AOWL Magazine: Kickoff Edition

[Split Eight]

Art of Writing League: Season 5
Week 1

[Introduction]

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Art of Writing League, more commonly known as the AOWL. We are in our 5th season now, and Witty, Innovator, Adonis and myself will all be playing parts in moderation. This one is rather thin, what without Power Ranks or Reviews, but without further ado, here is the magazine you've been waiting for.




[Writer Bios]

Here's just a brief introduction to each writer in our league.


Pinot Grij
Pinot is a thoughtful writer. His approaches are well-chosen and his verses always drawn an audience.

Originally Posted by Pinot Grij

Pat Sajak has just finished a huge mountain of coke
His magic dust to appeal to the nightly crowds he invokes
He answers the door, suddenly aghast as he’s met…
By a giant blue-faced robot, and fucking Alex Trebek
“Hello Pat, you faggot, by now my hate should be obvious…
Cuz your show ahead of mine is a disgrace to my audience
See, your pussy ass is dead, this robot’s really a weapon
To kill plebeians who can’t answer a simple trivia question:

“This blonde idiot is broadcasted on all of the biggest stations
Let’s call this ignoramus the hugest bitch in syndication.
Lacking innovation, plus me and this bitch go way back…”
Pat shudders, “Who is…. P-P-P-Pat Sajak?”

Zen
Zen is a poetic soul. Scatter-brained genius. He oozes originality and is really capitalizing on his own potential as of late

Originally Posted by Zen

I turn onto a backroad where all the houses' nightlights are yellow, and some stupid fucking dog is barking out a window, then I see her driveway. I pull in and kill the lights.

She came outside in a hoodie and shorts because that totally makes sense. She stops at my window,

“Where have you been?”

Witty
An old topical standby, Witty has been Witty everywhere he's been. Which is pretty much everywhere. You can feel his experience in his writing as well as in his tendency to announce a comeback before promptly no-showing.

Originally Posted by Witty

This is what happens when he who’s mad dreams
Stabbed in the head, as he lay strapped in his bed
Couldn’t you just have slapped him instead?
A little tap on the wrist, but you had to insist
That your destiny would unravel like this
Related to a killer, too young to be dangerous

UnbornBuddha
Dude is so crazy creative. He's got these verses that seem to build outwards from the theme rather than arrive upon it casually, like one of Aesop's fables.

Originally Posted by UnbornBuddha

Steam powered machines that fly upward
Into the heart of clouds, gaseous sulfur.
As we touch them, the sky begins to rain smog
Releasing the cadmium, hence our brain fog.
Quick, dispense the quicksilver to counteract it!
Mercury’s derivatives keep the doctor away.

Razah
A writer who I'm not intimately familiar with, but seems to be doing rather well in topical-related competition. He's got good delivery, and I look forward to seeing what kind of verses he brings to the table, given his LGPA verses

Originally Posted by Razah

The archetype for amazing
The blueprint for brilliance
- Forgive me if it's long winded
We helped the world revolve
But even that..
Has the word evolve in it

Innovator
Innovator is a poetry veteran and a long time competitor of this league, he has a real way with imagery and sensory details.

Originally Posted by Innovator

forgotten youth martyrs to a welcome that never came
in a sea of americans they get lost in the translation.
thrown away sacrifice; Chasing redemption.
so wounds never heal and the scars never mend.
the love of naypalm in the morning
is infectious.

Ullr
A recent acquisition by the lime green, Ullr is a genuine newcomer with some talent that will likely build up a reputation here quickly.

Originally Posted by Ullr

The last remnants of a society long forgotten
Mankind but with no songs or even talking
They speak in grunts, the language of apes
though they bear the bodies and they brandish the face
they as savages raised in the sands of the plain.

Timeless
Timeless has come very close to champing in seasons past, but never quite made it atop the heap. I forsee him moving into the upper tier of writers if he musters up some momentum early on in the season.

Originally Posted by timeless

Then Jimbo found his pound of weed all over the ground it seems.
Acting as a jacket to piles of shit. Even the money he found unseen.
The man came out the back door with a loaded shotgun,
asked what the fuck Jim was doing poking through cow dung.
Told him he was an anti-pot activist and greed's funny, bold and pulled in
to the thought that drug money is the same as spreading Money Over Bullshit.

Soulstice
Soulstice is a powerhouse, one of the clear contenders for season champion. He melds powerful visuals with enchanting storytelling.

Originally Posted by Soulstice

Into the debris of god.
Two foreign ghosts orbiting
A desolate planet. A long
Dead civilization beneath a deposit of granite
With nothing left to examine.
Above them I give chase to your ghost
Past metal shells of vessels which decay and corrode
My angel will go - between blue dwarves and reddish giants
Towards the edge of an event horizon...

Ribbit
Better known as 2triple0, I have seen ribbit drop some good writing here and there. Noticeably on PR in about 2009? I think I read an archived thread. Nonetheless, he is capable, and his consistent forays into the LGPA show that he might be working the rust off.

Originally Posted by ribbit

many nights I dance by myself
It gives me enough time to apprihand the right steps
So as the music plays the crowd goes wild
All sorts of folktales presented not just anyone profile
Some folk talk shit cuz the sound is instrumental

Tyson
Tyson has been competing as long as I can remember. He's not made a drive for the champ spot in recent memory, but I remember a few instances on NC1 where he really came through with a powerful verse.

Originally Posted by TYSON

By the age of 50, money was no object but my questions grew to tremendous size
The impurities of thyself, purged the seconds of understanding I held
Any quench was half empty and the thirst remerged, having to revisit the well
My children... grown now, show me the new inventions..TV's and vcrs
Seen a movie called psycho and figured this figment of imagination was a piece of ours
My son died from a drunken car accident, leaving behind two girls
My daughter pasted from pneumonia when I was 75, leaving me in this cruel world

Dominate
I'd place Dominate alongside Vulgar, Hush and ill nik-a as a sort of 'renaissance man' of text. Those who can do it all. Dominate has had very competitive verses in the past.


Genocide
A veteran who made his way into audio, and is presumably making his way back. Good flow and easy-to-read verses.


Rawn MD
Old veteran from Netcees 1.0, usually his verses are action-packed or as he'd say 'on some G shit'. He has a unique style and better flow than wording.

Artificial



Mr. J


Quaker Oats
One of the most natural storytellers in the league. Highly accomplished and has put together some fantastic 50 line verses without losing reader interest.

dead man
Strong descriptions and tangential but solid connections to the topic. High chance, alongside Soulstice among others, of champing the league early on.

Objective
A writer who has elevated massively in the last few months, notably in the LGPA. Thoughtful and poignant writing with decidedly emotional themes.



[Predictions]
[editing in soon due to miscommunication]

[Outrospection (and a note on due dates)]

[Split]
Good luck everyone in their battles. We're going to change the due date times, I didn't realize they were set to before midnight PST but that seems to be unnecessarily early. Extensions were granted for all battles for this week only. Auto-extensions expire at 11:59 PST tonight.

Happy writing.