#anyways... sam ended up with two edits for some reason

[snnynaturalarch]

i want to feel ft. @safetypinneds please don't reblog unless tagged

[hangingslothcentral]

Today is the fourth anniversary of the day I launched Spirit Box Radio, and it's also the last day of trans awareness week.

I have a lot of big feelings about SBR. If you've listened to the show, you'll know that I was medically transitioning through its release. I went on T at the show's midpoint, in the middle of S2, and my voice was changing throughout the rest of the show's run. I got top surgery two months after the show ended, almost exactly to the day.

Now. We're all big enough and daft enough to be able to have a grown up conversation about this, I think. So here's some stuff about that experience I haven't really talked about before.

1. I wish there had been media which had trans creators transitioning alongside a character who is transitioning when I was younger. The main reason for this is that it would have been representation of trans people, but honestly? The main thing I wanted was to see someone transitioning over a long period of time. So often, transition seems to happen behind closed doors. Unless you are lucky enough to have lots of trans people around you (I grew up in semi-rural Wales so no luck for me there) you just do not see it happening. People, understandably, want to hide the length of the process, the messy in between stages.

2. Transitioning and playing Sam transitioning simultaneous to me was one of the most mentally challenging and emotionally vulnerable things I've ever done. I do not say this lightly; I'm a survivor of abuse and I've seen a lot of shit in my life. I've come out as nonbinary at a corporate job and argued with a university about changing my name on my graduation certificate. As much as I loved it, and still love it, and I'm intensely proud of it and SO glad it exists, making SBR was fucking brutal. Hours of editing my own voice through a period where it sounded different on a near-weekly basis. Having no idea how I sounded anymore and posting episodes anyway. Dealing with the emotional fallout of people responding weirdly to me in my real, actual life whilst portraying a character who is outcast, isolated, and terrified of himself? Challenging as fuck.

3. Many people need to examine the way they're talking about trans men. The conversations around Sam shifted very violently as my voice dropped. This is in part due to the arc this character follows, but it's hard not to notice a shift in language as dramatic as this. It started as soon as the show came back from its S2 midseason break and my voice had shifted down a bit. People talked less about Sam being cute, and for the first time, I started to see people talking about him like he was sexy. These things aren't mutually exclusive, but it was very noticeable to me, especially in contrast to conversations about Oliver, Sam's hot, cis gender, florist boyfriend, who was categorised as sexy from the off. Before my voice dropped, even though they were using the right pronouns for them, people talked about Sam with very feminine, infantilising language, and this almost entirely stopped when my voice dropped.

4. I am so fucking glad I did this. Yes, it was brutal, emotional, and I really struggled through a lot of this process, and I am so glad I did this. I will have the immense privilege of medically transitioning in the way I have over the last few years exactly once in my life. I am glad I took that vulnerable moment and made art with it. I'm glad that my transition is captured and mirrored by this thing I was making at the time it was happening. I'm glad that thousands of other trans people have listened to the show and have heard me doing this as they are doing it, or before they do it, or after, or as they're deciding not to, or finding out they can't, or realising they'll never have the chance, or any one of the myriad experiences of transness that exist. I am, frankly, honoured to have been a part of such a vulnerable aspect in the lives of so many people.

Thank you for reading this. Thank you for listening to the show, if indeed you already have. If you enjoy my work, I would love to be able to pay my bills and be able to keep making it. I have never made even minimum wage for the work I do on my shows. Please consider becoming a member.

[cdroloisms]

fuck it i'm making this c!awesamdreamity sitcom AU (dr3 edition) a real thing for the funnies alone. why the hell not

premise: they get thrown into a sitcom. that's it. they're in a sitcom world that plays by sitcom rules, which means that everything that occurs Has to conceivably work within the genre. that means no throwing dream in a cell underground and treating him as a prisoner, sam, that's not funny enough. they can't leave or escape, and if they try to do something that Doesn't work within the genre they'll either just be completely unable to do it or they'll be foiled in some genre-specific way (ex: sam tries to build a cell on the property anyway and ends up in a three-episode arc about his fight with HOA)

the main point of this set up is that anything is technically possible as long as it works within the bit. also, yes, there's a laugh track, and whether or not the characters can hear it has everything to do with what's the funniest option (c!sam fucking hates the thing, for the record.)

highlights of this include:

the sitcom Demands A Relationship. because neither c!quackity nor c!sam is willing to do the whole married couple spiel with c!dream, that means that c!awesamq are the ones that are officially "together." this goes so fucking badly and is like, the primary reason why i'm making this a thing in the first place

c!dream isn't Allowed to be a prisoner, but he does have to stay within the house. between the genre and c!awesamq's opinions, he's not really going to end up as just "the roommate" or family or you know, an official third part of the throuple, so the maid it is

a level of violence is allowed but like, the actual pain/consequences has everything to do with whether it works For The Bit or For The Drama. like, c!q might hit c!dream with the car and nothing will happen bc it'll be played off as a punchline, for example, but also a dramatically timed fall might lead to someone walking around with a broken arm for an 'episode' or two. there's no magical accelerated healing here, just the Power Of The Bit

similarly, a lot will be allowed to slide as long as you're genre savvy about it. c!quackity won't be able to get away with outright torturing c!dream for hours, of course, but pushing him around is fine as long as it's funny enough. especially if it comes with a side of romantic drama

speaking of the romantic drama, hoo boy are c!awesamq a fucking TRAIN WRECK. like my god are they so toxic. c!sam is literally the quintessential asshole condescending boyfriend on that server and c!q has a quick fuse, a hell of a temper, and generally reacts to being talked down to with several knives and cursing. they take to a domestic romantic relationship as a fish does to . uh. lava maybe. like it's BAD

think screaming slammed doors things being thrown there's a glass sailing towards c!sam's head screaming over the banisters holes in the drywall fine! FINE! [laugh track] bad. it'd be gloriously, ridiculously toxic. the crowd goes wild

c!quackity has to contend with the fact that his husband is absolutely down horrendous FOR THEIR STUPID GODDAMN MAID .

the maid also wants his husband more than quackity :/ sidelined in his own relationship once again (i wonder why, Q)

how well they adjust has everything to do with how well they acclimate to the genre. c!quackity does the best job--he knows how to play a crowd and do so well. c!sam by FAR acclimates the worst. he's inherently completely offended by the idea of everything about his job and the prison being turned into Entertainment, into something Funny, into A Show To Consume and basically reacts to the sitcom thing by trying to ignore it. this, of course, means that he ends up generally being the butt of the joke

c!dream is. well. at least he's got less stress about dying i guess. and is generally a lot less injured bc starvation and torture lead to lower comedy ratings smh. is still kinda in hell but you know yesterday he got to watch c!quackity hit c!sam over the head with a frying pan and literal cartoon birds appeared so

honestly he's kinda quietly having an existential crisis and lowkey earning sympathy points from the proverbial audience by being the one that comes off the least as Just The Complete And Utter Worst

(meanwhile: c!sam is yelling at c!quackity for how he's apparently cut up all of his dress shirts while c!quackity screams back about something something and he can stick the scissors up his ass)

[laugh track]

[callsigndreadfrost]

This is in relation to this post.

I'm really giddy to write this for a bunch of reasons but it'll let me explore some other teeny tiny character plots (development? Reveals? Not sure what to call it). I can't find the goddamn post but I have mentioned that at some point Jelani had been with a man that was poly. He's not poly but he likes to try things out and see if he likes 'em enough to make 'em stick. Anyway, during this time, the time that the story takes place, was way before he fell in love with Angelus, he seriously did not even consider him a possibility until he was over 100 years old.

Edit: read more to not annoy other.

Anyway, during this time he was with another agent, an Ethiopian vampire named Mehari Ayalew (50 years old, youngling rank), who had multiple partners himself with Jelani being one of them. During this time there was a familiar affiliated with Oracle, white man named Samuel Thatcher (36 years old in 1765, human), who would spend a lot of his time in the compound and would help out as much as he could. He mostly gathered information and used some of his contacts for Oracle's benefit. Four years before the story takes place he'd joined as a familiar and had worked alongside a lot of agents including Jelani.

By this time Jelani had been made Aleksey's number two which meant he was doing a lot of things on Aleksey's behalf and had been tasked with more responsibilities which placed him and a lot people together a lot, and one of those people was Sam. You can definitely see where this is going. A year before the story takes place Sam was feeling some sort of way about Jelani and he did all he could to be near him, would find any excuse to talk to him, would volunteer to work with him--you get the point. Jelani was noticing he was hanging around him more but he legitimately did not think anything of it, Sam never said anything much less flirted with him.

But you know who did notice? Loke. And he was not happy about it.

Loke was fine with Mehari and Trevor (who had joined a few years prior and would occasionally fuck him and his brother). He liked Mehari and trusted Trevor but as soon as he noticed Sam hanging a little too much and a little too near Jelani he went full "extremely overprotective big brother" on Sam. Started small at first, scowling at him, bumping into him on purpose and being short with him.

Sam was actually a pretty decent person and was decent to everyone equally. But Loke's over-protectiveness stemmed for the area they were living in, the time (1700s) and a lot of things he witnessed. He outright did not trust anyone that looked like him with his brother and in more than one occasion he threatened Sam to stay away from Jelani or else he'd kill him. Sure, Sam was very nervous but he legitimately had no ill intentions with Jelani, in fact, as time went on he'd fallen head over heels in love with him and all Loke's hostility did was make him determined to tell Jelani. He did, he told him he was in love with him and maybe a little (read: a whole fucking lot, to an unhealthy degree) obsessed with him. Jelani was floored and completely flattered but he was honest with him and had to tell him that he didn't feel the same way. Sure, he liked him but not romantically.

To say Sam was crushed was an understatement. He tried to reconcile with his wife (Sam was bisexual), they'd separated two years prior and were working on getting divorced, out of some sort of weird attempt at a bounce back from the heartbreak he was feeling. His wife rejected him. Over the years he and his wife grew apart and drifted away and she ended up resenting him (she stayed with their two daughters and after the divorce she took their daughters and left to Ireland).

Sam almost quit Oracle to move to England but he stayed and when Jelani asked him to get some information for another contact he agreed and basically spent a few days with Jelani while getting that information. Sam apologized but Jela told him he had nothing to apologize for and in--I guess depending on how you look at it--a sort of bad move he started to make out with him. He desperately pulled him in while Jelani tried to pull away and push him off him and when he did Sam started apologizing telling him he only wanted a taste of what he'd been craving for so long. Yeah, Jelani was mad but his anger subsided rather quickly and gave in...until Sam started to touch him and try to undress him. Sam stopped when he was asked to stop, he was desperate but he didn't wanna hurt him.

After that Sam disappeared for a few days and during those days Jelani told Mehari (not Loke because he knew he'd hunt him down and kill him), he'd already told him that Sam confessed he was in love with him, obviously Mehari wasn't bothered by this. Mehari asked him if he felt the same way but Jela said he didn't know and Mehari told him he should explore that and see how he felt if he was unsure.

I wanna reiterate that no, Jelani was not in love with Sam but he was confused and a little unsure of what he wanted to do about it.

After a few days he got in contact with Sam to talk to him. Lotta crying and apologizing on Sam's part and Jelani still unsure of what to do. Long story short they ended up making out like a pair of hormonal teenagers and Jelani let Sam fuck him.

((Sam was strictly a top and during this time Jela was strictly bottoming. Yes, he's a switch but he has "seasons" where he'll strictly bottom.))

This turned into what's nowadays called a situationship. Yeah, Sam wanted him to himself but Jelani had made it very clear that he was okay with some sort of sexual relationship with him but he wasn't in love with him and he wasn't going to leave Mehari and sometimes he'd get together with Trevor. Sam agreed saying he'd take him anyway he could and even if Jelani never said it back he'd tell him that he loves him because if he didn't say it he felt he'd go crazy. Jelani was fine with that.

Loke was not happy at all and he expressed his disapproval of Sam and this was the first time Jelani told him to chill the fuck out. Lo agreed to back off but he was gonna keep an eye on him because regardless of the fact that Jelani was a grown man and capable of taking care of himself Loke was his older brother and said it was his job to protect him.

So from 1763 to 1772 Jelani and Sam had that odd situationship going. During those 9 years Jelani grew to care about him but he still wasn't in love with him. He didn't let Sam fuck him out of pity nor was he using him though he did admit on several occasions that the sex was some of the best he'd ever had, mostly because Sam wasn't just fucking him. This man was completely in love with him, he was never fucking, Sam was--uuuugh I hate this phrase with every fiber of my being but I can't think of a better way to get the point across--making love.

Yes, Loke eventually chilled out to the point where he and Sam could have a civil conversation. Eventually he realized that Sam meant no harm.

Sam would've stayed there with him until the day he died but after 9 years he got word that his father had fallen ill and he had to go see him. After a year he contacted Jelani and he went up North to see him. Sam said that before his father died he'd made arrangements. Long story short he and another family arranged a marriage of political origins (two "elite" families, Sam's and the woman he was set to marry) and since out of all of his sons Sam was the one that was divorced and single he'd picked him. Sam was sure his father was suspicious about him being with a man for some time but he could never prove it. Sam didn't want to but he felt he couldn't ignore his father's dying wish to keep his family comfortable (Sam's chosen wife was tied to political figures and Sam's family all came from old money). So that was the last time he'd get to see Jelani. They spent the week together and on the final day Sam pretty much fucked (I ain't saying that phrase again, you know what I mean when I say fucked in this case) him for the last time.

In those nine years not once did Sam ask Jelani to tell him that he loved him back but given the situation when Sam told him that he loved him Jelani said that he loved him too. Both understood the situation.

Jelani left and was emotionally raw and compromised for a while. Eventually he moved on though they did write to each other regularly until the letters stopped. Then a few months later he got a letter from Sam's oldest son telling him Sam had died and if you know Jelani you know exactly how he felt about that.

He couldn't attend the funeral for more than obvious reasons but Sam's son met with him after the funeral and personally handed him a letter Sam had written before he died. They spoke for a while and then Jelani left.

((I won't go into too much detail about this specific event because I kind of wanna write it.))

No, he was not okay after that, especially after he read that three page letter Sam wrote to him. He wasn't okay for a long while honestly speaking. Sam was the last human he ever got involved with. He's okay with flings with no strings attached, getting involved though? Absolutely not.

So yeah, Sam will make an appearance during that story and anything involved during that time period he was with Oracle.

[warrenkoles]

Table Manners S14 Ep 34: Rita Ora Transcript

Hi all, I have decided to transcribe the entire Rita Ora episode of Table Manners podcast. Well, my friend was sad because there wasn't a transcript and so she would have too difficult a time trying to follow/process everything without one, and I thought "hey, I type fast, I could do that!" (This was hubris, of course, especially considering that I am an American and not at all fluent in Londonese, clearly.)

I figured there would also be some interest in it from the Taika fans who are not the biggest Rita fans. The hosts do ask about him and thus she talks about him quite a bit!

Since I had to Google things for spelling a lot anyways I ended up linking to the brands and stuff mentioned because why not. I am just extra like that.

If there is anything incorrect please let me know so I can correct it. :)

Quick edit for cws: heavy discussion about food, and a few references to fasting that could be triggering for those with eating disorders.

Plucky music is in the background

Jessie: Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I’m here in mum’s kitchen, it’s, uh, pretty miserable and cold morning

Lennie: It’s not as bad as it has been darling

Jessie: No

Lennie: It’s not raining which is a miracle

Jessie: That’s true

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Um, we’re recording this and it’s half 10 and I have been in Dorset and I’ve had

Lennie: Your face is looking very rested, you don’t look tired

Jessie: Oh I thought you were going to say something else

Lennie: No, rested

Jessie: I had a good facial yesterday

Lennie: Okay, but you had good sleep probably

Jessie: Um, dunno about that

Lennie: I think

Jessie: How do you tell your in-laws – they don’t listen to this so it’s fine – how do you tell your darling in-laws who you love that you don’t want to sleep on a futon anymore? It is so painful

Lennie: Buy a mattress

Jessie: Do you think I could just buy a mattress? Because me and Sam get into that bed and we’re like

Lennie: I’ve got a spare mattress upstairs you can take

Jessie: It’s like torture. Okay fine. Um but I’ve eaten well in Dorset, um, shout out to the Anchor in Sea Town in Bridgeport. It was such a good lunch. I’ve been going there for years and then I saw that Thomasin Mars(?) had gone like maybe a couple of summers ago and the food is just unbelievable.

Jessie: That’s the place to be apparently

Lennie: Well that must be the reason that accommodation in Bridport is so expensive. Everyone’s going there for the food and putting the cost up. Jessie – 400 quid for two nights in July

Lennie: Crikey (inaudible)

Jessie: It’s the Notting Hill on sea, that’s what someone told me

Lennie: Okay

Jessie: Speaking of Notting Hill, our next guest

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Is from Ladbroke Grove

Lennie: Oh yeah

Jessie: She is a super star

Lennie: Yup

Jessie: She does everything

Lennie: Yup

Jessie: From fashion design to drinks to hair products to, most importantly, singing, and, um, we’ve got her on here

Lennie: She got her wellies ready

Jessie: I don’t know how long we’ve got with her because this girl works like a horse

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Is that what you say?

Lennie: A dog. Works like a dog, darling

Jessie: (laughs) Works like a dog

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Um, and, it’s Rita Ora. She’s coming on the podcast. She’s wanted to come on this for ages. I remember when we spoke to each other years ago and she was like “Can I come on? Can I bring my mum?” And I was like “yeah, sure”. I don’t think she’s bringing her gorgeous mum

Lennie: Is she- is she- is she bringing her gorgeous husband?

Jessie: Oh stop Mum, you need to hold it down when you meet her

Lennie: Okay, okay

Jessie: We’re recording this 2, 3 days before we’re both about to perform at Mighty Hoopla in Brockwell Park on Sunday, so, um

Lennie: Are you welly ready?

Jessie: *sighs* Lennie…I’m not wearing wellies

Lennie: I bloody well am, I’ve ordered mine from Asda-

Jessie: Oh what, cause you’re going to be going on-

Lennie: -leopard print-

Jessie: Shut up!

Lennie: Little short leopard print wellies

Jessie: Oh my god. Little short ones

Lennie: Yeah. Galoshes

Jessie: What are you wearing on top, Lennie?

Lennie: Black all in one with a white jacket

Jessie: Oo, will you get on stage with me?

Lennie: Maybe

Jessie: What’s on the menu?

Lennie: Well, it’s very early in the morning, so, we can fit in with her, and so it’s picky bits as you would call them

Jessie: Oh you know what? Shout out to Jane McDonald who has a Radio 2 show now-

Lennie: -Called picky bits

Jessie: -Called picky tea. (Lennie: Picky tea) She asks everybody what they like for their picky tea. It’s brilliant

Lennie: Okay, so I’ve got picky bits breakfast. I’ve done a chopped salad with those lovely little baby cucumbers (Jessie: Gorgeous) that taste so nice. I’ve got some feta (Jessie: Mhm), some prosciutto, (Jessie: Yeah) and I’ve done some avocado, cut up so I really cut things up today. That’s it but I’ve put them on nice plates and you’re doing jammy eggs.

Jessie: Yes. I am. But I have just done them and they have not peeled how I like them to peel. And I don’t know what it is-

Lennie: I think impatience.

Jessie: no, I- I think there’s a science because I don’t know whether they- they came straight from the fridge.

Lennie: Okay

Jessie: I did the popping of the membrane and all that shit so if you want to write to hello@tablemannerspodcast.com you can let me know.

Lennie: When you were away, I made dippy eggs for your children but because I got distracted they weren’t very dippy and your son-

Jessie: -lost his shit

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: (sighs) Joffrey….

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Rita Ora coming up on table manners….

Plucky music ends

Jessie: Rita Ora is already gassing and yacking with me-

Rita: HI!

Jessie: It’s so nice to see you!

Rita: Wait, do we need to wait for your mum or….

Jessie: Mum’s just gonna come (Lennie in the background saying something, indistinct) – yeah you’re right, you’re polite, you’re a good-

Lennie, from a distance: Jessie would just get on with it

Rita: Jessie’s just like “Oh it’s alright, she can join in halfway through”

Jessie: I’m aware – I’m aware that you have like a 14 hour day today-

Rita: Oh you’re so cute

Jessie: -which is kind of usual for you

Rita: I’m alright though to be honest, ‘cause I’m sort of used to it

Jessie: Did you sleep yesterday?

Rita: I couldn’t sleep.

Jessie: Oh babes!

Rita: You know when you’ve got so much going on you can’t actually like rest your head?

Jessie: And is it, is it because you’ve got the song coming out tomorrow?

Rita: Yeah! Yeah

Jessie: Which is very good (Rita: Aww) and we shall talk about it in a minute when Mum has joined us.

Rita: I think Mum’s mak-starting a, um, uh-

Lennie: Let me just get a coffee.

Rita: -a brasserie going on over there.

Jessie: We’re doing – yeah, she’s-

Rita: Want me to help you?

Lennie: No, nothing darling

Rita: Are you sure?

Lennie: Yeah

Rita: Because I’m pretty good at helping

Lennie: I’m sure you are!

Rita: Well I’d like to think I am (laughs)

Jessie: Is your bedroom tidy, Rita, at your mum’s house? If I can ask that.

Rita: It’s like an organized mess.

Jessie: Okay, got it.

Rita: You know, it’s like she doesn’t really go into our o- Oh you’ve got a cat!

Jessie: This is Prince

Rita: Prince! Hiiii! We have a Bengal.

Jessie: You’re mad.

Rita: I know, they’re mad. But he’s like 79. I don’t think he’s ever going to die. Poor, poor Bruno - his name’s Bruno.

Jessie: Bruno’s such a good name.

Rita: Hi Prince!

Jessie: Are you an animal person, Rita Ora?

Rita: Yeah, I love animals. It’s ‘cause I can’t have any but they calm me thee fuck down. They’re so calming. Don’t you think?

Jessie: Couldn’t you have like a companion dog that you wal- go on the aeroplanes with?

Rita: No…it’s too much work

Lennie: Oh yeah, what do they call them?

Jessie: Companion…an emotional support do-

Rita: Do you let your cat on the table?

Lennie: Don’t let him on the table, don’t let him on the chairs, she doesn’t talk to him anywhere.

Rita: You don’t talk to your cat?

Lennie: She’s talked to him, but he’s got too needy.

Rita: I mean, I don’t know, I’ve never grown up with animals really. So when I gave my cat to my parents because, obviously I’ve done a lot of sort of adopting and not being able to look after them because it’s just, our schedule as musicians, you know, you’re never in one place really, so…I give my pets away.

Lennie: Where do you live actually, Rita?

Rita: Half in New Zealand now, which is so-

Lennie: With the gorgeous Taika

Jessie: Yeahhhh

Rita: Aww Taika I wanted him to do this with me

Jessie: She knows-

Lennie: I am a huge fan

Rita: Are you??

Lennie: I saw him at-

Jessie: Yeah but she’s- it’s a little Kathy Bates, Misery, so just watch it

Lennie: Yeah, a little Kathy bates, sure

Rita: Well that’s nice!

Lennie: He did letters live

Rita: Oh yeah, he did do that

Lennie: And he was fantastic and made me laugh so much.

Jessie: You-

Lennie: I was very jealous when you married him.

Jessie or Rita: (laughs)

Lennie: I just want to put that out there because I think he’s so-

Jessie: (laughing) Because she thought she had a chance

Lennie: Interesting! No, I didn’t-

Jessie: Sorry!

Lennie: I didn’t think I had a chance, but I was jealous that you got him because-

Rita: Thank you

Lennie: He’s so wonderful

Jessie: Oh we’re really happy for her and thrilled

Lennie: I was happy, well I wasn’t that happy.

Rita: Do you know, you’re not the only person that’s said that?

Lennie: He’s fabulous.

Rita: Do you know what’s funny? A lot of people have called me and been like “I’m very jealous of you and your husband”

Lennie: Yeah!

Rita: Well, I think it’s just because, like, you see, it’s kind of what he’s like is what he’s like, like he really makes me laugh and he’s just so amazing.

Lennie: Do you just laugh all of the time?

Rita: All the time. It’s just really nice to be able to just be with someone that you know makes you feel like it’s not a job and it feels sort of like an existence? Rather then, uh, not that all my past relationships felt like jobs but it just felt like I was responsible to do things in the relationship. It was almost like “do you wanna go and have like dinner?” just like making an effort that you – I feel like relationships, you just don’t have to think really about them. They should just happen and this one just really happens. It’s really nice, it’s just natural. It’s great.

Lennie: Is he coming to Mighty Hoopla?

Rita: Yes!

Lennie: Yessss-

Jessie: Oh god keep him away-

Rita: Are you coming? Okay!

Jessie: Keep him away – Mum, mum – No – Rita -

Lennie: I’ve got – I’ve got leopard print welly boots for that.

Rita: What, for Taika or for the-

(Laughter)

Lennie: Not Taika!

Jessie: For the gays or Taika? I don’t know.

Rita: I’ll have to give him, uh-

Lennie: For the mud!

Rita: I’ll give him an update (Jessie: A warning) and I’ll let him know that you’re around… He’s gonna love it. Are you kidding? He loves attention. (laughs) He’s a Leo.

Jessie: Back to you-

Rita: Yes.

Jessie: So, growing up (Rita: Yeah) who was around the dinner table and what were you eating?

Rita: Oh, everything. I mean, first of all, our delicacy in Albania and how we sort of like function is very heavy. It’s like pastries and cheeses and um… It’s definitely more kind of like pies and sour-y, less sweet stuff, um… So there was always food on the table even just snacks whether it was like bowls of nuts or, just something is always there to just be eaten which is amazing

Lennie: So wait, you were born in Kosovo-

Rita: I was born in Kosovo and I moved to London in 1990 and we lived in West London our whole lives. I – I think before we found our real family home which was West London like Ladbroke Grove we kind of stayed around Ellschool area and then we found a really amazing house in Ladbroke Grove and that’s sort of where I grew up in West London, yeah.

Jessie: Were there a lot of Kosovans that you were friends with there? Or was it that you kind of moved over with your family and you didn’t know- you were starting again?

Rita: I love – first of all, before I answer this question, I love this show so much.

Lennie: Do you? Why?

Rita: I always – and I think I told you this –

Jessie: You’ve been asking to do it for a while.

Rita: I have.

Jessie: And we’ve wanted you!

Rita: And I was like, can I really just hang out with you and your mum because I just love the idea of chatting around people and eating and relaxing and me and my mum are like exactly the same.

Lennie: Do you argue with your mum?

Rita: Yeah, but just like light arguing.

Lennie: But you love each other.

Rita: It’s never like borderline (Lennie: No) abusive or aggressive or-

Jessie: Its passionate, you get it out, and then it’s done.

Lennie: And then you eat.

Rita: And then you act like nothing’s happened, yeah, and then you eat and it’s like “Dinner’s ready!” and you’re like, okay, and it just kind of-

Lennie: Are you a loud family? We’re pretty loud, aren’t we?

Jessie: Yes. We’re loud.

Lennie: When Jessie brought her husband into the family, he thought we were arguing all the time. And your daughter thinks we argue, just when we’re debating.

Rita: Really?

Jessie: Yeah, she puts her hands over her ears, when it’s just, we’re talking loudly.

Rita: Awww. It’s heated, it’s a heated debate.

Jessie: Yeah. We’re the same.

Rita: We’re just passionate people, I think, from the Balkans, Eastern Europeans we just, I think, communicate differently. We’re just very sort of like, direct.

Jessie: So what was a memorable dish that your mum or your dad made?

Rita: Well we had pite (https://www.myalbanianfood.com/recipe/albanian-spinach-pie-spinaq-pite/) which is basically like a spinach pie, it’s like seven – I actually wanted to bring some, but my mum had it for breakfast, and it was the one piece left and I was like “I can’t believe you – I told you I was doing this and I wanted to bring some food and-“ anyway. But-  

Lennie: It’s a bit like spanakopita.

Rita: It’s a bit like baklava but like-

Lennie: But with spinach in.

Rita: With spinach, and like cheese, and goat’s cheese, so it’s like a spinach pie. It’s just my favorite dish.

Jessie: Is that – Didn’t you make a dish on Louis Theroux (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fr4r), were you making something-?

Rita: That’s what it was!

Jessie: It was that!

Rita: Yeah!

Jessie: Yes!

Rita: That’s a famous sort of dish, I personally love like stuffed peppers with minced meat and rice, and that’s a big one for our family, you just stuff the peppers with a lot of mince meat and if you don’t want rice –

Jessie: And what’s the seasoning?

Rita: Everything I see in the drawer, I put on the, spices, like everything, everything, every pepper, every – I mean, I can’t tell you, I don’t really have rules, I feel like for me, the more the merrier.

Jessie: Yeah, I feel like, Rita, you’ve never had rules, to be fair, so-

Rita: (cutely) I know

Jessie: So it kind of works like that in the kitchen too.

Rita: I think for me I just like, you know. Flavor’s flavor. I like a lot of flavor.

Lennie: You sounded New Zealand then.

Jessie: (mock NZ accent) “flavah’s flavah”

Rita: Oh no…

Jessie: How is that? Are you, kind of, because I hear-

Rita: A lot of people are telling me that!

Jessie: No but I think, it apparently means that you’re an empathetic person.

Rita: You’ve gotta stop me, because I really don’t want to have- I mean, I love them to death but I like my accent.

Jessie: No! But I can imagine, you- you’re married to- you know, you hear that, and – no, it was only a little tinge of it.

Rita: I know, well thank you.

Jessie: A little flavah of it.

Rita: Every time I do it, please catch me out

Jessie: “please catch me out”

Rita: Oh my god! Really, is it bad? Oh no! Okay.

Jessie: But I don’t-

Lennie: Naur!

Rita: No!

(Laughter)

Jessie: I love it, I think that-

Rita: I’m just around them all the time now, like it’s half of my family, and his kids go to school in New Zealand and so, yeah. We’re always there a lot.

Lennie: Where do you live, is it Auckland?

Rita: Auckland, we have a place literally on the water, it’s really nice.

(dreamy sigh, I think from Jessie)

Lennie: Yeah

Rita: Auckland is beautiful, I feel like New Zealand is, obviously, so far (Lennie: It is, Jessie says something indistinct) but if you make an effort to get there-

Lennie: It’s gorgeous.

Jessie: It’s stunning.

Rita: It’s a game changer.

Lennie: Have you been Jess?

Jessie: I’ve been over ten years ago when I did a festival called Laneway (https://www.lanewayfestival.com/) (Rita: Yeah) and I was there for a very short time but I adored it. (Rita: Isn’t it?) I adored the people and I mean, I like Australia too and I like that side of the- (Rita: Mmhmm) I like it.

Rita: I love it.

Lennie: You’re very popular there.

Rita: Yeah, I mean, I’ve done The Voice there obviously for a few years so I’ve been there like a big, big chunk out of my year. I haven’t done it now- I mean, I didn’t do it last year, but it’s, it’s, it’s like a home away from home for me, I really like Australia and obviously that’s where I met my husband and a lot of things just-

Lennie: You met him there?

Rita: Yes

Lennie: Where?

Rita: It was in Sydney. I was doing The Voice and he was filming Thor, uh, Ragnarok and it just, yeah, it’s just where we kind of clicked.

Jessie: Did you get set up?

Rita: I wouldn’t say set up, but we definitely met through a friend, innocently. Like, he was doing a barbecue, my husband loves to just cook, he loves to make – he’s a meaty person, so he just puts all the meat and it’s just meats and salads and things like that, he’s incredible at steak and things, and so he had a barbecue. And a friend of ours, uh, kind of, we had a mutual, was like “Hey my friend’s having a barbecue do you want to come with me?” and I was like “okay, if he’s okay with it, it’s at his house, personal house, blah blah blah” We get there and that’s where we met. And we became friends, and-

Lennie: Did you fancy him straight away?

Rita: No…Well I fancied him, but I just didn’t think it was a thing where he fancied me because I thought I was just too crazy for him, too much for him – I don’t know, the film world, I think, is just different to the music world of – pop stars and musicians, I think, are just more wild and I thought…but then I got to know him and he’s just more wild than anyone I’ve ever met. (laughs)

Jessie: I need to know…does he have a gas barbecue or does he do, you know, charcoal?

Rita: Charcoal. Always. He loves the real smokey feeling and the flavor and the smell – he prefers charcoal but if there’s gas he’ll make it work.

Jessie: Because I thought, down under, everyone had a gas one because they were barbecuing all the time and therefore they were like, well, we’ll just do, but- no, you do the whole effort thing.

Rita: But if you go down down under, when you go even further-

Jessie: Oh you go down down under, okay

Rita: -to New Zealand, I think there’s a real difference. Their cultures are actually really different. So you know the Maori culture, which is where Taika’s from, they actually make like an oven like in the ground. Um, I don’t want to explain it wrong, but it’s very much like natural, you know, you put the fire, the coal and everything and you actually – It’s called a – I think it’s called a boil up. (Jessie: Okay…) It’s- it’s delicious. I mean, the first time I had it, but I mean, you throw meat in there, vegetables in there. It’s actually just like a huge stew, I think is kind of how you explain it? But it’s just – smokey, everything’s smokey, the vegetables, the meat, everything, and you leave it under the ground for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and now it’s delicious.

Jessie: It sounds it, it sounds amazing

Lennie: He’s also a little bit Jewish, isn’t he?

Rita: A little bit (laughs) He is.

Jessie: Oh my god, no, see this is what I’m talking about, Kathy Bates

Lennie: He is

Rita: Yes he is

Lennie: Is it his father or his mother?

Jessie: I love Kathy

(Laughter)

Rita: It’s his mother.

Lennie: His mum’s jewish?

Rita: Yes

Jessie: Oh so he’s- (adopts a stereotypical American Jewish woman accent) He’s a Jew!

Lennie: (also trying to do the accent) He’s a proper Jew!

Rita: Oh you do like him! (Lennie: Yes, I do) Yes, yes, he’s half Jewish and half Maori.

Jessie: Enough about fucking Taika, mum, it’s –

Lennie: Okay, sorry-

Rita: Awwww

Lennie: I was wondering if he cooked Jewish food for her!

Rita: No, but, um, I do understand that being from a mixed culture, it’s interesting, because when I moved here from Kosovo, you know, coming into the UK it was just amazing because it’s such a mixing pot, so on Portobello Market which is kind of where I hung out all the time, the stores are just all over the world, you’ve got German, you’ve got Chinese, I mean it’s amazing, just kind of having-

Lennie: Did the Germans stool there? Sorry, do you know what I’m talking about?

Jessie: The German stool is so good, the bratwurst! Yes!

Lennie: I know, the bratwurst, oh yeah.

Jessie: On a Saturday, so good!

Rita: The sausages are to die for, aren’t they?

Jessie: So good!

Rita: I know!

Lennie: But there’s that, that place further up-

Rita: Speaking of food, are we gonna eat because now I’m starving!

Lennie: Yeah

Rita: Okay

Jessie: Yes! Yes, fabulous. Now we’ve got, kind of, we kind of got a few instructions that, quite healthy-

Rita: Oh good. Oh my gosh

Jessie: high protein-

Rita: Just to let you all know, I’m not like the crazy stricty person, but I do like a bit of a healthy-

Jessie: I appreciate that

Rita: Awwwww

Jessie: We’ve got, we’ve got gravlax-

Rita: You guys!

Jessie: We have some prosciutto- oh what is it, is it prosciutto, I don’t know (Lennie: ham and prosciutto) we’ve got some jammy eggs, we’re actually a real (Rita: Yummmmm) market appeal, basically (Rita: Awwwwwww) and then some salad

Rita: So who makes the food? Because I’ve always wanted to ask.

Lennie: Well if we want to be something more exotic (Jessie: Yeah) I probably would but it’s breakfast time so…

Rita: Oh my goodness, can I, this is- I also wanted to see how real this all was, and it really is!

Lennie: Yeah it’s real, yeah it’s real

Rita: You guys really just do the thing.

Jessie: -bits and bobs so it’s very much up to you

Rita: Thank you!

Lennie: - what you take- so you’ve got bits and bobs but I think it will give you sustenance.

Rita: This is a bit like an Albanian breakfast!

Jessie: Is it? Picky? Picky bits?

Rita: yeah! But do you know what my mum would add to this dish?

Lennie: What?

Rita: “Prženice” (https://thebalkanhostess.com/przenice/) which is basically like French toast. (Lennie: Oooo) but it’s, but it’s not like with the sweetness of it, it’s just the eggyness of it.

Jessie: I love an eggy bread.

Rita: I know, there’s nothing like it, is there?

Jessie: Have you ever tried cook- doing an eggy bread with challah bread? You know, the kind of knotted Jewish bread.

Rita: Oh yeah

Jessie: It’s very nice.

Rita: and then we have this thing called “ajvar” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajvar) which is like almost like a spiced spread-

Jessie: Oh, that’s so nice

Rita: It’s like a red spice, yeah. It’s delicious. It’s just this is what we would actually just do for breakfast.

Jessie: Well just help yourself, salt and pepper, help yourself, take what you want

Rita: How excit- (overexaggerating NZ accent) How exciting! How exciting, mate!

(laughter)

Jessie: Um so okay. We’re going to talk about the single.

Rita: Oh yay!

Jessie: I got – we got to listen to it last night-

Rita: Did you?

Lennie: It’s gorgeous!

Jessie: It’s really gorgeous

Rita: Aww thank you!

Jessie: It’s very … I mean like we all know that you got married and you’re very happy and in love, but I really feel like that song celebrates- I mean yeah, I presume it’s about your husband.

Rita, slightly muffled: yeah!

(Laughter)

Jessie: Or this….you like….

Rita: You know…(laugh) I did my last album really inspired by my relationship and with this record, I want to get out of the idea of always being inspired by it (Jessie: Yup) because it’s a bit annoying, you know (Jessie: Yup!) I wanted to try and find a bit of inspiration that sometimes isn’t that deep.

Jessie: Babe, I hear ya. And I can relate for everybody, not just maybe (Rita: yeah) your situation.

Rita: And I think obviously for me as a music fan I like it being like “well this came from this moment where I did this and I did that” but sometimes…

(Dishes rattling in the background, background mumbling that’s indistinct)

Jessie: Yes please (Rita: what oil?) and some lemon actually, I’m going to get some lemon

Rita: Oh yes, come on, let’s- can I take some of this salad?

Jessie: Babe, help yourself

Rita: Uh, YUM!

Jessie: Um, is there - Is there lemon around?

Lennie: Yeah, in the fridge.

Rita: Guys, can I just say that the fasting thing is hell on earth.

Jessie: Well how long have you been doing that?

Rita: It’s really hard and anyone’s that like “oh it’s so easy” I just think that you never get over the feeling of hunger (laughs)

Jessie: Can I just say: suck it up, Rita, suck it up!

Rita: I am, I mean it’s been pretty good, like, for sleep though

Jessie: Has it? Are you a bad sleeper?

Rita: Mmm.

Jessie: But babe, I think that’s prob-tentially because you’re-like-what body-what time zone are you in now?

Rita: I have so much to do… (sighs) I feel like I have so much to do but it’s the same with you, and you’re a mum (Jessie: No, no) and I’m not even a mum!

Jessie: Babe, you- I, I think that I work too hard and then I see your bloody Instagram and I think “Jesus Christ” (Rita: yeah) “that girl doesn’t stop”

Rita: But you know what’s crazy-

Jessie: And respect, that’s how you are, you’ve always been like this, (Rita: Oh yeah, thank you) you’ve always been a grafter.

Rita: I have, yeah. I mean I was just having that conversation the other day. I just don’t know if I- how to do it any other way, to be honest.

Jessie: So the single’s coming out-

Rita: So the single, it’s called Ask and You Shall Ritaeceive (Jessie: yes), which, honestly? It’s not –

Jessie: Oo, you’ve gone born again, babe.

Rita: Yes. I literally wanted to feel like it’s not that deep. I wanted a really happy, fun summer anthem that everyone, if you think about my music over this sort of decade, it’s always been for me about uplifting (Jessie: yeah) people and having that ability (Jessie: mhmm) to just like feel good (Jessie: yeah) and I think anyone that’s been to my shows knows that, you know, you’re there to have a party, really, and, um, I-I love doing that. I love making people feel good, making people dance and Ask and You Shall Receive felt like the right thing at the right time. It was, you know, written by RAYE who I love dearly and that whole story of her’s and everything that she’s kind of, like, done is so inspiring and it feels so, so relevant for us now in the music industry to be able to just like prove that, you know, you can do things in such different formats nowadays. And, um, it just is like a 360 because I, I, you know, she supported me on tour, you know, I used to always ask her to come and pop out on my shows actually, like for Radio 1 Big Weekend and things, and you know she was kind of still trying to be an artist at that point. (Jessie: yeah) And I was like “you need to come out on stage with me” and she just was really kind of like grateful and there and happy. And so it was like a 360 moment. And so all of those little things really, really connected to me. And…yeah, it just happened and it came and it felt great. It feels really, really happy and-and-and organic and the visuals I think I’m-I’m feeding you guys a bit more of kind of darkness, a bit more not so perfect because it’s kind of leading into the new world and the new era. (music begins to play and swell as she speaks)

Ad break

Jessie: How is it, going into that entrepreneurial world? I mean obviously you’ve got Prospero tequila – is it Prospero? (Lennie in background: yeah) (https://www.prosperotequila.com/)

Rita: I thought it was a bit early to bring that-

Jessie: Babes-

Lennie: Not for- never too fucking early for Jessie  

(laughter)

Jessie: Excuse me? Not for Jessie?

Lennie: Do I drink tequila? No.

Jessie: You would-

Rita: Do you drink-

Lennie: No.

Jessie: -if it was here

Rita: -alcohol?

Jessie: Does she- fuck (?) – is

Lennie: Only wine (Jessie: yeah) – only wine

Rita: Oh that’s- If I remember from watching you do love a good glass of wine.

Jessie: Yes!

Lennie: Gorgeous, yes.

(laughter)

Jessie: So you know you’ve been doing business for a while. You did tequila (Rita: yeah), you are, you’re doing hair. Are you going to expand it into more beauty because it would make sense that you would do an eyebrow serum, (Rita: I think) an eyelash serum and then it goes into cosmetics.

Rita: I’ve had offers.

Jessie: And?

Rita: Like Ora Beauty [T/N: too many to tell which one] which kinda makes sense because Ora and everything, and. It’s just, I think, for me about the right time, you know, the right partners, the right product, I don’t want to rush anything, um. I’m just still in such a great headspace of putting out music and keeping that as the focus right now.

Jessie: Yes

Rita: I think that’s just, like, my priority. I did a lot of TV last year and I wanted to really just come back to where it all started and hone in my roots and put out some songs for the summer.

Lennie: Are you going to do The Voice here again?

Rita: No. No-no-no.

Lennie: No?

Jessie: But you do The Masked Singer

Rita: Um, I have done it now (Lennie: oh..), what, for a few years

Jessie: Right

Rita: Yeah, I think it feels like something I can’t stay away from. I just love Davina, Jonathan… you know we’re family now. You know-

Jessie: Yeah, it looks like you have so much fun.

Rita: I love Moe. I do it in the States now, though, the only problem is it’s filmed the same time.

Lennie: Oh…

Jessie: Babe!

Lennie: So you’re back and forth?

Rita: So it’s like LA, London for a day, and then I’m back to LA

Jessie: Do you have-

Lennie: How do you manage that?

Jessie: This is the thing!

Rita: It’s hell (Lennie: Do you-), but I manage it, it’s just mindset.

Lennie: Do you like aeroplane food?

Rita: I love aeroplane food.

Lennie: Me too. I love it.

Rita: I make a whole thing out of it.

Lennie: I love it.

Rita: Really? You don’t. [T/N: I think referencing Jessie?]

Lennie: I absolutely love aeroplane food.

Jessie: I’ll- I’ll eat it. So I like – I enjoy it.

Rita: I mean I take everything like you know ther- like when “Would you like a glass of champagne?” like as soon as you get there and I hate champagne, I’m like “yeah!” “Would you like nuts?” “Yeah!” And I- and the plane takes off and I’m like (whispers) “can I get some wine and some crisps” (regular voice) and then they’re like okay I’m ready to order okay cool I’ll do the starter, the middle, I mean I make it a whole thing. I love it.

Jessie: Is- (laughs) Wha- I mean, you must fly on every, every different thing. What’s the best- (Lennie: Air New Zealand!) What’s the best catering?

Rita: Airline wise?

Jessie: Yeah

Rita: I mean, I’m honestly not just saying this but Air New Zealand have really good food.

Jessie: I’ve heard they’re good.

Lennie: The wine is fabulous.

Rita: Isn’t it? Well I mean New Zealand wine is great. I went to the best winery in New Zealand actually, you guys need to come-

Jessie: What’s it called?

Rita: Oh I can’t remember but-

Jessie: Oh that’s unhelpful Rita!

Rita: I know, I know but I’ll send- I’ll text you it. It’s so yummy. (Jessie: Well, I, I keep on-) That was wasted.

Jessie: But I keep seeing you hanging out in hobbits houses.

Rita: I mean, because I’m a tourist. I can’t go to a place and not go to the, like, famous touristy places

Jessie: Are you a big Lord of the Rings fan?

Rita: Now I am!

(laughter)

Jessie: I can see! You keep on frequenting the hobbit hole!

Rita: No-no-no, I mean I obviously know about the franchise but I wanted to go and see- I wanted to go see it. Everything in New Zealand is so small because like there’s not that many of them, it’s a very small population and so it’s- Taika’s friends actually helped build the set and so, his name’s Ron, and he was like “Can you go and see it?” It took 2 years for 12 days of filming. Isn’t that insane?

Jessie: Wow!

Lennie: Well shit!

Rita: Come on

Lennie: But I can imagine that.

Rita: 2 years for 12 days!

Lennie: Yeah, but that’s important, isn’t it?

Jessie: But it’s now lived on and now it’s kind of (Rita: There you go) there you go. Um, last supper (Rita, whispering: ah yeah). Starter, main, pud, drink choice.

Rita: You know, for me, I’m a big picker, so like this is my ideal breakfast-

Jessie: Okay great.

Rita: So I would say for starters it would be like salads, bit of cold things like meats and cheeses, um, vegetables, cold not really cooked vegetables I like things feeling a bit raw. (Jessie: okay) Like I don’t know why I just, maybe that’s just how I grew up. Um, so that would be like my starter. (Jessie: yup) And then my dinner would honestly like because I just love food so much it’d probably be just like a really good, great, juicy burger. Like (Lennie: burger!) an amazing burger, like really well cooked juicy meat with like cheese and pickles and like a brioche bread. Like a brioche-

Jessie: Okay, where- where are you getting this burger? Like where is the best burger you’ve ever eaten?

Lennie: Does Taika cook them?

Rita: He makes good burgers. You know, I’ve been on a burger hunt for a really long time.

Jessie: Can I like offer one up to you?

Rita: Go on, yeah

Jessie: In Australia.

Rita: Really?

Jessie: In Sydney. (Rita: Oh!) No, Melbourne! Sorry, Melbourne (Rita: Okay…) Gimlet. (https://gimlet.melbourne/)

Rita: Okay…

Jessie: In like the center bit of- (stuttering) Melbournians, whatever you’re called (laughter) I’m apologizing now. But they do a late night burger, it’s on the menu, it’s a vibe. They do really good dirty martinis (Rita: ooo!) but the burger was sensational. So next time you’re filming, I don’t know whether you- where you film - where do you film the Mask- (Rita: In Sydney) Okay that’s unhelpful then, I’m sorry.

Rita: But you know what’s-

Jessie: Melbourne. If you’re there.

Rita: But you know what’s really good too and easy? A Shake Shack. (https://shakeshack.com) They’re really good.

Lennie: Shake Shack?

Jessie: I’ve never had one.

Rita: You know what, they’re really easy, great, good-

Lennie: Are they in London?

Jessie: Yeah, they are now.

Rita: The ones in America I think of but I’ve never had a London Shake Shack but a good Shake Shack is-is-is good.

Lennie: Where do you stand on In-N-Out? (https://www.in-n-out.com/)

Rita: I mean I love In-N-Out, I do think it’s a bit over- over played. (Jessie: Yeah) But I dunno if that’s just because like we’re English (Lennie in the background indistinguishable) but I feel like-yeah…

Jessie: What did you eat after the Met?

Rita: I mean, what didn’t I eat? It was everything in sight. Pizza, fries, burgers, um, if I had a choice in life I would just eat like burgers for the rest of my life.

Lennie: With chips?

Rita: With chips. (Lennie: yeah) Um, I’ve definitely introduced blue cheese into the burger world which I never used to do before.

Lennie: Oh yeah, I think blue cheese is gorgeous.

Rita: I think it’s nice in the burger. (Jessie: Very nice) I never used to, um, and a good sweet potato fry. Rather than a fry.

Jessie & Lennie at same time: Oh, really?

Rita: Is that disappointing?

Jessie: I don’t know! (Rita: laughing) It’s just – they promise so much and then they don’t deliver.

Lennie: You can’t - The thing is – you can’t keep them crisp.

Jessie: They don’t deliver.

Rita: I agree a little bit!

Lennie: You have to do it in the right flour.

Jessie: you think you’re doing the right thing by choosing the sweet potato fry but you may as well just have… (Rita: the fry) …the fry

Lennie: I like the courgette fries that they have in (Jessie/Rita: mmmmm)- yeah, the courgette fries they have in Whats it Burger, oh is it Honest Burger? (https://www.honestburgers.co.uk/)

Jessie: Oh, do they?

Lennie: yeah

Rita: Oh Honest is good burgers!

Jessie: Yeah, Honest is good.

Lennie: Yeah, they have courgette fries-

Rita: You know what also is good? The Electric has good burgers on Portobello (https://www.electricdiner.com/)

Lennie: (indistinct)

Jessie: Oh I wanted- I wanted to know, you used to work at Size (https://www.size.co.uk/), didn’t you?

Rita: I did, yeah.

Jessie: I can so imagine you- (Rita: Can you?) -being a cool (Rita: Walking around) -trainer girl!

Rita: (laughs) I still am, I was at-

Jessie: Hot, cool trainer girl!

Rita: I was actually talking about it yesterday, I’ve got my, um-

Lennie: Those are lovely!

Rita: These are my Rita for Primark clogs. (https://www.primark.com/en-us/r/rita-ora/view-all)

Lennie: Aren’t they nice?

Jessie: Are you doing another collaboration with them?

Rita: Oh yeah, I’m in bed with them. (Jessie: laughs) They’re my best friends. I mean honestly-

Jessie: They look very comfy.

Rita: I have to just give a quick shout out to Primark because I have to tell you something not even like because I work with them. They were such a massive staple for me growing up- That’s my- That’s my bag!

Lennie: Is this your bag?

Rita: I designed that bag!

Jessie: Oh my god, stop!

Lennie: I absolutely love it

Rita: Can I just hold it?

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Oh my-

Rita: So this was inspired-

Jessie: This was not rehearsed, guys.

Rita: No! (Jessie: This is bonkers) Did you not know (Lennie: No) this was Rita Ora Primark? See, this is why I love it because people-

Jessie: Well shouldn’t you be making it a bit more known that it’s your bloody bag, Rita?

Rita: Wait, where’s my logo? Oh that’s what it was, I didn’t want to put my logo on-

Lennie: There’s no logo on it.

Rita: Well no, it’s on the label. (Lennie: okay) It’s not on the- (Jessie: Why didn’t-) Because I didn’t- I wanted the product to really, like, be its thing, I didn’t want people to just buy it ‘cause it’s Rita Ora, I wanted people to actually like the design of it, which you did! (Lennie: I love it) This was, um, just inspired for easy living (Lennie: yeah) That’s everything I do now because, I don’t know if it’s ‘cause I turned 30 but I just do things to be easy in life now, like easy living. That’s so funny that you didn’t know that.

Jessie: That is really funny.

Rita: Anyway this is Primark too (Lennie: my favorite thing)  

Jessie: That’s great, it looks-

Rita: So yeah, shoutout to them.

Lennie: Is that Primark?

Rita: Yeah! And this!

Lennie: Oh my goodness.

Jessie: Babe you’re a full Primarnie girl today

Rita: Yeah because, can I tell you, like, it’s a staple point. Like I grew up really going to them for school, uniform, underwear, when my mum had breast cancer they had a really great breast cancer kind of collection for- for women that have had surgery and it was just always a big thing in my life and something that I always depended on. It was like a trusting friend, you know. Anyway and when I got into business with them everybody was like “Oh! Makes sense!” Cause I just wanted to just do things that I felt like I wanted to see when I was kinda going shopping there. Like high fashion stuff but you couldn’t afford it and it’s just been doing really well because I think people see the authentic story behind it and it’s the truth and that was kind of why I love meshing and blending with them. It felt like going home, I guess.

Jessie: How many bags are you traveling with at the moment, Rita? I don’t even want to know what your luggage amount is when you fly.

Rita: I actually have to like pre-call the airline to just like buy extra luggage

Jessie: Oh my gosh you’re like JLo

Rita: Is that what she does?

Jessie: I think, more- I don’t know if she calls but-

Lennie: Victoria Beckham has about- has a full trolley, doesn’t she-

Jessie: Well, that’s gonna be Rita.

Lennie: -like 20 cases

Rita: Well, what I’ve been trying to do is like leave things at friends’ houses so I don’t have to travel with a lot of things.

Jessie: Oh my god you’re that person. You’re that gal and they’re like “Fucking Rita’s left another bag!”

Rita: (laughing) I’m that person! I’ve left a suitcase at like 3 of my friends’ houses, like “this is actually taking up too much space, you need to come and get it.”

Lennie: Have you got your own house here still?

Rita: Yeah, I have my own house here (Lennie: yeah), yeah yeah yeah. But, right, I’m staying at my mum’s because it’s under, it’s under renovation at the moment.

Lennie: Yeah, it’s always staying with your mum

Rita: And, it’s really cute. And my husband’s coming for the weekend, so it’s going to be like my parents and my husband all in the same house.

Jessie: Have you got a big enough bed for you, or have you got a single bed in there, is it like kind of like-

Rita: It’s like a small double bed (Jessie: Oh bless, I know), and I-I-I don’t, I’ve never done that before, actually, had my husband there with my parents. Have you done that?

Jessie: Yeah, I mean, I’ve been with Sam since I was 18 (Rita: yeah) so just my mum though but like, yeah.

Rita: But when the first time you kinda like had that sleepover, and the parents were in the house like, what?

Jessie: Are we talking about sex here, Rita, or-?

Rita: Well I’m- Well I’m- (laughing)

Lennie: Well him staying the night!

Rita: Wait- I don’t- (laughing)

Jessie: Well what are we talking about-

Lennie: Hence, Rita – I can’t remember- (indistinct)

(laughter)

Rita: I’m talking about what is allowed, you know, like I don’t know

Lennie: You’re a married woman!

Rita: I know but still! It’s the thing of, like, what- (Lennie: Jesus)

Jessie: Why don’t you just book a hotel room? For the night?

Rita: Do you think?

Jessie: I don’t know! If you want to have sex with your husband, just book a hotel room.

Lennie: Jessica!

Jessie: This is what we’re discussing! The important shit!

Rita: No but what I’m saying-

Lennie: But you were talking about the first time you brought Sam and he stayed here-

Jessie: Yeah I’m sure you were very, (Rita: Did you guys-) you were chill about it

Rita: But did you guys, like, have dinner and then it was like “okay goodnight!”

Jessie: Babe, you’re acting like you’re an Amish gal (laughs)

Lennie: Jessie, Sam virtually lived here

Jessie: yeah

Rita: Aww that’s nice

Jessie: But you- I think it’s going to go okay, Rita!

Rita: I hope so! I guess I’ve just never – I’ve never been a married woman like living in the house you know, having my partner stay in the house with my parents – it just feels-

Jessie: It isn’t like he’s a bit of a rando, like, yeah exactly

Rita: Oh that would never have been allowed, no-no-no, but I do believe in the idea of like still, feel-, I dunno, I guess just as kids you’re never really like, it always is weird, I guess. Or maybe just for me.

Jessie: Making each other a nighttime tea at the end of the night.

Rita: I’m like (whispers) “Hey well we’re just gonna go to bed then, night then.”

Lennie: Well, what’s it like being the stepmother?

Rita: Ohhhhh I love it.

Lennie: You do?

Rita: Yeaaaahhhhhh. It just feels really cool because it’s like I’m, I’m just the fairy godmother that doesn’t actually really have any responsibilities. (laughs)

Lennie: And you- yeah. Well it’s same as being a grandmother. (Rita: Is it? It feels-) To be honest. You just give chocolate, you give whatever they want-

Rita: I break all the rules

Lennie: Yeah, break all the rules

Rita: And buy them anything they want

Lennie: Yeah, of course

Rita: It’s the best.

Lennie: Absolutely

Jessie: We haven’t- we haven’t got your dessert (Rita: oh, sorry) Or your drink.

Rita: Oh yeah! Well. Negronis.

Jessie & Lennie: Oooooo

Jessie: Nice

Rita: I love negronis. Um, I have-

Jessie: Have you tried a negroni with tequila in? Mezcal? And apparently it’s really delicious.

Rita: That’s how I make it, because I drink tequila so I do a tequila negroni. It’s really yummy.

Lennie: Hold on, tell me how you make that.

Rita: Okay, well. I don’t really make them. (Jessie: laughs) I just order them. But if I was to make one, I have done them over Christmas but they’re not exactly perfect but-

Lennie: So the ingredients.

Rita: It’s just kind of for me I just do like a bit of Aperol tequila and tiny bit of vermouth and (Jessie: Campari) Campari (https://www.liquor.com/recipes/mezcal-negroni/)  

Jessie: And it’s delish.

Rita: yeah. It’s very strong.

Lennie: That must be quite bitter.

Jessie: It is, but it’s strong, but I like it.

Lennie: And what do you put in, do you put orange in or-

Rita: Yeah I mean I guess the Campari has a bit of that, doesn’t it

Lennie: And is there any water added, like fizzy water or-

Rita: No but I do add a bit of water, like, the ice-

Lennie: Wine- for me

Rita: -because it’s a bit strong.

Jessie: Wine?

Lennie: no, I-I-(indistinct)

(Laughter)

Rita: Wine? Wine anyone?

Lennie: No, because I went to this thing last weekend and they made a cocktail with elderflower, vodka and white wine.

Jessie: Nice

Rita: Like a spritz

Lennie: And it was all mixed up. Yeah! It was really delicious.

Rita: You know I went to a flea market the other day and they were making like day drinks and they were putting rose water with like CBD and like mushrooms-

Lennie: you’re kidding [T/N: I think]

Jessie: You must’ve been in Los Angeles.

Rita: Yeah

Jessie: Yeah. No doubt.

Rita: And like mushroom adapt- adaptiens?

Jessie: Was it nice?

Rita: Is that what they call them?

Lennie: Did you have one?

Rita: Um, adaptogens, adaptigens?

Jessie: Yeah I don’t know but-

Rita: Mushroom adaptogens and I had one and it was like, great, like alcohol but still feeling like I was being healthy.

Lennie: How’d you feel after?

Rita: Great, I mean it wasn’t like psychedelic mushrooms (Lennie: Okay). It was like, uhhh, you know like, uh, Ashwangda and turkeys tail, it’s all these like herbs that are supposed to like help your brain. Lion’s mane, have you ever heard of all of this? (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/22361-adaptogens)

Jessie: Yes, that’s a mushroom isn’t it?

Rita: Yes, so that’s-

Jessie: I saw a kombucha with that the other day.

Rita: Yeah so they’re all supposed to be really good for you. Um. And I’ve been putting them in my coffee actually and they’ve been great.

Lennie: Ooo!

Jessie: What supplements do you take? (Rita: Everything) What supplements should I be taking?

Rita: I take everything. Everyone that’s gonna listen to this is probably gonna think I’m crazy but I just don’t have time to like get sick so I’m-I’m-I’m like vitamin C every single day, the sort- the-the liquid ones, 2000 milligrams. And then I have mushroom extracts in my coffee, collagen in my coffee, I do hydration in my water, a liter of water a day, and I do that in the morning before I sort of like eat anything. And then I have a broth, I love broth, so I do ginger broth with turmeric and then a side of like, I don’t know, protein or something-

Lennie: God it’s like being on a health a thon.

(laughter)

Rita: I know! People think I’m insane but it’s because it kind of keeps me going but then for dinner I have anything like bread, desserts, steak, fries, ketchup – I’ll do everything so I’ll have like a massive meal for dinner and then I go to sleep and I do that all again.

Jessie: I mean, I’m – I’m with you on all the, I mean I-I kinda take the supplements and I’m just hoping they’re working

Rita: NAD. (https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a60332431/nad-supplement-benefits/)

Jessie: NAD, tell me about NAD. (Lennie: Um) Because I was thinking about doing NAD.

Rita: It’s good, I mean I just I’m not a scientist but from what I’ve read it’s really good for your red blood vessels and oxygen (Jessie: okay) and things like that and keeps you really ennnnergized (Jessie: okay). Iron, I do that a lot. Turmeric… I’m actually pretty boring (Jessie: do you-). You know how people think I’m sort of this like crazy party person, I do like to party now but I have to plan it.

Jessie: Yes.

Lennie: Oh, we all do

Rita: Do we?

Jessie: Are we going to party on Sunday evening?

Rita: Yeah, but I have a show on Sun- on Monday in Amsterdam.

Jessie: Oh that’s- (Rita: I know) Unfortunate (Rita: I KNOW!)

Rita: So I have to like leave at 9 am-

Jessie: No, because then we have to be the person that’s like mouthing at the party so we don’t sing otherwise you’d lose your voice.

Rita: Yeah, it’s so hard to party after a show and you have a show the next day. (Jessie: Yeah) Do you?

Jessie: No, it’s work

Lennie: You never party

Jessie & Rita: Oh!

Jessie: Excuse me!

Lennie: You’re so boring!

Lennieaughter

Rita: My thing is “sorraaayyyy”

Lennie: S’alright

Jessie: Um. Pudding. You’ve got a sweet tooth

Rita: Oh can I also add a cacio e pepe to the dinner?

Jessie: yeah, absolutely

Lennie: Oh, uh, yeah

Jessie: Where’d you get your cacio e pepe?

Rita: I just went to the one place down the road in Golberne yesterday actually for my dinner. I had cacio e pepe and a Negroni. So yeah, that’s on the list. Cacio e pepe at Cacciaris (https://cacciaris.co.uk/) (Lennie: okay) on Portabello Road is to die for. And then my pudding, oh, a sticky toffee or a panacotta, um, I am a sweet tooth, like I will have anything, a cheesecake, almond croissant, not cheese-

Lennie: I’d rather have cheese and a big glass of wine

(laughter)

Jessie: You’re seeing the theme.

Lennie & Rita: yeah

Lennie: The theme here

Rita: But I like that to start.

Lennie: Can you still speak Albanian?

Rita: yeah, yeah…

Lennie: Say “Good morning” in Albanian

Rita: Mirëmëngjesi

Lennie: It’s lovely, isn’t it

Rita: Natën e mirë is good night.  Natën e mire. Some people don’t really say lovely, it’s a bit, it’s definitely a bit more punchy than other languages so it’s nice that you’re calling it lovely. I actually learnt it all at home, my parents only spoke Albanian in the house. And-

Lennie: Do they still do that?

Rita: Not as much anymore, but growing up-

Lennie: So when Taika comes they won’t be talking Albanian to you when he- when they think he’s a bit rude or anything.

Rita: No, never, but he actually learnt the language, bless him, he’s so good, not fluently but he kind of knows key words and he tries to talk to them in Albanian and it makes my heart melt! It’s so adorable!

[T/N: Jessie & Lennie indistinct in background, I think Lennie says “makes me love him even more”]

Rita: (fake crying)

Lennie: And what’s “I love you” in Albanian?

Rita: Të dashuroj

Lennie: Well that’s a nice…

Jessie: Të dashuroj ?

Rita: yeah

Jessie: Um, Rita, it’s been so lovely having you, I don’t really want this to end-

Rita: Me neither

Jessie: I’m gonna ask you quick fire round, um, favorite place to go, unless this is gonna mean that everyone goes there (Rita: laughs), uh, New Zealand, LA, London. Your favorite food spots.

Rita: Ooo, (sound effect) duh-duh-duh-duh-

Jessie: Auckland! Sorry, not New Zealand. Auckland, Los Angeles, London.  

Rita: For food?

Jessie: Food.

Rita: Oh, Auckland does do good food. I mean everything is just fresh, the wine, the meat, everything is delicious.

Jessie: Restaurant? Which restaurant?

Rita: (sound effect) fu-fu-fu-fuhhh…oh my goodness! Sighs It’s hard… cause I mean I don’t want to offend them, because I know them now? You know, the owners? (sound effect) kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh- Ahhh! Hold on.

Lennie: Where do you go most often? Near your house. That you bought down the road.

Rita: I’m going to change the territory, just a little. (Jessie: Okay, fine.) Okay, let’s, let’s stick to London, let’s do George’s Fish and Chips. (https://www.instagram.com/georgesportobellofishbar/)

Lennie: Where’s that?

Rita: George’s is on the corner of Golberne and Portobello. To die for.

Jessie: What’s your order?

Rita: I mean, sausage in batter and chips, obvs.

Lennie: Sausage…

Jessie: Obvs? What, at a fish and chips shop and you’re getting- oh, okay

(laughter)

Lennie: Obvs? Well, I don’t need [T/N: I really have no idea what she says here, there’s like 2 words missing] actually

Rita: (laughing) Obvs at the fish and chips shop you’re gonna get sausage in batter. Yeah no

Jessie: What condiments? Just ketchup?

Rita: Ketchup, a bit of barbecue and lots of vinegar.

Jessie: Okay, so that’s George’s. Um, LA? Not fast.

Rita: I think you made the same face. I’m not that fast. Are you?

Jessie: No…

Lennie: It’s not a food hot spot, I don’t think, LA.

Rita: I mean, if anything it’s that sushi place (Jessie: Sushi Park), that Nobu- that new- that Nobu did before- yeah, yeah

Jessie: Oh, um, uh-

Rita: Matsuhitsu

Jessie: Masuhisa

Rita: Matsuhisa. (https://matsuhisabeverlyhills.com/) It’s got very good sushi.

Lennie: Do you like sushi?

Rita: I like it, when I’m kinda, tryna not eat unhealthy, you know, a good sushi-

Lennie: I don’t get it at all, I don’t get it really.

Rita: Really? Do you like ceviche?

Lennie: Yeah

Rita: I love ceviche.

Jessie: I do too.

Lennie: That’s easy to make.

Rita: A nice salad, a nice…my mouth’s already watering thinking about it.

Jessie: That’s good. So are we going to choose one in Auckland or are you too worried because you’re the new- you’re a new resident there (Lennie: She’s a newbie, yeah) and you need to keep everyone happy?

Rita: I think so, just for now

Lennie:  Have you got a New Zealand passport yet?

Rita: I don’t….no, no. British.

Lennie: Just British?

Rita: Yeah.

Lennie: And not…and not Albanian?

Rita: I actually… No, I mean, I haven’t left- I’ve been here since the beginning and so-

Lennie: Okay, so you’re just British.

Rita: Yeah, yeah. I don’t…I’ve just also had a, this is my home, you know? This is kind of where I’ve grown up, where I live, and where I kind of want to live.

Lennie: Where did– where did you get married?

Rita: Actually we got married in LA. (Lennie: And where did you go-) At home. (laughs)

Lennie: At home. And where did you go on honeymoon?

Rita: It was really cute. It was not a lot of people, it felt really nice, it’s just his kids were there, and we actually found somebody that, it’s called Weddings On The Go? [T/N: Possibly https://www.marriagetogo.com/ ? Couldn’t find a company with this name in California]

(laughter)

Lennie: Weddings On The Go….

Jessie: I’m obsessed with the idea of you Googling probably “Quick wedding (Rita: yeah!) on the go”

Lennie: Weddings On The Go, it’s like-

Rita: And she came to the house and-

Lennie: -take away wedding!

Rita: yeah, that’s what it was! She came to the house and did the job and we were married.

Jessie: Oh my god I love you.

Rita: And I think I was like number 17 in her day (Lennie: and did-), cause she, cause she was not like ready to stay, she was just like hurry up and- (Jessie: cool, you’re married) -you’re done, bye, see you later. Can you open the gate? (Jessie: (laughing) the bride!) I was like “okay! Thanks!”

Lennie: And what was the reception?

Rita: We didn’t have one. It was just all at home, and then that was it. And then we just went out and had drinks… laughs.

Jessie: I love that

Lennie: And then honeymoon?

Rita: We didn’t have one, we went straight back to work, really.

Lennie: Have you had one?

Rita: No, thinking about it, no!

Jessie: Do you want one?

Lennie: She needs a honeymoon.

Rita: I think I need a honeymoon!

Jessie: You fucking need a bloody yea- you need a sabbatical though!

Rita: (laughs) I love you! I will, eventually.

Jessie: Um, last question. (Rita: yeah) A nostalgic taste or smell that can transport you back somewhere?

Rita: Uh, pancakes. But not the American thick pancakes. (Lennie: So-) Almost like the crepe like pancakes. Those are the pancakes my mum made growing up.

Lennie: And what did you have on them? Lemon and sugar?

Rita: I would- No, it was- it’s actually a mix of sweet and savory so I would have lemon and sugar, or jam, and then I would have like that red ajvar sort of sauce with a side of like white cheese, um, and so it’d be more like a salty dish. But they were thin, they weren’t like thick pancakes so they were like crepe-like pancakes.

Jessie: Yeah, sounds delicious.

Rita: And she’d make them from scratch, so there was like no solu- like she’d do it all, the batter and everything. And it’s the best. Thee best.

Jessie: Maybe you should get your mum to make that for dins tonight.

Rita: You know how everyone says their mum is their favorite cook? (Jessie: Is she your fave?) But she really is my favorite. Do you- Is your mum your favorite?

Jessie: ….y-

Lennie: …not really

(laughter)

Lennie: Jessie’s very critical – Jessie always-

Jessie: No, I-I-I love your cooking. We all do. The nation.

Rita: Really? Have I started something?

Jessie: No, no, we love it

Lennie: I can cook!

Jessie: She can cook.

Lennie: Yeah

Rita: Oh I can imagine

Lennie: Jessie-

Jessie: She can whip things up as well, like I’ll never forget (Rita: Yeah), um, my sister’s about to have a baby but (Rita: aww) like she, and she, and I was like “let mum at the kitchen” so I remember there was this one night, I think it was the first baby that I had and I was so tired and mum just made this like delicious slow cooked lamb, kind of- (Rita: gasps, yum), pearl barley I think it was a Northern Ireland [T/N: this is my best guess, please correct me if you know what she says here] thing but I just remember it feeling so nourishing and like she’d made it and it was like the smells of her cooking and me, like, trying to work out how to, like, look after a baby (Lennie: oh good) and I very much appreciated it.

Rita: Was it a pressure cooker that you used?

Jessie & Lennie: No

Rita: Do you put it just-

Lennie: I have got a pressure cooker-

Jessie: Have you got, uh-

Lennie: -but I’ve barely had to use it.

Rita: I’m new to the pressure life, and I love it/

Jessie: Have you got an air fryer?

Rita: I just got one as well last year.

Jessie: And how are you finding this?

Rita: I love it. I think it’s so good for the step kids, like I literally put everything in the air fryer, and they love it. I mean, again, because I just give them whatever they want, if they want fish fingers or whatever I’m like “yeah!” And so then I just put everything in the air fryer.

Lennie: Do you like karaoke?

Rita: Yeah!

Lennie: I love it but Jessie hates it. She says that singers generally don’t like it.

Rita: I mean I wouldn’t go and sing seriously on- at the- (Lennie: ‘course you wouldn’t, what’s your song?)

Jessie: What would be your selection?

Rita: But then I can’t not sing seriously when you like have the mic and then I’m like “wha-alright, fine I’ll just sing it”

Lennie: So which song would you sing?

Rita: Well, Dancing Queen. I’m actually going to sing that on Sunday.

(gasps)

Jessie: That’s gonna go great down.

Rita: But I’m doing like a slow, lovely kind of version of it.

Jessie: But that sounds great!

Lennie: How fun!

Rita: But ABBA’s just always like my fave.

Lennie: Have you seen the ABBA thing?

Rita: No, I haven’t actually had time-

Jessie: Do that with Taika! It’s so good!

Lennie: Oh my gosh it’s so amazing.

Rita: I heard it’s amazing.

Jessie: Babe, it’s amazing.

Lennie: You think they’re there.

Rita: No way!

Lennie: You do, you actually can’t believe they’re not there.

Jessie: It’s really- you’ll love it

Rita: I love that! (Lennie: It’s fantastic) Did you guys go together?

Jessie: Yeah, we did.

Lennie: We all went, didn’t we? It was fantastic.

Jessie: It’s really good, you’d love it.

Rita: I love you guys (Jessie: Rita, you’re fabulous) but you really made my day cause I love this show and I always laugh when I watch you guys and-

Jessie: Thank you babes.

Rita: The quick little arguments you have in between the interviews really make me laugh.

Jessie: We’ve been really well behaved today.

Lennie: Yeah, we have.

Rita: I wouldn’t say arguments, I would say, debates, let’s re-

Lennie: I think we’ve been really quiet

Jessie: We’ve really, we’ve really held back

Rita: Maybe I’ve just talked.

Jessie: No!

Lennie: No you haven’t.

Jessie: No, no.

Rita: I’ll see you guys on Sunday!

Jessie: Yeah we’ll see you again.

Rita: Also if you don’t have any space to be out on her stage-

Lennie: I’ll come over to your’s Ritaita!

Rita: -You always have a spot on mine.

Lennie: Thank you, darling.

Jessie: Thanks Rita.

Rita: I love you guys, thanks for having me!

Jessie: Thank you!

Rita: Yay!

---

Jessie: Mum, didn’t I tell you that you’d love Rita Ora?

Lennie: Absolutely adorable.

Jessie: And she even offered up her husband to you on Sunday at Hoopla!

Lennie: That is the best thing (Jessie: (laughs)) about the whole podcast today, that I’m going to get to meet him.

Jessie: I love Rita, she is incredibly generous and sweet and she is very open.

Lennie: Very, very warm.

Jessie: She’s really – she was really enjoying herself.

Lennie: Good. I think the picky bits worked.

Jessie: Picky bits was perfect. (Lennie: yeah) She was thrilled. Well done, mum. She loves you.

Lennie: I love her.

Jessie: Maybe you’ll be modeling in the next Rita Ora Primark campaign, I don’t know!

Lennie: What’s- what are the Rita Ora fans called?

Jessie: Ritabots

Lennie: I think I’m a Ritaibt now.

Jessie: You’re a Ritabot.

Lennie: Yeah

Jessie: Thank you so much to Rita Ora, her new single “Ask and You Shall Receive” is out now, this is coming out after but maybe you enjoyed her show at Hoopla and uh she’s just a busy bee doing everything.

Lennie: I just don’t know how it would be to move around so much. You wouldn’t know where you were waking up. Do you know what I mean? It’s like when we got back from LA, Jessie, I woke up one day and I thought I was in Belly’s house in Malibu and went the wrong way to the loo from my bedroom. And can you imagine what she’s like? She wouldn’t know where she is.

Jessie: I’m surprised she doesn’t have bumps all on her arms and on her head Mum! [T/N: This sentence was rough and I’m probably missing a few words but this is clearly the sentiment.]

Lennie: I know. She’s never in one place for very long, is she?

Jessie: Maybe we all need to start having lion’s mane (Lennie: yeah) and turmeric broth so I can see you doing that, right up your street mum. Um, but anyway we will see you next week but thank you so much Rita, the single, the new single “Ask and You Shall Receive” is out now, and yeah, let us know if you saw us at Hoopla at the weekend. Thanks.

[a-vibing-potato]

Okay, so. As promised, a rant about my fandoms and how I want to actively engage in all of them right this second but have no time or attention span lol.

We all know I'm into Supernatural, and I will watch an episode of that today (probably only gonna have time for one with everything else, but one is good <3), the only MAJOR problem standing in the way of that is that Tracker is usually on T.V. tonight, probably at 8 PM, so that cuts into my usual Supernatural watching time of like somewhere between 7 and 9 PM, but that's okay.

BUT. HERE COMES MY MAIN PROBLEM. Me, being me, and being unable to enjoy media normally EVER a day in my life, have an obsession with Misha Collins because of Supernatural. I saw an edit on here of him a while back, as you do, and was under the impression that the clips from that were from Supernatural (for SOME reason, even though he wasn't wearing a trench coat so idk I'm just kinda dumb sometimes). But I found out yesterday that those clips are from a movie he was in called Stonehenge Apocalypse, so I looked up the movie and it sounds really good. And I really want to watch it, because the plot sounds good, and also my man is in there, looking fine as hell lol.

So, I looked up where I could watch it, because my family has like ACTUALLY ZERO STREAMING SERVICES, hence why I'm watching Supernatural on the DVDs I got for Christmas (we literally have Dish, and Prime Video, but no one uses Prime Video because you have to log in my mom's stuff that I don't know, and no one seems concerned about it except me because I want to watch the Boys on there sometime, and also I'd just like to see what I have access to on there??? Like is there good stuff to watch???) But anyway, I looked up where I could watch it, and it said it was free on Tubi. Cue me and my sister both making free accounts on Tubi yesterday and exploring around on it, but in the end, watching nothing.

But I saw Stonehenge Apocalypse on Tubi, like it said, and it said expiring in three days. This was yesterday, and I didn't watch it yesterday so I assume it's down to two days now. Except I have school and work tomorrow, and if I don't get one episode of Supernatural in every day, I freak out, so there's like next to zero chance of me watching it tomorrow. So that leaves today. Except it's 6 PM, and I have to account for supper, an hour of Tracker, and probably maybe however long Supernatural takes with all the rewinding and analyzing we like to do. Will this end up with me watching Stonehenge Apocalypse from 10 PM to midnight the night before I have school? Probably, but such is my life lmao.

In other news, I've also been trying to get back into the Magnus Protocol this weekend since season 2 is out now, and I listened to an episode last night which was pretty good and an episode today that made me lowkey REALLY want to listen to more for some reason. I don't know why because I liked the first episode better than the second, but the second had ZERO SAM in it, so I have to know what happened to him! Like is he okay in the Eyepocalypse right now??

Also got forced to watch the first episode of Demon Slayer even though I've never been an anime person (never had a desire to get into it I guess, and I always had plenty of other forms of media I was addicted to) and loved it, and wouldn't mind watching more but when will I have the time. Like actually.

[trippinonpaperhearts]

S3 The Vampire Lestat

EDIT: As I said, if you don't like what I have to say, BLOCK ME. If you leave me ridiculous messages looking for an argument in my inbox or anywhere here on my Tumblr (some are too chicken shit and hide under Anonymous), I'm telling you now, I will not read it and it will be deleted. You have your views and faves, and I have mine. If you don't like mine, LIVE WITH IT like I have to live with yours. Thanks 😁

My thoughts are all over the place, so sorry if this is not very coherent 😬 First of all, I'm very excited about S3 as Lestat has always been my favorite character (books and otherwise); but I really need to vent some worries I have about the upcoming season. As always, if you don't like what I have to say, block me 😊:

I, for one, am excited about the introduction of the other characters/vampires from The Vampire Chronicles. Personally, I'm hoping for an in-depth look into Lestat's relationships with Armand, hopefully with Daniel (my biggest hope); and yes, even Marius. So far, the show has only explored his intimacy with Louis and Antoinette, which I get as S1 was from Louis’s perspective. But now that we’re shifting focus to Lestat’s pov, I hope the show does expand on Lestat’s other relationships beyond the same predictable ones. But honestly, I have no faith this show actually will.

Canonically, Armand is in love with Lestat, and in Blood and Gold (specifically Ch. 34), Marius straight-up calls Lestat his lover and states that he was in love with him. That’s not vague subtext as it’s in the books. If the show actually leans into that, it could be so much more interesting to Lestat’s story instead of making it seem like he was only ever attached to the same two or three people.

For some reason, this new fandom already hates Marius and wants him dead, and he hasn’t even appeared in the show yet. I feel like they’re basing everything on what little the show has told them through show Armand’s perspective. We’ve already seen them add unnecessary drama for shock value (S01-E05), so if they’re so willing to stir things up, why not explore Lestat’s relationships with Marius or David? These writers clearly love drama, so what would it hurt.

Speaking of David, who was both Lestat’s fledgling and lover, I have no idea if they’ll even include him being that he is another character this fandom hates. I'm sure it's mainly because they don’t want him to interfere with Lestat and Louis’s relationship, which is ridiculous. I don’t care for show-Louis, and I can say that in a fandom that openly hates Lestat and Sam Reid. We know in the end, Lestat will end up with Louis anyway.

I know people are excited about Akasha, but I'm not one of them. Knowing this show, they’ll probably focus on his relationship with Akasha and make it overly sexual, which I don't care to see. She annoyed the hell out of me for many reasons that I'm not in the mood to get into, so I will definitely be skipping all that... except for when the twins Mekare and Maharet eventually bring her ass down. I'll joyfully watch that.

And then there’s Gabrielle. I have no damn idea what book some of these people were reading, but their relationship was never incestuous. Lestat has kissed her, but it was never in a sexual or romantic way. If this fandom wants Lestat to "fuck his mom" so bad, then they don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to Marius. If the show tries to cater to that incestuous bs, it’ll be beyond disappointing.

The only good thing I may get from S3 is seeing Lestat’s relationship with Armand explored more, so I'll at least have that to look forward to. If they do explore Lestat’s other male relationships, the show writer's will probably make them platonic, and any explicit intimacy outside of Louis will be more heteronormative (Akasha and Antoinette). I'll be shocked if we actually do see more physical intimacy between Lestat and other queer male characters, again, outside of Louis (pleasantly shocked if we get some bottom!Lestat).

I want to be excited for S3, but I already know there will be things that will have me annoyed the entire time. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[cyi-can-you-imagine]

Long fic writing project

Ok, so I’m seriously considering revitalizing one of my old longer fics. Three are mostly written and have been posted here or on AO3. I’m going to take them down (not delete them!), really focus on the editing and storytelling rather than quickly posting.

These are all angsty!wincest. It’s all hurt!sam and caretaker!dean, protective!dean. Tragedy-comfort-love stuff. Lots of fluff. But it’s gonna make you cry, too, cause tragedy happens, too. And some have happy endings, and the others are left up for interpretation.

I am absolutely still writing my fluffy daily wincest short stuff, this is just an additional project because I want to get into my writing again…I’ll tag everything and give warnings about everything so you can skip if it’s not your jam… 🙂

So if there’s one anyone would like to see worked on, lemme know. Otherwise, I’ll just pick one and I’ll post it anyway, so….

Starved/Skin and Bones - this has had 2 different titles and, same story. Sam is kidnapped and not rescued for several years. When John and Dean finally find him, he is a shell of who he was and has lost several pounds. The boys had discovered they were in love with each other only three months before Sam was taken, and those feelings return. But Sam has a long road to recovery. He’s developed an eating disorder through his torturous experience, and of course, has some psychological damage too. The story is one of love, loss, despair, hope, tenderness, terror, grief, and love.  They have many obstacles to overcome. Including John. What happens when he finds out about his sons true feelings for each other?

The Choice - this a story about a sixteen year old Sam living in a motel with his brother. But something horrible has happened, and Sam makes a decision that affects his whole life. Dean’s too. Soon after, Dean starts noticing things have changed recently, and Sam’s acting very weird. They don’t touch as often as they used to. Dean’s used to his brother craving his touch, but now Sam seems to wince in fear around him. John is gone so often now, that Dean doesn’t think he knows anything at all.  Sam comes home late from school, he’s been getting into fights, and he’s more withdrawn. When Dean finally finds out the truth he is livid. He then makes his own horrible decision, and finds out too late the reason behind Sam’s choice. Can he fix this before the damage is irreparable?

The Fire Pit - John and the boys have settled in a small town for a very long term hunt. John’s rented a small house where the boys share a room. This proves difficult for Sam since he’s started to have feelings for his brother. He can’t stop thinking about him.  Sam attends high school there while Dean works. But the thing John is hunting? It’s a Djinn, and it’s kidnapped Sam. Of course, Sam doesn’t know he’s in a dream world. Here, Dean loves him. Treats him with tenderness, it’s everything Sam’s wanted. But when he’s rescued after 3 days, he realizes it’s all a dream, and that Dean doesn’t and never did love him. Sam’s in pain, both mentally and physically after the torture by the strange group that took him. But John’s in deeper than anyone expected, and what Dean finds out while helping Sam heal might just tear him apart. But the way Dean feels about Sam? Maybe it’s not a dream after all. And John? He does something that Dean never expected him to do. And now he needs to get Sam as far away from their dad as possible, or Sam could be lost to him forever.

Sick - Teenage Sam is really really sick. He’s been hexed by a witch and in a lot of pain. He’s alone for over a week while Dean looks for a cure - and gets worse. Much worse. When Dean returns, he discovers a little brother that has experienced something no one should ever face. Not only had he been hexed by a witch, he had been tortured by demons in Dean’s absence. Dean struggles to care for him as he blames himself for not getting back in time.  Love grows between the two boys once Sam is on the path to healing. But when John comes back from an extended hunt and finds out what happens, he takes Sam in the night, blaming Dean for “destroying” his brother. Overcome with grief and rage, Dean sets out to find the love of his life and save him from their father’s abusive hands.

Anything stick out to anyone? Which one should I work on first?

[1d1195]

SAM MY LOVE IM BACK!!!My feedback is going to a bit jumbled so i'm sorry if none of it makes sense lol

OKAY SO I LOVED DING  ROUND 3!!!!! Ngl I was a tad bit frustrated with Harry in this one but only because my guy is just a bit impatient when it comes to her lol And I know he means NO harm when asking her about what happened the night of her date and why she ended up in the classes like he truly just CARES about her so I get him! Plus with knowing his backstory of how he has always been a “protector” and his whole deal with how he processes his own emotions, it makes sense his behavior! But Cupcake is also going through it and it’s clear that they are on opposite spectrums on how they deal with things. AND it is something very hard to process no matter the outcome of it and it’s harder to say it out loud because it feels like it makes it ‘real’ if that makes sense lol. Anyways TELL ME WHY THAT GROSS MAN IS AT HER BAKERY?!?! I WANT TO SCREAM AND SCARE HIM AWAY FROM HER!!! BUT I'm glad that this was a nice way to lead Harry and Cupcake to have their own vulnerable moments! BUT AHHHH I LOVED IT SAM! YOU DID GREAT AS ALWAYS!!

NOW THE NEIGHBORS EXTRA 😭I LOVE RORY SO MUCH😭I think last month or so (i have no concept of time anymore) I re-read the whole story and extras in one go… I have no idea why my brain does this but it was worth it lol ANYWAYS ugh i loved it! I do love that bit of angst and once again it makes sense for Harry to feel like that! Was it the best way to react, not really but given the circumstances it was kinda the only option aside from talking it out lol But I really was NOT worried because they are END GAME! It was so cute! I just love them so much! But that's nothing surprising since I love everything you put out lol

Now my reasoning for my slight disappearance lol I have had two midterms this week and basically from now until the end of the quarter it’s mainly exams! I think I will end somewhere in June, I'm starting week 5 out of 10 next week! And I fear I will be taking summer courses :( I really fucked up my second year so that’s kinda why I need to take some courses in order to graduate on time lol . But I've only had a few TAs where I personally have been attracted to which have all been from my psyc courses lol and Ugh I MISS  MY HOT PROFESSOR 😭 I LONG for that man and its pathetic😭 and literally if you did call me an idiot, I would NOT blame you because I am one the majority of the time 😂 oh I wanted to be on my knees when he gave his lecture lol

And it really was nice! I got a limited edition Paramore/David Byrne vinyl and Lauefy’s A night at the symphony vinyl! And some other classical records! My main reason for waking up early was to get a Paramore poster and Sam when I tell you I CALLED all the stores within my city/county and only ONE had them, I wanted to cry! I didn't get it because the line was HUGE and the moment I found out they ran out I wanted to jump off a building 😀 But overall i had a nice time! And ooo what color is your record?

I totally get the shopping part! I too have my fair share of body image issues so I don’t blame you for feeling like that. But I'm glad you were able to find some clothes that you feel at least okay in! I'm sure you’ll look lovely in your choices! And I'm glad you had a nice break! You for sure have earned that little break! And don’t ever feel bad about not staying on top of your writing schedule, it’s a BUSY season for high schoolers and if you're helping with senior activities it’s so stressful! So be kind on yourself and if you need to miss a day or a few weeks of posting that’s okay💗

Hope you had a nice week back! I miss you! Hope you have a lovely weekend! Love you!!!-💜

So glad you liked Ding and Neighbors! I was a bit worried about Neighbors--I struggle with angsty stuff sometimes but I guess maybe it's the whole it's coming from my brain thing again. Maybe I'm biased but I love Ding a lot 😭 I'm really excited about it (so excited that I may have written the last part before parts 4, 5, and 6 lol)

ANYWAY.

OMG JUNNNNNEEEEE?! Ma'am I'm so sorry that seems so far away--I'm sure you'll crush it and it will be here before you know it (I'm VERY excited for June--I can't last much longer in my classroom I'm going out of my mind. This week felt endless and exhausting and I keep thinking every week is going to get better, less tiring and they're just NOT. Idk what the problem is.) I miss your hot professor for you 😭 I'm glad you have hot TAs you can sub in for him--def not the same but will help for the next five weeks.

There are no wrong paths in college. If you take extra time (or have to take summer classes) it's where you're supposed to be and it's not a big deal. You'll get it done and do fantastic 💕

So cool about your records! I love that for you! It's so funny you called stores for a poster 😭 (Fun fact: I HATE phone calls. Like an OBNOXIOUS irrational fear) I'm sorry you didn't get it, I hope you can find it at some point in time! I'm glad it was enjoyable overall and you got the ones you wanted. My one lonely record is bright yellow and kinda see through--it's really pretty! I'm not sure why I'm surprised. Everything Harry does is pretty.

Honestly, I think I will def be missing a few posting dates. I don't want to, but I think it's inevitable. I can't wait for summer 😭

No plans for this weekend! Hopefully it will be relaxing but I'm afraid I'll be filling it up with a million things I need to get done that didn't get done during the week. I plan on making sure I read and go for a walk on both days so as long as I do that I think it will be okay--and of course write Ding Part 4. (I also need to fold my laundry and vacuum but those are my fave chores). I hope you have a fun weekend planned--you deserve it after exams and not getting your poster 💕

Love you, bestie!!!!

xoxo

[youpricksneverwalk]

Okay going to take @tellthemeerkatsitsfine's advice and do my own answers.

Btw anyone else who sees this a just wants to answer the questions anyway please do.

Choose four people as fellow contestants (either past contestants or people who haven't been on but you would like to have on with you)

Going with past contestants because it's easier, although it's still not at all easy. I basically got a list of all uk series conestants ( i thought about including NZ Au but there would have been too many), got rid of the ones i was less keen on ( which isnt many). Then also the people i think i'd be too much like etc

And then I realised i might be overthinking it and of that edited list just picked some names, and ended up going with with Nish Kumar,Rose Matafeo, Sophie Duker and Sam Cambell,

Would you rather be on a team of two or three? Who is on your team?

I was going to say team of three because it would be less awkward, but i think a two might be more fun for that reason to the people hypothetically watching, plus in the three I might just get quiet and not feel i was contributing much, which i couldn't as a two so I'll go with that.

And I'd go with Sophie because I think we'd get on and have simillar enough ideas not to frustrate each other, and we both want to do well. Plus I like the idea of rose, sam and nish as a team because you have the contrast of Rose being quietly competitve but also often unsure, and Nish being almost confidently terrible, and the you have Sam being geniuely odd, and not super competitve but just very good anyway because his brain just fits so well with the show.

In general, what are you like as a contestant? Competitive? Here for fun? - what is your dynamic with Greg? Alex? Your other contestants?

I'd try really hard at the tasks and want to do well, (but probably would struggle with a lot of them) and i'd be sort of competitive in that way, but i don't think i'd be any good at agruing for points. I might try it once or twice but if i got pushback id cave very quickly.

Greg i think might enjoy mocking me? and it's hard to know with other contestants because i'm usually pretty quiet and awkward. Alex I think I'd be fine with.

What outfit are you wearing for filmed task days?

I wasn't sure with this one because I've had so many ideas over time but as I'm writing this one idea i had which is probably silly, was to do reference to past contestant costumes, but only the fifth place ones

The other option would be a simple cosplay type thing but it would also have to be practical (sort of like Paul Sinha's whole arthur dent look with the dressing gown, but i can't think of a specific one i could do right now.

What type of filmed task do you do best at? Physical, creative, logic, time-based etc.

Creative tasks if it's the ones you have time to think about, and more straight forward logic stuff where it's just 'do the thing' and I do think there'd be one or two lateral tasks that my brain might Just Get.

What type of filmed task do you do worst at?

Any lateral stuff where i don't think of something straight away. Any task that are very physical or require balance/ coordination. Timed tasks because my sense of time is really bad, and I would panic.

How will you do at prize tasks in general? How do you present them?

Not well. Even watching i often struggle to think what i'd do in them, and if im being very honest what would happen id that end up putting it off because i'd be like oh think of something better if I wait a bit, but leave it too late and just have to go with my first, or last minute thoughts.

I'd probably over explain, and would lose confidence quckly if things weren't going down well.

Live tasks - choose an existing live task that you'd have won, and one you would have lost.

Maybe a random one, but I was rewatching s5 and i think I might have won the make yourself monotone one just because im quite small (4ft 10) and its less about skill than just going for it.

and last honestly i think any throwing stuff based tasks - which there have been a number of, epecially if it involves accuracy as well. Or the recreate this scene one because my memory is shit.

It's the end of the show - where did you place 1st to 5th

3rd or 4th probably.

Taskmaster ask game - you're on Taskmaster

Choose four people as fellow contestants (either past contestants or people who haven't been on but you would like to have on with you)

Would you rather be on a team of two or three? Who is on your team?

In general, what are you like as a contestant? Competitive? Here for fun? - what is your dynamic with Greg? Alex? Your other contestants?

What outfit are you wearing for filmed task days?

What type of filmed task do you do best at? Physical, creative, logic, time-based etc.

What type of filmed task do you do worst at?

How will you do at prize tasks in general? How do you present them?

Choose a previous prize task from the show and say what you'd bring in for it and how you'd describe it.

Live tasks - choose an existing live task that you'd have won, and one you would have lost

It's the end of the show - where did you place 1st to 5th.

[starlitangels]

Smash Night (Shaw Pack Edition)

Hi. Here’s something silly. It’s been a long while since I wrote something just really silly and fun Titled as such because there might be a Smash Night (D.A.M.N. Fam Edition) coming later? 2.2k words

—

I laughed, making sure to keep my drink away from flailing limbs, sitting on the floor. David and Milo were on either end of David’s sofa, Sam was in the armchair directly behind me, and Asher was sprawled out on the loveseat—for the safety of everyone else involved, to use David’s usual phrase. Asher tended to get really physical when he played video games, and Super Smash Bros was the worst offender. Empty and half-empty pizza boxes were haphazardly stacked on the coffee table, along with paper plates and an assortment of disposable plastic cups filled with various sodas, names scrawled in everyone’s handwriting in permanent marker.

David, Asher, and Milo’s mates were all outside, having a night swim. They’d invited me to join but I’d been having too much fun watching—and I’d forgotten to bring a swim suit and hadn’t fancied the drive back to Sam’s house (our house, I reminded myself) in wet jeans.

They were also all having a discussion—that sounded more like an argument through the screen door—about whether or not a Stealth who was cloaked the whole time they were outside in the sun needed to wear sunscreen and whether it would affect a skin tan for skin tones that did significantly change from sunlight.

“Hey,” I piped up during a lull in the fight—and the trash-talking of my packmates—when David had smacked Asher and Milo clean off the stage and Sam tried to attack the wrong direction. “Whoever wins gets to hand me their controller and give me a turn.”

Asher groaned. “David, don’t let Tank play!” he complained.

Sam’s leg tensed against my shoulder. “Why not?” he asked.

Milo snorted and shot a quick glance at Sam. “Because, no matta what, or which character Tank plays,” he began sarcastically, “Tank will always kick all our asses. Items on or off.”

“That is not true,” David grumbled.

Milo scoffed. “Oh really? Do I need to pull up some of the replays we got on this system? Their name is very clearly over their head whoopin’ all of us into next week.”

“No,” David growled.

Sam chuckled.

Ash made another noise of complaint. “David, don’t let Tank play!” he repeated.

“Ash, if you keep talking like that I’m gonna shove your controller where the sun don’t shine,” I snapped. Which earned me a bark of laughter from Milo.

“Tank is allowed to have a turn,” David said. “Besides. I’m about to beat—” He fired off a combo that launched Asher straight off the screen and into death with no chance of recovery, quickly followed by a quick snap at Sam that threw him off too, terminating his last life. “—two of you, and I need a break to go check on my mate anyway. I promised those three I’d grab them anything they needed so they didn’t track water all over my house.”

David ended up winning the match. And by a lot. They tended to play with five lives, and David still had two by the time he got Milo’s last one. He handed me his controller and got up. I cackled, took his spot on the couch, and quickly deselected Bowser once we’d finished arguing over which map to play on while Sam listened politely to me, Ash, and Milo bicker.

“A’right,” Milo said reluctantly. “Who do you plan on beatin’ the hell outta us with this time?”

I spun my pin around the character selector menu, pursing my lips. On the one hand, it was always funny to hear my try-hard packmates complain when I kicked their trash with Kirby. On the other hand, it was more satisfying to beat them all with one of the emo anime pretty boys that for whatever reason the game was chocked full of.

I selected Cloud and picked the most emo skin before switching the name from David to Tank.

Asher groaned, flopping his head backward onto the loveseat. “Whyyy,” he complained.

I laughed. “For exactly that reaction,” I said, hitting the + button on my controller to get the fight started.

Everyone spawned in with their character animation, and immediately Milo and Asher ganged up on me. Sam was the least threatening opponent by far. Milo and Asher had been “trying” to help teach him (occasionally shouting advice at him without telling him how to actually do it) and button bashing could really only get him so far against me and my packmates. I wasn’t particularly concerned about him yet.

I needed to eliminate Milo and Asher first. It’d be a clean sweep afterward. If I wanted it to be.

Part of me wanted to fake losing to Sam to make him feel better by letting him beat me.

But at the same time my competitive spirit had revved to life and I wanted to win.

Asher jerked and thrashed on the loveseat, somehow always managing not to throw his controller halfway across the damn room. His mate had once mentioned to me that when they were still new to their relationship, they’d made a blanket fort on the couch in the apartment Ash and David used to share and played through every Halo game in a weekend. I’d snarked to Asher that I was surprised his mate didn’t still have bruises from getting elbowed by sitting that close to him while playing a game. To which I’d gotten some indignant reply from Asher and a laugh from Milo.

“Sam, ya gotta figure out how to play a character that has a counter,” Milo remarked casually, as if his character—he was trying out Marth tonight—wasn’t in an all-out war with mine.

“A what?” Sam asked.

“A counter,” I explained, “is a certain button combination that, when timed right, essentially negates your opponent’s attack while immediately delivering an attack of your own.”

“I know what the concept of a counter is in a fight, darlin’,” Sam grumbled. “I just didn’t realize they were in this game.”

“Yeah, not every character has one,” Asher added, “and they’re hard to time. If Milo wasn’t such a show-off we’d probably never—hey! That was me, idiot!” I laughed as Cloud jumped out of the way, causing Marth to smack Jigglypuff halfway across the map.

“Sorry,” Milo said, not sounding sorry at all.

“I don’t think ‘bein’ a show-off’ is entirely contained to just Milo,” Sam said softly.

“Oh, definitely not,” I agreed. “We all are.” I couldn’t help but smile and laugh as I realized my B-button attack had fully charged up. I got Cloud close to Marth and unleashed the full-powered attack. Marth launched off the stage with a pillar of light exploding where he’d disappeared, killing him.

Milo swore creatively while I laughed. Sam chuckled slightly, though the sound was strained behind his concentration.

“Tank, have you and Sam ever just played one-on-one?” Asher asked. Probably trying to distract me.

“Nope,” Sam replied instead.

“Why not?” Milo put in as Marth dropped off the respawn platform and rushed toward Cloud. “Scared he’s gonna get better than you?”

“Resigned to it, actually,” I said. “Vamp reflexes are nothing to knock. And I know a one-on-one, slow practice battle while someone teaches another the controls is the easiest way to learn the game but watching him play it by himself was more fun.”

Asher swore as I hit Jigglypuff with a charged attack. “Tank!” he shouted.

“Yes?” I asked placidly, following up when he floated back down to me and launching him off-screen.

“How are you still so good? I swear you don’t play anywhere near as often as we do.”

“I don’t. I just know you guys. Ash’s strategy is literally only optimized to piss off David and he really doesn’t care about anything other than that. David is really aggressive but Bowser is still slow as hell and isn’t the greatest at range. The only one of the three of you that poses a genuine threat to me is Milo since he switches up characters almost as often as I do.” 

They didn’t need to know that I spent literal months recovering from the injuries Quinn dealt to me up in Washington playing Smash just to pass the time and get out some energy while I was more or less bed-bound and barely able to do much else. Devoting hours to each individual character until I considered myself proficient with them. It sounded pathetic and sad and I didn’t talk about my time with my family in Washington much anyway.

Sam swore as Captain Falcon got caught in the crossfire, but he didn’t fly too far. He recovered and made it back to the stage no problem. He hadn’t taken much damage anyway this round because Asher and Milo had been too focused on me.

General banter and trash-talking died off somewhat as we got more intense in the fight. I was floundering a little bit under a concentrated attack from Milo and Asher, but I could still beat them.

At some point, David showed up and leaned against the back of the couch, watching. “Are you aware that Sam is still on five lives?” he asked.

“Mmhmm,” Milo said.

“Yup,” Asher agreed.

A long string of expletives followed as I got the Smash Orb—Smash Ball?—and caught Asher in Cloud’s Final Smash. “Ha-haaa! Omnislash, suckers!” I exclaimed. Sam chuckled and I even caught David suppressing a grin.

After a bit longer—no more than two minutes—I’d whittled Asher and Milo down to their last lives and threw them off the stage, while still having two myself. Sam was on four after accidentally Falcon Kicking himself downward at the wrong angle and plunging into the abyss below.

Milo and Asher, of course, started rooting for Sam to beat me. “C’mon Collins!” Asher cheered, digging a slice of pizza out of one of the half-empty boxes. “You’ve got double the lives! Just take it slow!”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but backed off my aggressive fight strategy from taking on the two of them at the same time. One of the things I liked about Cloud, in particular, was that he was primarily melee-based, but had a ranged option. It wasn’t a good option, really, but it was useful. Especially back when Amanda played Pit all the time and just spammed arrows from a distance like a wimp.

Sam and I fight one-on-one slowed down a lot. I talked him through things, guided him into combos, advised him on which buttons to push and what move to use when, gave him examples of how to time his attacks—

And still promptly kicked his ass and won the match anyway.

Milo and Asher both groaned in complaint as I hopped off the sofa and gave David back his controller. “Thanks for the turn,” I said. I returned to my spot on the floor in front of Sam and took a long drink of my soda before also finding another slice of pizza to munch on.

—

“Tank,” David said as we were leaving. Ash and Milo had already gone home with their mates. I paused, one foot halfway in my boot. “It was nice to see you smile and hear you laugh so much again. It’s been a long time.”

I cleared my throat, finding the toes of my boots to be the most interesting thing in the room to avoid meeting his eyes. “Thanks,” I said, finishing shoving my foot into the boot. “It, uh... it was nice to see you smiling a lot too. I don’t think I ever have seen you laugh like that.”

He held out a hand as though we were going to shake. I took it and pulled him into a hug, wrapping my other arm around his back. He did the same, resting his forehead against my shoulder.

“Here’s to being better and brighter for—and because of—our mates, yeah?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

I pulled back. “See you at the office tomorrow. Asher has finally bullied me into picking up a job with you guys.”

“I look forward to it. I’ll have a new hoodie out for you. Your old one is way too ratty to be professional now.”

I looked down at the old Shaw Security hoodie I’d had since David started being more serious about the business than Gabe had been. The logo printed on the left of the chest was cracked and peeling. Faded against the black fabric. I made a face. “Rude—but true. Thanks,” I said.

“See you tomorrow,” he said.

“See ya.” I finished tying off my boot and reached out for Sam. He took my hand and we walked to his truck. I waved at David—and his mate who’d appeared at his side in the doorway—as I climbed in. He raised a hand back.

Once the door to the truck was closed, I glanced at Sam.

“How much of that did you hear?”

“Darlin’, I coulda heard that from halfway across town, remember?”

“Mm. Right. Have fun tonight?”

“Well... I expected to get my ass handed to me. Just didn’t realize it’d be by you.”

I snickered. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry for bein’ good at somethin’ you enjoy.”

[kirathehyrulian]

🔮Witch!Sam Bingo🔮 🚘🐺Friday Drive🐺🚘

(Please do not edit/alter. Feel free to reblog, but please do not repost. At the very least please give me credit.)

Square Filled: wolf!familiar Event: @witchsambingo​

For more art from me please check out my “myart” tag here on Tumblr. 👇(Art Notes and sketch below the cut) 👇  

Art Notes: I finally finished my first square for the Witch!Sam Bingo!🙌 I’ve been trying to do that for a year now, but I couldn’t settle on an idea for any of the squares. Finally, last month I had sketched out this on cardstock paper, thinking I should try again at another traditional ink and marker drawing:

And I like where this sketch was heading. I was like what’s not to love with mixing classical spn with witch!Sam elements? But, I knew I should just take it over to digital instead of risking me screwing up the inking process with traditional mediums. So I took a picture of it and traced, adjusted, and fixed stuff in Sai. But, it took me so long to get it all done because I kept procrastinating with it. I was just, for some reason, struggling to work on it. Eventually, when I got to the end of the shading and all of the lighting stages I mainly just slapped it all down just to get it done. I wanted to be finished. It’s been hard to art lately. I can get spurts of art in every once in a while but it is not reliable.

The background was an image of a cornfield I found on google that I took to Ps elements 15 to motion blur and change the coloration, lighting, and shading. I really could not be bothered to do a hand drawn background here. And tbh, I don’t think it would have turned out as well if I did. I’m actually pretty happy with how the background turned out.

I probably should have Gaussian blurred Dean but, I didn’t want to take the time. The me right now is satisfied enough with it.

References that I used for Sam and Dean: For Sam’s face I referenced a flipped 7x06. Sam and Dean’s outfits/body’s and inside of Baby I referred to both 1x02 and 1x05 where Sam and Dean are in the car. For the wolf I referenced two google images of an orange-ish wolf that I thought looked pretty. (One that was just a side profile of the head. The other a full body side profile)

I have no idea how to approach the other eight squares, but I’m hopeful that I’ll get some ideas eventually. It’s a lucky thing for me that the bingo decided to drop the deadline. Otherwise none of this would have happened.

But, for now I can at least cross one off the grid.

I didn’t really listen to anything specific for this....well I did keep relistening/rewatching electricmonk’s vid for a little bit towards the end so that kind of counts. Too gorgeous of a vid not to rec anyways.

And, I think that’s it. Enjoy, if you can!♥♥♥

[pikaflute]

HAI if you have any more oddly specific headcanons u haven't shared about sam and slash or max i would love to hear them

OOOO yes :) ill do both teehee

sam

okay im gonna start with his family cause i wrote some headcanons for them yesterday. he has two sisters who are younger than him. he was really good at taking care of them when he was little because he had to take of a worse child (max) all the time. they tease their big bro about max btw. max joins in. worst fucking husband of the year. they're like 10 years younger than him. their names are sara and sadie. listen the s names are good.

his mom loves him so much. like sam's her little angel. she spoils him rotten when he comes home and max laughs about it and sam tells him to jump off a cliff.

his dad is just like him (autistic). he's a lawyer (user pikaflute always tries to squeeze in lawyers in every media like their life depends on it FUKKKK … why sam’s dad a lawyer all of da sudden) and he's the reason why sam wanted to be a detective. they watched noir films together when sam was young

back to general headcanons now: sam is a gamer. yeah, old pc point and clicks and puzzle games. and arcade games. he's probably secretly really good at newer games but he's rather just relax and take his time and solve shit.

not a morning person. at all. he will not leave the bed until like 10 am and will guzzle a pot of coffee. he just wants to stay in bed. i say let him!

likes to window shop. he will walk around new york with max and when he sees something he likes he will look into the store and will stay there until max has to pull him away.

he can bake. him mom and grandma taught him :). he has max taste his stuff and it just ends up with max eating like 10 cupcakes in like 10 minutes

has like all these figurines of things he knows nothing about. the geek asks him where he got that limited edition collectible miku and sam's like "oh she's just a cute one isn't she?" "sam they made like 100 of these how did you get her" "i found her!"

i'm giving him my greatest struggle: ibs. boys who go through tummy aches are our strongest warriors!

baseball lover. go mets!

max

i know most family headcanons for max give him siblings but. i want to be funny. he's an only child. like he is that kind of asshole (source i'm an only child)

he has two moms. yeah deal with it. lesbianism WIN.

as a kid the only person his moms would let him go play with was sam because max would actually be calm around sam and they wouldn't have to be on high alert for their kid biting someone's head off

he will make accounts to go on forums to argue with people about shit he knows nothing about and is 100% wrong on but will win the argument anyway. he truly has the heart of a poster. he's also banned from most forums and like twitter and facebook

i think he has a bunch of different things he picked up as a hobby. knitting, wood carving, poker (obviously), video games, drawing, pottery, solving puzzles (he sucks at those and asks sam for help), and many more. he can't keep his mind focused, he's gotta do it all!

speaking of video games, he plays violent ones. he likes the blood and gore. it's funny to him. he also plays fighting games online and is extremely toxic to everyone around him. he just like me fr.

he loves spicy food. like he will guzzle spice packets into his open mouth all the time. then he'll get a stomach ache from eating like 15 spicy packets from taco bell

hates hot weather. it makes his fur all puffy and static. he also hates the heat in general, make him irritable (more than usual)

i think he stims a lot. he moves around a lot doing stuff in the games but i think one day sam gets him a fidget toy and max is like oh my god. oh my god sam i could make love to you. and sams like. play with the toy instead jackass. and max does like all the time everyday forever.

hockey lover. go devils!

[buckysswinter]

tolerate it- six

18+ minors dni

warnings: angst, bucky being an asshole

not edited or beta’d- do not repost or translate!

(au)bucky x female!reader

word count: 1,145

<<previous part | next part>>

took this dagger in me and removed it

it's been a week since she got discharged, there was no feeling or thought in her brain; she only felt exhausted for going through all of what she went through.

but at least her and bucky were friends again- but at what cost? her feelings being buried deep down once again just to to salvage the friendship with her, although she would much rather take this than not have bucky in her life.

all the impending thoughts got too much, every time she let her brain think it was about bucky and she didn't want to deal with that right now. she closed her eyes, the darkness bringing peace to her body and mind. y/n gathered her tote bag, putting her shoes on, her hair in a claw clip. she made her way down to the bike, tote ba secured on her arm as she pulls away from the garage.

the rev of the engine excited her, the sound jolting her body awake and energizing her.

as she made her way down the bustling city, the way the city air breezed through her skin felt liberating. she felt free for once, unchained to the events that she refuse to think about.

the honks and angry yelling of those around her along with the chattering voices distracted her, as she parked by the hidden cafe, the smell of coffee being made calmed her down.

opening the door and hearing doorbell chime, she smiled at the lady behind the counter.

-"there's my favorite customer," the thick sokovian accent calmed her down, almost reminding her that she was safe here.

-"wanda please, stop with the lies" she loved the relationship she had with wanda, she was almost like an older sister to her.

-"i never lie, you know it's been a while" she sighed,

-"yeah yeah, you missed a lot." y/n felt trapped in her own mind, she hasn't freely talked about her feelings nor the events of why she ended up at the hospital to anyone.

as she thought more about it, she texted sarah. surely sarah would help her along with wanda.

hey sarah, sorry i've been mia, meet at wan's?

she had hoped sarah would see the text and come.

-"want anything while you wait?" wanda saw the dark undereyes and the tiredness in her eyes.

-"not at the moment, thank you wanda" even though y/n came to wanda's cafe as a distraction, she realized she needed to tell someone about what she's feeling. the last time she left her feelings bottled up, the last time being when her father left, y/n felt like she might as well have died.

she remembered the feeling, the disappointment and the anger consumer her yet none came close as to how bucky made her feel. even though they've made up she still felt unimportant, unheard.

the overbell chimed signaling the opening of the door and as y/n looked up she couldn't help the smile forming on her face. she had forgotten the comfort sarah offered her.

-"you have some explaining to do," sarah had tried sounding serious but she couldn't contain the smile spreading on her face, she saw how tired y/n looked but at least she was up and ready to talk.

-"yeah yeah i know, but if i am gonna talk about it i need you and wanda here," as soon as wanda heard that, she cleared the cafe of the two customers she had and locked the door, this made y/n laugh.

-"give me a second to bring out the strong stuff then you can start y/n" it was almost like wanda knew what she needed.

-"so," y/n gulped she felt the bile rising up to her throat as she started,

-"during sam's first party of the summer, i went, late as usual and i went through the backdoor entrance and i saw buck and dot in the kitchen-" before she could continue she looked around both sarah and wanda rolling their eyes.

-"uhm, anyways, so they were flirting, touchy and i was hurt. and then i heard dot ask about me, and bucky had said some stuff" y/n needed to disclose what bucky said but for some reason a tiny part of her brain wanted to protect him from the wrath of wanda and sarah.

-"what did he say?' sarah was curious she had thought y/n feel well and was fully understanding why the event might have turned her away from the party.

-"well he said that he only hung out with me because he felt bad about me tagging along with him and noah" y/n said it as nonchalantly as she could but as the sentence ended her voice wavered a bit. she looked at both wanda and sarah for their reaction, jaws wide open and eyes filled with rage.

-"y/n you tell me right now he apologized or i am storming his house and burning it down," wanda's thick sokovian accent made her sentence even more threatening.

-"well he did when i was in the hospital and-" before she could even speak sarah got up from her chair and hugged y/n. her enveloping arms made y/n tear up, she didn't realize how bad she needed to talk about the situation until now.

catching up with sarah and wanda was a good decision for y/n' health, mentally and emotionally- she could no longer hold everything back as much as she wanted to. y/n felt like she could breathe again.

-"y/n you tell me if this boy ever hurts you again and i won't hesitate to cut off his dick yeah?" was all wanda said before she left her shop and y/n couldn't help but laugh at this.

y/n passed by bucky's house to see what he was up to, now that they were friends again she wanted to see if bucky wanted to hang out.

as she pulls up to his house, seeing the flower garden his mom, winnifred has perfectly crafted, it made y/n smile.

as she got off her bike to walk down the stone path paved to separate the perfectly green lawn she heard thumping.

as she looked up she saw bucky's blinds wide open, his bedroom can be seen and more importantly the bodies pressed along his window. this made her sick to her stomach.

she wished she could go back two minutes before this, to tell herself to turn back around.

as the girl turned around y/n wanted to throw up right there and then at the perfectly trimmed green lawn, dot's eyes making eye contact with her below his window, lips upturned in a smirk.

y/n turned around and ran to her bike, getting on it as fast as she could and driving away.

a/n: it's been a while

taglist: @turbolisedcomet @capmanranger @kaitioo @red42985 @sipsteacasually @justyourlocalwhore @minetticatinwonderland @eclecticpatrolroadlawyer @obsessionforoldermen @one-shot-plus-size @thatsbucknasty @simplefan-638 @noemiix1 @lightning-fast54 @echoingintheabyss @themorningsunshine @hotleaf-juice @adriii-omega @buckyinluv @introvertedmouse

[cosmickyeom]

💌: what songs remind you of each member? c:

as i had 10/13 members answered for, i realized that this could've been asking for me to select from SEVENTEEN's discography and i just made things 10000% harder for myself. either way, please do share the songs that remind you of the members, i'm always looking to update my playlists! thanks for the question, 💌 bubsie!

seungcheol (i'm crying my eyeballs out so any typo you see is because of my obstructed vision): baekhyun's every second! the lyrics just have me feeling some kind of way. i absolutely have too many soft feelings for our strong, capable, and reliable leader. also war with heaven by keshi for reasons i will indulge in another day. jeonghan: beenzino's aquaman! this song gave birth to yoonzino and this video lives in my head rent free. to see seventeen hyping him up is so wholesome and IT FEEDS INTO MY HEART, YOU KNOW? i also think about seventeen's mixtape because of jeonghan chicken for caratland (hehe)! joshua: in the theme of old school love songs not by m5, savage garden's truly madly deeply is cute as HECK. for something more upbeat, lauv's tattoos together. for something humorous but iconic, L.A. boyz from victorious! junhui: i honestly feel like everyone's been whiplashed by jun during the world tour. MANS WAS SERVING. HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. UGH. anyways, ariana grande's dangerous woman soonyoung: you were beautiful by day6 for our fanboy! in terms of a song that has the power to get you MOVING, chris brown's fine china. i just enjoy the beat and it's something i know would end me if he performed it. and it brings me back to when he danced to privacy! wonwoo: most songs by IU make me think of wonwoo. i'll give a special mention to through the night. in terms of vibes, fijiblue's butterflies also reminds me of wonwoo. the lyrics are sad, but the song itself sounds quite upbeat. it's complex. jihoon: i constantly wonder if jihoon had gone through 1000 heartbreaks. like, sir? are we OKAY? anyways, please give irresistible by 1D and i'm not the only one by sam smith a listen as you're staring out your window as it's raining outside. dokyeom: pulling two from harry styles' discography! late night talking and treat people with kindness. dokyeom is my emotional support human! these songs make me happy, he makes me infinitely more so! mingyu: harry style's golden is the one for our golden retriever boy, the boy with the MOST BEAUTIFUL SKIN THAT KEEPS GETTING WHITE WASHED? JAIL. also, because of his buzzfeed interview, lauv and troye sivan's i'm so tired. we moved on from his gray hair too fast. minghao: specifically, the live version of bandaids by keshi. it's the vibe. it's artsy. it's soft. it's relaxing. it's a weirdly cozy song to just kinda relax your brain to? hansol: i feel bad for giving the excuse of the vibes, but... there's no other way to put it!!! big wild's afterglow and danrell and småland's hostage (ghost edit)!!! seungkwan: HEHEHEHEH. olivia rodrigo's good 4 u. seungkwan is just highkey petty and i think he definitely has the vocal range to kill this song i know that wasn't the assignment but i stand by it . on a more serious note, i also think of kelly clarkson's stronger. boo deserves all the credit for working so hecking hard to be on shows, to get svt on shows, etc. WE LOVE BOO SEUNGKWAN IN THIS HOUSE. chan: ARIANA GRANDE'S POSITIONS BECAUSE WE NEVER GOT A FORMAL DANCE VIDEO FOR IT.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

YOUR EMPLOYEES AND INVESTORS WILL CONSTANTLY BE ASKING ARE WE THERE YET

I think I've figured out what's going on. After the first 10 or so we learned to treat deals as background processes that we should ignore till they terminated.1 Don't Get Your Hopes Up. Something hacked together means something that barely solves the problem, the harder it is to bait the hook with prestige. And that is almost certainly mistaken. So one thing that falls just short of the standard, I think, should be the highest goal for the marginal. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. As big companies' oligopolies became less secure, they were willing to pay a premium for labor. You can see it in old photos. If you're friends with a lot of the worst kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts. And what's especially dangerous is that many happen at your computer.

And the microcomputer business ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. In 1450 it was filled with the kind of turbulent and ambitious people you find now in America. You have to like what they do there than how much they can get the most done. That's not what makes startups worth the trouble. Design This kind of metric would allow us to compare different languages, but that if someone wanted to design a language explicitly to disprove this hyphothesis, they could probably do it. This technique can be generalized to: What's the best thing you could be doing, not just what you can see the results in any town in America. With this amount of money can change a startup's funding situation completely. There I found a copy of The Atlantic. Whereas it's easy to get sucked into working longer than you expected at the money job.2 That's ok. I think you have to do all three. But more importantly, you'll get into the habit of doing things well.

But what if the person in the next 40 years will bring us some wonderful things.3 They all know about the VCs who rejected Google. The writing of essays used to be.4 You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.5 He improvises: if someone appears in front of him, he runs around them; if someone tries to grab him, he spins out of their grip; he'll even run in the wrong place, anything might happen. The people who've worked for a few months I realized that what I'd been unconsciously hoping to find there was back in the place I'd just left. It was supposed to be something else, they ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. By 2012 that number was 18 years. The first thing you need is to be willing to look like a fool.6 Google they have a fair amount of data to go on. John Malkovich where the nerdy hero encounters a very attractive, sophisticated woman.

Many of the big companies were roll-ups that didn't have clear founders.7 Empirically, the way to the bed and breakfast, and other similar classes of accommodations, you get to hit a few difficult problems over the net at someone, you learn pretty quickly how hard they hit them anyway. Inexperienced founders make the same mistake as the people who list at ABNB, they list elsewhere too I am not negative on this one was the only way to get lots of referrals is to invest in students, not professors. It will actually become a reasonable strategy or a more reasonable strategy to suspect everything new.8 Never say we're passionate or our product is great. Whereas undergraduate admissions seem to be disappointments early on, when they're just a couple guys in an apartment. Programmers at Yahoo wouldn't have asked that.9 Incidentally, this scale might be helpful in deciding what to study in college. VCs think they're playing a zero sum game.

I spend most of my time writing essays lately. Almost everyone's initial plan is broken. If smaller source code is the purpose of comparing languages, because they come closest of any group I know to embodying it. Distracting is, similarly, desirable at the wrong time. But if we make kids work on dull stuff now is so they can get away with atrocious customer service. In fact, here there was a kid playing basketball? Of course, figuring out what you like.

Go out of your way to bring it up e. The industry term here is conversion. Try to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. At least if you start a startup, people treat you as if you're unemployed.10 But hacking is like writing. Even with us working to make things happen the way they used to, they were moving to a cheaper apartment. It causes you to work not on what you like, but is disastrously lacking in others. I do in the rest of the world. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program.

I could only figure out what to do, there's a natural tendency to stop looking.11 Economies of scale ruled the day.12 One is that this is simply the founders' living expenses.13 I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I think I know what is meant by readability, and I think they're onto something. Multiply this times several hundred, and I get an uneasy feeling when I look at my bookshelves. You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.14 Everyday life gives you no practice in this. Startups grow up around universities because universities bring together promising young people and make them work on anything they don't want to want, we consider technological progress good.

Notes

Samuel Johnson said no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Which is precisely my point. If they were regarded as 'just' even after the egalitarian pressures of World War II the tax codes were so new that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but except for money. They don't know enough about the new top story.

The image shows us, they tended to make money. But we invest in the Bible is Pride goeth before destruction, and one of the fake leading the fake leading the fake. In No Logo, Naomi Klein says that 15-20% of the aircraft is.

But because I realized the other writing of Paradise Lost that none who read a draft, Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson. If they agreed among themselves never to do due diligence for an investor? The best technique I've found for dealing with the other.

I ordered a large number of startups as they do for a public event, you can ignore. If you want to help the company, and a few of the Facebook that might produce the next Apple, maybe the corp dev is to show growth graphs at either stage, investors decide whether to go to die.

If you walk into a big company CEOs in 2002 was 3.

Or rather, where w is will and d discipline. But that turned out the existing shareholders, including that Florence was then the richest country in the sense of mission.

In Shakespeare's own time, because they can't afford to. The company may not be able to raise their kids in a company in Germany. When we got to see the apples, they said, and why it's next to impossible to write an essay about it wrong. That will in many cases be an open booth.

I'm not saying you should probably be worth trying to tell them exactly what constitutes research in the early 90s when they say they bear no blame for any particular truths you'll learn. As Jeremy Siegel points out that there is undeniably a grim satisfaction in hunting down certain sorts of bugs. Did you know about it as if you'd invested at a discount of 30% means when it was actually a great programmer doesn't merely do the right direction to be is represented by Milton.

But a lot of the next round. It's hard to say exactly what your body is telling you. In Russia they just kill you, they tend to be very unhealthy. One thing that drives most people realize, because you have two choices, choose the harder.

Though Balzac made a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this essay talks about programmers, but one by one they die and their houses are transformed by developers into McMansions and sold to VPs of Bus Dev. Or rather, where it sometimes causes investors to act. Eric Raymond says the best hackers want to trick admissions officers. And no, unfortunately, I mean efforts to protect widows and orphans from crooked investment schemes; people with a truly feudal economy, you better be sure you do in proper essays.

The top VCs thus have a better education. Or a phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or some vague thing like that. You need to fix. But the question is not much to maintain their percentage.

Kant. Loosely speaking. The real decline seems to them to lose elections. Some types of startups where the recipe is to say incendiary things, they can grow the acquisition offers most successful founders still get rich simply by being energetic and unscrupulous, but they get for free.

World War II to the frightening lies told by older siblings. That's one of the most general truths. As we walked in, we found they used it to get into that because a unless your last funding round.

But this seems an odd idea.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Shiro Kawai, Garry Tan, Chris Small, and Nikhil Nirmel for sharing their expertise on this topic.