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cosmo-watches-movies · 8 months

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Heartlands (2002)

Summary: A Road Movie about kind hearted Colin (Michael Sheen), who has his world turned upside down when his wife Sandra (Jane Robbins) runs away with a policeman. He sets out on his moped and starts the journey through the country to bring her back home.

No spoilers watch the movie This movie feels like a warm hug, a cozy blanket and hot cocoa on a crisp autumn day. It’s a delight. I’ll do things a bit different this time, I won’t go in too deep because I want as many people as possible to just experience this film. Because that is what it is, a experience. It has some very beautiful shots, great humor and very charming characters. And it takes it’s time when it needs to. One might say it’s a bit artsy but I like it for just that.

Okay maybe some spoilers there are a few things I’d like to talk about

Colin is THE Cinnamonroll, he doesn’t deserve any of Sandras bs, but it does provide the incentive for the journey of his life so it’s fine in the end.

I love how when Sandra tells Colins friends, that she will leave him for the Police Captain (JIm Carter), they are just as irritated as I am while watching. The worst part is, that the Captain proceeds to throw Colin off the Darts Team (they are set to compete in a turnament the following weekend) and with that he robs our poor guy of the two things he loves the most at the same time. WTF I’m mad, what an asshole do you have to be? And Sandra just tags along? What did Colin ever do to you? Poor man is sitting in his shop balling his eyes out, they just robbed him of everything that was important to him.

A good friend of Colin convinces him to follow the darts team to Blackpool to win Sandra back, and although at this point I would personally think "fuck her actually", he didn’t even have the chance to talk to her about this, so fair enough. What else should he do now, sit in his store and mope? This is the better option.

Enter beautiful shots of the english country and small towns coupled with folk music, I’ve never felt this comfy in my life. I can’t even imagine how this movie hits if you actually grew up in the UK.

This movie is beautiful

Colin's first overnight stop is at some kind of cottage Inn in the middle of nowhere. There he meets a lovely couple, who are the first people so far who treat him nicely. Or rather like a normal human being. Up to this point I noticed two things: First: Colin is framed by the movie like he is still a bit of a child inside. He’s not immature I think, but a bit naive, very quiet and a bit socially inept, like he hasn’t quite arrived in the real world yet. Second: Other characters in the film notice this and some tend to treat him a bit lesser because of that. Doesn’t hit close to home at all, noooo… Buuut our boy Colin doesn’t really care about that, he just does his thing and is his most sincere self, even if he’s still on the way to finding out who he really is and what he wants from his life. I love that for him.

Anyway the guy (from that couple) gives Colin a haircut and a new shirt so now he looks like a whole different person. (This visibly kicks his character developement journey off and I love that visual language, plus the haircut really suits him, dude did a really good job)

Cue a shot of Colin being sad, listening to a folk band playing in the Inn and my heart is melting this is movie is so precious.

I don't want to spoil what happens in one of the following scenes, my thoughts are confirmed, Colin is a kid and I love him for that.

Colin, I’d like you to please stop doing and saying things that make me go: “Ha, I do that!” Thank you very much.

I won’t go into much more detail from this point on I will just say he eventually gets to Blackpool, talks to Sandra and makes the best decision of his life. He really learned a lot about himself in those few days. The ending fills my heart with butterflies everytime.

A pure, lovely, gentle and genuine performance by Michael. I don’t know how, but his acting in this feels like a hug from a very good friend. It’s so warm and sincere. Of all the films and shows I’ve written about until now, this one is by far my favourite. This is the kind of movie you turn to when you're having a hard time and want to work through it.

If you can, watch it in autumn. With a nice cuddly blanket, a person you love and a nice tea or hot cocoa. But however you do it, if there is one film from my blog you should watch, it's this one!

PS: If you should ever have the chance to meet Michael Sheen in person, please tell him a random guy called Cosmo on the internet loved this movie very much and would like to thank him for this extraordinary genuine and heartfelt performance. This film will stay with me for a long time <3

#His hair is actually part of the plot how genius is that!#I want to make a road trip through the english country now #Heartlands #Filmography #michael sheen #I know there is a queer reading of this movie if you're willing to interpret it that way. Like Storytelling wise #Stuff like doing everything society expects from you (partner- house -stable job) but still not being very happy in your life #Very subtle tho #Setting out to find yourself in a litteral journey meeting lots of different people who teach you things about life away from the norm.#Finding who you really are and what you really want #What I mean is that this film tells a stroy that parallels queer narratives very closely #Idk other people might be better at exploring that topic that's just a thought I had after watching this three times

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johnica-weeks · 1 year

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Roger and Debbie

Roger Meddows Taylor (26 July 1949) 💕 Deborah “Debbie” Leng (6 April 1963)

In a relationship from 1987 to 2004 (not married)

Children:

Rufus Tiger Taylor (8 March 1991)

Tigerlily Taylor (10 October 1994)

Lola Daisy May Taylor (2 April 2000)

Deborah Jane Leng Burgess is a model and actress, and Roger met her on the set of his side band The Cross' video-clip "Cowboys and Indians" (1987). She next appeared as the masked lady in Queen’s “Breakthru”. Debbie started her modeling under the artistic name of Debbie Du-Bell in 1982, and represented the UK in the 1986 edition of Supermodel of the World. She created a sensation in 1987 when she became the iconic Cadbury's Flake girl in a TV commercial and got axed three years later for being "too sexy".

Roger and Debbie’s relationship was immediately object of interest for tabloids, especially since he married his previous girlfriend Dominique in 1988 to secure their two children and the media didn't understand their relationship was actually over, and Roger he soon moved in a new mansion with Debbie. Another object of scandal was the alleged diffusion of a sex tape between the two, and the media never failed to point out their age difference of 14 years. The drummer of a world famous band and a beautiful supermodel couldn’t stay out of the spotlight, after all...

However, besides often appearing together at events, concerts and parties, looking dashing and rich, what happened privately in their lives seems to remain very private. (short to say I’m not really finding much out there besides gossip articles mentioned above). Of course, Debbie is a beautiful woman and always looks friendly and smiling around her family, often having fun with Roger, but there's not much additional information about her personality.

They had Rufus, Tigerlily and Lola together and it appears that Debbie has stayed a lot by Roger’s side after Freddie’s death. “Freddie Mercury was still alive when Rufus came along in 1991 and those two got on famously. Mind you, Fred was always fabulous with kids — he was the one who came up with Rufus’s middle name: Tiger.” They split in around 2004, but they still have a close relationship nowadays and Debbie introduced Tigerlily and Lola to the modeling world, following her steps, while Rufus is drummer of The Darkness, much like Roger.

“Although Rufus’s mum [Deborah Leng] and I were together for about 15 years, we never did get married. I also had Felix and Rory Eleanor from a previous relationship [with Dominique Beyrand], but in that situation, we did eventually tie the knot. I guess I wanted to make sure Felix and Rory were looked after financially. “I’ll admit my life back then was, well… let’s say it was complicated. It was a strange time for all of us. Wouldn’t it be great if relationships were simple and easy? Sadly, breaking up with people who mean a lot to you is never simple or easy. The important thing for me has always been that the kids support each other and feel like brothers and sisters. There’s not some from “this relationship” and some from “that relationship”; they are a gang of five.” (Roger in 2014)

“Mum and Dad never actually got married, but their separation was still pretty rough. There was a bit of shouting for a while and a few headlines, but, y’know what: shit happens. People split up. Both of them have gone off and done their own thing, and they’ve got a much better relationship these days.” (Rufus in 2014)

Prompts - Day 3: Roger and Debbie (14th April)

Under the sunshine

Growing family

Baby you got a fire in you

If I could only reach you, if I could make you smile

Brian & Roger's ships week 2023 rules and prompts

#Brian and Roger Ships week 2023 #queen fandom #queen fandom event #queen ship week #roger taylor fanfiction #roger taylor x debbie leng #debbie leng #deborah leng #BrianRogerShipsWeek2023

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dearfriendsinhigherplaces · 6 months

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-about me-

• im alex, im 20 years old

• i first learned about shifting in 2021, through youtube

• i just had my first minishift about a month ago

• the first dr i ever scripted for and wanted to go to was steven universe

• i started this blog because i dont have anyone to talk to about shifting with irl, im dying to share my drs lmao

• i shift for too many men im sorry i cant help it

• the main theme in most of my drs is friendship. i have a lot of drs focused around having a close friend group

• im a subliminal creator and ive been listening to subs for over 7 years

• i draw from time to time, mostly just pencil sketch portraits

• i do tarot

• im a northwestern wolf and crested honey buzzard therian

• ive got three tulpas

• im bisexual and a non-binary woman/demi-girl (im still figuring out the gender thing)

• dyslexia haver

• im learning danish and asl (poorly)

• social anxiety im not very good at talking to people but im down to have shifting friends

• favorite bands/music people: the beatles, will wood, idk how but they found me, the smiths, james and the shame, the mountain goats, bo burnham, tim minchin

• favorite movies: crimson peak, another round, a ghost story, nope, httyd, thor ragnarok, into/across the spiderverse, titanic

• favorite shows: hannibal, barry, bbc’s ghosts, supernatural, good omens, ofmd, bridgerton, the great, all of us are dead, atla, hazbin hotel, love death and robots, the end of the fucking world, sex education

• favorite video games: shelter 2, the sims, animal crossing, rdr and rdr2, bg3, detroit become human, resident evil 7 and 8, the isle, minecraft

-my main drs-

• hogwarts uni (modern, golden trio era, its a university, theres no war and does not follow the plot)

• the beatles (modern, i like the friend group dynamic so much. its sort of a fame dr)

• baldurs gate 3 (im not following the main plot. i literally decided to go to this dr for one trauma filled man)

• bridgerton (i originally made this dr to shift for anthony bridgerton and then i scripted my boyfriend in it so i could shift for him instead. he's a bridgerton and im from a family i scripted in)

• rdr2 (this does not follow the plot because the game broke me i cant go through it irl. i scripted that the gang breaks apart before anything goes to shit and sean and i get to live a lovely life together. i haven't scripted this one too much, im shifting to chapter 2 where we are at horseshoe overlook)

• adventure time (me and my boyfriend are planning on group shifting here together)

• ghosts uk

• marvel

-my other drs that aren’t really planned out much-

• hannibal (this is the second dr i ever made a script for/tried to shift to. im very fond of it. its based on the nbc show and it doesnt follow the plot. i scripted out basically all of the trauma stuff, and i made some murderous characters good people. this is basically a dr to hang out with will graham and learn some skills. when i shift here again im going to rework the whole script probably)

• sims 4 (i have a vampire sim and I WANT TO BE HER)

• heartstopper (i havent scripted this one much, i dont think im ready to take exams that arent magical again. but i love the friendships in the show so maybe)

• changeling (this is a magical school dr, where im a shapeshifter and everyone that goes there is some type of mythological creature/monster. just a place to learn magic and hang out with people)

• hawthorne school (this dr is loosely based on the apocalypse season of american horror story, but it doesnt have anything to do with the plot of the show because thats scary and i dont want that. im a warlock attending the school)

• percy jackson

• wings of fire

• botw

• marauders era, fantastic beasts era, hogwarts legacy era (gods i have too many wizard drs)

-my waiting room-

i wanted my waiting room to feel as cozy as possible so i made it my cr bedroom. its just kind of my room by itself, without a house attached. its going to be on a little sandy island surrounded by water. i can shift to any of my drs from it.

anti shifters do not interact.

feel free to ask me any questions about my drs/about me, im happy to share. you can ask about literally anything in this introduction, doesnt have to be about shifting. ill make posts about my drs all separately. I’ll mostly be posting about my shifting journey, my drs and just venting about shifting stuff.

happy shifting everyone!

#reality shifting #shifting #shifting realities #reality shift #shiftblr #shifting community

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pvffinsdaisies · 1 year

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Tell me about the eurovision AU

Gladly!! It’s an au that I played about with a bit last year, set in a mystery year in a random location I haven’t thought of yet. Probably Sweden bc they’re the iconic hosts. The nations are all represented by their personifications, who are human in this au. Although in some cases I’ve opted for a nyo or a 2p version.

I currently only have the Nordics, France & the UK thought of.

I know that I for sure want to see at least two of the Nordics become an iconic friendship, much like what we’re seeing of Norway and Iceland’s entries this year. I would like a close friendship between Finland & Estonia too. And I am definitely considering letting scotland and Norway have a little Eurovision romance that manages to go under the radar a bit until nearer the end of the season.

Currently, the songs are:

SWEDEN: the classic perfectly perfected Swedish pop song (sung in English) that Sweden loves to send. The fans don’t care for it too much bc it’s been done before, but he’ll still end up coming like 7th bc the juries love to suck up to Sweden.

DENMARK: Denmark, along with my Faroe Islands oc, come in with a 2000s style europop beat. Again, it’s in English. It’s fun and energetic, but they don’t manage to make it to the final and the fans are outraged.

FINLAND: remember, I have an OC for Finland and don’t follow canon. I see them as part of a band, probably other random people from Finland. Not sure who else is in the band, but I know fin themself is the lead singer. It’s a heavy metal song in English.

NORWAY: Norway has a folk-rock song, it’s sung in English and tells the story of one of his favourite Norwegian folktales. It’s easily the more vocally demanding song of the year, and I actually don’t think he’s what norway wanted to send. I think for most of melodi grand prix there was a different favourite, singing a pop song, but they had to drop out last minute, so he ended up winning.

ICELAND: or, my interpretation of 2p Iceland. He’s the only nordic singing in his native language. Which would be good, but the song is… confusing at best? No one has any clue what’s going on. It’s like he’s shouting into the mic and there’s lots and lots of pyro equipment. You can see elves on the screen behind him? He’s shirtless and running around the stage like a mad man, no one can even pay attention to the song bc the performance is just so… what the fuck? He, surprisingly, does make it the final though.

FRANCE: the most French sounding ballad ever with lots and lots of Eiffel Tower memorabilia. It’s of course sung in French. His song is kind of forgettable.

THE UK: England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland are a band. Wales is the lead singer- with much pushback from England. England is the bassist who also does back up singing bc he threw a hissy fit probs. Northern Ireland is on the drums. And Scotland INSISTED he was allowed to play his bagpipes, which none of the other brothers like. It’s supposed to be a classic English rock song, but they all have very different ideas of what the band is so the song sounds messy at best. It’s not a popular song to begin with and their live performances are just awful every single time. They come dead last in the final scoring a whopping 0 points.

#if anyone has any ideas pls let me know #hetalia #hetavision #aph sweden #aph denmark #aph finland #aph norway #2p iceland #aph france #aph uk bros #aph england #aph scotland #aph wales #aph northern ireland

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babygirlsincars · 8 months

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waaah thank you @hrhgeorgerussell for tagging me 🥺🥺🥺🥺 ur always so sweet

name: David or Space. Second one is my online nickname but I've been going by David on tumblr since I got it afdsgd

sign: taurus sun, pisces moon, cancer rising. I just say taurus usually

time: 8:47am I woke up about 47 minutes ago

favourite band / artist: ...... okay it changes a LOT. Always will be a fan of Mitski, Ricky Montgomery, Wilbur Soot, Liana Flores, The Strokes, Ado, Nqrse, Maneskin, you get the idea. More recently though I've been getting into David Kushner a lot.

last movie: tmnt mutant mayhem 🥺 so good

last show: on my own volition? idk..... watched the amazing race canada with my sister last night tho

when I created this blog: a couple of months ago?? i think??

other blogs: @neoncat666 is my main and i'm like decently more active there but like depends on the day

do I get asks: not so much on this blog no

followers: love all 24 of you tho i wish it was 25 so it was a nice number LMAO

average hours of sleep: recently its been between 5 and 6 hours due to work being at 7am but sometimes i sleep more

instruments: had to learn guitar and recorder in school of course. I've always wanted to learn piano and violin (was supposed to learn violin but covid hit) but I don't really have the hands to play piano :(

what I'm wearing: Maid dress.... I was testing to see how the petticoat sits when im in a chair and then. got distracted

dream job: mechanical engineer or photographer :'3 two very different jobs. I'm currently working on going to school for mechengineering

dream trip: Japan. has been my dream trip since I was a little kid. Germany, Italy, and the UK are close seconds though. (Also my coworker keeps recommending me places in France to go to?)

favourite song atm: MON23 by charles feels like a copout rn cause yeah but other than that maybe Viewing of the Astronomical Ellipses (Opening Comments: Dr. Hickenlooper) from the Asteroid City soundtrack, Nights Like These by Pigeon Pit, or The Milk Carton by Madilyn Mei

I don't really know who to tag so feel free to do this and say I tag you yeah ;3

#text tag #tag game #thank you ann 🥺🥺🥺

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mochatheangelkiller · 2 years

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Tag game!!

rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to get to know better. (I added some friends I want to answer this because I don't have that many)

(I was tagged here)

Thanks for the tag @imaturtledontchaknow!!

Name: Atlas or Mocha, either is great

Sign: Taurus

Hight: ~ 5’6 - 5’7

Time: 5:41 p.m.

Birthday: May 9

Favourite Bands/Artists: Theres a lot but Xana is my top and Marianas Trench is a close second

Last Movie: Either Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness or Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Last Show: Finished - The Boys, Still Watching - Either House M.D. or Gotham

When I created this blog: February 2021

Things I post: Whatever comes to mind and stuff on my dash that is interesting

Last thing I googled: not chucks ending comic (Its really good, if you want the link just message me)

Other blogs: None

Do I get asks: Once in a while I do, but not really (mainly bots)

Following: Im following 251 blogs atm and have 20 followers

Average hours of sleep: anywhere from 2 to 10 hours

Instruments: Ive played the piano for YEARS, I can kinda sing and I'm learning the acoustic! (I also know some uke)

What Im wearing: Jeans and a white tee with yellow print on it that reads 'Good Vibes Only' (its very soft)

Dream Job: World news reporter or musician. (Something in the spotlight, I like attention)

Dream Trip: France, Italy or Poland

Nationality: Canadian

Favourite Songs: The Fruits by Paris Paloma, Sharks by Imagine Dragons, Already Famous by Lenii, UH OH!! by Sub Urban and MANY MANY MORE

Last Book: Scott Westerfeld's Imposters (highly recommend)

3 FIctional Worlds Id Live In: I have no clue and could go on for hours about this.

Please? @anarchyforcanon @ghostdrools @existentialvoidofexistence @demon-sneeze @endvcas @maple-monarch @youre-only-gay-once @callalilycas @sciencefictionandfantasy @dearcas

#tag game

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numetalpuppygirl · 2 years

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what i'm listening to 9/5/2022 (song notes under the cut)

spot link//yt link

trying something a little different where i put the songs in order from favorite to least favorite

Laura Les - Haunted: haunted. by laura les

Pitchshifter - Genius: this band is an unusual entry into the nu metal genre by virtue of being from the uk, where most acts hail from somewhere in the americas or asia. this is one of those songs that just *feels* good, like i'm chewing on the industrial crunch and overlapping vocals

Tallah - Shaken (not stirred): honestly this could have easily taken top spot. i genuinely cried upon hearing this for the first time from the sheer intensity. manic tallah-patented weirdness followed by an unexpected and very pretty harmonized singing section, followed by the most atrociously disgusting triple breakdown i've ever heard. cool to hear derrick doing some singing too!

Limp Bizkit - Welcome Home (Sanitarium): i know i've already posted about this one but it's just such a fun cover and i think the context is super funny, i just keep coming back to it

Ray Charles - I Got A Woman: remember last month when i included gold digger and said that i should just listen to more ray charles, since the sample was my favorite part of that song? well. i did

Limp Bizkit - No Sex: i reference this song a lot bc the title's funny but it's also genuinely kind of an interesting track. this one's about fred expressing to his partner that he feels like they rushed into the intimate part of their relationship too quickly, and now that's become the only foundation the relationship has. he wants to have a relationship, but he doesn't want to have to rely on only sex to keep it going. it's a surprisingly emotionally mature song to include on the same album as "nookie", and cements significant other as being... actually kinda really good

Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World: another song that gets memed a lot, but this is just such a sweet little number. in particular, the lines "i hear babies cry, i watch them grow/they'll learn much more than i'll ever know" makes me want to cry. what a beautiful sentiment, to rejoice that our children and our children's children may inherit a world better and wider and more full of love and wonder than we could ever imagine..... 💜

Supertramp - The Logical Song: one of those songs you hear a million times and never think twice about until you listen to the lyrics. i've been listening to this album on a mutual's recommendation (i wonder if you'll read this?) and it's been a fun time! planning on checking out some of the other stuff when i find the time

Godsmack - Serenity: tbh i never used to like godsmack. i don't think sully erna is a good singer, and their songs are pretty simple and hacky. i did buy this album as part of one of my thrift store hauls, though, and this closing track really struck me. like a lot of abrasive post-grunge bands, i think they're a lot better when they tone it down a little bit. this song reminds me of silently, desperately wandering through the desert

Vanilla Ice - Nightmare Disco: oh boy where to start. i'm a big vanilla ice fan (like, 70% ironically) and i never expected to like anything from his disastrous (and, to date, most recent) album W.T.F., but this one's kinda fun, it's like a dark dance pop track. there are a couple of halloween-y tracks on that record, and this is one of them. gotta love the spooky vibes! unless you're vanilla's team, apparently, as this album is not available anywhere on youtube

Almighty Cover Girlz - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down (Almighty 12" Anthem Mix): damn could you make the name a little longer maybe?? normally i wouldn't even type all that out but they also have two other similarly named remixes of this song. this was an everynoise dot com find, and i was glad because i think alicia keys is a great performer but i've never liked this song. this mix brings it the extra mile for me

Lemon Demon - Ben Bernanke: this played on chase clown_depot's mediashare stream and i've had it in my head since. not much else to say, it's just another lemon demon song that i enjoy immensely

Bush - Comedown: not much to say here, either. another uncommon uk contender, and a far more successful one at that. not my favorite bush song, but it's the one i've had in my head. help

Pitchshifter - Microwaved: hey they're back! i was pleasantly surprised by this song taking on the sort of shitty fake plastic feeling that modern capitalist society has been permeated with. i've been revisiting the "leftist nu metal" playlist i had promised (and never delivered whoops) in a previous post and this was a good find. not as tastey sounds as genius but still worth the listen

A Perfect Circle - Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums: speaking of both left-wing nu metal and long as fuck titles... this is an anti-bush song that doesn't really land, but is a cool track independent of that nonetheless

Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes): one-hit wonder with a really weird story behind it. i would highly recommend the todd one hit wonderland video about this, that's how i first heard about it

Vanilla Ice - Hate: return of the ice-man. this is the type of song that got me into his music in the first place. i'm easy, really. i'll go for basically any nu metal i can find. nothing too special about this one, though, it's just catchy

SR-71 - Tomorrow: the last two songs here are placed next to each other on purpose. this was pop punk band SR-71's attempt at transforming themselves into clones of linkin park after hybrid theory started selling like hotcakes. they did a surprisingly decent job, getting the production and singing style nearly dead-on; however, they predictably didn't get very far with this maneuver

Crazy Town - Drowning: this was nu metal band crazy town's attempt at transforming themselves into clones of linkin park after hybrid theory started selling like hotcakes. being a nu metal band that already had dual vocalists and a dj, you would think they had an easier time of it than SR-71, right? nope. drowning is far less believable as a linkin park than tomorrow, which is pretty embarrassing for these guys. oh well, they can add it to their list

#*char noises*#talking pop

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pocketvenuslux · 2 years

Photo

Following up on my post on Agent Provocateur’s summer sale, I’m reviewing the piece I picked up from the sale, the strappy Nanci bra.

Originally, this design was released with the aptly named Randie which is pictured in the modeled photo above. The only difference I can see between the two is the bow. Randie has a long, thin draping bow at the gore to match the straps while Nanci has a short, pert bow. Otherwise, they both feature overlapping black mesh with a peek-a-boo cut out to reveal your nipples. As a black mesh piece, this bra is very easy to match with other black mesh or solid bottoms.

The quality is what I’ve come to expect from AP. The stitching is even, the hardware is branded and appears to be metal-plated. The edges of the elastic on the wings and band feature a very stiff material, almost like a very thin strand of synthetic hairs, in a decorative, scalloped pattern. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The mesh of the cups, when you examine it up close, is actually two layers, one black and the other beige, which you can see better in the interior photo. This makes the cups stronger while maintaining a very sheer and delicate appearance. However, be forewarned that this may change how the piece looks on darker skin tones.

I have read a lot about how inconsistent AP’s bra sizing is. That has not been my experience with AP. There are times when I could have taken my sister size, 32D, but I usually find 34C more comfortable such that the only AP bra I own right now that is not a 34C is the Sally longline bra and in this case, the website noted that customers should size down. The 34C for Nanci fits very well and gives the girls a good lift without any digging in.

I bought this bra in late July at an additional 15% off for CA$68 from the retail price of CA$195. You can currently get 20% off with the code EXTRA20, or you could try for more with EXTRA30 (may not work anymore). Shipping to Canada is with DHL for CA$30 and I paid an additional CA$42.45 in duties making the total cost of this piece CA$140.45. While the shipment was processed quickly, I was surprized to see it shipping from the UK instead of the US. The package took 8 business days to arrive and despite it requiring a signature, DHL just left the package on my porch.

Fabrics: cup 100% polyamide; wing 70% polyamide, 30% elastane

Made in China

Photos: Agent Provocateur; mine

#agent provocateur #british lingerie #lingerie #lingerie review

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vanmcstan · 2 years

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“Besides working on music, what have you been listening to lately?

I'm obsessed with my friend's music. His name is Sam Fender, and his music is insane. His first record, Hypersonic Missiles, was very honest.”

https://www.byrdie.com/alexa-mansour-interview-5207407

Her insta is followed by a LOT of people from North Sheilds - e.g. his band mates girlfriends, photographers he’s used, family of his support act/close family friend so I dunno if she is/ever was a girlfriend cos these people are still liking her photos nowadays, and so is Sam as of start of April (?) But also she lives in the states so if she was an ex surely all his closest childhood friends would have stopped following/liking her photos, but also it seems impractical that she’s a current girlfriend since he’s here in the UK (and hasn’t left for a while) and she’s in the States?

I don’t know where that other anon seen that she said he was her boyfriend as that interview is the only thing that comes up when you Google “Alexa Mansour Sam Fender”?

Ohh thank you for finding that ,anon!!

Yeah so I found a photo of them both around 2019 and on her sisters tiktok , her sister says “why is my sisters ex’s music trending on tiktok again”. This was around the time 17 was trending I believe

So I’m guessing he was dating her in 2019?? I’m a bit puzzled as to how considering he toured so much but I guess when you like someone you make the effort?? I do hope he wasn’t still with his hometown girlfriend at the time tho cause all this is really changing my opinion of him :/

He probably started liking her photos again maybe because he wants to give it another go or just that he’s being a friend but who really knows with this boy rn

Side note: Don’t get me wrong Alexa is stunning but her singing videos make me cringe

#sam fender

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kwispayne · 4 months

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The Top 10 Albums Of 2023

Ironically the year that I had my hearing loss start was the year I listened to so much music. Thank you very much bandcamp for providing alot of free entertainment., Hopefully my condition doesn't affect my idiosyncrasies.

A good mix this year and trying to cull anything this year wasn't the easiest. But I think this is the best i could come up with.

And as always, I didn’t hear every album this year, this is my person list and I counted anything released this year.

10. Pupil Slicer - Blossom

With their first album Mirrors, I was hooked with their chaotic blend of abrasive math core and powerful deathcore moments. When I saw the track times on this, I was surprised to see no shorter songs, and this being a concept album, I was expecting something very different and forward thinking. In many ways this is what I thought, but it isn’t complete foreign waters for the band. One of the most interesting things about this band is that they do their perspective genres in such a way, I draw blanks on making comparisons. Kate Davies approach to guitar and the choices she and the rest of the band make are some of the most unique sounds I’ve heard all year. And her vocals are like something I would expect to hear in a mental ward. One of the most exciting bands to come from the UK at the moment.

Genres: Mathcore, Post Hardcore, Extreme Metal, Progressive Metal, Deathcore

Country of origin: England

9. Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

Their last release Death Atlas just barely missed my list the year it came out, but I knew that it was a modern metal masterpiece and whatever these guys do next would blow me away. And they never fail to deliver. Concept wise and cover art already sold me on this album, with the band taking their misanthropy to knew satirical, creative and sadly true levels, musically this album is technical, progressive, insane and forward thinking compared to their other death metal associates. As always, David McGraw’s drumming is the best in modern extreme metal but the rest of the bands musical ability is just as otherworldly. When it comes to vocals in extreme metal, if a vocalist can do something exciting or different with their voice it always impresses me, but Travis Ryan is something else. His range and approach to this style is unlike any I’ve ever heard and how he delivers his lyrics with his ability to change his voice is thespian level. One of the best death metal albums ever made in my opinion.

Genres: Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Extreme Metal, Progressive Metal

Country of origin: USA

8. Squid - O Monolith

They made my top 10 with their debut and I knew that these guys had a lot more to offer. A perfect follow up to Bright Green Fields, with amazing songwriting and technical ability, what the album also offers is a more succulent and palatable offering. Not contemporary in the slightest but close enough to be enjoyable by indie heads. Ollie Judge’s vocals on this album are just as manic as ever and some of the arrangements both technical and choice of instruments are mind-blowing. It just proves that modern prog in the UK is as vibrant as it ever was, with these guys, Black Midi & Black Country, New Road being the holy trinity of indie avant prog. I know whatever these guys do next, it is going to be amazing.

Genres: Art Rock, Experimental Rock, Progressive Rock, Indie Rock, Avante Garde

Country of origin: England

7. Good NightOwl - Capital

Financially I haven’t been as generous with artists. So to keep my musical palette fed, I have been searching online for anything free I can download. I have some found some gems, but this is a diamond in the rough (there’s a lot of rough sadly). A one man project, Good NightOwl is a beautiful diverse musical journey. Complex with rhythm, melody and harmony, Daniel Cupp’s vocal and instrumental ability is nothing to be sneered it, with his vocal range being very impressive. Production wise it isn’t the cleanest, but what he is able to create is nothing short of amazing. If you’ve ever seen this guys You Tube stuff, he doesn’t seem to take himself very seriously, but on this album he does add some interesting satirical views on capitalism and consumerism. Good news is that his new album is out at the start of next year, and I highly recomend you give him money to make even more music (and odd comedy).

Genres: Progressive Rock, Eclectic Prog, Math Rock, Crossover Prog, Art Rock, Experimental Rock

Country of origin: USA

6. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth & The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation

When these guys released Infest the Rats Nest, I think everyone (especially metalheads) were begging for them to return to this thrash metal style. So thankfully they’ve returned with this sound, but this time it’s proggier and heavier. The talent these guys possess never fails to impress me. The dynamic switch between Stu Mackenzie & Ambrose Kenny Smith’s vocals make this lyrical story of fantasy, environmentalism and apocalypse potent, enjoyable and kind of enjoyably goofy. Also naming your album this title and giving it this artwork, of course I’m going to be interested in this. I hope I am hearing this style from them in the next few years. These guys can do no wrong for me as they are currently one of my favourite bands.

Genres: Progressive Metal, Stoner Rock, Thrash, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Country of origin: Australia

5. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - The Silver Cord

A first for my lists. A band releasing 2 albums that both ended up in my top 10 of the years. When I heard that this album was going to be fully electronic, I was overly interested because they did do something similar on Butterfly 3000. But this album is nothing like the fun that that album was. In many ways this album is one of the most musically interesting and lyrical journeys these guys have ever travelled down. From beautiful synth odysseys, fun disco tracks, hardcore big beat moments that wouldn’t feel out of place in early The Chemical Brothers or The Prodigy to some of the most beautiful introspective moments I’ve heard these guys wander down. This album is also oddly presented, as it has extended versions of each track. The album itself is fine as it is, but the extended editions do show us a more experimental side to these guys. (as if they aren’t experimental enough) As I say with each King Gizzard release, I hope that this isn’t just an experiment for these guys, because anytime that switch genres, they usually do better than bands in these contemporary fields.

Genres: Electronic, Progressive Electronic, Psychedelic Rock, Big Beat, Disco, Krautrock, Electropop

Country of origin: Australia

4. Haken - Fauna

There’s a part of me that really just wants to say “business as usual,” but that makes it sound like Haken don’t really swerve too much out of their comfort zone, and with each album these guys have made, it’s been an ever ending musical experience and journey. Constantly moving forward musically, technically and concept wise, these guys just again prove that there are on the best progressive metal bands going to today. Everyone brings their A game, and it contains the bands catchiest, most technical, most oddest and most diverse musical palette these guys have ever created. Quite possibly my favourite album from these guys. I am very much looking forward to anything these guys release in the future.

Genres: Progressive Metal, Djent, Progressive Rock, Eclectic Prog, Experimental Rock

Country of origin: England

3. I Am The Manic Whale - Bumper Book Of Mystery Stories

A band I knew nothing about until my brother introduced them to me, and I’m very thankful that he did. There always seems to be such amazing underground prog bands that are coming out of nowhere these days. These guys are very much in the poppier vein of the prog sound, like a British Spock’s Beard, but there is also the childish nostalgic curiosity of Big Big Train, being a concept album being about storybook like stories the band came up with. Musically these guys are fantastic, with amazing musicianship and complex passages along with great catchy melodies. The band’s strongest force though is vocalist Michael Whiteman who puts on the disguise of an eccentric narrator throughout. Also I love concept albums that bring back themes throughout and this album is full of brilliant moments. I am very happy to have found these guys and look forward to what they will be bringing in the future.

Genres: Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, Eclectic Prog, Hard Rock, Pop Rock

Country of origin: England

2. Empire State Bastard - Rivers Of Heresy

Being a fan of both Biffy Clyro & Oceansize, I was over the moon to hear that these guys are working together. I then heard that they were making an extreme metal album, and I was overly curious. While these guys have flirted with heavier sounds in their previous projects, it’s never been this abrasive and caustic. But it’s the insanity that makes this album what it is. Simon Neil’s vocals are the most manic I’ve even heard his contemporaries reach heights of. And thankfully these guys were able to get drumming legend Dave Lombardo to provide a perfect accompaniment to this insanity. Musically diverse, Mike Vennart shows of his multi genre bending talent as he showed on his stuff with Oceansize, but more manic than he’s ever been. I really hope this isn’t a flash in the pan or a one time thing. This is one of the best projects these guys have ever been part of and I’m really hoping to hear more from this project.

Genres: Extreme Metal, Post Hardcore, Grindcore, Art Rock, Experimental Rock, Stoner Metal

Country of origin - Scotland & England

Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden

When these guys first burst on the scene, I actually missed their first album Sundowning, but from the singles I heard I did know there was something special in them. So when it came to the follow up This Place Will Become Your Tomb, they decided to tone down the metal and show a softer side, which if I’m being honest, left me wanting more. So on their 3rd album, the guys have decided to become heavier yet at times also softer than they’ve ever been. And this is the sound these guys needed to obtain. This is the sound that speaks to me the most and personally I feel is the most unique and forward thinking sound in modern metal today, which I hope will pave the way for future metal acts. From the introspective beauty to the incredible harsh, this album is an emotional rollercoaster. Musically tight throughout switching from genre to genre, the real highlight is Vessel’s vocals, as he is able to create a complete palette delivering his lyrics in an almost Shakespearean way. At times listening to this I have been close to tears (which was very cathartic after they year I had). I hope the mystery behind this project continues and that these guys revel in the success this masterpiece has given them. A high contender for album of the decade.

Genres: Progressive Metal, Post Metal, Art Rock, Djent, Pop, Electronic, R&B, Experimental Rock, Progressive Rock

Country of origin: England

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a-froger-epic · 3 years

Text

Interview with a Queen “groupie”

Cross-posted to AO3. I encourage you to leave any comments you have there.

---

I compiled this interview following a long email exchange with J, a very sweet lady who went to Ealing Art School between 1972 and 1974. She knew all four members of Queen personally and was part of their larger circle of friends.

First off, you may find this hard to believe. I don’t blame you. But I assure you I’m not pulling your leg. As well as the pictures I share in this post, I have seen current pictures of J (which I will not share to protect her privacy). There is no indication as far as I am aware that she isn’t who she says she is.

Nastally, hold up. How exactly did you find this lady?

She found me. It turns out that she has been following my story Dawn of Aquarius for quite some time. The story is set in 1969. A lot of research about the era went into it, because I wanted to portray that time period - and Freddie’s and Roger’s surroundings - as accurately and realistically as I possibly could. That was what drew J in. She tells me it brought back a lot of memories for her. One of the reasons I love DoA so much is the nostalgia, she says, which genuinely means the world to me. Eventually, she talked to me in the comment section. Of course, I freaked out!

And then, I asked her for an interview, to which she replied: I will give it a go, but you must remember that I am 65 and there were great drugs in the 70s, and at 16, away from home, I had a lot!

And so...

Here’s what is IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND when you read this interview.

These are one woman’s 50-year-old memories and subjective impressions. J has been incredibly kind to let me pick her brain, trying to recall everything as best as she can. In her own words:

Just remember that when I answer the questions, it is from a 16-year-old who is 9 years younger than Freddie and a little girl with no family and friends in a strange country trying to fit in. The only reason I was there, was because some hippie thought I had a unique art style.

---

J as a teenager.

[I have edited the interview together from our long, and somewhat messy at times, email exchange. Typos have been fixed and some punctuation added for clarity, but I have not changed anything J has written to me. Again, bear in mind these are personal opinions and impressions.]

So, J, how did you end up at Ealing Art School in 1972 and what was it like?

This was the painting done for the Australian school-leaving certificate.

It placed first and gave me a scholarship. I could pick France, the USA or England. As a dual citizen of the UK, the choice was easy. The scholarship paid for board and fees, so had to be and sell whatever for spending money.

This picture is from the dorm. We all had a 10pm curfew and a very thick rule book that, I am proud to say, I broke every one of them, one by one. The rooms were on the 1st and 2nd floor. We were on the first floor, rooms one side and admin staff the other end. We had two bathrooms for 18 girls. One of them had two baths. The walls were your standard half wall, so it was a given that if you had a bath you run the risk of having a bucket of cold water dropped on you. Downstairs was the kitchen and lounge room.

I want to ask you a few things about life in London in the early 70s, to get a picture of what it was really like. For example, was there alcohol at the music gigs you went to?

If it was a school, church or community hall, no. If it was a pub, yes.

Did you and your friends drink as much then as young people tend to drink now when you all went out?

No, we didn't. I think it had a lot to do with money. We didn't have the disposable income, and it was unheard of to still be living at home with the parents after the age of 20.

Was weed and LSD as big and easily accessible as depictions of the 60s and 70s would have us believe?

The drugs! Got to have drugs. Pot (weed) was easy to grow, very cheap. Used to smoke it in bongs rather than joints, more bang for your buck. Trips [LSD] were cheap, I think. About 2 pounds and you were on the high for over 24 hours with no sleep. My drug of choice was hash. Either the oil or the block. It was a nice high, but you could not function well. But if you listen to the music of the time it really does reflect what it was like, to have a group of friends over for a session. Having said all that the most outlandish and shocking drug I ever saw anyone use was the birth control pill. Didn't you have to hide that stuff away?!

Can you tell us some 70s slang that isn’t really in use anymore? What in the world does “ultra-blagging” mean? (As written in a letter penned by Freddie to his friend Celine in 1969.)

Abso-bloody-lootely!

Man, I thought I was the bees knees to be on a scholarship in London. But that didn't stop me from jigging or having a skive day. They were the days that I blagged my way into a pub, had too many lagers and ended up chundering in the gutter. That was how you knew your night was ace. I would get a right bollocking if anyone found out. It would be a bugger when all that you could find at a car boot sale was chavtastic, but sometimes you could be Jammy Dodger and tickety-boo you find something brilliant. Bob's your uncle. Anyways, I need to see a man about a dog.

[It seems to me that J uses a bit of Australian slang here, like chundering, which makes sense because she is, after all, Australian. She also provided the translation:]

Cheers

It would be my honour.

I felt very privileged to be given a scholarship that let me study in England. But being so young and having no family to guide me, it was often tempting to not turn up or give a false excuse for being sick. (I had a lot of food poisoning). These would often happen if the night before I had been drinking beer and ended up vomiting outside the pub. But in my young mind that was a good night. If any of the teachers found me drinking I would be in a lot of trouble. Often I would have to say I was holding it for someone else. Not having much clothes with me, I would buy them second hand from church jumble sales or other students and, yes, Kensington market (the market). Some of the stuff would not be very tasteful or in good condition. But sometimes you would find something that was cheap and in good condition. I will stop this text now as I must go to the toilet.

PS: Ultrablagging sounds very Freddie. Blagging was used, but not ultra, meaning to persuade someone to do something or act better than you are. They were always rock stars.

Sincerely

[It was at this point that I realised I was talking to an absolute legend. She also told me then that the majority of her old photographs had sadly been lost when her house was flooded in 1988, including most of the photographs from her stay in London. Noooo! :(]

When you went out to dance, did you have only live music? Were there DJs yet?

You know, that is hard. We did not have a DJ. Sometimes there would be a band. Often we looked for places with a band or the jukebox. I think pubs closed at 10pm and some stayed open to 12 or 1, but public transport stopped at 9. So if you had not arranged a lift then you had to make the last bus. Most of the time we would be heading back to someone's place to get stoned and then crash there. In the morning you would have to work out where you were. When I got back to Australia, the discos were all the rage. They could have been in London too but it was not cool to like disco.

How many people would show up to Queen’s gigs when they played in pubs or at, for example, the Imperial College?

Depending on the location and the night: 10 to 1000!

So how did you first meet the Queen boys?

I was at the pub talking about a band we saw last week when Brian stuck his head into our booth telling us he knew a better one. Thinking about seeing them at the stall... Roger not often, Freddie quite a lot. Often on different stalls, I think that is why I can't remember the name. [The name of the stall. Other sources confirm that Freddie also worked at Alan Muir’s stall, for example, selling shoes.]

How well did you know them?

Just looking at your tumblr account. [she has had a look at my blog, where somebody asked if ‘groupie’ meant she had slept with the band] No, I never slept with the boys. I would not say I was a close friend, but I started at Ealing Art College in ‘72 and moved in the same circles. I loved the music and could be called one of the first groupies. I had to sneak into the pubs because I was 16. Roger always teased me for being so young. They all did seem to be one very large family, not just the band. It was a group of about twenty regulars, both male and female. Everyone knew that Fred was too gay to function. We were all at the gay rights march in London in 1972, had to run after the march. Lots of sharpies [Australian slang: youth gang, thugs] wanting to bash us. Back then I was in every protest that was going, student union rights, even the secretary protest. Just part of the times, stick it to Man or Woman. I left London in ‘74 for Australia, been here ever since and lost track of the boys but have never stopped being a fan.

What do you remember about them? How would you describe their personalities?

Don’t let the trolls hate me, but I did not like Brian. I found him to be rather full of himself. Space was a subject you never brought up around Brian or you would die of old age before he stopped talking. He was always the first to speak and start a conversation and then quickly passed you off to John, who was always tired and shy. Roger was also quite shy at times. He was very self-conscious of his looks, as he felt being pretty, nobody would take him seriously. Fred, well, he was not yet the big star, so I think he was working on his stage persona. When talking to groups at parties, he had the best stories of things that had happened to him or close friends. They were very funny and very descriptive. He was the life of the party. When he had a few to drink or was the centre of attention, he would take a cigarette out of the closest person’s hand and start smoking. Now remember this is the point of view of a 16-year-old girl that was a fish out of water, trying to fit in and not having much worldly experience.

It is said that Freddie and Roger were very stylish. How did they dress in everyday life?

Fred would do his hair and makeup to check the mail. Yes, he was always turned out, but so were a lot of people. Freddie did go over the top with hats, scarfs and jewellery. With Roger, it is a surprise he was able to have kids his jeans were that tight. And his shirts were always open unless he was in a jumper. I think it could have been so that you knew he was male, as it was the start of the unisex clothing. When I travelled out of London I realised it was a London thing. When I got back to Australia everyone thought I was a show-off.

There are some disagreements about how tall especially Freddie was. I know this is a difficult thing to try and remember accurately. But do you remember?

Freddie was taller than me but everyone was. Roger was shorter than Fred, but I never saw Roger in platform shoes. I did meet up with the band by chance at Sydney airport in 1984, said ‘hello’ but they did not remember me, or if they did then they did not say anything and I did not want to be a dork. At that time Fred was the same height as me (5ft 8in/1.72m), Roger was taller than me. It made me think at the time that he had a growth spurt! John was shorter than me and Brian has always been tall. [I have a feeling the platform shoes - or lack thereof - played a vital role here! Although 172cm for Freddie seems likely.]

You said everyone knew Freddie was “too gay to function”. Attitudes towards homosexuality have changed so much that it can be hard for us, now, to fathom what exactly people must have thought of him. Was it more of a joke that he was so camp? Was it something he would have been teased for? Also, he had a girlfriend. Did you ever meet Mary or the other girlfriends?

In 1972 a whole group of us - and I am pretty sure that Fred, Roger, Brian and Tim were there - were in a gay pride march. [Since then, J has found and showed me a picture of a boy she thought was Tim Staffel, and it wasn't, so Tim was most definitely not there. Whether Freddie, Roger and Brian really were there or if J is misremembering, who knows?] Us youth believed you could not choose who you fell in love with and if it was same sex, so what? However, if it was two girls then it was every guy’s duty to change her!

It was also a time that the gayer the guy was, the more the girls were interested. Also, if a guy was gay then you did not have to worry about him and he was a good person to take with you if you were going out drinking. However, the police, parents, teachers and anyone of authority were horrified and treated them badly. I did meet Mary a couple of times at pubs and once after a gig. This is just my opinion, but I found her a bitch. It could be that I was so young. It could be that I was very Australian. It could be that she felt threatened as my accent was a magnet to people around. And the boys (Queen) were no exception. Brian had a cousin in OZ and was always asking questions. I remember that my close group of friends thought that Mary made the perfect girlfriend for Fred as they were as fake as each other. Having said that about them, I often wonder if I would think the same now and if my perceptions were just because she would not give me the time of Day. Chrissy and Jo were a lot of fun.

This was before your time, but I read that Freddie's nickname at Ealing Art School was ‘Freddie Baby’. Any ideas how this came about? His showmanship or maybe personality traits?

I don't think so. There were an older crowd that would talk like that. I think the slang ‘baby’ was a 60’s thing, like groovy baby.

How long, roughly, did Roger and Freddie have their stall? I can't find anywhere when it closed down. What did it actually look like? Was it a sort of wooden stall type of thing? Or an actual room? What were some of the other things people sold at Kensington Market? Mostly clothes or all sorts?

The markets were little divided shops. The back was brick and the walls wood. I have been trying all day to remember the name. [Of the stall.] I think it was something hard to say. More often than not it would be Freddie's dad in the store. It was still open when I left. Roger and Freddie were both in the store on Saturdays and some Sundays. There was a girl, I think Jill, who was in the store more. And during the week it could be anyone. You name it and you could get it at the markets. Second hand or designer clothes, shoes, jewellery, pot and assortments. Hair cuts, food, bric-a-brac.

Wait, wait. What? Freddie’s dad? Really now?

Yeah, it was an older Indian man. so we just assumed it was his father. It was my understanding that he started the stall then the boys would work it as the whole markets were set up for younger people, but if needed he would work there. I don't think the boys would be able to pay the rent on their own. [I have since found out that the stall closed in late 1971, and Freddie continued to work at the Market until '74, for Alan Mair and possibly others. So the stall J witnessed wasn't their original stall - explaining all the different people she saw there - but she had no way of knowing that it wasn't.] They always had incense burning that was very big in the 70s. I still occasionally bring out the sticks, but it does not last like the candles and diffusers of today. If you could get in touch with Robert Daniels, he ran ChaChaDumDum it was the stall across from Freddie. He would know the dates.

[J says it’s this look, in a picture she happened across while looking at my tumblr] Yep, that is the one. It usually means that he does not believe or agree with something that was said and is working out how to respond, or he has lost the plot.

You mentioned Roger seemed shy to you at times. Was he also quite charming? We read a lot about what a chick magnet he was. Was this the impression you had?

My favorite subject! I had a thing for Roger. Everyone has a type and mine is the blue-eyed blond. Now, before you ask, was he brunet? No, he was a mouse/dirty blond. If it was summer he would have blond streaks mostly at the ends. He knew he was pretty and was always dressed in the latest fashion and had the current hairstyle. So, being my type I was constantly watching him. Everyone slept around during that time. I did not notice Roger doing it more or less. 80% of the time he was with Jo. Yes, he was a chick magnet, but he did not do the chasing. He was always very polite to everyone. If it ever looked like there would be any conflict he would be the first to leave it. It was not that he was a coward, just not into conflict. If he saw anyone that needed help he was right there, and often had to have Freddie's back. I never saw him in a fight. He could always talk his way out of things. He was also very patient and would listen for hours to other people talk. However, he would get this vacant look in his eyes at times.

And Freddie would either click his fingers, change the subject or just give up. I don’t think that Brian noticed, and it would be fair game for John, he would see how far he could push it. Roger liked to drink a fair bit and when drunk he would be hanging all over Jo. If she was not there then he missed Jo. If, however, he thought that he or his friends were not being respected, then look out! It was a verbal volcano heading your way. That is what happened to me one time. I was trying to talk with my friends close to where a drunken Roger was and I yelled at him to shut the hell up, you wannabe blond. We/I coped a mouthful back, all in the same sentence, that finished with: Sorry, I didn't realise you were on your rags (period)! I have to have the last word, so I told him the truth: I don’t get them yet! (I was a late starter.) He went so red in the face and called me JB [jail bait] from then.

You also mentioned Roger’s cat Ziggy having kittens. I read about this but never when exactly it was. Do you remember?

I think it was winter ‘73. I remember being cold when he was asking around the pub. [To find homes for the kittens, I gather.]

Is it quite strange reading fictional interpretations of real people you knew? When did you first find out there was Queen fanfic?

No, we used to make up stories about people all the time, a verbal fanfic. Was looking up Adam Lambert and came across the fanfics. Some had me in stitches! Others, like DoA, had me hooked.

Please, allow me to be a little self-indulgent at the end. What's one thing I got totally RIGHT in DoA?

All the Ibex stuff.

What's one thing I got totally WRONG in DoA?

Roger did not have a temper, and I don’t know what the go with his father was, but he would talk about him quite a bit and was always visiting his mum. [Absolutely fair, not only did I change the timeline of Roger’s parents divorce in DoA - for lack of information at the time - but also created a completely fictional narrative around it for the sake of storytelling.]

J, thank you so much for all this, sincerely. Can you tell me a little more about yourself? Are you still an artist?

I don't paint or draw any more. At the age of a 50 the doctors operated on an aneurysm or three, and now my eyesight is very bad, I have no fine motor skills and a tremor. I was married in January 1984 and have just celebrated our 37 year anniversary. I have one daughter who is 30 and two great, although tiring grandkids. A girl, 11, and one boy, 5. I have lived my life as the average middle class Australian with great memories. Talking with you has helped me a lot to remember a time when the world was mine for the taking. When I returned to OZ I started nursing, met my best friend, and we planned that once we graduated we would go back to London to study midwifery. But I fell in love instead.

J's wedding in 1984. As you can see, she found her own blue-eyed blond.

---

Upon request, J has shared some of her past and present artwork with me.

These are from her time at Ealing Art School:

These were done later, back in Australia:

J: Did this just before Christmas as you had inspired me. It did not require fine motor skills!

So there you have it! I hope you found this little glimpse through a 16-year-old girl’s eyes as much of a fascinating read as I did. I urge everybody one more time to remember that J did not have to share any of this, and I think we all owe her a big thank you for delving into her memories. She is likely to see the responses on AO3, so I have comment moderation enabled there as I will not let anybody harass this lovely lady. The tumblr she created is @since72, but she isn’t really an active user and also very new to it all. Again, I can only urge everybody to be respectful.

If you have other burning question for J, feel free to leave them in the comments on AO3. I will either pass them on, or she may want to reply to them herself directly.

#Queen band #Freddie Mercury #Roger Taylor #John Deacon #Brian May #interview #i am so excited about this #so much into #information #JB

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headcanonsandmore · 3 years

Text

“Fell In Love With A Girl”, Chapter Three

Summary: As Ginny and Luna touch down in Brazil, they discover the thrills of Rio itself, but also the dangers awaiting them as the investigation deepens.

Tagging: @cheeseanonioncrisps @lytefoot

~~~~~~~~~~~

Read on FFN. Read on AO3.

~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Ladies and gentlemen, we will be touching down in approximately half an hour. The local time is…’

Ginny dimly opened her eyes. Luna was still dozing softly on her shoulder, and the blonde woman’s weight was gentle and warm.

Yawning, Ginny blinked repeatedly, and wiped the sleepy-dust out of her eyes. She took care not to disturb Luna, but her girlfriend began to rouse herself nonetheless.

‘Morning,’ Ginny whispered, smiling. ‘Slept okay, Lu?’

Luna nodded, smiling shyly back.

‘You have a very comfortable shoulder.’

Ginny chuckled, and intertwined their fingers together.

‘Thanks,’ she said, pressing a quick kiss to Luna’s forehead. The blonde woman’s cheeks dimpled and flushed. ‘You ready for Rio, then?’

‘With you with me,’ Luna replied. ‘I could take on the whole world, Ginny.’

Tonks insisted that they all get to the hotel as soon as possible. MI6 agents had already scoured the place for bugs, and had agreed that the place was safe. However, Remus and Tonks did a precautionary sweep around the rooms before they let Ginny and Luna inside.

After unpacking, Luna and Ginny were escorted by Tonks to a room in the hotel cellar that had been made the base for operations.

Two security guards stood inside, and only let them pass after Tonks nodded at them.

The room was dominated by a large round table, upon which was the paraphernalia of paper, telephones, mobile phones, and even a few computer monitors that Ginny presumed was common for such a mission.

‘So… any developments?’ Tonks asked.

A man stepped forward. He was short, with a scar running over one of his eyes. Unlike the other people around him, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and seemed unconcerned about his appearance as long as it was protected. A strange tattoo was on his right hand, almost like an eye with a long forked tail.

‘Ha!’ His voice was gruff. ‘We haven’t been just sat around waiting for you lot to turn up. The local indigenous groups have been in contact with us; they’ve been reporting strange activities across the entire Amazon delta for several months, but no-one took them seriously until these burglaries started happening. Typical upper-crust attitude.’

‘Thank you, Sam,’ Remus said, with a long-suffering tone. ‘Have we any idea where the activities are originating from?’

The short man nodded, and slammed his finger down on a point on the map spread across a section of table. It was deep in the rainforest, and seemed only accessible by dirt tracks.

‘A testing facility?’

‘Probably,’ Tonks said. ‘It would certainly explain why all those plants and research were being taken.’

‘Speaking of the plants,’ Remus said, turning to Luna. ‘Ms Lovegood, you said that the Amazonian Octarine-Flame was the species of plant you were being asked about, just before the break-in?’

Luna nodded.

‘Yes,’ she said, taking a step towards the table. ‘I thought it was very strange, since the plant isn’t normally kept domestically in the UK.’

‘Now, that’s a name that keeps cropping up,’ the agent called Sam grunted. ‘The locals we’ve been talking to have mentioned it about three dozen times.’

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a cigar. He put it in his mouth and was about to light it when Remus gave him a look. From where Ginny was stood, it was clearly a look Remus had gotten used to showing.

‘Sam, please do that outside. You know the fire hazard.’

Sam rolled his eyes, and made for the door.

‘Ginny, Luna; you two should head back upstairs,’ Remus said. ‘We’ll let you know if anything else crops up; you both need some rest before you can think properly.’

‘I’ll take them up,’ Sam muttered. ‘I need to head up that way anyway.’

Ginny shot a look at Tonks, who nodded in approval. Apparently, Sam was trustworthy.

Luna slipped her fingers around Ginny’s, and the two women followed the older policeman out of the room.

‘Er… nice tattoo,’ Ginny offered, pointing at the man’s hand as he struck a match to light his cigar.

Sam smiled. The effect wasn’t much better than when he was frowning, but it was nice to know that even a grizzled man like him could smile.

‘Not a tattoo, but thanks, kid,’ he said, breathing out a large amount of foul-smelling smoke. ‘Got it on the job.’

‘Oh.’

‘These things happen in my line of work,’ he replied, conversationally as they headed up the stairs. ‘Truth be told, I needed to get out of that room.’

‘It is a bit dank, isn’t it.’

‘I’m used to dank, but yeah. Also, it’s almost six and I need to give the family a call. I’ll just see you to your room.’

He did a quick sweep of the room, and then closed the door behind them. Ginny could hear him punching numbers into a phone.

‘Hello Sybil.’ Sam’s voice drifted through the door, sounding far softer than it had done previously. ‘How is everyone back home? Good. Yes, it’s that time… can you put young Sam on?...’

Ginny and Luna had passed out from jetlag more-or-less instantaneously after their heads hit the pillow. Just before she completely lost consciousness, though, Ginny was vaguely aware of… a song about cows? Maybe it was just the jet-lag playing tricks on her. Weird.

When she eventually woke up about… how many hours later? It was the next morning, anyway.

After rousing Luna, the two (plus Tonks) grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant, before heading to the cellar planning room.

The planning was less fun than Ginny had been expecting. James Bond certainly didn’t need to deal with stuff this dreary, she was certain. Eventually, after struggling through several hours of it, Ginny had to stifle a yawn.

‘Er, sorry,’ Tonks said, shooting her a sympathetic look. ‘I know this is a bit stuffy.’

‘No, it’s fuu-fuuu-fiiiine,’ Ginny replied, trying to disguise another yawn behind her hand. ‘I’m just…’

Luna interlaced their fingers together.

‘You don’t need me for a while, so how about me and Ginny go back to our room?’

Remus nodded.

‘I’ll escort you both back upstairs,’ Tonks said. ‘Sam, let us know if anything happens.’

Sam nodded, the scar on his hand seeming to glow in the half-light. But Ginny blinked, and it was just a normal scar again. Strange.

Still holding Ginny’s hand, Luna pulled her girlfriend out of the room. Tonks followed, at a distance.

‘You’re too much of a trooper,’ Luna said, smiling. ‘Ginny, just tell me if you’re getting bored.’

‘Didn’t want to be rude,’ Ginny mumbled. ‘It’s important stuff.’

‘So is you not feeling bored out of your mind,’ replied Luna. ‘How about we get some fresh air?’

Luna pulled Ginny out of the front lobby, and onto the streets. Ginny shot a nervous look back at Tonks; surely this was a security issue?

But Tonks instead smiled and gave a small, almost imperceptible, wink. Taking strength from this, Ginny looked back at Luna.

‘Come on, we’re in Rio!’ Luna said, squeezing her girlfriends hand. The blonde woman was giggling, happily, as the two of them set off.

The streets around them were vibrant and full of people. Stalls bustled with all manner of sounds and smells. People were laughing, yelling, and chatting to each-other all around them. There was the sound of traffic nearby, as Luna had led them down what seemed to be a pedestrianised street. Or, at least, a street where there were too many people to let cars and motorbikes through. Looking around, Ginny couldn’t see Tonks anyway, but there were so many nationalities and ethnicities present that no-one took much notice of the two women. The phrase “hiding in plain sight” was apt. She guessed they would be okay like this, at least for a little while.

‘Drink?’ Luna asked, as they approached a cafe. ‘My treat?’

The two of them ordered two coffees and sat down at a table. From what Ginny could gather, the radio was playing a Brazilian band called Fresno.

Luna lounged back in her seat, and Ginny couldn’t help her heart beating faster as she looked at the blonde. Man, her girlfriend was so lovely. It still blew Ginny’s mind that, of all people, Luna had wanted to be with a plain redhead from the country like her.

‘Ginny, you’re making me blush,’ Luna giggled, her cheeks flushing.

‘Can’t help it,’ Ginny said, stroking her hand. ‘You’re really cute. Your girlfriend must be really lucky.’

Luna nodded.

‘As must be yours.’

It was Ginny’s turn to blush.

‘I… I’m really glad you’re here, Ginny,’ Luna said, intertwining their fingers together. ‘This has been really wonderful.’

Ginny felt her heart ache with love for the blonde.

‘You two didn’t half give us the run-around.’

Ginny felt her stomach squirm with guilt. Turning, she saw that Tonks had sat down on a table nearby. Out of the corner of her eye, she could also see Remus stood a few metres further away, somehow managing to blend into the crowd despite himself.

‘Er… sorry, Tonks,’ Ginny said. ‘Honestly, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have gotten so bored earlier…’

‘As long as you’re both safe,’ Tonks replied. ‘Besides, you’re young and in love. I… I guess I can understand that.’

Tonks’s eyes drifted over to wear Remus was stood. His mousy brown hair was reflecting the sunlight.

Sounds about right, Ginny thought.

The three of them left the café. They were about to return to the hotel, when Ginny heard a very familiar noise.

Turning, she saw that a basketball had rolled over the pavement towards her. She stopped it with her foot, and picked it up.

A group of young Brazilian children and teenagers were stood a few feet away, a court behind them.

Basketball!

‘Oh, I know that look.’

Ginny turned. Luna was smiling at her, a very knowing look in her large grey eyes.

‘Sorry, I know we can’t-’

‘Ginny Weasley, since when do you avoid stuff you want to do?’

Ginny stared at her.

‘Come on,’ Luna said, encouragingly. ‘Tonks, she can; right?’

‘I… oh, alright,’ Tonks said, sounding a little exasperated. ‘But try not to stand out, okay?’

Ginny nodded, and walked over to the court, bouncing the ball on the ground as she did.

The kids stared at her, raising their eyebrows. Ginny imagined that seeing some random British tourist using the ball like a pro was a bit perplexing. Especially a tourist who had bright red hair and was barely five and a half feet tall.

Ginny grinned, and performed one of her little tricks, sending the ball up round her shoulders and back down on the ground again, before passing it between her hands.

The kids giggled, now smiling.

Darting forward, Ginny dodged several of them, and headed towards the hoop at one end of the court. Onlookers were starting to grin and clap. The kids were laughing as they tried to keep up with her.

Ginny looked over to wear Luna was stood. She winked at the blonde.

Ginny then jumped, latching onto the hoop and dropping the ball through it in a slam dunk. The crowd cheered.

As Ginny landed, the teenagers surrounded her, cheering and slapping her companionably on the back. She couldn’t understand what most of them were saying, but a couple of older kids exclaimed ‘bravo!’.

After the group had disbursed, Ginny returned to where Luna was stood with Tonks.

‘What was that about “not standing out”?’

‘Er…’

‘Don’t worry, it was good to see you having fun,’ Luna said. ‘Not to mention looking very attractive while you do it.’

Ginny blushed. She smiled around at the kids.

But something caught her eye. Or.. someone.

A figure was stood in a small alleyway between two buildings. They were dressed in black, with large sunglasses obscuring most of their face.

‘Tonks, do you…’

But the figure had disappeared before Ginny could point them out.

They returned to the hotel. Tonks took up her usual spot outside Ginny and Luna’s room, and the blonde florist closed the door, turning to face her girlfriend.

‘Well, that was… fun.’ Ginny said, stood by the bed.

‘Oh, definitely,’ Luna said, crossing the room and putting her arms around Ginny’s waist. ‘Have I mentioned you look great when you’re all sweaty from basketball?’

‘Y-you may have mentioned it once or twice…’ Ginny breathed, as Luna began to place kisses on her neck. ‘But my memory isn’t the best…’

‘Well, maybe I should remind you, in that case…’

Luna placed a kiss against Ginny’s lips, and the two of them fell backwards onto the bed.

Ginny smiled against Luna’s lips. It was a good afternoon.

‘Your hair is so pretty.’

Ginny giggled, as Luna played with a strand of her hair.

‘It’s just red hair, Lu.’

‘Correction; it’s your red hair. Therefore, it’s very pretty.’

‘Oh, stop it,’ Ginny giggled, sitting up and pulling her t-shirt over her head. ‘You’re got a bit of a crush.’

‘You say that like I’m the only one.’

Ginny felt herself blush, and smiled to herself as she did up the belt on her shorts.

‘I’m just gonna talk to Tonks about something; be back in a mo.’

‘Okay, but hurry back,’ Luna said, putting her own t-shirt and shorts on. ‘We need to go downstairs and talk to Remus about any updates they’re received.’

‘Course,’ Ginny replied, pressing a quick kiss to Luna’s forehead. The blonde smiled.

Ginny closed the door behind her, and walked over to Tonks, who was stood a couple of feet away.

‘Are you absolutely sure that we weren’t followed?’ Ginny asked, after Tonks had finished talking into her ear-piece. ‘I could have sworn I saw someone looking at us in the café.’

Tonks frowned.

‘I don’t think so, but it’s always good to be cautious. Get Luna and we’ll head downstairs to-’

CRASH!

Ginny’s blood suddenly turned to ice, as she turned round. The door of the room she had just vacated had shaken on its hinges.

There was a cry of alarm from inside. It sounded like-

‘Luna!’ Ginny screamed, barging through the door. Tonks was a step behind, yelling into her own earpiece.

The room was a mess. The window had been smashed, and the chest of drawers had been knocked over.

Luna was gone.

Ginny stumbled forward, through the debris.

As she reached the bed, she saw that a piece of paper had been left on the pillow. It was written in English.

If you want the Lovegood woman alive, leave South America immediately, and stop the investigation into the rare plant thefts. Stay out of our business. This is your only warning.

There was a symbol scrawled at the bottom, of a skull with a snake intertwined through the eyes.

Ginny fell to her knees, as MI6 agents swarmed into the room. Sam was cursing angrily, while Remus and Tonks were scrambling to figure out what was going on. There was yelling and loud noises around her, but Ginny found that they appeared to be reaching her as if from a great distance. The world around her turned into a blur of muddled voices and sounds.

For the first time in a very long time, tears began to fall from the redheads eyes, and her body was racked with sobs.

She’d broken her promise. She hadn’t been able to protect Luna. And how Luna was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading, everyone; hope you enjoyed the chapter!

And eagle-eyed viewers may have been able to spot the cameo from a certain character not normally seen on our roundworld. I couldn't resist putting old Stoneface into this fic. 😁

#'fell in love with a girl'#linny au #alternative universe #linny #linny fanfiction #linny fanfic #florist!luna #florist au #basketball player!ginny #luna/ginny #luna x ginny #ginny/luna #ginny x luna #not sure how but this turned into a sort-of-crossover with discworld #sam vimes cameo

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