Podcasts about Hello Kitty

Congratulations are in order for WCS Team USA, winners of the 2025 World Cosplay Summit 世界コスプレサミット! Also tonight, Kadokawa issues guidelines for anime sampling, anime studio Gaina changes name after being acquired, and the Korean government plans to offer tax credits for webtoon production costs. Plus, Hello Kitty gets a licensed tarot card set, and Neon Genesis Evangelion's 30th anniversary gets a new flashback album! Meanwhile in Japan, a Japanese Politician offers an apology for his opinion on the taste of rice, an Evangelion voice actress reveals she's been waiting 11 years for free condoms she was promised, and let's take a trip back to all things Heisei era at a retro exhibition...

In this week's tech and pop culture roundup, the crew swaps travel tales, dives into toy news, and tries out new gadgets. Hear about a massive indoor amusement park experience, a quirky calendar mash-up, a McDonald's Happy Meal toy line combining pop culture icons, a nostalgic Mac-style USB-C hub, live object recognition from a mobile AI assistant, a hands-on paper airplane STEM kit, and a retro-style college football mobile game. ⸻ Stories & Gadgets Covered Pop Culture & Experiences • Indoor amusement park adventure – Detailed trip report from a multi-level shopping and entertainment complex featuring a Nickelodeon-themed park, roller coasters, character meet-and-greets, a DreamWorks water park, an indoor ski slope, a two-story toy store, mini-golf, and a giant Ferris wheel with skyline views. • Cat Wars calendar – A humorous monthly mash-up of cats and sci-fi themes, sparking debates over AI vs. Photoshop image origins. • McDonald's Happy Meal crossover toys – Upcoming U.S. launch of a 12-figure collaboration between Hello Kitty characters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sparking collector excitement. • Positive pet stories – A heartwarming charity calendar featuring a wheelchair-using dog, plus a social media find following two canine companions traveling the country in a truck. Gadgets & Tech • Retro Macintosh-style USB-C hub – A Kickstarter device styled after the original Macintosh, designed to sit on top of a Mac mini. Adds a 5-inch 720p display and extra ports (USB-A/C, HDMI, audio, card reader). Can function as a standalone USB-C hub for other devices. • AI visual recognition tool – Live camera mode in a mobile AI assistant app that identifies objects in real time and engages in conversational follow-ups for more detail. • Klutz Big Book of Paper Airplanes – A kid-friendly STEM activity book with 10 airplane designs, 40 sheets of colorful paper, folding instructions, and tips for flight performance. • Retro Bowl College Edition mobile game – An 8/16-bit-style football simulator with both arcade play and team management elements, including a full roster of college programs. AI & Workflow • Practical uses for AI tools, including weekly automated reminders for content performance reviews, recipe generation based on available ingredients, and setting up custom assistants for specific research or monitoring tasks.

Send us a text本期的“柠檬变成柠檬水”，主持人俞骅和Poy Zhong邀请到Daniel Zou，一位在加拿大销售领域深耕多年的一线实战专家。从最初做Cold Call、敲门推销，到后来走入销售战略管理岗位，Daniel 分享了自己在北美职场一步步蜕变的真实经历。他不仅讲述了自己如何从“推销产品”转变为“客户主动来找”，也深入探讨了销售背后的人性洞察、系统建设、信任建立与决策引导。无论你是销售新人、中小企业主，还是从未接触过销售的人，这期内容都会刷新你对“销售”这门专业的理解。欢迎收听。请您在Apple Podcasts, 小宇宙APP, Spotify, iHeart Radio, YouTube, Amazon Music等，搜寻”柠檬变成柠檬水“。Support the showThank you for listening to our podcasts. We also welcome you to join the "Turn Lemons Into Lemonade" LinkedIn page!

ВОЗДУШНЫЙ ПОЦЕЛУЙ НЕПТУНА

Прямой эфир состоялся 26 июля 2025 года. • Алекс Лапшин и Валерий Корнеев обсуждают аниме, мангу и всё такое прочее в еженедельной разговорной программе. Спокойные и доброжелательные беседы и монологи о японской и не только японской популярной культуре.Донаты (вопросы и пожелания для эфира): ‣ Через Телеграм ‣ Через DonatePay ‣ Через DonationAlerts В выпуске: Талисман эфира — доктор Адатара из манги и аниме City О Халке Хогане и других ушедших Пробуем меню Hello Kitty во «Вкусно и точке» Чуть-чуть о коллабе «Додо» и Zenless Zone Zero Книга Василия Владимирского «Картографы рая и ада» Японские литературные премии без лауреатов Определяем победителя розыгрыша книги «Студия Ghibli» Какие аниме наши зрители распробовали со временем Об отношении к переозвучке и дубляжам Исследование аниме-стримингов «Остров Джованни» доплывет до российских платформ Хидэаки Анно в совете директоров студии Production I.G Первый взгляд: «Запрещенный крот» Обсуждаем фестиваль «Танибата-2025» Открылся The JoJo World в Сибуе (НЕ в Иокогаме!) Угадываем персонажа Аниме-журнал Newtype за июль 2025 года Также поговорили: Об особенностях «Танибаты» О японской поездке Алекса в 2018 г. (часть 4) О новинках сезона (обзор зрителя) О постфестивальном отходняке Об альманахе «Мультура» О мерче «Додо х ZZZ». YouTube-версия: youtube.com/moulture Телеграм-канал с новостями: t.me/moulture Музыка заставок: PinWizz В выпуске использована музыка с канала lofi hip hop radio Подробное содержание выпусков, ссылки на материалы к ним и другая информация — на moulture.ru Вы можете поддержать «Мультур», подписавшись на нас в сервисе Boosty, Patreon или VK Donut.

Friday 7/25/25

Ben enjoys late-summer's lake fantasyBased on a work By glory_first. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.The weather had been glorious in Eastern Tennessee for the last couple of weeks, making a mid-week August visit to the lake earlier in the morning warmly enjoyable, especially in combination with the likelihood of no one else being around as we enjoyed ourselves naked in the water and on the shore. I'm a fire fighter, so I work in 72 hour shifts, followed by 72 hours off. My wife, Cammy and I are naturalists and members of the Miller's Cove club, but she works a typical 9 to 5 job, so she can't join us this week day.Kathy, our bi-curious friend, & Diana, her new girlfriend were today's threesome.  Yesterday we were preparing to leave the lake at the end of another wonderfully hot day. Kathy has been swimming here for two decades at this point, and I'm quite sure that the previous time we fucked was not the only time she had so enjoyed herself in this naturalists' sanctuary. Especially as I had fingered her a couple times before and after that perfect July day in the middle of the lake, fucking in the water.Agreeing to meet early the next morning, the traditional gin and tonic supplies were left to me to handle. The gin, glasses, non-melting ice cubes and cool packs stored in a subzero freezer overnight, with limes and a couple of plastic bottles of tonic water in the refrigerator.The sign along the road read; ‘Miller's Cove Pecan Orchard.' But the drive through the mature trees leads to a gently sloping terrain, and a blueberry patch. The Miller family no longer lives on the orchard, but they formed a naturalists club 22 years ago. Arriving at almost the same time, we quickly unpacked, distributing the supplies to carry, and I put my helmet and jacket in the bike's bags. We walked about 50 yards along the sloping path, with Pecan trees to our left and blueberry bushes to our left & right. We continued into essential middle of the nudist area, this favored summer spot, a nice mix of sun and shade, with a fairly narrow but well maintained entrance to the water, with a broad sloping cove opening up to the rest of the lake. The spot could easily hold a few dozen people, with basic privacy.The ground was untypically dry as we spread out our quilts, a welcome indication of the sort of summer day we had before us, full of warm sun and cool water. We undressed quickly, wearing minimal clothes as we were. Diana was wearing a clinging cotton top with thin straps, sunglasses, loose hair, a pair of jeans, cotton sneakers, with simple comfortable black cotton panties.Kathy was wearing a fairly short skirt and a fairly thin, half unbuttoned top, without sleeves. We do have slightly different styles when undressing, as I generally take off my pants, then my shirt. In contrast, both Diane and Kathy generally take off their tops first, something I always appreciate, as a braless woman in jeans or skirt is extremely attractive. Watching an unembarrassed woman take off her top right next to me is delightful, as I find natural breasts udderly wonderful.Having two topless friends next to me as we undressed, allowed me another opportunity to appreciate the differences between the two. Kathy's tits are heavy pendulous, and full, with large nipples extending up out from the apex of her ‘ski-jump' terrain. Her nipples she loves having touched and nibbled, along with being squeezed, sucked hard, or rubbed and held as she is fucked ‘doggy-style.' As she would gladly admit, or demonstrate, there is a fairly direct connection between her nipples and her erotic center, one she is quite proud of.Kathy, in her later thirties, remains very proud of her breasts, which are often braless when she is being casual. Or shown off when she isn't being casual. Her creativity at showing them off is a well-developed art, something else she likes to be appreciated by others, at least in the proper contexts. It isn't quite about sex, as it is sexuality, and is something she knows will be different in the future, as she has more than occasionally remarked on, noting changes over the years.Facing me, she unbuttoned and took off her thin shirt, then gave me a tiny grin, followed by turning a bit and grinning even more broadly to Diane, forming our semi-circle, facing the cove. So in a sense, we were all screening each other from any casual gawkers while being able to see how empty the lake shore in this stretch truly was.I was already nude, and Diane had just about finished stepping out of her panties. Her hand was on my shoulder, head turned towards Kathy, who said; “Ben, remember last Friday?” then flounced her skirt quite teasingly. Her hands went to the top button, opening it, then she turned sideways to me, her gorgeous breasts hanging as she bent a bit more, and undid the next button. Her skirt was now loose enough for her to pull it up a bit up her torso, revealing pink and white panties around the bottom of her ass.“No, those aren't,” I began.She grinned, answering; “Yes they are!” I looked briefly at Diane, almost chuckling, and back at Kathy, stepping out of her skirt, then did a slow full turn, providing a complete view of her well-worn ‘Hello Kitty' panties. The same panties she had mentioned owning, while eating dinner at our naturalist sanctuary house with my wife and me. Kathy and Diane had come over to do a bit of nude backyard grilling & hot tub relaxation. We got in a discussion talking about ‘Hello Kitty' vibrators and how that brand had changed over the years.Kathy has a firm insistence that toys have no place in sex, at least with her. Pretty much the same thing she had remarked a dozen years ago, after agreeing to test my wife's vibrator for a night. When she handed it back to me, she said she came several times, but really, she wanted fucking or sucking when cumming. “Another person is what keeps sex from being masturbation.” Self-pleasure is something she considers inferior and vaguely shameful. Masturbation is a subject to be avoided, in her eyes; though in the years since, getting off chatting online is something she finds worth her time.In the present, I couldn't help laughing as she shook her ass a couple of times while pulling her panties down. Then she reached out to use Diane as a support as she lifted each foot in turn to finish undressing. I quickly put suntan lotion on myself while the better tanned pair dealt with their raft, a fairly large, somewhat tilted platform with space for three people. I had brought my own raft, the same one I have used for years. One reason to have it is to ensure that certain smoking supplies remained safe while paddling out to the middle of the lake.We reached the middle fairly quickly, the deep lake water was wonderfully warm on its surface, but quite cool just a few feet deeper. This was only my second time getting stoned with Diane, in a nature setting, again pretty much alone. The first time had been picking cherries in the town orchard, something she had never done before, though she grew up in this region. The cherries were delicious, the trees bursting with them, a truly extraordinary harvest after an exceptionally warm and dry spring.Today at the lake, the conditions were enticing. Our nude bodies enjoyed the sun's warmth, rocking gently over the barely noticeable waves. I was lying on my raft sideways, which was lengthwise against the larger raft Kathy and Diane shared. Lazily kicking my feet in breaststroke fashion, the motion kept us moving slowly back to shore. And also kept a tantalizing flow of cool water streaming against my swelling cock, a normal side effect of smoking and swimming, particularly with a couple of naked women in front of me.Diane, in her mid-twenties, is almost half my age. Kathy was at the other end of the white inflated raft platform. I would often lift my head to see our progress across the dancing jeweled water, also taking in the very nearby view of her petite body, quite different from Kathy's lushly tall form. Diane's breasts are quite small, though decidedly elevated & on the perky side, with fairly small nipples surrounding the well-rounded peaks of her breasts. Both Kathy and my wife Cammy, have more pendulous breasts. Kathy is almost as tall as me, while Diane is somewhat shorter than Cammy.Unlike Kathy, whose body I am very familiar with, Diane's is still somewhat unknown. Her devotion to Kathy is apparent, shown by the physically quite obvious attachment to touching and caressing it. An attachment which became obvious again, as Kathy rolled over a bit, letting her left hand begin to trail over Diane's body. She grinned a bit, her body relaxing as her lover began to stroke it gently.Neither of them are exactly exhibitionists, though neither is shy. We all definitely get turned on by getting stoned, and as Diane's leg slid over began to rub along my back; it was pretty clear that Diane had decided to enjoy such an opportunity, nude and private in the middle of empty lake. Little was restraining the pair from their increasingly-affectionate intimate contact. I didn't really watch, though it was not exactly hidden that both of them were enjoying being next to each other, while also experiencing the dazzling sunlight on the water, from an endlessly blue sky.The sun was hot against our well-tanned exposed skin. Kathy and I have known each other for more than 15 years, but this was a different element, if not exactly a surprise. Seeing her with a woman lover was different, especially in light of Diane's own undeniable sexiness. Kathy has never been shy about her ability to love a person without regard to gender, Diane being yet more ample proof of that reality.Kathy and I have talked about sex quite often on the phone. We were both enjoying ourselves when she first revealed her bisexuality. My wife had been upstairs reading in bed during the entire conversation about her favorite lady-loving experiences. When we said goodnight and hung up, my cock was rigid. It didn't take long to spread my wife's legs and drive deep into her cunt before starting to explain what was turning me on so much. 'Kathy is, uh, fucking, Kathy fucks, Kathy fucks' and I started cumming with one of the more intense orgasms of my life when I said 'Kathy fucks with other women,' thrusting my cock into my wife's wet cunt. The revealing words echoing in my mind as my cum pumped so fully into her sexy tightness, her hands at my ass pulling me as her bushy pubis ground against mine, forcing my cock to move at its base, surrounded in her wet perfection as I came talking about another woman.Their raft gently rocked as they drifted further out into the middle. They rolled closer to each other, hugging, beginning to kiss. First almost teasingly, though the intensity quickly grew. Even with my cock tingling in audio temptation, I pretty much tried to leave them some space to themselves. The view of them entwined was quite enticing. The kissing deepened, as their hands found various places to play, between their pressed bodies and between their accessible legs.After a passionate crescendo, they separating themselves a bit. We rejoined the two rafts & enjoyed some nice organic smoke. Its effects filled us with a familiar sense of horniness, especially with other naked people around. Kathy, Diane, & I are certifiable sluts when we get stoned. However, with the breeze picking up a bit, it was no longer possible for me to do more than keep us somewhat in place. Their raft presented a fairly large amount of surface area for the wind to act upon.Mentioning this, I started kicking slowly to reduce the gentle drift, losing ground in the widely spaced rise and falls of moving air. Diane went over the side like a sexy otter, her small breasts enhancing the attraction of her body uncurling into the water. She frolicked in the cool wetness for a bit. Kathy watched from the edge, head on her crossed arms, while I split my attention between both of them. Diane moved closer, grabbed another section of the rope, and started to swim.Kathy rolled over into the water and we settled into a swim rhythm, moving the raft briskly. Her full breasts poked above the water surface as she swam toward shore, sharing a certain familiarity as the raft began moving against the wind. My cock was still hard in the flowing water, turning to look at Diane's naked body in the green tinged water. Diane, her nipples more pointed now than when she first slipped into the water, was looking at Kathy's face. The weed's fresh buzz elevated our serenity while affirming our horniness. Kathy is very easily aroused, her nipples in particular being a favored destination for foreplay.As the breeze died, and we neared shore, Diane and I just floated, our legs drifting together in the water, extended against each's warm skin. It shared a mutual arousal of contact with a living naked person. And one of the most sensuous sensations I know, especially in deeper water, was just floating while buzzed.After approaching the shore, Diane & Kathy scrambled back on the big raft, breasts glistening as their hands began to run over each other's body, slippery as water spread over her oiled back, Diane rubbing her ass over Kathy's. I slowly pushed us towards the tiny cove, Diane's body was drying in the warm sunny air, though the source of our growing heat was not merely the weather.Firmly nudging the raft into the shallow sandy waters, the two women went in front of me, stepping onto the two foot bank separating the water's edge from firm land. They settled on the spread quilt, waiting patiently for me to make some gin and tonics, a perfect drink in such conditions.Preparing the gin and tonics is a fairly simple process. One removes the glasses quickly from the cooler, followed by ice cubes, then limes, and the ice cold gin, pouring the proper amount into the now well frosted glasses, promptly returning the gin to the cooler. The lime is excised with an X pattern, carefully squeezed into each glass. Followed by pouring in the tonic water, and stirring the mixture using the knife that had cut the lime.When the air is already in the nineties around 10am, this is the perfect liquid accompaniment to handle the heat, though it does generate a bit of its own heat in other parts of the body, especially after a naked shared joint.Kathy, particularly, loves drinking gin and tonics, especially when sex is in the air on a cloudless summer morning. She finished her first one quickly. Diane and I drank ours more slowly, savoring the mixture of flavors blending into a perfect liquid whole. Wet yet also crisp, a few degrees above freezing. After finishing her glass, Kathy began giggling about how we should go back out, especially since no one was around. It wasn't quite clear whether this was a specific or general request, not that Diane or I cared much, as we began to mutually explore the possibly delicate boundaries of Kathy's wide ranging sexual tastes.I certainly had no interest in intruding in their blossoming relationship, though I also knew that Diane had been previously involved in a male/female/female threesome, according to Kathy.Diane's relationship also involved sado and masochistic fetishes, at some level. It's a general subject which does not interest me particularly. Well, except for tying up one's lover, which is a standalone idea in my mind. I conceded that tying is a gateway to S & M, certainly drifting into that broad area of control and pleasure through power or helplessness.Balancing her glass on the grass, Kathy told Diane to lay down, since another coating of suntan lotion was important to reduce the sun's less pleasant effects. I began to lotion myself at the same time, including discretely making sure my cock and ass were more than adequately covered in initially slippery protection. Sunburns are something that happen far too often to me, but at least related to these areas, my experience is still zero. Unlike my wife, Cammy, who spent a decade getting used to going topless. After sunburning her nipples the first time she exposed them, She obsesses about SPF issues.After Kathy finished, I asked her to handle my back, something she did pretty sloppily. Obviously, her attention was drifting, though I didn't turn my head to see if Diane was the direct cause or not. Kathy is submissively oriented to men, but markedly dominating with women, having a slave to play with your naked body under the summer sun is likely something Kathy would appreciate, and Diane would likely do. But Kathy may be having some inner conflicts about how to act in a threesome with a man & woman.Now well-lotioned, we stretched out, basting a bit, until another person entered our somewhat discrete space, a buxom middle-age woman. I knew her name was Meg. She's a persona friend of the Miller family, and a charter member of the Cove Club. She often brings a raft, and enjoys spending time floating it, much like I do. As we all casually watched, Meg pulled off her loose cotton dress, unashamed about the fact she wasn't wearing any underwear, allowing her to be comfortably naked without complications.This remains a noticeable trait, at least among the nudists at this lake, definitely including myself. No reason to wear more than the minimum, Kathy will also come to the cove wearing nothing but a dress, as has Diane and my wife. Such times remain a bit of a turn-on, even when sex is simply not plausible. The club has rules about sexual conduct when other uninvolved club members are present. Just knowing that a woman is intimately uncovered is nice. Most of the women I've known who do it, also enjoy its effect on their sense of sexuality, especially with light and swirling skirts.Diane having finished her drink, my two companions were now beaded with sweat, a deliciously erotic sight. Standing, the contrast in sizes and shapes was delightful, as they shared a quick kiss before returning to the water. They went out until about hip deep. Meg, the now-naked older woman spread out her towel in a standard spot at a respectful distance from our party. Then added a bit more air pressure to her raft before heading out onto the glittering water, giving me more excuse to look out at the lake as Kathy and Diane began to turn each other on.Kathy & Diane were hugging and kissing, first one then the other leaning back against holding arms, slowly moving into deeper water. What remained clear enough to see through, their motions had become more sinuous than active. Their movement was growing increasingly intense, especially when they began to rub chest to chest, Kathy's hand holding and spreading Diane's ass.My cock stirred as it became obvious the two ladies were feeling each other up outdoors, enjoying a perfect summer day in nature, indulging themselves at a primal level. It's a level Kathy and I both shared in the past, but that the younger Diane seemed to be enjoying for the first time, in a swirl of gin, weed, nudity, and lust. Diane was doing most of the moving as they kissed. The was reason becoming clear when Kathy shifted her position a bit.Diane was rubbing her cunt against Kathy's upper thigh; gasping a bit when Kathy's teeth began to nibble at her earlobe. A long sigh arose when Kathy's spread hand slid over her ass, and into her crack. By this point, it was Kathy determining the rhythm, making Diane willingly helpless in her arms, adding her own slinky motion side to side.Meg, the older buxom woman, returned to shore, paddling lazily, trying to be somewhat discrete as she looked at them while going past. As she stepped on the shore, her raft next to theirs, Kathy and Diane slowly grew apart, and I sat up, getting ready to make our second round of gin and tonics in the rising heat of the day, the sun rose higher in the sky.As the buxom neighbor approached her towel, I asked; “Meg, would you want a gin and tonic?” She smiled a bit, said; “Sure, Ben.” Over the years, I have learned how her breasts bounce when she walks, how her nipples look when stimulated, and wondered at how her nipples remain so pink. She is easily 1 to 20 years older than me, but her essential blondeness seems real, even if her cunt is always shaved smooth. She carries extra pounds, but mostly on her tits and ass.My two companions followed her in, grabbing towels to dry off, their skin glistening in the sun, both of them aroused, but patient. We all chatted a bit, my attention was split between three lovely naked women.Having only three glasses, it made sense to offer the new visitor mine, after making Kathy and Diane their glasses first. I added extra gin, lime, and water to Kathy's, filling her glass essentially to its rim before she bent down to sip a bit. My hand moved to offer the glass to her spreading lips. Her breasts swayed a bit, and I could see how Diane was looking at them too. Kathy lifted herself a bit on her legs, providing a perfect view of her spread labia. Kathy is blessed with large and proud plump labia, the largest I have ever seen and touched, personally.Making Diane's drink went quickly. I handed it to her, sitting next to the now essentially squatting Kathy. Diane's own legs were spread, crossing her feet in front of her, giving me an unavoidable opportunity to look at her turned-on swollen cunt, the outer lips a bit dark, the inner lips darker, a bit crinkled. Kathy noticed me looking, but only grinned a bit as she sipped from her frosty glass, then sensuously kissed Diane.Returning my attention to making the next gin and tonic, I smiled at the neighbor woman as I determinedly did not look at the pair near me. The sounds of kissing provided an idea of what they looked like. However, Meg's attention seemed focused on the kissing couple. I saw a certain look of lust begin to appear on her face. It wasn't surprising in itself, as I was also starting to get a bit hard. But it was the first time I had saw a woman getting turned on watching two other naked women playing with each other. Admittedly, this was also my first time, and I was fairly certain my face looked much the same as her's did.I shifted a bit, moving forward, offering Meg the drink with my left hand as Kathy murmured that maybe it was time to get lotioned before returning to the water. Diane went prone & stretched out, and Kathy quickly covered her back and shoulders. Her hands straying down to her small breasts, making Diane get up on her knees a bit as Kathy's hands slid over her nipples. Kathy then did her own face and arms before laying down, letting Diane spread suntan lotion over her back and ass, hands sliding over Kathy's spread thighs.Diane also did her own face and arms, as Kathy sat up, positioning herself in front of Diane. The pair began to take care of their fronts and legs, while I took a sip of Kathy's almost finished gin and tonic, Diane's having been emptied fairly quickly. The older woman noticed this, remarking that I was welcome to share hers, along with a compliment of how perfectly it tasted on such an August day.Diane and Kathy rose, giggling a bit as they returned to the water. Their hands strayed over each other's oiled ass cheeks. After taking a couple of steps into the water, they turned to each other, clasped hands, and began kissing.Offered the two thirds empty glass, I remarked that it would be simple to refresh it, if she wished to drink some more. Her head still turned towards the water, she distractedly said 'sure' again, prompting me to focus my attention on making another fresh drink, knowing that any later ones would not be as nearly chilled. The brisk chill is a major part of the pleasure of a good gin and tonic in the intense heat.Between pouring, slicing, and squeezing, I glanced at her. Meg was sitting with her legs at an angle to the shoreline, sweating a bit in the sun. A another female scent was beginning to perfume the air, one that drew my attention to her. My cock began to swell against my thigh. I shifted a bit before handing Meg the well-beaded glass, making her shift in turn, getting a bit closer.Being done with drink making for now, I offered to lotion her back, something we have done occasionally for each other over the years. She is almost always by herself at the lake, and like me when alone, rarely talks much to anyone else. Spreading the white lotion over her shoulders, she asked about the pair in the water, who I know noticed had moved out further, pressing tightly, breasts rubbing, Diane's hand clearly between Kathy's legs.“Well, they're friends,” I managed to say before she laughed a bit. Meg replied, “Yeah, that's pretty obvious.”Kathy has been a regular bather here for 20 years. Meg helped the Millers build the social club, and comes every summer, even though she doesn't know most of the newer ‘kids'. I was trying to explain Kathy's and Diane's relationship, when in fact a major part of it was currently completely public in front of us.It seemed a bit amusing. Especially since Diane was obviously being finger-fucked by Kathy. Kathy's hand was moving at the center of Diane's spread legs. I heard “Could you, could you lotion me, everywhere?” Meg was pulling my attention back. Our glass was empty, the shoreline still empty except for us two. We were obviously getting turned on watching two women have sex in the water in front of us.She turned a bit closer, while also spreading her legs in the direction of the water and resting back on her elbows. I knelt with my feet out past her hips, my legs bent, & squeezed some lotion onto my hands. I began working over her shoulders, sliding down her sides, moving between the already oiled and still to be oiled skin. I only slowly moving inwards towards her grand tetons. After her nipples became turgid in my distributing fingers, I started rubbing her stomach. She began to coo very quietly, slumping further back a bit, head lolling, giving a wonderful view of her breasts.My hands moved down along her thighs, her knees slowly began bending. Her crotch slowly opened up, the closer my hands approached her pubic region. Soon, her warm skin began lightly touching my legs, her legs spreading as my oiled fingers began sliding downward over her smooth shaved pubic mound, and separating around her cunt lips. Looking out at the water, I saw the two naked women kissing passionately, arms reaching down in the water, hands clasping asses tightly, oblivious to everything except their own pleasure.My cock was hard, and Meg's deep breathing amplified as her back fully relaxed down on the quilt. The sounds of her awakening sexuality was incredible, well matching the feeling coming from my finger as it began to slide into her wet cunt. She hissed 'oh, fuck yes' as my other hand reached up to her near tit, pulling her nipple and rolling it in my fingers. My hands were sliding over both her upper & lower hardened spires. This was hardly the first nor fifteenth time I had finger-fucked a woman at the cove, but it was certainly the first time I had ever done it with others around.Even if one of the others was the first woman I had finger-fucked here in the summer sun, beside my own wife.  I gave up all further pretense of distributing SPF lotions, and sat cross-legged, with hands on two of Meg's very hard nubs. Our eyes were on the water nymphs.Kathy is someone who definitely favors having her cunt filled, unlike most women in my experience, who much prefer having their clit played with. Meg had a big nubby clit. It now poked out beyond her hood. I was rubbing Meg's big clit with my thumb as she fantasized of the naked lovers in

Ben enjoys late-summer's lake fantasyBased on a work By glory_first. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.The weather had been glorious in Eastern Tennessee for the last couple of weeks, making a mid-week August visit to the lake earlier in the morning warmly enjoyable, especially in combination with the likelihood of no one else being around as we enjoyed ourselves naked in the water and on the shore. I'm a fire fighter, so I work in 72 hour shifts, followed by 72 hours off. My wife, Cammy and I are naturalists and members of the Miller's Cove club, but she works a typical 9 to 5 job, so she can't join us this week day.Kathy, our bi-curious friend, & Diana, her new girlfriend were today's threesome.  Yesterday we were preparing to leave the lake at the end of another wonderfully hot day. Kathy has been swimming here for two decades at this point, and I'm quite sure that the previous time we fucked was not the only time she had so enjoyed herself in this naturalists' sanctuary. Especially as I had fingered her a couple times before and after that perfect July day in the middle of the lake, fucking in the water.Agreeing to meet early the next morning, the traditional gin and tonic supplies were left to me to handle. The gin, glasses, non-melting ice cubes and cool packs stored in a subzero freezer overnight, with limes and a couple of plastic bottles of tonic water in the refrigerator.The sign along the road read; ‘Miller's Cove Pecan Orchard.' But the drive through the mature trees leads to a gently sloping terrain, and a blueberry patch. The Miller family no longer lives on the orchard, but they formed a naturalists club 22 years ago. Arriving at almost the same time, we quickly unpacked, distributing the supplies to carry, and I put my helmet and jacket in the bike's bags. We walked about 50 yards along the sloping path, with Pecan trees to our left and blueberry bushes to our left & right. We continued into essential middle of the nudist area, this favored summer spot, a nice mix of sun and shade, with a fairly narrow but well maintained entrance to the water, with a broad sloping cove opening up to the rest of the lake. The spot could easily hold a few dozen people, with basic privacy.The ground was untypically dry as we spread out our quilts, a welcome indication of the sort of summer day we had before us, full of warm sun and cool water. We undressed quickly, wearing minimal clothes as we were. Diana was wearing a clinging cotton top with thin straps, sunglasses, loose hair, a pair of jeans, cotton sneakers, with simple comfortable black cotton panties.Kathy was wearing a fairly short skirt and a fairly thin, half unbuttoned top, without sleeves. We do have slightly different styles when undressing, as I generally take off my pants, then my shirt. In contrast, both Diane and Kathy generally take off their tops first, something I always appreciate, as a braless woman in jeans or skirt is extremely attractive. Watching an unembarrassed woman take off her top right next to me is delightful, as I find natural breasts udderly wonderful.Having two topless friends next to me as we undressed, allowed me another opportunity to appreciate the differences between the two. Kathy's tits are heavy pendulous, and full, with large nipples extending up out from the apex of her ‘ski-jump' terrain. Her nipples she loves having touched and nibbled, along with being squeezed, sucked hard, or rubbed and held as she is fucked ‘doggy-style.' As she would gladly admit, or demonstrate, there is a fairly direct connection between her nipples and her erotic center, one she is quite proud of.Kathy, in her later thirties, remains very proud of her breasts, which are often braless when she is being casual. Or shown off when she isn't being casual. Her creativity at showing them off is a well-developed art, something else she likes to be appreciated by others, at least in the proper contexts. It isn't quite about sex, as it is sexuality, and is something she knows will be different in the future, as she has more than occasionally remarked on, noting changes over the years.Facing me, she unbuttoned and took off her thin shirt, then gave me a tiny grin, followed by turning a bit and grinning even more broadly to Diane, forming our semi-circle, facing the cove. So in a sense, we were all screening each other from any casual gawkers while being able to see how empty the lake shore in this stretch truly was.I was already nude, and Diane had just about finished stepping out of her panties. Her hand was on my shoulder, head turned towards Kathy, who said; “Ben, remember last Friday?” then flounced her skirt quite teasingly. Her hands went to the top button, opening it, then she turned sideways to me, her gorgeous breasts hanging as she bent a bit more, and undid the next button. Her skirt was now loose enough for her to pull it up a bit up her torso, revealing pink and white panties around the bottom of her ass.“No, those aren't,” I began.She grinned, answering; “Yes they are!” I looked briefly at Diane, almost chuckling, and back at Kathy, stepping out of her skirt, then did a slow full turn, providing a complete view of her well-worn ‘Hello Kitty' panties. The same panties she had mentioned owning, while eating dinner at our naturalist sanctuary house with my wife and me. Kathy and Diane had come over to do a bit of nude backyard grilling & hot tub relaxation. We got in a discussion talking about ‘Hello Kitty' vibrators and how that brand had changed over the years.Kathy has a firm insistence that toys have no place in sex, at least with her. Pretty much the same thing she had remarked a dozen years ago, after agreeing to test my wife's vibrator for a night. When she handed it back to me, she said she came several times, but really, she wanted fucking or sucking when cumming. “Another person is what keeps sex from being masturbation.” Self-pleasure is something she considers inferior and vaguely shameful. Masturbation is a subject to be avoided, in her eyes; though in the years since, getting off chatting online is something she finds worth her time.In the present, I couldn't help laughing as she shook her ass a couple of times while pulling her panties down. Then she reached out to use Diane as a support as she lifted each foot in turn to finish undressing. I quickly put suntan lotion on myself while the better tanned pair dealt with their raft, a fairly large, somewhat tilted platform with space for three people. I had brought my own raft, the same one I have used for years. One reason to have it is to ensure that certain smoking supplies remained safe while paddling out to the middle of the lake.We reached the middle fairly quickly, the deep lake water was wonderfully warm on its surface, but quite cool just a few feet deeper. This was only my second time getting stoned with Diane, in a nature setting, again pretty much alone. The first time had been picking cherries in the town orchard, something she had never done before, though she grew up in this region. The cherries were delicious, the trees bursting with them, a truly extraordinary harvest after an exceptionally warm and dry spring.Today at the lake, the conditions were enticing. Our nude bodies enjoyed the sun's warmth, rocking gently over the barely noticeable waves. I was lying on my raft sideways, which was lengthwise against the larger raft Kathy and Diane shared. Lazily kicking my feet in breaststroke fashion, the motion kept us moving slowly back to shore. And also kept a tantalizing flow of cool water streaming against my swelling cock, a normal side effect of smoking and swimming, particularly with a couple of naked women in front of me.Diane, in her mid-twenties, is almost half my age. Kathy was at the other end of the white inflated raft platform. I would often lift my head to see our progress across the dancing jeweled water, also taking in the very nearby view of her petite body, quite different from Kathy's lushly tall form. Diane's breasts are quite small, though decidedly elevated & on the perky side, with fairly small nipples surrounding the well-rounded peaks of her breasts. Both Kathy and my wife Cammy, have more pendulous breasts. Kathy is almost as tall as me, while Diane is somewhat shorter than Cammy.Unlike Kathy, whose body I am very familiar with, Diane's is still somewhat unknown. Her devotion to Kathy is apparent, shown by the physically quite obvious attachment to touching and caressing it. An attachment which became obvious again, as Kathy rolled over a bit, letting her left hand begin to trail over Diane's body. She grinned a bit, her body relaxing as her lover began to stroke it gently.Neither of them are exactly exhibitionists, though neither is shy. We all definitely get turned on by getting stoned, and as Diane's leg slid over began to rub along my back; it was pretty clear that Diane had decided to enjoy such an opportunity, nude and private in the middle of empty lake. Little was restraining the pair from their increasingly-affectionate intimate contact. I didn't really watch, though it was not exactly hidden that both of them were enjoying being next to each other, while also experiencing the dazzling sunlight on the water, from an endlessly blue sky.The sun was hot against our well-tanned exposed skin. Kathy and I have known each other for more than 15 years, but this was a different element, if not exactly a surprise. Seeing her with a woman lover was different, especially in light of Diane's own undeniable sexiness. Kathy has never been shy about her ability to love a person without regard to gender, Diane being yet more ample proof of that reality.Kathy and I have talked about sex quite often on the phone. We were both enjoying ourselves when she first revealed her bisexuality. My wife had been upstairs reading in bed during the entire conversation about her favorite lady-loving experiences. When we said goodnight and hung up, my cock was rigid. It didn't take long to spread my wife's legs and drive deep into her cunt before starting to explain what was turning me on so much. 'Kathy is, uh, fucking, Kathy fucks, Kathy fucks' and I started cumming with one of the more intense orgasms of my life when I said 'Kathy fucks with other women,' thrusting my cock into my wife's wet cunt. The revealing words echoing in my mind as my cum pumped so fully into her sexy tightness, her hands at my ass pulling me as her bushy pubis ground against mine, forcing my cock to move at its base, surrounded in her wet perfection as I came talking about another woman.Their raft gently rocked as they drifted further out into the middle. They rolled closer to each other, hugging, beginning to kiss. First almost teasingly, though the intensity quickly grew. Even with my cock tingling in audio temptation, I pretty much tried to leave them some space to themselves. The view of them entwined was quite enticing. The kissing deepened, as their hands found various places to play, between their pressed bodies and between their accessible legs.After a passionate crescendo, they separating themselves a bit. We rejoined the two rafts & enjoyed some nice organic smoke. Its effects filled us with a familiar sense of horniness, especially with other naked people around. Kathy, Diane, & I are certifiable sluts when we get stoned. However, with the breeze picking up a bit, it was no longer possible for me to do more than keep us somewhat in place. Their raft presented a fairly large amount of surface area for the wind to act upon.Mentioning this, I started kicking slowly to reduce the gentle drift, losing ground in the widely spaced rise and falls of moving air. Diane went over the side like a sexy otter, her small breasts enhancing the attraction of her body uncurling into the water. She frolicked in the cool wetness for a bit. Kathy watched from the edge, head on her crossed arms, while I split my attention between both of them. Diane moved closer, grabbed another section of the rope, and started to swim.Kathy rolled over into the water and we settled into a swim rhythm, moving the raft briskly. Her full breasts poked above the water surface as she swam toward shore, sharing a certain familiarity as the raft began moving against the wind. My cock was still hard in the flowing water, turning to look at Diane's naked body in the green tinged water. Diane, her nipples more pointed now than when she first slipped into the water, was looking at Kathy's face. The weed's fresh buzz elevated our serenity while affirming our horniness. Kathy is very easily aroused, her nipples in particular being a favored destination for foreplay.As the breeze died, and we neared shore, Diane and I just floated, our legs drifting together in the water, extended against each's warm skin. It shared a mutual arousal of contact with a living naked person. And one of the most sensuous sensations I know, especially in deeper water, was just floating while buzzed.After approaching the shore, Diane & Kathy scrambled back on the big raft, breasts glistening as their hands began to run over each other's body, slippery as water spread over her oiled back, Diane rubbing her ass over Kathy's. I slowly pushed us towards the tiny cove, Diane's body was drying in the warm sunny air, though the source of our growing heat was not merely the weather.Firmly nudging the raft into the shallow sandy waters, the two women went in front of me, stepping onto the two foot bank separating the water's edge from firm land. They settled on the spread quilt, waiting patiently for me to make some gin and tonics, a perfect drink in such conditions.Preparing the gin and tonics is a fairly simple process. One removes the glasses quickly from the cooler, followed by ice cubes, then limes, and the ice cold gin, pouring the proper amount into the now well frosted glasses, promptly returning the gin to the cooler. The lime is excised with an X pattern, carefully squeezed into each glass. Followed by pouring in the tonic water, and stirring the mixture using the knife that had cut the lime.When the air is already in the nineties around 10am, this is the perfect liquid accompaniment to handle the heat, though it does generate a bit of its own heat in other parts of the body, especially after a naked shared joint.Kathy, particularly, loves drinking gin and tonics, especially when sex is in the air on a cloudless summer morning. She finished her first one quickly. Diane and I drank ours more slowly, savoring the mixture of flavors blending into a perfect liquid whole. Wet yet also crisp, a few degrees above freezing. After finishing her glass, Kathy began giggling about how we should go back out, especially since no one was around. It wasn't quite clear whether this was a specific or general request, not that Diane or I cared much, as we began to mutually explore the possibly delicate boundaries of Kathy's wide ranging sexual tastes.I certainly had no interest in intruding in their blossoming relationship, though I also knew that Diane had been previously involved in a male/female/female threesome, according to Kathy.Diane's relationship also involved sado and masochistic fetishes, at some level. It's a general subject which does not interest me particularly. Well, except for tying up one's lover, which is a standalone idea in my mind. I conceded that tying is a gateway to S & M, certainly drifting into that broad area of control and pleasure through power or helplessness.Balancing her glass on the grass, Kathy told Diane to lay down, since another coating of suntan lotion was important to reduce the sun's less pleasant effects. I began to lotion myself at the same time, including discretely making sure my cock and ass were more than adequately covered in initially slippery protection. Sunburns are something that happen far too often to me, but at least related to these areas, my experience is still zero. Unlike my wife, Cammy, who spent a decade getting used to going topless. After sunburning her nipples the first time she exposed them, She obsesses about SPF issues.After Kathy finished, I asked her to handle my back, something she did pretty sloppily. Obviously, her attention was drifting, though I didn't turn my head to see if Diane was the direct cause or not. Kathy is submissively oriented to men, but markedly dominating with women, having a slave to play with your naked body under the summer sun is likely something Kathy would appreciate, and Diane would likely do. But Kathy may be having some inner conflicts about how to act in a threesome with a man & woman.Now well-lotioned, we stretched out, basting a bit, until another person entered our somewhat discrete space, a buxom middle-age woman. I knew her name was Meg. She's a persona friend of the Miller family, and a charter member of the Cove Club. She often brings a raft, and enjoys spending time floating it, much like I do. As we all casually watched, Meg pulled off her loose cotton dress, unashamed about the fact she wasn't wearing any underwear, allowing her to be comfortably naked without complications.This remains a noticeable trait, at least among the nudists at this lake, definitely including myself. No reason to wear more than the minimum, Kathy will also come to the cove wearing nothing but a dress, as has Diane and my wife. Such times remain a bit of a turn-on, even when sex is simply not plausible. The club has rules about sexual conduct when other uninvolved club members are present. Just knowing that a woman is intimately uncovered is nice. Most of the women I've known who do it, also enjoy its effect on their sense of sexuality, especially with light and swirling skirts.Diane having finished her drink, my two companions were now beaded with sweat, a deliciously erotic sight. Standing, the contrast in sizes and shapes was delightful, as they shared a quick kiss before returning to the water. They went out until about hip deep. Meg, the now-naked older woman spread out her towel in a standard spot at a respectful distance from our party. Then added a bit more air pressure to her raft before heading out onto the glittering water, giving me more excuse to look out at the lake as Kathy and Diane began to turn each other on.Kathy & Diane were hugging and kissing, first one then the other leaning back against holding arms, slowly moving into deeper water. What remained clear enough to see through, their motions had become more sinuous than active. Their movement was growing increasingly intense, especially when they began to rub chest to chest, Kathy's hand holding and spreading Diane's ass.My cock stirred as it became obvious the two ladies were feeling each other up outdoors, enjoying a perfect summer day in nature, indulging themselves at a primal level. It's a level Kathy and I both shared in the past, but that the younger Diane seemed to be enjoying for the first time, in a swirl of gin, weed, nudity, and lust. Diane was doing most of the moving as they kissed. The was reason becoming clear when Kathy shifted her position a bit.Diane was rubbing her cunt against Kathy's upper thigh; gasping a bit when Kathy's teeth began to nibble at her earlobe. A long sigh arose when Kathy's spread hand slid over her ass, and into her crack. By this point, it was Kathy determining the rhythm, making Diane willingly helpless in her arms, adding her own slinky motion side to side.Meg, the older buxom woman, returned to shore, paddling lazily, trying to be somewhat discrete as she looked at them while going past. As she stepped on the shore, her raft next to theirs, Kathy and Diane slowly grew apart, and I sat up, getting ready to make our second round of gin and tonics in the rising heat of the day, the sun rose higher in the sky.As the buxom neighbor approached her towel, I asked; “Meg, would you want a gin and tonic?” She smiled a bit, said; “Sure, Ben.” Over the years, I have learned how her breasts bounce when she walks, how her nipples look when stimulated, and wondered at how her nipples remain so pink. She is easily 1 to 20 years older than me, but her essential blondeness seems real, even if her cunt is always shaved smooth. She carries extra pounds, but mostly on her tits and ass.My two companions followed her in, grabbing towels to dry off, their skin glistening in the sun, both of them aroused, but patient. We all chatted a bit, my attention was split between three lovely naked women.Having only three glasses, it made sense to offer the new visitor mine, after making Kathy and Diane their glasses first. I added extra gin, lime, and water to Kathy's, filling her glass essentially to its rim before she bent down to sip a bit. My hand moved to offer the glass to her spreading lips. Her breasts swayed a bit, and I could see how Diane was looking at them too. Kathy lifted herself a bit on her legs, providing a perfect view of her spread labia. Kathy is blessed with large and proud plump labia, the largest I have ever seen and touched, personally.Making Diane's drink went quickly. I handed it to her, sitting next to the now essentially squatting Kathy. Diane's own legs were spread, crossing her feet in front of her, giving me an unavoidable opportunity to look at her turned-on swollen cunt, the outer lips a bit dark, the inner lips darker, a bit crinkled. Kathy noticed me looking, but only grinned a bit as she sipped from her frosty glass, then sensuously kissed Diane.Returning my attention to making the next gin and tonic, I smiled at the neighbor woman as I determinedly did not look at the pair near me. The sounds of kissing provided an idea of what they looked like. However, Meg's attention seemed focused on the kissing couple. I saw a certain look of lust begin to appear on her face. It wasn't surprising in itself, as I was also starting to get a bit hard. But it was the first time I had saw a woman getting turned on watching two other naked women playing with each other. Admittedly, this was also my first time, and I was fairly certain my face looked much the same as her's did.I shifted a bit, moving forward, offering Meg the drink with my left hand as Kathy murmured that maybe it was time to get lotioned before returning to the water. Diane went prone & stretched out, and Kathy quickly covered her back and shoulders. Her hands straying down to her small breasts, making Diane get up on her knees a bit as Kathy's hands slid over her nipples. Kathy then did her own face and arms before laying down, letting Diane spread suntan lotion over her back and ass, hands sliding over Kathy's spread thighs.Diane also did her own face and arms, as Kathy sat up, positioning herself in front of Diane. The pair began to take care of their fronts and legs, while I took a sip of Kathy's almost finished gin and tonic, Diane's having been emptied fairly quickly. The older woman noticed this, remarking that I was welcome to share hers, along with a compliment of how perfectly it tasted on such an August day.Diane and Kathy rose, giggling a bit as they returned to the water. Their hands strayed over each other's oiled ass cheeks. After taking a couple of steps into the water, they turned to each other, clasped hands, and began kissing.Offered the two thirds empty glass, I remarked that it would be simple to refresh it, if she wished to drink some more. Her head still turned towards the water, she distractedly said 'sure' again, prompting me to focus my attention on making another fresh drink, knowing that any later ones would not be as nearly chilled. The brisk chill is a major part of the pleasure of a good gin and tonic in the intense heat.Between pouring, slicing, and squeezing, I glanced at her. Meg was sitting with her legs at an angle to the shoreline, sweating a bit in the sun. A another female scent was beginning to perfume the air, one that drew my attention to her. My cock began to swell against my thigh. I shifted a bit before handing Meg the well-beaded glass, making her shift in turn, getting a bit closer.Being done with drink making for now, I offered to lotion her back, something we have done occasionally for each other over the years. She is almost always by herself at the lake, and like me when alone, rarely talks much to anyone else. Spreading the white lotion over her shoulders, she asked about the pair in the water, who I know noticed had moved out further, pressing tightly, breasts rubbing, Diane's hand clearly between Kathy's legs.“Well, they're friends,” I managed to say before she laughed a bit. Meg replied, “Yeah, that's pretty obvious.”Kathy has been a regular bather here for 20 years. Meg helped the Millers build the social club, and comes every summer, even though she doesn't know most of the newer ‘kids'. I was trying to explain Kathy's and Diane's relationship, when in fact a major part of it was currently completely public in front of us.It seemed a bit amusing. Especially since Diane was obviously being finger-fucked by Kathy. Kathy's hand was moving at the center of Diane's spread legs. I heard “Could you, could you lotion me, everywhere?” Meg was pulling my attention back. Our glass was empty, the shoreline still empty except for us two. We were obviously getting turned on watching two women have sex in the water in front of us.She turned a bit closer, while also spreading her legs in the direction of the water and resting back on her elbows. I knelt with my feet out past her hips, my legs bent, & squeezed some lotion onto my hands. I began working over her shoulders, sliding down her sides, moving between the already oiled and still to be oiled skin. I only slowly moving inwards towards her grand tetons. After her nipples became turgid in my distributing fingers, I started rubbing her stomach. She began to coo very quietly, slumping further back a bit, head lolling, giving a wonderful view of her breasts.My hands moved down along her thighs, her knees slowly began bending. Her crotch slowly opened up, the closer my hands approached her pubic region. Soon, her warm skin began lightly touching my legs, her legs spreading as my oiled fingers began sliding downward over her smooth shaved pubic mound, and separating around her cunt lips. Looking out at the water, I saw the two naked women kissing passionately, arms reaching down in the water, hands clasping asses tightly, oblivious to everything except their own pleasure.My cock was hard, and Meg's deep breathing amplified as her back fully relaxed down on the quilt. The sounds of her awakening sexuality was incredible, well matching the feeling coming from my finger as it began to slide into her wet cunt. She hissed 'oh, fuck yes' as my other hand reached up to her near tit, pulling her nipple and rolling it in my fingers. My hands were sliding over both her upper & lower hardened spires. This was hardly the first nor fifteenth time I had finger-fucked a woman at the cove, but it was certainly the first time I had ever done it with others around.Even if one of the others was the first woman I had finger-fucked here in the summer sun, beside my own wife.  I gave up all further pretense of distributing SPF lotions, and sat cross-legged, with hands on two of Meg's very hard nubs. Our eyes were on the water nymphs.Kathy is someone who definitely favors having her cunt filled, unlike most women in my experience, who much prefer having their clit played with. Meg had a big nubby clit. It now poked out beyond her hood. I was rubbing Meg's big clit with my thumb as she fantasized of the naked lovers in

Sally has too much to say to girl's girl Siobhán Gallagher about her pick and our bible, Vanessa Davis' Make Me a Woman (Drawn & Quarterly, 2010). Topics include 90's fashion, Hello Kitty, eating disorders on family sitcoms and more on this slumber party of an episode. Please enjoy Siobhán's terrific book, Full of Myself- a must-read for anyone who is, knows, or would like to know anyone who has ever used a DELIA*S catalog as bedtime reading.  Thank you to our subscribers over at our Patreon, you can enjoy 50+ additional episodes at our $5/month level, thank you for listening.

María Elena, alias "Hello Kitty", es una mujer cuya infancia marcada por el abuso, el abandono familiar y la vida en las calles la llevó por un camino de autodestrucción y venganza.Desde los 10 años viviendo en situación de calle, Hello Kitty nos relata cómo la prostitución, las drogas y la violencia se convirtieron en su realidad diaria. Su testimonio revela el momento que cambió todo: una brutal agresión sexual que sufrió a manos de cinco hombres durante una semana, y cómo la falta de justicia la llevó a tomar la venganza en sus propias manos.Con una frialdad escalofriante, describe el asesinato de tres de sus agresores, revelando los detalles más crudos de cómo ejecutó su venganza.Una historia que cuestiona los límites entre víctima y victimario, y expone las fallas de un sistema que abandona a los más vulnerables.Para ver episodios exclusivos, entra aquí: https://www.patreon.com/Penitencia_mx¿Quieres ver los episodios antes que nadie? Obtén acceso 24 horas antes aquí: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6rh4_O86hGLVPdUhwroxtw/joinVisita penitencia.comSíguenos en:https://instagram.com/penitencia_mx  https://tiktok.com/@penitencia_mx  https://facebook.com/penitencia.mx  https://x.com/penitencia_mx  Spotify: https://spotify.link/jFvOuTtseDbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/mx/podcast/penitencia/id1707298050Amazon: https://music.amazon.com.mx/podcasts/860c4127-6a3b-4e8f-a5fd-b61258de9643/penitenciaRedes Saskia:https://www.youtube.com/@saskiandr - suscríbete a su canalhttps://instagram.com/saskianino  https://tiktok.com/@saskianino  https://x.com/saskianino

Send us a text在这一期《柠檬变成柠檬水》播客里，主持人俞骅和Poy Zhong，携手来自加拿大皇家银行的Sophia Suo，一起深入探讨全球爆红的潮玩IP - Labubu。这个“丑萌”小怪兽如何从香港插画绘本角色，成为跨越文化的潮流符号？明星效应、盲盒经济、情绪价值和社群文化，又是如何推动它的商业奇迹？在这一期节目里，我们不仅解析Labubu现象背后的商业逻辑，还探讨它对中国品牌出海、情绪消费趋势的启示， 以及它能否像Hello Kitty一样成为跨时代的长青IP？欢迎大家收听。请您在Apple Podcasts, 小宇宙APP, Spotify, iHeart Radio, YouTube, Amazon Music等，搜寻”柠檬变成柠檬水“。Support the showThank you for listening to our podcasts. We also welcome you to join the "Turn Lemons Into Lemonade" LinkedIn page!

I denne ukens sommerepisode tar vi for oss den mye etterspurte saken om Hello Kitty-saken.

I am standing on a court in Santa Barbara, and it's my very first pickleball lesson. I arrived early and I'm already warmed up, focused and ready to do everything exactly right. In fact, even before booking this lesson, I researched every single coach in town. I landed on Richard Pastoria because he's the real deal: a professional coach for over 25 years, the resident pickleball pro at the Valley Club of Montecito, and - not only that - he also has a military background. That combination of structure and discipline and high standards speaks to me because I've been an athlete my entire life, and I take performance seriously, so I want to work with someone who brings that level of excellence and who understands focus like I do. I'm thinking we are going to be perfectly aligned. A few minutes into the lesson, we are already deep into a drill, and Coach Richard feeds me a ball. I move the way I think I'm supposed to and swing the way I think I'm supposed to… and I completely miss. Instantly, I feel my entire body tighten. I start analyzing. What did I do wrong? Was it my grip, or maybe it was my footwork? Or it could be my timing… I replay this moment in my mind, and I start getting mad at myself because I'm doing what he's telling me to do. I can feel myself spiraling faster and faster. I am an athlete. I should be able to do this. I should be able to pick this up.  I want so badly to get this right. It's at this moment that Coach Richard can see me spiraling. Across the court, I hear him yell out, “Kymberlee!” Okay, here it comes. I'm bracing myself, thinking that it's going to be a technical adjustment, another drill, and he says, “It's just pickleball.” That's it. No lecture, no overanalysis, just those three words. At that moment, I laugh. My shoulders drop, and I stop holding my breath because he's right; it is just pickleball. All of a sudden, I think, what if this were fun? Everything shifts. I keep playing, but now I feel lighter, looser, still focused but not robotic. I start laughing when I miss. I reset faster and strangely start hitting the ball better, and I realize that I don't have to choose between working hard and also having fun. I can actually care deeply and enjoy myself at the exact same time, and that paradox, that is where the power is. In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, I discuss what you can do to make your story truly land, why too much control kills connection, and so much more. You'll get answers to questions like: How can you be both serious about your performance and still have fun at the same time? What elements need to be in alignment in order to deliver a memorable Talk? How can you tell a compelling story without sounding robotic or rehearsed?  What you will learn in this episode: How mastery over your Talk is in the balance between effort and ease Why your energy should be in sync with your story  Why perfection is not persuasive Why letting go just enough creates the necessary space for authenticity, flow, and real impact A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or, as I discuss in this episode, the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place. Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingschool on Facebook

Al talks about Tamagotchi Plaza to Kevin Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:34: What Have We Been Up To 00:21:32: I Know What You Released Last Month 00:23:38: Game News 00:42:07: See How Many Of The Top 10 Steam Games Kevin Can Guess 00:52:10: Tamagotchi Plaza 01:12:25: Outro Links Gaucho and the Grassland Release Wandering Village 1.0 Release Cottonville Release Tiny Garden “Summer Breeze Content Update + Cosmetic Pack” Disney Dreamlight Valley “The Storybook Vale - Part 2: The Unwritten Realm Update” Len's Island Post 1.0 Roadmap Stardew Valley Top rated game on Steam Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:36) Kev: My name is Kevin. Supposedly. (0:00:37) Al: And we’re here, we’re here, supposedly. (0:00:40) Al: Why? What’s what has happened? (0:00:40) Kev: I don’t know. I’ve just… I mean, I’ve never seen the documentation to back it up. (0:00:46) Kev: I’m just saying. (0:00:46) Al: You’ve never seen your birth certificate. (0:00:47) Kev: Birth certificate? No, I don’t… I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen it now. (0:00:51) Kev: If… Yeah, I mean, I probably had to dust it out for something. (0:00:52) Al: Wow, have you seen your driving license or your passport? (0:00:56) Kev: Oh, yeah, you know what? Sure. I guess driver license. Yeah, all right. (0:01:01) Al: Is this Kevin, Kevin, is this where we find out that you’re undocumented, Kevin? (0:01:06) Kev: You know, I’d be a surprise to me too. But here’s the fun part is it doesn’t matter anymore. (0:01:13) Al: Well, that’s device very true. (0:01:22) Al: All right, and we’re here today to talk about cartridge code games, because I didn’t get (0:01:23) Kev: Oh, you know, I can keep that gym in. (0:01:33) Kev: and not nothing (0:01:34) Al: through that sentence. (0:01:36) Al: Is that how this episode is going to be? (0:01:38) Kev: That’s supposedly where you’re talkin’ to me (0:01:41) Al: I need a holiday. (0:01:42) Kev: Well, well, you’re close to one, aren’t you? (0:01:44) Al: Good news! (0:01:46) Al: All right, this episode, we’re going to talk for a very short period of time, (0:01:51) Al: and you’ll understand why later. We’re going to talk about Time of Got You Plaza. (0:01:57) Al: Spoiler alert, don’t play this game. Before that, we’ve got some news. We have what we’ve been up to. (0:02:07) Al: But first of all, wait, do I normally do that in that order? I know what you released the (0:02:11) Al: the last months before what we’ve been up to. (0:02:11) Kev: Isn’t it normally what we’ve been up to first usually? Yeah (0:02:14) Al: I think it is, yeah, OK, right. (0:02:16) Al: Yeah, let’s do that. (0:02:17) Al: Ah, why, why? (0:02:18) Al: It was a section and it just it just moved the title, not the whole section. (0:02:19) Kev: I was destroying (0:02:22) Kev: He’s destroying the show live on on air (0:02:23) Al: Stupid thing. (0:02:25) Al: I’d love to destroy some show notes. (0:02:28) Al: So we’ve got before that, we’ve got some news. (0:02:30) Al: We’ve got I know what you released last month. (0:02:33) Al: But first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:02:36) Kev: Um, let me think here, um, not yeah, I (0:02:42) Kev: Okay, so a lot of the usuals. Um, a little busy this week. Um, uh (0:02:48) Al: running away from ice agents. Sorry. I really should not joke about that because the ice will (0:02:50) Kev: Yeah, oh no, yeah, yeah that is a genuine concern every day (0:02:57) Al: hear it and they’ll come for you. We can clip it for the slack. (0:02:58) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah (0:03:03) Kev: The joys of being (0:03:05) Kev: Yeah, the joys of… (0:03:06) Kev: being a brown skinned boy in America right now. (0:03:13) Kev: There’s an ex… (0:03:15) Kev: So… (0:03:17) Kev: It feels like a lot of these ice raids are in the workplace, right? (0:03:21) Kev: And so, mine just feels extra, like, odd because I work for a Chinese company, Technica… (0:03:28) Al: Oh no. Oh no. (0:03:28) Kev: Well… (0:03:29) Kev: I mean, they are… (0:03:31) Kev: They have a… (0:03:33) Kev: Incorporation… (0:03:34) Kev: They are incorporated here in America, right? (0:03:36) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:03:37) Kev: They are in separate American companies. (0:03:39) Kev: But, you know, the HQ is in China, so… (0:03:41) Al: And let’s not let’s not pretend like technically an American company would stop any rabid anti-Chinese (0:03:41) Kev: You know, there’s a… (0:03:48) Al: people in America doing anything, you know? (0:03:48) Kev: Oh, yeah! (0:03:49) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. (0:03:51) Kev: For sure, I’m just saying, like, there’s… (0:03:53) Kev: There’s a few layers, extra fun layers to this equation. (0:03:54) Al: Yeah. (0:03:57) Al: As always, they’re not going to come for you in that case, because they’re only coming (0:04:00) Kev: Yeah. (0:04:03) Al: for the manual laborers, right, because they’re the only ones that– (0:04:06) Al: be illegal, obviously. That’s true. That’s true. Oh, goodness. (0:04:08) Kev: They’ll run out eventually. We’re still in year one. (0:04:14) Kev: I live in Georgia. I mean, I’m in the blue area of Georgia, but it’s still Georgia. (0:04:19) Kev: Southern. (0:04:21) Kev: Oh, good. (0:04:21) Al: Oh, a happy, happy podcast. (0:04:25) Al: What have you been up to, Kevin? (0:04:28) Kev: Well, while I’m not sweating my legal status, even though I was born here, (0:04:34) Kev: Um, I’ve been, I’ve been playing. (0:04:36) Al: I mean, who knows whether that counts or not anymore? (0:04:38) Kev: Uh, according to some people in certain positions, I’ve been, uh, I’ve been playing card games, uh, a lot of card games in the past week. (0:04:50) Kev: Like, yeah, a lot of the usual stuff, but, um, Marvel snap. (0:04:54) Kev: We got the, the fantastic Ford season, um, the, the like, uh, based off the new movie, um, that’s coming up. (0:04:58) Al: Ah, yes. Is that July then? Cool. Any good cards? (0:05:02) Kev: Yeah. (0:05:03) Kev: Yeah. (0:05:03) Kev: That’s the July season. (0:05:05) Kev: And okay, there’s two (0:05:08) Kev: Okay, so (0:05:10) Kev: Yes. Okay. First of all, the season pass card is is mr. Fantastic, but the Pedro Pascal version (0:05:17) Kev: so one you get the bonus of Pedro Pascal at first I was I was (0:05:22) Kev: Hesitant about Pedro as mr. Fantastic. I don’t get me wrong. I love Pedro (0:05:26) Al: Yeah, you were being racist about him, yeah. (0:05:28) Kev: Yeah, but but just mr. Fantastic so like the whitest white boy you’ve ever seen right and now I’ve been I’ve been I’ve warmed up (0:05:36) Kev: to it. In fact, I’m down. (0:05:38) Kev: For the revision, let’s let’s just retroactively put Pedro Pascale in all the Mr. Fantastic (0:05:43) Kev: appearances. That’s what I’m down for. The cards pretty dang good. Marvel Snap is reaching (0:05:53) Kev: to play. It feels like it’s reaching to play. So there’s just it’s just going bananas, like (0:05:58) Kev: the power levels going up, which, you know, in most card games, that’s what you have to (0:06:02) Kev: do because you have to keep releasing new cards that people want to buy. But the other (0:06:08) Kev: Interesting tidbit, okay, I can’t remember when they introduced it or (0:06:12) Kev: if it’s always been there. (0:06:15) Kev: So you know that there’s a season pass in Marvel Snap, it’s the big thing. (0:06:18) Al: Yep. I am aware. (0:06:20) Kev: There’s the premium season pass, that’s where you actually pay the money and (0:06:25) Kev: you get the card, right? (0:06:26) Al: Yeah. Yeah, that just unlocks 10 extra levels, right? (0:06:26) Kev: Because the season pass, every player gets it, but (0:06:29) Kev: you don’t get half of it until you pay the $10 or whatever. (0:06:32) Kev: All right, do you remember there is a super premium? (0:06:38) Kev: That’s what it was originally. (0:06:38) Al: Yes, you’re going to tell me it’s now different. (0:06:40) Kev: So X number of months ago, they said, okay, now if you get the super premium, (0:06:46) Kev: you will get this variant, right? (0:06:49) Kev: And for people familiar in Snap, variants are a big thing because they’re your (0:06:52) Kev: flare, I guess technically it can unlock a card for you if you don’t have it. (0:06:58) Kev: But it’s nice, it’s not mandatory. (0:07:02) Kev: It’s an existing card or whatever, but it’s just a little extra icing on top, right? (0:07:08) Kev: And so I was like, okay, sure, that makes sense. (0:07:09) Kev: A nice little extra bonus if you get the super premium. (0:07:12) Kev: I never got the super premium because I didn’t want to pay $20 for that. (0:07:18) Kev: But now they have finally, they’ve pushed the button, (0:07:24) Kev: they’ve crossed the line, they broke the glass. (0:07:27) Kev: There is a brand new card in the super premium version. (0:07:30) Al: Oh no. No disaster. (0:07:32) Kev: Yep, and the optics aren’t great because I don’t. (0:07:38) Kev: No, if you remember a couple of weeks ago, I talked about there was a mode where they (0:07:41) Kev: introduced a new card, but it was basically impossible to get the card just playing for free. (0:07:46) Al: Yeah, you had to have like 500 matches or something. (0:07:49) Kev: Yeah, something like that. (0:07:51) Kev: Yeah, so people were already up in arms about that. (0:07:54) Kev: And that was about a month ago or so. (0:07:57) Kev: So now they’ve got this, so it’s just very clear that the devs or the higher ups, whoever, (0:08:04) Kev: There’s pressure being put on the game to make it (0:08:07) Al: » Yep. I don’t know any other games like that, but yep. (0:08:08) Kev: more pay to win, right? (0:08:10) Kev: I mean… (0:08:12) Kev: Yeah… (0:08:14) Kev: Yeah, I know. (0:08:16) Kev: Completely novel idea. (0:08:18) Kev: But yeah, they’ve done that finally. (0:08:22) Kev: And the worst part is it’s a pretty decent card. (0:08:24) Kev: So… (0:08:26) Kev: The Fantastic Four, all the new versions that will come out. (0:08:30) Kev: A lot of them revolve around this… (0:08:32) Kev: It’s a mechanic that’s existed since the start of the game, (0:08:36) Kev: They, they kind of labeled it. (0:08:38) Kev: End of turn. (0:08:39) Kev: Um, it’s just an ability that activates at the end of turn. (0:08:43) Kev: Um, for like, right. (0:08:44) Kev: So like Mr. (0:08:45) Kev: Fantastic, he gives like a card in your hand, like a plus one power or something. (0:08:49) Kev: End of turn. (0:08:49) Kev: Right. (0:08:50) Kev: And then some of the other fantastic four members, um, they all have. (0:08:50) Al: That’s different, because that’s not what Mr. Fantastic was before. (0:08:55) Kev: No, right. (0:08:56) Kev: He was an ongoing, he boosted other ones, but yeah, this new version (0:08:58) Al: Yeah. (0:08:59) Kev: just boost cards in your hand. (0:09:01) Kev: Um, I’m trying to remember, but there were cards that had this kind (0:09:04) Kev: of ability at the beginning. (0:09:06) Kev: Um, like sunspot, sunspot. (0:09:08) Kev: One right end of turn he would gain a power right um so (0:09:08) Al: Yes, yep. (0:09:12) Kev: So it’s basically that idea, but they just like okay. We make an official label now (0:09:17) Al: Yeah, because I think they were just like random things it was just like it would say (0:09:21) Kev: Yeah (0:09:22) Al: in the description what it happened because I think the other there was I guess you know (0:09:23) Kev: Right (0:09:26) Al: Red Hulk was another one that would do that it would it would give you it would gain power (0:09:27) Kev: Yeah exactly exactly (0:09:32) Al: based on what you didn’t use I think I can’t remember or the opponent used yeah yeah otherwise (0:09:33) Kev: Or what the opponent like if they didn’t use the other energy yeah (0:09:38) Kev: Yeah, but exactly right there were a handful of cards that did that but they they and this was I don’t know a couple months (0:09:43) Kev: ago they they codified that well this season they’re pushing that like all the think three of the four (0:09:49) Kev: Have or at least three of the four have end of turn abilities and the super premium card (0:09:57) Kev: Is the fantastic car? (0:09:59) Kev: And the fantastic car gives a boost to end of turn cards, so it works in this whole (0:10:06) Kev: Fantastic. (0:10:08) Kev: That’s a decent card and it looks fun and cool, but it’s behind this extra paywall. (0:10:16) Kev: So, that’s got people riled up, unhappy, myself included. (0:10:16) Al: Mm-hmm. Not great (0:10:22) Kev: So, and again, the worst… (0:10:24) Al: Side note… (0:10:26) Kev: I’m sorry. (0:10:27) Al: Side note, there’s… you say it’s the fantastic art. (0:10:30) Al: Have they done non-living beings before? (0:10:34) Kev: Uh, well, I mean not counting robots. Um, no, I don’t think so. Like that’s the first like vehicle sort of thing (0:10:40) Al: Yeah, because they’ve done like, obviously, like, they’ve done like ego and they’ve like, (0:10:41) Kev: No, I think yeah (0:10:45) Al: they’ve done like other celestial beings and stuff like that, but like, (0:10:47) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:10:49) Al: yeah, and you write robots and stuff, but I don’t like, (0:10:51) Kev: Don’t sentient beings (0:10:52) Al: the fantastic car doesn’t even like, pretend to be sentient. (0:10:56) Kev: No, no, it is just a car right it’s just a vehicle (0:10:58) Al: Yeah, it’s literally a car. (0:10:59) Kev: Yeah, that one that flies but still (0:11:02) Al: They’re running out of people already, is that the problem? (0:11:03) Kev: Yeah, no (0:11:05) Kev: I (0:11:07) Kev: Don’t think they’re running out because Marvel has a lot of dumb characters, but you know the the ones people get excited about maybe they’re (0:11:17) Kev: They’ve been going a little fast (0:11:20) Kev: They did actually a while back they introduced a new card called skills (0:11:26) Kev: Which are not not characters. They’re just like so (0:11:30) Kev: The a lot of the dr. Strange spells were called (0:11:34) Kev: skills they introduce some magician type characters who generated skills in your in and (0:11:41) Kev: Skills they when you play them, they just disappear they they have a cost they they play them they have an ability and they disappear (0:11:47) Al: Yeah. (0:11:49) Kev: So they don’t stay and generate power on your board or whatever (0:11:53) Kev: And so they introduced that so that that was kind of like their first really like okay, we’re introducing some new cards that aren’t just characters (0:12:01) Kev: But yes the fantastic cars for it as I can tell (0:12:04) Kev: It’s like the first one that’s like a piece of equipment or or vehicle or whatever (0:12:05) Al: I, I just remembered, I just remembered Thanos gives you the Infinity Stones. (0:12:09) Kev: Yeah, oh (0:12:11) Kev: Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, that’s just true those aren’t characters. Yeah (0:12:14) Al: It was not the first, and I don’t need people telling me, “Oh, technically the (0:12:18) Al: Infinity Stones have a consciousness.” (0:12:25) Kev: But yeah (0:12:27) Kev: So it’s it’s a wild time and the worst part is Marvel snap is still in my opinion good like the game is good though (0:12:34) Kev: Cakes are still solid (0:12:36) Kev: It’s grown so much that you can kind of play whatever you deck want you want now (0:12:42) Kev: I’ve said that a handful times and still true, right? (0:12:44) Kev: But I said that because there there were errors of snap where we’re they were dominated by certain archetype or a certain card or whatever (0:12:44) Al: Mm-hmm Oh (0:12:49) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah (0:12:52) Kev: Right, we don’t see that as much now. There are no real problem (0:12:57) Kev: children (0:12:59) Kev: But but maybe because of that I don’t know but they’re (0:13:04) Kev: They’re pushing harder for the pay to win like give us money (0:13:08) Kev: So that kind of sucks especially because again, I like the game. It’s still enjoyable in my opinion (0:13:13) Kev: The games are still six turns. They’re fast. They’re there because he can play lots of different types and and and archetypes and it’s fun (0:13:23) Kev: But so yeah, I will keep playing until like I don’t know what we’ll see i’m the frog in the boiling pot and all that (0:13:29) Kev: we’ll see (0:13:32) Kev: But other than that, the other… (0:13:34) Kev: A big card game I’ve been playing. (0:13:42) Kev: Marvel Rivals Season 3. I need to do that in grey. (0:13:45) Kev: I don’t know if you saw it, but… (0:13:47) Kev: Sorry, it’s just so I thought. (0:13:49) Kev: I’ll report on that when I do play it. (0:13:53) Kev: Magic the Gathering. (0:13:56) Kev: I’m still playing the Arena, the online version. (0:13:59) Kev: And Final Fantasy sets still going strong and all that. (0:14:02) Kev: I tried drafting for the first time. (0:14:04) Kev: Online, but it’s still drafting. (0:14:07) Al: Is that is that a built in feature of Arena? (0:14:34) Kev: If you pick a card you want out of your pack and then you pass the cards to the next person and you know (0:14:40) Kev: Everyone kind of swaps packs and everyone keeps selecting out of these different packs until you have a pile of your own cards from all (0:14:47) Kev: These different packs (0:14:49) Kev: and (0:14:50) Kev: So it was always a novel idea. I never tried it before but I know something very weird about like, okay (0:14:55) Kev: I have this pack. I don’t want to share the cards. Why am I giving you my cards, but (0:15:01) Kev: But it works out because after you know the (0:15:04) Kev: packs are going around and rotated and all that like you have a deck that you (0:15:10) Kev: know there’s X number of packs and from that you’ve actually built the deck that (0:15:14) Kev: kind of sort of works if you know what you’re doing right and everyone’s kind of (0:15:18) Kev: on the same playing field because everyone’s opening all these new packs (0:15:21) Kev: nobody has any you know bringing in any existing cards or whatever so it’s kind (0:15:27) Kev: of a levelish playing field um bit of luck in there of course depending on (0:15:31) Kev: what you open or whatnot. (0:15:34) Kev: it’s a fun novel idea. And so on Arena, the version I play, the actual drafting part (0:15:43) Kev: is done with bots. You don’t actually do it with the other players. So that’s nice because (0:15:48) Kev: you don’t have to, you know, there’s not a timer or anything, you know, you’re just like, (0:15:52) Kev: okay, here, I think about it, pick what I want. Or if you know, if you need to go step away, (0:15:57) Kev: go to the bathroom, whatever you can, right, there’s no pressure to actually finish the draft (0:16:01) Kev: in X number of minutes or whatever. (0:16:05) Kev: But then when you build your deck, then you go, uh, you play against actual other players who’ve done the similar, um, drafting process. (0:16:12) Kev: Um, so, um, it, yeah, it’s an awful experience. (0:16:16) Kev: I think it’s fun actually. (0:16:18) Kev: Like I get it now with the appeal of the drafting. (0:16:20) Kev: Um, and, uh, but yeah, it’s, it’s good. (0:16:24) Kev: Final, the Final Fantasy cards was so good. (0:16:25) Kev: I, I, I’m angry at how good they are. (0:16:29) Kev: Um, the two, um, but I, at the very least I stayed clean. (0:16:34) Kev: I haven’t any money into magic for in a hot minute. (0:16:38) Kev: Um, and at least not any for anything for Final Fantasy. (0:16:42) Kev: So I feel good pounding myself on the back for that. (0:16:44) Kev: I’ve stayed strong. (0:16:45) Kev: Um, but yeah, other than that, um, nothing, nothing else. (0:16:50) Kev: I can’t, man. (0:16:51) Kev: Oh man. (0:16:51) Kev: Have you seen the master’s costume, Pokemon masters, the costumes lately? (0:16:56) Al: I’ve seen some of it. (0:16:58) Al: I’ve not really kind of been paying too much attention. (0:16:58) Kev: Did you see the, did you see the, the Larry, the vacation layer? (0:17:04) Kev: Oh, okay. (0:17:04) Kev: Hold on. (0:17:05) Kev: All right. (0:17:05) Kev: I’m going to make the usual slack exclusive thread. (0:17:08) Kev: Um, um, but yeah, it’s a, uh, uh, they gave Larry a, a, uh, Hawaiian, like a (0:17:18) Kev: lowland themed, um, uh, vacation suit and masters. (0:17:23) Kev: It’s very funny. (0:17:24) Kev: Um, uh, they also got summer Cynthia. (0:17:28) Kev: So she’s, I believe five or six variants of Cynthia now, because guess what? (0:17:34) Kev: Popular. (0:17:34) Kev: Did you know that Al? (0:17:35) Kev: Did you know she’s popular? (0:17:36) Al: Hm hm hm, whaaat? (0:17:37) Kev: Um, um, Skyla got a fun suit with jump off. (0:17:43) Kev: Um, yeah, masters is good. (0:17:45) Kev: The big, I haven’t dropped money on it in a while, but I, I want those costumes. (0:17:51) Kev: So yeah, I can say. (0:17:52) Kev: So that’s me all gotcha, all, all gambling, all card games. (0:17:56) Kev: What about you? (0:17:56) Kev: Al, what gotcha and gambling have you been up to lately? (0:18:00) Al: Oh, just my usual Pokemon, right? (0:18:02) Al: Although I’ve not put any money in since Go Fest. (0:18:03) Kev: Yeah. (0:18:05) Kev: I heard about that, that last episode, you got your training. (0:18:06) Al: So, yeah. (0:18:08) Kev: Gimme, gimme, gimme gold in the, in the, in the Dakota, get her weren’t yet. (0:18:13) Kev: I’m, I need to know, is she free? (0:18:16) Kev: I need to know. (0:18:19) Al: think so. I don’t think so. No, what have I actually been playing? Let’s see. I’ve been (0:18:20) Kev: Yeah. (0:18:26) Al: playing Tamagotchi Plaza and when I say playing, I played about half an hour and then searched (0:18:31) Al: online to make sure I wasn’t missing anything before I sold the game. More about that later (0:18:36) Kev: Wow, that’s fast. (0:18:37) Al: on in the episode, but that’s your, yeah it is. I have never, I’ve never stopped playing a game (0:18:46) Al: that fast and not been like, “Ugh!” (0:18:49) Al: This just isn’t for me, and instead being like, “This is just a bad game.” (0:18:52) Kev: Oh I’m excited, I’m excited to hear about this later. (0:19:00) Al: And I’ve also been playing some Land’s Island, slowly, obviously, because if you’ve listened (0:19:06) Al: to the previous episode, listener, you will know that I am not playing on my Steam Deck, (0:19:11) Al: which is how I normally play games, Steam Deck or Switch 2, while watching TV with my wife. (0:19:19) Al: So I’ve got to play it at my desk, and I don’t like doing that, right? Who wants to be sitting at (0:19:24) Al: your office desk playing games? So I’ve just been doing it for a couple of hours a week, (0:19:26) Kev: Alright. I get it. It’s undecided, but maybe. But hey, I mean, good for them, right? Yeah, (0:19:31) Al: but I have been enjoying that, I think. I think I’m enjoying Land’s Island, I think it’s a fun game. (0:19:42) Al: Yeah, I mean, I’m still annoyed about the controller support, but other than that, (0:19:47) Al: I think I’m enjoying it. (0:19:48) Kev: yeah. Yeah, that, that, I mean, that’s, that’s very fair. I’m with you on that boat. I want (0:19:53) Kev: controllers for my games, by and large. (0:19:56) Kev: I did not grow up a PC gamer so, um, you know, obviously I can do, you know, point (0:20:02) Kev: and click or management type games. (0:20:04) Kev: There’s no problem on the mouse, but like the people who do shooters and stuff like (0:20:07) Kev: that on the, the, on the mouse and keyboard, I don’t get it. (0:20:11) Kev: I can’t, I can’t, it’s, it’s beyond my poor comprehension. (0:20:17) Kev: But hey, good for lens Island. (0:20:18) Kev: Like that was a journey, but they got there. (0:20:21) Kev: Um, they, they, yeah. (0:20:23) Al: something like that. They got somewhere anyway. All right, I think that’s it. I’m just kind (0:20:27) Kev: They did stuff, they improved, they improved to some measure, I’m told. (0:20:37) Al: of waiting for Donkey Kong, to be honest. (0:20:38) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I don’t blame you. It’s like that game looks very good and shocker and yeah, yeah, I (0:20:44) Al: Yeah. Soon. (0:20:48) Kev: Wish he had more transformations. That’s it’s like the big thing. We’ve only seen three. Maybe there’s more (0:20:52) Al: Well, there might be more like surely they would have shown (0:20:55) Kev: Yeah, well the question is (0:20:58) Kev: Like what’s a good number right like because you know, obviously (0:21:02) Al: Yeah, like ten would be too many probably like that feels over (0:21:06) Kev: Yeah, right (0:21:09) Kev: And there’s probably gonna be some super transformation for the final fight because that feels like a thing this they would do (0:21:13) Al: Of course, of course. (0:21:16) Kev: But like normally I’d say I know five is a good number not counting anything finale spectacle transformation (0:21:23) Al: Well, let’s see what happens, but I’d be surprised if they’ve shown us everything. (0:21:28) Al: Let’s put it that way. We’ll see, but we will see. (0:21:32) Al: All right, well, let’s get into I Know What You Released last month. (0:21:37) Al: A quiet month, apparently, June was. I don’t know how I missed this out of the episode from (0:21:42) Al: two weeks ago, which is when I was meant to do it, but apparently I did. (0:21:46) Al: Just three games released. We got Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma. (0:21:52) Al: I haven’t played that. (0:21:53) Al: We’ve got Lenz Island 1.0. (0:21:55) Al: Obviously I’ve played that. (0:21:56) Al: And we’ve got Tamagotchi Plaza. (0:21:58) Al: Please do not play that. (0:22:00) Kev: I’ve played none of these games one day. I’ll play a room factory game. I would like to I (0:22:08) Al: Yeah, I feel like I could- (0:22:08) Kev: Mean (0:22:10) Kev: Yeah, I mean it’s it’s story of seasons, but more anime juice up the anime they said (0:22:16) Al: It’s much, I would say it’s much more like, it’s a combat game that just happens to have (0:22:21) Al: farming in it, rather than, especially now, I think you could probably argue in the four (0:22:22) Kev: sure okay sure yeah yeah sure and you know what that makes sense like you’re (0:22:27) Al: and before days, that it was Harvest Moon with, with combat, but now I think it’s definitely (0:22:34) Al: focused the other way around. (0:22:39) Kev: gonna do two series differentiate sure why not long as they have the cow all as (0:22:42) Al: Yeah, yeah, different cow, but yeah, all right. (0:22:45) Kev: well (0:22:49) Kev: Wait, it’s a different they don’t use the story of Caesar’s cow (0:22:50) Al: Well, I don’t think so. (0:22:53) Kev: Oh, no, never mind. It’s all it’s almost don’t care (0:22:58) Al: Yeah, because they don’t have standard animals in Unfactory. (0:23:00) Al: They have like other animals. (0:23:01) Al: So it’s kind of like a lion cow, but you will love the name. (0:23:04) Kev: Oh, huh, I’ll check it out. Okay, I’ll see a (0:23:08) Al: It’s called a buff-a-moo. (0:23:11) Kev: buffer (0:23:13) Kev: Let’s see. So like a buffalo but a buffer. Okay. Oh (0:23:19) Kev: Okay, that’s oh wait no that is a while (0:23:23) Kev: Mmm the design is kind of cute, but it also makes me think of the the girl dog from from (0:23:30) Kev: Full metal alchemist. I don’t like that (0:23:32) Al: Well, there you go. (0:23:38) Al: All right, we’re going to get into some news and we are going to start off with Kevin’s (0:23:38) Kev: Okay, that’s that’s an interesting camera (0:23:44) Al: favorite news. (0:23:45) Al: Gaucho and the Grassland have announced that they’re releasing on the 16th of July. (0:23:51) Al: You may notice, Kevin, that is basically now. (0:23:54) Al: When this episode comes out, it will be out. (0:23:55) Kev: that is when this episode comes out I will be playing this game probably i’m assuming it has (0:23:59) Al: Yeah. (0:24:01) Kev: controller support that’s that’s the the uh kind of the line in the sand for me great well yeah (0:24:04) Al: It says it has feel controller support, but I don’t know whether I can trust that or not. (0:24:12) Kev: you know that’s a good point too but um yeah I don’t know what can I say it’s still the same like (0:24:19) Kev: every trailer just continues to deliver the same promise you are being a cowboy that’s it (0:24:25) Kev: it and I like it’s a fun yeah yeah the the the the art style is cute kind of that overcooked (0:24:26) Al: Kevin was sold the moment he saw the first thing about being a cowboy, he was like “I’m sold, (0:24:30) Al: I don’t need to know anymore!” (0:24:37) Kev: the looking art style um but yeah I get you get to yeah and I can see that you you get to lasso (0:24:40) Al: It’s doing a little bit of the Animal Crossing curved world as well. (0:24:47) Kev: cows like that you know they knew that’s the activity you want to do you throw you have your (0:24:51) Kev: Europe, you’re the last of the count, so they… (0:24:55) Kev: I’m sold. (0:24:56) Al: Yeah. I need to know how it feels. Right. Because the controls for that, it could either be interesting or just horrific and terrible to play. So it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. (0:25:08) Kev: uh you’re right and it’s gonna be a very delicate like thing to get right so we’ll we’ll see um (0:25:17) Kev: tune in because I promise you you will find out on this show thoughts on about this game (0:25:20) Al: It does have a demo. (0:25:23) Kev: one form or another it does I won’t play it i’m just going in blind i’m going all in (0:25:30) Al: Next, we have Wandering Village. They have announced that they’re exiting Early Access. (0:25:38) Al: They’re releasing their 1.0 this week on the 17th of July, one day after Gaut you on the (0:25:44) Kev: That’s right after. I only have one day if I want to play Cowboy if I want to do this. I will not do that. (0:25:45) Al: grassland. (0:25:53) Al: And that is going to Steam Switch, Xbox and PlayStation all on the same page. (0:25:57) Kev: What a wild trailer because you have your huge dinosaur with the village or whatever on top (0:26:02) Kev: in the trailer. Oh okay, I didn’t know that. The art style is interesting because it’s 3D but like (0:26:03) Al: on onboo, I believe his name is. (0:26:11) Kev: 2d characters and and like (0:26:14) Kev: It’s not octopath like (0:26:16) Kev: It’s a full like CG 3d looking world, but the characters look like flat paper. It’s it’s it’s very interesting (0:26:25) Kev: Dynamic the thing is bad. Just interesting. But yeah is you have that and then you have people with like (0:26:32) Kev: Bane masks and then people (0:26:36) Kev: Burning the whole village (0:26:38) Kev: Forest for some reason. I don’t know. There’s a lot going on here. It is fascinating (0:26:44) Kev: And coming out on all consoles and everything that’s good good for them. That’s that’s impressive (0:26:49) Al: Yep, continuing this week’s releases, (0:26:54) Al: we have Cottonville is releasing on the 17th of July. (0:26:58) Kev: They’re just making up for last month by everything out one week as they stay. (0:27:03) Al: Everything on the same day. (0:27:06) Al: This was originally a Kickstarter, but apparently the Kickstarter was banned. (0:27:12) Al: And so now it’s just, yeah, so goodness sake. (0:27:12) Kev: B-band? (0:27:16) Al: Let me let me read what it was. (0:27:19) Al: There’s a statement on it. Here we go. (0:27:21) Al: This was back in the 15th. (0:27:21) Kev: Oh goodness. (0:27:23) Al: Dear Community, it says titled Kickstarter Update. (0:27:29) Al: Dear Community, firstly, we would like to sincerely thank you for your incredible (0:27:33) Al: support and participation in our first Kickstarter campaign. (0:27:36) Al: It genuinely means the world to us. (0:27:38) Al: Unfortunately, due to an oversight on our part, our Kickstarter campaign was (0:27:43) Al: suspended for unintentionally breaching Kickstarter’s guidelines. (0:27:47) Al: As a result, all contributions have been fully remembered. (0:27:49) Al: We are very grateful for the support gathered and to out show appreciation to all our backers (0:28:14) Al: and we are working on the very best solution to how to reward your contributions. (0:28:20) Al: Thank you again for your amazing support and interest in Cottonville. It truly means so (0:28:22) Al: much to us. While this was our first experience with Kickstarter and it did not go as planned, (0:28:27) Al: we’ve learned a lot. We’re looking forward to future campaigns now armed with valuable. (0:28:34) Kev: that didn’t answer my question. Why? Were crimes committed at any point? Maybe. Unintentional (0:28:40) Al: So I wonder, so it looks like what they did was they cancelled the Kickstarter and created (0:28:43) Kev: crimes? (0:28:52) Al: a new Kickstarter, and I’m wondering whether that’s the rule they broke, like you can’t (0:28:58) Al: recreate a Kickstarter or something like that. (0:29:00) Kev: Mm-hmm. I can see that that makes sense (0:29:03) Kev: Yeah, I’m big. Why well, why would they do that in the first place? I don’t know (0:29:08) Al: Don’t know, is this game a scam? I don’t know. (0:29:10) Kev: big (0:29:14) Kev: That I mean there’s the other fact that they are making the game without Kickstarter anymore (0:29:20) Kev: That’s the I did these are very weird flags. I don’t know. They’re red flags. They’re just weird flags (0:29:29) Al: » They are definitely flags. (0:29:31) Kev: Yeah, and the wildest part is it’s for this game that (0:29:38) Kev: Like isn’t for me. It feels very Facebook (0:29:42) Al: Oh, yeah, I hate the look of the game into it. (0:29:42) Kev: like gamey (0:29:45) Al: So it’s from it’s from the publisher Red Deer Games who have done such games (0:29:51) Al: such as Sprout Valley, Garden Buddies. (0:29:54) Kev: Monocats, I don’t know any of you wait no in a Sprout Valley (0:29:56) Al: And a bunch of other things that all definitely look like scam games. (0:30:01) Kev: And is this money laundering very possibly you (0:30:05) Al: I mean, Sprout Valley was a game and it was a fine game. (0:30:10) Al: Garden Buddies, I’m pretty sure we didn’t. (0:30:12) Al: It’s a publisher, not a developer, right? (0:30:16) Kev: yeah look i’m the game dev people oh it’s a public oh the publisher sure well okay exactly (0:30:23) Kev: well exactly the more reason to believe it may be money laundering the devs are maybe legit and (0:30:28) Al: Although, well, so this is where it gets interesting, is Cottonville is developed by the publisher. (0:30:39) Al: I think it’s their first game that they’re developing, rather than publishing. (0:30:40) Kev: you’re right it is you’re right um well that’s um (0:30:49) Kev: this is very strange and again if it were like a game that you know looked better you know that (0:30:58) Kev: being that might be one thing but it looks so I don’t know it just it just feels very weird (0:31:08) Al: it does. It is very weird. It does have a demo. Will I play the demo? Who knows? We’ll see. (0:31:08) Kev: the way the characters are always looking at you. (0:31:10) Kev: Straight up the camera, I don’t like it. (0:31:22) Al: Will I buy the game? Probably not, but I guess it depends how the demo goes, I guess. It’s (0:31:24) Kev: I also probably own that. (0:31:29) Al: just, yeah, those animations are so weird. [sighs] (0:31:32) Kev: Yeah (0:31:33) Kev: it (0:31:35) Kev: Comes out same day as wandering village, which noticeably feels much less possibly a scam (0:31:42) Al: Well, that game’s already out, it’s just not out in 1.0. (0:31:46) Al: All right, rounding out this week’s releases, (0:31:52) Al: Tiny Garden have announced their Summer Breeze content update (0:31:57) Al: and cosmetic pack are releasing on the 17th of July. (0:32:02) Kev: It’s our I don’t know. I gotta think of a barbenheimer equivalent cotton (0:32:07) Kev: wandering garden, I don’t know (0:32:10) Al: Best bet is, I think it’s the same week as Barbara Naimer happened. (0:32:13) Kev: Really that’s incredible (0:32:13) Al: Yeah, because it was definitely July and I think it was this week. (0:32:18) Kev: Yeah, my favorite thing about barbenheimer like I mean both movies are fine or whatever but people kind of under their breath were like (0:32:23) Al: Two years ago. (0:32:25) Kev: But barbie was a little bit better though (0:32:27) Al: Oh, it absolutely was, yeah, I enjoyed Oppenheimer, but it was it was not as good a film. (0:32:29) Kev: Yeah (0:32:36) Al: But I look, I’m not saying it’s a bad film, but I mean, Barbara. (0:32:43) Al: It was my film of the year that year. (0:32:44) Kev: I mean, the two lead roles kind of killed it in every aspect. (0:32:52) Al: Yeah, yeah, 21st of July, it was I was right, it’s the same week. (0:33:00) Al: So this would be Gaucho Wandering Cotton Garden. (0:33:07) Kev: yep there you go glad we found our episode title (0:33:07) Al: Oh, OK, fine. (0:33:11) Al: Yeah, new content pack DLC for Tiny Garden. (0:33:18) Al: If you’re enjoying that game, it was such a cheap game. (0:33:21) Al: I suspect this will be paid. (0:33:22) Al: It’s DLC. It does look like it’s paid DLC, so I mean, go support it. It’s good. (0:33:29) Kev: - Yeah, there you go. (0:33:31) Kev: That’s a cute idea of like, it’s all cosmetics. (0:33:36) Kev: Whole game is cosmetics, right? (0:33:38) Kev: So like introducing these packs, that’s a good idea. (0:33:42) Kev: And it’s like there’s some, (0:33:44) Kev: like you can grow palm trees and wait, (0:33:47) Kev: no, there’s new mechanics. (0:33:48) Kev: Hold on, they’re saying new mechanics. (0:33:48) Al: So I think so if I if I understand it correctly, the new plants and new mechanics are a free (0:33:49) Kev: Oh, oh music. (0:33:55) Al: update and the cosmetics are the DLC. (0:33:58) Kev: Uh, okay, that makes sense as it should be good for them (0:34:02) Al: That is the correct way to do things, yes, I agree. (0:34:04) Kev: Pokemon (0:34:10) Kev: But good for them good for you tiny garden you little garden that (0:34:15) Al: We also have an update for Disney Dreamlight Valley. (0:34:19) Al: I feel like these are coming out all the time and also I care about them less and less. (0:34:22) Kev: I mean it’s yeah yeah that’s that’s good that’s called diminishing returns and (0:34:30) Kev: and that’s what happens when you have Disney with a bajillion IPs and (0:34:36) Kev: whatever and and the worst part is like I don’t know I most of these don’t feel (0:34:43) Kev: like big story expansion I mean a lot of them are but I don’t know just I look at (0:34:50) Kev: other games like look at the mojo (0:34:52) Kev: games right when the new contents there’s big story chapters and stuff to (0:34:57) Kev: do these I don’t know maybe it’s all because it’s existing IPs like I don’t (0:35:05) Kev: know it just doesn’t have the same hype around it maybe it’s because it’s too (0:35:11) Kev: saccharine they can’t they can’t go crazy they can’t have the chapter where (0:35:16) Kev: or Scar eats Remy from Ratatouille. (0:35:20) Al: I, yeah, I wonder if, because obviously they’ve done this thing where the DLCs have been split up, (0:35:25) Al: so this update is called the storybook veil part two, the unwritten realm update. (0:35:32) Kev: Okay. Okay, one name. (0:35:38) Al: And I kind of feel like maybe it would be better if they just did all the DLC (0:35:42) Al: for the storybook veil at once, right? Because we talked about this before, where I don’t think I’d be (0:35:50) Al: booting up Stardew every two months if there was a new update, but the way that he bundles it all (0:35:54) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:35:56) Al: together in an update every two years or three years or whatever, means that I’m super excited, (0:36:01) Al: because it’s like, oh, it has been years since I’ve probably played the game, let’s go in, (0:36:05) Al: we’ve got loads of new content, I’m really excited for that. Whereas this is just constant, here’s (0:36:10) Al: new update. And I suspect they’ve probably got numbers to show that this keeps people invested, (0:36:18) Al: Right. Like if we talk about. (0:36:20) Al: I wouldn’t want one big update every two years for that, but I don’t know. (0:36:25) Al: It’s a difficult one, but I don’t even play the game anymore. (0:36:25) Kev: Uh-huh, well I mean, yeah I’ve never played the game so I’m just completely talking without (0:36:30) Al: So who might it complete? (0:36:36) Kev: any frame reference. (0:36:38) Al: What that’s not what we do (0:36:44) Kev: So we say right after declaring cotton fields a scam without having touched it or planning (0:36:48) Al: No, I did not, excuse me, I did not, I would like to clarify, as per my lawyers have just (0:36:49) Kev: to. (0:36:55) Al: told me to do, I, lol, I did not claim that the game was a scam. I asked whether it was (0:37:03) Al: and felt, it said it felt a little scammy. That is all I’m saying. I, yep, that is very (0:37:08) Kev: - Feel of a scam. (0:37:12) Al: different to claiming it is a scam. It feels scammy, it’s not the same thing. (0:37:14) Kev: - True, true. (0:37:16) Kev: Yeah, true. (0:37:18) Al: This one has, so this update, what does this have? The final part of the story for (0:37:26) Al: the storybook veil, which is Maleficent and Hades doing some stuff. (0:37:32) Al: Who’s the new characters? Is that Peter Pan? (0:37:33) Kev: It’s embedded, looks like it. (0:37:37) Al: And who else is with Peter? Is that Aurora? No, not Aurora. What am I talking about? Who is that? (0:37:44) Kev: Trying to see that is (0:37:44) Al: I just saw the colour of dress. (0:37:47) Kev: Wait, who is that? Is that a player character? That might be the player character. I don’t think I recognize (0:37:49) Al: Oh, that’s the player character, that would make sense, right? And a monkey? Who’s the monkey? (0:37:53) Kev: Yeah, I know (0:37:57) Al: I can’t see, this image is so small. (0:37:59) Kev: It is I’m trying to yeah, that’s just a pet monkey (0:38:03) Al: And for some reason, the patch notes don’t mention characters other than Maleficent and Hades. (0:38:09) Al: Like normally they list, I don’t think so. (0:38:09) Kev: Wasn’t Peter Pan already added? Oh (0:38:14) Kev: Okay, I don’t know I don’t know it says yeah there become pals with Peter Pan you’re right yeah, I don’t know that’s just a pet monkey (0:38:18) Al: Oh, here we go. No, I there is Aurora, right? So venture into the pages of a storybook to uncover Aurora in an enchanting dream style, in addition to her regular (0:38:26) Kev: There’s a guy who looks evil with wings. He looks cool. I don’t know what else (0:38:34) Kev: And that dog on Peter Pan (0:38:36) Al: Anyway, whatever. There’s an update. I don’t think you need us to explain. (0:38:42) Kev: There’s Eric’s dog - what’s the best dog in Disney movies we should we should make it ranking (0:38:50) Al: That sounds like a greenhouse episode. All right. (0:38:53) Kev: Best pets for Disney (0:38:56) Al: We have two more news updates. The first is Lens Island have released their post 1.0 roadmap. (0:39:04) Kev: Mm-hmm is the bro map just say take the money and run I’d applaud somebody if they said that (0:39:05) Al: So, first of all. (0:39:06) Al: I mean, they had a Kickstarter that if they were going to take the money and run it would (0:39:15) Al: have been back then. (0:39:16) Al: So they say the rest of July will be post release bug fixing. (0:39:21) Al: In August, there will be a community feedback update. (0:39:22) Kev: Sure (0:39:25) Al: I have community feedback. (0:39:26) Al: Give us proper controller support. (0:39:29) Kev: There’s the the developer livestream you see you can yell at them in real time. Thank you (0:39:34) Al: Also, silly question, is that not the whole point of early access, (0:39:37) Al: is to get community feedback and update it based on that? (0:39:39) Al: Like, why are you waiting until after 1.0 to do that? (0:39:42) Al: Whatever. (0:39:42) Kev: It’s fine, it’s fine (0:39:44) Al: And then in December, they will be releasing a major content update. (0:39:48) Al: No information on that. (0:39:49) Al: Just there will be stuff and more coming in 2026. (0:39:51) Kev: So I was about to say, so the roadmap is we’re going to work on it, maybe. (0:39:53) Al: So it’s a pretty loose. (0:39:58) Al: You know. (0:40:01) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:40:03) Al: the update is. (0:40:04) Al: We’re going to bug fix, and then we’re going to add some changes, and then we’re going to (0:40:08) Al: have a new new content. And it says December. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t this year. (0:40:10) Kev: listen to people yeah yep we’ll see I mean but they’re gonna continue to (0:40:23) Kev: support it which I mean every game does now because games or service did you (0:40:28) Kev: know that out (0:40:29) Al: Yes. And let me double check. (0:40:32) Al: But I think this is, let me double check something. (0:40:38) Al: And they do just seem to have. (0:40:40) Al: So I am not aware of another game that they’re working on just now or anything else. (0:40:46) Al: I thought I was aware of one, but no, I think that’s a different company. (0:40:50) Al: So maybe they are just planning on continuing work on Lenz Island. (0:40:55) Al: I I doubt that that is going to be continue to be. (0:40:59) Al: And final piece of news, Kevin Stardew Valley is now the this Stardew Valley is now the (0:41:05) Kev: » Yeah, that’s correct. (0:41:18) Kev: Hmm, yeah, yeah this this one scares me (0:41:27) Al: top-rated game on Steam. (0:41:29) Al: Iso. (0:41:29) Kev: That scares me (0:41:35) Kev: Steam has a lot of games on it. I’ll I (0:41:39) Kev: Know there has to be I know there has to be a number one (0:41:44) Kev: Like but it just feels so surreal that the game that (0:41:49) Kev: Not that we care about per se but that is so close to us because of this podcast like (0:41:55) Kev: That’s the number one. That’s wild to me (0:41:58) Al: So have you don’t click on the don’t click on the link to the top 250. (0:42:03) Al: Have you looked at it at all? (0:42:04) Al: I want to check. (0:42:04) Kev: No, I’m not. (0:42:05) Al: OK, so let’s do a little let’s do a little game. (0:42:08) Al: See how many of the top 10 Kevin can guess. (0:42:11) Kev: Oh, there’s a bajillion games on Steam. (0:42:15) Kev: I don’t know. (0:42:17) Al: Think of games that people like. (0:42:17) Kev: All right. (0:42:18) Kev: OK, OK, Portal 2 is number two because that’s the one that (0:42:21) Al: So, yeah, so we know that we’ve got two already. (0:42:21) Kev: got me dethroned. (0:42:23) Al: We’ve got Stardium and got Portal 2, number one and number two. (0:42:25) Kev: Oh, well, let’s see. (0:42:28) Kev: And here’s part of the question, right? (0:42:30) Kev: How is this calculated, right? (0:42:32) Kev: Because if a game has 5.0 review (0:42:34) Al: Yeah, so I suspect you have to get above a certain amount of, let’s put it this way, (0:42:35) Kev: But only has 100 reviews (0:42:37) Kev: It’s probably not hitting the top (0:42:39) Kev: Even though if it is really good you know (0:42:45) Al: I will give you a clue, every single one of the top 10 has over 100,000 volts. So it’s (0:42:51) Kev: Okay. Sure. (0:42:52) Al: at least some kind of popular game. Nope, that is number 14. (0:42:56) Kev: Sure. Okay. Like, uh, I know Baldur’s gate three is up there. (0:43:01) Kev: No, it’s Baldur’s gate three is really wow. (0:43:04) Al: Yep, number 14 with 8.73. I will say it’s very crowded at the top, right? So 8.73, (0:43:08) Kev: Wow. I, wow. I’m, I’m. (0:43:14) Al: compare that to Stardew at 1, 8.87, right? Like there’s not a lot in it, they’re all very close. (0:43:21) Kev: I’m not gonna get a single guess here (0:43:23) Al: I think you will keep going. I think you will get some wrong, but I think you’ll get some right. (0:43:27) Kev: Okay, see yeah cuz I mean like okay, I’m trying to think oh, this is hard right because a lot of games (0:43:35) Kev: Are really good, but they’re ports right like (0:43:38) Kev: Spider-man is now on Steam if I recall right the spider-man 1/2 are they (0:43:42) Al: Definitely not up there. It was not it was not a very well-received port because it was very bad. (0:43:48) Kev: Yeah, that’s true I forgot about that right (0:43:48) Al: I don’t I can’t even see them in the list. Let’s see where we’ve got Spider-Man. (0:43:51) Kev: Like uh see this is the thing (0:43:53) Al: The first Spider-Man is 140 and Spider-Man 2 is not. (0:43:58) Kev: Great that’s fantastic see this is the thing like I have to think about I don’t think about steam as much as (0:44:07) Al: Would you like some clues? (0:44:09) Al: I can give you some. (0:44:10) Kev: Is one of them Stanley parable (0:44:10) Al: They all. (0:44:12) Al: It is not there. (0:44:14) Kev: God yeah, okay. Yeah, I don’t know this is oh (0:44:17) Al: Let me let me give you a clue. (0:44:19) Al: Let me give you a clue by giving you genres. (0:44:19) Kev: Okay, okay. (0:44:22) Al: So we have what number three, the genre is open world survival craft. (0:44:28) Kev: Oh my goodness. Oh god. Is it power? No! (0:44:32) Al: No, it is not power world. (0:44:33) Kev: I’m kidding. I know it’s not power. (0:44:35) Kev: What is it? (0:44:38) Kev: Did, oh, what is the name? (0:44:40) Al: Our world is 241. (0:44:41) Kev: Is Umamusume pretty derby? Did it skyrocket to the top? (0:44:47) Kev: Do you know what I’m talking about, Al? (0:44:48) Al: I have no idea what you’re talking about. (0:44:52) Kev: Okay, oh man, I’m happy. (0:44:54) Kev: Dale is going to be thrilled. I brought it up on the podcast. Okay. (0:44:57) Al: Right, let’s stick to this. Open world survival craft, think of a game, a very popular game, (0:44:58) Kev: I’m okay. I’ll bring it up. Fine. Fine. That is no, cause that’s not on steam. Um, hug. (0:45:05) Al: that people like. What was that? Just say it. It was not Minecraft, no. I was tempted (0:45:11) Kev: See, no, cause Minecraft’s not on steam. Yeah. Yeah. No. Cause Minecraft’s not on steam. (0:45:18) Al: to say it’s open world survival craft, but not that one, thinking you were going to think (0:45:22) Kev: Yeah. Yeah. No. (0:45:23) Al: Minecraft initially. It is not correct, but it’s not Minecraft, but it is. (0:45:26) Kev: Is it? (0:45:28) Kev: AHHH! Is it um, oh gosh, I just I’m not a steam person. I don’t know these as well. Um, I what is? Oh my gosh. What is? (0:45:37) Kev: What is this? (0:45:38) Kev: What is that one horror-y game? (0:45:42) Kev: The four or something like that? I don’t remember. Just tell me. I don’t know. You’re gonna fail all these out. (0:45:44) Al: No, no, what? I don’t understand. It’s not Minecraft. It is 2D. (0:45:50) Kev: Oh wait. Oh (0:45:52) Al: Come on! Terraria number three! There we go! (0:45:52) Kev: Terraria! Oh my gosh. Terraria. Oh duh. Wow, I’m stupid. Yeah. (0:45:58) Kev: Terraria, duh. How did I not think that? Yeah. Wow. (0:45:59) Al: You will not get number four. I have never heard of this game. People Playground? (0:46:04) Kev: Well, I don’t know what that is. Um, okay, okay. (0:46:07) Al: Neither do I. It’s a sandbox game, apparently. Number five. Zombies. (0:46:13) Kev: It’s not it’s not art. It’s not gonna be an RE game. It’s (0:46:15) Al: No, but not far off. You’re kind of in the right game’s circle. (0:46:18) Kev: No, it’s I mean (0:46:26) Kev: I mean is it dead by I mean I don&am

Send us a textWhat do Harry Potter, Hello Kitty, and Grateful Dead have in common? They each helped sports teams sell out stadiums.In this special episode, Jeremy Neisser welcomes Denise Sicheneder from Spinzo to break down the Top 10 highest-performing theme nights of the past year — from licensing and community engagement to surprise breakout hits.We unpack:How teams use nostalgia, cultural relevance, and smart strategy to build packed promotionsWhy some nights succeed wildly while others fall flatHow to build long-term momentum with fan groups, community partners, and themed mini plansWhether you work in college athletics, minor league sports, or pro teams — this episode is full of practical, repeatable insights you can use today.Top Takeaways:Theme nights = more than ticket deals — they're emotional marketing enginesCommunity champions are your secret weapon to grow niche nightsLicensing matters — do it right with Hello Kitty, Batman, Star Wars, and moreGo all in — concerts, costumes, contests, concourse activations = full takeoverNostalgia sells — fans love reliving what they grew up withDon't ignore merchandise — hats, jerseys, and collectibles drive urgencyShort promos can work — if you go heavy on email, SMS, and retargetingMini-plans are evolving — think dog ticket plans, comic bundles, and repeat-night strategiesFeatured Theme Nights:Grateful Dead Night – 6,844 ticketsStar Wars Night – 4,112 ticketsHello Kitty Night – 2,444 ticketsFirst Responders Night – 2,932 ticketsBark at the Park – 1,670 ticketsBatman Night – 955 ticketsMargaritaville Night – 770 ticketsFilipino Heritage Night – 539 ticketsDia de los Muertos – 432 ticketsHarry Potter Night – 323 ticketsChapters & Timestamps:00:00 — Intro: Why Theme Nights Still Work02:58 — #10 Harry Potter Night: Fast, Focused, Effective05:58 — #9–8 Cultural Nights: Dia de los Muertos & Filipino Heritage08:50 — The Power of Local Partnerships & Authenticity12:04 — #7 Margaritaville: Music, Merch & Massive Sales15:03 — #6 Batman Night: Licensing + Fandom = Revenue17:49 — #5 Bark at the Park: Dogs Sell Tickets20:25 — Expanding Bark into Mini Plans & Membership22:06 — #4 First Responders: Honoring & Engaging Heroes26:18 — #3 Hello Kitty: Surging Demand, Big Smiles29:43 — #2 Star Wars Night: Timeless. Scalable. Profitable.31:48 — #1 Grateful Dead Night: Cult Fans, Sold-Out Stadiums33:07 — Final Takeaways: Build Better Nights with CommunityLinks & Resources: Spinzo Pulse Interview Series - includes the top 10 article and Margaritaville and Bark in the Park interviews TicketPlaybook.com: Theme Night ArticlesContact Denise at Spinzo to explore theme night tools - denise.sicheneder@spinzo.com Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedInSports Marketing Machine on InstagramBook a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

BEST OF TST: The sudden popularity of Labubu toys has resulted in grown adults lining up in the early morning hours to acquire as many of these little monsters as possible. Although upon first glance they appear sort of cute, closer examination will reveal that their apparent smile is actually a sinister grin with razor sharp teeth. Designed by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, the toys are sold by Pop Mart in collaboration with the artist and in relation to his 2015 book “The Monsters.” Their increasing popularity is a result of celebrities like Rihanna or Dua Lipa flaunting their own, although the trend began when Blackpink k-pop singer Lisa first was spotted with the keychain in April 2024. Each doll comes in a sealed box with no indication of what's inside, meaning each purchase is a mystery. Shoppers are notified of a new drop off of the toy at their local stores via WhatsApp. They then rush to the spot, as one Australian article documented, “at 3am.” Put simply, people are lining up during the “witching hour” to buy a mysterious monster in a box after receiving an oddly timed text in the middle of the night. The atmosphere around these toys is similar to any long gone or persisting product, from Furbys and Beanie Babies to Hello Kitty and Pokemon, but there is something else about these little toys that is anything but friendly.The dolls themselves are not really even monsters, but instead more like little children that appear to be possessed and wearing Teletubbies costumes. Like any good marketing campaign, the product page on Amazon describes their various character stores: one of the leaders, zimomo ventures to the human world where he learns yoga and then brings the practice back to his own world in the forest. The monsters are thus more like fairies, and in fact one description reads: “the elves in the forest are curious about the human world. So, the No. 1 curious player LABUBU gathered her friends and secretly came to the city for an adventure. The goal is absolutely not to be discovered by humans!” The forests are described further as “nordic,” which is the mythological nature that was inspiration for the dolls.It's not just the name zimomo that brings back memories of the Momo Challenge, but the fact that these monsters from another world are essentially being promoted like Momo. Mysterious messages in the middle of the night that prompt half-asleep humans to perform some action - in this case, buy a mysterious box that contains what amounts to a fairy, demon, familiar, or personal spirit charm. This is reminiscent also of the 3am Challenge and the recent Mirror Challenge, where one looks into the mirror for so long they watch their face and reality around them distort. The name LA BU BU is even more telling of an underlying darkness. The LALALOOPSY doll, a girl with no apparent ears, a mouth sewn shut, and black buttons for eyes - something further reminiscent of the movie Carolin where the Beldam Other Mother replaces the girl's eyes (soul) with buttons to trap her in the other world - is a toy about fanciful play through a sort of loopy “Lala-ness.” The LA BU BU is generally said to refer to the same playfulness, though the word “bubu” is both a euphemism for a child's injury, and also holds the meaning of grandmother. In other words, LA GRANDMOTHER, the old crone of the forest. She is also known as Momo, Yamamba, the hag, the Hansel and Gretel Witch, or Baba Yaga. She also shares something in common with La Llorona, Ubume, and Banshee.   Perhaps this is all a coincidence, or perhaps Labubu, like Elf on the Shelf, is not something we should be bringing into our homes or carrying with us on our person. *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.-FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITECashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

LAFC saw three welcome sights stroll into BMO Stadium, as Giorgio Chiellini, Hello Kitty, and the Colorado Rapids made their way to the BMO! LAFC would pummel the Rapids, 3-0, behind Denis' 83rd and Dilrosun's 1st, amidst a sea of plush kittens.Also on this pod, Filly swears. We're sorry. Well, at least Scarf is. Laff joins us, and apparently, he's the new conductor of the Martinez Motorcade. All aboard!

I'm on a Zoom call with one of my private clients. She is a powerhouse executive and is preparing for a TED-style keynote. Her ideas are solid, and her story is incredible; it's emotional, has high stakes and everything you would want in an opening story. And the rest of her Talk? That's epic as well. Plus, she's done the work and is ready to go.  We start rehearsing and everything… falls flat. Her delivery is kind of robotic, and there's no energy in her voice. Even the transitions between her story and her insights kind of feel like speed bumps. She is reciting her script but isn't truly owning her message, and I can see it in her face - she's frustrated. She feels the pressure, and the doubt starts creeping in. I stop her right in the middle of the rehearsal and say, “All right, let's forget the script. Instead, just tell me your story and share your Talk with me as if we're at dinner.” So she starts over, and everything changes. Even her body shifts and changes. Her words flow, and her transitions feel human. Instead of presenting, she's now actually connecting with me. That's the difference between reciting a Talk and owning every single moment of it.  In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, I discuss how truly effective rehearsing isn't about memorizing a script, why emotionally and physically integrating your message can truly connect you to your audience, and so much more. You'll get answers to questions like: What makes presence so much more important than perfection? How does mental rehearsal increase confidence and clarity? How can you rehearse in a way that helps your audience feel that you're speaking with them instead of at them? What you will learn in this episode: Why rehearsing effectively means integrating your message and not just memorizing your words How to strengthen your emotional connection to prevent your Talk from falling flat Why it's essential to rehearse your full Talk and not just your story to create maximum impact A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or, as I discuss in this episode, the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place. Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingschool on Facebook

Travis, Darren, and Vince break down LAFC's leisurely 3-0 win against the Colorado Rapids after they went down a man after a controversial red card in the fourth minute. An ELECTRIFYING atmosphere at the stadium on Hello Kitty Night! People really love LAFC or the Colorado Rapids or Hello Kitty, definitely one or more of those three things!!!!Join our Patreon and help us keep making this show.Merch and more at HappyFootSadFootPod.comYouTube: @happyfootsadfoot Twitter: @HaFoSaFoInstagram: @happyfootsadfootTikTok: @happyfootsadfoot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is our Reel Fathers rights 5pm hour, enjoy 30 min commercial free. It is the 15 year anniversary of LeBron James Decision on ESPN. What is the Lakers plan? Will LeBron be on the move? GUEST Mario Ruiz comes on to promote LAFC's Hello Kitty night on Wednesday. DEALERS CHOICE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello Kitty, Goodbye Oli. Darren, Vince, and Travis break down all the storylines for this double matchweek and answer your burning questions about Heung Min Son, Thomas Müller, L*bubus, and we finally get to the bottom of question: Is the bathroom at BMO Stadium haunted? Plus, Vince finally reveals which cohost he would rather see die! Join our Patreon and help us keep making this show.Merch and more at HappyFootSadFootPod.comYouTube: @happyfootsadfoot Twitter: @HaFoSaFoInstagram: @happyfootsadfootTikTok: @happyfootsadfoot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A wildfire that's been climbing a mountain ridge in Nanakuli.. is still 80 percent contained. There are still no evacuations or threat to structures, but the blaze has charred about 75 acres. Police say a man tried to lure four girls, ages 11 to 12, by offering them a "Hello Kitty" plush doll near King Intermediate School. This week marks 40 years since Diane Suzuki disappeared from an Aiea dance studio. As Lynn Kawano prepares a half-hour special report, she spoke to Suzuki's former boyfriend. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm working with my client on a TEDx Talk. In her opening story, she shares a vivid moment from her childhood: She is standing on a stranger's doorstep, completely nervous and uncertain if anyone is going to answer at all. It's a small detail yet it's emotionally powerful and completely gripping.  After the story, we go ahead and develop the rest of the Talk. And as a whole, her Talk is strong. It's structured and meaningful… except when we get to the end. Something is missing. Her idea and her content are clear, but there isn't really an emotional lift at the end. I suggest going back to that moment at the doorstep and bringing the story full circle, reconnecting the audience with that feeling of standing on that doorstep. So she tries it, and guess what? It changed everything. At the end of her Talk, the emotion rushes in, and suddenly, we, the audience, go from being in listener mode to actually feeling the story and reconnecting to that feeling that we felt in her opening story. We can actually see the story in our mind's eye. That one callback ends up transforming her Talk, which has now been viewed over a million times. In this episode of Storytelling School, I explain how a well-placed callback can truly transform your Talk by creating satisfying closure and leaving a lasting impression on the audience. You'll get answers to questions like: What is a callback, and why is it important? How does using a well-placed callback in your Talk strengthen its impact? How can even just one powerful detail from your story be the key to making your ending unforgettable?  What you will learn in this episode: Why repeated emotional cues create deeper audience engagement How to find and evolve a meaningful moment in your story Why one callback is more powerful than many A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or, as I discuss in this episode, the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place.   Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingschool on Facebook  

In today's special looking at all things Japan, we bring updates on two key trade deals with China and the United States. Also, a look at how Tokyo's massive public transit system bucks the trends of traffic and air pollution. And, experiencing the country's “listening lounges” that offer pure music, with a side of drinks. Plus, a peek into Hello Kitty's world.Listen to today's Music Heard on Air. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Hello Kitty celebrated 50 years last year and this week, we are looking back on what makes this mouthless kitty with a bow so iconic. From childhood to adulthood, Hello Kitty has been there for every stage of our life. Let's chat about why we and so many people seem to adore this character.IGThe Fuzzy PodMeganMadiYoutubeThe Fuzzy Pod

I am standing in the dojo, drenched in sweat. We're in the middle of a dynamic circle knife drill, and I'm surrounded by fellow black belts, each armed with metal training knives and ready to attack in a simulation of real-life danger - fast, chaotic, and unrelenting.  At first, I hold my own, fueled by adrenaline and a strong desire to prove that I can hang with the best. I move quickly, using flashy moves and relying on sheer speed, but as the drill speeds up, my technique falls apart. I'm rushing transitions, missing critical details, and losing confidence. My partners sense the chaos, pressing harder, and I fall further out of my flow.  Out of nowhere, my Grandmaster claps his hands and yells, “Stop!” Everyone and everything freezes. He walks over to me and simply says, “Master Kymberlee, go slow to go fast.” Those five words hit me like a punch to the chest. When it's my turn again. I take my place back in the middle of the circle and take a deep breath. The attacks begin and I do the opposite of what I was doing before. I slow down. I breathe. Suddenly, something shifts. My awareness expands. My movements become sharper, more intentional, and ironically, even faster. The disarms land. The flow returns. This specific drill changes everything, and not only how I train; it ultimately changes how I teach, how I move, even how I tell stories!  In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, you'll learn what knife fighting taught me about storytelling and why it's important to practice slowing down so that you're having a bigger, more lasting impact on your audience. You'll get answers to questions like: How can slowing down your storytelling method make you a more impactful and memorable storyteller? What are the "slow power" techniques that you can apply to your own storytelling and speaking methods? In what ways can pacing and pauses help build suspense to captivate your audience?  What you will learn in this episode: How going slow in storytelling allows the audience to connect on a deeper level Why slowing down signals strength and confidence and commands the audience's attention How practicing storytelling slowly helps build muscle memory so that you can deliver with precision when it matters most A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or, as I discuss in this episode, the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place. Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingSchool on Facebook

Robert J. O'Neill, the Navy SEAL who took out Osama Bin Laden, brings raw truth and battle-tested wisdom to this riveting conversation about what separates elite performers from everyone else. "Stress is a choice," O'Neill states with conviction, describing it as "a bag of bricks you pick up." Drawing from over 400 combat missions, including the most famous raid in modern military history, he reveals how elite operators manage fear and make split-second decisions when lives hang in the balance. The most powerful moment comes when O'Neill recounts saying goodbye to his three-year-old daughter before departing for the Bin Laden mission. Not understanding the gravity of the situation, she packed her Hello Kitty suitcase and left it by the door, asking him to take her on vacation when he returned. These deeply human moments remind us that behind every warrior's face is a person with profound personal connections. From his accidental journey into the SEALs (he didn't even know how to swim) to the mental techniques that helped him survive the world's most brutal military training, O'Neill shares actionable wisdom applicable far beyond the battlefield. His philosophy – "Don't quit today, quit tomorrow" – offers a powerful framework for tackling seemingly impossible challenges by breaking them into manageable pieces. O'Neill's insights on leadership resonate whether you're leading a team into combat or through a difficult project: "Panic is contagious, but calm is even more contagious." His emphasis on mastering fundamentals, communicating clearly, and staying present are lessons distilled from life-or-death situations but remarkably relevant to everyday challenges. Subscribe now to hear more unfiltered conversations with extraordinary performers who've tested themselves at the highest levels. These aren't just war stories – they're masterclasses in mental toughness, leadership, and finding purpose in the most demanding circumstances imaginable. Connect & Discover Robert: Website: http://www.robertjoneill.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mchooyah Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RJORobertJONeill Books: The Operator Book: The Way Forward: Master Life's Toughest Battles and Create Your Lasting Legacy FOLLOW MICK ON: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/ Website: https://www.mickhuntofficial.com Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged/

Live from the Hampton Inn in Adrian, Michigan, the AwesomeCast crew brings another jam-packed episode of tech talk and geeky goodness! Michael Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar discuss their latest adventures covering the Formula SAE Electric Vehicle competition, highlighting the gear upgrades and behind-the-scenes prep for video production and livestreaming. Katie showcases her new favorite budget-friendly sunglasses from Knockaround, with cool licensed designs like Hello Kitty, Ninja Turtles, and Transformers. Dave dives deep into Adobe's Project Indigo, an experimental mobile camera app offering advanced AI photography features like noise reduction and reflection removal—perfect for iPhone shutterbugs. Plus, the team reacts to Honda's e-quad delivery vehicle that skirts regulation by legally qualifying as an e-bike, and shares a spooky tech conspiracy from the Denver International Airport.

Live from the Hampton Inn in Adrian, Michigan, the AwesomeCast crew brings another jam-packed episode of tech talk and geeky goodness! Michael Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar discuss their latest adventures covering the Formula SAE Electric Vehicle competition, highlighting the gear upgrades and behind-the-scenes prep for video production and livestreaming. Katie showcases her new favorite budget-friendly sunglasses from Knockaround, with cool licensed designs like Hello Kitty, Ninja Turtles, and Transformers. Dave dives deep into Adobe's Project Indigo, an experimental mobile camera app offering advanced AI photography features like noise reduction and reflection removal—perfect for iPhone shutterbugs. Plus, the team reacts to Honda's e-quad delivery vehicle that skirts regulation by legally qualifying as an e-bike, and shares a spooky tech conspiracy from the Denver International Airport.

In the late '90s in Hong Kong, Fan Man-yee was doing everything she could to move forward. She was caring for her young son, battling addiction, and trying to build a better life for her son and herself after a very painful past. But when a man who once paid for her time decided she owed him more, everything she was working to protect started to fall apart. What followed was a living hell that would drag on for a month behind closed doors.Connect with Paige:Instagram: instagram.com/reverietruecrime TikTok: tiktok.com/@paige.elmore Facebook: facebook.com/reverietruecrime Twitter/X: twitter.com/reveriecrimepod BlueSky: reverietruecrime.bsky.social Tumblr: reverietruecrimepodcast.tumblr.com Intro and Outro by Jahred Gomes: https://www.instagram.com/jahredgomes_officialSources:https://www.newspapers.com/image/331482258https://www.newspapers.com/image/331482261https://www.newspapers.com/image/504652910https://www.newspapers.com/image/511527474https://www.newspapers.com/image/504654411https://www.newspapers.com/image/496380372https://www.newspapers.com/image/1086831930https://www.newspapers.com/image/996717885https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=81992&page=1https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/12/09/hello-kitty-murder-case-horrifies-hong-kong/bafa4ff1-bbf6-4d28-b0cc-2eea9bef43d0/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty_murder_casehttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/210591797/fan-man-yeehttps://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2020/09/12/recounting-the-horror-of-the-hello-kitty-mermaid-doll-murderhttps://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/articles/hello-kitty-murder-hong-kongs-most-devastating-crimehttps://www.thescarechamber.com/hello-kitty-murder/https://thoughtnova.com/the-hello-kitty-murderhttps://www.xaluannews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3223517https://www.grimoireofhorror.com/the-yurei/hello-kitty-murder-fan-man-yee/#google_vignettehttps://allthatsinteresting.com/hello-kitty-murder-casehttps://www.goalcast.com/hello-kitty-murder/https://the-line-up.com/hello-kitty-murderhttps://curioustic.com/hello-kitty-murder-death-of-fan-man-yee/https://www.thereviewgeek.com/where-are-the-hello-kitty-killers-now/https://www.ranker.com/list/hello-kitty-murder-facts/cat-mcauliffehttps://moonmausoleum.com/the-ghost-of-the-hello-kitty-murder/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reverie-true-crime--4442888/support.

John and Shukri talk basketball, Hello Kitty jerseys, and summer interests.

PREVIEW EPISODE! This time on the PURE TOKYOSCOPE Podcast, authors Matt Alt (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and Patrick Macias (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mondo Tokyo: Dispatches from a Secret Japan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) race through a flurry of recent happenings in Japanese pop culture including unidentified Hideaki Anno sightings, Hello Kitty outpacing Toyota in the stock markt and, Japan's vintage anime T-shirt takeover!You can hear the full episode by joining the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pure TokyoScope Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!You'll get access to full episodes, bonus content, our Discord server, and an archive of past episodes. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head over to Pure TokyoScope Patreon to subscribe today!⁠⁠⁠⁠

Exciting events are happening both in Colorado and across the globe! A man from Colorado has been stalking Taylor Swift. Sydney Sweeney has put on some weight for a film role. There's a new irritating song about using the bathroom. Plus, Hello Kitty is in the news too! Discover the reasons behind it all!The fun continues on our social media pages!Jeremy, Katy & Josh Facebook: CLICK HERE Jeremy, Katy & Josh Instagram: CLICK HERE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steiny & Guru try to figure out what the hell happened this Sunday at Oracle Park, off the field!

It's 2006. I am sitting in the audience at TED surrounded by visionaries, innovators, and thought leaders. The energy in the room is electric and everyone is buzzing with anticipation about who's going to take the stage next and what new insight we'll walk away with. When the next speaker, a Swedish professor specializing in global health and data, is introduced, I brace myself for a dry, academic talk full of statistics and charts. Instead, the speaker starts moving across the stage with visible, infectious enthusiasm, pointing at animated visuals and telling a story through data. Slowly, the entire audience becomes captivated. He isn't just presenting facts; he is truly humanizing them. Each statistic becomes a character, each data point a moment in a story, and by the end, what started as numbers on a screen has been transformed into something deeply human and emotionally resonant. I remember thinking: this is what it looks like when data and storytelling meet. The numbers didn't fade away; they stayed with me… and still do to this day. In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, you will learn how data can be brought to life with storytelling. In the process, you'll discover why providing context, characters, and consequences makes things more memorable and impactful for the audience, and you'll get answers to questions like: What are some key elements to focus on when using storytelling to make data more impactful? Why is it important to earn the right to share data by first setting the stage with a story? What are some common pitfalls to avoid when trying to combine data and storytelling?  What you will learn in this episode: What methods to use to bring your data to life with storytelling Why you should avoid simply presenting raw statistics or data  How specific details and micro-stories can help the audience visualize and empathize with data Why it's important to set the scene and highlight what exactly is at stake How to contrast the expected with the reality to capture attention A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place. Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingSchool on Facebook

Opeens barstte de bom. Elon Musk was het zo zat dat zijn voormalige vriend Donald Trump zijn Big Beautiful Bill wilde doorvoeren, dat hij niet langer stil kon blijven zitten. Na een week aan boze berichten op X gaat Musk echt in de aanval nadat Trump zegt dat ze geen goede vrienden meer zijn. Trump zou volgens Musk in de Epstein-files staan. Daarmee maakt hij Trump de facto uit als pedofiel. Trump dreigt vervolgens om miljarden dollars aan contracten met de bedrijven van Musk te schrappen. En in reactie daarop verliest Tesla zo'n 150 miljard dollar aan beurswaarde. Wie van de twee lijdt er het meest onder deze ruzie? En ga jij er ook nog wat van voelen? Dat hoor je in deze aflevering. En dan hebben we het ook over de Amerikaanse economie. Eerder deze week schrokken beleggers van cijfers over het aantal vacatures. Onnodige zorgen, blijkt uit een nieuw rapport. Want groei van de economie remt veel minder hard af dan gedacht. Verder leer je iets over de wereld van rook- en knakworsten. De verkoop van Unox gaat namelijk minder soepel dan Unilever had gehoopt. De Autoriteit Consument en Markt wil eerst onderzoeken of de nieuwe koper niet te machtig wordt. En we vertellen je wat Toyota en Hello Kitty met elkaar te maken hebben.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

在本期节目录制前，泡泡玛特的市值超过了三丽鸥。在证券市场上超越老前辈，是泡泡玛特近期商业热潮的又一标志性事件。新贵的成功叙事已经太多，这期节目，我们索性把目光投向“已到中年”的Hello Kitty和它背后的三丽鸥。在第107期节目《我们一直不是很懂泡泡玛特》里，我们曾简单对比了三丽鸥和泡泡玛特的IP策略，而这次仔细探究三丽鸥之后，我们以它为坐标系重新看待泡泡玛特，我们发现，某种意义上，这两家公司，我们仍然看不懂。本期节目联合 Swisse PLUS 特别呈现。我们都希望“保持年轻”，但所谓的年轻究竟是什么？在细胞生物学家这里，更专业的说法叫“维持细胞的活力”，而维持细胞活力的关键之一在于体内 NAD+ 的水平。随着年龄增长，NAD+ 会逐步下降，许多人因此出现精力不足、专注力下降、肤色暗沉等早衰迹象。Swisse 旗下高端抗衰系列 Swisse PLUS 推出了 [NAD+ 新生瓶]，专为高抗衰需求人群设计。产品采用专利 NR 成分，临床实测可在 7 天内提升体内 NAD+ 水平，配方中还加入了广受营养研究关注的麦角硫因，每天一粒，帮助维持身体状态的稳定和活力。如果你关注肌肤与气色，可以选择基础款 [NAD+ 童颜丸]，建议使用两周以上，保持好状态。| 主播 |肖文杰、约小亚| 资料整理 |王妍琦| 时间轴 |02:23 两年前的泡泡玛特节目“被打脸了”05:44 辻信太郎的早年生活关键词：吃过好的11:36 女性设计师是Hello Kitty的基石14:19 基于数据，去画猫吧18:19 三丽鸥现状：自销产品和IP授权对半开20:19 Hello Kitty也曾触底再反弹23:32 三丽鸥还依赖Hello Kitty吗？26:12 labubu爆红极简史29:03 labubu和其他角色IP的异同31:27 labubu的走红和Hello Kitty的翻红路径相似36:57 两家公司都擅长从10到10041:49 三丽鸥和泡泡玛特最相似的地方，也是我们最看不懂的地方45:46 为什么草莓图案可爱，樱桃就不可爱？| 延伸资料 |肯·贝尔森 & 布莱恩·布莱纳 -《Hello Kitty的秘密》上川淳一郎 - 《サンリオの奇跡》马修·阿尔特 - 《日本原创力》第一财经YiMagazine - 《泡泡玛特被顶流带飞》Vol.107 我们一直不是很懂泡泡玛特《商业就是这样》鼓起勇气开设听友群啦。欢迎添加节目同名微信，加入听友群，一起讨论有意思的商业现象。微信号：thatisbiz为了营造更好的讨论环境，我们准备了两个小问题，请在添加微信后回答：1，你最喜欢《商业就是这样》的哪期节目？为什么？2，你希望听到《商业就是这样》聊哪个话题？期待与你交流！| 后期制作 |刘大哭| 声音设计 |刘三菜、刘大哭| 收听方式 |你可以通过小宇宙、苹果播客、Spotify、喜马拉雅、网易云音乐、QQ 音乐、荔枝、豆瓣等平台收听节目。| 认识我们 |微信公众号：第一财经 YiMagazine联系我们：thatisbiz@yicai.com

This week on Sibling Rivalry, Bob and Monét debate whether Hello Kitty is actually a cat or a little girl. Bob tests Monét's pronunciation skills with rhymes, and Monét defends her toes. They name their most difficult Pit Stop guest and wonder why they aren't booked together more often. Bob pitches a new show idea and calls out his Facebook friends for posting thirst traps. Plus, they challenge each other to a Jamaican accent challenge while singing “Under the Sea.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupToday we're joined by Charlotte Trecartin, the founder of Char Charms, a brand creating customizable accessories for drinkware. Charlotte's journey from handmade prototypes in her college dorm room to nationwide deals with Target and Dick's Sporting Goods offers a masterclass in category creation and scaling.In this episode, we dive into:Why starting scrappy can be your biggest asset in product development.How TikTok virality and LinkedIn cold outreach helped Char Charms secure major retail deals.Strategies for differentiating product lines between DTC and retail to maximize growth.The challenge of scaling production from handmade to mass manufacturing.Future plans including collaborations with major brands like Hello Kitty.Whether you're a founder, marketer, or entrepreneur, this episode offers practical takeaways you can implement today.Did you know that 98% of your website visitors are anonymous? Instant powers next-level retention by identifying who they are and converting them into loyal shoppers. Sign up for a quick demo today to get 50% off and unlock a guaranteed 4x+ ROI: instant.one/dtc Timestamps00:00 - Launching Char Charms and early prototypes02:00 - How Charlotte connected with retailers like Target and Dick's04:00 - TikTok as a growth engine and content strategy06:00 - Insights from Charlotte's door-to-door sales background08:00 - Leveraging LinkedIn to secure retail partnerships10:00 - Target nationwide launch and SKU expansion12:00 - Challenges of launching into retail and margin management14:00 - Vision boards and goal-setting approach16:00 - The role of mentors in Charlotte's journey18:00 - Future plans: Collaborations with big brands and DTC focus20:00 - Key advice for entrepreneurs and TikTok consistencyHashtags#DTC #ecommerce #startupstories #retailstrategy #tiktokmarketing #entrepreneurship #hydrationaccessories #mentorship #growthmindset #brandcollaborations Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Around the World with Hello Kitty Episode 59: Show Notes. When EVA Air released its Hello Kitty livery on a 777-300ER, we just knew we had to hop on! Today, 10 years later, we reflect on our EVA Air Hello Kitty trip and why this particular adventure is still one of our most memorable. We discuss how we became aware of the Hello Kitty jet, the near-disaster of our first connection, and the wonder of our in-flight experience with Hello Kitty branding, literally, everywhere! Then, we examine our itinerary, which included stops in Taiwan, Bangkok, Vientiane, Laos, and Singapore, before detailing our experience of the Crowne Plaza Vientiane and other attractions Laos had to offer. We also learn of Tom's unlikely affair with beer, his aversion to Thai foot massages, why we're definitely going to do an entire Fifth Freedom Flight episode, and why taxis in Singapore may have saved Trevor's marriage. To end, we share fond—and socially unacceptable— memories of the entire Lufthansa First-Class (drink!) service, and we rank our Hello Kitty trip as a complete travel experience worthy of high praise. Key Points From This Episode: [00:00] Setting the tone and reintroducing the Drinking Word of the Day. [02:25] Why our Hello Kitty trip from 10 years ago is one of our most memorable adventures.  [03:25] How we found EVA Air's Hello Kitty jet, and our first boarding debacle.   [07:29] Our onboard experience – so much better than the average 777 flight!   [10:59] Unpacking our slog of an itinerary, and everything we remember about Taipei.  [15:00] Flying to Bangkok and Laos, the Crowne Plaza Vientiane, and activities in Laos.   [21:15] The COPE Visitor Centre, the Mekong River, and beer with ice cubes. [27:25] A rooftop bar in Bangkok, Thai foot massages, and a Freedom Flight to Singapore.     [31:13] Why taxis are a better option than mass transit in Singapore.   [33:30] Lufthansa First-Class (drink!), and the most interesting purser we've encountered.  [40:03] More love for everything Lufthansa First-Class (drink!) has to offer.  [43:34] The joys of having a premium experience in the final leg of your trip.  [45:14] Ranking our Hello Kitty trip: A wonderful experience from beginning to end.   Quotes: “Everything was Hello Kitty. You had the Hello Kitty-imprinted butter. You had Hello Kitty signage everywhere. Even the toilet paper in the lavatory was Hello Kitty.” — @tmount [08:31] “That's probably the only airline experience that I've ever had that has been so complete. It was almost like a Disney World-type experience where they just had everything right; everything aligned to Hello Kitty. I was really impressed with that.” — @tmount [09:09] “Any lounge that provides ice cream – they get an extra star automatically.” — @TktweetsKim [14:43] “I am absolutely not a beer drinker. I actually usually detest the beverage – [but] for the weather, for the environment, [Beerlao] was just the best beverage.” — @TktweetsKim [24:22] “I cannot think of a bad Cathay flight that I've flown.” — @TktweetsKim [29:37] Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: EVA Air EVA Air | Hello Kitty Jet Sanrio | The Official Home of Hello Kitty and Friends Lufthansa Thai Airways Bangkok Airways Crowne Plaza Vientiane COPE Visitor Centre Beerlao Lager Cathay Pacific United Airlines The La Première Experience | Air France The Milenomics Podcast Network Thomas Kim on X Trevor Mountcastle on X

The satraps set a trap for Daniel and despite knowing the law, he will not cease his devotion to God and his habits of prayer. He is thrown into the lion's den, to the king's distress, but God rescues him and he emerges unharmed. This leads to him being elevated, and God being acknowledged as the one true God. What challenges are there to maintaining our devotion to God, and our spiritual practices? How can we strengthen those? What practices keep us strong and enable us to withstand trials?

This week we revisit Sherry Cola stepping straight out of the big screen into the Add to Cart universe. The “JOY RIDE” actress reflects on the importance of seeing Asian women fully represented as their wild, raunchy and hilarious selves. In the spirit of being true to yourself, Sherry dishes on her favorite Asian snacks and why her Hello Kitty subscription box is self-care. She also shares how she’s finding her zen, and why she’s removing from cart saying “yes” (but not to this podcast!) Please note, Add To Cart contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners. To see all products mentioned in this episode, head to @addtocartpod on Instagram. To purchase any of the products, see below. Sherry is healing her inner childhood with the Hello Kitty subscription box Her fave Asian snacks now are IRVINS Salted Egg Potato Chips Crisps and the classic wasabi peas ATC faves are Chingoo snacks and Loaf Language JOY RIDE is in theaters now! Randall Park’s movie Shortcomings (starring Sherry Cola) will be in theaters August 4 Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsorsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we are joined by Shelley Gruenberg! Shelley Gruenberg is an Atlanta Based standup comedian and sex symbol! You may have seen her on dish nation, or roast battling as Atlanta's champion around the county. See her live at Laughing Skull Lounge!This week, we discuss growing up in Myrtle Beach, navigating school with autism, the importance of fashion and self-expression, aspirations in film and college life, and the transition to the Atlanta comedy scene. We explore personal expression, empathy, and the importance of advocacy for all individuals on the spectrum. You don't want to miss our discussion about Shelley's Hello Kitty outfit and her love of a top hat. GIve this episode a listen!Recommendations From This Episode: How To Build A GirlComedy at The EdgeMighty Ducks Follow Shelley Gruenberg: @notshelleyjoFollow Carly: @carlyjmontagFollow Emily: @thefunnywalshFollow the podcast: @aloneatlunchpodPlease rate and review the podcast! Spread the word! Tell your friends! Email us: aloneatlunch@gmail.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

KAT steps up without Brunson Thibs "adjustments" Brunson is NOT a point guard Pacers played the knicks style of ball We haven't gotten a Haliburton game yet  Knicks got breaks  OKC defense is real or nah?   For all pod and video content hit up -> WWW.THEESAMD.COM   Follow: Twitter https://twitter.com/TheeSamD Pod Twitter https://twitter.com/TheeSamDPodcast Subscribe -> YouTube   Never Forget: #phillywillALWAYSletYOUdown #blackvoicesmatter

I am coaching a speaker as she prepares for one of the biggest keynotes of her career. Her story is powerful, full of resilience and triumph. As she runs through her story, I am captivated... until it just... stops. She smiles, says thank you, and that's it. There is no call to action and no invitation. I deliver the news, gently: her ending isn't serving her or the audience. She pushes back because she doesn't want to  sound salesy. And while I do definitely understand her concerns, I explain that, while her story hits hard, her ending needs to hit home. So we roll up the sleeves and get back to work, keeping the emotional core intact and reshaping her closing into a call to action that mirrors the emotional arc of her story. And guess what? It doesn't feel forced; her final line ties back to her opening message and invites the audience to step into their own transformation. When she takes the stage, the response is absolutely incredible. After delivering her Talk, a flurry of people approach her. One of them ends up booking her. Another one wants to feature her in an article. One person even tells her that the challenge she issued changed something significant for them.  In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, you'll learn why having a CTA (Call To Action) at the conclusion of your story is so important. In the process, you'll discover why your CTA needs to be consistent with the emotional tone of your story, and get answers to questions like: How can you get your message to ripple out further than the audience in front of you? What kind of change could you inspire if your story didn't simply end with “The End”? How do you turn an emotional story into impactful action?  What you will learn in this episode: Why your Talk needs a clear CTA (Call To Action)  What are the different CTA types and when to use them How to make sure that the CTA fits your story's emotional tone Why keeping things simple is crucial A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place. Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingSchool on Facebook

Zoomie Fingers on the Feet. I like it thick and raised. Worst Cheshire Cat. Don't Be Nervous, I'm Just a Dork. Prepubescent Dentists. Isn't there a Hobbes type cat in Calvin and Hobbes? Hello Kitty with a Hard G. HBO did some backwards Maxing. Pocky Capy. Black Kyber Crystal Friday. I see registered people!! Wor-Chester-Shire Cat. The Focus of Hocus Pocus. Thinking in 2026 with Tom. Living on the Edge Recommentals with Randy and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zoomie Fingers on the Feet. I like it thick and raised. Worst Cheshire Cat. Don't Be Nervous, I'm Just a Dork. Prepubescent Dentists. Isn't there a Hobbes type cat in Calvin and Hobbes? Hello Kitty with a Hard G. HBO did some backwards Maxing. Pocky Capy. Black Kyber Crystal Friday. I see registered people!! Wor-Chester-Shire Cat. The Focus of Hocus Pocus. Thinking in 2026 with Tom. Living on the Edge Recommentals with Randy and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Talking Points: THE DISEASE,would it behold,MMO sick,the Walmart cartie corps,Dr. Downdastree,the cleric,old man moment,the thing at the mall,Hello Kitty island adventure,extremely palatable,its true,Look Outside,cboyardee,Tad stops the episode halfway in to tell you about a cool new slur,dentist,just take the fish pills,Chills AI,32 DDD,SamusIsMyWaifu,why would a robot lie,twilight india theory,web 4.0,TRVTH AND REAL,SillyTavern,the jaywalking balloon and the introspective lil chubster Check out the website for links to our shows on iTunes, GooglePlay and Spotify► http://www.lmtya.com► https://spoti.fi/2Q55yfLPeep us on Twitter► @LetMeTellYouPDOfficial Discord► https://discord.gg/SqyXJ9R/////// SHILL CORNER ///////► https://www.patreon.com/LMTYALMTYA shirts!► https://lmtya.myspreadshop.com/all/////// SHILL CORNER ///////

In this episode, Jess takes us step-by-step through her family's spring break trip to Japan—a points and miles masterpiece that cost just $200 total out of pocket for four round-trip flights and multiple hotel stays. From first class flights to washer/dryers in hotel rooms, this trip had it all. Whether you're dreaming of cherry blossoms, bullet trains, or Hello Kitty cafés, this episode is packed with tips for making Japan happen—without breaking the bank. Flying to Japan in Style with AA Miles Jess booked her family's flights using American Airlines miles, flying on Japan Airlines from Chicago to Tokyo, and shares her tips for snagging first-class saver award seats, business-class seats, and also premium-economy seats.  Staying in Tokyo, Family Style For the Tokyo leg, Jess chose the Hyatt House Shibuya, a new property that has quickly become her top recommendation for families.  Kyoto on a Budget with Hyatt Place After Tokyo, the family took the bullet train to Kyoto and stayed at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, a Category 2 gem offering amazing value.  Activities included exploring Fushimi Inari Shrine, tasting local snacks at Nishiki Market, and spending several hours with deer at Nara Park—Molly's favorite part of the trip! Luxury Final Night at the Conrad Tokyo For their final night, Jess used Hilton free-night certificates to stay at the Conrad Tokyo, a luxury property with top-tier service. From Hello Kitty water bottles at checkout to executive-lounge cocktails, it was the perfect way to end the trip. Jess doesn't recommend it for the location alone, but if you've got free night certificates, she says it's 100% worth it. A trip to Japan for a family of four with flights and hotels for $200? This is the power of points and miles. Hit play now and hear how Jess pulled it off—and how you can too. Links: Points Talk Premium: https://pointstalk.supercast.com How to Get Your Next Vacation for Nearly Free: How to Get Your Next Vacation for Nearly Free - https://travelmomsquad.lpages.co/freevacation/ Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya: https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt-house/en-US/tyoxs-hyatt-house-tokyo-shibuya Hyatt Place Kyoto Review: Hyatt Place Kyoto Review - Travel Mom Squad - https://travelmomsquad.com/hyatt-place-kyoto-review/ SmartEx App (for Shinkansen tickets): Tokaido Sanyo Kyushu Shinkansen Internet - https://smart-ex.jp/en/app/download/index.html Reservation Service | Tokaido Sanyo Kyushu Shinkansen Internet Reservation Service - https://smart-ex.jp/en/app/download/index.html Voice Map app: Walking Tour App » VoiceMap - https://voicemap.me/walking-tour-app Cat rescue cafe: Home | 宿木カフェ＆レストラン - https://www.yadorigicafe.com Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad Episode Minute By Minute: 00:30 – Flights to Japan: AA miles, upgrades, and flight tricks 07:00 – Booking first class seats and handling premium economy changes 12:00 – Transportation in Tokyo and using transit cards for kids 16:00 – Hyatt House Shibuya: why it's perfect for families 23:00 – Favorite Tokyo experiences: TeamLab, shopping streets, latte art & cat cafés 29:00 – Kyoto stay at Hyatt Place + must-dos like Nara Park and local markets 36:00 – Final night at Conrad Tokyo with Hilton free-night certificates 42:00 – Recap of highlights, family takeaways, and why Jess is ready to go back