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yourehomesickiunderstand · 3 years

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About/Rules/Verses

Hello, and welcome to my Bofur RP blog. This post is a HUGE wall of text, if you are on desktop and would like to see it a little tidier, please see the separate pages in the sidebar to the right.

Promo Post Found Here

About the Mun

1. Firstly I am over 30, own a house, have a husband, 1 baby, 2 cats, and a wealth of commitments and responsibilities. I will do my best to reply in a timely manner, but will state up front that sometimes life gets in the way.

2. I am in EST and work M-F from 9-5, plus a half hour commute. Please understand that I can not post from work, and will not be posting during those times.

3. In addition, I am Mom to a very active toddler who is my priority over writing and who’s nap schedule tends to dictate when I can post.

4. My native language is English, though I can understand French, and a little bit of Spanish and Japanese. Don’t bank on me carrying on a decent conversation in any of those languages though.

About the Blog

1. When I first set up this blog I didn’t realize that secondary blogs can’t follow back, ask, or submit. My main blog name is Saffity, so if you see that blog follow you, it’s me. If I send an ask or submit, I will mention this blog name so you don’t get confused.

2. My inbox, ask, etc. is open. Please feel free to write me any starters, questions, or whatever.

3. Please send any critiques or suggestions to me. I’ve been on Tumblr forever, but have never really been a poster. If you see me doing basic noob mistakes with my posts that can be easily fixed, please let me know.

4. I will be tracking #yourehomesickiunderstand so please use that tag with our threads.

Mun’s Playing Style

1. I prefer my Bofur straight. I understand Boffins and other ships and have no qualms with them, I’ve been known to enjoy a good fluff fic once in a while, but this Bofur is straight.

2. Please send me an ask or fan mail if you would like our characters to have an already established relationship, I’m totally cool with it. I respond to all cannon characters as known as it shows in the books or movies, but if you are an OC and want something other than a “Nice to meet you” please let me know first.

3. I’m willing to do some fluffies, but not full on smut, if the thread calls for smut (which will often happen), I’ll fade to black when I’ve gone as far as I feel comfortable with. (Don’t worry, I’ll fade when I’m ready, you’ll never get any angry messages from me about going too far.)

4. Bofur here is multiverse, au, indie, whatever you want to call it. I’m sure he’ll fit into whatever crossover or world you decide to drop him in, he’s very easy going after all.

5. I tend to write in the past tense, third person. If you’d prefer a different style, just let me know and I’ll try to accommodate.

6. I’m bad with my images, so bad! I’m still figuring everything out, so if I’ve royally screwed something up, please let me know and I will delete and repost correctly.

7. I am super okay with editing anything I write if it doesn’t jive with your character or where you want the plot to go, please just let me know.

8. I mainly play on mobile, as such, I’m not able to cut my posts down. Please do so whenever you feel the need/want, I won’t be upset.

Head Cannons that go across all verses

1. Bofur has a Northern Irish accent and his hat, always his hat.

2. Bofur has named his hat Bundushathur, which in Khuzdul means “Cloudyhead” and will sometimes refer to his hat as a sleeping rabbit. If Khuzdul does not exist in the verse (like Modern) then the hat is called Cloudyhead and still referred to as a rabbit.

3. Bofur is the everyman, he isn’t special or high born. He is good natured, friendly, and the world’s best wingman, even if it means connecting someone he pines after with someone else. He would rather see them happy and keep their friendship than try to force his feelings on them or lose their friendship because of his pride.

4. The main characteristic about Bofur is that he is unimportant in the hierarchy of society.

Main Verse - The Hobbit/LOTR

Bofur is 4'6" but fairly thin for a dwarf.

Bofur is a dwarf who’s family line comes from Moria. He is of the mining class. He was born and raised in Ered Luin with his brother. Shortly after Bofur became an adult, his parents died, leaving him to raise his brother. Shortly after that, Bifur was injured in an orc attack. Bofur and Bombur took Bifur in, however there were a number of difficult years as they all got used to Bifur’s new personality.

Once Bifur was stable enough, the brothers decided it would be a good idea to head out and find new customers for their skills. They ended up at Bree, opening up a shop to sell Bifur’s fabulous toys, and offer tinkering services.

During their stay in Bree, Bombur got married to a passing female dwarf and moved his overly large family near the shop. Bifur and Bofur live together in living quarters at the back of the shop, Bombur lived with them until he got married.

Bofur travels around Middle Earth, usually west of the Misty Mountains, and most often between Bree and Ered Luin by way of the Shire. He collects supplies, sells wares, and visits many friends and family that are about the lands.

When Thorin calls for assistance in taking back Erebor, Bofur and his kin lock up their shop and head for the Shire.

After the quest they settle in Erebor, though Bofur heads back to Bree to close up their shop and settle accounts prior to settling in for a long life of enjoying his 14th share of the treasure.

Head Cannons that can totally change if my partner is a Bifur or Bombur

1. Bofur’s father was killed in Moria at the battle of Azanulbizar, his Mother died in an Orc attack when Bofur was in his 40s. He has taken care of his brother ever since.

2. Bofur took Bifur in after Bifur was orphaned as well, the three are like brothers, having shared the experience of loss and growing up together.

3. Bombur stopped speaking after their mother died. Bofur’s tried to get him to speak, and has managed to get him to speak sometimes, but usually just small replies and often with much prodding. Bifur and Bombur use the same sign language to speak to each other and those who don’t speak Khuzdul. Bofur takes care of both of them and is the one who speaks to customers.

Modern Verse

High School

Bofur is not popular, though he’s friendly and basically knows everyone. He enjoys shop class, classical music, and historical literature.

Studious and hard working, Bofur can often be found with his nose in a book, when not sitting on the bleachers playing the tin flute he always has on him.

College Student

Bofur is a TA in college. His major is historical literature, and his goal is to eventually become a professor. His passion is delving into historical fanatasy from cultures other than England and Western Europe.

He enjoys learning languages in order to read what he is researching in its original state.

General Modern Adult

In most modern adult verses Bofur is a general labourer, most often a janitor. If he is a teacher, he teaches music and drama.

Ice Cream Shop

Bofur runs a small home made ice cream shop that is part of a coffee shop run with a companion or family member (his partner can be any member of the company). He makes a variety of flavours, and offers lactose and gluten free varieties.

He prides himself on being able to guess his customers’ favourites on sight (like the movie Chocolat).

Marvel

Bofur is a janitor within shield. He can be found on the helicarrier, within the Avengers training base, or basically anywhere the heroes may be destroying things that need to be cleaned up.

While he is quiet and without powers, he has wisdom and a patient ear to lend to those supers who require a moment to vent.

Star Trek

This is the only verse where Bofur stands out. Bofur is a red shirt, but by some miraculous turn of events, he has gone on a number of away missions and made it back alive. Poor Bofur would love to get off the enterprise with his life, and shirt, in tact, but it appears some of the higher officers like to see him lose his mind and suggest him for more away missions, even if only in jest.

Head cannons that exist in all modern verses

1. Bofur and his family are from Northern Ireland, though Bofur travels around, goes to school abroad, and in general can pop up anywhere in the world.

2. Bofur is short for a male - 5'6", with a stocky build, and fairly strong.

3. Bofur’s younger brother Bombur is still at home (or married with kids depending on their age).

4. Bofur’s parents took Bifur in after he got injured during Armed Forces training, as Bofur’s family lives closer to the rehab resources that Bifur requires.

#out of songs

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anakinthetrashking · 4 years

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BnHA One-Shot Fic Recs (pt1)

Making some fic-rec posts has been on my to-do list for a while and I’m finally doing it, yay! Currently I have 6 word doc pages full of just BnHA recs. So I’m splitting them up by length and completion, so first up is (part one of) one-shots! Let’s go!!!

Lets start with some classic Izuku and DadMight!

Pictures, Posters and Tender Beauty by ProPinkist (tumblr: @dazais-guardian-angel ) Rating: G Category: Gen ~4,400 words Summary: Izuku has virtually every All Might-themed item out there, and prides himself on all of it, as Toshinori is well aware. However, somehow, the boy still decided that there was something vital missing. This is fluffy and very cute. No one truly appreciates All Might as much as Izuku does, but 1A comes close. All Might deserves all the love, and this fic truly provides!!!

Dear Mr. All Might by QuizzicalCrow (tumblr: @quizzicalcrow ) Rating: G Category: Gen ~5,000 words Summary: As the #1 hero for decades, All Might has collected a lot of fan mail over the years. Toshinori tracks down a series of letters that only now, years later, does he appreciate for their significance. I always love the thought of All Might looking through his fan mail, even if he can’t get to all of it. This was a wonderful glimpse into that AND it was made to be so, so personal and sweet. Go have some heart-healing fluff.

Growing Pains by LordofLies (tumblr: @theangelofchildren ) Rating: G Category: Gen ~5,900 words Summary: Izuku finds himself changed by his encounter with the Hero Killer, but changes of a more physical kind are in store for him as he begins to truly accept One for All as his own. Once, he would have been thrilled to look more like All Might, but now those connections are as much a source of anxiety as they are of pride.Or, Izuku wakes up one morning and sees the world through different eyes. Izuku having anxiety and Toshi being there to help him through it and calm him down? Sign me UP. Its also a pretty cool take on how One for All is able to change things about it’s holder. Could this happen in cannon? Who knows.... Regardless, it was a great read!

I’ll Carry You Home by Renesvetta Rating: G Category: Gen ~2,700 words Summary: While training with All Might, it wasn’t uncommon for Izuku to be so exhausted at the end of the day that he unwittingly fell asleep without regard for where he was. It consequently became part of All Might’s routine to help his young protégé home. During that time, Izuku may have let loose more than one sleepy confession towards his mentor. Yes, it is as adorable as it sounds. Its tagged with “self indulgent Dad Might fluff” which is both accurate and appreciated. In other words: Superb you funky little writer!

Simple Gifts by QuizzicalCrow Rating: G Category: Gen ~6,700 words Summary: One year ago, Izuku received the greatest gift he could ever imagine. Now he’s determined to return the favor for the one responsible for it all with a gift of his own. First off, I love the idea of Izuku and Toshi quietly celebrating the anniversary of passing on OfA from All Might to Izuku. Even just taking the day to hang out with each other. It’s a really precious idea. But there’s not just fluff! Izuku finds himself in a fight, again. (cool villain quirk, too!) I love all of the small details that are in this fic (and in Crow’s other works, too!) anyway its exciting AND very heartwarming, so go read it!!!

Affectionate by Sevi007 (tumblr: @sevi007 ) Rating: G Category: Gen ~2,600 words Summary: Toshinori starts to show affection very easily around his students. The reactions he gets for that are not quite the ones he had anticipated - well, not all of them, at least. Toshi is LOVED, APPRECIATED, and 1A feels like HOME. how many times can i say “cute” and “heartwarming” on this post?? bc these are some amazing writers, whom I adore, and their writing makes my heart WARM. AND. FUZZY. i mean, even just the first few paragraphs of this one just, really sets the scene of what i like to believe the 1A dorm is (on a good day, lol). its a really nice read, so go treat yo’ self by reading it.

paint me in trust by dinomight Rating: G Category: Gen ~6,400 words Summary: The first mark Izuku gets is a slight brush of green across his temple. It’s the soft touch of a mother holding her son for the first time. Inko has one to match, the same shade of green staining the tips of her fingers. Hers is more noticeable; Izuku’s tends to blend into his hairline. He loves it anyways. He has to. It’s the only soulmate mark he has. (Or: how Izuku goes from just green to a rainbow, UA-style.) Ok, so this fic sort of plays off the idea of soulmates, and does not fit in with soulmates in the usual form of the trope. First off its completely platonic. Its categorized as Gen and sticks to that. Also it doesn’t seem to be as obligatory and permanent as you would think it would be. It seems to be more of the universe telling you who has the possibility of being important in your life. I really really loved this, it was so adorable and gives you that sweet, sweet Izuku angst, before healing your heart with the power of friendship and found family!!!

The Die Has Been Cast by ChiwiTheKiwi (tumblr: @chiwithekiwi ) Rating: G Category: Gen ~5,400 words Summary: “There’s something about that kid you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”When no answer meets him, Shouta tries again.“You know something about Midoriya’s quirk that you haven’t shared with me. Is that right?”(Or: A canon "What If" surrounding the latest manga events and focusing on Aizawa finally making a connection.) First off, this fic has spoilers for the manga, so dont read unless you’re past chp212! I loooooooove OfA reveal fics, especially when it’s Aizawa that finds out. He deserves to know!!! its kind of important!!!! This fic chooses a great moment to work off of, and does a great job with Aizawa’s character. I really enjoyed it and couldn’t keep myself from going back and reading it just now LOL

These last two are actually two-shots, but it makes it an even 10! also Izuku and dadmight, so we can continue the theme here...

Some Unspoken Thing by LittleKy Rating: G Category: Gen ~7,900 words (2chps) Green, Toshinori has always thought, is the color of life anew.(Or: It's time for Yagi Toshinori to finally accept that he has a son, now, in all but blood. It's time for Midoriya Hisashi to accept that as well.) YES ALL MIGHT! ADMIT THAT IZUKU IS YOUR SON! great portrayal of the characters and really hits the nail on the head for DadMight. and Izuku in this story is just the smallest green floof that you wish to give a hug. NEVER MIND ALL MIGHT, YOU TOOK TOO LONG SO IZUKU IS MY SON NOW AND IM NOT GIVING HIM BACK ( no but seriously i want to hug this fic its so cute TTuTT )

LAST BUT NOT LEAST! I See You by BirdAntlers (tumblr: @aarymk )

Rating: G Category: Gen ~15,400 words (2chps) Midoriya Izuku is a quirkless child, blind from birth. Yagi Toshinori is the most powerful man in the world, loved by millions. They could not be more different, and yet their loneliness is the same. (From a pair of AU posts on Tumblr that got way out of hand; I wanted to put it here because it turned into more of a fic than a "what-if." Basically a vessel for me to vomit as much Dadmight as I can.) Hey, you! Yeah! You! Do you want to cry? Do you want to start sobbing in a public space?? Do you just want to be destroyed with words and be left there kneeling at the feet of a writer who has torn out your heart and stomped on it before they gently wipe the tears from your face? Yeah?? y oU Wan NA D IE??? READ THIS AND GET REKT. you’ll thank me later

(under the cut is just me rambling, i kept all the important stuff up here, ur welcome)

Now that the actual recs are over I can rant here- look i really tried to slim my recs down, but i have almost 300 bnha fics bookmarked,some of them are “to read” or theyre in progress, etc but i managed to get this list sorta slimmed down? a little?(to only 58!!!) but as i was gathering this post together it felt like i dont have very many Dadmight recs on that list??? but i havent rechecked all the other fics i was just going through the oneshots. i... kinda read a lot more fics with AIzawa in it instead. it be that way. DadMight content is SO GOOD. but my fav is aizawa im sorryyyyy anyway i have another SEVENteeN oneshots to put in rec posts and that does NOT include the mulitchapter and friikin series and stuff... and like i said this is aaaaaaallllllllllllllll BnHA. batfam fic posts will come after, and then star wars, and then maybe star trek? we’ll see. i have a very specific taste in ST fics and that is Tarsus IV whump. which. i have not read in a while. when they say “that trope came from ST” for sooooooo many tropes, you WISH other fandoms had tarsus as a trope, holy crap it is TOP TIER angst fodder. if you love to write/read whump, angst, and h/c i would HIGHLY recommend that you take a bit of time and explore the content and stories there. heck maybe i will make a ficrec post for just tarsus angst. ok.

my INTENTION is to edit these posts later with little links to the other fic rec lists so that itll be easier to find. but., its me, so itll either happen in painful detail or not at all

asdjkdgh its 2:30am and i need to sleep and not be rambling incoherently again I WILL SAVE THIS AS A DRAFT.

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theoriesontheory · 3 years

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Say it again, but make sure it has feeling

Intertextuality and the perceptions of aura and authenticity in film reboots and musical covers

In their video essay Intertextuality: Holywood’s New Currency Nerdwriter1 offers a harsh and pointed criticism at the mainstream movie industry for relying on what they call ‘weaponised intertextuality’. (2016) By which they mean, using cultural touchstones and references to illicit a response in viewers rather than write a compelling plot with engaging characters. (ibid.) The essay referenced several movies including the Beauty and the Beast live action remake, the new StarWars trilogy, the Hobbit, Star Trek, the list goes on and looking at the list of films and series mentioned, I must agree. Lots of these films seem to rely on viewers liking the IP already and once you have paid to consume the media they don’t really care if there’s a story there.

After watching the essay, I was left wondering, where do we see intertextuality in music and music production? The answer seems obvious, remixes and/or covers would be the most direct parallel with a reboot, with the practice of ‘biting’ or ‘sampling’ being a more subtle reference made.

In their video essay How Coltrane Broke “My Favourite Things” (feat. Adam Neely) Polyphonic praises John Coltrane’s 1961 modal jazz cover of the musical song “My Favourite things” calling him a genius more than once in the video. (2020) They explain the way the structure of the original song lent itself to experimentation, the compositional thinking, fractal theory, all of the innovations that Coltrane made on this recording. But at its fundamental level, it’s a reboot.

But then the question stands for me, in discussions on film theory this is seen as the fall of modern cinema, yet a great remix or cover is celebrated in the music industry. Why is intertextuality weaponised in Hollywood but utilised in the studio?

The primary difference to me as a creator (primarily of music) but also as someone who loves to absorb media is that in the music world, covers or remixes that achieve success on a mainstream level are usually some form of new expression on some sort of fundamental creative, human level, whereas lots of film or television remakes seem to lack some sort of heart or ‘aura’ to use the term in the way Benjamin would. (1935 as cited in Taylor, 2021)

While many reboots of film franchises are recognised as cash grabs, because more often than not they are, there is seemingly little money to be made as a great covers musician, that trend left in the late sixties and early seventies with the rise of the original composer. Covers generally feel like a new expression of a similar idea whereas cinematic remakes feel like there is very little thought put into it.

I thought an interesting experiment to do would be to breakdown what I consider a great cover and look for the intertextual references and understand how they are used differently from the way they are used in film. The Cover I will look at is the Alex Lahey ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ by My Chemical Romance cover done for Like a version.

youtube

The cover is a spectacular example of a cover in my opinion, earning itself a spot in the hottest 100 of 2019 as well as a shout out from My Chem on the internet. Doing a purely audio and music theory analysis of the two songs there are very few differences, the timbres, melodies, instrumentation and structures are all similar enough that one song is unquestionably a version of the other, a well-made version but a version none the less. The primary technical differences were the use of orchestral percussion and four guitar players. I think the primary difference between this cover and the way movies are remade is the cover is perceived to have more authenticity than the Hollywood remakes. The authenticity is recognisable in some way, Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance praising the feeling of the song even though he was in the U.S., saying that it gave him chills. (Langford, 2019) If the source material, being the lyrics and chords and structures are all the same, one must conclude that it is the method by which these things are put together that give it the aura or authenticity. I feel like in watching the cover and seeing how the musicians were performing and expressing, it all felt very real. All the additional parts were not only there for their compositional appeal, but the band was made up of a group of young Australian musicians from other bands who all grew up listening to My Chemical Romance and now get to play it on national radio Additionally there is knowing the cultural touchstone that My Chemical Romance and particularly that song has to so many emos of a certain age demographic that the song hit’s all the right notes for so many people as it is. I think that the sense of authenticity also comes from the frequency with which covers come out from musicians. A performer might have one cover that has any kind of impact in their entire song book for their entire career, whereas it feels as if studios like Disney are almost made to churn out reboots now. If Alex Lahey decided to become a My Chemical Romance Tribute act permanently (after some initial interest) fans would start wanting the old Alex back, we know how Gerard Way looks at the world, we want to know how Alex does it now.

In looking at the ways that film reboots are different from music covers, I have found that one of the key foundational differences is the feeling of authenticity as perceived by the audience. In film the social knowledge that remakes are primarily made to make money has made the concept of intertextuality a weapon and a fighting point. Contrastedly , in music due to the authenticity often felt in the performance and recognised in the context of the rest of the musician’s career intertextual references are often a time for celebration.

References:

Langford, J. (2019 September 24). Gerard Way Praises Alex Lahey For Her My Chemical Romance Like a Version. Musicfeeds. https://musicfeeds.com.au/news/gerard-way-praises-alex-lahey-for-her-my-chemical-romance-like-a-version/ Nerdwriter1. (2016 May 16). Intertextuality: Hollywood’s New Currency [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeAKX_0wZWY

Polyphonic. (2020 December 4). How Coletrane Broke “My Favourite Things” (feat. Adam Neely) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1RGmyl-_A

Taylor, J. (2021). Art Pop and The Culture Industry [Google Slides] SAE Campus online https://campusonline.gscm.sae.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=108482

Embeded video:

triple j. (2019 September 20). Alex Lahey covers My Chemical Romance 'Welcome to the Black Parade' for Like A Version [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_k8j8YwjU

#critical theory #critical theories #CIM402.1 #blog #academia #covers #research #alex lahey #reboot #intertextuality

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daredevilexchange · 4 years

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Want to be featured here? Head to this page and fill in the form!

See what this is about here, or if you’re using the app here.

What’s your fannish ID? thesecretdetectivecollection on both tumblr and AO3!

What types of fanworks do you create? I pretty much exclusively write fic. :) Over the years, I feel like I've gotten much better at communicating what I want to through fic, even though I've still got a long way to go before I reach the level of the writers I really really admire. Often when I write, it's to get something out of my head, so if there's an image or a prompt or a line or scene that keeps coming into my head, I will write it, and that way I get to revisit it later on. I'll probably stick to fic, since I'm not very artistically talented.

What are your favourite types of fanworks, when you're not creating? I love fics and gifs and vids. I also love art, particularly hyperrealistic art. But vids will get me super hyped up, and fics are just wonderful, no matter how many times you've read them before!! What do you like in particular about this fandom? I love that this fandom is so active! It also seems really welcoming, as someone who's a more recent arrival, which is great. :) This fandom's also conducive to whump and hurt/comfort, which I love as a way to encourage intimacy among different characters. I really like Matt with Frank Castle or Claire or Elektra. I also adore his relationship with Foggy, which I have written as a profound verging-on-codependent friendship, but I could also see it as a romantic relationship! Do you like participating in fan events? I do! Sometimes having a deadline and a specific prompt stresses me out--If I don't vibe with the prompt, it's a struggle. But I love that it forces me to churn out content! Last time, with Fratt Week (DDE: @frattweek ), I finished four fics in four or five days, which was great because otherwise I wouldn't have written those specific fics. It also allowed me to explore different permutations of the characters without recycling characterizations but still retaining the essence of the characters, which was a cool challenge. It also gives me an opportunity to interact more with other folks in the fandom, which is great!

What about your creating process? Music can inspire me, but I almost always write in silence. I also tend to write a lot at night. Sometimes with a prompt, I'll create a playlist of songs that are related, and listen to them until I find inspiration, and then I'll listen to that song every time I feel stuck to propel me to the end!

Do you interact a lot with other fans? Unfortunately, I don't right now. I'm hoping for more interaction in the future! In other fandoms, I have friends who will read my rough drafts, squeal over headcanons and gifs, talk through difficult plot points, and really encourage me throughout the writing process. In the Daredevil/Defenders fandom, I don't quite have that yet, but I'm hoping that if I interact more and put myself out there more, I'll be able to form those relationships.

Is there any particular piece you'd like to showcase for this post? My magnum opus in this fandom is the heart that bleeds for the unworthy :https://archiveofourown.org/works/23687242/chapters/56869069 . I'm also really proud of why'd you have to go and give yourself away, which was written for Fratt Week! https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503599 I'm toying with a followup on a couple of my Fratt week fics, and this is one of the ones I'm considering revisiting in the future.

Do you have other fandoms you'd like to talk about? I've written a few fics for Star Trek AOS (McKirk primarily), and one thing that's similar is the possibility of the characters being hurt and being put in the role of medic or caregiver for their injured friend/partner. There's also a lot of... for lack of a better word, damage that's been done to the characters I tend to like. I love digging into old psychological wounds and seeing how that baggage affects their relationships and potential healing or character evolution. Where can your fanworks be found? On Ao3, where my name is thesecretdetectivecollection. I can also be reached on tumblr for messages. https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesecretdetectivecollection/pseuds/thesecretdetectivecollection

Thank you, @thesecretdetectivecollection !

banner by @context-is-for-kingpins !

[ID on a white background, four black triangles that look like spotlights from above. Each illuminates one of the Defenders silhouetted in white: Jessica, Luke, Danny, Matt. A hand on the left is holding a pen writing the words Content Creator Spotlight. There is a little Punisher skull on the pen. End ID]

#Daredevil #punisher #the punisher #marvel #daredevil fic #fratt #content creator spotlight

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annoying-lucy · 4 years

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Evan Evagora did an AMA involving the Star Trek Shitposting Facebook Group - the questions and answers below were copy/pasted direct from the collated master post. Evan is a member of the group, who participates under an unknown pseudonym.

———————————————

AMA Master Post!

Thanks so much to Evan Evagora for taking time out of his day for our AMA earlier. To make the questions and answers easier for ya'll to find, here they all are together below.

Q: How does my love of cats compare to Elnor?

A: Im actually more of a dog person, there was a scene that had Elnor and spot 2 unite briefly but unfortunately it didn’t leave the editing room

Q: How familiar was I with Star Trek before and did I have to do research?

A: I grew up with TNG, I’d have to say either worf, Guinan or Q are my favourite characters. And I was given episodes to watch that were to help with information before filming Picard

Q: How was I prepped to deal with the crazy fans?

A: I got told to join Star Trek shitposting 😉. Not but in all seriousness, it was Jonathan Frakes who gave me advice on entering the world of fandom from the other side and he said it’s been nothing short of a pleasure

Q: So if Hugh had survived would they have made out?

A: what happens on the cube stays on the cube

Q: My favourite moment of s1

A: getting to slice that romulans head off

Q: How did I hear about Star Trek shitposting?

A: most of the crew is either a part of the group or knows about, one of the amazing hair and make up ladies got me into I think my first or second day

Q: If I had to be Tuvixed with someone excluding elnor?

A: mirror verse Elnor, nah worf to be honest

Q: What is something I’d like to do in season 2

A: Id like to see Elnor and spot 2 together

Q: How am I passing my time woth quarantine?

A: ama for the gronp! Nah I’ve just been reading, writing and also the contact I’m having with the fans too has really helped a lot

Q: If I had to quarantine with any of my costars who would it be and why

A: I’d go with hardy treadaway he’s got the nicest place

Q: What am I hoping to see in Elnor’s future

A: Inner peace, contentment and possibly shorter hair?

Q: Am I intimidated by working on a show with such a big fan base?

A: no I grew up with Star Trek, you’re really in a bubble of filming when you’re making the show, it all didn’t really hit home until the first trailer at San Diego

Q: Would I consider playing Elnor as non binary

A: I’ve seen a lot of debate and discussion about not only my character but others in the series, if there is something that connects you with a character on this show and it resonates with you, even if it’s shown, not shown or hinted at I’m all for it. I am not for the constant belittlement, bullying and criticism of not only the characters on the show but also other fans. It really does break my heart reading comments where people aren’t welcoming of one another, because that is the whole reason why Trek has bought so many together and by spewing these disgusting cruel words out your not only showing the world you don’t understand the meaning behind the show, you also are destroying the thing that makes us all love it

Q: Is there Australia on romulas

A: yeah they have a down under I’m sure of it. No the accent can easily be explained with, Elnor left romulas at a young age, moved to a planet with different species and languages spoken so that influenced his accent

Q: Have I seen Elnor fan fiction and art?

A: yeah some of it has been really amazing! And some others have been...creative

Q: How excited am I to make home movies with my action figures?

A: my plan is to buy everyone’s, make them record audio and then film shit using the dolls and their voices

Q: Are you playing animal crossing?

A: I’ve preordered it because they’ve sold out here in aus, but in playing civ 6 to pass time and Mario party

Q: Did I get to try Romulan ale?

A: no I wish, I’m kind of hoping for a scene next year where Elnor gets drunk for the first time

Q: What character did I wish would appear in our show?

A: one word, one letter Q

Q: What’s my background have I been acting long?

A: Picard was my third acting gig, and the first project to release, so I have got some experience acting and I have previous work but it has either just aired or is going to next year

Q: Please my friend choose a charity you would like us to donate to

A: food bank

Q: Favourite ninja turtle

A: it’s always been Raph and always will be

Q: Do I know much about Elnors background

A: I know things that haven’t been mentioned yet, but also given his character is new and season 1 just finished, hopefully some of those things are explored

Q: How would o feel about the fan theory that Spock is my father

A: I mean, I’m not really sure, I can always shoot Ethan a message and ask him what he thinks too

Q: Which classic episode trope would I like to see?

A: mirror universe

Q: Can we look forward to more ninja representation?

A: is Elnor not enough? ☹️

Q: Were there any particular characters I drew inspiration from, any elves?

A: there’s a particular group of people I think Elnor might have been inspired from. Can I just say how cool it would be if Elnor is just cosplaying as an elf because Picard left him a copy of Lotr when he was young

Q: Would I be open to exploring Elnors sexuality in s2 and what would it be?

A: I am totally open for that, and as for Elnors sexuality, I’m not sure he’s only 17 he’s just left his planet and gone off on an adventure where he openly knew the success may lead in his death or others he hasn’t had time to figure himself out so seeing his sexuality explored would be amazing

Q: What stories did you hear about working on precious trek series from the OG actors?

A; So we found out Michael Dorn used to muddle his lines up because he was normally the last close up of the day. They used to put bets on to see how many takes he’d have to do. All I must add in very fun spirits nothing ever malicious or mean

Q: My long term career goals

A: id like to keep pursuing more roles I’m acting, I’m a big writer and have some projects I’m looking at getting created but right now I’d say I’m just here to learn and grow

Q: What do I write?

A: right now I’m working on three screenplays and two pilots most of the stuff I’ve written is just sitting on my hard drive just waiting to be used

Q: Ever fried an egg, buttered and vegemite'd some toast and eaten it like a sandwich?

A: what I just read, scared the crap out of me, I love vegemite but the most I’ll do is add cheese to it

Q: What is one of my favourite stories about s1

A: Jeri Ryan and I had a scene together in the borg cube (what a queen she made!) it was shooting at night and I think it was the final shot of the day, we couldn’t keep a straight face and just laughed through about fifteen takes

Q: Are you a big fan of fandom besides Trek?

A: Star Wars, lotr, the magician series Raymond e feist, a song of fire and ice series, avatar last air bender and legend of Korra (would love to play zuko) and of course Batman (fav Jason Todd as the hood)

Q: Could I see myself playing Elnor for six or seven years?

A: as long as there’s a good story that myself and fans will enjoy, but if it didn’t meet my expectations no. And also hopefully the writers and creators would want to

Q: My top TNG eps are in no particular order

I borg, all good things, tapestry, the measure of a man and all good things

I’ll also add I borg especially because it’s just cool seeing where Hugh began and how he ended up

Q: How did I land the role of Elnor?

A: I was on a break from filming Fantasy Island (a movie based off the old tv show) and I was home for pilot season which is when they cast for shows, I had two weeks of daily auditions before I was due to fly back and start filming again, two days before I was meant to leave I got an audition for Picard, the script had a code name and Elnors name was Kbar on it, but I was told it was Star Trek. I went into the room and thought I didn’t do a very good job, then I flew to film and two days later I was told I’ve made a list of people being considered, after a few more auditions and a couple of phone calls from producers and everything I found myself on a plane to LA five weeks later

Q: Have I made friends among the cast?

A: no, we tried really hard to become friends, but unfortunately we ended up becoming a family instead. Everything we say in interviews about us getting along is all true and not fake. I’m the newest to acting out of everyone so I was kind of of shocked to find out that how close we all are isn’t necessarily how it will be when I shoot other projects, so I think we just got lucky or they casted really well

Q: Have the Picard people seen your memes?

A: yes I’ve shown them the memes from the page, I’ve shown everyone including Patrick we find most of them funny (some shocking)

Not shocking in a bad way

Unexpected I should say

Q: How do I feel about the ears?

A: I wore them so much they came up in my dreams, but they were the easiest thing to apply onto me

Q: Which non tng character would I like to see return?

A: I wouldn’t mind seeing the doctor

Q: The most relatable Star Trek character?

A: Look for me growing up it was Wesley, i just picked anyone who was the young one. And I grew up with my sisters and was always being told I’m either wrong, an idiot or just to shut up

Q: Did I have previous martial arts experience before the show?

A: I have a background in boxing which helps when it comes to movement, reflexes and just all around fitness for stunts. I didn’t have any sword fighting experience before we began training for the show however

Q: How do you think being raised by an order of women affected Elnor?

A: I think it gave him a healthy understanding of not only the strength and resilience of women but I think he understands not only gender equality but just equality in general and I think that’s directly to do with growing up in a sect of all female warrior nuns

Q: What is a type of meme you would like to see more of in the group?

A: I love all the memes in the group, I hardly like any of them now incase someone figures out who I am though ahahah

Q: Favorite recent memes?

A: See my comment below

#evan evagora #star trek #star trek: picard #picard #elnor #ama #stsp

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stereogeekspodcast · 3 years

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[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 4. We’ve Been Busy With… Julie and the Phantoms, Star Trek: Discovery, and More

What are we enjoying when we aren't working? Mon's been busy with a few DC Comics, listening to the audiobook of One to Watch, catching up with Holiday Baking shows, and recapping Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 for Show Snob. Ron has been listening to a 12 Monkeys podcast and EK Johnston's Queen's Peril. She's also been watching Julie and the Phantoms as well as recapping The Mandalorian Season 2 for Show Snob.

Listen to the episode on Anchor. Read Mon's recaps of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 here. Read Ron's recaps of The Mandalorian Season 2 here.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Hello and welcome to Episode Four of Stereo Geeks. I'm Ron.

Mon: And I’m Mon.

Aside from our day jobs as marketers, and night jobs writing the occasional feature or story about pop culture, what have we been busy with?

So I've been catching up with my usual comic book titles. I follow Batman, Red Hood: Outlaw and Nightwing. I haven't really kept up with any other titles per se. I read comics in small doses; they get frustrating after a while or predictable. And I would say that that's also the case with just these three titles.

With Batman, we just had a huge change in his arc. There was the ‘Joker War’, which has brought about a huge change in his circumstances. Batman now no longer has access to his immense wealth. And he has to hide from the Wayne Manor; the Batcave. Let's just say that he's downsizing. So let's see how he goes.

He's living in a world that's post-Joker. But is the Joker gone? It’s a huge question. Have you been reading any Batman titles?

Ron: I've been catching up with the Batman title. And I think the last one that I read was #102. Last I saw, the Joker War was over and Batman was in dire straits financially.

I'm actually enjoying this direction for the character. I haven't really taken to Batman's characterization in the Rebirth comics. I thought he was staid. He was boring. He was very one-dimensional. We discussed a lot of this in our opening episode about Batman's worst enemy. Please check that out when you have time.

I like where this is going. I think it's changing the way we see Batman.

Mon: Well, I hope there's more character development because the action is definitely boring.

And the other title on my pull list is Nightwing. Nightwing is back to being Dick Grayson. Yes, after 20 issues of being Ric Grayson, he now has his memory back and his family back and he’s snatched the Nightwing mantle away from Detective Alphonse Sapienza. He's abandoned the rest of the Nightwings.

Honestly that was wrapped up in one page, which is a bit disappointing. I really like those characters. I'm glad Dick Grayson is back to being himself because as much as the Ric storyline had potential, they never really went anywhere with it. I'm happy that Bea is sticking around because she seems to be a good influence on him. Nice down to earth character. Will she be more than a love interest? Probably not.

But I am really looking forward to reading these stories again. What are your thoughts on Dick being back?

Ron: Definitely, definitely relieved at the return of Dick Grayson. The Ric Grayson idea worked for maybe two issues. And after that it fell off the wagon. I liked the other Nightwings. I liked how Ric worked with them. I'm really disappointed that they've been discarded so quickly. And I'm really hoping that they actually do come back some way and work with Nightwing, because those are really good characters. We got a lot of backstory from them. And they were working to save the city of Blüdhaven. So I don't feel like they should be left behind like this.

Aside from that, I do really like Bea. There were a few too many moments in the last few issues where they tried to pit Bea against Barbara. I mean, really? Really, in 2020?

What I would really like to see now is how does Bea fit into the Bat-family. She knows everything about Dick Grayson. I want to see her interact with the rest of the family.

Mon: And the last comic book title on my list is Red Hood: Outlaw. I'm actually speechless when it comes to Red Hood. Ron here is the one who introduced me to Jason Todd/ Red Hood. I knew about the character; read about the character. I wasn't interested in reading him that much. But then, you know, somebody here is a fan. But the last few issues have been awful. This final volume before the changing of the guard have been honestly atrocious.

I have wanted to hit Jason in the face… tear up my comic book. Because the art is awful. The characterizations are awful. I'm just not going to go into what happened. It's definitely gone off the deep end. I'm really hoping he gets back to being a readable, relatable character. From issue #51 there's a new team taking it over, so here's hoping.

Ron: I have to agree about Red Hood. I love this character. I have no idea why? Because his solo runs, his team books, they're not good. There are moments of characterization that made me want to read more about Jason and his problems. But overall, his story is so repetitive and so bland.

This last arc has been unmemorable. I don't know what they're doing with it. I don't know where they're going with it. And Jason has not changed in any way.

Mon: I feel like with Jason, he's always stuck in place. And I'm hoping that the new creative team can actually flesh him out more.

Ron: Yeah, it's about time.

So, moving on to what I've been busy with. I have been listening to the 12 Monkeys podcast called, Word of the Witnesses. It's a podcast hosted by two ladies; huge fans of the show. And their very many friends who have all been brought in to the wonderful world of 12 Monkeys. Now, we are talking about the TV show created by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. We are not talking about the movie.

However, the show was based on the film. The first season follows the storyline of the film fairly closely. But from the second season onwards, it moves away from that. And it grows.

Mon, you and I started watching the show when it first came out in 2015. We were hooked. We love time travel, so this was definitely up our alley. But the second season was amazing. And then there was a huge break because our lives completely changed. So, we couldn't get to seasons three and four till this year. I managed to watch those two seasons just before the pandemic hit. And then once the pandemic did happen, it was a bit difficult to watch a show about a pandemic. But I’ve been trying to get back into the show again, and I just re-watched the whole thing.

And I still wanted more of the show, so I found this podcast. It's been really enjoyable listening to it. I went through all 53 episodes within a month; no regrets.

I really enjoyed how the hosts went into the mythos of the show. They made so many connections between the various time travel concepts in the show. They found all these Easter eggs that I probably would have missed had I not been re-watching it. And they made connections that I really hadn't even seen before.

But what I also enjoyed was all the theorizing about what certain elements in the show meant. They managed to bring on Terry Matalas and a couple of the writers on the show for interviews. And at one point they did mention that the hosts had found connections that even they hadn't thought of.

It was an enjoyable podcast listen to; it was very engaging. I found that, during the pandemic, I really need to hear conversations. So, for me listening to a podcast where it's a whole bunch of people just talking to each other has been really, really calming. And it's a show that I love, and a bunch of people talking about it with as much love for it as I have, so I've really enjoyed listening to it.

Mon: Well, I haven't heard the podcast myself, but we re-watched the final season of 12 Monkeys together and I felt that you were able to make a lot more connections, A) because you re-watched the entire show just prior to me watching the final season. But also because you'd been listening to the Word of the Witnesses, who gave you all the tidbits and Easter Eggs which would then enhance our watching experience.

I really like how nowadays fans can create content about properties that they really, really love. And it really augments the viewers’ experience.

Ron: Yes, the way that they the way that they spoke about the show. And there were times when during the episodes, they would actually get super emotional because they were so invested in the characters and invested in their journeys. And you could see how much thought had gone into making every part of this show meaningful. And then when they brought on the creators who were also talking about it, you could feel that palpable sense of love for this product, which was often very difficult to create because of budgetary issues. You could just feel it, and it makes you love this show even more.

Mon: Yes, 12 Monkeys was definitely a show that went under the radar for a lot of people. So I'm glad that there's a podcast which is getting the word out there.

So as we talk about things we’ve been listening to, one of our favorite things is audiobooks. And I recently got my hands on a slightly weird one, for me anyway. This is an audiobook of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London. I heard about this book on NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour. It's another podcast. So I finally requested it from our library.

The story is about plus-size fashion blogger, Bea, and she joins this show which is the equivalent of The Bachelorette, it's called Main Squeeze. She's basically the main squeeze and there are all these 20-odd gentlemen are vying for her affections.

Now, because she's a plus-size person, especially a plus-size woman, she faces situations and comments which the regular Main Squeeze participants won't have faced. And I found that very interesting. We are not used to seeing that many plus-size characters, especially plus-size women, leading romantic or genre properties. And while romance novels and romance stories are really not something that I enjoy, I found that some of the themes—the fatphobic themes—that she faces, they were very relevant and echoed reality. It's actually a tough book to sometimes get through. It's not always happy.

I mean, it's a romance novel, so we can assume that there is going to be a happy ending, we don't know. Because it doesn't seem like it for the longest time. And I'm still in two minds about the ending. Some people may like it, some people may have wanted something different for her. But yeah, give it a shot. If you are looking for something with a different kind of character as a protagonist.

Ron: I’m intrigued. What made you want to read this book? Because a romance story is not up your alley, even if it does have a plus-size character as the lead.

Mon: I think I was just looking for something which may echo a reality which doesn't get represented enough in pop culture. And especially when it comes to plus-size characters, they're usually, you know, sidekicks or completely invisible. So, I really want to see how they approached this topic. I wouldn't say they got everything right. But, the best thing about NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour is that when they recommend something in their ‘What’s Making Me Happy This Week’ section, you are taken in by the enthusiasm of the person pitching this particular product. So that's why I thought, ‘okay, let me give this a shot’. I do think that this is a refreshingly new approach. And it touched on the fact that reality TV at the end of the day is still curated reality. And it's something that you and I have talked about.

Ron: Speaking of audiobooks, I have just been listening to Queen’s Peril by EK Johnston. This is a follow up to Johnston's first book about Padmé Naberrie—aka Queen Amidala, later on, Senator Amidala—Queen’s Shadow.

I love this book so much. I enjoyed Queen’s Shadow a lot. Spending time with Padmé is always amazing. As much as we love the prequels, and yes, we do love the prequels—fight us—Padmé didn’t really get a great ending. So, any stories that give us more of Padmé’s political life, we are definitely up for it.

This book follows Padmé in her early days of becoming Queen of Naboo. She's very young. She's got all these new ideas of how she wants to run the world. And we also get to know a lot about her handmaidens. What I love is that there is some queer content which always makes me happy. I did not expect that, especially in a Star Wars book. But it was so good.

Padmé is a girl. She's a teenager. She's also a queen. She is so smart. She is so witty, she is just amazing. And what I also love about this book is that it ties into The Phantom Menace. But it gives us a whole new perspective. Because you know what's happening and you've got that context, so that enriches the entire experience. I just loved every single moment of this book.

Mon: Yeah, I remember haranguing you to get this book because I loved it so, so much. With Queen’s Shadow, I felt like the author EK Johnston was perhaps a little bit more restrained; it was her first foray into the huge Star Wars universe. I can imagine that there were quite a few studio hands involved. But here in Queen’s Peril, my goodness, it's fluid writing. She knows these characters and she really wants to build up the world that they live in. Every character that we meet has their own arc, they’re fleshed out; you understand their motivations. It's just brilliant to read. And reading about how Padmé and Captain Panaka create her band of bodyguards was so much fun. Each one has their own talents, their abilities, they know their weaknesses, but more than anything, the emphasis put on the sacrifice that they make, I really loved reading about that.

Because these side characters, you know, you can’t just forget about them. ‘Ah, she died because she was a decoy for Queen Amidala’. No, it means a lot to Amidala who these people are. I had so much fun being back in this world from this perspective.

And what I also found funny is that they're still a gaggle of teen girls. They're going to get up to stuff; they're going to be naughty. There’s so much personality given to Padmé and the rest. I really hope that EK Johnston is able to write some more. Let's get back in there with Padmé and the girls.

Ron: Absolutely. She so brilliantly captures this connection that Padmé has with her handmaidens. And you know what I really loved about this, which is also one of the reasons why I loved Queen’s Shadow—I love the politics.

I know a lot of people found the politics in the prequels very difficult to understand. It wasn't very difficult. You just need to have a brain.

Mon: I will never understand people's argument against the politics in the prequels. He was literally echoing what was happening in the news.

Ron: Exactly. So I loved Queen’s Shadow because of that. We get so much insight into how the Senate works, why there’s so much infighting and why certain things just don't get done. And we get to see more of that here. We also get a few hints about how Palpatine gets to rise. And you understand how Padmé has to think on her feet. Because there are so many things that are out of her control, but she needs to keep the peace. So yes, this was such an enjoyable read. I cannot wait for the third part of this trilogy.

Mon: And now on to one of my guilty pleasures. I absolutely and utterly love watching baking shows, cake shows. Anything to do with food, and usually desserts. So, on the Food Network channels, every season, they pretty much have a whole host of themed cooking shows. Since it's the winter and there's so many holidays coming up, we have the Holiday Baking Championship and we have Holiday Wars, which are both different kinds of baking shows.

This year, the formats have changed quite a bit from the previous ones, especially for Holiday Wars. I find it a little less compelling. I feel like it's a little all over the place. I don't know why.

Holiday Baking Championship have a giant table where everybody has to sit at an awkward angle to talk to the contestant. I just keep watching them with their sprained necks and worry about that instead of enjoying the food. But I did notice that the cast of participants looks a lot more diverse than usual. So that's been a long time coming and I hope it is a mainstay.

Aside from that I've caught one episode of Buddy vs. Christmas. Buddy is the Cake Boss in America. And he used to have this competition with fellow cake competitor Duff. But this year, it seems like he is competing on a weekly basis against different cake makers.

The format seems to be that every week they have a theme related to Christmas and they make competing giant displays. I mean, the displays are huge and works of art; works of architectural brilliance and technological brilliance. I do hope that they eat it, but I doubt it. But I have enjoyed seeing what comes out of it.

And ,I hear that we’re in for a new season of Sugar Rush on Netflix, which is so much fun. We really enjoyed the previous season and it seems like they've been trying to get more celebrity guests so let's see who they have this year.

Ron: Yes, nothing like sitting back on a weekend and just watching a baking show. And then we feel like we’re experts on why somebody’s got soggy cake and why somebody else's cake collapsed. Yeah, that's definitely fun.

Speaking of watching things, I have just marathon-watched Julie and the Phantoms. Okay, I thought I was gonna watch a movie. And I decided on Julie and the Phantoms because I've been hearing so much about it. But it turns out that this is actually a TV show. And in 10 episodes the first season wrapped. I really enjoyed this show. It was so much fun.

Mon: Okay, you have to tell me what this show is about. I’ve not heard of it.

Ron: Julie and the Phantoms is about this young girl Julie, played by Madison Reyes, in her very first role. Wow. And she's lost her mother. It's been a year and she's still struggling. One of the things that brought her and her mother together was their love of music. She used to play the piano and she used to sing and now she can't do that because it just reminds her of her mom. So at a crucial moment when she is losing her spot in her music class, three ghosts turn up.

Mon: What?

Ron: These three ghosts died in 1995. And they used to be a band. It actually opens with them. So I'm looking at the screen, looking at 1995 and thinking, ‘oh, that's five years ago’. No, no, it was 25 years ago! It was 25 years ago… Feel old yet?

So, 25 years later, these three members of this band land up in Julie's mother's studio. And they rekindle her love for music and bring her closer to her mom's memory.

At the same time, the three ghosts need to figure out what their unfinished business is because why else are they here? There's a lot of music, there's a lot of singing, there's a lot of dancing; there are so many sweet moments. There are some really, really heartbreaking moments as well. Because the three boys, they died when they were 17. So they've left family behind. And they need to come to terms with that as well.

Of course, Julie and her loss is palpable in every moment that she plays a song. But for the most part, it's quite light, it's quite jovial. There are some laugh out loud moments that I really enjoyed. It's a really, really sweet TV show.

And I really am hoping that there's going to be a second season, because it ends on a cliff-hanger. There's plenty of room for them to grow.

I also love the fact that there are some queer characters in this show. It's not overstated, it's there, it's quite obvious. But it's really sweet. Because two of the band members, they realize that their fellow band member has fallen for a ghost. And they're just like, ‘oh, you have a crush on this ghost friend, that's why you're late for practice’. That's it, even though they're from 1995. So, I was like, oh, that's a relief. So yeah, it was really sweet.

One of the things that I found quite interesting, which I have been noticing in content for young people, is that, when we were growing up, content that was made for us which featured straight couples, generally the boy would not dance. It was this weird thing that would always bother me. You'd have the girl who was always, you know, happily dancing. But the boys? Oh, no, no, they don't do that. But you don't see that now that much. Especially not in this show. Everybody was dancing quite happily. Gay, straight, whatever. So that was really fun!

I love that Julie is a young girl of color, which is still a rarity in pop culture nowadays. Madison Reyes is a really good singer. She has an amazing voice. She dances very well. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this child.

Mon: Well, you’ve always been a fan of musicals. I'm so happy that they keep making these good ones nowadays.

Ron: It was so much fun. And the second season could possibly expand on the mythos that you've already learned in this season. But it was great. It was light. We need something light right now. And that's exactly what we needed.

Mon: Okay, so now on to our weekly favorites. I've been recapping Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 at Show Snob. This has got to be my favorite season, so far. It is so exciting; so fun. It starts off with Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, she lands in the future and she's all alone. The rest of the crew haven't arrived. When she's reunited with her crew, how does everyone deal with being in the new future? What does the future look like? What's their new mission? Is there a mission? It's been incredible.

I think the creators feel like they’ve finally been able to shed the constraints of being a prequel to the original Star Trek show. Now they can just do whatever they want, create as many different worlds and characters that they want. It's been fun. It's really been exciting. I love the Easter eggs and throwbacks, there are so many of them! We've watched seven episodes so far, which is kind of partway through, and I think they've found their feet.

One thing I'd say about this season is that it's been a little bit more chaotic. I feel like they have a lot of loose threads which are only now trying to get streamlined. There’s also been a lot of characters introduced, we see them for an episode or a few scenes, then they disappear. So it's a little bit bittersweet. I'm hoping for it to get better and better.

Ron: Yes, the cast of Discovery has increased a great deal in this season. And I do like the additions of Adira, Gray, and Book. They're great. They're fun.

But the crew of Discovery itself, we get to see a bit more of them from time to time, which is also quite nice because we've seen them in the background. Especially the Bridge crew; they're always there, a lot of them are Canadians, so, we’ve got our eye on them. But, now we're actually getting to know a little bit more about their personalities and how they work.

Of course, it's all against the background of them being completely displaced from everything that they know and love. So that does change the dynamic between the characters, and also how they feel about their new existence.

I love Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham, I've loved her since the first episode. She is so great. I feel like I meet a friend every week when I see her. I'm so fascinated by her direction. She's somebody who was introduced to us in the very first episode as a logical Vulcan who believed so strongly in the Starfleet way of life. And then it all changed because she may have been brought up as a Vulcan, but she was still human. And the moment she got an opportunity to make a difference and get revenge, basically, for the death of her parents, she took that chance, and it changed the way the Federation worked.

Every season, she’s been a fish out to water, trying to fit in. By the end of the second season, she found her home with Discovery, and once again she's been displaced from them. She's still looking for another way to connect with these people whom she does love, but there's a rift between them. And it's not her fault and it's not their fault. But it's just the circumstances that Michael always finds herself in. She's just a great compelling character. I think, after B'Elanna Torres, Michael Burnham would probably be my second favorite; she's just amazing.

Mon: One of the bolder moves by the creators in this season has been changing up the Federation. We're not going to go too much into that—no spoilers here. But I have to say that it makes for a compelling story.

We are so used to Star Trek properties really coasting on the idea of utopia. But there's more to it. There's more to the world and I think that, in 2020, when we are faced with the realities of what people are really like. I'm not entirely sure a beatific view of the future is practical. But let's hope that Discovery finds some kind of utopia eventually.

Ron: Yes, because Star Trek has always been about hope, and Discovery has often struggled with that kind of hope. The first season was all about war. The second season was a little bit more hopeful. This season, it's there but they’re struggling to find it.

They're in a position now to actually bring in some kind of hope. We're seeing that from time to time in the episodes that we've seen so far. But, it's a very different kind of Star Trek from previous iterations. I would say that it's quite dark from time to time.

Mon: It's dark but it's not melancholic, and there is an underlying theme of hope and positivity and optimism, which I assume, by the end of the season, will come to fruition.

Ron: Absolutely. And another show that we've been watching on the regs is The Mandalorian Season 2.

The first season had its ups and downs. There were some really good episodes; there were some poor episodes. We found the first episode to be a little bit turgid. The second season has been far more accomplished.

From the first episode of the second season onwards the editing has been much tighter, the storylines have been more engaging. Even for the episodes that were a bit slower in terms of plot there was still enough there to keep you interested in what was happening.

I think one of the things that people will definitely love about this season is how it's connected to the rest of the Star Wars universe, not just the films, but also the animated shows, as well as the books, maybe even the video games, we don't know yet. There has been some speculation but nothing has been nothing has yet been confirmed. So stay tuned on that.

We've been enjoying it. Baby Yoda has had some moments. He does seem to be doing things that aren't always very good. I don't know how I feel about him; he's adorable. He's adorable. But some of the things that he does… his actions are a bit questionable at times, even though he is Baby Yoda.

Mando himself hasn't really seen much growth this season. I felt like in the first season, you know, he started off as a bounty hunter. He found Baby Yoda and then it changed how he felt about his job and his mission. He no longer just wanted Beskar for the heck of it. He had a person to protect, and it changed his way of life.

This season, as fun as it is to watch him and Baby Yoda go from planet to planet, and from more ridiculous circumstances to others. Mando himself really hasn't changed much from the start of this season. So, I feel like the last few episodes will have some work wrapping that up.

Mon: I know that Mando has really stagnated in his characterization, but it's been such an adventure. Each episode has been an adventure on a new planet. And it's shown how Mando and the Child have connected more. It’s expanded the universe of the live-action show, and I’ve enjoyed that much more than if we were forced to watch Mando grow in some contrived or inauthentic fashion.

Honestly, this feels like a Star Wars show mainly because you never know what you’ll spot or who you’ll spot from other properties. So I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't mind that he's like, ‘I'm on a quest; I’m on a quest, I'm on a quest’. Literally his only refrain for the first three episodes—he's moved on from saying that, at least.

Because as a character, he's so cool. Like, even when you watched Jango Fett and Boba Fett. These helmeted creatures, you don't really care about who they are as people. They just looked so cool. And a lot of the characterization, their arcs, their motivations, they come through despite that, it comes through in their actions. I really liked how they've brought in different aspects of the universe.

I kind of wish they wouldn't tell us in advance. Like, stop promoting and sending us news. Let us be surprised from time to time. And that was what used to be the mainstay of any Star Wars property. I don't know why, ever since Disney's taken over, they just tell us everything. No, we need to be surprised as fans. Ah, anyway. But the show, the cinematography is outstanding. It really feels like Star Wars and some of the direction… it's like, nothing has changed in the best way possible.

Ron: Shut out to Bryce Dallas Howard, and Carl Weathers; their episodes were just so good. So good.

Those were Star Wars episodes. It felt like we'd never left this universe from 1977. It was just such an enjoyable experience. You could see that these directors had grown up with these properties, they love these properties so much that their vision was what a fan would make. It was so much fun.

But for me, Mando’s lack of growth wasn't really bothering me that much until ‘Chapter 13’, where I was like, ‘what's he gonna do after this?’. Like, there needs to be more to this character. I think he's working as an audience stand-in a bit too much this season. Whereas in season one, you couldn't help but question some of his motives and everything that he did you were always on tenterhooks about what his next action was.

I like that he’s firmly a good guy now. But he's dangerously close to becoming a boring, good guy.

Mon: Well, I hope that's not the case and that Mando does get some growth. I'd like to see where his relationship with the Child eventually goes. There's only so much you can do with a little green puppet.

Ron: Baby Yoda is so cute that literally everybody is just gonna watch the show because it's the Baby Yoda show. He's really adorable as I said. But there are some moments where I feel like Mando now needs to start parenting. You can't just have Baby Yoda around, you need to do something about it because there have been moments where you're like, ‘Mando, watch your son!’

I guess that's the kind of growth that I do want to see. And I feel like that may happen in the next few episodes because all this while, he was on a very specific quest, and all the episodes that we’ve seen so far… Him having to planet hop was basically because he needed to finish this quest and there was something always waylaying him.

But, it's been great watching these characters from the Expanded Universe turn up, they fit in beautifully. I have to say a special shout out to Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth. I have no idea why, but this guy was amazing. I have seen Timothy Olyphant in other stuff but, oh my god, he was really good. I really enjoyed watching him.

And all the special guests who've been turning up have been doing a great job.

Despite our enjoyment of the show, there have been some controversies around the actors in the show. So, do be aware of that when you're watching it. It does tend to suck out some of the joy in watching this season because it has been really good. These characters are amazing. But pop culture doesn't exist in a vacuum, and we need to recognize that.

Having said that, as fans of the franchise, The Mandalorian Season 2 is doing the work to not only engage with us, but to entice new fans who may just be watching this show or may have just come in through the sequel trilogy to watch and read more of this Expanded Universe.

I've really enjoyed the episodic nature of this season, probably more than the previous season. One of the difficulties that sequels have is that they want to be bigger and better. This season seems to have gone in the other direction, and it works.

Mon: Yeah, despite introducing more characters. They have limited arcs, relevant arcs, and they drive the plot forward, and that's what's important. At the end of the day it's a great fan experience and what more could we ask for?

Ron: Tell us what you've been watching and share any recommendations that you may have.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]

Ron: We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai and Mon.

#star trek: discovery #the mandalorian #star wars #padme amidala #julie and the phantoms #holiday baking #food network #batman #nightwing #red hood #12 Monkeys

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star-trek-bingo · 4 years

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Yo i am interested but the links to FAQ and Rules dont work, are yall still setting up? Whats the age bracket for this event? PG-13 things only or, PG-16, etcetra? Teen and up? I guess im asking about what tag on ao3 would these works be a part off xd.

Hi! So, as we posted earlier, the links are only accessible off mobile (Tumblr is just like that). To answer your specific questions, the age bracket is open to anyone, any ratings, we just ask all participants to be honest whether they’re over 18 or not, and participants under 18 are asked not to post explicit work.

For the long answer, for those who can’t access a computer for the Rules and FAQ, here is the complete list (sorry for the long post, but the read more function on Tumblr hates me):

Rules

How It Works:

At the end of the sign-up period, participants will be given a randomly generated bingo card with 24 Star Trek themed prompts and a free space. Pick the ones you want to write in order to create a bingo (a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal straight line; a blackout or an X will also count as a bingo). Each prompt must be its own story of at least 500 words (or an equivalent – art, podfic, and other creative content is welcomed). When your bingo is complete, make a masterpost of the stories and tag us (@star-trek-bingo)! You can also feel free to post your stories to our AO3 collection. The event will run for two months. In that time, feel free to create as many fills as you want. When you have completed one bingo, you can choose to go for more fills on the same card, or you may ask the mods for a new one. You will only receive a new card if you complete at least one bingo on your first one (other forms of fills, like postage stamps, will not count unless an actual bingo has also been completed).

Sign-ups will open June 1st and close on June 30th. Cards will be distributed July 1st, and the posting window for the event will go until the 31st of August. You will not be obligated to finish a bingo, but we do request that you attempt to fill at least one prompt if you sign up. When you sign up, you’ll also have the opportunity to join a Discord server, in case you want to run sprints/interact with other creators for this event.

Rules

· Fics should be a minimum of 500 words. Art should be roughly medium sized.

· The focus of each fic should be the corresponding prompt. They can be interpreted however you want, but it should be central to the story.

· A line bingo must be comprised of five different pieces – a line of five or four plus the free space

o The free space operates as a “choose-your-own” space. You can pick one from the prompt list or come up with a different one.

o A blackout is composed of 25 separate stories to cover the entire card. An X is 9 stories in two diagonal lines centered on the middle space.

o Other fill variation, like postage stamps, will not count towards a bingo. You must complete at least one bingo in order to request another card, and you cannot exchange your card once you get it. Once you receive a new card, you can also no longer make valid fills on the previous one. You may only work on one card at a time.

· You can re-use a square on your card as many times as you’d like during your fills. However, in order for it to count for a new bingo/fill, you must write a different fic using the prompt.

· All parts of the Star Trek fandom are welcome to participate, regardless of which show/movie/etc. you’re a fan of. We only ask that your fics be Star Trek-centric: crossovers and fusions are allowed, but Trek should be the centerpiece of your work.

· When you post, make only one masterpost for each bingo/fill you complete including the titles, major tags, and prompts completed (please do not make a separate post for each creation!) Make sure to include your bingo card in the post, to show which fill you completed, and links to all of the works. Posting your work to the AO3 collection is optional, but you must tag @star-trek-bingo in order for us to count your work.

· All fics used for this event must be new – that means not posted before. Similarly, we’d prefer you not use work for this event to cover requirements in other events too.

If you have any more questions, review our FAQ or contact the mods.

FAQ

Will there be awards/prizes?

No. This is a low-key event, and no awards will be given out at the end of the posting period. However, if you tag us in your masterpost, we will reblog your work, and you’re welcome to post to the event AO3 page. At the end of the event, we’ll make a post showing how many fill types each participant completed.

Can I choose the prompts for my card?

No. You can review the list of prompts that will be used to generate cards here, and during sign-ups there will an opportunity to specifically request the elimination of up to 20 prompts from your potential card. Also when you sign up, you will be required to confirm your age, and those under 18 will have the inherently NSFW prompts removed from the list. Beyond that, cards will be generated randomly.

Which Star Trek series can I use for this event?

Any and all of them! You can write about any of the shows/movies/etc. that you’d like, and you don’t need to stick to a specific ship or piece of media for all of your fills. Feel free to mix it up. All Treks are welcome here.

Can I post on platforms besides Tumblr?

Absolutely! We recommend posting to our AO3 collection as well, but feel free to post your work wherever you’d like. Just make sure to make your masterpost on Tumblr too, so we can count it.

Is there a maximum word count?

Nope! Go as crazy as you want. Just make sure to hit the 500 word minimum.

Is there a rating requirement?

Fics can be any rating you want, from Gen to Explicit. However, if you are underage, we ask that you don’t post explicit fics for this event.

I’m not a writer. Can I still participate?

Yep! We highly encourage creators of all kinds to participate in this event. If you have any questions about what kind of requirements you’d have to fulfill, shoot the mods an ask.

Can I use something I was working on before for this event?

Only if you haven’t posted it in any part. If something you were already working on happens to fill a prompt, feel free to use it, but we will not count it if it’s part of a work/series that has already been posted.

Are there any limitations to the kinds of stories I can write?

Not really! Aside from the things spelled out on the rules page and this one, all relationships/characters/ratings/etc. are fair game. All we ask is that you tag thoroughly, and any sort of hate speech will result in your removal from this event. If you have any concerns, ask.

#bingo info #star trek #im not going to put on all the tags since this is specifically an ask

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theomachys · 4 years

Note

rkweishin x

from ( x )

jinhyuk walks wooseok to the bus stop after every practice.

it starts innocuously–as the trainee who’s been there the longest, welcoming the new kids becomes his thing, mostly because cheol doesn’t want to. and jinhyuk really doesn’t mind showing the newbies around, holding their hand (whether metaphorically or literally) through their first day at transform media. it’s scary, venturing out into the unknown. if he can help somehow, he’s happy to.

wooseok is hard to read, but jinhyuk thinks he must be nervous to be thrown into all of this without a warning. jinhyuk remembers feeling like he’d wandered into the deep end of the pool with no lifeguard present. but here, he is the lifeguard, and he’ll rescue trainees like wooseok from going under. so he lets wooseok stick close throughout the day, shares his mother’s homemade snacks during breaks, and waits with him until he finishes changing after practice.

the sun’s long since set as they leave the building, and jinhyuk turns to wooseok with a frown. “d’you know your way home?” he asks, and wooseok jerks his head in a nod.

“yeah.” he points in the opposite direction of where jinhyuk’s headed. “i have to catch the bus from there.” but wooseok doesn’t move, frozen in place as if held there by some unseen force.

jinhyuk waits, then says eventually, “i’m going that way too. want to walk together?”

“okay.” he thinks that it’s something akin to relief softening the corners of wooseok’s eyes.

they chatter about a number of different things on their way there, and jinhyuk stays with wooseok until his bus arrives. once the bus is finally out of sight, he turns back around and begins the late-night trek to his train station.

it becomes routine after that, and despite the aches and pains, jinhyuk doesn’t mind the doubled journey, because it gives him more time to spend with wooseok.

(wooseok eventually figures it out. “you should’ve told me,” he says, faintly mortified, and jinhyuk just laughs and slings and arm over his shoulder.

“you needed me to stay with you,” he says. “i was your lifeguard.” it was my choice. he’s never regretted it.)

II.

they see the first frozen movie together.

it’s not a date, except it is, but jinhyuk is too young to call it that. it’s ‘friends hanging out’ instead, though cheol says, “if you want it to be a date, then make it a date” when jinhyuk asks him for advice. like it’s just that simple, that straightforward. jinhyuk wonders if these things just come easy to cheol.

“isn’t that weird? we’re both boys.” and he feels like wooseok is easily spooked. hopefully not by him anymore, but uncertainty makes its home in jinhyuk’s chest, whispering that wooseok wouldn’t like it if–

“it’s only weird if you act like it’s weird.”

and maybe cheol has a point, but jinhyuk still can’t bring himself to say it. ‘it’s a date!’ even casually, even nonchalantly, might betray deeper feelings he doesn’t know how to deal with. so he sticks to ‘friends hanging out’, but it’s more.

he dresses nicer than usual, pays for all the food, and slips his hand into wooseok’s in the darkened theatre when hans turns evil. wooseok doesn’t question it, doesn’t pull away, just gives jinhyuk’s hand a reassuring squeeze as if to say, hi and i’m here and i wouldn’t do that to you and this is a date.

jinhyuk tries to explain it to cheol later, but can’t. some memories belong only to him.

(they see frozen 2 together as well.

jinhyuk calls wooseok first, two tickets in hand. they’re the pretty ones, collectibles in their own right. he wonders if wooseok would give him his to keep if he asked. maybe it should be awkward, asking wooseok to do anything with him–they still haven’t returned to what they used to be, and perhaps they never will–but he blurts the invitation out before he can convince himself this a bad idea. wooseok agrees quickly.

“it’s a date,” jinhyuk says, and there’s a hitch of breath followed by a long pause on the other end of the line. “figure of speech,” he adds belatedly, resignedly. some risks aren’t worth taking anymore.

“yeah,” wooseok exhales. “of course. see you then.”

wooseok pays him back for the ticket, and they buy snacks separately. jinhyuk’s hand twitches, but he keeps it glued to the armrest and never glances over, even when he can feel wooseok’s eyes on the side of his face.

it’s a date, except it’s not.)

III.

here is how jinhyuk realizes he’s in love with a boy he can’t have:

in the back room of a tv station, with a lukewarm cup of water in his hands, his manager bearing down on him with hissed advice about the questions the hosts are going to ask. “they’ll ask about your first love,” he says. “and just tell them it was someone in elementary school but you haven’t seen them since.”

it’s a standard, safe answer for an idol. it feels wrong. jinhyuk knows that variety shows like this are mostly an opportunity to flex the carefully constructed background his company designed for him, but he doesn’t want to lie about this. “but i only met wooseok in middle school–”

he stops, and his manager gives him a pointed look. “what does that have to do with anything?” he asks, and jinhyuk can’t answer.

it hits him then, and half the water in his cup spills onto the floor, onto his shoes. my first love was wooseok. and a second later, i’m still in love with wooseok. and it’s so goddamn clear, so obvious that jinhyuk cannot believe he didn’t see it before. maybe he did. maybe on some level, he’s always know, but–

his eyes burn with unshed tears, but all he wants is to laugh. jinhyuk gets the chance to do neither, because the assistants usher him on set for the taping not long after. he puts on a smile for the show, focuses on his reactions and on making people happy, on looking like the comedian he knows they want him to be. it’s his image. it’s a shield. it’s armor. it keeps him from having to think about wooseok’s shade and the confession on his own lips, a year too late.

the hosts ask the first love question eventually. jinhyuk takes a breath. “we met a while ago,” he says, deliberately ambiguous. “we were close for some time, and i really liked them. like, i couldn’t imagine not being with them, you know?” cheol pinches his knee in a silent warning. “but i basically got rejected before i could confess, so maybe i have some heartbreak-related trauma?” jinhyuk laughs and shakes his head.“we didn’t keep in touch after that,” he continues. “i doubt they even remember me.”

(”real subtle,” cheol says later, acidic. “like we don’t know you were talking about wooseok. like wooseok doesn’t know you were talking about him.

jinhyuk shrugs. “i doubt he watches.” he didn’t really lie. wooseok probably doesn’t remember him.)

IV.

he sees wooseok once from a distance, in those three years they spend apart.

it’s on the train. spect8 is suspended in limbo these days, and jinhyuk is astute enough to recognize the hiatus for the death sentence it is. he picks up a part-time job at a chicken place, and what hurts is that no one recognizes him enough even to mock him for working a menial job when he should be–hell, he doesn’t know. he should be a star. they promised him he would be a star.

he usually logs into the fancafe during his commute to leave messages for their fans and read the ones they’ve left for the members. but the membership numbers have been declining along with the messages themselves, and some days jinhyuk feels like he’s yelling into the void. it’s a quiet day when he looks up, defeated, and spots him.

wooseok, with his glasses on, looking down at something on his phone. he’s wearing a black sweater that looks too big for him, and his hair is soft and floppy. he sways in place with the motion of the train, but doesn’t seem in danger of falling or hurting himself.

and there’s a hollow place in jinhyuk’s chest that aches at the sight, that wants to push his way through the crowd and come to a stop in front of wooseok and say, hi, it’s me, i miss you–

but seungwoo is behind him. he taps wooseok on the shoulder and says something. wooseok replies without looking away from his phone, then sighs and puts it away when seungwoo persists. the corners of his mouth tug up in a small, private smile.

jinhyuk almost calls out, then doesn’t.

(sometimes, he writes in the fancafe later, i remember that i’m not all that brave.)

years and years after, jinhyuk writes wooseok a letter.

five pages, single-sided, a messy stream of consciousness. jinhyuk’s never had a way with words, really, but they spill out of him in a frenzy, desperate to escape.

he starts page one with, you probably guessed this a long time ago, but i used to be in love with you.

i don’t know if i ever really got over you, he admits on page two. but i need to.

page three is introspective. no one will write any stories about us. people crave a happy ending, some closure. we never found ours. was it coincidence or by design? maybe closure meant letting you go and i was scared. loving you alone was better than not loving you at all, because i don’t know how not to be in love with you.

this is so fucked up, he writes on page four. i don’t think things were meant to turn out this way. in an ideal world, maybe i would have… maybe you would have… you ever think the universe fights for some people to be together, but they screw it up? their one chance? their one shot?

on page five, he scribbles, i don’t regret loving you. however we ended–i don’t regret that. i don’t regret you.

i’m going to be happy, is what jinhyuk ends the letter with. i hope you are too.

(he almost sends it. then doesn’t. then does and never asks if wooseok received it. for his part, wooseok never brings it up, and this, then, is their closure.)

#heunjuk #filed under: answered #filed under: drabbles #muse: lee jinhyuk #opp: kim wooseok #HOW I STARTED THIS IN AUGUST 2019 #WE ARE IN FEB 2020 #i can't stand myself

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pennywaltzy · 5 years

Photo

What I’ll Write/Requests

(as of 9/20/19)

Since this is currently on my commission page and I’m no longer doing fic commissions, I figured I should copy it & update it with the new fandoms I do? So here it is.

Requests are currently CLOSED until I catch up on the hundreds of prompts I have at both my blogs. The only exception is if I reblog a prompt/prompt list here.

The following is a list of fandoms I write and characters/ships I feel most comfortable writing:

Sherlock I’ll write just about any ship you can throw at me. I write F/F fic (with the exception of NC-17 fic), M/M fic (with the exceptions of NC-17 fic and anything other than Mystrade, Sheriarty and MorMor, and Johnlock for special friends), M/F fic (almost any ship, NC-17 rating only for Sherlock Holmes/Female Character pairing fics) and select OT3s (Sherlock/Mary/John, Sherlock/Molly/Irene, Lestrade/Mycroft/Anthea and Molly/Moriarty/Moran). No Mrs. Hudson pairing fics except the canon one and Wilf from DW; no Magnussen or other bad guys not already mentioned above.

Doctor Who Generally I only write Eleventh Doctor era and some of Twelfth Doctor era (I am not current with Rose, Martha, Donna, Bill and The Fam eras yet, but I have all the box sets by Doctor save Thirteen). At the moment I mostly can write Eleven, River, Amy, Rory, Martha and Mickey, and can kind of write Clara, Vastra, Jenny, Strax, Jack and a few other recurring ones…ship wise I write Rory/Amy, Eleven/River and Vastra/Jenny (though I can possibly be persuaded to write Twelve/Clara, maybe, depending on the prompt). No NC-17 fic.

Elementary I’m much better at Joan, Marcus, Gregson and Alfredo than Sherlock. My only real ship for this show that I’ve written is Marcus/Joan though I’d love to try Jamie and Sherlock/Jamie in a twisted sense or Jamie/Joan. Also, fair warning: I’m mostly familiar with season 1 and the Kitty arc in season 3, but I have access to all the season save the last one via my library..

Star Trek: Alternate Original Series I do not do a whole lot of ships for this verse aside from Spock/Uhura, Sulu/Ben and a kind of biased Kirk/Uhura (I RP that ship in one of my games) personally but I am willing to write any ship except Bones/Carol (I have issues with that one). I do write slash ships for this series; just ask and I’ll see what I can do. I do not really write Scotty or Chekov with their accents often though I will through in Chekov using Russian occasionally. I will also acknowledge aspects of the Discovery verse (ie, usually Michael Burnham on her own, but occasionally Tilly and other Discovery characters as they might be in the AOS series). No NC-17 for any ship except Kirk/Uhura, and then only in my RP verse fics.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Ship wise I’m pretty open amongst Captain America characters, as well my personal OT5 is any combination of Steve/Sam/Bucky/Nat/Clint with a dash of either Peggy or Sharon given the situation. AoS I’m pretty much either Coulson/May or Daisy/Jemma at the moment (though I will write a few other ships for both, like Jemma/Fitz, but NOT Skyward). I am familiar with Thor characters, Peter Parker, Iron Man characters, Stephen Strange, Wong, and Shuri. Anything else, please ask and I’ll see what I can do. I do have access to the entire MCU to watch, but prefer to avoid certain movies. Will write NC-17, but it depends on the characters/ships.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries I’m pretty much primarily a Jack/Phryne writer in this fandom. I can do a decent Dot and Hugh but I haven’t attempted anyone else. Also, shorter stories are best. Will not write NC-17 for this fandom. Am planning to add “Crypt of Tears” to the list of what I’m familiar with when it comes out.

Star Wars Movieverse I’m still refamiliarizing myself with this series (so far I’m current/mostly current on the original trilogy sequel trilogy so far and “Rogue One”) but I’m pretty fair game as to characters and ships I will write for those three sections of it. However, I will only write brother/sister Luke & Leia stories, and when it comes to Rogue One I’m iffy on just who I can write since all I’ve written so far is a Jyn POV piece. Other than that, feel free to toss an idea at me prior to requesting and I’ll give a more resolute yes or no answer. No NC-17 for this fandom

NEW FANDOM - Good Omens So I am vastly more familiar with the book than the miniseries, but I do have access to the miniseries and plan on watching it soon. I will probably end up writing Aziraphale/Crowley and Gabriel/Beelzebub because that’s what my enabler writes, but feel free to toss other ideas at me. No NC-17 for this fandom, and would actually prefer a ton of gen prompts if given prompts for this fandom.

NEW FANDOM - DCCU So I’m limited in this one, as the only one I’ve attempted is Wondertrev fic, but I’ve seen “Batman vs Superman” and “Wonder Woman” and am planning on watching the rest at some point. Would probably feel most comfortable with Wondertrev, Clois and Wonderbat. No NC-17 for now.

NEW FANDOM - Legends Of Tomorrow I am much much more familiar with this show than the rest of the DCTV shows, having seen the first season and following various developments since here on Tumblr. As I am still in Series 1, will probably focus on Captain Canary for a while until I get used to the newer characters. Potentially will write Avalance, Constagreen, Zari/Amaya and Constantine/Sara as I get more into the show. No NC-17 so far.

NEW FANDOM - DCAU Very very familiar with the random DCAU shows (minus Superman: TAS and The Zeta Project). Big Harley/Ivy fan, big Wonderbat fan, Big Question/Huntress fan, big Green Arrow/Black Canary fan, big Batcat fan, big Terry/Dana fan. Don’t know how well I can write all of the above except I know I can write Harley/Ivy, as I already have. No NC-17. For other characters in DCAU (excluding The Zeta Project, Superman: TAS and Static Shock for the moment) ask and we’ll see what I can do.

NEW FANDOM - Midsomer Murders So this one…I’ve watched pretty much every episode up to Winters at least once, if not more? I’m willing to give any character and implied/hinted at/”will they or won’t they?” ship a chance. Send me Jones prompts and I may give you a longer fic (he’s my fave). No NC-17 for now, nothing probably over 500 words for most fics until I get more comfortable in this fandom.

CROSSOVER SHIPS I do write crossover ships as well! Most of them are Sherlock oriented, but I ship McCoy/Molly (Star Trek AOS/Sherlock), Khan/Molly (Star Trek AOS/Sherlock), Sherlock/Amy (Sherlock/Doctor Who), Lestrade/Donna (Sherlock/Doctor Who), Eleven/Molly (Doctor Who/Sherlock), Rory/Molly (Doctor Who/Sherlock), Martin/Molly (Cabin Pressure/Sherlock), Bucky/Clara (MCU/Doctor Who) and McCoy/Donna (Star Trek AOS/Doctor Who). Other potential crossovers are welcome, just run the ship and a prompt by me and we’ll see if I can make it work.

Also old fandoms I could be persuaded to do again (but under very limited and probably non-shippy circumstances, and not for anything long unless it’s for a special present) would include Bleach, St. Trinians movies, CSIverse and early season Supernatural.

#fanfic #sherlock #star trek aos #dc comics #mcu #elementary #mfmm #midsomer murders #good omens #fanfiction #requests

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lastsonlost · 5 years

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What does Christopher Priest see when he looks at Vampirella?

Loneliness.

And in his new Vampirella ongoing launching July 17, the veteran writer will give Vampi the human connection she craves... before ripping it all away.

Illustrated by Ergun Gunduz, Dynamite's new Vampirella relaunch begins with the alien vampire as the last survivor of a plane crash which took away any friend or acquaintance she had. Now she's here on Earth and all alone. And this isn't a fictional world known to have vampires, witches, warlocks, or werewolves - this is the real world, and you know how real people would take to someone like Vampirella?

... but do you, really?

As Priest tells Newsarama in an email interview, Vampirella's supernatural abilities are "a metaphor for a univeral human condition, for being either rejected or idealized (or, in the case of our series, both) because you are different. Anyone who’s ever moved to a new town or a new school or taken a new job should be able to identify with Vampi’s challenges."

Priest, an ordained Baptist minister (as a reminder to readers, prefers to be addressed as 'Priest'), shared his thoughts with Newsarama on how the prospect of writing Vampirella was first received by him, how it fits within his religious life, and how he's using it to examine humanity.

Newsarama: Priest, what makes Vampirella interesting to you?

Christopher Priest: The fangs. Definitely the fangs.

When DC Comics approached me about writing Deathstroke, I’d really never thought much about the character. It wasn’t a book I’d normally read because I probably wasn’t the audience the book was targeted toward. But it presented an interesting challenge: what new things could I find to say with this character and what unexplored areas of the character were there to develop?

When Dynamite Publisher Nick Barrucci said “Vampirella,” I had nearly the identical reaction. I was, of course, familiar with the character but wasn’t a Vampirella fan, wasn’t the audience for that book, which made me an odd choice. You’ll have to ask Nick why he made it.

My immediate reaction was exactly the same: what new thing could I bring to this property? Where is the untapped potential? That, for me, is the interesting part; craft a Vampirella narrative that broadens the audience for the property while (hopefully) not putting off the hardcore Vampi fans.

Nrama: So what was the answer to that? What is the story?

Priest: I read this Bruce Springsteen Rolling Stone interview a couple decades back (yah... decades...) around "Born In The USA," where Springsteen said something remarkable that’s stuck with me all this time, about how each of us needs community. He said something like, “Without community (by which I presume he meant human attachment and interaction) we’d likely go crazy and kill ourselves.”

Over many interpretations Vampirella has developed many versions of a supporting cast, but she is fundamentally alone, one of few of her race living on Earth. Considering the Boss’s statement, I wasn’t eager to create yet another supporting cast and then echo adventures she’s had before. For better or worse, I wanted my at-bat with the character to be unique and in some ways challenging.

So the thought occurred to give Vampirella that community, that human connection... and then have it all ripped away. Our story arc revolves around a plane crash which effectively terminates many connections Vampi has built while forging new ones.

Nrama: You're setting this in the real world. A real fish out of water scenario, but one you're playing at for deeper cultural issues. What's a woman like Vampirella likely to face here on Earth?

Priest: With all due respect for the legion of much better writers who’ve handled the character, as I mentioned, I probably was not the audience for this book. Vampirella was created with a satirical flair and Vampi herself was in on the joke; not quite breaking the fourth wall but offering up a knowing come-hither smile. She’s existed in a reality that routinely and, for me, far too benignly, accepts the supernatural as fact.

Here in the real world, vampires are merely a thing of myth and the reality of hyperfactual supernatural events are subject to the interpretation of the particular tribe one belongs to. It bothers me that, in 2019, DC and Marvel universes are still mostly portrayed in an idealized hyper-reality where the average man on the street simply accepts superheroes as fact and, in fact, refers to them literally as “heroes” or “villains,” which is absurd. There’s no news anchor in the world who would start a broadcast piece with, “Arch-villain Saddam Hussein...” even though that description would be apt.

The world our Vampirella series takes place in doesn’t believe in vampires. Or witches or warlocks or werewolves. This world seeks rational scientific explanation for paranormal phenomena which it greets with enormous skepticism.

Which isn’t to suggest no one will believe Vampirella exists but that that acceptance is not as matter of fact as it seems to be in most of this genre.

In terms of what she’s facing, her number one enemy is loneliness. I am, hopefully, writing a woman first, a story about a woman who loves and wants to be loved but whose circumstances are complicated by the fact she has fangs and drinks blood. The supernatural attributes are a metaphor for a universal human condition, for being either rejected or idealized (or, in the case of our series, both) because you are different. Anyone who’s ever moved to a new town or a new school or taken a new job should be able to identify with Vampi’s challenges.

Anyone who wears their hair a different way, listens to a different kind of music, embraces a different religion, anyone who steps outside of or gets shoved outside of the so-called “mainstream” can identify with our take on Vampirella. I hope it is precisely this universality of theme that helps broaden her audience; the Vampi tent is large enough for everyone.

Nrama: Someone walking around in that Trina Robbins-designed costume is bound to get some headturns. If I know you as much as I think I do, you're going to tackle that head on, right? How are you getting into the subject of the costume?

Priest: Well, yes, we will have a go at it. The basic argument is simple: where do you draw the line between women’s liberation and women’s exploitation, and who gets to draw it? Who gets to define femininity and why should an extraterrestrial have to submit to that definition?

It’s like the world woke up in the last few years and realized we actually have two genders and both of them matter.

So we now have heightened scrutiny of themes and behaviors and that poor bastard Joe Biden gets caught up in the switches. I’ll confess, I’m terrified of women because I’m a Joe Biden. I was taught to pay a lady a compliment and open doors and I want to be friendly and accessible but I’m absolutely terrified of having my good intentions taken in a bizarrely paranoid light.

It is comical to me that I am far too often seen as creepy by women - especially black women - because they have been conditioned by their personal experience and their media consumption to misinterpret a simple "Hello." These days I cannot pay a woman a complement without a legal preamble and assurances that, no, I am not hitting on you and even then I get the skunk eye of suspicion.

Which is a little insulting because this “guilty until proven innocent” defensive posture presumes I am other people or that the bar is set so low for me that I’ll jump into bed with just anybody I happen to meet. It’s like we’ve just gone too far now to the point where women are not just being protected but being alienated to some extent because I have no earthly clue how to deal with them and I’m frankly scared to shake their hand.

So, is Vampirella’s wardrobe choice sexist? I don’t know. Vampirella obviously doesn’t think so. As I see her, she comes from a culture much like Star Trek’s Betazed, where people wear little or nothing at all. If anything, Vampi wonders why we humans choose to smother ourselves in so much fabric and why we’re all so bound by self-loathing.

There are hundreds of women who enjoy cosplaying as Vampirella, and maybe hundreds of thousands offended by the character. How do we reconcile all of that for the 21st century?

The one thing I won’t do is cover her up. I accepted the gig: write Vampirella. If you change the outfit, she’s no longer Vampirella. Frankly, her costume is the only thing about her (well, okay, that and her pansexuality) that makes her at all shocking or controversial.

My goal, and the readers will have to let us know if we’re passing or failing, is to make this a book as much about femininity as about bloodsucking. The storyline is driven by women, mostly populated by women, of all shapes and sizes and ethnicities, and most of them dress as sexy as they dare. The singer/rapper Lizzo is a terrific example of this. Is her blatant sexuality liberating or is she being exploited? How about Beyoncé? Do we put Vampi in a raincoat but cheer Bey on?

See what I mean? I’m screwed either way.

Nrama: So Priest - Vampirella's here on Earth. What would you do if you found yourself, I don't know, sharing a cab with Vampi?

Priest: I’d ask the driver to pull over and let me out. I’m a Christian, so I have these issues with all of that “fornicating in your mind” stuff. I don’t live a perfect life but I try to avoid cluttering up my conscience. Among the things the printed page cannot convey is the amazing, intoxicating glow and, yes, smell of a woman.

All women are beautiful, from 8 to 80, regardless of weight, height, or nationality. I wouldn’t share a cab with a woman as under-dressed as Vampi, which sounds hypocritical because I’m writing her. But I write Deathstroke, too, and wouldn’t share a cab with him, either.

Nrama: On the flip side of this, Vampirella's stranded on Earth. What's going through her mind in all of this?

Priest: How stupid and primitive we are. It’s not arrogance. I believe any visitor from another world would surf the net for a few hours and come away shaking their heads. I watched an episode of Little Miss Atlanta yesterday. Jesus. We’re just idiots. The moms fighting and bickering and cursing - cursing - in front of these little girls, berating the little girls. This sickening child abuse... That's entertainment?

I have Christian friends who will criticize me for writing Vampi but they watch that crap.

Nrama: This comes over a decade after your previous stint with Vampirella - Harris Publishing's Vampirella Revelations with artist Eric Battle. That run had some issues, but you're back here again. What makes is something you want to return to?

Priest: *scratches head* Really? I did a run...? I remember doing a silent issue... and vaguely remember doing something with Eric, a good bud. But that was way back. I really hadn’t considered this a “return.” I just pivoted and stared into Barrucci’s hypnotic vampire eyes and ran dozens of scenarios through my feeble brain, coming to one conclusion: this would be an interesting experiment, a writer’s challenge. Writers love challenges.

Nrama: Big picture, what are your goals with this ongoing?

Priest: To not have the women of America torch my house. This run will be as different a take on Vampi as any that have come before.

Which is not to say “better;” “better” is subjective. I’m sure a great many Vampi fans will hate what we’re up to. Maybe they’ll come along, maybe I’ll get fired. If I wasn’t nervous about it, it wouldn’t be worth doing.

Editor's Note: The above interview was conducted via email eariler this week, and we received all of Mr. Priest's responses along with all our original questions. Newsarama asked Priest if he would respond to follow-up questions Friday by email. He agreed and those questions and answers follow.

Nrama: Priest, our original questions to you were about the Vampirella comic book and our role is to talk about that and not audit your personal life, but your responses appear to be hyper aware of a social climate you seem to lament in terms of relationships between genders and conduct towards one another.

Priest: I lament the social climate in general, on all levels. I lament our lack of civility and lack of empathy, lack of patience and understanding. I hate the way we assassinate one another with our thumbs, all this hostility in social and other media. It's not just gender issues.

Nrama: Yet empathizing with Joe Biden without citing the actual specific behavior he’s under scrutiny for, stating things like "the amazing, intoxicating glow and, yes, smell of a woman" and by offering you’re “often seen as creepy by women,” it seems like intentionally inviting the sort of reaction/assumptions you state you’re “afraid” of and inviting the same scrutiny Biden is under.

Was this was your intent and are you prepared for pushback to your words and questions to be asked?

Priest: Wow, there's a lot to unpack, there. But let's start by saying I seriously doubt anyone reading this is NOT aware of the Biden issue to which I am referring.

I come neither to defend Biden nor to bury him, so I think you're probably taking my "poor" Joe reference a bit too seriously. I wasn't trying to litigate Biden, only to make a point about how hyper-sensitive and overly politicized our nation is and how this will impact Vampirella in her series.

Assembling disparate quotes to paint me as some kind of deviant makes that point for me. I stand by my statements. "...the amazing, intoxicating glow and, yes, smell of a woman..."

is something difficult if not impossible to convey in literature (which was my point), but your question was about me sitting in a taxi with a near-naked woman and I answered that honestly.

And my point was relevant to understanding the challenges and conflicts Vampirella will face in this series.

This is the environment Vampirella finds herself in, people misinterpreting her actions, words, and motives. This is why I mentioned it, to place the work we are doing with Vampirella into context.

Were a person like Vampi walking around in our world (or riding in a taxi with me), she would be misinterpreted, and every word she says would be drilled into looking for the worst possible interpretation of it. I can't help but wonder why anyone anywhere speaks publicly because no words spoken by anyone can withstand this level of ridiculous scrutiny.

Nrama: In another response you state “It’s like the world woke up in the last few years and realized we actually have two genders and both of them matter”. While not assuming your intent one way or another, it seems it to overlook genders outside the male/female paradigm. Can you speak to that?

Priest: Gender: noun

1. either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female. "a condition that affects people of both genders"

I wrote an ecumenical commentary in support of gender and and LGBTQ issues, Chris. I invite everyone to read it.

It was a simple interview. I was promoting a comic book and, as a really busy writer, I was typing really fast and speaking honestly while engaging with you. What I won’t do, not even for my own safety, is censor myself or try and anticipate every horrible way someone might choose to misinterpret something I've written or said.

If anything, that just makes my point for me about how free speech is being compromised. It's a tough environment to publish comic books in because every publisher is terrified by the spectrum of extreme possible reactions from an increasingly intolerant environment where everybody's playing "gotcha" and looking for the worst possible and most extremely negative interpretations of everything.

The whole point of free speech is my duty to defend others' rights to have it, not to shout them down or demonize them.

#Christopher Priest #vampirella #comics

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putschki1969 · 5 years

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Hi Sarah-chan! O((^o^))O Thank you very much for replying my question regarding the girls voices! It was really helpful! (I was so sad to see how some people bash the girls voices T.T but I'll let it pass, I found very interesting things!). Thank you one more time! You're very kind! ~^u^~

Hi again!

Sorry for the late reply, it took a while to write this.

You are very welcome. I am glad I was able to be of some assistance at least. Like I said, I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to all the technical aspects of singing and music. That cpm thread I linked to is generally a great source of information because lots of people have been sharing their knowledge (although I am not sure how many of these so called “experts” are self-proclaimed and how many of them are actually well-versed in the matter). But yeah, those 50+ pages are also filled with a lot of bullshit unfortunately. I certainly do not appreciate all these random posts by people who feel the need to share their uneducated opinions. And I am definitely not a fan of people outright bashing Wakana’s voice. Under no circumstances that will ever be acceptable to me (not even when it is done under the guise of concern).

Once again, you are very welcome (♥ω♥ ) ~♪

Not 100% sure whether this message is from the same anon but I thought they fit together quite well so I decided to combine them in one post. If you are a different anon than the one from before, I am really sorry! I hope you still see my reply.

And yes, the forum isn’t exactly a pleasant place, most of the time the atmosphere is negative and borderline toxic. I try my best to stay away and I usually advise others to do the same.

**** Long rant ahead ****

People have told me again and again that I am overreacting, that the forum isn’t as bad as I make it out to be. People have accused me of looking at everything “through rose-tinted glasses”, of being “too sensitive”, of being “a snowflake” (a term I despise btw), of “playing Kalafina-police”, etc…There is nothing I haven’t heard before…

But honestly, people can call me whatever they want, I stand by my opinions. Contrary to popular belief, I have nothing against people expressing dislike, there is nothing wrong about critcism per se. I myself dislike a lot of things and I am certainly not always happy with every performance. For example, there has never been a performance of “ring your bell” that I truly liked. I usually like parts of it but generally I am really not a fan of the voice Wakana uses for the chorus. I am not scared to admit that and I will usually mention it in my reviews/reports. But do I choose to focus on a performance I didn’t like just to bash on it for the fun of it?? NO! I am acknowledging that it didn’t sound good (at least to me) but other than that I am simply accepting it as it is, I am shrugging it off in order to move on to something I actually enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I seem to be one of the very few people with this approach. Most fans focus on what they DON’T like and they choose to express their dislike in a very disrespectful manner.

For me, fandom has always been about fun, about celebrating the things I love, about highlighting the positive aspects, about respecting the things I love. Yes, there will always be lots of stuff to criticise (you can’t make everyone happy) but if I only ever focus on the negative stuff, if I am literally desperate to find something I can hate on, it takes all the fun away for me. I am over 30 now and I have been in many fandoms in my life. Fandoms have never been perfect of course but people definitely used to focus more on the positive things. Back in the day (ages ago) I spent YEARS in various big Star Trek and Stargate forums and I can’t say that I have ever come across the kind of hate that is omnipresent now across all fandoms. I feel like throughout the years fandoms have become increasingly more negative and it’s getting worse every year.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why people love bashing and hating, it’s in the human nature to be like that. But personally I choose to hate on things I actually hate and not on things I claim to love. And should I realise that there is nothing left for me to love or that I am having a hard time finding things I can appreciate then I simply move on to find something else. I have enough negativity in my life as it is, if my fandom doesn’t give me joy, there is no need to waste my time with it.

Also, I have noticed that a lot of the negativity stems from a severe case of entitlement. It isn’t even any sort of valid criticism. Just people thinking they are “owed” something. They have all these expectations, they want THIS and they want THAT and if they don’t get it they get bitter and frustrated and start complaining. And the worst thing about it, those who feel most entitled, those who complain the loudest, it’s usually the ones that haven’t done a single thing in their life to support their favourite artist/musician/show/franchise/etc. Not saying that those who spend a fortune to uspport their faves are somehow more entitled than others but I think it showcases how hypocritical a lot of fans are.

Focusing on the negative aspects, bashing, hating, these things have become cool and trendy. It’s the negative stuff that generates most of the traffic online. People just eat it all up. They are like vultures, the nastier the content the better. It’s like people are getting off on seeing things they “claim” to love being torn apart into shreds by so called “critics”.

No one cares for all the good stuff anymore, I guess it’s too boring for most people. Everyone just takes the positive aspects for granted and they don’t think it’s necessary to mention them. OR people simply overlook them because they are too busy trying to find things they can complain about.

Just go to Youtube and compare the views on videos titled ”Why I love xyz” and “Why I hate xyz”. The hate videos get a ton more views and it’s not just that. The love videos are usually written off as crazy fan talk, not to be taken seriously, only to be ridiculed. On the other hand, hate videos are praised for their so called “honesty” and “objectiveness”, every single word is taken at face value, no one even thinks to question what is being said.

I hate this trend. It’s hard to find joy if everyone around you is dragging down something you love. Most of the time I can handle it because I make sure to keep my little corner of the fandom positive but yeah, sometimes it’s difficult.

Anyways, sorry, this got a little out of hand. I didn’t intend to go off on a tangent and write an essay about the changes in fandom. Not even sure what I was trying to say here. Guess I just wanted to rant a little. Over and out..

#Anonymous #kalafina #reply #wakana #keiko #hikaru #cpm #rant #fandom #fandoms

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wolvesdevour · 5 years

Text

How Not to Write Gay Stories

I’m very torn between writing two different posts and there’s a chance these may combine, so we’ll see how this goes. There are two topics that are in my mind a fair amount: gay fetishism by women authors (both in fanfic & professional writing), and how to translate fanfic writing skills to professional writing (and how it can fail). Miraculously, perhaps, the book I just read, How (Not) To Ask a Boy to Prom by SJ Goslee is a fairly good example of both of these.

The problem with addressing gay fetishism among women authors is that when is it fetishistic versus well-meaning? It’s hard for me to say why the originators of gay slash fic wrote the way they did, but its hard to miss that when fanfic especially grew prominent, over 80% of writers were women. In Star Trek fandom, the first gay slash fic was published by a woman in 1974: A Fragment Out of Time. By 1973, 90% of ST fan writers were women.

To clear the air a little: women writers can write good gay stories. One of series I am currently read, The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb, includes many gay men, some of which are centered POVs. I will not say she is a perfect author, but I deeply enjoy how she writes men. For a good portion of the series, she shows a man growing up: he starts as a young boy, and we see how the men around him teach him to be a man. A very good portion of the lessons stray away from toxic masculinity. He is still taught to be a man, and there are certain “this is a manly trait” aspects (although when she features women as forefront POV, she often includes very similar lessons: ultimately nothing is exclusive to one’s sex, but society is what it is and they may learn lessons differently or overcome different hurdles).

She addresses writing gay men in this interview: Here’s the thing - when I meet a person, their gender identity is most often not the most important thing about them. If we become friends, it’s not because my first impulse is, “I will be friends with you because you’re female.” I mean, there’s a lot of women I can’t stand. There’s a lot of men that I absolutely can spend hours talking to. There are a lot of people on the whole gender spectrum and whether I become friends with them or not has nothing to do with that, so when I am writing these characters, although in some ways gender can influence a plot - for instance, if you want the prince and the princess to get married and live happily ever after in a medieval setting, gender is going to influence that - but for the most part, gender is not much more important than who has blue eyes. What’s more important is who is a skilled navigator, who is tough enough to survive a bad situation, who can think on their feet and find the creative solution to a problem they haven’t encountered before, and that’s got nothing to do with gender. So it was not that I said, “Gee, I will write a book with gay characters.” It was, I’m writing a book, this character has stepped out onto the stage, he’s told me about him- or herself, and this is who they are. As I said: I’m not here to say that women cannot write gay stories. But there is also gay fetishism. I am both a gay man and a trans man; I get a lot of “OMG, you’ll love this!” and cis or straight people presenting me with things that appear inclusive or caring. I personally don’t find memes like “Steve Rogers is a transwoman!”** or whatever amusing. Am I, say, happy to see that Loki is canonically not straight nor cisgender? Yes. I love that. (Does that potentially make Victor von Doom not straight, uh, I like to think so.) I like reading LGBT+ stories, but a good portion of them may not interest me, especially if the writer isn’t part of that demographic and has a tendency to post a lot of art, writing, or discuss a lot of how hot, cute, or general appealing it is that a character or couple are LGBT. That creeps me out. I’m not alone. Very not alone. Absolutely not alone. Here’s another post, this time by a woman that I appreciate:

The worst thing,” one gay friend said, “is that [women in the slash community] aren’t listening to me. You’re not listening when I tell you that you’re being hurtful.”

What I find especially difficult to convey is the nuances to when women write gay men versus when men do. I’ve been trying to collect “gay stories written by gay men” although due to publishing bias, this can be very difficult: As a queer, trans reader, I looked forward to seeing myself in their pages. But I was surprised to find that some LGBTQ-focused stories were reflecting not me, but a straight person’s imagination of me. [Link 1]

The current transman story I like is seen in Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. The character utterly blindsided me in a great way: he never appeared “omg trans” until it was forced to come to light. I appreciate him as well, as a character, because in a harsh survival world, he is a man who survives well. I especially see a lot of “transmen are soft uwu such boi” and I despise this. I did not survive everything in my life to be diminished to pastels and cute/sweet and childish-boyish characteristics. Similarly, as a gay man, I am not there to be pretty, to serve as a fashion guru for straight people, to be soft and pretty and welcoming. And that’s not how gay men write themselves. This isn’t how transmen write themselves. As a writer, I struggled a lot on how to depict trans characters, and my largest lesson (and I certainly hope to published one day, but who knows) is that I never saw good examples of myself because most typically they are written by straight, cis women. So what is so wrong with Goslee’s How (Not) To Ask A Boy to Prom? (There will absolutely be spoilers.) The main character is a teen boy who has long hair, loves succulents aggressively, loves narwhals, and has no male friends. His school is supportive of gay men: a very popular football player is gay and has supportive friends, another gay teen (who becomes his boyfriend) has very supportive friends. For some reason, this gay teen is incapable to do anything for himself. He loves art, doesn’t do sports, doesn’t really connect with his foster parents, and seems overly attached to his sister. He is effectively a very flat and “soft” person. Some guys are, of course. Some gay guys are more art, less sports. But the other men? Si & Bern? They’re equally soft. Si is described as soft, beautiful, kind, sweet. He has zero personality. He is described the same way, every time, and is overly described as soft, all men are soft, it’s like they bathe in fabric softener. Bern, the “bad boy” is barely... That. He is supposed to be gruff to the main character, but for the good portion, he is like the main character (Nolan), and Si. They are all the same person, ultimately.

Bloom might be a good comparison to How (Not) To Ask a Boy to Prom. This is written by a man (Kevin Pancetta) and illustrated by a woman (Savanna Ganucheau). I don’t like the character design. Most of the gay men I showed it to asked if at one of the guys (or both) are women. But it is a story about a frustrated kid who wants to move out of his small town to Baltimore (okay: as a Marylander who grew up in a very small town and eventually moved to Baltimore, I kinda.... Get this), but meets another man who is older, but not creepily too old for him, and its a romance & vague coming of age story. If you grew up in a small city as LGBT+, it’s hard to find your sense of self. You miss out a lot on life; I think Ari reflects that: he wants to be himself. A lot of this enters into my point 2: The problem of being a fanfic writer, or the pitfalls of translating fanfic writing skills to professional writing. Nolan is not a person; he has no strong characteristics. We’re told he likes narwhals and succulents, he is a foster child, he’s gay, and I have trouble quantifying him the way I do Ari because he’s so devoid of personality. Si is probably the least developed character at all, as the “perfect, Apollo-esque gay football player.” Bern is maybe the most developed, going from gruff-mean guy to gay softy--a motorcycling math nerd. The problems with fanfic writing is that it is based on knowing characters. As fanfic writers, we don’t have to nail down reality, because there’s a whole piece devoted to who they are. We’re just filling in those blanks. The author seems to primarily be a Teen Wolf fanfic writer (her bio lists “werewolves,” but her tumblr blog is very devoted to Teen Wolf, so well). This brings up another creepy pitfall, which is beyond slash fic writing, there is the aspect of word usage. If you’ve been following my vague live-reading, I’ve been posting about the massive references to “puppy” and other trends. It is creepy to read out of context.

It seems, according to reviews, that Goslee has trouble with this in her other book, Whatever: or how junior high became totally f$@ked. She has a stream of consciousness that doesn’t explain the main character’s thoughts or the world very well. In fanfic writing, this would end up being a slow burn. “Oh, but are they really going to date?” etc. In How Not, Nolan fake-dates Bern, and googles this concept, finding fanfic works. This gets weird for me, because it’s supposed to be an inside joke, I guess? “Hey teeny nerds: fanfics” but most gay men I know have a difficult relationship with fanfic and with fan community due to fetishism. We get pressed out of spaces a fair amount because of it. (One link above, the Mary Sue one, discusses how women do this.) Of course, this is meant to be a cute, happy book, right? Alright, it’s a cute, upbeat story. Except we don’t get a very good baseline for the world. Bern & Si’s friends are supportive. We get a form of negativity from Bern’s mother, who wishes he’d date his ex-gf, I think? (Bern is bisexual.) Or maybe just date women. So is there homophobia in this world or not? We aren’t given a good sense how Nolan’s parents feel that he is gay? It seems to wholly not discuss his foster parents barring “they are aggressively competitive, Tom makes crazy food concoctions and Marla talks to him about dating Bern.” As a whole, the parents are extremely unimportant other than they provide a home and food. Are they unusual for the area? (And knowing PA, that state can have some major issues.) Or is it common in this world? Is there a reason to not hand-hold? Do they every worry about homophobia when outside school? Do the teachers say shit? There is a lot to consider. The world-building is deeply lacking. Beyond the lack of world, we get a lot of fanfic trope writing. A lot of this I’ve seen from people on my dash who are Teen Wolf fans. I used to like the show & follow TW blogs; I’m not a massive fanfic reader (*ahem* a lot of gay fetishism), but I have read it. For series like TW, you may see what I consider “animalistic tropes;” such as tackling, growling, etc. There is a lot of this. A lot of people are tackling each other to the ground, growling, and there’s this weird moment when Bern grabs the nape of Nolan’s neck that while some men do this, it felt very strange in the moment, particularly aggressively? Because the author openly admits to writing werewolf fanfic, it feels like that is what it is. For authors who write both fanfic and seek to write professionally, this is a consideration. For a gay reader, it’s really weird for a guy to grab another guy’s “nape of the neck” affectionately. (As someone who has worked around large predators, albeit primarily felids, grabbing the neck is a sexual behavior, but that just makes this weirder.) Anyways, it really struck out as weird; just very very weird. Bern is mentioned to not be into PDA (which later in the book, they do it a fair amount it seems, that is also very weird? this happens a fair amount).

Another part is that there is a lot of use of the word puppy. It is frequents so often that I’d have to stop reading because it was grossing me out. It sounds like that author is into puppy play. This isn’t to kink shame, but this is a YA novel and she writes werewolf fanfic. It starts seemingly, albeit weirdly innocuous with moments like “Bern was smooth and graceful while I was still growing out of my puppy paws” and “She tilted her head like a puppy” and “I followed him up the stairs like a puppy.” But it keeps happening. Then people start growling at each other and it just... Gets a very specific note. Mixed in with how smooth and hairless and Adonis-like the teens are written, especially by an adult woman fan, it feels... Well... It makes my skin crawl. I’m not saying that the author means to. I’m really not trying to be like ‘Hey, guys, sexual predator?” I really, really want to address that that is not my intention. My intention is that this compounds on itself. In the links about how the slash side of fandom can make gay men uncomfortable: this is the perfect example. I’ve been to events with fans and found myself, barring maybe my fiance, to be the only gay man there. If I’m shipping two characters, such as when I went to a TAZ photoshoot, and my fiance and I are the only gay cosplayers, and almost the only men period, whereas a lot of women are screaming about how cute Taako is, that gets uncomfortable. It’s not about this one fandom. It’s all fandoms. Every single one has had this fetishization problem. It’s why I never entered the Lord of the Rings fandom. I was in middle school and found “my first” fandom, only to see all of the fanfic about Sam/Frodo ships and it grossed me out. As a teen boy, it creeped me out, that all these men had to be sexual to each other, and as I only came across women shipping men, it made it more and more ostracizing. Maybe I should have addressed this earlier, but: Not all fetishization is sexual. It can be romantic, too. How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom’s relationships are about a teen boy who doesn’t want to date or go to prom. His sister makes him ask out Si, the big popular gay guy. Nolan/the author mocks the GSA (gay-straight alliance) club. While there are problems with some GSAs*, the author, a seemingly straight woman, is mocking an LGBT+ space. There is a chance she is bisexual; I haven’t managed to find otherwise, and that’s how this will appear to many people, as she has a husband. I will also note: a bisexual woman’s experience will differ from a gay man’s experience, and sometimes LGBT+ folks need to not speak for/over each other. Nolan ends up fake-dating Bern due to a mistake, and there’s a bit of problem I have, with how for a good portion of the book, these gay teens “need to FAKE date”. Worse to me, is that Nolan, upon realizing he likes Bern, breaks up with him and ends up sleeping (non-sexually) in a bed with his sister, deciding to go to prom together. For a straight/cis-presenting women to write this, it’s... Got a lot of different baggage to it. Especially with how idealistic (but not for gay men) she writes the characters, it gets worse and worse. It makes the gay character seem just a little less gay. His relationship with his sister is odd. It’s not “cool” to really hang out with your sister at school; I know, I had a step sister & brother. We were all roughly the same age. If these two went to prom together in the real world? They would be mocked. Also, it really makes Nolan appear not actually gay. As a gay writer, I would have him, if not go at all, go stag. The message here is: it’s better to be straight than gay and without a boyfriend. Hence how it becomes fetishistic: Nolan’s sister, both of which are older teens (around 17-18 or so) sleep together in a bed. It may not be “coded as sexual” but it is ignorant of the history that “maybe gay men can be fixed.” They even dance at prom. This is one step below asking your mother to prom. She is still his sister. It creates a narrative that he, out of the blue, dumps his boyfriend to then sleep/cuddle with his sister and they go to prom. Again, this is seen more in fanfic: we often, especially with adopted siblings, see closeness that can become romantic or sexual. I have a fair amount of friends who are adopted and this trope style is infinitely horrifying to them. It makes them feel like that society doesn’t view them as actually family. It is also a real problem: adopted family members (especially kids) have been abused by their adopted family, as if “it’s okay, they’re not actually biologically family.”

While he does eventually get back together with Bern, it’s after prom that he does this. I don’t even know why Bern accepts him. Nolan has been truly awful to this guy. Goslee doesn’t seem to understand how tenuous gay men’s statuses are. This can be held against Nolan, if not for the simple creepy fact that he sleeps and goes to prom with his sister, that he goes to prom with a woman, he may get a lot of “But are you really gay?” comments. Especially because Nolan dates only one man before going to prom with his sister (and is the one to dump his boyfriend, who he was fake-dating).

Is there more on this I could write? Yes. I probably could, but I also have to get ready to go to a movie with my fiance. So uh... Maybe there will be a part 2? We’ll see. _______ *I personally was forced out of my college’s GSA because the group was actually gay/bisexual people having orgies. So, yea, there’s some problems with certain LGBT+ spaces and being actually open to LGBT+ folks. It was also extremely transphobic and ace-phobic. **My point with this for clarification is that: I don’t want to be bribed with “lol this person is LGBT+ cuuuute!?” headcanon or otherwise. I am fine with that form of headcanoning, or AUs, but the idea of playing with gender identity and pulling it off as cute, especially by cis or straight people is skeevy and at best, ignorant, at worst, fetishistic. Link List: LGBT Exploitation in Fandom: we are not here for your entertainment

Fetishizing Homosexuality

gbpt boys’ ask about women readers of mlm stories

The Mary Sue’s On The Fetishization of Gay Men by Women in the Slash Community

Why Are So Many Gay Romances Written By Straight Women?

The Lack of Published Gay YA by Gay Authors? Let’s Talk About It

#long post #lgbt #gay issues #lgbt issues #fandom #fandom issues

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lizziethereader · 6 years

Text

a bunch of 11 questions tags

I was tagged in a few 11 question tags over the last few weeks and am finally getting around to them. I hope you don’t mind me putting them all together in one masterpost under the cut.

thank you so much for tagging me @anassarhenisch, @thereadingchallengechallenge, @books-are-portals, @maddie-mux and @bibliophilecats! I really do appreciate getting tagged even though it takes me a while to doing the tags.

I’ll put my own questions and the people I’m tagging up here and the answers to all your questions under the cut ;)

my questions:

1. What are you looking forward to most when it comes to the upcoming holidays? (whichever holiday you want to refer to) 2. Have you been to a concert lately? Which one? 3. Which piece of media (book, movie, video, etc.) are you looking forward to consuming next? 4. If someone wrote a fictionalized (and heavily embellished) novel of your life, which genre would you like it to be? 5. What’s the last song you had stuck in your head? 6. What’s the weather currently like where you are? 7. How many open tabs in a browser is too many? (asking for a friend) 8. Are you good with money? (if so, teach me your ways!) 9. What’s the coolest thing a teacher of yours has ever done? (I wanna become the cool teacher, so I need to do some research, haha) 10. If money, space and time didn’t matter, which animal would you like to have? 11. Share a random fact about yourself! (please?)

I’m tagging @bookvoyage, @lilymaidofgallifrey, @dreamingofreadinggoals, @aliteraryprincess, @flamingmirrorbookish, @the-forest-library, @manuscripts-dontburn and @thelivebookproject (no pressure though) and anyone who just feels like doing this, of course!

sooo, let’s get crackin!

here’s @anassarhenisch‘s questions:

1. Celtic rock, yes or no?

I have honestly never listened to it... I’m not averse to give it a try though!

2. What’s the last book you quit reading? quit as in abandoned? I don’t really do that... The last book I finished reading was ‘Big Mouth and Ugly Girl’ by Joyce Carol Oates

3. What’s your favourite fall activity? baking and drinking cider! (yes you can do that all year round, but it just feels cozy, right?)

4. Do you believe in ghosts? I’m probably a ghost agnostic. I don’t know if they exist but I’m not saying they don’t

5. When’s the last time you went to a circus or carnival? There’s this big children’s festival in my town for two weekends every August and there’s always a circus, too. They did a special performance for all the volunteers who help with the festival and I went to that. So, long story short, like 2 months ago?

6. What does your favourite shirt look like? hmmm good question. If we’re talking about T-shirts then it’s probably my Portal shirt.

7. Do you like eating fish? hahaha, not at all actually! I rarely meet other people who don’t. But yeah, I actually don’t like any seafood.

8. Who’s your favourite artist? oh man, this is a very difficult one! I’m not sure I can name a favorite. I like just being in awe of a piece of art (be it a painting, piece of music or something else) and I wouldn’t say I have one person I like better than all the others. Sorry for the lame answer!

9. Do you have any celebrity connections? none whatsoever (that I know of)

10. Are you a sports fan? only equestrian sports and even then I don’t need to see every event there is. But I do enjoy watching the occasional tournament

11. How comfortable are you embarrassing yourself in public? NOT AT ALL. Good thing I became a teacher then, eh? :P

next up: @thereadingchallengechallenge‘s questions:

What are you currently reading? I just started reading Children of Blood and Bone!

Favourite snack? I can’t pick just one, so: popcorn, macadamia nuts, chocolate covered raisins and all things chocolate :D

Do you set yourself a reading list or pick books by mood? half/half. I have some types of books to read each month (1 poetry book, 1 classic, 1 nonfiction book) and then choose one of those based on my mood. And then I randomly select 3 books from my tbr. Those are always a surprise!

Have you travelled anywhere so far this year? Yup. I went to Germany 2 times (to a theme park), flew to London for book shopping and musicals twice, and went to Budapest with two friends for a weekend

Reading anything spooky before Halloween? Not really. I’m not a spooky books (or movies) person.

Binge watching anything at the moment? I just finished binge watching Star Trek Discovery yesterday but I’m sure I’ll find something new soon.

Who’s the author you’ve read most? Douglas Coupland, apparently

What’s your favourite season and why? Spring! Everything is getting warmer and greener again, my depression gets better and things are just generally looking up (usually)

Are you looking forward to any new releases? I don’t think I’m waiting for anything at the moment...

What’s a quote you love? “No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” from Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere's Fan

Recommend a book? With pleasure! It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

then we have @books-are-portals‘s questions:

1. First thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “waffles”? the amaaaaazing waffles at my town’s children’s festival each year. Also Leslie Knope

2. Have you ever knitted anything? What was it? When we learned to knit in school I knitted a scarf but I haven’t knitted anything since and I’m not sure I still could

3. What’s been the weirdest book you’ve enjoyed? idk, what’s a weird book? Welcome to Night Vale is purposefully weird, if that counts? I’m not sure I’ve read any proper weird books...

4. Pick a random book from your shelf and recommend a film based on that book. book: Tin Man by Sarah Winman - movie: Third Star (totally different storyline, but similar vibe, maybe?)

5. Top 5 clothing items. - not really clothing but my riding boots (I love them. They fit me perfectly and weirdly give me so much confidence??) - my new Pikeur breeches (yup, riding stuff again) - the black business dress I graduated in (both High School and university) - my Dirndl (you gotta have one if you’re Austrian :P ) - my (fake) leather jacket because it makes me feel cool not sure this is an accurate list since I don’t really think about clothes much...

6. Name the first song that comes to your mind based on your current read. Why that song? hmm, I’m only 50 pages into my new book, this is very difficult! maybe ‘Battles’ by Hudson Taylor? The lyrics just seem to fit and I have a feeling the book will be harrowing, which the song definitely is.

7. Would you rather visit the Moon or Mars? I kind of want to go to Mars and see if Curiosity Rover is alright.

8. What’s your favourite scent? top three: freshly cut grass, new tires (I know, this one is weird), and the smell of tress like cedar, fir, and pine

9. What’s the last thing you ate? Was it good? kinder Schoko Bons and YES.

10. Name 3 positive things you’re good at. don’t do this to me! uhmmmmm reading? singing? maybe cuddling cats?

11. What’s the strangest word from your first language(s)? Well, I don’t really know what would be strange to you but I’m really fond of ‘oida’. It’s sort of an exclamation that can be used in a lot of different ways and its meaning depends on how you say it. So it could mean you’re really disappointed, angry, shocked, disbelieving or it could just mean something like ‘dude’. I love it and use it way too often considering it’s sort of lower class slang, I guess.

aaaand here’s @maddie-mux‘s questions:

1. First fictional crush? I’m not entirely sure. Maybe Ziegenpeter from Heidi? :’D

2. 11 authors (dead or alive) who you would want to spend a night in a haunted house with? oh no, that’s a) way too many people and b) not something I would ever want to do

3. Kiss, Marry, Kill - authors I don’t really feel qualified to answer this. I don’t really get into people as much as I get into their characters and fictional universes. Doing this with real people feels weird, too, because I don’t want to do any of those actions with anyone.... I’m sorry to cop out of yet another of your questions!

4. One author whose books you automatically buy, of no matter what? either of the Green brothers

5. Favourite fictional place? maybe Night Vale? But not because I want to live there, just because it’s so wacky.

6. Kiss, Marry, Kill - characters this one is easier! kiss: Poet from Trick (before he is spoken for, of course, I’m not a home-wrecker!) marry: farmer Oak from Far From the Madding Crowd kill: there’s so many to choose from! but I really really hate Aaron from The Knife of Never Letting Go!!

7. Favourite place to read? on the go

8. 11 characters who you’d take for an eternity on a tropical island? nope nope nope - there’s nobody I would want to spend eternity with

9. Hands down, all time favourite book and why? you should be ashamed of yourself! you know most readers can’t answer this question :P (well, I can’t anyway)

10. Favourite fictional nonhuman animal character? is it too basic to say Black Beauty?

11. Fiction or nonfiction? both! I read more fiction, but I wouldn’t want to live without nonfiction in my life!

last but not least, @bibliophilecats‘ questions:

Your favourite word from your first language. I’m gonna use one of my previous answers for that and say ‘oida’ just because it’s so fun and versatile. Do you know ‘oida’ in your part of Germany?

And your favourite word in any language. Not sure I’d pinpoint it as an absolute favorite, but I quite like ‘alas’ because it sort of embodies my view of life, haha

Name 5 positive things about yourself. 5?? It took me 10 minutes to come up with 3 for one of the questions above! Unbelievable... - I try my best to keep an open mind - I try to also get my students to do this - but I also like to question things - I’m not blind to my shortcomings - and I do want to become a better person, though I need to put more effort into it

And now 3 things you are good at (I kept that one from @books-are-portals list because self-love is important) I am NOT coming up with more because I am absolutely unable to do so. Sorry! (yes, I have issues, I know)

What’s your “Patronus”-memory, i.e. the happiest moment in your life? ooooh good one! maybe the day I got my degree and graduated from university. (because leading up to this point my mental health was so bad I wasn’t sure I’d live to see that day...)

Recommend a book which you think I should read. maybe ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ or ‘It Devours!’?

Do you set yourself a reading list or pick books by mood? both! see above for a more detailed answer

Did you make friends on tumblr that you met (or want to meet) in real life? I would love to meet quite a few of you! (sadly I haven’t, yet)

Last book you read that was completely outside your normal reading preference. Why did you pick it up and did you like it? Probably the Kite Runner? I picked it up because sooo many people and many of my friends love it. I, however, did not.

Favourite christmas book? I haven’t read many so far, but Dash and Lily’s book of Dares!!

Favourite christmas movie? I’ve always loved Miracle on 34th street but I haven’t rewatched it in years so I don’t know if it hold up

#tag thingy #huge 11 questions tag masterpost #haha #thank you for tagging me!!!

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