They didn’t tell us the name of the next kid that disappeared. They didn’t tell us another kid had disappeared at all. We could all tell by the silence what had happened. It spoke volumes. I’m sure they talked about it in great detail amongst themselves. In PTA meetings and City Councils. My parents made sure to turn off the TV at 5 o’clock before the news came on, at least in my home. They’d turn it back on for the 11 o’clock news, when were were in bed and couldn’t hear the details.
The strange thing is, they never told us to just stop going outside. They told us to go in groups, sure, but they never decided, or as far as I could tell even though, to keep us all indoors. I guess that sort of freedom wasn’t something they were willing to give up. Instead, they did the neighborhood watch thing. For those few months, I remember my folks meeting more of our neighbors than in all the time previously, or since. Retirees would spend their days out in their front lawns, watching kids and everybody else coming and going. They’d even set up lawn furniture, with umbrellas, even all through the rains of spring. Cops stopped sitting in ambushes on the highways waiting for speeders and instead started patrolling the streets, chatting with us as we’d pass by. Weekends would see all the adults out in their yards, working on cars in the driveways, fixing the gutters, and so on. They had this weird way of looking at you as you’d ride by. Not hostile stares, but it was like they were cataloging your presence. Boy, eight years old, red raincoat silver bike, about 11:30 in the morning, heading south on Sorensen. Seemed fine.
The next time we saw it, it wasn’t in our neighborhood, and I was the one who saw it first. We were visiting Russ, a sort of 5th semi-friend from school. We rarely hung out, mostly owing to geography. His house wasn’t far as the crow flies, but it was up a steep hill. We spent a Saturday afternoon returning a cache of comic books we’d borrowed. The distance we covered was substantial, as we had decided to take lots of extra streets as switchbacks, rather than slowly push our bikes up the too-steep hills.
The descent was going to be the highlight of the trip, up until I saw the Hidebehind. We were on a curving road, a steep forested bluff on one side. The uphill slope was mostly ivy-covered raised foundations for the neighborhood’s houses. That side of the road was lined with parked cars, and the residents of the homes had to ascend steep staircases to get to their front doors.
I was ayt the back of the pack when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Movement, something brown squatting between two closely parked cars. My head snapped as I zoomed past, and despite not getting a good look, I knew it was that terrible thing. “It’s behind us!” I shouted and started pedaling hard. The others looked for themselves as I quickly rushed past them, but they soon joined my pace.
Ralph’s earlier idea of directly confronting the thing was set aside. We were moving too fast, and down too narrow a street to turn around. Then we saw it again it was to our left, off-road, between the trees. Suddenly it leaped from behind one tree trunk to the next and disappeared again. That hardly made sense, the base of the trees must have been thirty feet below the deck of the street we rode down. One of us, I think it was India, let out one of those strangled screams.
There it was again, back on the right, disappearing behind a mailbox as we approached. That couldn’t have been, it must have outpaced us and crossed in front of us. Logic would suggest there was more than one, but somehow the four of us knew it was the same thing. More impossible still, the pole holding up the mailbox was too thin, maybe two inches in diameter, yet that thing had disappeared behind it, like a Warner Bros. cartoon character. It was just enough to catch a better glimpse of it though. All brown. A head seemingly too bulbous and large for its body. Its limbs were thin but far longer, like a gibbon’s. Only a gibbon had normal elbows and knees. This thing bent its joints all wrong like it wasn’t part of the natural order. We were all terrified to wit’s end.
“The trail!” Ralph shouted, and the other three of us knew exactly what he meant. The top of it was only just around the curve. It was a dirt footpath for pedestrians ascending and descending South Hill, cutting through the woods on our left. It was too steep for cars, and to be honest, too steep for bikes. We’d played on it before, challenging each other to see how high up they could go, then descend back down without using our brakes. A short paved cul-de-sac at the bottom was enough space to stop before running into a cross street.
Ralph had held the previous group record, having climbed three-quarters of the way before starting his mad drop. India’s best was just short of that, I had only dared about halfway up, Ben only a third. This time, with certain death on our heels, the trail seemed the only way out. Nothing could have outrun a kid on a bike flying down that hill.
We followed Ralph’s lead, swinging to the right gutter of the street, then hanging a fast wide left up onto the curb, over a patch of gravel, between two boulders set up as bollards, lest a car driver mistake the entrance for a driveway, and then, like a roller coaster cresting the first hill, the bottom fell out.
It was the most overwhelming sensation of motion I’ve ever had, before or since. I suppose the danger behind us was the big reason, and being absolutely certain that only our speed was keeping us alive. I remember thinking it was like the speeder bike scene from Return of the Jedi, also a recent movie from the time. Only this was real. I didn’t just see the trees flashing past it, I could hear the motion as well. Cold air attacked my eyes and long streamers of tears rushed over my cheeks and the drops flew past my ears, I didn’t dare blink. Each little stone my tires struck threatened to up-end me and end it all. Yet, and perhaps worse, half the time it felt like I wasn’t in contact with the ground at all. I was going so fast that those same small stones were sending me an inch or two into the air, and the arc of the flights so closely matched the slope that by the time I contacted the trail again, I was significantly further down the hill.
At the same time, I had never felt more relief, as the thing behind us had no way of catching us now. Somehow, maybe the seriousness of the escape gave us both the motive and the seriousness to keep ourselves under control. Looking back, I marvel that at least one of us didn’t lose control and end up splitting our skulls open.
We hit the pavement of the cul-de-sac below, and didn’t bother to slow down. We raced through the cross-street, one angry driver screeching to a halt and laying on his horn. This brought out the neighborhood watch. Just a few of them at first. Still, we didn’t slow down, our momentum carried us back up the much shallower slope of our neighborhood. Witnesses saw us depart at high speed, and this only brought out more of the watch. We heard whistles behind us, just like our P.E. teacher’s whistle. We figured that was the watch’s alarm siren. Regardless of what happened to that thing, it was behind us. We returned to our homes, shaken, but safe and sound, our inertia taking us almost all of the way there.
Another kid disappeared that Sunday, up on South Hill. We’d suspected it because we could see the lights of the police cars on a high road, surrounding the spot where it would turn out later, one of the kid’s shoes had been found. Russ confirmed it at school on Monday. It was a kid he’d known, lived down the road from his place, went to private school which is why we didn’t recognize his name.
I remember seeing Ralph’s face the next day when he arrived at school. He looked angry. Strong. Like he’d been crying really hard, and now it was over and he was resolved. He said he’d felt guilty because the thing we’d escaped from had gotten the other kid instead. He tried to tell his old man about it, then his mom, then any adult he could. He’d tell them about the monster who hides behind things. They needed to focus on finding and stopping that instead of looking for some sort of creeper or serial killer. Of course, nobody had listened to him. They hadn’t listened to the rest of us either when we’d tried to tell.
So he’d devised a plan. He was calling it the “Fight Patrol,” which we didn’t argue with. If the adults wouldn’t do something, we would. We’d patrol our neighborhood on our bikes, the four of us, maybe a couple more if we could talk others into it. We’d chase it off like that first time, maybe for good, or maybe corner it. Clearly, it could not handle being caught.
Naturally, we brought up the scare on South Hill. He argued that was a bad place. Too isolated, couldn’t turn around easily. We needed to stay on our home turf, lots of visibility, and plenty of the Neighborhood Watch within earshot. Maybe we and the adults working together was the key, even if the adults didn’t understand the problem.
Well, that convinced us. Our first patrol was that afternoon, after school. We watched everybody’s back like hawks. Nothing had a chance to sneak up on us. Nothing could step out from behind a bush without getting spotted. By Friday afternoon there were eight of us. The next week we split up to extend our territory to the next neighborhoods over.
Nothing happened. We never saw anything. Ben thought it was because we were scaring it away. Ralph just thought we were failing, and took it personally. I myself thought the thing had just moved to different parts of town, where the new disappearances were taking place. I told him we should keep it up until the thing was caught.
It was all for naught.
One day, India didn’t show up for school. I asked everybody, the teachers, the office staff, the custodian, my parents. All of them said they didn’t know, and it was so easy to tell that they were lying. That would mark the end of the Fight Patrol.
Ben didn’t show up a couple of days after that. When I got home and collapsed into bed, my mother came in to tell me that Ben’s mother had called. She’d taken him out of school and they were moving elsewhere. I called up Ralph to let him know the news, and he was relieved too.
My last day was Friday, and then I was taken out. Again, I called Ralph so he wouldn’t worry. I guess when there were only two weeks left of school, and it was just grade school, a couple missed weeks don’t amount to much. So I ended up spending the bulk of the summer out in the country, with my grandparents, which was why I brought up my grandpa in the first place.
I suppose I did fine out on their farmhouse. I was safe. There was certainly no shortage of things for a kid to do. I think my mom felt a strong sense of relief too. Things slipped through the cracks.
My grandparents didn’t have cable, too far out of town. They just had an old-school antenna and got a couple of TV stations transmitting out of Canada, Vancouver specifically. I remember one July day, sitting in their living room. My grandmother had just fixed lunch for me and my grandfather and had gone out to do some gardening as we watched the news at noon.
My grandfather was already being ravaged by his illnesses. He was able to get around, but couldn’t do any real labor anymore. He’d lounge in front of the TV in a special lounge chair. He hardly talked, and when he did he’d just mumble some discomfort or complaint to my grandma.
The lead story on the news was the current situation in Farmingham, despite being in the neighboring country, it was still big news in Vancouver, and the whole rest of the region. It seemed the disappearances were declining, but the police were still frantically searching for a supposed serial killer. I didn’t pick up much about what they were talking about, I was a kid after all, but my grandfather was watching intently, despite his infirmity.
He mumbled something, I didn’t catch. I asked him was he said, and as I approached I heard him say “fearsome critters.”
He turned his eyes to me and said again, distinct and in a normal tone of voice, “fearsome critters,” then returned his attention to the screen. “I don’t know why they call them that. Fearsome, sure. But ‘critters?” Makes it sound silly. Like it's some sort of fairy tale that it ain’t. Guess it’s like whistling past the graveyard. Well, they don’t have to worry about them no more, guess they can call them what they like.”
Then he turned to me. “Do you know what it is?” he asked. “Squonk? Hodag? Gouger? Hidebehind?”
“Hidebehind,” I whispered, and he turned back to the TV with a sneer. I had no idea what on earth he was talking about. Remember, this would be years before I learned he spent his youth as a lumberjack. And yet, somehow, I knew exactly what we were talking about.
“Hidebehind,” he repeated. “That will do it. They give them such stupid names. The folk back East, that is. Wisconsin. Minnesota. Ohio. Way back in the old days, before my grandfather would have been your age. Back when those places were covered by forests. They didn’t give them silly names back then, no. Back then they were something to worry about. Then they moved on, though. They all went out West, to here, followed the loggers. So as once they didn’t have to worry about them anymore, they started making up silly stories, silly names. “Fearsome critters,” they’d call them. Just tall tales to tell the greenhorns and scare them out of their britches. Then they’d make them even sillier, and tell the stories to little kids to spook them.”
“Not out here they didn’t tell no stories nor make up any names. It was bad enough they followed us out. I had no clue they even existed until I saw one for myself. Bout your age, I suppose. Maybe a little older. Nobody ever talks about them. Not even when they take apart a work crew, one by one. They just pull the crews back. Wait till mid-summer when the land is dry but not too dry. Then they move the crews in, a lot of them. Do some burning, make a lot of smoke. Drives them deeper into the woods, you know. Then you can cut the whole damn place down. But nobody asks why, nobody tells why. The people who know just take care of it.”
“I guess that’s why they’re coming to us now. All the old woods are almost gone. So they’ve got to. Like mountain lions. I supposed it’s going to happen sooner or later.”
We heard my grandma come into the back door to the utility room, and stomp the dirt off her boots. My grandfather turned to me one last time and said, “Whichever way you look at it, somebody’s just got to take care of it.” Then my grandmother came in from the utility room and asked us how our lunch had been.
Now that I look back at it, that might have been the last time my grandfather and I really had a meaningful talk.
We moved back home in late August. I had been having a fantastic summer. Though looking back, I suppose it could be rough for a still-young woman to be living in her aging parents' house when she’s got a perfectly good husband and house of her own in town.
First thing I did was visit Ralph. He’d been busy. He’d fortified his treehouse into a proper, well, tree fort. He’d nailed a lot of reinforcing plywood over everything. He hadn’t gone out on patrols by himself, of course, but the height of the tree fort afforded him a view of the nearest streets. He’d also made some makeshift weapons out of old baseball bats, a hockey stick, and a garden rake. The sharp rocks he’d attached to them with masking tape didn’t look very secure, but it’d only take one or two good blows with that kind of firepower. He also explained he’d been teaching himself kung fu, by copying all the movies he saw on kung fu movies late at night on the unpopular cable channels. That was classic Ralph.
As for the monster, it seemed to be going away. Its last victim had disappeared weeks previously, part of the reason my mom felt it was time to go back. This had been at night too. What’s more, the victim had been a college student, a very petite lady, barely five feet tall, under a hundred pounds. The news had speculated that their presumptive serial killer had assumed she was a child. I remember thinking the Hidebehind didn’t care. Maybe it just thought she couldn’t run fast enough to get away or put up a fight when he caught her. Like a predator.
At any rate, the college students were incensed. Of course, they’d been hyper-alert and concerned when it was just local kids going missing. Now that it was one of their own the camel’s back had broken. They really went hard on the protests, blaming the local police for not doing enough.
They started setting up their own patrols, and at night too. Marches with sometimes dozens of students at a time. They called it “Take Back the Night.” They’d walk the streets, making sure they’d be heard. Some cared drums or tambourines. They’d help escort people home, and sometimes they’d unintentionally stop random crimes they’d happen across. I felt like this was what the Fight Patrol could have been, if we’d just been old enough, or had been listened to. This would be the endgame for the Hidebehind, one way or another.
I stayed indoors the rest of the summer, and really there wasn’t much left. It doesn’t get too hot in the Pacific Northwest, nobody has air conditioners, or at least we didn’t back then. It will get stuffy though, in August, and I liked to sleep with my window open. I could hear the chants and challenges from the student patrols on their various routes. Sometimes I could hear them coming from far away, and every now and then they’d pass down my street. It felt like a wonderful security blanket.
I also liked the honeysuckle my mother had planted around the perimeter of the house. Late at night, if I was struggling to fall asleep, the air in my bedroom would start to circulate. Cold air would start pouring in over my windowsill, bringing the sweet scent of that creepervine with it, and I’d the sensation before finally passing out.
This one night, and I have no knowledge if I was awake, asleep, or drifting off, but the air in the room changed, and cooler air poured over the windowsill and swept over my bed, but it didn’t carry the sweet smell of honeysuckle. Regardless of my initial state, I was alert pretty quickly. It was a singularly unpleasant smell. A bit like death, which at that age I was mostly unfamiliar with, except a time some animal had died underneath the crawlspace of our house. There was more to it, though. The forest, the deep forest. I don’t know and still don’t know, what that meant. Most smells I associate with the forest are pleasant. Cedar, pine needles, thick loam of the forest floor, campfires, even the creosote and turpentine of those old timey-logging camps. This was none of those smells. Maybe… rotting granite, and the spores of slime molds. Mummified hemlocks and beds of needles compressed into something different than soil. It disturbed me.
So I sat up in bed. I hadn’t noticed before, but I’d been sweating, just lightly in the stuffy summer night heat. Now it was turning cold. Before me was my bedroom window. A lit rectangle in a pitch-dark room. To either side were my white, opened curtains, the one on the right, by the open half of the window, stirred just slightly in the barely perceptible breeze.
Most of the rectangle was the black form of the protective cypress tree. Only the slight conical nature of the tree distinguished it from a perfectly vertical column. To either side was a dim soft orange glow coming from the sodium lamps of the street passing by our house. It was perhaps a bit diffuse from the screen set in my window to keep out mosquitos. In the distance was the sound of an approaching troupe of the Take Back the Night patrol. They were neither drumming nor chanting, but still making plenty of noise. They were, perhaps, three or four blocks away, and heading my way.
For some reason that I didn’t understand, I got up, off of the foot of the bed. The window, being closer, appeared bigger. I took a silent step further. The patrol approached closer. Another step. I leaned to my right, just a bit, getting a slightly wider view to the left of the cypress tree. That was the direction the patrol was coming from.
That was when it resolved. The deeper black silhouette within the black silhouette of the cypress tree. A small lithe frame with a too-bulbous head. It too leaned, in its case, to the left, to see around the cypress tree as the patrol approached. They reached our block,on the other side of the street. A dozen rowdy college students, not trying to be quiet. None of them fearing the night. Each feeling safe and determined, and absorbed in their own night out rather than being overtly sensitive to their surroundings. They were distracted, unfocused If they had been peering into the shadows, if just one of them had looked towards my house, behind the cypress tree, they might have seen the Hidebehind, poking its face out and watching them transit past. But they didn’t notice.
It hid behind the cypress tree, and I hid behind it, hoping that the blackness of my bedroom would protect me. I stood absolutely still, as I had done once when a hornet had once landed on the back of my neck. Totally assure that if I made the slightest movement or made the slightest sound that I’d be stung. I hardly even breathed.
The patrol passed, from my perspective, behind the cypress tree and temporarily out of view. The Hidebehind straightened, ready to lean to the right and watch the patrol pass, only it didn’t lean. Even as I watched the patrol pass on to the right, it stood there, stock still, just as I was doing.
It was then I became aware that my room had become stuffy again. The scent was gone. The air had shifted and was now flowing out through the screen again, carrying my own scent with it. I knew what this meant, and yet I was too paralyzed to react. The thing started to turn, very slowly. It was a predator understanding that it might have become victim to its own game. It turned as if it was thinking the same thing I had been thinking, that the slightest movement might give it away.
It turned, and I saw its face. Like some kind of rotting desiccated, shriveling fruit, it was covered in wrinkles. Circles within concentric circles surrounded its two great eyes, eyes which took up so much of its face. I couldn’t, and still struggle, to think of words to describe it. Instead, I still think in terms of analogies. At the time I thought of the creature from the film E.T., only twisted and distorted into a thing of nightmares. Almost all eyelids, and a little drooping sucker mouth. Now that I’m more worldly, it reminds of creatures of ancient artworks. The key defining feature were the long horizontal slits it had for eyes. You see that in old masks carved in West Africa, or by the Inuit long ago. You see it in what’s called the “slit-eyed dogu” of ancient Japan.
As I watched the wrinkles on the face seemed to multiply. Then I realized this was the result of its eyes slowly widening. It’s mouth, too, slowly dilated, revealing innumerable small razor-sharp teeth. A person, standing in its location, shouldn’t have been able to see in. Light from the sodium streetlamps lit the window’s screen, obscuring the interior. It was no person. It could see me, and it was reacting to my presence. Its eyes grew huge, black.
My own eyes would have been just as wide if not for my own anatomical limitations. I was still watching when it disappeared. It didn’t see it move to the right. I didn’t see it move to the left, nor did I see it drop down out of view. It simply disappeared. One fraction of a second it was there, and then it decided to leave, and so it did. It was not a thing of this world.
There were no more disappearances after that poor woman from the university. I don’t think it had anything to do with me. The media and police all speculated their “serial killer” had gone into a “dormant phase”. There was no shortage of people who tried to take credit. Maybe they deserve it. The thing’s hunting had been on the decline. All the neighborhood watches and student patrols, I think that maybe all that commotion was making it too hard for the Hidebehind to go about its business. Maybe it had gone back to the woods.
Then again, maybe Ralph had been right the whole time. Maybe it really, really, really didn’t like to be seen.
So.
Now I’ve got some decisions to make. I think the first thing I should do is look at social media and dig up Ralph. It’s been a good thirty years since I last talked to him. He ought to know the Hidebehind is back. He’s probably made plans.
Then, there’s the issue of my son. He’s up in his bedroom now, probably still mad at me. Probably confused about why I’d be so strict. Maybe he’s inventing explanations as to why.
I’m not sure, but I’m leaning toward telling him everything. He deserves to know. It’d probably be safer if he knows. I think people have this instinct where, when they see or know something that they’re not supposed to know, they just bottle it up. I think that was the problem with grown-ups when I was a kid. It was the issue with my grandfather, telling me so little when it was almost too late. I think people do it because we’re social animals, and we’re afraid of being ostracized. Go along to get along.
Hell, my son is probably going to think I’m crazy. It might even make him more mad at me. And even more confused. He knows about the disappearances. “The Farmingham Fiend” the media would end up dubbing the serial killer that didn’t really exist. It’s become local “true crime” history. Kids tell rumors about it. It was almost forty years ago, so it probably feels safe to wonder about.
So yeah, I suppose when I say I know who the real killer was, a magical monster from the woods that stalks its prey by hiding behind objects, then impossibly disappears- that I’m going to look like a total nut. I’d think that if I were in his shoes.
Except… people are going to start disappearing again, it’s only a matter of time. The media will say that the Farmingham Fiend is back in the game. Will my son buy that? He’ll start thinking about what I told him, and how I predicted it. Then he’ll remember that he saw the thing himself, he and his friends, even if it was just out of the corner of his eye.
I hope, sooner or later, he’ll believe me. I could use his help. Maybe Ralph is way ahead of me, but I’m thinking we should get the Fight Patrol back together. Father and son, this time. Multigenerational, get the retirees involved too.
Old farts of my generation, for reasons I don’t understand, like to wax nostalgic over their own false sense of superiority. We rode our bikes without helmets and had distant if not irresponsible parents. Yeah, yeah, what a load. I think every new generation is better than the last, because every generation is a progression from the last, Kids these days? They’ve got cell phones, with cameras. And helmet cams. GoPros you can attach to bikes. Doorbell cameras.
It seems the Hidebehind loathes being seen. This time around, with my grandfather’s spirit, my own memories, and my boy’s energy? I think this time we’re finally going to beat it.

All Chapters First Chapter of Alien-Nation Previous Chapter
Chapter summary: Vaughn liberates a bunch of people. Elias can't sleep and makes some decisions and receives a weird offer.
Chapter Art- Vaughn's Mask, a World War One Tanker Splatter Mask

Alien-Nation Chapter 169: Jailbreak

A Leslie's Pool Supplies retail outlet made for a strange rally point for any group of people, even moreso now that the whole strip mall along what had been Concord Pike had long since closed. The stainless letters spelled the forgotten name of the shopping center, still proudly adorned the top of the diagram of blank signs ensured at least the brick obelisk was a conveniently obvious marker for the men to find and make preparations for assaulting the jail.
'Morningstar' squadron had swelled their cell's numbers to well over twenty by absorbing the miscellaneous fragments of other cells, whose skills were more generalized. The name carried over to the newly formed Strike Force by virtue of being both the largest and the lynchpin of the operation's success.
This was the largest force of the three organized groups they'd split into, each aiming to try and hit the larger jails along Route 202, the other two branches making a target list of their own. Vendetta had given them an extra half hour to at least get themselves close to in-position, but with only one shortwave had no way of knowing if they would coordinate their strike. He was a known element to everyone even if only by name. At least Elias's words stayed true; All seemed very familiar and well-practiced with their carried weaponry. More importantly, none contested his assigned leadership or questioned his orders.
Vaughn cradled the RPG he'd been given, eyeing the well-lit building just over the carefully landscaped hill. The last had been over a half hour ago. The box-mart across the old highway was the temporary headquarters of the repositioned Troop One, after the suburbs near Camp Death had been cleared, likely soon to be repositioned again. But the size of the old box-mart seemed to indicate several things, that it was largely indefensible, could contain a fair few prisoners, and by its proximity to Camp Death, could be useful to strike regardless.
The flow of traffic was unusually heavy for being well before the crack of dawn. Perhaps people were trying their luck getting up old 202 to try and reach the border that way, after having no luck along other closed border checkpoints. There was a feeling of self-consciousness in carrying heavy weapons out in the open along a suburban highway most had driven along during peacetime, the juxtaposition of old familiar environment and newly familiar activity showing just how much their lives had changed. Moreso as cars rolled along it like it was a Friday night of olde, the two lives- old and new, bumping shoulders for a moment.
"You ready?" He asked, snapping them back to the present.
Mutters of assent was good enough. Haltingly, everyone in the mishmashed strike team moved toward the precinct's bright lights, taking advantage of the long shadows and occasional noise of the passing cars.
It was an unassuming building, the repurposed garrison made out of some retail outlet built back in the turbulent seventies, all brick and little else but tiny glass doors, with not even windows for the occupants to know the impending violence had been approaching. What era will this be known as? Early Imperial? Resistance? Revolutionary? Wondered the teen, as he leveled it at the lobby. Good? Bad? Hell, I'm just the man with the gun.
Everyone levelled their weapons as once, and Vaughn held a hand high. "We're here to liberate the prison, not blow it sky high," he chuckled. It was hardly armored or reinforced- or at least, so it seemed to him. And if it was, then the Data Center had shown the virtue of striking the same spot with concentrated fire beat showering it with dispersed impacts.
At least the glass door looked normal enough. "Bump and grind, forward. Forward!" He hissed. "Aim at that- there- the front door." Easy enough for the homemade launcher to hit, and these were arguably of the lowest utility if things went sideways. Elias had taught him asset management well- it was a waste to throw your best equipment at a stationary target. While the design was tried-and-tested, Vaughn still took a few steps away.
The improvised launcher let out a metallic clunk, and with a surprisingly subdued noise and recoil the projectile was sent tumbling freely, end over end, the cap blown clean off the improvised launcher. A second later, the giant projectile more than made up for it as the round smashed through the glass door, taking the automatic door slightly off the rails and bowing slightly inward- before then blowing both them and a hail of glass fragments outward as the detonation went off inside the main lobby.
Someone in a security forces uniform staggered out.
"Infantrymen, Fire!" Vaughn roared to the infantrymen, most of Morningstar dutifully restraining themselves as a hail of bullets sprayed into the storefront and even stitched up the exterior brickwork. Clearly, some insurgents were better trained than others judging by the tracer rounds and slowly tapering off rounds.
"Advance and reload! Morningstar, spread out and cover!"
The smoke and dust was subdued, at least for now, and left them with a surprisingly clear view into the front entrance. Red streaks were painted up on the wall, black and grey of smoke-dusted debris mixed in like a spin-art collage.
The lobby's contents were an absolute shambles- everything set on a ledge had been knocked about, including the ledges and desks themselves. The security forces inside responded by charging out the main doors to follow just a second later.
A hail of gunfire met them, most of the armored troopers flinching reflexively, their armor plates overlapping and protecting their wearer. A few reflexively tried returning fire despite the harsh stings of rounds tugging on the mix of fabric, bulletproof weave, and shattering off the neosteel plate they wore. The gunfire never let up on those unfortunate few who had charged out from their cover, the complete lack of coordination, dissimilar reloading times from infantry with unequal amounts of time spent with their weapons. Effective equipment and enthusiasm was undercut by poor training, surprise, and total lack of a plan to counter being outnumbered. Morningstar, on the other hand, had the numbers, the angle, and the element of surprise.
One by one the Security Forces lay flat. Either they were dead, had the fight knocked out of them, or were trying to present as minimal target as they could while they lined up their own rifles to return fire. It was hard to say for certain what the intent was, but the outcome was little different. Round after round continued pouring into them from dozens of unevenly sized magazines, an RPG or two sending the bodies of any who tried opening fire tumbling, their limbs likely held on by the durable material underneath. When they landed, their bodies folded like misshapen laundry, pressed into unnatural shapes with the wearer still inside.
The whole front engagement was over in less than a minute. A pale, non-gauntleted hand waved frantically from behind a shattered brick front, red streaking down the fingers.
"Hold!" Vaughn shouted. "Identify!" The hand continued waving, and Vaughn shoved an unwitting volunteer forward to pull the man out from behind, to reveal a man in a stained tee shirt with a dazed expression and blood dripping from a series of scratches on his cheeks, cut in like a cat's claws had raked over them.
"Civilian!" Vaughn bellowed over his ringing ears. "Any others inside?"
The man shook his head and mouthed 'no,' his voice seemingly too hoarse- perhaps from having spent an untold amount of time screaming.
The man was wrong- there were, or at least 'had been' more security forces inside. A sudden blast and the tinkering of shrapnel caused Vaughn to duck, then charge forward, his improvised explosive launcher discarded, swinging his shotgun around from his back to rest in his hands. A Technical had tried to leave via a service bay exit, apparently not even managing to round the corner before an RPG wielded by a Morningstar veteran had upended the uparmored pickup as it pulled out.
A survivor crawled from the wreckage, and Vaughn sprinted forward, pressing the barrel against the shivering man's temple as he raised his empty hands. The wet splatter kicked high, and Vendetta checked for any other survivors, the smoking tip of his shotgun wafting grey in the fluorescent tubes of the old retail outlet.
The technicals were indeed tough, he noted, but the round seemed to have flown into a wheel well, bypassing the plating. No one else inside seemed to be moving- yet still, he made certain. There'd be no theatrics of announcing himself to an enemy who played dead by standing in the open and giving orders, letting them try and exact some measure of revenge, or gasping out some warning to the shil'vati. No, a strike was to be calculated, and that calculation was to be total.
Two minutes later and a clear picture of the aftermath had emerged. Over five hundred prisoners rescued from the cells, cramped together like sardines, hastily erected concrete laid in a grid backstopping a prefab prison. PVC pipes ran from room to room for toilets no less roughshod in their construction, set straight into the dirty linoleum. Quite a few of the prisoners were deafened somewhat. The skeleton crew of Security Forces personnel hadn't stood a chance- supposedly, most were out, working from some kind of list, or perhaps had finished their shift after a long day of throwing people into prison.
Vaughn gestured with the shotgun. "There's your exit, people. If you're still undecided about the Shil'vati, then this was your wake-up call. If you're still undecided about us, then I'm not sure what to tell you. We just risked our lives to save yours. You want to pay it back? You can either pay it forward by helping us with the next prison, or you can help the Emperor of Mankind. Blankets, food, water, soldiers, guns, ammo, whatever you've got that you think might help. He hasn't said it, but I reckon you all owe him, if you've got a decent bone in your body, you'll at least bring him something, offer to try and help. If you want, you can listen in on the radio for instructions, and if you haven't got a shortwave, I'll separate off a few from our strike squad who can fill you in and get you there, if you feel like chipping in on the war effort."
Vaughn lowered the shotgun, taking a shell off his bandoleer and loading it in to replace the one he'd fired.
"That went well," Parker remarked. "And not a bad speech. Short, to the point, and all that. Honestly, I wish I'd brought a whole crew. One for the close-up on that impact. But, uh, that execution..."
"Completely necessary," Vaughn snapped, irritatedly. "That guy was fatally wounded. Putting him out of his misery was an act of mercy. And you'll remember to narrate that, if you got that on film."
"Of course." Parker didn't deny where he'd been aiming the camera- saving Vaughn at least the headache of reviewing the footage, and then having to kill Parker, if it turned out he'd been lying.
"I'm starting to think of these jail cells as something more like a pinata full of prizes. Namely, insurgents and good PR," he muttered. Truth be told, he'd wanted more of a fight. Vaughn pulled the radio from his pocket, and sent out the broadcast. "Done here. 202 North has been cleared. About four fifty good to go in some sense of the word, though where's anyone's guess. Tried sending them your way, don't know if they'll take it. Another fifty will need medical treatment. No casualties on our end. Surprise was total. We've got pictures. No enemies taken prisoner."
Vendetta stared around the lobby, an idea slowly dawning on him.
"Hey! Hey hey hey! Snag armor off any of the ones that you can. Grab any goods that are stocked up, and arm up anyone who says they're headed to Camp Death with the weapons the guys had here. Come on, we can't stay too long here. You-" he pointed at a man who had held down the trigger on his rifle, spraying the building at full auto. "-You're fucking useless at fighting. Gather up the ones who are able and willing to fight, get them packed into a civilian-style police cruiser, and drive them on over to Camp Death. Everyone, help him load up. Get everything you can out of the Evidence lockers into the trunks- they can fit a lot, trust me, I'd know. Camp Death's going to need goodies. Come on, move, people, move!"
Morningstar Squadron had re-mustered on Vendetta.
"Alright, now what?" They almost seemed eager for more.
A smile crept across Vendetta's face, invisible to all as he pointed at the row of vehicle keys.
"I think it's time we hit 141 and a couple more," he muttered, pulling it off the hook. "Now...wheelman, shotgun, or turret?"

"Accidentally Cut Content"

[Author's Note: Hey Everyone. I made a really dumb mistake and included part of the next chapter in the previous one's end in my rush to get it out the door. So the first couple paragraphs will be a repeat, but this IS a new chapter. I even updated those first four or five paragraphs slightly.]
I couldn't sleep well on the cot that night. Though I noticed hours ticked by, every moment seemed to be spent tossing and turning. I even tried resting with the mask off, held in my hands, but the risk to my identity being discovered if anyone barged in caused me enough stress to worsen the situation. Eventually, I gave up, kicked the covers off and donned the mask again, making my rounds around the camp, trying to calm myself down by taking a midnight stroll. Instead, I felt eyes countless following me, and I had to force myself to stand tall for them. For the thousandth time, I thought of this as my Valley Forge.
As I patrolled, I could hear whispered prayers, muttered plans of action, and mercifully, snores. At least some were getting some sleep. I could see orange lights reflecting off the clouds from where I knew Wilmington lay. It seemed Vaughn was keeping busy, if indeed it was his handiwork.
A few shipment inspections and a routine update from a sentry later, and I felt caught up to speed. I noticed Radio from the corner of my eye, seemingly also unable to sleep.
I almost jumped a foot in the air when I felt the tap on my shoulder, only to find G-Man's mask staring into mine. How strange that such a haunting visage was a comfort to me.
"Hey. Can't sleep?" He sounded surprisingly serene. Or maybe it was just tired resignation. His hands seemed stuck in a familiar claw-like shape after holding the soldering iron for so long, and my fingers ached in sympathy. My mask's filters took much of the scent of smoke I could smell from the distant fires, but I was sure that if I wasn't wearing my mask that G-Man would smell faintly of molten silver solder. I'd wondered how we'd repaired and updated so many railguns so quickly. Now I knew what he'd put himself through.
"I can't," I confessed. "G-Man, I'm sorry what happened with your father. Hell of a birthday." I hadn't even had a chance to give him the present I'd bought him- a couple new filters, and vintage craftsman toolkit, 'from before they sold out,' as Verns had phrased it. The memory of his voice already felt distant, somehow.
"Wasn't your fault. Even if Town Hall wasn't your big idea to get them to retaliate, you know? Then they'd still have done something. But, uh, thanks for saying that. And thanks for trying to get dad out. I'll remember that." George said quietly, then the conversation ended when he turned away and went to the edge of the embankment. Just like that.
I could never quite get a read on him, but I wanted to respect his distance. Whatever he was feeling, he seemed to want to feel it alone, and to keep his own counsel on the matter.
I continued course toward Radio.
"Any word from Miskatonic?" I asked hopefully.
Radio offered a noncommittal shrug, then dropped it in a hurry, raising one hand to massage his chest. "They say 'this is your war,' but did ship us a small container."
"I saw."
I hadn't exactly expected them to line up alongside us in the trenches in their white coats, but I'd hoped they'd have had some kind of wonder drug or noxious gas we might deploy. Something toxic to the Shil'vati but not us. The best they'd given us so far were experimental bullets and toxic-tipped arrows and knives, the former of which supposedly could potentially the armor, if fired with enough force and impacted with a good angle. If true, then I supposed they might be moderately useful in an ambush, and they had helpfully included a pair of compound bows. I had conducted a pretty decent survey of the defense, but I hadn't thought to ask if any were experienced archers. I also couldn't imagine taking someone off a railgun, large caliber rifle, or even an old cannon to hand them a bow and arrow without feeling like I was somehow offering them an insult without equipping it myself, and there was better I could think to do with the remaining minutes before the Shil'vati would inevitably come looking than to practice.
They'd fallen out of favor for a reason, and it wasn't that the earliest guns outperformed bows.
They had also supplied a small cache of rifles that were more likely to pulverize than penetrate unless the armor had been compromised already. These were still appreciated, but hardly the game changer I wanted in return for all we'd sent them.
Then Radio leaned in, voice kept conspiratorially low. "They did, however, mention an exfiltration for you."
Sam had been right, I wouldn't get back anything close to the value of what I'd sent out. At least, not unless I was willing to abandon everything and everyone, to cut and run for my life. Such a decision would be the inglorious end of the revolution, spelling doom for everyone in it, and all of humanity's culture. I'd forever be remembered as a coward, if I was so lucky to be remembered at all.
"Well, I'm not going."
"Okay, but here's a real head-scratcher. Did you show them where Camp Death is? I've been careful not to broadcast our coordinates, and my little helpers haven't been talking with Miskatonic. And the person on the shortwave mentioned that the border would free up tomorrow morning, then mentioned the interstate right up against the back of our base as a meeting point. They said Last Exit Before Pennsylvania. That's right there." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "And I didn't mention broadcasting without a cat's paw or relay. I mean there's a chance they triangulated, but throwing together a plan that fast? Nah, man, they knew."
I searched my memory. "I'm certain that I didn't mention it to them...did Hex? She did that internship. No, wait, she got picked up and dropped off at Warehouse Base. Unless she mentioned something on the drive past? She said they were somewhere North." Now that Radio had mentioned it, I was left with a bit of a puzzle. How did they know? How much did they know about us?
"They had to have known somehow. And if they didn't know before and just figured our location out, then I bet you it's not long before the Shil'vati figure it out themselves and come sniffing," Radio resignedly threw a hand up. "Should we update the signal? Start directing people straight here?"
We had numbers, yes, but we could still do to take more in, especially if the fighting dragged on or casualties mounted higher than I projected. "How long until they're sure we're here?"
Radio yawned under his mask, the animated glass-plated mask he wore misinterpreting it with an ASCII shocked ":O" face. "We've been broadcasting all night, so, who knows?"
"Well, if it was just a signal they picked up on any random given day, how long would it typically take for the Shil'vati to muster a response?"
"Depends on the day." At my silent stare, he objected further. "They sometimes respond pretty fast to that sort of thing, but these aren't normal times, E. They used to come to check out wherever I broadcast from within an hour or two or two, but remember, they've kind of got their hands full right now thanks to Vendetta's jailbreaks. Plus, there's so many more signals." He checked the screen of his shortwave and chuckled, then lightly massaged his chest again. "I'm sure we've already gone way past."
"Alright. If we see anyone snooping around us, add our location to the broadcast. That way, anyone in the resistance or is sympathetic but isn't sure where Camp Death is can find their way here. In the meantime, though, I still think we're best not leaking it. At least with the sentries having set in the final claymores and outer defenses, we should be well-situated to ward off anything they throw at us."
"Maybe. Maybe not," George said from behind me, and I froze.
"Why not?"
He'd helped build this place. He'd know any weaknesses as well as his father.
"They might have cloaking tech, or some other means of infiltration," his voice was a dry rasp.
I shuddered thinking about it. "That's a good point," I muttered. "Assassination and recovery might be up their alley...except, I think they're terrified of what losing me might mean for their hostages."
"I'll be honest. I don't think she cares at this point," G-Man countered. I couldn't fault his gloomy disposition. I could just hope that he didn't want something bad to happen to us, to balance out that something bad had happened to him, from some weird sense of fairness.
"Yeah?"
"Think about it for a second. What happens if you die? Then what does that let her do if that happens?"
It was with a startle I realized he had a good point. Azraea had committed to a shocking all-in, something that would shake the political landscape and memories of countless denizens of the state. Months of carefully planned schemes involving carefully planned defensive patrols meant to reinforce one another, frustrate, and hinder our operations had culminated in us adapting, learning. We thought we had her beaten, especially when we destroyed her monitoring, data collection, and reporting asset in Something Else Square. Then she'd pulled something like this out of a hat, catching us totally flat-footed, rounding up who-knew how many of us before we could muster. What other assumptions had I made that were incorrect? Would she hold fire, if she knew where I was if it meant sparing the hostages? Or were they now just an 'acceptable, if regrettable' loss? When your opponent becomes unpredictable, issues arise, especially when you're counting on them to do certain things.
If it was, then I'd just done her work for her, and all of us would be dead the moment she figured out where we were, and at least the end would come faster than I knew it had arrived.
I realized I was staring up into the orange-lit cloudy night sky. I could voice none of this, not without undermining morale and potentially sparking a panic.
"If she was going to start bombarding the state, she'd have started already by now," I chuckled. "The borders are sealed, right? Why wait? Why bother trying to build some sense of dread? She's not a vampire who feeds on fear. I choose to not be afraid of what she may do. I instead intend to plan around it, to the extent that we can. Besides, if I die, what would the twins do to the hostages?"
George made a disappointed growl, his sore hands turning from awkward claws into shaking fists. "That may be the point. If the Twins do anything to the hostages in retaliation for your death, then maybe as long as she didn't pull the trigger, she thinks she'll be absolved of whatever damage their deaths mean to them."
I wasn't sure she thought that way. Heck, after months, the woman was still an absolute enigma to me. Governess Bal'shir, I understood- the flurry of speeches and photo-ops and handshakes at civic meetings with 'literally-who's-that' of 'what-community' had been carte blanche for us to grow. Ministriva was a lying snake, and once we pieced that together, I ripped her apart. But Azraea? What drove the Fleet Admiral to come down here? Duty. There wasn't any sort of hard policy she followed that I could tell, not that I knew Shil'vati military doctrine well, being an outsider such as I was. Perhaps it was the greater liberty afforded her of being both Governess and General that made it seem like her plans shifted and changed in ways that made it hard for me to keep up. Or maybe she was just at such a rank and in such a position of power to where she could make her judgment calls. If so, that begged the question: What was 'the line' for her? I had a feeling I'd somehow crossed it already. Probably Radio's tape of me fucking the Empress, if I was to be honest. Most unfair to be judged for something that hadn't been my decision, though I doubted an apology from either of us would amount to much.
I looked over to my Lieutenants. They'd helped carry me this far. I'd be foolish to ignore them now. What could I do to at least mitigate the risk that he was right, and there was someone looking to kill me, right here and now?
"Alright, fine, you've convinced me. Instruct the sentries to get the next dozen people who we intake to help patrol the inner perimeter, and to keep a watch for...well, I mean, a stealthy seven foot tall purple alien with giant tits?"
"Something invisible," George supplied.
"Alright, for anything shifting in the tall grasses that they can't immediately see- I can't really ask them to keep an eye out for something they can't see, can I?" I was suddenly too tired to think properly.
"I'll explain it," G-Man offered.
"And I'll get the sentries ready to take over the radio, explaining how it works, then I'll try heading to bed, too," Radio offered, and I realized that a yawn sounded very strange through a voice modulator- his ASCII helmet seemed to fritz out again for a second.
"I should change my sleeping quarters, too," I muttered. "They'll almost certainly check the command cabin for me, if they manage to enter. I'll pick a tunnel- uh...somewhere."
"Might be smart. Could be they'll try and take out the explosives shed, too. Make it look like an accident on our part, get rid of any hostages, and then get a free pass to exact vengeance on the state. Got anywhere in mind?"
I thought to myself. Where might be a good resting area? There were many tunnels that led to bunkers, firing outposts, and even to stowage areas. Any one of them might do in theory, but I knew of one that overlooked one of the two streams that ran along the side of Camp Death. I didn't want to situate myself either too low to where I was on the very front of the lines- why make an assassin's job even easier by putting myself on the perimeter, after all? But the creek should make a pleasant bit of white noise- and also get me away from the center shed. "Probably facing North, along Perkins run. G-Man, you look absolutely dead on your feet. Get some rest if you can, you've certainly done enough and gone through enough for today."
"There's...still things to do."
"There always will be. If the others are finished doing their repairs, lock the shed," I muttered. "I know the hostages are in there, so post a sentry or two there, too, to watch over the entrance. You're right that she may try some kind of underhanded tactic." It wouldn't do much if they decided to set charges against the side or something, and the subsequent explosion would be, in a word, 'cataclysmic'. "This was supposed to be a relaxing walk to help me rest..." I scratched at my chin under the mask, feeling the beginnings of the few scratchy hairs that had grown since I'd last shaved, and feeling the cool fresh air without the filter as the wind kicked up.
"Sorry," G-Man offered sheepishly. "I'll go tell 'em."
While he ambled off, I followed Radio back to his pile of equipment.
"Before we split then, one last thing."
"Yeah?" Radio asked.
"Have we recovered Verns?" I asked Radio. "Any word?"
"No, not that I've heard," Radio confessed. "Vendetta's been mostly quiet, I think to hide his heading from anyone who might be listening, but I know that he's struck at least three jails and counting. Some of the ones he's freed are trickling up to us here on foot, and it seems he and Morningstar are acting like a human wrecking ball. The troops are calling it Operation Smash-and-Grab."
"Smash-and-grab," I laughed, thinking of the pun. "I like it. Do we have a more recent headcount?"
"Sam said we've got enough to last about three days of continuous, round-the-clock fighting with the hundreds of people we have here. If we get a resupply run- well, I suppose it would depend upon how big a hole gets blasted in the encirclement. Or, well, something to that effect. Look, man, I'm 'Radio', not 'Telephone,' and I don't have the head for this logistics shit that you two do. You want to talk to Sam, you get the man on the radio yourself, or ask one of the Sentries I'm sticking here to manage the comms. Point being, you try and get hold of him. I'm done for the night."
I could have said something witty back, but it felt counterproductive, and would only delay the sleep I was now well overdue for.
"I've got an idea for an update. The ones Vendetta's letting loose? They can gather supplies and wait for the signal to reinforce, or to agitate, or can organize people into a more focused group, one that can punch through whatever blockade they try and form up. It'll also force the Shil'vati to not concentrate forces on our back door-" I pointed back at the interstate. "Even if they clear them out, the opportunity for us to encircle and destroy and then break out is too high for them to really try to do a mass deployment along our back." Sam was, I knew, something of a career criminal. Able to rub elbows with the worst elements of humanity. He was a facilitator, I knew, not really a leader. "Can you tell him-"
Radio was already fiddling with the dial. "Already on it," he muttered. "Lotta profit in looting, should be easy for him to steer people with that, or something. Get some sleep, E."
I went up to a sentry, requisitioned a sleeping bag someone had helpfully brought, went into a trench and told him where I'd be if I was needed. I waved to Radio, and crawled into the gunnery tunnel, almost stepping on another four people already laying in it. I loosened my laces, clutched my sheathed knife, and fell into a fitful sleep.
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Alien-Nation Discord Buy A Coffee for the Author

I just had my honeymoon (originally scheduled for Jun 2020). My wife and I are in our early thirties. It’s my wife’s first time in japan while it’s my fourth. I’ve benefitted immensely from stalking Tokyo travel reddit and would like to return the favour. I’ll provide some of my tips and observations to the end (skip to the end if the itinerary doesn’t interest you), some of which I think haven’t been mentioned before.
Thank God pretty much everything went to plan, and my wife thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We spent 12 days in Japan, most of it in Tokyo and 2 nights in Kawaguchiko. Many people were surprised to know that we’d be spending most of our trip in Tokyo, but I thought it was just fine because Tokyo had a lot to offer. My wife and I aren’t big on visiting shrines or ticking tourist hotspots off a checklist. We don’t shop much, but we did a lot of it simply because it’s Japan and we bought lots of quality-of-life items (not fashion) for ourselves and others. Given how much my wife really enjoyed the trip, I think others with similar interests could find something helpful too.
Pre-trip planning

• It was out first leisure trip in years, and my wife's first trip to Japan. I wanted to show her my favourite parts of Japan, and took months trawling through reddit posts and trip reports, watching youtube videos, and just soaking in all the things before deciding on an itinerary that I thought my wife would enjoy. It was almost exclusively planned by me, and I would consult my wife along the way.
• Other than the hotel & flights, I booked the highway express bus to Kawaguchiko one week prior.
• Decided on the airport limousine bus to bring us from the airport to the city a few days prior.
• Studio Ghibli tickets booked one month in advance. There's a good guide available on reddit already. International tickets were quickly sold out, so we used a free VPN to get onto the Japanese site which had more tickets & timings available. Simply Google translate the entire page.
• Booked a cooking class on cookly months prior.
• Did Visit Japan QR two days prior. It takes some time, so do it earlier rather than later.
• Added all places of interests in a Google list, and all food places in another Google list. I tried the custom Google maps at first but didn’t feel the UI was easy to navigate.
• Planned itinerary based on location proximity, and also highlighted parts that were interchangeable in case we wanted to switch it up (which we did).

Planning during the trip

• The Google maps foods list was always just for consideration: if we had time or were craving something. We didn't hard-code food places into our daily plans. But when food was the primary activity (e.g. visiting Tsukiji market), we'd determine to visit particular food stalls. Otherwise, just needed to do a cursory Google review check on whether a random food place is worth eating it. As a principle, we didn't want to spend time queuing >20m for food.
• I'd plan the next day's itinerary the night before, considering fatigue, interest, and proximity. I would create a brand new Google maps list for the next day, including potential food places.

Day 0 (Wed) 17 May - Arrival at Haneda Airport to hotel in Shinjuku
Arrived in Haneda late, about 11pm. Clearance was quick but baggage took 30mins. As I wouldn't make my stipulated airport limousine timing, I had no choice but to cancel my airport limousine and take the metro to our hotel in Shinjuku. I tried Apple wallet’s Suica at first. It worked seamlessly but I felt that a physical metro card was just faster so I eventually switched over. We reached after midnight, so do let your hotel know in advance if you anticipate arriving at odd hours.
Day 1 (Thurs) - Shinjuku exploration
Originally planned to visit Tsukiji on day 1, but given that we arrived late the previous night, agreed with my wife to change the plan and spend the first day doing the Shinjuku itinerary.

• Walked to a popular Tsukumen place at 11. Queued for 20mins and it was an interesting experience as there were lines of people standing right behind watching you eat. Wife said it was her best Tsukumen ever!
• Sekaido for art & stationary supplies: My wife does art so it was a haven for her. We spent a few hours there!
• Tokyu Hands Shinjuku: Wanted to look at more stationary/home/fashion stuff but two floors were under renovation.
• Omoide Yokocho: A quick walkthrough of this famous street for salarymen which comes alive at night. Many tourists.

Day 2 (Fri) - Kappabashi St., Fabric Town, Akihabara

• Kappabashi Dougu Street: looked at kitchen supplies aimed to find a nice nakiri knife! (If you want to buy a knife, do research on what knife you need beforehand).
• Fabric Town: My wife just passed a seamstress exam so she eagerly anticipated visiting fabric town, we spent a few hours in Tomato.
• Akihabara (Animate, Bic Camera, Gyukatsu Don): It was drizzling the entire day so it was not the most comfortable lugging that many bags around a wet Akihabara in the evening. Wife wasn’t interested but I wanted to let her experience this unique culture. Had dinner at a popular gyukatsu don (beef cutlet that you’d have to cook yourself). It was our first time eating gyukatsu. It was so tender and juicy and mmm. But it was a long one hour wait. It was after this episode that we decided we were not going to queue this long for food again.

Day 3 (Sat) - Cooking class in Shinjuku, Shibuya

• Private cooking class in Shinjuku: Our host was great! We were invited into his cosy house and he taught us how to make Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, and a Japanese salad. I paid careful attention to the menu beforehand as I wanted to learn dishes I could easily recreate back home (i.e. not choose dishes that depended on seasonal Japanese ingredients). My wife absolutely loved the experience of getting to know a local and understanding his life story, Japanese culture, and hearing some of his horror stories of foreign guests. We got more food recs from him to understand where the locals really ate at.
• Shibuya 109: Paid $5 for a drink to have a bird’s eye view of the Shibuya crossing. It was Saturday so the crossing was at its full force. Even if you think this is touristy, it’s amazing to see that many people like little ants crossing a street. There are several nice locations here to take some artsy shots.
• Ishibashi Music Shibuya: absolutely loved the vibe in this music store. Back home, I’d been thinking about getting a particular keyboard but never got a chance to try it. I was able to play this particular one undisturbed and feel like I could go on for hours without any pressure from staff. Bought a few Japan exclusive guitar picks as gifts.
• Shibuya Tokyu Hands: This was amazing. I thought Shinjuku Tokyu Hands was the flagship store. So I only stumbled into this because I urgently needed to pee and someone said Tokyu hands had toilets. We were confused as its name was rebranded to simply "Hands" with a new logo. If you only have time to visit one Tokyu Hands, visit the Shibuya one. Each floor had 2 sub-floors so that’s a ton of floors! Lots of quality-of-life improvements one could get from this store. My wife got a buckwheat pillow.
• Shibuya Loft: After Sekaido and Tokyu Hands, I didn't think there was much daily life products/art/stationary to look at. But Loft was very different. Similar to Tokyu hands but seems more modern and fashionable. Worth visiting together with Tokyu hands! It also had packaged food available! It was late and my wife and I concluded that we didn’t have to to explore all the floors and that we’d return to Shibuya again.

Day 4 (Sun) - Komazawa Church, Harajuku, Shibuya

• Church in Komazawa: not a tourist activity, but we linked up with some partners from our home church and attended service at a little church held in a nursery. It was an amazing and encouraging experience to hear the gospel preached in a foreign language.
• Harajuku: Way too crowded. I had anticipated this as it was a Sunday, but thought to just try. Takeshita street was so packed my wife feared there would be a stampede risk (it wasn’t that bad). We did queue 20mins for pretty tasty crepe. After checking out all the recommended streets (e.g. cat street, uru-harajuku), my wife simply felt that she couldn’t stand the Harajuku crowd and the vibes. So we decided to go back to Shibuya again!
• Shibuya JINS: I didn’t mention this but previously in Shinjuku and Shibuya, I had been checking out recommended optical shops in the vicinity for a particular style of glasses. Japanese-made glasses are highly-rated, but I couldn’t find something at the right price-point. At JINS, I found a design I liked. Though not made in Japan, it cost me less than 5000 yen. Took them 1 hour to make it. For some reason I loved the vibes at Shibuya, and I earmarked it to return again later.

Day 5 (Mon) - Tsukiji Market, Ginza Muji/Uniqlo, Tokyo station

• Tsukiji market: wanted to arrive before 8 but arrived at 8.30am. Thankfully the crowds weren't that bad yet. Everything we tried was lovely. Potato/corn fishcakes, strawberry mochi, tamago, wagyu beef, uni inarisushi (my first time trying uni - wife loved it but I didn't like it), unagi. But the star was Masa burger (thanks to Paolo from Tokyo), which we waited till 11am to try. By then, the tourist buses had come and the streets were packed. But Masa burger was in a corner and we were their first customers. We tried fried codfish burger + homemade ginger ale. Both were was so well done and the fried cod was so crispy yet fresh and tender. It was also nicely completed with very refreshing salads! It was soo good we had it twice.
• Ginza Uniqlo/Muji: we wanted to take a look at some of Uniqlo’s exclusive items. Apparently they do have exclusive t-shirts for each region (e.g. Harajuku, Shibuya, Ginza), which tend to be collaborations with well-known food places in the area. However, they were always white in colour (cheap to produce) and not made-in-Japan-quality. Muji @ Ginza was a disappointment, not a lot more than the usual.
• Tokyo Station Ghibli store & Tenugui hunting: Went to Tokyo station to check out the Ghibli store and to look for a particular traditional tenugui (Japanese towels) store as my wife were hunting these down to give as gifts.
• Shinjuku Ichiran & Mister Donut: We returned to Shinjuku for Ichiran ramen, specifically at 5+pm. No crowds at all. Yummy! We then saw a Mister Donut, and recalled news in our home country that when it had its first opening in my country, people queued 5 hours for it. We thought to try it to see what the fuss was all about. Cash only, but the donuts were wonderfully textured and not too sweet. My wife doesn’t like sweet stuff, but mister donut really hit the sweet spot (no pun intended).

Day 6 (Tue) - Tokyo National Museum, Fabric town revisit, Akihabara revisit, Ochanomizu

• Tokyo National Museum: We had a good time learning about Japan’s early history, and discovered that so much that we know of Japan resulted from Chinese/korean influence.
• Fabric town & Akihabara revisit, Ochonomizu: We decided that this was likely the right time to go back for items we missed out on or didn’t have time to see. My wife went to fabric town again while I went to Akihabara’s Yodaibashi camera, which I felt to be better and with more varied things than Bic Camera. I then went to nearby Ochanomizu to look at more music and sport shops. We met up again at Shinjuku for another Gyukatsu Don before heading to mister donuts again.

Day 7 (Wed) - Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, Mori Museum, Ginza Wakamatsu, Shinjuku

• Shinjuku Gyoen Garden: lovely large garden grounds. We spent almost an hour just lying under a tree and watching clouds float by. Wife was doing some rough sketches of the garden. We had mister donuts from last night for breakfast.
• Mori Museum: Saw the exhibition of Heatherwick studios, which was inspiring and educational. Paid for the rooftop access to have a quick view of Tokyo from 50-ish floors up.
• Ginza Wakamatsu: Because of one of the Uniqlo-ginza-exclusive t-shirts, my wife was curious about this traditional Japanese dessert. So we gave it a check and realised it’s been around for more than a century. There was a short line (mainly Japanese elderly). The shop interior transported us back decades. It felt surreal eating a dessert that the Japanese ate centuries ago. Unlike modern desserts, this Japanese dessert certainly doesn’t excite and overwhelm one’s taste buds immediately. But there’s an old charm to it.
• Shinjuku Okadaya fabric: Returned to Shinjuku as my wife wanted to check out another of their famous fabric stores. Prices were more expensive than fabric town, but had somewhat different items.

Day 8 (Thurs) - Kawaguchiko

• Bus to Kawaguchiko: Packed light to Kawaguchiko, and forwarded our remaining luggage to our final hotel in Tamachi. The Shinjuku hotel staff were very helpful. I was merely inquiring on how luggage forwarding was done, but the staff picked up the phone, called my Tamachi hotel to confirm the booking, and prepared the documents for me. All I had to do was roll my luggage the next night to them and make payment. Took our 7:45am bus to Kawaguchiko and managed to catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji when we were on our way there!
• Cycling In Kawaguchiko: We lugged our bags to our ryokan and headed out again. My wife was quite hesitant about cycling overseas and I was also worried it’d tire her out too much. I debated between cycling or simply taking the sight-seeing bus. Eventually felt that it was worth trying to cycle. We unexpectedly walked by an e-bike place and decided, why not? Neither of us had tried an e-bike before and that could reduce the effort required for my wife. So we did and boy was it fun! It took a while to get used to the e-bike but it really reduced a lot of effort up the hills! I barely perspired at all thanks to the e-assist. Kawaguchiko had pretty narrow roads so it wasn’t the easiest to cycle. But I had plenty of road-cycling experience back at home so I was not daunted. We borrowed helmets from the e-bike place but saw that we were the only tourists that wore them. Yes, I'd recommend wearing helmets when cycling.
• Kubota Itchiku Art Museum: Cycled here knowing that this museum would interest my wife. It had a garden free for entry and it was really quaint, quiet, and charming! The pond had a singular vibrant-coloured Koi swimming in it. Museum entry requires tickets. On this trip, I realised that visiting museums tired me easily. It could be because I spent time reading each description. I told my wife to go ahead as I waited outside. She eventually took 45m in the museum and was so enthralled by it. She even bought a heavy hard-cover book of Itchiku Kubota’s kimono art :/
• Momiji Corridor: was just 50 meters away from the museum. Still beautiful with only green leaves, but I’d imagine it would be majestic in Autumn/Spring.
• Oishi Park: Many colourful flowers! It’s a pity that it had been cloudy the entire day, and Mt Fuji was not visible. That would have made the cycle perfect. Had a peach/plum ice-cream. Park was crowded with tourists.

Day 9 (Fri) - Fuji Q Highland, Shimoyoshida Honcho St, Batting Cage
Planning for Fuji Q & Morning Jog: I didn’t plan to go to Fuji-Q highland before the trip. Always felt it a bit of a waste to visit amusement parks overseas. That’s until I realised that Fuji Q had some of the most exciting (I mean world-record-holding) rollercoasters in the world. Maybe they don't hold the records anymore, but that intrigued me enough, because most amusement parks only had 1-2 coasters. Problem was that wife is terrified, and she said cycling on the streets of Kawaguchiko was already like a coaster ride for her. Still, I'm really thankful she encouraged me to go and said she was happy waiting and taking pictures for me. So I decided I would reach at opening time, and buy time by paying for the fast passes and try their top three coasters. The night before, we felt that we had to make decisions on our itinerary as it was our last day at Kawaguchiko. If Mt Fuji still wasn’t visible the next day, we'd go to Oshino Hakkai, if it was, we could try going to Shimoyoshida to get a nice picture.

• I went for a morning jog and as the path brought me along the river's perimeter, my jaw dropped when I saw Mount Fuji towering into view. I raced back to tell my wife (about 6am) and we both trekked up to a viewing spot to enjoy the view. This made it more urgent to not spend too much time at Fuji Q as we didn’t know how long Mt. Fuji would be visible for.
• Fuji-Q Highland: Was absolutely amazing. Yes, I blew a lot of cash here buying fast passes for the three available coasters. But they were some of the craziest coasters. Took Eejanaika, Fujiyama and Takabisha. Total time it took probably a little more than 1 hour with the express passes. It was so good, but so fast that I have little memory of it, except that there was a 90 degree climb to the top for Takabisha and I had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji while climbing to the supposed world record of 79m for Fujiyama (this was 2 days before the news reported that Fujiyama got stuck in the middle of a ride and the people in the carts had to climb down :o). Had more time to take a few other rides, and enjoyed all the Naruto statues around for fun photo-taking. What I really enjoyed about the park was that it was mostly filled with Japanese tourists; in fact, there was a Japanese school having an outing there. It was nice to see excited students running about. If I could spend the day here, I'd take the three coasters multiple times to imprint the sensations in my head. But I'm still thankful I got to try some of the world's most thrilling coasters!
• Shomoyoshida Honcho St: This destination was simply to take the famous street view of Mount Fuji with Japanese shops lined in the foreground. It’s not easy to get to, and there was quite a walk. We noticed there weren’t much people around, and most shops were closed. But when we reached the destination, there were many tourists right at the particular traffic light. So much so there was a grumpy Japanese traffic police person managing the crowd. We saw the worst of tourists that day. People were disobeying traffic laws and just running in the middle of the road just to get a shot. We then chanced upon a hidden udon shop and it felt like we were transported back to the 50’s! It was super old school, people sat on raised platforms, and several elderly customers were watching the tele while eating. There was only one udon option available, with free cabbage top-ups. We learnt that the shop had been around for 73 years. We actually headed back to Fuji-Q Highlands to take a 4D 'plane ride' with Joe Hisashi music in the background. Since my wife actually wanted to ride something, I was happy to agree to her request. Ride was very ordinary but wife actually felt terrified at times lol. Rushed back to the hotel for a private onsen booking.
• Batting Cage: I had never played baseball/softball and my home country doesn’t have a baseball culture. Yet I had seen batting cages in Japanese drama and always wanted to try. Loved it! My technique was probably pretty bad! I did well at first but as I tried faster balls, I tired out and failed to hit any haha. Some teens beside me were knocking out 120km/h balls out of the park! We ended the day eating ramen outdoors with a view of Mount Fuji.

Day 10 (Sat) - Kichijoji, Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji Jazz bar
Woke up before sunrise for a run and to attempt to catch a sunrise picture of Mount Fuji. Streets were completely empty. Even ran to the famous Kawaguchiko Lawson for a picture. Headed back for an onsen bathe (note: we never used the room's shower, and always went for an onsen bath throughout our stay in Kawaguchiko as it was just too convenient). Took a 7am bus to return to Shinjuku.

• Kichijoji: Arrived at Kichijoji at about 10am. Wife really loved the vibes there. We tried the Tsukuba suisan fish cakes which were really tasty, and my wife was intrigued that a line had formed at the adjacent store named Ozasa. Apparently they sell traditional Japanese desserts and locals would go there as early as 5am to get a ticket. So we queued 15m and managed to get three boxes worth of the snacks! Tried the Amane Taiyaki fish-shaped bean paste snacks, another traditional dessert. It was a small lovely old shop.
• Ghibli Museum: Requires a long walk through Inokashira park. Ghibli was fantastic. Many people have been saying recently that it’s over-rated, and that it doesn’t cater to foreign crowds and most things are in Japanese. We similarly struggled with that at first. But we found out that if you asked the staff, they actually had English language exhibition booklets ready for every exhibition! That was a revelation. And we managed to understand almost all the exhibitions by asking the uniformed staff (except the short film, which had minimal dialogue anyway). I mentioned this to one foreign group and they were really grateful for that. But I saw that many other foreigners that probably came earlier were just bored or simply going crazy at the Ghibli shop. My wife bought the museum book (which also has English explanations of each exhibit), and we understood Miyazaki’s vision for the museum - to make it suitable for kids and adults, with no pre-determined route, allowing for play, exploration, to help people be inspired by the artists’ process. Through that, we saw that every thing in the museum was intentionally designed, all of the exhibitions, cafe, shop, and garden. Reading that helped me appreciate and enjoy the museum much more.
• Roaming Kichijoji and Some Time Jazz bar: My wife and I split up to roam kichijoji. I checked out some sports shops and saw that their prices were lower than Ochanomizu. We reconvened for dinner at Sometime Jazz bar. I’m picking up Jazz piano but had never been to a jazz bar. Booked it one day before, but was sad that our table position only allowed us to see some of the drummer and the pianist’s expression. Still, it was a very hip place for jazz cats and we had a wonderful time. We only sat through the first half of the performance that night. Note that there are seating charges, so that + dinner added up to quite a lot. But we rationalised that this was akin to paying for a performance. Checked into our hotel in Tamachi.

Day 11 (Sun) - Tokyo Sky Tree, Shinjuku, Back to Kichijoji, Shibuya
It was a crazy day where we simply hit the places we wanted to revisit regardless of proximity. Headed to Tokyo Skytree in the morning to check out another Ghibli store in hopes of getting another Ghibli shirt; reason was because I ended up buying one at the museum I really loved (made in Japan, beautiful colour, perfect fit. I hesitated at first because I couldn't try it). If you’re not going to the Ghibli museum, this is probably the best store available for Ghibli goods. Alas, the museum's items were really quite exclusive. Headed to Shinjuku to try curry udon, then to Kichijoji to try satou beef balls and dangos and to make some purchasing decisions on some sports equipment. Then we ended up at Shibuya (my favourite place!) to the mega Don Quijote and Tokyu Hands to shop for gifts for others. It was a lovely end to our trip!
Day 12 (Mon) - Back home
Best trip ever, says my wife.
Tips for travellers

• Spread out your itinerary: I originally planned to front-load all the must-see tourist stuff and leave the remaining days for shopping. But in May, Ghibli Museum was closed for two weeks so we had no choice but to schedule it at the end of the trip. That was a better arrangement. It felt that each day was distinctly different, and we could remember the highlight of each day. Also, be specific about where you want to go. Don’t simply put locations, e.g., Visit Harajuku, or visit Shibuya crossing.
• Plan your itinerary in consideration of weekend crowds: Places like Tsujiki market, Ghibli Museum, Fuji-Q Highlands and other stuff are likely going to be very crowded on weekends. If you want to shop in Harajuku or Shibuya, try to avoid weekends. I opted to put the cooking class and ‘less-exciting’ Museums on weekends.
• Carry more cash than you think you need: In my experience, the cash-to-card ratio was about 40:60. Considering that all metro card top-ups require cash, you'll need quite a bit of cash! Sometimes even bigger restaurants are cash only.
• Bring foldable tote bags, and use lockers where necessary: If you’re buying stuff, packing them in tote bags makes it easier to lug around. Bigger shops will charge you for bags. If you just arrived from one area with bags and are going to explore another, use the lockers. Most metro stations likely have lockers and they are really affordable and convenient.
• Travel light by planning to do laundry: I only brought four sets of clothing, and we did laundry every 3-4 days or so. It’s really convenient, about 200 yen per 30m wash, and another 200 yen for a 1h dry. It’s worthwhile to check if your hotel has coin laundry available.
• Buy discriminately: Many people say the kind of things available at places like Don Quijote or Uniqlo are mind-blowing. Fact is, most of them are made in China or elsewhere. About 95% of the items we saw in Daiso were made in China. In fact, many items in Kappabashi street were made in China. You’re more likely to get value for money by buying a made in Japan item. Sometimes the shop will highlight if a product is Japan made. But other times, you have to scrutinise the fine print. Learn to look out for these three words in Kanji: 日本製. This is where the camera function of Google translate is immensely helpful. This was not available or widely publicised when I last visited Japan years back in 2016, so use this tech to your advantage and scrutinise the fine print!
• Plan your toilet trips if possible: If you know you’re headed to low-rise areas like Tsujiki, Fabric town where it’s just shop after shop, it’s going to be hard to find a toilet. Make sure you relieve yourself beforehand at the train station. But if you still need to go, try to find a multi-storey building and chances are, there’ll be toilets available there.
• Avoid queuing for food by timing right: In general, I found that most popular food places that required queuing had queues mainly consisting of foreigners. I wonder if this is because of the reddit/youtube/google maps review effect (not a lot of Japanese review on Google I think). So if you have to queue, there's a good chance you're competing with other foreigners. Simply put, almost all food places open at 11am, so be there at 11, or have early dinner at 5pm and perhaps you may avoid the queuing.
• Scrutinise Google maps to figure out the different train types: for daily travel, there could be local, rapid, and express trains. Local trains stop at every station. Rapid skips a few, and express trains likely only stops at key location. They make a big difference to travel time, and to your comfort. When Google maps recommends a route, scrutinise the detail to ensure what kind of train they are recommending. It gets confusing at the station as the platforms on your left and right may end up at the same location, but one could be a local train and the other an express train.
• Learn just 2 essential phrases: It always felt weird for me to speak Japanese because I felt like a try-hard. But this time I did - just learn to say thank you in Japanese (arigato gozaimasu). The other essential word is - summimasen - excuse me/sorry. Useful for if you need to exit a crowded train, or if you need to get someone’s attention. We survived with just these two phrases. As our cooking teacher told us - it’s better to say something in Japanese than say nothing at all. For the rest, you can use Google translate app’s picture function.
• Other misc tips: as mentioned, bring trash bags. Some shops explicitly tell you not to walk around and eat their food. So the solution is to finish the snack in front of the shop, and say, “summimasen, can you help me to throw this trash?” That helped us avoid carrying trash around a lot. As a traveller, you’re gonna get a lot of carbs (my curry udon meal included a bowl of udon + a bowl of rice...) and fried food. To get more fiber, try the basements of shopping centres and get yourself some fruits. Also, if you exercise regularly like me, you'd be concerned about getting some exercise. I did pre-trip research on pools/gyms/parks to visit. But visited none of them. With what little hotel room space I had, I settled with a daily morning routine of 100 squats and 100 pushups. That and walking an average of 18k steps daily helped. I actually lost some weight somehow.

Observations

• Drinking culture in Japan: we saw quite a few drunk people in the streets. Some of them at the parks. I had never really seen drunkards much in my home country (it could be because I don’t stay out late). When we walked by a bar area with our cooking instructor at 10am, he told us some of the people in them had been there overnight. At Inokashira park, we saw a lady dressed in office wear face planted on the ground. Her friends tried to help carry here elsewhere but her entire body was limp and almost lifeless.
• The Japanese sleep late: when we arrived, we were still on the train to our hotel at 11:50pm. But the train was still packed with salarymen in suits and many others. In fact, it seemed the later it was, the more crowded the trains.
• Foreigner influx and how we stick out: there were way more foreigners this time than the last I visited Japan. I commented to my wife that I felt more immersed in Japan on the metro or at places like Tokyu hands as I could hear Japanese being spoken around me. But at tourist spots and some museums, I felt like I could have been in any other country. I tended to feel very uncomfortable when large groups of foreigners were around. I had to tell myself not to be hypocritical as I was a foreigner myself. But I suppose one reason is that there were many inconsiderate foreigners. Speaking loudly, making brash comments, and just not behaving like visitors. We saw a foreign couple locked in a head-to-toe embrace on a picnic mat in a park full of families. And they chose a spot right next to the footpath. Many foreigners also leave unkind Google reviews for places just because it’s not up to their expectations. I get it, we worked for our holiday and are paying customers, and there is often an innate tendency to feel entitled or complain when something isn’t up to our expectations. But I think it helps to remember that we are like visitors in someone’s home. Be self-aware, don’t speak loudly, note the traffic customs, where to stand on the escalators, how to behave etc.
• Japanese men have great hair: the Japanese men’s hairstyle feels frozen in time. I didn’t see the typical Korean-inspired center-parted hairstyles in Asian guys nowadays. And balding men were a small minority somehow. As someone whose hairline is slowly receding, I was envious to see many Japanese men have wavy long hair deep into their 60-70s! My wife commented that the women's hairstyles were more or less the same - dyed, curled etc. But the men were rocking so many styles!
• In-person shopping still matters: as the days went by and as my wife and I began to covet the "made-in-Japan" label, we realised that we hadn't done such shopping in years since online shopping became prevalent. I also recall people commenting that you could get these goods online anyway, so why bother shopping in Japan. Well, physical shopping makes comparison easy, it allows you to ask for recommendations, and enables you to know the items's size, feel, and look on you (if buying fashion items). It also makes discovery of new items possible. I'm not a huge shopper or a foodie, but in Japan, it's worth it to be one simply because the Japanese are thoughtful about their craft and tend to produce quality that's quite unmatched. I suppose it's a blessing in disguise that our honeymoon got delayed 3 years, as we are now well-aware of our post-wedding lifestyles and the items we'd need in the kitchen/around the house.
• Reading culture is strong: in a week when I read reports that leisure reading had declined in my home country, I was pleasantly surprised to see many people reading hard-copy books on the train, many of them even had personalised leather book covers. Kinokuniya was also teeming with life. As a bookworm, this is a great encouragement. And I wish English language books came in such compact sizes too, although I think that's due to the limitations of the language. As Japanese characters can be read vertically, that allows for more play on possible book sizes.
• No one culture is worth idealising: Japan remains my favourite country to visit as a tourist, but I've come to see that Japanese culture - like any other culture - has its flaws. That's simply because people are flawed. Yes, their service culture is impeccable, especially when you're served by middle-aged super helpful and super kind ladies. But on every Japanese trip so far, I've always had at least one unkind or impatient service encounter. On a day-to-day basis, people don't really apologise if they bump into you, and may not give up their seats for the elderly too. My cooking teacher says the Japanese are extremely polite in person but would rant and give very bad reviews anonymously at home. I've come to just enjoy their products, service, and their views of certain ways-of-life as a tourist, but stop short of idealising their culture. There are kind and unkind people in every culture. That said, I would still say on average, the Japanese may be more civic-minded than most. That doesn't mean they are innately kinder or warmer people, but simply that they are more self-aware of how their actions are perceived by others.

I've decided not to mention the specific food places as far as possible because I think there's more than enough recommendations available elsewhere. I also think sometimes that we get a bit fomo if we build up too many must-go spots. Enjoy the process of discovering new places! But feel free to ask me more if you like.

Alien-Nation Chapter 168: Now or Never

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Chapter summary: Elias wanders the grounds inspecting everything he can, has a fatheson moment with Larry then sends Vaughn to go try and spring people from jail.
Chapter Art
It had been easy for me to see during the speech I'd given roughly how many had already arrived up the narrow pass, and as I stood from inspecting a firing port in a trench, testing whether the old cast iron cannon would roll back far enough on its rails after firing.
I gave it a pass after measuring against a rod. Certainly it was far from the highest of technologies at our disposal, but certainly it would be either lethal, injurious, or at the very least, extremely loud. The gathered mishmashed array of weaponry pointing outward was impressive enough, but the real piece de resistance was the sheer number of railguns we'd had returned to us, frequently carried by a two man team. I signed off on it for final inspection, noting the plug in place over the end, and went to the railgun positioned further down the trench near the intersection.
This was one I recognized. This shared at least something in common to the cannon, insofar as it was far from the latest model at our disposal. I spotted some of my own extremely crude handiwork, a far more rough set of welds performed along the plate's protective, unsanded metal edges. Mister Singer, if he were ever presented with it, may have recognized the shoddy, unstable hand that welded together some of the protective casing. The service flap told me the model without needing to even open it, the household door frame hinges pulled from Verns' stock of spare parts bin, before we implemented something even so basic as refined latches with catch points.
That had to make this a Mk. II. Sentimentality had no place on the front lines. I sucked in a breath at the sight of another old muzzle-loader being carried into the workshop for upgrades, already laid out on the timber worktable and ready for use.
I just hoped the earliest design of managing power flow wouldn't give out from the faster firing. Complex but beautifully arrayed piping had given way to simpler, more streamlined designs as we incorporated a greater number of readily available alien parts. Some of which we were supplied an initial batch of in the bag with the blueprints, and then we were told how to work free those same parts from various broken pieces of technology we'd reclaimed off the Shil'vati, or even the freely given away omni-pads. With every iteration we demonstrated a degree of adaptation to using the parts we had available, and each generation marked a leap forward in our own understanding of Shil'vati technology, courtesy of G-Man and his father's handiwork.
The final barrels of the extremely limited run of the second batch we'd paid handsomely for were marked 'present,' too. They had gone the least far afield, with one already slagging itself during the attack on the data center. I frowned at the spreadsheet, as if my impression of it might cause their fate to improve.
The latest blueprints could maintain a decent rate of fire without burning out its power management system located in the welded together case. Or, rather, the barrel gave out first. For the first time, perhaps as a result of being coupled with the magazines and a relatively rapid-fire exchange meant the neosteel barrels we received had finally become the weak point in the design.
It was only after we'd returned to Camp Death that I'd noticed the difference.
The new batch we'd paid dearly for seemed somewhat altered from the first batch we'd been building all the others out of, made from an alloyed material that shone somewhat dimmer under the sun as George and I worked in the shed elbow-to-elbow, though the contrast was not immediately obvious until one held the two against each other. It was slightly thicker, too, all of which to me indicated a change in supply in some manner, but our supplier had hardly announced themselves to Sam.
This was a troubling puzzle to me. I still couldn't be sure it was the new microbatch of barrels alloys being far from equal to the originals we'd finally finished building out? Or was it the expanded magazines and power couplings' ability to fire faster creating an overall volume of fire that overheated the barrel from overuse? Or was the power management design faulty, generating more heat per shot? Were we misusing them?
I measured the barrel of the Mk. II, just to be sure the shelf life of the barrel hadn't come due. So far, inspections of the original batch of barrels had mercifully indicated they'd all been brought back here were in comparatively great shape, with this one being no exception. That lent me some comfort that these new barrels were just not up to the task of heavy, sustained fire. I couldn't know that for certain, and an unreliable weapon was cause for anxiety.
Indeed, there was almost no wear on this version at all, disproving the worst case scenario that these were only good for a certain number of rounds before they'd be worn down to uselessness. Certainly, they'd eventually give out, but it seemed we were still far off from that point.
"Sir?" Asked the gunner, staring at me.
I stared at him, then down at the spreadsheet. "This thing fires three rounds a minute. Do you think that rate of fire is sufficient?"
I could tell he wasn't sure whether a 'no' would have him replaced with someone professing to be more accurate.
"Get it upgraded." I took the white gel pen and scribbled on it- make ready for an upgrade as soon as the final repaired railgun clears the shed. Assigned to casemate #4, Operator... "Call sign?"
"Brut," he answered.
"Brut...with the Umlaut?" He gave a thumbs up and I added them. Costing nothing but a drop of gel ink for a little personalization if it made for a happy gunner was a good investment. "Use it well. Get it upgraded if there's time, keep an eye on the work shed. Once the repairs stop, you can take this to the front of the line, Brüt."
There was no point dismantling all our old ones and creating a backlog while some still needed repairs. I wrote on the hatch Upgrade from Mk. II to Mk. IV. That would give it a magazine and more than triple its firing rate. Anything more than that, I quietly held my doubts for the feasibility of upgrading in a timely manner. The Mark V's took too much time and effort to build their complex power management systems for not enough gain, stuffed too tightly into the protective case to be completed quickly. The Mark VI's tended to overheat their crude fire control circuitry, the consequence of an overcorrection back to simplicity; they could maintain a high fire rate, but were too delicate. The VII's were the ones with the new barrel. Promising, but those barrel faults...I still worried it might have been the power management system.
We'd started considering adding water tanks to help maintain them, but it brought the weight higher than that of a Mk. I, and successfully swapping a boiling hot tank off a delicate, electronically-loaded railgun in combat seemed like a very questionable use of the time. We'd just have to ask the crews manning the railguns to be a bit judicious in our fire, and hope that the flaw was limited to the new little batch of barrels.
How many rounds, exactly, and exactly how fast was yet to be determined; we hadn't conducted the amount of testing a proper military might carry out, but while we had no shortage to man, we also did not have so many as to test dozens until their point of failure, weighing and comparing all their possible conditions.
All this uncertainty kept bouncing around my head. How many troops did we have here? How many rounds for every type of rifle, including the more exotic variants? How reliant on them were we to deal damage, and was it all stored somewhat safely? On the less direct side of things, how many tons of food did we have stored, and was it distributed well? How many thousands of gallons of water could we draw? How many pounds of soap to wash utensils, cups, wounds, and shower with? How many pounds of food over how many men, to last how many days? If it rained, some of these might be alleviated, and yet might kick off a whole host of other issues. There was no way of knowing, no way of taking a perfect stock. But I could estimate.
We had a lot of people. And a lot of guns. And a lot of defenses, and literally countless tons of high explosives, triggered by various means and methods. And we were mad as hell. While exactly how mad was less concrete a figure, I knew this many men away from home could end poorly.
Ultimately, whether it was the fault of the new barrel or the design had finally reached the limitations of its potential rate of fire without causing other issues, I couldn't say for certain. So I had to do my best.
I gave the railgun a clean bill of health to operate if needed, 'priority upgrade,' and noted the rate of fire for the defensive position at 'three a minute.' This one being one of our oldest models, I left it to the operator with my blessings, and made a mental note to add the next railgun we had to be stationed nearby, just so that we weren't under strength from that angle.
I craned my neck from the trench to behold even more insurgents trickling into the old clearing. The arrivals always came in ones-and-twos, their body language telling me the story of the journey it had taken to get here. They'd had to have abandoned their vehicles to the traffic-snarled roads almost certainly some miles away unless they knew the path George and I would occasionally take;.
Those who brought their own heavy weapons lay them down at their feet before collapsing. Water and food was distributed, though I couldn't speak to the quality, and a trash run would have to be made, tossing the empty tins into ammunition containers.
Of all the newcomers who had yet to be organized into place, I counted two mortars, several more volunteers grouping up to retrieve ammo after taking down descriptions of the vehicles from their exhausted owners and sprinting back out into the night to fetch whatever had been left behind.
The resourcefulness lifted my spirits. No one entertained the notion that these men were taking their leave to flee a certain doom. All present felt some degree of faith, understood who they were, why they were here, and what we were setting out to accomplish. Cells worked to find one another in the darkness, congealing themselves into a more coherent, practiced fighting force by virtue of familiarity with one another. Discipline was sharp and needed little enforcement past an initial reminder. No flashlights switched on inside the premises or campfires were lit despite the encroaching edges of the cold front. Insurgents were guided to whatever defensive positions, pillboxes, trenches, battlements, or bunkers still sat empty, depending somewhat on their expected role after detailing their skills to sentries or those otherwise familiar with the camp carefully explaining sight lines and our overall defensive strategy.
Whispered word overheard from those arrivals seemed to indicate a mixture of panic and outrage was fast spreading through the state's populace, carrying them on frightened wings as they took flight in the night, from here to the southernmost beaches and bays. It seemed word had gotten out successfully, then. That knocked down one more obstacle to our success, or at least set the pieces in place. Soon, all that would remain would be the ugly business of following through, and hoping, no praying that I hadn't massively miscalculated in my hubris.
I took the ramp out of the trench so they could pour some loose gravel into it, helping ensure that if those threatening looking storm clouds opened and if the drains clogged, we still would have some footing, and retired to the command cabin, eyeing how empty it felt with all the finished products being set into defensive arrangements; only the workshop still retained all its rather explosive concoctions.
The manpower situation was such that those familiar in reliably manufacturing complex bombs were spending their time setting up defenses in the fields beyond and settling in our new arrivals.
And then I had the couple hostages, weakened by months of captivity, restrained and kept under guard, but still sitting right on top of the half-done armaments.
I told myself that we had taken precautions- the most reactive sets separated by a thin membranous bag of water to prevent chain reactions from taking root and a few emergency containment systems, but they relied on someone present. I'd need all hands on deck- and what if a direct lance of energy landed from some heavy weapon hit the shed, perhaps to try and make a point? No mere bag of water would make a difference then.
Then again, if they brought that kind of weaponry to bear, then the outcome would be certain. The Shil'vati would still lose their hostages, and have tacitly admitted I'd forced their hand, and that they'd declared we were enough of a threat to sacrifice noblewomen just to put a stop to.
I hunched over a smaller map in the command cabin, pinning down the garrisons and jails Verns might be held in. Perhaps I'd been premature in my assessment in lacking a future need of a good map when I'd jumped atop the table for my little motivational speech. I'd gotten caught up in the moment; I hadn't foreseen the need for an offensive element.
I was sorely missing my Lieutenants. Vendetta wasn't here, which was one of the greater anxieties weighing on my shoulders.
The one word I'd whispered in his ear all that time ago to bring him around to believing I did, in fact, have a plan: Victory. He should be here already.
He'd sprinted off across the field in glee back when I told him of this plan's possibility, that "Plan C" might come about due to a few cells going dark and my suspicion that it wasn't moles. The null hypothesis, that there were in fact moles, had put him in direct danger by sending him to double-check.
I cursed my blindness. My eagerness to take a night off, to get him out of the way so he wouldn't clash with the others, so I could be a 'normal boy' for a night and attend a party- one I wouldn't be kicked out of, To find social acceptance.
All part of a 'coming of age,' even after I'd already spilt blood, led a war campaign effort, kissed, earned more money than most would see in a lifetime, and mentally cut ties with my family. By almost any account, I already was a man, yet I'd gotten obsessive in imitating the modern trappings of defining such things. I should have seen the cells reporting members' absences and even going dark as a whole for what it was. I could have called off Town Hall, started assembling even more people here.
Then again, if I had, then perhaps...the shil'vati might not have started grabbing everyone. I hated to think of Verns as 'sacrificial.' They likely didn't have much on him, just a neighbor's report. Then again, we'd had that meeting right after the bar fight at Lucky's, right? How thoroughly had George cleared out his house, if they went back to rummage around and investigate? How well could George cover his tracks? We'd left that ammo crate in the hallway, for starters- clumsy of us, yet we were in a panic. Like children. I tensed as I remembered so vividly the sudden sharp report of the gun, watched Patrick's empty eyes stare up. But not children.
There was nothing I could do for Vendetta. We'd sent the Bat Signal out. Either he'd be here, or he'd miss it.
I weighed the value of sending George away once he got here. The order would certainly annoy him after he'd just arrived, something of an arduous task given how far backed up the traffic had become. I also knew it meant I'd have one fewer lieutenant here, where I desperately needed him. I could hardly ask him to burn down the childhood home, and it would certainly reek of hiding evidence.
"Sir," A sentry stood in the door frame, and I stretched from where my muscles had tensed up, pulling my shoulders back and yawning silently beneath my mask, lumbering toward him.
I didn't realize how tall I'd gotten until I realized he was staring up at me and had taken a half-step backwards- not to make way so I could lead from the door, either, but almost defensively.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked, stopping in place.
"We've received a message for you, sir. Radio is reporting that a 'Hex' has checked in from her position. She and Binary report 'Green as Grass,' sir."
I wasn't used to being called 'sir,' and it caught me off guard. I realized he was standing there, waiting for a response from me of some sort, too.
What should I say for him to send back to Hex? I momentarily remembered the sensation of the kiss, the warm, slightly wet softness, the tenderness, and felt a bit of a blush under my mask. While every instinct screamed at me to not air even a hint of my romances or inner turmoil about a kiss over the unencrypted connection, there was a level of 'not talking about it' that I was unfamiliar with and hadn't planned for. Could my message back be coded into something subtle? Nothing came to mind.
"G-good," I finally stuttered a little awkwardly. "That's very good."
"What does it mean, sir?"
I pushed the distractions out of my head. This was no time to be thinking about girls- and my mind stubbornly disobeyed, wandering right back to Natalie. At first to the hug she'd offered me, when I was scared. Frightened of the mind-wiper device. That tenderness she'd offered- I pushed the memory from my mind, too. This wasn't the time to fantasize, either. I had to live in the world that was before me, here in the present. People were relying on me. I could figure out all that other stuff- girls, hope, my future- sometime later.
"It means the operation can proceed as planned."
If the Twins stopped reporting or got caught with the hostages, then we'd have a lot less leverage stopping Azraea from blowing us all sky high. A couple noblewomen- who I wasn't terribly familiar with and seemed to be somewhat less important, provided they were truthful to me of their station. This unfortunate pair had relied on connections to already-stationed family members to arrive, rather than on their raw political power to muscle their way to Earth's then-closely guarded secret coordinates, and were present only for evidence of said hostages' presence.
"Sir, beg your pardon," I could sense something bubbling under his words, against his better judgment, but some sense of desperation demanded he ask me this anyways. "But what is the operation? I've been manning the airwaves with Radio, helping spread word, but everyone I make contact with seems to want to know."
"I don't see the wisdom in broadcasting the finer details of our plan, I'm sure you understand."
I sensed the inner conflict by the way he froze up. He wanted to object, probably, to swear he wouldn't leak more than the minimum. The problem was, anyone listening for long might take a morsel here, a morsel there, and bring it all together and undo us.
"You have all you're meant to have at this point, frustrating though that must be to try and inform others of the going-ons. Our objective is right before us. When the time comes and the enemy appears, blast them." I didn't want to say there isn't much else to plan. At least, not for them to consider.
"And you, sir?"
"I'll be right here, alongside you," I promised. That seemed to ease some of his pressing curiosity, at least. "We'll be here together, to watch the birth of a miracle." That, or we'd die together. Those words didn't quite have the same catchy ring, though.
I looked over my shoulder back at the map. What more good could be wrought over pondering what jail he might be in, without more details?
"Another matter. Hex said G-Man should arrive in a few minutes."
"Thank you. Anything else to report?"
"No sir, the shortwave beckons." They gave a hand-on-heart and stepped out, leaving the doorframe empty.
I told myself I may as well follow. There was no good to come of disappearing into a tent, secluded for long periods, not when anxiety might run through the gathered troops. I had to make myself seen at least periodically. Besides, it was easier to get a more complete picture from out here than in there.
Radio looked like a one-man-band by the way he was surrounded by boxy electronics of varying sizes, their glows dimmed slightly by thin pieces of fabric taped over the tiny glowing screens, and the trap stretched over his head. Wires snaked their way along the ground, a trooper trying to lay the cable into a thin channel of dirt with a spade to reduce the tripping hazard.
Pierce crouched next to him with a laptop plugged into something wired together, the final outlet of which looked vaguely like an international travel inverter, her fingers flying across the trackpad.
"Radio, how are we?"
"We've made lots of contact, I think. So much traffic on the airwaves it's actually hard to find a clear channel to broadcast on."
"Do they have our encryption keys?" I asked, the question almost automatic.
"No, having one kind of defeats the purpose of being heard and getting the signal out. Besides, encrypting's probably easy for the Shil'vati to crack. Less easy for human intelligence agencies, but impossible for the people who we want to hear us."
I already knew most of this, but humoured him. Little entertained radio quite like his namesake.
"What's our chance of discovery, then? Rough time to them figuring out it's us here, and finding the signal's origin."
"At least with a somewhat uncountable number of HAM signals being thrown across the airwaves, we are a really big needle in a gigantic haystack. Besides, how many times have we actually been where we're broadcasting from?"
That was a point I hadn't considered.
The Shil'vati would likely regard our signal as just a relay point, rather than the source, let alone the destination.
Would they strike it just to silence the orders, once they figured out how many of them were originating from the same point?
I comforted myself by staring upstream of the creek that wandered to the south of Camp Death, following its course with my eyes to where it flowed under the concrete tunnels under the highway, under the train tracks, to where it ultimately ran back to where Radio and I had visited Saint Michael's. Then I turned my head back across the field, toward where the foundation of Mojo and Mister Pasta's had been, where Vaughn had called in the kill team on the Fed's sting operation,
We'd certainly set up plenty of remote broadcast towers before, to entice them into launching strikes on collaborationists. That Saint Michael's was still standing after we'd broadcast all kinds of propaganda from there meant they'd almost certainly learned to be a bit more cautious about lashing out blindly.
In the darkness I saw a familiar figure materialize, and with a bit of relief, I ran up to greet Larry. I wanted to give the old mechanic a hug, but knew that expressions of intimacy while standing near the middle of the camp's defensive perimeter in front of everyone was more than a bit inappropriate, and settled for a nod of acknowledgment.
"I cleaned up the mess at Jules place," he said, going back to referring to his friend by their code name, glancing at Pierce.
I felt a moment of shame. We'd panicked and grabbed everything. Perhaps we were like children after all, leaving our toys out and in the hall. "Thank you."
"Saw Patrick."
"Patrick saw," I said back. "Patrick- called."
Whatever Larry was about to say, that brought him up short. "Oh. Oh." The words seemed to leave him pained. He'd known Patrick, too, and I felt the weight of guilt. It seemed he moved on faster than I could, because he changed the topic quickly.
"What's up?" He gestured at the radio setup.
Pierce seemed to be quite engrossed in her work, trying to connect the laptop to a radio via a USB cable, fumbling with the port in the dark. The laptop's screen was showing a shaky handheld video of a mass arrest- and I thought I could hear my own voice echoing the words I'd spoken just a short while ago.
"Just uploading the speech. I've spliced it up to some footage that one of the newcomers brought. We'll also be exporting raw versions of both- just the audio, the video, make sure people have the record and can decide for themselves."
Sometimes the truth was the best propaganda.
"How are you getting video out? I thought the internet was down."
Radio held a hand up, and then put it down, as if I'd been a teacher asking a question and he'd been chasing extra credit. The next few sentences were practically a foreign language to me, uttering a series of numbers in rapid succession, followed by what sounded like a name. That may've been a model, an edition of a model, a make, a special form of broadcasting- all of it may well have been bounced off the ionosphere for how far it went over my head. I wasn't used to being so completely out of my depth, but everyone seems to have specialized in some skill or another. I'd preferred getting involved in all aspects of the revolution, but at a certain point delegation was a necessity, and I was watching not just the task's needs, but also the capabilities of my lieutenants grow well past my ability to offer useful insight and guidance.
"I...see." I didn't, but I wasn't sure what else to say. I wanted to express curiosity, but I felt like this new capability was something we'd discuss later, if there was a later. "And people can receive high definition video over shortwave? It just takes a long time?"
It seemed to me to be an apparently somewhat technical process to perform over shortwave, and only when finally pressed for details, Radio at last admitted something I did understand: "I am not sure most people know how to collect the signal, or have the right equipment to, but I'm sure someone will, Maybe that person will redistribute the videos."
There. Actionable, useful information.
"Then continue," I said. "At least unless anything more pressing jumps up to do."
"Let's hope it's good for more than the history books," Pierce commented mildly.
"The world has to know, and I am certain the shil'vati have no interest in putting such footage out there. That's reason enough for us, isn't it?" I watched Radio nod and then scurry about the camp, tracing one of the wires toward the antenna array nearest the highway. I turned to Larry, breaking off from the amusing spectacle. "Do you remember my promise?" My question was genuine, but he seemed to waver slightly, now that the possibility of actually delivering on it was here and present. Perhaps the aura of our inner circle's invincibility had been shattered with the loss of his neighbors, and it would be best to set his mind to something productive. "If you want it to come true, see to it that the mortar teams are trained. Get the cannons in position, and make sure we're good for more than just one wave."
Larry snapped a salute, fingers on brow, and I clumsily approximated one in return, though I had never done a salute before in my life. I could sense the slight smile from behind his mask, and with a quick check over his shoulder that no one was watching, he reached out, straightened my palm out slightly, then brought the edge of my palm higher until it was a bit more level. "That's better," he judged, then leaving me alone once I dropped the hand a few seconds later.
George showed up a few minutes earlier than Hex had predicted, out of breath and escorted by a sentry. "Ditched the truck," he wheezed. "The huge bags of claymores and equipment were really heavy. Had to haul it under the interstate." His shoes shone with creekwater; He'd almost certainly taken the path Larry had forbade us from trying, and I couldn't imagine doing it in the pitch black darkness at any speed.
I motioned to the sentry. "Help him get that bag into the workshop." He was the best bomb maker, but he also had helped build this place. I wanted to pick his brain, but I would give him time to rest, first.
"Hey, Radio. Radio!" I heard the shortwave radio he'd set at the top squawk to life with a familiar grumble on the other end, distorted somewhat by the tinny speaker. I scooped it up. Someone with a vocoder- Radio gave those out sparingly.
"'E' here," I answered for him, but didn't want to announce myself. Not right away.
A moment's pause.
"What are your orders?"
"Vendetta?" I wanted to confirm.
"I'm here with over fifty people waiting at Warehouse Base for something to do," I knew the transmission would likely be monitored, but the time for subtlety was over. "You're on speakerphone, by the way."
The line was likely tapped, or at least would be intercepted, its contents determining priority for being passed upward or presented to someone with authority, possibly even Azraea herself.
Whatever orders I gave, they'd have to be in code, or at least sound like something unimportant, low-priority so that we might give him as much opportunity to get the drop on the enemy as he could be afforded.
"Don't bother trying to come here yet," I quickly supplied. "By now, if you're not on your way here, you have your own party to go to." I took a moment to survey the grounds. "We've practically got a full house. See about getting a house party of your own, though you'll have to pull the guests out of their own company. Or something to flank."
"Any idea where to start?"
The map fresh in my mind, I found the answer sprang to me.
"There's a rest stop along Route One. If you've got any party poppers, you can get them to open up to you like a can opener. You know, it's all about introducing yourself well."
I heard him laugh mirthlessly, the sound coming through like a cheese grater run over the asphalt.
"That one's a big bite, maybe more than we can chew without choking. Why don't we start with something smaller?"
I wanted to protest, to direct him to the biggest ones first. Then again, how much did they have on Verns? How likely was he to be somewhere heavily defended?
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, right across the river from where the naughty girls all get sent. Why don't we start there? Every party needs a few ladies, right?" I could hear a roar of assent from the background.
I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that- was he going to try and attack the Shil'vati base? Surely not those women? He wasn't that insane. Then it clicked- the Women's Correctional Facility in Wilmington, just upstream of the Christina River from where he was broadcasting from at the old Warehouse Base. Easy to get to, certainly, and right near the interstate with pedestrian bridges and neighborhoods to scatter in after the strike made it an excellent candidate. Almost certain to succeed.
The strike wouldn't yield us Verns, though forcing the Shil'vati to admit that they couldn't both take and hold their prisoners at the same time might force them to at least pause rounding up ever more people.
If I gave it my blessing, I would be sacrificing any chance of rescuing Verns for...for what? The tradeoff strained my soul to even consider.
"If you feel that's best, you know your crowd. That said, they got Jules- we want him back." He'd helped build Camp Death. He knew its ins and outs, though my real reasons were somewhat sentimental. "Keep an eye out for Morningstar and a few other cells. I've little doubt they can party with the best of them." They were one of my heaviest hitters, routinely bragging they could go clay pigeon hunting with an unguided RPG, yet I was pretty sure I'd never rallied them to Camp Death- if they were to rally, Warehouse Base was where they'd be.
There was a moment of silence, until Vaughn reported back- "Yeah, they're here. They were going to move up to you once they got everyone together. Should we leave instructions for where to find us, or to find you?"
"Do it- supplies are overall good here. Lots of...uh, balloons, confetti..." I felt like I was stretching the analogy too far, so I gave up trying to equate weaponry to party paraphranelia. "...you know, the works. Take Morningstar and use 'em as you see best fit. What've you got for your party? Any good party supplies?" We certainly could make a trash run and see if we could also deliver them some RPGs at the same time.
"Got some Bump-n-Grinds, and you know those are always good for an up-close-and-personal encounter."
I laughed. "From what I read about bumping and grinding? The closer, the better." Their accuracy left a fair bit to be desired. Still, it would be a good, even vital carry just in case those dreaded Security Forces Technicals made an appearance, and would probably be 'good enough' against a stationary target like a wall, especially in the hands of a capable squadron like Talonstar.
"What time are you thinking?"
"I'd say as soon as we're all ready. You really overestimated how many people know where Camp Death is. A fair number showed up here, and are still trickling in."
"Enough to throw several parties at once?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.
"Well, I suppose, maybe, but I'd be wary of partygoers without someone in charge to, uh..." the metaphor seemed to be breaking down, but I got what he was going for.
"Yeah, I see."
"Are you thinking if there are too many noise complaints at once, it'll keep the party going longer?"
"That's part of it, but I'm hoping we might find a particular person we're missing, lost him when we were playing unexpected host. Someone of G-Man's, you'd know him as Jules. A divide and conquer might maximize our odds of finding him."
"Plus, maximize the number of partygoers we pick up as we move. I like it. A few small house parties for every big house. Any special orders?"
"None. K.I.S.S. principle applies. Good, bad, I want it all out on the streets. 'KISS' 'em until they can't see straight." Keep It Simple, Stupid.
"You're certain?" I could hear the hesitancy in his voice. "This is going to be the greatest thing we've ever done, and I want to be by your side for it 'til the end. I don't want any last-minute cancellations, and I sure as hell don't wanna miss it. How long should I party?"
We'd be letting absolute chaos loose. Fire. Looting. The worst of humanity, turned loose, with Vaughn potentially at its head if he decided to recruit for some reason. Could I still claim to be the good guy if I turned those kinds of people free to wreak havoc on the state I claimed whose denizens I was protecting?
Blackstone's Ratio holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. It would still hold me no less accountable for whatever followed from this mass prison break, though.
I looked over to the recently arrived George, and hung my head.
So be it.
"Confirmed, Vendetta. I'll next talk to you when you're here in person- call it when you start either getting tired or if the hosts hire a doorman, a bouncer, or something you can't handle. Bring any good partygoers and favors you find, guide them here, O Pied Piper. Over and out." The signal went quiet again, and I turned off our radio, standing and yawning. The hour was late, and it would be my last opportunity for some shuteye.
I pulled aside a few sentries to my first order. I felt it was a strange one, and likely futile: I asked everyone to 'try and get some rest.'
The sentries were going to be exhausted, and I needed them to start working in shifts if we were to maintain our vigil and perimeter. Doubtless, more would be coming, and giving them at least some rest might be a difference-maker. G-Man helped lead the newcomers to the subterranean bunkers and tunnels, trying to make sure everyone had a place to stay the night and resources got split, even if it was throwing tarps and blankets on hard-packed dirt. I eyed the tunnels, knowing which one of them would spit me out near the stream, itself running so low I might as well refer to it as a ravine. Digging that had been cramped, paranoia-inducing, but we'd dug out so much of the hill and filled it with enough weapons to wage a full-scale war.
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Defiance HD/VU $4
Despicable Me 3 4K/MA or IT $5
Devil's Due HD/MA $3.5
Devotion HD/VU $6.5
Die in a Gunfight 4K/VU $5
Dig 4K/VU $6
Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness HD/GP $3.5
Dolittle 4K/MA $5
Don Verdean HD/VU $4.5
Downton Abbey A New Era HD/MA $4.5
Dracula (1931) HD/MA $3.5
Dream a Little Dream HD/VU $4
Duck Dynasty Wedding Special HD/VU $4
Duel (2016) HD/VU $3.5
Earth Girls are Easy HD/VU $4
Elvis HD/MA $4.5
Emoji Movie HD/MA $3
Empire of Light HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Ender's Game HD/VU $2.5
Equalizer HD/MA $3
Escape Field 4K/VU $5.5
Escape from LA 4K/VU $5.5
Event Horizon 4K/VU $5.5
Everything Must Go HD/VU $4
Evil Dead 1 & 2 Bundle 4K/VU $8
Expired 4K/VU $5
F9 Fast Saga (Thea & Ext) 4K/MA $5.5
Fabelmans HD/MA $6.5
Face/Off HD/VU $4.5
Fair Game (Director's Cut) HD/VU $4
Fantastic Beasts Secrets of Dumbledore HD/MA $4.5
Farewell HD/VU $4
Fatherhood HD/MA $4
Favourite HD/MA $4.5
Fear of Rain 4K/VU $5.5
Field of Dreams HD/MA $4
Fifty Shades Freed HD/MA $4
Fighting w/ my Family HD/IT $4
Finding You 4K/VU $5
Flashback HD/VU $4
Forbidden Kingdom HD/VU $4.5
Ford v Ferrari HD/MA $4
Forrest Gump HD/VU $3.5
Fortress Sniper's Eye HD/VU $4
Friends w/ Kids HD/VU $4
From Here to Eternity 4K/MA $5.5
Gentlemen 4K/IT $4.5
Ghost in Shell (1995) 4K/VU $5
Ghost in Shell (2017) 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Ghost In Shell 2.0 HD/VU $4.5
Ghost Team One HD/VU or IT $3.5
Giant 4K/MA $5.5
Glass HD/MA $4
God's Not Dead A Light in Darkness HD/MA $3
Gone Girl HD/MA $4
Good House 4K/VU $6
Grease 4K/IT $5.5
Great Wall HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Green Inferno HD/IT $3.5
Green Knight 4K/VU $4.5
Green Lantern Beware My Power HD/MA $4
Greenland 4K/IT $5
Groundhog Day 4K/MA $6
Grumpy Old Men HD/MA $4
Guns Akimbo HD/VU $4.5
Habit 4K/VU $5.5
Halloween (2018) HD/MA $3
Halloween Curse of Michael Myers HD/VU $4
Halloween Ends HD/MA $5.5
Halloween Kills (Ext) 4K/MA $5.5
Happy Death Day HD/MA $4.5
Hard Luck Love Song 4K/VU $5.5
Hate U Give HD/MA $4
Hellbenders HD/VU $4.5
Hellboy Animated Double Feature (Sword of Storms, Blood & Iron) 4K/VU $7.5
Hellraiser Judgment HD/VU $4
Hereditary HD/VU $3.5
Highlander 4K/VU $5.5
Hitman (Uncut) & Hitman 47 Bundle HD/MA $7
Holmes & Watson HD/MA $3.5
Home Again HD/MA $3
Home Alone 2 HD/MA $3.5
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. HD/MA $5
Hotel Transylvania HD/MA $3.5
House Next Door Meet Blacks 2 4K/VU $5.5
House of 1000 Corpses HD/VU $4
House w/ a Clock in Its Walls HD/MA $4
Hulk (2003) HD/MA $4
Humans HD/VU $4.5
Hunt for Red October 4K/VU $5.5
Hurt Locker 4K/VU $5
Hustle & Flow HD/VU $4
I Frankenstein HD/VU or IT $2.5
I Love You Phillip Morris HD/VU $4.5
Ice Age Collision Course HD/MA $3
In Blood HD/MA $4
In Secret (2014) HD/VU $4.5
Incredible Hulk HD/MA $4
Independence Day (1996) 4K/MA $5.5
Indiana Jones & Raiders of Lost Ark HD/VU $4
Infinite HD/VU $4.5
Inglourious Basterds HD/MA $4 or SD/IT $1.5
Inhabitant HD/VU $4.5
Interview w/ Vampire HD/MA $4
Iron Man & Hulk Heroes United HD/GP $3.5
Iron Mask (2019) HD/VU $4.5
Isle of Dogs HD/MA $4
It Happened One Night 4K/MA $5.5
Italian Job 4K/VU $6.5
Jack Reacher Never Go Back HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Jeff Who Lives at Home HD/VU $4
Jobs HD/MA or IT $3.5
Joe Kidd HD/MA or IT $4
Jordan Peele 3-Film Collection (Nope, Us, Get Out) HD/MA $11
Journey to West Conquering Demons HD/VU $3.5
Joy HD/MA $3
Juliet, Naked 4K/VU $5.5
Jungle Book (2016) 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Ju-On Grudge HD/VU $4.5
Jurassic Park 3 HD/VU $3.5
Jurassic World 6-Film Collection (Dominion Thea & Ext) HD/MA $18
Jurassic World Dominion (Thea & Ext) HD/MA $5
Kama Sutra HD/VU $4.5
Kid Who Would Be King 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Kill Zone (2005) HD/VU $4.5
King Richard 4K/MA $5.5
King's Man 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $3.5
Knives Out 4K/VU $5.5
Knock at Cabin HD/MA $8
Knowing 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Knowing/Push Double Feature HD/VU $7.5
Labyrinth HD/MA $4.5
Lady & Tramp HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Lair of White Worm HD/VU $4.5
Last Christmas HD/MA $4
Last Duel HD/GP $3.5
Last Flag Flying HD/MA $4
Last Picture Show 4K/MA $5.5
Last Samurai HD/MA $4
Legend of Hercules 4K/IT $3
Let Them All Talk 4K/MA $5.5
Lightyear HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Lilo & Stitch HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Limey 4K/VU $5.5
Lion King HD/GP $3
Locked Down 4K/MA $5.5
Lyle Lyle Crocodile HD/MA $5
M3GAN (Thea & Unrated) HD/MA $7.5
Mack & Rita HD/VU $4.5
Mad Max 1-4 Set 4K/VU $18.5
Mad Max 2 Road Warrior 4K/VU $5.5
Mad Men Complete Series HD/VU $35
Magic Mike's Last Dance HD/MA $7
Magnificent Seven 4-Film Set (1960, Return, Guns, Ride) HD/VU $13
Man of Tai Chi HD/VU $4
Man Who Fell To Earth 4K/VU $6
Manchester by Sea HD/IT $3.5
Marksman HD/MA $4
Marlowe HD/MA $7.5
Mask of Zorro 4K/MA $6
Mask of Zorro 4K/MA $6
Mauritanian 4K/IT $5
Maze Runner Death Cure HD/MA $3.5
Maze Runner HD/MA $3.5
Meatballs HD/VU $4
Memory HD/MA $4
Men HD/VU $4.5
Men in Black 3 HD/MA $3
Men in Black HD/MA $4
Menu HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts HD/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $5
Mid-Century 4K/VU $5
Midsommar HD/VU $4
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) HD/MA $4
Missing Link HD/MA $4
Missing SD/MA $4
Mission Impossible 3 4K/VU $4.5
Mitchells vs Machines HD/MA $4.5
Mommy HD/VU $4
Monster High Electrified HD/VU or IT $2.5
Moonfall 4K/VU $4.5
Morbius HD/MA $4
Mother's Day HD/IT $2.5
Moving On HD/VU $5.5
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris 4K/MA $6
My Brilliant Friend Season 1 HD/VU $4
My Fair Lady 4K/VU $5.5
Nashville HD/VU $4
Needle in a Timestack 4K/VU $5.5
Night House HD/GP $4
No Sudden Move 4K/MA $6
Nope HD/MA $5.5
Northman HD/MA $4
Oliver! 4K/MA $5
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood HD/MA $3.5
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood HD/MA $4
Paradise Highway 4K/VU $5.5
Paranormal Activity 1-8 Collection HD/VU $22
Paranormal Activity Ghost Dimension (Unrated) HD/VU $4.5
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 HD/MA $3.5
Paw Patrol Movie HD/VU $4.5
Percy Jackon Lightning Thief SD/IT $1.5
Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters HD/MA $3
Perfectos Desconocidos HD/VU $4
Peter Pan (1953) HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Peter Rabbit HD/MA $3.5
Phantom Thread HD/MA $4
Piano HD/VU $4.5
Pitch Black (Unrated) HD/MA or IT $4
Plane 4K/VU $6.5
Pocahontas 2 Journey to a New World HD/GP $3.5
Pompeii HD/MA $3.5
Pretty in Pink HD/VU $3.5
Prey for Devil 4K/VU $6
Prince of Egypt HD/MA $4.5
Protege HD/VU $4
Proud Mary HD/MA $3.5
Pulp Fiction 4K/VU $5.5
Pulp Fiction 4K/VU $5.5
Push 4K/VU $6
Puss in Boots Last Wish HD/MA $6.5
Queen of Katwe HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Raid Redemption (Thea & Unrated) HD/MA $4.5
Ran (1985) 4K/VU $5.5
Ratatouille 4K/MA $6 or HD/GP $4
Rear Window HD/MA $3.5
RED 2 HD/VU or IT $2
Red Heat 4K/VU $5
Redline HD/VU $4.5
Reign of Assassins HD/VU $4.5
Repo Genetic Opera HD/VU $4.5
Rescuers Down Under HD/MA $5 or HD/GP $4.5
Rescuers HD/MA $5 or HD/GP $4.5
Reservoir Dogs 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Resident Evil Retribution 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Retaliation (2017) HD/VU $4
Ride Like a Girl HD/VU $4
Right One 4K/VU $5.5
Ring HD/VU $4.5
Rio 2 HD/MA $3
Rio SD/IT $1.5
Rocky Knockout Collection 1-4 (Rocky IV w/ Thea & Rocky vs Drago Ultimate Cut) 4K/VU $20
Rules of Attraction HD/VU $4
Rumble HD/VU $5
Running Man 4K/VU $5.5
Safe Haven SD/IT $1.5
Saint Maud HD/VU $4.5
Sausage Party HD/MA $3.5
Saw 7-Film Collection (Unrated) HD/VU $18
Saw 8-Film Collection HD/VU $20
Scott Pilgrim vs World 4K/MA $5.5
Scream 4 HD/VU $4
Scream HD/VU $4.5
Secret Garden (2020) 4K/IT $5
Secret in Their Eyes HD/VU or IT $3
Sense & Sensibility 4K/MA $5
Sex & City 2 SD/IT $1.5
Sex Tape HD/MA $3.5
Shaun of Dead HD/MA $4 or 4K/IT $4.5
Shawshank Redemption 4K/MA $5.5
Shazam! Fury of Gods HD/MA $10
She Said HD/MA $6.5
Shooter 4K/VU $5
Show Dogs HD/MA $3.5
Siberia (2018) HD/VU $3
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3-Film Set (3-5) HD/VU $8
Silent Twins 4K/MA $6
Silk Road 4K/VU $5
Sing 2 HD/MA $4
Sing Street HD/VU $4
Sixteen Candles HD/MA $4
Skeleton Twins HD/VU $4.5
Smile HD/VU $5.5
Smokey & Bandit HD/MA $3.5
Smokin' Aces 4K/MA $5.5
Smurfs Lost Village HD/MA $3.5
Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Snatch 4K/MA $5.5
Social Network 4K/MA $5.5
Son of God HD/MA $3
Source Code 4K/VU $5.5
Spartacus HD/MA $3.5
Spider-Man Into Spider-Verse 4K/MA $5.5
Spider-Man No Way Home HD/MA $4
Spinning Man HD/VU $4
Spirit HD/VU $4
Spontaneous HD/VU $4.5
Starship Troopers 4K/MA $6
Sting 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Strange World HD/GP $4
Strangers Prey at Night HD/MA $3
Stripes 4K/MA $5
Sudden Death HD/IT $4
Taken 2 HD/MA $3.5
Tangled HD/MA $4
Tar HD/MA $6
Taxi Driver HD/MA $4
Teen Spirit (2019) HD/MA $4
Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls Mayhem Multiverse HD/MA $6
Teeth HD/VU $4.5
Ten Commandments (1923) HD/VU $4
Ten Commandments (1956) HD/VU $4
Tetro HD/VU $4
Thanks for Sharing HD/VU $4
The Batman HD/MA $4
This is End HD/MA $3.5
This Means War SD/IT $1.5
Thor Love & Thunder 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $3.5
Till 4K/IT $7
Time Freak HD/VU $4
To Kill a Mockingbird 4K/IT $4
To Sir w/ Love 4K/MA $5.5
Tomb Raider Cradle of Life 4K/VU or IT $5.5
Top Gun Maverick 4K/VU $6 or HD/VU $4.5
Touched w/ Fire HD/VU $4.5
Town SD/IT $1.5
Trading Places HD/VU $4
Transformers 4K/VU $5
Transformers Age of Extinction HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Transformers Dark of Moon 4K/VU $4.5
Transformers Revenge of Fallen 4K/VU $5
Triple 9 HD/IT $3.5
Troy (Director's Cut) HD/MA $4.5
True Grit SD/IT $1.5
Tucker Man & His Dream 4K/VU $5
Turning Red HD/GP $3
Twilight 1-3 (Ext) HD/VU $10
Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt 1 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Twilight HD/VU $4
Umma HD/MA $4.5
Uncharted HD/MA $4
Uncut Gems HD/VU $4
Under Skin HD/VU $3.5
Underwater HD/MA $4.5
Underworld 5-Film Set HD/MA $17
Venom Let There Be Carnage HD/MA $4
Virtuoso 4K/VU $5
Vivo HD/MA $5
Voyagars 4K/VU $5
W. HD/VU $4
Wall Street Money Never Sleeps SD/IT $1.5
War of Worlds 4K/VU $5.5
War on Everyone HD/VU $4
Warhunt 4K/VU $4.5
Waterworld HD/MA $4
Wayne's World 4K/VU $5.5
Weekend HD/VU $4
What We Did on our Holiday HD/VU $4
Where Crawdads Sing HD/MA $4.5
Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance w/ Sombody HD/MA $5.5 or SD/MA $3
Wicker Man (1973) HD/VU $4.5
Winnie Pooh Springtime w/ Roo HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Wolf Man (1941) HD/MA $3.5
Woman King HD/MA $5.5
Women Talking 4K/IT $7
X-Men Days of Future Past Rogue Cut 4K/IT $5.5
X-Men First Class & Days of Future Past HD/MA $6.5
X-Men Trilogy (X-Men, X2, Last Stand) HD/MA $12
Zero Dark Thirty HD/MA $3.5
All other movies (A-Z)
101 Dalmatians HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
12 Years a Slave HD/MA $3.5
13 Hours Soldiers of Benghazi HD/VU $2.5
1917 HD/MA $3.5
2 Fast 2 Furious 4K/IT $3.5
2 Guns HD/VU or IT $2.5
21 Jump Street HD/MA $3
3 From Hell (Unrated) 4K/VU $4 or HD/VU $2.5
31 HD/VU $2.5
310 to Yuma 4K/VU $5
47 Meters Down HD/IT $3.5
47 Meters Down Uncaged HD/VU $3.5
47 Ronin HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
71 HD/VU $4
A Clockwork Orange 4K/MA $5
A Most Wanted Man HD/VU $3.5
A Quiet Place HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
A Quiet Place Part 2 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
A Wrinkle in Time HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
About Time HD/VU or IT $3.5
Action Point HD/IT $2
Adore HD/IT $3.5
Adventures Of TinTin HD/VU or IT $2.5
After Earth HD/MA $3
Aladdin (2019) 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Alex Cross HD/VU or IT $2
Alfred Hitchcock 5-Film Set Vol 2 4K/MA $24
Alice Through Looking Glass HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Alita Battle Angel 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
All Eyez on Me HD/IT $3
All Money in World HD/MA $3.5
Aloha HD/MA $3.5 or SD/MA $1
Alvin & Chipmunks Road Chip HD/MA $2.5
Amazing Spider-Man 2 HD/MA $4
Amazing Spider-Man HD/MA $3.5 or SD/MA $1.5
America Imagine World w/out Her HD/VU $1.5
American Assassin 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
American Frontier Trilogy (Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water) HD/VU $7.5
American Hustle SD/MA $1.5
American Made 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
American Night HD/VU $4
American Reunion HD/VU or IT $3
American Ultra HD/IT $4
Anchorman 2 Legend Continues HD/VU or IT $2.5
Angel Heart 4K/VU $5.5
Angel of Mine 4K/VU $5.5
Anna 4K/VU $5 HD/VU $3.5
Anna Karenina HD/IT $3.5
Annie (2014) HD/MA $3.5 or SD/MA $1.5
Annihilation HD/VU $3
Antebellum 4K/VU $5
Ant-Man & Wasp HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Ant-Man HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Apollo 13 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Arctic HD/MA $4
Arnold Schwarzenegger 6-Film Collection (Last Stand, Total Recall, T-2, Red Heat, Maggie, Hercules in NY) HD/VU $14
Arrival HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3 HD/VU $5
Assassination Nation HD/MA $3.5
Assassin's Creed HD/MA $3
Atomic Blonde 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA$3
August Osage County HD/VU $3
Avengers Age of Ultron HD/MA $3.5 pr HD/GP $3
Avengers Endgame HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Avengers HD/GP $3
Avengers Infinity War HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Back to Future Trilogy 4K/MA $14 or HD/MA $9.5
Bad Boys for Life HD/MA $4
Bad Grandpa HD/IT $2.5
Bad Words HD/IT $3
Bambi HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Bangkok Dangerous HD/VU $4
Bank Job HD/VU $3.5
Barbie & Her Sisters in Great Puppy Adventure HD/VU or IT $3.5
Barbie in Princess Power HD/IT $3.5
Barbie Star Light Adventure HD/IT $3.5
Battle of Year HD/MA $3.5
Battleship HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Baywatch HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Beatriz at Dinner HD/VU $4.5
Beauty & Beast (1991) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Beauty & Beast (2017) HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Before I Fall HD/VU or IT $3.5
Begin Again HD/VU $3.5
Ben-Hur (2016) HD/VU or IT $3.5
BFG HD/MA $3.5
Big Eyes HD/VU $3.5
Big Hero 6 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Big Lebowski 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Big Little Lies Season 1 HD/GP $2.5
Big Short HD/VU or IT $3.5
Big Wedding SD/IT $1
Birth of a Nation HD/MA $3.5
Black Panther 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Black Widow HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Blackhat HD/IT $3.5
Blair Witch Project (1999) HD/VU $4
Blockers HD/MA $3.5
Boardwalk Empire Season 1 HD/VU or IT $4
Bombshell 4K/VU $5
Book Club HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Book of Life HD/MA $3.5
Born a Champion 4K/VU $5
Boss Baby HD/MA $2.5
Bourne Identity HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Bourne Legacy HD/VU $2
Bourne Supremacy HD/VU $3.5
Bourne Ultimatum 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Boy 2 HD/IT $3.5
Boy Erased HD/MA $4
Boy HD/IT $3.5
Boyhood HD/VU or IT $2.5
Braven HD/VU $4
Butler HD/VU $3
Butterfly Effect HD/MA $4
Bye Bye Man (Unrated) HD/IT $2.5
Cabin in Woods 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $2.5
Call of Wild 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Captain America Civil War HD/GP $2.5
Captain America First Avenger HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5 or SD/IT $1.5
Captain America Winter Soldier HD/GP $3.5
Captain Marvel HD/GP $2
Captain Phillips HD/MA $3.5 or SD/MA $1.5
Carol HD/VU $4
Cars 3 HD/GP $2.5
Case for Christ HD/IT $2.5
Chaos Walking 4K/VU $5
Chicago HD/VU $4
Children (2008) HD/VU $4
Christopher Robin HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Cloverfield 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Coco HD/GP $2.5
Cold Pursuit 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Collection HD/VU $3.5
Columbiana (Unrated) HD/MA $4
Come & Find Me HD/VU $4
Commuter 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Company of Heroes HD/MA $4
Contraband HD/IT $3
Cooties HD/VU $4
Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of Dead, Hot Fuzz, World's End) 4K/MA $15
Counselor HD/MA $4
Courier 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Crank 4K/VU $5.5
Crimson Peak HD/IT $3.5
Croods HD/VU $3.5
Cruella HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
D Train 4K/IT $4
Daddy's Home 2 HD/IT $3
Daddy's Home HD/VU $3
Dark Tower HD/MA $3.5
Darkest Hour (2017) 4K/MA $5.5
Darkness HD/IT $3
Dawn of Planet of Apes HD/MA $3.5
Daybreakers 4K/VU $5.5
Deadpool 2 (w/Super Duper Cut) HD/MA $4
Deadpool HD/MA $2.5
Dear White People HD/VU $3.5
Dementia 13 (Director's Cut) HD/VU $4
Descendants SD/IT $1.5
Despicable Me 2 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Despicable Me 4K/IT $5 or SD/IT $1.5
Detroit HD/MA $3.5
Dilemma HD/VU $3.5 or SD/IT $1.5
Dirty Dancing 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Disney Animated Short Films Collection HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Divergent Allegiant HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Divergent HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2 or SD/VU $0.5
Divergent Insurgent HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Django Unchained HD/VU $3 or SD/IT $1.5
Do Right Thing 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Doctor Strange HD/GP $2.5
Dom Hemingway HD/MA $3.5
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot HD/VU $4
Doom (Unrated) 4K/MA $5.5
Doorman HD/VU $3.5
Doors 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Dora & Lost City of Gold HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Downton Abbey Movie HD/MA $4
Dracula Untold HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Draft Day HD/VU $3.5
Dragged Across Concrete HD/VU $3.5
Dreamkatcher HD/VU $4
Dredd HD/VU $2.5
Duff SD/VU $1.5
Dumbo (2019) HD/GP $3
Dune 4K/MA $5.5
Dying of Light HD/VU $2.5
E.T. Extra Terrestrial 4K/VU or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Edge of Seventeen HD/VU or IT $3
Edge of Tomorrow 4K/MA $5
Edward Scissorhands HD/MA $3.5
El Chicano HD/MA $4
Encanto 4K/MA $4 or 4K/GP $3.5
Enemy at Gates HD/VU $4
Enough Said HD/MA $3.5
Epic HD/MA $3
Escape Plan HD/VU $2
Eternals HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Everest 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Ex Machina HD/VU $3
Exodus Gods & Kings HD/MA $3.5
Expendables 2 HD/VU or IT $1
Expendables 3 (Thea) HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Extreme Prejudice (1987) HD/VU $4
Fast & Furious (2009) HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Fast & Furious 6 (Ext) HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Fast & Furious 6-film Collection HD/VU $12.5
Fast & Furious 7-film Collection HD/VU $14
Fast & Furious 8-film Collection (9 Films) HD/MA $17.5
Fast & Furious 9-film Collection (11 Films) HD/MA $20
Fast & Furious HD/VU $3.5
Fast Color 4K/VU $5.5
Fast Five (Ext) HD/IT $2.5 or SD/IT $1
Fatale 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Fate of Furious (Ext) HD/VU $2
Fate of Furious (Thea) HD/VU or IT $1.5
Fault in Our Stars HD/MA $3.5
Fences HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Ferdinand HD/MA $3.5
Fifty Shades Darker (Unrated) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Fifty Shades of Grey (Unrated) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Finding Dory HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Finding Nemo HD/GP $3.5
Finest Hours HD/GP $3
First Blood 4K/VU $5
First Man HD/MA $4
Flight HD/VU or IT $3
Florence Foster Jenkins HD/VU or IT $3
Footloose (2011) HD/IT $3
Forever My Girl HD/IT $3
Fortress HD/VU $4
Four Kids & It HD/VU $3.5
Fox & Hound 2 HD/MA $4
Frank & Lola HD/VU or IT $3
Frankenstein (1931) HD/VU $3.5
Free Guy HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
French Dispatch HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Friday 13th Pt 3 HD/VU $3.5
Frozen (Sing-Along Edition) HD/MA $2 or HD/GP $1.5
Frozen 2 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Frozen Ground HD/VU $3.5
Frozen HD/GP $2
Furious 7 (Ext) HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Fury HD/MA $3.5
G.I. Joe Retaliation HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Gambit (2012) HD/MA $4
Gambler HD/IT $3
Gambler HD/VU $3
Gemini Man 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Get Out HD/MA $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Ghostbusters (1984) HD/MA $3.5
Ghostbusters 2 HD/MA $3.5
Ghostbusters Afterlife HD/MA $4
Girl on Train HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Girl w/ All Gifts HD/VU $4
Girls Trip HD/VU or IT $2
Glass Castle 4K/VU $5.5
God's Not Dead 2 HD/MA or IT $2.5
Gods of Egypt HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Gold (2016) HD/VU or IT $2.5
Good Dinosaur HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Good Kill HD/VU or IT $3.5
Grace Unplugged HD/VU $2
Greatest Showman HD/MA $3.5
Green Mile 4K/MA $5.5
Grey HD/VU or IT $3
Guardians of Galaxy Vol 1 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Guardians of Galaxy Vol 2 HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Guest House 4K/VU $5
Guilt Trip HD/IT $3
Gunman HD/MA $3
Hacksaw Ridge HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Hail, Caesar! HD/IT $3
Hammer of Gods HD/VU $2
Hands of Stone HD/VU $3.5
Hannibal Season 1 HD/VU $5
Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters (Unrated) 4K/IT $4
Hard Target 2 HD/IT $1.5
Hardcore Henry HD/VU or IT $3.5
Hateful Eight HD/VU $3.5
Heat HD/MA $3
Heaven is for Real SD/MA $1.5
Hell Fest 4K/VU $5
Hell or High Water HD/VU $2.5
Hellboy (2019) HD/VU $3 or 4K/VU $4.5
Hercules (1997) HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Hercules (2014) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Here Comes Boom HD/MA $3.5
Hidden Figures HD/MA $3
Hillsong Let Hope Rise HD/IT $2
Hitman's Bodyguard HD/VU $3.5
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Hocus Pocus HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Home Alone HD/MA $3.5
Homesman HD/VU $3
Honey 2 HD/VU $3
Hop HD/MA or IT $3
Hope Springs HD/MA $2.5 or SD/MA $1
Hostiles HD/VU $3
Hot Fuzz HD/VU $4
Hotel Mumbai HD/MA $4
Hours (2013) HD/VU $4
How Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) 4K/IT $4
How to Train Your Dragon 2 HD/MA $2.5
How to Train Your Dragon HD/VU $3.5
How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy HD/MA $9
Hugo HD/VU or IT $3
Hunger Games 4-Film Collection HD/VU $8
Hunger Games Catching Fire HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2 or SD/VU $.5
Hunger Games HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2 or SD/VU $.0.5
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 HD/VU $2.5 or SD/VU $1
Hunter Killer 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Huntsman Winter's War (Ext) HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
I Can Only Imagine HD/VU $4
I Feel Pretty HD/IT $2
Incredibles 2 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Incredibles HD/GP $3.5
Independence Day Resurgence HD/MA $2.5
Indiana Jones & Temple of Doom 4K/VU $5.5
Indignation HD/VU $4
Initiation 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Inside Out HD/GP $2
Instant Family 4K/IT $3.5
Internship SD/IT $1.5
Interstellar HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Into Woods HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Invisible Man (1933) HD/MA $3.5
Invisible Man (2020) 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Iron Man 3 HD/GP $2
Iron Man HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
It Follows HD/VU $3.5
It's a Wonderful Life 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Jack & Jill HD/MA $3.5
Jack Reacher HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $4.5
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Jacob's Ladder HD/VU $4
Jarhead 3 Siege (Unrated) HD/IT $2.5
Jason Bourne HD/VU $2.5
Jason Statham 4-Film HD/VU $10
Jason Statham 6-Film HD/VU $14
Jaws 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Jersey Boys HD/MA $2.5
Jesus Music HD/VU $3.5
Jigsaw 4K/VU $4.5
Joe HD/VU $3.5
John Wick 1 & 2 Bundle HD/VU $4
John Wick 3 Parabellum 4K/VU $4.5
John Wick Chapter 2 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
John Wick HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
John Wick Trilogy (Parabellum 4K) HD/VU $9
Jonah Hex HD/MA $4.5
Judy 4K/VU $5
Jungle Cruise HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Jurassic Park 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Jurassic World 5-Film Collection HD/MA $14
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Jurassic World HD/VU $2.5
Justice (2017) HD/VU or IT $3
Justin Bieber Never Say Never SD/IT $1.5
Kevin Hart Let Me Explain HD/VU or IT $3
Kick-Ass 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4 or SD/IT $1.5
Kidnap HD/VU or IT $2.5
Killer Elite HD/IT $3
Killerman HD/VU $4
Kin 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
King Kong (2005) 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Kingsman Golden Circle 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Kingsman Secret Service 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang HD/MA $4.5
Knick Season 1 HD/IT $3.5
Knick Season 2 HD/IT or GP $3.5
Kung Fu Panda 3 HD/MA $3
La La Land 4K/IT $3.5
Labor Day HD/VU or IT $3
Lady Macbeth HD/VU $4.5
Last Airbender HD/VU $4.5
Last Exorcism HD/VU $4
Last Knights HD/VU $3.5 or SD/VU $1.5
Last Man (2019) HD/VU $4
Last Stand HD/IT $2
Last Vegas HD/MA $3.5
Last Witch Hunter HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Leatherface HD/VU $4
Leprechaun 7-Film Collection HD/VU $12
Les Miserables (2012) HD/VU or IT $2
Let Me Explain HD/IT $2.5
Let's be Cops HD/MA $3.5
Life (2017) HD/MA $3.5
Life of Crime HD/VU $3.5
Life of Pi 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA or IT $3.5
Light of My Life HD/IT $3.5
Like a Boss HD/VU $3.5
Lilo & Stitch 2 Stitch Has a Glitch HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Lincoln Lawyer 4K/VU $6.5 or HD/VU $4
Lion King (2019) 4K/MA $4 or HD/GP $2
Live by Night HD/MA $3
Logan HD/MA $3
Logan Lucky 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Lone Ranger HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Lone Survivor HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Long Shot HD/VU $3.5
Longest Ride HD/MA $3
Longest Week HD/VU $3.5
Looper HD/MA $3.5
Lorax (1972) HD/MA $5
Lorax HD/VU $3
Lords of Salem HD/VU $4
Lost World Jurassic Park HD/MA $3
Love & Monsters HD/VU $4
Love Coopers HD/VU or IT $4
Love, Simon HD/MA $3.5
Loving HD/VU or IT $3.5
Luca HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Lucy HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Madagascar 3 HD/VU or IT $3
Madea's Witness Protection SD/IT $1.5
Magnificent Seven (2016) HD/VU $3
Maleficent 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Maleficent Mistress of Evil HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Mama HD/IT $3
Mamma Mia Here We Go Again HD/MA $2.5
Man Who Shot Liberty Vance 4K/VU $5.5
Mandela Long Walk to Freedom HD/VU $4
Martian HD/MA $3.5
Mary Poppins (1964) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Mary Poppins Returns HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Matrix Resurrections 4K/MA $5.5
Max Steel HD/IT $3
McKenna Shoots for Stars HD/IT $2
Mechanic Resurrection HD/VU $2.5
Megan Leavey HD/IT $3
Midnight Sun HD/MA $3.5
Midway 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Mile 22 HD/IT $3
Million Dollar Arm HD/GP $2.5
MindGamers HD/MA or IT $3.5
Minions 4K/MA or IT $4.5 HD/VU $3
Misconduct HD/VU $2.5
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children HD/MA $3
Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol HD/VU $2
Mission Impossible 5 Rogue Nation HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Mission Impossible 6 Fallout 4K/VU or IT $4.5
Mission Impossible 6-film Set 4K/VU or IT $23 or HD/VU $17
Moana HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Moneyball HD/MA $3
Monkey Kingdom HD/MA $3
Monsters University HD/GP $3
Monuments Men HD/MA $3.5
Mortal Engines 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Mortal HD/VU $4
Mortal Instruments City of Bones HD/MA $3 or SD/MA $1.5
Mother! HD/VU $2.5
Mr. Poppers Penguins SD/IT $1.5
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) HD/VU $4
Mud HD/VU $2.5
Mulan (2020) 4K/MA 4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Mummy (1999) HD/VU $4
Mummy (2017) 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Muppets Most Wanted HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Murder on Orient Express HD/MA $3.5
My All American HD/MA or IT $3.5
Nebraska HD/VU $3
Nerve HD/IT $3.5
NeverEnding Story HD/MA $4
New Mutants HD/GP $3
News of World 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Night at Museum Secret of Tomb HD/MA $3
Nightmare Alley 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $3.5
Nightmare Before Christmas HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
No Escape (2015) HD/VU $3
No Strings Attached HD/VU or IT $4
No Time to Die 4K/IT $4.5
Noah HD/VU or IT $2.5
Nobody's Fool HD/IT $2.5
Non-Stop HD/VU or IT $3
Norm of North HD/VU $2.5
Nostalgia (2018) HD/MA $3.5
Now You See Me 2 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Now You See Me HD/VU or IT $2.5 or SD/VU $1
Nutcracker & Four Realms HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Oblivion 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Occupation (2018) HD/VU $3.5
Occupation Rainfall HD/VU $4
Office Christmas Party HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Olaf's Frozen Adventure HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
One Direction This is Us SD/MA $1.5
Ong Bak 2 HD/VU $3
Onward 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Other Woman HD/MA $3
Ouija HD/IT $3.5
Ouija Origin of Evil HD/VU or IT $3.5
Outlander Season 1 Vol 1 HD/VU $5.5
Overdrive HD/IT $2.5
Overlord 4K/IT $3.5
Oz Great & Powerful HD/GP $2.5
Paddington HD/VU $3.5
Pain & Gain HD/VU or IT $3.5
Paranormal Activity (Unrated) HD/VU or IT $4
Paranormal Activity 3 (Ext) HD/VU or IT $3
Paranormal Activity 4 HD/IT $2.5
Paranormal Activity Marked Ones HD/VU or IT $3.5
Passengers HD/MA $3
Patriot Games 4K/VU $5
Patriot's Day HD/VU $3
Peanuts Movie HD/MA $3
Penguins of Madagascar HD/MA $3.5
Perks of Being a Wallflower SD/VU or IT $1
Pet Sematary (2019) 4K/IT $3.5
Pete's Dragon (2016) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Philomena HD/VU $2.5
Pinocchio (1940) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Pirates of Caribbean 5 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Pitch Perfect 2 4K/MA $4 or HD/VU $2.5
Pitch Perfect 4K/IT $3
Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 3 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Planes Fire & Rescue HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Planes HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Playing w/ Fire HD/IT $2.5
Pocahontas HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Point Break (2015) 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Poison Rose 4K/VU $4.5
Possession HD/VU or IT $2.5
Power Rangers (2017) 4K/VU or IT $4.5
Precious HD/VU $4.5
Predator (2018) HD/MA $3
Predator 4-Film Collection HD/MA $11
Premium Rush HD/MA $3.5
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies SD/MA $1.5
Primal HD/VU $3.5
Prodigy HD/VU $4
Project Almanac HD/IT $3.5
Prometheus HD/MA $2.5
Protector 2 SD/VU $1.5
Punisher 4K/VU $5.5
Punisher War Zone 4K/VU $5.5
Purge Anarchy HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Purge Election Year 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Purge HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Quarry 4K/VU $5
Queen & Slim HD/MA $4
Ralph Breaks Internet HD/GP $2
Rambo (2008) 4K/VU $5.5
Rambo 3 4K/VU $5.5
Rambo 5-Film Collection 4K/VU $23 or HD/VU $17
Rambo First Blood Pt 2 4K/VU $5.5
Rambo Last Blood 4K/VU $4.5
Rango HD/VU $3.5
Raya & Last Dragon HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Reclaim HD/VU $3.5
Red Dawn (2012) HD/VU or IT $3
Red Sparrow HD/MA $3.5
Replicant (2001) HD/VU $3.5
Replicas HD/VU $3.5
Requiem for a Dream (Director's Cut) 4K/VU $5.5
Resurrection of Gavin Stone HD/VU or IT $2.5
Revenant HD/MA $3.5
Riddick (Unrated) HD/VU or IT $3
Ride Along HD/VU or IT $2.5
Rings HD/VU or IT $2.5
Riot HD/VU or IT $3
RIPD HD/IT $2.5
Risen HD/MA $3
Robin Hood (1973) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/VU $3
Robocop (2014) HD/VU $2.5
Rocketman (2019) 4K/IT $4
Rogue One A Star Wars Story HD/GP $2
Ron's Gone Wrong HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Rough Night 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Runner Runner HD/MA $3.5
Rush HD/VU or IT $3
Safe HD/VU or IT $2.5
Saige Paints Sky HD/IT $3
Same Kind of Different as Me HD/VU or IT $3
Samson HD/MA $3.5
Santa Clause 2 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Santa Clause 3 HD/MA $3
Santa Clause HD/MA $3.5
Santa Clause Trilogy HD/MA $9.5 or HD/GP $8
Savages HD/IT $3
Saving Mr. Banks HD/GP $3
Saw HD/VU $3
Scarface HD/VU $4
Scary Movie 5 HD/VU $4.5
Scary Stories to Tell in Dark 4K/VU $4.5
Schindler's List 4K/MA $5.5
Scouts Guide to Zombie Apocalypse HD/IT $3
Scream (1996) HD/VU $4
Scrooged HD/IT $4
Secret Life of Pets 4K/IT $4.5
Secret Life of Walter Mitty HD/MA $3
Selma HD/VU or IT $2.5
Shack HD/IT $2.5
Shallows HD/MA $3.5
Shang-Chi Legend of Ten Rings HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Shape of Water HD/MA $3.5
Sharp Objects HD/GP $2
Shaun Sheep Movie HD/VU $3
Sherlock Gnomes HD/VU or IT $2.5
She's Having a Baby HD/VU $3.5
Shivers HD/VU $4
Siberia (2020) HD/VU $4
Sicario HD/VU $2.5
Side Effects HD/IT $3.5
Sing (2016) 4K/IT $4
Singing in Rain 4K/MA $5.5
Sinister HD/IT $2.5
Sisters (Unrated) HD/IT $2.5
Skyfall HD/VU $2.5
Skyscraper HD/MA $3.5
Sleeping Beauty (1959) HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Sleepless HD/IT $2
Snatched HD/MA $2
Snitch HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3 or SD/VU or IT $1.5
Snow White & Huntsman (Ext Edition) 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Snow White & Seven Dwarfs (1937) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Solo A Star Wars Story HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Some Kind of Wonderful HD/VU $3.5
Songbird 4K/IT $4.5
Sonic Hedgehog 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Soul HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Southpaw HD/VU $3
Southside w/ You HD/VU $4.5
Spider-Man 4-Cut Set (Spider-Man 2 w/ Thea & Ext) HD/MA $11.5
Spider-Man 5-Cut Set (Spider-Man 2 & 3 w/ Thea & Ext) HD/MA $14.5
Spider-Man Far From Home HD/MA $3.5
Spider-Man Homecoming HD/MA $3
Spider-Man Homecoming/Far From Home Bundle HD/MA $6
Spies in Disguise 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Spiral (2021) 4K/VU or IT $4.5
Split 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Spongebob Sponge out of Water HD/IT $2.5
Spy (Unrated) HD/MA $3.5
Spy Who Dumped Me 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
St. Vincent HD/VU $3
Stand Up Guys HD/VU $3.5
Star SD/MA $1.5
Star Trek (2009) HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Star Trek 1-4 4K/VU $18
Star Trek Beyond HD/VU $3
Star Trek Into Darkness HD/VU $2.5
Star Wars Force Awakens HD/GP $1.5
Star Wars Last Jedi 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Star Wars Rise of Skywalker 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Step Up Revolution HD/IT $3
Straight Outta Compton (Thea & Unrated) 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Suburbicon HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Suits Season 2 HD/IT $3.5
Sum of All Fears 4K/VU $5.5
Sundown Vampire in Retreat HD/VU $3.5
Super 8 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Super Buddies HD/GP $2
Sword in Stone HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Ted (Unrated) HD/IT $3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) HD/VU $2.5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of Shadows HD/VU $3.5
Terminator 2 Judgment Day (Ext) HD/VU $4.5
Terminator 2 Judgment Day 4K/VU $5
Terminator Dark Fate HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Terminator Genisys HD/VU $2.5
That Awkward Moment SD/MA $1.5
This is 40 HD/MA $3.5
Thor Dark World HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Thor HD/GP $3.5 or SD/IT $1.5
Thor Ragnarok HD/GP $2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri HD/MA $3.5
Top Gun (1986) 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Total Recall (1990) 4K/VU $5
Toy Story 4 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Toy Story HD/GP $3.5
Toy Story of Terror HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Transformers Last Knight HD/VU $2.5
Transporter 3 SD/IT $1.5
Tremors A Cold Day In Hell HD/MA $2.5
Trolls HD/MA $2.5
Trumbo HD/IT $3.5
Trust HD/VU $4
Turbo HD/MA or IT $3
Turning HD/MA $4
Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2 or SD/VU $0.5
Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas SD/VU $1.5
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection SD/VU $1
Tyler Perry's Temptation HD/GP $3
Unbreakable HD/GP $3.5
Unbroken HD/VU or IT $3
Uncle Drew HD/VU $3.5
Underworld Awakening HD/MA $3
Untouchables 4K/VU $5
Valerian & City of a Thousand Planets HD/VU $3.5
Vampire Academy HD/VU $4
Van Helsing HD/MA $3.5
Vanishing (2018) HD/VU $4
Veep Season 6 HD/IT $3.5
Venom HD/MA $3.5
Victoria & Abdul HD/MA $4
Vivarium HD/VU $4
Voices (2014) HD/VU $4
Vow SD/MA $1.5
Walk HD/MA $3.5
War for Planet of Apes HD/MA $3
Warcraft HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Warm Bodies 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3 or SD/VU $1.5
Warrior 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Werewolf Beast Among Us (Unrated) HD/IT $3.5
West Side Story 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA 3.5 or HD/GP $3
What Men Want HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
What to Expect When You're Expecting SD/IT $1.5
When Game Stands Tall HD/MA $3 or SD/MA $1.5
Whisky Tango Foxtrot HD/IT $3
Why Him? HD/MA $3
Widows HD/MA $3.5
Wild Card HD/VU $3
Wild HD/MA $3.5
Wilson HD/MA $3.5
Winchester HD/VU $3.5
Wolf of Wall Street HD/VU or IT $3.5
Wolverine (Unrated) (w/Thea) HD/MA $4
Wonder HD/VU $3
Wonder Park 4K/IT $2.5
Wonder Woman 1984 4K/MA $5.5
Woodlawn HD/IT $3.5
World War Z HD/VU or IT $2.5
Wraith HD/VU $4
X-Men Apocalypse HD/MA $3
X-Men Days of Future Past HD/MA $3
XXX Return of Xander Cage HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
You Were Never Really Here HD/VU $4
You're Next HD/VU $3.5
Z for Zachariah HD/VU $4
Zeros & Ones HD/VU $4.5
Zootopia HD/GP $2.5

I have, since 2019, [url=https://www.reddit.com/conspiracy/comments/jq79fl/comment/gbkvka0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3]been quite vocal [/url], regarding the fact that we are in the first Bowl of God's Wrath and the final phases of the apocalypse are underway. Numerous prophetical texts from several religious systems, most notably the Book of Enoch and Revelation, support this notion. Long story short 2012 was a major sign post on the apocalyptic highway. For you, dear reader, the most relevant verse concerning the immediate future - and the subject of this post is:

" And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image."

If you're ready then, let's explore...

The Mark of the Beast and How it Relates to Skin Disease!

To begin with we must DEFINE the mechanisms through which skin eruptions are made manifest. We are focusing on the most violent skin eruptions known to man - which will characterize the coming epidemic. To do so You MUST become literate in toxicology - the scientific study of poison - the art of the Serpent."

Let's figure out just what the serpents art is:

Numbers 21:

5 Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water!”
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

"Hezekiah broke into pieces the bronze snake known as Nehushtan Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had worshipped it through burnt offerings " 2King 18:4
Moses had originally told the Israelites to worshp Nehushtan to prevent death due to the flying "burning serpents" that infested the great and terrible place of the desert wilderness (Num.21:4-9; Deut.8:15). The Hebrew word for "poisonous" "Burning" as in the defining sensation of a snakebite, a feeling to which is compared God's wrath (Numbers 11:1). Isaiah indicates that these saraphs are comparable to vipers, worse than ordinary serpents and agents of the divine will (Isaiah 14:29).

"Interestingly, in Biblical Hebrew there is a fascinating strong etymological connection between the ‘Nachash’ and forbidden magics. The Biblical Hebrew word for ‘sorcery’ or ‘witchcraft’ is the SAME root as the word for ‘SERPENT’ – i.e. Nachash’! {נחש}

In Modern Hebrew, the old verb ‘Le-Nachesh’ {לנחש} – which meant ‘to make a witchcraft’ has shifted from it's original meaning to intend divination and guesswork. The word witchcraft called in the New Testament (pharmakeia) preserves the meaning of "applied toxicology" as it means to drug or poison - particularly as a tool of human sacrifice. This connection is revealed in the etymologically associated festivals of " Pharmakos -(Wikipedia)" - which was a ritual in which the undesirables of a community would be sacrificed as a cleansing and healing rite. In the Judaic tradition this is recalled on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur) where Azazel (Associated with Lucifer, the Serpent, the Morning Star) is symbolically sacrificed as a Sin Offering. The symbol of Nahushtan - the image of the snake on a pole - is utilized as the symbol of Pharmacy and Medicine to this very day with all the same meaning it held millenia ago.
This knowledge is the KEY to the LITERAL script which governs all human activities past present and future -, which has been revealed through various "Scriptures".
For example it describes how Satan the great deciever conquers all human structures of governance, and his methods of enslaving mankind.

Nahum 3:4 the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
2Peter 2:3 Many shall follow the cunning deceits of the false prophets who scheme to promote suicidal fallacies; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Driven by their lust for power they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you...
Rev 18:23 for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy pharmakaia were all nations deceived.

​
Now back to the skin sores; which are mentioned throughout the Bible. Think of the ten plagues that the Egyptians are hit with or the afflictions that strike the Phillistines after they steal the Ark - Deut 28:27 states simply regarding the transgressors against the LORD: "Yahweh will smite you with the Egyptian boils, with hemorrhoids, scars and itch from which you will never be healed - you will be stricken with permanent madness, blindness and confusion of mind. "
So, let's get back to how black magic involving DRUGGING/POISONING is involved in SKIN SORES.

"Cutaneous adverse drug reactions are unpredictable and include various diferent skin conditions of varying degrees of severity. The most concerning and dangerous are referred to as Drug Reactions with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs), drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome, and Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). "

-From Mechanisms of Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions: Recent Advances
Did you catch that? Yes, the worst skin diseases in existence, typified by everything from whole body blisters to skin detachment, blindness, and permanent brain damage.... are due to drug reactions. Basically think of combining mentos and diet coke in a bottle - it's a fairly powerful little chemical reaction - only your body is the bottle and the candy and soda are a variety of different chemical poisons reacting together in your blood, which are forced out of your blood violently as pustules, nasty rashes, and sores. Basically all of these eruptions emerge due to a failure of the filtration organs, which normally prevent the mentos diet coke reaction from occuring. Once things combine that shouldn't the energy the reaction produces encourages more of the same sorts of reactions. Next thing you know, KABLAM - violent skin reaction!

Although not well understood, it is thought that inefficient drug detoxification leading to the accumulation of drug reactive metabolites causes autoimmune responses in skin and some internal organs.

So that's the 101 study of violent skin disease. You got your mentos, you got your coke, they combine in your blood. Now more on the ancient nature of this simple scientific truth:
Numerous examples exist of organized men working to together to harness the powers of "applied toxicology"... whether in regards to largescale warfare or assassination - or the preservation of food or human lives via medicine.. it's no stretch to say that toxicology and those who masterfully applied it are the single greatest maintainers and destroyers of human life- period.
The Spartans dammed whole rivers during sieges, filled the resulting lake with toxic poisons such as hellbore, and then reconnected the thirsty city to the water supply - the scheme resulted in the successful capture of the city... and one can assume that such tactics did not fall into disuse despite their relative rarity in the preserved history of the species.
Or the history of medical experimentation on the pooslaves (as Catherine de Medici was notorious for). Urban pollution falls also under this umbrella... powerful men for whome "owning mines and factories" is an ancient tradition... have been releasing tons of poisons into the ecosystems of human populations and observing the effects for some time (withholding, of course, their "trade secrets" from the toxified populace).
The ancient Egyptian priesthood would distill cyanide from peaches to assassinate dissidents and other threats to their hierarchy.
Or how about the venetian council of ten and their plot to saturate trade goods with arsenic and "the fluids distilled from the spleens of plague victims" in order to indiscriminately poison the turkish populations...
All of these arts are examples of black magic. And classically this was called witchcraft.
Skin eruptions and plagues generally are afflictions of mankind which David refers to as "the sword of the Lord" - AND ABSOLUTELY Yes, as the book of Exodus suggest, the capacity to generate plagues is a defining characteristic of the Biblical deity - and wherever we find humans transgressing against the will of "Jehova" or his prophets, we find a variety of disease afflicting them. Deuteronomy goes into great detail concerning the nature of this "curse" against his enemies.
SOLUBLE FAS LIGAND AND GRANULYSIN ______________________________ https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/56172/2/Nao_Saito_review.pdf Here we find some evidence of the ability of this disease to be transferred cross species through humoral inoculation.
Something like "soluble factors conjunctiva"

Low N‐acetylating capacity in patients with Stevens‐Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis

. Our data suggest that causative drug exposure induces annexin A1 secretion induces FPR1 expression in keratinocytes, resulting in cell death

Analysis of skin-resident memory T cells following drug hypersensitivity reactions

EOSINOPHILIC SKINNERS T cells become TRM cells upon offending drug challenge post disease.
FROM . A major breakthrough arose from the discovery that specific HLA alleles predispose and, in most cases, appear necessary but not sufficient for the development of SJS/TEN and other SCAR upon exposure to particular drugss- which drugs interact with particular HLA/peptide/T-cell receptor (TCR) complexes on keratinocytes to trigger the adaptive immune response and adverse reactions
severe cutaneous adverse reaction (SCAR). It may have overlapping features with Stevens–Johnson syndrome / toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) and acute generalised exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP).

Proprotein convertase FURIN regulates T cell receptor …

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25926688
WebCollectively, our work confirms the hypothesis that the TCR-regulated protease FURIN plays an important role in T cell activation and that it can specifically modulate TCR-activated
Thus, our results indicate that furin is indispensable in maintaining peripheral tolerance, which is due, at least in part, to its non-redundant, essential function in regulating TGF-β1 production. Targeting furin has emerged as a strategy in malignant and infectious disease5,6. Our results suggest that inhibiting furin might activate immune responses, but may result in a breakdown in peripheral tolerance.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT -- Today/Friday, May 26; Saturday, May 27; Sunday, May 28; Monday, May 29 --- Juan de Fuca Festival; Hood Canal Fjord Fest; Shepherds’ Festival; concerts; community theater; art studio for teens; historical society's online auction; art studio; work to learn party.
By Peninsula Daily News (www.peninsuladailynews.com)
• The 30th anniversary Juan de Fuca Festival begins today, bringing together more than 60 acts on five stages and dozens of artisan and food vendors at the free street fair in Port Angeles.
The Vern Burton Community Center and grounds, 308 E. Fourth St., is the hub for the celebration of music and art from around the region and beyond.
The street fair, which will also showcase 18 Juan de Fuca debut artisans — local entrepreneurs vending for the first time — will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today through Sunday.
The Five Acre School Soundwaves marimba band will play on the Community Stage outside the Vern Burton center at 4:15 p.m. today, and then comes the opening ceremony for the Juan de Fuca Festival at 5 p.m. On the mainstage inside the Vern Burton, live music starts at 5:30 p.m. this evening and continues through Sunday, with the closing act, the Americana band Rose’s Pawn Shop, starting its mainstage show at 8:30 p.m.
This year, those 17 and younger get in free to the festival, and students 21 and younger with valid ID pay half price.
Three-day passes for adults are $100, while single-day passes are $30 for today, $55 for Saturday and $50 for Sunday. The Juan de Fuca Festival’s new mobile app offers ticket sales and information, as does its website, JFFA.org.
• The Memorial Weekend fundraising festival in Brinnon continues this weekend with a new name and new focus.
It will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 251 Hjelvicks Road, Brinnon, off U.S. Highway 101. The gate fee is $10 per day. Children younger than 12 are admitted free with a paying parent. Active military and veterans are admitted free with ID.
ShrimpFest began 30 years ago to celebrate the plentiful Hood Canal Spot Shrimp and raise funds for such local causes as schools, food banks and animal rescues. This year it has a new name: the Hood Canal Fjord Fest.
No spot shrimp will be sold in bulk. However, the famous shrimp will be part of dishes made by some vendors, along with other seafood and specialty locally sourced dishes, some of which are detailed at https://www.facebook.com/HoodCanalFjordFest.
• Pianist Lisa Lanza brings together the cream of Port Townsend’s young musicians and some of their equally talented elders for a Memorial Day weekend concert Sunday to perform for the benefit of Ugandan AIDS orphans.
The 12th annual show will be at the First Presbyterian Church at 1111 Franklin St. in Port Townsend, which co-sponsors this historically sold-out musical event with Grace Lutheran Church.
“Sharing Music, Enriching Lives” will be at 4 p.m. Sunday. Doors will open at 3:30 p.m. Pre-concert music will be performed at 3:45 p.m. by “Lambs in the Fold,” Jeni Little, Don Fristoe, Hank Snelgrove and John Snelgrove. A $15 to $20 donation, cash or check, is suggested. Masks are recommended but not required.
• Key City Public Theatre in Port Townsend will present PlayCraft Originals and 10-minute productions for Sips & Scripts at 7 p.m. tonight and 5:30 p.m. Saturday
All tickets are pay-what-you-wish for a chance to have a behind-the-scenes look at innovative stories in the works, according to a press release. Tickets and information can be found at KeyCityPublicTheatre.org, by emailing [email protected], or in person during box office hours from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• The Bunker, a free art studio for teens, has its next session today at the nonprofit Northwind Art School at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend.
Calligrapher Lindsey Wayland and painter Michele Soderstrom, who’s also a Port Townsend High School art teacher, are the two volunteers hosting the session. Middle school and high school students are welcome. The Bunker will be well-stocked with art supplies, snacks and drinks, and music will play all afternoon.
The Bunker will be open from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Building 306 at the fort. Information and the parental permission form can be found at https://northwindart.org; click on Courses.
• Mia Torres will perform from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight at the Old Alcohol Plant Inn, 310 Hadlock Bay Road, Port Hadlock. No cover charge.
• AHA Auction for the Jefferson County Historical Society ends at midnight today.
All funds raised go to sustain the historical society’s core programs and build new ones, the group said in a press release. AHA stands for Art, History and Adventure.
To place bids or donate, see https://go.rallyup.com/jchsmuseum-aha.../Campaign/Details....
• Mike and Val James will perform from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Spirits Bar and Grill in the Old Alcohol Plant Inn, 310 Hadlock Bay Road, Port Hadlock. No cover charge.
• Sound Advice will play Motown, classic soul and rock favorites from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the Sequim Elks, 143 Port Williams Road, Sequim. Admission is $12 per person, $10 for Elks members.
• House of Hamill will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Quimper Grange, 1219 Corona St., Port Townsend. Admission is $20 per person; mask wear is requested.
• Port Townsend Urban sketchers will meet in Uptown Port Townsend at 10 a.m. Saturday. The group will meet at the corner of Lawrence and Tyler streets opposite from Aldrich’s Market.
After sketching, the group will reconvene at noon to share their work and take a photo. The event is open to all skill levels. For more information, visit www.urbansketchers porttownsend. wordpress.com.
• Spring Art Fair will be hosted by the Port Ludlow Art League from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The annual art sale is at the Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Place.
The sale features work from local artists that includes jewelry, ceramics, paintings, photographs, textiles, woodwork, baskets, cards and books. Proceeds benefit the league’s scholarship fund. For more information, visit www.portludlowart.org.
• Work to learn party hosted by the Sequim Botanical Garden Society will be at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The work party is in the Terrace Garden at Carrie Blake Community Park, 202 N. Blake Ave. Gail Ditmore will discuss the care and growing of peonies. The presentation is free and open to the public. For more information, call Dona Brock at 360-460-8865, email [email protected] or www.sequim botanicalgarden.org.
• Shepherds’ Festival is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday.
The annual festival is at Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road. The free festival is sponsored by Clallam County 4-H, the North Olympic Shuttle and Spindle Guild and the Olympic Peninsula Fiber Growers Association.
Featured activities include sheep herding and shearing demonstrations, a farm animal petting zoo, fiber spinning demonstrations, a 4-H raffle, arts and crafts vendors and lamb kebabs and lamb chili.
• Art installation at Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend will continue through mid-August. Forty works form the Northwind Art’s Showcase program are on view in public reception areas. For details, see north windart.org and click on Courses.

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)

It's What's On The Inside That Counts
It's what's on the inside that counts. It usually means some kind of endearment – like we all have the same good, warm and fuzzy intentions underneath despite a poor external execution. I kept thinking about this saying as I sped away from Pheasant Illinois as fast as my Ford would take the pitch dark gravel back roads.
I can't tell you how this is going to end for me. Not yet. I can tell you my phone is running out of juice and that so far I'm not doing well.
It's what's on the inside that counts. These were the words – the motto - of my dad, a cop, who said that about people while chuckling and drooling, doing shots of jameson in the basement between shifts. I always considered them to be hollow words since he so often met people on the worst day and often the last day of their lives. He caught a good look at what's inside of them after spilling them open with his .357 revolver.
He also used to say he wasn't racist because, according to him we all look and we all are the same underneath – even him. I would tend to avoid him, if I could, when he got that way and then when I got older, I avoided him all the time. He would go on about the same thing, about how we were all animals but he – he was the bigger animal, the biggest one, the loudest, the meanest and so on. Hollow still as he drowned himself in that basement most nights. He never spoke a word of regret about any of it. The only regret he spoke of was about me that I didn't follow in his foot patrols.
How could I? It's what's on the inside that counts. I wanted to get so far away from that psycho fascist gun slinging law and order swagger, all of the recklessness and hypocrisy of it, that run run run into a brick wall with no brakes attitude. The kind of thing that drove my mom to part with him when I was 15. He died shortly after that of a heart attack. I told myself I wanted a quiet, calm, slow life of methodical research. So I became a historian and as I much as I told myself I wanted that calm life, yeah there I was, just a day ago, hitting 80 miles an hour in my Ford rattle box working my own case to try to hook my client up with some long lost family property in a southern Illinois backwater of backwaters chasing my 10% of whatever I found her so I could make next's month rent and fill up that fridge with PBR. I had no plan. There was nothing methodical about it. It's what's on the inside that counts.
I did everything I could to get out from under my dad's shadow. I went to college, I got my degree. The world melted down, twice, and now every day felt like the worst day of my life. As a professional family linage historian by trade craft, I took my client's case because no matter how insane it sounded, no matter how unlikely it was to pan out, no matter how wild the goose in the chase really was, I was going to get paid and if it paid off, not only would that 10% fee be easily five figures, I would have solved a national mystery.
I should have just given up on the contract when my rear passenger side tire blew out and the drag yanked my now three wheeled coffin into the ditch. I maxed out my credit card paying for a tow truck over the phone. I had a long time to think about what I was doing while I froze soaking up the setting sun beside the snowy tilled cornfields boxing in the road.
Professional family linage historian sounds too formal – I was more like a lame hipster Indiana Jones wannabe combined with those morons blindly buying up long abandoned storage sheds – sometimes no amount of historical research can positively prove that a recently deceased wealthy person is your long lost great great whatever and sometimes they are but their wills are explicitly written in a way that prevent the survivors from obtaining anything of value. Much in the same way sometimes those storage sheds are filled with original Star Wars toys from the 1980s in their original packaging and sometimes its moldy cat piss covered carpeting. There aren't that many ways to make a decent living as a historian in the United States and this is actually one of the better ones.
The tow truck passenger seat was held together with duct tape and prayers while the truck driver herself looked resembled a 90's era Linda Hamilton ravaged by meth and she spoke like her body needed a professional chimney sweeping. The conversation was fairly conventional and basic – no, of course I wasn't from around here, yes, I am aware Pheasant Illinois doesn't actually have any pheasants, actually the “s” is silent in Illinois and so forth. It wasn't until she asked me if I heard of the Glass Man did my nerves actually fire up.
A few seconds passed as I was waiting to see if she was about to do her best Large Marge impression from Pee Wee's Big Adventure and turn to me and instead of flashing cartoonish bulging eyes, the yellowed bloodshot spheres were just going to roll back into her head leaving dark outlined gaping bottomless pits of terror as she cackled and drove off the road into creek. Nothing happened except she finished her cigarette with all the urgency of a baby who was afraid someone was going to take its bottle and then she launched into the story.
“The Glass Man is like that Mothman in Virginia and the Mad Gasser they got up in Mattoon. He's some kind of creature half man and half something else. Not hairy like Big Foot or the abdominal snowman (yes, she said abdominal), this thing is like a lizard scaly but smooth like glass and people say its like looking straight a person without skin. If you've ever seen a skinned deer you'd know what I'm talking about. People say they seen it wondering around their backyards and fields late at night, sometimes getting up in their barns. One time a guy caught it in their house and they say he rounded up some townsfolk who chased it and shot it like twenty years ago but they ain't found no body so if you ask me its still out there somewhere, running around. So you know, you can tell your friends about Pheasant's claim to fame.”
“I was wondering if you knew about Pheasant's other claim to fame.”
“If you're talking about my cousin's dank weed, well shit.” She smiled and hacked between chuckles.
“You ever hear of Lionel Mansfeld?”
“Naw, why should I?”
“I'm a historian and I'm tracking down his final days and his property for someone who claims to be his family and my research led me here. Can you tell me if there's still a house at the end of Peru Street?”
“Peru Street, heh, well that's by the far the second weirdest thing in Pheasant. That's The House With No Windows. It's a mansion with all of the windows boarded up from the inside, its an eyesore and the town doesn't know what to do with it. They said its got asbestos or something like that.”
“Why?”
“The builder and own was some kind of mad scientist and its basically off limits, they've got some police tape and warnings blasted all over it after some kids tried to get in there a couple years ago. Something bad happened to them. I don't know much more than that. Just one of those things you don't futts with.”
My heart sank a bit. I was hoping to all that was good in the world that maybe she was wrong about the house or the address.
“Do you or anyone else in town ever talk about who built it or owned it before hand?”
“What the hell do I look like? Some kind of big city historian?” She nearly choked laughing at me. I asked her if she would be kind enough to drive me past the old house on Peru street. I didn't feel bad asking her, after all, it was most expensive ride I've ever paid for. She told me she thought I was cute so she took me to Peru Street and we made it there in the last glimmer of sunlight.
We pulled up at the house at the end of Peru Street where the road cracked and dissolved into corn. I asked her to wait for a few minutes as I planned to survey the entire plot and structure. I only needed a few pictures of the house. True to the tow truck driver's word, the house was made without windows. I don't mean the windows were boarded up for a storm and I don't mean someone reconstructed the house and patched up all the places there were windows, I mean it was seamless walls on all four sides and both floors. It looked like a 1930s bi-level farm house but every place you would expect there to be a window there was none, just the same fading cracking siding wrapped all the way around. I was careful to not cross the remains of yellow caution tape surrounding the property as I trotted around in the dying light. I noted there was 1 only one real door and this door also had no window associated with it. The back side of the house seemed to have a storm cellar door.
Between the caution tape, and the eccentric design, I was worried I was on the wrong path. Lionel was said to be self promotional, not a shut in. He said to be not eccentric in his design or desires either and a house with no windows seemed exactly the opposite of what Lionel would want and for that matter so did disappearing into a Midwest backwaters. I gripped my head with both hands as I sulked back to the truck. Perhaps my client was crossing family stories and I really was chasing the proverbial wild goose. It was radio silence until she dropped me off at the town's mechanic which was a rusted sheet metal shop just a few blocks from the town's square and she pointed down a few streets. To the left she said about five blocks down was the town hall, she pointed off a few blocks back to the right and said that's where the Daylight Motel is. She pulled away on another call. The mechanic's shop was dark but my truck was the only one in the lot, I took down the number into my phone just in case I couldn't find it online later and then I set out towards the town's square on foot over the chipped cobblestone roads and sidewalks.
The town square had seen better days, most of the streetlights were dimmed by burned out bulbs, and most of the storefronts were dark and deserted. Only a dive bar with single exterior light and sign that said “bar” appeared open at this hour. With a duffle bag full of clothes and a messenger bag full of documents and a leather jacket, I didn't think I would fit in so I settled for a walk through the center of the square to look at the monuments and statues erected beside the gazebo.
These statues and monuments, like everything else were bad shape, overgrown with weeds and a few of them vandalized with spray paint. The whole place felt more like a graveyard than the center of a small town. As pushed weeds and snow aside with my boot, I finally found some hope.
A four by four by four monument with a small plaque commemorated one Lionel Mansfeld circa 1934 – world class aviator, adventurer-explorer, American icon. Such a disgrace for such a great hero, I still don't know how Mansfeld has sunk out of folklore like he has, he was basically Charles Lindbergh without the Nazi fetish. While this wasn't proof he spent time in this town, it seemed too much of coincidence to find this monument dedicated to him if he didn't at least reside here at once point on his path to towards his vanishing act.
I guess this is as good as time as any to give you the Wikipedia page on Lionel. When Lindbergh flew to Europe, Lionel flew across Central and South America on a rough and tumble expedition for medical advances. Having lost 2 brothers to the Spanish Flu about nine years earlier, and he himself nearly dying, he had become obsessed with the reach of aircraft and legends of plants, insects, and other artifacts in Latin America which were said to have radical medicinal properties. He took his wife, a nurse and a plane he was said to have won in a card game in search of those items. After six months his journey won him some fame and a small fortune but it was extremely short lived. Overshadowed by Lindbergh, suffering from the loss of his wife shortly after returning from the expedition, and then after the destruction of his aircraft, he basically disappeared and there are very few hard facts about what became of him after that. Most people believe he died rather poor and friendless as he became obsessed with the failed expedition and its mounting debts. Perhaps one of the greatest mysterious surrounding his descent to one-hit-wonder status was the location of any of the artifacts he may or may not have returned with from his expedition.
Its completely plausible he could have chosen to settle anywhere in the US where either he had a small following or none at all. At the time, I was all in, even though it was still unlikely that he was ever here. The best I knew was my client had compelling evidence that she was the descendant of Mansfeld's brother James and with no trail or record of death much less his estate being settled, discovering a missing home of his and delivering proof of his ownership it to my client was my golden lunch ticket. I took a few photos of the monument with my phone and started walking towards my motel. My walk to the motel was punctuated with this eerie sense I was being watching or even followed. More than few times I'd find a working street lamp and stop underneath it and look all the way around. I found dark buildings and darker streets but no one or anything for that matter nearby. The creeping feel persisted after I checked into the motel. I had the feeling I was the only guest and the clerk was surprised I showed at all.
The room smelled like pine sol over a musty mildew. I sealed myself in with both locks. I lifted the lid on the A/C unit and found car air fresheners in front of the fan. As I scoured the head board and untucked the sheets in a search for bed bugs, I put together a plan for my day tomorrow. I would visit Town Hall and compare my clients information and the photos of the house to whatever I found in the city archives and then report to my client. With no sign of bugs I flopped onto the bed still in my clothes and hoped the ceiling fan would hypnotize me. I tried hard to not think about what would happen if this didn't pan out. I guess I would have to pawn my dad's revolver to get back to Madison and then see if Mom would loan anymore money to try all of it again.
That's when there was a thud on the roof followed by another and then another. It seemed to be coming closer. I wondered if maybe it wasn't coming from the roof but actually from a unit beside mine or behind mine. I held my breath when it stopped and finally exhaled when I believed it had stopped for good. Only a few seconds I was rudely disappointed when I heard it again. I gave up on hoping it would go away on its own so I went outside and I leaned over the second floor guard rail of the motel looking over the back lot towards the row of dumpsters and a junk car with four flat tires. I didn't see anyone or anything. I thought about hopping up on the guard rail and looking over the short flat roof to see if anything or anyone was on it but the guard rail didn't look very sturdy so I decided to walk around the whole building.
I didn't find the source of the noise and I suspected when I checked in, it seemed that I was the only one checked in for the night. I returned to my room and double locked the door with the bolt and cross bar clicking and sliding in again. I went went to the window and prepared to pull the curtains shut when another thump came. This time it sounded like it came directly above me and took a step back from the window. Something seemed to drop down and dangle from the roof, in front of the window. It took my brain a few seconds to fire and figure out exactly what I was looking at. The best way to describe it was a sack of meat obscured by frosty cling wrap and then I realized it was a human head, face and shoulders inverted peering into the window. At first I thought it was a corpse with all of the skin and hair picked clean but then the head turned and the eyes moved.
Until then I never understood the phrase “primal” for as I looked into its eyes, I didn't see a man but rather a bear or maybe a tiger or wolf, something that was sizing me up to eat or at least kill and that fear swept over me like a rip tide.
Some sort of clear rough film passed in front of the eyes and then sunk above and below them. I think it blinked at me. The eyes were shriveled and bloodshot. The mouth and jaw appeared to be open, almost like it was smiling but I could see the gums and teeth almost in full since the lips and facial skin was almost transparent. The ears were virtually see-through. The shoulders were molted with bits of muscle, ligaments, and bone visible behind different scaly sheens of what looked like different thickness and quality of glass. In retrospect the best way to describe it was like looking at anatomy model held together by various shades and thickness of blue and clear stained glass with the shards resembling various rigid geometric patterns revealing different layers of the skin, flesh, muscle tissue, and bone in various places – almost like a motorcycle wreck victim wrapped up in saran wrap.
I was struck in the chest with terror as it opened its mouth wide and seemed to scream at me but without making any noise, knowing only it was trying to scream out because of the condensation. It hung off the roof for another moment or two after trying to scream again before the thing pushed its self back up and then slid down to the deck ringing the second floor where I had just stood a moment ago. As as the fog on the window dissipated I noticed the feet, legs, and up to its back were bone, veins, and nerves suspended in a flaky, mostly transparent limb-shaped bubbles of stained glass. At this point I had dug into my messenger bag looking for the walnut grip and steel barrel of my dad's old .357 when I realized the revolver in question was in my Ford's glove box. The entity turned, exposing its chest with its heart visibly beating in its rib cage. I went into a full panic and before I could lift the chair at the small card table and take a self-defensive posture with it, the entity leaped over the railing and I could hear a thud as it landed on the ground below. I approached the window only see the entity race off, through the parking lot, through a convenience mart parking lot and almost get hit by a car, before disappearing behind another abandoned building.
I didn't sleep the rest of the night nor did I report the incident to the police. I sat in the corner of my room, facing the window, with my dad's revolver on my lap, and I smoke the last two cigarettes I kept as a reminder to not smoke. At dawn, I wondered out to the only open cafe for coffee. The older couple working the store, probably the owners, were a buzz with the only other person in the store that morning. The Glass Man is back, they said. The statement was jarring and I was thrust back face to face with that thing last night. He showed off the town's 1 page news paper complete with series of blurry still images from the convenience mart it ran in front of.
I kept my mouth shut. If I hadn't seen what I saw the other night I would be laughing inside that this was the continuation of a prank started years ago to bring tourism back into the town as I am sure every paranormal and conspiracy website and twitter promoter was planning their stay at the Daylight Motel to catch a glimpse of a cryptid. For me, then, I had a job to do and I would prefer to not let a chance encounter with the unknown throw me off of a necessary pay day.
I got my coffee. I sat down to watch the sun rise. I felt like I needed another smoke.
The town hall was also swarming with activity and I was wondering if I would even be allowed access to the archives. There were two city council members, the county sheriff, a few deputies, and a few apparent witnesses to the Glass Man then there was a reporter for the town's single page daily newspaper who held his smart phone up to the discussion while asking questions the assembled group were simply ignoring.
I tried to break in a few times by addressing the city council members but I too was being ignored. Eventually one of the deputies stepped over to me, his hand placed on his hand gun to presumably to intimidate me. I started by thanking him for sparing me some attention but before I got another word in to ask about the archives, he asked if I was tourist and I told him no. He told me he hadn't seen me before and then asked when I got into town. I told him I came in last night. This quote stunning revelation unquote gained the attention of the assembled and I immediately felt suspicion fall on me. I was told in no uncertain terms that the town was in the midst of a law enforcement crisis and unless I had information related to it, I could not be attended to at this time and with that, the two deputies rounded me and reporter up and forced us out of the building.
The reporter was a younger man, about my age, skinny and wore taped up glasses like he was somehow stuck in high school as a bullied nerd. He shook his head in disbelief and muttered something to me, “It's all happening again.”
“What is?”
“The Glass Man. He first appeared in the 40's with regular appearances until the 70s when a mob fearful of communists were said to have found and shot it to death but no body was found. He appeared again in the 80's sporadically and then around 2000's the town was so on edge about 9/11 and terrorists – well, you guessed it...they said they found him and shot but again no body. 20 years later now. The people here tend to view it as the harbinger of something horrific and new people in town coinciding with its reappearance is all kinds of red flags for these folks. ”
“Tough to get more horrific than the past year and half.” I muttered.
“Just so. If you're not from around here, why are you here?
“Let me ask you something, how old is the newspaper?”
“The Daily Pleasant Pheasant proudly goes back to the turn of the last century. Why?”
“Well, I'm not getting into the archives today. Do you have micro film copies or archive of past issues yourself?”
“I have something better. I spent most of the pandemic digitizing the archive. I've got it all on a database with searchable tokens.”
“Neat. Tell you what, I'll tell you all about my encounter with the Glass Man last night in exchange for access to those archives.”
“Deal.”
I spent the afternoon telling David Langley about my sighting the night before while searching the Daily Pleasant Pheasant news database for any trace of evidence Lionel lived in this town or his family owned the House with No Windows on Peru Street.
I correlated the construction of the house with the anonymous donation of a large sum of money to the city council for the construction of the Lionel Mansfeld monument. The house itself was the subject of a gag article highlighting the apparent mistake or negligence of the architect and carpenters in its eerie construction. It wasn't until the 1970s his newspaper gave me the first piece of tangible evidence that I was on actually on the right track.
The newspaper reported that emissions of a substance determined to be Agent Orange - like herbicides and fungicides were traced back to Mansfeld Plot – i.e. the House on Peru Street – the House with No Windows. The city sought a remediation grant from the EPA and sought to seize the property to remove the hazards but no grant was forth coming and nothing else was done except the property was condemned and deemed a hazardous waste site – which explained the caution tape. I asked David how I might find the Mayor of Pheasant. He told me exactly where would I find him and why it would do no good. The Mayor, Tom Dunham, was where he had been the past 50 years -, 2 towns over, playing golf. David wouldn't go with me, claiming the Mayor had multiple restraining orders taken out against him, he warned me not to bring up the Glass Man in front of him.
The tire for my truck was damaged beyond repair and I was awaiting a new one. I was already down to my spare so I was forced to take a Qwik Ridez out to Lake McQueen's golf lodge. I was fortunate because it started to rain hard when I arrived and it was easy to find Mayor Dunham, a wide man with puffy blotchy baby face making his way to the lodge's bar. He sat alone swirling ice cubes in his white russian grunting at his smart phone, occasionally stabbing the screen with his thick fingers.
I pulled up a chair next him and ordered a PBR. I produced $5 in crumbled one dollar bills from my pocket and scoffed at the insane price. I wasn't sure how to play this so I did the only thing I thought would get his attention and pulled up a YouTube video about the recent Glass Man sighting. I turned up the volume and the Mayor slugged down the rest of the White Russian and began to chomp on the ice cubes.
“You know, you can cut the crap.” Tom said tapping my shoulder, “I'm on to you. They told me you'd be coming. They told me someone was creeping around Town Hall this morning, looking for records, and you left with David and I figured sooner or later you'd be here. So now you got me.”
I fixed the front of my leather jacket and straightened up in my seat before turning towards him.
“Everyone seems to know I'm coming. You, the deputies, the Glass Man.”
“The Glass Man. You don't know nothing about the Glass Man. I've seen him. Why do you think I'm the Mayor of Pheasant but I practically live out here? I can't deal with him or conspiracy nuts like yourself but I'll tell you, I'll tell you what, If you promise to leave me alone, I'll tell you what you want to know.” The Mayor seemed to be more intoxicated than one would expect at this hour of the day for a 70 plus year old elected official.
“I'm not here about the Glass Man.”
“No, but I bet you're here about the House.”
“They're related?”
“The 70's mob chased the Glass Man back there and then a few years later we have massive crop die off from a plume of chemicals released from containers that were stored in there. There's nothing more that I'd like than to tear that place down but I can't get the funds to do it and every time we get anywhere with it, the Glass Man shows up, along with threats to ruin the local crops. So, as you might imagine, you show up, we have our first Glass Man sightings in 20 years, and now it makes sense you're asking about that house. Let me put it to you this way, it doesn't matter who bought the land, who built the house, or who thinks its theirs now, the house is the lid on a local Chernobyl with literal tons of chemicals left inside, and unless your client wants to be on the hook for a multiple million dollar environmental clean up and demolition effort I suggest you simply stop while you're ahead because the Glass Man, the Glass Man is usually 2 steps ahead. You on the other hand, you're nothing so supernatural, we chase can you out of town and if you know your head from your ass you're likely to stay gone. Hear me?”
I was flailing and failing. I wasn't doing my real job. I was bouncing around from one barely reliable source to another. I was supposed to be investigating first hand documents, town plot maps, property records, tax receipts not sensationalist newspapers and drunken old Mayors living out of town. And yet there I was,.I was sitting under an overhang at the lodge watching the cold winter rain pour down. I was out of options and nearly out of money and with nothing but bad news to report to my client.
I brought my client's number but stopped before I hit call and instead I called my mother. She didn't pick up. Of course not. It was a long shot thinking she might pick up. Our last conversation ended with Mom telling me I was turning into Dad, but at least Dad could pay his own way.
When I did call my client she was initially discouraged but then made a shocking request in light of the circumstances. She asked me if I could break into the house and recover any artifacts – any proof Lionel lived there and anything he recovered from his backbreaking Latin American expedition. She specifically mentioned the existence of some kind of treasure – some kind of gold he may have recovered. She promised me 20% of the recovery – twice my normal fee.
I told her I'd think about it. It's what on the inside that counts. I should have said no. But “no” didn't get me out of this town and “no” didn't get me fed. I thought about it. I rang back demanding money to cover to my truck which was now ready to be picked up. She agreed and she wired me cash so I was able to pay for the truck. I stopped by the local hardware store and spent my cents on some personal protective gear to break into the house with no windows with.
There was part of brain that said my dad was going to be there, with that revolver, ready to split me in 2 with those powerful bullets on the worst day of my life – the day that I crossed the line – into a real criminal - and it was time to see what I was made of. Was I really different? Did I remember my obligations to the restraints of the law? Or was I going to be put down like an animal? I had done a few questionable things in my day but breaking and entering was always off limits. But from my perspective, no one would notice or care. The building was condemned and unguarded while the town was on high alert for a monster.
Jarred by my memories of the previous evening and memories of my dad stuck in my head, I pulled the revolver out of the glove compartment and loaded the last 6 .357 shells one by one into the cylinder. I tried to swing it shut like a badass but I failed. I stuffed it uncocked into my messenger bag. I would approach the house from the distant Grand street, trek across the lightly wooded area and approach the structure from the back where there was a pair of storm doors – the only other apparent means of entry and exit. If the 70's break-in story was true, then it was probable the rest of it was going to be easy.
In fading daylight I kept low and as out of line of sight of the other houses and road as I approached the far side of the house with no windows. I slowly and gently opened the rusting storm cellar door being careful to not let them squeak or break. A strong sickening chemically smell wafted up as I reached into my messenger bag for chemical gloves and a respirator fitted with bulky organic vapor cartridges. As I slid it on my face and sealed it with the head straps I hoped I wouldn't have to do any running against slight strangle of the air flow resistance.
I switched on a bright LED flashlight without fear of being noticed from the outside since, after all, it was a house with no windows after all. The door leading into the basement from the storm cellar doors was in fact broken and I was able to enter with ease. The basement was large and filled with 55 gallon drums labeled with the fire symbol, a reactivity symbol, and the skull and cross bones. Several metallic vats were filled to the brim with some kind of brine-like compound.
I continued past them to a work bench with several large canning style jars containing a unique spiky flower in some of them. In large letters the flower sample was labeled as “extinct”. In other jars there were dead rats or mice in various stages of their skin and fur becoming replaced by the same translucent and transparent shards as the Glass Man. Finally, the majority of the jars contained a mass of glass-like fungus which arranged itself into twisted and contorted geometric planes. One jar in particular was interesting – it was labeled “1975” on it and it was a chicken breast completely intact without rot but also completely covered in the fungus which turned all of the skin and meat almost perfectly clear that all I could make out for sure was the bone. I am not a scientist but some kind of experiment was being run with the extinct flower and its effect on the fungus that was afflicting the rats, the chicken, and apparently the Glass Man.
As I looked over the notes and the lab materials assembled it was apparent it had not been touched in decades, indeed, the barrels of chemicals were labeled 1977. Then it hit me. How could I have been so stupid. This really was Lionel's home and he built it to hide himself as he transformed into the Glass Man from something – this fungus he encountered during his Latin America expedition. I suddenly felt the same sinking terror I felt the first time I saw him hanging off the roof in front of the motel window. I turned around to see the Glass Man rise up from one of the chemical filled vats. This time he was slightly more human with more skin, where it now covered over more of the face and head ravaged by old age. Lionel opened his now partially functional eyelids and blinked away the chemicals before setting his eyes on me. He shrieked. His shriek sounded first like multiple pieces of glass rubbing against each other before giving way to a loud guttural gurgling noise as he lunged towards me.
I didn't think. I couldn't. I pulled out the revolver from the bag lift straight and out, yanked the heavy hammer back and fired. The first shot split his left shoulder and arm away from most of his body leaving jagged cracks down his bicep and torso. Blood sprayed into the cracks as he dropped to his knees with a crunch. I fired twice more out of pure instinct. The third shot ricocheted around striking two containers of chemicals which spilled out into two separated streams on the floor. The moment the two came into contact they began to smoke and then ignited with a violent greenish flame and thick oily smoke. The flames soon engulfed the work bench where the samples of the fungus seemed to pop like popcorn sending little puffs of bluish grains into the air.
As the fire and smoke grew I dropped the gun into the vat of chemicals with the expectation it would be destroyed by the corrosion and fire and then I fled up the cellar doors, across the field to my truck parked at first. I stripped off the respirator as I ran out of breath half back and I turned around for a brief second to see the House with No Windows in flames and massive plume of black shimmering smoke drifting across the area.
That was all a day or so ago. I reached out to my client twice but each time I did I got a notice the number had been disconnected. I checked my bank account and mysteriously, the sender of the cash was unknown and untraceable. I have no idea who really hired me except that maybe it wasn't a relative but maybe a firm looking for someone to rediscover Lionel's untold findings. I found an abandoned farm house on my way back to Madison where I'm hunkering down for now. Illinois highway patrol has reportedly found two deer with transparent skin features downwind of the plume. The last thing I saw trending on Tik Tok was a little girl finding a “skunk made of glass” not far from Pheasant. That stuff was out there now, maybe in wherever in South America it came from it was kept in check by a natural force but here...it was free to roam, so to speak.
My hair is turning stiff and snapping like its stands of fiber glass. I can see pink blotches on my right arm where I can see my muscle. I look around and I all I can think is: there are too many windows on this farm house.
My battery is virtually dead. I hope this sends. Mom, anyone, please. Please, if you ever see me after this, remember, when you see me, It's what's on the inside that counts.
Theo Plesha

So this happened 5 days ago and I cant seem to forget about it and here am I.
On 18/5/2023 me (20 M) and my friends (20 M, 20 M, 20M, 20M and 20 F) planned to go up a place called genting highland(a place on top of a hill where you can chill) after our dinner in a cafe. During the dinner we managed to convince 1 of our friends to go up together using his car. The initial plan was 5 of us renting a car and going up with it, so when we managed to convince him to go with us, we seperated ourselves into 2 cars, 1 car with me and my friend that i've convinced another one with the other 4 people in it.
Everything went smooth as usual we arrived at the petrol station before the highway, checked out tyre pressure and everything and my friend and I went first. We drove for like a few minutes then we slowed down because we were waiting for them to pass by, but we waited for quite some time and we were thinking at that time where were them. Shortly after we received a call from one of our friends in the car telling us that they crashed the car. We immediately turned back, at that time i was thinking that I had to u turn twice because the car was behind us. When we were on the way to the toll, waze showed us that there was a major accident ahead and I was already very worried that it was them. Turns out when were almost arrived I saw the car, it was in the most awful condition you can imagine, 3 of the wheels came off, radiator came off and it was on the opposite side of the road. I parked the car on the side of the road and immediately ran to the car and checked how were they. At first everyone was fine due to the adredeline but shortly after 2 of them had difficulty breathing and we were so worried. Everyone was panicking not knowing what to do but this wasn't my first time encountering a car accident so I did what I had to called the ambulance and asked for their parents phone number. 2 of their phones were lost, none of them could find it, we tried searching the car using find my device, ringing the phone, nothing worked. Shortly after that, the driver of the car started having a concussion(I didnt know this prior because one of the friend didnt let me know that he passed out in the car). He was asking me the same question all over again, what happened?, was I drunk?, did i blackout?, how did it happened?, is everyone ok?, are you sure? and it really annoyed me and everyone else but I realized something was wrong with him. I also called the owner of the rental car to the scene. Shortly after ambulance arrived and brought 2 of my friends to the hospital, the paramedics checked the friend that had concussion and said we can take him to the hospital if we want so they left him with me. He asked me to call one of his friends to come and take him(but I didnt like this guy cause he is a very bad influence to him) and I called his brother too. He came to the scene and I told him to bring him to the hospital IMMEDIATELY and his brother was ok with his friends taking him. He went with his friends and I waited for the towing to arrive. Shortly after everything is settled, I went and called the friend that took the driver, he told me that he was eating and chilling at a restaurant then he told me to go to a place to pick him up. I asked that friend to ask the driver if my house key is still in his bag. Now this part at first I didnt realize something was messed up but then afterwards i realized something was wrong. He didnt even ask the driver, and he told me oh ur keys are in his bag. At that time i thought he was okay but turns out after everything I realized that he dumped the driver in a boot of a hilux and took his bag and he paid with his card for their food. Then i took my friend(driver) from a boot of a hilux and we brought him to do a police report. Police tested him for drugs and alcohol everything turned out clean. I asked the police if i can be with him when he test because i suspect that he has concussion and Im scared that he would do something stupid. Police asked for his passport but he said he didnt have 1, then the police searched his bag for it, poured everything out and I found out something was wrong, before the accident happened, he brought a richard mille watch and a rolex but now his bag has nothing. I think he brought some pills also(but im not sure) but when the police conducted the search he had nothing in his bag. After that I brought him to the hospital for checkup and doctors confirmed that he had trauma and concussion and I called his brother to come and look after him until his parents arrive. I went home after that and it was like 8 hours after the accident I was so tired although I wasnt involved in it. Next day I woke up to the girl telling me that she had liquid in her stomach and my friend(driver) watch and everything was missing. He saw a snap from the friend that brought him to the restaurant that he is wearing his watch, he looked at his bank statements, his e-wallet app and saw massive transaction on the card. The friend(driver) parents dont want to bare responsibilty on the car accident also, means that the owner of the rental car must pay full fees on the car because somehow the insurance dont cover it. Everything is messed up just very messed up and I really dont know how to help anymore, I have exams tomorrow and till today I cant even focus to study because of all this, my friend(driver) is having short term memory loss after the accident and the rental owner is asking me for help because he cant pay and I really dont know what to do anymore. He also cant believe that someone he knew for so long took advantage of him when he was at his all time low. Everything is messed up and very messed up, my head cant stop thinking about it, what will happen tomorrow. I really dont know who to talk to anymore and I need to vent this somewhere so thanks for reading.

I'm trying to make a list of all of the things to do in Denver for this summer. Does anyone know of anything I should add?
DOUBLE CHECK BEFORE YOU GO. THIS LIST MAY NOT BE UP TO DATE

Music Festivals

• Saturdays 05/27-09/02 Swingin Under the Stars - 7:30PM-10PM FREE All Ages Swing Dancing, Lessons, Ice Cream, Live Music Little Man Ice Cream, 2620 16th Street Denver, CO 80211
• 06/03 Denver Day of Rock - 1:15PM-9:30PM FREE All Ages 15 Bands, 3 Stages; Mainly Rock; Food Trucks LODO Denver
• 06/07 Holiday Theater Music and Poetry Showcase - 7PM FREE All Ages Guitar, Low-Rock, Spoken Word, Poetry, Jazz MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater 2644 West 32nd Avenue Denver, CO 80211
• 06/10 Five Points Jazz Festival - 12PM-8PM FREE All Ages 140+ Jazz Performances Five Points, Denver
• 06/17 First Harvest Music Vestival - 4PM-8PM $10 12 and Below; $35 1+ All Ages Various Musicans Including the Flobots, The Snakes, and Brothers of Brass; Foodtrucks, To Show Solidarity for Refugees DeLaney Community Farm 170 South Chambers Road Aurora, CO 80017
• 07/14-07/16 Compost Heap Music Festival - Times TBA FREE (Suggested Donations) Underground Music of Various Genres Seventh Circle Music Collective, 2935 W 7th Ave, Denver CO
• 07/15 Blues & BBQ Festival – 10AM-6PM $10 All Ages Live Blues Music and BBQ Citizen’s Park, 5560 W 24th Ave, Edgewater, CO 80214
• 07/21-07/22 Global Dance Festival – 3PM-11PM $99/Day All Ages EDM, Art Installations, Circus Performers, Silent Disco. Performers Include Kaskade, Deadmau5, Loud Luxury, Surf Mesa, Troyboi, Zedd and Many More! Empower Field. 1701 Bryant St, Denver, CO 80204
• 07/28-07/30 Underground Music Showcase - 3PM-12AM $120 Weekend Pass *Independent Music of Various Genres - Broadway // 6th Ave to Alameda, 21 S Broadway, Denver, CO 80209
• 08/25-08/27 Meow Wolf Vortex Music and Art Festival - 2:30PM-?? $60-$100 / Day, -$229 Weekend Pass Electronic Music Festival Feat. Griz, Armani White, BLOND:ISH and many more The Junkyard, 2323 W. Mulberry Place, Denver, CO 80204
• 08/12 Ghost Canyon Fest – 6PM-12AM $50 21+ Noise, Punk, and Post Punk Bands Hi Dive, 7 S Broadway, Denver, CO 80223
• 09/09 Sunnyside Music Festival – 12PM-7:15PM FREE All Ages Local Bands, Food, Vendos Chaffe Park near 2001 W 44th Ave, Denver, CO 80211
• 09/16 Viva Southwest Mariachi Fest – 4:30PM-10PM FREE All Ages Mariachi Bands, Food, Vendos Levitt Pavilion, 1380 W Florida Ave, Denver, CO 80223

Culture Festivals

• 06/02 Chrom - 5PM-10PM FREE All Ages A Pride Queer Art Showcase and Vendor Market, Live DJ Skylight, 833 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, United States
• 06/09-06/11 ayA Con - F 4PM-7PM; Sa 10AM-6PM; Su 10AM-5PM $15-$30 All Ages Indigenous Comics, Art, Fashion, Performance, Film, and Music McNichols Civic Center Building, 144 W Colfax Ave, Aver, CO 80202
• 06/09-06/11 Denver Greek Festival - F 11AM-11PM; Sa 11AM-12AM; Su 11AM-7PM FREE All Ages Celebration of Greek Heritage with Food, Music, Vendors, and Art Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 4610 E Alameda Ave, Denver, CO 80246
• 06/17-06/18 Juneteenth Festival - 12PM-8PM FREE All Ages Celebration of Black Culture and Liberation with a Parade, Live Music, Vendors Five Points, Denver
• 06/17-06/18 Cherry Blossom Festival - 5k Sa 8AM; Parade Sa 9:30AM FREE All Ages Celebration of Japanese Heritage with Taiko Drumming, Teriyaki Chicken, Sake, Japanese Art Sakura Square, Denver
• 06/24-06/25 Denver Pridefest - Sa 11AM-6PM; Su 11AM-4PM FREE All Ages Celebration of LGBTQ+ Culture with 5k Run, Parade, Venors, Concerts, Drag Events Civic Center Park, 101 W 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80202 (Parade Starts at Cheeseman Park)
• 07/07 -07/09 Colorado Black Arts Festival - F 1PM-8PM; Sa 11AM-8PM; Su 11AM-7PM FREE All Ages * Celebration of Black Culture with Performances, Visual Art, Scavenger Hunts, Food, Parade, Vendors* City Park, 2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80205
• 07/15-07/16 Mile High Global Bazaar - 11AM-7PM FREE All Ages Cultural Exhibits and Vendors from around the World Skyline Park, Denver, CO 80202
• 07/22-07/23 Colorado Dragon Boat Festival – Races Start 8AM; Festival Sa 10AM-7PM. Su 10AM-5PM FREE All Ages *Dragon Boat Races, Food, Vendors, Performances – FREE – Sloan's Lake Park W Bryon Pl, Denver, CO 80212

Food / Drink Festivals

• W-Th 05/15-09/?? Civic Center Eats - 11AM-7PM Free All Ages 10-20 Food Trucks of Various Cuisines Civic Center Park, 101 W 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80202
• 05/14, 06/04, 07/09 A Taste of Colorado 10AM-6PM Free All Ages Live Music, 6 Food Trucks, Drinks, Live Music, Kids Activities, Vendors Civic Center Park, 101 W 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80202
• 05/27-05/28 BBQ Fest 11AM-8PM $35 Under 20; $109 Adult All Ages * All You Can Eat BBQ, All You Can Drink, Cooking Demos, Live Music* Empower Field at Mile High, 1701 Bryant St, Denver, CO, 80204
• 05/27 Taste Around the World! Spring Wine Event - 3PM-6:30PM $90 All Ages * Tastings for 25 Bottles of Wine with Help From Wine Experts* Ironton Distillery (RiNo) - 3636 Chestnut Pl, Denver, CO 80216
• 07/20 The Big Eat - 6PM-9PM $85 21+ 50+ Restaurants All You Can Eat, Live Music* Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1400 Curtis St, Denver, CO 80204
• 07/22 - Summer Brewfest - 1PM-10PM $55 Advance, $60 Day of Only Allowed Half of Time) 21+ *Unlimited Tastings of Local Beer Brews Mile High Station, 2027 West Colfax Avenue, Denver Co 80204
• 08/03 Denver Burger Battle - Price TBA 21+ 20+ Restaurants Best Burger Competition; Unlimited Drinks and Burgers* Tivoli Quad, 1000 Larimer St, Denver CO 80204?
• 08/19 Sloan’s Lake Beer Fest - $5 DD, $35 if Drinking 21+ 1970s Themed Beer Tasting with Live Music* 1610 Raleigh Street Denver, CO 80204
• 08/26 Denver Summer Whiskey Tasting Festival - 2:30PM-6PM $45 21+ Tasting of 20+ Whiskey, Tasting Lessons, Live Music, Food Location TBA
• 09/06-09/09 Denver Food and Wine Festivals 11AM-8PM $60-$95 21+ * Food and Wine Showcase, Tastings, Seminars, Cocktail Competition* Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus, 1000 Larimer St, Denver

Art / Crafts / Shopping Festival

• 05/05, 06/02, 07/07, 08/04, 09/01 Sante Fe First Friday Art Walks - 5:30PM-9PM FREE All Ages Galleries , Vendors, Food Trucks, Music Sante Fe // 5th Ave to 11th Ave, Denver, CO 80204
• 05/05, 06/02, 07/07, 08/04, 09/01 RiNo First Friday Art Walks - 5:30PM-9PM FREE All Ages Art,Vendors Larimer St // Broadway to Downing
• 05/05, 06/02, 07/07, 08/04, 09/01 Dairy Block First Friday Art Walks - 5PM-9PM FREE All Ages Art, Vendors 1800 Wazee St, Denver, CO 80202
• 05/05, 06/02, 07/07, 08/04, 09/01 Lakewood First Friday Art Walks - 6PM-9PM FREE All Ages Galleries, Drinks, Music 6501 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214
• 05/20-05/21 Spring Bazaar - 12PM-6PM FREE All Ages 80+ Vendors, Live DJ, Food Hall Outside Zeppelin Station, 3501 Wazee St #100, Denver, CO 80216
• 05/27-05/28 Denver Arts Festival - Sa 10AM-6PM, Su 10AM-5PM FREE All Ages Local Art Conservatory Green, Central Park, 8304 E. 49th Pl. Denver 80216
• 06/08-06/11 Denver Fringe Festival - Hours Vary $15 (Some FREE Street Performances) All Ages 55+ Shows of Performance Art, Plays, Comedy, Improv, Cabaret, Magic, Dance, Aerial, Immersive Experiences, & More Across 12 Venues RiNo and Five Points Denver
• 06/10-06/11 Denver Chalk Art Festival - Sa 10AM-10PM; Su 10AM-8PM FREE All Ages Chalk Art on the Street 123 W. 12th Avenue, Denver, CO 80204
• 07/01-07/03 Cherry Creek Arts Festival Sa-Su 10AM-8PM; M 10AM-6PM FREE All Ages Art Vendors Cherry Creek North, 2401 E 2nd Ave #150, Denver, CO 80206
• 07/22-07/23 Cheeseman Park Art Festival – 9AM-5PM FREE All Ages 150+ Artists, Live Music, Food & Drinks Cheeseman Park, 1599 East 8th Avenue, Denver CO 80218
• 05/14, 05/22, 06/11, 06/25; 07/09, 07/23, 08/13, 08/27 Thrift Pop – 12PM-5PM FREE All Ages Vintage Clothing, Thrifting, Collectibles Denver Central Market 2669 Larimer St, Denver CO

Other Festivals

• 05/18-05/21 Somebody’s Friend Movement and Music Festival – Times Vary FREE All Ages Dance and Live Music Festival Denver Central Market 2669 Larimer St, Denver CO
• 05/20 Rocky Mountain Tree Festival – 12PM-6PM FREE All Ages Live Music, Art Vendors; All Funds Go to Planting Trees New Terrain Brewing Co, 16401 Table Mountain Pkwy, Golden, CO
• 05/12; 06/04; 07/09; 08/06 !Viva! Streets – 8AM-2PM FREE 3.5 Miles of Car Free Streets; Food; Crafts Broadway, Denver From Alameda to 20th
• 06/10-06/11 Unicorn Festival – 10AM-5PM $25 All Things Fairy and Unicorn Including the Unicorns Themselves Clement Park, 7306 W Bowles Ave, Littleton, CO 80123
• 06/10-06/11 Big Gear Show – Sa 10AM-6PM; Su 10AM-4PM FREE Outdoor Goods Consumer Show Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St, Denver, CO 80202
• 06/30-07/02 Fan Expo – F 4PM-9PM; Sa 10AM-7PM; Su 10AM-5PM $38-$58 / Day; $90 3-Day Pass All Ages Convention for Fans of Comics, Sci F, Horror, Anime, Gaming Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St, Denver, CO 80202
• 07/15-07/16 Lavender Festival – 9AM-5PM $13 Adults, $11 Seniors, $9 Children All Ages Lavender Fields, Artists, Live Music, Demonstrationsof Dye Garden and Blacksmith ShopDenver Botanic Gardens - Chatfield Farms, 8500 W Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, CO 80128

Farmers Markets

Sundays

• Sundays 05/07-11/12 South Pearl Street – 9AM-1PM 1527 S Pearl St, Denver, CO 80210
  
• Sundays 06/25-10/08 Central Park – 8:30AM-12:30 PM South Green 7601 29th Ave, Denver, CO 80238
  
• Sundays 04/07-10/29 Metro Denver Famers Market - Highlands Ranch – 10AM-2PM 9288 Dorchester St, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
  
• Sundays 06/04-09/24 Arvada Farmer’s Market – 9AM-1:30PM Olde Town Square, 5702 Olde Wadsworth Blvd. Arvada, CO 80002
  
• Sundays 05/21-10/15 HighlandsSquare – 9AM-1PM 3600 W 32nd Ave, Denver, CO 80211
  
• Sundays 05/14-10/29 Parker – 8AM-1PM – 19565 Mainstreet, Parker, CO 80138
  
• Sundays 05/28-10/15 Festival Park – 9AM-2PM – 300 2nd St, Castle Rock, CO 80104
  
• Sundays 06/04-09/24 People + Produce – (Food Trucks Beer Garden Live Music) - 9AM-1PM – 4190 S Newport St, Denver, CO 80237
  
• Second Sundays May-Aug Stanley Summer Series Farmer’s Market - 1PM-6PM Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St, Aurora, CO 80010
  

Tuesdays

• Tuesdays 05/30-09/26 Evergreene – 10AM-2PM 1036 El Rancho Road, Evergreen, CO 80439

Wednesdays

• Wednesdays 06/07-08/30 Green Valley Ranch – 5PM-8PM Green Valley Ranch Town Center Park, 4890 Argonne St., Denver, CO 80249
  
  • Wednesdays 06/14-08/16 Cherry Creek – 9AM-1PM Cherry Creek Shopping Center, 3000 E 1st Ave, Denver, CO 80206
• Wednesdays 06/14-09/27[Littleton]((https://www.denverfarmersmarket.com/) – 10AM-2PM 7301 S Santa Fe Dr, Littleton, CO 80120
  

Thursdays

• **Thursdays 05/11-09/3140 - Real Farmers Market - Erie – 5PM-8PM – Briggs Street // Wells and Moffatt, Erie 80516

Saturdays

• Saturday 05/06-11/04 Cherry Creek Fresh Market – 9AM-2PM Cherry Creek Shopping Center, 3000 E 1st Ave, Denver, CO 80206
  
• Saturdays 05/13-10/28 University Hills – 9AM-1PM – 2500 S Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80222
  
• Saturdays 06/10-09/30 [Lakewood]((https://www.denverfarmersmarket.com/) – 10AM-2PM Mile Hi Church. 9077 W Alameda Ave, Denver, CO 80226
  
• Saturdays 04/06-10/28 Southwest Plaza – 8AM-2PM 8501 W Bowles Ave, Littleton, CO 80123
  
• Saturdays 05/13-09/30* Southland – 8AM-1PM – 6155 S Main St, Aurora, CO 80016
  
• Saturdays 06/03-09/16 Union Station – 9AM-1PM 1701 Wynkoop, Denver, CO 80202
  
• Saturdays 5/13-10/28 City Park – 8AM-1PM 2551 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206
  
• Saturdays 06/03-10/07 Golden 8AM-1PM 1019 10th St, Golden, CO 80401
  
• Saturdays 5/13-10/14 Real Farmer’s Market - Louisville – 9AM-1PM 824 Front Street, Louisville, CO 80027
  
• 1st and 3rd Saturdays 5/13-10/21 Rebels in the Garden - 9PM-1PM Activist Group Rebel Marketplace, S Del Mar Circle, Aurora, CO, USA
  

Denver.org List of Farmers Markets

Concerts

LIST OF ALMOST ALL CONCERTS AND LIVE MUSIC IN DENVER SUMMER 2023
Free Outdoor Concerts

• Sundays 06/04-08/06 City Park Jazz - 6PM-8PM FREE All Ages Jazz, Blues, Brass, and More City Park Pavilion, Denver
  
• Dates Vary 05/19-09/29Levitt Pavilion Free Concerts Series - Times Vary FREE All Ages Free Concerts, Various Genres Levitt Pavilion, 1380 W Florida Ave, Denver, CO 80223
  
• Central Park Concert Schedule - 6PM or 6:30 PM FREE All Ages Central Park, Denver
  
• Green Valley Ranch Sunday Concerts in the Park - 4PM-6:30PM FREE All Ages Green Valley Ranch Town Center Park, 5050 Argonne St, Denver, CO 80249
  
• Downtown Lakewood Summer Concert Series - 6PM-8PM FREE All Ages Belmar Shopping Center, Downtown Lakewood, 7337 W Alaska Dr, Lakewood, CO 80226
  
• Orchard Town Center Til’ Dark 3rd Friday’s Concert Series - 6:30PM-8:30PM FREE All Ages The Orchard Town Center, 14697 Delaware St, Westminster, CO 80023
  
• Highlands Ranch Community Association Summer Concert Series - 6:30PM-8:00PM FREE All Ages Highland Heritage Regional Park, 9651 S Quebec, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
  

Outside Paid Venues

• Red Rocks Event Schedule 303-319 CO-8, Morrison, CO 80465
  
• Empower Field Event Schedule 1701 Bryant St, Denver, CO 80204
  
• Fiddler’s Green Event Schedule 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
  
• Denver Botanical Gardens Music at the Gardens Schedule Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York St, Denver, CO 80206
  
• Evenings El Pastor at the Denver Botanic Gardens Small Ensembles Hidden Throughout the Gardens Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York St, Denver, CO 80206
  
• Civic Center Park Concert Schedule Civic Center Park, 101 W 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80202
  
• Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Concert Schedule Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, 6000 Victory Way, Commerce City, CO 80022
  
• Arvada Center Outdoor Amphitheater & Front Porch Concerts Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada, CO 80003
  
• Shady Grove Concert Series at Four Mile Historic Park - 6:30PM $15 Four Mile Historic Park, 715 S Forest St, Denver, CO 80246
  
• Mile High Music Series - 6:30PM-10PM Ticket Comes with 1 Free Frink Four Mile Historic Park, 715 S Forest St, Denver, CO 80246
  

Paid Indoor Venues

• List of Venus in Denver

Concert Lists (by Genre, Search, Etc)

• Songkick
  
• Concertfix
  
• Concertful
  

Parks / Nature

National Parks

• Rocky Mountain National Park $15-$35; $70 Annual; $80 Interagency All Ages 415 Square Miles of Mountain Environments FREE DAYS: 08/04, 09/24, 11/11
  
• Mesa Verde National Park $15-$30; $55 Annual; $80 Interagency World Heritage Site of Pueblo Ruins FREE DAYS: 08/04, 09/24, 11/11
  
• Great Sand Dunes National Park $25; $40 Annual; $80 INteragencyFREE DAYS: 08/04, 09/24, 11/11
  
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park $15-$30; $55 Annual; $80 Interagency FREE DAYS: 08/04, 09/24, 11/11
  

State Parks

• Barr Lake
  
• Cheyenne Mountain
  
• Crawford
  
• Eleven Mile
  
• Jackson Lake
  
• John Martin
  
• Lake Pueblo
  
• Mancos
  
• Ridgway
  
• St. Vrain
  
• Staunton
  
• Steamboat Lake
  
• Trinidad Lake
  

City Parks

• City Park Lake, Science Museum, Zoo, Golf 17th and York, Denver, CO
  
• Skyline Park * Beer Garden, Ice Skating Rink in Winter* 16th and Arapaho, Denver, CO
  
• Civic Center Park * Lots of Festivals, Art Museum, Library, Government Buildings* 101 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO, 80203
  
• Confluence Park Aquarium, Children’s Museum, Elitch Gardens, S Platte River 2250 15th St, Denver, CO
  
• Centennial Flower Gardens Gardens, S Platte River, Elitch Gardens 1101 Little Raven St, Denver, CO
  
• Commons Park S Platte River, Sand Prairie 17th and York, Denver, CO
  
• Sloans Lake Park Lake, Festival 1700 Sheridan Blvd, Denver, CO
  
• Washington Park Lakes, Boat Rentals, Gardens, Playgrounds, Sports, Tennis Courts, Soccer Field Virginia Ave and Downing St, Denver, CO
  
• Cheeseman Park Paths, Playgrounds 1599 E 8th St, Denver, CO
  
• Bear Creek Park 2,600 Acres, Hiking, Biking, Horseback Riding, Swim Beach, Boat Rentals 15600 W Morrison Rd, Lakewood, CO
  
• Paco Sanchez Park Hilly expanse with unique playgrounds 1290 Knox Court, 3240 W 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80204
  
• Ruby Hill Bike Park 7 Acre Park for Bike Riders with Ramps and Tracks W Jewell Ave, Denver, CO 80223
  
• Smaller / More Distant City Parks include: Berkeley Lake Park, Rocky Mountain Lake Park. McDonough Park, City of Cuernavaca Park, Benedict Fountain (Triangle) Park AND MANY MORE…
  

Hikes

• Day Hikes Near Denver Great List with Many Categories to Sort From
  
• Top 10 Day Hikes Near Denver * Made by guides at Day Hikes Near Denver .com*
  

Water Activities

Beaches

• Cherry Creek State Park Swim Beach Smoky Hill Trail, Aurora, CO 80015
  
• Aurora Reservoir Swimming Beach S Powhaton Rd, Aurora, CO 80016
  
• Aurora Reservoir SCUBA Beach E Reservoir Dam Rd, Aurora, CO 80016
  
• Platte River Highlands Bridge and Swimming in Confluence Park 2250 15th St, Denver, CO 80202
  
• Soda Lake Beach in Bear Creek Lake Park Near 15600 W Morrison Rd, Lakewood, CO 80228
  
• Chatfield Park Swim Beach Near Perimeter Rd, Littleton, CO 80128
  

Pools

• List of Public Denver Outdoor Pools
  
• List of Public Denver Indoor Pools
  

Splash Parks

• List of Splash Parks in the Denver Metro Area May be out of date

Water Parks

• List of Water Parks in the Denver Metro Area May be out of date
  
• 05/29-09/04 Island Kingdom Waterpark at Elitch Gardens - Varies between 9AM and 8:30PM (Closes at Dusk) $50/Day, $75/Season All Ages Water Park with Thrill Slides, Family Slides, Wave Pool, and Lazy River; Attached to Theme Park (No extra cost) 2000 Elitch Cir, Denver, CO 80204
  
• 05/26-09/04 Water World - Varies between 9AM and 6PM $28-$55 Adults, $24-$45 Children All Ages Water Park with Thrill Slides, Family Slides, Wave Pool, Lazy River, and Surf Wave 8801 N Pecos St, Federal Heights, CO 80260
  
• 05/27-08/13 The Splash at Fossil Trace - 10AM-5:30PM Park; 10AM-5PM Pools $12.50 Day Pass, $194 Season Pass All Ages Pools and Water Slides 3151 Illinois St, Golden, CO 80401
  
• 05/27-09/04 Pirate’s Cove - 10AM-5:30PM $18 Day Pass; $120 Season Pass All Ages Pools and Water Slides 1225 W Belleview Ave, Littleton, CO 80120
  

Amusement

Theme Parks / Roller Coasters

• Year Round, Dates Vary Elitch Gardens - Varies between 9AM and 9PM $50/Day, $75/Season All Ages Theme Park and Water Park 2000 Elitch Cir, Denver, CO 80204
  
• 05/13-09/10 Lakeside Amusement Park - Varies between 1PM and 11:30PM $30 All Ages Theme Park Built in 1908 4601 Sheridan Boulevard, Lakeside, CO 80212
  

Themed Festivals

• Saturdays & Sundays, 06/17-08/06 Colorado Renaissance Festival - 10:30AM-6:30PM $28 Adult, $12 Child All Ages Renaissance Themed Food, Drink, And Entertainment including Comedy, Sword Swallowing, Fire Breathing, Music, Jousting, and More 650 Perry Park Ave, Larkspur, CO 80118

Outdoor Movies

Local Projections

• Denver.org List Mostly not announced yet List of Outdoor Movie Showings in Denver Including: Avanti, Town Center Park Auditorium, Ironton Distillery & Crafthouse, Elitch Gardens (in the Wave Pool), South Green in Central Park
  
• Denver.org List Mostly not announced yet List of Outdoor Movie Showings Near Denver Including: Red Rocks, Stanley Marketplace, Parfet Park in Golden, Parks Across Westminster, Backcountry Base Camp in Littleton, Memorial Park in Northglenn, Infinity Park in Glendale, Citizen Park in and Edgewater
  

Drive Ins

• 88 Drive In - 7PM $12 Double Features Drive in Theatre, Film Schedule 5 Days in Advance 8780 Rosemary Street, Commerce City, CO 80022

Theatre / Opera / Symphony Shows

• Denver Center for the Performing Arts Big Performing Arts Complex with Several Auditoriums for Plays, Concerts, Symphonies, Shows, and More 1350 Curtis Street, Denver, CO 80202

• 04/14-06/18 The 39 Steps- Singleton Theatre
  
• 05/31-06/04 Riverdance - Buell Theatre
  
• 06/13-06/18 Aladdin - Buell Theatre
  
• 06/21-07/02 Book of Mormon - Buell Theatre
  
• 08/16-08/19 Jagged Little Pill - Buell Theatre
  
• 09/01-10/08 A Little Night Music - Wolf Theatre
  
• 09/15-09/17 Beetlejuice - Buell Theatre
  

• Miners Alley Playhouse Local Children’s Theatre 1224 Washington Ave, Golden, CO 80401

• 05/19-06/11 The Oldest Boy
  
• 05/27-06/24 Robin Hood
  

• Adams Mystery Playhouse Full-time Murder Mystery Theatre 2406 Federal Blvd, Denver, CO 80211

• 05/02-05/27 Bootlegger’s Murder
  
• 05/13-05/31 A Dark and Stormy Murder
  
• 06/02-08/03 Mystery in Pirate’s Cove
  
• 06/02-08/05 Murder on Pirate’s Island
  
• 08/10- 09/16 An Artful Murder
  
• 09/22-09/30 They Came From Below
  

• Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities Local Playhouse for Concerts and Plays 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada, CO 80003

• ** 09/08-10/15** Beautiful: The Carol King Musical

• Vintage Theatre Local Play House Specializing in Revival and Contemporary Musicals and Play 1468 Dayton St, Aurora, CO 80010

• 06/02-07/09 Driving Miss Daisy
  
• 07/22-07/30 In the Heights
  

• Firehouse Theatre Company at The John Hand Theatre Performance Art Group 7653 E 1st Pl, Denver, CO 80230

• 06/03-07/01 A Mexican Trilogy: Charty

• Curious Theatre Company Cutting Edge Theatre 1080 Acoma St, Denver, CO 80204

• 05/18-06/15 Cullud Wattah

• 06/11-08/13 Colorado Shakespeare Festival Prices Vary; $18 For Standard Bundle **Festival Showing Many of Shakespeare’s Plays Over a Few Weeks 972 Broadway, Boulder, CO, 80302
Theatres Without Current Shows That You Should Still Keep an Eye On
• The Source Theatre Company Local Performing Arts Theatre 721 Santa Fe Dr, Denver, CO 80204
• Lone Tree Arts Center Contemporary Center Which Hosts Plays, Concerts, and Events 10075 Commons St, Lone Tree, CO 80124
• Cherry Creek Theatre Performance Art Center 350 S Dahlia St, Denver, CO 80246

Dance / Performance Art / Burlesque / Etc

• 05/18-06/04 Strange Natures - TH-Su 7PM $20 Immersive Dance Theatre Show 1801 Brentwood St., Lakewood, CO 80214
• 07/05-08/13 Cirque du Soleil: Kooza - 7:30PM $54- $64 All Ages Circus and Gymnastics Show Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver, CO 80202
• 07/06-07/08 Colorado Burlesque Festival - 7PM-10PM $25- $35 / Day, $75 / Weekend 18+ Burlesque, Drag, Aerial, & Variet Performance Reelworks, 1399 35th St, Denver, CO
• 07/02 -07/31– Central City Opera’s 2022 Festival – (Opera and Theatre) – Central City Opera House

Museums / Exhibits / Gardens

Art

• Denver Art Museum - 10AM-5PM $12-$19 ALL AGES Daily 10AM-5PM General Art Museum 100 W. 14th Avenue Pkwy Denver, CO 80204 - FREE DAYS: 05/09, 05/14, 06/13, 07/11, 07/30, 09/09, 09/12, 10/10, 11/04, 11/14, 12/12)
  
• Museum of Contemporary Art Denver - T-F 12PM-7PM; Sa-Su 10AM-5PM $7-$10 All Ages Contemporary and Modern Art 1485 Delgany St Denver, CO 80202 - FREE DAYS: 06/03, 07/01, 08/05, 09/02, 10/07, 11/04, 12/02
  
• Meow Wolf - Su-Th 10AM-10PM; F-Sa 10AM-12AM $40-$55 ALL AGES Psychedelic Immersive Alien Art Experience 1338 1st St, Denver, CO 80204
  
• Spectra Art Space: Spookadelia - 11AM-9/10PM $12-$30 ALL AGES * Psychedelic, Immersive Local Art Experience* 1842 S Broadway Denver, CO 80210
  
• Clyfford Still Museum - 10AM-5PM $6-$10 ALL AGES Art by the Artist Clyfford Still 1250 Bannock St Denver, CO 80204 - FREE DAYS: 05/31, 06/25, 07/23, 08/18, 09/06, 10/05, 11/04, 12/03
  
• Museo de las Americas - 12PM-5/6PM $5-$8 ALL AGES Latin American Art 861 Santa Fe Dr, CO 80204 - FREE DAYS: 06/02, 07/07, 08/04, 09/01, 10/06, 11/03, 12/01
  
• American Museum of Western Art 10AM-4:30PM $5 All Ages Art Depicting the American West from 1800s to Present 1727 Tremont Place, Denver, CO 80202
  
• Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art- T-Sa 11AM-5PM; Su12PM-5PM $10-$12 All Ages Fine and Decorative Art 1201 Bannock St Denver, CO 80204
  

History

• History Colorado Center - 10AM-5PM $14 ALL AGES General History Museum with Emphasis on Colorado History 1200 Broadway Denver, CO 80203
  
• Four Mile Historic Park 10AM-4PM $6-$8 ALL AGES Celebration of Denver’s Western Heritage 715 S Forest St, Denver, CO 80246 - FREE DAYS: 05/26, 06/23, 08/25, 09/22, 10/27, 11/24, 12/22
  
• Black American West Museum - 10AM-2PM $10-$15 All Ages History of Black and African American in the Wild West 3091 California St Denver, CO 80205
  

Science / Nature

• Denver Museum of Nature and Science - 9AM-5PM $17-$23 All Ages Nature, Science, Technology, and History; Planetarium; Laser Fantasy 2001 Colorado Blvd Denver, CO 80205 - FREE DAYS: 06/28, 08/16, 09/06, 09/18, 10/15, 12/04
  
• Botanical Gardens - York St (Downtown) - 9AM-8PM $15 Gardens with Plants from All Over the World 1007 York St, Denver, CO 80206 - FREE DAYS: 06/06, 07/05, 08/15, 11/24
  
• Botanical Gardens - Chatfield Farms) - 9AM-8PM $10 Gardens and a Full Working Farm 8500 W Deer Creek Canyon Rd, Littleton, CO 80128 - FREE DAYS: 06/06, 07/05, 08/15, 11/24
  
• Plains Conservation Center M-F 8AM-4PM; Sa 9AM-5PM $10 All Ages Prairie Conservation Center / Activities / Educational Experiences 21901 E Hampden Ave Aurora, CO 80013
  

Animals

• Denver Zoo - 9AM-5PM $24 Adults, $18 Kids All Ages Animals, Conversation, Education 2300 Steele St, Denver, CO 80205 - FREE DAYS: 10/07, 11/07, 11/12
  
• Butterfly Pavillion - 10AM-5PM $15 Adults, $10 Kids All Ages Butterfly Garden, Insect Exhibits, Tarantula Holdings, Education 6252 W 104th Ave, Westminster, CO 80020
  
• Denver Downtown Aquarium - M-Th 10AM-8:30PM; F-S 11AM-10PM; Su 11AM-8PM $19-$25 Plus Add-ons All Ages Aquarium / Restaurant / 4D Theatre / Mermaid Shows 700 Water Street Denver, CO 80211
  
• Wild Animal Sanctuary - 10AM-5PM $50 Adults, $30 Kids All Ages Learn About Wildlife Rescue and See Animals from Elevated Platforms - Stresses It's Not a Zoo but you can see many "zoo" animals 2999 Co Rd 53, Keenesburg, CO 80643
  

Things to Do Year Round

• WIP of Places to Eat, Drink, and Have Fun Around Downtown I'm still building this. Please let me know if you have anything to add or change!
• Eat Around the World in Denver Join us over at /denverfood where we're trying to make a list of restaurants that represent each of the world's countries all in the larger Denver area!

Other Resources

General Compilations
• Mile High on the Cheap
• 303 Magazine Events Calendar
• Colorado.com Events Schedule
• Denver-Co Events
• Vesta Events
• AllEvents
• Metro Denver
• Dairy Block Event Calendar 1800 Wazee St, Denver, CO 80202

Hello everyone, sorry for the longer delay on this, semester work always gets in the way. But with revisions for my peer reviewed paper likely to arrive in the coming weeks, I think its time to talk about more songs from Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag. We covered the sea shanties last time, and if anyone needs a recap, basically everything wasn't from the Golden Age of Piracy except for the Captain Kidd song, which was a broadside song being used as a sea shanty. Well now we get to cover the genre Captain Kidd is actually apart of, tavern songs!
This list is entirely of songs that appear in the numerous taverns you find from Nassau to Kingston. They are always background songs and some are fairly hard to find, but, and this is a personal preference, I actually like these songs more then the sea shanties. They all have a really catchy beat and tempo, and broadly speaking are more accurate to the era. There are a few songs here that not only date to the years 1715-1722, but almost certainly were sung by real pirates.
Quick note, I am using the phrase tavern song pretty loosely. What is being discussed are drinking songs, folk songs you would hear in a tavern, military marching songs, and broadside songs that were often written for executions but frequently appeared in taverns. Taverns were as important to the men and women of the 18th century as they are now, perhaps even more so. Anyway, lets chug some rum and sing a song!
(There isn't a playlist of all tavern songs, so this tumblr post will have to do. Listen here.)
https://allsoundsasscreed.tumblr.com/post/91060065634/tavern-song-playlist-from-assassins-creed-iv
(Also a YouTube link with some of the songs in higher quality.)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLBIDJyP3XKci5o-0Yw87oskv1D4rTi9mS
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Admiral Benbow
This one has an interesting history with piracy, its a song about the titular admiral, quite a character he was. John Benbow was the son of a tanner who joined the Royal Navy and worked his way up to admiral, he was daring and dashing but also contentious with many he served with. He was mortally wounded in August of 1702 during the War of Spanish Succession, hit in the leg with chainshot. This song is broadly speaking true to Benbows life and noticeably mentions how he dies in a somewhat graphic manner you don't often see with these songs.
Dating the song is difficult, the oldest reference I could find is from 1780 and its in print as early as 1820. So no its not accurate to the game or the era, but it was probably included for one key reason. The Inn young Jim Hawkins lives in at the start of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is called. The Admiral Benbow Inn, I'm guessing the writers couldn't resist. You shall hear you shall hear a song that's fitting but not quite right.
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All for Me Grog
This one is so close to the right era kinda. All for Me Grog has an iteration coming from 1740 originally titled, "If E'er I Do Well 'Tis a Wonder". The lyrics are vaguely similar but I would still call it a different song. The version in game is closer to an 1880s version that appeared in print with the same title. Now the origin of the word grog tends to come Vice Admiral Sir Edward Vernon, hero of the 1739 War of Jenkins Ear. Well he always wore a grogam cloak and in 1740 to reduce drunknenss he forcibly watered down the rum sailors were carrying by half. Sailors quickly started calling this grog and any watered down rum became known with the name, the original iteration of the song was penned pretty soon after. So not accurate for the game, but its on the border. Well I am a rambling lass so let me say, close but not enough.
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As I Was Going to Banbury.
This one is pretty easy to pinpoint, its from 1890 first appearing in the Crawford Collection so pretty obviously not from the 18th century. But the tune that goes with the lyrics, well that's from Tom Tells Truth which is a song first recorded 1562, so the melody could have appeared in the Golden Age of Piracy, but not the lyrics. I saw an apple tree, but not history.
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Barbara Allen
This song is very famous and very old. Recording wise its been covered heavily in Country Music since Bradley Kinkaid in 1930 and has been done by singers like Dolly Parton ever since. But its old, like the oldest mention of it is from 1666 and it was either a stage song, or a libel song mocking King Charles II. The oldest mention notes its a Scotch song, referring to the Scottish, this is how it became big in Country Music. Various Celtic immigrants moving to the new world and bringing songs like this with them. The version in game seems to be an abbreviated version of the 1690 broadside version often called "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy." There are some lyric changes but there never was one consistent version. I have no qualms with this song being in game at all, there were notable Scottish pirates like William Kidd of Dundee, and its always been somewhat popular in British folk circuits. In Scarlet Town where I was born, there was a fair maid song, that was fit and true.
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Blow Away The Morning Dew
This song first appeared in 1609 with lyrics and a melody written specifically for it, which is very rare. Originally it was titled the Baffled Knight but later versions were better known as Blow Away The Morning Dew. The version in game appears to be the Cecil Sharpe version published in 1905, which was a modified version of the Thomas d'Urfey version first written in 1719 or 1720. The Sharpe version isn't too radically different from d'Urfey, its debatable but I will fall on the side of the game and say this does fit the era, although just barely within the confides of the games narrow timeline. Blow your winds hi ho it made the grade!
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Blow the Candles Out
This one is very easy to pinpoint. This song came from Thomas Durfey's Wit and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (Volume in 1720) also known as The London Prentice or London Apprentice. Although said to be from the 17th century, this 1720 version is almost word for word what appears in Assassin's Creed IV. The only difference is an interesting change in pronouns, she being sung as I, so a change in perspective, the type of thing you seen often done with folk songs. This is 100 percent accurate to the era, yes its late Golden Age of Piracy but it counts no doubt. Roll me in your arms and blow the candle out for it counts!
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The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood
This ones a bit hard to judge on. This song has a decent sized family tree, the original version, Come listen a while you Gentlemen all, is from 1684. It came from a song called Robin Hood and the Stranger which is from 1675. But the version known as The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood is from 1857. While some lyrics are similar I am going to say this doesn't count, the melody and most of the lyrics are too different. I merrily trudged over the lea and found it wrong.
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Buleria
Far as I can tell this Spanish Flamenco song was written specifically for the game, I cannot find any reference to a song like this that's pre 2013, that's a tad disappointing.
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Captain Ward
This song is full of history. This song was registered in 1680 and is about Jack Ward, an English pirate from the 16th century who eventually joined the Barbary Corsairs. There's a lot of stories and legends about him and its hard to tell how true most of it is. Ward is the namesake inspiration for Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films by the way. Sir Walter Scott was well aware of this song and so was John Gay who incorporated parts of it into his 1715 play, The What D’ye Call and it later appears in the 1728 Beggars Opera. There's a great number of variations of the song also sometimes called Captain Ward and the Rainbow, the name of a ship in his story. Needless to say this is accurate to the era and even would likely be known to some English pirates, great choice. Come all you gallant sailors bold this song was perfect!
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Down Among the Dead Men
Ah yes this song, it probably has the second largest amount of variations in the game, appearing in both taverns, as orchestral music, and prominently being sung by Charles Vane at one point, also it briefly appears in AC Syndicate. First off its about getting drunk, dead men is a metaphor term for an empty bottle. Second, this has a somewhat well established history, it was first published in 1728 with lyrics by John Dyer and composition by Henry Purcell. There's rumors its older then 1728, but every claim from Wikipedia onward doesn't come with a citation so be cautious. I don't begrudge the developers for using it, 1728 technically falls under the Golden Age of Piracy if you use the long 1650 to 1730 dates. But the game ends in 1722 and the scene with Charles Vane happens in 1720 and he was executed in 1721. Its so close, but its not accurate to the timeframe. Down, down, down, down among the dead men, where the lyrics are fine but the song isn't placed.
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Fandango
Much like Buleria, the fandango music that plays in a few taverns in Cuba don't seem to be any actual fandango songs. Which is a shame, the oldest recorded fandango song, "Libro de diferentes cifras de guitarra", comes from 1705. There is also some traditional flamenco music that plays in these taverns and while those songs aren't remotely accurate to the early 18th century Caribbean, they are genuine flamenco style songs so that's nice.
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Fathom the Bowl
Another popular British drinking song. This song is from the 19th century, the first reliably written version is from 1832, there's maybe an older broadside version but that's debatable. Its fun but its not very close to the correct era. Come all you bold heroes give ear to my rants!
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The Golden Vanity
Oh lord what a mess this song is. Also titled, "The Sweet Trinity" or "The Golden Willow Tree" this song is all over the place. Its pretty popular for folk and country singers, from the Carter Family to Pete Seeger. Oddly enough a version appears in Black Sails, probably the only song overlap between Black Flag and Black Sails. Anyway, the oldest version is from 1635 and was about Sir Walter Raleigh telling a cabin boy to sink a ship, he does but Raleigh doesn't rescue him leaving him to die. Obviously the in game version isn't that rendition but the plot structure and lyrics are pretty similar. The in game version is closer to a London published rendition somewhere in the mid 19th century, but the lyrics are still very close it just replaced Raleigh with an unnamed captain. Hard call but I am leaning toward it being accurate to the era since all you really need is change the name of the person telling the cabin boy to sink the ship and the ship name. In the lowland sea I found an reasonable song.
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Here's a Health to the Company
This song is fantastic, its either my second or third favorite overall song in the game, a perfect mix of drinking fun and melancholy. Anyway it has an Irish origin, but its not from the 19th century, the oldest written down version is from 1875, but it might be as old as 1836. Regardless, it is most certainly not a song you would expect drunk pirates to be singing in the 1710s. Sorry, I wish this song was from the right era really badly. Let us drunk and be merry all out of one glass and forget this song isn't from the 19th century.
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Jaberas
Another Spanish song that was written entirely for the game. I am rather disappointed no real period accurate Spanish music made it into the game, it could have been done. This version comes from the Malaga style to be specific.
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(This song is listed as being in AC4 but I think its from AC Rogue, just to be safe I will include it here)
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The Leaving of Liverpool
This song, also sometimes called Fare Thee Well, My Own True Love, has a lot more in line with sea shanties. It was first noted in 1885 as a popular sailors song. Ironically it probably should have been swapped with Captain Kidd and been used as such instead of being a tavern song. Not much more to say, its not the right genre and its not the right timeframe. Bob Dylan actually partially covered it under the title Farewell. Farewell to you, my own true love of history.
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Maggie Lauder
This ones aggressively Scottish, if you don't sound like a football hooligan or Groundskeeper Willie I suggest not singing it. It has a very clear origin, it was written by Francis Sempill sometime during his life, and he lived from 1616 to 1682. It appears to have been a rather popular Scottish ballad, so yep this fits well in the game to anyone who hails from the high or lowlands. *unintelligible Scottish noises*
The Nightingale
Alternatively called One Morning in May, or The Bold Grenadier, this song was first published between 1689 and 1709 as "The nightingale's song: or The soldier's rare musick, and maid's recreation". Here's the catch, this version has 16 verses, the vague general structure is there but its not the version in game. The in game version is a lot closer to a mid 19th century version, the biggest giveaway is the references to India. Although Britain has long had an association with India, soldier songs referring to going over there really started springing up in the 1850s and onward. So while there are versions of the Nightingale that are period accurate, this isn't one sadly. I shall sit down to hear the nightingale sing instead of false stories!
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Old Rosin the Beau
Sometimes called Old Rosin the Bow, referring to the violin bow, this song is from the 19th century. the melody comes from an Irish song called "Eoghan Coir" which is late 18th century. Most note that Old Rosin the Beau first starts appearing in 1838 and eventually that melody that Eoghan Coir started being called Old Rosin the Beau (Bow) melody. To a point where several US president campaign songs like William Henry Harrison and Abraham Lincoln used that melody. They lyrics in game are pretty clearly the 1838 rendition, so yeah not accurate nope. I've always been cheerful and easy except with inaccuracy.
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Over the Hills and Far Away
This is my pick for the easiest song to research, and also my pick for most accurate song in the game. Yep, the marching song from Sharpe, not the Led Zeppelin song. This song was a very popular marching song for the British army, and there's multiple versions. The oldest is from the late 17th century and was penned by Thomas D'Urfey. There is George Farquhar's version from his 1706 play The Recruiting Officer, and lastly John Gay had a version for the 1728 play Beggars Opera. There's also the John Tam version written for the Sharpe series but obviously that doesn't quite count. The version in game is 100 percent the Farquhar version, its almost one for one the same lyrics, the in game version only added Queen Anne commands instead of The Queen commands which is the thing singers fiddle with constantly. The Recruiting Officer was a very popular play, and a lot of privateers who became pirates participated in the War of Spanish Succession, which is clearly being referenced in the song. There's a really good chance real pirates like Benjamin Hornigold actually sang this at some point, so absolute props to the writers for picking the right song and the right version for tavern music. Over the hills and far away! Queen Anne commands to keep on it!
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The Parting Glass
Here it is, my favorite song in the entire game, regardless of genre. Its the most covered with 5 renditions in game. Crowning achievement of the best ending of the franchise, incredibly powerful, namesake of a website I made, and capper of my peer reviewed Anne Bonny paper. This song is wildly popular, still is, I remember a big memorial to Covid victims being marked with the song. It was for a while the most used farewell song until Auld Lang Syne. So is it accurate to the Golden Age of Piracy? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Its best described as Celtic in origin, mostly Scottish but a bit Irish. The original melody of the song dates to the 1620s and 30s, originally titled Goodnight and God Be With You. By the 1700s the melody was slowly becoming what we know as The Parting Glass but it wouldn't fully form until the 19th century. Lyric wise, the first version is a broadside called Neighbors Farewell to his Friends in 1654. Its not remotely lyrically close, look.
Now come is my departing time,
And here I may no longer stay,
There is no kind comrade of mine
But will desire I were away.
But if that time will me permit,
Which from your Company doth call,
And me inforceth for to flit,
Good Night, and GOD be with you all.
For here I grant some time I spent
In loving kind good Company;
For all offences I repent,
And wisheth now forgiven to be;
What I have done, for want of wit,
To Memory I'll not recall:
I hope you are my Friends as yet
Good Night, and GOD be with you all.
Complementing I never lov'd,
Nor talkative much for to be,
And of speeches a multitude
Becomes no man of quality;
From Faith, Love, Peace and Unity,
I wish none of us ever fall;
God grant us all prosperity:
Good Night, and GOD be with you all.
I wish that I might longer stay,
To enjoy your Society;
The Lord to bless you night and day,
And still be in your Company.
To vice, nor to iniquity,
God grant none of you ever fall,
God's blessing keep you both and me!
Good Night, and GOD be with you all.
The Friends Reply.
Most loving friend, God be thy guide,
And never leave thy Company,
And all things needful thee provide,
And give thee all prosperity;
We rather had thy Company,
It thou woulds't have stayed us among;
We wish you much felicity:
Good grant that nothing doe thee wrong.
The only lyrical crossover is, And all I've done for want of wit To memory now I can't recall. There's a lot of versions, and with each version a few more lyrics come into focus, until the 1840s where this broadside version was produced. This is the version in game with the chorus removed and some verses taken out.
ll the money that e’er I had,
I spent it in good company.
And all the harm ever I done,
Alas! it was to none but me,
And all I have done for the want of wit,
To memory now I can't recall,
So fill to me the parting glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.
Chorus:
Be with you all, be with you all
Good night and joy be with you all
So fill to me the parting glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.
All the comrades that e’er I had,
They’re sorry for my going away,
All the sweethearts e’er I had,
They’d wish me one day more to stay,
But since it came unto me lot,
That I should rise and you should not,
I gently rise and with a smile,
Good night and joy be with you all.
If I had money enough to spend,
And leisure time to sit awhile,
There a fair maid in this town
That sorely has my heart beguiled,
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips,
I own she has my heart enthralled;
Then fill to me the parting glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.
When I‘m boosing at my quait
And none but strangers round me all
My poor heart will surely break,
When I’m boosing far awa,
Far awa, oh, far awa;
When I am boosing far awa,
My poor heart will surely break,
When I’m boosing far awa.
So as much as it breaks my goddamn heart to say this, there is no chance that Anne Bonny or any individual of the Golden Age of Piracy, ever sang The Parting Glass, its just not possible. But since it falls unto my lot, that I should learn the truth, and few should not.
​
Patrick Spens
This popular Scottish ballad about a shipwreck was first published in 1765 via Bishop Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It still remains quite popular in England and Scotland, for who doesn't like a good song about a shipwreck? It sure worked for Gordon Lightfoot. But its 50 years past its date, so it shouldn't be in Assassins Creed IV. Sorry. The king has written a braid letter, and signed it with his hand, it says this is badhistory!
​
Spanish Ladies
The only time where a sea shanty is also featured as a tavern song. It fits more as a tavern song, but as I wrote about in the last post, while its from the 18th century, its pretty far removed from the Golden Age of Piracy. I will rant and will roar about discussing this again!
​
Star of the County Down
Okay this is a bit weird, this is a late 19th century Irish song penned by Cathal MacGarvey and first published by Herbert Huges Irish Country Songs list in 1909. I don't need to explain that a song first sung by people like Irish tenor John McCormack doesn't quite fit with the Golden Age of Piracy. I will say I like it and will always remember it as the song that kept me semi conscious at times during my 8 hour conference on Pirate history, that's nice. From the Bantry Bay to the Derry Quay I keep finding stuff wrong.
​
The Three Ravens
Talk about old, this is a Scottish folk song first compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft in 1611, he didn't write it though so its older. Although there are a lot of lyrical versions, the one in game seems to stick fairly close to the original rendition. There are a decent number of changes but its the type of changes you expect from folk songs, I think its within a reasonable level. I don't know if any pirate would sing such an archaic song even in to there era, but sure why not. There were three rauens sat on a tree, there was badhistory nevermore.
​
Tientos
Its another Spanish song, you know what that means. It was written for the game, its not an authentic song. Moving on.
​
Trooper and the Maid
Another of my favorite songs, the beat is impossible not to dance too. The original song, usually called Trooper and the Fair Maid appears in the Skene Manuscript which is from the 17th century. That version names the maid as Peggy and is about a woman leaving her husband for a soldier and then returning. Its stated to be an English broadside song, but at some point it became more popular with the Scottish, most obvious for the repeated use of the word bonnie. The version in game is a lot closer to the version in The Laird of Killary from George Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, which dates to 1827. There's still a lot of changes so its possible Black Flag is using an even later version. Regardless, while a real banger of a song, its not accurate, pity. Bonnie lass I have to say I expected better.
​
Verdiales
The last Spanish song written for the game, its a type of Flamenco. I am so sorry to any Spanish gamers who expected good music from the 18th century in this game.
​
We Be Three Poor Mariners
Another old one, also collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, this time in Deuteromelia around 1609. It was said to be a song Henry VIII liked and it also appears in the Skene Manuscript. Thomas D'Urfey even did a version around the time he did Over the Hill and Far Away. The lyrics shockingly are very consistent through all these versions and what AC4 uses is basically the same as it has been since at least 1609. Another really old song that is plausibly used, I'm surprised. Come dance this round the round the round of victory!
​
(Another I think from AC Rogue but maybe also from AC4)
​
Whiskey You're the Devil
This song has origins from a broadside ballad called John and Moll which first appears in Ireland around 1790, but what's in game is without question the version from 1873 penned by Jerry Barrington. This version was made famous in the 1950s due to the Clancy Brothers covering it. Its another fun folk song that really doesn't belong here. Drums are beating, banners flying The Devil at home in the form of false knowledge.
​
William Taylor
Another of my favorites, a fun catchy song about a woman looking for her pressed into service husband, finding him with another lady, and killing them both! Before anyone asks, this probably isn't inspired by the legend of Anne Bonny or Mary Read, it probably draws more from Hannah Snell, who did look for her husband by disguising herself as a man. The date also makes me think that, the oldest version, a chapbook rendition called Billy Taylor, is from 1792, Snell was from the Jacobite Uprising years. The song seems to have become popular by 1811, as both a serious ballad and a comedic song. There's a lot of versions, so much so I can't pinpoint which version the game is using. This is just a rundown of the title variations, Billy Taylor, Brisk Young Seamen, Bold William Taylor, Down By the Seashore, The False Lover, The Female Lieutenant; Or, Faithless Lover Rewarded, If You'll Get Up Early in the Morning, The Life and Death of Billy Taylor, My Love, Poor William Taylor, Sally Brown and William Taylor, and Young Billy Taylor. Yeah... fun song, not accurate. 4 and 20 British sailors told me on the Kings highway, Folleri-de-dom, de-daerai diddero, folleri-de-dom, domme daerai dae for believing it so.
​
Young Edwin in the Lowland Low
The final song, and its a classic murder ballad. It was first printed by J. Catnach between 1813 and 1838, it was first written down and preserved in the early 19th century. Its a nice atmospheric piece for drinking but it doesn't pass the accuracy test. Come all you wild young people and listen to my song about truth and honesty!
​
That's the list folks! As you can see the tavern songs are broadly speaking more accurate to the era then the sea shanties, some are so accurate I confidently can state the historical figures depicted in game probably sang them. There's still a lot of ones that don't fit, some really on the border and some pretty far off, but pound for pound I like them more. In a perfect world I would like all the songs to be from the era, but that would mean giving up on The Parting Glass and I don't think there's much that could convince me to do that. So overall, the music in AC4 is a mixed bag of accurate stuff and enjoyable fanfare for the sake of it. I fully understand why it was done and will continue to enjoy the music anyway. I toast to thee the parting glass to the writers of AC4, you made a rough music gem, but it shines brighter still then anyone else!
​
Sources
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2169
https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S460849
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5512
https://www.contemplator.com/england/banbury.html
https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/barbara-allan#:~:text=%E2%80%9CBarbara%20Allan%E2%80%9D%20is%20a%20traditional,performance%20sung%20by%20an%20actress.
https://boblesliemusic.com/2019/12/12/songwriting-basics-section-ii-analysis-38-barbara-allen/
https://www.contemplator.com/child/morndew.html
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/blowthecandleout.html
https://www.contemplator.com/england/candles.html
https://www.contemplator.com/england/pedlar.html#:~:text=The%20Bold%20Pedlar%20and%20Robin%20Hood%20appears%20in%20Songs%20of,also%20found%20in%20New%20England.
https://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/60#:~:text=Several%20eighteenth%2Dcentury%20editions%20of,ye%20Call%20It%20in%201715.
https://www.contemplator.com/sea/ward.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=dvQIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://elafinadordenoticias.blogspot.com/2011/04/el-fandango-indiano.html
https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S333526
http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/roud/122
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=49309&threadid=49309#744412
https://www.flamencoexport.com/flamenco-wiki-en/flamenco-palos/malaga-styles.html
https://www.irishmusicdaily.com/leaving-of-liverpool
https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/maggie-lauder.html
http://jopiepopie.blogspot.com/2018/02/nightingales-song-1690s-bold-grenadier.html
https://thejovialcrew.com/?page_id=5662
https://secondhandsongs.com/work/233913/all
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/rosinthebeau.html
https://www.contemplator.com/england/faraway.html
https://www.contemplator.com/england/overhls.html
http://www.justanothertune.com/html/partingglass.html
https://sites.williams.edu/sirpatrickspens/
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Star_of_the_County_Down
https://www.irishmusicdaily.com/star-of-the-county-down-recordings
https://imslp.org/wiki/Irish_Country_Songs_(Hughes%2C_Herbert))
https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/three-ravens.html
https://www.contemplator.com/england/trooper.html
https://www.contemplator.com/sea/mariners.html
https://secondhandsongs.com/work/233160/all
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=105491
Roud, S, and Bishop, J; The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs; London, 2012
https://mainlynorfolk.info/joseph.taylosongs/williamtaylor.html
http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
https://www.contemplator.com/england/edwin.html

The moment alot of us have been waiting for, Dr Benjamin Zeller has submitted his answers from the AMA a few weeks ago! This will be a mega post will everyone's question that was submitted along with his response. I once again would like to thank Ben for working us into his busy schedule enough to make this happen.
strawberry_margarita:

I would just ask him to tell us something that hasn't already been said. Even if it's something small or trivial, or an anecdote.

A few times a year I receive emails or phone calls from people who hear one of my interviews about Heaven’s Gate and it jogs their memory about something they experienced. I just spoke a few weeks ago with someone who met members of the group in Fall 1975 in New Mexico, and shared his experience. That was the time when Bo and Peep were not traveling with the group, but this gentleman (who was a traveling hippie musician back then) met several of the members. The group really was disorganized. People were looking for the Two, no one knew where there were. He told me about how one member had spiritually intuited that they saw the Two pass by on the highway, which led everyone else to get even more excited and hopeful for their arrival. The members all piled in a car and drove around looking for the Two. He described not just confusion (which I knew) but a sort of exciting sense of mystery. That makes sense. People like to feel like they are part of something big.
He left after a few days, so didn’t know if the people he met ever found the Two. But I strongly suspect they did. Based on what he said, I believe he met Wndody and possibly Lggody as well.
StuBlad: Hi Dr Zeller,

As part of your research on Heaven's Gate, were you ever given access to any materials that weren't available to the public? For example, confidential police reports, crime scene photos that we haven't seen, autopsy reports, etc? The reason I ask is, is there anything you can recall from such things that would be of interest to those who are interested in this story? At least, how it ended.

Mrc and Srf showed me some of the materials that they had taken from the storage facility, and they showed me the financial ledgers that are not available to the general public. I wrote about them a bit in my book. But really almost everything I have from the end of the group has been made public. I requested it through the Freedom of Information Act from the FBI, and the equivalent laws in California.

I do recall a conversation I had with a journalist who had interviewed one of the members of the sheriff’s department in San Diego. The sheriff’s deputy’s last name was Scully, and he joked with the FBI agents (when they showed up) that they probably knew his sister who worked with Special Agent Mulder. The FBI guys either didn’t get the joke or didn’t think it was funny, and the deputy was sort of bummed. As an X-Files fan, I found it amusing.

chickenugett: Dr. Zeller,

Most discussions of the group understandably end with their mass suicide in 1997. However, not only are there ex-members that retained the group's belief system left behind, but also recent adoptees that were never a part of the group. What are your thoughts on the future of the belief system (especially in light of the recent legal battle between the TELAH foundation and other believers), and what can this phenomena say about the propagation and evolution of religious movements after the death of it's first adherents more broadly?

The precedent is there. I just ran across an interview with a self-described new member of the Class, someone who converted through encountering Sawyer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ-WRpqVe34&t=110s) I haven’t listened to the entire interview yet, but this new member seems to have really understood and come to accept the teachings of Ti and Do. A lot of what Heaven’s Gate taught makes sense to people within a certain spiritual worldview. They see it as an evolution of what they already know or suspect. There will continue to be a small number of people for whom it appeals as long as either the website remains up, Sawyer keeps actively sharing his ideas and experiences, and/or Crlody keep posting on his blog. The big question is that lawsuit. The fact that ex-members are suing each other shows how powerful this is, and why it still has the hold it does.
You ask a really interesting question about the propagation of new religious movements after the death of their founders or first adherents. We don’t have really good data, but the assumption many scholars have is that most groups are short-lived and don’t survive the loss of their founders. A lot of small guru movements, channeling groups, and small Christian sects seem to come and go. But there are clear exceptions. Any new religious movement that is well organized seems to survive, especially if they have printed or digital materials or some lingering members who care about the group. These movements are probably more resilient than we give them credit for. It also gets into what sociologist of religion Max Weber called the “routinization of charisma” – is there some way that the founder’s charisma can be maintained after they are out of the picture? That can be in a sacred text, a new leader, an organization, etc. Some new religions have done that really well, like the Mormons in the 19th century or the Scientologists in the 20th century.
Warmasterwinter: Hi Dr Zeller.

If the Heavens gate cult did not die from mass suicide in 1997, do you belive it would still be around today? And if so, what changes could you forsee them introducing to survive in the modern world?

I think they would be, and probably still would be waiting for the UFO. Applewhite may have already passed by now, but they had the precedent of Nettles’s passing. They understood Nettles’s death as Ti’s Next Level mind burning up her human body, and presumably would have felt the same about Do. I would conjecture they would still be living in a quasi-monastic manner. Community was important to them.
However, they conceptualized themselves as a class. That’s what they called themselves, after all, The Class. With both teachers gone, what would they do? I think they would have seen their continued presence on Earth as a sort of “internship” – one last set of experiences to have, to learn how to overcome, before going to (or returning to) The Evolutionary Level Above Human. They would need to adjust their theology. When Ti was on Earth, she channeled the Next Level. After she left, Do received communication from Ti, or at least sensations of communication (he never claimed, as far as I know, to be an actual channel). Would a member have stepped up and become the next channel? Would they all have? Or would they have believed the lines of communication are closed? Or a mix of all of them. Most of the ex-members believe communication is closed, but Sawyer implies some continued connection through dream states or other visionary experiences. So a continuing Heaven’s Gate might look a lot like a bunch of Sawyers. They also might look like modern day Shakers. The Shakers, also a celibate order, survived for hundreds of years after their founder died and after their “era of manifestation” in the 19th century ended and they no longer received spiritual messages. Last I checked, the Shakers were down to three members in Maine.
RidingWithDonQuixote: Hi Dr. Zeller, I was wondering what your thoughts are on Janja Lalich 's concept of "bounded Choice" and how it relates to Heaven's Gate?

Thanks

I think her model is circular and not particularly helpful. The way she defines bounded choice it can be applied to every religious group I am aware of, and many non-religious ones too, as she herself describes using the example of a political-social movement of which she had been a member. So if everyone’ choices are bounded, then what distinguishes the groups Lalich wants to call cults? From what I can tell, it is entirely subjective. The choices need to look extreme to her. But “extreme” is subjective, by definition. Is believing your group’s founder rose from the dead extreme? Is rejecting mainstream medicine to practice faith healing extreme? Or shunning one’s children if they don’t join your religion? Or requiring women to cover their heads or men to have beards, or for that matter performing your rituals naked? Or men to get circumcised, or remain celibate, or practice polygamy, or refusing to fight in a war, or forcing people to fight in a war? I’ve got no way to say whose religion is more or less bounded than anyone else’s, given how much religions have varied over time and across cultures. So bounded choice doesn’t offer a way for me to understand how or why the members of Heaven’s Gate’s choices were bounded, since it requires a subjective judgement that they are a cult before I am able to use the model.
Lalich engaged in very limited archival and historical work on Heaven’s Gate. She’s not a scholar of Heaven’s Gate. She is a professional anti-cultist for whom Heaven’s Gate is simply an example of a broader category, “cult,” that she wishes to combat. I don’t see a lot of attention in her work to what the members actually say about themselves, their own experiences, or their religious/spiritual journeys.
ProfessorSlendercat: Dr. Zeller, It seems like Heaven's Gate shares similarities with many religions of past and present in terms of theology with the concept of reincarnation, separating the mind from the body, and many more. It seems like Ti was very into learning about such concepts before her time in HIM. What shared characteristics/theological models do you see the most in both Heaven's Gate and in other similar groups as well?

• Dave

Definitely, Ti had encountered these ideas before meeting Do. We know that Ti had been a Theosophist. The core idea of Theosophy is that people spiritually evolve over many lifetimes, i.e. reincarnation. Theosophists were inspired by Buddhism and Hinduism, and the founders (Blavatsky and Olcott) spent time in Asia, so there is indirect influence from those ideas in Heaven’s Gate. Most of the UFO religions of the 20th century were inspired at somewhat from Theosophy, especially through the “I AM” offshoot that focused on Ascended Masters from outer space who helped humans develop spiritually. The first major contactee religion, founded by George Adamski in the 1950s, was explicitly Theosophical. So it’s not surprising to find theosophical ideas like reincarnation in Heaven’s Gate. We also find it in the broader New Age movement, which also is influenced by Theosophical and Asian ideas. And we know Ti and Do were moving in New Age circles, or at least what we could call New Age now (alternative healing practices, energy work, meditation, spiritual practices involving yoga, etc.).
What’s so interesting is they take all that and then read it into the Bible and a basically Christian apocalyptic message about the end of the world!
KevinDLasagna:

Wish I had a question, just wanna drop in to say thanks for sharing your knowledge on this group and subject. I've always felt that Dr. Zeller has had one of the more nuanced and compassionate responses to this group and their ultimate fate

Thanks! I know I’ve said this before in other interviews, but I see my work on Heaven’s Gate as an attempt to speak for the basic humanity of these folks. I realize of course that they didn’t see themselves as human, and in fact wanted to not be human, but from my perspective as an outsider to the group I cannot help but want to understand them as fully human, living through all the same sort of turmoil, joys, problems, happiness, and confusion as the rest of us.
hale__bopp:

Hello Dr. Zeller, I wanted to ask if you knew of it had any information about Srrody specifically to share. As well, do you know if there are any relics from any of the group's businesses such as Think Link?

I am sure there are relics out there. Every once in a while I come across something on eBay where a seller claims it was in the house in Rancho Santa Fe. I’m not really a collector myself, but I know this stuff is out there. Someone probably has a bunch of their stuff from the businesses, maybe even without knowing about it.
Srrody was a pretty important member of Heaven’s Gate. His birthname was Steven McCarter, and he joined in February 1976, which was a month before Ti declared the harvest closed. He was a student at the University of North Carolina when he joined, and he went by Surry in the group before they received their “ody” names. He was into computer programming. He was the first member to be castrated, and Sawyer recounts that the idea came from the two of them. Sawyer has talked a lot about that, so I won’t repeat it here (it is in the podcast, for example). There is disagreement over whether it was Srrody’s idea initially, but there is agreement he was the first to undergo the procedure, and no reason to doubt Sawyer’s account.
Srrody wrote a lot. He wrote an Earth exit statement, and contributed to the Heaven’s Gate anthology, the “purple book.” He believed in conspiracy theories, and defended himself and other members of the Class from the charge of being brainwashed. He also appears in Alxody’s Christmas home video that Alxody gave to his mother Nancy Brown. In the video he seems like a happy guy who had found a loving community. This is either heartening or depressing, depending on your outlook.
davpostk: Greetings, How important do you think the group's specific theology played in the recruitment of new members? Did their exact message matter as much as what else the group offered, such as a sense of community and bettering oneself?

Thank you.

Excellent question. Both and neither, depending on the person. Some people joined because they were looking for explanations of Biblical prophecy, or of UFO sightings, or other specific theological ideas, and they found Ti and Do’s ideas convincing. Others just thought Ti and Do were far out, and joined for that reason. But plenty were just looking for spiritual fulfillment and community and a sense of truth and meaning. It was probably a mix for most people. There were a few head scratchers of people who joined in the 1970s who had not been part of any new or alternative religions, but most were spiritual seekers for whom joining a group like this offered a new way to transform themselves.
You have to remember that during that time it was a lot tougher to find a community if you were into alternative spirituality. Today we have the Internet and social media. Back then, they had bookstores, and co-ops, and head shops, and the very first New Age stores and retreat centers. There was a whole alternative spiritual ecosystem just forming, and Heaven’s Gate was part of that.
Sseae: Hello Dr Zeller, What do you think are the healthy psychological needs that people seek fulfilment of in cults?

Thank you

I’m not a psychologist, but I think it boils down to belonging and meaning. We all want to feel like we belong. Some of us are lucky enough to find that in our birth families, or our chosen families, or work, clubs, groups of friends, etc. But everyone has a need for some sense of belonging. (I suppose there are rare exceptions, hermits and such, but even they tend to be parts of religious orders or groups.) We also want meaning in our lives, a sense of purpose or fulfillment or overarching story about our lives. Our capitalist society often reduces that to “what do you do,” i.e. your job. But there are many other ways to find meaning.
Cults put these together, and tend to do so in a radical way, by not only providing a sense of belonging and meaning but by declaring that they offer the only meaningful way to belong. Everything else is marked as inferior, even evil. But it isn’t just groups we label cults that do this. We find it to some extent in most religions, and especially in fundamentalist religions. It is very powerful to say that one belongs to a group which has the absolute truth, and that everyone else is simply deluded and wrong. We see this in politics, fandoms, etc. But it is even more powerful when you say God is on your side. That is one reason I don’t like the language of “cult.” The same sociological and psychological forces at work in new religions are present in many other religions and even outside of religions, but we are just used to it.
Flippin_Heckles: No questions here.

I just wanted to say on behalf of the moderating team and Heavensgate community, thank you for agreeing to do this 🙂

My pleasure! I stumbled across the Heavensgate forum before. I can’t remember if a student told me about it, but I was impressed by the research and dedication your community has to understanding this misunderstood group. I was tempted to pop over and say hello, but I didn’t want to be intrusive. It reminds me of the old Usenet newsgroups I was part of back in the 90s.
RidingWithDonQuixote: How would you describe the relationships between Total Overcomers/Heavens Gate and the 12 Step movement, and where one might be able to get more info on their interactions with groups of this type? It's no secret that Heaven's Gate was influenced by at least some of the 12 step groups (e.g., sexaholics anonymous), but finding any specific historical examples of interactions between Heaven's Gates members/founders and the 12 step groups has proven difficult for me to track down.

Thanks again

The time period in 1987 when the Class called themselves the Anonymous Sexaholics Celibate Church is the most direct example of this sort of influence. But from what I can tell, that was mostly a marketing approach, and members were not using 12 Step approaches in their actual practices. The group dropped the Anonymous Sexaholics Celibate Church a year later, in 1988, but the influence continued. They talk about addictions and overcoming addictions in the Total Overcomers Anonymous documents as late as 1993, even thought they had dropped the Sexaholics and adopted the more general “Overcomers” name by then. But obviously, given that they still called themselves Total Overcomers Anonymous, they were still alluding to both recovery programs generally and likely 12 Step programs in particular. So you are right that there was influence that continued, and clearly someone in Heaven’s Gate had run across 12 Step programs at some point. I have not ever seen evidence of who or when, so your guess is as good as mine.
AnonymousDictator: Would you be able to provide any information about how long each member who exited with the class had been a member before the exit?

Thanks so much!

This I can do! I am copying directly from Table 2.1 from my book, which was fact checked by Mrcody, Srfody, Rio, Sawyer, Crlody, etc. before I published it.
Name Year of Entrance / Initial Membership Do (Founder) Alxody* 1975 Glnody† 1975 Chkody† 1975 Jnnody† 1975 Jwnody† 1975 Lggody† 1975 Lvvody† 1975 Mllody 1975 Nrrody† 1975 Ollody 1975 Prsody 1975 Slvody† 1975 Snnody 1975 Stlody 1975 Stmody† 1975 Wndody 1975 Anlody† 1976 Brnody† 1976 Dmmody 1976 Drrody† 1976 Dstody 1976 Jmmody† 1976 Smmody† 1976 Sngody 1976 Srrody 1976 Strody 1976 Tllody 1976 Trsody 1976 Evnody 1991 Avnody 1994 Gldody 1994 Leody 1994 Qstody† 1994 Tddody† 1994 Wknody† 1994 Yrsody† 1994 Vrnody 1995 Dvvody 1996 †: contributed to the Heaven’s Gate anthology (“Purple Book”)
Fearless-Ninja-4252 Dr Zeller, Firstly, I would like to thank you for the research and information you have uncovered regarding Heaven's Gate.

I cheekily have more than one question: Why does the media and general public have the perception that Do was a mass murderer, when it has been well established that Ti was the true leader of the group, which brings me to my next question.... It seems to me that Do had truly convinced himself that he and the rest of Heaven's Gate would ascend to the next level. Do you believe this to be the case, or do you think he is the master manipulator that the media, and Ti's daughter has made him out to be?

I think Do believed it. We have no way of knowing, but his actions indicated that he believed it. He lived like the rest of the group, he spoke with intention about the group’s theology, he followed the same rules everyone else in the Class did, and he died like the rest of them. If we decide to ignore his actions and words and claim that he did not believe them, then we need to do the same with every other religious leader. What proof is there that the Pope is really Catholic, or the Dalai Lama really Buddhist? Or anyone, really? Declaring that Applewhite was a master manipulator certainly helps Ti’s daughter Terri feel better about her mother’s choices, and for all we know she may be correct, but there is absolutely no evidence to support that position. (Likewise, people opposed to the Pope’s religion or politics do claim that the Pope isn’t a real Catholic, etc.)
However, the idea that Applewhite was a master manipulator and liar is useful if we want to reinforce our perspectives, i.e. the beliefs we have that make us comfortable. What Do did, and what members of Heaven’s Gate did, is irrational to those of us outside the group. But if we believe the members were duped and Applewhite was lying, then that fits what we know about cults and relieves us from having to think too hard about why 39 people thought laying down their human lives to leave the Earth and go to what they believed was the Next Level made sense to them. It is a lot easier to assume everyone whose beliefs and practices are different than ours are crazy, evil, manipulated, or brainwashed. I can see the power in that claim. Maybe they were, who knows? It just doesn’t have any evidence to support it.
Murderalaska’s Art Bell question:
I cover this in the last chapter of my book, but yes: I think it is clear that Chuck Shramek’s call to Art Bell’s show on November 14, 1996, and the Hale-Bopp Companion webpage that Shramek created were the source of Heaven’s Gate’s beliefs about the comet’s supposed UFO companion. Courtney Brown’s call to Art Bell on November 15, 1996, was also influential, since Brown claimed to have used remote viewing (effectively astral projection) to confirm the presence of massive UFO. Members of Heaven’s Gate would have accepted this as a valid spiritual technology, and given credence to Shramek’s and Brown’s claims.

Hiking season is in full swing and it's making my heart very happy :) You will see a lot of quotes from people's social media accounts* for updates in the coming weeks instead of my usual, short, 1 sentence summaries of their progress. I want to more or less create a yearbook of quotes for the Class of 2023. I will continue to post "Current Location-ish" HAGS, HAKAS!
*User accounts that have opted to publicize their social media links
As always, we appreciate all of your updates from trail and wish you nothing but the absolute best as your embark and continue on your PCT journey. HYOH, LNT, and remember to thank your local Trail Angel.

VIBE OF THE WEEK: BURGEONING

*to grow or develop rapidly; expand or proliferate*
JOIN THESE UPDATES
If you are hiking the trail this year (Thru or LASH) and would like to be added to these posts, please fill out the survey linked here or comment below and we'll get you added into future updates. These updates will come on a weekly basis and be put out on Mondays.
If for any reason you'd like to be removed from these updates OR if something does not look right, please message me directly.
Thread for hikers to post current trail conditions
PCTA - Most Recent Trail Closure Updates
San Jacinto Update 5/10
The below usernames are clickable links that take you to that hiker's social media page (IG, YT, blog etc.)

Hiker	Trail Name	Start Date	Current Location-ish	Week 11 Update:
u/Schrodingers-cat-30	Ditto	MAR 2 2023 (NOBO)	Sierra Nevada	5/20: "We pushed the envelope of what is possible. Went 145 miles straight in the sierra from KMS to aspendel and we had a blast. Words can’t describe and pictures can’t do it justice. That was amazing"
u/TrailNicks, Link 2	Golden	MAR 5 2023 (NOBO)	KMS	5/20: heading to KMS!
u/TrailHead42	Trailhead	MAR 10 2023 (NOBO)	past mi 250	5/20: Got back on trail in the evening, did 4 mi and set up camp
u/juliozz59, Link 2	Spread	MAR 20 2023 (NOBO)	Sierra Nevada	5/20: having a blast with his 'La #Tramilia' heading into the Sierra from KMS
u/emdem55	Keys	MAR 22 2023 (NOBO)	Off Trail!	5/20: pulled their first 30mi day headed up to Walker Pass. Getting off trail for a month but will get back on in NorCal in late June. Will keep hiker on the list
u/Beefandsteel		MAR 22 2023 (NOBO)	Off Trail!	5/20: Got to Walker Pass but getting off trail until early June. Will keep hiker on the list
u/jacobburns		MAR 22 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/20: No update posted
u/ThrowAwayTheAT		MAR 22 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/20: No update posted
u/7-legged-octopus		MAR 27 2023 (NOBO)	KMS	5/20: Took dope pics at the LA. "next stop: kennedy meadows, and the end of the desert section."
u/frankiehikes	Tabs	MAR 28 2023 (NOBO)	Off Trail!	5/20: "We made it 704 miles to Kennedy meadows! I will be off trail for a couple of weeks and rejoin in Northern California."
u/particularamphibian, Link 2, Link 3		MAR 28 2023 (NOBO)	past mi 600	5/20: "Miles 400-558.5. Snowstorms, new friends, desert superbloom, night trips with glowsticks. Another eventful week on the PCT "
u/m		MAR 28 2023 (NOBO)	Off Trail!	5/20: seems to be off trail, will archive hiker next week if no update
u/yourgirlbribri		MAR 29 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/20: hit 500 miles and feeling proud (you should!!) "Night hiking the LA aqueduct and seeing the wind farm against the stars of desert sky was such an amazing experience and one of my favorite days on trail so far."
u/Intrepid-Ad-4770, Link 2	Sweets	MAR 29 2023 (NOBO)	KMS	5/20: completed Section E and nighthiked the LA AQ. Possibly saw UFO? headed to KMS!
u/Future_Psychology_91	Dundee on the AT.. on the PCT?	MAR 30 2023 (NOBO)	Tehachapi	5/20: big miles, long, hot days through windmill fields, ending in Tehachapi for town chores
u/Kalmes12345		MAR 31 2023 (NOBO)	Tehachapi	5/20: seeing how far they can stretch their legs, pulling 20s is no big deal at this time. night hiked the LA AQ as per tradition
u/chroniclesofvanlife, Link 2, Link 3	Stitches	APR 1 2023 (NOBO)	KMS	5/20: Reached KMS!!!!! So proud!! "I feel as though I am experiencing earth at the pace of earth itself, slowly shifting to different biomes and watching different plants bloom."
u/nataliethisisnatalie	Bestie	APR 1 2023 (NOBO)	SanJac	5/20: Summitted SanJac! Big Win!
u/Phantom_dong		APR 5 2023 (NOBO)	past Tehachapi	5/20: Morning hiked LA AQ, napped under a bridge as per tradition, nero'd and zero'd in Tehachapi to round out the desert portion.
u/pelostrece	Spanish Inquisition	APR 5 2023 (NOBO)	KMS	5/20: completed SanJac, rolled into Big Bear, 2 days ago he was at KMS
u/UtahHiker69	Fry Pocket	APR 6 2023 (NOBO)	mi 600ish	5/20: had a big reunion at Hikertown, as well as an incredible burger. "We’re out here, happy, nonjudgmental. Just equal humans on a journey through life. Just the way it should be."
u/shoebinn, Link 2		APR 7 2023 (NOBO)	mi 600ish	5/20: plans to get off at KMS to wait for snow to melt, in the meantime stopped in at Hikertown and then night hiked LA AQ
u/evoncassier		APR 7 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/20: No update posted
u/RedNi12		APR 9 2023 (NOBO)	Acton	5/20: hit mi 400! Took highway around Baden Powell, chilling in Acton
u/tomnomnom17		APR 10 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/20: hit 500 mi mark!
u/Beccatravels	Pepper	APR 10 2023 (NOBO)	past Wrightwood	5/20: new shoes, pizza at the trailhead and Cajon Pass McD's; then slogged into Wrightwood for a zero and pushing to Tehachapi
u/jesshikes		APR 11 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/20: "the PCT is starting to feel like a normal life; I have a routine, daily tasks, people I see regularly. Everyday is different and yet the unknown feels strangely comfortable now."
u/DrWolffe	Scrambles	APR 11 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/20: No update posted
u/mikenikey	Water Taxi	APR 12 2023 (NOBO)	Tehachapi	5/20: set off on a solo night hike of LA AQ however found some friends and finished a 37 mi day with their first cowboy camp. Rolled into Tehachapi
u/woodsbearoutdoors		APR 14 2023 (NOBO)	Tehachapi	5/20: Summited San Jacinto, Mount Baden Powell and Throop. Destroying lots of gear along the way :)
u/pollyf		APR 14 2023 (NOBO)	Tehachapi	5/20: rolled through the wind farm
u/hallroosevelt, Link 2		APR 15 2023 (NOBO)	mi 500ish	5/20: more than halfway done with desert section, approaching mi 500
u/AgentDouble00	Doppler	APR 15 2023 (NOBO)	Hikertown	5/20: Hikertown
u/Bullish_bear000		APR 19 2023 (NOBO)	Big Bear	5/20: hit mi 300! Stopped at the hot springs and pulled a 25 mi day, counting the miles to Big Bear
u/esahr	Guidebook	APR 19 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/20: No update posted
u/Just_karo	Flamethrower	APR 20 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/20: Loving the snow again and happy to be on trail!
u/charles1503, Link 2, Link 3		APR 21 2023 (NOBO)	Cajon Pass	5/20: "Finished up week 4. The views keep getting better.... Met a lot of dope people, and the kindness of them taking care of us has helped out a lot."
u/B2Pats	Marine	APR 23 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/20: No update posted
u/loganlaliberte	Juice	APR 25 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/20: Baden Powell area
u/FishingFrank, Link 2	Papa Roja	APR 26 2023 (NOBO)	Wrightwood	5/20: hit mi 300!
u/Havasu-Hiker23, u/Havasu-hiker	Stix	APR 26 2023 (NOBO)	Wrightwood	5/20: hit Cajon Pass McD's and pushing into Wrightwood
u/MoonMoonMoonMooon		APR 27 2023 (NOBO - Section)	On Trail!	5/20: "I truly don’t even know where to begin posting about this hike while I’m still on it"
u/hejkathinka, Link 2	CEO	APR 28 2023 (NOBO)	Cajon Pass	5/20: Hit up Cajon Pass McD's
u/Mschoee		MAY 1 2023 (NOBO)	mi 250ish	5/20: made it past SanJac and Whitewater, waking up earlier these days to beat the heat. Taking a nice deserved zero with friends
u/loombisaurus	Daisy	MAY 1 2023 (NOBO)	Off Trail!	5/22: got off trail to take his doggy home but plans to get back on
u/MoogyzHikez, u/environmental-pop-11		MAY 4 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/22: shared a tent with a lizard, living their best life.
u/sharkdork		MAY 5 2023 (NOBO)	past mi 200	5/22: hit mi 200, walked in the rain, saw a rattler
u/Kristi_Tho		MAY 6 2023 (NOBO)	past Idyllwild	5/22: checking off a lot of "firsts" took their first zero in Idyllwild "first spotting of the poisonous poodle dog brush, and first view of Palm Springs"
u/jkeller52		MAY 10 2023 (NOBO)	Idyllwild	5/22: took their first well deserved zero in Idyllwild before they tackle SanJac and roll into Big Bear
u/kinn0n14	Jabberwocky	MAY 13 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/22: got their trail name!
u/dgerken81	Hot Pink	MAY 13 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/22: "My feet and legs are tired. Back hurts a little. Shoulders are sore. We’ll see what tomorrow holds. "
u/innoutberger	Jenga	MAY 14 2023 (NOBO)	On Trail!	5/22: snow
u/spiderwinder23		MAY 15 2023 (NOBO)	past mi 100	5/22: "Day 6-7: Absolutely crushing these early miles. Making some good friends and did some night hiking on the mountains. Hit mile 100 earlier today"
u/niccolojoe		MAY 18 2023 (NOBO)	No update posted	5/22: no update from trail yet
u/packfullofgoldbars		MAY 20 2023 (NOBO - Section)	No update posted	5/22: no update from trail yet
u/bbqbaconsandwich		MAY 22 2023 (NOBO)	Starts Today!	5/22: No update from trail yet
u/Big_Bad_Panda	Tinman	MAY 25 2023 (NOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/brick_50		MAY 25 2023 (NOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/margot380, Link 2		JUL 2 2023 (SOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/jocheeseburger11	Early Bird	JUL 7 2023 (SOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/Sea_counter8398		JUL 8 2023 (SOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/lilmisscactus		JUL 8 2023 (SOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/Agreeable_Ad_5423		JUL 10 2023 (SOBO)	Not Yet On Trail
u/canthinkofone9	Sweet Rinn	JUL 26 2023 (SOBO - Section)	Not Yet On Trail

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🗓 Date: May 23, 2023 @ 5PM
🗺 Location:** Long Beach Civic Center411 W. Ocean Boulevard
📺 LiveStream (YouTube):** https://www.youtube.com/c/LongBeachTelevision
📺 Live Stream (City Website):** https://longbeach.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=84
ℹ️ Details:** https://longbeach.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1103735&GUID=B4ADCE64-EA30-4E25-B40C-A08EDB85C90B&Options=info&Search=
📄 Agenda (PDF):** https://longbeach.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=1103735&GUID=B4ADCE64-EA30-4E25-B40C-A08EDB85C90B
🗣eComment:** https://longbeach.granicusideas.com/meetings/4006-city-council/agenda_items

Agenda Item

CD9 - Funds Transfer Disability Pride

Item #1 • File #23-0515 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilmember Joni Ricks-oddie, Ninth District

WITHDRAWN Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $250, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to ABLE PAC in support of the 2023 Long Beach Disability Pride Celebration; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $250 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD9 - Funds Transfer Juneteenth Celebration

Item #2 • File #23-0516 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilmember Joni Ricks-oddie, Ninth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $500, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a donation to Long Beach Partners of Parks in support of the 2023 Long Beach Juneteenth Celebration; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $500 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD5 - LGBTQ Center Black and White Ball

Item #3 • File #23-0517 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Fifth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,000, offset by the Fifth Council District One-Time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to The LGBTQ Center Long Beach (The Center) for their annual Black and White Ball; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $1,000 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD4 - Funds Transfer Rancho Los Alamitos

Item #4 • File #23-0518 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilman Daryl Supernaw, Fourth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $2,500, offset by the Fourth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation in support of the Cottonwood Awards Luncheon; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $2,500 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD4 - Funds Transfer Bridge Gap Tennis

Item #5 • File #23-0519 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilman Daryl Supernaw, Fourth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $5,000, offset by the Fourth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to Bridge the Gap Tennis Management in support of the Free Youth Tennis Play Day; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $5,000 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CC - Minutes

Item #6 • File #23-0520 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Clerk

Recommendation to approve the minutes for the City Council meetings of Tuesday, May 2 and May 9, 2023.

CC - Damage Claims

Item #7 • File #23-0521 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Clerk

Recommendation to refer to City Attorney damage claims received between May 8, 2023 and May 15, 2023.

PW - Easement deed at 2851 Orange Ave for street widening D5

Item #14 • File #23-0528 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to accept an easement deed from Duke Realty Orange LP, a Delaware limited partnership, property owner at 2851 Orange Avenue, for street widening, pedestrian, and ADA purposes; and Accept CEQA Notice of Determination, State Clearinghouse number 2019100514. (District 5)

PW - Easement deed at 3443 Long Beach Blvd for installation of public utilities D8

Item #15 • File #23-0529 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to accept an easement deed from 888-5 Partners LLC, a California limited liability company, property owner at 3443 Long Beach Boulevard, for the installation of public utilities; and Accept CEQA Notice of Determination, State Clearinghouse number 2018121025. (District 8)

Mayor - Climate Audit

Item #17 • File #23-0533 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Mayor Rex Richardson
• Councilmember Kristina Duggan, Third District, Cha
• Climate, Environmental, and Coastal Protection Com
• Councilman Al Austin, Eighth District

Recommendation to request City Auditor to conduct a comprehensive audit on fiscal liabilities and economic impacts to the City of Long Beach stemming from California’s transition away from crude oil and natural gas production to assist in the City’s transition planning efforts, and refer findings to the Climate, Environment, and Coastal Protection Committee for input and discussion.

CD4 - Studebaker Update

Item #18 • File #23-0522 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilman Daryl Supernaw, Fourth District
• Councilmember Kristina Duggan, Third District
• Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Fifth District

Recommendation to request City Manager direct Public Works to provide a comprehensive update on the status of the Studebaker Road major corridor improvements project at the June 6, 2023 Council meeting.

DS - Approve a CUP for 1911 E PCH D6

Item #19 • File #23-0535 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Development Services

Recommendation to reaffirm adoption and approval of Mitigated Negative Declaration IS/MND 06-22, as previously approved and adopted by the City Council on February 21, 2023, and reaffirm that the Project is consistent with the previously adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND 06-22) and the findings of fact related thereto; and Approve Conditional Use Permit findings and conditions of approval memorializing the City Council’s February 21, 2023, action to uphold an appeal (APL22-005) and approve a Conditional Use Permit (CUP 2211-18) for a new car wash located at 1911 East Pacific Coast Highway in the Community R-4-N Commercial (CCN) Zoning District. (District 6)

FM - FY23 2nd Dept. and Fund budget appropriation adjustments

Item #20 • File #23-0536 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Financial Management

Recommendation to approve the Fiscal Year 2023 second departmental and fund budget appropriation adjustments in accordance with existing City Council policy. (Citywide)

CD2 - Fund Transfer for Community Events

Item #25 • File #23-0545 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Vice Mayor Cindy Allen, Second District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,000, offset by Second Council District One-Time District Priority Funds, transferred from the Citywide Activities Department, to provide contributions of: · $500 to Love Beyond Limits to support their 10th anniversary event, Connecting Beyond Limits, on May 19, 2023; · $250 to the Bluff Heights Neighborhood Association to support their 4th of July Block Party; · $250 to Long Beach Forward to support their fundraiser, Blossoming, on May 6, 2023; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $1,000, to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD6 - Reward of no less than $25,000

Item #26 • File #23-0512 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilwoman Suely Saro, Sixth District
• Mayor Rex Richardson
• Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Fifth District
• Councilman Al Austin, Eighth District

Recommendation to request City Manager to enter discussions with LA County to partner on establishing a reward of no less than $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect(s) involved in the May 9, 2023, fatal shooting on the 2200 Block of Lewis Avenue.

CM - Local Emergency

Item #27 • File #23-0544 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Manager

Recommendation continue the local emergency caused by conditions or threatened conditions of homelessness within the City of Long Beach, which if not corrected, constitute an imminent and proximate threat to the safety of persons and property within the City; and Receive and file an update on the emergency declaration and associated activities and provide any additional direction to City staff regarding the emergency. (Citywide)

supp memo

Item # • File #23-0546 (Details, PDF)
Supplemental Memorandum - Corrections and/or additions to the City Council Agenda as of 12:00 noon, Friday, May 19, 2023.

Contract

ED/HR - Lease for office space at 4900 Airport Plaza Dr. D4

Item #8 • File #23-0523 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Economic Development
• Human Resources

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary for an office sublease agreement between 4900 Long Beach Office, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (Landlord), and the City of Long Beach (Tenant), for office space at 4900 Airport Plaza Drive, Suite 110, and 4910 Airport Plaza Drive, Suite 225 for the City of Long Beach Human Resources Department’s Risk Management and Safety Bureaus. (District 4) Levine Act: Yes

FD - MOU w/LACo. DA’s office to implement and use the eCER portal

Item #9 • File #23-0524 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Fire

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a Memorandum of Understanding, and all necessary documents, including any subsequent amendments, with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, to implement and use the Electronic Charge Evaluation Request (eCER) portal, for the period of May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2029. (Citywide)

PRM - ROE for Naples Island Garden Club D3

Item #11 • File #23-0526 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Parks, Recreation and Marine

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a Right-of-Entry Permit, and any related documents, with the Naples Island Garden Club, a nonprofit organization, and/or its agents, to provide landscape improvements and maintenance at La Bella Fontana di Napoli Park, for a term of four years, with two three-year renewal options, at the discretion of the City Manager. (District 3) Levine Act: Yes

PRM - Sean Khan Consulting Co. for the lease of a prefabricated modular building D4

Item #12 • File #23-0527 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Parks, Recreation and Marine

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to enter into a Lease Agreement with Sean Khan Consulting Company, Inc., of Chino Hills, CA, for the lease of a prefabricated modular building, for a period of five years, in an amount not to exceed $81,300. (District 4) Levine Act: Yes

PW - Alamitos Bay Pump Station Discharge Replacement line at 5437 E. Ocean Blvd D3

Item #13 • File #23-0530 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an easement deed to be granted to Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD) for construction improvements to the Alamitos Bay Pump Station Discharge Replacement line, located at 5437 East Ocean Boulevard; and Accept that the project is within the scope of the Los Angeles County Water Resources Core Services discharge line replacement project for the Alamitos Bay Pump Station, previously analyzed as part of Mitigated Negative Declaration IS/MND, adopted by the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors on March 4, 2020. (District 3)

PW - As-needed professional engineering services

Item #21 • File #23-0537 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to amend Contract No. 36053 with AKM Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Irvine, CA; Contract No. 36042 with Anchor QEA, LLC, of Seattle, WA; Contract No. 36043 with Ardurra Group, Inc., of Tampa, FL; Contract No. 36094 with Arup North America Ltd., of Los Angeles, CA; Contract No. 36052 with Atlas Technical Consultants LLC, of Austin, TX; Contract No. 36088 with Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Los Angeles, CA; Contract No. 36038 with Dewberry Engineers Inc., of Fairfax, VA; Contract No. 36090 with Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., of Boca Raton, FL; Contract No. 36045 with HDR Engineering, Inc., of Long Beach, CA; Contract No. with 36089 IDC Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Anaheim, CA; Contract No. 36050 with Kleinfelder, Inc., of San Diego, CA; Contract No. 36046 with KOA Consulting, Inc., of Huntington Beach, CA; Contract No. 36048 with KOA Corporation, of Monterey Park, CA; Contract No. 36054 with KPFF Consulting Engineers, of Seattle, WA; Contract No. 36049 with Langan Engineering and Envi

Resolution

HR - Adopt a Resolution amending the City Salary Schedules

Item #10 • File #23-0525 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Human Resources

Recommendation to adopt resolution amending the City Salary Schedule effective March 25, 2023. (Citywide)

FM - Master Fee and Charges Schedule

Item #16 • File #23-0531 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Financial Management

Recommendation to receive the supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and adopt resolution amending the Master Fee and Charges Schedule. (Citywide)

PW - Road maintenance and Rehabilitation Account Funding

Item #22 • File #23-0538 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving a list of projects citywide for repaving and resurfacing that are proposed to receive Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account funding totaling an estimated $11,500,000 in the Fiscal Year 2024 Paving Program. (Citywide)

Ordinance

CM - Ordinance Amending LBMC 5.92

Item #23 • File #23-0532 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Manager

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code (LBMC) to reinstate language in Chapter 5.92 related to the operation of adult-use dispensaries in mixed-used buildings in Downtown Long Beach to correct the clerical/scrivener error and allow the approved ordinance amendments from June 15, 2021, to remain in place, read for the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council. (Citywide)

DS - Motel and UDU Mods (DS)

Item #24 • File #23-0489 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Development Services

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Chapters 21.25, Division IX (Local Coastal Development Permits), 21.65 (Interim Motel/Hotel Conversions) and 21.66 (Unpermitted Dwelling Unit Amnesty Program), read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

I have yet to play a Simpsons game that felt as immersive, big and overall "scratching the itch to play a Simpsons game" (so many secrets too and infinite replayability especially with two people)
I have played Tony Hawk 1-5, Road Rage and have played Hit & Run, Wrestling, Virtual Springfield, The Simpsons Game, Tapped Out, the arcade fighter and some more. Skateboarding may be frustrating with its issues but you can explore:

• 3D Springfield Gorge + Highway + Canyon + River + Dam + Fields + More
• Downtown + Monorail + Police Station + Kwik E Mart + Every building you can think of
• Elementary + all the insanity of that opening level, feels like a million square miles
• Nuclear Power Plant + Reactor + Exterior + Interiors + Parking Lot + Go up the cooling towers!!
• KRUSTY LU STUDIOS WOW WHAT A LEVEL FOR SECRETS JUST WOW
• I'm going by memory but seriously that game is the best Simpsons game there is

This guide does not include achievements earned through regular gameplay. "Easy" is based on my personal assessment, so please don't feel bad if you can't do some of these. At present I am aware of two comprehensive achievement trackers, Prydwen/Meow (Excel sheet) and StarRailStation (hosted on their site).
Known bugged achievements are at the end, but please let me know if I've missed anything!

Eager for Battle (Combat Related Achievements)

Achievement	How to Achieve
Unstoppable	Use 4 Ultimates in a row (most easily achieved in the SimU, though you can save four Ultimates for combat anywhere)
Break Till Broken	Inflict Weakness Break 4 time(s) upon the same enemy in a single battle (most easily achieved on tankier enemies in the SimU, like elites or bosses, but can also be done with a low damage but high break effect character, like Pela)
A Song of Vice and Dire	Inflict both Burn and Freeze upon 1 enemy at the same time (if you don't have DoT characters who can inflict burn and freeze, this can be achieved through the Nihility path (for both) or Remembrance path (if you have a burn character) in the SimU)
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn	Inflict 4 DoT effects upon 1 enemie(s) at the same time (most easily achieved in the SimU with the Nihility path)
Breaker Type Achievements (Many)	There are many achievements related to breaking enemy weaknesses with specific elements, so be sure to vary who you're using in combat and make use of the Support feature when you can
Technique Damage Achievements (2)	Using offensive techniques (such as Seele, Pela, and Natasha's, but there are several more characters who can do this) to begin battle will allow you to get these achievements
Follow-Up Attack Achievements (3)	If you don't have Jing Yuan, Herta, or Himeko built, using one of them from the Support function is your best bet for these achievements!
DoT Attack Achievements (3)	Same as before, using Serval or Sampo (though others like Dan Heng may be of help) will allow you to get these achievements! The Nihility path in the SimU may also be helpful
No Offense	Remove buffs on enemies 5 time(s) in a single battle (using a Nihility character is crucial for this achievement, with Pela being one of the best for it)
The Exorcist	Remove debuffs from allies 5 time(s) in a single battle (Natasha and March's cleanses are the only ways to get this achievement solely by using characters at present, but you can use the Abundance path in the SimU with the cleansing upgrade to achieve the same purpose)
Perpetual Freezer	Freeze 1 enemies for 3 turns in a row (if not using ice-type characters like Gepard, Pela, and March, the Remembrance path in the SimU may help)
Morituri Te Salutant	Defeat an enemy when a character has less than 1% of HP left (can be combined with the achievement Perish Song (below))
One on One	Enter combat with 4 character(s) but win with only 1 character(s) still standing (fairly straightforward and has a few possible approaches, including underlevelled characters/stronger enemies, probably easiest to do in the SimU!)
All Men Must Die	Receive a killing blow from enemies when at 100% HP (also straightforward, but easiest to do against elite enemies/bosses)
Energy Grandet	Have a character whose Energy is at 100% at the beginning of a turn for 4 turns in a row (just don't use your Ultimate for four turns)
Passing as a Flower in the City of the Dead*	Revive 2 downed character(s) in a single battle (easiest if you have Bailu since she gives one free revive per battle at E0, however, this achievement can be done through the use of revival Curios/Blessings in the SimU with the Abundance Path Resonance that allows a character to survive lethal damage and the Destruction blessing that allows the same, however getting both of these in one run may prove difficult!)
Serial Breaker	Inflict Weakness Break to 4 enemies in a single action (straightforward but easiest done with a Technique before battle or an Erudition character like Himeko, Jing Yuan, Serval, or Herta)
Heavenly Hand	Use a Technique to defeat all enemies upon entering battle (may take trial and error to find a battle with four enemies with the same weakness, though I did this with Sushang in the SimU's first World)
Always Come Prepared	A character has 5 or more buffs at the beginning of a turn (use of Harmony characters, consumables, and the SimU will help you achieve this one!)
Highway Star	Allies act for 100 times in a single battle (straighforward, elite/boss enemies are your friend!)
Extreme Survival	Win a battle with all four allies having HP percentages equal to or less than 5% (most easily achieved with the Galactic Big Lotto Curio in the SimU)
Bullet Time	Allies have 10 turns of action unbroken by enemies (whether or not you own Seele or use someone else's in the support function, she's one of the best choices for this, though you can also use speed buffs like Asta's/speed builds, or Welt's slowing to achieve this)
Perish Song (Hidden)	Get knocked out together with the enemy (most easily done with the self-destructing robots in the Robot Settlement/Great Mine, allow them to do their attacks with a low power team and you will get this achievement)
Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight (Hidden)	Deal 20000 DMG or higher to an enemy whose HP percentage is equal to or lower than 1% in a single attack (straightforward, easiest to do in Echoes of War or the SimU boss battles)
Deus Ex Machina (Hidden)	Inflict Weakness Break on enemies 3 time(s) using the Trailblazer (Destruction) in a single battle (straightforward)
Listen... (Hidden)	Use the Trailblazer to fight boss Kafka and become Dominated by her (straightforward, done in SimU World 5 but requires some RNG)
"I Don't Get No Respect!" (Hidden)	Enrage the Guardian Shadow with 4 character(s) in your team (when the Guardian Shadow enacts a state like "punishment for using skills", use all of your characters to do the opposite)
Chad Norris	Defeat the Guardian Shadow without enraging it (kill it too fast or weakness break it before it can)
Attack! No Matter the Cost!	Trigger Silvermane Lieutenant's Shield Reflect at least 4 time(s) and defeat it (easiest done in Forgotten Hall in my experience, though it may take awhile)
Decapitation Strike	Defeat the Silvermane Lieutenant without defeating any Silvermane Guards (straightforward)
The Limping Lupine	Defeat Automaton Direwolf without triggering Felling Order (kill it too fast or weakness break it before it can)
Regurgitation	Cause Frigid Prowler to fail to use Devour Otherling (kill the other enemies the Frigid Prowler summons, and wait until it attempts to devour them and gets its def lowered before killing it)
Hit It Where It Hurts Most	Defeat the Antimatter Engine without defeating either of the Doomsday Beast's hands in Echo of War (only attack the Antimatter Engine, aka turn off autobattle!)
Cataclysm Disruptor	Prevent the Doomsday Beast from using Impending Doom in Echo of War (kill it too fast or weakness break it before it can, easiest on low difficulties)
"Thank You for Your Service"	Defeat Bronya without defeating the Silvermane Guards (must be done in Forgotten Hall if not done during the first fight with Bronya in Belobog)
Achilles' Horse	Defeat Voidranger: Trampler when it's aiming at an ally (kill it while it is aiming, very straightforward)
Doldrums	Make Stormbringer fail to use Windfall Storm due to having no ally with Wind Shear (use a cleanse like March or Natasha's to remove Wind Shear from allies, this will be marked on the bottom of the screen with targets over the affected characters)
Code of Chivalry	Defeat Gepard without defeating the Silvermane Guards that were summoned (can be done in Forgotten Hall or SimU)
Full Metal Jacket	Stay alive after being hit by the Auxiliary Robot Arm Unit's Controlled Blasting ability (done in SimU World 4, use shields or healing)
Right-Hand Man's Many Right-Handed Right Hands	Defeat Svarog after destroying 4 Auxiliary Robot Arm Unit(s) (done in SimU World 4)
Homemade Crushed Ice	Defeat the Ice Edge summoned by Cocolia 4 time(s) (done in SimU World 6 or Echoes of War)
Road to Canossa	Interrupt Cocolia's use of "Wrath of Winterland Saints" when she is charging (done in SimU World 6, the easiest way is to break her weakness when she is charging)
Save the Princess	Defeat Cocolia without defeating Bronya (done in SimU World 6)
Hot-Blooded	Defeat Cocolia, Mother of Deception, without any ally being Frozen at any point of the battle in Echo of War (doing a low level Echoes of War and taking the anti-Freeze consumable will be the easiest ways to achieve this)
Friendly Fire	Defeat the Aurumaton Gatekeeper with the Entranced Ingenium: Illumination Dragonfish's "Candle Flame" (straightforward)
Wrathful Aurumaton	In a single battle, cause Aurumaton Gatekeeper to enter the Wrath state 3 times (hold your attacks to allow it to enter this state)
Will of Steel	In a single battle against Boss Kafka, dispel Dominated 3 times (most easily done in SimU World 5 with the Abundance Resonance with cleansing)

Universe in a Nutshell (Simulated Universe Related Achievements)

Achievement	How to Achieve
The First and Last Freedom	Enter battle with 4 allies with HP percentage equal to or less than 1% in Simulated Universe (requires the Curio Galactic Big Lotto to break and deplete your HP, you may want to turn off autobattle and make sure you're not using Lightcones/characters/Blessings with healing passives to prevent them from healing)
Freeze!	Keep a single enemy Frozen for 10 turns in Simulated Universe (Remembrance path is your friend for this one!)
Elemental Reaction System	Deal 5 or more Types of DMG in a single attack in Simulated Universe (use the path of Elation)
Twenty Four Love Poems and a Song of Despair	All allies have HP percentages equal to or less than 5% when winning a battle in Simulated Universe (again, Galactic Big Lotto will be your friend!)
We Call the Heart Dancing in the Dark the Moon	Have at least 3 enemy unit(s) be afflicted with Shock, Burn, Bleed, and Wind Shear simultaneously in the Simulated Universe (use the path of Nihility)
Don't Let It Get Away! (Hidden)	Let Trotters escape 1 times in Simulated Universe (straightforward)
A Finger in Every Pie	Have Blessings from 6 or more Paths when clearing Simulated Universe (RNG based, but easy enough to pull off! if you're concerned about not clearing, try a lower world level)
Private Collector	Have 22 or more Blessing(s) when clearing Simulated Universe (RNG based, there's an event that gives you all the blessings from one path and this is the easiest way to get this achievement though you may get it through a normal clear with some luck!)
It's Good to Be Rich!	Have 1024 or more Cosmic Fragment(s) when clearing Simulated Universe (most easily done with the same event mentioned in Private Collector, since it gives you 2000 Cosmic Fragments)
On Fire off the Shoulder of Orion (Hidden)	Lose against Elite enemies in Simulated Universe
Glitter at the Tannhauser Gate (Hidden)	Lose against the Boss Enemies in Simulated Universe
Wake Up! (Hidden)	Lose the battle in the Nildis event in Simulated Universe (requires the Nildis event, obviously)
Lost Like Tears in Rain (Hidden)	Lose the battle in the tavern event in Simulated Universe (tavern events will show up as enemy encounters)
Console Game	Clear Simulated Universe at difficulty 2 or higher without using the Downloader
If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking	Clear Simulated Universe at difficulty 2 or higher without breaking any destructible objects (depends on your builds whether you can do this now or not but go for it and see!)

Moment of Joy (Story/Dialogue Related Achievements)

Achievement	How to Achieve
Diogenes' Utopia	Search every trashcan in Belobog
Insatiable	Use the vomit-inducing agent (recipe obtained from Maxime in Boulder Town, requires Trash to be synthesised)
Trashy Humor	Synthesise the trash you find
Karmic Wheel	Use a Praise of High Morals in the fountain in the Administrative District
Saint	Earn 20 Praises of High Morals
It Takes Three	Win a battle with a team that has 3 characters of the same Path
Match-Three	Win a battle with a team that has 3 characters of the same Type
Dialogue Based Achievements (Hidden) (6)	These will be attained naturally over the course of playing, but mix up your dialogue choices to get all of them!
Lone Wolf (Hidden)	Win 10 battles with only one character on the team
Path/Type Based Achievements (Hidden)	Whenever you can make a team with four characters on the same Path or of the same element Type, you'll get an achievement for it (most aren't possible with our selection at the moment but one or two of these teams might be available to you)

The Memories We Share (Adventure Quest Related Achievements)

Achievement	How to Achieve
Seventeen's Map (Hidden)	Here
Diamond and Rust (Hidden)	Here
Farewell, Comet Hunter (Hidden)	Here
Does She Walk Alone? (Hidden)	Here
Close Encounters of the Sixth Kind (Hidden)	Do the Adventure Mission "Requiem Mass"
Disposable (Hidden)	Here
When Breath Becomes Air (Hidden)	Here
Bzzt! Clock Out! (Hidden)	Here
Door to A New World (Hidden)	Here
Just A Number (Hidden)	Use the Rating Pistol in Herta's collection (interact with it)
No King Rules Forever (Hidden)	Here
Green Thumb (Hidden)	Here
Greed Psychology (Hidden)	Do "Survival Wisdom"
One Day More (Hidden)	Do "Hook's Treasure"
Moral Higher Ground (Hidden)	Here
Outworlder (Hidden)	Here
50 Credits!? (Hidden)	Here
Twinkly, Winkly (Hidden)	Found in trash in Belobog
Sweet Pom-Pom O'Mine (Hidden)	Here
Hurt Locker (Hidden)	Cannot be done until Belobog Trailblaze Mission is completed, here
Where It All Began (Hidden)	Here
Knight in Shining Armor (Hidden)	Multi-step process, here
Honest Abe (Hidden)	Here
The Mandela Effect (Hidden)	Here
Natural Immunity (Hidden)	Speak to Gertie at the Underworld branch of the Goethe Grand Hotel
Lā Lá Lǎ Là Land (Hidden)	Speak to Tamila at the theatre in the Administrative District
Winter City Trap (Hidden)	Speak to Eunice at the Robot Settlement
For Ages 12 and Up (Hidden)	Multi-step process, here
The Kelly Gang (Hidden)	Give Praises of High Morals to the fountain in the Administrative District
The Banality of Evil (Hidden)	Complete Vessel of Mediocrity (time-gated)
The Fourth Little Mole (Hidden)	Complete The Adventurous Moles
A Simple Life (Hidden)	Complete Fired (I think this one is time-gated)
Carpe Diem, Festina Lente, and Tempus Fugit	Time-gated, complete A Teacher and a Friend
Cycranes (Hidden)	Here
Complete All Hexanexus Puzzles	Here

Fathom the Unfathomable (Exploration Related Achievements)

Achievement	How to Achieve
Can't See Behind (Hidden)	Get ambushed in the open world
Sensory Socialization (Hidden)	Here

A Note on Missable Achievements

There will be more achievements available than you can earn, as several of the achievements in The Memories We Share are tied to event outcomes, meaning you can only achieve one of these achievements. You will not miss any Stellar Jades since no account is capable of receiving more than one of the achievements, but it may bother some completionists.

Known Bugged Achievements

Achievement	How to Achieve
The Adventurous Moles Super Grown-Up Edition	Does not trigger when it should
Labor Omnia Vincit	May not be achievable, may be bugged
Dance Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee	May be tied to the current event and not bugged!

Character Specific Achievements (All Hidden)

Achievement	How to Achieve
Four-and-a-Half Pirouettes	Requires Herta
Surge of Tiles	Requires Qingque (and RNG)
It's My Turn	Requires Seele (can be done with Support Seele)
Trial of Thirteen	Requires Clara (can be done with Support Clara, probably best in Echoes of War and with a March to ensure Clara is hit enough times)
Coffee Lover	Requires Himeko (can be done with Support Himeko)
Over-Protective	Requires Gepard (can be done with Support Gepard)
When the National Anthem Rings	Requires Bronya (cannot be done with Supports)
Foolish Little Brother...	Requires Serval (cannot be done with Supports)
Serval's Parting Gift	Requires Serval (cannot be done with Supports)
Et tu, Bronya?	Requires Bronya (cannot be done with Supports)
Versatile Joker	Requires Sampo (probably very tedious to do with Support Sampo)
One Big Happy Family	Requires Himeko or Welt (can be done with the Support version of the character you don't have)
Architects (And Former Architects)	Requires Gepard or Bronya (can be done with the Support version of the character you don't have)

A million flowers for the achievement hunters sharing their finds!

Awe-Inspiring Natural Beauty: Hidden Treasures Along The Journey

I. Introduction

A. Brief overview of Leh Ladakh as a popular destination for bike trips from Delhi

Nestled in the picturesque landscapes of the Indian Himalayas, Leh Ladakh has become a magnet for adventurous travelers, especially those seeking the thrill of a ladakh bike trip from delhi. Located in the northernmost region of India, this mystical land offers breathtaking vistas, rugged terrains, and a unique blend of cultures. It has gained popularity as a preferred destination for bikers, particularly from Delhi, due to its proximity and accessibility.

B. The thrill and adventure of embarking on a bike trip to Leh Ladakh

Embarking on a ladakh bike tour packages from delhi is an exhilarating experience that pushes the boundaries of adventure. The winding roads, high mountain passes, and awe-inspiring landscapes make for an unforgettable journey. The adrenaline rush, coupled with the freedom to explore at your own pace, creates a sense of adventure that is hard to replicate elsewhere.

C. Importance of choosing the right places to visit during the journey

While delhi to ladakh bike trip packages as a whole is captivating, there are some underrated destinations that often go unnoticed by travelers. These hidden gems offer unique experiences and allow adventurous souls to step off the beaten path. Choosing the right places to visit during the journey can enhance the overall experience and reveal the lesser-known wonders of this enchanting region.

II. Route and Road Conditions

A. Overview of the popular routes from Delhi to Leh Ladakh

The journey from Delhi to Leh Ladakh offers multiple routes, each with its own charm. During ladakh bike trip package from delhi The two most popular routes are the Manali-Leh Highway and the Srinagar-Leh Highway. The former takes riders through the beautiful valleys of Himachal Pradesh, while the latter treats them to the stunning vistas of Kashmir. Both routes present their own challenges and rewards, allowing riders to choose the path that aligns with their preferences.

B. Highlights of the road conditions and challenges bikers may encounter

Bikers should be prepared for challenging road conditions, including narrow, winding roads, steep inclines, and unpredictable weather.During delhi to leh bike trip package ,The high altitude and low oxygen levels can also pose a physical challenge. However, the thrill of conquering these hurdles is what makes the journey so rewarding.

C. Essential tips for a safe and enjoyable bike trip on these routes

To ensure a safe and enjoyable bike trip, it is crucial to plan ahead and make necessary preparations. Adequate physical fitness, carrying essential supplies, and maintaining the bike's condition are vital. Additionally, riders should familiarize themselves with safety protocols, ride in groups whenever possible, and be mindful of the local culture and environment.

III. Top Places to Visit during the Leh Ladakh Bike Trip

A. Stop 1: Manali

Attractions and activities in Manali
Manali offers a range of attractions, including the Hadimba Temple, Solang Valley, and Rohtang Pass. Adventure enthusiasts can engage in activities like paragliding, river rafting, and trekking.
Best time to visit and recommended duration of stay
The best time to visit Manali is from April to June and September to October when the weather is pleasant. A recommended duration of stay is 2-3 days to fully explore the town and its surroundings.
Tips for accommodation and local food experiences
Manali provides various accommodation options, ranging from budget hostels to luxury resorts. To truly experience the local cuisine, visitors can indulge in traditional Himachali dishes like siddu and kullu trout.

B. Stop 2: Keylong and Jispa

Scenic beauty and serene landscapes of Keylong and Jispa
Keylong and Jispa offer mesmerizing vistas of snow-capped mountains, pristine rivers, and charming villages. These places provide a serene escape from the bustling tourist hubs.
Places of interest and nearby attractions
Visitors can explore attractions such as the Kardang Monastery and the Gemur Monastery in Keylong. Nearby, Jispa offers the chance to witness the Bhaga River's turquoise beauty and the unique Baralacha La Pass.
Camping and accommodation options in the area
Both Keylong and Jispa offer camping facilities, allowing travelers to immerse themselves in the untouched beauty of nature. There are also guesthouses and hotels for those seeking a more comfortable stay.

C. Stop 3: Sarchu

Importance of Sarchu as a key resting point during the bike trip
Sarchu serves as a crucial resting point during the journey due to its strategic location at the border of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. It provides a necessary break and a chance to acclimatize before continuing the journey.
Camping and accommodation facilities available
Camping in Sarchu is a popular choice among travelers, with various campsites offering tents and basic amenities. Additionally, there are several accommodations catering to different budgets and preferences.
Nearby attractions and activities for travelers
Travelers can explore the stunning beauty of the Sarchu Plateau, enjoy a bonfire under the starlit sky, and experience the thrill of off-road biking in the surrounding valleys.

D. Stop 4: Pangong Tso

Overview of the famous Pangong Tso Lake
Pangong Tso is a high-altitude lake renowned for its azure-blue waters and breathtaking surroundings. The tranquility and surreal beauty of this place make it a must-visit destination.
Spectacular views and the surreal beauty of the lake
The ever-changing hues of Pangong Tso, surrounded by rugged mountains, create a surreal atmosphere. Visitors can soak in the panoramic views and capture stunning photographs.
Camping options, photography opportunities, and must-visit spots
Camping near Pangong Tso allows travelers to wake up to mesmerizing vistas and experience the serene environment. Photography enthusiasts will find endless opportunities to capture the lake's beauty, especially during sunrise and sunset. The nearby Spangmik Village and the 3 Idiots Point are also worth exploring.

E. Stop 5: Nubra Valley

Introduction to the stunning Nubra Valley
Nubra Valley, known as the "Valley of Flowers," offers a captivating blend of colorful landscapes and ancient monasteries. Traveling through the iconic Khardung La Pass to reach Nubra Valley is an adventure in itself.
Biking through the Khardung La Pass
Khardung La Pass, one of the highest motorable passes in the world, presents a thrilling challenge for bikers. The adrenaline rush and the panoramic views from the pass are an experience to cherish.
Unique experiences like camel rides and visiting monasteries
Nubra Valley offers unique experiences such as camel rides on the sand dunes of Hunder and exploring ancient monasteries like Diskit and Sumur. These experiences provide insights into the region's rich cultural heritage.

F. Stop 6: Leh

Capital city of Ladakh and its significance
Leh, the capital city of Ladakh, serves as the gateway to the region. It boasts a rich cultural heritage, ancient monasteries, and a bustling market that reflects the local traditions and way of life.
Exploring Leh Palace, Shanti Stupa, and local markets
Visitors can immerse themselves in the history of Ladakh by exploring the Leh Palace, a magnificent structure that offers panoramic views of the city. The Shanti Stupa, perched on a hilltop, provides a peaceful ambiance, while the local markets offer a treasure trove of handicrafts, souvenirs, and traditional cuisine.
Recommendations for accommodations, local cuisine, and cultural experiences
Leh offers a range of accommodations, from budget guesthouses to luxury hotels, ensuring options for every traveler. Indulging in local Ladakhi cuisine, such as thukpa and momos, is a must-do. To immerse oneself in the culture, attending a traditional Ladakhi dance or music performance is highly recommended.

IV. Essential Tips and Precautions

A. Acclimatization and altitude sickness precautions

Given the high altitudes of Ladakh, acclimatization is crucial to avoid altitude sickness. Travelers should take it slow, stay hydrated, and allow their bodies to adjust gradually to the changing altitudes.

B. Necessary permits and documentation for the trip

Travelers must obtain necessary permits, such as the Inner Line Permit, to visit certain restricted areas in Ladakh. It is important to carry all required documents and complete the permit formalities before embarking on the journey.

C. Safety measures while riding on challenging terrains

Safety should be a top priority during the bike trip. Wearing appropriate safety gear, following traffic rules, and maintaining a reasonable speed are essential. It is also recommended to ride in daylight hours and carry a basic toolkit for any unforeseen circumstances.

D. Packing list and essential items for the bike trip

A comprehensive packing list includes warm clothing, sturdy footwear, sunscreen, sunglasses, a first aid kit, and necessary bike tools. It is important to pack light but also carry essentials for unpredictable weather conditions.

V. Conclusion

A. Recap of the best places to visit during the Leh Ladakh bike trip from Delhi

The Leh Ladakh bike trip from Delhi offers a thrilling adventure through some of the most breathtaking destinations. Stops like Manali, Keylong and Jispa, Sarchu, Pangong Tso, Nubra Valley, and Leh itself provide unique experiences and stunning landscapes that often go unnoticed.

B. Emphasis on the adventure, beauty, and unique experiences the journey offers

The journey to Leh Ladakh is not just about reaching the destination; it is about the adventure, the thrill of conquering challenging terrains, and the surreal beauty that unfolds along the way. It offers an opportunity to immerse oneself in the rich culture and experience the warmth of the local people.

C. Encouragement for readers to plan their own memorable Leh Ladakh bike trip

With proper planning, preparation, and a spirit of adventure, anyone can embark on a memorable Leh Ladakh bike trip. It is an experience that will stay etched in the memory for a lifetime, offering not just adventure but also a deeper connection with nature and oneself. So, gear up, hit the road, and create your own unforgettable journey to the underrated destinations of Ladakh.

The 2023 WWE Draft Spectacular is Here!
Michael Cole comes out in front of a large crowd at a huge stage set up in front of the WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut and welcomes them to the 2023 WWE Draft Spectacular. He then introduces the Chief Content Officer Triple H to get the Draft started.
Triple H then comes out to a huge pop from the crowd and lays down a few ground rules for the WWE Draft.
-There will be 50 picks total, 25 from Raw and 25 from SmackDown. NXT is not going to make draft picks but will pick from the undrafted Superstars to fill out their roster.
-Wherever Roman Reigns and the Bloodline goes, the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship will go with him and stay on that brand. Triple H then announces that there will be a new world title, the World Heavyweight Championship that will be officially unveiled on Raw, that will be on the brand that Roman is not on. There will be a tournament the week after Backlash that will culminate in the finals at Night of Champions. Triple H will announce more details on Raw. Like Reigns, the current champions will keep their titles with them if they switch brands. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will keep only one set of tag titles and vacate the other tag titles. There will be a vacated tag team championships tournament that will also coincide with the World Heavyweight Championship tournament the week after Backlash with the finals at Night of Champions.
-General managers for each brand will return. Adam Pearce will be the GM of Monday Night Raw, William Regal will be the GM of Friday Night SmackDown, and Shawn Michaels will be the GM of NXT.
-The Raw Women’s Championship, currently held by Bianca Belair, will now become the Women’s World Championship. The title‘s new design will be unveiled on Raw.
-The SmackDown Women’s Championship, currently held by Rhea Ripley, will now become the WWE Women’s Championship. The title’s new design will be unveiled on SmackDown.
-The Raw Tag Team Championships, currently held by Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, will now become the World Tag Team Championships. The title’s new design will be unveiled on Raw.
-The SmackDown Tag Team Championships, also currently held by Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, will now become the WWE Tag Team Championships. The title’s new design will be unveiled on SmackDown.
-The following titles will be retired: the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships and the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. To replace them there will be new women’s midcard titles. On Raw and SmackDown, the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, which will be unveiled on Raw, will replace the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. This title is dedicated in memory of the first woman to win the Intercontinental Championship, Chyna. On NXT, the NXT Women’s North American Championship, will replace the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. To coincide with the World Heavyweight Championship tournament and the vacated tag team championships tournament, the Women’s Intercontinental Championship tournament will take place the week after Backlash with the tournament finals at Night of Champions. Regarding the NXT Women’s North American Championship, that tournament will be three weeks on NXT on USA network with the tournament finals at NXT Battleground on May 28th in Lowell, Massachusetts.
-WWE will now have a hard brand split, meaning that talent will not be jumping from show to show every week and talent that are drafted to a brand will stay on that brand.
Now the 2023 WWE Draft Spectacular is ready to begin!
(Author’s side note: due to time constraints on my end I will only list the draft picks for each brand. SmackDown has the first pick and will have their draft picks announced by new General Manager William Regal while Raw’s draft picks will be announced by new General Manager Adam Pearce)
2023 WWE Draft Spectacular:
Round 1
–SmackDown selects the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns w/ the Bloodline (the Usos, Solo Sikoa, and Paul Heyman). The new World Heavyweight Championship will now be exclusive to Monday Night Raw.
-Raw selects Cody Rhodes
Round 2
-SmackDown selects the WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley w/ the Judgment Day.
-Raw selects the Women’s World Champion Bianca Belair.
Round 3
-SmackDown selects the United States Champion Austin Theory.
-Raw selects the Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER w/ Imperium.
Round 4
-SmackDown selects Montez Ford.
-Raw selects the World Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. This means that Sami and Kevin will vacate the WWE Tag Team Championships and there will be a tournament to crown new WWE Tag Team Champions.
Round 5
-SmackDown selects Bobby Lashley.
-Raw selects Edge.
Round 6
-SmackDown selects Bron Breakker.
-Raw selects the NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes w/ Trick Williams.
Round 7
-SmackDown selects Rey Mysterio w/ the LWO.
-Raw selects Angelo Dawkins.
Round 8
-SmackDown selects the Alpha Academy.
-Raw selects DIY w/ the Way (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa w/ Candice LeRae, Dexter Lumis, and the NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell).
Round 9
-SmackDown selects Iyo Sky.
-Raw selects Bayley and Dakota Kai.
Round 10
-SmackDown selects LA Knight (YEAH!).
-Raw selects Seth “Freakin” Rollins.
Round 11
-SmackDown selects Cameron Grimes.
-Raw selects Roxanne Perez.
Round 12
-SmackDown selects Pete Dunne.
-Raw selects Sheamus and Ridge Holland.
Round 13
-SmackDown selects Drew McIntyre.
-Raw selects Becky Lynch.
Round 14
-SmackDown selects Charlotte Flair.
-Raw selects Ricochet and Braun Strowman.
Round 15
-SmackDown selects Asuka.
-Raw selects Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green.
Round 16
-SmackDown selects Shinsuke Nakamura.
-Raw selects Matt Cardona.
Round 17
-SmackDown selects The Miz w/ Maryse.
-Raw selects Grayson Waller.
Round 18
-SmackDown selects Matt Riddle.
-Raw selects Karrion Kross w/ Scarlett.
Round 19
-SmackDown selects Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
-Raw selects Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler.
Round 20
-SmackDown selects Kayden Carter and Katana Chance.
-Raw selects JD McDonagh.
Round 21
-SmackDown selects Bronson Reed.
-Raw selects Riddick Moss w/ Emma.
Round 22
-SmackDown selects the New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and a returning Big E).
-Raw selects the OC (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and “Michin“ Mia Yim).
Round 23
-SmackDown selects Pretty Deadly.
-Raw selects Dolph Ziggler.
Round 24
-SmackDown selects Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn.
-Raw selects Elias and Rick Boogs.
Round 25
-SmackDown selects Shotzi and Natalya.
-Raw selects Baron Corbin.
​
And that’s the 2023 WWE Draft Spectacular. The next part will be the first episode of Raw which will feature the first round of the World Heavyweight Championship tournament, the first round of the WWE Tag Team Championships tournament, and the first round of the Women’s Intercontinental Championship tournament. I will do this when I have the time. Let me know what you think!

🗓 Date: May 23, 2023 @ 5PM
🗺 Location:** Long Beach Civic Center411 W. Ocean Boulevard
📺 LiveStream (YouTube):** https://www.youtube.com/c/LongBeachTelevision
📺 Live Stream (City Website):** https://longbeach.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=84
ℹ️ Details:** https://longbeach.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1103735&GUID=B4ADCE64-EA30-4E25-B40C-A08EDB85C90B&Options=info&Search=
📄 Agenda (PDF):** https://longbeach.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=1103735&GUID=B4ADCE64-EA30-4E25-B40C-A08EDB85C90B
🗣eComment:** https://longbeach.granicusideas.com/meetings/4006-city-council/agenda_items

Agenda Item

CD9 - Funds Transfer Disability Pride

Item #1 • File #23-0515 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilmember Joni Ricks-oddie, Ninth District

WITHDRAWN Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $250, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to ABLE PAC in support of the 2023 Long Beach Disability Pride Celebration; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $250 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD9 - Funds Transfer Juneteenth Celebration

Item #2 • File #23-0516 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilmember Joni Ricks-oddie, Ninth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $500, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a donation to Long Beach Partners of Parks in support of the 2023 Long Beach Juneteenth Celebration; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $500 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD5 - LGBTQ Center Black and White Ball

Item #3 • File #23-0517 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Fifth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,000, offset by the Fifth Council District One-Time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to The LGBTQ Center Long Beach (The Center) for their annual Black and White Ball; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $1,000 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD4 - Funds Transfer Rancho Los Alamitos

Item #4 • File #23-0518 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilman Daryl Supernaw, Fourth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $2,500, offset by the Fourth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation in support of the Cottonwood Awards Luncheon; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $2,500 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD4 - Funds Transfer Bridge Gap Tennis

Item #5 • File #23-0519 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilman Daryl Supernaw, Fourth District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $5,000, offset by the Fourth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to Bridge the Gap Tennis Management in support of the Free Youth Tennis Play Day; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $5,000 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CC - Minutes

Item #6 • File #23-0520 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Clerk

Recommendation to approve the minutes for the City Council meetings of Tuesday, May 2 and May 9, 2023.

CC - Damage Claims

Item #7 • File #23-0521 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Clerk

Recommendation to refer to City Attorney damage claims received between May 8, 2023 and May 15, 2023.

PW - Easement deed at 2851 Orange Ave for street widening D5

Item #14 • File #23-0528 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to accept an easement deed from Duke Realty Orange LP, a Delaware limited partnership, property owner at 2851 Orange Avenue, for street widening, pedestrian, and ADA purposes; and Accept CEQA Notice of Determination, State Clearinghouse number 2019100514. (District 5)

PW - Easement deed at 3443 Long Beach Blvd for installation of public utilities D8

Item #15 • File #23-0529 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to accept an easement deed from 888-5 Partners LLC, a California limited liability company, property owner at 3443 Long Beach Boulevard, for the installation of public utilities; and Accept CEQA Notice of Determination, State Clearinghouse number 2018121025. (District 8)

Mayor - Climate Audit

Item #17 • File #23-0533 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Mayor Rex Richardson
• Councilmember Kristina Duggan, Third District, Cha
• Climate, Environmental, and Coastal Protection Com
• Councilman Al Austin, Eighth District

Recommendation to request City Auditor to conduct a comprehensive audit on fiscal liabilities and economic impacts to the City of Long Beach stemming from California’s transition away from crude oil and natural gas production to assist in the City’s transition planning efforts, and refer findings to the Climate, Environment, and Coastal Protection Committee for input and discussion.

CD4 - Studebaker Update

Item #18 • File #23-0522 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilman Daryl Supernaw, Fourth District
• Councilmember Kristina Duggan, Third District
• Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Fifth District

Recommendation to request City Manager direct Public Works to provide a comprehensive update on the status of the Studebaker Road major corridor improvements project at the June 6, 2023 Council meeting.

DS - Approve a CUP for 1911 E PCH D6

Item #19 • File #23-0535 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Development Services

Recommendation to reaffirm adoption and approval of Mitigated Negative Declaration IS/MND 06-22, as previously approved and adopted by the City Council on February 21, 2023, and reaffirm that the Project is consistent with the previously adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND 06-22) and the findings of fact related thereto; and Approve Conditional Use Permit findings and conditions of approval memorializing the City Council’s February 21, 2023, action to uphold an appeal (APL22-005) and approve a Conditional Use Permit (CUP 2211-18) for a new car wash located at 1911 East Pacific Coast Highway in the Community R-4-N Commercial (CCN) Zoning District. (District 6)

FM - FY23 2nd Dept. and Fund budget appropriation adjustments

Item #20 • File #23-0536 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Financial Management

Recommendation to approve the Fiscal Year 2023 second departmental and fund budget appropriation adjustments in accordance with existing City Council policy. (Citywide)

CD2 - Fund Transfer for Community Events

Item #25 • File #23-0545 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Vice Mayor Cindy Allen, Second District

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,000, offset by Second Council District One-Time District Priority Funds, transferred from the Citywide Activities Department, to provide contributions of: · $500 to Love Beyond Limits to support their 10th anniversary event, Connecting Beyond Limits, on May 19, 2023; · $250 to the Bluff Heights Neighborhood Association to support their 4th of July Block Party; · $250 to Long Beach Forward to support their fundraiser, Blossoming, on May 6, 2023; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $1,000, to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

CD6 - Reward of no less than $25,000

Item #26 • File #23-0512 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Councilwoman Suely Saro, Sixth District
• Mayor Rex Richardson
• Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Fifth District
• Councilman Al Austin, Eighth District

Recommendation to request City Manager to enter discussions with LA County to partner on establishing a reward of no less than $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect(s) involved in the May 9, 2023, fatal shooting on the 2200 Block of Lewis Avenue.

CM - Local Emergency

Item #27 • File #23-0544 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Manager

Recommendation continue the local emergency caused by conditions or threatened conditions of homelessness within the City of Long Beach, which if not corrected, constitute an imminent and proximate threat to the safety of persons and property within the City; and Receive and file an update on the emergency declaration and associated activities and provide any additional direction to City staff regarding the emergency. (Citywide)

supp memo

Item # • File #23-0546 (Details, PDF)
Supplemental Memorandum - Corrections and/or additions to the City Council Agenda as of 12:00 noon, Friday, May 19, 2023.

Contract

ED/HR - Lease for office space at 4900 Airport Plaza Dr. D4

Item #8 • File #23-0523 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Economic Development
• Human Resources

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary for an office sublease agreement between 4900 Long Beach Office, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (Landlord), and the City of Long Beach (Tenant), for office space at 4900 Airport Plaza Drive, Suite 110, and 4910 Airport Plaza Drive, Suite 225 for the City of Long Beach Human Resources Department’s Risk Management and Safety Bureaus. (District 4) Levine Act: Yes

FD - MOU w/LACo. DA’s office to implement and use the eCER portal

Item #9 • File #23-0524 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Fire

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a Memorandum of Understanding, and all necessary documents, including any subsequent amendments, with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, to implement and use the Electronic Charge Evaluation Request (eCER) portal, for the period of May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2029. (Citywide)

PRM - ROE for Naples Island Garden Club D3

Item #11 • File #23-0526 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Parks, Recreation and Marine

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a Right-of-Entry Permit, and any related documents, with the Naples Island Garden Club, a nonprofit organization, and/or its agents, to provide landscape improvements and maintenance at La Bella Fontana di Napoli Park, for a term of four years, with two three-year renewal options, at the discretion of the City Manager. (District 3) Levine Act: Yes

PRM - Sean Khan Consulting Co. for the lease of a prefabricated modular building D4

Item #12 • File #23-0527 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Parks, Recreation and Marine

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to enter into a Lease Agreement with Sean Khan Consulting Company, Inc., of Chino Hills, CA, for the lease of a prefabricated modular building, for a period of five years, in an amount not to exceed $81,300. (District 4) Levine Act: Yes

PW - Alamitos Bay Pump Station Discharge Replacement line at 5437 E. Ocean Blvd D3

Item #13 • File #23-0530 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an easement deed to be granted to Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD) for construction improvements to the Alamitos Bay Pump Station Discharge Replacement line, located at 5437 East Ocean Boulevard; and Accept that the project is within the scope of the Los Angeles County Water Resources Core Services discharge line replacement project for the Alamitos Bay Pump Station, previously analyzed as part of Mitigated Negative Declaration IS/MND, adopted by the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors on March 4, 2020. (District 3)

PW - As-needed professional engineering services

Item #21 • File #23-0537 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to amend Contract No. 36053 with AKM Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Irvine, CA; Contract No. 36042 with Anchor QEA, LLC, of Seattle, WA; Contract No. 36043 with Ardurra Group, Inc., of Tampa, FL; Contract No. 36094 with Arup North America Ltd., of Los Angeles, CA; Contract No. 36052 with Atlas Technical Consultants LLC, of Austin, TX; Contract No. 36088 with Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Los Angeles, CA; Contract No. 36038 with Dewberry Engineers Inc., of Fairfax, VA; Contract No. 36090 with Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., of Boca Raton, FL; Contract No. 36045 with HDR Engineering, Inc., of Long Beach, CA; Contract No. with 36089 IDC Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Anaheim, CA; Contract No. 36050 with Kleinfelder, Inc., of San Diego, CA; Contract No. 36046 with KOA Consulting, Inc., of Huntington Beach, CA; Contract No. 36048 with KOA Corporation, of Monterey Park, CA; Contract No. 36054 with KPFF Consulting Engineers, of Seattle, WA; Contract No. 36049 with Langan Engineering and Envi

Resolution

HR - Adopt a Resolution amending the City Salary Schedules

Item #10 • File #23-0525 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Human Resources

Recommendation to adopt resolution amending the City Salary Schedule effective March 25, 2023. (Citywide)

FM - Master Fee and Charges Schedule

Item #16 • File #23-0531 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Financial Management

Recommendation to receive the supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and adopt resolution amending the Master Fee and Charges Schedule. (Citywide)

PW - Road maintenance and Rehabilitation Account Funding

Item #22 • File #23-0538 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Public Works

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving a list of projects citywide for repaving and resurfacing that are proposed to receive Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account funding totaling an estimated $11,500,000 in the Fiscal Year 2024 Paving Program. (Citywide)

Ordinance

CM - Ordinance Amending LBMC 5.92

Item #23 • File #23-0532 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• City Manager

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code (LBMC) to reinstate language in Chapter 5.92 related to the operation of adult-use dispensaries in mixed-used buildings in Downtown Long Beach to correct the clerical/scrivener error and allow the approved ordinance amendments from June 15, 2021, to remain in place, read for the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council. (Citywide)

DS - Motel and UDU Mods (DS)

Item #24 • File #23-0489 (Details, PDF)
Sponsors:

• Development Services

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Chapters 21.25, Division IX (Local Coastal Development Permits), 21.65 (Interim Motel/Hotel Conversions) and 21.66 (Unpermitted Dwelling Unit Amnesty Program), read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/138iabw/m0rph3s_igs_rep_page/

Wishlist

- A Plague Tale: Innocence
- Baba Is You
- Blasphemous
- Boneraiser Minions
- Celeste
- Chicken Police
- Creaks
- Crown Trick
- Desperados III
- DOOM (2016)
- Edge Of Eternity
- HUNTDOWN
- In Sound Mind
- Kathy Rain:Director's Cut
- MOLEK-SYNTEZ
- Monster Prom 1
- Opus Magnum
- Paradigm
- Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition
- Primordia
- Quern - Undying Thoughts
- Rogue: Genesia
- Shapez
- Slay the Spire
- Smile For Me
- Suzerain
- Unavowed
- Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
- while True:learn()
- Wytchwood

Games

7 Grand Steps
Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
Arma Tactics
ARMA: Cold War Assault
Arma: Gold Edition
Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
Aviary Attorney
Batman Arkham Origins
Black the Fall
Blood: One Unit Whole Blood
Blue Estate The Game
Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2
Brigador: Up-Armored Edition
Broken Sword 5: The Serpents Curse
Burly Men At Sea
Cook, Serve, Delicious!
Crazy Machines 3
Curious Expedition
Dead Effect
Dead Effect 2
Dead Island Definitive Edition
Divide By Sheep
Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh
Double Fine Adventure Documentary
Dusty Revenge: Co-Op Edition
Ellipsis
ENDLESS Space - Definitive Edition
ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ Premium Edition
Eterium
Event[0]
FaceRig
fault milestone one + two
FORCED: Slightly Better Edition
FRONTIERS
Furi
Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
Galactic Civilizations® III
Good Robot
Grand Theft Auto III
Gremlins, Inc.
Guild of Dungeoneering Ultimate Edition
Hacknet
Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander (LIGHTSPEED EDITION)
Hand of Fate
Hard Reset Redux
Hector: Badge of Carnage
Highway Blossoms
HITMAN™: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?!
Human: Fall Flat
Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru Part 1 + 2
Impact Winter
Insurgency
Jalopy
Japanese School Life
KARAKARA
Kero Blaster
Last Day of June
LEGO Batman
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Lost Castle
Maize
Manhunt
Max Payne
Memory's Dogma CODE:01
Mercenary Kings: Reloaded Edition
Moon Hunters
Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project + Season Pass
NBA Playgrounds
Neon Chrome
Neverending Nightmares
No Time To Explain Remastered
Nongünz
Offworld Trading Company
One More Dungeon
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You
Owlboy
Panzer Corps + Allied Corps DLC
Puzzle Agent
Puzzle Agent 2
Rampage Knights
Resident Evil Revelations
Retro Game Crunch
Road to Ballhalla
Rocket Birds: Hardboiled Chicken
Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition
Running with Rifles
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Sam & Max: Devil's Playhouse
Scanner Sombre
Screencheat
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Seasons After Fall
Shadow Blade: Reload
Shadowrun Returns
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut
Shoppe Keep
SimplePlanes
Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity
Skullgirls + 2nd Encore Upgrade DLC
Snake Pass
Sniper Elite
Sniper Elite V2
Sound of Drop - fall into poison
SpellForce 2 - Anniversary Edition
Splasher
STANDBY
Stick Fight: The Game
Subsurface Circular
Sunrider: Liberation Day - Captain's Edition
Team Indie
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
The Count Lucanor
The Dwarves
The Flame in the Flood
The Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy
The Journey Down 1 + 2 Bundle
The Shrouded Isle
The Walking Dead: 400 Days
The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
This is the Police
TIMEframe
Tiny Echo
Tumblestone
Umbrella Corps
Uncanny Valley
UnderRail
UnEpic
Unexplored
Uurnog Uurnlimited
War for the Overworld
Wargame: Red Dragon
Windward
WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.01 + 02 + 03
Worms Clan Wars
Wuppo: Definitive Edition
Wurm Unlimited
Zombie Vikings