TLDR; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Samba Schutte; Guz Khan; Vico Ortiz; Gerard Butler; SaveOFMDCrew #NeverLeft; AdoptOurCrew #SpeakUpMax; Voting: Tell Tale Awards; Voting; British Podcast Awards; Articles; FYC Emmy Nominations; In Person Meeting: Midwest Retreat for Wayward Pirates; Vianton Week; Jeopardy; Fan Spotlight; LoveNotes;

== Rhys Darby ==

Just a Taika, wearing a Taika (the drink company) Hat. Not gonna lie, I kinda want one now that we are all Taika.

And then there was the BTS for Rita's new music video. You can see the video here:

Some screen grabs from it:

Guz was out doing a live podcast with Adan Buxton tonight!

Vico got a hair cut and wanted to share with us the before and afters <3

So Samba did some hand modeling! But was a bit surprised it was for a leprosy commercial. Very good cause though <3 Thanks Samba

And Samba sending some love to Soprano's Deli out in LA!

Our Father Teach sending more baby cat pics. 

Our crewmates over at @saveofmdcrewmates put together an informational video about the #NeverLeft campaign going on! It highlights the hypocrisy of Max and corporate pride. Please give it a watch! To learn more, visit their tumblr.

Our crewmates over at @adoptourcrew are sticking it to Max! Their new hashtag is #SpeakUpMax-- Please visit their Tumblr to learn more and learn facts about how Max has been reducing "the amount of diverse and inclusive media and entertainment content available it [their] customers."  SpeakUpMax /SpeakUpMax Facts

Reminder! The second round of voting for the Tell-Tale TV Awards is open until June 9, 9pm EST! Please be sure to get your votes in every day! Vote here.

Hey! More voting opportunities for our dear captain Rhys Darby! If you feel inclined, we'd love it if you'd vote for The Cryptid Factor on the British Podcast Awards to help out Rhys, Dan, and Buttons!

The first article tonight has an amazing quote, I highly recommend reading it "Either way, it won't make up for David Zaslav not being hugged enough as a child".

https://www.laineygossip.com/warner-bros-wrangling-with-bong-joon-ho-over-final-cut-mickey-17-cant-trash-his-latest-film/78342

https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/david-zaslav-adds-ruining-tcm-to-his-growing-list-of-failures.php

Wondering if your efforts are being noticed? Well so far I've seen Samba, and Con both sharing the Emmy4 graphics everyone's been sharing! Great job everyone! Our friends over at Our Flag Means Fanfiction have this handy calendar on how to keep pushing! Thank you so much crew for continuing to support our cast!

Are you in the Midwest area of the US? Are you a fan of OFMD? Well good news! August 8th-11th at Camp Dewan in Burlington, WI will be hosting a Gay Pirate Summer Camp!  Wanna learn more? Visit their website!

Hey! Did you know it was Vianton week from June 6th - June 13th? Sure it's not OFMD but as we all know it's a sister-fandom to OFMD so it's getting a highlight! Graphic and info provided by @ viantonweek on Twitter. PS: Happy belated Unholy Masquerade! (06/06)

Hey! I bet we could answer this one! Thank you @ Stedecoded_ on twitter for the screencap! They were also kind enough to include the clip here: https://x.com/stedecoded_/status/1799249795816829319

More cast cards from @melvisik! The first, Jono Capel-Baker was the unfortunate groom who's wedding was interrupted by "The Devil and the Kids". Tonight's cast card is Amber Templemore one of the many directors on Our Flag Means Death! <3

More Colouring pages by the very kind @patchworkpiratebear being shared by @adoptourcrew! 

Source: AdoptOurCrew Tumblr

== Love Notes ==

Happy Frenchie Friday Lovelies! It's finally here! The weekend is here, and if you have the time off, please use it to have some fun and get some rest-- and if you don't, I'm sending so many hugs your way to get through the weekend work week. 

One of the things that I love so much about this community is seeing so many of you showing yourselves bit by bit over the past many months. Some of you are brand new to the fandom, and some of you have been here for so much longer than many of us have. No matter when you started though, I've seen folks who we don't hear often start to speak up more. I see more and more people who stopped doing gifs/art/fics, or didn't do gifs/art/fics before suddenly sharing their stuff with the community. 

It's so wonderful to see you bloom in and out of season, did you know that? Some of you don't feel comfortable putting yourself out there that much, but I see you like or reblog on various peoples blogs, or leave a comment here or there. Some of you have started really putting yourself out there bit by bit, in tags, in comments, posting meta, gifs, or fics, or artwork, or sometimes just sending lovely letters through @ofmdlovelyletters (which btw I love yall who run that so much you're such a stellar group and you drive kindness in this fandom to new heights). 

Some of you are unapologetically loud and yourselves and I love that too. I love every beautiful level of the fans we have here coming in and out and participating and making this fandom such a wonderful place to be in. Every day I continue to marvel at the kindness, and supportiveness, and creativity of this crew... of all the wonderful things your minds come up with, and all the goodness you put into this world. 

You all have really made my life so much better, and I can't thank you enough for that. I feel richer in mind and spirit because of you all and I'm so happy to get to share this time with you. 

Thank you to every one of you who makes each day worth coming back for, even if we've never spoken, I hope you know you make all the difference. Love you crew, I hope you have the best of weekends and things are looking up, and if they're not, that they do soon.