#John flipping the script on her

[lickmycoffeecup]

Damn, how do I get some of that maggot witch therapy?

[elvisqueso]

"...Will you go home?" — "Well, it's not like I have much of a home to go back to. I've never really...belonged anywhere."

Pocahontas (1995)

[chiming-bluebells]

SHIFTERS BURN BOOK.

LEXI aka chiming-bluebells !!

NOTES IN THE MARGINS this page in the burn book is dedicated to the girl with charcoal smudged fingers and half-a-broken sketchbook. the one who goes by lexi. i’ve followed her for about a week. here are my observations:

MONDAY: today i saw her absolutely transfixed flipping through a picture book of john bauer’s artwork. and she keeps smiling whenever she spots a dragonfly, what’s up with that ????

WEDNESDAY: she either writes too much or nothing at all. once she does start writing however, she won’t stop until she’s finished. obsessive. crazy. has she ever heard of taking breaks?

THURSDAY: she yawns alot.

SUNDAY: she keeps going on and on about her realities. one look at her account, and it’s not hard to figure out which ones are her favourites. here is what i’ve gathered so far:

THE MAZE RUNNER once upon a time — believe it or not — lexi didn’t share much about her life in her maze runner dr. it was all locked up in notion scripts and curated pinterest boards, spotify playlists and car-ride daydreams. but then, one fateful day, a curious soul on tumblr sent lexi an ask regarding her maze runner reality…. and the floodgates to hell opened all at once. she has now, if i were to guess, gained the reputation as ”that one crazy maze runner lady” on shiftblr. i mean, c’mon… she even has a masterlist.

legend has it that she was obsessed with the franchise as a freshly-turned 15 year old (this, as i’m now about to explain to you, was in her pre-shifting era,, and also deep into her wattpad phase. canon event, i fear). surprisingly, her craze for the trilogy waned right before finding out about shifting at age 16. she had another dr (now archived and covered in dust) for most of her initial shifting journey. but, years later, after she had almost given up on shifting for good: she suddenly remembered, re-watched, fell in love all over again…….and found her way back home, not only to the maze runner, but also to shifting.

when it comes to her tmr dr, lexi is soul-bonded to the crying girl from mean girls (2004); she just wants a cake made out of rainbows and smiles. the emotional attachment she has for her people has made her unable to even hear the word ”canon” being uttered. she is allergic to that word. canon doesn’t exist. it’s not real. it never happened. there’s no proof. shut up huh, what was that? must’ve been the wind……

FANTASY / TERABITIA when she was a little sprout, lexi was emotionally and spiritually destroyed one humid summers day. she had just watched ”bridge to terabithia”, and she was never the same after that. desiring a better ending, and already in love with the chronicles of narnia and the fables told in her childhood, she wanted her own fairytale kingdom… so, she created one. together with her friends she spent her time outside of school in magical play-pretend (was it pretend? or was it a prelude?). but, time goes on and people grow up. she was no longer princess of terabitia anymore. at least not consciously.

now then, she finally found her own wardrobe (reality shifting) to her fantasy kingdom. and this time she won’t grow out of it. seems like the childhood play-pretend truly was a prelude, after all.

MOUNTAIN GETWAY no matter how much she tries, lexi will never be a city girl — her heart forever belongs to nature; far away from the hustle and bustle of the cities, the towering buildings blocking out the sun, and the crowds of stressed-out people. her mountain getaway dr includes everything she loves most: her favourite people, solitude and silence, cozy cabins, mountains, pine tree forests, nearby lakes and rivers, road trips, hiking, and a soft, pressure-free life.

FISHERMAN’S DAUGHTER remember how i said her heart belongs to nature? that includes the ocean. if she could live by the seashore she would (and she will). her fisherman’s daughter dr is an ode to fjords and fishing villages, to the sea and the salt in humid, ocean air. she is, as the name of this dr suggests, the daughter to a fisherman.

MARAUDERS / HOGWARTS when she turned 11, lexi anxiously awaited her hogwarts acceptance letter. it never came, at least not in this reality, and she was horribly disappointed. at 14 she was knees-deep in the marauders trench: tumblr headcanons, fanfiction, you know the deal. now, she would be lying if she said that she had a script for this dr. she doesn’t. not even a pinterest board. that doesn’t stop her from having ideas, however:

she always knew she’d be sorted into ravenclaw. she wants to be an animagus, specifically a parrot/budgie one (she relates perhaps a bit too well to them) nicknamed chatty or pompon. and she definitely wants to create mischief with the marauders. perhaps it’s finally time for her to create a script, or at the very least a pin board.

[ previous page <- page ix. -> next page ]

thank you @rrezshifts for the tag!! <33 here are my (no pressure!!) tags for the shifters burn book event: @lolashifts , @salemisha & @lyraxnova !!! (and anyone else who wants to participate !!!!!!)

follow the GUIDE BOOK for help!

[dramagodesss]

two : always late

hooked on her

“you’re late.”

the second you push open the studio doors, you hear it — maddie cline’s voice, teasing but warm, floating across the lobby.

you skid to a stop, slightly out of breath, sunglasses askew on your head, script pages clutched to your chest like a shield. “okay, technically, i’m not late,” you argue, catching her smirk. “i’m… fashionably behind schedule.”

“sure, babe,” she says, pulling you into a quick hug. “we’ve already introduced ourselves. you missed the awkward ice breakers.”

“oh no,” you deadpan. “what a shame.”

you turn — and there they are.

the cast. all fresh faces. a little unsure, a little too caffeinated. chase is tossing a stress ball between his hands, jd’s halfway through a joke you missed, and rudy’s in the middle of retelling how he tripped walking in.

and then your eyes land on him.

drew starkey. hoodie sleeves rolled, legs stretched out, hands fidgeting with the cap of his water bottle. he looks up just as you look at him.

your stomach flips — but you blame that on the nerves. definitely the nerves.

“hey,” he says, standing up and giving you a small smile. “you’re playing olivia, right?”

you nod, tucking hair behind your ear. “y/n. and yeah. olivia routledge — john b’s big sister, professional worrier, occasional drug dealer.”

a beat of silence. then drew chuckles, and the rest of the cast laughs with him.

“iconic introduction,” chase grins, extending a hand. “i’m john b. well—chase. you get it.”

you shake hands with everyone, introductions rolling fast. jd, sweet and a little chaotic. rudy, instantly cracking a joke. austin north offers you a water bottle like he’s been everyone’s assistant all morning.

then it’s drew again, stepping in beside you just before the read-through starts.

“you nervous?” he asks quietly.

you glance at him, your smile softer this time. “terrified.”

“you’ll kill it,” he says, nudging your arm lightly. “i already know you’re gonna bring it.”

you blink, surprised. “you don’t even know if i can act.”

he shrugs. “i’ve seen your stuff.”

your eyes narrow, teasing. “what, my tiny indie projects that got like twelve views?”

“thy're really good” he says, looking ahead now. not cocky. not flirty. just… honest.

you swallow. try not to let your heart trip over itself. and just like that, someone from production calls everyone to circle up.

the first table read begins.

and somewhere between scene one, int: chateau and the first time olivia slaps rafe — something starts. small. unspoken. unsteady.

but real.

taglist : @beewritess

[johnwickb1tsch]

bittersweet ~ a yandere!John Wick x fem!reader sunshine/grump coffee shop AU... Part 29 all chapters

WARNING: NSFW, SEXUAL CONTENT, YANDERE SH!T. Plz take care. I luv u all. 😘

-You dare not put it down on the big tablet on your easel where John will see, but you can’t stop yourself from drawing it out in your smaller sketchbook-journal that is easier to squirrel away under clutter, putting down marks like you mean to exorcise her from your memory. You draw her like a ghost in her field of happy white flowers, and write in the margins in your looping script, I’m sorry. I don’t know how to make him forgive you. You want me to save him but I don’t know how. I don’t fucking know how.

Maybe she’ll actually hear your plea and do something useful about it, like haunt John’s dreams instead of yours.

Maybe you’re losing your damn mind. 

You find that either way, you’re not brave enough to mention her to your captor again.

She becomes an obsession, and you keep drawing her in your little sketchbook. You’ve only ever seen one picture of her. It was in the den, but has since disappeared. Still, you feel you know the lines of her face, the brightness of her eyes. You go back to your old fixation with the ladies of Mucha, sketching her out as the Lady of the Daisies with flowing auburn hair surrounded by her stylized flowers and flowing lines.

You strive to cover your true fixation by putting down anything as quickly as you can on the easel, knowing your captor will be by for inspection. You draw sunflowers, your favorite summer bloom, something fun but you can do with your eyes closed with colorful, juicy strokes of oil pastels. You hope to keep John off the scent of the book that holds your heartfelt neuroses that you bury under piles of all your new art supplies and anything else you can find.

It was stupid, of course, to think you could really hide anything from him.

One day you find him in the chair with his legs crossed, perusing your sketch journal with one of those magnificent thunderheads of a frown.

You are certain you are fucked, when he asks, “Is this your idea of a joke?”

Trembling as you imagine what he’s going to do to you for this infraction, you answer truthfully, “No.”

He closes the book with a snap, crossing the floor to stand before you, his powerful body moving deceptively slow, the way a tiger appears slothful in the jungle.

You know he can snap you up with one bite.

You cannot stop shaking, as he peers down that straight nose at you, pinning you with black eyes that somehow burn. He does not touch you, but God. He sees everything. You just know that he sees everything, and you find you are terrified of how he’ll react.  

“Have you been snooping through my things?”

“No.” The irony of him holding your sketch diary is not lost on you, but wisely you hold your tongue.

“How did you know what she looked like?”

“You had a picture out of her, ages ago.” At least, it felt like a like a lifetime ago.

“How did you know about the daisies?”

Now you know he’s going to flip his shit. It sounds fucking absurd, even to you. Your voice can barely rasp past what feels like dried twigs in your throat to whisper, “I saw them in a dream.”

You expect him to scoff and call you a liar. But he just searches your face, his eyes a little too wild for your liking. Here we go. He’d been damn near stable the past few days, but surely this will set him off.

You close your eyes, unable to watch the unfolding of your doom. This is it. He’s going to lock you up forever. You’ll never see the light of day again. The trembling in your frame kicks up to ten, and you hug yourself just to have something to hold on to.

When his next question comes, he could push you over with a feather.

“What does she say?”

You shake your head, realizing your cheeks are wet with tears.

“Nothing. She just…offers me the flower.” Going for broke you add, “She looks so sad.”

It is the sound of tearing paper that opens your eyes; with horror you find John making confetti of your art nouveau sketch that took hours to do. However, any protest dies on your lips—if destroying the drawing appeases him, maybe he won’t take it out on you.

Without another word, just a hard look, he stalks from the room.

Only when the sound of his footsteps fade down the hall do you let out the breath you didn’t even realize you were holding, your knees quivering like leaves in a storm.

However, you are not foolish enough to believe you’re in the clear just yet.

-Later, there is no dinner. You find the kitchen cold and empty. Not sure what to make of this, you graze in the fridge, before returning to your bedroom. Not sure where John has gotten off to, you shower, then go to bed, finding yourself lying awake in the dark without him beside you, almost itchy without his steady presence in the evening at your side.

Part of it might be that you fear something is brewing, and you can’t stand the waiting…but part of it might simply be that you miss him, as fucked up as that is.

In the end, against your better judgement, you go looking.

You search the house, until the only room that is left is the garage. Silently you open the door, slipping through without a sound. You too are learning how to move quiet as a wraith. The smell of rubber and oil assaults your nostrils. Classic rock is playing low on the radio. In the far bay, the hood of the Mustang is open, and John is bent over inside, wrenching on something and muttering to himself. There is a partially empty bottle of Blanton’s Bourbon on the workbench behind him, and an empty glass.

Unable to stop yourself from committing what perhaps might prove to be suicide, you creep to the other side of the Land Rover, using it as cover as you eavesdrop on this man grumbling to the ghost of his deceased wife.  

“What do you want from me? I loved you. I loved you with every fucking fiber of my being, but you left me. I died with you the day you left me, and she is the only thing that makes me feel alive again. I need her, and she never would have come to me on her own. She never would have stayed. She never would have stayed.”

He says this to himself over and over, and it wrenches your heart, because you know it isn’t true.

You think you manage to creep back out again without him noticing, Led Zeppelin on the radio disguising the sound of the door.

When at last he comes to bed and wraps you in his arms, holding you too hard for comfort, you feign sleep, smelling the bourbon fumes on his breath. You can’t help but tense, wondering if he will forget his promise this deep in his cups.

But he just sighs into your hair, crushing you as he pulls you even closer, and you don’t know why it breaks your heart all over again.

[mrs-stans]

#INTERVIEW: MARVEL’S “THUNDERBOLTS”

By Mr. Will Wong

Led by Yelena Belova (Florench Pugh), Marvel’s THUNDERBOLTS* is the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Film sees her and a group of anti–heroes placed on a deadly mission by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Forming an unexpected alliance, their bond just might be the only thing that can save them.

We are delighted to have joined the global press conferernce for this long awaited Blockbuster. Joining us today were:

Florence Pugh – “Yelena Belova” David Harbour – “Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian” Julia Louis-Dreyfus – “Valentina Allegra de Fontaine” Geraldine Viswanathan – “Mel” Lewis Pullman – “Bob” Wyatt Russell – “John Walker” Hannah John-Kamen – “Ava Starr / Ghost” Sebastian Stan – “Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier” Jake Schreier – Director Kevin Feige – Producer

Florence Pugh is asked about immersing the audience into her world right away as the Film sees her performing a dangerous stunt.

Pugh: Firstly, I’d like to say that none of stuts are possible without any of the stunt team, riggers and choreographers. The stunts were designed weeks prior to shooting. Obviously, as much I’d like to say I did all my stunts, plenty of the in the Movie aren’t me. I don’t want to claim all of it. When I read the Script and opened the first page, it was such impressive way to start the Movie and really allowed me to understand where she was. When you’re reading it on a page, it didn’t feel like she was stepping off a building alongside with the voiceover, as if she was taking her own own life. I remember how powerful it was to start a movie like that. The trust everyone that everyone clearly was having in pulling a potential stunt in the Script like that many, many months before we started shooting, I was so impressed by it. I was so impressed instantly how as an audience member, we knew what she was feeling and it was because she’s an asssassin that she can land it. For someone to jump off a building like that, with the voiceover, it’s harrowing and not a nice image to have. Which is why when she actually steps off, everyone’s stomach just flips. It’s an image we all associate with something really bad.

Coming from Yelena, the way I always thought about that opening sequence is that she is at such a loss, she doesn’t have any reason to be there anymore. She’s lost her sister, she’s lost her family and her relationship with father dwindled to nothing. she’s in such a state and frame of mind that she’s happy to put herself at risk.

In early fittings, I was going to be in my supersuit. No, no, no, if she’s asking to be put in these situations, to potentially get killed, she has to be in something that doesn’t protect her. We open up a discussion that she has to be in a tracksuit that doesn’t protect her. Let’s take away that added layer of protection, instead of her supersuit, which would have gadgets. Even though she’s doing all these cool things and stunts, realistically she’s going into a mission completely bare. And that also adds texture how desperate she is for someone to end it for her. And of course, you have to act on top of the tallest building and pretend as if it’s not scary and as if you want to jump off it. There’s so many layers.

Schreier: What’s really impressive about that stunt other than the fact that she did it, the shot starts on her face and we’re starting this Movie in this real moment of character. I just knew that Florence was so committed to her character, that you knew that you could be in that moment and perform that moment so beautifully. I had no doubt she could do it, but it’s not the stunt itself that’s so impressive, it’s the acting. There’s a whole arc in that moment, character wise.

David Harbour is asked about approaching Red Guardian with a childlike wonder.

Harbour: You could argue that his obsession with rekindling his glory comes from deragement of failure and all these dark places. And yet, also he just loves being a superhero. There is a portion of me as I act that has a very detailed dark backstory to it, and also just me as a kid, putting on supersuit in a Marvel movie with incredible actors, whom I adore. ‘Guys, we get to hang out today!’. I mean, there’s a puppy quality to him. I do love that Film lets me play that.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is asked how different it is stepping into a character again in Film versus Television.

Louis-Dreyfus: It’s different from playing a character week to week on an episodic TV show. I would say on TV of course, as you get into rhythm of playing a character, you get to know the character more. In this case, it was a toe–dip and in this particular film you really get to know who this person is. This was a lot to chew on and a lot to explore. She’s an anti–villain, as you get an oppotunity to understand why she is the way she is. It doesn’t excuse things, but it’s the way you should always approach a character – without judgment. That was a really exciting way to approach Valentina and her drive. You have to come in from a non–judgmental space. It’s so interesting to consider what fuels her insatiable thirst for power, and a really exciting opportunity to reinvent her.

Geraldine Viswanathan and Lewis Pullman enter the MCU here as huge fans of it. They are asked about their favourite Marvel films.

Viswanathan: In this Movie, I have the line that ‘I was in high school when the Avengers came’, and I really was in high school when I saw that movie at the theatre with my friends at the mall! It was really full circle and surreal to be in one of these movies. I feel so fortunate to enter this univerise and in this particular movie, which feels like a breath of fresh air. It has that classic Marvel feeling with this kind of emotional nuance and depth. When I first got to see this Movie, I saw it as audience member and cried a bunch, it really landed on me.

Pullman: I think I remember each one vividly, but Guardians of the Galaxy made me feel like I had made a bunch of new friends. It had such a powerful effect and that’s why Marvel has been doing so well since day one, grounding these beautiful human truths. It’s a hard line to toe. I should really watch it again now that I’m talking about it, as it gives me joy.

I remember having so many conversations with Jake and Kevin, how to toe the line and hitting some of these less–discussed topics, at least in larger–scale films like this. And doing it in a way that didn’t feel like PSA but felt grounded and with as much truth from where we were coming from.

I grew–up pretty anxious and suffering from depression is not a fun thing to talk about. It feels weird to say out loud right now. The big goal in this Film was to get rid of that quaky feeling when you bring it up and talk about it. You’re liable to get caught if you just jump. It’s in the silence where the suffering occurs.

Hannah John-Kamen reprises her role of Ghost again and she talks about the journeys the character has been on since her introduction in the MCU.

John-Kamen: There’s always some connection as an Actor with your character. With Ghost originally, she was in Ant-Man and the Wasp projecting imminent death and this volatile kind of dispution and erruption of physicality. She makes immature death threats and survival decisions to survive. In Thunderbolts, she’s very much grown–up in her maturity of control and power, and being able to control that herself. I think she’s more scary in this Movie. It’s empowering not having that distraction of pain and imminent death anymore. She’s built a Fort Knox of herself, basically a guard that she has up and no one can come in. What is wonderful about Ghost‘s journey, is her understanding it’s okay to need someone andit’s okay to be relied upon, and also rely on others. You don’t have to go through life on your own. Finding a family, you deserve it and you deserve to be loved.

Wyatt Russell talks about reprising John Walker, and while he’s quite different from the character, he witnessed many people like this having been in competitive sports.

Russell: He’s an interesting guy because he believes in who he is and what he doesn’t. Part of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was portraying this new version of an American hero. Steve Rogers was born in World War II and jumped on a grenade for selfless reasons. He (John Walker) will jump on a grendade to be filmed on Instagram and to become a national hero. It’s very reflective of society today. Nobody’s doing for selfless reasons. They’re hoping to famous on Instagram and TikTok. I like playing that version of Ameican hero where he has to be torn down, going to rock bottom before he can start a journey back to somewhere he wants to be.

I don’t think I’m like John, but in a prior life, I knew a lot of people like John, playing athletics and sports for a living. You have to be that way. You have to put on an armour and place vulrnabilites to the side. Never admit you’re feeling bad because the second you show that crack of vulnerability, it can destroy you. It’s fun to turn it on its head with this character. Vulernabtility actually makes you stronger. Admitting ‘I’m not as good as I think I am’ will actually make you stronger. I enjoy playing John, he’s a fun character to explore.

Sebastian Stan talks about what he’s learned over the years, having played Bucky Barnes multiple times in the MCU.

Stan: I have always talked about him like having a sibling I never had. We’ve both been learning from each other for 15 years. That’s what’s been so amazing about it. I keep coming back to him to bring something I’ve gained along the way in my life. There’s a familiarity with him where I can just jump right in there.

This Film was special as the connection was very real. That’s what people are gonna connect with, how real all these characters are. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and try to do right thing, but don’t know if they have the right tools or not. What’s a villain and what’s a hero? My character is always riding that fine line. That’s what we do in life. Learn from the past and try very hard to retain some sort of self.

Producer Kevin Feige talks about the films that inspired him as a child and the importance of that communal theatre experience.

Feige: The teams on all our films are united. This means a lot. They come from Comic Books which means a lot to lots of people. I think there is a notion of that in every movie. The first movie was I ever saw at the theatre was Pete’s Dragon. I missed that movie and my mom made tuna sandwiches wrapped in foil. Nobody screamed like in Avengers: Endgame, but it was incredible. I saw re–releases of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. It was this imagical place. We need this as humans, that communal experience. We’re doing this for Movies.

Marvel Studios Canada release THUNDERBOLTS* in theatres May 2, 2025.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Ranking the promotional inklings/octolings by how much I like their outfits: Splatoon 1

Kaori:

Studio Headphones / White Tee / Pink Trainers

A simple black/white t-shirt + headphones combo alongside some aggressively pink shoes

The neutral colors of the top half of the outfit work really well to let the shoes and hair pop, which is important given that she was our first introductions to the inklings as character designs.

The only thing I can dock this outfit points for is being pretty basic, but that's also kind of the point. I'd personally prefer something with a bit more pop, but it's kind of unassailable.

4/5. She's iconic for a reason.

John:

Pilot Goggles / Zink Layered LS / Purple Hi-Horses

Similar to Kaori this is primarily a neutral outfit that puts the emphasis on the colorful shoes.

That said I like this one less than Kaori's. It's a little bit busier and the shoes don't pop as much given their darker purple tone.

Also I just don't like the Hi-Horses very much, sorry.

3/5. I can't be too harsh on him because the fit is meant to be basic, but I don't think it comes together as anything more than just Kaori's outfit but worse.

Mizuho:

Bobble Hat / Green Zip Hoodie / Moto Boots

Nice natural colors give this 'fit am active, outdoorsy look.

I like the big boots on a sniper's outfit. It makes her feel grounded and stable.

The big bobble hat is also a slightly disarming feature, it makes a bit cute, and given that she's a sniper I think she'd read as a much more serious person if she wore something more self-serious like sunglasses.

4/5. I just think this one is really good.

Rui:

Retro Specs / Baby-Jelly Shirt / Blue Slip-Ons

This 'fit flips the script the promotional characters have followed so far, really drawing your eyes to the polka dot shirt compared to the glasses and the single-color shoes.

The combination of the patterned button-down, the big boxy glasses, and the shorts (not that you had any other legwear choices in Splatoon 1) gives the outfit a vibe that to me feels straight-laced and whimsical all at once.

He has the energy of a stoic office worker with some very eccentric fashion choices.

3/5. I don't think it's very cohesive, but I can't bring myself to dislike it. It's got a lot of charm.

Laura:

Takoroka Mesh / Black Squideye / White Kicks

Another really simple fit, just a cap, a t-shirt, and a pair of shoes.

The cap gives this outfit major tomboy energy to me, and I really quite enjoy that.

The little bits of red and pink on the otherwise solid white and black of the shoes and shirt actually do a lot of lifting here, providing the whole outfit a disproportionate amount of energy.

5/5. This one is really simple but I really think it has a ton of character.

Pit:

Paintball Mask / Gray College Sweat / Orange Arrows

Another primarily neutral outfit, though this time with a pretty ostentatious piece of headwear.

I actually kind of like the shirt and shoes together, but that's about it. I really feel like the mask clashes with the rest of the outfit here.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the mask, of course, but I simply don't think it does anything with the other clothing here.

2/5. It's honestly not all that bad, but it simply doesn't grab me very much. I don't get any sense of personality here, and that's one of the things I really look for in an outfit.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

2 songs per album 😊

which was a follow up to:

ok now I have my marching orders 😂

This is suuuuuuuuuuuch an interesting question!!! I'm not sure I'm going to do it justice but let's try:

under a cut because it got to be toooooooo long

Debut:

Tim McGraw and Picture to Burn

The former because it's a hallmark of Taylor's writing right from the jump: taking ordinary moments and imbuing a lifetime of importance to them; introducing what might become her most trademark writing theme, memory and wanting to be remembered, and how by their very nature they're ephemeral and only exist in a moment in time; sweetness and intimacy mixed with between-the-lines budding sensuality and coming of age; the self-doubt mixed with self-respect; overall just an excellent example of her storytelling as well as her musicality.

(Also: love that it flips the script on what you'd expect "Tim McGraw" to be about. It's not about the country star or idolizing him, but rather taking this very ordinary bit of her and her lover's lives and knowing that it's a memory forever linked between the two of them and their time together.)

The latter because it's an excellent example of yeehaw female rage banger that is also one of Taylor's calling cards. SO STRIKE A MATCH ON ALL MY WASTED TIME AS FAR AS I'M CONCEEEERNED YER JUST ANOTHER PICTURE TO BEEEEEEEERN!!!!

Basically, these two are the duality of woman lol.

(I swear I'm not writing this much for each album lol.)

Fearless:

Love Story and Fifteen

This was harder because there are so many hits from Fearless, but ultimately I had to go with Love Story because it was her signature song for so long, and perfectly encapsulates why she became a superstar with this album. It's got a catchy hook, a familiar story ripped out of high school curriculum except it gets the happy ending, and again lays out themes that end up turning up over and over again: being misunderstood, falling for someone her loved ones don't approve of, her lover making a grand gesture, and everyone coming around when she gets the ring on her finger! (Stop me if you've heard this one recently.)

Plus: even though we haven't spoken in nearly a decade, this song will always remind me of driving down a specific street with one of my best friends in university.

I picked Fifteen because it is also another bit of what would become classic Taylor lyricism: reflecting on the loss of youth, curiously while right in the thick of it herself. "When all you wanted is to be wanted" ends up coming up over and over again in just about every facet of her life and her writing throughout her career. Which comes up even more strongly in...

Speak Now:

Dear John and Never Grow Up

Again, this was really hard because you could go so many directions: The big hits like the love story of Mine or the clapback of Mean or the ballad of Back to December or Last Kiss or the triumphant Long Live... But ultimately I picked Dear John and Never Grow Up because they're two sides of the same coin, and I think they're the underpinning of much of the rest of the music and emotional landscape of the album. Because this is the first glimpse we have of her writing about ~trauma~. And also, I think, the first real exploration of her public persona vs. her private struggles.

Dear John is a remarkably astute and self-aware song written by someone just exiting their teen years clocking what in retrospect with added context was a harrowing and life-changing experience, and it's wrapped up in all the other stuff we know she was dealing with that informed other songs too. The yearning to be taken seriously while still having a foot in the door of childhood, wanting to experience adult milestones but unsure of how, being pilloried in the media essentially just for existing, continually being pursued by and scapegoated by men for their own gain (both personally and professionally), etc. Dear John as a song and I think as an experience is one of the clearest before/after moments of her discography and her life. And it features another Taylor staple: reading a man for absolute filth with deadly accuracy.

By the same token, to me Never Grow Up is the companion piece to this. I've always read it as a deeply sad song about mourning childhood and innocence, and the final twist of "wish I'd never grown up" is a gut punch, knowing everything she'd actually been through in writing the album. (Which is why it's a direct pipeline to "give me back my girlhood, it was mine first" a decade later.) Dear John is the event, and Never Grow Up is the aftermath. And yet, there's still so much hope within the song, because she desperately wants to protect the child in the song from growing up too soon, and wants them to cling on to every bit of their childhood as long as they possibly can. There's so much tenderness and self-reflection through the medium of the child she's singing about, and again: that is remarkably astute for such a young writer, so close to the childhood she's writing about.

Red

All Too Well and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

As usual, this was really hard.

Well, sorta: All Too Well is the gimme. Like, not only is that a perfect representation of Red, it's one of, if not THE keystone song in her discography. It tells the whole story of what inspired the album and I think "I remember it all too well" just sums up her entire being. You've got excellent writing about small moments that later become infused with grand meaning, you've got two banger bridges, you've got a catchy hook that can't get out of your head, you've got electric guitars and drums that make the song go hard... It's quintessential Taylor. I can't say anything more about it that hasn't already been said.

I had a hard time picking the second song because there are others that I by far prefer, I think We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is a good pick because again: it's catchy, it contains an earworm for better or for worse, and she reads another man the riot act... but most importantly, it's a clear shift into unmistakable pop, which brings us to...

1989

Blank Space and Clean

1989 was my favourite Taylor album until folklore came out, and I am still a 1989 stan through and through, so I will never miss my chance to jump on a soapbox to defend it. And I picked these two songs because not only are they a great representation of the soundscape, but they're also two of the thematic pillars of the album.

I almost picked Style, because I think it's pop perfection, but Blank Space edged it out here because it showcases another part of Taylor's writing she doesn't get enough credit for: her cleverness and sense of humour, but the ways in which she uses them are also incredibly vulnerable and revealing. The surface layer of the song is biting satire on the maneater image imposed on her by the media, but underneath it is commentary on the ways women are set up by men to be these figures, both in public and behind closed doors. And as we later learn on the re-record, through her prologue and in vault tracks like Slut!, that experience was incredibly hurtful and damaging. But she took that pain and turned it into art, and it again launched her into the stratosphere. And she does it all with a beat you can't get out of your head.

Clean is kind of the flip side to it in the sense that it washes away (lol) the bravado and the narrative devices and shows what really drives it, which how another person can break you and mark you so deeply that you lose your entire sense of self in the process, and the absolute grit it takes to crawl yourself out of the depression it left in its wake. (Which ends up being yet another major cornerstone of her writing: mental health and the ways in which life can level you.)

Essentially, to me this pairing is the flashiness of what the public sees (Blank Space) vs. the snowballing struggles behind closed doors (Clean), and the tension between the two not only drives much of the narrative of the album, but what would happen following it.

(1989 is not shallow nor sterile, it is vulnerable and insightful and clever but just does so in an economy of words and I will die on that hill, thank you for coming to my TED Talk)

Reputation

Look What You Made Me Do and Call It What You Want

Again this is tricky because while neither of these are necessarily my favourite songs on the album, I do think they're better representatives of the sound and the themes of Reputation better than my faves.

LWYMMD highlights the tonal and sonic shift of the album, the harder, harsher, angrier beats leaving 1989's curated sound behind. This will probably put me in Swiftie jail, but I really disliked this song when it came out-- rather, I really dug the verses, but I haaaaaaaaated the chorus. (I found it so annoying lol. Also remember hearing it about a million times on a road trip through the Maritimes with friends that fall.) Time has definitely changed my perspective on it, especially after the Rep tour and Eras tour performances of it, and I also know that jarring change was purposeful. All that to say, I picked it because I think it was meant to be divisive and shocking (coming from Taylor) and kind of marked her shedding of her public "good girl" image. Where the satire in Blank Space is clever and cheeky, the satire (if you can even call it that) in LWYMMD is all bite. She's mad as hell and she isn't going to take it anymore; nobody is in on the joke like in Blank Space, instead she's out for blood. And it sets up the duality of the album, which is yet another instance of a major recurring theme in her work: the public perception of her and her downfall, vs the private story of recovery and young love growing out of it.

There were a couple of contenders for the second song, but I picked Call It What You Want because to me, it calls back to that very tumultuous period. Where LWYMMD is full of bombast and the ways in which she was wronged and her anger over it (valid), CIWYW (I hate acronyms have I mentioned that) is a tender reflection on it. Her world was crumbling and she was ostracized, but she found a port in the storm and somehow weathered it, coming out of it if not stronger, then at least surviving and with renewed perspective.

And like she's spoken about Rep, the album is a bit of a bait and switch in that it was marketed as a bit of a Burn Book scathing attack on what happened to her in 2016, but it was mainly about a love story that grew out of that pain, and CIWYW is that story. She brought a knife to a gunfight, they took her crown, she disappeared, she came back pricklier and closed off, but behind closed doors, she found someone who loved her and understood her, and that was enough to get her through and rebuild her life.

But it also shows remarkable vulnerability: "And I know I make the same mistakes every time / Bridges burn, I never learn / At least I did one thing right, I did one thing right," is one of those lyrics that has always stuck with me, because even amidst the self-respect throughout the rest of the song (e.g. they fucked me over but I don't even care anymore because I found something real), there's this very raw moment of self-loathing in "I never learn," like, I keep screwing things up, but at least I didn't screw this one thing up. And this will also be essential for a couple of future albums, if you catch my drift.

(Is anyone surprised I didn't pick my beloved baby New Year's Day?)

Lover

Cruel Summer and Lover

Again, this is hard! I see so many pairings, whether musically, thematically, storytelling-wise, or new elements as yet discussed! So in the end, I split the difference.

I picked Cruel Summer because I think it represents some of the sonic shifts in Lover, and I think it is just one of those pop bangers that really showed what she could do and what the album was, in part. It's got an epic bridge you want to scream-sing! It's got a messy situationship that has led to catching feelings and that is THE WORST! It's got a narrative twist at the end! And like with so many other songs on the album, the pulsing beat kind of makes you feel the very anxiety she's writing about throughout the song. I'm so glad Cruel Summer had its moment in the sun thanks to Eras because it deserved to be the biggest single off Lover imo lol.

Lover was my second choice because I think it represents the other part of the main story of the album. Unsurprisingly with an album and title track of this name, the main story throughout the album is about a couple building a life together, from messy casual hookup to walking down the aisle. Lover the song kind of distills that all into a wedding march: it goes from a couple moving into their first home together, to building a life with their own friends and family, to the quiet intimacy of inside jokes and shared dinners, leading to the imagery of the final vows. But it's also self-reflective, with moments of anxiety and reflection but also deep longing for this future together. It's classic Taylor storytelling. Also, I love the bass in it.

folklore

august and seven

aaaaaaaaah folklore my beloved, this is impossible.

I know my choices might seem weird, but hear me out.

I could make a case for almost every song on this album. Because if we're thinking in things of pairs/dualities in this exercise, I think you've got two big stories/themes in folklore: the exploration of feelings through fictional stories as a departure from her usual*, and her quietly personal confessional songs.

*Taylor has always been inspired by and/or written about fictional scenarios, I just mean crafting a whole album around them.

I almost picked the last great american dynasty and peace for this very reason, but made a last minute pivot to these two. I picked august because it hits some of folklore's major points: it's got a fictional story infused with Taylor's own lived experiences, it's got a deeply evocative story of its own contained within the song, it's also tied into the teenage love triangle throughout the rest of the album, it has some iconic lines that are now deeply intertwined with pop culture (what month is it, tumblr), and it kind of covers the melodic landscape of folklore as a whole.

Like I said, I almost picked peace as one of the songs, because I think "our coming of age has come and gone" is one of her all-time confessional lines and will prove to be important for what's to come, along with believing it is one of her most tender expressions of love, BUT we must be ruthless in this game. So I picked seven because if august is a song about love gained and lost, seven fits right into one of Taylor's songwriting pillars of lost innocence. I think it's such a wonderful example of Taylor writing from a fictionalized version of her seven year old self, with the whimsy and innocence of a child who doesn't know what the world yet holds, but the shades of those experiences creeping in. (e.g. "I think your house is haunted, your dad's always mad and that must be why" -- what a punch in the gut to infer an abusive household through the eyes of a child who doesn't understand why their parent is upset. Um, this may be far too #relatable but I digress anyway let me stop before i drudge up my childhood trauma lmao.) It's also hauntingly beautiful.

evermore

'tis the damn season and evermore

EVERMORE MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!

Let me say it again: this was really hard.

Like with folklore, there's a juxtaposition between the fictionally-crafted stories and the obviously personal ones, and several songs could stand in for either category.

I picked TTDS, but honestly, I could have also gone with champagne problems, tolerate it, coney island, etc. Maybe I should have! But I picked TTDS because it's accessible and stands on its own, and I love the sound of it with the electric guitars. It SOUNDS like that liminal period between the holidays, where you can pretend to be another person because nothing counts, where you question all the choices you've ever made in your life and pretend you can be someone else. You can pretend that this will work, you can pretend that the rest of the world and who you really are don't matter, that you aren't inherently fucked up. And tbh that's present in so many of the songs on evermore anyway. IDK I'm losing steam on all this writing so I'm just grasping at straws right now. Ask me again and I'd probably choose another song instead.

evermore I picked because a) it is my beloved forever and ever and b) I think it encapsulates a lot of the feelings she was dealing with from rep through evermore, and would right through TTPD. Even though it's draped in metaphor, imo it's one of the more explicit explorations of the depths of her depression (including suicidal ideation) and the toll 2016 took on her. It feels like it cracked open the door that would eventually be blown wide open on TTPD. And I think it's one of the most vulnerable songs she'd written up to that point and one of the first that was really open about her mental health struggles, even if it's it's cloaked in the shipwreck imagery.

Midnights

Anti-Hero and You're On Your Own Kid

I thought this was going to be way harder because there are SO many rich themes on Midnights (and tbh there are other songs that I think are better representatives of them), but these two I think encapsulate the album the most accessibly, and were the first ones to come to mind when I had to make a snap judgment.

Anti-Hero is here both because it was SUCH a huge hit and such a good example of the sound that found its way throughout the album, AND because it's a great sequel to evermore in how it delves into her mental health challenges. Where evermore asks the listener to go on a journey and like, read between the lines, Anti-Hero is upfront with its self-loathing, depression, anxiety, fears, etc. It's very much Taylor as a person in song-form, and THAT is what weaves its way through the sleepless nights of Midnights. It's a certified bop but it's also an existential crisis! And that is where Taylor excels lol. Once you hear it you will never get "It's me, hi! I'm the problem, it's me" out of your head, nor will you ever forget "I wake up screaming from dreaming one day I'll watch as you're leaving, and life will lose all its meaning for the last time." Hence the spiral throughout the rest of the album lol.

YOYOK I think is pretty self-explanatory. It's another revisiting of childhood that dovetails into the struggles of adulthood. It's wistful and bittersweet and triumphant. It instigated the friendship bracelet craze at Eras! It's a celebration of every step of her life that led to this exhilarating moment in her career! It's the recognition that she made all of this happen, no matter how much heartbreak she faced along the way. "From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes" is one of my favourite lyrics ever. And we all know where we were when we heard "I hosted parties and starved my body like I'd be saved by the perfect kiss." It's brutal, yet it's a reclamation of everything that got her here.

The Tortured Poets Department

This is actually impossible, both because there are 31 songs, and because how do I pick?!?!

Fresh Out The Slammer and loml

I picked FOTS because the song kind of covers the two main experiences that drive the top story of the album: the disintegration of a long-term relationship and the intense and overwhelming rush of the following affair she runs to to escape it when it ends. It hits so many of the main points of the album: feeling discarded and unloved, being emotionally depleted by a partner who takes out his own struggles on her and her resulting cratering mental health, the insinuation of feeling imprisoned by the life she was leading, the between-the-lines implication of how the eventually-revealed conman wins her affections, the flood of the mania in running to him as soon as she leaves her partner, the projection of her hopes onto this person as the fantasy builds in her head, etc.

In a similar vein, I picked loml, because it's what happens after the crash of the mania in FOTS and the processing of the disintegration of the relationship before it. I could have picked other songs and again, I probably would if asked again, but I see these two as tied together as the beginning and end of two stories. Plus, I fundamentally believe "you shit-talked me under the table, talking rings and talking cradles" is absolutely essential for understanding TTPD and understanding what she's writing about and why. It's the loss of and exploitation of those two very specific and devastating things that drive all the action of the album imo.

Plus, the two songs kind of cover both ends of the spectrum of the soundscape of TTPD, from the twangy, at times kinda wild west sound of FOTS to the sad piano ballad of loml.

[jrow]

May Prompts (23)

Day 22 here. Start at the beginning here. Day 24 here.

Apology

“Wait, is this an apology?”

He looks at Sherlock with a furrowed brow. The man has been acting odd all morning, but it’s been dialled up to 11 since they arrived at the cake place. Fidgety. Mumbling. And now an apology?

Well isn’t this flipping the script.

There have been many times where he’s been desperate for Sherlock to apologize about one thing or another, but that certainly isn’t the case today. Sherlock has been wonderful over the last few days—a lifesaver really. If anything, he should be apologizing to Sherlock!

But instead, Sherlock is now monologuing about apologies and penance and other things he can’t really follow. The head injury probably isn’t helping, but he’s pretty sure Sherlock isn’t actually making much sense.

“Sherlock,” he says, lifting a hand. “Stop, have a bite of that delicious looking chocolate ganache and then explain what the hell you are on about.”

Sherlock huffs but does as he’s told. They eat in silence for a moment. Sherlock seems to be very much enjoying the chocolate ganache, while Rosie is eating only the icing from her confetti cake. He is taking his time with his caramel-topped coffee cake, savouring each bite. Getting to the cake place right when it opened at 11 means they had an abundance of choice and everyone seems very content with their selections.

Sherlock puts down his fork and clears his throat once his cake is about half done. “Let me try again, John. I have avoided being direct for cowardly reasons, but … well, honesty and all that.”

He smiles. “Yes, all that. Now what are you on about.”

Sherlock’s face grows serious. “I … I need to apologize. For your fall.”

He rolls his eyes. “Look, I know you think you should be able to … I don’t know … stop time or something … but there’s not much you could have done. I tripped and fell off a roof. It happens. There are risks associated with running on a roof. I know that.”

Sherlock cringes. “Yes, that’s just it, John. I wasn’t totally honest about that night. You … you didn’t want to chase the thief. At all. You tried to stop me. You just wanted to leave the thief and come here. To cake. You wanted cake. I forced your hand, John.”

He looks at Sherlock with a blank stare and then bursts out laughing. “Seriously? That’s what you are apologizing for? That’s what’s had you so angst-ridden? The fact that you think you ‘forced me’ on a chase?”

“You didn’t want to do it, John!” Sherlock says, sounding slightly annoyed. “I forced you.”

“I am a big boy, you can’t force me to do anything,” he says before popping a bite of cake in his mouth.

Sherlock shakes his head. “But you really wanted to just have cake. You were so insistent! And ignored that.”

“Seriously, Sherlock,” he says, picking up another piece of cake (it really is delightful), “I love a good chase. You know that. And if for some reason I didn’t want to go, I wouldn’t have.” He shrugs. “I was probably just arguing against it for the heck of it or…” he trails off and stares at Sherlock. Slowly his eyes grow wide.

“What is it, John?” Sherlock asks, leaning forward.

He starts laughing. “I was nervous! God, it’s seems so silly now. I was just so damn nervous. We were going to eat cake,” he explains, waving his fork in the air, “and then you were going to open your gift. I was nervous and anxious and just wanted it over with.” He takes a deep breath. “Jesus, I remember!”

“I don’t understand, John,” Sherlock says, almost pleading.

He sighs happily. It just feels so good to just remember. Not just the events, but his feelings that night. “Sherlock, hear me now. I wanted to chase that damn thief. I always want to follow you across the city and down the alleys and, yes, along the roofs. I just … I had a plan and it took some convincing to get me to change it. But I did change it. In fact, I was excited … I remember thinking it would be perfect actually. Chase, cake, gift and then who knows. Perfect.”

He’s done being nervous. He could have died, but he didn’t and it’s time to just get on with it. He has half a mind to just confess right here, but a big part of him desperately wants to watch Sherlock’s face—his eyes—as he figures out what the gift means. He wants to see that surprise and recognition. And so, he will wait just a bit longer.

Sherlock is watching him with questioning eyes. “Really?”

“Yes, absolutely,” he says with a chuckle. “Now finish your cake. Although I think little miss icing might be interested in a bite.” This is quite the understatement as Rosie, having finished her icing, is now staring at Sherlock’s cake with a rather alarming ferocity.

“Here you go,” Sherlock says, feeding Rosie a rather large bite of the chocolate ganache.

God, Sherlock looks and sounds so damn relieved. It’s heartbreaking in a way.

If only they’d talked about this earlier, much of Sherlock’s guilt could have been avoided. Because it was just an accident—

He drops his fork and it hits the plate with a loud clang. He turns to Sherlock. “You didn’t see me trip,” he says, heart now racing. He remembers!

“No,” Sherlock says, brow furrowed. “But I certainly saw you fall.”

“You didn’t see me trip,” he says again, trying to keep his voice calm, “because I didn’t. Jesus Christ, Sherlock! I remember. I didn’t fall because l tripped.” He sucks in a breath. “I fell because I was pushed.”

Thanks everyone for continuing to read along. The last few days I haven’t had much time to write so things have been a bit rushed, but I am just having so much fun with this!

@keirgreeneyes @raina-at @totallysilvergirl @meetinginsamarra @jolieblack @phoenix27884 @friday411 @calaisreno @lisbeth-kk @safedistancefrombeingsmart @momma2boys @helloliriels @dapetty @quimerasyutopias

[acheronist]

ok i know u aren't actually a dead ice mummy man just THE resident expert on dead ice mummy men, so this might be more of an ooh ahh type comment than a question, but: HOW was [u will know who i'm talking about but i have no idea what his name is] writing backwards as in the letters in reverse order omg. i thought when i had seen u mention he wrote in reverse that u meant like... mirrored and i was like oh hey cool, funky. i did not know you meant literally sdrow sdrawkcab style. i want this man's brain to study omg. and u say he left school at 12 (i think? i may be combining mummies or making things up)? i am still in school and feeling like im actively developing dyslexia and he was just out there writing gymnastics style. this definitely turned into ooh ahh more than question ooops but it's been haunting me since u posted the scan with the "translation" overtop, and i am hoping u will not mind me coming to u about it lol. (and if u do mind then just ignore me!)

wow this is the best ask on the planet. good morning to ME !!!

so the dead ice mummy man you're asking about isn't actually a confirmed ice mummy, we only have four (probably) of those (on beechey island in a tiny and neat little impromptu graveyard) and then the other 131 men from franklin's fuckass expedition are all (probably) disassembled skeletons now littered around king william island. Fuck these stupid imperialist british assholes etc.

our guy in particular is HENRY PETER PEGLAR who was 32 when the ships left england in 1845. he worked on hms terror as the foretop captain (in charge of the foremast's sails and rigging and such) and he had indeed been a sailor in her majesty's navy since he was a whole 12 years old. he came from a working class family in london, and henry + his older sister likely attended a charity school around the corner from their dad's gunsmithing business in westminster. he probably learned to read and write there, and i suspect he had an older teacher because he uses the long S in a lot of places, which was becoming a bit out of fashion to use by the time he was a kid who was just learning his letters. (ex, sir john franklin uses the long S in his letters, but the junior officers like irving, le vesconte, etc do not)

here's the graveyard on beechey island (ice mummy central) vs the skeletal remains of THE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GUY on AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ISLAND who died several miles away from main camp in his navy steward uniform while protecting henry's wallet and pocketbook. and also the wallet itself.

ok lets get into the writing analysis wheeee

so the general 'code' he was using worked in an interesting way. the overall sentence is still read left to right like any other english sentence would be, but each individual word is flipped and spelled in reverse order. so, here's an example sentence from one of his poems:

at first glance it just reads

sah ym Lettil Krab sow gnitfird nwod

and now this is usually where people say wow this is incoherent, and also nothing to me! well hold on and let us take a closer look 🔎

so this step is, essentially, The Facsimile Project which i'm killing myself over lol. but hey, now that it's easier to comprehend henry's loopy ass cursive script, and we can actually see how the nonsense was secretly real words this whole time! so this sentence is actually meant to be read as

haS my litteL Bark wos drifting down

so now let's dig into this one example sentence a bit. some interesting things of note:

he's capitalizing words pretty randomly, but he does know that the first letter is generally the one that gets capitalized to start a sentence. so the first letter he writes gets capitalized, regardless of if that's the 'normal' letter to capitalized ('haS' instead of 'Has' at the start of the sentence)

his spelling skills are very much based upon phonetics, and the way he was hearing words get spoken aloud, rather than the queen's proper standard english which was for rich posh people (he was neither of those things). we need to remember this was a guy who has spent most of his life amongst sailors on ships and in dockyards, and adjust accordingly for his vernacular and also his accent. when he spoke, he would have had a london accent which means that WE, THE MODERN VOYEUR AUDIENCE OF THIS DEAD GUY, end up with confusing things like 'bark' instead of 'barque', a style of ship he's referencing, or 'wos' instead of 'was'. it's not as if he's barely literate or a total dipshit, it's just that he never likely had access to higher formal education and consequently made some funny spelling choices to the best of his abilities and understanding of language. which brings us to....

the H-dropping/H-insertions! this is something that i've noticed over and over and over again in his writing. he had some trouble with understanding where an H was or was not supposed to be. (ex: 'art' instead of 'heart', 'hopen' instead of 'open', 'hafter' instead of 'after', etc. russell potter has some excellent academic research published about this if you're curious.) and i find these to be very indicative of the way he would have actually spoken the word aloud. which is interesting to ME because i love it when dead people are trying to hold a conversation with us.

so ultimately, this first line of one page of one poem that he wrote and managed to survive should look like this:

As my little barque was drifting down

and now you have a pretty okay understanding of the code henry was using when he was writing for just himself. congrats!

ships were crowded and busy, he probably didn't have very much privacy or space, so Honestly, this is such a clever way for him to at least reclaim a bit of privacy for himself, AND BOY DID HE USE THE HELL OUT OF IT.

if you look at the actual amount of words per page, the majority of the wallet was done in the backwards code, but to answer your first question, NO he didn't use the code throughout the whole thing, but he did use it More often. The most noteworthy things he wrote in easy to read regular ass forwards english is his naval career account. this was also done in maybe his neatest handwriting, and he identifies himself as "H Peglar" in it, which kind of indicates to me that it was the only page he wanted an audience for later on in the future? so he was probably scared about being forgotten or left behind as the expedition was trekking south after abandoning ships and the dire agonies began.... otherwise, he would have kept it private and coded like the poems or his diary pages

and for the second question, he definitely has spelling mistakes in here LMAOOOO but i'm kind of fond of them in the same way i am when my friends make a typo in a text message. here's a quick collection of some good moments where he forgot to add a letter, misspelled something, or made a mistake and tried to go back and clarify what he meant.

now i'm not a linguistics history professor or anything, so maybe take everything i say with a grain of salt, but these are just like.. the observations i've made as i've been digging thru this guy's writings.

the other really crucial thing to keep in mind is like... all of these were written by a guy who is in the midst of FEELING LIKE SHITTTTTT. ALL OF THE TIME. we know there was scurvy, long term lead poisoning, botulism, abnormally cold temperatures and weather, hard manual labor to do, all on top of being slowly starved over years and years, plus probably the lingering psychological fear of 'what if i'm the one that drops dead and gets eaten next'.

dude was probably rocking a crazy headache as he was writing all of these pages and i'm gonna say it's safe to assume his brain was not functioning at 100% normalhealthy, so it really is very commendable to me that he still managed to come up with these beautiful full diary pages of things he was seeing, and then have the spirit and heart to write poetry for himself and his own enjoyment and morale. the human urge to be creative is so fantastic. i don't know why he isn't the most famous dead guy of all time.

[brokehorrorfan]

The Mean One will be released on Steelbook Blu-ray on December 17 via Cineverse. The 2022 indie slasher is a horror parody of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Terrifier’s David Howard Thronton stars as The Mean One alongside Krystle Martin, Chase Mullins, John Bigham, Erik Baker, Flip Kobler, and Amy Schumacher. Steven LaMorte directs from a script by Flip Kobler (The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride) and Finn Kobler.

Special features are listed below, where you can also see the full Steelbook layout below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by director-producer Steven LaMorte and producer-actress Amy Schumacher

Christmas Chaos: Making The Mean One

Deleted scenes

One Christmas Eve in a sleepy mountain town, Cindy’s parents are murdered, and her Christmas is stolen by The Mean One, a bloodthirsty green grouch in a red Santa suit. 20 years later, Cindy returns to Newville, only for The Mean One to launch a bloody reign of terror that threatens to destroy Christmas, lending Cindy a bold new purpose – trapping and killing the monster.

Pre-order The Mean One.

[black-arcana]

Ex-BUTCHER BABIES Singer CARLA HARVEY Shares Video For Debut THE VIOLENT HOUR Single Feat. CHARLIE BENANTE, JOHN 5

Founding vocalist for the metal band BUTCHER BABIES, comic book author, artist, novelist, and the holder of multiple degrees in mortuary science and thanatology, singer/musician Carla Harvey has released the official music video for "Sick Ones", the first single from her new project THE VIOLENT HOUR, via Megaforce Records. The new track was co-written by Harvey and her fiancé, ANTHRAX and PANTERA drummer Charlie Benante, and features MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist John 5.

"'Sick Ones' is a rock 'n' roll anthem about cutting the toxic people out of your life," said Harvey. "It's a call of freedom, a fist-to-the-face to anyone who has tried to hold you down, hold you back or dim your light. It was written at a vulnerable time in my life when I was forced to end relationships I thought would last forever.

"When choosing a theme for this song," Harvey added, "I thought about a phrase I had scrawled across a journal from 1999: 'Cut The Sick Ones Loose.' Those words became my mantra over the last couple years and felt perfect to chant over Charlie's guitar riffs. 'Sick Ones' also features an absolutely shredding guitar solo by John 5 that brings this thrasher to a whole different level."

"'Sick Ones' has a modernized NWOBHM (New wave of British heavy metal) vibe to it," said Benante. "The riff is very catchy and stays with you like a good riff should. 'Sick Ones' is just the tip of the iceberg for this project. Many of the songs we crafted for THE VIOLENT HOUR are unlike anything Carla has ever done as a vocalist, reflecting different moods and a new beginning. The music flowed out of me because I had this motivation, this drive...it was unstoppable."

The "Sick Ones" video script, written by Harvey and directed by Industrialism Films' Vicente Cordero (BLACK VEIL BRIDES, Kat Von D),sees Harvey portraying each of the video's five personalities.

"While 'Sick Ones' is about cutting toxic people out of your life — those who constantly devalue you — I wanted to flip that narrative for the video," Harvey said. "I've always been interested in the idea that sometimes the most dangerous person to confront is yourself. The video explores what it means to face those darker versions of who we've been and whether we can truly leave them behind… or, as the ending suggests, learn to coexist peacefully. Vicente took my vision and brought it to life. I came to him with a wild idea and no clue how to execute it — and we made it work! I loved getting a chance to play multiple larger-than-life characters."

Not many people have comic book author, embalmer and musician on their resumes. Carla boasts all three and so much more.

Carla was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan — a city known for its grit, resilience, and often deep divides. Navigating life as a bi-racial kid in a fractured environment wasn't easy, but Carla found her escape in art, music, and self-expression. By day, she hustled, attending the prestigious College For Creative Studies alongside working odd jobs like perfume counter girl and gas station attendant, and by night, she was on stage with local bands, saving every dollar she could for a one-way trip to Los Angeles.

At twenty, she put all her belongings in her car and navigated from Detroit to Hollywood with a paper map. In L.A., she landed acting roles on shows like "Rules Of Engagement", played in bands searching for her sound, and never stopped creating. But beyond the music was a driven academic. Carla had a deep love for science and eventually pursued a Bachelor Of Mortuary Science (graduating as valedictorian) and a Master Of Science in thanatology. Carla became a licensed funeral director and embalmer and founded her own grief counseling service — all while touring the world extensively as a founding member of the BUTCHER BABIES.

Today, In addition to her music career, Carla is a grief specialist for the innovative death care company Parting Stone that transforms cremated remains into environmentally friendly stones that the departed's family can hold, treasure and honor.

Beyond her professional life, Carla is a devoted collector of pop culture oddities: comics, wrestling figures, vintage Barbies, Elvira, the Incredible Hulk, and rock relics from her wildest nights in Hollywood. She still holds on to her Rainbow Bar & Grill drink tickets from the '90s and a poker chip from Lemmy's last birthday party. Her creative heroes — Russ Meyers, Robert Williams, Robert Crumb and Charles Bukowski — mirror her love of the bold and the raw.

To date, Carla has released six albums, multiple comic books and a 2014 novel, "Death And Other Dances". But if you ask her…she's still just a blue-collar kid from the Midwest with big dreams.

BUTCHER BABIES announced their split with Harvey in July 2024, saying in a statement that "Carla has been an integral part of our journey, bringing her unique talent, passion, and energy to the band," and wishing "her all the best in her future endeavors."

Carla, who co-founded BUTCHER BABIES in 2010 with fellow vocalist Heidi Shepherd, confirmed her exit from the band in a separate post, saying that she was "super proud" of her work with BUTCHER BABIES and adding that she was "not done making music and performing."

In the fall of 2023, BUTCHER BABIES completed a European tour without Carla, who sat out the trek in order to undergo emergency surgery on her left eye.

In January 2024, Harvey and Benante announced that they were officially engaged.

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral

[m1ssunderstanding]

Get Back Rewatch 55 Years On: Day One

So I know this has probably been overdone by lots of people on lots of years but I haven't done it yet and I want to so here goes: I'm going to rewatch get back with the days matched up and catalogue my thoughts as I watch.

We don't get to see George and John saying hi to each other, but I'm struck by how careful they are with Ringo when he comes in. "Hi Ringo, happy new year." From both of them, with full eye contact soft, sweet voices. I wonder if they're really wanting to be so gentle with him after what happened at the end of August. Not like walking on eggshells at all, but just very "we're working on doing better because we care about you."

While Paul's not there, John is giving George full attention, leaning in to him, facing him while they sing, and George seems to really love it

But then Paul shows up and you can tell before we even see him that he's arrived, because suddenly John's gaze is gone from George. His eyebrows shoot up, he chin-tilts, and (this sounds insane I know but it's what I just watched) his singing drastically improves. He's putting effort in, performing.

Paul sits down and the shy little grins and glances and inside jokes (at George's expense and hypocritical of John) ensue immediately.

Ringo's jacket. The black with the maroon velvet collar. It's very cool and it's very unique to him. I don't see the other three pulling it off the way he does. He just has effortless swagger. If the other three wore something like that they'd look like try-hards.

George's sassy little hair flip. "oh, you're recording our conversation?"

Meanwhile John and Paul are back at it like magnets I swear. Turned in to each other, talking gibberish, and strumming

George with the deadpan sass again. "Maybe we should just learn a few songs first." Lol he's so stone cold.

"Oh please believe me." "Yes I will." Come on. Do you ever stop? And then the silent communication when they screwed up. We don't see Paul's face but John makes such a cute "oops sorry" face and they keep going.

Paul's literally so bossy. I find it such a turn on, really, watching it. Just because it's him being a genius who has a vision and sucks at social skills. But if I were in that band and he wasn't letting me hit I'd literally hate him.

John's so delighted with Paul's "everybody's got a hard on... Except for me and my monkey." Because that's one of the ways he often expresses his love for Paul and Paul's giving it back to him here. So John's just "Oh he made a joke about my song. He's teasing me. He does like me."

Paul literally diggs John's part of IGAF so fucking hard though. Like as soon as John's singing, Paul can not be still. Can not. He just thinks John's so so clever (and to be fair he is)

Crazy eye fucking continues

Then Paul's off to talk big boy plans with the daddies for a minute. (would love to know who he waved at then sucked his finger) "Is this your place, Twickenham?" Okay. Feeling out a potential daddy's pockets. I see you.

Obsessed with Yoko's emerald bag and how she got her little boyfriend to wear the exact color of Henley. Ken was literally made to be Barbies accessory and he's doing such a great job matching her purse. She's so pretty and cool.

It cracks me up how extremely nonchalant Ringo is about Magic Christian. (I LOVE that movie. Ringo is so hot in it and it's anti-capitalist so it's a winner). Dennis O'Dell is all "the scripts are marvelous." And Ringo's just "yeah you told me." And then Dennis is like "I'll take up up and show you around these really great sets." Ringo: "yeah okay." It's almost like the other three have no chill so he has to have only chill to balance it out.

They really are so blunt with each other when they don't like something. "I don't dig that." "Scrap that." Which is good. If only they could've been blunt when they did like things too though. And I guess they were sometimes. Like John telling Paul to keep that lyric in Hey Jude. But I don't think they were half as open with their positive feelings about each other's work as they were the other way around and that's so sad to me.

Why does George single Paul out about the sandwiches? It's cute. I love it. But what is it? Is he particularly worried about Paul and food because Paul's picky? Is it just their relationship that they take care of each other in these simple ways because they can't take care of each other emotionally?

Fucking hell why does Paul literally flirt with everyone all the time? "No separation in there." "Rain or snow will do me." "Yeah, you're pretty right, Michael."

Pretty sure John was looking at the lyrics of TOU off that sheet that said "Another Quarrymen Original" at the bottom. I wonder what he thought of that. I wonder if it was there to signal him, and if so what was it signalling? "Hey this is about you."??

"Two of us Henry Cooper." Referencing a boxer in a song about him and John. Why? Because they're fighting?

[purgemarchlockdown]

Mikoto being so heavily associated with the female characters while Kotoko isn't is really intriguing with how he's so heavily sexualized in MeMe and plays into a lot of horror tropes.

The bathtub and the shower scene are common locations in horror, especially for Women. With one of the most iconic horror scenes Ever being the shower scene from Psycho, in which a woman is murdered in the shower.

Not to mention the lyrical pattern of calling back the title of the first MV that all the girls, except for Kotoko, follow. With Mikoto actually calling back to the title of his T1 MV in Double and having it be such an important part of it that they call back to it in the Trial 2 Album. Something originally pointed out by oboetmasuka here and candckirby who also mentions Mikoto's role as the "Final girl" and his consistent pregnancy metaphor with how John is called a newborn.

I think the way Kotoko connects to Masculinity is subtler but just as important, her interrogation question shows she's not attached to it, but she doesn't seem against it or anything.

(Kotoko Interrogations)

T1Q10: What do you think about the word 'feminimity'? A: It's one of the means you can take. It's something you can freely choose depending on the scene, so it's not something to cling onto.

Kotoko doesn't wear anything traditionally feminine but she doesn't lean super masculine either...except.

Okay so, 1moremilgram-enjoyer made this really interesting post about Kotoko's cap you can read here. Basically her cap has the name Jacques Roulet on it's front. Jacques Roulet is the name of a Male Serial Killer who killed two children and claimed to be a werewolf.

This cap appears in her outfit in Harrow:

But also appears in her T2 Design:

Establishing some sort of connection between him and Kotoko.

If we're reading into this Further. John and Kotoko are actually very similar in their want to become someone's "savior" as that's what gives them a sense of purpose.

John's an interesting character in this dynamic. Because if Mikoto is the helpless princess, John is the faithful prince. Coming to save his pitiful damsel whose too weak to protect himself.

(Mikoto T2 VD)

John: It’s true that I was the one who wanted to destroy everything… and the weakness of Boku, who couldn’t stand up for himself all alone, might have been the origin of that. But… that’s all there is to it. Is that a sin?

Mikoto has little to no agency and he Knows This. He doesn't know what's happening, is confused and terrified all the time, and feels like he's on a train with an unknown destination. He feels powerless and like he has no control. While John tries his best to help him, but ultimately harms him, cause John will do what He thinks Mikoto needs without knowing what Mikoto wants. Something he seems regretful for.

Hey, I just wanted to save you So why did it come to this?

However, Kotoko does have some sense of Power and Agency and actively Holds this over others.

From the begin I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless Weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!

There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to present more masculine or feminine. However, there is a problem with enforcing strict and rigid roles onto people, especially if those roles enforce systems of power that allow for the exploitation of groups of people by elevating one group and putting down the other.

Even if the gender roles the two fit in are flipped, it is still playing into unhealthy ideals of gender and society that perpetuate abusive systems of power.

(Utena Scripts)

Voice:  Was the ring from the prince meant as an engagement ring? Voice:  That part was good, Voice:  but because of the strength of her admiration for the prince, Voice:  the princess made up her mind to become a prince herself! Voice:  But is that really good for her?

(I got it in!)

I think I might have to wait for Deep Cover's MV to release to fully discuss this, but this is really curious to me.

[ninetyminutes]

Hey, so you made that post a while ago about Lorne's weakness being someone running their hands through his hair, right? So I noticed that in the movie, right at the end of the conversation about John, Jacqueline reaches up and runs her hand through Chevy's hair at the back of his head as they walk away. What if Chevy pulls that move with Lorne at some point, like just reaches over when it's clear that Lorne is super stressed

(have the gif of said moment)

Okay but I was really inspired with this, so have these three mini drabbles:

Lorne sat on the couch in his office, one leg bouncing anxiously as he flipped through the script in his hands, the pages wrinkled from being reread too many times. His frown deepened with each line.

Chevy, spotting the tension radiating off him, perched on the arm of the couch and leaned in, resting a hand on the back of the cushions as he scanned the script over Lorne’s shoulder. “This bad, huh?” he murmured, amusement lacing his tone.

Lorne just sighed, rubbing his temple.

Without thinking, Chevy reached out and ran a hand through Lorne’s hair, raking it back from his face. “Relax, Lorne,” he said. “You’ll figure it out.”

* * *

Lorne was sat at his desk, slumped over a mess of papers with his head resting on his forearms. He barely stirred when the door creaked open and Chevy stepped inside. Chevy paused, taking in the sight. “Lorne?”

A muffled groan was the only response.

Chevy crossed the room and perched on the edge of the desk, watching Lorne for a beat before reaching out and running a hand through his hair, his fingers sweeping gently through the disheveled strands. Lorne let out a slow exhale, the tension in his body easing just slightly.

“Go home, Lorne,” Chevy advised, his voice softer than usual.

Lorne huffed. “Can’t.”

Chevy’s hand stilled for a moment before resuming its slow movement. “Then at least take a break.”

* * *

Lorne stood in front of the corkboard, arms crossed, eyes flicking between the index cards pinned in place. He had been standing there for too long, the weight of the decision pressing down on him.

Chevy wandered in, taking one look at the tightness in Lorne’s shoulders before stepping up beside him. Without a word, he reached out, fingers threading through Lorne’s hair in an easy, familiar motion.

Lorne sighed, his posture softening as he leaned forward, resting his forehead against Chevy’s arm.

[davekat-sucks]

(Found this image on Twitter)

I really don't like the Omega kids. I take them as seriously as I take the alphasprites, they don't exist to me. Hearing you guys talk about these little mistakes feels like watching everyone talk about a hypothetical scenario or dream some guy had once... which is the Homestuck experience now.

I dislike them, but it's not just because their stories stem from terrible couples, it's because they're so over designed but there is no meaning to anything.

It's cute Tavros has a bow tie and that Harry has a bandana but those feel like little trinkets that should have been added on later after we get used to seeing them. Show me their personalities first before you overload a character with this much clothing. Yiffy is the worst of these. It's too much. For some reason Eridan feels like a simpler design than this avril lavigne clone. There is something less cohesive and more busy about these designs than the original cast. Maybe it's because it has too many different grays and blacks. She looks more like a vast error character than a Homestuck one.

Look at how simple the character designs start out as, and then they purposely make their own outfits that fit their interests and personalities. Dirk may be a bit of an exception here actually, he changes his clothes right after he is introduced. Which introduces him as anal.

There is meaning here. There is a purpose that the story shares throughout it's run. Look at Rose's dress it was made from the velvet pillow introduced when her mom one-upped her and Roxy's outfit here clearly being a reference to her mom's love of knitting. There is a reason Jade wears blue and John wears green even though that isn't their colors. Dave's shades are a gift from John. John is wearing a bootlegged slimer shirt. I'm not saying the Omega kids need every article of clothing to have a backstory, but if they wear this much clothing it doesn't tell me much.

Why does Yiffy wear cleats if she was hidden away from the world? Did she run around in a backyard like a dog or something? I don't even remember if that is her story or not, I forgot so much about her because I was more focused on how she was a child that Rose had behind her wife's back. They're overloaded with drama too.

To add to that. I haven't placed much thought in it but I don't know what the Omega kids color scheme is supposed to be. I assume the Beta kids colors come from basic web colors. If you invert the beta kid's colors you get the Alpha kids color scheme.

The Omega kids just feel scattered and unorganized. It makes them feel even more meaningless because they don't fit in. If that is the point then why not have five kids to really fuck with the system here? The writers should have really ran with the whole "we're flipping the script and subverting expectations" thing.

I also don't give a shit if this is nitpicky, I'm sure you guys can all see there is something off about the omega kids.

I agree about the accessories doesn't really show they are connected with the Beta Kid adults. If the bandana is suppose to be like a replacement to how Roxy wears a scarf, then let the boy wear a scarf and not a stupid gay bandana. You think that Kanaya, who is a fashionista herself, would be critical of what her daughter, Vrissy wears. And if you are saying she would never reprimand her daughter because she looks like her crush, then that brings up a worse implication that she really is grooming her to be like Vriska by enabling her bad habits. What confuses me is Tavvy's overshirt has the matching color of Gamzee, the one who MOLESTED HIM. You think after his death, he would never wear that color and be disgusted by any shade of purple that's within his sight. Unless him still wearing that purple vest now is still symbolizing he is still bound by Gamzee or can't move on after what he did to him.

But yeah, nothing about the Omega Kids designs makes sense. And I still am on the side that laughs at Yiffany looking more like Nostalgia Critic.