Welcome to the thirty-fifth season of DK's Survivor.
For this season, 18 new contestants will be left to fend for themselves in the Aran Islands of Ireland, where they will be split into three tribes based on how they are perceived, either heroes, healers, or hustlers.
In the end only one person will be left, and they will claim the title of sole survivor.
Season link: https://brantsteele.com/survivo35/r.php?c=GaNbJ0mI
(Heroes) - Bantrach Tribe:

• Jenny Calahan - 32 - Army - Newport, VA, USA - u/swoldow
• Jordin Matthews - 34 - CAF Officer - Milwaukee, WI, USA - u/Technical_Mushroom12
• Lane Carlson - 31 - Navy Swim Instructor - Spokane, WA, USA - u/SilverOwl24
• Monica Pullham - 51 - Doctor - Charlotte, NC, USA - u/Enderplayer77
• Sarah Tsunami - 22 - Professional Surfer - Gold Coast, Australia - u/wordonthestreet2
• Tyler Goldstein - 25 - Gym Owner - Toronto, ON, Canada - u/BigTeddyBear20

(Healers) - Corough Tribe:

• Constance Walburg - 32 - Social Worker - Los Angeles, CA, USA - u/JTsidol
• Elizabeth Carleen - 27 - Children's Therapist - Calgary, AB, Canada - u/Technical_Mushroom12
• George Maasa - 47 - Hospital Clerk - Memphis, TN, USA - u/Ripecornball60
• Micheal Poud - 29 - Psychologist - Charlotte, NC, USA - u/BigTeddyBear20
• Rocky Flowers - 37 - Doctor - Las Vegas, NV, USA - u/Popular-Scientist648
• Yan Horiuchi - 38 - Brain Surgeon - Chicago, IL, USA - u/swoldow

(Hustlers) - Killeany Tribe:

• Anna Koloa - 19 - Student - Los Angeles, CA, USA - u/LoveandLightLol
• Beau Vaughn - 47 - Lumberjack - Hudson Bay, SK, Canada - u/swoldow
• Herbie Rivera - 60 - Jazz Musician - Salem, OR, USA - u/Ripecornball60
• Jessa Blanchard - 28 - Hairstylist - Newark, NJ, USA - u/SilverOwl24
• Joey Caruso - 24 - Professional Poker Player - New York City, NY, USA - u/wordonthestreet2
• Nelly Ploxie - 24 - Circus Performer - Las Vegas, NV, USA - u/AshZomboy

Winner: _____Jessa Blanchard_____
Runner-Up: _____Monica Pullham_____
Second Runner-Up: _____Lane Carlson_____
Fan Favorite: _____Micheal Poud_____
Link to wiki page for the season: DK's Survivor: Ireland DKSurvivor Wiki Fandom
Quick thoughts:
I enjoyed this season, especially from episode 5 onwards. That null vote tribal in particular was crazy. Poor Rocky, lol. Anyways, I also really loved how big of a villain Beau became during the merge. Literally EVERYONE hated him. Definitely a super entertaining player.
Jessa was a pretty good winner imo. She positioned herself well in the merge by joining that core Dún Aonghasa alliance, and with her strong social skills, she was able to coast her way right to the end, with the help of a little blunder by Lane. Him bringing Monica to final three backfired really bad tbh, because it gave Jessa the chance to build her resume and impress the jury by winning the fire-making challenge when she was already more liked.
Feel free to share your thoughts below. Stay tuned for the sign-ups for season 36!
Previous seasons:

• Honduras
• Indonesia
• The Everglades
• Morocco
• Greece
• Tonga
• All-Stars
• Palawan
• The Brazilian Highlands
• Mariana Islands
• Maldives
• Kenya
• Wild West
• Fiji
• Melanesia - Fans vs. Favorites
• China
• Peru
• Canada
• Mexico
• Heroes vs. Villains
• Grenada
• Redemption Island
• West Pacific
• One World
• Puerto Rico - Fans vs. Favorites
• The Caribbean
• Blood vs. Water
• Wallis and Futuna
• Thailand - Blood vs. Water
• Second Chance
• Australia
• Millennials vs. Gen-X
• India
• Game Changers - Nicobar Islands

Welcome to another Indie Sunday! This event starts at 12 AM EST and will run for 24 hours.
Please read the below guidelines carefully before participating. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to send us a modmail.
A reminder that Rule 8 is not enforced during this event for submissions which follow the participation guidelines.

Submission Restrictions

• Games may be unreleased or finished
  
• You must provide video footage of the game in action. This can be a prototype, alpha, beta, etc. Images and concept art are nice but you must include a trailer or video of gameplay footage of the game.
  
• No key/game giveaways
  
• Only developers may make submissions for their games - if you would like to highlight a game on your own, please do so in this hub thread
  
• The same game/developer can not be shared more than once every 30 days.
  

Submission Format

• Submission must be a self-post (No direct links)
• Title: Game Name - Company (or individual) Name - Short description (for example: "classic turn based RPG" or "platformer inspired by Metroidvanias")
• Flair: Indie Sunday
• Body: Any links to trailers/footage, a description of the game, plans for release (platform, target date, etc), any additional information you'd like to add.

Weekly Spotlight

• From Glory To Goo - Stratagem Blue - A Colony Survival RTS, released this week on Steam!
• The Thief, the Witch, the Toad & the Mushroom - Ashtown Games - a cosy yet sinister folk tale visual novel that's free on Steam now
• The Temple Of Children - Children Play - A horror Point&Click adventure about children, their games, their Great God and their secrets
• Forum Mortuorum - Vittoria Games - Gladiator Management (Free Demo on Steam!)
• KINGDOM OF FALLEN - DigitalSouls - Survival with unlimited building (Release in a month)
• Poker Warlords - SkeleJelly Games - Unique Showdown Autobattler Card Game
• Arcadium - Luciano - Space themed reverse Bullet Hell where you fight colorful aliens and harvest planetary resources! Steam Demo & Google Play Store Open Beta available!
• Surfers Code - More Than Fun - Chill Surfing Themed Game, But So Much More . . . Adventure, exploration, surfing, and amusing conversations
• Seer's Gambit - Unleash the Giraffe - A strategic, auto-battler where the world is your skilltree - Demo Out on Steam
• Hunt and Fight - Two Cakes Studio - Exciting action role-playing game in which the hero must overcome difficult challenges to find the way home! Who knows, maybe one day you will be able to kill the DEATH itself.
• The Big Below - Steven Aucott - A retro, top-down action/adventure game with a little gnome as the hero, Out now on Steam!
• Tyrant’s Twilight - Caio Ramaglio - Tactics RPG with an Action twist!
• Galaxy Highways - Nanopike - Story-driven pixel-art space shooter where you complete different attack and defend type missions while trying to manage your health by killing mission enemies and enemy waves sent by a special defense system.
• Dreadwoods Gatekeeper - Raw Tale Games - A narrative horror where you play as a gatekeeper in a medieval town.
• Kitchen Sync: Aloha! - Lemonpepper Games - A cozy kitchen management RPG that blends cooking, strategy, relationship building, story, and Hawaii 🍍
• Vasilisa and Baba Yaga - Baba Yaga Games - An adventure game based on the folktale "Vasilisa the Beautiful". A scary story about the journey to the mistress of the forbidden forest for magical powers.
• Go Go Zombies - 80_boom - Rage and rampage as a fast zombie mob - FREE on Steam
• The Bugs Manor 🦋 - Moonthsoft - A Free 2D Pixel Art Horror Game
• Erenshor - Burgee Media - A Single Player nod to the classic MMORPGs of the 2000s
• Please Be Kind To The Chickens - Demanding Bear - Bastard Child of Stephen's Sausage Roll and Lemmings
• RATKING CHAPTER ZERO - WILLYFEESH - Free Release! An Action Combat Point N Click Adventure...
• Forty-Niner - VowelA Games - Wild West Survival RPG with sandbox elements and co-op. Choose Cowboy or Native American, craft, and build in a procedurally generated world!
• LOK Digital - Draknek & Friends - Learn world-changing words and master their mind-bending effects
• Pool of Madness - Bit Golem - a retro-styled Lovecraftian pool game with roguelite elements from the creators of "Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft"
• Spiritfall - Gentle Giant - Roguelite with Platform Fighter inspired combat recently released in 1.0
• DRAKE - solarsuit.games - an Isometric RPG inspired by Fallout 2 but with real-time action combat and Organic Roleplaying. Demo Available
• Slyders - Kato Games - First-person bullet hell shooter that mixes Serious Sam-inspired action with over-the-top skills of survivorslikes
• Primordial Nation- Vezeko - A Primeval 4X / Grand Strategy about building your nation that can survive through the echoes of time! (Upcoming Game / WIP)
• Pathless Woods - AniYa Games - Cozy Survival Game Set In Ancient China - Just Released in Early Access
• Polygon of Reality - Dark Games DGG - First-person Survival horror with cunning and clever enemies.
• Vangaro Tactics - niadocraz - Cartoon turn-based strategy with Stealth Missions. Demo out now!
• Galaxy Burger - Galactic Workshop - A cozy cooking simulator with Co-op (2-4 friends) and Singleplayer.
• Node Farm - ByerN - cozy, roguelite, automated farm simulator.
• The Sacred Acorn - A Few Dragons - Cute meets chaos in this top-down 2D action adventure that’s got cozy vibes and challenging combat, inspired by Hollow Knight, Jotun and Ori and the Blind Forest
• Paw Paw Destiny - Daiyu.studio - new Strategy mode, 'creative dark humor'
• Spirit City: Lofi Sessions - Mooncube Games - A Cozy Customizable Productivity Tool with Cute Spirits - Releasing tomorrow!
• Moon's Creed - Creedon Games - Moddable Deck Builder Just Released a Demo!
• Shoomer Booter - Tommy Gun Walrus - tiny retro FPS with pixel art and modern lighting
• Astral Throne - Zero Sun Games - Fire Emblem-inspired Roguelite (Demo Available Now, Looking for Feedback)
• Xeno Runners - Atchio Games - High-Speed free-flying racing game. Trackmania meets Iron Man.
• Gladio Mori - Plebeian Studio - Physics-based multiplayer arena fighting game
• Jump Ship - Keepsake Games - A co-op PvE where you are the crew of a spaceship
• 3Hills - Copperfields - Rayman with breakable head meets Twin-stick controls!
• Everspell - Stoneforge Games - A story turn-based open world RPG with some cool spellcasting mechanics
• Mystical Tactics - Morm - A 2.5D turn-based tactical roguelike inspired by Into The Breach, FF Tactics and Battle Brothers
• Critias Empire - Crystalline Green Ltd. - Non violent 4X strategy, now with demo!
• Into The Grid - Flatline Studios - Cyberpunk Deckbuilder & Dungeon Crawler hybrid. Closing the public playtest tomorrow!
• Our Adventurer Guild - GreenGuy - A tactical RPG where you manage an Adventurer Guild
• HeistGeist - Doublequote Studio - Story-focused Cyberpunk RPG about the fallout of the ‘one last job’ going terribly wrong.
• Monster Mop Up - Terahard - Cleaning Sandbox Simulation with fluffy creatures just got a new demo and trailer!
• The Monarch - Citadel Games - EARLY ACCESS RELEASE / Build & Defend Your Kingdom!
• Imperial Ambitions – aoiti studio – a 4X about Age of Discovery inspired by Imperialism and Colonization
• Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons - Blast Programming - Idle Dungeon Crawler Where You Manage A Guild Heroes And Explore Dungeons For Loot and Glory
• Kinsfolk - Vinko Kodzoman - An atmospheric single player adventure game about fatherhood (inspired by games like Journey and Firewatch)
• Zodiac Legion - Studio Draconis - a turn based tactical RPG with kingdom building elements
• Mortal Glory 2 - Redbeak Games - 2D Turn-based Gladiator Roguelike
• Hyper Tanks - silboh - Futuristic Arena Shooter similar to Wii Tanks
• Feudums - Kalamona Studios - Medieval 4X / grand strategy about building your kingdom and great noble house (free demo available!)
• Critter Crossfire - Evan Polekoff - My beginner-friendly take on a turn-based tactics game.

Previous Indie Sunday

Feedback

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below, or send us a modmail if it is urgent.

Discussion

• Any of these games catch your eye?
  
• Any games you want to personally highlight that haven't been shared yet?
  
• Any projects that have had interesting development journeys?
  
• What indie game recommendations do you have?
  

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In my thirties. Renting an apartment for a decent price. Working for myself as a poker player for a long time now. Not sure how much longer I want to play poker. The money is okay, but it's stressful and can feel empty sometimes, even though it can also be exciting and beautiful at times too.
I don't have a plan what I would do after. It's very difficult to think of what I could do. Since I'm so specialised in this one skill and focussed on it for so long, didn't finish any study I started, because I was never motivated to. But not looking to retire soon either, I like having a daily routine and keep my mind busy.
I used to cash out some of my winnings in crypto, held that, but recently took a big portion out because I had too much % net worth in it, so now sitting with a 6 figure amount in cash I don't use, what would you guys recommend doing, I have some thoughts myself:

• S&P500 (or something like this) ETF
• Buying a small apartment in Portugal, rent it out to surfers/tourists, and go on vacation myself if I want to.
• Something else to consider?

The problem I have with these options is the record high both the housing as the stock market are. To get into it now seems risky with a big amount?
I'm looking for a save investment, don't need that much return, just better than holding cash.
I just wrote this down, but decided to post it. Thanks for reading!

Someone pointed out earlier that this subreddit is mostly full of people complaining.
I have plenty of complaints about SNAP, but I keep playing it because it's fun. I'll add something to the conversation, now, that's been on my mind and is not a complaint.
I was playing SNAP on my phone the other night and not doing well. It's not a game I'm great at, and my goal is generally not to win as much as possible so much as it is to not lose all of the time. I like playing cards that look nice. I like seeing everyone's cards. There was a Sentinel the other day I'd never seen, and it rocked.
Anyway, I wasn't playing well. I went to bed and plugged my phone in. I thought I'd play one more game.
Something that happens when I plug in my phone at night is that it goes into bedtime mode. The screen turns black and white.
I don't know quite how to explain this. I don't know if it's a case where correlation does not equal causation.
But as soon as my screen went black and white my luck took a turn for the much better. Or, it wasn't my luck only; I was playing better. After losing five matches in a row I won three in a row, lost one, then won four. I almost never win that much.
I don't want to try to draw a big conclusion from this. It could be that my luck coincided with my screen going black and white.
But I know the reason why I started winning wasn't that I was in bed, or because I was reclining. I always lose in bed, whether it's in romance or online poker.
I think it had something to do with the black and white screen. I think it's possible, if not probable, that when we're playing SNAP the colors of the cards interfere with our decision-making capacities.
This is not something I can confirm on my own. I need help. If other people wouldn't mind trying this out, and seeing what sort of results you get, it would go a long way toward turning my recent findings into firm conclusions.
In case it's relevant, here is the deck I was using. The deck's title is 7Ups, named after the team from the movie The Seven Ups. Now, though, I might have to change it to B&W, for "black and white":
​
# (1) Spider-Ham
# (1) Elektra
# (2) Carnage
# (2) Quake
# (2) Sentinel
# (3) Ironheart
# (3) Brood
# (3) Mister Fantastic
# (3) Silver Surfer
# (4) Absorbing Man
# (5) Ronan the Accuser
# (6) Orka
#
eyJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQnJvb2QifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Iklyb25oZWFydCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU2lsdmVyU3VyZmVyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBYnNvcmJpbmdNYW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlF1YWtlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJDYXJuYWdlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJTcGlkZXJIYW0ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlJvbmFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJPcmthIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFbGVrdHJhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNckZhbnRhc3RpYyJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU2VudGluZWwifV19
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and paste it from the deck editing menu in Snap.

Surfing is ruining my life. Not literally, but you know what I mean. For those of you who are landlocked, please share with me your experience. I didn’t start surfing until later in life (24), I’m 37 now. It is my favorite thing to do even tho I’m a below average surfer. Maybe average. I moved away 7 months ago to be a ski bum in CO for the Winter. I was fortunate enough to start skiing at a young age, so that was my first love. Problem is I gave up my place when I moved that was a killer deal, and can no longer afford to live here due to my career. I’m a professional poker player and the poker scene around here is pretty much dead. I live in Pismo Beach area. In CO I have Blackhawk for gambling and plenty of skiing. I don’t have any other skill sets, so I’m pretty much fucked unless I wanna live in Ventura/LA area, which I don’t like the crowd factors down there. Crowds ruin surfing for me. Not to mention rent. I can score perfect waves with hardly anyone out from Pismo to Big Sur. How have you survived landlocked!?? I got a 7 month taste and it wasn’t horrible because I was distracted and had this new adventure, but now that I’m back home visiting and I’m frothing a bit 🤦‍♂️
PLS HELP

Movement:

• Do you think they should add vehicles like Street Surfer, bicycles, cars, or whatever that we can use to go around the map?
• Do you prefer manually controlling the vehicles, like Street Surfer, or did you tend to rely on auto-cruise?
• Should feature like auto-cruise be added to normal movement?

Battle:

• Turn based or real time brawling, which is better?
• When using Kiryu, do you tend to like Brawler, Beast, or Rush better? (or does it depend on the game?)

Story:

• Prefer more serious, like in originals or more goofy like with LAD?
• Does length of the game matter to you? If so, prefer longer or shorter?
• Prefer it follows just one person the entire time or do you enjoy the games where it bounces between characters/teams?

Side Games/Substories:

• Do you think they should kind of be required to proceed with the game? (such as how we had to go to Dodonko Island in IW?).
• If you have to choose between fewer side content but higher quality or tons of things to do, which do you prefer? (I guess can think of things like Kiwami vs IW).
• Between things like bowling/baseball/golf vs pokeblackjack/mahjong/ vs cabaret/dating/sexy vs drone racing/street racing/pocket circuit....which is more fun?

Leveling and Skills

• Should stats be leveled independently or based on job & level?
• When you think back to mechanics in the Yakuza games of how we unlocked moves/skills, which do you think was the best? (For example, some unlocked by spending money. Others required experience or something similar from fighting or completing tasks. Then in other games, you learned through training and quests overall, like Komaki stuff)
• Should content scale with your level or should certain areas be solid level? In other words, do you think we should be able to get OP or should content always be a bit challenging?

Welcome to the seventh season of Feisty’s Survivor.
18 people from different walks of life have signed up for the experience of a lifetime where they will battle in fierce competitions, vote each other out one by one, and ultimately one person will earn the title of sole survivor.
NOTE: The season logo is not mine, so credit to the creator!
Season Link: https://brantsteele.com/survivo28/r.php?c=O26bCxok
Castaways:
Ocean Tribe:
David Turner-31-Attorney-Los Angeles, CA-u/Twig7665
Edvard Sargsyan-24-Motivational Speaker-Boston, MA-u/swoldow
Geoff Sunshine-23-Surfer-San Diego, CA-u/Rylandoesreddit
Kaylee Robinson-27-Self Defense Instructor-Miami, FL-u/Ripecornball60
Maria Mercedes-Rey-56-Chemist-Itagua, Paraguay-u/Sxvorii
Odette Riley-24-House Painter-Fort Wayne, IN-u/Nahuelfire39
Harbor Tribe:
Alexandra Acosta-32-Soccer Coach-Montgomery, AL-u/TDSurvivorFan21
Clarece Nkosi-22-Influencer-Kansas City, MO-u/Rylandoesreddit
Jessica Abrefa-25-Poker Player-Las Vegas, NV-u/Twig7665
Jordan Delgado-21-Unemployed-Buffalo, NY-u/hielord1
Kyle Lurksen-25-Mechanic-Boston, MA-u/BigTeddyBear20
Valentin Leiva-31-Hairdresser-Ituzaingo, Argentina-u/Nahuelfire39
Reef Tribe:
Dizkash Kaur-21-Physics Student-Dover, DE-u/swoldow
Francesca Bandoni-31-Food Critic-Rome, Italy-u/BigTeddyBear20
Isabelle Odom-26-Medical School Student-Madison, WI-u/TDSurvivorFan21
Leo Willems-41-Drag Queen-Newport Beach, CA-u/Sxvorii
Wayne Warren-49-Fire Captain-Buffalo, NY-u/Ripecornball60
Whitney Laurent-23-Fashion Designer-New York City, NY-u/IdkWhatToDoHere-
Winner: ———Dizkash Kaur———
Runner-Up: ———Isabelle Odom———
Fan Favorite: ———Alexandra Acosta———
Overall Thoughts: >! A very interesting and spread out season. The pre-merge was more interesting than usual with all close votes being one or two votes between. Also, there were so many idol plays where the person using them was in no danger of being voted out, wasting the idols. The whole season was very close with close votes until the end and I loved how the immunity challenges were so spread out with many different winners. Dizz played a good game and fostered strong relationships in the jury and I think he was a fitting victor. !<
—————————
Previous Seasons:
Guatemala
Ghost Island
Philippines
Cook Islands
Senegal
Finland

1. Spider-Man 3: Says a signature iconic line, and then leaves. Perfection.
2. The Amazing Spider-Man: Probably the funniest cameo. Would not want to be there later.
3. Thor The Dark World: Funniest line delivery by Stan in a movie. Fight me!
4. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Complete nonchalance by previous events. Iconic.
5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Second-longest cameo in the catalogue, and it does not disappoint, with all of his signature quirkiness and charm.
6. Avengers Endgame: Perfect sendoff to a legend. Excelsior!
7. Captain America CW: Iconic performance of the beleaguered FedEx driver.
8. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: Amazingly self-aware. Such disrespect from Robin!
9. Avengers Age of Ultron: Challenges a Norse god, and gets so drunk he hysterically spouts a catchphrase. Also points out service. Class act!
10. Thor: Does something funny, says a banger of a line to uproarious laughter and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
11. Doctor Strange: A *slammer* of a gag!
12. Thor Ragnarok: Even a Norse god is not immune from fear caused by Stan the Man.
13. Avengers Infinity War: As a matter of fact, I have not seen a spaceship before. Wise-ass.
14. Captain America The Winter Soldier: Panic, followed by annoyance, despite the circumstance’s lack of change.
15. Agent Carter: Take whatever you want, including this position on the list.
16. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The one man who can chew out Phil Coulson. Check please!
17. Captain America The First Avenger: Really clever placement, and really funny line. What more can I say?
18. Marvel’s Spider-Man: You were mine, Stan.
19. Big Hero 6: Best twist ending ever! Followed by a really sweet sequence.
20. Daredevil: Gets saved by a blind kid while crossing the street, then looks confused. Classic Stan!
21. Fantastic Four: Welcome sight as a character he created. Really sweet.
22. Iron Man: Classic and hilarious case of mistaken identity. Lookin’ swankyyyy!
23. Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer: WHO IS STAN LEE IN THIS UNIVERSE, THEN?! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!
24. Deadpool: Best strip club DJ ever, and that’s saying something!
25. Hulk: Double whammy with Ferrigno!
26. Spider-Man: Homecoming: Threats, followed by flirting. Quite the charmer.
27. Ant-Man: Funny, but not much substance.
28. Black Panther: Steals poker chips from a guy that is not there anymore. Meh.
29. Iron Man 3: Really short scene, but really funny face!
30. The Avengers: Cool line, but pretty short. I much rather preferred the deleted scene with Ashley Johnson, but we don’t always get what we want.
31. Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse: Pretty funny, but the animation is not doing him any favors.
32. Spider-Man 2: Saves a woman (and we get to see it)!
33. Spider-Man: Kinda blink-and-you-miss-it, but he saves a kid, so that’s cool.
34. The Incredible Hulk: HOW DARE THEY IMPLY HIS DEATH?! Ironically, probably the most he contributes to any film’s plot.
35. The Amazing Spider-Man 2: I don’t even know what it means, but it made me chortle.
36. Captain Marvel: Reading a newspaper on a bus. Still got that winning smile
37. X-Men The Last Stand: Watering the lawn gets interrupted by timely telekinesis. Not much to say.
38. X-Men: He operates a hot dog stand. Whatever.
39. Venom: Doesn’t even make sense and is not remotely humorous.
40. Guardians of the Galaxy: Way too obscure, and he’s not the focus of the comedy!
41. X-Men Apocalypse: So, the only time his wife cameos, they both seemingly die. Disgraceful.
42. Iron Man 2: You barely see him, and you get nothing from it. Doesn’t even look like Larry King. (Yet another reason to hate this film)

Honourable mention: Super Hero Squad and Ultimate Spider-Man: Trust me on this.

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Memory transcription subject: Onso, Yotul Technical Specialist
Date [standardized human time]: April 9, 2137
Rather than settling down on Rinsa after arriving back at Leirn, I had duties to fulfill for my people before heading home. I was summoned to mainland Thysun, after requesting to speak to the Technocracy’s Intelligence Panel in closed testimony; departmental leadership, implemented when we drove foreigners and Federation sympathizers away in the Great Reclaiming, was comprised of leading experts in various fields. The committee was a band of geopolitical specialists, threat assessors, and continuity-of-government planners. After seeing the quiet devastation of cyberwarfare, I’d entreated my government to create our own cyber division. The Yotul couldn’t leave our infrastructure vulnerable to malicious programs.
While I doubt the humans will be our enemies in the near future, they still have the capabilities to unseat all our advancements without sending a single ship. We don’t want anyone to have that level of power over us, like the Federation did.
It wasn’t impossible that other planets would develop such capabilities either, especially without the Kolshian-led stagnation. Preparing for all eventualities was something that my people needed to prioritize, so we had protocol to fall back on for even the most unlikely of challenges. It was like building redundancies upon redundancies in engineering; if something went wrong, there should be more failsafes and backup plans than we’d ever need. That was Safety 101, and it shouldn’t be any different with the security of our society. The Yotul Technocracy had made leaps and bounds since leaving the Federation. We were technological leaders, pushing the forefront of innovation alongside the humans.
Being one of the original three to aid Earth, after Kalsim’s attack, meant that we were one of the most powerful nations in the Sapient Coalition…but it also meant we’d be a target for any ex-Federation members who resented the primates’ victory. The Technocracy was mistrustful of the surrendering “neutrals”, who were being weighed as trial additions to the SC; I wasn’t thrilled about parties who hadn’t stood up to the shadow caste, and their imperialism, having a say in the alliance’s internal affairs. I dropped a suggestion in my briefing, to enhance our digital espionage abilities, with that in mind. If anyone was plotting against us, militarily or diplomatically, we needed advance warning.
I’d left Thysun after several days of being questioned, on everything I knew about human and nonhuman military capabilities, and the exact details I’d written in my combat report. The Intelligence Panel promised to grant me a commendation for my seamless integration with our UN allies, before offering me my choice of a posting or a promotion—with their preference being a top-tier job in the Research and Development department. The idea of playing a part in our shipyards’ mass construction program had appealed to me, almost as much as Sara Rosario’s prior offer to restore Leirn. It would be prestigious, squarely in my field, and come with a pay increase; plus, I imagined I could request to stay in Rinsa, my own backyard.
Still, part of me wanted to leave the military behind. Tyler was waiting for me at the bullet train station, so I’d like to acquire his thoughts. I attended Carlos’ funeral virtually on the locomotive ride across the Rinsa-Thysun Connector Bridge, and stared out at the glistening ocean waves in somber reflection on all that’d been lost. It once would’ve taken weeks by boat to travel intercontinental like this. The harbor where I’d spent days on the sailboat with Mama, salt spray on my lolling tongue and wind in my ears, was now replete with modernized haulers—though a few recreational ships, including an “Island Cruise Liner”, were making a return. That turned my mourning to a bit of optimism, as we’d restored traces of what made us the Yotul.
“Well, hello Tyler,” I murmured, spotting the tall human as the train pulled up to the station. His towering figure would stand out anywhere, even on Earth. “Why did you hang out here in Rinsa, while I was busy in Thysun, instead of heading home? It can’t be just to teach me surfing.”
I’d thought it was strange when Tyler took the shuttle down to Leirn’s surface with me. After the entire mission revolved around rescuing Slanek, I expected him to assure the Venlil’s return; instead, that fell to the handful of herbivore crew and Sovlin, who was lucky the Venlil didn’t remember him. Officer Cardona’s willingness to forsake the ship, with his promise to Marcel fulfilled, suggested he might want to put the exchange program first. This could be not just about the offhand remark to teach me surfing, but also about strengthening our friendship. The move seemed semi-permanent even, since he hadn’t returned to his homeworld at all. According to our chats, he had his belongings shipped to him, and was living at a UN foothold on Rinsa.
I love the idea of having some downtime with my friend, like we did in Brussels at our first meeting, but I can’t turn down R&D for that. I already missed one prime opportunity for him. I need to help my family, and this pay hike could give my father retirement.
Tyler grinned as he spotted me, and walked slowly up to the train station. The primate was in civilian pelts, a casual shirt with tropical trees printed on it and beige shorts. I imagined that choice of attire had something to do with loving Rinsa’s warm and temperate climate; there had been reports not just of Terran refugees, but also of requests for tourism flooding in after the war’s conclusion. The village council was discussing permits for a beach resort by the harbor, injecting life into our economy. They were even considering using old Yotul technology, to give a “medieval” experience. It was strange for aliens to want to visit islanders that were considered “backward savages” even among our own kind, but I was touched that someone saw the beauty in our way of life.
“Buddy! The Michelin-star ramen chef is here to rescue you!” Tyler boomed, earning mystified looks from the other disembarking passengers. “I’ve been waitin’ here, all by my lonesome, for you. I got some stuff to show ya.”
I twitched my ears with amusement. “You know, the exchange program doesn’t have any official oversight anymore. It’s over. I don’t have to go anywhere with you.”
“Too bad; you’re my hostage. With that smart brain of yours, I think I could get quite a ransom. After all, ya been chumming it up with the who’s who of Thysun. Wait a second, do y’all got some spy agency that’s following you, now that you’re connected? I don’t wanna be black bagged.”
“I don’t know. If you want to go through with holding me for ransom, you can find out.”
“Nah. Don’t feel like callin’ your bluff today.”
“You’re the one who bluffs. I’ve seen your mathematically dubious poker strategy.”
“That implies that I have a strategy! Now quit taking the piss, and walk with me. I got something for you back at the UN compound.”
“Fine,” I agreed, allowing him to drag me off down the sidewalk. “But you’re gonna tell me why you’ve moved out here, and sat around waiting for me.”
“Ain’t it obvious? First off, I’m here growing out my hair, though it’s gonna take way too long to get those surfer vibes. You were in Thysun for long enough I was startin’ to think I might have time to get some locks going. Now that you’re back, I brought you a board, and I’m gonna start teaching you how to ride the waves!”
I was silent for a long moment, mulling over how to respond. While I didn’t want to shoot down his enthusiasm, and the idea of learning Terran water sports sounded amazing, I wouldn’t have all this time during the day to devote to recreation. If I took the R&D job, I intended to work my ass off to advance the Yotul’s security. Sure, lazing around the beach under Ralchi’s warmth sounded divine, just as we had before setting sail to the Battle of Aafa. It was a blessing that we’d come back alive at all, with the enormity of casualties in the orbital battle. Carlos’ funeral, which we just listened in to, had been a poignant reminder of that fact. Staying in touch with Tyler and trying to balance work and life would be my goal, but I also had to think of my family.
My father isn’t getting any younger, and the time I have left with him grows shorter, the longer he works himself to death. The paycheck will be good, but not quite as life-changing as Sara’s program. I hope Tyler didn’t make any drastic moves to the detriment of his own career without consulting me.
While I’d told myself I’d confront my friend, my mind was all but set on taking the job. It would’ve been a relief in many ways to leave the military behind, but I needed to secure my future, my loved ones’ welfare, and my role in the Great Reclaiming. Very few people were offered two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in short succession, so I’d be foolish to pass on an upgrade like this a second time. Years of studying engineering pointed to this path, so I wasn’t sure why I yearned for something more peaceable. When I’d watched the bombs fall on Caato, my conscience had shuddered to think of building the tools to enable such devastation. Yet I knew the Technocracy wasn’t the Duerten Shield; we wished to protect ourselves and level the playing field. It wasn’t the same.
“Seriously, Onso, all I wanted since first contact was to be friends with aliens. Problem is, I’m louder and less cleaned-up than Marcel,” Tyler remarked, prompting me out of my silence. “On Leirn, there’s none of the fucking fragile prey act. I thought a change of scenery would be good for me, else I’m gonna punch Hunter next time he makes one of his shitty comments. Sovlin needs a place to come home to more than me; he’s doin’ good work.”
My tail swished in acknowledgement. “That Gojid found his calling. I never thought I’d hear him praise the Yotul’s culture, but the more I consider it, the more I think those ‘primitive’ comments were rooted in jealousy…that we still have our identity.”
“Maybe. Point is, I got a transfer here, to literal fucking paradise on my favorite SC planet. Being near my best friend is a cherry on top. You can nerd out about all the Yotul culture you want, Onso; we don’t got nowhere left to go.”
“Not even to check on Slanek and Marcel?”
“The beauty of FTL comms. I don’t like the idea of going to Skalga with ‘Put A Visor On It’ Veln as leader. Those two can come visit here, but I doubt that’ll happen any time soon. Shit, that’s right—I meant to give you the scoop on how they’re doing! Marcel’s been texting me, and he sent a video update a few hours ago, but I saved it to watch with you. One second!”
The human flashed his canine teeth, nearly throwing his holopad into my hands after pulling up the video. It was the same enthusiasm that had led him to call Marcel back in the lab; which, in fairness, had paid dividends despite its risks. It was obvious how much Tyler cared for the people close to him, with how he’d pledged to go to the galaxy’s most spectacular battle to rescue a friend. Despite losing the Leirn restoration job, I was glad that I’d gone with my friend; it would’ve been much harder to coax the Venlil back to the ship without me. If love had lasted through the brain experimentation, it was possible the hatred for Sovlin would’ve lingered too, once the Salt Monster laid eyes on him. I peered at the recorded face of the red-haired Terran, who had a sheepish Slanek curled up next to him in the video.
Marcel smiled at the camera, with scars weathering his face. “I’m checking in with lots of good news, though it’s not all swimming. First off, Nulia has shown trouble at first getting attached to female figures—can’t blame her, after her mom abandoned her and…well, that’s not fair. I should have shouldered more of the responsibility, but too many things were hitting me at once. Anyhow, she’s finally starting to warm to Jensi. She really wants to join the mahjong games with Jensi’s human friends, but she’s a bit too young and those are…on hold, because Slanek finds that to be way too much.”
“Not…don’t want in my house,” the Venlil croaked. “Supposed to be…safe.”
“I know, buddy. I’ll protect you, right? What the Kolshians told you about us isn’t true. You lived on Earth and with our soldiers for months, and no humans hurt you.”
“I don’t remember. You said I trained with that…Tyler. It…he rescued me. When are we going to call him?”
Marcel’s expression fell. “We’re calling him right now, buddy. Focus up…look at the holopad camera. You see, it’s on? We’ve been filming for about thirty seconds. Tyler did go through the instinct suppression program with you, and we visited Skalga—”
“Where…what is Skalga?”
“It’s Venlil Prime’s name now; they voted it in officially a few weeks ago. It was the name before the Federation…World of Death. You remember what I told you about them screwing over the Venlil? Don’t cry, it’s alright. I’ll just keep reminding you of things.”
“It’s hard…keep things. Brain…catches nothing. I’m tired.”
“You can nap right here, until the nice Zurulian doctor comes to try to help you. If the Kolshians did this to you, then maybe it can be undone, right? I just wanted you to remember how our first visit to your planet together was with Tyler, while a cute little Tilfish kid named Virnt rode on his shoulders. That was after he saved us on Sillis, flying into headlong danger; he’s a bro. Why don’t you be a brave Venlil and wave at the camera?”
Slanek took a moment to locate the camera, before giving a disjointed swish of his tail. “There. Sleep now.”
Marcel gently pulled the Venlil’s already-dozing head onto his stomach. “Shit. You see what’s wrong? I was going to start with the good news, like how my gene reversal went off without a hitch. No more allergic reactions from the slightest whiff of animal stuff. I can move back to Earth whenever, but I’m staying because Slanek needs me.”
“Yes. Stay,” the Venlil murmured. “Love Marcel.”
“You know I love you, buddy. I’m right beside you. I won’t sugarcoat it, Tyler; our pal here is pretty fucked up. They did a number on him. His short-term recall is hit or miss, since he can hardly focus, so I wind up explaining things several times. Any human that’s not me, sometimes even just sighted out the window, makes him shut down. That’s why I’m recording this, and not calling you live. This is the best I can do to get him to talk to you.”
I pinned my ears against my head. “By Ralchi. This is terrible, seeing Slanek like this.”
“I remember when he struggled with anxiety around us, but this is heartbreaking,” Tyler whispered.
Marcel forced his smile to return. “We’re making small progress, and Slanek’s home. The best doctors at the Galactic Institute of Medicine are on it, and between Jensi and I, we can keep him on track. I hope you and Onso are doing well. You both risked your lives for us, so thank you for everything. It’s a long journey ahead, but hopefully I’ll be in touch with a more optimistic outlook soon.”
The video flickered out, and I padded a few more steps after Tyler in somber silence. It would be difficult for Slanek to escape the lab’s effects, though at least he wasn’t separated from his friend; I hoped that, with medical aid, he’d be able to regain his faculties. It was only as I passed the holopad back that I noticed we were nowhere near the UN compound, where Officer Cardona claimed to have a gift for me. I thought the primate spoiled the surprise by announcing that he’d transported a surfboard here, but this…looked like the research complex for the Leirn restoration project. Sara Rosario was waiting by the gates, a lab coat over her shoulders.
Did Sara reach out to Tyler somehow? She was definitely expecting us, and we didn’t wander here by mistake. I don’t want to get my hopes up, though; I turned down the job, and didn’t expect her to hold it.
Tyler clapped me on the back, his jovial mood returning as he saw my surprise. “Surprise! My transfer was really as security for this complex here. You thought I wouldn’t find out that you turned down this project for me, and didn’t tell me so that I wouldn’t feel guilty? I sensed something was off, so I did some digging.”
“When I found out from Tyler why you passed up the job, Onso, I was even more impressed with you. Your loyalty is admirable,” Sara chimed in. “I was happy to hold the position for as long as it took. I also took the liberty of getting the go-ahead from your government. The posting is yours, at the same price tag as the original offer, if you want it.”
“You can’t be serious? You both did that…for me?” I blinked several times, recalling how enthusiastic I’d felt on my tour of the facility; the hensas had been such a welcome sight from our past. R&D was a wonderful, technical gig, but this was the job that spoke to me. “Yes! Ralchi, I could leap into orbit with joy! I want nothing more than to restore Leirn to its former glory—even if it means I have to work with this bozo.”
“That’s not very nice, Living Geyser of Fun Facts,” Tyler objected. “I spent weeks planning how to give you the perfect return home, and this is my reward?”
“What do you humans say? Cope and seethe?”
Tyler scowled at me, before I tackled him in a hug. He pried my arms off of him, holding a finger to implore me to wait. His blue eyes winked at me, suggesting he had something else in store for fulfilling my dreams. I tilted my head to the side, watching as he hurried over to Earth animal cages outside the facility; I recalled the Terrans had been importing pets as a stopgap for Yotul citizens. The primate clasped a lead in his hands, coaxing a massive, mottled-gray canine from the enclosure toward me. I recognized the dog as his pet, Zeus the Great Dane.
Officer Cardona hadn’t left Zeus behind on Earth? I supposed it would be possible to get permission for canine companions, but why bring him here ahead of my arrival? His beloved pet should be at his place of residence, in comfortable surroundings. The human’s smile widened, as he fitted the leash’s loop around my wrist. Zeus turned around to sniff at me with a wet nose, before wagging his tail with affection; the domesticated animal must recognize my scent from his owner’s pelts.
“Tyler and I both talked about how you wanted a big dog, after the war,” Sara commented.
The blond human bobbed his head. “I knew what I had to do. He’s yours.”
My eyes widened, staring at the gigantic canine. “What? No…I can’t take Zeus, Tyler. He’s your pet; you love him!”
“Yeah, but I can’t have him on the base. I know you’ll take good care of him, so I wanted you to have him. Don’t worry, I’ll tell ya everything you need to know about owning a pupper. Helps me too, ‘cause I’ll get to see him on a regular basis. It’s a win for everyone involved.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Say that Tyler is the best human to ever grace this universe.”
“Fuck no. But I’ll say you’re a great friend…I’m glad I’ve gotten to know you. And if you’re sure you’re okay with it, I would be honored to have Zeus. He’s going to be the most spoiled dog in the galaxy.”
“Damn straight! Especially when I come over and bring him treats and dog bones. Definitely couldn’t talk about how predator Zeus loves chomping down on bones to any other herbivore!”
“Long as it’s not my bones, I don’t care. Hensas hunted live prey back on the farm.”
“Unless you got squirrel equivalents out here, Zeus won’t chase nothin’. He’s a good boy.”
“He sure is. But I’m not sure I can take him right now; I’m sure I’m behind on lots of work in the project. I’m eager to get started, Doctor Rosario.”
Sara chuckled to herself, stress lines fading from her face. “Well, you start the job today, Onso. How about, for your first assignment, you take your dog home, and go to the beach with this guy for some surfing lessons? One day to enjoy time with your friend won’t hurt anything. After all we’ve been through, I’ll call it worth it just to see a video of this.”
“Well, that’s very kind of you, but it can—”
Tyler scowled at me. “Don’t you dare persuade her to assign you something, you deranged Yotul! I’ve been waiting weeks for you to get your ass back from Thysun. I did bring a surfboard, and we’re going, right now. C’mon.”
With my friend’s stern expression leaving no room for argument, I acquiesced to his beach demands. The idea of building an entire society, rather than just spaceships, helped me feel that Leirn was in control of our destiny once more. I hadn’t dreamed that everything would fall back into place so perfectly, but I had Tyler to thank for that; he’d appreciated the sacrifice he was never supposed to know I made. There’d be no more missions to drag us away from home, and our packmates’ fates were out of our paws. It was time to make a life here, one that involved a big dog today and hensas in the future.
I was grateful that I could live in a galactic community where I’d be seen as an equal, and that I could work alongside my friend to fulfill the magnificent dreams I had for the Yotul people.
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Official NOP Paperback (Chs 1-40) Patreon Series wiki Official subreddit Discord

1. Spider-Man 3: Says a signature iconic line, and then leaves. Perfection.
2. The Amazing Spider-Man: Probably the funniest cameo. Would not want to be there later.
3. Thor The Dark World: Funniest line delivery by Stan in a movie. Fight me!
4. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Complete nonchalance by previous events. Iconic.
5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Second-longest cameo in the catalogue, and it does not disappoint, with all of his signature quirkiness and charm.
6. Avengers Endgame: Perfect sendoff to a legend. Excelsior!
7. Captain America CW: Iconic performance of the beleaguered FedEx driver.
8. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: Amazingly self-aware. Such disrespect from Robin!
9. Avengers Age of Ultron: Challenges a Norse god, and gets so drunk he hysterically spouts a catchphrase. Also points out service. Class act!
10. Thor: Does something funny, says a banger of a line to uproarious laughter and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
11. Doctor Strange: A *slammer* of a gag!
12. Thor Ragnarok: Even a Norse god is not immune from fear caused by Stan the Man.
13. Avengers Infinity War: As a matter of fact, I have not seen a spaceship before. Wise-ass.
14. Captain America The Winter Soldier: Panic, followed by annoyance, despite the circumstance’s lack of change.
15. Agent Carter: Take whatever you want, including this position on the list.
16. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The one man who can chew out Phil Coulson. Check please!
17. Captain America The First Avenger: Really clever placement, and really funny line. What more can I say?
18. Marvel’s Spider-Man: You were mine, Stan.
19. Big Hero 6: Best twist ending ever! Followed by a really sweet sequence.
20. Daredevil: Gets saved by a blind kid while crossing the street, then looks confused. Classic Stan!
21. Fantastic Four: Welcome sight as a character he created. Really sweet.
22. Iron Man: Classic and hilarious case of mistaken identity. Lookin’ swankyyyy!
23. Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer: WHO IS STAN LEE IN THIS UNIVERSE, THEN?! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!
24. Deadpool: Best strip club DJ ever, and that’s saying something!
25. Hulk: Double whammy with Ferrigno!
26. Spider-Man: Homecoming: Threats, followed by flirting. Quite the charmer.
27. Ant-Man: Funny, but not much substance.
28. Black Panther: Steals poker chips from a guy that is not there anymore. Meh.
29. Iron Man 3: Really short scene, but really funny face!
30. The Avengers: Cool line, but pretty short. I much rather preferred the deleted scene with Ashley Johnson, but we don’t always get what we want.
31. Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse: Pretty funny, but the animation is not doing him any favors.
32. Spider-Man 2: Saves a woman (and we get to see it)!
33. Spider-Man: Kinda blink-and-you-miss-it, but he saves a kid, so that’s cool.
34. The Incredible Hulk: HOW DARE THEY IMPLY HIS DEATH?! Ironically, probably the most he contributes to any film’s plot.
35. The Amazing Spider-Man 2: I don’t even know what it means, but it made me chortle.
36. Captain Marvel: Reading a newspaper on a bus. Still got that winning smile
37. X-Men The Last Stand: Watering the lawn gets interrupted by timely telekinesis. Not much to say.
38. X-Men: He operates a hot dog stand. Whatever.
39. Venom: Doesn’t even make sense and is not remotely humorous.
40. Guardians of the Galaxy: Way too obscure, and he’s not the focus of the comedy!
41. X-Men Apocalypse: So, the only time his wife cameos, they both seemingly die. Disgraceful.
42. Iron Man 2: You barely see him, and you get nothing from it. Doesn’t even look like Larry King. (Yet another reason to hate this film)

Honourable mention: Super Hero Squad and Ultimate Spider-Man: Trust me on this.

Welp, it finally happened. There's finally a Behind the Bastards where I might know more than Rob on part of it.
Let me start with my credentials for this little essay:

• I've gotten as high as Mythic #6 on the Magic Arena ladder in constructed, and as high as Diamond in limited. My ELO in magic, back when that was tracked, was higher than SBFs.
• I own an uncut sheet of Magic: the Gathering cards that I won by beating up other nerds at wizard poker.
• I occasionally guest on a Magic: the Gathering design podcast, which I refuse to link because plugging in a reddit post is cringe.
• I once did literary analysis on a Magic cheater's apology letter so hard he got banned (not really, but kinda).
• I was once instrumental in getting a transphobic Magic artist off Wizards of the Coast's shortlist of artists to commission.
• I once wrote a script that informed thousands of people on an MTG trading service that that service was, essentially, stealing their money.
• I'm friends or former friends with a fair few people who are either current or former members of the rationalist and effective altruist movements.
• When tested in high school, I scored in the 2nd percentile in attentiveness. That means if you put ninety-nine people in a room with me, on average one of them will be as inattentive as I am. I have no idea how they scored that, but there you go.

I've broken this up into little section letters cause it's pretty long. Sorry if that's a bit of a pretentious way to do this.
MAGIC AND GRIFT ARE INDELLIABLY LINKED
Okay, that's a pretty assertive statement. If I had a nickel for every time Magic was associated with a financial scam, I'd have like five to seven nickels. That's not a huge amount of nickels, but it's a pretty fucking crazy amount of financial scams. They are:

• The Beanie Baby Boom
• The Reserved List Bubble
• Mt. Gox
• Pucatrade
• Mythic Markets
• Heiritage Auctions self-dealing/straw bidding
• FTX

Some of those are pretty inside baseball, but some of them are actual hardcore financial crimes the feds have gone after. For those of you into the inside baseball, Luis Scott-Vargas is somewhat meaningfully tied to two of those things, and I have no idea what, if anything, I should learn or take from that fact.
Why does Magic tend to stumble into so much of this shit? Because it's the first collectible card game. It's taking the idea of Baseball cards and adding “but these baseball cards have an actual use” onto it. What if Honus Wagner let you kick someones ass? It's pay to win before pay to win, lootboxes before lootboxes, the first truly refined form of schoolyard gambling.
It also has a very speculatey secondary market. Legitimately, I'm fairly certain Wizards of the Cost people can be fired for bulk purchasing cards in anticipation of a banning or the printing of a new card with strong synergy with existing cards. Because it lacks the primarily collector-focused demographic of the Pokemon TCG, decks can be really expensive even in some of the cheaper formats, so a large portion of players end up having a de-facto second hobby of playing the Magic stock market. When I was a broke college student, I was definitely one of those people.
More importantly though, it's flypaper for the exact sort of neurodiverse person that entangles themselves in venture capital, crypto, and 'effective' altruism. It's a really good game for disguising being a completely degenerate gambler under the illusion of sophistication, kinda like a certain curly-haired someone...
MAGIC IS CATNIP FOR THE NEURODIVERSE
OK, so what do cardboard rectangles have to do with fake dollars made of computer sweat?
At the risk of giving Michael “that child is too black to have any opinions I wanna quote in my book” Lewis too much credit, Magic is a really compellingly complex game. I could get into the math of why, but to avoid boring most of you to tears theres way more different pieces in Magic than in Chess, as many or more different orders of a Magic deck as there are of a Poker deck, and because of random chance and hidden information your decisions have to take into account everything that has happened for the entire game (where in something like chess it doesn't really matter how you got to whatever board position you're in). It's doesn't really contain the sort of element of total randomness that Lewis says there is, it's just harder to truly solve than Chess. Still doable, but enough harder that it doesn't feel fixed in place in the same sort of way. I actually think that framing it in terms of randomness instead of in terms of complexity is one of the many sorts of complete cope that Lewis uses to frame Sam as being more competent than he is.
A lot a lot of neurodiverse people seek out novelty, like optimizing and puzzles, and enjoy seeing emergent byproducts of complex systems. To say Magic hits those desires extremely hard is a massive understatement. It's like a matriyoshka doll of puzzles within puzzles. It's also gambling and hits on that compulsion in people too.
And magic is definitely gambling. Regardless of whether it takes skill or not, it's paying money to do stuff with probability that might or might not win you more money. Back in the early days, you literally bet a card from your deck each time you played, but nowadays it tends to be that you either play in a tournament you bought into, or you pay to draft cards from boosters (like an NFL draft, kinda) with the winners getting to take home more of the cards than others.
So magic is a social connection for a lot of neurodiverse people. Critically, much though it might make SBF rankle, it's a form of art that specifically appeals to neurodiverse people, but we'll come back to that later.
NEURODIVERSE MYOPIA
Ok, so now that we're on the subject of neurodiversity stuff, I kinda have to drag my fellow weird-brain-havers a bit.
There's a certain set of neurodiverse things that pile on one another to kinda form... 'that guy'. You know the guy. They're awful. Maybe awful to be around, maybe awful politics, maybe awful in some third way I can't think of right now but that's important to mention because lists of three sound better. They aren't specifically awful to be around because they're neurodiverse, but because some neurodiverse traits have have snowballed with some terrible thoughts and beliefs into something much worse than the sum of their parts. I'm not necessarily sure that this is really their fault, or even that talking about fault is an awesome way to think about this sort of thing happening, so I'm just going to get into what those things are.
The first one is that there are some neurodiverse people who think that they're just better than neurotypical people. At best, this is “I think living in an environment where I never have to interact with another neurotypical person again would be better”, at worst its “neurotypical people are dumber than me, and therefore deserve to exist less than I do.” The lower bound of this way of thinking is mostly harmful to the neurodiverse person thinking it, cause living in a pluralistic society exposes you to other perspectives and not living in one leaves you vulnerable to not noticing things. The upper bound is fucked though. If oppression is a boot stomping someone's face, that's thinking “damn dude it's no fair that I'm not the one with the boot.” A lot of folks fall into that sentiment for one trait or another, but the neurodiverse version is, like, one of the more eugenics-y flavors of it.
Second, there's are some neurodiverse people who have a really hard time with subjectivity, and with feelings. We actually get to see a lot of this very overtly with SBF's whole Shakespeare rant, or how Michael Lewis describes him opting out of the humanities. He basically decided there was no real correct answer to any sort of art, and then quit caring about them because of it. Instead of saying something like “well there are people with internal lives as rich as mine, and they've taken something different out of this media than I have, maybe we can look into how it impacted us differently and how different art attempts to bridge the gap between people” it's “I can't win in Language Arts class, if I get an A it's just cause someone decided I did.” Part of this is that High School LA is the most skeletonized part of the curriculum, but a bigger part is that a lot of neurodiverse people struggle with fully addressing their own internal feelings, let alone managing the really hard task of those same feelings existing in other people. It's hard to be interested in something when, to be frank, a lot of us kinda suck at it. And when a lot of your self-esteem is tied up in being good at intellectual stuff, which for a lot of neurodiverse people who get put in the advanced classes is true, then the easiest defense mechanism there is to discard the things you're bad at as not really deserving to exist.
Third we have specialization. Some neurodiverse people are pretty darn good with numbers, systems, patterns, or something like that. If they're really lucky, that part of their neurodiverse brain that latches onto stuff will stick to something relevant and valuable, either in a social context, in a money context, or both. When this happens, there's a super huge temptation to use that thing as the lens through which you see the neurotypical world, or to pine for the idea of if the world could just run on the thing you're hyperfixated on instead of on stupid, self-contradictory stuff like 'laws' or 'social conventions' or whatever. It's like that xkcd about physicists. Everything else must be simple stuff for dumb idiots because I know a lot about the only subject matter that makes you a smart person. Worse, it can take itself even further, where instead of just being a lens through which the entire wolrd is viewed, whatever stuff they're good at becomes a lens through which they confabulate about stuff that isn't true. Stupidity wearing smartness's pants is some of the worst stupidity possible, and when a talented geologist says that terminological drift is a lot like euphemistic drift in words so they should really be allowed to use the r-word, there's a lot they can do to pad themselves from criticism by using the right language for the people they're speaking
These three compound on one another to form this really dreadful cesspool of thought processes. It isn't just a person who has trouble feeling their feelings, or one who judges the neurotypical in the same way the neurotypical judge them, or someone who skews all of reality to their very narrow worldview. It's how these things combine. It's people who started of being naturally a half step from the worldviews of others enshrining themselves in a sort of sneering dismissal of everyone not part of an extremely narrow group. As we'll see, the movement that felt audacious enough to call itself 'effective altruism' took advantage of all these mental exploits to get into some full on Cult Shit.
ATTENTION DEFICIT IN HIGH DEFINITION
At the risk of killing momentum, I wanna start this section by saying that the way Robert Evans talks about Zoomers having ADHD is a bad vibe. They don't all have ADHD, nor do they have a chronic inability to pay attention on a social level. That stuff like tiktok videos of subway surfers is, as far as I can tell, a combination of trying to trick the anti-piracy algorithm and the algo not liking videos with just static images. That especially puts a bad taste in my mouth because Robert didn't initially cite anything when talking about SBF's ADHD, and so I personally couldn't tell whether he was armchair diagnosing there or not.
Speaking of armchair diagnosing, let's talk about ADHD and armchair psychology. It's weirdly both a really armchair diagnosed disorder, and one that receives a pretty absurd amount of skepticism. I've joked with friends before that ADHD is the bisexuality of mental disorders, cause people are either like “Really though? You're paying attention right now” or “Omg I lost my keys once, I must have ADHD too.”
Part of the reason that that happens is because the basic thing that ADHD disables, executive functioning, isn't really a thing that most people think about. Your ability to decide what to do or envision plans doesn't really feel like a skill or a sense to most people without ADHD, so externally most ADHD behavior seems like a moral failure.
The other part is that ADHD is sometimes overdiagnosed. I can't get my medication in the mail because it's a scheduled substance, in large part because of its abuse as a study drug. A lot of ADHD meds are stimulant based, and stimulants are a broad performance enhancer for academics. Also, ADHD is relatively destigmatized when compared to stuff like Autism. Particularly for children of parents with type-A personalities (like SBF's parents), an ADHD diagnosis, the social leverage it can be used for in the classroom, and a stimulant scrip can be used to paper over a lot of other issues.
Am I saying that's what happened with SBF? No. I think it's an easy, and mean, story to tell, but I think him having some form of neurodiversity and leveraging the ambiguity of that specific neurodiversity is at any point is both more relevant and more compelling. There's a kind of code switching that I think a person can leverage there. When he needs accommodation, his ADHD is crippling enough to prevent him from meaningfully participating in his trial, when he's being written about by Michael Lewis it's cause he's too smart for anything to really capture the totality of his attention, and when he's being the Tech Founder Guy it transforms into this ephemeral autiHD/generic Big Bang Theory neurodiversity that's meant to convey “this is the rain man you hitch your wagon to if you want a gorillion dollars”.
The part that's kinda sad about this to me is that for SBF's sake I kinda hope that he's at least partially cosplaying the ADHD part of himself. If he does the whole “not paying full attention” thing as a part of the grift that's probably better. I can't tell you how alienating it is to accidentally check out of conversations unless you're being a rude asshole and messing around on your phone at the same time. It'd still be appropriative and speak to the utter, irredeemable vapidness of Silicon Valley venture capital, but at least it would be him Elizabeth Holmesing instead of being so neurodiverse he stumbled into being a stinky, fake Steve Wozniak in gym shorts.
PREYING ON THE AUTISTIC (AMONG OTHERS)
Ok, so Sam is nonspecifically neurodiverse, and he's a utilitarian because his parents are utilitarians. He gets roped into effective altruism because he's targeted by EA recruiters looking to build the movement by targeting the people with the highest conversion rate and income potential. What does Will MacAskell have to say about the demographic that makes up his recruiting pool?

“The demographics of who this appeals to are the demographics of a physics PhD program,” he said. “The levels of autism ten times the average. Lots of people on the spectrum.”

Like, what the fuck, right? In basically any other context, sneeringly describing something that's probably a protected trait of your target demographic would have people leaving the conversation in disgust, especially when you say it as making that group of people the butt of the joke. Imagine jokingly saying your moral philosophy only appealed to black people or something.
I have no idea of Will MacAskell is neurodiverse or not, but even if he is it speaks volumes that that's the demo. There's a sort of ideological money laundering going on here. I'll try and walk you through it:

1. The most important thing you can do is the most good for the most people.
2. You'd have much better volume of doing good spending money or setting public policy than you would being a doctor or whatever.
3. Most public policy stuff is way too unlikely for any real change, you might be able to change some things, but even that's a gamble, so realistically just make money.
4. Making money in a soulless venture capital job is pretty good, cause the person you're replacing would likely be an unethical dirtbag anyway
5. Now that you're in that job, you have to maximize your earnings no matter what, because realistically someone else will make that money if you don't, and they might spend it badly.
6. Come to think of it, instead of spending money on charities that have efficacy in stuff like malaria nets, you should probably only put money into effective altruist charities with other effective altruists, cause you can better audit the money.
7. Wait! Instead of doing immediate good towards people's life outcomes now, you need to work on things like AI ethics and avoiding the earth getting hit by meteors because those would wipe out the species.

And so on. You can get into even weirder stuff like Musk's borderline quiverfull stuff being arguably a form of self-eugenics. The point here is that it walks down a primrose path of nominally-sound logic, each time confabulating up an ethical obligation to do stuff that embeds you into a capitalist system because anything else is just so unlikely or so inefficient that why bother doing it anyway. Immediate, easily counted gains like buying hospitals are prioritized over more abstract gains like better political representation, but then those immediate gains are themselves rationalized away for whinging at things that effective altruists culturally decided were more important.
This is the cult shit. It's why that jargon leaks in, because these people can't just say “my worldview is that trying to game out how to beat skynet is more important than feeding starving people”, they have to shroud it in the appearance of objectivity. It's why one of the biggest names in the broader Effective Altruist/Rationalist sphere is a self taught Harry Potter fanfiction writer who has managed to grift into presenting himself as a real AI researcher.
Regardless of its intentionality, this is predatory. It's wrapping neurodiverse people in a series of cultural norms and stimuli that push all of their worst buttons, isolate them from the world at large, embed apocalyptic beliefs into their minds, and then use them as pay pigs in an attempt to finance whatever the most out of touch people in Silicon Valley might think qualifies as an important ethical project. Frankly, the fact that an idiot grifter like Sam Bankman Fried blew up their public perception is arguably a good thing.
HOW A GAMBLER STEALS FROM A CULT
So why does Sam seek out effective altruist people to start his company? Let's assume that he's doing this from a practical perspective, because in true Rationalist fashion we should treat him as a rational actor with prudent goals instead of just a guy nepo hiring his friends.

1. He speaks the cult jargon and has big cultural cachet in the cult, and therefore has a lot of shibboleths he can use to justify just about anything.
2. They'll work 16 hour days (i.e. cult hours)
3. The mindsets they bring to decisions are pretty similar to his own.
4. As the cult is a de-facto storage locker for the children of the wealthy too neurodiverse to go into politics, they have money or know people who do.
5. They're hyper utilitarians, to the point of generating utilitarian confabulations to justify doing boring, asshole things like cheating on their spouses.

Only in this group can he say “Well my priors had this as a positive EV interaction. We need to avoid results oriented thinking poisoning our risk affinity and just update our worldviews accordingly” and not have people look at him like he's insane. For those of you who don't speak cult-ese, that's “well I think I just got unlucky, let's keep doing this”.
Only in this group, can he string along his employee in a secret office affair, have it framed as an ethical decision, and shame her for talking to her friends about it as though she's the bad one there.
Only in this group can he skip town not once but twice because he's too immature to talk to a woman like she's a human being, move the entire fucking head office to avoid her, and then pad it out with practical reasons as though the only options were between that and keeping the office where it already was.
What's absolutely buck fucking wild about this entire thing is that Michael Lewis drinks so much kool-aid from this whole thing that if this had been Jonestown there wouldn't have been any left for the rest of the class. In his mind, Sam is constantly calculating probability distributions in his head and doing real valuations on every minute of his time. Instead of it being “Sam wanted to sleep in and miss an interview, because he's kinda lazy, and he put a fig leaf of utilitarian calculus on it because he knows that plays with his inner circle” it's “Sam is such a perfect and rational actor that when his alarm clock went off at 4 pm and he knew he had 15 minutes to get on Zoom with CNN, he already knew that his health was poor enough that extra hour of sleep would benefit the ethical world at large more than the brand value FTX would gain from being on the nightly news”. That's me paraphrasing, but that's the sort of balls-in-mouth level fawning that's in the book.
SAM'S HAMMER
You know how I said before that neurodiverse people can run a higher risk of seeing the world as a bunch of nails where whatever skill they're best at is the hammer? It's time we talked about Sam's, because it's probably the perfect one for behaving like a total idiot while gambling with other people's money.
From SBF's point of view, or at least the one he vocalizes to the public, everything is a probability. He did so much probabilistic stuff for so long that he thought that it' was a meaningful way to see everything, from his plans with his company all the way down to his decisions for what to eat.
I wanna be clear, there's the grain of an intelligent insight here. Human beings are terrible at probability. Looking at stuff after the fact can be really dis-informative, and there's a reason the montey-hall problem is an infamous case of people's intuition not working. Knowing that sometimes you can make a smart choice and just get unlucky is a real skill. In competitive Magic, it's hard to say things like “Well, I took a game where if it goes long I have a 20% chance of winning, and instead I bet the farm on a 40% chance of winning right now.” But in Magic it's a lot simpler to talk about this stuff discretely, and even then a lot of the time you're mostly just doing some sampling with really not great confidence intervals or some back of the napkin math that might crumble under scrutiny.
The problem with SBF's way of doing this is that it created a smokescreen around every action of his. If it's all probabilistic, if he's so busy and so important that his literal day to day schedule has to be gambled on like it's a craps table, then on the micro level he's absolved himself of basically any responsibility. Not only that but it's renders it impossible for his largely underqualified and incompetent staff of true believers, cherry picked from among the cultists too locked-in to quit when the other cultists all quit, to get a response out of him on anything he doesn't feel like responding to. Underqualified people aren't just incompetent, they're also vulnerable, so it's not like even the rest of the c-suite would feel safe questioning him on any of this. They were being paid more money than God, didn't deserve their jobs, and for the most part were literally of the belief that getting fired from FTX would be profoundly unethical because their moral framework has twisted itself into being founded on making money.
And after everything exploded, Sam had the most Magic player sorts of copium possible. “The money will turn up if I can just look for it, I made good decisions and got unlucky, I'm the rational one and the market is just irrational.” When everything is probability, you never have to be wrong.
CONCLUSIONS
It's wild to me to try and put myself in SBFs shoes, even though I'm probably only one or two steps separated from the sort of circles he ran in. Just, from an emotional perspective, I feel incredibly lucky to have stumbled into people who gave me a reality check at points and times where I had beliefs similar to those of Sam and his peers. I get distressed at the idea of living in the sort of world where art is meaningless, where starving children matter less than trying to make sure hypothetical AI don't kill us all, and where the most ethical thing in the world to do is pile up money.
What's scarier is that in crypto spaces, in rationalist forums, and probably even at your local game store the building blocks of these mindsets are everywhere. It's sad to me, because I find a lot of the sorts of games that attract this type of thinking to be really beautiful art. The design of saying “every time you play this game, I want to make it entirely possible that you'll see something you've never seen before, I want this to contain multitudes” is incredible to me. I feel bad that some people are so averse to the idea of really appreciating art that their ability to interrogate that boils down to “I just like it.” At the risk of patronizing, I think that giving folks more tools to see that art and feel the interconnection of appreciating it with other people would give them a bit of a touch grass moment, and help them avoid stuff like creating or helping create FTX.
More importantly though, I think that the story of SBF can teach us a lot about how people control certainty. Will MacAskell did a lot of tinkering with certainty and uncertainty to make effective altruism seem obvious to its believers. SBF made the world around him profoundly uncertain because that uncertainty let him move in ways that otherwise would've been stopped, from skipping out on meetings with world leaders to gambling away billions of other people's money to treating his girlfriend pretty darn shitty. Rationalist types talk a lot of big game about “updating their priors”, or changing their beliefs in response to changing information, but they tie up so much of their identity in the idea of being rational that I don't really believe they do that nearly as often as they'd like to think they do. A little bit of humbleness, and some respect for the idea of other people being smart and competent, goes a long way towards not doing terrible things.

I would definitely try to stop the train as soon as possible, at a station if possible. Hopefully wouldn’t have overhead obstructions as the bridges.
To add to the question How would YOU stop surfers in the first place? Have an outreach program in schools where they can see the aftermath of the failed surfs? The outreach signs look nice but they should be posted on the OUTSIDE of in-between cars. Yes you would pass them on the way to the door but still.
Thought of an idea so you know those poker thinks they have on buildings and it some stations to keep birds from perching, put them on top of the trains. Granted they could be circumvented with work gloves and boots but still better than nothing. Goal is preventing them from climbing up in the first place.

Hey everyone,
I had a recent passing in the family who was an avid gamecollector. I have hundreds of video games and consoles still for sale with titles listed out here and images found here. Not all of the lists are complete yet but I will be working on making it as comprehensive as possible. The running total is currently ~$2400.
​
We would like to get a bulk of this stuff sold at once for simplicity so for now we are only looking for someone interested in the lot. Asking price is $2100 local paypal/cash OBO. Local Area code is 94563 but meet up can be around the Bay Area.
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NBA Live 08 Games of the week $1
NBA Street Homecourt $1
NCAA football 12 $1
Need for Speed Hot pursuit $1
Need for Speed Rivals $1
NHL 10 $1
NHL 11 $1
PES 2010 $1
Rage $1
Red Dead Redemption $1
Rocksmith $1
Saints Row 3 $1
Saints Row 4 $1
Skyrim 3 $1
Sleeping Dogs $1
SD vs Raw 2011 $1
Soul Caliber IV $1
Soul Caliber V (2) $1
SSX (New/Sealed) $1
Star wars the clone wars: republic heroes (New/Sealed) $3
Star wars: the force unleashed II (New/Sealed) $3
Starhawk $1
Super Street Fighter IV $1
Tomb Raider $2
Twisted Metal $1
UFC Trainer $1
Uncharted 3 Drake's deception $1
Uncharted Drake's fortune $1
Virtua Tennis 3 $1
W 2k14 $1
Watch Dogs $1
Wolf Among Us $1
PS5:
Avengers $5
COD Cold War $7
COD Modern Warefare II $7
Farcry 6 $5
Guardians of the Galaxy $3
Immortals Fenyx Rising $3
Lost Judgment $5
Resident evil Village $10
The Quarry $5
PSP:
PSP Console $40
Ape escape Academy $2
Need for speed underground rivals $2
Shaun White Snowboarding $1
UEFA Euro $1
Star Wars The original Trilogy $2
MLB the Show 07 $1
MVP Baseball $1
SSX on tour $1
Hot Shots tennis Get a Grip $1
Madden 10 $1
MLB 2k6 $1
Hot Shots Golf Open Tee $1
Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2 $1
SOCOM Bravo 2 $1
Super Famicon:
Bahamut Lagoon $3
Batman Returns $2
Dragon Ball Z $3
Dragon Ball Z $3
Dragon Quest III $3
Dragon Quest V $3
F-Zero $1
Front mission $3
Front mission $3
Go Go Ackman 3 $1
International tennis tour $1
Romancing Sa Ya $2
Romancing Sa Ya $2
Romancing Sa Ya 2 $2
Slam Dunk $3
Street Fighter II $3
Street fighter II Turbo $3
Super Air Diver $1
Super cup Soccer $1
Super professional Baseball $1
Super Soccer $1
Super Tennis $1
Tecmo Super Baseball $1
The Adventures of the Rocketeer $1
Zero4 R Champ $1
Super Nintendo:
NHL 96 $1
NBA All-star Challenge $1
Battleship $1
National Hockey Night $1
Raw: Rudest and Roughest $1
Tommy Moe's Winter Extreme $1
Madden 95 $1
Tecmo Super NBA Basketball $2
NBA Jam $4
Nickelodeon Real Monsters $1
Madden 96 $1
Super Pinball $1
Madden 94 $1
NHL Stanley Cup $1
Super Black Bass $1
Madden 97$1
Dreamcast:
Mat Hoffman Pro BMX$3
Ready 2 rumble boxing$3
Crazy Taxi $2
Crazy Taxi 2$3
NBA 2K1$1
NBA 2 Night ESPN$1
NBA 2K1$1
NBA 2K $1
NFL QB Club 2001$1
NFL Blitz $3
NFL QB Club 2000$1
NFL 2K2 $2
NFL 2K2 $2
NHL 2K $1
Resident Evil (Disc 1 and 2) $50
Tomb Raider Chronicles $8
Unreal Tournament $1
Virtua Tennis $3
Virtua Tennis $3
Virtua Tennis $3
World Series Baseball 2K1 $1
Sonic Adventure $20
NFL 2k $2
4x4 Evo (box)$2
Hardcore ECW Revolution (box)$2
Dave $2
NBA Hoopz (box) $4
NFL 2K2 (box) $3
NFL 2k$1
NFL 2K1 (box) $3
NFL 2K (box) $3
NFL 2k $1
World Series of baseball 2K1 (box) $2
NFL 2K1 (box) $3
Saturn:
World Series Baseball II (w/ Manual) $5
Worldwide Soccer 97(w/ Manual) $5
Virtual open Tennis (w/ Manual) $3
Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball (w/ Manual) $5
NBA Jam TE (w/ Manual) $5
NHL 96 (w/ Manual) $5
Virtual Cop (box) $2
Black Dawn $5
Sega Genesis (Fakes):
Megaman the Wily Wars $1
RoboCop vs Terminator $1
Splatterhouse 2 $1
Streets of Rage 2 $1
Streets of rage 3 $1
Mega drive Outrun $1
Castley vania Bloodlines $1
Double Dragon $1
Sega Mega game collection $1
Beevus and butthead $1
Michael Jackson's moonwalker $1
The lion king $1
Mortal kombat II $1
Clue $1
F-15 Strike Eagle II $1
Sega Genesis:
Abrams Battle tank $2
Andretti Racing $1
Barkley shut up and jam $1
Bass Master classic $1
Bass Master classic $1
Batman forever $2
Bill Walsh College Football (2) $1
Boxing legends the ring $1
Chakan $2
College Football 96 $1
College Football 97 $1
David Robinson's Supreme Court $1
Double Dragon V $2
Earthworm Jim 8 $3
F-117 Night Storm $1
Fifa Soccer $1
Hard drivin $1
Hardball $1
Jamespond II Codename Robocod $1
Madden 93 $1
Madden Football $1
Jungle Book $1
Jurassic Park $1
Kid Chameleon $2
La russa Baseball $1
La Russa Baseball 95 $1
Madden 95 $1
Madden 95 $1
Madden 96 $1
Madden 97 $1
Mario Andretti Racing $1
NBA live 95 $1
NBA live 98 $1
NBA Showdown 94 $1
NFL 95 $1
NHL 95 $1
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NHLPA Hockey 93 $1
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Pit Fighter $4
Populous $1
Primal rage $3
Primetime NFL Football $2
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Ren and stumpy show $1
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Sonic the hedgehog 2 $4
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Summer Challenge $1
Super Monaco GP $1
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ToeJam&Earl $3
Toy Story (sealed) $4
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Sega Genesis In box:
Andre Agassi Tennis (NEw/Sealed) $3
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Joe Montana II Sports Talk Football $2
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Lotus turbo Challenge (New/Sealed) $3
Madden 97 $2
NBA Hang time (New/Sealed) $5
NBA Jam $4
NBA Jam T.E. $4
NFL Quarterback Club $2
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PGA Tour Golf $2
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Salmon King the big catch $2
Sonic Spinball $3
Stargate $2
Super Baseball 2020 $2
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Tecmo Superbowl (New/sealed) $10
Tommy Lasarda Baseball $2
Triple PLay 96 $3
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GameCube:
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Enter the Matrix (New/Sealed) $20
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LOZ the Wind Waker $20
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Madden 07 $1
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Nintendo 3DS Console $50
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Thank you!

Timestamp
Only looking to sell

BNIB Oz Roosevelt Golf Putter MagnaCut (Silver Surfer!) - DOB 10/27/23

Brand new in box, DOB 10/27/23. Never cut or carried, only opened and closed a few times. It looks and feels perfect in every way. Dead centered. Perfect lockup as expected. Listen to the amazing sounds when opening and closing in the vid! I was finally lucky enough to snag a Rosie and it was even a silver surfer version, but after handling I don't see myself ever actually using it for anything other than a display. Incredibly smooth out of the box. Comes with everything as it came from Oz: box, certificate & sticker.
SV $1095

BNIB CRK Small Sebenza Insingo MagnaCut Silver Double Lugs - DOB 8/8/23

BNIB, only out for pics. DOB DOB 8/8/23. Never cut or carried. Dead centered. Bank vault lockup. Looks and feels absolutely perfect in every way. Comes with box, cloth, papers, grease, loctite, allen wrench, sticker (all new & unused). I have one more of these in the safe, just message me to see if that one is still available.
SV $460 (these are $455 pre tax/shipping at the dealer if you could ever find one available)

BNIB Spyderco REC Lil Native Avocado

BNIB. Never cut or carried. I did put a drop of KPL on the pivot & flicked it a few times. Drops shut with only a hair of blade play. Centering slightly favors show side. Comes with poker chip, sticker, box & docs.
SV $170

Spyderco Native 5 Maxamet seconds

Never carried, I think I test cut some paper with it. Only defect I can see is the lasering left some microscopic bubbles (see vid). Drops shut with practically zero play. Centering slightly favors show side.
SV $100 SOLD 95
​
PayPal Friends & Family, Venmo, Zelle or Apple Cash. No message / description please.
Buyer takes responsibility to know their own knife laws.
Shipping to US only. Knife will ship insured USPS with tracking provided. If you have any questions, let me know!

It's Friday, but after a very long week (work, funerals and sick weans) I'm sticking to one of the Gold Standards of the Traitors. Plus, it feels timely as there's been a number of people asking about it in the past week. There will spoilers but up front, this is one of the Mount Rushmore of Traitors series that every Traitors fan has to see at least once. I saw grainy copies on Dailymotion last December, and then the far better quality copies when the BBC got the rights to put it on Iplayer this summer.
Rodger Corser is a great host. Possibly the best Traitors host. He manages to combine a jovial attitude with being sympathetic to the cast. He gives hints but not whopping great clues. He can lighten most tense situations, and he gets most of the best lines. To be a good game show/reality host, you need charm, wit and people skills. Rodger scores high on all of them. The Robertson Hotel is one of the cheaper looking lodges, but it has a character of its own, including those famous stairs to the dining room. And too many ominous looking statues. (Apparently their breakfasts are notoriously cold, however.) The location footage is mostly in and around the local New South Wales location, and while it does lead to some interesting Missions, for example, the bungee jump one, it's a series low on aesthetic outdoor views, imo.
​
Best Bit of the Series
In a season with so much to choose - the gambling mission, Chloe Gate, Marielle/Fi and the Kate/Teresa alliance, Craig getting duped by Alex - the best bit for me is Matt's meltdown in Episode 7. He had seemed such a off the radar character at the very start, too. Best bit of the meltdown might not even be Matt, however, it's Dirk's huge grin when he realises he's actually safe for another night!
​
Contestants, Least to Best
24. Olivia. Sorry, someone had to go bottom even in a great series, and it's the strangeness of Olivia's story which has to be it. She was a forensic investigator so someone you'd expect to be good at the game. And then, on the very first Mission, she comes up with the story that Jack had mentioning murdering folk to her, which he denied. He still denies this happened, I haven't a clue what was going on. Either way, she managed to torpedo Jack's game, her game and Claire's game with the one bit of Chinese Whispers. Stunning.
23. Millie. She arrived, she smiled at people, she got murdered before Hour 1 of Episode 1 had finished. Apparently she was suffering a nasty cold on the day and so wasn't at her most communicative. She's also famous for a meme video where she attempted to do a Dirty Dancing dance and fell on her head instead. Some folk have no luck...
22. Ethan. Fi really liked Ethan. That's nice, because we barely got to see any of him.
21. Kash. A bit of a background character in the early episodes, undone by being named by the next person...
20. Chloe. Chloe is still the reason why nearly anyone who claims to be clairvoyant is murdered right away by the Traitors (though a current season has seen a massive outlier to this). Mostly, Traitors want to avoid another Chloe. Chloe was a mess. She claimed to be able to detect cancer. She fell out with Teresa over Teresa calling the group "skinny bitches" as a joke. She spent most of her time telling people about the spirits rather than playing the actual game. Key moments included her premonition of the mission involving a train, after Rodger had all but told them. But her iconic moment was announcing who the Four Traitors were, then storming off the show in a huff. Through reading body language and educated guessing, she'd successfully named half the Traitors. Unfortunate for Teresa and Kash, who she had also named and weren't Traitors. Absolute chaos.
19. Sandra. Sandra's idea of how to play was sound on paper. Play with the group, work out the Traitors. Unfortunately for her, she was too obvious about it, including at the first roundtable, and this, coupled with her obvious intelligence, made her an early threat to the Traitors. Which they got rid of.
18. Justine. One of those players I thought was hurt by their edit. As third wheel in the Teresa/Fi/Justine trio, she had enough game savvy to know her time would be limited. She is one of the very few Traitors contestants ever to get fewer Confessionals than Paul The Ozzie Ghost. Her game edit made her look inconsequential. And yet: it was her vote which tipped Matt into insanity. It was her friendship that took Craig out of his shell. She has some of the best reaction shots in the first half of the show. "Helloooo Rodger!" A contestant who tried to make the most out of limited screen time.
Also, she was murdered by the Traitors after Nigel lost a game of Rock/PapeScissors when they were deadlocked over killing her or Kate. This was edited out of the game. I wanted to see it!
17. The Mighty MK. Oh boy. Chaos, thy name is MK. He walked into the game as the legal expert, who was bound to do well as he could read people for a living. Any Traitors fan knows where that is going now. MK would make long speeches about finding the "Trai-TORS" (his phrasing), which we thankfully were spared all bar the edited highlights. His brisk manner and ability to put people off (coupled with apparently a bullying manner which was edited out of the programme) led to one of the best known incidents in Traitors History: a massively edited and re-shot banishment table! In Episode 2 what we see is a sudden cut from the early chatter, to Rodger saying it is vote time, and a number of genuinely upset people voting for MK. What got edited was apparently a long argument, involving tears, threats, Paul's gimmicks, people trying to quit the show (the mental health team were called in) and MK allegedly being horrible to one of the younger contestants. Which turned everyone against him. When lovely old Craig turns against you, you know you've fucked up.
As a result of this, I was tempted to make them bottom of the list, but decided to focus only on the game play and entertainment factor we saw on screen. But yeah.
16. Jack. "I've be turning away from his death stare in case he set me on fire!" (Lindsay on the Traidar Podcast) Chess Expert Jack is best known for his ability to stare down other contestants, and being stitched up by Olivia's imaginary friend discussion. When the first roundtable discussion focuses on him or Claire, he asks "am I cannon fodder?" Yes.
15. Paul. This is about as high you can go for an icon of the show we rarely ever see. With one of the lowest Confessional counts, about 20 lines over 10 episodes, and his actual mic turned off during scenes he's in, WTF Happened to Paul is one of the most asked questions about this season. Did he do something horrible? Did he piss off production? Was he in fact a secret agent or bank robber? Was he Socrates himself and permanently pished? All of these options discussed at length on line. In fact, the truth appears to be far duller. Paul would talk about the cameras and production a lot, so all of those scenes got edited, and he would try and turn the banishment discussion into his own show with props. A combination of this clearly led to vindictive editing on top of necessary editing. We see hints of this Paul with his OTT entrance every single day to the breakfast room. Teresa claims he was boring and added little. We do know that Paul is the only person in that hotel who didn't like Nigel, from his interviews afterwards. But yeah, don't piss off the producers, they can make you disappear, even if you make it to the final six!
14. Dirk. Fun, singing Dirk was ground down by the show, and the relentless gaze of Fi. He did manage to talk a roundtable off banishing him, a rare achievement, but the next episode it was if everyone had forgotten all of those points. He did vote for Angus early on, but then abandoned that for the tiebreaker.
13. Midy. Quiet and intelligent, Midy avoided the Sandra trap of showing your hand on Day 1. He also briefly had the "suspected as a Traitor" card to protect him, but dispelled that far too fast to become a trusted Faithful. When you are that, and you start targeting an actual Traitor, you are done.
12. Claire. Some people are born to play the role of Traitor. Claire was not. An emotional person who seems to be genuinely loved and respected by the rest of the cast, she struggled with the weight of being a Traitor. She tried to keep her gang of Traitors together even as they fell apart, and it was just too much for her. Her lack of voting for Angus doomed her, but by the time she went out, at the halfway stage, she was pretty much broken by the game.
11. Matt. For an episode or two, Matt was just one of those in the background players you could easily forget. And then, Teresa, Fi and Justine voted for him at one roundtable. Cue: self-destruction. Matt went on a one man Teresa is a Traitor hunt, increasingly cutting himself off from all of the alliances he had made as he was so convinced of his own truth. There are scenes of him pacing the hotel in his jacket which don't help the crazy edit, but neither does he. To quote Michael from the US Traitors, "often people look like a hot mess in these shows because they ARE!" Matt's crowning achievement was turning a roundtable intent on banishing Dirk into a landslide banishment for himself. He did produce some funny Confessionals ("I was crossing my fingers" being LOL), but he proves that if you focus on one thing, other contestants will lose the rag. In his final meltdown at the round table, he even managed to make the strategy of befriending a Traitor to hunt other Traitors look unhinged! But then, if that was his attempt to be friend a Traitor, it backfired spectacularly.
10. Mark. The man who coined the phrase "Traidar", the man who openly called himself a Traitor Hunter in front of the Traitors. The man who told a room with 2 Traitors that "he'd won big and got out a Traitor, things were going amazing for him". Hubris swiftly followed. Have you ever wondered why genuine game players like Kate Williams or Heidi Roneid (sp) try to keep under the radar for as long as possible? This is why. For the social game and the Traitor hunting aspects of the game, Mark scores highly. For the avoiding becoming a target of the Traitors, he scores zero. Still, he was entertaining, while he lasted.
​
9. Fi. And to think, she called others "complete chaos", Fi's game personified it! Fi is Exhibit A for someone living every emotion of the game. You could count on her to look shocked and appalled at every twist of the game. Her friendship with Teresa is actually quite sweet. Her hounding of poor old Dirk is not. She has more charisma than a room full of Hugh Jackmans, but very little actual game play. She's here on entertainment, but I feel the Traitors made a terrible, terrible error in murdering her, as it got rid of a lot of confusion from the room.
8. Angus. Good old surfer dude Angus. Who doesn't love Angus? He seemed like a genuinely nice guy too, he famously saved a woman from drowning a few years back by diving into a riptide to rescue her. Everyone loved Angus. The man was not a born Traitor, however. "We need to find Traitors" someone would say. Angus's face drops sad. They're NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT YOU! As a result of this complete lack of Poker Face, enough voters worked out on Day One he was a Traitor. However, he stayed in the game until Episode 5 because people really liked the guy. And the role of the game is not hunt the Traitors, its survive the Traitors, and Angus's group of friends survived the first few murders as a result. Eventually someone has to go, and Angus's double faux pas at the Shield Challenge was overheard by Fi. And once Fi had your name, you were doomed. What really killed off Angus's hopes of surviving another day was Craig using Nigel's own logic to sway his vote. This damaged the other Traitors, as popular but obvious Angus was a massive Shield for all three. He was a rotten Traitor, but the cast clearly loved the big guy.
My standout memory of Angus is when Nigel said at the roundtable that the dunking in the pond scared the shit out of him. "Oh shit, sorry" exclaims Angus, genuinely, which is a great life lesson about jokes translating to other folk. Of course, give Angus some credit, I doubt he'd have done that if he'd known Nigel was a survivor of an Al Qaeda hostage situation!
​
7. Lewis. He's a sparky. This gets mentioned a few times. He also refers to himself as a proper arsehole, but he seems like an amiable guy, apart from his weird moment with Dirk in Episode 8. He goes from being the background guy everyone likes, to the red herring Traitor suspect who just hangs on, through the Shield and deflection. He went for Claire, and later Nigel, but was kept out of the loop on the Marielle thing.
6. Craig. Craig said the Archery Shield contest summed up his game. "I was runner up because I was no threat to anyone, and useless at the game!" This, and the moment where he realised he'd lost the game, immortalised in memes, has summed up his Traitors experience, unfairly in my book. Craig was far from a Quentin Level Faithful. He had a fatal blind spot to one contestant, but pretty much every Faithful who has won had a fatal blind spot at one point or other in the game, and dumb luck often gave them a crucial hand! Yes, he was skewered by his faith in Alex, and she used his fatherly spirit against him. However, I do not think you can call anyone who successfully votes out four Traitors as being bad at the game. With Angus, he and the world knew instantly he was a Traitor. With Marielle, he listened to evidence and accepted it, and went with it. Crucially most of all, he voted against his best buddy Nigel, when the evidence for Nigel being a Traitor became too much. With Claire, he was in the room with others discussing her guilt, but as a parent of a disabled child to another parent of a disabled child, he couldn't vote for her. With Alex, he did express doubts, but couldn't ignore his blind spot. And he was let down by a flaw in the game too, tbh. But yeah, he was far from the dumb Faithful he paints himself as.
5. Marielle. For a long period of time, she ruled this game. She dominated Traitors tower. She got rid of her fellow Traitors. She was trusted by all the major alliances. She brought in her young Padawan as rookie Traitor. Nothing could go wrong. Until it did with two quick moves. First, the murder of Fi got rid of roundtable chaos and flying spurious accusations. Second, she told Kate about Fi's apparent Teresa suspicions. Now, Marielle is on record as being adamant that this conversation with Fi actually happened. Fi is equally on record as it not having happened. Your guess is as good as mine. What is certain is that it was a foolish thing to bring up as, even if it was true, no one is going to believe Fi thought Teresa was a Traitor. Not even Teresa's doubter Kate. Marielle then managed to set up her own blindslide, one of the classic moments in the franchise. Proof though, you can be a great Traitor for nearly an entire series and then one error kills your game. It's like voting for Theo after saying you trusted him the most, or being unable to murder your best friend.
4. Kate W. A fiend at game play, Kate might be one of the greatest actual game players the show had. It took her a while to get focus, as she stayed under the radar for the first half of the series. Which then made her a Traitor suspect. She voiced frustration that she was missing the bigger picture, but all the while was able to avoid becoming a Traitor target, though luck played a part: if Justine won that Rock/PapeScissors, that changes the entire series! The first evidence of her game play was when she changed votes for Angus in the Episode 3 tiebreak. But she really came into her own when Marielle told her about Fi, and she and Teresa perfected the blindside banishment to get rid of Marielle. Then she was able to turn her gaze on Nigel, who had until this time avoided all suspicion whatsoever. At this point, the game player became a recruited Traitor, and the decision made that very night - to murder Paul instead of Craig - ended her game. The slow realisation of this throughout Episode 11, and futile attempts to avoid it in Episode 12 add to the drama of the final quarter of the series. A smart, tactical player, whose one big error was one she didn't even realise would be an error until after the fact.
3. Nigel. Nigel!!! This account is a Nigel Brennan fan club, cards on the table. One of the most "wow" backstories of any contestants, Nigel survived over 400 days as a prisoner of Al Qaeda while working as a journalist, and has since gone to help free other hostages as a negotiator. Some people are born to play the role of Traitor. Nigel's ability to flip between jovial, friendly friend to the Faithful's and smart, tactical Traitor made him one of the best at the role in an English speaking edition. He lasted 80% of the series without a single accusation. There's a vast number of smart players who lived in that hotel for close to three weeks with Nigel and were stunned to learn he was a Traitor. That's someone playing this game at peak powers. He managed this with a social game which made him friends throughout - the women's alliance loved him, the crazier outcasts loved him, Craig especially loved the guy. The Craig/Nigel bromance, as two older guys who had gone through hell in their private lives who managed to connect on this TV show and became genuine friends, was actually heart-warming. Nigel admits he encouraged this for protection early on but it swiftly became the real deal and both are close friends outside of the game too. He was also the Challenge King, producing the most amount of silver for Alex's eventual win. See that laser challenge! He's also a Traitor done in by ethics of all things. He promised Marielle he would never vote for her. In Episode 9, he winds up with an ultimatum: vote for Marielle and break his promise, or keep his promise and basically out himself as a Traitor. He chose the later, and it was all downhill from then on. Nigel survived because he made no one suspect he was a Traitor. The second they did, he fell apart under the gaze, and for Nigel Fans, that Episode 10 roundtable is excruciating, as our man just struggles to defend himself aimlessly. And then Craig votes for him. Awww. Still, it's nice to win the Traitors, I'd imagine, but making friends and starting a charity to help vulnerable people? That's priceless. Mon the Nigel.
Also, other contestants state that Nigel would actually go out of his way to calm folk down if the game was getting to them,or they got upset by stuff which happened, so he managed to combine being a Traitor and being a guy who looked after folk and reminded them it was just a game. This is another reason why so many of the cast are on record as loving Nigel and being friends with him long after recording stopped. He was also apparently the person who calmed things down after the Episode 2 roundtable of hell. Seriously, this guy's awesome!
2. Alex. Alex wins the series with the best about turn, as a recruited Traitor. Having been a Faithful for over half the show she had convinced people of her sincerity. As a Traitor, her Poker Face and ability to stab everyone else in the back to get the win was frankly sensational. The way she used Craig to secure a solo win was inspired game play but awkward to watch, and apparently, Craig and Alex have not yet spoken since recording. Still, Alex dominated the game from the moment she was recruited. And to think she was meant to be a lamb to the slaughter. Dirk was still in the game if you wanted a scapegoat, Nigel and Marielle!
And my winner (even if they didn't win):

1. Teresa. Glorious Confessional Queen Teresa. "I've been stealing shit out of this place for weeks now!" "I puffed my tits out doing that." "I want a letter! Oh My God I do not want a letter!" (narrating Death Row!) Teresa is the rock of this series. Genuinely hilarious, her love/hate team up with Kate disposes of two Traitors, her friendship with Fi produces some of the most shrill moments, and her casual vote for Matt inspires a meltdown. She winds up caught in the Fi Maelstrom. ie because Fi got murdered, this leads to Marielle being banished, Nigel not voting for Marielle leads to Nigel being banished, and Teresa not voting for her friend Nigel leads to Teresa getting banished! That Fi causes chaos, dead or alive! Bless. In this ranking, I mostly went for game play but also marked entertainment. Teresa produces both in equal spades. She also one of the few Traitors contestants to have me howling with laughter at their one liners (see also Kate Chastain, Victor Sotberg) - so I had to have her at number one. But I would add that I rate my top six as great players who brought a lot of enjoyment to this series.

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Final Thoughts
I do have an issue with this season, and its a matter of fairness. The producers were a bit vague as to how the game was going to end. Even Kate Williams, who reads instructions inside out, and actually watched De Verraders in Dutch to get an idea of the game play, didn't know how the game was going to end, and some thought it was going to end like the Dutch season 1, where you could share the loot. This played into so many peoples game play, when it wasn't going to be the case. Also, the producers deliberately chose not to tell the cast about Kate's late recruitment, meaning that Teresa, Lewis and Craig were left under the impression they had one Traitor left to find, which entirely skewed the end game in Alex's favour. Later series have made it clear when there's a recruitment or stated that if there is only one Traitor left, you have to blackmail someone else, so smart Faithfuls can count the Traitors. Also, the game was over from Teresa's banishment, and over over from Lewis's as there was no way Craig could win anymore with 20 minutes still to play. This hurts the show, which makes the move to the fire pit ending, as seen in the UK version and now widespread far better. I think these are legit issues because they shifted the end game, and also because the producers have worked since to make sure this isn't an issue in future recorded seasons. Craig, Lewis and Teresa were let down by the production, in my book. Future Faithfuls were let down by being thick.
But this doesn't detract from the drama, the characters and the twists.
Do I recommend it?
Absolutely, yes. Go watch it now. Or, if life and work are in the way, ASAP. It might have bombed in Australia, but abroad it caught like wildfire, and is one of the main reasons you can now see Traitors franchises in 20 countries and counting. (Where is Traitors Italy?)
Next week I might focus on Norway season 1. I've got far more thoughts on Norway Season 2 but don't put the cart before the horse, I guess. And I'm slowly working through Portugal. Let's just say I'm on Episode 4 and I've already got favourites!

So i am 18yo and i think i have anxiety idk what is it tell me if its anxiety or not. So this started during lockdown when i spent most of my time indoors. When the lockdown cooled down some what and i started haning out with my friends i out of nowhere used to get my heart racing i used to speak faster and start sweating,shivering, my palms used to sweat i used to preted i was fine and no one used to predict anything because of my poker face but god i used to shiver for absolutely no reason. I would be out with my friends in a cafe everything was fine i would be having fun and suddenly i used to have this feeling in my heart where i felt that my heart is shivering and iam afraid of something deep in my heart. I would be doing absolutely normal thing like watching T.V, going for walk,talking to friends, hanging out, speaking to someone, riding bicycle etc. This used to happen to me when i was 17 and i carried this to my 18 i would say that its not that high now how it used to be back then it happens less now but it still happens most of the time since i moved out of my city and i have to travel alone evrywhere. So i did some self analysis of there patterns i used to get and, also very weird and idk i should be saying this here is that i also used to get that feeling while i was pooping ik its kind of weird and very random but yaa i idk what i should feel about this, moving on after my self analysis i realised that i get this feeling whenever i only go out and talk to people. Talking to people with whom i have spent my whole life with like mom and dad felt normal to me but with my friends and random people it felt hard. Even while talking to teacher i used to sweat soo bad my friend started noticing it that whenever i talk to teacher my palms and forehead sweat so i eventually stopped doing that i also used to have major confidence and self esteem issues now its not that bad. I also think i have adhd and i dont have deppresion but sometimes in life i get inconvineance and might get deppresed for a day. Since i moved out and i go out alone i started having the same feeling i have to plan whole going out situation beforehand and its soo bad that whenever that feeling comes back i have to stop at someplace and calm myself down and tell myself its alright and i always feel like iam doing something wrong even though i am just shopping😭 i want to go out without worrying and feeling guilt in my heart and i dont want to shiver i just want to be calm. I think this all started when i was in 10th grade in my stupid geography class when teacher pointed out some specific students made them stand and i was sitting in back of the class where anyone could not even possibly see me and then that shitty teacher procceded to say that the students who are standing are the only ones who are going to make it in life and ones who are sitting are not even worthy of calling themselves students i was sitting one and god i cried my eyeballs out i shut my mouth with my hand i without any reason started crying people have had said much worse things to me before. I was even suprised of myself like at that situation i didnt know what was happening i wanted to hurt myself idk i got this strong feeling of just stabbing myself with something idk what was that like it was mix of emotions the feelings were panic,sad,self harm idk and i also didn't wanted anyone to see that i was crying it was a shit show. Ok that was heavy moving to what gives me the feeling of my heart racing and makes me feel uneasy here is the list:-

1. Going out
2. Talking to teacher
3. Talking to stranger
4. Pooping
5. Before test
6. going for walk on street
7. Thinking about life back in 2000s ( i wasn't even born back then)
8. Listining to rap music
9. Playing subway surfers, temple run
10. Reading a book ( i can't read a book i keep reading the same line cause i forget to understand the sentence then i don't understand the it then i read it again cycle continues)
11. Cooking ( I tend to not wait and cook fast that sometimes its undercooked)
12. studying ( it don't happen everytime but then i can't concentrate and just keep staring at book or screen)
13. Spellings ( i am bad at spellings)

Thank u for reading this pls help me i want to be better.

This is one of the best line-ups of local fun since the Fall semester started with a ton of local events happening in Blacksburg and across the New River Valley (for those who have access to vehicles). Highlights include the Blacksburg Brew Do, the 50th Wilderness Trail Festival in Christiansburg, Free Floyd Americana Fest on 5 Stages, Hokie Half & 5K, Welcoming Festival, Grape Stomping at Beliveau Farm Winery and lots of live music.
Weekend Rundown of Local Fun (September 15-17, 2023): 1. 2023 Moon Hollow Oktoberfest with Music from Furious Jones Moon Hollow Brewing, Blacksburg Friday, September 15, 2023, 5:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Moon Hollow Brewing presents their 2023 Oktoberfest Celebration with music from Furious Jones. Moon Hollow will be releasing our Life on Marzen Oktoberfest brew and Dessert Bar food truck will be here starting at 5:00 PM serving pretzels and beer cheese. Furious Jones will perform from 6:00-9:00 PM. Also, enjoy a special on all German-style beers. For Friday only you can get a 19.25 oz mug pour of Hefeweizen, Helles, Kolsch or Marzen for the price of a pint. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747913
2. Patrick Swayze Weekend with Films "Dirty Dancing" and "Roadhouse" Starlite Drive-In Theatre, Christiansburg Friday, September 15, 2023, 6:45 - 11:40 PM Adults: $10.00, Kids Ages 6-12: $6.00, Kids Ages 5 & Under: Free Enjoy two classic Patrick Swayze fan favorite films for the price of one starting with Dirty Dancing ~8:00 PM with gates opening at 6:45 PM. "Dirty Dancing" is a 1987 romance drama rated PG-13 that stars Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Jerry Orbach. This classic movie was principally filmed at Mountain Lake Lodge in Giles County in 1986-87. Movie Synopsis: In 1963, Frances "Baby" Houseman, a sweet daddy's girl, goes with her family to a resort in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains. Baby has grown up in privileged surroundings and all expect her to go on to college, join the Peace Corps and save the world before marrying a doctor, just like her father. Unexpectedly, Baby becomes infatuated with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle, a man whose background is vastly different from her own. The 1989 action thriller "Roadhouse" is rated R and stars Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch and Sam Elliott. Movie Synopsis: Serene and laconic but powerful and lethal, expert martial artist Dalton is the best professional bouncer in the business. With his reputation preceding him, Dalton arrives in Jasper, Missouri, to clean up The Double Deuce, a seedy bar terrorized by troublemakers. Concessions will be available for purchase. Cash or card accepted. Long lines form for popular movies so please arrive early. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747924
3. Three Band Concert with Dover and The Elevators, Terrakosma & The Stray Lions XYZ Art Gallery, Blacksburg Friday, September 15, 2023, 7:30 - 10:00 PM Admission: $5.00 XYZ Art Gallery presents Three Band Concert with Dover and The Elevators, Terrakosma and The Stray Lions. Dover and The Elevators are an electric duo that are here to disappoint. The garage rock, psychedelic, punk band are all of those genres and yet no particular one simultaneously. Terrakosma is a Blacksburg, VA based band jamming, performing covers and more. The Stray Lions are a pop group, independent rock band or musical dance craze from Roanoke, VA. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the music starts at 7:30 PM. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747921
4. Hedonistas in Concert Dogtown Roadhouse, Floyd Friday, September 15, 2023, 8:00 - 11:00 PM Admission: $10.00 Atlanta's Hedonistas will be on the Dogtown Roadhouse stage for the first time. Hedonistas is a five-piece soul, pop and rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. Hedonistas' energetic performances propelled them to several sold out shows in Georgia, as well as spots on music festivals across the southeast. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747900
5. Three Band Concert with Graybles, Cherry Moon & Earth Daze The Milk Parlor, Blacksburg Friday, September 15, 2023, 8:30 PM - 01:00 AM Ages 21 & Older: $5.00, Under Age 21: $7.00 The Milk Parlor presents a Three Band Concert with Graybles, Cherry Moon and Earth Daze. Graybles is a music duo from Virginia performing stratospheric soundscapes. Cherry Moon is a Blacksburg-based, psych-rock band inspired by 70s psychedelia, 80s synths, and 90s grunge. And, they love a space theme. Earth Daze is a psychedelic rock band from Blacksburg, VA. Doors open at 7:30 PM and music starts at 8:30 PM. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747923
6. Southpaw Late Nite Tea Lounge Southpaw Cafe & Community Space, Blacksburg Friday, September 15, 2023, 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM Admission: Free Southpaw Cafe & Community Space presents the Southpaw Late Nite Tea Lounge every Friday night from 9:00 PM to Midnight. Enjoy late night tea, games, and conversation with a chill lounge vibe. This is an alcohol free, inclusive space. All proceeds made at our cafe are directly invested back into the community, funding mutual aid programs, community projects, and more. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737727
7. 2023 Pulaski County Fall Flea Market New River Valley Fairgrounds, Dublin Saturday, September 16, 2023 and Sunday, September 17, 2023, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM Admission: $2.00, Kids 6 and Under: Free The Dublin Lions Club presents the 2023 two-day Pulaski County Fall Flea Market celebrating 48 years. With over 20,000 visitors and 700 vendors spaces, more than a dozen different food vendors offering varied food options and the chance to eat a few of the famous "Lion Dogs", you will not want to miss this event. Although over 100 spaces are under roof, it is a largely an outdoor event. The terrain is varied from asphalt, gravel and grass. Parking is free. All proceeds go to the Dublin Lions and their numerous community causes such as eyeglasses for the needy and hunger relief in the community. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708167
8. Blacksburg Farmers Market with Little Bit Country...Little Bit Rock'n'Roll Market Square Park, Blacksburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM Admission: Free The Blacksburg Farmers Market presents a free concert from Blue Ridge Vocal Connection titled "Little Bit Country...Little Bit Rock'n'Roll" from 12:00-2:00 PM along with the regular farmers market vendors. The Blacksburg Farmers Market offers local meats, organic produce, baked goods, crafts, flowers and more in the heart of downtown Blacksburg. Join Blue Ridge Vocal Connection for an entertaining free concert of music from the country and rock genres including favorites like Mountain Music, Heartache Tonight, Jolene, Rosanna, and more. Family friendly and fun for all ages. The Blacksburg Farmers Market is open every Saturday throughout the year. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737744
9. NRV Diecast Show New River Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge, Radford Saturday, September 16, 2023, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Admission: $5.00 Now, Then & Forever Collectibles presents an NRV Diecast Show featuring over 60 tables of diecast vehicles and collectibles including Hot Wheels, M2 Machines, Greenlight Collectibles, Matchbox, Customs and NASCAR. Door prizes will be awarded. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747908
10. 2023 Kiwanis Wilderness Trail Festival Downtown Christiansburg, Christiansburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Admission: Free The Kiwanis Club of Christiansburg presents the 50th Anniversary of the Kiwanis Wilderness Trail Festival. Celebrate history, culture, and tradition at the Wilderness Trail Festival. The festival is always a full day of fun and excitement for the entire family loaded with great local artisans and crafters, classic cars and street rods cruise-in on College Street, live local entertainment on two stage, Kid's Zone with free activities, craft demonstrators and delicious food from area restaurants and food trucks, home improvement row, raffles and silent auction. Additionally, NextThreeDays will be 0at the festival with a booth so stop by and say "hi' and grab a free pen. The event is rain or shine. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=736139
11. Free Yoga In The Park Christiansburg Huckleberry Park, Christiansburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 10:00 - 11:00 AM Admission: Free Join Amy Epperley of In Balance Yoga for an All Levels Flow courtesy of Christiansburg Parks & Rec. All you need to bring is yourself, a yoga mat and some water. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747909
12. Hotdog, Bake Sale and Car Wash Pembroke Volunteer Fire Department, Pembroke Saturday, September 16, 2023, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Admission: Free The Pembroke Volunteer Fire Department presents a Hotdog, Bake Sale and Car Wash. Enjoy homemade chili for hotdogs, baked goods and nachos while getting your car washed all while supporting your local fire department. Donations are appreciated. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747899
13. 2023 Floyd Americana Fest Warren G. Lineberry Memorial Park, Floyd Saturday, September 16, 2023, 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Admission: Free The Fourth Annual Floyd Americana Fest featuring 19 performing at five venues in Floyd, Virginia including Lichen or Knot, Outerspace, Coaco Mia, Dogtown Roadhouse and based at Warren G. Lineberry Memorial Park. The Floyd Americana Fest is a celebration of small-town charm, rich artistic heritage, and the soul-stirring sounds of Americana music. In addition to the music, local artisan vendors will be on site. Musicians include: Appalachian Space Train, Seph Custer & The Flatbreaks, Kevin Daniel & The Bottom Line, The Cosmic Porch Pickers, Leslie Brooks, Amelia Empson, Ash Devine, Lowbrow Collective, Ball & Chain and more. All shows are free. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737614
14. Zumba Dance Fusion Class Emerald Dance Studio, Christiansburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Admission: $10.00 Emerald Dance Studio offers a Zumba Dance Fusion Class every Saturday, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Join Dr. Sparkle for a Zumba Dance Fusion Class. Payment is due upon arrival to the class. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747931
15. 2023 Friends of Claytor Lake Poker Run on the Water Rock House Marina, Pulaski Saturday, September 16, 2023, 12:00 - 3:30 PM Boat of Up to Two People: Day of Event: $30.00, Pre-Registration: $25.00 Extra Poker Hands: Adults: $10.00, Children: $5.00 The Friends of Claytor Lake (FOCL) present their 2023 Poker Run on the Water starting and ending at Rock House Marina. Spend time on the water stopping at five locations on the lake to draw cards and build your poker hand. The Poker Run is open to all types of boats and personal watercraft. Winners will be announced for best and worst poker hands and prizes awarded at Rock House Marina. There will also be food and music available. The Poker Run Fundraiser helps support the mission of The Friends of Claytor Lake to support additional conservation projects and more. The event papers will be distributed day of the event. A map of all stops will be provided along with the poker run rules. In person registration begins at 12:00 PM and launch starts at 1:00 PM after you sign in. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747920
16. Blacksburg Brew Do 2023 Historic Smithfield, Blacksburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 12:00 - 5:00 PM Regular Tasting Tickets: Advance Tickets: $35.00, Day of Tickets: $40.00 VIP Tickets: Tasting Tickets: $70.00 (No day of tickets), Non-Tasting Tickets: $25.00 (No day of tickets) General Admission Non-Tasting Tickets: $10.00 in Advance and the Day Of Children 12 & Under: Free Blacksburg Partnership presents the 14th Annual Blacksburg Brew Do featuring the best in craft brewers from the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond, offering an outstanding selection of ales, lagers, pilsners, stouts, ciders and more with over 30 breweries represented. Music Road Co. will open the music at the festival from 12:00-2:30 PM and will be followed by Seph Custer from 3:00-5:00 PM. Additionally, food trucks, vendors and local artisans will be on site. There are three level of tickets available including regular tasting, VIP and non-tasting tickets. VIP tickets are limited and will only be available in advance. VIP tasting tickets allows ticket holders early access to the festival beginning at 12:00 PM along with access to the VIP Tent which will include additional exclusive beer and wine tastings not available to regular tasting ticket holders, and light snacks along with 20 beer tasting tickets and tasting glass. Regular tasting tickets includes 15 beer tasting tickets and tasting glass. Non-tasting tickets include full access to the festival without the beer tasting. Continuous complimentary shuttles will run for the duration of the festival. Carpooling, walking, and public transportation is also encouraged. Bring your ID as everyone will be ID'ed. No exceptions. Well behaved pets are allowed on a leash. Picking up after your pet is mandatory. You will be asked to complete a pet waiver upon entry. The event is rain or shine. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737608
17. 2023 Oktoberfest Celebration with Live Music from Dean Trimble Solstice Farm Brewery, Catawba Saturday, September 16, 2023, 1:00 - 8:00 PM Admission: Free Solstice Farm Brewery kicks off their 2023 Oktoberfest Celebration featuring live music from Dean Trimble from 5:30-7:30 PM. The Oktoberfest Celebration available each Saturday from September 16th through September 30th. Each weekend new Oktoberfest brews will be released and there will be live music from 5:30-7:30 PM and food trucks on-site starting ~4:00 PM. This week Solstice Farm Brewery will be releasing their Festbier, Pilsner and Hefeweizen. Dean Trimble is a musician playing 70s and 80s classic soft rock and classic country and he is based in the New River Valley. Solstice Farm Brewery offers your favorite hard and soft seltzer (choose your flavor), IPAs, Cream Ale and others are also available with 10 taps on-site. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737844
18. Jigsaw Puzzle Tournament Christiansburg Library, Christiansburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 2:30 - 4:30 PM Admission: Free Compete on teams of 2-4 to see who can finish their 500 piece puzzle in the least amount of time. Each team will get the same size puzzle just before the start of the contest. Prizes will be awarded. Note: Teams of four players usually have an advantage. It's free to play however registration is required due to limited seats. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737578
19. 2023 Welcoming Week: The Kite Runner Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 3:00 - 5:10 PM Admission: $5.00 The YMCA at Virginia Tech continues their Welcoming Week events with a special screening of "The Kite Runner", a 2007 drama starring Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni and Shaun Toub and is rated PG-13. The movie is based on the award-winning novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Houssein. Film Synopsis: After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=748080
20. Jam Out Beliveau Farm Winery, Blacksburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 3:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: $15.00 Join their Jam Maker, Lorene, for a jam tasting & discussion of our new line of house-made jams. Attendees will be able to try our new jams and take part in a discussion about how our jam is made. They will also have the opportunity to purchase them at the end of the event and enjoy a free glass of wine to pair with the jam. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=748081
21. Wave Nite 28 featuring 14 Performers The Milk Parlor, Blacksburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 7:00 PM - 02:00 AM Ages 21 & Up: $10.00, Ages 18-20: $13.00 Sine Wave Surfers presents Wave Nite 28 with 18 performers including some absolute legends of freshness. They are honored to be joined by their pal, Resident President of Williamsburg, VA and Wave Nite classic, Mister aka geethanksmister, of Greensboro, NC returns now dropping that techno as Flex Ariani. They will also be joined by Sine Wave Surfers Classic hometown hero and Charlotte, NC local, Yacomane for the elevated vibes. Join them for the cool flows, hot fire bass, and activate that next level of consciousness. In addition, they are doing a canned food drive for this Wave Nite. Bring a non-perishable food item for a $1.00 off on your cover charge. Bring a valid student ID for another $1.00 off. Doors open at 7:00 PM. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747917
22. 2023 Tour of Destruction with School Bus Racing, Monster Trucks & Fireworks Pulaski County Motorsports Park, Radford Saturday, September 16, 2023, 7:00 - 10:00 PM Advance Tickets: Adults: $30.00, Kids 12 & Under: $10.00 Day of Show Tickets: Adults: $35.00, Kids 12 & Under: $10.00 Enjoy School Bus Racing, a Demolition Derby, Excaliber, Kraken & War Wizard Monster Trucks, Stock Enduro, Reverse Race, Trailer Race, Flag Pole Race and fireworks. The Tour of Destruction are currently the largest Touring school bus racing and demolition derby series. They are dedicated to family entertainment and experiences that gives fans what they want to see, destruction. Track parking starts at $5.00. The event is rain or shine. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737609
23. September Blacksburg Contra Dance YMCA at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Saturday, September 16, 2023, 7:30 - 10:30 PM Adults: $10.00, Students: $8.00, Children Under Age of 16: Free The Blacksburg Contra Dance presents their September Contra Dance. Dance to live music from the Friends of Virgil band with Jack Maus calling the dance. No experience necessary. No partner required. All dances taught. A beginner lesson is available starting at 7:00 PM. Join the wonderful local contradance community and have a fun evening. All are welcome. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737842
24. 2023 Radford University Family Weekend Magic Show featuring Ran'd Shine Performance Hall within the Covington Center, Radford Univeristy Saturday, September 16, 2023, 8:00 - 9:30 PM General Public: $5.00, Radford Students, Radford Faculty & Staff: Free Radford University Student Involvement and R-Space presents the 2023 Family Weekend Magic Show featuring Ran'd Shine. As seen on the world phenomenon television show, "Penn and Teller Fool Us", you do not want to miss this show. Magician and comedian Ran'D Shine is known for performing "Real Magic for Real People". In other words, no video edits, no actors, just pure mind-boggling magic entertainment. Ran’d considers magic as much more than just entertainment. He wants to expand your mind... get you to look at things from a different angle... and explore a bit of what the term "diversity" truly means. Over the past few years Ran'D has become one of the most sought-after performers in the industry, because his show is highly entertaining, engaging and can be performed in small, large, indoor, or outdoor venues. Mr. Shine's magical style draws from his playful interactive relationship with his audience combined with his psychological illusions, sleight of hand and storytelling. In addition, he has also opened for Trevor Noah and performed for two presidential inaugurations. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747918
25. 2023 Hokie Half Marathon and 5K Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg Half Marathon: • Register Between 8/16/23-9/10/23: Regular: $93.00, No-Frills Option: $75.00 • Register Between 9/11/23-9/14/23: Regular: $98.00, No-Frills Option: $80.00 5k: • Register Between 8/16/23-9/10/23: No Finisher Medal: $33.00, Finisher Medal: $49.00 • Register Between 9/11/23-9/14/23: No Finisher Medal: $38.00, Finisher Medal: $54.00 Virtual Racing: Hokie Half: $65.00, 5k with Medal: $44.00 Runabout Sports presents the 11th Annual Hokie Half Marathon starting at 7:30 AM and 5K starting at 8:00 AM. The races features the Hokie Bird finisher medal, live bands, beautiful scenery, terrific race support and some awesome race swag! With the first four miles on roads, the next six travel along the Huckleberry Bike Trail before heading back onto roads and bike trails for the final miles. Combined with a ton of live music and plenty of cheering along the way, the Hokie Half is one you won’t want to miss! The Half Marathon includes Hokie Bird finisher medal, registration shirt, finisher shirt and other race swag. The No Frills Half Marathon option includes Hokie Bird finisher medal, food and all race course amenities, but none of the shirts or swag. 5k entrants have the option to receive a 3-inch bronze Hokie Bird finisher medal or no finisher medal. A virtual option is also available for both the Hokie Half Marathon. Online registration closes at midnight on Thursday, September 14th. Paper forms will be accepted at Runabout Sports until 8:00 PM on Saturday, September 16th. There is no race day registration. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737735
26. RagTop in Concert Chateau Morrisette, Floyd Sunday, September 17, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free RagTop is the Roanoke, VA based acoustic duo act of Jim and Renee Oliphant. They perform classic and folk rock, blues, R & B, new country and classic American standards. Seating is encouragd. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=715712
27. 2023 Grape Stomping Festival Beliveau Farm Winery, Blacksburg Sunday, September 17, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Grape Stomping: Adults: $12.00, Children Under 8: $5.00 Join Beliveau Winery as they host their annual grape stomping festival. You will have the opportunity to stomp their harvested grapes barefoot. This is a family focused event with stomping tubs for both adults and children. Entry is free, with a fee to stomp. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747919
28. 2023 Welcoming Week: Welcoming Festival Market Square Park, Blacksburg Sunday, September 17, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free The YMCA at Virginia Tech concludes their Welcoming Week events with the 2023 Welcoming Festival. Enjoy a celebration featuring entertainment, food, vendors and family fun. Enjoy entertainment from several different countries, food vendors, community art project, henna tattoos, local information & resources, Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley, Blacksburg Books and the Blacksburg Vintage Market open from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Entertainment Line-Up: includes the Blacksburg Chinese School, Itraab Music Ensemble, VT Percussion, Afghan Dance Group, Community Poem and Chair Yoga. All are welcome. Welcoming Week brings New River Valley neighbors of all backgrounds together to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=747914
29. Bobby Parker in Concert Palisades Restaurant, Eggleston Sunday, September 17, 2023, 5:00 - 7:30 PM Admission: Free Acoustic musician Bobby Parker is a singer and guitarist playing cozy folk music, blues and ragtime on 6- and 12-string guitar. Reservations are not required, but recommended for dining area seating. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=737724
30. Four Band Concert with Torvus, Orenda, Iroh and Lux Arcada The Milk Parlor, Blacksburg Sunday, September 17, 2023, 8:00 PM - 12:00 AM Admission: $5.00 The Milk Parlor hosts a Four Band Concert with Torvus, Orenda, Iroh and Lux Arcada. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=748079
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Thanks for reading and hope you have a great weekend and get a chance to enjoy some of the local fun!

In response to this post https://www.reddit.com/sandiego/comments/15z8rxg/a_win_for_tenants_tenants_who_sued_ob_landlord/
I hinted that Mills has a long track record of being a piece of shit. I haven't updated this article in a few years, which I planned on releasing in a local publication, but here it is below. Hopefully this helps anyone thinking of giving their money to this guy.
Disclaimer: all of the information below was gathered from public sources
The Mills Family Trust (apparently headed by Michael Van Mills and his sister, Marcie Matassa aka Pisani) owns at least 30 apartment buildings in Ocean Beach. Over the years, “Mickey” Mills has garnered a reputation as a slumlord, having been charged in 1998 for the substandard conditions of his properties; in addition to at least two dozen civil lawsuits where either he or related parties are listed as defendant. Recently, Mills’ residents across Ocean Beach have been staging a small revolt over a series of rent increases. One such resident saw her rent increase from less than 1500, to over 1600, and finally over 1900 until she decided to move; all within a few months – the legal minimum timespan for such rent increases. However, Mill’s 1998 prison stint wasn’t his only one. Normally, a man that has done his time should be given the benefit of the doubt…but has Mills changed?
According to court documents, in 1975, Mills, a former attorney, ran a succession of escort, dating, and massage companies in Ocean Beach. His operation was called Surfer Girls, out of 2137 Spray Street (which is now apparently owned by a trust in his sister’s name). He advertised massages in the newspaper, paid the phone bills, hired and fired the girls, and passed out cards in hotel phone booths, candy machines, men’s restrooms, and the airport. He also ran a business called Mermaid which used the same girls, but a different phone number in the same office. A “gig sheet” was maintained which had the name, address, room number, cost of the massage, and how much should go to the company. The rates were $65 an hour, out of which the girls kept $10. Mills guaranteed absolute satisfaction by the time the girl left. In some instances where disputes took place over whether sex was included in the fee, Mills would agree to let the girl keep half of the $65, saying “You can keep the other half of the massage money. Just go and make him happy. Bring the money into the company.”
Following a dispute over money, one of Mills’ former employees was granted immunity for her testimony. She was an 18 year old single mother. Mills first met her after paying $40 for sex at the Sweet Lady Massage Parlor on University Ave. Mills threatened that her child would be taken away from her since she was a prostitute, and that he would present evidence of her drug dealing. He also said that if she tried to go through with testifying, she would never make it to court as Mills supposedly had represented several large Mexican drug dealers. Eventually, Mills, through his associates at Surfer Girls, bribed the girl and gave her a statement which she was to recopy in her own writing and sign it for delivery to a lawyer. Fearing for her and her child’s life, she left town in a 1966 GMC Suburban purchased with the bribe money. In 1976, she was found hiding in L.A. County and apparently reneged on Mills.
Eventually, Mills was found guilty of: procuring for the purpose of prostitution; conspiring to prepare false evidence, bribe a witness, and influence testimony; producing a false instrument in court proceedings; unlawfully dissuading a person from testifying and inducing false testimony. He was sentenced to nine months in prison (with credit for 111 days already served), a fine of $1000 dollars, and five years of probation.
Dec 31, 1981
Case # CR 38370
Dear Judge Smith,
Decorated for Christmas, the Catholic chapel is truly an oasis in Chino. Father Leahy donates [his time] to helping the inmates. Whenever this last year seemed like a century, I’ve been very appreciative of his friendship and the opportunity to assist others in making their release plans.
Upon arrival, I signed up to obtain counseling from Dr. Stanifeld, a psychologist. Our sessions began with my venting a lot of frustration and bitterness. During the past six months, [redacted] had secretly embezzled some $40,000.00 in rents, leaving several real properties in foreclosure. Innocent people were victimized. My sister, Marcie Pisani has been working towards curing these delinquencies and helping me to restore my credibility with the persons who trusted me to competently manage the properties.
Ultimately, [redacted] also tried to extort money from me by threatening to put to sleep my German Shepherd dog, “Boogie,” whom I dearly love. She and a friend are still in unlawful possession of my personal belongings. The District Attorney’s investigation of my family’s complaints was curiously terminated. It is a mockery of justice that [redacted] could steal from so many people and never be apprehended only because I too am a victim. Upon my release, I will seek help from outside agencies if this proves necessary to effectively prosecute our case.
In our early sessions, Dr. Stanifeld explored the reasons why I had spent two years of my life advertising the services of aspiring prostitutes. I explained how knowing many girls living in Ocean Beach, I had worked for their cause. My outcall service cut out the pimps, vice squad officers and hotels who had previously profited from their services. In contrast, they were able to keep one hundred percent of their cash tips for sexual favors. The agency also profited from charging the customers on an hourly basis, out of which the girls were paid to model, independently of any tips they received. However much better off they were than before, only legalization of prostitution will ever fully protect these girls from exploitation.
A second motivation was money. Yet, after paying for voluminous advertising, telephones and legal costs, the actual net profits were less than I could realize by devoting less time to making real estate deals with concomitantly less headaches. A third consideration was the sexual enjoyment of meeting numerous nymphomaniacs. However, this association caused my closest friend and fiancée [redacted], a school teacher in Arkansas, to break up with me, after which I was heartbroken.
None of these reasons really explained why I had thrown away my legal career to “volunteer” becoming a target of prosecution by supporting an unlawful cause in the first place.
Related psychological questions [about] my immaturity and moods of fluctuating temperament. Attorneys, attempting to defend me, found me incoherent during some of our conversations. My family worried whether under too many pressures, I had “cracked up.”
One area of concern was my seeming deterioration in mental abilities. According to a Chino test, my supposed I.Q. had fallen some twenty points. In the least, it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to concentrate during thinking tasks. My reading comprehension and recall had slowed noticeably. The April 1980, U.S. Chess magazine had a cover story on a game I played in San Francisco which won the brilliancy prize in 1974. Now, six years later, I could barely comprehend the game, let alone find a similar combination in over the board play. My attention had become so intermittent that I sometimes lost chess games to beginners.
The key to my difficulties was unraveled during a session in which Dr. Stanifeld probed the question of why for years I had been a generally unhappy person. We began to discuss the conflict I have with my Father. I explained that as a child I had admired him very much and always wanted to make him proud of me. There were scholastic awards during high school, advertising and a successful magnetic sign design during college, moot court competition and law review during law school; nothing worked. The doctor continued into this guarded subject. The words would not come when I tried to say that my Dad has always been [disappointed] in me. Instead, I began to cry uncontrollably. It was very embarrassing. This fact and its attendant guilt feelings had been repressed in my subconscious mind since childhood. Dr. Stanifeld determined that for over twenty years I had tried to “win” my Father’s love. Simultaneously, the guilt I felt for failing to gain his acceptance was being repressed. This subconscious guilt was churning into self-hate which began to affect my conscious actions.
Apparently, I began to seek causes in which my Father would surely disapprove and thereby gain his attention. The first was marijuana since he despised hippies. Perhaps it was necessary to my subconscious mind that he recognize my action and forgive me. Early dreams, before I disobeyed any laws, corroborate the possibility that I wanted to be punished in order to be relieved of guilt and thus become a happy person. Prison might have been only the first stop on a road towards self-destruction.
Releasing this pent-up self-enmity is a giant stride towards recomposing my mental stability. Writing you and being able to talk openly today about my past disturbance is another good step. In proper perspective, it was impossible for me to gain my Father’s approval simply because we are two different people with different interests in life.
The emotional breakdown I experienced during therapy six months ago was cathartic. Physically, I gained nearly ten pounds in a few weeks with increased wakefulness and energy for running [and] working out. Mentally, my reading comprehension is improving and it’s easier for me to concentrate during writing and real estate paper work. Have just finished a good book, “Success through a Positive Mental Attitude,” by Napoleon Hill and Clement Stone.
I’m optimistic about selling the real estate, settling with the I.R.S. and getting a fresh start as far away from the San Diego Union newspaper as possible. Most of all, I’m thankful for my family and friends who never gave up on me when it became obvious that I had a few wires crossed.
Sometimes the person afflicted is the last to realize his disorientation. Incarceration alone aggravates his problems without curing the underlying disorders which are causing his antisocial behavior. If more inmates were persuaded to accept professional counseling, the rate of recidivism might decrease.
Thank you for listening to my thoughts Judge Smith, and allowing me to share my holiday happiness with you.
God bless you,
Michael Mills
In the present day, Mills and Matassa (who tours properties and executes purchases on behalf of the trust) apparently manage the properties through a management company called Beach Homes Property Management, in operation since 1972. There is no website, email, or otherwise professional correspondence. The advertised domains rentob.com and beachhomesob.com are now defunct. Associated with the Beach Homes organization is Lyn Stinson, Cheryl Gardner (aka Cheryl Marshall aka Cheryl Webb) and her husband George Gardner. Cheryl Gardner herself is a felon, having been convicted of welfare fraud in 1989, and a subsequent violation of her parole in 1990. Cheryl is known to list units for rent, and otherwise handles the day to day landlord duties, including handling rent checks. Neither Stinson, Gardner, Mills, nor Matassa have a real estate broker’s license which is required to list properties for rental. Matassa’s license expired in 2011 according to California Bureau of Real Estate.
What has the Mills family trust been doing with the hard earned money of their tenants? Apparently, living rather nicely. After being banned from playing chess before his first stint in prison (for allegedly throwing matches), “Mickey” has made over $1 million playing poker, and ranks #123 in California’s all time money list, and lives in a $2 million dollar home in [redacted]. Marcie, meanwhile, was a regular poster on luxury cruise forums and owns a home in [redacted].
edit: redacted further info
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I decided to go back through the history of The Amazing Race and pick the biggest or most memorable moment or storyline of each season. Not necessarily the best moment but the moments or storylines that were either the most interesting or made the biggest impact that season.
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Season 1 (2001) - THE GUIDOS BLOCK TEAMS AT THE AIRPORT
The moment that showed that The Amazing Race isn’t just a happy trip around the world and cemented Joe/Bill as the first ever villains. A strategic move where Joe/Bill tried to stall other teams from getting on a flight with allegations that they shoved Nancy during the altercation. While the moment itself was dramatic, it also caused friction for the next 2 episodes with Joe/Bill lying about their intentions, Kevin/Drew threatening to break their legs, and outcasting them from everyone. You could also pick the first ever starting or finish line, Lenny on the Eiffel Tower or Nancy/Emily’s elimination with Joe/Bill’s bus blunder…but the drama of “airportgate” had the biggest impact on the season!
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Season 2 (2002) - THE FOOT RACE TO THE FINISH LINE
I can’t believe the closest finish occurred in just the 2nd season! Tara/Wil arrived first but were outrun by Chris/Alex to the finish line. Not only was it an unbelievably gripping ending, but the storyline between these 2 teams made the moment even more compelling. Chris/Alex and Tara/Wil were on again and off again allies, as well as a showmance between Tara and Alex. And even the buildup to the footrace with Wil trying to lose Chris/Alex in the taxi, knowing what would happen if they arrived too close together. I considered Oswald/Danny’s carefree shopping spree as well as Wil and Blake screwing up the Australian slang challenge…but you can’t beat this nail biting finish!
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Season 3 (2002) - FLO’S VIETNAM MELTDOWNS
The biggest and most hilarious trainwreck of a meltdown the show has seen! 12 legs in and Flo loses it over the thought of a 24 hour train through Vietnam…without an AC or sleeper cabin! She cries, yells, complains…and then whines when music plays haha And the rest of the leg is no better - she lashes out at Zach, she lashes out at Teri/Ian, and cries in a ball after failing both detours - paddling basket boats or riding basket bikes! Viewers cannot believe the hilarious performance of this grown woman! Would have loved to have put 4 teams putting the wrong gas in their cars, the Twinhunt or the multiple iconic footraces on this list, but Flo’s whiny attitude for this entire leg has never been topped since.
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Season 4 (2003) - ASSAULTED ON THE INDIAN TRAINS
I find the culture shock aspect fascinating and another element somewhat lost in modern seasons. This season forced teams to ride on a dirty and crowded train in peak hour Mumbai where teams were squashed against locals. In confronting scenes, 3 female racers (Tian, Jaree and Kelly) were groped and were visibly distressed by this uncomfortable situation. It was difficult seeing blonde girl team Tian/Jaree treated so disrespectfully throughout India, and Kelly was traumatised to get on a train in the following leg. Difficult TV but a memorable and confronting look at different cultures. Also considered Kelly/Jon’s nasty “Millie The Mole” and the close race between Kelly/Jon and Millie/Chuck.
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Season 5 (2004) - COLIN GETS ARRESTED
Another confronting aspect is the “ugly American” behavior and the horrendous treatment of locals. Difficult TV but fascinating! In this season Colin is not happy that his taxi in Africa got a flat tire and several teams past them on their way to the airport. Colin was only willing to pay half of what the taxi driver asked for which caused a big confrontation that resulted in Colin/Christie being taken to the police station. Colin yelled, threw money and said “Hakuna Matata” haha. Crazy, disrespectful, but could not stop watching! While “My Ox is broken” may be more iconic, or even Colin overtaking the Bowling Moms or the caviar challenge…Colin’s meltdown here was so unbelievable and crazy!
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Season 6 (2004) - JONATHAN SHOVES HIS WIFE
Another confronting aspect is partner abuse and this season had possibly the darkest moment and the closest thing to domestic violence. In a foot race for 1st place, Jonathan drops his bag but Victoria picks it up as she is scared locals will steal it. Carrying both bags causes Freddy/Kendra to overtake them and claim 1st place. An angry Jonathan screams and slightly shoves a distressed Victoria and continues to berate her in front of Phil. An ugly and uncomfortable moment but one we won’t forget! Lots of big moments like Lena and the hay bails, the visit to the slave house, Freddy and the gate, and the Chinese locks with Hayden/Aaron’s proposal…but this controversial moment got everyone talking!
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Season 7 (2005) - BRIAN AND GREG’S CAR ACCIDENT
A less negative but still big and shocking moment occurred when Brian/Greg lost control of their car in Africa. The car flipped over and injured their cameraman! While the moment itself was scary, there was also the drama of every team stopping to see if they were okay except for villains Rob/Amber who drove right by and smirked about not stopping. You also had Brian/Greg somehow rebounding and overtaking Ray/Deana to just survive the leg. So many great moments from Joyce’s head-shave to Rob quitting the meat challenge to Uchenna/Joyce begging at the finish line to Gretchen screeching on the wooden elephant! But this accident was scary as well as a dramatic come from behind story!
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Season 8 (2005) - THE WEAVERS VISIT A RACECAR STADIUM
The Weaver Family entered the Family Edition with a tragic backstory - they had very recently lost their father to a racecar accident. Usually they would be the sympathetic team, but no they were the villains and hated by every other team haha The show then morbidly chose to have teams ride a party bike around Taladega Superspeedway where the teenage children and mother Linda broke down in tears at the thought of it. They summoned up the courage and tearfully completed the challenge. I also considered the Weavers meltdown at the Waffle House, the Paolos hilariously putting on underwear in case it was non-elimination and 9 year old Carissa’s emotional elimination.
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Season 9 (2006) - ERIC AND JEREMY CANCEL CABS
The sleazy frat boys Eric/Jeremy caused a stir when they rang up and cancelled the cabs of BJ/Tyler and Ray/Yolanda. This strategic but very underhanded manoeuvre has never been attempted before or since. In hilarious irony, Eric/Jeremy’s cab also didn’t show up and their allies Joseph/Monica were blamed for cancelling the taxis instead. This then lead to arguments, Yields and a three way foot race to the mat! Another ugly moment but it got us talking and created some fun drama amongst this top 4! Also considered putting The Hippies overtaking The Frats at the flag memory challenge (the first big memory challenge) but these cab shenanigans had too much fun drama!
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Season 10 (2006) - KIMBERLY’S TOMATO MELTDOWN
This season had some great storylines like the Sixpack Alliance strangely helping one another, the sneaky Beauty Queens and the awkward interactions between PeteSarah…but an underrated moment is Kimberly’s big meltdown! Teams had to search through a pile of tomatoes while locals threw tomatoes at them in a re-enactment of the Spanish La Tomatina. This stressed Kimberly and caused her to cry and scream like a 4 year old in a hilarious meltdown that rivals some of Flo’s. She awkwardly threw tomatoes back, threatened to quit and is unfortunately forgotten because Rob/Kimberly weren’t a memorable team overall. But this was a top tier meltdown and moment!
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Season 11 (2007) - THE DOWNFALL OF ROB AND AMBER
The first returnee season had the biggest downfall of an early boot team when big threats Rob/Amber had a disaster of a leg after 3 first place finishes. Leg 4 had Rob misspelling Phillipines and then overtaken by their rivals Charla/Mirna at the Road Block, who they had previously sabotaged. An epic foot race with Mirna dragging Charla through the bush and cheered on by Uchenna/Joyce. So satisfying and we rarely care about the elimination of an early boot like this. Some good yield drama later with “dirty hookers” and Charla using a fork to throw up a sausage and face-planting in armor…but this storyline was too strong and still can’t believe a team had 1st, 1st, 1st and then LAST!
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Season 12 (2007) - RON’S REAL TRUTH FLAVOR
Usually the parent/child teams are sweet and gentle…but not Ron/Christina! Here we have an uncomfortable confrontation where Ron belittles his daughter Christina over and over because of small mistakes which reduces her to tears. He gives her “the real truth Flavor” and “no one tells you that you have boogers in your nose” haha It is raw and fascinating, but we are also witnessing cultural differences in parenting. Ron did vow to change, and Ron/Christina became one of the most likeable yet complex dynamics the show has seen. I also considered Lorena’s “no more milk” meltdown or the final memory challenge, but Ron’s Leg 2 storyline is a stand out performance!
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Season 13 (2008) - DAN CAN’T MARCH
Dan/Andrew are arguably one of the worst teams to make it to the top 3 and their most hilarious failure was in the Russian marching challenge. We watched 3 teams breeze through this challenge and we began to think this challenge was ridiculously easy…but then Dan tried to march! Dan was so uncoordinated to the point we couldn’t believe it! All the soldiers were laughing in hysterics as well as all the viewers! One of the most unintentionally funniest scenes ever! And his partner Andrew actually had marching experience haha Some other great blunders this season include Kelly/Christy hilariously digging for a container for no reason and Dallas losing his passport and forced to beg for money.
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Season 14 (2009) - MARGIE AND LUKE VS KISHA AND JEN
One of the most memorable confrontations occurred here! While racing to a cluebox, Jen bumped into deaf contestant Luke from behind, which lead to Luke putting his elbow out at Jen, and then Jen calling Luke a “bitch”. This lead to back and forth arguments and then an explosive confrontation in front of Phil. Luke angrily stormed off the mat, Kisha/Jen awkwardly laughed, and mom Margie called out Kisha/Jen for laughing at her deaf son! It was dramatic, awkward and we couldn’t take our eyes off! Also considered the hilarious cheese hill challenge and the final surfboard challenge where Luke was overtaken. But this confrontation was the most dramatic and made the biggest impact!
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Season 15 (2009) - MIKA FREAKS OUT OVER A WATERSLIDE
Another one of those “too crazy to believe” moments! Mika had a fear of heights and water which caused her to break down…over a water slide! She cried like a child as boyfriend Canaan helped inflate her floaties haha She freaked out even more when Canaan attempted to push her down. Last place Globetrotters arrived and overtook a stalling Mika while taunting her. A frustrated Canaan just jumped down by himself and Mika walked down the stairs. A top meltdown and one of the craziest moments! Some other big moments included the starting line elimination, Big Easy taking a penalty on an easy challenge and the poker players can’t complete either Detour…but Mika’s is the biggest!
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Season 16 (2010) - BRANDY VS CAITE AT THE FINISH LINE
Usually the eliminated contestants just stand silently while the top 3 cross the finish line and either clap happily or an occasional disappointed look. But here we had Brent/Caite cross the finish line in 3rd place where Caite told Phil that she was proud of being the last female standing. This angered nemesis Brandy who rudely interrupted and stated that Caite was not a smart racer and made a dumb move by U-Turning them. This was so awkward and unexpected and very out of the norm! Carol/Brandy’s U-Turn meltdown “She’s an idiot and she’s on YouTube to prove it” is also a worthy moment but a contestant interrupting the usual positive speeches is far more unique.
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Season 17 (2010) - CLAIRE’S WATERMELON MISSFIRE
A moment that went viral and arguably the most iconic scene for non Amazing Race viewers! Teams had to use a medieval catapult to launch a watermelon at a target. Claire’s catapult however malfunctioned and her watermelon ricocheted straight back into her face! The first time it was horrifying to witness - Did she break her nose? Could she have a concussion? But subsequent times it was hilarious! Brook encouraged a shocked Claire to continue and she got up and heroically completed the challenge. I also considered the more negative meltdown from Nick where he berated girlfriend Vicki and took a 6 hour penalty or Nat/Kat’s win but you can’t top this shocking viral moment.
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Season 18 (2011) - THE GOTH’S NIGHTMARE LEG
One of the worst performances from a popular team occurred in Unfinished Business in Leg 4 when Kent/Vyxsin had a disaster of a leg…and survived! They had 10 hours to drive to the nearby airport for the predetermined flight, and somehow didn’t make it. Not making a compulsory flight just seems crazy! Where were they possibly driving for 10 hours? And it didn’t stop there - they lost their passport TWICE, bickered continually, Vyxsin had a meltdown at the Road Block, and Vyxsin was basically a hilarious hot mess the entire leg! Everyone later accusing Vyxsin of stealing the gnome was also a highlight as well as Zev/Justin getting waxed, but can’t beat this trainwreck of a leg!
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Season 19 (2011) - A FAN FINDS KAYLANI’S PASSPORT
There’s been a few lost passports but this is a very unique circumstance! In leg 1 Kaylani loses her passport while stopping to ask for directions. Kaylani/Lisa realise at the airport and argue after the realisation that their race is over already. A fan however had picked up the passport, mentioned it online and fans online told him to deliver it to the production crew at LAX airport. They were reunited with the lost passport and I’m glad we saw this 4th wall breaking moment. This season also had the chaotic double elimination where 7 teams didn’t donate all their money, as well as the cabs working together which screwed threats Andy/Tommy. But this was too much of a unique moment!
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Season 20 (2012) - TURNED AWAY AT THE FINISH LINE
Many teams have received the dreaded “You are team number 1…however” but here Dave/Rachel got this announcement at the FINISH LINE after accidentally skipping the final Road Block! They frantically returned to the Road Block and overtook a struggling Art at the sled hill challenge. They then returned and this time were declared the winners! Another tense and memorable ending up there with the foot race from season 2! Some dramatic moments this season such as Rachel’s many meltdowns, Rachel vs Vanessa “Get your nose done before you get your boobs done”, and Mark struggling at the Bollywood dance. But being turned away from the finish line + a challenge comeback beats them all!
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Season 21 (2012) - JAMES AND ABBA ARE ROBBED AND STRANDED
Here we are confronted with one of the dangers of travel! James/Abba are left stranded in Moscow after a gypsy cap drives off with their bags, including Abba’s passport. We’re basically witnessing a crime on screen! This then turns into an intriguing 2 episode saga (and cliffhanger) of whether they can retrieve their lost passport or obtain a new one. It isn’t a complete lost cause due to Josh/Brent and Abbie/Ryan falling far behind, with Josh/Brent also incurring a penalty. Also considered Natalie/Nadiya’s U-Turn plot against Abbie/Ryan and the unexpected come from behind and win of The Beekmans, but this was a fascinating storyline that made the race feel real.
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Season 22 (2013) - ELIMINATED WITH AN EXPRESS PASS
John/Jessica faced the equivalent of Survivor’s “eliminated with an idol” when John arrogantly decided he didn’t need to play the Express Pass even though more and more teams were passing them. They were eliminated, John still awkwardly claiming that the Express Pass didn’t matter, and then “Oy vey” from Phil haha Just a trainwreck to witness from the start. Even John/Jessica’s early hilarious mistake of performing the Balinese offering in a random person’s house could have been chosen here. But there was also Dave’s Achilles injury and leaving the race, as well as 3 teams agreeing to take a penalty in leg 1. But John’s mistake and attitude stands out the most!
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Season 23 (2013) - NICOLE TRIES TO CHEAT
One of my favorite falls from graces is power couple Nicole/Travis starting strong but then Nicole regularly freaking out and Travis not being very supportive. Here Nicole stresses out when she can’t construct an Indonesian instrument. Leo meanwhile completes it and a desperate Nicole barges her way into the judging area and pleads like crazy to see Leo’s finished design. At the same time the editors replay a clip of Nicole/Travis talking about being honourable for their children. Crazy, hypocritical and a “can’t believe what I’m seeing moment”. Also considered Nicole and Amy teaming up at the robot puzzle to eliminate the Afganimals or Nicole blackmailing Tim/Marie for the Express Pass.
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Season 24 (2014) - THE DISASTER OF MARK AND MALLORY
In this 2nd All Star season, fan favorite Bopper was unable to race again so Mark was partnered up with another fan favorite Mallory. They however were not a match made in Heaven especially when Mallory accidentally left Mark’s bag behind. Mallory did not want to waste time going back for it but Mark wanted to go back because there were “priceless” items in there. They already had their passports and Mark’s medicine. They returned and were eliminated after some uncomfortable bickering from former fan favorites! Also considered Brendan/Rachel U-Turning Dave/Connor and seeing Rachel get knocked over by inflatable bulls haha but this was raw, trainwreck TV!
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Season 25 (2014) - THE CYCLISTS VS THE SURFERS AT A SURFING FAST FORWARD
There’s been some good Fast Forward showdowns but the most interesting was Kym/Alli taking a risk and then discovering the Fast Forward is on a surf machine! They struggled but should be okay as long as the famous Bethany Hamilton doesn’t decide to go for the Fast Forward too…however Adam/Bethany arrive and predictably completed the challenge quickly. It was devastating for the popular Kym/Alli but was part of arguably one of the best episodes. A popular season that also included 3 teams taking a penalty exactly like season 22, a very bizarre freakout on the mat with Shelley/Nici and a come from behind win by Amy/Maya after being controversially saved from elimination.
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Season 26 (2015) - TAKING A SELFIE AND MISSING THE TRAIN
A small moment but so crazy that you’d never believe it! This season allowed teams to take selfies for the first time throughout the race which was cringy and annoying for most mature fans. However it produced a hilarious moment when Libby/CJ were taking a selfie of their train…only for it to take off and leave them behind haha It was such a perfect moment! I could have chosen some of Hayley/Blair’s awkward arguments, Hayley’s blunder at Reunion Tower, or the awkward blind date pairing of Bergen/Kurt who had a meltdown and left their stick shift car behind plus their uncomfortable elimination…but you have to give it to the #selfiefail haha
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Season 27 (2015) - THE DANCING WATER CHALLENGE
One of the most memorable, elaborate and visually impressive challenges the show has seen! Teams participated in an elaborate stage performance in Macau and then had to dive for a fish underwater. Underdogs Tiffany/Krista struggled multiple times and were then overtaken by the big threats and characters of the season - Justin/Diana! But the excitement didn’t stop there - Justin/Diana received a time penalty for taking the wrong ferry. Viewers were then on the edge of their seats as the timer ticked down and Krista continued to struggle to dive for the fish! A very tense final 4 elimination! Could also have included some of The Green Team’s U-Turn plotting but this challenge was spectacular!
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Season 28 (2016) - #BLODIE
This season alienated many fans with the decision to cast a season full of internet celebrities and include “young person” trends like hashtags and the shipping of Blair and Brodie. Many teams, especially TyleKorey, teased Blair and Brodie about a potential showmance that was hinted at many times and all the way to Brodie/Kurt’s elimination speech. Sheri/Cole had a few comeback moments like when Sheri was struggling at the oil change and had many teams helping her, as well as Sheri/Cole’s comeback at the electric unicycle - every viewer was expecting Burnie/Ashley to appear in 3rd place! But the cringy showmance was unfortunately the most memorable storyline of this season!
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Season 29 (2017) - FLOYD COLLAPSES IN THE HEAT
One of the saddest downfalls to witness! The likeable and positive “Team Fun” face a tough Road Block where Floyd must ride a heavy bicycle full of shrimp traps. Floyd drops some of the traps and has to make multiple tiring trips back and forth in the hot Vietnamese sun. He is overtaken by every team and later collapses from heat exhaustion on the side of the road. Becca hilariously puts their fun meter down to zero haha but supports Floyd, who was once a stranger to her. Could have also chosen one of Brooke’s many meltdowns, in particular half the cast helping her make a ladle, or Shamir at the window washing…but the downfall and elimination of Team Fun had the most emotional weight to it!
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Season 30 (2018) - THE CLOSEST FINISH YET
The “most competitive season ever” begins with a photo finish between 3 teams! Cedric/Shawn are waiting out their penalty for assisting one another at the Road Block and their penalty ends just as Dessie/Kayla and April/Sarah are running in behind them. They appeared to hit the mat together and viewers needed a replay to see that Goat Yoga stepped on the mat less than a second in front of the Ring Girls! Honorable mentions to the partner swap twist and the difficult final plane puzzle which showed Henry with the correct combination but not calling for a check, leading to a surprise victory by Jessica. But still have to give it to the unbelievably close finish!
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Season 31 (2019) - THE U-TURN VOTE
This season pitted former Amazing Race contestants against contestants from Big Brother and Survivor. A new twist was the U-Turn vote which was essentially a Survivor tribal council where teams voted on who to U-Turn. I like the inclusion of Big Brother and Survivor type strategy here with Nicole/Victor disagreeing over who to vote for. Rachel of course melts down and has half the cast hating her again by being part of 2 alliances, telling Nicole/Victor about the other side’s plans, and then Nicole/Victor not believing her and now hating Rachel! Also enjoyed Colin/Christie’s redemption arc and the nastiness of Corinne/Eliza, but the Rachel Reilly drama and the unique U-Turn vote stand out more!
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Season 32 (2020) - GARY AND DEANGELO ARE GANGED UP ON
The Mine 5 alliance dominated the season and became the final 5, however The Real Alliance of Will/James, Hung/Chee and Riley/Madison shared answers at a difficult final 4 puzzle in order to eliminate the threatening Gary/DeAngelo. A bitter DeAngelo then lashed out at the pit stop and stated that he regretted coming onto the race and didn’t enjoy it. This controversial answer-sharing plus DeAngelo’s meltdown was definitely dramatic TV that got the fans talking…or complaining. Also considered the similarly controversial answer-sharing at the sauerkraut challenge where Hung/Chee waited for their allies and gave away answers plus Kaylynn/Haley getting answers from a local!
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Season 33 (2022) - COVID SHUTS DOWN THE RACE
After Leg 3, Phil announced that they’ll have to suspend the race due to Covid - the biggest twist ever! 19 months later, teams were brought back to finish the race! Despite the problems Covid caused, it was a fascinating cliffhanger seeing which teams didn’t return and which teams replaced them, which turned out to be eliminated teams. Raquel/Cayla had lost their jobs as flight attendants, Lulu/Lala had recently lost their grandmother to Covid, and it was an insanely crazy turn of events! Besides Covid, I’d also pick the stone flipping challenge that tested Dusty’s anger for 3 hours and also tested Kim’s anxiety and usual chipper attitude. But it cannot top the race completely stopping and restarting!
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Season 34 (2022) - SHARIK WANTS TO QUIT
We finish with another bizarre meltdown after Sharik struggles to chisel a sculpture. Despite being overtaken by several teams, Sharik didn’t leave in last place. Sharik however suffered an anxiety attack, broke down and repeated that she wanted to quit over and over for the rest of the leg. Her father Linton tried to encourage her but Sharik continued to snap back like a spoilt child. She even told Phil to send her back to New York and complained about her arms. Although she didn’t quit, it was crazy to see someone break down over something so small and non-physical! While Abby/Will catching Covid was a more unique situation, it wasn’t as dramatic as Sharik’s irrational meltdown!
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Season 35 (2023) - ANDREA AND MALAINA’S DISASTEROUS LEG
While it does make a leg predictable, it’s fascinating watching a team make blunder after blunder in 1 leg…like the quirky Andrea/Malaina in Germany! They start by getting lost and are the last to arrive at the ferry - they think they are first because no other teams are there haha They exchange coins with a random worker, get the wrong ferry, struggle to find the castle and are sent back to the start because they didn’t have the correct coins. Every team completed 4 challenges while poor Andrea/Malaina only managed 1 haha Also considered the frantic race to the top of the ski hill for the Express Pass and Greg/John overtaking Joel/Garrett at the final challenge…but this was the craziest!
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I also decided to pick the top moments from the Australian seasons:
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Season 1 (2011) - CHRIS SCREAMS AT ANASTASIA
The 1st Australian season had one of the most intense and uncomfortable confrontations ever! Teams had to fill up win barrels where Anastasia knocked over her bucket of wine after boyfriend Chris told her to wait. Chris screamed at Anastasia and continued to berate and insult her for not listening, and also said her father didn’t spank her enough as a child. Anastasia sulked and refused to help finish the challenge with neither apologising. Would have liked to have included any of the Big W Ladies’ hilarious moments, 2 teams quitting the Chinese zodiac task or Anastasia melting down sawing the wood…but this toxic situation and verbal abuse was unfortunately the most memorable.
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Season 2 (2012) - LUCY AND EMILIA MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVE
The 2nd Australian season is regarded as one of the most popular worldwide and so many moments to pick from - the raft challenge in leg 1, Paul knocking Grace over, Joseph/Grace taking James/Sarah’s taxi…but ultimately Lucy/Emilia somehow surviving the Dubai leg is one of the greatest underdog stories! They got on the last flight, they struggled on the dune buggy, they struggled on the wave machine, they struggled to carry one another around a racetrack haha and they got arrested after driving into the royal palace haha They fell hours and hours behind…and miraculously another team actually did worse! Their faces when they were told they weren’t last was priceless!
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Season 3 (2014) - JONO STRUGGLES THROUGH AFRICA
Emily/Jono suffered a big downfall in leg 4 after a strong showing in the first 3 legs. Jono suffered dehydration at the Road Block when delivering lion feed and collapses. He is overtaken by rivals John/Murray, damages his clue and fails to get the info from other teams, continues to fall over and cramp, and struggles to light a fire at the Detour. Jono hobbles to the pit stop where they are shocked and saddened to be eliminated. Jarrod/Ashleigh also had a similar meltdown in Portugal when they were counting all the umbrellas instead of just yellow ones and made multiple hilarious blunders, but Emily/Jono’s was more dramatic and impactful because it was elimination.
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Season 4 (2019) - TOM AND TYLER ARE U-TURNED
We were witnessing one of the most dominant performances ever when Tom/Tyler won 8 legs and entered the final 4 as the clear favorites. However a surprising U-Turn vote appeared and the other 3 teams, including their allies Viv/Joey and Jasmin/Jerome, voted to U-Turn the big threats Tom/Tyler. They managed to catch up to Jasmin/Jerome at one point but were ultimately eliminated. However if they didn’t face the U-Turn, they would certainly have made the final leg. Also considered Viv struggling to carry the water bucket while the villains Sid/Ash awaited their penalty…but the betrayals, shocking downfall and possible unfairness made for great TV and discussion.
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Season 5 (2021) - THE VEGANS REFUSE TO EAT OYSTERS
Brendan/Jackson and Chris/Aleisha joined together at an Intersection that required teams to work together to shuck and eat 100 oysters. Chris/Aleisha are vegans and leave Brendan/Jackson to eat the 100 oysters by themselves. Brendan struggles and almost half way through, Jackson decides he cannot continue and Chris/Aleisha convince them to take the penalty as they are in last place anyway. I would have liked to include some of Dolor’s wacky moments, like when he didn’t want to lick chocolate next to his partner Holly for some reason haha, or Skye Blue/Jake running nude for a Fast Forward but the oyster drama created some good controversy and debate.
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Season 6 (2022) - MORI TAKES A PENALTY
Here we see a repeat of Mika’s waterslide meltdown but with a more likeable team Pako/Mori. Teams have to hang over a stadium which leaves Mori shaken and petrified. They tearfully decide to take a penalty which allows Angel/Frankie to overtake and eliminate them with seconds to spare. Like the waterslide, it was an easier height challenge by Amazing Race standards but viewers sympathised more with Mori as it seemed like a genuine phobia and they were a strong and popular team up to that point. Also considered the foot race between Angel/Frankie and Flick/Gabby, and host Beau getting Covid and replaced by a robot haha but Pako/Mori’s had more stakes and was more shocking.
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Season 7 (2023) - THREE TEAMS CROSS THE FINISH LINE TOGETHER
This ending is either the most heartwarming scene ever or the most annoying scene ever! With the finish line is sight, Darren/Tristan shockingly choose to not step on the mat and decide to wait for the 2nd and 3rd place teams and cross the finish line together. This is a celebrity season and each of the final 3 would be able to share the winnings for their charities. Emma/Hayley and Alli/Angie soon arrive and all 3 are declared “winners”. Whether you were touched by this gesture or not, it was definitely a unique and wholesome ending! Grant’s medevac was one of the scarier moments but having more than 1 winner is unprecedented and will never happen on a regular season.

TL;DR: I’m not sure which direction to go. I guess I’m wondering if there’s a particular trait that Futurama is strong in, like how American Dad has like four characters with SS combos in Rich, ya know?
I have quite a few Legendary Benders and a Level 4 Mythic Leela and Mythic object Kentucky Slims…you know what, imma just write out a bunch of the Futurama assets I have because I’m procrastinating dealing with real world stuff atm:
My character cards are:

• Mythic Zoidberg + an unfused Legendary Zoid
• Mythic Leela + 2 unfused Legendary Leela
• 2 quad fused Legendary Benders + 6 unfused Ls
• a quad fused Amy + an unfused
• quad fused Hermes + 2 unfused
• 2 unfused Fry
• an unfused Farnsworth
• a double fused Zapp + 2 unfused

My CMs include:
Drunk - Drunk Leela and Oktoberfest Leela Educated - Humplings (Leela), and Strategist Zapp
Addicted - CM2 of Wingnut Amy, Chocolate Addict Zapp, Clobberella (Leela), Food Addict Leela, Groovy Fry, + a bunch of researched Burger Hermes and Space Honey (Leela)
Rich - Amy’s Talking Tattoo and Grade 36 Bureaucrat (Hermes), + a bunch of researched Nigerian Prince (Hermes), and Cham-Pag-En Zapp
Athletic - Deathrolling (Fry) and again CM2 Wingnut Amy
Artistic - Magazine Cover Zapp, + a bunch of researched Ancient Cave Writing (Leela/Farnsworth) and The Thinker Ape (Amy)
Armed - Leela’s Harpoon, Penguin Conservator (Leela), + a bunch of researched Assassin Bender, Unsharp Scissors Zapp, and Whale Hunter Amy
Disguised - again Clobberella, Frydo, Hail Science! (Farnsworth), and Wizard Greyfarn (Farnsworth)
Fighter - Gut Punch Zapp, Scientific Rivals (Farnsworth)
Musical - Bureaucrat Song (Hermes), Susan Boil (Leela), + a bunch of researched Karaoke Zapp, and Organ Hermes
Animal - Betsy (Amy), Down to the Bone (Zoidberg), and Galapagos Tortoise (Farnsworth)
Toy - Toy Farnsworth Ad, Claw Machine (Amy), Stressed Out Leela, + a bunch of researched Antique Robots (Bender), and Gift Pile Leela,
OBJECTS/PCs:
Idk if the Futurama objects are important, but still not ready to deal with real world stuff, so…:
Drunk - Quad fused Food-O-Matic Martinis, Double fused Child-sized Beers + 1 unfused, Unfused Maltese Liquor, and Wine Bucket. Legendary PCs of Theatre Review Leela, and Very Sloshed
Educated- Unfused Bending School, Brown University, Nerd Science Contest, and Wozniak Nerd Academy
Addicted - Mythic Kentucky Slims. Quad fused Legendary Christmas Cigar Bomb, Jacked on Bots, and Kentucky Slims
Rich - Double fused Mom Safe Box, Wong Casino, and Poker Winnings. Unfused Poker Winnings, Le Grand Cigar, and Money Counting Room
Athletic - Quad fused Blernsball. Double fused Space Sewer Surfer. Unfused Blernsball, and Space Sewer Surfer. Legendary PC of Blernsball Fry
Artistic - Quad fused Shakespeare Calculon, and 2 quad Vitruvian Man. Double fused Smithsimian Art Gallery. Unfused Shakespeare Calculon, Shubot Theater, and Vitruvian Man.
Armed - Quad fused Long Stick with Sharp Rock, and Salad Shooter. Unfused Doomsday Device, Salad Shooter, and Ship Armory
Disguised - 2 quad fused Replacement Shell. Double fused Baghead. Unfused Baghead, Fake Nose, and Replacement Shell. Legendary PC Summer Guy
Fighter - Double fused Arcturan Kung Fu, Big Boy Karate, and Clone Fight. Unfused Big Boy Karat, and Clone Fight
Musical - Unfused Alien Bagpipes, and Mixmaster Festus. Legendary PC of Pageant Singer Zapp.
Animal - Quad fused Leelu. Unfused Neptunian Slug, and Penguin Attack
Toy - Quad fused Die of Power, and Murdelator. Unfused Die of Power, Fantasy Figurines, and Murdelator
Also, I have a quad and unfused Planet Express Ship.
So, yeah, if anyone feels like reading through this and offering any suggestions or tips (other than finding a more productive use of my time), it would be greatly appreciated and hopefully help others as well.