#Margaret McElroy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

twunny20fission · 4 months

Text

Books of 2023

Here are the books I read in 2023, with some thoughts on each

"Westside Lights" by WM Akers. A very good book, and a bittersweet ending to a trilogy I loved.

"Mighty Nein Origins: Fjord Stone" by Burke, Wyatt, Critical Role. A somewhat hollow, but fine entry in the series. Non-fans would get nothing from it, I imagine.

"Mighty Nein Origins: Nott the Brave" by Maggs, Critical Role. One of the best, if not the best, in the series. Pretty and well-constructed.

"The Light Fantastic" by Terry Pratchett. Loving all the Discworld books. This had strengths and weaknesses...not disappointing, but didn't blow me away compared to what I now know is ahead.

"Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Vol 3" by Mercer, Houser. Honestly, I don't really remember what happened in this book. The show and the books and the other show all seems to politely ignore each other. It can be maddening.

"Sandman Book 4" by Neil Gaiman. This one seemed to wander until it didn't. A satisfying entry in the story. Not the highest highs of Sandman, but still exemplary.

"The Adventure Zone: 11th Hour" by Clint, Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy and Carey Pietsch. Not my favorite arc, and adapting it must have been a beast. It was mostly successful. Art is always outstanding, the writing was...I'll say C+/B-?

"Cruel Shoes" by Steve Martin. I love Steve Martin's writing. His plays, novellas, and his book "Born Standing Up" are among the best things I've ever read. "Pure Drivel" is another thing I've read, somewhere middling. But Cruel Shoes (published when Steve Martin was a world famous comedian and entertainer, and therefore probably didn't have A. much free time and B. many people telling him 'no') - to put it mildly - sucks.

"Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever" by Nick de Semlyen. I wanted it to go deeper on certain things. But in retrospect, I think it did a great job at what it set out to do. Solid book, and a great thing to check out for those interested in Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray... and to a disappointing degree, John Candy and Rick Moranis.

"Ghost Light Dark Ghost" by R K Johnson. My dad wrote a book! Actually, this is the second one he's had published. It has...issues with the editing. He's one of the smartest people I've ever met, and has written and communicated thousands of pieces over the course of the last 40+ years...but he needed an editor. Some of the typos or fragments are just jarring. Still, I'm very proud. And it's a great story with outstanding characters.

"The Night Marchers & Other Oceanian Stories" by McDonald, et al. I kickstarted a thing that tells folk tales as anthologies of graphic tales. They are middling at best. This was one of the better collections.

"Vision: The Complete Collection" by King, Walta, Bellaire. I'd wanted to read this for a while, and I was not disappointed. Vision (of the Avengers) creates a wife, son, daughter (and eventually dog.) Things go haywire. Things get dark. Things get thought-provoking. Very cool, and I liked it a lot.

"Straight Lady: The Life & Times of Margaret Dumont, the 'Fifth Marx Brother'" by Chris Enss & Howard Kazanjian. I really wanted this to be better. Once it got into her career, the overwhelming weight of the Marx Brothers broke the momentum of talking about anything else. It spent more ink on the movies they made without her than it did on the movies she made without them. There are other books about them. I love them. This book was supposed to be about HER.

"Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories" by Various authors and artists. This was in the same series as the other "cautionary fables" books. It was fine. Pretty good, but rarely great.

"Equal Rites" by Terry Pratchett. It took a while to get going. There were a lot of things happening, but no stakes or real conflict until about 2/3 of the way through the book. Then everything was rushed. Still smart and funny, but it could have been better.

"Danger and Other Unknown Risks" by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. I will praise both these creators to the moon & back. This book was creative, fun, smart, weird, and exciting.

"The Secret Lives of Color" by Kassia St. Clair. A cool book of featurettes on color: pigments, ideas, histories, etc. Extremely cool. One of those books I think I'll enjoy going back to. It's whimsical, yet grounded in facts.

"The Book of General Ignorance" by John Lloyd. A book to accompany "QI." There is a strong possibility that some of these things have since been disproven (book published in 2006.) But it was fun.

"Mighty Nein Origins: Mollymauk Tealeaf" by Jody Houser, Taliesin Jaffe, and more. This is the best in the 'Mighty Nein' series BY FAR.

"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. It is considered standard practice to spoil as little of this book as possible when discussing it. This was a lovely, exciting, engaging, and beautiful book. No more to say right now.

"Nixie of the Mill-Pond & Other European Stories" by McDonald & Ashwin. This is the curse of the completist: even when you are no longer enjoying yourself, but press on. The sunk cost fallacy had be with this series. I kickstarted one, added-on the others, and by godorwhatever, I was going TO READ THEM. The writers didn't have to DO anything! The stories existed. Just tell them well. And almost every time, they BLEW IT.

"Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century" by Dana Stevens. Well-researched, well-written, and fun. Not a perfect book, but worthwhile.

"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman. Fun, smart, and a quick read. Don't think I'll ever need to revisit.

"The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories" by Various Creators. I had to finish. This one was probably the best? I would recommend none of them.

"Usagi Yojimbo Book 5: Lone Goat and Kid" by Stan Sakai. At one point early in the year I thought "I'm going to re-read some good-uns this year. Maybe over the summer." It didn't happen. Maybe next year. This is the only thing I read this year that I'd read previously. Usagi Yojimbo is extraordinary. This is not the best in the series, but it's still better than almost everything else out there.

"Mort" by Terry Pratchett. Not my favorite, but still great.

"Parasocial" by Alex de Campi & Erica Henderson. According to my self-reported ratings-at-the-time system, this was the highest-rated book of the year. I think that holds up to rating-now scrutiny. It is relentless, beautiful, important, and unlike anything else out there.

"Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time" by Mckelvie, Cresta, Milla, Arciniega. It was good. Could have been better. This is a comic that I think wanted to be a movie. I'd pay to see it.

"Illustrated Al" by "Weird" Al Yankovic, et al. I wanted it to be good. The fact is, most of the songs don't work as comics. It's fan art. Some of it is okay, most of it is mediocre, and one of them was truly great.

"Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 1" by Kelly, Carnero, Lanzing, Erofeeva. It was clunky but entertaining.

"Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Vol 2" by Kelly, Carnero, Lanzing, Erofeeva. Better than the first volume. Engaging, even. But didn't truly grab me.

"The City We Became" by NK Jemison. I don't know that it was a "masterpiece." Maybe the concept + hype set my expectations too high. It has a lot of great factors, but elements of it didn't slide into place perfectly. I'll check out the next one when I can, so it didn't fail.

"The Yiddish Policeman's Union" by Michael Chabon. This was a book a lot of people were talking about ~15 years ago. I never really knew what it was about. Briefly, it's a detective story (I'll say more in the hard-boiled tradition than the noir) in an alternate world where displaced Jewish people settled in Alaska during and after WWII. But the story itself is in the 2000-2010s. The majority of this book is describing people and places. The story itself doesn't take long, but it feels like it does. It has a pulp-detective feel that I enjoyed. The slang was a hurdle. But once I got used to it, I was able to feel very plugged in. The last 100 pages or so felt problematic (no spoilers) and a little rushed. It suffered from that phenomenon I see a lot: it's like the author only has so many pieces of paper left and begins racing to make sure they get things wrapped up before they have to go buy another ream. That's the best way I can explain it.

Moon Knight: the Complete Collection (2011) by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev. Very cool story, with elements of Moon Knight (and Echo) I was not aware of. There were some weird layout choices and trip-up dialogue moments that made it more confusing than it needed to be. But it was fun, smart, emotional, and cool.

Metrics!

Total books: 34

Total (non-graphic novel) pages: 4374

Total pages: 8105

Highest-rated: Parasocial

Lowest-rated: Cruel Shoes

Very Glad I Read It Award: This is How You Lose the Time War

Honorable Mention: The Secret Lives of Color

Glad It's Over Award: (four-way tie) Nixie of the Mill Pond, Night Marchers, Tamamo the Fox Maiden, Woman in the Woods

Disappointment of the Year: Cruel Shoes

#books #reading #2023

1 note · View note

thebookishaustin · 5 years

Text

August 2019 Wrap Up

Image from my Goodreads page

Whew - August was a whirlwind of new books and lots of Dungeons & Dragons apparently! You can see Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (review for the first book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, can be found here), a reread of The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by the McElroy family and Carey Pietsch (review here) followed by it’s new sequel The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited!, and also Rick And Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons by Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Zub! I love my D&D novelizations.

Other than these, my favorites for the month were The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee and Michael Dante DiMartino, Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller, and Dark Age by Pierce Brown. I enjoyed The Rise of Kyoshi because I am a long time Avatar: The Last Airbender fan and this expanded upon that universe in such a unique way. Blackfish City was such an interesting book full of sociopolitical issues and strong family dynamics with a healthy dose of science fiction! It took me awhile, but finishing Dark Age felt like a major accomplishment. I love this series so much and I wasn’t let down by the newest installment.

I’d love to hear what you are reading so don’t hesitate to comment or send me a private message. You can also add me on Goodreads here! I’m looking forward to September and here are a few books I’m ready to start reading soon:

Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon (Published: August 2019)

Exile from Eden: Or, After the Hole by Andrew Smith (Release date: September 24, 2019)

Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake (Release: September 3, 2019)

6 notes · View notes

nat-chat-attack · 3 years

Text

South Park Characters’ Eye Colors

(Saw a post like this and decided to give it a shot. Ima be as specific as possible sorry)

The Marshes

Stan Marsh: Aegean Blue

Randy Marsh: Admiral Blue

Sharon Marsh: Sapphire Blue

Shelly Marsh: Cerulean Blue

The Broflovskis

Kyle Broflovski: Emerald Green

Gerald Broflovski: Lime Green

Sheila Broflovski: Jade Green

Ike Broflovski: Inky Black

The McCormicks

Kenny McCormick: any shade of light blue/Maya Blue

Stuart McCormick: Maya Blue

Carol McCormick: Arctic Blue

Kevin McCormick: Lapis Blue

Karen McCormick: Arctic Blue

The Cartmans

Eric Cartman: Walnut Brown or heterochromatic (left eye light blue, right eye brown)

Liane Cartman: Oak Brown

The Stotches

Leo “Butters” Stotch: Turquoise or Stormy Grey

Stephen Stotch: Stormy Grey

Linda Stotch: Pearl Blue

Grandma Stotch: Oil Black

The Tuckers

Craig Tucker: Stone Blue or Golden Hazel

Thomas Tucker: Moss Green

Laura Tucker: Fern Green

Tricia Tucker: Moss Green

Grandma Tucker: Stone Blue

The Blacks

Token Black: Royal Yellow

Steve Black: Oak Brown

Linda Black: Bumblebee Yellow

The Tweaks:

Tweek Tweak: Blue/Green Hazel

Richard Tweek: Coffee Brown

Mrs. Tweak/Helen Tweak: Green/Gold Hazel

The Donovans:

Clyde Donovan: Hazelnut Brown

Roger Donovan: Turkish Blue

Betsy Donovan: Hazelnut Brown

The Valmers:

Jimmy Valmer: Peanut Brown

Ryan Valmer: Peanut Brown

Sarah Valmer: Jet Black

The Testaburgers:

Wendy Testaburger: Pewter Grey

Mr. Testaburger: Indigo Blue

Mrs. Testaburger: Slate Grey

The Stevens:

Bebe Stevens: Sky Blue

Mr. Stevens: Sky Blue

Mrs. Stevens: Pine Green

The Danielses:

Nichole Daniels: Chocolate Brown

William Daniels: Chocolate Brown

Mrs. Daniels: Golden Hazel

The Turners:

Heidi Turner: Teal

Mr. Turner: Denim Blue

Nancy Turner: Seafoam Green

The McArthurs:

Red McArthur: Plum Purple

Mr. McArthur: Mahogany Brown

Moira McArthur: Mountain Grey

School Faculty:

PC Principal: Cerulean Blue

Strong Woman: Silver

Principal Victoria: Ash Grey

Herbert Garrison: Umber Brown

Margaret Nelson: Raven Black

Mr. Mackey: Blue Hazel

Jerome “Chef” McElroy: Mocha Brown

The Goth Kids:

Henrietta Biggle: Cyan Blue; Wine Purple eye contacts

Michael: Coal Black

Pete Thelman: Dark Hazel

Firkle Smith: Grey Hazel

The Foreign Kids:

Pip Pirrup: Pearl Blue

Damien Thorn: Sangria Red

Gregory of Yardale: Cinnamon Brown

Christophe ze Mole: Honey Yellow

Charlotte: Inky Black

Others:

Kevin Stoley: Coal Black

Scott Malkinson: Pear Green

David Rodriguez: Chestnut Brown

Timmy Burch: Green Hazel

Leslie Meyers: Electric Blue

Sophie Gray: Aquamarine

Gary Harrison: Mint Green

Bradley: Olive Green

Thomas: Caramel Brown

81 notes · View notes

herbgerblin · 4 years

Photo

[ID: A series of Tweet threads:

@galacticjonah: Okay so, not naming names bcs I like my 'job' but if someone asks you to do a full illustration for an issue of a NYT Bestseller GN and offers you a measly $100 and doesn't allow you to post the work for THREE years? Tell them to f*ck off. This is predatory!11:09 AM · Aug 31, 2020·

@GalacticJonah: And let me be frank here. This behaviour targets exactly one demographic: young, talented fan-artists who look up to these creators and likely don't have published work yet. This preys on their love for the IP and eagerness to hold a print product with your work.

@GalacticJonah: Let's look at the specs: $100 for a full illustration. Let's say you're fast and take 12h for it. That's a little over $8/h. That is atrocious. Not allowed to post image for 3 years = You cannot use it in your portfolio to get more work OR post it online for exposure!!!

@GalacticJonah: In case this wasn't clear, I am furious. If you are ever unsure about a deal, my DMs are open to you. I may not have a ton of experience myself but what little I have I will share. I'm always down to help my peers.

@themiserabledog: Out of curiosity, if you did know about the amount you’d be paid and the terms for posting the artwork, why did you say yes? I get being a fan of a project but in the end $100 isnt going to pay many bills and theres no benefits to you as the artist so why agree to it?

@GalacticJonah: First of all I was very poor at the time so $100 wasn't entirely nothing. Second,you highly underestimate the drug that is being 'officially part of a big thing' as a fan. Which this 100% was. Combine that with being inexperienced + first publishing opportunity Perfect storm.

@IoanaMuresanArt: I’m spilling the beans The ADVENTURE ZONE, THE FREAKING MC ELROY BROTHERS, can't be bothered to pay more than 100 dollars for an illustration of their IP, A NYC best seller, i can't stress this enough, how upsetting this is when it comes to fair pay for art

@CCyranoj2265: (1) The publisher doesn't consult with the author about all aspects of and contracts pertaining to a book. The author has control over the writing, in partnership with the editor. It's the publisher who controls things like design, promotion, distribution.

@CCyranoj2265: (2) And no, you can't just call up the publisher and demand control over everything. Doesn't matter if you're the McElroy Brothers or Margaret Atwood. The publishing house employs people for certain specific things. They're not going to turn those jobs over to the author.

@CCyranoj2265: (3) If the McElroy Brothers learn about this and are horrified about it, they presumably have an option to go the self-publishing route instead, or threaten to do so. (You can't really replace the marketing and distribution connections of a publishing house, but still.)

@CCyranoj2265 (4): That's about the only leverage they really have, though. That and complaining to their publicist (who isn't likely the person making the calls about paying artists). It's the publisher who is the direct villain here, and needs to be assailed if anyone's going to be. end ID]

Link to original threads here: link link link

This isn’t to attack the McElroys or to put down the artists who made work for the previous graphic novels. But $100 is not a livable wage to be paid for a full commercial spread on a widely publicized series. It is insidious as hell and First Second should be treating artists with greater respect especially right fucking now and they need to be confronted on it

#i'm fuming if you can't tell #long post #taz #the adventure zone #the zone cast #taz graphic novels #mcelroys #the mcelroy brothers

474 notes · View notes

throwupgirl · 2 years

Text

supernatural character political alignments:

sam: #malefeminist. proud democrat because growing up under his johns insane political beliefs makes basic american liberals look rebellious

dean: actually holds pretty left-leaning beliefs but when told this he becomes frightened and confused like a wet dog because dad said socialism is when you see a picture of a scary building. only consistent belief at the end of the day is "being a hater"

castiel: this fucking guy from r/relationships

mary: reaganite

john: 😐

bobby:

rowena: had a threesome with marx and engles. will talk about it in far too much detail

claire: anarchist

garth: not "i think dogs should vote" as in mcelroy fan, but "i think dogs should vote" as a werwolves' rights activist

charlie: canonically a communist as of season 8

eileen: regularly asks sam if he thinks margaret thatcher was a girlboss with a gun behind her back

jack: he is three.

#spn #supernatural #mosts #waiting to get my allergy shots here you go

5 notes · View notes

charmingpplincardigans · 2 years

Text

Books 2021

I read so many books this year! Or well, I listened to so many books this year. There was a moment in September where I had gone through 70 and thought, 'I could read 100 books this year if I really tried', but uh, you can probably tell that shortly after that I stopped trying. See also the part of the year where my collected non-fiction reading looked like I might be gearing up to build a sexbot to upload my consciousness to. I'm still not ruling that out.

The Parable of the Sower // Octavia Butler (science fiction)

Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology // Adrienne Mayor (non-fiction)

The Duke & I // Julia Quinn (romance)

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches // Audre Lorde (essays)

Perfect Sound Whatever // James Acaster (non-fiction)

The Viscount Who Loved Me // Julia Quinn (romance)

Dearly // Margaret Atwood (poetry)

An Offer From A Gentleman // Julia Quinn (romance)

How to Write An Autobiographical Novel // Alexander Chee (memoir)

The Sandman: Overture // Neil Gaiman, JH Williams III, Dave Stewart (fantasy)

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton // Julia Quinn (romance)

Cemetery Boys // Aiden Thomas (fantasy)

Here For It // R. Eric Thomas (essays)

To Sir Phillip, With Love // Julia Quinn (romance)

Sandman (audio) // Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs (fantasy)

The View From the Cheap Seats // Neil Gaiman (essays)

Bluets // Maggie Nelson (poetry)

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living // Jes Baker (non-fiction)

A Study in Scarlet // Arthur Conan Doyle (mystery)

When He Was Wicked // Julia Quinn (romance)

The Sign of Four // Arthur Conan Doyle (mystery)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes // Arthur Conan Doyle (mystery)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes // Arthur Conan Doyle (mystery)

The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar // Maurice LeBlanc (mystery)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes // Arthur Conan Doyle (mystery)

Sex, Race, and Robots // Dr. Ayanna Howard (non-fiction)

It's In His Kiss // Julia Quinn (romance)

The Raven Boys // Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy, re-read)

The Dream Thieves // Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy, re-read)

After Callimachus: Poems // Stephanie Burt (poetry)

Blue Lily, Lily Blue // Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy, re-read)

The Raven King // Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy, re-read)

On the Way to the Wedding // Julia Quinn (romance)

Call Down the Hawk // Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy, re-read)

Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place a transgender memoir // Jackson Bird (memoir)

Felon // Reginald Dwayne Betts (poetry)

If Birds Gather Your Hair For Nesting // Anna Journey (poetry)

Mister Impossible // Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy)

Visual Poetry in the Avant Writing Collection // edited by John M. Bennett (poetry)

Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You) // McElroys et al (non-fiction)

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb // Cat Sebastian (romance)

Counting Descent // Clint Smith (poetry)

The Paper Magician // Charlie N. Holmberg (fantasy)

Somebody's Daughter // Ashley C. Ford (memoir)

Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything // Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen (non-fiction)

The Family Plot // Cherie Priest (horror)

Don't Call Us Dead // Danez Smith (poetry)

The 99% Invisible City // Roman Mars (non-fiction)

The A.I. Who Loved Me // Alyssa Cole (romance/science fiction)

Upstream: Selected Essays // Mary Oliver (essays)

The Glass Magician // Charlie M. Holmberg (fantasy)

DMZ Colony // Don Mee Choi (non-fiction/poetry)

Turned On: Science, Sex, and Robots // Kate Devlin (non-fiction)

Fierce Fairytales // Nikita Gill (fantasy)

One Last Stop // Casey McQuiston (fantasy)

Medium Raw // Anthony Bourdain (memoir)

Aerial View of Louisiana // Cleopatra Mathis (poetry)

The Body is Not An Apology // Sonya Renee Taylor (non-fiction)

Dolly Parton: Songteller // Dolly Parton (memoir)

Winter's Orbit // Everina Maxwell (science fiction)

The Universe of Us // Lang Leav (poetry)

The Master Magician // Charlie N. Holmberg (fantasy)

Paperback Crush // Gabrielle Moss (non-fiction)

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat // Aubrey Gordon (non-fiction)

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? // Caitlin Doughty (non-fiction)

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing // Hank Green (science fiction)

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor // Hank Green (science fiction)

The Midnight Bargain // CL Polk (fantasy)

Unmentionable // Therese O'Niell (non-fiction)

Here // Richard McGuire (comic)

Mr. Humble & Dr. Butcher // Brandy Schillace (non-fiction)

A Darker Shade of Magic // VE Schwab (fantasy, re-read)

Good Omens // Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (fantasy, re-read)

A Gathering of Shadows // VE Schwab (fantasy, re-read)

Women and Other Monsters // Jess Zimmerman (non-fiction/memoir)

Lessons on Expulsion // Erika L. Sanchez (poetry)

#books #reading

7 notes · View notes

leonardcohenofficial · 3 years

Text

black sails X

(obvious warning for spoilers)

love just. opening with torturing BILLY WHO IS ALIVE AND KICKING (well he’s not kicking. but he’s BACK BABY)

dufresne thinks he’s so slick now huh

“everybody needs a partner” flint smiles flirtatiously—i hate this show

“strange pairs, lieutenant; they can achieve most unexpected things” IMMEDIATELY CUTTING TO FLINT TELLING SILVER HE CAN WALK AWAY FROM ALL OF THIS

rackham really looks like a stretched-out overcaffeinated haunted chihuahua at all times huh

“no one on this ship feels his loss more keenly than i do” :((((((((

oooop they’re on a first name basis huh

flint :(((((((

so is vane playing on eleanor’s terms now (by showing up to the meeting)??

max calling everyone the fuck out is incredible television content

dufresne you are a child and you have no clue what’s up but good fucking luck buddy

i say this every episode; silver you’re so fucking stupid

i love this dumbass plan of silver’s though

when vane is right 😑

so. two people out and out murdered and nobody moved. W O W

“if you’re trying to impress me it isn’t working” S C R E A M

i CANNOT BELIEVE IT’S WORKING

dufresne cannot POSSIBLY pull this off without flint intervening

man every white man on this show looks the same huh

dufresne i’m fucking screaming this griffin mcelroy wannabe is trying to pull this off

ARE YOU CAPTAIN FLINT SHDKDJFKFJFKGGKGL

FLINT I WOULD NOT ONLY DIE FOR YOU BUT I WOULD LIVE FOR YOU UGH HIM RETAKING HIS COMMAND IS SO SEXY LOVE TO SEE IT + SILVER WATCHING IMPRESSED IS CHEF’S KISS

not another goddamn vague object of great value

fuck these two really are simultaneously smarter and dumber frank and margaret

the rackham being jealous storyline would work so much better if i actually believed he was into women

RACKHAM WHAT THE FUCK SHDKFJFJGJGKGLGL THIS MAN IS SO MUCH

HIS PLAN THO?????? NOT BAD

“all i have ever wanted is for you to be happy” omg he’s so wild but also that was very sweet??

dufresne omg he’s so sad :( too bad you let your hubris get in the way

well yeah dufresne; of course he planned it and it wasn’t like. the most ethical move. nobody you know is entirely ethical here you dummy

you need someone in charge who can like. actually make moves

THE JACKET IS BACK

#black sails #maddie watches black sails #season two said we are STEPPING IT UP

13 notes · View notes

neuronary · 3 years

Text

tagged by @jcthro (thanks ml)

last song: the night we met by lord huron

last movie: spider-man: into the spider-verse, for like the seventeenth

currently watching: ghosts on the bbc for the nostalgia

currently reading: delusions of gender by cordelia fine, oryx and crake by margaret atwood, the adventure zone by griffin, travis, justin, and clint mcelroy

currently craving: carambars originals istg i very much love my family but i would dissect any one of them with a machete for a carambar right now

i tag uhhh @ford-ye-fiji @big-tees-and-short-skirts @mychemicalxmen @simplyaskeleton and whoever else!

#tag games #jo tag

4 notes · View notes

the-busy-ghost · 3 years

Text

Alright here’s my belated Thoughts on that latest TSP episode. I should add again, I am in no way saying people shouldn’t like this show, I just need to be petty on my own blog.

- Stafford’s Performative Masculinity is a bit Much, even for a sixteenth century man

- Katherine doesn’t want Wolsey appointed chancellor because that would give him too much power and the chancellor is apparently the second most powerful man in the kingdom... so powerful in fact that I’m not even sure we’ve seen the current chancellor on screen, except in his ecclesiastical role as archbishop of Canterbury

- Ah the migrating towers of Holyrood. They weren’t there for the last two episodes and they won’t be there next scene either but they’ll be *theoretically* here all week folks.

- It is mildly hilarious that this show seems to think that every single moment in Scottish politics took place in one wee house in Somerset “Edinburgh”, and the only people who are ever involved are two dozen stereotypical Scottish noblemen, and one Englishwoman (and no clergy? Which is extremely weird given how heavily involved they were in royal administration).

- Not to mention they imply Holyrood is meant to be Edinburgh (it is now, then it was actually in the burgh of the Canongate but close enough) and yet the burgh skyline of Edinburgh is never visible in the background of these shots, just rolling fields and a nondescript hill that I assume is meant to be Arthur’s seat.

- Ok so we’re portraying Angus as the poetic soul instead of his uncle, that’s fine, that makes no sense but it’s fine.

- Who the fuck is Bishop McElroy. Setting aside the fact that McElroy was more common in Ireland than Scotland during the sixteenth century (and there were no major noble or even influential lairdly families bearing the surname), why could they not have just done a google search and found out that, oh yeah, there were Real Life Scottish Bishops in 1515, anyone of whom would have done. And I don’t know why they mucked about with the timeline but if they were going to muck around with the timeline anyway then then how about maybe even, dare I say it, Gavin Douglas, bishop-elect of Dunkeld???

- Also I didn’t quite catch the full line so I may have misheard but I think Margaret states that they got married in the kirk of South Queensferry? I mean tbh this only confirms my belief that the writers think everything happened in the vicinity of Edinburgh (and that they didn’t even bother to think to TRY and find out where the marriage might have taken place, just started tossing a few Scottish place names out there as if that would do. The Ferry’s not even that private, it was on a major pilgrimage route and an important crossing point over the Forth). It’s also a bit irritating because there’s no reason for the inaccuracies? They didn’t have to show the wedding so they didn’t have to change the location or characters for ease of filming or anything, it’s just a throwaway line, there’s no reason for them to make up a bishop and unlikely wedding location? Anyway join us next week as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn conduct their affair in the middle of London Bridge.

- Also excuse me while I make an unconvinced noise at that line about how the Douglases (i.e. all of them, not just the Red ones) have always ‘licked the balls of England’. While their notoriety for being Shady As Fuck and occasionally siding with the English was certainly well known, no sixteenth century Scotsman worth his salt would have sullied the name of the Good Sir James just to score points off the Angus branch of the family.

- (Maybe this is a bad time to point out that they’re not technically licking ‘balls’ in this instance either...)

- I take it back there was one (1) woman very briefly in that scene where Margaret and “Angus” rushed to grab the bairns. She was promptly never seen again. Confirmed Cryptid.

- Also where did all the other bairns (James IV’s ones, not Margaret’s) go. I mean they were actually there last episode I think, so it’s not like they were implying that Margaret got rid of them as soon as she could. Have they FINALLY grown up?

- How quickly do letters travel in this world? How long have they been in that cellar? Are they still there?

- Wait so now Katherine of Aragon knows his name is Archibald??? Why has everyone been calling him ‘Angus Douglas’ then, even when his dad (and presumably grandfather) was alive?

- Lol @ Henry ‘after all I’ve done for her’. Do tell, what HAVE you done for Margaret.

- Hang on so Thomas Boleyn is Earl of Wiltshire already and yet his father-in-law Thomas Howard still isn’t duke of Norfolk

- Second LOL @ an archbishop of York willfully summoning a naturalised Frenchman to Scotland without the king of England’s permission, as if Scotland lay in his gift and as if that was in any way a good idea, even for some political point-scoring

- “Margaret’s sons must take the throne”- Katherine are you aware that James V was crowned King of Scots not two weeks after Flodden, and approximately seven months before his younger brother Alexander was even born.

- Again, HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN IN THE CELLAR? Angus has grown a BEARD.

- He’s not the future king he IS the king. A tiny toddler king. You help him go potty you disrespectful shite, I don’t care if you’re having a nervous breakdown. (May I just point out again it is CRIMINAL that David Lindsay isn’t in this)

- We all pause for An Exaggerated Whispering Scene, that great period drama staple. I mean are we sure they’re gossiping about Henry and a *woman*, because the way people are talking about Wolsey at that dinner once again makes it look like he’s the real Mistress

- So wait how is this ‘letting’ Margaret go with Howard thing supposed to work. Is it like knock-knock special delivery for the duke of Norfolk, here you go please take your princess back.

- And when exactly did Angus do all this negotiating when he has supposedly been stuck in a cellar for weeks. Gavin Douglas has a lot to answer for, and not just the sheer length of the Eneados.

- ‘Bog-fuckers’ - not a bog in sight in this west country version of Scotland. Also er, just how does one fuck a bog. Asking for a friend.

- I’m just being pedantic, Howard’s foul mouth is actually the only genuine piece of comedy the writers can come up with in this tv show.

- Howard putting up a good front here but come on there’s like six of them and about two dozen Miscellaneous Scotsmen. I know that the English were very practised in quartering Scots whenever they liked but eight to one is not good odds, even for the victor of Flodden.

- Yeah that whole scene is not how the history worked. At All. But let’s let them ride dramatically away across a field as if it’s at all plausible. (Also why is it always fields- I know Scotland’s roads were bad in the sixteenth century, but seriously they were at least *technically* roads when you got near Edinburgh)

- And there was definitely no Isabella Hoppringle, which is again, criminal. I mean I expected it but it’s still sad. Mind you I suppose that might imply that Scottish women are real creatures and not cryptids which, as we know, is totally unrealistic.

- Even weirder though, they’re not including Margaret Douglas? Why?

- Only one man has ever been in the king’s rooms? Seriously? You expect us to believe this, not only from a historical accuracy perspective, but also from the tv show that gave us implied Wolsey/Henry?

- The Great English Midwife Shortage c.1509-1516

- Do NONE of the many many grown-up people at the English court understand the lottery of birth and that you can’t just like, assume the baby will be a boy even if you hope it will. Wishful thinking is one thing (and common) but this wholehearted belief thing is frankly unrealistic.

- It’s also unfair how they’re treating Mary as unloved by both her parents. We know Katherine loved her daughter in some way, and it’s also not really fair to say that Henry VIII was anything less than a doting father in her early years.

- And the record for fastest churching goes to Katherine again. Cracking cape though.

- Katherine all ‘he won’t visit his daughter’- you won’t even look at her either though. How is this a sympathetic depiction of Katherine again? Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely understandable if a royal mother didn’t always want to hold her daughter but really? After every other negative light they’ve shown Katherine in and called it Empowerment?

- Hey I don’t know much about English customs but seems to me that inviting the French to intervene in Scotland without consulting the king might just be a beheading offence Wolsey. AND THEN HENRY COVERS FOR HIM? THE PAGES OF ENGLISH HISTORY BOOKS ARE NOT STAINED WITH THE BLOOD OF CIVIL SERVANTS EXECUTED FOR FAR LESSER OFFENCES FOR THIS KIND OF NONSENSE TO BE ACCEPTABLE.

- Thomas Boleyn, dad of the year

- People do kiss, Margaret Pole. That was a common thing. MEN kissed each other goddamnit. Not really good enough. I mean by your logic Katherine should have broken up with Henry after her dad laid one on him in the first episode.

- How is it that Thomas More, of all people, has the Goss.

- Oh and apparently there was also a National Laundress Shortage in 1516 too.

Ok so it was about as meh as every other episode but I think this one really brought home to me how poorly thought out Margaret’s storyline was. I mean usually these period dramas have to insert Drama for no reason to keep people interested, but Margaret’s life was FULL of drama and they had so much to work with. Instead they seem to have actually stripped most of the drama out to tell an utterly incomprehensible story about a bunch of stereotypical Scotsmen, who all live in the same house in Fake Edinburgh, chasing the only woman in Scotland into the cellar, and then posting her off back to England a few weeks later.

#TSP #Margaret Tudor #rants #I know I know #I finally got the internet back #And I'm using it to have a really petty rant about a tv show I'm largely indifferent to #This is the true purpose of tumblr

6 notes · View notes

barrebard · 3 years

Text

Books Read in 2020

Et viola, a complete list of the books I read in 2020. Later today, will post my top 5 highlights.

Most read genre was fantasy, with 28 books. Then Romance and Sci-Fi with 8 each.

Fantasy

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Invisible Library series (Books 1-3) by Genevieve Cogman

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Throne of Glass series (Books 1-8) by Sarah J. Maas

The Crystal Shard (The Legend of Drizz’t #4/Icewind Dale Trilogy #1) by R. A. Salvatore

Antique Magic by K*** D****** (this is an unpublished book by a friend and I don’t know if she wants her full name on tumblr)

The Broken Earth Trilogy (Books 1-3) by N. K. Jemisin

Sci-Fi/Speculative Fiction

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (partial ARC) by Christopher Paolini

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, Translated by Stephen Snyder

Once and Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

All Systems Red by Margaret Wells

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Literary Fiction

Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom

Romance

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Release Me by J. Kenner

Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Well Played by Jen DeLuca

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

Children’s Books

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker

The Peter Rabbit Library (Books 1-12) by Beatrix Potter

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Graphic Novels/Manga

Oglaf Books 1-2

Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, Volumes 4-7 by Aka Akasaka

The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal by The McElroys and Carey Pietsch

Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter by Brea Grant, illustrated by Yishan Li

Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis

The Night Witches by Garth Ennis, Illustrated by Russ Braun

Anthologies/Short Stories

Spirit of the Earth: Indian Voices on Nature, Edited by Michael Oren Fitzgerald and Joseph A. Fitzgerald

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women, Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

Horror

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Humor

Belinda Blinked 1-2 by Rocky Flintstone

Memoir

Something that May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox

How to Be Alone by Lane Moore

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

Other Nonfiction

The Queen of Distraction: How Women with ADHD Can Conquer Chaos, Find Focus, and Get More Done by Terry Matlen, MSW

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Med by Caroline Criado Perez

Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller

#books #reading #books read in 2020 #2020 reading challenge #2020 reading log #Reading in 2020 #2020 books #2020 reading #booklr

1 note · View note

jakeandelwoodblues · 4 years

Text

Since Halloween is also a day to celebrate dead loved ones, I figured it’d be a good time to remember all the cast members who’ve since passed on (in order of listing on IMDb)

Tom Erhart (prison guard 1)

Gerald Walling (prison guard 2)

John Belushi (Joliet Jake)

Kathleen Freeman (Sister Mary Stigmata)

Cab Calloway (Curtis)

Donald Dunn (Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn)

James Brown (Rev. Cleophus James)

Carrie Fisher (Mysterious Woman)

Gary McLarty (Man in toy store)

Joe Cuttone (Lloyd)

Layne Britton (The Cheez Whiz)

John Candy (Burton Mercer)

Alan Rubin (Mr. Fabulous)

Ben Piazza (Father)

Henry Gibson (Head Nazi)

Charles Mountain (Cop)

John Lee Hooker (Street Slim)

Walter Horton (Tampa Pete)

Pinetop Perkins (Luther Jackson)

Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith (Drums)

Aretha Franklin (Sugar)

Matt Murphy (Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy)

Carolyn Franklin (Soul Food Chorus)

Margaret Branch (Soul Food Chorus)

Ray Charles (Ray)

Jeff Morris (Bob)

Lou Perryman (Man At Bar)

Charles Napier (Tucker McElroy)

Gene Janson (Good Ole Boy)

Jeff Cahill (Orphan)

Wally Engelhardt (Gas Station Owner)

Michael Klenfner (President of Clarion Records)

Ralph Foody (Police Dispatcher)

Eddy Donno (SWAT Team Commander)

RIP all

#blues brothers #the blues brothers

15 notes · View notes

dillydedalus · 5 years

Text

september reading

i read some things i guess! open for the last (almost) of robin hobb, more mountaineering disasters, and …. dungeons & dragons?? (i completely forgot i had this in my drafts lol)

the nickel boys, colson whitehead idk man this is really well-written, well-paced, an important story based very much on real history, the characters serve their purpose very well, the violence and abuse is written in a way that is chilling without ever being gratuitous and with the exception of a twist that i thought was a little too predictable, there’s nothing i can really criticise. it just really lacked some spark for me, and maybe it’s just that after underground railroad (which is also didn’t particularly like, but damn that had spark) it feels a lil conventional. still good tho! 3/5

the adventure zone #1: here there be gerblins, various mcelroys & cary pietsch my brain Does Not Do podcasts but obvi i’ve been hearing A LOT about the mcelroy boys & i’m like. vaguely interested in d&d* so when this was made available on overdrive i was like okay why the hell not. it’s a fun, quick read, and while i don’t really know anything about d&d the trappings of the game were included in a fun way. nothing mindblowing, but a good time. 2.5/5

assassin’s fate (fitz & the fool #3), robin hobb y’all this is it… it’s been over a year & now i’m done with the realm of the elderlings (actually i still have the piebald prince novella & the short stories). i have some criticisms of this one (the timeline & the main climax seemed a lil muddled to me) but to be honest??? loved this, had all the feelings, was superhappy to see my cursed shores kids again, fitzy & bee were heartbreaking all the time, the paragon conflict was great, when fitz got to the quarry i literally immediately started uglycrying & pretty much didn’t stop until the end, so: 4.5/5 (series rating 4/5 i guess bc fool’s assassin was a drag & a half)

die nebelkrähe, alexander pechmann this is a speculative fictionalisation of a little episode in the spiritualist movement where medium hester dowden claimed she had communicated with/been briefly possessed by oscar wilde, which is pretty fun. unfortunately, pechmann chose to focus on his version of mr v., a pretty boring mathematician and skeptic, rather than the absolutely wild shit going on with dowden, which includes oscar wilde’s ghost dunking on james joyce (who responded by making fun of the whole thing in finnegans wake) and claiming he’s like totally straight. 2/5

oval, elvia wilk a neoliberal corporate hell/psychotropics/eco-punk gone wrong dystopia in berlin so you know i’m here (i.e. in berlin lol) for it. this is about a berlin in the not too distant future where finster corp (real subtle) is buying up everything, driving up rents through ecological redevelopment, artists mainly work as consultants for corporations, and our protags anja and louis live in a finster-sponsored zero-waste eco-commune on an artificial mountain in the middle of berlin. everyone’s jobs are nda-clad bullshit, everyone parties all the time without ever enjoying themselves, homelessness and income inequality are ignored with the barest twinge of guilt, and louis is developing a party drug that chemically makes you generous. oh and the nature on the mountain (the berg -.-) seems to be eating itself. the concepts are great, the writing is pretty good even tho it tries a bit too hard sometimes, wilk, while also suffering a lil from Expat Gaze, really knows berlin. the execution isn’t perfect, the pacing is a bit off, too much time is devoted to anja and louis’ boring relationship, and look, some of the dystopian elements are a bit obvious. neoliberalism bad. okay, we know. but there’s a lot of good here, and the ending is pretty great, if a bit underdeveloped. 3.5/5

travelers, helon habila a novel about the african diaspora in europe, told thru 6 inter-connected stories, all focusing on one story of migration. these are important stories well told, and i liked how they all linked up in the end. while berlin is the central hub these stories revolve around, not all are set in berlin and the setting really isn’t as central as i’d hoped (this is obvi very personal to me & my research interests so it’s not really criticism). i’d recommend this if you’re interested in the representation of african migrants and refugees. 3/5

the uninhabitable earth: life after warming, david wallace-wells shit’s fucked: the book. starts with ‘it is worse, much worse, than you think’ and doesn’t really get much more cheery from there. good if you want an idea of what the effects of global warming might be (a pretty pessimistic one, which is the point - when does pessimism become realism?), and how we (& how we might) respond to them. 3/5

the girl from the other side, nagabe (#1-5) spooky-yet-wholesome manga series about a snazzy demon who’s adopted a little human girl who has been abandoned/cast out by her human community, which is like 100% my jam. the central relationship is super cute & wholesome, the demon designs are amazing, the worldbuilding is really spooky & intriguing (if you touch a demon you’ll be cursed & also turn into a demon & tbh who doesn’t want to turn into a weird tall slightly monster with cool horns), and a lot of it is just the demon like. badly baking pie to cheer the girl up.

girl woman other, bernardine evaristo somewhere between a novel and a collection of short stories written in a somewhat unconventional but highly readable style. the 12 stories each focus on one woman (and one nonbinary person), most of them black, examing black womanhood in britain throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. i enjoyed many of these stories, but the observational style and the way we quickly cover whole lives left me a bit detached. there’s also a lil corniness throughout, which comes out in full force in the epilogue, and while it’s cool to have trans rep, it honestly came across as a bit clueless. 3/5

dark summit: everest’s most controversial season, nick heil did someone say high-altitude mountaineering disasters? because i’m always here for some high-altitude mountaineering disasters. this is about the 2006 season which was p disastrous in terms of deaths even tho it didn’t even have a storm (cf the 1996 season aka please just read into thin air), just people walking past dudes who were dying bc rescues are extremely difficult & dangerous. anyway this ain’t into thin air, but it’s a good one & pretty wild bc all mountain climbers are fucking nuts. 3.5/5

sense & sensibility, jane austen really enjoyed this! the pacing is a lil weird & none of the men really is all that, but it’s all very charming & witty & i love sisterhood narratives (poor margaret!). as in (tho not as much as in) mansfield park, there’s a lot of attitudes that just don’t really track but in contrast to mp i found them interesting rather than frustrating, mostly - brandon/marianne is very uncomfortable especially when you realise that he’s projecting his tragic dead first love/sis-in-law onto marianne and that we don’t really see their courtship at all, but w/e. i especially enjoyed the ferrars family drama and the hilarious resolution to it, and i gotta say: lucy steele really did that & good for her. 4/5

anyway, i’m about halfway thru alasdair gray’s lanark, which is a great big pomo brick, half portrait of the artist as a young glaswegian, half weird visions of hell in the city of unthank & i’m into it but it’s not a quick read. in october uni reading is also going to start, perhaps for the last semester ever :(

#the only podcast i ever semi-successfully followed was welcome to nightvale #and only because it was the kind of story where it didn't matter if you spaced out several times in between #and even then i kinda had to stop once they started having an overarching plot #*lmao rereading my lil review for adventure zone where i say i'm vaguely interested in dnd is a trip #after i spent the whole last month mainlining critical role and most of my dreams now involve dice stuff i barely understand #like i really had three separate dreams about dnd last night & i've never played it & know nothing about it that isn't in critical role #really just want to be a tiefling that bad huh #the books i read

1 note · View note