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hitlikehammers · 1 month

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PART TWO: Fail-Pirate!Eddie/Castaway!Steve (Pirate AU)

🌊Under the Water (Our Hearts Will Dream Again)🌊

Chapter Two: A Most Compelling Gaze

CHAPTER ONE // Chapter Three on 28 March 🌊

also on ao3

He might be a piss-poor pirate, but Eddie’s not an idiot. He knows this was intended as a test—for the both of them, according to the Captain:

To test your loyalty after so many missteps, Munson, can’t help but doubt your commitment to this ship Reefer Rick had cackled at him through those rotting teeth of his; and to tease out the worth of the heftiest catch you’ve managed to date!, and they’d all laughed then, the whole of the crew, even those Eddie counted as the closest thing he had to friends, though their bellies shake less, their chuckles carry less an echo, and that’s something, maybe.

Maybe.

So yeah: Eddie’s well aware it’s a test, setting him up to babysit the castaway? It’s also to have a fucking laugh; probably more geared toward the latter, if only because they won’t fucking stop.

Because it’s one thing to imply attraction to the 'pretty-boy flotsam that was too big for even you to miss, Munson', because one, they’re pirates, degeneracies of all stripes were in their natures, Eddie’s known preferences being the very least of the lot and certainly far from unique, and two: fuck but yes indeed, even Munson couldn’t miss the heaven-sent vision who was now resting in his care, or capture, depending on who was asked.

Eddie didn’t see much difference, if his heart fluttered when he looked upon that face each time; if his pulse eased and the sun shone brighter through grimed window panes like sorcery, when Eddie watched the man’s chest rise and fall: alive, color back in his cheeks, his lips, and gods be good or cruel in turns, those lips—

But the crew, of course, can’t stop with the obvious; oh certainly not.

No: they have to cackle and ask more lewd lines of implication, most egregious—and of course most popular—being variations on oh yes, yes, too big for even the Merry Moron Munson to miss, but is the catch big elsewhere, hmm? Did you stick him with your pole, forwent the hook altogether? Or maybe he’s so large even you could have snagged him by his coc—

Eddie does his best to ignore all that, and just stand watch over their formerly-waterlogged not-quite-prisoner, scooped from a not-quite-wreckage, as in: no wreckage. None anywhere near, and the Captain had demanded they look and look hard, not chancing leaving unclaimed booty on the water but—nothing. The man came from nowhere. The crew’s more suspicious than curious.

But that’s another thing Eddie never fit in with, when it came to his shipmates.

And if—if, in the purely hypothetical instance—but if Eddie does retreat from the taunting behind the closed cabin doors where they’ve laid the mystery man to recover, and hopefully soon wake? Maybe Eddie retreats to the room he's babysitting in part because...he blushes easy, alright?

That’s not a crime, save one of his birth; nothing he can do to fight against it. So much as learned well in his youth: he knows keenly when it’s best to run.

Behind the doors to the cabin where the pretty mystery man too large to miss is lying in an oddly-clean bed for the vessel. That’s just a happy coincidence of the sort Eddie doesn’t normally stumble upon, so he’s got no interest now in staring the gift-washed-up-on-his-metaphorical-shore in the mouth.

“Your mouth will get dry.”

Eddie startles hard enough at the bedside of the Mystery Man to splay on the floor, knocked to bruise: he hadn’t realized he was gaping.

The sprawling as he stares up from the floor doesn’t seem to…incline his jaw to closing.

Mystery Man—who’s awake, good god, he’s awake, alive and awake and dry and warm, Eddie scrambles to pull himself up on the bed frame and he can feel the man’s warmth, and his skin’s got a golden sort of gleam that Eddie hadn’t noticed before but oh hell that does absolutely nothing to stop the stirring in Eddie’s trousers, holy fucking hell—

And oh. Oh, then the Mystery Man is reaching, slowly, blinking just once before he slips a fingertip under Eddie’s chin and nudges his lips closed with a pop.

He feels so warm. Eddie cannot goddamn swallow.

“Sorry,” the man’s turned half on his side, half on his stomach now, peeking almost adorably, almost shy but no, no: far more coy the way he looks down at Eddie, sitting up but still on the godsdamned floor. “I’m just kind of really partial to not drying out.”

Eddie blinks, stares, tries to parse the words around the echo of the touch; mouth. Dry. Right.

Right, he…right.

In hindsight, it’s either a very odd or very suggestive comment, but Eddie doesn’t intend to have access to hindsight any time soon, certainly not soon enough for it to matter, because the Mystery Man is blinking at him, and his lashes look like the patters on the hard outsides of a scallop, so long and previously delicate, fanned out to cast their own shadows, catch their own light.

“You’re awake.”

Which: obvious. Idiotic to state plain. No wonder they call him ‘moron’ as a rule on this ship, he does nothing to prove it wrong, though in fairness here and now: how in every hell imaginable is he supposed to be anything but dumbstruck by the eyes open, fixed on his, close-on to glowing with the amber shift of them, like fine whiskey he’d never had the coin for but has once or twice proven light enough fingers to snag. But they’re more than that, even: the same color but caught inside the sunset-meeting-moonrise where it lilts along the water, the copper starburst of it with the soft shift of the waves in greens, bare hints of blues—intoxicating.

What else can Eddie be but a fool, in sight of those eyes?

“Mmm,” Mystery Man hums with a quirk to his lips and stretches between the linens as if they were silks, rather than hole-ridden, and quite suspiciously stained; “for a bit.”

Eddie halts, pulse kicking a little extra hard because—

“A bit?” And his voice doesn’t squeak. It doesn’t squeak.

The way the man’s mouth curls upward calls Eddie out as a bald-faced liar.

“Your friends are,” the man licks his lips as he seems to consider his words; “quite colorful in their attempts at humor.”

Good god, the things, the things they’ve been saying, that this man has heard, about Eddie, and, and—

“You’re stuck here with me?” Mystery Man tips his head, half askance but also almost half apology which: in light of the moment, it’s the oddest thing to concern himself with.

In light of the man’s everything, it is the most absurd concern Eddie has ever been led to entertain.

“I wouldn’t say it quite like that,” Eddie manages to speak almost-evenly, with his heart still thudding loud enough to muffle his own words back to his ears. He’s almost proud of the effort made.

He’s absolutely proud of how it seems to be at least part of what provokes a full smile out of the Mystery Man, and if Eddie’d thought his eyes could, did glow? Gods above: this smile itself, but then compared in turn to the warmth that rises through Eddie to see it, a soft banked fire that rises from his toes and licks around his limbs, swells in his chest: oh.

Just, just oh.

“Good,” the man grins at him, sounds the like warmth Eddie feels, with an extra hint of satisfaction, a gilded edge of teasing maybe, even: “I wouldn’t say I’m stuck with you, either.”

Eddie let’s himself have a moment, even two or three, just to bask in the light of it, the way his pounding heart’s shifted to fluttering: no less frantic but more like how flames can dance, erratic but so clearly life-giving, evidence shone inside their light. He lets himself have the moments before he clears his throat, and tries so best to act like a grown man with some shred of dignity. Only a shred.

He’s not asking for miracles, here. Or: none beyond the vision wrapped above him in a pirate’s best bedding.

“How are you feeling?” Eddie finally manages to ask a question of import.

“Oh,” the man almost startles, or else his brows quirk a touch in something close to confusion before he seems to take stock of himself.

“Mostly alright,” he concludes with a nod; “I’d just gotten,” he chews his lips and oh, perhaps Eddie asked after the well-being of the wrong person in his room, his heart back to drumming because all hells, but that is a sight.

“Disoriented,” the man settles on; “the water was,” but he stops short, cuts himself off and something in what’s not said feels important and Eddie may have chased it if not for how shiny the man’s lips still looked.

“I’ll be fine,” the man smiles soft, then, assured him genially; “you needn’t—“

“They’re suspicious,” Eddie blurts, suspects he lands on it like a die rolled at random in the hopes he’ll say something other than you’re exquisite or the like. At least he rolls random but safe, not to mention true.

“You,” Eddie narrows his gaze, means to nod down to the unexpected quality of the man’s clothing and—

Meets the tufting of chest hair where the bedclothes end beneath the throat. Oh.

“You wore finery,” Eddie manages, and barely that, maybe not even that because his eyes catch the careful drape of the white cloth softer than anything Eddie had ever felt, drying as best as possible across mismatched seating, hoping to catch sunlight when it couldn’t be trusted just to the deck for the breeze, but however it drapes: it is very much drying. And very much not being worn. Which, which means—

Eddie might start believing in the deities for the simple fact that he hadn’t fully processed until this very moment that the beautiful Mystery Man was wholly bare beneath an ownerless shift that someone had scrounged up when they’d stripped his sodden form, drenched from the waters after rescue—and that, aside from the longshirt?

The man was nude under the sheets in front of him.

Especially given his height—about to Eddie’s own but even lying down, hells; even sleeping his frame was more impressive, more expansive somehow—but either way the shift was from a woman once braved back to the vessel, clearly, and it didn’t stretch far past the Mystery Man’s waist and—

Oh, oh, Eddie may have chosen the exact moment to consider belief in the gods just so he could wish them fire and damnation and a swift death for the way his blood rushes southward, the way his eyes dart to the line visible under the coverings where the shift has tucked even higher, under the clear peaks of firm but unbothered nipples—that peek through the linens very much as if they should be bothered, nay, worshippedas a gods-damned rule—but the line of the shift runs just below those tempting buds now, and Eddie is going to damn all the gods to their own hells because of course his eyes drift lower, to where the line was expected to fall; lower to where a different line of a clear curve and shapebetrays itself with an almost casual grace beneath a single thin covering, so close to Eddie’s face, Eddie’s lips—

“This?”

Damn all the gods to every conceivable hell.

Eddie tries to suck in a steadying breath when he looks up, grateful the man’s eyes are cast down but cursing the deities to burn in punishing flames for eternity when he sees the man’s hands near his throat, the linens pooled closer to his waist and the shift pulled down to betray more of the thatch of curls at his chest, but his fingers are threaded through something shining, something metal: a chain, not good but brighter, the likes of which Eddie’s never seen, not Pirate’s gold with its enchantments but similarly beguiling; otherworldly.

How did he still have it, where none of the crew had pocketed it before they left him in Eddie’s charge? How had Eddie missed it in the hours between?

“They think you royalty to ransom,” Eddie chokes out as the man tucks the pendant under to the shift he pulls back up just the slightest bit, and Eddie wills himself not to dwell on what that means for its too-short hem; reveals to his own heart that his will is lacking in the extreme before he barely sighs out: “or some competition to send to the plank.”

Because the clothes, even without the adornment at the neck, betrayed wealth, either by birth or business. Neither was particularly kind or tolerated by a pirate crew.

And ostensibly it was part of Eddie’s job, here, to discern to which the man belonged.

But before Eddie even has a chance to collect himself to something more pressing, if not imposing, the man takes it in his own hands to turn serious in a way that…that feels weighted, heavy in the air. Like the clouds hand spread palms to press upon mere mortals, Eddie none to be spared.

“There is no one who would pay my ransom in any manner you’d deem fit,” the man speaks solemn, but resonant, even if he’s tone is just above a whisper; the words themselves are honest, and that pangs deep in Eddie’s heart—who could not miss this man? Who could not desire nothing more in this world but his safety, his return to their side?

Unthinkable.

“And I swear to you upon all that I am,” and it’s the resonance, again, the way it almost shakes intangible things in the air around them, as if the vow it in as power somehow, or else isn’t actually the important piece of the statement at all:

“I do not deal with, or approve of, the trading companies that pollute these waters,” and there’s a pause, and it strikes heavy too; somehow mournful; “and so many others.”

The man’s voice dips then, there’s no clear reason for the way an echo rings but it does. It rings inside Eddie’s bones.

“I believe you,” Eddie breathes, a little shaky with it just for the gravity still in the room; “but that means we will have to concoct an alibi to get you safely back to shore."

Because Eddie believes him wholly, even if he cannot articulate the why—still, though.

The crew saw tell of riches. They will need a reason—not a particularly ironclad one, none of them are especially sharp—but some means of convincing them to let the beautiful man return to his home. No matter how Eddie wishes he wouldn’t, and not only for his own selfish, foolish wants—if it’s true they’d pay no ransom, Eddie can barely stomach the notion of returning this near-heavenly creature to such people who cannot see his worth.

He begins to ponder, concoct a tale, but then the man intervenes, definitively:

“I did not intend to get to shore.”

There’s something certain in his tone, but something strange likewise in his words. Eddie isn’t sure if it’s their cadence, or their order, or maybe the words themselves.

“You are very curious,” Eddie doesn’t hesitate to say, when an answer eludes him for enough heartbeats in a row.

“I am aware,” the man smiles crooked, but his eyes dance, prismatic.

“You have the most compelling gaze.”

Eddie has to blink a good many times, and swallow around his galloping pulse, to realize he hadn’t spoken. Longer still to process the words hedid not speak.

When it hits him, though, the curse of his easy flush sets his cheeks aflame.

And the breathtaking mystery man smiles wider, stealing breath he’s already taken entire: greedy.

Eddie is flooded with heat, with; with want.

“Does your compelling gaze have a name to match?”

Eddie nearly chokes on the thump of his heart because, how is a man so suave and charming real, and how is he mostly-baker, barely covered laid out before Eddie Munson?

Unfathomable.

“Eddie,” he coughs out, like the syllables get knocked by his riotous heart; “and,” he

does not squeak, he

stammers at a particularly high pitch:

“And you?”

“We are…where?”

Not an answer, nor a question Eddie expects. It must show, because the mean leans his chest, and his wholly unreasonable patch of curls between his pectorals just a little bit closer to ask anew, as if to clarify:

“Where would the stars place us in the night?”

Location. Bearing. Right, yes.

“New Providence is far in our wake by now,” Eddie answers in truth, which was part of why the man’s appearance made so little sense, especially in absence of a wreckage.

“Hmm,” the man hums, and strokes his chin—which should not be attractive, which should not somehow find a new way to ramp up his heart rate, and yet.

Eddie can feel the wild pumping graze the neck of his shirt.

“I am known by different names in different places but, no matter,” the man shakes his head and smiles before the first half of the sentence has a chance to make as little sense as it deserves; before he speaks but not just speaks, reaches for Eddie’s hand where it’s still gripping the edge of the bed where he still sits on the floor and Eddie thinks he means to shake it.

No.

No, he lifts it swift to his lips—so >i>soft—and kisses quicker than a blink before giving back Eddie’s hand and smiling oddly…oddly genuine—

“Eddie of the most compelling gaze,” that’s the genuine thing, he means that and Eddie marvels for it; “call me Steve.”

Steve. Steve. The name flows, sings, swims a little like the man’s own eyes. It suits so true.

“In our alibi,” Steve picks up, and it’s unfair for Eddie to call it sudden; it >is>feels sudden, but he has no concept of how long he’s sat and tried to brand to feeling of lips on his knuckles, perhaps minutes at least; “do you suppose there’s a tale to be woven that could keep me aboard with you, for a time?”

And it’s a surprise, but Eddie’s learning: this man, this Steve, is steeped in secrets and surprises. And maybe Eddie wants to devour him entirely.

Asking to be kept here? To stay, near Eddie, where he may have some chance to try and catch him in actual fact, instead of laughable happenstance?

Oh; he’ll give the deities another chance, in that case.

“You’re in luck, fair Steve,” Eddie chances a little hint of a flirt, mostly in heat, for show, but Steve lights up and he lets himself hope as he stands only so he can bow a bit theatrically and look up through his curls with a wink when he says:

“Weaving the perfect tale just so happens to be my strongest skill.”

And he thinks that’s the end of it, that he sticks on a high note but then Steve’s eyes drag across him, up and down where he’s stood in full height before him for the first time and those eyes: they expose him before those lips quirk at the corners and the voice speaks simple and clear but strikes somehow, inexplicable, like a pie down Eddie’s spine as Steve breathes deep, sighs smooth:

“I do not doubt you in the slightest, noble bard,” he says with feeling; “but I find myself unconvinced you’re not selling the rest of your attributes short.”

At which point Eddie may or may not turn on his heel and make for the deck to fetch water for his charge before the blood-rush to his cheeks sets some precarious too-parched woodscrap to flame and put fire to the whole fucking ship.

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tinyagitator · 9 months

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Okay so @scordoesart posted a lovely Bellhands thing the other day and I got thinking again, which can either be fun, or lead to sheer madness and brainrot and this is the brainrot kind of thinking apparently. So I had to write it down and regain some semblance of sanity again.

So, Bellhands is all well and good (and honestly, probably the most likely option for Izzy's long lost boyfriend please cast Matt Berry as Sam, he is so perfect), but then I doodled a little piratey dude the other day, thought he looked like he could be a good boyfriend for Izzy, but he didn't feel like Bellamy to me, and then I thought

Blackbeard is a pirate with a bloody reputation, but a soft side for his beloved.

You know you else had a big, nasty, bloodthirsty reputation?

Charles Vane

Hear me out:

In history, Vane got started sailing around the same time as Stede and Blackbeard under Henry Jennings, and pretty quickly made a name for himself and gained a reputation for like, torturing captured crews, and being the "leave none alive, show no mercy" sort of pirate captain.

So if Vane is a big name in the pirate world, why wouldn't Izzy hear that name and go "that's my boyfriend! He's alive!"

Some pirates likely changed their names to protect their family's reputation, so maybe when they were younger, Izzy didn't know him as Charles Vane?

From what I skimmed on Wikipedia, Vane didn't sail with Hornigold, but we're history inspired here, not completely accurate. I read somewhere that Taika said he read like 4 sentences of the Blackbeard Wikipedia page and decided to just wing it from there, so if it's good enough for Taika, it's good enough for me

So, what if he did? What if he sailed with Hornigold and company under his legal name, and then later changed it to Vane when he started building his own piratey reputation?

Some time after Blackbeard gets to captain his own ship, something happens and Charles gets separated from the crew (arrested? Falls overboard and picked up by a different ship? Idk, something) and Izzy thinks his boyfriend is dead

Maybe Charles has some connections somewhere and talks his way out of being hanged for crimes of piracy, but has a hard time getting back out to sea for some reason. Eventually he does get away and back out to sea where he meets Jennings, and somewhere down the road, he gets to captain his own ship and goes off to try to reunite with Izzy and company.

(side note: at least according to Wikipedia, he sailed on The Lark, The Ranger, The Katherine, and a different ship called The Ranger. Hornigold also had a ship called the Ranger, so there's the basis for my half-assed 'Vane used to sail with Hornigold' theory. I’ve also decided that his ship the Katherine is named after someone he knows. A beloved little sister, maybe?)

Historically, Vane and Calico Jack sailed together for a time. Per Wikipedia, Jack was Vane's quartermaster, and later became captain after voting Vane out of his captaincy. Again, vaguely historically inspired, my vision of Vane (fairly level-headed and laid back, but prone to bursts of anger and murder) probably doesn't like wild, rambunctious Jack too much, and maybe only briefly reunited with him prior to ep 8. So maybe when Charles reunites with Blackbeard and Izzy, there can be a "why the FUCK didn't Jack tell you I've been looking for you, I'm gonna fuckin kill him" moment

Maybe Vane got his violent reputation while looking for Izzy. I'm picturing like, Vane shows up in the republic of pirates, asks about Blackbeard, and the guys there are like "oh yeah he was here like a week ago, you just missed him. No idea where he fucked off to this time", and he starts taking out his frustration on captured ships because his former shipmates are just always slightly out of reach. Or maybe gossip spreads about Ed and Stede taking the act of grace, and Vane starts getting extra passionate about hunting English ships, hoping to find Blackbeard on one of them and reunite with his old friend?

how did Izzy and Charles end up together in the first place? Still working out the details on that one, but it's coming together, just slowly

This may turn into a actual fic some day (probably not, I have no time, nor am I good with words) but for now it's just a jumbly, scrambly list of half-formed ideas that need to be dealt with eventually

#our flag means death #ofmd #Izzy Hands #give this sad little man a boyfriend please #historical accuracy? what historical accuracy? we don't do that here #its pirate party time at all fuckin hours in my brain lately

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homomenhommes · 6 months

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

1992 – US Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmates for being Gay, precipitating first military, then national debate about Gays in the military that resulted in the United States "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.

Schindler was from a Navy family in Chicago Heights, Illinois and was serving as a radioman on the amphibious assault ship USS Belleau Wood in Sasebo, Japan. According to friends of his, Schindler had complained repeatedly of anti-Gay harassment to his chain of command in March and April 1992, citing incidents such as the gluing-shut of his locker and frequent comments from shipmates like "There's a faggot on this ship and he should die."

While on transport from San Diego to Sasebo, Japan, The Belleu Wood made a brief stop in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Afterwards en route to Japan, Schindler made a personal prank announcement "2-Q-T-2-B-S-T-R-8" on secured lines reaching much of the Pacific Fleet. When he was brought before the disciplinary "captain's mast" for the unauthorized radio message. Schindler requested the hearing be closed. It was open, with two to three hundred people in attendance. Schindler was put on restrictive leave, unable to leave the ship until a few months after arriving to Sasebo and four days before his death.

The captain had been visited by Schindler, who had many times requested to be transferred to another location because he was being threatened by other shipmates for being Gay. The captain denied Schindler's request and kept the man's sexual orientation and his death a secret for months. It was not reported until a special team composed of a psychologist, two lawyers, a counselor, and a corpsman from Yokosuka incidentally met at a bar in Sasebo.

Airman Apprentice Terry M. Helvey who was a member of the Ship's weather department stomped Schindler to death in a toilet in a park in Sasebo, Nagasaki. Schindler had "at least four fatal injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen," his head was crushed, ribs broken, and his penis cut, and he had "sneaker-tread marks stamped on his forehead and chest" destroying "every organ in his body" leaving behind a "nearly-unrecognizable corpse." Schindler was left lying on the bathroom floor until the Shore Patrol and the key witness to the incident (Jonathan W.) carried out Schindler's body to the nearby Albuquerque Bridge. Jonathan W. witnessed the murder while using the restroom. He noticed Helvey jumping on Schindler's body while singing, and blood gushing from Schindler's mouth while he attempted to breathe. The key witness was requested to explain in detail to the military court what the crime scene looked like, but would not because Schindler's mother and sister were present in the courtroom.

After the trial, Helvey was convicted of murder and the captain who kept the incident quiet was demoted and transferred to Florida. Helvey is now serving a life sentence in the military prison at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, although by statute, he is granted a clemency hearing every year. Helvey's accomplice, Charles Vins, was allowed to plea bargain as guilty to three lesser offenses, including failure to report a serious crime, and to testify truthfully against Terry Helvey and served a 78-day sentence before receiving a general discharge from the Navy.

1930 – Larry Townsend (d.2008) was the pseudonymous author (né 'Bud' Bernhardt) of dozens of books including Run Little Leather Boy (1970) and The Leatherman's Handbook (1972) at pioneer erotic presses such as Greenleaf Classics and the Other Traveler imprint of Olympia Press.

Growing up as a teenager of Swiss-German extraction in Los Angeles a few houses from Noël Coward and Irene Dunne, he ate cookies with his neighbor Laura Hope Crews who was Aunt Pittypat in Gone with the Wind.

He attended the prestigious Peddie School, and was stationed as Staff Sergeant in charge of NCOIC Operations of Air Intelligence Squadrons for nearly five years with the US Air Force in Germany (1950-1954).

Completing his tour of duty, he entered into the 1950s underground of the then small LA leather scene where he and Montgomery Clift shared a lover.

With his degree in industrial psychology from UCLA (1957), he worked in the private sector and as a probation officer with the Forestry Service.

He began his pioneering activism in the politics of homophile liberation in the early 1960s. In 1972, as president of the 'Homophile Effort for Legal Protection' which had been founded in 1969 to defend gays during and after arrests, he led a group in founding the H.E.L.P. Newsletter, the forebear of Drummer Magazine (1975). He lived in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, the center of the Los Angeles leather scene (the equivalent of the SoMa neighborhood in San Francisco).

As a writer and photographer, he was an essential eyewitness to the drama and following around Drummer in which his novels were often excerpted. His signature "Leather Notebook" column appeared in Drummer for twelve years beginning in 1980, and continued in Honcho to Spring 2008. His last novel, TimeMasters, was published April 2008. His last writing was Who Lit up the Lit of the Golden Age of Drummer, an introduction to Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer (June 2008).

His partner of 44 years, Fred Yerkes, died in 2006 and Townsend followed in 2008.

1950 – Fran Lebowitz is an American author. Lebowitz is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York sensibilities. Some reviewers have called her a modern-day Dorothy Parker.

Lebowitz was born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey, in an "observant" Jewish family. After being expelled from high school and receiving a GED, Lebowitz worked many odd jobs before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview. This was followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. Her first book was a collection of essays titled Metropolitan Life, released in 1978, followed by Social Studies in 1981, both of which are collected (with a new introductory essay) in The Fran Lebowitz Reader.

In her writings she talks about gender, race and gay rights as well as her favorite pet peeves: celebrity culture, smoking bans, tourists and strollers. Lebowitz, herself a heavy smoker, is known for her advocacy of smokers' rights. But despite her openness about being a lesbian, she doesn't address her private life.

She has been famous, in part, for Exterior Signs of Wealth, a long-overdue, unfinished novel, purportedly about rich people who want to be artists, and artists who want to be rich. She also made several appearances on Late Night with David Letterman. She has made recurring appearances as Judge Janice Goldberg on the television drama Law & Order.

Fran Lebowitz on being gay:

Do you think gay marriage is progress? Are you kidding me? This was one of the good things about being gay. I am stunned that the two greatest desires apparently of people involved in the gay rights movement are gay marriage and gays on the military. Really? To me these are the the two most confining institutions on the planet: people used to pretend to be gay to get out of going into the army.*****When I arrived in New York in 1969, gay bars were illegal, in back rooms, but you could smoke in them. Now gay bars have plate-glass windows, they have valet parking, people sit in the windows, but you have to go outside to smoke.

1951 – On this date the French postal service issued postage stamps with Gay lovers Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud and Verlaine began a short and torrid affair when Rimbaud was 16 years old. They led a wild, vagabond-like life spiced by absinthe and hashish. Ten years older than Rimbaud, Verlaine abandoned his wife and child and fled to London with Rimbaud. Their love affair was made into a movie "Total Eclipse" featuring Leobardo diCaprio as the young Arthur Rimbaud.

1971 – Today the film "Some of My Best Friends Are..." was released with the description: "It's Christmas Eve 1971 in Manhattan's Greenwich Village and the regulars of the local gay bar "The Blue Jay" are celebrating. Not much has changed since Stonewall and its not all "Peace on Earth. Good Will to Men" but the times are a changin."

An American International production, the film was written and directed by Mervyn Nelson and starred Fannie Flagg, future Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and Candy Darling in a rare dramatic role. Gary Sandy (of later "WKRP in Cincinnati" fame) portrays a drugged out, self-loathing closet case who attacks Darling's character and is kicked out of the club by the angered patrons. The film is now regularly shown at Gay film festivals as "The film you love to hate" but at the time it was thought of as a rare portrayal of life in gay bars of the era.

1999 – During the primaries, the two Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley promised that if elected they would do everything in their power to ensure equal rights for Gay and Lesbian Americans. The promise was an unprecedented declaration by a candidate for a party's nomination. George W. Bush would win the presidential election promising the absolute opposite position on equal rights for Gay and Lesbian Americans and became the first president to publicly call for a constitutional amendment to explicitly take away rights from a class of people - Gay people.

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ubyr-babaj · 10 months

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Anyway Doug should have lived because he had enough braincells to a) think twice about stealing drugs from the torture fetish crime family b) worry about an ethereal twink who just popped up in an abandoned warehouse. He's like, the kind of guy who yells when he sees a pirate ship and bitchslaps his horny shipmates when they start flirting with mermaids. He has both a mundane logic and a fairytale logic, he should have lived.

#renfield 2023

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sailorsally · 2 years

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Ahoy shipmates!!

Y'all remember this 'Be Gay Do Crimes' design I made years ago?

Happy to let you know that there is a even gayer version now!

Happy Pride!!! 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

[plunder 'em here]

#black sails #james flint #capitain flint #john silver #long john silver #james mcgraw #jack rackham #anne bonny #eleonor guthrie #luke arnold #toby stephens #be gay do crimes #gay pirates #queer pirates #queer #gay #proud pirates #sally designs #pride

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ruohteloiv · 1 year

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Gay Gibson (16 June 1926 – 18 October 1947)

TW: True Crime, Death, Disturbing details.

"a beastly thing to do"

Re-coloured photo rendering of actress 'Gay Gibson' (Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson) - who went missing from the Durban Castle during a voyage between Cape Town, South Africa and Southampton, England in 1947.

The criminal case that followed was known as the Porthole Murder. Deck steward James Camb would later be convicted, after admitting to pushing Gay's body through her cabin porthole, discarding of the corpse 25 feet into the "shark infested" depths below.

Camb denied killing Gibson, claiming she had died of a "sudden illness" during consensual intercourse. He disposed of her body in a panic, fearing for his job, later describing this as "a beastly thing to do". Camb was sentenced to death, but a suspension of the death penalty meant he served just 11 years for the murder, though was later convicted of unrelated crimes - an additional 10 years.

It seems apparent through subsequent interviews with fellow shipmates and previous coworkers of Gay Gibson, that she did infact suffer with ongoing health issues, including an undisclosed heart problem and fainting spells. Evidence examined at the trial saw significant injuries to Camb's wrist, Gay's urine on her cabin bed and blood on her pillow. Gay was possibly pregnant at the time of her death.

Sources:

Death of an Actress - Antony M Brown

Death Cruise - cruiselinehistory.com

Wikipedia

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100gayicons · 2 years

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Homer Baker (19) and Thomas Keene (24) were shipmates on the U.S.S. New Jersey. Shortly after it arrived in San Francisco, California, the duo were detained and arrested by military police. The charge? Sodomy.

The US Military Code didn’t prohibit sodomy until 1917 but California had laws in place for “crimes against nature”. Baker and Keene were turned over to the civilian police and put on trial. Baker, the younger of the two, was given a 6 year sentence. Keene was given a 10 year sentence. They both were sent to San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, June 5, 1908.

Baker served four of his six year sentence, while Keene served six and a half of his ten years.

No information available as to the future fates of the two sailors after being released. I hope the two avoid WWI just a few years after their release.

In 1975 California passed a consenting adult law (effective January 1976) repealing the sodomy law, thus making gay sex legal for the first time.

In 2003, the Supreme Court found that anti-sodomy laws violated basic constitutional protections

Something to remember: As of September 17th 2020, the following states criminalize sodomy:

Alabama

Florida

Idaho

Kansas

Louisiana

Michigan

Mississippi

Missouri

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Texas

Utah

Virginia

#gay icons #crimes against nature #Thomas keene #homer baker #sodomy laws #miscarriage of justice #victims #prison terms

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ltwilliammowett · 2 years

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Tarpaulin Muster

Sailors have always taken fierce pride in loyalty to their shipmates, individuals who they worked, ate, slept, and caroused woth pretty much 24- hours a day. At any given time a sailor's life could rest within the hands of his messmates, which is why crimes that destroyed that trust (like stealing, for example) were sure to garner the harshest punishments from the crew. By the same token, a crewmember finding himself in dire straits knew shipmates could be counted on to see him through. If the difficulty was financial in nature, a tarpaulin muster was often the answer. This involved rigging a tarpaulin catch-net near the mast, after which the ship's company filed past, each donating what money he could to help.

#naval history #tarpaulin muster #shipmates #age of sail

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northwest-by-a-train · 1 year

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Tagged by the funèbre @focalizer

relationship status: Lonely is as lonely does, that said I am an esteemed member of a girl (?) gang (as in we graffiti, go to strikes and commit petty crimes together) which has to count for something

favorite color: deep purples veering on blue, the kind you can see at sunrise or on expensive corduroy. Also the brown of molasses or maple syrup or recently varnished wood

song stuck in my head: "A cowboy overflow of the heart" by David Berman & the Avalanches

three favorite foods: Piperade with anchovies and capers, onion & barley soup with breads & cheeses (an assortment of each) Mont Blanc cake

last song i listened to: "A swallow song" by Mimi & Richard Fariña

dream trip: on a beautiful though crumbling galleon in the Mediterranean, calling at various ports. We would get wood splinters all the time, we would always have to repair the ship, and we couldn't enjoy our time on land as much as we wanted, since the piece we'd need to repair the ship (a carburettor, new sails, a new figurehead) would always be somewhere else. We would hurry through the streets of Casablanca, Trieste, Paphos, Neum, Syracuse, Port Saïd, Marseille, Thessaloniki, Valencia, Tripoli, Çanakkale with even a black sea excursion to Odesa, Sokhumi, Constanta, Varna, Sinop, Trabzon, Istanbul, Strilkove... We wouldn't be happy, per se, but I think I think after that trip, me and my shipmates would know each other in a way that excludes any goodbyes, except the "see you soon" at the end. That and the dream that those seas could be sailed and those cities reached, of course. If we're talking destinations and not trips I'll settle for Hav.

last thing i googled: "Be you mighty sparrow ? Lyrics"

anything i want rn: Paper to write letters on, a guillotine paraded through the streets of Paris, a translation of the novel I'm reading at the moment to gift to my non-french-speaking friends.

Interested in seeing those questions answered by @bouquet-of-violets @ruegracieuse @saltforsalt @thefangsharpener @lie-de-vin @water-weaving @bogfox @katelucia

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redsamuraiii · 2 years

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Yamato (2005)

Katsumi Kamio (Tatsuya Nakadai) is a 78 year old fisherman who spent the last 60 years sleepwalking through life, not knowing why he is the only one who survives the war while his family and friends have died.

One day, he came across an odd lady at the harbour who tries to talk to every boat captain into taking her to a specific location which he realises by the coordinates given, is the place where the battleship Yamato was sunk.

He learns that she is the daughter of his fellow shipmate who survived the sunken Yamato and died recently. His last wish was to dispersed his ashes at the place where the ship was sunk to be laid rest with his fellow shipmates.

The story then takes back and forth between the present and the past, mostly the past, showing Kamio younger days (Kenichi Matsuyama) with his family and friends, from the time he joined the Navy till the time he survived the war.

It shows the harshness of the working conditions and training regime on board the Yamato in order to get the best out the sailors, and the strong camaraderie formed among the sailors through hardship and the horrors of war.

How the civilians such as Kamio’s mother who resented the war and Kamio’s childhood crush who doesn’t really know what is happening became victims of war due to the crimes and cruelty of their own military governments.

It reminds me of Hollywood’s Valkyrie (2008) starring Tom Cruise about a few good men who opposed the war by Hitler and those who disagreed with the Furher but did not dare to voice out for fear of being executed.

It’s as good as the WWII films of Isoroku (2011) which is about Admiral Yamamoto, Tora Tora Tora (1970) which is about Pearl Harbour, (Midway 1976 & Midway 2019), which is about the critical war that turn the tide of the Pacific War and The Great War of Archimedes (2021) which is about the conspiracy surrounding the design and development of the Yamato battleship.

youtube

#yamato #tatsuya nakadai #kenichi matsuyama #yu aoi #nakadai tatsuya #matsuyama kenichi #aoi yu #japan #japanese film #japanese movie #j film #j movie #isoroku #admiral yamamoto #tora tora tora #midway #pacific war #my review #the great war of archimedes

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ikkaku-of-heart · 11 months

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Being Good and Being a Criminal Meta

Something I think a lot about in terms of Ikkaku’s personality is that, yes she’s a pirate, has killed and stole, is occasionally pretty selfish, and willingly follows Trafalgar Law and helps him commit his various crimes and atrocities, but she’s ultimately a good person. Chaotic Good, if we want to go with D&D alignments, but definitely good. At no point does she think that her being a wanted criminal means she can’t do good things when the opportunity presents itself. Hell, she’d rather be a criminal who does the right thing than follow a law put in place by a morally bankrupt government.

And all of that’s pretty much because of Gramps.

Tomasu was a criminal before he even became a smuggler. He committed mutiny against his captain and handed his crew’s treasure over to pirates, which he knew was a crime, but he did it to protect his shipmates’ lives. He did the “wrong” thing for the right reasons and thus was branded a criminal. After that he became a smuggler and embraced the criminal career, but he never lost his moral compass. Sure, he accepted payment to free Fishman slaves from Mariejois, but every cent of that went to buying them supplies to start a new, free life. He smuggled drugs and weapons and contraband to shady people, but it was for the sake of providing for a family he didn’t even get to see because of his status, and he’d still give money to those less fortunate where he could because he saw no reason why he shouldn’t. Even as a lighthouse keeper he has a wicked high body count, but it’s all been to protect the Light and his granddaughter, whose only crime on Joras was daring to be born.

So you can bet your ass that Ikkaku has never equated being a criminal to being a bad person, and sees it as no excuse why she shouldn’t do the right thing when she can. Fundamentally, she’s a kind, loving person, and that doesn’t change regardless of her wanted poster. Yes, she’s absolutely done bad things and she’s far from pure, but typically if given the choice, she’ll commit a good deed over a bad one.

#Working of the Mind (headcanons)#Engine's Pulse (Ikkaku)#Ghostlight Grandfather (Tomasu)#(just thinking about how lawful doesn't equal good and good doesn't equal lawful)#(and how despite the people she loves and the path she's chosen Ikkaku is definitely a good person)

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donttalkaboutmemes · 2 years

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The Great Mouse Detective (1986) Sentence Meme

Under the cut you will find 80+ sentences from the 1986 version of The Great Mouse Detective to use for your enjoyment!

1. “This is my very best birthday.”

2. “I haven’t given you your present yet.”

3. “You’re the most wonderful father in the whole world.”

4. “Little did I know, but my life was about to change forever.”

5. “Come, come. Dry your eyes.”

6. “Oh my, you poor dear! You must be chilled to the bone.”

7. “I know just the thing. Let me fetch you a pot of tea and some of my fresh cheese crumpets.”

8. “The villains slipped this time! I shall have him!”

9. “You don’t understand! I’m in terrible trouble!”

10. “How did you know I was a doctor?”

11. “I believe I smell some of those delightful cheese crumpets of yours. Why don’t you fetch our guests some?”

12. “Drat, another dead end. He was within my grasp!”

13. “Young lady, this is a most inappropriate time.”

14. “He’s a genius, a genius twisted for evil. The Napoleon of crime.”

15. “As bad as all that, eh?”

16. “For years I’ve tried to capture him, and I’ve come close. So very close. But each time he’s narrowly evaded my grasp.”

17. “There’s no evil scheme he wouldn’t concoct, no depravity he wouldn’t commit.”

18. “Who knows what dastardly scheme that villain may be plotting even as we speak.”

19. “Quite an ingenious scheme, eh? And aren’t you proud to be a part of it?”

20. “You can do what you want with me. I won’t be a part of this evil any longer.”

21. “By the way, I’m having the liberty of having your daughter brought here.”

22. “I would spend many a sleepless night if anything unfortunate was to befall her.”

23. “Oh, I love it when I’m nasty.”

24. “You know what to do. And no mistakes.”

25. “My friends we are about to embark on the most odius, the most evil, the most diabolical scheme of my illustrious career. A crime to top all crimes, a crime that will live in infamy.”

26. “It promises to be a night she will never forget.”

27. “It hasn’t all been champagne and caviar. I’ve had my share of adversity.”

28. “For years that insufferable pipsqueak has interfered with my plans.”

29. “I haven’t had a moments peace of mind.”

30. “All that’s in the past! This time nothing can stand in my way! All will bow before me!”

31. “What was that? What did you call me?”

32. “I’m afraid that you’ve gone and upset me. You know what happens when someone upsets me.”

33. “I trust there will be no further interruptions.”

34. “This case is most intriguing with its multiplicity of elements, its many twists and turns.”

35. “You’re certain you’ve told me everything? The slightest detail may be important.”

36. “A crime of the most sinister nature, no doubt.”

37. “No sign of the blackguard anywhere.”

38. “This is not business for children.”

39. “You are most definitely not accompanying us and that is final.”

40. “Not a word out of you. Is that clear?”

41. “The thrill of the hunt, eh?”

42. “Upon my word, I’ve never seen so many toys.”

43. “Don’t let this girl out of your sight!”

44. “Confound it! I told you to watch over the girl!”

45. “Poor girl. I should have watched her more closely.”

46. “Don’t worry, old fellow. It’s not entirely hopeless.”

47. “There’s always a chance as long as one can thing.”

48. “How sweet. I just love tearful reunions.��

49. “Remember it must be ready tonight!”

50. “You mean you’re not mad? I’m glad you’re taking it so well.”

51. “Oh I can just see that insufferable grin on his smug face.”

52. “You delightful little maniac! You’ve presented me with a singular opportunity.”

53. “Don’t be absurd. You look perfect.”

54. “Stay close and do as I do.”

55. “Two pints for me and my shipmate.”

56. “There you are boys. It’s on the house.”

57. “Has a rather nice bite to it.”

58. “Bravo! Bravo! A marvelous performance. Though, frankly, I expected you fifteen minutes earlier.”

59. “No one can have a higher opinion of you than I had. And I think you’re a slimy, contemptable sewer rat.”

60. “I just love your disguise. Really, one would hardly recognize you.”

61. “So help me, I’ll see you behind bars yet!”

62. “You fool! Isn’t it clear to you?”

63. “The superior mind has triumphed! I’ve won!”

64. “You don’t know what a delightful dilemma it was trying to decide on the most appropriate method for your demise. Oh, I had so many ingenious ideas I didn’t know which to choose. So I decided to choose them all.”

65. “Oh, this is wicked. So delightfully wicked.”

66. “See what you can do with the proper motivation?”

67. “It was my fond hope to stay and witness your final scene, but you were fifteen minutes late and I do have an important engagement.”

68. “You should have chosen your friends more carefully.”

69. “Haven’t you figured it out? The Queen’s in danger and the empires doomed.”

70. “Have you been with us long?”

71. “How could I have been so blind?”

72. “We all make mistakes, but we can’t let that stop us.”

73. “He would never have walked into such an obvious trap.”

74. “Pull yourself together! You can stop that villain!”

75. “It’s finally happened! I’ve been outwitted!”

76. “Our queen is in mortal danger!”

77. “As your new royal consort, I have a few slight suggestions.”

78. “I have the power! I am supreme!”

79. “This is MY kingdom! That is, of course, with your highness permission?”

80. “You’re not my royal consort. You’re a cheap fiend and imposter?”

81. “Stay where you are or the girl dies!”

82. “Would you kindly sit down and shut up!?”

83. “There’s no escape this time!”

84. “The games not over yet!”

85. “To be thanked by the queen herself! Oh how very thrilling, eh?”

86. “The case is over. Perhaps it’s best I found my own living quarters.”

87. “You look as if you’re in some trouble.”

88. “Over the years, we’ve had many cases together.”

#ask meme #askbox meme #ask box meme #rp meme #roleplaying meme #sentence meme #lyric meme #the great mouse detective

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