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seraphdreams · 5 months

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"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGUMI!" | MEGUMI FUSHIGURO.

𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃— synopsis. it would be so very cruel of you to not show your appreciation for your best friend, especially on his birthday.

𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃— cw. smut, college au, reader calls him “megs”, mention of “angelcunt”, unprotected love-making, bimbo!reader / best friend!megumi, a bit of asphyxiation, megumi with a crush! fingering, and praise. mdni <3

𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃— word count. 1.7k, a quick read !!

𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃 — dolled up! hellooo !! it’s a real one’s birthday, this is the least i could do to celebrate. i’m trying to get back into the groove of writing again so stay tuned n ready 4 fics in the future !! sweet college au best friend megumi is always on my mind, something about a stoic but secretly in love trope .. (he’s no better than his father, sigh) .. as always, if you enjoyed this, please reblog / comment. i’ll bake u you’re favorite sweets if u do !! thank u ♡

megumi has always been there for you. through ups and downs, taxing breakups, even the times you’d get exceedingly inebriated and ramble endlessly about your ever-growing appreciation for him — there was no denying the cordiality he’d shown throughout the many years of your friendship. sure, he could be quite cold, maybe even grumpy; but that was just the joy of megumi fushiguro.

and for that, it’d only be right to repay him.

for all of the times he would show up uninvited to your dorm with the notes of the lecture you’d fortuitously missed, blaming the absence on the absurdly quiet lull of your alarm clock, or when he’d let you have the last bite of his food, because only god knows megumi was never above tolerating you. it’d be the work of a terrible friend to let it all go unnoticed, especially on a special day like today.

“happy birthday, megs!” there you stood,

bubbly and bright as ever, in the doorway of his bedroom, clad in nothing but a tiny pink pajama set with a top reigning transparency, it barely left the skin beneath to the imagination.

he had invited you, along with yuuji and nobara, over to his dorm the previous night to keep him company after class — which led to a kugisaki-induced movie marathon, and eventually phased out into the four of you passed out on the fushiguro’s couch, hues of light omitting from the colorful rays of the forgotten television screen and onto your slumbering faces.

with megumi holding the title of competency within the friend group, it came as no shock when he’d woken up the others to send them on their merry way. all except you, of course. the light throw-over blanket clinging to your body neatly as you slept, soft snores resonating within your being aided in megumi’s decision to give you a few extra minutes to rest.

he could never interfere with your comfort.

after your unanticipated birthday wishes, it took a moment for megumi to come to, blinking away his awareness for your scantily clothed body and opting for a more stoic expression.

“thanks,” he replied, tone low and clouded with an air of vague appreciation.

“wanna know what i got you for your birthday?” your query was that of a sing-song manner as you swayed in place. megumi was used to being around absolute rays of sunshine, but you? you were different. it was as if you were the sun itself; warm and inviting yet shone luminous enough to blind onlookers. you were tooth-rottingly sweet, and as bubbly as you were naive.

matters weren’t made any better forgoing the fact that megumi had true feelings for you. it was a running gag within your friend group, jokes that itadori and nobara would make concerning the contrast between megumi’s unwelcoming behavior when it came to them, and impassive patience had times fell upon you.

in fact, obliviousness was your specialty in being ignorant to the feelings of the fushiguro. it wasn’t your fault, you truly didn’t know.

megumi responds curtly, although with a hint of sarcasm, “a break?”

you pout as you rest your head against the lacquered doorframe, reigning defeated already despite the conversation barely racking up a minute’s time. “no, silly.” the words come out as a giggle. “i got you me!”

a hint of confusion glosses over his features before it morphs into that of a neutral expression. shirtless from his shower just minutes prior, and puzzled from what your mind had conjured up this time, he questions again. “you? you got me you?”

you shake your head affirmatively as he starts up once more. “and what do i do with you?”

clear as day, your exchange took a rather suggestive turn, one that neither of you were intending. “well, you can do a lot of things with me,” now stepping into the room to close the distance between your bodies, your response is thick with an air of lust that megumi noticed seemed to come naturally for you. his heart picks up in pace from the sight of your pretty face, and even prettier eyes looking vacantly into his, as if you weren’t aware of the trap you set up for yourself.

he brushed off the slight arousal brewing up within him, chose to play it off as mirth like he usually did when it came to you. “i guess so.”

you held onto his arm, a more distinct, yet adorable look of seriousness on your features. truly, you were a little doll. “i’m for real, megs. it’s your birthday, i’ll let you do anything you want.”

yeah. you’re really going to regret this one.

the word “anything” came with free reign. and even though megumi thought of himself as anyone but a pervert, he certainly was bound to start acting like one.

“anything?” his question came out as if he was treading lightly while he moved to dig through his drawer, perhaps looking for a shirt.

you stepped back to allow him the space of rummaging, while nodding your head and confirming his suspicions. “anything.”

“let’s fuck, then.”

his tone was nonchalant, easy on your ears as his speaking voice regularly sounded, and you would have missed his request had he not straightened up to search your countenance for an answer — deadpan, as if he hadn’t said a thing.

in that moment, all of what you hadn’t noticed, no. all of what you chose to deny had finally been put into perspective.

megumi fushiguro was fucking hot.

“i mean, if that’s what you want then i don’t mind.” your response was succinct, gentle on your tongue and provided him the response he’d been aiming for.

this might be his best birthday yet.

he strode closer to you in light steps before his large, glacial hand found its place on your cheek and silken lips met yours, pulling you into a salacious kiss filled with hunger and want. the press of his tongue begging to be allotted within the slot of your lips was accepted with your own muscle dancing against his. it was dizzying, and dissimilar. for all your years of knowing megumi, you would’ve never thought up the occuring situation.

lithe fingers danced up the skin of your thighs where you part them on instinct, allowing his digits to work on their own to slip past the barrier of elastic fabric and into your little lace panties, softly drumming along the puffy nub of your clit.

“megumi,” you rasp against his lips, swirling your hips over his hand to build up the sweet friction surging from your core. the saccharine croon of his name tasted sugary like vanilla rolling off of your tongue and onto his. he was in pure bliss; ready to take everything you gave to him.

his body responded to your need, fingertips at your clit circling tightly, an action that pulled a string of mewls from you before you gasped at the intrusion of his long fingers dipping into your core. they curled upwards against your gummy walls just until they increased in pace while his thumb pivoted at your sensitive nub, and fuck! where’d he learn how to do that?

he pulled away only slightly to read your expression, the tent in his pants growing taller, tip leaking carelessly at the onsight of your face, screwed taut in pleasure — plump, glossy lips that were slick with spit and moans slipping past without prevail.

underneath him, your legs felt feeble, as if they’d fall beneath you from the surgence of pleasure. “m-megumi, wait, ‘m gonna!-“ you held onto his shoulders for leverage, your warnings of orgasm falling on deaf, distracted ears, until finally, you were a gushing mess in his palm, coating his digits in your essence.

“fuck. you’re so pretty when you cum,” in that moment, he gave you no chance to react when he gently positioned you over his dresser, pulling down your little shorts until they pooled around your knees.

“y’made me so hard, y/n. can you feel it?” he grinded himself over the plush of your ass, teasing before pulling his sweats down just enough so that his hard, throbbing and leaking, length could be free. it bobbed ever so under its weight while one hand began to pump from base to shaft to soothe the excruciating ache. once he felt satisfied in his ministrations, he lined his cock along your awaiting slit.

“a condom, megs.” your reminder came in the form of a soft lull. after all, you two were just free-spirited college students, unable to pay the consequences of spontaneous actions. “don’t have any.” with that, he sunk his cock inside to the hilt, a low groan rippling from his throat at just how tight your pussy clamped around him. it felt like fucking heaven. he could die in your cunt and be at peace.

while you adjusted to the stretch, he began to move; slow, deep strokes as if he were savoring this moment forever. who knows when he’ll be able to have the luxury to sink inside your perfect angelcunt again? you bit your lip to stave off impending moans which ultimately failed when his arms snaked around your body — one hand underneath the cloth of your shirt and pinching at your perked nipples while the other finds its place right back at your clit.

“sh-shit!” you cry out, eyes rolling and mind hazy from the pleasure. his rhythm increased gradually until he built up a vigorous pace. “i’ve been needing y-you so bad.” megumi groans along the shell of your ear. how he got so lucky as to have his dream girl engulfed around his cock, he doesn’t know. all he’s aware of was the tightening of his abdomen, signaling his own impending orgasm.

white hot pleasure replace all feeling in your body, counting down its time until the familiar numbness washed over you in euphoria. a pitchy moan sounded from your lips and an even whorish whimper when the warmth from spurts of his cum coated your insides.

after what felt like a minute of the two of you recollecting your breaths, megumi finally pulled out, shuddering at the added stimulation at his oversensitive cock.

he leaned your head back to meet his lust-filled gaze; calmness of his deep navy orbs now deepened with sin. megumi pressed gentle kisses all over your face while his hands took purchase at your now, exposed, neck and squeezed tight enough to keep you lightheaded.

“you’re the best birthday present.”

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maykitz · 10 months

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watched a popular movie so there's a mandatory my complaints and opinions longpost

barbie is a decent comedy with great visuals for sure but i have to say the social justice dialogue was written unbearably, felt like a 2012 bad tumblr post that wouldn't end. the real shame however is that imo the movie refused to take itself seriously even for a minute at crucial moments while making its entire plot about serious things, so it was like, okay, then what's the point.. you're saying patriarchy every other sentence and talking about the incredible pressure on women and having to deal with sexual harassment etc but every single scene is played like we're in beverly hills chihuahua. yes it's a comedy naturally but firstly comedy doesn't have to mean lowbrow slapstick all the time and secondly beverly hills chihuahua understands that it can't have those dogs be talking about abortion and fighting the islamic state with little pink paw pad drones, yknow?

the parody of male identity and masculinity was overall very lacklustre and disappointing too cause it had no bite, it was more like when south park depicts a celebrity as an adult baby- trite and kinda childish and with that air of smugness that tells you the author thinks too highly of themself to even need to flesh it out. which sucks! there's so much about men to satirise and roast lol. gosling is comparably quite old and there wasn't even one hairline or forehead wrinkles comment. sort of a haha gay joke about michael cera's comedic relief character ig? and will ferrell's character could've been wholly scrapped idk what he was even doing there tbh

the big inspiring message about female empowerment, too, is a little bit undercut (haters would say demolished) by there being no bulldagger barbie (or human), margot robie's miraculous powerful ending being that she now dresses and looks exactly like as a doll except her pink shoes are now flats and there's also a breakfast club tier makeover on a teen girl who hates barbie and talks like an sjw courtesy of plebcomics to show that she is now instead happy and pink and loves barbie. and even tho there's 1 fat barbie side character and 1 background wheelchair barbie the topic of unrealistic body proportions (the #1 complaint against barbie dolls!) and beauty pressure is entirely carefully omitted. there's a moment where a narrator coyly acknowledges this like, hehe margot robie is too pretty a casting choice to make this point about feeling ugly. yeah ok but, well. you still did it though. and every other actress too. they even ditched "weird" barbie's destroyed choppy hair + sharpie on face appearance for a put together "punk" outfit with flawless makeup and styled hair. even the destroyed toy can't forego her feminine beauty makeover, and it's only then that the other barbies apologise for ostracising her. big win for looking however you want.

ryan gosling was fantastic though i was really surprised by his singing voice and performance. and i cannot overstate my praise for the costuming and set designs, actual artistry all around

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astoundingbeyondbelief · 4 months

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Kaiju Week in Review (January 7-13, 2024)

Hard to talk about the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters finale without spoilers, so if you haven't watched it yet, skip ahead to the next item. No flashbacks this time (time dilation aside), just our surviving heroes finally all on the same page to solve a seemingly impossible problem. The momentous reunion between Lee and Keiko got the space it deserved, although I was a touch disappointed that the obvious budding romance between Cate and May got shortchanged. And of course we finally got our first kaiju fight of the series, with Godzilla dispatching the Ion Dragon in a quick but ferocious battle. Fun to see this version of the character take on a low-stakes, low-power challenger for a change. I am routinely frustrated by TV seasons ending on cliffhangers (some of which are then never resolved), but they managed to conclude this season's storyline while setting up the next one, should they have the chance to tell it. Good to have some payoff to the Apex episode earlier in the series. I'm wondering if the series is planning to pivot to Kong now. Since Godzilla: King of the Monsters still hasn't happened yet, the Big G still can't make any public appearances without breaking continuity, which is quite the writing complication.

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@bog-o-bones has blessed us with an excellent feature-length video essay on the history of the kaiju genre. Even for a walking encyclopedia like me, it was fun to have it all laid out so cleanly—the way the three genre pillars of Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman rise and fall in popularity, never entirely in sync and consequently keeping us steadily entertained over the decades. So many narratives about the genre in print are decades out of date and/or act like barely anything past the sixties was worth making. This one's up-to-the-minute and gives the seismic influence of films like Cloverfield and Pacific Rim their due. I have my quibbles (last-minute re-records accidentally omitted GAMERA -Rebirth-; the original Mothra deserved more attention), but I acknowledge the amount of works covered here is staggering and every fan would tell this story a little bit differently. Highly recommended.

IDW's biggest Godzilla comic ever is coming in May, a one-shot anthology called Godzilla: 70th Anniversary. It'll have nine stories over 100 pages, with the writers including Joëlle Jones, Michael W. Conrad, Matt Frank, James Stokoe, Adam Gorham, and Dan DiDio. (Some of these folks will presumably be illustrating their comics as well.) The solicitation doesn't offer many plot hints, given that scope: "From the American Old West to modern Tokyo and beyond, this collection features stories of the King of the Monsters fighting with its allies like Mothra, against old enemies like the terrible Mechagodzilla, and reshaping the lives of all who fall in its path!" I'm surprised they're not waiting until November—hopefully it doesn't get delayed into November.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will now release in the U.S. two weeks early—March 29. It's taking the place of Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17, which is now undated. I can hardly complain about being able to see it earlier, though the move comes with some risk, as it's now opening the week after Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

SRS Cinema has opened preorders for their Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo Blu-ray. Or is it Yuzo: The Biggest Battle on Tokyo? That's what the product page says, but on the cover the title's unchanged. Oh, SRS. Anyway, bonus features are scant: just trailers and something called "A Brief Introduction To Ishii Yoshikazu."

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Here's the teaser trailer for Volcanodon, a short film from Taiwan's Creator Union of Tokusatsu. They're aiming to have it uploaded to YouTube sometime this year, and I'll happily watch it. Obviously low-budget, but it's well-shot and it's nice to see a kaiju movie outside of Japan go all-in on practical effects.

#kaiju week in review #kaiju #godzilla #monarch legacy of monsters #volcanodon #yuzo the biggest battle in tokyo #godzilla x kong the new empire #idw

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measuredmotion · 7 months

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hiiiii I heard about your essay writing skills

I have this friend who has a huge crush on Jakub Gierszał, can you write an essay about him?

hiiii 👀 of course, i’m at your service! Jakub Gierszał is an accomplished, talented and I think still a bit underrated polish actor. Due to the fact he spent his childhood in Germany, he is also bilingual which gives him much more job opportunities when it comes to working abroad. He made some projects outside of Poland but still, he built his career there. Quite broad and diverse career in my humble opinion. At the beginning of it he won Shooting Star Award which is prestigious one for promising young actors in Europe. He debuted with film All That I Love in 2008 when he still attended acting classes. However, it was Suicide Room in 2011 which brought him the popularity. He played depressed, entitled, well-off teenager who gets lost in the cyber life. He even dyed his (beautiful blonde! ✨) hair for this role. No wonder why he got two awards and one nomination for it! Later on he starred in a couple of german productions. In the meanwhile he got leading role in Yuma (2012) telling the story of young Zyga who becomes 'Robin Hood’ of his town. In 2014 he got small role in American film Dracula Untold. A project, which seems interesting for me because of the idea behind it, is definitely Lure (Córki Dancingu). It is combination of the fairytale and musical on the basis of polish folklore. I must say that sometimes I still blast the soundtrack from this movie! Overall, 2017 was the year of GIERSZAŁ. He starred in four films and all of them were part of Gdynia Film Festival, let me introduce: Najlepszy (Breaking the limits) - based on the real story of Jerzy Górski, who was addicted to drugs but thanks to sport he fought dark times in his life and won Double Ironman. (Kuba killed it with this role 🤧🤍), next one was Beyond words which takes in the subject of immigration and identity. Spoor is about retired woman who becomes mixed up in a mystery when avid hunters in her mountain village start turning up dead and there are deer tracks next to their bodies. Then there was also film called Zgoda which takes place after the second world war and it is quite tough movie about sacrifice and love. I think Kuba chooses his work really precisely and he needs to be convinced to the project and characters he plays. It was quite chaotic during pandemic, but he even agreed to star in tv series which was quite shocking for me. He had been always denying to take part in tv series because it were films he loved the most. Nevertheless, he played a killer psycho and I was sold, me loves. Recently we could see him in Zadra where he plays a rapper! 👀👀👀 and in Doppelgänger where he plays a spy, the plot takes place in 70s/90s. I’m sorry for being chaotic! I might have omitted something but I said about his most acclaimed projects. I admire Kuba’s energy, he is a modest, kind and adorably shy human being, who doesn’t like attention and he is really private. He just wants to do his job and I admire him a lot. I could listen to him forever, his train of thoughts are always interesting! I think that the future of polish cinema is in good hands. Recommend to look his projects up ✨🤍

#ask #jakub gierszał #bels ramblings #essay

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softness-and-shattering · 16 days

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About the Mean Girls musical movie

I know Ive had conversations before about the cultural context stuff, that it seems like the message was not as effective as the first movie when the stuff its talking about, how girls are wrong whatever they do and everything is up for criticism and filming, and you have to pretend to be sweet and kind fairy princesses instead of being allowed to be human. And Id have to go back and find those posts to see what I do and dont agree with now. Because I just saw the movie. And honestly, I liked it. A lot of the visuals were really fun and interesting, which I think is impressive in a movie that mostly takes place inside of a high school. Regina more than once looks like she's in a music video, and that works because shes so hyped, its like she lives in a reality where not only do people break into song, but she's always in a music video. She really sells the character, self-assured and in charge and perfectly manipulative, and even when she's being vulnerable you're like, but is this another deception? She's more villainous in this version, and by the end maybe more human as well. (also the costuming is phenomenal, that Halloween angel dress?? The entire Halloween Someone Get Hurts sequence might be my favourite. )

Also Renee Rapp, who plays Regina, is just incredibly hot. She also played Regina on Broadway so it makes sense she has the character down. Thats not film critique thats my personal admiration. Its almost a little silly with the "oh no Regina is gaining weight she cant fit her clothes" because she looks amazing. [Edit: She's also obviously - I was gonna say she seems older than the other "teens" but actually she's 24, so Im having a moment of feeling old. And she's actually the same age as Auli'i Cravalho who is a lot younger in my mind because holy shit Moana came out EIGHT years ago?? Angourie Rice/Cady is 23, Jaquel Spivy/Damian is 26, Avantika/Karen is 19, thats more the age I thought they were but not the cast seems to be mostly 23-26. Its so weird when times moves the same for people while your image of them in your head stays the same. So Rapp isn't older she's just a bit bigger (neutral/positive). And she's been playing the role for a long time. And Im allowed to find her hot because she's a goddamn adult and so am I. This paragraph is not critique it is me blogging on my blog. Now Im annoyed at myself for Caveats of Fear but Im gonna stop dwelling on that now.]

On that note, though I originally liked the musical quite a lot, the significant fatphobia in it soured it for me. And Im happy to say in the musical movie, they changed or omitted those lines. I was waiting to cringe and they just sang something else. So that was great. I think the only fat character was Damian (why does that suddenly look like a vampire name?) - Jaquel Spivy - and he seemed comfy and cool, no self deprecating fat jokes or anything. Generally the lines/jokes that were uncomfortable or a bit bigoted have been changed. Though there isnt any disability rep, and theres a random character the burn book claims puts alcohol in her inhaler, like a 3 second joke.

And the big thing is that a lot of the meanness is shown in montages of vertical video and comments - no-brand tiktok obviously - and I think thats pretty realistic, and also in the original theme of not being mean to peoples faces but talking all kinds of shit behind their backs. And I think the montage format is effective in mimicking that endless scroll eyes glazing over stuck in the doom scroll/stuck in the spectacle. The music was good. I really liked how they overlaid the Spring Fling/thematic music with the math competition. If anything, Cady is not as good of a character, her Plastic switch is basically overnight, the scene with Aaron at the party is still kinda of awkward, she doesnt get as much room to breathe, while almost everyone else comes off really well. Heck even the candy cane/glen coco guy did well, I was actually suprised at how differently and yet excellently the actors acted their lines, compared both to the previous movie and the musical. Auli'i is fantastic, scary Janis is *scary*. And I simultaneously want to be her best friend. (It certainly helps that her art is augmented with embroidery and she's carrying embroidery hoops in multiple scenes. Fiber arts my loves.)

When I first saw a trailer my thoughts were "ugh we dont need another movie of this," but I think Ive changed my mind. Its similar enough and different enough that for me its a good adaptation. Also - I almost forgot to say - Janis gets a girlfriend for Spring Fling. Its not a plot point, we're just montaging getting ready and Janis goes to pick her up (in the lavender suit), and Damian is taking photos with two other sapphic couples. And he gets a crush/admirer who again, is just there to be there and doesnt interfere with the main story. I might change my mind again once its had time to settle in my thoughts, but initial impression is that its a fun movie I would watch again. Maybe we want the social commentary to be more incisive than it is, and in the end it is entertainment that needs to not be too boring to hold peoples shortening attention spans. (also neutral). Maybe thats wishing for it to be a movie that its not trying to be, and thats always a recipe for disappointment and also not great or fair analysis. What a fantastic line to end on*.

#mine #review #mean girls the musical the movie #whats the tag?#mean girls 2024 #that seems to be it.#Also the actress for Karen is Avantika I kinda thought that was a Matt Mercer invented name. I guess not.#I should also say it was the recent episode of This Ends At Prom that made me think it would be worth watching because they quite liked it #and their opinions might've influenced mine #I dont remember if there was anything in particular though #Other than Renee Rapp having played the part hundreds of times and therefore doing such a good job.#mm and Cady being a bit outshadowed by the others

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mask131 · 10 months

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Fantasy read-list: B-1.5

Next in our series of articles detailing fantasy works, is one from André-François Ruaud, covering Shakespeare, his work, and his work’s great influence over the fantasy genre. Given I already talked about Shakespeare’s work proper in my main post, here I will detail the list of work influenced by or shaped thanks to Shakespeare in the fantasy world.

# We will begin with one of the most straightforward and oldest Shakespeare retellings there are: Tales from Shakespeare, by the Lamb couple (Charles and Mary). This book was actually a retelling of Shakespeare’s plays, aimed at young children (for example it removed all sexual references, omitted many subplots, removed some plays deemed too historical for kids to understand), and a massive success, still in print today. Even though today’s kids find this book a bit hard to read… Because it was written in the beginning of the 19th century, and does an effort to keep as much of Shakespeare’s quite outdated language, in an effort of faithfulness.

# Rudyard Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill. In this collection of short stories, Puck (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) summons different characters from various parts of English history so they can tell their fantastical tales to two children…

# Caliban’s Hour, by Tad Williams. 20 years after the events of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, Miranda is imprisoned by a vengeful Caliban who wishes to kill her… but not before she hears the story of his life, the reason of his wrath, the truth behind his curse, and his true relationships to the sorcerers Prospero and Sycorax, putting the events of “The Tempest” under a new light.

# Not a book, but a movie this time: Prospero’s Book by Peter Greenaway. An avant-garde and very stylistic retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a complex story where Prospero preparing his revenge and Shakespeare preparing his play become one and the same…

# Elizabeth Willey’s A Sorcerer and a Gentleman, a fantasy novel about various fictional countries being threatened by a possible open-war, resulting of the centuries-old conflict between Avril, “usurper emperor”, and his sorcerous brother, Prospero.

# Roger Zelazny’s major fantasy series, The Chronicles of Amber, heavily reference the plays of Shakespeare, borrowing names, places and sentences from the playwright’s work (Oberon, “To sleep, perchance to dream…”, the forest of Arden, “Ill-met by moonlight”, Osric, “Good night, sweet Prince”…). Ruaud also mentions in his article Zelzany’s work “A Night in the Lonesome October”, even though to my knowledge there is no actual overtly Shakespearian theme in it? (I guess it might be a mistake due to the French title having been translated as “A Mid-october night’s dream”.

# Ruaud doesn’t talk about Macbeth’s influence over Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (despite it being very famous – the defeat of the Witch-King and the march of the Ents both being influenced by Shakespeare’s tragedy), but he mentions how Gollum can remind one of Caliban, while Prospero was a model for the “archetypal wizard” of which Gandalf and Saruman are two prominent examples. [Personal note: From what I gathered, despite Tolkien referencing Shakespeare, he did not like his works at all, in fact most of the time Tolkien referenced Shakespeare not out of an “homage” but to “correct” what he felt was poorly used - as with how the march of the Ents is meant for Tolkien to get over his disappointment at Macbeth’s not having actual trees walking).

# Ruaud also mentions among the example of “archetypal wizards” inherited from Prospero, Belgarath, the main sorcerer of The Belgariad by the Eddings couple. From the Belgariad universe, Ruaud points out that the character of Silk is actually part of a tradition in fantasy of the “clownish member of the hero’s party”, that can date back to Touchstone from As you like it.

# Ruaud suggests that the character of Ariel from The Tempest was an inspiration for Neil Gaiman’s Islington in Neverwhere (I cannot check this, because I know barely anything about Neverwhere, though I do plan on reading it one day).

# Ruaud, of course, also mentions Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters, a fantastical and hilarious parody of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (and additional plays) inside the humoristic fantasy universe of the Discworld series. I will personally add another book, which is actually the second sequel to Wyrd Sisters (between it and this one, there is Witches Abroad, which is a fairytale parody) – Lords and Ladies, a darkly funny deconstruction of both Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Tolkien’s elves, inspired by traditional British fairy folklore (and which went on to influence the view of what people call “the true fae”).

# S.P. Somtow’s Riverrun Trilogy. I have to admit I forgot why Ruaud mentioned it among the Shakespearian influenced work – I didn’t take my notes when reading the article. But it is in the list, so…

# Ruaud claims that the archetype of the “fantasy inn”, actually comes from Shakespeare. The Prancing Pony from The Lord of the Rings, The Silver Eel from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Pratchett’s The Broken (then Mended) Drum from Discworld, the inn from Beagle’s The Innkeeper’s Song… According to Ruaud all those fantasy inns are inheriting from the inn in which most of Shakespeare’s Henry V takes place. Ruaud also mentions two authors that both deconstruct the “fantasy inn” archetype: Neil Gaiman, with the Sandman’s arc Worlds’s End (see below), and before him Poul Anderson with his Shakespeare-rewriting novel A Midsummer Tempest.

# While appearing on the list of the works deconstructing the “fantasy inn” archetype, Anderson’s A Midsummer Tempest deserves its own place in the list, being a fantasy novel where all of the events of Shakespeare’s play happened simultaneously, during the era of Cromwell and Charles I – A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest unfolding simultaneously between the English Civil War and the Industrial Revolution.

# Sarah A. Hoyt’s Ill-Met by Moonlight. A fantasy story retelling William Shakespeare’s life under the influence of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Young William Shakespeare discovers his wife and daughter were taken away by elves in their fairyland, and to get them back he will have to deal himself with the descendants of the legendary fairy rulers Oberon and Titania.

# Not a book, but a literary and highly praised comic that can be read as a book – the famous Sandman series by fantasy author Neil Gaiman. The comic was heavily influenced by Shakespeare’s plays, and actively references them several times. The issue “Men of Good Fortune” has the main character, the titular Sandman, lord of dreams, sleep and nightmares, meet a young William Shakespeare and make a deal with him to provide the playwright inspiration… This sets up the next Shakespearian issue, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an homage, deconstruction, meta-retelling of Shakespeare’s play. And to conclude it all – “The Tempest”, the very last issue of the series, which invites the reader to take a second look at the final arcs of the story under the light of Shakespeare’s play.

# To conclude this long list, let’s have one French name around here. Fabrice Colin’s work, “Or not to be”. A Shakespeare-obsessed amnesiac young man is released from a mental institution after his mother forced him there due to a suicide attempt. Attempting to rediscover and puzzle back his past, he goes on a visit of England, tracking down William Shakespeare’s own life path, through a narration oscillating between pure imagination and schizophrenic madness… Until he stumbles upon a mysterious village he saw many times in his dreams and that does not appear on any map: Fayrwood, whose surroundings seem haunted by Pan himself…

#fantasy read-list #shakespeare #shakespearian #william shakespeare #the tempest #macbeth #fantasy #fantasy literature #a midsummer night's dream #shakespeare retellings #fantasy archetypes #the fantasy inn #fantasy wizard #fantasy comic #fantasy movie #shakespearian movie

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macksting · 6 months

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Murderbot: System Collapse (and Susan Pompoms)

This is not exactly spoiler territory but I'm still putting it below a cut. (It might qualify as spoilers for El Goonish Shive, but I kinda feel the same about that in this case too.)

Bharadwaj says even good change is stressful.

A relatively recent page of El Goonish Shive has a character facing this head-on. Unfortunately for Susan, she wants to be rational about things, even though she knows she sometimes isn't, and seems to consider it a bit of a weakness. She's harder on herself than she is on others. Big Mood. We have to deal with our own bullshit 24/7; at least when we sleep or are alone we aren't around someone else's that often, and even then it's a different angle on the subject and, in my experiences, compassion is easier.

[ID: El Goonish Shive page. Susan and Sarah are standing talking on the roof of the high school. Susan is facing away, distraught and trying to hide her expression as she has lost her composure. Sarah suggests, pursuant to a page omitted, "It, um. Maybe you're upset by change?" Susan, still facing away, incredulously asks, "By good change? Not the store closing, but... quitting a job I don't want? Being done with this school? Not having to deal with that terrible locker anymore?" Sarah, concerned but calm, continues her supposition: "Well, I mean... You've worked there for years, and you've been here for years. It's what's normal for you, and... there is stuff you like about both places, right? Like, you started your movie review show with Elliot because of your job, and... you have friends here. You met Catalina here. Got to know Elliot and Tedd here." Susan half-smiles, her expression still bearing the strain of the strong emotions she's navigating, and asks, "And what's there to like about a locker with a sticky door?" Sarah smiles and replies, "You share it with me?" Susan, the sardonic half-smile gone, turns to face her more fully, and with a haunting expression as she comes to terms with it, pauses and says, "I want to hang out more." /end ID] So, y'know, right now I'm a mess. One little line messes me up so much. okay from here on I'm just fangirling to clarify shit. If you don't wanna hear me ramble about these fandoms in the abstract, adios. If you're a Murderbot fan wondering what this is about, El Goonish Shive is a webcomic that's been going since 2002, is unapologetically queer, has both accidentally and deliberately given earnest and deeply compassionate portrayals of queerness and neurodivergence, and also is just interesting, clever, and has a really big cry button moment as early as 2003. Susan in particular doesn't use the label asexual; Dan Shive considers her sexuality representative of his own, and is personally uncomfortable committing to restrictive labels such as that, though he knows how important they can be as well. She is beloved by asexual fans, okay frankly she's beloved by all fans because she's a complex, fascinating character whose political and philosophical views are her own, and excuse me I'm a mess again. She's not even my favorite fucking character. If you're an El Goonish Shive fan, I am crying over a construct made of cloned human tissues and robotic parts who is bitter, sardonic, and spent the first few books in a deep depression it was not aware of, has developed into a badass punk, and has an unsophisticated but very personal perspective on oppression, slavery, and artificial consciousness under a corporate dystopian rule. It calls itself "Murderbot" because of an incident it cannot remember that led to it hacking its governor module so that it might never be forced to kill again. It will kill, it's occasionally even Plan A, but it's a choice, not an order. ("As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure." - Book 1: All Systems Red.) It is asexual ("Things. :p"), prolly aromantic, prolly agender, and wonderful.

Then she added, “You know, you can stay here in the crew area if you want. Would you like that?” They all looked at me, most of them smiling. One disadvantage in wearing the armor is that I get used to opaquing the faceplate. I’m out of practice at controlling my expression. Right now I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in the region of stunned horror, or maybe appalled horror.

My favorite installment takes place after the fourth novella, but the first novella is absolutely sufficient as a standalone work of fiction, with a satisfying beginning, middle and end, comes in a glorious audiobook format narrated by Kevin R. Free, and makes me cry a lot. The early "humor me" level cry button for me is when everyone confronts it, and it turns to face a corner to avoid their deeply stressful eye contact. I have heard that fan responses to All Systems Red led the author Martha Wells to seek out an autism diagnosis; compare Dan Shive's "It would explain a lot."

#susan pompoms #murderbot #secunit #dan shive #el goonish shive #kevin r free #system collapse #Sarah brown #tiffany susan pompoms #rambling #ramblings #fangirling #neurodivergence in art #queer art

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cacaitos · 5 months

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2023 manga list:

most of the manga i read this year. more or less around 90, but that's also counting short stories, and things i omitted.

bottom text.

beastars/beast complex [3/5] beastars as an action shonen (or a story anyway) is all over the place so don't get your hopes up to much on that front. beastars' main consistent strong point is being Horny and Weird. i've said that sometimes it doesnt compromise with the logical terms of its premise but exploring a variety of odd relationships is imo the most interesting and engaging element of it anyway.

chainsaw man [4/5] overall is a mostly normal shonen if you were expecting for something more alternative. to be honest a lot how you would feel about Pt 1 will be told by how you feel about having very consecutive character deaths, it can feel a bit rushed. but it is indeed a bit distinctive abt how it tackles the topic of intimacy/relationships esp predatory ones in jump-type shonen. can't complain too much on that front. fire punch [3/5] once the berserk-type edgyness aside on the story is aptly entertaining, tho by some stretches it can be disorienting plotwise, in a negative way. it drops Lots of plot points or rushes them... you can really grow to like some characters but there will be a point -you will know- that it just kinda disengages w you. Curious existential ending. good if you're bored.

golden kamuy [3.5/5] also more typical shonen-esque than i expected. it never gets That Much Dark imo, as in total slow downers i mean. although obviously it is 'dark' more on the bizzare part. fun characters.

kaze to ki no uta [4/5] to be honest it does live up to the reputation of making you generally emotionally Unwell. but on my experience the development of gilbert and serge grew more engaging than I expected. tragic banger. terra e... [3/5] also was more than i expected since the one time i tried with the anime i got bored 1 ep in. but the story and tomy as the mc also gave me more heartfelt emotions than I expected. the pacing and amount info conveyed can get exhausting tho. didn't care much abt the ending. natsu e no tobira [2/5] the ova is gorgeous so it has those points on its favour. otherwise the ova and the manga are almost identical. youth and death themes and all i did Nawt care abt that pedo woman. weird story to develop that shoujo theme abt allowing ppl to see your vulnerability but eh i'll take it.

YAMAMOTO: ichi the killer [3.5/5] frenetic and entertaining enough if you're willing to go through knowing the tw's. suprisingly fast to read. if you're looking for the yamamoto Experience, it's a must after hommunculus. voyeur/voyeurs inc [2/5] got awfully disappointed w voyeurs-inc; i got hooked on voyeur (ie the prototype) but the change of cast on inc was a total letdown. don't think it's worth reading of you're a ymmt casual. maybe just the prototype. okama report [0/5] don't even fucking bother. barely passable even for anybody that's very into ymmt. adam & eve [2/5] shit story, curious fights/interactions.

KATSUHIRO OTOMO akira [3/5] a lot of the military and persecution sequences get so annoying and boring sometimes but if you forget abt the adaptations it's a decent enough scifi-action thing. the movie is better at that. the relationship between kaneda and tetsuo- dont like rn to pit which of the two did it better, but from the movie to the manga it's deff not a letdown, especially for tetsuo that has a lot more time. he's interesting. domu [2.5/5] interesting action wise, but as for story I wouldn't bother. kanojo no omoide (memories of her) [3/5] ootomo himself said some of the stories are quite meaningless and nonsensical lol but if you've seen the Magnetic Rose ova you will like some of them. world apartment horror [3/5] 1st didn't care about. liked 2nd. 3rd i didn't get shit. 4th it was cute. visitors [3/5] liked it. short piece/short peace [3/5] i liked it. highway star [3/5] feels like that suicide episode of paranoia agent, that kind of humor lol. boogie wogie waltz [1/5] uncomprehensible. good weather [1/5] eh.

houseki no kuni [4/5] it isn't getting better, the tragedy doesn't stop it's not an understatement. whoa.

dorohedoro [3/5] entertaining seinen, tho sometimes it gets kinda confusing and convoluted. love the characters theyre fun :)

ajin [4/5]

i was surprised that it was a closed off story from what i expected coming from the anime haha. neat action panelling and art. I get the feel that some characters had more to give and develop, but not disappointing.

OSHIMI SHUZO flowers of evil [3/5] the romantic triangle didnt bother me as much as i expected. it is a weird manga know that up front. i'm inside mari [4/5] i quite liked it and was quite surprised abt that fact lol. blood on the tracks [4/5] good family drama at leaston my year'sranking; shuzo's art style does wonders and is v immersive. some said that it felt repetitive and while i can say at some point the went a bit ehhhh, but reading it all back to back instead of weekly i don't feel it's that draggy. backwards i think it could've used more chapters, or content rather. happiness [2.5/5] tbh got disappointed, kinda disperse. like half 1 and 2 don't have much to do... okaeri alice [2.5/5] some individual characters really do make the manga endurable but some bits from the main characters are so...? unnecessary, or unnecessarily long at least. not really shuzo's best work. avant-garde yumeko [-/5] odd.

NAGABE totsukuni no shoujo [4.5/5] i mean, for most of it that i can describe it well with heartwarming but bittersweet, about parent-child relationships, love, loneliness, sacrifice, it's pretty good at that. then It Gets You. monotone blue [4/5] refreshing bl, sweet, the art delivers and the sensitivity. and i say refreshing bl bc it's not weird abt sa or adjacent harrassment.

i read most of his shoujo works, but they're too many to mention if you liked totsukuni you will like them, nothing to lose. some uh moral objections on some..EAT [-/5] it's okay. if you don't mind horny furries. SMELL [-/5] errr..... ok.

RYO SUMIYOSHI/SUZURI MADK [2.5/5] good art as always. more fucked up background things as it goes on but the mako-J thing is kinda crayzay. it has some hasty character developments at important times... torso no bokura [2/5] also good art, nothing too upsetting if at least relative to MADK. kinda enjoyable and entertaining anthology.

NEMUI ASADA sleeping dead [3/5] imo asada's overall best work, or at least to beginners or if you plan to read just one of hers. since the translation of the work is not finished i don't wanna assume the ending, but the starting premise is interesting enough, although we're currently on a less eventful note plotwise which can feel a bit disappointing for the moment. my little inferno [1.5/5] not particularly interesting conceptually, or writing. madara moyou no yoi [1.5/5] noticeable premise for an asada work, it being more action oriented i mean, but it's still to early to say in execution. SKIN [1/5] what the hell. that's asada for everybody/ dear, my god [1/5] odd ending. didn't coincide with how the story was handling at least the preist, imo. i literally don't care about the cactus story. CALL [2/5] surprisingly not so harsh of an asada story. more of a normal kind of depressing bl. ai, sei [1/5] don't mind in any particular direction. loved circle [1/5] did not care for the setting. not as dark as you would expect but not particularly interesting either. whatever ending. to the sea [1/5] ...? that happened i guess.

hikaru ga shinda natsu [3.5/5] it's a manga that has earned a reputation and a set of expectations that (i haven't caught up w latest ch) that delivers on the visual and effective ambientation, but we're to see on the story but good so far.

double (noda ayako) [4/5] veeery expressive art from noda. if you let it be as a normal acting manga it can get you by surprise on some emotional beats. better go in with low expectations, different tastes and all.

my broken mariko [3.5/5] it's a short story, solid. gorg art that adds to the sorrow and bittersweetness.

gunjou [3.5/5] hmmm it can feel a bit repetitive the back and forth at several points of the story, depends of how you read that related to unstable relationships. i don't necessarily want to brand it mainly as a GL but all in all its still one of the most interesting entries on it, with a toxic relationship that commits to the complexity of the situation.

gunjou gakusho [2.5/5] a melancholic anthology with beautiful art. i got to like a pair of the stories.

omoide emanon/sasurai emanon [3/5] personally i preferred omoide emanon (the one the mangaka said was Twitter for people unfamiliar w emanon) and i prefer the lineal story tbh. sasurai ones can be hit or miss, some feel incomplete? or unconcluded. i mean sasurai was cancelled midway so.

bibliomania [2/5] cool art, intriguing initial premise and execution, but i didn't find it particularly interesting by the end part, like thematically.

banana bread no pudding [2/5] didn't care for the main relationship itself, but the protagonist ended up being more engaging than i expected. a mostly soft and bittersweet read, but i would wait ot read more of the author's works to say how recommendable i would rank it as.

petshop of horrors [2.5/5] the individual stories can be hit ot miss from one person to another but imo D is very consistently entertaining and likeable lol.

higashi nishida [2.5/5] not much consistency but they have a nice undertsated feeling personally :). some of its introspection catches you off guard. no high expectations though.

kodomo wa wakette agenai [3/5] it's a nice short story, it's funny if you don't come in expecting loud knee-slappers types of jokes. it's good if you're looking for something light to read.

she loves to cook, she loves to eat [3/5] also good if you're looking for something light to read.

tamen de gushi [3/5] wholesome as you would expect. nice art on later years. depends on your taste.

my solo exchange diary [4/5] actually liked and grew to appreciate the author's organized narration style. it avoids a lot of confusion and she verbalizes her feelings in a relatable way for somethings sometimes so awkward to say out loud.

seibetsu x [2.5/5] this one is much less organized temporally and thematically so it can get a bit confusing, but it's funny on it's own, since the author is very blunt on their feelings lol.

killing stalking [3/5] less Evil than i remembered, just as disturbing, just as mid ending as i remembered. maybe it's bc of being a reread -that helps pick some things better- but reading it out of the heat of the moment in its era it's not as ill intended or deliberately romanticizing as one might have led to believe; it understands that much at least. visually however, still often leans into more eroticism i call inappropiate and unncessary.

boy's abyss [2.5/5] it's a manga that drags and wanders aimlessly too much, it gets repetitive. there are some plots and elements i consider more consistent and interesting, like the family, predatory relationships and the town's seeming unescapability themes, but the suicidal thing gets a bit exasperating when it just goes nowhere. dont expect tooo much. kinda good to binge tho.

himegoto, juukyuusai no seifuku [2.5/5] if you see the premise i know it sounds kinda weird but as i said when i read it my only comment abt is that it's suprisingly more compelling than one would expect, if you dont question much the individual prompts. gets kinda heavy by the end w on character tho.

yuureitou [2.5/5] sometimes entertaining on an adventure mystery type thing. theme and writing quality varying for the first 2/3s, off it's shits by the third that's kinda ehh conceptually. read it for some crazy shit ending. trans-wise, on the mc side, well they're some consistently annoying things all throughout but technically good intentioned but the ending 1/3 is v transmisogynistic, heads up.

uzumaki [2/5] ito's art is good. didnt really get me going much but not hated reading it. didnt get the ending, or didnt like it a lot at least.

fetish, kaoru fujiwara [2.5/5] takes a turn in seriousness by the 2nd story. 3rd story is so 😖 err, and then the rest go down in tone again.

the view beyond, kaoru fujiwara [2.5/5] one of those wouldn't that be fucked up stories. like that sure happened. not precisecly im even a fan of the message of the premise, even if it's technically showing it's horrible results.

raise wa tanin ga ii [3.5/5] t'was funny. all in all, esp towards the last chapters their interactions turn more earnest, personally, than i expected.

crying freeman [2/5] major saving grace is the art, it's pretty good. dunno, it feels however you feel about edgy 007-type 80s stories. personally didnt care abt mafia-clan thing substainance plots.

devilman lady [2/3] lot's of SA till it gets a bit unbearable and boring, heads up. did not care about most of the plot itself but if you liked the og devilman characters, the mains of Lady have the same likeability. save from The Horrors of the end. -shin devilman [1/5] boring. don't lose nothing over not reading it. uh. that first chaper uh.... -amon - devilman mokushiroku [1.5/5] edgy in the usual way dvm is edgy in that usual measure,s o the story is nothing to die for lol. good art (save for Things) and cool visuals, body horror, etc more than anything. the silene storyline is the more interesting part, the other idgaf about. -neo devilman [2/5] it's an anthology. seeing different artist's takes is entertaining enough. usual dvm edgyness. -devilman saga [0/5] boring dear god. not one saving grace of entertainment even for a nagai dvm work.

tetsuo the bullet man [1.5/5] shot for shot as the third tetsuo movie. i liked the manga and its ending more than the movie's tho. not like the movie is good anyway.

dog ningen [1/5] don't let the premise scare you, it's pretty mild. and amateur. and boring.

#txt #fave #<- to find later #first organized by author batch and then vaguely by genre/vibes

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yrrtyrrtwhenihrrthrrt · 1 month

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Hi! This is for the authors request thing

22 and 30

Hii ty!!!

22. Have you cried while writing a fic?

I haven't cried but I've definitely become misty while planning some even if I wasn't sat down writing it. If the idea is severe enough to make me cry I usually omit it from the final draft 😅

30. Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.

I have a few, but I've only done one before! I'm working on one that's like an AU where Ambrosius (Comic) was adopted instead of growing up in the Institution, so with the butterfly effect things turn out super differently. I also REALLY want to write a Post-Canon recovery longfic for the movie similar to the one I wrote for the comic, I actually wrote quite a bit of it already, but there is only one problem with this: I gave up some time ago and published whole large sections of it as individual shortfics, or clipped them out to use for drabble requests because they already fit the prompt perfectly, etc. I don't want to rewrite them because I liked them enough to publish, I don't want to cut them out because they were important, but I don't want to publish the longfic with huge sections of content that people have already read before so Im kind of at a loss for what to do?? Currently taking suggestions 😭

Ty for the ask, feel free to keep them coming!!

Questions Post

#ask game #30 questions for writers #nimona fanfic #yywihh fics

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joandfriedrich · 2 years

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I got his comment left on YouTube, what do you think?

"We often discuss how Laurie and Jo shippers injure their favorites characters' arcs as well as Amy's, too, but Marmee, also, more subtly suffers from this blasphemy as well. An important scene between book Jo and Marmee is omitted, and Marmee's role as wise confidante gets upended by this omission. It is Marmee who agrees with Jo's own assessment of Jo's and Laurie's relationship, and encourages her trip to New York. Mrs. Kirke is even a friend of Marmee's, without whom Jo wouldn't have otherwise found such easy employment that far away from home. Marmee loses important credibility in the film versions where Laurie is concerned. Jo would never be advised to act against her judgment and understanding of her own nature. Marmee is as much a mother figure to Laurie as Jo is, and is as privy to his follies as she is to her own daughters' character flaws. She does not only speak of her awareness of their incompatibility, but actively assists Jo in her plan to discourage Laurie's affections. I have often wondered why Jo never said anything about her mother as her champion when Laurie says that their families expect their union. But Jo stands on her own two feet, taking responsibility for her own feelings and insight, and that makes her even more of an endearing and capable person in the face of personal choice despite heartache"

I agree, most films remove Marmee agreeing with Jo that she and Laurie would not be a good match, the only one that comes to mind that actually did this was the 2017 miniseries, but often, the other versions don't have this. I recall the 33 and the 49 versions do have some sort of scene with Meg in which we see that they talk about Amy and Laurie being together and her asking Jo if it's a problem.

But yes, Marmee being Jo's confidant, besides Beth, being taken out really does do more harm than good, as I feel that it takes away any sense of closeness she has with her family and the showing of her growth, otherwise it either happens on the inside which makes people wonder how she just quickly matured, or it doesn't happen at and she remains the childish and immature girl she started as.

Like the commenter said, Marmee is as much of Laurie' mother figure as she is Jo's actual mother. She has watched them both grow up, seen their flaws and their strengths, but she ultimately knows that they would be bad together. As she says in Chapter 32 when Jo asks why Marmee is glad Jo is not in love with Laurie :

“Because, dear, I don’t think you suited to one another. As friends you are very happy, and your frequent quarrels soon blow over, but I fear you would both rebel if you were mated for life. You are too much alike and too fond of freedom, not to mention hot tempers and strong wills, to get on happily together, in a relation which needs infinite patience and forbearance, as well as love.”

This insight not only enforces what Jo had felt as she said immediately after, “That’s just the feeling I had, though I couldn’t express it," but reaffirms to the audience that these two are destined to be nothing more than friends. This line makes it pretty obvious that the line Laurie says later, about how everyone wants them to be together is just not as true as he thinks. We do not see any of the characters trying to put Jo and Laurie together, not in the way that Jo had tried to put Laurie with either Meg or Beth. If that was really true, why didn't we see people trying to hook them up? Oh, because they didn't want them to!

It isn't surprising that fans of Laurie x Jo omit this bit, and to be fair if they have not read the book, they are going off of the movies that omit this scene, but still, it really takes away not only the obviousness of the anti-Jo and Laurie, but the quite a few of the character's depth.

#answered asks #little women #jo march #anti jo and laurie #Marmee #theodore laurence #amy march #Amy x Laurie #amy and laurie

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tuiyla · 3 months

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Not sure if you spoke about this yet and if so, sorry for asking . I just really always enjoyed your thoughts on avatar. Would love to know your thoughts on all the sneak peaks that we’ve seen so far like the trailers and everything. Also your thoughts on the changes made to sokkas character. I don’t know if you heard but it apparently they want to get rid of some of his early Scenes because of his sexism. Also just recently they are changing some things about Katarina because I guess they don’t think some of her personality will translate well in live action.

Oh hey! Sorry it's been so long, sorry I've basically disappeared off tumblr. But I still love Avatar of course and warms my heart to hear people like it when I talk about it.

Sigh, the live action. I'm going to watch it when it comes out tomorrow, of course, and I remember being cautiously optimistic when it was first announced. But between Bryke leaving and the info we've been getting, idk. Visually, it looks really solid. The CGI is a bit too plasticky at times for how much it allegedly costs but the costumes are great, the cast seemed good from the beginning and bending itself, I have to say, looks sick.

But these are just aesthetics. Sure, the infamous movie didn't even get that right but being faithful to and respecting the source material is a lot more than just looking great in live action. Since you've sent this ask, more interviews have come out where they talk about changes made to not only Sokka's character but pretty much everyone's. Aang is less of a goofy kid escaping responsibility. I fear the larger presence of Ozai and Azula will make Zuko too sympathetic too early. Not to mention, apparently he's more so doing what he's doing to win the war not to regain his honour? A rumour I've heard.

I haven't heard much about changes made to Katara but, being Katara's no. 1 fan forever and always I'm sure I wouldn't be happy with any changes haha. With her my main fear is just making her less significant, missing the point of her being a sort of POV character and deuteragonist, and missing important beats such as Imprisoned and The Waterbending Scroll. Some variation of especially the latter may appear but come on, it's 8 episodes trying to tell the story of 20. Unfortunately, Book 1 Water is by faaaar the hardest Avatar book to adapt to modern and live action TV and even though the episode list seems solid, it's those quieter ch centric episodes that will suffer the consequences. That's where Katara thrives. Jet is included so I wonder how they'll handle that crucial storyline and it sets in motion a TON for Katara that all culminates, of course, in her magnum opus The Southern Raiders. I just don't see them doing it justice.

I'll inevitably be at least a little more active with the premier of this show and will share thoughts; idk about a proper review but might vent here or there. I'd love to share thoughts on particular topics people are interested in haha. But until then, on this last day before the Fire Nation attacks and everything changes, I will say this. I think the things they've said so far about character changes are misguided. Sokka's sexism isn't a bug storytelling-wise, it's a feature. It's called character development, look it up, Albert Kim. Now, I'll have to admit that his sexism and the larger gender politics of the Water Tribes is actually an aspect of the show, one of the very few aspects that I think could use quite a bit of improvement, so I wouldn't be against the Netflix show doing this differently. But if they do just omit it that's a grave error. Despite the flashy visuals it doesn't bode well so far, but we'll see. I'll watch it as soon as I get home from work and then probs rewatch the original then rewatch the Netflix one. Oh, the Avatar megafan in me awakens. Btw guys lol I never even updated y'all, I went to the London concert of the soundtrack and it was doooope.

Also Suki looks super cute I'm ready to simp.

#anon #avatar asks #what was my tag for the netflix show #what tag are people using #netflix avatar #? will do #atla #NATLA #i'm sorry people but natla??? that's so hilarious i love it

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renegadesfics · 2 years

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𝐓𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐭. 𝟖

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: It’s still Tuesday, and Eddie sneaks in through your window like something out of a John Hughes movie. Things may be better, but there’s still a long way left to go. Maybe forever starts tonight. [3.5k words]

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: anxious reader, pre-s4, fluff, eddie’s a bit anxious, 2... no jk 3 extremely mild hints at sex, sleeping together, more hard conversations are starting to be had, alcohol and drug mention, i think that’s it but if you see anything else pls just let me know and i’ll add it!!

𝐏𝐭. 𝟏 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟐 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟑 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟒 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟓 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟔 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟕 | 𝐏𝐭. 𝟖 | 𝐀𝐎𝟑

It’s not like the revelation–if you can even call it that–fixes every problem you’ve got. There’s still things that need to be dealt with both in and out of Hawkins, regarding and disregarding your renewed relationship with Eddie. There’s still tests you haven’t studied for and conversations that ought to be had.

All the same, you’re walking on clouds when you leave the Hideout Tuesday night. Christine and Vince both tease you over it, loudly in the car, then more quietly once you’ve made it inside the house. Most of your family is asleep by that point, save for John and your father, who take up space in the living room both reading their respective books in the quiet. The three of you relay tales of the night and the show, omitting a few details here and there, until they both clearly want to get back to the stories they were consuming and you’re free. It’s normal. It’s casual. It feels like nothing has changed, and yet…

When you’re finally upstairs with the door closed, back to the painted wood and eyes on the ceiling, you recount the night. Every kiss, every touch, every moment that your friends looked at you–maybe not quite the way they used to, but certainly closer. The jokes, the laughs… Perfection isn’t a thing you believe in, but tonight has certainly been about as close as you can ask for in Hawkins. You’re hardly thinking about it as you roll through the motions, removing your makeup and blitzing through your skin care routine, brushing your hair and slipping on some comfortable shorts and an oversized ratty t-shirt to sleep in. You should be exhausted, but every nerve is a livewire. So you’re laying in the dark and staring up at the stick-on stars of your ceiling when he knocks on your window.

The reality of the moment is that you’d sort of been hoping he would. It was a frequent occurrence of your high school years to find Eddie perched on the roof just outside your window, grin wild as you unlocked it for him. And when you’d left him tonight, skin dragging across his palm and the calloused pads of his fingers, you’d given him a look that screamed I don’t want to go.

His was an immediate shift that had screamed back. I don’t want you to go, either.

You flick the switch on your bedside lamp as you go, legs tangling in the sheets in your hurry. It would be a lie to say you don’t trip over yourself to get there, but you manage to make it in one piece and without knocking your knees into anything hard, so it’s not worth chastising yourself over. And there, when you pull back the curtains and the moonlight pours in, is Eddie.

“Hey there, stranger,” he murmurs as the window is heaved open, climbing through and into your bedroom about as gracefully as you made it off of your bed. The air is sharp with cold as it drifts in from the outside and you rush to close it, inconsiderate in your hurry. The window slams back into place.

Both of you freeze, muscles locked up as you wait to see if anyone heard. Or worse, if anyone is going to come check on you. There’s a few moments of pregnant silence, of wide eyes and tempered breathing, but eventually it passes and you settle back into your body.

Eddie is loud in your room. Not in regards to sound but in terms of aesthetic. He’s a riot in black: the shadow pitch of his tattoos screaming a song of defiance as he shrugs out of his jacket and leaves it carelessly on the floor, cloud of frizz around his curls a thunderstorm in the making, alabaster skin a canvas for protests yet to come. He is impossibly, hysterically, irreversibly stunning.

Your heart aches in your chest.

He catches you staring and the corners of those lips turn up in a wicked grin as he leans over to undo the laces on his boots. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” comes the honest whisper, deja vu overwhelming your brain.

“Me?” He asks, ever amused, ever patient. One boot is set by his jacket as he starts to work on the other. “What are you lookin’ at little old me for?”

“Y’r pretty.”

This is a script you know by heart. You shuffle a few steps closer, anticipatory, pulled in by his magnetic field.

“You’re one to talk.” And then he’s upright, left boot set by his right, hands stretching out to grasp at your wrists. Breath hitches in your chest, immediate and telling. He’s every bit as pleased with himself as he deserves to be: it’s written in every line of his face. “What are you all the way over there for?”

Oh, you think a bit slowly, like you’re just now waking up. Am I far? Encouraging, he tugs on your wrists just the slightest bit.

“Sorry,” you murmur, voice embarrassingly breathless as you shuffle forward, the proximity of him stealing your ability to think.

“No more of that tonight, hmm?” When you finally look up, Eddie’s eyes are locked on your face searchingly. But god, they’re so warm–to like, a heart-breaking degree. He smiles again, or maybe he never stopped, one hand lifting from your wrist to hold your chin between two fingers. “Have you gotten all shy on me, baby?”

Heat rushes over your face, peaking in high flags of color across your cheeks. The answer is a complicated yes-no melting pot when you confront it in its entirety. Unable to look anywhere but his face, you mumble out a “Missed you.”

He laughs, though not unkindly, and his fingers press against the pulse in your wrist. There’s something earnest in his voice when he replies. “I missed you too, y’know.” Heat curls from every place you’re connected, flaring out like sunspots. The hand on your face trails up to cup your jaw, fingertips brushing against your ear. “Tired?”

As soon as he says it, it hits you like a freight train. You are tired now, though every touch still feels electric. Now that Eddie’s here in your bedroom and the night isn’t a dream and things have really gotten better, now that his skin is pressed hot-and-sweet to yours, tired doesn’t even begin to cover it.

“A little.”

Heavy with affection, he leans into your bubble further and presses his lips to yours. This is not a kiss like the others you’ve shared tonight, primarily in that there’s less heat and desperation to it. This is not a kiss born of excitement or the itch to feel you there. It is one of affection, of a sort of domesticity you weren’t sure you’d ever achieve with him again. You sigh against his lips and feel him smile. “C’mon,” he murmurs against your mouth, hands shifting to guide you backwards towards your bed. “Let’s get you settled.” It’s nice, in a funny sort of way, to be led like this. Not quite manhandled, not quite left to your own devices, but somewhere in between.

As he steers you back, your eyes fall to the pile of his things by the window. There’s a tiny flicker of fear in your throat. “You’re staying tonight, yeah?”

“If you want me to.”

Yes, you think desperately. Please. Of course I want you to stay.

“What do you want?”

Eddie smiles as your knees hit the back of the bed, hands departing your hips as he leans in to kiss the tip of your nose. There’s something so warm, so giving, about it. “Lay down, Sweetheart, I’ll be right back.”

It’s not an answer, but it is. At the very least, it’s an indicator, and you clutch it to your chest hungrily, sitting down on the end of the bed and watching as he walks back towards the window. If he can feel you watching, not laying down yet, not doing as he’s asked, he doesn’t say so. Eddie simply closes the curtains, running his fingers over the gauzy blue fabric, and takes a deep breath. Suddenly, you realize, his breathing is a little ragged. For a second you think maybe it’s from getting up onto the roof and in through your window, but the timing just doesn’t quite line up.

Brows furrow as you push to your feet again, sleepy but steady on your feet. “Eddie?” He stays at the window, one hand at the seam of your curtains, but turns his head to look at you. There’s something there in his eyes that has you stumbling forward the next few steps until your hands are at his arm and you’re leaning in to kiss his shoulder. “Talk to me?”

He leans into you, hand falling from its place near the window, the side of his head colliding none-too-gently with the top of yours. It must smart his ear, it certainly down the crown of your head, but the sharp pain is set aside as your arms wrap around his waist and pull him in closer. Messy curls obscure the rest of the room from your vision as you press a kiss to his shoulder again. He hums appreciatively. “You’re tired,” he says softly.

“Don’t care,” you whisper back, shifting around so that you’re in front of him now, chest to chest. One arm stays wrapped around his waist while your other hand drifts up to brush the hair from his face. “What’s going on?”

It’s not like him to be avoidant in this way, at least not with you, but Eddie leans in to kiss you again instead of answering. It’s harder this time, needier, a little desperate. Like maybe he’s searching for something–in you or himself, it’s hard to tell. You don’t push back, there’s no need, but you do match his intensity. Hands travel–yours, into his hair and up the line of his spine, his, up your back to press into your shoulder blades. It’s not long before kisses take a turn for biting, for Eddie licking at the seam of your lips, for soft and needy sounds in a quiet room.

This is where you draw a line, not a hard one, but something soft, malleable, carved in the sand. You pull back, just a fraction, and for a moment he chases after your lips, breathing hard, whining a little. It’s cute. Your chest hurts a little with the pause. “Talk to me?” You whisper it again, nudging his nose with yours.

Eddie takes a deep, shuddering breath. Like his chest hurts, too, like he’s still recovering from whatever made it ragged in the first place. (The kissing, notably, did not help.) You run your fingers through his hair to soothe, press your fingertips into the notches of his spine through his shirt. Tap out a gentle pattern while he gathers his breath, his thoughts, his mind.

“Haven’t been back here,” he starts finally, “since before…” Hands make a sort of helpless gesture against your back as the words fall off. But you know. You do, because it’s right there in his face. You can feel it as your features rearrange into something softer in response. He’s not really looking at you, so you don’t think he notices. It doesn’t matter. “I know it’s not a big deal or anything, and I’m fine–really, I’m good, it’s just–I guess it just landed a bit… harder. Or something.”

And you get it. Really and truly you do, because standing on the steps of the Munson trailer had felt a little bit like carving your own heart out of your chest and laying it bare for someone else to kick around in the dust. Because looking at him in the doorway that first time had been a swift kick in the ribs. And while it was okay, while you were desperately glad to see him, it had also been like… like the world was out to get you, somehow. Like things were going to break underneath your feet.

Fragile.

So you press your lips to the corner of his mouth and hold him as tightly as you can. “Eddie?” You whisper, quiet in a way only he gets to hear. “Do you want to stay for breakfast in the morning?”

The shift in his breathing is staggering, a hiccup of sorts shaking its way from the base of his spine and up, past his lungs and his throat and out of his mouth. To be honest, you’re not really sure what to make of this part of him, unfamiliar as it is. Gently, you wrap yourself tighter around him, allow your lips to travel from the corner of his mouth to the sharp line of his jaw.

He shudders out an exhale and nods, finally. “Yes. Yeah, I’d–yes.”

You nod in response, shifting back just slightly to look at his face. “You wanna come to bed?” There’s all the room in the world to say no. Frankly, you’d pull an all-nighter if he asked you to, damn the fact that it’d mean juggling your whole family on no sleep. Damn the fact that his appearance at breakfast tomorrow will certainly garner more attention than you’re really prepared for.

None of it matters.

Eddie pauses. Looking down at the space between the two of you, there’s a moment of uncertainty. You’re not sure where it comes from, but that’s a question for later. A moment to discuss when things are less fragile, less new. Newness is relative, anyway. So you squeeze his hand, smiling at him gently. “Tell me what you need, baby.”

There’s a stretch of quiet where you’re not sure if he’s trying to formulate words or considering the question. It doesn’t matter either way, but the tiny furrow between his brows is curious. Your fingers itch to smooth it out. He looks at you, finally, and leans in to kiss you again. Once. Chaste. Loving. “Can we lay down?”

Of course, you want to say, but it feels too urgent, too big for the room. Instead, you smile and nod, take a step to the side and pull him with you. Eddie goes easily, pliant under your touch in a way that you don’t know how to put words to. It’s you who pulls the tattered Dio t-shirt over his head and folds it lazily atop the trunk at the foot of your bed. And it’s you, too, who pops the button of his jeans, smiling up at him in an expression that’s half-cheeky and fully adoring. He lets out a breathy laugh and kisses your forehead before he strips the denim off, tossing it fully inside out atop his shirt and pulling you in close again.

You press your lips to the warm skin of his chest, right at the mouth of the screaming demon head, and breathe him in. He presses his face into your hair and does the same. For a while, a fuzzy and untracked amount of time where the actual quantity of minutes doesn’t seem to matter, you stay like that, wrapped up in each other, loving without words.

The moment passes slowly like the tide going out, really only measurable once it’s over with, and only then do you pull him into bed and under the covers. Chest to chest, nose to nose, you reach out and tuck flyaway hairs behind his ear. He smiles, loving and gentle and a little bit something else.

Overwhelmed, maybe?

“Are we okay?” You whisper in the dark with the neon green glow of your ceiling stars caught in your periphery.

Eddie swallows hard and it’s hard to put into words why it makes your heart pound like it’s threatening to break out of your chest. The fingers at his ear trail down alabaster cheek and jaw to trace the bump of his Adam’s apple. He swallows again.

You wait.

“Yeah,” he says like he’s choking on the rest of it, voice strangled by a jumble of words clogging up his airways. Desperately, you wish you could help him but all you can do is wait. There’s another minute of him just looking at you, searching again for something you now know must be in him but he’s trying to translate. “I just… I love you so fucking much, you know, and I’m glad you’re back and I’m glad I’m here, and I’m so fucking glad it’s all working out the way it is, it’s just–”

You brace yourself to shatter at the impact of his next words.

There’s a but coming.

Of course there is.

“You… left, y’know?” Now that he’s gotten it out, it’s like he can’t stop himself. Like the words just come tumbling out at a pace unmatched by the fastest of rivers. “And I know you didn’t mean to, like, rip my heart out and stomp on it but you kind of did. And I was… I was pretty fucked up for a while there. For a couple of months after I was so out of it that I don’t even totally know what I did. August is a fucking blur and the bud wasn’t any fucking help on that front, no matter what I may tell buyers. There were parties, I think. Y’know, I mean I’d get asked to show up to deal a little and end up staying to uh… to partake. I guess. Messed around some. Regretted it the next morning. Not, like, because I don’t think I should’ve done it, but just because they weren’t… I mean none of them were you. And then I’d get fucked up all over again just to forget it. The guys kinda kept me together in there, y’know, tied anchors to my feet so I wouldn’t fly away and shit.”

How bad?

That’s not really my story to tell.

“Metaphorically, of course, I wasn’t, like, on some superhero shit.” The giggle he lets out is half-nerves and half-horror, full-throttle anxiety. Your hand finds his hip under the blankets, thumb stroking at the soft skin there. “I might’ve been a little mad at you for coming back if that had been real, but like, shit, if you breaking up with me had given me superpowers, I might’ve been alright.”

Might’ve been alright.

Even superpowers weren’t a guaranteed fix for the damage you’d dealt.

Fuck.

“Sorry,” he says finally, voice dropping off into something that sounds a little too much like you when he’d first climbed through the window. Hushed, regretful, worried. Your eyes flicker up to his and you offer your best attempt at a reassuring smile. “I probably didn’t need to say all of that.”

“I think you did.”

There’s a pause as he thinks about it, swallowing hard again. “Yeah.”

“Do you need to say more?” You give his hip a squeeze, bump his nose with yours, giving him every reassurance you can that this moment is whatever he needs. Anything he needs. For the whole night, for forever. Whatever it looks like.

You can’t help but hope it looks like long drives in a van that smells a little too much like weed and whatever else heading west looks like for the two of you together.

“Not tonight,” he says softly, shifting under the covers to pull you closer, impossibly close, hand slipping under the hem of your shirt to press against the skin of your back. Eddie smiles when you shiver, even as the exhaustion creeps into his face the same way it must have crept into yours.

“Can I say something?”

“Anything.”

So you take a deep breath, one he can surely feel against his chest. “I’m putting in the effort,” you say slowly, though you don’t press the kiss to his chin that you want to. Not yet. “I’ll write and I’ll call and I’ll come over for a campaign at Christmas. I will spend as long as I have to proving to you that I won’t leave again. And when the end of the year comes and you graduate, if you still want to, I’ll race you to the van after you’ve got your diploma and we can chase the sunset together. Or we can stay and you can keep running Hellfire for the freshmen and watch them turn into awkward sophomores. Or we can head south and go to the fucking swamps in Louisiana or up north to see Niagra Falls or whatever the fuck you want. Anything. As long as it’s with you, I really and truly don’t care what we do.”

He doesn’t say a word. Just looks at you like there’s nothing else in the whole world to look at. Like this moment is singularly suspended in time. Like you blindsided him in the best way possible and he’s never gonna forget it.

Like he’s taking in every detail of your face to stash away in his memory.

“You mean it?” The way his voice shakes at the end of it is sweet in a way you’ve always known him to be but rarely get to witness.

You bite your lip so you don’t kiss him.

Soon, you tell yourself. It’s just not the right moment yet.

“More than anything I’ve ever said before.”

Turns out you don’t have to kiss him, because he kisses you. Hungrily, earnest, a sharp clang of teeth and wandering hands. Tired or not, you’re both a long way from dreaming.

Like I mentioned here, this chapter would absolutely never have been finished without Desiree, so a thousand thank-you’s to her for helping me work out where and why I was stuck so that this part of the story could proceed. You should also 100% go check out her fics, because they’re phenomenal!

I know it’s a little bit on the shorter end this time, but it feels like a) it balances out part 7 a bit in that respect and b) this was just a good place to call the end and start over on a new chapter afterwards. They’ll be waking up on Wednesday, there’s still so much week left to get through! And after TTDS is over, there’s a potential one-off Christmas story I might write and then definitively a sequel story with the initials DWWTWE(WSE). Please feel free to try to parse the title out. Idk what, but I’ll give anyone who gets it right... something fun.

In fic-related news, I’ve started on a Ronance WIP! It’s a bit of a shift from what I’ve been doing with TTDS, clearly, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun to challenge myself with something a bit different. Some sneak peaks of that may be coming out soon, if anyone’s interested, because I kind of like teasing out new ideas.

All that said, I hope this chapter was worth the wait and I hope you all enjoy! As always, thank you guys so much for reading and liking and reblogging, it really means the world. You’re all the sweetest!

Tag list: @ajokeformur-ray @wyverntatty and @thruheavenandhighwater. If you’d like to be added, just shoot me a message!

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson imagine #stranger things fanfiction #tis the damn season #caro fics

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rushingheadlong · 2 years

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Tim Staffell Live Talk - May 2022 - Transcript

On May 20, 2022 Tim Staffell gave a 40-minute live talk (and performed with Paul Stewart) ahead of a Bohemian Rhapsody screening at The Exchange in Twickenham. This is a transcription of that event.

Huge thanks to Ribbit London for recording the original audio, and to @riaaanna for sharing it with me so I could write up this transcript!

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[Transcriber Notes: Tim has a slight stutter and speaks with a lot of disfluencies (restarting sentences in the middle, using “um” and “uh” a lot, etc.). I tried to strike a balance between a literal transcription and cleaning this up for ease of reading. Most of the stutters have been omitted, but I kept in any disfluencies that didn’t interfere too much with the flow of what was being said.]

Jim the Emcee: You’ve got an amazing screening tonight. I’m going to keep this bit really short so they can fit in as much as they can. Once again, Tim Staffell and Paul Stewart!

(Audience applauds.)

Tim Staffell: Thank you, Jim. You’ll know this…

(Tim and Paul play “Doing Alright”. Audience applauds.)

Paul Stewart: Thank you.

Tim: Well, of course that song features in the movie. And, um, and I know that Queen themselves recorded it in the early days. I used to think that, perhaps, the… It featured on their first album, I know, I used to think perhaps the reason for that was because when they were coming up to recording their first album they didn’t have enough material, so they decided, “Oh, well we’ll use one of the songs-”

Paul: This is going to be a theme for this evening, maybe. He’s going to distance his own ability and go, “Oh, humble me”...

Tim (talking over Paul): No, no, no, no, no. I really-

Paul: …and I’m saying, because it’s a fucking good song.

(Tim and audience laughs.)

Paul: Which you wrote with Brian, right?

Tim: Yes, it’s true. I really thought, you know, I really thought… I really thought, oh they’re bound to have said, “Oh we’ve only got eleven tunes. What can we do for the twelfth one? Well uhh, uhhh…”

Paul: “What’s that one, been rattling around-?”

Tim (laughing): Yeah, what’s that one been rattling around! So I- You know- But actually it’s crazy because it’s done extremely well and it features in the movie, and I find myself in this latter stage of- late stage of my life with a degree of scrutiny that I wasn’t expecting at all.

To fill you in on that, I was always surprised that when Queen biographies existed - and there have been several of them - and articles that occurred in the early days they always gave me a name check, and I wasn’t quite sure… I always felt mildly embarrassed at that, and the reason was because, you know, I’m- one is aware of all sorts of big-name bands - I mean there were very few that were as big as Queen, I appreciate - but even so, you know, one is still aware of all sorts of big bands but you don’t know the history of those bands. And I always used to think, “Well the history of Queen is exposing me! Why? I- I-”

Paul: Well, well but okay, here he goes dissing himself again, right? (Laughs)

Tim (over Paul): No, no, no, no-

Paul: No, it’s because you were really important to the growth of them. Right from the beginning, with Smile, and Brian and Roger and you, I mean god’s sake-!

Tim: Well it is true- it is true that people have ascribed the eventual sound of Queen as having its origins in the work of Smile. And I suppose I agree with that, although I wouldn’t want to base my own career on it, in case it wasn’t right. But I suppose the Smile album does contain in it the embryonic roots of Queen.

Paul: Yeah but- Yeah but bringing it right up to the- up to now, we’re all going to see this movie tonight - which is a great movie, if you haven’t seen it already you’re gonna really enjoy it… Yet it may well be that several of you have seen it several times…

(Laughter and “Yeah!” from the audience.)

Paul: Umm… How did, how did your involvement in it come about then, Tim? What- I mean-

Tim: Well- Well I mean, I’ve tried to keep a respectful distance from them over the years but I knew the Queen movie was happening. And the last I heard of it, it was- Sacha Baron Cohen was involved and I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, god, how’s that gonna work?” Because I mean I was never- to be honest with you, I was never a big fan of his. I didn’t respond much to the Ali G, uh, thing, cop comedy, and I didn’t actually respond very well to… What’s that- What’s that guy? Borat?

Paul: Borat.

Tim: Borat. Yeah, I- (disgusted noise)

Paul: Anyway, anyway…

Tim: I used to have to turn the telly off because I was embarrassed! But um, but then suddenly Brian phoned me up in 2018 and said, “Well we have a small section in the album- in the movie, which details the Smile- the original Smile, um, thing.” And it’s just a gig, you know, a small gig and this scene is that Freddie, played by Rami Malek, um-

Paul: Brilliantly.

Tim: Brilliantly. Had come- Comes and sees Smile, and of course it’s a bit of artistic license. It didn’t really happen because, as you all know, Freddie and I were good mates at Ealing College and we used to go to each other’s gigs all the time. So, um, so the epiphany that he had going down to the bar in the beginning of the film was- is- that’s artistic license.

But what Brian said was they were having some trouble in achieving an authentic 70s vibe for the sound of the band. And they were trying to hybridize it by using stuff from earlier recordings, from the Queen recordings, and Jack Roth - who’s Tim Roth’s son, who played me in the movie - he was singing it perfectly adequately, in fact perfectly well, but it just wasn’t- it didn’t… It didn’t have that kind of visceral 70s quality, so I-

Paul: That rough, rough…

Tim: Yeah so I assumed that Brian had just said to Roger, “Who do we know who’s a bit rough who’ll come and do this?”

(Paul and audience laughs.)

Tim: So anyway they phone me up and I went to Abbey Road Studios and recorded it, and I didn’t even know whether I could hack it. Um, but-

Paul: But it was good. And Brian asked you to play bass.

Tim: Brian asked me to play bass.

Paul: Yeah, yeah. Which you did.

Tim: Which I did.

Paul: And it’s all kept in the movie, right?

Tim: Yeah, yeah it’s in the movie. And, uh, and I’m very, very grateful.

Paul: But, now we have to look really a long way back, to when you - and I, ‘cause I went to the same school - I was in a band called The Others which was the school band- one of the school bands that we had back then at Hampton School down the road here. So some of the Yardbirds came from that school, and a guy called Murray Head, and also one Brian May. And you and Brian played in a band called 1984!

Tim: Well there were two school bands. I mean during that period- I have to say that I know it’s a poncy private school now but it was-

(Audience laughs.)

Tim: For eighteen years it was a state grammar school.

Paul: Yeah, it was.

Tim: And during that period of time I got a scholarship because my dad was poor, and me mum was poor-

Paul: Didn’t cost anything, by the way, excuse me-

Tim: No, didn’t cost a thing.

Paul: So how come you got a scholarship then?

Tim: What?

(Paul and audience laughs.)

Tim: No I just passed me 11-plus and they said, “You’ll do! You’ll do!” And so anyway… And then of course I blew it. And then I just- you know, I just became a long-haired rockstar at school.

So 1984 and The Others were the two school bands at the time. The difference- The main difference between them was that 1984 was largely a covers band, and The Others were an absolutely authentic 60s R&B band and they were running on the same tracks as the Stones were. And we aspired to be The Others. 1984 aspired to be The Others. And, you know, and Paul has- Paul has got such prominence in this story that I’m just delighted to have suddenly met him five or six years ago and found that we- we’re still-

Paul: We’re still in love.

(Tim and audience laughs.)

Tim: We’re still the schoolboys that we used to be! And, um-

Paul: And actually I have- I have- because I do remember Brian at school, and I remember we used to have kind of in break time, we used to have like “guitar-in’s” kind of, and he would demonstrate and he would always be the fastest and smoothest guy on the- on the guitar. But I do remember he had really, really short hair.

(Audience laughs.)

Tim: Ohh, yes.

Paul (over audience laughter): And he had the most massive ears. I don’t know how they are now, because I haven’t seen them in fifty years, right, his ears. But he was a- he was always a very cool guy and a really bright- he was always so bright.

Tim: Wasn’t it- I don’t mean any disrespect by this, but I remember someone said about Prince Charles, and I’m thinking about Brian as I say this, he said, “Oh yeah he looks just like a Volkswagen with the doors open.”

(Paul, Tim, and audience laughs.)

Tim: But so- Yeah well Brian was- I think Brian was- and I firmly believe he was the quintessential nerd.

Paul: He was.

Tim: And I think he still is. Because when I talk to him about, you know, astronomy - because I was always an armchair astronomer myself. I’m just as interested in astronomy, but I don’t have the academic underpinnings that Brian has - but Brian and I are able to converse about astronomical things-

Paul: For about two minutes, right?

Tim: For about- Yeah, until he leaves me behind. But I do know stuff! I honestly know stuff! I do, I promise, I promise!

(Audience laughs.)

Paul: Anyways, so- So! School- school finished and you decided that was enough, and you had your long hair and you decided to go to art college…

Tim: Brian went to Imperial College.

Paul: Yeah.

Tim: I went to art college but we did- But Brian was a mate. Brian used to come over to my house. I used to go to his house. We decided that we would stay together musically. And so that’s when we decided-

Paul: And then you decided to form- where you had a four or five piece band you decided to make it a trio.

Tim: Because we dug Jimi Hendrix and we dug Cream and we dug, uh… Well I mean you could even say The Who were a trio because, you know, Roger Daltrey was only the singer. I’m sorry Roger, but you know musically speaking they were a trio. Guitar, bass, and drums. And that’s what we wanted to be and we wanted to sing harmonies… We wanted to be an intelligent, heavy trio.

Paul: So this is you and Brian, but you didn’t have a drummer.

Tim: We didn’t have a drummer.

Paul: So what happened then?

Tim: Well we got a dustbin and uh…

(Paul and audience laughs.)

Paul: And what was his name?

(Tim and audience laughs.)

Tim: No we put an ad on the students’ union notice board in Imperial College for a drummer. And Roger turned up. Roger was a- I think he was at King’s College Hospital doing dentistry. I mean, I may have gotten some of this wrong but- and some of you guys may well have- be able to say, “No, you’re wrong! You’re wrong! You’re wrong!” But, um, and I’m sorry if that’s the case because I- my memory is, you know, god it’s such a long time ago…

Roger came down to a flat in I think Addison Gardens, was it? In Shepherd’s Bush. With his drums and he set-up and he played and we- our jaws just went clunk ‘cause they hit the floor because he was such a flamboyant player and we hadn’t seen anybody that skillful who was able to- There was this great thing he used to do. He used to stand on the bass drum pedal, hit the crash cymbal, and then hold it tight to stop it ringing. So it’d be [imitates drum noise]. And Brian and I- I think Brian and I compared notes afterwards. We went, “Wow!”

Paul: “That’s all we need. We just need-”

Tim: “We just need that!” Yeah. And of course Roger could sing and that was the-

Paul: Yeah, that’s right.

Tim: That was the- that was the…

Paul: So… So then you formed Smile.

Tim: Yup.

Paul: And you were still at college and you had this friend that you met that had a band, right? And his name was Freddie…

Tim: Freddie was- Freddie and I were in the same group at college, at Ealing Art College, doing graphic design. People often say, “Look, yeah but you know you could tell that he was special then, couldn’t you?” But actually, no, you couldn’t.

Paul: That was one of my questions.

Tim: Because we were all- We were just all aspirational teenagers. Well we weren’t… We were teenagers. Yeah, we were aspirational late teen hopefuls. All of us were. We all had plans. Freddie’s plans were obviously instinctively better formed because I think, you know, as time went on and as- before we graduated I think it became apparent that Freddie’s plans were forming in his head. You know I- if I’d bothered to pay attention at that time I’d have realized that he was much more focused than I was.

Paul: You know one of the things that I kind of recall from that, compared to how it is nowadays - I mean over the last few decades - is I don’t think any of us thought that we were going to be like massive stars and own loads of money and go on international tours… It kind of didn’t quite happen yet. Just starting to happen, wasn’t it?

Tim: Well…

Paul: Maybe Freddie had a vision…

Tim: Well except that I-

Paul: Maybe it’s just me.

Tim: Except that, um, that I do remember Freddie saying a couple of times, “I’m going to be a superstar, darling!”

(Audience laughs.)

Paul: Yeah.

Tim: And you know a lot of us in the class would probably say, “Yeah, sure you are, Freddie. Sure you are.”

Paul: But he was.

Tim: But we were proven wrong. And I think, you know-

Paul: Big time.

Tim: What we didn’t… What we didn’t- Because I think we were all- Those of us who were musicians, I think we were all competent but I don’t think we understood the value of presentation in quite the same way that he did. And history shows us that he developed it to a higher standard than-

Paul: Almost anybody else.

Tim: Almost anybody, you know?

Paul: Almost anybody else, in my opinion. And he was a great songwriter, I mean really. And a great performer and a fantastic showman, right?

Tim: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Paul: I mean he could put all three those things together, and you got the makings of this movie, right?

Tim: I mean people have often said to me, “Look, you know, weren’t you jealous?” And I say, well, I was envious. I wasn’t really destructively jealous because the point is I knew damn well that I was never that sort of performer. I could not do that. I was self-conscious, I was- I was confident that I was a reasonable musician but I was not confident enough to strut my stuff the way Freddie did. I mean-

Paul: So actually, I wanted to- I wanted to ask you this because I know you well enough, ‘cause you know I’ve known you for quite a few years now, more years than-

Tim: To call me an idiot, yes.

(Audience laughs.)

Paul: I mean a lot of bands that have made it, made it, made it have had casualties on the way. People who didn’t quite… They were fired just before the band made it and so they-

Tim: Yeah, yeah.

Paul: And a few of them are bitter and twisted, and you know they sue for a share of the spoils and all that kind of stuff. And I don’t see you in that light whatsoever. You are not that kind of person. And you, of course, made the decision on your own back to leave Smile because it didn’t suit what you wanted- It wasn’t your dream, right? It was maybe more Brian’s and Roger’s dream, you know…

Tim: Well…

Paul: And you had another dream.

Tim: Well to be honest with you I’m still waiting for the lawyer to get back to me.

(Paul, Tim and audience laughs.)

Paul: That ruins the magic.

Tim: No I tell you what… I’m just checking where we are with this… What happened was that I left because I’d actually- the point is I’d started to meet up with other musicians on a casual basis - well not so much casual just slightly jamming basis - and I was beginning to be seduced by this side of music that was completely different, which- It was like- It was blues and jazz in the sense that you could play a song one night and then you could play it the next night completely differently! And I rather liked that. I rather liked that improvisational approach to music. It meant that it was very, very difficult to refine songs to their best presentation but it was actually a lot of fun.

And I got- And then at that point I went to the States. Soon after- the minute I left Smile I went to the States for about four or five months and I played with a load of musicians there and they were all playing- improvising, you know, solos and improvising songs and I just kind of fell in love with that approach. And so when I came back to England I just searched out that kind of player.

Paul: Yeah, yeah.

Tim: And I think I’ve remained that way ever since. It’s not a recipe for success, unfortunately.

Paul: Well I mean it can be. I mean Hendrix didn’t do too badly, you know…

Tim: True, true. Very true.

Paul: But- but Queen’s inimitable style is very much more structured.

Tim: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

Paul: The songs are very well-structured. And I just want to say this, because I don’t know that Brian gets all the credit he’s due for being the guitarist that he is, actually. He’s a very fantastic guitarist, you know. And in a structured environment it’s quite difficult to recognized somebody who’s just going to go off on one like Hendrix would have done, but Brian is a fantastic player.

Tim: Yeah, no, he is. He’s an extraordinarily good player.

Paul: And he’s such a good guy!

Tim: Yeah, yeah.

Paul: He’s a genuinely nice man, you know, and you don’t get that combination too often.

Tim: No, no. No he’s- like I say, he’s still the lovable nerd that he always was. You know you could tell, he redid his PhD, he’s well into the stereo… stereoscopy, is it called? With the 3-D? You know he has other interests, he has- he’s a wildlife champion, I mean you know…

Paul: And he’s just produced another album, right?

Tim: I think it’s a reissue, isn’t it?

Paul: Is it? Is it? Oh, yeah, I don’t know…

Tim: I believe…

Paul: And they’re just about to go on tour. Anybody going to see them? One or two, yeah, good.

Tim: Yeah.

Paul: Yeah, excellent. Okay, so!

Tim: So, um, why don’t we- Look I tell you what, look, I have this- I have three CDs to give away of mine, which Jim has somewhere, I’ve given them to Jim, and now you- They’re really good for resting coffee cups on.

(Audience laughs.)

Tim: So, um, but I have three seat numbers here and if you’re fortunate enough to sit in these seats you will be the recipient of a wonderful coffee cup holder. Coaster.

Paul: Signed!

Tim: Signed, by the way, yeah! So only have cold drinks, or otherwise the writing will smudge.

(Audience laughs.)

Tim: Okay, so, my first choice is seat B12 qualifies for a CD.

(Audience murmurs.)

Paul: Are you there? Oh, wow!

(Paul, Tim and audience applaud.)

Tim: And also- also if you fold the booklet up, it’ll go under the leg of a rickety table as well.

(Audience laughs.)

Tim: And the next one is seat number E4.

Paul: E4!

(Paul, Tim, and audience cheer and applaud.)

Tim: And finally…

Paul: A1?

Tim: No, no!

Paul: No.

Tim: That’s you! Cheeky monkey. Finally… J22.

(Paul, Tim, and audience cheer and applaud.)

Tim: Excellent, thank you very much! We’re going to continue with- of course, we’re running out of time, predictably. We’re going to run through a tune of mine which is- we’re talking about emotional stuff. This is a tune basically for people who are in prison. It’s called “Love of the People”.

(Tim and Paul play “Love of the People”. Audience applauds.)

Tim: Thank you!

Paul: Great song. Which album was that on?

Tim: Since… I suppose really I never- When I left Smile and I moved on I stayed as a musician for about six years, and then I think my wife started to exert pressure to earn…

Paul: Maternal instincts.

Tim: Yeah, so that was part of it as well.

Paul: You had four children!

Tim: Yeah, I had four kids. Yeah they- But I clearly had to- I mean a lot of you probably know this, I clearly had to change careers. So I went back to what I used to do initially which was graphic design and then I ended up- I got working in TV special effects. And in fact you probably know that I was the chief model maker on Tommy the Tank Engine-

(Audience cheers.)

Tim: - for the first series, and then continued working in film and TV commercial right up to 2000.

Paul: That’s a- That’s a serious career, that’s like 40 years…

Tim: It was the best fun I ever had, to be honest with you! I mean special effects is just such fun! You won’t believe it! And I mean I did a lot of animation, you know, stop frame animation as well. I mean, I just- it was, as a consolation prize for having been a failed musician-

Paul: Well!

Tim: -I couldn’t have wished for better!

Paul: There we go, okay then.

Tim: But the thing is I kept playing, and when I retired- during the years that I retired I decided to go back to it. And I’ve made three albums now. Four albums! Well, now, Paul we’ve got this- there’s an album- Someone’s- One of you lucky people has got hold of “How High” which is the album I did with Paul. And there are two other albums of mine, and in fact I just finished-

Paul: You’ve just finished another one. Just-

Tim: I’ve just finished-

Paul: -this week, you’ve finished mastering it.

Tim: Finished mastering my third solo album this week.

Paul: And what’s it called? What’s it called?

Tim: The album’s called “Wayward Child”.

Paul: Ah, yeah.

Tim: And-

Paul: And when- when and where can we get it?

Tim: Uh, it- Well I’m not sure yet, but within three or four months it’ll be available on Spotify.

Paul: Okay.

Tim: So all the other stuff is available on Spotify if you’re interested. I think I’m a good songwriter.

Paul: Yeah.

(Audience applauds.)

Tim: It’s important- It’s important to me. I mean, I’m a serious songwriter. Nevermind whether I’m good or not, but I’m serious about it. So, you know, with a bit of luck one or two of them songs might be pretty good.

Paul: I mean you’re one of the guys, ‘cause again I know you quite well, who… You feel something, something’s going on in your life, and a way of processing it and expressing it is to write a song about it. And that’s how a lot of your songs are, actually.

Tim: And it is true to say that when I left Smile, one thing I never dropped was the fact that I am hardwired to write songs. Even in, you know, even in all the other- even in the career and everything like that, I’ve always written songs. You know? And, um…

Paul: What’ve we got- How are we for time? Because we don’t want to interfere with the movie…

Tim: Don’t want to interfere with the movie… It’s two minutes past eight.

Paul: Shall we do one more- one more tune?

Tim: Yeah, let’s do another tune. We could do, uh… Well let’s do “Redwood”, do you think?

Paul: Yeah. Which is one of mine.

Tim: Yeah, we’re gonna do a- Having said I’m a good songwriter, we’re now going to do one of Paul’s.

(Audience laughs.)

Tim: Because Paul is a good songwriter too, and this needs to be public knowledge. So I hope you enjoy this song. I want you to tell everybody about it.

Paul: Yeah, yeah. It suddenly occurred to me, and I’d read something about in the late 19th century up to present day, apparently, the redwood trees in California, and they’re like a mile high and they’re beautiful, beautiful examples of, you know, of wild tree life, right? And what happened once they started chopping them down, chopping them up into sections, and shipping them out of California down through Arizona, New Mexico, chopping them up for firewood and flogging them. I mean, can you believe it? And I mean now it’s very important that those things are protected, but back in the early 2000s there was a Redwood League created to protect the redwood trees. And this is a little bit of a reference to that. I thought it was just disgusting.

(Tim and Paul play “Redwood”. Audience applauds.)

Paul: Thank you.

Tim: Well I think we’re just about at the end now folks so, I mean, enjoy the movie! We all know it’s great, I mean… The word is that they’ve done a cracking job of condensing 15 years into two hours, and although there may be some things that aren’t strictly accurate in terms of historical veracity-

Paul: The spirit-

Tim: The emotional content is maintained, and the emotional integrity is maintained. And I was proud to be involved with it, frankly. So do enjoy it.

Paul: Thank you very much, Tim Staffell. And thank you for coming tonight!

(Audience applauds.)

Jim the Emcee: Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Stewart and Tim Staffell. Thanks guys, thank you, thank you very much, thank you… We’ve got a really short interval because it’s quite a long film, so as my mate says…

(Recording ends.)

#tim staffell #queen band #brian may #roger taylor #freddie mercury #smile band #paul stewart #bohemian rhapsody #text #long post //#tim

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