Outtakes - multiples vol 2

AO3 | Kofi | Main Masterlist | The Spreadsheet Masterlist | vol 1

Howdy folks!

Here's all the fics on my spreadsheet featuring multiples - that's MMF, MFM, FMF, FFM, and more! All of these fics feature a reader character + 2 or more other characters, usually 2 pedro boys but not always!

Summaries and tags are, in most cases, provided by the author - please be sure to read them as some of these fics may have content you do not wish to read.

Updated 5/24/2024

lost, found

Dieter one shot by @sp00kymulderr

When Dieter is hurt by the words of someone else, he turns to his art to help him. What he really needs is you.

homophobia, unsupportive family, bad family relationships, drug use, alcohol use, implied poly relationship, sex mentions, angst angst angst. There is an ezra in this, whether he is our ezra or not is up to you. writer projecting their emotions on to their favourite character.

Run Rabbit

Joel/Reader/Tommy series by @justagalwhowrites

It was just over a year after the world ended that you were captured by Joel and Tommy Miller. They're harsh, they're cold and they're killers. But, as a nurse, you're a valuable person to have around and he's not the worst thing wandering the wasteland that was the United States. And there might be more to these men than meets the eye.

Dom Joel, Threesome - MFM, Mildly Dubious Consent, Attempted Sexual Assault, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Stockholm Syndrome, Brat Tamer Joel, Canon-Typical Violence, Dom/sub Undertones, Anal Sex

Cabuorir

Oberyn/Din/Reader series by ToricTailor (AO3)

You would have torn the heavens asunder to stop it.

Fix-It, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), Get This Man A New Ship, Smut, Threesome - F/M/M, Reader sandwich, Force-Sensitive Reader, Polyamory, DVP, more

He Knows

Joel/Reader/Tommy one shot by @psychedelic-ink

Joel knows you have a little thing for his younger brother so decides to indulge you for your birthday.

gonna state this very clearly: joel gets cucked by tommy and watches, everyone is consenting and it's discussed beforehand, piv, dirty talk, possessive!joel, daddy kink, size kink, established relationship between joel and reader, jealousy, some brotherly rivalry, facial, mild degradation kink, creampie

On the Verge of a Usual Mistake

Lucien/Reader/Dieter one shot by @gasolinerainbowpuddles

You've been avoiding your exes Dieter Bravo and Lucien Flores all night at this event, but you're forced to come to terms with how things ended in both relationships when they seek to right their wrongs.

this is truly just porn with minimal plot (I'm so proud of myself lol), Dieter and Lucien are messy exes, threesome activities, Twister but with genitalia, Daddy and Papi kinks

Hold Please

Dave/Javi P/Marcus P series by @ghostofaboy

Dave decides to arrange a little get-together for him, Javier and Marcus.

Anal fingering, oral sex, anal sex, facial, orgasm denial, threesome - m/m/m

Sangomas and Struggle Heroes: Art after the Fees Must Fall moment - Sive Mqikela

“Day to day reality is therefore itself any illusion created by the mass of our needs, our ideas, our wants. Transform the needs, the ideas, the wants, and at once, as though with a magic wand, you transform the available reality. To write as though only one kind of reality subsists in the world is to act out a mentally retarded mime, for a mentally deficient audience. If I am an illusion, then that is a delusion that is very real indeed.” – Dambudzo Marechera, Black Sunlight

 In July 2018, a group of art students under the name ‘Wits Stash’ set out to the Grahamstown (now Makhanda) National Arts Festival (the festival) to present the best of art that the University of the Witwatersrand School of Arts (WSOA) has to offer. The entourage comprised of four plays - Amabali Amandulo, Indodakazi Yakho, Vuselela and The Last Respect, and one musical act, the Afro-jazz ensemble - iPhupho L’ka Biko. This was the first time that WSOA sent students to the festival to showcase their works under its banner. I was asked by the collective to write a review of the works presented, for the purposes of the group being able to read itself and its artistic effectiveness, so as to make the trips to the festival a tradition that will continue for years to come. This review is mainly my reading of the plays, not only because they constituted the majority of works presented by  the collective, but also because the music has been engaged lengthily elsewhere; although my observations here are not in exclusion of the music. The plays were in different styles and theatre genres, but in the main addressed themes of protest, historicism, existentialism and feminism (Indodakazi yakho).  Although this is a review of the aforementioned plays, it is also a de facto reading of the whole contemporary South African theatre scene as witnessed in the festival.

In all the freshness that a particular work of art may possess, artistic works are the always-already-present fragments of our realities, organised and given coherence as narrative anew. In this terrain, the stage does not become a mere mimicry of life, but life and history are laid bare in creative and imaginative form. What should a representation of a life in chaos, confusion, betrayal and spiritual bankruptcy, such as is life in South Africa look like? The formulation of the ‘Wits Stash’ is perhaps a clue to this rhetorical question. After the festival it became apparent to me that contemporary theatre is very much interested in the classic black theatrical themes of protest, spirituality and tragicomedy. This is no coincidence, owing to our very own little affair with history – the Fees Must Fall (FMF) moment.

This trip to the festival was an opportunity to witness the sediments of a post-FMF arts and culture scene.  One was left wondering and imagining what the post-1976 artistic scene looked like; it probably looked something like this ‘Wits Stash’ moment in Makhanda.

Pause….

The contemporary arts and cultural scene owes itself to the enthusiasm and indecision, doubt and confusion, chaos and order, of post-1994 South Africa. From everyone, there is a burning need to respond, to kick and scream, to take to the streets, to battle with history fair and square; all the necessary tools are available (arguably), we just do not know how to use them.  After chaos there is confusion; everybody has something to say but there is just no way of corroborating its validities. With so much information available to us, how do we use it in the most creative and sustainable manner? Where do we go from here?

This I imagine to be the dilemma in the aftermath of 1976, save for the fact that post-1976 was probably approached with more ideological clarity, perhaps because there was a more visible obstacle to black liberation – apartheid.

We are in no position to tell right now – only time will.

If not to elope to Europe or swell the ranks of the liberation front; to join the picket line or wish for a miracle; where did the 1976 generation go in the aftermath of crisis? If they did art, what kind of art did they do?

While there are such great works in the South African black theatre repository to work from, contemporary theatre seems unable to respond to the problems of our time in the same compelling and poetic manner that great works of ‘protest theatre’ like Woza Albert (1981) and Sizwe Banzi is Dead (1972) did for their ‘time’. While we can detect the influence of these classics and others on the plays presented by the ‘Wits Stash’, their imaginative and artistic impact is however overlooked and misunderstood. For example in Vuselela the powerful trope of the invisible and omnipresent character as seen in both Sizwe Banzi is Dead and Woza Albert, is attempted to allude to the omnipresence of black suffering in the face of domination; but as the play unfolds this character is revealed haphazardly on recurring dance scenes; and as a result the work of this metaphor is rendered banal, all for the sake of being multidisciplinary.

The problem with contemporary theatre is its obsession with ‘the spectacle’, in the same sense that Njabulo Ndebele observed with black South African literature during apartheid. In what felt like the newspaper headlines from The Dailysun and Sowetan, we see on signposts and street lamps around Johannesburg roads, the plays go for the overly dramatic and ‘spectacular’ element of social life in South Africa: police and state brutality; politicians and lies ; violence of all kinds, ancestors haunting the living etc.

These plays are not only concerned with a generalised display of ‘the spectacular’ but they are also very intentional with asserting political positions – ‘the spectacle of politicking’. In The Last Respect, as the protagonist ‘Goodman Moswaswi’, an apparently schizophrenic ‘direct victim of apartheid violence’, goes on his episodes of remembering the gruesome suffering endured at the hands of apartheid, all experience and memory communicated by him are channelled through a stream of incoherence and absurdity, but only one thing is coherent, his instinct to politick. We see ‘Goodman’ moving from ‘economic freedom’ and ‘expropriation’ talk to statements about ‘sell-outs’ and ‘askari’.

One could argue that politicking is nothing reprehensible in the creative process; but what happens when art is sacrificed for pure political undertones. What do we make of the arbitrary calling out of struggle heroes’ names – “viva Nyerere, viva Lumumba, viva Biko…” whenever we see fit, even when the context demands otherwise? Do we use the authority and stature of these figures so that no one disagrees with us? Without being prescriptive, I am of the view that when one has interacted with certain texts and ideas, we can always discern his/her influences without the help of ‘name-dropping’. We saw and heard enough moving speeches and amandla awethu during the FMF, and the ‘stage’ requires a more artistically persuasive and inspiring political commentary, if one seeks to do protest theatre.

Is it not possible to have creative imagination take the centre ‘stage’, even when representing real situations about social and political life in South Africa?

How do we create art that not only confirms what we know, but also offers challenges and critical engagement with what is being presented?

This being said, I am cognisant of the fact that the political narrative has shifted into our social culture as a nation. Politics has not only permeated our personal and public lives, but also our cultural production and imaginative labours. It is probably inescapable for the contemporary cultural worker; hence it is not surprising to find the political narrative central in many works of theatre and other literatures. While we cannot blame writers and cultural workers for centring the political thematic or using political vocabulary in their work, we can however be more careful with the style and aesthetics of the political narrative we choose to employ. We need to be more critical and reflexive about the forms that we choose to use in order to convey the political.  

In ‘the spectacle’ of postcolonial discourses sits the grandfather of all rhetoric – the notion of the African past. Yes – that mystical world of speculation; of apparent harmony and inherent rhythm; a world of sangoma’s and ancestors. The problem with this discourse, even well-meaning ones, is that it fails to acknowledge that all discourse on the (post)colony is a product of domination, and the ideas we have of an African past and Africanity are actually inventions of colonial discourse, which serve as a ‘subtle operation of temporal distancing’. Amabali Amandulo (stories from the past), in what appears to be an innocent story devised in ‘township/physical theatre’ style, is engaged with notions of the African past. In terms of the synopsis the play “speaks back to the politics of family, power dynamics and gender inequalities”, based on family life of the past. The play employs common tropes of the myth of ‘Africanity’: ancestors with gnarled bodies gyrating and speaking to the living in the most literal and arbitrary manner; freaks of nature with hoarse voices; friends capriciously turn into enemies; and uncontrollable sexual desires – smells like colonial imagery to me. Through cursory scene changes, the play denies us a sense of spatiotemporal coherence and causality (Africa with no time); and instead of stories from the past the play feels more like an assemblage of stereotypes about rural life in South Africa. The play gets one thing right though: this African past is a very strange past if we are to take the myth serious.

 Overall, all the plays were well directed and outstandingly performed. Elegant amalgamations of different artistic forms were employed in all the plays in the service of accompanying the acting. No one can deny the artistic wholesomeness of each play. The actors are undoubtedly some of the best actors in the country. My concern is just with the conceptual development involved in the making of the stories.  After all, whatever the artistic validity a certain work of art may possess, in trying to make sense of it there are, in Hayden Whites words “always legitimate grounds for differences of opinion as to what they are and the kinds of knowledge we can have of them”. These are but my observations. If we are to return to the epigraph from Dambudzo Marechera and listen to his caution, we ought not to create art as though only one kind of reality exists. In conclusion, I am of the view that collectively as art students and cultural workers we should not only revisit the classical texts that continue to shape our work and imagination, but we should also familiarise ourselves with theoretical work from other disciplines such as literature and social sciences in order to widen our worlds and enrich our imaginative force.

Yours Truly

BLK Thought

(work in progress)

YOURE DRAWING THEM 💕💕💕 aaahhhh im so excited !!! okay so what are your thoughts on them, any headcanons for Ginny and Astoria perhaps <3

ahh yes hopefully!! i’ve been struggling with the drawing bc art block but hopefully i’ll be able to post it soon!! its gonna be mom friends ginny and astoria 😌😌 and i was also thinking about adding luna too and now after ur post i feel i have to lol but we’ll see! it was inspired by sarah’s fmf fic where the malfoys are close with the potters before Albus and Scorpius meet at hogwarts

and ohhh any headcannons hmm i’ll be honest i haven’t thought of them romantically until just now but omggg they would be such an aesthetic sapphic couple i would simply 💕pass away💕

i’m imagining Astoria going to Ginny’s quidditch games and cheering for her even if she’s playing against her own house

going on hogsmead dates and wearing each other’s house scarves to show each other off, and omg just sharing clothes in general, both of them loving cool bands and such and finding the others clothes in their own dorm

UM SLEEPOVERS in each others dorms like u said!!! luna joining in when ginny stays over and not feeling like a third wheel cause she just loves her friends and they make friendship bracelets and braid flowers into each others hair and astoria and luna listening intently as ginny rambles about quidditch!!!

omg astoria writing songs for ginny and playing guitar or piano for her!!! ginny trying to paint with her and ending up with abstract messy paintings cause she’s not sure how but astoria hanging them up cause she loves them anyways

them visiting each other in the hospital wing and bringing each other flowers and handmade cards 🥺🥺 ginny’s in for quidditch injuries and astoria tsks at her telling her she needs to be more careful but kisses her anyways as ginny promises not to do anything risky next time. or astoria is in cause of her illness and ginny stays up all night fretting and doting on her and astoria assures her she’ll be fine through winces and gritted teeth. but ginny would know her boundaries and know when it was okay to dote and when it was time to act normal and not address her issues. she would bring her a big cozy blanket and hot chocolate and read her her favorite fantasy novels and astoria would fall asleep with her head on ginny’s shoulder or in her lap

both of them being impossibly curious about muggles and muggle things. they’d go to muggle attractions during the summers and ginny would invite her over to the burrow and show her all the cool muggle stuff her dad had acquired from work and this is how her friendship with arthur weasley starts (i was inspired by talks with sarah and rosie)

ahhh i’ve fallen in love with these two now byeee

So, who wants to see me criticize a piece of RWBY media?

Because I really don’t have anything too positive to say about the RWBY comic.

Now this isn’t to say the RWBY manga is completely bad, as it does have a few nice expressions ( a lot of Blake’s from her issue are cute and the ending to the Blake one has a nice one with Taiyang out of context) and the basic idea behind the comics being an expansion on the events that couldn’t be told in Volume 4 is a good idea.

... But there are many problems with the issues. In fact, lets not mince words here: the manga has many of the same problems people like FMF and RWDE have to lie about in the original show.

First off is the canonical inconsistencies. One example of this is in the Blake issue, where a day before she leaves for her fateful train raid with Adam she confronts him on how he got several of his men killed.

... This scene has a few issues with canon.

First off, Blake CAN’T have been in Menagrie. Because in Volume 3 Episode 7, after Cinder gets rejected by Adam in Vale, Blake shows up and the second attempt takes place a couple days later with Blake having left. So this scene can’t happen.

Secondly, Blake acts shocked to hear Adam wants to kill a crapton of humans...when in the Black Trailer, she sounds shocked that Adam would blow up the traincar full of civilians even though she would have known about this beforehand. This also contradicts the Adam Character Short where Blake and Adam fight about him killing humans which HAS TO have taken place before this.

Third, Blake tries to make excuses for Adam in Volume 3, where she talks about him going off the deep end and how it was a gradual slope. But considering how this comic starts off with Blake first meeting Adam and that moment is portraying Adam as already being a psycho. So...Yeah, that’s confusing. You could argue that she is talking about Adam from that one scene in his Character Short where Adam was shocked to have killed a human...but that scene takes place when Ghira was the leader of the White Fang and considering Sienna is speaking at the beginning, that tells us she’s the leader now so Blake couldn’t have seen that. (Maybe she was told about it before but that is never indicated nor implied).

Fourth, Blake acts scared of Adam when they meet back up in Volume 3...but in this comic, she calls him out to his face:

So...yeah, another inconsistency. And this is just one part of one issue. There are other problems with canoncity like Yang’s issue takes place before getting her arm and yet she recovers by the end of the issue, still no arm.

But another big issue is how characters are portrayed. For this, I basically have five major examples to work with here.

Raven Taiyang Yang Adam Blake

With Raven, she shows up in a flashback in the Ruby issue badmouthing Summer to a young Ruby and Yang about how she couldn’t be a true mother to Yang...which doesn’t fit Raven at all. Yes, Raven is petty. Yes, Raven hates Summer. Yes, Raven cares for Yang. But these three things are NEVER portrayed as interconnecting. Raven is petty because her ego gets bruised like with how she rejects teaming up with Qrow because he badmouthed her, Raven seems to hate Summer in canon probably because of ideological reasons (since her hatred is directly connected to Ruby’s speech) and Raven does care for Yang but it is barely enough for her to regret her actions, let alone be this emotional and petty out of the blue over losing her role as Yang’s mom. This doesn’t work.

With Taiyang, while barely appears, he’s portrayed as this generic Cool Dad(Tm) who absolutely knows whats best for Yang...which he ISN’T in canon. He’s fucked up, he’s failed as a father before with shutting down on Yang and Ruby alongside telling Yang about Raven. Hell, it’s still prevalent as he can’t help Yang in her breakdown in Volume 4 Episode 3 when dropping that glass and flashing back to Adam. He doesn‘t show any hesitation or doubt or worry in his actions with Yang, he’s just generically confident.

With Yang, she thinks that an apothecary can regrow her arm despite the fact there is NOTHING in the world in Volume 4 to imply that such a thing is possible (otherwise this shit would be common knowledge) which is pretty fucking dumb for Yang. And then by the end of the issue, she’s all sunshine and rainbows...something she isn’t completely EVEN IN VOLUME 6. And this is BEFORE she gets her arm and has that talk with Oobleck, Port and Taiyang.

For Adam, he apparently cries over the idea that his underlings didn’t kill enough humans. Even ignoring how people DON’T cry over that, Adam would either be angry or pretend to be calm and noble due to how unstable he is and the lie he leads. And when Blake calls him out on his shit to his face, which would be robbing him of control in the situation, he just grabs Blake without even so much as a frown. Adam’s gone from an unstable individual grasping desperately for control to just a generic psycho.

And Blake? She barely acts like herself in the flashbacks. Blake acts like a clone of Ruby being all smilely and cute facial expressions instead of the moody, cynical, sarcastic introvert we know her as. Even if I were to give some benefit of the doubt and say her time in the WF made her more cynical, she should have SOME aspect of her current personality here instead of being Ruby.

Also the dialogue has issues on a fundamental level. In the scene that I referenced in the above, Adam gives the line ‘My only regret was that our white fang brothers could not have killed a hundred thousand more.’

First, the ‘White Fang’ part isn’t necessary, we can infer from ‘brothers’ and the context of the conversation he’d be talking about their comrades. Second, ‘could not’ is an incredibly awkward phrase to use, usually used with overly formal or robotic characters. Neither of these apply to Adam, he should have used the contradiction ‘couldn’t.’ Finally, the use of a ‘hundred thousand’ is cringy as hell. ‘Hundred’ or ‘Thousand’ alone would have sold the mental image just fine but combining the two pushes the image into the realm of absurdity with how extreme it is, becoming rather try hard. These three on their own are annoying but altogether they’re inexcusable. The sentence should have been ‘My only regret was that our brothers couldn’t have kill a thousand more’, which flows so much better,

Again, not a singular case considering the title of the next issue is ‘The Woe’s Of Weiss Schnee’...either implying ‘Woe is’ or the woe possesses Weiss.

And lastly, the art. Not only is the art so off that some characters look younger than they should (Ghira, Kali and Taiyang look more like older siblings than parents and Adam without his mask looks the same age as Blake despite being five years older) but the art actively CONTRADICTS what is being said in the comic.

Again, look at the above images with Blake calling Adam out. Does she REALLY look like she’s scolding Adam and calling him a monster? Because the image more conveys that she’s trying to kiss him unironically. And the face she makes that’s suppose to look determined and defiant? Yeah, more like she’s miffed she didn’t get to kiss him. The art is REFUSING to convey the emotions that the dialogue and narration are trying to get across. And, one last time: this is not a single time problem. Adam not looking like his age gives him a look of innocence and purity when the story is all about how much of a monster he is, conflicting with what the story is trying to say even though the show made by overworked animators and written by people with barely any writing experience outside RWBY managed to do this FAR better (same with the looks of the scars, with the comic’s scar looking like goo while the original’s looks crusty and painful.)

I could go on (like how the Yang and Blake issues are basically pointless as Volume 4 Episodes 3,4 and 9 and the Adam Character Short do their jobs but better) but I’ve made my point. The comic feels like the delusions that RWDE has been spouting out for years (the ones they need to purposefully misinterpret scenes, cut context and outright LIE to make up) but real. I still can’t fully believe that such a thing can actually exist.

Fuck, when I can fully understand what RWDE means, you know you fucked up. (Although don’t go harassing the creators, that’s not okay no matter what.)

Looks like Gray's got a mob going after him now, based off unverified claims. And it's led by several of the RWBYTubers, like TheFloofArtist(who drew art of Yang and Blake murdered and cut to pieces), FMF and Vexxed, all of whom have consistently lied about issues with the show, and the CRWBY. And the first of those would gladly be the first to dance on his grave if he killed himself over this.

I'll be honest and say I'm a little more inclined to believe these accusations have a leg to stand on, given how part of RT's response to the over time controversy was Gray stepping down as animation head, and now he's left all together. Plus hand waving accusers as "trolls" has never been a good sign in my book.

However, like hell I'd believe anything RWBYtubers say straight out of the gate. The ones you named despise RT with a passion and I have no doubt they'd try and spin any info they got.

For me, I'd consider these accusations to be partially true. It shouldn't be out of the question to at least be wary of how Gray is brushing it all off. The best indicator of how true might be in how the situation with RT animation develops now that he's gone, and what these sources in CRWBY have to say afterwards.

It has been one month since I let my wife fuck other people. Here is how it went

I [41m] let my wife [38f] fuck other people with some agreed upon rules. Here is some background about our situation. After having our second child, she decided to leave her job and focus on raising the kids. This also allowed her to nurture two of her hobbies: arts and working out. Now that both our kids are at school, she has more free time but we still both agreed that she doesn’t need to get a job as we’re currently financially stable to comfortably pay for our house, go on regular vacations, and provide the kids with excellent education. This allowed her to regularly participate in art galleries and local sports events.

For 17 years, she’s really been the perfect partner; always striving to keep the family happy. I always though she’s out of my league but she brushes this off that she’s not one after the looks. One area where I sensed she’s not satisfied in the past couple of years is our sex life. We have sex a couple of time per week, which is more than enough for me but her libido has always been higher than mine. In certain times of the year, I work long hours or travel abroad. Other times, I’m mentally exhausted to be on the mood for sex. Over the past couple of months, she initiated several times and I rejected because I was so tried or have to get up early for work leading her to sleep with tears.

Last month, I tried to test the waters with this idea to see her reaction. She initially completely shut me off. Then one night after she approached me for sex and I reject again, instead of turning to the other side of bed, she opened this subject. I told her that I am Ok with the principle but we need to talk about the details tomorrow. We had a very long and candid discussion about our life and sex life. I told her that I’ve been thinking about some ground rules, then she modified/added some of them. Here is what we agreed on:

1) Always be fully safe. No pregnancies or STDs.

2) This is purely for pleasure; no feelings should be involved.

3) The guys should be aware about the situation and what he’s signing up for.

4) These adventures cannot interfere with our relationship or the kids time. When I or the kids get home, she should be there.

5) She will always still satisfy me sextually, she shouldn’t be sore or not on the mood because she just had sex (for context she has never been “not on the mood” since the day I met her and I didn’t want this to change).

6) She can choose whoever she wants to go out with, but she should always tell me before going out and send me her location. I promised not to come banging at their door but this is needed for her safety (if god forbids she goes missing, I know where she is).

7) Her dates cannot take advantage or her or ask for any favors.

8) I don’t want anything out of this, she is more than enough for me and I don’t want to fuck other people. But since she mentioned she might explore her bisexual side, I wanted her to explore arranging for FMF to cross it off my bucket list.

9) We will get back and review every month.

For the first month, she has gone for two “adventures”. One with a guy that goes to her gym in his apartment and one with a tender date at a hotel room. She goes in the late morning and in both cases, we have wonderful sex later at night. When we first put the rules, I told her that I don’t need to know about the details or her dates but when I was fucking her last week, I asked her what those guys did to her and it turned me on so much. I told her afterwards that I want her to take photos on her next outing to share with me. Still no threesome for me but she wanted to take it slow in the first month and we agreed that no rules should be changed for next month.

TL;DR: I’m not writing this for advice, I’m just sharing my experience of having one-sided open marriage. I just though I had a wonderful marriage going and I didn’t want to keep an unhappy wife if I’m not always available for her. Been win/win so far

submitted by /u/smartlyidiotic [link] [comments] from Sex https://ift.tt/Ld8Q4Ce

Goals & Objectives (2017 review, 2018 new)

It’s that time again.

I don’t make resolutions, but I do try to set goals & objectives at the start of the year, then review them at the end of the year to see how I did. And at the end, it’ll be time for a new round for 2018.

1. Write 400,000 words with an average of 35k per month.

I am drafting this with the 31st still to go, but I doubt I will write much today. I just barely made it, with 405k as of the start of this day.

2. Finish drafting (and posting) CttK and kickstart a printed version of it.

Draft and posting finished. Kickstart has not yet happened, although I’m poking at what’s needed for it.

3. Outline and start drafting (and posting) the second Twinned book for PHU and the first Marked book for PHU.

This uh.... this changed a bit. I started to outline the second Twinned book, and realized that it would intertwine with the second Marked book. So the entire first Marked book was written and will be finished posting the first week in January. 

4. Draft Bittle’s Bitty Bites and Cover All and post to AO3.

One out of two isn’t bad? I finished BBB and posted it. Cover All has yet to be drafted, but perhaps someday I’ll get it done.

5. Participate in Kinky Kristmas and Yuletide.

HAH. One thing I can consider a success.

6. Successfully moderate fullmoon_ficlet.

Also a success in that I made it through. I was late (often) on masterlists. I’ve moved FMF to Tumblr from LJ and made some changes to the rules. I really hope this will help revitalize the community.

7. Go to camp 3 weekends out of every camp month this summer.

Probably not. :( But I think we averaged half the weekends. It was a tough summer.

8. Run 75 miles in 80 days and successfully test for my second degree black belt.

Done. :D

9. Complete a couch to 5k program (damn it).

NOPE. Did not. Will not. I just don’t like them, I guess.

10. Finish one original short story, edit it, and start shopping it.

Fail. I have my short from 2016, and I should be shopping it. I have started a couple I’d like to submit, and I need to finish those soon.

11. Pay for Christmas in cash.

Mostly.

12. Can and freeze vegetables over the summer. 13. Organize both freezers and make more lunches and ready meals. 14. Learn how to pressure can. 15. Cook meals 2-3 times per week (with less waste).

No real canning, and I never got the pressure canner. Like I said above, it was a tough summer. We have been trying very hard to cook more often, and make sure we get lunches put away properly. It’s been going a bit better.

16. Save for an purchase an iPad.

I ransacked my savings for other needs. Also, it’s going to be a PC instead, one of the foldover/tablet sorts, only large.

17. Pay to get the younger kid to Germany.

This is almost complete. I probably owe maybe another $50 after all is said and done.

18. Destroy more debt to pay more for elder kid’s college education.

I tried. I started to fail, hard, after a while, tho. I went back into debt a bit over the holiday and now get to spend January unfucking that little mess.

So. Some new goals as we head into 2018 (which I hope will be a better year).

1. Timeline, outline, and draft both Twinned #2 and Marked #2. 2. Timeline Twinned #3 and Marked #3. 3. Kickstart a print edition of Twinned #1 (CttK). 4. If there’s enough time, kickstart a print edition of Marked #1 (NYD) six months later. 5. Complete a short story in the PHUverse and submit it. 6. Shop the Death story around. 7. Write 400k. 8. Go back to weightlifting and lunchtime workouts. 9. Go to TKD average twice a week. 10. Finish organizing my living room and sun room and all my knitting and writing stuff. 11. Take an actual summer vacation at camp. 12. Attempt to eat healthier. 13. (possibly) Attend Conference (for 31). 14. Make 31 business work. 15. Save for (and purchase) a PC. 16. Try to practice art on average once a week. Even if it’s awful. 17. Finish 10 knitting/crochet projects. 18. Produce and have test knit the triskele potholder 19. Create pattern for at least one version of the triskele shawl.

FMF: August 2017 Roundup Post

Hello dear Fannibals, and welcome to Fresh Meat Friday’s Roundup for August 2017 (an exciting month)! This roundup post gathers all the rec’s posted on Tumblr under the #Fresh Meat Friday tag this month in one easy to find place.

ARTIST

@haein214 rec’d by @krey-9-jorce for being ‘an amazing artist’. ‘Her bright and fluffy sticker style will surely bring a smile to everyone’s lips.’

@just-another-dark-account rec’d by @he-s-dead-jim for their ‘Will Graham’s therapy sessions’ and ‘Never apologize for coming to me’ series. ‘Funny and beautiful art.’

@mxpopsiclestix rec’d by @matildaparacosm for their art. ‘The composition,texture and colors, awwwwwwww the colors!!’

WRITER

@crisisoninfintefandoms rec’d by @wiith-my-hands for ‘Dormire et Excitare’. ‘While it may not be for everyone (read the tags), it hits two of my big kinks, bottom!Hannibal and Will talking filthy in bed.’

@red-earth-rising rec’d by @pragnificent for ‘#EatTheRich’. ‘It’s perilous to assume that either of these boys are on our side, but drawing on both Will and Hannibal’s histories, Red gives us an entirely plausible account of what might inspire them towards a very specific flavor of murder.’

 @bonearenaofmyskull rec’d by @pka42 for ‘Holes in the Floor of the Mind’. ‘If you want something truly greatly crafted, with not a single wasted word and lots of super smart details, this is your fic.’

@zig-zag-wanderer rec’d by @victorineb for ‘Love is a journey, not a destination’. ‘It’s lyrical, raw and vivid, not to mention that it has staggeringly good character work (the author’s voice for Will, in particular, is one of the best interpretations of the character I’ve ever read).’

@devereauxsdisease rec’d by @littlethingwithfeathers for ‘Feathers’. ‘Curl up with a fuzzy blanket, some snacks, and your warm drink of choice. You’re in for a cozily sinful good time.’

@rawviridianink rec’d by @fragile-teacup for ‘Sinful’. ‘It’s a fascinating setup in which Will is a priest and Hannibal is the mysterious, attractive new congregant who comes one day to the confessional…’

@joanielspeak rec’d by @tentoriumcerebelli for ‘Unhitched’. ‘It’s a 70′s trucker Hannigram AU which may sound strange but I’ve loved reading it and I’m thrilled whenever a new chapter is added.’

@zacharybosch rec’d by @matildaparacosm for ‘Small Things’. ‘Carved wood, rustic but pleasing in its simplicity, and a collection of crumpled pillows. A real bed.’

@hermajestieship rec’d by @cinnamaldeide for ‘A Light on the Prow’, their ‘fantastic pre-series Hannigraham fanfiction, where Will and Hannibal know each other before their meeting in Jack’s office. After all this time, this story still manages to amaze me.’

@zig-zag-wanderer rec’d by @diea-kierlyn for ‘The Rhymes of Goodbye’. ‘This is a post-fall Hannigram fic that is unlike any other that I have read. All of the imagery is so clear and visceral. I can feel the world this author has created.’

@katamaran10 rec’d by @plotfool for ‘The Archipelago’. ‘It’s truly amazing and deserves more love and i adore it!!’

@cannibalthehannibal rec’d by @cantinazorayda for ‘Roman Colours’. ‘Will is about to finish medical school and is assigned to Johns-Hopkins for his residency. Dr. Lecter is the accomplished, reliable surgeon for the ER who always gets what he wants, including who his resident is.’

Congratulations everyone and thanks for sending your Rec’s!

FEATURE: Football strikes its place in Madagascar

When people talk about sporting nations, Madagascar is rarely part of the conversation. And for good reason.

For example, the island, located in the Indian Ocean off Africa’s south-east coast, has never won a medal over 14 appearances at the Olympic Games. Some of its better-known athletes, such as Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa, finalist in the 100 metres in Mexico City in 1968, or Joseph-Berlioz Randriamihaja, who participated in three consecutive Olympiads (2000, 2004 and 2008) in the 110-metre hurdles, represented the country with distinction without ever enjoying global success.

In Madagascar, the three most popular sports are moraingy, a traditional martial art with similarities to Thai boxing, petanque, in which the Malagasy have twice been world champions (1999 and 2016), and rugby union, in which they have twice reached the final of the Africa Cup. But for some time now, the oval ball has been making way for the round one and, while Les Barea have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup™, they did make their CAF Africa Cup of Nations debut last year.

A federation in transformation

Created in 1961, the Malagasy Football Federation (FMF) gained FIFA affiliation the following year. One of its past presidents is Ahmad Ahmad, who served from 2003 to 2017 before stepping down to become CAF President. Raoul Romain Arizaka Rabekoto has been in charge since.

Despite its 25 million inhabitants, the island has only a small number of clubs and registered players. However, in recent years, the FMF has been working hard to change that. In 2019, a new championship was launched with a revised format. For many years, the process had involved one club per region facing representatives from neighbouring regions using a round-robin system until the overall winner topped a four-team final group to be crowned champions.

Now, 12 clubs play home and away over a standard season, with the top side deemed national champion and the country’s representative in the CAF Champions League. Fosa Juniors Football Club won the inaugural edition of the revamped championship last year, but CNaPS Sport, a seven-time league champion, intend to make amends this season and strengthen their position as the most successful side in Malagasy league history.

Sand, the essence of Malagasy football

Despite the relatively low number of registered players on the island, it turns out that 27 per cent of Malagasy play football at least once a week, according to a recent survey conducted by market researchers Stileex. At local level, it is clear you do not need to be member of the federation to have passion for the round ball.

In Madagascar, football is often played on sand or clay pitches and, for the most part, barefoot. Regardless of age or gender, and whether it is in the schoolyard, on the beach or even on a dried-up river bed, you will see groups of Malagasy playing. The lack of a ball is no impediment either, with improvising youngsters often using plastic bags tightened by string to get the most spherical shape possible. This desire to play, regardless of the setting, shows a deep commitment to football.

The fact that the majority play on the sand would also explain why the country’s beach soccer team became the first Madagascar side to claim international honours. In 2015, Les Barea secured the African Beach Soccer Championship by defeating two-time defending champions Senegal to qualify for their first FIFA tournament – unquestionably a fabulous achievement for the nation.

The World Cup adventure itself would turn out to be a lot more complicated. On Portuguese sand, Madagascar found themselves in a formidable group containing subsequent finalists Tahiti, double defending world champions Russia and Paraguay. Despite finishing last in the group, scoring seven goals and conceding 12, the team enjoyed a wonderful adventure and an unforgettable experience. Moreover, the beach soccer side had blazed a trail for their compatriots in 11-a-side football, who dearly wish to emulate their exploits.

A landmark for Les Barea

For decades Madagascar’s national football team endured one disappointment after another, coming up short in their bids to qualify for the World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations and Olympic Football Tournaments. Add to that a string of mediocre performances at the COSAFA Cup, despite a bronze medal in 2015. Indeed, for many years, they faced only two teams with any regularity: Mauritius and Reunion in a triangular tournament between the three francophone nations in the Indian Ocean.

Over the last five years, however, Les Barea have had more success than ever. First with their third-place finish in the COSAFA Cup and then with their historic qualification for the 2019 AFCON, by which time the squad had been much strengthened.

To provide support for experienced veterans like Paulin Voavy, Faneva Andriatsima and Lalaina Nomenjanahary, coach Nicolas Dupuis called up several players born in France. Among them were Romain Metanire, who has had Ligue 1 experience with Metz and Reims, Thomas Fontaine, a former centre-back partner of Kalidou Koulibaly in the French U-20 side, and most notably Jeremy Morel, who has played 24 UEFA Champions League matches in the colours of Marseille and Lyon. These select reinforcements proved pivotal in helping the team reach a new level.

At the AFCON in Egypt, Madagascar topped their group, recording a 2-0 win over a vastly experience Nigeria side en route. Then in the last 16, they prevailed on penalties over a Congo DR side featuring Cedric Bakambu. The adventure ended abruptly in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 reverse to Tunisia, but by then the repercussions were already being felt.

On their AFCON debut, Madagascar had surpassed all expectations and moved an entire nation. On the team’s return to Antananarivo, the scenes of jubilation were such that you could be forgiven for thinking they had won the tournament. A newfound passion swept the island and its impact could extend far beyond the Indian Ocean in the years to come.

Source: fifa.com

source: https://footballghana.com/

If one Moroccan player is to be believed, American referee Mark Geiger was a little star struck during his first match of the 2018 World Cup. Nordin Amrabat claims the MLS official asked Portuguese defender Pepe for his jersey during the first half of the Portugal-Morocco match that saw the North African side eliminated from the World Cup. “It’s incredible, I do not know what this American referee is used to,” Morocco winger Amrabat told Dutch television networkNOS after the match. “He was very impressed by Cristiano Ronaldo, and I heard from Pepe that he asked for Pepe’s shirt in the first half. “Come on, man, we’re here at a World Cup, it’s not a circus!” That wasn’t the only complaint Morocco had about Geiger. Karim El Ahmadi criticised him for missing a foul on Ronaldo’s fourth minute goal that proved the decisive tally. ENGLAND COACH GARETH SOUTHGATE INJURED WHILE JOGGING England had the day off from training, but that didn’t stop one of their ranks from picking up a knock. Head coach Gareth Southgate was going for a run in Repino near the England base camp when he fell and dislocated his right shoulder. He addressed reporters with his arm in a sling after the incident. “I might not be celebrating any goals as athletically in future!” Soughgate said. “It is better this is me than one of the players,” he added. MEXICO FEDERATION FINED 10,000 SWISS FRANCS FOR OFFENSIVE FAN CHANTS FIFA’s investigation into Mexican fan chanting has concluded and the federation has been assessed a “minor” fine of 10,000 Swiss Francsfor “discriminatory and insulting chants” during their 1-0 win over Germany. Mexican supporters were clearly heard chanting at goalkeeper Manuel Neuer during his goal kicks throughout the match. “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) with a fine of CHF 10,000 for the misconduct of a group of Mexican fans (cf. art. 67 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code) in relation to discriminatory and insulting chants during the first half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup match played between Germany and Mexico,” FIFA wrote in a statement. Javier Hernandez took to Instagram to urge the country’s supporters to stop the anti-gay chant. “To all Mexican fans in the stadiums, don’t shout ‘pu…’,” he said. “Let’s not risk another sanction.” Mexico weren’t the only ones fined. Serbia were also docked 10,000 Francs “for the display of an offensive and political banner by Serbian fans during the match played between Serbia and Costa Rica.” Source link The post World Cup Ticker: Geiger asks for Pepe’s jersey, Southgate injured while jogging, and more appeared first on 10z Soccer. #WorldCup #MarkGeiger #GarethSouthgate

Mexico gets $10,000 fine for homophobic fan chants against Germany

The Mexico Football Federation was hit with a $10,000 fine for what FIFA called “discriminatory and insulting chants” from fans during the team’s win over Germany.

Mexican fans lobbed homophobic chants at Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer during Sunday’s game, and after FIFA opened an investigation, they elected to fine the federation for the chants.

“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) with a fine of CHF 10,000 for the misconduct of a group of Mexican fans (cf. art. 67 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code) in relation to discriminatory and insulting chants during the first half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup match played between Germany and Mexico,” FIFA said in a statement, via ESPN.

“The decision was passed after a thorough assessment of the relevant match reports, the FMF’s precedents and the evidence provided, which included videos of the incidents as well as examples of certain sustainable actions taken by the FMF to raise awareness among its supporters. Moreover, the Disciplinary Committee gave a warning to the FMF, who may face additional sanctions in case of repeated infringements of this type.”

Ultimately, this has been a long-term issue that will hopefully be corrected going forward. Then we can get back to focusing on the awesome parts of Mexico fandom.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2tggs4H

Imaginary Foundation launches into the Dance Music Universe.

We’d say the San Francisco-based Imaginary Foundation is exploring new worlds… Dance Music to be exact, but we’d be lying. The heritage of the brand began in the late 80s in London, U.K. as Anarchic Adjustment, which emigrated to Northern California soon after and became one of the first rave wear companies in the United States. The brand, known for its amazing wearable art, is reaching new minds and hearts within the dance music universe with the perspective of having been there from the very beginning. This makes their latest venture a rebirth of the brand in its actual birthplace, with new generations of ravers becoming aware of Imaginary through social media exposure and a planned presence at several major festivals this year.

Imaginary Foundation brand catalogue includes Tees, Tanks, Sweatshirts, Woven and Jackets for Men and Women, Accessories including backpacks, hats, socks, beanies, pins and stickers as well as Fine Art and print imagery from the original artist behind the brand.

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The Beginning is Near

Ultraverse Jacket

Ultraverse Woven

Ultraverse Woven

Metacreation

Ultraverse Jacket

Orbital High

Knowledge

Gutter Socks

Universe Within

Fresh Music Freaks sat down with Jody, the Head of Operations to pick his brain about this new direction.

FMF: What is the Imaginary Foundation?

JR: The Imaginary Foundation is the cultural outreach outpost of the Imaginary Foundation think tank, formerly of Geneva, Switzerland, now located in a secret location in the Swiss Alps. The stated goal of IF is to bring clarity and serenity to the world by creating art and images which reflect and amplify the good qualities of being a human in the family of mankind.

FMF: Why does the Director stay so secluded?

JR: The Director is very old now, but still hiking 5 – 10 miles a day. He spends much of his time in solitude, meditating and communicating with colleagues around the world. He has given our new direction his blessing.

FMF: The Imaginary Foundation (Brand) has been around since the early 2000’s why the shift into dance music now?

JR: While we’ve been attending raves since the late 80s until now, none of us had actually made it to a big, modern EDM festival until last year’s Lightning in a Bottle. There, we were completely blown away and transformed by the scale and scope the culture had reached. We were also quite surprised to see a whole lot of clothes that looked like ours, but were not made by us. Clearly, we had been significantly influential from outside the festival scene. We decided we needed to bring IF home.

FMF: Why is clothing the medium that was chosen to spread the message? JR: Human beings express their inner selves via what they wear on their outer selves. We want to give people positive ideas and messages they can use to express and transform themselves. Those messages attract more attention when they are worn rather than being read on a sign or printed on a page.

FMF: We have seen some new prints recently that look almost minimal in design compared to some of the early styles…is this a new collection?

JR: We had an opportunity to create some new screen print designs for one of our wholesale accounts, so we devised the Space Agency line, three shirts whose design are inspired by our deep and abiding love for NASA.”

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Wireframe Voyage

Space Agency

Insignia

FMF: The original supporters of the brand already have a strong understanding of your product lines, what can dance music fans expect in the future from iF?

JR: IF has experimented with women’s wear off and on over the years, but we now plan on going full bore with women’s bohemian influenced festival wear that will appeal to multiple generations, styles that will include leggings and cute tops in our unsurpassed all-over sublimation print imagery. We have a very deep and original set of print designs to work with, so expect to see us bringing back all the bangers that have apparently so inspired the other clothing brands in the festival scene. It will all debut at Lightning in a Bottle this year, and then head out to possibly EDC Las Vegas and Oregon Eclipse, and potentially more festivals in the fall.

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Womens Orbital High

Womens Stardust

Women’s Off Shore

FMF: How is iF bridging the gap between the loyal supporters of the brand and this new demographic? JR: We’ve created a new social media channel on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter called The Imaginary Family. We’re hoping that our supporters old and new, dance music fans, festival-goers and anyone else wearing our gear will tag their social media images with our #imaginaryfamily hashtag. We are looking forward to seeing thousands of smiling faces all over the planet by this time next year.

FMF: Thank you for taking time out of your day to speak with us.

JR: Absolutely and thank you.

Fresh Music Freaks will continue to update the community as new product lines are released.

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©Imaginary Foundation

©Imaginary Foundation

©Imaginary Foundation

©Imaginary Foundation

©Imaginary Foundation

©Imaginary Foundation

  About Imaginary Foundation:

The Imaginary Foundation is a think tank from Switzerland that does experimental research on new ways of thinking and the power of the imagination. They hold dear a belief in human potential and seek progress in all directions. The small clandestine team is headed up by the mysterious “Director,” a 70-something über-intellectual whose father founded the Dadaist movement. Avoiding direct publicity, the team has sought clothing as an unlikely vehicle for bringing their ideas beyond the academic realm and into popular culture.

In his vision for the Imaginary Foundation, the Director knew that the human mind has more than one mode, that indeed it has an “ecology” of being. He knew that imagination, intuition, inspiration are basic to psyche… A philosophy of research began to form: imagination as fundamental to all learning; artistic making as a model of integrating vision, materials, structure, and imagery.

“What makes true vision is the poetry of life and the richness of nature”

The Foundation’s basis has been a strong sense of community, free inquiry, creativity, and the experimental spirit. Over the years the Foundation has generated a critical mass of creative people in many different fields, for whom it’s been a catalyst for experimentation and innovation.

“The Imaginary Foundation is a crazy and magical place, and the electricity of its members seems to make for a wonderfully charged atmosphere, so that sometimes before sessions one becomes excited and a little anxious, as though a thunderstorm were sweeping in.”

  Imaginary Foundation is moving forward with a passion for spreading their message…

“Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known.”

Want to get involved and help spread the message?

Social media influencers are encouraged to contact Imaginary Foundation HERE

Follow Imaginary Foundation and Join the Community Below:

 FACEBOOK FAMILY: TWITTER FAMILY : INSTAGRAM FAMILY

WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM

Welcome to the Universe! Imaginary Foundation launches into the Dance Music Universe. We'd say the San Francisco-based Imaginary Foundation is exploring new worlds… Dance Music to be exact, but we'd be lying.

#ArtLivesHere

It all starts with an inquisitive child, eyes wide open, held tilted forward, right on the edge of the frame. The problem with children – or at least mine own biggest problem with them – is that they always ask the difficult questions. It is no surprise that in some of our cultures children are usually discouraged, sometimes violently, from asking too many questions. It is even worse, I found out on Wednesday evening at the Blend Restaurant and Bar, when the question is a silent one. A stare. That is, when one is tasked with interpreting a child’s silent stare. Which is exactly what Mo Matli’s lens burdened us with at her maiden exhibition “Intrinsic Melanin” for Bloem First Fridays. The photograph of the boy is one of many adorning the Blend’s meshed wall. The boy with the menacing poser is staring down at us as we ask Rashid Vries, the main model of this exhibition, if as a person living with albinism feels black, or black “enough”. What is blackness vele? And what are the degrees to blackness – how much of it is enough? Is it the melanin perhaps? I choose to go with the photographer on this last one; ‘Intrinsic melanin’. Blackness in not just – to correct Biko’s formulation – a question of pigmentation. It is intrinsic in the centuries of dispossession (of land, labour and sense of being) that mark us all. No amount of pigmentation variations – be it natural as in the case of albinism or cosmetic as in bleaching – can alleviate blackness. Try as you might! (And I secretly root for those who try; who wouldn’t wanna escape?). I hear the boy whisper Fanon’s sagacious words to my ears; “I am over-determined from without. I am a slave not of the “idea” that others have of me but of my own appearance.” Kids and their bloody questions! I panic; can we move past the albinism of Rashid? Is he not a beautiful man – of course he is! That is the reason Mo shot him. Did he not just say he’s an engineering student? How did he manage to make the transition to being a model? And would he be doing more of this modelling thing? Can. We. Just. Not. Make. Him. A. Slave. Of. His. Appearance? We all know what that is like – it is our collective pain. We enter and nervousness engulfs the room. We attract security escorts in shops. We don’t get served in restaurants. Then why do we do it to him! But we were enslaved by his appearance – do albinos make albino babies? The boy in the top right corner of the wire mesh quizzically, even whimsically, asks a question that would’ve saved us four centuries of msunery had we knew the power to pose the question when the three ships docked at the cape; ‘aninyi perhaps?’ A question Ayanda Mabulu asks of white patrons of the #Amandla![Re]form,Debate,[Re]dress? exhibition catalogue book launch at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum the very next evening. The exhibition has been running from December last year, and it is one of the few that is decidedly black – in both the artists and the subject matter. Also curated by a black woman – another “milestone” in the museum’s history. Laughable really, the whole thing, were it not so painful. And indeed the artwork was painful. On opening night in December I thanked my imposed masculinity for not breaking down in tears when I confronted Reatile Moalusi’s photograph – titled #FMF III – of protesting students holding a placard with the words “police we are your children”. I was, in the words of Ayanda, paining. And this pain permeated through most of the artwork on display. This was, after all, ‘resistance art’. On the Thursday however, as I walked up to the Museum, I was joyously singing Makeba’s version of ‘Bahlelibonke etironkweni’. I was dancing even. Not one iota of my being told me there was something intrinsically wrong about finding joy in a song – a lamentation really – about black people (someone’s parent, child, lover) languishing in jail for daring to be. Enter Ayanda! I got to the museum and like a dog wishing to mark territory headed straight to the loo. The song still ringing in my head. I went straight for Moalusi’s photograph afterwards – it elicited fokol in me. I moved right along. All the artworks were quite. Boring even. So I gave them all a cursory look just to maintain my lie as a cultured person (we are responsible for the upkeep of our lies). One oil painting did manage to insult me though; Martin Steyn’s ‘Die land is ons land.’ A white man laying languorously on a large expanse of land. But only enough for a ‘Nxa!’ I went and took a seat and waited for the show – for that’s what it was, pre-Ayanda, a show – to get started. Sooner it ends, sooner I can check-in and say something banal like “what a lit time we had at Oliewenhuis” and live another day known as the patron of the arts. But Ayanda wasn’t about that life. When asked to introduce himself, after the flurry of self-congratulatory speeches from those involved for doing something so “radical” and other artists had literally just stood at the podium and said “Hi my name is….” and left, Ayanda recited ithakazelo zakhe. At their tale end he excused the ‘unsophisticated juvenile tongues’ of our paler counterparts and gave them a pass to just call him Ayanda. It got uncomfortable; but the kind of discomfort that makes things ‘lit’, that will have us tweet ‘bars!’, but threatens very little. He too must have noticed he was playing into the masochism (we seem to enjoy performing our pain) of the zeitgeist; a candidate for a meme. He went further. “We are not entertainers…we are not going to dance for you.” Some uncomfortable laughter could be discerned. Loso logolo ditshego akere? But how long will we hide behind laughter? He goes deeper. “You are worthy to be protested.” He tells the 1652s. We are now lodged in Fanon’s black abyss. There is no way we could laugh our way out of this one. Someone attempts to clap him off the podium. “Wait I am not done!” He must have heard IceBound on how applause kills. “This is not art…this is our pain!” He stands in front of Asanda Kupa’s “Situation right now.” A painting that painfully reminds one of the haunting line “the children are flying, bullets are dying” in Makeba’s ‘Soweto Blues’. Indeed this is our pain, it is not something to pretty up some dining room in Woodlands. “Fuck that! And fuck you.” He leaves the mic and walks away. “Thank you,” the curator, Tshegofatso Seoka, walks calmly to the stage, smiling away all that just happened. Time for the formalities is over, we hear, now let’s go mingle. But clearly her smile and infectious charm are not enough, she comes back after leaving the podium to disclaim that “Ayanda’s views” (not our collective pain, our immutable truth; just one man’s views in the melee of our wonderful freedom of competing ‘views’) do not represent the museum nor anyone who cares to distance themselves from such ‘anti-nation building’ sentiments. So much for encouraging debate! On Friday though at Pacofs “Lipstick” was looking to entertain and dance for us. But the perennial party-pooper I am (what with my constant search for meaning), what was meant to excite my baser instincts, led me to some very uncomfortable questions regarding black sensuality and femininity – the later a topic any black man must avoid like a plague in these perilous times. (Hotep policing alert!). It would seem to me, from the show and elsewhere, that black South African sensuality and femininity (I point out femininity specifically as it has been assigned by patriarchal determinism as the bastion of sensuality) is couched in white femininity on one extreme and black American sensuality at the other. It was quite telling that the women on stage all wore blond silky weaves, and displayed the Monroesque damsel in distress and non-patriarchy threatening feme fatale type of femininity. One that is very white in character. In this instance they looked to the music that'd be churned at a Mystic Boer karaoke night. All not local – important point this. When they got sensual, seductive, they looked to the Trace playlist; of course your girl B! led the pack. Again – all American. Femininity – white . Black – hypersexuality. This dichotomy is worth annals of literature. But let us not digress, the question here is where is our organic femininity and sensuality – one rooted in the soil of you will. The music says it all as to how the writer and director imagine femininity and sensuality. It is here that we need the wisdom of king Hlaudi's 90%. Music (and culture in general) influences how people imagine themselves. Music in particular speaks specifically to how we imagine ourselves in the libidinal economy. It is worth noting that when Hlaudi took the logical decision to play 90% local music on public radio, the loudest critics where Metro FM’s Sunday’s ‘love movement’ listeners. They begged profusely that 90% not apply here; as there simply weren’t enough romantic songs locally. Dare not ask what is more romantic than Masekela’s ‘Marketplace’ or Mahlasela’s ‘Kuyobanjani’. It became apparent then that South Africans don’t deem ourselves capable loving – being romantic – on our own terms (not that we do much on our own terms, the colony we are). This is especially surprising from a people that (admittedly mostly when selling ourselves to tourists) describe ourselves as ‘musical’. We can compose a struggle song one time! – as Tatz Nkonzo ably demonstrated – but to express the love in our heart, we need to cross the sea and search for our dictionaries and twangs (the current Lesedi FM TV advert is a welcomed deviation from this abnormality). This is highly disturbing. It also explains why Babes Wodumo blew up so big; despite a largely mediocre album. She represented something that has been absent from South Africa’s popular imagination for a long time; authentic township black female sensuality. Lipstick though stuck to the colonial script; no “I love Hansa and fucking” Brendaesque ‘bad girl’ sensuality, or cheesegirl fragile femininity was invoked. Never mind a new kind of black femininity or sensuality outside the confines (be it submission or rejection) of patriarchy being imagined anew. But because God is a lesbian and o hana ka seatla, there was another happening not too far (listen to me lie!) from Pacofs where we could surely not suffer the dearth of local music. Protential Inc. was hosting ‘Love & Hip Hop’ at Club Zanadu. The people were beautiful; all seemed to be genuinely happy to see us. We were home. We were happy. The line-up was packed, the stage was never lonely – Mafia Code especially owned that space, their energy and fresh sound (christened Koriana-Trap) puts them miles apart of most upcoming and established artists. The bar too. Conversation centred around there – a few pleasantries were exchanged, not enough insults, and mild curves all fought for space on that counter. The pool tables too had plenty of company. It was a Dostoyevsky paradise – everyone had somewhere to turn to. Local music too aplenty – but the incorrigible amongst us insisted that the DJ must play local local music, from Bloemfontein, from the Free State. “Don’t all these rappers dotting the place have EPs? Play those!” But they were sad to learn that rappers were begged to submit music for the playlist but dololo. ‘So what to can must happen?’ the organisers asked. These people and their bloody questions! We thus failed dismally to Hlaudirise that set. CJ though – still very much part of Simple Stories! – heeded Hlaudi’s leadership somewhat on Saturday evening at the Blend. His set, an eclectic mix of original compositions and covers, had a healthy dose of South African covers. One novel thing he did was to cover a living and still active South African artist – Zahara. This was refreshing as our local artists, on the rare occasion that they do cover local songs (ironic this), stick with the dead – the “legends” (another word Rampolokeng warns us about). I guess this gives credence somewhat to Mosoeu’s gripe that all black people are good for is dying. CJ and his girlfriend also set the bar high, and simultaneously cut wings of unsupportive lovers, by Skyping throughout his performance – twas the romantic thing ever! So long as there is an IP address no lovers should be apart on such occasions. He dedicated a song to the three of us sitting in the front row, about women who bluetick us kanti they’re curving the greatest experience they could ever have. He was right, as least in my case (coz vele mna yhu ndiGreat, ndiWow, in this thing of loving), and for that I will give him a pass for (correctly, we must concede) assuming our sexuality and relationship status. We were all shocked when he confessed, on a Beyoncé classic, to having a big dick – aaram skepsel. But artist are known for revealing a bit too much of themselves. We just sang along; sans the confession. He led us through a medley of emotions and genres. We travelled from RSA to UK to USA and back home. All the time, like a good captain, he kept us in the loop. And landed us safely into the comfortable bosom of the night. A lovely cloudy cool night. We were free to do the things that made the pots disappear. When all was said and done, all that could be done the Sunday after the Saturday was braai meat, recount our failures and plan for more so that we can fail better next time, all because #ArtLivesHere.

FMF: May 2017 Round-up Post

Hello dear Fannibals, and welcome to this month’s Fresh Meat Friday’s roundup post! Many thanks to our wonderful reccers for their generous comments to the artists and writers who have inspired them.

Learn more about #Fresh Meat Friday here!

ARTIST

@mindyoursugarlevels​ recc’ed by @hotsauce418​ “Every piece of art makes you want to write something for it! There is this overwhelming sweetness to it and they make me discover kinks I didn’t know I had, I’m just trying to live my life!”

@le-wendigogo​ recc’ed by @lovecrimemp3 “My pick this week is the artist @le-wendigogo because their hannigram art is fucking gorgeous, it makes me go ;u;”

 @curiouscanvas​ recc’ed by @redfivewritingby​ “Loved the sharp lines against the soft and dark color palette. The composition felt very much like Chiyo herself, all hard angles with and underlying gentleness.”

@toni-of-the-trees​ recc’ed by @matildaparacosm​ “I love their “doodles trash”:the body positions,hannigram scars,the softness of these beautiful drawings,and their Spacedogs are just adorable.”

WRITER 

@aglassroseneverfades​ recc’ed by @aksst for The Fairy’s Bride. “@aglassroseneverfades​ author of The Fairy’s Bride writes the most incredible angst and smut AND fluff. He is the ultimate triumvirate writer “

@purplesocrates​ recc’ed by @begintoblur for Timing. “I’d like to rec @purplesocrates ‘s work Timing, I am really enjoying this, the similar setting to the series, but Hannibal being a watch maker/repairer. It fits in so perfectly with some of the shows quotes!”

@fataldrum​ recc’ed by @pragnificent​ for All Sad Words of Tongue and Pen. “This is one of the first fics that I read when I entered the fandom, and it has haunted me ever since. It’s a poetic wonder of a fic, horrifying and beautiful, and I can’t speak highly enough of it.”

@fatal-fic recc’ed by @blind-inviting-alleys for Fate and Circumstance. “For this month’s @freshmeatfriday i’m reccing a deliciously sexy (and unexpectedly poignant) story by @fatal-fic​ that features teamwork between hannigram and marlana, as a means to a beautiful end.”

 @redfivewritingby​ recc’ed by @arydishope​ for Maneater. “A fun story with a serious plot that has some fun twists in it. This has been a truly delightful read and I can’t wait to read what happens next.”

@thisismydesignhannibal​ recc’ed by @graham-muffin​ for Of Stillness and Flight. “This fic has Chiyoh characterized perfectly, a beautiful prose and an exciting ending. <333”

@death-stranded​ recc’ed by @fancybedelia​ for Bodyparts. “This fic reads as little glimpses into Hannibal and Will’s lives after the cliff.  It creates a quiet, intimate atmosphere that’s wonderful to read, and it carries them from the night of their fall to their settling in Cuba, as well as their settling with each other.”

 @beatricenius​ recc’ed by @victorineb​ for Aphorism 146. “It’s beautifully written and with the most amazing insight into Will as a character (there’s one line in particular that describes him so very perfectly, I legitimately gasped when I read it). It is stunning work and I urge you to go read

@pragnificent​ recc’ed by @fhimechan​ for Identically Different. “The backstory switch allows for some great characterisation, the dialogues are tense and sharp and the plot is dark and intriguing!

@northernveil recc’ed by @radioxsilence​ for where you can always find me. “In a nutshell, the series asks how Will & Hannibal can possibly go forward together given the circumstances of their past and proposes they might use a very loose sort of puppy play as a framework. It is interesting, different, and very nicely written.”

 @apoptoses​ recc’ed by @littlethingwithfeathers​ for These Amorous Rites. “This one is fresh indeed! A smoldering, delightful rare-pair published just last night! The overworked Dr. Struensee has a delightful and invigorating romp with the coquettish Earl of Essex.”

@thisismydesignhannibal​ and @idontfindyouthatinteresting​ recc’ed by @hotsauce418​ for Le Petit Morte. “They both let their playful sides come through as they learn what pushes each other’s buttons. But even in play, neither of them can help wanting to push the other as far as they can go…as always.

MissDisoriental recc’ed by @electrarhodes​ for This Dangerous Game. “‘This Dangerous Game’ is an exceptional piece of writing, creating a convincing Victorian era drama, set against the backdrop of the Jack the Ripper casefiles.”

 @phenobarbitalfiction​ recc’ed by @cinnamaldeide​ for Exit Wound. “ I’m proposing this short story from @phenobarbitalfiction, since I enjoyed so much it and I suspect I will not be the only one!”

@hotsauce418​ recc’ed by @meduszoa​ for All Balls. “Want some smut to go? You’ll love @hotsauce418‘s Tonny (Pusher) x Adam Towers (Royale Instinct 2) single chapter fic.”

 @shiphitsthefan​ recc’ed by @meduszoa​ for Tomorrow, More Sun. “Or maybe you want to start the weekend by reading a multichapter fic, with lots of comfort and slow-paced sex. @shiphitsthefan‘s fic for Nigel (Charlie Countryman) x Lee Fallon (The Big C) is one of my all time favourites.”

Murdergatsby recc’ed by @meduszoa​ for One Night. “But if you’re ready to get invested on a new WIP, you need to check murdergatsby’s fic for Le Chiffre (Casino Royale) x Buddy (Evening).”

 @youandihavebeguntoblur recc’ed by @it-takes-two-to-catch-one​ for Death feels more like a memory. “The fic is written with deep and intense emotions, emphasizing with what the characters are going through; doubts, fear, guilt… love.”

@lovecrimemp3​ recc’ed by @miasmatik​ for Low Lays the Devil. “It’s a high school AU set in the 90′s featuring sassy, grunge-phase Will and smug-as-ever/still-a-cannibal Hannibal. It’s also loosely based off the movie “Halloween” (!!!) so it’s got some great spooky elements to it too!”

@staticraining recc’ed by @rubybakeneko for Götterdämmerung. “It is full of gorgeous details and memorable lines, and it contains a gradual evolution of Will and Hannibal’s relationship that is both touching and realistic.”

The next Fresh Meat Friday will be on June 30th! Stay hungry!