We just got back, Italy is magical. Only been to Rome once before as part of Europe hopping trip about 10 years ago. Some thoughts and tricks on our 10 nights, hope it's helpful for others:
Weather: Don't stress too much on forecasts even a week out. Check before leaving and adjust wardrobe or add a light rain jacket if needed. Originally our entire trip showed rain the whole time. Realistically there was a 1 drizzly day in Venice and 2 hour of rain (ominous with thunder) in Florence. The rest of the time was cloudy or beautiful and clear. Cinque Terre was absolutely clear and 70, but dang that sun when hiking was brutally hot. App: Il Meteo
Download WhatsApp - everyone including hotels, restaurants, business, taxi driver (see below) uses it.
Esim: Airalo worked well for us Samsung S22 and Pixel 6. Did have to reboot my S22, but worked really well and between the 2 of us used about 5GB so couldn't gone with less data. One phone did the Europe regional and another the Italy Mamma Mia one. Some restaurants do have dead zones, some have Wifi, another was like these signs on the wall are your wifi....
Driving: You definitely need a car for Tuscany if you want to be on your own timetable, we rented out of Florence and returned in La Spezia. Beware some of the routes on Google Maps, although reliable there were 2 instances we went off roading when an asphalt road was right there. Then we needed to u-turn on the outskirts of Pisa and it was trying to get us to make this impossible stone walled turn and the locals were like yeah Google Maps has people do this and no one has made that so just turn back around. Also lesson learned for us - just do the rental company insurance, event though my credit card offers primary, we got a larger mid size SUV vs Fiat 500 and with the narrow streets, for me the reduced stress would've been worth it when we had to wiggle the car out some spots - but we came out scratch free. On a side note, we got a Lynk & Co car, which was neat and loved Android Auto as we use it at home. Rented thru Hertz. If you use the toll roads (which can make your life a lot faster sometime), make sure you grab a ticket coming in, we didn't get one for 1 segment, luckily getting off of it, the remote attendant spoke english, a little annoyed, but let us pay the fare from where we came from.
Parking: The meters we encountered in Montepulciano, Siena, Pisa seemed straight forward but sometimes card wouldn't work, the english translation was bad and cancelled out transaction multiple times. Just download EasyPark which seems to work everywhere, GPS your zone, link to GooglePay or credit card, license and boom, spin the clock - small fee less than 10%, but damn was it easy and you can add time or end early....
Trains: Download Trenitalia app, book any train instantly, get train status (where is the train currently), and see any station's timetable. Our Venice to Florence train did get delayed and stopped here and there in Bologna one weekend due to the flood damage, luckily our train wasn't cancelled. 5 days later, all trains seems to be back on track. Missed the big 5/26 strike by one day but I was seeing some trains via the app still scheduled. Basically be mentally prepared for any issues, booked an InterCity (assigned seats) from La Spezia to Pisa ahead of time but day of just waited to see when to schedule the regional from Pisa to Florence, so easy via app and you can see how often they run (30 mins for this route) and buy on demand as your schedule permits.
Booking museums/sights: It can be very tricky to google and find official booking sites as there are a lot of 3rd parties who want to get you a "front of the line pass" with a tour for a large markup. So I tried to book thru official sites as much as I can, for the life of us we couldn't get the Doges official to go through so did get those from Get the Guide for less than 5 euro markup for 2. If you are flexible and go off hours, you can do standby and avoid the nominal online booking fee and time spot, we only did these for some, not all. Maybe don't listen to me during summer months. But we did very little waiting - see below
Food: Note that I found classic italian cooking is much more simple, subtle and just pure flavors. Stuff was beautiful but by California standards, a tad underseasoned although some places did put out salt and pepper (default not request) for some dishes like a burrata. This is also coming from here in SoCal where birria is not enough it's birria ramen and hot cheetos encrusted this or that and 5 different types of toppings for mac and cheese - you know stuff for Instagram.... But I totally appreciated the approach and loved it.
Cities - we tend to do a lot on vacation, it may have been a touch quick but it was so fun, we did get a bit sick just with all the weather and change but nothing serious but was glad to get the downtime in Tuscany, we hit it hard first 2 places Venice and Florence. You may vacation differently, this was also our first trip abroad in 7 or so years so wanted to see ALLTHETHINGS.
Accommodations - We did mostly Airbnb which in Europe requires a meetup vs self check in. Did an incredible bed and breakfast (see Montepulciano) and finally a hotel in Florence for last night which I highly recommend for location and service - Arte Boutique (they helped me track down a lost backpack in a taxi, see below).
Safety - felt pretty safe and not scammy in all of our cities our Airbnb host in Florence said Italy overall is safe but he did confirm Rome you need to be more aware. Honestly we only carried 350 euro with us from US bank and that was plenty, near the end we were needing to use it up as everyone takes card, tap to pay, ApplePay and GooglePay freely. Taxi drivers do prefer cash
Staying calm story - we were ending our trip from Florence to airport in in my rush I left my backpack in backseat of taxi, it was gone before I realized we had our rollers and his backpack and duffel but not mine. Luckily my husband was like ok we will call the hotel (the only one we happened to book) who arranged the taxi, and luckily they tracked him down and he came back due to us allotting tons of time before departure. I had to pay the fare again for the backpack fare but was so relieved. We corresponded via WhatsApp after making the initial call to hotel.
Venice: 2 nights
- Sights: Doges (booked via Get the Guide) was cool, not the biggest museum person. Walk over Bridge of Sighs was uneventful from inside. St Mark Basilica had no advance tickets, but did standby for 3 eupp about 20 min before opening and got in within 10 mins, then hopped over to Campanile Tower w/o tickets, no line around 9-9:30 AM - great views.
- Eat: Faves were the quick bites chichetti (All'Arco, Cantina Do Spade), coffee and pastries and gelato (loved Suso). Our sit downs were not bad, just not mind blowing at Ai Mercanti and Imprompta (although seafood good). Also there's a small bar inside Cafe Florian if you want a macchiato for under 5 euro vs sitting down for a 12 euro cappucino and want a mini experience w/o wait.
It can be crowded mid-day but will calm down, very cool to walk or take vaparetto around and get lost, oops this alley dumps into a canal....
Florence: 2 nights
- Sights: Prebooked Galleria Accademia (a must, always a line), good museum experience if you don't necessarily need hours, so neat to see David here. Because not huge museum people, passed on the Uffuzi. Someone at lunch said hey Medici is cool, so did that on a whim w/o any wait and very cool, glad we did it on the fly. Prebooked Boboli Gardens, kinda tired by the time we got here and it had been drizzly and a bit humid, but nice to stroll. The larger fountain area you can't walk through anymore (Ocean fountain?). Also Piazza Michaelangelo for the Florence city center view. Lots of great shopping here, suggest start at Vale for a leather shop.
- Food: Ok so All Antico Vinaio although touristy is legit sandwich, very good and worth it. Tip: go to San Marco location, smaller wait by Galleria Accademia. GustaPizza was legit and very reasonable 7 euro for Margherita?! Fave gelato was Gelato Dei Neri and My Sugar. Mercato Centrale super cool to walk, shop for products, eat if you like. Trattoria Mario, email ahead for reservations - 1.1 kg florentine steak with small sides and salami/cheese plate all for under $70. Dall'Oste was good florentine but much pricier and touristy but had a good Montalcino wine there, book on website for discount for seatings outside of peak times, our 6 PM had 15% discount on food.
Tuscany: 2 nights Montepulciano, 1 night Siena
So beautiful, just the drive through Val D'Orcia. We stopped by San Gimignano and did the tower with no wait (150 stairs), Gelateria Donderia is overrated but fine, GO GO GO to Da'A'Mariani for sandwich here, sweet sweet man and just off the main street - recommended by Pasticcheria Il Criollo which was fabulous just outside city wall.
Stayed in Montepulciano, which was SO fabulous. Our true bed and breakfast was only 3 suites run on a property by 2 americans who moved to Italy - true hospitality and modern yet italian suite. They are booked solid this year, but it was sooo special. Huge breakfast spread every morning. It was true paradise there and the owners are gems - made awesome restaurant recommendations and reservations, driving route, etc. DM me if you want the name but don't bet on getting in for 2023. Restaurants in Montepulciano were Osteria Porto Di Baccio - great antipasto meat/cheese and pici, great typical osteria in wine cave then Le Logge Vignola which was very creative for a very reasonable price - you definitely need reservations for both maybe a few days ahead as both are fully booked by dinner. Gelato recc here would be Scarbia.
Siena - had the Siena OPA Si pass which I recommend, everything except the roof tour. Cathedral inside is a sight to see and includes works by Michaelangelo and Dontatello - ask worker where they are at, definitely do panaroma. This was helpful https://www.earthtrekkers.com/how-to-visit-the-siena-cathedral/ Walk to PastaZuf down the way from Piazza Campo for legit casual takeway pasta for 5-6 euro
Cinque Terre: 2 nights Riomaggiore
Yup, did Pisa as a quick stop on way to drop off car, it's neat and lots of parking (EasyPark app) to get in/out.
Stayed in Riomaggiore, CT is definitely touristy during the day but quiets down. Rick Steves was right, not overhyped. Every city is absolutely gorgeous. Did the hike from Monterosso-Vernazza-Corniglia - yes the HARD way with those stairs first leg but it was very rewarding and fun, can be tight in spots, started at 8 AM and ended in Corniglia around 11:15, start early as you can for less crowds. Train makes it easy to hop towns. Dinners included Rio Bistrot in Riomaggiore (checked in at lunch for dinner reservation same night) and Ristorante Belforte - both great views and suprisingly great food! Tasting menu is way to go at Rio Bistrot. Quick bites include fried seafood, so good. Be prepared for all the elevation/stairs/walking.
Edits: Add safety section, accommodations, and staying calm story.

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination (47)
• Bold and italic means the film was only nominated in the Best International Feature category (17)
• Coin means the film won Best International Feature (7)
• Trophy means the film won Best Picture (1)

Year	Palme d'Or	Grand Prix	Jury Prize
1975	Chronicle of the Years of Fire	The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1976	Taxi Driver	Cría Cuervos 🪢 The Marquise of O
1977	Padre Padrone
1978	The Tree of Wooden Clogs	Bye Bye Monkey 🪢 The Shout
1979	Apocalypse Now 🪢 🪙The Tin Drum🪙	Siberiade
1980	All That Jazz 🪢 Kagemusha	My American Uncle	The Constant Factor
1981	Man of Iron	Light Years Away
1982	Missing 🪢 Yol	The Night of the Shooting Stars
1983	The Ballad of Narayama	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	Kharij
1984	Paris, Texas	Diary for My Children
1985	When Father Was Away on Business	Birdy	Colonel Redl
1986	The Mission	The Sacrifice	Thérèse
1987	Under the Sun of Satan	Repentance	Shinran: Path to Purity 🪢 Yeelen
1988	Pelle the Conqueror	A World Apart	A Short Film About Killing
1989	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	🪙Cinema Paradiso🪙 🪢 Too Beautiful for You	Jesus of Montreal
1990	Wild at Heart	The Sting of Death 🪢 Tilaï	Hidden Agenda
1991	Barton Fink	La Belle Noiseuse	Europa 🪢 Out of Life
1992	The Best Intentions	The Stolen Children	Dream of Light 🪢 An Independent Life
1993	Farewell My Concubine 🪢 The Piano	Faraway, So Close!	The Puppetmaster 🪢 Raining Stones
1994	Pulp Fiction	🪙Burnt by the Sun🪙 🪢 To Live	La Reine Margot
1995	Underground	Ulysses' Gaze	Don't Forget You're Going to Die 🪢 Carrington
1996	Secrets & Lies	Breaking the Waves	Crash
1997	The Eel 🪢 Taste of Cherry	The Sweet Hereafter	Western
1998	Eternity and a Day	🪙Life Is Beautiful🪙	Class Trip
1999	Rosetta	Humanité	The Letter
2000	Dancer in the Dark	Devils on the Doorstep	Blackboards 🪢 Songs from the Second Floor
2001	The Son's Room	The Piano Teacher
2002	The Pianist	The Man Without a Past	Divine Intervention
2003	Elephant	Distant	At Five in the Afternoon
2004	Fahrenheit 9/11	Oldboy	The Ladykillers 🪢 Tropical Malady
2005	L'Enfant	Broken Flowers	Shanghai Dreams
2006	The Wind That Shakes the Barley	Flanders	Red Road
2007	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	The Mourning Forest	Persepolis 🪢 Silent Light
2008	The Class	Gomorrah	Il divo
2009	The White Ribbon	A Prophet	Fish Tank 🪢 Thirst
2010	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	Of Gods and Men	A Screaming Man
2011	The Tree of Life	The Kid with a Bike 🪢 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Polisse
2012	🪙Amour🪙	Reality	The Angels' Share
2013	Blue Is the Warmest Colour	Inside Llewyn Davis	Like Father, Like Son
2014	Winter Sleep	The Wonders	Goodbye to Language 🪢 Mommy
2015	Dheepan	🪙Son of Saul🪙	The Lobster
2016	I, Daniel Blake	It's Only the End of the World	American Honey
2017	The Square	BPM (Beats per Minute)	Loveless
2018	Shoplifters	BlacKkKlansman	Capernaum
2019	🪙🏆Parasite🏆🪙	Atlantics	Bacurau 🪢 Les Misérables
2021	Titane	Compartment No. 6 🪢 A Hero	Ahed's Knee 🪢 Memoria
2022	Triangle of Sadness	Stars at Noon 🪢 Close	The Eight Mountains 🪢 EO
2023	Anatomy of a Fall	The Zone of Interest	Fallen Leaves

• Bold means the actor received an Oscar nomination (23)
• Bold and italic means the actor was nominated in a non-acting category (1)
• Trophy means the actor won the Oscar (6)

Year	Best Actor	Best Actress
1975	Vittorio Gassman – Scent of a Woman	Valérie Perrine – Lenny
1976	José Luis Gómez – Pascual Duarte	Dominique Sanda – The Inheritance 🪢 Mari Törőcsik – Mrs. Dery Where Are You?
1977	Fernando Rey – Elisa, My Life	Shelley Duvall – 3 Women 🪢 Monique Mercure – J.A. Martin Photographer
1978	🏆Jon Voight – Coming Home🏆	Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman 🪢 Isabelle Huppert – Violette Nozière
1979	Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome 🪢 Stefano Madia – Dear Father	🏆Sally Field – Norma Rae🏆 🪢 Eva Mattes – Woyzeck
1980	Michel Piccoli – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Jack Thompson – Breaker Morant	Anouk Aimée – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Milena Dravić – Special Treatment 🪢 Carla Gravina – La terrazza
1981	Ugo Tognazzi – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man 🪢 Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire	Isabelle Adjani – Possession 🪢 Qaurtet 🪢 Elena Solovey – Faktas
1982	Jack Lemmon – Missing	Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak – Another Way
1983	Gian Maria Volonté – The Death of Mario Ricci	Hanna Schygulla – The Story of Piera
1984	Alfredo Landa 🪢 Francisco Rabal – The Holy Innocents	Helen Mirren – Cal
1985	🏆William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman🏆	Norma Aleandro – The Official Story 🪢 Cher – Mask
1986	Michel Blanc – Ménage 🪢 Bob Hoskins – Mona Lisa	Barbara Sukowa – Rosa Luxemburg
1987	Marcello Mastroianni – Dark Eyes	Barbara Hershey – Shy People
1988	Forest Whitaker – Bird	Barbara Hershey 🪢 Jodhi May 🪢 Linda Mvusi – A World Apart
1989	James Spader – Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Meryl Streep – A Cry in the Dark
1990	Gérard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac	Krystyna Janda – Interrogation
1991	John Turturro – Barton Fink 🪢 Samuel L. Jackson – Jungle Fever	Irène Jacob – The Double Life of Veronique
1992	Tim Robbins – The Player	Pernilla August – The Best Intentions
1993	David Thewlis – Naked	🏆Holly Hunter – The Piano🏆
1994	Ge You – To Live	Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot
1995	Jonathan Pryce – Carrington	Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
1996	Daniel Auteuil 🪢 Pascal Duquenne – The Eighth Day	Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies
1997	Sean Penn – She's So Lovely	Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth
1998	Peter Mullan – My Name Is Joe	Élodie Bouchez 🪢 Natacha Régnier – The Dreamlife of Angels
1999	Emmanuel Schotté – Humanité	Séverine Caneele – Humanité 🪢 Émilie Dequenne – Rosetta
2000	Tony Leung Chiu-wai – In the Mood for Love	Björk – Dancer in the Dark
2001	Benoît Magimel – The Piano Teacher	Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
2002	Olivier Gourmet – The Son	Kati Outinen – The Man Without a Past
2003	Muzaffer Özdemir 🪢 Mehmet Emin Toprak – Distant	Marie-Josée Croze – The Barbarian Invasions
2004	Yūya Yagira – Nobody Knows	Maggie Cheung – Clean
2005	Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	Hanna Laslo – Free Zone
2006	Roschdy Zem 🪢 Bernard Blancan 🪢 Jamel Debbouze 🪢 Samy Naceri 🪢 Sami Bouajila – Days of Glory	Carmen Maura 🪢 Lola Dueñas 🪢 Blanca Portillo 🪢 Yohana Cobo 🪢 Chus Lampreave 🪢 Penélope Cruz – Volver
2007	Konstantin Lavronenko – The Banishment	Jeon Do-yeon – Secret Sunshine
2008	Benicio del Toro – Che	Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
2009	🏆Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds🏆	Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
2010	Javier Bardem – Biutiful 🪢 Elio Germano – Our Life	Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
2011	🏆Jean Dujardin – The Artist🏆	Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
2012	Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt	Cristina Flutur 🪢 Cosmina Stratan – Beyond the Hills
2013	Bruce Dern – Nebraska	Bérénice Bejo – The Past
2014	Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner	Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
2015	Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man	Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi 🪢 Rooney Mara – Carol
2016	Shahab Hosseini – The Salesman	Jaclyn Jose – Ma' Rosa
2017	Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here	Diane Kruger – In the Fade
2018	Marcello Fonte – Dogman	Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
2019	Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory	Emily Beecham – Little Joe
2021	Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram	Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
2022	Song Kang-ho – Broker	Zar Amir Ebrahimi – Holy Spider
2023	Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days	Merve Dizdar – About Dry Grasses

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination in a corresponding category (9)
• Bold and italic means only the film was nominated, but the awarded filmmaker wasn't (8)
• Coin means the film won Best International Feature (4)

Year	Best Director	Best Screenplay
1975	Michel Brault – Orders 🪢 Costa-Gavras – Special Section
1976	Ettore Scola – Down and Dirty
1977
1978	Nagisa Ōshima – Empire of Passion
1979	Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven
1980		La Terrazza – Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Ettore Scola
1981		🪙Mephisto🪙 – István Szabó
1982	Werner Herzog – Fitzcarraldo	Moonlighting – Jerzy Skolimowski
1983	Robert Bresson – L'Argent 🪢 Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalgia	Voyage to Cythera – Thanassis Valtinos, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra
1984	Bertrand Tavernier – A Sunday in the Country
1985	André Téchiné – Rendez-vous
1986	Martin Scorsese – After Hours
1987	Wim Wenders – Wings of Desire
1988	Fernando Solanas – Sur
1989	Emir Kusturica – Time of the Gypsies
1990	Pavel Lungin – Taxi Blues
1991	Joel Coen – Barton Fink
1992	Robert Altman – The Player
1993	Mike Leigh – Naked
1994	Nanni Moretti – Dear Diary	Dead Tired – Michel Blanc
1995	Mathieu Kassovitz – La Haine
1996	Joel Coen – Fargo	A Self Made Hero – Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry
1997	Wong Kar-wai – Happy Together	The Ice Storm – James Schamus
1998	John Boorman – The General	Henry Fool – Hal Hartley
1999	Pedro Almodóvar – All About My Mother	Moloch – Yuri Arabov
2000	Edward Yang – Yi Yi	Nurse Betty – James Flamberg, John C. Richards
2001	Joel Coen – The Man Who Wasn't There 🪢 David Lynch – Mulholland Drive	No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
2002	Paul Thomas Anderson – Punch-Drunk Love 🪢 Im Kwon-taek – Painted Fire	Sweet Sixteen – Paul Laverty
2003	Gus Van Sant – Elephant	🪙The Barbarian Invasions🪙 – Denys Arcand
2004	Tony Gatlif – Exils	Look at Me – Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
2005	Michael Haneke – Caché	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
2006	Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel	Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
2007	Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	The Edge of Heaven – Fatih Akin
2008	Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys	Lorna's Silence – Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne
2009	Brillante Mendoza – Butchered	Spring Fever – Mei Feng
2010	Mathieu Amalric – On Tour	Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
2011	Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive	Footnote – Joseph Cedar
2012	Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux	Beyond the Hills – Cristian Mungiu, Tatiana Niculescu Bran
2013	Amat Escalante – Heli	A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhangke
2014	Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher	Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
2015	Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin	Chronic – Michel Franco
2016	Olivier Assayas – Personal Shopper 🪢 Cristian Mungiu – Graduation	🪙The Salesman🪙 – Asghar Farhadi
2017	Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled	The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou 🪢 You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
2018	Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War	3 Faces – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar 🪢 Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
2019	Jean-Pierre 🪢 Luc Dardenne – Young Ahmed	Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
2021	Leos Carax – Annette	🪙Drive My Car🪙 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
2022	Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave	Boy from Heaven – Tarik Saleh
2023	Tran Anh Hung – The Pot-au-Feu	Monster – Yuji Sakamoto

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination (47)
• Bold and italic means the film was only nominated in the Best International Feature category (17)
• Coin means the film won Best International Feature (7)
• Trophy means the film won Best Picture (1)

Year	Palme d'Or	Grand Prix	Jury Prize
1975	Chronicle of the Years of Fire	The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1976	Taxi Driver	Cría Cuervos 🪢 The Marquise of O
1977	Padre Padrone
1978	The Tree of Wooden Clogs	Bye Bye Monkey 🪢 The Shout
1979	Apocalypse Now 🪢 🪙The Tin Drum🪙	Siberiade
1980	All That Jazz 🪢 Kagemusha	My American Uncle	The Constant Factor
1981	Man of Iron	Light Years Away
1982	Missing 🪢 Yol	The Night of the Shooting Stars
1983	The Ballad of Narayama	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	Kharij
1984	Paris, Texas	Diary for My Children
1985	When Father Was Away on Business	Birdy	Colonel Redl
1986	The Mission	The Sacrifice	Thérèse
1987	Under the Sun of Satan	Repentance	Shinran: Path to Purity 🪢 Yeelen
1988	Pelle the Conqueror	A World Apart	A Short Film About Killing
1989	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	🪙Cinema Paradiso🪙 🪢 Too Beautiful for You	Jesus of Montreal
1990	Wild at Heart	The Sting of Death 🪢 Tilaï	Hidden Agenda
1991	Barton Fink	La Belle Noiseuse	Europa 🪢 Out of Life
1992	The Best Intentions	The Stolen Children	Dream of Light 🪢 An Independent Life
1993	Farewell My Concubine 🪢 The Piano	Faraway, So Close!	The Puppetmaster 🪢 Raining Stones
1994	Pulp Fiction	🪙Burnt by the Sun🪙 🪢 To Live	La Reine Margot
1995	Underground	Ulysses' Gaze	Don't Forget You're Going to Die 🪢 Carrington
1996	Secrets & Lies	Breaking the Waves	Crash
1997	The Eel 🪢 Taste of Cherry	The Sweet Hereafter	Western
1998	Eternity and a Day	🪙Life Is Beautiful🪙	Class Trip
1999	Rosetta	Humanité	The Letter
2000	Dancer in the Dark	Devils on the Doorstep	Blackboards 🪢 Songs from the Second Floor
2001	The Son's Room	The Piano Teacher
2002	The Pianist	The Man Without a Past	Divine Intervention
2003	Elephant	Distant	At Five in the Afternoon
2004	Fahrenheit 9/11	Oldboy	The Ladykillers 🪢 Tropical Malady
2005	L'Enfant	Broken Flowers	Shanghai Dreams
2006	The Wind That Shakes the Barley	Flanders	Red Road
2007	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	The Mourning Forest	Persepolis 🪢 Silent Light
2008	The Class	Gomorrah	Il divo
2009	The White Ribbon	A Prophet	Fish Tank 🪢 Thirst
2010	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	Of Gods and Men	A Screaming Man
2011	The Tree of Life	The Kid with a Bike 🪢 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Polisse
2012	🪙Amour🪙	Reality	The Angels' Share
2013	Blue Is the Warmest Colour	Inside Llewyn Davis	Like Father, Like Son
2014	Winter Sleep	The Wonders	Goodbye to Language 🪢 Mommy
2015	Dheepan	🪙Son of Saul🪙	The Lobster
2016	I, Daniel Blake	It's Only the End of the World	American Honey
2017	The Square	BPM (Beats per Minute)	Loveless
2018	Shoplifters	BlacKkKlansman	Capernaum
2019	🪙🏆Parasite🏆🪙	Atlantics	Bacurau 🪢 Les Misérables
2021	Titane	Compartment No. 6 🪢 A Hero	Ahed's Knee 🪢 Memoria
2022	Triangle of Sadness	Stars at Noon 🪢 Close	The Eight Mountains 🪢 EO
2023	Anatomy of a Fall	The Zone of Interest	Fallen Leaves

• Bold means the actor received an Oscar nomination (23)
• Bold and italic means the actor was nominated in a non-acting category (1)
• Trophy means the actor won the Oscar (6)

Year	Best Actor	Best Actress
1975	Vittorio Gassman – Scent of a Woman	Valérie Perrine – Lenny
1976	José Luis Gómez – Pascual Duarte	Dominique Sanda – The Inheritance 🪢 Mari Törőcsik – Mrs. Dery Where Are You?
1977	Fernando Rey – Elisa, My Life	Shelley Duvall – 3 Women 🪢 Monique Mercure – J.A. Martin Photographer
1978	🏆Jon Voight – Coming Home🏆	Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman 🪢 Isabelle Huppert – Violette Nozière
1979	Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome 🪢 Stefano Madia – Dear Father	🏆Sally Field – Norma Rae🏆 🪢 Eva Mattes – Woyzeck
1980	Michel Piccoli – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Jack Thompson – Breaker Morant	Anouk Aimée – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Milena Dravić – Special Treatment 🪢 Carla Gravina – La terrazza
1981	Ugo Tognazzi – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man 🪢 Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire	Isabelle Adjani – Possession 🪢 Qaurtet 🪢 Elena Solovey – Faktas
1982	Jack Lemmon – Missing	Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak – Another Way
1983	Gian Maria Volonté – The Death of Mario Ricci	Hanna Schygulla – The Story of Piera
1984	Alfredo Landa 🪢 Francisco Rabal – The Holy Innocents	Helen Mirren – Cal
1985	🏆William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman🏆	Norma Aleandro – The Official Story 🪢 Cher – Mask
1986	Michel Blanc – Ménage 🪢 Bob Hoskins – Mona Lisa	Barbara Sukowa – Rosa Luxemburg
1987	Marcello Mastroianni – Dark Eyes	Barbara Hershey – Shy People
1988	Forest Whitaker – Bird	Barbara Hershey 🪢 Jodhi May 🪢 Linda Mvusi – A World Apart
1989	James Spader – Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Meryl Streep – A Cry in the Dark
1990	Gérard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac	Krystyna Janda – Interrogation
1991	John Turturro – Barton Fink 🪢 Samuel L. Jackson – Jungle Fever	Irène Jacob – The Double Life of Veronique
1992	Tim Robbins – The Player	Pernilla August – The Best Intentions
1993	David Thewlis – Naked	🏆Holly Hunter – The Piano🏆
1994	Ge You – To Live	Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot
1995	Jonathan Pryce – Carrington	Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
1996	Daniel Auteuil 🪢 Pascal Duquenne – The Eighth Day	Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies
1997	Sean Penn – She's So Lovely	Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth
1998	Peter Mullan – My Name Is Joe	Élodie Bouchez 🪢 Natacha Régnier – The Dreamlife of Angels
1999	Emmanuel Schotté – Humanité	Séverine Caneele – Humanité 🪢 Émilie Dequenne – Rosetta
2000	Tony Leung Chiu-wai – In the Mood for Love	Björk – Dancer in the Dark
2001	Benoît Magimel – The Piano Teacher	Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
2002	Olivier Gourmet – The Son	Kati Outinen – The Man Without a Past
2003	Muzaffer Özdemir 🪢 Mehmet Emin Toprak – Distant	Marie-Josée Croze – The Barbarian Invasions
2004	Yūya Yagira – Nobody Knows	Maggie Cheung – Clean
2005	Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	Hanna Laslo – Free Zone
2006	Roschdy Zem 🪢 Bernard Blancan 🪢 Jamel Debbouze 🪢 Samy Naceri 🪢 Sami Bouajila – Days of Glory	Carmen Maura 🪢 Lola Dueñas 🪢 Blanca Portillo 🪢 Yohana Cobo 🪢 Chus Lampreave 🪢 Penélope Cruz – Volver
2007	Konstantin Lavronenko – The Banishment	Jeon Do-yeon – Secret Sunshine
2008	Benicio del Toro – Che	Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
2009	🏆Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds🏆	Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
2010	Javier Bardem – Biutiful 🪢 Elio Germano – Our Life	Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
2011	🏆Jean Dujardin – The Artist🏆	Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
2012	Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt	Cristina Flutur 🪢 Cosmina Stratan – Beyond the Hills
2013	Bruce Dern – Nebraska	Bérénice Bejo – The Past
2014	Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner	Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
2015	Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man	Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi 🪢 Rooney Mara – Carol
2016	Shahab Hosseini – The Salesman	Jaclyn Jose – Ma' Rosa
2017	Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here	Diane Kruger – In the Fade
2018	Marcello Fonte – Dogman	Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
2019	Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory	Emily Beecham – Little Joe
2021	Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram	Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
2022	Song Kang-ho – Broker	Zar Amir Ebrahimi – Holy Spider
2023	Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days	Merve Dizdar – About Dry Grasses

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination in a corresponding category (9)
• Bold and italic means only the film was nominated, but the awarded filmmaker wasn't (8)

Year	Best Director	Best Screenplay
1975	Michel Brault – Orders 🪢 Costa-Gavras – Special Section
1976	Ettore Scola – Down and Dirty
1977
1978	Nagisa Ōshima – Empire of Passion
1979	Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven
1980		La Terrazza – Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Ettore Scola
1981		🪙Mephisto🪙 – István Szabó
1982	Werner Herzog – Fitzcarraldo	Moonlighting – Jerzy Skolimowski
1983	Robert Bresson – L'Argent 🪢 Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalgia	Voyage to Cythera – Thanassis Valtinos, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra
1984	Bertrand Tavernier – A Sunday in the Country
1985	André Téchiné – Rendez-vous
1986	Martin Scorsese – After Hours
1987	Wim Wenders – Wings of Desire
1988	Fernando Solanas – Sur
1989	Emir Kusturica – Time of the Gypsies
1990	Pavel Lungin – Taxi Blues
1991	Joel Coen – Barton Fink
1992	Robert Altman – The Player
1993	Mike Leigh – Naked
1994	Nanni Moretti – Dear Diary	Dead Tired – Michel Blanc
1995	Mathieu Kassovitz – La Haine
1996	Joel Coen – Fargo	A Self Made Hero – Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry
1997	Wong Kar-wai – Happy Together	The Ice Storm – James Schamus
1998	John Boorman – The General	Henry Fool – Hal Hartley
1999	Pedro Almodóvar – All About My Mother	Moloch – Yuri Arabov
2000	Edward Yang – Yi Yi	Nurse Betty – James Flamberg, John C. Richards
2001	Joel Coen – The Man Who Wasn't There 🪢 David Lynch – Mulholland Drive	No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
2002	Paul Thomas Anderson – Punch-Drunk Love 🪢 Im Kwon-taek – Painted Fire	Sweet Sixteen – Paul Laverty
2003	Gus Van Sant – Elephant	🪙The Barbarian Invasions🪙 – Denys Arcand
2004	Tony Gatlif – Exils	Look at Me – Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
2005	Michael Haneke – Caché	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
2006	Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel	Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
2007	Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	The Edge of Heaven – Fatih Akin
2008	Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys	Lorna's Silence – Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne
2009	Brillante Mendoza – Butchered	Spring Fever – Mei Feng
2010	Mathieu Amalric – On Tour	Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
2011	Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive	Footnote – Joseph Cedar
2012	Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux	Beyond the Hills – Cristian Mungiu, Tatiana Niculescu Bran
2013	Amat Escalante – Heli	A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhangke
2014	Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher	Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
2015	Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin	Chronic – Michel Franco
2016	Olivier Assayas – Personal Shopper 🪢 Cristian Mungiu – Graduation	🪙The Salesman🪙 – Asghar Farhadi
2017	Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled	The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou 🪢 You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
2018	Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War	3 Faces – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar 🪢 Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
2019	Jean-Pierre 🪢 Luc Dardenne – Young Ahmed	Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
2021	Leos Carax – Annette	🪙Drive My Car🪙 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
2022	Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave	Boy from Heaven – Tarik Saleh
2023	Tran Anh Hung – The Pot-au-Feu	Monster – Yuji Sakamoto

I do not own SSB nor the right to call any of this Canon. As always, those pleasures belong to BlueFishcake.
Special thanks to Lord Henry 7888 and [Pizza Ulostin] for helping me with editing the last chapter. Also Thank you to everyone on Discord and Reddit who've helped me with getting this moving forward again, and everyone in general for being patient. <- It won't let me edit that chapter to put the mention in there so I'll put it in this one.
Special thanks to Lord Henry 7888 for helping me with editing.
Last / Reference Guide
Chapter 10:
The shuttle bay had been abuzz with activity in the moments prior to the first wave's launch. The troops had moved with practiced speed and precision to their designated transports, and any final pieces of equipment were on-loaded and properly secured. The sounds of the great undertaking they were occupying themselves with, though normally overwhelming, was greatly muffled and reduced to well managed localized audio inputs by the helmets that everyone wore. The troops loaded onto the shuttles, some exchanging brief quips or final words of encouragement with the maintenance personnel that would stay behind. Then the shuttles were sealed and all the personnel not making the journey planetside mag-locked their boots to the hangar bay floor.
The hangar bay lights, normally a vibrant yellow or a soft white, changed color and bathed everything in a harsh red to signal the initiation of depressurization within the room. Within 10 seconds strategically located ducts throughout the hangar had sucked all the atmosphere from the chamber, equalizing pressure with the void beyond. The gravity had been the next to go, and anything not properly fastened rose. At least one maintenance woman had cursed into her helmet comms as her cigarettes attempted to flee towards the vaulted ceiling.
Though the invasion of Earth was one of shock and awe, meant to cow the enemy into a quick surrender, Fleet Admiral Zip'era had not deemed throwing caution to the solar winds to be wise. As a result of this, the plan called for the carriers to instead deploy the waves via the individual shuttle docking ports and reserve opening the main blast doors for returning shuttles too damaged to return via their designated docking stations. In line with this, each docking port beneath a disembarking shuttle had opened, and all the shuttles in question had lowered through them until they were free of the carrier and out in the void beyond. Finally, the various docking ports had closed behind them, gravity had returned, the atmosphere had soon followed, and the lights turned a soft white.
Thus the first wave orderly disembarked into the void and towards the Earth beyond.
፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨
The hangar bay of the Fire Bridle had seemed so empty to Vixa Sarno from the very moment that the last of the shuttles carrying the Captain and the rest of the {insert unit: Company?} successfully disembarked. She was instantly consumed by an awareness of being very much alone as soon as that last shuttle docking port had sealed closed. There was a bitter clarity to everything, and it was as though the whole ship & the people around her had faded away in importance. She was marooned, and utterly alone amongst a sea of people.
The hanger hadn't sat idle, after the departure and there had been non stop activity after the fact. There were many faces and voices, and plenty of chatter between the various personnel, but it all felt overwhelmingly lonely to Vixa. Vixa was a Shil'vati, and as a species the Shil'vati were first and foremost social creatures. Their brains were geared towards complex social structures, and it could be legitimately detrimental to their mental and physical health for them to be without a social group of 3 or more individuals for an extended period of time.
It was always lonely being the one left behind, and such often was the fate of logistics and support officers. This though, felt so much worse to Vixa. With communication between her and the rest of the company bound to be essentially non-existent until mission completion, and with them being practically a world away, she felt… hollow and useless. So, with nothing left to do, she started to head back to her assigned quarters.
Truth be told, there currently wasn't a single being left aboard The Firebridle that she knew. There wasn't anyone or anything that she shared a personal connection with in this entire system outside of her, now absent, fellow Golden Glaives. That put her in a dangerous mental state; "Sole-Mind'' was the official term, the emotional condition of being, or the feeling of being the only one. It was a condition common to almost every Shil'vati not innately predisposed towards becoming a DeathsHeads when left alone for extended periods of time. It was odd for a Shil'vati to develop it so quickly, but Vixa happened to be one of the "unlucky odd-balls" that proved the rule, and she had struggled with it her whole life to some extent.
After finding it difficult to get past several groups of personnel heading for the hangar, Vixa decided to cut through the section of the ship where the Interior were supposed to be quartered and overseeing the unfolding invasion. Since they were legally required to act as an active safeguard against war crimes and general crimes throughout the initial invasion and following integration there were sections prepared for them on every capital ship in the fleet, and as far as anyone lacking proper clearance was concerned all those sections were currently packed to the brim and swarming with Interior Agents tuning into their suits' audio and visual feeds- it wasn't burdened by any unnecessary foot traffic . On the Firebridle however, this section sat conveniently empty for some unknown reason, and had for the whole trip. As such Vixa made decent time through the handful of empty corridors, and all the while the self-evident social truth of the Imperium rang out mockingly in her head.
Military Pods of 3 were born from the average best friend group; The average best friend groups sizes were born from the minimum stable social group capacity; The Average Marital Unit size of 8 was born from both the gender ratio and the fact that the smallest Shil'vati social unit could stably grow up to 8 individuals before beginning to strain or stratify; The De Facto Minimum of 3 children per married woman, was rooted in social reality of 3 siblings forming a stable pod. Throne Above- The whole social system from commoner straight up to the Empress herself, was immensely reinforced by sitting atop a system of increasing self-worth and interconnected mental health feedback loops. In fact, there was a direct correlation between the social unit size and a Shil'vati's mental health and sense of greater fulfillment.
The simple truth was that Imperium was built on the Shil'vati social unit from the ground up, and… and Vixa had just lost her's. The larger the social group and sense of belonging, the healthier the mind and body would be and vice versa… "Perhaps," Vixa supposed, as so many citizens of the Imperium often did, "that's one of the larger contributors as to why so many high borns tend to go on ego trips…" Could that be Why so many of them seemed to lack the innate compassion that characterized the founders of their Houses; Why the Royal Family seemingly gave birth to a borderline sociopath? That their success alienated them to their own detriment? Who could say?
What could be said for certain was that the Golden Glaives were Vixa Sarno's social group, and they were her family. Though unlike Ki'ma, that wasn't the same as saying that they were the only family she had. Technically speaking, Vixa had an extended network of kin back on Stigios, but they were half the Imperium away, weakly tied to her by thinly strained blood and not in bond. No, the Golden Glaives were all that she had left in the universe that could truly be seen as her family. They were what kept her centered and balanced.
"What a strange thought though," she mused to herself as she attempted to walk past the exercise area nearest to her room. The exercise areas were amongst the few areas in the ship with actual windows instead of the view screen display typical to more modern spacecraft. An interesting choice in this day and age, but having an actual window helped to put many at ease and felt strangely fancy. It wasn't really glass of course, just panels of reinforced see-through metal spanning from floor to ceiling, that gave the impression of complete openness while shielding against sudden decompression.
On the other side of the panels and down by the exercise area's door were two 6 ft tall rat-like creatures wearing Naval Uniforms; A.rea D.ominator uniforms to be specific. Area Domination Teams were experts at stealth insertion well behind enemy lines, and the mission of a Area Dominator was to deploy, undetected, into combat and hostile environments to establish and secure initial landing zones when orbital dominance could not reliably be maintained long-term against the enemy, or orbital bombardment was somehow rendered ineffective or unfeasible. They also performed the initial reconnaissance of the surrounding areas in such an event.
The presence of A.D.s was a given during an invasion of a modern space power, but their inclusion during this operation was telling of a more calculating and cautious mind than most. No doubt they had been included in case the Human's fledgling 'Space Force' had actually successfully managed enough of an orbital defense to contest orbital supremacy. Most likely they had been called up and made ready for the operation's start, only to be stood down when no true threat to the fleet presented itself. Though no doubt disappointing, that should have been the end of it, but those uniforms could do nothing to hide these two's species' more barbaric inclinations, and they were already bringing a fight 'outside.'
"-It's not my fault that the Purples can't tell us apart!"
"That doesn't give you permission to screw my fiancee!"
"It's not like she could tell the difference in bed anyways! I did you a favor!"
"You bastar-" the second started, before being interrupted by a sucker punch.
The bickering completely degraded from barely coherent trade Shil into their native shrieking-screaming 'language' and clawed fist. Then they started grappling and violently slamming each other into the walls of the corridor, hissing, shrieking, and slicing with razor edged claws as they did so. All the while Vixa simply watched on dispassionately and waited for them to finish. It was messy, and should have been horrifying, but quite frankly she already felt dulled to it from the hollow loneliness she was experiencing.
"Some of our Navy's finest," Vixa mused, perhaps mockingly, perhaps absently, as it continued to worsen. Technically she could stop this at any given point, she had the authority to do so, but she wasn't their C.O., and she had neither the heart, nor the bond, nor the responsibility to do so currently.
Some distant part of Vixa's mind supplied a name to the species painting the walls with red speckled, splotches: The Skrit. Some even more distant part of her subconscious even acknowledged that they were a race from a savage and lightly disputed, Imperium-Consortium Periphery World. They were undoubtedly fleeing their barbaric world for a better life, here on an army ticket for citizenship and immigration into the wider Imperium. A small part of her even realized that they were both males, and that what trade shil had been exchanged hinted towards a case of cucker on cuckold violence. Not that she consciously really ever truely took note of them, or any of the rest of it, consumed as she was by her own state of mind.
Eventually one got a critical hit in and there was a particularly loud shriek, followed by an even more shrill shrieking after his opponent inflicted a final blow on his weakened form. He fell to the ground, shrieking hysterically clutching at his thoroughly devastated manhood, his opponent shaking the blood from his claws onto the walls all the while. After she was certain that the fight was well and truly over, Vixa calmly proceeded to step over the wounded creature and move past his now satiated opponent, and, now freed from their distraction, her thoughts quickly returned to their previous course.
To Vixa's credit, 'strange' was a fair assessment when one considered how with the exception of Dur'a and Ki'ma, Vixa was the only member of the Golden Glaives not currently in her forties or older. 'New Bloods' was what everyone else called them. To become a Golden Glaive at their ages was exceedingly rare outside of a sitting Monarch directly taking to the field, and unheard of in living memory. Stranger still, it was a position that she had earned on Stigios for her unwavering loyalty to the throne; for what she had done during the mass mutiny following the Second Princess's butchery of the D'saari boy… for what she had done for the Prince inspite of what protocol had demanded she do in the Empress's name.
Vixa shook her head slightly at the thought as she put in the door code for the room she'd been assigned for the voyage. Every Golden Glaive, including herself, was an extension of her Majesty's own being for all legal, religious, and social extents and purposes. Regardless of how she currently felt about her own existence, she knew that she shouldn't question the Empress's choice of who should or shouldn't fill that role- No one should. Barring the honor and pride of being the Monarch or their chosen heir, for a Shil'vati it was an honor without equal in the universe… but that honor came only with sacrifice unrivaled.
After all, like all Golden Glaives she was a Shil'vati who had in her possession a distinguished record of unwaveringly loyal service to the Monarch…or more accurately in her case, she had outstanding ability and had made evident demonstration of unquestionable loyalty to the Royal Family. Like all Golden Glaives she was verified under extensive scrutiny, and then personally handpicked by the then sitting Monarch themselves; in her case Empress Khalista. Like all Golden Glaives she possessed a custom Golden Glaive, that was personally bestowed upon her by the Empress herself in a ceremony that could have made angels cry.
Golden Glaives weren't allowed to have a social life beyond the current Monarch and the Golden Glaives. That also meant that they couldn't have a romantic life without permission either, and that, even if it was granted, they couldn't be involved romantically with anyone who wasn't currently a member of the Golden Glaives or the sitting Monarch. That last part was especially trying as there were currently thousands of Golden Glaives, and only two of them were males. The first was a 78 year-old man by the name of Yazak Vizo, who was in charge of the Royal Palace's entrance and admitting visitors. The second was Prince Dur'a and he was the only male to enter the Golden Glaives in over three-and-a-half decades… And Dur'a wouldn't remain a Golden Glaive once he entered the Royal Selection. Yet even in spite of the challenges, she felt at home and loved when with her fellow Golden Glaives.
"Although technically speaking, if either of the princes were to inherit the throne, every female Glaives would become a part of their harem should they wish it," Vixa said absently as she laid back onto her bed to stare at the ceiling. Then she blushed as the thought caught up with her mouth. "Well the Prince's are both handsome in their own right and it's hard not to compare the two…" She stammered lost in embarrassed thought. "...and Dur'a showers and changes with the rest of us, absent any shame, and I'm only Shil'vati goddess bless it!" Blue as sin she took a deep breath and tried to hurriedly rationalize her thoughts with raw facts.
Prince Gelm, was the child of the Empress's favored consort, and was with little doubt her favorite child in terms of open affection. Truthfully, his favored status amongst Her Majesty's offspring might only have been rivaled by his elder full sister 2nd Princess Katria, or perhaps more debatably by his younger full sister 4th Princess Crolen. He was also the favored son in the eyes of the Imperial public. He was: 1st Prince Gelm Galmor, 4th Born of her Majesty, Aged 23 and he was "The Marvelous Prince."
The 1st Prince was traditionally beautiful, perfect in form and appearance to the point of the divine. He was small & soft in stature, his skin was smoother than Arachnid silk, his Golden irises were speckled with crimson amber, his mannerisms were proper, and he was apparently quite receptive to the concept of romance. He was technically an Admiral in Her Majesty's Imperial Navy and his personal flagship "The Iron Tooth" was a state-of-the-art vessel that resembled more a holy Cathedral of Gold than a warship. Though an Admiral, he wasn't seen as a warrior Prince, but instead as a well-known Military Activist, a supportive husband, and a renowned Philanthropist across the width and breadth of the Imperium and its allies. Countless orphanages, hospitals, schools, libraries, local first-responder militia groups, charitable organizations - including donate and mark down stores, and many more owed their existence to him.
Prince Dur'a, on the other hand, was born to the lowest ranked of the Imperial Consorts, and noble only by virtue of his mother's blood. Though the Empress claimed to possess no favorites and attempted to present herself as impartial, it was clear to the entirety of the Royal Court & Extended Family that out of the Royal Offspring, he was dealt with the most coldly by the Empress. Rumors continued to abound amongst the court even still, that unlike his siblings, that when born he was never once suckled nor held by her, merely waved off and given to a wet nurse. He also wasn't the favored son of the wider Imperial public, but he was the favored son of the Golden Glaives and Stigios System. He was: 2nd Prince Dur'a Sto'tar'an, 9th Born of Her Majesty, Aged 17 and he was "The Heart of Stigios."
Dur'a for his part was less traditionally beautiful, and with the exception of his face his body was completely covered in layer upon layer of extensive scars. That wasn't to say that he was completely lacking in beauty, and he was attractive in his own right. He was more rough, and his muscles were strong and well defined. He was respectful, but seemingly not chained to what was proper. He was large for a male; much larger than his older brother and he might even get larger still. Although he didn't seem to show any open interest in romance, Vixa knew that he certainly had to have a fiancee waiting in the wings for his coming of age ceremony; every royal was arranged to marry at age 5 after all. He was a militant populist and anyone who listened to him could tell that he was a practical reformer- perhaps with a mind to rival Kre'ek himself.
"Of course, with them being males, neither will be likely to inherit, but a girl can always hope. Either one would make a great husband and, goddesses willing, maybe I wouldn't feel so alone at times like this-"
The communication device on her wrist lit up, and Vixa practically sprung to life. The only people with her personal channel were Golden Glaives. How long had it been? Had she sulked and daydreamed through the entire invasion? She hurriedly opened the channel with eager anticipation. She couldn't wait to hear everyone's voices… but all she got instead was a text message.
[Code: Gold Communication]
Vixa's stomach dropped off a cliff at that. It was a request for private comms, the kind so high level that only the Golden Glaives and Empress herself could make use of it. Which meant that it was not meant for anyone in the fleet's ears- not even the 2nd Princess. With that in mind she dutifully switched to the Glaives private coded-channel, activated an audio-scrambling device in the room, pulled out a concealed needle-like device implanted in a false freckle on her neck, and inserted it into a concealed port on the comm device. Then its audio functions came to life and she received her orders.
፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨፣፨
Author's Note: I use Human Years unless a character who would use other years is talking, or I make an active mention that that's what I'm doing. I do this because I think it likely makes it easier to keep straight when reading: but if you'd prefer I can put the converted years off to the side going forward. Feel free to let me know which you prefer in the comments.
Prologue / Timeline / Next

Motor racing always attracts some…interesting individuals.
We see it all the time on the grid of a Formula 1 Grand Prix there’s always a famous individual who everyone points at and goes “Ooooooohhhhhhh! What are they doing here?”
Some of these individuals get bitten by the bug and take up motor racing themselves. Actors like Eric Bana, Michael Fassbender and Patrick Dempsey have all made a pretty good fist of it. Wealthy businessmen often take it up as their hobby. GT racing is practically catered for them these days.
Other interesting individuals sometimes realise that they’re not all that crash-hot at driving but still keen to be involved in the sport, and go for the team ownership, management or sponsor role instead. They build-up, buy or sponsor a race team to promote their business because…well, if you had the money, why not?
Currently, in Australia we have a gentleman by the name of Peter Adderton who fits the bill. Adderton and his Boost Mobile telco company have been a sponsor of motor racing in Australia for a number of years but due to his, how can I put this diplomatically? We’ll go with ‘outspoken attitude’, he hasn’t won many people over. I was talking to a friend the other day who was saying how they couldn’t stand Adderton’s constant mouthing off on social media over some small detail of the Supercars Championship that he doesn’t like. My response was “Yeah, he’s a bit annoying but at least he’s not Craig Gore.”
And then I thought of this sub.
So, gather round folks and let me tell you all the story of the worst team and team owner in V8 Supercars history.
Now Craig Gore is a gentleman who is known for many things. Not many of them give a glowingly positive impression of the man so I’ll do my best to stick to the facts.
Gore is the son of a successful property developer and after leaving school, he worked all sorts of jobs from running a chain of pizza stores to creating an advertising agency. Some of these ventures went well while others…sort of…went a bit bankrupt.
In 1996, Gore started his own home loan business initially called Right Home Loans, although it became better known as Wright Patton Shakespeare Financial Services (henceforth shortened to WPS). WPS grew to be a very successful company. At one point it was one of Australia’s largest independent financial service companies, employing well over 500 people.
Gore also followed in his father’s footsteps and branched out into property development and wine exporting.
Bottom line is this: this guy is loaded. And as we all know if you’re the son of a wealthy property tycoon, born into money, you totally won’t be a brash, egotistical, jerk of a human, right?
Right?
So how does he fit into motorsport?
He first popped up towards the back end of the 2003 V8 Supercars season as a sponsor on privateer Mark Noske’s Ford Falcon. The bug must have really bitten because Gore very quickly went looking for a team to buy. He reasoned owning a team was better than sponsoring one. You’re in charge of your own destiny that way. Gore purchased what was left of the 00 Motorsport team (2 Ford Falcon BA’s and a transporter) and the licences that it raced under and set about plans for 2004 and years beyond (and when I say, ‘years beyond’, what I actually mean is the next 3 or 4 years).
For those wondering, the V8 Supercars Championship is arguably the best touring car (or sedan) championship in the world. Until recently, it was for 4-door, 5-litre V8 engine Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons. It’s evolved over the years, but it continues to produce brilliant racing. (Today, it’s simply referred to as Supercars) In the late ‘90’s & early ‘00’s the category was booming. Gore noticed this and thought it would be a good way of promoting his various businesses.
Gore said of his entrance to V8 racing: “I was a guest in a corporate suite at Indy (the Gold Coast IndyCaCART/Champ Car street race at Surfers Paradise) and, apart from going to the odd race with my dad as a kid, I haven’t really been interested”
Riiiiiiiiight… This going to go well… But hey, he’s a clever businessman. At least he’ll recognise that he might need to lose a bit of money initially for his team to become successful. Right?
Right?
Ignoring the age-old sayings of ‘If you want to be a millionaire, be a billionaire and take up motor racing’ or ‘To make a small fortune out of motor racing, make sure you start with a large one’ Gore went on to say:
“Look I’m getting into this to make money. I want to make that clear. Losing is not an option.”
Oh Craig…
To be fair, you can make money out of motor racing, but it takes time. You need to invest in your team, your assets, the commercial side of the business and intimately understand the sport and how it works. The category you’re racing in must also be economically viable as well. Making money is possible, but it takes time and you need to know the business of car racing inside and out. You can’t just throw money at it and expect it to come back tenfold in an instant. You understand that right, Mr Gore?
Mr Gore?
Craig?
In February 2004 at the Brisbane Motor Show two new V8 Supercar teams revealed themselves to the world. Both of these teams had dreams and drive, although only one would end up realising them (Hint: it wasn’t WPS).
On the Ford Australia stand, one of the teams was Triple Eight Race Engineering, an incredibly successful British Touring Car team who had brought out the solid mid-level Briggs Motorsport team with the dream of turning it into a V8 Supercar powerhouse. They had bought the team in mid 2003, about the same time as Gore started as a sponsor, but 2004 was officially the start of their journey.
And then far from the glitzy Ford stand on a dimly lit concourse, Gore’s WPS Racing pulled the covers off their first V8 challenger, also a Ford, proudly boasting of the $10 million that they were planning to throw at motor racing in Australia and beyond. As an aside, the WPS Racing Fords looked the part. Their gleaming black and silver paint schemes looked properly menacing. Unfortunately looks aren’t everything.
Gore hired two drivers. The first and ultimately the lead driver was David Besnard whilst the second was Mark Noske whom he has sponsored the previous year. Now both Besnard and Noske are far from the worst drivers who have ever parked their bum in the seat of a V8 Supercar. Having said that, they’re also far from the best. Besnard occasionally showed flashes of brilliance but also moments of sheer comedic stupidity (most of which will be covered here). Noske was solid if unspectacular.
So as the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship began, let’s just look objectively at WPS Racing. A brand-new team, running second-hand cars, 2 average drivers and at the head is an egotistical, brash, rich guy who, by his own admission, doesn’t know much about motor racing.
Sounds like a recipe for success! Let’s get underway!
2004
WPS Racing made headlines several times over the 2004 season. Only one of those times was it good news, and even then there was controversy attached. Here, in no particular order are their highlights (or should that be lowlights?):
• At the New Zealand round, David Besnard showed up at the track and realised he left his helmet back at the hotel. His helmet, for God sake! On finding out, Gore fined him (his own driver!) $10 000 on the spot saying “You fuckin’ what? You’re a fuckin’ driver and you’ve left your fuckin’ helmet at the hotel!” (Like I said, Besnard did on occasion show promise but sometimes…ish. And this wouldn’t be the last time)
• A sporting journalist ran a column that began with ‘Cantankerous team owner Craig Gore…’ The morning it was published he received a phone call from Gore that began with “Now listen, you fucking \&$!...”* to which the journalist replied “Hi Craig. Is there a problem?” Gore went on to yell down the phone: “Yes, there fucking is! Do you know what ‘cantankerous’ means? Look it up in the dictionary! I’m not cantankerous!” (Because nothing says “I’m not cantankerous” more than ringing someone up to yell at them that you’re not in fact cantankerous, amirite?)
• Mark Noske left the team halfway through the year. They went through several drivers in the second car over the rest of the year.
• At the Symmons Plains round, both of the team’s Ford Falcons were black-flagged from the morning warm-up for running with windscreen banners that read ‘No money from Ford’ in protest to the lack of financial support from the manufacturer. Although Ford supported all of their teams through free body panels, only some teams received financial support (typically the good ones). Gore made his thoughts on that very clear. The team was ordered to cover the banners up for the race.
Amazingly, later that day during the race, a well-timed pitstop and a cock-up with the safety car had Besnard in the lead. The hilarious part of this is that the officials and race director all thought “There’s no way that the WPS car is the leader, wave it through and pick up the guys who were leading beforehand.”
It took a week to sort it all out before they realised that it wasn’t the case. Besnard was there legitimately. And so it came to be that WPS Racing in their first year in V8 Supercar competition won a race a week after it had been run with their car running with a frantically tapped over windscreen banner protesting their lack of support. You cannot make this up!
Now whist the unlikely Symmons Plains victory seems like the most unforgettable moment, it in fact isn’t. If you were to ask a V8 Supercar diehard fan what the most memorable thing about WPS Racing is, chances are they’ll grin and say the 2004 Sandown 500.
Traditionally, this race is considered a warm-up event to the Bathurst 1000. Co-drivers are brought into the mix for the first time and it’s a mini-enduro so it’s a good gauge and a good form guide for the big race at Bathurst a couple of weeks later.
Joining Besnard was Charlie O’Brien who was an 11th hour replacement for an unwell Neil McFadden and in the second car, Kiwi John McIntye was joined by Malaysian ex-F1 driver Alex Yoong.
The race was a complete and utter shambles due to weather that had occurred earlier in the week. Heavy rain in the lead-up turned the grass into mud and gravel traps into slushy bog holes. Despite race day being fine and sunny, the message was clear: Do not fall off the track or you will get bogged.
Not many drivers listened. A ridiculous 12 safety cafull course caution periods occurred in the race. All of them were caused by a car flying off the track and getting bogged down and here’s the kicker: Half of these safety car periods were caused by the two WPS Fords. Half of them! It started at the first corner of the first lap when Besnard flew off and it didn’t get much better from there. Both cars were involved in various other spins and scrapes throughout the race as well. The post-race joke was that WPS actually stood for We Produce Safety Cars. Which is even more ironic when you consider that WPS actually sponsored the safety car at the time.
At the end of the race both cars looked hideous. They were caked in several layers of dirt and mud. Cars have completed the Dakar rally looking better than the WPS cars did at Sandown.
Here’s the footage of all the incidents the WPS cars had throughout the race. It’s one of those “It can’t possibly get any worse… Ooh, wait. Give it a minute…” videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oJEaK35gc0
And the thing is that’s not even the worst part. No, the worst, most jaw-dropping part of this was Craig Gore’s post event summary. It’s… It’s a trip. Normally I’d post a link and just recount the highlights here, but the whole damn thing is honestly a highlight. Here it is in all its glory:
DEVESTATING RESULT
First the summary. Disgusting, disappointing, absolutely gutted, heartache for the team and any fans we have left.
I look at the result and look back on the four weeks of constant effort we applied in both theory and practice in preparation for Sandown and I can only say I am astounded and disappointed.
Our driver, and I’m thinking especially of Bezzy (Besnard) when I say this, took it upon himself to be a superstar and went against every plan we put together…and that was after just one bloody turn into a 500km race.
He deserves to have his nuts cut out and put on his ears. I haven’t been able to speak to him since I gave him a serve after the race.
It was disappointing that his co-driver Neil McFayden got crook ahead of the race but, to his credit, Neil did push on during practice on Friday.
It was a set-back when he was ruled unfit to continue but he is a talented kid and has a lot of racing ahead of him. You don’t win the races he has won and then go out and not put a time on the board and Sandown unless something is up.
When we were forced to replace him with Charlie O’Brien it made it a little difficult but it certainly wasn’t an insurmountable problem.
I’m ashamed of the result we ultimately delivered to the team, the sponsors, my fellow board members, all our staff and, most importantly, my bank manager (ha ha).
The team worked their arses off and they had our cars going sensationally, as you would have seen by the times we were clocking on the Friday. But as things fell apart we fell apart. We tried too hard to recover.
Bezzy is a seriously talented driver. He just needs to understand this is a team sport and requires a team effort to win. Unless he understands that and starts to recognise that I’m afraid he won’t taste a V8 Supercar victory again. Let’s hope he turns it around.
Our other car, with Alex Yoong and John McIntyre, did a great job until the mid stages of the race when I reckon fatigue got the better of both of them. From then our plans fell apart and we failed to recover.
Overall it was a good effort by John and Alex but in the future we need to stay focused for the entire race.
In summary, I believe difficult situations are presented to warn off the weak. I’m devastated we embarrassed ourselves and the sport but I’m committed to turning it round and I’m here for the next three years whether I like it or not & and whether you fans like it or not.
In any case, I don’t take any solace in that Zig Ziggler positive bullshit that says from your worst comes your best (blah blah blah). We were a complete and absolute embarrassment.
I hope Bezzy engages his brain next time he get in the car and leads by example so the other drivers in the team have something to follow.
At Bathurst he has to understand that you can’t have any off-road excursions without risking your life. If he starts to think about that when gets in the car then he might be more focused on keeping it on the god damn bitumen and leading his them, as a good leader should lead, by example to victory.
Victory for us at Bathurst would be finishing the race without coming off and sticking to the f\**ing race plan.*
Check ya,
Gory
What can I say? There’s being honest, there’s being brutally honest and then there’s Craig Gore.
When the season ended Besnard sat a lowly 30th in the standings and Noske after only running half the year was 35th. (To be fair, Besnard did miss two races at the Gold Coast round to race a Champ Car. The V8’s and the Champ Car World Series shared the Gold Coast event and being a Gold Coast local, Gore thought an Aussie on the grid would be a good drawcard so, just a month after publicly announcing that Besnard deserved to have bits of his anatomy stuck to his ears, Gore sponsored him in the big race! For the record he finished a respectable 7th)
So 2004: Not exactly the best of debuts but hey, onwards and upwards! 2005 is a new year.
2005
For their second season, WPS had a more stable line-up. Besnard was retained and joining him was Craig Baird. Although he never quite achieved success in a V8 Supercar, Baird was a highly competent driver. So, there’s stability here. This should be a good year, right?
Right?
To be fair, WPS Racing did improve…kind of. Baird finished the year 23rd and Besnard was 25th. So that’s improvement. Not by much but it’s something. Both cars were inside the top 25 this time. Their best finish was 8th at the Bathurst 1000.
The only notable moment was a massive crash that Craig Baird was involved in at the New Zealand round when Paul Dumbrell attempted a rather ambitious pass that ended in both cars having significant damage. Footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh1A819nHxo The incident wasn’t Baird’s fault, so Gore reacted to it in a calm and rational manner. Didn’t you Craig?
Craig?
“I will explore every legal option to see if he (Dumbrell) should have a licence, he just doesn’t seem to give a shit. If I have to, I’ll buy a franchise (a V8 Supercar franchise is like a licence to compete for each individual car) off Larry (Perkins-Dumbrell’s boss) and sack him!” Gore raged to the media afterwards. (Ultimately he didn’t)
In 2005, Gore also expanded his racing interests to the other side of the Pacific and the Champ Car World Series. Having sponsored Besnard in a one-off the previous year, he got much more serious for ’05 sponsoring a whole 2-car team, Walker Racing, to promote his ‘Aussie Vineyards’ wine exporting business under the name “Team Australia”. NASCAR fans may also remember 2006 when Marcos Ambrose started out in trucks, Gore sponsored the truck. (Not exactly sure how much business an Aussie wine exporting business would gain from NASCAR fans but hey at least it got Ambrose’s foot in the door and helped kick-start a respectable carer in the US.)
2006
Prior to the 2006 season kicking off, WPS Racing were looked at quite favourably thanks to some big changes. The big one was the appointment of one Mark Larkham as team manager. If you watch Supercars today, you’ll know ‘Larko’ as the brilliant pitlane reporter who can explain the highly technical sport of motor racing in a way that even an old lady with dementia can understand, but in 2006 he had just closed the doors on his own team. Therefore, a lot of Larkham’s team/personnel was absorbed into WPS Racing. Besnard and Baird were still in the team but demoted to enduro co-drivers. Their full-time seats were taken over by Jason Bargwanna (one of Larkham’s drivers) and Brazilian Max Wilson, one of the few non-Australian/New Zealand drivers to have a decent crack at V8 racing. Gore suddenly had some people who knew what they were doing.
Only two things really marred the year. One was Max Wilson spectacularly putting his car on its side at the Oran Park round and Gore, still pissed off about a lack of financial support from Ford, running windscreen banners that read ‘Independant’ (that’s not my misspelling either. They literally couldn’t be bothered to spell check) stating that it was “a message to his friend Tom (Tom Gorman was the head of Ford Australia at the time). This is not a political statement. We have not received support from any manufacturer.”
But aside from that they finished the year a much-improved 14th (Bargwanna) and 15th (Wilson) in the championship. They had multiple top 10 finishes and, for the most part looked like a reasonably professional race team.
On the other side of the pacific, the Team Australia Champ Car program was going well when one of their drivers, a young kid called Will Power, won rookie of the year. Fair to say he’s excelled since then…
So 2006 was actually a pretty good year for Gore on the race track. For 2007, he’ll surely try and consolidate this and really build upon it to…
Yeah, guess what…
2007
2007 started and Mark Larkham was out. He just left. Still to this day, he hasn’t said why but it’s probably easy to guess…
And without a decent team manager, do you think WPS Racing went forward or backwards?
They had average year on track, but Gore really made headlines off-track by launching a scathing attack on the team’s representative John Hewson. Hewson was a retired politician but also real motorsport enthusiast. Even at the height of his political career, he was a regular at the racetrack. He even joined a pit crew for Bathurst on occasion. He loved it. There were rumours that he was thinking about challenging to become CEO of V8 Supercars. Gore wasn’t a fan of him and at the Ipswich round of the championship, WPS Racing’s merchandise stand was distributing shirts that read ‘stay out of our sport, Hewson’. The team was fined $25 000 for bringing the sport into disrepute.
Gore then went onto attack his fellow team owners, in particular, singling out Triple Eight’s Roland Dane saying, “If I went to war, I’d make sure he (Dane) was front of me and not behind me.”
In what can only be described as a jealous rant, he went onto say “What he’s done with Vodafone (Triple Eight’s naming rights sponsor at the time) is fucking amazing. He’s got the cars, he’s got the drivers. Not only the on-track stuff, but all of the off-track marketing that he’s doing. He’s fucking braining them. It’s unbelievable what he’s done but I hate him with a passion. I tell you what…he will be very, very difficult to contain, that bloke…”
They were quite prophetic words because…well, here’s the thing, Gore and Dane had been in V8 racing for the same amount of time. Gore had one (highly bizarre) win. In that same time period, Dane’s team had over 20. And Dane was only just getting warmed up.
So, what’s the difference? It’s simple really. Gore was a (mostly) successful businessman. For Dane, racing was his business. Remember how I said to be successful in motor racing you’ve got to know the business inside and out and properly invest in it? That’s what Dane did. When he purchased the Briggs Motorsport team mid-03, he ran it as it was for the rest of the year and just quietly observed all around him. But for the start of 2004, Triple Eight had new cars. And they basically wrote all of 2004 off as one big test session. They designed and tested new parts to the point of destruction. Their ’04 season honestly was as bad as WPS’s. But by the end of the year, they had started to improve and scored a couple of top 5’s.
For ’05, Dane hired Craig Lowndes (for Americans think of him as Australia’s answer to Dale Earnhardt-the peoples champion, loved by race fans but also a ruthless race-winning animal of a driver). Dane then said to his team “I’ve got you a race-winning driver. Do you have a race-winning car to give him?” Suddenly Triple Eight started winning races. Dane then hired another driver called Jamie Whincup. And then they started winning more races. And then after 2007, came drivers and teams’ championships, multiple Bathurst 1000’s, blue-chip sponsors came on board, other teams started buying parts and cars off them rather than build their own and now, 20 years later? Take a guess at which team is the benchmark in the Supercars Championship.
At the same time, Gore still had the two second-hand cars he purchased in late ’03. He didn’t build up much of anything really. As far as drivers went, he didn’t get a top-line elite driver. He was asking drivers who were reasonable but not elite to drive second-hand cars with minimal upgrades and be successful. You don’t need to be an expert to know how that’s going to work out.
After the scathing attacks though, Gore went silent. It turned out that he had been involved in a helicopter accident were a sudden loss in altitude cause inner ear damage. On the advice of his doctor, he had to stay away from sustained loud noises and racing cars make a lot of noise. Wilson and Bargwanna ultimately finished the ’07 season 17th and 18th. A couple of top 10 finishes the only thing to write home about. On the other side of the Pacific, Champ Car was winding down and getting ready to merge into the rival IRL series to form IndyCar.
Suddenly Gore found himself at a crossroads. He couldn’t really be directly involved anymore. It was time to exit stage left. But even leaving, he pissed people off…
2008
At the pre-season test for the V8 Supercars just two weeks before the first round, Jason Bargwanna was leaning forlornly on the pit wall watching the action. Gore had shut WPS Racing down, leaving his drivers out in the cold barely 3 weeks before the season kicked off. Across the Pacific, he pulled the plug on the Team Australia deal with Walker Racing (casually ignoring a contract) and transferred his funding (and Will Power) to another team, KV Racing for the newly merged IndyCar series. Walker Racing were not best pleased. The KV deal only lasted to the end of 2008 before Gore ceased all motorsport activities. And then all of Australian motorsport breathed a sigh of relief.
He was gone.
Since then, Gore has really gone downhill. He’s been bankrupted, charged with fraud and is currently sitting in a Queensland prison-and even there he got in trouble for attempting to run a business from behind bars-which if you’re incarcerated in Queensland is illegal. He was eligible for parole in October 2022 but as I write this, I haven’t found anything about him being released. Probably for good reason.
And to think that he once thought he could dominate Australian motorsport…

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Bold denotes items that are new since the corresponding Aldi Finds Sneak Peek ad was published.

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Corresponding Sneak Peek Ad post: (US) Aldi Finds Sneak Peek for 5/28/23 (5/31/23 in some stores)
Previous Aldi Finds ad: (US) Upcoming ALDI Finds for 5/24/23 (5/21/23 in some stores)
Archived Aldi Ad

First Chapter Here
Previous Chapter Here
My other story, Going Native Here
Here's a little chapterino to keep things moving along!
*****
The water was pleasantly cool and would be soothing, if not for the company. Meechie worked soap into her fur with a methodical efficiency designed less to get her clean and more to get her done with the task as quickly as possible.
“I guess we’ll know who to blame when they have to get the plumber out here again,” one of her coworkers, Na’eta, complained. The Shil’s voice was canted to carry in the locker room, making sure everyone during the shift change could hear the complaint. Meechie tried to ignore the woman as she began rinsing off, taking a moment to hiss out a quiet retort to herself.
“What was that? Does the little animal have something to say?” Na’eta was clearly trying to provoke a reaction. Why couldn’t people just leave her alone? Meechie hated confrontation, but she also despised that cowardly part of herself. She felt so inadequate. So unlike the heroes of her stories.
What would Faye say if he knew how pathetic Meechie was?
Pulling at the ragged tatters of her courage and using it to cover her anxiety, she turned to face the Shil woman. Meechie wasn’t about to let her prince down. “I said,” she retorted, her voice as flat and calm as she could make it while still letting it carry across the locker room, “if the various disgusting discharges from your disease-riddled cunt haven’t clogged the drain, I doubt a little fur will make a difference.”
The Shil’s face turned a dark blue, full of rage and surprise. For a moment, Meechie thought the woman was going to close the distance and throw a punch, but Meechie was in the shower section, still wet, while the purple giant was dressed and dry. When the rest of the room burst into peals of laughter, that seemed to settle it. The woman lowered head and turned away. Meechie pushed down a smile as the Shil stomped off.
The Rakiri finished her shower with alacrity. There was plenty of time before the bus showed up, but Meechie still felt small and vulnerable. Being naked in a room full of people always gave her that feeling. She practically sprinted to her assigned locker and began throwing on the clothes she had spent most of last night picking out.
The meaty thud of a Shil hand on her back nearly had Meechie jumping out of her fur, but she managed to corral the instinct to turn and claw her attacker. Her fur bristled under the too-stiff fabric of new clothing.
“Nice one,” Meechie’s new attacker remarked as she walked past.
A few more thuds fell on her as Meechie belatedly realized that she was being patted on the back by her coworkers. Congratulations for standing up for herself, or for pissing off a Shil nobody really liked? Were she not the girl she was, Meechie probably would have preened at the attention.
Instead, she just bent forward to give the impression she was looking for something in her bag and waited for it to be over.
–
Faye hardly recognized the bus Rakiri when she spotted her. Meechie was standing farther forward than she usually did, closer to where Faye tried to eke out a place and far less hidden than she normally tried to be.
The Rakiri’s brown fur, the color of dark chocolate, had a healthy sheen that made it seem two shades lighter. It also laid differently, smooth and unmarked by smears of grease. Meechie was wearing dark slacks and a light blue shirt that accentuated an ample chest that Faye hadn’t realized the young woman had. A fluffy tail, mixed browns and blacks, swept behind her. Did she normally keep the tail tucked into her coveralls? Faye couldn’t remember ever seeing it.
The entire ensemble was unusual enough that Faye was pulled up short. It was like the grubby greasemonkey of a cat-dog-alien had been replaced by some sort of pod person. Maybe it was an office day for her? In and out of meetings instead of turning wrenches?
With a small start, Faye realized that she was perhaps being a little rude by checking her bus friend out so openly. She blushed slightly and approached Meechie, who for her part was staring at Faye’s face. Staring and frowning.
“Oh!” Faye reached into her purse and pulled out a glasses case, offering it to Meechie. “Thank you for loaning these to me. And good morning.”
“Good morning.” Meechie blinked, then looked down at the case. “You didn’t have to-”
“I appreciate you loaning me your spare glasses,” Faye interrupted, hoping the Rakiri understood the extra emphasis she added to the word. “They really saved me yesterday. I wouldn’t have been able to get through without them.” She pressed the glasses case forward until Meechie had to either take them or accept that Faye was going to stuff them into the Rakiri’s shirt.
“You… you’re welcome.” Meechie took the case and slipped it into a pocket. “Your new sunglasses suit you better anyway.”
“But they won’t help if I need to weld something.” Faye reached up and ran a finger along the arm of her new glasses. The frames were in a cat’s eye style, vibrant red plastic, and as she touched the controls on the side the lens tint blinked from darker to lighter. “They don’t get nearly dark enough for that. They can change color though.” Another gentle motion with her fingertrip and the frames went from candy apple red to the color of a noonday sky. They had been an expensive purchase, but her dad always said that if you had to spend money, it should go between either you and the ground (things like beds, shoes, and tires) or between your face and the world. That second part had been an addendum added when Faye was twelve or so and he came home from a jobsite with half his face in bandages. He really did like to shake hands with danger.
“If you need something welded, perhaps…” The Rakiri’s fur bristled and she seemed to shrink slightly as her posture showed something between nervousness and outright terror. “Perhaps you can call on me?”
Faye looked the woman up and down. Meechie seemed young, maybe a human early twenties, but it was hard to tell with other species. She was certain that she was missing something, but Faye really couldn’t pin down what societal cue she was cue-less about. Perhaps it was best to just be direct.
“Meechie, are you asking for my number? Or offering to give me yours?”
The Rakiri’s posture slumped further and her eyes lowered as she gave a tiny nod.
Well, that was an easy enough conundrum to remedy. Faye pulled out her pad and gave the screen a few quick taps before flicking her contact info over. A beep sounded from Meechie’s pocket and the Rakiri perked right up.
Despite getting off on the wrong foot (wrong nose?) early on, Faye felt like maybe she was getting a read on Meechie. She was shy to the point of being antisocial but still seemed nice. Harmless in her own way.
And Faye seemed to be collecting strange friends.
–
“Well, that was a bust.”
Teran De’darbi jerked his head up from his pad, attention completely derailed. He had been reviewing a pretty solid brief his team had been putting together; it was pretty boring in principle, dealing with the way road construction companies were earning their contracts, but the way reality had to slam back into place just proved that the story would be a good one. He drew his attention to Miz'ra Qendal where she loomed over him. The huge woman really seemed to love doing that.
She grinned, clearly pleased that she managed to startle Teran, before continuing. “That Wera Yendil girl, the one you asked me to talk with. Not a whole lot there.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, unless your story is about how girls being girls can get out of hand, there’s nothing worth following up on.” The large reporter shrugged. “That girl needs a therapist more than anything. She spent most of our talk blubbering about how sorry she was and how she ruined her life.”
“Huh.” Teran wasn’t sure how to respond to that. ‘Girls being girls’ was a pretty good topic, maybe as a multi-part feature. Following up on girls who took things a bit too far and the results. Things had been shifting in the last decade or so, with more calls for accountability and less toxic femininity. Maybe Faye-
“-arbs. DARBS!”
“Huh?” Teran jerked to attention.
“I was asking if you had any luck on your end, or if this whole thing was just an excuse so you could get yourself some of that Human pussy.” The broad-shouldered Shil leaned forward, decimating Teran’s personal space with a single motion. “Unless you already managed to hit it and quit it. You did seem pretty perky this morning.”
“I did no such thing,” Teran raised one hand and gently pushed on Miz’s forehead, moving the woman back out of his comfort zone. He noticed idly that he would need a fresh manicure soon. Definitely before his next newscast.
“Ah, so one of your infamous one-night projects.” She smirked. “Let me guess, someone who just happens to be in the same social circle as the Human? A coworker maybe?”
Teran felt his face heat up. He lowered his eyes back towards his work, trying to hide the shame. The big woman’s hand patting him on the shouldn’t wasn’t reassuring in the least.
“Well, at least one of us got something out of this. After all, if you can’t find a story you can always make one. You’re good at that.”
Teran tapped on his pad with one finger, letting his fingernail do the talking with a pair of loud clicks. Miz got the idea, rolling her eyes before lumbering off to go ruin someone else’s life or whatever she was working on right now. He watched her leave, attention focused, trying not to think about anything at all. When she finally turned the corner out of the room, he began to count.
At ten, Teran calmly stood up, tucked in his chair, and strolled over to his private bathroom. He kept his posture neat, his stride even, and managed to get himself settled without drawing any attention.
It wouldn’t do for anyone to see him cry. He was a professional, after all.
–
“Sanity returns, in most cases, when the book is closed.”
Tevor really hoped that was true. The book Faye had recommended, The Left Hand of Darkness, seemed to have done something to his mind. He had thought the recommendation a casual one, just Faye being nice, but then something went horribly wrong.
He got home, drew a bath, and found the book pretty much impossible to locate on the ‘net. A quick message to Faye and she sent him the original English edition as well as one from “The Hugo & Nebula Project”, some group on Earth that translated old science fiction into Shil while trying to preserve the meaning and artistry of the original text. He decided to go with that, and as the tub began to fill Tev started flicking through the introduction.
Two hours later, he was still clothed and his bath was cold. Everything was forgotten, and Tevor was truly captivated. It was like the book was written for him. How had Faye known? Had she known at all, or was it just a fluke? Perhaps the Goddesses were playing a prank on him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
The problem with Shil literature, Tevor had decided years ago when he was just a little kid, was that it was written by Shil’vati. With almost eighty-nine percent of the population being thirsty women, the media catered largely to womanly tastes. It was a cavalcade of sex and violence, or tame stuff written to help keep men in their place.
Human stuff, by and large, was much better. In those stories, men were actually doing things, were fully developed characters with thoughts and motivations of their own. And if the women weren’t as well written, it wasn’t nearly as one-sided. Men in Shil’vati fiction were often little more than objects to drive the story along, with no value except their service to the plot.
Still, there were problems. Motivations were always the same in any culture, it seemed. Sex and violence. Tevor thought he understood it. Women wanted to fuck men, men (in theory) wanted to fuck women, and the plot was sort of the bread you wrapped around that core to make a story sandwich.
Then Faye went and fucked it all up. He could kiss her, if the idea of smooshing lips together and getting someone else’s spit in his mouth didn’t give Tevor the heebie jeebies. She had given him a crisis wrapped in a story.
On the planet of Winter, men didn’t have to worry about women wanting to have sex with them. Boys didn’t walk the streets in fear that they would end up in some girl’s pleasure dungeon, drugged and raped until their mind was gone. They didn’t have to worry about any of that, and not because it was a perfect utopia. It certainly wasn’t.
On Winter, there simply weren't any women at all.
That was an oversimplification, really. Le Guin had created a complex world and populated it with people who, while strange, felt like real characters. The only difference was that, for most of the year, sex and gender simply didn’t exist for the Humans on Winter.
Yet that one difference changed everything.
The story was brilliant too, but that really wasn’t the thing that had captivated Tevor. It was the setting, the world where sexuality, the need to procreate, wasn’t central in everyone’s mind. That central tenet of Shil’vati culture was gone, and in its place were people who went about their lives free of the weird urges and gross consequences.
Why did Faye do this to him? Sure, Tevor wasn’t happy, but as far as he knew nobody was actually happy. He just stayed in his lane, let Sade act as a buffer for him, and figured that some day, eventually, he’d either figure out what was wrong with him or give in to the inevitable and be unhappy with a family instead. Even if he didn’t want sex, he could physically do it. Probably. Maybe.
Tevor sighed as he ambled around the kid’s section in the library. Second shift generally did a good job keeping things clean and mornings were always slow this time of the year. He looked around at the way everything was laid out, the big pillow-filled pit for the more rambunctious kids to read in, the smaller raised area for little boys who didn’t want to have to deal with the crush of girls. Even here, before puberty turned everyone into a monster, he could see the effects. He had always seen them, but they were easier to ignore before Tevor spent seven hours straight reading that damn book.
Next week, the flood gates would open and University City would be filled to the brim with students from preschool to post-graduate specialization. There wouldn’t be any more of these empty mornings and Tevor would find himself with a lot less free time. If he was going to figure out what was happening to him he needed to do it quickly.
Tomorrow. Game night with Sade, Faye, and Mahnti was tomorrow. That was the time to strike. Tevor would talk to the Human and see if he could figure out exactly what was wrong with him, what he could do to fix it, and if Faye had any more recommendations on something to read.
Even if it had fucked up his whole life, The Left Hand of Darkness really was a great book.
*****
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This is a fanfic that takes place in the “Between Worlds” universe (aka Sexy Space Babes), created and owned by u/BlueFishcake. No ownership of the settings or core concepts is expressed or implied by myself.
This is for fun. Can’t you just have fun?

Virgin Voyages

My notes from onboard the Scarlet Lady from Virgin Voyages. I went in with so many expectations (mostly from Reddit and TikTok stories) that were shattered completely - not for the better. My wife and I believe that Virgin Voyages enjoyed an early success due to their low passenger count sailings. Now that they have full sailings, they haven't quite figured out how to scale any of their services to provide the same experience that previous guests rave so much about.

Embarkation Party

This was a complete failure for a remarkable number of reasons:

• Our 1:45PM boarding was pushed back until 2:45PM (which was fine)
• During our boarding zone finally being called (Splash of Romance) my wife and I were yanked (physically stopped from proceeding)
• We showed Doug that we paid for Splash of Romance, he said okay good, then pushed us back and told the lady to give us a Zone A card, which put us two boarding sections behind what we paid
• This was all while the other lady was telling us to go ahead, but apparently Doug didn't like that.
• When we finally got through, already losing our spot, our bracelet didn't scan right.
• We went back again, missing another loading zone, while they fixed our bracelet.
• We went back through, and it still failed. The bracelets failed a second time.
• So we go back to the back of the line A THIRD TIME to get a new bracelet AGAIN.
• Finally, after waiting through three boarding zones after the one we paid for, we were able to board.
• I specifically purchased SoR so i could board early and book the neat events I read about in Reddit
• Plot Twist: They were all sold out of the events I cared about.

I asked to refund my package. Still waiting for that but they said they would. (Update: confirmed via rep that it will be again when they offered a spa pass for our troubles)
I also cancelled two excursions totaling $825, so they lost roughly $1,025 of guaranteed spend by ruining our onboarding experience. I was also planning on doing on-ship cabanas on each day - there were plenty open - but we opted to not spend any more money on this cruise line when they butchered our experienced without so much as a "oh well the rest of the voyage will be better, right?"
My band also did not work to open my room, so we had to get that replaced at Sailor Services.
We believe that we traced the issue back to the lady who checked us in at the Terminal not giving us our SoR wristbands. We otherwise likely only would have experienced an embarkation delay, shared by everyone else. Instead we were treated like we were trying to sneak in or skip the line - even after we showed the evidence they requested (the in-app add-on section that shows I was SoR.)

• On Day 2, They gave us a bottle of Saint Louise Rose Sparkling Wine - Philippines Peso 599, or roughly $11.00 USD and a sorry card. I thanked them for it but the gesture didn't feel appropriate in my eyes.

Pro-tip: Don't leave a sweating ice bucket next to a customer's laptop on the desk - even if it contains sparkling wine. Literally anywhere else is better.

Sail-Away Party

• We asked to be refunded for our SoR so we did not partake in the special sail-away gathering
• We went to the main sail-away party between 6:10pm and 6:45pm
• During this time we circled decks 15 and 16 looking for champagne
• We finally found someone cleaning up empty glasses and they said they were out
• I messaged sailor services, and they responded: "Ahoy , Our sail away bubbles are given at our Sun Club cafe, Aquatic club, and Gym and Tonic bar from 6:00pm to 6:30pm"
• When i pressed, they responded: "The sail away party happened in the open deck today exactly the mentioned bars above. I am sorry if you didn't find that."

What it seems like actually happened was they ran out of champagne to give out in about 15 minutes and then gaslighted me when I called them on it.

Room Service

• Took all of the advertised 40-60 minute window to deliver
• Missing 3 food items and help link told us to contact sailor services
• Sailor services chat told us to call room service from our cabin phone
• We just took the L, we didn't want to risk waiting another hour as it was already very late
• We did order ice separately, and they came to us to ask for an ice bucket, which we did not have supplied.
• They got us the ice bucket though, so that was nice. (why not just come with ice, and swap out buckets?)

Spa

• We opted to not partake in our included spa session for SoR because we asked for a refund.
• We likely would have purchased the 100-minute couples massage if things hadn't blown up upon embarkation.
• There was no reflexology (focusing on legs, feet) massages which were was I was hoping for, so we did not purchase any other spa services.

On Day 2, sailor services confirmed the refund of our SoR being processed and still offered us a the 3-hour spa pass usage. We declined. At this point in our journey they have given us $11 bottle of wine and a $39 spa pass. I might have felt like it was worth it if they had comped a short massage or something, but the day-pass was not worth our time even being "free."

The Uncruise Line?

I don't see much difference between mainstream brands and Virgin. They certainly do not have customer service figured out:

• This is the first cruise I've been on where I had to actively seek someone out to be served drinks - every time.
• The empty glasses from the previous person occupying the chairs were still there. Ours joined the party for the next people, too.
• We had to get up and go get our drinks - not a biggie - but on other carriers,we would be asked consistently if we wanted another drink if didn't have one in front of us.
• They still do all the traditional cruise line crap - they just blend into content better.
  • watch sales
  • jewelery sales
  • art sales

The things I would say was different (and positive) were:

• no kids
• that a majority of the yoga/active/wellness classes had good content
• There was a distinct lack of photographers at every corner

The Social Club Carnival Food

• Hot dogs were weirdly discolored - basically boiled gray dogs you get at a high-school or minor-league game
• The popcorn was fine
• The cheese and pretzel was....well the cheese was already globbing into solids across the top. the pretzel was a typical frozen pretzel.

The Test Kitchen

• Waitress was excellent. Top notch at service and delivery.
• It was neat to see all the different preparation methods and hear the story of the food.
• She gave us good tips on enjoying the flavors.
• We did not like the beet root at all, but otherwise enjoyed and ate it all.
• I grabbed a burger and fries afterwards at the 24/7 burger place in the galley - the portions are small if you are large.
• We had the R.I.S.C drink and it was good, but we both tasted hints of cough syrup
• They were out of the beer on the menu that I tried to order (wheat beer)

People on the ship appear to have no clue hat they are getting into didn't seem to enjoy it. I think reddit did prepare me for this one.

Razzle Dazzle (Brunch)

• Service was horrible - our waiter took our order and never came back. Other people delivered the food. But we never got our drink order. We had to flag someone else down. The people next to us ordered the bottomless drink option and said they found what the bottom looked like way too many times. (His delivery was better than mine.)

I spilled my Coke Zero. They were nice and cleaned it up of course.

• Rainbow Churros - Good!
• Fairy Toast - Neat (looks better than it tastes)
• Tater Tots - Good!
• Bacon - Good!
• Chocolate Chip Scone - Good!
• Apple Crustini - Delicious!
• Cookies - didn't get the milk served with it, was very almost overwhelmingly rich

Pool Deck in Sea Day

• Extremely crowded, but we found chairs after only a single walk around
• No service, must get up and find whatever you need/want (drinks, etc.)
• Not checking out towels, a nice departure from RCL
• Everyone is super nice - the people are what make the cruise, not the lins

The Dock

• Loved it. Service was good!
• We screwed in the flag to it would actually stay up (indicating we needed service.)
• Shrimp was delicious - but the portions are super small
• Chicken w/ pita wrap was delicious
• The carafe of sangria was delicious
• We aren't sure why, but they think the service was slow and offered the carafe for free
• We told her it wasn't necessary the service was fine. (seemingly the larger table seated next to us got their food first, but my wife and I did not think anything was slow about it. )

Update: Even though she said she would comp the carafe, we were still charged for it.

4:15PM on a Sea Day

In this section:

• The Galley
• Pizza

On our first At-Sea day, everything in the Galley shut down at 4pm except burgers and breakfast diner - but they were still table seating only. Unfortunately we waited without getting served so tried to go get some pizza instead. There was also a lack of anything that you could take & go like there was yesterday - literally 0 Bento boxes and no fruit.
Instead of waiting on slow table service at the galley, we tried the Pizza place. After getting to the front of the line (2-3 minutes), we were informed there was a 45 minute wait for a pizza.
This was pretty bizarre to us. Our previous sailings on RCL - the Sorrentos pizza - was efficient and delicious. Even at peak times on ships twice the size you only waited 15 minutes in line and walked out with two pizzas in hand and one balancing on your head. Waiting around in the pizza place without anywhere to sit for 45 minutes felt pretty stupid - we couldn't even get pizza by the slice or anything to go fast.
We ended up grabbing a couple of croissants from the coffee place near the pizza shop for lunch. We weren't able to get dinner reservations tonight, so hopefully we'll be able to actually eat somewhere.

Extra Virgin

We went around 8:45pm. We were unable to secure a reservation at any other restaurants, and Extra Virgin was the one we didn't have booked at all.
The hostess said there was a 15-table wait-list and asked us to come back another day when we could have a guaranteed reservation. That would, at the time, had forced us to cancel dinner at another restaurant we hadn't been to. We opted to try and find elsewhere.

Note: We ended up getting into the Wake, so we cancelled out later weekly reservation for the Wake and the hostess at Extra Virgin hooked us up with that Thursday spot so we could still experience both! This is where my on-boarding experience really screwed up my ability to re-arrange like I anticipated and left us stressed instead of eating.

The Wake

We ended up getting a reservation that had cancelled at the Wake and swapped things around. Our reservation was at 9:15pm (booked around 9:00pm.) We waited in line for 10 minutes to get to the hostess station. We then waited in a seating area at the bottom of the staircase at the Wake for about 5-8 more minutes. We were then seated.
The food was really good, but a similar theme developed around lack of service. We waited 10 minutes before anyone reached our table to get a drink. We were ready to order and so did - but we never saw our waitress again. We flagged someone down twice to get a single drink refill.

• Bread w/ Green Butter - Delicious
• NY Strip Steak - Delicious
• French fries - good!
• Filet - Delicious
• Twice Baked Potato - Delicious

The steaks were served with a roasted garlic clove which was the first time I had one prepared that way. It spread on the steak and I didn't even use the steak sauce.
Overall take: Good food, but bad service.

I was planning on doing a Seafood Tower and Tomahawk steak since I'd never had one but because of our on-boarding experience we decided against spending the ~$200 for them and stuck on free menu items.

The Galley Again

We went up to the Galley to checkout the Sweet Delight place that said it was open, but it was not open. We decided to test out the Pizza again instead since we didn't get any earlier when it was a 40 minute wait.

The Pizza Place, Part 2

We ordered a "Pretty fly for a white pie" pizza and it was good. We waited in the pizza place for about 10-15 minutes for it to be made. We took it back to our room to eat - it was good. I think the RCL pizza is still better, you can order it by the slice, and its much faster - but I will try the pepperoni at some other point to see how they stack up.

Pools / Aquatic Club

They closed and asked anyone in the pools and large "hot tub" to get out and covered them with nets. This was for cleaning obviously. The only reason I bring this up was that Reddit seems to communicate that the pools never close until the patrons leave - which didn't specifically happen in our case. They did leave open the two small hot-tubs. This was between 12 and 12:15 am that they kicked people out.

Noticeable lack of service

To this point in our trip (the end of day 2, with day 3 only a few hours of sleep away) - we have had to get up and get the thing we needed ourselves - i.e., nobody clears old glasses, no one comes around and gets you drinks. It seems the only people who get actual service are rockstars and megarockstars. (We did try to upgrade but our full sailing had people who grossly outbid the "good" offers apparently)
Even glasses and plates that people leave outside their doors have been sitting their the better part of the day.

End of Day 2 Impression

No kids onboard is still a big plus, but i don't think it's enough to return to a Virgin Voyages sailing unless it was comped. That seems unlikely given I am nobody that matters.

We landed on Thursday and got right at it. My body is feeling it but my heart and soul is happy.
Lunches

• A Beautiful Rind: Super cute with a small but fun wine bottle list. We split a cheeseboard, a pimento cheese and okra sandwich and a tin of fish.
  
• The Drop In: This was recommended to me in my research post a few months ago. Smash burger bar that was started by a professional skater and Michelin star chef. This place not only met the hype but kicked the damn wall down like the kool-aid man. I love smash burgers and they're the only style of burger I like to eat. This was probably the best one I've ever had. They also had Duvel on tap which is a big win for me.
  
• Art of Pizza: Meh, we wanted to check the pizza box off but also didn't want to dedicate too much stomach space to any one food item. It was fine but it had been sitting in the heat lamp carousel for awhile. Next time we go to a proper sit down spot.
  
• Devil Dawg: I went for the Big Chicago Dawg which came with a polish sausage instead of a hot dog. This was also my first Chicago style hot dog, ever. It was a pain to eat due to my small mouth (literally had the infant mold for braces in high school) but it was good! The tots were amazing too.
  
• Gene and Judes: Same day as Devil Dawgs just in the evening after Hala Kahiki but also before dinner so I'm including it in lunch. Same issue being a pain to eat but it was fucking fantastic. The fries were so so good.
  

Dinners

• Aji Omakase: This was my favorite dinner of the trip. Super intimate without feeling stuffy. They have a subway schedule flip board that tells you what you're eating and watching it change between courses was so much fun. Had sake for the first time since I turned 21 which was 13 years ago and I enjoyed it a lot more now.
  
• Topolobampo: This was my most underwhelming meal of the trip. Everything was good and competently made but I think I just hyped myself up too much for it. They had just started a new menu featuring chiles and cacao. I grow my own peppers and love spicy food. I was bummed that nothing was spicy and even some of the pepper components of dishes seemed lacking. But I understand they're not catering to people who put habaneros on everything. We also got the agave paring, which was a mistake. We were drunk when we left. I will say the tortillas were the best I've ever had and I really wanted to try and pop into Xoco during the rest of our trip just for tacos but we didn't have time for unscheduled stops.
  
• Sepia: Another spot that was recommended in my original post. A beautiful dinner. Very classic food. The beef tartare was amazing and this might sound weird but it reminded me of a Big Mac lmao. The wine was a bit expensive so we ordered a sparking from Mexico. Can't say I've ever had Mexican wine before but we really liked the bottle.
  
• Chef's Special: This was right by our airbnb and we love Chinese takeout. We figured it would be a great lowkey final night meal. It was but we ordered way too much because it was so good. My wife was literally eating the veg fried rice out of the bowl with the serving spoon like it was ice cream. The dried chili fried chicken was so crispy and spicy. I was feeling that this morning!
  

Bars

• Dos Urban Cantina: Technically a restaurant but we went specifically for their happy hour margaritas. They were good but the squash blossom quesadilla was really interesting.
  
• Three Dots & A Dash: We went to both bars. The Bamboo Room was super sexy like a tiki prohibition bar and if allowed I could spend a whole night in there. The main bar was more a party vibe. The menu at the Bamboo Room is different from the main bar and the drinks were interesting. The food was surprisingly good. I've not had good food experiences at tiki bars but the Thai Chicken Nuggets were phenomenal.
  
• Hala Kahiki: One of the older tiki bars still open in the country. Opened in 1964 and it felt very much like a time capsule. Huge menu which was overwhelming for my wife. The quality wasn't as good as Three Dots imo but it wasn't a drastic drop off.
  
• Good Funk: A natural wine bar where we actually had cider. We had asked for a recommendation for a bottle and at first they recommended a bottle we had previously purchased at A Beautiful Rind. I would have never guessed that it was a cider if you had just given it to me. Super dry with no sweetness. I really enjoyed it. The bar was really fun.
  

Photo album
I feel like we ate and drank a lot in 3.5 days and none of it was out right terrible. It had been 11 years since I was last in your city and it was my wifes first trip. We had so much fun and we may make it an annual trip because we only scratched the surface!

Aight y'all, so peep game. I was browsing reddit in my usual channels, when I saw an ad for a RP discord server. I figured 'what the hell? Might as well get out of your comfort zone and try something new.' So I went to it, and was actually surprised to see that their setting was a super in-depth verse with complex lore and a menagerie of colorful characters & vast settings (including places where gods, daemons and celestials resided)
I basically eat that shit up for breakfast. If they made lore into a breakfast item, I would pour milk over that shit and eat it twice a day. Even when I was at the height of my RP prime, I was exclusively a 1 on 1 Rper. So the fact that it was a group RPbsomewhat intimidating, but I was definitely open to dipping my toes into the water. I read up on all of their rules, background, requirements and lore. I didn't want to step on any toes or be 'that guy' who tries to make every and all RP's about him.
So I went about creating my OC. I searched all over for refs until settling on the perfect one. I brainstormed an original species outside of those they offered (they allowed you to do that), and set to work on my OC. I spent the entire rest of the day researching physics, scientific measurements, language conventions, and looking at the other approved character submissions to gauge what was acceptable.
Obviously they had a rule against someone making a billy badass character that one shot's everyone and Nae Nae's over their bodies, so I wanted to take a look at what the surrounding character environment was. One of these characters was a literal Cthulhu~esque character. And I don't mean they used the ref and it was a grounded character. I mean it was literally a cosmic horror entity that had an "unpronounceable" name, tentacled hair, mini wings and carried a necronomicon around.
I thought, 'coolsies'. I looked around at some other characters and there was another Eldritch entity character that was literally ageless. Didn't bother me. I was definitely down that there was so much variety in this place. With that information in mind, I continued building my OC. I gave him a meaningful name, an in depth backstory, an origin that built up on the pre established lore without making everything revolve around it
And just like their rules required, I gave him several flaws/weaknesses in addition to his powers. Several of them were him having: 'Bad reaction time, poor dexterity (can't use complex tools), a weakness to magic (This was a big one considering they made a whole document about how their location was powered by magic and such), very susceptible to being drained and weakened and even that he was stuck in a drastically weaker form due to not wanting to cause harm to the area around him (If his original form was a bonfire, his weaker form was a lit match). I even specified that he wouldn't be changing into his other form due to the nature of it. Like, I didn't even give it a reference image and then explained that it wouldn't be relevant to any RP that takes place.
So I thought, noice. This whole ass OC I spent significant amounts of time to make presentable, interesting and grounded for the verse. So I submitted it, and waited. Some time later, I was browsing the discord, and then I got the notification that my submission had been rejected, and they thought that it was "Too OP". Internally I was confused that my limited character, who had to push himself just to make an attack that was halfway to breaking the sound barrier but could only do so after it traveled in a straight line for a minute, was considered too strong compared to literal Cosmic horrors and fully powered celestial beings.
I was kind of quiet as I followed their instructions, and deleted my submission as I started on another one. I gathered a different reference image, and was starting on a new submission sheet before I thought to myself. "What am I doing? I have other RP/Writing things I could be doing than catering towards a group of mods who are contradictory and selective towards character submissions." So I just left the discord.
I didn't raise hell in chat, I didn't block anyone or spam stuff to annoy people. I just got up, picked up my metaphorical shit, and left. It's their server. Considering how big it is, it must work for them. I'm going to do my best to put it out of my mind after this post Instead of flipping my shit. Had this been a month ago, I probably would have had a different reaction. I guess I have you guys to thank for opening my eyes to the various negative behaviors I used to exhibit in RP.
It sucks, but life sucks. It's not going to stop me from finding people & places where I truly resonate.

Please, feel free to add any events below! Check out the Visitor's Guide for more things to do around town!
Looking to meet up with people? Check out Meetup St. Louis.
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Be sure to continue scrolling past the Weekly Events for Trivia Nights, Live Music, Sporting Events, Local Comedy, and more!
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• Bellefontaine in Bloom
  • Spring 2023
  • Join others for a brisk spring walk through Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum! In the months of March, April, and May, Bellefontaine offers a two-hour walking tour of the cemetery and arboretum. This 2-hour walk will be led by one of their Master Guides who will convey highlights of the cemetery grounds, horticulture, and a variety of intriguing figures who call Bellefontaine their last address. Particular attention will be paid to the Horticulture side of the cemetery while in different levels of bloom during these spring tours.
• Cherokee Caravan
  • May 29, 2023
  • The merchants of Historic Cherokee Antique Row invite you, your friends, and family to our annual Memorial Day, Cherokee Caravan. Come out and explore charming tree lined Cherokee Street, between Jefferson and Lemp. Everyone will enjoy the eclectic atmosphere while shopping for unique treasures you won’t find anywhere else and save your appetite for the enticing delicacies provided by local vendors. This free family friendly event is among St. Louis’ finest traditions. Spend your Memorial Day in this extraordinarily organic neighborhood.
• Chess at the Brewery
  • Every Wednesday
  • Local meetup group of chess players that meet at breweries on Wednesday nights. They rotate locations each week.
  • See their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chessatthebrewery/) for the location this week.
• Chihuly in the Missouri Botanical Garden
  • Running until October 15, 2023
  • The work of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly is coming to the Missouri Botanical Garden in a stunning exhibition uniting art and nature. With thousands of pieces of blown glass forms in 20 dramatic installations throughout the Garden’s grounds, Chihuly in the Garden 2023 presents these artworks on a grand scale
• Family Night with Fredbird
  • Wednesdays
  • Join others at Cardinals Nation Restaurant & Bar for Family Night with Fredbird on select Wednesday evenings this off-season! Bring your family down for games, prizes, and meet Fredbird from 6:30-7:30pm.
• Ferguson Farmers’ Market
  • Every Saturday
  • Enjoy live music and special events in a festive family atmosphere, and discover a wide variety of edible delights, including homemade jelly, farm fresh eggs, honey, spices, and meats. You’ll also find an ever-changing array of gift and specialty vendors, selling everything from cut flowers and bedding plants to hand-painted artwork and small-batch soaps.
  • If it’s homemade, handmade or fresh and tasty, you can buy it at the Ferguson Farmers’ Market.
• Howlin' Friday with Jeremy Taylor at the National Blues Museum
  • May 26, 2023
  • Howlin’ Friday with Jeremy Taylor: A Tribute to Ray Charles will take place at the National Blues Museum on May 26.
• Karaoke Wednesdays at HandleBar
  • Every Wednesday
  • Browse the catalog and find your favorite songs to sing! Songbookslive.com/stlredcarpet
• Karaoke Wednesdays at Mack's Bar & Grill
  • Every Wednesday
• Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours
  • Every Saturday
  • Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tours: History, Culture, Architecture, and Exercise: What could be better on a Saturday morning?
• Memorial Day Observance at Soliders Memorial
  • May 29, 2023
  • In 1979, the names of 214 St. Louisans who lost their lives in Vietnam were engraved in the Court of Honor at Soldiers Memorial. Since then, an additional 254 St. Louisans who made the supreme sacrifice in that war have been identified. Join others for the historic rededication of the Vietnam memorial with the addition of these 254 heroes.
• Open Mic Night at Schlafly Bottleworks (Maplewood)
  • Every Wednesday
  • Join others every Wednesday evening and showcase your talents with our Open Mic Night! Open sign up begins at 6:30PM with music starting at 7:00PM. They welcome original material, covers and spoken word! Grab a beer, then play and listen every Wednesday! There are no cover charges and no drink minimums to attend.
• Pointfest
  • May 27, 2023
  • This year’s lineup includes Incubus, Coheed and Cambria, The Pretty Reckless, Bad Omens, Badflower, Greek Fire, White Reaper, Band-maid, Tigerclub and more. Get your tickets today!
• Soccer Pre-Match Street Party at Schlafly Tap Room
  • May 27, 2023
  • Join others before every City SC home match for a Street Party with the St. Louligans Soccer Supporters Group. They will block off the street next to the Tap Room (now known as Louligan Street) so fans can enjoy good beer, great food, music and fun before they march over to the stadium together.
• Soulard Farmer's Market
  • Wednesdays - Saturdays
  • Soulard Farmers Market is located at 730 Carroll Street in St. Louis, Missouri, a half mile north of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The market is open Wednesday through Saturday, year round. They feature locally grown and shipped in goods, including: produce, meats, cheeses, spices, gourmet kettle corn, flowers, baked goods, and general merchandise. There are also several different eateries that have many food options, which allows customers the convenience to grab a quick bite to eat and a drink while shopping.
• Sunrise Yoga at Kiener Plaza
  • Every Tuesday
  • Awaken your body and bask in the morning sunlight! This gentle yoga practice is designed to energize and align your body and mind through movement and breath. Bring your own mat/towel and water bottle.
• St. Louis African Arts Festival
  • May 27 - 29, 2023
  • In its 32nd year, the festival will be held at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park from May 27 to 29. The multi-day event draws locals and visitors together to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures of African and African American people. Attendees can enjoy the African marketplace with arts and crafts, clothing and jewelry alongside cultural demonstrations, traditional foods and African films.
• St. Louis County Greek Festival
  • May 26 - 29, 2023
  • For the first time since the pandemic, the St. Louis County Greek Festival is back in-person with live music, traditional folk dancing, church tours, a vendor market and delicious, authentic Greek cuisine at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church located at 1755 Des Peres Road in Town & Country.
• Thursday Nights at the Museum
  • Every Thursday
  • Kick off your weekend at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park! Each Thursday Night at the Museum will be the most fun, engaging, uplifting, thought-provoking, perspective-shaping night of your week. And there are drinks.
  • Join others starting at 5:30pm for happy hour and pop-up activities, such as brief tours, games, and performances. The main stage comes to life at 6:30pm, light appetizers and drinks are available for purchase until 7:00pm, and the Museum’s exhibits are open until 8:00pm for you to explore!
• Tower Grove Farmer's Market
  • Every Tuesday & Saturday
  • Join others every Saturday of the 2023 Tower Grove Farmers Market Season. They'll have over 100 vendors with local produce, meat, flowers, eggs, honey, prepared foods, art, jewelry, live music, and so much more.
• Twilight Thursdays Concert Series
  • Every Thursday in the month of May
  • May ushers in another fantastic season of Twilight Thursdays at the Missouri History Museum! This popular, free outdoor concert series takes place on the North Lawn and brings a lineup of spectacular shows from local musicians and bands. Grab your blankets and lawn chairs, pack your picnic basket, and listen to music under a beautiful Forest Park sunset. Some of the area’s best food trucks will also be on hand each week.
• Webster University Film Series
  • Running until May 28
  • The Webster University Film Series, St. Louis' cinematic alternative since 1979, is a nationally known and recognized year-round film exhibition program. The Midwest's premiere hosting venue for American and foreign features, documentaries, classic and experimental cinema, and national and international artists presenting their work, the Series represents a genuine cinematic alternative in the St. Louis community.

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Sporting Events This Week	Attractions Around the Area	Comedy This Week
St. Louis Cardinals schedule	Anheuser-Busch Brewery	Funny Bone Comedy Club
St. Louis Blues schedule	City Museum	Helium Comedy Club
St. Louis City SC schedule	Gateway Arch	The Improv Shop
St. Louis Battlehawks schedule	Missouri History Museum
St. Louis Billikens schedule	National Blues Museum
Gateway Grizzlies schedule	St. Louis Aquarium
Gateway Motorsports Park	St. Louis Art Museum
St. Louis Ambush schedule	St. Louis Science Center
	St. Louis Zoo

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Trivia Nights
Location	Date/Time	More Information
Anheuser-Busch Biergarten	Tuesdays 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Bar K	Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
City Foundry	Thursdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Joey B's on the Hill	Mondays 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm	Trivia Details
Nick's Pub	Mondays
Felix's Pizza Pub	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Schlafly Brewpubs (Any Location)	Tuesdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Rockwell Beer Co	Tuesdays	Trivia Details (Reservations required)
The Mack	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
The Pat Connolly Tavern	Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
The Post	Wednesdays 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm	Trivia Details
Pieces Board Game Bar & Cafe	Wednesdays	Trivia Details
HandleBar	Thursdays at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Steve's Hot Dogs	Tuesdays 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Trivia Details

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Live Music This Week
Music Venues	Live Music Around Town
Blueberry Hill Duck Room	1860 Saloon
Chesterfield Amphitheater	BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
Delmar Hall	Broadway Oyster Bar
Enterprise Center	City Foundry
The Fabulous Fox Theatre	Gallery Pub
The Factory	Game 6 Honky Tonk
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre	Gaslight Lounge
Off Broadway	The Heavy Anchor
Old Rock House	Jazz St. Louis
The Pageant	Joe's Cafe
Red Flag	The Lot on the Landing
The Sheldon	McGurk's
St. Louis Music Park	SoFar St. Louis Secret performances around town
St. Louis Symphony Concert Calendar	Venice Cafe
Stifel Theatre	Yaquis on Cherokee

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Recurring Outdoor Activities
Big Muddy Adventures – STL Riverfront Adventure	Big Muddy Adventures was established in 2002. They are the first professional outfitteguiding company providing access to the wild wonders of the Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers.
Gateway Arch Events	There are a variety of things to do along the Mississippi River.
Hidden Valley Ski Resort	Ziplining, scenic chairlift rides, and hiking trails opened during the summer. Skiing, snowboarding during the winter.

I have a tween 12m and a teen 16m. I shop sales and use coupons. With today's prices, if I find a good deal, I buy a lot, even if I don't need it. I buy everyone their own cereal, except me. I hate cereal.
I've also been a catering chef for 21 years. I cook every damn day at work. For 15 years I cooked dinner five out of seven, sometimes six nights a week. Lately, cooking dinner is becoming more and more difficult for me. I am totally burnt out. So we usually do takeout, and 1-2 nights of "fend for yourself". We have a freezer stocked with frozen entrees, pizza, etc.
On Thursday I bought two boxes Cocoa Puffs (for my husband), 1 Apple Jack's, 1 Pops, 1 Fruit Loops. These were the cereals on sale. If it isn't on sale, I don't buy it! I bought 4 pints blueberries, 4- 16oz strawberries, 2 cans Spaghetti'os, 5 packages Nathan's hot dogs (they were on sale!), 1lb deli counter lunchmeat, 8ct deli rolls, 2 gallons milk, 2 bags 10 oz Lays Chips, pint tomatoes. It's ALL GONE, except 3 packages hot dogs, Apple Jack's, Pops, and half gallon milk.
The older kid is pissed off the younger kid ate: Fruit Loops and strawberries. The younger kid is pissed the older kid ate the blueberries. Husband is pissed the younger kid ate the deli rolls and lunchmeat and he's about to find out his Cocoa Puffs are gone.
It's been four days and they're all bitching "there's nothing to eat!". The teenager is lazy as shit and doesn't want to "make" anything to eat, like a sandwich. He also refuses to eat frozen entrees, frozen pizza, or anything from a can because "soup from a CAN?! YUCK!" This is my fault. I've cooked from scratch his entire life and he's used to the good shit. I used to make big batches of chicken noodle soup so that's what he's used to. So instead of making an actual meal, the teenager snacks all day long.
The tween isn't lazy or a food snob, but he's picky. So he will make frozen pizza, a sandwich, chicken tendies, etc. He usually has an issue with what I make for dinner. He also eats any sweets we have. It doesn't matter if you tell him not to, he eats it. That's another issue we are dealing with.
It's about to be summer. The teen will be in summer school all June from 7:20-11am. The tween will be at summer camp up north for one week. In July we are taking a ten day vacation out of the country. The rest of May, June, and half of July these kids will be home eating everything we have and making a mess.
With all of this being said, parents of teens, does this shit happen at your house? It's a constant food battle here. I'm sick of listening to everyone bitch that this one ate my cereal. And this one ate all the blueberries. And there's nothing to eat, and "I'm so hungry I'm shaking!" yet you won't get off your ass to make something to eat.
Does anyone have any solutions to this? They eat everything so fast, I tell them, when it's gone it's GONE, until I go grocery shopping again.

I for one can't believe it's already Memorial Day weekend. If you're not heading to Taylor Swift or one of the dueling festivals sandwiching the City this holiday weekend, everything may seem a bit quiet on the home front...and yeah, there are about half as many shows listed this week as last week. But I'm here to convince you to break out the white chinos and kicks, and hit up a local venue for some good, loud fun. And since it's a 3-day weekend, this post has you covered through Memorial Day.
If you're new to this sub or just passing through, each week I try to highlight the "best" upcoming rock, punk, indie and alternative shows. I scour the web and social media for concert announcement, booking, rescheduling, etc., and then pick which shows are vying for my time and money (or which would've been if they weren't sold out). This is not intended to be an exhaustive list as there are other non-reddit resources that cast a wider net on live shows, including pop, hip hop and comedy shows, but feel free to add any missing shows using the comments (especially for other genres).
As usual, listed times are approximate start times (not door); prices are estimates for door tickets, and do not include online fees and taxes.

MONDAY MAY 22

Cameron Castan + Diary + Whenwolves @ Baby's All Right, 10pm ($15)
Vacation + Heavy Lag + Pasha and the Kindred Spirits + Sub Rosa @ The Meadows, 8pm ($15)
Basic Bitches + Stepneck @ Mercury Lounge, 7pm ($15) ^{early show}
Narrow Head + Graham Hunt @ Mercury Lounge, 9:30pm ($20) ^{late show}

TUESDAY MAY 23

Beach Bunny + PUP + Pool Kids @ Pier 17 - Rooftop, 6:30pm
Tits Dick Ass + Pop Music Fever Dream + Suburban Speed + Femcel @ Purgatory, 9pm ($15)
Pet Symmetry + Retirement Party + Camp Trash @ Saint Vitus, 8pm ($20)
Narrow Head + Graham Hunt @ TV EYE, 9pm ($20)
Jess Williamson + Babehoven @ Union Pool, 8pm (SOLD OUT)

WEDNESDAY MAY 24

Ghost Town Remedy + HYPEMOM + Fear Not Ourselves Alone + OK King @ Bar Freda, 8pm ($15)
blink-182 + Turnstile @ Barclays Center, 7:30pm ($200+)
Castle Black + O. Wake + Easter Island + Slow Teeth @ Berlin, 7:30pm ($10)
OFF! + Die Spitz @ Bowery Ballroom, 8pm ($30) ^{rescheduled from 11/10/2022}
The Veldt + Dead Leaf Echo + Iceblynk @ The Broadway
Lady Alice + Baba Chevy + Eat @ Our Wicked Lady, 8pm ($15)
The Art Gray Noizz Quintet + USA Nails + Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends + A Deer A Horse @ Saint Vitus, 8pm ($15)
Jess Williamson + John Andrews and the Yawns @ Union Pool, 8pm (SOLD OUT)
Indigo De Souza + Sluice @ Webster Hall, 8pm (SOLD OUT) ^{rescheduled from 9/29/2022}

THURSDAY MAY 25

Hozier + June McDoom @ Bowery Ballroom, 7:30pm (SOLD OUT)
Namesake + Arverne + Pamphlets @ Carmelo's, 8pm (FREE)
Phantom Planet + Wheatus @ Gramercy Theatre, 7pm ($30)
Couvo + JSanti & The Bootlegs + pooryork + Alexander Yearns @ Hart Bar, 8pm ($10)
Cancelled: Bob Vlyan + Jigsaw Youth @ Elsewhere

FRIDAY MAY 26

The Down and Outs + S.C.A.B. + Comatosed @ Brooklyn Made, 8:30pm ($15)
*Taylor Swift + Phoebe Bridgers + GAYLE @ MetLife Stadium, 6:30 (SOLD OUT)
Velvet Vaughan + gobbinjr.+ Natalia Ice @ Sleepwalk, 8pm ($15)
Foyer Red ^{record release show} + Dan English @ Union Pool, 8pm ($15)
Cancelled: Big Joanie + Frida Kill @ Baby's All Right

SATURDAY MAY 27

The New Colossus Festival presents Summer Saturdays @ 18th Ward Brewing, 1pm (FREE) feat. Slut Magic + Idaho Green + Y&I + Local Weatherman + The Shining Hours
Bacterial Lawn + Dad + Heavy Halo + Gall Sac @ The Broadway, 9pm (F$15)
13th Law + Ok Cowgirl + SYTË @ Elsewhere - Zone One, 7pm ($15)
The Pretty Bitchin + Fixtures + Lil Goose @ Mama Tried, 6pm (FREE)
Taylor Swift + Phoebe Bridgers + Gracie Abrams @ MetLife Stadium, 6:30 (SOLD OUT)
^{Favorite Friend presents} A Very Special Episode + The Black Black + Salamander + Pleaser @ Our Wicked Lady, 8pm ($15)

SUNDAY MAY 28

Bloc Party + Family Dinner @ Brooklyn Steel, 8pm (SOLD OUT)
Taylor Swift + Phoebe Bridgers + Owenn @ MetLife Stadium, 6:30 (SOLD OUT)
Airiel + Laveda @ TV EYE, 8pm ($15)

MONDAY MAY 29

Basic Bitches + Stepneck @ Mercury Lounge, 7pm ($10)
Soup Dreams + Good Deli + DD Island + Boyscout Marie @ Purgatory, 9pm ($12)
Moonwalks + ZZZwalk + YASSS @ TV EYE, 8pm ($15)
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*And no, I would not ordinarily include a performer like Taylor Swift in these weekly posts, but I Phoebe Bridgers is playing too, so get lost.