I forgot i had his note from a WIP 😭😭😭😭

Thanks for answering my question! I hope it’s acceptable for me to suggest you Dallas Dalmatian from 101 Dalmatian Street!

Puppy diva

Unable to take her eyes off the shimmering emerald flames, until his voice calmly brought her back to reality.

"Princess," he said, offering a stack of scrolls. "These are the documents you were searching for."

Rather than taking a closer look at them, grieving over their discoloured and dry parchment, she looked up at Long Feng. Curiosity sparked in her eyes as they roamed over his appearance.

In that moment, he sensed her studying him with the same intensity as when she first laid eyes on him. Causing his defence to break … but then noticing the glint of comparison in her gaze and the way her expression remained gentle only added to his frustration.

As their eyes connected, the truth hung silently between them. Without words, she seemed to be asking for understanding, for empathy. And despite his initial resistance, he felt drawn to her vulnerability, to the raw honesty in her gaze.

Long Feng wanted to believe she did it out of embarrassment; lowering her gaze, but her attention now rested on the parchments which he once took from Wan Shi Tong's library.

Carefully, she accepted them, her delicate fingers brushing against his. It was difficult for him to resist holding onto her hand, especially knowing that someone had exposed her to the fire's heat.

Hesitantly, she opened the scrolls, skimming the written text. Then falling into an increasing haste, and rising to read the others.

Eventually, a realization dawned on her and she looked up at him with desperation in her eyes.

"Everything is lost."

Long Feng remained stoic.

"Of what do you speak, if I may inquire?“ he asked, as if he hadn't seen the curse on her body, that she was trying to hide.

"Zhao burnt everything – every bit of knowledge about the Fire Nation. And Wan Shi Tong..."

Her voice caught in her throat as she struggled to breathe, yet still managed to pull back the sleeve of her robe, exposing wounds that resembled claw marks.

"…is letting me bear the responsibility.“

if there is an anime adaptation and there are two girls that are together or like. basically together. i know way too much about it even if i haven’t watched it personally

Last month when I was buying makeup at Walmart for my brother's wedding I was really upset about it. Because I don't wear makeup. But there are certain things it's just not hygenic so share so I was getting shit you put in your eyes and a lipstick just to wear once and then never again. I got cheap ones but still like it sucks and for me is a complete waste of money so I felt crappy about it. To make myself feel a little bit better I went to the toy aisle to buy a Na Na Na Surprise doll that I had my eye on and was driving me crazy. It was marked down to $11 too which I had no problem justifying to myself. And by the time I was leaving the makeup aisle I saw a little kid in their mom's carriage eagerly holding. The same doll. I hope that kid is as happy with Liling Luck as I am.

I think the term self-sabotage is really mean and hurtful and I’d prefer you not accuse me of it even if it’s true

I worked until like 3am on Tuesday night so I watched all of season two of You yesterday because I didn’t have any brain cells and my takeaway today is. I could fix Love Quinn.

I Believe What You Said [James Wilson x Reader]

I have been bingewatching House, and I fell back in love with the adorable golden retriever of an oncologist. And I actually managed to write!

Warnings: hinted smut, female reader, reader has a last name (there is a reason), no use of y/n, House is House, reader is 30

“You called a hooker to the hospital? I’m telling mom!” Wilson sighed and went to apologise but the woman with him merely laughed, “then I guess you won’t want to hear about my two for one special? I’m told it’s knee-trembling.” “Oh I like her, hire her again.” “I don’t think he’s going to go away any time soon, I’ll see you later?” The woman smiled softly at Wilson and nodded. “Yeah. Thanks James.” As she reached the door she stopped and glanced back at the two men, “nice to meet you House.” “So, you got her card? How much does she charge an hour?” “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” Wilson sighed heavily, settling back into his chair. “What do you want House?” “I want to know who the hot piece of ass in your office was.” House wiggled his eyebrows. “You’re disgusting. And it may come as a surprise to you, but sometimes people other than you actually come to consult me on cases. Now, what did you want?” “Oh, I’ve got something way more interesting to look into now.” House grinned, making his way back towards the door and leaving a baffled oncologist behind him.

“So, who’s the hot new doctor you hired?” “Hello to you too House.” Cuddy hummed, not looking up from her computer. “I haven’t hired any new doctors.” “Well there’s no way Wilson has the balls to bring a hooker to a hospital. Short, stupid accent, wears a lot of black, doesn’t quite have your cleavage but-” he cupped his hands around his chest “-about yae big?” “You’re disgusting.” Cuddy huffed. “Why do you care?” “What, I can’t get to know the fourth ex-Mrs Wilson?” He smirked. “You know, I think she’s young enough to be his daughter.” “She’s 30!” “So you do know who she is?!” He looked practically elated, or as elated as House could get, “c’mon mom, little Jimmy gets all the cool new friends.” “She was a trauma surgeon, and if you actually did the clinic hours you were supposed to do you would have met her before now.” Cuddy clicked a few buttons on her computer and smiled, “and would you look at that, your clinic duty starts in ten minutes.” For the first time in months House didn’t whine or complain, instead headed straight for the door and turned in the direction of the clinic.

“He has three ex wives you know.” “Really?” The woman laughed, flicking over the next page in her file, “that’s extremely impressive for a nine year old. I’ll let his mother know.” “Hilarious. Wilson, not little Timmy in there.” She paused, narrowing her eyes at him. “I’m not sure what that has to do with me, or this patient, but I’ll keep it in mind… unless you really were thinking about that two for one offer? Or calling dibs.” She didn’t wait for his response, slipping into exam room two and closing the door. House smiled to himself, picking a random file from the stack. This was going to be fun. Each time he bumped into her while collecting files he asked progressively more personal questions, about her, about her intentions with the oncologist, about her medical history, or just things to get a rise out of her. After his last patient she was just stood by the desk waiting for him, expectantly. “You get one more question.” “So, how many doctors in this hospital have you slept with?” She tapped her finger against her chin, “three. Why, you want to make it four? So you know my family history, how many doctors I’ve slept with, how many times I’ve spoken to your boyfriend this month, and yet you never asked my name. Have fun with that Sherlock.” “Oh please, your name is up there on the clinic rota,” he grumbled, gesturing to the board behind him, “who wastes a question on useless stuff like that?” She just laughed and walked off, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she disappeared through the doors. House, still a little peeved he couldn’t get to her, turned to study the clinic rota. Next to his name, in shiny black letters, ‘Dr. Smith’. Great, just great.

House threw open the door to his office, slightly disappointed that no one on the team jumped any more. “You two, go run a PET scan on the patient's brain. And you,” he gestured his cane at Cameron, “go find me Dr. Smith, tell her I need a consult in Wilson’s office.” “Why would we run-” “Are you going to give me a clue on-” “Out. Daddy needs time to think.” The three stared dumbly at him as he made his way back towards the door. “Go on kiddies, scram.” Sighing the team set off for their different jobs, Cameron muttering to herself about how many Dr Smith’s there must be in this hospital. House headed in the other direction, still thinking, until he stopped outside Wilson’s door. Rapping his cane against the wood three times he pushed open the door and walked in. “What are you up to?” “I believe that’s usually my line. Hello House.” The older man made a childish noise and dropped himself on the office sofa, “with this Dr Smith. Did you know she’s slept with three Doctors in this hospital? I mean, I can’t blame them, that ass is amazing-” “You’re a pig. And what I’m doing is working…” Wilson hummed, staring at his papers for a few moments before dropping them on the desk, “how do you know how many doctors she’s slept with?” “Apparently we share clinic hours. So, you’re trying to be the fourth or what?” “No, no, we are not doing this. Since when do you do your clinic hours?” “Since there was something interesting in there.” House smirked, “so you are trying to be number four?” “House,” Wilson frowned at his friend, tone hardening slightly, “I am not answering that question.” “So I can be number four? Sweet, wonder if she meant it about that two for one deal. Think Cuddy would be in?” “No and no.” “So you are interested in her,” House grinned, “Wilson’s got a girlfriend!” “Men and Women can be friends, even if the woman in question has an amazing ass,” Wilson sighed “you happy now?” “Ecstatic. What about you?” Wilson’s head whipped towards the door, where Dr Smith was leaning against the doorframe. “I think I could hear a few more compliments. You wanted me?” “Yeah, my place about 8?” She chuckled and shook her head at the diagnostician. “Still not the best offer in the room, Cameron said you wanted a consult?” “Yeah, got a patient suffering from a heartbreaking lack of sex.” He grumbled. “Hire a hooker. Or sweet talk James really nice. Now, is there a real issue or can I go back to my day job?” She glanced between the two, one eyebrow raised. “I do have a patient with hallucinations, hearing voices, the whole shebang. He’s 39.” She hummed, sitting on the couch beside House. “This is new?” “Yep.” “Very late onset for schizophrenia, personally I’d be asking the oncologist not the psych.” “Tumour is a possibility.” Wilson agreed, wandering over to the couch as well. “Great, good thing I asked them to scan his brain.” House sighed, pushing himself to his feet. After he left the woman smiled at Wilson, “so, you want to get a coffee and go over that case?” “I’d love to.”

“So my ass is amazing huh?” Dr. Smith grinned, grin only widening as she watched the oncologist splutter, his face turning red. “I can’t believe House did that to me.” “Oh I can, Cameron went to like eight Dr Smith’s before she got to me, and so do you. But that’s not an answer Dr Wilson.” Wilson sighed, staring hard at the spill now on the table. “I was just winding House up.” She hummed, taking a careful sip of her coffee. “Well that’s a shame, ‘cause now I can’t say the same thing back without getting written up for harassment.” More of the coffee splashed onto the table, “you… what?” “I’m not blind.” Wilson just stared blankly at her, a pink flush sitting prettily across his cheeks. “But you’re… you know I’m a decade older than you right?” “You know I’m too old to care right?” She stared him down, though her lips still turned up at the corners ever so slightly. “You can say no, I got over being offended by that back in college.” “Well that has to be a lie. It’s not that I want to say no-” “So, Thursday night? I finish at 7.” Wilson could only watch, stunned, as she downed the rest of her coffee and walked off.

“There’s something wrong with her, and I’m going to find it,” House grumbled as he limped back into the office, throwing his badge onto the table, “one of you go pretend to be me in the clinic, I’m busy.” “You stole another doctor's personal file?” Cameron gaped. “I’m not even surprised.” Foreman sighed. House made shoo-ing motions as he sat behind his desk, starting to flip through the file. Less than an hour later he was slamming the file back down on Wilson’s desk. “She’s broken, thats why you want her.” “Ah yes, I definitely can’t like a gorgeous woman because she’s gorgeous.” His eyes flicked to the file and back to the computer, “of course you stole her notes. I’m disappointed but not surprised.” “She has depression.” House snapped. “That makes two of us.” “She can’t have kids.” “Ah yes, because my plan was to knock her up on the first date.” House narrowed his eyes. “You’re taking her on a date.” Wilson’s retort was interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by the person they’d just been discussing poking her head inside. “Bad time?” “No, it’s fine.” Wilson hummed, smiling softly. “You need me?” “Both of you actually,” her eyes drifted over the file on the desk, “you know, I’m not morally opposed to punching a cripple when they deserve it. You want copies of all my nudes too?” House grinned. “Yes.” “Ask James for them later, there’s a weird case in the clinic.” She grinned, nodding towards the door. “And since you have enough free time on your hands to steal my notes, you have enough free time to come look at this.” “You have nudes already?” Wilson frowned. “No?” “Not yet, hence the later. Keep up House.” As she walked off the two men glanced at each other, Wilson frowning at his best friends wicked grin. This was going to be a nightmare.

Thursday evening finally rolled around and the two doctors found themselves seated at a pretty nice restaurant, glasses of wine beside their plates and soft piano music trickling through the air. The woman smiled, leaning forwards slightly towards her date. “You know he followed us right?” She chuckled, nodding her head slightly. “Two tables over. You sure I’m not interrupting something between you two?” “Only him monopolising all my free time.” Wilson groaned, rubbing his temples. “I’m sorry about him.” “Don’t be, if I didn’t think I could handle him I wouldn’t be here. You don’t work at Princeton Plainsboro for years without knowing all about Gregory House.” She laughed. “Besides, he’s good fun to mess with.” “I’m glad,” Wilson smiled softly, “not that he’s messing with you, just that you don’t mind.” She gently rested her hand over his. “I finally managed to get you out on a date, a grumpy diagnostician with a fixation is not ruining this for me.” “Finally… you flatter me.” She shrugged, “I don’t really flatter people, but if it's working then I’m happy-” she sipped from her wine “-I’d be even happier if you agreed to come to my place and try some of my wines after this. I have quite the collection.” He blushed prettily, taking another sip of his own drink before nodding. “I. I think I would like that.” She smiled, taking another bite of her pasta. Wilson did the same, smiling back at her. Once their plates were empty and the last of the wine had disappeared she reached out and offered him her hand. As they walked past the table where House was sat she bent down and murmured into his ear ‘there are easier ways to get a threesome’ before walking out of the restaurant hand in hand with the oncologist. “I may have overexaggerated how good my wine collection is.” “I may not have really cared about the wine.” She laughed, pulling him to a stop so she could lean up and press her lips into his. “Good. My apartment is just around the corner, and I’m running low on patience.” If they both sped up their steps a little, and if they ended up pressed against each other outside her door too impatient to wait just a moment longer for the door to be opened, then there was no one there to judge them.

The next morning she awoke to the chirping of an alarm and the warmth of a body curled around her own. Shifting slightly she smiled to see him still there, floppy hair a mess and brow furrowed slightly as the alarm broke through the last remnants of sleep. “You’re still here.” She murmured, fingers tracing his jaw. “You didn’t think I would be?” He murmured back, eyes still closed as he tried to bury his face against her shoulder. “I’m not necessarily used to it, but I’m glad.” Slowly she rolled over fully, pressing the front of her body against his and feeling him pressing back against her. “Mmmh, think we can get away with being late?” His eyes cracked open and he smiled, pressing his lips against hers softly. “If you’re as good as you were last night we won’t be.” Grinning wickedly she rolled him over onto his back, her hips straddling his. “Dr Wilson, you know all the right things to say.” “James. Call me James.”

And so I bid PitBabe farewell. Who'd have thunk that I'd enjoy an Omegaverse car racing BL? Not me that's for sure. Pavel makes me slightly feral though so maybe it's not a complete surprise.

Tony got his comeuppance from Kenta - poor, damaged boy. I hope Pete gets over his brief Way crush and looks after him for the rest of his life. Alan and Jeff were perfection - just gorgeous. 10/10, no notes. Still not sold on Pooh as Charlie but hey, you can't have everything.

Casting niggles aside, it was great. I didn't need to go to 1.5 speed ONCE, which is kinda amazing. The NC scenes were nicely done and seemed to get more, I dunno, revealing? as the show progressed - possibly mirroring the increased emotional intimacy? Plus the production quality was high - it must have cost a bomb with all the racing/car destruction etc.

The complete absence of women was quite striking. I mean, they obviously exist - we saw a few in the background sometimes but I suppose if you're going to go Omegaverse then you might as well go full throttle (heh). I also quite liked the rejigging of the traditional A/B/O lore as well. If I'm going to have to watch mpreg let it be an Alpha.

SO - good bingewatch, most satifying. Now what to binge next? Something recent? Love for Love's Sake seems to have a good rep. Or something from my enforced BL drought last year - I Feel You Linger In The Air? Answers on a postcard please,

My Top 10 BL's of 2023

I am back with my personal top 10 of 2023. I know I've been super quiet these days but making a top 10 is always fun to do. The #1 has been decided early this past year but for the rest... It was a crazy year for BL but only a few were really top tier...🔥🔥

10. My Personal Weatherman (Taikan Yoho)

One of the Japanese BL's I really enjoyed watching. It was more grown up then the ones I've seen and that was very welcome. I love the dynamics between the main characters a lot. It was a bit of a slow one, with the lack in communication between the two but I forgive that because the chemistry was really good.

09. Wedding Plan

Oh how i looked forward to this one, the second I saw the trailer. I loved the storyline but I thought it was very short, which made them rush through it at times, which was a shame because it was actually really good and I just wanted to see more. I loved the chemistry between Sailom and Namnuea, So I really enjoyed watching them. They are very new if I'm correct but I didn't notice it at all, so hopefully they will get another BL together but a longer one. Also I love the GL in this BL, it was very natural and I in the end hoped they would be the ones that got to marry. Not to forget about the cameo;s of my babies Payu and Rain and of course Prapai and Sky.

08. Moonlight Chicken

This one I've waited for so so long and it was kind of a surprise because I love EarthMix, Like Mix is my man but my attention got taken away from them and got attached to GemFourth who played Li Ming and Heart. I just loved everything about them! I loved how they incorporated Sign language because Heart was deaf and just the overall chemistry between them, was everything. They made me smile so much. Jim and Wen, you know were amazing as well but I sometimes felt frustrated by their interaction. The close moments they had were amazing of course but it was not what I expected from EarthMix but overall this drama was definitely worth the wait!

07. Kiseki: Dear to Me

I absolutely loved this one. I couldn't get enough of it. I am a sucker for the Hate to Love trope and this had exactly that and in a gangster way. Like I loved it. ZeRui and Bangyi were made for each other and you can't tell me otherwise how he went to prison for ZeRui and even got hurt but he still decided to dedicate his bakery to him with his Strawberry cakes, ugh too cute. The second couple made me want even more. The sassiness of Ai Di and the coldness of Chen Yi, they were really something. The way Chen Yi didn't realize that Ai Di loved him until he went to prison or that one hot night made me slap my forehead because nothing was more obvious, so I can not explain how happy I was they finally got together in the end!!

06. My School President

This really was a GemFourth year because this was their first leading BL and boy how they won us over with their cuteness. The OST was also seriously top tier. I think I loved all the songs. This entire Cast was amazing! To think I almost skipped this one...That would've been a mistake for sure, so I'm happy that I decided to give it another try because I fell in love with them and bingewatched it in one go. I can't wait to see the next project from them.!

5. Our Dating Sim

this Korean BL was a welcome one. I loved the office setting of this BL and the fact that the episodes were short as usual, didn't disturb me that much. Their chemistry made up for that! I will never forget how my heart sank when Ki Tae thought Wan had disappeared again, this poor man but I loved how Wan immediately comforted him the second he saw him. I should really rewatch this again.

4. Last Twilight

I know it's still running but I can not leave it out of my top10 for 2023. I am impressed with Jimmy and Sea. These two are everything to me at this moment. Their chemistry is crazy and I am happy they have this BL to show their talents again. I am impatiently waiting every week for the next episode and so far no episode has disappointed me, which is rare tbh.

3. Sing my Crush

Sing my crush was not even on my radar but the second I came across it, I bingewatched it. I am a sucker for music BL's, where the actors can ACTUALLY sing and play instruments.. I loved it so much. from start to finish. I really think this BL was very underrated. I did not hear a lot of people about it but it definitely deserves more!

2. I feel you linger in the Air

Ever since I saw the trailer, I wanted to see this one badly and boy did it not disappoint! I was in awe every episode. I don't think I've ever seen a Thai Bl that was staged in the past. Also this way of time traveling is one I actually like. As long as no bodies get switched I am loving it. Their chemistry was top notch and those intimate scenes. That kiss in the rain, Art I am telling you and that massage scene, HELLO!! I literally forgot to breathe at that point and my face was almost stuck to the screen, crazy!! So yeah this was a true masterpiece!

01. The Eighth Sense

Let's all act surprised by this one...... what can I say? This one touched my intire being. It touched my soul, My heart everything. I cried, laughed and even cursed at 2 people in particular.. This is the biggest masterpiece of 2023 and nothing can change my mind about this. The way I anticipated every week and felt sad when it ended, ugh!! I just want to praise Oh Jun Taek for the way he acted, because if I'm correct this was his first acting job or at least he is very new but he pulled it of perfectly and Ji sub, I am applauding him for the way he portrayed Jae Won. All I need now is a season 2 or an special episode where we see them do the things Jihyun wanted... like just please!! In al seriousness everything was amazing about this one and that's why it's my number 1

I really do think that the Korean BL's won this round. I feel like they are finally stepping up their game. It's still not as Explicit as Thai or Taiwanese but that's not what I am expecting. I don't always have to have NC scenes because without a story, it's not worth a lot. Overal the Bl's were powerful this year and Top tier. Hopefully next year will bring us even better ones!! <3

hi im sure youve been asked this a million bajillion times before but is there an estimated date for when Friendlocke S3 highlights will start coming to youtube?

Okay so, this is a loaded answer so STRAP IN:

I don't want to rush it this time, so probably sometime before the year ends, and here's why:

For Season 1, I finished editing all of the videos, and then posted them "Bingewatch" style in a short span of 2 weeks. To me? That's optimal.

On the flipside, for Season 2, I rushed myself too hard, and ended up posting stuff WAYYY too early, and thus, Season 2's highlight videos were posted over the span of an entire year (YIKES)

This lead to Friendlocke effectively taking over my channel for a while, which I don't want. I want it to be one of the many series and videos on the channel! And for people who aren't interested to not get bombarded with it over a longer period.

The way Season 2 was handled is NOT happening again. So in an effort to not "grind stuff out for content" and appease the algorithm, I'm taking my time with it alongside a bunch of my bigger projects!

I am in NO RUSH, and I apologize if that stinks to hear, but I want to make sure these videos are REALLY good. Like, on par with previous seasons or even BETTER.

If you want to know my current progress, since you've been so kind to read my word vomit:

The Season is looking to have 6 episodes, much like Season 2!

The way the editing pipeline works for Friendlocke is that it's broken into 3 chunks. The Base Edit, the Salty Edit, and Final Additions.

"Base Edits" are done first, and are the video editing work done by my wonderful Editors (i.e. Tracey, Rusty, RasenDan, e.t.c.)! These edits are where they chop up the best/most important bits, and add some of their own visual/audio gags.

The "Base Edits" of episodes 1-4 are all complete, with 5 and 6 currently being worked on.

The "Salty Edit" is exactly what it sounds like, it's my draft of the Base Edits! I basically do my own round of editing of the previous drafts, making tweaks, adding jokes, and working on scripted segments to stitch events together where needed!

I haven't done much of my edits yet, as I'm focused on the Jojo Iceberg and bringing back some other videos, but I have been working behind the scenes on:

Final Additions! These are usually the last wave of edits, focused on adding in animation, music, and other things. While these are usually added in last, I have to coordinate with artists and animators fairly early on to make sure nobody has to crunch. Basically, as soon as I know a portion needs animation, or we have enough material for it, I talk to them immediately and start planning for it to be added later!

ANYWAY, sorry for the long blurb. Hope this all helps while I keep working on stuff in the meantime!

Æon Flux and the end of all things

I don't remember the first time I heard of Æon Flux but I sure as hell remember the first time I watched it, and it wasn't too long ago which would technically not warrant the level of obsession I have for that shit, but here we are anyway.

I was knocked the fuck out on painkillers, two of my wisdom teeth freshly removed, not even remotely worried about the exam that I had coming up in like two days from then. So I was barely moving away from my swivel chair and sleeping on a whole ass armored pillow to prevent from tossing and turning and shit felt so surreal to me. It was like the eating chair from the last Cronenberg movie. So I delved into Æon Flux essentially blind and bingewatched the shit out of it. Twice. Ended up downloading the whole thing from some sketchy ass 1080p remastered torrent, rewatched it again, and spread it around personally in a more cauterized Google Drive folder (so if you guys got a nasty ass virtual STD from it, my bad I guess), not even a month after watching the series. Shit was fucked, in short, and every rewatch just fueled this obsession even further.

(image taken from Episode 1, Season 1)

One thing about me: when I obsess over stuff I want to draw something at the very least inspired by it. Happens to me a lot with Autechre, who are actually one of maybe three bands I would not hesitate to call my favourite based on an absolutely objective principle which is absolutely not up for discussion and which might be the object of a future post at this point. But the point is fucking Æon Flux is essentially impossible to replicate because Peter Chung's character designs are so recognizable that you start seeing them in literally every other movie that came out in the late '90s/early 2000s - and for reference, Æon Flux was brought to an end in 1995. Consequently, all attempts at drawing Æon Flux-inspired stuff end up either feeling very derivative or looking like fucking trash. Artistry is a weird thing because sometimes it inspires other people, other times it just inspires man-slaughtering rage.

Somewhat many of my friends are or have at one point tried to be accomplished visual artists. Some have made it to professional/teaching level, some others have an art school diploma or degree - and I'll be using this space to shout out @coto-letta aka V., who has recently rejoined Tumblr after years of absence. We met on here, when her handle was much different, and I mistook her for an ex of mine (whom, surprisingly, we are still on relatively good - if quiet - terms with) so I slid into her DMs as you do, and she was like "yeah actually I have no clue who the fuck you are I just think your blog is neat and dropped a follow" which was quite a fundamental moment in understanding that while my life was written like a dodgy soap-opera, that didn't mean I was the centre of the entire world. Anyway, the reason I'm shouting her out is because sometimes something deeper and older than you remember has a way of finding you again when you least expect it and that's what happened when in January 2023 (after V. had left Tumblr for at that point about two years and we had exchanged Instagram accounts) I somehow ended up on her Insta and found out she had been tagged in a picture taken somewhere that looked suspiciously like my university's conference hall and I could not fucking believe she was in my city. I slid into her DMs again, as you do, and found out that no, that wasn't my uni's aula magna, but yes, she was in fact relocating in my city for her master's. So we met up after maybe seven years of on-and-off Internet friendship. It's a neat story, sure, but how the fuck do we tie it into Æon Flux?

(image taken from Episode 3, Season 2: Leisure)

Not trying to be overly dramatic here, but Æon Flux to me is just about a condensation of everything that "art" can mean. Not just visual flare or style, not just deep meaning or interesting ways of putting across one or more questions and never a definitive answer to any of them (more often than not, it's sets of possible answers - usually two, neither of which ends up covering the whole array of possibilities, both of which actually leave a lot to be desired in a number of different ways), not just this insane fucking music that toys with everything you expect from animation courtesy of Drew Neumann who may just rank as one of the best soundtrack artists ever in virtue of this single work. It's the whole package. You would think it'd work taken in pieces, and it does, no objection to that: but it works even better as a whole package. If the moral questioning (and the philosophical musings of season 3, which is unjustly underrated because "it's too normal" by hipster wannabe critic dilettantes who like to think that they could do better than that. Everybody else on the other hand is generally able to stop pull their head out their own ass and recognize, at the very least, the excellent craftsmanship and talent that went into the ten long episodes) wasn't accompanied by the weird fetishistic sex it'd be somewhat less impactful, almost like a cauterized Tenshi no tamago made into a series for mainstream late-night TV audiences. The twist was that MTV's executives, at the time, "didn't understand [the double entendres], they didn't even notice them. So, we were okay", in producer Japhet Asher's own words in the short documentary Investigation: The History of Æon Flux. The network was, in fact, trying to break into the mainstream - they simply couldn't keep their creatives at bay. No wonder they turned to Jersey Shore as they went along.

(image taken from Episode 5, Season 3: The Demiurge)

Even just the main characters' purported edginess, clearly something "of its time", is never played entirely straight. Both leads are way too complex, and very clearly presented as such, to be just summed up by "Æon Flux is an anarchist/Trevor Goodchild is a dictator". Both of which are true, by the way, they're just one part of a full picture. Even within the context of its necessary linearity - this is still an animated short and as such moves only in one direction, even though a number of episodes (specifically Mirror and Chronophasia) deliberately fuck with the viewer's perception of times on varying degrees of diegesis and extradiegesis - the series could be perceived as, indeed, a sandbox: consequently, the viewer could set sail and explore it. This is further encouraged by the series's active weirdness to whoever would want to try and make sense of the world's story. There is no history, there is just the story at hand: an eternal present which you can't understand ("un eterno presente che capire non sai": Ferretti knew his shit, regardless of how it went after CCCP) and which Æon and Trevor are not interested in even trying to contextualize. Not a surprise then that they'd be into each other: their closeness in body and heart doesn't exist at the mind's level, and the whole thing falls apart miserably every time it looks like they could be finally let their weapons down. But as Æon completely understands, and as Trevor seems to actively try to ignore, the fight is already the whole point: star-cross'd as they may be, the entire act of playfully hunting each other for sport both in the bedroom and on the battlefield is what Trevor Goodchild and Æon Flux thrive on. Trevor wants stability but an Æon who doesn't fight back is simply not Æon; Æon does not want the stability, but she definitely likes Trevor to an extent and finds more in common with him that she would probably be willing to admit (I would like to thank Tumblr user @brw on thons very good analysis of the episode A Last Time for Everything, which heavily inspired this section of the post!). In short: if Trevor seems to embody Pier Paolo Pasolini's idea that "there is nothing more anarchistic than power" ("non c'è nulla di più anarchico del potere") then Æon flips the statement on its head: "there is nothing more powerful than anarchism". That is, of course, until we once again confront my signature ad-hoc elephant in the room that this statement just summoned.

(Image taken from Episode 1, Season 1)

No spoilers intended, but if you so much as google the name of the series you will easily find out that Æon Flux dies a whole lot throughout the series*. Season 1 and all the shorts from season 2 end with her dying ungrateful deaths and a couple of the long episodes leave much to be desired in the way of positive closure, with Ether Drift Theory representing a peak in bleakness for season 3. Most of the shorts where Æon dies imply that either absolutely nothing changes in the world around when she's lost or that Trevor Goodchild literally just succeeds in all of his goals (see Season 1's finale), and one could make a case that even if she did carry her missions through there would be absolutely nothing to show for it: somebody goes up the chain of power, everything is restored, there is one more tyrant to murder. Not to be that one guy who quotes Nietzsche about everything, but the eternal recurrence of the same is the first thing that comes to mind when watching Æon Flux, especially exemplified and even literalized by the episode War, possibly the best of the short ones: it's the same fucking story four times over a five-minute run time and nothing ever gets better for anyone. The body count in the episode is unquantifiably large - every one of the fallen a potential new Æon Flux or Trevor Goodchild. But this, in a way, implies that Æon keeps being reborn, and one could argue that the act of capturing a fly with her venus-fly-trap eye could simply be her coming back to life, as it were; stopping the most evident sign of decay, turning her eyes outward yet again, to face the eternal return of the same again and again and again…

(Image taken from Episode 8, Season 3: Ether Drift Theory)

You can find Æon Flux for free on the Internet Archive.

*as I was discussing the final draft of this post with my friend @oldshittydog we had a pretty interesting discussion which I thought should be added here for an even clearer, fuller picture:

life update!!!!

hi hello friends good morning good afternoon good evening its that time of the month again! this isnt really a big life update like the last time bcs i just thought id list down a bunch of things ive had on my mind.

first of all, im very happy to announce that i was able to watch 16 movies last march !! exciting!! i know ive said the last time that i quit the bingewatching thing but HONESTLY im in a work from home setup and the only way to keep me inspired is by watching a movie ... i am yet to find other ways to stay inspired so watching movies will just do for now... ALSO im gonna try to update my newsletter for the first time this year and itll probably be about the movies that i saw this march that i liked ! im now comfortable with turning the newsletter to be more about movies bcs nothing major has been happening in my life lol . so pls stay tuned for that newsletter post if ur interested!

another thing is ive decided to make this blog more personal! for the past year ive made this blog to be more about movies and gifs and stuff, and as much as i love getting the notes and reading ppl's tags, im going to try and make this blog work for me this time :) hope it doesnt get annoying or something... im also in the process of fixing my about pages and tags and all. ive used tumblr since 2012 so im still struggling with the setup. LIKE yes i want to maximize the fact that you can edit html pages and its cute and lets me be creative but at the same time, im on my phone majority of the time . and i dont like being on my laptop after work because ive literally just been using a laptop the whole day. for work. im rly shy to post some stuff about me (bcs i havent done it before fr insert the tom hanks dialogue from joe vs the volcano abt doing some soul searching and coming to the conclusion that hes just boring so he stops doing it) so if u see me doing it as an attempt to fix the personal pages on my blog, im sorry! AAAND as for the gifs thing, im thinking of changing my film diary tag, one thing i really enjoy is taking note of dialogues i love from a movie so i might just do screenshots. i really miss making gifs even though most of the gifs i end up with are LQ , but it just really isnt feasible now . (also some movies are just so tempting to gif LIKEEE valley girl and everytime we say goodbye 😭😭 it physically hurts me that i cant gif josh whitehouse and tom hanks in those movies....)

ALSO im really very very happy that ive gained new followers recently. i enjoy chatting with you guys and get so happy whenever i get the notif that someone sent me an ask/message!! ive been idle on stan twt/fandoms in general so its been a really long time since ive actually... talked to people... it makes me really happy talking to u and im sorry if my happiness doesnt show in my replies/posts. as i said, its been a while since ive done this and i usually go on here as soon as im off work (when my brain is semi-fried and the words are not wording anymore) . i hope i dont come across as bored/uninterested :(

and it isnt just about fandoms too, im genuinely insterested what u guys are up to lately and all... (in a non stalker way). it just feels nice to have friends in general ^__^

SO YEA, i think thats about it :) if u've read this all until here ilysm! thanks for ur interest and lmk how ur day was! or just send me something u want to talk about !

have a nice day :)

Attempting to whack myself out of artblock with a couple late-night Joe doodles! Joodles!!

10 years of Hermitcraft deserves some kind of celebration so here we have one of my favourite moments of the whole of S7 a.k.a Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamboat. There's also Joe Classic, & a Beetlejhost with its fascinating axolotl accessory the Ectolotl :D

[ID 1: digital drawing of Joe Hills from Hermitcraft S7. He is a white person with brown shoulder-length hair faded green at the tips, wearing a light blue T-shirt and dark blue jeans. They are seen from behind, seated in a dark brown rowboat floating at sea, and waving one arm in the air with emphasis lines around their head. They are looking towards a simplified cargo ship wedged between two landmasses. The ship's hull is dark green, with a line of dark red at the waterline, and is piled with brightly-coloured shipping containers. The word "Hermitcraft" is spelled out in white capital letters on the hull. Beneath the drawing is a parchment-like banner with the words "He blocked commerce on the Hermitcraft server" written on it. /end ID 1]

[ID 2: digital drawing of Joe Hills from the waist up. They are a white person with a brown beard and brown shoulder-length hair, faded green at the tips, wearing a pair of cat-eye glasses with lenses tinted lime green and a light blue T-shirt with a large white @ sign on the chest. He is smiling, both hands raised: one in a peace sign, the other holding up a pane of bright green glass. /end ID 2]

[ID 3: digital drawing of the Beetlejhost. It is a ghost with light purple-grey skin and darker hair and beard. It is wearing a black and white vertical-striped Beetlejuice suit jacket, buttoned over a lime green shirt and black tie. Its eyes are bright green dots behind cat-eye glasses with lime green lenses, angled to look more evil. Its teeth are bared in a sharp smile, and its bright green tongue pokes out of the corner of its mouth. Its ghostly lower half trails off to a point and it is tilted to the right as if it is floating along. Above its head is a purple-blue axolotl with lime green gills and tailfin, floating with a placid smile. /end ID 3]

Also I posted this last night at 3 a.m with garbage text and no image IDs and the request that nobody reblog this, but now it's good to go so psst! Reblogs much appreciated!! And go bingewatch go bingewatch Joe~♪

Wowee. This is a bit of an emotional one. Just warning you now.

I’ve been watching Ghosts pretty much since it came out. My dad surprised me with the first episode and refused to let me know what we were watching until I saw Ben Willbond’s face and was like “HOLD ON.”

(Nobody asked, but my favourite has always been the Captain because I’ve been obsessed with the Second World War since I was 7. My dad’s favourite is Robin, my mum’s is Kitty and my sister likes Pat).

It wasn’t niche then by any stretch of it. It’s always been popular, but it certainly wasn’t something your teachers plus the whole internet were cracking out the good wine for. (I proceeded to annoy everyone in my life by talking about it, little did they know that 3 years later they’d become equally obsessed by it).

And that doesn’t sound too special, but like. When Ghosts came out, I was in Primary School. Now I’m sitting my GCSEs. That’s fucking insane. Not even mentioning how it singlehandedly carried me through lockdown when I was dealing with a bigger workload than ever (online school just means strictish parents get to cross over into actually strict) and only had one friend to communicate with.

The first (and last) time I read proper fanfiction was when I was like 12 and looking through the Ghosts fandom because I was having a really, really bad time with paranoia and couldn’t sleep.

When we had our Year 10 mocks, my friend showed up half an hour late to our Chemistry exam after doing zero revision because she was bingewatching every episode of Ghosts to cope with exams. She gave me a rose for valentine’s this year with “I’m from Yorkshire mate, I’m practically made of tea.” on it. Her Yearbook quote is gonna be “I’m going to drown myself in the lake! I mean it!”

My Media Studies teacher found out I watched the show and started enthusiastically taking me through all of her theories about it before Season 4 came out. (She’s like sixty and her favourite show is Line of Duty by the way). Before Season 5 came out I asked her how she felt and she gave me a very excited “We’re getting out the good wine!!!”

So. My grandad died in 2022. Just before Christmas. They thought he’d make it to celebrate Christmas with us, but they’d overestimated. He had lung cancer, caused by working around asbestos as an industrial electrician. I genuinely cannot describe how much of a wonderful man he was. He was the best person I ever met, and more of a second dad than a grandad.

The last thing my grandad watched with us (we put a lot of importance on watching things as a family, at least in my family. Not sure if this is the same for everyone) was an episode of Ghosts. We thought it would be a laugh, because his end of the family are all from Sheffield and they’d introduced Maddocks. He was very out of it, and on an oxygen drip. He couldn’t really pay attention but he insisted on trying because he wanted to make us happy.

He died that week, on the day we had to leave. We were in the house when he started failing and all we could do was drive back down to London.

(Ghosts actually got a shoutout in the funeral. We’re a family with a sense of humour, and my grandad was the kind of man that results in a family debate about whether Ça Plane Pour Moi is an appropriate song for a funeral).

The Christmas episode that year broke me. In a good way. When they played Pat’s video tapes, I saw every photo of my dad’s family in the eighties in Yorkshire. It can’t be too hard to capture the energy, I’m sure, but I’ll tell you this. There wasn’t a dry bloody eye in the sitting room. My aunt even got their Christmas pictures out afterwards. My Sheffield family saw their childhoods on the screen and my London family saw my grandad.

It’s funny how things can end up being an accidental allegory or feel cosmically intentional.

I’m not saying this for pity, or to one-up anyone about my connection to the show. I just feel like if I don’t describe every detail, Ghosts’ impact on my life is going to be understated. And I’m more than happy that it will impact so many more people.

So, yeah. Thank you, Ghosts. I can’t think of a single piece of other media that’s been as impactful on my life. Thank you for being made with care and love and attention to detail and terminal levels of Britishness. Thank you for dealing with death and grief and healing in an entertaining way.

Thank you. For everything.