracking pharmaceutical data havens, juicing rep scores, fencing DNA—and he never, ever, stopped smiling.
“Tell me what to do then,” Dodge said as he jumped up and slammed his hands on the desk. Len’s grin slipped to a smirk at the outburst. “I’m two fucking seconds away from degenerating into the need for permanent institutionalization and you’re barely taking this seriously. You have to help me. What are we going to do?”
“We?” Len responded with a raised eyebrow.
Fucker.
“Relax,” Len said, dropping the smirk. “I’m not going to leave you dangling. I’ll do some pokin’ around. If there’s anything to be found, don’t worry, I’ll find it. Somebody left tracks somewhere.”
Len must have noticed the tension drain from Dodge’s face because his tone slipped back into mocking.
“Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to do anything that will get me noticed, I don’t want to become known as Montrose Dodgson’s chubby hacker sidekick, but I’ll see what’s going on. This doesn’t happen without someone knowing about it. But consider this—if Entropy knew you were going to be at the Needle tonight, they also knew the cover I supplied was a fake. Which means, again, that slim chance they might trace this back to me.” He paused for a second. “If they come here—maybe just to ask some questions and see what they can scare me into saying—it will be hard to convince them I had nothing to do with this while you’re laying on my couch.”
Dodge nodded. As usual, Len was right.
“And I’ll start asking around quietly for a buyer.” He pointed to the collector hanging from Dodge’s neck. “The sooner you’re rid of the evidence, the better. Give me a few hours and I’ll see what I can do. If the sign’s off outside when you get back, it will mean I have company.”
Dodge nodded. Len was on it. Len would sort it out. There was nothing to worry about. Everything was going to be fine.
Len’s forehead wrinkled with impatience. “Well, what are you standing there starting at me for?”
“Okay, okay—I’m going, but do you have any suggestions on where I’m supposed to go?”
“I don’t give a damn where you go. But just to be safe I’d stay away from public places, men with guns and anyone in a bad suit. And whatever you do ... do I really need to say this? I do, don’t I? Dodge, don’t even think about going home.”

Previous thread: November 11th - November 17th

Here's everything that happened in the /bangtan realm within the past week, compiled for your convenience! If you have suggestions on how to make this compilation more readable, categorised better, etc. please leave a comment or send me a PM.
The latest weekly round-up can be found in the sidebar of the subreddit. The link to the archive of past round-up posts can always be found in the wiki index.

News & Information

191118	The Grammy outfits BTS wore will be on display at the newly renovated On the Red Carpet exhibit at the Grammy museum starting Nov 20 + Photos
191120	BTS is attending the 2019 SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 25th
191120	Big Hit Reportedly In Dispute With Cosmetics Brand Over BTS's Trademark
191120	Due to complaints and protests, it’s now prohibited to wait for BTS (or any artist) at the airport arrivals waiting area in Japan
191121	BTS is opening KIIS Jingle Ball at The Forum on 12/6

Merchandise news

191120	BigHit Merch: House of BTS Phase 2 Begins Tomorrow
191120	House of BTS Fake Love merch preview

Official Media

Type	Date	Title	Thread
Bon Voyage	191119	BTS BON VOYAGE SEASON 4 EP 01 - New adventure with same excitement	Thread
Bon Voyage	191121	Ep.1 Story Untold - BON VOYAGE Season 4	Thread
Bomb	191120	[BANGTAN BOMB] Everyone loves bread~!	Thread
Bomb	191122	[BANGTAN BOMB] What SUGA did in his free time	Thread
Bomb	191123	[BANGTAN BOMB] Let's do squats together	Thread
Photos	191118	BTS BON VOYAGE Season 4 Preview	Thread
Teaser	191123	'LOVE YOURSELF : SPEAK YOURSELF’ SAO PAULO DVD SPOT	Thread
VLive	191123	BTS Live: Eat Jin	Thread

Official SNS

Date	Tweet	Thread
191119	j-hope & Mickey	Thread
191121	Jimin	Thread
191122	Taehyung	Thread
191123	Today’s Bangtan @ Japan Official Fanmeeting, Chiba, Day 1	Thread
191123	BTS Japan Official: BTS in Chiba, day 1	Thread
191124	Jimin	Thread
191124	Seokjin	Thread
191124	SUGA	Thread
191124	Today’s Bangtan @ Japan Official Fanmeeting, Chiba, day 2	Thread
191124	BTS Japan Official: BTS in Chiba, day 2	Thread

CF & Partnerships

191117	booking.com is a sponsor of Bom Voyage 4 in New Zealand. BTS will be shown staying at booking.com accommodations.
191119	Hyundai Lifestyle Instagram: Car check. Drivers check. Now let’s drive with BTS.
191124	KB Kookmin Bank said they made commercial with BTS for their mobile phone app service “Liiv M” and will release it in December

Articles

NOTE: Entry with asterisk* has direct BTS content

Date	Title	Thread
191118	Forbes: BTS At The Grammys: What Shot Do They Have At Being Nominated For One Of The Big Four Awards?	Thread
191120*	PAPER Mag: Break the Internet: BTS	Thread
191120	Rolling Stone: BTS Are Shut Out of 2020 Grammy Nominations	Thread
191120	USA Today: With or without a Grammy nomination, BTS have made a global impact with their music	Thread
191120	Yonhap News: BTS will not be exempted from military service: culture minister	Thread
191120	Forbes: BTS’s 2020 Grammys Shutout: As BTS continue smashing records and the Grammys continue to lose relevance, who really needs who?	Thread
191121	Metro UK: Korean hip-hop group MFBTY on working with RM from BTS and why they still get stage fright	Thread
191121	SBS PopAsia: BTS deserve but don't need the GRAMMYs, here's why	Thread
191121	Billboard: I Need U chosen as Billboard’s 100 Songs That Defined the Decade	Thread
191122	The New York Times: BTS, the K-Pop Superstars, Must Serve in South Korea’s Military	Thread
191124	ABC News: As BTS Continues Its Global Music Domination, Kpop Is Sometimes Misunderstood	Thread

SNS Mentions

Date	Title	Thread
191117	Indian Actor and singer Ayushmann Khurrana listening to Jungkook's Euphoria on his IG Story	Thread
191118	Michael Dapaah (Big Shaq) tweets about Jungkook	Thread
191118	Seo Jiyeon posted a meme on IG : Seo Jiyeon, can break bones. Kim Namjoon, can breaks things	Thread
191120	Raindance Film Festival congratulating Jungkook	Thread
191121	PAPER MAGAZINE : ARMY listen, we love you... but y'all broke our website lol	Thread
191120	Halsey tweets BTS support after lack of nominations	Thread
191120	Shitty Watercolour's response to Grammy nominations	Thread
191120	Rich Brian tweets support for BTS after lack of Grammy nominations	Thread
191121	Lisa Frank Instagram post	Thread
191120	Wolftyla reacts to V mentioning her song "All Tinted" in BTS' Paper Magazine feature	Thread
191119	Singapore Airlines gives BTS a shoutout for BV4	Thread
191123	Dolly Parton wants to see the Bangtan Boys' moves to Jolene	Thread
191124	Instagram: Lee Young Ae posts a photo of her meeting BTS	Thread

Other media

NOTE: Entries with asterisk* have direct BTS content

Type	Date	Title	Thread
Fancam*	191123	Videos from Magic Shop night 1 in Japan	Thread
Fancam*	191124	Videos from Magic Shop night 2 in Japan	Thread
News	191119	Korean Ambassador Han Dong-man says he gave President Duterte an album of South Korean boy group BTS during their meeting in Malacañang	Thread
News	191122	Daegu mayor Kwon Young-jin presented the Katowice mayor Marcin Krupa Shooky & Tata of BT21, as BTS Suga and V are from Daegu	Thread
News	191122	Variety: Spotify Is Launching Its Own Music Awards, Based on Streaming Data	Thread
Video*	191117	Best of BTS' j-hope on Radio Disney	Thread
Video	191117	Byeongkwan of A.C.E talks about J-Hope monitoring their performance and complimenting them	Thread
Video*	191119	ENTERCOM: Becky G and BTS reconnect and catch up via phone after collaboration!	Thread
Video*	191121	Dispatch: “7LOVES in LAS VEGAS ①”	Thread
Video*	191121	STARK: BTS departs for Japan	Thread
Video*	191121	Newsen: BTS Depart for Japan (Taehyeong and Yeontan Focus)	Thread
Video	191122	Naomi Campbell mentioned BTS	Thread
Video	191122	MAMAMOO (Solar) Cover Fire on Yu Huiyeol's Sketchbook	Thread
Video	191123	UNCC Football Game Halftime Show - Mic Drop
Other	191121	BTS clue on Jeopardy!
Other*	191122	Taehyung enters a chat room to play mafia with ARMYs but gets eliminated as nobody believes it's him	Thread
Other	191123	BTS mentioned on NYT Popcast: Dissecting the 2020 Grammy Nominations	Thread

Milestones

Type	Date	Thread
Awards	191119	'Map of the Soul: Persona' is nominated as one of Interpark's Best Records of 2019
Awards	191120	BTS has been named Variety’s ‘Group of the Year’
Awards	191120	BTS won Ticketmaster France's 'Ticket of the Year', awarded to the best concert of the year, for their Stade de France concert in Paris
Awards	191120	BTS have won Ticketmaster Spain's 'Ticket of the Year' for 2020's Most Anticipated Concert By an International Act
Awards	191120	BTS Are #2 on Ticketmaster UK’s ‘Ticket of the Year’ for Best Concert Of The Year
Charts/Sales	191118	BTS’s 'Map of the Soul: PERSONA' has now sold over 600,000 units in the US
Charts/Sales	191118	'Map of the Soul: PERSONA' returns to the top 100 on this week's Billboard 200 with a 46% jump in sales (9.9K units; peak: #1).
Charts/Sales	‪191120	'Wings', 'Love Yourself: Answer', 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1', '2 Cool 4 Skool', 'Skool Luv Affair' have re-entered US iTunes, #ThisIsBTS is trending #3 Worldwide on Twitter
Charts/Sales	191120	BTS entire Korean discography has re-entered US iTunes
Charts/Sales	191121	BTS has Six songs on this week's World Digital Song Sales chart
Charts/Sales	191122	BTS, Desiigner, and Steve Aoki’s s "MIC Drop" has now spent 2 years on the World Digital Song Sales chart
Streams	191119	BTS Ft. Halsey ‘Boy With Luv’ Has Surpassed 2Million Shazams
Streams	191119	BTS's Spotify Account has surpassed 7.5 BILLION Streams
Streams	191120	'Euphoria' has officially surpassed 100M streams on Spotify!
Streams	191124	‘Base Line' has surpassed 20 million streams on Spotify. It's the 4th track from 'Hope World' to do so.
Views	191121	BTS is the first Korean group to get 13M likes on YouTube with Boy With Luv MV
Views	191122	BTS's ‘Heartbeat (BTS WORLD OST)’ MV Has Reached 50Million Views On YouTube
Other	191118	BTS’ Make It Right has been added to the Starbucks corporate playlist.

BT21

191118	A perfect day to water... RJ?!	Thread
191119	It's that moment we all dread. 😱	Thread
191120	BT21 School Turn-up! 🏢	Thread
191121	BT21 Magnet Pals comin' thru!	Thread
191121	Well, we all know who started it first 🤭	Thread
191122	Somewhere amidst a remote and tranquil forest, a special fifth encounter is about to happen. ✨	Thread

Subreddit

Top Discussion Posts

1. [+357] What are your thoughts on BigHit providing (or not providing) official translations in other languages?
2. [+236] We aren’t even halfway through our journey with BTS.
3. [+146] Sorting BTS from lawful good to chaotic evil
4. [+132] Do you remember the last time you went a whole day without any BTS content?
5. [+131] How BTS has helped you Mental Health-wise

Other:

• GLOBAL ARMY: looking to speak to fans from all over the world about how we express our love for BTS
• Grammy nomination day discussion thread

Weekly threads

• 191118 Weekly Pann Posts
• Weekly House of A.R.M.Y (아미의 집) - November 20, 2019
• Weekly /bangtan Room (방탄방) - November 23, 2019

/heungtan

Here are past week's top 5 fanart posts from their new home, /heungtan!

Submitter	Thread
grandromantiic	Jimin - Oil on Canvas
bttrmxchi	Kitty Gang Jimin
farawaylightning	Pattern Redesign: Crochet doll of Suga from RUN mv!
Pegasaurus8	I’m embroidering (appliqué) the logo onto a Christmas stocking. That shine tho.
kpopCrochet	My crochet Amigurumi projects: BTS Doll. Jin airport look

World News

‘It’s like nothing we have come across before’: UK intelligence officials shaken by Trump administration’s requests for help with counter-impeachment inquiry
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White House Freezes Military Aid to Lebanon, Against Wishes of Congress, State Dept. and Pentagon
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22 weeks of unbroken protests in Hong Kong. On Saturday, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong called for 100k people to take to streets, and thousands defied police ban against face masks. Many wore gas masks. "...we have to come out to protect the freedoms we deserve" a protestor, 17, told AFP.
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All news, US and international.

Blizzard apology does not silence protestors at BlizzCon 2019
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Beloved Indian YouTuber Grandpa Kitchen dies. Millions watched him make epic meals for orphans
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Connecticut Officer Retires After Ties to Far-Right 'Proud Boys' Revealed
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Science

Researchers have developed a way to 3D print living skin, complete with blood vessels. The advancement is a significant step toward creating grafts that are more like the skin our bodies produce naturally.
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Lymphatic system found to play key role in hair regeneration, reports new study in the journal Science. Hair-follicle stem cells control lymphatic capillaries to influence regeneration. This is a new concept and might potentially provide new therapeutic targets for wound healing and hair loss.
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US researchers have discovered that exposing cathodes to light decreases charge time by a factor of 2 in lithium-ion batteries. If commercialized, such technology could be a game changer for electric vehicles
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/Technology

Totally In-Touch NH Lawmaker Blocks Device Repair Bill, Tells Constituents To Just Buy New $1k Phones
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YouTube quietly hides its code after content “throttling” system is leaked
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As Promised, Protesters Showed Up to BlizzCon Today
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Sadly, this is not the Onion.

Kuwait moves on Instagram slave traders after BBC investigation
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Blind man from Westbury denies possession of indecent images of children
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American football coach is suspended after team scores too much
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Ask Reddit...

What food do you swear people only pretend to like?
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What is your NSFW talent?
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What’s normal in your country but seems weird to the rest of the world?
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Sysadmin

Curbing tendencies
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Are system administrators suddenly worth more?
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Advice on moving Active Directory Certificate Authority
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Microsoft SQL Server

[Novice question] Winforms application with SQL database: is communication with the database possible from outside of my program? How can I protect my database from unauthorized access?
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Help adding SQL datasource to Power BI Desktop?
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PowerShell

Get-PrinterDriver
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PowerShell Remoting from PowerShell Core
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Looking up active computers in a network
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Functional 3D Printing

My car phone mount broke so I made this one. Works perfectly, for any phone from 5". Weights 40g.
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Printed a thing to clamp my whiteboard to my desk.
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Needed a second film reel for the projector.
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Data Is Beautiful

2029: The Year Non-Religious Americans Will Definitively Outnumber Catholics
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A map of more than 3600 penguin colonies 🐧, colored by species [OC]
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NOAA weather balloons find no zero-ozone regions above South Pole during 2019 ozone hole season
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Today I Learned (TIL)

TIL that 7 Up launched a variation called "dnL" (the 7up logo turned upside down) and was basically the opposite of 7 Up: instead of a caffiene-free clear soda in a green bottle, it was a caffienated green soda in a clear bottle, and instead of lemon-lime the flavor was lime-lemon.
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TIL that kids falling victim to tampered Halloween candy is an urban myth. None of the reports have found to be true. In one case a child died from heroin found at a relative's. In another a child died after eating cyanide-laced candy from his father who'd taken out a life insurance policy on him.
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TIL Dolly Parton wrote "Jolene" and "I will always love you" in the same night
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So many books, so little time

Macmillan To Restrict New E-Book Sales To Libraries, amid “growing fears that library lending was cannibalizing sales of e-books”.
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A TV Show Based On Tamora Pierce's Books Is Finally Happening
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“He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone.”
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OldSchoolCool: History's cool kids, looking fantastic

The Speak and Spell - Originating in the late 70's, it had a keyboard, and what you typed was pronounced by the machine. It was WAY ahead of its time.
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Can’t remember where I got this photo, but I thought it belonged here! (1940’s pilot)
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Audrey Hepburn, somewhere in the late 1950s.
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aviation

That's alot of freedom
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SU-57 Anyone?
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Stayed at the TWA hotel at JFK and had drinks on “Connie”
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Reddit Pics

Tried my hand at those red-dyed rice krispy treats for Halloween. Got the trays from the butchers, made the labels myself. (OC)
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Greta Thunberg hanging out
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Day of the Dead makeup, Mexico
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.gifs - funny, animated gifs for your viewing pleasure

Passing out Candy the right way
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This cat didn't even want a running start.
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Ever seen a deer sneeze?
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A subreddit for cute and cuddly pictures

This dad did not want a puppy
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Not all heroes wear capes, but this one does. 👍 🤗 ❤️
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Spoopy doggo
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Lonely Friday night, house to myself. Roommates gone, just me and the walls. I cooked dinner and let the carousel of channels spin. Yeah I still have cable, I like the... randomness, of it.
We have this channel, I’ve never heard of it. H&I. Too many forced commercial breaks with products clearly meant for older people. But they play a lot of Trek so I’m into it. Every day there’s a stretch called All Star Trek and they play a TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT episode each. Tonight’s ENT episode was Cogenitor.
I almost changed it. I’ve never liked ENT. I just never cared for it. When it first aired (UPN?) I had just moved into my grandmothers house and having grown up watching TOS and TNG when I was 8-12 years old, I heard about it and read up on it... ship designs, uniform designs, it had that guy I recognized from Quantum Leap as the captain. Jolene Blalock... okay she had my attention. But anyway, gave it a go and I just didn’t click with it. A couple years later it was cancelled and I just figured I’d been right about it.
I’ve rewatched TNG and DS9 more times than I can count; the latter being an acquired taste that easily became my favorite Trek. I love morality plays, what Trek is best at arguably. And this episode was just the perfect bottle episode of that.
I loved how Archer is so different a captain, the quiet rage he held for Trip at the end. How he desperately wanted to hold on to a successful first contact but also balance his own moral compass too. These aliens were smarter than us, they were more advanced than us, they could be a vital ally and they liked us too! The family was affable despite the oppression they were a willing participant of. And you could feel their confusion at Trip’s insistence, their anger in his brazen judgment.
And best yet the episode has stood the test of time and how it can feel relevant to today’s own issues. I’ll leave that open to interpretation of the reader.
I guess all I’m saying is, I get it. I finally get why some people say ENT isn’t as bad as people made it out to be. And I’m sure I’m gonna find some clunkers, and my eyes are gonna roll at some parts. But I’m gonna go find them for myself. Because I’m starting at episode 1 now. And I finally have some new Trek to check out.
🖖🏻

We have officially entered summer. The neighborhood kids are free from the shackles of education. 'Splodey Day is starting to spread its rust-colored jaws to swallow us whole, at least in the US. Let me take this opportunity to extend my kindest sentiments to everyone setting off fireworks on a day that is not July 4: You are cordially invited to fellate a cactus. Don't be shy, you know who you are.
I'm your humble and at the moment excruciatingly warm SilverKappa. My AC can't keep up with climate change. My box fan is dying. Someone send help. I would like to move to Antarctica. u/Am_I_Devo's company helps me stay cool, and the links he provides are of the highest quality.
INTRO
Sleater-Kinney - "A New Wave"
Janet Weiss left Sleater-Kinney, and we're all a little sad about that.
And yes, indeed, Splodey Day is well and truly begun. We have a problem in America, and that problem is stupidity. We let just any old jackass walk into a room, sometimes a building, full of funny-colored gunpowder and buy as many rainbow explosions as their dumb little heart desires. We do this to celebrate things. We are an insane country.
"It's like a dollar store Space-X, 'cause the minute they go off that motherfucker's going into orbit. [...] We are a dangerous bunch of talking monkeys."
RomRojal: Humanity: Monkeys with TNT
"Normally, you expect: You're celebrating a holiday. So the explosions should only be going off on that day. Makes sense? Well, no. It's Splodey WEEK. Any pretense to set off fucking explosions. This bothered me less before I had pets, but it still annoyed me. [...] It's worse when you have pets. We have a dog and a cat. The cat is not okay with it, but his reactions is: I'm going to go into seclusion and pray for a day when the sky stops making noises. [...] The dog is different. Many dogs are different. They are deeply offended by fireworks. I believe it's a racial thing. [...] Loki tries to fight them. He enters into an argument with the sky. He is very vocal, very intense, about this. I am very confident that if Loki could fly, he'd be up in the sky engaging in combat with the fireworks. He'd be eating them. He's not very particular about that."
Nash goes on to lament how America's cavalier attitude regarding explosives equates to enduring job security for WTFIWWY. Remember to use your idiot explosives safely, or they'll take themselves away from you.
INVISIBLES
Summer Cannibals - "One of Many"
Lucy Dacus - "Forever Half Mast"
Sleater-Kinney - "Be Yr Mana"
The Small Glories - "Oh My Love"
Floofboi!
Nash is planning on doing a computer rebuild soon. A non-standard component he will be using: A product designed to keep cats away from stuff, as Grady likes to get up on top of the computer...where some exhaust ports are.
SET 1
Nash - Doctor Who Classic - Episode 11 - Time-Flight
The Regrettes - "I Dare You"
Man or Astro-Man - "Low Batt"
Translator Fails - Google Translate Sings: "I Don't Care" by Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber
Sam Feldt feat. Jeremy Renner - "Heaven (Don't Have a Name)"
Yeah. THAT Jeremy Renner. Seriously. We deserve Thanos.
SET 2
Emily and the Strangers - "Calling All Guitars"
Garbage - "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing"
Not quite as cool as Grady, but keep at it.
Michael Kelly - "Jolene (H.P. Lovecraft Version, Dolly Parton filk)"
Valentino Khan - "Pony" - Mikeshot!
Game stream this Wednesday, and a giveaway next week! Same rules as the last one. Tech Q&A on Saturday.
Netflix is doing an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. This sums up reactions quite nicely.
Sandman is, without hyperbole, one of the most important comic books/graphic novels ever printed. It changed everything about how shit got done in the comic book world.
And they're giving it to Netflix. This paints an unsettling picture of how the Time-Warner house is doing vis a vis the dumpster fire in the back yard. And David Goyer is involved, so...temper thy expectations accordingly. The train is coming, and the bridge is looking like a house of cards.
Bullet dodged: Neil Gaiman says Variety screwed the pooch, Goyer is not in the picture.
SET 3
Stone Temple Pilots - "Plush"
Sabaton - "Fields of Verdun"
Commercial break. They give Nash money, Nash gives us content. Go give 'em some love.
They Might Be Giants - "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
Sara Bareilles - "Fire"
Some bill paying ensues. Nash assures us that we're the "best internet on the audience."
WTFIWWY
STORY 1: Officials Warn of Wasp 'Super Nests' in Alabama
STORY 2: 'Modern-day Hamburglar' cooks burger at Wendy's in Florida, then steals safe
STORY 3: Woman banned from Walmart after demanding half off price of cake she ate half of in store
STORY 4: Sheboygan serial toilet clogger sentenced to 150 days in jail, probation
STORY 5: Texas substitute teacher fired for filming porn in classrom
NewWillinium: Chewed up ANCIENT Gum on your dick
STORY 6: Woman's own security camera allegedly captures her firebombing neighbour's home
SET 4
Todd In The Shadows - POP SONG REVIEW: "You Need to Calm Down" by Taylor Swift
Stand Atlantic - "Lavender Bones"
Daft Punk - "Harder Better Faster Stronger"
Remember to always keep your chickens' safety on
Homestar Runner - The Baloneyman
TWRP - "Starlight Brigade"
One of the things Nash's upcoming computer rebuild will let him do is show off how to do RGB lighting, which has a veritable shit-ton of uses - except he has to wait for all the components to come in before he can do any of it. It is not something you can do parts of at a time.
And then Amazon and the post office happened. The stuff Nash was waiting for was scheduled for delivery on Sunday...and it never materialized. They said they would try for Monday. Nash called the post office and was assured it would be there by eight PM.
And then it wasn't.
He just went ahead and ordered another one that will be there Wednesday.
SET 5
Pushing Up Roses - That Time LeVar Burton Was On Murder, She Wrote
Cornelius - "Point of View Point"
Midnight Oil - "The Dead Heart"
Limmy's Show - Kilogram
Unedited Footage of a Bear
Pearl Jam - "Even Flow"
More Gradyboi. Sleepy marshmallow.
OUTRO
Kate Miller-Heidke - "Share Your Air"
SilverKappa: Any bets on how many lost appendages we'll be seeing on WTFIWWY next week?
Am_I_Devo: I'm betting no lost appendages, but some major burns.
SilverKappa: I'm betting on at least one detachable penis.
STINGER
u/Am_I_Devo: It's called "Jacob And The Giraffe". I know it, now you must know it.

Recently I spoke with Director Kelsey Taylor about her Alien film “Specimen” You can see the film on IGN and we hope you enjoy the interview.
WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR STORY FROM AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO WRITE? I was a collaborator in developing the final script but the original idea came from Federico Frachhia, an awesome filmmakewriter in Argentina.
We were in the writing/rewriting process for about a month after we were asked to create an official pitch/script.
WHAT OTHER PROJECTS HAD YOU DONE PRIOR?
I have done quite a few short films (comedic, dramatic, musicals) prior to this project and a number of commercials. I’ve worked in many other departments in the film industry as well— DP, camera assistant, electric, assistant director, producer, which have all helped me to be the hands on, detail oriented director I am.
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CASTING AND HOW LONG WAS THE FILMING AND EDITING PROCESS?
We posted a casting call through Breakdown Express and LA Casting and got great self-tape submissions from which we ultimately chose our lead Jolene Andersen and supporting actor Aubrey Wakeling. We shot our film over the course of two days and had a rough cut due a week later mid November. The films were locked in early January and polished up with a final delivery on Jan. 20th.
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT GETTING THE LOOK FOR YOUR FILM AS IT LOOKS VERY MUCH IN THE ALIEN UNIVERSE? Cinematographer Adam Lee and I talked at great length about how we wanted the short to look like it was made in the same era as the original. Inspiration was really drawn from the original from the production design to the wardrobe. We wanted that analog, grungy feeling in everything. We wanted to imagine our world the way people in the 70s/80s imagined the future. We did as much as we could in our budget— I would have loved to go more extreme with it. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT FUNDING THE FILM? 20th Century Fox and Tongal sponsored these films and the funding came entirely through those sources. We could not raise additional funds or spend our own money, but I can assure you that in blood, sweat and tears there’s a lot more money on the screen than our budget shows. I’m really proud to have had wonderful friends (new and old) who brought their passion to this project. The franchise has so many fans.
WHAT WERE YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES AND GREATEST SUCCESSES WITH IT?
Our biggest challenge was time. Our budget and location requirements limited how many people we could have— our small crew of 15 accomplished a lot with what we had. But we needed another day… I’m thrilled with the level of suspense and the character development we were able to cram in such a short run time. The goal was to scare and surprise fans and I do believe there are moments where we pulled it off!
HOW DID YOU ACHIEVE THE FX IN THE FILM? The VFX in the film were a combination of practical and CGI… I WISH it all could have been practical but in this crazy world the CGI was shockingly more cost effective. Our VFX supervisor Luc Delamare is a great DP and compositor and singlehandedly learned to animate for the project. He did the final closeups of the face hugger and the moment it jumps. The rest of the face hugger was done with a plush toy for the dog to chew (thanks ThinkGeek!) and a latex model from Moldy Productions that we threw at pipes, hid in trees and scuttled through the foreground.
HOW DID YOU DO THE MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS? Eric Wegener (sound designer) and Robert Evan Hunt (composer) did incredible hours of work in this short. Poor Robert wrote so much music that did not make the final cut when we realized how important silence can be in building tension! We really paid homage to the original with choice of instrumentation. You’ll hear those iconic flutes in our score! Eric gave incredible life to the face hugger in sound design. There’s such a range of sounds he used, from dry ice to badgers fighting! He made special gloves to do foley of the dog’s footsteps and paid special attention to keeping Maggie at the center of the story even though she’s off screen most of the movie. Every jump scare— that’s Eric and Robert at work.
DO YOU HAVE FOLLOW UP PLANNED? I have a feature film in development right now that I’m really excited about. I would of course love to flesh out the world that we’ve set up in Alien: Specimen. There’s a whole backstory to Julie and Dev’s relationship and what they’re doing for Weyland-Yutani in this greenhouse— this short to me is a scene very early on in that story…