Pariah

Bad enough that none of them survived it?

That's easy: Plot.

As of March 5th, my paragon pic was Captain America. My organization pic was SHIELD.

Title: Speed, Distance, Alien Invaders, and Meep meep

Boss: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"
 
Me: "I'd say my biggest weakness is listening."

A lot of that book is historical and-or events occurred to the authors ancestors IIRC. 

Dire Straits @Pariah
 
 

All right, as I see it, we still need titles from Cancer, Dr. MID-Nite, and Sociotard, as well as a Paragon and an Organization from Dr, MID-Nite.
 
I hope to put up the poll tomorrow and run it until Monday morning.

Boston mom says 3-year-old son with special needs was restrained to chair by teacher

and the pawn shops are not taking his word on the value of the the buildings.

I've had a hard time thinking of a title, so if it's not too late, I'll go with the obvious: Up Schitt's Creek, in the Dark, with No Spear

that's because it's denser than your average neutron star 🤣

Okay, about that concert:
 
Journey put on a spectacular show. They had great energy and engagement. Arnel Pineda (who's my age(!)) was running all over the stage, climbing onto speaker stacks,holding the mic out to the audience ... oh, and singing the vocals like they were written for him. Fantastic range and tone. Neal Schon (the only founding member remaining) was impressive on guitar, slinging out the solos front and center. Longtime guitarist / keyboardist Jonathan Cain took over hosting duties for about the second half of the set, telling some of the stories behind the songs. They played about 20 songs, with two extended guitar solos and one piano solo (during which times the rest of the band changed outfits and presumably took care of basic biological needs). Cain came out for the second half wearing a Utah Grizzlies hockey jersey, which was pretty cool. They played all their big hits and a couple of lesser-known songs. If you've heard the 2-CD The Essential Journey, that was basically their playlist. The mixing was a little off; it was too loud for the venue overall, too heavy in the bass and too light in the midrange. But the band had solid musicianship, enthusiastic performances, and memorable songs. Like I said, they put on a great show.
 
But Toto was better.
 
I mean no disrespect to Journey here, but Toto was amazing.
 
Toto opened the show. They did only nine songs, which kind of bummed me out. Obviously they did "Rosanna", "Hold the Line", and "Africa". They did a couple of other lesser hits, "99" and "I'll Be Over You". They did a cover or Bob Seger's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends". But they also did three non-singles: they opened with "Girl Goodbye" from their first album, played "Home of the Brave" for The Seventh One, and also played "Dying On My Feet" from 2006's Falling In Between. Fewer songs, but they played them flawlessly. The mixing was perfect; highs, lows, and midrange were all clear and the vocals were easy to understand. Guitarist Steve Lukather (Luke) acted as host, introducing and telling stories about all the songs. He also took a few minutes to introduce the band members. Like Schon, he's the only founding member left, though the band does include longtime members Joseph Williams (son of composer John Williams) and Greg Phillinganes. In introducing the band, Luke talked about how his mom and the bass player's mom were both pregnant with them at the same time living on the same street, how the drummer played on all of Taylor Swift's hits the first time around, and how the second keyboardist was actually on loan from his son's band, which also includes Nick Collins (Phil's son). He mentioned how he had met Greg while they were both doing studio work on Thriller—at which point he casually dropped the opening guitar riff from "Beat It". He also had Joseph sing the "Hakuna Matata" bit from The Lion King—Williams was the singing voice of the adult Simba in the film. Luke also mentioned how Toto and Journey were now family, since his son had married Jonathan Cain's daughter. (Cain mentioned it later as well.) Toto came across as a lot more laid back in their part of the show, but their playing was clean and tight. They were like a bunch of old friends who just happened to have got together to play music for 15,000 people one night.
 
All in all, a fantastic and memorable evening.
 
 

Okay, about that concert:
 
Journey put on a spectacular show. They had great energy and engagement. Arnel Pineda (who's my age(!)) was running all over the stage, climbing onto speaker stacks,holding the mic out to the audience ... oh, and singing the vocals like they were written for him. Fantastic range and tone. Neal Schon (the only founding member remaining) was impressive on guitar, slinging out the solos front and center. Longtime guitarist / keyboardist Jonathan Cain took over hosting duties for about the second half of the set, telling some of the stories behind the songs. They played about 20 songs, with two extended guitar solos and one piano solo (during which times the rest of the band changed outfits and presumably took care of basic biological needs). Cain came out for the second half wearing a Utah Grizzlies hockey jersey, which was pretty cool. They played all their big hits and a couple of lesser-known songs. If you've heard the 2-CD The Essential Journey, that was basically their playlist. The mixing was a little off; it was too loud for the venue overall, too heavy in the bass and too light in the midrange. But the band had solid musicianship, enthusiastic performances, and memorable songs. Like I said, they put on a great show.
 
But Toto was better.
 
I mean no disrespect to Journey here, but Toto was amazing.
 
Toto opened the show. They did only nine songs, which kind of bummed me out. Obviously they did "Rosanna", "Hold the Line", and "Africa". They did a couple of other lesser hits, "99" and "I'll Be Over You". They did a cover or Bob Seger's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends". But they also did three non-singles: they opened with "Girl Goodbye" from their first album, played "Home of the Brave" for The Seventh One, and also played "Dying On My Feet" from 2006's Falling In Between. Fewer songs, but they played them flawlessly. The mixing was perfect; highs, lows, and midrange were all clear and the vocals were easy to understand. Guitarist Steve Lukather (Luke) acted as host, introducing and telling stories about all the songs. He also took a few minutes to introduce the band members. Like Schon, he's the only founding member left, though the band does include longtime members Joseph Williams (son of composer John Williams) and Greg Phillinganes. In introducing the band, Luke talked about how his mom and the bass player's mom were both pregnant with them at the same time living on the same street, how the drummer played on all of Taylor Swift's hits the first time around, and how the second keyboardist was actually on loan from his son's band, which also includes Nick Collins (Phil's son). He mentioned how he had met Greg while they were both doing studio work on Thriller—at which point he casually dropped the opening guitar riff from "Beat It". He also had Joseph sing the "Hakuna Matata" bit from The Lion King—Williams was the singing voice of the adult Simba in the film. Luke also mentioned how Toto and Journey were now family, since his son had married Jonathan Cain's daughter. (Cain mentioned it later as well.) Toto came across as a lot more laid back in their part of the show, but their playing was clean and tight. They were like a bunch of old friends who just happened to have got together to play music for 15,000 people one night.
 
All in all, a fantastic and memorable evening.
 
 

And you have to admit...given a long term close relationship, and with Ohtani probably picking up quite a bit of Ippei's expenses on the road *anyway*...embezzlement, lying...it's all entirely plausible.  That gambling can be horribly addictive?  WELL known.  Chasing losses?  Too common.  Hey, I'm sure we've all seen the disclaimers..."if you have a problem setting or holding a limit" etc...I can completely accept that it's all Ippei's fault.  It's entirely believable.
 
Also note that, from the sound of things, Ohtani was pretty heavily flappered by Ippei.  A question might well be...does Ohtani have an American accountant?  For more than just taxes, preferably a full scale financial planner.  Cuz if not...if it's just a tax person, say...he may not have thought *enough* about his money.  
 
Need the 3rd guy in there, Mr. P...Freeman.  Most expensive 1-2-3 batting order *ever*...and almost certainly by a gobsmackin' big amount.