#i feel straight out of 2015 editing these
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Trans edits of this old icon
#i feel straight out of 2015 editing these#old web#2000s web#2000s internet#icons#old internet#old internet icons#flashing gif#pulsing lights#gif warning#gifcities
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Nick's so far under the bus that they might as well change the oil while they're under there.
Okay, because I'm a bit of a masochist and I have adblockers...
I'm going to count how many times James throws Nick under the bus:
@2:40 – 'This fell upon Nick as well, as a non-binary person on the ace spectrum, they wanted to include asexuality and non-binary representation to our videos. But because Nick's experience is not universal – There is no universal experience – people felt that we were delegitimizing their own experiences because we focused on Nick's.' (The reason we were acephobic was because we (meaning Nick) didn't think other ace people had problems and when it was pointed out to us by The Ace Couple that ace people did, in fact, face discrimination and conversion therapy, we (meaning James) accused them of homophobia and sicced their followers on them.)
@6:38 – 'The work Nick and I were doing on the channel...' (Because Nick was here too! Not just me!)
@10:46 – 'I was much more interested in the production of the videos than the writing of them, at this point. So after three or four videos, I brought Nick on as a main writer for the channel. The idea is that they would write the vast majority of the scripts. I would film, voice, and edit the videos and we'd split the money that came in.'(Nick was the main writer for the channel! In case you forgot...)
@14:40 – 'And then my mom died... and I became completely useless. I couldn't think straight, at all, so Nick had to completely take over writing duties.'(DID I MENTION NICK WAS THE MAIN WRITER. ALSO MY MOM DIED; FEEL SORRY FOR ME)
@19:44 – 'When Nick got back, he believed the script needed a first page rework. This was also when he told me he was going to be moving back to Ontario permanently soon as he wanted to live closer to family and live in a bigger city with more opportunities. This was a punch to the gut for me. We'd been living together since 2015 and had become quite dependent on each other. I felt like there was no way I could make this movie without him.'(We couldn't make the movie we promised because SOMEONE DECIDED TO MOVE and since I'm co-dependent on him, I moved with him and screwed up everything. Oopsie.)
@26:32 – 'But by accepting as many sponsors as we did, which became very important when Nick and I started living apart and suddenly had two rents to pay, we ended up needing to produce even more videos. Which, along with the work on Telos and making sure everything was okay with my dad while living thousands of kilometers away meant I had even less time for writing – putting more stress on Nick and leading to even more copy and pasting from me.' (See what you did, Nick?! We have to pay TWO rents now and we need to make even MORE videos. I'm not creepily co-dependent on my asexual ex-roommate at all!)
@32:50 – 'I know what misinformation had made its way into our past videos. That was not something we intended; in some cases it was information I was told by people I considered experts. In other cases it was information that we had researched. In other cases it was things that Nick had learned in university.'(Nick told me some of this stuff! ((which is fair because NICK ADMITTED HE DOESN'T DO RESEARCH)) In other cases it was because I assumed I knew what happened because I'm the smartest person I know so of course Lesbians had it easier! I just forgot that Radcliffe Hall's books were banned and destroyed because of that head injury I talked about earlier.)
And here's an honorable mention where the smug “I'm smarter than you” BS comes to visit:
'To those who say I plagiarized the plot from the novel Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix – Read the book. It's nothing like the plot of the movie. And 'The Final Girl' is a trope in horror movies so if using the Final Girl trope is plagiarism then basically everyone who's made a slasher movie since Texas Chainsaw Massacre owes the Toby Hooper estate some money.'
So, much like how James doesn't understand why people aren't upset at him because of citation issues, he doesn't understand that it's not the fact that he's using the 'Final Girl' trope... it's the fact that he stated the book as a favorite of his and then... suddenly he's writing a movie about the aftermath of the Final Girl. And given the plagiarism, it can not be taken in good faith.
First off, if you just google 'First Final Girl', it just says Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the earliest examples. Another possibility for the 'First Final Girl' was actually Black Christmas which was released the same day in Canada so it is literally tied.
Secondly; the final girl trope is not required for slasher movies. One of the first 'proto-slasher' movies was actually Psycho so there were a few good decades between that and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (I could try and make a case that Lila Crane should count as a Final Girl; maybe even Mrs. Bates/Norman as a subversion... but I'm not that invested or interested.)
So... James was true to form, he just wanted to be a smug asshat and try and seem smart over something easily googled.
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Refaat Alareer (1979-2023)
Professor, writer, and editor Refaat Alareer was killed with his family by an Israeli airstrike, on December 7, 2023
♥
Image: Gaza Writes Back. Racconti di giovani autori e autrici da Gaza, Palestina, (2014), Edited by Refaat Alareer, Lorusso Editore, Roma, 2015. Contributors: Hanan Habashi, Mohammed Suliman, Rawan Yaghi, Nour Al-Sousi, Sarah Ali, Sameeha Elwan, Nour Al-Sousi, Nour El Borno, Refaat Alareer, Jehan Alfarra, Yousef Aljamal, Wafaa Abu Al-Qomboz, Tasnim Hamouda, Elham Hilles, Shahd Awadallah, Aya Rabah
«It is when darkness prevails that I sit by the window to look past all those electricity-free houses, smell the sweet scent of a calm Gazan night, feel the fresh air going straight to my heart, and think of you, of me, of Palestine, of the crack, of the blank wall, of you, of Mama, of you, of my history class, of you, of God, of Palestine—of our incomplete story.» – Refaat Alareer
Israeli Strike on Refaat al-Areer Apparently Deliberate
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor
December 8, 2023
The Israeli airstrike that killed Prof. Refaat al-Areer was apparently deliberate, Euro-Med Monitor concluded on Friday. The apartment where Refaat and his family were sheltering was surgically bombed out of the entire building where it’s located, according to corroborated eyewitness and family accounts. This came after weeks of death threats that Refaat received online and by phone from Israeli accounts.
We call for an immediate investigation into this apparently deliberate and targeted killing of a prominent Palestinian academic, writer, poet, and activist.
On Wednesday at around 18:00, Refaat al-Areer was killed in his sister’s home in al-Sidra neighborhood in al-Daraj area in Gaza city along with his brother Salah and one of his children (Mohammed); his sister Asmaa and three of her children (Alaa, Yahia, and Mohammed); and a neighbor. His brother’s wife, Alaa, and two other children, Rafik and Alma, were wounded in the assault.
The airstrike surgically targeted the apartment on the second floor where Rafaat was in a 3-storey building, and not the entire building; indicating the apartment was the target and not possible collateral damage.
Refaat was displaced multiple times during this war and ended up at his sister’s home along with his parents, wife and children. A few days ago, Refaat moved with his wife and children to an UNRWA school in al-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza according to his family.
However, a close friend of Refaat’s told Euro-Med Monitor that he had received an anonymous phone call from someone who identified himself as an Israeli officer and threatened Refaat that they knew precisely the school where he was located and were about to get to his location with the advancement of Israeli ground troops.
While the credibility of the threat itself is unclear, it contributed to prompting Refaat to move back to his sister’s apartment, believing it was more concealed than an open and overcrowded school where it would have been difficult to hide.
For weeks since the start of this war, Refaat has been receiving numerous death threats and hateful messages from Israeli accounts on social media after prominent public figures singled him out for harassment and incitement.
In 2014, Israel bombed Refaat’s home in Shejaiya and killed over 30 of his and his wife’s families.
(On the way of Mosab Abu-Toha)
#graphic design#book#cover#book cover#refaat alareer#rip#mosab abu toha#lorusso editore#euro med human rights monitor#2010s#2020s
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10 years ago, Batkid was battling bad guys and cancer — now he's 15 and healthy
Today, Miles Scott is a healthy teenager with a passion for baseball. He plays catcher for his high school in Tulelake, Calif.
"I wear all-black in baseball," Miles said. "So the dugout's always screaming 'Batkid! Batkid!'"
Ten years ago, the then-5-year-old Miles won hearts both in his hometown and around the world when he transformed into the black-clad superhero Batkid for a day, becoming an instant media sensation.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation, a non-profit that grants wishes to children who are seriously ill, partnered with the City of San Francisco to organize the adventure for Miles, who had been battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia since he was just 18 months old.
According to the Yale School of Medicine, the disease is the most common type of childhood cancer. Survival rates used to be low, but these days children with the disease have up to a 90% chance of going on to lead a healthy life.
Granting the wish
Make-A-Wish went to elaborate lengths to make Miles' dream of becoming Batman's sidekick Batkid true. The foundation enlisted the help of The Mayor of San Francisco (the late Ed Lee), the San Francisco Police and Fire Departments, the San Francisco Giants and many other individuals and entities.
San Francisco was re-dubbed "Gotham City" — Batman's fictional home — for the day. Clad in his Batkid costume and accompanied by a grownup Batman (played by Eric Johnston), the pair zipped around in their Batmobile thwarting villains — they prevented The Riddler from robbing a bank vault — and undertaking daring rescues, including freeing the San Francisco Giants' mascot Lou Seal from The Penguin's clutches.
Thousands of people descended on San Francisco to cheer Miles on. He earned a key to the city. The San Francisco Chronicle published a special edition of its daily newspaper to mark the occasion. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama sent Miles words of encouragement via a video message on social media.
"The feeling was palpable; you could just feel the positiveness and how the community came together," said Miles' mom, Natalie Scott. "People flew in from everywhere and it just gave everyone some sense of peace almost."
The event was covered by many mainstream media organizations, including NPR. And millions of people around the world followed the #Batkid hashtag on social media.
Batkid lives on
Batkid's legacy didn't end on that day.
The wish was the subject of the 2015 Warner Bros. documentary, Batkid Begins. Media organizations have revisited the story over the years. "He plays Little League, attends fifth grade, helps on his family's farm and sold his first market goat at the fair over the summer," reported his hometown California paper, The Siskyou Daily News, on Batkid's fifth anniversary in 2018.
And Miles himself has been free of cancer for the past few years.
"Every year he goes for a checkup, and everything's been on the straight and narrow, so, we hope to keep it that way," said Nick Scott, Miles' dad.
Miles has grown out of his Batkid costume. But his kid brother Ben donned it last Halloween.
Miles is now in high school and is looking ahead to the future.
"Right now, he's dead set on going to Alaska and being a 'pack mule' for his cousin's husband's guide business," said Natalie Scott. "And he has a lot of interest in welding. So we'll see!"
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The Photoshoot - When we were young
(Golden Globes special edition)✨
Request: by my dear @zablife as part of my Adele challenge but also + Grandma’s series ♥️
The Photoshoot 2014, 2015
Lee, when you sent in the “When we were young��� song I knew right away it would be one of the most special parts of this series, I knew I wanted them to go back in time but I still wasn’t sure where/when/how to add it to the series as it could easily fit into any part. Then when things happened, I remembered I had your requests in my drafts, I knew I had to add some Grandma into the mix, as it’d give me a different approach 🥰
If you don’t read this series, don’t worry! No spoilers!! You just need to know that Yael Murphy is a photographer and Cillian just won his first Golden Globe award.
Word count: 1,175
Based on Adele’s song “When we were young”
Knocking on the door, Yael looked at her husband, a smile growing in her lips.
“Your social battery is still low huh?”
Everybody loves the things you do
From the way you talk
To the way you move
Cillian chuckled and moved on the bed to make room for her.
“How do you know?” He accepted the cup of hot chocolate she was offering him, grateful for the warmth the cup was providing.
“Well you’re hiding in your old bedroom while everyone is downstairs.” She pointed out resting her head on his shoulder.
After the Golden Globes win, they flew back to Ireland and Cillian wanted to go straight home, but one look later from his wife and they were on their way to his parents house for a little family gathering. The Murphy family wanted to celebrate the award with him, but he was worn out, and not because of the jet lag.
Everybody here is watching you
'Cause you feel like home
You're like a dream come true
“You’re adorable, I swear.” Yael teased stealing a quick peck.
Cillian chuckled in response, she knew him so well. He wanted to hide underground after being exposed to cameras, the press and all the people gathered for the awards.
“No matter what you say, wining that Golden Globe it’s huge, and I’m so fucking proud of you and all you’ve done.” Something on his lap catching her eye. “You look just like her.”
Cillian shot her a look, surprised by her words. “It’s my grandma, you think…?”
“Totally, same nose, lips, her eyes were bigger but it’s the same kind, if she didn’t have curly hair I’d thought it was you dressed as a woman.”
A content sigh escaped Cillian’s lips and his eyes went back to the photograph he had found in that old album. His grandmother was wearing a floral dress while holding his mother as they stared at the cake. He had been looking at the albums his Mum had been showing everyone earlier and he couldn’t help but let his mind wander back in time, to his childhood around his Ma.
“She was adorable.” He added with a hint of nostalgia, his mind and heart going back in time too the townhouse property, where he spent a huge part of his life. “I remember being so nervous about a stupid prom thing, so one afternoon she was knitting something and I asked her if she knew how to dance…” Yael saw the way his eyes lit by the memories, his soft voice murmuring the little treasure he just remembered, “she stopped and almost threw the needles and yarn, and went straight to the living and started playing music, she showed me where to place my hands, how to guide-you know, lead the way… she made me hear the beat, but she said you need to feel the music.” He added mimicking a femenin voice with a chuckle.
“That’s beautiful.”
But if by chance you're here alone
Can I have a moment?
Before I go?
“She somehow is responsible of who I am today, you know? Those early years while my parents were working all day…” his voice went dry, “she was with me, we went together to the grocery store, we cooked together, the park, she even took me to church.”
Yael chuckled and made a funny face at his last statement.
“That was probably the last time you showed up.” She teased.
Her heart filled with even more love as she saw how tender his expression grew by the memories.
“When I started acting, she always asked me for the script so I could rehearse with her.”
Yael nodded, thinking how much it meant to him.
“And when I did this film The wind that shakes the Barley, the post office released some commemorative stamps, she went and bought a bunch and she’d say to her friends this is my Cill, my grandson.”
You look like a movie
You sound like a song
My God this reminds me, of when we were young
Yael got lost in his velvety voice, it was so immersive, driving her into the memory lane with him.
“The movie had a huge impact in her, since her father passed away in that very same war, trying to defend Ireland, she never got to meet him.”
“I guess in a way, you portrayed that for her, and gave her a closure.”
Cillian tilted his head towards his wife. “You think so?”
“Absolutely sweetheart, books, movies and music, have a way to heal us from the pain we didn’t even know we were carrying…” She squeezed his hand.
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time
That we might be exactly like we were
Before we realized
Turning on the next page, Yael stared at an image of a woman leaned against a convertible.
“The quality of these photos it’s incredible.” She couldn’t help but admire not only the beauty of the shoot, but the angle and background.
“This must be from my grandparents honeymoon.” Cillian frowned removing the film that protected the photographs. “Yup… I recall grandma saying they didn’t have a budget to go in a trip somewhere ese, so my grandad drove all around the coast.”
“That’s lovely.” Yael murmured placing the photo closer to have a better look. “They’re together in that one.” She then pointed out.
“That’s why they wanted to go back to Kerry every summer.” Cillian sighed. “He built a small house later and I remember staying over there for the holidays every single time, they had to sell it though.”
“Remember when we went? That was a long time ago.” Yael moved her hair away. “Haven’t been there in ages.”
“Time to plan a little holiday?” Cillian gave her his signature eyebrow raised.
“Should I start packing?” She teased, knowing he was eager to disappear for a couple of days. “I’ll book us a place.”
We were scared of getting old
It made us restless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song
Moving onto the next page, Yael found the cutest photo from all times.
“Oh man! I can’t believe this!” Cillian laughed out loud, dimples showing.
“How come I’ve never seen this one?!” Yael’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “You’re the cutest little boy! Look at you!”
You still look like a movie
You still sound like a song
My God, this reminds me, of when we were young
She looked at her husband and then back at the photograph.
There he was, with the biggest smiles of them all with half his body inside of a vintage mailbox.
“I love every bit of this photograph. It’s perfect.” She beamed at her husband’s portrait. Pure joy and love oozing from every fiber of him.
He looked so carefree and happy.
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time
That we might be exactly like we were
Before we realized
“Wouldn’t it be amazing to bottle up that little one?” Yael expressed, thinking of her own childhood. “I loved spending the weekends at the cottage with grandma, she played a huge part in my recovery, always looking after me so my Mum could take care of everything else.”
Scrolling through her phone, she found a photo her Mum shared over the holidays.
As a child she loved playing dress up with her cousin, Val.
When we were young
“I remember the very same day my grandma made this dress for me.” Cillian offered his hand to her, to stare at the photo. “She made it out of a nightgown she loved.”
“Is that a Polaroid?” He asked looking back at his wife.
“Yes, my grandpa carried his everywhere.”
“Isn’t it great? How a photograph can take you back in time all the way down?”
Yael smiled proudly.
“That’s the magic of photography… in just one click, you can turn something into a lifetime memory.”
***
Thank you for reading!!
I hope you liked this ✨♥️
Photo inspiration :
And yes, the part of the stamps is real, I read it somewhere and I loved the idea of his grandma buying Cillian’s stamps 💝♥️
Tag list @lyarr24 @garrison-girl-08 @lespendy @onlydeadcells @fastfan @winchestergirl22 @stevie75 @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @esposadomd @strayrockette @forbidden-forest-witch @elenavampire21 @forgottenpeakywriter @heidimoreton @thenattitude @moral-terpitude @babaohhhriley @queenshelby @ange-thoughts @shelbydelrey @shaddixlife @sloanexx @cilliansangel @rangerelik @already-broken144 @alessioayla @paprikabadger @dolllol2405 @conversationpits @itsilvermorny @lafell @imichelle-l-rigby @yrli8 @cutecurly-hair @mrkdvidal1989 @cillspropertea @hyperfixationsonshuffle @sydneyyya @abbymcguire @shelundeadxxxx @elk96 @pono-pura-vida @lovemissyhoneybee @slimeantha @kmc1989
#That’s what Cill said#cillian murphy x oc#cillian murphy oc#cillian fanfic#cillian murphy characters#cillian murphy fanfic#cillian murphy fic#cillian murphy fanfiction#cillian murphy fiction
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(Part 1/4)
Like a lot of us, I've been going through Tom Sturridge's filmography since watching Sandman on Netflix. I've watched a good amount of stuff so far, and I have Thoughts™ . Writing a few lines about him in each of the projects (because apparently this is a Tom Sturridge fan blog now??)
Now, you watch Tom in interviews and he is the DEFINITION of a cinnamon roll, so you would never think this- but this man has been absolutely wildin for over a decade. The projects he chooses? The roles he takes on? Half the time it's as if he's like 'if it's not excruciatingly dramatic, absolutely insane, and/or heart-poundingly, breath-chokingly sexy, don't even bother'. Also something else I think I figured out from watching these and Tom's interviews- it's possible that in his mind, wild/dangerous = seductive. So, anytime he's playing a character of that sort, he turns it on and immediately has intense sexual tension with everyone in sight. It's mind-blowing.
This is what I've watched so far:
Like Minds/Murderous Intent (2006)- Eddie Redmayne's first movie. Tom plays Ed's boarding school classmate, a psycho. He was 20/21 in this, unbelievably pretty, and nailed the 'devil with an angel's face' character to a tee. The chemistry with Ed is, predictably, insane. He says and does some seriously disturbing things in the movie. This was so early in his career too! It's possible that Tom's always been a 'choose the interesting project' person vs 'choose something that might make me a popular sweetheart' person.
Waiting for Forever (2010)- I have to say this first, I legit loved this movie so much. It strikes just the right balance between soulful and real, and the whole effect is incredibly sweet and touching. They don't make movies like this anymore. Tom's character is a very innocent type: naive and clueless to the extent of disturbing, but full of hope and belief. Tom is SO good in this. He plays it a bit slow and spacey, and captures the wide-eyed wonder and confusion of the character perfectly. *chef's kiss*
The Hollow Crown s2 (2012)- This was a series of BBC adaptations of Shakespeare's historical plays based on English kings. Tom was Henry VI, and I was fkn depres*ed for a week after watching this, no lie. Henry VI on screen is spineless, pathetic, and being manipulated left and right by every single person in his vicinity. The politics is nasty, the murders are brutal, and King Henry, 17, doesn't want any of it (but is still too much of a wuss to give up his crown so he clutches on religion instead). Tom, with his young face, long hair, gray cloak and his rosary that he desperately hangs onto, speaking of hope and heartbreak in Shakespearean lingo, just made me feel lots of emotions - terribly angry and frustrated with the king, then sad and horrified for him. It was draining. (The series overall is fantastic tbh.)
On The Road (2012)- Based on Jack Kerouac's novel, this movie is all sorts of nasty- drugs upon drugs, lurid sex, people treating other people terribly. Tom in this is sensitive writer boi in unrequited love with a fuckboy, and his personality is "we can take sexuality out of it, just hold me, man". I pray for the gays who will see this movie now because they won't survive Tom in this. (I mean I'm straight and I barely survived). The messy hair? Thick black-framed glasses? The hurt glances? Manic-pixie smiles? Teary-eyed, swollen-lipped monologue? (Edit: Scene) I'm f*cking deceased. (No kidding tho, I can't take movies that are so on-the-nose seriously and I skipped through it, and still Tom with his limited screen time managed to make me genuinely feel for his character. He was amazing.) Fun fact: The scene of him being bodily carried away for a threesome and proceeding to break the bed (literally) lives rent free in my head. No, I am not all right.
Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)- Adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel. Tom plays Sgt. Francis Troy (opposite Carey Mulligan) and is a regular no-good rake. Listen, you'd think Tom with his sweet mouth and wispy facial hair couldn't pull off a moustache. You'd be wrong. He looks great. And he has that charisma that makes you wanna drive off a cliff for him even though you know he's an asshole. They made his character halfway decent tho, Troy is worse in the book. (EDIT: No they did NOT! I was skipping thru the movie and missed a scene lol. But I've watched the whole thing now and, yeah). And Tom switches vibes from sinister to emotional without missing a beat. What a goddamned treat watching this man is.
I'll stop now, and do the next installment on another 5 Tom projects (I guess Remainder, Mary Shelley, Sweetbitter, Irma Vep, Sea Wall/A Life? We'll see.)
(Edit: Part 2 , Part 3, Part 4, Part 5/ Bonus)
#tom sturridge#dream of the endless#sandman#the sandman#like minds#waiting for forever#on the road#far from the madding crowd#the hollow crown#morpheus
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fic writer meme
ty lore @megafaunatic for tagging meee :3c
How many works do you have on Ao3?
fifty three as of today. tomorrow? who knows.... (probably still fifty three)
2. What's your total Ao3 word count?
518,435 words .... wrow.....
3. What fandoms do you write for?
historically its been all over the place but theres so much stuff rotting and dying in my gdrive that has never been posted so i feel like i have a broader actual ouvre than is represented on ao3. which is mdzs heavy at least in the past couple years
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
5. beyond all limit (wangxian i wrote for lore right after i first read the book)
4. if the story's over (moshang post-divorce get-together fic)
3. someone as good for me as you (written in 2016 for holster and ransom when i was reading check, please. LMAO)
2. at least as deep as the pacific ocean (written in 2015 in the clearest example of 'person distraught by the tragic ending of a tragedy misses the fucking point and writes a coffee shop au of achilles and patroclus after she read tsoa' ever, even bigger LMAO)
1. your name safe in their mouth (lsz gets his dad back, and other emotional adventures)
5. Do you respond to comments?
i used to try to reply to every comment i got but i stopped doing that around the same time i went to college and got more depressed. but i love reading comments and i sometimes reply if someone says something that moves me or like. asks me a question about the fic that i want to elaborate on? because i love to yap
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
i'm not really good at writing straight angst i feel like it's normally like. angst with catharsis. but i wrote some explorations on grief in the past couple years that i feel like have the angst factor (what i have of you about nhs after nmj dies, and then when your beard fell out about my sweetie pie kageyama tobio in middle school after his grandpa dies)
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
i have a lot of silly fluffy fics... idk i try to toe the line mostly of like. the joys and sadnesses of human experience but sometimes you just gotta fluff it up. i'll set the table, you can make the fire, which is book verse aziraphale/crowley living in a cottage and being in love, comes to mind....i love that one
8. Do you get hate on fics?
i don't think i've ever really gotten hate on a fic? i have been extremely lucky in that regard. especially since my whole ouvre from like 2014 onward is on that damn site and much of it is very cringeworthy.
9. Do you write smut?
not well!
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?
i often will do like kind of a quasi-crossover kind of thing rather than a True Crossover wherein i take characters i like from one medium and plop them into the roles and places of characters i like from another medium. i did a dragon age wangxian fic where lwj was the inquisitor from da:i called we held together the fragile sky that kind of exemplifies this dynamic
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
not that i know of or that anyone has ever notified me of, but i also don't look that hard. if this has ever happened, it would hurt my feelings, so please don't do it ? lol
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
yes!!!! and i was honored
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
not as such but i have one not-intended-for-posting fic which is basically just a transcription of jokes i have with my roommate about haikyuu characters LOL which i think counts as co-writing. she's my co-writer in spirit even if i'm the one at the keyboard
14. What's your all time favorite ship?
my answer to this changes with every new fixation i have. like right now it's kagehina. if you asked me four years ago i would have said wangxian. You Know?
15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
SO MANY...i think probably my fullmetal alchemist nie brothers au....i try not to post things until they are done and fully edited now, but that one was a whim-based fic that i lost all strength for as soon as i started thinking too hard about kagehina. i also had a fem nielan sci fi au that was vaguely based off beauty and the beast but nmj was like stuck in a ship and she thought she was its computer and that she was a program but she was actually a person....which i never posted any of except snippets on twitter and i think it was just too sprawling for my current skill level...i just was never able to wrangle it. but i am fond of it nonetheless
16. What are your writing strengths?
based on what other people have told me i would say the way i write sibling / family relationships, and while my prose is not always pretty i do think it can be pretty at times ...
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
i feel like it's often too self-indulgent even if that's what fic is for lol, and i tend to look back on fics and think, i wrote that because i had feelings about it and wanted to say it, but i'm not necessarily sure that This Character would say/do that at this point in time....idk like i fear that when i don't think about it hard enough my characterization can be weak or guided by what eye personally would do vs. what The Character would do. but some of that is because the majority of my fics on ao3 are from years and years ago and i (hopefully) have continued to improve
18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?
i'm picky about it but when it's done well i think it's really fun and builds so much of the world/character. i think when it's bad it's really bad. when i go about it i try to think about like, a) do i know this language myself/do i know someone who does. if the answer is no i try to keep it really minimal. b) how do people who know multiple languages approach speaking those multiple languages naturally in real life. like (IN MY EXPERIENCE) ppl don't tend to switch languages for random words mid-sentence unless those words are like, mom, dad, uncle, aunt, ect...maybe swearing if they're less familiar with one of the languages and don't know slang/swearing in it...but again when it's done well it's really good and i'm not an expert. i just can kinda tell when it feels off when i read it, if that makes sense...(it's the same way i feel about grammar lol. sometimes i can just tell it's a little Off)
19. First fandom you wrote for?
probably either fma or soul eater or the sister's grimm book series when i was in middle school. or maybe doctor who? idk i had a lot of fanfic notebooks that i have since destroyed and then regretted destroying
20. Favorite fic you have written?
at the present moment it's in these coming years my kagehina love letter but again i feel like it changes constantly. like the more i write the better i get and the more the newest/most polished thing i've written sort of Becomes my favorite just by default of my satisfaction level with it. sorry if that's a bad answer
tagging @yuebings @dcyiyou @burins @cairoscene @cafecliche @perilously sorry if you've been tagged already also if you want to do this and i didn't tag you just say i did. I'll shut up now
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Yeah I agree- liveblogging is trash.
But as a bandom ancient (2008ish-current) I feel like the reason why bandom was they way it was + it's appeal as well as simultaneously unappealing trait was that us fans didn't have a lot of info about the members of these bands we were fans of. Sure, we knew the songs and the albums and all that shit, but we didn't know very much about the people making these songs beyond very limited and super polished and edited (usually) professional interviews. We couldn't hop onto a livestream at any time to watch band guy #179412 play video games and talk about whatever stupid shit was coming to his dumbass mind. Sure, they tweeted, but it was more like "new single out! Go listen" and "new album dropping 3/29!" Not much personality.
Which has pros and cons. Now if a band member is genuinely awful (racist, homophobic, abusive, etc) they will be exposed. However, I don't want to know every dumbass thought that every person ever has had.
Also, a LOT of bandom was just straight up thirsting over these musicians and having erotic fantasies about them, which I know people have a lot of Opinions on. I, personally think it's perfectly fine and natural. However, it's hard to fantasize (through fanfic or art or just gossiping with friends like I did) when you can easily recall that stupid thing he said on a livestream or whatever.
Basically, band people used to be like blank canvases for fans to project their fantasies onto.
Liveblogging - I like 100% get the need and importance of people to post videos, talk about the setlist, and talk about the show, etc. That stuff is fun and cool and normal. But I don't understand why this entire website needs to become completely unusable for 2.5 hrs 6 nights a week to watch a grainy stream of a show thats full of like. People screaming. And people are so emotionally dependent on it and invested in it. Like it just does not make sense to me?? And like I wonder if this has to do with the high cost of concerts now meaning lots of people can't go at all??? Like I just don't get it why is this critical
2. Seeing the bands' personalities-- I honestly disagree in terms of emo bands now. I would say this is 100% true for fandoms that are like SWMRS sized and that SWMRS being on social media and livestreaming constantly negatively affected their image in a drastic way. I would also say Brendon's Periscoping negatively affected Panic drastically-- however that stopped completely in like 2018-2019. But FOB and MCR do like a very tiny fraction of the press that they did in 2013-2017 because They Old. They are also using social media way, way less.
3. I do agree there is less thirsting. I feel like there's a thirst renaissance because the like extreme beyond XXXX NC17 rated confession blogs were a STAPLE in any fandom pre-2015 and then there was like a purge. But I would say like sex RP blogs were a third of bandom in like 2014. I do feel like even though these spaces are coming back, there is a general hostility towards women's sexuality or the idea of women having sex with these band guys in them that did not used to be there. I do think people still have Opinions on it too though lol.
Also writing the last essay I read probably thousands of LJ comments from 2008, and I would say in the comments of every single LJ post there were always like capital H Hoes lusting fervently and openly and shamelessly and being egged on by "Anonymous" contributors (lol) and it felt very innocent in a way whereas now I would say all of bandom is like. Highly intricate and detailed alternate universes in which like Patrick is a cow that lays eggs and women don't exist
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imma say my truth bc I feel safer here than in twitter but although I do consume shipping culture bc AO3 has THE best writers, some works in there have literally provoked such gut-wrenching reactions out of me that it makes so thankful to be alive. But anyways, fiction still does not equal reality, and that has always been clear and will always be clear.
So this aside, and keeping in mind my perspective overall, although I have consumed BTS fiction since I joined the fandom in 2015, I was never under the assumption that any of the pairings were real bc again fiction is NOT reality. But after Jimin flew across the world for 1 (one) day to celebrate Jungkook’s birthday in 2019???
And after weeks later, jungkook had a whole new sleeve and knuckle tattoos that visually catch the eye with ARMY spelled out horizontally and like a fucking game of scrabble JM vertically???
And Also the fact that the first leaked pic of his tattoos you don’t see the J aka he must have added it after, therefore deliberately ???
I remember my whole view shifting and me going 👀👀👀 ??? 🤨🤨🤨🤨
And this is post GCF in Tokyo era, bc although that was ground breaking and made my heart so full, and although it does come out as a video letter from Jungkook to Jimin, I did not want to push the romantic agenda bc I don’t know them as people and my interpretations on their art might be different that their intention so it was always an open-ended possibility that could have meant romance or just pure friendship, or even something else entirely bc again I don’t know them personally, I’m just a fan.
But anyways going back on my rant, along the blatant “I will fly across the world for you” from Jimin and Jungkooks very real and in your face tattoos (he said on a live more recently the J stands for his name which valid, totally could have been his original intention but he also must know it very obviously spells JM, ok moving on). But what takes the cake of more in your face shenanigans was the fucking hickey.
Literally wtf was this. Why the fuck they showed it. Why did they keep asking. Why did they get so giggly. Why was this not edited out what. Literally me:
Bc I’m still like what the fuck, and I can’t believe they didn’t just A) ignored it like they have done before with members showing some very questionable bruising in their neck before B) covered it with make up C) straight up just not question it further would have been enough tbh. What.
Anyways. That was my lil rant. Like I’m still NOT saying Jikook 100% are together bc again I don’t know them personally and they have not confirmed a relationship publicly (I doubt they ever will). But I AM saying that if they were and if they did announced it, I wouldn’t be surprised bc it’s a little too on your face for it to be an impossibility.
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February Romance Roundup
what a fucking month! most of these books were bad, but the good ones were so fucking good that i got scared to read anything else in case i had to knock them out of the top spots. mostly what i did instead was learn too much about real hockey players. i, uh. i don't want to talk about what my wikipedia history looks like right now. ANYWAY!
the best of:
there's a tie for first place. sorry. it's my roundup and i make the rules.
Season's Change by Cait Nary- book one in the Trade Season series. if i can convince you to read one hockey romance book, please let it be this one. the yearning. the fucking tenderness. fuck.
a veteran player (who is Going Thru It after having been harassed off his previous team) catches feelings for his roommate/teammate, who is. definitely for sure straight don't even worry about it. they help each other, like, grow as people and rebuild their lives, and it's funny and fond and it made my fucking chest hurt. it is really nothing like the captive prince trilogy, but the vibes are the same. i always read my faves multiple times, but i don't even want to tell you how many times i've already re-read this book. i am so fucking soft for these characters i can't even tell you.
Unwritten Rules by KD Casey- bounced off of this twice before i got sucked in, and then it rocketed to the top of the list. another one that is so fuckign tender. two guys who love each so goddamned much, but break up because one of them is entirely unable to stomach the idea of anyone else in the entire world knowing that he's gay (like, including other gay people), and the other one is suffocating under the pressure of not being able to be out to even his family or closest friends. and then a year and a half after the breakup, they see each other again and it is. exquisitely painful. and they have to decide how to work through it. yes this is another sports romance. don't @me. (also, pro tip, pretty reliable way to make me cry: give me a story with people who are so fucking in love, but the love isn't enough. whether or not it has a happy ending, i will cry every time i talk about it forever.)
the rest of:
loved | liked | okay | didn't like
hockey
●Contract Season by Cait Nary (second book in the Trade Season series. obviously had high hopes, considering, as discussed above, the first one wrecked me, but it is simply not as good. country singer and hockey player who hooked up one time get outed. in order to try and keep this from torpedoing their careers, they agree to pretend to be dating for the cameras. the plot had some weird back-and-forths, like, they both just kept fucking up the relationship in the same ways over and over. also, one of them was named Seamus, went by "Shay" for short, but spelled it "Sea". authors, please do not fucking do this. i have 25+ years of practice reading the word "sea" and it was so much work to get my brain to read this with the intended pronunciation.)
●Game Changer by Rachel Reid (book 1 in the Game Changers series. i had high hopes for this one too, because book 2 of this series is one of the most beloved stories in m/m hockey romance. however. it's not great. closeted hockey player fucks his way into a relationship for the first time in his life. but then after like, 2 fucking months, the boyfriend is like "if you don't come out, you have no integrity and also i will need to break up with you because i'm suffocating" which! the narrative treats as being the straightforwardly correct opinion! like, i'm sorry, queer couples have been dealing with not being out, or not being out to everyone, since forever. and the disagreement is not handled anywhere near as well as it is in Unwritten Rules. very difficult to take it seriously. idk. the writing is. fine. still on the waitlist for book 2, but 😕)
●Winging It (2015 edition) by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James (i'm giving myself credit for this even though i read the 2022 edition last month because it is essentially an entirely different book. the sex scenes are hotter than in the new edition, but it is otherwise weaker in every way. i give you permission to just skip this one.)
●Crushed Ice by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James (the newly released Hockey Ever After book 4. not as good as the first 3, but still basically enjoyable and funny. just features way too many things that are extremely unlikely. this one is about an incredibly uptight veteran player and his rookie who is. uh. well, his nickname is Trouble, if that gives you an idea. loved the characters, did not love the romance.)
●Road Rules by Brigham Vaughn (nothing really wrong with it, but also nothing in particular to recommend it. novella-length story about best friends/teammates/roommates who start sleeping together even though they are both straight. and then it takes them basically the entire book to figure out that they're probably not straight, and also that everyone already thought they were dating anyway.)
●Hockey Guys by Sarina Bowen (these books feature very different characters, but have basically the same premise (closeted nhl player starts an ill-advised secret relationship with another man that they maintain is casual even though they catch feelings way too fast) and the same weaknesses (incredibly awkward and unnatural dialogue, and sex that's still hot enough but pretty formulaic). every time i start a sarina bowen book, i think it's going to be so much better than it is. i don't know why i'm still doing this to myself either.)
○The New Guy
○I'm Your Guy
sports that are not hockey
●Dirty Players by KD Casey and Lauren Blakely (two baseball short stories in the same universe as Unwritten Rules. first one is about players on rival teams in the same city that have long-standing sexual tension. second one is about players in different divisions who have a one-night stand, and then end up traded to the same team. it is incredibly rare ime to find original romance novellas/short stories that still have good pacing, especially if there are sex scenes, and these both fucking nail it. not exactly groundbreaking works of fiction, but top marks for what they are.)
○Dirty Slide
○Dirty Steal
●Top of Her Game by M. Ullrich (y'all i tried so fucking hard to give this a fair chance because i know how embarrassingly little femslash i have on these lists, but i only made it halfway through. which is better than i did on any of the other femslash books i tried to pick up this month. it's not even that bad, it's just not any fun. at all. Kenzie is a rookie soccer player who ends up on the same professional team as Sutton, her idol/celebrity crush. Sutton already has a girlfriend, and also has a bad habit of falling for rookies who worship her, but ? it's different this time ??? because Kenzie's not like other girls????? i don't know, man.)
●Playing for Keeps by Riley Hart and Neve Wilder (story time: my mom grew up in china during the cultural revolution. foreign literature and anything that wasn't communist enough was illegal, and having it in your possession could get you arrested or worse. but my mom had a classmate whose dad had been a bookseller, and had a secret personal collection of great literature that he couldn't bear to part with, including shakespeare, tolstoy, dostoevsky, and verne. and this classmate used to smuggle in books that she would lend to my mom for one day at a time, and then return them before her dad noticed they were missing. so my mom read a lot of classics really really fast. the way she finished war and peace in one day was, in her words, by "skipping all the war". similarly, the way i got through a mediocre gay (american) football romance series was by skipping all the football. anyway, these are fine, but the writing quality takes a dive in the third.)
○Rookie Move (rookie player ends up on the same football team as his older brother's best friend, on whom he has a long-standing crush. they get assigned to be road roommates—which, side note, football players make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year, there is no way they make standard-contract players have road roommates—and start having casual sex, which obviously leads to no complications or emotions whatsoever.)
○False Start (mid-career player gets traded to the city his ex used to play for (and still lives in). ends up moving in to his spare room until he can find a new place, and they start having casual sex, which is always a good idea, and of course leads to no complications or emotions whatsoever.)
○Illegal Contact (rival players who grew up in the same town have hate sex that gets very intense and possessive very fast. and. as you might guess. definitely leads to no complications or emotions whatsoever.)
everything else
●String Theory by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James (i'm just gonna link you the goodreads description because i honestly don't know what else to say about this book. it's fine. the sex scenes are nothing special. there's a fair amount of therapy-speak. honestly not sure how these writers produce romances of such incredibly variable quality.)
●His Leading Man by Ashlyn Kane (tbh i have the exact same comments as above. here's the summary. nothing major to complain about or compliment.)
●Winner Bakes All by Alexis Hall
○Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake (single mom competes on what is, for legal reasons, not the great british bake off. about what you expect from an Alexis Hall romance. sweet, so fucking funny, and a little awkward. the characters that suck really fucking suck, and the characters that you like are imperfect and lovable. doesn't quite measure up to my other Alexis Hall faves, but it's been a rough month. i'm grading on a curve.)
○Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble (takes place on the following season of not-bake-off. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. this book is very funny and well-written, but i found it so incredibly painful to read. the pov character has the kind of undiagnosed, untreated anxiety that results in him constantly crying and apologizing profusely for how much he sucks, while continuing to make life very difficult for the people around him. when i got past the halfway point and he still wasn't in therapy, i seriously considered stopping. if you are a better and more patient person than i am, you may still love this book.)
●Roommate by Sarina Bowen (two guys in a small farm town rent a house together and fall in love. simply not very good! i don't think the author knows anything about the jobs she gave her main characters. it also does the thing where they both know they're into each other, but they won't just be together because ??? hand-wavey reasons ?? and then for other inexplicable hand-wavey reasons, they decide to just go for it. this is infuriating to me.)
thank you for participating in this roundup of highly variable quality! as a reward, please accept this special-edition photo of polwygle.
#romance roundup#do NOT @me about my dumb cultural revolution joke#i am fully aware that nothing on this list is great literature#thank you 😌
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Are there any specific historical figures that you wish there was a better all out biography about it? For example I know there are millions of books about Sir Winston Churchill but I have never found one that I feel stands out (also if you know of one please let me know!!!!!!) Same with stalin
I actually do think that Churchill and Stalin have definitive biographies that stand out amongst the scores of books written about them.
William Manchester's The Last Lion trilogy is the best biography I've read about Churchill. The entire trilogy is available in a boxed set (BOOK | KINDLE). The individual volumes that make up the trilogy are:
•The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)
•The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940 (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)
•The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) -- The third and final volume of the biography was finished after William Manchester died by Paul Reid, using much of Manchester's research and prep work. While one author stepping in to finish the work of another can sometimes be an issue, Reid's work and writing blends seamlessly with Manchester's.
As for Stalin, I think that Simon Sebag Montefiore's Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) is the best single-volume biography published about the Soviet leader. Stephen Kotkin's two-volume biography on Stalin -- Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), and Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) -- is excellent and also stands out amongst other books about Stalin's life.
When it comes to some other historical figures that I think are in dire need of new, updated, deeply-researched, definitive biographies, I think number one on my list would be Fidel Castro. It's not that there aren't any books written Fidel (or any other historical figures I mention), it's just that I don't feel like there's been a full-fledged, great biography yet written about them. I have a bunch of books about Fidel, but I think the most recent one was written in the mid-1980s. I also would be interested in a better biography of Saddam Hussein. Con Coughlin wrote a pretty good book about Saddam, but the most up-to-date edition of the book was published shortly after Saddam was captured and before he was tried and executed. I imagine that there's a significant amount of new information and research from the past 20 years that could go into a definitive Saddam biography.
I've also been waiting for years for a good biography about Muammar Qaddafi. All the books I have about Qaddafi are from the 80s when he was Ronald Reagan's nemesis as the "mad dog of the Middle East". None of those books cover his attempt to normalize relations with the West after 9/11 when he was seemingly scared straight by what happened to Saddam, and then his epic downfall during the Arab Spring and Libyan Revolution, when his convoy was bombed by NATO as he tried to flee his crumbling country and he ended up being brutally killed by the people he had terrorized for 40 years after they found him cowering in a drainage ditch with his gold-plated gun. Qaddafi was such a weird and fascinating character that I'm shocked that there haven't been more documentaries about him. Honestly, if I still knew how to write, I'd absolutely write a book or film about Qaddafi. Unfortunately, I forgot how to write somewhere around 2014 or 2015.
#Biographies#Definitive Biographies#Winston Churchill#Joseph Stalin#Stalin#William Manchester#Simon Sebag Montefiore#Stephen Kotkin#Saddam Hussein#Saddam#Muammar Qaddafi#Qaddafi#Fidel Castro#Cuba#The Last Lion
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𝐌𝐑. 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 — a collection of one - liners taken from the 2015 romantic - action - comedy, mr. right. slightly edited for clarity. change pronouns as necessary.
❛ my name is [ name ] and i’m a t. rex ! ❜
❛ i just need validation all the time . it’s pathetic . ❜
❛ murder’s wrong , [ name ] . ❜
❛ i have only been drinking for two days . ❜
❛ this would’ve been such a nice wedding . ❜
❛ well , that was fun . . . ish . ❜
❛ what if that was a bullet ? i’m training you . you’re welcome . ❜
❛ i'm the fucking man right now ! ❜
❛ failure will not be tolerated . ❜
❛ this cat is my soul . ❜
❛ this is a lot of condoms . ❜
❛ do you wanna go on a date ? do you wanna get out of here and then go on a date ? ❜
❛ i think you’re beautiful . ❜
❛ every time i get dressed , i have to confront , like , what does this say about me ? ❜
❛ it’s not a secret you’re an asshole . ❜
❛ that’s too bad , because i’m a fascinating and complex person . ❜
❛ i kill people , but not so much anymore . ❜
❛ i think my problem is that i have to be the best ever at everything that i do . ❜
❛ you’re the corniest person i’ve ever met . ❜
❛ i still want you to stay if you wanna stay though . ❜
❛ if i’m being jumpy , i’m just a little nervous . i think i like you . ❜
❛ you make big calls and you got big balls . ❜
❛ i’m in love . ❜
❛ we slept together . we didn’t have sex . ❜
❛ you’re gonna just have to start recognizing these red flags . ❜
❛ i think you may be having an early midlife crisis . ❜
❛ it’s my sort - of dream to eventually be the old lady in the neighborhood . ❜
❛ why’d you have to go and threaten her ? ❜
❛ you could’ve gotten blood on me ! ❜
❛ i don’t really like my name . i just kind of . . . hate it . ❜
❛ i thought you were gonna catch it . ❜
❛ i wanted you to catch the knife . ❜
❛ and also , i want you . i mean , really . i really do . ❜
❛ i don’t remember what my life was like before i met you . ❜
❛ he just fucking killed the wrong guy . ❜
❛ are you upset ‘cause i killed that guy ? ❜
❛ how i feel about that guy has nothing to do with how i feel about you . ❜
❛ i don’t think before i act sometimes , but i’m not a bad person . ❜
❛ you think bad people have the capacity to . . . love and stuff ? ❜
❛ i just wanna talk to you , that’s all . ❜
❛ he dances in , and he dances out . ❜
❛ i need to see you , and i’m . . . i’m coming over , okay ? ❜
❛ you’re the one person he’s had any meaningful interaction with that didn’t end in a bullet . ❜
❛ he’s just taking a nap , i can see him breathing . ❜
❛ i never lied to you . not once . ❜
❛ i love you . ❜
❛ oh my god , stop talking , i’m totally into it . ❜
❛ you look hot . you look beautiful . ❜
❛ some people waste time with the fighting . i skip straight to the winning . ❜
❛ thank you for not taking me hostage ! ❜
❛ you should smile more . you’d be more popular . ❜
❛ i lost track of my dumb decisions a long time ago . ❜
❛ they tell me successful people set achievable goals so . . . ❜
❛ you ever meet a girl and it’s just like . . . you can’t eat , you can’t stop thinking about her ? ❜
❛ gosh , you’re cute . ❜
❛ i like turtles , you dick ! ❜
❛ it’s not that i’m angry with you , i’m just disappointed . ❜
❛ i am a t. rex ! i am invincible ! ❜
❛ who the fuck wants to be normal anyway ? ❜
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I got Engel! they're so cute, could you tell me more about them?
A few people have asked about Engel actually and I'm not going to reply to all of those (since it's like, the same answer) so i'll do this one!!
I'm pretty sure I posted his design thing from last year on here but here he is (yes, he is a dude despite how he dresses. he is incredibly used to people thinking he is a girl. and he doesn't really care at this point)
Interestingly he is actually not from Octaria OR Inkopolis but actually grew up in the Deepsea and he hated it, like, a lot. Which explains why when he got settled on the surface, he founded a band called Deep Sea Dead Zone. because the deep sea is a dead goddamn place.
Their first album came out in 2017 and the second one, well... it hasn't happened yet because their guitarist kinda fucked off. That guitarist being Dodo, while the other band members are Boy and Peppermint. They're still kinda in the process of recruiting a new one, and while Engel has PLENTY of songs written and probably almost ready to go, the band is still stuck in a bit of limbo because everyone is STILL kind of busy with you know, adult stuff, and other life stuff
(the unhinged cover photo. In spite of how cute Engel likes to dress, his songs are.... hm..... yeah)
The main thing going on for him is being the lead guy for the band, which has also resulted in him being micro-celebrity mostly on social media, but he's also looking to be a fashion designer. Kind of a lot in his life got messed up because of the band going on hiatus and other things happening that threw him out of the loop... he's not a very stable person and yes i took the twitter thread from some tumblr post i saw and edited him into it
(and peppermint. they're best friends and used to be roomies)
Engel is a really outgoing and energetic person usually, and he really doubles down on the cute aesthetics, so a lot of people who don't specifically know him from his band are really surprised to learn what kind of music he writes. In total contrast to how his personality seems to be, like a lot of lyrics are ridiculously moody, angry or straight up depressing...
so basically, he's got a lot going for him but also a lot going against him, mostly his own mental health and past trauma. But he HAS been doing much better recently (therapy, meds et cetera) AND he even has a slug now to help with a feeling of normalcy. Living alone is pretty difficult for him especially with how busy a lot of his friends have been pretty much since their turf team broke up a good few years ago... that was way before Splatoon 2 and before the band even existed
(his emotional support slug, Meat, is pictured in the tableturf drawing)
briefly about his turf team, during the era of Splatoon 1 turf wars in the early 2010's, Deep Sea Dead Zone were a blue ink battling team! (though that was not their name.) Peppermint was a Krak-On Splat Roller, Boy was a .52 Gal, Dodo was an E-Liter 3K and Engel was, of course, a Carbon Roller
He was also brand new to the surface, could barely speak the language, and had to pretty much sneak out to meet up and play with his friends. It's a whole thing. Playing with friends was always the main draw of ink battling as a sport for him, obviously, even though he was pretty decent on his own. When Peppermint had to retire from them due to health reasons, no one (except Dodo because he was never in it for the friends anyway) really felt the urge to keep playing anymore, so he's not touched ink battling since like, probably 2015
With that being said though.... Peppermint has returned to Turf Wars and looks like she misses him
#this took all day for no reason im sorry i kept getting distracted from it#mailbox#dodo ocs#i hope thats some interesting tidbits!#deep sea dead zone
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Tagged by @jamietarttsnorthernattitude and @asteria-argo
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
8
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
191,977
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Ted Lasso is the main one right now
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
A German, a Russian, and an American Walk into a Bar (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015))
oh god, you're gonna get it (you have not been given love) (Ted Lasso (TV))
The Garrison Reserve (The Musketeers (2014))
The Dick String Incident (Ted Lasso (TV))
somebody's hands who felt like mine (Ted Lasso (TV))
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Yes, though I am woefully behind
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
It's a toss up between right next to the heart of me and somebody's hands who felt like mine. I think the first one is technically the sharper angst, but it at least has a sequel in the works to make things a little better. The second one is a softer whump, but open-ended and with no follow up planned.
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
In terms of fics that have actually ended, A German, a Russian, and an American Walk into a Bar wins by a mile
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Not yet???
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Yes. Whatever kind. If I am feeling inspired by a thought, I'm gonna write it.
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
I've written AUs but no straight-up crossovers yet, though I've lazily batted a few around in a sort of 'what if x met y' sort of way
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not to my knowledge
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
Yes, A German, a Russian, and an American Walk into a Bar and The Garrison Reserve were both co-written
14. What's your all-time favourite ship?
Right now it's Jamie/Whump
15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
It's not that I won't finish The Garrison Reserve (literally the last chapter is half written), but finishing it is going to mean a rewatch because I have straight up forgotten half the side characters' names
16. What are your writing strengths?
Maybe descriptions? Also my willingness to try to tell a joke
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
This is one I try very very hard to edit out, but I am literally the worst at writing my thoughts down out-of-order or forgetting to finish a thought entirely. Oh, and dialogue. It either comes naturally or I am forging that garbage with a hammer.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
I think there is a time for using another language in-text and a time when simply implying the other language or leaning on the perspective of a character who doesn't speak the other language is the correct decision.
That said I am currently writing a story about Dani and Jamie which involves some Spanish dialogue, but I feel fairly good about it because 1) when in doubt, I can (and do) just quote my mom, 2) if it sounds too simplified / non-colloquial I can always make the excuse that Dani, like my mom, doesn't want to confuse Jamie while he's learning, 3) any mistake I make could easily be a mistake that Jamie would make anyways. Wins all around!
Somewhat related, there was an absolutely fantastic Sherlock (BBC) fic back in the day (which was sadly removed from AO3) told from John's point of view where Sherlock decided he would go about his day in Italian. It included Italian dialogue that you could hover over for the translation, but the thrust of the fic was John playing along with his best guess of what was being said. The result was a fic that concurrently told two entwined stories by emphasizing two different povs by giving the audience the choice to ignore one in favor of experiences the other one first with no subtitles. It was very cool.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
a two-page handwritten DBZ fanfic when I was 11.
20. Favourite fic you've ever written?
oh god, you're gonna get it (you have not been given love)
tagging: @sighonaraa and @altschmerzes because I've not seen either of you yet
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My Review of The Secret Garden (2020)
Spoilers for The Secret Garden (both the book, and this film), and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
I said that I wanted to do some in-depth reviews of the various different adaptations of The Secret Garden (the film versions and other retellings), and I thought it might be fun to work my way (roughly) back in time, beginning with the most recent adaptations, and working my way back in time. I do plan on also reading some of the sequels/retellings/graphic novels that exists as well, but I’m going to start with the film adaptations.
So… I re-watched The Secret Garden (2020) and I have some thoughts.
Before I get into all of my opinions, I’d like to highlight this clip of Mark Kermode talking about the film, I think he hits the nail on the head and is very fair about the film, I agree with him, here’s a link.
There were some things that I liked, which really stood out to me about the film, it is gorgeous, the aesthetics, set design and costumes are all really great, both for the interiors and the exteriors. The film looks beautiful, cinematography and editing were also good, the camera movements feel very dynamic and the editing around many of the more fantastical elements in the film was also clever. Likewise with the performances; nobody here is going to win any acting awards for this film specifically, but none of the performances are bad. There’s an Aurora song in the closing credits. I’m an Aurora fan, so that was nice.
There are things to like here, and I’m sure if I were a child watching this film with no prior knowledge of The Secret Garden, that I would have enjoyed it well enough, though I don’t think that it would have stuck with me in the way that The Secret Garden has stuck with me since I was a child.
The films has made A LOT of changes to the source material. I said in my review of the 2015 adaptation of Heidi that I’m not of the opinion that absolute fidelity to the source materials is necessarily the best way to adapt a novel to the screen. There are plenty of adaptations that I like which deviate significantly from their source material, either in tone or plot, Bladerunner and The Shining are both good examples of this, and in my Heidi review I also mentioned Anne with an E, which alters the tone of the original Anne of Green Gables to great effect. So the fact that this adaptation of the story makes changes to the original is not a great sin in itself, I simply feel that a lot of the changes that they do make are underthought and, in some cases, confusing.
For example, the events of the book have been moved forward in time, taking place in 1947, rather than the Edwardian Era. This could be an interesting change, as 1947 was the year that India gained its independence from Great Britain, and so could be used to serve as a commentary on the colonialism that is present in the book. It doesn’t though. The updated setting adds nothing to the story. @marysfoxmask made a really interesting post about this which I’ll link here, and I entirely agree, and I don’t think I need to add anymore commentary on the topic.
@isfjmel-phleg also wrote an interesting post unpacking her thoughts about this adaption and I agree with many of her points too. Here’s a snippet from that post:
Making Mrs. Lennox and Mrs. Craven sisters/twins is straight out of the musical and 1993 film, and it’s overdone. Lilias was Mary’s father’s sister, which actually is more thematically appropriate (of course she’s unrelated to the woman who’s the book’s worst example of parenting), and I’d like to see a version where this is the case. What if it’s Mary’s father who’s distant from grief over losing a sibling? There’s room in the text for that interpretation; he’s said to be “always busy and ill.”
And I completely agree with that as well. Mary’s character arc shifting from a story about a neglected and emotionally stunted child finding spiritual and emotional growth through the cultivation of a garden, into the story of a child who needs to reconcile with her dead, neglectful mother, seems like an extremely odd interpretation to me. Both Mary and Colin’s parents get way too much focus here and are framed much more sympathetically (they even show up as ghosts), to the point where the relationship between the two sisters feels like a more significant presence than the relationship between Mary and Colin. As a consequence of giving the parents more emphasis, there are a number of characters from the book whose roles are reduced, particularly Ben, who is not present in the film at all, and Dickon, whose role in the story is greatly diminished, we don’t even meet him until 50 minutes into a film - and we meet Colin at 25 minutes in (which annoys me personally, since Dickon is my favourite character in the book). All of this leaves Dickon feeling like a mostly superfluous addition to the story, which is a shame because I know Amir Wilson can turn in a good performance when he needs to.
One thing that Mark Kermode talked about in the video that I linked above is the framing of the ‘magic’ in the story. Here’s a quote from that:
“When we find the magical garden itself (…) what you get more of is the sense that this is the garden of [Mary’s] imagination, the garden of her dreams, and there is a magical element, which is played the up […]. What you lose is the central theme that is in the novel which is that toiling in the garden, it’s working in the garden, that makes the garden have it’s restorative powers.”
Here the ‘magic’ is much more literal, treated more like a mystical forest or fantasy realm (like Narnia) rather than a place that the characters might care for. This, to me, is the fundamental most flaw of the film, as it just completely disregards the themes of its source material, opting instead for a story that is significantly more escapist and fantastical in tone, rather than the grounded story of the novel.
Okay, heading into very spoiler-y territory now, so if you don’t want to know what happens in the end of the film, stop reading now. I’m also going to spoil the ending of Jane Eyre, so be aware of that.
Final warning.
So, in this version of the story, the house burns down at the end. On a level, I do understand why this change was made, it gives the third act a greater sense of danger and ups the stakes quite a lot. I very firmly believe that Frances Hodgson Burnett was heavily influenced by the Brontë sisters when writing The Secret Garden, there are a number of similarities between both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and I plan on writing a whole post about that at some point. For now, we’re just going to focus on Jane Eyre. Jane, like Mary, is an orphan, who goes to live at Thornfield Hall, a vast house in the moors. During her stay, she frequently hears mysterious wailing and crying in the night. In The Secret Garden, this is revealed to be coming from Mary’s sick cousin Colin, while in Jane Eyre, it is revealed to be a woman named Bertha, who is the wife of the master of the house, Mr Rochester, and who is plagued by violent insanity. At the climax of Jane Eyre, Bertha sets fire to Thornfield Hall, burning the house to the ground. I am almost 100% certain, that Misselthwaite being set on fire in this adaptation, is a nod to the influence of Jane Eyre on the original book – in this case, it is Mr Craven who sets fire to his own house, in a fit of drunken confusion and grief. As an element of the story, I don’t hate it, but I don’t think it was set up very well either. It just kind of happens randomly. Fire isn’t established within the narrative at all, it’s not set up, and it’s not part of a motif either. It’s Chekov’s gun, but you never see the gun before it goes off. In Jane Eyre it works since fire is a frequent motif within the story, often used as a metaphor for Jane herself, as the narrative repeatedly associates her with images of fire, brightness, and warmth. It could have worked here, but it mostly just feels random and not very well thought out.
With all of these underthought changes, I think that the thing this film suffers most from is the fact that it is an adaptation of The Secret Garden. The film disregards many elements the plot, themes, setting and characters of the original book, but fails to truly divorce itself from the source material. I think that the resulting film would have been better if they had simply disregarded the book entirely and instead used the story as inspiration to create something new and original. But that’s just my opinion.
I’m sure that I’ll have more to say about this film in the future, but I’ll sign off with another quote from Mark Kermode’s review, which sums up a lot of my feelings quite well:
“It’s a strange mix. It’s perfectly fine. I don’t think it’s one of the classic, timeless adaptations, but it is a story that will always work if you treat it with a certain degree of respect […]. It’s not great, but it’s not bad, it’s a perfectly workable adaptation of something which I’ve seen adapted better.”
I couldn’t agree more.
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COSMOPOLITAN
BY FRANCESCA SCRIMIZZI (28.11)
(translated into English)
Looking over the stairs of a building in Corso Matteotti in Milan, two steps are enough for me to appreciate a confused and amused echo of fresh voices thundering in my direction. It approaches like a round hum that follows the structure of the stairs. It presses on regardless of my presence, whizzing fast next to me while I remain motionless on a quay. I realize, only later, that these are fans of Tomlinson, with autographs of their favorite singer in hand, obtained after who knows how many dreams and waits. Time stretching back to 2010, the year in which Doncaster's promising footballer presented himself to X-Factor UK, [Louis] did not pass the auditions but rather than be accompanied to the door, he was invited by Nicole Scherzinger, guest judge of that edition, to take part in a group in the company of other boys from different corners of the UK whose names will be destined to resonate. As it ironically turned out, One Direction did not win the reality show, but will eventually be confirmed to be the flagship product of the talent show by far, as were Måneskin, the great second place winner of the eleventh edition of XF Italia and now on the podium of the world. Within a short time: 50 million albums sold, titles such as Top New Artist according to Billboard, four BAFTAs, and in 2014, according to a list drawn up by The Sunday Times, One D would be the richest boy band in the history of British music, with a fortune of about £14 million each, receipts from both music and the sale of highly demanded merch.
But like any story, whether it's of love or professional intent it matters not, the breaking point came: in 2015 Malik left the band, and in March 2016 the rumors of the alleged dissolution of the band found confirmation, with the members announcing that they are taking a break until a date to-be-determined. From here the solo careers blossom, with Tomlinson founding the independent record label Triple Strings - (from which he was released in 2020) - with Steve Aoki - the single "Just Hold On". From here on, several tracks followed, such as the singles "Just like You" and "Miss You", and two albums, Walls and Faith In Future, released in November 2022. Meanwhile, Louis’ private life also was percolating, with the birth of a son to American fashion designer Briana Jungwirth, and two major losses, of his mother, who was struggling for months with leukemia, and sister Félicité, who died from a cardiac arrest at age 18. I spent an important time interviewing the 30-year-old boy whose eyes shine and who now comes straight at me, welcoming, melancholic, happy. This is Louis Tomlinson, an artist with a never-never-forgotten past and a bright future that is told through some titles from his new album.
Faith in the Future. An eloquent name. Where did it come from?
'I already had the title of the album in mind before anything else. So it dictated the mood to what I wanted to say, create. You usually write a few songs before thinking about the title of the album, but it was a nice way to do it, different, compelling. It gave me a very clear path of what I wanted to say, in terms of the intentions of the album. I was then trying to create something that would be nice to hear live since fans’ reaction to the past shows were incredible, surprisingly welcoming. Now I want to match these feelings, this enthusiasm, I would like to double that extraordinary feeling.'
Bigger Than Me. At the moment, what’s bigger than you and what do you want to overcome?
'During the lockdown I stopped to think and reflected on my career as a whole, thinking about the shows, songs and the meaning they can have for other people. And for a long time it was not easy to realize the impact this has had on people's lives. There were moments when I was on stage and it all looked bigger than me. In those moments a lot of things go through my mind. I think about trying to do everything right and being a perfectionist and everything. But when I get off the stage every night, I have the feeling that, thankfully, most of the people present had a nice evening. So, despite whatever crosses my mind, it's very easy to be too analytical as an artist and performer. And actually all of this is much bigger than what happens in my head.'
What would you recommend to a person who, like you, stops too much to think? Where and how can this virtuous circle be interrupted?
'I would say try to take every day as it comes, trying to live the moment a little. Because it's very easy to get caught up in the anxiety of the unknown. But if you have even a shred of faith in that future, everything will be fine.'
Chicago. What are the cities that make you feel at home?
'No place is like Doncaster, where I grew up. I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles. My son lives there, so of course there is that feeling of home due to having an important person in a very specific place. A place I always go back to, then, for whatever reason, is Barcelona. I had some good experiences there, good times. I think it's a fantastic city. I've never lived there, but I go through it often and will continue to do so.’
The Greatest. What's the song of your life, the one you always come back to?
‘Instinctively I would tell you ‘Super Sonic’ by Oasis.’
What about your biggest fear?
‘Some time ago I would have told you the fear of getting old. Now that I'm more mature, I would say it's that I can't make more music. It's all I have, everything I can do.’
And the greatest hope for the future?
‘To continue to do live music shows, meet my fans, engage in tours around the world.’
The greatest advice you can give to those who would like to become an artist, tomorrow.
‘I think when you start working as an artist it can be difficult to understand who you are specifically. This is a process, but it is much easier to work backwards starting from who you are not. And it's something I've always found very powerful: working backwards in this way. It gives you a clearer image of who you are as an individual and as an artist.'
And you, what are you not?
‘An asshole. I think. I hope!’
#louis tomlinson#cosmopolitan italia#28 november 2022#faith in the future: promo#faith in the future: italy
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