Rancho del sol apartments spring valley

Sublease Available at Camino Del Sol for Summer Quarter

2023.05.29 05:23 my_elbow_hurts Sublease Available at Camino Del Sol for Summer Quarter

Looking for another male undergraduate UCI student who would like to sublease my Camino Del Sol apartment starting mid-June to early September. I live in a 4 room 4.5 bathroom townhome (your own personal room/bathroom in addition to a shared bathroom on the first floor). It comes fully furnished in your room (desk, chair, bed) along with the shared spaces (kitchen utensils, couch, TV, etc). There's also a washing machine and dryer in the unit. The price is $1,100/month but I'm open to lowering it if needed!
To see the full details and features, you can look at the floor plan here: https://www.americancampus.com/student-apartments/ca/irvine/camino-del-sol/floor-plans#/detail/763-4bed-4.5bathtownhome-fall2023_fullterm
If you're interested please DM me for more details!
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2023.05.29 02:57 TTLAAJ Waco Events - Week of 5/27

Event Links - here

Monday - 5/29

Tuesday - 5/30

Wednesday - 5/31

Thursday - 6/1

Friday - 6/2

Saturday - 6/3

Family Events - link here

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2023.05.29 02:23 una_chica_mas_uwu Mi madrastra se embarazo con tal de quitarme mi pension de alimentos

Es la primera vez q escribo en reddit, no me atrevo a comentar nada por miedo a q esto llegue a oidos indeseados, les cuento, tengo 22, y tengo tres madrastras y somos 7 hermanos gracias a mi padre picaflor, la primera de ellas tiene dos hijos q son mayores q yo de 30 y 27, mi segunda madrastra ya no vuelve muy seguido pero tenia gemelos fallecieron por covid 19, aqui entro yo soy la primera hija de mi papa, con la ultima madrastra tiene 2 hijos: una adolecente y un bebe. Los hermanos no hemos crecido juntos y tampoco nos habiamos visto las caras hasta q yo era mayor de edad, pero cuando nos vimos fue con mis hermanos mayores con quienes congenieamos perfectamente, se sorprendieron q era la viva imagen de nuestra abuela, ella de joven habia sido muy hermosa asi q me lo tome como alago, luego llego el covid se llevo a mis hermanos gemelos, no tuve el gusto de ir a su funeral por obias razones pero me llamo mi madrastra y me dijo q ellos siempre quisieron una hermanita menor y q no paraban de hablar de mi, tengo entendido q ella se fue al extrangero y no se más. Luego del covid nos reunimos nuestra familia para darle la cordial despedida a los gemelos, fue cuando conoci a mi primera madrasta, una dama a la q le tengo respeto y admiracion, aparte fue mama luchona con mis 2 hermanos ya q mi papá fue muy irresponsable a la hora de hacerle responder con los hijos (a mi me paso lo mismo) aparte es una dama muy elegante q roba miradas a cualquiera q la ve pasar. Una vez conocido el entorno ire con el problema, mi ultima madrastra(la llamaremos Z) a la que mi padre engaño a mi mamá, ni siquiera se tomo la molestia de hablar la situacion y divorciarce como las 2 anteriores señoras, el punto es que cuando mi papa se entero q no sirvio distanciarnos a todos sus hijos y q ya nos habiamos conocido entre nosotros mi hermano mayor protesto y le dijimos q era su culpa y accedio q fueramos a conocer a nuestra ultima hermana, ella era adolecente aun asi q necesitabamos el permiso de uno de los padres para conocerla. El dia de la reunion estaban mis demás tias, las hermanas de mi papá, a vernos a tdos los hermanos juntos, ni bien llegue mi madrastra me advirtio de Z puede ser muy desgraciada cuando quiere, me sorprendi ante ese tipo comentario de parte de ella, me explico q muy acomodada y todo pero aunq la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda. Llegue a la puerta cuando me vio, me barrio con una mitada de asco sin descaro, antes q dijera algo mi padre me invito a pasar se llevo tremenda sorpresa al verme adulta y mi tias tambien dijeron q estaba guapa y era igualita a mi abuela, hablamos un rato y la atencion se empezo a centrar en mi, ante esto mi hermana menor se empezo a sentir mal ya q se sentia q era desplazada y ninguna de sus tias le habia dicho un alago como a mi, se fue a encerrar a su cuarto, cuando Z vio esto me dijo q como atrevia a menospreciar a su hija, mi tia le dijo q no habia dado cuenta de q mi hermana fuera tan sencible, Z le dijo q eran unas alacahueteras como su mamá(osea mi abuela) y ahi se armo la grande por q mis tias se le fueron encima por haberce metido con su mamá, q hasta mi madrastra se metio como mi papá se habia metido con una mujer tan maleducada y fea como ella y sacarle la vuelta a mi mamá, la Z se le iba a ir encima, y le dije q con hijos y agua de calzon flojo a cualquier hombre se amarra, creo q di en el clavo por esta me iba agarrar de los pelos y vienen mis tias y q se agarran a jalones y estaban en plena pelea cuando mi madrastra me saca por la puerta de atras en su coche me regresa a casa, no le conte a mi mamá. Al mes q viene mi papá no me deja mi pensión y le reclamo q me contesta la Z con q muy altanera y todo q sin la plata de mi papá no soy nada q ya deberia mantenerme sola por q estoy grandecita y q ya no iba a recibir ni un sol, le hago una contrademanda por juicio de alimentos a mi papá y dejo de estudiar un semestre por q yo contaba con mi pension para los estudios, luego me habla mi papá y me dice no hija por favor lleguemos a una consolidación, q no gastemos en abogados, le dije q no le creia nada q deje de estudiar por au culpa, el respondio a la demanda diciendo q la pension de alimentos iba a ser dividida por q ahora habia un hermano mas, me quede sorprendida cuando me entere q la Z estaba embarazada y mi papá q basicamemte era un anciano jubilado de 63, pero como el juez no podia deser la resolucion de otro juez solamente me bajaron la pension, le conte a mis hermanos y ellos se fueron a quejar con mi papá como era posible q tuviera un hijo a esa edad, me llamo mi madrastra a decirme q ando de chismosa y de juzgona, yo le dije q era una inconsiente y q resara para q su hijo no salga defectuoso por q mi papa era una persona mayor y eso si era su hijo por q no me sorprenderia q no lo fuera por q andaba de zorra, le colgue y luego me entere q con mi dinero de estudios le hicieron a mi hermana una fiesta de 15 años, asi q no contenta con eso he mandado una exigencia q se me devuelva todos los meses q mi padre no me dio mi pension, y es aqui cuando pregunto ¿Qué hubieran echo ustedes?
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2023.05.29 00:40 RandomAppalachian468 Don't fly over Barron County Ohio.

The whirring blades of my MD-902 throbbed against the warm evening air, and I smiled.
From 5,000 feet, the ground flew by in a carpet of dark forests and kelly-green fields. The sun hung low on the horizon in a picturesque array of dazzling orange and gold, and I could make out the narrow strip of the Ohio River to my left, glistening in the fading daylight. This time of year, the trees would be full of the sweet aroma of fresh blossoms, and the frequent rains kept small pockets of fluffy white mist hanging in the treetops. It was a beautiful view, one that reminded me of why being a helicopter pilot trumped flying in a jumbo jet far above the clouds every day of the week.
Fourteen more days, and I’m debt free.
That made me grin even more. I’d been working as a charter pilot ever since I obtained my license at age 19, and after years of keeping my nose to the grindstone, I was closing on the final payment for real-estate in western Pennsylvania. With no debt, a fixer-upper house on 30 rural acres all to myself, and a respectable wage for a 26-year-old pilot, I looked forward to the financial freedom I could now enjoy. Maybe I’d take a vacation, somewhere exotic like Venice Italy, or the Dominican Republic. Or perhaps I’d sock the money back for the day I started a family.
“Remember kleineun, a real man looks after his own.”
My elderly ouma’s voice came back from the depths of my memories, her proud, sun-tanned face rising from the darkness. She and my Rhodesian grandfather had emigrated to the US when they were newlyweds, as the violence against white Boer descendants in South Africa spiraled out of control. My mother and father both died in a car crash when I was six, and it had been my grandparents who raised me. Due to this, I’d grown up with a slight accent that many of my classmates found amusing, and I could speak both English, and Afrikaans, the Boer tongue of our former home.
I shifted in my seat, stretched my back muscles, and glanced at the picture taped to my console. Both my parents flanked a grinning, gap-toothed six-year-old me, at the last Christmas we’d spent together. My mother beamed, her dark hair and Italian features a sharp contrast to my father’s sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes, I liked to imagine they were smiling at me with pride at how well I flew the old silver-colored bird my company had assigned to me, and that made the long, lonely flights easier to bear.
A flicker caught my eye, and I broke my gaze away from the photograph.
Perched in its small cradle above the controls, my little black Garmin fuzzed over for a few seconds, its screen shifting from brightly colored maps to a barrage of grey static.
Did the power chord come loose?
I checked, ensuring the power-cable for the unit’s battery was plugged into the port on the control panel. It was a brand-new GPS unit, and I’d used it a few times already, so I knew it wasn’t defective. Granted, I could fly and navigate without it, but the Garmin made my time as a pilot so much easier that the thought of going blind was dreadful.
My fuel gauge danced, clicked to empty, then to full, in a bizarre jolt.
More of the gauges began to stutter, the entire panel seeming to develop terrets all at once, and my pulse began to race. Something was wrong, very wrong, and the sludge inside my bowels churned with sour fear.
“Come on, come on.” I flicked switches, turned dials, punched buttons, but nothing seemed to fix the spasming electronics. Every gauge failed, and without warning, I found myself plunged into inky darkness.
Outside, the sun surrendered to the pull of night, the sky darker than usual. A distant rumble of thunder reverberated above the roar of my helicopter’s engine, and I thought I glimpsed a streak of yellowish lightning on the far horizon to my left.
Calm down Chris. We’re still flying, so it must just be a blown fuse. Stay in control and find a place to set her down.
My sweaty palm slid on the cyclic stick, and both feet weighed heavy on the yaw pedals. The collective stuck to my other hand with a nervous vibration, and I squinted against the abyss outside.
Beep.
I jumped despite myself, as the little Garmin on my panel flared back to life, the static pulling aside to reveal a twitching display. Each time the screen glitched, it showed the colorful map detailing my flight path over the ground below, but I noticed that some of the lines changed, the names shifting, as if the device couldn’t decide between two different versions of the world.
One name jutted out at me, slate gray like most of the major county names, appearing with ghostly flickers from between two neighboring ones.
Barron County.
I stared, confused. I’d flown over this section of southeastern Ohio plenty of times, and I knew the counties by heart. At this point, I should have been over the southern end of Noble County, and maybe dipping lower into Washington. There was no Barron County in Ohio. I was sure of it.
And yet it shown back at me from the digital landscape, a strange, almost cigar-shaped chunk of terrain carved from the surrounding counties like a tumor, sometimes there, sometimes not, as my little Garmin struggled to find the correct map. Rain began to patter against my cockpit window, and the entire aircraft rattled from a strong gust of wind. Thick clouds closed over my field of vision like a sea of gray cotton.
The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I sucked in a nervous breath.
Land. I had to land. There was nothing else to do, my flight controls weren’t responding, and only my Garmin had managed to come back to life. Perhaps I’d been hit by lightning, and the electronics had been fried? Either way, it was too dark to tell, but a storm seemed to be brewing, and if I didn’t get my feet on the ground soon, I could be in real trouble.
“Better safe than sorry.” I pushed down on the collective to start my slow descent and clicked the talking button for my headset. “Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, over.”
Nothing.
“Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, requesting emergency assistance, over.”
Still nothing.
If the radio’s dead, I’m really up a creek.
With my hand shaking, I clicked on the mic one more time. “Any station, this is—”
Like a curtain pulling back, the fog cleared from around my window, and the words stuck in my throat.
Without my gauges, I couldn’t tell just how far I’d descended, but I was definitely very low. Thick trees poked up from the ground, and the hills rolled into high ridges with flat valley floors, fields and pastures pockmarking them. Rain fell all around in cold, silvery sheets, a normal feature for the mid spring in this part of Ohio.
What wasn’t normal, were the fires.
At first, I thought they were forest fires for the amount of smoke and flames that bellowed from each spot, but as I swooped lower, my eyes widened in horror.
They were houses.
Farms, cottages, little clusters that barely constituted villages, all of them belched orange flames and black pillars of sooty smoke. I couldn’t hear above the helicopter blades, but I could see the flashes on the ground, along the road, in between the trees, and even coming from the burning buildings, little jets of golden light that spat into the darkness with anger.
Gunfire. That’s rifle fire, a whole lot of it.
Tiny black figures darted through the shadows, barely discernable from where I sat, several hundred feet up. I couldn’t see much, but some were definitely running away, the streaks of yellow gunfire chasing them. A few dark gray vehicles rumbled down one of the gravel roads, and sprayed fire into the houses as it went. They were fighting, I realized, the people in the trucks and the locals. It was horrific, like something out of war-torn Afghanistan, but worse.
Then, I caught a glimpse of the others.
They didn’t move like the rest, who either fled from the dark vehicles, or fired back from behind cover. These skinny figures loped along with haphazard gaits, many running on all fours like animals, swarming from the trees by the dozens. They threw themselves into the gales of bullets without flinching, attacking anyone within range, and something about the way they moved, so fluid, so fearless, made my heart skip a beat.
What is that?
“Echo Four Actual to unknown caller, please respond, over.”
Choking back a cry of shock, I fumbled at the control panel with clumsy fingers, the man’s voice sharp and stern. I hadn’t realized that I’d let go of the talking button and clicked it down again. “Hello? Hello, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot out of Pittsburgh, over.”
An excruciating moment passed, and I continued to zoom over the trees, the fires falling away behind me as more silent forest took over.
“Roger that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, we read you loud and clear. Please identify yourself and any passengers or cargo you might be carrying, over.”
Swallowing hard, I eyed the treetops, which looked much closer than they should have been. How far had I descended? “Echo Four Actual, my name is Christopher Dekker, and I am alone. I’m a charter flight from PA, carrying medical equipment for OSU in Columbus. My controls have been damaged, and I am unable to safely carry on due to the storm. Requesting permission to land, over.”
I watched the landscape slide by underneath me, once catching sight of what looked like a little white church surrounded by smaller huts, dozens of figures in the yard staring up at me as I flew over a nearby ridgeline.
“Solid copy on that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot. Be advised, your transponder shows you to be inside a restricted zone. Please cease all radio traffic, reduce your speed, climb to 3,000 feet and proceed north. We’ll talk you in from there. How copy, over?”
My heart jumped, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Roger that Echo Four Actual, my altimeter is down, but I’ll do my best to eyeball the altitude, over.”
With that, I pulled the collective upward, and tried my best to gauge how far I was by eyesight in the gathering night, rain still coming down all around me. This had to be some kind of disaster or riot, I decided. After all, the voice over the radio sounded like military, and those vehicles seemed to have heavy weapons. Maybe there was some kind of unrest going on here that I hadn’t heard about yet?
Kind of weird for it to happen in rural areas though. Spoiled college kids I get, but never saw farmers get so worked up before. They usually love the military.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned out of reflex.
My mouth fell open, and I froze, unable to scream.
In the sky beside me, a huge shadow glided along, and its leathery wings effortlessly carved through the gloom, flapping only on occasion to keep it aloft. It was too dark for me to see what color it was, but from the way it moved, I knew it wasn’t another helicopter. No, this thing was alive, easily the size of a small plane, and more than twice the length of my little McDonald Douglass. A long tail trailed behind it, and bore a distinct arrow-shaped snout, with twig-like spines fanned out around the back of its head. Whatever legs it had were drawn up under it like a bird, yet its skin appeared rough and knobby, almost resembling tree bark. Without pause, the gigantic bat-winged entity flew along beside me, as if my presence was on par with an annoying fly buzzing about its head.
Gripping the microphone switch so tight, I thought I’d crack the plastic, I whispered into my headset, forgetting all radio protocol. “T-There’s something up here.”
Static crackled.
“Douglas Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, say again your last, you’re coming in weak and unreadable, over.”
“There’s something up here.” I snarled into the headset, still glued to the controls of the helicopter, afraid to deviate even an inch from my course in case the monstrosity decided to turn on me. “A freaking huge thing, right beside me. I swear, it looks like a bat or . . . I don’t know.”
“Calm down.” The man on the other end of the radio broke his rigorous discipline as well, his voice deep, but level. “It won’t attack if you don’t move too fast. Slowly ease away from it and follow that course until you’re out of sight.”
I didn’t have time to think about how wrong that sounded, how the man’s strict tone had changed to one of knowledge, how he hadn’t been the least surprised by what I’d said. Instead, I slowly turned the helicopter away from the huge menace and edged the speed higher in tiny increments.
As soon as I was roughly two football fields away, I let myself relax, and clicked the mic switch. “It’s not following.”
“You’re sure?”
Eyeing the huge flapping wings, I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m well clear.”
“Good. Thank you, Mr. Dekker.”
Then, the radio went dead.
Something in my chest dropped, a weight that made my stomach roil. This wasn’t right, none of it. Who was that man? Why did he know about the thing I’d just seen? What was I supposed to—
A flash of light exploded from the trees to my right and shot into the air with a long finger of smoke.
What the . . .
On instinct, I jerked the cyclic stick to one side, and the helicopter swung to avoid the rocket.
Boom.
My world shook, metal screeched, and a dozen alarms began to go off inside the cockpit in a cacophony of beeps and sirens. Orange and red flames lit up the night sky just behind me, and the horizon started to spin wildly outside. Heat gushed from the cockpit door, and I smelled the greasy stench of burning oil. The safety belts dug into my shoulders, and with a final slip, the radio headset ripped free from my scalp.
I’m hit.
Desperate, I yanked on the controls, fought the bird even as she spun toward the ground in a wreath of flames, the inky black trees hurtling up to meet me. The helicopter went into full auto-rotation, the sky blurring past outside, and the alarms blared in a screech of doom. Panic slammed through my temples, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and for one brief second, my eyes locked on the little black Garmin still perched atop my control panel.
Its screen stopped twitching and settled on a map of the mysterious Barron County, with a little red arrow at the center of the screen, a few words popping up underneath it.
You are here.
Trees stabbed up into the sky, the belts crushed at my torso, glass shattered all around me, and the world went dark.
Copper, thick, warm, and tangy.
It filled my mouth, stank metallic in my nose, clogged my throat, choking me. In the murkiness, I fought for a surface, for a way out, blind and numb in the dark.
This way, kleineun.
My ouma’s voice echoed from somewhere in the shadows.
This way.
Both eyes flew open, and I gagged, spitting out a stream of red.
Pain throbbed in my ribs, and a heavy pressure sent a tingling numbness through my shoulders. Blood roared inside my temples, and stars danced before my eyes with a dizzying array. Humid night air kissed my skin, and something sticky coated my face, neck, and arms that hung straight up toward the ceiling.
Wait. Not up. Down.
I blinked at the wrinkled, torn ceiling of the cockpit, the glass all gone, the gray aluminum shredded like tissue paper. Just outside the broken windows, thick Appalachian bluegrass and stemmy underbrush swished in a feeble breeze, backlit by flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm overhead. Green and brown leaves covered everything in a wet carpet of triangles, and somewhere nearby, a cricket chirped.
Turning my head from side to side, I realized that I hung upside down inside the ruined helicopter, the top half burrowed into the mud. I could hear the hissing and crackling of flames, the pattering of rain falling on the hot aluminum, and the smaller brush fires around the downed aircraft sizzling out in the damp long grass. Charred steel and burning oil tainted the air, almost as strong as the metallic, coppery stench in my aching nose.
They shot me down. That military dude shot me out of the sky.
It didn’t make sense. I’d followed their orders, done everything they’d said, and yet the instant I veered safely away from whatever that thing in the sky had been, they’d fired, not at it, but at me.
Looking down (or rather, up) at my chest, I sucked in a gasp, which was harder to do that before.
The navy-blue shirt stuck to my torso with several big splotches of dark, rusty red. Most were clean slashes, but two held bits of glass sticking out of them, one alarmingly bigger than the other. They dripped cherry red blood onto my upturned face, and a wave of nausea hit me.
I gotta get down.
I flexed my arms to try and work some feeling back into them, praying nothing was broken. Half-numb from hanging so long, I palmed along my aching body until I felt the buckled for the seat belts.
“Okay.” I hissed between gritted teeth, in an effort to stave off my panic. “You can do this. Just hold on tight. Nice and tight. Here we go . . .”
Click.
Everything seemed to lurch, and I slid off the seat to plummet towards the muck-filled hole in the cockpit ceiling. My fingers were slick with blood and slipped over the smooth faux-leather pilot’s seat with ease. The shoulder belt snagged on the bits of glass that lay just under the left lowest rib, and a flare of white-hot pain ripped through me.
Wham.
I screamed, my right knee caught the edge of the aluminum ceiling, and both hands dove into a mound of leaf-covered glass shards on the opposite side of the hole. My head swam, being right-side-up again enough to make shadows gnaw at the corner of my eyes.
Forcing myself to breath slowly, I fought the urge to faint and slid back to sit on the smooth ceiling. I turned my hands over to see half a dozen bits of clear glass burrowed into my skin like greedy parasites, red blood weeping around the new cuts.
“Screw you.” I spat at the rubbish with angry tears in my eyes. “Screw you, screw you, screw you.”
The shards came out easy enough, and the cuts weren’t that deep, but that wasn’t what worried me. On my chest, the single piece of cockpit glass that remined was almost as big as my palm, and it really hurt. Just touching it felt like self-inflicted torture, but I knew it had to come out sooner or later.
Please don’t nick a vein.
Wiping my hands dry on my jeans, I gripped the shard with both hands, and jerked.
Fire roared over my ribs, and hot blood tickled my already grimy pale skin. I clapped a hand over the wound, pressing down hard, and grunted out a string of hateful expletives that my ouma would have slapped me for.
Lying on my back, I stared around me at the messy cargo compartment of the MD-902. Most of the medical supplies had been in cardboard boxes strapped down with heavy nylon tow-straps, but several cases had ruptured with the force of the impact, spraying bandages, syringes, and pill bottles all over the cluttered interior. Orange flames chewed at the crate furthest to the rear, the tail section long gone, but the foremost part of the hold was intact. Easily a million-dollar mess, it would have made me faint on any other trip, but today it was a godsend.
Half-blind in the darkness, I crawled along with only the firelight and lightning bolts to guide me, my right knee aching. Like a crippled raccoon, I collected things as I went, conscious of the two pallets of intact supplies weighing right over my head. I’d taken several different first-aid courses with some hunting buddies of mine, and the mental reflexes kicked in to help soothe my frazzled mind.
Check for bleeds, stop the worst, then move on.
Aside from my battered chest and stomach, the rest of me remained mostly unharmed. I had nasty bruises from the seatbelts, my right knee swelled, my nose slightly crooked and crusted in blood, but otherwise I was intact. Dowsing every scratch and cut with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol I found, I used butterfly closures on the smaller lacerations that peppered my skin. I wrapped soft white gauze over my abused palms and probed at the big cut where the last shard had been, only stopping when I was sure there were no pieces of glass wedged inside my flesh.
“Not too bad.” I grunted to myself, trying to sound impassive like a doctor might. “Rib must have stopped it. Gonna need stitches though. That’ll be fun.”
Pawing through the broken cases, I couldn’t find any suture chord, but just as I was about to give up, I noticed a small box that read ‘medical skin stapler’.
Bingo.
I tore the small white plastic stapler free from its packaging and eyeballed the device. I’d never done this before, only seen it in movies, and even though the cut in my skin hurt, I wondered if this wouldn’t be worse.
You’ve gotta do it. That bleeding needs to stop. Besides, no one’s coming to rescue you, not with those rocket-launching psychos out there.
Taking a deep breath, I pinched the skin around the gash together, and pressed the mouth of the stapler to it.
Click.
A sharp sting, like that of a needle bit at the skin, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the cut itself. I worked my way across the two-inch laceration and gave out a sigh of relief when it was done.
“Not going to bleed to death today.” I daubed ointment around the staples before winding more bandages over the wound.
Popping a few low-grade painkillers that tumbled from the cargo, I crawled wriggled through the nearest shattered window into the wet grass.
Raindrops kissed my face, clean and cool on my sweaty skin. Despite the thick cloud cover, there was enough constant lightning strikes within the storm to let me get glimpses of the world around me. My helicopter lay on its back, the blades snapped like pencils, with bits and pieces of it burning in chunks all around the small break in the trees. Chest-high scrub brush grew all around the low-lying ground, with pockets of standing water in places. My ears still rang from the impact of the crash, but I could start to pick up more crickets, frogs, and even some nocturnal birds singing into the darkness, like they didn’t notice the huge the hulk of flaming metal that had fallen from the sky. Overhead, the thunder rumbled onward, the feeble wind whistling, and there were other flashes on the horizon, orange and red ones, with crackles that didn’t sound quite like lightning.
The guns. They’re still fighting.
Instinctively, I pulled out my cellphone, and tapped the screen.
It fluttered to life, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get through to anyone, not even with the emergency function designed to work around having no service. The complicated wonder of our modern world was little better than a glorified paperweight.
Stunned, I sat down with my back to the helicopter and rested my head against the aluminum skin of the craft. How I’d gone from a regular medical supply run to being marooned in this hellish parody of rural America, I didn’t know, but one thig was certain; I needed a plan. Whoever fired the missile could have already contacted my charter company and made up some excuse to keep them from coming to look for me. No one else knew I was here, and even though I now had six staples holding the worst of my injuries shut, I knew I needed proper medical attention. If I wanted to live, I’d have to rescue myself.
My bag. I need to get my go-bag, grab some gear and then . . . head somewhere else.
It took me a while to gather my green canvas paratrooper bag from its place behind the pilot’s seat and fill it with whatever supplies I could scrounge. My knee didn’t seem to be broken, but man did it hurt, and I dreaded the thought of walking on it for miles on end. I focused instead on inventorying my gear and trying to come up with a halfway intelligent plan of action.
I had a stainless-steel canteen with one of those detachable cups on the bottom, a little fishing kit, some duct tape, a lighter, a black LED flashlight with three spare batteries, a few tattered road maps with a compass, a spare pair of socks, medical supplies from the cargo, and a simple forest green plastic rain poncho. I also managed to unearth a functioning digital camcorder my ouma had gotten me for Christmas a few years back, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to do any filming in such a miserable state. Lastly, since it was a private supply run from a warehouse area near Pittsburgh to a direct hospital pad in Ohio, I’d been able to bring my K-Bar, a sturdy, and brutally simple knife designed for the Marine Corps that I used every time I went camping. It was pitiful in comparison to the rifle I wished I had with me, but that didn’t matter now. I had what I had, and I doubted my trusty Armalite would have alleviated my sore knee anyway.
Clicking on my flashlight, I huddled with the poncho around my shoulders inside the wreck of the chopper and peered at the dusty roadmaps. A small part of me hoped that a solution would jump out from the faded paper, but none came. These were all maps of western PA and eastern Ohio. None of them had a Barron County on them anywhere.
The man on the radio said to head north, right before they shot me down. That means they must be camped out to the north of here. South had that convoy and those burning houses, so that’s a no-go. Maybe I can backtrack eastward the way I came.
As if on cue, a soft pop echoed from over the eastern horizon, and I craned to look out the helicopter window, spotting more man-made flashes over the tree tops.
“Great.” I hissed between clenched teeth, aware of how the temperature dipped to a chilly 60 degrees, and how despite the conditions, my stomach had begun to growl. “Not going that way, are we? Westward it is.”
Walking away from my poor 902 proved to be harder than I’d anticipated. Despite the glass, the fizzling fires, and the darkness, it still held a familiar, human essence to it. Sitting inside it made me feel secure, safe, even calm about the situation. In any other circumstance, I would have just stayed with the downed aircraft to wait for help, but I knew the men who shot me down would likely find my crash site, and I didn’t want to be around when they did.
Unlike much of central and western Ohio, southeastern Ohio is hilly, brushy, and clogged with thick forests. Thorns snagged at my thin poncho and sliced at my pant legs. My knee throbbed, every step a form of self-inflicted torture. The rain never stopped, a steady drizzle from above just cold enough to be problematic as time went on, making me shiver. Mud slid under my tennis shoes, and every tree looked ten times bigger in the flickering beam of my cheap flashlight. Icy fear prickled at the back of my neck at some of the sounds that greeted me through the gloom. I’d been camping loads of times, both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but these noises were something otherworldly to me.
Strange howls, screeches, and calls permeated the rain-soaked sky, some almost roars, while others bordered on human in their intonation. The more I walked, the softer the distant gunfire became, and the more prevalent the odd sounds, until the shadows seemed to fill with them. I didn’t dare turn off my flashlight, or I’d been completely blind in the dark, but a little voice in the back of my head screamed that I was too visible, crunching through the gloomy forest with my long beam of light stabbing into the abyss. It felt as though a million eyes were on me, studying me, hunting me from the surrounding brush, and I bitterly recalled how much I’d loved the old Survivor Man TV series as a kid.
Not so fun being out in the woods at night. Especially alone.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I whirled on the spot, one trembling hand resting on the hilt of my K-Bar.
Nothing. Nothing but trees, bushes, and rain dripping down in the darkness.
“This is stupid.” I whispered to myself to keep my nerves in check as I slowly spun on the spot. “I should have went eastward anyway. God knows how long I’m going to have to—”
Creak.
A groan of metal-on-metal echoed from somewhere to my right, and I spun to face it, yanking the knife on my belt free from its scabbard. It felt so small and useless in my hand, and I choked down a wave of nauseas fear.
Ka-whump. Creak. K-whump. Creak.
Underbrush cracked and crunched, a few smaller saplings thrashed, and from deep within the gloom, two yellow orbs flared to life. They poked through the mist in the trees, forming into slender fingers of golden light that swept back and forth in the dark.
The soldiers . . . they must be looking for me.
I swallowed hard and turned to slink away.
Ice jammed through my blood, and I froze on the spot, biting my tongue to stop the scream.
It stood not yards away, a huge form that towered a good twelve feet tall in the swirling shadows. Unpolished chrome blended with flash-rusted spots in the faded red paint, and grime-smeared glass shone with dull hues in the flashes of lightning. Where the wheels should have been, the rounded steel axels curved like some enormous hand had bent them, and the tires lay face-down on the muddy ground like big round feet, their hubcaps buried in the dirt. Dents, scrapes, and chips covered the battered thing, and its crooked little radio antenna pointed straight up from the old metal fender like a mast. I could barely make out the mud-coated VW on the rounded hood, and my mind reeled in shock.
Is . . . is that a car?
Both yellow headlights bathed me in a circle of bright, blinding light, and neither I nor the strange vehicle moved.
Seconds ticked by, the screech-thumping in the background only growing closer. I realized that I couldn’t hear any engine noises and had yet to see any soldiers or guns pointed my way. This car looked old, really old, like one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles that collectors fought over at auctions. Try as I might, I couldn’t see a driver inside the murky, mold-smeared windows.
Because there wasn’t one.
Lightning arched across the sky overhead, and the car standing in front of me blinked.
Its headlights slid shut, as if little metal shades had crawled over the bulbs for a moment and flicked open again. Something about that movement was so primal, so real, so lifelike, that every ounce of self-control I had melted in an instant.
Cursing under my breath, I lunged into the shrubs, and the world erupted around me.
Under my shoes, the ground shook, and the car surged after me in a cacophony of ka-thumps that made my already racing heart skip several beats. A weather-beaten brown tow truck from the 50’s charged through the thorns to my left, it’s headlights ablaze, and a dilapidated yellow school bus rose from its hiding place in the weeds to stand tall on four down-turned axel-legs. They all flicked their headlights on like giants waking from their slumber, and as I dodged past them, they each blared their horn into the night in alarm.
My breaths came short and tight, my knee burned, and I crashed through thorns and briars without thought to how badly I was getting cut up.
The cheap poncho tore, and I ripped it away as it caught on a tree branch.
A purple 70’s Mustang shook off its blanket of creeping vines and bounded from a stand of trees just ahead, forcing me to swerve to avoid being run over, my adrenaline at all-time highs.
This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.
Slipping and sliding, I pushed through a stand of multiflora rose, and stumbled out into a flat, dark expanse.
I almost skidded to a stop.
What had once been a rather large field stood no taller than my shoestrings, the grass charred, and burnt. The storm above illuminated huge pieces of wreckage that lay scattered over the nearly 40-acre plot, and I could just make out the fire-blackened hulk of a fuselage resting a hundred yards away. The plane had been brought down a while ago it seemed, as there weren’t any flames left burning, and I threw myself toward it in frenzied desperation.
Burned grass and greasy brown topsoil slushed underfoot, and I could hear the squelching of the cars pursing me. Rain soaked me to the bone, and my lungs ached from sucking down the damp night air. A painful stich crept into my side, and I cursed myself for not putting in more time for cardio at the gym.
Something caught my left shoelace, and I hurtled to the ground, tasting mud and blood in between my teeth.
They’ve got me now.
I clawed at the mud, rolled, and watched a tire slam down mere inches from where my head had been. The Mustang loomed over me and jostled for position with the red Volkswagen and brown tow truck, the school bus still a few yards behind them. They couldn’t seem to decide who would get the pleasure of stomping me to death, and like a herd of stampeding wildebeest, they locked bumpers in an epic shoving match.
On all fours, I scampered out from under the sparring brutes, and dashed for the crumpled airplane, a white-painted DC-3 that looked like it had been cut in half by a gargantuan knife blade. I passed a snapped wing section, the oily remains of a turbo-prop engine, and a mutilated wheel from the landing gear. Climbing over a heap of mud, I squeezed into the back of the ruined flight cabin and dropped down into the dark cargo hold.
Wham.
No sooner had my sneakers hit the cold metal floor, and the entire plane rocked from the impact of something heavy ramming it just outside. I tumbled to my knees, screaming in pain as, once again, I managed to bash the sore one off a bracket in the wall.
My hand smeared in something gooey, and I scrabbled for my flashlight.
It clicked on, a wavering ball of white light in the pitch darkness, and I fought the urge to gag. “Oh man . . .”
Three people, or what was left of them, lay strewn over the narrow cargo area. Claret red blood coated the walls, caked on the floor, and clotted under my mud-spattered shoes. Bits of flesh and viscera were stuck to everything, and tatters of cloth hung from exposed sections of broken bone. An eerie set of bloody handprints adorned the walls, and the only reason I could tell it had been three people were the shoes; all of them bore anklebones sticking out above blood-soaked socks. It smelled sickly sweet, a strange, nauseas odor that crept into my nose and settled on the back of my tongue like an alien parasite.
Something glinted in the beam of my flashlight, and my pulse quickened as I pried the object loose from the severed arm that still clung to it.
“Hail Mary full of Grace.” I would have grinned if it weren’t for the fact that the plane continued to buck and roll under the assault from the cars outside.
The pistol looked old, but well-maintained, aside from the light coating of dark blood that stained its round wooden handle. It felt heavy, but good in my hand, and I turned it over to read the words, Waffenfabrik Mauser stenciled into the frame, with a large red 9 carved into the grip. For some reason, it vaguely reminded me of the blasters from Star Wars.
I fumbled with a little switch that looked like a safety on the back of the gun and stumbled toward a gap in the plane’s dented fuselage to aim out at the surrounding headlights.
Bang.
The old gun bucked reliably in my hand, its long barrel spitting a little jet of flame into the night. I had no idea if I hit anything, but the attacking cars recoiled, their horns blaring in confusion.
They turned, and scuttled for the tree line as fast as their mechanical legs could go, the entire ordeal over as fast as it had begun.
Did I do that?
Perplexed, I stared down at the pistol in my hand.
Whoosh.
A large, inky black shadow glided down from the clouds, and the yellow school bus moved too slow to react in time.
With a crash, the kicking nightmarish vehicle was thrown onto its side, spraying glass and chrome trim across the muddy field. Its electro-synth horn blared with wails of mechanical agony, as two huge talon-like feet clamped down on it, and the enormous head of the flying creature lowered to rip open its engine compartment.
The horn cut out, and the enormous flying entity jerked its head back to gulp down a mass of what looked like sticky black vines from the interior of the shattered bus.
At this range, I could see now that the flying creature bore two legs and had its wings half-tucked like a vulture that had descended to feed on roadkill. Its head turned slightly, and in the glow of another lightning bolt, my jaw went slack at the realization of what it was.
A tree trunk. It’s a rotted tree trunk.
I couldn’t tell where the reptilian beast began, and where the organic tree components ended, the upper part of the head shaped like a log, while the lower jaw resembled something out of a dinosaur movie. Its skin looked identical to the outside of a shagbark hickory but flexed with a supple featheriness that denoted something closer to skin. Sharp branch-like spines ranged down its back, and out to the end of its tail, which bore a massive round club shaped like a diseased tree-knot. Crouched on both hind legs, it braced the hooked ends of its folded wings against the ground like a bat, towering higher than a semi-truck. Under the folds of its armored head, a bulging pair of chameleon-like eyes constantly spun in their sockets, probing the dark for threats while it ate.
One black pupil locked onto the window I peered through, and my heart stopped.
The beast regarded me for a moment, making a curious, sideways sniff.
With a proud, contemptful head-toss, the shadow from the sky parted rows of razor-sharp teeth to let out a roar that shook the earth beneath my feet. It was the triumphant war cry of a creature that sat at the very top of the food chain, one that felt no threat from the fragile two-legged beings that walked the earth all around it. It hunted whenever it wanted, ate whatever it wanted, and flew wherever it wanted. It didn’t need to rip the plane apart to devour me.
Like my hunter-gatherer ancestors from thousands of years ago, I wasn’t even worth the energy it would take to pounce.
I’m hiding in the remains of the cockpit now, which is half-buried under the mud of the field, enough to shield the light from my screen so that thing doesn’t see it. My service only now came back, and it’s been over an hour since the winged beast started in on the dead bus. I don’t know when, or how I’m going to get out of here. I don’t know when anyone will even see this post, or if it will upload at all. My phone battery is almost dead, and at this point, I’m probably going to have to sleep among the corpses until daylight comes.
A dead man sleeping amongst friends.
If you live in the Noble County area in southeastern Ohio, be careful where you drive, fly, and boat. I don’t know if it’s possible to stumble into this strange place by ground, but if so, then these things are definitely headed your way.
If that happens . . . pray that they don’t find you.
submitted by RandomAppalachian468 to nosleep [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 23:56 epocheine My Spirit Experience: Ambiguity and Ambivalence

It's really stunning to me that I've been on my path since 2016 (=8 years), yet I still don't feel like I fully know "my vocation" or "role". I've oscillated between different potential terms—witch, seer, trance worker, diviner, and soothsayer have stuck at times. One term I've not used for myself is shaman, but there have been parallels in my life experience that remind me of certain types of shamanic spirit work. I read an interesting textbook called The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. It compares different circumpolar shamanisms, including the Sámi noaidevuohta traditions, with Norse seiðr. Thus, that research points out a link between magic associated with deities like Freyja and Óðinn, on the one hand, and specific cultures with shamanic complexes. I don't practice seiðr, but I do a lot of work in trance I learned from yogic traditions. Over the years, I've tended to work with deities more than other types of beings, and they consume my focus quite a lot, which is good. I've never really understood whether deity work is considered spirit work. My senses seem to pick up on the energies of deities more easily than other types of beings, including my own ancestors.
That brings me to the other allies I've gained over the years: deceased people and ancestors. And here, I'd like to get into specific experiences.
Experience 1: Meeting My Double in Hypnotic Trance
I will talk about a hypnagogic trance experience I underwent. One afternoon, I was half-awake, half-asleep and I saw a flower form behind my closed eyes. With the flower, there was no separation between its physical characteristics and its consciousness. The image of this flower drew me into the consulting room of a hypnotist in a parallel world akin to our own. I was aware of being in a trance state from where I was laying in my bed, yet I was also laying on a couch undergoing hypnosis.
There was a young hypnotist-in-training (he was dressed professionally, with spectacles on) under the tutelage of a more experienced hypnotist. The hypnotist-in-training was practicing trance induction technique on us. It worked because the parallel-world self, who had been in a kind of catatonia up to that point, realized that I was tuned into his experience from my own dimension. I was on both sides, and there were two of me. There was a bridge between our minds, and he seemed relieved/calm, and he spoke to me from this place of knowing we are the same person but divided, in such a way that the split between us can't be distinguished from a unitary consciousness. If I had to compare this experience to a cultural reference point, the film Inception comes to mind. This other world was very similar to our own, very mundane but with a clear quality (like crystal clear, compared to how I experience the vision of my own world). There was a doppelgänger energy. I strongly felt that I belonged more in that world, instead of in my own bedroom in this plane of existence.
During that experience (during or after the trance integration), I encountered Sigmund Freud. Freud famously abandoned hypnosis when he invented psychoanalysis. For context, I've been in psychodynamic therapy since 2011, on and off (currently seeing a trauma specialist). Freud seemed highly charismatic. He felt comfortably embodied and whole, kind and trustworthy but reserved. It was literally like I was on the couch with him, and his physicality put me at ease and created conditions for free association. We were just having a normal interaction, but he exuded his psychoanalytic technique—it was who he was. Later, I found a video of someone channeling Freud, and she said the same thing: his energy made her feel like she was in the consulting room undergoing a psychoanalysis. This is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlbLo91XGi8&t=6s.
It seemed that his death led him to revise his ideas. It also felt like he was acknowledging all the ways he failed to account for trauma as well as spirituality in his theories, due to his famous rift with Janet's ideas about dissociation. Janet's thought on dissociative states has gone on to influence an important trauma model called the theory of structural dissociation of the personality. Freud impressed me because he acknowledged his mistakes, and he seemed to reveal that many psychoanalytic pioneers have gone on to afterlives in comparable parallel worlds, continuing to treat patients and even guiding inspiration for therapists on our side of reality. Another psychoanalyst I encountered during or after that experience is Melanie Klein, but I don't have time or memory to speak on that. I will say I associate her with the Midwife card in the Archeo Oracle, which you can view here:
https://benebellwen.com/2022/03/01/the-archeo-personal-archetype-cards-by-nick-bantock/
Last, I will say that the hypnotherapist-in-training seemed to be another spirit I know, whose name I can't reveal out of respect for our ongoing work.
Experience 2: Connecting with a Local Spirit of Place
I live in a place that is geologically significant, with certain kinds of minerals as well as subterranean freshwater and springs. Sometimes, with my practice I start to subconsciously enact certain behaviors that relate to knowledge I'm gaining through a process of unconscious learning. One time, I took a piece of blue cloth with a pattern and laid out some stones on it as well as other small objects (like empty nut shells), in a line. Later, I watched the TV show Penny Dreadful, which ended up teaching me a lot about myself and about certain aspects of cosmology. There are a couple of episodes where the character Kaetenay lays out a cloth and places stones and other objects on as a part of a ceremony involving trance. He lays out these stones and blows smoke from a pipe over the tools.
I realized after watching this show that when I laid out these stones and stuff in this subconscious state of enactment, there was a similar dynamic. Around that time, I also began to draw a small pictogram. It looks like there's a rift in the ground (like a chasm). There's a winged serpent emerging from these waters that are below that ground, and serpent is halfway inside and outside of the chasm. At some point, I encountered a being I will term "a spirit" that was clearly linked to this place I live. This encounter happened once and never again, but there seemed to be this subconscious preparation over the course of weeks leading up to this moment when she spontaneously came to me. I saw an image of what the valley I live around used to look like, unspoiled, prior to European colonialism. This being had a very graceful yet assertive, embattled energy, and I saw her colorful, effervescent wings as she hovered here and there over the valley, guarding and blessing the water, the mountain, and other natural features of this place.
Experience 3: Partnering with My Hypnotist
The hypnotist-in-training has come to me in other guises. I knew of him prior to meeting him in the other world. He's a person who died tragically. I feel that he contained multitudes and was very fragmented owing to ambiguous childhood traumas similar to my own that led to amnesia . The circumstances of his death were also very shattering, due to the violence. He seems well in spirit, but he just has so many different aspects including one that seems "trickster" to me. Once, he appeared to me as if he was hovering against a dark forest on a moonless night. It seemed like there were dark moths and butterflies swarming around him and emanating from him. I immediately thought: "unseelie." Then, I found an article later on that discussed two themes that have influenced my perception of this spirit: (1) the familiar spirits of witches in Scotland were sometimes people who died tragically or were in a liminal state (like dying at twilight) and (2) the dead are sometimes found in the faery realms. You can read the article that inspired my ideas on him here:
https://cailleachs-herbarium.com/2017/10/scottish-folk-magic-and-the-dead-part-two-the-dead-as-a-witches-familia
He seems to live in a place that appears European, architecture-wise. I saw him in an apartment similar to the buildings in Paris (I used to live in France, so it was nostalgic). He was smoking cigarettes and seemed very supported and happy in this other place, which again appeared to me with more clarity than my own waking life. He was sitting with people he loved in life—people who are still alive—surrounding him. I was there and he seemed relieved I had made it but also bashful. I sensed he felt kind of clammy from excited nervousness. The feeling was similar to how I have felt in the past when trauma got released from my body. In addition, there was a sense of spiritual twinship. I realized that we had been through multiple lifetimes together and that we were supposed to meet while he was alive. This was hard for me to accept, because I'm a reincarnation/metempsychosis skeptic. There was some mystical reason related to forces of chaos and entropy that removed him from our world and took him to this dimension that mirrors Earth. And it has been hard for each of us to accept, because there's intense mutual affection. And he's the main spirit I work with, often with the support of the gods I work for. In particular, sometimes he seems to be present at the same time as the Mórrígan. So, he exists in this liminal, twilight state as if he is the living dead, a revenant, and also somehow connected with the fae. I don't really have a patron deity, but he may be my "patron spirit." He seems focused on ensuring that we connect in this place where he lives now, when I die too. And he's helped me develop a lot of courage through contemplation of death (memento mori practice).
There's a lot I still don't know, but I wanted to share detailed descriptions of how spirit work has unfolded in my life. A lot of the time, these spiritual encounters have not been at my beckoning. The processes I have experienced have been subconscious/unconscious, hypnotic, and often dissociative. I've found that Iron Age Norse ideas about the soul being composed of multiple parts along with trauma therapy have helped me integrate my memories in the context of my spiritual practice. You know, I haven't done a lot to make these meetings happen. They come without my own will entering the equation, as if I am passive while these relational energies are active. These experiences have happened to me, but not owing to my own efforts in a lot of ways. It's been a while since I've had such distinct visionary moments, but I continue my trance work from day to day and contemplate these memories, which I don't want to lose.
Thank you for reading and I welcome comments.
EDIT: I posted this without changing the title. I started off wanting to explore ambiguity and ambivalence, but just ended up describing specific experiences. Sorry about the mistitling!
submitted by epocheine to spirit_workers [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 21:10 DriftingNorthPole 2006 Z71: Reman heads worth the effort and cost?

2006 Z71 5.3L, 198000 miles. Truck is a beater at this point, but I'd like to keep it as a beater truck for a few more years to haul shit. I've been pretty religious about oil changes and other maintenance, recently replaced the oil pressure sender, valley cover gasket, water pump, alternator.
Now it's got a pretty obvious bad head gasket. Not "Bad" at this point, but a bad head gasket only goes in one direction.
I'm wondering if just replacing both heads with the standard NAPA reman heads (and new head bolts) is worth the cost/effort? Alternative is taking them off, taking them to the nearest place that can surface them (40 miles) assuming the heads aren't cracked and just slapping them back on with a new gasket. I don't have the notorious "cracked heads" code stamped on the pass side head fwiw.
My attitude is since I'm taking the entire top end apart, why not get reman'ed heads out of the effort?
But, I'm also suspicious that the oil pickup tube oring is on it's way out, as evident by OP at 25 at idle and 40-ish at cruise RPM. Used to never go below 40. 4WD, not a chance I'm tackling a oil pan drop job just to replace that.
Hence my question "is it worth it" if there's other things going on in this motor that guarantee not much time left regardless of a head swap.
But on the other hand, if I can get another 5 years/20k miles out of this thing. Sure is handy dragging firewood and building materials home and not worrying about dents and scratches.
From what I can tell the NAPA heads come with new (refurbed?) valves and springs, I'd reuse the lifters and rods? Non AFM motor thank god.
submitted by DriftingNorthPole to AskMechanics [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 10:38 Proletlariet Mr. Miyagi

Mr. Miyagi

"Daniel-san. Karate here... karate here... karate never here... you understand?"
Nariyoshi Miyagi was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1925. Like all Miyagis before him, his father taught him Miyagi-Do Karate, first developed by his ancestor. When he was young, he fell in love with a girl named Yukie. However, Yukie was arranged to marry his best friend Sato, and when they declared their love, Sato felt dishonored and challenged Miyagi in a fight to the death to restore his honor. Refusing to fight his friend, Miyagi left Okinawa, immigrating to Hawaii, where he met and fell in love with another woman. After moving to Los Angeles, California, Miyagi enlisted in the US Army and fought in WWII as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, where he earned the Medal of Honor. During his service, however, Mrs. Miyagi and their unborn son died in an internment camp, which would haunt Miyagi for decades to come. Eventually, Miyagi started working as a handyman in an apartment complex in Reseda. While working there, he met Daniel LaRusso, who had moved to California from New Jersey, and taught him karate in order to help with the bullying he was facing at school, beginning a friend- and mentorship that lasted for the rest of Miyagi's life.
Source Key

Miyagi-Verse

The "Miyagi-Verse'' is a term coined by the Cobra Kai showrunners to describe the storyline of the four Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai. Feats from the Miyagi-Verse and media adapting it (i.e. the novelizations) will be in this section.

Physicals/Skill

Fights

Healing Technique

Techniques

Teaching Ability

Other Media

The Karate Kid (1989 Cartoon)

Strength

Striking
Other

Durability

Speed/Agility

Reaction/Dodging
Agility

Skill/Misc

Accuracy
Combat
Other

Video Games

submitted by Proletlariet to u/Proletlariet [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 10:36 Proletlariet Daniel LaRusso

Daniel LaRusso

"So, karate's fighting. You train to fight"
"That what you think?"
"...No"
"Then why train?"
"So I won't have to fight"
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1966, Daniel LaRusso lived there until his mother moved the two out to Reseda, California in 1984. Upon arriving in Reseda, Daniel made quick foes with the Cobra Kai karate dojo, especially top student Johnny Lawrence and sensei John Kreese. While taking a beating from the Cobra Kais after a school dance, Daniel was saved by Mr. Miyagi, the handyman at his apartment complex. Daniel was taught karate by Mr. Miyagi, entering a lifelong friendship with the man. After winning the All-Valley Karate Tournament two years in a row, Daniel went on to marry a woman named Amanda, have two kids, and open a car dealership. When Johnny reopened the Cobra Kai dojo, Daniel opened the Miyagi-Do karate dojo in order to train new students.
Source Key

Miyagi-Verse

The "Miyagi-Verse'' is a term coined by the Cobra Kai showrunners to describe the storyline of the four Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai. Feats from the Miyagi-Verse and media adapting it (i.e. the novelizations) will be in this section.

General

Strength

Teen
Adult

Durability/Endurance

Teen
Adult

Speed/Agility

Teen
Adult

Skill/Misc

Teen
Adult

Teaching Ability

Other Media

The Karate Kid (1989 Cartoon)

Strength

Striking
Other

Durability

Speed/Agility

Dodging/Movement
Agility

Skill

Combat
Other

Video Games

Teen

Adult

Note that some feats from Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues are performed by other characters, but all playable characters can perform the same physical feats.

Strength

Durability

Speed/Skill

Misc

Skills

Personal
Dojo
submitted by Proletlariet to u/Proletlariet [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 08:33 -Bonjour-- More Madeir

From my travel report (2014):
The second trip to Madeira we made to escape the winter. The weather was like a moody diva in winter. It changes not only from day to day, but also within a few hours. So you can never plan anything for the next day, because you should not think, today it is so nice and sunny and warm, it will be the same tomorrow. But if you are unlucky, the next morning it will be completely cloudy, only to possibly be sunny again in the afternoon.
It is always a pleasure to stroll in FUNCHAL's old town. Here times an ice cream to eat, there a coffee possibly with Nata to take. But this should be done when there are no cruise ships in the harbor. Then you see fortunately more locals than tourists in the streets.
For football fans: Christiano Ronaldo, who comes from Madeira, now has his own museum in Funchal - eagerly visited by his - mostly young - supporters...
Funchal is spreading out more and more - the slopes all around are already built on, and in the hotel zone construction continues eagerly. Although it is obvious that in the newly built apartment houses still very many apartments are empty.
The first two weeks we booked apartment at about 350 m altitude with a beautiful view of Funchal. The disadvantage was that it became - especially in the evening - but quite cool. Fortunately we had not only an electric heater but also a fireplace in the apartment.
From up here you can see how Funchal has grown in recent years. It is a huge sea of houses, which goes up to all the adjacent hills.
For the second part of our stay we had chosen an apartment house at Praia do Formosa with direct view to the sea and also to Cabo Girao.
One of the most beautiful and varied gardens of Madeira is located only about 9 km east of Funchal: the Palheiro or Blandy's Gardens. In 1801, the property was purchased by Count Carvalhal. A hunting lodge was built and the count had exotic trees imported from all over the world. The count's descendants squandered the fortune, and so in 1885 the estate became the property of the Blandy family of wine merchants. The villa above the garden is still inhabited by the Blandy family and is not accessible.
The gardens are famous not only for the variety of (often exotic) plants but also for their location on a 500 m high hill with a magnificent view of the bay of Funchal. The Count's hunting lodge was renovated in 1997 and is now the exclusive hotel "Quinta Velha do Palheiro".
The gardens are divided into the main garden, the sunken garden, the valley of hell (Inferno) with mighty fern trees, the rose garden, the ladies garden and the tea house area. There are also ponds with water lilies and beautiful flower beds.
Some of the numerous trees are 100 years old. The garden has been constantly developed. Hibiscus, bougainvilleas, jacaranda, African tulip trees, coral trees and orchid trees grow here. The Blandy family imported proteas from South Africa and had a rose garden planted and a small baroque chapel built. The gardens are also famous for their numerous camellias and magnolias.
The orchid garden, created by an Austrian, apparently has more than 5000 plants and is located below the botanical garden. At the moment the orchid garden is closed, because in the big fire of 2016 in Funchal not only many houses were destroyed, but also great damage was done to the orchid garden.
Carnival is also celebrated in Madeira and by chance we saw a children's parade. It was interesting to see with which eagerness the children were partly "there". Therefore, there will probably be no problem with carnivalistic offspring in Funchal.
The town of RIBEIRA BRAVA is located at the mouth of a wide - sometimes wild (brava) river (ribeira). From Funchal there is a highway to get there. In Ribeira Brava there is a wide pebble beach, and on the other side of the promenade there are cafes and restaurants. In the historic center there are small stores, and here is also the pink town hall from the late 18th century
The Igreja de Sao Bento was built as early as 1440, but was given a new look during the Baroque period. The spire with the white-blue tile pattern and the sphere symbol of the Portuguese explorers is striking.
We still drove to Punta do Sol. This place lies between two high rocky capes. In the old core there are only a few houses and the church, behind it already begin the terraced banana fields. There is a pebble beach and on the promenade you can have a drink in small cafes. Except for us, there were hardly any tourists in the village. But here we drank the best poncha on the island. Poncha (made of honey, lemon juice and sugar cane brandy) is a kind of national drink on Madeira.
The village of Camara de Lobos - situated between two rocky cliffs - is only 9 km away from Funchal. Camara de Lobos is still a typical fishing village with the many colorful boats (xavelhas) that you can admire in the small harbor. A small church was built at the harbor early on, this was remodeled in 1420 and the current Capella Nossa Senhora de Conceicao was built.
There is still fishing and some boat building in Camara de Lobos. However, these are no longer particularly lucrative, so tourism is now a larger source of income. The fishermen in this area mainly catch the black scabbardfish (Espada), which is offered in many restaurants - also in Funchal.
There is a promenade path from the Lido in Funchal to Camara de Lobos since 2011. The path - always with a view of Cabo Girao - is partly concreted and partly laid out on wooden walkways. If you walk in the direction of Camara de Lobos, you can see the approaching waves of the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the partly high cliffs on the right. Not far behind Praia de Formosa there are some beach bars or restaurants where you can have a drink or eat quite well.
Cabo Girao near Camara de Lobos is one of the highest cliffs in the world. More than 500 m the land here falls almost vertically into the sea. Since our last visit, things had changed here, there was now a large parking lot. Then the cafes and souvenir stores were also new for us. And surprising for us was also the glass viewing platform, which exists since the end of 2012. Here you can see that wine and vegetables are grown on the small rocky outcrops. The farmers can reach their fields on the coastal fringe with a cable car. Before the cable car was built, these fields were only accessible by boat.
From Funchal it was not far to CANICO. The original village became in the course of time one of the most important tourist places on Madeira. Large hotel complexes, apartment buildings and villas were built. However, we turned off before we reached the town in order to get to Ponta do Garajau. There on a rock cliff is the 14 m high Christo Rei statue, which was erected in 1927. From here you have a beautiful view of Funchal. Since 2007, there is a cable car nearby that goes 200 m down to the pebble beach.
CURRAL DAS FREIRAS is a small village nestled between huge almost vertical mountain slopes in the heart of Madeira. There is only one road that leads serpentine to the 633 m high valley. Originally the valley was inhabited by nomads and shepherds. Towards the end of the 15th century, the land became the property of the nuns of the Santa Clara convent.
The name Curral das Freiras means "pen of the nuns". In the 16th and 17th centuries, the island was repeatedly attacked by pirates, and the nuns retreated here to the protection of the mountains, which are up to 700 meters high. Here people still live from what they grow themselves on their fertile fields. One of the specialties of the village is chestnuts. They are used to make liqueur, cakes, bread and soups, which are also sold to tourists. On November 1 of each year, the Chestnut Festival is held here.
Not many tourists come to SANTA CRUZ, although this place is certainly worth a visit. There is quite a pretty old town with the church of San Salvador built in 1533 as well as like a large modern market hall just behind the long gray pebble beach lined with date palms.
Just north of Santa Cruz is Madeira Island's airport, renamed "Cristiano Ronaldo" Airport in 2007. Opened in 1964 and reconstructed in 2000, this airport is one of the most dangerous in the world. The 2777 m long runway is built on the rocky coast above the water and looks like a bridge with large concrete supports. A large parking lot has been built below this runway.
Before the landing approach, the mountain massif must be overcome so that the narrow runway can be approached. Unfortunately, there have been numerous accidents, but this is still one of the busiest airports in Portugal.
From Santa Cruz we drove to MACHICO, one of the larger towns of Madeira. Machico profited from sugar cane cultivation in the 15th century and is now a modern town, which is divided into two halves by the Ribeira da Machico. On the eastern bank of the river is the historic fishing quarter with the main square surrounded by tall laurel trees.
The town church of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao in the center was built in the 15th century and partially rebuilt in the 18th century. Opposite stands the town hall built in the early 20th century There are several fish restaurants here.
In the surroundings of the small village FAIAL there is still a lot of agriculture, e.g. wine and fruit growing. The village is dominated by the 600 m high Eagle Rock. Only a few tourists come here, because there is hardly anything worth seeing.
Most people come to Santana to see the famous "Casas de colmo". In total there are still about a hundred of these thatched historic wooden houses. They are very scattered throughout the municipality.
On the way back to Funchal we passed through Ribera fria. Here you can take a short hike up to the Miradouro dos Balcoes, from where you have a beautiful view of the mountains.
The peninsula PONTA DE SAO LOURENCO is 9 km long and 2 km wide. In 1982 it was declared a nature reserve, mainly to ensure the preservation of the fauna with the great variety of birds and the great occurrence of the native flora. The eastern tip of Madeira is barren and windy. One can no longer imagine that everything here was lushly forested.
Then, in spring, a carpet of flowers enlivens the bare hilltops. But also in other seasons the turquoise sea and the rocks in different shades - ocher, rust, gray and green-black - bring color to the area.
The south coast can be easily approached by boats, which is almost impossible on the drastically shaped north coast with its strong winds. There is a paved access road to the parking lot above Baia de Abra. Here you can also take the public bus.
From there there is a popular rocky hiking trail. This hike is absolutely not a walk. There are some climbs, often wooden stairs. You have no shade and are exposed to gusts of wind. To avoid being blown down somewhere, I ducked down and waited out the sometimes strong gusts - really quite extreme.
At the narrowest point with a land bridge only a few meters wide, the rock drops almost 100 m vertically - fortunately the place is secured with a fence.
The hike takes - depending on your condition - 2 to 3 hours. It also depends on whether you only walk to the plateau of Casa Sardinha - administration of the national park - or if you want to make the ascent to Pico Furado. Below the Casa there are some tables for picnics. From there there is also an entrance for swimming, which can certainly be pleasant in the summer.
On the way there are always beautiful views of the sea and the rock formations - e.g. the so-called rock gate. On the south side you can see the cages of a fish farm in the sea. In front of Sao Lourenco there are two small islands, on one of them stands the oldest (from 1870) lighthouse of Madeira.
From the cape we drove to CANICAL, the easternmost municipality of Madeira. This place is still characterized by fishing and boat building. Fishing boats are still built here and there is a large repair yard.
Over the 1000 m high Encumeada Pass we drove northeast to Sao Vicente. Unfortunately the old coastal road to Seixal and Porto Moniz was closed and we had to drive through many tunnels. A few years ago it was a special experience to drive on the narrow and winding ER 101 directly at the coast - on one side the high cliffs and on the other side the sea. But apparently the road has become too dangerous in the meantime because of constant falling rocks.
We got to Porto Moniz , and unfortunately the weather got worse, more and more clouds came up. The sea raged with huge waves to the shore. Porto Moniz is a nice little town located on the northwestern tip of Madeira, a region with high mountains and views of the endless Atlantic Ocean.
From Porto Moniz you can go hiking, for example on the coastal trail "Levada da Ribeira da Janela", one of the best hiking trails in Madeira.
Porto Moniz is known for its volcanic pools. Daytrippers mostly come for these pools filled with sea water.These pools owe their formation to a lava tongue that flowed into the sea here thousands of years ago, creating caves due to the force of wind and waves. The black basalt lava pools form swimming pools and are the attraction of Porto Moniz, because you can swim (swim) in them very well - at least in good weather...
There are two different lava pools in Porto Moniz: the completely natural pools and the western pools, which have been transformed into natural outdoor pools - there are no sharp rocks here. The surrounding rocks of the outdoor pool were built as a terrace , and here you can sunbathe. The pools are open every day - even in winter. But when we were there, there was no one in the water....
The natural pools are not safe because of the black sharp basalt rocks. It is very interesting to watch the waves as they crash against the rocks. The water is sometimes whirled into the air in such a way that it looks like a geyser.
The PICO DE ARIEIRO is the most visited mountain of Madeira, because it is the only one that has been opened up with a road, but it is only the third highest. The road was probably built primarily for the observatory and not necessarily for the tourists. Already the approach through pristine landscape with rugged rock and sparse vegetation is an experience.
If the weather is good, you have a breathtaking view all around. Equally beautiful, however, is the sight of white cushions of clouds hanging between the high mountains. In winter there can be ice and snow on the peaks. Since it had snowed on Madeira about 2 weeks before our trip there, we could still see the sparse remnants on the shaded layers.
From Pico de Arieiro you can hike up to Pico Ruivo (1861 m) if the weather is good. At the beginning, the path is quite wide and in places secured by railings. Some then walk at least to the first viewpoint - the rocky peak Niho de Mata with beautiful views. The entire hike up to Pico Ruivo is clearly difficult, even if there are partially secured stairways since the 1960s. Some of the paths are steep up to 700 m, the rock steps are high, the paths are sometimes narrow and beaten, and it also goes through unlit tunnels. So you should have a good condition and be free from giddiness and sure-footed.
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2023.05.28 06:00 InfernoAA God Made the World in Six Days, I’ll Perfect New Japan's on the Seventh Part Four: Ring o' Roses

In Part Three, Shingo Takagi confronted both his duties as World Heavyweight Champion and member of Los Ingobernables de Japon, proceeding to right the wrongs of his first reign by winning the January 4 main event against Tetsuya Naito to squash their beef and become co-leaders. With PAC shockingly joining the group after having gone on a crusade against them, they seemed stronger than ever, all except for Shingo's neck. Feeling the weight of CHAOS crushing it, it took both Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi to bring him to his knees, the Ace of the Universe back to his rightful spot after 5 years, restoring CHAOS’s purist regime. Ending off on keeping the riches from blood rival Katsuyori Shibata yet again, he now awaits the arrival of the 2024 New Japan Cup Winner...
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New Japan Cup Finals (March 28, 2024)
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“ZACK SABRE JR. HAS PAC IN HYPERNORMALISATION! PAC SUBMITS! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR THE THIRD TIME IN HISTORY OUR NEW JAPAN CUP WINNER IS ZSJ!” After two failed attempts to translate his cup success into gold, the Bone Master has another chance to fulfil his career’s greatest goal. And out walks the man he beat in the 2018 Finals for his first win, the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi! One of Zack’s biggest rivals since coming to Japan, and one that’s had his number more time than he’s had theirs, he must beat the godly Ace of the Universe if he wishes to claim his first piece of IWGP-commissioned singles gold!
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The stage set for Sakura Genesis, Sabre makes sure to rub in everyone’s faces the premonition he laid down at New Year’s Dash. He said to LIJ he’d be back for the title, and after beating one of their men, he’s made good on his claims. And now, he’s going to make ‘God’ bow to him, whether he wants to or not. When asked for his opinion on the challenger, Tanahashi says he’s amused by how earnestly the Windy Man’s tried to become a New Japan guy, moving his entire life to Japan in pursuit of the top prize. Whilst that dedication may be admirable, it’ll be for nought, Zack just another visitor to his grand kingdom, CHAOS remaining Sabre’s white whale at the end of every NJC journey.
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Sakura Genesis (April 7, 2024)
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Also on the show:
United Empire (Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare) (c) vs Just6Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Ryohei Oiwa) - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
YOH (c) vs El Desperado - IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
TMDK (c) vs Bishamon - IWGP Tag Team Championship
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Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr. XI - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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They say third time’s the charm, but that remains to be seen in Sabre’s case. Sabre-Gun with mixed successes throughout the night, El Desperado coming up short whilst TMDK kept their gold, it’s up to their leader to set an example for his group. Popping his collar, he steels his gaze on the championship as Tanahashi makes his entrance, Zack blocking out the surrounding world. Despite channelling the controversial words of the polarising Okada for the past year, Hiroshi still has Ryogoku in the palm of his hands, remaining the people’s favourite no matter the shade of grey he envelops himself in. Back to his pomp and circumstance, he gives ZSJ the full show of what a true star looks like, ready to bring Sabre back down to reality.
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It's a methodical opening from the two talented grapplers, Tanahashi standing toe-to-toe with the best technical wrestler in the world with merely his sheer aura. Sabre shoots for an early Article 50, but Tana sidesteps him into the ropes, before condescendingly patting him on the cheek! Zack retaliates with a forearm, knocking Tana to the mat, a deluge of stomps raining down on his face as the Hiroshi tries to cover up!
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Escaping to the ropes, Sabre charges at him with a EUROPEAN UPPERCUT! Tana evades, connecting a DRAGON-STYLE HARITE, slapping respect into the challenger! Incensed, Sabre leaves a mark with a stinging slap of his own, before nailing a chain of Uppercuts! Tana fights back for a TWIST AND SHOUT, though Sabre counters with a FLATLINER! A High-Angle German is stuffed, Zack decked with an ALL OUT and a MIDDLE-ROPE SENTON BOMB! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT!
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Tana guns for the leg like he did Shibata, but a Feint Roundhouse into a Legsweep from ZSJ floors him! AND A NECK TWIST!!! With Hiroshi distracted by his neck, Sabre immediately switches for the legs, applying SUNDAY RAIL ENGINEERING WORKS REPLACEMENT BUS SERVICE!!! Tana’s quick to make the ropes, though has to physically pull himself to the apron when Sabre doesn’t release! No breather for him, Zack hooks his leg in the ropes and connects a DRAGON SCREW!
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Tana receiving a taste of his own medicine, Sabre slides out and scores one directly on the apron, bashing Hiroshi’s leg into the hardest part of the ring! He attempts to Irish Whip Tanahashi into the ring post, but the Once in a Century Talent nails a SLING BLADE ON THE APRON! DRAGON SUPLEX TO THE FLOOR!!! Playing the starpower card, Tana poses with a grin as the cameras catch a shot of Sabre beneath him. He doesn’t notice Zack’s little twitches though, committing to a HIGH FLY FLOW TO THE OUTSIDE!!! A POSSUM SABRE PUSHES HIM MID-AIR ONTO THE BARRICADE!!!
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As Tokyo gasps, it’s academic from Sabre as he threads Tana’s leg through a steel chair, PILMANISING IT!!! Evidence long discarded by the time the referee walks over, he wraps Hiroshi’s leg around the steel post, using it to apply a SASORI-GATAME!!! Tana lets out shouts of agony, Zack milking the suffering as Hiroshi begs the referee to get the challenger to stop. Eventually letting go, he forces Tanahashi to walk himself back into the spider’s web, a SPRINGBOARD ENZUIGIRI awaiting! BRIDGING NORTHERN LIGHTS SUPLEX! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT!
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Swivelling into a KNEEBAR now, he rolls around with Tana’s leg in his grasp, countering Hiroshi’s each attempts at escape, before going for the SELECTED TECHNICAL WORKS VOL. 2 combination, but Tana stacks his shoulders up! ONE! TWO! THR-NO LUCK! Forced to release to kick out, he scrambles to his feet to batter Hiroshi with a elbows, a DISCUS ELBOW SMASH staggering him, but a Pele Kick is caught, Tana nailing his own DRAGON SCREW!!!
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A TWIST AND SHOUT follows, before Tana wraps on the DRAGON SWING! Wrenching on the neck, he makes a good few rotations before suddenly dropping to a knee, his leg unable to hold up for too long. Going for a DRAGON SUPLEX, it’s blocked by a barrage of back elbows, though Hiroshi nails the DARUMA-SHIKI GERMAN INSTEAD!!! ONE! TWO! THR-SABRE KICKS OUT! Nursing his neck, Sabre gets no reprieve as a HASE URANAGE spikes him, and a HIGH FLY ATTACK… IS CAUGHT IN AN ANKLE LOCK!!!
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Tana rolls through but Sabre rolls with him, though he can’t get the grapevine, Tana booting him off with the other leg! TWIST AND SHOUT! Sabre subdued, a SLING BLADE takes him down, a HIGH FLY FLOW FOLLOWING SUIT!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Tana rushes for a TEXAS CLOVERLEAF, putting the hurt on Zack’s legs now! The Submission Master searches for escapes yet Hiroshi commits his everything to this move, not letting him free for the life of him! That is, until his own leg gives way! Grounded, he can’t stop a PENALTY KICK!!! AND A ZACK DRIVER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-TANA STAYS ALIVE!!!
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Ragdolling Hiroshi with a pair of Double Underhook Suplexes, Zack puts Tana in a prone position to stomp the insides of the knees, before applying a CALF SLICER!!! Yet again, the Ace of the Universe is in trouble, his condition deteriorating with each submission. Knowing he needs to change that and fast… HE GRABS ZACK’S SKULL AND RAMS IT INTO THE MAT REPEATEDLY TO BREAK!!! Gears turning in his mind from Sabre’s tribute, HE GETS HIM UP FOR A STYLES CLASH!!! ONE! TWO! THR-SABRE SURVIVES!!!
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Connecting a SLING BLADE, he dumps Zack with a DRAGON SUPLEX! ZACK RESPONDS WITH ONE OF HIS OWN! Open palm strikes from Tana light up Zack, only for him to wring out the arm for a PELE KICK!!! Sabre teases a Legsweep, but Hiroshi hops over this time and nails a GROUNDED HIGH FLY FLOW!!! Air driven out of ZSJ’s lungs, Tana hoists him up… AND NAILS A TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER!!! SHADES OF OKADA!!! The CHAOS Leader beating him like this both past Sakura Geneses, it’s going to happen again!
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Scaling the ropes, Tana crashes down with a HIGH FLY FLOWWWWWWWWWW!!! But he’s not done! Wanting to make an example out of Sabre, he takes his time posing atop the world like the star he is… BUT IT ALLOWS ZACK TO RECOVER, GRABBING HIS LEG!!! Hammering the knee before Tana has a chance to respond, he yanks him off… RUNNING LIGER BOMB!!! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT!!! STRAIGHT INTO CLARKY CAT BAD BALLOON REMIX!!! Folding Tana’s leg over his shoulder, he utterly destroys the geriatric knees over the champion, who wails in agony, doing anything he can to break free… BUT HE’S TOO FAR FROM THE ROPES!!! TANAHASHI TAPS OUT!!! THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM – ZSJ’S THE NEW KING OF NEW JAPAN!!!
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Zack Sabre Jr. def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (30:23)
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Cutting Tanahashi’s reign brutally short, Sabre-Gun has claimed its spot on the throne! Raising up both his trophy and championship, he’s lifted onto TMDK’s shoulders, the three men flaunting their gold to the world as the remainder of the stable joins them! Tana shell-shocked, he hangs his head in shame and despair as he limps off, Ryogoku the first of many dark days for NJPW…
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As the new monarch, Sabre’s first order of business is simple – kill off his counterpart. And by that he means the man who successfully defended the title against him last year, Will Ospreay. Though he may hold the title, jealousy courses through ZSJ’s veins knowing the Commonwealth Kingpin’s considered the company’s top gaijin despite Zack’s superior record over him. Wanting to change that, he calls out Ospreay, who’s fresh off dropping the NEVER 6-Man Titles to Just6Guys, having had quite the identity crisis since having the WK main event taken from him. Eager at the chance at a do-over, he accepts without hesitation.
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Wrestling Hinokuni (April 27, 2024)
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Sabre-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & TMDK) vs United Empire (Will Ospreay & Aussie Open)
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Whilst Sabre and Ospreay have kept their distance since their Royal Quest match, the same can’t be said about the greater stables. World Tag League Winners TMDK taking Aussie Open’s IWGP Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Kingdom and United Empire successfully defending the NEVER Titles against Sabre-Gun at the Anniversary Show, this conclusion was only inevitable. Aussie Open also wanting a chance to get their titles back, they team with Ospreay here against the champion unit, the Commonwealth Nations going to war for supremacy.
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Unlike Royal Quest, Sabre’s notably a lot surer of himself against Will here, no longer compensating by matching his striking game, rather trying to make Ospreay play his game instead. However, even with Zack being in his best possible form, SG falters against UE once more, the Coriolis to Mikey Nicholls setting the stage for Wrestling Dontaku! Zack grits his teeth as much like Tanahashi, Ospreay looks down on him.
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United Empire def. Sabre-Gun (17:34)
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Wrestling Dontaku (May 4, 2024)
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Also on the show:
Ren Narita (c) vs Shota Umino - NEVER Openweight Championship
Taichi (c) vs Hiromu Takahashi - NJPW World Television Championship
YOH (c) vs Robbie Eagles - IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
KENTA (c) vs PAC - IWGP United States Championship
TMDK (c) vs Aussie Open - IWGP Tag Team Championship
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Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Will Ospreay XVII - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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A rivalry extending back an entire decade to the UK Indies, the spot for best British wrestler in the world has long been contested between these two. Back at it again, it’s time they settle the score once more. Ospreay strides out comfortably, having been in this position plenty of times by now as a potentially soon-to-be 3x World Champion, this his domain. As for Sabre, it’s his first time defending a title of this magnitude, pressure clearly weighing on his shoulders, but taking a deep breath, he prepares himself for victory just like TMDK earlier in the night.
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As the bell rings… Ospreay explodes for a DROPKICK right away – shades of NJC 2021! Zack fishes the leg out the air and applies an ANKLE LOCK, LOOKING TO TAP HIM OUT WITHIN THE FIRST FEW SECONDS OF THE MATCH! Alarmed, Ospreay thrashes with kicks from his free leg to force Sabre off, rolling to the outside to recollect himself! Sabre doesn’t let him though, nailing a Baseball Slide Dropkick, before tossing him back in and wrangling the leg again!
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A roll shakes him off, a HOOK KICK following, AND AN OSCUTTER! Sabre stops it though, countering with a SNAP DRAGON SUPLEX! Will rotates through to his feet and soars for a STANDING SHOOTING STAR PRESS, but again Zack dodges! BOW & ARROW ATTEMPT! Will flips into a cover, Zack kicking out instantly! Ospreay handsprings off the ropes, teasing his signature Enzuigiri, Sabre grasping the leg mid-air, but another follows, wrapping around his neck to twist through into a CROSS ARMBREAKER FROM WILL!
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Sabre gets the monkey grip, preventing full extension, BUT WILL BITES THE FINGERS TO FORCE HIM OFF, now getting the full stretch, yelling at the referee to ask Zack if he submits! Sabre refuses however, rolling onto his stomach to turn the hold over and stand up, getting his legs around Will’s neck to score a NECK TWIST, getting him to release!
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Zack knowing it to be a sore spot, he gets rallying with European Uppercuts to rock it like a bobblehead, before leaping into a GUILLOTINE CHOKE! Zack tightens his grip around Will’s neck, but a BUCKLE EXPLODER SUPLEX loosens it again as Sabre’s left dangling in a Tree of Woe! Ospreay sits cross-legged in front of him and SMASHES HIS NOSE WITH FOREARMS, busting a defenceless Zack open! Fish-hooking the nose, Will shakes his head about and lets crimson droplets paint the surroundings like a psychopathic Bob Ross, before letting go, cackling.
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He heads to the top rope, but Zack meets him there, pulling himself up using his core strength and crotching Will on the neighbouring rope! The two face-to-face again, Zack sitting on the turnbuckle and Will on the rope, they trade forearms, blood continuing to leak down Sabre’s face, but he doesn’t care, INSTEAD GRABBING WILL’S LEG TO SUSPEND HIM UPSIDE-DOWN WITH A HANGING SUNDAY RAIL ENGINEERING WORKS REPLACEMENT BUS SERVICE!!!
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Will’s in sheer agony as Sabre contorts his limb, but he’s saved by the referee’s count, Sabre forced to let go, Ospreay slumping to the apron. Zack turns to face the apron as he collects his wits and catches his breath, whilst Will nurses his leg, being checked on by the referee to make sure he’s good to continue, hopping to his base. Sabre settles down on the apron behind Will, grabbing him from behind, TESTING AN APRON TIGER SUPLEX!
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Ospreay smashes the nose with a rear headbutt to ward him off! AND HE SPRINGS OFF ONE LEG TO DROP SABRE WITH AN APRON OSCUTTER, BOTH MEN SPILLING TO THE FLOOR!!! The referee starts their count as both lay still, no sign of movement as the 10 count nears. Reaching 12 now, they finally begin to stir, getting on all fours… 13… 14… 15… OSPREAY’S LEG GIVES OUT! 16… 17… 18… BOTH MEN MAKE ONE LAST PUSH, SABRE SHOVING HIMSELF INSIDE THE RING BY 19, WHILST OSPREAY PULLS HIMSELF UP ONTO THE APRON AND SPRINGS OFF ONE LEG ON THE ROPES FOR A PIP PIP CHEERIO!!! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT!!!
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Coming down hard on the leg though, Ospreay writhes in pain, but with Zack down, he pulls himself up with every last bit of energy he has up for STORM BREAKER… ZACK WITH AN OCTOPUS HOLD!!! Will immediately rams him into the turnbuckle until he lets up, Sabre instead sliding down his back like a bird hitting a window, OSPREAY COLLECTING HIM TO NAIL A HITODENASHI DRIVER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOO!!!
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Will shouts in frustration, having jammed the leg on the landing. Feeling victory nigh though, he preps the HIDDEN BLADE!!! SABRE SPINS AROUND AND COUNTERS WITH A ZACK DRIVER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NO DICE!!! PENTALTY KICK! ANOTHER COVER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-STILL NO LUCK!!! NOW A NUMERO DOS A LA DESPERADO!!! Ospreay screams as Sabre tears the leg in half, Will dancing around in search of reprieve, until a FRANKENSTEINER stands ZSJ on his dome! BRAINBUSTER FOLLOWS!
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Sabre rocked, Ospreay cracks the CHELSEA GRIN against his neck, before connecting the HIDDEN BLADE!!! ONE! TWO! THR-ZACK’S STILL IN IT!!! Will’s leg is falling apart as he stumbles back into the corner to try for seconds, losing balance and collapsing before he can reach his target! EUROPEAN CLUTCH FROM ZACK!!! ONE! TWO! THR-OSPREAY SURVIVES!!! BUT A PENALTY KICK TO THE SKULL! AND STRAIGHT INTO ORIENTEERING WITH NAPALM DEATH!!! OSPREAY THRASHES LIKE A MADMAN, FEELING HIS LIGAMENTS ON THE VERGE OF TEARING… AND HE TAPS!!!
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Zack Sabre Jr. (c) def. Will Ospreay to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (34:18)
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One more for the bad guys. Commonwealth Kingpin at his mercy, Ospreay a mess as he scrambles off, Zack’s the new Top Gaijin in town. Raising his title high from the turnbuckles, he juices every last drop out his victory, this moment perfect to him… or not. OH MY GOD IT’S MINORU SUZUKI!!! Any bit of colour that remains on ZSJ’s pale face drains off as the King’s music rings through Fukuoka, but there’s no sign of the man- WAIT, SABRE’S SPUN AROUND! KICK TO THE GUT – GOTCH-STYLE PILEDRIVER!!! HE’S HERE!!! Placing a boot on Zack’s chest, Suzuki holds the World Title high over his former stablemate’s body!
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The ending of Dontaku has Japan buzzing as they question the true motive of Suzuki’s attack, and after an extended silence, the King sets the record straight. 1 ½ years ago, Suzuki-Gun was dissolved, and ever since, Sabre’s been writing checks with his mouth that he can’t cash. He walks around with the World Title like he’s the reason he even received recognition in NJPW in the first place. Suzuki gave him a home beside him, and as rapidly as he elevated Sabre, he can take it all away from him just as fast. He’s getting old and is still missing the final piece to the Japanese Triple Crown, so he plans to take that from Zack.
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Sabre doesn’t take too kindly to these words, letting his actions speak for himself as he ASSAULTS SUZUKI on a Road To Dontaku show! Bringing Sabre-Gun with him, they brutalise the legend, before Zack plants his group’s flag on Suzuki’s chest! Mocking him for having no allies the next night, declaring Suzuki’s era of relevance to be long gone… this plays. SUZUKI’S HERE, AND HE’S NOT ALONE! IT’S JUST6GUYS!!! Racing to the ring, the two factions erupt in a massive brawl, bodies flying left and right! Sabre tries for a quick getaway but he’s stopped by Minoru, who gives him a devilish snarl before clobbering him with forearms until Sabre-Gun’s sent packing through the crowd, Zack yelling expletives at Suzuki as he retreats!
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Back to Yokohama Arena (May 16, 2024)
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Sabre-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & TMDK) vs Minoru Suzuki & Just3Guys (Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI)
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With Sabre-Gun and Just6Guys feuding ever since their respective formations, switching between silent competitive warfare of racking up belts to fighting each other, notably the Sabre/Taichi saga, it all fully comes to a head in Suzuki’s home of Yokohama! With full freedom to destroy each other however they please, the two factions don’t hold back one bit, with Suzuki especially targeting ZSJ. He’s unable to give him grief the way he wishes to though, Zack tactfully hiding behind his partners until he can blindside Minoru, before scramming again. Ultimately, it’s Minoru putting Desperado away with the GOTCH PILEDRIVER, before signalling to Sabre that time’s running out for him, Suzuki to get his hands on him too soon enough!
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Minoru Suzuki & J6G def. Sabre-Gun (15:03)
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As much as Sabre tries to deny it, that day only speeds closer with each accusation of cowardice against the prideful champion’s name, the world questioning whether he’s afraid of Suzuki. Adamant to silence his doubters, he finally accepts Suzuki’s title challenge, setting the stage for Dominion, though promising he won’t have a career to go back to when Sabre’s done with him!
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Dominion 6.2 (June 2, 2024)
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Also on the show:
YOH (c) vs SHO - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Just2Guys (c) vs Sabre-Gun (Blake Christian & Clark Connors) - IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
TMDK (c) vs The Lucha Brothers - IWGP Tag Team Championship
PAC (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata - IWGP United States Championship
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Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Minoru Suzuki - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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With Sabre-Gun beating Just6Guys earlier in the night, this war’s already at its boiling point by the time the main event arrives, Suzuki opting to enter second as Zack steps out- CRACK! STEEL CHAIR TO SABRE’S SPINE!!! Suzuki isn’t wasting even a second here, tearing the jacket off Sabre’s back before bending the steel over his spine! The Windy Man desperately tries to crawl away to the ring, but Suzuki steps on his ankle to stop him! Turning him around to meet his maker, MINORU GOES FOR A GOTCH PILEDRIVER ON THE CHAIR!!! LOW BLOW FROM SABRE TO COUNTER!!!
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Suzuki drops to his knees as Osaka boos the smarmy champion, ZSJ now battering the King’s back, before finally sliding him in to get the match started! PENALTY KICK RIGHT AWAY!!! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT!!! Sabre wrenches in a CLARKY CAT, working the arm as Suzuki writhes under him, but it’s not long before Minoru stands up out of it, hurling ZSJ to the mat! Booting him in the jaw, Suzuki backs him into the corner and tears into him with open palm strikes! He winds up a CORNER DROPKICK, but Sabre evades, blasting him with a rapid barrage of European Uppercuts against the turnbuckle!
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Zack taking the run-up now, Suzuki bucks him over the ropes to the apron, SABRE BLASTING A THUMB IN HIS EYE! Minoru blinded, Zack leaps up for a SPRINGBOARD ENZUIGIRI- SUZUKI BLOCKS WITH A WILD SLAP TO THE CHEEK!!! Sabre stiffed, Suzuki applies a HANGING JUJI-GATAME FROM THE ROPES!!! Zack screams in agony as Minoru damn near rips his arm out the socket, the referee’s count the only thing keeping him from going!
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Releasing, Sabre crumples to the floor, getting as far as he possibly can from Suzuki, though he’s not fast enough, Suzuki nailing a GOAL KICK to his skull from the apron! Grabbing Sabre, he HURLS him into the guardrail with it shoulder-first, the velocity sending Zack through! As he goes to collect his prey though, SABRE TOSSES A CHAIR AT HIS SKULL!!! Threading Suzuki’s arm through it, SABRE STOMPS THE ELBOW!!! AND AN ARTICLE 50!!!
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Sabre abuses the legend, but he forgets about the other arm, Suzuki slapping his head in with it until Zack releases! Shaking off the arm, a BACK BODY DROP sends Sabre crashing back to ringside, Minoru following after him as ZSJ slinks inside the ring. Zack beats him to his feet though, stomping a hole through the mat with Suzuki’s skull, dribbling it! He cracks a ROLLING ELBOW off the skull, but Minoru walks through it, glaring at Sabre! Throwing an elbow of his own, it gets caught, Zack scoring the PELE KICK to the arm!
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AND A KIMURA LOCK!!! Sabre brutally rips at the arm, bringing Suzuki to his knees from the pain even, but Minoru pins his shoulders to the mat! ONE! TWO! THR-SABRE RELEASES TO KICK OUT! As Zack rolls to his feet, a SHOTGUN DROPKICK awaits him! Suzuki clobbers him with slaps to the face, Sabre seeing stars as one knocks him clean off his feet! Turning to the turnbuckle… SUZUKI RIPS IT OFF!!! Steel exposed, he teases a SNAP SUPLEX INTO THE CORNER!!! SABRE COUNTERS WITH A BRAINBUSTER ON THE MAT!!! GUILLOTINE CHOKE!!!
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Draining the life out of Suzuki, Sabre presses on the carotid artery, Minoru is deep trouble! BUT NOW THE KING BITES ON ZSJ’S FINGERS!!! Zack yelps and releases, allowing Suzuki to secure his wrists and STOMP HIS HEAD IN!!! Sabre catches a boot and applies SUNDAY RAIL ENGINEERING WORKS REPLACEMENT BUS SERVICE!!! ZSJ tortures Suzuki’s leg, though in doing so leaves his arm exposed, Minoru yanking off his grip and countering into HIS OWN HEEL HOOK!!!
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Sabre desperately tries the same counter, but Suzuki’s grip is too tight to break, forcing Zack to roll to the ropes! SUZUKI ISN’T LETTING GO! Crawling on his hands, Sabre pulls himself to the floor and WHIPLASHES MINORU’S NECK OFF THE BOTTOM ROPE!!! Staggering about ringside on one foot, he grabs his title and rolls back in! Suzuki struggling up, Sabre tries to deck him with the belt… but the referee grabs it from behind! A tug-of-war ends in SUZUKI KNOCKING THE BELT INTO THE REF WITH AN ENZUIGIRI!
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Both men hitting the deck, Minoru rocks ZSJ with a Dropkick! GOTCH PILEDRIVER ONTO THE TITLE!!! But there’s no one to count! Pissed, Suzuki limps out and abuses a couple young lions, before picking one out the crowd to toss in the ring, ripping the referee’s shirt off and telling the lion to put it on! SUZUKI COVERS! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Even more livid, HE DECKS THIS LION TOO! Turning back to Zack, he notices the champion feebly reaching for the belt! Kicking it out the ring, Suzuki goes for another GOTCH PILEDRIVER!!! BACK BODY DROP COUNTER!!!
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Still hurting, Sabre struggles to get a rally of strikes going, Suzuki meeting him blow for blow! BUT SABRE WHIPS THE SHOULDER INTO THE MAT! Minoru stunned, sadistic thoughts run through Sabre’s mind… TIGER SUPLEX INTO THE EXPOSED STEEL!!! AND A RUNNING LIGER BOMB – ONE OF SUZUKI’S RIVALS MOVES!!! THE REFEREE’S BACK TO CONSCIOUSNESS! NOT LIKE THIS! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Sabre’s exasperated, thinking he had it! Running out of options, he teases a ZACK DRIVER, but Suzuki slips behind and applies the SLEEPER HOLD!!! Sabre’s quickly fading, frantically trying to tear the bad arm off, but Minoru doesn’t budge, shoving ZSJ to the mat for the PENALTY KICK!!! ONE! TWO! THR-ZACK KICKS OUT!!! Suzuki grabs Sabre by the chin, demanding him to strike Minoru if he thinks he’s so tough, ZSJ doing his best, but Suzuki eats it and returns a HARD SLAP! SLEEPER SUPLEX!!!
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Tossing Sabre to the apron, Minoru steps onto the middle rope and cinches in an ELEVATED SLEEPER!!! Zack dangles in the air, unable to find his footing to escape, Suzuki lifting him higher and higher! Blood rushing to his legs, he needs to act fast, attacking the elbow again until the hold is finally slightly loosened! Leaning forwards, he pulls Suzuki his direction, allowing him to lower his feet onto the apron… YANKING SUZUKI INTO AN APRON ZACK DRIVER!!!
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Sabre coughs up a lung as he kicks Minoru’s corpse back in, before lining up a PENALTY KICK!!! ONE! TWO! THR-SUZUKI’S ALIVE!!! Zack’s stunned as he comes face-to-face with Suzuki’s sneer, Minoru still having enough in him to throw slaps! Sabre returning Uppercuts, they go blow-for-blow until Zack collapses first, though he’s playing possum, HEADBUTTING THE SHOULDER as the King tries to grab him! He goes for YOU CAN’T PLAY CONKERS IN ENGLAND, though he’s immediately tossed down, SUZUKI NAILING A PENALTY KICK!!!
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Winding up, Minoru goes for one more… ZACK SLAPS HIS HEAD OFF HIS SHOULDERS!!! Putting the head between his legs, HE NAILS A GOTCH PILEDRIVER!!! Suzuki collapses in position for a PENALTY KICK!!! AND NOW SABRE CINCHES IT IN – HURRAH! ANOTHER YEAR, SURELY THIS ONE WILL BE BETTER THAN THE LAST; THE INEXORABLE MARCH OF PROGRESS WILL LEAD US ALL TO HAPPINESS!!! Suzuki grits his teeth, trying to fight through it, Sabre keeping his eyes on his hands to see the tap… NOWHERE TO GO, MINORU FLIPS HIM OFF WITH BOTH HANDS AND VERBALLY SUBMITS!!!
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Zack Sabre Jr. (c) def. Minoru Suzuki to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (32:50)
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Surviving one of the toughest matches of his career, Zack’s kingdom still lives, though barely. As he’s handed his title though, he chucks it aside, this about far more than the gold to him! SABRE STOMPS OUT SUZUKI!!! Signalling to the back, out rush Sabre-Gun, coming to Sabre’s aid to conduct a mugging on the legend! SUDDEN DEATH FROM ELP! PINCHE LOCO FROM DESPERADO! THUNDER VALLEY FROM TMDK! TANDEM JEEP FLIP/DROPKICK FROM BLAKE, CONNORS AND FUJITA! And now, it's Zack’s turn. Dragging him to the concrete… HE’S GOING FOR THE GOTCH PILEDRIVER!!! HE WANTS TO RETIRE SUZUKI FOR GOOD!!!
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BUT HERE COMES J6G!!! AND LANCE ARCHER TOO!!! Sabre tosses Suzuki aside to deal with the oncoming traffic, Taichi and co. putting up an honourable fight, but they’re still down a man, Sabre-Gun managing to retain their upper-hand, until… OH MY GOD, IT’S SUZUKI’S OLD TAG PARTNER NAOMICHI MARUFUJI!!! Sabre can’t even get a curse out before a KO-OH SMACKS HIM IN THE FACE!!! Marufuji beats on Zack to turn the tide, going for the POLE SHIFT, but Sabre manages to escape in the nick of time, Sabre-Gun once again sent on the retreat, the show closing on Marufuji helping Suzuki up!
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NJPW/AJPW/NOAH All Together Again (June 7, 2024)
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Zack Sabre Jr. vs Naomichi Marufuji
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After the events of Dominion, it’s only natural these two fight, long, long overdue a one-on-one since their NOAH days together! Fighting in Suzuki’s honour, Marufuji steps to the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and it’s like 2016 all over again the way he utterly humbles Sabre to start like he’s facing Okada! A match of two halves, it goes from Naomichi giving ZSJ the biggest whooping of his life to Sabre brutally breaking down the legend, reminding him he’s 8 years too old to still be winning these sorts of matches. Though Maru gives Zack grief one more than one occasion, he meets his demise at the hands of a CREMATION LILY, Sabre spitting on Naomichi as he leaves, declaring himself untouchable!
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Zack Sabre Jr. def. Naomichi Marufuji (25:37)
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With his war on J6G and friends officially behind him, Sabre sets his sights on a show he has quite some history with. Losing to Claudio Castagnoli at the first Forbidden Door, before beating Katsuyori Shibata at the second to take both the NJPW TV and ROH Pure Titles to ALL IN to submit Danielson, there’s naturally only one direction for him to head…
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Dynamite (June 12, 2024)
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Racking another AEW International Championship defence under his belt, Wheeler YUTA is on top of the world, and as he’s approached by Tony Schiavone for a post-match comment… WHACK! IWGP WORLD TITLE TO THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!! SABRE-GUN’S HERE!!! Mugging Blackpool Combat Club’s young gun like they did Suzuki, a SABRE DRIVER leaves him broken on the mat as Zack yells down the camera that he wants Moxley’s head at Forbidden Door, scurrying away before BCC can make the save!
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Collision (June 15, 2024)
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Zack Sabre Jr. vs Wheeler YUTA
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Off the back of Sabre’s assault on YUTA, a match is made between the two technically-gifted champions in a massive Collision main event! Though ZSJ’s far out his paygrade, an arrogant Wheeler does his best to knock off the Technical Wizard, impressing with a display of submissions he’s picked up from Danielson, before employing some of Claudio’s marquee athleticism and Mox’s grittiness. Never a fair match to begin with though, a TESCO MEAL DEAL cruelly silences YUTA!
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Zack Sabre Jr. def. Wheeler YUTA (10:12)
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Grabbing a mic, Zack runs down Moxley, reminding him how they were supposed to fight 4 years ago until the pandemic ruined that, Jon ducking him ever since. Now though, he’s the last member of BCC he needs to get through before he can shut up those babies too, so all he needs to know is if Jon is still afraid of him or not. And as Sabre awaits his response… HE RECEIVES IT IN THE FORM OF A PARADIGM SHIFT!!! Mox holds Zack’s title over his body, gaining some retribution for YUTA!
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AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door (June 23, 2024)
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Also on the show:
The Lucha Brothers (c) vs La Faccion Ingobernable (RUSH & Dralistico) - IWGP Tag Team Championship
PAC (c) vs Swerve Strickland - IWGP United States Championship
Tetsuya Naito vs Andrade El Idolo
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Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Jon Moxley - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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The final showdown of a lengthy saga, Sabre makes his third defence against New Japan’s Ace, and it’s quite literally a bloody clinic, Mox showing zero fear in the face of the Top Gaijin, who looks to plant his flag over another territory. From a Paradigm Shift to the floor to a Zack Driver through a table, both men are busted open by the surroundings, the blood loss only helping Sabre’s case when he locks in the HYPERNORMALISATION, causing Mox to pass out! Alas, ZSJ stands atop BCC, but perhaps a more personal challenge yet awaits him…
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Zack Sabre Jr. (c) def. Jon Moxley to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (23:20)
submitted by InfernoAA to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 05:55 InfernoAA God Made the World in Six Days, I’ll Perfect New Japan's on the Seventh Part Three: The Ungovernable Seven

In Part Two, Will Ospreay received his crowning moment at a broken Kazuchika Okada's expense, relieving him of his duties as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and opening his doors to further bloodshed between CHAOS and Takeover. Proceeding to run through New Japan's elite, he took down Kenny Omega, Katsuyori Shibata, and Zack Sabre Jr. in one fell swoop, only for his dream of main eventing Wrestle Kingdom as champion to be crushed by one Shingo Takagi. Now, though the Dragon may be the titleholder, all is far from well in his den. Between Los Ingobernables de Japon in-fighting with G1 Climax 33 Winner Tetsuya Naito and PAC stealing his belt, he has much to address moving forwards.
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Dynamite (November 1, 2023)
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After shockingly robbing Shingo Takagi of his title, PAC interrupts mid-show, belt slung over his shoulder, scowl on his face. He rants about how ever since joining AEW, he’s been disrespected and overlooked, not even being booked for half a year after losing the AEW World Trios Championship, instead having to source work in NJPW with the G1 to finally pop back on the radar. Well now, he’s no longer sitting around in wait for others to give him opportunities. He’s taking them by force. Seeing as he beat Tetsuya Naito in the G1 yet Tetsuya’s been confirmed for WK’s main event without even defending his case against him, he’s decided he’s going to enter the match through his own means. He wants Shingo for the title! For his title. And until he gets his match, he’s not returning the strap.
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Collision (November 4, 2023)
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PAC vs CIMA
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With PAC and Shingo’s obvious connection to Dragongate, The Bastard wrestles an exhibition match against one of the standout names who made his name there, CIMA! Tied to the early days of AEW’s legacy, the veteran reminds the world of his immense talent here, wrestling a very DG-style high-speed match, PAC matching him every step of the way. Though he gives him a solid fight, a Brutaliser cuts things mercifully short, PAC keeping it in until after the bell!
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PAC def. CIMA (10:05)
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PAC briefly pausing to snatch up the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and raise it over his head, before going back to stomping out CIMA… HE’S INTERRUPTED BY SHINGO’S MUSIC!!! Takagi bolting out, the Black Arrow cuts his losses and flees, leaving the belt behind as Shingo checks on CIMA, hissing with anger. Reclaiming his belt, he tells PAC he’s on!
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Full Gear (November 12, 2023)
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Shingo Takagi (c) vs PAC - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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PAC’s first match outside WWE pitting him against Shingo in tag team action in Takagi’s final matches with Dragongate before signing with NJPW, they finally cross paths again in singles action for the first time since 2011, the Dragon having won all 3 past encounters. Two of the most intense wrestlers around, there’s no shortage of aggression between the two, Takagi raring for revenge on PAC for stealing his moment, and PAC simply wanting to ruin everyone’s lives for the betterment of his own.
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Tearing into each other for the better part of half an hour, PAC is absolutely feral here, not letting this rare opportunity go to waste one bit, giving the champion all sorts of hell. Shingo, seeing some Ospreay in the Bastard, gives him the same respect he does his toughest rival, though the comparison only sets PAC off further, teasing introducing the title belt itself into the match, only to spike Shingo with a Tornado DDT off the distraction! Nailing the BLACK ARROW on the Dragon, he hooks the leg! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
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Or is it? PAC thinks he’s won the title, elated, only to turn around to the referee pointing on Shingo’s leg on the ropes! It’s Neville/Rollins all over again! If PAC was thought to have lost it so far, the depths he reaches at this point are undefinable, nailing every last trick in the book he knows before wrenching in THE BRUTALISER! Wanting to submit Shingo like he did CIMA, he puts him on the brink of passing out, but unlike the Flower of Evil, Takagi’s simply too strong for PAC, managing to shake him off, before eventually nailing the LAST OF THE DRAGON!!! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
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Shingo Takagi (c) def. PAC to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (25:13)
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Though PAC lost at Full Gear, by the manner which he eyes Shingo and his title when leaving the ring, it’s clear matters are not yet over between them. However, for now, Takagi has the remaining month until January 4 to focus on. With Naito winning at Power Struggle in a tag match pitting him and Hiromu against Ospreay and Akira, El Ingobernable has all the momentum he needs behind him, though what lies between now and Tokyo Dome surprises him.
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With Dragongate’s 20th Year Anniversary celebrations coming up, one of the most heated rivalries in the company’s history is revisited when Shingo’s called out by BxB Hulk! Their last interaction seeing them team up in the penultimate match of DG’s final big show of 2022 to great success in a surprise return by Takagi, Hulk now wants a shot at beating Shingo exactly one year later, seeing the title on his shoulder as a means of proving himself better than Takagi’s best version ever.
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Naturally accepting an opportunity to knock Hulk’s head off once more, the blockbuster main event is set for The Final Gate, but before then, Hulk invites him and Naito to a preview tag match, knowing he can milk the uncomfortable setting and watch Shingo suffer by it. Though not pleased at the thought, Takagi does inform Tetsuya, who agrees to help him, better together than at each other’s throats.
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Dragongate The Gate of Origin (December 10, 2023)
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Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs GOLD CLASS (BxB Hulk & Ben-K)
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Three of DG’s greats and one NJPW pillar all in the same ring, it’s as blockbuster a match as can be, the four megastars putting on a thrilling showcase of their talents, the beloved Shingo especially getting the spotlight to Naito’s subtle annoyance, no longer the most popular man in the building. Nonetheless, with a crucial match less than one month away, LIJ are at their best even with their issues, the Destino/Pumping Bomber combo to Ben-K getting the win, though Naito making a point to be the one making the cover as Shingo is left to lock eyes with Hulk.
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Los Ingobernables de Japon def. GOLD CLASS (21:35)
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Dragongate The Final Gate (December 17, 2023)
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Shingo Takagi vs BxB Hulk XIV
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A history built on friendship, betrayal, and subsequent hatred, the arrogant detestable Shingo and the adored underdog Hulk have long grown since their last match 5 years ago, Takagi currently his company’s frontman and BxB still hanging on in his 40’s for DG. With Shingo having never beaten Hulk with a World Title over his shoulder, BxB having done so twice to him, The Dragon channels every last fiery breath of his into silencing his career rival for good, knocking Hulk around the arena and into the ring post like the old days, even playing it heelish at points, ever the superstar Hulk always wished to be. And after a thoroughly personal trip down memory lane, 20 years of DG tip in favour of the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, who puts Hulk down for good! In a show of respect after the match, Takagi bows to Hulk, entrusting the people to him as he turns his attention back to his new home.
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Shingo Takagi def. BxB Hulk (26:11)
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Road To Tokyo Dome - Night Two (December 23, 2023)
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Also on the tour:
CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii) (c) vs United Empire (Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare) - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
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Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji & Titan) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)
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One final stop on the road to Wrestle Kingdom, and it’s arguably the most important one yet. With Shingo and Naito’s divide over leadership growing only stronger by the minute, what started as being mediated by LIJ has now turned into them being forced to pick sides against their wills. Takagi’s grown tired of existing in Naito’s shadow despite holding the title, believing he’s more cut out to lead them, receiving support from his fellow newer class of LIJ blood, Yota Tsuji, as well as another recent recruit in Titan. However, Naito’s still the familia’s franchise to the group’s OGs, Hiromu and BUSHI letting loyalty speak for itself by siding with their leader in his bid to end his 3-year chase for the title currently around Takagi’s waist. Battlelines drawn, the blockbuster showdown closes out the Road To Tokyo Dome tour!
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Brute force colliding with agility, the familial bond between LIJ only continues to be blurred as Shingo and Naito bark out orders to their respective teammates, directing traffic in this psychological warfare grown physical. It’s a slow build of the tempo until the crescendo of Shingo and Naito finally touching for the first time since the G1 Finals is reached, Tetsuya leaning heavily on his mind games whilst Takagi simply throws mean bombs, adamant to finally prove he’s better than his leader. Not overexposing their strategies too much, the match ultimately sees Naito nail Titan with the Destino to win, once more having the last laugh over Shingo!
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Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji & Titan) (17:20)
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In a final press conference heading into Wrestle Kingdom 18, Takagi and Naito share their thoughts on the upcoming match. Shingo declares that NJPW is no longer about Tetsuya, who squandered countless valuable opportunities between Takagi losing and regaining the title, those matches proving his days are over. He may not be the archetype Okada is, he may not be the fan favourite Naito is, he may not be the international star Ospreay is, but damn it, he doesn’t care for any of that. He's walking into New Japan’s biggest show of the year as champion, and he’s walking out of it as champion, simple as.
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As for Naito, he muses that this could very well be his last moment in the Sun, the result of the match dictating the direction his career goes. Either he wins and reclaims his spot atop NJPW, getting to have the run the pandemic robbed him of. Or he loses on the grandest stage and leaves with nothing… but that’s not happening. He’s beaten Shingo both times they’ve fought and he doesn’t plan on dropping the third. But that’s not just because the title’s on the line. It’s the topic Shingo’s smartly chosen to avoid speaking on. He’d be a fool to think his spot isn’t under threat. EVIL betrayed him. SANADA did too. There’s nothing stopping Shingo from doing it either… so it’s up to him to chop down the Hydra before the issue persists. He loves LIJ and he loves Shingo, but this moment is about him and everything he’s sacrificed, so he asks Takagi to not take it to heart when Naito takes what’s long overdue his.
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Wrestle Kingdom 18 (January 4, 2024)
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Also on the show:
NEVER Openweight Championship: Jeff Cobb (c) vs Ren Narita
NJPW World Television Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Taichi
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (c) vs Mike Bailey
PAC vs Hiromu Takahashi
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (c) vs TMDK
IWGP United States Championship: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Will Ospreay
Kazuchika Okada vs Kaito Kiyomiya III
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Shingo Takagi (c) vs Tetsuya Naito III - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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As blockbuster as it gets on the Tokyo Dome stage, two LIJ members close out the night for the very first time in Naito’s home city! Two men that go back to their days together in high school, none of that matters now, the title all they care about. Dressed to the nines, Naito emerges from a helicopter like a true Ingobernable, sporting a black suit to represent his Dark Ace persona, an entire army of LIJ supporters backing him from the stage.
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Before their first match, Naito declared he wanted to face a Shingo that could feasibly take LIJ from him and now more than ever he’s going to get it, but perhaps should be careful what he wishes for. Winning their past two matches, all he needs to do is replicate the feat one more time. Speak of the champ, Takagi emerges from the mouth of a Dragon’s lair, fireballs rising along the stage, Shingo in an all red regal fit, ready to spill blood. Losing to Okada two years ago when he was in this position, it’s about redemption for him and proving to his leader the future of LIJ is now, old man.
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Once Naito slowly strips down out of his suit and Shingo sheds his skin, handing over the strap, the January 4 main event gets underway! It’s typical Naito behaviour from the jump, stalling for the opening minute as both men absorb the feel of the cheering crowd, split down the middle between the ways LIJ could go. Shingo’s stoic whilst Tetsuya smirks, sending some words Takagi’s way, before raising the LIJ fist! But Shingo rocks him with a jab!
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A quick feeling out process sees Shingo gain the momentary upper hand off a rough Shoulder Tackle, only to turn into a Flying Forearm Smash from Naito! Tetsuya goes wild on Takagi with blows, the Dragon simply absorbing them, shaking them off and letting out a roar after another Shoulder Tackle! But Naito skids off the mat this time and recovers into his Tranquilo Pose instead, drawing the ire of Takagi!
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Shingo smacks him with a boot to the cheek, backing Naito into the corner where he goes ham with piston strikes to the body, a CORNER BOMBER whiplashing Naito’s head against the turnbuckle! Swiping out the legs, he mocks Naito’s “Abre Los Ojos” taunt, going for Tetsuya’s COMBINACION CABRON! Naito has it scouted however, stopping the closing Mule Kick by snapping Takagi against the top rope with a SWINGING NECKBREAKER! TORNADO DDT crunches him on his dome, Shingo kicking out at 2!
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Firing up, Takagi demands for more, Naito shrugging as he teases another Flying Forearm Smash, only to slip behind into the POLVO DE ESTRELLA COVER! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT! Shingo doesn’t even have time to chew Naito out for doing the complete opposite as asked, instantly being rolled into a SICK DRAGON SUPLEX ON THE DRAGON! Takagi clutches his neck as Naito grins at him, now following up with a COMBINACION CABRON of his own, telling Shingo not to steal if he can’t take the fire himself!
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Takagi dazed, Naito scales up top for a MISSILE DROPKICK- TAKAGI TURNS HIM INSIDE-OUT MIDAIR WITH A PUMPING BOMBER!!! NOSHIGAMI! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT! Battering him with a Pumping Combo, chops and punches blister and bruise Tetsuya’s body, before a HIGH-ANGLE GERMAN DROPS HIM ON HIS NECK!!! Shingo looks satisfied with himself as he sits in his cross-legged pose… BUT NAITO RISES UP BEHIND HIM!
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Rolling Wheel Kick to the back of the head snaps Takagi out of dream state as Tetsuya rallies with a series of forearms, before testing his luck with a PUMPING BOMBER OF HIS OWN! SHINGO SHRUGS IT OFF, PISSED! Realising he messed up, Naito tries to escape the Dragon’s wrath, but Shingo grabs him by the trunks to pull him back into a MADE IN JAPAN attempt! Tetsuya frantically fights free with back elbows to the neck, ONLY TO BE SPUN AROUND INTO A DRAGON SOUL LARIAT, NAITO ROCKED TO HIS CORE!
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Naito collapsing outside, a TOPE CON HILO wipes him out! Shingo ragdolls his stablemate about ringside, hurling him from post-to-pillar, though a GUARDRAIL POWERBOMB is countered into a NECKBREAKER ON THE STEEL! ESPERANZA ON THE FLOOR BY NAITO! Shingo nursing the neck, Naito tosses him in and recovers for a moment, before heading up top, CONNECTING THE MISSILE DROPKICK! AND A GLORIA!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Shingo in the drop zone, Naito teases the RUNNING DESTINO, but Takagi catches him, TRYING FOR A FIRE THUNDER DRIVER!!! Tetsuya scrabbles like a cat falling out a tree, whacking Shingo in the nose with his boot to free himself! A stiff forearm connects with the damaged neck, but as Naito goes for a German, Takagi beats it and folds him with a SAITO SUPLEX! LEGEND FALCONRY CONNECTS!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NAITO SURVIVES!!!
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Tetsuya in a dream state, Shingo clubs him with clotheslines, a YUKON LARIAT cleaning him off his feet! Grabbing him by the scruff, Takagi pulls him up… HOOKING AN STO, WANTING EVERYTHING IS EVIL!!! His cheeky smirk is wiped off by an EYE RAKE though, Naito furiously exploding with punches and a mouthful of SPIT in Shingo’s face, showing what he thinks of LIJ’s first traitor!
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Knocking Shingo down with his own lariat, he sets up a SWING DESTINO, but Takagi grabs his leg! Naito tries to fight him off, though Shingo’s too powerful, yanking him into a draped position in the ropes! Heading to the adjacent corner, he climbs as Naito pulls himself up in hopes of freeing himself… COAST-TO-COAST BOMBER NAILS NAITO!!! MADE IN JAPAN!!! ONE! TWO! THR-ANOTHER CLOSE CALL!!!
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Shingo roars, setting up the LAST OF THE DRAGON- NAITO COUNTERS INTO A SURPRISE DESTINO!!! Takagi crashing on the bad neck, he’s jelly-legged as Tetsuya bumrushes him with forearms, though as he kneels to counter another DESTINO, Naito dumps him with a GERMAN INSTEAD! AND A RUNNING DESTINOOOOOOOOO!!! ONE! TWO! THR-SHINGO GETS THE SHOULDER UP!!! Naito cracks Takagi with headbutts, but it only angers the bull, who launches one back despite the neck!
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Tetsuya winces and smirks through the pain, knowing this hurts Shingo more than him, the Dragon remaining prideful with each counter headbutt, UNTIL A POISONED FRANKENSTEINER SPIKES HIM! SKULL END!!! Naito’s embracing the trauma! Keeping it in deep for a few moments as Takagi struggles, Tetsuya promptly lets go and looks at the turnbuckles… RAISING HIS FIST TO THE SKY, HE WANTS A STARDUST PRESS!!! Shades of his matches with Okada in the Dome, Naito goes for the Hail Mary… IT MISSES!!! TAKAGI GETS HIM UP FOR A LAST OF THE DRAGON!!! HE FINALLY HITS IT AFTER FAILING BOTH PAST MATCHES!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Takagi’s taken aback, certain it was the piece of the equation he’d been missing. Angered, he knocks his own brutal forearms into Naito’s non-existent neck, an AXE BOMBER KNOCKING HIM DOWN! Naito gasping for air, a SICKENING DRAGON SOUL LARIAT follows! Now staggered himself, he throws wild, yet feeble shots, missing Shingo each time as he pops up his foe. Looking him dead in the eyes, Shingo hits off the ropes once, twice, thrice… PUMPING BOMBERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Scooping him up for another LAST OF THE DRAGON… NAITO COUNTERS WITH A VALENTIA!!!
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Both men down, Tokyo goes nuts as they slowly pull themselves up using each other, butting heads! Trading blows again, a Dragon Soul rocks Naito, BUT HE THROWS ONE BACK! AND A FOREARM! A HEADBUTT! Naito runs the ropes, but so does Shingo, once, twice, thrice, TORNADO DD- PUMPING BOMBER!!! Grabbing the wrist from behind, TAKAGI WANTS THE RIPCORD BOMBER!!! BUT NAITO WITH A DESTINOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Now Naito’s in shock, mere inches from the win! Seeing his hometown on their feet for him, new life rushes through him, nodding to himself as he sets up again the DESTINO! Shingo throws his body weight forwards though, both men collapsing to the apron! Trading punches, it’s the HEADBUTT which subdues Takagi, his neck in sheer agony! AND NOW NAITO WANTS THE APRON DESTINO INSTEAD… SHINGO SHOVES HIM OFF! APRON CANADIAN DESTROYER!!! REVENGE FOR THE 2019 G1!!!
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Naito’s eyes are glazed over, all the years of abuse to his own neck catching up to him! Takagi hoists him up, seating him on the turnbuckle, before raising his own fist skywards! Meeting Tetsuya up there, who gives one last fight with forearms to the neck, a DRAGON SOUL silences him! Grabbing the wrist, Shingo picks him up on top of the world… STAY DREAM!!! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
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Shingo Takagi (c) def. Tetsuya Naito to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (40:40)
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It’s over. Once more, Naito’s championship dreams have been shattered into stardust as Takagi finally scores the win that’s eluded him throughout his NJPW run! Tokyo’s a stunned silence as they watch Shingo be handed his title, holding his hand high as Tetsuya lays still on the mat. Is Naito truly finished? LIJ pour out, Hiromu and BUSHI rushing to check on the Stardust Genius, while Yota and Titan check on Takagi as he suddenly stumbles back into the corner, clutching his neck.
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As Naito’s helped to his feet, there’s a standstill between the two halves of LIJ as they stare each other down, intensity stemming from Shingo and Naito. Takagi pushes Yota and Titan aside, stepping forward whilst nursing his neck, Naito doing the same, butting heads with the Dragon again! …But then a smirk appears on Naito’s face, raising high the LIJ fist! And Shingo smirks back, raising his own to meet it! AND THEY EMBRACE!
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What was thought to be the war that could fracture LIJ in half forever has only brought its two strongest members closest together! Grabbing a mic, Naito congratulates Shingo for finally beating him. He knew this day would eventually come, and he couldn’t be prouder of his friend. Though this loss stings him, the journey is never over him, and rest assured, he’ll be coming back for the throne, rested and healthy again, Naito winking at Takagi as he says so, who reciprocates with an inviting grin.
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But right now is not about him. In fact, he may not even be long for the wrestling world with the condition his neck and knees are in. That’s why he’d like to make an announcement. From henceforth, he’s no longer the sole leader of LIJ. He wants Shingo to lead beside him! Takagi’s stunned by the offer, but Naito insists, explaining that though EVIL and SANADA were corrupted by greed for power, it was never about that to him. LIJ is his family, and he only wants what’s best for them. If that means Takagi calling the shots when he’s unable to, he’ll do that. Shingo gives him a bow of acceptance!
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LIJ all smiles, united stronger than ever, Naito beckons them all to the centre of the ring, before gesturing to Takagi to cement his leadership by doing the roll-call! Takagi nodding, he accepts the mic from him and raises his fist to the sky as everyone follows… but right as he’s about to speak, the crowd bursts into gasps which catches Shingo’s attention, as OUT WALKS PAC!!!
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Having hunted down and beaten LIJ members since his loss to Shingo, he snarls as he stalks his way to the ring, LIJ falling into defensive position! Stepping inside, he looks them left to right, scowling at their clenched fists, before raising his mic. He says that ever since he set foot in NJPW at the G1 Climax, he’s been a man possessed with his goal to take what he’s been deprived of. He stomped out Naito, he stole Shingo’s belt, he just beat Hiromu earlier in the night… yet none of that has left him satisfied the way he thought it would. It had him thinking the question – why?
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And then he realised. LIJ isn’t the enemy. They’re misfits, just like him. Oppressed, just like him. He banded together Death Triangle in the face of The Elite, but now, he seeks a far greater position. With contract negotiations having come up, his 5-year AEW deal finally expiring, he’s opted for one that’ll allow him to work both AEW and NJPW, covering his bases so he doesn’t go unbooked anymore. And with these recent matches causing him to gain respect for the Ingobernables and their unrestrained manner of operations, he knows from experience that if you wish to rise to the top in Japan… it’s good to have allies. Tossing his mic aside, PAC RAISES HIS FIST TO THE SKY!
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LIJ’s taken aback by the gesture from the Bastard that’s almost tried to tear them apart in the past months as much as they have themselves… BUT SHINGO RECIPROCATES TO HIS DRAGONGATE BROTHER! AND NOW HIROMU! YOTA! TITAN! BUSHI! AND NAITO!!! Raising his mic back up, Shingo declares “TITAN! BUSHI! TSUJI! HIROMU! NAITO! PAC! Y SHINGO! NOSOTROS… LOS INNNNGOBERRRNAAAABLESSSSSSS DE JA-PON!!!”. Tickertape explodes from the turnbuckles as Tokyo erupts into cheers, LIJ closing the show a united family again!
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New Year Dash!! (January 5, 2024)
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Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, PAC, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI) vs Sabre-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr., El Phantasmo, TMDK, El Desperado, Kosei Fujita)
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As usual, the night after Wrestle Kingdom is rife with excitement and new beginnings, and at the centre of it all lies the age-old rivalry between LIJ and Zack Sabre Jr.! Fresh off losing his Television Championship to Taichi after a year-long reign, he immediately sets his sights on the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, a victory here sure to propel him to the top. And with LIJ finally back to being a cohesive, functioning family again, their redefined chemistry is put up to the test here.
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Batting off the initial concerns of another blow-up, the rebels have never been more in sync than now under Naito and Shingo’s shared guidance, the added element of PAC only further helping than hindering. Still, Sabre-Gun is menacing, a driven Sabre sicking his troops on the opposition like the masterful general he is, yet to his annoyance, the crowd remain enamoured by the Bastard, who taps out Fujita to the Brutaliser as he stares down the Technical Wizard, sending a statement!
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Los Ingobernables de Japon def. Sabre-Gun (18:07)
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Whilst ZSJ throws a fit, promising LIJ they haven’t seen the last of him as he leaves with Sabre-Gun, LIJ raise their fists to the sky with Shingo returning the favour from last night by letting Naito do the roll-call this time, grins all around. That is… until the coin drops. HERE COMES OKADA! Turning to Naito, Shingo gives him the nod that he’s got this sorted, Tetsuya tipping his cap back and taking LIJ away with him to give the two space as the rivals lock eyes.
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Mic in hand, Okada runs down Shingo, calling his reign an insult to NJPW, despising the Dragon’s prideful embracement of his Dragongate past when he should be representing their company. With Okada’s trilogy against Kaito finished in his favour, playtime’s over and the Rainmaker’s come back knocking for his crown, having beaten Shingo in the G1. Shingo, remembering how his last reign ended… accepts! Butting heads with Okada, he warns him he’s even more dangerous now, so he shouldn’t expect to walk away with his gold this time.
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Wrestle Kingdom 18 in Yokohama Arena (January 21, 2024)
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Shingo Takagi (c) vs Kazuchika Okada VI - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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In the past year, Okada’s descent into madness has seen embark on an emerald voyage to kill off any outsider or youngster eyeballing his spot, even brutally exiling members from CHAOS to reshape it into men who fit his regime. Seeing Takagi as low-life scum, he’s adamant to ‘fix’ NJPW again so that his efforts from last year don’t go to waste, knowing the continued deviance LIJ’s control will cause from his ‘purer’ path. Shingo, on the other hand, has been collecting milestones, from finally beating Ospreay for the title, to finally knocking off Naito to affirm his spot at LIJ’s top and win a January 4 main event to redeem his loss two years prior against the man who now stands in his way again, the only natural next bucket list item hence being beating Okada back on the WK stage.
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A gruelling war over New Japan’s vision spans over the next half hour (akin to the classic they’d actually have at New Beginning 2023), Okada mercilessly dumping Shingo over and over again on the neck Naito had loosened up, whilst Takagi holds his own more than he ever has in the past, blistering the Ace with lariats that leave welts all over! The first RAINMAKER hits like a gunshot though, damn near taking Shingo out, yet he keeps fighting through the damaged neck! MADE IN JAPAN has Okada rethinking his decisions to challenge, and a STAY DREAM tease almost gets him!
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A vicious TOMBSTONE drills him on the floor though, sending spasms down from his neck to his limbs, another RAINMAKER pushing him to his last legs! As Okada preps one final one… TAKAGI NAILS HIS OWN RIPCORD BOMBER!!! The FIRE THUNDER DRIVER now has Kazu reeling himself, and a LAST OF THE DRAGON scores a mighty near-fall! OKADA RESPONDS WITH ONE OF HIS OWN, GETTING SHINGO BACK FOR THE RIPCORD!!! Inching closer and closer to the vaunted third Rainmaker, Okada has Shingo’s neck in dire straits with the Money Clip, but as he finally swings… TAKAGI CATCHES IT! ANOTHER LAST OF THE DRAGON!!! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
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Shingo Takagi (c) def. Kazuchika Okada to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (32:07)
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Despite the odds stacked against him, Shingo’s managed to tie his score against Okada, 3-3, avenging his WK heartbreak from 2022, whilst Kazu’s grip on New Japan continues to falter, the ungovernables wrecking his ideal world. Refusing to let them slip however, LIJ and CHAOS continue to feud into the New Beginning tour, where a massive tag is set up pitting Shingo & Naito against Okada & Tanahashi!
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The New Beginning in Sapporo - Night Two (January 28, 2024)
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Also on the tour:
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: CHAOS (SHO & Taiji Ishimori) (c) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)
Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs KENTA - IWGP United States Championship
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Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs CHAOS (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada)
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With Hiromu & BUSHI dethroning SHO & Taiji last night, matters are even more tense now in the power struggle between the stables. Endless shared history between these four men, it clearly shows with the animosity they greet each other with, Takagi and Okada continuing their war from Yokohama as Naito continues to drift further every day from the man he used to resemble in Tanahashi.
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Tetsuya manages to get some well-earned revenge against the man who withheld the World Title from him throughout 2022, Okada, a Destino/Bomber showing Naito and Takagi to be fully in tune again, but when a Twist and Shout to Shingo’s neck takes him out, it’s down to Naito and Tanahashi again! Tetsuya trying to recover some momentum to speed up his rise back to challenging Shingo, he gives Hiroshi his all, though the Dragon Screws prove too much for his bad knees, a TEXAS CLOVERLEAF submitting him!
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CHAOS def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (21:15)
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With Tanahashi’s win over the LIJ leader duo, he calls out Shingo in a post-show interview, saying it’s been 3 years since he’s had a chance to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, his last match notably enough coming against Shingo himself. He’s not getting any younger as it seems and he wants nothing more than one last run at the top… so for the sake of sparing the company he broke his back for the past two decades from LIJ’s undesirable direction, he wishes to bring gold back to CHAOS! Record level 1-1 between the two, Takagi fearlessly accepts, setting up a blockbuster showdown for Osaka!
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The New Beginning in Osaka (February 10, 2024)
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Also on the show:
KUSHIDA (c) vs YOH - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
TMDK (c) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (PAC & Yota Tsuji) - IWGP Tag Team Championship
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) (c) vs CHAOS (SHO & Taiji Ishimori) vs SixorNine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) - IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
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Shingo Takagi (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi III - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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3 years ago on the New Beginning tour, Shingo and Tanahashi met for the first time, the Ace of the Universe taking the NEVER Openweight Championship from him, before Takagi returned the favour 6 months later, keeping the World Title from Hiroshi. Now, in a war of ideologies, they settle the score! Even at 47, Tana’s flamboyant as ever in his entrance, turning back the clocks with a full rockstar entrance as women swoon over the Japanese God. Shingo’s comparatively humble in his entrance, glaring taped-up neck keeping his head bowed, yet nostrils flaring, ready for battle.
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It's a classic Tanahashi start, slapping on the headlock to grind down his foe, only now it means that much more with the condition of Shingo’s neck. As Hiroshi reaches for Takagi’s tape, Shingo butts into his chest with his shoulder to shove him off and fires up a Pumping Combo! Chop, punch, chop, punch, chop, punc- DRAGON-STYLE HARITE FROM TANA KNOCKS THE TASTE OUT OF SHINGO’S MOUTH! Takagi doubled over, Hiroshi hammers elbows into his exposed neck, a Low Dropkick cutting him down and a Neckbreaker flooring him for 2!
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Heading to the middle rope, a SOMERSAULT SENTON BOMB is evaded, Tana crashing on his back! Now Shingo blasts him with the ground and pound! A Knee Drop sits Hiroshi up, before a SLIDING D knocks him back down for 2! Whipping Tana into the corner, a CORNER BOMBER heads his way like a missile, but a Big Boot and a HIGH FLY ATTACK cuts him off, before Tana strums the air guitar!
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He grabs the waist, but a Snap DDT stops him, an ORIGINAL FALCONRY from Shingo slamming him down! Beating Tana’s chest like a drum, he guillotines him in the ropes with a PUMPING BREAKER! A Gallon Throw attempt follows, but Tana spins around into a FALL IN LOVE PIN! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT! And before Shingo can do anything, Hiroshi nails the head with a Low Dropkick! HASE-STYLE URANAGE SPIKES HIM ON HIS NECK!!!
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Hurt, Takagi collapses to the outside, prompting Tana to spear the Dragon into the guardrail with a DRAGON ROCKET! Climbing the ropes, Hiroshi measures for a HIGH FLY FLOW- CAUGHT ON SHINGO’S SHOULDERS!!! DEATH VALLEY BOMB ON THE FLOOR!!! The back that once carried NJPW now sears in agony as Takagi rolls him in, a SOL DE JAPON CONNECTING! Smacking a Dragon Soul Lariat off him, a HIGH-ANGLE BELLY-TO-BACK SUPLEX DROPS TANA! ONE! TWO! THR-NO DICE!
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Loading the Ace of the Universe onto his shoulders, he nails a BUCKLE BOMB… BUT TANA EXPLODES BACK WITH A SLING BLADE!!! Both downed for a moment, Tana beats a Yukon Lariat with a SNAP DRAGON SUPLEX! Shingo seeing stars, Tana grabs him for another, but Takagi desperately fights him off, ONLY FOR A DARUMA-SHIKI GERMAN SUPLEX TO FLOOR HIM!!! ONE! TWO! THR-SHINGO STAYS IN!
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Tana tries to get a hold of the neck, but Takagi turtles and kicks him away, prompting Tana to secure the leg instead, connecting a DRAGON SCREW! Shingo hobbling to his feet, a TWIST AND SHOUT awaits him! Hiroshi rolls through for seconds, but now Takagi grabs his leg and RETURNS A DRAGON SCREW!!! Tana’s famously bad knees give way, Shingo now with free reign to stomp the chest, before hoisting him into a MICHINOKU DRIVER II! Heading up, he winds up the DIVING BOMBER, but taking too long, Tana cuts him off!
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Beating on Shingo’s exposed neck, he drapes him from the top rope… AND SNAPS HIM INTO A VICIOUS DRAGON SCREW NECK WHIP!!! Takagi’s head damn near popping off, Tana quickly grabs a DRAGON SLEEPER and starts swinging him around Giant Swing style! Slamming him into the mat after 10 rotations, Tana glides up top… NAILING THE HIGH FLY FLOW!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Securing the wrists, Tana goes for a RYUGOYE like last time… TAKAGI CATCHES IT! MADE IN JAPAN!!! Hiroshi smartly rolls away to the ropes before Takagi can cover though, leaving both men to nurse their wounds. Meeting in the middle, they bounce elbows off each other’s skulls, TANA CRACKING SHINGO WITH A HEADBUTT!!! TAKAGI RETURNS ONE, DROPPING HIROSHI!!! Battering the back, he tries for a LAST OF THE DRAGON- SLING BLADE FROM TANA!!!
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As the Pumping Hawk rises, Tana cracks a swift TWIST AND SHOUT, before nailing ANOTHER SLING BLADE!!! Back turned to Takagi, Tanahashi’s confident he’s got him… BUT HE TURNS INTO A PUMPING BOMBER!!! Hiroshi rocked, Shingo hits the ropes a few times, before firing off a PUMPING BOMBER THAT TURNS HIM INSIDE OUT!!! Now grabbing the wrist, he teases the Ripcord variant, but Tana counters with the SLING BLADE!!!
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Returning up top, Tana crashes into Shingo with a STANDING HIGH FLY FLOW!!! Going back up for seconds, he looks over his kingdom… but Takagi grabs his leg! Tana tries kicking him off, but Shingo pulls himself up, trading blows with Hiroshi! He eats a Headbutt to the neck but firms it, wrecking Tana’s back with punches… BEFORE NAILING AN AVALANCHE EXPLODER ’98!!! LAST OF THE DRAGON!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Gritting his teeth, Shingo winds the arm, going for a PUMPING BOMBER, but Tana just collapses under! Takagi stomps over to him, only to fall into a SMALL PACKAGE! ONE! TWO! THR-TAKAGI KICKS OUT! SLING BLADE!!! Tana attempts a BRAINBUSTER, but the back gives out, letting Takagi fall into the ropes and rebound with a PUMPING BOMBER!!! Securing the Double Hammerlock, he nails a TAKAGI DRIVER ’98!!! ONE! TWO! THR-TANAHASHI WITH A FOOT ON THE ROPES!!!
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Shingo’s at a loss, but in this game of natural progression, he looks to replicate his WK success, smacking Dragon Souls off Tana, before another PUMPING BOMBER flooring him! Dragging him up the ropes with him, he wants the STAY DREAM… but it left his neck exposed, Tana raining down 12-6 elbows on it! Shingo forced to let go, he instead trades forearms with Hiroshi, but a HEADBUTT knocks him down this time into a prone position! Tana in perfect position, HE NAILS THE HIGH FLY FLOW TO THE BACK!!! Rolling Shingo over, Tana heads back up… HIGH FLY FLOW!!! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
​
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Shingo Takagi (c) to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (35:36)
​
For the 9th time in his career, Tanahashi’s the World Champion! Shingo’s neck finally crumbling at his hands, the CHAOS regime is back on top! A remarkable reign from the Dragon, but he’s forced back into his cave. As Tana celebrates though, he doesn’t have to wait at all for competition to line up, KATSUYORI SHIBATA’S THEME HITTING! The fellow Three Musketeer losing his US Title earlier on the tour, he’s had a bone to pick with CHAOS for the past year since their exile of the likes of Goto, who have since been in his corner as part of the Takeover faction. The two long-time rivals staring each down, Tana raises his title with a grin, as Shibata returns a murderous look!
submitted by InfernoAA to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 02:27 BentisKomprakriev Cannes-winners and the Oscar (AKA the most disgusting chart you'll see today)

Year Palme d'Or Grand Prix Jury Prize
1975 Chronicle of the Years of Fire The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1976 Taxi Driver Cría Cuervos 🪢 The Marquise of O
1977 Padre Padrone
1978 The Tree of Wooden Clogs Bye Bye Monkey 🪢 The Shout
1979 Apocalypse Now 🪢 🪙The Tin Drum🪙 Siberiade
1980 All That Jazz 🪢 Kagemusha My American Uncle The Constant Factor
1981 Man of Iron Light Years Away
1982 Missing 🪢 Yol The Night of the Shooting Stars
1983 The Ballad of Narayama Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Kharij
1984 Paris, Texas Diary for My Children
1985 When Father Was Away on Business Birdy Colonel Redl
1986 The Mission The Sacrifice Thérèse
1987 Under the Sun of Satan Repentance Shinran: Path to Purity 🪢 Yeelen
1988 Pelle the Conqueror A World Apart A Short Film About Killing
1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape 🪙Cinema Paradiso🪙 🪢 Too Beautiful for You Jesus of Montreal
1990 Wild at Heart The Sting of Death 🪢 Tilaï Hidden Agenda
1991 Barton Fink La Belle Noiseuse Europa 🪢 Out of Life
1992 The Best Intentions The Stolen Children Dream of Light 🪢 An Independent Life
1993 Farewell My Concubine 🪢 The Piano Faraway, So Close! The Puppetmaster 🪢 Raining Stones
1994 Pulp Fiction 🪙Burnt by the Sun🪙 🪢 To Live La Reine Margot
1995 Underground Ulysses' Gaze Don't Forget You're Going to Die 🪢 Carrington
1996 Secrets & Lies Breaking the Waves Crash
1997 The Eel 🪢 Taste of Cherry The Sweet Hereafter Western
1998 Eternity and a Day 🪙Life Is Beautiful🪙 Class Trip
1999 Rosetta Humanité The Letter
2000 Dancer in the Dark Devils on the Doorstep Blackboards 🪢 Songs from the Second Floor
2001 The Son's Room The Piano Teacher
2002 The Pianist The Man Without a Past Divine Intervention
2003 Elephant Distant At Five in the Afternoon
2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 Oldboy The Ladykillers 🪢 Tropical Malady
2005 The Child Broken Flowers Shanghai Dreams
2006 The Wind That Shakes the Barley Flanders Red Road
2007 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days The Mourning Forest Persepolis 🪢 Silent Light
2008 The Class Gomorrah Il divo
2009 The White Ribbon A Prophet Fish Tank 🪢 Thirst
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Of Gods and Men A Screaming Man
2011 The Tree of Life The Kid with a Bike 🪢 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Polisse
2012 🪙Amour🪙 Reality The Angels' Share
2013 Blue Is the Warmest Colour Inside Llewyn Davis Like Father, Like Son
2014 Winter Sleep The Wonders Goodbye to Language 🪢 Mommy
2015 Dheepan 🪙Son of Saul🪙 The Lobster
2016 I, Daniel Blake It's Only the End of the World American Honey
2017 The Square BPM (Beats per Minute) Loveless
2018 Shoplifters BlacKkKlansman Capernaum
2019 🪙🏆Parasite🏆🪙 Atlantics Bacurau 🪢 Les Misérables
2021 Titane Compartment No. 6 🪢 A Hero Ahed's Knee 🪢 Memoria
2022 Triangle of Sadness Stars at Noon 🪢 Close The Eight Mountains 🪢 EO
2023 Anatomy of a Fall The Zone of Interest Fallen Leaves
Year Best Actor Best Actress
1975 Vittorio Gassman – Scent of a Woman Valérie Perrine – Lenny
1976 José Luis Gómez – Pascual Duarte Dominique Sanda – The Inheritance 🪢 Mari Törőcsik – Mrs. Dery Where Are You?
1977 Fernando Rey – Elisa, My Life Shelley Duvall – 3 Women 🪢 Monique Mercure – J.A. Martin Photographer
1978 🏆Jon Voight – Coming Home🏆 Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman 🪢 Isabelle Huppert – Violette Nozière
1979 Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome 🪢 Stefano Madia – Dear Father 🏆Sally Field – Norma Rae🏆 🪢 Eva Mattes – Woyzeck
1980 Michel Piccoli – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Jack Thompson – Breaker Morant Anouk Aimée – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Milena Dravić – Special Treatment 🪢 Carla Gravina – La terrazza
1981 Ugo Tognazzi – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man 🪢 Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire Isabelle Adjani – Possession 🪢 Qaurtet 🪢 Elena Solovey – Faktas
1982 Jack Lemmon – Missing Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak – Another Way
1983 Gian Maria Volonté – The Death of Mario Ricci Hanna Schygulla – The Story of Piera
1984 Alfredo Landa 🪢 Francisco Rabal – The Holy Innocents Helen Mirren – Cal
1985 🏆William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman🏆 Norma Aleandro – The Official Story 🪢 Cher – Mask
1986 Michel Blanc – Ménage 🪢 Bob Hoskins – Mona Lisa Barbara Sukowa – Rosa Luxemburg
1987 Marcello Mastroianni – Dark Eyes Barbara Hershey – Shy People
1988 Forest Whitaker – Bird Barbara Hershey 🪢 Jodhi May 🪢 Linda Mvusi – A World Apart
1989 James Spader – Sex, Lies, and Videotape Meryl Streep – A Cry in the Dark
1990 Gérard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac Krystyna Janda – Interrogation
1991 John Turturro – Barton Fink 🪢 Samuel L. Jackson – Jungle Fever Irène Jacob – The Double Life of Veronique
1992 Tim Robbins – The Player Pernilla August – The Best Intentions
1993 David Thewlis – Naked 🏆Holly Hunter – The Piano🏆
1994 Ge You – To Live Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot
1995 Jonathan Pryce – Carrington Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
1996 Daniel Auteuil 🪢 Pascal Duquenne – The Eighth Day Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies
1997 Sean Penn – She's So Lovely Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth
1998 Peter Mullan – My Name Is Joe Élodie Bouchez 🪢 Natacha Régnier – The Dreamlife of Angels
1999 Emmanuel Schotté – Humanité Séverine Caneele – Humanité 🪢 Émilie Dequenne – Rosetta
2000 Tony Leung Chiu-wai – In the Mood for Love Björk – Dancer in the Dark
2001 Benoît Magimel – The Piano Teacher Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
2002 Olivier Gourmet – The Son Kati Outinen – The Man Without a Past
2003 Muzaffer Özdemir 🪢 Mehmet Emin Toprak – Distant Marie-Josée Croze – The Barbarian Invasions
2004 Yūya Yagira – Nobody Knows Maggie Cheung – Clean
2005 Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Hanna Laslo – Free Zone
2006 Roschdy Zem 🪢 Bernard Blancan 🪢 Jamel Debbouze 🪢 Samy Naceri 🪢 Sami Bouajila – Days of Glory Carmen Maura 🪢 Lola Dueñas 🪢 Blanca Portillo 🪢 Yohana Cobo 🪢 Chus Lampreave 🪢 Penélope Cruz – Volver
2007 Konstantin Lavronenko – The Banishment Jeon Do-yeon – Secret Sunshine
2008 Benicio del Toro – Che Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
2009 🏆Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds🏆 Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
2010 Javier Bardem – Biutiful 🪢 Elio Germano – Our Life Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
2011 🏆Jean Dujardin – The Artist🏆 Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
2012 Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt Cristina Flutur 🪢 Cosmina Stratan – Beyond the Hills
2013 Bruce Dern – Nebraska Bérénice Bejo – The Past
2014 Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
2015 Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi 🪢 Rooney Mara – Carol
2016 Shahab Hosseini – The Salesman Jaclyn Jose – Ma' Rosa
2017 Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here Diane Kruger – In the Fade
2018 Marcello Fonte – Dogman Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
2019 Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory Emily Beecham – Little Joe
2021 Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
2022 Song Kang-ho – Broker Zar Amir Ebrahimi – Holy Spider
2023 Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days Merve Dizdar – About Dry Grasses
Year Best Director Best Screenplay
1975 Michel Brault – Orders 🪢 Costa-Gavras – Special Section
1976 Ettore Scola – Down and Dirty
1977
1978 Nagisa Ōshima – Empire of Passion
1979 Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven
1980 La Terrazza – Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Ettore Scola
1981 🪙Mephisto🪙 – István Szabó
1982 Werner Herzog – Fitzcarraldo Moonlighting – Jerzy Skolimowski
1983 Robert Bresson – L'Argent 🪢 Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalgia Voyage to Cythera – Thanassis Valtinos, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra
1984 Bertrand Tavernier – A Sunday in the Country
1985 André Téchiné – Rendez-vous
1986 Martin Scorsese – After Hours
1987 Wim Wenders – Wings of Desire
1988 Fernando Solanas – Sur
1989 Emir Kusturica – Time of the Gypsies
1990 Pavel Lungin – Taxi Blues
1991 Joel Coen – Barton Fink
1992 Robert Altman – The Player
1993 Mike Leigh – Naked
1994 Nanni Moretti – Dear Diary Dead Tired – Michel Blanc
1995 Mathieu Kassovitz – La Haine
1996 Joel Coen – Fargo A Self Made Hero – Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry
1997 Wong Kar-wai – Happy Together The Ice Storm – James Schamus
1998 John Boorman – The General Henry Fool – Hal Hartley
1999 Pedro Almodóvar – All About My Mother Moloch – Yuri Arabov
2000 Edward Yang – Yi Yi Nurse Betty – James Flamberg, John C. Richards
2001 Joel Coen – The Man Who Wasn't There 🪢 David Lynch – Mulholland Drive No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
2002 Paul Thomas Anderson – Punch-Drunk Love 🪢 Im Kwon-taek – Painted Fire Sweet Sixteen – Paul Laverty
2003 Gus Van Sant – Elephant 🪙The Barbarian Invasions🪙 – Denys Arcand
2004 Tony Gatlif – Exils Look at Me – Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
2005 Michael Haneke – Caché The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
2006 Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
2007 Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Edge of Heaven – Fatih Akin
2008 Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys Lorna's Silence – Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne
2009 Brillante Mendoza – Butchered Spring Fever – Mei Feng
2010 Mathieu Amalric – On Tour Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
2011 Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive Footnote – Joseph Cedar
2012 Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux Beyond the Hills – Cristian Mungiu, Tatiana Niculescu Bran
2013 Amat Escalante – Heli A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhangke
2014 Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
2015 Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin Chronic – Michel Franco
2016 Olivier Assayas – Personal Shopper 🪢 Cristian Mungiu – Graduation 🪙The Salesman🪙 – Asghar Farhadi
2017 Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou 🪢 You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
2018 Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War 3 Faces – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar 🪢 Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
2019 Jean-Pierre 🪢 Luc Dardenne – Young Ahmed Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
2021 Leos Carax – Annette 🪙Drive My Car🪙 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
2022 Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave Boy from Heaven – Tarik Saleh
2023 Tran Anh Hung – The Pot-au-Feu Monster – Yuji Sakamoto
submitted by BentisKomprakriev to oscarrace [link] [comments]

2023.05.28 01:20 BentisKomprakriev m

Year Palme d'Or Grand Prix Jury Prize
1975 Chronicle of the Years of Fire The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1976 Taxi Driver Cría Cuervos 🪢 The Marquise of O
1977 Padre Padrone
1978 The Tree of Wooden Clogs Bye Bye Monkey 🪢 The Shout
1979 Apocalypse Now 🪢 🪙The Tin Drum🪙 Siberiade
1980 All That Jazz 🪢 Kagemusha My American Uncle The Constant Factor
1981 Man of Iron Light Years Away
1982 Missing 🪢 Yol The Night of the Shooting Stars
1983 The Ballad of Narayama Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Kharij
1984 Paris, Texas Diary for My Children
1985 When Father Was Away on Business Birdy Colonel Redl
1986 The Mission The Sacrifice Thérèse
1987 Under the Sun of Satan Repentance Shinran: Path to Purity 🪢 Yeelen
1988 Pelle the Conqueror A World Apart A Short Film About Killing
1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape 🪙Cinema Paradiso🪙 🪢 Too Beautiful for You Jesus of Montreal
1990 Wild at Heart The Sting of Death 🪢 Tilaï Hidden Agenda
1991 Barton Fink La Belle Noiseuse Europa 🪢 Out of Life
1992 The Best Intentions The Stolen Children Dream of Light 🪢 An Independent Life
1993 Farewell My Concubine 🪢 The Piano Faraway, So Close! The Puppetmaster 🪢 Raining Stones
1994 Pulp Fiction 🪙Burnt by the Sun🪙 🪢 To Live La Reine Margot
1995 Underground Ulysses' Gaze Don't Forget You're Going to Die 🪢 Carrington
1996 Secrets & Lies Breaking the Waves Crash
1997 The Eel 🪢 Taste of Cherry The Sweet Hereafter Western
1998 Eternity and a Day 🪙Life Is Beautiful🪙 Class Trip
1999 Rosetta Humanité The Letter
2000 Dancer in the Dark Devils on the Doorstep Blackboards 🪢 Songs from the Second Floor
2001 The Son's Room The Piano Teacher
2002 The Pianist The Man Without a Past Divine Intervention
2003 Elephant Distant At Five in the Afternoon
2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 Oldboy The Ladykillers 🪢 Tropical Malady
2005 L'Enfant Broken Flowers Shanghai Dreams
2006 The Wind That Shakes the Barley Flanders Red Road
2007 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days The Mourning Forest Persepolis 🪢 Silent Light
2008 The Class Gomorrah Il divo
2009 The White Ribbon A Prophet Fish Tank 🪢 Thirst
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Of Gods and Men A Screaming Man
2011 The Tree of Life The Kid with a Bike 🪢 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Polisse
2012 🪙Amour🪙 Reality The Angels' Share
2013 Blue Is the Warmest Colour Inside Llewyn Davis Like Father, Like Son
2014 Winter Sleep The Wonders Goodbye to Language 🪢 Mommy
2015 Dheepan 🪙Son of Saul🪙 The Lobster
2016 I, Daniel Blake It's Only the End of the World American Honey
2017 The Square BPM (Beats per Minute) Loveless
2018 Shoplifters BlacKkKlansman Capernaum
2019 🪙🏆Parasite🏆🪙 Atlantics Bacurau 🪢 Les Misérables
2021 Titane Compartment No. 6 🪢 A Hero Ahed's Knee 🪢 Memoria
2022 Triangle of Sadness Stars at Noon 🪢 Close The Eight Mountains 🪢 EO
2023 Anatomy of a Fall The Zone of Interest Fallen Leaves
Year Best Actor Best Actress
1975 Vittorio Gassman – Scent of a Woman Valérie Perrine – Lenny
1976 José Luis Gómez – Pascual Duarte Dominique Sanda – The Inheritance 🪢 Mari Törőcsik – Mrs. Dery Where Are You?
1977 Fernando Rey – Elisa, My Life Shelley Duvall – 3 Women 🪢 Monique Mercure – J.A. Martin Photographer
1978 🏆Jon Voight – Coming Home🏆 Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman 🪢 Isabelle Huppert – Violette Nozière
1979 Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome 🪢 Stefano Madia – Dear Father 🏆Sally Field – Norma Rae🏆 🪢 Eva Mattes – Woyzeck
1980 Michel Piccoli – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Jack Thompson – Breaker Morant Anouk Aimée – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Milena Dravić – Special Treatment 🪢 Carla Gravina – La terrazza
1981 Ugo Tognazzi – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man 🪢 Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire Isabelle Adjani – Possession 🪢 Qaurtet 🪢 Elena Solovey – Faktas
1982 Jack Lemmon – Missing Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak – Another Way
1983 Gian Maria Volonté – The Death of Mario Ricci Hanna Schygulla – The Story of Piera
1984 Alfredo Landa 🪢 Francisco Rabal – The Holy Innocents Helen Mirren – Cal
1985 🏆William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman🏆 Norma Aleandro – The Official Story 🪢 Cher – Mask
1986 Michel Blanc – Ménage 🪢 Bob Hoskins – Mona Lisa Barbara Sukowa – Rosa Luxemburg
1987 Marcello Mastroianni – Dark Eyes Barbara Hershey – Shy People
1988 Forest Whitaker – Bird Barbara Hershey 🪢 Jodhi May 🪢 Linda Mvusi – A World Apart
1989 James Spader – Sex, Lies, and Videotape Meryl Streep – A Cry in the Dark
1990 Gérard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac Krystyna Janda – Interrogation
1991 John Turturro – Barton Fink 🪢 Samuel L. Jackson – Jungle Fever Irène Jacob – The Double Life of Veronique
1992 Tim Robbins – The Player Pernilla August – The Best Intentions
1993 David Thewlis – Naked 🏆Holly Hunter – The Piano🏆
1994 Ge You – To Live Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot
1995 Jonathan Pryce – Carrington Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
1996 Daniel Auteuil 🪢 Pascal Duquenne – The Eighth Day Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies
1997 Sean Penn – She's So Lovely Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth
1998 Peter Mullan – My Name Is Joe Élodie Bouchez 🪢 Natacha Régnier – The Dreamlife of Angels
1999 Emmanuel Schotté – Humanité Séverine Caneele – Humanité 🪢 Émilie Dequenne – Rosetta
2000 Tony Leung Chiu-wai – In the Mood for Love Björk – Dancer in the Dark
2001 Benoît Magimel – The Piano Teacher Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
2002 Olivier Gourmet – The Son Kati Outinen – The Man Without a Past
2003 Muzaffer Özdemir 🪢 Mehmet Emin Toprak – Distant Marie-Josée Croze – The Barbarian Invasions
2004 Yūya Yagira – Nobody Knows Maggie Cheung – Clean
2005 Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Hanna Laslo – Free Zone
2006 Roschdy Zem 🪢 Bernard Blancan 🪢 Jamel Debbouze 🪢 Samy Naceri 🪢 Sami Bouajila – Days of Glory Carmen Maura 🪢 Lola Dueñas 🪢 Blanca Portillo 🪢 Yohana Cobo 🪢 Chus Lampreave 🪢 Penélope Cruz – Volver
2007 Konstantin Lavronenko – The Banishment Jeon Do-yeon – Secret Sunshine
2008 Benicio del Toro – Che Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
2009 🏆Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds🏆 Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
2010 Javier Bardem – Biutiful 🪢 Elio Germano – Our Life Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
2011 🏆Jean Dujardin – The Artist🏆 Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
2012 Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt Cristina Flutur 🪢 Cosmina Stratan – Beyond the Hills
2013 Bruce Dern – Nebraska Bérénice Bejo – The Past
2014 Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
2015 Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi 🪢 Rooney Mara – Carol
2016 Shahab Hosseini – The Salesman Jaclyn Jose – Ma' Rosa
2017 Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here Diane Kruger – In the Fade
2018 Marcello Fonte – Dogman Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
2019 Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory Emily Beecham – Little Joe
2021 Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
2022 Song Kang-ho – Broker Zar Amir Ebrahimi – Holy Spider
2023 Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days Merve Dizdar – About Dry Grasses
Year Best Director Best Screenplay
1975 Michel Brault – Orders 🪢 Costa-Gavras – Special Section
1976 Ettore Scola – Down and Dirty
1977
1978 Nagisa Ōshima – Empire of Passion
1979 Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven
1980 La Terrazza – Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Ettore Scola
1981 🪙Mephisto🪙 – István Szabó
1982 Werner Herzog – Fitzcarraldo Moonlighting – Jerzy Skolimowski
1983 Robert Bresson – L'Argent 🪢 Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalgia Voyage to Cythera – Thanassis Valtinos, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra
1984 Bertrand Tavernier – A Sunday in the Country
1985 André Téchiné – Rendez-vous
1986 Martin Scorsese – After Hours
1987 Wim Wenders – Wings of Desire
1988 Fernando Solanas – Sur
1989 Emir Kusturica – Time of the Gypsies
1990 Pavel Lungin – Taxi Blues
1991 Joel Coen – Barton Fink
1992 Robert Altman – The Player
1993 Mike Leigh – Naked
1994 Nanni Moretti – Dear Diary Dead Tired – Michel Blanc
1995 Mathieu Kassovitz – La Haine
1996 Joel Coen – Fargo A Self Made Hero – Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry
1997 Wong Kar-wai – Happy Together The Ice Storm – James Schamus
1998 John Boorman – The General Henry Fool – Hal Hartley
1999 Pedro Almodóvar – All About My Mother Moloch – Yuri Arabov
2000 Edward Yang – Yi Yi Nurse Betty – James Flamberg, John C. Richards
2001 Joel Coen – The Man Who Wasn't There 🪢 David Lynch – Mulholland Drive No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
2002 Paul Thomas Anderson – Punch-Drunk Love 🪢 Im Kwon-taek – Painted Fire Sweet Sixteen – Paul Laverty
2003 Gus Van Sant – Elephant 🪙The Barbarian Invasions🪙 – Denys Arcand
2004 Tony Gatlif – Exils Look at Me – Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
2005 Michael Haneke – Caché The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
2006 Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
2007 Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Edge of Heaven – Fatih Akin
2008 Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys Lorna's Silence – Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne
2009 Brillante Mendoza – Butchered Spring Fever – Mei Feng
2010 Mathieu Amalric – On Tour Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
2011 Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive Footnote – Joseph Cedar
2012 Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux Beyond the Hills – Cristian Mungiu, Tatiana Niculescu Bran
2013 Amat Escalante – Heli A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhangke
2014 Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
2015 Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin Chronic – Michel Franco
2016 Olivier Assayas – Personal Shopper 🪢 Cristian Mungiu – Graduation 🪙The Salesman🪙 – Asghar Farhadi
2017 Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou 🪢 You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
2018 Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War 3 Faces – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar 🪢 Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
2019 Jean-Pierre 🪢 Luc Dardenne – Young Ahmed Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
2021 Leos Carax – Annette 🪙Drive My Car🪙 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
2022 Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave Boy from Heaven – Tarik Saleh
2023 Tran Anh Hung – The Pot-au-Feu Monster – Yuji Sakamoto
submitted by BentisKomprakriev to u/BentisKomprakriev [link] [comments]

2023.05.27 13:50 EquivalentGrand7273 What are the Best Destinations for Nature Adventures in 2023? 🏞️🌄

What are the Best Destinations for Nature Adventures in 2023? 🏞️🌄
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https://preview.redd.it/bzlm501c4d2b1.jpg?width=905&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4382e0b8450500b29a333923164c8915dd9dafcf
In a world that yearns for connection with nature, 2023 presents a multitude of exciting destinations for nature adventure to explore. From stunning mountainscapes to pristine coastlines and lush forests, these destinations offer breathtaking beauty and exhilarating experiences. In this blog, we will uncover some of the best places to immerse yourself in nature's embrace and embark on unforgettable adventures in 2023.
1. 🏔️ Patagonia, Argentina and Chile:
With its dramatic landscapes of towering mountains, glaciers, and sparkling lakes, Patagonia continues to enthrall adventurers. Trek through the iconic Torres del Paine National Park, kayak through fjords, or embark on a thrilling ice-hiking expedition on Perito Moreno Glacier. Patagonia promises a nature adventure like no other.
2. 🌴 Costa Rica:
Costa Rica, known for its rich biodiversity, is a paradise for nature enthusiasts. Explore its lush rainforests, encounter colorful wildlife, and hike to mesmerizing waterfalls. Dive into the azure waters for a chance to spot vibrant marine life or zip-line through the canopies for ride adventures an adrenaline rush. Costa Rica offers a perfect blend of adventure and natural wonders.
3. 🏞️ Banff National Park, Canada:
Nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, Banff National Park beckons adventurers with its rugged peaks, turquoise lakes, and abundant wildlife. Hike along scenic trails, paddle across pristine waters, or soak in natural hot springs with a backdrop of breathtaking vistas. Banff's untouched beauty is sure to captivate your senses.
4. 🌊 The Azores, Portugal:
For those seeking a unique traveling trips blend of nature and adventure, the Azores archipelago is an ideal destination. Discover stunning volcanic landscapes, hike through lush green valleys, and go whale watching in the deep blue Atlantic. With its geothermal hot springs and vibrant marine ecosystems, the Azores offers a nature adventure off the beaten path.
5. 🏜️ Namibia:
Namibia's rugged beauty and contrasting landscapes make it an extraordinary destination for nature adventurers. Traverse the vast deserts of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, encounter diverse wildlife in Etosha National Park, and witness the captivating Skeleton Coast. Embark on thrilling safaris, hike towering sand dunes, and indulge in stargazing under the African sky.
6. 🌅 New Zealand:
Renowned for its awe-inspiring landscapes, New Zealand continues to captivate adventurers. From the majestic fjords of Milford Sound to the pristine beaches of Abel Tasman National Park, there's something for every nature lover. Hike through the Southern Alps, experience adrenaline-pumping activities like bungee jumping or skydiving, and immerse yourself in the enchanting Maori culture.
7. 🏞️ Torres del Paine National Park, Chile:
Torres del Paine National Park in Chile's southern Patagonia region is a nature lover's paradise. Admire the iconic granite towers, hike along breathtaking trails, and witness the mesmerizing beauty of glaciers and turquoise lakes. Whether camping under the starry sky or photographing the abundant wildlife, Torres del Paine promises an unforgettable tour trips adventure.
Conclusion: In 2023, the world brims with incredible destinations for nature adventurers to explore. Whether you seek towering mountains, pristine coastlines, lush forests, or diverse wildlife, these destinations offer unparalleled experiences. Embark on an expedition to these enchanting locations, connect with the natural world, and create lifelong memories. Let 2023 be the year of immersive nature adventures that rejuvenate your soul and ignite your sense of wonder. Happy exploring!
(Note: Due to changing circumstances and travel restrictions, always ensure to check the latest travel advisories and guidelines before planning your nature adventure.)
Also check :- https://www.universaladventures.in/state/Uttarakhand
submitted by EquivalentGrand7273 to u/EquivalentGrand7273 [link] [comments]

2023.05.27 04:48 mostreliablebottle If Best Picture was decided by Critics Polls (1940-2021)

Roughly 7 years ago u/TheGreatZiegfeld did an experiment of a post to determine what the best films of each year would be from 1940 to 2011 (before the 2012 S&S polls).
With the recently updated TSPDT and the 2022 S&S list, I decided to do the same from 1940 to 2021 regarding what critics thought were the best of each year.
Keep in mind this is all from a critics' poll, not from one specific critic's list. Also no short films or miniseries (meaning no Twin Peaks or Meshes of the Afternoon), as well as those from 2022 and beyond because of the last S&S poll.
With all that in mind, let's begin.
1940
Winner: His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
Other nominees: The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin), The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford), The Shop Around The Corner (Ernst Lubitsch), The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor)
1941
Winner: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
Other nominees: The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges), Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges), The Maltese Falcon (John Houston), How Green Was My Valley (John Ford)
1942
Winner: Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
Other nominees: The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles), To Be Or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch), The Palm Springs Story (Preston Sturges), Cat People (Jacques Tourneur)
1943
Winner: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Powell and Pressburger)
Other nominees: Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer), Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock), I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur), Ossessione (Luchino Visconti)
1944
Winner: Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)
Other nominees: Ivan the Terrible, Part I (Sergei Eisenstein), Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli), A Canterbury Tale (Powell and Pressburger), To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks)
1945
Winner: Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné)
Other nominees: Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini), Brief Encounter (David Lean), I Know Where I'm Going (Powell and Pressburger) Les Dames du bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson)
1946
Winner: It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)
Other nominees: A Matter of Life and Death (Powell and Pressburger), Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock), My Darling Clementine (John Ford), Paisan (Roberto Rossellini)
1947
Winner: Black Narcissus (Powell and Pressburger)
Other nominees: Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur), Monsieur Verdoux (Charlie Chaplin), The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
1948
Winner: Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica)
Other nominees: The Red Shoes (Powell and Pressburger), Letters from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls), Spring in a Small Town (Mu Fei), Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini)
1949
Winner: The Third Man (Carol Reed)
Other nominees: Late Spring (Yasujirō Ozu), Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford), White Heat (Raoul Walsh)
1950
Winner Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa)
Other nominees; Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder), All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz), Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel), In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)
1951
Winner: The River (Jean Renoir)
Other nominees: Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson), Miracle in Milan (Vittorio De Sica), Early Summer (Yasujirō Ozu), Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock)
1952
Winner: Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly)
Other nominees: Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa), Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica), The Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi), The Quiet Man (John Ford)
1953
Winner: Tokyo Story (Yasujirō Ozu)
Other nominees: Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi), The Earrings of Madame de (Max Ophüls), The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli), Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati)
1954
Winner: Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
Other nominees: Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock), Journey to Italy (Roberto Rossellini), La Strada (Federico Fellini), Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi)
1955
Winner: Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Other nominees: The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton), Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray), All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Kirk), Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse)
1956
Winner: The Searchers (John Ford)
Other nominees: A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson), Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk), Aparajito (Satyajit Ray), Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray)
1957
Winner: Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
Other nominees: The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman), Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini), Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa), Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
1958
Winner Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
Other nominees: Touch of Evil (Orson Welles), Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda), Ivan the Terrible, Part II (Sergei Eisenstein), The Music Room (Satyajit Ray)
1959
Winner: The 400 Blows (François Truffaut)
Other nominees: Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder), North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock), Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks), Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
1960
Winner: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
Other nominees: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock), La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini), L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni), The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
1961
Winner: Viridiana (Luis Buñuel)
Other nominees: Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais), La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni), West Side Story (Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins), Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa)
1962
Winner: Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean)
Other nominees: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford), Jules and Jim (François Truffaut), Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda), L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1963
Winner 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini)
Other nominees: Le Mepris (Jean-Luc Godard), The Leopard (Luchino Visconti), The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock), The Executioner (Luis García Berlanga)
1964
Winner: Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick)
Other nominees: Gertrud (Carl Theodor Dreyer), The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy), Black God, White Devil (Glauber Rocha)
1965
Winner: Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard)
Other nominees: Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles), Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Parajanov), Le Bonheur (Agnes Varda), Doctor Zhivago (David Lean)
1966
Winner: Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
Other nominees: Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky), Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson), The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo), Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1967
Winner: Playtime (Jacques Tati)
Other nominees: Mouchette (Robert Bresson), Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville), Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel), The Graduate (Mike Nichols)
1968
Winner: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
Other nominees: Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone), Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski), Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea), Faces (John Cassavetes)
1969
Winner: The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)
Other nominees: The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov), Kes (Ken Loach), My Night at Maud's (Eric Rohmer), Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville)
1970
Winner: The Conformist (Bernado Bertolucci)
Other nominees: Wanda (Barbara Loden), Performance (Nicholas Roeg), Husbands (John Cassavetes), Tristana (Luis Buñuel)
1971
Winner: A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
Other nominees: Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman), A Touch of Zen (King Hu), Out 1 (Jacques Rivette)
1972
Winner: The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
Other nominees: Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog), Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel), Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
1973
Winner: Amarcord (Federico Fellini)
Other nominees: The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache), The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice), Don't Look Now (Nicholas Roeg), Badlands (Terrence Malick)
1974
Winner: The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
Other nominees: Chinatown (Roman Polanski), A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder), Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
1975
Winner: Jeanne Dielman (Chantal Akerman)
Other nominees: Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky), Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick), Nashville (Robert Altman), Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
1976
Winner: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
Other nominees: News from Home (Chantal Akerman), Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders), In the Realm of Senses (Nagisa Oshima), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes)
1977
Winner: Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
Other nominees: Star Wars (George Lucas), Close Encounter of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg), Eraserhead (David Lynch), The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko)
1978
Winner: Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett)
Other nominees: Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick), The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino), The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Ermanno Olmi), In a Year with 13 Moons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
1979
Winner: Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
Other nominees: Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky), Alien (Ridley Scott), Manhattan (Woody Allen), All That Jazz (Bob Fosse)
1980
Winner: Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)
Other nominees: The Shining (Stanley Kubrick), The Empire Strike Back (Irvin Kershner), Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino), The Elephant Man (David Lynch)
1981
Winner: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)
Other nominees: Possession (Andrzej Żuławski), Blow Out (Brian de Palma), Mad Max 2 (George Miller), An American Werewolf in London (John Landis)
1982
Winner: Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
Other nominees: Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg), The Thing (John Carpenter), The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese)
1983
Winner: Sans Soleil (Chris Marker)
Other nominees: L'Argent (Robert Bresson), Videodrome (David Cronenberg), Nostalgia (Andrei Tarkovsky), A Nos Amours (Maurice Pialat)
1984
Winner: Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone)
Other nominees: Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders), Love Streams (John Cassavetes), Amadeus (Milos Forman), Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)
1985
Winner: Shoah (Claude Lanzmann)
Other nominees: Come and See (Elem Klimov), Ran (Akira Kurosawa), Vagabond (Agnes Varda), Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
1986
Winner: Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
Other nominees: The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer), The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky), Aliens (James Cameron), Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
1987
Winner: Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
Other nominees: Where is the Friend's House (Abbas Kiarostami), The Dead (John Huston), Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson), Yeelen (Souleymanne Cisse)
1988
Winner: My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)
Other nominees: Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore), Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies), The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris), Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
1989
Winner: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
Other nominees: A City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien), Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen), When Harry Met Sally (Rob Reiner), The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway)
1990
Winner: Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
Other nominees: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese), Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai), An Angel at My Table (Jane Campion), Paris is Burning (Jessie Livingston)
1991
Winner: A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
Other nominees: Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash), The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski), The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme), Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou)
1992
Winner: Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
Other nominees: The Quince Tree Sun (Victor Erice), Orlando (Sally Potter), Life, and Nothing More (Abbas Kiarostami), Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
1993
Winner: The Piano (Jane Campion)
Other nominees: Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg), Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski), Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis), The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
1994
Winner: Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
Other nominees: Satantango (Bela Tarr), Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai), Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski), Through the Olive Tree (Abbas Kiarostami)
1995
Winner: Heat (Michael Mann)
Other nominees: Underground (Emir Kusturica), Safe (Todd Haynes), Casino (Martin Scorsese), Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
1996
Winner: Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
Other nominees: Fargo (Joel Coen), A Moment of Innocence (Mohsen Makhmalbaf), Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh), Crash (David Cronenberg)
1997
Winner: Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
Other nominees: Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai), Lost Highway (David Lynch), Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson), Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
1998
Winner: Histoire(s) du Cinema (Jean-Luc Godard)
Other nominees: The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick), The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen), The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg), Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
1999
Winner: Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
Other nominees: Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson), The Matrix (Wachowskis), Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick), All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar)
2000
Winner: In The Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
Other nominees: Yi Yi (Edward Yang), The Gleaners and I (Agnes Varda), Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr), In Vanda's Room (Pedro Costa)
2001
Winner: Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
Other nominees: Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki), La Ciénaga (Lucrecia Martel), A.I: Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg), The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
2002
Winner: City of God (Fernando Meirelles)
Other nominees: Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (Wang Bing), Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar), Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sukurov), Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay)
2003
Winner: Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
Other nominees: Dogville (Lars von Trier), Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola), Elephant (Gus van Sant), Oldboy (Park Chan-wook)
2004
Winner: Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Other nominees: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry), The Intruder (Claire Denis), Before Sunset (Richard Linklater), Sideways (Alexander Payne)
2005
Winner: Caché (Michael Haneke)
Other nominees: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu), Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee), The New World (Terrence Malick), Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
2006
Winner: Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Other nominees: Inland Empire (David Lynch), Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro), The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck), Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
2007
Winner: There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Other nominees: No Country for Old Men (Coens), Zodiac (David Fincher), Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas), 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
2008
Winner: The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel)
Other nominees: WALL-E (Andrew Stanton), Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman), The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan), Hunger (Steve McQueen)
2009
Winner: The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)
Other nominees: A Prophet (Jacques Audiard), Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold), Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino), Avatar (James Cameron)
2010
Winner: Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Other nominees: Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzman), The Social Network (David Fincher), Mysteries of Lisbon (Raul Ruiz), Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
2011
Winner: The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
Other nominees: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi), Melancholia (Lars von Trier), The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr), Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
2012
Winner: Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
Other nominees: The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer), The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson), Amour (Michael Haneke), Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
2013
Winner: Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
Other nominees: The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino), Blue is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche), Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski), 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
2014
Winner: Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
Other nominees: Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard), The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson), Girlhood (Celine Sciamma), Interstellar (Christopher Nolan)
2015
Winner: Mad Max; Fury Road (George Miller)
Other nominees: Carol (Todd Haynes), Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul), The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien), No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman)
2016
Winner: Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
Other nominees: Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade), American Honey (Andrea Arnold), Arrival (Denis Villeneuve), Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
2017
Winner: Get Out (Jordan Peele)
Other nominees: Zama (Lucrecia Martel), Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson), You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay), Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
2018
Winner: Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
Other nominees: Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher), Burning (Lee Chang-dong), An Elephant Sitting Still (Hu Bo), Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
2019
Winner: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma)
Other nominees: Parasite (Bong Joon-ho), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino), Atlantics (Mati Diop), First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
2020
Winner: Nomadland (Chloe Zhao)
Other nominees: Time (Garrett Bradley), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hitman), Days (Tsai Ming-liang), Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic)
2021
Winner: Petite Maman (Celine Sciamma)
Other nominees: The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion), Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi), Titane (Julia Docournau), Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
submitted by mostreliablebottle to movies [link] [comments]

2023.05.26 23:52 JoshAsdvgi Sixty little spider children

Sixty little spider children
​
An Achomawi Legend
​
Sixty little spider children shivered as they slept.
Snow had fallen every day for months.
All the animals were cold, hungry, and frightened.
Food supplies were almost gone.
No one knew what to do.
Blue jay and Redheaded Woodpecker sang and danced for Silver Gray Fox, who floats above the clouds.
Since Silver Gray Fox, the creator, had made the whole world with a song and a dance, Blue jay and Woodpecker hoped to be answered with blue skies.
But the snow kept falling.
Finally the animals decided to ask Coyote.
"Coyote's been around a long time, almost since the beginning.
He might know how to reach Silver Gray Fox."
They went to the cave where Coyote was sleeping, told him their troubles, and asked for help.
"Grrrrowwwlll...go away," grumbled Coyote, " and let me think."
Coyote stuck his head into the cold air outside and thought till he caught an idea.
He tried singing in little yelps and loud yowls to Silver Gray Fox.
Coyote sang and sang, but Silver Gray Fox didn't listen, or didn't want to.
After all, it was Coyote's mischief-making when the world was new that had caused Silver Gray Fox to go away beyond the clouds in the first place.
Coyote thought he'd better think some more.
Suddenly he saw Spider Woman swinging down on a silky thread from the top of the tallest tree in the forest.
"Spider Woman's been on Earth a long, long time," Coyote thought.
"She's very wise. I'll ask her what to do."
Coyote loped over to the tree and lifted his ears to Spider Woman. "Spider Woman, O wise weaver, O cleaver one," called Coyote in his sweetest voice, "we're all cold and hungry.
Everyone's afraid this winter will never end.
Silver Gray Fox doesn't seem to notice. Can you help?" Spider Woman swayed her shining black
body back and forth, back and forth, thinking and thinking, thinking and thinking.
Her eight black eyes sparkled when she spoke, "I know how to reach Silver Gray Fox, Coyote, but I'm not the one for the work.
Everyone will have to help.
You'll need my two youngest children, too.
They're little and light as dandelion fluff, and the fastest spinners in my web."
Spider Woman called up to her two littlest ones.
Spinnnnnn! Spinnnnnn!
They came down fast, each spinning on eight little legs, fine, black twin Spider Boys, full of curiosity and fun. Spider Woman said, "My dear little quick ones, are you ready for a great adventure?" "Yes! Yes!" they cried.
"We're ready!"
Spider Woman told them her plan, and the Spider Boys set off with Coyote in the snow.
They hadn't gone far when they met two White-Footed
Mouse Brothers rooting around for seeds to eat.
Coyote told them Spider Woman's plan. "Will you help?" he asked.
"Yes! Yes! We'll help" they squeaked, and they all traveled the trail towards Mount Shasta until they met Weasel Man looking hungry and even thinner than usual.
Coyote told Weasel Man his plan.
"Will you help?" asked Coyote.
"Of course," rasped Weasel Man, joining them on the trail. Before long they came across Red Fox Woman swishing her big fluffy tail through the bushes.
"Will you help?" asked Coyote. "Of course, I'll come," crooned Red Fox Woman.
Then Rabbit Woman poked her head out of her hole.
I'll come too," she sneezed, shivering her thick fur.
Meadowlark wrapped a winter shawl around her wings, and trudged after the others along the trail to the top of Mount Shasta.
The snow had stopped, but the sky was still cloudy.
On top of Mount Shasta, Coyote barked, "Will our two best archers step forward?"
The two White Footed Mouse Brothers proudly lifted their bows.
"Everyone listen," barked Coyote.
"If any one of us is only half-hearted, Spider Woman's plan will fail.
To get through the clouds to Silver Gray Fox, we must each share our powers whole-heartedly, out thoughts, our dreams, our strength, and our songs.
Now, you White Footed Mouse
Brothers, I want you to shoot arrows at exactly the same spot in the sky."
Turning to the others, Coyote said, "Spider Boys, start spinning spider silk as fast as you can.
Weasel Man, White Footed Mouse Brothers, Red Fox
Woman, Rabbit Woman, and I will sing and make music.
We must sing with all our might or the Spider Boys won't make it."
"One!" called Coyote.
Everyone got ready. "Two!"
The animals drew in deep breaths.
The Mouse Brothers pulled back their bowstrings. "Three!" Two arrows shot straight up and struck at the same spot in the clouds.
"Whiff wiff! Wiff wiff!" sang the White Footed Mouse Brothers. "Yiyipyipla!" sang Red Fox Woman.
"Wowooooolll!" sang Coyote. Rabbit Woman shook her magic rattle.
Weasel Man beat his very old and worn elk-hide drum.
The Spider Boys hurled out long lines of spider silk, weaving swiftly with all their legs.
The animals sang up a whirlwind of sound to lift the spider silk until it caught on the arrows in the clouds.
Then the Spider Twins scurried up the lines of silk and scrambled through the opening.
All the while, down below, the animals continued singing, rattling and drumming.
The little Spiders sank breathless, onto the clouds.
Silver Gray Fox spied them and called out, "What are you two doing here?"
The Spider Boys bent low on their little legs and answered, "O Silver Gray Fox, we bring greetings from our mother, Spider Woman, and all the creatures of the world below.
We've come to ask if you'd please let the sun shine again.
The whole world is cold.
Everyone is hungry.
Everyone is afraid spring will not return, ever."
They were so sincere and polite that Silver Gray Fox became gentler, and asked, "How did you two get up here?"
The Spider Boys said, "Listen, can you hear the people singing?
Can you hear the drum and rattle?" Silver Gray Fox heard the drum and rattle and the people singing.
When the
Spider Boys finished telling their story, Silver Gray Fox was pleased.
"I'm happy when creatures use their powers together.
I'm especially glad to hear Coyote's been helping too.
Your mother, Spider Woman made a good plan.
To reward all your hard work, I'll help create a sign to show that the skies will clear.
And you two may help.
"First picture the sun shining bright," called Silver Gray Fox. The Spider Boys thought hard and saw the sun sending out fiery rays in all directions.
"Now, where sun-rays meet the damp air," sang Silver Gray Fox, "picture a stripe of red, Red as Woodpecker's head.
Add a stripe nearby of bluest Blue Jay blue."
The Spider Boys thought hard, and great stripes appeared of red and blue.
Silver Gray Fox chanted, "Now in between, add stripes of
orange, yellow and green!"
The Spider Boys thought hard.
Then, dazzling their eyes, a beautiful bright arc of colors curved across the whole sky above the clouds.
It was the very first rainbow.
Meanwhile, down below, beneath the clouds, the animals and people were so cold, hungry, and tired that they had stopped singing and drumming.
Spider Woman missed her two youngest children.
Each day she missed them more.
She blamed Coyote for the trouble.
So did the other animals.
Coyote slipped away silent, lonely and sad.
Above, on the clouds, the Twins rested.
Their legs ached and their minds were tired.
Silver Gray Fox said, "You did what I asked and kept it secret. That's very difficult, so I'm giving you a special reward.
On wet mornings, when the sun starts to shine, you'll see what I mean."
Then the Spider Boys spun down to Earth, and ran back to their mother as fast as they could.
Spider Woman cried for joy and wrapped all her legs around her two littlest children.
Their fifty-eight sisters and brothers jumped up and down with
happiness.
All the animals gathered around to hear the Spiders story. When they finished, the Spider Boys cried, "Look up!" Everyone looked up.
The clouds has drifted apart.
There, bridging sky to earth in a radiant arch, was the very first rainbow.
Sun began to warm the earth.
Shoots of grass pushed up through the melting snow. Meadowlark blew her silver whistle of spring across the valley,
calling streams and rivers awake.
Coyote came out of hiding, raced to a distant hilltop, and gave a long, long howl of joy.
The animals held a great feast to honor the rainbow, Silver Gray Fox, Spider Woman, the Spider Twins, Coyote, and the hard work everyone had done together.
To this day, after the rain, when the sun comes out, dewdrops on spider webs shine with tiny rainbows.
This is the spiders' special reward.
You can see for yourself.
submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments]

2023.05.26 14:14 Acceptable_Egg5560 The Nature of a Giant [47]

Many praises to u/SpacePaladin15 for this universe.
Credit again to u/TheManwithaNoPlan for helping edit!
[First]-[Prev]-[Next]
Memory transcript: Tarlim, Venbig. Date: [Standardized human time] September 23rd, 2136
I looked down at Jacob with a skeptical look. “And you really think this would help?”
Jacob leaned against the big padded mattress he had attached to the pole. “It’s at least a start. Might help channel some energy.”
I flicked my ears, not entirely sure I believed my friend. He had led me to the apartment's exercise gym, saying I was looking “like you were part of that gloomy cloud above your head.” I could tell he was attempting to do something to cheer me up, but I wasn’t sure how it would work. Especially when all us coming here has resulted in another sight of Venlil clearing out the area to avoid us.
“I know I asked this before, but why punching?” I gestured to the mattress he named a punching bag.
“You need an outlet,” he explained, patting the mattress. “Having a safe place to let out your emotions is good. And from what ah’ve seen, ya like physical activity for that task.”
I stared down at the makeshift punching bag. “And you truly think this would work for that?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged his shoulders, any other expression hidden behind his visor. “Ah won’t say that any of this absolutely will work. Just that it might. Plus,” he stretched his arm across his body, “Ah also wanted to do it with ya.”
Okay, now that took me by surprise. “You want to punch this as well?”
“Ah’ve been feeling useless,” he sighed, stretching his other arm. “Mah planet is literally invading another, ah am limpin’ round on this,” he stuck out the brace on his foot for emphasis, “mah search fer those patients has been pulling up nothing, and mah best friend is dealing with shit that ah can’t properly help solve.”
“You’ve done so much already,” I offer, swaying my tail in comfort, “you shouldn’t have to feel useless for not doing more.”
“Thanks,” he nodded, “it doesn’t shut up that little voice in my head saying ah should do more, but thank ya fer sayin’ that.”
He let out a breath and looked at the “punching bag”, tilting his head in thought. Reaching up to his face, he tossed his visor aside. “Way-ell, here’s hoping this stays up.”
I watched him raise his hand in a fist, lean back, then hurl it forward along with the rest of his torso. Part of me expected there to be some kind of big reaction. Something to announce this action to the world. Something to signify that this was a predatory act. Yet all that came was the anticlimactic sound of the mattress.
Boomf.
Jacob stepped back, giving his hand a shake. “It stays up!” I heard a lightness to his voice. Is he proud of how it held together, or from being able to punch something? I watched with curiosity as he threw another punch. Then another. Then three in a row.
“We come in peace,” I heard him growl before barking a laugh. “Look at that.”
He pointed my vision to the gym’s television. As usual, it was showing news about The Cradle. “…the war draws into its fourth Set of Paws, many are concerned for those Gojid who are caught in the middle of the two militaries. Leaks have circulated of Terran forces tending to wounded Gojid left in the aftermath of city-scale stampedes, showcasing the antithesis of what many skeptics claimed would result from predator involvement. There is still no official information released by either the Gojid Commonwealth or the United Nations on the matter, leaving the true nature of this war up to speculation.”
The news channel then switched to discussing recent budget cuts to Extermination offices in the Dawn Creek and Glowhollow districts, citing recent policy changes on behalf of Governor Tarva as the reason. I looked down at Jacob and the punching bag, trying to read his face. I’ve learned that’s how most humans convey emotions nonverbally, considering they don’t have tails or movable ears. His face was scrunched up, a sliver of his small teeth visible through taut, slightly parted lips. Frustration.
“The true nature of the war.” He gave the mattress another punch. “Someone was coming to kill us. We stopped their ability to do so. And we try to make sure civilians aren’t included!” Another punch. “True nature? We want to stop people from killing us with as few casualties as possible on both sides!” He smashed into the mattress before resting his head on it. “But people are dying. And I’m here barely doing anything. I’m no soldier, I’m a construction worker. But there are people hurting… and we are causing it.”
I walked over and gave his back a gentle scratch. He liked that. “It’s not your fault,” I said, “you aren’t there. You are here, helping me. Not hurting, helping.”
“Ah know, ah… huh. Ah just wish we as humans could be able to show ourselves at our best. That’s why ah had that space suit, ya know. Ah wanted to show our best. But it…”
It had been burned. Shot and burned the instant he entered the city. Destroyed by some of the worst our kind had to offer wrapped up with a neat bow and a shiny, fireproof uniform. I sat down on the ground next to him, trilling discontentedly. “It was met with fire and smoke.”
We both stayed in silence for a bit, Jacob not even attempting to hit the mattress. To try and get him back in the spirit, I half-heartedly bapped the impromptu “punching bag,” a soft “bomph” coming from the connection of my balled paw and the cushiony mattress. His talking reminded me of something, and in the interest of conversing, I let a bit out. “When I saw them on the platform, I knew it was a bad idea to try and change their mind. You’ve seen how set they are in their beliefs, it would take all Three Tenets willing to make them budge.” Bomph. “A part of me wanted to stop you, but I was curious. Scared for you, but curious. Curious if they could be changed, if they were even capable of changing. I guess it was a foolish hope, like asking an Arxur not to eat sapients.”
“Ah don’t know bout that,” he sighed, “if ya plop a slab of lab meat in front of those things, there’s a chance they’ll just chow down ‘stead of askin’ if it’s sapient.” His head shook, “Ah’m less sure ‘bout that trio deciding we’re fine.”
Part of me wanted to protest that the Arxur weren’t better, but… I couldn’t think of any real difference beyond the Arxur eating me after I’m killed. “You might be right…”
Silence fell again, only interrupted by the constant talking from the television. Jacob clapped his hands together and swung himself to his feet. “Okay! Nuf moping fer me. Here, it’s yer turn.”
“My turn?” I ask as I rise, lowering my ears so they don’t hit the ceiling.
“Yeah! Just, think of something that bothers ya, and take a swing.”
He looked at me so earnestly. He genuinely wanted to help me with this. It’s just a mattress. It shouldn’t hurt anyone to indulge in this whim of his
“Okay,” I said, clenching my paw into a fist. “Just… punch?”
“Yeah, imagine it’s something that bothers ya and” bomff “ya know?”
I didn’t really. So, what? I just imagine this is me being rejected?
Boof.
That this is people watching us for any misstep or excuse to attack us?
Bomph.
That it’s the people who cheered at me being dragged away despite knowing me their entire lives??
Bamph!
Those Overseers Who Tortured People And Ran??
Thu-domph!
That BRAHKASS CREATURE Who Shot My Best Friend!
Th-shk!
THOSE LANDLORDS Who Fire Me FOR NO REASON!!
Pham! Thr-cheeee! (Metal creaking)
THOSE SPEH-SIPPING EXTERMINATORS WHO ARE ALWAYS OUT TO RUIN MY LIFE!!!
Than-che cr-eunk Shu-awww!!
I DID NOTHING TO ANYONE!! WHY DO THEY HATE ME!?! WHY-
My pad chimed. My heart rate was too high. Focus. Breathe. Calm.
Focus.
Breathe.
Calm…
I stepped back from the object, regulating my breathing. My head was a little dizzy, so I crouched to sit on the floor, placing it between my legs. I felt something digging into my cuticles. I pried it out. Fluff. I looked up at the mattress. It was torn to shreds, jagged gashes criss-crossing along its surface. The frame itself was bent out of shape, dents present in the metal. Springs lay on the ground in front of me, savagely ripped from their mounts by…by…
“...Tarlim?” I heard a voice to my side. I looked over to see Jacob…guarding himself. I reached out to him, only for him to back away, if only a hair. I looked down at my paws to see I still had my claws fully extended, a few orange streaks oozing on my paws from where I had cut myself on the springs. The springs I had ripped out. From the mattress I had torn up. I could barely even feel the pain, it was as if the cuts were [a mile] away.
I looked back to Jacob as I felt the sadness of rotations of pain and rejection well up inside me again. “J-Jacob?”
“That… that… Holy Shit!” He shook his head, staring at the former mattress before looking back at me. “You there? Ya were kinda out of it.”
“Y-yeah,” I stammered, “I’m- I’m here. I…” Tears in my eyes. “I scare you…”
“Ya were really goin at it!” He barked, sitting down beside me. “Like that thing insulted yer family! Ah mean. Holy shit!”
“I-I’m sorry,” I whimpered. “I didn’t mean to. Please don’t… Please don’t hate me.”
“Hate ya?” I felt his hand pat me on the back. “Man, that was Amazing!”
My fear shifted into confusion at the joy in his voice. “Amazing?” I ask, “but… but I destroyed that thing!”
“I know! I didn’t realize that her claws could cut so deep!” He leaned forward and ran a finger through one of the gashes. He chuckled as his digit passed through loose fluff. “This is almost as deep as my pointer!”
He was speaking with joy. But… but he feared me! “How can you be impressed? I… you were afraid of me! How can you still stand to be around me?”
“Ah ain’t afraid of ya,” he stated, “not in tha way yer thinkin’.” He let out a breath and gave my back another pat. “Ah’ve seen lots of people get hurt on accident, and people hurt others in accidents when they got themselves in a rage. Best thing to do is keep back until the rage has faded.”
“So you think I’m dangerous,” I state.
Jacob gave me a look, and I shrank back from his gaze. It was upsetting to see him upset. “Ah’m going to ignore that comment, cause ah know we both really know the way ya said that was bullshit.”
“I’m… I’m sorry.” I let my ears fall to my head in shame. That wasn’t fair to him. He hadn’t done anything to deserve that. Please, Tarlim. Don’t do that again.
“Ya know what ah really think?” He continued, “ah think yer Strong.”
I raised my head out from between my knees and looked at him with an eye. “Strong?”
“Very!” He swings to his feet and gives the former punching bag a pat. “Ah mean, I kinda guessed when ya picked up that bird with tha blue tank like it was a rag doll, and when ya held off the trio all on yer own, but this! This just confirms it!” He gave the metal beam a tap. “Ya bent this stuff with ease! Ah mean, this frame was solid, but ah see dents and bends!”
His eagerness was infectious. Just so, so genuine. I could hear the awe in his voice as he ran his fingers across the punching bag. “It didn’t…. feel that hard.”
“Wow.” He grinned at me. “How much do you think you could lift?”
“I… I don’t know. I never thought to check.” I take a breath and rise to my feet. “But why are you excited about this? I destroyed that mattress and frame with ease! Doesn’t that make me look like a pr- a monster?”
Jacob brushed his hand in his beard, looking around as he formulated his response. He looked about to say something when his gaze fell towards the television again and his expression changed once more. It became… recognition. “Hey! We know that guy! It’s… Kaeden!”
I followed his gaze to the television. It was showing a bunch of humans helping injured Gojid. Talking about a “civilian refugee camp.” But there! In the background! It was that familiar cyborg in his visor! He was wearing some kind of mechanical frame over his limbs and spine, and carrying a pair of huge boxes full of supplies. And most interesting were the pair of Gojid children clinging to his legacy as he walked, seemingly unbothered by their weight.
“Seems like he went to the Cradle! Good on ya, ya soldier!” Jacob nodded at the screen and flicked his eyes to me. “And would ya look at that? Not one of those kids seem afraid of him.”
“I don’t see why they would,” I comment.
“Really? You think not?” I saw a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Even with the ‘monstrous’ strength he is showing?”
Oh, that isn’t fair. “That’s- that’s different and you know it.”
“Of course! It’s him doing it instead of you and…” I could feel the smirk on his face. “And it’s him instead of you.”
I stare at the screen as Kaeden sets down the boxes and more children cautiously walk over towards him. “But…”
“He called himself a monster,” Jacob said. “You told him you were glad he wasn’t.” He turns his head towards me, his gaze holding firm. “You are no more a monster than him, Tarlim. Your strength and size have no bearing on it. Ah’m certain that even if we can’t convince those Exterminators, we can show everyone else the wonderful guy ah know ya to be.”
His gaze was so openly friendly. Almost forceful in its determination to be so. Breaking his gaze, I looked back at the screen. All I could see of Kaeden was a single human arm sticking out the top of a pile of Gojid kids. “Do you… do you really think so?”
“Ah’m positive.”
I looked at my friend. He was… he was so good. I reach out and pull him into my wool for a hug. My chest rumbled as he returned the gesture. “Thank you…” I whispered, “thank you…”
I felt his arm pat me on the back, signaling that he needed to come up for air. The breath he took was only slightly exaggerated, but I could see the positive tease meant. “Still like a cloud,” he laughed. “Okay, so now that Ah’m curious, ah wanna see just how strong ya are!”
“You really want to know?” I ask, finding that there was a bit of amusement in my voice that I hadn’t felt before.
“Absolutely! C’mon, let’s see what ya got!”
With a light wag of my tail, I followed Jacob to the weight rack.
We Venlil, despite what the Federation might say, aren’t a completely weak species. Due to evolving on a higher gravity world, our legs are one of the stronger ones out of the bipedal races. Of course, they weren’t perfect. Jacob called them knock-kneed, a concept the Venlil agreed on, and that design made them get stressed in the joints. It was common for the cartilage in the joints to wear out long before the legs themselves would become weak. It was for that very reason I had to wear braces despite the rest of my legs being healthy.
But now, Jacob was curious about the strength of my whole body. We started at the median range. The Federation had a different standardized weight scale than humans, but Jacob was able to use the visual translator on his phone to estimate that the first weight was about 25 kg. I was able to carry one in each paw. Lifting, flexing, just carrying them both around with ease. It took until 100kg before it started to become difficult, and we had to snatch that weight from the dumbbells. Yet I was just exercising like they were barbells! And it felt that I could still take more! It was… it was strangely enthralling to see myself do so. Especially since it revealed that I could lift Jacob with one paw.
“Hehe!”Jacob laughed, hanging from my right arm, “ah feel like a kid again!”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” I returned the laugh while lifting him as if he were an exercise weight, “you are quite wonderful for exercise.”
“Good to see you’re enjoying this as well,” he grinned at me as he dropped to the floor.
“I… you know what? I am!” I looked at my arms and flexed. “I never really thought about it, you know? This is… being strong is really neat!”
“Yer takin’ pride in yerself!” He cheered. “Behold the new Wonder of Venlil Prime: The Mighty Mountainous Venbig!”
I whistled in laughter, “well, I-”
“YOU!!”
I froze. That voice had come from behind me. That oh-so-familiar voice.
The voice of a Creature.
“YOU BRAHKASSES RUINED MY LIFE!”
I slowly began to turn, hating that I had to acknowledge his existence. Why did he have to come here? Why couldn’t he leave us alone? Why-
…What in the name of the Three Tenants happened to him??
He looked to be a poor imitation of a Venlil. I mean, even more of an imitation than he already was. He hadn’t brushed his wool even once since I last saw him. Tangles, dirt, and even a spot on his chest where it looked like he scratched away the fur due to an infected cut. His eyes were completely bloodshot, and the way he was panting caused a little drool to slip out. It was stained orange with blood from his speckled gums. Even his belt pack was in rough shape.
“I found you,” he said, shutting the door behind him, “you- you predators!”
“What’s with the druggie?” I heard Jacob ask under his breath before approaching. “Hey, you alright?”
The creature reached into his bag and pulled out a small, rusty-looking knife. Jacob raised his hands slowly and backed away towards me. “Stay back! You-you freaks! You think-hk, you think you can do this to me and get away with it?”
“Whatever you think we’ve done,” I stated, unimpressed by his meager weapon, “it was your fault.”
“SHUT UP!” He screamed, now pulling out a holonote from his bag whilst breathing raspily. “You’ll be-caf-kff, you’ll be sorry! They’ll- they’ll burn you both!”
“They?” Jacob looked between me and the creature in confusion. “Who are-”
“Hey! Exterminators!” It shouted into the phone, “I have predators in my sight! They are in a building! The only exit is blocked so they can’t get out! Hurry! Get to my location! Before they devour someone!”
I felt my ears flatten in rage. He’s trying to set the exterminators on us! Again! “Are you serious?! You couldn’t just be satisfied with what you did at the train station, could you?”
“It’s threatening me!” The creature shouted into the holonote, “Quickly! I’m at the Dawn Creek Apartment Complex’s public Gym! You need to- what?” He paused, a look of confusion passing through his features. “S-Sol-Vah?” Their expression immediately brightened. “Sol-Vah! It’s me! Treven! I caught that freak and his predator! They are trapped! Send a team so they can be burned!”
I balked in fear. He’s in contact with the Gojid. They are going to send an actual exterminator squad, aren’t they? And if we try to push past the creature, they will use it as an excuse to claim we were acting predatory! Oh Speh! Brahk! Fuck! Why can’t they just-
“I have them trapped in the gym!” The creature continued, “get someone- what?” It’s ears twitched in confusion, then rage. “No, No! I will not let them go! This is my chance! I can get rid of them!”
Let them go? I am taken aback by those words. They aren’t sending a team?
“Look!” He screamed, “just get a flamer out here! Do your Brahking job! You hear me? H-hey!” He pulled the device from his ear, looking at it in rage before throwing it to the ground. They hung up! “F-Fine!” He stuttered, scratching at his face and cut, “I don’t need them! I can do this myself!”
“Look, man,” I heard Jacob say, “ah don’t know what yer thinking, so-“
With a bleating roar, the creature leapt forward, swinging their knife toward my human! My friend! I reached out, desperate to stop him from causing pain again. Too fast! Too far! My claws just missed! I could only look on as the tan brown creature slashes the knife at Jacob!
Then my human leans back to avoid the slash and connects his fist to Treven’s face, punching the bastard to the ground, his knife clattering out of his grip.
“Braah!” He yelled, “you can’t-”
I was on top of him in an instant. Any attempt to rise was halted by my foot stomping onto his back. “Jacob!” I cried, “you okay?”
“Y-yeah,” he panted, “idiot missed! He’s fucking drugged out his mind!”
“Drugged?” I ask, keeping the creature under my feet.
“Yeah, ah mean, blood-shot eyes, twitching, that rage-calm-rage shit. He’s high on something!”
I looked down at the pest beneath my foot, examining him a bit closer. He was thrashing rather erratically. Huffing, growling, looking like nothing more than the creature I knew him as. And yet, I couldn’t deny that wasn’t how he usually acted.
“Yeek. High out of his mind,” I agreed.
“So,” Jacob squatted down to stare at the creature. It let out a bray and tried futility to swipe at him. “What do you want to do with him?”
I thought. Truthfully, a part of me said to just step down harder. Wipe him off on the carpet. But that would cause problems. I wasn’t about to let him bother me even after he was gone. But what to do? I couldn’t keep standing on him. Someone would see. But I couldn’t let him go free. I need to keep him restrained. But…
My eyes fell on the makeshift punching bag. The frame was out, its metal bendable. Without a word, I reach down and snatch the creature by the scruff of his neck. He instinctively goes limp, the feeling likely exaggerated by his drugged mind, but the state wouldn’t last for long. But it would last long enough. With one hand I pressed him against the frame and with another I bent a metal bar around his waist, trapping him in place like an iron belt. Once done, I let go and stepped back.
“Wh-wha??” He grabbed the bar and struggled against it, his feet scratching against the floor. “L-let me out of this! You can’t treat me like this!! Brahk!!”
“So,” Jacob asked, “what now?”
“Now?” I say, striding over to my shoulder pack, “well, I was thinking I could show you one of our movies in our apartment.”
“Huh!” He said, sounding amused, “leaving’ em. Nice!”
“Eh,” I shrugged, “someone will find him. Eventually.”
“You- you can’t do this!” The creature yelled, struggling even more against his restraint. I watched with more than a little amusement. He was so… pathetic! In his struggles, his belt pack fell open, and something fell out onto the ground and rolled away from him. It was a can. A can with some kind of mouth covering attached.
“What’s this?” I asked, reaching down to pick it up.
The creature whirled his head towards me. “DON’T BRAHKING TOUCH THAT!!”
Ignoring him, I pick it up. It was some kind of aerosol container. And the piece had an off scent that I sensed even when holding it in my paw.
An aerosol. The creature is high out of his mind. He’s screaming for me to put this down.
I found his drug stash
I stand, holding the can in front of me and stand in front of the creature. “Give that back!” He demanded, “give it back or I’ll- I’ll!!”
“You’ll what?” I ask, “Burn us just to get fired? Call an exterminator just for them to hang up on you? Attack us just to get beaten to the ground?” I stared at him with one eye! “You are a weak, powerless little man looking to lord over people to satisfy your tiny ego. You will never lord over me again.”
With that, I snap the neck off his can and listen to the contents hiss out as I toss it to the ground.
“Noooo!!!” He screeched, tears in his eyes, “Noooo! That was the last! My only! You! Aaaaaa!!!”
His shouts faded as I ducked out the door. I took a deep breath of the fresh air. “Thank you for your help today. You helped me so much, Jacob.”
“It’s no problem,” he replied, walking beside me. “Ah’m glad ah found something to do with ya.”
“Yeah. Too bad about the gym. I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back there for a few days.”
“Ah’m sure we will find something. Something will come up. Ah don’t know what, but Ah’m sure it’ll be something!”
​
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2023.05.26 02:47 nuevo2a U.S. Polo Assn. lanza la colección primavera-verano 2023

La colección primavera-verano 2023 de U.S. Polo Assn. representa la frescura y la vitalidad de las próximas temporadas. En este hermoso entorno de Santa Bárbara, los colores pastel bañados por el sol se combinan con linos texturizados y se fotografían junto al resplandor dorado del sol de la costa del Pacífico. Exuberantes jardines de rosas, sinuosos senderos y vistas panorámicas muestran las suaves siluetas de los vestidos de temporada de U.S. Polo Assn. rematados con suaves jerséis. Los polos tonales se combinan a la perfección con vaqueros clásicos que nunca pasarán de moda, junto con accesorios que brillan, como elegantes bolsos y totes reversibles, calzado a la moda y gafas de última tendencia, para completar todo un look digno del tiempo cálido.
"Para la colección U.S. Polo Assn. Spring-Summer 2023 Collection, nuestro equipo de diseño estaba más entusiasmado con la textura de los tejidos de la temporada, especialmente el lino, y las mezclas de lino y algodón, porque estos tejidos naturales nos mantienen frescos, cómodos y con un aspecto estupendo en estas temperaturas cálidas", dijo Brian Kaminer, SVP de Marca y Producto de U.S. Polo Assn. "Los colores impresionantes, desde los pasteles a los brillantes, son siempre un elemento clave del estilo clásico y americano de nuestra marca, encajando perfectamente con las tendencias de esta temporada para dar ese aire fresco y costero de California."
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2023.05.26 02:01 jalbjorn puerta deal sol summer sublet

Hi. I have a studio in puerta del sol that I want to sublet for the summer session (july-sept) just so the apartment isn’t empty the whole time. My rental cost is $1,600 so I would be willing to sublet it for $1600 too. If anyone’s interested please message me. Utilities are not included and you will have to pay them in on top of the rent. Please message me if you’re interested.
edit: no more profiting :3
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2023.05.25 17:20 QuantumScape4ever She's in the air!

She's in the air! submitted by QuantumScape4ever to SPCE [link] [comments]

2023.05.25 14:08 Then_Marionberry_259 MAY 25, 2023 ABRA.V ABRASILVER DRILLING CONTINUES TO INTERSECT HIGH-GRADE MINERALIZATION AT THE JAC ZONE; LATEST RESULTS INCLUDE 17 METRES AT 829 G/T AG & 79 METRES AT 238 G/T AG

MAY 25, 2023 ABRA.V ABRASILVER DRILLING CONTINUES TO INTERSECT HIGH-GRADE MINERALIZATION AT THE JAC ZONE; LATEST RESULTS INCLUDE 17 METRES AT 829 G/T AG & 79 METRES AT 238 G/T AG
https://preview.redd.it/k5ezh5koxy1b1.png?width=3500&format=png&auto=webp&s=1311911cd34300183546473dd50449f6faaad288
(TheNewswire)
https://preview.redd.it/bwg1vvmoxy1b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=9899251a46dc068cccf141f2e24f77db02b34309

Toronto, ON

TheNewswire

May 25, 2023 - AbraSilver Resource Corp. (TSX.V:ABRA ) ( OTC:ABBRF) (“ AbraSilver ” or the “ Company ”) is pleased to announce the latest assay results from the ongoing Phase III diamond drilling program on the Company’s wholly-owned Diablillos property in Salta Province, Argentina (“Diablillos” or the “Project”). The Company is also pleased to announce that the Phase III program is being increased as mineralization at the JAC zone remains open.
Drilling at the JAC zone continues to consistently intersect high-grade silver oxide mineralization, with associated gold in some areas, at shallow depths, as well as underlying copper and silver mineralization in sulphides.
Notably, drill hole DDH 23-029 encountered silver mineralization in oxides to the west of the main JAC mineralized zone, which was drilled to test an extension of the magnetic anomaly associated with the mineralization at JAC. This mineralization is hosted in granitic basement rocks under the andesite volcanics and, consequently, opens up potential for further mineralized zones. Additionally, the JAC zone continues to remain open along strike towards the southwest and in other directions.
The latest assay result highlights are summarized in Table 1 below.
Table 1 – Diablillos Drill Result Highlights in JAC Zone
(Intercepts greater than 2,000 gram-metres AgEq shown in bold text) :
https://preview.redd.it/ih3usunoxy1b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ba4778f04da8b267b3fe5221321b19f19891f8b
Note: All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Widths are drilled widths, not true widths. True widths are estimated to be approximately 80% of the interval widths for oxides.
1 AgEq based on 81.9(Ag):1(Au) calculated using long-term prices of US$25.00/oz Ag and US$1,750/oz Au, and 73.5% process recovery for Ag, and 86.0% process recovery for Au as demonstrated in the Company’s Preliminary Economic Assessment in respect of Diablillos dated January 13, 2022, using formula: AgEq g/t = Ag g/t + Au g/t x (Gold Price/Silver Price) x (Gold Recovery/Silver Recovery).
John Miniotis, President and CEO, commented, “We continue to intercept excellent widths and grades of silver at JAC in practically every single drill hole. Additionally, we continue to see significant potential for new discoveries beyond the main JAC mineralized zone, as highlighted in hole DDH 23-029. Our drill results continue to confirm our belief that the new JAC zone is a major mineralized system, with significant exploration upside remaining to be discovered. For that reason, we are again increasing the amount of drilling being done as part of the Phase III program.”
Dave O’Connor, Chief Geologist, commented, “In addition to consistently encountering high-grade silver mineralization with associated gold at JAC, we are also intersecting underlying high-grade copper mineralization with associated silvegold in sulphides immediately beneath the oxides. It is now evident that the high-grade sulphide mineralization in zones beneath the base of oxidation is continuous for at least 2 km along the length of the Oculto-JAC system, representing an additional attractive exploration target, beyond the oxidized mineralization at JAC.”
Key takeaways from the latest JAC zone drill results include:
  • DDH 23-024 was drilled to test continuity of the JAC Zone for resource estimation. The hole intersected multiple zones of silver mineralization in oxides, with 17.0 metres grading 828.9 g/t Ag from a downhole depth of 144.0 metres, including 5.0 metres grading 2,215.4 g/t Ag.
  • DDH 23-025 was drilled to test continuity of the JAC Zone for resource estimation. The hole intersected significant silver and gold mineralization in oxides, including 79 metres at 237.6 g/t Ag and 0.15 g/t Au from 100.0 metres downhole.
    • Immediately beneath this high-grade oxide intercept, the hole encountered 30.5 metres grading 3.28% Cu and 96.6 g/t Ag in sulphide mineralization. This is the best copper intercept drilled at JAC to date on a grade-thickness basis, demonstrating the potential of high-grade feeder structures at JAC to host substantial sulphide mineralisation.
  • DDH 23-026 was drilled to test the north-eastern extremity of the JAC Zone near the Oculto conceptual open pit, and encountered silver and gold mineralization in oxides, intersecting 19.0 metres grading 107.3 g/t Ag and 0.69 g/t Au from 131.0 metres downhole.
  • DDH 23-027 was drilled to test the northern margin of the JAC Zone and intersected 59 metres grading 129.6 g/t Ag, including 4 metres grading 812.2 g/t Ag, starting from a downhole depth of only 56.0 metres.
  • DDH 23-028 was drilled to test continuity of the JAC Zone for resource estimation. The hole encountered 24.5 metres grading 189.8 g/t Ag in the oxide/sulphide transition zone, including 3.0 metres grading 1,174.9 g/t Ag and 0.79% Cu in sulphides, starting from a downhole depth of 156.5 metres.
  • DDH 23-029, was drilled beyond the JAC drill target area to explore for a possible new perpendicular zone of mineralization. The hole showed continuity of silver dominant mineralisation beyond the current southwestern margin of the JAC deposit and intersected 31.4 metres grading 174.4 g/t Ag in oxides starting from a downhole depth of 126.0 metres.
    • The hole is located on a zone of low magnetic intensity heading NW from the main JAC trend towards the Alpaca target where historical drilling intersected silver mineralisation. Additional drilling in this area will now be conducted.
Figure 1 – Plan View of Announced Drill Holes in JAC Zone
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Figure 2 – Long Section Through Newly Announced Drill Holes in JAC Zone
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Exploration Update
Drilling activity at Diablillos remains focused on the recently discovered JAC zone which is located southwest of the conceptual open pit that constrains the current Mineral Resource estimate (“MRE”) on the main Oculto deposit (M&I MRE containing 1.3 Moz gold and 109 Moz silver – Table 2).
Two rigs have essentially completed drilling the planned 22,000-metre Phase III program with results demonstrating mineralization at the JAC zone over an area at least 800 metres by approximately 200 metres. As the JAC zone remains open in several directions, the Company now plans to drill at least an additional 15 holes as part of the Phase III program in order to define the limits of the high-grade silver mineralization in oxides. All Phase III drill holes will be incorporated into an updated MRE and will be included in a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Diablillos project, which the Company expects to complete in the second half of 2023.
Moreover, additional exploration targets have been identified to the southwest of the Oculto MRE based on the recently completed detailed ground magnetic survey. Some of these targets, including the Fantasma and Alpaca targets, will be drilled following the systematic drilling of the JAC zone.
Collar Data
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About Diablillos
The 80 km 2 Diablillos property is located in the Argentine Puna region - the southern extension of the Altiplano of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile - and was acquired from SSR Mining Inc. by the Company in 2016. There are several known mineral zones on the Diablillos property, with the Oculto zone being the most advanced with over 120,000 metres drilled to date. Oculto is a high-sulphidation epithermal silver-gold deposit derived from remnant hot springs activity following Tertiarty-age local magmatic and volcanic activity. Comparatively nearby examples of high sulphidation epithermal deposits include: Yanacocha (Peru); El Indio (Chile); Lagunas Nortes/Alto Chicama (Peru) Veladero (Argentina); and Filo del Sol (Argentina).
The most recent Mineral Resource estimate for the Oculto Deposit is shown in Table 2:
Table 2 - Oculto Mineral Resource Estimate – As of October 31, 2022
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Notes: Effective October 31, 2022. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. The Mineral Resource estimate is N.I. 43-101 compliant and was prepared by Luis Rodrigo Peralta, B.Sc., FAusIMM CP(Geo), Independent Consultant. The mineralization estimated in the Mineral Resource is sub-horizontal with sub-vertical feeders and a reasonable prospect for eventual economic extraction by open pit methods. For additional information please see Technical Report on the Diablillos Project, Salta Province, Argentina, dated November 28, 2022, completed by Mining Plus, and available on www.SEDAR.com.
QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols
AbraSilver applies industry standard exploration methodologies and techniques, and all drill core samples are collected under the supervision of the Company’s geologists in accordance with industry practices. Drill core is transported from the drill platform to the logging facility where drill data is compared and verified with the core in the trays. Thereafter, it is logged, photographed, and split by diamond saw prior to being sampled. Samples are then bagged, and quality control materials are inserted at regular intervals; these include blanks and certified reference materials as well as duplicate core samples which are collected in order to measure sample representivity. Groups of samples are then placed in large bags which are sealed with numbered tags in order to maintain a chain-of-custody during the transport of the samples from the project site to the laboratory.
All samples are received by the SGS offices in Salta who then dispatch the samples to the SGS preparation facility in San Juan. From there, the prepared samples are sent to the SGS laboratory in Lima, Peru where they are analyzed. All samples are analyzed using a multi-element technique consisting of a four acid digestion followed by ICP/AES detection, and gold is analyzed by 50g Fire Assay with an AAS finish. Silver results greater than 100g/t are reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade AAS finish.
Qualified Persons
David O’Connor P.Geo., Chief Geologist for AbraSilver, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and he has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release.
About AbraSilver
AbraSilver is an advanced-stage exploration company focused on rapidly advancing its 100%-owned Diablillos silver-gold project in the mining-friendly Salta province of Argentina. The current Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource estimate for Diablillos consists of 51.3 Mt grading 66g/t Ag and 0.79g/t Au, containing approximately 109Moz silver and 1.3Moz gold, with significant further upside potential based on recent exploration drilling. The Company is led by an experienced management team and has long-term supportive shareholders including Mr. Eric Sprott. In addition, AbraSilver owns a portfolio of earlier-stage copper-gold projects including the La Coipita copper-gold project in the San Juan province of Argentina. AbraSilver is listed on the TSX-V under the symbol “ABRA” and in the U.S. under the symbol “ABBRF”.
For further information please visit the AbraSilver Resource website at www.abrasilver.com , our LinkedIn page at , and follow us on Twitter at
Alternatively please contact:
John Miniotis, President and CEO
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Tel: +1 416-306-8334
Cautionary Statements
This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in the Company’s disclosure documents filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The risk factors and other factors noted in the disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release
Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
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2023.05.24 16:40 Santiagodelmar The Earth Hates You

Please support on nosleep here
Two weeks. That's how long it took for my life to fall apart. Two weeks for everything I ever loved or cared about to be taken from me in the cruelest way imaginable. And it all started on that hateful plot of land that was supposed to be my family’s new home. We’d bought the house a month earlier and packed our lives up in Socal and moved to Northern California. It was unassuming, Two-story, Three-bedroom, cheaply built, and overpriced in an attempt to cash in on the housing shortage. The whole housing subdivision was like that and in the end, the gamble failed, only about a third of the houses were occupied.
We arrived early in the morning, spring had just reared its head and showers still peppered the land. This particular morning a light drizzle had been falling for a few hours. On a front lawn, staring directly at us as we pulled in was a kid, crying. Even through the rain, I could see from the way his shoulders and chest shuddered. There was a woman standing a few feet away, staring at the boy.
“Are you ok?” my fiance Laurie asked, stepping out of the car.
The boy - who couldn’t have been older than 17 - nodded slightly and walked away, pausing halfway down the street to look back and shake his head. The woman, in her 60s, walked up as he strode out of sight and spoke to us.
“He’s crying for you,” she said.
“Excuse me?” I asked her.
“He’s like an omen, I saw him crying a week before my husband went missing. All they found of him was the joint to his index finger. I'd leave and never look back if I were you.”
“I’m sorry, are you a neighbor?” Laurie asked.
“Nah, don’t live here, just follow the boy around whenever I see him crying. Never says anything to the people he’s supposed to warn, so that’s why I’m here. I know your kind though, young, arrogant, and unwilling to listen. It’s fine, I’m just a crazy old lady, just know this land here, it knows nothing but tragedy. Settlers watered it with the blood of Indians slaughtered by the hundreds, and before them, they did it to each other. See, bound by tragedy, it’ll come to pass again.”
“I think you should be going,” I said firmly.
“I’m off, just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said and hobbled away.
“What the hell was that about?” I asked, facing Laurie.
“Local’s trying to scare us. I get it, people like us move en masse, raise rents, vote differently, and change their way of life. It’s easy to see why they’d get resentful.” She said
She saw the look in my eyes and frowned.
“Amir, I didn’t mean it like that, I’m not trying to sympathize with bigots, I’m just saying my parents think like her, I know what’s running through her mind. But honestly fuck her, she doesn’t matter, we do. The people around here are probably used to getting everything handed to them, why can’t we take a little something from ourselves.”
I was comforted by her words then but in hindsight, she was wrong. Mrs. Norris was eccentric and crotchety but she never had anything handed to her. She grew up poor and lived poor most of her life and even now she works as a Walmart greeter, if anyone had been lucky, it had been me. My entire life I only failed upwards. When I fucked off in high school Mom and Dad's alumni status and hefty donations to an ivy league school ensured my acceptance. When I renounced my parent's faith, they stopped talking to me, but made sure my classes were paid for and they always kept me in their prayers. I had a job lined up for me the moment I graduated at Dad’s law firm, even if he scheduled it so we’d never interact. He even left me a trust fund that was enough to afford this house and cosigned when Laurie asked him to. I didn’t know until after all the horrors I’ve experienced how good I had it. guess you don’t know what you have until it’s wretched from your hands.
Laurie brought Carter out of his seat, my beautiful son, A year and a half now. I wanted to name him after my brother, he was closer to me in skin tone than Laurie and he even had my father’s eyes. But in Laurie’s exact words, “You didn’t carry him for 9 months, you weren’t even there for me until the last second.” It was true.
My son was born 2 months after I graduated. I didn't want to be a father. I held firm to this even when a casual fling ended with a pregnancy neither her parents nor I wanted. But she was resolute, Laurie was stubborn like that, driven by rebellious impulse. The only reason she had hooked up with me was that she knew it’d piss off her parents, especially her dad. We agreed that she’d have full custody and I wouldn’t have to even meet the kid. I had agreed, but when her labor came she called me while she was on the way to the hospital, she was afraid and her parents had all but disowned her. I came, I shouldn’t have, every part of my body was screaming for me to just run, but on impulse, I showed up. When I held him for the first time in my arms, I knew this was all I had ever wanted. I cried of course and broke into myself that I had ever considered cutting my beautiful baby boy from my life. I proposed later that night, and Laurie said yes, almost in shock. I told myself we were fighting against the world that day, against her racist parents, against ourselves. I’d make this work, I’d fight for us, for Carter.
We brought our son inside, did some unpacking, and settled in for the night. I ended up falling asleep on the couch after a few beers and some late-night TV. Laurie put Carter to bed and went to bed alone, later telling me she didn’t want to wake me. What roused me that night was a sound, something that pierced the veil of dream and reeled me back to the real world.
Thhhhhhhhh-thump
My eyes shot open and sat up, and looked around the living room. Only a few dim beams of streetlight peered in through the window, their pallid light doing little to render anything visible beyond a blurry silhouette. I froze, let my heart settle, waited for what felt like an eternity, then laid back down.
Thhhhhhhhh-thump. Thhhhhhhhh-thump
I lay there, still and attentive, trying to parse what the sound was and where it was coming from. I tried to rationalize it as Laurie being up and about but as the sound repeated I picked up details that cast certainty into doubt, there was a slick wetness to it that couldn’t have been Laurie. Unless she now took to dragging wet rolls of tarp around in the middle of the night. I waited and listened until the sounds faded, I don’t know if they actually did or if the pull of sleep overcame my unease. All I know is that I woke up nearly late for work and before I could ask Laurie if she had heard anything, I had fled the house and sped all the way to my dad’s newly opened Norcal office.
Later that day as I returned home I found Laurie on the front lawn, Carter in hand waiting for me. Her face was contorted into an annoyed scowl.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping out of the car.
“That weird kid was back, around noon. And so was the old lady,” she said
“What did they want?”
“I think they’re trying to scare us out of here. The kid was crying again, bawling actually. The lady was behind him said that It’s already started and that our clock was ticking down. When I asked her what she meant by that she all but threatened me. She said ‘The earth, it weeps and it remembers the cruelties inflicted upon it. You’ll see, it’ll claim its dues one way or another.’ I told them I was gonna call the cops and they left but it didn’t sit right with me. They were harassing some of the other neighbors too... And it's just weird. Did the real estate agent say anything about this place?”
“It’s an entirely new housing development, there is no history to tell, why? Did they get to you?”
“No- it’s just that last night I heard something, like a dragging sound. I thought maybe it was you but… it felt like something was watching me, it didn’t feel like you.”
“I heard that too, didn’t feel like anyone watching me, just the noise,” I said
“Maybe we should call someone? A priest or-”
“Laurie, don’t tell me you buy into that shit after one night of something that’s easily explained.”
“It’s not too uncommon for people to have houses cleansed when they move, maybe it’s worth entertaining. Just down the street from us are nature reserves that used to be native land.”
“Maybe it’s them, ever think of that? You said it yourself; they have every reason to try to get rid of us.”
“That’s a little convoluted, isn’t it? Why would anyone go out of their way like that for us, what about the others they’ve bothered?” she asked.
“Plenty of people have gone after us for less Laurie, having my kid put you at odds with half your family alone. Your dad shot at me, I’m not surprised by the crazy shit people do anymore. We’ll let security know that they’re harassing us, problem solved.”,
Laurie looked at me with weary eyes “Maybe,” She glanced back down at Carter who giggled and she smiled. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said and let her shoulders relax.
A few days went by without incident, and I was starting to settle into the flow of things. We got to know some of our neighbors, at Laurie's behest and I was trying to get Carter to say his first words, but the word “dada,” seemed to evade him. Laurie was still in a bit of a funk, she got it often enough that I talked about therapy though she always evaded the topic. She dropped out of college, was disowned by her parents, and got engaged to the man responsible for her fall from grace on a whim. I caught her crying half a dozen times since she’d given birth, we hadn’t had sex more than a few times since she gave birth. I could tell she wanted to be more than a housewife and I know we needed the extra income. When I brought up that I was being groomed for a promotion her eyes lit up.
“Think we’d be able to afford child care? Would be nice to have some time to work, maybe even finish my degree.”
“It’s in the realm of possibility, still dream of being a nurse?” I said, smiling.
“I could change to accounting so I can annoy the hell out of you at work,” she said with a laugh.
All seemed to be right in the world, nowhere to go but up. We put Carter to bed in his room, and Laurie and I settled into our bed for the night. I rolled over onto her side, pressed against her, and said, “Let’s make a brother for Carter.” Laurie looked at me stunned at first before her face slacked into a grin.
“You think you can decide that?” she asked
“We can try?”
“And what if I want a girl?”
“We can try for a girl after we give Carter a brother. Think about it, boys need other boys their age and our daughter gets two older brothers to protect her.”
“You make a compelling argument,’ she said and moved to straddle me.
We broke out into a wrestling match, disrobing one another with every hold and shift of motion. Laurie was halfway through pulling my boxers down when the sound of glass shattering froze us both in place. Seconds ticked by as my muscles tensed in anticipation. Another explosion of glass made the both of us flinch and Carter awakened with a snort and then a wail. “Go,” I said to Laurie and she launched herself to Carter’s room. I pulled my boxers up as I made my way downstairs. I snagged the bedside bat as another series of glass-shattering staccatos rang out throughout the house. “What the fuck?!” Laurie shouted as I ran past, bat held so tightly in my hands my knuckles paled. In my anger and haste, I sprinted into the kitchen without thinking. As I flicked on the lights as I stepped on a shard of glass
“Fuck!” I yelled as it bit into my flesh. I looked around at the sight before me, blood pooling steadily around my foot. Nothing but a cabinet and half a dozen glass cups shattered across the floor. I set the bat down on the counter and pried the sizable glass shard from my foot. I didn’t have time to dress it, a scream rang out from upstairs. “Amir! Amir!” Laurie called and I sprang up, and ran towards them, leaving bloody footprints on hardwood and carpeted stairs. I was yelling at myself internally, whatever was doing this succeeded in separating us. As I reached the hallway it dawned on me that I left the bat on the counter. Though my stomach tied itself into knots at the realization that I’d have to face whatever was in the room unarmed, nearly naked, and bleeding, I did not slow or relent.
I flung myself through the open door, wild-eyed and ready to fight. Laurie was huddled in the furthest corner with our wailing son held close to her chest, a finger outstretched and pointing to the closet that faced her. My eyes flicked to where she pointed in the swirling darkness of the open closet door, and for the briefest of moments, I thought I saw movement. Muscles tensed and I raised my fists but the apparition was dispelled the second I focused in on it. Already rationalizations formed within me, and adrenaline-fueled delusion was the one I clung to.
“What? What did you see?” I asked Laurie as she tried to soothe Carter.
“I-I don’t know, but there was something here, it was in the closet. It was staring at us.” She said and gazed down at the blood seeping into the carpet.
“What happened downstairs?” She asked,
“Cupboard was open, and glasses fell out.”
“Amir, that doesn’t just happen, we can’t stay here anymore.”
“And what do you propose we do? Go to a hotel, put the house on the market, and hope that we scrounge enough to find somewhere else?”
“Why not?”
“Because this is our only chance, Laurie, because we have nothing else. We’ve made it here and I can’t make a gamble like that. Half the houses here are empty, they haven’t sold. If we leave and are worse off than when we started we have no one to turn to, not your parents, not mine, not a single friend. No one but us, we have to fight Laurie, for us, for Carter.”
Carter had quieted, but Laurie had tears carving slow paths down her cheek.
“I didn’t think it’d be this hard. I didn’t expect a walk in the park but fuck I didn’t think it feels like this, every day is a pit I have to crawl out from and every day it feels deeper,” she said.
I closed the distance between us, embraced her and Carter, and with my head on hers I asked her to fight, and through tears and quiet hiccups she said “I will.”
We spent the next hour cleaning up the house, Laurie bandaged my foot and we planned to rent a carpet cleaner for all the blood. We moved Carter’s crib into our bedroom at Laurie’s request so that killed my plans for making Carter a brother. Things settled for the night and we fell into a fretful sleep. The next day as I was coming home from work I noticed that strange kid again, Mrs. Norris was far behind on the intersection of my street and another. Like before, he was walking aimlessly but paused in front of our house. He was crying again, but harder this time. Sobs wracked his body as he struggled to hold a steady breath.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” I said as I walked by. He nodded and kept walking but paused for a moment, letting his crying die down until he could speak and he said “You’re the ones that don’t belong. The earth here, it’s wept and wept and none listened to its pleas and so now it lashes out.” I headed toward him at a brisk pace and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him close so he could see how deadly serious I was.
“Are you threatening me and my family?”
He met my gaze, there was nothing in his eyes, no provocation, but he was crying again. A smile split his face, and his unsettlingly perfect teeth bared. He looked back into my eyes and said “It’ll end in screams.” He shook his head and laugh-cried until I was disturbed enough to let him go. He started walking away from me again, almost limping now and I regretted not slugging him when I had a chance.
Now I had to deal with the hobbling hag, Mrs. Norris. Henry, a neighbor I recognized from three doors down was turning away from her, his walk was tense and as he retreated back to his house the old woman locked eyes with me and approached to speak. I let out a sigh as she closed the distance.
“Since you’re too much of a fool to heed a warning from those who know better, let me give you a word of advice. Offer yourself in their place. Take your blood, slather it on your door, offer your life. You’ll spend every waking moment of your life in regret if you don’t.” she said.
“What biblical bullshit are you on about? I won’t buy into your madness”
“My husband and I were planning on starting a family before it took him. I haven’t moved forward a day since the day I lost him. That was 17 years ago, and that boy hasn’t aged a day since. He knew. Like an angel of death, he knew it would come for me. It took my future and I’ve spent every moment I can trying to warn others of what happens when the earth learns to hate but every single last one of you has been so stubborn. I haven’t saved a single one, maybe that’s another aspect of its malice, but God if I don’t try… this whole neighborhood will collapse under the weight of its own hubris, please-”
“Look, lady, you’re obviously struggling with something. I feel for you but I won’t let you project your delusions onto me and my family. I hope you can get the help you need but stay the fuck away from us.”
She looked at me, dejected. She turned away from me and hobbled off and said “fine” in such a hoarse and airy whisper, I almost thought it a phantom. As she rounded a corner and escaped my glare I felt a sting of dull pain throb through my foot. My wound had reopened and fresh blood flowed and seeped into my shoes and the earth.
“How was work?” Laurie asked over dinner once we had settled in.
“Fine, Bueller's talk of promotions has all but dried up though.”
“I’m sure it’ll come up again, you’re a hard worker.”
“Let’s hope my dad’s not in his ear. What about you, how was your day?” I asked.
“Fine we spent it at the park, we went for lunch and we’ve just been out and about, seeing the town.”
“You’re afraid to be here alone.”
“Why wouldn’t I be, something was staring at me and Carter, it wanted to hurt us, I’m not comfortable here alone. Maybe Mrs. Norris was right.”
I set down my fork and looked at her, her face was unreadable but she wouldn’t have said anything unless she was mad at me.
“Laurie can we not- I mean, I’m sorry I wasn’t around. I would have loved to spend the day with you and Carter, I’ll look into affordable daycare and you can start looking for a job so you can get some time out of the house. I’m sure things will settle in a bit and we’ll be better off.”
Her hand slid over on top of mine and she spoke, “I’d like that, and I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have been so stand-offish. I’ve been stressed, you’ve been stressed, it’s all been one big ball of stress since we moved in. I’m sure you’re right, we’ll be fine in the end.”
Her hand tightened around mine and I maneuvered around so that I could interlace her fingers with mine. Wordlessly we ate dinner, put Carter to sleep, and made love in the next room. When we had finished we lay down to sleep and in the moments before I faded into dreams I thought that despite it all, I truly was a lucky man.
Thhhhhhhhh-thump
My eyes flung open as I jolted awake. My heart raced as my eyes darted around the room scanning for movement. “Why tonight of all nights,” I couldn't help but mutter under my breath. Only a pale beam of moonlight streamed in through a parted curtain, a silver sliver cleaving through the dark of the room. Nothing, it had been nothing I tried to tell myself.
Thhhhhhhhh-thump
The sound was closer than I had ever heard it, I even picked up small details. An organic squelch, wetness, a small raspy moan. It was in the room with us, it was moving closer, I sat up, causing Laurie to stir. My hand reached for the bat by the nightstand and at the same moment, a desiccated arm reached through from the darkness and planted itself firmly in the beam of moonlight. Its hands rested upon what I now realized was a bloody pulpy mess. I brought the bat to my chest and watched in horror as it dragged itself into view. A bone white and withered naked woman, her eye sockets empty and void black. She strained and flexed as she scraped her crotch along the floor, leaving bits of skin and sinew all the while making that damned sound ‘thhhhhhhh-’ and her hand came down to with force ‘thump.’ She turned to face me, wiry white hair parting so I could see her lipless grin. She turned away and continued to drag herself across the floor, deepening the gash, how long had she been at it before I awoke?
Thhhhhh-
Laurie jolted awake and gasped at the sight, a scream caught in her throat. She turned to look wild-eyed at me, and the fear in my eyes caused her own to deepen. ‘Thump,’ and the woman was in the veil of darkness once more, but through it, we could still see her silhouette and burning grin. I started to get up, to confront her when the temperature of the room dived, in a split second my heavy breath was visible in quick bursts of white vapor. A crack reverberated through the house and the long gash on our floor split open. The dimensions of the floor warped as a giant, pockmarked skull crowned. It must have been as big as our bed and it kept pushing and jerking until finally, it broke free. A giant head from the neck up was staring at us, mummified skin yellowed like ancient papyrus. Its visage was harsh, angular, and skeletal. Holes and lines, rimmed with blackened flesh, scarred every inch of its skin. Slowly and methodically a giant hand slid out from the gash, inching towards Carter’s crib.
Slow lurid movements as the hand snaked across the air and into the crib. My body was a cage and from it, I screamed with all my might and yet it made no sound as the ragged fleshy fingers curled around Carter and hoisted him up.
Laurie screamed, Carter wailed, and something clicked into place, an ancient instinct, a righteous gene. I slid the covers off and held the bat out, I’d fight, I had no other choice. The hand paused and the head's attention shifted to me and it… blossomed. Every hole in its skin was now filled with the hateful glare of an eye, hundreds of them. Every line split open and a black tooth smiled grinned, grinned, with its whole being this thing was grinning at me. I understood it then, the depth of its rage, it all unfurled and wrapped around me and sank its blackened teeth into all the bravado and fatherly instinct within me until it shattered. It hated me, Laurie, Carter, us, it hated all the world and it would consume all it could in its wrath. The bat fell from my hands as my body went limp and it opened up its mouth, the black pit of its gullet stared into me and I was sinking in its pitch. An ear-splitting shriek dragged me back out into this world and I watched in agonized slow motion as it brought the hand it held Carter in closer and closer to its mouth.
I wanted to scream, wanted to stop it, wanted to close my eyes, but I only watched as this emanation of hatred brought my son to its lips… and took a bite. The crunch is seared into the very core of my being, I’ll never forget no matter how hard I try. A pitiful cry that never truly formed clicked in my head and a crimson curtain fell. A thousand tounges, a thousand mouths all opened and clashed against each other to lap up the blood of my son, the blood of me, and Laurie. Our entire history, our future, gone. The hand pulled back, twisting as it did. The sound of small frail bones breaking and flesh tearing echoed throughout my entire being and still, I couldn’t look away. It took two more bites for it to finish, and it made sure to take its time chewing. When it finally swallowed it pursed its lips at me, smile stained red, and dove into the gash. It sealed itself and returned to the pulpy stain it had originally been, now with a few more blood stains. My ears were ringing, my screams, Laurie’s, the whole neighborhood was shrieking out into the night. In the corner, the naked woman watched us as we shrieked ourselves raw until she too faded into the blackness.
Dawn came a few hours later but night had been lit by the blues and reds of police cars. I saw that strange kid amongst the crowd of people, he wasn’t crying anymore. His eyes were empty and solemn, but the grin he had flashed me the day before was still carved into his visage. Mrs. Norris was at his side, our eyes locked and an understanding was shared between us. She shook her head, wiped a tear from her eye, and turned to leave.
Everyone had lost someone that night. Coraline, a widow, was never found, only an empty house and a blood stain. Joshua, a single father, awoke to his daughter's room empty except for the fading silhouette of a woman hidden within a dark corner. Henry only ever had himself and his dog, all that was left of the chocolate lab was the bisected lower half. There are other tales and losses too painful to hear but no one escaped the wrath of that angel of death, a resentful plot of land, or maybe some unknown dues finally being paid. I couldn’t answer the police’s questions, and they couldn’t answer ours, not even the local news stations would hear our pleas. Maybe there was some higher power at play, trying to cover up the event, the calamity that shattered the lives of dozens. Maybe the truth will come out one day, or maybe this has happened before and they’ve perfected the methods of covering it up. If there’s a consequence in store for my account, I’ll be dead before I ever face it.
That fateful night was three days ago. I haven’t gone to work since or even talked to Laurie. Catatonic, my mind regressed into a shell of itself because what else could I have done? Yesterday, I walked in on Laurie, lifeless. She downed all the bottles of medication she could find. I thought I had nothing left to lose, but then I saw her, that shell broke and I collapsed into myself more than I ever knew I could. I think I’ll be following after her and Carter before the day is done. I was never a religious man, it’s why my father disowned me. Now I pray that they’re out there, in a better place, and that they’re waiting for me and we won’t have to fight anymore.
My father once told me that children are your legacy, your future, and so to be fruitful. I think about how much we’ve taken from the earth and how much suffering it’s witnessed, how much blood has been spilled on it. How long it must have spent beneath our shadow weeping, praying for it to end, with enough time and tragedy even the brightest of hearts warp and twist into something else. Maybe you can only take from someone so much before it takes back. It took everything from me. I don’t know how far this spreads, where and if it’ll strike again. All I know is that the very earth we tread and live on can grow to hate us and maybe for you, it already does
TW
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