#I personally think Jaime is a good dancer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

honeyspawn · 4 months

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I finally watched VHS Christmas Carol Live last night, and I loved it! I wanted to give some initial thoughts:

The music SLAPS! Like, so good! I'm not usually much of an 80's pop person, but honestly it was bop after bop the whole time. Bah Humbug, That Scrooge, Christmas Electricity, and Priceless were all highlights for me. I think what sold it for me was how lyrically tight it was, and how strong the emotions were. Telling a story entirely through song is no easy feat, but they absolutely nailed the structure and pacing.

Speaking of the emotions, Christmas Carol has been adapted so many times, that it's really important to hit all the emotional beats to sell the spirit of the story, and VHS delivers. I feel like many adaptations go all in on the misery, regret, and sorrow of the story, and only really bring the cheer and warmth in at the very end. VHS really embraces not only the somber parts of the tale, but the joyful parts too. Fezziwig's Chistmas party, Fred's party, and the Crachit's family dinner all really portray the joyfullness of the season and how that joyfullness can come from many places. It really strengthens the message of the story in a way that adaptations focused only on the bleak aspects miss.

In terms of actual story decisions, VHS really sticks to the classic story very closely and does it really well. Actual story changes are few and far between, but the ones they included I really liked. I loved the addition of the couple who are thankful that Scrooge died because it relieves their debt. It really highlights that Crachit and his family are not the only people affected by Scrooge's greed. Many adaptations either like to forget he's a landlord, or don't unpack the ethics of landlords, so it was nice to see some sort of acknowledgment of Scrooge's less direct and more systemic impact. I also really liked how Scrooge delivered the turkey to the Crachit's in secret, and didn't give Bob his raise until after Christmas instead of barging in unannounced. I had never really thought about it before, but in most versions he does just kind of barge in on their celebration and make a big production of giving Bob a raise. I like how he let them have their celebration in peace and spent more time with Fred.

The performances were all killer. I know it kinda goes without saying at this point, but everyone in the cast in Starkid shows are always so talented. Special mention to James Tolbert, because I feel like he doesn't get enough recognition for what a talented actor, dancer, and choreographer (and director) he is. This was also my first time seeing Janaya Mahealani Jones in anything, and her Belle really blew me away. Other stand-outs for me were Dylan Saunders' Scrooge, Lauren Lopez and Joey Ritcher's Crachits, and Jaime Lyn Beatty's Ghost of Christmas Past, but really everyone knocked it out of the park.

June Saito's costumes! The 80s themeing was outstandingly executed, and the quick changes were really impressive. I've gotten used to the more realistic and toned down costumes that fit the Hatchetfield shows' setting (which are also fantastic, not trying to minimize those), but between this and the LiB's in NPMD, it's wonderful to see June Saito get to really go over the top. Special mention to Marley's costume (silver chain pants? silver chain pants!), the 3 spirit's silver and blue color themeing, and that sequined suit jacket Scrooge wears at the end of the show.

Overall, really good. Might pay for the VHS Carols digital ticket later today and watch it.

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pohutukawa22 · 6 months

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What are your thoughts 💭 about the other boys on la Banda besides Alan and yoandri

Hmmm, that is a big question! Shall we do the top 12, minus the CNCO chicos, Yoandri & Alan?

Jaime - I think the show producers gave him a bit of an unfavourable spin. I didn't think his voice was strong enough, but gorgeous & a really good dancer. (Watch him dance on Drag Me Down!) I find his elimination nearly as hard to watch as both of Alan's.

Johann - awesome voice, he & Yoandri were always given the hardest songs (+ Richard sometimes) & he always delivered. I think he would have been too strong-willed to have lasted in a group.

Aaron - It is hard for me to be fair to him because I think he should have been eliminated after Adrenalina & because he sung the worst version of Get Lucky I have ever heard - & Alan still got eliminated! But great dancer & personality. & I think he was a genuinely nice guy.

Sebas - Yes, Alan & Yoandri were my favourites. But Sebas had all the qualities to be in a boy band & I think he was the unluckiest to miss out on a spot.

Joshua. Couldn't believe his elimination as he was the only one to be in both winning groups & he won the singles round as well. But to be honest, given that the choice was between Joshua & Sebas, if I was a judge I would have saved Sebas too.

If there is someone else you want to ask about, send me another message. 😊I love talking about La Banda.

#anon ask #jaime cruz #jae cruz #johann vera #aaron bodden #sebastian karlo #sebastian rivera #la banda #joshua greaux

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sailorshadzter · 3 years

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Hiii! Welcome back!!! If you are still taking requests, how about an one shot where Cersei kind of notices the tension between Jon and Sansa and comments on it? Maybe in a "We are not so different" way? Or she straight up encourages them bc she's a horrible person and thinks if there are rumors about the Starks, they'll forget about the Lannisters?

ANON. whew this has been in my ask box for a while! but i opened my inbox to find some inspiration to write and yours was the one that clicked first! so i hope you see this, anon, wherever you are, and know that i FINALLY got to your prompt request!!!

as always, you're always welcome to drop a prompt request in my inbox.

enjoy!

The ball is grand and glittering.

Cersei has ensured that this night would be perfect, putting far more coin into it than Robert ever would have allowed. But there is little else she can do, what with the trouble brewing all around them. She's lost one son already, she will not lose another- and so she has gone to great expense and trouble to make sure that this room was full of loyal nobles and fearsome knights. This wedding would not end the way the last one had, even if the bride was the same.

From where she sits, she watches as the young Sansa Stark dances with her half brother, the bastard born Jon Snow. The young man had been intended for the Night's Watch, but Tyrion had developed a fondness for the boy during their visit North, and so, he'd come along with the Stark's. They are close together, the dance bringing them so, but the smile that lights up the redhead's face is one that Cersei swears she's worn herself, but when she looks upon Jaime. And the usually stoic Snow looks just as delighted to spin his sister out and back in, hands at her waist to lift her high into the air as the music swells. Cersei chuckles, wondering how's she's not noticed it ever before. The wheels in her brain are suddenly spinning, whirling several thoughts throughout that bring yet another smile to her face.

As if her thoughts have conjured him, she feels Jaime's presence at her elbow; he bows over his arm, ever the courtier, but she knows it's more for show than anything else. "What has you so cheery?" He asks, his green eyes scanning the dance floor, where sure enough his gaze falls upon the Stark siblings as they finish their dance among all the others, though it quite seems they've forgotten they aren't alone. "They make a handsome pair, do they not?" Turning back to face his lover, he sees he's right, for she's staring down at them with a look he's seen before. "What are you thinking?"

"That proud Ned Stark's children are falling in love right before our very eyes." They both knew what the world would say about two siblings, albeit half, falling in love. Was it not why they themselves took every precaution? Cersei shudders to think what would happen if the truth was ever discovered... The rumors were bad enough. But this... Two Stark children in love? It would cease the rumors about her and Jaime, that she was certain of. She watches as Sansa dips a quick curtsy to Jon before he offers her his arm, which she readily takes, and they disappear into the crowd.

"See that Lady Stark is brought to me tomorrow morning, won't you?" She says to the nearest lady, who nods, curtsying before she scurries away to do as she's been bid. Cersei turns back to face the dance floor, but it's suddenly become far less interesting.

And so she must wait until morning.

[ x x x ]

It's late, yet she cannot bring herself to leave his arms.

Jon holds fast to her, kissing the top of her head, her silk gown soft beneath his touch as his hands span the length of her spine. "I should go..." She whispers for the tenth time, though his grip does not relent, nor does she make any attempt to pull away. He smells of spice and smoke, comforting and strong; she buries her face deeper into his chest, wishing she could sink into him. "Jon..."

His name is soft on her lips.

Their gazes meet and he's lost, as he always is, in the depth of her blue eyes. "I know," is all he can say, knowing as well as she that it was best for her to go. They both knew where this moment would lead- after all, how many times had they been here before? But more than anything, they both knew what would happen if they were discovered in such an embrace. And yet... There's a part of him that doesn't care. There's a part of him that wishes with all of his might that they could be together in the way that they wanted. No more secret midnight rendezvous that only left them both feeling more strained than being without the other. "I'll walk you to your rooms..." He begins, but she shakes her head.

"Shae is waiting," she says softly, finally freeing herself from his grip. She feels cold without his touch and that is almost enough to send her back into his arms. "I will see you in the morning," she goes on, reaching out her hand to tenderly touch his. Jon nods, catching her hand so he might bring it to his lips to kiss. The brush of his lips to her knuckles steals the breath from her lungs and time is suspended as they stand there, the only sound in the room that of the fire burning in the hearth. "Until the morning..."

"Until the morning," he parrots back as he let's go of her hand. "Good night, Sansa."

The way he says her name sends shivers down her spine. "Good night, Jon." She says instead of every other thing she wants to say.

[ x x x ]

In the morning, a lady arrives at her door to inform her she's been summoned to see the queen.

Though no longer truly queen, Cersei Lannister runs the Seven Kingdoms through her youngest son, the now King Tommen. Just a boy, he's been married to Margaery Tyrell, who only several weeks before had instead been married to Joffrey. Poison had taken care of him, but Margaery and her family, ever the schemers, ensured that she would take her place as queen. Sansa was certain that it would not be long before a new power struggle would emerge. Soon, it would be Margaery and the Tyrell's fighting for control of poor, young Tommen.

Once she's dressed, Sansa, with Shae beside her, makes her way down to Cersei's office.

When she's been announced, she steps into the room, one which she has spent much time in over her years in King's Landing. Once she had been thrilled to be invited into this room, to spend private time with Queen Cersei... But things have changed. Though she dips her the curtsy due to her rank, Sansa does not return the smile offered to her by the golden haired woman behind her oak desk. "Lady Stark, tell me, how did you enjoy the ball last night?" Cersei asks, gesturing for Sansa to take the empty chair across from her. The young woman frowns, but does as she's bid, clearly surprised by the question. Cersei notices she wears a new gown of pale blue damask, made from a bolt of fabric she was given by Jon Snow a few short weeks ago; though it is fashioned in the Southern style, Cersei sees that the trailing sleeves are stitched with falling leaves, weirwood leaves, like those that grow in the North. Even her hair, which once she wore in styles that mirrored her own, is fastened into braids in a way that reminds Cersei of Catelyn Stark. It is Sansa's way of breaking with the Lannister's entirely; she is no longer theirs to control.

"It was wonderful, your grace," Sansa answers honestly, shifting slightly in the chair, brushing a lock of red hair across a shoulder before she accepts the goblet of wine being offered to her. "Very grand." She goes on, though she's no longer thinking of the ball, but of the last dance she and Jon had shared together.

"Your brother is quite the elegant dancer, I must say I'm surprised." Cersei's voice breaks into her thoughts and Sansa blinks in surprise. This certainly was not the topic of conversation she expected to have upon being summoned to this room. "The two of you make quite the couple." At this, Sansa chokes on the sip of wine she's just taken, her stare wild and frantic as it rises up to meet the queen. Inside, Cersei is laughing- she's been right there was Sansa was before, so many years ago. Back when her feelings for Jaime had first begun to grow into what they were now. She could recall their dance lessons, when a compliment on how well they fit together would leave her blushing and stammering, just as Sansa Stark was now. "You needn't hide it from me, Lady Stark," she goes on, taking advantage of the young woman's silence. "I see how you look at him... And how he looks at you."

Sansa's heart was beating fast within her chest, so fast she can barely catch her breath. Was she and Jon truly so obvious? They had painstakingly tried to keep what was brimming between them beneath the surface... But had last night been their very downfall? "I-I do not know what you mean, your grace," she says, adopting a cheery but confused tone, cursing herself for being a terrible liar. From the way Cersei is smiling, Sansa knows she does not believe her, not even for a moment.

"You know, Lady Stark, if there is one thing in my life I regret... It is not ever being with the one I truly loved." Cersei speaks from total honesty, saying aloud the words she's never spoken before to anyone. Not even to Jaime. She knows what it will take to sway proud Ned's child into something such as diving head first into an incestual relationship. But she knows the way to sway the young woman, for it was the same way she swayed herself all those years ago. "Someday you will be married to a man who you likely do not love," they are both reminded of a similar conversation, one they had shared before her marriage to Joffrey was to take place. "You should experience true love, even just once in your life." These words resonate with her and Cersei knows it. Her blue eyes widen and she opens her mouth as if she means to speak, but cannot find the words. "We cannot help who we love," Cersei says, though now she wonders if she's still speaking to Sansa, but rather to herself. "But if any love was so truly wrong, why would the Gods allow us to feel it in the first place?"

Sansa's heart beat has not ceased in it's pace, but a slow realization is dawning upon her as she listens to Cersei's words. There is meaning behind them and she knows, those words are not meant only for her. She recalls the rumors spread just before her father was beheaded, rumors about the truth of Joffrey and his siblings parentage. The truth about Cersei and her brother, Jaime. There is a part of her that worries this is just a trap, a set up to catch her and Jon in the act, something that would earn them the scorn and disgust of all of King's Landing and likely the North.

And yet...

You should experience true love, even just once in your life... Those are the words she's replaying in her brain, over and over again, knowing that Cersei was right. It would not be long before a marriage was made for her, one that would likely be loveless and political, one that would do nothing for her but everything for the Lannister's. Without her father or mother or even Robb to protect her from such a fate, she would be doomed to marry a man of Cersei's choosing.

When she's dismissed a few minutes later, Sansa wastes no time.

Shae, who has waited for her outside Cersei's room for her, rises up from where she sits on the windowsill. "Find Jon for me, won't you?" She asks in an undertone, to which her lady stares back at her for a long moment before she nods. If there was anyone she could trust with what she was about to do, it would be Shae.

Once she's back within her own chamber, she brings herself to stand before the looking glass, staring at her own reflection. She knows that doing what she's about to do will change everything, but she knows she cannot go on in life without knowing what it will feel like to be held by a man that truly loves her. If she can only taste his love this one time, then she will go willingly into any marriage presented to her, for Jon's love she will carry with her for the rest of her life.

A knock on the door comes.

By the time she's turned around, the door has opened and it's Jon standing there. He's staring at her, taking her in as he always does, those Stark colored eyes enough to bring her to her knees. "Sansa," he greets, feeling just as she does, the shift in what lays between them. She crosses the room as he does and so they meet at the center, a minimal distance between them. The blue damask gown suits her in a way he cannot describe and he's, as always, struck by her beauty. Somewhere behind them, Shae quietly ducks into the antechamber, out of sight, out of mind- but there all the same.

There's so many things she wants to say, so many things she needs for him to hear. But the words do not come, no matter how hard she wills them to. And so, instead, she does the only other thing that makes any sense; she kisses him. She kisses him with as much passion as she can muster and he falls into it, his arms winding around her only so he might pull her closer. When he breaks free moments later, it's to stare into her eyes, to ask her one single thing. "Are you certain?" She nods.

That's all he needs.

This time, he's the one to kiss her, leaning in to capture her mouth with his. One hand remains perched at the small of her back, though the other one slides into her hair, uncaring of the pins he knocks loose. She's kissing him back, meeting his tongue with her own, the sensations rushing through her body unlike anything she's ever felt before.

It does not take long before they stand at the side of her bed, the canopy hangings pushed aside so Jon might sit upon the edge. He beckons her closer and she comes to stand between his knees, allowing him to turn her around so her back instead faces him. Then, she feels his hands as they begin to loosen the laces of her blue gown until it begins to slip over her shoulders. That is when she turns back around to face him and she allows the gown to fall to the floor at her feet, all so she might stand there in nothing but her chemise.

And then, Jon draws her down into the bed, and into his arms.

#jonsa #actuallyjonsa #writing prompt #anon ask #send me prompts #jon x sansa #jon snow #sansa stark #my writing #i wrote this #man this one just FLOWED so quickly #it's been a while since i wrote something in one sitting

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darealsaltysam · 3 years

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dream smp but as a starkid muscial cast

Going off my last post, I decided to put together a dream Starkid cast for a DreamSMP musical if there ever were to be one. Let's say the musical is based on Arc 1, since back then the characters were a lot more one-dimensional and it's a lot easier to match into a standard length Starkid musical. Without any wafflin, here's the best cast and no you can't disagree with me /j;

Dream – Curt Mega – I have no explanation for this, I just think he could pull him off pretty well? Curt is really good if you give him a lead, I mean look at SAF. Let my boy have a lead, Starkid. I'm gonna riot if you don't.

Tommy – Kendall Nicole Yakshe – Kendall is the only actor around Tommy's age in Starkid, so she could probably pull off the “childish but mature at the same time” look the best? Her acting for Hannah was brilliant during all the emotional scenes, so I'm sure she could handle it.

Tubbo – Lauren Lopez – I know someone replied to my Joey Richter post with this as a joke but like.... IT WORKS. Craphole and Tubbo have parallel energies. Let Lauren play a little boy again. That's where her true potential comes out. /j

Fundy – Angela Giarratana – Angela already has the experience of playing teenagers with issues with their parents by playing Lex, so she is perfect for Fundy. That is all. My entire logic. Don't @me, some of these were harder to pick out than others-

Wilbur Soot – Robert Manion – Robert + Insane characters brings out the best in him, let him go bat shit insane as the British JD kinnie.

Jschlatt – Joey Richter – Parallel vibes. That's it. Joey plays the best villains and we need a good actor for the best villain of the server (don't even @me about this I'm a schlannie)

Nihachu – Mariah Rose Faith – If Niki were in a musical she would 100% get a cool, low-key sad girl-power type solo. Mariah is your girl for that. My references? 1. mean girls and 2. “not your seed”. No further comments necessary.

Quackity – Denise Donovan – Need a dumb love interest that slowly develops as a character? Denise is your girl for that. I'm thinking a sort of character like Febuary from Starship, but a bit more serious as the plot progresses.

Technoblade – Joe Walker – It was either this of Jeff Blim. Just let me have this one-

Philza – Dylan Saunders – DAD VIBES DAD VIBES DAD VIBES. Dylan is like... The perfect Phil. Literally ideal. Give him a sad solo about having to kill his son because of the government and my man will SLAY that shit.

GeorgeNotFound – Jon Matteson - “ best at playing local confused man” award went to Jon after Paul in TGWDLM, now he's coming back as Gogy. He would be perfect for this role.

Sapnap – Corey Dorris – Y'all remember Me and My Dick? Yes, it wasn't a serious musical, but if you tell me Corey can't pull off a menacing low-key insane villain based on that and his thing in the very potter musicals, you are wrong. Corey needs to play villains more, that is that.

BadBoyHalo – Jaime Lyn Beatty – Just... Wholesome. Jaime can get across the “he a little confused but he got the spirit” energy of Bad perfectly.

Punz – Brian Holden – If there's one man who's a professional at playing side-kicks/secondary villains, Brian is your man. Think Junior from Starship but with a lot more obedience and a whole lot less daddy issues.

Skeppy – Meredith Stepien – If there's anyone who can match Jaime's energy as an equally chaotic, a bit more crazy and wholesome friend, that's Meredith. I'm not super sure why, I just get the feeling these two would pull of Skeppy's and Bad's friendship perfectly.

Eret – Brian Rosenthal – I'm not really sure about this one either, but if there was one person I'd have to nominate who could pull of the energy of the bicon that is Eret, it's this guy. Like... have you seen A Very Potter Musical.... Just... Quirrell. But a bit less timid and more low-key intimidating.

Everyone else not mentioned would be ensemble/back-up dancers played by anyone who isn't on stage, since we all know how much Starkids love having 10 roles at once for every musical they put on.

And trust me, I REALLY wanted to give Jeff Blim a role but even with how bat shit crazy this minecraft roleplay gets sometimes NO ONE can match that man's energy. He's just gonna have to stick to back up vocals I guess-

#mcyt #dream smp #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #sapnap #jschlatt #wilbur soot #tommyinnit #tubbo #philza #technoblade #quackity #nihachu #starkid

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poepoe-thebunny · 4 years

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Random Bluepulse headcanons I think about Vol 1: trigger warnings

1) As time goes on, Bart takes up sketching and occasionally uses oil pastels, mostly because he loves the feel and texture of using them. Jaime is one of the only ones privy to his more personal drawings, since he bought Bart a sketchbook for Christmas.

2) Both of them are low-key pretty good dancers and Tye And Virgil think it's so funny. Not necessarily club dancing or anything, but Joan and Barry occasionally drag Bart and Wally (who lived fight me) to family cookouts, and that is when Barry showed him what line dancing was. Jaime can do similar dancing, and while he may have to be very tipsy to do it, Jaime is really good at fast-paced couples dancing despite the fact that Bart can't dance a Latin rhythm to save his life.

3) Bart is actually very GOOD at reading Jaime, and later on after being introduced, Khadji Da. He can always tell when Jaime has something on his mind, or when he's fighting with the scarab, and with time can have a general idea of what Khadji Da is saying as well. It's an odd mix of knowing both Jaime and KD, and what he knows about the Big Bad Blue Beetle and his reactions to things.

4) When they can let loose, they chase each other. They're not quite sure if running or flying is the correct word for it, but Bart takes off into the desert laughing like a maniac and Jaime flies after him in the BB armor. It's like a childish game of tag, and Jaime has more than once swooped Bart up and into the air to "win".

5) As Khadji Da learns more about earth, he realized how uncomfortable and afraid he was of being on "mode" again. He makes a contingency plan that has a list of moded Jaime "symptoms" and armor weaknesses. He gives it to the only people he trusts to both be strong enough to stop him AND make Jaime's safety a priority: Bart Allan, and Jaime's mother Bianca.

6) Jaime adores Bart's eyes. They're bright and beautiful and kind, and Jaime vows to always keep them that way. He will never take advantage of the trust Bart has in him.

7) In a somewhat surprising move to some members of the league, Bart is actually very protective of Jaime and 9/10 times is perfectly willing to fight like a rabid Chihuahua on Jaime's behalf. No matter what other heroes may think after the narrowly avoided reach apocalypse, Bart has an almost unwavering faith in Jaime that leaves Jaime incredibly touched and astonished.

One specific moment sticks out to Jaime. During a mission with some other heroes and league members, some of them let their opinion of the Blue Beetle be known and called into question Jaime's loyalty. Nightwing called for order and that would have been that, if one of them hadn't sneered and asked why Impulse kept defending Blue Beetle since he should "Know better than anyone what those mechanical bugs are capable of." You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed.

And Jaime swore he couldn't breathe, before Khadji Da Kickstarted his brain in order to watch Bart give a thorough, and somewhat terrifying, verbal beat down to the poor fool who had insulted Jaime. Bart let them know that YES, he DID know better than anyone what a moded beetle was capable of, and that most of their future selves didn't know because they couldn't survive the other end of a moded Beetles' blaster, and that Jaime's sense of justice and kindness was a large part of the reason ANY of them were still alive because he didn't have a cruel bone in his body, and that it wasn't Jaime they should be scared of.

#bluepulse #blue beetle #impulse #jaime reyes #bart allen #au #gonna put on my masterlist don't mind me

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alinaastarkov · 4 years

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agentrouka-blog replied to your post “You know what’s weird? The misconception that Arya is only good at...”

None of those people had an intense personal anger at Arya, they didn't know who she was, nor did they order the murder of her father. And Arya had to learn to control her rage. She nearly beat Hot Pie to a pulp before Yoren stopped her. (And beat her bloody, ugh.) Yoren stopped her from revealing herself at the execution, even.

@agentrouka-blog Intense personal hatred has nothing to do with it. I disagree that Joffrey hated Arya more than Sansa, and he threatens to kill Sansa too. He has the crossbow pointed right at her. But he didn’t because he didn’t want Robb to kill Jaime. This is an area where sense won over, and the same is true for Arya. If it was Arya in Sansa’s place, the same conditions of holding a hostage applies and he would have to abide by that. The circumstances are the same in this case, so the outcome would be the same. No-one around Joffrey would have allowed him to kill Arya, especially as they would want to marry her to a Lannister to claim Winterfell. Joffrey is a sadist, but he’s not a complete moron.

‘Intense personal hatred’ has absolutely nothing to do with it. Do you honestly think the Mountain only kills people he hates? Then how do you explain this:

The Mountain would come into the storehouse after he had broken his fast and pick one of the prisoners for questioning. The village folk would never look at him. Maybe they thought that if they did not notice him, he would not notice them . . . but he saw them anyway and picked whom he liked. There was no place to hide, no tricks to play, no way to be safe. One girl shared a soldier's bed three nights running; the Mountain picked her on the fourth day, and the soldier said nothing. A smiley old man mended their clothing and babbled about his son, off serving in the gold cloaks at King's Landing. "A king's man, he is," he would say, "a good king's man like me, all for Joffrey." He said it so often the other captives began to call him All-for-Joffrey whenever the guards weren't listening. All-for-Joffrey was picked on the fifth day. A young mother with a pox-scarred face offered to freely tell them all she knew if they'd promise not to hurt her daughter. The Mountain heard her out; the next morning he picked her daughter, to be certain she'd held nothing back. The ones chosen were questioned in full view of the other captives, so they could see the fate of rebels and traitors. A man the others called the Tickler asked the questions. His face was so ordinary and his garb so plain that Arya might have thought him one of the villagers before she had seen him at his work. "Tickler makes them howl so hard they piss themselves," old stoop-shoulder Chiswyck told them. He was the man she'd tried to bite, who'd called her a fierce little thing and smashed her head with a mailed fist. Sometimes he helped the Tickler. Sometimes others did that. Ser Gregor Clegane himself would stand motionless, watching and listening, until the victim died. [...] No one ever survived the Tickler's questioning; no man, no woman, no child. The strongest lasted past evenfall. Their bodies were hung beyond the fires for the wolves. By the time they marched, Arya knew she was no water dancer. Syrio Forel would never have let them knock him down and take his sword away, nor stood by when they killed Lommy Greenhands. Syrio would never have sat silent in that storehouse nor shuffled along meekly among the other captives. The direwolf was the sigil of the Starks, but Arya felt more a lamb, surrounded by a herd of other sheep. She hated the villagers for their sheepishness, almost as much as she hated herself. Their captors permitted no chatter. A broken lip taught Arya to hold her tongue. Others never learned at all. One boy of three would not stop calling for his father, so they smashed his face in with a spiked mace. Then the boy's mother started screaming and Raff the Sweetling killed her as well. Arya watched them die and did nothing. What good did it do you to be brave? One of the women picked for questioning had tried to be brave, but she had died screaming like all the rest. There were no brave people on that march, only scared and hungry ones. - Arya VI, ACOK

Yes, Arya had to learn, not to control her rage, but to hide it well. But, as we see, just doing that was not enough. Being silent was not enough. Even silence got you killed. And we see that it took her about 2 seconds to figure this all out. She doesn’t spend years on the run and still not know how to avoid being raped and murdered, she gets it immediately. She understands pretty much from day 1 and is even cursing herself for not giving into her impulses. Her impulses are there and we can see she makes the conscious decision not to act on them, which is a skill in and of itself. But she knows being brave will get her killed, and she chooses living over “bravery”, something the antis consistently ignore about her. And King’s Landing is a much less volatile situation, so she wouldn’t need to be as careful when she has her name to protect her. And you know who else had to learn to control her anger? Sansa.

Joffrey gave a petulant shrug. "Your brother defeated my uncle Jaime. My mother says it was treachery and deceit. She wept when she heard. Women are all weak, even her, though she pretends she isn't. She says we need to stay in King's Landing in case my other uncles attack, but I don't care. After my name day feast, I'm going to raise a host and kill your brother myself. That's what I'll give you, Lady Sansa. Your brother's head.” A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, "Maybe my brother will give me your head.” Joffrey scowled. "You must never mock me like that. A true wife does not mock her lord. Ser Meryn, teach her." - Sansa VI, AGOT

"Silence, fool." Joffrey lifted his crossbow and pointed it at her face. "You Starks are as unnatural as those wolves of yours. I've not forgotten how your monster savaged me." "That was Arya's wolf," she said. "Lady never hurt you, but you killed her anyway." "No, your father did," Joff said, "but I killed your father. I wish I'd done it myself. I killed a man last night who was bigger than your father. They came to the gate shouting my name and calling for bread like I was some baker, but I taught them better. I shot the loudest one right through the throat." - Sansa III, ACOK

So whilst Arya learns pretty early on how to keep her mouth shut, Sansa is still sassing Joffrey well into A Clash of Kings and she doesn’t get killed for it. But, doing the exact opposite, something Joffrey would have eaten up, gets you murdered with the Mountain’s men. Arya learned quickly, and clearly in King’s Landing she wouldn’t need to be as intense about her own silence. Arya and Sansa are not in equally dangerous situations, Harrenhal is far more dangerous thank King’s Landing. And when you also take into account the protection the Stark name affords, Arya would have a much easier time in her sister’s place, so it tracks that she could have easily survived in King’s Landing.

#replies #arya stark #sansa stark #shut up neve #asoiaf

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shemakesmusic-uk · 4 years

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Pop artist Nadia Vaeh has dropped her new music video for her powerful track 'Anxiety'. The video reflects on her personal mental health struggles and how she copes with the highs and lows of anxiety. The video shows Nadia alone at home coping with what the real and raw effects of anxiety look and feel like. As an advocate, she hopes her music can inspire people to embrace the conversation of mental health and be a reminder that they are not alone.

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Babeheaven, the project of West Londoners Nancy Andersen and Jamie Travis, share their latest single, 'Craziest Things', along with a video from the award-winning illustrator and animator, Sacha Beeley. The track is taken from the duo’s much anticipated debut album, Home For Now, which will be released on November 20 via AWAL, and follows the singles 'Cassette Beat' and 'Human Nature'. About the track, Nancy said: “On 'Craziest Things', I explore my anxiety and insomnia, not being able to make sense of my emotions and running around in a state of mania.”

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Moscow-based multi-talented avant-pop artist Kate Shilonosova aka Kate NV has just unveiled a video for 'Lu Na', a track taken from her last album Room for the Moon. Drawing from “unlived memories of 70s and 80s Russian and Japanese pop music and film,” the project also comes with vintage and surreal conceptual videos inspired by the shows she was watching as a child. In these new Gina Onegina-directed visuals, she introduces four dancers voguing in pinky cats outfits. “‘Lu Na’ was originally planned as a dance clip consisting mostly of one repetitive loop—simple pattern where cats walk in a square one by one,” she stated. “This pattern was hugely inspired and based on [Samuel] Beckett’s piece Quad which I love. Originally I just wanted the sun to appear slowly behind those cats while they walk. All of the dancers were wonderful, they brought so much life to the characters of those cats!” [via High Clouds]

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Kississippi, the increasingly pop-minded project of the Philadelphia musician Zoe Reynolds, have released a new single, 'Around Your Room'. Kississippi got their start making wispy and hypnotic folk reveries, which opened up into more muscular fare on their debut full-length, 2018’s Sunset Blush. 'Around Your Room' is their most unabashedly pop song yet, a strobing synth that pulls from Lorde’s Melodrama providing the main thrust for Reynolds’ gauzy lyrics about memory and its inexorable pull. Reynolds cowrote 'Around Your Room' with Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties, according to a tweet from Tudzin. “This song tells a story of yearning and infatuation. It’s about being hopelessly enamored in a way that took me back to my youthful perception of love,” Reynolds said in a statement. “It represents those moments where you’re fully infatuated with someone and they’re all you can think about. I’ve written about love in a cynical manner in the past and this song was written as a reminder of the magic and euphoria that comes with it.” 'Around Your Room' is the lead single from a new Kississippi album due out next year, Reynolds’ first for Triple Crown. Watch director Josh Coll’s video for the song above. [via Stereogum]

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Tank and The Bangas have announced a new EP called Friend Goals. Due out November 20 via Verve Forecast, the six-track, guest-heavy release is being previewed with the track 'Self Care'. The New Orleans-based group are known for their collaborative habits, having this year teamed with the likes of Jacob Collier and Fantastic Negrito. Friend Goals, as the title might suggest, brings together a number of artists Tank and The Bangas have befriended over their career. The follow-up to last year’s Green Balloon LP features guests like CHIKA ('Mr. Insta'), Duckwrth ('Fluff'), PJ Morton ('TSA'), and Pell on the title track. Lead single 'Self Care' actually touts three collaborators: Jaime Woods, Orleans Big, and Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph. The track itself is exactly what we need in 2020, an ode to being with yourself and being damn okay with it. “Chillin’ all by myself/ Netflix, eatin’, cheatin’, by myself, all by myself,” Tarriona “Tank” Ball spits, clearly enjoying her alone time. “Nobody else/ New people to the left/ What is there left but myself?” “‘Self Care’ is THE quarantine song to get you moving,” Ball said in a statement. “It shows that some of the best things can come out from solitude, especially when the beat hits this hard.” Take a listen above via the song’s Fat Happy Media-directed video. [via CoS]

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New Zealand’s platinum sensation BENEE unveils the official video for her latest single 'Snail'. For the visual, BENEE and director Anita Fontaine deliver a lush and larger-than-life fantasy befitting of the track. In the colorful clip, BENEE wakes up to feed her giant snail roommates and slides around their slime trails before heading to work in her secret elf lab. Soon, she’s cycling out of her home—a concrete replica of her own head—out into a storm. After being struck by lightning, our heroine turns into an elf and cruises through a mushroom wonderland under the glow of an aurora borealis-style blanket of colors across the sky. Reflective of her personality, it pops off as her biggest and boldest video to date. Of the inspiration behind the video, BENEE says, “I knew I wanted the vid to be a weird fantasy story involving snails! I said to Anita that I wanted to be an elf with long braids riding a bike and have giant mushrooms somewhere in the vid...She came back with the treatment, and I loved ittttttt! Her imagination is supa whacky in the best way, and I’m so happy with how ‘Snail’ turned out!”

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Bebe Rexha has returned with her new anthem 'Baby, I'm Jealous', which features Doja Cat. 'Baby, I'm Jealous' is Bebe Rexha's first single of 2020, following on from last year's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil track 'You Can't Stop The Girl'. The new track marks the debut collaboration between Bebe Rexha and Doja Cat, and is accompanied by a Hannah Lux Davis-directed visual that stars Charli D’Amelio, Nikita Dragun, and Avani Gregg. Bebe Rexha says the new single is "about embracing my insecurities", and adds, "It’s about the way social media has heightened my jealousy which can affect how I feel about myself. We are constantly flooded with the highlights of other people’s lives, and at times I find myself comparing my worth and beauty to others. It’s part of the human process to experience jealousy - ultimately, this is an anthem to embrace those feelings as a form of empowerment." [via Line Of Best Fit]

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Making her grand return to the scene with a striking new single is Brighton-hailed singer Fable, with her new tune 'Thirsty'. With otherworldly tones and harmonising vocals, the singer serves us with a sumptuous genre-bending tune that has us headbanging at every chorus. Known for her bold and atmospheric sonics, the singer accompanies the song with an attention-grabbing video with juxtaposing images of ethereal nature and mental destruction. Speaking on the single, the singer said, “'Thirsty' is about taking the beauty of life for granted. How overtime we write off profound stuff as mundane because it’s a constant; the sky’s always there, but it’s weird and beautiful that we even exist under it. It’s playful at heart but it’s about my realised depression and learning how to reset my perspective through mindfulness,” Having disappeared from the scene back in 2016 due to a personal tragedy, the singer has reconnected to her artistic side and is ready to step back into the spotlight. [via Wonderland]

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With the enticing line-up of Joe Lonie (Supergroove), Milan Borich (Pluto), Jol Mulholland (The Reduction Agents) and Morgan Leary (Cindy), Tāmaki Makaurau supergroup Kathy Bates Motel share their latest ear worm 'Cool Your Heels'. The class act's second single, following up debut track 'Damaged Goods', is dangerously catchy, with killer harmonies from vocalists Lonie and Leary. 'Cool Your Heels' will have you moving your feet and hankering for a dance, a need so perfectly met by the Footloose inspired, Joe Lonie directed visuals. Everybody cut foot loose, the weekend and 'Cool Your Heels' have arrived. [via Under The Radar]

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Up-and-comers Wargasm recently dropped their fifth single, ‘Backyard Bastards’, and now they’ve released a video to go with it. Shot and edited by Olli Appleyard, the video sees sees Sam Matlock (guitar, vocals) hunting down Ryan Cornall (session drummer) on a manic murder spree that finds its peak in an epic showdown between the two, all the while being cheered on by Milkie Way (bass, vocals) and her dancer squad. You can check out the video for ‘Backyard Bastards’ above. [via Dead Press]

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Atlanta-based glam punk rockers Starbenders have released an energetic and evocative music video for their new single 'Can’t Cheat Time' off most recent album Love Potions. 'Can’t Cheat Time' is available now as part of a bundle featuring the original single and an acoustic version. 'Can’t Cheat Time' perfectly pairs frontwoman Kimi Shelter‘s incredible vocal shapeshifting abilities with electrocuted guitars and heart-pounding rhythm for this stand out rock ‘n’ roll anthem. Speaking to the inspiration for the single’s music video, Shelter adds: “‘Can’t Cheat Time’ is a personal favorite amongst the band. This single has a wicked string arrangement reminiscent of Jeff Lynne from ELO’s production style. It was so rewarding hearing all of it come together with the live string players. The accompanying music video is a love letter to the mom and pop businesses that have shaped and supported our very existence. These businesses along with the touring industry have been devastated by the pandemic. We filmed in locations around Atlanta which include the local greasy spoon diner, the record shop, the independent guitar store, the watering hole, and the divey small music venue. While mega-retailers did not close down for even one day, 60% of small to medium-sized businesses in the USA that closed will never reopen. These places are vital to the social and economic health of our cities. We encourage our friends to go to saveourstages.com. Sign up to push legislators to help independent venues though the updated Heroes Act. So many are hurting and on the verge of financial ruin from lighting to sound engineers, musicians, DJs, security, bar staff and venue operators. Our hearts are with you all.“ [via The Girls At The Rock Show]

#videos of the week #nadia vaeh #babeheaven #kate nv #kississippi #tank and the bangas #benee #bebe rexha #doja cat #fable #kathy bates motel #wargasm #starbenders

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borisbubbles · 4 years

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34. FINLAND

Aksel - “Looking back”

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I LEGIT typed out “Erika Vikman - “Cicciolina” before realizing she didn’t win. UGH.🙄 It’s definitely *TOO SOON* to discuss “Cicciolina”, especially in this context, but I must, I guess. Oh and something called “Looking back” won UMK, let’s discuss that too.

Song Analysis

Long before I even knew what an “Erika Vikman - Cicciolina” was, I knew that the song which would later be revealed to be “Looking back” had to be destroyed. Before the artist reveal, YLE posted a list of artists the UMK entrants felt inspired by and one of them (later to revealed to be Aksel’s) literally read “SAM SMITH AND ED SHEERAN”. Like, douse in gasoline and torch it alight, destroy any trace it existed.

And yup, “Looking back” possessed the worst of both upon release: the forgettability of Smith combined with the amorphousness of Sheeran, combining efforts to make a song that sounded vaguely competent upon listen and would be forgotten the second it ended.

Unfortunately, it’s exactly *that* vaguest hint of competence which caused Aksel to beat Erika in the end (well that and the Cantiello Effect of being the only man in a sea of fun female-fronted entries), and ugh. I’m less annoyed by Erika losing (which I expected) than I am that it was *Askel* of all entrants that beat her (was it really that hard to rig for Tika instead?). It always sucks when personality and entertainment is being downvoted for bore-ass conformity. SIGH.

NF Corner

Adding further insult to injury, UMK was pretty good! I know you are ALL longing for my thoughts on Erika, but I will get my other fave out of the way first

Sansa - “Lover view”

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Dreamy trance with an ELABORATE flexing choreography that had absolutely zero chance to finish anywhere but last. 😍 Naming herself after the best GoT character (given the complete assassination of poor Jaime by D&D) It was love at first and last sight to be honest.😍 Becoming a ESCUnited editor has its perks: ie: giving “Lover View” a 10/10 which made it leapfrog over Aksel in the editor poll, right into second place behind Erika. 🤭

Okay, I won’t leave you pining any longer. Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivée: Everybody rise for Eurovision’s most slutastic seraph:

Erika Vikman - “Cicciolina”

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ALL HAIL EMPRESS ERIKA VIKMAN, QUEEN OF CAMP

A TAMER OF HUSBEARS, A PARAGON OF EUROFAGDOM

A LOVER. A FIGHTER. A PHILISOPHER. A PRIEST. AN APOSTLE. A POET.

A HOLY MARTYR WHO DIED FOR OUR SINS .

“Cicciolina” was not a song. it was a religion.

What an epic entrant, enthralling both friend and foe with its alluring siren song. My co-editor Roy thinks She’s one of the 10 cringiest NF acts of the 2020 season - I kindly told Roy to readjust his definition of the word “cringy” before he’s murdered in his sleep. The triptych of The Perfect Eurovision Entry is having an addictive beat, putting on an exciting show and displaying lovable personality quirks and Erika not only passed all three with flying rainbow colours, She redefined the metascape for further camp pearls yet to come. “Cicciolina” was sublime and MY favourite NF flop of the season. I feel blessed for having witnessed Her and being touched by Her righteous hearth-shaped, fushia-spandex, bear-hugging light.

So yes, it is DEVASTATING that She lost, especially to Aksel (to quote Roy again: “why do you hate Aksel, [Looking Back] is just a pop ballad” mhm exactly the problem, bro). So, you may ask yourself, if I resent the idea of Aksel beating Erika, then why don’t I rank Aksel lower than this?

By some weird stroke of luck, I feel sorry for Aksel. Like, here’s the deal with Erika and UMK. She lost. Fair and square and Aksel won, also fair and square. It’s not Aksel’s fault “Cicciolina” emerged as a fan favourite juggernaught. It’s not Aksel’s fault that those godawful HUMOURLESS (heterosexual, jealous) pharisean juries REJECTED the blinding light of St. Erika’s halo (led by the ESTONIAN jury of all people. Fuck, Estonia were evil this year). He was there, he was adequate, and he reaped the benefits due to White Male Mediocrity. I blame not him but those who enabled it to happen. I’d say DIE ESTONIA but they’ve already died in this ranking, in last place where they belong. Anyway, I don’t dislike Aksel or his song. I just wish “Looking back” had more to offer than it being “just a pop ballad”. 🙄

Finland 2020 vs Finland 2021

Aksel would’ve almost certainly NQ’d in Rotterdam (and not just because fan opinion had turned against him. I have this *really* sick feeling that lookism would’ve claimed him and that turns my stomach), which of course makes him beating Erika (who may have NQ’d, but had a very good chance to reach the Grand final), an even bigger sore. You know perhaps the cancellation really WAS divine retribution for Cicciolina losing UMK, I guess we’ll never know, huh?

Anyway, YLE already announced they would go for UMK again in 2021 and made zero mention of Aksel’s future participation, which is... yet another reason why I can’t hate Aksel. He’s being discarded like used toilet paper at every juncture and I so, SO sorry for him. SORRY SOMETIMES I DISCOVER THAT I TOO HAVE A HEART (an angular, plastic fuschia one) AND AM CAPABLE OF SELECTIVE EMPATHY I CANNOT HELP IT, Y’ALL.

but lol @ ranking Finland higher than 35th. You effed big time, pals, consider yourselves lucky ESC2020 never came to pass.

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

The potential for a FREAKY!FREAKY!FREAKY! entry was huge, can you fathom the concept of FINLAND KEiiNO’ing a televote? With a polyester hair bitch in a hot pink spandex and two dancers in kodiak costumes? A smash hit fave that racked up millions of views all over Europe? It would’ve been a RIOT, even in an already meme-heavy year as 2020. Hell even the idea of a fucking “BANANAS” winning (it finished second in the jury vote, somehow??? and I mean, I stan that it did but I’m also... fucking confused that it did?) is enough for some freak-friendly labelling. Alas, Finland instead went against what the fandom were expected them to do and went with the safe pick. As eyeroll worthy as it was, Erika losing was a huge blindside for the fandom and the shock is worthy of one senhead. I would hand out more if Erika’s loss/Aksel’s win had bookended the shock winner selection streak that Arilena Ara had started, but Bárbara Tinoco decided otherwise. (although Tinoco losing is entirely self-inflicted on her behalf, but we’ll get to that in a while). Oh well.

Score: 1 Senhit out of 5.

#Eurovision #Eurovision Song Contest #Eurovision 2020 #Finland #aksel kankaanranta #Looking back

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schaefferisqueen · 4 years

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Twisted Song Ranking

OK ITS FINALLY HERE I SORRYYYYYY. So this took forever cuz SCHOOL and I needed to watch Twisted again cuz I can’t buy the sound track. so. long time. ANYWAYS AJ and Kaley KILLED IT I love the soundtrack so much it so good..... but not my fave oops. so ya this show is amazing and my ranking is slightly controversial (as always) so sorry oops.

14. Orphaned at Thirty-three (Ok so I love Jeff but I don't like this song oops. it makes me uncomfy and Jeff is creepy but like that's his brand so I get it. but also rlly don't like oh well)

13. One Thousand and One Nights Reprise/Finale (ok so this is good its just way too short for me and I feel like it lasts .5 secs lmao)

12. Take Off Your Clothes (Ok so this is a good song and it doesn't make me uncomfy I just like more songs better and I don't rlly jam to this one like others)

11. Everything and More (ok I LOVE Rachel no hate I Stan her she's amazing but I think the songs in twisted were out of or at the edge of her range and she sounds kinda strained so it kinda hurts to listen sometime. but no hate I love her she's amazing and hilarious especially in twisted shut up she's amazing)

10. Happy Ending (ok I love this song its so good especially at homecoming its amazing and Jeff going crazy at the end is so relatable I cant. also.... this is end of first act,,..... there are only 5 songs in act 2???? lmao but ya amazing we Stan harmonies I love)

9. One Thousand and One Nights (ok this is great go OFF Dylan/Meredith u r too good for this world. their voices together so good and they have so many starkid characters that r a thing lmao but honestly so cute amazing vocals their love story is great we ship and Stan)

8. I Steal Everything (ok I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONGGGGG amazing intro to scumbag!Aladdin and his mentality. he also rlly fucking funny and the choreography kills meeee GO JAMES KINGGGG James Tolbert choreographed he DESERVES the recognition and Jeff is hilarious and Lauren as monkey is great too. also rip Robert lmao)

7. Sands of Time/Golden Rule (yayay so this song is great and so good and it SHOULD be the 1st act closer or smtg but its not so rip oh well. ANYWAYS we love when the ppl appreciate j’afar but go apeshit later and hate him its hilarious contrast. ALSO dancing duet Robert/Lauren PART 2 we love them sm the two dancers killing it. and Laurens a boy again lmao)

6. If I Believed (GO DYLANNNNNNNNNNN ok so I know I will prob get hate for putting this ‘so low’ cuz its normally in top 3 for most rankings but oh well. I love Dylan and this song breaks my heart BUT I LOVE OTHERS MORE IM SORRY OK anyways Dylan slays and hits THAT NOTE and kills it I cant I want the sound track purely for this song (and the top 5))

5. Power in Me (yessssss I know this song gets a lot of hate but I genuinely love it tis amazing and heartfelt and Dylan/Racheal duet is WHAT WE NEEDED the only thing better would be Dylan/jaime duet and I will advocate for that until the day I die FIGHT ME they need to sing together. ANYWAYS I love this song it so emotional and great closer for j’afar as djinn and ugh EMOTIONS so ya)

4. Golden Rule Evil Reprise (yesssssssssssss this songgggggggg GO JOE GO JOE KING OMG U KILLLLL ITTTTTT I cant this song is so good and way too short it should be so much longer but omg amazing. also. CHOREO EXCUZE ME GO OFF JAMESSSSS. sry I love this song I cant its so clever the lyrics I cant GO OFF KALEY its amazing we stannnnnn)

3. Dream a Little Harder (ok this song is hilarious and Alex and Robert GO OFFFF they kill it and fun fact Kaley/aj have said that the song would be completely diff if they weren't in the cast sooooo that just tells u how amazing they areeeeee. also the fuck you and the belle parody and Jaime as bell and Denise as the parrot is so funnyyyyyy and Jeff at that one part where everyone is saying that their mom died is amazing I loveeeeeeee we Stan this song so much and it was almost higher BUT just wait lmao)

2. No One Remembers Achmed (OK I KNOW SHUT UP IT SHOULD BE NUMBER ONE BUT ITS NOT SO DEAL I love achmed and the soldiers (especially #3) steal the show like H E F U C K E D A T I G E R is so good and Jim is amazing and Jim harmonizing w/ Lauren in the beginning is also amazing and this song just SLAPS so hard I love so muchhhhh the ensemble just goes off and so does Joe and its amazinggggg w eloveeeeeeeee)

1. Twisted (OK SO YES THIS IS FIRST IT IS MY FAVE DONT @ ME. I love twisted so much firstly cuz GO JAIME YES URSULA GO YESSSS and Nick as scar and Robert as Gaston and Lauren as maleficent and Alex as Captain Hook and DENISE HOLY SHIT DENISE UR SO FUNNY I CANT ALSO did u know that Jim was going to be hades but the costume was too complicated and too much so they couldn't im sad that would have been hilarious. AND LETS NOT FORGET DYLAN OMGGGGGG he's amazing and he kills it and again GO JAIME GO OFF QUEEEEENNNNN GO OFFFFF I LOVE UUUUUUUUUUUU also jaime has said multiple times that ursula was her fave starkid role ever and yes so accurate its so amazing and iconic like the voice the costume the body movement the SPLIT AT THE END YES SHE SPLITS WHEN SHE DROPS INFRONT OF J’AFAR GO OFFFFFFFF I LOVE HER HAND THIS SONG EEEEKKK)

OK so once again if u actually got thru all of that (especially the last one lol) u r my fave person and I love u sm u absolute queen. so ya again im sorry it took so long school sucks and so does senior yr and college essays and screw that shit. so... next is avpsy. imma have to watch other ranking vids to get the songs cuz there is no soundtrack that I can find and I DO NOT have the time nor energy to watch the whole thing so I sorry in advance. BUT I have already ranked HMB AND STARSHIP I just need to add commentary so after AVPSY it should go fasterish. oops ANYWAYS

luv u all

<3, alimay (lmao it autocorrected to alimony lol I cant that's hilarious)

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mautadite · 4 years

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april book round up

20 books this month, which i didn’t see coming. i had more free time than expected, even with working from home and *makes vague hand gestures*. i still have a scribd membership so almost all these books came from there. also i’m putting some thought into reviewing on netgalley, so a couple from there as well.

american fairy tale - adriana herrera ⭐️⭐️⭐️ contemporary m/m romance in herrera’s dreamers series that follows immigrants and children of immigrants. this second book was fun, a kind of fairy tale romance as the title suggests. a rich guy/poor guy situation which isn’t usually my cup of tea, and the domineering, throw-money-at-every-situation personality of the rich guy got on my nerves, and i wasn’t totally sold on the way the conflict was resolved? but i enjoyed it. herrera’s books just have this down to earth vibe that i love.

unfit to print - k.j. charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ historical m/m romance. vikram, a young lawyer doing a lot of pro-bono work in the indian community in london, lost touch with his childhood friend gil years and years ago, is pretty sure he’s dead. so imagine his surprise when he comes across him in an unlikely occupation in an unlikely place. this was a charming, touching novella, really interesting historically, with a lot of cool titbits about porn in the 19th century. very sweet romance-wise.

american love story - adriana herrera ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ another dreamers novel, this one about a black professor and political activist and a white ADA who had a fling a while back and are now living in the same town. and same apartment building. lol. it did get into real world politics, which i know some people don’t like, but i honestly thought it well done? there were some great bits in this, good insight, one really harrowing moment, and just really great chemistry and character moments.

wanted, a gentleman - k.j. charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ more historical m/m romance from k.j. charles, which i always like, but this one i REALLY liked. which surprised me, because it’s a novella, and with novellas you never spend enough time with characters to really know them and their story and get attached? but that’s exactly what happened here. a well-to-do ex-slave and a poor gazette owner team up to untangle a young love affair. i seriously loved this, the characters are so good together. T__T

far from the world we know - harper bliss ⭐️⭐️ contemporary f/f romance about a young widow with a traumatic past who moves to a tiny new town to take care of her ailing aunt, and slowly falls into a relationship with the owner of the local newspaper. the premise was good, but this honestly felt like every single harper bliss book i’ve ever read, except it had nothing to recommend it. ask me why these characters even like each other. i can’t answer!

the hound of justice - claire o'dell ⭐️⭐️ the second book in a series that re-imagines the sherlock holmes universe, except as near-future scifi set during a civil war, and both holmes and watson are black lesbians. i LOVED the first book (with a few caveats) and i’ve been looking forward to this one for so long... but it was disappointing. in terms of the writing, in terms of the direction the characters took, in terms of the plot... i have to wonder if i read the first one with rose-tinted glasses. :/ won’t be continuing this series.

the vintner's luck - elizabeth knox ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ *CLUTCHES MY CHEST WITH BOTH HANDS* in my goodreads review i said i didn’t know how to talk about this novel, and i still don’t. but i ADORED IT. so completely. in early 19th century france, the young son of a winegrower climbs a hill on his father’s property, and there, meets an angel. this is the story of them falling in love, but also about family and friendship, love and death. it’s written SO beautifully, and i’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

the family fang - kevin wilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ OOOF. i went into this knowing that several friends loved it so i knew i probably was gonna too and i DID. it’s about two siblings whose parents have been obsessed (since before the birth of their children, and until the present day where they’re both grown) with the idea of creating perfect art, and how the kids survive that. i actually didn’t enjoy reading many parts of this, but only because it was so well written, if that makes sense? like, it took me right in there with some of the shitty emotions and just made me feel. OOOF.

mrs. martin's incomparable adventure - courtney milan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a VERY sweet and charming historical f/f romance between a wealthy 74-yo widow and the cute young 69 (nice) yo landlady who comes to ask for her help. and then they have an adventure! i read it at a great time, because i was beginning to feel really bummed out about how people are trivialising and discounting the lives of older people in this crisis, and there was a really great message of like... life not being over until you SAY it’s over, living like you have 20 more years left. i loved it a lot.

his convenient husband - robin covington ⭐️⭐️ m/m contemporary fake marriage story, about a russian ballet dancer and the widowed american football player he marries to get citizenship. and then they fall in love for realsies. i love fake marriage as a trope, it can be so cute but this was very meh. if a book is gonna handle racism/homophobia in such a shallow way... i’d honestly prefer if the book just pretended those things don’t exist lol. :/ it’s also very very rushed and not well plotted at all. alas.

once ghosted, twice shy - alyssa cole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ alyssa cole is like my good luck charm, because starting here, i read a bunch of lesbian romance novels that i really liked. this one is part of a series about reluctant royals, and follows the dapper assistant to a prince as she falls for a girl who seemingly ghosts her, and then meets her again months later. it’s a novella, and sort of relies on the fact that you would have met one of the characters in a previous book (which i did read). but i really really liked it, thought it was super cute, and the mcs had great chemistry. it was almost insta-love, which i really don’t like... but i still like this book so much. also best cover?? BEST COVER.

who'd have thought - g. benson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ now THIS is fake marriage done right!!! f/f contemporary romance about a struggling nurse who comes across an ad offering a chunk of money in exchange for one year of marriage... and the person on the offering end turns out to be the cold, stuck-up but brilliant doctor at the hospital where she works. this was the perfect slow burn, with great character writing, really good set-up, very believable arc as they slowly fall in love. it got me so emotional at times. definitely gonna make sure i read more from this author.

three reasons to say yes - jaime clevenger ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ f/f contemporary about two women who strike up a romance while on vacation in hawaii; one an overworked professional, one a doctor-mom of twin girls. another winner for me. just an extremely cute, very genuine butch/femme romance. it’s funny because i definitely nitpicked on a lot of things in this book, but i only remember the parts of if that made me so fond.

we set the dark on fire - tehlor kay meija ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ f/f YA fantasy in a world deeply divided by class. in the upper echelons of society, girls are trained either to become one of the two wives of upper class men; the primera and the segunda. the story follows a girl who has faked her social class becoming the primera of a very powerful man, getting involved with revolutionaries, and developing a surprising relationship with her husband’s segunda. really interesting world-building, some lovely writing, a really heart-felt core. i had my nitpicks with the plot but i still super enjoyed it, really want to read the second part.

a tale of two mommies - vanita oelschlager ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ netgalley book. a cute children’s story about a kid with two moms. <3

crier's war - nina varela ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ more f/f fantasy YA, this one with the added benefit of being about something that i ADORE reading about in fiction: artificial life. in this fantasy world, automae were created, perfected, became aware of their place in society, fought a war for their autonomy... and won. the story opens up 50 years later, in a society ruled by robots, where humans are subjugated. it follows the current robot ruler’s created daughter and a young human rebel whose one goal is to kill said daughter. i loved this SO much, the enemies to lovers trope was peeeerfect. i wish the writing was tighter, and some plot elements could have used cleaning up, but i enjoyed this so much. the ROMANCE especially was... gah! <3 the second book comes out soon, but i want it like, now.

second dad summer - benjamin klas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ another netgalley book. a fun and charming primary/middle school story about a kid spending the summer with his father, and his father’s new boyfriend, who he doesn’t quite get along with. over the summer he makes new friends, nurtures some plants, learns some lessons. i thought this was well-written, touching, and does a pretty good job of telling kids about queer stuff.

tempting fate - sloane kennedy ⭐️⭐️ contemporary m/m novella (short story honestly) about two ranch hands realising their feelings for one another. it was fine, i read it because i was in the mood for a quick HEA and i got that, but it was also kinda flat and there were several kinda irksome things about it. i reeeeeally don’t like overly possessive characters, lol.

all the reasons i need - jaime clevenger ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ more contemporary f/f romance, this one about long time friends who have been in love for ages, slowly coming to a place where they can finally admit their feelings and try to embark upon a relationship. again, while on vacation! this was a lot more sombre than the previous clevenger book, as it deals with past abuse and eating disorders. but i also found the writing to be better in general, and the relationship between the two women was just... so great. the writing definitely isn’t pulitzer prize-winning or anything, but there are so few good butch/femme books out there, i ate this up, and will def. be reading more from this author.

interpreter of maladies - jhumpa lahiri ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ speaking of pulitzer prize-winning authors... i’ve had this author and this book specifically at the back of my mind since secondary school; one of my literature teachers really loved it and would bring it up all the time. i really enjoyed it! it’s a collection of stories about the indian diaspora in america, as well as life on the subcontinent. i really like her writing (very simple, very precise, but very evocative) and there were a few really striking stories.

and that’s it for april. look at me, actually writing this entry on time, lol. for may i’m just gonna... keep reading whatever catches my eye on scribd i guess. i remember vaguely saying that by this time of the year i would have moved on to reading the books on my physical bookshelf that i haven’t gotten to yet but... i go where the wind takes me etc. currently reading silver moon, about women who turn into werewolves once they hit menopause? absolutely metal.

#book talk #long post

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mvrlcy · 5 years

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.･:*:･ﾟ’ twenty two year old cis male marley redd was made in brooklyn and attended st. jude’s. he still resides in new york, and are currently a professional ballet dancer. they are matching twin outfits in childhood photos, a boyfriend or hookup’s too-big hoodie with tights & leg warmers, scissors dragging against the bottom of pointe shoes, hours spent scrutinizing in front of a mirror and a docile, rosy-cheeked smile. onlookers say they resemble troye sivan.

it’s me... again. you’re going to get sick of me, i swear it. marley is an older muse of mine ( like all of a month old ) so he has... wait for it.... an actual bio!! and so does his brother who is played by my friend so like watch out for this Content™ also i’m very currently watching a movie so if this makes no sense, now you know why!

trigger warnings: ed related content, homophobia & some nsfw mentions

HISTORY

marley was born on the gold coast of australia, two minutes older than his twin brother ( @cmerys ) and their younger brother. their mother was a fairly successful ballet dancer for the australian ballet and i’d imagine she wanted both twins to follow in her footsteps. marley took up dancing like he was born to do it ( and perhaps he was ) but he seemed to get all the talent in that regard, leaving nothing left for emery as far as dance was concerned. that was alright though – one prodigy is probably all a family can hope for in the first place. with marley in a place of honor in his mother’s eyes and their younger brother being dad’s favorite for his more stereotypical masculine interests, that left little room for emery. marley, being a compassionate and caring lil darling, took it upon himself to care for his younger brother. he’ll tease em mercilessly but he’s the only one allowed to do so.

tw eating disorder the only other thing that marley cares about nearly as much as he does his twin brother is dance. classical music flows through his blood and from as early as age four, he’s been putting in countless hours at the dance studio and practicing at home in his ‘free time’. he’s good. really good. so good that they moved to brooklyn ny at the age of 12 because he’d learned all he can learn in australia. but it’s also affected him mentally. to be the best, he works out obsessively and cuts corners food wise. the twins were already slender but over the years, marley dropped down in weight until he was little more than muscle on bone. he doesn’t notice it as a problem and in some ways, his profession encourages it. it’s kind of your ballet dancer trope for a reason! he’s gotten the nickname little redd for his incredibly petite frame and the only one who has caught on is emery who tries to help in his own soft way.

personality wise, marley tries to make up for the shyness of his twin brother. bright and open, he’s literally a social butterfly. it’s also a bit of a cover for his own crippling internalized insecurities, assuming that by projecting this saccharine sweet demeanor, no one will look below the surface. but essentially just picture a little angel boy and you have marley redd. he tries to be friends with everyone, avoids conflict like its his job and tends to be a little taken advantage of for how genuinely nice he is.

he’s known from a young age that he was gay. it’s never really been a question. he was assumed as much since he was a male ballet dancer and he kind of hated fitting into that stereotype but alas. one cannot help who one is attracted to! plus he’s usually found with a bit of makeup on ( a hobby he picked up from his dance ) and wearing very effeminately oversized hoodies and tight leggings w/ leg warmers. it’s not hard to guess. he was never really popular in the first place ( more so just with girls who kind of wanted him to be their token gay best friend, even before he came out ) so in order to save emery ( who is also queer ) the pain and bullying of being the out kid in school, marley came out first! in fact, em never really had to – people just assumed.

tw n*sfw? sexually, marley is more experienced than his angelic demeanor lets on. he accidentally flirts and tends to say yes to guys way too easily. it’s like deceptive innocence on the streets and anything but innocent in the sheets. he loves being straight boys’ first gay experience or being the obediently little sub for those with more skills and prowess. down for anything bc again, a little gullible. it’s where his secret has come into play. emery got a boyfriend at the end of last year! his first bc lil em is very shy and docile. marley... was a little jealous but it was cool! it was fine! until the boyfriend started making passes at him. and marley really did think the boyf was hot and emery wasn’t ready for that step yet so. one thing led to another and they started up a tryst! a tryst he felt guilty about every time it happened but y’know. marley got himself a boyfriend but continually found himself with emery’s. eventually the cheating and the betrayal of his brother got to be too much. at a halloween party where he snuck off with emery’s beau, he eventually confessed to his brother afterwards that he cheated (not who with though). he was subsequently dumped by his own boyfriend but can’t for the life of him figure out why or how he found out.

PRESENT ( IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS )

with his skill in dance quickly growing in the creative nyc setting, marley auditioned for plenty of renowned ballet companies. much to his surprise and delight, the nyc ballet invited him to join their corps. they put him and emery (because he wasn’t going to leave his bby brother behind ) up in an apartment of their own, freeing them from under the thumb of their parents. he’s working extra hard because he wants to be a featured dancer someday ( and someday soon! the youngest ever soloist was 20 so he’s already two years behind! a boy’s gotta work which is also dangerous bc he’s already pushing himself too hard! )

summary: marley is a tiny dancing cliche and a little softie sweetheart who just wants to be everyone’s friend. he has his own mental / image issues which he buries beneath a smile but all in all he’s living his dream. he loves his twin brother more than life itself and has been in brooklyn since 12 and in the ballet since last year so give me all the plots!!

IDEAS!!

hookups

his most ex boyfriend ( they broke up after halloween and dated about 4 months ) ** this is gonna be a wc if no one can take it up

emery’s ex boyfriend -- THEO

'straight boy’ crushes

gym rat -- KENNY

close friends ( all or most probably girls tbh ) -- GIGI

big party friend group -- MARGOT, more open

someone interested in ballet who idolizes marley

dancer friend

boy he’s gonna try and set up with emery out of guilt

neighbor

bad influence

older ex boyfriends / ex flings

someone protective over marley

mutually protective over emery -- JAMILA

someone he’s protective over -- JAIME

someone whose boyfriend marley flirted with / maybe slept with

sibling type friendship

wingperson -- JAMILA

unrequited crush

childhood friends who visited australia

mutual dislike

confidant ( besides em ) -- GIGI

that’s.... all i got

#xointro #intro.

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janiedean · 6 years

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For the body parts if you’re still doing it. Jaime and Brienne? As individuals this time.

sure!

jaime

Headcanon: I can muster a cogent argument for why it would make more sense or make for a better story if this were the case

it’s a crime against humanity he couldn’t be in his children’s lives because he’d have been great at it (surely better than cersei/robert anyway) and if grrm ever gives him the chance to have another go at it he’d thrive tbh please let him have it

Heartcanon: I don’t have a particular rationale for why this ought to be the case, I just like to imagine it’s true because it gives me the warm fuzzies

at least show verse because of the dyslexia but I think book verse could work too, tyrion totally read him things out loud when they were kids I have NO CANON BASIS TECHNICALLY FOR IT BUT I JUST FEEL LIKE IT HAPPENED OKAY

Gutcanon: it’s not that I actively want this to be the case – it just unaccountably feels like it should be

I don’t feel like he’s gonna be the valonqar anymore but if it was the case... well, I don’t want him to be like let him be free and not have any more c-related trauma

Junkcanon: I like to imagine it’s true because it gives me the other kind of warm fuzzies

there’s nothing more I want to hc when it comes to jaime lannister and nfsw headcanons that nothing gets better for him than being with someone who’ll top him very lovingly and very intently while giving him all of their attention and taking their time with and not slipping out of the bed after (or making him slip out of the bed after) period

Spleencanon: I insist that this is the case specifically to spite the author, because, like, fuck you, sir or madam

I have absolutely nothing to say to grrm but to the fandom: he paid in spades for throwing bran out of that window and he regrets it canonically, having done that doesn’t make him a bad person who deserves to die and who doesn’t have remorse for it bye

brienne:

Headcanon: I can muster a cogent argument for why it would make more sense or make for a better story if this were the case

she’s actually a very good dancer, the problem is that no one ever lets her do it because we know why But she also would be better at leading than following *cough* actually she doesn’t necessarily hate feminine things ie wearing dresses or sewing it’s just that she’s bad at it and people make her feel like shit for it, but the moment anyone wouldn’t ridicule her for it she wouldn’t mind wearing a dress or dancing or the likes

Heartcanon: I don’t have a particular rationale for why this ought to be the case, I just like to imagine it’s true because it gives me the warm fuzzies

she has a good singing voice except that she never uses it and she absolutely go for it if she gets enough self-confidence to go there

Gutcanon: it’s not that I actively want this to be the case – it just unaccountably feels like it should be

same as what I said with jb, I don’t want her to have to confront jaime about LS but it will have to happen, and on top of that she’s 99% gonna have to kill her and I don’t want her to go through that trauma too BUT 99% it’s happening

Junkcanon: I like to imagine it’s true because it gives me the other kind of warm fuzzies

the moment she gets together with jaime someone who genuinely loves her, and after she gets over the whole ‘no one will ever want me for me’ phase when it comes to sex, she’d totally be all over them and into doing it every other possible time - listen she’s young and she has needs she totally would

Spleencanon: I insist that this is the case specifically to spite the author, because, like, fuck you, sir or madam

I have zero gripes with grrm I don’t want to spite him in any way he can do what he wants with her tbh he wrote her so well I don’t have anything else to add, but @ the fandom: she’s 100% going to end up with her canon male love interest who is absolutely into her 100% and without worrying about whether they ***deserve*** each other or not and there’s nothing platonic about it or about her feelings bye

#jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #ch: jaime lannister #ch: brienne of tarth #1 #2 #3 #anti-lannincest #anti-cersei lannister #anti lannincest for ts #anti cersei lannister for ts #idontwantto10 #ask post

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the-literary-mausoleum · 6 years

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The Black Gloves (Owlman III)

As a backer for all 3 of Hex Media's films I was overjoyed to receive my blu-ray copy of this film and the accompanying digital media code. While I absolutely loved 'Lord of Tears' and consider it one of the best horror films of the decade, I felt that the 'Unkindness of Ravens' was a little overwrought. That is not to say that I did not enjoy the film, I've enjoyed all three films Lawrie Brewster and Sarah Daly have created, but the climax of 'Ravens' was a little too much noise and not enough substance. Like 'Lord of Tears' before it, 'Ravens' had a few editing choices I didn't agree with but they were not enough to detract from my overall admiration of the films. I appreciated that they attempted to do something different with 'Ravens'.

Now this film is an excellent return to form! A scary, black-and-white noir with the same feeling of overwhelming dread and despair present in 'Lord of Tears'. Lawrie Brewster favorites Jaime Scott Gordon and Alexandra Hulme are joined by Macarena Gomez in a twisted tale of love, loss, and folk horror. Psychologist Finn Galloway (Gordon) seeks out reclusive ballet dancer Elisa Grey (Hulme) in the weatherbeaten moors of Scotland due to Elisa's fear of the Owlman - a fear shared by one of Finn's previous patients Finn failed to save. Elisa is cared for by Lorena Velasco (Gomez) a crippled formed ballet dancer determined to return Elisa to the stage no matter the cost. Finn's obsession clashes with Lorena's secretive nature and sudden mood swings while it becomes clear something is very wrong with Elisa...or is it the Scottish manor they are all staying in?

The choice of black-and-white allows the film to have a highly stylistic noir appearance with swirling camera angles, dutch angles, and expressionistic shadows. The soundtrack is book-ended by period-sounding thriller music for the opening and ending credits but the soundtrack itself is an evocative mixture of drums, drones, and lovely orchestral numbers. The acting is good overall (I'm going to state for the record that I think Macarena Gomez's performance was a decision and stand behind her choice) but there are some jarring bits of dialogue and some minor editorial concerns - particularly two fairly long dance scenes reminiscent of the dance sequence in 'Lord of Tears'. These are not enough to take away from the pure exhilaration of this home-grown independent horror film. If there was any criticism I could make, it would be that the plot is perhaps a bit too reminiscent of 'Lord of Tears' and that I personally missed the Owlman having a voice. Still, these are minor concerns; this film is a rollicking corker of a horror movie with nuanced performances, creeping dread, and some good scares. (5/5)

#the black gloves #horror movies #capsule reviews #reviews #uploads #order of flies

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the-jade-cross · 3 years

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The Lannister Wolf - Part 3 Chapter 3

“I still cannot believe that they haven’t tried to take you prisoner or kill you,” Jaime observed.

Evelyn shrugged as she sat before him, tending to his wounded arm, “They did, but failed.”

Jaime smirked weakly at her reply but hissed when she poured water over his wound.

“When we get to Harrenhal tomorrow, this needs to be tended to immediately.” Evelyn observed.

Jaime rolled his eyes, “I doubt Locke and his friends would allow their prisoner to get medical treatment, considering they either rape or remove a limb from their prisoners.”

“You know, your hand is not a limb. You still have the rest of your arm, “Evelyn observed. “I could have been worse.” “How?” Jaime snapped.

Brienne was about to scold Jaime for being rude when Jaime felt a chill run down his spine as the stranger looked at him from within the depths of her hood.

“Your head could have been removed,” Evelyn pointed out with a deadpan tone in her voice.

Jaime looked down, suddenly feeling guilty.

“The Kingslayer makes a valid point though,” Brienne intervened. “How will he get treatment when Locke will not even let him near the fire for warmth?”

Evelyn smiled and while the two couldn’t see it, they sensed mischief radiating off the mysterious stranger.

“Locke cannot deny you treatment if you aren’t his prisoners.”

Jaime frowned, “I doubt he is going to free us.” However, Brienne caught onto Evelyn’s plan. “You’re going to take us prisoner from him?”

Jaime’s eyes suddenly widened and he tried to scoot away from Evelyn, “Why would you want us as prisoners?”

Evelyn chuckled, “I have no need of prisoners, which is why I will set you free the moment you two are safe and cared for.” “but why?” Brienne insisted. “Why spend so much time and effort helping us, to not get anything in return?”

Evelyn smiled, “Closure. That’s what I get.” Brienne and Jaime looked at her confused, but Jaime yelped when Evelyn pulled him back in order to rebandage his hand.

“Though, if you do want to do something for me, you could relay the message.”

“TO whom?” Brienne asked, wholly intrigued.

Evelyn finished tying Jaime’s bandage and set about using the rag and water to clean off the mud and blood from his arms.

“Cersei Lannister. Tell her that I may not be the one to come and take her down but tell her that she will pay for the things she has done.” Jaime’s eyebrows shot up in amusement, “Why is it that my sister is on the top of every hit list?”

“Gee,” Evelyn observed sarcastically, “I wonder.” Brienne covered her mouth to hide her grin but Jaime noticed.

“At least there will be one person I’ll get to see when I get home who isn’t on a hit list or out to kill me.” The guy remarked.

“Who?” Brienne teased. “Your stable boy?”

“My wife,” Jaime snapped back defensively.

Evelyn felt her heart freeze. He didn’t know…. H didn’t know she ran…. He didn’t even know that she had been with child at the time she left…

“How long has it been since you were home Kingslayer?” Evelyn asked.

Jaime pursed his lips in thought, “Almost a year and a half…. Maybe twenty months.” Evelyn chuckled, “Your poor wife. I hope your sister didn’t try to do anything in those twenty months of absence.”

Jaime bit his lip, “Even if she did, I know Evelyn could take care of herself. She was always able to handle herself without me. Whatever she chose to do in my absence, I know it was the right thing to do.” Evelyn felt her heart skip a beat. Even after a year of being apart from her, after a year of being a prisoner of her brother, after losing his hand and dignity, he still trusted her.

Brienne seemed to notice Evelyn’s interest in the young Stark who had taken the name of Lannister. An interest in a girl she had never met, obviously something Brienne held in common with this stranger.

“it sounds like you love her a great deal,” Evelyn said at last, skillfully disguising the lump in her throat.

Jaime smiled, his eyes drifting into another world with a look of fondness in his eyes, “Aye, I love her more than anything.” Brienne noticed the way the stranger was totally absorbed in Jaime’s words and it confused her.

“I just hope that when I return, she will still love me,” Jaime whispered.

Evelyn smiled, “if this lady was able to make the Kingslayer’s heart skip a beat, I am sure she will love you till her dying breath.” Jaime smiled sadly before turning to look across the camp at where Locke and his men were watching them warily.

“That bracelet,” Brienne said, pointing to the bracelet on Evelyn’s wrist, the only form of jewelry that the stranger appeared to be wearing.

Evelyn looked down at what Brienne was referring to and smiled. “My brother gave it to me when I was but a child.” Jaime studied the bracelet and Evelyn was glad that she never wore it around him and had kept it hidden in her bags until the day she ran away, then she brought it out and hadn’t removed it since.

“Eve!” a ten-year-old Jon called out.

Evelyn turned to see Jon dragging himself through the knee-deep snow which, for little Jon who hadn’t yet hit his growth spurt, was closer to his mid thighs than his knees.

“What is it Jon?” Evelyn asked, sitting up from where she had been lying on her back on her and Jon’s thinking rock, leaving a print of her body in the snow.

Jon finally reached the thinking rock and climbed up to sit in front of Evelyn, “How in the world do you not freeze to death lying in the snow?” Evelyn shrugged, “Maybe I just have a warmer body than you.”

Jon nodded in agreement, shivering. Evelyn scooted over and quickly wrapped her arms around her brother, pulling him into her side and rubbing his arms to warm him up.

“What are you doing out here if you’re so cold?” she asked, blowing warm air on his bare hands to warm them.

“I wanted to give you something,” Jon replied. “I know your birthday was three weeks ago, but this took longer to make than I thought.”

The boy reached into his pocket and drew out a small brown leather pouch barely the size of his hand and placed it in Evelyn’s hands.

Evelyn slowly moved her hands to open the pouch and pulled out what appeared to be a bracelet. Made of pure silver, the top looked like a dragon’s head and from how hard Jon spent on the band part of the bracelet, it looked like he meant for it to look like the tail of a dragon.

“it’s beautiful!” Evelyn whisper yelled, admiring the hard work that her half-brother put into her gift.

“you like it!?” Jon asked, hardly believing his ears.

Evelyn smiled and wrapped her brother in a tight hug, “I love it! I will treasure this forever!”

******

“We may never see each other again,” Nanteza pointed out as she and Evelyn walked toward the stables where the hands had brought out their two horses.

Evelyn nodded as she took the reins of her furry brown horse while Nanteza was handed the reigns of a lovely white stallion.

“That is how life is isn’t it? You meet someone but then you never see them again,” Evelyn sighed. “One of the reasons why I hate traveling because I meet new people but when I return home, I never see them again.”

“Writing is also hard because I live in Dorne and you in Winterfell,” Nanteza sighed, gathering the reins of her horse and lifting herself on with the grace of a dancer.

Evelyn smiled as she lifted herself up, a little less graceful than the slender Dornish girl before turning to Nanteza. “It is just like what you told me last night when we slept in Maya’s room. If fate sees it fit that we meet again, we will run into each other.”

Nanteza smiled, “I truly hope so. You, Maya and Lillia are the best friends I have ever had… not many people want to be friends with a bastard.”

Reaching over, Evelyn patted Nanteza’s tanned hand, their difference in skin tones contrasting before Evelyn reached into her saddle bag and drew out something.

“Here, I want you to have this.” She said, holding something small out to Nanteza.

When the girl looked at the cold metal object in her palm, she saw that it was an arrowhead. Long and slender, not bold and large like a hunting arrow nor incredibly slender and cylinder shaped like a warrior’s arrow but unique and elegant, the two-pointed barbs swirled around the arrow shaft like spiral stairs before disappearing into the end of the arrow where it would attach to the wooden shaft.

“It’s beautiful,” Nanteza whispered, running her fingers over the razor-sharp tip.

“My brother Jon is teaching me how to work with metal and I wanted to design my own arrowheads so when I grow up, my arrowheads are completely different from everyone else’s. Sort of like my trademark!” Evelyn explained. “This is my favorite design. I want you to have it.”

Nanteza smiled, her cheeks heating up at the mention of Jon before she tucked the arrowhead into her pant pocket, “Thank you Eve. I’ll always keep it with me.”

“Hey Warlock,” Brienne whispered, snapping Evelyn out of her thoughts. “We’re here.”

Evelyn lifted her eyes to see that she had been riding on Chance next to Jaime and Brienne who were both hand bound to two separate horses, Jaime flopping forward from exhaustion. Turning to look at where they were headed, she saw that they were riding through the gates of Harrenhal. Good. As they pulled into the muddy, soiled town and Jaime and Brienne were brought from their horses. A man with short greying hair approached them and Locke spoke loudly.

“Lord Bolton, I give you the Kingslayer!” he said, moving to kick Jaime forward but suddenly felt his foot swinging out from under him, the wrong way and he splattered in the mud.

Several of his men tried to hold back their chuckles but when the townspeople laughed, everyone else joined in. Lord Bolton lifted his eyes to see the petite, but intimidating figure move from around the fallen Locke to stand directly behind Jaime and Brienne who were both bound. He had been planning on paying Locke and throwing the two prisoners in the dungeon but when the figure placed a gloved hand firmly on both Brienne and Jaime’s shoulders to offer them support, he reconsidered his actions.

“Who is this?” he asked Locke as the man climbed to his feet, coated in mud.

“Don’t know my lord,” Locke admitted, wiping mud from his face as he glared at the back of Evelyn’s head, “Just came on us in the woods. Threatened to kill us all if we did not bring the prisoners here to be treated for their wounds.”

Lord Bolton raised an eyebrow with interest before turning to Evelyn, taking a step forward but nothing more when he saw Evelyn remove her hand from Evelyn’s shoulder to touch the heavy iron bow on her back.

“Then perhaps you were not the one who brought in our guests,” Bolton said, turning to look at Locke, “Keep your mouth shut and get out of here before you regret living.”

Locke’s eyes widened in shock and scurried back, his men following him as Bolton turned his sights back on Evelyn who had released her bow slowly.

“I take it you want a reward for bringing in these two people?” Bolton asked her.

Evelyn shook her hooded and masked head once, “They are under my protection now. They need food and the Kingslayer needs treatment for his amputation.”

“Of course,” Bolton said, having rethought trying to negotiate with the person when he saw the way the person’s eyes never left his but was aware of all the people around her. “Find suitable rooms for our guests and see to it that they have treatment. We will take later.”

Bolton turned to leave, finding it rather uncomfortable being in the presence of the unnamed stranger when suddenly Jaime spoke, having weakly gotten to his feet.

“Lord Bolton.” He said, causing Bolton to turn to face them. “Any word from the Capitol?”

“You haven’t heard?” Bolton asked, furrowing his brow, “Stannis Baratheon laid siege to King’s Landing. Sailed into Blackwater Bay and stormed the gates with thousands of men… and your sister…”

Bolton, hoping to make Jaime writhe with fear (after all, how could he pass up the chance to belittle the Kingslayer), approached Jaime and spoke softly. “How can I put this. Your sister… is alive and well.”

Brienne frowned in confusion at Bolton’s sudden change in behavior, but then she saw the threatening, warning stance that the Warlock had taken and realized that Bolton had probably seen that and had rethought his last words.

“Your father’s forces prevailed.”

Just then, Jaime’s legs seemed to give out from exhaustion before Evelyn stepped forward and looped one of his arms around her neck.

“Ser Jaime is unwell,” Bolton said, “Take him to Qyburn.”

Three of his guards approached but when Evelyn gave them a piercing glare, they moved to help her but made sure to only touch Jaime enough to support him. Brienne was escorted to a room while Jaime was taken to the healer. Evelyn took Chance to the stables and instructed the stable boy to feed him and from the way the boy avoided looking at her, she knew that she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone mistreating or stealing Chance.

As she left the stables on her way to the healer’s, she spied Ace sitting on a pole nearby. Approaching him, she reached up and ruffled his horned feathers.

“How is Calum?” she whispered.

Ace cooed and the girl smiled. “Tell Zinzi and Lady to stay safe. If it feels dangerous, tell them to move. I’ll come back to you by tomorrow evening.”

The owl rubbed his head against her cheek before flying off. When Evelyn eventually found the healer’s hut, she entered to find the man sitting across from Jaime, unwinding the crude bandages from Jaime’s arm.

Both looked up when she entered, light flooding into the dark room before she closed the door.

“How is he?” she asked Qyburn who gave her a wary look.

“He’ll live. The corruption has spread, I fear it must be cut away. The safest course would be to take the whole arm off.” Qyburn explained.

“Then you’ll die,” Jaime warned. “You are no maester. Where’s your chain?”

Evelyn sighed as she searched through her bag for the thing she knew Jaime would need.

“The citadel stripped me of it. They found some of my experiments too bold,” Qyburn replied. “I can leave your upper arm, make the cut at your elbow.”

Just as those words left the man’s mouth, Jaime grabbed him by the neck with his good arm and squeezed, “I don’t need my right hand to kill you.”

“Ser Jaime,” Evelyn scolded, almost forgetting to disguise her voice. “Let him help.”

Jaime released the man and Qyburn continued. “I can take away the rotting flesh and try and burn out the corruption with boiling wine.”

Jaime nodded in satisfaction, humming at the suggestion.

“With any luck that will suffice but you will need milk of the poppy,” Qyburn told him.

Jaime shook his head violently, “No milk of the poppy.”

The man frowned, “There will be pain… quite a bit actually.”

“I’ll scream.” Jaime suggested.

Qyburn was about to argue further when Evelyn placed her gloved hand on his shoulder and she knelt before Jaime, holding out a small cup of water that had a pink tint to it.

“This will help with the pain,” she explained.

Jaime stared at the liquid skeptically, “What is it?”

“An herb smashed into a liquid,” Evelyn explained. “It was used in the olden days before Milk of the Poppy was discovered. It will numb your body long enough for the maester to fix you.”

Jaime went to object but was met by a pair of shadowed eyes, warning him to not argue and he took the glass, downing the liquid.

Evelyn nodded in satisfaction before turning to the maester who began to prepare his instruments, “I will wait outside.”

The maester nodded and Evelyn headed to the door but not before a weak hand gripped her wrist and she turned to see Jaime grabbing her wrist with his left hand.

“Do you think Evelyn will hate me when she sees what I have become?” he asked her.

Evelyn smiled, feeling tears prick her eyes and thanked the heavens for her hood and mask, “She loves you for who you are. Not for who you aren’t. I have a feeling she will love you even if you shaved all your hair.”

Jaime chuckled softly at the lighthearted tone in the Warlock’s voice and he smiled faintly before leaning back, feeling his body go numb, “Thank you.”

Evelyn smiled, knowing he didn’t see it before nodding and then exiting the building. Cersei Lannister was going to pay for splitting them apart!

#got #game of thrones #jaime lannister #jaime lannister x oc

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yennefers-geralt · 7 years

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Arya + Survival and Adaptability

Since making this post which illustrates how Arya has gone through a great deal, much of which is very similar to what Sansa survived, I’ve gotten a lot of responses both positive and negative. The negative ones criticize the post for comparing the sisters and then follow it up with comparing the sisters but in a way that props one up while bashing Arya.

This all proves that the insistence that Arya couldn’t survive in her sister’s place, despite going through the exact same thing but without the protection of being a valuable hostage who can’t be killed on a whim, is rooted in Arya hate. Many blame the show for this, but in this case D&D are only parroting certain corners of the fandom. If people aren’t insisting that Arya is too stupid or too focused on violence to survive, they’re saying things like this:

@ladyandtheghost said:

First off, everyone can have their own opinion on this. Personally, I think Sansa is right and that Arya would not have survived King’s Landing. But NOT because she is weaker or stupid (or whatever people want to interpret into Sansa’s words here) but because Arya is IMPULSIVE. That doesn’t have anything to do with stupidity, only with her direct and impulsive personality. She has a quick temper and doesn’t give a shit that she gets in trouble for it. How can people deny this when it’s one of the traits people usually love about her? Did no one pay attention to how she had to learn to control her impulsive nature in order to become an assassin in Braavos? It’s not just about blind sword fighting and wearing masks. It’s about self-control. And Arya had very little self-control when it came to Joffrey and his bullshit. And if Cersei could not prevent Joffrey from killing Ned, no one could have prevented Joffrey from killing Arya. And that’s what Sansa is referring to. Joffrey remained No 1 on Aryas death list and she would have gotten herself killed trying to kill him sooner or later if she had stayed in KL at the court like Sansa. I mean, could you imagine Arya just quietly suffering all the abuse she got from Joffrey and Cersei? Seriously? It doesn’t negate Arya’s own suffering, she had a totally different arc (which both sisters discussed ffs down in the crypts when thei reunited) but Sansa is right here in saying that the shit she had to put up with were not the kind of situation Arya would have voluntarily suffered through. The fact that she cannot understand Sansa’s point at all confirms that she would have acted very differently in KL and it would have been her death.

Secondly, I don’t get how people feel they need to compare and weigh one sister’s suffering against the other. Thank you, D&D for ruining each and every part of the fandom and for having fans that used to be halfway decent to one another now feel they need to aggressively bash the other.

Anyone who has read the novels, Arya’s chapters in particular, would be able to shoot enough holes through this to sink a ship. Usually I just suggest that people read the novels when I see such canonically incorrect character bashing or I direct them to this post on my old blog where I thoroughly discussed the issue. But it seems that parts of it need to be reposted here:

It’s true that Arya has a temper and can be impulsive, especially early on in the series. But even in AGOT, she shows that she does have self-control and isn’t guided purely by impulse. For example:

“It was the scariest thing she’d ever done. She wanted to run and hide, but she made herself walk across the yard, slowly, putting one foot in front of the other as if she had all the time in the world and no reason to be afraid of anyone. She thought she could feel their eyes, like bugs crawling on her skin under her clothes. Arya never looked up. If she saw them watching, all her courage would desert her, she knew, and she would drop the bundle of clothes and run and cry like a baby, and then they would have her. She kept her gaze on the ground.”

“It was all Arya could do not to bolt and run, but she knew that if she did, they would be after her at once. She made herself walk closer.”

In both of these situations, Arya is able to fight her natural impulses, force herself to stay calm, and thinks through the situations rationally. If she had no self-control or if she was half as wild as some claim she is, she wouldn’t have made it out of the Red Keep to begin with.

There are far more examples of Arya controlling her behavior and showing that she has self-control. I chose early examples specifically because even those who concede that Arya is able to learn to control herself usually follow it up with some variation of, “She didn’t have any self-control at all at the beginning, so she would have been killed off before she had a chance to learn!” But, as you can see, this is something she is capable of early on.

Self-control is a quality in Arya that grows through necessity during her journey. It would be the same if she were somehow taken prisoner by the Lannisters.

Common criticism: Arya doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut!

A few early examples of Arya keeping her mouth shut:

“Hot Pie took her silence to mean she was scared, or stupid, or deaf.” – ACOK

“She did not answer. It seemed safer not to talk to anyone.” – ACOK

“It mattered to her, but she chewed her lip and kept quiet, listening.” – ACOK

“By the time they marched, Arya knew she was no water dancer. Syrio Forel would never have let them knock him down and take his sword away, nor stood by when they killed Lommy Greenhands. Syrio would never have sat silent in that storehouse nor shuffled along meekly among the other captives.” – ACOK

“A broken lip taught Arya to hold her tongue.” – ACOK

“Arya dropped her gaze and said nothing.” – ACOK

This is by far not a complete list. It’s just a handful of early examples.

I’m not saying that Arya never speaks out of turn. She does. Multiple times. But she isn’t incapable of being quiet and she does learn when to hold her tongue more and more through her experiences. Sansa also shows that not staying quiet doesn’t result in immediate death. She talks back to Joffrey on a number of occasions and is still alive as of the current canon. He often had her beaten afterward. She survived and Arya has survived beatings as well.

Joffrey remained No 1 on Aryas death list and she would have gotten herself killed trying to kill him sooner or later if she had stayed in KL at the court like Sansa.

People have this image of Arya as this impulsive, blood thirsty killer. But remember that had the Lannister’s taken her prisoner, the only person she may or may not have killed at that point (depending on when they took her captive) would have been the stable boy whose death was more of an accident. Arya learns kill on the road during the battle of the holdfast, when Jaqen brings her along when they free the Northmen, and then when she kills the guard to leave Harrenhall.

None of this would happen in an AU where she was in King’s Landing. She would be disarmed if she ever got a weapon, though she knows to hide her weapons, per canon, and is often too frightened to act during much of her captivity. If Wheeze scares Arya to the point where she doesn’t dare misbehave or try to escape when she sees her chance or even look at him the wrong way, wouldn’t her abusers in King’s Landing garner the same response, if not a worse one? She’s seen them murder her father and would undoubtedly be forced to look at his severed head. She would hate herself for not taking action, just as she hates herself in the novels, but she would know enough to control her behavior.

But anyway, the Lannisters wouldn’t kill her regardless of behavior. With Robb rebelling against the crown and holding Jaime prisoner, it was important for the Lannisters to hold onto their own hostages for bargaining and for ensuring Jaime’s safety. That is why Tyrion is disappointed when he finds out that Arya is missing. That’s why he tries so hard to have her found. The importance of finding Arya and keeping their current hostage alive is mentioned repeatedly.

“And if the gods are good, Bywater will find Arya alive, before Robb learns she’s gone missing.” – Tyrion, ACOK

“Why must I suffer accusations every time some Stark stubs his toe? This was Greyjoy’s work, I had nothing to do with it.”

“Let us hope Lady Catelyn believes that.”

Her eyes widened. “She wouldn’t-”

“-kill Jaime? Why not? What would you do if Joffrey and Tommen were murdered?”

“I still hold Sansa!” the queen declared.

“We still hold Sansa,” he corrected her, “and we had best take good care of her.” – Cersei and Tyrion, ACOK

“Tyrion glanced round the yard. “Where’s the Stark girl?”

For a moment no one answered. Finally Joffrey said, “She was riding by me. I don’t know where she went.”

Tyrion pressed blunt fingers into his throbbing temples. If Sansa Stark had come to harm, Jaime was as good as dead.” – Tyrion and Joffrey, ACOK

“One parting request. Kindly make certain no harm comes to Sansa Stark. it would not do to lose both the daughters.” – Tyrion, ACOK

The Lannisters have a vested interest in keeping Sansa alive and finding Arya. It is something even Joffrey seems to understand.

“Frowning, he lowered the crossbow. “I’d shoot you too, but if I do Mother says they’d kill my uncle Jaime.” – Joffrey, ACOK

They would have felt the same about Arya if they had found her. They would have done what they could to keep her alive. They definitely wouldn’t have killed her. Even Joff understands that they can’t kill a Stark girl in this political climate.

Before anyone tries to point out that Ned was murdered, remember that he was not a hostage. Robb hadn’t beaten the Lannisters and he hadn’t taken Jaime prisoner at that point. Besides, the books make it clear that Joff’s decision to kill him was a plot arranged beforehand, likely with Littlefinger pulling the strings. He would have no reason to arrange that sort of plot with Arya.

If you have any further “rebuttals” I suggest you read the novels and/or this post where the scenario is discussed at length.

Now, I would like to “thank” D&D for inciting this wank. It’s been wild. I don’t know why some want to bash them and then agree with them in the next breath, but here we are.

#arya stark #sansa stark #got wank #asoiaf wank #long post #text post

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