#still on hiatus. busy doing big mundane stuff | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

somethinginthethunder · 4 years

Text

dumb with love [joe mazzello x reader]

I loST THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS SO I’M SORRY THIS IS LATE. Also, I’m back!! I’m so sorry for that really long hiatus.

I hope this is good. I haven’t written for Joe in such a long time, so he might be a little out of character, and my writing is just really bad and rusty :’)

Hope you enjoy, though! Feel free to drop a like or reblog, idk.

Also!! I obviously don’t know where Joe lives, so don’t attack me for saying he lives in an apartment. This is for the sake of the fic!!

Plot: a misplaced letter sparks what seems to be a friendship (?) between you and the boy next door.

Word Count: 2,800

Warnings: none, except I haven’t reread this or edited (sorry).

---

“Hades, time to go inside,” you mumbled, tugging on the leash lightly.

The goofy schipperke made its way back to you, allowing slack on the leash that held him to you. His nose rubbed against your hand, signalling he was ready to move.

You clutched the coat against you. It was cold for some reason. You had just gotten back from work, and decided to take Hades out for a bit of a long walk.

When you returned to the apartment building, you had decided to check you mail. You knew there wouldn’t be much, but it wouldn’t hurt to check, obviously.

To your surprise, there was more than usual in your mail box. You pulled a small package out and let Hades hold on to it, collecting the rest for yourself. As you walked to your room via elevator, you decided to check through while you weren’t doing anything else.

And, curiously, as you were exiting onto your floor, there seemed to be one letter out of place. It was not addressed to you, but to a certain Joe Mazzello, your neighbor.

Now, you lived at the end of the hall, and Mazzello lived right next to you. Across from you was the cleaning closet. Had you seen your neighbors very much? No, admittedly. Perhaps you had seen him once or twice.

Of course, you weren’t going to keep the mail from him, so, as anyone would, a return would be in order. But, for now, you were going to drop your mail and Hades off.

Oddly, the universe seemed to want to put your plans off a little.

Right next to you you could hear the click of a lock. Turning your head, you realized someone had left the apartment next to you. He was a young man, with auburn hair and hazel eyes. His hair was a little messy, but his aura was casual and friendly. Was he Joe? Most likely.

“Oh,” you said. Oh??? OH? Outstanding conversation starter, [y/n].

“Oh?” the stranger echoed, just realizing your presence next to him.

You cleared your throat, a bit embarrassed.

“Sorry, but are you Joe Mazzello?” you asked.

For some reason, that made him break out into a smile. “Yeah, that’s me!”

Relief washed over you for a moment. “Great! Sorry- does that sound weird? It’s just- I think I got one of your letters by mistake,” you said, stumbling over your words. If you could only choose one moment in your life to facepalm, it would be right at that moment.

“Really? That’s pretty weird,” he, Joe, commented, taking the letter that was presented to him by you.

“Yeah,” you agreed.

This left you in a quiet, awkward position. Neither of you knew how to comfortably continue the conversation. Thankfully, Hades didn’t seem to care, as he got impatient. Whining, he pawed at the door to be let in, dropping the package he was tired of holding.

“Ah, I should probably go. Enjoy your mail,” you coughed, opening your door for your furry friend.

“Definitely. Thanks for returning it!” Joe grinned, finishing locking his door.

“No problem.”

And that seemed like the end of the conversation. Until-

“Wait,” he suddenly said.

You turned back to face him, your hands lingering on the door and entry way. “What’s up?”

“I didn’t get your name,” he murmured, now standing to face you completely.

Something about that gave you a bit of a light and friendly feeling. Almost comfortable, despite being strangers.

“I’m [y/n] [l/n],” you said, reflecting his smile.

“Cool, cool,” he responded. “I’ll see you around then, [y/n],” he beamed.

You hoped that statement to be true when you bid farewell to each other and parted ways.

You just didn’t expect it to be so soon afterward.

The cafe was quiet and peaceful. You were responding to a client’s email on your phone, sipping your drink. In your mind, you had decided to leave and return home in maybe ten minutes. But, once again, the universe seemed to foil your plans again.

“[y/n]?”

The sound of his voice, and your name, of course, made your head shoot up suddenly in its direction. There he was, clad in a dark shirt, jacket, and jeans. In his hand was a cup of what looked like coffee, his other hand stuffed into his pocket.

Shutting off your phone, you suppressed an unusually large smile. He was just your neighbor, no need for a smile so big.

“Joe! Hey, take a seat if you want!” you greeted back. He took the seat across from you gratefully.

The conversation that followed lasted, what? Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? No, it was more like an hour, which was strange for someone like you. You had decided to talk about some mundane things, like the weather and how your guys’ day was. Turned out he had just come back from a meeting. And that had pulled in the topic of jobs.

“What do you do?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“I’m a photographer, actually. What about you?”

“Ooh, I’m an actor.”

Oh, now that really started the conversation. As time passed, you became even more comfortable with each other. He was an actor? Now, how was that not supposed to be interesting?

“Wait, really? Was that what the meeting was for, then?” you asked, a little shocked by his modest answer. He seemed proud, that wasn’t a lie, but in no way was he boasting.

“Yeah! I got to meet all my co-stars, so that was pretty fun,” he answered. “What about you? You said you were sending emails?”

“Yeah, kind of boring, but it was just for an appointment I had just finished. I need to get them all done since I’m going away for a couple of weeks.”

“For what?”

“Just visiting family. Kind of like a reunion,” you replied. In reality, you grandmother was sick, but you didn’t feel like it was too important of a detail. Besides, the pity you get from just that statement was a little tiring.

“I bet your dog, Hades, right? Will have a fun time somewhere new, then!” he beamed.

In return, you gave him a bit of a sad smile. “He would, wouldn’t he? But he’s not coming. Travelling stresses him out, so I’d rather not move him unless it was necessary,” you clicked your tongue. “In fact, I still have to find him a dog sitter. Everyone I know is busy so-”

“I’ll watch him!’ he offered immediately.

That made you pause for a moment. “Are you sure? I mean, he’s no trouble at all, but still-”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, a confident sound in his voice. “We haven’t started filming yet, and the project is still new for us. Besides, he sounds like a pretty fun dog to be around.”

You laughed at that statement. “Yeah, he is. I’m leaving in a few days, but if you change your mind, you can tell me. I can really just hire some random dog sitter near me or something.”

“Nonsense, it’ll be fine!” he reassured you, drawing out the “fine” as if it had a million letters in it.. At that moment, he took a quick look at the time. “Look, i’ll give you my number and we can talk about it, okay?” he offered.

The thought of giving him your number made you feel as if you heart had been filled with clouds. How strange, as you had only met a few weeks before.

“I- okay, sounds good. Thank you again! And here,” you held out your phone to him with an open contact, to which he exchanged his number with you.

And only moments after that, though he insisted he really did not want to end this conversation, he decided it was time for him to head out. The cafe closed early that day, and he had to drop by a friend’s house that day to pick something up. However much you didn’t want to admit it, you wished you could talk with him more, but you also had things to do as well, such as pack, plan, and give attention to Hades.

With that, you bid farewell again and parted ways.

While texting, he made conversation easy, and made everything seem comfortable to you. Now, you had started developing some type of feelings, but there was no way they were real, right? Must’ve been just a little crush that would wear off in about a week or two when you’re away.

You had talked about the details with taking care of Hades, and when the day came to leave, you unfortunately had to say goodbye to your lovely little boy.

“Bye, sweetheart. I’ll be home before you know it,” you cooed, scratching his head as Joe held the door open to bring his stuff in. It was early in the morning for everyone. He was wearing a plain white shirt and what looked like old shorts, looking as though he had just woken up, which he probably did. Your flight was early, but he insisted he was fine with the hours.

Standing up, you looked up at the boy next door once again.

“You sure you’ve gotten everything?” you asked, slightly worried.

“Don’t worry about it, [y/n]. We’ll have fun, okay? Now, you have some too. I’ll send you pictures even,” he reassured you, a lazy smile on his face. He did that a lot, didn’t he? Smile like there was no problem in the world? It was almost like a domestic sight.

“Thanks, Joe. Really, I’ll pay you right when I get home and-”

“Woah, woah, woah. Who said anything about paying?” he snorted. “This is a favor. Now go, you’re gonna miss your flight!”

Taking one last look, you gave him a quick smile, and a kiss to Hades’ forehead before leaving onto the elevator.

While you were away in [y/s], Joe had kept his word. Everyday he had texted you goofy pictures of him and Hades, whether it be with him looking over the counter longingly at a piece of meat Joe was eating, or him bounding across the park with Joe’s cheerful commentary in the background.

And, to make it even better, Joe had started talking to you outside of the topic of Hades. He would strike up conversation every now and then (and even you would, too), or start asking about your day after sending a video of you goof of a dog trying to play hide and seek with Joe.

It was nice, making you feel like he really did care about knowing you, besides talking about your dog and polite conversations. Eventually, a week in, the conversations became anything. Whatever you felt like talking about, you talked about it. Like why Pringles cans were shaped the way they were, why the letter w isn’t ‘double-v’ instead. It made you excited to come back home besides seeing your pup again.

While sitting with your grandmother in the hospital room, you had gotten a message from Joe. As she was still asleep, you decided to open it. It was a simple video, with Hades rolling around the house, to which Joe described as “trying to get his wiggle-waggles out”.

A small laugh left your lips as you watched, responding to Joe within only a few seconds.

Because you were so invested in the conversation, you were surprised to hear your grandmother speak up from her supposed slumber.

“You’ve got a boyfriend now? Why does nobody tell me anything,” she murmured under her breath.

You turned your head to look at her, not realizing your phone screen was visible to the woman’s eyes.

“He’s not my boyfriend. We met only a few weeks ago, grandma. He’s dog-sitting Hades for me,” you explained. How absurd it was for someone to assume you were in a romantic relationship just because he was a guy. However, you’d admit you wouldn’t mind a little romance. But this isn’t what we’re talking about right now.

“Oh, really? Hum. A good connection you have, then, from what I can see.”

“You were reading my messages?”

“I may have terrible hearing, but my reading can go to your screen, young lady. If you’ve known each other for only a few weeks, then it seems like you guys clicked very well,” she murmured. “Besides, seems like a friendly guy. You don’t come by those too often, huh? Especially in my time.”

You smiled fondly at the moment, squeezing the woman’s hand gently. “Ah, I think they’re easier to find now, ma, I think you’d be glad to know. But you can’t really tell that just from seeing one of our conversations,” you commented.

“Or can I?” she asked mischeviously, her face morphing into a sly smile. Her eyes crinkled at the edges, voice filled with humor.

…

Could she? She couldn’t, right?

When you returned home, it was like a weight had been pulled off your chest. You couldn’t believe your flight was done, lugging your suitcases and bags across the sidewalk to your apartment building. Oddly, there stood two familiar figures. Hades and Joe.

“Welcome home!” he said, jogging down the steps with your excited companion. He grabbed a suitcase and bag from your hold. “Decided i’d help you with your stuff,” he explained, his eyes squinting against the bright rays of the sun.

“Aw, that’s really sweet, Joe. Thanks, you really didn’t have to!” you laughed.

“Don’t mention it!” he said teasingly, walking up the steps with you.

Seeing him again had awoken something in you. It made your heart feel high and your intelligence feel low. Something your grandma would say ‘dumb with love’.

You had thought these feelings would go away when you spent time away from him in another state, but you happened to be wrong. You didn’t know whether to be annoyed or glad of this fact.

Finally, after a short conversation about how your trip went, you had arrived at your guys’ floor. Joe took another extra step in help and decided to help you put your things inside your room. It was as if he was finding every excuse to hang out with you as much as he could.

When you finished with the moving, and the conversation seemed to come to an end, you took out a neat wad of cash.

“What’s this for?” he asked, before realizing. “Oh. Oh, no. Are you crazy? I’m not taking that. As I said, it’s a favor.”

“Fine, then take this as a favor,” you challenged sassily.

“You wish, princess,” he joked, laughed at the situation. Before you could process the little nickname, he had pulled out a letter and held it out to you. “Also, I think this is for you,” he said.

What a coincidence. Another misplaced letter, just like the way you two had begun to know each other.

“Really? Weird. Thanks, by the way,” you chuckled, taking the letter from him.

For a fleeting moment, he seemed nervous. How did you pick that feeling up? You weren’t sure. But there was something there between the two of you. This silence wasn’t awkward like the ones before, but nice, actually.

“Well, I should probably head to work. I’ll see you around?” he asked, as if trying to reflect what had happened weeks before.

“Definitely. I’ll look forward to it,” you responded, glee evident in his face when you agreed.

And that was the end of the conversation for that time, with him leaving for work and your heading inside to unpack and catch up on clients.

Later that night, you had realized you hadn’t opened up the misplaced letter Joe had returned to you, yet. Upon further inspection, you realized that… it wasn’t even a proper letter. All it had was your name on it and gibberish as the return address. How strange.

Opening the letter, it read:

Dear [y/n],

This might be embarrassing to say after only knowing each other for a short amount of time, but I really enjoy being around you.

I know I won’t let you pay me for taking care of Hades, but maybe you could let me take you out on a date and we can call it even instead of cash? I’ll pay, don’t worry.

No pressure!

Signed,

Joe

P.S., please let me dog-sit Hades more often- I (really) love him. He’s a good dance partner. And no, I’m not joking.

Enclosed in the envelope were several pictures of Hades playing with Joe and early morning pics that he hadn’t sent to you before. It was like a little bonus, and on the back he had written little notes describing the moment. It was sweet, really.

And so, in response to his letter, it only seemed appropriate that you would respond in the same way, right?

Taking out a paper and pen, you began to write:

Dear Joe Mazzello,

Haha don’t hate me, please :)

I didn’t want to write more because I felt that would be too long, but I don’t know if you guys would even want a part two or to make this a series (which would take some time). Let me know your thoughts!

#joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello imagine #joe mazzello fluff #joe mazzello #joe mazzello fic #bohemian rhapsody fic #queen fic #queen x reader #borhap boys

69 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

Riverdale Season 5 Episode 9 Review – Chapter 85: Destroyer

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The mundane mingles with the supernatural in a enjoyably goofy episode.

Riverdale Season 5 Episode 8

“It is better to know the truth and make peace with it.”

In a bit of selfless wisdom, Cheryl states the above words to Betty in tonight’s bonkers installment. The context being that Betty doesn’t want to tell her mother that it looks like Polly is a goner. So she goes to Cheryl basically to inquire whether she feels that her cousin’s life would have been better had she not known Jason’s true fate.

The from-the-heart response that Cheryl gives her is quickly ignored, and Betty hides the truth from Alice. Since this is an episode of Riverdale, Betty’s deception immediately backfires on her when her FBI superior Glen arrives at the Cooper household to reveal Polly’s probable fate and kick Betty off the case. (Somewhere in the night, Veronica does a breathy cover of The Thompson Twins’ “Lies”).

Anyway, let’s get back to that quote for a second: It is better to know the truth and be at peace with it. That’s going to be the mantra for this entire review, as there are fundamental truths I’ve touched upon in the past that demand to be recognized before the healing can be reached. They are:

1- Archie’s football storyline is a total snooze.

Riverdale may have leaped seven years into the future, but Archie remains as doltish as ever. Granted, K.J. Apa is killing it this season as a grizzled version of the character, but the problem of Archie’s messiah complex still drags on. There are a lot of fascinating things happening on this series right now, and all the Bulldogs stuff does is slow down the breakneck pace that those interesting storylines are moving in. Aliens are in Riverdale, nobody cares about high school football right now. C’mon.

All that said, Britta rules.

2 – Any time that this series isn’t focusing on Mothmen Aliens is wasted time.

The show is taking serious liberties by mashing up Mothman and alien abduction mythologies, which really upends my In Search Of-influenced ideology about how the world works. I’ll forgive this because putting “aliens” on Riverdale is a work of stupid genius but also because I love watching Cole Sprouse and his starter goatee running around looking totally frantic.

3 – Hiram Lodge should be eaten by Mothmen Aliens.

Am I alone in thinking this could actually happen? What a coup for the series that would be! We know that Hiram is involved in some shady business, and all his SoDale shenanigans are a cover for some big secret. Therefore the mystery of the Lonely Highway is directly traced back to Hiram. Is he working for the government? Did aliens cure his mystery illness of last year and in turn is he feeding them Riverdale’s castoffs? Nothing is off the table here. Hiram’s machinations have been the same since he first appeared, but what if he really was working for aliens THE WHOLE TIME? Wouldn’t that be insane/amazing? No other show could pull that kind of shit off.

What I’m saying here is that Riverdale has been dancing with insanity since day one and it’s time to consummate the relationship.

4 – Betty Cooper, Alien Hunter needs to happen.

She fights werewolves in the comics, so is this really that crazy?

The ultimate mystery of whatever is happening this season will likely have a logic-based answer. That’s disappointing, as the Archieverse can be shown to handle witches, so are extraterrestrials that far off? (I’m still burned by the conclusion of the Gargoyle King saga, so I’m not expecting much here). Imagine though, the writing staff wants you to think that everything will wrap up with a plausible explanation and then, boom, it gives you bona fide aliens! A dream is a wish the heart makes…

This episode did give us clarity on a few things. We learned that both Jughead’s and Betty’s investigations lead back to the Lonely Highway and the mysteries — either terrestrial or otherworldly — unfolding there. Additionally, we were reminded that even though he’s ostensibly the lead character of this series, Archie is straight-up boring when he isn’t being attacked by bears or escaping from prison. With only one more episode before an extended hiatus, I hope next week brings us some resolution even though deep down I know that it won’t.

Riverdale Rundown

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

• Jughead’s student who writes the troubling story about Mothman abduction is Lerman Logan, a reference to The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Percy Jackson franchise star.

• Old Man Dreyfus’ name is clearly inspired by Close Encounters of the Third Kind star Richard Dreyfuss, which is fitting as the supernatural elements of this season are riffing on the sci-fi blockbusters of the 1970s and ’80s. Further proof of this can be seen by Drefyus telling Betty and Jughead about how Riverdale was a hotbed of Mothmen activity in the summers of 1977 and 1982, ones in which Star Wars and E.T. respectively ruled at the box office.

• Mr. Weatherbee threatens to fire Jughead if he doesn’t stay out of Lerman’s problems, apparently forgetting that Jughead isn’t really even a teacher and is only volunteering.

• Even objectively, Archie is a terrible coach. Can we please fold him into the Jughead/Betty storyline somehow? It’s great to see him and Veronica back together but damn do they need better plots to work with.

• One of the teams that defeats the Bulldogs is the Baxter High Ravens. In case you forgot already, Baxter High was one of the schools that Sabrina attended in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

• One has to wonder how the Vixens must feel about Cheryl, a woman in her twenties who graduated seven years ago, returning to her alma mater to steal the thunder of teenagers who live in Murdersville, U.S.A. and have no other outlet besides cheerleading by performing a self-aggrandizing Lady Gaga cover. Cheryl does a lot of messed up stuff on this show, but this act struck me as especially cruel.

• There’s no Toni and very little Tabitha Tate tonight. Boo.

• I still think they should sell the Pop Tate bobbleheads they keep showing.

• Kevin gets put through the emotional and physical ringer this episode. We learn that disparaging remarks from his mother impacted his self-image so much that he turned to cruising in Fox Forest. (The fate of Mrs. Keller is unknown, so it is possible that she will make an appearance in an upcoming episode). The assault that Kevin endured was brutal to watch, but the scene between Kevin and his father was powerful and cathartic. It will be interesting to see where the character of Kevin goes from here, because it is absurdly beyond time the writers give him a personality trait other than chronic thirst.

• Someone on the Riverdale production staff must really love Friday Night Lights.

• I don’t believe for a second that Polly is actually dead. There’s more of a chance of Hiram being eaten by Mothmen Aliens or Archie getting a compelling A-plot.

• I hate on the football storyline a lot in this review, but I do find all the talk about tainting the podunk town’s football league’s prestige to be weirdly funny.

• Pop’s sells take out cold cuts too? Helluva business, that Chok’lit Shoppe.

• “I’m saying that things happen, especially in Riverdale,” declares Jughead, in the most obvious statement in the episode.

• Please let them do a Mulder and Scully thing with Jughead and Betty.

• I think there’s more Mr. Weatherbee in tonight’s episode than there has been in the entire series to date. That’s a fantastic thing.

• So is Reggie done with Hiram for good now? He is such a key figure in the comics that it would be fantastic if the series figured out what the hell to do with him.

• Having reviewed this show from the first episode, I’ve learned a thing or two about how Riverdale storylines work. Therefore I’m calling it now: Glen is the Trash Bag Killer. You think so too, I know it.

• So far this season has drawn influence from everything from cryptozoological monsters to the real-life crimes of Patrick Kearney. Next week marks the mid-season finale, and the promise of everything from aliens to Pop’s possibly being blown up by Hiram? Whatever happens, cherish it, as the show then won’t return until July.

The post Riverdale Season 5 Episode 9 Review – Chapter 85: Destroyer appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2QBxetE

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

1 note · View note

bryonysimcox · 4 years

Text

Cutting, calling, sticking, sitting, subtitling: Week 15, Spain

With future certainty and concrete plans nowhere in sight, this week’s blog post is in praise of the mundane. Seven days of everyday life.

When prepping for this blog entry, I started panicking. What’s the overarching message? The big-picture mood of the week or the lesson I’ve learnt? Well this week, there isn’t one. It’s been seven days of everyday life and I reckon that’s worth celebrating too.

We’ve been pitching for some exciting work this week.

I can’t talk about the specifics, but it’s heartening to be actually planning and quoting for real-life projects that could bring in real-life money and real-life experience. We pretty much work on Broaden as a full-time venture anyway (regardless of if it makes us money), so when prospective clients reach out to Broaden to ask us to do more of what we love, then that’s a bonus.

I guess that’s the beauty of filmmaking, it’s so broad and its potential is so great that it can be valuable for a whole lot of people. I also think in the coming ‘new normal’ as countries, cities and communities come to adapt life around Covid-19, that the role of video and online streaming will shift, and perhaps become a more central element in our lives.

I’ve also been working away at editing the video we started filming last week about Economics for a more just and equitable world. It’s starting to take shape, though there is a lot of refinement needed (I’ve cut 150 minutes down to 30 minutes but still have a fair way to go!). Working on this video is also bringing about a newfound challenge of how we make videos like this visually stimulating, when they predominantly feature digital interviews and we can’t film footage out and about due to lockdown. It’s forcing us to get more creative with motion graphics, which is no bad thing.

In what is the culmination of a longstanding project, we also interviewed Rich Evans about The Foundations in New South Wales this week.

‘The Foundations’ is a truly extraordinary project/place in Portland, a tiny town about two-hours inland from Sydney. I first discovered the project when I worked in Australia, and the company I worked for, RobertsDay, was involved in a masterplanning process. Portland was established around a cementworks which went on to not only be the driving economic force behind the town, but also the backbone of the community. It was a source of civic pride (cement from Portland famously went to Sydney amid the building boom, coining it the phrase ‘The Town That Built Sydney’), and also helped establish social infrastructure like the swimming pool that is still a celebrated destination in the little town today. Sadly, as the cementworks decreased in scale and eventually closed in the nineties, it had a huge impact on the town.

(images) Scenes from January 2019 when we started filming at The Foundations, Portland NSW.

Back at RobertsDay, I had the pleasure of working on the masterplan and placemaking work for the next chapter of the cementworks, and I immediately fell in love with the place. Not only was it this incredible place of industrial heritage, but the owners actually wanted to transform the site into something really special - a tourist destination, an asset to the community, and a revitalised part of the town. From its current state - fenced-off, closed, and perhaps even an eyesore, the owners wanted to introduce artwork, markets, community gardens, museum collections, fishing and camping, weddings, concerts and a whole host of other things.

It was obvious that there was a story about The Foundations that deserved to be told, and so in January 2019 George and I spent a weekend there, filming local residents, business owners, and the wonderful Rich Evans, ‘Chief Reactivation Officer’ from The Foundations. This was before we’d even launched Broaden, but we were passionate to use filmmaking to document the transformation that was taking place there. However, over the course of 2019, other things took centre stage in our lives and we never got around to editing the final film.

And so, in lockdown here in Spain, we decided it was finally time to close off this story. Just this week,we called Rich over Zoom and asked him all about how things have progressed since we last visited Portland. Rich is a larger-than-life character who had so much good stuff to report (an artist in residence, growing market attendee numbers, new custom-designed public furniture, and the renovation of a central historic building which involved the removal of 1000s of bees!).

In a strange way, I’d originally thought of this hiatus as a weakness for our film, but it now has added another facet to the story: giving Rich a chance to reflect on progress at The Foundations and show viewers how much is possible in the space of a year.

Making collages serves as respite for the mind.

I return to my collage practice as a meditative practice, and a restorative one too. It’s something I do when I want to clear my mind, and use a different part of my brain from the video-editing-zoom-calling-analytical-planning side of my brain.

That said, the last few paper collages I’ve made have felt like a bit of struggle, and I’ve felt rather uninspired. The collages are never meant to be a forced thing, but instead something visceral and playful, but in recent times they’d stopped being that.

Until this week! This week, inspired to make a collage for my mum’s birthday, I started getting my boxes of magazines and compiled sheets out, stuck my ‘Making Collage’ playlist on, and somehow just found my groove. Shapes and forms shouted out to me, and I was more preoccupied with the mood of the pieces than perfection and precision. I was drawn to more ambiguous textures and the way that they could be layered, and what started as one collage ended up being a series of three (the other two of which I’ll later publish this week).

(image) The collage I made for my mum’s birthday, ‘Flirtatious Textures’.

Whilst I’ve feel as though I’ve found my swing with collage-making again (and have been also considering embarking on some critical writing about my creative process using academic texts for reference), this week I had a piece rejected. I’d made it to enter into a competition, and when the rejection email landed in my inbox this week, the usual heart-racing pangs of inadequacy entered my mind. Not only had I lost money on the entry fee, but my work was ‘unwanted’. I’ve spent some time facing those demons these last couple of days and reminding myself that I make my work for ME.

So if that’s the cutting and sticking, and the zoom interviews were the calling, what’s the sitting and subtitling this week’s post refers to?

We’ve been doing a lot of sitting. Sitting and staring, sitting and watching the sun set, sitting and reading books, sitting and checking Instagram, sitting and feeling guilt for sitting, sitting and swatting mosquitoes away (it’s rather hot all of a sudden), sitting and eating crisps, sitting and calling friends, sitting and laughing, smiling, frowning, thinking.

(images, left to right) Everyday scenes from the cottage, cutting and sticking, and a lot of sitting (as demonstrated by George!)

It feels totally bonkers that as we face a global health pandemic, all I’m drawn to do (or able to do) is sit. And George and I have certainly discussed the guilt, lack of motivation, boredom and soul-searching that’s grown (and comes along with sitting!) in recent weeks. I’m not sure if there’s some grand benefit to all this sitting, but it has called for the enjoyment of many a good book, and also a good phonecall.

One of the most joyful moments (spent sitting!) this week was surely the video call I had for my Granny’s 80th birthday, between my mum, my brother, my aunt and my Granny herself. There were laughs and cheers, ridiculous filters used and lots of talk of birthday booze and plentiful cake. But after the call, there were also moments of reflection and of gratitude; that we are able to celebrate together (albeit digitally) for the momentous milestone that is my wonderful Granny’s eightieth birthday, as she sits alone in her house in Scotland, is a blessing. Of course, I would have loved to have seen her in person, but I am so bloody grateful that we can connect to her even if just through the airwaves.

Birthdays in May seem to be a common occurrence in my family, and this week saw my Mum’s birthday too. Again, there was a sense of loss that unsurprisingly, I couldn’t be with her due to coronavirus (a fact made worse by the fact I don’t think I’ve been with my Mum on her birthday for about five years), but we were also able to chat and videocall. And I was also able to go back through my photos, reflecting on wonderful times shared across the years.

(images, left to right) Looking back at memories with mum - as a child in a sling, on our trip to Sri Lanka in 2018, and at the exhibition opening of ‘Talking Sense’ where one of her sculptures was displayed at the Portico Library last year.

Access to computers and the internet, free time to sit and chill, and family who are safe and sound is not a privilege everyone shares. And I am so aware of that.

I continue to think of the inequalities this pandemic is highlighting, and the gaps it is widening. Access to the fundamental elements for a just and equitable life are basic human rights, and yet as BBC newsnight’s Emily Maitlis reminded us, 'The disease is not a great leveller'. If while I’m sitting this week, I can at least read, watch, learn and share ideas about how we can tackle these gaping inequalities, my sitting was perhaps not in vain.

As our fifteenth week on the road drew to a close, and looked ever less like life actually ‘on the road’, I decided to take on the task of subtitling The Hundred Miler.

Initially, the only motivation to create comprehensive subtitles for Broaden’s thirty minute documentary was so that we could enter foreign film fests. And even then, we’d have had it professionally subtitled if we weren’t looking for ways to save money!

And so I naively embarked on what was to become a two-day odyssey involving Artificial Intelligence transcript detection, manually correcting the script, learning about timecodes, downloading .srt files and working to integrate them with YouTube.

The long and short of it is that The Hundred Miler (which also hit a whopping 100,000 views this week) now has complete ‘closed caption’ subtitles which you can use and enjoy on YouTube! But more than that, through conversations with others I realised the importance of subtitles from an accessibility perspective, as a critical tool to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people, as well as those for whom English isn’t their mother tongue. It was a refreshing reminder that we exclude people without meaning to, but that we can also actively include them if we take certain measures.

So that’s it, Week 15 in all its mundane glory. To those of you who are still here, reading my reflections on these strange and tumultuous times, thank you. Maybe this week you’ve been cutting, calling, sticking, sitting and subtitling too, and for that, I salute you.

#COVID-19 #coronavirus #estadodealarma #lifeinlockdown #hiacevan #toyotahiace #broaden #digitalnomads #vanlife #traveldiaries

1 note · View note