#asylum forums

[shefightslikeagirl]

The Official Asylum Forum: A History

An Asylum History post by @shefightslikeagirl

The tacky pink stripes. The banhammers. The blog posts. The drama.

Take yourself back a decade or two and revisit The Asylum Forum, complete with 2000s-pettiness, rage posting, and fans who take the meaning of parasocial to a whole new level.

Don't forget to have a cup of tea and relax a little...

[diz-eaze]

please please please can you please write more modern au scara x reader 🥺🥺🙏🏻🙏🏻 feed… me…. a continuation of the latest one where he uses technology to stalk reader and become their roommate :3

luv ur writing!!!! it’s so humorous and lighthearted while still itching that yandere scratch idk.

even if u dont write a sequel just wanted to say i loved it <3 have a nice day

; thank u so so much ahhhh !! I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS ON MODERN AU SCARA TEEHEE (and just him in general... 4ever a scaranator). my indulgence is writing yanderes in a lowkey comical manner like yesss they are mentally ill but at least they're serving entertainment while you're in captivity !! like we honestly need more yanderes put into unserious-not-so-unserious situations <3 bc imagine seeing this one guy (scara) from your massive college campus being so deranged and unhinged about you and going... "wait,,, that's irl oomf??" NEGATIVE AURA I FEAR. anyways this isn't proofread bc I just barfed this out, so sorry for any mistakes! <3

; continuation to this post

; yandere, minor nsfw content, cyberstalker to roommate scara pipeline, gooner scara :D, half serious half silly, creepy behavior, do nawt be like roomie scara </3

additional yandere scara thoughts !!

an hour into being roommates, you convinced him to download snapchat just so you can have a snapstreak with him. he puts up a facade of being a nonchalant, cool, and mysterious guy (he consulted the online forums on what traits many people his age found attractive so now he's rolling with it until he's buried six feet under) so he cooly (not) rolls his eyes before taking his phone out. in your excitement, you crowd around him while he takes his time setting up an account (he's dying with joy inside bc !! ur so close to him !!).

you tell him upfront that this snapstreak shit is serious business for you and that you'd kick him out if he misses a day and he takes it so seriously, he would never intend to miss a snap from you in the first place, but your words caused him to lock the fuck in. so now every night, the moment the clock turn 00:00, trust and believe you'll receive a snap from him to continue your streak. it doesn't matter if you're awake or not, he is sending that shit asap ! (and yes, he does screenshot every snap you send to him and keeps it in a private folder in his gallery to look at whenever he hasn't talked to you in 3 minutes MAXIMUM.)

manifestations DO come true because now he's mutuals with not only your facebook account, but also on twitter ! life is a game and scara is a winner at it. he keeps his dump accounts a secret from you, it's for the better because if you looked at it, you'd send him away to a psych ward and, well, he doesn't want to be separated from you.

your facebook account is a private account, so scara couldn't infiltrate it back then. but the moment you accepted his friend request post-roommates era, the floodgates had opened. that night, he impatiently waited for you to retreat to your room so that he can eagerly and peacefully scroll through your entire account from most recent to oldest. he stayed up all night just screenshotting and saving any pictures you posted to his 3053 terabyte storage computer. he makes it his life mission to max the computer storage with every bit of information he can find on you, both internet and real-life (he documents it down the moment you look away from him).

inside his dump account on twitter, he retweets the mush gushy tweets that are like, "me and my partner don't argue, they tell me to shut up and I do" knowing damn WELL he's not in a relationship with you. but that's okay. because this is him manifesting you into making it happen. also randomly posts pictures of you accidentally falling asleep on the couch mid-study session with the caption, ":) so cute" ... ok!! this jackass thinks he's boyfriendcore 😂😂😂 like no put down that phone because you belong in a mental asylum sir.

he doesn't use reddit anymore because one time, he vaguely described your personality in a post of him asking for help to romance you, and some random in the comments called you unsavory names. he crashed out so bad that he called up his estranged mother (ei) just so he could get the connections to doxx them and ruin their life in the same breath. he hates it when other people perceive you because, in his head, they're severely mischaracterizing you as a person.

HE DEFINITELY TERRORIZES YOUR INSTRAGRAM NGL !! every morning, without fail, you wake up and find that some anonymous user is viciously yearning for you in your NGL confessions, and every time, you shrug it off because you think it's one of your friends playing a prank on you. "I want to be the towel you used earlier during your P.E class. I'm so jealous, I wished it was me licking your sweat away :(", "can you chew me the way you chewed on the cap of your pen.", "I love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you." ...err, how about we take a step back? :). but no. it's actually your roommate who sits across from you while you eat breakfast together. he definitely throws up in jealousy when he sees you post an NGL confession that he did NOT write !! the only yearner allowed in your life is him btw. it's the only morally correct answer.

during the dark times (pre-roommate era), a tale as old as time, but scara definitely used pornhub to jack off to anyone that resembled you and !! closed his eyes while doing so because in his head he truly just envisions him and you in the place of the actors. he was in so deep into it, he made an excel sheet that categorized actors based on how close they were to looking and acting like you. sigh. he no longer does this now that he's in such close proximity to you, just being in your presence alone supplies him with enough goon material to last him through the entire month.

small freakymouche interlude

entering true freak territory, cyberstalker-era scara was definitely so thirsty for you (i mean. he still is). sometimes, jerking off to porn that contain actors that resemble you isn't close to enough, he actually needs you. and looking at your LinkedIn profile would normally set him off the edge, but even that won't cut it occasionally. some days, he jerks off for hours - fist pumping his cock repeatedly, desparately, yet he's never able to come because he hasn't seen you in any of his classes yet :( but when he does... oh. You probably only shared one (1) class with him, and there's a chance you didn't even sit near him at all - but archons, just seeing you in real-life with his own eyes and not through the screen of his phone is enough for his dick to harden up. he quickly excuses himself 15 minutes into class so that he can have an emergency jerk session in one of the bathroom stalls. heavens forbid if you greet him that day because now he's doubling his jerk session just from your voice alone.

One time, he was aimlessly scrolling through his facebook timeline when one of your mutual friends posted a beach outing picture with your body being so exposed in ways he never thought he'd actually see (err, view). the way the golden sunlight only served to make your body seem so heavenly, so utterly temping - he started salivating. he almost detached his dick off of his body from how hard he was beating it that day :( that (cropped) group photo is still one of his top faves and he still looks at it every night before he goes to bed.

roommate scara is still working up the courage to one day sneak into your room while you're out so that he can obtain high-quality goon material. but for now he'll settle for accidental touches (that he definitely did NOT plan). one day, he swears it on EVERYONE'S soul.

there's a piece of sock you left behind in the living room and never saw again. when asked about it, scara will shrug and say he doesn't know where it could be. you assume you must have accidentally thrown it away during landry session. in reality, his dick has violated your sock so much it's become so crusty and icky.

speaking of laundry... roommate scara is definitely a loyal volunteer of doing both his and your laundry due to his... personal agenda. said agenda involves him inhaling every piece of worn clothing you have until he memorizes it before throwing it onto the washing machine. it's definitely his second favorite chore to do.

his favorite chore to do is washing the dishes !! this is because he licks all the utensils you used and even licks off any spare sauce, rice, noodle, etc. left behind on your plate :) this way, you're indirectly kissing him <3

but it's okay if he's gooning 24/7, because he's gooning out of affection. he's doing it for the love of the game !

closing thoughts <3

scara would very much rather shoot his foot with a gun than let anyone inside your shared living space. he's the ultimate gatekeeper. he claims he simply doesn't want anyone intruding his peace but he's just derangely jealous I fear.

scara runs LAPS around your dorm the moment you're even a MINUTE late from the time you told him you'd be home by. oh, it's 7:31PM even though you told him you'd be at the dorm by 7:30PM? yeah, your phone is going to get blown up by his spam messages.

he already planned out your entire marriage and vows in his mind. even has it saved on a google doc.

[seat-safety-switch]

Everyone now is super excited to use their 3D printers. With this magical new piece of science-fiction, you too can produce the exact wad of plastic you need to solve a problem. Need a tube, but at a weird angle in order to connect it to another tube? It's just six hours away, baby, unless something goes wrong and you have to get a new extruder shipped. House full of plastic pieces that are worthless because you fucked up basic measuring on them? Print a bin to put them in until you have a wobbly table to level out.

Now, don't think I'm down on this new technology. Like many hobbyists, I cherish any new power that lets me pretend to be a 1980s comic book villain. I love to be able to make, with just a thought, the exact piece of extruded microplastics that I need to hold my garbage-picked trash parts together in a new configuration. Whether or not this combination of parts ever should have existed is a matter for the philosophers.

Naturally, I don't have a 3D printer, because they cost money and require electricity, neither of which I have. Instead of this, I go on the internet and complain bitterly that certain things are impossible to make. Then, I wait until some nerds get mad and make those things just to shut me up. At this point – and this is critical – I do not shut up. I go and take my new headlight bracket, or fancy mirror-alignment clip, or replacement molar, and I complain about it endlessly. "It could be smoother," I say. Maybe their printer sucks, I propose. This usually gets me a couple more spite projects, until they are driven into the insane asylum by my endless requests for useless gewgaws.

Yes indeed: the democratized future of at-home manufacturing is finally here. Used to be, cranks like myself would have to phone a machine shop and get the old guy working the mill super angry before he would spitefully bang out a 20-hour piece of magic. Now, you have thousands of weird nerds to pick from, and all of them available for just the cost of a library card and a throwaway forum account.

[orphiclovers]

if orv happened irl kdj wouldn't have gotten banned from the forums for being cringe about twsa itd have been much worse. a weird lonely socially unaware mentally ill guy embarrassing himself online full name attached by posting too earnestly and passionately about a niche fandom and characters? on 2010 internet? he would have been a lolcow 1000% is all im saying. they would have fucking cannibalized him.

just look at his genuine reaction to lil han sooyoungs hate comments oh this guy would have been driven to a psychotic break by memelords on the internet kdj wouldnt last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

[jadewithaj]

TSN Fics Recs (AO3 edition)

Hey so by popular demand (no one, I offered…) and @subaru-copilot was kind enough to indulge me. I have decided to raid my ao3 tsn bookmarks to recommend some fics I love over the years! These are all on AO3, a few were cross-posted between AO3 and LiveJournals I believe, some were deleted on LJ but still on AO3. Anyway still recommend checking out tsn forum on LJ, insane gems!!!!

These fics are not rank in order, just whatever I think is good!

1) let me count the ways - basha. Amnesia fic, canon-divergent. Eduardo woke up somewhere 10 years into the future, thinking it’s still 2004. Sorta a fix-it story, Sean Parker doesn’t suck…one of my favorites til this day! Just overall super well written. Honestly can say the same for every fic by basha! Amazing!!!

2) hit where it hurts - basha. Alternate universe - Mr. & Mrs. Smith AU. Another banger by basha!!! Absolutely one of my all time favorites, I must’ve read this like a million times. Quite indulgent in my opinion but somehow characterization still top tier!

3) Draw Me a Map - fairy_tale_echo. Post-canon, fix-it, epistolary, slow-burn. A story in which Mark and Eduardo fix their relationship while Eduardo travels the world. Truly an ideal world where everybody recognizes their mistakes. Holy grail!!!

4) the farther i fall i’m beside you - therealw. Post-canon, fix-it, pining. Another fix-it story where Eduardo is so clearly in love with Mark that everyone can see it, except Mark…so naturally someone told him. And it starts from there! I must confess I don’t remember much about this story, but for this post I actually went and re-read it, and yeah, it was bookmarked for a reason! The way everyone interacted with everyone in this is so very natural. Marilyn you are mvp!

5) Sympathy For The Devil - merisunshine36, thedeadparrot. Actually not a singular work but a series! Mafia AU! Or one where Mark is a mafia boss and he also happens to date Eduardo. This series is actually so insane! It’s not really like a light mafia setting where everything is solved by the end of the day. The plot is very dark and the ending is I guess happy? But is it for long? Either way absolutely stunning work and really everyone should read this!

6) M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) - antistar_e (kaikamahine). Serial Killers AU. One where, as the name suggests, Mark and Eduardo are actually not normal students. Everything happened to Facebook still happened, just with a twist! A brilliant work honestly, I want to be in the author’s brain soooo badddd!!!!

7) Timeline - hepaticas. Time travel, The Time Traveler’s Wife AU. Where Eduardo is a time traveler! If anyone watches the movie, it’s pretty much that concept of course, but make it TSN! I remember crying so hard reading this, I’m not sure if I’m ready to read it again actually…but it’s AMAZING!!!

8) Financial Planning & Analysis For Dummies - Beekurii (morningghost). Post-canon, fix-it, INCOMPLETE. To be completely honest, the reason why I added this is because it was written a little after I got into the fandom and it holds a special place in my heart. I still believe the author will fulfill their promise and finish it…I said as they drag me into the asylum😔

9) Infinite Arms - wardo_wedidit🔒. PWP, established relationship, dom/sub. A very indulgent fic, not much else to say tbh😂. I love this author so so much! Totally should check out their other stuff too!

10) Eternal sunshine of our minds - SanAnn. Canon-divergent, ESOTSM AU. One where Mark went and get Eduardo erased from his memory…I remember this one fondly, another tear jerker tbh. The ending is so so good and so worth a read!

11) In Every Line of Code - lc2l. Alternate Universe - Robots. A MASTERPIECE, LIKE I MEAN IT!!! World where Eduardo is a robot and Mark’s parents bought him as a gift for Mark. Facebook still being created. I bawled! Absolutely should go into this blind!!!! No spoiler!!!!!

Of course these are just a few that I love. There are so much more!!! But if anything I hope it’s a good introduction, with variety. But seriously there are so much more!

[argyleteatime]

Hey Tumblings,

Following up on my last post - as America attempts to become a hellscape I've been looking into where I can help monetarily. If you have the resources and want, the below charities all go to good stuff, and have an above 85% rating on Charity Advisor. (These are on top of the well-known names of ACLU, PP, HRC, NAACP, CRR, SPLC, etc.)

For anyone who needs something to remind them of hope and gives straight-forward action options, my sister (who exists in a more positive state of mind than I do) shared Chop Wood, Carry Water with me, and I've found it valuable in keeping my spirits up. If you don't have the funds or energy for either of these, just be kind to yourself.

Transgender Law Center - Trans Rights 

PEN - Freedom of Expression/Literature

CREW - An Ethics Watchdog in Washington

Asylum Access - International Refugee Support

UNRWA - Palestinian Aide

National Immigration Forum - Supporting Immigrant Rights in the US

Race Forward - Racial Justice Fund

NRDC - Natural Resources Fund/Planetary Aide

Elevated Access - Provides free flights to people seeking Gender-Affirming or Abortion Care that cannot access them locally

Americans United for Separation of Church and State - What it says, has been instrumental in access to Birth Control, blocking far-right religious based laws

Lambda Legal - legal aid for LGBTQIA+ communities

[consanguinitatum]

Pinned Post: All My Deep Dives into David Tennant's Rare or Obscure Audio, Video and Theatre Performances

About Me: I'm a professional archivist and fan of David's since 2013 who was once a research reporter for the now-defunct DT unoffical news site, David Tennant at DT Forum. I began my research into David's early Scottish theatre work in mid-2014, and though that's my main research focus, my research interests usually fall somewhere in the "if it's rare or obscure and DT did it, I'm curious and want to hunt it down!"

If you're interested in David Tennant's early career in theatre, film and audio, you'll want to read my research. From Bite, to Spaces, to my interview with Takin' Over The Asylum's David Blair, I post my deep dives into the obscure facets of David's work. They feature rare photos, interesting information, archival finds, and every now and again, videos and audios you can listen to. You can also listen to a minisode of my in-development podcast (also called A Tennantcy To Act) where I explore Golaschin, an unknown 1989 audio play David did as a 2nd year drama student!

A Tennantcy To Act is an in-depth compendium of David's growth from the sharp kid to the greatest live stage actor of his generation.

There's so much to read and learn and be amazed by, and a resource you'll find yourself going back to again and again. You'll find nothing else like it on the internet, expertly curated and compiled over many years of professional research others will never have the opportunity to do. Subscribe for free (or click "Let me preview it first!) to get notifications whenever a new article is posted; you won't be disappointed!

And feel free to chat with me there - you can message me directly if you have any thoughts, questions, or info to add!

[shefightslikeagirl]

Updates!

THE JOURNAL ARCHIVES

After a year or two and a lot of copy/paste, I've finally migrated BTP's old journal archive to SFLAG. I'm still going to see if I can bully the wayback machine into giving me a few more of EA's journal entries, but for now, THE JOURNAL ARCHIVES ARE COMPLETE!

Complete as they'll ever be, anyway. Things have been lost to time.

Early 2000s (2001-2005)

Late 2000s (2006-2009)

The 2010s (2010-2019)

The 2020s (2020-Current)

NEWSLETTERS

I added some Wayback Machine links to the Newsletter pages. If you never delete your emails and have copies of newsletters, feel free to forward them to me at shefightslikeagirltumblr@gmail.com

Especially anything 2010 and before!

ART

The Art page has been updated with all of EA's AI Art Posts. I managed to save them all before she wiped her Instagram.

THE ASYLUM FOR WAYWARD VICTORIAN GIRLS

All pages in this section are complete--for now.

Release Timeline

Differences Between Editions

Standard Editions (English) 

International Editions

The Quest for the Spoon of the Royals

NEW PROJECTS

There are a few more masterposts I'd like to do, but the last big undertaking I'm working on is an [unofficial] EA Timeline. I've been writing one that's on a scrollable page, but it's incredibly slow-going. I'd also like to do a discography that can double as an "ultimate" EA Album Guide.

Masterposts in progress:

The Closing of the Asylum Forums

The Asylum Army Fanclub

After that, I'll attempt to finish up the Merch section. But anymore than that... I don't think it'll happen. I'm all tapped out on energy and interest. Unless EA comes back, that will probably be the end of the archive.

But, please, if you have anything that you see I'm missing, tell me in the inbox or send me an email! I'd love any help!

[ashyjingles]

Lupa and other Roman Founding Myths in the Riordanverse.

Including Romulus, Remus, and Lupa; Aeneas fleeing Troy; and archeological evidence on the founding of Rome. (And the Mist in the Riordanverse)

Chapter 2, In The Beginning, covers the founding myths of Rome.

The first is on Remus and Romulus, the twins that were born to virgin priestess Rhea Silvia who claimed Mars had raped her. Her uncle Amulius, who was the current king of Alba Longa after his brother was taken off the throne. Not wanting children with a more legitimate claim to the throne than him, he ordered his servants to drown the babies in the river Tiber. Before they were washed away to their death by an incoming flood, a wolf came to the rescue and nursed them. When they grew up, they then set out to establish their own city. They disagreed on where to build the foundations and chose different hills. When Remus later tried jumping over Romulus’ defenses, Romulus killed his brother.

After Remus’ death, the city needed more citizens. Romulus declared Rome an asylum for all runaway slaves, criminals, wanderers, and refugees. The problem was that all of their new citizens were men, and they lacked women. So, they stole young women from neighboring towns. Most fought back, and Rome defeated them, but the Sabines in particular did not stop fighting until the abducted women came out and put a stop to their fighting, claiming they had come to love their new husbands and couldn’t bear to see either side die.

In order to keep his new citizens from fleeing from these fights, however, Romulus had constructed a statue temple of Jupiter and prayed to it to give his men courage. It would later turn into the Temple of Jupiter Stator. Cicero later stood in front of said statue while dismantling Catiline’s plot.

Later Romans had different variations of this story. Some claimed the fight for the women was a ‘just war’ because the other sides had denied their request for intermarriage. Some claimed that Rhea Silvia’s claims were a cover for a mortal affair. Some avoided the point of Romulus killing Remus, usually by altering the story so Remus lived past Romulus or by fading him out of the story once they first established Rome’s foundations. 

Whatever the case, Beard points out that all of the different versions reflect the culture later Romans had at the time, especially after Catiline’s plot. There were themes in both their myths and culture at the time revolving around fratricide and the nature of Roman marriage, the former being an extreme source of discomfort for Roman citizens at the time.

Aeneas’ myth is also covered in this chapter. Aeneas, a Trojan hero, escaped Troy during the Trojan War with his son and father. He reached Italy, bringing with him some artifacts of his past life.

There are several other versions of his story, often intertwined with Greek literature, where Aeneas had visited Delos at one point or another. Some say his tomb was found in Lavinium, a town not far from Rome. Some versions said Aeneas brought the statue of the goddess Pallas Athena from Troy to be kept in the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum.

Considering the story of Aeneas was just as heavily a part of Roman culture as Romulus’, Some Romans attempted to validate both at once by saying Aeneas was Romulus’ grandfather. One version states that Aeneas founded Lavinium while his son, Ascanius, founded Alba Longa, the city that Remus and Romulus were later exiled from, and “a shadowy and, even by Roman standards, flagrantly fictional dynasty of Alban Kings was constructed to bridge the gap between Ascanius and the magic date of 753 BCE” (page 77).

In these founding myths, Beard points out that the Romans are always the foreigners whether it be riff-raff coming to Rome as an asylum or Aeneas fleeing Troy and either establishing Rome himself or finding settlers already there in exile from another land.

Archeology can provide other evidence as well. Romans had a tendency to hold onto articles of the past from physical items to rituals and politics. Some evidence suggested there had been two civilizations living in the hills of Rome because they called two of them colles instead of montes despite them effectively being synonyms in Latin. Beard points out how in the story of Romulus the Sabines and Romans lived in relative proximity, and questions if these differences in words reflect the myth based on who occupied what hills. 

Physical evidence, such as graves and excavation sites, leave other implications. Early burial sites and pottery evidence have been predicted to be from 1000 BCE, while radiocarbon dating suggests they're all too young by about a hundred years. There is also enough evidence from the Middle Bronze Age, between 1700 and 1300 BCE, that point to people having already settled down rather than passing through.

There is also more evidence that directly contradicts earlier myths. There are few archeological remains to suggest the Temple of Jupiter Stator had been built so early, “which must have in any case been rebuilt by Cicero’s time, especially if its roots really did go back to the beginning of Rome” (page 53). 

There was also a set of black stone slabs in the pavement of the Forum, making it distinct from the rest of the flooring in the area. When the stone below it was excavated, an early shrine, possibly to the god Vulcan was found, along with Athenian pottery, early Latin written in stone, and every day trinkets such as cups and jewelry. Some Romans at the time believed it to be an unlucky spot, others believed it to be Romulus’ grave.

In the Riordanverse, some of these myths have already been established as true, such as Romulus and Remus’ given by the presence of Lupa. Obviously, in fiction, some truth is going to be bent. But how much? I’m assuming that the rest of the world knows about as much about Rome as we do from archeological evidence to myths. 

However, in the Riordanverse mythological events witnessed by mortals are disguised as non-mythological thanks to the Mist. How much, in a fantastical setting like this, would be either hidden away from or shown to the rest of the world? When would these myths have transitioned from fact to fiction, and how much could we attribute to the Mist? Could different people believe in different stories thanks to the Mist? How do we establish which one is the ‘true’ myth in this setting?

It’s established that both Greek and Roman myths exist because of the belief put into them. It’s what causes two different pantheons entirely, with each Greek god having their very real Roman counterpart while still technically existing as one entity. How true does this make each of their myths? Based on chronology, Greek myths would have a certain superiority to the truth than Roman ones. 

But how do we know?

Much of history is written in the eyes of the victor which tends to distort it. Would New Rome, for the sake of their pride, hold on to the more appealing myths? If so, it further blurs the line of whether the Greek or the Roman version of a myth is the ‘right’ one. 

We don’t.

There are several versions of the Roman founding myths in Heroes of Olympus: Lupa, who raised Remus and Romulus, as previously mentioned and Aeneas.

“‘Romans.’ Clarisse tossed Seymour a Snausage. ‘You expect us to believe there’s another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we’ve never even heard of them.’ Piper sat forward. ‘The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other.’ ‘I can respect that,’ Clarisse said. ‘Still, why haven’t we ever run across each other on quests?’  ‘Oh yes,’ Chiron said sadly, ‘You have, many times. It’s always a tragedy, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped, and eventually made his way to Italy, where he founded a race that would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities.’” – Page 549, The Lost Hero 

And I can’t find the quote at the moment, but I believe Lupa talks about Remus and Romulus in the series. The fandom wiki says “She can also be a loving mother, as Percy claimed that she frequently tells her role in Remus and Romulus' fates, implying that she still is proud of them” under the personality tab.

To choose between them would be a relatively simple choice: while Chiron, as a normally reputable source, spoke of Aeneas’ tale, Lupa is a character we directly interact with in the text, having lines of her own. (Chiron even references her as his Roman counterpart a page or two later.) Of course, if you went with the theory Beard stated that Aeneas was actually the twins’ grandfather, both could be true. 

But only choosing one to be ‘right’ brings up the Mist: Could the story Chiron told them only be to disguise Lupa’s mythological role? 

Prior to Jason announcing the presence of Roman mythology, the demigods at Camp-Half blood genuinely did not know that there were Roman counterparts to their Greek gods, let alone Roman demigods. There has previously been divine interference to make sure the two groups don’t cross paths, as stated by Chiron. The mist could be one of the tools the gods used to be sure of this, which includes covering up evidence of Roman myths being not so… mythological. This could lead to several myths existing at once, each with their own evidence.

But does this make the story Chiron told of Aeneas false? I still think not. While not a thing found in traditional Greek mythology, a god can fade when people’s belief in them fades.

“‘But gods can’t die,’ Grover said. ‘They can fade,’ Pan said, ‘When everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to power, and their sacred places disappear.” – Page 314, The Battle of the Labyrinth.

I would have used a quote from Trials of Apollo because I’m sure there are quotes more explicitly on the rise to power thanks to Caligula, Commodus, and Nero, but I cannot find it for the life of me without rereading the series which I do not have time for at the moment.

But this shows how belief of a being can cause both the rise and fall to and from being a deity. Lupa is explicitly stated to be a wolf-goddess in the books (Despite not being one in the original myth, but once again Percy Jackson isn’t the most adherent to those. Perhaps she was made immortal to train all future demigods, like Chiron.) and while I’m pretty sure Aeneas would have to exist first in order to become immortalized, I’m sure enough people would have believed in his story and the spirit of Rome (his would-be sacred place, I imagine) that it could plausibly happen in that universe. 

Furthermore, there are 4 known and confirmed pantheons in the Riordanverse: Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian. They are bound to have overlapping myths, from the soul of the sun to the creation of the world. And when you confirm that these pantheons exist, you are by extension confirming that their individual myths are true.

This is quite possibly the most long winded way I could have said that because the Riordanverse has weird laws of divinity and magic, multiple myths can exist at the same time even if they directly contradict each other. Did I take you for a ride? Because I took me for a ride too. My opinion changed several times on this matter as I was writing out my thoughts and looking for quotes. I think I’ve spent too long with my head buried in technical history books based in fact that I forgot I was working with a fantastical universe here where plenty of things defy laws of existence in general, let alone physics lmao.

Back to Jason, this time in relation to Lupa. (Because when I talk about Rome, chances are it’s because Jason is at the root of my thoughts.) In The Son of Neptune, she trains new Romans before they end up in Camp Jupiter. 

“Lupa had taught him about demigods, monsters, and gods. She explained that she was one of the guardian spirits of Ancient Rome. Demigods like Percy were still responsible for carrying out Roman traditions in modern time — fighting monsters, serving the gods, protecting mortals, and upholding the memory of the empire. She’d spent weeks training him, until he was as strong and tough and vicious as a wolf. When she was satisfied with his skills, she’d sent him south…” – Page 36, The Son of Neptune

But when Jason was 16, he had 12 lines on his arm, representing 12 years of service. We know one scenario where a year doesn’t quite represent a full year of service:

“Congratulations, Percy Jackson. You now stand on probatio. You will be given a tablet with your name and your cohort. In one year’s time, or as soon as you complete an act of valor, you will become a full member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Serve Rome, obey the rules of the legion, and defend the camp with honour. Senatus Populusque Romanus!” – Reyna to Percy, Page 89, The Son of Neptune

Considering neither Frank nor Hazel received a line for the act of valor, it only counts as a qualification to become a full member as opposed to an act of valor being worth a year of service in general. To get his 12th mark by 16, even if he had managed to complete an act of valor on his very first day, he would have still been only 4 or 5. Somehow, I highly doubt a 5 year old would be capable of doing that and will be working off the assumption that he completed an entire year of probatio.

This means that Jason must have joined when he was 4 years old at the latest in order to get his 12th mark by 16. (And he would have been 16 at the max. He turned 17 in HoO, around 8 months after his disappearance from Camp Jupiter. He could have received his 12th mark at 15 and received his 13th sometime in that 8 month gap had he been there, meaning he could have been as young as 3 when he arrived on the younger side of things.) He would have spent a year or two with Lupa, having been abandoned by his mom at the Wolf House when he was 2. 

Jason is also a special case, though, being both a son of Jupiter (in a house with a daughter of Zeus; probably one of the reasons he was taken away so young, because Thalia knew their dad, and when a demigod knows about the mythological world, it’s harder to hide from it.) and champion of Juno. I highly doubt that Lupa receives anyone that young. Even if she did, would they have survived? 

“Assuming I passed all their tests—aka, didn’t die a horrible, wolf-inflicted death—I’d then trek southward through a monster infested wilderness (second-worst campout ever) to Camp Jupiter, where I’d present your letter of recommendation to whoever was in charge and hope I’d be accepted into the ranks of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Which brings me to this question: How much would it suck to go through all that and not get into a cohort? Answer: A lot. Not that new recruits need to worry about rejection these days. According to my centurion, Leila, the legion’s numbers were badly depleted last summer.” – Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio’s Journal

It’s heavily implied here that Lupa (or her wolves) kills whoever fails her tests. I’m assuming that Lupa was under orders to make sure Jason lived, because I’m pretty sure a 3 year old would not be able to pass her standard tests. That being said, most kids she trains are in fact kids, children by all definitions of the word. 

“At a certain age, one way or another, we find our way to the Wolf House. If Lupa thinks we’re worthy, she sends us south to join the legion… You’re old for a recruit. You’re what, sixteen?” – Reyna to Percy, Page 37, The Son of Neptune

This implies that legacies such as Octavian must go through Lupa to join the legion as well, even if they grew up in New Rome. They all spend an indeterminate time with her; Percy spent a vague ‘few weeks’ while Jason spent at least a year with her. While it’s hard to guess what the average age is, we can take a guess.

“Octavian stepped off the dais. He was probably about eighteen, but was so skinny and sickly pale he could’ve passed for younger.” – Page 55, The Son of Neptune

“Percy noticed seven lines on Octavian’s arm — Seven years of camp, Percy guessed.” – Page 58, The Son of Neptune

This would put Octavian at roughly 11 when he would have gone to the Wolf House. Frank was 16, but was most likely an odd case because he was part of the 7, and 16 was already previously stated to be rather old for a newcomer. I tried finding ages on other people like Dakota and Gwen but once again, I don’t have time to read the entire book at the moment. (Even then, from the pages I skimmed I don’t think they’re mentioned.) I’m treating Reyna as a special case as well, considering her history with Circe’s island.

So I would guess that most kids wind up at the Wolf House around 11 or 12, give or take a few years. 

Regardless, Lupa probably hasn’t had to deal with many other (if any) kids as young as Jason in a very long time. But she has dealt with young kids before: Remus and Romulus who she is quite fond of.

Despite her harsh nature, Percy allegedly described her as motherly when she wants to be. I think that when faced with baby Jason who was just two years old when he was left at her mercy, she would have a soft spot. In The Lost Hero when appearing in his dreams, she makes a joke about him being their ‘Saving Grace’ to make a pun out of his name. She’s clearly familiar with Jason, considering this is 12 years after he would have left the Wolf House. 

I personally think Lupa would have taken on a much more nurturing role for Jason than she does for other recruits. She’s clearly capable of it, given her founding myth and continued fondness of Remus and Romulus despite her repeated harshness toward most recruits. I think that in order for a two year old to survive at all, it would have been necessary. A two year old would not be capable of most things it takes to survive in the wild (with wolves no less), especially at the beginning when he had just arrived. A four year old, even, would not be capable of most things it takes to survive in the wild, let alone make the trek to Camp Jupiter when it took Percy 3 weeks. In order to survive, Jason would have had to have gotten special from Lupa.

Maybe it’s the wolf!Jason lover in me, whether it’s werewolf!Jason or just plain feral!Jason (oh Jason, you could never be plain to me. Not when one of my most used tags is literally “Jason Grace is not boring and in this essay I will” and damn do I essay about him.) but I firmly believe that Lupa plays favourites and that Jason is one of them. 

Also, I’d like to point out that the heavily militaristic legion that prides itself in its rules literally sends every single one of their recruits to learn the ways of the wolf before being authorized to actually join. Ironic, is all, especially when it would probably be a lot more effective to just… train the kids at Camp Jupiter from the get-go. 

New Rome, what are you doing?

I guess I’m going to have to figure that out for myself, aren’t I? It’s literally the entire reason I am reading this book and writing this post in the first place: for the sake of some fan fiction. (And self enjoyment because the history of Rome is insanely fascinating, but in the name of comedy go with me here.) I’ll get there in the end, but for now… One step at a time. 

For now, I’d like to go back to my summary on chapter 2 of SPQR. Beard mentions how all of these founding myths all end up back at the same square: Rome has always been a safe haven for outsiders. In Son of Neptune, we see how most of the cohorts look down upon newcomers and underdogs alike. It’s what makes the cohort Percy joins unique: They root for newcomers and underdogs, which are what Percy, Frank, and Hazel all are.

Jason is also mentioned to be a part of this cohort. In fact, he notes Dakota (and others) as a friend in his own PoV. I enjoy playing with having Jason adhere to the ‘true, traditional Roman way’ as part of his gig as ‘Perfect Son of Jupiter, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion.’ However, I also enjoy slipping in Jason having underlying doubts, which in the end lead to his eventual love for the culture Camp Half-Blood creates. 

I think that having Jason be welcoming to outsiders to morally elevate him in a way (and I mean this loosely: As a society as a whole we have descriptive and injunctive norms; The norms we should adhere to and the norms we do adhere to respectively. For example, people should avoid littering, but people tend to do it anyway. Being the one to break a norm and do what everyone should be doing gives a sense of having the moral high ground. In this case following the descriptive norm and going against the grain will morally elevate Jason as a protagonist to the reader — When I talk about morality when it comes to characters, it is not a commentary on my own moral beliefs, even when I do believe them to some extent. I could make a separate post entirely on the topic of Jason and descriptive vs injunctive norms if I’m being honest here.) from other cohorts. He could be the reason the fifth cohort is so welcoming: Because Jason would be one of the oldest, if not the the oldest, one there and he would set the precedent for that behaviour and attitude.

That would be one that adheres to more traditional Roman beliefs. New Rome could have other older traditions, but they contrast with a more modern, more objective moral norms such as the belief that everyone deserves some sense of creative liberation. (Think private school uniforms and the main debate against them being that sense of self is an important factor in expressing oneself and developing one’s identity. Not entirely the same, but it’s close to what I’m going for.) Because obviously ancient Rome would have some traditional takes that we as a society have aged out of for blatantly obvious moral reasons. For example, tying someone in a bag with weasels and throwing them in the Little Tiber would probably be considered cruel and unusual punishment in most cases. 

Posing Jason as someone who sticks to old Roman beliefs to support his rise to position of praetor, but also posing him as someone who cares about moral beliefs outside of a predetermined list in the name of tradition would juxtapose his own character against itself in a way that foreshadows his inner turmoil about not being able to choose between a Greek or Roman lifestyle is fascinating to me. And by every god to have ever existed I need to do it. Does this even make any sense?

Ugh. And here I thought this post was going to be a lot shorter because I took significantly less notes on it. Clearly I had more commentary on this than I realized.

Jason Grace & Cicero Parallels || Chapter 1 on Cicero (and Catiline) Lupa || Chapter 2 on Roman Founding Myths Kings Of Rome || Chapter 3 on the Regal Period

[thecatspasta]

5. A song that needs to be played LOUD

And

23. A song you think everyone should listen to

The only other song recommendations i think you've made was for the god priveleges revoked playlist so frankly I'm quite excited ✨

*grins*

Do I have recommendations oh boy

Songs I have on loop constantly:

Death Is A Girl - Mini Mansions

Vesuvius - Jaialai

Fall In Love - Phantogram

Saturnine - Mystery Jets

Run Rabbit Run - The Hoosiers

Fukona Girl - Stomach Book

Envy - Mindless Self Indulgence

Hedron - Cloudeater

Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia - Of Montreal

Like A Match - Jack Conte

Satanic Panic - I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Satisfactory - Waitress

In Bitter Syrup - The Scary Jokes

KATAMARI - femtanyl

Weekend - BRONCHO

Tom Tom - Holy Fuck

Blank Slate - Joywave

Mamma Told Me - Mother Mother

Into Asylum - IMAX

Black Bear - Black Bear

Sour Switchblade - Elita

When You Die - MGMT

Let It Happen - Tame Impala

Dramamine - Modest Mouse

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - Florence + The Machine

Artists I like and fav songs from them:

Cloudeater: Hedron, Purge, Lethal, Blurry Wisdom, Hardly Wait, The Dive, Mm5

Jack Conte: Kitchen Fork, Like A Match, Out of Nowhere, Only Dreaming, Long Long Time Ago, The Giant, Passenger Seat

Of Montreal: Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia, The Past is a Grotesque Animal, Gronlandic Edit, We Were Born Mutants Again With Leafing, Gallery Piece, We Will Commit Wolf Murder, Suffer For Fashion, its different for girls

Mother Mother: Mamma Told Me, The Cry Forum, To The Wild, Business Man, Make Believe, Forever, God's Plan, Love To Death, Very Good Bad Thing, Jump the Fence, Kept Down, Have It Out, I Go Hungry, Neighbour, Simply Simple, In The Wings

TOOL - Jimmy, Eulogy, Schism, Right In Two, Fear Inoculum, Undertow, Disgustipated, Enima, Stinkfist, Die Eir Von Satan, Third Eye

And then heres just my playlist lmfao:

[gaycavilltheorists-blog]

Infernomicia, you and your friends are witches! You can't deny it, it's obvious. Your aura is so dark, like your friend Corey's! Also, many of your friends on Tumblr criticise Henry, but still subscribe to Henry fanfics accounts. It's hard to accept that he really doesn't care about you, isn't it?

Ohhhhh woooo is me, a morally disturbed washed up British actor doesn't care about me...what will i ever do.... my life's over 😂 🤣🤣🤣🤣😎

I think you have my Tumblr mixed up with someone else's that gives a major fuck😂

I'm not @infernomicia , But I am a gay man who runs this Tumblr suga britches,

Second of all I've never talked to this ' Corey' person so I know nothing except what I've read on forums

Also I'm just here to spit venomous facts shug

As for being subscribed to fan fiction I use them as entertainment, their absolutely hilarious to read and to analyze how crazy the person who's writing them are 😂

As for me being a witch, Go off qween! Yassss bippity boppity boo, turn you into a big mad boo 😂

You talk real big when you're hiding behind a anonymous question 😂 what are you scared of? Going back to the mental asylum? Are you off your meds? Do you need the suicide hotline? Do you need a warfare check by local police?

Shug, get some help, I've been critiquing cavill for yearsssssss... not just when covidcuso the walking garbage can came around.

So the moral of this story is, Don't come at me trying to be a keyboard warrior hiding behind a unhinged anonymous Tumblr question because you mad people despise your make believe boyfriend.... Join a dating app shug, you might meet someone as unhinged as you, remember 2 nutty bird's of a feather, go crazy together

Don't be mad, I know it's hard to believe he'll never care about you either 😂 😂

Go with God shug 😂

[justforbooks]

Martina Navratilova (born October 18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 59 major titles, the most in the Open Era. Alongside Chris Evert, her greatest rival, Navratilova dominated women's tennis for the first two-thirds of the 1980s.

Navratilova was ranked as the world No. 1 in singles for a total of 332 weeks (second only to Steffi Graf), and for a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both disciplines for over 200 weeks. She won 167 top-level singles titles and 177 doubles titles, both the Open Era records. She won a record six consecutive singles majors across 1983 and 1984 while simultaneously winning the Grand Slam in doubles. Navratilova claims the best professional season winning percentage, 98.8% in 1983 (going 86–1 for the season), and the longest all-surface winning streak of 74 straight match wins. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including for nine consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the title a record nine times. Navratilova is one of the three tennis players, along with Margaret Court and Doris Hart, to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, called the career "Boxed Set". She won her last major title, the mixed doubles crown at the 2006 US Open, shortly before her 50th birthday, and 32 years after her first major title in 1974.

Originally from Czechoslovakia, Navratilova was stripped of her citizenship when, in 1975 at age 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residence. She became a US citizen in 1981. On January 9, 2008, Navratilova reacquired Czech citizenship, thus becoming a dual citizen. She stated she has not renounced her U.S. citizenship nor does she plan to do so, and that reclaiming Czech nationality was not politically motivated. Navratilova has been openly gay since 1981, and has been an activist on gay rights.

Navratilova is considered one of the best female tennis players of all time and in 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005, directly over Steffi Graf. Billie Jean King, a former World No. 1 player, said in 2006 that Navratilova is "the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived." In 2008, tennis historian and journalist Bud Collins called Navratilova "arguably, the greatest player of all time."

In 2000, she became a member of the Laureus Sports Foundation's Academy.

In 2006, Martina Navratilova was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the LGBT History Month.

Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century (1999), named her as the second best female player of the 20th century, directly behind Steffi Graf.

In 2009, Navratilova was awarded the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) highest accolade, the Philippe Chatrier Award, for her contributions to tennis both on and off the court.

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.

In March 2012, The Tennis Channel named Navratilova as the second greatest female tennis player of all times, behind Steffi Graf, in their list of 100 greatest tennis players of all times.

On August 2, 2013, Navratilova was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.

On May 12, 2016, Navratilova was made an honorary fellow of Lucy Cavendish College of the University of Cambridge.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[nighttime-tea-party]

since you say youve been in the kuro fandom even before BoC aired, could you tell me about how it was back then? :D ive always been interested in learning how internet culture used to be, how things eventually changed, how they improved/declined etc, more so when the current community is pretty much dead. was there an experience that marked you, what do you remember most fondly? was there an event that excited the fandom more than any other (like the release of a chapter or smth)? which blogs were the most popular? Its okay if you dont want to tho, i understand!

Super interesting question! I hope I can provide some equally interesting information in return.

Before the fandom had reached Tumblr, much of it centred around a forum, or at least much of what I knew. It wasn't originally a Kuroshitsuji forum but a sub-forum of a Bleach forum, actually. I think it was called Bleach Asylum? And I don't know exactly how it came to be but I think that Bleach forum had lots of sub forums for then-popular anime and manga but Kuroshitsuji gained so much popularity and the fandom happened to gather there, so that sub forum really took off and it ended up being an anchor point for the fandom. I used to always look for the most recent scanlations there, back before we were able to buy them legally.

I didn't actively participate in that forum but I lurked occasionally. It was full of wild discussions, one of which was the "two Ciel(s) theory"/"2CT" as it was called back then. It had a strong following on the website back then already. I sadly don't remember any of the other theories that were making rounds back then...

I didn't really participate in much fandom stuff back then, limited my art posts to deviantArt and my personal facebook... but eventually, I made a tumblr specifically to interact with the fandom.

As for blogs, I don't really like doing any name dropping, especially because it would go into some people who used to ship sebaciel and turned anti, and other stuff I'd rather not talk about. I do feel like back in the day, there were a couple of gigantic Kuroshitsuji blogs with massive followings that got a LOT of asks every day (to the point where it seemed like a full time job to keep up with them). Discussion around sebaciel was very different, there have always been people who disliked it but unfounded rumours like "did you know that Kuroshitsuji was supposed to be a yaoi" made rounds without people questioning it. That always annoyed me a little tbh haha.

There was one fan artist on deviantArt whose name I sadly don't remember but I think they were THE kuro artist in Western fandom back then because their style looked very similar to the anime style. I still see their art sometimes.

And fun fact on the side, I grew up in German fandom spaces and we had a big website called Animexx (I think it's still around) that was dedicated specifically to all things manga, anime, and related stuff. They had really convenient ways of browsing on-site fanart, fanfic, doujinshi, cosplay, and other fan creations, as well as forums and ways to host your own fan events. Until the early 2010s, I hung out there a lot so until then, my perspective is distorted by that German lens. I used to post my early Kuroshitsuji fanart there too.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! I feel like I could go on tangents for much longer but idk how interesting that would be.

[orion-regulatory-and-legal]

*there is a soft sound of nanites on the background of the recording

so... if someone outside of the purview were to leak classified HA documents in a certain game's forums to win a debate what could be the possible consequences? asking for a friend *=) [CALLSIGN:SPECTER}

So this is yet another case where my first recommendation is seeking political asylum in the Karrakin Trade Baronies. They will probably allow you to do this out of sheer spite towards Harrison Armory.

If they need a little bit of extra pressure, I'd point towards the fact that a few games developed by House of Glass companies keep having these exact kinds of Forum leak, which does suggest a pattern.

[consanguinitatum]

DT talk throwback: my interview w/Steve Pang, writer/director/producer of SPACES

This post is the second in the series of posts I'm making to rescue my lost interviews with people who worked with David in his earlier years: you can find the first, with David Blair - the director of Takin' Over The Asylum - right here.

Over half a decade ago now I was a writer for David Tennant News/DT Forum, one of the bigger unofficial fan sites of DT's at the time (now sadly defunct). During my time there, I got the chance in July 2015 to interview Steve Pang - the writer/director/producer of SPACES, a short film David starred in back in 1993. I didn't want this interview to sink into the depths of the Wayback Machine and I thought y'all might enjoy reading it, so here is that interview in its entirety (and if you'd like to see it in its original form, click here.)

Screenshot of SPACES from Moving Image Archive / Steve Pang, Writer-Director-Producer (today, and in a 1993 interview)

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Recently I was able to chat with Steve Pang, the writer, director and editor of SPACES. SPACES is a 1993 short film starring David Tennant as Vinny, a young man working a night shift in a car park in Edinburgh. The film depicts the characters Vinny meets over the course of the night: an older colleague with a troubled past, a bright young girl who uses the empty car park for her violin practice, and a young homeless boy.

Pang won a First Reels funding Award in 1993 from the Scottish Film Council and Scottish Television for the script he submitted for SPACES. First Reels was “a joint short film initiative from Scottish Screen (and its predecessor body the Scottish Film Council) and Scottish Television that was launched during 1991 by the Scottish Film Council in response to a perceived need for small grants to help young and first time film-makers to make or complete their first film or video project.”

Winning the award gave Pang the funds to make SPACES a reality. In the following years he decided to shift gears and move into film and television editing. He began in film as an assistant editor in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and on television in The Vicar of Dibley. Since then he has worked in various editing capacities on a lengthy list of projects including Wonka, Band of Brothers, The Da Vinci Code, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The 10th Kingdom, and Gravity.

How did you hear about the First Reels project? 

The scheme was announced whilst I was at Napier University in Edinburgh studying for my degree. As it was open to students, pretty much everyone on the course applied as it was a rare opportunity to get funding to make films.

It’s my understanding the First Reels project gave filmmakers grants to help them realize their projects, but that the projects didn’t have to be finished films to be submitted.  What stage in its development was SPACES at when you submitted it? Did the grant you won help you film and complete the work or had it already been completed in a rough form? 

As I recall I submitted a script and a supporting application form. Had we not won the grant, I think the film would have still gone ahead in some form but we would not have been able pay the cast or equipment suppliers – which would have undoubtedly had a detrimental effect on the film, in my opinion.

Was SPACES your first film? Take us through its development from idea to reality. How did you decide on it as your submission for First Reels?

It was probably my second or third short, but certainly the most ambitious (everything else before that was really more just fooling around and experimenting with a camera). The goal was to ‘keep things simple’ and come up with an idea that could be shot in one location with a small cast. I had worked part time in a 24hr car park in the past and my experiences in that job were the source material for the film.

SPACES is set in a car park and tells the story of one young man’s night shift. What were your inspirations for the story line?  he ending? Can you share a bit more about what you hoped people would take away from the film?

The short is essentially a dramatisation of a number of real life experiences I had working part time in a 24hr car park in Edinburgh. It sounds like a pretty mundane job, but I worked with some very interesting people and there were one or two unusual incidents. I thought collating everything into a single night would make an interesting short film. I’ve always found night time in cities really fascinating and I thought SPACES would be an original way of depicting that kind of atmosphere and mood. 

Screenshots from SPACES

Were the actors you chose initially the ones that actually appear in the film? How involved were you in choosing the talent, and how did the actors you chose come to your attention? 

We contacted a number of local actors agencies and as I recall the actors in the film were all our first choices for each role. At the time I had no idea who David was or that he was about to become a big star. Looking back, I think he was already making a name for himself as an up-and-coming actor within the industry but as a lowly, newbie film student I didn’t have that ‘inside knowledge’. All I knew was that he seemed remarkably in tune with the character I’d written and came across as incredibly natural in the first audition. The role was his immediately. It was only after the film was completed and submitted that I started hearing comments along the lines of ‘wow you had David Tennant in your short.’

Speaking of actors — David was very young when you worked with him (it’s listed as only his 4th credited role). Was there something that impressed you about this young unknown actor? What about the experience of working with him still stands out for you all these years later?

Working with him – from rehearsal to shoot – was great. We had a tiny budget, a cold, dark location, and it was a night shoot. In hindsight, given that we were a bunch of newbie students and he was about to break through as a major actor, I’m grateful that he was so tolerant of the unsociable hours, the unglamorous location and facilities we had!

I have information that SPACES was shown on television sometime in the latter half of 1993, when Scottish Television ran three half-hour documentaries showing excerpts of the winners from the First Reels. Do you recall if it was shown, and if so, how did you feel seeing your film broadcast?

An excerpt was shown yes, along with a short interview with me. I remember being wracked with nerves on the night of the broadcast and kind of being in shock afterwards. It was probably only a couple of minutes of screen time in total.

Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes sorts of recollections about working on the short?

I remember our equipment causing a short circuit at the location that required us to completely re-order the schedule. And I think our catering consisted of soup and bread for everyone. It was all very basic.

How do you think working on First Reels influenced you in developing your career?

It was an invaluable boost and a great learning experience. Who knows what would have happened had I not received that grant.

For Further Reference:

View Mr. Pang’s IMDb or his extensive CV.

Synopsis from entry on SPACES from the full film record at the Scottish Screen Archive.

A copy of SPACES is held at the Moving Image Archive and can be viewed at the National Library of Scotland. Private and research viewing only.

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And that's that! I hope you all enjoyed this unique insight into SPACES and DT's work with Steve Pang!